Delila cutting Samson’s Hair

 ‘There is no such thing as a quick fling’

In October 1993, a wildfire swept through Laguna Beach, California, and devastated entire neighborhoods. I remember seeing a photograph of one neighborhood where all that was left of the homes were the foundations. In the midst of all of the burned, charred rubble stood one house, untouched. Not only was it untouched, but it wasn’t even scorched by smoke. It was a gleaming house that stood in striking contrast to all the ruin around it.

The owner of the house was asked why his home stood when all the others fell. The man said that he had gone to extra effort to make his house flame retardant. It had double-paned windows, thick stucco walls, sealed eaves, concrete tile and abundant insulation. He went the extra mile, and the result was that when the fires hit, his house survived.

The Bible asks the question, “Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?” (Proverbs 6:27 NIV). The answer, of course, is no.

Our nation is being devastated by the wildfires of immorality today. Not just houses are being devastated, but homes are being devastated. Families are being devastated. And unless we take precautions, we could be the next victims of the fires of lust, passion and immorality.

Some people think, I can contain this. I can handle this. This is no problem. But suddenly the burning embers of lust are blowing over their lives, they’ve lost all control, and they wonder what happened. What happened was they took fire into their laps – or hearts or lives – and were among the many who thought they could handle it.

That’s what Samson thought. In the Old Testament, we read that he killed a thousand of Israel’s enemies, the Philistines, with the jawbone of a donkey. In Samson’s mind, what was one woman going to do to him? But Delilah (whose name, by the way, means “delicate”) began to break down Samson’s resolve and resistance until finally he confessed to her what the secret of his supernatural strength was. If only he could have come to his senses and realized that he was falling into a trap.

Just as lust devastated Samson, it is ruining lives today – and even ending lives through the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. And it is destroying thousands of marriages.

In our increasingly value-free society that will not allow the Ten Commandments to be posted in the classroom but will freely hand out condoms, the only way we will infuse values back into society is through the home.

Some people reading this might say, “Wait a second, Greg. I don’t need to hear this. My spouse and I have an ideal marriage. I can’t imagine any circumstances in which I would ever be unfaithful to my spouse.”

I remember hearing an interview in which a man who had written some Christian books about the family confessed that he would boast to his friends, “If I ever fall into sin, I guarantee that it will not be adultery. Anything but. I love my wife so much that it would never happen to me.”

Guess what? He fell into the sin of adultery. The very thing he said he would never do is what he did. Then he concluded with this statement: “An unguarded strength is a double weakness.” That is so true.

What is devastating families today? What is breaking up more marriages today? Adultery and immorality. It’s something we need to be aware of and guard our homes. Like that man who went the extra mile to take precautions to secure his home so it didn’t burn when others did, we need to do the same in our own homes.

Certainly, sexual temptation has been with us for a very long time. But I think we would all have to agree that our times of sexual looseness and permissiveness are unprecedented in human history. Historians would have to look back at this civilization and culture as one that was absolutely obsessed with sex.

When the apostle Paul wrote his first epistle to the church at Corinth, he warned, “We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did – and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died” (1 Corinthian 10:8).

Paul was referring to a story in the book of Numbers about a greedy prophet named Balaam. He instructed the enemies of Israel, the Moabites, to enlist the help of their young women and have them seduce Israel’s men. As a result, the men joined them in worshiping Baal, which angered God, and thousands of Israelites died. They were not the first people who had been destroyed by immorality, and they wouldn’t be the last.

Paul framed his words to the Corinthian believers in the way that he did because they were a bit smug. They somehow thought they would never fall to sexual sin, idolatry, or other errors.

Ironically, in their day, immorality also was rampant. The temple of Aphrodite, the goddess of fertility, was located in Corinth. As many as a thousand prostitutes who worked for the temple would carry on their immoral activities in the worship of that pagan deity. It is said that the prostitutes from this temple would go through the city of Corinth wearing specially designed sandals that left these words imprinted on the sand: “Follow me.” Many citizens of Corinth did just that and followed the prostitutes to the temple, committing immorality and also idolatry.

I think that same message is being given out today: Follow me. Certainly, Hollywood is contributing to the problem with a constant bombardment of sex.

God has warned us in the Scriptures for our own good. And please know this: There is no such thing as a quick fling. When you cross the line of protection God has placed around you, you do so at your own peril. And the repercussions of it can go on for months, years and even a lifetime.

Original Source: WND

History tells us, that even if a man is perceived to be less than honest, or even a rascal, people will often re-elect him. They say: “He is handsome, cunning, audacious, and a stranger to the truth, yet he sure gets things done. Better the devil you know….

Americans don’t know that most of their elected personalities are merely pawns in the game. That’s the reason God’s people fail in every election to watch for the New World Order Trojan Horse president who will come closer and closer to selling out his country. The Bible indicates that when a people finally become corrupt and decadent enough, God turns them over to a spirit of delusion or blindness. 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 says:

And by unlimited seduction to evil and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing (going to perdition) because they did not welcome the Truth but refused to love it that they might be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a misleading influence, a working of error and a strong delusion to make them believe what is false, in order that all may be judged and condemned who did not believe in [who refused to adhere to, trust in, and rely on] the Truth, but [instead] took pleasure in unrighteousness.

David Wilkerson and a small minority of prophets have been warning America for a long time. They believe that the Lord is presently turning the American church and many pastors over to a spirit of blindness and delusion. Jesus warned in Matthew 24 that there would be come a day of great deception and great falling away by strong believers and a time of great betrayal and persecution. This spirit of blindness and delusion was very evident in the German church in the 1930s as the Third Reich ascended to power.

The Spirit of Blindness and Delusion in the German Church in the 1930s

Now another prophet Glenda Jackson says, we’ve got to hear the Lord’s voice or we’re going to be deceived. She believes that the next coming elections could turn out to be second to last, if not the last elections, Americans will ever see. This is what God showed her and he shared it on the Sid Roth programme:

He showed me that if Christians don’t start praying more than they ever have, even the churches, become the house of prayer, this next election is not going to take place. It’s going to be suspended because evil is going to arise and some disasters are going to happen, and some things are going to be put in place, and the president is not going to be removed. He’s going to stay in. And these things are going to happen, and they’re going to be very bad if we don’t get a hold of God.

On the War in the Middle East she said:

And God said this war is not going to end easily because America, her pride, she took glory for the Gulf War and He said, God said, “They gave ME no glory. They did not look unto me. So it’s not going to be over until I say it’s over and many are going to be killed.

On the signs of the times she said:

Horrible times. Times, such as, the Bible said times such as never before. The earthquakes, all of that are going to intensify. But we don’t have to be afraid. We’ve got to know God’s voice. We’re going to live supernaturally. We’re not going to live like the world lives. We’re going to live supernaturally, God showed me, like they did in the wilderness, like they did in Jesus’ day when he walked on the earth. We got to believe. If we can’t believe we’re not going to make it.

If we don’t repent, very soon we will see massive changes taking place in America and ultimately the whole world. Even the much worshiped and trusted “god”- the U.S. Constitution will fail to protect the few remaining liberties and freedoms we now enjoy. Why? Tyrannical regimes can easily suspend and ratify law documents like the Constitution.

Here is her Interview with Sid Roth on ‘‘Its Supernatural’’

Many other prophets have warned us before but are we listening? Recently Rick Joyner had a prophetic dream about a “gate of hell” that has been opened into the United States:

….It was as if I was high over the land. I saw waves of gangs. Some appeared to be military units, sweeping across the South-western United States. It was like a great plague as they were pillaging, plundering, raping and murdering. It was an invasion that threatened more Americans than any previous war in our history. I was surprised that I did not see any U.S. military response to this invasion.

Rick Joyner shares on his show, ‘‘Prophetic Perspectives,’’ the troubling dream he had on the night of (9/18/14) about ISIS’s plans in America and how ‘‘martial may save America!

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prIQR7pxyZ0?rel=0]

Rick Joyner writes that,

Many prophetic warnings are given so that we understand the schemes of the devil in order to foil them. What I saw in this dream will happen if quick, decisive action is not taken to secure our Southern border.

We are commanded to pray for our leaders. We are not told to just pray for the ones we like or agree with, but the ones we have. We must pray for our present leaders, that they will wake up and be given wise counsel so that this gate of hell into our country is shut. That is the best of all scenarios.

The only thing that will ultimately save our nation is another Great Awakening that turns the nation back to God. This onslaught across our Southern border did not turn America back to God, but it turned Americans against one another. If this is not stopped, then it can still be lessened by wise leadership and wise preparation.

The most important preparation of all is for every Christian to truly elevate God’s house above the White House, or any other house including our own. We must seek first His kingdom, which means that all of our major decisions should consider the purposes of God above any other purpose. His kingdom is built on a Rock that cannot be shaken. If we have built our houses on this Rock, we will not be shaken either…..

John Burton recently received such an urgent and troubling dream from God. You can read the message of the dream here: This is part of his interpretation:

In America, football is one of the enduring symbols of passionate entertainment in today’s culture, but the game’s place in my dream was significant. It represented life as usual. I was happily distracted, and nothing else existed on my grid that night….We must, as the remnant church, be ready for a sudden move into critical end-time ministry.

We have to be instant in and out of season. Our ears must be attentive to the prophetic voices that are sounding alarms in our nation. The coming church will be marked by people, as in the first-century church, who are mission-minded and willing to lay down their lives. They aren’t there for the benefits alone…..

Very troubling times are ahead of us. The enemy’s primary weapon will be the spirit of fear.. The coming church will be a church that has gone deep in God together and, my friend; this is the only church that will be able to stand against the wickedness.

Larry Randolph also shared with Sid Roth what he sees happening in America, Israel and the world:

One that struck me the most was the fact that the U.S.A., especially those in higher government, from the very top to bottom, were not only in for a humbling, but a humbling beyond embarrassment. And the Lord has decided to answer the blood of our forefathers of this nation to end with prayers of intercessors as He did with Abraham.

If he was righteous, He would have saved Sodom and Gomorrah. So many righteous in this country and God has heard the prayers, and God is about, the Scripture says, “If you don’t follow the rock it will fall on you.” The rock is about to fall on America in the sense, I don’t mean there’s some great judgment, but in a sense of humbling, which will be judgment for those that aren’t humble.

It’s going to come from the very top of the government to the very bottom. We’re going to see a great humbling, and I believe that’s this year and next year in the government of the United States, because God is going to set right some things. Because the Lord said to me two years ago that the United States is going to, has received a period of grace.

If Jezebel could get a space for repentance and revelation, why can’t we. God has extended grace to this nation. And the jury is out in some instances, because it depends on how we react as people of God and partner with God.

Before Rick Joyner and others shared their messages, another prophet Jonathan Cahn said, God gave him a revelation that he called the Mystery of the Shmitah which so big that it affects everything we as a people are personally doing and will affect the rise and fall of the United States of America. Before that he wrote a bestselling book, The Harbinger which heeds a warning of judgments and now he saying they’re reappearing again and there are nine of them. But one of the ones that is reappearing is the understanding and the revelation of a biblical term called the Shmitah. According to Jonathan:

The Shmitah is an ancient mystery. It goes back over 3000 years to Moses, Mount Sinai. Yet is affecting everything from 9-11 to the rise and fall of the economy, to the crashing of the stock market, to the rise and fall of nations, everything from World War I, World War II, what is happening right now and what will happen. It is the most precise mind-boggling, biblical mystery and it’s coming true now.

But when Israel turned against God, the Shmitah comes back as a sign of judgment on a nation that is driving God out of its life. So this is where it affects us particularly today. So the thing is that the Shmitah affects, as you can see, the economy right away. Today it would be a recession or a depression, I mean. And the Wall Street literally is the collapse of our financial realm. So what we’re to have the judgement type of collapse.

What next….?

Now in light of all these warnings and prophecies, what should we do? The truth about all human flesh is that when we come to a place of comfort, we tend to forget God. We have forgotten God and our dependence upon Him. We have become complacent, lazy, and apathetic, and have lost our ability to even tell the difference between good and evil.

When you study the Old Testament from the beginning to end, you find that the Israelites sought God, repented and prayed when things were not going well, and God in His grace and mercy heard and answered their prayers.

But once everything was going well, they forgot where they had come from, and what God had done and backslid again. In their desperation, they remembered God and did the right thing. In prosperous times they forgot God and sinned-time and time again. Paul writes that: Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. (See 1 Corinthians 10:6-10)

You and I are not any different. Don’t ever think that when you repented and came back to the Father’s house that mercy began to operate. It was still the mercy of God that kept me from death and certain judgment, and if at all it wasn’t the mercy of God, I would have perished in Hell long time ago. The grace of God holds back judgment until God in His kindness has given everyone a chance to repent.

If the Lord was not gracious to you and me, and all other sinners we would be lost eternally. So the grace of Christ is operated on everyone, but it becomes operated through having faith in Jesus Christ. How many of us came to the Lord when everything was going on very well.

Not many of course, likewise very few of us pray as fervent as possible when in prosperity as we do when all hell breaks loose. The greatest distraction to us all is not the difficulties, but the prosperity. In fact we should learn to seek the Lord as much in prosperity more than we are in difficulties.

Lessons from Daniel’s Prayer for His People

The prophet Daniel teaches us so much in terms of preparing ourselves in difficult times especially in regards to prayer and fasting. Bible Historians tell us that the Jewish prophet Daniel had been deported to Babylon with the first exiles in 606 BCE.

At the time he was just sixteen years old. As well playing a significant role in government during the exile, he became God’s prophetic mouth piece to the Gentile and the Jewish world-declaring the Lord’s future and eternal purposes.

The scriptures tell us that Daniel’s intercession near the end of the seventy-year period of the Babylonian exile played an important part in the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy. Daniel set his face toward the Lord God with fasting, sackcloth and ashes in seeking repentance for his people. (See Daniel 9:1-20)

The prophet Jeremiah had prophesied that God would not allow the captives to return to their land for seventy years (see Jeremiah 25:11, 12; 29:10) Daniel learned by reading and studying the Word of the Lord as revealed by Jeremiah the prophet that Jerusalem would must lie desolate for seventy years. So he turned to the Lord God and pleaded with Him in prayer and fasting to fulfill His promise.

The Book of Daniel teaches us a lot about humbling ourselves through fasting that God would revive us again. He confessed his own sins and the sins of his people, and he combined fasting with his prayers, and pleaded that God would reveal His will.

It was while he was praying that he received a visitation from the angel Gabriel. This is recorded in (Daniel 9:20-27). Three times the angel Gabriel declared that Daniel received the greatest possible honour from heaven he declared that Daniel was a man “greatly beloved” of God (See Daniel 9:23; 10:11, 19).

He also received honors as he served in two most powerful empires of his day. But despite his promotion from being a slave to serving in the office of prime minister, his astonishing visions and prophecies, Daniel never lost his humility, his faith in God’s plan and his reliance on God’s mercy and faithfulness.

Daniel cried out to the Lord with a deep passion and concern for his nation and his people. He pleaded for mercies not for help, because he knew that he and his people deserved God’s wrath and judgment. And even though God sent a messenger to Daniel, the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia detained the messenger for three weeks, but during this period Daniel still fervently and earnestly prayed and fasted, and God’s messenger eventually arrived at the right time.

This all teaches us not to sit down on the promise and say, “God has pledged Himself to put an end to the captivity in seventy years, and now that the time has expired there is no need to pray” Look at what Daniel did when he read the prophecy , he said,

“I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.” He set himself at once to pray that the end of captivity would come to pass and he never gave up on the promises of God.

We are to pray when we have evidence from promises, prophecies, providences, or the leading of the Spirit—that God will do the things for which we pray and humble our souls with fasting.

From Daniel’s intercession we learn that the promises and prophecies of God’s Word should never be used as an excuse to stop praying. On the other hand any kind of prophecy is intended to provoke us to pray until we see a positive change if it’s evil as Rick Joyner is saying and if the prophecy is good, we should pray for it to be fulfilled. For example Jackson says she believes the days of prophecy are coming back “and even greater.” So we should pray for that to happen.

Conclusion

Again could the Lord be warning us through these prophecies? I have to say that it is very hard to be hundred percent sure that the picture we see, or the voice we hear or the prophecy we speak is from God. That is why listening and speaking out in the name of God is costly and leaves us feeling vulnerable. But having said that, I believe we as Christians can agree with these prophets on some of the things the Lord has revealed to them.

The Bible tells us not to spurn the gifts and utterances of the prophets, not to depreciate prophetic revelations nor despise inspired instruction or exhortation or warning. But to test and prove all things until we can recognize what is good; to that we are to hold fast. (See 1 Thessalonians 5:20) The Lord is still in control of our lives and in control of nations. If we humble ourselves and develop a personal intimate relationship on a daily basis, we shall overcome the storms that are increasing each passing day.

Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be tried, smelted, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but the teachers and those who are wise shall understand. (Daniel 12:10 AMP)

 

The prophet Jeremiah offers insight into the religious and political conditions of Judah during the last forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. What is to be noted is that throughout these years Jeremiah faced constant opposition from religious and political leaders. He suffered persecution but God divinely protected him to continue His message of warning to the wicked and offer comfort to the remnants that still trusted in God. God’s people failed to follow God’s laws which the lower animals instinctively recognize in so far as it applies to them. (See Jeremiah 8:7)

Spiritually and morally, just like the children of Israel; we’ve also lost our sense of direction. So in times of spiritual darkness like these, we need prophets who will preach that the only hope for us is Jesus Christ Who was crucified for our sins. The primary responsibility of the Church is to preach the power of the cross, the blood, repentance & Pentecost. It is only the cross that can transform the human heart. When people receive the gift of salvation through Christ, they live out the implications of the cross and submit to the Lordship of Christ in all areas of life.

The Church does not like to talk about repentance because we think it was taken care of the day we received Jesus. Yes the Lord died for us on the cross, but we are all works in progress. Repentance which is to (change your views and purpose to accept the will of God in your inner selves instead of rejecting it) is an ongoing, daily requirement in the life of every disciple of Jesus Christ.

This call of discipleship sets the Christian in the middle of daily temptations against sin and the enemy. Every day and every hour we encounter new temptations, and we must be called to suffer, carry the cross, and follow Christ. But how are we to know what kind of cross we are to carry? It is as soon as we begin to follow the Lord and to share His life.

If we refuse to take up our cross and die to self daily through repentance, we forfeit our fellowship with Him. That is why Jesus said “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 10-38-39). If we lose our lives in His service to Him and others, and carry our cross, we shall find our lives again in the fellowship of the cross with Christ. We need this in the modern preachers today, if we change people’s hearts with the gospel; the people will change society. As one writer clearly noted: “The government merely reflects what the people believe in their hearts; it does nothing to form those beliefs.”

It is the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ that has more power to change people’s hearts than all the military might and legislative bodies of any government. The Church should go back to teaching the Bible and preaching the full gospel and if that happens may be the Lord will leave a blessing behind us and give us the means with which to serve Him. The Church should not blame the government, because it is not the governments that have failed, it is the Church that has failed to be the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13) Dr. Jedediah Morse said in 1799 that:

In proportion as the genuine effects of Christianity are diminished in any nation, either through unbelief, or the corruption of its doctrines, or the neglect of its institutions; in the same proportion will the people of that nation recede from the blessings of freedom…. Wherever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and the blessings which flow from them, must fall with them.

He was saying that Christianity, not government, is the driving force behind true freedom. When the World War II brought America back to her knees, another revival broke out that is still referred to as the era of the highest church attendance in recent history. A time of repentance and seeking God brought peace and prosperity in the nation and probably the nations of the world. The result of those good times was that the Church went into complacency.

And while it had gone to sleep, a new generation of rebellion seized the moment in the 1960’s and with that generation came drug addiction, sexual immorality, rebellion against instituted authority, Eastern mysticism, and rejection of God’s Law. This opposition to authority and decline of moral values has continued in America and Europe for all these years.

As the West descends further away from the moral values that made them great. Christians will be persecuted. We are being targeted as “intolerant “because of the stand of righteousness. The media is mocking Christianity, the Bible and our Lord Jesus in their documentaries, movie and television programs, books and the arts. The forces of humanism, paganism, secularism, atheism are all attacking Christianity. But who is to blame?

The spiritual condition of the church according to one preacher determines the economic, political, and social condition in the nation in which that church exists….When politicians turn from God as the source of salvation, life and sovereignty, and legislate, adjudicate and execute their laws and policies, they will always: (1) call evil good and good evil; (2) encourage evil and lawlessness in society; (3) bring down the judgment of God on their nation, which will dry up prosperity, blessing, health and security. Therefore, the policies such people impose are evil, and the answers they offer to the political, economic, social, agricultural, industrial, commercial, educational, and international crises of a nation are non-answers.

There are no solutions for a nation in critical decline outside of Christ and the Word of God. Without faith, repentance, and a return to God in submission to His Laws in politicians and people, neither appealing “charismatic” politicians nor referendums by the people have any substance. So long as the church of God in America and the West is from backslidden to apostate, I don’t think there are any workable answers to the road to serfdom that we are on today.” The church and the pulpits are to blame just as Charles Finney wrote in Decay of Conscience in 1873:

Brethren, our preaching will bear its legitimate fruits. If immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a great degree. If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in the halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it. Let us not ignore this fact, my dear brethren; but let us lay it to heart, and be thoroughly awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation.

Preach Christ crucified for our sins

Charles Finney is trying to remind the church of its prophetic responsibility toward the state and preaching Christ crucified for our sins. This is the Christ people need. Pastors and preachers must get back to preaching the cross, the blood, and grace that leads to repentance and putting the call to make disciples and teaching people all that Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:18-20. We should preach the uncompromising Word of God and leave the results to the Holy Spirit.

Without the moving of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men, men will be religious but will deny the power that could make them godly. Religion apart from the moving of the Holy Spirit can be very dangerous because it keeps us into a false sense of security and indifference without considering the destiny of our souls. This is what Paul prophetically said would happen in the last days:

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! (2 Timothy 3:1-5 NKJV)

All the features of moral decline have been manifested in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries more openly and on a larger scale than at any previous period of world history. Yet the act of being or acting religiously is not missing. In other words people who will be guilty of these moral sins are not people without religion. For although they hold a form of godliness or true religion, they deny and are strangers to the power that could make them godly.

What kind of power could make them godly? It is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. There is no room for His presence; they don’t have any kind of sensitivity to spiritual things and worse still there is conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment. Paul also emphasized this to this Timothy as he was giving him the last instructions:

Constantly keep in mind Jesus Christ (the Messiah) [as] risen from the dead, [as the prophesied King] descended from David, according to the good news (the Gospel) that I preach. For that [Gospel] I am suffering affliction and even wearing chains like a criminal. But the Word of God is not chained or imprisoned! (2 Timothy 2:8-9 AMP)

Again I need to emphasize, that unless Christians preach the cross and there is a true genuine repentance and revival from the church and nations, things will not get better, there will be nowhere to run from this new world disorder.

As Jesus continues His prophetic discourse in Matthew 24, He tells His disciples that He will return on the clouds and that the believers will meet Him in the air. Remember His sense of progression regarding the last days is intensified by the word: “Then.” This word which occurs several times, indicates a succession of events systematically. So the next then in Matthew 24 says:

Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect See, I have told you beforehand.. (Matthew 24:23-25)

Jesus warns us beforehand that there will be a great deception by false christs and false prophets and if possible even the elect or chosen ones will be deceived. In the Book of Revelation the false prophet will perform great signs and startling miracles, even making fire fall from the sky to the earth in men’s sight.

He will deceive those who inhabit the earth by commanding them to erect an image in the likeness of the beast that would have been wounded but still lived. This false prophet will be permitted to impart the breath of life into the beast’s image so that the statue of the beast could actually talk and cause to be put to death those who would not bow down and worship the image of the beast. (See Revelation 13: 13-15)

In Matthew 24:29, Jesus says: ‘‘Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’’ Can this mean the stars we see in the sky at night will fall from heaven? These might be satanic angels described in Revelation 8: 10-11:

The third angel blew his trumpet, and a huge star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it dropped on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—And the name of the star is Wormwood. A third part of the waters was changed into wormwood, and many people died from using the water, because it had become bitter.

And then at the beginning of Chapter 9:

Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. (Revelation 9:1-2)

What about the Pre-Post-Mid-Tribulation Rapture?

The rise in belief in the pre-tribulation rapture is attributed to a 15-year old Scottish-Irish girl named Margaret McDonald. She reportedly received a vision in 1830 after she had a vision of the end times which describes a post-tribulation view of the rapture that was first published in 1840. It was published again in 1861, but two important passages demonstrating a post-tribulation view were removed not to encourage confusion concerning the timing of the rapture. Some of the removed segments were:

This is the fiery trial which is to try us. – It will be for the purging and purifying of the real members of the body of Jesus” but Oh it will be a fiery trial. Every soul will he shake to the very centre. The enemy will try to shake in everything we have believed – but the trial of real faith will be found to honour and praise and glory. Nothing but what is of God will stand. The stony-ground hearers will be made manifest – the love of many will wax cold……“The trial of the Church is from the Antichrist. It is by being filled with the Spirit that we shall be kept.

Regardless of when the Rapture actually happens, we need to keep in mind that Jesus says that the birth pangs are going to increase in intensity and the situation is going to get worse rather than better. Jesus warns us to keep watch at all times Be discreet, attentive, and ready, praying that we may have the full strength and ability and be accounted worthy to escape all these things taken together that will take place, and to stand in the presence of the Son of Man. (Luke 21:36 AMP; see also Matthew 24:42-44; Mark 13:35-37) The apostle Paul tells us that:

Now concerning how and when all this will happen, dear brothers and sisters, we don’t really need to write you. For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. When people are saying, “Everything is peaceful and secure,” then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape. But you aren’t in the dark about these things, dear brothers and sisters, and you won’t be surprised when the day of the Lord comes like a thief.

For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night. So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded. Night is the time when people sleep and drinkers get drunk. But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation. For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us. Christ died for us so that, whether we are dead or alive when he returns, we can live with him forever. (I Thessalonians 5:1-10 NLT)

Those who believe in the Pre-Tribulation divide the return of Christ in two main phases: the rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ. Those who reject a Pre-Tribulation rapture argue that it happens simultaneously with the return of Christ. But instead of entering into controversy over different interpretations, which does no good but upsets and undermines the faith of others, I would advise the reader to study the Bible prayerfully especially the Olivet discourse given by Jesus Christ in Matthew 24 and let the Holy Spirit reveal everything to you.

After the Tribulation

The Bible tells us that immediately after the tribulation of those days in other words there will be a lot of chaos in the world when Jesus comes….. the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

The Rapture will happen without warning, it will be swift, sudden, and forceful and there will be no time to get ready or an opportunity of last-minute repentance. Jesus says with another “then” how fast the Rapture will occur:

Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. (Matthew 24:40-41) The gospel according to Luke tells us: That night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. (Luke 17:34).

Life will be going on as usual on the day of Christ’s return. Most people will be busy with everyday tasks, indifferent to the promptings of God in their hearts. When the rapture occurs, it will snatch one and leave the other.

In Matthew 24:30 two thens are mentioned in this verse: Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and beat their breasts and lament in anguish, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory in brilliancy and splendor.

The prophet Zechariah prophesies that His Jewish brothers the tribes of Israel will mourn for the pierced one when they recognize their Messiah whom they blindly rejected. (See Zechariah 12:10-12) When King Josiah was wounded at the age of thirty-nine, his death sparked an extremely deep sense of grief among the people. That same kind of deep grief describes the mourning of Israel when they recognize as their once-crucified Messiah Who has come to reign.

When the Lord comes back, He will be visible to the whole world, as will the rising up of His people to meet Him in the air-a mystery of an event known as the Rapture. We need to clarify that the word rapture doesn’t appear in the Bible.

This word rapture comes from the Latin word “rapturo” which in Greek means “harpazo, gathered together or caught up.” Harpazo conveys the idea of force suddenly exercised which could be the same as snatch. Then we, the living ones who remain on the earth, shall simultaneously be caught up along with the resurrected dead in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so always (through the eternity of the eternities) we shall be with the Lord! (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

The next verse says, Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these words. We should comfort ourselves that with the promise that Jesus would come anytime. This event is not going to be a secret. Jesus described in this way: And He (the Lord) will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:31)

Bible teacher David Pawson says, “If you don’t like noisy worship, don’t be around then, for the archangel will be shouting and trumpets will be blowing. It will be enough to raise the dead, which is exactly what it will do. Those who have died will get front seats, so don’t worry if you die first.”

Is that a secret? No! Jesus is saying all those who remain on earth who are God’s chosen ones will be gathered from one end of heaven to the other. Paul called it a mystery by saying that the chosen ones who will be alive that day will not die but will be transformed instantly.

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:50-54)

The biblical description of the rapture involves both the resurrection of deceased believers and the translation of living believers into the air to meet the Lord. Paul goes on to tell us that:

Now also we would not have you ignorant, brethren, about those who fall asleep [ in death], that you may not grieve [for them] as the rest do who have no hope [beyond the grave].For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will also bring with Him through Jesus those who have fallen asleep [in death].For this we declare to you by the Lord’s [own] word, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede [into His presence] or have any advantage at all over those who have previously fallen asleep [in Him in death].

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God. And those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first. Then we, the living ones who remain [on the earth], shall simultaneously be caught up along with [the resurrected dead] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so always (through the eternity of the eternities) we shall be with the Lord! Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these words.(1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 AMP)

The above passages are a description of the Rapture. However the word “Rapture” as we’ve already seen is not found in the KJV English Bible. Paul wrote about people who will not “sleep” in other words, they will not die. Those people will be changed and brought into the presence of God in the twinkling of an eye. The rapture is clearly taught in the Bible and that we can expect this climatic event for the Church to take place at any time.

The Bible makes it clear that only those belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ will be raptured. The apostle Paul wrote that to the Thessalonians, “Then we which are alive…” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). He did not specify a certain group within the Church or a selected group of people from among the Church; he simply said “we.” The rapture (or “translation”) of the Church is often paralleled to the “raptures” of Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:12). In each case, the individual disappeared or was caught up into heaven.

In the New Testament several different passages describe a clear picture of what the Rapture might look like. At His ascension, our Lord Himself was “taken up” into heaven. (Acts 1:9 KVJ) After Philip had baptized the Ethiopian eunuch in Act 8, he was caught away: Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.” (Acts 8:39)

In 2 Corinthians 12: 2-4 Paul talks about a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. And Revelation 12:5 says a male Child. ….was caught up to God and His throne.

Are We Ready?

These are some of the Scriptures in the New Testament describing the return of Jesus Christ:

(Daniel 2:44-45; Daniel 7:9-14; Daniel 12:1-3; Zechariah 14:1-15; Matthew 13:41; Matthew 24:15-31; Matthew 26:64; Mark 13:14-27; Romans 8:19; Philippians 3:20-21; Colossians 3:4; Hebrews 10:37; John 14:2-3; 1 Corinthians 1:7;2 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:19; 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8; 2 Timothy 4:8; Hebrews 9:28; James 5:7-9; 2 Peter 3: 1-14; 1 John 3:2; Revelation 1:7-8; Revelation 22:7, 12, 20 and many others).

All these Scriptures indicate that we have to be watching, praying and serving so that we may have the sensitivity of what the Holy Spirit is to saying to us whether it is night or day. So we should be ready at all times to meet the Lord who could come at any moment to call us home either through death or the rapture. The joy of knowing that one day we will be caught up into the presence of Christ causes all earthly concerns to fade. That is why Paul reminded us that: For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20 NKJV).

Now the question is: Are we ready considering the fact Jesus didn’t mind comparing himself to a thief? For the day of the Lord will come like a thief and then the heavens will vanish (pass away) with a thunderous crash, and the material elements of the universe will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up (2 Peter 3:10).

Will the Lord come back as our blessed hope (Titus 2:13) or, as our Holy Terror? The choice is yours- Choose this day whom you will serve. (Joshua 24:15) Oxford professor C. S. Lewis wrote that:

When the Author of life walks on the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then? When you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else….something that never entered your head to conceive – comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left.

For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that is will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it.

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By now we’ve already heard that one of God’s servants, co-founder and CEO of GOD TV has succumbed to a moral failure. We don’t know whether it was an emotional affair or sexual temptation but what we should know is that the enemy of our souls is mainly targeting leaders. Maybe it is the reason why Paul says,

I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike.(1 Corinthians 4:9 AMP)

So whether you a leader, layman, single, married, young or old; we are all prone to the desires, appetites, passions, and sexual temptations.

Galatians 6:1–2 declares, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

No one can tell someone that during your pastoral or business life, of all the things that would ever happen to you, there will be a temptation to sexual sin. We all depend on the grace of Christ every day. We all have areas in our lives that have been regenerated by the Lord, while others still need work from Him. We are an ongoing work and we all work out our salvation with fear and trembling. None of us remains faithful in our own strength.

Therefore, we are to bear and share one another’s burdens in any area of temptation. If we don’t, we could fall into temptation ourselves, as well as spiritual pride. One of the sins God hates is pride and self-righteousness. Ironically, in her Prophetic Journal, Wendy Alec said something that would indeed seem prophetic considering the circumstances surrounding her marriage at the moment. She wrote that:

The Church has also been embroiled in self-righteousness which prevents many people from crying out for help in an area of failure. Why? Because many times the people who cry out for help are isolated, are ostracized and their confidence is betrayed. This leads the ministers or other children of God to remain silent and instead lead double lives. Many of us know that people will betray our trust if we admit our need for help for our past failures. The enemy of our souls knows the politics of the church very well and he uses it to his maximum advantage.

We cannot lean on our own integrity or morality, or pride ourselves that we are not as weak as another who has already fallen. We must first remove the plank from our own eye, and then we will see clearly to remove the speck from our brother’s eye (see Matthew 7:5). The Lord loves all people, even the murderers, the rapists, the prostitutes, and the thieves; He just hates their sins as much as He hates my pride, hypocrisy, gossip, anger, and unforgiveness.

We can’t compare our sins to other people’s sins and say, “I think I am doing pretty well in that area; forget it.” God says, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6). And Paul writes, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

The enemy of souls knows us very well and he doesn’t give up on us so easily. A good example is found in the story of Balaam, who had been hired to curse the children of Israel. But the Lord would not listen to Balaam, and God turned the curse into a blessing for His children (see Deuteronomy 23:15)

The Lord had blessed His children after all of those that were disobedient had died in the wilderness (see Numbers 24:5–6; 26:63–65). So those who remained were guided by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, which symbolizes the presence of the Holy Spirit residing with His people. In spite of the Lord’s blessing on Israel, Balaam did not give up his strategy of cursing Israel.

After Balaam failed to bring a curse upon Israel, he decided to use another strategy altogether. He reportedly advised Balak to use Moabite women as a snare, to entice the men of Israel into sexual immorality and idolatry.

When the Israelites sinned against God, they cursed themselves and 24,000 of them perished (see Numbers 25). Moses further stated, “Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord” (Numbers 31:16).

In Paul’s day, the New Testament tells us that the city of Corinth was a great trading center, much like London, New York, or Las Vegas is today. It was a Roman colony that attracted a cosmopolitan population of Romans, Greeks, and Jews. The inhabitants worshiped many gods and among them was Aphrodite the goddess of love and sex.

The temple of Aphrodite had 2,000 priestesses who were prostitutes, because the worship of this goddess involved intercourse with a priestess. They were also male prostitutes and the Temple of Apollo employed men whose job was to fulfill the sexual desires of male and female worshipers.

It was in reference to this that Paul explained that some Christians were excusing their sins by saying that Christ had taken away sin and so they could live as they pleased. Therefore, Scripture did not strictly forbid what they were doing.

Paul responded to this claim by explaining that though Christ has taken away our sins, this does not give us the license to get involved in sexual sin wherever we please. God commands us to repent and obey Him. There is no other option.

Paul told the Corinthian believers not to be deceived in response to this very situation:

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9–11)

Paul knew that sexual immorality scars our souls and damages our emotions more severely than any other sin we could commit. This is why he goes on to tell the Corinthians:

Shun immorality and all sexual looseness [flee from impurity in thought, word, or deed]. Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body……(see 1 Corinthians 6:18–20 AMP)

Paul is emphasizing that the body is not meant for sexual immorality, which suggests that the body was made for sex but not for immoral or unauthorized sex. The apostle Paul tells us that our bodies belong to our spouses because God designed marriage so that through the union of husband and wife the two become one (see Genesis 2:24).

This is why he goes on to tell us not to “deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control.” (1 Corinthians 7:5 NLT).

How do we Survive Sexual Temptation?

If we are going to survive sexual temptation when it comes, the first thing we must do is recognize that our bodies react to physical beauty. If we spend enough time with someone we are attracted to (and that is not our spouse), we might be asking for trouble.

Billy Graham managed to maintain his integrity for decades by following a set of hard and fast rules designed to keep married men from doing something stupid. One of Billy’s rules was this: “Never allow yourself to be alone with a woman who is not your wife.”

It was the poet William Blake who said, “The naked woman’s body is a portion of eternity too great for the eye of man.”

When Albert Einstein was challenged to give a simple presentation of his theory of time’s relativity, he replied: “One minute sitting on a hot stove seems longer than one hour talking to a pretty girl!”

And John Eldredge noted an interesting observation about the poetry, music, and drama devoted to the beautiful woman:

Listen to the language men use to describe her, watch the powerful obsession at work. What else can this be but worship? Men come into the world without the God who was our deepest joy, our ecstasy—we meet Eve’s daughters and we are history. She’s the closet thing we’ve ever encountered, the pinnacle of creation, the very embodiment of God’s beauty and mystery and tenderness…. A man without his true love, his life, his God will find another—what better substitute than Eve’s daughters. Nothing else in creation comes close.

Many born-again Christians think they will never think about an extramarital affair, forgetting the fact that men are sexual creatures and can be attracted to women other than their wives.

Men face different temptations because they can separate their thoughts from their feelings, whereas a woman thinks as a whole person. This is why a man can be in love with more than one woman at once, but a woman can generally only be in love with one man at a time.

A recent study has shown that a man’s brain has a physiological response to seeing a beautiful woman that is comparable to his response to food. Apparently, when a man sees a beautiful woman, his “pleasure” circuits in his brain react. This is a physical response, and it is part of a male’s design.

The temptation to sexual sin comes when life does not turn out the way we had planned. Sin at one point in our life that we would have spurned begins to look attractive and inviting.

Little rationalizations play themselves out in our minds. Though we would think people are most vulnerable to temptation in seasons when their energy level and appetites are highest, it is in fact when we are in the valley, when we are struck by sadness or desolation that we meet Potiphar’s wife.

There are three main areas in our relationship with God that the enemy will always challenge: the will of God, the Word of God, and the worship of God. Every temptation that Satan throws at us will challenge these three basic values (see 1 John 2:15–17).

But the writer of Hebrews tells us, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus knows what we are experiencing, and He is willing and able to sympathize with our struggles if we turn to Him when we are tempted.

Paul says that God knows how much we can bear and He’ll give us the grace we need to bear it. In a society filled with sexual images and moral depravity, Paul encourages us that temptations happen to everyone, so we should not feel as if we have backslid because the temptations in our life are not different from what others experience. And because so many others have resisted temptation in the past, then so can we. Most importantly, when we are tempted God will show us a way out so we can endure it (see 1 Corinthians 10:12-14).

The enemy knows that those who love the Lord most and hunger for His presence are those who have been most damaged in this area. We need to carry our cross and die every day because to die just once in this sex-saturated society is not enough. It has to be a daily personal experience with the Lord who alone can enable us to overcome temptation.

The old man we are trying to kill will eventually take over if we don’t put him to death every day. When used in the right context, this desire for love will draw us to our wife if we are married or to find a wife if we are still single.

Second, we must remember our covenant with God and with our wife, making sure we don’t put ourselves in a situation where temptation will become too strong for us.

Thirdly, we are not to trust ourselves. Rather, we are to trust the Holy Spirit to give us strength to resist temptation.

Part of this article is extracted from Reclaiming the Forgotten Biblical Heritage -Volume 2