July 26, 2016: Recent, Increasing Mass Murders in the World Purposed on Cultural Differences,
Cultural Warfare & Lawlessness Period - Tribulation
“For nation [people of one group] will rise against nation [people of another group], and kingdom [sphere, realm or territory of power] against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” Matthew 24:7-8
“And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.” Matthew 24:10
“And because lawlessness (wickedness) will abound (increase and multiply), the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:12
The Greek word (“ethnos”) translated “nation” in Matthew 24:7 is more accurately translated ethnic group or cultural group, making the meaning of the phrase more accurately be: people of one kind against people of another kind or other kinds. We get our word ethnic (ethnicity, race) from ethnos, and ethnos is further defined to mean: “a band of people living together, nation, people, tribe, caste," also used of swarms or flocks of animals, properly, ‘people of one's own kind.’”
“In Septuagint, Greek ta ethne [ethnos] translates Hebrew goyim, plural of goy "nation," especially of non-Israelites, hence especially ‘gentile nation, foreign nation not worshipping the true God.’”
The Greek word (“basileía”) translated “kingdom” in Matthew 24:7 is more accurately translated a sphere, realm or territory of power; and consistent with ethnos, is not limited to a formally established or “recognized” people, group, organization, government, nation or kingdom.
Are We Not Here Now?: 1) numerous mass murder and murder radical Islamic terrorist attacks on multiple continents in many countries purposely against people of different religious and cultural groups, with greatly increasing frequency; 2) numerous mass murder and murder attacks in America by mostly blacks (non-Islamic terrorists) purposely against people of different cultural groups (mostly white police officers) in many different cities, with greatly increasing frequency; 3) multiple mass murder attacks (non-Islamic terrorists) in Germany, France and Japan by perpetrators of particular cultural groups purposely against people of different cultural groups, with greatly increasing frequency.
*These, potentially, are indicators that we are already in the tribulation period or are entering into it imminently: “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations (people groups not following the one true God of the Bible) for My name’s sake.” Matthew 24:9, which comes immediately after the first two verses above(24:7-8) and before the second and third listed verses (24:10; 12). To say that hatred, persecution, discrimination, hostility and attacks against Christians is dramatically on the rise would be an enormous understatement. It appears quite clear that, at a minimum we are in the sorrows period (Matthew 24:8) and are very possibly already in the tribulation period and even possibly the great tribulation period, or rapidly approaching it.
“I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division." The words of Jesus, Luke 12:49, 51
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"So soon as the Lord gives to any man light, he proceeds to separate himself from the darkness around; he separates from a merely worldly religion of outward ceremonial, for nothing short of the gospel of Christ will now satisfy him, and he withdraws himself from worldly society and frivolous amusements, and seeks the company of the saints [true followers of Christ - God's true lights], for 'We know we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.' The light gathers to itself, and the darkness to itself. What God has divided, let us never try to unite, but as Christ walked outside the camp, bearing His reproach, so let us come out from the ungodly, and be a peculiar people. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners; and, as He was, so we are to be nonconformists to the world, dissenting from all sin, and distinguished from the rest of mankind by our likeness to our Master." Charles Spurgeon
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"'Behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord God, 'that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it.'" Amos 8:11-12
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"For the day of the Lord draws near on all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you.
Your dealings will return on your own head." Obadiah 15
"Bear witness, children of God, you have never been able to get anything for your souls elsewhere. All the bread your soul has eaten has come down from heaven, and all the water of which it has drank has flowed from the living rock-Christ Jesus the Lord."
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"This is not the time for lying down at ease, it is the season of service and warfare. We need to bind the girdle of truth more and more tightly around our loins. It is a golden girdle, and so will be our richest ornament, and we greatly need it, for a heart that is not well braced up with the truth as it is in Jesus, and with the fidelity which is wrought of the Spirit, will be easily entangled with the things of this life, and tripped up by the snares of temptation. It is in vain that we possess the Scriptures unless we bind them around us like a girdle, surrounding our entire nature, keeping each part of our character in order, and giving compactness to our whole man. If in heaven Jesus unbinds not the girdle, much less may we upon earth. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth."
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"Isaiah 40:5: The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
We anticipate the happy day when the whole world shall be converted to Christ; when the gods of the heathen shall be cast to the moles and the bats; when Romanism shall be exploded, and the crescent of Mohammed shall wane, never again to cast its baleful rays upon the nations; when kings shall bow down before the Prince of Peace, and all nations shall call their Redeemer blessed. Some despair of this. They look upon the world as a vessel breaking up and going to pieces, never to float again. We know that the world and all that is therein is one day to be burnt up, and afterwards we look for new heavens and for a new earth; but we cannot read our Bibles without the conviction that-
"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journeys run."
We are not discouraged by the length of His delays; we are not disheartened by the long period which He allots to the church in which to struggle with little success and much defeat. We believe that God will never suffer this world, which has once seen Christ's blood shed upon it, to be always the devil's stronghold. Christ came hither to deliver this world from the detested sway of the powers of darkness. What a shout shall that be when men and angels shall unite to cry "Hallelujah, hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!" What a satisfaction will it be in that day to have had a share in the fight, to have helped to break the arrows of the bow, and to have aided in winning the victory for our Lord! Happy are they who trust themselves with this conquering Lord, and who fight side by side with Him, doing their little in His name and by His strength! How unhappy are those on the side of evil! It is a losing side, and it is a matter wherein to lose is to lose and to be lost for ever. On whose side are you?"
Charles Spurgeon
Very Good Presentation on the Demise of Denominational "Church"
Very Good Teaching Regarding God's Judgment on Western Nations
Has it Already Begun - 9/6/17?
"A wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment, because for every matter there is a time and judgment." Ecclesiastes 8:5-6
"But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. [Night is symbolic for the tribulation period.] For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him." 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10
"Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless: 1) the falling away [apostasy; leaving the truth/true faith; false Christianity] comes first; 2) and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition [the anti-christ], who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4
"But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose...till there was no remedy." 2 Chronicles 36:16
["against His people" (...) has been deleted because of New Testament Scripture that makes it clear God's people are not appointed to wrath; but will, however, be on earth during judgments & tribulation. 1 Thessalonians 5:9]
Very Good Recent Video on Keeping True Faith in End Age Times
Very Good Video on the Stages of the Tribulation Period and It's Progression
June 21, 2016 - "Birth Pangs" & "Contractions" & Tribulation - What to Do
It is clear in Scripture - Matthew 24, Luke 21, Revelation and elsewhere - that things on Earth are going to get increasingly worse, darker, more ungodly, divisive and tumultuous from now until the Lord's return. However, as the seeds, or spiritual bloodlines so to speak, of the Lord and the enemy continue to rise into full maturity (Genesis 3:15), there will be great opportunity for God's true people. A very good picture of that can be found in Isaiah 60:2: "For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you." And also in Malachi 3:17: "'They shall be Mine,' says the Lord of hosts, 'On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.'"; Malachi 4:1-2: "'For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,' says the Lord of hosts, 'That will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name, The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; And you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.'" There are many more verses that support the commitment of the Lord to protect and even increase His people (His true lights/children) during the times and seasons of the greatest darkness and difficulty on the Earth. [It should be noted that I am talking about the sorrows and tribulation periods, not the wrath period. "For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thessalonians 5:9]
So, a key question is: What is our responsibility to do to make the most of this opportunity and be in God's will during it? The answer is to be in the safest, most powerful, advantageous, fruitful, holy and glorious place possible - "In Christ". "In Christ" is the path of God's will and safety. And how do we assure that we are most fully "In Christ"? It is extremely clear and simple - walk the same path:
"He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." 1 John 2:6
And how did He walk, in faith and truth, obedience to God's Spirit and Word, in righteousness and justice, utter dependence upon and trust in God, and in holiness:
"Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16
If we truly abide in Him and remain "hidden" [spiritually speaking] in Christ, He will cover and carry us and we will be safe and thrive in the times of the greatest "sorrows" and "tribulation" and "darkness" on the Earth. In that connection, lights shine the brightest in the greatest darkness. (Accord, "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3)
When God brought the judgments down upon Egypt (which was type and shadow of what's to come onto the Earth), He provided the area of Goshen as a safe haven and shelter for His people. While God may again provide similar physical safe zones for His people during the extremely difficult times to come, I believe that our Goshens are likely to be being spiritually fully "in Christ" and thereby fully safe, provided for, and able to overcome. In the words of Jesus: "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33 And: "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." Revelation 3:21
Times & Seasons Related Information & Updates
Very Good Recent Update on End Age Prophesy by Jacob Prasch
June 13, 2016 - "Birth Pangs" & "Contractions" & Tribulation
While of course acknowledging that no one will know in advance the "day and hour" of the Lord's return (Matthew 24:36), I do believe that God provides times and seasons related revelation and direction to His people. In that connection, I believe there is substantial factual relevant events evidence and biblical support for the belief that we are in the "beginning of sorrows" written about Matthew 24:8, which is better translated "travail" or "birth pangs". I have believed for some time that we are in the progression of events described (Jesus' words) in Matthew 24, but have been trying to discern where in the progression we are. I am believing that the sorrows/birth pangs have started and that birth "contractions" are occurring and will increase. (In the baby birthing process, contractions increase in intensity and frequency and become shorter in duration in between as the delivery event comes nearer in time. "Birth pangs" in Matthew 24:8 and elsewhere in the Bible represents the use of a term describing the human physical birthing process as a metaphor for a spiritual prophetic picture of the imminence of future events of great magnitude, intensity, transition and emergence to come. ) The next question is whether we are already in or just headed toward the tribulation of Matthew 24:9 that precedes the great tribulation of Matthew 24:21. It seems we could be all the way up to Matthew 24:15 based on events that have already happened and are currently happening with increasing frequency and intensity, but I don't have a strong feeling about that. One could certainly make a good, supportable argument that things the likes of which are described in 24:9-14 have and are occurring right now.
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