The past four months have ushered in a crisis like nothing else we’ve seen in recent history. To be certain, September 11, 2001, was a day that will continue to influence our way of life for the foreseeable future. As horrific as that event was, the coronavirus (Covid-19) and the current social unrest is equally consequential in scope and may prove to be even more momentous, because it has literally altered every aspect of society and daily life. As believers and ministers of the gospel, we need to understand what the Bible says regarding events that Jesus warned about, and we need to consider how to prepare Christians to walk circumspectly in a time when fellowship and faith are being compromised (Hebrews 10:23-25).

Compromise is a word I don’t use lightly, but it is exactly what a growing number of believers and even leaders are doing regarding fellowship and the gospel. This is nothing new, and many of us have noted these conditions as we write and preach about the growing defection from the faith that will ultimately lead to widespread global apostasy (1 Timothy 4:1-4).

While compromise isn’t new, it can become increasingly hard to recognize by those who place little emphasis on meeting together and the study of God’s word. In fact, compromised faith can be mistaken for the real thing, because it has just enough spiritual authenticity to deceive many people into believing a lie (2 Corinthians 11:3).

Our enemy is crafty, and the word of God reminds us as we approach the second coming of Jesus, great signs and wonders will occur through false prophets; and if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived. I’m so thankful for the grace of God (Matthew 24:24). So, how do we protect ourselves from the widespread deception Jesus said was coming and is increasing daily? We immerse ourselves into like-minded, Christ-honoring fellowship with other believers and remain grounded in the eternal truths of the Bible. Hebrews 10:25, “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

The writer of Hebrews makes it clear that if you are a discerning Christian, you will prioritize meeting together for encouragement and exhortation toward love and good works. Where does discernment come in? We are told to meet together and stir up one another all the more, as we see the Day approaching. This exhortation in light of the nearness of our Lord’s return can’t be understated, because a discerning believer will recognize the very same conditions Jesus warned about and know that time is short. This is no time for apathy or compromise. Our lamps should always remain full (Matthew 25:3-4).

Obviously, we have a biblical mandate to meet together for fellowship; and please let me encourage you to make it a point to reach out to other Christians for fellowship, discipleship, and encouragement. Even if it is just a quick email, letter, phone call, Zoom meeting, or FaceTime, it will be such a blessing to others and will go a long way toward stirring up one another to love and good works.

There is another side to fellowship and meeting together, and it is what I want to focus on in light of the recent events surrounding coronavirus and the recent social upheaval. I’ve listened very carefully to solid biblical teaching from fellow preachers in the past few weeks, and there is a consensus regarding the spiritual condition of our world in light of Bible prophecy. The current events surrounding coronavirus, social unrest, and its global impact are also serving as a reminder that, just as God has a faithful remnant church, there is an increasing number of people who name the name of Jesus but are being led astray into compromise and apostasy (Acts 20:28-30).

Just as there is authentic biblical unity among the true church rooted in the centrality of Christ and sound doctrine, there is also a convergence among those who are deceiving and being deceived based on unity at all costs and false doctrine. Looking at so-called Christian movements, celebrity pastors, and popular ministries that mimic the world’s methods, you will observe a consensus among them as well. The commonality is that they are focused on their kingdom, not God’s. It’s quite a racket because, on the surface, they are involved in ministry activities that masquerade as Christianity. In reality, they build their programs that lead many people away from the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

This false unity is increasingly, obvious during the current pandemic and social unrest because of the overtly ecumenical move toward putting our doctrinal differences aside and coming together for the common good. They will use religious words like church, gospel, and love to authenticate their spiritual deception. Often, this unity pays in dividends in increased numbers, worldly acceptance, and prominence in groups who laud one another instead of Christ.

Here is what one preacher said regarding fellowship in Christ vs. unity: “One hundred worshippers looking to Christ are nearer in heart than they could possibly be, were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.” – A.W. Tozer

Friends, anytime there is unity for the sake of the greater good and togetherness at all costs, instead of God’s glory, we are at Babel (Genesis 11:4). Please understand, I’m glad that people are being fed, churches are distributing protective masks, and tangible acts of human kindness are happening because true Christians should care for the least of these. But the unity that’s becoming prevalent in the evangelical world, especially here in America and the West, is based on a different gospel, albeit cloaked in religious programs, platitudes, and pandering.

True Christians are diametrically opposed to racism, but understand that manmade attempts to stop social unrest and the evil of racism through any other means outside of Jesus won’t work. No amount of ascribed guilt, unity based on a movement, or solidarity based on color instead of Christ will end hate. We can mourn and lament the brokenness of humanity and evils of racism with others, but attempts by Christians to engage hearts based on anything else but the gospel is nonsense. The wretched human heart must repent and be cleansed by the blood of Jesus for authentic love for others to flow ( 1 John 4:20).

False unity is exemplified by leaders in the largest denominations and supposedly gospel-based movements in the US and the West compromising biblical standards regarding sound doctrine to satisfy itching ears. False unity is many churches being preoccupied with social justice, instead of pointing people to the Prince of Peace who will bring true lasting justice. It is pop-star evangelical preachers promoting unity based on worldly movements instead of warning people about them. This isn’t the kind of fellowship and unity the Bible commands; rather, it’s an ecumenical movement leading toward apostasy (2 Timothy 4:3).

The imperative to not neglect meeting together as believers in Hebrews 10:25 should give believers a sense of biblical urgency, because it’s bolstered by discerning the nearness of Jesus’ return. The phrase “As you see the Day approaching” is meant to remind believers that we must make gathering together a priority as we discern the times we live in. Fellowship among the Saints is of utmost importance as discipleship, accountability, and encouragement stir up one another to love and good works in light of the Lord’s return. This is exactly where a mass divergence is taking place in the church. It’s no coincidence that those who teach and preach sound end-time Bible prophecy with regularity place an emphasis on evangelism, discipleship, and holy living (2 Peter 3:11-12).

Conversely, when Bible prophecy is ignored, or worse, maligned by Christian leaders, what follows is fellowship and unity based on a different gospel. 2 Peter 2:1-3, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.”

I wrote an article a few weeks ago and explained that: Coronavirus may come and go. I don’t know if it is one of the end-time pestilences Jesus warned would come, but I have no reason to believe it isn’t one. Although we certainly aren’t in the Tribulation as some conjecture, we may very well be approaching the birth pains and beginning of sorrows Jesus warned about as these events are increasing in frequency and severity like never before. I just can’t imagine fellowship that’s based upon mega-church programs and head-in-the-sand type of worldly optimism, all the while failing to warn people about the wrath to come, especially in light of recent events. I was hoping that we would see the emphasis taken off of men and methods and placed on proclaiming the gospel with a renewed sense of urgency.

I believe as spiritual deception increases, so will the divide between those who fellowship based on the gospel and others who base fellowship on an ecumenical purpose-driven type of false gospel (Jeremiah 23:16-17).

I expect that as we contend for the faith and base our fellowship in the centrality of Jesus, we will see growing disdain for the truth, even among those who profess to teach it. Those of us who lovingly teach that God’s righteous judgment is coming and warn people to repent will be ridiculed and maligned. The temptation to compromise our message is always at the door, because it comes via the preachers and prophets that Nehemiah warned about, albeit in our time. If you preach repentance, you are labeled out of touch. If you warn about the wrath to come, you are fearmongering. If you confront false doctrine, you are called divisive. If you teach end-time Bible prophecy, you are distracting people and irrelevant.

This divergence among professing Christians, and especially preachers and teachers, is growing more pronounced by the day. I was reading an old favorite book written in 1976 by David Wilkerson called Racing Toward Judgment. In it, he refers to slumbering shepherds as “Prophets of the positive.” Not much has changed in forty years. In fact, this type of unbiblical optimism has only increased exponentially, and we are that much closer to the wrath of God falling on an unrepentant world.

Dear friends, it is the Holy Spirit who gives the discernment to understand the times we live in and gives us the will to fellowship together, especially as we see the Day approaching. Let’s stand firm in our proclamation of the gospel and in true biblical unity based on the gospel of Christ alone. Even in these days of social distancing, we must be deliberate about fellowship, because none of us can stand alone.  We need like-minded, Spirit-led brethren to stir one another up in the love of Jesus and Spirit-led discernment.

Philippians 1:9-11, “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

Please reach out to other Christ-followers using whatever methods you can, because we can certainly see the Day approaching. Maranatha!

Every blessing in our Lord Jesus,

Howard

concerningthetimes.com

In 1948, George Orwell published his futuristic book, titled 1984. Here’s a short excerpt from what he wrote 72 years ago: “Every record has been destroyed or falsified. Every book re-written, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered.  And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”

Amazon describes the book 1984 like this: 1984 was George Orwell’s chilling prophecy about the future.  And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever.” Yes, Orwell seems to have had a pretty good grasp on where the evil hearts of men would eventually take us. And we’ve arrived.

Very little of what you see and hear in the officially-sanctioned mainstream press is true. We’re at a place where we EXPECT our government leaders and “public servants” to lie to us, profit illegally from their positions and exploit their power — all at our expense. It seems everything is a “stage production” — everything a well-orchestrated drama, played out in the media and consumed by the masses, and all designed to get us to believe lies, thereby molding our behavior and each of us acting out our designated roles in their perverted theater.

Two-plus-two no longer equals four. And if YOU THINK it does, you’re a “conspiracy theorist,” or a “hateful bigot” or a “science denier”! I’d like to share something with you that came across my desk recently. Here’s what it says: “How did they convince the world to: social distance, mask up, have no funerals, forcibly homeschool while still taxing us for public education, stay in our homes, stop going to church, forfeit incomes and personal businesses, spy on and report our friends and neighbors to authorities, hug our grandparents through plastic, have us all on the verge of a civil war…

“All to turn around and tell us that most of it is nixed and completely negated if we want to: riot, kill even more people, loot businesses (many already on the brink of bankruptcy), deface, replace or destroy national monuments, burn our cities, defund and disband our police and set everything on fire…

“And all the while, we’re allegedly at tremendous risk of an ‘oh-so-deadly’ virus that can be diagnosed without testing, or WITH so-called ‘testing’ being counted and reported dishonestly and reported on death certificates even if we die by falling off a cliff…

“And even though it’s ‘super dangerous,’ the things that actually keep us healthy, like: health-food stores, farmers markets, garden nurseries and seeds, gyms, health facilities, chiropractic centers, naturopathic health centers, outdoor activities and parks are taken away, but cigarettes and alcohol, fast-food joints, Walmarts and abortion centers were deemed ‘essential.’

“And now our country is becoming a war zone with a soon-coming mandated, UNproperly tested vaccine pushed by Bill Gates, that’s already shown severe reactions in so-called ‘testers.’ How did America, Home of the Free, become a fascist, communist regime — destroying lives and creating dependence so quickly?  Global totalitarianism, over a so-called ‘virus’ that’s becoming more and more questionable to more and more people. Why are so many just so blindly complying?”

These are good questions. I told you when this all began it was all very “fishy.” Things didn’t add up, not at all. I was accused of being a “conspiracy theorist” and a “fearmonger.” But people are now waking up to the frightening reality of just how easy it was to manipulate and control us all — over the “pandemic-that-never-was.” And every day the game changes, because they need to constantly keep us off-balance.

NOW, Fauci says widespread lockdowns are no longer needed in the US. The CDC has now stated that wearing masks is not only counter-productive, but harmful to our health. Yet more people than ever are wearing the masks in public, and enterprising businesses are springing up with custom-designed masks of all sorts. And INTERESTINGLY, some look very much like an Islamic “Niqab,” which is a veil for the face but leaves the area around the eyes clear.

Despite the latest admissions by health experts — and as I said, even the CDC — masks are now REQUIRED for ALL people outside their homes in 11 states as well as Washington DC.  Many cities and counties in other states are also implementing their own mask requirements, and there are many private businesses that will not allow you in their stores without a mask and/or without scanning your forehead to take your temperature. You cannot fly on ANY commercial airline without a mask either.

In Georgia, that state’s Department of Health, working with county Boards of Health, is now sending government officials out to make random stops, going door-to-door at randomly selected residences to collect blood samples. County health officials are being given “police-level” authority to impose citations, fines, arrest people, confiscate property, as well as children…and they can do this with impunity, just by claiming they have a “suspicion” that there may be some sort of “health risk.”

Personal privacy is quickly becoming a thing of the past, if it’s not completely gone already. “Contact tracing” is now being used to track and enforce stay-at-home orders. So-called “Health Authorities” are now grabbing data from cell phones to track peoples’ locations, travel and movements in countries AROUND THE WORLD, to make sure they’re complying with “social distancing recommendations.” The newest update on the Apple iPhone also includes functions for contact tracing. To the best of my knowledge, once you install their newest operating system — which all iPhone users will eventually be forced to do — you’ll have no way to disable that contact-tracing feature.

So, just in case you thought the “fake-virus-crisis” was over and we were back to “normal,” it isn’t and we’re not …and we may never be. But, as they say in “theater,” “on with the show…” Act II was the nationwide riots, which destroyed thousands of businesses that were already on the verge of bankruptcy after being considered “non-essential” by Big Brother and forced to close for months. The riots were based on “racial tensions,” of course, a tactic used frequently by the Left, with an emphasis on “out-of-control” police officers, who apparently kill people on a daily basis for fun and sport. At least that’s what the rioters (and those paying them) would have you believe.

I’m sure you’ve heard by now that we have a new sovereign country here within the United States. It’s known as “CHAZ,” which stands for Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone — about seven city blocks in the heart of Seattle. The “CHAZ” area is known for its homosexual population and sodomite-friendly businesses. The area was taken over by anarchists and rioters on June 11th after the violence there became so severe that police abandoned their precinct headquarters and fled in fear for their lives. CHAZ remained a “no-go-zone” for police, even as USA Today called the rulers of CHAZ “peaceful protesters,” and the Seattle mayor likened the whole thing to a “festival” or “block party,” where people were gathering lawfully and exercising their First Amendment right of free speech. I’m not kidding. That’s what she said.

Ironically, while the rulers of CHAZ are overwhelmingly in favor of illegal immigration and open borders for America, the first thing they did after capturing the ground was build a wall and set up armed guards and checkpoints. I should mention they’ve now changed the name to “CHOP,” which stands for “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest.”

An undercover reporter observed there is a constant heavy aroma of marijuana in the air within the borders of “CHOP.” People are sleeping in tents, buildings and streets are covered in graffiti, and armed patrols are going door to door extorting money from business owners and demanding that white people within “CHOP” pay “reparations” to blacks.

And while the warlord/leader of “CHOP,” rap performer “Raz Simone,” owns million-dollar properties in Seattle and drives a Tesla — AND has declared the area a “sovereign nation,” independent from the United States, he’s also demanding our federal government provide free healthcare and free income for all residents of his kingdom. And while the Seattle mayor continues to insist the new “nation” within her city is peaceful, on Saturday June 20th, two people were shot – one was killed, one left in critical condition. It seems law and order is a hard thing to maintain when the police are defunded and disbanded.

It’s important to remember that all of this came about through the efforts of anarchist groups like ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter, which are both correctly described as domestic terrorist organizations and hate groups. And make no mistake: both of these organizations are well funded by New World Order Globalists. Black Lives Matter was given more than $150 million by George Soros years ago when they first began. ANTIFA is comprised of those who believe in anarchy, communism, Marxism, “social democracy,” and socialism. ANTIFA clearly states their goal is to achieve their objectives through “direct action, violence and militancy,” and this includes causing property damage, doing physical violence and harassment of “racists” and “political conservatives,” who they deem to be “fascists.”

For the record, the definition of “Fascism” is as follows: “a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.” Does this not sound like EXACTLY what ANTIFA (AND Black Lives Matter) is all about? They want complete power, they want to forcibly suppress all opposition and criticism, they hate the idea of capitalism, therefore seek to control industry and commerce, and they put an aggressive emphasis on “RACE.” Once again, the Leftists are DOING the exact things they claim to be against. They’re the epitome of hypocrisy — in EVERYTHING they do, every time.

And while all of this was going on, the United States Supreme Court ruled on Monday, June 15th — by a 6-3 vote, that existing federal law forbids job discrimination on the basis of “sexual orientation or transgender status.” Supposed “Constitutional Conservatives” Neil Gorsuch and Chief Justice John Roberts voted with the majority.

This decision now essentially mandates every business and every institution — including churches, schools and youth organizations — must now hire and retain “transgenders,” regardless of any firmly held personal beliefs or Christian faith. Now, a man who was hired as a man, but suddenly “comes out” and “transitions” to look like a woman, cannot be let go from his job. And a man playing “dress up” when applying for a job at any institution cannot be turned down. Don’t think the LGBTQP+ militants won’t immediately start testing this out on the most prized trophies of all: Christian ministries and Christian-owned businesses.

For all practical purposes, the Supreme Court’s decision has once again made another unconstitutional so-called “law.” As I’ve pointed out many times, it wasn’t that long ago that any fifth-grade civics class student could have told you that courts do NOT make laws — only Congress has the power to do that.

Yet once again, even our president has stated, “They’ve ruled and we live with their decision. That’s what it’s all about, we live with the decision of the Supreme Court.” Well, I have no doubt we will HAVE to, Mr. President, but YOU of all people should know about our system of checks and balances and the roles of the three branches of government. Yet it seems NOBODY in American government ANYWHERE does.  Having sworn an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States, it seems our leaders should AT THE VERY LEAST know what it says. Perhaps they can’t read cursive.

Another win for the sodomites, “transgenders” and pedophiles — with another Supreme Court decision, now “codified” into yet one more fake law by a decision of six individuals.

Meanwhile, the persecution of Christ-followers is only growing worse. Governors and mayors threatening to bulldoze church buildings that continue to hold services despite “health” warnings. And a man was sentenced recently to 15 years in prison for the “hate crime” of removing a LGBT flag from the apostate United Church of Christ in Ames, Iowa…the heartland of America. Yes, they’re coming for Bible-believers. Perilous times are here. But remember: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

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Audio CDs and transcripts of this message are available when you call me at Wisconsin Christian News, (715) 486-8066.  Or email Rob@WisconsinChristianNews.com and ask for message number 295.