Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

NEWSLETTER Jan. 2020
Jan 1st, 2020
CommentaryArt Sadlier
Categories: Printed Newsletter

RESPONSE TO THE WORD 

A.W. Tozer

Men and women who read and study the Scriptures for their literary beauty alone have missed the whole purpose for which they were given. God's Word is not to be enjoyed as one might "enjoy" a Beethoven symphony or a poem by Wordsworth. The reason: the Bible demands immediate action, faith, surrender, committal. Until it has secured these, it has done nothing positive for the reader, but it has increased his responsibility and deepened the judgment that must follow. The Bible was called forth by the fall of man. It is the voice of God calling men home from the wilds of sin; it is a road map for returning prodigals. It is instruction in righteousness, light in darkness, information about God and man and life and death and heaven and hell. Further, the destiny of each individual depends upon the response to that Voice in the Word! 

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Satan's War

Art Sadlier

We see Satan’s ambition in Isaiah 14:13-14, “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”

This was the first sin in God’s creation. It was the creature rebelling against God his creator. It was the sin of covetousness. Lucifer coveted what God had and to be like God.

Lucifer means “the shining one.” Lucifer was appointed to guard the glory of God. As he hovered over the throne of God he reflected the glory of God throughout all of heaven. When he sinned he became Satan, the “adversary” of God.

In his pride and covetousness he said, “I will be like the most High.” In effect Lucifer was saying, I will tear God down off His throne, I will replace him. Satan said in effect, God, I can rule the Kingdom better than you.  From the book of Job it is apparent that God said in effect, let’s find out.

By the permissive will of God, an experiment unfolded, the great war of the ages. God has allowed it to continue and play out to the end.  This decision by God does not affect God’s sovereignty. God is able to let man defy Him and yet turn man’s rebellion to His ultimate glory. “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain” (Psalm 76:10).

For example: God allowed Satan to appoint Hitler to rule over Germany. It was not a triumph for Satan. It was rather a defeat for Satan and a judgment on Hitler and on Germany. God’s judgment and justice was glorified in that situation and will be for all of eternity.

The great war of Satan against God has raged for 6000 years. It is coming to acataclysmic climax. We are now watching it beginning to unfold.

Satan’s Objective - Satan has one objective as we have stated, to replace God. Imagine a being created by God seeking to destroy God and replace Him. Satan has some major goals to attain his objective.

Satan’s First Goal - To Destroy Israel   

Satan has been working on that objective for nearly 3,500 years. Despite Satan’s many attacks, God has preserved His chosen people from total annihilation.  Despite severe chastening, God will continue to do that until the day He ultimately visits them with salvation and makes them the head of the nations. Christ will come and sit on throne of David. The angel said to Mary, “And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:33).

Today we are watching Satan’s war against Israel also coming to a climax. The nations of the world are in a rage against Israel. God has raised up Trump to prevent the destruction of His chosen people at this time. This rage against Israel will explode in the tribulation period and climax in the battle of Armageddon. At that time Christ will come from heaven to deliver His chosen people. Read Revelation 19:11-21).

Satan knows that God has designated Israel to be at the center of the rule of Jesus Christ over the world. Satan knows that if this comes to pass his ambition to rule the world will be terminated. His only hope is to destroy Israel is to prevent God’s Word from coming to pass. This is his desperate vain hope and he works at it with every ounce of energy in his evil, wicked heart.

He has filled the hearts of men and nations with his vile hatred for Israel. We now see the hearts of men and nations in a rage against Israel. They are Satan’s servants doing his bidding. As you watch anti-semitism seeking to destroy Israel, realize that God is in control and He will fulfill His promises to Israel.

Satan’s Second Goal – A World Government

There is coming a world-wide socialist kingdom which will be ruled by a despot named the beast or as we know him, Antichrist. The preparations for that kingdom are now well underway. This coming world government first surfaced in the heart of Lucifer at the time of his fall from grace when he said, “I will exalt my throne above the stars (angels) of God.”

That was the origin of sin and it was the origin of Satan’s desire for a world government.

According to the Commission for Global Governance, “The New World order will be a socialist government and a global rule of law and a one world economy.”

Understand from scripture that the coming global government will be Satan’s kingdom, Satan designed and Satan inspired. Today Satan is filling the hearts of men everywhere with a passionate drive to bring about this kingdom. These men are deceived by Satan to believe that they can bring about a socialist utopia without God. This will be an attempted utopia that will seem to guarantee world peace and prosperity for all.

These men have turned away from God and are looking in another direction to satisfy their heart’s desire. They have rejected God and His Word and have become their own gods. They are actually becoming tools in Satan’s hand to bring about his agenda.

Socialism is basically anti-God. That is at the core of Satan’s agenda. Remember Satan’s basic drive is to replace God. Socialism is Satan’s vehicle to bring that about.

There are four men Satan has used to bring about his progressive – one world – socialist agenda. These are the men who Satan has inspired to introduce to the world his ideas and philosophies upon which socialism is built. Ideas upon which he is attempting to build his coming Kingdom of Antichrist. These are the ideas that are now held by socialists around the world. These are the ideas that are now driving Democrats to destroy America to facilitate the one world socialist utopia.

Vladimir Lenin                                                                                                                      He wrote in 1913: “Every religious idea of God, even flirting with the idea of God, is unutterable vileness of the most dangerous kind. Millions of sins, filthy deeds, acts of vileness and physical contagions are far less dangerous than the subtle, spiritual idea of God.”

This is the spirit of Antichrist. It is the manifestation of Satan’s war on God.

Frederick Nietzche

We see more of the spirit of Satan which is driving socialism. Nietzche said, “God is dead.” He said, “I call Christianity the one great corrosive, the enormous and innermost perversion, the one moral blemish on mankind.” Nietzche often signed Antichrist after his name.

This is the fountain from which socialism drinks. It is the spirit of Antichrist. It is the spirit of the present progressive socialist one-world agenda. It is the spirit that has driven the changes in our society in the last few decades. The progressive socialist agenda is opposed to God and everything that God requires of man.

Karl Marx

Marx said, “My objective in life is to overthrow Christianity and to destroy capitalism.”

The media, college professors and the entire educational system has imbibed of socialism and has profoundly changed America and Canada. That change is an ongoing situation. All of the Democratic Presidential candidates are radical socialists. We are told that 57% of Americans under 45 years of age prefer socialism. Many of the other generations are also favorable to socialism. This is the basic reason they are opposed to President Trump.

The vehicle Marx designed to overthrow God and to destroy capitalism, is the Marxist Cultural Revolution. The goal of socialism is nothing less than the destruction of Christianity and its moral foundations.

Herbert Marcuse said, “One can rightly speak of a cultural revolution since the protest is directed at the whole cultural establishment, including the morality of the existing society.

We have been experiencing a Marxist Cultural Revolution for some time in our society. We have witnessed the total destruction of our moral foundations. This is obviously the agenda of Satan. His goal is to reverse everything God requires and demands of men. The whole socialist agenda is an expression of Satan’s war against God.

The Socialist Cultural Revolution has destroyed the foundations of America and Canada. Let me give you just a few recent, random news items that demonstrate this destruction of society.

Trump has rightly declared that, Every 2020 Democratic candidate for President is trying to punish religious believers and silence our churches and pastors.

He went on to say that, Our opponents want to shut God out of the public square so that they can impose their extreme anti-religious socialist agenda on America.

United Methodist Church will split into multiple denominations as same sex marriage continues to destroy the professing end times Christian Church

Walt Disney launches new Christian show called “The Owl House” that grooms them to accept witchcraft and demonology as a way to fight evil.

Gulags good way to ‘De-Nazify’ Trump supporters, Says a Bernie Sanders Organizer.

School blocks parents from viewing ‘Gay Porn’ shown to children in LGBT lesson

The normalization of pedophilia by liberals is happening right now with one California University already teaching it to their students

University displays ‘Unholy Bible’ art work depicting Jesus with satanic face

Chicago Public Schools IG opened 458 sexual misconduct cases in 2019

42.4 million babies killed W.W. by abortion in 2019

Anti-Semitic attacks in Brooklyn continue unabated

Hollywood attacks Christians by mocking Breitbart readers

Drag Queen prostitute visits elementary school to read to children

Media yawn at War on Christians

Close to half of Americans Infected with HPV

San Francisco has more drug addicts than High School students

The United Nations 2030 sustainable development goals are relatively close to completion including the forced flooding of International migrants around the globe and the obliteration of national borders

These are just a few current manifestations which the destruction the Socialist Cultural Revolution has brought to America and the world.

While America slept, Satan’s socialists sowed the tares in America and now the harvest is ready for reaping. The battle for the culture seems to be irretrievably lost. The Socialist Cultural Revolution is now complete and waiting for a socialist president to eliminate American opposition to their Socialist Utopia and the coming kingdom of Antichrist. A socialist president would be God’s judgment on an America that has rejected God and His Word.

A recent news release shines light on the socialist true agenda. “Sanders campaign manager caught revealing plan to re-educate Trump supporters like Germany did with Nazis.” Kyle Jurek, the field organizer of Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders, was caught on a hot mike revealing some of his team’s more sinister future plans. Among them was the threat to “burn” Milwaukee as well as other US cities if President Trump gets re-elected. Their plan was exposed by Project Veritas headed by James O’Keefe.

When asked if Trump supporters could be ‘re-educated,’ Jurek exposed a plan to “re-educate” Trump supporters the same way Germany did to Nazis following the war saying: “In Nazi Germany after the fall of the Nazi party, there was a ton of the populace that was in Nazi-field. And Germany had to spend billions of dollars re-educating their people – to not be Nazis. Like, we’re probably going to have to do the same thing here.”

Sanders’ is exposed as a true communist waiting to turn America into a totalitarian communist state.

Some of the of the tools socialists have used in this quest are the educational system, the media made up of men who have been brainwashed in colleges and have embraced socialism, the liberal Church, Hollywood and left wing politicians. They have deeply penetrated all of society including government and governmental agencies.

New Poll shows that “47% of Young Democrats prefer other countries to the United States as Democratic leadership says “America was never great.”

{This year’s election is not about Donald Trump, it’s really not. It is about forces within America, the Democrats that are openly and vocally opposed to the very principles that our founding fathers created this nation on. When 47% of Democrats under the age of 30 say that they prefer other countries to our own, what does that tell you about the type of leadership they want to see in power? It tells you that Socialism and Communism are lurking outside the door like the wolves that they are, and if given the chance, they will bite and devour the United States until there is nothing left.}

Progressivism means to tear down and replace the existing order with something different. It is a powerful tool in the hands of the socialists. A companion tool is politically correct speech which is used to reinforce a corrupted social order by silencing opposition. All of the institutions God has given to society to protect against Satan’s socialist global order have been attacked.

The family has been viciously assaulted and largely destroyed. God’s design for marriage with His stated order of one man and one woman has been assaulted.. We have seen the acceptance of the LGBT agenda sanctioned by governments and widely accepted by society. God’s creation of male and female has been rejected. We are now being assaulted by the anti-God idea that men and women can change their sexual identity.

In the 60’s the sexual revolution began the destruction of the family, God’s basic building block of society. Rock music has stimulated immorality and rebellion in our young people. Pornography has corrupted the minds of men and made them passive to their responsibilities. The feminist movement has led women to fill the gap changing God’s order for society.

In Europe the rising tide of socialism has resulted in the removal of national borders to break down the nation state. At Babel God introduced the nation state to prevent Satan from the easy establishment of one world government.

It would only take the election of one socialist president to turn America into a socialist state. America is the last barrier in the world to the one world agenda of Antichrist.

The globalists are motivated by Satan to carry out his objective. They are fanatically committed to their goal and they are growing in power and numbers. They will stop at nothing in their quest.

God has used Donald Trump to demonstrate to America that capitalism and not socialism is the right pathway to follow. Do not be surprised if Satan deceives Americans in the coming election, failing that a civil war. Jesus taught in Matthew 24 that deception was a mark of last days. It is the disobedient and rebellious heart that is open to deception. That is the characteristic of present day America and Canada.

Today a majority of men in high places are convinced that socialism is the only solution to war, to economic equality and to social justice. They have rejected the promise of God that Christ will come and deliver the world from its present catastrophic condition.  They have rejected the call of God’s Word to repent.

Instead of believing God, man has set about, knowingly or unknowingly, to be swept up in Satan’s anti-God globalist agenda.

The world is desperate to bring about its socialist utopia. As we have said their forces are overwhelming.  The world is marching toward the one world government of Antichrist.  Satan has put it into the hearts of men through great deception, to press into the coming socialist utopia.

At this very hour we are witnessing Satan’s war coming to a great climax. The struggle going on in America is not really a political war. It is the war of Satan against God being played out in the lives of men and women and political parties. It is fierce and unrelenting with tremendous consequences. God could easily crush Satan and his minions. However, we know from scripture that one day God will allow Satan to do his worst and appear for a time to be triumphing.

The good news is that before that day arrives we will hear the sound of the trumpet and the voice of the Lord saying “Come up Hither.”

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

A shout! A trumpet note! A glorious presence in the azure sky! A gasp, A thrill of joy, and we are with Him in the twinkling of an eye.

A glance! An upward look! Caught to be with Christ forever more, The dead alive! The living glorified! Fulfilled are all the Promises that went before.

His face His joy supreme! Our souls find rapture only at His feet. Blameless without a spot! We enter into heavens joy complete.

Strike harps, Oh sound His praise, We know Him as we never knew before! God’s love God’s matchless grace! T’wiil take eternity to tell, while we adore.

We have witnessed the rage of men in their drive to tear God down out of heaven. To be caught up in Satan’s agenda to dethrone God. Whether men realize it or not that is what is now taking place.

David spoke of this hour and the hour soon to follow. He described the socialist of the present hour as they attack God and set about to destroy God’s intended order for the world. ““Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:1-3).

Why have they not succeeded? The answer, it is not God’s time. He is restraining Satan’s agenda. God has a purpose and a plan for everything He does and puny man is not going to disrupt God’s purposes. God has a time to allow Satan to attempt to establish his Antichrist kingdom. Man’s rebellion against God will ultimately bring about God’s judgment.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:6 we see that God has a purpose and a plan and He will work out His plan in His time. “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.” Basically, Paul is saying here that the Holy Spirit at the present time is holding back the full expression of evil in the world. He is holding back the coming of Antichrist, who, when he comes will be unrestrained in his ability to unleash the full expression of evil. There is coming a day when men will see for the first time, sin as it really is.

Verse 7, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: (sin is already in the world) only he (the Holy Spirit) who now letteth (restrains) will let (restrain), until he be taken out of the way.” Here Paul tells us that sin is already working in the world but that the Holy Spirit is working to restrain the full expression of evil. He tells the Thessalonians that the day will come when the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit will be terminated. Then the Antichrist will be allowed to appear on the world stage and all restraints to sin and wickedness will be removed. Verse 8, “Then shall that wicked one be revealed…”

What a fearful hour that will be! Praise the Lord! We will not be here in this world when that hour comes. “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

God is the sovereign Lord of all. As we move through these last days, never forget that God is in total control of everything that happens. That takes away all anxiety from the believer’s heart. We have read the last chapter of the book and we know the outcome.

“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision” (Psalm 2:4).

“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Revelation 22:11-13).

Satan’s Third Goal

To complement Antichrist’s political power, there will be the religious power of a world-wide church, known in scripture as the harlot. Religion will be the foundation of the kingdom of Antichrist in cooperation with his world government. It will be the unifying aspect of his kingdom.

This false church is called the great whore. A whore is one who is unfaithful to her husband. There is in the world today an unfaithful church that has apostatised. Once having been identified as the Church of Christ we have watched as the New Evangelicals have drifted into apostasy.

This false church is obviously the last church of the seven churches of Revelation chapter three, Laodicea. This church is identified in current history as the present New Evangelical Church. The account in Revelation 3:14-20 makes this identification.

The Church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3:7-13 identifies as the second last church of the church age. This is the Evangelical/ Fundamental church that preceded Laodicea. It continues in the world today as a remnant. Its day in ascendency is past.

In 1948 a group of fundamentalists separated from Philadelphia. They were self -identified as New Evangelicals.

New evangelicalism declares itself to be different from fundamentalists in three ways.

1 - They repudiated separatism - They rejected separation from the world. They committed to entering into a relationship with the world In order to win the world to Christ. The truth is that when the ship is in the sea it can be a rescue ship to those sinking around it. But when the sea is in the ship both are lost.

New Evangelicals have done what Moses warned Israel not to do. “But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them” (Psalm 106:35-36.).

2 – They were committed to the social gospel – They were knowingly or unknowingly committing to the reformation of men, making a better society out of unregenerate people. This results in no eternal value. This is the seed that has sown socialism in the present New Evangelical church.

3 – They were committed to dialoging with Christ-rejecting liberals – This now includes both Catholics and Muslims. This is a vehicle to bring the world together. This is the seed of the ecumenical movement and the establishment of a world church.

New evangelicals at that point started down a long road into apostasy which is now coming to a disastrous climax.

The fundamentalist say, “I believe in and will practice separation from apostasy.” New Evangelicals say, “We will not come out we will sit down and talk.” The watchword of the Fundamentalist is “Be not unequally yoked.” “Come out from them.” “Touch not the unclean thing,” “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.”

The watchwords of the New Evangelicals are “stay in.” “associate,” “infiltrate,” “dialogue.” It was the beginning of a transition which would see the birth of Ecumenical Evangelism, the Church Growth Movement, the User Friendly Church, the Purpose Driven Church and Contemplative Meditation. Each of these programs was an effort to bring the world into the church. They were laying the foundation for the coming harlot.

This movement has morphed into the Emergent Church. The Emergent Church introduced unabridged apostasy. Listen to Emergent church leader Samir Selmanovic on his website as he presents an interfaith vision that will... "seek to bring progressive Jews, Christians, Muslims, and spiritual seekers of no faith to become an interfaith community for the good of the world. We have one world and one God."

He goes on to ask, “Is our religion the only one that understands the true meaning of life? Or does God place His truth in others too? Gods declares, not us, the gospel is not our gospel, but the gospel of the kingdom of God, and what belongs to the kingdom of God cannot be hijacked by Christianity.”

That is the foundation upon which the universal harlot counterfeit church will be built. Today we see this apostasy growing in the New Evangelical Church led by the Gospel Coalition.

While Satan is busy preparing the world for one world government he is also deceiving evangelicals and leading them into apostasy which will end up with new evangelicals becoming a part of the universal harlot counterfeit church.

Ever since the beginning on his papacy, Pope Francis has been pushing for global unity in religious matters, global unity in economic matters and in political matters. Pope Francis said, “That all the major religions are seeking God or meeting God in different ways, ultimately we are all children of God.”

Pope Francis is not only driving for the unification of all religions he is also pushing a socialist agenda for the coming kingdom of Antichrist. He said, “We need a new economic and ecological world order in which the wealth of the planet is shared by everyone.”

To be sure that he is calling for a new socialist world order, he denounced capitalism and refers to its excesses as the “dung of the devil.” In June 2015 Pope Francis called for, “a new global political authority” that would have the resources necessary to, deal with the world’s economic problems and injustices.” He is clearly calling for a world leader, Antichrist.

The final Apostasy of New Evangelicalism - Socialism

The Hegelian dialectic process is also known as a third way. After thesis and antithesis (argument) have worn each other out a third option is provided as a solution (compromise). This is an option where the divergent worldviews of capitalism and socialism are blended. This third option is “communitarianism.” This is a compromise which softens up the way to full blown socialism.

Choosing a third option pleases the full-blown socialists. It allows someone to embrace socialist economic theory without calling oneself a socialist. You can be a communitarian and sound as if you’ve arrived at a more sophisticated alternative. Americans and Canadians have been thoroughly indoctrinated in the compromise of communitarianism and can easily make the switch to socialism.

This switch and swap goes on beyond the area of economics, it is also being carried out in the area of religion. People take some biblical Christianity, blend it with a bit of Islam and call it “Chrislam.” It is based on the false idea, for example that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. The same thing happens with Mormonism. The same principle is applied to other religions. We will have a world united by religion.  The world is brought together in the name of religion.

Some major Calvinistic evangelical leaders, led by Tim Keller, Al Mohler, Russel Moore, John Piper, Lignon Duncan, Mark Devers, John Perkins and others identified with the Gospel Coalition are using the same assimilation of belief systems between left-wingers and the evangelical right. The approach was formalized by ia document called “Let Us Reason Together: A Fresh Look at Shared Cultural Values between Evangelicals and Progressives.” The problem is that progressive is just a euphemism for socialist.

This compromised gospel is the fruit of the road that the New Evangelicals embarked on in 1948. The new compromised gospel is a gospel that changes the terms of salvation and loves the world and embraces its culture.

Tim Keller claims that God’s radical plan is that, “We are to work together to make the world a better place, to help each other and to find purpose for our lives.” Keller has demonstrated that what he believes it does not come from biblical wisdom but from a Marxist world view. Keller quotes from the writings of Marxists Robert Bella, Gustavo Gutierrez and Reinhold Niebuhr without mentioning their political affiliation. In fact Keller has deceptively replaced the gospel of Christ with the utopia of Marx and has presented it as biblical truth.

E.S. Williams states, “New Calvinism is a gospel that changes the terms of the salvation and loves the world and embraces its culture.”

The unthinkable has happened. New Evangelicalism has now embraced socialism. They have embraced the agenda of Satan which he will use in his coming kingdom of Antichrist. The deceived are blinded to their error.

New Evangelicalism has become a Trojan Horse Christianity laying the foundation for a socialist church and a socialist society that will be incorporated into the harlot church.

Three things we need to give ourselves to in these Last days.

1 – Our lives must be Right – “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.“ (Hebrews 11:5). As we wait for His coming let that be true of us.

2 – Our Motives must be Right – “And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest“ (Jeremiah 45:5).

3 – Don’t Quit to Soon – “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith“ (2 Timothy 4:7).

Let us as believers finish the race well, holding nothing back. Striving to hear his “Well Done.”

As a young man, I traveled around the country as a salesman. Sometimes I would be away from home for five or six weeks at a time. As I came to the end of my trip, I would wake in the morning out of a sound sleep and for a few moments puzzle as to what city or town I was in.

Someday, every man or woman will go to sleep for the last time on this earthly scene, and wake as they have never awakened before. They will wake up in eternity.

Jesus tells of such a situation in Luke 16:19, he says “There was a ‘certain rich man,” notice this is not a parable, this is an historical account. We read that this rich man died. He closed his eyes on earth and opened them in eternity. It says “and in hell he lifted up (opened) his eyes, being in torments.”

My friend, I tremble for you if you are not saved, the thought of such an awakening is terrifying!

How can you avoid such a fate? There is only one way. Jesus said “I am the way, ..…no man cometh to the Father but by Me.” Jesus said, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God”. John 3:36 says, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him”. John 1:12 says, “But as many as received Him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” My friend, settle this issue right now. Do not put it off for one more second. Where will you wake up after you have closed your eyes for the last time on earth?  

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Deceived

Art Sadlier

To be deceived is to believe a lie. To believe that error is truth, to believe that wrong is right. To be deceived means to be led away from the truth without knowing it. If the person being deceived knew they were being deceived, then deception would not have occurred. One must believe that one is not deceived in order to be deceived.

The deceived are convinced they are walking in the truth. This conviction locks them into their deception. They can only be delivered by someone or something outside of themselves.

Deception is often brought about by a combination of partial truth and truth. Outright error cannot deceive you; it must be mixed with truth or half-truths.

Satan has deceived the whole world. It is only the Spirit of God through the Word of God that can lift deception from the eyes of the unsaved and enable them to see and comprehend the truth. Today, as we look out at the world, we see the depth of deception is growing, as the apostles said it would in the last days. We wonder why politicians and leaders cannot make right decisions and why they seem incapable of understanding the issues. We are living in days of great deception. We are astounded at how men and nations are failing to understand the issues of the hour and how they are making incredibly foolish choices. Deception is the only possible explanation.

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come" (2 Timothy 3:1).

There are many sources of and reasons for deception.

Deception is a consequence of disobedience

Refusal to respond to the truth will ultimately result in God blinding a person to the truth. “Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matthew 13:13). Those who fail to act in obedience to the truth will ultimately have their eyes and their ears closed to the truth. In verse 15 we see that it is the hearer that closes his or her eyes to the truth. “For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”

In verse 16 the Lord explains that those who are His disciples have opened their eyes and ears to the truth with the result that they can see and understand the truth. “But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.”

This principle is further stated in verse 12. “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.” This is speaking of the consequences of a person’s response to the truth.

This principle applies to the unsaved in particular, but it also has an application to the believer. A believer can grieve the Holy Spirit by disobedience to God’s Word. A believer can quench the Spirit by refusing to hear God’s Word. This disobedience prevents the Holy Spirit from revealing truth to us and leaves us open to deception. Only through repentance can this situation be reversed for the believer. The believer always has this option open to him.

Deception comes from Satan

The whole unregenerate world is living in spiritual darkness. In 1 John 19 we read, “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness (the wicked one).”  The word “wicked” in this verse is the same word translated “wicked one” in the previous verse, making the translation literally read, the whole world lieth in the wicked one, Satan. That is the position of the unregenerate man. It is not until he is saved that he is delivered from Satan’s domain and transferred to God’s kingdom. “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:14).

That is the desperate condition man finds himself in today as Satan is blinding the minds of men regarding the lateness of the hour we are now living in. We must pray that God will be gracious and open blind eyes to the truth of the gospel.

Satan works to keep the unsaved man from escaping his deception. “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” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10). Satan’s basic method of keeping men from salvation is deception. He causes men, through deception, to believe that they do not need salvation.

Satan also uses deception on the Christian who leaves himself open to deception by not walking in the Spirit. “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).

Walking in the Spirit in obedience to God's Word assures deliverance from deception for the Christian. James 1:22 "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." John 13:17, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." Luke 11:28, "But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it."

Deception is caused by sin

Hebrews 3:13, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” We repeat what we have already said, disobedience to God and His Word will cause the believer’s heart to be hardened to truth and leads to his deception.

In such a situation the decisions the believer makes will be wrong decisions and will lead him further out of the will of God.

Deception comes from within

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). The unregenerate heart of man naturally tends to be deceived. Your own heart will deceive you. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).

It is just natural for the unregenerate man to make wrong decisions. Jeremiah 10:23, “I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Paul taught the same truth in Galatians 5:17, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” We, as sons of Adam, have a fallen nature that drives us to do the wrong things, and seeks to deceive us concerning the truth.

The natural man is totally depraved. Depravity is the absolute inability of the natural man to do anything that pleases God. "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Romans 3:12). "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:7-8).

Depravity does not mean that a man cannot please other men, but it does mean that the natural man is wide open to deception.

Deception comes from God

“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:11). We learn here a principle about God’s dealings with men. If men turn away from obedience to God, He will at some point, send them strong delusions to deceive them. God will cause them to believe a lie. The Lord is dealing with hearts. He wants hearts that love Him and trust Him and as a result he seeks hearts that will obey His voice. Anything short of a committed heart is not acceptable with God. Remember Jesus said, “He that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my disciple.”

Notice why God sends this delusion, “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:12). The choice for the unbeliever is always salvation or damnation. Do you get the idea that God is serious about man's relationship with Him?

Spiritual life is not static. Either you are walking in darkness or you are walking in the light. We read of unbelievers in Psalm 83:5, “They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness....”  If you are a believer, the pathway of your life ought to be getting brighter with truth as you move along.

Deception is perhaps the most pervasive thing in our lives. When we are in the light we are walking in unity and in harmony with other believers who are walking in the light. Today, as perhaps never before in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ, believers are going in a multitude of different directions. It seems that almost every believer and every church has a different slant on doctrine and a different idea about the ministry of the church. There seems to be no unity of thought as to what Christian conduct should be, no unity concerning  modest dress and no unity as to what separation from the world means.

Today, numerous churches are permitting and practicing things that were shunned by all fundamental churches a few decades ago. The Lord said to Israel, “Learn not the ways of the heathen.” Today, in many cases, you cannot tell the difference between the world and the church. In many cases you cannot tell the difference between the music of the church and the music of the world. Today, in many cases you cannot tell the difference between the professing Christian and the unsaved.

I can only conclude that a great many Christians are deceived as to what God requires of them. Deception has deeply penetrated the church of Jesus Christ and it is growing in leaps and bounds.

Only the Truth of God's Word can deliver from Deception

There is only one source of truth and that source is the Word of God. Anyone can read and submit to God's Word and be delivered from deception. There is no excuse for deception.

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). "

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children" (Hosea 4:6).

"Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts" (Zechariah 7:12).

I believe that the only hope for a church or an individual Christian is to get back to hearing the Word of God and obeying it. Then the deception will be lifted and the light will fill our lives and our churches.

“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17).

Scripture teaches that the last days’ church of Laodicea is a deceived church. It is terrifying for me to read Revelation 3:16-17 “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”

I tremble as I look out at the evangelical church today and compare it with those verses which speak of the last days’ church and its fate. In scripture we see the faithful last day’s church of Philadelphia and we see the apostate last day’s church of Laodicea. The issue is not, do we believe we are not Laodicean or do we believe we are Philadelphian. The issue is what are we in actual practice?   

Post Script

As we face the US coming presidential election we are concerned about deception. Deception comes from God when people and nations turn away from obedience to God. America as a nation has totally rejected God. It seems to me there is a possibility of the election of a socialist president which would start the process of the destruction of America.

Would God spare America for the sake of a remnant of believers? Or would He perhaps take them home in the rapture? America is certainly deserving of the judgment of God.

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The Fear of the Lord

Art Sadlier

It is important to learn to fear the Lord all the days of our lives. “Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.”

There is a blessing in learning to fear the Lord, “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!” (Deuteronomy 5:29).

The God we are to fear is also the God of love and mercy and grace and He will bless those who fear Him. The fear of the Lord brings blessing into our lives because it keeps us from those things that would bring harm to us. The fear of the Lord keeps us from disobeying Him. Actually it places us where the Lord can bless us. Contrariwise, disobedience places us where the Lord must correct and chasten the believer.

Hebrews 12:10, “For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.”

One benefit of the fear of the Lord is that obedience makes us partakers of His holiness.

A second benefit is that the fear of the Lord helps us to avoid the Lord’s chastening hand upon us.

We need to be warned because the chastening of the Lord upon His people can be very severe. “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world” (1 Corinthians 11:30-32). That is the sleep of death.

The Lord spanks hard and it can be very painful. Sometimes it even results in premature death. We ought to fear that. The Lord cannot and will not tolerate sin in His presence in the life of the believer. He will not tolerate it, even though it is forgiven sin which is under the shed blood. He will not tolerate it even though He has an infinite love for His children. We ought to fear our loving heavenly Father who must chasten us for our own blessing.

“If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD” (Deuteronomy 28:58).

“O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth” (Psalm 96:9)

Another reason to fear our loving heavenly Father is because it takes away all other fears.

Abraham had obeyed God when he left his homeland and went to an unknown land. That obedience brought the blessing of God down upon his head and delivered him from fear. Isaac his son also learned to fear the lord and that fear also delivered him from fear. “And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake” (Genesis 26:24).

All down through the long ages the Word of God comes to His obedient children, “Fear Not.” This phrase echoes through the Old Testament over and over and over again. It occurs dozens of times in the New Testament. The Lord says to His obedient children fear not for I am with thee, I will not forsake thee. To fear God is to be relieved of all other fears.

We need to remember how awesome our God is, He is the sovereign, almighty, all knowing, all powerful, infinite, all wise and Holy God. We need to remember that our God is infinitely holy and that he cannot tolerate or countenance sin. We need to learn to fear God and learn to fear the consequences of sin.

“God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11).

The unsaved need to learn the fear of theLord.

The God of the Old Testament is the same God in the New Testament. “For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).

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

” He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John3:36).

As I consider all the works thy hands have made I bow in humble adoration. Recently a space vehicle arrived on the planet Pluto. It had been travelling at high speed for nine years. When you consider that Pluto is within our own solar system it gives you just a peep into the vastness of God’s creation and His almighty power. Then when we realize that our heavenly Father spoke it all into existence by the Word of His mouth, we must indeed bow in humble obedience and adoration. We could spend a hundred lifetimes studying the wonders of God’s creation and not scratch the surface of the wonders of God’s handiwork.

We also stand in awe when we read Colossians 2:10, “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.” Or when we read 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” Or when we read Colossians 2:13, “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.”

All of the above causes us to proclaim, “My God how great Thou art.”

We are inspired to, as David said, “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

What a travesty that many worldly Christians think that they can worship a Holy God with the corrupt music borrowed from the world. Christian rock is from the same vile root as pop music. Many, if not all rock musicians claim that rock music is sex and you are going to worship God with that? You have lost the fear of God.

Contemporary worship is centred on man rather than on God. Man centered worship is an abomination to the Holy sovereign creator God. Contemporary Christians, if there is such a thing, have lost the fear of God and that should cause them to tremble.

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God's Plan of Salvation

The original sin of the human race took place in Eden. Eve exercised her God given free will to rebel against the command of God. She placed her will above the will of God. It was the will of God that she should not eat of the forbidden fruit. Adam later chose to follow Eve in her sin. Adam sinned against God by exercising his will in opposition to the will of God.

Adam and Eve were in the garden in a state of untried righteousness. They were without sin and therefore they had fellowship with God. It was the plan and purpose of God to try the will of the man He had created. He placed them in the garden for that purpose.

“And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:15-17).

Man’s original sin was his exercising his will in opposition to the will of God. That is the essence of sin. Salvation was provided by God based on man turning from his rebellion against the will of God and submitting to the will of God. This is expressed in repentance.

God will not predestinate a man to salvation; every man must respond to the gospel by submitting to his will to the will of God. The gospel call is an invitation to submit to the will of God. Without that submission there is no salvation. Jesus said that a man must be born again to enter the kingdom of God (John3:3).

A man must be born once into the world and then he must be born again to enter God’s presence in heaven. That new birth is dependent on a man submitting his will to the will of God. Repentance is a change of mind.

That is God’s plan of salvation. He will not short circuit His plan. Calvinism is a contradiction of the plan and purpose of God for man’s salvation.

Repentance is the basis of salvation. Man has no part to play in his salvation, it is all of God. However, it is provided by God on the basis of man’s repentance from sin and disobedience to the will of God. “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, 5).  “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47).

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2: 8-9). This verse makes it clear that faith and works are two different things. Faith is not works.

Man is created in the image and likeness of God. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:26).

Man was created to be a ruler, a governor under the authority of God, to rule on God’s behalf. Man is a unique being.

Man was created with a (free) will. When God placed man in the garden and gave him a command, that command required man to have the capacity to choose, which requires a will.

All throughout the scriptures man is challenged to choose and to obey God. That requires a will.

The act of worship also requires a (free) will. “If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD” (Leviticus 1:3). Also Leviticus 7:16; Ezekiel 46:12. Free will offering is mentioned at least 16 times in the Old Testament. Man’s coming into God’s presence is on the basis of his free will and on the basis of the shedding of blood.

“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve…  “(Joshua 24:15). The Bible is filled with commands and exhortations by God, each requiring men to have the capacity of a free will.

Creature life acts and moves by instinct. The creatures are programmed to do what they do. The Monarch butterflies fly south in the fall. They do not sit down and one day and decide to do that, it is programmed into them. Man is unique; his life is filled with choices. All day long he is occupied with choices. Where to go? What to do? What to eat? Who to obey? Whether he will obey or disobey God?

Man is a unique creature with the divinely given power of Choice. Man has the God given opportunity to choose eternal life or eternal destruction in hell. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).

All men have the opportunity at some point to turn in obedience to God. “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.”

God reveals Himself to all men. If any man will turn to the light God has given him, God will give him the light he needs to be saved.

“Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:19-21).

We see here disobedient men turning away from the revelation of God to them.

 God reveals Himself to every man, “…so that they are without excuse.” Read that in the light of 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” John 1:7, “The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.”

Add to that John’s words of Jesus in John 1:9, “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”

It was never God’s plan and desire that only a limited number be saved. Christ came into the world to offer a sacrifice for all. Every man has an opportunity to be saved. “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).

Calvinism is in error. Confusing the gospel is the most serious error that can be made.

Summary                                                                                                                              Sin is rebellion against the will of God. God desires that a man’s will be voluntarily brought into conformity with the will of God. “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).

Salvation involves man surrendering to the will of God. This is in contrast to the first man, Adam who rebelled against the will of God. Surrendering to Christ is surrendering to God. It is recognizing God’s authority over you.

The following is a quote of Adam Clarke who lived in the 18^th century

“There has been much spoken against the doctrine of what is called free will by persons who seem not to have understood the term.

Will is a free principle. Free will is as absurd as bound will: it is not will if it be not free; and if it be bound, it is no will. Volition is essential to the being of the soul, and to all rational and intellectual beings. This is the most essential discrimination between matter and spirit. Matter can have no choice, spirit has. Ratiocination [reasoning] is essential to intellect; and from these volition is inseparable. God uniformly treats man as a free agent; and on this principle the whole of divine revelation is constructed, as is also the doctrine of future rewards and punishments. If a man be forced to believe, he believes not at all: it is the forcing power that believes, not the machine forced. If he be forced to obey, it is the forcing power that obeys; and he, as a machine, shows only the effect of this irresistible force.

If a man be incapable of willing good and willing evil, he is incapable of being saved as a rational being; and if he acts only under an overwhelming compulsion, he is as incapable of being damned. [He is] is incapable of being moved, but as acted upon by foreign influence; or, as an intellectual being, to nonentity.”