Truth and Courage
The Apostle Paul warned that the return of Jesus Christ would be preceded by two things, (1) by a falling away of those who have professed to be Christians and (2) that the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. This verse from 2 Thessalonians 2:3 is oft repeated and certainly those of us in this movement are not blinded as to what has taken place in our faith and in our world. The Israel nations, once the envy of the world have been reduced to debt-laden beggars, with all the accompanying curses spelled out in Deuteronomy 28. A participant of our Bible study group suggested we should not be looking at a single man of lawlessness and I agree. It is very likely the descendants of Esau Edom, who were given the secondary blessing of dominion over the descendants of Jacob Israel at some point in the then future. Just like a sown seed, their dominion has grown over the years and patiently flourished, as opportunity after opportunity was presented. Then, as I have written before, at the end of the six days of work (6,000 years), or at the fall equinox of 2001, which began with 911, their harvest period began bringing with it loss of freedoms and visible control over most aspects of our lives.
But it was the falling away that really led to the downfall of our nations, as well as the lost Christians, and it permitted the “man” of lawlessness or the “Esau Dominion” to have their way. We were warned time and time again by the Lord God not to ignore His Commandments, take Deuteronomy 11:26-28 as an example, “Behold I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God …: And a curse if ye will not the commandments of the LORD your God ….” Let me paraphrase 2 Thessalonians 2:10, “Lost Christians will be fooled by their evil deeds. They could be saved, but they refuse to love the truth, and accept it”.
And there’s the rub! TRUTH! Christians cannot love the truth unless we know it, and we cannot know it without picking up the Bible and studying, as the Apostle Paul admonished. The fallen away Christians believe they are on the right path because a new reality of the Faith has been drummed into them over and over by their church ministers, books by evangelical writers and those well-known televangelists who add confusion to even enquiring minds through misrepresentation of the true identity of Israel. I like what the late Dr. Alexander Schiffner wrote about these rascals, he wrote, “I predict that soon the multitudes of Christian leaders [televangelists/most ministers and Evangelical writers] and organizations shall be ashamed of their alliances with antichrists. They have sold themselves for naught and have not stood in the gap in the day of God’s controversy with all the works of unregenerate men.”
an the nation and lost Christians turn it around? As a whole no, the tentacles of evil have penetrated too deeply. The nations are drowning in debt, poverty is reaching frightening levels, wars are sapping the integrity of the past, the falling away is picking up tempo as Christianity and the Lord Jesus Christ are further discredited almost on a daily basis and rather than serving God in our once Christian lands, we are serving mammon. Truth has been captured, with the young, in particular, having been fertile ground for the man of lawlessness. Yet, these are only signs of what must be before Jesus returns as King of kings to dispense judgment and establish His Kingdom here on earth.
In the meantime, Christians who have not lost their way, those God referred to when He said to Daniel, “the wise shall understand” have to approach the final months and years with “Courage”. Much will enter true Christian life that will be most trying, as the forces of evil work their black magic and try to bend us to their wishes. And a great challenge will be to educate the lost Christians and bring them back to the truth of the Bible, including an understanding of the Israel Truth. You know, we have the greatest aid in our work, the wonderful Word of God in the Holy Bible. What we must get across to our brethren is best summed up in Daniel Webster’s words, The Bible is a book of faith, and a book of doctrine, and a book of morals, and a book of religion, of special revelation from God; but it is also a book which teaches man his own individual responsibility, his own dignity, and his equality with his fellow man”.
Truth and Courage, they must be our compass. Remember what Peter said (1 Peter 4:7), “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer”.
