As has been stated before and is obvious to all true believers, when God states something, we take it as truth. When He repeats something, we need to pay special attention; and when He makes a covenant, it is forever. (ESV all emphasis mine)

One example is Joel 2:32, Acts 2:21, and Romans 10:13. Each of these verses tells us that “All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

How about a verse that’s repeated four times? Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, and Luke 10:27 all state, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your might.” A word or two may be different, but the meaning of each verse is very plain. Jesus specifically stated this is the first and greatest commandment. He further stated that the second was to “Love your neighbor as yourselves.” That would include everyone on earth as all are our neighbors on this planet. If we take a close look at the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21, we can see these two commandments cover all of the Ten.

One of the most familiar passages is a call to the Lord by King David in Psalm 51:10-12; “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your Salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”

Not because he was a perfect, sinless person – because Jesus was the only person on earth that ever fit that profile – but because David was always prepared to accept responsibility for his sins that God referred to him as a man after His own heart in 1 Samuel 13:14. He did not try to blame anyone else for his shortcomings. In Acts 13:22, Paul states that because David had such a relationship with the Father, the Messiah was promised to come from his lineage.

For those who are saying that God has turned away from Israel and that His covenant with Abraham has been replaced with the Church post-Calvary, there are a couple of verses that need to be reviewed. Genesis 12:2-3; “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” There is no time limit placed on this, and it applies today. God is able to make more than one covenant and honor each of them at the same time.

Next, Romans 11:25-27; “Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers; a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved; as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will banish ungodliness from Jacob, and this will be My covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

Throughout all of history, Israel has had issues about turning away from God, then being disciplined, and then starting the cycle all over again. They were taken out of their land and scattered worldwide until May 14, 1948, when Israel again became a sovereign nation. The time is coming in the near future that 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 will take place, and the “fullness of the Gentiles” will have happened. Instead of just “Gentiles,” all who have received and accepted Jesus will be included in the Rapture. Then, God will turn His attention to His chosen, and by the end of the Tribulation, all the surviving Jewish people will know that Jesus – Yeshua – is their true Messiah.

Sadly, only about 1%-2% of the total worldwide population of Jews accept Jesus right now. Zechariah 13 tells us that during the “refining,” two-thirds of the people that are left here will perish.

Another point here: if the Jews have been “replaced,” why would Jesus set up His Millennial reign in the Temple at Jerusalem. Jeremiah 3:17-18; “At that time, Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. In those days, the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as a heritage.”

Also, when the new Heaven and the new earth are made, it’s the Holy City of New Jerusalem that comes down from Heaven from God (Revelation 21). It’s not the new Rome, Washington D.C., Salt Lake City or Nome, Alaska. It will be Jerusalem.

To be a part of all this, our hearts must belong to our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Those who take their last breath here without the Savior will not be in that magnificent Holy City; rather, they will be in eternal punishment.

In 1899, there was a song released by E. A. Hoffman titled, “Is Thy Heart Right with God?” He wrote numerous other standards such as “Leaning on The Everlasting Arms” and about 2,000 more. Please consider the questions that this song presents to us.

1) Have thy affections been nailed to the Cross? Is thy heart right with God? Dost thou count all things for Jesus but lost? Is thy heart right with God?

R.) Is thy heart right with God, Washed in the crimson flood, Cleansed and made holy, humble and lowly, Right in the sight of God?

2.) Hast thou dominion o’er self and o’er sin? Is thy heart right with God? Over all evil, without and within? Is thy heart right with God? (ref)

3.) Is there no more condemnation for sin? Is thy heart right with God? Does Jesus rule in the temple within? Is thy heart right with God? (ref)

4.) Are all thy powers under Jesus’ control? Is thy heart right with God? Does He each moment abide in thy soul? Is thy heart right with God? (ref)

5.) Art thou now walking in Heaven’s pure light? Is thy heart right with God? Is thy soul wearing a garment of white? Is thy heart right with God? (ref)

Romans 10:9-13 gives the steps to make sure one is right with God. There’s nothing difficult about being saved other than what imperfect humans try to add to or take away from the simple steps. Satan turns people away with the lures of this world, giving the impression that this is most important of all. Heaven is forever, and this earth is temporary. Hell is also forever, and there is no pardon for anyone choosing to go there.

No one can buy or earn their way to Heaven (Ephesians 2:8-9), and contrary to Satan’s lies, there is no guaranteed time that one will be alive on this earth. I have witnessed death many times while in the medical and law enforcement fields, and I do not believe that any of them expected to not make it to the end of that day.

All who are prepared, all who have confessed and called out to Jesus to be their Savior, need not fear when they will depart from here. As Paul said, it’s to depart and be with Jesus (Philippians 1:23). All who will have received and accepted Jesus will be with Him forever, either through death or by the Rapture. Either way, it’s one last breath here, and the next instant, we will be in the presence of our Lord and Savior.

The most important issue right now is to make sure you are a part of the Savior’s precious flock (John 10). Then, no matter where He leads you, it will be absolutely perfect. Tomorrow could be too late. Call out now and have the faith that your heart is under the control of the One who paid our way in full.

Shalom! Maranatha!

huebshman46@gmail.com

 

[Editor’s Note: Jack Kinsella wrote this article in 2003, but it is more relevant today than ever.]

The Pentagon is developing an urban surveillance system that would use computers and thousands of cameras to track, record, and analyze the movement of every vehicle in a foreign city. The project nickname is unusually lame, even by Pentagon standards.

Dubbed “Combat Zones That See,” the project is designed to help the U.S. military protect troops and fight in cities overseas.

The project’s centerpiece is groundbreaking computer software that is capable of automatically identifying vehicles by size, color, shape and license tag, or drivers and passengers by face.

According to interviews and contracting documents, the software may also provide instant alerts after detecting a vehicle with a license plate on a watch list or search months of records to locate and compare vehicles spotted near terrorist activities.

Its other projects include developing software that scans databases of everyday transactions and personal records worldwide to predict terrorist attacks and creating a computerized diary that would record and analyze everything a person says, sees, hears, reads or touches.

U.S. police use cameras to monitor bridges, tunnels, airports and border crossings and regularly access security cameras in banks, stores and garages for investigative leads. In the District of Columbia, police have 16 closed-circuit television cameras watching major roads and gathering places.

Great Britain has an estimated 2.5 million closed-circuit television cameras, more than half operated by government agencies, and the average Londoner is thought to be photographed 300 times a day.

Assessment

At this point, you are probably expecting me to begin spinning like a dervish and shouting “Mark of the Beast!” but, to quote the first President Bush, ‘Nope. Not gonna do that.’

Let me make two contradictory statements, and then I will attempt to sort them out.

First off, let me say that I agree with the use of the technology.

Secondly, I have no more desire to be photographed 300 times a day than anybody else. I agree that it is a bit spooky to know you live under surveillance. I agree with the privacy experts that the potential for abuse of the technology is high.

As one privacy expert lamented, the system could be ‘abused’ to identify and arrest domestic criminals as easily as it could be used to identify potential terrorists.

But there is a short-term solution for those of us who don’t want the government to use cameras to catch us breaking the law. Don’t break the law.

The only ones who are truly concerned about development and use of this technology are: 1) terrorists, 2) liberals, 3) criminals, 4) those who won’t know what they think about it until the mantras start, 5) hysterical Christians suffering both a lack of faith and a lack of understanding of Scripture for the last days.

Categories 1 through 4 are self-explanatory. It is Category 5 that needs addressing here; hysterical Christians who are suffering from both the lack of faith and the lack of understanding.

This story is stunning in its import; it is almost a letter-perfect fit to the surveillance system foretold by the Apostle Paul from the Island of Patmos almost two thousand years ago. In John’s vision, the antichrist will set up a three-tiered system of government, through which he will be able to control the tiniest details of day-to-day life.

His system will be political and global. John sees the political ‘beast’ “rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns (Rev 13:1), said system being empowered by “the dragon [that] gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.” (2)

The political beast’s authority is absolute: “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” (4)

The political beast is capable of global communications: “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies;” (5) which then sets the stage for the pogroms against the Tribulation saints as well as the Jews. “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” (6)

Enter the religious beast in verse 11, who then wields “all the power of the first [political] beast before him” (12) but adds the dimension of religion, using counterfeit miracles to set up a form of counterfeit Christianity (“he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon”), (11) through which he deceives “them that dwell upon the earth” (14) before merging both into a kind of all-encompassing socio-economic system that controls everything from where people go, to where they worship, to whether or not they can buy food.

Revelation 13:16-17 explains how the three come together and why the Pentagon’s new system is germane to Bible prophecy. “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

To accomplish all this, the antichrist would have to be able to reward his followers, identify his enemies, and be able to keep them separate.

For centuries, people debated about the Mark of the Beast. Is it a literal mark? Is it a tattoo? Is it an embedded chip?

Or is it something that can only be seen by surveillance cameras that photograph every citizen three hundred times a day?

I don’t know. What I do know is that this new system fits into John’s scenario with less difficulty than any of the previous ones.

I always wondered how the antichrist was going to convince everybody to take a visible mark. Some cultures would jump right on it. Ours, for example. All you’d have to do is make it a fashion statement.

Other cultures, on the other hand, would take a lot of convincing, which appears to me to be a wasted and time-consuming effort given the antichrist’s entire reign is only seven years.

But, if the Mark could be made invisible to the naked eye…

Here is where I reconcile the contradictions.

In the natural, I have no major issue with the use of this technology because it is NECESSARY. There are people who want to kill other people for no other reason except to either make a political point or underline a political worldview in innocent blood.

That was clear even before the New York skyline was changed forever on September 11. In the New Normal, it is more than necessary; it is a matter of survival.

Common sense tells anybody to whom sense is common that there is no non-intrusive way to spy on potential threats, and that there is no way to identify potential threats without spying. By definition, sneak attacks are planned and developed in secret.

Now, to the ‘hysterical Christian with a lack of faith and understanding’ category.

Look at Revelation 13 again. Does it say this is an OPTIONAL scenario for the last days? Or is it a prophecy that will be fulfilled down to the last “jot and tittle”?

And if it is the scenario outlined by God as His Plan for the judgment of the nations and the redemption of Israel, then only a hysterical Christian with no understanding of Scripture would be in a panic about it.

If this is the technology that will be used to set up the system of the Mark of the Beast, I say, bring it on! Let’s get that baby tuned up so that it is working perfectly and ready to go.

It will afford some measure of safety against terrorist attacks abroad, and when we have been properly conditioned to accept it in places like the U.S., let’s use it to protect the homeland.

The Bible is true, and so the antichrist’s system will be introduced, implemented and made operational whether Christians rail against it or not.

Since I believe in a pretrib Rapture, all it means to me is that the Lord is coming soon for His Church. But to those who believe the Church will be here for some or all of the Tribulation, it means the same thing (albeit a bit later).

It is additional evidence that these are the last days foretold and anticipated by the prophets from Daniel to Revelation.

The fact that it will be the system of the antichrist during the Tribulation is no reason for Christians to get hysterical about it. What is their point? To change what God said would happen anyway? To stall it? To hold God off?

Revelation 13:18 contains that cryptic 666 prophecy that has had people spinning like tops trying to decipher for 19 centuries.

“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”

Instead of focusing on the number, let’s stop in the first sentence. “Here is wisdom.”

The Book of Proverbs has much to say about ‘wisdom’ — something that is a step TOWARD ‘understanding’ rather than the other way around.

“Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?” (Prov 8:1). “O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart” (8:5). “Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength” (8:14). “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (9:16). “He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul: he that keepeth understanding shall find good” (19:8).

Wisdom brings understanding. Now we return to the 666 prophecy. Are you beginning to understand?

The Mark of the Beast isn’t FOR the Church. We play no role in the Tribulation.

No matter what your view of the timing of the Rapture, the Church is not mentioned as playing any role whatsoever. Whether your doctrinal view puts the Rapture before, during, or after the Tribulation, you will find no mention of the Church.

Just the saints, and then in only one of two contexts — they are either in heaven already, or they are the saints to whom it was “given unto to him to make war” with — and overcome, may I add. If not already in heaven, they are on their way at the hands of the antichrist.

Wisdom tells us that the Scriptures are true and that God’s Word will not return to Him void. “The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand” (Isaiah 14:24).

“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it” (Isaiah 46:9-11).

UNDERSTANDING tells us that this is playing out exactly as God said it would.

It is, therefore, spiritual foolishness to rail against it, since the Bible tells us that 1) it isn’t the antichrist’s system until the antichrist gets here to take it over, and 2) that is what God said was going to happen anyway.

This is an important story, but not because it means the antichrist is about to start rounding up Christians. It’s because John said this is what was GOING to happen. And then Jesus returns.

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).

The King IS coming!!

Tell your friends.

The late Jack Kinsella’s articles can be found in the Omega Letter archives at this link.