1 Cor. 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
2Th 2:6-8 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. (7) For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. (8) And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
Good morning! It is currently snowing really hard right now and the ground is covered in a beautiful white blanket. I stand amazed at how quiet it is when it snows. You don’t hear it fall to the ground but you see the evidence of it. It is no different than the topic we are discussing. We don’t see the Holy Spirit but we see the product of His work. He works through born again believers and is responsible for stirring the hearts of the unsaved. His holy presence is what is standing between the Rapture and the Tribulation.
As we ave learned, there is no timeline for the Rapture event. In the verses above, we see that “he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.” The Holy Spirit resides within every born again believer. Without Him, evilness will dominate the world just as in Noah’s days. All the people at the time were evil and God destroyed them all, except for Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives. Eight people! Wow!
The Holy Spirit is restraining the Antichrist from his “coming out” to the world at this time. When the Rapture occurs, the Holy Spirit’s “job” will return to the way He worked in the Old Testament. The Tribulation time is the time of Jacob’s Trouble – what began in the Old Testament with the Jews will end in the Book of Revelation with the Jews. The church age will be finished once the Rapture occurs.
Jer 30:7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
This time period revolving around Israel and the Jews will be like no other for them. The Church will be removed in the Rapture, along with the restraining force of the Holy Spirit.
The revelation of the Antichrist can only come after the Rapture. We see in today’s verses that the “mystery of inquiry doth already work.” War and destruction just don’t happen overnight. It is an event that builds over time. The Antichrist’s “evilness and spirit” is already at work in this world and we are seeing the results of it daily on the news. The only reason he is not revealed is because the Holy Spirit is holding him back. Once the Holy Spirit is removed via the Rapture, the man of lawlessness will be revealed and he will have free rein.
Friend, born again Christians will not see the Antichrist in his role as Revelation describes. The epitome of the evilness of this world is hindered right now thanks to the Holy Spirit. But once He is removed through the Rapture of the church, the church age will end and the Time of Jacob’s Trouble will begin. The Antichrist will cut loose his evilness.
I am trying to describe these events as simply as I can so that it is easily understood by those who are not born again. It may sound strange to you but with even just a little faith, you can be saved. This event is not something believers have to worry about because we will be in Heaven with Christ! But to the one who is not saved, it is a different story. Friend, it is no coincidence that God has placed you here for such a time as this so that you may be saved. Please click here and the link will open up in a separate tab to You Can Be Born Again and Know It!
(2 Ti 3:2) For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Good morning, dear reader! It’s still dark outside and the house is so very quiet. It’s a wonderful time to sit and write what weighs heavily on my heart. My heart aches because those bygone years of “The Andy Griffith Show” are gone and we are seeing our beautiful world not getting better but rotting from sin.
As we go through mankind’s attitude and sinful displays, I see that today’s word has seriously grown worse with time. I walk into a store and music from a rap artist is filling the air with cursing and explicit sexual content. My goodness, what has this world come to? I have grandchildren growing up in these end times and this weighs on me so heavily! Oh how I beg the Lord to protect their innocent hearts and ears!!
Blasphemy is no small matter. The original meaning means to blaspheme God. Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines this as:
BLASPHE’MER, n. One who blasphemes; one who speaks of God in impious and irreverent terms. 1 Tim 1.
Blasphemy does not just surround God but anything involving Him, such as an unborn child. Christian, do you actually see any reverence of God in your life other than at church or amongst your Christian friends? Television, radio, podcasts, etc. are filled with indignation. All of these have a root problem and that is sin; in this case, blasphemy. They don’t have to speak a blasphemous word – their actions speak volumes! We see this indignation in the laws that are being past in our own country as well as around the world. God Almighty destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for the sin of homosexuality. Yet, mankind has grown so cold toward sin that it is now law that allows this to be legal, along with marriage. Furthermore, the liberals now claim there are 112 genders! 😯 The Bible says differently:
(Gen 2:7) And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
(Gen 2:18) And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
(Gen 2:22-24) And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. (23) And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. (24) Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
The fact that this has taken over our country proves that the Bible is the furthest thing from people’s minds. God created male and female – none other. Period. Only a female can bear children – none other. Period. Only a male can provide the seed to create that baby – none other. Period. Set aside the fact that adoption is out there for these people who claim otherwise. Get to the root of this issue and it comes down to male and female. Period.
This liberal belief blasphemes God. They defy what a Holy God created by being deceived by the father of lies, Satan. Satan is rejoicing because of the downhill spiral of morality on this earth. Friend, God would have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah for destroying them. God is righteous and would not contradict His word.
You may say this is my opinion. But let’s see what the Bible says as it is the Final Authority on what is sin and what is not. Some say that this condemnation was in the Old Testament and not stated in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul said the same thing in the New Testament:
(Lev 18:22) Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
(Rom 1:26-27) For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: (27) And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
God can and does help homosexuals to forsake this sin. I know this from experience. I shared the gospel with a co-worker in 1984 and she kept insisting that God could not possibly forgive her and that she had to “clean herself up” before He would forgive her. As I continued sharing the gospel, she finally admitted she was a homosexual. I explained what salvation is and where she spends eternity was the most important thing at this point. God’s Holy Spirit would clean her life up after she was saved. She accepted Christ that evening and bit by bit, I saw her change before my eyes. She set aside living with her roommate and began to blossom into a beautiful Christian woman, growing in God’s word. Today, she’s married with four children and a grandchild! Today’s homosexual battles leaving their lifestyle because they will be harassed and their name, phone number and home address will be published by those who don’t want to admit their sin. This is a scare tactic but nothing is more disturbing than spending eternity in Hell, where there is burning and gnashing of teeth.
(Mat 13:42) And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
It may seem as though it is too difficult, but it is not impossible. God can and will help anyone with any addiction or sin!
Is it any wonder we are discussing the state of mankind today? Can you not see how sinful our nation (and world) has become? In no other time in history has it been this bad! God’s Word is in print in every language and is available everywhere, including the internet. Yet, with His Word being everywhere, man is becoming more depraved. Mankind will be without excuse because God places people, even His creation, before every single person on earth so they can see who He is and how to have a relationship with Him.
(Rom 1:20) For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
If you happen to be reading this and are not saved, it is no coincidence. God has placed you here for such a time as this so that you may be saved. Please click here and the link will open up in a separate tab to You Can Be Born Again and Know It!
What do you think about when you do your devotions? Do you simply read and walk away? Or do you sit there and think about what you’ve just read? We should be walking away with something that will carry us through the day, don’t you think? I wrote this 26-day devotional series beginning in 2013 and finished it in 2014. It covers various blessings from God’s word. As you look at this picture, think on a Bible verse and really ponder over it. That is how we glean from God’s Word. I pray it is a blessing to you!
The hymns of yesteryear were actual gospel messages. The writers were God-fearing Christians who knew the cost to living for Christ. This is a 30-day devotional, originally written in 2007, which covers hymns (prior to copyright laws), their authors and how they tie in with the Word of God. This series will be a blessing to my soul and I pray to yours! In a world of contemporary music and PowerPoint presentations used in church services, the old hymns and favorites are slowly fading away. My prayer is that we will be exhorted to go back to the old paths of our fathers and renew these hymns in our own daily lives. These are hymns written prior to this backslidden, emerging church called the Laodicean church. These are words written by those who have met with their Saviour in their prayer closets and have been moved by the Holy Spirit to pen the words which in turn have moved the hearts of men.
Are you a Christian ready for the Master to use? Do you allow yourself to be used of Him? So many are aching and in need of a tender touch or kind word in today’s world. This is a two-week devotional originally written 2008 in hopes that a Christian would come across it and find it helpful!
