When Sunday Comes

 First: The last scene of the Passion of the Christ (7 minutes long) 

Today, let's remember why Jesus came to earth, died, and rose again:

“… ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the whole world.” (John 1:29)

"For what I received I passed onto you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures," (1 Cor. 15:3-4)

“Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.” (Romans 5:18)

"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies," (John 11:25)

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.’”  (John 14:6)

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:12)

"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." (John 5:24)

"But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:31) 

"if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.... ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”  (Romans 10:9-10, 13)

“For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already ...”  (John 3:16-18)

And remember that Jesus only came to earth as a baby once.  

Next time, He's coming as a lion, a King.  

"And I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider was called Faithful and True.  With justice he judges and makes war.  His eyes are like blazing fire and on his head are many crowns.  He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.  He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.  The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.  Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.  He will rule them with an iron scepter.  He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.  On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."  (Rev. 19:11-16)

"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:9-11)

Are you ready?

In the Sky (song by Carlisle, Cleveland, and Lee)

For more good stuff: 

Sermons: "The Death and Resurrection of Christ" and "The Real Meaning of the Cross" by Billy Graham

"The Journey - Resurrection Sunday", a 72-minute video from Tony Evans, on location in Israel

Songs: God's Not Dead by Newsboys, Oh, What Love! by The City Harmonic, and The Champion by Carman

My posts: "Atheism and World Religions" and "Starting your own relationship with Jesus"  

And I highly recommend finding and watching these two favorite movies of mine sometime (here's the trailers): Jesus Revolution and Do You Believe?

Have a great, blessed Easter!

It's Friday, but ...

Friday is the day of heartbreak and suffering and loss.

Saturday is the day of waiting and despair and hopelessness.

But Sunday... thank God ... Sunday is coming!

Hang in there, dear ones who are discouraged about life, who are exhausted from treading water, just trying to make it through, and who feel hopeless about the future.

Hang in there... because Sunday's coming.

Sunday's coming.

(Two great, encouraging songs for the hurting, exhausted people: Worn by Tenth Avenue North and Fell Apart by The City Harmonic.)

She hit the nail on the head! Amen, come, Lord Jesus!

 A neighbor just sent this link to me, a video clip (just a minute long) from a woman sharing how she is just done with everything, how she's on autopilot and just wants Jesus to come back again.

I absolutely get everything she said and have felt the same way for several years now.

Can anyone else relate?

Here's a transcript of what she said (I think she voiced what a lot of us have been feeling, like we've been treading water, just trying to get by until the end):

Maybe. Just maybe.

 Worth considering, especially these days:

"'Fasten your seat belt': Pastor Greg Laurie talks potential fulfillment of Bible prophecy in Israel-Hamas War"

"Greg Laurie says rapture is next event on prophetic calendar: 'Get right with God'"

And a couple of encouraging songs, at least for those that know Jesus as Lord and Savior (and if you don't, check out "Starting your own relationship with Jesus" and "Support for Jesus and the Bible"):

I Wish We'd All Been Ready 

In The Sky 

Family-Friendly Demons?

I've said this before, but I think this stuff will get more and more out in the open as we get closer and closer to the end times:

They're Coming For Your Children (article)

If you invite demons into your life, don't be surprised when they show up.

And do you really think they'll care if you go "Oh, I didn't really mean it; it was just a joke"?  (Here's my story about why I take this stuff so seriously, how I know it's real and shouldn't be messed with.)

(What would be really interesting would be to hear the stories of what happened in these families' lives in the months that followed their demon summoning.  Sadly, they won't realize how real it all is until it's too late.  And more sadly, it will be their kids who pay the price.)

And how about some relevant songs from Carman, just for fun:

A Witch's Invitation - Love this one!

No Monsters - Carman knows the power of Jesus's name!

Satan, Bite The Dust - I wouldn't go around challenging Satan, but Carman's making a good, important point here about the power of God compared to the power of the devil.

God's Got An Army - with a little Narnia thrown in

A Place For Us All!

 A fantastic song from a fantastic movie (Jesus Revolution - a favorite!): Living Water by Anne Wilson 

As she rightly sings, "He paid every sinner's price!"

And so "every outcast, every wrong-way, runaway rebel" - no matter who you are or where you've been - can come on down to the Living Water and find hope, healing, and eternal life in Jesus.  

No one is hopeless.  No one is too far gone.  No one is destined for hell.  

There's a place for us all in God's family.  All of us are able to and welcome to freely accept the gift of eternal life, paid for by Jesus's death for us all.  

“For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."  (John 3:16-17)

"This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.  For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all men ..." (1 Timothy 2:3-6)

Don't pass up this opportunity, this free gift.  There is no other way to heaven.  

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6)  

But that's the good news!  

Because you don't have to do anything to get to heaven but believe.  You don't have to struggle to work your way to heaven, because God's done all the work for you.  Jesus paid the price for you, and all you have to do is open your hands and accept it. 

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23) 

“if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.... ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”  (Romans 10:9-10,13)

I'm not sure how much time we have left before God ends the Church age (the "salvation by grace through faith" age) and begins His "end times" plans, but I think we're living on borrowed time.  So don't wait.  Make your decision now.

"So if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve ... But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord!" (Joshua 24:15)

"The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!'... Whoever is thirst, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life."  (Rev. 22:17)

Bonus: A few "end times" songs (which will either be encouraging or terrifying, depending on where you're headed):

I Wish We'd All Been Ready 

In The Sky

People, Get Ready

The Unseen and The End

 A couple of good videos I just watched:

What is the Rapture? -  a sermon by Greg Laurie (47 minutes)

The Unseen Realm - a documentary by Michael Heiser about the spiritual powers, about how God organized them and allows them to operate (1 Hour, 11 minutes)

A better explanation than demons?

Check out this article, the woman's eyes: Unreal Video: I'm beginning to seriously believe DC is run by literal demons

Does anyone else have a better explanation?

And a bonus article on a different note, not about demons in government (or maybe it is, since they're the ones pushing the vaccine): "Why do people's personalities suddenly change following Covid vaccination?"  I haven't yet noticed personality changes in people, so I'm not sure how much I trust this.  But it might be worth tucking in the back of your mind.

And if this is true ["Drag Queen tops iTunes "Christian Chart" music genre"], what is wrong with Christians nowadays!?!  Or maybe it is what's wrong with Christians nowadays.  No discernment.  No biblical stands on anything anymore.

Coincidence? Or prophecy?

 Recent-ish headlines (I'm not linking to them, but you can search them for yourself):

"'Only one sausage per month for everyone!' German Nutrition Society recommends over 90% reduction in daily meat eating - to combat global warming"

"Davos speaker calls for one billion people to 'stop eating meat' for 'innovation' and the environment"

"Bill Gates thinks we should start eating synthetic beef"

And a biblical prophecy:

"The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.  Such teachings will come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared with a hot iron.  They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods..." (1 Timothy 4:1-3, emphasis added)

Interesting, maybe?

Also see "New Take on an Old Prophecy - 1 Timothy 4:1-5" (an article I found while looking for the headlines above)

"Spiritual Warfare" series: My Story

I'm gonna do a series on Spiritual Warfare, reposting some relevant older posts, adding new things, and sharing some good resources.  The world is growing dark and the spiritual battle is getting serious, making it a good time for a series like this.  (I figured since I'm posting it on my other blog, why not post it here too.)

You don't think that the world is getting dark, that the spiritual battle is ramping up?  Here are some articles I found just this week:

When clowns run the circus

So get this: 

An Arizona elementary school should not hire teachers with Christian values because it doesn't feel "safe" ... so says the self-proclaimed "queer" schoolboard member wearing cat ears.  (See here.)  

It is a dreadful thing ...

"Then [Jesus] said to them: 'Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be great earthquakes, famines, and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven." Luke 21:10-11

Any of this sound familiar, kinda like newspaper headlines?

I'm not sure how much time we have left, but I wouldn't wait too long.

"Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near." Isaiah 55:6

"But wait," you say, "isn't God all soft and squishy, all about making us happy and giving us what we want?"

I know it sounds crazy but ...

A neighbor (a recent believer) and I were talking the other day about the rapture and the end times, prophecy and the book of Revelation, etc.  And I found myself saying "I know it sounds crazy.  It sounds crazy to talk about things like this, about prophecy and Jesus coming back and the tribulation and things like that."

We Christians know how it sounds when we talk about these things - like we should be wearing tin-foil hats, claiming that the government is reading our thoughts, that aliens have probed us, and that we've seen Bigfoot working as a cashier at the local convenience store.  I know that the Bible and its teachings - on how the world was created, on how it will end, on prophecy, angels, demons, the spiritual battle, on Jesus being God and coming to earth in a human body to die for our sins and then being raised again from the dead, etc. - I know all these things sound fanciful, fantastical (as my neighbor says), crazy.

But you know what I think?  You know what I told my neighbor?

I know it sounds crazy, but I think it's the most logical, most hopeful, of all the crazy options.  When you think about it, every option out there (and I've only listed a few) - every possible belief about how the world was created, how it will end, who God is, etc. - sounds crazy.

Isaiah 26, the Rapture, and Israel's Lockdown?

 I don't like when people take Scripture and apply it to anything they want to, interpreting it however they want, to fit their own ideas.  But humor me here ...

Doesn't Isaiah 26 make you think about life around the time of the rapture?

"Open the gates that the righteous may enter, the nation that keeps faith.  You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you."  (Like opening the gates of heaven to believers at the rapture, keeping them in peace while the world goes into turmoil during the tribulation.)

7-Year Peace Treaty Within The Year?

 Is it possible that the 7-year peace treaty will happen within the year?

This man thinks so - "Turkish President Erdogan Will Confirm The Seven-Year Covenant With Newly Elected Turkish UN President Volkan Bozkir".  He thinks that Turkey will "confirm the covenant with many" through the newly-elected President of the 75th UN General Assembly, a Turkish diplomat.  His UN presidency lasts only one year.  And this means that if Turkey's President Erdogan is the future Anti-Christ (as this man strongly believes), then this peace treaty would most likely happen within this next year, while a Turkish diplomat is the UN president. 

So is it possible?

Only time will tell.

[And one more "Is it possible?": Another dream from Dana Coverstone, which to me sounds like what conditions will be like after the rapture.  (Click here for my post about his previous dream.)  

Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus!

I tell ya, if the rapture really does happen soon, no one will be able to say they didn't suspect it.  The signs are all around us and growing in intensity with each passing week.  It's so obvious that you have to be deliberately ignoring it to not see it.  I'm just sayin'.]  

  

Is It Too Late For America? I Think So.

I hate to say it, but I agree with this article: "Crossing the Rubicon."  In fact, I was just thinking about this kind of stuff the other day, before I read this.  I know that because of all the chaos in the world right now, lots of Christians are praying that God would heal our land, our society.

But I think it's too late for that.

I think the march to the "end times" has started, and it can't be stopped.  I don't think this chaos in the world is necessarily God trying to turn us back to Him (but all the better if it does turn people toward Him), but I think it's about getting all the final pieces in place before Jesus returns.

I don't think it's about pleading with God for mercy and healing right now.  Because I don't think He'll listen or change anything, as He did in Jeremiah's time (see "God Would Never Do That!  Or Would He?).  I think it's about getting our final affairs in order, working as hard as we can these last few moments to draw as many people to Him as possible before it's too late, about hanging on to Him as we ride out these last few chaotic days, staying faithful to Him as we wait in hopeful expectation for Him to come get us and take us Home.  (But I am not saying to stop praying for His mercy, for revival.  We don't know what God's got planned or how He'll respond to our prayers.)

In fact, I think it's overdue.  I was thinking this stuff back in at least 2018, as seen in the prayer I wrote in this post, "Is God Drawing Lines in the Sand?"

I think the fuse has been lit and it can't be stopped.  And it's just a very short matter of time now.

Now is the time to make your decision, before it's too late.

Also see "Do You Believe?" and "Starting Your Own Relationship With Jesus"

And these two timely songs: "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" and "In The Sky"


And sure, maybe I'm wrong about all this.

But what if I'm right?

Is God Drawing Lines in the Sand? (repost)

(Reposted from a few years ago, updated slightly.  Part of the "End Times" series.)

It’s amazing and disturbing how brazen our society is in attacking everything about God and everything He created:  marriage, monogamy, sex, family, sexuality, the scientific reality of gender, morality, modesty, the value of a person, the right to life, the existence of "right and wrong," the Bible, Jesus, and Absolute Truth.  Not to mention God Himself, His very existence.

We are destroying everything associated with Him (except nature – we worship that), and then we call ourselves "progressive."

But you know what I think about it all?  

I think that God is letting it happen because He is drawing lines in the sand.  Through all these divisive issues and all the immorality, God is saying “Pick a side!  I am forcing you to decide which side you want to be on ... because I am coming back soon to take My people out of here.  So I need you all to decide:  Me or the world?  Which do you choose?"  

A Pre-Trib Rapture is the Most Merciful Option (repost)

(Repost, with some additions)

Some people have a lot of trouble accepting the idea that God would rapture the church out but leave everyone else to go through the tribulation.  They think it is heartless and cruel of Him.  

I, however, think that a pre-trib rapture is the most merciful thing God could do.

In the movie Left Behind (with Nicolas Cage), a young woman who missed the rapture looks around at all the pain and heartbreak and devastation ... and she screams out about how the loving God her mother worshipped would never cause something as tragic as that to happen.  He would never take people away and let others be left behind to face the troubles of the tribulation.


Or would He?

Hell Is A Real Place! (repost)

Two reposts about hell:


#1:   So Hell Isn't Real?

So there's this popular preacher who says that hell isn't real, that it's a fantasy.

It's no wonder he's popular.

Do you know who wasn't popular?

Jesus and those who were faithful to Him!

Where There Is Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth! (repost)

(I'm not sure if I'm right about this; it's just what I think is possible right now.)

“And throw the worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  (Matthew 25:30)

“The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  (Matthew 13:49-50)



I used to wonder about the “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Where is this place and who gets thrown there?  It sounds like an awful place to be, and I always assumed that it happened in hell.

But what I couldn’t figure out is why the “servant who hid the talent” in Matthew 25 is thrown there, too.  It makes it sound as if a believer (a lazy one) ends up in a place with weeping and gnashing of teeth.  But how can that be if “weeping and gnashing” happens in hell, as seen in Matthew 13?  How can a believer end up in hell?

But I think I may see the difference now.