“BIRTH PAINS” – – – TODAY ?

Recent saturation of end times teaching—seems to force Christians to pick a position and follow a teacher (or ignore and forget it, and find a church that does).

Read Revelation.
Read Daniel.
Read Jesus.
Read for yourself.
Ask God for wisdom to apply what you understand.
Trust God and wait, for what you don’t understand.
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Everybody’s in a hurry, teaching on end times—why ?
Seems like they have to review and run through details quickly to make up for uncertainty in some of the details.
Since you can’t prove everything definitively, they have to state some things as given, and move on—or they’ll never get through their teaching lesson.
It takes too long to go back to the basics, back through the basics, only from the Bible.
So they have to assume the listener already understands the basics (as they understand the basics).
Then they have to add details to make their timeline fit.

Sometimes honest teachers at least say, “I think . . .” on certain points—so should I follow the rest of their teaching as ‘gospel truth’ ?
(Read PROMISES OR INFERENCES on this site.)
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What is the goal in teaching Bible prophecy on the end times ?
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What should be the goal in teaching Bible prophecy on the end times ?
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What should be the goal in teaching the Bible ?
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What should be our goal in reading the Bible ?
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— First, no hurry.
— First, salvation, the Gospel message for each person to receive Jesus.
— First, salvation, repent from my sin, accept Jesus who paid for my sin, to not go to hell but heaven.
— First things First, so end times teaching never overshadows making disciples—faithfulness—living for Jesus now.
— Don’t be afraid of end times, but be comforted as well as warned by what the Bible says.
— The coming hairy, scarey stuff described graphically, is all under God’s control, just like the hairy, scarey stuff we face now, that’s getting worse (birth pains), is under God’s control, and we are safe in His hand.
— All of it—now/future—present times/end times—can be turned over to Him, cast on Him, because He really cares for us.
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Surprises ?
— What surprises at THE END can one afford ?
— What surprises, what could I be wrong about and still be okay ?
— What surprises, what could I be wrong about and not be okay—totally lose it—lose faith—panic—give in to . . . just to survive—and go to hell ?

Surprise . . . ?

Surprise . . . ?
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So, after we study, and we dig, and we wonder, and we get scared out of our wits when growing evil hits home, and we pray—
What’s the bottom line ?
What’s the last word ?
What can we say to ourself, when others say it’ll all work out and the pendulum will swing back to normal—
What do we say when that doesn’t cut it ?

ONE—There will be THE MOMENT at THE END when we will see things happen, and we “lift up our eyes, for our Redemption (Jesus) draws near”.

TWO—Until then, I could give you Bible verse after Bible verse—and I do all over this site—but there is no substitute for you getting desperately deep in your own Bible every morning, every night, and in between.
Find verses that God gives you for wisdom, for comfort, for direction, for sharing—mark them in your Bible, date them with notes, write some down to take with you.
You’ll end up memorizing one that made a difference to you, and then another.
Leave your Bible open where you will pass it during the day and read again the verse you just highlighted, underlined, circled, and thanked God for.
NEVER STOP !

You’ll be safe through these troubled times, through the end times, to the end.

Remember . . .
Then, THE BEGINNING—WITH JESUS, IN PERSON !

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Ed Vitagliano, on American Family Radio, summarized my thoughts when he said,
“I don’t understand everything about the end times, but I know two things—He’s coming, and I’m going.”

CONCERN FOR CONSEQUENCES – OR – CONSIDER THE CALL

If you’re worried about what’s going to happen, and what might happen to you . . .
or
If you somehow find hope and comfort saying things will work out and the pendulum always swings back to ‘normal’ . . .

Let me direct you to solid truth about things working out, with stipulations connected to a sweeping promise.

First, the conditions—no point in focusing on the promise without meeting the conditions.

ONE—“Love God
Since this promise is in the Bible, it’s talking about the God of the Bible, which means it’s talking about Jesus.
Loving God, loving Jesus, means a relationship with Him, based on accepting His payment for our sins on the cross.

TWO—“Called
God called.
We respond.
His doing.
His initiative.
Jesus came.
Jesus died for us.
We confess our sin.
We surrender our life to Jesus.

THREE—“According To His Purpose
Why He saved us.
Why He called us.
Why we’re still here.
His purpose is—
“We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Now, the promise with the conditions—
“We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
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Applying the title:
CONCERN FOR CONSEQUENCES
OR
CONSIDER THE CALL
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Results
or
Reward
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Fear
or
Faithfulness
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Survival
or
Sacrifice
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My Life
or
My Mission
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Mark
or
Martyrdom

GOD BLESS ISRAEL

“This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:

‘The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord life up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.’

So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.”
—–Numbers 6:23-27

JUST THE BIBLE ?

Theologians love Bible verses that support their theology.

How about if we just love Bible verses.

PROMISES – OR – INFERENCES

Biblical Promises
or
Theological Inferences

Listen to preachers and Bible teachers with this filter:

Do they start with and just use Bible verses to simply take the listener to the same conclusions they have come to ?
Any valid theology must come directly from the Bible and Bible promises.

Any teaching that requires composite steps of logic or reasoning is dangerous or unnecessary, no matter how obvious it appears to the theologian.

RAISING SPIRITUAL CHAMPIONS

New book by George Barna for Christians parents—clear counsel for making a spiritual difference in your children.

FAITHFULNESS

Faithfulness
Stewardship
Servanthood
Good Bondage
Freedom
Submission
Carefree Responsibility
Called / Driven
‘Free’ Work
Easy Yoke
Light Burden
Carefree Zeal
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“What is required of stewards, but to be faithful.”
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Some are called/required to steward more, some less.

Money
Lack

Abilities
Disabilities

Strength
Weakness

Pleasure
Pain

Toil
Rest

Long Life
Short Life

Time Today
–no one has more
–no one has less
–no excuses
–no rationale that “we can’t” because of time
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Not a care in the world—
Just a God-given job/task to do.
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“Trust in the Lord . . .
Do not lean on your own understanding.”
I don’t have to ‘figure things out’—I’m not supposed to—I’m directly told not to do so.

Got trouble—Got a problem to solve ?
— First, tell God about it.
— Let Him give you the solution.
— Let Him tell you what to do.
— Do it.
— Let Him get the credit, all of it.
— That’s called “glorify Him”, aloud.

And that’s why it says, “Acknowledge Him in A L L your ways, and He will direct your paths.”

This has nothing to do with the power of positive thinking.
It has everything to do with the power of God’s thinking—in His Word !

I KNOW – I PLAN – I HOPE – I WANT – I’M ? SURE ? – HOW ?

I know I’ll go to heaven.
I plan to go to heaven.
I hope I’ll go to heaven.
I want to go to heaven.
I’m ? sure ? I’ll go to heaven ?
HOW ?
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I want to go to heaven, but I’m not sure I’ll go to heaven.

HOW ?

I don’t know how to go to heaven !

(If this was written on a card, it would say “over” here.)
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(Side two says, “Please read the other side first.”)

If you don’t know how to go to heaven—
— everyone sins
— check the ten:
1 What’s most important to you ?
2 Do you worship objects ?
3 Do you say His Name wrong ?
4 Do you skip the Lord’s Day ?
5 Do you dishonor parents ?
6 Do you get mad, wish . . . ?
7 Do you have sex outside marriage ?
8 Do you take what’s not yours ?
9 Do you lie ?
10 Do you want what’s not yours ?
— everyone must pay
— no one can pay
— Jesus paid for you
— tell Jesus you’re sorry
— accept His payment for your sins
— give Jesus your life
— read the Bible then

SAFE SEX – – – SAFE SIN

1 – If you don’t get in trouble . . .
2 – If you get away with it . . .
3 – If nobody knows . . .
4 – If you don’t hurt anyone . . .
5 – If nobody criticized or condemned you . . .
6 – If you think it’s okay . . .
7 – If ‘friends’ think it’s okay . . .
8 – If you repeated (and repeated) . . . and nothing happened . . .
9 – If God didn’t send lightning bolts or other judgment . . .
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10 – If all the above—
Then you must have had safe sex.
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Did you have safe sex ?
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BUT . . .
THEN . . .
THEREFORE . . .
Did you have safe sin ?
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If all ten “Ifs . . .” are indeed your experience, add one three-letter word—
IF nothing happened, IF no judgment . . . Y E T !
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Perhaps you are the person who waves off, laughs off, any negatives from your lifestyle.
Perhaps you will read what is next anyway.
Perhaps it will start a crack in your sealed wall, which is actually your prison.
Perhaps not.

Perhaps you are aware of, and may be experiencing some of, ‘the rest of the story’ with “. . . YET”.

Are you waiting for some of the consequences to get stronger, some of God’s judgments to get stronger, to get your attention sufficiently, to change ?

WHAT ARE WE THINKING ?

America, what are we thinking now ?
America, what are we going to do ?

It seems that no one knows what to do.
When I ask any of my acquaintances what they think is going to happen and what we should do, they all say they’ll wait and see what happens and deal with it—the idea that that’s all we can do.
And that is one step short of surrender.

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Here is where America and Americans are now:

We are sitting and waiting for something to happen.

We are scared to death, or blind to what may be about to happen.

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+++ And happen it will, in a hundred locations across this country, simultaneously, on the order of the attack on Israel !
We are already incapacitated—in leadership and as individual citizens—nothing is being done to get ready, or prevent, what is certainly about to happen—NOTHING !

+++ AND HAPPEN IT HAS ALREADY, all over this country, from the White House and Congress, to city councils and school boards, to preachers and churches, to Christians and conservatives—too busy or too comfortable to sacrifice for the price of freedom.
THE REAL COST OF PRESERVING FREEDOM, THE COST OF RESTORING OUR FREEDOM, IS NOW FAR GREATER THAN THE COST OF GAINING OUR FREEDOM 245 YEARS AGO.
Just exactly what was that cost then ?
Just exactly what does that cost look like now ?

In all reality, is that possible ?
In all reality, is that going to happen ?

If that is going to happen, what do we have to do ?
If that is not going to happen, and history repeats, what should we do to get ready ?

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Everyone gives the obvious roadblocks, the dead ends, the futility, the repercussions of any action we might take as citizens.
We’ve become so accustomed to leaving freedom-fighting up to the government, that we don’t know what to do about the impotence of our representatives and senators, and the hell-bent destruction of the country underway throughout the executive (start listing the departments under the administration, and see how they altogether control the intentional demise of America).

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I’m getting more frustrated in my writing—repeating—repeating that nothing, NOTHING is stopping the incremental destruction underway, setting us up for the ‘? SURPRISE ?’ attack in America.
It will be like the attack on Israel, in proportion to our population, and
? ? ? NO ONE SAW IT COMING ? ? ?

You’ve got to be kidding ! ! ! ! !