Blog Archives
Keep away from foolish and ignorant conversations
Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:23-26)
Tempt no one
Tempt no one to sin ever,
Though you be naive or clever.
Refrain from such a sin,
Lest your hope become thin.
Remember that no tempter is allowed in paradise,
For God’s kingdom detests all vice.
Tempt not for leisure nor treasure nor pleasure,
Lest God’s judgement you’d get in full measure.
Do not entice your friend nor foe nor neighbour,
Lest for your place in Hades you labour.
For its gate is wide and entry much cheap,
And the unrepentant there their torments reap.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea
(Matthew 18:6)
Admire not your looks
Admire not yourself too much,
Nor be too proud as such,
Acknowledge your beauty if you must,
But be always humble, true and just.
Know that Lucifer’s pride in his beauty did swell,
So much that he against God did rebel.
This angel’s sin wasn’t small,
From his heavenly place he did fall.
In being humble always do well,
Focus on heaven and not towards hell.
Use not your beauty to cause others to lust,
For sin causes tempters to return to dust.
By your looks don’t think yourself great,
Lest your due reward be an evil fate.
Be like the Holy Angels who have strength and beauty,
Yet they worship God and do their duty.
Refrain from taking the Mark of the Beast
Refrain from taking the Mark of the Beast,
For its damnation by the Devil’s yeast.
Sorrow, pain and eternal regret,
If God’s command one does forget.
Trust not worthless idols and images,
Be not part of the world and savages.
Heed what Christ has commanded,
Faithfulness to the end is demanded.
Even if the forces of darkness seem to win,
Take not the vile mark and thus sin.
Trust in God even if faced with death,
Hold on to Jesus of Nazareth.
Though millions may take the Beast’s Mark,
The Gospel if you believe is enough life spark.
Don’t be fearful of sickness and pestilence,
In those times; focus on God’s ordinance.
By the Holy Spirit you live,
And by Christ you forgive.
Let your prayer then remain,
That Jesus Christ come again.
Quick reminder: Guard yourself against media deception of all sorts
The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. (Proverbs 27:12)
But test everything; hold fast what is good. (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)
Avoid the wrong perspective on the end times
One wrong perspective about the end of the world is that it’s going to be all fun and thrills. People feel that they will somehow manage to gain neutral spectator positions from where they will be excluded from all the painful parts of the end times. I reckon, some will be eager to take videos or photos of such events and pass it along for their 15 minutes of fame. Such an attitude won’t do them good. The Bible does tell us about the bitterness of it. Let’s read Revelation chapter 10 which confirms this:
1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, 3 and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. 4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, 7 but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.
8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” 10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”
Wrathful nature of the Devil at the end times
Another thing about the end of the world is that the vile hellish serpent also known as the Devil or Satan will be thrown down to earth along with his angels due to their defeat at the hands of the archangel Michael and God’s holy angels (Good angels exist too). Also keep in mind he’s going be around with his wicked angels when he comes around. Since the Devil knows his days are numbered (all thanks to God!), he’s going to be filled with rage against the inhabitants of the earth and the sea as well but mostly towards those who keep God’s commandments and the testimony of Jesus Christ. The “those” who are mentioned in the Holy Scriptures are Christians! Obviously, this is not going to be a roller coaster ride when the Devil comes to make war.
7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. 15 The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea. (Revelation 12:7-17)
The Anti christ and the False prophet will be there in the end times
Now the Devil will in those days do something not yet done. He will invest his power and authority into a sinister person who will be the Anti christ, also referred to as the Beast. Plus the False prophet who is also called as the Second beast shall arise. This unholy alliance, this evil trinity will try to openly and blatantly enforce worship of the Anti christ and also the image of the Beast. People who are holy shall not worship such wickedness despite the war being waged upon them by the Beast (Many will be killed in such times for refusing to bow down to the Beast and its image). While the others who don’t respect nor believe in the Lord shall end up worshipping the fake god controlled by the Devil who is none other than the Anti christ. You can refer to Revelation chapter 13 in which the whole chapter which confirms this. Don’t assume this will not happen in your beloved nation but only happen in a single nation such as Egypt or Syria, since this will be a world-wide event. People should stop assuming that the end times are happening only due to a certain country and its behaviour towards Israel. Like it or not, the various nations of the world have been playing puppet to the Devil for a very long time! Don’t be shocked if they’d follow the Beast too while staying silent when he causes the true followers of God to be martyred.
The wrath of God in its various forms will manifest in the end times
There are going to various instances of God’s wrath in the end times (refer Revelation chapter 16). This is because a lot of people will not give glory to God but will rather worship the Anti Christ. Here’s a list of a few such punishments mentioned:
- Harmful and painful sores will come upon the people who bore the mark of the Beast and worshipped its image.
- The sun will scorch and kill people with its heat.
- The throne of the Beast, and its kingdom will be plunged into darkness.
- There will be a great earthquake so violent that a great city will be split into three parts, and the cities of the nations will fall, and God will remember Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.
Conclusion
The end times are anything but fun and games. The Devil’s going to be trying to destroy many at such times. Satan’s henchmen the Anti Christ and the False Prophet will deceive a huge number of people leading into eternal damnation. The wrath of God will work very strongly against all those who worship the Beast and even sinners in general. Dear reader, take such times seriously and act in a holy manner worthy, having full faith in Jesus Christ. Avoid taking causal mannerism towards the end times. Pray that you are found faithful to the Lord now and forever more.
Christ be with you!
Related articles:
Beware of foolishness in worldly books
It’s common knowledge that there are lots of books printed so far. Some books are very useful such as cook books, car manuals, grooming books etc. These are quite objective in their approach and to the point. However not everything is worth reading as there are other books that are filled with foolishness that you must avoid.
There are certain books that are superficially considered as works of artistic grandeur. On closer inspection you’d realize that they contain moral or spiritual gibberish at best. You must do you best to discern what is really good for you to glean on when reading such things.
Some people love poems while some love novels. There are people who relish classic literary works, while some revel in the contemporary. No problem in such hobbies as long they are not harmful. For instance gardening is no sin unless you are growing poisonous plants to harm others or yourself. Likewise, when reading various books they induce thoughts in the garden of your mind. You need to remove weeds of impure thoughts lest they choke the beautiful thoughts of piety, respect, gracefulness etc. The garden of your mind must be well watered with the word of God and never any substitute.
The wisdom of the world in some books can be shaky. They teach you that you are not took keep whining about your sorry situation but do something positive about it. You are encouraged to help yourself. While a worldly book teaches self-reliance it might also teach you to not help people in trouble as they are expected to help themselves. Such teaching on self-reliance is out of balance. I’d say that avoid such books that teach you not to help others. While its true that some people are way too lazy to help themselves, there are some who are too depressed to figure out how to get out of trouble. Not every self-help book is bad but that which teaches foolishness like not helping others is surely a bad one.
Take care what emotions are prominent in worldly books. As certain authors put in their own bitterness in their writings. Some are obsessed with suicide in their works and receive critical acclaim for that. However, the same critics get horrified when the author whom they praised actually committed suicide maybe due to divorce or loss of a fortune. What a tragedy at many levels? Three levels that immediately came to my mind. First, for the author’s life that got lost in gloom forever. Secondly, that the audience and critics celebrated suicide that people usually commit out of hopelessness. Thirdly, that such works that promote despair and suicide are still in vogue even after people came to know that the author wrote them not in the objective sense but out of their own grief which they tried to hide behind.
There are certain books that encourage you to feel helpless just because you are of a particular country, race or gender. Such things only promote you to believe in falsehood that you cannot breakout of worldly stereotypes. Keep away from such books.
Some authors are highly obsessed with sexual immorality. They portray love what is vulgar and hypocritical. They are more concerned with sinful please rather than right living. Nowadays in works of art even a bank robber is glorified if he has a relationship with an adulterous woman as long as he robs the rich and gives to the poor. The Bible doesn’t teach us to rob the rich and give to the poor.
There are certain books what promote unbelief. They will try to make you doubt if God exists. They will say lots of evil things about Jesus Christ. These are to be shunned outright. Because atheism and blasphemy are not in line with the Christian faith.
If you call yourself a believer in Christ then remember that is pointless to keep reading such books. Read what is wise and good and keep away what is sinful and vain. Moreover, read the Bible because it contains God’s message to us which leads us on to the right path.
A few scripture verses to reflect on:
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8)
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8)
O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you.(1 Timothy 6:20-21)
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.(2 Timothy 2:22)
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.(1 John 2:15-16)
Disciples of hope 