May 1, 2023: 2 Peter 3:11 - What Manner of Persons Ought You to Be

“Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness…” - 2 Peter 3:11

In the prior verse, Peter tells us that everything in the heavens and the earth will melt with fervent heat when the day of the Lord comes. In verse 11, he is exhorting us, believers in Christ, that if we know this fact, then we should live our lives in a way that we place our existence, our true lives, in our eternal home above all the comforts that we may have in our temporary home here on earth.

What will happen when governments and global organizations turn even more tyrannical than they are now? Since March 2020, when it was decided to lock down the entire world because of a virus, the freedoms of people have been decreasing at a pace like never before. What will happen when it will be illegal to own a Bible not only in some countries but worldwide? We are already being censored on social media if we cling to that which God calls good and speak against that which God calls sin. Just this year, a British woman named Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested twice for silently praying in her head - not praying out loud - outside of an abortion clinic in Birmingham, England. While she was acquitted of the charges against her in her first arrest, we will see what happens this time. (See: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/mar/6/isabel-vaughan-spruce-again-arrested-thoughtcrime-/). The “thought police” are already here. This woman wasn’t violent, she wasn’t calling out the women who were walking into the abortion clinic as they went to get an abortion, she wasn’t admonishing those who perform abortions; she was simply praying in her head, perhaps praying that the women seeking an abortion would have a change of heart and would choose not to abort their babies but instead choose to give them life. As believers in Christ we will undergo more and more persecution such as this woman experienced, and we must choose if we will stand with God no matter the cost to our lives or cave to the powers that be.

The Old Testament prophet Daniel had to make a similar choice, and for him, it was a “no brainer”; he stood with God. He knew that his eternal security was worth more than anything that this world could offer him, even if it would cost him his life. Daniel was a Jewish young man, probably a teenager, when he and three of his friends were taken captive and exiled to Babylon when King Nebuchadnezzar had seized Judah when Israel and Judah were a divided kingdom of the Jews. Daniel had become prominent under the king because of his ability, through the power of Almighty God, to be able to tell to the king the dream that the king had dreamt which had troubled him greatly and Daniel was also able to interpret the dream, something which no one in the king’s palace had been able to, despite their lives being threatened by the king.

Daniel’s prominence continued to a subsequent king, King Belshazzar, an ancestor of King Nebuchadnezzar, perhaps his grandson. King Belshazzar had held a huge feast for over 1,000 people and had ordered his palace men to retrieve the holy vessels of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem that had been seized under Nebuchadnezzar. The king, his lords, his wives, his concubines all desecrated the vessels as they drank wine from them, all the while praising their false gods. In the same hour as they drank, there was a man’s hand that appeared on the wall and its fingers began to write something. The king saw it and became very afraid, so much so that “his knees knocked against each other.” Neither the king nor anyone in the palace could read what had been written on the wall. The queen, remembering that Daniel had been able to interpret King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, told the king that Daniel should be called to give the interpretation. The king summoned Daniel, and Daniel did explain it. Daniel reminded the king that King Nebuchadnezzar had been humbled and had given praise and glory to the Most High God, Daniel’s God and not the Babylonian false gods, but that King Belshazzar had not humbled his heart though he had known that his grandfather did. Then Daniel interpreted the writing on the wall, which read: “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.” [“Upharsin is the plural of “Peres”] The interpretation was as follows:

“MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” (Daniel 5:26-28)

The Bible tells us that the Babylonian empire was overthrown that overnight, by the Medo-Persian Empire, ruled under King Darius. Daniel’s prominence continued under King Darius, who made Daniel one of only three governors to rule over 120 satraps, who were accountable to the governors. Daniel was excellent at his governorship, “because an excellent spirit was in him,” and the king even considered making him leader over the whole realm. Consequently, Daniel’s fellow governors and satraps were jealous of him and went on a mission to destroy him. They knew the only way they could do it was with something that was “concerning the law of his God.” Thus, they set a trap for Daniel. They encouraged the king to enact a royal statute and decree that, “whoever petitions any god or man for thirty day, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.” The king signed the decree, and the men who were jealous of Daniel watched to see what he would do. The Bible tells us what Daniel did:

“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.” (Daniel 6:10-11)

The men reported Daniel to the king, who reluctantly ordered that Daniel be sent to the lions’ den. “But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, ‘Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.’” The king spoke truth. When the king came to the lions’ den early the next morning, he asked, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Daniel answered him - he had survived! “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.” Then King Darius gave a decree of truth:

“To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. For He is the living God, and steadfast forever; His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall endure to the end. He delivers and rescues, and He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.” (Daniel 6:25-27)

Just as the kingdom of the unrepentant and prideful king, King Belshazzar, was removed from him, so will the kingdoms of today’s rulers be removed from them by the mighty hand of God. Belshazzar was a man who knew of the miracle that Daniel had performed through the power and might of Almighty God of not only interpreting King Belshazzar’s grandfather’s dream but also telling his grandfather the dream he himself had dreamt. Daniel had later gone on to interpret another dream that his grandfather had dreamt. Belshazzar knew that his grandfather had given Daniel and his friends much responsibility in the Babylonian kingdom, and that his grandfather held them in high esteem and had praised Almighty God (Daniel 4:34-36).

Before Daniel had told King Nebuchadnezzar’s, Belshazzar’s grandfather’s dream to him and then interpreted it, Daniel prayed before God, and the secret - the dream and the interpretation of it - were revealed to him. Daniel then praised God, saying:

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells within Him. I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might. And have now made known to me what we asked of You, for You have made known to us the king’s demand.” (Daniel 2:20-23)

Yet, knowing all of this, King Belshazzar chose to live a wicked and corrupt life, and in a drunken feast of 1,000 as he defiled the articles that had been seized from the God’s holy temple, Belshazzar “praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.” (Daniel 5:4). On that very night, Belshazzar was slain by the Medo-Persian Empire, and his kingdom fell and was taken by Darius the Mede. All it took was one night for all that Belshazzar had worked for all of his life to be taken from him. As Daniel had previously prayed, “He [God] removes kings and raises up kings.” God had removed King Belshazzar and raised up Darius the Mede. It was that way then, and it is that way now.

As in another praise and honor to God, King Nebuchadnezzar’s words stand true then and they stand true today. The king had become full of pride and he was humbled by God when his kingdom had been removed from him by God. The king heeded Daniel’s advice to him, “…break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.” The king humbled himself, and his kingdom was restored to him by God:

“‘And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, “What have You done?”

‘At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me, I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.”' (Daniel 4:34-37)

How many presidents, prime ministers, and other government and non-government rulers and leaders in our world today are puffed up tremendously with pride, living arrogantly, thinking they have put themselves in the positions in which they are in, that they are the “elite” and deserve to live luxuriously, and instead of serving those whom they represent, those whom they represent are supposed to serve them? How many enact laws, executive orders, mandates, etc., that they themselves do not follow but demand their countrymen to obey them? Oh, the time is coming when these same leaders and their kingdoms will be removed, every single one of them, for Jesus’ kingdom is coming, sooner than most think.

We are living in extremely critical times. For the unsaved, I ask you this: are you putting your faith and trust in world rulers, world organizations, and world governments to save you, knowing that they all will be dissolved, or are you putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, whose kingdom will never be brought down and will last from generation to generation?

For believers in Christ, we should not be living our lives in ungodliness and sin. We should be striving to be like Daniel who prayed to God despite the king’s decree against it and like the woman who was arrested for simply praying a prayer in her head, despite what the government forbade her to do, for it is against God. We must be faithful to God and not go the way of the world, for as Jesus told us, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 7:13-14). Going the way of the world is the easy thing to do; it’s always difficult to go against the current, but it will be worth it in the end, when we are allowed entry into His eternal kingdom, “His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall endure to the end.” (Darius the Mede; Daniel 6:26c) ✝️

April 29, 2023: 2 Peter 3:10 - A Thief in the Night

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” - 2 Peter 3:10

On February 6, 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake severely rocked Turkey and Syria, awakening its residents in the darkness at 4:15 am. This devastating earthquake, which as of the date of this devotional has a combined death toll of nearly 60,000 people, came as a thief in the night. (See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Turkey–Syria_earthquake#:~:text=The%20confirmed%20death%20toll%20stood,disaster%20in%20its%20modern%20history.) There are reports that a Dutch seismologist named Frank Hoogerbeets had issued a warning via Twitter on February 3, 2023. “Hoogerbeets issued a tweet that read: ‘Sooner or later there will be a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in this region (South-Central Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon).’” See: https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2023/03/01/2861209/seismologist-who-predicted-turkey-earthquake-issues-another-warning). While this warning specifically named countries that would be affected, no one knew exactly when it would happen.

There is something coming that will make the destruction that happened in Turkey and Syria pale in comparison. There is a book that gives warning after warning, but sadly, most are not reading it and are not heeding it. The book is the Holy Bible, written by men as they received the word of God to warn the world of the coming judgment and how it can be escaped by believing in His Son Jesus Christ as Redeemer of their sin. Those who are not reading, hearing, and heeding His word have no idea what is to come upon this planet; to them, it will come like a thief in the night.

The Bible has quite a number of Scriptures that speak on the day of the Lord that Peter wrote about in today’s Scripture verse, including:

“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who dies for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)

This Scripture is packed full of information for those who read it:

• There is a clear distinction between “you” and “them.” When Paul refers to “you,” he is speaking to his fellow believers in Christ. The “them” are the unbelievers, those who did not accept the free gift of salvation through believing in Jesus as their Savior.

• The Lord comes in the night. The night, or darkness, is often represented in the Bible as evil and in unbelief, such as when Jesus said:

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed,. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (Jesus Christ; John 3:18-21)

• There is coming a time when people will proclaim “Peace and safety!” thinking that they are entering into a time of peace and when they feel safe. However, that is a false sense of peace and safety, and one which I believe the coming final antichrist will promote and pretend to desire when he confirms a covenant with Israel and other nations, as described in Daniel 9:27. Prior to confirmation of a covenant with Israel, the Bible tells us that Israel will be under threat even more so than it is today, especially in Jerusalem. While we don’t know the exact timing of this prophecy, we do know that something must happen that will cause the antichrist to sign the 7-year covenant with Israel and other nations.

  “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness [reeling] to all the surrounding peoples when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.” (Zechariah 12:2-3)

  There are many Christians who believe that the world’s problems will all converge and the unsaved people will cry out for someone to fix everything. I believe we are very close to seeing this happen. Because they have not accepted Jesus as their Savior, they will be deceived, by their own choice, into believing this man is the savior of the world, the one man they believe can fix the world and bring it back to the “normal” they long for. This idea is not far-fetched; consider the following quote from Paul Henri Spaak, first president of the UN General Assembly, first president of the European Parliament, and a former secretary general of NATO:

  “We do not need another committee. We have too many already. What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of all people, and to lift us out of the economic morass into which we are sinking. Send us such a man and be he god or devil, we will receive him.”

  (See: https://ministry127.com/resources/illustration/many-will-follow-the-antichrist)

  In the Bible, Daniel chapter 7 foretells of this world ruler and his coming one world government. Daniel had a vision of it:

  “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts [i.e., the former empires of Babylon, Medo-Persian, and Greece] that were before it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.” (Daniel 7:7-8)

  The fourth beast is the Roman Empire, and many believe the final antichrist, referred to as the one with “eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words” will come from a revived Roman empire. Daniel’s vision is then interpreted in the Bible:
  “The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, trample it and break it in pieces. The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; he shall be different from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings. He shall speak pompous words against the Most High [God], shall persecute the saints of the Most High [many Christians believe these are the people who have turned to Jesus during the tribulation period, not believers in Christ who are raptured/caught up to Him before the start of the tribulation period], and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.” (Daniel 7:23-25)

  Are we not already seeing many global organizations now, pushing to eliminate independent sovereignty of countries, hating nationalism and loving globalism? Examples of such organizations include the World Economic Forum (WEF), World Health Organization (WHO, United Nations, World Government Summit, and many others. In the past, the United Nations has previously divided the world into ten regional grouping in its “Local Agenda 21 - The UN Plan for Your Community.” It has already succeeded in implementing much of its plan and now is on to Agenda 2030, about which we have heard a lot recently. (For more information on the ten groupings, the UN’s plan, and how it relates to Bible prophecy, see: http://nuclearsuntan.blogspot.com/2011/11/un-divides-world-into-10-regional.html).

  There is also the push to move from a cash-based monetary system to the Central Bank Digital Currency (CDBC) system. CDBC will ultimately be centralized and controlled by the one world government. With that, it has all the power it needs for the coming final antichrist to control the world’s population by requiring all to take the mark of the beast (i.e., Satan) or the number of his name (i.e., 666) and worship his image in order to buy or sell. Possibly bringing us one step closer to the mark of the beast system, a US digital identity bill passed through to the Senate on April 6, 2023.

  The Bible tells us in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 that God will put people under a strong delusion because of their rejection of His Son Jesus and the truth. Consequently, they will believe the lie of the antichrist:

  “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)

  As Jesus said, “…and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Instead of listening to God, they believed the lie. Instead of getting peace and safety, they will enter into a 7-year time of tribulation upon the earth, known as the time of Jacob’s trouble, in which it will be like a woman giving birth, where the pains start as mild and far between, but as that baby is ready to be delivered, the pains are extremely painful, with little or no time in between to catch any relief. In some ways, it seems like we are already in this time. Just think of everything that has happened already in the first four months of 2023. The second half of the tribulation, the last 3-1/2 years, a total of 1,260 days, will be the worst time in human history in a period known as the “Great Tribulation.” This is when the antichrist will break his covenant with Israel and will declare himself as God in the recently built Jewish third temple, committing the abomination of desolation. It is only then that the Jews’ eyes will finally be opened and they will realize that he is not their Messiah but antichrist and will be on Him as their prophesied Messiah.

  The Bible is clear, everyone who does not believe in Jesus as their Savior will not escape from this terrible time. The only thing a person can do during the 7-year tribulation period is to turn to Jesus Christ and accept Him as their Savior, and it likely will cost them their lives. The Bible tells us that those who do not take the mark of the beast or the number of his name (i.e., 666) and worship his image, will be killed. (Revelation 13:16-17) To delay in making a decision to follow Jesus is not only putting one’s life at risk but also damning one’s eternal destination.

• Now, we read about those who are not in darkness but in light, those who chose to follow Jesus instead of rejecting Him. In 1 Thessalonians 5:4-11, Paul writes encouraging words and also cautionary words to believers in Christ. We are not to sleep, being unaware of the things that are to come, as prophesied in the Bible, we are to be awake and we are to be on guard. We are to pay attention to what is happening in the world and see how it aligns with the prophecies in the Scripture, and we must do this with a clear mind, not one clouded by the effects of alcohol, which hinders one’s ability to think clearly. We are to put on the armor or God in order to fight continually, in God’s power and might, against the spiritual battle that is being waged against us, for Satan wants to steal our soul away from God. We must put on the breastplate of faith, which guards our heart, and the helmet, which guards our head, as we remember where our hope is: in our salvation that is received only through our belief in Jesus Christ as our Savior; He is our salvation. The breastplate and the helmet of salvation guard our hearts and our minds so that we trust not in our feelings, as the world does, but with our minds, remembering the promise of Jesus Christ: “He who believes in Him [Jesus] is not condemned.'“

  Further, we are not appointed to God’s wrath. There is a difference between undergoing tribulations that we face each day and God’s wrath. God’s wrath is appointed for those who reject His Son. They are given every opportunity to turn to Him, even during the 7-year tribulation period. God will sends no one to hell; rather, people choose, in their unbelief, to go there when they die, rather they believe in it or not.

For those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, our future is one of light and hope, not of darkness and destruction. As the book of Daniel promises, the coming kingdom of God is one that will never be destroyed and only those who are saved by the blood of Jesus will be allowed entry into it.

“But the court shall be seated, and they shall take away his [antichrist’s] dominion, to consume and destroy it forever. Then the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High [all who have been saved by Jesus Christ]. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.” (Daniel 7:26-27)

As Peter said in today’s Scripture passage, the earth and the heavens will be burned up, and God will create a new heaven and a new earth:

“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.” (Revelation 21:1)

This is where the kingdom of God will be, and only those saved by the precious blood of Jesus will be allowed to enter it. Which kingdom will you enter into in your eternity, Satan’s or God’s?

“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Jesus Christ; Revelation 1:8) ✝️

April 26, 2023: 2 Peter 3:9 - God Wants All to Turn to Him

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” - 2 Peter 3:9

Why has it taken so long for God to send Jesus to earth a second time and in righteousness, judge the ungodly? Because God wants all of us to realize our need for Jesus, the One He sent so that we could accept of the free gift that cleanses us of all our sins - Jesus’ precious blood He shed on the cross and His subsequent resurrection - for without partaking of His free gift, we receive our due reward for sin: to be separated from Jesus for eternity in a place called hell.

Why do many people think that God should not judge the wicked? Do we expect our society not to judge those who commit crimes, just to let them go so that they can keep on committing them, no matter the cost to the innocent? If sin was left unpunished, we would have a complete collapse of society. I believe we are definitely headed in that direction. In a world that is increasingly rejecting Jesus Christ and believing that there is no God, sin is not sin, and we won’t be punished for it in this life or the next, everything starts to crumble, and eventually, it will implode upon itself. When God’s standards are not upheld in society, we are left with movements such as “defund the police,” only certain lives matter, which does not include the precious life of an unborn baby in its mother’s womb, promoting assisted suicide and devaluing the lives of the sick and the elderly, pushing rampant sexual perversion, worshipping of the climate instead of God, thinking that we can be our own gods and attempting to create our own immortality, and it never stops; it grows more wicked by the day.

We are all wicked in our hearts, as the Bible tells us:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

The world tells us to follow our hearts, which is the complete opposite of what the Bible tells us, of what Jesus told His disciples:

“Follow Me.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 4:19)

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” (Jesus Christ; John 10:27)

God will, at some point, determine that enough is enough, just as He did in the days of Noah and Lot. But this time, when He will send His Son Jesus Christ, it won’t be a rescue mission like it was the first that He came to earth; rather, it will be when the King of kings and Lord of lords comes to earth, clothed in a robe dipped in blood, with His armies in heaven with Him, all riding on white horses to “tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” and will destroy with the sword of His mouth all who chose to remain in their wickedness, loving their sin and not turning to Jesus (Revelation 19:11-21). He paid the debt for all their sins and all they had to do was to accept that free gift, but they chose not to, for whatever reason. When the day comes when God has had enough and sends Jesus to destroy the wicked, those who rejected His free gift, they will forever regret the horrific decision they made. God gave them time, even delaying His judgment, but they said “No thank you” to God. Will you say “No thank you” to God, or will you turn to Jesus and be saved from all your sins before time is up? May the unsaved heed Jesus’ words today, while they still have breath in their lungs:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (Jesus Christ; John 3:16-19) ✝️

April 25, 2023: 2 Peter 3:8: Beloved, Do Not Forget this One Thing

“But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.’ - 2 Peter 3:8

Eternity and time. Humans cannot fully understand eternity but we understand time. There is no concept of time in eternity, for it is without measure. When there is no beginning and there is no end, there is nothing that is measured in between; it just is and always has been. That is God’s reality. His reality is so much different than ours.

From the moment we are conceived in our mother’s womb, our time clock begins, seeming slow at first, but speeding up with great intensity as we near our own finish line. We measure everything in time: our parents count down the months until we are born, and once we are born, how long will it take until we can crawl, talk, and walk. As we grow and start school, we count the days before school is let out and we can enjoy the summer as a child, how many years until we can start dating, how many days or months until the wedding date comes, how many hours until we get off of work, how many years until we retire; everything in our lives is measured by our brief time here on this earth. We have such a brief stay here, and sadly, some have very short lifespans, that we try to do all that we can before we die. People tell us, “We only live once, make this your best life now.” However, that is a fallacy and a deception of Satan. Our lives here on earth are a temporary stay on our way to our true lives when we are in eternity. Where we will spend our eternity is completely our decision.

There are many today who are doubting the return of Jesus Christ because it has been almost two thousand years since He died, resurrected, and ascended to heaven. There were many in the days of the apostles of Christ who looked for His return in their own time, and many have looked since then, and many in our generation today are early awaiting His return. But we have to remember that His return is on His time, God’s time, and not our own. He is not constrained by a finite number of days of living, as we are. Just because He has not returned does not mean He will not return; He will. The Bible promises it, and it will be done. If we just look at the span of time that was before the promises of His first coming and when He actually did come, it was a long time. We don’t know exactly when the book of Genesis was written and which timeframe it covers, but it was a very long time prior to the first coming of Christ. It was in the book of Genesis that the first prophecy of Jesus was made in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.’ And exactly as prophesied in the Bible, Jesus was born and Satan caused Him to be crucified, including having a nail driven through His heel. But that is not the end. As Jesus Himself told His disciples, He will come again, He will defeat Satan and all who follow him, and Jesus will take His rightful, righteous reign upon the earth for 1,000 years, followed by the destruction of the earth and the creation of a new heavens and a new earth, in which only those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior will live, without sorrow, death, and pain, for sin will be no more. But those who have not put their faith and trust in Jesus will spend their eternity where there is only sin, only sorrow, pain, deep anguish, tears, and eternal death from which they cannot escape.

Why should we trust in the promises of God that He made through His word, the Holy Bible? Because everything that He has promised either has already happened or will come true at some point, in His perfect timing, not in ours. All we need to do is to look at all of the prophecies that have already been fulfilled and we can know and be confident that His word is sure, His word is true, and what it says will happen, will happen, at just the right time. ✝️

April 24, 2023: 2 Peter 3:7 - God Preserves Heaven and Earth Till Judgment Day

“But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition [destruction] of ungodly men.” - 2 Peter 3:7

Just as the people in Noah’s day had no say in the destruction of the entire world by the flood that God sent to destroy the ungodly, people will have no say at the time in which God will destroy not only the earth but also the heavens by fire. Everything that is in the entire universe is held in the hands of God. He made it all, and He controls everything; man controls nothing. It is only by the grace of God that He has not destroyed it by fire already. Wickedness in our world is rising, increasing at a pace so rapidly, so that it must be sending a putrid stench up to heaven to God. He is sending us warning after warning, but we are not listening. He sent us His word, which outlines His perfect plan for history and for the one way that we can be redeemed of all of our sins through believing in His Son Jesus Christ so that when God sends His wrath, we who are saved through Him will not be subject to it, just as Noah and Lot were provided a way out of it. However, the majority of people in the world, even many who say they are Christians, do not read God’s word and do not heed it, putting themselves in peril, which they do not believe and which will come upon them suddenly and without warning.

We are quickly coming to, and some would say we are already there, the time in history in which the technology and human depravity described in the books of Daniel and Revelation and other prophetic books in the Bible exist in the world at the end of the age. At that time, a tyrannical ruler will emerge to take control of the world and will be the leader of a one world government: the final antichrist. Satan will empower antichrist. The antichrist will make a 7-year covenant with Israel and other nations, perhaps some sort of peace treaty. Israel will be allowed to build its third temple, upon which they will resume sacrificing of animals for atonement of sin. The false prophet will reign over a one world religion, a false religion that will worship antichrist instead of Jesus Christ. A one world economic system will be in place that will control the buying and selling of every single person on the earth, requiring that every individual take on their right hand or their forehead the mark of the antichrist, also called “the beast,” or the number of his name - 666 - and must worship the image of the beast, perhaps a hologram. Anyone who does not take the mark or the number of his name and who does not worship him will be killed. Ten kings, who are likeminded, will submit to the antichrist and will support his one world government.

At some point, everything will be in place and the start of the 7-year tribulation period will begin. I believe, as do many other Christians, that prior to the start of it, Jesus will call up to Himself in the clouds those who put their faith and trust in Him for our salvation, both those who previously died as believers and those who are alive at the time, an event known as “the rapture.” From that point, time starts clicking for a period of 2,520 days. At the half-way mark at 1,260 days, antichrist will break his covenant with Israel, committing the “abomination of desolation” that Daniel first spoke of and Jesus reiterated in Matthew 24:15, and the time known as the “Great Tribulation” will begin. Jesus said of it, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” (Matthew 24:21-22)

While the Bible does not specifically state when God will destroy the earth and the heavens by fire, many Bible scholars believe it will be after the 7-year tribulation, the return of Christ at His second coming when He defeats antichrist, the false prophet, and all who follow them, and at the end of Jesus’ subsequent 1,000-year reign on earth, known as the Millennial Kingdom. While we may not know the exact timing of it, we know one thing is certain: He will do it. He said it will be done, and it will be done. Just as the flood came and destroyed all that existed on the earth because of human depravity, so will it be burned by fire, along with the heavens. For those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, we look forward to a new heavens and a new earth, as described in the book of Revelation, chapter 21. For the ungodly, they have nothing to look forward to; for them, their time on earth now is the only heaven they will know.

I pray that if you have not turned to Jesus, believing on Him as the One, the only One, who can save you from your sins, that you will turn to Him today. and be redeemed of all sin and shame. This world is just a temporary existence on our way to our true Home, when we are with Him in eternal glory, without sin, as it was meant to be before the fall of mankind in the Garden. We all have a choice to make, and it is the most important decision of your life, for your eternity’s destination depends on it. Choose Jesus today, before it’s too late. ✝️

April 23, 2023: 2 Peter 3:5-6 - They Willingly are Ignorant

“For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished…” - 2 Peter 3:5-6

Jesus Himself spoke of the times of Noah, when God sent the flood to destroy everything on earth except for eight people because of its wickedness. The world at that time was going about its normal, wicked ways, ignoring God and doing as their lustful desires led them, not fearing any judgment of God upon them. There is coming a time when our wicked world will also see God’s judgment:

“And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.” (Jesus Christ; Luke 17:26-27)

What was the world like in the days of Noah? The Bible tells us that the “sons of God” had sexual intercourse with human women, and produced a race of giants called the “Nephilim,” also referred to as “fallen or mighty ones.” The Bible does not specifically state who were the “sons of God” but giants did exist both before and after the flood that God sent. (See Genesis 6:1-4 and Numbers 13:30-33) It is interesting to note that prior to this happening, humans lived a very long time. Methuselah, Noah’s grandfather, was the longest living human and lived 969 years. Noah lived 950 years. But when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, God said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh: yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6:3) Something happened after the flood that caused humans to live much shorter lives.

“Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’” (Genesis 6:5-7)

We know it must have taken Noah a very long time to build the ark for him and his family. People must have asked him what was he building and why. Perhaps he would have told them that God was going to send a flood to destroy the earth and that they could escape His judgment by going with Noah and his family in the ark when the time came to board it. In our world today, people are growing increasingly wicked as they turn against God and embrace evil. In America, Satanism is on the rise. It’s in the entertainment industry, in after-school clubs, Satanic prayers are opening city council meetings, it’s on full display in opening ceremonies for sports and other events, and its upcoming 2023 national conference in Boston Massachusetts was sold six weeks in advance (see: https://endoftheamericandream.com/satan-has-become-one-of-the-hottest-spiritual-figures-in-america/). Is it any wonder then that we see the USA collapsing before our very eyes?

Most in our world today are willingly ignorant of God’s word. What does it mean to be “willingly” ignorant of God’s word? Dictionary.com defines “willingly” as “In a consenting and often cheerful way.” To be “ignorant” is defined as Lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned.” Thus, in a consenting and often cheerful way, most in the world lack in knowledge or training of God’s word, the Bible. They know of it. They know it exists, but they choose not to read it, not to believe in what it says. Like the people in Noah’s days must have thought, they don’t believe that God’s judgment will come, and they continue in their depravity, growing further and further away from God, with some believing that they can be like God and that they don’t need him. Like Nimrod, who is described in the Bible as a
”mighty hunter before the LORD,” whose desire was to build a tower that reached the heavens so that they “could make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth,” (Genesis 11:4) so do men today build high towers in order to bring glory to themselves instead of God. Like in the days of Nimrod when all the people in the world spoke one language, today we have technology that quickly translates languages so that they can be understood by those who do not speak it. This universalism, or globalism, is being pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and other global agencies in opposition to nationalism or independent sovereign rule by countries. This type of thinking was the same type that Nimrod had in mind as he was building the tower of Babel. The Bible tells us what God did to disrupt Nimrod’s plans:

“But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.’ So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel [confusion], because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.” (Genesis 11:5-9)

God will let us only go so far in our wicked ways in which we seek to be like Him but reject Him, just as He did in the days of Noah and just as He did with the tower of Babel. I believe we are living in very dark days, when people are playing God and wholeheartedly rejecting Him and His Son’s free gift of salvation and mocking and scoffing at those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation. At some point, and I believe that time is rapidly approaching, that He will have had enough, and His judgment upon the earth will begin. We will be in the days that the Bible spoke of long ago, the days of the tribulation period upon the earth, a time like no other, nor ever will be.

If you are not saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, I pray that you accept His free gift of salvation today, before it’s too late. I pray that unlike the people in the days of Noah, that you will get on the ark of salvation, and will be spared from God’s wrath that is soon to come. 🙏🏻✝️

April 18, 2023: 2 Peter 3:1-4 - Where is the Promise of His Coming?

“Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.’” - 2 Peter 3:1-4

Let us examine the Scriptures to see where exactly is the promise of His coming, Jesus’ second coming to the earth. There isn’t just one, there are many. I have included several below.

When Jesus was alive, He told His disciples that He would leave them but He would come again and take them with Him:

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” (Jesus Christ; John 14:1-4)

Before Jesus was crucified, He told His disciples that He would come again but at that time, it would be in His glory and He would judge the nations:

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…’ Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels…’” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 25:31-34, 41)

After Jesus was resurrected to life, walked the earth for forty days, and ascended to heaven:

“Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.’” (Acts 1:9-11)

In both the Old and New Testaments, there are other prophecies of Jesus’ second coming and of His everlasting kingdom:

“I was watching in the night visions, and behold, 'One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14)

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 24:29-31)

“Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’ These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.” (Jude 14-16)

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10)

“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.” (Revelation 1:7)

“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Jesus Christ; Revelation 1:8)

King Solomon wrote on the subject of people thinking delay in judgment means it won’t come and that they not only continue in sin but abound in it:

“Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are a shadow, because he does not fear before God.” (Ecclesiastes 8:11-13)

Are we not seeing this in our world today, with evil and lawlessness rising exponentially? The western nations which once believed in God and His Son and were restrained by their adherence to God’s commandments have abandoned their faith and have unleashed evil that is spreading across the world like a contagion. God’s judgment is promised, and it is coming much sooner than I believe most people realize.

The apostle Luke spoke of the fact that God has an appointed time at which He will judge the nations through Jesus Christ. God’s delay does not mean that He has acquitted us of our sins; only believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior can do that. Rather, the delay only means that we have another day to trust in Jesus with our hearts that He is who He says He is, and that only He can save us from all our sins. We must be careful not to confuse God’s delay with God’s forgiveness of sins by anything outside of believing in His Son Jesus the Christ:

“Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man [Jesus] whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:29-31)

Mockers and scoffers should take heed to those who mocked and scoffed long ago when God tried to wake up His people, the divided nation of Judah that had split from the nation of Israel. Both nations were deep in sin against God. But they didn’t listen to His messengers, and they didn’t listen to God:

“And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy.” (2 Chronicles 36:15-16)

The Bible promised Jesus’ first coming long before it happened. When Jesus came the first time, He fulfilled at least 300 prophecies written about Him. Gotquestions.org has written an excellent article about this. (See: https://www.gotquestions.org/prophecies-of-Jesus.html). Just as the Bible promised Jesus would come the first time, so it promises that He will come again. Based on fulfilled prophecy alone, the Bible, God’s word, can be trusted in what it promises.

I believe God is trying to wake up the world, but for the most part, we aren’t listening to His warnings. We aren’t listening to what the prophets warned about in His word. We aren’t reading His word. We aren’t listening to the warnings of Jesus, the signs He told us to look for before the end of the age and before He comes again, which are all around us. Many in churches are listening to false prophets and false teachers who they themselves aren’t listening to God’s warnings. God’s judgment is coming, and I believe it is coming quickly. When Jesus comes the second time, it won’t be like His first coming. This time, He will judge each and every person who rejected His free gift of salvation, who chose evil instead, so that they could remain in sin and walk according to their own lusts. The time to decide is now: are you for Him or are you against Him? Are you a believer or are you a mocker and a scoffer? I pray that today, you will choose Jesus and will not be subject to His judgment, but will have eternal life in Him.

“He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:10-12) ✝️

April 16, 2023: 2 Peter 2:22 - A Dog Returns to His Own Vomit and a Sow to Her Mire

“But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, ‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and, ‘a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.’” - 2 Peter 2:22

We can fool people. We can fool ourselves. But we can’t fool God. Though we may look like Christians, dressed up for Sunday service, carrying our Bibles as we walk into church, singing along with the worship team, agreeing with the pastor during the sermon; though we may check all the boxes that we have in our minds of what a Christian should look like on the outside, if we haven’t believed in Jesus as our Savior in our hearts, inevitably we will fall back into our true nature, our sinful nature. This is also true of pastors and Bible teachers in churches who have not been saved by believing in Jesus Christ; their hearts are owned by the god of this world and not by Jesus. But God sees what we can’t see, He knows what we can’t know:

“I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jeremiah 17:10)

“But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’” (1 Samuel 16:7)

The Bible tells us in the latter days, some will turn away from the faith:

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” (1 Timothy 4:1-5)

We are definitely seeing this in our world today. It is almost a weekly occurrence that we read of another pastor, worship team leader, Christian singer, or some other prominent church leader who has publicly renounced their faith, sometimes in order to live a lifestyle of which God calls sinful. Why? Because they never believed in, trusted in Jesus with their heart. If we don’t trust in Jesus with our heart, we are one hundred percent at risk of being pulled back into the pigsty, where we can wallow in the mire of our sin. Sadly, this happens time and time again. We heed the advice of the god of this world, who tells us, “Listen to your heart,” and we ignore what the Bible tells us about our heart:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

The Bible tells us that if we seek God with our heart, we will find Him:

“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

The Bible tells us, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) We are born again, and we are a new creation. We can trust in Him in all things, and let Him guide our thoughts and our ways and not let our feelings direct us:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Our heart is no longer held in bondage to sin by the god of this world, but we are set free and made new by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Until this transformation is made within our hearts, we are not saved by Jesus, and like dogs whose stomachs are upset, vomit up their food, and then eat of that disgusting vomit, we return to our disgusting sin, living like an animal instead of the special creation God made us to be. However, once we are saved, our treasure will not be in this world but in Him:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 6:21)

May we truly love God with all of our heart, never turning away from Him:

“Jesus said to Him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment.” (Matthew 22:37)

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 4:8) ❤️✝️

April 15, 2023: 2 Peter 2:21 - Don't Turn from the Way of Righteousness

“For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.” - 2 Peter 2:21

When He walked the earth, Jesus told His disciples of the simple and beautiful way that a person is saved from their sins and will be with God when they die, and that is through Him and Him alone:

“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (Jesus Christ; John 14:6)

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 7:13-14)

The way of righteousness is clear: it is by believing in our heart and confessing with our mouth that Jesus Christ is our Savior. It is only by His precious blood that He shed on the cross that we are washed of all our sins and made clean, made righteous through Jesus Christ:

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

“Therefore, as through one man’s offense [Adam, in the Garden of Eden] judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:18-21)

The Bible gives a perfect example of the salvation of Jesus Christ: It’s what He did for us and whether or not we choose to believe that He did it in order to save us from all our sins. It’s a perfect example that salvation is not about earning our way to heaven, for it is impossible because we are all sinners; only Jesus is sinless and righteous.

When Jesus was crucified, there were two criminals who were crucified at the same time. One criminal mocked Jesus. The book of Luke provides us with the account of what the other criminal said and did:

“Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, ‘If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.’ But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.’” (Luke 23:39-43)

One man believed in who Jesus is, and the other did not. One was promised entry into Jesus’ kingdom, and the other was not.

In one of her talk shows, Oprah Winfrey said, “There are many paths to what you call ‘God’ and ‘there couldn’t possibly be just one way.” A woman in the audience asked Oprah, “What about Jesus?” Oprah said, “What about Jesus?” The woman told her the words of Jesus from John 14:6, and that if Oprah doesn’t believe it, she is buying into the lie. Oprah went on to argue with her that there could not be only one way with all the millions of people in the world and all of the various religions. (See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOxmd3cpxgY). It is a powerful discussion of Jesus, and praise God for the woman who had the courage to profess the truth to Oprah and to all who were in the audience and to all who subsequently watched that episode. What they did with that truth was up to them.

In the book of Psalms, Psalm 119 speaks to the way of truth and how critical it is to choose it, to cling to it, and to cling to God:

“I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me. I cling to Your testimonies; O LORD, do not put me to shame! I will run the course of Your commandments, for You shall enlarge my heart.” (Psalm 119:30-32)

For pastors and teachers who know the way of truth by having knowledge of it but not having truly accepted it, not having believed in their heart, they too, have bought into the devil’s lies. They are living a lie; pretending to be saved, professing to be saved, when they are not. Today’s passage of Scripture tells us, “For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.” I can’t even imagine the regret they will feel every single day when they are in hell, in the lake of fire, for eternity, thinking that they were so close and yet they rejected the truth of God to buy into the lie of the devil. Let us who are saved by Jesus’ precious blood, endure until the end, believing in Him as our Savior, knowing that He will admit us into His kingdom, and we will never, ever regret our decision to believe in Him - the way, the truth, and the life:

“This is a faithful saying: ‘For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”’ (2 Timothy 2:11-13) ✝️

April 14, 2023: 2 Peter 2:20 - The Latter End is Worse for Them than the Beginning

“For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.” - 2 Peter 2:20

We are all born sinners. No one has to teach us to sin; it is inherent within us. The Bible, God’s word, tells us the only way we can be saved from all our sins is to confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus Christ is our risen Lord and Savior:

“…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes until righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between the Jew and Greek [non-Jewish person], for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’”  (Romans 10:9-13)

Notice the Scripture above says “believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead.” Compare that to the words of today’s Scripture verse, “after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…” There is a wide chasm between knowing of Jesus Christ and believing in one’s heart that He truly is the risen Lord and Savior. The gospel of John is all about believing in your heart that Jesus is the Christ; in fact, he uses the word “believe” nearly 100 times. Below are several examples.

• “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)

• “But as many as received Him [Jesus], to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13)

• “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (Jesus Christ; John 3:13-15)

• “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (Jesus Christ; John 3:16)

• “For God did not send HIs Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (Jesus Christ; John 3:17-18)

• “Most assuredly I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” (Jesus Christ; John 5:24)

• “And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” (1 John 1:23)

• “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5)

There are many pastors in churches today who have deep knowledge of Jesus Christ and can cite Scripture all day long but who do not believe in the saving power of Jesus. A person can be educated in the seminary and know all about God and Jesus, they can graduate and get their degree, but if they do not believe in their heart that Jesus is the Christ and trust in Him as their Lord and Savior, they are not saved by His precious blood. They might do many good things in their churches, but they aren’t saved if they don’t believe. They might lead others to Christ, but if they don’t believe in Him themselves, they aren’t saved. They might provide financially for missionaries around the world, but if they do not believe in Jesus as their Savior, they are not saved. They might lead one of the largest churches in America or in the world, but if they themselves do not believe that Jesus is the Christ, sent by God to offer the free gift of salvation to all who would believe in Him and if they have not taken of that free gift, they are not saved. They are pretenders. Of these types of false pastors and teachers, the Bible tells us:

“Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” (1 John 1:18-19)

“Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” (1 John 1:22-23)

While the actions of these false pastors may be constrained for a while by their head knowledge of God, because they are not saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ by believing in Him, they are at risk of acting on the temptations of the devil and succumbing to him, once again being entangled in their sins. It is interesting that one of the definitions of “entangle” on dictionary.com is “to confuse or perplex.” Another definition is “to involve in difficulties.” How much confusion do we see today, especially in the USA, including in the churches? These definitions align perfectly with what the Bible says about the devil:

“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.” (Jesus Christ; John 8:44-47)

Many false pastors in the world, including in the USA, are preaching a different gospel and are deceiving many, and they themselves are in the snare of the devil. They are purposely twisting the word of God to accommodate their sin and the world’s sin, for they seek not to offend but to appease. The Bible is offensive and does cause division because it is intended to convict us of our sins and to show us the way - the only way - out of our sins: by believing in God’s only Son, Jesus the Christ, who paid the penalty of our sins with His precious blood, so that we may be forgiven of our sins and spend our eternity with Him when we die. I would much rather be offended so much by my sin that it punches me in the gut and makes me realize that I am a sinner in need of the Savior and turn to Him and be saved than to be lulled to sleep by the sweet-sounding lullabies of the devil and his minions, as he sends me to the pit of hell, where I’m entangled in his snare forever.

We who are in Christ, who have been saved by His precious blood must absolutely be aware of this and closely listen to what is being preached in the pulpits today so that we are ourselves are not deceived. Peter reminds us of this:

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)

In today’s Scripture verse, Peter tells us of these false pastors that, “the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.” Perhaps this could be as Jesus talked about in the passage below:

“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 12:43-45)

As we grow ever closer to the second coming of Jesus Christ, we will see - and are seeing now - an increase of persecution of believers in Jesus Christ. Peter reminds us that we will be persecuted, but we who remain steadfast in our faith in Jesus will have eternal glory with Him:

“But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 5:10-11) ✝️

April 10, 2023: 2 Peter 2:19 - False Teachers Promise Liberty but are Slaves of Corruption

“While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.” - 2 Peter 2:19

The country that I live in, the United States, and the world in general, is deteriorating at lighting speed. I have never seen such deception, corruption, and depravity in my life. Here in the USA, most people place a high value on freedom and liberty, but in that quest for it, we have abandoned the One alone who can set us free - the Lord Jesus Christ - and we have bound ourselves in the snares and chains of sin, of which are held in Satan’s grip. The only One who can give us true liberty, true freedom is Jesus Christ.

“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believe in Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.’” (John 8:31-36)

“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound…” (Isaiah 61:1)

While our nation wasn’t perfect, and no nation could ever be, for we are all sinners in need of a Savior, we used to have a reverent respect of God and His Son Jesus Christ. We taught the Bible in our schools, we often began the school day by praying or reading from the Bible, we placed the Ten Commandments in public schools and public places. We respected God’s authority and His perfect plan for mankind. We placed value in the unborn and in the elderly. Our families were intact, with fathers who placed God first, led their families, and stayed with their wives and children. We had pastors who unashamedly preached and taught on the word of God, not avoiding those verses that may offend. Their sermons were not bound by the constraints of government that had financial leverage over them. Those pastors did not send out surveys before they built their churches to see what people wanted in a church and once it was built, they did not ask their congregations what they wanted them to preach on. No, they planted their churches and preached and taught the word of God as led by the Holy Spirit’s direction. They didn’t close their churches when the government deemed them as “non-essential” when a virus came around but were the places of comfort when trials arose. They cared about the lives of the people who came and listened to them, but most importantly, they cared about their eternity and whether or not they believed on Jesus as their Savior. They didn’t preach what the people wanted to hear; they preached on what they needed to hear. They weren’t ashamed of the gospel of Christ, as the apostle Paul so eloquently wrote:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith'.” (Romans 1:16-17)

Today, many so-called pastors are ashamed of the gospel of Christ and of the word of God. They deny that many of the things God calls as sin are actually sin. They aren’t led by the Holy Spirit, and they are not preaching and teaching through the Holy Spirit but through the spirit of Satan. Their motivation isn’t to lead the lost to Jesus but to lead the lost to themselves, to keep filling their pockets so they can enjoy the luxuries that they themselves have coveted; they are driven by their love of the god of this world instead of their love of Almighty God and His Son Jesus Christ. Their appeasement of sin has brought spiritual, moral, and emotional decay to our country, and we are witnessing the death of our nation. We have a society that is all too willing to embrace their smooth words. They don’t desire to listen to sermons and messages that convict them of their sins and lead them to Jesus, the One who loves them and wants to liberate them from their sins. Instead, like mice in a trap, they seek that which is tasty but comes at a cost and keeps them in the chains of sin, in bondage to Satan, the one who hates them.

I know there still are some good, solid pastors in the USA and in the world who are preaching the full word of God and who do care about peoples’ salvation, but sadly, it is getting increasingly difficult to find them. As Peter, I strongly encourage you to make sure you are listening to pastors and teachers very carefully. Do they deny that Jesus is the Christ? Do they deny that only He can save us from our sins? Do they deny that there is only one way to heaven, and that is through believing in Jesus as their Savior? Are they promoting as acceptable anything that is a sin to God? Do they avoid preaching on messages that are difficult, that convict you of your sin? Do you always leave your church feeling good about yourself? Do they avoid preaching on the prophetic books of the Bible? Do they avoid preaching from the Old Testament? Do they believe that the God of the Old Testament was a different God from the God of the New Testament? Do they think it is the role of the church to bring God’s kingdom to this world by fixing it/cleaning it up so that Jesus can return? Do they think that the church has replaced Israel and that God is done with Israel? Is your church’s pastor a female? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be listening to a false pastor/teacher and are at risk of being deceived. There are many out there who are preaching and teaching a false christ, a false gospel, saying this is what Jesus would do.

It is critical during these perilous times that we not only remember the warnings of Jesus, Peter, John, Paul, Jude, and others that deceivers would rise in the last days before Jesus’ return, but that we take care to heed them:

“And Jesus, answering them, began to say: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, “I am He,” and will deceive many.’” (Jesus Christ; Mark 13:5-6)

“These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh."

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 16-25)

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1) ✝️

April 7, 2023: 2 Peter 2:18 - They Allure with the Lusts of the Flesh

“For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.” - 2 Peter 2:18

To allure through the lusts of the flesh has been with us since the beginning of time, when the serpent - Satan - allured Eve with the lusts of her flesh, to look upon with the desire to eat of the fruit of the only tree from which God had commanded Adam not to eat. Eve looked, she desired, she was tempted, which led to the doubting of the word of God and what He had said, and she gave in to that temptation. How many lusts of the flesh are acted upon in this manner? How many people have committed adultery and ruined their marriages because they looked upon someone who was not their spouse, they lusted after that person in their heart, they were tempted by that person, they doubted what God said about marriage and that adultery is a sin, after all, it’s just a one-time thing and it won’t hurt their spouse if they don’t know about it, and they gave in to the lusts of their flesh.

The apostle Paul wrote about the various lusts of the flesh and how we should not fulfill them, we should not act upon them:

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication [sexual immorality], uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another; envying one another.” (Galatians 5:16-26)

The apostle John wrote about this as well:

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)

As Paul wrote in Ephesians, before we were saved by believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior, we were all guilty of some of these lusts:

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” (Ephesians 2:1-3)

Even after we are saved, we still struggle with these same lusts of the flesh, as Paul wrote about in Romans chapter 7. He even said, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24) He followed this cry of despair of his sin by the proclamation that it is Jesus Christ who has delivered him and made him free:

“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death…For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally [fleshly] minded is death, but to spiritually minded is life and peace…So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” (Romans 7:25, 8:1-2, 5-6, 8-9)

Paul wrote how we are to put off the works of the flesh and to put on Christ; we are not to mirror the world but to mirror Jesus:

“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” (Romans 13:11-14)

The Bible, the word of God, is clear on where God stands on the works of the flesh: avoid them like the plague, for they are plagues that lead to death and destruction. However, in many churches today, there are pastors and teachers who are accepting, lifting up, and promoting as good the many works of the flesh, especially with sexual immorality and lewdness; they are luring back to sin those who may have barely escaped those works previously. Why? Because they are deceivers, just like the serpent of old - Satan - who deceived Eve. They speak “great swelling words of emptiness,” promoting that which is evil as good and calling that which is good, evil. The prophet Isaiah wrote of this long ago:

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)

These false pastors and teachers are not of God and have been blinded by the god of this age, Satan, who himself has lured them through the lusts of their flesh because they have chosen darkness over light:

“But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

I cannot urge you strongly enough that if you sit in a church where a pastor or teacher is promoting as good, as acceptable anything which God calls sin, you are being deceived; get out of it before your mind too becomes blinded by the god of this age. Jesus does not want you to be condemned to darkness. He wants you to turn to Him and be saved, and once you are, that includes turning away from sin and temptation, for it only leads to destruction. It’s not a sin to be tempted, but it is a sin to act upon it. When we walk in the Spirit of God, we will be able to escape it, to walk away from it:

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear [endure] it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Don’t let false pastors and teachers allure you with the lusts of the flesh; rather, listen to and heed the words of Jesus, the light of the world, the only one who can save us from our sins:

“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” (Jesus Christ; John 3:19-21) ✝️

April 6, 2023: 2 Peter 2:17 - Wells Without Water, Clouds Carried by a Tempest

“These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” - 2 Peter 2:17

For 34 years of my life, I lived in a desert, eight years as a teenager with my family and 26 as a married mother. When my family first moved to New Mexico, we came from beautiful Santa Barbara, California, where water was definitely more abundant than it was in New Mexico. My grandparents had also moved from Santa Barbara to New Mexico about a year prior to us. We all lived out in the country, off of a dry, dusty, and bumpy dirt road. I remember when my grandfather decided he wanted to hire someone to drill a well so that he could have water off of his own land instead of getting it through the county’s water system. I remember that big machine that was used to drill the well. My grandparents didn’t have a lot of money, and they were hoping that they wouldn’t have to drill too deep before they hit water. I remember going out and looking at the well that had been dug. Each time they drilled, there was no water. They went a little deeper, and no water. I can’t tell you how far they drilled, but eventually, they said they had to stop. That well was a dry well. They were so disappointed and had spent all that money and time for nothing. They capped the well, and that was the end of it.

In New Mexico where we lived, we only had an average eight inches of rainfall a year. I have also lived in Florida, and we received eight inches in a week or two sometimes; it was quite different than living in a desert! Most years in New Mexico were dry, but then again, it is a desert. I remember getting excited when I would see storm clouds. I would hope that it would rain and refresh our dry and parched land. When it did rain, it didn’t take a lot to make New Mexico beautiful. The wildflowers would come out with just a little bit of rain, and everything would smell fresh and clean. I remember the smell of the land right after a good, cleansing rain shower. The trees in the neighborhood just soaked it in, and even the birds seemed to chirp and sing a little louder. Most of the time, however, we did not receive our average rainfall and sometimes we were in drought mode. There were several summers when we were in extreme fire danger, with just the slightest spark lighting whole forests on fire. The storm clouds when they came, the dark clouds, were tempting us, giving us hope of cleansing water but instead, they would bring the wind with them, which further dried things up, leaving us more barren than before they came.

The same is true for false teachers, as Peter the apostle describes in this chapter of his second epistle. False teachers claim to preach and teach the word of God, but like the dry well and the storm clouds that delivered no water and no rain that provided nothing beneficial, they leave their congregations dry and thirsty and even more barren than they were before. What good is a pastor and teacher if they were to say to those who came to listen to them to tell them the word of God something like, “Just keep doing what you’re doing, God loves you as you are. You don’t need to accept Him as your Savior because all roads lead to heaven. He knows that your sin is accepted by society and it’s okay, you’re okay”? These types of words are being preached and taught in many churches today; they are puffing people up, making them feel comfortable in their sin so that they have no reason to believe that they are dead in their sins and need to turn to Jesus to be forgiven and let Him change them from the inside out, to change their hearts so that they are offended by their sin and begin a process of turning away from it. The words of false teachers do nothing but destroy people, and that is exactly what Satan wants. He says, “Continue in your sin,” whereas Jesus tells us, as He told the woman caught in the sin of adultery, “…go and sin no more.” (John 8:11). Jesus knows that we are incapable of not sinning as long as we are in this world in our fleshly bodies. However, he wants us to stop returning to a lifestyle that causes us to sin and to actively fight against it instead of giving into that temptation. Sadly, this is the complete opposite of what is being taught by many false teachers in the pulpits today. Instead of giving people the living water they need through the truth of God, they are tempting people with the lies of Satan that will eventually lead them into the fire, for eternity.

Jesus is the living water that we all need to forgive us of all our sins and restore and refresh us, and anyone who believes in Him will receive that living water:

“Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:13-14)

“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38)

As Peter wrote, these false teachers who are deceiving many will spend their eternity in darkness, in hell, that God Himself has reserved for them because they rejected the truth of God for the lie of Satan.

As Paul said in the Scripture passage below, I pray that both unbelievers and believers alike who are listening to false teachers will take heed to his words of warning:

“…that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.” (Ephesians 4:14)

“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:17-24) ✝️

April 5, 2023: 2 Peter 2:15-16: God Does Try to Stop Us from Sinning, but Do we Listen?

“They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.” - 2 Peter 2:15-16

In these two Scriptures, Peter is comparing false teachers in the church to the wicked prophet Balaam from the Old Testament book of Numbers (see Numbers 22:1-41 - 25:1-3). Balaam was a prophet from Mesopotamia, in modern day Iraq. When God was bringing Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land of Canaan, Balak, the Moabite king saw them when they had moved into his territory and he sought Balaam to put a curse on them. He offered Balaam a diviner’s fee, money or valuables, so that Balaam would curse them, and Balak told Balaam, “…for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.” Instead of telling Balak that he absolutely would not put a curse on God’s people, he opened the door for sin to enter into him, for he was tempted by the money that Balak offered him. Balaam responded to Balak, saying, “Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the LORD speaks to me” and the Moabite princes did so. Balaam had let sin enter his house, opening the door for it to come in. Balaam did inquire of God, and God told him, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” The next morning Balaam told Balak, “Go back to your land, for the LORD has refused to give me permission to go with you.” Notice that Balaam didn’t say that God said he should not curse Israel, for they are blessed; rather, he only told Balak that God forbade him to go with Balak and his princes. Why didn’t Balaam tell them all that God said? Again, he left the door open to sin, for his heart was wanting of money and not God.

Balak then decided to send to Balaam more princes and of higher honor than the prior ones, who told Balaam what Balak had said, “Please let nothing hinder you from coming to me; for I will certainly honor you greatly, m and I will do whatever you say to me. Therefore please come, curse this people for me.” Next, Balaam spoke out of both sides of his mouth. With the first side, he rightfully said, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more.” With the next side of his mouth, he left the door open to sin once again, ‘Now therefore, please, you also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the LORD will say to me.” Had God not been crystal clear to Balaam when he came to Him the first time? Didn’t God say that Balaam should not curse Israel? Balaam was demonstrating where his faith was and it wasn’t in God. God came to Balaam at night and told him, “If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you - that you shall do.” Balaam then went with them in the morning, riding on his donkey.

Rightfully so, God was angry with Balaam because he had went with them. Balaam knew Balak and his princes’ intent of contacting him in the first place was only to curse Israel and to pay him for doing so. Balaam had become a prophet for hire. While riding the donkey on his way to Moab with his two servants, “the Angel of the LORD took His stand in the way as an adversary against him.” The donkey saw the Angel standing in the way with His sword drawn but Balaam could not see it. The donkey turned aside and went into a field. Balaam then struck the donkey to get him back on the road, but the donkey “pushed herself against the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck her again.” The Angel went up ahead to a more narrow place, where the donkey would not be able to turn to the left or the right. The donkey saw the Angel again and this time, she lay down under Balaam, who struck her again. Three times Balaam had struck the donkey. “Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’ And Balaam said to the donkey, ‘Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!’ So the donkey said to Balaam, ‘Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed [accustomed] to do this to you?’ And he said, ‘No.’” God then revealed the Angel standing in the way with His sword to Balaam, who “bowed his head and fell flat on his face.” The Angel asked Balaam why he had struck his donkey three times, and said to Balaam, “Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me. The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live.” Balaam acknowledge he had sinned and said if “it displeases You, I will turn back.” The Angel told him to go ahead and go but speak only the words that He would give him. Balaam did go to Balak, who gave Balaam oxen and sheep.

What happened next was a series of seven prophecies by Balaam. Balak took Balaam to the high places of Baal, who was the supreme false god worshipped in Canaan and Phoenicia. What on earth was Balaam thinking of by even going to these places of idol worship? Three times Balaam told Balak to “build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” Notice that Balam said the altars and sacrifices were for him, not God. Three times God gave Balaam a prophecy of how He would bless Israel. The third time Balaam prophesied, Balak told him, “I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have bountiful blessed them these three times!” Balaam then gave a fourth prophecy of the latter days, which was a prophecy of the Messiah, who will crush His enemies and have dominion:

“I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult. And Edom shall be a possession; Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession, while Israel does valiantly. Out of Jacob One shall have dominion.” (Numbers 24:17-19)

Balaam continued to tell Balak the rest of this fourth prophecy, and when he finished, Balaam left and returned home and so did Balak. What the enemy, Satan, had intended for evil, God used for good. Satan intended to curse Israel, and it backfired on him.

Balaam, who was double-minded, eventually gave over to the evil in his heart and found a way to get the diviner’s fee. “Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel.” In Numbers 31:16, Moses puts the blame for this clearly on Balaam, “Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Poor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.” For this plague, 24,000 people were killed by the judges of Israel.

Again, Peter is comparing the false teachers in the church to this wicked prophet, Balaam. God even enabled Balaam’s donkey to restrain him, but Balaam had evil in his heart, though he pretended to be following God. Instead of listening to God the first time when God told him he should not go with the princes of Moab to curse Israel before Balak, Balaam left the door open to sin. Balaam ended up being killed by the sword by Israel when it came into the Promised Land, “The children of Israel also killed with the sword Balaam the son of Beor, the soothsayer [diviner], among those who were killed by them.” (Joshua 13:22) In his farewell address, the Lord God spoke to Israel through Joshua, who had brought Israel into the Promised Land:

“Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand.” (Joshua 24:9-10)

Jesus Himself even warned the compromising church in Pergamos:

“But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality…Repent, or else, I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.” (Jesus Christ; Revelation 2:14, 16)

How many false prophets and false teachers are doing the same things in churches today, putting a stumbling block before those in their congregations, especially in America? False prophets and teachers have always existed but none have ever prevailed against God, and they never will. While God gives them opportunities to turn from their sin and turn to Him, if they don’t, they will receive the due penalty of their sin against Him. There are many false prophets and false teachers in churches today. How many of them are ignoring God’s warnings to them? How many of them are opening the doors to let sin come in instead of firmly rebuking it at the beginning? How many are doing this because they don’t worship the One true God, but worship the god of mammon, money, just as Balaam did? How many will end up as Balaam did, with a donkey being wiser than him, dying with his money and in his sin, because he refused to listen to the words of God?

April 3, 2023: 2 Peter 2:14 - False Teachers Entice Unstable Souls

“…having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.” - 2 Peter 2:14

The apostle Peter holds nothing back when he describes the damage that false teachers cause to those who listen to them. Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, he wrote an entire chapter warning those who heard him at that time and to those of us who read God’s word now, nearly two thousand years later, about being aware of false prophets and false teachers and the smooth, lying words they will preach to appease the masses so that we are ourselves would not be deceived.

Another apostle, James wrote of men who desire to become teachers:

“My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment…Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.” (James 3:1, 5-6)

In this epistle by Peter, he is specifically discussing false teachers, those who are not saved by believing in Jesus and are purposely teaching false doctrine in order to deceive people and turn them away from God or from even seeking Him.

Just as the serpent Satan enticed Eve by causing her to doubt God’s commandment to Adam when Satan asked Eve, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1), so do false teachers entice with their deceptive words, causing unstable souls to doubt the word of God, that all of it is from inspiration of Him, and that all of it is applicable today. When there are false teachers in churches, they preach that which is from sinful man and not from God. What does the Bible tell us about man? Jesus discussed this with the Pharisees and scribes when He told them that defilement comes from within us, within our sinful heart:

“And He said, ‘What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.’” (Jesus Christ; Mark 7:20-23)

It is only when we turn to Jesus Christ, recognizing that we are sinners in need of a Savior, and that only He can save us from our sins, that we are forgiven of all our sins, we are saved by His grace, by His precious blood.

Something is deadly wrong in our churches today that would cause the shocking results of a May 10, 2022 survey conducted by Dr. George Barna, Director of Research at the Cultural Research Center. In this survey, he reported on the percentage of American pastors and teachers that hold a biblical worldview, which he defined previously on December 3, 2003 as shown below. (See: https://www.barna.com/research/a-biblical-worldview-has-a-radical-effect-on-a-persons-life/):

“For the purposes of the research, a biblical worldview was defined as believing that absolute moral truths exist; that such truth is defined by the Bible; and firm belief in six specific religious views. Those views were that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life; God is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe and He stills rules it today; salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned; Satan is real; a Christian has a responsibility to share their faith in Christ with other people; and the Bible is accurate in all of its teachings."

The following are some of the statistics reported in the May 10, 2022 survey. (See: https://www.arizonachristian.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AWVI2022_Release05_Digital.pdf):

• “Among all Christian pastors in the United States, slightly more than one out of every three (37%) possess a biblical worldview.”

• “Among Senior Pastors, four out of 10 (41%) have a biblical worldview - the highest incidence among any of the five pastoral positions studied.”

• Worse yet was only 13% of teaching pastors and 12% of children’s/youth pastors hold a biblical worldview (reference the table titled “The Percentage of Christian Pastors That Possess a Biblical Worldview” on page 2 of the aforementioned survey).“

• “The lowest level of biblical worldview was among Executive Pastors - only 4% have consistently biblical beliefs and behaviors.”

• Regarding pastors who do not have a biblical worldview, “their prevailing worldview is best described as Syncretism, the blending of ideas and applications from a variety of holistic worldviews into a unique but inconsistent combination that represents their personal preferences. More than six out of 10 pastors (62%) have a predominantly syncretistic worldview.”

• Only 29% of teaching pastors have a biblical worldview regarding God, creation, and history; 18% regarding matters of sin, salvation, and one’s relationship with God; and only 21% regarding the Bible, truth, and morals. (See the table titled “Percentage of Pastors Who Have a Biblical Worldview in Relation to Categories of Belief and Behavior” on page 3 of the aforementioned survey.

George Barna’s comments on the survey results raise grave concerns not only for the church but for the future of the United States:

“A person’s worldview primarily develops before the age of 13, then goes through a period of refinement during their teens and twenties. Therefore, from a worldview development perspective, a church’s most important ministers are the Children’s Pastor and the Youth Pastor,” Barna said.

“Discovering that seven out of every eight of those pastors lack a biblical worldview helps to explain why so few among the nation’s youngest generations are developing a heart and mind for biblical principles and ways of life, and why our society seems to have run wild over the last decade,” Barna explained.

It is no wonder that when Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” that He answered them, saying, “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” (Matthew 24:3-5) It is clear by the statistics in the survey mentioned above that the majority of pastors and teachers in churches today are preaching a false Christ, twisting the words of Scripture so that it “represents their personal preferences” instead of preaching the word of God, no matter who it offends.

Persecution of Christians in America is on the rise, and it will increase as the love of many grows cold in the end of the age, as Jesus foretold. The time is now to wake up from the slumber that many in the church have been in and realize that deception is all around us. The time is now to pray to God for discernment, to be able to recognize a man of deception from a man called by God to preach and teach His word. The time is now to take the blinders off of our eyes and to understand why God gave us warning after warning of what is to come, and realize that we are in those days now. We truly are living in perilous times, and Satan is doing all that he can to entice you, to deceive you, and to turn you from God. He won’t do it in a red suit with a pitchfork tail and horns on his head; rather, he will do it as a “pastor” or “teacher” in a church, blending in and undiscernable to those who are not standing firmly on the firm foundation of God.

April 2, 2023: 2 Peter 2:13 - False Teachers will Receive the Wages of Unrighteousness

“…and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you…” - 2 Peter 2:13

In today’s Scripture verse, the apostle Peter continues with his description of the depravity of false teachers who infiltrate churches in order to deceive people and take advantage of them. Strong’s Concordance defines “carouse” as “softness, daintiness, luxuriousness.” The associated HELPS Word Studies states: “5172 tryphḗ (from thryptō, "to break down due to over-indulgence, i.e. living in excessive luxury") – properly, feebleness brought on by self-indulgence (luxury); (figuratively) moral and spiritual breakdown ("enfeeblement") from over-indulging in dainty ("delicate") things, i.e. "dainty living" that deteriorates soul and body.” (See: https://biblehub.com/greek/5172.htm). These definitions are perfectly fitting to the false teachers in churches today. Many of them are pastors of modern mega-churches who live, as Peter described, in excessive luxury and over-indulgence in moral and spiritual breakdown. There are pastors who live in excessively large mansions and even own their own jets with one “pastor” owning three of them, as they tell their congregations to keep the donations coming.

What does the Bible tell us of the wages of unrighteousness?

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” (Romans 1:18-19)

The truth is that while these pastors may live luxuriously, owning houses most of us could only dream of, they truly are living their best life now. If they are not saved by the blood of Jesus Christ by believing in Him as their Savior and are only pretending to be so that their flocks keep coming to them in hopes that they too may one day be rich like them, they will be judged by their works, by the things that they did while they were alive on earth. (Revelation 20:11-15) The Bible tells us that no works that we do can save us from our sins and anyone not saved by Jesus Christ will be found guilty in their unrighteousness.

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (Jesus Christ; John 3:18)

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

These false teachers in the churches are stains upon that which is meant to be holy, and I believe this is one reason why Christianity in the USA is in spiritual free fall, and as it goes, so does our country. They are not serving God Almighty but are serving their false god: money. Money in and of itself is not evil, but the Bible tells us:

“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon [riches].” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 6:24)

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 6:19-21)

If we truly believe that, as one mega-church pastor wrote in a book, we can have our best life now, does that not mean that we will do whatever is needed in order to obtain it and once we have it, to sustain it? As a pastor, does this also mean that one must soften the word of God so that it doesn’t oftend anyone? If people are offended, they won’t keep coming to church and putting money in the money boxes. Having our best life now is contrary to what the Bible says because this world is filled with sin and those who reject the only One who can save them from it - Jesus Christ. No, in this world are sorrow, pain, suffering, and tears. If these false pastors who have made themselves rich by deceiving the masses were to lose everything, what then would they be saying to their congregation? Would they still be saying their best life is now, or would they realize that that is a lie and that our true hope is in Jesus Christ? Our best life is still yet to come, when we are resurrected to new life in Jesus Christ, and when we will live and be with Him at His second coming, during His 1,000-year reign on earth, and then when He destroys this current earth by fire and creates a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem. It is only then when, as the apostle John wrote in the book of Revelation:

“And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’” (Revelation 21:2-4)

But entry to this new earth will be denied to anyone who has not accepted Jesus as their Savior, to those who choose to live in their unrighteousness instead of being made righteous by the cleansing blood of Jesus:

“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)

I pray for these false teachers, for they themselves are deceived in their own deception. I pray they will wake up to the truth of God and turn to Jesus Christ as their Savior. I pray they will look to His promises that our best life is not here and now, but in our eternity. We are all born sinners, as the Bible reminds us, and it is only through the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ that we can be washed clean and be made righteous in Him.

“For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:3-7)

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) ✝️

April 1, 2023: 2 Peter 2:12 - False Teachers will Perish in Their Own Corruption

“But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption…” - 2 Peter 2:12

In this Scripture verse, Peter continues describing the consequences of being a false teacher. He compares them to “natural brute beasts.” Humans are made in the image of God and are given a brain and a conscience, and the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin:

“And when He [the Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world [Satan] is judged.” - Jesus Christ; John 16:8-11

There is a good article on gotquestions.org that explains the difference from having a guilty conscience and being convicted of our sin by the Holy Spirit (see: https://www.gotquestions.org/conviction-of-sin.html). The article states:

“The word convict is a translation of the Greek word elencho, which means “to convince someone of the truth; to reprove; to accuse, refute, or cross-examine a witness.” The Holy Spirit acts as a prosecuting attorney who exposes evil, reproves evildoers, and convinces people that they need a Savior.

”To be convicted is to feel the sheer loathsomeness of sin. This happens when we’ve seen God’s beauty, His purity and holiness, and when we recognize that sin cannot dwell with Him (Psalm 5:4). When Isaiah stood in the presence of God, he was immediately overwhelmed by his own sinfulness: “Woe to me! . . . I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips . . . and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5).”

However, false teachers, as Peter discusses, have abandoned not only their conscience but also have completely ignored the convicting of the Holy Spirit. They are acting like animals that are driven by their natural brute instincts. What does “brute” mean? Dictionary.com provides several definitions:

• Characteristic of animals; of brutal character or quality.

• Not characterized by intelligence or reason; irrational.

• A brutal, insensitive, or crude person.

When we abandon God, we become like animals, fearing not any consequences of our actions. Doesn’t society today tell us that we are animals created over millions of years by the process of evolution, and not made purposely by God and in His image? Does not our society today act and behave like animals, driven by impulses and feelings instead of using our God-given brains and feeling conviction by the Holy Spirit to see that we need to turn to Jesus and be led by His commandments which are to protect us and enable us to live as civilized human beings?

In 1963, the US Supreme Court made school-sponsored prayer and Bible readings unconstitutional. In 1980 the Ten Commandments were removed from public schools. Instead of man wanting to be led by God, man commanded that our society would be led by man, and look at the utter failure of that. When man takes God out of its culture and society, it sets them up for implosion, and that is exactly what we are seeing not only in America but also in American churches today. Thousands are closing each year, and a recent Barna poll reported that only 4% of Americans hold a Biblical worldview (see: https://www.arizonachristian.edu/2023/02/28/biblical-worldview-among-u-s-adults-drops-33-since-start-of-covid-19-pandemic/). Is it any wonder why churches are closing when many pastors no longer preach the full word of God and Scriptures that illustrate time and time again what happens when man decides to take control and leave God out of everything and the resulting societal, moral, and spiritual collapse? Today, we have pastors who are speaking evil of the word of God because it goes against what society is holding up as acceptable and right in its eyes but is wrong and sinful in the eyes of God.

Let’s revisit this statement from gotquestions.org: “To be convicted is to feel the sheer loathsomeness of sin.” In our God-rejecting society today, we not only NOT loathe sin, we wholeheartedly embrace it and we wrap it up in feel-good words to make it acceptable and that which everyone must approve of. We call adultery an “affair,” the murder of an unborn baby a “choice,” lying as “misrepresented,” stealing as okay as long as it’s under $1,000, rioting and burning down cities as “our right to protest,” and other sexual sin as “I was born this way.” All the while, for those of us left who DO believe in the word of God and have chosen to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are mocked and scoffed and called narrow-minded, even sadly by some in the churches, and some are even called “domestic terrorists.” Today, we see pastors who are embracing what God calls evil and mocking and turning away from what God calls good. They do this at their own peril, “and will utterly perish in their own corruption.” They can fool themselves, they can fool those who attend their churches, but they cannot fool God.

If you are reading this and you have not made a decision to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, I urge you to consider your future. Are you guaranteed another minute of life? What would happen to you if you died today? Do you know where you are going when you die? As we get older, we realize just how short our life here on earth really is, and each day of life truly is a gift from God. We are rapidly heading toward a time of tribulation that will come upon the earth for a period of seven years that is prophesied in the Bible. Jesus Himself spoke of this coming time period to His disciples when He was asked by them about the signs that would signal His return to earth at His second coming and of the end of the age. He told them:

“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”

What we are witnessing in the world today Jesus described as the “beginning of sorrows” or birth pangs; it is nothing compared to what is coming. If the events we are witnessing are rocking you to your core, be prepared, for we have seen nothing yet compared to what is coming. I strongly urge you to consider your life. Are you prepared for what is coming? The only thing that matters is that you get saved by Jesus and when you do, instead of seeing His wrath, you will receive His love and mercy, His free gift of salvation of sins. He is perfect and holy and will judge the wicked in all their unrighteousness, and nothing and no one, including Satan and all who choose to follow him, will be able to stop Him. Don’t be deceived by the world that says God doesn’t exist and Jesus isn’t the only way to heaven. Don’t be deceived by false teachers who preach lies and deception. Call out to Jesus and ask Him to save you. He will. ✝️

March 31, 2023: 2 Peter 2:10-11 - To Walk in the Lust of the Flesh is to be Judged by God

“…and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.” - 2 Peter 2:10-11

In this passage of Scripture, the apostle Peter continues to describe the doom of false teachers and how God will “reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.” The society we live in today, including in and one could argue especially in America, is one that promotes doing whatever one wants as long as it makes them happy, no matter how wrong it is in the sight of God. Peter gave three examples in prior Scriptures of how God delivered His wrath upon the ungodly. First, He did not spare the angels who sinned and fornicated with human women. Second, He did not spare the ancient world that Noah lived in and destroyed them all by sending a massive flood because of their sins, sparing only Noah and his family. In the third example, God completely burned up Sodom and Gomorrah because of their rampant sexual sin. All of them saw the wrath of God because they refused to turn away from their sin and turn to Him, and we are doing exactly the same thing today. God is sending us warning after warning, trying to wake us up, but we are ignoring all of His warnings. In the days of Noah and Lot, they did whatever made them happy and whatever felt good to them, and so are we. They felt the wrath of God, and so will we. The sad thing is that most of American churches look no different than the unbelieving world.

Why do we as Christians think it’s acceptable to live like the devil six days a week and go to church on Sundays, many which are being led by false teachers/pastors, dress up in nice clothes, listen to worship music that doesn’t even mention the name of Jesus and is as loud as a rock concert, listen to a brief 30-minute sermon, and think that makes us Christians? God calls His people to be set apart from this world, and yet we have so many pastors who are doing all they can to appeal to the world. To do that, they water-down the word of God so that it becomes mores appealing, more palatable to the unbelieving world because they don’t want to offend anyone, in order to keep them coming back and hoping they will keep contributing financially to the church. Well guess what? The Bible IS offensive and it is intended to be! If you had an illness and the only thing that could save you is for you to go to the doctor and receive a treatment that could save your life, and that treatment has been tested and proven time and time again, would you want the doctor not to tell you that you have the disease because it might offend you? Would you want the doctor not to offer treatment and just tell you that he or she hopes you get better by doing the same things you’ve always done? Of course we wouldn’t. So why do we expect pastors to tell us only good things about ourselves, when we are not good? We are all sinners, and we all need Jesus Christ to save us. He alone is the antidote to the poison of sin. He alone can redeem us of all our sins. If there is anyone we should want to be more like it is Jesus Christ, the only One who ever lived on earth who was without sin, which is why only He can save us from our sins. If we think we are without sin, we are liars and we are deceiving ourselves. If we think God isn’t real and that He did not send His Son Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, we are antichrists. (1 John 2:22)

When I look at the horrific state of our nation, the USA today, I look at the pastors and how they have failed us. Yes, we ourselves, the attendees of these churches must take responsibility for our own actions, but it is the leaders of the churches, the shepherds of the flocks whose primary task is to feed the sheep, to ensure they know the word of God so that they are clear about how salvation comes - through faith in Jesus Christ alone - and that they can stand upon the word of God when tribulations come and they do not fall away from the faith. This feeding includes teaching Bible prophecy by reading from the prophetic books in the Bible, for without this, the flock is left unprepared and vulnerable to being deceived, and that is exactly what has happened at least in the past 50-60 years, and especially in the past three years, and many more will be deceived by the antichrist when he comes.

When soldiers go to war, they don’t go unprepared. They are trained right from the start after they enlist in the military. They go through a period of basic training, and after they complete that, they received specialized training in what their job in the military will be. Once they finish all of their training, they have units they are assigned to and they have their commanding officers who are over them. Periodically, they have exercises when they put their training to the test for a conflict or war-time situation. Military officers must also have graduated from college and have their own specialized training. When war or a conflict hits, there is no time for them to get up to speed in order to defend themselves, their fellow servicemen and women, and their country; no, they must rely on their prior training and be ready to use it at a moment’s notice. The same is true for the believer in Christ, for we are in a war with Satan for our souls, and he will use every weapon in his armament to steal them from us, and this includes infiltrating the churches with deceivers who are wolves disguised as sheep. To recognize them, we must know the word of God for ourselves so that when they preach something that is not true and is not from the word of God, we will recognize it as false and that the person is trying to deceive us and we must stop listening to that person, even stop going to that church. The best way to defeat your enemy is to infiltrate it without them even knowing, and that is exactly what Satan has done with the church. How many times have we heard recently that Jesus would be this or Jesus approves of that, Jesus is not the only way to heaven, and that we should do away with the Old Testament, when they are lies from the pit of hell?

We are at what is perhaps the most critical point in human history. During COVID, it was a time like no other, when the entire world shut down, and every country was singing to the same sheet of music. Churches were deemed “non-essential,” while marijuana dispensaries and strip clubs remained open. Intense pressure was put onto people, including by some church “leaders” to receive an injection that was rushed through when the typical time to safely develop and test a vaccine is 5-10 years (see link from John Hopkins University: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/vaccines/timeline), many businesses closed and people were paid to stay home instead of coming into work. Chaos and turmoil exploded, especially in the western nations, and governments became tyrannical. I believe we are drawing very close to the prophesied time period when antichrist, the worthless shepherd, will step on the world scene and sadly, many who say they are believers in Christ will be deceived by him, for they do not know the word of God, they do not read the Bible for themselves, do not know Bible prophecy, and will look upon this “man with a plan” as their savior. As the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12:

“The coming of the lawless one [the final antichrist] is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders; and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

The false teachers and pastors in the churches today are speaking out against the true pastors and teachers and anyone in authority who stands on God’s truth because, as Peter wrote in today’s Scripture verse, they are walking “according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority” and are presumptuous and self-willed. While they may thrive temporarily in a society that craves not the word of God and seeks not to be holy like Jesus, God has reserved them “under punishment for the day of judgment.” God’s delay is not God’s approval; rather, it is God’s mercy as He patiently waits before He withdraws His hand that holds back judgment and releases His wrath upon them.

Writing about these Scriptures in 2 Peter has been challenging for me. I am a positive person, an optimist, but I am also dedicated to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That includes telling others about Him and warning people of the time in history I believe we are in because many believers have no idea and will be completely blindsided by what is coming. I cannot urge you strongly enough to pick up the Bible and read it for yourselves, relying on the Holy Spirit to give you understanding of it; He will. We have never been at a point where the events prophesied in the books of Daniel and Revelation are lining up, converging, as we are now. Israel is back in its homeland, and it’s looking for the one they think is their messiah, and are ready to build its third Jewish temple. Chaos is ensuing in Israel and is increasing. We didn’t used to have the technology to support the prophesied mark of the beast, until now, with the implementation of a Central Bank Digital Currency worldwide just around the corner, and the extremely rapid advances in artificial intelligence. We have never been at a point when nations are willing to give up their sovereignty in order to form a one world government, until now. COVID was the event that pushed this into overdrive. And, we have many religious leaders who are pushing for a one world religion, including the opening of the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi that opened on March 1, 2023 that seeks to unite the religions of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Instead of being blindsided by what is coming, let us immerse ourselves in God’s word, put on His full armor, and be battle-ready, standing in His power and might. For anyone reading this who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, ask yourself this: will you be able to tell the difference from one who proclaims to be the true Christ, or will you be deceived by the lie and be reserved by God under punishment for the day of judgment? Turn to Jesus Christ and be saved from all your sins, before it’s too late. ✝️

March 29, 2023: 2 Peter 2:9 - The Lord Knows how to Deliver the Godly

“…then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment…” - 2 Peter 2:9

When we are overwhelmed by this world, by all the horrible things we see happening not only every day but every hour, we must remember that God’s word, the Holy Bible, warned us of what would come in the last days before the rapture of the church, Israel’s signing of a 7-year covenant/treaty with the antichrist, followed by the 7-year tribulation period known as the time of Jacob’s trouble, and then the second coming of Jesus Christ. Satan wants us to be overwhelmed and full of despair and to think that God has left us, that He has forgotten us, but that is a lie from the pit of hell. For those of us who have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ to save us from all our sins, we know that something so much better than the world here awaits us, and that is when we are with Him, the righteous King of kings and Lord of lords.

Just as God delivered Noah and his family through the flood and took Lot and his family out of Sodom, He knows how to deliver His people out of temptation. The apostle Paul wrote:

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

May we remember the words of Paul when he encouraged believers in Thessalonica for their faithfulness when they were being persecuted and suffering for their faith in Jesus Christ:

“We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed. Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 1:3-12)

May we remember that this world is not our home and that our true Home is with Jesus. May we remember the promise of our King, Jesus Christ, to those who believe in Him:

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 5:10-12) ✝️

March 26, 2023: 2 Peter 2:7-8 - God will Deliver the Righteous

“…and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)… - 2 Peter 2:7-8

How many of us who have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, who believe in Him as our Savior, the precious Redeemer of all our sins, are feeling like Lot must have felt in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah? How many of us are tormented by what we see in our nation, in the world today? How many times have we prayed for salvation of the lost, including many in our own families, who have wholly rejected God, not partaking of His free gift of salvation through believing in Jesus Christ, but instead have chosen to follow the god of this world? Oh, does our heart break when we see children being ensnared in the web of lies and in the trappings of the devil, as he propagates his lies and confusion among the masses, as the prince of the power of the air! When we see such celebration of sin and perversion, we recall the warnings of God and what He did to Sodom and Gomorrah, knowing that our ways are much worse than even theirs, and what wrath must be being made ready to fall upon us. We have a sense of dread, as we hear the ticking of the clock, knowing the time is short, oh, so short, until God sends His hand of judgment upon us, only patiently waiting in His love and mercy for more to turn to Him so that they can be delivered from wrath, as Noah and his family were delivered through the flood and Lot and his family were delivered out of Sodom.

How do our hearts hurt when we hear people professing to be pastors of God’s churches twisting the divine Scriptures, the word of God, so that it accommodates their sins and the sins of those who sit in their church pews, as they feed them poison disguised as the bread of life? Can we not see what is happening to the Christian faith, especially in the western nations? As Peter warned us in 2 Peter 2, it has been overtaken by false teachers, “who will secretly bring destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.” (2 Peter 2:1-2) Is our sin not even worse than Sodom’s, for we in these countries and in the USA are blaspheming God, all the while acting as though we are servants and teachers of God? We have exchanged the truth of God for the lie of Satan, and our society, our culture has become exactly as Paul described in Romans 1:18-32, “who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.” (Romans 1:32)

I’ve heard it said before that Noah is an example of the remnant, the one-third of the Jews who will be delivered through the time of Jacob’s trouble, also known as the 7-year tribulation period, and that Lot is an example of the church, those who believe in Jesus Christ, who will be delivered out of the world, caught up to Christ, during the time of Jacob’s trouble. Whether that is true, we will see, but I do know this: God is a righteous God and He will take care of His own. Let us recall Abraham’s question to Him before God destroyed Sodom: “And Abraham came near and said, ‘Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?’” He had asked God if He would spare Sodom if there were fifty righteous people in the city, and God said He would spare the city for the fifty righteous. Abraham kept lowering the number until he finally asked God if He would spare Sodom if only ten righteous people were found in it, and God answered him, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” However, God did go on to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because not even ten righteous people were found in them, but God delivered Lot and his family by removing them out of Sodom.

Let us remember the words of David in Psalm 28. David cried out to God, and He heard his voice:

“To You I will cry, O LORD my Rock:

“Do not be silent to me, lest, if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to You, when I lift my hands toward Your holy sanctuary. Do not take me away with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors, but evil is in their hearts. Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavors; give them according to the work of their hands; render to them what they deserve. Because they do not regard the works of the LORD, nor the operation of His hands, He shall destroy them and not build them up.

“Blessed be the LORD, because He has heard the voice of my supplications! The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him.

“The LORD is their strength, and He is the saving refuge of His anointed. Save Your people, and bless Your inheritance; shepherd them also, and bear them up forever.”

Finally, let us remember the words of Paul in Colossians 1:13-14, and let us hold on to these truths, waiting for the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ:

“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” ✝️