Living in the last days, deception is a word that should be greatly on our minds, and we should be constantly vigilant about it.
Heard a Pastor speak on that very topic today how many are out there thinking they are saved just because they said a sinners' prayer, yet have never given thought to making Jesus the Lord of their life, and they remain in the deception of sin believing they can still live for their own selfish ways without laying down their sins and picking up His Cross. He said many will be deceived.
I think about our own country. We have never been more fragile in so many ways, yet we continue to live under a deception. The infrastructure of our Power Grid, our Bridges, our Dams, yet none give thought to how close we are to becoming a second or possibly even a third world nation practically overnight. One EM pulse away or one natural disaster. We watched it happen in New Orleans. They are still recovering, and then there is our economy. They want you to believe the recession is over and happy days are here again. I beg to differ. We were in recession long before they ever admitted it, and the word they totally avoided was depression. I think if you take the time to make comparisons you would find that the depression of the thirties was not all that different. Perhaps slightly more shocking as no one believed it could happen, but none the less, companies failed, banks closed, people lost jobs, and homes. Frankly I think its a recession if you keep your job, but a depression if it devastated your world. Now Wall Street is looking up, so its all over, and happy days are here again. We just watched seniors lose most of their retirements and now the government is telling them no raise because your cost of living didn't rise. But they don't want to talk about how their 401K's are practically wiped out now.
Deception. The Bible tells us this isn't over, and happy days are not here again. Now we give Nobel Peace Prizes out to people with good intentions who say "Peace and Safety". The Bible tells us there will be no peace and no one is safe. He also tells the middle east that we are becoming a muslim nation after he ran on a Christian format, while he adamantly supports abortion. Who is he lying to? Obviously he is out to deceive someone. Israel maybe? He has already told them they Will be relinquishing half of their land. That sort of sounds like us turning against them to me....yikes. Not like the palestinians want half their land anyway, they will never be satisfied till they have it all and the Jewish people are exterminated. Deceptions.
What about Iran? They are clearly out to start the holy war to bring forth Armageddon, they have blatantly said so. They develop their missile and war head capabilities, but want everyone to believe their secret nuclear plant(s), are all about clean nuclear energy and power and not about a weapon to wipe out Jerusalem, and exterminate the Jewish people.
Deception is all around us big and small, and the biggest lie that satan ever told is on everyone's lips as they believe they have more time. They have always believed that lie, from the beginning of time. How many people don't breathe their last breath believing they had more time?
What is it that is important in Heaven? Does that matter to you here? It should. Live for Heaven today that you be not deceived. Nothing here is free, everything has its price.
Narrow is the way, and time is never long enough if you are not on His Path. Think about deception, for the deceptions will be many but the Way of the Lord is clear if you choose to see it for what it is. Let no false teachers lead you astray. The Day of the Lord will soon be here. Be ready.
Quite a few years ago my fried asked me if my brother talked in his sleep. I asked here why. She said well maybe we put a tape recorder by his head when he is asleep and get him to confess Yeshua HeMesheach (Jesus Messiah) while he is sleeping so he can be saved. I laughed and told her that would be grate but it still wouldn�t work because he hasn�t called on yash for himself by faith. She laughed and said well, I was trying� (she did know better by the way)
Now that may sound silly but, nevertheless, it is a true story and one that fits the subject very perfectly. �Just say the sinners� prayer� �. There are two parts to that Romans 10:13 "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved!" and Romans 10:9,10 "...If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." We call on the name of the Lord with faith and we are saved. I�m sure there are many who do not have the faith part but will call on Him out of simple emotion. But rest assure those who call on Him by faith are SAVED.
Too often, we will look at someone and judge his or her salvation. The Scripture says that they will bare fruit; however, it does not say how much fruit. Sometimes the only fruit we see is just calling Jesus Lord. Scripture is clear, 1 John 2:23, Everyone who denies the Son is also without the Father, but the person who acknowledges the Son has the Father as well. however, we are, the goal is to produce abundant fruit. However, this is done by studding the Scripture and as we do we form a deeper and more profound relationship with the Lord. The Bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing of the Word of the Lord (Romans 10:17). I remember one time when I was reading Mark 4:14-20 and the Holy Spirit showed me every time I read His Word it will fall upon one of these grounds. That�s when I realized that this passage is not just for the first time hears and why some are saved and some are not but that is why I must continually read the Holy Scriptures until it all falls on the good soil of my heart producing 100 fold.
When people get saved they all don�t come into the kingdom at the same place and as onlookers we don�t have any idea what all Jesus has to clean up on the inside (some more than others). One of my friends was saved at the age of seven. She has never touched a drug, had alcohol touch her lips, in fact in her 50�s she is still a virgin. On the other hand, a few years ago, I took a young man to synagogue and he received Jesus that day as his Savor. That was in July in December of that same year he moved home with Jesus � he was involved in a drug deal was shot and did not make it. This boy was just as saved as my other friend the difference the boy had a tone of baggage when he was saved and my other friend did not. Furthermore, some are discipled when they come into the Kingdom others are not. Again, another person I know when he accepted Jesus as Messiah at he had a whole group of young men that gathered around him and discipled him for years. I got saved I was pretty much on my own. Every once and a while I cracked my Bible open and did not go to synagogue. Three years later after, a surprise blessing (my son as an unwed mother) I told God if I�m going to serve you I should really learn something about you. So I went Messianic Studies Institute. Two years into it my sister said shouldn�t you start going to synagogue since you are in school. I thought that was a good idea, so five years after being saved I started going to synagogue/church. Therefore, I had an intellectual knowledge however, I still didn�t have much fruit. Not until I started really reading the Scriptures and forming a relationship with Jesus and then real fruit started to be produced. I have always been saved (and would have gone to heaven) since 18 but relationship produces everlasting fruit which comes from personal study of the Scripture. If someone says they are saved, then I have to believe them I do not know the faith in their heart that day when they called on the name of the Lord, but some of us need quite a bit of discipling to help us more quickly learn to have a love relationship with Him so more fruit can be produced. It is the Lord and only He who knows which names are in His Book of Life or not.
Yes, Satan has only one strategy; to deceive people into think that the Word of God is not true. That what he did in he garden and his strategy has never changed. I have voted since I was 18 and have never cried over an election until this last one. I cried, and cried out to God and say to Him I can not believe my county loves wickedness more than righteous. He spoke to me and said remember it is I that rises up and brings down kings. I found soooo much comfort. I pray daily for the homeland (Israel). That the Lord will remember the days of old when He battled for us and to confuse the nations that come against Israel and let their evil plans fall back on themselves. We must remember that the Scripture says, James 5:16-18 � The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was only a human being like us; yet he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and no rain fell on the Land for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the Land produced its crops. Every born again child of the Most High God is a righteous man and given to everyone of us is the same power in prayer! And we can never forget our Lord protects all of His children and He rescues us we do not have to live in fear. I will not write is out because it is too long but read Psalm 91.
Yes, The Day of the Lord is coming quickly and I am soooo EXCITED. The number one goal right now is to bring as many as we can into the Kingdom from every people group the Jew first then the Genital and yes even the Palestinians. Scripture says 2 Corinthians 3:14-18: 14 What is more, their minds were made stonelike; for to this day the same veil remains over them when they read the Old Covenant; it has not been unveiled, because only by the Messiah is the veil taken away. 15 Yes, till today, whenever Moshe is read, a veil lies over their heart. 16 "But," says the Torah, "whenever someone turns to ADONAI, the veil is taken away."a 17 Now, "ADONAI" in this text means the Spirit. And where the Spirit of ADONAI is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us, with faces unveiled, see as in a mirror the glory of the Lord; and we are being changed into his very image, from one degree of glory to the next, by ADONAI the Spirit. (CJB) we must pray for the vail to be removed.
Good point, and yes it is true, all rulers are appointed for their season, but also let us not forget that many are wicked and lawless and deceptive. Even Hitler was loved by those that followed him. They were deceived by a monster. Sheep easily follow someone that leads.
I do not believe that crying out to the Lord is bearing fruit necessarily. For if that be the case, there are many fox hole Christians out there. It is written that those that are luke warm He will reject, for they are neither hot nor cold. There are also many that will do great works in His name, but deny the power there of, and they too will be rejected.
I believe that Jesus did die for all our sins and a true heart can genuinely be forgiven in the last minutes of their final hour just as was one of the two that were crucified with Christ ("This night you will dine with me in Paradise").
I also believe that it is not ours to judge the condition of a man's heart or their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ their Savior, but I do believe it is important to self examine constantly that we might each avoid deception, for truly it is written that many will be deceived, and the sneakiest of all sins that comes before the fall is pride, and wanting to hold onto our own control and destiny is not giving our hearts unto the Lord to take the reigns. How many go forth daily and never consult His Wisdom and Guidance in their Walk?
No matter how close you are in your Walk, it is important to strive to be ever closer that we might not be deceived for we have been told that in these days deception will be rampant, and the hearts of men will be deceived. This is why it is important not to have the heart of a man, but to have a Heart of God, for there will be no peace until He comes in Glory, and for us this will be a Glorious Day, but Great Woe is Coming for those who have not guarded their hearts from deception.
You are absolutely right we must examine on a regular basis. That is exactly what we do every year on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) the Most Holy Day. And yes we are still to keep the Holy Holidays� God said that they should be a perpetual statute throughout your generations�they don�t stop. In the Old Testament, the Day of Atonement was the day the High Priest made an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people. This act of atonement brought reconciliation between the people and God. After the blood sacrifice was offered to the Lord, a goat was released into the wilderness to symbolically carry away the sins of the people. This "scapegoat" was never to return. The people of Israel were to humble (afflict) their souls (Leviticus 23:27). Israel understood that this was a day for mourning over their sins. The seriousness of this requirement is repeated in Leviticus 23:29: "If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people" (Leviticus 23:29). Yes, Jesus is the fulfillment of The Day of Atonement but as commanded by God we still celebrate it in remembrance that Jesus has atoned our sin, and we afflict our souls by fasting and taking an inventory of all our sin for the past year, and repent from twilight of the eve before until twilight of the eve of Yom Kippur. We do nothing else for this 24 hour period but pray and read the Scriptures. We actually just celebrated The Day of Atonement on Sept 19th. Now if people don�t keep the Holy Feasts don�t do it, no they will not go to hell for it the only thing that sends us to hell is the reject of Jesus, but the do need to take an inventory of themselves on a regular basis. But my personal belief is every person Jew, non-Jew should keep the Holy Feasts.
�For if that be the case, there are many fox hole Christians out there. It is written that those that are lukewarm He will reject, for they are neither hot nor cold.� Revelation 3:16 is the most misinterpreted Scripture in the Christian church. Laodicea, Colossae and Hierapolis were closely linked each some 10 miles, approximately, from one another. Hierapolis had hot mineral springs (which are still there today) and Colossae had cold, mineral waters (which also are still there today). Anyway, there was an aqueduct that brought water the cold water down from Colossae but by time, it arrived in Laodicea it was lukewarm and had a bitter taste so it was common for them to spit it out. When John wrote that letter to Laodicea, they knew exactly what he meant. Jesus wants are works to be spiritually healing like the minerals of the hot and cold springs are healing for our bodies. He was telling them that they were of no spiritual virtue but they weren�t get rid of the aqueduct just like Jesus is not getting rid of His children; our works are suppose to be spiritually healing.
Unfortunately most people are not even aware that there is a day of atonement, more less what it is for, and that is a sad thing, but I personally believe that self examination needs to be far more regular than once a year.
Our works are far more than just spiritual healing for us though, I believe they are even more healing towards the ones we touch. Just as we are to forgive other because we are forgiven, we should be giving unto our brethren as we have been and will be given much. If we ask the Lord to help us when we are in a dark place, then we need to be that light in a dark place for someone else. If we want faith to save us, we need to share faith to save others.
