The widely taught story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego is known to almost all professing Christians. This is a wonderful story of faith and placing our trust in God. I see an additional message that is less frequently taught that is as universally applicable and helps fully define what true faith and true trust really means. The untaught lesson is the one on overcoming.
Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death
This passage from the Book of Revelation describes the true children of God who overcame the dragon (Satan) that was cast to the earth and prosecutes God’s church (the woman) and His children. These saints reaped eternal life because they died to themselves and loved not their life even when faced with death. They willingly submitted themselves to the Lord and like Him carried their cross to their death and walked into the furnace of fire rather than bowing to Satan, his image and the false gods that sit exalted and calls itself religion.
The water of lies is being poured out in increasingly proportions and many who thought they were on a solid foundation are being shaken down to the ground. They are on the wrong rock and our being destroyed for lack of knowledge of truth. The purpose of this post is define and show what is meant by overcoming. We must overcome to receive our crowns of life on the Day of Judgment.
Nobody gets a free pass just for saying words of praise or worship with their lips. ALL must come through the fiery furnace and pass the tests and trials that God has purposefully put between us and Him. These tests and trials are the fiery furnace and the allegory of the one foretold in the well-known story about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. I will get to this story a little later in this post.
The Fiery Furnace Purifies
Once we come thru the furnace we will be empowered with the FIRE of the Holy Spirit. That is how Jesus walked out of the wilderness, in the POWER of the Spirit. This is how we do the works of Jesus and even greater works. But we need the power of the Spirit of God.
Luke 4:14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit
This power only comes after we come thru the devil’s fire. This is why Christianity has lost all of its power that Jesus promised us we would have. We have not purged out sin, we have not overcome and hence the power of the Holy Spirit and His Fire is not working in us. This is a bad spot to be in when the flood is unleashed in the end times. We will easily be deceived and many already have as the flood is already pouring out.
Coming thru the furnace God put between us and the tree of life is how we are purified and made Holy being full of the Spirit. This is the Lord’s will for all of us and we must pursue this holiness at all costs in order to see Him. The furnace is how we are made pure and holy, it is what burns out all the impurities from our wicked sinful nature and prepares us for eternal life with the Lord. Nothing impure will enter the New Heaven and the New Jerusalem. Jesus comes back for a pure and spotless bride, holy and blameless. The only way is thru the fire.
1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you
Rev 3:18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Malachi 3:2-3 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3“He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness.
Hebrews 10:31-33 But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, 33partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.
The devil has spoken lies through our churches and false teachers all in the name of religion. These lies tell us salvation is a cakewalk and that we do not need to overcome sin and lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. This false religion tells us we can stay married to our flesh and be married to Jesus, walking as harlots and adulteress’s and enter the Kingdom. On the last day, very many will be disappointed and aghast at the deception they drunk their entire life. They had a form of godliness, meaning they were religious but they denied the power of Christ and His Spirit to transform them into a new creation. As a result, they never came through the furnace, they did not overcome, they did not die to self, their fleshly lusts were never put to death. They worshipped Jesus in vain.
1 John 3:3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
The Enemy is the Furnace
The “him” spoken of in the opening Revelation 12 passage above, is the dragon and the powers of darkness. These creations of the Lord serve the Most High and as I showed in God’s Mighty Army are God’s instruments of testing and judgment upon all that dwell on the earth. The powers of darkness are the wrath of God, they are the smoke of His judgment and they bring the fire that scorches and withers faith. This same fire that scorches also purifies if we stand on faith planted securely on the Rock Eternal. After the fall of Adam and man’s exclusion from Eden, God placed His Mighty Servants to guard the path to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
This is a deep mystery, the mystery of lawlessness that is hidden deep in the Scriptures but is now being revealed in the end times. The peals of thunder that John heard in Revelation I believe was this secret that God chose not reveal and specifically told John not to write about.
Revelation 10:4 When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.”
I recently wrote that the wise will never ever see this truth, that the powers of darkness work for the Lord and serve Him in carrying out His righteous judgments and His plan of redemption for His children. But God also said that in the end times that these secrets will be revealed and they are beginning to be seen. You can read the post on this secret HERE.
So God has placed His creation, the powers of darkness between us and Him. That is what we must overcome, that is the furnace we must come through. Yet God is faithful and He sent Jesus His Son, so that in Him we may be raised to newness of life, walk in the power of His Spirit and overcome sin and the world, both of which are the dominion of Satan. It is by grace that we are saved as we in our flesh are no match for these heavenly creations.
All faith is tested and all sin is judged that is not repented of and cleansed by the blood of Jesus. This testing is a life long pursuit, it is not one and done. This is why we are admonished to endure to the end, to persevere and as Paul said finish the race that we started. There is no resting on your laurels on the narrow road that leads to life. Even Jesus, who walked this earth as a mere man, drained totally of all godly deity went through the furnace. Jesus had to overcome and He did so marvelously showing us the way. We are to walk as Jesus walked. Consider the passage from Luke where Satan had finished the initial trials and temptations.
Luke 4:13 When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time. So Satan left Jesus for a season, but as the passage says, he was coming back at an opportune time. It is the same way for us, we must be on guard for the rest of our lives in this body or until the Lord returns.
Paul spoke of times where he felt like he was running his race in vain. Yet Paul endured, he never left the path of righteousness but obeyed the Spirit that was leading him until the very end. Paul suffered immensely yet he overcome by the blood of Jesus that gave him the supernatural grace to come through the fiery furnace. Hopefully none of us will endure what Paul endured, but we need to learn from his example as well as the one from the life of Jesus here as a man. So when these afflictions come upon you, do not despair but keep your eyes on Christ and trust not in your own flesh.
Isaiah 48:10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction
How We Overcome
We overcome through the blood of Jesus and our testimony of His Word. It is by grace, the power of God working IN US — that we overcome. That is the only way to be saved. The grace of God has appeared to all men yet most have forfeited or wasted the grace bestowed upon them. They have not said no to ungodliness and continue to love and practice sin. Many lord over their own lives and while they say they believe in Jesus, the Lord is a second fiddle and an idol in their heart. That is idolatry or harlotry my friends and we cannot rationalize away the Word of Truth. Jesus said we cannot serve two masters. We either serve sin or we serve Jesus. Paul defined this clearly in Romans 6.
Romans 6:16-18 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
This truth has been perverted by the false church of the end times which does nothing to teach or attempt to purge sin out of the church and its members. Very few understand what the furnace is, why God set it up and the absolute requirement that WE MUST OVERCOME. We have got to be willing to faithfully walk into the furnace and die to ourselves and put our trusts in Jesus. That is what Jesus meant by verses such as this one.
John 12:25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life
Overcoming Equals Eternal Life
2 Timothy 2:11-12 It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; 12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us
If we have not already seen this in Scripture, it will be crystal clear after we review what Jesus told the seven churches in the Book of Revelation. At the end of all these messages, Jesus links overcoming with some aspect of the gift of eternal life. I take great hope in these promises and they weigh heavy on my heart as I make choices to obey God or not obey Him. What wonderful things await us IF we overcome. Here are the seven messages to the churches about overcoming:
Ephesus – Revelation 2:7 – To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God. This is eternal paradise defined, eating from the tree of life. Access to this tree is guarded as we saw in Genesis 3:24. We must get past the defender, the powers of darkness and overcome them to make it to paradise. The fallen church has totally forgotten the WAR and in ignorance and blindness is leading sheep to the slaughter.
Smyrna – Revelation 2:11 – He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death. The second death is hell, eternal damnation and separation forever from God. It is simply death but what a waste if one throws away such a precious and great salvation that is a gift from God. Those in paradise do not go to Hell, a very good thing to avoid.
Pergamum Revelation 2:17 – To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it. If Jesus is really our LORD, then we are given a new heart, we become the living stones and are fed by the Holy Spirit which is here in this life and the life to come. Once we pass from death (to flesh) to life (led by the Spirit), we no longer lusts for the things of this world and are indeed Born Again into God’s kingdom.
Thyatira Revelation 2:26 – He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; 27AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father; 28and I will give him the morning star. Those who make it to the New Heaven are given authority to judge the ungodly and Satan and his demonic angels. Paul tells us we will judge angels and the only angels getting judged are the evil ones not the ministering spirits that guard and protect us. The morning star in this passage is Satan. Jesus is the BRIGHT morning star in Revelation 22:16, Satan is the false Jesus that deceived the whole world and he is not bright but dark. It is much better to be the delegated Judge than to be the one being judged. We must overcome to attain that position.
Sardis Revelation 3:5 – He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. We must be clothed in white garments, pure and Holy having been sanctified by the power of God working IN US. The Parable of the Wedding Feast in Matthew 22 tells us what happens to the man than sneaks in without the right garments. He is cast out into utter darkness. Our names must remain written in the Book of Life, our failure to overcome sin and the powers of darkness in our lives will result in the erasure of our names from the Book of Life.
Philadelphia Revelation 3:12 – He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. This is the opposite of the Mark of the Beast, it is the Mark of God. The Mark of the Beast is simple, it is given to all that do not overcome the flesh and are led by the Spirit. Walking in the flesh, either as an unbeliever or a double minded harlot equals the Mark of the Beast. It is not some microchip and people need to quit looking to the natural as Jesus comes quickly. If we are marked by God, we are led by the Spirit, our mind (forehead) is focused on Jesus and our deeds (our hand) are doing the works of God.
Laodicea Revelation 3:21 – He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. We get to sit with the LORD in heaven IF we learn to walk as Jesus walked. Glory Be To GOD!. He overcame and we must also if this is our hope for eternity. Where man-made church got the idea of saying some words that you believe and you are signed sealed and delivered to heaven could have only come from the arch deceiver that sits exalted today in church as Jesus.
Overcoming is Not Easy
1 Peter 4:18 AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER?
The Christian walk is far from a cake walk. We must overcome all that is in our way and follow Jesus. It is a difficult and challenging road that leads to eternal life. We have all kinds of temptations, fleshly desires and even a very real enemy that must be overcome. The false gospel is very easy, it is sold as a piece of cake. All you need to do is say these words and come to our church and it is a done deal. The King of Babylon had a similarly easy criterion. Just bow down to the image of god he created and everything will be just fine the people were told. But Shadrach and his faithful brothers in the Lord did not bow, they took the difficult way to eternal life and came through the furnace.
Paul called our walk of faith, a race of endurance, one that we must not only start but we must also finish.
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us
Near the end of his life, Paul wrote to Timothy knowing he had little time. Paul knew the gift does not come until the very end. We do not overcome and then coast into the finish line. We must keep running, enduring trials, temptations and furnaces until God calls us home.
2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 8in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
If we are not purified, we will not see the Lord. The Word is quite clear on that despite what you may have heard from blind leaders. Many have placed their trust in men and books written by men and have forsaken the truth.
Revelation 21:7-9 He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” It is worthy to note that the fearful or cowardly that do not risk their lives and walk into the furnace in obedience to God do not make it. We must follow God and He sends us out amongst the wolves that own the world. We cannot live in fear but must fully trust God just like the faithful men like Shadrach. Avoiding the furnace is not overcoming the furnace. We must believe Jesus and that means so much more than just that He was the Son of God. Even the demons believe that James tells us and they shudder. We must believe that He will see us through the furnace. That is true faith. The watered down the gospel of truth has people ignorant of the furnace and is leading them to destruction.
All faith is tested continually until the very end. God does it, it is His will as a jealous God and a consuming fire. He demands our whole hearts and it is for this testing that the Lord sends the powers of darkness and put us into the furnace of life. If we are really standing on the Rock Eternal, Jesus will be there with us through the test and not a hair on our head will be singed. But if we are standing on a different rock and a different gospel and a different Jesus then we will be consumed by the fire. Sadly this is where most Christians are, they are being scorched, burned and devoured by God’s chosen instruments of judgment and discipline.
The Lord will deliver His people, IF they walk in covenant with Him and obey His statutes. Not only did God deliver Shadrach from the furnace but as the story in Daniel tells us; God prospered them in this life and their obedience and faith was rewarded with Blessings from God. We are promised the same thing today.
May God Bless You Richly!
Revelation 14:9-10 Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
The end time prophecy about taking the Mark of the Beast has been the subject of all kinds of speculation and theories. Most christians have been told this mark is something “new” that will come forth based on technological advances of mankind. I see a totally different reality about this Mark of the Beast. It is already here now and has been for a very long time. Most professing Christians have ALREADY taken the Mark. But there is good news, we can replace the Mark with the Mark of God if we repent and are birthed by the Spirit of God.
The Mark of the Beast is really quite simple. All are born with a sinful nature, we are indeed children of the devil and are destined to take the Mark of the Beast unless we come to know Christ and are transformed into a new creation. Said another way, the Mark of the Beast is simply walking in the flesh. It is the antithesis of being born again. The gospel of Jesus Christ is all about losing our life to gain our life. It is about putting to death this sinful nature, the old man and being renewed by the Spirit of God and walking henceforth being led by the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote a wonderful verse that defines this.
Romans 8:5-6 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so
This is how we stop practicing sin and are released from the Law. The Scriptures speak to this front cover to back cover, but understanding the simplicity of this has been overrun by the complexity or the error of deception brought by our enemy. I will show you the references to the Mark and share my understanding on the words in the Book of Revelation regarding this hot topic of speculation.
What Accompanies the Mark
Many Christians are gulping down the wine of the wrath of God. This is doctrines of demons. As the opening verse shows, it is those who take the Mark are made to drink the wine and the wrath of God that accompanies the wine. This is the simply the false doctrines (wine) and the powers of darkness (the wrath). This is how believers have been blinded and put to sleep as I have been writing on of late. Most Christians are drunk as a skunk with their doctrine and false religion and unless they awaken and sober up quickly will be lost to the final judgment that looms on the horizon. Man made religion is fallen, Mystery Babylon the Great is fallen. This is false religion based on another gospel, a religion that is actually promoting and serving a false Jesus, the dragon himself. The events of the Book of Revelation are mostly complete, the majority of what we call church is bowing TODAY to the image of the Beast. The abomination that causes desolation is ALREADY standing in God’s temple, which is inside of God’s people.
When Jesus walked in the flesh, God’s people were looking to the natural world to see signs of their coming Savior. They totally missed it and Israel lacked any wisdom that their Lord had come as the spiritual Savior of their souls, not a fleshly kingdom. The same egregious error is happening again as it relates to the interpretation of prophecy about the end times. While there are things happening in the natural that provide credence to natural interpretations of prophecy, it all does not line up. It is a distraction caused be the enemy and allowed by God to help usher in and reinforce the strong delusion we are told will come and deceive the whole world. The Lord is coming quite soon and anyone thinking they can read the newspaper and be smart enough to know what time it is on God’s clock is going to be rudely awakened while they are spiritually asleep. Jesus will come when NOBODY expects Him, except the very few, the Holy Remnant that will be sober, awake and watching.
Mark of God and the Beast
The Mark of the Beast is described in Revelation as being on one’s hand or on their forehead. Markings on our hands and our forehead are spoken of in many places in the Prophets. This language really speaks to our deeds (what we do, ie your hands) and what our mind is focused on (the mind set on the Lord not the things of the world).
Before I show you some things on the Mark of the Beast, we need to understand there is also a Mark of God. This is the Mark you must have to enter the Kingdom. The simplicity and purity of our devotion to Christ is summed up in His Foremost Commandment. Love HIM with all your heart. Understanding the Mark of the Beast and the Mark of God is just as simple. You don’t need to have a PhD in Bible Studies, you just need to obey God from a pure heart and you will be marked by God.
Deuteronomy 6:5-8 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7“You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
Exodus 13:8-9 You shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9“And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt. We are all born into the world (Egypt) and like the original Israelis are brought out of Egypt (the world) by the Spirit of God. Our testimonies serves as the sign on our hands and our forehead if we walk in purity and holiness being led by the Holy Spirit. That is the Mark of God.
Ezekiel 9:4-5 The LORD said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.” 5But to the others He said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. Before God sent the destroyer in, His true believers and followers were marked for protection.
Isaiah 44:5 ”This one will say, ‘I am the LORD’S'; And that one will call on the name of Jacob;
And another will write on his hand, ‘Belonging to the LORD,’
Revelation 7:2-4 And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads
God has relented and delayed His coming as He is patient and wishes no man to perish. The four Whirling Wheels of Ezekiel are these four angels that execute final judgement beginning at the house of God. They have been held back until the full remnant is sealed and marked by God on their foreheads.
The sons of God are led by the Spirit of God. If we really are sons, we will have died to ourself, putting to death the deeds of the flesh. We will have been crucified with Christ and raised anew in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. We will no longer be walking in our flesh, we will be a new creation with marks shown by our deeds (hand) and our heart (your mind) will be 100% given to God and our whole desire will be to please Him and do His will. This is what is written on our forehead. This is not accomplished by merely saying some words with your lips.
Christians Are Deluded Into Taking the Mark
I can’t imagine many Christians short of a gun to their head to walk up and take the mark of the beast. If they truly believe in Christ they would not do that, they would rather die and go to heaven then take a mark that condemns them to Sheol. The mark is taken without Christians even being aware they are taking the mark. They are deceived into taking it, they are not forced to do it. This passage and what I have mostly written about describes how the mark gets taken.
Revelation 13:14-17 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
I am going to convey my understanding of key aspects of this complex passage below. First you need to know that the “he” referenced in here is the false prophet, which is really multiple prophets and represent the organization and leadership of the Apostate Churches or Mystery Babylon themselves. These false churches serve the spirits of AntiChrist (the Beast from the Sea), which are really demon spirits whom in turn serve the dragon or Satan directly. The role of the Apostate Church is to get the nations to worship the image of the Beast. This image is false “religion” that is based on doctrines of demons which is poured out and drunk in increasing quantities as the end nears. Most Christians are bowing to their religion which they believe is the truth but it is false religion and has become an idol in their heart. They want to believe the ear tickling gospel of Love that leaves out the judgment, the fear and absolute requirement to walk in purity and holiness before God. This is no gospel at all, it is delusion. I am not going to rehash all of that here but if you are so lead, you can read these posts Worshipping Image of Beast, Jesus Walked As Man, and Churches Are Drunk.
Key Consequences Related to the Mark
Let’s review two things from the above passage applicable to those that take the Mark of the Beast.
1. Those that DO NOT Worship the Beast are killed
If we don’t come out out of this false church having the mark of God, we will be killed. Jeremiah saw the initial destruction of the fallen away church and spoke to the death and risk of life that apostasy brings to the true sheep.
Lamentation 5:9-11 We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness. 10Our skin has become as hot as an oven, because of the burning heat of famine. 11They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.
Killing in this sense is not physical death, it is spiritual death and attacks from the powers of darkness. You either go along with the false gospel and the false Jesus or you are surrounded and attacked by the enemy. These attacks come directly thru lies and oppression of demons, and also come from spirits of the antiChrist working thru the church and the people who have taken the mark and drunk the sweet yet poisonous wine. Others have been so harmed that they leave church and fall totally away from any belief in Christ. Innocent blood is shed by these organizations that teach the false gospel and that is what this killing refers to. I don’t dismiss the fact the Catholic church killed millions physically centuries ago but this end time prophecy speaks to and end time spiritual destruction. People are dying from unbelief and the afflictions brought on by the powers of darkness. They see the promises in the Bible not being manifest and they do not believe yet the reason the promises are not manifest is because there is no power in the false church because the religion of today has not purged sin out. They have mixed with the world and perverted the truth. The True Church we are told will be led by the Spirit into the wilderness where they will be protected by God as everyone else goes thru tribulation. We are told to come out and be separate and touch not what is unclean, we need to get out of Babylon and trust God and the seal He has placed on our foreheads, if we really are His.
Revelation 9:4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads
Unless we truly die to self and are Born Again as a new and transformed creation walking in the Spirit and power of Christ, we will be overcome by the enemy. In the above passage, when the flood of deceit (not of water) is unleashed, the powers of darkness, they are told not to harm those that have been marked by God. These are the Elect and Chosen of God.
Those that do bow down to the image, worship the false Jesus, follow the false gospel and take the Mark are still destroyed in the end. Those that walk in the flesh will attack those that don’t and will seek to kill them and all the while think they are doing a service to God. The god they serve and bow to is the one with a little g, not GOD ALMIGHTY. The cult of apostate Christianity in all of its forms and denominations is a powerful force of coercion. The demons cannot afford to have any dissenters preaching real truth that would expose the big LIE and the deception they have so craftily worked upon the people. Jesus told us to FLEE from this church when we see the signs of its abomination and the spiritual armies surrounding it. I see it crystal clear and its foretelling is in the Scripture and the record is unbroken.
Luke 21:21-22 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
Matthew 24:15-16 Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. 18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.
When you see these things we are told to run not walk out of there. We are not to go back to the “world” either which is the references to getting things out of your house or your clothes. The Angels told John about Babylon the Great Harlot Church and the judgments that would come upon it. After being shown what the Babylon Church was all about, another voice came with a warning to the saints.
Revelation 18:4-6 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her (Babylon), my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6 Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.
People in these false churches and false religion are harlots. Mystery Babylon is called the Mother of Harlots. Harlots are Christians that have not died to self. They are married to their flesh and claim to be married to Jesus. That is adultery. Since their flesh has not died, they are still under the Law and the wrath of God abides upon them. They cling to clichés like “it is finished” but are blind to the truth and continue to drink the sweet wine of deception. The true church is not supposed to be hanging out with people who call themselves brothers yet practice sin. With such people, we are told we should not even eat.
2. No one may buy or sell except those who have the Mark
Luke 17:28 It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building
It is a very good thing if you are found not buying or selling when Jesus returns. The ones doing that are the ones that will be destroyed just as in the days of Lot. I see this reference pointing directly to the merchandising of religion and the spreading of a false gospel thru the works of the flesh. The doomed flock spoken about to Zechariah indicates the doomed will be selling souls into bondage to the world and the false religion.
Zechariah 11:5 Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I have become rich!’ And their own shepherds have no pity on them
If you have the Mark of the Beast that is what you are doing. You may think you are serving God but you may be surprised. Jesus builds the church, we are to preach the gospel not build churches. True Christians that walk in the Spirit will not be peddling doctrine and building their own tower into heaven, they will be led by the Spirit of God.
Those that speculate about imbedded microchips being the Mark misunderstand what is meant by buying or selling. They are looking to the natural for some kind of debit card scheme coming in the form of a microchip. From the carnal mind this makes sense but the Mark is a spiritual not a physical mark.
The treasures in God’s temple are the very souls of His true people. In the Prophets it speaks to the plunder of the Temple and this allegorically refers to the lost souls of God’s people, and even though material things like candle sticks are mentioned, the lesson was a spiritual lesson not one about candle sticks. God could care less about a golden candlestick. We are His candlesticks, His light on earth, a reflection of His light.
I see the two one line Kingdom parables in Matthew giving us some insight into what is meant by buying and selling. True Christians that have the Spirit will make ONE transaction to sell themselves and buy the real Gold from Jesus. This is dying to self plain and simple and being born again as a new creation led by the Spirit of God.
Matthew 13:44-46 The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Jesus tells the last church of the end times, the church of Laodicea to buy gold from Him only. He has already paid the price, but we must be willing to sell and die to ourselves. The Parable on the 10 Virgins speaks to the foolish virgins needing to go buy some oil (Holy Spirit) but of course there was not enough time, it is too late once the Bridegroom comes.
Matthew 25:9-10 But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and BUY some for yourselves.’ 10“And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came
So I believe that NOT being able to buy or sell has nothing to do with buying or selling physical items like food or clothing – but that it refers to trafficking in the religious trappings of the Babylon Church and its accompanying works of the flesh. If we take the Mark, we will not be able to crucify our flesh and we will remain a harlot in a church that produces harlots. If we take the Mark, we will not be able to buy the gold from Jesus. The real WORD will not be given or understood by people walking in the flesh. There will be a drought meaning the Holy Spirit is not be able to perform the sanctification and circumcision of our hearts.
Once you are indoctrinated and made drunk with the false doctrine of Babylon and get in line then you are empowered in their organizations to “fish for souls”, evangelize, preach, and be taught. But to buy and sell their stuff you need to along with their traditions, their gospel, their Jesus and their doctrine. If you do not conform, you will be branded a heretic and ultimately kicked out of the synagogue if not converted. I believe this is the Satanic counterfiet of buying and selling with the true God. Jesus does not allow us to buy/sell His truth, or even see it if we have impure hearts and practice sin. In the same way, in Satan’s church you are not be able to buy or sell unless you have the devil’s Mark.
The way I see the problem is that if you are truly seeking the Living God and you go to one of these Babylon Churches, you will either speak out (try to sell truth) against the famine of the WORD and the lack of the Holy Spirit (drought) that is there or you will quietly become part of the problem by shrinking back from the true God and the true WORD. You will not be able to SELL the truth about sin, repentance and judgment to the deceived Christians inside these churches. Likewise you will not be able to receive any real spiritual blessing (BUY) from the false church because the wine and the food that is served will be an abomination to the true God that you follow.
The passages about Jesus in the Temple turning over the tables speaks to the buying and selling that went on in God’s former physical Temple. This was an abomination to God but I believe the message has a deeper reference to the spiritual merchandising of religion and false doctrines of the fallen away church of the end times.
Mark 11:15-17 Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17 Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”
The demons are the thieves, they have come to kill, steal and destroy God’s people. What man calls church is indeed a den of thieves as sin has been accommodated and the sweet wine of Satan has gotten everyone drunk and stumbling in the day light. They stumble over the stumbling stone which is the real Jesus. Their flesh does not want to hear about the dying to self and paying the price of following Jesus. They will kick you out if you try to tell them that. True Born Again Christians that are dead to their flesh and renewed by the Spirit will not be allowed to buy or sell anything in this false temple called Mystery Babylon. Here is an example.
John 12:41-43 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
Very many Christians, in fact the most, love the approval of men more than love the approval of God. My Bible says you won’t be found worthy of God if this is the case.
Summary
The mark of the beast simply means you have the mind and the nature of Satan. If you walk in the flesh you have this mark and you cannot be led by the Spirit of God. This is not rocket science, it is simple. If you are not Born Again and do not die to your flesh nature, you have the mark of the beast. Your mind thinks like Satan, the beast. You are focused on the lusts of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the boastful pride of life. Those are the same things Satan is interested in and is focused on.
If you go to man built church that teaches the false gospel and worships the false Jesus, you will either be awakened to the truth and come out of Babylon or you will continue to drink the sweet wine of false doctrine and will remain in captivity and blinded to the truth. If you take this Mark and do not get rid of it by a true circumcision by the God, you will die. I say this out of Love that any that do not really know God and hear His live voice, will pause and examine themselves to see if they are in the true faith.
Romans 8:12-13 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh– 13for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Only those that DO NOT have the Mark of the Beast will be going to heaven. Are you still walking in the flesh with this mark? Here is what the Apostle John saw and was told about those that were in heaven.
Revelation 20:4-5 Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
The deceivers have come and have everyone’s focus looking to the natural for interpretations of the end times. If they only had the spiritual eyes to see, they would see that virtually all the signs in the Book of Revelation are ALREADY IN PLACE. Jesus will come like a thief when NOBODY is expecting HIM. I am blowing a trumpet, I am telling you, HE IS COMING VERY SOON. Repent and turn to the real Jesus and the real God and be led by His Spirit. THERE IS STILL TIME, THE DOOR IS STILL OPEN. If you do not, you will die immersed in your religion and will be astonished and stunned when you realize you have been serving Satan all along. Our Judge comes quickly. There is little time left to put on the divine nature of Christ.
May God Bless You Richly!
Luke 17:17-21 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” 18And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. 19Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. 20“Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” 21At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight
One of the great mysteries of God is Satan and the powers of darkness. This is the mystery of lawlessness spoken of by Paul in 2 Thess. What is widely taught or understood about our enemy is just plain wrong and deceptive. That is of course the enemies game, to deceive us and keep us in spiritual darkness and that starts and ends with who they are and how they work in our lives to kill, steal and destroy our lives and our faith. God of course allows this or even better said, purposefully sends them forth to test us and bring us through the fire of purification and sanctification. If we do not endure this furnace by standing with God alone, we will be overcome with deception and spiritual blindness. I was finally shown this truth and it has changed my life, brought me much closer to God and given me a fresh boldness in speaking the true gospel even though it brings derision and rejection by the world. The truth comes against flesh and it ruffles the feathers of the religious traditions of men. We were promised it would happen and I am seeing it play out first hand.
The context of this anchor passage from Luke is the 70 “baby” and newly minted disciples returning from their first evangelical mission. These new disciples were full of joy because they saw the glory of God manifest when they freed many from demons in the name of Jesus. Jesus then prayed to the Father, praising God for hiding the knowledge and the workings of the power of darkness from the worldly-wise and intelligent. This is consistent recurring theme throughout all the Scriptures. God is the sole provider of true wisdom and He alone reveals the truth to whom He decides. We do not get revelation from a man, a teacher, a Pastor unless God is using that person and your heart is ready to receive the truth. When the real Jesus has your whole heart, not the false idol Jesus found in man built church systems; God brings forth revelation of the mysteries of His Kingdom. The powers of darkness are clearly one such mystery and most people have indeed been blinded to the truth about these servants of the Most High God. Jesus goes on as recorded in Luke and reaffirms the special privilege on seeing the mystery and workings of the powers of darkness.
Luke 10:25 Turning to the disciples, He said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see, 24for I say to you, that many prophets and kings wished to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them
When did God change? When did all the demons go away? I read about them all through the Book of Acts and in many Epistles. Why did Jesus tell us we would do the works He did and even greater works? Why did Jesus tell us we would cast out demons in His name? The point is they have not gone away, we have just been deceived about them and the mystery. We have been blinded by our love of sin. We have picked and chosen through the Word of God to build doctrines based on half truths but many essential truths, including the powers of darkness as God’s wrath and storm have been stripped away little by little until we have totally perverted the truth. Here a little, there a little said the Prophet Isaiah about this decay.
Our ministry for God is to make disciples teaching them to obey all He commanded. Our model is the model Jesus showed us in finding the 12, then adding the 70 then telling us to go make more in the great commission. Without the truth about evil and the powers of darkness, we pervert the Word of God by watering down the truth about sin and judgment. Cutting out the truth about Satan and the powers of darkness is essential to deceive the whole world. Jesus said the majority of Christians would be deceived in the end and they in fact are already and that is just one sign we know the end is coming very soon. I wrote a post about the Success of Deception a while back based on Jesus words about the end times.
Matthew 24:11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people
As shown in Revelation 13, the False Prophets come disguised as man made religion. They look like lambs but speak like dragons. God said you would not believe this truth if someone told you. So here I a mere man am telling you but you won’t believe it until God shows it to you. My hope is that some of you are beginning to see holes in the doctrines you may hold dear to your heart. Maybe you are starting to see the calamity; the sickness, the stress, the sin, the economic duress, the focus on worldly things, the ratcheting fear, the selfishness, the double mindedness and the mixing of Christianity with worldly and ungodly practices. Maybe you are seeing people falsely secure in their religion that live like the world begin to crumble. That is the earthquake my friend and everything is going to be shaken, everything and everyone.
What most of us practice is not God’s pure religion. God defined it as being unspotted from the world. Church today is almost universally man-made religion and driven by the works of the flesh. A huge majority of professing believers are under a religious delusion. The delusion Paul spoke of as did the Prophets, has already come upon the harlot church and its assembly of many congregations and denominations. In the meantime, Jesus is building His church, His way and only a small remnant will be found worthy. If people could see the truth about the powers of darkness, they would quickly awaken and see the deception that has ensnared almost everyone and put them in bondage to these false gods and the abominations they cause inside of us which is where God dwells today. The temple has been defiled.
This may seem counter intuitive, but spiritual blindness about the powers of darkness is all part of God’s plan. It is how He brings judgment upon the ungodly and those that practice or love their sin. If they want their ears tickled with false doctrines that says you can walk, talk and act like the world and still be in the will of God — the Lord will send them false teachers and false prophets that will lead them even further into spiritual darkness. God is awakening many to this truth as the end nears. Jesus said He told us everything ahead of time and as the chosen wake up, we will all be astonished and horrified of the real truth. I have written on this recently and because of it many have thrown darts my way. I take this as a good sign that I am on the right path, it is just one of many confirmations I have asked for and received from the Lord.
Philippians 1:28 in no way alarmed by your opponents–which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God
The vast majority of Christianity is fake and the worship is in vain. I say this out of horror not out of any pride or condemnation. I myself was in the other crowd until God had other plans. There are very many false prophets and false teachers out there spewing a bunch of carnal, fleshly and worldly wisdom about the things of God. James called this demonic wisdom in James 3:15. Almost all of most popular and widely believed doctrines are pure deception that originated right out of Satan’s playbook and which have since become the traditions of men over the centuries. Such error and foolishness of men does violence to the WORD and sheds the innocent blood of unknowing people who are seeking God but are instead led astray. Woe to them who do such things as it would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their neck and tossed into the ocean then to face the Lord on that terrible day. I speak to you in this forum well aware that I will be held to full account of the things I write in this forum. I pray every day for wisdom and guidance so I will only do what the Spirit wants me to do. Indeed we all should be seeking HIS approval and following HIM and not any man.
God Gives Sight and Causes Blindness
Luke 24:45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures
We are the clay, He is the potter. Who are we to talk back to the potter? He gives mercy to whom He gives mercy and He gives revelation to whom He gives revelation. We the people of God need to let God be God and quit looking to men for our wisdom. There is ONE Teacher and that is the Christ.
Daniel was a real prophet, mentioned by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse about the end times. Here is what Daniel had to say in prayer after revealing the horrifying dream of the end times judgment to the king of Babylon.
Daniel 2:21-22 He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. 22“It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.
God sends forth the deluding influence. The Lord hold the keys to all wisdom and understanding. The fear of the Lord is the foundation upon which all wisdom is built. Hear the words of the Lord speaking warning to His people. The church of today has few that can read and fewer that can see.
Isaiah 29:9 Be delayed and wait, Blind yourselves and be blind; They become drunk, but not with wine, They stagger, but not with strong drink. For the LORD has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He has shut your eyes, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, the seers. 11The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12Then the book will be given to the one who is illiterate, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I cannot read.”
God is in control. He lets those that do not love Him be blind and get blinder. He lets them get drunk and drunker with false religion and doctrines of demons. God puts them to sleep using His mighty army, the spirits of the powers of darkness. The Lord shuts people eyes and covers them in this darkness because they have forsaken Him in rebellion and have not purged sin from their midst.
Isaiah 42:16 I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, In paths they do not know I will guide them, I will make darkness into light before them. God does it, you need to understand it is HIM that causes this using His creation to do it.
Satan, who works for God comes as do his demons do as an angel of light. Well, we can blame this on Satan, but it really is God, as Satan works for God and it is the Lord that does it. God makes darkness look like light. God brings the delusion, He brings the deception. Once you see what I speak of you will indeed have a new Bible because there is nary a single chapter in the whole of the Bible that does not make this same point. We have just not had the eyes to see it. We have not laid down our lives for God and followed Him in total surrender like the 70 baby disciples did as referenced earlier in this post.
Isaiah 45:3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places, so that you may know that it is I
When God shows you the truth about the powers of darkness – you will know that it was from HIM. I know what I write here is truth and light that was given to me by God, not to be hidden under a bowl but to be placed on a hill and proclaimed. It may be presented in an imperfect way, but the gist of the message is truth. If even one soul is awakened, then I praise God forevermore for using me in some small way. The truth never will win any popularity contests in the religious crowds. It didn’t for any Prophet, Jesus, any Apostle and won’t today either. People will reject truth and will accuse the one speaking truth of blasphemy. But when God shows it to you, you will not shrink back from the Word and the Truth.
Jeremiah 4:22 For My people are foolish, They know Me not; They are stupid children and have no understanding. Most of the professing church are foolish virgins, they are not wise. The story of these blind and foolish virgins is told by Jesus in Matthew 25. They thought they were saved, they lived with a false peace and a false security but when Jesus came they were not ready, they had not purified themselves and Jesus told them depart from me, I never knew you. Wake up now so you can prepare yourself. The Bride must make herself ready. The powers of darkness are good news once you understand them and know how to respond by focusing on Jesus.
God invites the powers of darkness, His servants to come feast on the rebellious and deceived people of God. If we know about “them”, we will be alerted that something is amiss with our walk with God or that we are being tested and we will return to the Lord with all our hearts. But the rebellious continue to walk in rebellion and remain in captivity and do not experience the freedom and true peace that is in Christ. Here is the Word of the Lord regarding those that play religion and meet God half way yet hold idols in their heart and make God one of them.
Isaiah 44:17-19 They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. 19No one recalls, nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals I roast meat and eat it Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I fall down before a block of wood!”
God Sends Prophets To Awaken Some
Contrary to man’s wisdom which says to bring as many people together in “church”, God had the opposite idea. He wants His people to be Holy and separate. Here is powerful passage of Scripture that defines Isaiah’s calling as a Prophet. I have added my brief commentary in black to convey the message being spoken.
Isaiah 6:8-13 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
9He said, “Go, and tell this people:
’Keep on listening, but do not perceive; (God mocks the false religion, vain worship)
Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ (wisdom of men is foolishness to God)
10“render the hearts of this people insensitive, (Jesus is not Lord, He is just one of many idols)
Their ears dull, (they will not hear His voice, they are not His sheep)
And their eyes dim, (their eyes are closed to the truth, their hearts are hard)
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their hearts,
And return and be healed.” (until we repent of our idols, we will not see or hear TRUTH. We may well be religious, but it is all going to be in vain as we bow to a different God than the LORD).
11Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered, (Isaiah asks how long will this go on)
”Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, (God says until the “church”, the cities are devastated and desolate)
Houses are without people
And the land is utterly desolate,
12“The LORD has removed men far away,
And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. (Many are deceived, many are desolate. The abomination is already in God’s temple)
13“Yet there will be a tenth portion in it,
And it will again be subject to burning,
Like a terebinth or an oak
Whose stump remains when it is felled (Man made church cut down by powers of darkness)
The holy seed is its stump.” (Very FEW, a small remnant will be saved)
Ezekiel 40:3-5 The man said to me, “Son of man, see with your eyes, hear with your ears, and give attention to all that I am going to show you; for you have been brought here in order to show it to you Declare to the house of Israel all that you see.”
The Lord gives us the eyes to see and ears to hear. The Prophet Ezekiel was shown the false temple (man-made church) which represents the end times Babylon Church that actually worships the Beast. Yet very few have the eyes to see this and instead they keep looking to a country called Israel to see when a third physical temple is going to be built. You see the glory of God, which no man can fully grasps includes the powers of darkness. God is indeed the creator of all and there are many descriptions of Satan and the powers of darkness that wise men simply have not been shown the truth. The Whirlwinds or whirling wheels in Ezekiel 1 and 10, that are also mentioned throughout Isaiah and Jeremiah are all references and convey facts about our spiritual enemy which serves the Lord.
Jesus when speaking to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation, ended every single message with this statement.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches
I don’t want to digress into this topic here, but I will say I believe the Word tells us there were to be seven periods of time, or church ages based on what is said in the Prophets and that we are in the last age, the church of Laodicea. This is the lukewarm church that will be vomited out of Jesus mouth on judgment day. Here is what our Lord says about the end time church.
Revelation 3:17-18 ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.
Compare this description with how Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots is described. They describe the same “church”. Queens that are rich and in need of nothing or so they believe via their deception.
Revelation 18:7 In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.
Repentance is the forgotten oracle of God. Without it God’s people are blindly and vainly worshipping a different God and will be astonished to find themselves naked and with the goats on the day of judgment. The only way to see spiritual truths and to hear the voice of the Shepherd is to repent and come to God with a pure heart. Jesus explained that He spoke in parables after relaying the Parable of the Sower. The 5,000 people who heard Jesus did not get it, or at least we are not told how many did. By and large they did not understand and Jesus explained why.
Matthew 13:10-17 excerpted And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.12“For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13“Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
16“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. 17“For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Jesus, speaking through the Prophets said the same thing. Men in their wisdom and their practice of religion WILL NEVER EVER be able to understand key truths about God and His Kingdom. This is why going to seminary school and going to religious programs and events are folly to God unless He really calls someone to go. Whether He does, I don’t know, only God knows and the person being called if they can discern the voice of the Spirit. If the Lord calls you, He will equip you and show you all you need to do His work just as He did to every prophet, disciple and Apostle recorded in the Scriptures. When someone tells me Dr. so and so said this, I become a huge skeptic and begin looking for the Word of God in their message, but what I typically hear is worldly wisdom and references to books or speeches written by other men. Don’t get me wrong, there are many good anointed and God taught leaders, but they are indeed relatively few and we must be wise or else we will be deceived.
In the End Many Will See
My inclination is to paste in here whole chapters like Jeremiah 23, but I will show you an excerpt. God has said people would awaken in the end times and at that point some would begin to understand and see the horrible truth about His righteous judgments and the fact the powers of darkness, aka Satan, aka the whirling tempest, work and serve God. All along all God wants is our whole heart but yet we were unwilling to turn from our sin. We have loved our sin more than we have loved our God. We have failed to understand how God carries out His judgments and bring discipline to turn us from sin and this ignorance has led us further into spiritual darkness. I understand now Lord!
Jeremiah 23:19-22
Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone forth in wrath,
Even a whirling tempest;
It will swirl down on the head of the wicked.
20“The anger of the LORD will not turn back
Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart;
In the last days you will clearly understand it.
21“I did not send these prophets, (they were called by themselves, taught my men)
But they ran.
I did not speak to them,
But they prophesied.
22“But if they had stood in My council,
Then they would have announced My words to My people,
And would have turned them back from their evil way (purged sin from the church)
And from the evil of their deeds.
This really is a horrible picture my friends. It will make you sick to your stomach just like it made most of the Prophets sick to their stomachs once this truth was revealed to them. Once Daniel was shown the end time judgment and “got it”, he was sick and exhausted for days. It really is a horror and a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. God loves us for sure, but He is a consuming fire and above all He is a Holy God. To know God, we must fear God.
Daniel 8:27 Then I, Daniel, was exhausted and sick for days Then I got up again and carried on the king’s business; but I was astounded at the vision, and there was none to explain it.
Mystery of Lawlessness
The mystery of lawlessness is not simply that there is a devil. The mystery is much deeper than that and pertains to the powers of darkness, the magnitude of these forces, the whirling tempest of God and how God uses them to test our hearts and bring discipline and ultimately final judgment upon us if we stay in rebellion to God. The powers of darkness are here to keep us on the straight and narrow path to salvation, but we need to understand them and know about them to receive the signals their operation in our lives can provide.
2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. 7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming
I by no means have all of this figured out. I am sharing what has been shown to me because it will radically change your view of God and sin once you see it. You will also develop spiritual eyes to see what is really going on and know that the day of Judgment is near, at our very door. I am not sitting idle or going to hide in a cave and neither should you. I am trusting God to see me through the tribulations and eagerly look forward to the eternity ahead.
The wise men of religion will never see or understand the Mystery of Lawlessness. Wise men are in love with their religion and the selfish gain they secretly seek and obtain from their place of honor amongst men. Wise men go around telling you to ignore the devil and create lies such as “Christians can’t have demons”, “God doesn’t cause evil”, “healing and the spiritual gifts are not for today”, “be secure in your faith as you can’t lose your salvation”, ”there is no need to fear God” and “It’s okay to sin, everyone does it and God forgave all sins on the cross”. This is dragon speak coming from men that look like lambs. This is the flood of deceit that is sweeping away the unrighteous and ungodly in preparation for the return of the Lord.
Seek Jesus Not Religion for Wisdom
If we seek Christ and truly put Him first, we don’t need to go to Bible School and we don’t need to be taught by any man. God Himself will teach us, He is the ONE TEACHER. Just as it is written in the Prophets, which Jesus knew and often quoted, the true Sons of God will be taught by God.
John 6:45 It is written in the prophets, ‘AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.
Paul must have seemed a tad arrogant to the overtly religious in the early church. In this infamous Chapter about spiritual discernment, Paul reiterates the wisdom and knowledge of the natural man that is operating in the flesh. Such wisdom is not Godly wisdom and is foolishnes to God. Flesh cannot understand or see the mysteries of God, it is a gift of the Holy Spirit.
1 Cor 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
I hope the Lord is speaking to you privately, like He did the Disciples in the opening verse. This is how you are going to see truth and hear His voice. Seek Him and He will answer and come to you if you do it with pure motives of love and knowing Him.
Stumble It!
