(Joe 2:30) And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
(Joe 2:31) The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
(Joe 2:32) And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
English: Luciffer versus The Lord (Madach) Slovenčina: Lucifer proti Pánovi (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Once again, I’m back. As in my last post, I related that I’ve been dealing with a lot of ‘stuff’. The title of this post reflects, not a question on my part of whether they exist or not. If one believes in God, you must believe that satan exists and by extension, demons. For as the Bible says, Lucifer fell from heaven to earth in his rebellion against God and took 1/3 of the angels with him. Lucifer was the guardian of God’s glory and he coveted that, pride being his downfall. He hates all humans because God set us humans above the angels in His affections. Therefore, it’s been Lucifer’s ultimate goal to rid the earth of humanity.
And he uses his cronies to torment humans to do evil, depraved things; things that will separate us from the love of God. Sin is sin, no matter how small, but accepting the Grace of God provided by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ tears us out of satan’s hands. Christ‘s sacrifice for humanity is God’s perfect plan to thwart the designs of satan that he initiated in the Garden of Eden. Once Adam and Eve tasted the forbidden fruit, all humanity was doomed to destruction. God gave the Laws of Moses to show that no one can keep the law; if you break one, you’ve broken them all.
No sin is so small that it will be overlooked, but NONE are so large that it won’t be forgiven. And that forgiveness ONLY comes through Christ Jesus.
I’ve gotten a bit off track here, according to the title, but felt it needed to be said. Once you’ve accepted Christ, ALL your sins, past, present and future are forgiven. Those of us who have made that choice aren’t perfect, just forgiven, but we should at least try to be as Christ-like as we can. And God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us to that end.
But what about demons? Being a Christian doesn’t automatically exempt you from the aggravation, torment and agony of mind that demons can inflict on us. Indeed, those who profess Christ are prime targets. You can expect it. This is what I’ve been going through for nearly a year now.
For a long time, I couldn’t understand what was going on. It’s only recently that I realized I’ve been under attack by the forces of darkness. Little by little, over time, it intensified. As a result, I became depressed, despondent, and felt abandoned even by my family. I sometimes wondered if God had abandoned me, as it seemed that very few of my prayers were being answered.
I had fits of depression that would come on without warning, even though my life wasn’t the best, there were times things were ‘ok’. I couldn’t bring myself to do many things I should do, like housework, for example. I did manage to go to work each day, but all my energy was spent on that and once I got home, there wasn’t much left. I was struggling in so many areas. I got out of going to church regularly, reading the Bible and praying. Though I would pray, there were times when I didn’t and it didn’t seem to bother me. Eventually, though I began to see a connection, but was still blinded by the lies I was being told by the enemy.
A couple of pastors on TBN recently preached on Christians coming under an attack by demons. As they talked and gave conditions for such activity, I realized that was what was going on with me. So, how does one deal with this?
Well, for a while now, I’d been thinking I needed to anoint my home with oil for protection, or perform a cleansing of my home. I had done this a good while back, but apparently one must continue to do it, as one prays and reads the Bible every day, though you wouldn’t need to cleanse and/or anoint every day.
So I went online to Google casting out demons from homes/land/property. I found a lot of info, many of which were merely ‘spiritual’ and not Christian; those I didn’t bother with.
I do want to relate an odd occurrence that happened before I did this search.
I have cats, some indoor and some outdoor. One of the outdoor cats, on occasion, doesn’t show up when the evening meal is served; so I save it and keep an eye out for him. He showed up later as I was coming out the door and I let him into the covered porch. He came in and stopped just inside the door and hunkered down right there. He started making a strange sound and his body language looked to me as though he was going to vomit. I talked to him and noticed he seemed to be staring at something behind me, growling at it. Thinking it was one of the kittens, I turned but there was nothing there; the kittens were elsewhere. I searched the area to see what he might be seeing, but there was nothing. I asked him if he was getting sick and gave him a little pet on his head; he flinched away, still making that strange sound. He never did throw up and after about a minute or so, he relaxed and started eating his supper. When he moved away from the door, I saw he had defecated on the threshold! Whatever it was he had seen, it had scared the crap out of him!
The next morning, he didn’t come for breakfast; I later saw him out on the large roll of wheat the neighbor had in the field next to my home. I called to him, but he didn’t budge. This is unusual because he always came before. After a while, I saw he had come down off the wheat and was lying in the yard about 50 feet away, watching me. Apparently, this was as far as he would come. I went out and gave him his dish and he ate. That’s when I decided I needed to do something as this behavior was very out of the norm for him.
I checked out some of the links I found and did some extensive reading on it. Some methods were simple; others more involved, obviously for more serious demon activity. I came across a video on youtube, so I watched it. It was a man, calling himself MrPastor77 and he was saying a prayer to cleanse the home of anyone who listened/watched the video. He had a transcript of the prayer in the description area, and I followed as he prayed, making sure it was biblical. Apparently, it worked, because as I listened, I felt a pressure leave me, and a peace I had been missing for a long time return. Later that evening, when I went out to feed the cats their supper, Sugar (that’s the cat;’s name) came right up on the porch as if nothing had ever happened. Whatever he had seen the night before was no longer there.
But I know that I need to do a more ‘thorough’ cleansing. One thing I learned is that one must rid one’s house of anything demonic in nature, like objects that could be considered ‘idols’ (buddha statues, etc.), anything dealing with the occult (Ouija boards, tarot cards, etc.). It was recommended that they be burned and not just simply thrown in the trash. I don’t have any of those things, but there are some things, like books of fiction, rock cds, and some videos/dvds that I need to get rid of. After that, I’ll do the more thorough cleansing and anoint the doors and windows.
If there are those reading this that think I’m crazy or loony…well, I don’t really care. I already feel freed from the tremendous oppression I’ve been under, but I know deep down there’s more that needs to be done. I finally feel that I’m back with the living. All the bad thoughts and experiences I’d been going through every day are gone. During this whole time, I felt that I had been holding on to God only by a thread and apparently, that thread was enough to keep me from sliding permanently into the pits of despair and hopelessness.
God IS good! His love is from everlasting to everlasting and His faithfulness endures forever!
God, the Father watches us all everywhere. (Photo credit: angelofsweetbitter2009)
So, I’ve been absent lately…I’ve been dealing with a lot of stuff and, frankly, not dealing very well with any of it. When God is working on us, it can get rough sometimes and…let’s face it…I’m afraid I’ve not done a good job in handling any of it.
Which, I suppose was likely the whole point of it. I can’t handle it…not on my own. One thing I’ve learned is that the enemy is even sneakier than I thought he was! Another is, no matter how well I might think I can deal with most anything, God can do so much better than I.
I found myself in a bewildering ‘wilderness’, so to speak. Deeply depressed and lonely. No friends. Feeling abandoned by my family. At one point, I injured myself in a fall here at home; mouth busted and nose broken, bleeding from both, I called three people (I live alone and do not have my own transportation) before I found someone to come take me to the ER. It was my daughter who lives in another county who had to make the trip to get me to the hospital. My nose was fractured and the inside of my lower lip required 5 stitches. I was out of work 2 days (it happened on Wednesday evening, so I had 4 days, including the weekend to recover enough to be able to return to work).
I could make this a long post about how this led into more depressed thinking, but I won’t. The upshot is that it led to staying home from church (not including the Sunday following the accident), having no desire to pray, not reading my Bible, and so forth. Which, of course, only made matters worse by deepening the depression.
As hard as it was to deal with this mess, I finally came to my senses enough to know that I had to give it all over to God. And that’s the beauty of being His child: Even when you think you can handle something, when it becomes clear that you can’t, God gladly, happily, willingly and joyfully takes matters into His own hands. And the result is that ‘peace that passes all understanding‘ and the ‘rest‘ that Christ promises us.
I know that there are so many people who are going through much worse than what I’ve just experienced. And I commend them for having the courage and strength to face problems like terminal illnesses, disasters (both natural and man-induced), etc. Kinda makes me wonder what He is getting me ready for.
But, I know that no matter what comes, He is here with me, He will uphold me, He will heal me and get me through it. It’s His promise.
…for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
English: Resurrection of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Hal Lindsey, in his weekly report, reran an episode from 2008, where he explained how it is that Christ was crucified on Thursday, not Friday, as conventional thinking assumes. He gave scriptural evidence and explained the 3 Jewish festivals that occurred that week: Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits (which, by the way, occurred on Sunday), and how all these combined in the person, life, death and resurrection of Christ.
I wanted to post a link to it, but cannot find it on his site. However, here are a couple of links I found on the web, that do a good job of explaining exactly how events happened that Holy Week, how, with 2 not just 1 Sabbath that occurred back to back, have caused confusion especially in Western thinking.
Please read these carefully; get out your Bibles, if necessary (though the scripture references are linked), shoot, get your Bible out anyway and do some studying on your own!
Good Thursday by Ted Montgomery
Good Friday Should Probably be Good Thursday by Charlie Campbell
I hope this helps you to understand better how and when events occurred in the days before Christ’s crucifixion.
Stained glass at St John the Baptist’s Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus’ description of himself “I am the Good Shepherd” (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: “To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In my post Time’s Fast Running Out, I had the scripture from 2 Peter 3:8. However, as I was composing the remainder, I totally forgot the reason for putting it there.
As we become more aware of what’s going on in the world, those who are attuned to Bible prophesy recognize the signs too many miss that herald the coming of Christ. This passage came to my mind one day, and although I knew it was in the Bible, I wasn’t sure where it was. Not long after, I came across the exact Scripture and knew what had been revealed to me:
But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.
It’s been close to 2 thousand years since Christ was crucified. Remember…He rose at dawn on the third day.
We have entered into the dawn of that third day!
Dear people! Open your hearts to Christ! Do not lean onto your own understanding! No one knows the exact date, but if you pay attention to what’s going on in the world and listen to those who study Bible prophesy, you will see. Many ministries who evangelize and reach out to the ends of the earth have covered the globe with the Gospel, preaching it, planting churches, giving out Bibles and study materials, and others through media such as the internet and satellite dishes. Because of this, the Church is reaching more and more people every day who have not heard the Good News, but the numbers are getting smaller all the time!
Wake up! Stand up! Look up! We are going up! (quote from Pastor John Hagee).
God wants everyone..EVERYONE…to accept Christ. But He gave us free will, so it’s OUR decision.
CHOOSE LIFE!
But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day
Recent world events has every one on edge; not just political, but natural, and even cosmic. Many people who study Bible prophecy have reported that there is nothing left to be fulfilled for Christ’s return. Let me be clear, though, for the sake of those who may not fully understand.
Christ is returning; this is known in Christendom as ‘The Second Coming’. This return will be when He comes to rid the world of satan and his followers and establish His Kingdom here on earth. He will actually ‘set His foot’ on the earth. However, this event will be the second ‘second’ coming…bear with me!
His first ‘Second Coming’ will be for His Church, most commonly known as ‘The Rapture‘. According to Bible prophecy, He will come back to gather the Church and remove them from the earth before ‘The Great Tribulation‘, that seven-year period described as the worst time in world history, when the antichrist will rule the earth under the ‘New World Order’. After this will come the battle between good and evil many call Armageddon. Just before that time, when the nations are gathering to come against Israel, Christ will return, with Heaven’s Armies, (including the Church He recently gathered), engage the devil in a final showdown where He will come out victorious, satan and his minions will be thrown into the pit, and His Kingdom will be established on Earth.
I believe many think of the Rapture as His ‘Second Coming.’ He will not actually set foot on Earth; He will gather the Church up from the Earth in the air and escort them (those that are alive in Christ [believers] and those that are dead). Those that are dead will be resurrected first and those that are alive will meet them in the air as we are all brought to Him at the same moment, “in the twinkling of an eye“.
Now that I have established this short explanation, I’ll get to the real point of this post.
TIME’S A’WASTING, PEOPLE!
Sorry for the caps, but I really want to get your attention. In the last few months, I’ve heard several pastors and people of God declare that there is nothing to be fulfilled for His return. This means…His return for the Church, not the battle against satan. There are still some things that need to happen before that seven year period; however, there are things already set in motion for these events to take place. [Check out The Hal Lindsey Report and view the archives]
The first person I heard declare this was Pastor John Hagee of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. He has studied Bible prophecy for many years and doesn’t mince words in his sermons. At the time I heard this, I had a sudden vision of Christ standing at the gates of Heaven, clothed in His Glory.
The only thing left is for God to say “Go, My Son, bring Your Bride home to Me!”.
That is the reason for the title of this post. Too many people think they have plenty of time; unfortunately, it’s very fast running out. I’m not in any way trying to imply that I know when this will happen, because no one knows, only God.
As some people say “I’d rather be saved and die to find out there is no God, than not be saved, then die to find out there IS!”
Don’t put it off any longer. The time is NOW!
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