"....Every spirit that does not confess ('acknowledge, profess, praise') Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world." (1 John 4:3, NASB)
An online news source reported today about a woman outside a Russian metro station holding an infant's head. I thought, "This is medieval barbarism alive." Many witnesses say that she was saying the old standby Arab/Islamist phrase, "God is great," or, "Allah is greater." Instead of classifying the, whatever one would choose to call her, a terrorist, some Russian agencies are wanting to do the "psychiatric" thing. This is the post Garden world in which you and I live. This is as old as one brother slaying another in a field near the beginning of the human race.
What options in life do you and I have today, or any day? We cannot look to our own "faith;" that is something which is so vulnerable to mood or some current events in life. We cannot look to someone else, no matter how great they seem to be, how great their faith. We cannot look to governments, 401ks, family, job, no matter how "good." Just look at what so many, even you and I, have "looked to" over our life times. When it was not, "Looking unto Jesus," there was nothing good, nothing lasting, no solid rock that would sustain us in life's deepest despairs, sorrows, suffering.
Christendom is becoming more and more secularized, more "all-things-to-all-people" driven. The result is a religion which is devoid of the Precious Blood of Jesus, the power of Jesus' Cross, Jesus' Resurrection, Jesus' Ascension, and Jesus' soon return; in short, the Name of Jesus is less and less central to the religion of modern Christendom. This is the reason so many people who call themselves "evangelicals" act, conduct their daily lives, vote, and think in, "this is the spirit of the Antichrist," or,"the antichrist nature." Barnes' says, "John here refers not to an individual who should be known as Antichrist, but to a class of persons." Of course Antichrist will manifest in due time. But what is alarming more and more today is "a class of persons" who are of, "the spirit of Antichrist." And you know, my friend, they are an ever-increasing number.
"Confess, 'Acknowledge, Profess, Praise,' Jesus," at every turn, every day, every moment. We are all not nearly as strong as we would like to think. Pray with me, therefore, that the Holy Spirit, Jesus in us, will strengthen, empower, enable us to live, rather than some secularized, popularized, self-serving counterfeit religion, we will live what the Bible calls, "the faith of Jesus."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I so pray. Amen.
**********************
* Please remember to pray for our Berlin Mission, October, 2016
* North Korea, more of a threat than the US Government would have you know. Read about it at: jhs58.blogspot.com
An online news source reported today about a woman outside a Russian metro station holding an infant's head. I thought, "This is medieval barbarism alive." Many witnesses say that she was saying the old standby Arab/Islamist phrase, "God is great," or, "Allah is greater." Instead of classifying the, whatever one would choose to call her, a terrorist, some Russian agencies are wanting to do the "psychiatric" thing. This is the post Garden world in which you and I live. This is as old as one brother slaying another in a field near the beginning of the human race.
What options in life do you and I have today, or any day? We cannot look to our own "faith;" that is something which is so vulnerable to mood or some current events in life. We cannot look to someone else, no matter how great they seem to be, how great their faith. We cannot look to governments, 401ks, family, job, no matter how "good." Just look at what so many, even you and I, have "looked to" over our life times. When it was not, "Looking unto Jesus," there was nothing good, nothing lasting, no solid rock that would sustain us in life's deepest despairs, sorrows, suffering.
Christendom is becoming more and more secularized, more "all-things-to-all-people" driven. The result is a religion which is devoid of the Precious Blood of Jesus, the power of Jesus' Cross, Jesus' Resurrection, Jesus' Ascension, and Jesus' soon return; in short, the Name of Jesus is less and less central to the religion of modern Christendom. This is the reason so many people who call themselves "evangelicals" act, conduct their daily lives, vote, and think in, "this is the spirit of the Antichrist," or,"the antichrist nature." Barnes' says, "John here refers not to an individual who should be known as Antichrist, but to a class of persons." Of course Antichrist will manifest in due time. But what is alarming more and more today is "a class of persons" who are of, "the spirit of Antichrist." And you know, my friend, they are an ever-increasing number.
"Confess, 'Acknowledge, Profess, Praise,' Jesus," at every turn, every day, every moment. We are all not nearly as strong as we would like to think. Pray with me, therefore, that the Holy Spirit, Jesus in us, will strengthen, empower, enable us to live, rather than some secularized, popularized, self-serving counterfeit religion, we will live what the Bible calls, "the faith of Jesus."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I so pray. Amen.
**********************
* Please remember to pray for our Berlin Mission, October, 2016
* North Korea, more of a threat than the US Government would have you know. Read about it at: jhs58.blogspot.com
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
