“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
The world is walking steadily into a deep fog of deception. As throughout the Bible, God is jealously calling his people out of the world, because judgment is coming to it (1 Cor 4:4, 11:14).
Worldly "virtue" is seducing believers. Because of divided hearts and the neglect of preaching from the pulpit about biblical prophecy and the gospel message that includes warnings about God's righteous judgment, Christians have been lulled to sleep.
Here is our instruction:
Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 13-15
There's a lack of knowledge about God's wrath that is upon the world because of our sin. God, in his holiness and love, is angry. He's anguished, because tepid "Christianity" seeks to undermine the crucifixion of his son (Hebrews 6:6). God is grieved at the cavalier, numb response to the increase of lawlessness in the world. At what the church is tolerating. Not because the grace of the cross can't wash us clean from all unrighteousness, but because his grace comes with the power of his holiness -- to go and sin no more (John 8:11). Holiness means to be "set apart" from the world.
"And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold." Matthew 24:12
The great falling away of the church is taking place because of culture's seductions regarding what is moral and good. Those who love him will experience a provocation in our spirits when we see his word and his son so brazenly blasphemed in the world and sugarcoated in the church, :
Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? James 4:5
God is going to restore the church to the way that he wants it (Rev. 2,3). And, he's going to use hard things in the world to do it. The true church won't look like the religious institution that many of us are used to. The church is his people, following the voice of their Shepherd. God is anointing surrendered vessels to come alongside him with missional urgency. He's looking for those who are seeking the glory of God. Many voices are rising in the wilderness to "make straight the way for the coming of the Lord!" (Mark 1:3, Isa 40:3) Many voices of warning are sharing the gospel call to repentance. We must not sugarcoat the truth -- that we are under judgment because of sin and need to call on Christ for forgiveness. God is exposing the wise, prudent and proud in order to humble people to repentance, so that they too, might lay down their religion and pick up their cross to follow Jesus.
Some, however, will not heed these warnings about deception and judgment. Like with Elijah, who was battered, ridiculed and abused, they don't recognize Almighty God in vessels that they are not expecting. Their god is their own ideas. (Acts 17:29) Even the pharisees didn't recognize Jesus, their own Messiah. And "John the Baptist? A revelator? Really?"
At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Matthew 11:25
I know what it's like to be mocked, shunned, and accused as a servant of God. To be gaslit by professing Christians who want to only hear smooth things. These criticisms and dismissals reveal how little people know of God’s character! The Lord will allow pride to render us deaf when we do not love the Truth, undividedly. And when we do not hear his prophets or believe in the gifts that he has imparted to those who seek him (Thess 5:20-21). We need to diligently seek the grace of God that enables us to die to self, as the walk in the Spirit goes, so that our vision is not shrouded. So that our ears are not plugged.
If we search his Word and seek him in the secret place, he will sharpen our vision of him. If we say that we cannot hear the Lord’s voice, we may need to repent. We have his Word, his gifts, his prophets, and the Holy Spirit, who guides us in all things and who reveals what’s to come. (John 14:26)
Seek the baptism of the Holy Ghost, just as at pentecost in the book of Acts. Press in until it happens. And after, too. And always. We need to be spirit-led in this age of increasing deception. We need to lay down our understanding. Our thoughts. What we thought we knew. This is necessary if we are to receive the mind of Christ and his guidance on what is ahead.
As I was searching for a particular verse, I came across this great compilation of examples in scripture about heeding the voice of God and the blessings that follow obedience. If you think you can't hear the voice of the Lord, I hope you'll be blessed by this:
God's faithful servants have walked through the fires of affliction to prepare us to walk in obedience and submission to the Lord as judgment comes to pass on the earth. We will be the city on a hill and a light for the scared world -- and his glory will be displayed (Matthew 5:14). All the hell that you have been through is for the glory that is coming. Our obedience to the unction of the Holy Spirit and the scriptures that validate these unctions will step on the toes of the religious church. And the the worldly church. Just like it will step on the toes of the world - which is a church of its own, reverencing secular humanist ideologies, pop liturgy, with the media -- and feelings as as scripture.
We dance with the devil and his deceptions if our hearts are impure and lack the ongoing, regenerative revelation of Christ. The cross means nothing to us if we continue to choose disobedience over obedience. True and acceptable obedience to God comes from loving him. Obedience out of a desire to escape punishment or religious check-boxing is unacceptable to the Lord, who wants to be known and in an intimate relationship with people who really love him. When we love God, we delight to trust and obey him.
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness! Matthew 7:22-23
The move of God's glory that is coming to his faithful ones, as with the spirit of Elijah, and as with Jesus, will expose hatred of the truth in the hearts of professing believers and churches. (2 Thess. 2:11)
We are entering the mouth of the valley where the Lord separates the wheat from the tares. (Matthew 13) The true church from the apostate church. The spirit-filled church from the worldly church. There cannot be unity where there is unholiness. There cannot be the Spirit where there is another god being hosted. This is why Christ had to die. To pay for our unfaithfulness to his word and reconcile us back to God. We make it clear to the Lord that his sacrifice is cheap to us when we continue on in disobedience. Grace is for putting sin to death -- for crucifying our flesh. There is power in God's forgiveness to go and sin no more.
In the coming days of judgment, we will be feel hard-pressed. We need the help of the Holy Spirit, who promises to transform us so that we do not do whatever we feel like doing in order to keep our worldly lives comfortable, convenient and pleasurable by carnal standards. God is going to put us through a ring of fire to test, refine, and confirm the allegiance of our hearts. Will we choose him over the world? Over our comfort? Even over food? Over family? Will we die for him?
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.” 1 John 18:15-19
Unless we abandon our understanding and our desires and our own will to seek his, in his word, we will not be transformed into the likeness of Jesus, bur rather, into a model-citizen that the world applauds and God rejects. Scripture leaves no room for confusion about what is expected as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
You unfaithful people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world's friend becomes God's enemy. James 4:4
Some churches will repent. Some will not. (See what the spirit says to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3.) Prepare now.Those whose faces are set on Jesus like a flint will be persecuted by the “church” as much as the world. We must not be thwarted by this gaslighting technique by the enemy. There’s no world - pleasing church whose god is not the devil. (John 8:44)
Those who are diligently seeking God will be lights for the world as it darkens. Those who have laid themselves on the altar as surrendered vessels for the Lord’s use will be used. Those who have submitted to the open-heart surgery of the Word and who willingly climb onto the altar of chastening are made into Christ’s pure and spotless bride. Those in the wilderness of suffering, who kindle their faith against all odds through God's grace, God is imbuing with power from on high. Those who know that they are utterly helpless without the Lord will be made helpful. Those who are seeking to glorify the Lord will be glorified with him. Those who are seeking the mind of Christ will set aside their own understanding and receive his thoughts. Those who have spent time in the secret place, listening to the Father’s voice and petitioning him for insight will begin to receive unction to act in the form of blessings, the laying on of hands, and even signs and wonders. Those seeking the gifts of the spirit shall receive them. (Matthew 7:7, 2 Cor 12)
We must not be timid. The righteous are as bold as lions (Prov. 28:1). We must not doubt the prompting of the Holy Spirit. If we are in his Word and are abiding in his presence regularly, we will be able to quickly discern his unction as he calls us to obedience in our daily interactions and tasks. He will take us out of our comfort zones, certainly. But, faith without works is dead. (James 2: 14-26)
Matthew 10
Those who are seeking their own glory or who have jealousy towards those operating in Holy Spirit power will burn with hate in these days. The finger of the accuser of the brethren will curse God’s anointed who are resisting deception and other unrighteousness, and who are obeying the command of the Lord that "greater things shall you do in my name." (John 14:12) Many will even be accused of operating in the power of Satan, just as Jesus was in Matthew 12, by religious folks. And there will be false signs and wonders, too. We need sharp discernment. We must continue to be loving, gentle, self-controlled and not take the bait of divisive arguing. But rather, carry on, confidently with the Lord in the joy and hope set before us.
The lukewarm, compromising church that God is calling out is described In Revelation 18. Disease of biblical proportion is coming. There will be lies flying back and forth in the media by "experts" about what is causing these plagues, but we must understand that the righteous judgment of God is behind them and seek his mercy while it is still found.
Thankfully, because of the Lord's mercy, the Bible leaves no room for confusion about any of this. God's word cuts through all deception like a sword. This is why God has been trying to warn people through his servants about the deception going in regards to the virus and the jab (but not limited to). He will allow these judgments to befall those who ignore and mock his merciful warnings. He calls all who have ears to hear:
“Come out of her, lest you receive of her plagues.”
It is the spirit of the antichrist, even in the church, that scoffs and sweetly sings in the ears, the sleep-making lullaby, "Jesus is not coming soon." If our attitude is to shrug off a message that says otherwise, we are listening to Satan's favorite hit. It's his mission to produce a veil of vagueness, disinterest or avoidance of end times biblical prophecy in the church, because it is where he meets his final demise.
According to Revelation 19:10, Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy. And what does he say?
"Behold. I am coming soon."
I believe that we are going to go through some intense fires before the rapture of the church. When the rapture of the church occurs, the Lord will remove the restrainer of evil with it -- The Holy Spirit. The mystery of iniquity (lawlessness and the antichrist) will be unleashed upon the world at never before seen proportions. Complete and unrestrained evil and injustice will torment all inhabitants of the earth. Don't be left behind to suffer the tribulation. Call on Jesus.
“For the mystery of iniquity is already work: only he who holds it back will do so until he is taken out of the way.” 2 Thessalonians 2:7
Right now, the presence of God and the Holy Spirit through the true church is holding back the evil that Satan wants to unleash. If you are reading this after the disappearance of the saints, call on Jesus -- but prepare to starve or die for him during the tribulation, and you will inherit eternal life. Everything else you are told about this is a lie from the serpent's mouth, who will continue to say, as he did to Eve, "God didn't really say....". Eternal life with God is better than the eternal torment of hell and any lie that any antichrist-savior of the world will offer on earth.
You will be offered many glittering things -- even a new and improved body. Reject the counterfeit offering of Christ's glorified body. Reject the beast system's mark on your body and other ways that Satan will infiltrate the gene pool to possess humanity for himself. God will reward your endurance and will be your help and strength through it. Get your hands on his life-giving word, the Bible, and count on him to help you understand it and endure to the end.
Revelation 22
Here's a great song to bring it all together, written over a decade ago, by the great prophet and theologian, Lauren Hill ; )
Come before the Lord with a sincere prayer. It's not our words that save us. It's a genuine heart of faith, evidenced by love for God a new desire to turn from sin and to obey him. When we are truly saved through faith, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell inside us and changes us. It's amazing.
Lord, I believe that you died to pay the wages of my sin, which is death, and that you were buried and raised from the dead on the third day, according to scripture. I want the free gift of your grace, offered by Jesus on the cross. I want to receive the Holy Spirit as my friend, guide and counselor. Enable me to understand the Bible and give me a hunger to read your word. Show me, Lord, me how to follow after Jesus. I give my life to to you, today. Make me new. Help me to love you and seek you diligently and reveal yourself to me through your Word.
And, if I have given my life to you before but have wandered off, I return as a prodigal daughter or son who wants the fullness of all you are as my inheritance through faith in Jesus. I repent of _____________ and receive your mercy and forgiveness. Re-tenderize my conscience, Lord, wherever I have allowed it to be seared by walking in willful rebellion. Make me sensitive to your spirit. Baptize me in the Holy Spirit like the disciplines in the upper room at Pentecost. Come over me with that same fire that makes me hungry for you. Wash me clean, Lord, because of what Jesus did to forgive my rebellion. Give me a faithful heart that wants to surrender all parts of my life to you, for your use and your glory. Thank you for loving me enough to offer your own son for my salvation. Amen.
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:38