When Can Antichrist Be Revealed?

Typical Human Nature can be Changed by Christ

So typical of human nature isn't it, to desire the one thing we cannot have when we already have so much?

We have enjoyed incredible freedom in this country for several generations but have not become grateful, rather the nation has demanded more and to retain what it has.

Instead of praising God for His blessings to us the nation as a whole has the mentality of entitlement, believing that since we had good for so long we deserve it and demand it more than we want Christ.

One day, and I think soon, God is going to remove the blessing we praised ourselves for instead of Him. When a nation demands to have the freedom to sin all it wants is when God becomes weary of our foolishness and disregard for Him. He begins to withdraw that which we worshiped more than Him, that is our freedom.

I hear many people complaining about many things, the food, the medical doctors, the price of things, and much more when they have much more than they deserve and everything they need. I don't mean they have everything they want, but they do have everything they need.

If we were to spend one day writing down all the blessings we have we might begin to feel ashamed of ourselves. Divorces would diminish, fights with neighbors would end, family squabbles would disappear, yes and even our bank accounts would grow without debt.

In other words, we would live by the principles of the Bible and it would bless us more than material possessions, so much so that we would not hunger after things we could not obtain. Our attention would turn to kindly relationships, helping rather than ignoring those around us.

The more our culture aspires to personal aggrandizement, personal accomplishment, and personal pleasure the less we concern ourselves with people, living, breathing people with emotional and spiritual needs.

Born-again believers ought to be more focused on Christ and His commands and principles to us that material possession pale in comparison. Yes, we have much in the country, all of us have been blessed with much more than we need, and yet we fight for more.

Even our difficulties are a blessing for what they teach us if we acknowledge God as the King in our lives over all things.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Colossians 2:6-7

"6 Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude."

Gratefulness is the key to our joy and peace. When we lose that gratefulness we lose purpose. Our joy comes from obedience to Christ and love toward Him and mankind.

Psalm 103:1-4

"Praise for the Lord’s Mercies.

A Psalm of David.

103 Bless the Lord, my soul,

And all that is within me, bless His holy name.

2 Bless the Lord, my soul,

And do not forget any of His benefits;

3 Who pardons all your guilt,

Who heals all your diseases;

4 Who redeems your life from the pit,

Who crowns you with favor and compassion;"

May each of us implement His principles in our lives here and now even if no one else does.

If everyone focused on the blessings and principles of Christ there would be no conflict and nothing but love all around us. We will see this one day in the Millennium when Christ rules as King of Kings. Hallelujah!!!!

Be the One to Bring the Joy Back into the Room

I have met many people who just seem angry all the time. They are only happy when they get attention or want something else. I know it has to do with these end times written about in 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

It is a challenge in our day to obey God when so many people walk into the room and suck all the joy out as though the devil had walked in the door.

As believers, we must remain continually mindful of God's Word, His promises, and our future reward so that we do not become caught in the net of the evil one through the influence of those who do not know Christ.

Here's what God tells us to help us maintain our joy.

Philippians 4:8

"8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is [a]lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

Keep looking up and only Christ will have power over us.

The Born-Again Believer Avoids Sin

Psalm 103:17-18

"But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them."

Born-again believers do not practice a lifestyle of sin blatantly defending their sin.

1 John 3:8-10 "…8 The one who practices sin is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.…"

Anyone who tells you it doesn't matter if a believer sins because they are "under the blood" is not understanding God's Word. When Christ changes us through our born-again experience we are no longer the same person, we hate sin as God hates it and love righteousness. A born-again believer would never defend sin, they would be ashamed of their sin and confess it to be cleansed.

1 John 1:9 … "8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us."

Proverbs 28:13

He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy."

When a believer sins they are tormented by the conviction of the Holy Spirit. If they ignore the Spirit and continue then He will stop speaking to them and allow them to experience the consequences of their sin and if they die without confessing it they will lose rewards in heaven.

1 Corinthians 3:15 "If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as fire."

Psalm 66:18 -

18 "If I regard wickedness in my heart,

The Lord will not hear;"

When we are born-again and fall into sin we eventually will confess to be cleansed of that sin.

1 John 2:1 "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

Many Christians count themselves as not sinning because they do not do the big sins that have terrible consequences. The problem with this is that many people who are not born-again live good lives without big sins but are going to hell for not trusting in Christ.

God looks at the heart, the most law-abiding person can have sinful desires in their heart that they don't carry out because of the consequences, not because they are convicted of sin. Those who have not trusted Christ but rely on their good actions to carry the day will find out that they will not make it to heaven because their actions looked good. Their heart remained sinful and that is what takes them to hell.

This is why it is not good to judge a person as "good" when all you know about them is their good deeds.

Matthew 7:21-23 "21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

No one can have bad deeds and a good heart. If our deeds are evil then our heart is evil too. Many people count on being able to deny their sinful subtle attitude, they are comfortable as long as they can deny their sinful attitude and others cannot prove it. It's called "plausible deniability", when they have a desire to harm someone but do it so covertly that no one can prove it.

As believers we need not prove the attitudes and actions of others, we can leave the punishment to God. We can often see with God's discernment in us what they are doing but we need not correct it when we know they will deny what they do, we can allow God to correct them.

When we see ourselves tempted to respond to them in a rude manner we can ignore the feelings and pray that God will give us peace.

We must not do revenge and we must not respond in kind. When we bless everyone all the time we will have a clear conscience, walking in joy and peace no matter what others are doing.

Romans 12:19

"19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord."

By the way; The phrase "give him a taste of his own medicine" is ungodly and a form of revenge.

We must not allow rude and mean people to entice us to do as they do, we are to be Christlike no matter what others do.

"Plead the Blood" is not Biblical

There are no scriptures that say; "plead the blood of Jesus" over anything. The blood of Jesus shed on the cross was accounted to our penalty, to cleanse our sin. "Plead the blood of Jesus" over everything for protection is a Pentecostal term used for just about everything, it is not Biblical.

When we are in Christ we have no need for a "mantra", simple prayer because of our relationships with Him is sufficient.

Christians have no mantras or incantations commanded by God,, just prayer and belief is necessary for the born-again believer.

Alone with Jesus Christ

Amen, even among church attendees we can feel alone without spiritual support. Thankfully we have Spiritual support in Christ Jesus Who lives in us.

Active

We should be thankful for our elder years, they bring us closer to Christ and our homegoing.

Just recently I was on a video site about older women desiring to be as young as they can as long as they can through exercise and clothing styles.

I felt so bad for one woman in particular who said; "having gray hair is no badge of honor", as though it were a bad thing.

When we do not accept our station in life as given to us by God we are causing fear and frustration that need not be. Pretending to be young by acting young those who do it are demonstrating an immature mentality. Those who are mature are able to say with a smile and with joy that they are old and it's acceptable to them.

The fear of growing older has unfortunately overtaken America. People are working hard to appear younger than their age merely to impress others.

Sadly when the younger people want to pretend their parents are not old they are expressing a lack of empathy and kindness to aging parents who may need their help. Perhaps pretending their parents are youthful helps the children defer the help their aging parents may need.

Demeaning old age as though it is something to avoid is devaluing those who are elderly. We ought to be celebrating where we are in life, even more so, the many years we lived that gave us experiences that grow wisdom within our soul.

Those who desire to be perpetually young lack the wisdom of many years of experience that brought them to their age.

I hear young people all the time praising the elderly who can do all the things they did when they were young as though this is a badge of honor. It is a subtle way of ignoring those who have infirmities as they grow weaker with age. Looking with contempt toward those who are not able to do many things anymore is wicked and prideful.

I have no desire to do the things I did when I was young, not because I can't but because they no longer hold my interest. As we grow older our interests change as the wisdom of life has taught us what is of value and what is foolishness.

God cursed the earth because of sin. When this happened every human being grows old and will die. It is my considered opinion that God did this to show us our fragility to help us see our need for Him. As we age with many infirmities we see more our dependence on God than ever before.

It is through difficulties that we turn to God. Hardly ever does a person turn to God when things are just the way they like them to be.

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 "5 For we know that if our earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens.

2 For indeed, in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven,

3 since in fact after putting it on, we will not be found naked.

4 For indeed, we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.

5 Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a pledge.

6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—

7 for we walk by faith, not by [d]sight—

8 but we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive compensation for his deeds done through the body, in accordance with what he has done, whether good or bad."

We will not be judged by our youthful look, but by our character, as we walked with Christ, whether obedient or disobedient. Believers do not lose salvation but will be judged according to their reward. Their appearance and abilities in old age will not be a factor, except their attitude toward God's will for them will be everything.

Where is our focus, is it Christ or is it this life based on superficial appearance and abilities?