On March 26, 2022

NOTES ON THE HEAVENLY VISION: REFLECTIONS ON THE LAST BOOK OF REVELATION – PART VI: A SOLEMN WARNING

SCRIPTURE. “I testify and warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book [its predictions, consolations, and admonitions]: if anyone adds [anything] to them, God will add to him the plagues (afflictions, calamities) which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from or distorts the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away [from that one] his share from the tree of life and from the holy city (new Jerusalem), which are written in this book.” – REVELATION 22:18-19, AMP

QUOTATIONS

EINSTEIN. “I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” – Albert Einstein, a quote (or at least a version of it) that dates back to the 1940s, when the first nuclear weapons were being developed.

RAND. “The man who lies to the world, is the world’s slave from then on…There are no white lies, there is only the blackest of destruction, and a white lie is the blackest of all.” – Ayn Rand, ‘Atlas Shrugged,’ 1957

LEWIS. “Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, at the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more. When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, and when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.” ― C.S. Lewis, ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,’ 1950; edited

FIRST THOUGHTS

In more or less whimsical fashion, I find myself muttering to the Lord now and then: “God, I would like to know what will become of me and my family. But then again, maybe not. I’ll get back to you on this, Sir.”

In that regard, I came across an interesting little piece in ‘Live Science’ by RACHAEL RETTNER, titled: “Want to Know the Future? Most People Don’t, Study Suggests” (Feb. 22, 2017; edited).

She writes in summary of a research project by GERD GIGERENZER who found in a European study, only 1% of respondents wanted to know what the future held for them.

“‘In Greek mythology, Cassandra, daughter of the king of Troy, had the power to foresee the future. But, she was also cursed, and [so] no one believed her prophecies,’ study author Gerd Gigerenzer, of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, said in a statement. ‘In our study, we’ve found that people would rather decline the powers that made Cassandra famous, in an effort to forgo the suffering that knowing the future may cause, avoid regret and also maintain the enjoyment of suspense that pleasurable events provide,’ Gigerenzer said.”

Now that seems true to me for America today as well: I see a ‘Great Reticence’ [reluctance] among both churched and secular folk to know what is coming. And for humanly understandable reason: Today’s world is a scary place!

However, such position is theologically untenable. First, we are commanded by God to “understand the times” (1 Chron. 12:32). Second, we are also commanded to eagerly look for His Coming of Messiah as we assess those times (Matt. 24:42). Finally, that requires us to possess both a knowledge of the present and a reasonably accurate apprehension of the future by intense study, prayer and reflective conversation on ‘The Signs’ of His Coming.

Which shall constitute the majority of the Last Installment (Part VII) of this teaching next week.

ANOTHER CHURCH FAIL. Here we go again with what I am starting to call, the great American ‘CRS Crisis’ (Church Reticence Syndrome). Ever since DR. GEORGE BARNA shocked the Church world with his findings in the summer of 2014 that pastors refuse to teach on “controversial issues” for fear of losing tithers, we should not be surprised at this next collapse.

A recent essay by DR. DIANE M. HOFFMAN, author and theologian writing for ‘Belief.Net’ (Dec. 4, 2021) titled, “Why Do Churches Not Talk About the End Times?” anymore? speaks pointedly to this matter. This at inarguably the most drastic times in recent American memory!

Here are a few of her observations.

“It is indeed amazing how few churches teach or preach on the End Times. Yet, many church goers and unchurched ask questions about it, especially now, as we see the chaos and frightening events taking place increasingly around us. According to write-ups on the question of why most churches don’t talk about the End Times, there are diversified reasons given. Some churches don’t take the Bible literally, particularly on the topics of prophecies and End Times. Some feel the Book of Revelation is a mere allegory and therefore not a subject of belief. Others may have ministers who lack the training and education in that area and do not take the time to expand their knowledge on their own. Many have been turned off by the date setters and sensationalists. But there is another reason.

Underneath all of the diverse reasons why the Church does not talk about the End Times, ultimately the real reason is because of ‘Fear.’ Fear of offending people, because there is so much division as to the exact interpretation and understanding. Fear of dividing the Church and creating arguments among the congregation. Fear of showing their lack of knowledge on the subject. Fear of the political correctness that has reached up to the Church in these Last Days.”

Dr. Hoffman nails it to the wall in this surmise, in my view. I have never witnessed so much Fear virtually everywhere I look these days, as do you. Fear of the uncertainty of the times to be sure, but also, as she mentioned, ‘Fear of offending someone.’ Scripture has a name for that: The Fear of man!

KING DAVID wrote of it this way, who faced the deadly reproach of multitudes.

“In my distress I prayed to the Lord, and He answered me and rescued me. He is for me! How can I be afraid? What can mere man do to me? The Lord is on my side; He will help me. Let those who hate me beware. It is better to trust the Lord than to put confidence in men. It is better to take refuge in Him than in the mightiest king!” – PSALM 118:5-9, TLB

It is precisely this particular fear that has very nearly blown the very life of the American Church straight out the wooden doors and stained glassed windows of almost all, I say again, ALL of our sanctuaries today.

It is not only shameful, beloved. It is deadly! The healthy Fear of God has been shelved in cowardly preference to a Fear of Man and Fear of the World. – Heard in in church last night again; thinking of posting the link.

THE CRY FOR TRUTH. Jesus Christ taught an absolute that is so pertinent to our present Crisis that it bears repeating in bold print right about here.

“So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples. And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.” – JOHN 8:31-32, AMPC

Now if we can grasp the power and enormity of this Teaching for our times, it means this – courtesy of Kelly’s roughshod Commentary. If only the Truth sets an individual or a nation free, then it is axiomatic that the Lie will surely enslave a man, or a nation. And we all know that since the Rise of Trump Christianity, America has been living the Lie more than any time before in its long history.

And still is, beloved. And still is.

AMERICA’S DOCTRINES OF DEMONS

This late in the Eschatological Drama, I have little time to dally much anymore, if I ever did since 2016. So, let’s get right to what the Apostle Paul warned would constitute ‘The Battleline’ for the Last Days Church.

For the record: In my 40 plus years as a Christian teacher, I have never witnessed anything remotely resembling what is being taught today in most houses of worship. Here is PAUL’S unremitting Warning, stated once again for the present discussion.

“But the [Holy] Spirit explicitly and unmistakably declares that in later times some will turn away from the faith, paying attention instead to deceitful and seductive spirits and ‘doctrines of demons,’ [misled] by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared as with a branding iron [leaving them incapable of ethical functioning].” – I TIMOTHY 4:1-2, AMP

The EDITORS at ‘Got Questions’ give us a superb historical platform for understanding today’s American obsession with these false doctrinal systems. You know I love to investigate ‘Origins,’ and this is where it all began.

“In the Garden of Eden, Eve encountered the Doctrines of Demons as the Serpent spoke to her: ‘He said to the woman, “Did God really say, You must not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ (Genesis 3:1). At the beginning of the conversation, Satan questioned the teaching of God, and, as they continued to talk, he substituted his own teaching for God’s. Satan has continued to use deception, doubt, and subtlety to lead people astray. Satan is the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44), and the doctrines taught by his demons through the agency of willing human accomplices continue to separate people from God and His blessing.” – “Doctrines of Demons in 1 Timothy 4:1,” ret. Mar. 16, 2022; edited

Of all the demonic teachings in today’s American Church, there is one that stands out as an all-encompassing system that, like a theological Black Hole, devours orthodoxy and transforms it into a Neo-Gnostic Heresy of colossal magnitude.

We go there now to deep-dive into its origins and substance.

ORIGINS OF ‘THE EMERGENT CHURCH.’ Its demonic spiritual grandfather is what most philosophers and theorists call, POSTMODERNISM: The belief set forth by American and European thinkers that ‘there is no absolute truth,’ that it is all a matter of subjectivity. Or in the parlance of current cultural jargon, “Your truth,” often muttered alongside the theologically dissociative, “The Universe” shall determine the answers.

Here is an excellent review of its deepest roots.

“In part, Postmodernism has its origin in the Existentialism of the 19th and 20th centuries. The Danish theologian and philosopher SØREN KIERKEGAARD (1813-1855) is generally regarded as the First Existentialist [i.e., Subjectivism]. Kierkegaard had his life profoundly marked by the breaking of an engagement and by his discomfort with the formalities of the (Lutheran) Church of Denmark. In his understanding (as well as of others of the time, within a movement known as Pietism, influential mainly in Germany, but with strong precedence over the English Methodism of John Wesley) Lutheran theology had become overly intellectual, marked by a ‘Protestant Scholasticism’ …

In the second half of the 20th century Existentialism became an influential philosophical current, represented by people like Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) and Albert Camus (1913-1960). Like their predecessors of the 19th century, these Existentialists criticized the apparent absurdity of life and valued decision-making by the individual against rational [theological] and social dictates.” – DR. IRFAN KHAWAJA, “The Existentialist Origins of Postmodernism,” ‘Notes on Liberty,’ Mar. 2017; edited

INFILTRATION. The next stages of its infection of the modern American Church is summarized by another review by ‘Got Questions’ EDITORS, bringing us fully up to date with the current crisis.

“The Emerging, or Emergent, Church Movement takes its name from the idea that as culture changes, ‘a New Church’ should emerge in response. In this case, it is a response by various Church leaders to the current era of Postmodernism. Although Post-modernism began in the 1950s, the Church didn’t really seek to conform to its tenets until the 1990s. Postmodernism can be thought of as a dissolution of ‘cold, hard fact’ [doctrines] in favor of ‘warm, fuzzy subjectivity.’ The Emerging/Emergent Church Movement can be thought of the same way.

[The Movement] falls into line with basic Postmodernist thinking—it is about experience over reason, subjectivity over objectivity, spirituality over religion, images over words, outward over inward, feelings over truth. These are reactions to Modernism and are thought to be necessary in order to actively engage contemporary culture. This Movement is still fairly new, though, so there is not yet a standard method of ‘doing’ church amongst the groups choosing to take a Postmodern Mindset. In fact, the Emerging Church rejects any standard methodology for doing anything. Therefore, there is a huge range of how far groups take a Postmodernist approach to Christianity. Some groups go only a little way in order to impact their community for Christ, and remain biblically sound. Most groups, however, embrace Postmodernist thinking, which eventually leads to a very liberal, loose translation of the Bible. This, in turn, lends to ‘Liberal doctrine and theology.’” – “What Is the ‘Emerging/Emergent Church Movement?” ret. Mar. 16, 2022; edited

OFFSPRING. So do we find its ugliest progeny in the forms of FIVE HERESIES that are so common in the Church today that you can hardly find one that still adheres to the Biblical Canon and historic Orthodoxy.

Taken from the EDITORS at ‘Pursue God’ in their commentary, “5 Common Heresies Today,” retrieved on March 16, 2022; edited.

JESUS WAS JUST A GOOD GUY. “This is the idea that Jesus was a really great guy, a wise teacher, a loving spiritual leader, a divinely-inspired prophet, or maybe even a special creation by God sent to save the world – but he wasn’t God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. This idea paints Jesus as something less than the eternal, uncreated God who created and rules the universe.”

DON’T’ TAKE THE BIBLE TOO LITERALLY. “This is the idea that the Bible is a great book that can be really helpful, but it’s not to be taken too literally or seriously. Many believe that while the Bible might be inspired by God on some level, there are many errors, corruptions, and myths in it. Many also believe that the Bible was written to a certain time and culture and therefore it is irrelevant for our world today. While it’s good to study the Bible for some general principles or to study the Bible as literature, we shouldn’t apply all of it’s teaching to our lives today.”

GOD WILL BE GOOD WITH EVERYONE IN THE END. “This idea, often called Universalism, is the idea that everyone goes to heaven in the end. It doesn’t really matter what religion you believed or didn’t believe, God wouldn’t actually punish anyone in Hell, so everyone will end up in Heaven eventually. Some believe that if you don’t come to believe in the right spiritual truth in this life, you’ll be given another opportunity in the Afterlife to turn to God and accept His truth. Others just believe that there is no one right way and that all roads will eventually lead to heaven. Others believe – in direct contradiction of John 3:16 and Ephesians 2:8-9 – that Jesus is the Savior of the world and that His sacrificial death applies to everyone whether or not they trust Him for salvation.”

GOOD PEOPLE GO TO HEAVEN. “This is the idea that as long as you try your best to be a good person, you’ll end up in Heaven. It’s different than Universalism, which says everyone goes to Heaven, but says that anyone can go to Heaven as long as their good outweighs their bad and they avoid the really big sins. Essentially, it makes Heaven the reward for people who try their best to be good. Different people and groups have different ideas about what constitutes ‘being good’ or just how good you have to be, but the idea is the same – as long as you’re a good person and follow the rules, you’ll go to Heaven as long as you were a generally good person.”

CHRISTIANS WILL BE HEALTHY AND WEALTHY. “This idea, often called the ‘Prosperity Gospel,’ is that if you’re really living for God the way He wants, you’ll be physically healthy and financially prosperous. Many people believe that health and wealth are God’s way of rewarding those who are faithful in this life, and conversely, sickness and poverty are punishments for a lack of faith or sinful behaviors. This idea sets up the expectation that ‘good Christians’ will be spared of difficulties in this life while weaker Christians will be forced to endure hardship for their unfaithfulness.”

DK IN MOSCOW. To finish our plunge into the root system of the criminally soft ‘American gospel,’ a brief anecdote from my brief journey to Russia in 1993. This was a tumultuous time as an often-inebriated President Boris Yeltsin was attempting to steer the rapidly dissolving Soviet Union into a more democratic, free enterprise nation. ‘Perestroika’ and ‘Glasnost’ were the new, reform-driven policies that governed this riotous era.

As a member of an effort under the label ‘Children of Chernobyl’ with founder and dear friend, James Santo, we visited with government leaders in Moscow, including one event with the “Mayor’s Council,” headed by an exquisitely dressed Russian name “Ivan” (cannot recall his last name). In this vast hall with about seven or so Russians with us, Ivan asked us a question in a thick accent that stunned me then, and still does today.

“How do you say, ‘em, what is, what is, ‘Good’?”

Seventy years of Communism’s brutal atheism had virtually erased even the idea of Virtue from his thinking and his vocabulary. Why do I bring this up, beloved? Because that is precisely where America and her Church are headed, right now.

From both the Left and the increasingly insidious Christian Right!

Whether it’s the Reconstuctionism of Rousas Rushdoony, or Donald Trump’s Christian Nationalism, or Lance Wallnau’s Seven Mountains, or Kenneth Copeland’s Prosperity Gospel, or the Seeker Sensitive Paradigm of Robert Schuller and Rick Warren, or the most seditious QAnon Cult now inside so many churches where pastors will not counter it – the American Church has pretty much gone wholesale ‘Postmodern,’ with nery a whimper of resistance nor apologist’s shot fired.

As a result, America is in historic freefall, and now dares to ‘conjure’ (word carefully chosen) antichrists like Donald Trump as its New Messiah.

THE TEACHING

THE WARNING. With all of that as important background, I think we can now more fully appreciate ‘the Lord’s Solemn Warning’ about messing with His Doctrines. So to His KEY IDEAS from this fiery passage.

I WARN EVERYONE! From the Greek term, ‘Summartureó’ [συμμαρτυρέω]: “To testify, bear witness; which accord with the [inviolate] Law of God; usage, ‘the close fellowship I have with Christ compels me [the angel and us] to tell the truth;’ to corroborate with concurrent evidence; from the root word, ‘martureo,’ from which we derive the idea of ‘martyr,’ thus strongly implying that we are to likewise testify to the its truth, unto life or unto death.”

PLAGUES. The angel next warns that if anyone “adds” or “takes away” (i.e., ‘alters’) even one word or idea of these Prophecies, a most severe Penalty shall be levied, defined by the word, ‘Plégé’ [πληγή], or: “A blow, wound, stripe; an affliction or great calamity [in this Book]; as with a flogging or beating; a death stroke; public cataclysm, heavy suffering or distress; a disastrous evil; a destructively numerous influx or multiplication of some great catastrophe.”

TAKE AWAY LIFE. Now here is the bottom-line severity of punishment for one’s violation of the Book of Revelation, but most theologians take this to mean ‘the entire Canon.’ The penalty for which is, in the Greek, ‘Aphaireó’ [ἀφαιρέω]: “To remove or more strongly, ‘smite off;’ also, to cut off [from the tree of life and the holy City]; dispatch, dispose of; in its most extreme sense, to kill or slay.”

COMMENTARY. “We may compare Deuteronomy 4:2; Deuteronomy 12:32. The words are ‘a solemn protest’ against the spirit which handles rashly or deceitfully the Word of God; which adds its own thoughts, or makes its wishes the parent of its interpretations; which dilutes the force of its warnings, or impoverishes the fulness of its promises. The right of continual access to the Tree of Life was the promise of Revelation 22:14; this right or freedom is forfeited by those who deal falsely or faithlessly by the Words of Christ here. In a minor degree, it is true that those who leave this Book unstudied and unprayed over, lose much spiritual sustenance and comfort. How much more do they lose who trifle with it, ignore its spiritual teachings, and sin against the Laws of that Kingdom whose progress it so vividly portrays.” – CHARLES ELLICOTT, ‘An Old and New Testament Commentary for English Readers,’ 1878, 1897; edited

I cannot emphasize strongly enough that anyone who dares to tamper with the Words of this Prophecy – or the key Doctrines of the entire Canon – shall, to be blunt forced, suffer the Flames of Hell. A Teaching that is completely lost on the empty pulpits of the American Church of today. It has rather become, to quote Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ (1606), largely this:

“Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.’”

Such is very possibly the King’s furious opinion of the vast majority of His Church leaders and teachers and pastors. The Bard’s expression of it is, in any case, brilliant and brutal.

LAST THOUGHTS

As I have declared so many times before, this ‘Grand Declension of God’s Truth’ is birthed and bathed in the rancid philosophies, theologies and theories of ‘men led by demons,’ though they’d not likely know it nor admit to it if challenged.

No, most of these Historic Fairy Tales are the invention of the naïve, the ill-prepared, or worse, the arrogant, the falsely pious, the blind, the deaf and the struck dumb in voluntarily preference for ears tickled by Satan’s ‘Soft Magic,’ a term from a colleague from years past, DR. ROBERT NORTON, in a New Age book dedicated to a GREGORY BATESON project I once wrote for in 1979 in Palo Alto.

It is the Story of Mankind to do so. Anything but the Truth. Anyone but God. Any book except the Bible.

THE ABSENCE OF ESCHATOLOGY. ‘Bible Study Org.’ defines this system of doctrines as:

“The study of the Last Events in human history that have not yet taken place. Some of these events include the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (the ‘Parousia’), the Resurrection of the saints (sometimes referred to as ‘The Rapture’), the Millennium (Christ’s 1,000-year Reign on the earth), the Second (some believe final) Resurrection of the dead, and the Last Judgment of God.”

More specifically, as I raised once before, the Church’s greatest current Failure is her refusal to accurately teach on these Last Things. Or to teach on them at all! There are myriad reasons for this, a few of which appear below in an excellent essay by STEVEN J. HOGAN, Pastor of Hope Bible Church of Tampa, Florida.

I shall close with his concise analysis of this historic problem in his piece, “Why Don’t Churches Teach on Prophecy? in his blog, ‘Christ’s Kingdom,’ published on November 12, 2019; edited.

They say, “Christ’s 2^nd coming is not going to happen for a long time, and therefore, we don’t need to teach it.”

They say, “Prophecy is confusing, hard to understand.”

They say, “In the Church there are many views on prophecy, and to teach on one position will cause problems and it’s not worth it.”

They say, “Prophecy is not that important of a subject. The truths about the Gospel, salvation, the Church and spiritual growth are much more important.”

They say, “Christ already came the 2^nd time, around 70 AD, and that most prophetic truth has already been fulfilled, and therefore, it doesn’t need to be taught.”

HOGAN’S CONCLUSION. “It greatly concerns me that this important subject of End-times Prophecy is rarely taught in our churches. This should not be, for more than any other time in history, this is when we need to understand it. A world of Christians need to know what God says about it, and be looking forward to seeing Him and being with Him forever. I am praying for pastors all over the world to wake up, and be motivated to study and teach the subject of Christ’s coming (Ezra 7:10). Here are some instructive verses, and notice how they directly relate to our future, to prophecy: “I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, preach the word; be ready in season and out of season.” – 2 TIMOTHY 4:1-2

His use of the term, “Wake up!” is the most vital Call of the Lord to Church leaders in this very Late Hour of human history, beloved. As we see the dismantling of Truth, Virtue and Social Order taking place all around us in this Nation and the entire world, the question that begs to be asked and answered:

Just what will it take to awaken the Church of God?

CODA. The very ‘Signs of His Coming,’ increasing in frequency, intensity and even violence, that He shouted to the entire earth that would take place, just before His Arrival.

However, He also said this:

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad and easy to travel is the path that leads the way to destruction and eternal loss, and there are many who enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow and difficult to travel is the path that leads the way to [everlasting] life, and there are few who find it.” – MATTHEW 7:13-14, AMP

Most will not make the cut, dear friends. In fact, “few” will make it, for a variety of reasons we have been discussing here for years now. I use four languages to discuss this very small ‘Remnant’ – Pequeño in Spanish. Gamay in Cebuano. ‘Chut chut’ in Russian. In English:

Very, very small. Even to the Terebinth, or the Tenth. – cf. Isaiah 6:13

YET, THIS PROMISE. Let me conclude with an impassioned quotation from a bunch of Scotsmen for Christ whose fire I so enjoy. They are hardcore realists on the condition of the world, but ebullient about the future of the True Church, the Remnant.

Hear their trumpet blast, make ready, and then rejoice! Posted by APPOLUS on September 26, 2012.

“And now with the Final Judgment fast approaching, the Ark which Jesus has been building for 2000 years is almost ready. God’s Remnant Church down through the last 2000 years has been scorned, ridiculed hated and despised and hunted down and killed and almost all of this was done by ‘their own.’ People who would profess God with their lips. And now these very people will have one last chance to join with the Remnant and escape the Final Judgment that is coming upon the whole world.

Most will not, some will. Glory to God He is willing to go to great lengths to save the some who will, this is the Mark of His great love for the world. And so, God is raising up small gatherings where His presence can be found in the midst of a great drought and famine which we are in and which is merely a Pre-cursor to the Final Judgment. Will you forsake all and take your place with the few?”

Ay lads, it’s comin’! Or in the parlance of our Scottish brother, Apollus, often heard in the midst of our own little fellowship here: “Get on the Ark!” While there is still a little time, before the Midnight of the Messiah fully falls across all the whole earth.

Ever your servant, DK

VIDEO LINK