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Archive for the ‘Time of the End’ Category

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Scripture reading: 2 Peter 1:19

We understand that God is telling us that we are the people of the last time, and that a lot of things are going to happen in the last time. Matthew 25 tells us of a separation in the church, and that there was a time for the separation. I do believe, personally, that this is what God is warning us about, and each person needs to make sure that you are on the right course.

Matthew 25:6-7 says, “At midnight there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.” 

In my vocabulary, the word “virgin” in the Bible means “clean, spotless, God-anointed Christians.” We have passed the state of dealing with the Christians who are half in and half out. We are now at the stage where we are dealing with those who were born again, who are sanctified, baptized in the Holy Ghost, and walking with God in purity! These virgins were dressed. They had on the wedding garment of Christ’s righteousness. That means that they were well prepared and ready and waiting for the Lord. More than that, they had “oil” in their “lamps.” That means they had the Holy Spirit in their spirits. They were well equipped. They were ready! However, guess what? Trouble comes. Distress comes. The time that the Bible calls “midnight” comes.

The word “midnight” in Scripture has a specific meaning. It means problems of the worst kind. In Exodus 11, it was at “midnight” that the firstborn of the Egyptians were slain, and those who were under the blood were sheltered. If God did not shelter them under the blood, they would be dead. In Ruth 3, it says that at “midnight” Boaz woke up, and found that a woman (Ruth) was lying at his feet; the Bible said that he was afraid, and he took off his coat and covered her. This woman is a picture of the Church, and at midnight we are going to need a covering from Jesus Christ, our Boaz! So then the Bible tells us what the meaning of midnight is. Look for midnight through the whole Bible and you will see that at midnight there is destruction, but also there is salvation. Always!

In the whole Jewish calendar, the Jewish year from Passover at the beginning of the year right back to Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) represents the action of God for the whole 2,000 years from Jesus Christ to the end of the age. If you take everything that happens in the Jewish calendar right down to the last with the High Priest entering into the Holiest of All, you will find that it is depicting everything that is going to happen to us, the Church, from the coming of Jesus until His return at the end of the age.

Midnight comes just before morning, so we find therefore that that this “great tribulation,” this great darkness that is coming down on the earth, must finalize itself before Jesus Christ returns, because Jesus is our Morning! He is our Daylight. He is the Light of our lives and He is the Sun of our righteousness. It says in 2 Peter 1:19, “…until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts.” The Daystar will arise after midnight, and we are first going to go through this great suffering of “midnight,” which is the “great tribulation” (see Matthew 24:21) that we have already entered.

It has already begun, but you do not feel it because you were born in it. To you the things that are going on now have become so natural, but the happenings of today are very unnatural! Nobody could have thought that the things that are happening around us would happen. It is very unnatural, but we are being “desensitized.” The Devil so fixes it that he creeps upon us gradually so that we do not really feel the tribulation. However, though we are not feeling it, the tribulation is here.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1997, pg. 21-22)

Thought for today: Let us be sensitive to the time we live in and prepare ourselves for the midnight hour.

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Scripture reading: Romans 8:2

God designed various Laws of Redemption for the deliverance of His people. But laws, when put in the converse, become detrimental to the very people that they were designed to deliver. Thus, we see Satan turning the word of God backwards in order to hurt humanity. Some Satanists even learn to read the Bible backwards; they even walk backwards as part of their training.

For years we were baffled by the vulnerability of Christians to satanic bedevilments even as sinners are. This particularly baffled me, when in our ministry all over the world we found Christians who loved the Lord with all their hearts and who were greatly dedicated to God still having severe satanic oppressions and needing deliverance. As God continued to reveal Himself to us, we gradually began to understand the situation. At the outset, let me say that it does not necessarily mean that a Christian has committed some sin to be bound by the enemy:

1. When a person accepts Jesus Christ as his Savior and submits to the Spirit of God, he comes under the law of Romans 6:16, and becomes a servant of God. The Blood of Jesus Christ redeems him, and all the covenants that he had made with Satan are broken. Nevertheless, his redemption is complete only in the Word of God, but in his soul he remains imperfect. That which he has received now in the Word of Almighty God and in his spirit must work its fulfillment in his soul and body. He becomes a covenant child of God. As a covenant people, we are required to keep our part of the covenant. God now lays claim to us as His property, bought and paid for.

2. The covenant that we had with Satan and sin has been broken by the covenant we now make with the Lord. Romans 8:2 say, “For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

The covenants we had with devils were made null and void by our covenant with the Lord. But immediately the devils begin to try to get us to submit again to them, in order to apply Romans 6:16, so as to restrict if not altogether rescind our covenant with the Lord. Because of our imperfection, we find ourselves in constant danger of obeying devils instead of the Lord.

Let me tell you a story. There was a day when I told the Lord that I could not find anything wrong with me. In order to prove my unrighteousness, He told me to watch my members that day. When I got to the office there was a piece of chip on the ledge. A suggestion came to my mind to kick the chip off the ledge. Immediately the pride of being a good soccer player with a powerful right foot came into me, and I succumbed to the temptation and kicked the chip like I was placing a ball into the goal. The chip sailed around the corner and slammed into a man’s left eye. In one moment of light banter, I had become the servant of the devil. This was a small act of obedience to the enemy that gave him the right over me. Of course, I repented immediately, and denied Satan any further manipulation. But let me give you a more serious scenario:

Suppose there was someone I know who was worshipping the devil and I reproved him of his devil worship and told him I would have nothing to do with it, but because he is a near kin of mine, I would from time to time give him money to help him along. This money he would use to strengthen himself in his worship of the devil. Would I be guilty of aiding the work of the devil? The answer is yes! The devil is not concerned with what you thought you were doing. He claims his right over you because you participated with one of his servants.

God is in a process of completing our redemption. Yet, this cannot be done without a massive worldwide tribulation. The church will not voluntarily come to that standard of righteousness that God requires. At this time, when we pray for revival, it is actually a prayer for judgment. In Isaiah 26:9 is stated as divine wisdom that people in tribulation learn righteousness. Most men will call on God when they are in trouble, thus trouble is a necessity for some men’s righteousness.

To the watchmen I say, “It is time to sound the alarm.” To the sleeping, I say, “It is time to awake.” To those who are awake, I say, “It is time to trim your lamps.” To the foolish virgins, “It is time to get oil. The bridegroom is on his way.”

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, January 1993, pg. 10-11, 23, 25)

Thought for today: Let us hold fast to the words of Jesus, “When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”

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Scripture reading: Revelation 12:2

Revelation 12:2, “And she (the church; see our previous post) being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.”

This church is a pregnant church because she is going to bring forth the final church, the thing which God had in His heart and His mind when He looked upon Adam and saw that it was good. She was going to bring forth the final church that would please God. We read so much about this church and we hear so much about this church, but none of us have ever seen it. It is about to appear in the human realm. It is this great called-out people. This church is called-out from the called-out; the assembly that shall come out of the assembly of saints that God is preparing for this hour. As a matter of fact, the only thing that is going to save the world is the coming forth of THIS CHURCH in great power and authority.

Let us look into “travailing.” Why is she travailing? Should she not have the child easily since she has the glory of God upon her? It is the travail that is going to bring the church into the place where she will please God. Isaiah 13:6-10, “Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.”

This verse is associated with the great tribulation that shall come. It will also be the time of the travail of the church. For if the church does not bring forth that glorious man child church to save the world, then the world would be completely lost. The church will bring forth the man child.

Isaiah 26:17-18, “Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O LORD. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.” Verse 20, “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.” We see the travail of this church is going to be at a time of great trouble and a time of destruction and distress. The church, in the midst of this pain and suffering, will receive a glorious coming forth in the likeness of Jesus Christ.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 2, pages 25-26)

Thought for today: It is the travail that is going to bring the church into the place where she will please God.

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Scripture reading: Revelation 12:1

“There appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet…” If the “woman” is the church, then “the sun” would be Christ and the clothing would be the glory of Christ, or of God, upon this church. This church has the approval of God. Some naive brethren say that this woman is Mary. Revelation 1:1 tells us that we are going to hear of things “which must shortly come to pass.” Therefore, Revelation 12:1 could not be written about Mary as that would be writing about things in the past. Revelation is about the church which is in the future, which future is very much upon us at this time. We see the “woman (the church) clothed with the sun (Christ), and the moon (the church) under her feet.”

We will establish scriptures where the word “WOMAN” refers to church, where “MOON” refers to church, and where “SUN” refers to Christ. I am determined that everything in this study must be backed up by the Word of God.

Psalm 84 speaks of God as the sun. Verse 11, “For the LORD GOD IS A SUN and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” Malachi 4:2, “But unto you that fear my name shall the SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS arise with healing in HIS wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” This verse refers to Jesus Christ as “the sun of righteousness.” Another beautiful scripture is found in 2 Peter 1:19, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the DAY STAR arise in your hearts.” The DAY STAR in the natural is THE SUN. The SUN arising IN THE HEARTS OF THE BELIEVER IS JESUS CHRIST.

Let us look at the word “WOMAN.” Every reference to every church in the Bible, except one reference to one church, is feminine. There is one scripture we will come to that speaks of a masculine church, the final church. Every other reference to the church is as a woman; every pronoun used is a feminine pronoun.

Let us look at just two of these references. 2 Corinthians 11:2, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” This verse does not need any explanation. Ephesians 5:23-24, “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.” This verse is as clear as it can be. The church is always feminine, always referred to as a woman.

The next word of consideration is the “MOON.” There is a story found in Genesis 37:9-10, “And he (speaking of Joseph) dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, THE SUN and THE MOON and THE ELEVEN STARS made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?” Jacob interpreted the dream correctly. “Shall I (Jacob, the sun) and thy mother (the moon) and thy brethren (eleven stars)…?” We see this type of analogy all throughout the Scripture. These are basic thoughts of the Bible to bring us into the understanding that “the sun” is God or Christ, “the moon” is the church, and “the stars” are the sons of God.

In Revelation 12 we can put these words in perspective. Here we have the “woman clothed with the sun.” This is the church clothed with the righteousness of God. This church, whomever she is, is the one that is approved of God when this vision is coming to pass. She had “the moon under her feet.” She was a church standing on a church. She had gained ascendancy over the church which might have been her birth. She came out of the moon and is standing on top of the moon church. The glory of God has been moved from one church to another.

This truth is not so strange. We see in history wherein God would move in one church, and when that church failed and became worldly, God would pull some of the people out of that church. Those pulled out would move in the light of God in great revival and God would be with them. When they would fall into complacency and somehow lose their candlestick, God would move on to another church. This has been the way of God through the ages.

The natural phenomenon is that the sun shines on the moon. The moon has no light of its own. Moonlight comes from the sun. The moon reflects the light of the sun. Here the light from the sun has been removed from the moon and is concentrated on the woman.

There is a church amongst us that is not approved of God, and there is a church THAT IS approved of God. The light of God is upon a specific church. I am not talking about a denomination. No! No! I am speaking in regards to the people of God, the Body of Christ, which is not an organization. They are scattered all over the world, but they are the people upon whom the Lord God has put His approval. The approval of God is upon a specific church and these people have been called out, or sometimes kicked out, of other churches.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 2, pages 22-24)

Thought for today: Let us be amongst the church THAT IS approved by God!

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Scripture reading: Daniel 9:24-27

Let us look at the mystery of Daniel’s seventy weeks as described in Daniel 9.

Daniel 9:24, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” Everything will be done to finish the end of the age.

Verse 25, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”

If the people in the time of Jesus Christ (the scribes and the Bible men, the Pharisees and the theologians) were really on the ball, they could have pinpointed the time of Jesus’ arrival. God had told them that it would be “seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks” and the Prince shall come. That is seven and sixty-two, SIXTY-NINE WEEKS. From the time that the commandment was given to restore and build Jerusalem to the time of Christ’s coming was sixty-nine weeks. See how simple God made it? They could have calculated it.

Verse 26, “And AFTER threescore and two weeks…” meaning to say, “after (THESE) threescore and two weeks (the “seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks” which equal sixty-nine weeks) shall Messiah be cut off.” “Messiah” shall “be cut off” in the seventieth week. “…Messiah” shall “be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince (meaning the people of the antichrist, the little horn in Daniel 7) that shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.”

We can identify from this verse who the people of the antichrist are, because it is the people who will destroy the temple and destroy Jerusalem. Now we know who did that. Titus destroyed the temple and destroyed Jerusalem, and remember, the scripture said it was AFTER “THE MESSIAH, THE PRINCE” CAME, after Jesus Christ. Therefore, it was Titus that did it and Titus was the general of a Roman army. We are looking for the antichrist then to be from Rome.

Daniel 9:27a, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week.” Jesus Christ will “confirm the covenant…for one week,” that is for SEVEN YEARS. That means that God ordained the seventieth week as the week in which God would walk and talk in a people. Remember the great promise that God gave? Jeremiah 31:33b and c, “After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” 2 Corinthians 6:16b, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them.” Hebrews 8:10b, “I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts.” God wants a people in whom He can walk and talk – A LIVING, WALKING, TALKING TEMPLE and dwelling place for God.

“He…confirm(ed) the covenant…for one week.” We understand that the covenant is confirmed for a week and that the covenant-keeper, that is the one man who could keep the covenant with God, DIED. Daniel 9:27b, “And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Jesus Christ was slain in the middle of the week. Three and a half years after He started His ministry, He was slain. That means that the promise had to wait, for there was no son to inherit it. As soon as another son is born, we will inherit this promise.

We understand that the birth of the man child will NOT be one man, but will be a many-membered man. This many-membered man is called THE MAN CHILD. This man child will take up the promise of God. The three and a half years that Jesus Christ left for the church will be taken up because we will come forth in the image of Christ Jesus according to the Word of God. Romans 8:29, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. It is God’s will, God’s intention, that Christ should have many children exactly like Himself. There will be those who are moving in that fullness at the seventh trumpet of God, when all the mystery of God shall be finished.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 2, pages 9-11)

Thought for today: Remember, God wants a people in whom He can walk and talk …a dwelling place for God.

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