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Matthew 24: More on the Last Days!

⁹“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. ¹⁰At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,”- Matthew 24:9-10

Aren’t people already being put to death for following Christ in some countries? Do we not see many turning away from our faith? And are those who turned away from our faith not angry with those who still follow Christ?

We have seen this yesterday and today. And we will see more of it tomorrow.

And as we approach the Last Days, the persecution will intensify and spread.

So what can we do?

We can pray for those who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus. And we can reach out and give them our love-really give them our love. They need to know that we are here for them. And they need to be reminded that Jesus IS coming back! And that He IS taking them to Heaven forever!

And it WILL be worth it!

More From Matthew 24: The Last Days

“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places. All these are the beginnings of sorryow.” Matthew 24:7-8 KJV version.

As we can see from this warning from Jesus, war is not enough. It must be accompanied by other things such as “pestilences, famines and earthquakes in diverse places”

We’re not there yet. We may be heading there. We may even be heading there soon. While pestlence does refer to disease, it’s still only one part of the Bible verse. Is a famine coming, maybe. Some even say probably. But it’s not here yet.

So what should we do?

Prepare, Watch and Pray 🙂

The Blessing: Russia

Not A Moment Too Soon :)

A friend sent this to me. It was so good, I just had to pass it on 🙂

“Did you know that your personal example to others IS VERY important? That your single voice, actions, and fervent prayers make a HUGE difference for others? One does not need to spend a lot of energy to witness these facts in our past and present, with their ripples of impact in our future on this earth. The struggle between both good and evil have long been battled in history. Many moments occurred when good was attempted to be “canceled” by evil. God’s Word captured SO many over and over, recorded for ALL the opportunity to witness. Only through God’s Mercy and Grace was evil trampled over by good. Many were “turning points” and involved “Great Awakenings” of our Heavenly Father’s Holy Spirit, Stirring in the hearts of His Children in action. Without a doubt, Jesus Christ’s suffering, death, and Resurrection IS our greatest Turning Point in history! With the Power of the Holy Spirit being given them, His disciples became His Instruments, after His Resurrection, for the Great Commission. Jesus came and spoke to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (Matthew 28:16-20)

Did His disciples face hardships in going out, sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and fighting evil? ABSOLUTELY!! Evil attempted to “cancel” them out and stop their voices and actions from being heard and felt. Through God’s Strength and Courage they were given, they shared Him with others with even MORE compassion, caring, and enthusiasm! While many in these times feel like their voices are being suppressed and threatened by evil, are there not any better examples to follow than His disciples? NO! Did you think that being silent against evil works? NO! Can you imagine the world now, without the Gospel of Jesus Christ being spread throughout the earth? NOT GOOD! Truly, it will not become any easier to speak out and stand up against evil. The longer evil goes without resistance, the stronger evil will become. Upon accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, being sent His Holy Spirit, you have been made to be His disciple to observe and take action in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! Growing in Him and He in you, you no longer have an excuse to be silent against evil. NOW IS THE TIME!, and not a moment too soon!!

My thoughts and prayers are that you be a Good Example of Jesus Christ. That you are NOT silent, even when evil attempts to “cancel” you out of the picture for good. That you receive His Courage and Strength to fight the Good Fight in the Whole Armor of God! That you fervently pray for God’s Mercy and Grace! That you will hear when He calls you Home to be with Him forever and ever, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” In Jesus’ Name. Thy Will be done. Amen. Peace”

Matthew 24: 3-6 The Beginning of the End Times

Only the Father knows when the End Times will truly begin, but Jesus did point out some signs for us to watch for…

In Matthew 24:3, the disciples asked Jesus to share with them what the signs would be. And Jesus answered them, “Take heed that no man deceive you. Jesus goes on to say that many will pretend to be Him and that there will be “wars and rumors of wars”. But Jesus goes on to say, that the “end is not yet”.

He tells us not to be “troubled”.

So clearly wars, in and of themselves, are not a sign that the End Times are here. There have always been wars and rumors of wars. And sadly, there probably always will be. But they are not a sign of the End Times. And if the Bible says it-it’s true!

Trust Jesus, He knows 🙂

The End Times: When & How?

Christians have studied Matthew 24 for centuries in an attempt to figure out when exactly the “Last Days” will arrive. But if there is one thing that is clear, only God our Father knows…

But Jesus did give us some clues that we can look for :). And this next series will attempt to explore some of them.

So let’s talk about what is perhaps the most important comment. In Matthew 24 it seems to imply that “even the elect may be deceived”. Clearly, it is important that we not be deceived by the world or by the many false Messiahs…But how can we protect ourselves from that?

There are three ways! The first is to pray to the Holy Spirit that we will always see the truth-God’s Truth. The second is to read the Bible. When Christ comes again, He will not contradict what God has written :). And lastly, in verse 30 & 31 in Matthew Chapter 24, it says:

“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”

Blessed are we that is very clear that we won’t miss Christ’s Return 🙂

Anger At God Really Comes From Fear!

There are many who are angry at God right now. They question why He doesn’t “fix” things. Make the Covid-19 virus go away. Make the riots stop. Right the country. But God gave us free will. We, ourselves, get to choose our own path. And right now, some are making very poor choices.

It’s okay for us to feel anger at the situation. But we need to keep talking to God about it. Tell Him how we feel! Believe me, He understands! And when we feel those angry feelings rising up, we need to recognize them for what they are-feelings. And as my Dad used to say, feelings lie. We know the Truth-We just need to remember it-God uses all things, even the bad things, to the good of those who love Him.

Also, this isn’t Heaven! In Heaven, all will be perfect. There will be nothing to fear! And although this isn’t Heaven yet, one day we will be in Heaven together, and we need to hold onto that 🙂

And we also need to understand why we feel angry. The root of all anger is fear. There are some who are afraid that if bad things are happening, that means that God does not love them. Nothing could be further from the truth! God loves us!

In the Bible it warns that we “will have troubles”. Jesus warned us of this so that when the “troubles” came, we would would not fear and we would know that He still loves us. All of us!

Do not fear my friends, Jesus has it all in hand, even our “troubles” and He loves us all-each and every one.

Have You Been Misled?

“23 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord.”–Jeremiah 23:1

“2 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.”–Jeremiah 23:2

How many times have we seen or heard Pastors teach their congregations lessons that are not in agreement with the Bible? The “Gospel of Accomedation” is alive and well, misleading many sincere souls.

God reserves a special punishment to those who “destroy and scatter the sheep”. (We are the sheep :). Have you ever heard the saying, “To whom much has been given, much is expected”?. Such is true for Pastors as well. They have been given the special Blessing of becoming a Pastor, and so they also have a very special responsibility-telling the truth about God’s Word.

But we also have a responsibility: To read God’s Word for ourselves and Interpret it for ourselves. Our future in Heaven is forever, and it is too imporant to leave entirely in someone else’s hands. Pastors can be a really great resource and encourageent, but we need to take responsibility for our future ourselves. And so, we each, need to read and understand the Bible ourselves!

While reading the Bible is easy, understanding it is not. But fortunately for us, God gave us a “Helper”. The Holy Spirit. And if we ask the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ Name to help us understand what we are reading-He will.

Read the Bible. Your future matters!

A Warning For All!

From https://www.bible-studys.org/Bible%20Books/Amos/Amos%20Chapter%204.html:

“Verses 6-11: Past warnings were futile, a fact repeatedly emphasized by “Yet you have not returned to Me” (verses 6, 8-11).

Before confronting sinners in final judgment, God has often used drastic measures, in this case, famine (4:6), drought (4:7-8), the devastation of crops (4:9), plague (4:10, and warfare (4:10); in an effort to get people’s attention and bring them to repentance. Still, Israel would not return to Him. Every person must “prepare to meet … God”, either as loving father or as divine Judge (Heb. 10:31; Rev. 20:15).”

We love messages of God’s Mercy, and this, believe it or not, is a Great Mercy. Because God loves us, He warns us. We must turn back to Him or face the consequences…

For a list of some of God’s previous warnings, read Amos 4. Although this happened in the Old Testament, that does not mean it will not happen today.

While we can’t control what others choose, we can control what we choose.

“And as for me and my house-we will serve the Lord. I hope you to choose to do so too ?

Taking Our God-Given Freedom Back: The First Step!

In Portland, they are burning Bibles. There are some in California that would rewrite the Bible. There are a number of countries where people are persecuted for having a Bible.

The first step to taking back our God-Given Freedom is to read God’s Word. And we can’t do that if we don’t have an accurate Bible.

So buy one, or better yet-buy two-so you can give it to one to someone who needs one. Be sure each of your children has an accurate Bible. An inexpensive place to purchase Bibles is Christianbook.com. Or order one or more from your favorite Christian Store! But be sure you have an accurate Bible, because the time may be coming when they are hard to purchase.

Hide God’s Word In Your Heart!-Pslam 119:11

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” -Pslam 1119:105