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And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. (Revelation 12:5) |
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This is a third appearance of the victorious saints. |
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Paul spoke to the saints in Galatia. They had been saved. They had received the Holy Spirit, according to Paul's statements to them. |
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Now Paul was in travail that Christ might be formed in them. |
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We know that we receive a portion of Christ when we first are saved. But evidently having Christ formed in us is a process requiring effort on the part of the ministry over a period of time. |
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How did Paul know Christ had not been formed in the Galatians? Because they were accepting the teaching of the Judaizers that in order to be saved they had to be circumcised. When Christ has been formed in us we are not that easily deceived. |
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The Book of Isaiah tells us that as soon as Zion travails she brings forth her children and a nation will be born at once. Micah also speaks of the travail that will take place in the last days. |
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It is happening today. It has taken two thousand years to bring us to the point that God is ready to bring forth Christ in the Church. |
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The single most important aspect of what is taking place today in the Kingdom of God is the travail of the believers to bring forth Christ. |
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You will find that you have a burden in your personality. You still may be torn between your life in the world and the Kingdom of God. As you struggle in prayer and determination there will come a point at which you break through. |
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I don't know how else to describe it you break through! |
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After that it is easier to maintain your position of victory in Christ. Prior to this breaking through it was a constant struggle to assert your determination to do God's will and only God's will. |
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When you get close enough to God you begin to fall toward God instead of back toward the earth. |
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There still are many battles to be fought and we still can be led astray by deception. But it is different now. We are on top looking down. If we keep praying, keep committing ourselves to the Lord, we can maintain perfect victory in Christ. |
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The sensation of "praying through" comes because Christ has been formed in us to the place where He has been able to break through to God's throne. Christ is the Ruler of the ages to come and He has fought through in you to perfect victory. |
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This is not to say the battle is over. It assuredly is not. But, as we have said, it is now a case of maintaining victory instead of gaining victory. |
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What a force, what a power enters our personality when we once and for all determine that Christ shall rule in us. We pass from the ranks of the spiritual adolescents to membership in the army of the Lord. |
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Satan is standing before you to devour the Child as soon as He is born in you. But God will not permit this. He is Christ the Son of the Living God and His place is with His Father on the Throne that governs all things. |
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Satan could not care less about the religious activities of the churches. But all Hell trembles at the thought of Christ being formed in a believer. |
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How many believers struggle endlessly to overcome a multitude of sins? |
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Be patient. Don't quit. Don't despair. Be faithful to God and the moment will come when all of a sudden praise will fill your heart. You will know that God has heard you. The bells will begin ringing: "Well done, well done, well done my servant; well done, well done, well done my son. Well done, well done, well done my servant, well done, well done, you have overcome." |
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You have passed from Pentecost to Tabernacles, from the sixtyfold to the hundredfold. You have passed from the called to the chosen to the faithful. |
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No weapon formed against you will be effective. From now on your righteousness is of the Lord. |
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Truly, in the day we seek Him with all our heart He will be found of us. |
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The victorious saints are mentioned soon after as those who keep God's commandments and have the testimony of Jesus. Satan always wars against such. It is they who represent a terrible threat to his kingdom. |
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When we have the testimony of Jesus but do not keep God's commandments we cannot do much damage to the kingdom of Satan. We do not incur his wrath to the same extent. |
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And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:17) |
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To be continued. |
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And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. (Revelation 14:1) |
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There have been speculation about who the 144 thousand are, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. |
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Stop and think. Who are the people who follow the Lamb wherever he goes? Doesn't the Apostle Paul say that those who are raised and then ascend to meet the Lord in the air will be ever with the Lord? |
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Well then, it is kind of obvious that the 144 thousand of Revelation, Chapter Fourteen are the victorious saints, the Christians who are sold out to God. (Will there be another group following the Lord wherever He goes?) |
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How do we know they are victorious saints? We know they are victorious saints because they are standing with Jesus on Mount Zion. This means they are with Him in victory. Mount Zion was the location of the Ark of the Covenant when the remainder of the Tabernacle was at the high place of Gibeon. Zion represents victory in Jesus. |
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They have Jesus' Father's name written in their foreheads, meaning they always do God's will. Is that true of you? |
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They are singing a new song because they are new creations in Christ Jesus. |
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They have been redeemed from the earth. They have counted their life in this present unstable world as a pilgrimage toward a city that has foundations. |
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Is this the case with you? It is of all true disciples of the Lord. Right? |
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They are not defiled with "women" meaning they are not "married" to their job, their money, their life in the world, or any other thing, circumstance, or relationship. Their love for Jesus is of supreme importance. |
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This does not mean they neglect their family. The true disciple of the Lord fulfills all his family obligations. The Lord Jesus will accept nothing less! |
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If you want your relationships to your family and other people to be satisfying and permanent, relate to them through Jesus. If you do not relate to your wife, husband, boyfriend, girlfriend, son, daughter, mother, father, through Jesus your relationship to the person will not prove to be as solid as a relationship established in Jesus. |
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Put Jesus first and all else will fall into line. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. Is this true of you? I hope so. They are firstfruits to God and the Lamb. The first green beans picked from the vine are the best. If you cook them up with some ham and then put butter on them you don't need ice cream for dessert. Boy are they good! But after you pick over the vine a few times the beans begin to get stringy and woody. The firstfruits off the vine are the best. |
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The firstfruits off God's vine are the best. They are the victorious saints about whom you have heard so much recently. No guile is found in their mouth. The problem with us human beans is that we are as full of guile as the Internet is full of words. Satan has wounded our heel so we can't stand upright. Do you know why we talk so much? It is because we are trying to prove to people we are righteous in what we are doing. We all are con artists. The more mature we become as saints the less talking we do. We don't have to prove anything to ourselves or anyone else. |
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Only the Lord Jesus can burn the guile out of us until we stand upright on our feet and look people squarely in the eye. Being free from guile is the mark of spiritual maturity. Such are without fault before the Throne of God. They have become as children as far as malice and deceit are concerned. |
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There is no guile in God or Christ and there is to be none in us. |
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God says what He means and means what He says. Let us be like this. God has forgiven you through the blood of Jesus Christ. Your sins of the past have been cast behind God's back. Now He will strengthen you and give you wisdom until you are one of the 144 thousand standing on Mount Zion with the Lord. |
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What? You are afraid there already are 144 thousand with the Lord and you're too late? Don't worry. Like the rest of Revelation it is probably a symbolic number. Tell Jesus you want to join the group. I think you'll find there's room for you. |
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"Though millions have come, there's still room for one" (from an old hymn). |
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Move over, guys, there's a new kid on the block. |
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Again, the victorious saints are seen as those who escape being influenced by Antichrist because they keep the commandments of God and hold the faith of Jesus. If we have the faith of Jesus and yet do not keep God's commandments we are vulnerable to Antichrist. |
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Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. (Revelation 14:12) |
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To be continued. |
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And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. (Revelation 15:2) |
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During the time of the pouring out of God's wrath the victorious saints stand on the sea of glass mixed with fire. |
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The seven last plagues are about to be poured out. These mark the completion of the wrath of God. |
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The greatest contrast ever to be experienced in God's universe is that between the idyllic scenes of the Garden of Eden and Hell's twilight of the closing days of the Church Age. |
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God gave mankind a perfect environment. Satan entered and the results are now history. This has been God's way of showing His angels and all His other creatures the folly of rebellion against the Father's will. |
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God easily could have prevented the entrance of Satan into the garden. God chose to permit the evil to work itself out to its conclusion just as He does with us from time to time. |
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Another great contrast is that between the inhabitants of the earth, suffering from the plagues of God, and the victorious saints standing on the sea of glass. The sea of glass is located in front of the Throne of Almighty God. |
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And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. (Revelation 4:6) |
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The sea of glass represents the utter purity of those who stand before God's throne. There is no guile in them, no filthiness of the spirit. |
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The four living creatures were present in the middle of the throne and around the throne. They represent the Character of God that which man is destined to become. But no human being was standing on the sea of glass at that time. |
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However when God is ready to pour out the seven vials that represent the conclusion of His wrath there are people, the victorious saints, standing on the glass. Also the sea of glass is now mixed with fire. This is because the fire of God's judgment has burned out of the victorious saints all guile and filthiness of spirit. |
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It is fashionable in our day to speak of reverence for God rather than the fear of God. The change is just one more symptom of the influence of humanistic thinking on Christian teaching. |
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God is to be feared. Christians often do not fear God at all. Yet they should be working out their own salvation with fear and trembling (not with reverence and trembling!). |
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The only people who have reason to be unafraid in the day of God's wrath are the victorious saints. They have won victory over the beast, his image, his mark, and the number of his name. |
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There always is a song in our heart when we gain victory, and this is the significance of the harps. |
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There is more to being a Christian than taking the four steps of salvation. We must gain victory over the beast, his image, his mark, and the number of his name. |
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To be continued. |
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And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. (Revelation 13:1) |
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There are three great powers of darkness in the world. They form a trinity of evil. Satan is the counterpart of God the Father. Antichrist is the counterpart of God the Son. The False Prophet is the counterpart of God the Holy Spirit. |
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The beast, Antichrist, comes out of the sea, that is, out from the mass of mankind. We see the Antichrist spirit whenever we behold man making himself God. Antichrist is the exaltation of self. Jesus Christ is the denial of self and the exaltation of God. |
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The philosophy of democracy lends itself to the Antichrist spirit because it stresses the rights of the individual, not the rights of Christ but the rights of the individual. While such an emphasis may appear at first glance to be Christian it is the very opposite of true Christianity. |
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The False Prophet comes from the earth, that is, from the soul of man. It is religion, including Christianity, without Christ. It seeks the power of Christ but it speaks with the voice of Satan. |
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The Charismatic movement of today is in danger of moving in the direction of the False Prophet. The emphasis is on the use of ministries and gifts instead of our taking up our cross and following Jesus. Gifts and ministries always flow properly from the crucified, resurrected life the life lived in Jesus. |
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Whenever you see an attempt to use gifts and ministries to "save the world," but the individual is not a humble servant of Christ who is hearing from God, you have there the False Prophet. |
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I have been troubled recently by the spirit of those who talk about going forth and getting the world saved. While this seems scriptural it decidedly is not. I do not know what to call this spirit, but it seems to me it does great harm to the saints. Not only does it bring the members of the assemblings under condemnation (because they are not "going out into the highways and byways and compelling them to come in"), but it diverts the minds of the saints from the close relationship with Jesus they should be seeking. |
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The emphasis on going forth and saving the world turns our mind away from the Lord and onto activities and people. I think this is more of Satan than of the Lord. |
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You can't command a woman to bear children. You have to marry her. |
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So it is with the Christians. You can't command them to "get souls saved." You have to get them married to Jesus. Then fruit will come in its mature time. Ministry should always be a fruit that comes from a life married to the Lord. |
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To be continued. |
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And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. (Revelation 13:11) |
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I'll tell you what God is after, and I think I have heard from the Lord on this. God wants assemblings that are seeking righteousness, holiness, and the Presence of God. God wants holy places where He can come and enjoy the worship of people. And where the Bible, not the current traditions, is being preached. |
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Every Christian church should be a sea of glass mixed with fire. Every member should be standing there with his harp, the music that God has put in him and is God, and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. That song of praise and victory never changes from one covenant to another. It is the pure worship of Him whose ways are always righteous and true and whose righteous acts have been revealed. |
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But you cannot stand on the sea of glass mixed with fire until you gain the victory over Antichrist. |
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To have the mark of Antichrist in our right hand or forehead is to act and think according to the will of man and not the will of Christ. The true servants of God have God's name in their forehead because they have been transformed by the renewing of their mind and now are performing the will of the Father. |
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The number of the name of Antichrist is 666. Man was created on the sixth day. Three is the number of God. Three sixes symbolizes man making himself God. This is how I interpret it. |
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I can't tell you what the image of Antichrist will be. I do know from the Scriptures that it is the False Prophet who will tell the people of the earth to make an image to Antichrist. The False Prophet also will give life to the image of Antichrist so that the image speaks and is able to kill those who do not worship the image of Antichrist. |
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You usually can see the essence of these Biblical symbols worked out in everyday life as you look around you. |
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Not having any great revelation from the Lord I would say the scenario is something like this, because you can see it working today. There is a tremendous emphasis in the United States and other nations on the rights of people accompanied by a somewhat scornful attitude toward the Lord Jesus and His people. These attitudes are not fully developed as yet but the Scripture warns that we Christians will be hated by all nations before the end of the present age. |
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But what is taking place in the churches, including the Evangelicals? In some instances the churches are joining in the attitude of the Western democracies. The accent is on the rights of people. |
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I think that when the spirit of Antichrist is personified in one individual he (or she) will seek the help of the churches in promoting a worldwide social program. The emphasis will be on "saving" people and meeting their material needs. There may be much social good accomplished by the governments and the churches working hand in hand. That is, until the spirit of Satan completely takes over the personality of Antichrist. |
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To be continued. |
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And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. (Revelation 13:12) |
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We see today a few voices crying in the wilderness to the churches, telling them that the emphasis of the Scriptures is not on improving man's condition but on reconciling man to God. But such are beginning to appear as oddballs, kooks, misfits. We think this trend will continue, although it will be interrupted by the worldwide latter-rain revival. |
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Yesterday was Easter. Some of the sermons were printed in the newspaper. I noticed that one minister told his congregation no person need have any fear of the Judgment Seat of Christ. Meanwhile others of us are crying to the churches that the American Christians have very good reason to tremble at the thought of the Judgment Seat of Christ because they are not taking up their cross and following Him! |
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Both voices are being heard in Christian churches. Which one do you think our current governing officials would favor? We ask this question because we believe in the future the secular governments will make an alliance with the Christian churches and possibly with other religions as well. |
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A card just came in the mail to our song leader who gave it to me. It was advertising a local church. The idea was to come to that church and begin a new life this Easter. The church assured the people that all their family needs would be met, the music would be contemporary, and no person would be made to feel guilty because "we are all friendly folk." |
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Sounds so innocent. I noticed that Christ was not mentioned even once in the advertisement. Yet this is an Evangelical Christian church. |
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What do you think the Apostle Paul would think of this assembling? What do you think Jesus Christ thinks of this assembling? |
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As I said, I don't know what the image of Antichrist will be but I'll take a crack at it. I suspect that democratic governments will be supported by the Christian churches. Perhaps the churches will create and portray the image of democratic government as being beneficial to all people. The churches will give life to this image just as Evangelical churches have given spiritual life to the "prosperity message." |
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The prosperity message (all Christians are supposed to be rich) is in harmony with humanism, capitalism, and democracy. Yet it is absolutely against all the Bible teaches. |
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Most of us, unless we are in advertising, have no idea how important the idea of "image" is, how much we are affected by image makers. The advertisers, the merchants, the politicians, the media, understand the importance of image. |
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One time there was a commercial advertising a credit card. The commercial showed twenty or thirty well-dressed young business types carrying briefcases. The idea was, all these young professionals are working for you if you use our credit card. Do you see the image of power it creates. Just think, if you use this credit card all this power is working for you. The truth is, all this baloney is working on you. |
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To be continued. |
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And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. (Revelation 13:14) |
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$99.99 that we have mentioned previously is an image. The idea is we are dealing with less than one hundred dollars. Ridiculous! |
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We are shown an exercise machine. The model has a flat, muscular stomach. Buy the machine and you will have a flat, muscular stomach. Probably not unless you are ready to go on a strenuous diet for several months accompanied by daily isometric exercises! The machine ends up in the corner collecting dust. Do you have an exercise machine in your house? Do you use it daily? |
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The cowboy, lean and tough, the real he-man, has a cigarette dangling from his lips. They don't show him years later in the hospital with throat cancer. Smoke a cigarette and you will be a rugged he-man. Nonsense! Smoke cigarettes and you will be a cool dude. You probably will end up being a sick dude. Smoke a cigarette and you will be cool and refreshed in the summer. Ha ha. But the image is persuasive. |
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The athlete is shown on the cereal box. Eat the cereal and you will be an athlete. Chew tobacco and you will be a baseball star. Wear our sport shoes and you will be the fastest man on earth. |
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One time they advertised a rotary engine. It sounded more like a whirling top, so smooth almost musical. Not like are regular piston engine at all. Do you own one of those? Check out what it sounds like. |
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Some friends drove here from Wisconsin. As they approached Las Vegas at night their little girl said, "A golden city." Las Vegas at night all lit up. It reminded me of a story a musician wrote about a gambler falling dead at the table. They came and carried him out while the game continued. The dead man's arm was swinging in time to the music being played. The musician never forgot that sight and eventually became a Christian. |
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Do you know our whole country is like that? The politicians speak in words of image. "The bridge to the future." In your mind's eye you see a rainbow bridge leading the way to Utopia. You see a generation of young people, brilliant because of the computer, solving all the problems of civilization, putting an end to war, to disease, to hunger, to handicaps of all kinds. |
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"From sea to shining sea." America enters as leader of the brave new world. |
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So the image makers in government would have us believe. But many of the computerized young have had little or no training in morals. Unless they turn to Christ we will be witnessing the emergence of self-seeking monsters without conscience. |
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Then we turn to the newspaper. It is "from sea to bloody sea." Just today's paper had enough homicides to make you sick. |
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America is in social turmoil. The gap between the rich and the poor is increasing. The immorality is causing crime to soar. |
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I remember when I was in public-school work the talk of some of the liberal teachers. I saw from their conversation how it could be true that people under the Antichrist regime would be saying "peace and safety" when all around them was intellectual, financial, artistic, educational, social desolation. It is because people perceive according to the image in their mind, not according to reality. |
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To be continued. |
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