NOTES ON PREPARING FOR THE DAY OF THE LORD: A PRAXIS FOR MAKING ALL THINGS READY

1. SIGNS
2. Vision
3. Commitment
4. Preparation
5. Joy

SCRIPTURE. “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened and the stars withdraw their shining. The Lord will thunder and roar from Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be a refuge for His people and a stronghold to the children of Israel.” – JOEL 3:14-16, AMPC

QUOTATIONS

“‘Jesus said the weeds would grow with the wheat until the Judgement,’ Dietrich answered, ‘so one finds both good men and bad in the Church. By our fruits we will be known, not by what name we have called ourselves. I have come to believe that there is more grace in becoming wheat than there is in pulling weeds.’” ― MICHEAL FLYNN, ‘Efelheim,’ 1986; edited

“Now the Valley cried with anger, ‘Mount your horses draw your sword.’ And they killed the mountain people, so they won their just reward. Now they stood beside the treasure, on the mountain dark and red. Turned the stone and looked beneath it. ‘Peace on earth’ was all it said. Go ahead and hate your neighbor, go ahead and cheat a friend. Do it in the name of Heaven, you can justify it in the end. There won’t be any trumpets blowing come the Judgment Day. On the bloody morning after one tin soldier rides away.’” ― DENNIS LAMBERT, Author of ‘The Table,’ 2017; edited

1. FIRST THOUGHTS

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS. I began my Doctoral Studies in 1970 at Bowling Green State University under the mentorship of DR. RAYMOND TUCKER, who I later learned was a Christian man of considerable faith and burgeoning intelligence. After taking my first position at Cleveland State University in 1972, and a painful divorce from my wife of four years in 1975, I note the following event.

In in these grinding Years of Turmoil during the summer of 1976 best I recall, when I was at an outdoor drive-in theater on the outskirts of Cleveland, Ohio, with a friend named Sharyn, watching the then-new film, ‘The Omen’ starring Gregory Peck. Though far from being a Christian at the time, I distinctly remember struggling to answer her questions about who the Antichrist was, with nothing more than a paper-thin familiarity with God and the Bible.

That same year I transferred to a new position at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, but following a long-haul addiction to alcohol and a planned suicide on Halloween, 1979, I was Rescued by our King one day before that, on OCTOBER 30, 1979, at around 10 am in the morning.

Selah. Thank You, Yeshua ben David, thank You, my Lord and my King.  

By 1981, the dear man who had led me to Christ, PASTOR EUGENE KRAFT, asked me a Question: Would I would be willing to teach the entire Book of Revelation to his Sunday School Class at Lincoln Neighborhood (Assemblies of God) Church.

Bear in mind, I am a 3-year-old in Jesus, though 38 in natural years.

After nearly passing out at the prospect of such a formidable task for a fairly new believer, I shuddered a few times, then said ‘Okay’ for some invisible reason. And the rest of my Christian life was radically Recalibrated by the God who had saved me toward studying and teaching what I would later call:

POLITICAL ESCHATOLOGY: “The Fusion of theology with cultural and geopolitical analysis.” – C. W. KELLY, ‘The Sixth Seal: A Pre-Wrath Commentary on the End of History As We Know It,’ 2017, p. 13; edited

Thus emerged a Sunday School Course on the Book of Revelation in 1981 that swelled from a dozen or so to over 220 by the time it ended 15 months later. In the midst of which an almost serendipitous ‘Prophecy Wall’ began to appear in my University of Pacific (CA) office of daily news clips, mostly from the L.A. Times, which I read religiously.

Gradually, then increasingly, students started to flow into my office to find out more of the ‘New Dr. Kelly,’ so different than the ardent Social Science Hedonist he used to be, and this New Religious Worldview of his.

THE ZIMMERMAN PRINCIPLE. Around that time in 1982, I attended an address by the then-General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church, Thomas F. Zimmerman, at the University Campus where I ‘itinerated’ [i.e., circuit rode] as a fulltime Associate Professor of Communication.

Without notes, I remember vividly every detail and title from that momentous Homily, because it would impact me greatly in the years ahead: “A Man, a Mission, and a Moment: The Story of Moses.”

I also remember Mr. Zimmerman: A tall man of some 70 years, about six foot five at least as I remember him, he bent over the lectern and began his speech in a deep, gravelly voice, booming with authority. After going through the first two parts, he then got to the third section, ‘A Moment,’ and put away his notes, removed his glasses and said this, in a deep, gravelly voice, now etched into my soul forever:

“Beloved, I have learned that God will often take 50 years to prepare a man for a five-minute ministry.”

THE APPLICATION. From the time I began my doctoral studies at Bowling Green State University in 1970, to the Launch of these Blogs and Vlogs on Political Eschatology in earnest as my formal calling in March 2020, it has been:

Precisely 50 years, beloved. Behold: DK’s “Five Minute Ministry.”

So, no matter where this does or does not lead, I am in ‘The Zone,’ as some of y’all might say it. All of that to say it before both God and Man in the words of Brad Pitt in this World War II American-British, ‘Fury’ (2014):

“Best job I ever had.”

1. HISTORIC HARBINGER

I can say with considerable certainty that we see, tragically enough, an America in Historic Decline. Nothing new there. But what can be helpful to us is to identify those major milestones or MARKERS that ‘signal’ our Decline. If there be any hope of Repair, it must begin here.

WHEN IN ROME. While I do not wish to beat the Santayana Principle of learning from history beyond its welcome, it is ever so pertinent to our current condition. I rather like very much the Introduction to this idea by LINCOLN BROWN in his article for ‘PJ Media’ entitled, “The Clock is Ticking on the Decline and Fall of America,” published on October 9, 2021 (edited).

“In the year 410, ALARIC, the leader of the Visigoths, attacked Rome and succeeded in sacking it. Rome had been battling with enemies for years along its far-flung borders, and in some cases had admitted some of these people into the Empire. But Alaric and his army did what many Romans thought was unthinkable: Entered the city itself. The invasion was blamed by some on the rise of Christianity and a shift away from the ancient traditions and gods. This moved Augustine to write ‘The City of God,’ in which he argued that Rome was suffering retribution for its past sins and unrighteousness, not because of the rising religion. The city would be hit again by the Vandals in 455, before finally falling in 476 to Germanic tribes.”

The Roman Republic lasted about 1,000 years, from 509 BC through its many conquests led it toward Empire status in 27 A.D., under a series of Emperors (or, Caesars) starting with Caesar Augustus in that same year, ending with Romulus Augustus in 476.

Of course, many do argue that the real cause of its rapid decline was Emperor Constantine’s Edict of Milan issued in 313 A.D. that declared Christianity a ‘State Religion,’ that shattered its foundations and gave the State divine political authority which it was never intended to have.

Brown superbly draws our attention to the following Lethal Parallels that tie American failure to that of Rome’s.

“Whether or not you are a Christian, Augustine had a point. By the time Alaric and his band of merry men were at the gates, Rome’s boundaries had become so large that they were unmanageable, the military was diluted, and the Empire manufactured very few goods of its own. It relied instead on imports and slave labor. Taxes and unemployment were high, the government was corrupt, and the Empire had a history of Civil War.

Also noteworthy, Rome saw a Decline in its citizens’ [moral] behavior over the years (during its years of peace and prosperity, the city itself may have been home to 32,000 prostitutes.) And of course, there was the philosophy of ‘Bread and Circuses,’ which held that if you kept the population fed and entertained, they might not notice that things were going to hell. Some have also posited that the lead pipes used to bring water to homes may have contributed to collective cognitive decline.”

Which leads me to the specification of ‘Six Harbingers of American Deterioration’ which mirror Roman Disintegration almost to the letter.

1. SIGNS OF AMERICAN DECLINE

These SIX MAJOR SIGNATURES of our imminent Collapse issue from years of study and current, intensive research on the overall American Condition since the Election of Donald Trump as President on Tuesday November 8, 2016. While I make no claim of Causality here, I do argue forcefully for the rapid intensification of these Trendlines since his rise to power.

1. LOSS OF VIRTUE. As with Rome, once the people had become inured to their own Decline of Virtues, both Personal and Public, it was only a matter of brief time when she would completely collapse. Such values as Veritas (honesty), Severitas (self-control), Pietas (piety), Industria (hard work), and Clementia (mercy) were vital to the sustainability of Roman greatness. For America, we can trace our own Demise to a single, catastrophic Event: The Poisoning of the Christian Canon by uniting it with the Political Nationalism of Donald Trump. In just four electrifying years we lost Truth and Honor, Freedom and Civility, Community and Compassion. More fundamentally, we seditiously jettisoned the very Cornerstone of the American Order: Jesus the Christ, our very ‘Way, and Truth and Life.’ We replaced Him with a Golden Calf or our own making, leading to the seditious, lawless and bloody Insurrection of January 6, 2021, our American Nadir. Now we are descending rapidly into what the late CHARLES COLSON once called, “The New Dark Ages” in his epic work, ‘Against the Night’ (1989). – cf. Proverbs 11:3; John 14:6; 2 Peter 1:5

• LOSS OF VISION. The Scriptures fairly shout at our current crisis this: “Without a vision, the people perish, but happy are those who keep the Law.” As with Rome, America has lost her way, or what the brilliant sociologist of religion ROBERT BELLA once called our “Sense of place,” or our very Identify as Americans in his insightful work, ‘Habits of the Heart’ (1985). So we see the America of today seeking after the shards and shibboleths of that Original Vision in such things as material prosperity, personal and military power, fierce nationalist and racial pride, with a concomitant disregard or even disdain and scorn of the poor, people of color and most people of non-Anglo heritage. Trump’s demonic reference to “shithole countries” such as Haiti and Africa in his statement on January of 2018 illustrate this ‘New America’ embraced by so many White Evangelicals. Further fallout of this staggering loss of who we are reminds of the noteworthy research of GEORGE GERBNER in the 1970s, who found the exponential rise of what he called the “Mean World Syndrome,” as people digested the mountains of media-fed violence and incivility to the mass citizenry on a non-stop basis. Thus has this 50-year percolation resulted in today’s coarseness, vulgarity and increasing brutality to one another. – cf. Proverbs 29:18; John 8:31-32; 1 Corinthians 13:1-6

• LOSS OF UNITY. There is a prevailing notion these days that Unity is to be preferred over Divisiveness pretty much at any cost. On first glance, that sounds right, sort of. Until you note the “at any price” qualifier. The kind of thinking found in PETER SUCIU’S piece in the online journal, ‘19fortyfive’ on a notably published on Tuesday January 5, 2021 – one day before the Insurrection in DC. Listen to how wrong, catastrophically wrong one can be as he sniffed at the possibility of a ‘coup’ attempt by the would-be Fascist Dictator Trump: “This line of thinking fails to take into account that the President would need the support of key lawmakers, the courts, the military, and likely the intelligence community.” Precisely what is beginning to happen, beloved. My Point: Jesus taught that there is only one kind of Unity that is Biblically sanctioned: Unity based on Truth. His Word, His Principles, His Law if you will. Since the Church has gone mute on True Christian Unity in the interests of Pragmatic political and economic power, America is left doctrinally Impotent, more Divided, and less Unified, at any time since the Civil War. – cf. Malachi 2:10; John 17:17, 21; 1 Corinthians 1:10

• LOSS OF ORDER. As we travel downwind from each of these devastating Losses in America in only the last few years, the Cumulative Impact here is to create what can only be described as ‘Chaos’: “Confusion; disorder; a state in which the parts are undistinguished” (Webster, 1828). It is what the physicist would describe as ‘Entropy,’ a “state of sustained absence of predictability or certainty, descending into increased states of Disorder” (Oxford Dictionary, 2021; edited). The classic trajectory of this terrifying condition is brutally illustrated in WILLIAM GOLDING’S classic, ‘Lord of the Flies’ (1954), in which a group of British boys are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous, bloody attempt to govern themselves, ‘without law,’ quickly degrading into an Antinomian Nightmare. That is what America is doing right this minute, beloved. It is that state of affairs described by Christ Himself when “Lawlessness would abound,” or prevail over the entire culture, spreading widely and rapidly. Such truth is self-evident, my friends, as we survey the increasingly inchoate American Landscape, fraught with yelling at each other, fist fights on airplanes, threatened school board meetings, and the breakdown of basic industry and services and supply lines. It’s coming apart, beloved, even as I write these words. – cf. Genesis 1:2; Matthew 24:12; 1 John 3:3

• LOSS OF TRUTH. Perhaps the Bottomline Definition of Our Times is found right here, in the Loss of Truth and the concomitant Explosion of The Lie rapidly dominating the American Scene. Paul’s Letter to the Romans shatters any complacency about this vital issue by severely warning of a Time when very wicked men, imposters of the Faith in the context of this discussion, who dared to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” Today, that dark reality has visited America in the form of Blasphemous Conspiracy Theories, that have led to 30-50% of Americans from all sectors refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccination. The result: 750,000 dead Americans, and over 5,000,000 worldwide. One survey recently found only 12 Voices are primarily responsible for this “Disinformation” Campaign of Lies (cf. CHRIS MALORE, ‘Study Finds,’ May 21, 2021; edited). Scriptural admonition is severe to this informational poison: “Do not call conspiracy [or hard, or holy] all that this people will call conspiracy [or hard, or holy]; neither be in fear of what they fear, nor [make others afraid and] in dread.” The Church leads in much of this, as Jesus prophesied it would, as part of the massive ‘Falling Away’ of believers in the Last Days (Matthew 24:12). Word of Caution: Don’t be a Conspiracist! – cf. Romans 1:18; Isaiah 8:128

• LOSS OF SOUL. The final tragedy in this litany of collapses is found in the heart rending Words once again of our Messiah: “For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world [with all its pleasures], and forfeit his soul?” Indeed, America. Indeed, Church. We have in our panic to “Make America Great Again” forfeited all we once believed in for a false and temporary sense of security and financial gain. I have already written of America’s idolatry of Mammon and Pleasure, so won’t belabor that again. Except to argue here that whether we are talking about an individual’s eternal soul, or the very heart and soul and spirit of a Nation, the loss is beyond catastrophic. It shall prove Fatal. America no longer has a Captain, nor rudder by which to steer, nor sails to catch the Divine Wind that no longer fills our skies. We are more and more, stillborn, in the doldrums, without a Moral Compass. WILLIAM MACDONALD explains it this way: “With wickedness rampaging, human affections will be less and less evident. Acts of unlove will become commonplace” (1995, p. 1293). In Sum: America loses not only her First Love, but all subsequent acts of love and kindness until it has completely vanished, leaving only the Barbarians to savage what remains. Selah. – cf. Mark 8:36; Matthew 6:24

DK’S TAKE. I see these Six grinding Dimensions of Decline everywhere – as I travel to local coffeeshops and stores, as I watch as well as across the Nation to get a personal feel for the cultural mood. As the False News Cycles drone on from Fox and a thousand other poisoned wells, it is not good, beloved, as you already know. One author, writing of the current Market Mood for example, described it as simply, ‘Gray:’

“A color intermediate between black and white, as of ashes or lead; without interest or character; dull and nondescript; colorless, without zeal, indifferent, lifeless; as with being, ‘Lukewarm.’”  – cf. Revelation 3:16

Therefore, as we march toward an American Laodicea and beyond, let us now consider the central doctrine for this difficult Commentary.

1. THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE. “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the Day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened and the stars withdraw their shining. The Lord will thunder and roar from Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be a refuge for His people and a stronghold to the children of Israel.” – JOEL 3:14-16, AMPC

Now we take a closeup view of what the Law and the Prophets and Apostles call, ‘THE DAY OF THE LORD.’  It is also referred to as: “The Day of Yahweh,” “The Day of Christ,” “The Day of Wrath,” “The Day of Visitation.” And all of these refer broadly to what the Jews call, ‘The Time of Jacob’s Troubles,’ and Christians as, “The Great Tribulation.”

First to THREE KEY TERMS.

• VALLEY OF DECISION. From the Hebrew term, ‘Charuwts’ [חֲרוּץ], or: “Trench of sharpness; threshing sledge (for crushing and separating grain); a moat in which there are sharp teeth; place of determination or diligence; a wall [beyond which one can no longer travel]; figurative of a crocodile; place and time of strict, incisive decision; refers to powerful binding or twisting.”

• IT IS NEAR. Taken from the word, ‘Qarob’ [קָרוֹב]: “Close; very near [to us in time]; figuratively, ‘as light is near from breaking away from darkness, and will soon leave it behind;’ at hand, next [in succession of events]; at the ready, nigh; not far distant in place, time or degree; a short time away in the future.”

• GOD SHALL ROAR. A powerful word in the Hebrew, from the term, ‘Shaag’ [שָׁאַג]: “To groan mightily; a great cry of distress [against His own fold, 1 Peter 4:17]; as with the rumble of thunder; to cry with a full, loud, continued sound; to wail or bellow, as a beast; as a roaring bull or a roaring lion; like a brazen shout of war; to make or emit a loud confused sound (such as background reverberation that fills the entire sky).” 

• THE LORD IS REFUGE. The Hebrew describes in detail what God shall be for His true ones, The Remnant. From the word, ‘Machaseh’ [מַחֲסֶה]: “A shelter, place of hope or trust (from rain or storm that rages, or any danger); also, a refuge from falsehood; a place to flee for protection from calamity or distress; a stronghold which protects by its strength, or a sanctuary which secures safety by its sacredness; any place inaccessible to an enemy.”

MATTHEW HENRY. “Here is a challenge to all the enemies of God’s [true] people. There is no escaping God’s Judgments; hardened sinners, in that Day of Wrath, shall be cut off from all comfort and joy. Most of the Prophets foretell the same final victory of the [True] Church of God over all that oppose it. To the Wicked it will be a terrible day, but to the Righteous it will be a joyful day. What cause have those who possess an interest in Christ, to glory in their Strength and their Redeemer! The acceptable year of the Lord, a Day of such great Favour to some, will be a day of remarkable Vengeance to others: let everyone that is out of Christ ‘Awake,’ and flee from the wrath to come!” – ‘Exposition of the Old and New Testaments,’ 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

But to all this fright and terror and Divine mayhem is the Mainstay of our Hope, as WILLIAM MACDONALD beautifully tells of it: “But the Lord will bless ‘His people’ with deliverance, safety from invaders, and abundant supplies” (‘Believer’s Bible Commentary,’ 1995, p. 1111; edited).

Thus, the very first thing we must all do in Preparing for His Advent, is to make absolutely sure we are truly ‘His people being fed with His Truth.’ While we need not doubt our Salvation, we must on the other hand, never take it for granted!

Here is how Paul the Apostle put it, rendered in the richness of the Amplified translation.

“So then, my dear ones, just as you have always obeyed [my instructions with enthusiasm], not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ].” – PHILIPPIANS 2:12, AMP

CHURCH MISFIRE. Sadly, this is once again where the American Church is devastatingly ‘absent without leave’ in getting us Ready for His Arrival. Rather, its shameless message has been for some 25 years now: ‘God loves you; God saved you; and therefore, He shall bless you forever.’ Never a whisper about what WE must do to remain faithful and secure in that Covenant.

To this crucial doctrinal point, the JAMIESON-FAUCETT-BROWN Bible Commentary (1871) point out that by these words “mean not any servile fear and slavish despondency, arising from doubting, Philippians 4:4, but only a serious, filial fear, implying a deep humility and submissiveness of mind, with a reverential awe of the Divine Majesty, and a solicitude to ‘avoid that evil’ which is offensive to Him and separates from Him.”

Make that read: Believing in, bonding oneself and living according to the Teachings of ‘Another Jesus,’ namely, the American Gospel of Donald Trump – the subject of many of my remonstrances this past two years. Which shall not soon cease.

• FINAL THOUGHTS

SIGNS OF THE TIMES. When I first looked up this phrase online as part of my prep for this essay, I found a man who owns a small company that – wait for it – paints signs! Actually, I thought it pretty clever, and wish his business well.

But I am obviously thinking and writing about a different set of ‘Signs’ than that, larger, more intrusive and vastly more important to an understanding of Our Times. Reminding me once again to walk in the footsteps of THE SONS OF ISSACHAR, “who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” (1 Chronicles 12:32).

Yet for all their appearances and increasing frequency, most of the Nation and great swaths of the American Church are waltzing through this Maze of Divine Signatures at a blind and deaf half-pace, behaving as if all will soon be well enough again, because: ‘We’re Americans for Pete’s sake! We always come out on the other side even better than before.’

By the way, I looked up who “Pete” is in this newly minted, horrendously fungible ‘Gospel’ of ours. Turns out that a ‘Reader’s Digest’ piece by writer EMILY DINUZZO posted on March 30, 2021, discovered one possible explanation:

“One speculative theory in the Morris Dictionary is that someone ‘replaced’ Jesus or God with another religious figure—St. Peter. That theory isn’t as out there as these everyday phrases with dark origins.”

This in the very same way that the Australian saying, “Crickey!” was based on a replacement of “Jesus Christ” for the more acceptable, less profane and blasphemous epithet.

MY POINT. The American Church has largely REPLACED JESUS with a Cultural one, a more ‘Americanized’ Messiah and Message who answers to the call of American Greatness, bathed in an Exceptionalism of a uniquely blessed Nation with no peers, no equals, and no heritage like unto our own ‘Divine Rights Republic.’

What was originally truly blessed by God, has degenerated into a reckless, godless ‘Hubris’: “An extreme and unreasonable feeling of pride and confidence in oneself.”

Indeed, beloved, we have descended into something as hideous as the Trump Statue regaled at the latest CPAC (Conservative Political Action Committee) meeting in Washington, DC last March 2021. And why I chose the graphic I selected for this essay to make visual and memorable this single fiery point:

Donald John Trump is the most blatant Sign of the Times God has yet sent us.

THE MAN OF SIN. I continue to become more and more convinced that Trump is indeed, the very individual described in Scripture as ‘The Lawless One,’ bereft of any hint of Christian civility or character, rather aping every Satanic strategy one could possibly imagine.

And yet, and yet: Between 71 to 83% of the American Church still believes him to be the Protestant Vicar of Christ sent by God to save America. The very one who helped plan, execute and ignite the Sedition of January 6, 2021, and unprecedented Insurrection in the attempt to overthrow a Constitutionally legitimate presidential election of November 3, 2020.

I have written elsewhere with copious documentation why I hold this view of Trump and need not repeat it here, nor the number of Scriptures which add depth and detail to his profile.

Save for one I conclude with, as we travel the rest of this Series about Preparing for Christ’s Second Coming. Lest we forget that we must also prepare for our ‘Spiritual Resistance’ to the spirit and person of Antichrist, if we are to survive and succeed in the days directly ahead of us.

PAY CLOSE ATTENTION HERE. I will not comment on this momentous Passage; it teaches itself to all who have eyes to see, and ears to hear. And it sets the stage for the rest of this Series, so be sure you grasp is powerful, flawless Instruction.

“But relative to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and our gathering together to [meet] Him, we beg you, brethren, not to allow your minds to be quickly unsettled or disturbed or kept excited or alarmed, whether it be by some [pretended] revelation of [the] Spirit or by word or by letter [alleged to be] from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has [already] arrived and is here.

Let no one deceive or beguile you in any way, for that day will not come except the apostasy comes first [unless the predicted great falling away of those who have professed to be Christians has come], and the man of lawlessness (sin) is revealed, who is the son of doom (of perdition), who opposes and exalts himself so proudly and insolently against and over all that is called God or that is worshiped, [even to his actually] taking his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming that he himself is God.

Do you not recollect that when I was still with you, I told you these things?

And now you know what is restraining him [from being revealed at this time]; it is so that he may be manifested (revealed) in his own [appointed] time.For the mystery of lawlessness (that hidden principle of rebellion against constituted authority) is already at work in the world, [but it is] restrained only until He who restrains is taken out of the way.

And then the lawless one (the antichrist) will be revealed and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of His mouth and bring him to an end by His appearing at His coming. The coming [of the lawless one, the antichrist] is through the activity and working of Satan and will be attended by great power and with all sorts of [pretended] miracles and signs and delusive marvels—[all of them] lying wonders—And by unlimited seduction to evil and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing (going to perdition) because they did not welcome the Truth but refused to love it that they might be saved.” – 2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-10, AMPC

CODA. This then is the beginning of your Making All Things Ready for the Second Advent of Christ: To study and understand more fully who ‘His Counterfeit’ will be, and the Conduct surrounding him and his followers. That there shall be not a hint of confusion about who the ‘Real Jesus’ is, as over against His Cheapened Imitation that is found in so many churches and businesses today.

Ever your servant, DK

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