The Contrast of Finality [part two] ...

The scene in heaven is one of overwhelming joy at the impending return of Jesus Christ to our world.  Praises are exclaimed by the first fruits, by the 24 elders, by the four beasts, and by the sentient life across the universe.  But where joy is at its pinnacle, it has an equal contrast in the sin sick world below.  The contrast stands as dark as the light which is its opposite.  The finality of what is about to transpire will set a mark in the history of evil that cannot be undone.  Where heaven rejoices, the world below prepares for a war.  Where love seeks to bring life, renewal, and reconciliation for the redeemed; darkness seeks death, compulsion, and the conquering of any who dissent.  Those who follow Jesus Christ have long awaited His return to take us to our real home – wherever He is.  But for as much anticipation as true Christians hold within them, those who are not destined to be made free from self-love loathe the idea of an early end to their dark desires.  For them, the time to commit sin, to acquire more, to indulge themselves is nearly over.  It is as infinite a darkness they continue to descend into, as is the light we aspire to achieve.

But if there is to be another war, forced by the dark depths of evil itself, then a warrior will they meet.  It is in triumph our Lord is to return to us.  His meek and humble demeanor was ever present to bring us to Himself.  But now, His enemies will see, that love forever rejected is not powerless, it is not weak, it is not so easily defeated on the field of battle.  John reveals the picture of Christ returning to our world as we continue in chapter 19 and verse 11 saying … “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.”  If there are four horsemen who represent the decay of the church who bore His name, there is now a fifth horsemen who intends to reclaim it, both His name, and His people.  Jesus Christ is called Faithful and True.  He is faithful in that our salvation has been wrought in us, despite our lack of knowledge as to “how” this has occurred.  We cannot understand how our evil desires have been replaced by good ones, because we did not accomplish this transformation. HE did!  His word is made True within us, as all of the promises of redemption have resulted in a transformation of who we are, from slaves to self, to freedom to love others.

John points out, that evil is not to be allowed to run free and make all the decisions of what will happen next.  It is our God who judges.  It is the opinions and decisions of our God that are final.  What evil desires and wishes is to be made of no account.  If there is war to happen, our Lord will not shy away.  It is He who will bring war to evil, such as evil has not considered possible up to now.  Bathed in self-deception, evil has convinced itself, it can win based of the sheer force of will.  It is wrong.  John continues to describe the scene in verse 12 saying … “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.”  Evil cannot stand in the presence of love, for love consumes it entirely.  The eyes of our Lord appear as a flame of fire, for to look into them is to see the infinite love of God.  Evil sees this love as a consuming fire from which it cannot escape.  It is why Moses was only allowed to see the back of God, not His face.  Had the Lord revealed Himself and His infinite love directly and unfiltered to Moses, it would have consumed Him for its magnitude.  Moses while still clinging to the sins he cherished could not have stared into those eyes without revealing the evil he still had within himself, and thus being consumed by love.

On the head of our Lord is not a single crown to imply an ordinary kingship, rather there are “many” crowns, to signify He is not just a King, but a King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.  No matter how great any king in this world has risen to prominence, no matter how high we believe ourselves to have ascended, we are reminded here there is One who is FAR greater than any of us.  Neither David, nor Solomon, nor Nebuchnezzar, nor Alexander the Great, nor any since will be able to compare in the slightest to the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings.  In the days of John, a king was a well understood concept.  His authority was absolute in the region in which he ruled.  There were no democracies, there was no place to appeal beyond the authority of the king.  So the imagery presented to John is something he fully understands and grasps, it is our Lord who is the real King, and the greatest King to have ever existed.

John also reminds us that He bears a name which no man knows except He Himself.  We do not really know the name of the Father God.  The closest name we ascribe to Him is YAHWEH, based on the systemic substitution of the letters YHWH wherever His true name existed in scripture.  This was a precaution taken by Jewish scribes to insure we never took His real name in vain.  Hard to do that when we do not truly know what it is.  But in this scene of His returning, Jesus bears the name of our God, which we have lost and do not know.  His identity, His name, will be revealed to us at that time, even John is not granted insight for his revelations to show it to us now.  We must wait to see it, to read it, to have Him tell it to us. 

John continues in verse 13 … “And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.”  The Lord’s method for saving us, was to take upon Himself, the punishment we deserved.  It is by His blood, that our own can be preserved.  Thus he returns in a vesture, whether this is his entire clothing, or perhaps a breastplate, or vest, it is dipped in the Blood He shed for our redemption.  John again refers to Jesus Christ as the “Word of God”.  Keep in mind this is how the gospel of John begins, that the Word was God.  He continues in verse 14 … “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”  The host of the redeemed first fruits, perhaps the angels who have supported their Lord before in battle, perhaps other sentient life who rally to the command of their Lord, all stand arrayed to witness the triumph of the power of love over evil, even evil which will not relent.  The garments of the redeemed first fruits are white and clean, this is only possible because the garment of our Lord is soaked in His own blood.  It is His blood that has made us righteous.

John continues in verse 15 … “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. [verse 16] And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”  The words of our Lord cleave those they encounter.  For those who submit themselves to Him, we are cleaved of our sin, and left remade in His righteousness.  For those who refuse to submit, they too are cleaved and smited and overcome, their decision to refuse respected, but their lives of evil cut short as a result.  There is no disputing His word, there is only accepting it, or accepting the consequences of sin and death instead.  The rod of iron which He is to rule with, stands as the immutable principles of loving others, and not loving self.  This is a non-negotiable item for our God, and His government.  Satan’s attempts at balance, at bringing in the ideas of self-love even if only in small quantities are to be no more, they are defeated.  There will be only one kind of love in the kingdom of our Lord, a love of others, not self.

John reminds us again of the imagery of treading the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.  Love does not enjoy the pain that selfishness brings.  Love for others hates what love of self brings.  The sympathy and frustration and patience of trying so hard to see pain and death redeemed now gives way to an anger with the suffering that love of self has caused.  Evil has made its choice.  That choice will be respected.  And now it will see how much the Lord hates pain, hates death, hates suffering that evil causes – the anger is to be poured out without mixture, without dilution, without shelter upon those who have embraced the course of evil.  Those who have chosen to love self above all else, and refused the redemption and transformation gifted by our Lord, are to now experience what that choice means.  They are to have their own suffering revealed to them, returned to them.  What they have wrought upon others in a quest to please self, is about to come home to themselves, they will now see what it means to suffer personally, not just to remain in apathy as their victims suffered.

John again makes it clear that the name on His thigh is a final declaration of His authority in all matters.  Our God is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.  His authority will be unquestioned, undisputed, and the steeped in a finality that cannot be undone.  What is about to transpire is a final mark in the history of evil that will never be undone.  Evil wanted a battle, so a battle is coming.  Evil deceived itself into thinking a victory was possible, that self-deception is about to be undone, and truth revealed.  John continues in verse 17 saying … “And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; [verse 18] That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.”

The angel standing in the sun calls to the birds of the air to gather themselves together as they will be on clean-up-duty for the battle about to transpire.  There is not even a question about who will be losing this battle and who will be winning it.  It is not the humble, selfless, servants of God who will be consumed by the fowls of the air, it is the proud men of the earth.  Both those who think themselves as great, and those who know they are not.  It is those who seek to war against what is coming, rather than submit to a power that could have freed them.  The hold of the beast over those who bear his mark is complete.  They are fully self-deceived.  They fully believe the false prophet and imposter of all the known deities is indeed the only god they need serve.  Who else could come to disrupt what their god tells them?  Who else could bring disruption to the order their god demands?  The ideas of the Bible, the culmination of the return of our Lord, does not so much as enter their heads.  This must be some sort of alien invasion, like in the multitude of science fiction movies they have seen.  How could it be otherwise, if god is already here?

John continues in verse 19 … “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.”  Armageddon has arrived.  Despite the clarity, despite the finality, despite the contrast of an army dressed in white, led by a God who will surely be undefeatable, the war will go on.  They see Him coming as He promised, yet vow to fight on.  They know in the deep recesses of their minds, that He who is returning is the Truth, the Way, and the Life.  They know it is Jesus Christ who descends now with His angelic throng, yet despite the certainty of truth, there is nothing left to do, but to war on.  Even now, the stubbornness of evil is revealed.  Even now, there is no change of heart or mind, there is only a deepening in the course of sin they have embraced.  Instead of surrendering and pleading for mercy though the time for this has past, they will even now, refuse the mercy or love they might have otherwise already gained access to.  The decisions are final.  The contrasts of finality have been set, there is no going back, there is no vacillation, there is only to move forward into war.

John continues in verse 20 … “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”  There is a special fate reserved for those who have led this deception, and who have sought to lead the genocide of the followers of Jesus Christ alone.  The beast, the dragon, the second beast, and the third – Satan and all those who have led the quest to compel the conscience of others, the leaders of these ideas, from papal supremists, to Islamic facists, to atheistic proponents, to fundamentalist protestant militants – the leadership of this war against Christ are to be cast alive into a lake of fire.  This will consume the earthly participants, and push the supernatural ones into a state of punishment.  The leadership is dealt with in a special way at the outset of the battle evil has chosen to pursue.

John then continues in verse 21 saying … “And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”  Those who remain of the evil in this world; the followers, the passive aggressives, the apathetic, the self-denialists, those who would still attempt to rationalize their way out of this dilemma - are to be slain by the word of God.  A simple command from the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings, ends the lives of those who would have sought to end His once again.  The battle does not last, it does not involve casualties on both sides, but only on one.  It is not a battle that can be ended by retreat, to live to fight another day.  It is over.  It is ended, with the leadership consumed in a lake of fire, and the rabble evil hoard fallen by the words of Christ.  It is quick and decisive with zero survivors.  The saved have already been caught up in the clouds to greet Him in the air.  His foot has never even had to touch the ground to fight this war or to win it.  It was won while he yet approached.  The dead in Christ have already been awakened by the sound of the trumpet, they have already been called from their graves to meet Him in the air.  The scene John describes is about the contrast of the saved with those who are not.

The finality of this battle cannot be understated.  The contrast is stark and eternal.  Fates have been forever sealed when once the decision to compel the conscience of men was embraced.  Now the results of that decision are to be seen.  It is death that was chosen.  Like the Pharaoh of old who sought to kill the Israelites, and instead found his firstborn slain; so the wicked who sought to kill those who dissented from their majority view point now find it is them who are to be slain.  The choice to pursue blood, has been respected, but the result was to find it is their own blood that is spilled.  The outcome was not expected, but it was chosen.  If evil had its way, the righteous of the earth, the humble, gentle, followers of Jesus Christ who are guilty of nothing but loving others, would be completely dead and gone from the earth.  This was the plan of the enemy.  He sought to kill every living thing that follows Christ, and kill the God of our universe, once again.  His plan was foiled.  His choice altered by an outcome he did not wish.  There are slain to feed the birds as the angel predicted only moments ago.  But as predicted, the slain are those steeped in the evil of self-love.

The most longed for event in human history, is also the most destructive and hated event in human history.  The contrast of life and death has never been so apparent as now.  Those who love others experience an infinite joy, that overwhelms them entirely.  Those who love self, experience pain and an early demise, to be cut short of all their evil intentions, goals, and desires.  Those who love self, HATE what has come.  They hate His return.  They hate His followers.  They hate that gentle demeanor, that speaks and acts of nothing but love for others.  The contrasts of finality have long been set.  How this event in the history of our world is perceived is defined by the construct of the character you retain when it occurs.  Will you stand with the redeemed of Jesus Christ, who have allowed His transforming love to free you from your slavery to serving self?  Or will you take your place with the demonic hoard who look for no greater glory than to indulge self just one more time before it ends?

This battle is over before it begins.  It was always going to be so.  This revelation however has a much deeper significance.  Because this revelation is given to you today, BEFORE, these things occur, BEFORE your decisions are final.  You have the luxury of time in the here and now, to determine which side of this conflict you intend to be identified with.  These truths are sure and certain, but they also remain in the future as of today.  Our nation has not yet implemented the universal call to take on the mark of the third beast.  Our churches have not yet abandoned Christ and called for the killing of any who will dissent with the majority view.  We are on the road to these things, but they remain as yet, incomplete.   There is still time.  Time is the gift you are given today.  You can read this revelation in a time that is not yet advanced as far as the scriptures surely foretell.

That is the point of these revelations.  They are NOT a history book, offering no hope for the reader.  They are a prediction of what is to come.  In the day of John, nearly everything was set in a current or future tense.  In our own day, six of the series of seven things, have come to pass.  The seventh is still ahead of us.  While we do not look as did John, with a wealth of future time to see ourselves embrace the salvation of Jesus Christ; it is still not too late yet.  But the highway we travel towards these events will not be deterred or delayed much longer.  These revelations, like the remainder of the gospel, stand as a love letter from your true God.  They remain an invitation to start the process of transformation to perfection in the here and now.  They offer a surety that your salvation will be witnessed by you through the power of Jesus Christ alone.  This is NOT about fear tactics.  Only the wicked have reason to be afraid.  Those who would be free, have reason to rejoice, because freedom stands ready to be embraced.

The contrast of how you view these events, and these sure predictions, is an indication of where you stand with Christ today.  If what is written, strikes fear in your heart, then pray to submit yourself to Christ, and let His peace, replace your fear.  If what is written appears to you as a message of hope and love, then pray a prayer of thanksgiving that your salvation has already begun; pray that your submission can be full and complete and immediate, so that your joy can only grow in the here and now.  This battle, though still in the future, and marked by a contrast that cannot be undone, was not to be the final battle.  There was to be one more.  There was to be an epitaph of death itself still to be witnessed …

 

Armageddon ...

The last war begins.  It will have 2 great battles.  The first battle begins at the second coming of Jesus Christ, as He returns to earth triumphantly to bring home those of us who have waited to see Him for so so long.  The second battle will occur more than a thousand years later, as there is one final assault of the city of heaven itself.  The 2 opposing sides were defined years ago.  The 2 opposing ideas outlined at the birth of evil into the universe.  Love-of-self versus love-of-others; it is this opposition that gives rise to conflict.  Love of self has produced evil, pain, and death.  It has proven what the opposite of God is, what the opposite of love is, what the opposite of life is.  Those who broke trust with God, and embraced the love of self, have become slaves to this sickness they chose.  They are now powerless under its insatiable grip.  The hunger that cannot be filled will not be filled, and so death must be its only outcome.  The war which began in heaven has moved to earth.  It will wage its next battle here on earth where evil is destined to lose, as it was always destined to lose.  The defeat of evil is known by all those in the supernatural realm, but it is refused to be accepted.  Instead pain and death will only be magnified and intensified before evil meets its end.  So Armageddon has arrived.

Unlike the Bruce Willis movie, where he and Ben Affleck can through sacrifice save a planet filled with the “innocent” and those in need, the time for sacrifice is ended.  There is no one left who can call themselves “innocent”.  There is no one left who might repent and seek to be saved.  There are only those bent on destruction, and those who have already put their trust in the salvation of Jesus Christ.  The former can think of nothing more, no greater cause, then to murder the latter.  The servants of Christ suffer from failing memories, and facts defined in a history of sin.  We know we have sinned and rack ourselves trying to remember one that might not have been sought for forgiveness, but can find none.  It makes no sense to us.  We know ourselves to be sinners, yet standing to wait upon His return, His work of perfection has been completed within us, and we can remember no unpardoned sin anymore.  The real fact of our former human imperfection causes us great misery as we seek a perfection that has already been provided to us.  We wrestle as Jacob wrestled, without need, without purpose, the victory having already been provided.  The fear of who we were causes us great trouble, but the reality of His salvation within us speaks only of peace, and the anticipation of His return.

The six previous plagues have all led up to this moment, to these events.  The last great war, World War 3, begins not as humans feared, as a rivalry between nations over “more” – but as a continuation of the war in heaven, between good and evil, between those who bare the mark of the third beast, and the Lord of Lords and King of Kings who dares to do, what He has always promised to do.  The great day of the Lord, of His return has come.  And the sequence of seven begins to see its fulfillment.  It occurs in the days of the seventh Laodicean church as found in the beginning of this book of Revelations of Jesus Christ that John has written.  The seventh seal is now opened.  The seventh trumpet is now sounding.  And the seventh plague must now fall.  It is the destruction of the seventh plague that will leave the evil ones of this world dead for the next thousand years.  The work of the seventh angel will be to descend and bind Satan in chains to the isolation and destruction of this abandoned earth for the next thousand years while the followers of Christ have gone home with Him, and will review the books of Judgment in heavenly courts to see why those they knew or loved are not there in paradise with them.  The sequence of seven, of wholeness, of perfection is reaching its zenith.

John describes the scenes of Armageddon.  He details what the first battle plan in the last great war looks like.  Satan, the dragon, and the Beasts he has raised in his alliance, have through the power of demons and the impersonation of every deity and religious icon, have gathered fallen mankind to war in a place called in the Hebrew tongue “Armageddon”.  They stand ready to greet and war against the return of our Lord, though they are unaware of who they fight for, and who they fight against.  So deep is the blindness of those who have accepted the Mark of the Beast, that they can no longer tell Satan from Christ on any level.  Confusion, chaos, the hallmarks of sin and disorder, are on display as at no other time in the history of our world.  Six plagues have already fallen exactly like the scriptures predicted.  Those who refused the Mark of the Third Beast remain untouched, and unaffected.  They are shielded from the wrath of our God, because it is only to be poured out upon evil.  Yet despite the clear word of God in these Revelations, despite the reality of what has transpired, evil does what evil always does – it refuses to accept reality and seeks to redefine it.  Still suffering from grevious sores, thirst, scorching heat, and regional darkness, what is left of mankind seeks to war, to kill, to exert power over others.

So John describes the futility of evil and the start of its demise in chapter 16 of Revelations, beginning in verse 17 saying … “And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.”  This plague begins with a declaration, a definitive utterance of simplicity and finality – it is done.  Before the enemy has time to engage a single member of his troops to war, the destiny of this battle has been announced from heaven itself, from the temple, from the throne – it is done.  This will not be a contest.  This will not be an exercise that can lead to victory for the forces aligned with evil – there will be only one victor, and He is returning from the throne room of heaven to what is left of this world.  The words those who follow Christ have so longed waited to hear have been said.  There is to be time no more.  Decisions were made well ahead of this declaration, fates were sealed well ahead of this.  This is not an arbitrary end to mercy and redemption offered by our God.  It is a recognition, that no mercy is being sought.  There are none left who are undecided, or in want of salvation.  There are only those who have been saved already, and those who wish never to be saved.  So the words it is done, reflect the reality of our world.

John continues in verse 18 saying … “And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.”  The passages we studied earlier in chapter 11 describing the blowing of the seventh trumpet are repeated here again.  There were voices, thunders, lightnings, and a great earthquake.  Perhaps only on that day will we know what the voices of the thunders are stating.  But this is to be no secret affair.  This is not a silent approach, where the enemy would not detect His coming.  Instead it is a very noisy affair.  In case you were able to sleep through the sights and sounds of the storm, the very ground will shake you from your slumber.  No one will be able to miss the end of all things.  No one will sleep through the end of the world, the final battle, the Armageddon of wars. 

John continues in verse 19 saying … “And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. [verse 20] And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.”  Here John identifies three separate entities that are impacted discreetly by the return of our Lord.  First John identifies a “great city” which is divided into three parts.  Perhaps this refers to Jerusalem given the idea that the final battle is believed to be centered in the Middle East.  Or perhaps this refers to Rome, as the Vatican is centered there and is one of the locations of the three Beasts the dragon has created in his alliance to compel the conscience of men.  The cities of the nation’s falling then may refer to the seats of the dragon where Christ was never a part of any religion still maintained.  And finally Babylon is called into remembrance before God.  While most would like to ascribe this image of Babylon to a religious entity, it has been better identified with a governmental one, namely with the United States, where the Mark of the Third Beast began.  When examining the United States as its fulfillment, the following passage carries even more meaning – that every island is fled away, and the mountains were not found.  If we are the Babylon here referred to, we have the geography to make this passage meaningful.

John continues in verse 21 saying … “And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.”  Only now is the final destruction reaped upon the earth, and even now it causes none to come to repentance but rather to deepen in their blasphemy.  The last plague is to be one of hail.  Each stone is to weigh nearly one hundred pounds.  Imagine grapefruit sized hail of an incredible density, or basketball sized hail, where each stone, each drop or rain made ice, weighs nearly one hundred pounds.  Falling from an altitude of great height, perhaps mixed with fire and from a clear sky as in the days of Pharaoh of old.  The level of destruction this final plague is to reap is to be universal as well.  No one on the side of evil is to survive it.  The righteous ones, and those who sleep in Christ will have already been called forth to greet Him in the sky.  They are to leave behind this world of pain and sin.  They need not see or witness the destruction this plague will cause.  The suffering of mankind steeped in evil is to sleep for the next thousand years.

No cities would survive hail of this size and weight.  No cars, or buildings, or life will survive it.  The words “it is done” were not to be taken lightly.  Our world is to be left barren, our infrastructure completely obliterated.  All that will remain for the next thousand years will be the desolation of water turned to blood, earth scorched by the sun until all is barren, an earthquake that re-writes the geography, and a surface pounded by 100 pound rocks of hail.  It will be to this “bottomless pit” that Satan is to be bound.  He is to be locked into isolation to contemplate what his evil has wrought.  The nations will not survive these events, allowing him a further audience for his lies and deceptions.  Instead the work of the seventh plague is universal desolation, and the finality of the end of evil for next millennia. 

The last great World War 3, code name Armageddon has begun, and the first battle has ended without contest as was foretold.  What John will reveal next in the aftermath, is an epilogue of sorts, a post script on the fate of a church who would not be true, and a nation who would not either.  There were a few more Revelations yet to be revealed …

 

The Last Great War ...

Once more into the abyss … Finally, after so much delay, after so many years that have turned into centuries and centuries into millennia, the time for the ultimate extinction of evil has come. But alas, evil will not go down quietly. Once more, there is a time for war, one last final battle to decide the very fate of existence and death itself. This is the time to end all time, and after our work in heaven has been completed at the appointed time, it begins.

At the end of our first millennia in heaven, the time comes for end of evil. As such, the city itself moves from its stellar location back to the completely decimated planet earth. It descends on what used to be the city of Jerusalem. There is nothing there now, except the destruction that rained in great hail so many years ago. The bodies long rotten, decayed and returned to the dust they started from. The people of God do not wish to travel beyond the protective gates of the city, for at this time, evil lurks outside and will be set free “for a season”.

Satan is loosed from his bonds. The wicked dead are called forth from their graves. They do not come out as the righteous did, raised to the perfection of body and mind. Rather, the wicked are raised in exactly the same state that they went into the grave, diseased of body and mind. Every ailment is still in place, every scar, every wound, nothing is as it is wished to be. There is no guardian of light to lift them into the bosom of a loving God, as this is not something they ever wanted. The wicked wanted only the wealth and benefits of eternal life without any understanding of how to maintain true fulfillment. They would gladly steal what they wished for, even kill for it, as in life, nothing has changed. The only love that exists in them, is the warped love of self, that has always ruled their thoughts and actions.

Having come up from the grave, now what? Satan and his demonic fallen angel host begin to work miracles of their own, healing the wounds, and making ready an army. The city of God is a bright beacon of the perfection the wicked will not enjoy. The obvious wealth lies there for the taking. The inhabitants are push-overs, love-obsessed, weaklings. There will not be any real resistance, for the inhabitants do not wish to fight at all. Easy marks. And so the wicked are marshaled into hosts of mighty men, women, and children filled with hate in their eyes and souls. Love has left them. Hope has abandoned this crowd, They have nothing to lose, nothing is left to them but to kill the inhabitants and in so doing banish God to a far-off part of the universe to sleep while his fallen creations run amok, This is the fate that Satan convinces the wicked they can achieve under his leadership. He claims to know the secret to killing God, which is to say, putting God to sleep, so they can finally be free of His overbearing laws, and need for worship.

Here even at the end of all things, the great deceiver once again spins lies into beliefs. It is he who requires worship. It is he who would gladly control our every thought to insure his place at the forefront of our lives, even now on the precipice of losing it all. He has no choice to proceed to his doom. He has no options left to hurt God but to keep the wicked committed to rejecting the source of all Love. And so he uses the only weapon he has left, deceit and guile to motivate men to hasten their own destruction. No forgiveness is sought now. No repentance sought. No change of mind, heart, and soul – no surrender to Christ will be attempted now. No, only preparation to conquer what was not given.

If I wake in this crowd, rather than to the mercy of heaven and my loving Lord, I will know it is my fault, and I deserve what is coming. But I cannot imagine doing anything but laying face down in the dirt and weeping at the loss that I will never spend precious time with my Savior God. I would pray for death, for the mercy of non-existence. For to be so close to the source of love, and to find I have rejected it, to find my desire was insincere, my surrender far from complete, to find I have succeeded – only - in killing myself. This is the stark realization that proximity forces in the minds of those who thought they knew better. In the minds of all those who chose to serve expediency rather than God, in the minds of every skeptic who would not hear the word of the Lord, in the minds of every coward to who listened to the voice of men over the still small voice of conscience. To these; the stark realization that there will be no joyful reunions in perfection, only an imminent death.

Yet despite what are obvious facts, the wicked choose again to believe a lie, and they march on the city figuring to overthrow it easily. As they near the gates of pearl, the sky becomes a theatre such as has never been witnessed by men. Satan is frozen unable to move. The hearts of all are stilled by the spectacle of it all. Both righteous and wicked alike stare at the panoply that was once our atmosphere. In this 3D, HD, projection is told the story of Satan’s fall from grace, of our parents in the garden, and then down through time each significant event in the great controversy. Each man, woman, and child, whether saved or not, sees their own lives play out in real time before their eyes – but this time their eyes are opened to the attempts God makes to redeem us, and our responses to His love. We see the effects of the great controversy with evil on our lives from womb to tomb. Then for all to see, a replay of the life of Christ, His birth, death, resurrection and ascension. Afterwards, the martyrs and the history of gospel unfolds, finally his second coming replayed. Time is irrelevant during this presentation as all see their own lives, and the story is revealed in truth to all.

Even the wicked cannot resist the power of Love in front of their eyes, and each and every voice declares that ONLY the lamb is worthy, that truly there is ONLY one God, one Son, and one Holy Spirit. The righteous again hurl themselves down in abject humility discarding their crowns and weeping that they too once caused our Savior the pain He endured to save us all. The sadness is so thick in the air you could cut it with a knife. For while there is gratitude that mercy has saved each of the redeemed, there is great sadness in the city that wicked would not be so redeemed. The disease of self has now finally claimed the throngs that lay outside the city gates. They will never sing His praise with us, join in service, and experience the perfection of love. Their time is at an end.

And as the wicked return to their senses, hardening their hearts once again to the influence of love, their cry ascends to kill the creator. Where only moments before they could not contain acknowledging His worthiness, now that self has returned to control again, they must kill the thing that is worthy. For all deviation from God’s ways leads only to killing the creator. This is the lesson of sin. There is no middle road. There is no compromise with evil. There is only God and good and life and love, the opposite of all of that – no middle road, no grey area. Satan represents now to the world what sin does. He is unmasked before his followers. Men marvel that he is not nearly as impressive as he tried to portray. He is nothing. He is marred by the evil he has so long nourished in himself. Men begin to question why they were ever so deceived.

And the curtain drops … Clouds gather from nowhere, but rain will not be found. Instead, great drops of burning hail begin to fall to the ground. Fire rains from heaven itself, it explodes from the magma under the earth, there is no escape from it. And the wicked begin to burn, each consumed according to the sentences proscribed so long ago. Satan will die last, as he is the father of all evil, but he will die. And the effects of hell, the punishment of death, of eternal non-existence will last forever and ever. The smoke of their torment ascending forever and ever refers to the profound effects of sin ever fresh in each redeemed mind. One by one, all the wicked pass away into nonexistence, until finally only death itself is left to be consumed. And so it is. No more death. No more fire. No more punishment to dread, or to witness. The war is finally over. Evil is no more. Gone forever. It is time for something we can hardly begin to comprehend in our current state …

Armageddon ...

What is Armageddon and why do you seem to only hear about it in the context of the “end of the world”? A singular text in Revelations chapter 16 verse 16 states … “and He gathered them together in a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” Mind you, this verse appears in the middle of a description of the last plagues to hit planet earth. So perhaps with all the rest of the destruction going on at the time, a war to be waged with the name Armageddon seems plausible. Some believe it has something to do with the rapture, but there is nothing in scripture to indicate this. Some believe it is a final battle between the forces of good and evil, but the actual final battle is described later in Revelations and ends with evil being deposited into the lake of fire. So why is this simple Hebrew name, the cause for such alarm within the Christian community?

Perhaps we fear most what we understand least. In my own study of Biblical prophecy I have encountered things that could be interpreted more than one way, and still hold to correctness. The letters to the seven churches in the first few chapters of Revelations for instance, or the seven candlesticks, are actual letters of advice to real people, in a real place, suffering from real problems. The churches in those locations needed the council they were given. But beyond the here and now, the churches also seem to represent periods defined in history where the prevailing attitude within the church matches the description in Revelations perfectly. Prophecy interpreted in its own day, and in ours, and relevant in both, a trademark of the God business.

So when I consider how to interpret prophecies surrounding so little mentioned a thing as Armageddon, I wonder if more than one interpretation could again be correct. Perhaps it is indeed the harbinger of a final earthly battle between forces in the Middle East. Traditional thinking places these forces as centered on support for the state of Israel and those who oppose its existence. But if this were true, then we would have already had 2 Armageddon’s since the state was first created. And in both instances Israel fought alone to defend itself, winning huge land territory in the process. Besides, God has shown little interest in insuring the continuing land rights of the Jewish people over the years. They have been scattered to the four corners of the earth, since before Christ even came the first time. And not much has really changed since Abraham himself was a wanderer searching for home.

So if Armageddon is a human conflict perhaps the location and politics of pro or anti-Israel is only a catalyst to launch a far greater war for control over the planet. Perhaps this is a war designed to promote one form of government over another – say democracy over totalitarianism. But if that were true, Israel’s involvement does not aid the cause. And presently China or North Korea would seem to pose a much greater threat to democracy’s quest for dominance than any mid-eastern nation state. A religious war perhaps; but then Islam against Christianity could hardly be described as a world ending event. In theory we serve the same Father God, and the Quran talks very highly about Christ. So having Muslims launch this would make less sense.

The more plausible argument I have heard about Armageddon is that it is a spiritual warfare between God and Satan, or perhaps between those who refuse to abandon the God of the Bible and those who have chosen to worship the false Christ you can see and touch (Satan as an angel of light). But even this conflict would appear vastly one sided. The Bible refers to the group who hold on to God despite everything, as the “remnant” or “all that remains.” The wicked would so vastly outnumber the righteous who carry a motto of non-violence; it would not be a war, it would be a slaughter. This too seems less likely.

I believe the reason why Armageddon has played so prominently in Christian interpretations of prophecy is that due to its limited context, it can be used to justify anything. Christians make the mistake of applying current world events to their limited understanding of scripture of the topic of Armageddon. Consequently they adjust it to fit whatever is going on right here and right now. In short, Armageddon means whatever world event is most threatening to our way of life. In the 1940’s we could have called it Hitler’s ideas. In the late 60’s and early 70’s we could have called it Vietnam. Harder to figure when the wall comes down and communism fails. The fundamental problem with this approach is trying to shoehorn the Bible to fit the news, instead the other way around. It is more an approach of telling the setting what is being said, rather than listening to God to see if any current events fit the texts and moving on from there.

Perhaps Armageddon should be studied more as a location, or to be pluralistic, a state of mind. Perhaps God allows men to follow their own wisdom (i.e. folly) to such a degree that only a worldwide plague such as the Earthquakes that follow, and the catastrophic extreme hail that follows that, would be enough to convince the survivors that God does exist after all. The anti-Christ can do nothing to save the people from the wrath of God in these plagues. He must therefore assume ownership of them, and continue to report that they will persist until all the hold-outs who cling to the Bible have been killed. Perhaps Armageddon is the only habitable place left in the area where men of any kind could gather after the catastrophes that befall the earth prior to this. Perhaps men entrenched in their own mistaken ideology are led to this place to witness what is yet to come.

In any case, I see so little scripture on the topic of Armageddon as illustrating its relative importance to us. Little data equals little effort expended to interpret. I believe our thoughts will be occupied by something even more frightening to us than our physical survival in these last times. Perhaps we should channel fear into something that is legitimate to worry about, so that we can fix our problems, rather than simply propagate fear tied to a term in a singular text, in a rough section of the scriptures.

On Pain of Death ...

The biggest difference between God and Satan is that God refuses to compel the conscience of man, or control his mind and heart – whereas Satan would gladly enslave both. God is love, and love must be freely given or you cannot call it love. For us to truly love God we must be free to choose to love Him, or free to choose against Him. The choice must truly be ours, if God were to control it in any way, the result could no longer be called love. Satan on the other hand, is much less interested in love and free will; he is interested only in power and control. He is constrained by our free will as God will not let him subvert it without our consent. But Satan is not interested in preserving our free will; he is far more willing to threaten us with death if we do not do things his way. While the consequences of embracing evil always do lead to death, Satan is willing to hurry the process along should we find ourselves in disagreement with him. This is why in the unseen war all around us, angels of light are sent to guard each human being, to preserve their right to choose, even if that choice is against the very being who sent the guardian to preserve their ability to make that decision. Ironic. We spit in the face of God, yet He preserves our ability to choose to do so. What other deity ever claimed to do that?

At the end of time, the Holy Spirit will be poured out in great measure to reap a final harvest of souls who are seeking to follow God. But then He will withdraw His presence from the earth allowing what was bound to become loosed before the return of Jesus. Satan eagerly awaits this day, the day He is given more ability to enforce his will upon mankind without constraint by our loving God. And death too, it seems is eagerly awaiting this day as well, as you can bet death will be the predominant news story in every corner of the globe. The day for Satan’s ability to enforce his will on the conscience of man will have arrived.

While Satan will not be able to possess the righteous and force them to do as he wishes, he will be able to surround the righteous with his followers who are eager to do his bidding. Human agents will take on the work of Satan with great vigor, believing they do the work of the almighty God himself. Forgetting that God never compels the conscience of men, eager servants of the evil one, will use the name of Christianity in efforts to enforce worship to Satan on pain of death. And they will have many allies who effectively attempt the same thing. For instance, there are many totalitarian governments on planet earth who deny the existence of God altogether. They tell their citizens they are not allowed to believe and worship the true God, or they will be imprisoned for it. At the end of time, the punishment will be universally raised to killing the non-compliant. The Catholic popes have for years told their parishioners to follow the edicts and traditions of men and the church over what the plain word of the gospel directs them to do. Compelling the conscience is not a new phenomenon, even inside of Christianity. But it is the hallmark of the evil one.

But why shoot us, if starving us is cheaper? And so the only way to earn a living, to buy or sell anything, will require receiving the mark of the beast himself. This mark may be in the form of a physical tattoo, a scar, or merely the symbolic agreement (in the mind) with evil, or taking up the actions of evil (in the hands) to do the will of Satan. But without the mark, those who believe will be placed in a position to starve. It will be easy to get the mark, one need only verbally swear to agree NOT to follow the God of the Bible, but to do as men, or Satan, or the Pope, or whoever else says to do. The idea is simple, deny the real God, and receive the mark that allows you to live as you did before (stuck in your sin, without hope, if we were being technical).

Satan’s ultimate idea of punishing God for the death of evil he is sure to experience, is to have no one on planet earth waiting for God to return to save. Before you start thinking that should be nearly impossible, remember that ONLY Noah was saved in the ark with his family. No-one else on the planet believed, or was saved. If Satan could pull off this feat again, he might make God delay or cancel coming back at all. But there will remain a stubborn few who simply will not give up their Bibles and do as the men around them command them to do. Despite the apparent starving solution, the faithful refuse to let go of their true God and will not embrace the earthly alternatives including Satan in the form of Christ. This all but infuriates the evil one; particularly when birds seem to be flying to the caves of the earth with food for those who hide there from his evil presence. I guess the righteous won’t be starving after all.

Controlling commerce does more than just provide a method of punishing those who refuse to give up their faith. It provides a way to control the rich, the powerful, those who up until now have known no fear more than losing what they have. With the beast in full control of the events of the world, short a few, he takes many liberties in establishing his course to war with God. “The dragon was wroth with the woman” … it says in Revelations … “and he went to make war with the remnant of her seed.” Satan has no illusions that war with believers is coming. He is well prepared and plans to win. He intends to use every device against us. Not just the power-plays of obey or die, but the subtle ones like he used with Adam – “can you really imagine life without your loved one who agrees with me?” Any manner to compel the conscience, force a version of morality the individual would not normally accept,

Christians still seem not to have learned the lesson Christ tried to teach them with the analogy of the splinter in your neighbor’s eye, and the beam or log in your own eye. While it makes perfect sense to most believers that Satan will try to compel the conscience at the end of time to worship him, his way or else. They do not see that participation in groups like the “Tea Party”, or attempting to take over the “Republican Party” in order to bring “God” back to America is exactly the same work Satan himself will take over when he is given more power at the end of all things. God does NOT compel the conscience. It is why when Christ was here, he never made any moves to become part of the government in order to make His will the law. He invites us to listen, does not force us to. He lures us with love, does not compel us with control, even though He is able to do so. Those who do not yet believe in Christ are supposed to be free to make that decision. It is the very will of God that they have the freedom to choose against God. Humans trying to force other humans to give up evil and embrace love by force; are the perfect recruits for Satan when he begins his unholy, unrestrained final efforts to control us all.

If we lived lives of love, dedicated to serving others ahead of ourselves, we would not have time for the folly of trying to control the minds of others through the power of the state. In fact, we would gladly return to our true Christian heritage keeping the state completely away from our religious beliefs and thinking. Better for Christians to be governed by Atheists who believe in nothing, than to be ruled by fellow Christians intent on enforcing “the will of God”. Love can never be achieved by force. This principle can be used as a dividing rod at the end of time, to sort out the fake claims of divinity, from the real ones. When God heals someone, he does it in love, asks nothing in return, and looks only to the best interest of the person He is healing. When Satan heals someone, he is looking to make headlines in the news, increase his influence or control of a person, and intends to use the healed person for his own tasks. Where God is about love and service, even to us; Satan is about nothing but power and control over us. The mark of serving Satan will come in the form of trying to compel the conscience of another human, this effort itself is the work of the beast. And it has already begun. Will we walk in it, or away from it.

I hope when push comes down to shove, we choose to worship the God of the Bible who we cannot see, but has taught us what love is – than the imposters all around us who believe they know better than we do what “god” wants us to do. The Bible we take so much for granted now, may become a collector’s item in the not too distant future. I hope He leads us deep into truth before that day comes, for only through His strength can we hope to remain standing for the real God.