Babylon has fallen…and so has America. God said “Come out of her my people!”

God’s new covenant, with Jew and Gentile, is through His Son Jesus Christ. His covenant made with Abraham also still stands. Christians have not replaced Israel. This false, Replacement Theology is gaining a lot of support in the Christian community. There is one nation that is the apple of God’s eye, and that nation is Israel.

“For thus says the LORD of hosts; After his glory has he sent me unto the nations which plundered you: for he that touches you touches the apple of his eye.”

He will return to Israel and save His people in the last days. The Jewish people and especially Jerusalem have been under attack since the time of Jacob. This promise that God made to Abraham has not been revoked because Jesus came. He came to fulfill law, not to change it.

Jesus said:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”

Replacement Theology
He did not say the Jewish people were not part of this new covenant (New Testament), and He did not say His covenant with Abraham was broken. The Jewish people will be restored by the new covenant. Moses predicted the Jewish people would not be able to follow the numerous and strict laws God commanded; he knew they would break God’s law. The Jewish people broke the covenant, not God. But they are still God’s people and Israel is still His holy place, His land! God’s covenant with Abraham is ETERNAL!

Moses said of the Jewish people “Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day.”

But he also said:

“And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”

Jeremiah said of future Israel and the Jewish people: “I will put my law in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

Ezekiel said of future Israel and the Jewish people: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

The Bible also specifically talks of the restoration of Israel. Christians have not replaced the Jewish people, and they are not the New Jerusalem; but they will worship the Lord together with Jews in New Jerusalem. God says many times that He will restore Israel and the Jewish people, He will give them new hearts, and their new hearts will open their eyes to the Messiah.

“Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city in all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house, that my name might be there, and I chose no man as prince over my people Israel; but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.”

Replacement Theology
God has considered Jerusalem the UNDIVIDED Capital of Israel since the reign of King David. You can hardly dig at new construction sites in Israel without finding ancient evidence of the Jewish people.

The Jewish people were the first Christians, so why do Christians today not share the gospel with the Jewish people? This is wrong. Jesus himself was Jewish, so what happened? He said to spread His good news first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. He didn’t say to stop sharing, but He did say there would be a hardening of their hearts. God can break that hardening, and God will break that hardening. God didn’t say spread His message to the world except to the Jews. There are too many calling themselves Christians that have a hardening against the Jewish people as well. This is not biblical.

Evangelical Christians feel included among the Israelis, and rightfully so. Paul told us, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring.” We are grafted into God’s promise to Abraham through the root of David, Jesus Christ.

After the temple’s destruction and Jews were once again scattered, Christians felt the Jewish people were being punished by God for rejecting Jesus. Paul, more than any other apostle, showed the differences in Judaism and Christianity. He did not believe Christians needed to become Torah-following Jews in order to receive Christ. Some of the apostles argued the point with Paul.

Jesus said the Pharisees cared more for their laws and traditions; we know this today as the Talmud. They cared more for outward appearances; but Jesus called them a brood of vipers, liars and hypocrites.

“For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”

The first Christian to be murdered for not denying Jesus is Stephen. When Stephen was surrounded by angry Jewish men, he not only refused to deny Jesus but he lectured the Pharisees on exactly who they crucified. He reminded them of what God said:

“Heaven is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
Or what is the place of My rest?
Has My hand not made all these things?”

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the God of the entire world, all things in it, above it and below it. His spirit dwelled in the temple until His Son finished all things He was sent to do. The root of David was sent to save man from himself.

Stephen went on to say, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?”

When they heard Him, they became furious. We then get our first mention of the feared persecutor Saul.

“Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.”

Stephen said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not charge them with this sin.’ And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”

“Stephen was stoned to death for blasphemy against God. Imagine his surprise at seeing Saul in heaven. I imagine that he would be shocked finding out Saul became one of Christ’s greatest messengers – that Saul converted on the road to Damascus and spread the gospel all over Rome – no idea that Saul himself was executed for Jesus Christ.

This alone shows the magnitude of God’s forgiveness and love for us. Many mistakenly think Saul was renamed by God after he became a Christian. In one verse we read “Saul, who was ALSO Paul;” it was from that verse onward where he is referred to as Paul.

Saul was most likely named after King Saul, from the tribe of a Benjamin. Benjamin was the only son of Jacob to be born in the Promised Land. The Holy City of Jerusalem is situated in land that has been given to the tribe of Benjamin.

The Roman version of his name was simply “Paul” – just as Joseph in English is Jose in Spanish; it was that simple. By being called Paul, but also of strict Jewish descent, he was probably more likely to be received by the Gentiles too. His Roman heritage came in handy throughout his ministry.

When Paul began to follow Jesus Christ, he didn’t abandon his Jewish faith. When Jesus was baptized with The Holy Spirit, neither did he. He still went to temple and synagogue. Paul went to the temple after returning to Jerusalem. The apostles all still kept their dietary laws. It seems that the first apostles of Jesus had a hard time separating their Jewish faith and traditions from their newfound faith of Christianity.

The apostles debated things such as circumcision, such as whether or not a Gentile had to circumcise his flesh in following Jewish laws and customs. These apostles walked with and loved Jesus, but even they had a hard time separating Judaism and Christ’s message.

It was Paul who argued that Gentiles were not required to be circumcised in order to be followers of Jesus. Paul had an understanding that if Christians simply converted to Judaism, Christ’s message is lost. He came to save all men, Gentile and Jew! Gentiles throughout Rome were not going to convert to Judaism. Instead of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob being strictly the Jewish God, He now became everyone’s God. Through the Jewish people’s rejection, we received Him.

Christians and Jews in the beginning were united in worship of the one true God. After the destruction of the temple, Christians and Jews began to separate. But today, once again, Jews all over are beginning to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

“Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called.”

Paul called himself a Hebrew among Hebrews. He identified with and embraced his Jewish upbringing. He was not only a Jew but a Roman citizen, which afforded him many opportunities. He was well-spoken and literate. As a Roman citizen well-versed in Greek culture, he could share the gospel across the Hellenized world. He was also a Pharisee, strictest of the Jews in Mosaic Law.

If he hated Christians, he most assuredly hated Jesus. Jesus asked him on the road to Damascus why he was persecuting HIM, not His followers. Jesus warned us that we would be persecuted because of Him, hated because of Him. Paul was the man that helped hunt Christians down but ended up becoming one of the greatest apostles of Christ.

Paul said of Himself, “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”

After several missionary trips, Paul was warned against going to Jerusalem. He was told he would be found and delivered to the Gentiles, which could only mean the Romans. But Paul, just as Stephen years before him, had no fear. Those with him tried to persuade him not to go. He replied to the warning,

“What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

They left his fate in God’s hands. “So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, ‘The will of the Lord be done.’”

Paul was in fact arrested, and he requested a hearing in front of Caesar. As a Roman, he had that right. Not only was he a Roman citizen but he was BORN a Roman. When the Roman guards heard they had arrested a Roman citizen, they became afraid.

Paul made mention to the centurion that while he purchased his citizenship, he himself was born Roman. He was under house arrest awaiting a trial in front of Caesar. In Acts, as Paul listed the charges against him, we learn that Paul spoke of Jesus with such passion and love that Herod Agrippa said the following: “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”

Herod Agrippa’s grandfather was King Herod the Great. He was responsible for the “Massacre of the innocents.” In an attempt to murder Jesus and to secure his crown, King Herod had all baby boys under the age of two slaughtered. (It’s worth noting he was also an Edomite. I wrote a previous article on exactly who the Edomites were.)

Herod Agrippa, on the other hand, was loved by the Jewish people according to historian Josephus. But here he is telling Paul that he was almost convinced of the divinity of Jesus.

Just prior to Herod Agrippa telling Paul he was almost persuaded to become a Christian, Paul had said something interesting:

“For I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention since this thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe.”

Jesus did not do all these things in a corner. He made such a loud noise with His message that the Pharisees wanted Him executed. More on this later.

So why do the Jewish people not realize Jesus is Messiah? Because the Jews have been Blinded, for our sake, and they don’t even recognize it.

Paul’s message in Rome is what unites both Gentile and Jew to the one true God. But even the disciples that walked with Jesus still had a hard time accepting Gentiles as themselves.

“Go to this people and say:
‘Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand;
And seeing you will see, and not perceive;
For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.

“Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!’ And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves.”

Paul preached that there was one God, but with a difference in what the disciples were preaching. Salvation for Gentiles was simple. Believing in and confessing Jesus as Savior, who forgives through His shed blood, replaced observance of the Mosaic Law. This angered many Jews. According to Paul, Gentiles were not commanded to be circumcised, weren’t required to follow dietary laws, and weren’t bound by the laws of Moses.

Without this division, Christianity would have remained Judaism; but it would have died off considering the very people that taught the Law of Moses didn’t believe in Jesus as Messiah. Romans were not going to convert to Judaism, but they did however believe and accept Jesus as the Messiah. They began to convert in droves with Paul’s preaching.

Later in his life, around the time Emperor Nero had him executed, Romans were converting to Christianity so fast that Nero couldn’t kill them quickly enough. The more you killed them, the faster the religion spread. The faster the religion spread, the further it drifted from its Judaic roots. Nero, who tried to wipe out all of the Christians in Rome, ended up executing two of Christ’s greatest messengers, Peter and Paul.

Dionysius, the bishop of Corinth, in his epistle to the Romans, said, “You have thus by such an admonition bound together the planting of Peter and of Paul at Rome and Corinth. For both of them planted and likewise taught us in our Corinth. And they taught together in like manner in Italy, and suffered martyrdom at the same time.”

Nero began the brutal persecution of the people from this new “cult” called Christianity. First century historian Tacitus, who was not a fan of the Christians, said the following of Nero:

“Besides being put to death, they were made to serve as objects of amusement; they were clothed in the hides of beasts and torn to death by dogs; others were crucified, others set on fire to serve to illuminate the night when daylight failed. Nero had thrown open his grounds for the display, and was putting on a show in the circus, where he mingled with the people in the dress of charioteer or drove about in his chariot. All this gave rise to a feeling of pity, even towards men whose guilt merited the most exemplary punishment; for it was felt that they were being destroyed not for the public good but to gratify the cruelty of an individual.”

This was only thirty years after Jesus was crucified. These people weren’t willingly dying and being torn apart by dogs on a “maybe” or an “if.” Thirty years after His crucifixion, people that saw Him, heard Him and touched Him were still alive. Parents probably told children, and neighbors shared stories with passersby on the Roman roads.

Had He been crucified and never heard from again, Christianity wouldn’t have survived thirty years let alone 2,000 thousand years. Thousands of people would not willingly die for Him just decades later if they didn’t truly believe or weren’t sure. I remember 30 years ago in my life. If a man like Jesus walked the earth in our lifetime, we’d know about it, just as the people in the first century did.

When Jesus came, EVERYTHING was timed to perfection. The people were ready to hear His message, Gentile and Jew. The Greek Empire brought a universal language, much like English is today. The Roman Empire brought the famous straight roads that went all over Rome, for thousands of miles.

It was said that “all roads lead to Rome,” and they did. Right outside of the entrances to Rome, there were roads going in different directions that crossed paths with other roads throughout the Empire. These roads brought the people to large cities, trading routes and even small villages. These roads were instrumental in sharing the gospel.

Everything God does is about timing and for a reason. He knew when to send His Son and when the world would be ready for His message. He knew when the time would be right for His people to return to their nation, and He knew when the time was right to officially move our embassy.

I’ve often wondered how it was possible for Jesus and Paul to have never crossed paths or for Paul not to have known who He was. The Pharisees are those who arranged for the arrest of Jesus. Jesus called the Pharisees out, calling them hypocrites. I’m convinced that because it’s not mentioned doesn’t mean he didn’t know who Jesus was when He walked the earth. Paul was admittedly angry for God. He hated heresy and blasphemy. He was strict in his Jewish faith; how could he NOT have known who Jesus was?

Jesus was in Jerusalem during Passover, as most Jews were since it was customary. Since Paul was a Pharisee, he would have more than likely went to the temple. Jesus had enough of a following that Paul would have heard something about Him. No?

The Bible recounts one scene where Jesus overturns the tables outside of the temple. Surely something that bold by a man with a following would have reached Paul.

The Bible is clear many times that this was the custom that the Jewish people kept. Here we see that, even as a child, Jesus followed this custom on Passover.

“Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.”

In the movies, they always show Paul as an old man, but he would have been close in age to Jesus. Paul said his zeal for the Lord caused him to persecute Christians. It almost seems impossible that he never encountered or at least heard of Jesus, before his blindness. As a Pharisee, whose father and grandfather were Pharisees, he certainly would have known about a new religion springing up in Jerusalem.

There is evidence of how educated in the Law of Moses Paul really was. Before his conversion, some of the apostles were arrested and stood before the Pharisees and Sadducees, accused of heresy.

“A Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while.”

“And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it; lest you even be found to fight against God.”

Later, in the book of Acts, Paul describes himself this way: “I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today.”

There is a lot known about the man Gamaliel, and not just from the Bible. He was indeed respected and was listened to by the Jewish people. He was one of the leading Jewish scholars of his time. He was also from the tribe of Benjamin.

This is who taught Paul since childhood. There was nobody more strict in the Jewish faith than Paul – none that hated the Christians more than Paul. God unhardened his heart, removed his blindness and made him new. His blindness on the road to Damascus represents spiritual blindness of the Jewish people.

There are dozens of verses in the Bible showing the Pharisees plotting, planning and talking together regarding Jesus. The bigger question is, how could Paul NOT have known who Jesus was?

As he shared the gospel in Jerusalem, many were shocked. Wasn’t this the man that had such zeal for God, that he hunted these Christians down?

“And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’ And all who heard him were amazed and said, ‘Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?’”

Imagine how many “zealots for God” possibly began to believe in Jesus as the promised Savior because Paul believed!

Christians believe the temple, or the Holy Spirit, is within each one of us, whereas the Jewish people are still mourning their lost temple. To the Jewish people the temple was everything. God’s Holy Spirit dwelled inside the temple.

Instead of embracing Jesus after their temple was destroyed, they embraced their strict laws and traditions even more so, exactly what Jesus accused the Pharisees of. The outside of the cup is cleaner than the inside. Not only did they embrace more tradition and law, they further rejected Jesus.

After the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, the Jewish people went almost 2,000 years without a homeland. They became a nation just as the U.S became a real super power after WW2. Though they were without a nation, there has always been a Jewish presence in Jerusalem.

Replacement Theology
The U.S and Israel are NATURAL allies. They are allied by the God they keep. Paul’s spreading of the gospel to the Gentiles forever bridges the gap between Christian and Jew. Israel’s Islamic neighbors do NOT worship the same God as Christians and Jews. This is a lie spread by the leftist anti-Christian movement.

As we get closer to the return of the Messiah, the Jewish people are becoming more accepting of Jesus as Messiah. The world’s largest Christian nation, which is the world’s largest super power, is aligned with Israel, the apple of God’s eye. There are dark days ahead, but this alliance will remain unshakable thanks to people like Nikki Haley. If God is for you, who can be against you?

God said “I will make thee a burdensome stone” when speaking of Israel. There is one nation willing to bear that stone with Israel, and that is the U.S.

As Christians, we also will sit with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Together, Jew and Gentile, we will stand with King David.

“We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

Vanessa Panas

Womanofchrist@yahoo.com

And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

Could Jesus have predicted anything else so accurate as the descriptions of the last days? Many shall be offended; they will hate you and deliver you up. I can see that today. I can honestly say for the first time in my life I see hatred everywhere, for no cause.

Many people today are incredibly sensitive and easily offended. They were raised being taught that everyone is a winner, where trying is more important than achieving anything. While trying is important, why are we rewarding the losing team just the same as the winning team?  Some kids are almost made to feel bad for winning. They win, but everyone gets a trophy.

People today have been trained to seek out a reason to be offended. If they don’t like what they are hearing, then they demand you stop saying it. They need safe spaces from anything they might perceive to be offensive, and it seems as though everything offends them. Our past generations worried about hunger and disease; today’s generation worries about who likes them on Facebook.

A simple infection today could have, and likely would have, resulted in death in past generations. It was a huge milestone for a baby to be weaned from his mother. It was such a big deal that in Genesis we read of a feast in honor of Isaac being weaned from Sarah.

“So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.”

This was also the day Ishmael mocked Isaac.

Surviving in past generations meant hard work. It meant at the end of the day you were exhausted and glad to be home. Families ate dinner together, prayed together and spent time together. Little boys were allowed to be little boys, and little girls were allowed to be little girls. In years past, boys and girls were told by parents and teachers that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up.  Today, boys and girls are being programmed to believe they can choose which gender they are, and make one up if they don’t like their choices.

There are biological differences between men and women. That is a fact of life. In today’s generation, these differences aren’t celebrated or embraced. There is outright anger and OFFENSE taken at anyone who dares suggest men and women are different.

There are schools in Sweden that force boys to play in the kitchen and little girls to play with traditional toys little boys usually are drawn to. If little girls instinctively grab a pink crayon, they are discouraged and a different color is suggested. Fathers and mothers proudly display their sons wearing dresses and makeup at 10 years old.

In California, a bill that will be signed by Gov. Jerry Brown can and will very easily lead to Bibles either being banned or edited to exclude any mention of homosexuality. It’s no longer about tolerance and acceptance; it’s about forcing you to surrender your own rights in order to pacify the few. The problem is, the majority has sat by idly and let these changes take place. They have willingly allowed men to enter showers and restrooms with their daughters.

Schools all over are canceling Mother’s Day programs in the name of fairness and diversity. After all, it’s unfair to the children without mothers. What about the unfairness to those children with mothers? That doesn’t matter. One person being offended is all that matters. This isn’t about a lack of mothers; this is an attack on traditional motherhood.

This mentality of not offending anyone at all for any reason has created a weak and spineless generation.

People are offended at words and actions they don’t agree with. They have the right to be offended; you do not.

Past generations stood for their beliefs, but their beliefs actually meant something. Many in this generation demand the government intercede on their behalf – make all of these mean, offensive words stop. They are offended!

We have a generation of kids that have been raised in direct contradiction to what God said: “Spare the rod, spoil the child.” Spoiled children are demanding and selfish because they are children. That is how children behave until taught, patiently, right from wrong. It’s a parent’s responsibility to raise productive and respectful children who will become productive and respectful adults. But this is not the case anymore. We have spoiled and selfish children living in adult bodies.

They are entitled; they want the perks of having a fabulous job – they like money to spend without actually working. We as parents have given in to every demand, keeping up with the Joneses. There are adults that need coloring books and puppies to help them cope if they hear something unpleasant with their offended little ears.

Our college campuses are filled with angry, offended children—professor and student alike. When a professor can tweet she is happy our former First Lady died, it’s protected under free speech; but why do I have a hard time believing the same would not hold true if this had been about Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton? In that case, the professor would have been without a job.

At Oxford University, law students are now officially notified when the content of a lecture might offend them. This generation is so easily offended that everything said to them is an attack. It’s a personal affront, whether it directly affects them or not.

In Matthew 24, Jesus goes into great detail describing the last days. Without a doubt, we are living in this last generation.

College campuses are ordering male fraternities to either allow women to join, or disband. Someone obviously was offended and made a complaint. Leftist feminists have now set their sights on NFL cheerleaders. After all, someone must rescue these young women from forced cheerleading. Since they don’t like cheerleaders, NOBODY should like cheerleaders. Colin Kaepernick can create a self-made firestorm that has helped divide this country, and he is a hero. The real problem to them isn’t self-entitled athletes; it’s those evil cheerleaders.

Where does all of this offense come from? It comes from the great deceiver, the only person who enjoys God’s people hating one another and betraying one another.

I can very easily see many in this last generation (young and old) betraying anyone who professes Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. To some, He is the most controversial and OFFENSIVE historical figure there is.

He did not come to change the law but to fulfill it. He specifically told us that in the last days many would be offended. They will hate you; they will betray you. It’s slowly getting to the point of hating you and betraying you for one reason—JESUS CHRIST.

“Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For, from now on, five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

Father will turn against son, and daughter against mother, and you will be delivered up. This is happening all over the world right now in Islamic culture. Women are having acid thrown in their faces, doused with petrol and lit on fire for refusing to renounce their Christian faith and become a Muslim, or for leaving the Islamic faith. One woman, who worked as a domestic servant, was doused with petrol and lit on fire after repeatedly refusing to renounce Christ and marry her Muslim boss.

Women who are being forced to wear hijabs want to remove them. When women are liberated in Syria and Iraq from ISIS, one of the first things many do is remove their hijab; yet, in the West, women are fighting for women to wear it in the name of religious freedom and tolerance.

Jesus tells us He did not come to bring peace to earth as many falsely tell you. These are mockers of God. There will not be peace until Christ returns!

There are a lot of fools among us that are considered the smartest and brightest. We have professors teaching young men and women, not based on fact and reason but on personal political and religious views. Scientists will fudge numbers to prove global warming or explain creation in circles without ever really answering the question, just in an effort to deny the existence of God.

“…but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.”

Jesus warned us that our fight is with the spiritual world; it would be against the rulers and powerful people. We may outwardly wrestle and fight against one another in the flesh, but there is more to it.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Teaching any gospel different than the one Jesus taught or causing a Christian to stumble is offending in God’s eyes. The offense many in this generation feel, is an offense to God. He is offended at what they find good. What God finds good, they are offended at.

“Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

Sexual immorality is something we see in front of us every day. News Headlines read like tabloids of days past of who is sleeping with, impregnated by, or divorcing whom. The churches are filled with divorced couples who called it quits, breaking their covenant with God. Sex outside of marriage has become the norm. An unwed mother raising multiple babies by multiple fathers is now the norm.

There is wickedness all around us. Jesus told us men’s hearts would grow cold, and they have. In 1994, Susan Smith shocked the world by murdering her two sons. Today, you will find at least a story a week where a mother or father murdered their children.

There has never been a more covetous generation. People today want what everyone else has. And time and time again we read in the headlines of someone being murdered because someone wanted what they had.

With social media, there has come a maliciousness by people that was unheard of in past generations. If someone today feels they were wronged, or worse yet, embarrassed in front of their peers, there’s no longer just a fight in the schoolyard. Politicians try to destroy the lives of their political opponents. President Donald Trump is proof enough of that. He is not a full year and a half into his presidency, and the full maliciousness of what his opponents have done is still being uncovered.

Many in this generation are full of envy. People are envious of others because of the glimpse they see on social media. Where people once were happy to be able to pay their bills, put food in their stomachs and have a few extra dollars left over, they are envious of who has more than them.

Since Cain killed his brother Abel, we have witnessed man shed innocent blood. In these last days, we see the most horrific and terrible headlines of mass murder, stabbing, shootings, people mowed down by cars, etc. Earlier this year, a seven-year-old boy murdered his sister for not giving him the controller of a gaming system. He shot her in the back of the head. We were once shocked at mass murder; Charles Manson is a good analogy. Had the Charles Manson murders happened today, would it really be as shocking as it was in 1969?

There are people that live on strife. If they aren’t happy, then they won’t allow anyone else to be happy. They cause constant friction in their home or place of work, arguing or causing dissent within a home because of their own misery or bitterness. There is the old joke, “If mamma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” But God’s word tells us a contentious wife brings strife into the home. His word also tells us that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church.

Deceit was something once frowned upon. Today, if you use deceit to get ahead, it’s almost expected. The courts are filled with people deceiving one another on business contracts. Deceiving someone on social media is just an everyday occurrence.

With all of the signs that Jesus gave us of the last days, evil-mindedness is what many people have in them in order to do most of what they do today. It takes a truly evil mind to murder someone in cold blood, but we see it every day.

People whisper plots and plans against those whom they don’t like – against a political opponent, against the Jewish man with the kippah, etc. A young 15-year-old boy earlier this week plotted with two friends to murder his mother. They attacked her, strangled her and stabbed her to death. They did a lot of whispering and plotting beforehand, admittedly.

This also reminds me of bearing false witness. A backbiter is someone who will viciously attack you from behind. You may not even know it. These people will shake your hand and pat you on the back while readying the knife behind you. In the last days, these are the people you really need to watch for. God told us to hide His word in our hearts and make sure you do.

With all of these signs, being haters of God is what brings the hatred toward Christians. Remember, Jesus said they hated Him first. If they hated Him, they will hate you.

Abortion is not of God, but pro-lifers are attacked with hatred for defending life. Our life here is a constant battle between good and evil. Our spiritual life could be summed up by a criminal court proceeding – Satan is our prosecutor, Jesus is our defender, and God is our Judge. There are also false witnesses and witnesses of God who will be condemned with you.

This has to be the most violent generation. While there has always been violence, today we witness young men and women shooting each other, stabbing one another, and attacking one another over something as silly as a social media post. Our children are raised on violence from video games to movies. There is violence in the home and violence in the schoolhouse. This generation has grown accustomed to hearing about murder, rape, drugs and mass incarceration.

With every downfall comes pride. Where are the days of pride in your country? Pride in your family?

This generation is ashamed of the country that offers them the very freedoms they demand and have grown accustomed to. Our younger generation has been brainwashed to think of rules and consequences as something of days past. Pride will cause the downfall of a marriage, and children not to speak to parents. People today simply can’t acknowledge when they are wrong. They would rather hold onto the lie than admit the truth. They would rather deny God than live according to His will. With pride comes boasting. Nobody likes a boaster.

Lying about someone and inventing evil because of politics or religion is all too common today. In other parts of the world, Christians are lied about, and it results in death. This last generation is in constant search of new, evil ways that go against God’s word.

This generation sees a huge problem with disobedience to parents; and with the disrespect comes an undiscerning attitude. If children aren’t taught to obey their parents, how can they learn to obey God? Kids today are encouraged not to listen to their parents. There is a lack of judgment before action on something. This generation will spread the same fake news story they heard from someone else but will never check for themselves. We are surrounded by untrustworthy and unloving people, having no love for God or for what is right.

God gave the ultimate gift to us in order to receive forgiveness for our sins. He gave His Son as the ultimate and final sacrifice. He forgives us for all of our sins; He knows our heart. While God forgives us, we have a hard time forgiving someone who wronged us. We are unforgiving of the smallest slights against us.

I have been following the story coming out of the U.K. in regards to baby Alfie Evans. The hospital and the U.K. high courts have both denied the parents the opportunity of taking their child to Italy for further tests and evaluation. They shut off Alfie’s life support yesterday. Twenty hours later, Alfie is still breathing, but beginning to struggle. There is no mercy in this. I pray for a miracle for this family.

Proverbs 19:11 tells us, “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.”

Good sense is hard to find today. Someone not being offended is even harder. Pastors are afraid to teach repentance to their church in fear of being called a bigot, misogynistic or homophobic. They are afraid of OFFENDING someone. If they teach repentance, then they are telling their congregation something they are doing is WRONG.

As Christians we are to repent.

Acts 2:37-39 “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’”

These pastors are not doing their congregation any favors. Jesus did not come to give us riches on earth as these prosperity teachers “preach.” Our riches are not on this earth, but are with God. Jesus didn’t come to save you from your credit card company. He came to save you from hell. He came to save you from your sins. As Christians we profess our sins and are forgiven. The foolish pray to Jesus for a new car or boat.

“That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits” (Isaiah 30:9-10).

The church would rather hear these “smooth” words from preachers like Joel Osteen. He will stand before God and will be more harshly judged for leading God’s people astray. He’s not the only one.

“It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”

THAT is what offends God. What we as Christians love, many are offended at.

There is one way to salvation. It is not by preventing “global warming.” It is not through a one-world government or religion. You will not live forever through Botox and plastic surgery. If you confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, truly knowing and believing that He died for your sins, you will be forgiven.

Don’t worry about what offends the world. WORRY ABOUT WHAT OFFENDS GOD.

In closing, I leave you with Luke 12:49-53 “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

Vanessa Panas

Womanofchrist@yahoo.com

As in the Days of Noah :: By Vanessa Panas

Luke 17:26-27 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.”

When Noah was building the ark, he was laughed at. Nobody believed that the destruction he warned of was really going to happen. When the flood gates from beneath the earth and above the firmament opened, the earth began to flood quickly. The people ran for their lives, these same people that laughed at Noah, who now remembered what he warned them of as they perished; but it was too late.

Matthew 24:37 “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

When Jesus was asked how it would be in the last days, He told us that the last days would be as the days of Noah. People will go about their everyday lives having no idea what lies ahead. They’ll be shopping, working, marrying, divorcing, celebrating new births and living in sin, not knowing (believing and receiving) God or His Son that He sent.

Without belief in Jesus, there is no salvation. As we look around us, it’s easy to see and believe we are indeed living in the last days. Has there ever been a more selfish or self-absorbed world? The reason people don’t see the times of the signs is because they don’t see or know the signs, and they are blindly living every day.

2 Timothy 3:1-7 “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

People all over panic when they misplace their cellphones. People are absolutely addicted to their cellphones. A mother in China was on her cellphone while her two-year-old daughter walked in front of a moving car and was killed. In another instance, a mother was on her cellphone while her small child drowned several feet away; she never saw her child struggling to stay afloat. Cell phones have reshaped our society.

Reality television has reshaped our society. We watch other people on television behave in the most outrageous ways; the more outrageous, the more we love it. Our young girls look to people like Kim Kardashian as a role model.

From wickedness to war and suffering, there are many signs of Jesus’s Second Coming. One of the signs of the end times is that people will be lovers of themselves. There has been no other time in history where people have been more lovers of themselves than now.

Facebook has its own good side. You can keep up with old friends and meet new friends, share family photos, discuss politics or just chat. But then there are the millions of people that have the need to show you what they ate for breakfast, when they fight with their spouse or other family members and what they fought about. They share what they wear for the day, how they put their makeup on, and yes, even when they use the bathroom.

With sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, everyone seems to be looking for their 15 minutes of fame. Cell phones are always handy to snap the next best pic or a great video that will garner likes on their page. People have recorded themselves committing criminal acts such as rape, and even murder. They put it all out there for you to see, and people watch. People have watched as someone has taken their own life and they have laughed at it.

The term “selfie” has turned into selfishness. It doesn’t matter who gets hurt to many people across the world; if it gets you a few likes or comments, it’s worth it.

Many times, no matter where you go, you can see people that are together physically but so busy on their phones, in their own world, that they don’t even speak. I’ve witnessed married couples eating dinner together in a restaurant and never looking up from their phones to acknowledge one another. People are so self-absorbed and self-involved that there is no other way to describe them that fits as well as the way God’s Word described them – Lovers of themselves.

If one is so self-involved and unaware of the world around them, will they even recognize they are living in the last days that Jesus described? Or will be they be lovers of themselves and ignore the signs Jesus gave them?

Men and women of the last days are also called covetous. With the good there is always the bad. People have become so jealous of what someone else has that it’s all they think about, and it’s what they think they have to have for happiness. Everybody posts the best side of themselves on social media, the best view of their home, their brand new car, and their child’s honor-roll grades. Those that may not have a big, new house want that house. Those with an older car want their Facebook friend’s new car. They want their child to get the A’s or hit the homerun.

But, while you’re coveting what they have, maybe they are truly missing something in their life that you have. If you weren’t so busy coveting what they have, you could be working towards those things. You’d have more time for God too.

When have people boasted more about themselves? Now when people boast about how much money they make or boast about their mansion and vacations, they have an audience of possibly thousands. And people on the Internet boast about everything, which brings us to pride!

It was pride that caused Satan to feel he could be God. There are so many people that make silly claims such as “all I have is my pride.” You have more; you just don’t know where to look. Pride has been the downfall for many people. Pride is what makes a 5’5, 135 lb. man think he can win in a fight against a 6’5, 250 lb. man, even if he doesn’t want to and knows he will lose. Pride will make a man seek vengeance on someone they feel has wronged them, oftentimes forgetting or not caring about the consequences.

Pride has caused family and friends to stop speaking. There’s a difference in having pride in your work or pride in your child for something; it’s another to let pride dictate your thoughts and actions. This is the kind of pride Jesus warned of. This is worldly pride. As a Christian, Jesus took you from the world and set you apart.

Blasphemy against God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is a sin. It’s something people have always done, but it’s something people weren’t so quick to shout and were usually ostracized for it until the last few decades. Now, it’s cool to blaspheme the name of God. Not only do many people not know (believe and receive) God, but they openly blaspheme His name. They not only blaspheme the Father, but they blaspheme the Son.

Jesus said He is “the way, the truth, and the life.” He said He is “the only way to the Father.” You will answer for your words just as you will be judged for your actions. You are not saved by works, but you will be judged for them if you are not saved through Jesus Christ. Just because you don’t believe in Him, doesn’t mean He doesn’t exist. Just because you don’t agree with Him, doesn’t mean you won’t have to give an account to Him. Jesus said every knee will bow and EVERY tongue will confess that He is Lord.

Disobedience to parents is another sign. The younger generations and now many in my own generation (42 years) have zero respect for authority of any kind. From teachers to police officers, the lack of respect is evident all around us. Respect starts in the home. If children are not made to respect their parents then they will not respect authority outside of the home either.

Today’s younger generation tells their parents what they are going to do or not do. In many instances the parent has substituted parenting with a cellphone or TV. If you don’t show your child affection, discipline or structure, don’t expect a loving child or a child that listens. We have an entire generation of selfish, self-absorbed adults that throw temper tantrums when they don’t get their way because, when they threw temper tantrums as children, it was tolerated or ignored.

Satan doesn’t want your children to be obedient to you. When they learn obedience at home at a young age, they have a much easier time being obedient to God.

When you have a generation of disrespectful people, they aren’t thankful for very much. There are people that could win a million dollars tomorrow but be angry that they have to pay taxes instead of being thankful for what they won. Many people, at the first sign of trouble, jump ship and blame God, while praising Him only as long as things are going well.

Be thankful for the health of your family; be thankful for your job. Most of all, be thankful that you have a Lord and Savior that forgives and loves. Be thankful for all blessings that God has given you. Be thankful for all you have, even if it doesn’t seem like much. It’s always more than what someone else has. America is home to the richest poor people in the world.

Another sign is unholiness. The Catholic Church is filled with priests and bishops that come in Jesus’s name and claim holiness and righteousness, but are living unholy lives and teaching unholy and false doctrine. The pope has made the claim that one does not need Jesus Christ for salvation. In Revelation, God tells His people to come out of her, this false and unholy church.

Revelations 18:4 “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”

The Bible says that in the last days men would be without natural affection; Men would be truce-breakers and false accusers. There are people in this world that truly hate others. When someone can look at a baby and murder that innocent and beautiful child, they are without natural affection. They are violent, hateful and without empathy. A truce breaker is someone who doesn’t honor his word, an oath, a contract or a treaty. We see dishonest people in and out of government that are truce breakers.

When someone accuses another falsely, they do it with the intention of causing harm. God hates liars, and when you accuse a Christian falsely in certain parts of the world, it means death. They are despisers of those that are good. When someone despises you because you are a Christian, remember that Christ was hated first and it is because of Him that you are hated.

Incontinent means lack of self-control. Look all around you and you see clearly that people have a lack of self-control. I’ve seen people in stores scream and yell at the cashier for not moving fast enough. We have our youth unable to control their mouths or tempers with anyone in authority. We have adults whose lack of self-control produced children unable to control themselves today; and they wonder why.

There are fierce dividers with respect to God all over. People everywhere, including this country, think it’s okay to verbally attack or assault someone for being a Christian. They are trying to force them to choose between their God and baking a cake that celebrates same-sex marriage. Christians are accused of bigotry and homophobia, but it’s not Christians demanding you convert or die. It’s not Christians throwing homosexuals from building rooftops. We are hated because of Him.

Revelation tells us of the persecution those who wait to turn to Christ. Satan, when he is thrown out of heaven for good, will make war with the saints. Who do you think the saints are? Christians are. He knows he will have a short time of 3 ½ years to persecute Christ’s seed. The Bible also tells us he WILL overcome them. He won’t win the war, but Christians will face the fiercest persecution they’ve ever faced.

The Bible also describes these Christians as those with His testimony and who follow His commandments. What is His testimony? It’s Christians confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. With His word we confess He is the son of God. His commandments are the Ten Commandments given to Moses.

Revelation 12:17 “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

Jesus warned us that men would be traitors. Watching the news lately, the word “traitors” is being used quite a bit to describe the FBI and the Obama administration. Whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, you should be outraged that our law enforcement and government tried to have our duly elected president framed for treason. They would also be considered false accusers.

The one thing that the United States has a long and great history of that many others do not is a peaceful transfer of power. For the first time in our nation’s history, the previous administration attempted a coup on the newly elected president.

Luke 12:2 “For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.”

Heady and high-minded people are all around us. Merriam’s dictionary gives the definition of heady as “willful and violent.” Crimes have exploded in places like Chicago; this city has tough gun laws, yet has extremely high gun violence.

In the Bible, high-minded means “pride and arrogance.” The arrogance around us is astounding. The arrogance of the FBI is shocking.

The Bible tells us that men in the last days would be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. There’s not much that people won’t use to replace God. When Nike came out with the slogan “just do it” 30 years ago, that wasn’t an accident. It led the way for self-entitlement. It’s all about Me, me, me. People have been told for so long that they can do whatever they want as long as they are happy, that when they don’t win something they want or get what they want, they take to social media to cry, plot revenge, and take to the streets, smashing windows and assaulting police officers.

We were warned that in the last days men will have a form of godliness but will deny His power. When you become a Christian, the Holy Spirit begins a change in you; you will not desire to be part of the world. You cannot truly confess Jesus and continue to live in unrepentant sin. Even Satan believes in Jesus.

There are teachers in the church teaching God’s word on Sunday but living unholy lives throughout the week. Many Christians do the same.

2 Timothy 3:5 “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

Unfortunately, the pope is the person many think about when they think of Christianity. Catholicism and Christianity are not the same, and the pope does NOT speak for Christianity. The pope has a form of godliness but denies God’s power. Priests within the Catholic Church come in His name but do not know Him. From these, we are to run away.

It is these false “Christians” that blaspheme His name. The Pope is a false prophet and false teacher. He recently prayed in Istanbul towards Mecca with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and has made many incompatible comparisons between Christianity and Islam, and between God and Allah. He has made many false statements about Jesus Christ.

Jesus told us, “Call no man your [spiritual] father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven” (Matthew 23:9), yet the Catholic Church calls the pope Holy Father and calls priests father. Catholics that attend mass believe they must confess their sins to a priest, who in turn forgives them after they perform works. Example: Pray the Our Father and ten Hail Mary’s, and you’re forgiven. This is not the way that leads to salvation.

Be awake and sober minded; don’t live like the world. Open your Bible and you will know exactly what Jesus tells you.

1 Thessalonians 5:2 “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

Did Jesus not say He would come like a thief in the night? Are you prepared and expecting it if a thief wakes you at night? Jesus will come when people least expect Him. He will come when people are self-absorbed and do not know Him, just as in the days of Noah when they didn’t know God. Remember, if you do not know Him, He will NOT know you. If you deny Him before men, He will deny you before His Father.

In the book of Daniel, it tells us that the last days will be a time of strife and trouble that the world has never known before. The Bible tells us the love of men shall grow cold towards one another. Women are having abortions in the U.S. at a rate of about 4,000 a day. Child abuse is rampant; theft, murder and rape have skyrocketed across the world. People have lost empathy for their fellow man. Drug-addicted persons will steal from their own mother or do even worse for drug money.

The world’s heart has indeed grown cold. As a Christian, this is not the case. He took you from the world and set you apart. Jesus said His greatest commandment is to love your neighbor. Christians every day prove their kindness and willingness to help, whether monetarily or by volunteering. They show love and concern for their fellow man.

Accept Jesus into your life today; there is true happiness when you Know Him, for God loved the world so much that He sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him has eternal life.

Matthew 24:5 “And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.’”

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Him.

Vanessa Panas

Christian Persecution

Do you look like the world and act like the world? There are a lot of Christians who are a part of the world. Truly professing Christ as our Savior is the only way to the Father, but if you are living in unrepentant sin, have you really in your heart given your life over to Christ? As a Christian you seek forgiveness and repentance daily. You strive to do the right thing. You will no longer want to be part of the world. And you do not get to the Father by works; you get to the Father by Jesus.

When the woman was accused of adultery and was going to be stoned, what did Jesus say to her? “And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more’” (John 8:11).

Without Christ, there is no hope for salvation. We are sinners by nature and not worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. When you become a Christian you will always fall short of the Glory of God. He is perfect; we are not. But there is a difference between blatantly living a sinful and worldly life and truly trying to walk the narrow path and living as Christ taught us. We will stumble and we will fall, but He will be there to pick us up. When you want to live for Christ, you will begin to change.

Jesus said not everyone that says Lord Lord, will be saved. If you do not know Him, He will not know you!

Matthew 10:33 “But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”

Jesus told us we will know them by their fruits. Can a bad tree bear good fruit? If someone looks at how you are living your life or speaks to you and they see or hear no difference between you and someone of the world, then are you truly saved? Is God transforming your life?

Matthew 7:16-20 “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn-bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

As a Christian, you will not change overnight, BUT YOU WILL BEGIN TO CHANGE.

You will begin to love what He loves and hate what He hates. You will want to read His word more. You will yearn for a closer relationship with Him. You will pray more and you will worry about the salvation of others. You will not continue to live in your previous life because you will become a new person. People WILL notice that you are changing.

We who are saved should look forward to the rewards we will receive at the Bema Seat judgment after the rapture. Therefore, we must be aware of the sin in our own lives and confess it. We are warned not to judge our brothers and sisters in Christ unfairly.

John 7:24 “Do not judge by appearances but with right judgment.”

Galatians 6:1 “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”

Matthew 7:2-5 “For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Jesus did not come to bring peace, but a sword! What is His sword? It’s His word. A sword divides, and so does the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. It divides and separates those of Christ from those of the world. Luke 12:51 describes the “sword” as “division.”

Matthew 10:34-39 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

If you lose friendships or family relationships, will you still confess Him?

We are facing our own persecutions in the West where the word Christian is becoming a bad name. If you haven’t been to church lately, go. However, it shouldn’t be just any church, but a church that teaches God’s word. If you haven’t opened your Bible in awhile, then open it.

Have you fallen away from Him? Then run back. He is still there.

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

When God truly saves someone, God begins to pull you out of the world. He pulls you closer to Him. If you truly are a Christian, you will not look like the world or act like the world. You will be set apart from the world. You cannot love the world and love Christ.

John 15:19 “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Ezekiel 36:26-27 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”

You will become like new. You will want to change. Things you once loved that are disgusting in the eyes of God WILL begin to disgust you!

It’s easy to be a Christian in The United States. There are no real consequences. Your condo association won’t let you display your nativity scene at Christmas. In other parts of the world they won’t let you LIVE. In other parts of the world, they profess Christ knowing it could cost them their lives. In such places, if you profess your faith in Jesus Christ, then chances are you mean it because your life is on the line. They profess Him knowing they very well may DIE for Him, and they still do it.

Are you willing to die for that Nativity scene? Are you willing to die for your right to say Merry Christmas? Will you stand by Him knowing you are going to be beheaded for Him? Many Christians have a hard time standing for Jesus in the face of men even without the threat of death.

Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Jesus warned us that we would be hated and persecuted for His name. He told us to remember that He was hated first and, because the world hated Him, it will also hate us.  Christians have been persecuted since Jesus walked the earth as God in the flesh. We were used in the coliseums as sport. We were being hunted and killed for His name’s sake. The goal was to kill all of us, but something amazing was happening.

As more Christians were killed, more people became followers of Christ. As Christians faced starving lions or fierce gladiators, they were somehow finding the strength and courage to sing and praise Jesus into the very face of death. Christians have always been persecuted in some form or another, but the all-out brutal assault on Christianity is back, and it’s in full force. Are you going to stand for Him? Be killed for Him?

Paul was ready to be a warrior for Christ in the face of the Gentiles, ready to face death. Paul, the man that hunted Christians, who hated them, was made new; He became a Christian. He went from the hunter to the hunted.

Many people across the world won’t give an opinion of their own to their peers if it’s not in line with everyone else. Christians are not supposed to be like everyone else. We are supposed to love what He loves and hate what He hates! We are not called to be weak. We are not called to meekly defend Christ; we are called to be warriors of Christ. Be a warrior for Christ. Stand apart from the world, don’t become the world. 

John 15:18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.”

Luke 6:22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and

spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!”

Being a Christian is not popular. It’s even less popular in the Middle East, Africa, North Korea, China and Nigeria. They are dying for not denying His word. They are dying because they refuse to be ashamed of Him.

The Coptics in Egypt are under attack because they name the name of Christ. Any non-Muslim is up for persecution, but especially Christians. In Pakistan, the blasphemy laws are being used to arrest Christians. If a court finds the Christian innocent, he still loses his or her life. They are released to a mob in the streets where they are murdered.

Muslims in Nigeria are torturing and murdering Christians more than any other group on a routine basis, oftentimes performing the most barbaric and brutal executions.

In May 2016, over 500 Christians were murdered in Benue State in central Nigeria. In October 2016 in Godogodo, Nigeria, Muslim herdsman attacked the village, killing more than 40 Christians. “They shot and killed my four children,” survivor Peter Atangi told WorldWatch Monitor. “As we ran for our dear lives, they also set our homes on fire. Many of us have been rendered homeless.”

In the first month of 2018 in Benue, 80 Christians were hacked to death by Muslim herdsman.

A persecution watchdog group, International Christian Concern, reported that since Jan. 1 there have been another 50 deaths in Logo and another 30 in Guma County.

Islamic Fulani herdsmen in northeastern Nigeria who have been accused of aligning with the Boko Haram terror group killed more than 100 Christians after reprisal clashes earlier this month with the suspected help of the military.

Women are being taken from their villages and sold into slavery at record numbers. There are still hundreds of Yazidi girls missing from Iraq and Syria, sold into slavery by Islamists because they mix Christianity with Islam.

The persecution of Christians is brutal in India. On average, one Christian in India is attacked by Hindu terrorists every 40 minutes. Christians in Syria and Iraq have been forced from lands their ancestors have inhabited for 2,000 years.

Christian genocide happening across the world is real; it’s happening, but you wouldn’t know it. You don’t hear about it. A recent study by the group “Aid to the Church in Need” said the treatment of Christians has grown substantially worse since 2015 and has quickly grown more violent than any other period in modern times.

As The largest Christian nation, we cannot forget our brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s far too easy to forget the trials and tribulations they face, as we feel worlds away in the west. Our fight for Christianity in the United States is very real, but it is a much different fight than our brothers and sisters elsewhere face.

Imagine for one moment that it wasn’t just about your right to say “Merry Christmas,” but about your very survival. They need us now more than ever before. President Trump has made a bold start by withholding funding to the U.N. We are far more capable of helping Christians directly rather than through the U.N. The U.N. and the world ignore the real human rights atrocities committed against the very people they say they are defending.

I’m asking you as a sister in Christ to not forget them. Pray for them. Donate time or money to rescue groups that help Christians all over the world. No matter what you do to help them, just don’t forget them.

Don’t just hashtag some phrase and feel you’ve done your part. Your hashtag makes YOU feel better, but it does not change anything. Christ’s message wouldn’t have been spread through a hashtag. Social media helps tremendously in today’s world when spreading God’s word, but what I’m saying is spread His message but then live by it yourself. Don’t be a lukewarm Christian.

Christians are not only facing persecution and death; they are steadily on the decline. In the UK, a recent poll showed only 55% of Brits consider themselves Christians, while only 6% consider themselves active Christians.

The left and women’s rights groups condemn Christians as hateful or intolerant. Christians are accused of homophobia, often ridiculed as bigots. The left accuses Christians of being violent and promoting hatred, while they protect Muslims. Yet in the Middle East, Muslims throw homosexuals to their deaths from rooftops. Women from all walks of life are brutalized daily. Rape of “infidels” is not only condoned but is commanded in the Koran and Hadith.

Feminists all over attack the traditional mother while overlooking the real plight of women. Christian women were recently named the world’s most persecuted group. Christian women! But feminists attack Christian women along with everyone else. Women in the church that profess Christ are having abortions at a rate not far behind non-Christian women. Women in Iran are protesting the hijab and removing it, facing arrest or death. Women in the U.S are protesting against removing it, on the grounds of feminism. Many of the women being forced to wear it don’t want it. Women here fight for them to wear it behind the guise of freedom.

We have to stand together, united, and speak out against the atrocities happening around the world. We must call it what it is, CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE.

In Christianity, we are all brothers and sisters. In Islam, for instance, it’s very different. So why are Christians persecuted and Muslims are being labeled as the religion of peace? It’s the same reason yet again that takes us to Eve in the garden. It’s good versus evil, light versus darkness.

Christians are hated because of Him. He was crucified for you. If He died for you, you can stand with Him. There are Christians, and there is the world. If the world loves you, then you are too much a part of the world.  Jesus told us that the world hated Him first. Blessed is He that is persecuted for Jesus’ sake. The world stores up their riches here on earth; we as Christians are rewarded eternal life through Jesus Christ in heaven.

So are you a Christian ready to take up the sword of God, which is His word, and stand with Him and defend His flock, your brothers and sisters?

2 Corinthians 4:8-13 “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.”

Vanessa Panas