Revelations

Revelation 12:13-17

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Revelation 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
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.
 
As this chapter comes to close Satan is mad, so he tries to take his anger out on God’s chosen people. But God had a plan for that to.He used His mighty power to to swiftly remove His people to place He had prepared for them, most people agree this is Petra. So Satan says I will drown them before they can get away. God has answer for that, I believe as the children of Israel crossed over into Petra God caused a great earthquake to come and swallow up the water. This just made Satan even madder so now he is going to come after the Christians that are still on the earth, which could made up of Jews and Gentiles. These will give their life instead of taking the mark of the beast. Also we see that the ones that made it safety will be there for 3 and 1/2 years. I have to ask if we today want to make Satan mad enough that he wants to destroy us so we can show him our God is stronger than him.
Something to Think About...

Potatoes

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Randy and I really enjoyed God Speed Ministries church this morning. Bro. Mark always has a good word from God and this morning was no different.
Part of what he talked about was forgiving others. He told a story about a young man who went to his master and said he needed help because so many people had hurt his feelings, or were working against him. He asked the master what to do.
The master told him to take some potatoes; on each potato, carve the name of one of the people who had hurt his feelings; put them all in a sack and carry the sack everywhere he went for 30 days. From the time he got up, until he went to bed at night, he was to tote the bag of potatoes.
In his mind he thought, “Fifteen pounds of potatoes isn’t going to be too bad. I can do this.” So he did what the master told him to do.
At the end of the 30 days, he came back to the master and told him he was tired of carrying the sack of potatoes. The master asked him had he learned anything. The young man said, “Yes, I’ve learned I need to get rid of all this hate and unforgiveness I have towards people in my life!”
I told Randy, not only were those potatoes heavy, but you know they had started to stink- they were rotting; probably ‘gooey’ in some spots from rolling around against one another in that sack; bumping against the young man’s back or legs.
Randy and I have decided it’s time for us to put that stinkin’ bag of potatoes down.

Revelations

Revelation 12 :7-12

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Revelation 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
 
Now we are getting down to the to the facts of who is rally in charge. Satan has always had access to Heaven to accuse the Christians but now he is taking his access to heaven a little to far by trying to conquer God. But Michael and his angels show Satan who really has the power and defeats him and casts him and his angels , demons, to earth never to enter heaven again. We have to remember Satan may have been cast out of Heaven but he still has his power. The Christians though can rejoice for their salvation has come through the blood of Lamb and the words of their testimony and the believed to the point of giving their life for their faith. Remember what a deceiver Satan has been from the beginning beginning of time with Adam & Eve and even today as he gets Pastors to water down the gospel and give feel good messages. This is his way today to deceive people. Now the people of Heaven can rejoice because the know Satan’s time is short and Jesus reign is close. But the people of the earth need to get ready because Satan is going to unleash his full power to still stop God from destroying him even though he only has a short time ,3 and 1/2 years.
Revelations

Revelation 12:1-6

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Revelation 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Now we begin a look at the second half of the tribulation by looking at things that happen kind of from Satan’s viewpoint. The woman is Israel, the sun is Israel’s glory as God’s chosen nation, the moon under her feet signifies her domination, the 12 stars the 12 tribes of Israel. The child is of course Jesus . Then the dragon appears, or Satan, with seven heads , or governments, with crowns to signify power, and ten horns to signify world power. We know from hearing of the rebellion of Satan that he convinced 1/3rd of the angles of heaven to come with him.Satan also to take the of Jesus and thought he had succeeded at the cross but that was just the beginning of the end of Satan’s rule. Now Jesus will come back, after being at the right hand of God till God’s plan is fulfilled in the millennium reign, where Jesus will reign with a rod of iron, which shows the strength of Christ reign. But for last 3 and 1/2 years of the tribulation God will hide His people from Satan in a place God has prepared, which most teach that this place is Petra.

Revelations

Revelation 11:14-19

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Rev 11:

14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

Now the second woe has passed and the 3rd woe is about to come with the sounding of the seventh trumpet and like the breaking of the seventh seal this trumpet will issue in the the vial judgments which will bring us to the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ. We see again the the elders and the saints praising God again but this time it is because He is and has begun fulfilling his promises to regain control over this earth and and create the new one .It will also be the time when everyone that did not accept Christ will face their final wrath and judgement from God ,again anther reason for all the praising. This begins with lightning, loud voices , thundering, a massive earthquake, and great hail. Remember Revelation is not written in chronological order so from here we are going to cover some more details of the tribulation period.

A Note from Hope

Mr. ‘Possum: A note from Hope

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Look what we found on the porch last night! It likes to eat the cat food. Mom says to leave it alone and let it do the job God gave it to do- she says it eats bugs and other pests, so she’s glad to feed it and keep it around.
Sometimes people laugh at how ugly they think ‘possums are, but Mom says it’s not nice to make fun of how someone looks, or how they talk, or dress. Just because they aren’t like us, it doesn’t mean God doesn’t love them and can’t use them.
Mom says she saw on Facebook where someone said “don’t judge someone just because they sin different than you.” I think that’s a pretty good thing to remember. We all make mistakes and we need to lift each other up, not try to tear each other down.
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But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” I Samuel 16:7

Revelations

Revelations 11:9-13

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Revelation 11:9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Now that the two witnesses are dead it is televised all over the world while the bodies lay in the streets for three and a half days and no cares to see that they are buried. In fact they take this time to celebrate by giving gifts rejoicing over the torment from the two witnesses coming to an end. Then the Lord steps in again and enters life back into their bodies and they stand to their feet causing great fear to come upon the people.Then God calls them home to heaven and causes a great earthquake to happen killing one tenth of the people and a remnant were so frightened they gave glory to God. It is just amazing how it takes unbelievable destruction and miraculous things to happen to get people to realize who God is, but is it any different from today we are seeing destruction and miracles every day and people are turning to every thing but God.

Revelations

Revelation 11:4-8

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Revelation 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
 
These two men are the two witnesses that will preach the message of God, understand that while these two preach all the news media will be focused on them so the message is going around the world. By the hand of God theses two cannot be destroyed during the first 3 and 1/2 years and they can and will destroy anyone who tries to stop them. Homeland security will not have a chance against them.They will have the power to perform miracles of all kinds, stop the rain , turn the water to blood , and bring plagues upon the people who refuse the Gospel. Only when thy have finished their testimony will God allow Satan to take their life and their bodies will lay in the streets for 3 days. Now it is important to remember that the 144000 are also preaching. The two witnesses focus on God’s people, the Jews, even though it is broadcasted worldwide and the 144000 are Jews and are preaching to reach anyone and everyone. Everyone has their idea of who the two witnesses are but as for me me I believe it is Enoch and Elijah because neither man ever died and have been with God since they left this earth preparing for this time.
Revelations

Revelation 11:1-3

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Revelation 11:1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
 
As chapter 11 begins John is ask to measure the temple and them that worship there in but measure not the outer court for this is given to the gentiles that will have control for 42 months or 3 and 1/2 years, the second half of the tribulation.These first two verses set the stage for the second half the tribulation but as we go to verse 3 the two witnesses are introduced to prophesy for 3 and 1/2 years, which is in the first part of the tribulation.
Something to Think About...

The Ark of the Covenant

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3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; Hebrews 9
I’m sure most of us have seen “Raiders of the Lost Ark” – Indiana Jones has to save the ark of  the covenant from the Nazis.  They think that tremendous power can be found by opening it…  If you’ve seen the movie, you know the awful, awesome power that comes out when the ark is opened. Indie and his friend turn their faces away because they know it’s the power of God and as humans, they aren’t worthy to look upon it – and that’s what saves their lives. The Nazis who try to use God’s power for the wrong things end up as dust, after they quickly age, die and  disintegrate.
Have you ever thought about what items were found in the ark? It truly does hold the power of God- but not in the way the movies portray it.

Each item in the ark was there for a reason:

  • Manna was the heavenly food that God provided the Israelites while they traveled through the wilderness.  It was the perfect food; and there was always enough- the people were told to gather only what they could use in a day- anything more would be full of worms if they kept it overnight. On the day before the Sabbath, they were told to gather two days’ worth of manna- and what was kept for the Sabbath did NOT ruin. God made sure they didn’t have to work for their food on the Sabbath.  Manna represents God’s provision for us.
  • Aaron’s rod was also in the ark- this is the rod that flowered in the presence of the Pharaoh’s magicians; it also turned into a snake and ate the magicians’ rods when they too turned into snakes. The rod represents God’s leadership for us.
  • The tablets that the ten commandments were written on were also put in the ark- these are the laws that God gave to Moses for the Israelites to follow. These laws are how perfect people would behave in a perfect world – anyone who could always follow those rules and never mess up were worthy to enter Heaven. Of course we know that there is no one worthy to enter Heaven on their own goodness, other than Jesus – and that’s why the ten commandments are so important – to show us that we can’t do it on our own. We all have to have a savior who is worthy.  The tablets represent God’s law and how it convicts us and points us to Jesus and the salvation He offers.

Please –  consider the sacrifice that Jesus has made for you; if you were the only person who needed salvation, He would still have died – just for you. Know that Jesus loves you as you are; but He doesn’t want to leave you that way. He loves you enough to want to help you be the person you can be- the person He’s designed you to be.