The
spirit of antichrist has been working in the world since before the
Flood of Noah, even till today.( 1 John 2:18, 22, 1 John 4:1-6, 2 John7 KJV)
It has one job. To create the Anti-Christ system in preparation for the appearance of Satan's messiah, the Anti-Christ in these last days
When
you see in the Bible the world being taken over by evil before the Flood of Noah. That was the
spirit of antichrist. When you see Nimrod building the Tower of Babel
and uniting the world against God. That was the spirit of antichrist.
When
you look at history and see all the world conquerors. That's the spirit
of antichrist. When you see the idol of Daniel, showing the kingdoms of
history. That is the spirit of antichrist.
When you see the 20th
century and the struggles between capitalism and communism and fascism
for global control, and control of the mind. That is the spirit of
antichrist.
As you see the uniting of the world through torment and destruction, and fear. That is the spirit of antichrist.
The
word antichrist, does not mean against Christ. It means "instead of"
Christ. It's job is to unite the world under the Anti-Christ, and get
them to worship, another god. That god being Satan who desires to be the
most high.
The spirit of antichrist does not care about our
politics. It uses all sides to push its agenda. It works through
individuals, groups, religions and governments to gain more control and
build the infrastructure for the Beast system.
There are humans
who rule this world, and have submitted to the antichrist spirit and
other demonic forces. These humans from top to bottom are deceived
slaves.
Even good Christian people can and are used by this spirit to help push the agenda.
The
Holy Spirit and God's Word, helps us to fight these things if we are
Saved and Spirit led. Remember, Satan can quote scripture and use it to
oppress people. It is the Holy Spirit that leads us into all Truth. It
is the power of the Holy Spirit that quickens, the Sword of the Spirit.
We
are called to fight the good fight of faith against the enemy in all
its forms. But, we know we have already won, and the final victory must
be Christ's.
When they say Christ has come, do not be deceived, you will know when your Lord comes.
When they say you are an extremist. Rejoice for so persecuted they the prophets before you.
When they threaten you, and strip everything from you, and beat on the door to come in, fear not for He is with you.
Remember, all these things must happen but the end is not yet.....for He is coming...quickly.
-----
Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from
Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has
written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ a collection of dystopian short stories.“The Future is Coming” and his latest book “The Latter Days‘ is a book on Bible Prophecy and avoiding the deceptions to come.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”—Heb. 11:1
Translation: Faith is made up of hope for things we do not see and have never seen, but have evidence for.
If we rightly divide this verse we first need to understand what “Hope” is.
Hope is not a “Gee I sure hope so.”
No, it’s “more like “My only hope”. It’s like a life preserver or
like a harness that a steel worker wears when he is on a high rise and
needs a safety line to prevent falling.
We hope for things we have never seen, but have been given evidence of.
We have never seen God. We have never seen heaven or hell.
But, things have happened in our lives that have given us evidence of the reality of these things.
We have seen God move in our lives and answer prayer. We have seen
people get healed of disease. We have seen blessings come to us and to
others. We have seen the beauty of nature and the signs it holds. We
have felt God in our spirit, comforting us.
This evidence is our lifeline to God. God provides this evidence so
that our lifeline will be stronger and cause us to reach out to Him more
and trust Him more. God Himself is our lifeline and He provides faith
for it.
He gives us faith at birth, and He builds our faith to believe in
Jesus Christ and put our faith and trust in Him. Then, He continues
throughout our life to build our faith. If we know Him.
Hebrews chapter 11 is called the faith chapter of the Bible. This is where we can get a definition of what faith is.
The very first thing it mentions is having faith in God’s creation.
Belief that God created all things out of nothing, simply by speaking it
into existence.
We believe in creation because God told us in His Word that this is
what happened. So, by faith we believe His Word. Our belief in His Word
makes us righteous. Abraham believed God and it was counted to Him for
righteousness. When we are told of Jesus Christ, we have the chance to
believe or not. If we believe, then we are believing the Word of God,
and we put our faith in Jesus Christ and we are declared righteous.
Jesus is the living Word of God. (Romans 4:3 Rom. 3:22)
God washes us and places us in Christ. This is what happened to all
the Old Testament saints. They believed God and God declared them
righteous and placed them in Christ. Just like us.
Remember God is not bound by time or place. God is not filled with
doubt. He knows for a fact that His plans will succeed. So, when an Old
Testament saint died, having never known Jesus, God places them in
Christ because they believed God’s Word.
So, if that saint was alive to today, and heard a sermon on Jesus.
This saint would have accepted Him. I know this might not be liked by
some believers, but every person who has ever been saved has been saved
by grace, through faith. Not by works. They did the works because they
believed the Word God gave them.
Grace comes from God and we see evidence, then choose to put our faith in Him at His Word.
Obedience or works are nothing without faith.
They are just rule keeping or going through the motions.
There are some things we cannot do without faith first. Like
Confessing Jesus is the Lord, or believing He came in the flesh. (1 Cor.
12:3, 1 John 4:1-3 )
Like Abel sacrificing the first of his flock, as a picture of the
future sacrifice of Christ. That’s what ALL sacrifices are. (Heb 11)
He did this because He received a Word from God, or believed the Word of God given to Him from Adam.
He then became a picture of Jesus, when he was killed by His brother
because of envy. Like Christ was killed by His brethren for envy. (Gen.
chapter 4, Matt. 27:18)
And they were sent to wander the earth.
We see that Enoch walked with God. He had a relationship with him,
just like we are called to have a relationship. But, it started by first
seeing evidence of God from God, or it came from a Word given from God
by someone else. Perhaps from Seth, or from Adam himself. (Gen. 5:22-24)
Remember Adam often walked with God in the cool of the day.
Do you see that our faith leads us to know God and walk with Him. it
leads us to seek Him and turn to Him and let Him direct our paths.
It’s a relationship not rule keeping. No one is saved by keeping the
law. We are saved by knowing Him. By confessing Jesus is the Lord and
having a relationship with Him by faith. (Rom. 3:20-31)
Noah built an Ark. Because He believed the Word given to Him and he
acted upon it. Who in their right mind would build an ark in the front
yard?
Our faith might lead us to do crazy things. It might lead us to look
strange or be persecuted. But, it might also lead to the saving of our
family, friends and world.
We see that Abraham believed the Word God gave Him, and he was made
righteous. He went unto a land that was not his own and trusted God. He
trusted God even though Abraham never saw the promise fulfilled.
There are things we are trusting God for. And we might never see it
fulfilled, until we stand with him on that day in glory. When we cross
into Paradise to be with Him, and we see the new heaven and new Earth to
come.
We seek a city, a country, a future place with God called Home. For this place is not our home.
Sara believed that God would give her a child in her old age. Even
through her doubt, God provided. Despite her laughter the promise came
and she was written in this book. Because God’s promises are not based
upon our faith, and obedience. But, on His might, grace, and goodness.
He does it. Not us. (Gen. 18)
Our faith often leads us to reject things in this life, knowing God has a better plan.
Like Moses who chose to reject the high living of Pharaoh and suffer
with His own people. Because He knew that he would be the Deliverer and
knew that Christ would deliver us all. (the book of Exodus, Acts Chapter
7, Hebrews 11:26)
All of the Old Testament saints teach us that God gives us a Word, and by faith we believe that Word and follow Him.
Jesus is that Word. And when we turn to Him by Faith, He saves us and
directs our paths through His Holy Spirit and the relationship we have
with Him.
Even through persecutions and a tough life we keep turning to Him and calling out to Him in faith trusting His Word.
And even if we do not see the promises fulfilled in this life, we know that there is a better day.
So, since we are surrounded by the great saints of old and the lives
they lived we can turn to Jesus and trust Him through faith like they
did. Setting down our burdens and letting Him wash away our sin. So, we
can be free to live the life with him that he called us to live. (Heb.
12:1)
Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. He wrote it, and will bring it to pass in our lives. Not by our works but His.
And it was a joy to Him to endure the suffering and shame of the
cross for us. Then sit down at the right hand of God in power. (Heb.
12:2)
Through faith we are saved and our faith grows as God builds it
through our relationship. And every bad thing we face, and every good
thing we receive, all works together to build our faith as we turn to
Him and trust Him.
And His promises will come.
They come today. They come in the future. And they come forever.
Trust Him.
-----
Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from
Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has
written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ a collection of dystopian short stories.“The Future is Coming” and his latest book “The Latter Days‘ is a book on Bible Prophecy and avoiding the deceptions to come.
Jesus tells us a story about a young man who left home and went to make a name for himself. (Luke 15:11-32)
It could be a kid going to college with his parents credit card.
Or a kid chasing a dream with his fathers support and blessing.
We know this guy. We have seen him or her in our families or neighbors. We have seen them in ourselves.
We are free. We don’t have to answer to anyone.
We are trying to make it. We are chasing a dream or forced to take care of ourselves.
But we get pulled off the path.
Like the man in Jesus’ story.
He started riotous living. He started making friends in low places.
He was meeting all the best guys or best girls. He was getting drunk and
using drugs of all kinds. He was down at the club, or local bar. He
woke up next to all kinds of people.
And all the dreams died.
We’ve been there, or seen people there. We can smell the smells,
taste the tastes and hear the sound of the music thumping. We’ve done
the beer runs, and smoked the things that make us wanna go get some
more.
They are living for the party. Living for friends. Maybe living the
dream. But, it’s not the real dream. It’s not real hopes and dreams.
Jesus says that trouble comes. A famine in the land.
And trouble always comes. The party always ends.
It could be an accident that causes it. Maybe a divorce or break up. The loss of income and friends. Illness.
But, the party ends.
This causes us to get desperate. These times of trouble can lead us
to draw more into the party life, trying to hold on. Drinking and
drugging more to try to numb the fear and pain. Chasing things that is
not good for us. Trusting people we should not trust. Waking up in
places we do not want to wake up in. As our friends abandon us.
And we break. We have no choice. We are ruined.
Jesus said, the man went and got the worst job possible. The lowest of the low, just to keep himself from starving.
But, even that wasn’t working. He wanted to eat the pigs food.
We might end up homeless, digging in the dumpsters. We might even
consider a life of crime. Stealing, selling drugs, stripping and
prostitution to survive.
We hit rock bottom. We are as low as we think we can go.
Do not be deceived. There are always worst things that can happen. Rock bottom has a basement.
Jesus said, that the man woke up. He was willing to be a slave in His fathers house.
How desperate are you? Are you desperate enough to turn to God and
say “I can’t do it! I don’t know what to do! But, I need you! Do
whatever you want but please save me and help me.”
Are you so desperate to be free from your troubles and addictions and
life, that you just give it all to God, and even if He kills you or
throws you in prison or cripples you, it’s ok.
How desperate are you?
Jesus said the man went to see his father. He was desperate. He had ruined his life and was not worthy for anything good.
But, the father saw his child a long way off, and ran to him. And hugged him and held him.
That’s God.
He sees our broken and desperate heart, long before we even get to
Him. And He comes running. He comes running to save us and help us.
He wraps His arms around us and makes us His child. He brings us a robe and a ring and we are with the father forever.
And our life changes. We see things happening. Good or bad, but it’s
ok because the Father is with us. He shakes it out and gives us hope. He
grows our faith as we draw closer to Him. And we see him move. And more
faith grows.
The dreams come back to life and we see them growing in Him. We see
good things coming into our life, and it comes even more abundantly.
God himself is working in our life and everything is fine.
He blesses us where we are because we are His. We are His child and we turn to Him and know Him.
And He always comes running when we turn to Him. He always moves to
help us, even when we can’t see it. He is working and it will work out.
He is with us.
I often run into Christians who speak of the devil as though he is
powerless and weak. That he is a defeated foe and not a real enemy.
It’s almost like they haven’t actually read the Bible.
Yes, Christ defeated Satan on the cross.
Yes, God is in complete control.
But, no where in the scriptures have I found instructions for us to ignore the enemy. or act like he has no power.
As a matter of fact the Apostle Peter says, “Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing
that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in
the world.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)
A lion will roar, and it will cause the herd to flee. This gives the
lion a chance to devour the young, weak and infirm. We have the power
through faith to resist. But, it is an obvious affliction on those who
are attacked.
It’s not something to be ignored, or belittled.
We are told in the book of Jude to not be foolish in how we speak of
Satan, the fallen angels and spiritual forces. They have power and
authority. (Jude)
Paul says That we are not to be ignorant of the enemy. (2 Corinthians 2:11)
So, we need to know what we are facing. Not to treat the enemy as if
he is nothing or ignore him, but to face the enemy properly.
We are called to resist. But, how can you resist if you do not know anything about the enemy? (1 Peter 5:8-9, James 4:7)
So, let’s do a quick overview of the enemy.
It is believed that Satan fell through pride because he wants to be God. (Isa. 14:12-15)
At some point after his fall, he used a Serpent to deceive Eve, and get Adam to fall. (Gen.3)
Adam had dominion of the Earth. But, when he fell Satan took that
dominion. That is how he became the god of this world. (2 Cor. 4:4)
There’s a lot more to this story, but it could lead to an entire book.
So, Satan has authority in this world.
Paul plainly states it. All the Apostles state it.
When a person is born into the world they are born in a right
standing with God. They are subject to death, but not hell. Until they
commit the first sin, knowing it’s a sin. Then, they are subject to
hell, just like all humans.
It is also at this time that the person becomes a slave to Satan.
They are his children. They are his slaves to various degrees.
(Ephesians 2:2)
Here’s where some Christians will jump up and say “Yeah but he is defeated! God is in control!”
Yes, Jesus defeated the enemy on the cross. And there will be a future victory as well. (Gen. 3, Luke 10:18, Revelation)
This means that when Jesus died and rose, He defeated Satan. He set
the prisoners free. ALL the prisoners or slaves under Satan’s control
are free. But, only a few will hear the call and turn to Jesus to obtain
it.
Saints are free from the control of Satan. We are saved and cannot
lose it. But, as the Bible warns we can open doors and let the enemy
back into our lives again. We can fall under that power. Take addictions
as an example. (Matt. 12:43-45)
We can also still be impacted by Satan working through other people or nature.
All of this is plainly taught by the scriptures.
But, there will still be those who say “Yeah but God is in control!”
He certainly is.
Nothing can happen to us that God has not allowed.
We see this both in the book of Job, and when Jesus tells Peter that Satan has asked to sift him as wheat. (Luke 22:31-33)
Why? Why does God allow the devil access to us?
It seems that Satan has some kind of legal authority to ask, and
expect an answer. We can speculate on why this is. But, we do not fully
understand how things work in the spirit realms.
What we can say is that we have faith and power in Jesus Christ to
resist the enemy. We have access to the King in prayer. We have God’s
Word and promises we can stand on. We also have a relationship with God.
We know Him. We know His character, and the Holy spirit dwells in us.
So, we know that God is always good. He seeks good always. He loves
us and wants us with Him. So, no matter what happens, He is on our side,
and we can use it to grow closer to God, and grow in faith. We can turn
evil around for good.
But, how can you do that if you do not recognize evil? If you ignore
the fact that we have an enemy, how can you stand against him or turn
his attacks around for good? (Rom. 12:21, 2 Cor. 10:1-6)
If you feel that everything comes from God, then how can you call anything “Evil”?
Does God do evil?
Of course not, but He does allow things to happen. It’s our job to
have faith in Him and turn to Him. Then turn the evil for good. We use
it to save people or help people.
The scriptures tell us that the enemy possesses power. So, let’s do a
list of what this power is. And I am in know way stating that this is
everything. But, starting from the beginning of the Bible and going
through we see that the enemy has the power to…
Deceive people who are walking with God and know Him, if they are not
careful. If they doubt God’s Word, and Goodness. He can use our loved
ones to get us to turn from God. He can use nature as a cover for his
activities. We see this in Adam and Eve.
We can see in the book of Job, that Satan and his angels go about the
Earth. We see that He has the power to cause a tornado to kill people.
He can get humans to rob and kill others. He has the power to cause
disease. He has the power to get our loved ones to turn against us. He
also has the power to kill. (God would not let Him kill Job.)
The book of Job shows us that no matter what happens God is with us and we are to stay with Him. Trusting Him and His Goodness.
But, we see here that Satan is the prince of the power of the air.
He apparently has power to control the weather. Which explains why we
see ancient people all over the world making human sacrifices of babies
to gods, so they can have good weather for crops, and fertility. We see
the destruction weather and climate can cause.
He uses humans to kill, steal and destroy, obviously. How does this
control occur? It’s possible that it starts with a whisper into the mind
of a leader who then gets men to follow him. A leader whom Satan worked
to put into a position of power.
We see that he gave Job a disease. We do not know what disease. It doesn’t matter.
All of this, the destructive weather, violence of men and disease,
came upon Job and led Him into despair. So, Satan can also cause
despair. (Except for God. Job continued to trust God and lean toward
Him, and that’s what saved him.)
Job also shows that Satan can get our loved ones to betray us, or at least add to our torment.
I tell you this so we can recognize what is going on around us and
pray properly or respond correctly. We respond with spiritual warfare.
We respond with love and prayer and praise and trust in God, and His
promises. We overcome evil with good. We take the bad that happens to us
and turn it around to serve God and help and save people.
So, let’s fast forward to the New Testament.
Immediately after Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. (Matt. 4:1-11)
This is a lesson for us. Have you ever considered that the moment you
got saved and was baptized Satan was allowed to tempt you, and sift you
as wheat?
I’m not saying he is. I’m not saying it happens to everyone, all the time.
But, the question must be asked. If you’ve never been tempted by the
enemy, or faced spiritual warfare, then whose child are you?
The temptations Jesus faced are temptations we all face, except for Christ, they were far more extreme.
We learn that we can overcome these things by faith in God and His goodness, as well as using His Word.
So, we see that the enemy has the power to tempt us, and try to get
us to fall. But, we can resist and if we fail we can turn to God and
confess it to Him. (1 John 1:8-10)
We also see that Satan has power over the nations of the Earth. This is confirmed in the book of Daniel. (Dan. 10)
Paul also speaks of how the enemy has power in high places. (Eph. 6:12)
When we look at the ministry of Jesus we see that there are unclean
spirits and demons that work in peoples lives. and we are called to wage
war against them.
We also see that his greatest earthly rival was the religious leaders.
Jesus plainly said they were the children of the devil. (John 8:44-47)
So, we can say that Satan used religious leaders to kill Jesus and
persecute the Church. He got these religious leaders, to use the
governmental powers, to kill people, and impose laws upon them to
destroy their freedom.
The Bible also says that there are false brethren, false teachers, and false prophets. (2 Cor. 11:26, 2 Pet. 2:1)
All of whom are probably listening to Satan.
Since he is the god of this world, and has power over the disobedient
children. and he has power over nations, governments and religious
leaders.
Then, we can say that the empires seeking to conquer the world, are
doing it by his authority. That when they oppress people and persecute
saints, it is by Satan’s authority, throughout history and even today.
Ok?
We see from Jesus’s ministry that the enemy can cause a friend to
betray us and deny us. Even in the face of death. Even to betray us to
people who will kill us.
Friends and family.
The Bible teaches that saints will be betrayed unto death by those closest to us. (Luke 21:16)
History teaches it.
We see saints dying the most horrific deaths for Christ, caused by the devil.
The enemy will attack and tempt our family in order to get them into
terrible situations simply to hurt us. But, we turn this for good and
tell them about Christ.
All of the apostles and saints around the world have faced
persecution. And there is more to come. That is the reality, even though
we might not face it in our current time.
So, as you can see the enemy has power. We are not called to belittle
it, but to stand against it. We are not called to fear it, but to turn
it around for good.
It is a tactic of the enemy to get believers to not wage war, by making us think he has no power.
Now, understand that through Christ we have power and authority over
the enemy. Through faith we can stand on His Word. We are overcomers
through Him who is in us.
But, if you think there is no enemy you won’t exercise that power.
People crack jokes and say “The devil made me do it.”
Well, maybe he did. Maybe instead of joking about it, we need to wage war and make sure of what is going on.
Maybe there is a devil behind every bush. Maybe it’s a roaring lion.
God is with us, but we are called to wage war. If we are saved we are free from Satan but we are still in a war.
God is with us. He protects us. Nothing can touch us unless it is allowed, and we can overcome it.
This life is just a moment. Every terrible thing only lasts for a second compared to eternity.
And when we die we go to be with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:1-8)
There’s no need for fear. There is no need to be focused on the enemy.
But, we are called to wage war.
We are called to turn to God and focus on Him, and we shall overcome.
It’s supposed to get us to wake up and turn to God, so He can save us and help us.
We fall on tough times. We have a spouse who betrays us. We have kids
who reject us. We have friends and family who throw us under the bus.
We lose jobs and homes and friends. We are ruined, even by people who
claim to be good Christians.
But, God will establish you. Just turn to Him.
He promises.
“the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.”—2 Thess. 3:3 KJV
Speak this promise to yourself to build up faith. Faith comes by
hearing the promises of God. Speak it to yourself and hear what it says,
and believe it.
“The Lord is faithful. He will establish me and keep me from evil.”
Jesus prayed for you, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out
of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”—John
Chapter 17 (verse 15) KJV
It’s going to happen.
Just turn to Him. Pray and ask Him to save you and help you. Trust Him. Follow Him.
We can look at Joseph. ( Genesis Chapter 30-Chapter 50 KJV)
His brothers betrayed him and threw him into a pit.
That’s just like how you’ve been betrayed or lied to or destroyed by people claiming to be family or friends or others.
They were going to kill him, but God used one of the brothers to speak mercy, because God had a plan.
He has a plan for you. He has made a way for you to escape. Trust Him.
They sold him into slavery.
They lied to his father, and anyone else who might need to know. They covered up their lies and betrayal.
When you do good you don’t have to hide it. When you do God’s will, it’s ok if you get found out.
But, God was with Joseph.
I’m sure there were some times, when it was scary, and Joseph didn’t
know what was going to happen. There were probably times the devil
whispered into his ear to get him to fear and doubt.
I’ve had the same. You probably have to.
But, God came through.
Joseph went to work for a decent man named Potiphar, who God used to
lift Joseph up to the highest place in that man’s household.
God established Joseph. He set him in charge of everything. Simply because Joseph trusted God.
What the devil tried to destroy, God saved and established. What his brothers sought for evil, God turned around for good.
And He can do it for you. He’s done it for me, and will again.
But, the devil wasn’t done with trying to derail God’s plan.
Potiphar’s wife came tempting Joseph.
The type of temptation is irrelevant.
The devil can use all kinds of things to try to trip us up.
He tempts our flesh to see if we will bite. Then he destroys us. It
could have been theft, or too much wine. It could have been an accident
or misunderstanding. It could be a bad boss who the devil uses to get
you to fail. If you fail, just turn to God, confess it and let Him grow
you.
But Joseph did not fail. He resisted and resisted.
He wanted to be right with God. The God who had established Him. The God who had given him everything.
But, Potiphar’s wife lied and falsely accused Joseph. And he was thrown into jail.
You might have been lied on. They might have twisted things to
destroy you because you would not submit to their evil ways or abuses.
They might have listened to the rantings of a petty person who always
wants to get their way.
Remember God sees. Revenge is His, He will repay.
And He will establish you. Which is probably the best revenge. Keep your heart pure, despite their evil.
God established Joseph again. He made him head trustee in the jail.
That’s God. He can bless you in the midst of terrible things.
When they seek to do you wrong, know that God will establish you and
keep you from evil. He will bless you. He turns all things around for
our good. Just turn to Him and love Him.
All that time in Potiphar’s house, and being trustee in the jail was
preparing Joseph and training him. Not just in practical things, but
preparing him in spirit. Joseph continued to abide in God and trust Him.
Till the time came for the blessing to break free.
And God raised him up and established him again, as the head of
Egypt. It was an Egypt who needed a wise worker from the darkest pits.
God established him, and He will establish you.
“The Lord is faithful. He will establish me and keep me from evil’
It’s a promise.
Turn to Him. Trust Him. Abide in Him. Have a relationship with Him. Endure the attacks that come and stay with Him.
God will establish you.
Your faith in Him and His promises will move mountains.
And on that final day, you will be with Him in Paradise.
Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from
Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has
written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ a collection of dystopian short stories.“The Future is Coming” and his latest book “The Latter Days‘ is a book on Bible Prophecy and avoiding the deceptions to come.
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because
thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt
be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I
will also forget thy children.”—Hosea 4:6
When you read this verse in context, you will find that the people of ancient Israel at this time did not know God.
They had all kinds of information about God. They had priests and prophets. They had God’s Law. But, they did not know God.
God is not concerned about whether we have knowledge of Him, or His
laws. He wants us to know HIM. When we know HIM. We grow in our ability
to Walk in the Spirit. Which means we grow in our ability to obey His
laws. Because like Jesus said,
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.”— Matt. 22:37-40
When you love. You are obeying. When we know God and are taught by
the Spirit, we are in relationship with God. This is Walking in the
Spirit.
It’s not about trying to beat yourself up to obey a set of laws
because God is going to get mad at you or get His heart broke. That’s
what knowing ABOUT God does to you.
But, when you know God, and have a relationship with Him. It’s not
about obeying a set of laws. It’s about Him working in your life to grow
you, so that you are just walking in the Spirit with Him.
The people of Israel at this time did not know God, and this allowed
terrible trouble to come into their lives. Israel had made a commitment
to be God’s people. They were supposed to be a shining light on a hill,
designed to draw all people in the world to know God.
Every person in Israel was supposed to be so learned of God, and know
Him so intimately that they were ALL considered priests, in essence.
But, the fact that they did not know God, opened doors for destruction
into their lives.
Basically, since the parents didn’t know God. The children would
suffer from it. Drunken parents who don’t know God, lead to drunken
kids, who do not know God. And when the kids hit rock bottom, they do
not know who to cry out to because they were never led to know God.
As Christians we are grafted in to Israel. That means that on a
spiritual level; in the eyes of God, we are adopted children. We are in
the covenant. We are treated as equals and joint heirs. (Romans 11)
So as believers we look at what happened in the past and we learn truth from it. Paul said,
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might
have hope.” —Rom 15:4
So, we can apply this verse in Hosea to ourselves, and what we see in our churches and our own households, and nation.
We are destroyed because we do not know God. We know about Him. We
have heaped to ourselves teachers. We go to Church, Bible Studies, and
read the latest fad book, from the best Christian authors. But, do we
know Him? We sit in our church or car and clap to our favorite Christian
music, but do we know Him?
If you knew Him, you could not help but tell others. You could not
stop telling about the good things God has done for you. You could not
help but want to grow closer to Him.
Do you tell people about Jesus? Have you read the entire Bible, or is all your Bible knowledge from what your Church told you?
You cannot know Him, unless you are born again and let the Holy Spirit teach you.
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Is not about more information. It’s about knowing Him.
Are you saved? Ask God to save you and grow you. (Acts 2:21)
Turn to God and confess to Him that you believe Jesus is the Lord,
and you want Him to be your Lord. Believe that He rose from the dead.
This is believing God. It is believing what God has told you in His
Word. (Romans 10:9-10, Romans 4:3)
Ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit and teach you. (Luke 11:11-13, John 16:13)
The Bible says, “But the anointing which ye have received of him
abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same
anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and
even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”—1 John 2:27
This means that God himself is perfectly capable of teaching you.
Believe this. Trust this, and let Him. This is the relationship.
Just talk with God. Just be real in prayer. Do you believe He is
real? Do you believe He is with you always? Then, talk to Him like He
is. Do you believe He is your father and friend? Then, talk to Him like
He is. Be real with Him.
Do you really believe He can teach you? Then treat him like your teacher.
When you read your Bible. If you do not understand something. Or get
confused. Instead of running to the preacher, or a friend or the
commentaries. ASK GOD.
Pray about it. This is part of the relationship and growth. Ask Him.
Then trust that He hears you and will open the scriptures to you. Then,
move on. Keep reading and living and praying.
It might take time. This is part of learning patience, and learning
to trust God. But, as you read and study, one day you will come across a
verse that will jump out at you. This is called “Quickening”. The Word
comes to life.
Then, the question you asked will be opened up to you, and this new
verse, will make connections to the verse you asked about and it will
make perfect sense. It will be an “Aha!” moment. This is God teaching
you. Not only does this teach you. But, it builds your relationship with
God, and strengthens your faith.
But if you run to the pastor, and ask them about the verse or
question. You miss the chance to know God. It becomes head knowledge
about the author of the Word, instead of knowing the Author. When you
take time and care to know the writer, a transfer of relationship
occurs. God will teach you. Trust Him.
You must remember that on Judgement day. The worst thing to hear is “Depart from me I never KNEW you.” (Matt. 7:21-23)
What I am telling you is how you come to know Him. Did you really get
saved? Or is it just words you spoke and words you hear every Sunday?
Our salvation, opens the door to knowing Him. If you never got saved,
then you can’t know Him. If you don’t care to know him. Then, you
probably did not get saved.
Jesus said, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him
will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever
shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is
in heaven.”
If you won’t tell people about Jesus, then you gotta ask if you really know Him? Are you really saved?
Look at the story of the Gadarene demoniac. (Luke 8)
Jesus cast demons out of a man and saved his life. Jesus then told
Him “Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done
unto thee.”
That is our testimony. That is how we overcome the enemy. We tell
people about Jesus. We tell people about the great things God has done
in our lives. (Rev. 12:11)
But if we cannot do this, we gotta ask ourselves, why? Do we really
know him? Have we really seen Him doing great things in our lives? Or
are we just going to church?
If every Christian told all their friends and family and Facebook
friends about the great things God has done in their lives, what would
our country look like?
But, you can’t tell others if you don’t know Him.
How else does the Spirit teach us? He teaches us through our lives.
If we read scripture and do not understand something, we can ask God.
Now, sometimes God might show us in the Word. Or He might bring a
teacher to us. Or He might open something else up to teach us from our
lives.
For example, we can learn a lot about how God loves us and treats us
by looking at how we love our own kids. We are His children. If we love
our kids, how much more does he love us?
Does this lead to more questions? Then, ask God and He will show you.
God has gifted people to be teachers of the Word. Teachers of the
Spirit. God will lead you to the ones He wants you to learn from.
Again, this is something between you and God. HE is teaching you. But,
He has led you to someone that is teaching what God wants you to learn.
God can lead you to different teachers or many teachers. But, it is God
who is teaching, if you let Him guide you to the one He wants you to
learn from.
You are not here by accident.
There are times of trouble which can come into our lives. If we turn
to God, He will help us and can use it to show us things about Himself.
Again, we want to KNOW God. Not know about Him. When we face trouble,
and draw closer to God we learn of HIM, when we see Him move in our
life.
Our life turns to shambles, when we don’t turn to Him and know Him.
This shambles is a call to turn to Him. It’s a chance to know Him.
Do you know Him? Let Him grow you.
Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from
Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has
written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ a collection of dystopian short stories.“The Future is Coming” and his latest book “The Latter Days‘ is a book on Bible Prophecy and avoiding the deceptions to come.
In order to understand the Gospel. We must accept God's power and
authority. God has awesome power and can save whoever He wants. However
He wants.
1. God calls us. No one is saved without
first being called by Him. If you are saved. Then you are called. God
calls everyone. If you are reading this, then you are being called. God
uses many methods to call us and draw us to Himself. He might call us many
times in life. He calls everyone.
God speaks into our mind and hearts. When He calls we hear it and we know it's Him. We can either accept or reject.
We
might not understand. We might not want to hear Him. We might put it
off, or reject, but we cannot say He didn't call, and we didn't hear. He
is God. He knows. Be real.
But what about the
guy in the jungle somewhere? Yes. God has called him somehow, and he
has heard. Perhaps he looked at a starry night and thought someone made
this, and God spoke to him and said "I made it" and the man believed and
wanted to know more.
Whether he accepted or not is between him and God. Not all saved people will look like you.
God is working. Trust Him.
2.
Belief! A person hears the call and believes it's from God (
Full understanding is not required) and the person turns to God (repent)
God knows, God sees, God understands. Whether we do or not is
irrelevant.
The picture in the scriptures is
Jesus calling His disciples. He said, "come follow me" and they knew
they should listen and they followed. They did not know the cost. They
just heard and followed. Jesus did not require anything else.
Another
picture is the prodigal son. He "comes to himself" and goes home in
humility to the father, and the father comes running. The father
demanded nothing. When the son woke up, that is what happens when we
hear the call. We realize the Truth.
Another
picture is the thief on the cross. He was guilty. He knew it. He was one
step above death. And he realized who Jesus really was. He heard the
call in his heart and woke up. He called Jesus "Lord" and put his faith
in him. Nothing else.
Just turn to God and trust in Him. Be real with Him. Just ask.
3.
God will bring you to Jesus Christ. It might happen immediately or it
might happen later. But, God will show you that Jesus Christ is the
Lord. When we see it, we confess Jesus is the Lord and believe God
raised Him from the dead. ( Roman's 10:9-10)
When
you hear the call, then turn to God and confess Jesus is the Lord,
putting your faith in Him for salvation you are saved. You cannot lose
it or give it away. God holds it. He owns you. Your salvation is totally
on God. Not you.
4 What about works? Faith
without works is dead? Well, confessing Jesus is Lord with your mouth
is a work. And that's all God requires. Your faith and confession of
Christ.
When you get saved The Holy Spirit
comes to dwell in you and He teaches you. He grows you. He helps you in
your relationship with Jesus.
He leads you into
works. He leads you into Baptism which is a work.. He leads you into
Communion which is a work. He leads you into Fellowship with
other believers . He gives you a hunger to read God's Word..
The Holy Spirit helps you to Love God and others. He gives you a
ministry to serve God and others
5. Sin and sanctification. Notice I
said nothing about sin so far. Because before we are saved we do not really
know how fallen We are. We do not know how wicked we are. Sure we might
realize something is wrong. Or that we do things wrong. But we do not
fully know.
And we are not required to. God
knows. He calls us, and loves us anyway. He wants us to turn to Him and
confess Jesus is the Lord, so He can save us and cleanse us.
But
we are not required to understand all that. We might know we sin. We
might know we fail. We might know we need Him. But, we might not
understand. We just know He called us. And we need Him.
After we get saved. God washes us in the Blood of Christ. This cleanses us of all sin. Forever.
It is finished.
Then
as we walk through our lives, the Holy Spirit teaches us and grows us.
He molds us and shapes us and we become different people. We sin less
and less as He sanctifies us. But, we were already forgiven the day we
were saved.
When we sin we confess our sins to
God. This is a work. This brings it up between you and Him. And as you keep confessing
over time, the Lord changes your mind and heart and you find that you no
longer do those things. Confessing sin to God and growing and abiding in
Him is a work. But you were saved the minute you turned to Him.
It's all totally God. Not you. We are to turn, believe, confess and abide. All of which He helps us to do.
Praise Jesus. God does it. He has made it as simple as possible. We have no excuse.
-----
Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from
Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has
written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ a collection of dystopian short stories.“The Future is Coming” and his latest book “The Latter Days‘ is a book on Bible Prophecy and avoiding the deceptions to come.
The early church had three things that helped them grow and take over the Roman Empire.
First, they had the Holy Spirit. They were saved and filled with the Holy Ghost, who led them and guided them in their work.
If your church never speaks of or teaches the Holy Spirit. If they do
not listen to or operate through the Holy Spirit. That should be a big
red flag. Especially in these last days.
Second, the saints of old were willing to die for what they believed.
They faced terrible persecution. They were fed to lions, crucified and
burned. They faced it with joy. This led the people of Rome to see that
they really believed, and therefore the Gospel might be true. The early
church put their money where their mouth is, so to speak.
Now, many have faced death for what they believe. But, the difference
is that the early church saw death as a door to going home to be with
the Lord. Their belief was real. Our attitude towards death is to be
different than the world’s. We see death as an escape from this world,
and being with Christ. (Phil. 1:21-30)
We get saved, and the Holy Spirit works in our life. We see that God
is real and we trust Him. This leads us to see death as a gateway to new
life. We are going home.
The third thing is love. The Holy Spirit works in our life and
develops love in us. It is a love that defies our fleshly reason. Love
that speaks against our corrupted nature.
The early church grew because of this love.
The ancient world was harsh. It is said that over 90% of Rome were
slaves. We could say the same about modern America. These slaves were
totally controlled by their masters. They had to ask permission for
everything. They could be fired (Killed) for no real reason. Every
aspect of their lives was controlled by the master. They were considered
a reflection of the master (business)
I say this, to make the connection between conditions then and now.
They were very similar in spirit. The same Demon or Spirit that ruled
behind the scenes in Rome, still rules today around us.
These slaves had nothing of their own. It was all owned by their master. (Bank/State)
So here comes the early Christians. They acted weird. They had faith
which made them willing to die spiritually and physically to this world.
They showed crazy love, not abuse. It was so much different than the
world around them. Not because they stopped sinning, but because they
loved and had faith.
They had church gatherings where they shared food and money to help
each other succeed. They sold everything for this cause. They jumped in
with both feet, loving each other and the cause of Christ.
The other slaves were drawn by the Holy Spirit to be a part of this.
They wanted to know what this was. Of course some wanted to take
advantage, but many were for real. And even those who wanted to take
advantage were loved and got saved because of how they were treated in
comparison to how the world and the system treated them. They saw the
Holy Spirit working, they saw the faith, they saw the love. Real love.
Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”—(John 13:35)
Our success as believers comes through the Holy Spirit, Faith and
Love. It comes from God. We cannot do any of these things without Him.
We cannot love the way we should without Jesus. Without the Holy Spirit
growing and molding us.
Our success in this life as believers comes through the love and
support we give each other by the power of the Holy Spirit through
faith.
We see someone hurting and we help. We see someone fallen, and we
help them rise back up because the Holy Spirit leads us to show love to
them. We do this to everyone.
But, how much more should we help other saints?
Our love for our fellow saints shows whether we are even saved or not.
When we see someone who goes to our church hurting, suffering, fallen
or in need; do we help them or ignore them? Do we cast them aside
because they fell or do we go to them? Do we support them in ministry,
business and life? Or do we ignore them because they don’t measure up to
traditions of men? I shouldn’t even need to post bible verses to prove
it.
Shouldn’t the leaders of the church be leading the church in love? To
help others? to support the saints in life and in their ministry work
for Christ? Not to be seen of men or to look good because you’re
supporting the latest fad. But, to help those people Jesus speaks of in
Mathew 25. It’s easy to love children in need. But, our love is supposed
to be big enough to love the prisoner. To love the enemy.
This love can only come by the Holy Spirit. Course, if your church
doesn’t really believe in the Holy Spirit, that could be a problem.
All saints are gifted for service. Our service comes by the Holy
Spirit working through us and developing the fruit in us. Is that
happening in you or in your church? Does all your church love terminate
on a few “obedient” people?
Do you have little cliques in your church? Groups of people who
control everything and no one else can get inside or be a real part of?
Are you a respecter of persons? Like James spoke about; embracing the
rich while destroying and ignoring the poor or lower class? (James
2:1-9)
Is that love?
Real love is shown in Christ, when he died for those who hate Him, and forgave them.
Love is explained in First Corinthians chapter 13.
Love is shown throughout the Word.
Love is shown in how God has loved you.
Love is shown by doing unto others what you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:31)
We are to overcome evil with good. (Rom. 12:21)
Loving others, is good and is a form of spiritual warfare. When we
see evil such as poverty, or oppression or disease, we respond with
love. We don’t victim blame. or make unrighteous judgements. We help.
When evil is done to us we turn it around for good, by faith and love
with the Holy Spirit.
We are saved by Grace,through faith. Not by works. (Eph 2:8-10)
We are not saved by Love. We are saved by God’s love and grace, but
not our own. However, our love for the saints and others is a reflection
of what God has done for us. It is a reflection of Jesus. It is the
Holy Spirit working in and through us.
We win the fight of faith through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in
us. Our love is through Him. All our failures work to lead us and grow
us in Him if we turn to Him. These failures and hurts teach us to love,
and have faith in Him. (Rom 8:28)
We succeed in Him.
Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from
Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has
written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ a collection of dystopian short stories.“The Future is Coming” and his latest book “The Latter Days‘ is a book on Bible Prophecy and avoiding the deceptions to come.
We all face trouble in life. It is something we can all agree upon.
No matter who you are, something bad will eventually come to cause you
trouble. Something will break your heart. Something will break you down.
Something will make you crazy, concerned or confused.
When we look at the story of Job in the Bible. We see a lot of spiritual truth that we can apply to our lives.
Now, understand that trouble is relative to you. Just because someone
on the other side of the Earth is in extreme poverty with nothing.
Doesn’t make your problems any less concerning. Just because someone
else is dying of some terrible disease, doesn’t make your troubles any
less destructive to your life.
Evil is evil, in whatever form it manifests. We need to stop
belittling peoples troubles and start solving problems. It’s very
possible that if we solved the petty problems, they would not become the
huge problems. If we cared about the person who can’t afford simple
things, we might also care about the person in total poverty and solve
the problem. If we care about the person with a flu bug, we might also
care about the dying man, or even prevent disease from growing.
I say this because Job, faced terrible tribulation. He lost
everything he owned, His children were all killed, and his health was
attacked. On top of that, his wife was against him.
Just because Job’s troubles were really bad, doesn’t mean yours are
not concerning to you. The Bible often gives us the most extreme vision
of things so that we will see that our troubles are also able to be
overcome. The same faith can overcome all of it. The same God is with us
in all of it, no matter how big or small.
In the book of Job, Satan comes to God and asks to test Job. He claims that if Job is mistreated he will turn from God.
That is the focus of the story and that is our focus. Nothing else matters.
It doesn’t matter how bad the trouble was. It doesn’t matter if God
allowed it. It doesn’t matter if Satan did it, or God did it. None of it
matters.
Because Job had no clue. He just knows he is having trouble. His
whole life has been upended. We even see toward the end of the book that
Job is confused and has questions. It’s ok to have questions, doubts
and confusion. But, Job turned to God. Job stayed with God. That’s the
point.
When we face trouble, we often have no clue what’s going on. We might
think it’s nature. Or God is punishing us or the devil is attacking us.
We might know exactly what we did or didn’t do. We might be suffering
because of something done to us by people who claim to love us.
None of it matters.
The answer for all of it is the same. Turn to God.
Pray to Him, ask Him to save you and help you. Listen to His guidance.
Job said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15)
He turned to God and trusted Him. Even if God chose to kill him, Job
knew God was good and had good reasons. He trusted God, and continued
walking in the way that he was walking in his life, because he did not
see that he had done anything wrong. And he hadn’t. God will let you
know.
The whole point of the story is that Job turned to God and stayed
with Him. No matter how bad. No matter what philosophies, or good
intentions from friends. No matter how much a friend called him a
sinner. No matter how much pain and humiliation. Even when his wife, was
led by Satan to say, “Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse
God, and die.”
Job stayed with God. He trusted God and turned to God.
Now understand that I am not talking about going to church. You can
go to church all you want and still not know God. You can be the
greatest member of your church and still be lost.
Do you know Him? Do you trust Him? Turn to Him.
This can be seen in the Garden when Satan through the Serpent,
tempted Eve. He caused her to doubt God’s promises and His goodness.
(Gen. 3)
That is the the devil’s favorite tactic. To get us to stop trusting
God and to not reach out to Him. Once that’s done, we have no real hope
or real help. We are defenseless and powerless.
This is why God brought the curse. It is designed to cause us to turn to God.
When Adam ate of the fruit all humanity gained a corrupted nature
through him. The only solution is to turn to God for salvation and
help. The Curse causes us to seek that help, if we are willing.
Always turn to God. Turn to Him in everything, and He will save you, lead you, grow you and know you.
You have a choice. Do not let trouble or the enemy drive you away from God. Turn to Him and let Him work.
Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from
Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has
written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ a collection of dystopian short stories.“The Future is Coming” and his latest book “The Latter Days‘ is a book on Bible Prophecy and avoiding the deceptions to come.
