Views strictly from a Christian worldview, no secularism, no socialism, no humanism, no Islamism allowed.
Proverbs 5
3. For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
4. But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
5. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.
6. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
I’m sure these can be words can apply to males as well.
Revelations 14
9. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
12. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
14. And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
15. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
16. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
17. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
18. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
From verses 14 through 19 we have two separate reaping’s identified with two doing the reaping, one looked to be the Son of Man or Jesus, this in my opinion is the rapture. With the other being a different angel gathering the grapes or whatever it is to be used for the wrath of GOD.
In the prior verses 9 through 11 we read and see the end result of those who worship the beast or antichrist and it isn’t a pretty picture. Verse 9 identifies their sin, “…If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,…”. These things are mentioned here in verse 9 as identifiers for GOD’S wrath:
1. Worshipping the beast or his image
2. Receiving the mark on or in their right hand or forehead
These people chose to turn away from the love of the Father as expressed through the Son Jesus the Christ, instead choosing a false Messiah.
In these verses we see almost the final separation of humanity into believer and unbelievers. Here we may well have an identifier for the potential timing of the so-called rapture, this among other examples are why I lean towards the prewrath interpretation of the rapture and dismiss the common dispensationalist view of a pretribulational eschatology.
Bless GOD and have a blessed day.
Revelations 11
3. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
4. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
5. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
6. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
8. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
9. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
10. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
11. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
12. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
13. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14. The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
The two witnesses described in the Revelations has been discussed at length for hundreds of years concerning who they are, from Enoch and Elijah to Moses and Elijah to John and Moses. I’ll wait till their ministry starts before I personally attempt at identifying them.
That said I do think a couple of verses need to be mentioned that are often overlooked or have little mention. One being verse 6, “….shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy:….”. Here we read they have the power to shut down the rain, turning off the water that keeps the people fed. Personally I wonder if this will be regional or global in nature and affect. Aside from the other plagues which may very well mimic those of Egypt, a global and even large-scale regional droughts would have disastrous consequences.
During their 3 1/2 year ministry the earth will be suffering from the antichrist’s war against believers as well as the unsaved being plagued by the ministry of these two Godly men as they can strike cities or regions or even the world with plagues as often as they desire.
During this time in human history, the end of our age, mankind’s heart will still be in a state of rebellion against the Most High. With all the signs and wonders of this period people will refuse to acknowledge their own Creator. Yes some will repent, but the majority will choose to remain in their fallen state, loving self more than God, refusing to accept the one who loved them so much He gave His own Son to die for them.
The two witnesses will lead from Jerusalem, where they’ll also be killed and rise again the third day, just as our Savior Jesus did.
Pretribulational eschatology teaches believers will not see these two, but since I lean towards the prewrath position, I do believe we will.
Either way, they are serving the purpose of the Father.
Bless GOD and have a blessed day.
John 17
1. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
4. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
John 2
13. And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
14. And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
15. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
16. And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.
Most Pastors today do not seem to be able to reconcile the fact that Jesus, coming first as a servant/king, would be capable of such intolerance of others religious views that He would turn to violence. The fact is simple, righteous indignation has its place. The only people Jesus vocally condemned were self-righteousness hypocrites. He also warned against unbelief ie sinners, giving parables and examples of how sinners are to repent, but He never used violence except against those who abused their station in religious circles.
The Father is Love, not just the feeling type but as a noun, living in Christ is living inside of what love actually is. He is our everything, our love, our joy, our safety, our peace, our GOD.
With The Father’s love also come righteousness ond holiness. It’s because of these latter two that righteous indignation exists with the Father and the Son. The violence by GOD exhibited throughout the Old Testament and this recorded example here shows us again the why and when violence or righteous indignation is necessary.
Bless God and may He bless you today.
Ignorance of the Bible isn’t just a problem in our culture. It’s a problem in the church, and it’s scandalous.
While America’s evangelical Christians are rightly concerned about the secular worldview’s rejection of biblical Christianity, we ought to give some urgent attention to a problem much closer to home—biblical illiteracy in the church. This scandalous problem is our own, and it’s up to us to fix it.
How bad is it? Researchers tell us that it’s worse than most could imagine.
Only half of all Christian adults can name the four gospels. Many Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the twelve disciples. According to data from the Pew Research Center, nearly half don’t even realize that the Golden Rule is not one of the Ten Commandments.
Multiple surveys reveal the problem in stark terms. Most Christians in the United States believe the Bible teaches, “God helps those who help themselves” (and some even believe this quote is a Bible verse). A series of Barna surveys shows that only 19% of “born again Christians” hold to the simplest elements of a basic biblical worldview.
We would not expect secularized Americans to be knowledgeable about the Bible. A Barna poll once indicated that at least 12 percent of adults believe that Joan of Arc might be Noah’s wife. Another survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50 percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. A considerable number of respondents to one poll indicated that Billy Graham preached the Sermon on the Mount.
The larger scandal is biblical ignorance among Christians. Choose whichever statistic or survey you like, the general pattern is the same among professing Christians. America’s Christians know less and less about the Bible. It shows.
How can a generation be biblically shaped in its understanding of human sexuality when it believes Sodom and Gomorrah to be a married couple? No wonder our culture has so quickly embraced the normality of same-sex marriage. And it’s little wonder that Christians show a growing tendency to compromise on such issues.
Worse, many who identify themselves as Christians are similarly confused about the gospel itself. An individual who believes that “God helps those who help themselves” will find salvation by grace and justification by faith to be alien concepts.
Christians who lack biblical knowledge are the products of churches that place too little value on biblical knowledge. Paul’s words to Timothy are as valuable today as ever: “Give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (1 Timothy 4:13). Bible teaching now often accounts for only a diminishing fraction of the local congregation’s time and attention. And while the increasing emphasis on small group ministry has certainly increased opportunities for fellowship, many of these groups never get beyond superficialBible study.
Youth ministries are asked to fix problems, provide entertainment, and keep kids busy. But how many local church youth programs actually substantially increase their Bible knowledge during the critical junior high and high school years?
Even the pulpit has been sidelined in many congregations. Preaching has taken a back seat to other concerns in corporate worship. The centrality of biblical preaching to the formation of disciples is lost, and Christian ignorance leads to Christian indolence and worse.
Recovery starts at home. Parents are to be the first and most important educators of their own children, diligently teaching them the Word of God (see Deuteronomy 6:4–9). Parents cannot pass their responsibility off to the congregation, no matter how faithful and biblical it may be. Even if they have had little training themselves, it is no excuse. God assigned parents this nonnegotiable responsibility, and children must see their Christian parents as teachers and fellow students of God’s Word. (Spiritual leadership is far more important than second jobs, second cars, and the many other distractions of modern life.)
Churches must recover the centrality and urgency of biblical teaching and preaching, and refuse to sideline the teaching ministry of the preacher. Pastors and churches too busy—or too distracted—to make biblical knowledge a central aim of ministry will produce believers who simply do not know enough to be faithful disciples. (Worse, they will fail to pass down a clear understanding of the gospel to the next generation sitting in the pews.)
We will not believe more than we know, and we will not live higher than our beliefs. The many fronts of Christian compromise in this generation can be directly traced to biblical illiteracy in the pews and the absence of biblical preaching and teaching in our homes and churches.
This generation of Christian parents and pastors must get deadly serious about the problem of biblical illiteracy, or a frighteningly large number of Americans—Christians included—will go on thinking that Sodom and Gomorrah lived happily ever after.
Without a mature knowledge of God’s Word, how can churchgoers expect to make new disciples of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19)?
This letter is a compilation of Scriptures which I believe could easily be applied to the current situation and state of the Church and congregations in America. Throughout Church history there have been saints and sinners in every group and congregation, in our day the congregations are being depleted of members, the primary reason are the Pastors. There is an old saying, “So goes the pastor so goes the church, so goes the church so goes the nation”, when applied properly, this old axiom is very telling of the moral decline of this and other western or Christian nations. Many people claiming to be faithful sit in a continuous environment of wickedness, tolerating and snickering about the evil around them, they refuse to take a stand for righteousness, instead shrugging and turning their back away from sin, afraid of being ridiculed and/or persecuted. Some make the claim they aren’t going to judge another, but we are told to judge and make decisions of right and wrong, we are told not to judge when we are doing the same sin, that is hypocrisy and shameful. So here are some scriptures taken and compiled as I think they could and possibly should be applied to the environment in which we live today in this nation. Is it prophecy? It was to those to whom it was written in their day. Is it a warning for our day? I think the scriptures are, the warnings should be understood and if applicable to your situation then they should be used to learn and correct behaviors and/or thoughts.
For this land is full of adulterers; because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places in the wilderness are dried up. The course of the life of this people is evil, and their might is not right.
The pastors, the teachers, and the priests are profane; in this house I have found their wickedness.
Their way shall be to them as slippery ways; in the darkness they shall be driven on and fall in them; for I will bring disaster on them in the year of their punishment.
I have seen a great folly and a horrible thing in the teachers, with the pastors, and the priests; they commit adultery and walk in lies; they also strengthen the hands of the evildoers so that no one turns back from his wickedness.
All of them are like Sodom to Me and like the inhabitants of Gomorrah.
For from all of the leaders of this people profane behavior has gone out into all the land.
Do not listen to your teachers or pastors whose intention is to make worthless words; they continually speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord.
They continually say to those who despise Me “ you shall have peace ”; and to everyone who walks according to the dictates of their own heart, say they, “ no evil shall come upon you. ”
Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord shall go forth in great fury. A violent whirlwind that shall fall on the heads of the wicked.
The anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart against the wicked of this land.
I have not sent these teachers, these pastors or the priests, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they taught.
But if they would have stood in My counsel, and caused this people to hear My words, then they would have turned this people from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.
I have heard those claiming to be prophets whom I have not sent; they prophesy lies in My name saying “ I have dreamed, I have dreamed. ”
How long will this be in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, who make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells to their neighbor.
The prophet who has a dream, let him tell it; and he who has My word, let him speak it faithfully.
What is the chaff to the wheat?
Is not My word like a fire?
Is it not like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
Therefore, I am against these false prophets who steal My words everyone from his neighbor.
Behold, I am against the prophets who use their tongues and say “ the Lord says ”.
Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams and tell, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their reckless behavior.
Yet I did not send them nor did I command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all.
Thus shall it be said to these false prophets that I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake you, and I shall cast you out from My presence.
I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
A Laymans Discourse 
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