Yesterday we talked briefly about the detestable things / abominations God showed Ezekiel that were taking place in the temple. God did not ignore what he showed Ezekiel. Ezekiel 8:17 “He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose! 18 Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.” Today the church is filled with detestable things / abominations. The church follows another jesus and abides by other gospels.
The title of today’s blog is marked. For most in the church, when they hear the word marked, they think of the mark of the beast. This is because of all the ludicrous and nonsensical fictional writing that so many in the church have fallen for and have equated to scripture. We have talked about this in the past, but the rapture (Christians disappearing) is a doctrine of demons. Many have accepted this as truth and many just don’t know. Another teaching that is closely related is the thousand-year reign of Jesus on earth where Jesus returns to take the throne of David. Jesus already did that. People have accepted as truth what books and movies are telling them because they do not know their bibles nor do they test the spirits. I have talked about my first interaction with this ridiculous nonsense (though it terrified me as a young person) when the film called the “Thief in the Night” was shown in our church. It was terrifying as it was made in the horror genre and intended to scare people into salvation. This statement shows how deceived many people are. One writer said, “A Thief in the Night is certainly one of the very few most significant evangelical movies ever made.” “It is only a slight exaggeration to say that A Thief in the Night affected the evangelical film industry the way that sound or color affected Hollywood. I frequently read that A Thief in the Night scared a generation of evangelical children and teenagers.” The problem is you have to ask what they were saved into. I believe it was promoted by the Billy Graham association, so at the time Billy Graham was a god and most accepted his teaching as gospel truth. Though Billy Graham didn’t seem to talk about the rapture at least what I could find, his daughter sure does. Anne Graham Lotz made this ridiculous statement, “I believe Jesus is soon to return to take all of His followers to Heaven with Him in what is referred to as The Rapture. While this will be deliverance for His people, can you imagine the impact on our nation, let alone the world, when suddenly every single authentic Christian disappears? Institutions will collapse. Banks will close. The Stock Market will plunge. Planes will fall out of the sky. Cars will crash on the road. Government in America at every level will disintegrate. Families will be torn apart. In the unprecedented turmoil, our nation will be vulnerable for our enemies to seize the moment and attack us. There will be mass chaos, confusion, fear, grief, despair, anger, threats, danger… judgment.” The reality is the world would not notice that Christians are gone other than Sunday mornings the parking lots would be empty.
In these movies and books, they talk of the mark of the beast 666 and it appears that almost everyone in the church and secular is aware of this number 666. This comes from Revelation 13:3 “The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” 5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear. 10 “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed. 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.” Notice that God’s people were defeated. Daniel also said Daniel 7:21 “As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.” But there will be survivors. Revelation 7:13 “Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” 14 I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.” Jesus said Matthew 24:22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”
These movies and books are utter nonsense and straight from satan, yet so many in the church have accepted them as the gospel truth. Tim LaHaye / Jerry Jenkins (his son produces “The Chosen” be careful with that one too), are false prophets who co-wrote the series Left Behind and wrote many others. One figure I saw said 80 million copies sold. You also have now have movies and these have thoroughly deceived the church. David Jeremiah followed Tim LeHaye at Shadow Mountain. David Jeremiah also preaches the rapture and many other end-time falsehoods and many follow him also. That is just a few of those who have infected millions with false gospels / doctrines of demons and that is just one of the false doctrines.
Yes, there is a war being waged already and it is not in the future as these false teachers suggest. The church has already been destroyed just as Revelation and Daniel talked about. But because God promised David there would always be a remnant, there would be survivors when judgement is turned in favor of God’s people, otherwise no one would have survived this onslaught. The onslaught is from the abomination that causes desolation and most have already bowed to it and already have 666 on their foreheads. This abomination has set itself up in the church and that is who most are worshipping. Daniel 9:27 “And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4 “He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” Most in the church today have been deceived and deluded into worshipping other gods and other gospels / doctrines of demons. 2 Thessalonians 2:9 “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” Sadly, most love it this way as Jeremiah said. Jeremiah 5:30 “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: 31 The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?
Yes, you really should be terrified at the power of the enemy and the destruction that has already been caused. That should really cause you to repent and turn from wicked ways, but will it? The lie from all these ludicrous books and movies is that this is in the future sometime but the reality is this desolation has already happened and millions are dying without ever knowing the truth. By committing to these false teachings, they have accepted the 666 on their foreheads. The people standing behind pulpits already have the mark of the beast and that should be more terrifying than any movie talking about the end times. That means satan has infiltrated the church and most have accepted it or do not know the difference, which in itself is terrifying. Jesus was murdered because the Jews refused to accept the way, truth and life. Nothing has changed in the church and Jesus, the word of God is still rejected. That rebellion against God’s word made way for the abomination that causes desolation to decimate the church.
Today Ezekiel would see the abomination that causes desolation. When God was showing Ezekiel all the abominations, God said. Ezekiel 9:1 “Then I heard him call out in a loud voice, “Bring near those who are appointed to execute judgment on the city, each with a weapon in his hand.” Then those who were marked for death were slaughtered. But there is good news in all of this. As Jesus said, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive.” That means these days will be cut short. What is not good is there is only a remnant left. Oddly, more have focused on the number 666 than on the seal of God. Revelation 9:4 “They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” So there are two options and this option is the one you want. Then Ezekiel heard Ezekiel 9:4 “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.” Obviously, we want to be marked for life not death and here is how. Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Revelation 7:3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” Revelation 9:4 “They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” Revelation 14:1 “Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.”
The opposite are those who refuse to obey the word of the Lord. You cannot say you obey when you follow doctrines of demons like the rapture, a different jesus and other gospels. Isaiah 48:4 “For I knew how stubborn you were; your neck muscles were iron, your forehead was bronze.” Revelation 14:9 “A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.” Revelation 17:5 “The name written on her forehead was a mystery: babylon the great the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth.” When God called His servants, Ezekiel 3:7 “But the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate. 8 But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. 9 I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people.”
Even today there are those, and there should be more, who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are happening in the church. The detestable things are not just the obvious sins but the false teaching and serving other jesus’. Most have just grown to accept the vastly differing doctrines and theology and think nothing of it. Most say they agree to disagree but truthfully feel they are the only the right way. There is not such thing as Baptist, Pentecostal Catholic Christian just to name a few. The deception and delusion are that people who teach these ludicrous end time teachings and many others and their listeners have already been marked but not by the Holy Spirit as they think they have. People who teach the church is waiting to be raptured or waiting for Jesus to take His rightful place on David’s throne, are leading millions astray. As they wait for these events that never come, they refuse or don’t know they need to repent, thus storing up the wrath of God and for many it will be too late. Romans 2:5 “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.”
Is your forehead marked by satan or the Holy Spirit? Hebrews 3:7 “So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts.” Mark 1:15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
