Steps Of an Unknown Writer

   It is a stormy, cold night on the island.  I have never seen lightning bolts flashing across the dark sky so near us, as tonight!  And I have never before heard thunder so loud and so close, so very close, that it shook my cell and my bed!  I pulled the covers tightly over my head, trying to go back to sleep, but was now too restless.  And then I heard it: a voice in my head, saying, “You must go to Rome with Father Monk.  You must go at once before a new pope is elected.  You shall be representatives of the faith that came from the Roman Church.  I will tell you what to say when you get there.  You must tell them as My beloved John tried to tell them, “but they will not believe!”

And so they arrived in Rome.  And on the first day of the cardinals’ election process for a new pope, Brother Monk was in a room where a microphone was connected to speakers that would enable the thousands and thousands assembled there from all over the world to hear messages as to the progress being made.

And then a voice said unto him, “I am Jesus.  Speak now unto the people here assembled the words I give you.”

“Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, our Lord, hear the words I speak.  And shall you believe? 

I preached unto my people when I was here the first time, the Kingdom of God, but they would not hear.  They rejected Me!  To my beloved Apostle John, I gave unto him the last words of My book, for the seven churches in Asia, and even beyond unto the very corners of the earth, My earth, which I created, the last “things which are to come.”  They believed for a time, but as the centuries past by, wickedness crept into My Church, and the very words of last book unto you, were explained away so as to take them as a myth.  And so, even now, most of My people ignore or do not believe the words of the ‘last days’ John wrote unto you-even your popes!  For it is man who errs, not God.

By this time the police and keepers of the house could not enter the room from which Brother Monk preached.  No one could silence the voice that flooded the square.  All were silent as the throngs of people assembled there listened reverently to the words he spoke.  They perceived these were not ordinary words from an ordinary man.  No, they believed something very special was happening from God.

The time is almost near when the things prophesied for the future shall be accomplished.  You know them from my last book John wrote unto you, even as all Scripture must be fulfilled about Me.  I am He, Jesus, in heaven with the Father, but soon, very soon, I will come again back to earth to reign: for I am the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, your Christ, the Messiah!

But before I come back in the clouds with the radiance of the Sun, with great power and glory, I must first accomplish something very great my Apostle Paul often spoke about to his churches: the first resurrection after Me.

“For I shall come out of heaven with the arch-angel, and with a great shout, and the great blast of the trumpets, and all over the world, at the same time, and from the time of the beginning of My church, the dead in Christ Jesus shall rise from the grave; then all who are alive at that very moment, those who are alive in Christ Jesus shall be changed into immortal, glorious, imperishable bodies like those just resurrected, like even unto Christ, translated in the ‘twinkling of an eye,’ and together, in the greatest assembly of the Lord that ever there was to behold, you shall be gathered unto Me in the sky, above the clouds, and follow Me up to heaven unto the Holy Father.  

And so, dear ones of Mine, shall you forever be with the Lord! 

You shall not, not even one of you be part of the following seven years of judgement that shall be upon my people Israel, and even the whole unbelieving world!  No, not one!   

If you would only believe what John wrote in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, you too can know your future, and the future events which shall come upon the whole world, and, as I desire, teach others, especially My chosen ones, the Jewish people, for they are still Mine, and always will be.  You have not replaced them, but are grafted into them, blind yet as they are.  But, like you today, shall  they believe?

And when the prophecy of Daniel’s last Seven Years has expired, then I shall come out of heaven with my saints and angels to the earth, when the desperate call of My believing Remnant shall come to My ears…and then, and only then will I return, and my kingdom shall then begin. 

You are My witnesses; My testimony unto all the world.  You spread the seed of My Holy Gospel.  Do not be ‘slow of heart to believe all that was written of Me.’ Do not be like My two disciples who walked on the Road to Emmaus after My crucifixion, fools, because they did not believe all Moses wrote of Me!  

Thus I have spoken through My servant, and you have heard.

These words shall not pass away but are settled forever in Heaven.  These are My true words.  Shall you believe?

But you will not believe.”

 And when all these words were spoken, the police burst into the room and arrested Brother Monk.  There were no charges, but they had to depart Rome first thing in the morning.  And they arrived back to their island, and Father Monk did not speak, but smiled the whole trip home.

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In the year of our Lord 2013, March.  The winds have calmed.  The sun is up, and some visitors are about the island.  

Tea and bread is being served in the great room.

After all, said the American visitor to our holy island, everyone has their own interpretation of the Bible, right?

Well, yes, that’s true.  Anyone can believe anything he likes, and even thinks he knows what the Bible says…according to his own understand-his learning, I replied.

I said, But you must know, my friend, that there is only one, true understanding, one interpretation, the way God meant His written word to be understood.  

How’s that? he said.

Like any other book written to be understood in its most simple, normal, usual, literal sense, that’s how.  God did not write to confuse people, or place secret hidden meanings between paragraphs that only the most lofty and learned of men could know.  What God had man write by His Holy Spirit was the record of things past, present, and future. He meant it as He wrote it; to be understood by a believer who puts his mind, heart, and soul to study the Scriptures, giving it your quiet time, and read every day.  

If you approach it as a scoffer, a wrestler of words, one who wants to make it something it is not, to try to prove it wrong, or add things that aren’t there, then you might as well forget it and put it on the shelf to gather dust!

But in your heart, like the kid in a candy store, you know it to be God’s truth of what He wanted to tell us, the good, the bad, and the ugly, then you will know and eagerly want to read on, and on, and on.  It shall begin to take hold, and a warmth will fill you, you shall truly see, and it shall cause an emotional response.  It shall make you want to seek Him.  There will be questions to be sure, but humbly go to Him in prayer with your requests.  Honor the Bible; stand up for the Bible.  Let it never be spoken ill against in your presence!  This is God’s love to you; love Him back by reading His  written word…and believe what He has written.

The confusion of understanding has its roots. 

Who were “the allegorists ” (alligators) who undermined the normal interpretation of Scripture?

As mentioned, it started with the Greeks, who passed it on to the Jews, many of them, who desired to make “controversial accounts” in the Holy Scripture, at least in their eyes, more tasteful to their listeners.   

One then took up the banner, a Jewish philosopher named Philo, who interpreted the plain, natural meaning of Scripture that was left was so far out there, that it didn’t make sense!

In the early church, Origin followed this line of thinking of seeking to find hidden spiritual meaning in just about every paragraph and verse. He argued that, “if no spiritual significance is found on the surface of a Bible passage, it may be concluded that the verses are to be taken symbolically.”

From the School at Alexandria, in a very short time, moving away from the early church fathers, he “made allegory the dominant method of biblical interpretation down to the end of the Middle Ages.”  Truly, this was a most desperate effort to avoid the plain meaning of Scripture.  

But where do these thoughts of the most learned men in history come from?  Who is the great deceiver, the liar?  Who is the arch-enemy of God?  Who is it that wants to twist God;s word, or make them mean something else: thus try to pull you further from God, but closer to him?  God is not the author of confusion.  But, for this they were born.

Even the great St. Augustine, one of our revered church fathers, followed Origin.  “He interpreted the non-prophetic Scriptures literally and the prophetic allegorically.”  He consistently spiritualized most portion of the Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ.  And this deeply affected the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Reformers…sadly, most of the Church today!

But his one chief work, Augustine’s “City of God,” the Book of Revelation was to be understood as a spiritual allegory.”  This has had a powerful influence on the Church, from the highest to the lowest leaders, and to the people themselves.

And so it was taught: the Millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ, that had begun with the birth of Christianity and was fully realized in the Church.  And this at once became orthodox doctrine!

Wrong.  False. 

No wonder the confusion; no wonder false, incorrect teaching in the Church.  No wonder.

Help us, O Lord.  May you seek His holy Spirit to guide you in all truth.  May the prophecies that announced the First Coming of our Lord Jesus, understood as happened “literally,” may this same literal meaning be applied to the as yet unfulfilled prophecies of the future events of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ the Messiah, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Amen.   

   It is one of the greatest blessings God has given us.  He loved us so much that He wanted to leave us His Story.  And so, over the course of thousands of years, using different men in different places, He caused His spoken word to be written down in “books” so that we and our children, and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, ad infinitum, might have the story of how it all begin, Who began it, and where it’s  all heading.  This greatest blessing is called “The Holy Bible.”  It is the greatest book ever written; the Book that has outsold all other books in history!  It is indestructible.  It is timeless.  It’s words are forever settled in heaven.  It means what it says, and says what it means. It’s words can’t be twisted or interpreted for a meaning that simply is not there (a method of interpretation know as an “allegory,” or allegorical interpretation that crept into the Church during the 2nd-4th centuries).  Scripture has only one plain, simple, clear, correct meaning, but can have many applications.  Sadly, it is Genesis and biblical prophecy that is the primary target of this false interpretation.  And just as sad, it is man, Christian men, scholars, ordained and lay, who have bought into this error, and tried (and hold ferociously to their imagined meaning) to interpret and thus give false meaning to different parts of the Holy Bible.  And this they teach!

The two books of the Holy Bible attacked and misinterpreted the most are the two very anchors and pillars books themselves: Genesis and The Revelation! And here’s where the “great alligator,” “Mr. Allegory,” comes into the picture. 

When the Church first came into existence on day of Pentecost in  33 A.D. in Jerusalem, the only Bible they had was the Hebrew Old Testament.  From a child, they read their Bible literally: Creation was creation-the very beginning of all things.  Adam and Eve were the very first adult human beings created on His earth.  Noah and his three sons built a huge Ark as instructed by God to save them and the animals from the great flood that would cover the whole earth!  There really was a unicorn, and dinosaurs, and a Tower of Babel.  There really was a giant named Goliath, who was killed by a little shepherd boy named David. These were stories of real people and real events that happened long, long ago.

The books written after the time of Jesus became the New Testament, and, together with the Old Testament, over time became the Holy Bible of the Christian Church.

Yet today, as in years past, one still hears the famous, but silly words of well know personalities who have a national forum, words spoken against the wonderful and timely television series “The Bible,” that just won’t go away just like the bit of an alligator: “After all, everybody  knows that Adam and Eve and Noah’s Ark is just an allegory!”  Right?  Wrong!  As if this stupid remark means that all people believe that way?  Nonsense.  Just where did this robbing the meaning of Scripture come in? Better yet, who were the “Allegorists” who undermined the normal interpretation of Scripture, as they passed on ‘the alligator’s’  bite to others?  

Stay tuned.

Blessed are those who believe all the written word of GOD as it is written.  May it always be so.  Amen.

He said to me, I believe in God.  Right.  Which one?  There are many gods in the world today.  There is a god called ‘allah,’ and another called ‘buddha,’ and yet another called ‘mother earth;’ they  have been around a long time.  The ancients worshipped many gods, indeed, all of these forms were  manifested by the evil spirits who follow “the god of this age:” Satan, the mighty cherub, the fallen one.  Invisible, powerful, relentless,  it is he who wages war against the righteous and the just.  He has many names, but you will know him by his deeds-his deception and lies; by murders and killings, and ‘slaughter of the innocents;’ by massive deaths of massacres and programs of extermination; in short, wherever evil and wickedness prevail, there he will be.  Since the beginning of human history, he has created the culture of death, decay, and destruction in the world.  He is the ‘author of sin.’  He is the master of twisting “truth;” the propagator of lies.  He is the ‘prince of the air,’ and seeks the souls of men.  And he has a loyal following of innumerable fallen angels who carry out his commands.  We know these as “unclean spirits,” and “demons.”  Demons were worshipped in the past, and so they are (unknowingly?)’ worshipped by millions of people today!  

Just whom will you worship?  The battle still rages over the souls of men for eternity!  It is the battleground of the ages!     

There is only One GOD, the True and Living God.  I pray that He is the one you believe and worship.  He is the Living God, the Creator of all things, the sustainer of all things, the One in whom rests the ‘Plan of the Ages.’  He is the only One in whom there is salvation and eternal life with Him.  He is the Holy Trinity, the Triune GOD.  He is the GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the ONE revealed by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  He is the same God of the Old Testament and the New.  There is only ONE; there is none beside Him. It is HE of whom I speak.  

Whom do you believe?  Will you worship the Living God, the ONE who calls you?  Or will you, like countless others, worship Satan in his many disguises? 

Time is moving rapidly!  Have you noticed?  If you have not accepted Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, as your Lord and Savior, I urge you with all your heart and soul to ‘call upon the name of the Lord Jesus’ today, and you will be saved.  Seek Him while He is to be found.  Pray to Him.  But the time is short; you must not delay! 

If you have a Holy Bible, please take time and read the Gospel According to John, Acts 2:21, and the Epistle to the Romans,  and especially chapter 10: 

But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

– Romans 10:8-10, 13 

 May God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit convict you and forgive you of your sins, and guide you along the way.  Amen.

December, in The Year of Our Lord, 2012, some two thousand and eighteen Advent’s have passed since the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Messiah.  Advent is the beginning of the Christian Year, and the origin of the word, “advent,” comes from the Latin word, “adventus,” which means “coming” or “arrival.”  Advent begins in late November and is the four Sundays preceding Christmas Day.  It is a holy time of the year when Christians remember, and with a penitent heart, the great love of God when He sent His Son, His only begotten Son, who became incarnate by the power of the Holy Spirit, and was born of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, fully God, fully Man.  

  Let us humbly and prayerfully turn back to a new beginning and forgiveness of our sins, and a healing of mind, body, soul, and spirit as we worship the Christ-Child that came into the world that cold, December night in Bethlehem of Judea.

   December is that special month of the year when everyone is busy getting ready for Christmas (Christ-Mas).   But the biggest part of “Christmas” ought to be “getting ready” for the remembrance, the holy celebration of Jesus Christ, God in the form of a man on earth! Amid the dark and cold days looming ahead, amid the heart-wrentching tragedies of this time in our history, let us humble receive the only One who can heal our hearts, the only One who can truly give us the “peace” that passes all human understanding, the Light and Life of the world!

   Let us with grateful hearts recount once more the true Christmas story of long ago.  It is recorded in the Holy Bible, in THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE, beginning at chapter two:

AND it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

And this taxing was first made Cyrenius was governor od Syria.

And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.   

   May the blessings of God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit cause a turning to Him in love with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  May His grace heal your heart and draw you ever closer to Him.  Amen.

   WHEN our forefathers met with Native Americans for a feast of thanksgiving that autumn day around the beginning of what would later become Plymouth, Massachusetts in the year of our Lord, 1621, they turned their faces heaven-ward to God Almighty giving to Him their eternal thanks for all His blessings.  After all, they had survived crossing the North Atlantic, gained a foothold on the North American continent whereby they could practice their Christian faith without persecution, and were shown compassion by a people different from them believed to be hostile.  It was truly a time of “thanksgiving” which would lead to a national holiday hundreds of years later.

But it was not until 1863, however, in the midst of the Civil War that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a “National Thanksgiving Day” to be held each November.

President Woodrow Wilson said in his 1917 “Thanksgiving proclamation:”

“It has long been the honored custom of our people to turn in the fruitful autumn of the year in praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God for His many blessings and mercies to us as a nation.”

On this most special day and all the days to follow, the Lord our God should receive our eternal “thanks” for all His blessings, mercy and grace from a grateful nation.  May it always be so.  Amen.

We give You thanks, O LORD, that You have called us to believe with all heart and mind and soul Your only begotten Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, who shall come again as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest: Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, good will to men.  Blessed be the worship of  the Trinity: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Blessed be the Christian religion in all its forms that worships the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; blessed be its foundation and its flourishing in all the world these past two millennium. 

Thank you LORD:

For our nation and people and abundance.

For our creation and preservation.

For all You created in six days: the heaven, and the earth, the sun and moon and all the stars, and everything on the earth.

For Your plan of salvation in human history in Jesus Christ, fully God, fully Man.

For Your eternal words of Holy Scripture, which You wrote through men, for us and for our salvation, the Holy Bible.  And for Your prophetic words that have been fulfilled as written, and shall be fulfilled in future times.

For the Revelation of Jesus Christ of the things that were, which are, and which shall come hereafter.

For the promise of a resurrection in Christ, and reigning with Him in the Kingdom of God on earth for a thousand years.

That we shall live with You throughout eternity in Holy Light and blessedness.

For those who served in the armed forces of this country in defense of freedom: for all those who gave their lives on the battlefield, and to those who returned to tell their stories.

For our families and friends and students, the out working of God’s love.

For the days You have determined for us while here on earth.

For all those of the Christian faith who have died and gone on to heaven in spirit and soul to be with the Lord.

For our food, shelter, and clothing.

For thoughts, thanks, praise and worship of God in spirit, and our being forgiven of our sins.

For our celebration as often as possible of our Lord’s Supper till He come again.

For our prayers without ceasing to God Almighty, the Most High, the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

For Your great and everlasting love declared unto mankind through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

For this day in the 21st Century, November 24, 2012…

Dedicated with love to my mother and my wife, my precious children and grandchildren with ever a grateful heart.

TheUnknownWriter… 

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast not so many years ago, it came inland with great destruction!  Prior to landfall, as the winds increased with intensity, a TV crew recorded a church with a billboard just in front.  On the billboard were the words: Katrina, have mercy on us! 

Here was a church, sitting directly in the path of this great storm, praying words as if to a pagan god of storms, whose name was Katrina!

In the latter part pf the 20th Century, and now even today, one is saturated with the idea of  a mother earth, like some kind of a great, unseen force, independent of a creator God, a force that controls and stirs up the clouds, the winds, the weaves.  Mother earth has a side-kick, you know: her name is mother nature!  It is she who brings on the good weather and the bad weather; the sunny day or the violent gale and crashing waves from an angry sea.  And man names each storm with either a female name, or a male name.  O, the deep, dark things in the fertile imagination of men whose thoughts come subtly from the god of this world.     

But the word of God, as found written in His Holy Bible, tell  mankind a different story…if only he will believe!  And Christians-seems they believe God is the Creator, but there appears to be a murky understanding that He is sovereign, and controls all things, including the weather, for it is His.  There is a sense, I suppose, that believers probably think God has relinquished His authority and has left the world to itself!  But let’s take a closer look:

In the Book of Genesis, chapter one, verse one, it is written: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 

Consider the wheat and the tares: in all places can be found the godly living side by side with the ungodly.  Psalm 11, verse 7 states: Upon the ungodly he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, storm and tempest: this shall be their portion to drink.

Psalm 18:8: The earth trembled  and quaked, the very foundations also of the hills shook, and were removed, because He was wroth.

Verse 14: The LORD also thundered out of heaven, and the Highest gave His thunder; hailstones and coals of fire.

Psalm 19, verse 1: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showest His handy-work.

Psalm 24, 1-2: The earth is the LORD’s, and all that therein is; For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.

Psalm 29, 3-5, 7: The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; it is the glorious God that makes the thunder. It is the LORD that rules the sea; the voice of the LORD is mighty in operation; The voice of the LORD breaks the cedar-trees; The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness. 

Psalm 95, 3-6: For the LORD is a great God; and a great King above all gods. In His hand are all the corners of the earth; and the strength of the hills is His also. The sea is His, and He made it; and His hands prepared the dry land. O come, let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the LORD our Maker.  

In the midst of the storm, let repentance be heard; ask the LORD for His mercy and grace.  Oh, that they would turn and worship the Lord!

In Psalm 107 is the exhortation: O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good: and His mercy endureth forever.

Verse 29: He makes the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

To this is repeated the ringing words: Oh that men would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men.

Palm 135: He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightnings for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries.

Psalm 147: Who covers the heaven with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow upon the mountains. He sends out His word, and melts them: He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.

Monk, what say thou of this impending storm?

The voice of the Lord, our God is upon the whole world and all the things therein: for He created it by the Word of His mouth.

The voice of the Lord brings the clouds together  and drops the rain.

The voice of the LORD is upon the great storm that rages and batters and floods and destroys.

His mighty power is seen in the perfect storm in the powerful wind, the downpour of the rain, the thunder, and the lightning.

It is He who brings it about; He who controls it, and He who settles it.

O, that we mere mortals should cry out to Him, to get down on our hands and knees and humbly fear Him.  Cry out into the storm and seek Him.

It is Your world, O LORD, You sustain it, You control it and all things.  Yours is nature, Yours is the weather, and yours is the earth.

Jesus Christ, Son of God the Holy Father; Messiah, our Lord and Savior, forgive us our ignorance and unbelief.  Grant us Thy tender mercies and grace as we live through this mighty storm.  Protect us. In a glimpse of Your mighty power over the earth and in the earth, the world, help us to call out to You.  Help our faith.  Help our belief. Help us to hear Your voice that calls at the door of our hearts.  Help us, dear God, in the coming storm.  In the name of Jusus we pray, 

Amen.

It is a thing of timing in the ages of mankind right up to our present day in the 21st Century, that the mystery of lawlessness, wickedness, evil is allowed to continue.  Jesus Christ is in control of history and time, and Satan, the conductor of all evil, the fallen cherub, the mightiest of the unseen angelic realm, is answerable to God.  One day, perhaps soon, he and his son and the false prophet, and all the ungodly wicked followers, those who choose wickedness over righteousness, shall be judged and sent to a place away from God and His saints for all eternity.

Look around.  The world is getting worse.  Man will never have peace by his own imagined means.  Only Christ Jesus can and will do that!  In every century since the beginning of His church, wars, and killings, and persecution, and the blood culture-the culture of death-has dominated the years of peace.  Evil and wickedness abound; at times they seem to drown out the voices of righteousness-the true believers everywhere in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God, the Lord and Savior.  Why?

In the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, in chapter 10, verse 7 (during the period of the future Great Tribulation which is to come upon the whole unbelieving earth), it is written:

…but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to his servants the prophets.

What is the “mystery of God?”  Two aspects seem to stand out.

The first, is Jesus Christ.  In the first chapter of Colossians, verses 25-27, the Apostle Paul wrote: 

…so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 

The second, is the “mystery” of lawlessness, and evil and wicked in the world.

William Kelly in his book, Lectures on the Book of Revelation (London, 1874), wrote: “The secret of His allowing Satan to have his own way, and man too (that is to say, the wonder of evil prospering and of good being trodden underfoot).  God checks, no doubt, the evil in a measure, partly through human government and partly through His own providential dealings.”

Perhaps Dr. W.A. Criswell summed it up best.  In his book, Sermons on Revelation, he wrote:

The mystery of God is the long delay of our Lord in taking the kingdom unto Himself and in establishing righteousness in the earth.  The mystery of God is seen in these thousands of years in which sin and death run riot.  There is no village and there is no hamlet without its raging, and there is no human heart without its dark, black drop.  There is no life without its tears and its sorrows.  There is no home that ultimately does not break up, and there is no family that does not see the circle of the home dissolve in the depths of the grave.  There is no life that does end in death.  The pages of history, from the time of the first murder until this present hour, are written in blood, tears and death. 

The mystery is the delay of God in taking the kingdom unto Himself.  That is the most inexplicable mystery that mind could dream of, the mystery of the presence of evil.  For these thousands of years, God has allowed Satan to wrap his vicious, slimy, filthy, cruel tentacles around human life and around this earth.  Does God know it?  Is He indifferent to it?  Is He not able to cope with it? 

Oh, the mystery of the delay of God!  That mystery has brought more stumbling to the faith of God’s people than any other experience in all life.  The infidel, the atheist, the agnostic and the unbeliever laugh and mock us, and God lets them mock and laugh.  The enemies of righteousness and the enemies of all that we hold dear rise and increase in power and spread blood and darkness over the face of the earth, and we wonder where God is. 

Our missionaries are slain, our churches are burnt to the ground, people in this earth by uncounted millions and millions are oppressed, living in despair, and God just looks.  He seemingly does not intervene; He does not say anything, He does not move.  Sin just develops.  It goes on and on.  Oh, the mystery of the delay of the Lord God!

But somewhere beyond the starry sky there stands a herald with a trumpet in his hand, by the decree of the Lord God Almighty, there is a day, there is an hour, there is a moment, there is an elected time when the angel shall sound and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ.  

So shall all come to pass as it is written in the prophetic word of God.  May it ever be so.  Amen.     

It is the wee hours of the morning.

The wind has been assaulting the tiny island and rain is coming down hard!

Brother Monk is jolted awake by a crash of thunder and spectacular lightning.  He runs to the porch and in a matter of seconds is soaked to the bone!  I hear your thundering voice, LORD.  You want to get our attention, Lord, but I fear no one is listening.  Can they not see the mighty display of your awesome power in the flashes of lightning?  Lord? 

Brother Monk, a voice calls out.  A blanket is wrapped around him and hot tea is brewed.

Everyone is up and about now, most huddled around him to hear his explanation.

My son, Father monk says in a gentle voice. He says not another word; his eyes ask the question.  

I was restless, Father, and then I heard the thunder and lightning as if calling me…and so out I went!

I sensed God was telling me we can know our future, and that we ought to live our lives in eager expectation, awaiting all the good things He has promised to those who love Him.  And so I listened, standing there, just looking up and beholding His power.  It was as if the storm was speaking to me, only me, the one out there, the only one out there in the darkness, oblivious to the rain.  And I felt  something come over me, feeling closer to Him now, listening, looking up. 

A voice inside me said one day soon we shall all be changed and be like Him and be with Him…someday.

For all Scripture must be fulfilled.

The voice said over and over that His word is truth and settled in heaven forever.  There was an aching and sadness in the voice, the gentle voice within that said, you cannot neglect my words I put in My Bible to my beloved John; it saddens Me to see what man is doing today. My words of the revelation tell of the things to come in heaven and on earth, for all are Mine.  Yet they are mostly ignored!  I have written that they who read and believe and hold tightly to my words of the last book, shall be richly blessed and receive a crown from Me at the last.  My words of the revelation are about Me, the Messiah, the Christ who is to soon come as the reigning King, for so it is written, and so it shall come to pass. 

In My revelation the things that shall come are unveiled!  In them you shall know the future of My believers, and the future all the ungodly unbelievers, past, present, future.  You shall know the demise of Satan, and his fallen angels-demonic beings-the final death knell of all evil and wickedness in the world.  You shall learn of My kingdom to come, the final judgment of all unbelievers and the fallen angels.  And then, eternity-the new heaven and the new earth, and the New Jerusalem which shall come down from heaven,  And so shall you and all believers in Me ever be with the LORD your God, forever and ever.  Can they not hear My voice?  

As I sat in the muted candlelight by the fire-place, my brothers all around me, I was warmed to my soul. 

Write, Brother Monk, said the Father. Write so they may know the rest of the story. 

That would come.  For now, fresh, dry cloths, and sleep.

The door to his cell was closed and Monk was asleep.