Discerning the Times

If things were more of a political rally centered around what Glenn Beck did over last weekend then I think it is correct for Christians to follow him. But alot of what Glenn Beck said centered around God and America turning back to it’s true faith. Has Glenn Beck become America’s default spiritual leader?

Hundreds of thousands of Americans showed up in Washington DC for his rally with themes of faith and love of country. Americans are looking for any kind of leadership as they are becoming increasingly afraid of what is going on in America and what is still to come.

Some positives were seen: honoring our military, celebrating America instead of throwing it under the bus, patriotism and conservative political values.

So what could really be so bad then? Well ,Mr. Beck is Mormon. So the God he believes in is not the same God you and I as bible believing followers of Jesus Christ believe in.

The rally had a spiritual theme throughout about turning back to God. The not so subtle theme was “many faiths, one God”.

But Glenn Beck again does not believe in the same God and Savior that we do. He even called the American Indians the chosen people which is Mormon doctrine.

So while he sounds really close sometimes to what you and I believe, he simple is not talking about the same God. Of all the prayers offered at the event none were made in the name of Jesus. So the question is this: Is America in such desperate spiritual condition that it will follow a Mormon for spiritual revival?

Mormons are a false belief, a cult if you will. They believe the following:

1. God was actually born and raised on another planet

2. God has a harem of wives

3. They produce spirit babies that are sent to earth, there they gain bodies and earn sainthood

4. Jesus is the brother of Lucifer

5. Jesus is the chosen/elected savior by a council of gods from other worlds

6. The US Constitution is as sacred as the Book of Mormon. They have a prophecy that in the latter days the US Constitution will be under siege and will be saved by Mormons. The want to build a Mormon kingdom here on earth

7. Salvation is works based and not through grace and faith

This is not the God of the Bible or the Jesus who is my Savior. The apostasy is spreading and we need to wake up before it is too late.

Daniel 7: 25 tells us that the Antichrist will try to change the times and seasons and laws. Well here is another easy indicator that Islam is the key to understanding the Antichrist. More and more a Muslim Antichrist is coming into focus.

Islam is seeking to change Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or the time the entire world sets its clock to. Their solution is to put the world on Islamic Time. The Saudi Arabian government is building a huge clock tower in Mecca. They want the world to move away from Greenwich Mean Time and to Mecca Mean Time (MMT).

Islamic scholars are trying to make the argument from a scientific perspective that Mecca Mean Time is the true global meridian time. They argue that Mecca is center of the world. Christians and Jews believe that Jerusalem is the center of the world and the place that God placed His holy name.

The Royal Clock is sitting atop the central tower in the Abraj Al-Bait Project, 50 meters opposite the Grand Mosque in Mecca. The clock will be visible from 10 miles away at night to 6 miles during the day. This clock is 6 times larger than Big Ben in London. It will be launched the first week of Ramadan.

The observatory which is part of the Tower project also will be used to sight the moon during the holy months of Islam.

The name of Allah is inscribed on all four sides of the clock face.

We need to really open our spiritual eyes and see that the Lord is showing us what is coming on the earth. Time is really short. Put all the pieces together and you can come to no other conclusion. The times and seasons and signs are all set!

Keep looking up!

We know as believers in Christ that there is only one way to God. That is Jesus Christ. He tells us in John 14:6 that He is the way, the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. It is an individual salvation and relationship that is being forged. It is a choice that each individual must make.

So I am not really sure where the new focus on collective salvation could be coming from. Paul gives us a pretty clear doctrinal statement on individual salvation in Romans 10:9-13.

Scarily, more and more it is becoming apparent that there are fewer people than one might think who believe that the US was truly a Godly nation at one time. We are becoming an increasingly immoral nation. Regrettably people are placing more trust in the government and not in the King of Kings as they should be.

Collective salvation is therefore just another heresy of the last days. There are many being led astray by this false belief. This is central to a communist type Gospel that is not found in Scripture at all. Our salvation cannot come in a group form. It must be an individual decision. This belief that the government is meant to solve all problems is not Scriptural and is thus incorrect.

We should never allow anyone to force their beliefs on us. Collective salvation looks to do just that and actually creates an elite doing the forcing. Any government trying to bring about a divine salvation of any kind is demonic in nature.

Keep to the Word of the Living God and follow the Holy Spirit living inside you. Trust in Jesus and not in man.

Keep looking up!

The subject of spiritual warfare is an important one that is often overlooked in the church and is definitely overlooked when discussing end-time biblical prophecy.

But it is an important and key part of Bible prophecy. Spiritual warfare has never been seen on the world scene like it is occurring today. It is increasing at an alarming rate. We as Christians need to be aware of it and need to keep alert of it!

This is not an ordinary struggle or battle, this time it is the beginning of the final conflict between good and evil before the kingdom is set up. The targets of this battle are the nation of Israel and the believers in Jesus.

When we bring it down to our level here in America, what is occurring here is nothing less than moral suicide. We need to pray for our leaders and our country.

This is not a physical battle but a spiritual one. We as believers need to enlist in the army of our King and enter the battle and we need to be in tune with the Holy Spirit and our armor as we enter the battle.

For the prophetic perspective, we are entering and witnessing a spiritual invasion that will unite the entire spirit world.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 “for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”. Our weapons must match and exceed the enemy’s weapons since this battle is spiritual.

We need to use the full armor of God to withstand the evil times we live in. Our weapons are found in Ephesians chapter 6:

1. Girded in the infallible Word of God

2. The Breastplate of Righteousness

3. Shoes that are protected in the Gospel message

4. Shield of Faith. Trust in His protection.

5. Sword of the Spirit – the Word of God.

Our churches need to stop being afraid of the Holy Spirit and denying His power in our individual lives and realize that He is the presence of God here on earth living inside of us. He is still active in a supernatural way in us. We need to pray, teach and worship in a spiritual dimension.

Satan and the spirit of antichrist are already unleashing a barrage of evil powers and confusion. Every believer must be alert to this battle and go into it equipped by putting on the whole armor of God.

Keep looking up!

When Zechariah wrote thousands of years ago that Israel would one day find herself a pariah in the world and in the international community and also be come the target of a globally coordinated attack everyone would have found the thought preposterous.

Now not only is the idea of Israel as the black sheep of the nations of the world plausible but it is now reality.

Israel is in peril. Physical, political and moral dangers abound all around her. And the anti-Israel fervor is growing inside American Christianity at an even more alarming rate. A great shift has occurred in the church. The debate inside the church is what do we do about Israel? Support for Israel is weakening. Jim Fletcher of Prophecy Matters makes this prediction: most if not all major ministry leaders in the US in the next decade will abandon Israel.

It is already becoming politically expedient to do so. People like Rick Warren, Tony Campolo and Brian McLaren share this worldview. The Palestinian propaganda is working.

But if you are a true follower of Christ and the Scriptures you know that God is coming for Israel. There will be a remnant left that knows about Jesus as their Messiah. Passages like Zechariah 12 and 14 and Romans chapters 9-11 tell us so.

They will never be  removed from their land again. Any respectable Bible scholar knows this to be the real truth!

Pray for men like these who are being deceived and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Keep looking up!

The last days church is coming together and rather quickly around the world. Most churches are denying the literal second coming of Christ or are taking the preterist view of bible prophecy by saying all related bible prophecies have already been fulfilled back in 70 AD with the destruction of the temple.

100 million churchgoers in the US have no understanding of the biblical significance of the nation of Israel, the city of Jerusalem or the times we are living in. They either do not know biblically or they are following after false prophets and teachers.

We know that Jesus told us in the time before His return that false prophets would grow exponentially. Read the words of the prophet Jeremiah in chapter 23, verse 16 “do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; they speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord. ”

The enemy is using false signs and wonders and words of knowledge to lead God’s people astray.

For example in October 2009, Protestant Christians and Muslims held an event at Yale University for 8 days at the end of which they falsely declared that Allah is the same God as the God of the Christians and the Jews.

Even in Roman Catholicism we are seeing the call for a one world religion and government. Pope Benedict has formally declared that the world politicians should rule the world. The attempt to bring peace to the world will lead to one world religious cooperation.

The following major Protestant denominations have condoned and even have endorsed immorality: Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and United Church of Christ.

And then we have the real mover and shaker in the leading to a one world government and that is the falsehood of the social justice agenda. Dogmatic beliefs in the God of the Bible are being laid aside in favor of the social gospel. Saving souls from sin has been replaced by saving the world from war, poverty and unemployment. These things in and of themselves are all good causes however they should never replace the God of the Bible, the doctrine or core beliefs we have or a personal, individual relationship with the King of the Universe; namely Jesus of Nazareth.

What we are beginning to see pick up steam in the last few months is a liberal, postmodern view of God that is dovetailing with the political push for a new world order and a green agenda. Listen to the politicians in Congress today or even our President as they are now reaching out to the churches to push this green agenda with the promise to build new buildings for those churches who fall in line.

For example Nancy Pelosi is quoted as saying to churches in the US and pastors and priests in particular that the move to save the earth is the gospel now. The people trying to put a one world religion into place are even embracing the churches and the churches that fall for this are false or apostate in nature. There is no other God and no other agenda than Christ’s.

We need to test the spirits, we need to hold our pastors accountable that they preach the Gospel as it is presented in the Scripture and not any man made version.

We need to stay in the will of our Lord. So even if someone like Jim Wallis uses Christian lingo and language peel back the layers of what he is saying to test it against the word of God. Stay focused on Him and not on what is coming out of Washington.

Keep looking up!

How many of us missed this story this weekend? Many I believe. Laura Bush, wife of ex- President George W. Bush, has a new book out and in it she is making some startling revelations concerning her positions on some important social and church issues.

It turns out after 8 years of believing we had a role model conservative Christian in a position of leadership in this country that Mrs. Bush is pro abortion and pro same sex marriage.

This does differ from her husbands position on these topics like that should lessen the impact to all evangelical believers.

We need to remember that we are living in deceitful, perilous times. A time when people will put their own views forward before those of the living God! We will see more of this as the Lord’s return is near!

Pray for Laura Bush that she turns from her evil views and returns with knee bowed before her King!

As the follow out continues over the National Day of Prayer event on May 6th at the Pentagon, two top evangelical leaders are sounding a defiant tone. Franklin Graham, who was the honorary chairman of the National Day of Prayer event this year, was removed from the event at the Pentagon due to what was deemed by the military to be controversial remarks in regard to Islam and its role in the September 11th event. Graham said that Islam was not a religion of peace and that it was evil.

On Thursday Graham warned that the American right to freedom of religion “is being eroded every day” and may be lost in an onslaught of secularism unless Americans “have the guts to stand up”. Graham also said he will not back down in preaching the Gospel as he sees it. He went on to say “we are living in a time where we cannot compromise, we cannot back up, we cannot retreat.” Graham also said that “the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be preached to the ends of the earth – that’s what He has called us to do.”

Graham also said he sees a time coming to this country where we may still have freedom to preach in the church walls, but we will lose the right to do it outside. He said while we still can we need to be shouting “Jesus Christ! King of Kings, Lord of Lords! to the top of our voice.”

Graham was joined by James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and Bishop Harry Jackson Jr.. Dobson added to what Graham said by stating that the right to publicly proclaim the Christian Gospel was one of the chief freedoms enshrined in the Constitution by the Founding Fathers. Ironically, it is Dobson’s wife Shirley who serves as chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force.

We need to praise God for leaders like this in the evangelical community who are taking a stand in such a time as this! We need to pray for them and we need to be bold in our faith as we will be persecuted for our beliefs even here in America.

Keep looking up!

The Vatican and the Arab League signed an agreement on April 23rd that will strengthen joint projects to promote peace and dialogue. This is disturbing on many fronts as Islam is wielding it’s power worldwide and the Vatican is playing right into it.

Many prophecy teachers are pointing to a mixture of Islam and Christianity as the last days apostate religion. Taking it one step further it is Islam mixed with a watered down Christianity where the deity of Christ is denied even by major Christian leaders including the last pope like we discussed in my last post. If a major Christian religious leader were to deny the deity of Christ then Islam would be willing to accept Christianity.

Also a little known fact is that in Lourdes or Fatima you will find Cathloics along side Islamic worshippers of Mary and the apparitions as Islam places Mary in a special place due to the virgin birth of Christ (Islam believes Jesus was a great prophet but not the Son of God). This is a strange sight indeed as we are seeing the mixing of the two faiths.

This agreement is also disturbing in that it “proposes instruments of consultation between the two parties with attention also to initiatives of inter-religious dialogue.”

We are beginning to see the apostate form of Christianity (both Catholic and Protestant) beginning to mix with Islam. This will be the last days religion.

Keep looking up for our redemption is drawing near!

Not sure if you have heard of this topic of an ancient prophecy in the Roman Catholic Church given by an Irish monk named Malachy, an Irish monk,  in 1139 AD where he was given a vision while at the Vatican and he was reported to have been shown a list of all the popes until the last one and was also given a brief description of each one. The last pope would be the one during the Tribulation Period and would deny Christ as the Son of God and would be the false prophet of the book of Revelation. Malachy was canonized the first Irish saint in the Catholic church in 1190 AD by Pope Clement III.

Well not only are you possibly hearing more about this lately from the Protestant side of the faith, but Roman Catholics are acutely aware of this prophecy today so much so in fact that Pope John Paul II was appointing bishops to become cardinals who would try to defend the true faith and try to keep this prophecy from happening. The current Pope Benedict the 16th is also aware of this as he is prophesied to be the last good and faithful shepherd prior to the last pope coming on the scene.

So the question I am asking is how clse are we really to the Tribulation? Well if this is truly a prophecy from the King then I believe we are very close as this current Pope is 83 years old. Let’s look at some of the history behind this unique prophecy and then bring it to the current arena.

Malachy in 1139 AD went to Rome to give an account of the affairs of his diocese to the pope, Innocent II, who promised him two palliums for the sees of Armagh (Malachy’s birthplace) and Cashel. While in Rome, Malachy received the strange vision of the future wherein was unfolded before his mind the long list of illustrious pontiffs who were to rule the church until the end of the age.  Malachy wrote down the vision and gave it to Innocent II and the document remained in the Vatican archives until its discovery in 1595. An interesting side note here is that while on his last trip to Rome in 1148AD, Malachy accurately predicted the place and time of his own death: Clairvaux, France on All Souls Day in November of 1148AD.

The vision was first published by Arnold de Wyon and ever since there has been much discussion as to whether the vision is a genuine prophecy. Malachy’s vision was a detailed listing of the last 112 pontiffs from his time forward until the end. the 112th or last Pope concerns the end of the age. Malachy’s prophecy says “in the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman who will feed his flock amid many tribulations after which the 7 hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End.”

Some believe this man to be newly appointed cardnial from Ghana Peter Turkson who is now the head of the Vatican’s peace office. There is another little known prophecy that this last pope would in fact be black. Now no pope has ever selected Peter as his papal name out of respect for Peter the apostle who is considered to be the first pope.

Malachy described the last six popes as follows:

1. Pastor and Mariner – John XXIII 1958-1963 – John was a pastor to the world, much beloved, and the Patriarch of Venice. The connection to “mariner” was then remarkable. In fact a certain cardinal from the US (Spellman of New YOrk) evidently having taken Malachy’s forecast that the next pope would be a pastor and a mariner literally rented a boat filled it with sheep and sailed it up and down the Tiber River in Rome.

2. Flower of Flowers – Paul VI 1963-1978 – Paul’s coat of arms depicts 3 fleur-de-lis corresponding to Malachy’s prophecy.

3. Of the Half Moon – John Paul I 1978-1978 – John Paul I was elected Pope on august 26, 1978 when there was a half moon. He reigned 33 days when he died, although many think he was murdered. He was also born in the diocese of Belluno (beautiful moon) was baptized Albino Luciani which means white light. He died shortly after an eclipse of the moon.

4. The Labor of the Son – John Paul II 1978-2005 – Amazingly, Pope John Paul II, was the only pope who was both born the day of an eclipse of the sun and entombed the day the sun was eclipsed. This pope was born in Krakow, Poland in the same city where Copernicus had toiled for years to prove his theory that the earth revolved around the sun. It was considered to be heretical at the time in the 15th century. Many also suggest that Malachy’s reference to the sun would mean a young pope also. At 58, John Paul II was the youngest pope in over a century. Also like the sun which always labors, John Paul II was a tireless worker. Now some disturbing things he did as he got older were kissing the Koran and saying the God of Islam and Christianity were the same.

5. The Glory of the Olive – Benedict XVI 2005 to present – Malachy predicted that this pope would be pope at the very start of the Tribulation period but would quickly be replaced by Peter the Roman. Saint Benedict himself claimed that this pope before the end of the age would triumphantly lead the church in its fight against evil. This prophecy of Malachy has now also come true as well when Cardinal John Ratzinger of Germany selected Benedict XVI as his papal name with his election in 2005. He is now 83 years of age.

6. Peter the Roman – the 112th and last pope according to Malachy. This pope is the apostate pope. The one who will try to cut loose Catholics from unity and their belief in the deity of Jesus Christ. St. Francis of Assisi also prophesied something similar. This pope will also be the one who is to initially be riding the beast kingdom at the end of Revelation only to be overthrown by the beast kingdom and Rome destroyed.

Could we be this close to the end? We can only wait and see. But we do need to remain alert and informed. That we are commanded by the King to do! Hopefully this is new to you and let’s you know that God is coming soon!

Let’s end with this: in 1909, Pope Pius X leaned back and closed his eyes. Suddenly, he awoke and cried out “what I see is terrifying. Will it be myself? Will it be my successor? What is certain is that pope will quit Rome, and in leaving the Vatican he will have to walk over the dead bodies of his priests.” Pius’ prophecy was never fulfilled!