Great Tribulation? HA! I’ve Had Christmas Dinner with Some Very Difficult People!
By Barbara Henderson
There is a time coming that Bible believers call ‘The Great Tribulation’, or the
‘Time of Jacob’s trouble’, a time of trouble such as the world has never seen.
There have been numerous books written on this time period.
Authors have tried to explain exactly what will happen during this time.
Other authors have gone into the realm of fiction in an attempt to show the awful things the world and its citizens will face during that time.
In fiction:
The heroic realize their folly in rejecting Jesus Christ when they had the chance.
They lament being ‘left behind’.
Then they commit to Jesus Christ and fight the good fight until they are martyred for their faith, or until Jesus returns.
I have read a lot of those books myself.
I don’t have a problem with them.
And I enjoyed most of them.
The thing is this:
Mankind does not have the capacity to understand or explain the utter terror of that seven years.
If you look around you, you will see millions of people who are currently delusional.
They believe things their inflated egos want to believe like:
I am a good person so I will naturally be going to heaven.
I am an enlightened person, so I will not only go to heaven, I will be a god when I get there.
God wouldn’t let anyone go to hell.
There isn’t a hell.
There isn’t even a heaven.
We are all going to the same place anyway.
If I miss heaven this time around, I will get another chance in my next life.
These delusional people currently have the Holy Spirit to speak to their hearts and conscience. The Holy Spirit tells them now:
‘These things are lies of the devil.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.
God is the Authority.
God is merciful if you but ask Him.
Come to God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son.’
And when the prompting of the Holy Spirt is rejected, He tells them again that they must be saved.
Then they reject Him yet again. They see themselves as wiser than the God who created them.
You know, the ‘dead in Christ’ and ‘we that are alive and remain’ are not the only ones who are going to leave the earth when the Lord Himself descends with a trump and shout. The Holy Spirit is going to leave as well.
There will be no human being left to tell the lost person to be saved.
The Holy Spirit will be gone as well.
There will be people who ‘feel’ like they are on the right path.
The government will tell them what to do in the crisis situation.
The government and its charismatic head will call on all people to join the new world order and commit their lives to its leader.
Those who refuse to commit will find themselves persecuted even unto death.
Now where are they going to such courage?
They didn’t even have the courage to buck the world system when it was only going to get them a few stares or frowns for being different.
How could they possibly have the courage to buck the system when it will get them killed?
Something happened a while back that made me begin to consider just how incomprehensible that time of terror will be.
I read that Hamas had legalized crucifixion of those who reject Islam.
I had always had the idea that people in the tribulation would have to stand bravely at a guillotine and refuse the mark. This brave deed would be followed by having their heads chopped off very quickly. Some of the bolder martyrs might even quote from ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, and say something like, ‘It is a far better place that I go to now than I have been before – and a far better rest’ just before their heads roll.
But, the word ‘crucifixion’ put things in an entirely different light.
It brought extreme torture into the picture.
I could see the followers of Lucifer nailing one foot of the dissenter to a cross while they demanded, ‘Take the mark and live’. Then the next foot nailed to the cross. ‘Take the mark and live you fool,’ they might shout, or laugh.
Then one hand; then the other hand.
Then the cross is dropped in the pit.
Then as time slowly runs out, the one hanging on the cross is taunted with, ‘Take the mark. We’ll get you down, and you will be healed.’
And all that is only after the poor living soul has already been through trouble such as the world has never seen.
The human being living during the Biblical tribulations will face two distinct trials.
First, the one talked about most often is the persecution by the anti-christ.
He and his followers will persecute those who refuse to join the ‘save the earth’ crowd relentlessly.
They will take it as a personal insult and criticism when anyone who rejects their god and ideology.
Those who refuse to worship the new leader will find themselves without a single second of peace or real rest.
They will be mentally exhausted in about a week, but they will have seven years to endure.
Second, ‘mother nature’ will show her true colors. The environmental disasters will come, and come, and come again. A simplistic picture would be like surviving Hurricane Katrina, then a few days later the levee breaks, then a few days later there is a great earthquake and a tidal wave, then an asteroid falls in the middle of town causing fire to burn much of what is left. Food and livestock are destroyed. There is no food, no drinking water, no modern conveniences, no medicine, no hot shower or warm soak in a tub with scented bath salts. The entire world of comfort and safety is suddenly gone.
And after all that happens, more disasters happen. And then more disasters happen again.
As disasters intensify, persecution will also intensify because the citizens who have set their course with the anti-christ will blame the dissenters for the problems. The alternative would be to blame their ‘god’.
Of course, it goes without saying that within the natural disasters and political/religious revolution, there will also be a financial disaster. Goods and services will be virtually unavailable to almost everyone. Human life will be of no value at all. Every human being will see others as just someone competing with them for the food that is available. It will be ever man for himself, and that ‘love they neighbor’ stuff will be ancient history.
People will be afraid as in ‘terrified beyond reason’. That means they won’t be able to reason. They will be so afraid they will not be able to think clearly. I have heard it said that after a trauma or tragic loss, it is best for the bereaved to make no major decisions for at least one year, because it takes that long for the mind to recover enough to be able to make a sound decision. The people living in the tribulation won’t have time to recover from anything. Events will be too fast and furious. It will be one trauma after another.
Let’s do a recap.
Society/government will be in the process of becoming totalitarian. Those who oppose will be persecuted to death.
The environment will be in turmoil.
Within these sorrows there will be turmoil in:
Family for those who have any family or loves ones left.
Jobs - with everything that will be going on, there will be a financial collapse.
Society – every rule of civilized society will be thrown away.
The extreme intensity of that time of terror cannot be comprehended.
Yes, there will be some who are saved during this time.
I don’t know who they will be.
I don’t know how they will come by their knowledge of Jesus Christ, their understanding of the way of salvation, and the courage to accept Christ under such terrifying circumstances.
I do know they will be few in number. And of those saved, even fewer will survive to the end of the age.
I know that most of the people who read my articles and blog are already saved.
If you are not saved, then I pray you will go to God according to His instructions.
That is to:
Acknowledge that you are separated from God by your sin.
Your ‘sin’ means you are not perfect.
You are human, so you are not perfect.
The problem is that God Almighty IS perfect.
God WANTS to clean you up so that you can come into His perfect home without polluting it.
That is done through the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ.
Don’t ask me to explain how it works, but on the word of God Himself, I can promise you that Jesus made a way for you to enter the kingdom of heaven,
AND to escape the second death – which is separation from God for eternity in a place called hell,
AND to escape the Great Tribulation.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
And since most of my readers ARE already Christians, I am also hoping this article will give you some thoughts about the tribulation, and the horror the lost will suffer then and in eternity. I hope it will encourage you to pray for the lost, and tell them about Jesus.
The song for this article is ‘There’s a Great Day Coming’
God bless you.
Barbara Henderson
‘There’s a Great Day Coming’
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/t/g/tgreatda.htm
There’s a great day coming, a great day coming;
There’s a great day coming by and by,
When the saints and the sinners shall be parted right and left,
Are you ready for that day to come?
Refrain
Are you ready? Are you ready?
Are you ready for the judgment day?
Are you ready? Are you ready?
For the judgment day?
There’s a bright day coming, a bright day coming;
There’s a bright day coming by and by.
But its brightness shall only come to them that love the Lord.
Are you ready for that day to come?
Refrain
There’s a sad day coming, a sad day coming;
There’s a sad day coming by and by,
When the sinner shall hear his doom: “Depart, I know you not!”
Are you ready for that day to come?
Refrain
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Secret Societies Within the Church
This is the transcipt from the second in my series on secret societies produced by Ray Gano for PZ Radio.
Barbara Henderson
Secret societies – part 2
Last time on PZ radio I began a series on secret societies. I presented the idea that it is not a question of IF there are secret societies, but that there MUST be secret societies. This week I want to cover secret societies that are pretty close to home. That is secret societies in the church.
Remember that a secret society usually operates within an open society that has open goals or an open purpose that anyone can know about. The secret sect of an open society often has entirely different goals or purpose than is openly acknowledged. The members of the secret society have main goals that are different than the openly stated goals. The members use their influence to bring about changes that fulfill their goals. They work within the open society as long as it works for their secret agenda. They work to change the actions of the open society in order to make their secret agenda more easily achieved.
The goal of the secret societies in general that we talked about last week is ultimate global control of government, society, and religion. Now, in the process of gaining control of every aspect of life, certain institutions must be torn down. These institutions include family and church.
For this broadcast, I want to talk about secret societies in the church. Churches whose foundation is on Jesus Christ and His word are constant targets for attacks through secret societies. There are secret societies in most if not all churches. These societies are in every stage of development from just beginning grumblers, to small groups of grumblers banded together. When they are strong, they proceed to open rebellion against church leadership and sound theology. The difference in church secret societies and globalist secret societies is they are probably not formally connected to globalist secret societies.
Secret societies in churches are made of members who are already in rebellion against God because of something in their personal lives. They want to find a way to make their own sins acceptable. They feel changing what the church teaches, or at least changing church leadership and preachers will make acceptance of their own secret deviant behavior more likely.
Churches today make it easier for deviant doctrine and scriptural error to creep in. This is because of ideas like age segregation is necessary, that people must be entertained, and that someone is suddenly qualified for a teaching or leadership position just because they have volunteered or fit a particular demographic. After all, those teenage church members need an age appropriate dynamic leader. It doesn’t matter if the leader has any background in sound doctrine or theology - if his or her heart is just in the right place. Wrong thinking says, ‘It will all work out in the end.’ Of course it doesn’t work out for the good of anyone.
The bigger the church, the more impossible it becomes to monitor all these groups, concerning the doctrine and theology that is being taught, and the moral behavior of those in positions of authority.
I recently heard of a mega church that had teachers teaching speaking in tongues as acceptable and even good. Now, whatever you thoughts on that subject, this particular church doctrine did NOT accept tongues as anything except the devils’ confusion. The preacher didn’t even know what was going on. People in the church DID know that speaking in tongues is not acceptable to that denomination and they chose to dismiss it as unimportant, or even cover it up.
Then, there was the church whose praise band was making a little extra money doing gigs in honky tonks. The deacons found out. Instead of bringing it to the attention of the church, they decided to slip out and go to the honky-tonks themselves in order to ‘support’ the praise band’s efforts to make a little money while they were evangelizing to a group that wouldn’t otherwise go to church and hear the Gospel. What a joke. That church split down the middle.
A secret society within a church can be partially defined as a group of people who are dissatisfied with something in the church, who have informally banded together, and prefer to ‘discuss’ the matter among themselves rather than take the problem(s) to the church and try to resolve them.
In John 18:20 Jesus said, ‘ I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. ‘
A church that is without large secret societies at the moment undoubtedly has ‘sleeper cells’. It has members who are dissatisfied with something, and are just waiting for likeminded members to join the church or for current members to become dissatisfied.
These grumblers are apostate in their thinking. They have heard the truth of Jesus Christ, but they want to ‘tweak’ it a little bit, make it more accessible to the masses, and change who is in charge. At some point, they have made a deviation from the narrow way to a path that closely resembles the narrow way at its beginning, but is just a ‘little bit’ broader.
The grumblers probably have a ring leader whose intentions may or may not have been evil from the very beginning. It may be a church member who is nursing hurt feelings about something, or unholy desires, and is just looking for a way to vent his or her frustrations. The grumblers will also include some easily led followers who were also looking for a way out of the narrow way taught by Jesus. They are apostates, having heard the truth, and found it dissatisfying or unacceptable in some way.
The attitudes of apostates you find in church secret societies are:
Disloyalty – they are NOT loyal to the teachings of Jesus Christ above all else.
Insubordinate and defiant – they reject church authority and Biblical authority – preferring instead to do what their shifting loyalties want to do.
Irreverent, flippant about the things of Christ, and even mocking to those who do not agree with them – believing that a worship service should please church members and draw crowds instead of pleasing God. That is where you get hard rock music in a supposed church.
Immoral, dishonest and even completely corrupt – they have turned from God for something they prefer above pleasing God. It may be a little deviation to begin with, but it will become a big deviation from Biblical truth before they are finished. Face it, Even among Jesus disciples there was Judas. He was the sleeper cell member. The other eleven didn’t have a clue.
That is the type people who make up the secret societies in churches. Flatly – they are not easily spotted or rooted out until they just seem to appear out of nowhere and destroy a church. They may not even know exactly where they are going themselves in the beginning. They just know they are in rebellion against something, and they want others to join them in their dissatisfaction.
The antidote for secret societies within the church begins with more knowledge for every believer. Church members who are sincerely working on obtaining a Christian zeal according to knowledge will not be easily led astray by dissatisfied church members looking for people to follow them in their rebellion. It is the lazy Christian who has zeal, but has remained ignorant and without knowledge of what Christ actually teaches, that will become a member of the church secret society led by a type of Judas.
Remember, Your ability to combat the secret societies within the church and the globalist secret societies is through Jesus Christ, the institutions of family and church, and personal Bible study.
In the next PZ radio broadcast I will be speaking on free masonry – and its beginnings and goals.
Barbara Henderson
Secret societies – part 2
Last time on PZ radio I began a series on secret societies. I presented the idea that it is not a question of IF there are secret societies, but that there MUST be secret societies. This week I want to cover secret societies that are pretty close to home. That is secret societies in the church.
Remember that a secret society usually operates within an open society that has open goals or an open purpose that anyone can know about. The secret sect of an open society often has entirely different goals or purpose than is openly acknowledged. The members of the secret society have main goals that are different than the openly stated goals. The members use their influence to bring about changes that fulfill their goals. They work within the open society as long as it works for their secret agenda. They work to change the actions of the open society in order to make their secret agenda more easily achieved.
The goal of the secret societies in general that we talked about last week is ultimate global control of government, society, and religion. Now, in the process of gaining control of every aspect of life, certain institutions must be torn down. These institutions include family and church.
For this broadcast, I want to talk about secret societies in the church. Churches whose foundation is on Jesus Christ and His word are constant targets for attacks through secret societies. There are secret societies in most if not all churches. These societies are in every stage of development from just beginning grumblers, to small groups of grumblers banded together. When they are strong, they proceed to open rebellion against church leadership and sound theology. The difference in church secret societies and globalist secret societies is they are probably not formally connected to globalist secret societies.
Secret societies in churches are made of members who are already in rebellion against God because of something in their personal lives. They want to find a way to make their own sins acceptable. They feel changing what the church teaches, or at least changing church leadership and preachers will make acceptance of their own secret deviant behavior more likely.
Churches today make it easier for deviant doctrine and scriptural error to creep in. This is because of ideas like age segregation is necessary, that people must be entertained, and that someone is suddenly qualified for a teaching or leadership position just because they have volunteered or fit a particular demographic. After all, those teenage church members need an age appropriate dynamic leader. It doesn’t matter if the leader has any background in sound doctrine or theology - if his or her heart is just in the right place. Wrong thinking says, ‘It will all work out in the end.’ Of course it doesn’t work out for the good of anyone.
The bigger the church, the more impossible it becomes to monitor all these groups, concerning the doctrine and theology that is being taught, and the moral behavior of those in positions of authority.
I recently heard of a mega church that had teachers teaching speaking in tongues as acceptable and even good. Now, whatever you thoughts on that subject, this particular church doctrine did NOT accept tongues as anything except the devils’ confusion. The preacher didn’t even know what was going on. People in the church DID know that speaking in tongues is not acceptable to that denomination and they chose to dismiss it as unimportant, or even cover it up.
Then, there was the church whose praise band was making a little extra money doing gigs in honky tonks. The deacons found out. Instead of bringing it to the attention of the church, they decided to slip out and go to the honky-tonks themselves in order to ‘support’ the praise band’s efforts to make a little money while they were evangelizing to a group that wouldn’t otherwise go to church and hear the Gospel. What a joke. That church split down the middle.
A secret society within a church can be partially defined as a group of people who are dissatisfied with something in the church, who have informally banded together, and prefer to ‘discuss’ the matter among themselves rather than take the problem(s) to the church and try to resolve them.
In John 18:20 Jesus said, ‘ I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. ‘
A church that is without large secret societies at the moment undoubtedly has ‘sleeper cells’. It has members who are dissatisfied with something, and are just waiting for likeminded members to join the church or for current members to become dissatisfied.
These grumblers are apostate in their thinking. They have heard the truth of Jesus Christ, but they want to ‘tweak’ it a little bit, make it more accessible to the masses, and change who is in charge. At some point, they have made a deviation from the narrow way to a path that closely resembles the narrow way at its beginning, but is just a ‘little bit’ broader.
The grumblers probably have a ring leader whose intentions may or may not have been evil from the very beginning. It may be a church member who is nursing hurt feelings about something, or unholy desires, and is just looking for a way to vent his or her frustrations. The grumblers will also include some easily led followers who were also looking for a way out of the narrow way taught by Jesus. They are apostates, having heard the truth, and found it dissatisfying or unacceptable in some way.
The attitudes of apostates you find in church secret societies are:
Disloyalty – they are NOT loyal to the teachings of Jesus Christ above all else.
Insubordinate and defiant – they reject church authority and Biblical authority – preferring instead to do what their shifting loyalties want to do.
Irreverent, flippant about the things of Christ, and even mocking to those who do not agree with them – believing that a worship service should please church members and draw crowds instead of pleasing God. That is where you get hard rock music in a supposed church.
Immoral, dishonest and even completely corrupt – they have turned from God for something they prefer above pleasing God. It may be a little deviation to begin with, but it will become a big deviation from Biblical truth before they are finished. Face it, Even among Jesus disciples there was Judas. He was the sleeper cell member. The other eleven didn’t have a clue.
That is the type people who make up the secret societies in churches. Flatly – they are not easily spotted or rooted out until they just seem to appear out of nowhere and destroy a church. They may not even know exactly where they are going themselves in the beginning. They just know they are in rebellion against something, and they want others to join them in their dissatisfaction.
The antidote for secret societies within the church begins with more knowledge for every believer. Church members who are sincerely working on obtaining a Christian zeal according to knowledge will not be easily led astray by dissatisfied church members looking for people to follow them in their rebellion. It is the lazy Christian who has zeal, but has remained ignorant and without knowledge of what Christ actually teaches, that will become a member of the church secret society led by a type of Judas.
Remember, Your ability to combat the secret societies within the church and the globalist secret societies is through Jesus Christ, the institutions of family and church, and personal Bible study.
In the next PZ radio broadcast I will be speaking on free masonry – and its beginnings and goals.
Monday, April 20, 2009
World Peace - is it Possible?
Steps to Peace
By Barbara Henderson
Do you want world peace? (yes no)
Do you have a suggestion on exactly how world peace could be obtained? (yes no)
Do you have any faith that people standing around holding a sign that says, ‘I declare peace’ will have any effect what so ever in bringing about peace in the world or even in specific areas of population? (yes no)
What would be required to actually bring peace?
The first thing that comes to my mind is the sense of entitlement that so many people have. If they see something they want, they are suddenly ‘entitled’ to have it. It doesn’t matter how much someone else deserves it, has earned it, needs it, or anything else. If the ‘entitle minded’ wants it, they suddenly have more rights to it than anyone else.
The most dangerous living with a sense of entitlement are of course world leaders who are quite often professional manipulators. They all believe the ends justify the means, and that THEY are much more worthy of control and possessions than the masses.
Sadly, these people do not know the differences between true peace, and coerced peace. Well, they probably actually do know; they just don’t care. They are entitled to whatever they want. They are not required to care who it hurts.
Honestly, all the world is going to gain from attempts at peace through mortal means is war. They are attempting to bring about peace without consulting God Almighty.
Now, as an individual, no one has the power to ‘declare peace’. To those who have ‘declared peace’ I would like to say, ‘Let me know how that is working out for you.’
For an individual’s efforts to bring peace to the world to have any impact whatsoever, they must first begin in exactly the right place. That place is in their own hearts. They must first make peace with God.
The world as a whole is in rebellion against God. All good things come from God. All those separated from God because of sin have a wicked heart. They will not achieve any real or lasting peace.
Isaiah 48:22 says, ‘There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.’
Isaiah 57:21 says, ‘There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.’
Those seeking peace apart from God will achieve only the slightest gain; but, they will cry loudly that their achievement is mighty.
Jeremiah 6:14 says, ‘They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace’
Jeremiah 8:11 says, ‘For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace’.
They absolute most they can achieve will be something that appears to be peace, but is like a cement block wall built using sand for mortar. It will fall at the slightest ground shift.
Ezekiel 13:10 says, ‘Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:’.
No one’s heart will be in a forced peace. Everyone will be looking for an excuse to break the peace.
The only true beginning to global peace is the effort of the individual to personally reconcile with God Almighty through Jesus Christ the Son. Ephesians 2:8 says, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:’. THAT is where peace REALLY begins. All other efforts are just vain busy work. In case you don’t know, ‘busy work’, is just work that has no actual purpose. Nothing will be accomplished through busy work except people will look busy, and their time will be occupies. An example of vain busy work is what is going on with Israel in the name of peace.
Obviously, there cannot be true global peace until Christ Himself sets up His kingdom. However, the true people of God can look for peace.
Psalm 29:11 says, ‘The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.’
Isaiah 55:12 says, ‘For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands’.
By the way, there is no way to determine whether someone is really a child of God. Some people can easily be assigned the label of apostate or heretic. Some are very difficult to figure out. Fortunately, the Lord does know who the true believers are.
2 Timothy 2:9 says, ‘Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity’.
We are given a clue there as to how to tell true believers. If someone claims to be a Christian, yet does not depart from the things of their old life, then they are suspect. To me, those who take the things of the world such as music and dress into the church are very much suspect. However, I don’t have to ‘know’ who is and who isn’t a Christian. God knows.
The actual door to world peace is through Jesus Christ alone. Any other effort to achieve world peace is will fail miserably.
Once you get it settled that you have made peace with God through Christ, the next step in your own peaceful existence is to live according to the boundaries set down in the Bible.
You are not required to take on additional burdens – such as salvation through works, specific dress codes (be moderate and modest), food, socially acceptable requirements, politically correct actions, or anything else not required of you in the Bible.
Peace in your own heart is much easier if you follow Bible instructions such as:
Fear not
Have faith specifically in God – not the faith that is in nothing but the word faith.
Be kind one to another.
Forgive others.
Love one another.
Treat others the way you want to be treated.
Doing these things builds a positive attitude in you. It does not guarantee you your desired outcome in all situations; but, it does help you in just living the life you have today.
Job 13:8 says, ‘Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.’
Today is the day to follow the instructions in Isaiah 50:7 which says, ‘For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.’
This means set your heart and mind to follow God at all costs. Follow Him now when the times are easy – or at least ‘easier’ than they may be in the future.
Luke 9:62 says, ‘And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God’. If you have truly chosen to follow Christ, then follow Him. I Kings 18:21 says, 'And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.'
If you are not specifically following God, then you are following Baal - or one of his namesakes.
You know, through salvation the believer gains eternal life in heaven with God. Salvation cannot be lost, but fellowship can be lost or at least tarnished. To keep peace in the heart of the believer, fellowship with God must be maintained.
The path to peace is:
First, be saved (reconciled to God)
Second, do the things Christ said to do in order to stay in fellowship with Him
Third, keep you eyes on your eternal destination; don't be distracted by the things of the world.
By Barbara Henderson
Do you want world peace? (yes no)
Do you have a suggestion on exactly how world peace could be obtained? (yes no)
Do you have any faith that people standing around holding a sign that says, ‘I declare peace’ will have any effect what so ever in bringing about peace in the world or even in specific areas of population? (yes no)
What would be required to actually bring peace?
The first thing that comes to my mind is the sense of entitlement that so many people have. If they see something they want, they are suddenly ‘entitled’ to have it. It doesn’t matter how much someone else deserves it, has earned it, needs it, or anything else. If the ‘entitle minded’ wants it, they suddenly have more rights to it than anyone else.
The most dangerous living with a sense of entitlement are of course world leaders who are quite often professional manipulators. They all believe the ends justify the means, and that THEY are much more worthy of control and possessions than the masses.
Sadly, these people do not know the differences between true peace, and coerced peace. Well, they probably actually do know; they just don’t care. They are entitled to whatever they want. They are not required to care who it hurts.
Honestly, all the world is going to gain from attempts at peace through mortal means is war. They are attempting to bring about peace without consulting God Almighty.
Now, as an individual, no one has the power to ‘declare peace’. To those who have ‘declared peace’ I would like to say, ‘Let me know how that is working out for you.’
For an individual’s efforts to bring peace to the world to have any impact whatsoever, they must first begin in exactly the right place. That place is in their own hearts. They must first make peace with God.
The world as a whole is in rebellion against God. All good things come from God. All those separated from God because of sin have a wicked heart. They will not achieve any real or lasting peace.
Isaiah 48:22 says, ‘There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.’
Isaiah 57:21 says, ‘There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.’
Those seeking peace apart from God will achieve only the slightest gain; but, they will cry loudly that their achievement is mighty.
Jeremiah 6:14 says, ‘They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace’
Jeremiah 8:11 says, ‘For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace’.
They absolute most they can achieve will be something that appears to be peace, but is like a cement block wall built using sand for mortar. It will fall at the slightest ground shift.
Ezekiel 13:10 says, ‘Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:’.
No one’s heart will be in a forced peace. Everyone will be looking for an excuse to break the peace.
The only true beginning to global peace is the effort of the individual to personally reconcile with God Almighty through Jesus Christ the Son. Ephesians 2:8 says, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:’. THAT is where peace REALLY begins. All other efforts are just vain busy work. In case you don’t know, ‘busy work’, is just work that has no actual purpose. Nothing will be accomplished through busy work except people will look busy, and their time will be occupies. An example of vain busy work is what is going on with Israel in the name of peace.
Obviously, there cannot be true global peace until Christ Himself sets up His kingdom. However, the true people of God can look for peace.
Psalm 29:11 says, ‘The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.’
Isaiah 55:12 says, ‘For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands’.
By the way, there is no way to determine whether someone is really a child of God. Some people can easily be assigned the label of apostate or heretic. Some are very difficult to figure out. Fortunately, the Lord does know who the true believers are.
2 Timothy 2:9 says, ‘Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity’.
We are given a clue there as to how to tell true believers. If someone claims to be a Christian, yet does not depart from the things of their old life, then they are suspect. To me, those who take the things of the world such as music and dress into the church are very much suspect. However, I don’t have to ‘know’ who is and who isn’t a Christian. God knows.
The actual door to world peace is through Jesus Christ alone. Any other effort to achieve world peace is will fail miserably.
Once you get it settled that you have made peace with God through Christ, the next step in your own peaceful existence is to live according to the boundaries set down in the Bible.
You are not required to take on additional burdens – such as salvation through works, specific dress codes (be moderate and modest), food, socially acceptable requirements, politically correct actions, or anything else not required of you in the Bible.
Peace in your own heart is much easier if you follow Bible instructions such as:
Fear not
Have faith specifically in God – not the faith that is in nothing but the word faith.
Be kind one to another.
Forgive others.
Love one another.
Treat others the way you want to be treated.
Doing these things builds a positive attitude in you. It does not guarantee you your desired outcome in all situations; but, it does help you in just living the life you have today.
Job 13:8 says, ‘Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.’
Today is the day to follow the instructions in Isaiah 50:7 which says, ‘For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.’
This means set your heart and mind to follow God at all costs. Follow Him now when the times are easy – or at least ‘easier’ than they may be in the future.
Luke 9:62 says, ‘And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God’. If you have truly chosen to follow Christ, then follow Him. I Kings 18:21 says, 'And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.'
If you are not specifically following God, then you are following Baal - or one of his namesakes.
You know, through salvation the believer gains eternal life in heaven with God. Salvation cannot be lost, but fellowship can be lost or at least tarnished. To keep peace in the heart of the believer, fellowship with God must be maintained.
The path to peace is:
First, be saved (reconciled to God)
Second, do the things Christ said to do in order to stay in fellowship with Him
Third, keep you eyes on your eternal destination; don't be distracted by the things of the world.
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