“Blessed [Hebrew, esher, happiness or blessedness] are the undefiled [Hebrew, tâmîym, whole, sound, healthful] in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD” (Psalm 119:1 KJV). Yes, we are blessed or happy, but why? We are as Noah was a “just [Hebrew, tâmîym, perfect]” (Genesis 6:9 KJV), or undefiled by the physical and spiritual curse of the Nephilim, but why? We are undefiled, because we walk in the law of the LORD. True, we walk not in the “counsel of the ungodly” (Psalm 1:1), but we “delight” and “meditate” in the “law of the LORD” (1:2). If we stop there, we miss the point. It is the LORD’s law. Without Him, we have no source or focus. He alone is able to give meaning to the law. We learn of Him and His character by our association with that law. Unless we view our time around His Word as something more than a word study, then we escape the grand point of our existence — to “know Him” (Phillippians 3:10).
Author: Ken
Why Pray Return Suddenly?
Our Lord taught us to continually pray, “Thy kingdom come” (Matthew 6:10 KJV). Jesus Christ suddenly returning to this planet is a theme of anticipation, moving forward, taking dominion, and building Christ’s kingdom, and not pulling back, losing ground, and dismantling Christ’s work on earth. All our projects, goals, problems, and aspirations will be concluded, when Jesus returns and we depart (1Thessalonians 4:17). “Surely I come quickly [Greek, tachu, suddenly]. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:2). All our prayers will be answered, e.g., healing, deliverance. What better pray request? Who wouldn’t want to pray, Lord Jesus, return suddenly? LORD, You are the focus for our building Your Kingdom on this earth, but we know Your kingdom is wherever You are. We desire You to return, ourselves to meet You in the air, then You to reign on this earth, again. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Hate Divides, Love Unites
I agree with the sentiment of the sign.
“I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree together, to end your divisions, and to be united by the same mind and purpose” (1 Corinthians 1:10 NET).
I Know Whom I Have Believed
Amnesia or Alzheimer’s may produce temporary or progressive decay of memory, but nightmarish horror only comes, when we voluntarily forget God. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17 KJV). The All Remembering God has covenanted not to remember our sins against us, when we repent. “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). Understanding God’s character should evoke in us the deepest love and worship of Him, who is our last and greatest Hope. “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (2Timothy 1:12). Arise, O LORD, and shake us out of our deep slumber. Cause us to be more concerned about losing the smile upon Your face toward us than our meager ability to remember where we misplaced our keys. You are so much more valuable than anything we may possess. Bless Yourself and honor Your name. Return quickly and deliver Your people. In Jesus’ name, we ask it. Amen.
Why the Devil Needs UFOs
The Rapture and UFOs are forbidden topics for both respectable theologians and scientists because they deny credibility from each their respective mainstream. Once burned, twice shy. Students of prophecy walk carefully around setting any dates of Rapture, Tribulation, Second Coming, since scoffers love to remind of anything remotely resembling a failed date. Yet, even our Savior enflamed us with His closing promise of the NT, “Surely I come quickly [Greek, tachu, suddenly]. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20 KJV). Anyone who places any credence in the 1947 Roswell incident as anything other than a crashed weather balloon will lose immediate credibility for believing in a conspiracy theory. If you believe in neither a Rapture nor UFOs, then you’re on safe ground, as far as established theology and science are concerned. But, if there really is a Rapture, then what better opportunity for some world leader to step up with miraculous explanations for the Suddenly Missing People (SMP). Of course, the explanation will be a carefully crafted lie, which will be the work of the Antichrist. “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (2Thessalonians 2:9). UFOs are those lying wonders. They are real, but not extraterrestrial, instead from another dimension, which is the Unseen Realm of both the good and evil. Not until Almighty God removes the Restraining Influence of the Spirit Indwelt Christians at the Rapture, will it be necessary for Satan’s Antichrist to step in, explain, and miraculously bring seeming order to the chaos. “And now you know what is holding him back, so that he [Antichrist] may be revealed at the proper time” (2Thessalonians 2:6 NIV). This will be more than Alien Brothers bringing in a new era of peace, but most probably a Nephilim harnessing the power of “alien technology” to consolidate worship of himself as God. “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2Thessalonians 2:4). LORD, our fervent prayer is to be ready for Your Son’s soon appearing. May we calmly and faithfully advocate for Your people to continue their employments and doing whatever good You’ve shown us to do, in the meantime; but, open the hearts of those around us to receive Your Son. Return quickly, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Expectation: Look Out for Answers to Prayer
Praying without expectation of answer is faithless and unbelieving, yet how often do we do it? “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3 KJV). Why do we do it? Because we have such a low opinion of God. And, how do we fix that? We need to elevate our thinking about God, which the Holy Spirit has especially been given to accomplish in us (John 16:13-15). For instance, Jesus identifying Himself as one with the Father (John 14:9), would be understood as having said: “11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 12 Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. 13 And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).
Our past negative experiences with God cause us to construct a more constrained picture of God, which we feel puts less pressure or expectation on God, when, in reality, it puts less pressure on ourselves. God, on the other hand, is calling us to a higher expectation of what He is capable and willing to do. Let us not force the future to look like a worse imitation of the past. “Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3). Shouldn’t we rather be so expectant, it could be said, “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12)?
Father, make us to be truly Your children by how we ask You with great expectation for answer to our prayers. But, may we grow in our understanding of You that we may have greater appreciation, praise, and worship of You in the coming days. “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him” (Psalm 62:5). In Jesus’ exalted name, we ask it — and, do return quickly. Amen and amen.
Overcoming the World
Nikaō or overcoming is nearly exclusively used in the NT by John. Saints conquering the world is God’s expectation of us. Whenever we find difficulty with victory, we need the Holy Spirit to grant us a more perfect understanding of our victory. For example, sin is primarily an action, not simply a condition, since overcoming sin involves a better comprehension of what sin is. Remember, even Lucifer had to sin before he became a sinner. Sin is the act of transgressing God’s law or the “transgression of the law” (1John 3:4 KJV), which is more than a condition of “lawlessness” (3:4 NIV, NET). Beginning with that understanding, the Saints no longer need to let the enemy overcome them with accusations that they are inherently evil and unworthy to receive the crown of victory. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God” (1John 5:4-5 KJV). Jesus seven times addressed the Seven Churches of Revelation with the challenge and promise of overcoming (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21). Overcoming means more than getting to the finish line of a race, but defeating the enemy and coming away victorious. Overcoming gravity is not just a safe landing but ascending to the heights. Christians need to see the rainbow as not just surviving the Flood but going on to build the Kingdom of God. We overcome through confidence in Christ. “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place” (2Corinthians 2:14). FATHER, we can conquer all things through Christ. Cause us to understand how to overcome the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, that the adversary would not have mastery over us. Cause our understanding of Jesus to be the source of our ability to overcome. Magnify Your name through our victory. In Jesus’ name, we pray . Amen.
The Great Whore and the Beast (Revelation 17:7)
Religion in bed with politics is the one world ecumenical movement riding the Antichrist. In the Revelation, John shows us the final development of the world’s religious aspirations fully engaged with the power of the world’s governments. “I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters” (Revelation 17:1 KJV). In A Woman Rides the Beast (56:28), Dave Hunt historically connects papal Rome with ancient Babylon — though often ignored or discounted by modern scholarship — then he prophetically links Rome’s ecumenical leadership — “that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:22) — with the whore riding the beast.
In the Book of Revelation, John describes a woman: (1) of great power and spiritual corruption, i.e., “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication” (Revelation 17:4), (2) with a harlot’s forehead, designating her as the explanation for the occasion, source, and widespreadness of spiritual corruption, i.e., “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (17:5), (3) responsible for the martyrdom of countless True Believers, i.e., “And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration” (17:6), (4) sitting at ease at Rome, the City of Seven Hills, i.e., “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth” (17:9), and (5) reigning and influencing world governments from papal Rome, i.e., “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (17:18). If Babylon the Great is here identified with the religious world system, then papal Rome would be more representative of the beast “out of the sea” (13:1), which is the False Prophet, and would not be the Antichrist. Hence, the Whore rides the Beast. Father, the signs of Your Son’s soon appearing are around us and ominous. Cause us to walk carefully but powerfully. Come quickly. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen and amen.
Conditional and Unconditional Love
What is Conditional Love, since we already have been correctly taught God has given us His Unconditional Love?
Unconditional Love, God gives to everyone. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 KJV). Conditional Love, God gives ONLY to those who obey. “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him” (John 14:21).
God’s Unconditional Love invites everyone to receive the benefits of an eternal relationship with Himself. “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1). But He requires we respond with obedience, to which He answers with His Conditional Love, which is accompanied by greater manifestations of Himself. “Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him” (John 14:22-23).
(The following is a longer read, but hopefully, not too long. Scan ahead to preview.)
How does this relationship begin? The Holy Spirit initiates everything, when we feel guilt about doing or not doing something we should or shouldn’t do (John 16:8). Even before we understand the implications or make the suggestion, the Holy Spirit places Jesus before the mind’s eye as the solution (John 16:9-10). Our sense of violating our perception of moral rightness leaves us open to the thought that the devil has already been judged for doing what we just did (John 16:11). Our conscience has been pricked, and we become receptive to Christ as a deliverer from our guilt (John 16:14). This unseen sequence repeats itself until either we are saved and becoming sanctified (John 15:10) or hardened ultimately to perdition (Hebrews 3:8).
Christians work together with the Holy Spirit to gain new brothers and sisters in Christ, to whom greater manifestations of Christ can be shared. This increases our relationship with Christ and one another in Christian fellowship. “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1John 1:3). Conditional Love is the medium and conversation of the Christian with God, while Unconditional Love is only God’s invitation to the unbelieving world.
God’s means of expanding and maintaining His Church are threefold:
(1) Supernatural Love. The Body of Christ manifested in the local assembly of disciples, demonstrates the same love Christ reveals to them, thereby attracting the attention of the world. “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34-35).
(2) Supernatural Unity. The Body of Christ, in general, but especially manifested in the local assembly of disciples, demonstrates the same unity Christ has with the Father, thereby engaging the notice of the world. “And the glory which thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me” (John 17:22-23).
(3) Supernatural Holiness. The Body of Christ manifested in the the local assembly of disciples, must maintain a holiness of conduct distinct from the sins of the world, so disfellowshipping unruly members is necessary to maintain group holiness, even evidenced by the Father pruning the Vine (John 15:2). “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1Corinthians 5:5). “Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme” (1Timothy 1:20).
Remember, though God’s Unconditional Love invites all regardless of conduct to participate in the benefit, His Conditional Love requires holy conduct, in order to receive the benefit of His Salvation. Likewise, the Professed Christian may only receive the benefit of God’s Salvation by actually practicing holiness. “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).
The Holy Spirit: God’s Solution to Humanity’s Predicament
Is there a secret to guarantee our obedience? Yes, the Promised Holy Spirit.
If it seems no one was ever able to please God, then remember, even in the OT dispensation: (1) All the holy angels in Heaven, are still without sin, (2) Adam and Eve were without sin before the Fall, (3) Enoch pleased God so much, he walked Home to Heaven (Genesis 5:24), (4) Abraham was called the “Friend of God” (James 2:23), (5) Moses spoke to God as a friend (Exodus 33:11), (6) David was “a man after His own heart” (1Samuel 13:14), (7) Elijah was caught up to Heaven without dying (2Kings 2:11), (8) Daniel was called by God “beloved” (Daniel 9:23; 10:11, 19), (9) The OT prophets saw prophetic glimpses of the Messiah (Isaiah 53), (10) Simeon and Anna faithfully awaited the promised Messiah (Luke 2:25, 36), (11) Mary was chosen as the human mother of Jesus (Matthew 1), and (12) The Apostles and the rest of the 120 faithfully waited in the Upper Room for the Promised Holy Spirit to mark the beginning of the NT dispensation (Acts 2).
All of this happened before the NT giving of the Holy Spirit.
A: What then was the great occasion for the giving of the Holy Spirit?
Q: To give even a greater benefit and probability in these NT times in causing humanity to walk in obedience and love with God. In other words, we have even more opportunity and help in obeying God, especially because of the Holy Spirit and everything everyone before has done to bring us to this point.
“And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them” (Ezekiel 36:27).
“He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19).
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
Everything recorded in Scripture about Love is in reference to Conditional Love, except when it refers to God inviting anyone regardless of character or conduct to receive the benefit of His Salvation.
Let not the devil confuse us into thinking we can do whatever we like because God will still love us.
For no one will ever see Heaven unless they repent, believe, obey, and persevere until the end with the Gospel.
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1Peter 4:17).
Father, teach us the difference between Unconditional Love and Conditional Love. May You be glorified for offering Your Unconditional Love for Salvation to everyone. But, may You be magnified for Your Conditional Love, when people understand, believe, repent, obey the Gospel, and persevere to the end. Create Your Kingdom in human hearts now, but return soon to reclaim Your earthly crown. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen and amen.
Do You Believe There Will Be New Heavens and New Earth?
The entire universe as we know it will pass away is the meaning of “New Heavens and a New Earth” (Revelation 21:1 KJV). When I was a youngster, in the time period shortly after the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 16-28, 1962), during the Cold War with the USSR (Soviet Russia), nuclear war was a reality. I was living in South Florida, only so many miles away from the nuclear warheads Nikita Kruschev placed in Fidel Castro’s Cuba. The public school systems were practicing “duck and cover” exercises, so my elementary school mind said they were serious. In particular, I remember coming across a sermon booklet by a Southern Baptist evangelist, Hyman Appleman, The Atomic Bomb and the End of the World (1954). I was convinced I’d better be ready for the end of the world. The sun came out the next morning, and I persuaded myself not to get carried away. But, it reminds me that we all can have thoughts about the end of things as we know it. “If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?” (Ezekiel 33:10).
How do we get to New Heavens and New Earth from here? “And I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea” (Revelation 21:1). Just as it is complicated to process everything from Creation to the Cross, it will be as much of a challenge to understand how we get from here to the end. Spirit of Christ, You alone can instruct us about the future. “And as He sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3).
(The following is a longer read, but hopefully, not too long. Scan ahead to preview.)
In Christ’s Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:1-25:56; Mark 13:1-37; Luke 21:5-36), He gave an outline for the future that we may use to interpret the prophecy of the Book of Revelation’s New Heaven and New Earth. A good summary of the Olivet Discourse can be found here to make that interpretation. But chiefly, the Rapture of the Church is the next key event in the steps towards the New Heavens and New Earth, and Paul was its chief expounder (1Thessalonians 4:13-18). (1) The dead in Christ will bodily resurrect to return with Christ’s Second Coming, i.e., “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him” (4:14). (2) Those who are “alive and remain” (4:17) in Christ will be “caught up” (4:17) to meet the Lord “in the air” (4:17), i.e., “we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (4:17). However, “absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2Corinthians 5:8) means earthly events do not impact the Heavenly narrative, because we are immediately in another dimension, in other words, seven earth years can elapse before the Lord completes His Second Coming.
Prophecy is all about predicted events and necessary consequences. In Daniel’s intercession for Judah and Jerusalem, he confessed his sins and the sins of his people (Daniel 9:20). The angel Gabriel gave him the Seventy Weeks Prophecy (9:24-27), concerning Messiah the Prince (9:25), where the weeks were weeks of years. After 69 weeks or 483 years (9:25) “shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself” (9:26), which is the Crucifixion of Christ. “And the people of the prince that shall come [the Romans] shall destroy the city and the sanctuary [70 AD]” (9:26). The gap between Daniel 9:26 and 9:27 is the entire History of the Church, where the Gentile nations would participate in the House of God (1Timothy 3:15). But, the Seventieth Week of Daniel resumes with a covenant made by the “prince that shall come [Antichrist]” (9:26) with Israel, where a Temple will be rebuilt. But, in the midst of the Seventieth Week, “he [Antichrist] shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate” (9:27). This is the Abomination of Desolation also spoken of by Jesus in His Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:15).
The final moments of the Great Tribulation (Revelation 2:22; 7:14) or the Tribulation Week or the Seventieth Week of Daniel (Daniel 9:24-27) are the climactic Second Coming of Jesus Christ (Revelation 19:11-21) at the Battle of Armageddon (16:16). The Antichrist and the False Prophet are cast into the Lake of Fire (19:20), while the Devil is cast into the Bottomless Pit (20:1). Christ reigns over His Millennial Kingdom (20:1-6), then Satan is released (20:7) from the Bottomless Pit (the Abyss), as if to drain the dregs of anymore opposition to the Almighty forever. “For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and He poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them” (Psalm 75:8). Satan stirs up a revolt and surrounds Jerusalem, but is subdued by fire out of Heaven (Revelation 20:8-9). Satan is cast into the Lake of Fire (20:10). All the wicked dead are judged at God’s White Throne (20:11-15). Next comes the New Heavens and New Earth.
Peter described the New Heavens and New Earth, but Isaiah already prophesied of them (Isaiah 65:17; 66:12). “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for New Heavens and a New Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2Peter 3:13). When John describes the scene, he notes “there was no more sea” (Revelation 20:1); in other words, this is the eternal state, where all land will be habitable and the necessity for water to flourish life will be satisfied supernaturally by the Alpha and Omega (21:6) and the River of Life (22:1). But, most prominent will be the New Jerusalem ascending from God out of Heaven (21:10). John calls this New Jerusalem, “the Lamb’s wife” (21:9), probably because it would be the dwelling quarters Jesus once described, “In My Father’s house are many mansions [Greek, monē, dwelling places]: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). The city is a cube of 1,400 miles long by 1,400 miles wide by 1,400 miles high (Revelation 21:14 NET), and 1,400 miles is more than half the distance from San Francisco, CA to Washington, DC. If a “mansion” or dwelling unit was 1 cubic mile, how many mansions or dwelling places could you fit into New Jerusalem? 2.744 trillion mansions.
A further description of New Jerusalem: (1) Glory of God like a crystal clear, precious jewel jasper (Revelation 21:11), (2) Walls of jasper (21:18) about 216 feet high (21:17), (3) Twelve gates with the names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel on each gate (21:12), (4) Twelve foundations with the names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb (21:14), (5) City is pure gold like transparent glass (21:18), (6) Walls are decorated with twelve kinds of precious stones (21:19-20), (7) Twelve gates of twelve whole pearls (21:21), (8) Main Street is pure gold (21:21), (9) No Temple, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple (21:22), (10) No sun or moon, because God and the Lamb are the light (21:23), (11) Earthly kings bring their grandeur into the city (21:24), (12) No night and the gates never close (21:25), (13) The grandeur of the wealth of nations may enter but nothing detestable (21:26-27), (14) The River of the Water of Life flows from the Throne of God and the Lamb (22:1), (15) Tree of Life on each side of the River producing Twelve Kinds of Fruit, and its leaves are for the health of nations (22:2), (16) No more curse! (22:3), (17) Throne of God will be in the city (22:3), (18) His servants shall worship Him (22:3), (19) They will see His face and His name will be on their foreheads (22:4), (20) No need for light for the Lord God will shine on them (22:5), and (21) They will reign forever and ever (22:5).
For more background for those who believe in New Heavens and New Earth, see our article, Is New Always Better?
We Need A Miracle 
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