Today more than ever, we all need something to lean on and cling to that will bring us real hope. With all the increased satanic activities, it’s sad that so many are turning to the things of this earth in hopes of finding new meaning for their lives. Though there may be short-lived “inspirations” and somewhat satisfying pleasures, eternity will be a nightmare for the majority. (ESV – all emphasis mine)

Lucifer, Satan, the devil, has been the world’s largest antagonist that ever existed. The Lord God Jehovah could have created all heavenly beings and all earthly humans that would be required to totally submit to whatever He wished. He could have prohibited free will or free choice, but then that would not have been a God of pure love.

When God created Lucifer, he was possibly the most beautiful archangel ever. Ezekiel 28:17; “Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings to feast their eyes on you.” Ezekiel 28:14; “You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the Holy Mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked.”

Then Isaiah 14:12-14; “How you are fallen from Heaven, O Day Star, Son of Dawn. How you are cut down to the ground; you who laid the nations low. You said in your heart, I will ascend to Heaven; above the stars of God; I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the Mount of Assembly in the far reaches of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

Is it any wonder that the Father hates destructive self-pride? We are warned throughout the scriptures against pride that will bring us down and take us out of the will of God. Satan is going full-speed today to instill that attitude on as many souls as he possibly can. He knows his time is drawing to a close. His end is certain, even if he somehow believes he can “cheat the system.”

At the end of the 7-year tribulation period, Satan will be cast into a bottomless pit for 1,000 years. Then, he will be released for a short time in order to mount one more rebellion against Jesus. That will also be put down almost immediately. Revelation 20:10; “and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were (Revelation 19:20), and they shall be tormented day and night forever.”

What is critical today is for people to turn their eyes upon Jesus. While more will reject the Savior than accept Him (Matthew 7:13-14), all true believers will have an amazing eternity. The hardest part for some is to receive and accept the gift that Jesus gave us at Calvary. We don’t add anything to it, nor do we take anything away from His gift. It’s like any gift which must be “opened” in order to benefit the recipient.

First and foremost, all must know that John 14:6 is the one verse that spells out just who Jesus is and why we must call on Him for our Salvation. “Jesus said to him [Thomas], I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father, except through Me.”

This is why we need Jesus in our lives, as He is our one and only eternal Savior. Steve Green found this to be true, and in 1984 released a song that is absolutely full of meaning. It’s “People Need the Lord.” Please consider the words.

1.) Every day they pass me by, I can see it in their eyes; empty people filled with care, headed who knows where.
On they go through private pain living fear to fear; laughter hides their silent cries, only Jesus hears.

(ref) People need the Lord. People need the Lord. At the end of broken dreams, He’s the open door. People need the Lord. People need the Lord. When will we realize, people need the Lord?

2.) We are called to take His light to a world where wrong seems right. What could be too great a cost for sharing life with one who’s lost?
Through His Love, our hearts can feel all the grief they bear. They must hear the words of life, only we can share. (ref)

In Luke 20:28, Jesus said, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” What things? Just try to keep up with today’s real news, and you will see them all. It’s already begun, and each passing day, we’re nearer and nearer.

For the world, this is all just folly, as given in 1 Corinthians 1:18. But just as Paul said, that to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

Jesus is fully aware of everything we are going through. Remember, He was personally tempted by Satan in the wilderness after fasting for 40 days. Though He did not submit to Satan’s temptations, He understands when we do. He knows we are weak and will sin (Romans 3:23). That is why He has a pathway to forgiveness for His followers, as found in 1 John 1:8-10.

How many times can we be forgiven? By His own example to Peter in Matthew 18:21-22, not seven times, but seventy times seven. This is not to say that after 490 times we’re doomed. Jesus just used this example to tell us He will forgive us as often as we call out to Him for forgiveness. He does expect us to do our part in avoiding sin but is there to provide grace and mercy to us when we do.

One thing we do need to understand; we are forgiven, but that does not relieve us of any discipline that may be involved. Hebrews 12:5-11 tells us we are still subject to the Father’s discipline. When we are disciplined, it’s because the Father loves us and is treating us as a loving parent, not to cause us grief.

The ABCs to receive our gift are given in Romans 10:9-13. Admit we’ve all sinned and cannot save ourselves. Believe Jesus is the only way we can be forgiven and saved. Call out to Him, and He will save us.

Remember, God doesn’t grade on a curve system. Straight and narrow is to accept Jesus as our Savior and have a Home in Heaven. The broad path is to reject Jesus and have eternal torment in Hell. There are no other options.

No matter what your past has been, Jesus is there to receive your confession and to give you eternal life. Time is getting shorter by the hour, and right now would be an excellent time to call on Him. Tomorrow could just be too late, as the Rapture can take place any second now. After that, there will be more misery on this earth than anyone can imagine. God gave us the freedom of choice – choose Jesus and eternal life.

Shalom! Maranatha!

huebshman46@gmail.com

(Isaiah 22-23; Ephesians 3)

In Isaiah 22, the prophet gives an oracle – a vision – for Jerusalem. I could be wrong, but it appears to me that this is both a lament for what had already occurred and a warning of what was to come with the destruction of the daughter of my people (Isaiah 22:4). A great threat of invasion was hovering over Jerusalem. Prudently, they did what anyone would do in seeing such a menace approaching. Weapons were available elsewhere, so they collected them. They prepared for the attack by assuring they’d have water. In order to keep the enemy hordes from breaching the city walls, they reinforced them (Isaiah 22:8-10). All that they did in preparation was good and sound planning.

However, they neglected one thing to their ruin. Isaiah 22:11 tells us:

“… But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.”

They did all the earthly things they were supposed to do but had no regard for the One who could truly save them.

The Lord God of hosts called for them to come humbly before Him, seeking His mercy in this situation (Isaiah 22:12); instead, they reveled, thinking they were safe, or if not, believing they’d die in merrymaking, as Isaiah 22:13 says:

“… and behold, joy and gladness,
killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
eating flesh and drinking wine.
‘Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.'”

Their fatalism angered God. He declared in Isaiah 22:14:

“The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears:
‘Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die,’
says the Lord God of hosts.”

How they approached this coming catastrophe was the worst thing they could do in the eyes of the Lord.

He goes on to foretell that one who served Him, because of his attitude of preparation without spiritual guidance, would be uprooted. This man had carved out for himself a place of refuge, but Yahweh had no use for his earthly arrangements; they wouldn’t stand (Isaiah 22:15-19). God would honor another and give him much authority (Isaiah 22:20-25).

This narrative makes me think of what’s happening in the world today. Many secular people see that something is coming that will be bad, but they don’t have wisdom and insight into what that is. They’re preparing for calamity but have no sense of the ultimate disaster that will claim their soul.

Conversely, there are three groups in the church.

One: those who seemingly have little discernment or regard for Bible prophecy and what’s happening all around them. They’ve buried their heads in the sand and are proceeding to do church as if nothing is going on that will touch them.

Two: those who certainly know the times just as the men of Issachar (1 Chronicles 12:32). The problem is that they have misread the Word of God. How ever they got to this point in their walk of faith, they’ve been completely deluded as to what happens next in these end times.

These are the preppers. They’re storing away food and guns, perhaps arranging for an underground bunker or a bolthole to which they can flee. The coming Tribulation is the reality they apprehend and want to make sure they can endure those awful seven years. Some mock the idea of the Rapture; others appear to ignore it. In all cases, they seem to be looking for the soon appearance of great evil in the world, perhaps seeing and preparing for the approach of the Antichrist as the culmination of the coming lawlessness. In the Christian community, there are many who think this way.

Three: the minority of us who place our confidence in the soon return of Jesus through the Rapture of His church. Through wisdom and discernment, we see all that the preppers do, except our approach is entirely different. We may have small quantities of supplies on hand since we know that times could be rough prior to when Jesus comes. However, we are looking up. Our desire is for the Lord to return so that we can join Him in the heavenly realm as His Bride.

This doesn’t mean – as so many scoffers declare – that we are avoiding engagement in the world until that time. On the contrary, those I know with this belief in the accuracy of God’s Word as to the Rapture are engaged furiously in doing what we can to bring others into the Kingdom. To that end, we are doubling down in how we seek the Lord so as to grow closer to Him. At the same time, we’re grieving and praying and reaching out as God allows in these darkening days.

Rather than be like the steward Shebna that God rebuked in Isaiah 22:15-19 because he was looking to his own self-sufficiency, our desire is to be like Eliakim, to whom the Lord said about in Isaiah 22:22:

“And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.”

Shouldn’t our prayer and desire be to wholly serve God in these treacherous times? Should we not respond in the same manner we see that the prophet did in Isaiah 6:8?

“And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am! Send me.'”

[Author Note: Briefly, I want to set the stage for you as to the nature of most of my articles in this season. Each year I read the Bible through completely at least once – that has been my practice since I came to the Lord in 2005. I remain astounded at what God has done in my life because of that discipline! Each day I read from both the Old and New Testaments. I choose a verse from one of those passages and write my commentary and reflection based on that. In the title of my article, you’ll see the verse I chose. In addition, you’ll see the reading for that day if you’d like to follow along with greater context.]

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Gary W. Ritter is a lay pastor, Bible teacher, and prolific author. His Whirlwind Series comprises three books: Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind, and There Is A Time. These books are contained in the collected volume of the Whirlwind Omnibus. Gary has been given the Christian Redemptive Fiction award for three novels: The Tattooed Cat, Alien Revelation, and for his collaboration with Terry James in writing The Minion Protocols, the third book in James’ Second Coming Chronicles.

Earlier this year, Gary released a four-volume set of Awaken Bible Study Notes that comment verse-by-verse through Scripture from a Biblical prophetic lens. He is currently editing a sequel to Alien Revelation called Alien Zombie Plague, which he plans to release later in the fall of 2021. Recently, Gary wrote a novella for the new Kindle Vella platform. That story is called Tribulation Rising: Seal Judgments – The Coming Apocalypse. This seven-part short work can be found at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B099Z462WD.

Each day this year, Gary has been writing commentary and reflections based on his reading through the Bible in a year. The intent in all his writings is to bring a strong Christian witness to what people read. You can see all his books and blog articles and reach him at his website:www.GaryRitter.com or his Facebook Author page: https://www.facebook.com/gritter3390. You can also see his older video Bible teachings on his Gary Ritter YouTube channel – look for the fish symbol, and more recently on Rumble on his Awaken Bible Prophecy channel: https://rumble.com/c/c-783217.