Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The Blood, the Covenant, and the Last Days Part 2



The Last Days


D'ya ever get the sense that we are hurdling toward something at the speed of light? You can almost sense something in the air that is gaining in intensity and fervency. Something urgent. Something inescapable.

If you are like me, you like to know what is going on in the world around you. If you are like me, you don't just want sound bites of reality or a skewed picture told by the media...you want the TRUTH. Even, as Jack Nicholson said, if you can't handle the truth.

Believe it or not, the Bible talks more about the last days before the Messiah comes, than any other time period in history. Not just the book of Revelation, but the First Covenant as well, (which most recognize as the 'Old Testament'), the books of Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, are fraught with prophecies concerning the last days of the earth before the Messiah is to appear on the earth when "every eye" shall see Him (Rev 1:7b).

But what is to happen before then is of the utmost importance to us. Especially to us as followers of Yeshua, (Jesus) the Messiah. Yeshua Himself warned his followers that certain things would take place "...then the end will come". What were these things he said to be looking out for? And what do the scriptures have to say about these things?

When I was graduating high school and starting college, the first Gulf War was beginning in the phase of Operation Desert Shield, then Operation Desert Storm. I will never forget the feeling I had as I watched our troops enter Iraq on the news- a sense that something was culminating in the atmosphere...something very important. Something that would crescendo in a most significant pinnacle in the history of man. I knew that lines were being drawn in the sands somehow and I knew that I had to make a concsious choice as to which side I was going to be on. My friend, from what I have been reading in the Bible and what I have been discerning spiritually, we are upon that time NOW.

Like myself, many of you are witnessing the shaking that is going on in our world, starting with the economic meltdown of nations. You might be sensing that something major is happening and is about to happen. These things should get our attention so that we perk up and heed the Word of God, the many prophecies told over a period of thousands of years through many different prophets, yet all having the same message. All painting the same picture. Are you ready to hear now? He who has an ear, let him hear....


Telling Events

In the book of Matthew chapter 24, we have the most complete picture painted by Jesus as to what would signify the end. His disciples were calling attention to the majesty of the Temple in Jerusalem and Yeshua told them something shocking...He said, "..not one stone will be left on another".

The disciples then asked Jesus when will it happen and what would be the sign of his coming and of the end of the age. Jesus then begins to tell them what the geopolitical landscape would look like: wars and rumors of wars, nation (or people group) will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. By the way, America is about ready to become as obsolete as a DOS program on a 1980's Apple computer! Politicians are already obsolete, because world power is now held by the ones who have real money and influence- corporations and shadow governments. More on that later. Jesus said in Matthew there will be earthquales and famines in various places. He also said these things would be the beginnings of birth pains.

Have you ever seen a woman go into labor? Now, I'll tell ya, I had a C-section with my son, but I had what was the beginning of contractions before they wheeled me into the O.R. Even the beginning of labor pains for me was not pleasant, but rather concerning. And from the screams from the lady down the hall (yes...SCREAMS!) I could tell what the future would have held for me had I experienced natural childbirth: the pain starts and then increases incrementally in frequency and intensity. And then there is no escape whatsoever until whatever is being birthed has been completed. Such is the analogy Jesus was giving His followers. In the beginning, it is noticeable, then it soon becomes inescapable. What does this mean for those who are caught unawares? The Bible compares THIS to being the victim of a thief in the night.

1 Thessalonians 5:2 puts it this way: "...for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, 'Peace and safety', destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape".

What is the "Peace and safety" that people are saying? I used to think that it meant what the political leaders were saying to reassure their constituents. That may be partly true. Now I have come to understand that it is a grand delusion of peace and comfort, while the enemy of your soul is arising in power and might to deceive and distract the whole world, much as a cunning snake sneaks up on the happless field mouse who is enjoying his cheese in the warm sunshine, he is gaining his grip on the whole world and most people are not even aware of what is really going on.

I recently saw the movie "Defiance" starring Liev Shreiber and Daniel Craig, which is based upon a true story of a group of brothers who led hundreds of Jews in the resistance during World War II. They lived in the forest for years and fought off their would-be captors. I was reminded about how at the time, many Jews were thinking freedom was just "on the other side". Many were saying, "Why should I believe the rumors of the death camps and those mass graves? People are just paranoid". Meanwhile, sadly, for many, it was too late. The enemy had already begun tightening his grip. Millions perished as a result of a demonic plot to destroy God's chosen people and to discredit the Most High God and His Word.

Today we are all so focused on our daily grind, our own interests and pleasures, that, for most, a sinister plan to draw you away would go unnoticed. Headlines of the truth fly by your face and you keep scrolling down the web page. You may dismiss many truths as being "conspiracy theories" because of the desensitization of tv world and the criticisms which are hurled toward people who have a different world view than those offered on the nightly news or your favorite sitcom and have numbed you to what is really going on.

My friend, just like Neo in the movie the Matrix, is it possible you are plugged in to a world that is so deluded, so upside down, where good is called evil and evil good, that you have lost the ability to discern what is really going on? I certainly was. I had a mixture of views from Christendom and conservative America that did NOTHING to cleanse my lenses thus making me able to see the truth of the future that God had predicted centuries ago. Deception is even so rampant in the church world. I really have begun to see what Jesus meant when he told his followers, "Watch out that no one deceives you." (Matthew 24:4).

So I have started to get back to what the Word of God says. I started to "unplug" from the system this world has to offer, which is passing away. And the blinders began falling off.

Believe it or not, it really started to begin once I turned off (literally 'unplugged') the boob tube. And opening my Bible.

If you are waking up to the fact through the shaking that is beginning to happen that this world in its present state is passing away, then my friend, I would encourage you to get a different view of the situation. Don't take your friends' or your relatives' word for it, don't even blindly follow the doctrines of your particular church or denomination, but rather, see for yourself what the Word of God has to say. After all, the prophets predicted down to the very day that Jesus would be born. They also predicted His second coming. Here is a sure foundation...here in God's Word is truth and light. And in the coming months and years, we will see things which we may have thought were not possible, especially living in America, things that will make the Great Depression and the first Civil War look like Disneyland!! How do I know?- You ask..... it was predicted years ago. But more importantly, if you want to know the outcome....don't even take my word for it! Read it for yourself. Dust off your Bible and begin to read and see for yourself. I can highlight some of the things on this blog to draw your attention to some of the things that are going on. But I encourage you to seek a relationship with God yourself. And take heed to Jesus' words that "many will be decieved" (Matthew Matthew 24:5b)(emphasis by this blogger). Don't want it to be you? Then get serious. Become a diligent student of the scriptures. If you would like some resources to get you going, I will post some links at the end of this blog. But remember, nothing takes the place of God and His Word. If you are a follower of the Messiah, Christ, God promised that the Holy Spirit would lead you and guide you into all truth. These resources are just to help encourage and inform you. We are all just beggars telling other beggars where to find Bread.

Stay Tuned for more on the last days until next time....and in the meantime, get your lenses cleaned: unplug from the world's system and plug into the Real Thing!

God bless!

http://www.khouse.org/
http://www.olivetreeviews.org/


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