Posts filed under ‘israel’
Be Like Micaiah
It’s coming to a point where the attacks against Christians and the truth we espouse (by our lives or words), will put targets on our backs and we will be fair game for the godless. Do we shrink from telling the truth to “save” ourselves or do we continue to tell the truth in spite of consequences? It’s not easy. It can make us feel uncomfortable and physically unsafe, but we need to ask God to give us the conviction to state the truth all the time and to override our uncomfortable feelings about that. I don’t want to stand before Him one day knowing that I kept my mouth shut because I wanted to save myself from problems.
Pushing Ahead with Resolve
Most people don’t like to even sneak a peak too long at negative offerings. They prefer to push that aside and focus instead on those things they see as good and uplifting. The trouble is that we must, at times, delve into the negative or the “doom and gloom” because it is there that our direction lies most of the time. Simply ignoring what may well be the inevitable does nothing except allow people to pretend all is well. Then when things actually do go south, They won’t have a proper response to it because they’re completely unprepared.
Too many choose to ignore all the signs that point to the coming reality. This applies to many Christians, largely due to the fact that they are woefully unaware of the prophetic portions of Scripture that specifically deal with the character and nature of the last days prior to the return of Jesus. Most pastors won’t touch the subject either.
Rev 17: Woman, 7 Heads, 10 Horns
The beast was, is not, will rise from the pit, and go to destruction is the pinnacle of the empires in totality. In essence, the coming Antichrist will somewhat resurrect the old Roman Empire, what many commentators refer to as the revised Roman Empire. It is revised because it is raised again but it changes as well. This is clearly seen in Daniel 2 where Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about the statue, with Babylon being the head of gold, all the way to the feet and ten toes. The ten toes corresponds with the ten horns here in Revelation 17 and clearly shows that at some point, this revised Roman Empire that will most likely start in Europe will be ruled over by ten “kings” or powerful globalists. Once Antichrist begins his rise to power after the revised Roman Empire comes into existence, he will then wrest control from these ten kings (three of which he will likely get rid of either by deposing them or killing them), and take charge as sole ruler and at that point, his kingdom will incorporate the entire world.
He Will Provide
God spoke to Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah telling the king He would deal with Assyria. Essentially, Hezekiah wouldn’t have to do anything overtly against Assyria except to trust God. God had things covered and told Hezekiah through Isaiah that though the people of Judah wouldn’t be able to plant or harvest, God would still provide food for the people. The Assyrian armies were outside the city of Jerusalem. People couldn’t go out to farm and they largely remained inside the city walls. But God was faithful. He provided food to the people from food grown wildly. The people did not have to plant or harvest for several years. By the third year, God had dealt with Sennacherib and his Assyrian Empire and the people were once again able to plant and harvest. They did not go without during the very rough times when they could not plant or harvest because God miraculously provided for them. If He did that for them, why would He not do it for us as well? I believe He will.
God Will Provide, But…
Folks, I believe this is what’s needed now for all Christians who seek God and His blessing. There are a plethora of verses that point out the covenant relationship we are in with God. It is an agreement. We have salvation through faith in Him and His finished work on the cross and that salvation grants us fellowship. We maintain our fellowship with God through our growing desire to be in obedience to Him and His commands. This is done not out of “duty” or “fear of retribution,” but it is done out of love and a fear of offending or grieving Him. I’ve written about that enough so that hopefully, readers understand what I mean by it.
I’m That Guy at Times
Saul’s failure in this caused his downfall. In 1 Samuel 14, he makes another mistake. There, he vows that anyone who ate anything until he was avenged on his enemies would be cursed (v 24). So here he is telling his fighting men that they cannot eat anything. Not a good decision when men need strength to fight. This created a problem for his own son, Jonathan, who had not been aware of Saul’s decree. We see in that same chapter that God had already withdrawn from Saul in refusing to answer his queries (1 Samuel 14: 37).
Revelation 16: Bowls of Wrath
These seven bowl judgments of God are symbols of His power and justice. He is demonstrating that He is in control of all things. He is a just and righteous God and will not allow those who reject Him to go unpunished. God is love, but He is also a righteous judge who will ultimately bring justice to those who oppose Him. In the end, we must all stand before God and give an account of our actions. May we all seek to live our lives in a way that honors and pleases Him.
Avoid Sinking
As if all this is not enough to become incensed over, the Levite has the audacity to bring the concubine home, then he uses what happened to her (as if he really cared), to exonerate himself! Instead of giving her a proper burial, to show some sense of honoring her, he cuts her up into 12 pieces as though he’s cutting up an animal sacrifice and sends one piece to the elders of each tribe of Israel. They get the message and wonder aloud what to do about it.
Easy to Fall
Now Micah was by no means innocent and clearly deceived because he rejected God’s rule. He knew what he was getting and incorrectly believed that God would bless him because he now had a Levite in his house. He was clearly deceived into thinking this but why? It all started back in Judges 17:3 when we learned Micah had a habit of worshiping idols and using divination to gain knowledge and “wisdom.” Too many Christians can’t find their way around the Bible, but they all want God to “speak” to them and above all things, “bless” them.
Our New Default…
Before we became Christians, we had specific “defaults” in how we reacted to situations. These often stemmed from the way we were brought up, at least in part, as well as the personality we had and how that personality developed in us over the years. How things impacted us as a child and how we saw our parents react toward one another and God (if God was in that equation), created a pattern for the way we ourselves learned to deal with situations. Interestingly enough though, our default to the many situations we faced in life was a learned process. We may have seen how our parents handled stress for instance, and we began imitating that reaction so that it stayed with us and carried us over into adulthood. Now, that pattern may be firmly established within us so that we find ourselves reacting to stress nearly the same way our parents did and taught us through osmosis.
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