As A Thief In the Night, So Our Lord Will Return.

As a thief in the night.

Thieves like the cover of darkness, right? Nowadays it seems as if a lot of thieves don't wait for the cover of darkness, but do their evil in the broad daylight. For all that are they are getting bolder, a lot of crimes- thievery among them- are committed at night. It's always better to have a natural shroud covering actions you don't want any witness to. Many thieves will wear dark clothes in order to blend in with the night, and some will even put dark masks on, or cover their faces with dark make up.  A thief in the night is largely unseen especially in the days before motion sensor activated flood lights. Thieves adapt to their surroundings though and will case out places they want to rob. If they notice anti-theft devices set up they will prepare to take them out if the robbery warrants the pay off. Thieves in the night are stealthy and often go completely unnoticed. The only evidence of their having been there is the proof they leave behind by taking the belongings of the one they are robbing.

So, why all this talk of a thief in the night? Because just LIKE a thief in the night- unseen, unnoticed, shrouded in darkness- leaving the victim completely unaware of their working- we read this-

1Th 5:2  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 

You read that right. The DAY OF THE LORD COMES as a thief in the night.

That's a far cry from proclaiming 'every eye shall see Him' 'like lightening from the sky shining from east to west' 'with a loud cry, the trump shall sound', thieves do not trumpet their arrival, and they do not shine bright light anywhere. So what does it mean, this analogy? It means, people aren't PREPARED for thieves that sneak in and thwart all the cautious setups to deter them. When lo and behold you've been robbed it often comes as quite the shock because no one knows when a thief may strike. If you knew a robber was coming to your house you would not go to sleep that night, you'd stay awake and scare them off. You would NOT be taken off guard.

But just like a thief, the day of the Lord is going to arrive and the majority of people are going to be taken by surprised, being completely unprepared.

1Th 5:3  For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 

As long as our main focus is upon this world, we are not going to be prepared. It is going to be the person who lives and breathes the truth that the day of Lord is coming, who will NOT be taken by surprise. If we are taking comfort in the fact our lives are pretty much predictable- the sun will rise, we will wake up, our daily routine will begin and continue with the occasional unexpected interference, then the sun sets, but by and large we live in familiarity. When sudden destruction does occur, we aren't prepared. Women who are pregnant and nearing their due date, they are expecting the pangs of contractions to hit at any moment, and still when it happens they are unprepared completely- why? Because they don't KNOW exactly when it will happen. Not only that, once true labor begins there is no stopping it. Many a show on tv has depicted women in labor crying out that they aren't ready for it to happen, that they want it to stop, and so on and so forth because of the fear they are filled with. They'll say stuff like, 'I don't want to do this.'  All the while they know there is no stopping what's happening whether they want it to happen or not.

People who are not ready for the LORD to return at any moment, will be shocked, and unable to stop what is happening so they can prepare. It will happen and they will face their own destruction with the knowledge they had a chance to prepare but they chose not to.

1Th 5:4  But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 

Those waiting and watching for the Lord's return at any moment, they will not be surprised as if being robbed in the night.

1Th 5:5  Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 

We are children of God who know that Christ is returning, and we are waiting for His return. There will be no surprise for us. It will be a glorious event, long anticipated that finally happens and only pure joy will fill our hearts.

1Th 5:6  Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 

1Th 5:7  For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 

1Th 5:8  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 

Those of us who are aware of our Savior returning, and live our lives in that expectation must live accordingly. We have to have our lives filled with faith and love, with the hope of salvation.  When we live for here and now we will forever face a multitude of disappointments. When we live for the day of our Lord's return, we recognize the truth that the life we are intended for is in the future world, not this one.

1Th 5:9  For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 

1Th 5:10  Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 

1Th 5:11  Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. 

We are appointed to salvation through Jesus Christ, our Lord who died for us. It won't matter if we die before our Savior returns if we die in the hope of His return. When Christ returns those who died in that faith will rise up from death and join those living in that faith- and we will all live with our Savior!

We need to COMFORT each other with these words. We need to build up the faith of each other constantly. We have to keep the hope before us always!

All through the grace and love, the will, the mercy of our God! All by Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, and the Holy Spirit sent to comfort us and keep us in the love of God, now and forever!

Amen.

To Please God.

How are we to live in the Lord? What is expected of us? What efforts are to be made?

Remember -

2Ti 3:14  But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 

2Ti 3:15  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 

2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 

2Ti 3:17  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. 

All scripture is profitable for DOCTRINE.

All scripture is profitable for REPROOF.

All scripture is profitable for CORRECTION.

All scripture is profitable for INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.

If scripture isn't applicable to us today, then it's of no use whatsoever. I believe scripture is very applicable to us today. In the scriptures I have found proof beyond doubt of its authenticity, in prophetic writings logically unraveled so that they have come to pass fitting like the perfect garment tailor made to a specific form. If I gave you a letter stating what your future would hold in several key points for the next seventy years and after fifty of those years every single prophecy I made came to pass exactly as described, would you doubt that the prophecies I made for the next twenty years of your life would happen? No. You'd be foolish to discount them if all of the previous predications came to pass.  The Bible is like that, predictions were made thousands of years in advance, and one after another they've come to pass so I have NO doubt the rest will occur, and NO doubt about the authenticity of the word of God.

We are told this-

1Th 4:1  Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. 

How should we walk, how should we live in order to please God?

1Th 4:2  For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. 

We can read of the commandments the Lord gave and here the expounding on the will of God for us we read the following.

1Th 4:3  For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: 

For us to be made holy we need to keep from letting our lustful passions take control over us, as they are very prone to do, and decidedly keep from engaging in those lusts outside of their proper place.  JUST because we have passions, JUST because by nature we have desires that are a powerful force within us does not mean we should yield to them.  I can remember a very wise older woman once telling me that she understood what I was going through as I struggled with my passions, that she too had to deal with them.  It sort of shocked me because of the person I knew her to be I thought she'd never have had to war with her passions. All of us have to WAR with the natural passions inside of us. Whether it's lust or anger, greed or any other passion that arises it needs to be controlled. Just because you have a natural tendency towards thieving, does not make it okay to yield to that tendency. When we are told that we should abstain from fornication we are being told that fornication will be something that we have to deal with in our lives. Because fornication would be something common to all mankind throughout history, back 2000 years or so ago when this was written all the way to today, we need to hear the admonition to abstain. If fornication wasn't then and isn't now an issue of note, we would not need instruction about our behavior. The will of God for our being made holy is that we don't fornicate.

1Th 4:4  That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; 

1Th 4:5  Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God

Possessing our lives in holiness and honor is not given into our lusts, our very powerful lusts.  Our natural desires allowed to rule over our intellectual control is something promoted by those who do not know God. They do not realize or if they do, they choose not to accept as truth, that sin brought to us tendencies towards all sorts of things that we claim are inherited by nature and therefore acceptable. Throughout life we must hold in check many things that are not accepted as being good. When we live outside the boundaries of what society has determined to be acceptable then society punishes us for our actions. Man deciding what is acceptable and what isn't allows for many things God would not allow, and if we would live for God we have to live in the boundaries He has set for us- no matter what our natural inclinations.  Some of the things God has set boundaries on, society agrees with, but not all. The veering off course from what God has dictated comes about when man wants to indulge in what they presume to be harmless and natural pursuits.

There was a time in history and NOT too long ago, that sex outside of marriage- fornication, was considered very wrong. If a woman were to find herself pregnant and the otherwise secret knowledge of her wrong doing was known, she was shamed. Today over the last sixty or so years, it's become acceptable to fornicate and have babies outside of marriage, the shame has been removed. Does this make it acceptable to God? No, and it never will.

We are also told…

1Th 4:6  That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. 

We are not to defraud anyone in any matter.  We are not to harm another in any way, it is the opposite of God's commandment for us to love one another.

1Th 4:7  For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. 

We are not called to live for our base passions. Those passions will want to live in us, they will want us to yield to them at every turn so that they have preeminence over us and our lives are centered around fulfilling the passions of our self-centeredness. We are called OUT of those natural inclinations we are told to recognize they exist in ourselves and to war against them at every opportunity. We can't sit back and expect our sinful nature to disappear. What a shocking surprise for anyone that does expect to no longer have lusts to war against, the war is unending until our Savior returns. Sanctification is a process of being made holy, it's not instantaneous. Salvation is instant upon accepting the Lord as our Savior, accepting His sacrifice for our sins, but sanctification is a lifelong yielding to the will of God over our own willfulness. A daily yielding. Yielding to God over each of our sometimes constant temptations towards fulfilling a sinful lust, no matter its origin, no matter its type.

May God help us all, and keep us from the evil of the world, from the evil of the natural sin resulted lusts that are unique to each of us in degree and kind. As we war in this spiritual battle, may the spirit have priority over the flesh.

All glory to God, all thanksgiving, praise and honor!

All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, now and forever!!!!!!!

Undeserved Love.

Col 3:18  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 

Col 3:19  Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. 

Col 3:20  Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. 

Col 3:21  Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. 

Col 3:22  Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: 

Col 3:23  And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; 

Col 3:24  Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. 

Col 3:25  But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons. 

Wives submit. Husbands love. Children obey. Husbands don't be bitter. Fathers provoke not anger. Servants obey. Whatever we do, do it for the Lord, not men.

Eph 5:22  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 

Eph 5:23  For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 

Eph 5:24  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 

Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 

Eph 5:28  So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 

Eph 5:29  For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 

Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 

Eph 5:31  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 

Eph 5:32  This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 

Eph 5:33  Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. 

Wives submit. Husbands love.

AS the church (the people who are God's) is subject to Christ….

Eph 5:24  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 

How are the people of God subject to Christ? What is our relationship with Christ? The church depends upon Christ for salvation. The church lives for Christ and His will. Without Christ there is no church at all whatsoever and by church I mean people who belong wholly to God. Without Christ there is no hope. We are to rely on Christ. And when we are exhorted as wives to be subject to our husbands we are being told to depend on them, rely on them. Immediately so many things come to mind from this. What if the man is not a follower of Christ? What if the husband is undependable, abusive in any way, unreliable for all things? We know that Christ is and forever will be dependable, reliable, that He has secured salvation for those who would be subject to Him. There is no doubt involved in the knowledge that God's people are subject to Christ, no doubt at all. However, when comparing being subject to Christ and being subject to a husband all sorts of doubts can surface. Ultimately we cannot escape the Biblically, God revealed fact that women are to be subject to men, wives subject to husbands. As a woman I can either choose to accept this as fact or rebel against God's word. As we talked about yesterday, there were women leaders of men. There were women who were prophets, a judge of all Israel was a woman, God has revealed His love of women just as He has revealed His love for men, saving both. Being born a woman is not an automatic death sentence in the eyes of God. We are loved equally.

When men and women are used as examples of Christ and Christ followers there is a very real and very necessary relationship boundary there. Christ followers will NEVER be Christ, they can NEVER be Christ. And we know any who claim to be Christ are in truth followers of Satan. We know that becoming lifted up- prideful, and wanting to be a god ourselves is wrong, yet that doesn't stop many from wanting this very thing.  We know God would have a people who are His and belong to no other god. We recognize the example of giving honor, praise and glory to God and God alone, these are simple to comprehend. The subjection of women to men is meant to inform us in a tactile way of the relationship of God's people to God.

In the same passages where women are told to be subject to their husbands, husbands are given instructions as well. They are told to love their wives, not to be bitter against them. When husbands fail to love and are bitter towards their wives, then they have failed in their example and that will be something they will be accountable to God for, just as we all are accountable to God as individuals.

LOVING the seemingly unlovable-  this is what Christ does.

LOVING the undeserving - this is what Christ does.

The seemingly unlovable, and undeserving once loved by Christ and accepting of that love - become lovable and deserving through Christ.

There is so much context here in these passages and ultimately they all boil down to this-

LOVING God first and foremost as individuals. From that love we love each other. Whether you're a husband or a wife the love that calls for submission - which is all love- is the love we need to have for each other. As individuals we love with the love of Christ. We can't wait for the perfect husband before we submit through the love of Christ to our husbands. Husbands can't wait for perfect wives before they love their wives.  If we wait for others to deserve our Christ given love, we don't have a Christ given love in us at all.

WE are to live our lives towards others as if we were living our lives towards Christ, towards God because we ARE seeking to do all things in Christ, out of the love of God.

If we are living to seek anything for ourselves before we seek to live for God we are not God's.

God first. And God first demands we love OTHERS as God loves us, as we would be loved by God.

So yes, let us wives submit to our husbands- just as we would submit to Christ.

Don't wait for your husband to be deserving. Christ didn't wait for us to be deserving.

Submission.

We are to submit to God.

Jas_4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Submit to God-Resist the Devil.

This is very comprehensible to those who recognize their Creator and Redeemer. Yielding our lives to God, surrendering all we are to God truly does mean we have to resist evil. We have to make real decisions to surrender and real decisions to resist. Ask yourself why we would be told to submit, if there were no action needed on our part? Submission is a choice God asks us to make, it is not forced, if it is ever forced or if you believe it is forced then you are not submitting to the true God but one of millions made up by Satan to confuse and deceive people.

We are told elsewhere in the word of God this…

Col 3:18  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 

Wives are to submit to their husbands.  NOT a very popular belief nowadays. We are living in an age that is calling for non-submission, but rather equality. We want husbands to submit to their wives equally. Yet God's word calls for a wife to submit, why?

Throughout God's word there are plenty of women submitted to God, used of God for wonderful purposes.

Jdg 4:4  And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. 

Deborah was a judge, and a judge in Biblical times, before they desired a monarchy, was the military leading force used by God to guide His people.

A woman, a married woman.

God calls for submission of wives to husbands, God tells us women are to know their place, and all we get out of this is God is wrong, God is against women superiority, God is against women ruling, God is against equality between men and women. If this is your take on God, then you don't believe God is love. And, if you don't believe God is love then you don't believe in God at all.

Submission is not an admission of inferiority. Submission is a choice made through love. When we are told to submit to our husbands, we are being told to recognize God in our marriage. 

Eph 5:22  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 

Eph 5:23  For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 

Eph 5:24  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 

Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 

Eph 5:28  So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 

Eph 5:29  For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 

Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 

Eph 5:31  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 

Eph 5:32  This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 

Eph 5:33  Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. 

Col 3:18  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 

Col 3:19  Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. 

Col 3:20  Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. 

Col 3:21  Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. 

Col 3:22  Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: 

Col 3:23  And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; 

Col 3:24  Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. 

Col 3:25  But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons. 

The BIG picture here is….  Christ and His love for Us. 

As Christ LOVES us-  husbands are to love their wives.

As we LOVE Christ- wives are to love their husbands.

The relationship of love is revealed in our actions.  All too often we may witness a married couple in bitter fighting, in one belittling the other, in one not loving the other and it is no surprise considering the spiritual war going on with each individual as God desires the love of each of us and Satan desires our hatred of God.

Can we as wives submit to our husbands?  You may say yes, as long as… and the list begins, the conditions upon which you will submit arise. If he loves me then I will submit to him, but if he doesn't love me then I won't.

Ultimately we live for who? Who are we living for if we choose to love God?

Whatever we do….do it heartily as to the LORD not to men.

When we choose to submit to our husbands we are submitting to the LORD's WILL.  If our husbands do not choose to love us as Christ loves us, that is on him, not for us to use as an excuse to keep from submitting to them.

We are submitting ourselves and resisting the part of us that Satan would use to rebel against our husbands. Satan wants us to resist our husbands at every turn, because this will cause strife.

This needs more studying, at least, I need to study this more.

These words…

Col 3:18  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 

As it is fit in the Lord - this tells us our submission to our husbands must remain in the bounds of the love of God.  Is a wife to steal because a husband ask her to? Is a wife to kill because her husband demands this of her? No, and no.  As it is fit in the Lord would negate a wife submitting to committing acts of sin because it is asked of her.

Yes, more study on this tomorrow by the GRACE and WILL of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST!

All in the love of God, now and forever- all praise, thanksgiving and honor, all glory to God!

Spiritual Protective Custody

Submission.

Jas_4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

SUBMIT', v.i. To surrender; to yield one's person to the power of another; to give up resistance.  (Webster's)

Yielding ourselves to others isn't always easy. The fact we need to be told to submit implies we will want to resist, doesn't it?

Yielding ourselves to God, giving ourselves to God is comprehensible, isn't it? Letting God's power rule over us is a blessing to us. We pray for God's will to be done in our lives, and then sometimes when bad things happen we despise that it was God's will that they happen. I may keep revisiting this theme but it's true that people blame God for allowing the bad to happen. They have this idea if they were in God's shoes they'd never let evil happen at all. They would never allow a single innocent being be hurt in any way. And truly this is the thing most people want, isn't it? A life of what we consider fairness. Yet if we boil that life of fairness right down to its core we'd find us all instantly deserving of death upon our first true intention towards sin and all of us would die very, very, very young. We are blessed beyond measure to have a God who has made it so we have the opportunity to be forgiven for our evil choices. Do you think Noah and his family were without sin? They weren't. Noah found GRACE in the eyes of God. (Gen.6:8). To find the grace implies a need of grace.

God allows everything that happens, and it all happens for a purpose. That we have HOPE is the blessing that cannot be overlooked even as we suffer unimaginably throughout our lives if many ways large and small.

Yielding ourselves to God, is the recognition of our position of submission to our Creator, our Redeemer.

To recognize our submission to God is to place ourselves in spiritual protective custody, in a place that cannot be touched by anything that can spiritually harm us.

We are told to submit- to give up our resistance to God, and then we are told to resist the devil. We are not to submit to the devil, we are NOT to give up our resistance to the devil in any way. 

The devil would have us resist God, he wants us to resist submitting ourselves to the complete and utter authority of our Creator. The devil will convince people that giving up resistance to God is placing ourselves in the hands of a being who enjoys the agonies of life. The devil will tell us not to submit to a being that does not stop the unfair evils from attacking us throughout our lives. The devil shouts how can you submit to God when He lets such horrors happen!? The devil doesn't say that the only alternative to submitting to God, is submitting to him. One or the other, no in between. And if our choice to submit is to the one who is evil incarnate, the one who causes the evil for evil sake and not to the One who ultimately will eradicate all evil, then that is our fatal choice.  The devil would have people believe that they can choose neither God nor, him- that they can live for themselves and do not need to submit to any authority, or even recognize there is an authority over them. Spiritual blindness is a deceptive tool the devil uses all the time.

More on this tomorrow, by the grace of God!

May we choose the spiritual protective custody of submitting ourselves to God and resisting the devil!

All through the love of our Savior, our Lord, Jesus Christ, now and forever!!!!!!!

Satan Exists.

In the Word of God we are told about Satan and his evil. We are given descriptions of actions that are of evil. We are told that Satan rules this world. We are told that Satan deceives. We are given examples of evil. The reality of evil is all around us at every turn. Yet Satan blinds the minds of people to the evil. Satan sets up lives so that deception is key. Satan takes the truth, the beloved truth of God and taints it just enough to capture the majority of people in his deadly snare. Tainted truth is rarely seen as such because it so closely resembles the truth only those who are truly God's will be able to recognize the taint. With blinded eyes the world will be caught up in the deception, and our only hope for untainted truth is found solely in the heart consecrated to God before all else.

When I've mentioned spiritual evil to some people, I get this odd look, like I'm talking about something that doesn't exist outside of people choosing to commit evil acts. That there is a real Prince of this world who is evil, is beyond the comprehension of many people. We need faith to believe in God, and from our belief in God we are forced to automatically believe in the Devil. You simply cannot believe one without the other. Both, or none. 

Those who choose to believe in none- are admitting that the world they live in is all there is, and there is nothing else, end of story. They choose to believe that their lives are ultimately of little meaning. They can have no hope for a life different than exists now. The life span of a man is just too short to be other than considered a tiny, insignificant cog in a wheel of billions of cogs that will never all agree to a peaceful existence- left to its own. This world is bent on self-destruction rather than peace all the while crying for peace. No one is willing to submit when all would have to submit.

Truly, life holds no real meaning at all outside of the hope we can only find in God, through the sacrificing blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, God with us. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit must be our hope.

Evil exists, it's all around us in the tainted truth the world believes, may God give us ONLY HIS TRUTH, untainted! May we have eye salve for our blind eyes!  Please LORD we would be YOURS. We believe, help thou our unbelief!

All in YOUR LOVE!

Joh 14:28  Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. 

Joh 14:29  And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. 

Joh 14:30  Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 

Joh 14:31  But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. 

The prince of this world cometh.

Joh 12:27  Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. 

Joh 12:28  Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. 

Joh 12:29  The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him. 

Joh 12:30  Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. 

Joh 12:31  Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. 

Joh 12:32  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 

Joh 12:33  This he said, signifying what death he should die. 

The prince of this world be cast out.

Joh 16:7  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 

Joh 16:8  And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 

Joh 16:9  Of sin, because they believe not on me; 

Joh 16:10  Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 

Joh 16:11  Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. 

The prince of this world is judged.

Luk 22:52  Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves? 

Luk 22:53  When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness. 

The power of darkness.

2Co 4:3  But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 

2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 

2Co 4:5  For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 

God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not.

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 

Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 

The prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.

Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 

Wiles of the devil.

Not against flesh and blood but…rulers of the darkness of this world. Spiritual wickedness.

Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son

Delivered us from the power of darkness.

1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 

Than he that is in the world.

1Jn 5:18  We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. 

1Jn 5:19  And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. 

That wicked one touches him not. 

The whole world is in wickedness.

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 

Satan deceives the whole world.

Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years

Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 

The dragon.

The old serpent.

The Devil.

Satan.

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 

Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 

Satan…shall go out to deceive.

*******

The prince- the ruler of this world is none other than Satan himself.

Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 

Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 

Lucifer.

Eze 28:13  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 

Eze 28:14  Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 

Eze 28:15  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 

Eze 28:16  By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 

Eze 28:17  Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. 

Anointed cherub, perfect UNTIL iniquity was found in him.

Luk 10:18  And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 

Satan fall from heaven.

2Pe 2:4  For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 

Angels that sinned.

Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 

Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 

The great dragon cast out.

The old serpent cast out.

The Devil cast out.

Satan cast out.

Jesus Used Prophecy.

Joh 14:28  Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. 

Joh 14:29  And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. 

Joh 14:30  Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 

Joh 14:31  But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. 

Jesus said-  'And now I have told you BEFORE it come to pass, that, WHEN it is come to pass, you might believe.'

Prophecy. Predicting the future with 100 percent accuracy. Just imagine, or lacking the ability to imagine on your own, think about numerous movies with prophets in them. They may be called by different names- psychics come to mind, most likely because recently there was a show on television I liked to watch and now it's taken a turn in an odd direction I don' t like. It's a show depicting New York City police men/woman and the premise is a family of police men/women or involved in the law in some capacity. There are three generations of police related family members and of course there is crime solving, police enforcing, laws giving etc. So why have they suddenly introduced a woman with the ability to see the future, to find people in trouble supernaturally, a woman that has visions and so on? I haven't a clue, but I don't like it, and do you want to know why I don't like it? Because the Bible forbids us from involving ourselves in psychic, astrology, soothsaying, witch craft and so on. The Bible forbids it NOT because it isn't real and can't be exploited, it is real and can be used but it is used of Satan.  If any of the above mentioned things are being used by Christ followers and you are reading this… I ask you to read your Bibles.  Can we have Biblical prophets, yes, but they are not of the world involved in the worldly aspect of prophecy.  Here- read this from the word of God-

Act 16:16  And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying

A servant girl was possessed with a divining spirit and the girl's masters used her because she possessed this so called gift of divining, of soothsaying- being able to predict the future. The girl's ability to do this- to predict the futures of people was accurate enough that people paid a lot of money to meet with her and get their futures told. People treated the girl's ability as a talent, and something good. We do the same thing today, don't we? There are psychic shops in my city advertising their services. A lot of people must support them because they haven't gone anywhere in the last twenty years or so. These people may have the ability, just like this girl did, but it's not of God.  God has this to say about soothsayers and the like…

Mic 5:12  And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: 

Mic 5:13  Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands. 

Isa 8:19  And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? 

Isa 8:20  To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. 

Rev 22:14  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 

Rev 22:15  For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. 

1Sa_15:23  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

Gal 5:19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 

Gal 5:20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 

Gal 5:21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 

Act 8:9  But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: 

Act 8:10  To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. 

Act 8:11  And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. 

Act 8:12  But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 

Act 8:13  Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. 

Act 8:14  Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: 

Act 8:15  Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: 

Act 8:16  (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 

Act 8:17  Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. 

Act 8:18  And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, 

Act 8:19  Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. 

Act 8:20  But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. 

Act 8:21  Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. 

Act 8:22  Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. 

Act 8:23  For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. 

Act 8:24  Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me. 

Wherever there is a good thing, Satan will do his best to counterfeit it with a similar thing that is corrupted by his evil. Yes, prophecy from God is a good thing. No, prophecy from Satan is not a good thing.

Jesus prophesized of His own death, among many other things. Jesus told us that He was telling us the future so when it happened we would believe.

May God protect us from ALL who are led by evil to predict the future to seduce us to believe in them and their ways. May we always and forever only take to God's word any predictions and only believe in truth. Let us NOT be deceived by any prophecy not of God, but so close to God that we are tempted to believe. Keep us from EVIL, please, God, keep us from all evil.

Help us to trust only in our SAVIOR'S TRUTH. May the Spirit of Truth live in us, protecting us.

All through Jesus Christ, our Lord, our Savior, now and forever!!!!!!!