How often do you think about sons and daughters, who once enjoyed your close fellowship as disciples, but now bear little resemblance to Christ? Especially for you, Christ’s Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) is meant for your encouragement. Christ had just reproved the “Pharisees and scribes” (15:2) for their hypocrisy of not rejoicing in the penitence of the “publicans and sinners” (15:1), when they would rejoice over the recovery of one lost sheep (15:4-7) or one lost coin (15:8-10). His story of the Prodigal Son reminds Christian parents that our Heavenly Father yearns to restore our hardened, impenitent children, but first they must be reduced “to be in want” (15:14) of their former provisioned circumstances, and be Spirit led to confess their need (15:17-18). Only then can the Holy Spirit “give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (2Timothy 2:25). The Father restores gladly, but the rest of the family needs to understand the Spirit filled significance of using the bounty of the Body of Christ to call Home the wayward. LORD, You are the Good Father watching for the return of our prodigal children. Your compassion is encouragement they will return. Make us to prosper to draw them home. Make it to be so. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Spiritual Christianity
The Unprofitable Servant
Jesus’ Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) was actually about faithfulness in handling wealth and possessions (Greek, talanton, one money “talent” is the equivalent of 200 pounds of gold) placed under our control by the Father, and not a story about unique talents or abilities, which distinguish us. Each of three servants were given differing amounts of capital or property to administrate, invest, and manage with the expectation of returning the property or principal with a profit equal to the original property. The first two conscientiously took their lord’s original investment and faithfully “traded” (Matthew 25:16 KJV) or duplicated that amount, but the last was an evil, unprofitable servant, who had a low, selfish, and unkind view of his master. “Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed [scattered seed]: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine” (25:24-25). Why should I benefit such a boss with my labor, if he is not worthy of me? He’s only exploiting me. LORD, grant to us a willing heart for service and deliver us from Your sentence of casting the “unprofitable servant into outer darkness” (25:30). In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
Opinion: Hebrew and Greek Mindsets
Attempting to communicate between cultures and languages is more than finding word equivalents in translation but relating experiences that tell a story. The ancient Hebrew mindset required a story that described the experience, while the more western Greek mind looked for how doctrine would drive the question. When the Almighty confused humanity’s language at the Tower of Babel, He masterfully changed the focus of different language groups to impede the success of their communications. “Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse” (Proverbs 1:14 KJV). When the Spirit of God reverses the Babel Effect, “we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God” (Acts 2:11). Understanding Scripture and communicating God’s message requires the Holy Spirit’s intervention, “for we know not what we should pray for as we ought” (Romans 8:26). LORD, cause us to think and communicate in whatever mindset Your Spirit desires to make Your message plain to us or through us. In Jesus’ name, we ask it. Amen and amen.
The Way You Treat Your Neighbor
Is the way you treat God. “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1John 4:20 KJV). Humanity is only able to function acceptably, when God is understood as the motivator and motivation for all our actions. Salvation or religion is that window of opportunity for us to bluster out of our slumber and attempt to understand what has just happened. Unless the Spirit of God lays hold of us and we begin understanding His efforts to communicate with us from the Word of God, we will slumber back asleep, as if nothing happened. “O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD” (Jeremiah 22:29). LORD, You said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4), grant to us the privilege of proving that with our lives. Make Your Word more valuable than our words, in our daily life. In Jesus’ name, we ask it. Amen.
Gladys Aylward, Are You Watching?
“Thou God seest me” (Genesis 16:13 KJV), is looking out for me, would only make Gladys smile, when the departed saints eagerly watch our progress. Can we, the earthbound expression of the Body of Christ, benefit from the past experiences of our brothers and sisters, who have since gone Home to be with the Lord? Do we not desire the Gospel fruit of the Book of Acts, but do we want to pay their suffering and sacrifice? Gladys Aylward was a simple parlor maid in pre-WW2 England before she was inspired to go to China as a missionary. Without the help of any formal training or missionary organization, she obeyed God. “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert” (Acts 8:26). Hollywood produced their own version of her story, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), sanitized of its Gospel message, embellishing a made-up love story between Ingrid Bergman and Curt Jürgens, but capturing the world’s awe of a small woman overcoming opposition from seemingly everyone — except God. Gladys tells her own story in Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman. In her own words, she relives her life in China, to our amazement, with the surreal feeling this sounds more like fiction, or the Book of Acts. I’ve always felt the scene, where Robert Donat (“Adventures of Tartu“) as the Mandarin coming out as a Christian, was my favorite. But, I feared it was also made up. It was true. By the way, Donat’s “last words in the film, an emotional soliloquy in which the Mandarin confesses his conversion to Christianity, were prophetic. ‘We shall not see each other again, I think. Farewell.’ It reduced Ingrid Bergman, playing the missionary Gladys Aylward, to tears. He had collapsed with a stroke during filming but managed to recover enough to complete the film,” and died a few short weeks thereafter (from a Wikipedia entry on Robert Donat). Gladys Aylward — “of whom the world was not worthy” (Hebrews 11:38) — was actually known as Ài Wěi Dé (a Chinese approximation of “Aylward” with the meaning “virtuous one”). LORD, cause us to labor with love to tell Your story to whoever and wherever You direct us. Enlarge Your Kingdom. Rescue more of us, the perishing. Return quickly, in Jesus’ name, amen.
Antichrist: Response to the Rapture (Revelation 13:10)
The sudden disappearance of people worldwide will not only be noticed by all, but must be explained by world leadership, especially by the one Christians identify as the Antichrist. “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1Corinthians 15:52 KJV). If we recall the words of Jesus, “Surely I come quickly” (Revelation 22:20), we should understand the “dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up [Greek, harpazō] together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air” (1Thessalonians 4:17). The Second Coming of Christ combines the Resurrection of the Saints “first,” then accompanies the harpazō of the living saints “together with them” (4:17). The nature of our translation is called a “mystery,” because much takes place in the Unseen Realm, before His return, then “every eye shall see Him” (Revelation 1:7). “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed” (1Corinthians 15:51). This is for our encouragement, not just theological slight of hand.
The “mystery of iniquity” (2Thessalonians 2:7) has been conspiring against the Almighty, since the original rebellion. Answering the Removal of Saints worldwide would be the goal of the devil, certainly by the time of the modern rapture theory discussions, but anciently speculated due to the examples of the raptures of Enoch and Elijah.
What will be the response of the Antichrist to the Rapture?
First, the sudden removal of all the godly influence of Spirit Indwelt Saints would leave not just a moral vacuum, but a disruption of the peace due to the absence of all the godly, who have departed this world (Jeremiah 29:7). Second, Antichrist must offer himself as a leader, actively promoting and attempting to replace the world’s missing peace, requiring the cooperation of the world’s leaders. This would be in connection with the peaceful-conquering-by-displaying-power diplomacy of the First Seal Judgment (Revelation 6:2). A “king of fierce countenance” (Daniel 8:23), shall promote the demonic “craft [witchcraft] to prosper in his hand” (8:24), and will eventually proclaim his divinity, when “he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many” (8:25). Third, Antichrist will do like the New Age literature prophecies of a coming alien visitor Avatar, seeking to aid us in our evolution, overcoming poverty, disease, famine, war, political, cultural, religious, and economic division, while promoting unity through “globalism, ecumenism, personal immortality (reincarnation), pantheism (‘you will be like gods,’ Genesis 3: 15), moral relativism, and the notion that the Bible is not the word of God” (from Alien Encounters, Ch. 13 “The Cosmic Deception” by Chuck Missler).
Fourth, malcontents have been removed, i.e., by the Rapture, and are being removed, i.e., the Fifth Seal Judgment of martyrdom of post-Rapture, born-into-the-Kingdom-during-the-Tribulation Saints (Revelation 6:9-11). Fifth, global unity will be promoted through the construction of a World Temple at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. If Solomon built the Temple in seven years, Oppenheimer built the atomic bomb in less than three years, couldn’t the Antichrist complete the Tribulation Temple with all the resources of the world, in less than 3 1/2 years? “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains” (Matthew 24:15-16).
Sixth, miracles and “powers and signs and lying wonders” (2Thessalonians 2:9) will be used by the Antichrist to persuade the religious and the scientific to trust the Antichrist, and to unreasonably fight the LORD God Almighty. The inexplicability of UFOs defying the laws of physics, the paranormal activities of demon possessed individuals, all of these will increase. “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2:10-12). Seventh, it is extermination by Antichrist for any found godly, but of more significance, God’s patience has finally come to an end in finishing His Final Harvest, so He can now complete a thorough cleansing of the ungodly from the earth. “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints” (Revelation 13:10).
LORD, cause the Sleeping Church to awaken to the battle against the enemy. May we be praying for the success of Your Gospel, the unstoppability of Your Gospel, obedience to the Gospel, showing us who must next receive Your Message, the boldness to explain Your plan, the preparation of their hearts to repent and receive the Gospel, education of Your children, the sustenance of Your family, the overcoming of our ignorance, the hastening of Your return, the defeat of the forces of Antichrist, and the judgment of the devil and his little gods. Make us willing to witness a good confession laying down our lives, if need be. May the ideas put forth by this writer prosper, even as it is understood, if Your Spirit is making me think these thoughts, there are others thinking them, as well. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen and amen.
Antichrist: Deadly Head Wound Healed (Revelation 13:3)
Antichrist surviving a deadly head wound is resurrection from the dead, but only the Almighty controls resurrection. What is going on? “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” (Revelation 13:3 KJV). If Antichrist is a human being, “having seven heads“ (13:1), as individuals represent the head of state of a government, Antichrist will certainly have one head for that current state, which will be mortally wounded, i.e., dead. Now, let us reach back to Genesis and revisit the Nephilim. KJV translates, Genesis 6:4: “There were giants [Hebrew, nephilim] in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God [angelic beings] came in unto the daughters of men [yes, hybridization with human females], and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown” (Genesis 6:4). First, Nephilim were present before the Flood, “and also after that” (6:4), for the spies sent by Moses saw them, “giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants” (Numbers 13:33), and David slew the giant, Goliath of Gath. Second, the Hebrew expression “sons of God” (Genesis 6:4) in the OT, uniformly identifies angelic beings (Genesis 6:2, 4; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7). Third, angels lack the necessity for sexual reproduction in heaven, but does not mean they are incapable, i.e., “in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven” (Matthew 22:30). Fourth, fallen angels “kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation” (Jude 1:6), when they hybrid with human females. Fifth, the Flood did not remove God’s curse from humanity, but it did eliminate all Nephilim, leaving eight spiritually righteous and physically unimpaired to repopulate the earth, i.e., “These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect [Hebrew, tâmîym, physically healthful, sound, unimpaired, perfect] in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). Sixth, demons of the NT are the disembodied spirits of OT Nephilim slain in the Flood, seeking habitation in a living host, i.e., “29 What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? art Thou come hither to torment us before the time? 31 So the devils besought Him, saying, If Thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine” (Matthew 8:29, 31).
What do Nephilim have to do with the Antichrist? It appears Satan has always desired to create his own version of the Virgin Birth, and the result will be the Antichrist. Preposterous? Outlandish? Crazy? No more than Christ coming down to become man the first time or rapturing His Church prior to His Second Coming. “Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45). If we refuse God’s Spirit to teach us these things, how can we efficiently cooperate with God praying for the fulfillment of any of His other prophecies? “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?” (John 3:12).
Does Antichrist actually die? Yes, but coming back from the dead, is the real issue. Remember, Christ raised the dead, and they still died a second time. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). The Almighty alone is the Gatekeeper, and He alone knows how to handle the bookkeeping. Real question would be, Does God allow it? And, doesn’t the fact He tells us it will happen, Doesn’t that imply He allows it to fulfill all righteousness? “But John tried to prevent Him, saying, I need to be baptized by You, and yet You come to me? So Jesus replied to him, Let it happen now, for it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then John yielded to Him” (Matthew 3:14-15 NET).
Father, grant to us the simplicity of faith that we would not struggle against Your attempt to teach us of heavenly things in the Unseen Realm. Give us an understanding heart that we would be co-laborers with You as we pray for the fulfillment of prophecy. Use all the plans of the Devil against him, but to build Your Kingdom. Cause the wrath of man to praise Your name. In Jesus’ name, we pray, return quickly. Amen.
Filthy Speech Bothers Christians
If filthy speech does not bother you, then you are at home in the world. Lot was bothered by the filthy lifestyle of Sodom and Gomorrah, which included their speech. “And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked” (2Peter 2:7 KJV). We brand our Christianity as worthless, when we use filthy speech. “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain” (James 1:26). Great plainness of speech keeps us from using filthy speech. “Let your word be Yes, yes or No, no. More than this is from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37 NET). How do we prevent filthy speech and promote godly communication? Present your mouth to the Holy Spirit to direct. “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
What God Requires of Us
Just because you can do something, doesn’t necessarily mean you should do it. You might have the disposable income to afford a new smartphone, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you should purchase one. Impulse purchasing is why manufacturers compete for space next to the cash register at the supermarket, hoping you’ll do something simply because you can. But, if you actually need a smartphone, should you purchase the least expensive? “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48 KJV). If God has not given you other necessities demanding your resources, then the smartphone that fulfills your legitimate needs, represents the one God would have you purchase. Spirit filled action is Scripture justified action, and it flows from the heart attitude, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6), in expectation of the necessary guidance, “This is the way, walk ye in it” (Isaiah 30:21). LORD, may our daily walk with You always be in light of Your Word, but acutely sensitive to the choosing of Your Spirit. May we develop a sensitivity to Spirit filled direction that answers not simply what You require of us, but how we can best serve You. In Jesus’ name, we pray it. And, do return quickly. Amen.
Pray for the Persecuted
Easy to say, when it’s not your body that was beaten. Or, when you are not bound up as a prisoner for Christ. Relieve, support, and give; but, by all means pray, like prayer is more effective than anything we can possibly do. “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body” (Hebrews 13:3 KJV). Prayer is not like a consolation prize we get for participating in a game. It is more effective than money, because Christ mingles His “intercession for them” (7:25) with all our prayers to accomplish all the good possible for the Kingdom of God. Allow the emotion of what comes over us for the suffering we see in our brothers and sisters to cause us to pray. LORD, we know You are watching over Your children, especially those being persecuted. Preserve them. Grant them courage. Bless them with confidence in You. Even give them joy for knowing they have been accounted worthy to suffer shame for Your name. Allow persecution to remind us, we do not simply wrestle with flesh and blood, but spiritual wickedness in high places. Return quickly, Lord Jesus, and deliver all Your children. In Jesus’ name, amen.
We Need A Miracle 
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