Showing posts with label Locusts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Locusts. Show all posts

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Understanding the Differences Between Demons and Fallen Angels! Yes, They Are Real!




Remember if you have been following my study into the Book of Revelation with me, as a believer in Jesus Christ, we won't have to be here when hell comes forth unto the earth like we are studying today. The wrath that comes to the earth during the Tribulation period is for those who have rejected God's offer and instead want to do things their own way.

Revelation 9:3-4 ~ "And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to 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."

Remember that Satan has been given the key to open the bottomless pit by the authority of God and when it is opened, demonic power comes forth in a smoke like cloud. Creature-entities will come forth upon the earth and they will afflict with terrible pain. They are living spiritual beings. Satan is real and demons are real. There are fallen angels and demons and both are real. Fallen angels appear and disappear. They have no need to take on a human body, animal, idol or statue. Demons have to have a human body, an animal, an idol or a statue to manifest their will. Fallen angels nor heavenly angels need any of that. Angels appear and disappear at will. We know that 1/3 of the fallen angels that God created fell when Satan tricked them although the exact number is unknown.

We know that they inflict pain for a short time. These are not earthly locusts that you might know of. So why does John mention the word "locust" then? If you live in the Middle East or in Africa, the word locusts sends fear into your mind right now. When normal locusts come, they leave nothing left. There is nothing left to eat, they eat all the bark off of trees, killing the trees and unless you can move to another area, you will die. Did you know that? They leave nothing behind when they attack. These locusts have the ability to sting like a scorpion. Locusts don't sting. Demonic aflliction will come upon those on the earth who are not (1) believers in God, because those who are believers are sealed and are protected by God,  and (2) those who have rejected Christ during the Tribulation period. This devilish affliction will be for 5 months. Now the question remains as to whether mankind will be able to see them when they come.

I believe that they will not be seen, that the apostle John was given the power to see them as this is being revealed to him. I believe that human beings will be tormented by the invisible spiritual realm for 5 months that is coming upon them. John sees them in the spirit and he tries to communicate that to us. One of the ways of demonic affliction is to get people away from the truth. Demonic affliction is nothing new. In many nations where the gospel is not preached there is a strong sense of demonic activity and demonism.

1 Timothy 3:16, 4:1 ~ "Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great. He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. The Spirit clearly says that in the later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons."

When someone knocks on your door with something that is abhorrent or off from the Bible, the Bible says that when they come knocking, they are promoting the doctrine of demons. That is the origin. When these creature entities come forth among the earth, their attack will be well directed. Look locusts consume grass and these locusts were ordered not to attack the grass, trees or any plants. These are not normal locusts. Those that are sealed are the only ones who can not be harmed, and those are the 144,000 Jewish evangelists from Revelation 7 as well as those who come to God during the Tribulation. There is no visible seal that you can see, just like if you look in the mirror you can't see anything, but if you are a believer in Christ, the Bible says that we have been sealed by the seal of our living Father in the book of Ephesians, chapters 1 and 2. You may not see anything, but God sealed you the day you accepted Christ. Those who trust in God during that time will be delivered and protected.

Matthew 12:43-45 ~ "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, "I will return to the house I left." When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."

The interesting thing to note and consider further study on is why when a demon leaves a human body does it go to arid places, places without water? That is another study for another day but it is very interesting and one you may had never considered. Demons refer to the human body as their house. When the demon comes back and finds it empty it means the Holy Spirit did not move in, the person remained undecided. They didn't get saved. There is a vacancy. No God in their life. No Holy Spirit. Jesus shared an interesting insight into the demonic world.

When Hell meets earth, mankind will receive a token of eternity, to truly suffer, is to suffer without God's grace.

Revelation 9:5-6 ~ "They were not give 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 Book of Daniel, Chapter 12 and John's gospel 5:28-29 ~ "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out - those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned."

In the end, there will be a judgment of the righteous and the unrighteous, did you know that? Those of us that are Christians, will be judged by Jesus Christ, for the opportunities that were given to us, the open doors to us that allowed us to serve Him, to bring glory to His name. We will not be judged on any of our sins, or regarding heaven or hell. It's called the Bema seat! The judgment seat of Christ found in 1 Corinthians. It is a good thing! We all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. We will receive rewards of what we have done while we were in our bodies here on earth. Did we live for Jesus or did we live for us? Did we give our attention to God? Did we help to expand His kingdom and did we give our money for the advancement of the Lord? Did we invest in God's kingdom? He is going to ask us this one question, "What did you do for My Son?" Jesus might say, "What did you do for Me? Let's take a look and see!" We will suffer loss or be blessed based on how we responded in faith to those opportunities. We need to figure out for ourselves what those opportunities are, that are given to us from God. This has nothing to do with heaven or hell! You're safe at this point. You are going to heaven.

But to those who are not Christ's...they do not appear before the judgment seat of Christ. The Bible says that they appear before God the Father. Without Christ, without Jesus' intervention. They stand before God in Revelation 20:11 and the books are opened and they are judged out of the books and the things written therein. It says that all those whose names are not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life, who are judged and cast into hell. What a horrific thing. Perhaps you are saying to yourself, "I don't want to go there." I don't want you to go there either.

The Bible says that the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to eternal life. We all fear judgment and there is a looming fear of that in the back of all of our minds. If we don't reconcile what God has said and what is in the Bible, the choice to accept God and what He has said throughout the Bible or to reject it all. The implications of those choices are ours alone. God doesn't send anyone to hell. We choose where we will go. If we accept God and the Bible and all that goes along with it, the choice is heaven. If we reject God, the Bible, Jesus and everything that goes with that, the choice is heaven. Even if we choose to not accept God, that choice determines our eternity for us. It's simple. Know Jesus, Know Life!  No Jesus, no life!

God knows everything, but He gives us the opportunity to choose. That is the only way to true love and life. People demand on going to hell, and reject Jesus. You are responsible for that choice, not God! Don't blame God. 

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Hell Does Not Have to Be Your Future!!!



If you are not a Christian, the message and study we are covering today is not one you want to hear. Whenever the subject of Hell is mentioned, no one really wants to hear about it, but it is the very reason for the death of Jesus, to keep us out of hell. When we refer to hell on earth, it is God's righteous wrath that He is delivering to a Christ-rejecting world. When you consider it, who wants to talk about hell? Answer: Nobody. Yet Jesus did more than anybody! Who really wants to meditate on the wrath of God? Again really nobody, but its part of God's awesome nature and character.

Did you notice how quickly we got through Chapter 8 in Revelation, this chapter along with others that remain in the book are written as one continuous event like 8 and 9 are. There were not supposed to be separations in them, not will there be when the actual events begin to happen. Make no mistake, we didn't rush through Chapter 8 because we were in a hurry to get through the difficult parts of scripture, but because it is structured that way as is Chapter 9. Each chapter from here on out is getting worse as the judgments from God are getting poured out upon the earth. There is no sugar coating it and that is perhaps why so many churches and pastors avoid teaching on the Book of Revelation.

The only person who this should not bother is the believer in Christ, because they know the stuff we are studying today, they do not have to be a part of. They will be gone and resting in heaven when this happens. If you aren't a believer in Christ, you too, by the time of this message, you too can chose to accept Christ and avoid what is coming. This does not have to be your future! It is your choice.

From here to the end of Chapter 19, we will see gross, dark, judgment being played out upon the earth. We don't mind this kind of gore when it's on the movie screen, but the thought of such things being real, the thought of suffering and judgment and hell, might be real is unsettling.

1 Thessalonians 1:10 ~ " and to wait for his Son from heaven, who he raised from the dead - Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath."

This means that Jesus Christ is coming for His church even before this great Tribulation period, and He has to deliver His church into heaven according to Scripture. He will deposit the church into heaven via the Rapture and then the Tribulation Period will begin. This will be the judgment of God brought to the earth. In fact, if you were to walk into any bookstore today, even a Christian one and ask for a book on Hell, they would be hard pressed to try and find you one. It's because it's not popular to talk about Hell. No one wants to talk about it.

As Christians, we can talk about Hell because it is what we will be missing. This is what Jesus has delivered us from and something we should give Him glory for. Yet it is unpopular to talk about Hell, especially by those who are afraid they are going to hell. They don't want to know about it because there is a sense of finality and a sense of fear. Just because you don't want to talk about Hell doesn't mean it doesn't exist. You develop an ostrich movement at that point, burying your head in the sand because you don't want to hear about it, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. It doesn't take away from the fact that it is real. God has declared it and he has warned us about it. There are over 600 New Testament warnings alone about hell! It is very real.

All the cults have a few things in common. (1) Jesus is not your God, Lord and Savior and (2) There is no Hell. Now if Satan is the founder of the cults and he is, isn't that a great bit of propaganda? There is no hell! If there is no hell and you die and go into an oblivion, then why did Satan spans cults in the first place? If there is no hell, according to the cults then why do I need to accept anything at all? It's so real that to avoid the logic simply doesn't make sense. Jesus said it is real! Are you willing to pit the wording of a cult against Jesus, who rose again from the dead? Are you willing to gamble your eternity that the cult leader is right and Jesus isn't? Are you willing to gamble with your foreverness, living in a hell, and gamble against the Bible. I hope not!

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 god, 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."

Is that not enough to freak you out? Some of Hollywood's finest directors could get ideas from this right? Notice the number of times the reference to the descriptions were prefaced with the words "like?" "Like locusts," "Like human hair" etc. Don't be confused by what all this means. They are not simply locusts with a bad attitude. Did you know that God controls the hands of the locust even today? That locusts generally follow the wind. God moves them from an area or to an area by the wind. The Bible says the locusts have no king but are directed by the wind. We know that when locusts swarm they can cover the sky and make it dark. There is no doubt about that. Sometimes they eat what they see and other times fly right over places they should eat. They are extremely unpredictable. This passage has nothing to do with earthly locusts despite all the commentaries you may have read about this before.

John is trying to describe the greatest plague to have devastated the world during his time and that was locusts. This is going to be similar but it is not the same. Then he goes on to talk about scorpions and again these are not the same as what we have here now. Their pain is worse than anything anyone here has ever had happen to them. When hell meets earth, a creature personality will come.

We are talking about Satan, himself. The Bible refers to Satan as being a he in the male gender, the son of the morning star. If you take a survey, most people will say the Bible is true but that there is no devil. Jesus, Himself, has said the devil is real and if you don't believe he is real, you have truly fallen for his propaganda. Let's get this out of the way right now as well. There is no place in the Bible that says he wears red, has horns and carries a pitchfork and pointed tail. The Bible does say what he is draped in, that he is extremely beautiful, powerful, he is a person, and he is a creature personality, meaning that he has been created.

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."

Notice the word "fallen" in verse 1, that means passed tense, he had already fallen. This is referring to Satan. Satan will fall from heaven one final time. It will happen during the great Tribulation period. In verse 1 of Revelation 9, this is the first blast of the final three remaining trumpets which we have been warned about in the final verse of Revelation 8 that were coming. This is the first one of the final three that Revelation 8 warned us about. You need to keep this in mind that Satan is real and so are his demons. The Bible says that there are fallen angels and there are demons. There is different wording for both and they both have different powers. Demonic and heavenly angels appear and disappear at will. The New Testament warns us to watch out for strangers because by unknowing we can be speaking with and entertaining an angel as a human without knowing about it.

Satan and his fallen angels can appear and disappear at will. Demons need an idol, statues, animals to manifest their will, a person to possess, and there are no known words in which Satan can possess a person outside of Judas or the Son of Perdition, the Antichrist in Scripture.  Demons can enter and leave someone who are not filled or is not under the protection of the Holy Spirit, or own by the Holy Spirit in you. That should be something that scares you to get serious about Jesus if you are an unbeliever. If you are not a believer, there is a vacancy in your body. You have to crawl over the body of Christ to get into hell.