“They know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’ But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler.” (Psalm 82:5-7)

I read Dan Brown’s new book The Lost Symbol last week. I should have known better – Dan Brown was the guy who brought us the DaVinci Code. The DaVinci Code, if you remember, was the fast paced, action filled novel in which Brown tries to convince us that Jesus really didn’t die on the cross and later married Mary Magdalene and produced offspring whose lineage may be around today.

Uh-huh.

According to Dan, Jesus didn’t die on the cross; therefore mankind’s sin debt wasn’t paid. If he didn’t die then he didn’t rise from the grave – no resurrection. And if he didn’t die and wasn’t resurrected and later got married and had children, then he’s not really God.

Wonderful philosophy. Thanks Dan.

The DaVinci Code tried to make God into man. Brown’s new book The Lost Symbol does its best to make men into gods. To convince us that we’re really gods Dan quotes three words from the Bible, ‘ye are gods.’ He also throws in the Torah (isn’t that part of the Bible?), the Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, the Tao and whatever other ‘scriptures’ he can come up with as proof that they and the ‘prophets’ (Jesus, Mohammed, Confucius, Buddha and Tom Cruise) all came to share the same message with mankind; ‘ye are gods’.

I’ve got to surrender the point to Dan; those three words are in the Bible – right after “They know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken” and right before “But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler.” Dan fails to work the full context into the book – besides it would kinda ruin his thesis: “We have the power to become gods within us, all we gotta do try … or become Masons.

I’ve also got to admit that Dan writes a pretty fast moving, action packed story. That’s what hooked me; I’m a sucker for action. Other than being fundamentally wrong, the problem with The Lost Symbol is that the bad guy is dispatched and all the action is over by page 460 … the book doesn’t end until page 509. Dan fills the last 49 pages trying to back up his thesis, ‘ye are gods’ with a gobblety-gook philosophy built on a foundation with all the firmness of a fresh cow patty on a warm summer day (*Hint to Dan: stick with the fast moving action; it works for you.)

It took me the better part of a day to get through The Lost Symbol. It’s a day I won’t get back … forgive me Lord. My recommendation: save yourself twelve hours and thirty-bucks.

*****

When I was a kid I heard what the Bible said the world would be like in the last days and I wondered at how such things could practically come to be. The thirteenth chapter of Revelation predicted that, in the last days, ‘the earth and its inhabitants would worship the beast’ and that everyone would receive a mark and only with this mark could anyone buy or sell anything. I couldn’t imagine all of the earth worshipping a single ‘beast’ or the entire world buying and selling only enabled by a mark which the ‘beast’ gave them.

What I couldn’t imagine was believers falling for something like this. Surely the requirement of a single world religion (all men worshiping the same ‘beast’) and a single world economic system requiring a ‘mark’ given to each person by the ‘beast’ would take years to set up and the cooperation of every nation and religion on earth. Not only would Christians see through this and rebel, free people from every corner of the earth would rise up against the idea of the world’s religions and economies being controlled by a single ‘beast’. I just couldn’t see how we could all roll over and allow something like this to happen, especially when the Bible had already warned us against it.

A lot of water has passed beneath the bridge since the day I first learned about the prophecies of the ‘beast’. What was impossible has become possible. It’s happening before our eyes and, yes, we’re rolling right over – not only allowing it to happen, but joining right in.

Thirty years ago I couldn’t imagine an economic system in which an individual wouldn’t be allowed to buy or sell anything unless they carried a ‘mark’ on their hand and forehead. But that was before Debit Cards and Electronic Funds Transfer. When was the last time you paid cash (currency, not a debit card, credit card or check) for a major appliance? When was the last time you paid cash at the grocery store instead of sliding your debit card through the machine and punching in your PIN? Don’t deceive yourself into thinking that writing a check is any closer to cash than a debit card. The cashier inserts your check into a slot in the register which reads the magnetic coding and withdraws the money from your account at that moment. No different than a debit card.

We are well on the way to getting rid of cash altogether - it’s dirty, it cost money to print money, it’s hard to track, and trading all those different currencies of all those different countries slows down the global economy. Yep, cashless is cleaner, neater, and more efficient – all anyone needs is a number in the system and a PIN code – a ‘mark’, if you would; one on your hand (or in your hand) and one on your forehead (or in your memory … and in the database memory).

Well, I guess that part of the prophecy has already come true.

But what about everyone on earth bowing down to worship the ‘beast’? The world’s Christians would never stand for it! Other religions, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists and the rest would refuse to bow their collective knees to a single entity. Surely the idea of a single world religion is practically impossible.

Sorry … we’re headed there too. We don’t mention the words ‘Christian’, ‘Jew’, ‘Moslem’, ‘Hindu’ or ‘Buddhist’ much in public anymore; it’s just not politically correct. ‘Faith Based Community’ is a much easier term. It’s more homogeneous – not so ‘in-your-face’ as those stark declarations of an exclusive belief system.

And as for those few who can’t accept that all religions are of the same value and truth - for those who stubbornly cling to a single belief systems as ‘the truth’ – we call those folks ‘Fundamentalists’. And as for those who actually live out the tenets of their faith without regard to society’s accepted common practice? Those folks are what we call ‘Extremists’.

And everyone knows (as the media has so aptly indoctrinated us) that ‘Fundamentalists’ are whackos and ‘Extremists’ are dangerous. It doesn’t matter that some groups demonstrate their ‘fundamentalism’ and ‘extremism’ by detonating suicide bombs and others by refusing to call good what God says is evil. Throw ‘em all in the same pot – once we get rid of all the ‘fundamentalists’ and ‘extremists’ the world will be safe for all of us who have no clue what to believe. We’ll be free to believe whatever Channel 2 or Dan Brown tells us – it won’t matter what we believe as long as we do as we’re told and don’t take any of it too seriously.

In order for the prophecies in Revelation 13 to come true, all the world needs to do is to replace freedom and truth with control and deceit. For better or worse, we’re well on our way to accomplishing that goal. And if you’re not completely deceived yet – if truth still looks like truth and lies still look like lies - just keep reading Dan Brown’s books, you’ll get there.

“Jesus answered: ‘Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” (Matthew 24:4)

*****

Next week we’ll talk about where Dan Brown may have gotten his ideas (they’re not so new) and what the Bible really means when it states ‘ye are gods’.

I’m going to, over the next few weeks, explore the Beatitudes and their impact on my life and yours. This is, for me, one of my favorite subjects in all of scripture, and so I want to get my thoughts down on these vast and critical subjects related to our spiritual growth and maturity. I started last week with my entry on meekness. We are all on a journey in the leadership of God, and partnership with Him along the way involves agreement with the heart “attitudes” He longs to birth and cultivate within us. The exploration of these internal realities provides glorious insight into a heavenly value system that is radically set against the foolishness, frivolity, and vanity of the things of this world. I want to connect with a value system that turns my heart and my world upside down.

There is no more important moment for a man or a woman than when they encounter a Holy God for the first time. This first encounter is really our first encounter, but in truth the Holy Spirit had long been brooding and stirring in our lives, in an external and internal sense, calling and inviting our hearts to come home. The Lord longs for all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, as Paul once said (1 Tim. 2:4). God is searching the whole earth, calling all men to Himself as He searches for any who would come into agreement with Him. He is looking for friendship with men. Thus, the moment of encounter when we are first confronted with Him and by Him is one in which we are reoriented to take a journey that culminates in deep, voluntary agreement with His heart and mind.

Our journey is one that begins with connecting, by grace, with the reality of our spiritual poverty. One of the most glorious moments in our entire existence is the moment in which we are confronted with the painful reality of our complete lack of resource to accomplish anything noteworthy. When the conviction of the Holy Spirit comes to us and reveals our sinful state He also shines the light on our inability to do anything about it. It’s the problem of no resource - we can’t get ourselves out of the shameful pit we have dug for ourselves in our delusion and pride; only the divine “rope” offered by the Lord can set our feet on a rock and “establish our steps” (Ps. 40:2).

This same problem gripped the heart of the prophet Joel, thousands of years ago. An insurmountable problem was facing Israel, and the people were largely ignorant of their impending crisis. Fixated on an immediate, natural crisis, they had (as they had done for quite some time) overlooked their internal or spiritual crisis. Their spiritual crisis, their internal corruption, was leading to their destruction. They were destroying themselves. Thus, they were on a collision course with God Himself, who was intensely committed to stopping them before they could succeed. The great and terrible (Joel 2:11) judgment of God that was coming was about more than wrath and holiness, it was about a God whose plan for these people was so critical that He had to cut out, with a surgeon’s precision, any in their midst who threatened that plan to birth a Savior and King. It was also about a God who was committed, in His deep love for them to go to war against all of their enemies who threatened their destruction - even if the enemy was them.

Thus there was an unavoidable problem - if something did not change they were on a collision course with God Himself. There was no army, no earthly amount of finance, any shelter or protection from this grave threat. There was no resource on the planet, external or internal, that could save them from what was coming in regards to judgment. Who could endure what was coming to them?

This is the terrifying reality of my own spiritual poverty. My life was on a collision course with a holy God, with terrible judgment awaiting me if something didn’t change. Only, I had no power to change anything! My initial moment of “awakening” was the moment I came face-to-face with my own poverty of spirit and my great need for divine resource called grace to awaken my heart to love the things of God and empower me to do those things. This, of course, is a continual, ongoing reality. I can never graduate from “poor in spirit” in this life. I will have to continually “fight the good fight” of faith (2 Tim. 4:7) by continually seeking resource from heaven to resist temptation and sin while being renewed in my thinking (Rom. 12:2).

This was God’s solution for Israel when facing national crisis. The crisis was the context to provide an external “push” or impetus for them to come to the end of themselves and seek the face of God. It was God’s kindness and mercy that led to the raising up of Babylon to sweep into Israel to destroy it. Without the external crisis or trouble, Israel would have been blind to the internal cancer that was eating away at them from the inside. It was the crisis that caused them to become desperate and seek the only true solution - sincere repentance with prayer and fasting. This was to be for them something more than a momentary gathering, or an occasion - this was to be a lifestyle of continual prayer meetings and solemn assemblies that marked them as a people before God. The gatherings would train them in a different mode and reshape the way they thought and approached life as a whole.

It is the same for me. I need more than an initial awakening, or a salvation experience in which I am confronted with my internal corruption - the deadly cancer of sin. I need more than the initial encounter with God that stirs me and spurs me to pursue Him both for relationship and internal transformation. I need an ongoing awakening, one that happens on a continual, daily basis. I need to continually present myself before the Living God in all of my spiritual poverty and great need and see Him as Jehovah Jirah - my Provider, my divine resource, my sole source of life and hope. Once I connect with Him as One who can provide the more necessary thing - internal resource or supernatural grace - I can be empowered to love and pursue Him trusting that the externals are the easy part. The external needs, the sustenance and supply, are easy for me to receive.

I find that it is all too easy for me in the immediacy of life to reverse that reality. I often imagine that I am in great need for the externals, yet I need to be continually reminded that they are the easy part. The harder part is to come again for a fresh awakening into an internal, spiritual reality of encountering the Living God. I need to reach again. I need to come again. I need to drink and eat the only food that will help me and ultimately satisfy me. If I will fight that fight, than I truly have no worries. The external “stuff” of life isn’t even considered true necessities anymore.

They’re just considered the fringe benefits that flow from a tender, generous, wise and loving Father who knows what I need before I ask. Jesus, awaken me again today.

David

by: David Pawson (excerpted from When Jesus Returns)

Our attitude to the future is ambiguous, a mixture of fear and fascination. We want to know what is going to happen to us and the rest of the human race — and we don’t want to know! Were it possible, which one of us would wish to learn the date of our death or the end of the world?

We are the first generation to live with the possibility that these two dates might coincide. In one survey half the teenagers believed their death and the death of our planet would be simultaneous. Whether through nuclear holocaust (a diminishing fear) or environmental pollution (a growing fear), the days of life on earth seem to be numbered.
Again, our reaction is inconsistent, even contradictory. On the one hand, many try to forget the future and squeeze as much purpose and pleasure out of the present as possible. ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’ (this is actually in the Bible! Isa 22:13, quoted in I Cor 15:32). ‘Existentialism’ is the name for this philosophy of life and it is widespread.

On the other hand, there is more interest in the future and efforts to change it than ever before, an enthusiasm that hovers on the border of panic. Attitudes cover a wide spectrum from elated optimism to depressed pessimism, sometimes swinging wildly from one extreme to the other, from faith to fatalism.
Broadly speaking, there are three ways in which we can pierce the veil that hides the future from us.

First, the superstitious method. Divination is an ancient practice, but still very much alive. Clairvoyants and mediums, crystal balls and Ouija boards, tarot cards and tea-leaves — there are many forms. Six out of ten men and seven out of ten women read their horoscopes every day; no popular newspaper or magazine would dare to neglect the stars.

Yet it has been estimated that none of these channels has ever been more than 5% accurate, which means that they are at least 95% mistaken.. Only those willing or wanting to be deceived forget the errors and focus on the few fulfillments.

Second, the scientific method. Deduction from observation is the basic tool of modern science. To calculate present trends and project them is the concern of ‘futurology’, as the technique is now named. Professorial chairs in the subject are being established in universities, particularly those majoring in technology. Industrial, commercial and political spheres have their ‘think-tanks’. More than one computer program has calculated the likely date of the end of the world as 2040 (by taking into account population growth, food and energy resources, environmental decay, etc.).

Average accuracy of published results has so far been around 25% or, to put it negatively, up to 75% wrong. The short-term forecasts, as one would expect, are much more reliable than the long-term ones.

Third, the scriptural method. Declaration about future events is a major feature of the Bible. It claims to contain the words of God (‘Thus says the Lord’ occurs 3808 times!), the only person who is in a position to ‘make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come’ (Isa 46:10). Over a quarter of all the verses in the Bible contain a prediction about the future. Altogether 737 separate forecasts are made, from some only mentioned once to others hundreds of times.

Of these, 594 (over 80%) have already come true. Since those that have not are all concerned with the end of the world, which obviously has not happened yet, the Bible has actually achieved 100% accuracy. All that could have taken place already has done so, which should be ample grounds for confidence that the rest will also be fulfilled. (These statistics, with a detailed analysis of every prediction, may be found in the Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy by J. Barton Payne, Hodder and Stoughton, 1973.)
How astonishing then that people would rather consult satanic rigmarole or human reason than divine revelation. Part of the blame must lie at the door of the church, which has neither been clear nor confident enough in sharing her knowledge, the result of allowing scientific skepticism about the supernatural to undermine the authority of scripture.

The Bible reveals its secrets to those who read it with reverence and obedience, in a humble and teachable spirit. It yields more to simple intelligence than sophisticated intellectualism. It is written for ordinary people in ordinary language (New Testament Greek is taken from the streets, not the classics). It is meant to be taken at face value and taken seriously. When it is a clear picture of the future emerges.

Many things are predicted — personal and political, social and environmental, moral and meteorological. But one event stands out above them all: the return to this world of a person who lived here two thousand years ago, a carpenter from the village of Nazareth. Were he simply a human being, this would seem unbelievable. If he was what he claimed to be, divine as well as human, the one and only God-man, his return becomes credible and congruous. Rejected by an unbelieving world, it is only right that he should be publicly vindicated.

This event is more frequently predicted than any other and dominates the biblical preview. The question: ‘What is the world coming to?’ is changed into: ‘Who is the world coming to?’ or, better still: ‘Who is coming to the world?’

History will be brought to a conclusion. And by a human being. Not by pressing the button of a nuclear attack on earth but by breaking the seals of a scroll in heaven on which is already written the countdown of world events (Rev 5:1; 6:1). At the climax of the crisis, Jesus himself will reappear on the world stage to take personal control of the grand finale.

Such is the heart of the Christian hope for the future. Jesus is the only hope, the only person with sufficient ability and authority, character and compassion, to right the wrongs of this sick, sad and sinful world. On his first visit to our planet he demonstrated that he could do it; on his second he has promised that he will do it.
In theory, the Church of Jesus Christ gives his return a central place. The most regularly repeated creeds, the Apostles’ and the Nicene, include it as a fundamental part of the faith. Bread and wine are regularly taken as a reminder of his former presence and current absence ‘until he comes’ (I Cor 11:26). The liturgical calendar includes Advent in December, the first part of which anticipates his return.

In practice, however, neglect of this vital truth is spreading. Even during Advent, any thought about his second coming is quickly forgotten in the celebration of his first, in the festivities of Christmas. Some have become so confused or impatient with the doctrinal differences over it that they have taken refuge in agnosticism on the subject. More have conformed to the world’s obsession with the present by concentrating on the application of Christian insights and efforts to the personal and political needs of the day.

Now abideth faith, hope and love; but the weakest of these is hope!

That is a tragedy in a world of widespread depression and despair. The Bible describes unbelievers as ‘without hope and without God in the world’ (Eph 2:12). In such darkness, Christians should be shining beacons of hope. After all, they are the only ones who know how it will all end. They know that it will all end well, that good will triumph over evil, that their Lord will defeat the devil, that the kingdom of God will come on earth as it is in heaven.

This hope is ‘an anchor for the soul, firm and secure’ (Heb 6:19). The raging storm of world events will get worse rather than better, until every part of the globe is affected. May the reading of this book help you to get your anchor down now!

by: Mike Bickle, IHOP Kansas City

Some teach that the Church will be raptured before the events that begin in Revelation 4:1. This teaching is based on the argument that since the term Church is not used in chapters 4–21 of Revelation, the Church must no longer be on earth at that time. However, this assumption is based on silence rather than on Scripture. There is much evidence in Revelation that the saints are living and functioning on earth during the tribulation.

A. The great harvest of souls from all nations occurs during the tribulation. The Church will not be absent at the time of our greatest increase and effectiveness in evangelism.

Behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne…14 These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev. 7:9, 14)
This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matt. 24:14)

B. The saints will overcome Satan and the Antichrist with great victory during the tribulation.

They overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. (Rev. 12:11)

I saw…those who have the victory over the beast (Antichrist), over his image and over his mark…standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. (Rev. 15:2)

C. Some saints will be martyred during the tribulation. The Church must be on earth at that time.
For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets… (Rev. 16:6)

I saw the woman (Harlot Babylon), drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. (Rev. 17:6)

In her (Harlot Babylon) was found the blood of prophets and saints… (Rev. 18:24)

He has avenged on her (Harlot Babylon) the blood of His servants shed by her. (Rev. 19:2)

Rejoice…you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her! (Rev. 18:20)

How long…until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? 11…they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. (Rev. 6:10–11)

I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast (Antichrist)… (Rev. 20:4)

D. Satan and the Antichrist will war against the saints during the tribulation.

The dragon (Satan) was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Rev. 12:17)

It was granted to him (Antichrist) to make war with the saints…10 Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. (Rev. 13:7, 10)

Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. 13…Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. (Rev. 14:12–13)

E. The 144,000 Jewish servants of God are followers of Jesus.

Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads…4 One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed… (Rev. 7:3–4)

One hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads…3 were redeemed from the earth. 4 These…follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.
(Rev. 14:1–4)

They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. (Rev. 9:4)

F. The saints’ prayers during the tribulation will release the trumpet judgments.

Another angel…was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints…4 The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. (Rev. 8:3–5)

G. Jesus comes back to earth in answer to the prayer of saints crying out for His return.

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come!” (Rev. 22:17)

H. Prophetic ministry will increase greatly during the tribulation (Rev. 11:3–6, 10, 18; 16:6; 18:20, 24; 22:6–9; Joel 2:28–32; Acts 2:17–21; Eph. 4:13; Dan. 11:33–35; 12:10). The seven thunders prophecies were sealed in John’s generation with the intention of being released during the tribulation to the end-time prophets.

When the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.” (Rev. 10:4)

I. The two witnesses or prophets will be born-again believers.

I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy 1,260 days… (Rev. 11:3)

These two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. (Rev. 11:10)

J. Calculating the number of the Antichrist will only be relevant to those living in the tribulation.

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. (Rev. 13:18)

K. Believers who watch and prayer until the time of the bowl judgments (Rev. 16) will be blessed instead of suffering loss at the time of Jesus’ Second Coming.

Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” (Rev. 16:15)

L. Only those on earth during the events prophesied by John are in a position to keep the prophecy.

Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” (Rev. 22:7)

M. An angel commands God’s people to leave Babylon just prior to her final judgment in Rev. 18.

I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. (Rev. 18:4)

N. Jesus’ bride is prepared in the context of the final judgment of Babylon during the tribulation (Rev. 19:1-10). An angel revealed to Daniel that the saints would be purified during the pressures of the tribulation (Dan. 11:33–35; 12:10)

For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (Rev. 19:7)

Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly…but the wise shall understand. (Dan. 12:10)

As I share the message of the promise of a great oil reserve, to be discovered in Israel in the last days as explained in our book “Breaking the Treasure Code; the Hunt for Israel’s Oil” a question sometimes arises about just what kind of oil the Bible means when it speaks of Jacob’s Blessing.  (Read More)