Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Revelation 13:1 The Unholy Trinity Pt. 1
Jul 19th, 2009
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Prophecy;Exhortation

Revelation 12 tells about Satan’s war with God and his war with Israel.  Revelation 13 tells us about the method Satan uses in the final war of this age.

Revelation 13 is not a part of the chronology (story line) of the book but an interlude giving detailed information about Satan’s tactics. It is here that we are introduced to the “unholy trinity”. This trinity is an evil imitation of the Holy Trinity.

In the Holy Trinity the First Person is “God the Father”.  Satan’s imitation is the great red dragon (12:9) who is Satan. The Second Person of the Holy Trinity is the “Lord Jesus Christ”. Satan’s imitation of Christ is the first beast of Revelation 13:1-10, Antichrist. The Third person of the Holy Trinity is the “Holy Spirit”.  Satan’s imitation of  the Holy Spirit is the second beast of Revelation 13, known as the false prophet, Revelation 13: 11-18.

In this unholy counterfeit trinity we see Satan’s last and greatest attempt to deceive the peoples of the earth, 2 Thess. 2:9-10. "Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." A great multitude will be deceived.

The Holy Spirit is now preventing or restraining this evil system from coming into place before God’s time, 2 Thess. 2:6-7, "And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way." At present the Holy Spirit carries on His restraining ministry through the lives of believers, Matthew 5:13.  “Ye are the salt of the earth”.  What does salt do?  It prevents corruption.   Matthew 5:14 “Ye are the light of the world”, what does light do?  It dispels the darkness of evil. That is the present day ministry of the Holy Spirit, see John 16:8, "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." This present day ministry of the Holy prevents evil from coming to full bloom.

However when at the rapture the believers are taken out of the world the restraining  ministry  of the Holy Spirit will be terminated. Satan, Antichrist and the False Prophet will then be allowed to come forth and they will be totally unrestrained!  Of course the Holy Spirit will be still in the world, He will be drawing men and women  to Christ. He will be convicting those men and women of sin and their need of salvation, and multitudes will be saved.  But for the Christ rejectors their will be no conviction of sin, in fact the opposite will be true!  2 Thess. 2: 11-12, “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:”

In our study of Revelation from chapter 6 on, we have seen the activities of Antichrist. Now he is described to us as the first beast of Revelation 13. John writes, “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy”. The first 10 verses of this chapter give us a description of Antichrist and the kingdom he rules over.

Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between the man and his kingdom. This is true in the Old Testament as well. The kingdom of Antichrist takes on his personality.

Chapter divisions are not a part of divine inspiration. Verse one flows out of the previous chapter, verse 17.  “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”.  Why was Satan so angry? In verse 12 Satan is cast out of heaven and he knows, “He hath but a short time”. In the light of that he begins (verse 1) to carry forth his strategy to consolidate his control over the world, and to utterly destroy Israel.

Satan now proceeds to select two men through whom he works to gain total control of the political and religious realms of the entire earth. Satan has always sought to establish his kingdom as an imitation of God’s kingdom. Although he has been given the ruler ship over this present evil world system, yet he knows that God has always been intervening and exercising ultimate control over his (Satan’s) kingdom. Satan desperately wants break God’s sovereign rule! For 6000 years he has worked to that end. But now he knows her has but a short time. God now loosens his grip on Satan and cuts him a little slack.

“I stood on the sand of the sea”, in scripture the sea represents something very specific, In Revelation 17:15.  The gentile nations of the world are represented by the restless masses of people, "And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." Also in Isaiah 57:20, "But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." During the tribulation period the sea of peoples and nations are in great turmoil. Luke 21:25-26, "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken."   

John continues in our text verse, “A beast rise up out of the sea”, during that time of tremendous turmoil, Satan will put forward a man, Antichrist. A man Satan will indwell and control. This man will be a false messiah who will appear to have all the solutions to the world’s problems.

In other words, superman comes on the scene with great plans and programs for world peace and security. See Revelation 6:2 ... 1 Thess. 5:2-3 ...Dan. 11:21...Dan. 8:25. 

This is the setting for the beginning of the tribulation period. Today our world is slipping into great turmoil, confusion and distress. We also see the seeds being sown for a totalitarian world. We are rapidly approaching the wind-up of man's day.

Israel rejects US call to halt Jerusalem project
Jul 19th, 2009
Daily NewsAP - AMY TEIBEL
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Anti-Israel

JERUSALEM – Israel on Sunday rejected a U.S. demand to suspend a planned housing project in east Jerusalem, threatening to further complicate an unusually tense standoff with its strongest ally over settlement construction.

Israeli officials said the country's ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, was summoned to the State Department over the weekend and told that a project made up of 20 apartments developed by an American millionaire should not go ahead.

Settlements built on captured lands claimed by the Palestinians have emerged as a major sticking point in relations between Israel and the Obama administration because of their potential to disrupt Mideast peacemaking.

Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently yielded to heavy U.S. pressure to endorse the establishment of a Palestinian state, he has resisted American demands for an immediate freeze on settlement expansion.

On Sunday, Netanyahu told his Cabinet there would be no limits on Jewish construction anywhere in "unified Jerusalem."

"We cannot accept the fact that Jews wouldn't be entitled to live and buy anywhere in Jerusalem," Netanyahu declared, calling Israeli sovereignty over the entire city "indisputable."

"I can only imagine what would happen if someone suggested Jews could not live in certain neighborhoods in New York, London, Paris or Rome. There would certainly be a major international outcry," Netanyahu said.

The international community considers Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem to be settlements and an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking because they complicate a possible division of the city. Israel does not regard them as settlements because it annexed east Jerusalem after capturing the area in 1967. The annexation has not been recognized internationally.

East Jerusalem is an especially volatile issue because it is the site of key Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites. The Palestinians want the traditionally Arab sector of the city to be the capital of their future state.

Speaking Sunday in New Delhi, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the administration was trying to reach an agreement with the Israelis on settlements. "The negotiations are intense. They are ongoing," she said.

Nearly 300,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, in addition to about 180,000 Israelis living in Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem.

The new Jerusalem project is being funded by Irving Moskowitz, a millionaire bingo magnate from Florida and supporter of Israeli settlement in east Jerusalem who has funded similar construction projects in the past. Moskowitz purchased the Shepherd Hotel in 1985 and plans to tear it down and build apartments in its place.

The approval, granted by the Jerusalem municipality earlier this month, allows for the construction of 20 apartments plus a three-level underground parking lot. The Jerusalem municipality issued a statement saying the purchase was legal.

Also at the Cabinet meeting, the head of Israel's Shin Bet internal security service, Yuval Diskin, said both the Western-backed administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the militant Islamic Hamas were carrying out "covert activity" in east Jerusalem to stop Jews acquiring property there.

An official present at the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with Cabinet rules, did not elaborate on what the activity entailed but quoted Diskin as saying that hardline Egyptian cleric Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi earmarked $25 million to be funneled to Hamas activists in Jerusalem. Al-Qaradawi is a well-known figure in the Arab world and a regular on the satellite Al-Jazeera network.

Diskin told the Cabinet that the money was to be used by Hamas to buy apartments and plots of land and "build charitable institutions to broaden its base in the city," the official said. Diskin did not provide evidence. Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group and bars it from operating in Jerusalem.

Israel orders 1st stealth F-35 squadron
Jul 19th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

  Israel moved a step closer to receiving its first stealth fighter jets this week after the Israel Air Force submitted an official Letter of Request (LOR) to the Pentagon to purchase its first squadron of 25 F-35 stealth fighter jets.

Also known as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the F-35 will be one of the most-advanced fighter jets in the world and will enable Israel to phase out some of its older F-15 and F-16 models. The JSF is manufactured by Lockheed Martin.

Defense officials said that while the LOR was submitted this week, negotiations regarding the final price of the plane - estimated at around $100 million - as well as the integration of Israeli systems would continue.

The LOR will be followed by the signing of a contract in the beginning of 2010. The first aircraft are scheduled to arrive in Israel in 2014.

The first stage of the deal will be the purchase of 25 aircraft, which will compromise the first Israeli F-35 squadron. In a later stage, the IAF plans to purchase an additional 50 aircraft, some of them with vertical take-off and landing capabilities.

According to senior IDF officers, the Defense Ministry and the Pentagon have reached understandings on most of the major issues that have been at the core of disagreement between the sides.

Israeli demands have focused on three issues - the integration of Israeli-made electronic warfare systems into the plane, the integration of Israeli communication systems and the ability to independently maintain the plane in the event of a technical or structural problem.

Egypt sets new deadline for PA unity
Jul 19th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;Peace Process

Egypt has set August 25 as a new deadline for a power-sharing deal between Palestinian rivals Hamas and Fatah.

Senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmed said Sunday that Egyptian mediators will hold separate talks with both sides in coming weeks in hopes of narrowing the gap.

Last week, Egypt temporarily suspended its mediation efforts after the two rival parties rejected Cairo's latest proposals for ending the conflict.

A high-ranking Egyptian security delegation headed by Muhammad Ibrahim, a top General Intelligence official, visited Ramallah last week in what was described as a final bid to resolve the Hamas-Fatah feud.

The delegation headed back to Cairo after failing to bridge the gap between the two sides, Fatah and Hamas officials told The Jerusalem Post.

Al-Ahmed, who is closely associated with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, had said that the Egyptian team did not bring new proposals for solving the conflict.

"They came with a few cosmetic changes to their original ideas," he said. "At one point we were very close to reaching agreement with Hamas, but something went wrong." He said that Fatah would never accept any deal that calls for the existence of two separate entities and governments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

He said differences over the status of the Palestinian security forces and the possibility of forming a joint Hamas-Fatah police apparatus in the Gaza Strip were among the main reasons for the mediation efforts' failure.

The two parties have also failed to resolve their differences on most of the outstanding issues, such as the political agenda of a unity government and holding new presidential and parliamentary elections, Ahmed said.

Books to Be Chewed and Digested
Jul 19th, 2009
Thought for the WeekA. W. Tozer
Categories: Exhortation;Inspirational

The devotional works that have appeared have been so varied as to make classification difficult. Some of the great names are Meister Eckhart, Bernard of Clairvaux, Jan van Ruysbroeck, Michael Molinos, John of the Cross, Thomas Traherne, Richard Rolle, William Law, Walter Hilton, Francis de Sales, Jakob Boehme and Gerhart Tersteegen. To those might be added the more familiar names of Fenelon, Guyon and Thomas Kempis.

To a large extent these were universal Christians who experienced the grace of God so deeply and so broadly that they encompassed the spiritual possibilities of all men and were able to set forth their religious experiences in language acceptable to Christians of various ages and varying doctrinal viewpoints. Just as a sincere hymn may strike a worshipful chord common to all Christians, so these works of devotion instantly commend themselves to true seekers everywhere. There need only be genuine faith in Christ, complete separation from the world, an eager cleaving unto God and a willingness to die to self and carry the cross, and the Holy Spirit will introduce His people to each other across the centuries and teach them the meaning of spiritual unity and the communion of saints. . . .

. . . people are unable to appreciate the great spiritual classics because they are trying to understand them while having no intention to obey them. The Greek Church father, St. Gregory, said it better than I could, so we'll let him tell us: "He who seeks to understand commandments without fulfilling commandments, and to acquire such understanding through learning and reading, is like a man who takes shadows for truth. For the understanding of truth is given to those who have become participants in truth (who have tasted it through living). Those who are not participants in truth and are not initiated therein, when they seek this understanding, draw from it a distorted wisdom. Of such the apostle says, `The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit,' even though they boast of their knowledge of truth."

In conclusion, we use books profitably when we see them as a means toward an end; we abase them when we think of them as ends in themselves. And for all books of every sort let us observe Bacon's famous rule: "Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."