{"id":11809,"date":"2015-02-23T18:20:54","date_gmt":"2015-02-23T18:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.watchmanmedia.org\/?p=11809"},"modified":"2019-02-23T22:39:43","modified_gmt":"2019-02-23T22:39:43","slug":"gay-marriage-beginning-sorrows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/?p=11809","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Gay Marriage\u2019 and the Beginning of Sorrows"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ferguson_Day_6_Picture_44-1-1\"Editor\u2019s Perspective<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sodom Didn\u2019t Have Bibles<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The Lord said that the cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom which were destroyed by God for their wickedness, would have repented of their sins long ago if they had seen the miracles and experienced all of the things they had seen in their time. The people of Bethsaida, Korazin, and Capernaum saw the Lord and experienced all these miracles, but they didn\u2019t believe, repent of their sins, and turn to God. So Jesus said that they would suffer an even greater judgment than Sodom (see Matthew 11:20\u201324).<\/p>\n

To whom more is given more is required. We who are alive in this generation will be judged by the measure of moral light that has been made available to us. For those who live in countries with a Biblical heritage and a long history of Christianity, such as England or United States of America will receive the highest measure of God\u2019s judgement.<\/p>\n

Jesus tells us, \u201cFor everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.\u201d (Luke 12:48) In his book Sodom had no Bible<\/a>,<\/span> Leonard Ravenhill <\/span>observed:<\/p>\n

\n

Sodom had no Bibles, we have millions, Sodom had no churches, we have thousands, Sodom had no preachers, we have ten thousand plus thousands, Sodom had no Bible schools, we have at least two hundred and fifty, Sodom had no prayer meetings, we have thousands, Sodom had no gospel broadcasts, as a nation we are richly blessed with Christian broadcasts. Sodom had histories of God\u2019s judgements to warn it of danger. We have volumes of them. Sodom perished in spite of all these disadvantages. America (or the West in general) is living only by the mercy of God. The only reason we are not smoking in the fire-wrath of a holy God is mercy\u2014m-e-r-c-y, prolonged mercy\u2026. One thing that and one thing alone that keeps us from complete decay in this hour\u2014the Church, the true Church, the blood washed remnant (that has not bowed its knees to the Baal of materialism and that cannot be intimated by the threats and scorn of scientific humanism)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u2018Gay Marriage\u2019 and the Beginning of Sorrows<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Absent a miracle from God or unprecedented massive wave of popular protest by America\u2019s Christians (which would be a miracle in itself), the United States Supreme Court will declare a constitutional right to \u201cgay marriage\u201d by judicial fiat sometime this year.<\/p>\n

Justice Ginsberg (who along with Justice Kagan has actually performed same sex \u201cwedding\u201d ceremonies and should but won\u2019t recuse herself) warned the left just before the Windsor decision (in thinly veiled comments about Roe v Wade), that her pro-homosexuality majority was not going to go that far in striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 2013, though the result that all wanted would come in due time.<\/p>\n

Her Cultural Marxist pals at the grassroots and in the federal judiciary then waged a campaign to \u201clegalize\u201d homosexual unions by systematically striking down voter-established state DOMAs over the next eighteen months, beginning with the most conservative states. The plan was to engender a sense of resignation in the public so that the upcoming \u201cgay marriage\u201d ruling would not so shock the nation that the common people would revolt against it like they did (and still do) against Roe v Wade.<\/p>\n

The fact that SCOTUS has now taken up the issue (with oral arguments set for April) means that the leftist majority on the court believe the time is at hand to finish the job.<\/p>\n

Spiritually speaking, the official endorsement of \u201cgay marriage\u201d by the most powerful and influential nation on earth, and more importantly the only nation in the history of the world (other than ancient Israel) to be established on a Biblical foundation, is an act of rebellion against God not seen since Noah\u2019s Flood.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the ancient Hebrew rabbis taught that \u201csame-sex and bestial marriages\u201d were the final insult to God that triggered the great flood (Talmud, Genesis Rabbah 26:5:4). And Jesus alluded to this when he warned that in the time leading to His return, wicked people would be \u201cmarrying and giving in marriage\u201d \u201cas in the days of Noah\u201d (Matthew 24:38), when \u201cevery intent of the thoughts of [their] heart was only evil continually\u201d (Genesis 6:5).<\/p>\n

The only incidents in Biblical history that come close to that level of wrath are Sodom\u2019s rebellion in Genesis 19 (ending in a rain of fire and brimstone), and the extermination of the Canaanites for committing (on a grand scale for many generations) the sins listed in Leviticus 18 (essentially incest, child sacrifice, homosexuality and bestiality).<\/p>\n

Importantly, though homosexuality was a central factor in both of these acts of God\u2019s wrath, widespread, socially-celebrated \u201cgay marriage\u201d was not seen in either case, nor even in the secular history of the final debauched days of the Greeks or Romans. Our present time is truly, and uniquely \u201clike the days of Noah.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blood Moons, Jubilee, and Tribulation<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cCoincidentally,\u201d prophecy-oriented Christians have been intently focused on the year 2015 for several years now. The current Shemitah, a seven-year cycle of prophetic timekeeping kept by the Hebrews since first outlined by Moses in Leviticus 25, ends in mid-September 2015, when many believe the next (perhaps last) of the 50th-year Jubilee celebrations begins. This timetable corresponds with a prophecy about the last days given by Rabbi Judah Ben Samuel<\/a><\/span> in 1215AD, most of which has already been fulfilled to the letter.<\/p>\n

And 2015 is the second and final year of the dramatic \u201ctetrad\u201c of four lunar eclipses (called \u201cblood moons\u201d in scripture) that fall precisely on the Hebrew feasts days (which are outlined in Leviticus 23).<\/p>\n

Such tetrads are extremely rare and have occurred roughly in conjunction with the most monumental of events in Hebrew history. For example, the only two tetrads of the past 500 years coincided with the establishment of Israel as a nation in 1948 and the 1967 return of full control of Jerusalem to Jewish hands for the first time since the Roman expulsion of all Hebrews in 135BC.<\/p>\n

Perhaps unique in all of history, during this tetrad a corresponding pair of solar eclipses (considered an ill omen for the Gentile world) will fall precisely on the two New Years days<\/a><\/span> in the Hebrew calendar in 2015.<\/p>\n

News reports state that the \u201cgay marriage\u201d case will be officially filed in \u201clate March.\u201d The first of the solar eclipses will occur on March 20th, followed by the third of the four \u201cblood moons\u201d on April 4th. The \u201cgay marriage\u201d ruling by the court is expected to come down sometime in mid-2015.<\/p>\n

I expect some sort of severe judgment to fall on America in conjunction with this process.<\/p>\n

Clearly homosexuality is not the only factor that will trigger the wrath of God. America bears the blood guilt of over 50 million unborn babies who have been slaughtered over the past half-century, a modern parallel to what God warned against in Leviticus 18:22.<\/p>\n

And we have broken the foremost commandment of the Decalogue and officially set other gods before Him through SCOTUS rulings in Everson v Board of Education (1947) and Torcaso v Watkins (1961), setting secular humanist government above God \u201cand every so-called god or object of worship\u201d (2 Thessalonians 2:4) in the policy we call colloquially \u201creligious pluralism.\u201d Obama\u2019s hostility to Israel probably factors in as well.<\/p>\n

If the speculations about the blood moon tetrad and the timing of the Jubilee are accurate, America will not stand alone in judgment. The coming calamity will almost certainly be a part of some larger act of God\u2019s punishment on the entire world, most likely the Great Tribulation prophesied by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21).<\/p>\n

There are various beliefs about the sequence of end time events in Jesus\u2019 prophecy, but a natural reading of it suggests a simple chronology that starts with \u201cthe beginning of sorrows\u201d (birth pangs), after which a seven-year tribulation begins, bifurcated by the unmasking of the Antichrist after 3 \u00bd years.<\/p>\n

\"FOURHORSEMEN-1\"<\/p>\n

The \u201cbeginning of sorrows\u201d is the time of the infamous Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Revelation 6), described in the Olivet Discourse as false Christianity (the white horse), wars and rumors of wars (the red horse), famine and pestilence (the black horse) and death (the pale horse).<\/p>\n

What would the \u201cbeginning of sorrows\u201d look like if it were to unfold in 2015? (Let me be clear this is purely an educated guess. I am not claiming divine revelation).<\/p>\n

In my view the white horse is best exemplified by the phenomenon of \u201cgay theology,\u201d the heresy of our age, advanced by a growing army of self-righteous political activists claiming to represent Christ in a campaign to declare good evil and evil good.<\/p>\n

They and their unique brand of apostasy are clearly described in the last-days prophecy of 2 Peter 2:1-10, which specifically invokes Sodom and warns in part that \u201c[m]any will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Importantly, like the LGBT movement today, the rider of the white horse in Revelation 6 (symbolic of the Antichrist who is still masked and unrecognized at this stage) holds aloft a \u201cbow\u201d (rainbow), the misappropriated symbol of the presence and authority of God (Ezekiel 1:28, Revelation 4:3).<\/p>\n

I would expect the white horse to be unleashed very soon in coordination with the \u201cgay marriage\u201d battle, generating a wave of apostasy far beyond anything we have seen thus far in the culture war.<\/p>\n

It would not be an exclusively American phenomenon, but a global campaign pushing some version of \u201cgay theology\u201d while proclaiming the dawn of a new era of Christianity (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).<\/p>\n

Remember, the end-time Antichrist is the ultimate Luciferian deceiver, an Angel of Light, and only the elect will recognize what is actually unfolding (Matthew 24:24) \u2014 the rest, even many who claim Christ, will embrace the heresy (as is already occurring on a smaller scale).<\/p>\n

The red horse is war, and I would expect to see the outbreak of major regional if not world war soon as well, almost certainly involving Israel and various Moslem nations, backed by various allies. There are any number of plausible scenarios based on current tensions around the world.<\/p>\n

The war would trigger a global economic meltdown and varying degrees of collapse of the financial and political infrastructure of the nations of the world, ushering in the black horse: famine and pestilence. There would be social chaos on an unprecedented scale, resulting in the breakdown of civil order, farm and factory supply chains, medical care and sanitation.<\/p>\n

The pale horse represents the massive harvest of the grim reaper as potentially millions of human beings are killed by war, starvation, disease, unchecked sectarian violence, ethnic cleansing, and a series of earthquakes and natural disasters.<\/p>\n

The Rise of a False savior<\/strong><\/h4>\n

After weeks or months of global chaos, when the nations are sufficiently broken and the peoples of the world desperate for a return to order, a hero will step upon the world stage to end the crisis.<\/p>\n

In the human context he will secretly represent the globalist elites who have planned and prepared for this opportunity to impose a new world order: a new global government with a new economic system.<\/p>\n

In the spiritual context he will be enacting a Satanic plot to usurp the role and identity of the Messiah and gain the adulation of the world.<\/p>\n

Wielding great military power this self-aggrandizing human savior will force an end to war and impose a secular humanist paradigm and religious pluralism as a remedy to the various forms of \u201cdiscrimination\u201d which he will blame for the world crisis. Everyone will be given the choice (at first) to join the new order and gain immediate integration into its cradle-to-grave socialistic bounty.<\/p>\n

\n

Just sign this oath to reject and renounce all divisive and discriminatory beliefs and \u201csupremacist\u201d theologies,\u201d he would say, \u201cand take this mark of membership on your hand to receive free food, housing and medicine and all other benefits under our enlightened new order of tolerance and inclusiveness.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Who would not rush to accept such relief after such a season of horror? Who would not offer heartfelt fealty to the one who provided it? \u2014 Only those willing to choose continued suffering and deprivation rather than to \u201ctake the mark\u201d and renounce their faith.<\/p>\n

In this speculative scenario of mine, the date on or around which this false messiah would emerge is Yom Kippur, September 23, 2015, the first day of the Jubilee \u2014 the day\/year of liberation.<\/p>\n

Just as Christ began His earthy ministry by declaring the Jubilee in Luke 4:17-21, the false messiah would do the same, but in modern terms: \u201cI hereby declare a global Jubilee of all debts, both public and private,\u201d he would proclaim, \u201cWe are wiping the slate clean to start over on a foundation of social justice and cooperation.\u201d He would not yet be exposed to the world as the Antichrist, but the Biblically literate would recognize him.<\/p>\n

The fifth stage of the end-time chronology is persecution of the believers (Matthew 24:9), who, in this scenario, would be characterized as \u201cblack marketers\u201d who refuse to support the new economic system and are thus blamed for its many inadequacies and hated by its adherents.<\/p>\n

Even as the rest of the world lauds its \u201csavior\u201d and embraces his government, the Christian believers (and Torah-faithful Jews) would be increasingly reviled and hunted.<\/p>\n

Under the Antichrist kingdom, Jerusalem (the center of the universe for prophecy study) is described in Revelation 11:8 as \u201cmystically called Sodom and Eqypt,\u201d implying in part that both homosexuality and pantheism (religious pluralism) define its culture.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think there is any question, Biblically, that the cultural celebration of \u201cgay marriage\u201d portends judgment from God. The only real question in my mind is whether it truly signals the imminent \u201cbeginning of sorrows\u201d or is just another step in the path leading to God\u2019s wrath at a later time. God is long-suffering, even to the most wicked of societies and He does not act until their iniquity is \u201cfull\u201d (Genesis 15:16).<\/p>\n

If we are on the verge of \u201cbirth pangs\u201d we will likely know it by Passover, but in either case we should brace for serious judgment on the United States in the form of natural and\/or man-made disaster if the Supreme Court established sodomy as a basis for marriage under our constitution.<\/p>\n

\"Scott_Lively_MassEquality_Forum_Mar_2014-1\"Dr. Scott Lively is the President of Defend the Family International. An attorney, pastor and international human rights consultant, he has travelled the world for many decades promoting and defending the Biblical view of family and sexuality. Website <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Posted on February 21, 2015 by Pastor Scott <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Editor\u2019s Perspective Sodom Didn\u2019t Have Bibles The Lord said that the cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom which were destroyed by God for their wickedness, would have repented of their sins long ago if they had seen the miracles and experienced all of the things they had seen in their time. The people of Bethsaida, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":14463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birth-pains","8":"wp-image-borders","9":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Ferguson_Day_6_Picture_44-1-1.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4bgnN-34t","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11809"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20950,"href":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11809\/revisions\/20950"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}