In 1970, Hal Lindsey published The Late Great Planet Earth. The book sold millions of copies and introduced a generation to the miraculous fulfillment of end times bible prophecies in our day and time.

Coming on the heels of World War II, the rebirth of Israel, the Six Day War, and widespread societal upheaval, many were convinced the rapture would take place before the end of the decade. But the 1970’s came and went, and Jesus did not return.

Then, in the 1980’s and 1990’s, numerous bible prophecy books with titles like “Countdown to Armageddon” and “Final Warning” sold all over the world. Again, many people were convinced Jesus would return before the end of the century. Yet Jesus didn’t come.

Then the world experienced Y2K, the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the phenomenal success of the Left Behind series. Once again, it seemed as though Jesus would return at any moment. But once again, he didn’t. And then something happened. Complacency set it.

End Times Burnout

Because Jesus hadn’t come, many Christians began to openly doubt whether He ever would. Why? I believe there are at least two reasons. First, we live in a culture that demands instant gratification.

We don’t like to wait as little as two minutes for a microwave to cook a meal it took our grandparents half a day to prepare. We’re impatient, and we’re used to getting what we want when we want.

The second reason is the errant predictions of date setters. False prophets such as Harold Camping and Edgar Whisenant told the world Jesus would return on specific dates – even though Jesus said “no one knows the day or hour” (Matthew 24:36).

The media gives widespread attention to these predictions. When these days come and go, the false prophets are exposed.

This leads to ridicule of bible prophecy, and in some cases, even Christian leaders publicly dismiss bible prophecy as a playground for crackpots and the ignorant. But these critics forget false prophets made these claims, not the Bible. The Bible’s track record remains perfect. In fact, the Bible predicted this complacency long ago.

The Bible Said This Would Happen

Almost two thousand years ago, Peter issued a warning. He said in the last days people will deny the signs we see today. He said they’ll mock the idea of Jesus returning. They’ll make fun of those who believe in the Second Coming and say the exact things we hear today – things like, “I thought Jesus was coming back? What happened to His promise?

Generation after generation has said He’s coming. Yet, since the beginning of the world, everything has remained the same!” (2 Peter 3:3‐4). You’ve probably heard variations of this complaint yourself. Maybe you’ve heard it in church. But is it true? No. It’s not. Nothing could further from the truth.

Are Things The Same As They’ve Always Been?

To say the world is the same today as in years past – that we don’t live in unique times – is just not true. More than any other generation, ours has reason to expect the Second Coming. Jesus and the prophets said to look for specific signs heralding the end times.

For over 1,800 years, you couldn’t find one of the signs they said to look for. Today, in one form or another, you can find all of them. Here are just a few examples:

The Jewish People Back in the Land – God promised to bring the Jewish people back into the land of Israel before He returned (Jeremiah 23:7-8). He said He would call them from “among the nations” (Ezekiel 39:28), from “the farthest corners of the earth” (Isaiah 11:12), and from “north, south, east, and west” (Psalm 107:3).

He promised to welcome them home from the lands where they were scattered (Ezekiel 20:34). When they did, He promised to return and establish His everlasting kingdom (Isaiah 11:11-12). For 1,878 years (A.D. 70 to A.D. 1948), the Jewish people lived in exile.

On May 14, 1948, they reestablished the nation of Israel, fulfilling God’s promise to bring them back into the land.

The Jewish People Back in Jerusalem – Jesus prophesied armies would surround Jerusalem, destroy the city, and enslave its citizens. In A.D. 70, the Roman legions fulfilled this prophecy.

In the days that followed, Jesus said Gentiles would control Jerusalem until “the times of the Gentiles are over.” Then, the Jewish people would once again take control of Jerusalem. When they did, Jesus promised to return (Luke 21:24-28).

In June 1967, the Jewish people retook control of Jerusalem.

The Gospel Preached Throughout the World – When the disciples asked about the end of the age and the signs of His coming, Jesus told them to look for a very specific sign. He said the Gospel will be preached throughout the entire world. Every nation will hear it. Then, the end will come (Matthew 24:14).

For centuries after the crucifixion, the Gospel mostly reached a small area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. But in the past two centuries, Christians carried the Gospel to every country on earth.

Today, missionaries live in every nation. The Bible is translated in hundreds of languages, and the message of Jesus is sent around the world by radio, TV, satellite, and the Internet. Our generation is the first one on the verge of spreading the Gospel to every last person on earth.

Increased Travel and Knowledge – Six hundred years before Jesus, an angel gave Daniel a special message. He said “travel and knowledge” will increase in the end times (Daniel 12:4). For centuries of human history, dramatic gains in travel and knowledge did NOT take place.

Yet the last two hundred years have seen explosions in the speed and frequency of travel as well as the amount and availability of knowledge. For example, up until around two hundred years ago, a man could travel no faster than a horse could carry him.

Today, we can travel faster than the speed of sound. Many consider the Library of Alexandria to be the greatest collection of written knowledge in the ancient world. While we don’t know for sure how much knowledge was housed there, some estimates say it was as many 500,000 papyrus scrolls. Two thousand years ago, this was the height of human knowledge.

Today, you probably have a bigger library in your pocket. Your smartphone can download almost any book that’s ever been written in a matter of seconds. Our generation is experiencing an exponential increase in travel and knowledge.

Israel Surrounded by Enemies – According to the Bible, enemies will surround Israel in the end times. Those enemies will say “Come, let us wipe away the nation of Israel. Let’s destroy the memory of its existence” (Psalm 83:4) and “Let us take for ourselves these pasturelands of God” (Psalm 83:12).

Ezekiel said Israel’s neighbors will say “God has given their land to us” (Ezekiel 11:14‐17), and “Israel and Judah are ours. We will take possession of them. What do we care if their God is there?” (Ezekiel 35:10).

Ever since the rebirth of Israel in 1948, the daily headlines have included these exact sentiments. Israel’s Muslim neighbors claim the land of Israel for themselves, and they have no regard for the God of Israel.

Israel’s Exceedingly Great Army – Ezekiel said, in the last days, Israel will field “an exceedingly great army” (Ezekiel 37:10). Zechariah said Israel will be like a fire among sheaves of grain, burning up the neighboring nations (Zechariah 12:6) and even the weakest Israeli soldier will be like David (Zechariah 12:8).

Since 1948, Israel has fought no less than four conventional wars against its neighbors. Despite being outnumbered more than 50 to 1, Israel has achieved overwhelming victory every time.

Rise of the Gog of Magog Alliance – The Bible says a military alliance that includes Russia, Iran, Turkey, and a number of Muslim nations will attack Israel “in the latter days” (Ezekiel 38:8) when God brings His people home from among the enemy nations (Ezekiel 39:27). Today, we see those exact nations coming together. The alliance they form today is an alliance that has never existed in world history.

Rise of a United Europe – The Bible says a revived Roman Empire will come to power in the end times (Daniel 2, Daniel 7, Revelation 17). According to Daniel, it will be a ten nation alliance of weak and strong nations.

Some parts will be as strong as iron, while other parts will be as weak as clay (Daniel 2:42). We see the initial stages of this alliance in the European Union – the legal and culture inheritor of the Roman Empire’s legacy. The EU today is a coalition of both weak and strong nations. A volatile alliance, it struggles to stay together.

The Rise of Global Government – The Bible says a single government will rule the world politically (Revelation 13:7), religiously (Revelation 13:8), and economically (Revelation 13:16‐17) in the last days. It will rule over “all people, tribes, and languages” on the face of the earth (Revelation 13:7).

Its authority will be so complete no one will be able to buy or sell anything without its permission (Revelation 13:16‐17). For centuries, a true global government was impossible. Today, world leaders openly discuss it, and the technology exists to implement and rule such a government.

Alone, each of these signs indicate the end times are near. Together, they prove ours is the end times generation. Jesus Himself said to look for these signs. He said when you see them, you can know His return is near (Matthew 24:33).

In fact, He said the generation that sees these signs will not pass away before He returns (Matthew 24:34). This convergence of signs is the #1 reason to believe our generation is on the verge of witnessing the Second Coming. See our special DVD on the convergence of signs in the promotion below:

But instead of getting excited and ramping up our efforts to spread the Gospel, the Christian church is mostly silent on the issue. A large part of the church is complacent, and the Bible warned about this as well.

It’s Time to Stay Awake

The night before the crucifixion, Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane. He went to be alone and pray. But before He did, Jesus asked the apostles to stay up and pray with Him. He warned them not to fall asleep. Nevertheless, they did. They were finally awakened when soldiers arrived to arrest Jesus.

In a similar way, Jesus warned us not to be caught sleeping when He returns (Mark 13:36). To illustrate, He told a story of ten bridesmaids. Of the ten bridesmaids, five were foolish and five were wise. The five foolish bridesmaids didn’t take enough oil for their lamps when they went to wait for the bridegroom.

When they left to buy more oil, the bridegroom came and they missed out on the marriage feast. Jesus warned us not to be like the foolish bridesmaids. He said, “You, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return” (Matthew 25:1-13).

In another parable, Jesus once again commanded us to watch: “You, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know when the master of the household will return. It could be evening, midnight, dawn, or daybreak. Don’t let the master find you sleeping when he arrives without warning” (Mark 13:35-37).

Personally, I’ve written about the nearness of the Second Coming for over 13 years. Obviously Jesus didn’t return in those 13 years, but none of the reasons to expect His return have gone away. In fact, the opposite is true. The reasons to expect Jesus to return at any moment have markedly increased.

Yet to great amazement, many Christians seem more complacent and ignorant of the signs than ever. Why? I don’t know. But I’ll continue to sound the alarm, and you should too. The Bible says if we recognize the signs and don’t tell others about them, we’re no different than a watchman who sees an invading army and doesn’t sound the alarm. If we fail in our role as watchmen, God says He will hold us accountable for all those who perish (Ezekiel 33:1-6).

All the signs Jesus and the prophets said to look for are present right now. For almost 2,000 years, no Christian could say that. Our generation is an eyewitness to signs previous Christians could only dream about.

If the signs are telling us the Tribulation and the Second Coming are near, then it means the rapture is even closer. Don’t fall asleep, and don’t let anyone around you fall asleep. It’s never been more important to stay awake. Jesus is coming!

Britt Gillette is author of the free ebook Coming to Jesus as well as the books Signs of the Second Coming and Racing Toward Armageddon. 

Copyright © 2019 Britt Gillette End Times Bible Prophecy–All rights reserved.

In His Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24-25, the next group of people that Jesus talks about, that will be impacted by His coming are the servants who were given talents. The parable relates to how the master divided the money among his servants according to each of their abilities.

For the kingdom of heaven is like a man travelling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own personal ability; and immediately he went on a journey.

Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his Lord’s money (Matthew 25:14-19).

One man received five talents, another two, and a third received one. No one received more or less than he could handle and each was free to invest or not to invest. There was no compulsion from the giver of the talents. God does not give to any believer either more or less than he is able to use effectively.

The servant who got five talents went at once and invested the five talents and got five more, the one with two got two, and each of these were commended of having done a good job: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord (Mathew 25: 19-21).

The Lord also assessed the faithfulness of the servants mentioned in Matt. 25:14-30, not by their net gain but their percentage increase. The servant who gained five talents was not considered more faithful than the servant who had gained two talents although he gained more talents.

It is on their faithfulness, as expressed in the percentage increase achieved, that their judgment is based. Whether one man originally received five talents and another one two, this was not the basis on which their faithfulness is assessed. Rather, each of these servants was considered equally faithful because each had achieved the same increase.

God Did Not Call Us to Win

If you choose to become a person who is deeply committed to a cause, the world won’t understand you; you will be alone. Noah built the ark and voyaged alone except for his family. He preached 120 years and never had a convert, and yet he did not get discouraged.

Don Wildmon, the founder of the American Family Association (AFA) stood boldly against the increasing immorality in our society for years, until his resignation in 2010. The sad thing is that he often reported that some of his main critics came from within Christianity and many of them were pastors!

He said the typical letter he got from pastors read something like this: Don, you are wasting your time. Evil has greatly multiplied since you began speaking out about it. You need to face up to the fact that you are losing the battle. Don responded by saying:

God did not call me to win. He called me to stand. We will not win until Jesus returns.

The third servant according to Jesus dug a hole and buried his talent in the ground. He forgot that all he had belonged to the Lord, he was just a steward. In this parable of the talents the third servant hid the one talent he had received and later brought it back to his master in exactly the same way or condition in which he had received it. For doing this he did not receive any reward and worse still he was totally rejected and cast out from his master’s presence.

It was Charles Finney who wrote,

The Church is filled with hypocrites because people were never made to see that they must make an entire consecration of everything to Christ. All their time, all their talents, and all their influence must be given or they will never get to heaven. Many think they can be Christians, yet dream through life using all their time and property for themselves.

The lesson from this third servant is that laziness is wickedness. “You wicked, lazy servant….. Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:26-30).

There are some things that the Lord hates and one of them is irresponsibly squandering our God-given abilities. Jesus not only called the third servant lazy and wicked, but He condemned the man to eternal damnation. He also took the servant’s one talent and gave it to the one who had the ten. So if at all you don’t use your talent, you will lose it, but if we risk and use it, we will get more.

Gifts and Talents

What are these gifts and talents that the Lord is talking about? In order to discover these gifts we have to briefly go back to the Bible and look at the book of Romans, 1 Corinthians and the book of Ephesians. In the book of Romans the Bible says:

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness (Romans 12:6-8).

In the Bible we are told to pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy, because he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men ….he who prophesies also edifies the church (1 Corinthians 14:1-5).

Throughout the Bible prophesying is to strengthen, exhort, edify, comfort and encourage. Prophets give courage, confidence, hope, reassurance, inspiration, support and they promote. Prophecy is forth telling, speaking it out. The prophets are seers; they get prophetic dreams and visions.

The Bible says we are to use the prophecy in proportion to our faith. Then there is a gift of service—servers are faithful and loyal, they have a natural desire to see things done. The gift of teaching is passing on wisdom, knowledge, and experience that you’ve gained to those who are unlearned.

The gift of encouragement is to motivate others to be whatever God has called them to be. The gift of giving or contributing to the needs of others includes people who are generous and trustworthy. The gift of leadership involves good organizational and management skills.

The gift of mercy involves showing kindness and compassion to people who are hurting. You will lay down your life for others to see they are restored and redeemed.

We should Abound in the Work of the Lord

When the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the rapture, he concluded with an important admonition:

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be firm (steadfast), immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord always being superior, excelling, doing more than enough in the service of the Lord, knowing and becoming continually aware that your labour is not futile it is never wasted or to no purpose” (1 Corinthians 15:58 AMP).

Jesus says, “the servants were to put his money to work until their master returned.” In other words His disciples are to continue in faithful and wise service even though He might be gone a long time (see Matthew 24:45).

And most importantly we will not be like that wicked lazy servant who buried his talent rather than use it for someone else’s benefit, especially his master whom he regarded as hard to expect making a profit out of him. This man who has one talent convinces himself that there is nothing much he can accomplish.

Unfortunately he was rejected and cast into outer darkness where he can meditate on his wasted opportunities with weeping and gnashing of teeth. In the parable of the minas recorded in Luke 19, Jesus also makes it clear that we are to do business stay until He returns.

In this parable ten servants are mentioned and they all received the same amount: one mina each, but only three are described in detail. Of the three servants whose cases are described, the first gained five minas, the second gained five minas, and the third just like in parable of talents, hid and kept laid up in the handkerchief. He eventually brought it back in the same condition in which he had received it.

These servants all possessed equal ability, since all of them received the same amount committed to them. However, they were not equally faithful. The first made ten additional minas. The second made five more minas. Both of these servants were rewarded with authority over ten and five cities respectively. Their rewards were in exact proportion to the increase each one had achieved.

The rewards for serving Christ faithfully in this present age will consist in positions of authority and responsibility in the Kingdom of God. For those who love Christ and are compelled to serve Him faithfully and with the right motive in this age, this privilege will be extended throughout eternity.

The Motivation is Love

Love for Jesus Christ should be our motive and everything is ultimately measured by motivation.  The whole question of serving Christ springs from knowing and loving Him intimately.

As one missionary said, “The need can get you there, but only the love of Christ can keep you there.”If we serve Christ with any motivation other than Christ’s love, we will get disillusioned. The love of Christ is a higher, nobler motivation for service than the potential reward of faithfulness.

In his famous chapters on love in I Corinthians, Paul says we are to be inspired by God’s love for and in us in utilizing the spiritual gifts.  Chapter 12 is about spiritual gifts by themselves; chapter 13 is about spiritual gifts without love; and chapter 14 is about the true, excellent way: spiritual gifts with love.

Thus, the more we love Christ, the more love we will show to others for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us (see Romans 5:5).

Therefore, we should not be drawn to do any kind of work or service in the hopes of wealth or fame, but rather out of love and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul again explains, it’s the love of Christ that compels us:

For the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us, because we are of the opinion and conviction that if One died for all, then all died; And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

“If you major on knowing God,” A.W.Tozer once wrote, and cultivate a sense of His presence in your daily life, and do what Brother Lawrence advises, “Practicing the presence of God” daily and seek to know the Holy Scriptures, you will go a long way in serving your generation for God. No man (or woman) has any right to die until he/she has served God in his/her generation.

The Psalmist declares:

Yes, even when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not, but keep me alive until I have declared Your mighty strength to this generation, and Your might and power to all that are to come (Psalm 71:18 AMP).

Indeed, what we do in life echoes in eternity.

One great writer has said that “Freedom’s deadliest enemy is irresponsibility.” Sometime back I was watching Joyce Meyer talking about the death of her younger brother on God TV as part of her message on the life of self-pity compared to a life of diligence and faith.

She said that she learned about her brother’s death after Los Angeles authorities called her in December about a week after Christmas, to inform her that they found him dead in an abandoned building in the city. He had been dead 30 days and his body was so badly decomposed that in order for the authorities to identify him, they had to have his dental records.

After a few days she received his cremated ashes and a few personal effects that included a pocket knife, empty wallet, key chain and broken watch. She imagined that he must have been filled with regret during the last days of his life for not making the right choices.

My personal effects and his are sadly different. What are your personal effects going to be when your time here is up?” she asked the congregants at the meeting. During her address, she compared her life with that of her brother’s to illustrate the point that it’s up to the person’s determination to follow God’s plan, not his circumstances, that allow him to reap God’s promises.

How one’s life turns out is not dependent on what people do to us or what they don’t do for us, there is no man on earth or devil in hell who can keep you from the very best God put in you.

Joyce Meyer preached on the story of a man in John 5 who laid by a pool for 38 years; then  Jesus asked this man; “Would you like to get well?” The man didn’t respond with a clear yes, but with self-pity. He said “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

Joyce then related her story to her own life and that of her brother’s. For many years, Meyer had suffered from sexual abuse from her father, which led to her to become controlling, manipulative and rebellious.

She was saved at the age of 9 but didn’t live out her faith. It was later in her life that she heard the voice and calling of God to preach. Today, she is a world known preacher, selling millions of books and making a difference in other people’s lives.

Meanwhile, her brother David joined the Marine Corp and started taking prescription drugs. He married young and had a baby. He left his wife and refused to pay child support.

Meyer said she tried several times to help her brother but kept running away. During one point in his life, he received employment under Joyce Meyer and worked there for a few years until he was asked to pay $ 60,000 in unpaid child support.

He quit his job and went through a string of girlfriends and drug habits. Another time she helped him receive drug rehabilitation at the Dream Centre in Los Angeles, but after a few months into the program, he said it wasn’t for him.

Joyce Meyer said that both she and her brother came from the same bloodline, same family, in some aspects, both went through their own struggles. However, while she eventually took responsibility for her behaviour, her brother always ran away from his.

Joyce Meyer continued her message by saying that “even though the crippled man in the gospel story couldn’t move much, but during the 38 years, he could at least wiggle to the edge of the pool, whereas David just wanted to lay by the pool another year, feel sorry for himself, blame somebody and remain crippled, I got tired of laying by the pool and I decided to wiggle.”Joyce said.

Joyce said she wasn’t bringing up the story of her brother to be disrespect, but she believed he would have wanted her to speak about him to teach all of us a lesson.” She said there was a time she and her husband considered paying off his overdue child support, but she wanted her brother to show his commitment to working and not quitting the Job.

This story is similar to many stories of families around the world. We don’t want to take responsibility for our actions and worse still we blame everyone for our sins and mistakes.

The Lord God Will Restore The Years

The Lord is God is the meaning of Joel’s name. No matter what has happened in the past, the Lord is able to restore. In Joel 2: 18-27, the Lord urges the people to be glad rather than afraid. He promises Israel that if they really repent from their hearts, God will restore the years that the locusts have eaten.

This is a principle that applies today. Many of us regret the wasted years in our lives, but God says he will restore those years to us. But He will only restore the years that the locusts have eaten if there is true repentance.

The root of repentance is that we ‘change our minds’. So it is appropriate to say that if we repent, God will change His mind.

So as we look at this irresponsibility, we are seeing an escalation of breakdown in the family, communities, cities, and all the nations of the world. The whole world is reaping the consequences of an irresponsible humanity.

Almost every one of us are where we are today because that is where we have chosen, either subconsciously or consciously, to be. We are all good at blaming our mistakes on someone else since the fall of our first parents Adam and Eve.

As a man, Adam became the first spiritual leader in human history. He was given the responsibility of overseeing the garden and providing direction for his family. He was to be a steward over his resources and relationships. Unfortunately, he failed. Adam also mismanaged his God-given responsibility by remaining passive when he should have refused to eat the fruit which led to both of them sinning against God.

When God confronted him with this sin, he blamed Eve and the spirit of irresponsibility and blame entered the human race. Adam should have risked, stood up, and took responsibility by commanding the serpent to leave him and his wife alone.

When Eve picked the fruit, ate it and swallowed it, nothing immediately happened. But the Bible says she took the fruit and gave it her husband, who had received the original instructions from God, and when he ate of it, suddenly everything changed.

Death came, and the purity and holiness of our first parents was gone: “At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves” (Genesis 3: 7).

After sinning, Adam and Eve felt guilt and shame because of their nakedness. Because God planted eternity in the hearts of all men (see Ecclesiastes 3: 10), Adam and Eve also had consciences God had placed in their hearts, and this is what goes off when any one of us has done wrong.

When God came, He didn’t ask for the woman because of her sin; rather, He asked the man. It was at this time that Adam started blaming Eve and thereby forfeiting his God-given responsibility which led to a spirit of irresponsibility and blame entering the human race.

The Bible says: “The man replied, ‘It was the woman You gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it’” (Genesis 3: 12).  Not only did Adam neglect to establish and uphold God’s instructions, but he, transferred the responsibility for his fruit-eating decision to the woman, who had offered the fruit.

“God the woman You gave me… In other words, Adam was suggesting that God was responsible for the choice and decision that he made. If Eve had used other means of force to give the fruit to Adam, then the woman would have been responsible, but she didn’t force him in any way; it was Adam’s choice.

Where was Adam when the devil was tempting Eve? The Bible says he was standing right there beside her. “The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too” (Genesis 3: 6).

Men and women have the ultimate responsibility for their decisions. But since the fall, every one of us doesn’t want to take responsibility for our own choices, actions, decisions, situations, or circumstances. Instead, we find it easy to hide and blame others for our sins.

Maturity does not necessarily come with age; it comes by the acceptance of responsibility in every area of our lives.

Accepting responsibility for our failures is the substance on which success rests. No one can be responsible for success unless he is willing to accept responsibility for failure as well. This is true in business and marriage, as well in all other aspects of life.

Today is a new season of responsibility in which God is saying to each of us, whether your are poor, rich, Black White, Indian –no matter who or where you are-“Stop blaming the system, your parents your pastor, your former girlfriend or boyfriend and stop blaming your past. Get your act together, and accept responsibility.

We can’t change the past, but by God’s grace we can determine the quality of our future. We might not like the family into which were born, but we sure can by God’s grace determine the kind of home in which we rear our children.

The following is a prophetic word for Great Britain given through Lance Lambert, who had a great love for the UK as his adopted country after he escaped here from the Nazis as a child. Please read and weigh this prayerfully.

Saturday 6 August 2011

Hear the voice of the Lord, O Isles that I have so greatly loved and favoured. I the Lord the Almighty, I took you when you were nothing, clothed with skins and woad, and through My saving power, I made you great. When you were nothing, through My Word and your faith in Me, I lifted you and made you Great Britain.

Through many awakenings and many revivals, stage by stage, I took you until you became a great power with the greatest Empire in the history of the nations.

From you My Gospel and My Word went throughout the world, and tens of thousands came into an experience of saving faith! That Empire with all its many failings and weaknesses was still one of the most just and righteous Empires of history.

Those Isles of yours were soaked with the blood of My faithful martyrs and its soil received the burnt ashes of those who would not renounce My Name, My Truth, and My Word. I, the Lord have not forgotten those who gave their all for Me!

But now the whole nation that I created and sustained has turned from Me. They paganise their land, state and institutions; there is no voice heard to warn the nation.

False religion, the work of world rulers of darkness, cover your Isles; A Laodicean church, neither hot nor cold, rumbles on like machinery. It is a church where I am outside of its routine; its organisation and its methodology. It is Christianity without Me: Religion without Me!

My being is seared with pain, for judgement is determined against your land. I can do no other. I will destroy the vestiges of her greatness; I will return her to her first estate.

I will wreck her economy, destabilise her in every way. I will change her climate, even her weather. I will prove to her that the way of the transgressor is hard and terrible.

I will allow demonic forces held in check erstwhile by My Word and Gospel, and the living faith of so many, to become rampant in her social life, to the destruction of her society.

Will you who know Me and love Me go blind and dumb and deaf into this judgement?

It is time for you who love Me, who are faithful to Me, to take action! Stand before Me and plead The Finished Work of My Son. At least cry out to Me, that there will be those who turn from darkness, from sin, and be saved. For whosoever shall call upon My Name in the midst of these judgements, I will save!

It will cost you everything to stand in the gap, but you will enter into My heart, and know deep fellowship with Me. Such travail conceived in your heart by My Spirit will cost your deeply, but it will end in My Throne and Glory.

Copyright © 2019 Lance Lambert Ministries-All rights reserved.

The Garden of Eden has disappeared and, with it, the original order of creation. The Fall from innocence distorted all relationships, particularly between men and women, destroying the harmony.

Chronologically, Eve was the first to sin. That is because Satan (who is masculine) approached her first. Why did he do so? Divide to conquer; one is easier to tackle than two. The New Testament teaches us that it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and deluded and fell into transgression (2 Timothy 2:14).

Eve thought she was doing right because she was more vulnerable to being seduced in mind, whereas Adam knew he was doing wrong. So Paul’s practice of prohibiting instruction by women; however uncomfortable we may feel with his line of thought, seems to saying: Eve, as a typical woman, was liable to be misled and therefore more likely to mislead.

That Adam followed her with neither argument nor protest put him in the feminine role, which may explain why, theologically, Adam was the first to sin!

The New Testament holds Adam responsible for introducing sin and death to the human race (Romans 5:12), rather than Eve. This doesn’t mean that Adam is regarded as basically responsible for the whole situation, for her as well for himself.

He could and should have rebuked her and interceded for her. But instead Adam took a feminine role, and abdicated his position. Because of space and time we cannot debate whether God’s punishment fitted their crime.

The Fall introduced struggle into their respective spheres of activity. This word struggle became the watchword of men like Darwin, Karl Marx, Nietsche, Hitler and more recently those who advocate socialist and communist ideals.

Adam will be affected in his daily work, Eve in her family relationships. Note that the Fall did not introduce this differentiation, it merely damaged it:

And to Adam He said, because you have listened and given heed to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, the ground is under a curse because of you; in sorrow and toil shall you eat of the fruits of it all the days of your life.

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return (Genesis 3:17-19).

Adam is addressed first, since he carries prime responsibility in the partnership. Banished from the garden to the field, he will only survive with great effort against opposing factors. The Bible doesn’t mention anything of his marital relations, nor is he told to rule his wife.

Eve is also punished, but in relation to her family. In childbearing (birth process rather than upbringing) her pain (physical rather than mental, and not menstrual) is to be increased (not introduced).  In relation to her husband her ‘desire will be to him,’ which means to control, manipulate, posses someone.

Having led her husband into sin, she must now live with a continuing urge to subordinate him to her wish and will.   His reaction will be not only to resist this takeover, but to use his greater strength to ‘rule’ her. Male domination is the inevitable result of this struggle for supremacy of wills. In Genesis 3:16 we read:

To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your grief and your suffering in pregnancy and the pangs of childbearing; with spasms of distress you will bring forth children. Yet your desire and craving will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.

In these verses above lies the real explanation for the centuries of exploitation and suppression of women, against which feminism has been validly protesting for years to the point that feminist beliefs had led some people to seek to abolish gender distinctions. But do feminists seek power or principle?

The advent of rule to describe marriage was not the introduction of subordination but the exaggeration of it (in much the same was as pain in child-bearing increased). Responsibility for direction in the male became a reaction into domination.

The male-dominated garden is now a male-dominated jungle. Each sex sees the other as an object rather than a subject, to serve their own purposes. This situation can only be remedied by divine grace, by redemption rather than legislation or a feminist revolution.

God’s strategy is to plant on earth a community of men and women who will live as Adam and Eve did, in His creation order (except for their nudity, which will never recur, even in heaven).

The Woman was Made From Man..After Man and For Man

Woman was made from man, not dust. This might be thought to indicate the incompleteness of the man (and the reason he seeks union with a wife rather than parents in (1 Corinthians 11:24); but Paul uses this to support the headship of the man: “For man did not come from woman, but woman from man” (1 Corinthians 11:8), possibly recalling that she came from his side.

Woman was made for man; the reserve is not true (1 Corinthians 11:9). Her primary function is in relation to him; his was already established without reference to her ( (1 Corinthians 11:15).

And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it….Now the Lord God said, It is not good (sufficient, satisfactory) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him (Genesis 2: 15,18).

The word help in no way implies inferiority, since it is often used of God’s assistance. Neither does it imply identity, since God’s help is in terms of support, sympathy and strength-rather than substituting for man in his task.

The woman was made after man. His priority in time has other implications. The firstborn carries responsibility for and authority over later arrivals as Paul indicates in 1 Timothy 2:13.  “For Adam was first formed, then Eve; God names man (Genesis 5:2) and the stars. Man names the animals when God brought them to him.

He is not rebuked for taking this authority. Nor is it valid to object that woman is not a name since it is generic rather than specific. Adam called her Eve; a legacy of his action is to be found in a wife taking her husband’s surname after marriage.

God and man can relate face-to-face because they bear the same image, yet man is subordinate to God. The same dual aspect applies to men and women.

The underlying principle is that in Christ we are still male and female. We are still what God created us to be, so when we worship God we do so not as persons, but as men and women, willing to accept how God made us.

So transvestism is condemned in the Bible, for when men want to be like women and women like to be like men, there is a rebellion against how God made us. When we worship God as Creator, we come to him as his creatures, and so we need to let that difference be clearly seen.

Western culture is generally saying the exact opposite. It argues for the removal of many differences between men and women, and this belief is creeping into the Church. But men and women are different. We are complementary, of equal value and dignity and status in God’s sight, but with different roles, responsibilities and functions before God.

Controversial Teaching in Paul’s Epistles

Perhaps the most controversial teaching in Paul’s epistles concerns women. Paul apparently imposes strict limitations on the ministry of women. And that’s why Feminist theologians dislike Paul’s letters and according to David Pawson they make some of these claims:

Pseudepigraphical. Some say the letters are not by Paul but are a second-century forgery in his name. Thus they should not be part of the canon.

Rabbinical.Others argue that if these letters are from Paul, the teaching on women is a throwback to his rabbinical days before his conversion. As an old man he is returning to prejudices from his Jewish childhood.

Cultural.They argue that this teaching is purely cultural. If Jesus were alive today, he would have chosen six men and six women as apostles. The favourite phrase that sums up this position is to say that Paul was culturally conditioned. So Jesus’ choice of 12 men to be his apostles was tactful, because in his day it would have been offensive to have women apostles – an argument which fails to realize that Jesus never did anything merely because it was ‘diplomatic’! One of the compliments that the Pharisees paid him was, ‘You pay no attention to any man.’ If it had been right for him to do it, then he would have done it.

Heretical. Others claim that women were barred from teaching because women led many of the cults. The Church needed to distance itself from these practices, so it barred women from teaching. There is, however, no evidence to support this theory.

Educational.The next argument suggests that the lack of education for women in Paul’s day made it unwise for them to be in a teaching/ leadership role. But if this was true, Paul should not have let uneducated men lead the Church. In Acts, the Sanhedrin describe the 12 apostles as uneducated men, and so they were.

But when you read Paul’s letters carefully, he teaches that the gender differences between men and women still apply in the Church. We cannot deny that 1 Corinthians 14:33-38 is one of the most difficult passages to understand and 1 Timothy 1:11-15 is widely considered to be the passage most offensive to Christian women in the writings of Paul.

However, Paul’s prohibition relates to gender, not ignorance; and this is based on creation, not culture. The gift of teaching Christians requires spiritual rather than intellectual qualifications and is quite unrelated to academic ability or opportunity. We need to remember that Jewish Rabbis wouldn’t even let a woman learn at all, even though they had no Scriptural justification for doing so.

The church started from a handful of people around AD 52. Paul’s strategy for evangelizing an area was to begin his work in the Jewish synagogue in the city he was visiting. But there was no synagogue in Philippi, for there were less than the required 10 male Jews to form one, and so Paul met with a Jewish ladies’ prayer group instead.

Among the women was one who was to be instrumental in the work of the Philippian church – a businesswoman named Lydia. Originally from Asia, she sold purple cloth for a living. Acts tells us that she had slaves and a household and that the whole household was baptized.

In 1 Corinthians 14:34, 35, Paul is taking a Christian, not a Jewish, position, in teaching both sexes as Jesus did before him.  Women were not allowed to teach at all in the mixed congregation but in his letter to Titus, he encouraged them to do this on other occasions when men were not present.

Bid the older women similarly to be reverent and devout in their deportment as becomes those engaged in sacred service, not slanderers or slaves to drink. They are to give good counsel and be teachers of what is right and noble (Titus 2:3).

We also need to understand that preaching in those days was primarily announcing the gospel to unbelievers whereas teaching was addressed to believers something we call preaching in New Testament terms.

The general prohibition in 1 Timothy 1:12 to allow no woman to teach or to have authority over men is translated as to usurp authority. For a woman to direct a man was seen as an act of violence, because it violated the order of creation.  For that is the background on which Paul bases his prohibitions. They express quite literally the order in which Adam and Eve were created:

For Adam was first formed, then Eve; and it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and deluded and fell into transgression (1 Timothy 1:13-14).

Eve was deceived and became a transgressor. Her assuming role of leadership had disastrous consequences and must not be followed by other women.

Though he excludes women from any activity involving leadership of men, he encourages women in many forms of ministry. Though his qualifications for eldership are male:

• Husband of one wife…
• Able to manage his own household…
• Temperate and self-controlled….
• Not given to wine…
• And not a lover of money insatiable for wealth and ready to obtain it by questionable means…..

Yet the ministry of deacons is open to all.  This is mentioned in the very next chapter 1 Timothy 3:11 and is confirmed by Deaconess Phoebe, Romans 16:1.

As a matter of fact, the whole chapter in Romans 16, he commends mostly women who have acquitted themselves in the work of the Lord. They bear the title ‘fellow’ worker colleagues of Paul (as were Euodia and Syntyche in Philippians 4:2; which means they shared in his mission of evangelism and church planting.

Conclusion

Woman is made from man. She therefore derives her being from him. Indeed, as the Bible indicates, woman is named by man just as he named the animals. Woman is made after man. He therefore carries the responsibility of the first-born. The significance of that will become clear in Genesis 3, where Adam is blamed for the sin not Eve, since he was responsible for her.

Woman is made for man. Adam had a job before he had a wife and man is made primarily for his work, while woman is made primarily for relationships.

This does not mean that a man must not have relationships or that a woman must not go out to work, but rather that this is the primary purpose for which God made male and female.

The fact that man named woman also shows how the partnership is to work: not as a democracy, but with the responsibility of leadership falling to the male. The emphasis is upon cooperation, not competition.

God made us men and women, and we need each other. He made us for different roles and responsibilities. In Genesis 2 we learn that the functions of men and women are different.

The Bible talks of the responsibilities of the man to provide and protect, and of the woman to uphold, encourage, assist and accept.

When men behave like women and women behave like men, we are distorting God’s creative beauty. So men are given the responsibility of leading. Although this is not popular teaching today, it’s there in Scripture. We can’t get round it.

Recommended Reading:

J. David Pawson, Leadership is Male

Derek Prince, Husbands and Fathers, The Marriage Covenant

When the thirteen colonies were still part of England, Professor Alexander Tytler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburg, wrote about the fall of the Athenian republic some 2000 years prior:

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, followed by a dictatorship.

The authenticity of this quote is often disputed and cannot be verified, but the words of the original author are still relevant to what is going on in the West today.

The author noted that the average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years (the comparative data cannot prove this span of years).

During those 200 years, however, these nations have always progressed

• From bondage to spiritual faith;
• From spiritual faith to great courage;
• From courage to liberty;
• From liberty to abundance;
• From abundance to complacency;
• From complacency to apathy;
• From apathy two dependence;
• From dependence back into bondage.

This progression can be seen throughout the historical books of the Bible, as well as in Greece, Persia, Babylon, and in Rome. Each of these Empires passed through the above series of stages from their inception to their decline. Where are we today on the scale?

Today we have a deteriorating form of government, no matter what party is elected or who is president. Politicians criticize each other, but they both play for the same team; the losers are always the people who vote for them.

In 1776 America supposedly came out of bondage with faith, understanding, and courage. Even against great odds, and with much bloodshed, they battled their way to achieve liberty.

Liberty is that delicate area between the force of government and the free will of man.

Liberty brings freedom of choice to work, to trade, to go and live wherever one wishes. In fact, liberty leads to abundance.

Abundance, if made an end in itself, will result in complacency, which in turn leads to apathy.

Apathy is the “let someone do it” philosophy that always brings dependency. For a period of time, dependents are often not aware they are in fact dependent.

Rather, they delude themselves by thinking that they are still free—“We can still vote, can’t we?” they ask themselves.

Eventually abundance diminishes and dependency becomes bondage once again.

We’re right now in the “apathy” stage, and we’ve possibly moved beyond the “dependence” stage, but apathy and indifference are perhaps the most negative traits of mankind.

If man had the knowledge he could see which timeline his future was headed down and reverse it before it was too late. History shouldn’t repeat itself!

The average Westerner who hasn’t traveled very much believes Moscow to be a cold, bleak, desolate capital city that’s filled with Stalinist-era architecture and a population that lives in utter misery.

But the reality of this place is nearly the complete opposite.

Moscow is a bright, beautiful, cosmopolitan city. I’ve always found Moscow to feel more European than most European capitals, with gorgeous architecture that never seems to end.

Moscow is easily as nice as Paris, London, or Vienna… with a population larger than all three. I like it here more and more every time I visit.

It has some of the nicest restaurants in the world, beautiful parks and monuments, and a highly sophisticated, educated, cultured population.

The city is quite prosperous too. But it wasn’t always that way.

Moscow was once the capital of the Soviet Empire… the most infamous and failed experiment with Socialism in the history of the world.

Russia’s humiliating tale of Socialism grew out imperial discontent– a period starting in the 1500s when wealth was concentrated in the hands of the Tsar and his key lieutenants. Everyone else lived as peasants in abject poverty.

My friends and I toured a museum at the Kremlin over the weekend and saw endless artifacts from the days of the Empire– golden chalices, diamond-encrusted silverware, magnificent carriages.

No doubt the royals lived absurdly well at the expense of everyone else. And by the early 20th century, the seeds of revolution had been firmly planted.

Lenin and his Bolsheviks finally seized power in 1917. And after they stamped out all remaining resistance and opposition, they set out to remake the country into a communist masterpiece.

It took 69 years for the Soviet Union to collapse. And by the time that happened, there was no private property, private business, or private wealth.

Decades of central planning had extinguished any incentive to work hard, take risks, and innovate. And most people were destitute and impoverished.

Yet over the past 30 years this country has become wealthy once again. Russians enjoy a high standard of living– much higher than many European countries– with some of the lowest tax rates on the continent.

(GDP per capita in Moscow is actually slightly higher than in Washington DC, and much higher than most US cities like Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, or Miami.)

None of this is due to Socialism. And Russians know it.

They still pay lip service to Lenin… there are tombs and monuments and buildings bearing his name, mostly out of reverence for history and traditions.

But Russians embraced capitalism long ago. They had their experiment with Socialism when the Bolsheviks took over in 1917. And they’re not going back.

Meanwhile, over in the Land of the Free, nearly half the country is running as fast as they can to Socialism.

The reasons are much the same as in imperial Russia– there’s growing discontent about the divide between rich and poor.

And as more and more people in the West feel left behind and barely able to make ends meet, the call to Socialism grows stronger.

There have been two formal debates so far among US Presidential candidates, both of which seemed to be Bolshevik beauty pageants.

The candidates talk about guaranteeing a government job for everyone, free education, free healthcare, eliminating private insurance altogether.

They demonize private profit and wealthy individuals, and propose more government as the solution to everything that ails the nation.

These are all Bolshevik principles ripped straight out of the Communist Manifesto– nationalization of private industry, central planning, government controlled labor and education, heavy taxation, and constantly complaining about the Bourgeoisie.

I’ve been looking back lately over the last decade of Sovereign Man (we recently hit our 10 year anniversary two weeks ago.)

Over the years I’ve written extensively about how the Bolsheviks are coming to the Land of the Free… and most of the West.

Well, those days are over. It’s clear that the Bolsheviks are no longer coming. They’re here. And their movement is firmly entrenched.

One of the Presidential candidates was actually booed and jeered at a political rally in California earlier this month by voters in his own party simply because he suggested that “Socialism is not the answer.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOdNC55ROLQ]

A growing number of constituents believe quite adamantly that Socialism is absolutely the answer. A recent Gallup poll showed that 43% of Americans now prefer socialism to capitalism.

This isn’t some fake news conspiracy theory. It’s happening.

Copyright © 2019 Simon Black Sovereign Man–All rights reserved