3 Apr 2023

Published on: by RR7 Category:Nearing Midnight

Satan Will Win for a Short Time

One of the most common complaints I hear from friends and family is their frustration over evil people always coming out on top. Years ago, some friends predicted that Hillary Clinton would eventually go to jail. I told them it will never happen because she is protected by Satan.

A good example of how powerful the devil is in his ability to protect humans can be found in the waning days of World War II. As Germany was losing the war, many Germans realized Adolf Hitler was a madman who needed to be stopped by any means. At least 42 attempts were made to take his life, and all failed in preposterously inconvenient ways.

Once you read some examples of these attempts, you would have to conclude that some unseen agent was protecting Hitler from harm:

An Iron Cross recipient at Nuremberg was going to stab Hitler in front of 1,000 soldiers at an assembly. Hitler had a cold that day and decided to go home early.

A bomb that was intended to blow up the Nazi leader in mid-flight failed to go off because cold weather hindered the reaction of the chemicals in the bomb.

An infantry captain made plans to explode a bomb while he demonstrated a new army winter overcoat to the German leader. The day before the bombing was to take place, a British air raid destroyed the uniforms. One general tried to kill Hitler with a concealed bomb that was to be detonated by acid. Unfortunately, Hitler left the building before the acid could act.

A bomb finally did go off next to Hitler. The Fuehrer was spared by a heavy desk that shielded him from the blast.

Another way that Satan wins is by being able to attack his enemies. I wince at the idea that Donald Trump is on the side of good. I can’t stand his arrogance and childlike behavior in political matters. I voted for him in two key elections because he was the far lesser of two evils. The best thing I can say about Trump is that Satan is clearly out to destroy him. The Don has had a special prosecutor investigating him for two years, he was impeached by Congress twice, the Jan 6th investigation is all about the former president, and now several state DAs are trying to dream up crimes that might apply to Trump.

Nearly every one of major status connected to Trump has had their lives turned upside down. His National Security Advisor, personal lawyer, several support lawyers, business manager, his friend Roger Stone, and campaign manager were all taken down when the FBI applied its vast resources against them. This situation is so ridiculous, I don’t think there has ever been more criminal investigation against one man in world history.

The left has turned over every legal stone, and they have failed to find any major crime on Trump’s part. There is a strong possibility that God is mocking the left by blinding them from finding anything that could convict Trump.

It’s not just Trump that gets special treatment. The IRS paid a ‘chilling’ visit to Matt Taibbi’s home during House testimony. Matt is a rare reporter that is known for giving truthful coverage of a news story. The IRS sent some of its goons to intimidate him. It is disgusting to have a branch of government think that it can scare people by just paying them a personal visit. Taibbi should ask if they were there to hand him his refund check.

The rivalry between God and Satan is often seen as a battle between two equally skilled chess masters, playing against one another to see whose plan will be victorious. This vision is totally fictitious. There never was a real contest between God and Satan, and there never will be.

God is in charge of everything that happens. His level of control is so absolute, He sets the stage for everything that will happen in the universe. How can Satan compete against a Being who knows every move he is going to make ahead of time? God does more than just rule the chessboard. He controls both the white and the black pieces.

The devil is so hopelessly outwitted, God published in the Bible many of Satan’s fatal mistakes far ahead of the time he made them. There are still some blunders yet to come. The Holy Word predicts that the devil will attempt to destroy the Jews and that he will make a stand against Jesus at the Battle of Armageddon. Both will end in total failure.

There are scary days ahead when Satan will be granted a lot more power than he has now. Luckily, the Church will escape the worst of these days. Tribulation saints will suffer greatly, but they are encouraged by the fact that Satan will completely lose in the end.

“And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and sulfur, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).

— Todd

Scanning a Fearful Future XI

“Scanning a Fearful Future Part X” (the conclusion of the series) was completed early in 2011. We’ve revisited that series of articles on two additional occasions, I believe.

Likewise, we posted this article—a follow-up to that series—in September of 2022. I am convicted so strongly of the relevance of thoughts it contains that I must again put it before our readers. Again, I’m convinced that now, in April 2023, it’s time again to look ahead—”scan”— the ever-deepening march of humanity toward the consummation of this Genesis 6-like age.

Many prophecy watchers won’t agree with my take on the matters I present here because it’s not scripturally provable. But I don’t claim it is; admittedly, the thoughts I put forward are conjecture rather than necessarily Holy Spirit-prompted.

I do believe, however, that my thinking is legitimately evidence-based, considering my long-time Bible-centered observation and dissection of these wicked times.

My only reluctance in dealing with these matters stems from the frequently expressed realization that my thinking—like that of many of my colleagues—is too often—Amero-centric. That is, we too often consider our nation to be at the center of everything when we look at prophetic progression.

With all that as a preface, I nonetheless must once again say I see America as perhaps key to the wrap-up of the Church Age (Age of Grace).

Is America in Bible prophecy? That, of course, is among the questions often asked. Always, my answer is: No—not by name.

Is America the Babylon prophesied in Revelation chapter 18? My answer to that has evolved over much study to be “perhaps.” But, again, it can’t be proved to be that condemned city/system of evil that has afflicted all the world with sin. However, America is, almost undoubtedly, a part of that commercial and cultural system.

My belief that America fits within the final system of wickedness is confirmed with each news report. As stated on several occasions, considering the use and abuse of the most vulnerable among humanity is evidence of how far from the heart of God humankind has “progressed.”

The fact that such upside-down thinking and conduct are said to be “progressive” proves how culture in America has the “reprobate mind” of Romans 1:28. Those who claim to be “progressive” are, in fact, moving in the direction opposite of Heaven’s command to the human race. This mindset is inflicting on the very young the evil that can be churned only through minds attuned to the god of this world.

As stated before, history attests that every major civilization on record has come to its inglorious end while engaging in child sacrifice and unspeakable abuses by the adult generations during those times of collapse and demise.

Time and time again, we’ve looked at abortion in America today and have concluded that murder in the mothers’ wombs is, in the majority of cases, used as contraception to cover for sexual misconduct and/or irresponsibility. The practice can be likened to sacrifice upon the altar of convenience—like the pagans, and even Israel, once sacrificed infants upon the white-hot, stone hands of Moloch.

And now parents are dressing children as young as age four as transvestites and parading them in honor of LBTQ… etc., etc., rainbow, Genesis 6-like activities.

We have reports of all that went on with the Jeffrey Epstein island evil involving under-aged girls, and even of pedophilia among younger children who were abused in horrendous ways by well-known people. Yet the national media has swept all such reports under the proverbial rug of forgetfulness. And America has been at the direct center of all this anti-God activity. The most blessed nation in history—in terms of material blessings and perhaps second (only to Israel) in spiritual blessings—has become perhaps the most debauched, lascivious, licentious nation ever.

This brings me to the crux of this subject.

As some know, I believe Jesus prophesied the time of the Rapture. I don’t mean, of course, that He told us the day or hour, as He Himself said only the Father knows that. But I’m more convinced than ever that He gave conditions precisely as they’ll be when He calls believers into His presence.

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

And here is where I know I’ll receive some degree of resistance regarding my Amero-centric perspective on Jesus’ words of Luke 17:29–30.

“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:28-30).

Here Jesus likened the time He will next intervene into the affairs of humankind to the days when Lot lived and worked in Sodom. The very day Lot went out of that wicked city (out of which the angels led Lot and his family), judgment from God fell and totally destroyed both Sodom and its sister city, Gomorrah.

In this Luke passage, Jesus was referring to that moment–the Rapture. As we’ve looked at many times, He couldn’t be referring to the very end of the Tribulation, when as many as three-fourths of the earth’s population will have died during the seven years of God’s judgment and wrath. At that time—the time of His Second Coming (Revelation 19: 11)—it won’t be business as usual, as given in this prophecy. The few rebels left on the planet will be hiding in caves from God’s King who is coming through the scrolled-back blackness on the bright clouds of glory.

Now, to bring it down to our present closing hours of this age, I propose that the Lord might have had in mind a particular people and nation as He described how things will be at the moment of the Rapture.

Here goes my Amero-centrism again.

America today is the greatest nation in all of recorded world history in terms of spectacular advancements and achievements. It is the apex nation in this regard. No other has come close—that we know of…

We hear constantly that all the world is about to collapse in financial catastrophe, and even perhaps explode in nuclear war. These predictions have been around for years. Yet the world is buying, selling, marrying, planting, building—all the things Jesus prophesied for the time when, like in Lot’s time, God’s people will be removed from the earth.

While Europe is quickly dissolving in energy-crisis mode and the financial systems of the world seem about to collapse, Americans are still, like the folks of Sodom, living in ways Jesus described: we’re buying, selling, building, etc.

I maintain the Lord might well have had in mind this very nation we call America as the model for the future time of the removal of God’s people.

Our nation fits as the super-achieving, productive society and culture of Christ’s analogy. And certainly, at the same time, our society and culture align with the wickedness of Lot’s day.

Scanning a fearful future, to the Christian, is really to be scanning a fantastic future! All of this points to the blessed hope of Titus 2:13: Believers are on the very cusp of coming into the joint heirship with the Son of God we are promised.

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

—Terry

Babes Need to Grow :: By Nathele Graham

Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles, Nathele Graham

It’s not easy to live a God-honoring life and still live our daily lives in the world. Still, that’s exactly what we are supposed to do. Christians are to be in the world but not of the world. It’s difficult for a person who has been a Christian for many years, but even more difficult for a babe in Christ who needs to learn and grow in the faith.

Jesus had many verbal confrontations with the Pharisees, and in one such battle of words, Jesus told them, “And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world” (John 8:23).

One of the descriptions of Satan is that he is the god of this world, and Christians need to turn from serving him and only serve Jesus. Christianity is faith, not religion, so there isn’t a list of rules you must follow. You don’t have to knock on doors or empty your mind through meditation. Jesus is our example, and Scripture is our guide. Placing faith in Jesus is what makes the difference between eternal life and eternal death. It isn’t a complicated thing to do. The Apostle Paul says how simple it is. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

Of course, each denomination has a list of rules they feel must be followed, but that’s religion and has nothing to do with faith or being saved.

When a person truly understands they are a sinner and that sin separates them from God, that’s when they need to confess Christ as their Lord and Savior. That’s called justification. A change should be evident in the way they speak, dress, and live. That change may happen immediately, or it may take time. That’s called sanctification and will continue throughout our life on earth. That change is a choice each one of us makes daily. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).

Being a living sacrifice means that we live our life to honor God. Jesus lived His life on earth as an example of how we should live for Him. He said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Works don’t save us, but doing good for others glorifies God.

The change from a worldly attitude to a God-honoring attitude may take time. If that change doesn’t happen, does that mean the person isn’t saved? Only God truly knows if the confession of faith was true. We face many temptations in the world, and a person who has been living a life that reflects worldly thoughts and actions may make a true, honest, and heartfelt profession of faith, but the pull of the world is strong. Satan is the god of this world and isn’t happy when someone turns to Jesus. Old ways of life may pull that person back into the ways of the world.

Where are the Christian mentors who can lead the babe in Christ to live for Him?

Jesus told us how to combat temptation. “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). Prayer is important in the life of a Christian. It isn’t a magic incantation but a heartfelt conversation with God. He listens, but so must we listen for His answer.

One of the biggest failures among Christians today is a lack of mentoring. The Gospel is shared, but if the person hearing the message receives Christ, there’s little or no follow-up. In truth, that’s when the struggle begins. Satan doesn’t like to lose a follower, so he and his minions target new believers with temptation and place thoughts in their minds to discourage them. Unfortunately, there is very little support and encouragement from older Christians to help the new babes in Christ to grow and become strong in their faith, and too many pastors only feed the flock milk, but no meat of Scripture is taught.

Peter was told directly from Jesus to feed the lambs and to feed the sheep. “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs” (John 21:15). The lambs are young in their faith and need to be gently fed the truth in order to grow. Quite often, the new ones are children, but they are also adults who have professed faith and need to learn Scripture. We usually don’t seem to have a problem sending our children to school and college to be taught and mentored by secular humanists who contradict Scripture. Shame on us for neglecting to mentor children and adults in God’s truth.

Many new believers feel that the pews are filled with hypocrites and are uncomfortable in a church setting. All Christians are sinners saved by grace, and we all stumble at times. “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God” (Romans 3:10-11).

It’s true that there are many people sitting in pews who think they are “holier than thou.” That’s a wrong attitude. A babe in Christ must be mentored and guided by a person with a heart to serve Christ. They need encouragement and human forgiveness when they fail. God forgives; so must we.

The truth is, we all need encouragement from fellow believers. We also need to be encouragers and help our brethren to walk close to God. When a person first realizes they are a sinner and bound to spend eternity in Hell, that’s when they understand that faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the only way to find forgiveness.

At the moment we first believe, all our sin is forgiven. Not just the sins of the past but also future sin. That’s something that’s hard to come to grips with. We all fail in our walk with Christ, but He knew that we will fail and loves us anyway. As Christ hung on the cross, all of your sins were in the future. He willingly spilled His blood for you long before you were even born. As the Son of God hung on the cross, looking at those who had pounded the nails into his hands and feet and at those who had cried out for His death, He felt love and compassion. “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots” (Luke 23:34). Jesus asked God the Father to forgive those sinners as they kept on sinning. His love for us hasn’t changed.

When we first come to Jesus, there’s usually excitement, and the new life in you is very real. Then, after a short time, the pressures of life close in, and you’re back to your job, and co-workers annoy you. The office gossip is still tempting you to share the latest scoop with others. After work, your friends want you to join them at the bar and possibly find a “one night stand” who is willing to tempt you to sin. This is when you need a mentor to help you see that Jesus still loves you but that you are in a spiritual battle and need Christ to give you strength in the fight.

Sadly, most churches drop the ball in helping new Christians. Instead of helping the babe in Christ to understand that failures are forgiven, many older Christians shake their heads and shun anybody who fails. Too many pastors care more about not offending anyone than they care about calling sin what it is… sin. Remember, Jesus cared about sinners but never accepted the sin. Jesus changed sinners; the sinners didn’t change Christ. No matter how much sinners want to change God’s word to condone their sin, God’s word hasn’t changed.

When Jesus called the men who would follow them, they left their old lives behind and followed. “And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him” (Matthew 4:19-20). Jesus didn’t call the religious elites but called fishermen, tax collectors, and other sinners. Then He spent the next three years helping them to change.

How long are you willing to mentor and teach a man like Peter, or even Judas?

Many people have a bad feeling about stepping into a church building, so why not open your home to a Bible study? Or possibly go to a park and let others hear and be drawn to the teaching.

When I was a teenager, my youth group went on an outing. We stopped at a hamburger stand to eat, and while we ate, we began asking our pastor questions. Then someone who wasn’t a teenager asked a question. I looked around, and a large number of people gathered and were very interested. That was amazing and taught me never to be afraid to talk about Jesus.

Before a person has placed their faith in Christ, they cannot understand anything about Scripture. They may pick and choose verses that seem to contradict other verses, or they just don’t understand why Jesus being crucified and rising from death is the greatest event in history. Why are they so blind and deaf to God’s truth? “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). It’s the Holy Spirit that makes understanding and discernment possible. When a person first truly believes, the Holy Spirit is sealed within them. God wants us to know Him better and learn.

The Holy Spirit is given to all Christians in order for us to understand more. “That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:12-14). That seal is unbreakable. The Holy Spirit lives in you and will help you to understand Scripture.

As with all things, you have a choice whether to let Him guide you or to ignore Him. There are many, many excellent Bible teachers, but there are also some who twist God’s truth. The Holy Spirit doesn’t want you to fall victim to false teachers. Ask God to help you discern truth from lies.

If you are a new believer, ask God to guide you to a Christ-centered, Bible-believing place of worship. Ask Him to lead you to a mentor who will help you to grow. Babes in Christ need to grow into full-grown sheep and be able to reach others.

God bless you all,

Nathele Graham

twotug@embarqmail.com
ron@straitandnarrowministry.com

Recommended prophecy sites:

www.raptureready.com
www.prophecyupdate.com
www.raptureforums.com

All original scripture is “theopneustos,” God-breathed.

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