Dividing Times Are Coming!

 

I hate it when people call me a hater. I don't hate anyone. I may hate the things people do but that is where it stops. Satan however hates everyone. He hates everything in this world that God has created and especially those of us doing the work of God in our lives. Don't forget that. He hates men but despises women. Satan never has a good day. He hates that people are praying all around the world, different times zone, 24 hours a day if you think about it. You might be having marriage struggles, that is because Satan hates your marriage. He's brilliant too, he'll wait and wait for just the right time to trip you up. Everything good that God has created, Satan hates it.

Church. He hates church. He is trying to undermine church, Bible studies, prayer meetings, pastors, Christians, simply everything that God loves. If you are living your life for Jesus, speaking words in love and truth to those you meet, you stay biblical, people are going to hate you. They hated Jesus. Satan hates Jesus. Satan's goal to destroy the church will be to propagate false doctrine through false teachers and false prophets, false pulpits and false churches. The Bible warns us through the apostle Paul that in the last days people will look religious but deny Godly power. There will be churches that look amazing and have all the latest and greatest stuff, and it is all done by human effort. When human effort gets involved, and Satan is going to have his hands all involved in that, rather than having a dependence upon the Holy Spirit to be the power of a church.

Jesus said it Himself in the last days there will be spiritual movements taking place, that will manifest the deception through signs and wonders. Right now there are so many professing Christians that don't know their Bibles, but they are Christian in title. If there was a tent meeting operating down the street that is offering a different kind of Jesus but they are doing all kinds of signs and wonders, people would flock to that. They don't know Bible doctrine and they just have a immediate need they want to be addressed. God might have told them, they have to bear that cross for the rest of their life and stay true to my doctrine. Dividing times are coming. Remember that those of us that have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, will not have to deal with what we are studying in the Book of Revelation pertaining to the Tribulation Period.

Revelation 9:1-12 ~ "The fifth angel sounded his trumpet and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down from the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not the harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails and stings like scorpion, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon. The first woe is past; the other two woes are yet to come."

The doctrine of Satan is found in Old and New Testament alike. In seven of the Old Testament books, the doctrine of Satan is introduced and in each of the New Testament books, the doctrine of Satan is addressed. Jesus, Himself, teaches that the devil is a real personality. He is the angel that has the key to the bottomless pit and he goes by several names. Jesus makes mention of Satan personally and says that he is real and talks about them in the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It is Jesus who says it is Satan's agenda to destroy you and I. It is Satan's agenda to seek to destroy the church, did you know that? I don't think he'll accomplish it but he is trying. His plan is to destroy the witness and the presence of the church in the earth.

Luke 22:31-32 ~ "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

Matthew 16:18 ~ "And I tell you that you are Peter; and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

You might wonder why some churches fail to exist, Satan does win some battles, but he will not win the war. If Satan can get into a church and get it divided, by arguing and bickering, to the point of destruction, he wins that battle. But he will not, has not, or will ever win the war. Jesus promised that the gates of Hell will not prevail against His church, but if we let our guard down, a church could fail, it could fall under the attack of Satan and lose. That is why we need to be walking in obedience to God, praying, falling on our knees faithfully to God, because what the church has done through history is begin to bicker and dismantle itself from within, and then there goes the local witness. The good news is that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the church of Christ on the earth.

Those who seek to hinder or destroy the church of Jesus Christ, stand willingly with the works of Satan whether they want to accept or deny that. It's true. Be careful that you, as a Christian, do not in any way to work to hinder the work of Christ or you will unwillingly fall right into the hands of Satan unknowingly. Are you for the kingdom and building of the church? Don't fall victim of neutralizing the great commission without knowing about. Jesus Christ said to take this gospel and preach it around the whole world. We have to be committed at both our local witness and global witness.

Satan's agenda is to promote and bless the cults of the world. Satan and his agenda as well as those man-made cults of which Islam is the largest , have no promises to cling to, no loving arms to run to, no compassion to receive. They have no all caring, no all loving, no all merciful, no all gracious, no all patient, no all kind, no all gentle, no all loving God like we do through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Prior to the late 600 A.D., there was no Islam did you know that? It is a cult. There was no Islam, no Mohammed, no Q'uran prior to 600 A.D. They are the most influential cult on the earth. I am not asking you to do this, but those who obey be chapter and verse the beheadings of men, women and children, in direct obedience to the Q'uran. They were faithful Muslims. Islam is a cult. Jehovah Witnesses are a cult. Mormonism is a cult. Anything that puts down the deity of Christ is a cult. Keep these scriptures handy when dealing with a cult below:

Isaiah 43:11 ~ "I, even I, am the Lord, And beside me there is no other Savior."

Isaiah 44:6 ~ "This is what the LORD says - Israel's King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God."

Psalm 68:4 ~ "Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds - his name is the LORD - and rejoice before him."

Our God tells us His name. It is YAH - which means salvation. This is important, you want to know why? Because Adam-god of the Mormon church is not salvation. The god of the Jehovah Witnesses is not salvation. The god of Islam, they don't even know his name. They will even tell you that. You might say, well isn't his name Allah? No that is a title. Allah is Arabic for God. They will even tell you that they don't know the name of their god. They will tell you that they can't know him and can't know his name. Our God tells us His name and it is salvation. That is awesome. You need to determine where your faith lies.

Isaiah 45:21 ~ "Declare what is to be, present it - let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me."

Proverbs 30:4 ~ " Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!"

Isaiah 7:14 ~ "The LORD himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."

Luke 1:30-32 ~ "But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David."

Philippians 2:10-11 ~ "that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Philippians 3:20 ~ "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ."

The number one thing that Satan tries to do is convince the world that Jesus can not be God. He was just a nice guy, a prophet, the enlightened one, one of the great gurus of the earth. Anything but Him, being God, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. All the cults have this one thing in common, that Jesus Christ can not be who He says He is. People everywhere are puzzled by Proverbs 30:4. That is how powerful this verse is, especially to our Jewish friends. Notice God's challenge in this verse. Go check out this verse in the Hebrew!

Demonic Activity is On the Rise and It Will Only Get Worse

If we apply the Bible to our lives specifically, we don't have to be afraid of being wrong. If you're biblical, you'll always be right. We have recently learned that America has vowed that they are no longer a Christian nation, contrary to what Jefferson, Washington, Adams, and Franklin believed so many years ago. This just goes to show how far as a nation, we have fallen in so many areas. It's not about changing to accept the beliefs of other religions, it is about refusing to stand up for what this country has been founded on for fear of offending someone. Lately that is all it seems to be, what offends someone needs to be removed. Now the minority rules the majority. How did things get so twisted?

The original founder of this nation, William Bradford wrote down in the Mayflower Compact, only two paragraphs long, that they have come to this continent for the propagation and establishment of the Christian faith.

We continue our study this morning about the falling of Satan from heaven, Jesus said, like lightning falls from the sky.

Luke 10:17-21 ~ "The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.: He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. At that time, Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit said, "I will praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure."

When ministry happens, Satan falls from heaven. When hell meets earth, this creature-personality will come and demonic activity will collide with this world.

Revelation 9:2 ~ "When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss."

It's pretty interesting to note the Satan doesn't have the key, he has to be given the key. God allows this to take place. Why? The Bible says that even God uses evil to His own glory. Nobody reads the Book of Job unless you're going through a "Job-thing." Some might not want to read it for fear it might come upon them. Satan could not get near Job until God said, "Okay, you are allowed to do this and this, but nothing else." You can't experience anything, not even your own heartbeat without the grace of God. He has given that to us as believers.

No attack, no flat tire, no sickness, no stress, no problem can come to us unless it is first filtered by our heavenly Father. Whatever is going on in our life, it is Father-filtered. God wants it to work that way. Remember when God reminded Paul after hearing about his issue three times said, "Enough, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength will become perfect in your weakness."

When we look at Revelation 9:2 we see that wholesale demonic activity is about to break forth upon the earth. Before this happens on the earth in full scale, we need to remember where we are in our Book of Revelation timeline. (1) The church has long been raptured, out of the earth and is in heaven by Revelation 9. (2) The world is about 4 years into that 7-year Tribulation period or 4 years into the 7-year peace treaty that Israel is under. (3) There has already been a temple rebuilt in Jerusalem by this time. The push to rebuild it is already all over the nation even today. Orthodox Jews believe at any moment that their Messiah will arrive. They are so ready to receive anyone who will bring peace to the Arabs and the Jews, and when the Antichrist comes he will do that and allow them to rebuild the temple. (4) Europe will have already become the religious and financial center of the world. This has to happen before we get to Revelation 9.

We already have the Euro that is shredding the US dollar by the way, we already have the largest conglomerate of nations that have surpassed the United States in gross national product when the European Union has become the largest empire since the Ancient Roman Empire. We know that the European Union will embrace a global faith. Everyone worshiping the same God in whatever manner they want to go. If it's good for you, it's good for us too! Did you know that the United Nation has a declared faith, the Bahi faith, did you know that? An all sincere, everyone go their own way religion.

Did you know that there are some demons and fallen angels that are so bad, that they are confined and locked up in hell. God won't allow them to be loosened on the earth at this time. That there is a rise in the amount of demonic activity and satanic ritualistic killings that law enforcement even have their own cult investigation unit that goes out to these cases where pentagram are carved in the floor the victims chest and forehead. That besides being tortured that they have been subjected to a satanic ritual and it is only increasing? Possession is being ruled out as psychological disorder, don't get me wrong but not all of them are the issue of chemical imbalances, but some for a fact are demonic in nature and increasing. Look around you today, Satanic materials are being distributed in schools, their are Satanic displays cropping up everywhere, from holiday displays, music, television and movies. No one is really concerned but they should be.

Jude 1:6-7 ~ "And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home - these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire."

These demons are reserved and are sitting in confinement like they did back in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was the very reason that God sent the flood.

Revelation 9:13-15 ~ "The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the sixth angels who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were release to kill a third of mankind."

These four are fallen angels. Demonic powers released for such a time during the Tribulation. The point I make today is do you know Jesus personally today, to escape these things? Do you think you will outlive it or die before it happens? That's not a relief. Jesus said it is appointed once for every man to die and then the judgment comes. He put it this way, "All those who trust in the Son of God, has passed from judgment into eternal life. You need to make sure today that you know Jesus Christ personally. I don't want you to leave here today saying I hope I will be okay in the end. You can't do that. You can't guess.

You must know. In your own mind and heart, the Lord is stirring you up right now. There is a little bit of fear and anxiety in your life right now. That is the Lord speaking to you right now. Don't leave here today without being sure. All God wants is a personal relationship with you. Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? It is your choice and your decision.

Can you lay down your life before Jesus? Then go for it. Christianity is a verb. Go for it. You can have that kind of love that casts out all fear. If you're not a Christian, you should be very fearful. Chapter 9 will happen, it will be fulfilled. Where will you be when it happens? You don't know when your last day will be. Fall into the arms of Jesus today and completely surrender it to Him. You will fail without Jesus, its just a matter of time. The only way you can win is to surrender to Jesus today.