First
Angel’s Message
Revelation 14:6-12 (6)Then I saw another angel flying in midair,
and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to
every nation, tribe, language and people. (7)He said in a loud
voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come.
Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (NIV)
John witnessed an angel flying in
the air and spreading the gospel of Christ to those throughout the earth. His
message was to reverence God who is our Creator for the judgment had come. So
many today do not have a respect for the things of God. They do not reverence
Him and have a total disregard for the things that are holy. It is similar to
what took place during Daniel’s time under the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar’s son,
Belshazzar. He had no regard for God and misused God’s holy artifacts that had
been taken from the temple during Israel’s captivity. However, God pronounced a
judgment on him by giving him a personal message with His hand. Daniel 5:1-5
(1)King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank
wine with them. 2)While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to
bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken
from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and
his concubines might drink from them. (3)So they brought in the gold goblets
that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his
nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. (4)As they drank the
wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and
stone. (5)Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the
plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched
the hand as it wrote. (NIV)
King Belshazzar had not paid attention to what his father had gone through.
King Nebuchadnezzar had been made to humble himself before God by becoming a
beast of the field. However, after seven years, God restored him once he
acknowledged that God was the one over his life and had blessed him with all he
had. This is the same thing that the angel’s message was saying. The world
from every nation is to give God glory. Many governments, including the U.S.A.
think that they are the reason for their own prosperity. Nothing could be
further from the truth. God is the only reason that the United States has been
a great nation. Unfortunately, as the United States is trying to usher out God,
He is ushering in judgment upon the land. The protection and freedoms that we
once enjoyed as a nation are quickly coming to an end. Judgment is upon the
land as the angel proclaimed during John’s vision.
Daniel
5:22-28 (22)“But you, Belshazzar, his son, have
not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. (23)Instead, you
have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his
temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines
drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron,
wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor
the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways. (24)Therefore
he sent the hand that wrote the inscription. (25)“This is the
inscription that was written: mene, mene, tekel, parsin (26)“Here is
what these words mean: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it
to an end. (27) Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found
wanting. (28) Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes
and Persians.” (NIV)
The warning has been sounded just as in John’s dream and what we see here in
the story of King Belshazzar. The handwriting is on the wall. Judgment is upon
the face of the land and the world. Every day there is violence, riots, war,
disease, animal deaths, and droughts all over the news and much more. God is
letting us know that He is displeased with the world and judgment is upon the
land. The writing is on the wall and the land has been found wanting.
The Second
Angel’s Message
John witnessed the proclamation of the second angel that
Babylon the Great had fallen. She had made other nations drink from her
adulterous cup. Who is this Babylon that John saw? This Babylon is none other
than the United States of America. According to the Jewish Virtual Library and
other sources, Christopher Columbus was a Jew who had set sail to find land for
other Jews who had been expelled from Spain for failing to convert to
Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition. This part of history is not told in
most history books. As we understand God, we know that He has always had a
hedge around the Children of Israel even in their darkest hour. Therefore, it
seems that God was leading this expedition for His own purpose. The United
States was not formed just to become a great nation. The nation was designated
by God as a home for His people as well as a way for the gospel to be preached
throughout the whole world. Daniel 2:21 He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and
raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
(NIV
Even
though the United States has an imperfect historical beginning, God used this
country through missionaries, pastors, teachers, doctors and other professions
to give help to many countries throughout the world by financial aid, medical
assistance, food, religious ministries and much more. People from every nation
have come to the United States to live in the hopes of having a brighter
future.
Unfortunately,
the United States has also been a major leader in sin by way of pornography
imports and exports, drug trafficking, gambling, genetically modified crops and
animals, genocide, toppling governments, and much more. Approximately 60
million abortions have taken place since the Roe vs. Wade’s Supreme Court
decision and counting. Sexual immorality on TV, music, and video games, demonic
worship through Free Masonry, Illuminati, Skull and Bones along with other
secret societies, banker greed, dishonest politicians, corrupt evangelicals, in
addition to a great push being led by the government in redefining marriage are
all part of the adultery against God. Not only is the United States the leader
of this, but she is also causing other nations to follow her sins and put
pressure on those who do not endorse her ungodliness by threatening to deny
needed assistance to these needy countries. There is no other nation who
mirrors Babylon like the United States due the influence that she has all over
the world. In real time, we are seeing the fall of the once great country—the
United States of America. Some people think the Democrats can save them. Others
think the Republicans can save them. No one other than the Lord can save the
United States, but that will only happen IF she turns back to God. 2 Chronicles 7:14
If
my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek
my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I
will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (NIV) Unfortunately, it
seems that the United States is on a path of destruction and as the prophecy in
text says, Babylon the Great will FALL.
John witnessed the third angel’s
proclamation of warning to those who received the mark of the beast on their
forehead or in their hand. They would
drink of God’s wrath and be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of
the Lamb and his holy angels. We are in the last days were end time events are
quickly unfolding into what will be a seemingly total takeover of the devil. He
is trying to have a world where he can eliminate the Saints of God at all cost.
One of these ways is causing people to take an ungodly mark that will subject
them to eternal damnation.
There are many theories as to what
this mark of the beast is. Some believe that it will be a mandated day of
worship and those who do not observe will be persecuted. Others believe that it
will be a microchip that all will be required to take. One thing that the
Saints of God must know is that whenever there is a system put into place by
none other than the antichrist where you cannot buy or sell unless you have
this “mark,” you know that it is of the devil. If the text is to be taken
literally, this means that should the government mandate any system for the
whole world to comply with as a means of survival or acceptance into its “One
World Government,” then we as Christians know it is of the enemy. Daniel 7:25
He
will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change
the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands
for a time, times and half a time. (NIV)
The Prophet Daniel, just like John had
seen a vision about the time of the antichrist. The mark that the beast will
require all to have will be part of this antichrist system. This will involve
one world religion, one world government, and one world currency. This may
remind you of the Tower of Babel that the people were building. A system of
government to defy God. However, God did not want it then and he does not want
it now. This is why their language was confused and Jesus will return to
destroy all the wicked nations of the world.
Genesis 11:1-9 (1)Now the
whole world had one language and a common speech. (2)As people moved
eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. (3)They
said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They
used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. (4)Then they said,
“Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens,
so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over
the face of the whole earth.” (5)But the Lord came down to see the
city and the tower the people were building. (6)The Lord said, “If
as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then
nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. (7)Come, let us
go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” (8)So
the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped
building the city. (9)That is why it was called Babel—because there
the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord
scattered them over the face of the whole earth. (NIV) Man has always tried to come up with things to defy God’s
order of things. However, as we just read in the text above, God lets us know
that He is still in control and man cannot outwit Him. He sets up kingdoms and
tear them down. Everything is in God’s control and nothing happens unless He
allows it.
There
are many beliefs about who the antichrist will be. This person has not yet been
revealed, but God will let all who stay close to Him know and not be deceived
by this man of sin regardless of the many wonders that he does. All we have to
do is watch, prepare and be on guard for what the Bible has told us to look out
for. Regardless of who or what type of person and system it will fall up
under, we know that anything that requires you to take it in order to buy and
sell…you are not to accept rather a microchip, enforcement of religion, and/or
other. God will not allow you to be deceived.
Tomorrow, we will continue our study in the Book of Revelation.
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