John 15:18-19: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you.” John 15:23: “Whoever hates Me, hates My Father also” (ESV – all emphasis is mine).
Paul states in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”
This gives us a long list of very unpleasant attitudes, and we would like to believe all this isn’t really happening. However, the worldwide trend today is to downplay anything that has to do with Jesus and being one of His followers. In some countries today, to declare being a Christian could lead to martyrdom.
Just recently in Canada, a pastor was arrested because he was outspoken against drag queens reading to young kids in public libraries. His arrest wasn’t just for speaking out against this but for refusing a Court Order to “apologize” for speaking out.
In this case, a pastor is being persecuted for following his biblical beliefs and for refusing to accept sinful actions as being normal. Next in line will be the rights for parents to raise their kids according to biblical principles, and teachers for following their code to educate young people without promoting the LGBT lifestyle.
While writing this message, an article in another Prophecy Newswatch appeared about a teacher in Ireland having spent more than 450 days in prison. His crime? He stands on Genesis 1:27 that “God created them male and female,” and he refuses to back down from that belief.
He had a male student that wanted to be called “they/them.” The teacher refused, even though the school demanded he comply, and when he refused, he was fired. Rather than stay away from the school campus, he returned again and again, and so the court found him in “Civil Contempt.”
The new unspoken law is that “you are free to believe whatever you want as long as you never act on it, never speak of it, and never refuse our demands.” Yet the teacher sits in prison because he fears God more than he fears man.
When Jesus, Paul, John, and others speak of all these happenings, they refer to them as being near the end of this age. When that time will be, and any specific dates, are not known except to our Heavenly Father. We are told to be aware of the changes and to keep our faith in our Savior. In Luke 21:28, Jesus stated, “Now when these things ‘begin’ to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” It could be said that the noticeable changes started just about a decade or so ago.
The issue with believers, especially newer converts, is to understand that God is not regulated by how we tell time. He has always existed, and will always exist. That also applies to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, as all are a part of our wonderful Triune Godhead. We read in 2 Peter 3:8, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
Some people don’t believe that a time is coming when all who have received and accepted Jesus as their Savior will one day disappear. They’re so engrossed in the happenings of this world that end-time signs are foolishness to them. They do not consider that they have an eternal soul, and that’s just the way Satan likes it.
As given numerous times in the past, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.”
All who have established a relationship with our Heavenly Father and Our Savior, Jesus the Christ, have the Holy Spirit living within us.
Jesus said in John 15:26, “But when the “Helper” comes whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me.”
There are numerous verses in both Old and New Testaments about the Holy Spirit in us, but one New Testament verse is very specific: 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own.”
For an example from the Old Testament, we look at Ezekiel 36:26:27: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new Spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My Statutes, and be careful to obey My rules.”
We must understand that the Holy Spirit will only indwell those who have received and accepted Jesus as their Savior. While the Father would love for every living human being to fall into this category, He will in no way force anyone to do so. That would not be an act of love, and Our Heavenly Father is all about love.
One verse that is very popular is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
To qualify this statement, we must also read John 3:18 for the conditions that must be met. “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
No amount of good deeds or any man-made efforts will do (Ephesians 2:8-9). Only the A-B-Cs of Salvation will give us the proper pathway to our Savior (Romans 10:9-13).
First, Admit (confess) that we’re all sinners and cannot save ourselves. We must have the Lord Jesus as our Savior and Believe He is truly the Son of God who was raised from the dead after giving the only perfect blood sacrifice that Our Heavenly Father could accept as payment for our sins. Finally, we must Call out to Jesus to forgive us and to be our Eternal Shepherd. This applies to every living soul on this earth, and all who truly follow these steps will be saved.
There are some so-called religions professing that a person doesn’t really need Jesus to be saved. They are the “feel-good message” religions that have their own version of what it takes to be saved.
This is covered in 2 Timothy 4:3: “for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having “itching ears,” they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” Sadly, their eternity will start at the Great White Throne Judgment of Revelation 20:11-15, and then forever they will be in the lake of fire with Satan and all his demons.
As stated, Our Heavenly Father wants no one to fail and end up in hell. The only unforgivable sin right now is to take your last breath on this earth without having Jesus as your Savior.
Forever with our Savior in Heaven will undoubtedly be far better than eternity in a lake of fire. It’s each individual’s choice as to which eternity they will go into. Today would not be too soon to make that decision, as we’re not guaranteed tomorrow.
We do not know the day or hour that the “Restrainer” will be removed and the ultimate antichrist will come out to start the 7-year tribulation (2 Thessalonians 2:7-12). That Restrainer would be the Holy Spirit, and when He is taken out of the way, all whom He indwells must be removed to keep God’s promise of our not going through that tribulation/wrath period (1 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, and Revelation 3:10).
Consider calling on Jesus to be your Savior, as this will be the absolute most important decision you will ever make. Delaying could cause a person to enter the worst period of time this earth has ever had before.
Hope to see all of you at Home when the Trumpet of God sounds and there is a shout from an archangel (1 Corinthians 15:51-53 and 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-17).
Come, Lord Jesus!