Chapter

Introduction

The Bible is written in such a way that one can either approach it to find out how to live a godly life, or discover a great deal of unnecessary information that doesn’t lead to a godly life. The reason why God has written it in such a way is to bring a separation among believers – a clear separation between those who seek a godly life and those who are merely intellectually curious. Some read the Bible in order to know how to overcome sin and live a godly life, while others read the Bible and get bogged down with insignificant details. This difference is crucial when we consider the subject of the last days and the second coming of Christ. We can be taken up with trying to find out numerous details about what is going to happen and when, and end up not being ready for His second coming. Such questions indicate a lack of personal devotion to Christ.

Consider young couples deeply in love with each other, how they wander off by themselves to quiet places. They are not interested in what’s happening in the world around them because of their love for one another. Our relationship with Christ must be like that. Let me remind you of what Paul said: “I have a godly jealousy, and I desire to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” - as one who is deeply in love with the Bridegroom (2 Cor.11:2, 3).

When we study about the last days, the most important thing to remember is what Jesus kept emphasizing – that we must be ready. He never told us that we should understand all the prophetic details, but only that we must be ready. There is a great deal of argument in Christendom as to whether the church will go through the tribulation or not. Suppose the church does go through the tribulation – will you be ready? Or alternately, if the Lord comes before the tribulation – will you be ready? That is the important question. If you only have all your doctrines right, but you are not ready, it will be tragic for you when Christ returns.

Jesus taught clearly that the church would go through the great tribulation, before His return. There is not a shadow of doubt about that in the Scriptures. My calling therefore is to prepare people for those days of persecution. One of the mistakes that many Christian missionaries to China made, in the early part of the 20th century, was to tell them that Christ would come before the tribulation. While those dear Chinese Christians waited for Christ to come, it was the Communists who came – and persecuted them! This resulted in many Christians denying their faith. Some Chinese Christian leaders attributed the reason for this unpreparedness to the fact that they were not taught to be ready for the tribulation. When they were put into Communist prisons and tortured, many denied the faith. It is therefore important for us to be ready for the days of tribulation.

Another controversy relates to the time of Christ’s coming. Some proclaimed that Christ would come in 1841, 1844, and 1994 – to name but a few dates. But He never came. People have waited on mountain-tops in white clothes waiting for Him. But He did not come. Jesus said, “No one knows the exact day or the hour?” But He did say, “You will know when He is near.” So we will know when His coming is near, but we will not know the exact date or the hour.

Our being ready to meet the Lord should not be because Christ may come soon. Death can come at any moment, and we can be ushered into the Lord’s presence in a moment! You may be out there somewhere and never reach home tonight. The Lord doesn’t have to come. You could still meet Him tonight. So it’s good to be ready all the time. James warns us not to say, “Tomorrow I will do this or that’’ (Jas. 4:13), but rather to say, “If the Lord wills, I will live tomorrow, and then I will do this or that” (Jas. 4:15). One mark of a humble Christian is that he knows that his life is not in his hands, but in the hands of Almighty God, His Father.

Some preachers seek to drive others to holiness, by saying, “Christ may come at any time. So be ready.” That is a call meant only for harlot Christianity. A girl engaged to someone she loves, will keep herself as a pure virgin, no matter how long her fiancé takes to come for her. If the only reason she keeps herself pure is the fear that her fiancé may catch her with some other man, then she is a harlot. A true bride keeps herself pure out of her loving devotion and not out of fear.

In the same way, if your desire for purity arises out of the fear that Christ may come suddenly and find you watching internet pornography, or fighting with your marriage-partner, etc., then you are part of harlot-Christianity! What if you knew that Christ will not come for another 10 years. What sin will you indulge in? That is the test of our devotion to Christ. Such holiness is born out of the fear of being caught, and not the fear of God. The Bible says, “Let us perfect holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1). We don’t perfect holiness through the fear of being caught. All adulterers in the world have a fear of being caught. So also, all thieves, murderers and other sinners. Such “holiness” is a counterfeit and is not the spirit of the Bride of Christ.

Fear therefore is not the motivation for holiness. Jesus said “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Don’t be deceived. If you are fooling around with sin, but at the moment when Christ returns, you happen to be sitting in a meeting and singing God’s praises, do you think that will make you appear holy to God? Again, using the analogy of an earthly engagement, if an engaged girl has been fooling around with other men, but at the moment of her fiancé’s arrival, she happens to be by herself, will that make her a pure virgin?

That’s why the second coming of Christ is not the reason why we should live a holy life. He didn’t say “I may come suddenly - so keep my commandments.” No. He said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” That also implies: If you don’t love Christ, it is no use keeping His commandments. Love alone motivates our obedience. If you love the Lord, you will keep God’s commandments in all areas of your life–especially the areas of your life that no one can see. If you don’t keep God’s commandments in those private areas of your life, you are a hypocrite, and your lot will be with what John calls as “Babylon the Harlot” – whichever church you may be a part of. My purpose in presenting this subject of the Last days and the Second Coming of Christ is not to frighten you into living a holy life. We must always live a holy life even if Christ is not going to come in the next 500 years. I love the Lord Jesus and seek to obey all His commandments, because He first loved me and gave Himself for me.

With reference to the study of last days and Lord’s coming, from Jesus’ exhortation, two things become apparent. Firstly we can know that it is near, and secondly that we must be ready. Accordingly we have two subjects to think of: to know that His coming is near and to prepare ourselves for His second coming. I believe this book which deals with these two subjects, will be a wakeup call and a careful study of this subject is bound to make you aware of your present condition and readiness with respect to the coming of the Lord.

It is my earnest prayer that this book will be a blessing to you.

Chapter 1

Two Churches: Babylon And Jerusalem

All through the Scriptures we can see God presenting man with a choice of two ways in which to live. Right at the very beginning God gave Adam a choice between the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. Those two trees essentially symbolize two principles by which we can live. One is a life of dependence on God – the tree of life (knowing His will and seeking His power), and the other a life of independence from God – tree of knowledge of good and evil. This difference has to be seen clearly as failure to understand this will lead to deception by false Christianity. The contrast between these two ways becomes apparent immediately after the fall in the offering of Cain and Abel to God. By the end of mankind’s earthly history, as can be seen from the book of Revelation, these two ways have ended up as two systems - Jerusalem and Babylon.

Two systems

Cain did not approach some false god or an idol, but the same living God as did Abel. Yet God accepted Abel and rejected Cain. Then and there began two streams – a Religious Stream (Cain) and a Spiritual Stream (Abel). Babylon and Jerusalem are the end-result of development of life along these two streams. It is important to see that the difference between these two streams was not in the doctrines but in God’s acceptance - fire from heaven fell on Abel’s offering, whereas no fire fell on Cain’s offering. When you compare Cain’s doctrine of God with that of Abel’s, they were both identical.

The difference therefore between true Christianity and false Christianity, i.e. between Jerusalem and Babylon, is not primarily one of doctrine; the doctrine can be the same. It is the fire that makes the difference – the fire of the power and purity of the Holy Spirit. It is possible for a “Christian” with the spirit of Babylon to be part of any denomination or church. Babylon is not found in any one particular church or denomination. It is neither a question of doctrine being right or wrong, nor is it of avoiding evil or not. As soon as Adam partook of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he knew what was good and what was evil. There are many decent people out there in the world who are not evil per se in their life and actions. So are many atheists who live decent moral lives never committing adultery, or murder, or any diabolical act in their entire lives. Sadly the same can’t be said of some so called “believers”. Those atheists are better than such Christians.

The knowledge of good and evil is not a Christian prerogative. Within every descendant of Adam is present that knowledge inherited from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But not everyone has the fire of the Holy Spirit. It is the fire of the Holy Spirit that makes the difference. That’s why, under the Law, before the fire of the Holy Spirit fell on the day of Pentecost, nobody could be spiritual. Consequently true spiritual Jerusalem couldn’t be built before the day of Pentecost. There are so many today who seek to build the church without the Holy Spirit’s power and they don’t lack membership of perfectly content people. They know what is good and evil; they avoid what’s evil and have a good reputation in church. The one thing missing in their lives however is the fire of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever considered the possibility that you can be a good person and not have the fire of God? That is why it is so important to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and it is only with the fire of God the true church is built.

Saul and David were also in these two different streams. What was wrong with Saul? It wasn’t his doctrine. He was a good Israelite. But he was distinguished by his head. “When he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward” (1 Sam.10:23). Among a thousand Israelites standing together, Saul’s head stood out. David however was distinguished by his heart. In David, God found “a man after His own heart who would fulfil all His will” (Acts 13:22). The head represents knowledge, information, correct doctrine, etc., whereas the heart stands for devotion, love, fervency of spirit, etc. Babylon is a Christianity of the head, whereas Jerusalem is a Christianity of the heart. It is possible for a Christian to perfectly understand every doctrine, speak the right “Christian” language, and yet have no fire in his heart – no passionate devotion to Christ or His work. One can adhere to correct doctrine and attend all the church meetings, all the while being as dead as a corpse. A corpse may have 10 fingers, 10 toes, 2 eyes, and 2 ears (all the right doctrines!), but it is dead. Babylon comprises such Christians.

These two streams run all the way through the Old Testament. When we come to Jesus’ time, we see the same two streams still flowing – in the Pharisees and in Jesus. What was it that distinguished Jesus from the Pharisees? The Pharisees knew scriptures, so did Jesus. The Pharisees fasted and prayed as did Jesus. Both travelled and preached, and both went to the temple and the synagogues. But there was a fundamental difference between them. While Jesus was heaven-bound, the Pharisees were hell-bound. The reason was that, in spite of their correct doctrines, they had no fire. Theirs was a dead religion without any life. What we have to be more afraid of is not false doctrine but the right doctrine without any devotion to Christ. That is the surest pathway to Babylon.

The marks of religious people

In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus spoke of two different houses. One was built on a rock (a type of Jerusalem), while the other on sand (a type of Babylon). When the storm hit, the second house crumbled and fell– “and great was its fall” (Mat.7:27). A similar reference is made to Babylon in Revelation 18:1 – “Babylon the great is fallen.” But the house built on the rock stood forever. These two houses are again symbolic of Jerusalem and Babylon. What then is the real difference between those in Jerusalem and those in Babylon? The difference is that the person in Jerusalem “hears Jesus’ words and obeys them” (Mat.7:24). It is not knowing the Bible but obeying what one reads that matters.

For me obeying God’s word throughout the day is more important than merely reading the Bible for some time in the morning to ease my conscience. A rude or angry word spoken to someone would disturb me more than had I not read the Bible that morning. But religious people are different. They are more disturbed of not reading their Bibles in the morning than had they lost their temper at someone or lusted after someone. It is by obedience one builds on the rock, builds Jerusalem, the house of God. What about the foolish man? He needs to read verse 26 as: “One who reads the Bible every morning, but doesn’t do what is written therein builds on sand.” He can read every day of his life, and even read it for an hour every morning, but it’s futile, if he doesn’t act on it. It is better to know just 10% of the Bible and obey, than to know 100% and not to obey.

In Babylon churches, the reading of the Bible is emphasized so much so that you get convicted if you don’t read, whereas in Jerusalem churches, you get convicted on speaking a rude word to your spouse or lusting after someone than skipping Bible reading for a day. It’s so easy to become religious like the Pharisees – where one is disciplined to read the Bible, pray, attend the church meetings, harm nobody, don’t commit adultery, etc. Having partaken of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, these things like doing no evil but doing only good easily comes by, but if there is no fire in life, we will end up in Babylon. The devil is a deceiver. Let’s be honest – how many of us are quite content to go one day, or one week without the fire of God in our life? For so many, a month, or a year, or two can go by without mattering of fire of God not being in their lives.

The first sin described outside the Garden of Eden is jealousy that led to murder. Don’t forget when Cain murdered Abel, he wasn’t a godless man. Religious people are always jealous of spiritual people all the way from Cain and Abel to today. Cain the religious man was jealous of Abel the spiritual man. Down the line, we see that Saul was jealous of David. Further down the stream when you come to the Pharisees, you see that they were jealous of Jesus, something which even Pilate could easily sense when they brought Jesus before him for trial.

Jealousy is a major part of Babylon! When you are jealous of someone with fire in his life that you yourself don’t have, your religion is the religion of Babylon. It doesn’t matter which church you belong to, or what doctrines you believe in. Remember Cain had the right doctrine. His only problem was that he was jealous of someone with the fire. For that matter, any type of jealousy is the same. Are you jealous of someone with a better job than yours, or someone with a gift that you don’t have, or someone prettier than you are, or someone whose children are doing better than yours? It doesn’t matter what are the objects of your jealousies, without any doubt you are a part of Babylon. It doesn’t matter how many years you have been part of a good church, if you are jealous, let me tell you the truth so that your blood is not on my hands, you are part of the religion that started with Cain which will end with Babylon. God is not fooled with our holy looks and our pious language.

These are the warnings we see right through the Scriptures – the spirit of Babylon all the way from Genesis to Revelation. You see the Bride (a picture of the true church of Christ) and side by side the spirit of the Harlot (a picture of Babylon, the false church). Babylon is called as the mother of harlots (Rev. 17). Now many people speak of Babylon as the harlot, but don’t realize the implication of her being the mother of harlots. Any average Christian will be able to say who the harlot is - Babylon. But Scripture is very specific on Babylon’s identity: “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots” (Rev. 17:5). She is not just a Harlot herself, but one who produces Harlots. Now there are a lot of prostitutes. Thankfully not all of their children become prostitutes. But here is Babylon, a prostitute who is so much into her prostitution that all her children are prostitutes too. That is why she is called “the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.”

The adornment of the bride

What exactly is the harlotry or adultery of Babylon? The contrast between the Bride and the harlot is described in Revelation. The harlot is described as being “clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup…” (Rev. 17:4). Compare this with the Bride. “Let us rejoice and be glad…for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints”(Rev. 19:7,8). You have the Mother of Harlots on the one hand, and the Bride on the other –and you see how they are dressed. Try to picture this in your mind: one woman dressed with very expensive clothes of purple and scarlet and with gold earrings, chains, bangles, precious stones and pearls. Then there is this other woman who made herself ready with fine linen, bright and clean. The contrast here is one of grandeur verses simplicity; one trying to show off and the other trying not to draw attention to her. There is that simplicity about the Bride of Christ. And what is this linen that the Bride of Christ is dressed in? It’s a picture of the righteous acts of the saints and not of Christ. The righteousness of Christ is something that clothes all believers, but this is a garment that she has stitched herself. Now there is a robe of Christ’s righteousness that makes us acceptable to God, and it is called “Justification.” But the dress of the bride is different from this robe of Christ’ righteousness.

When we read Revelation 19 carefully, we that this is a dress that she stitched herself, because we read, ‘she made herself ready’. How did she do it? She did this by her acts of righteousness in the power of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God in accordance with the will of God. But she did something! We have a Christianity today that says that salvation is by faith and by grace. There is no doubt that you can’t do a single thing to get any of your past sins forgiven. It has to be done 100% by God, and He did it on Calvary. Salvation is by grace, by faith and not of works (Eph. 2:8-9). But that is just one side of the coin. The next verse says, ‘‘but now we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God had ordained us to do’’ (Eph. 2:10). When did He ordain this for us; after we are converted of course? There are no good works in the foundation - salvation, but there are good works in the superstructure – life as a believer.

It’s exactly like we don’t put windows into a foundation. Nor do we fix doors onto a foundation. But don’t we put grills, windows, and doors on the top – above the foundation? We need to distinguish between the two. In the foundation of our salvation there are no works, and there is nothing we can do to make ourselves acceptable. But in the superstructure there are plenty of works. That’s the contrast between Ephesians 2:8-9 and 10 – we have been saved by grace through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast. But once that foundation is laid, we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works that God has already ordained that we should walk in them. Those good works are the righteous acts of the saints. You can spend rest of your life building just one brick on this foundation, or you can build a skyscraper. That depends on how much you deny yourself, and how much you seek to do the will of God in your life. That varies from person to person. 1 Corinthians 3:11 makes this very clear – ‘‘for no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.’’ But what we build on that foundation is different. This is the difference we repeatedly see between the Bride and the Harlot.

The bride becoming a harlot – Losing our devotion to Jesus

How does a bride become a harlot? You must first note that this is not a wife just yet. Revelation 19 says that “the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” That is a future event. Spiritually speaking we are already married to Christ (Rom. 7:4), but the actual marriage of the Lamb is yet to come. Until then we are called the bride and not the wife. We know that the bride becomes a wife on the wedding day. So before the wedding day (before Christ returns), the bride can still become a harlot. If she is engaged to one man, and flirts around with another, she is a harlot. But if she remains true to that man, she is a bride. It’s as simple as that. Paul says, “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy’’ (2 Cor. 11:2). So there is a jealousy that is godly. The Bible says that God is a Jealous God. In James 4, we read that “God is jealous for our spirit.” There is something as godly anger as well, which we see in Jesus when He saw people making money in the name of religion in the temple. So there is a carnal anger and there is a godly anger. Similarly, there is a godly jealousy like the one Paul had, and there is a fleshly jealousy like the one Cain had. What is a godly jealousy? Godly jealousy demands that a believer to be pure, and that he doesn’t fool around with worldliness. It desires that the believer be devoted to Christ.

The Old Testament has a beautiful picture of this. In Genesis 24, we read about Abraham sending Eliezer, his servant to Mesopotamia to find a bride for his son Isaac. Here Abraham is a picture of God the Father, Isaac is a picture of Jesus, and Eliezer is a picture of the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost the Father sent the Holy Spirit into the world to get a bride, the church, for His Son Jesus. It was a long journey for Eliezer from Mesopotamia back to Canaan where Abraham lived. It may have taken several weeks, or even months, to reach back Canaan. We can very well imagine how jealously Eliezer must have guarded Rebekah from any unsolicited approaches of men during that difficult journey. He would have thwarted any attempt by others to come near pretty Rebekah warning them that she is the bride of Isaac. She has not yet married, but she is already reserved. Such is the jealousy of the Holy Spirit to keep us from being polluted from the spirit of the world. He wants to preserve us until the day He can present the Bride to Jesus, just like Eliezer jealously protected Rebekah and finally brought her to Isaac. Does that mean Rebekah, as a bride, had no responsibility of her own in guarding herself?

Read what Paul says. “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). Suppose the devil had told Eve, “Why don’t you go and murder Adam?” there is no craftiness in there, is there? That would have been a cheap trick– something totally unworthy of the calibre of the devil. No, he tried something clever. The conversation may have gone something like this: ‘‘Look at that nice and beautiful fruit in front of you in that tree. It’s a good fruit for you. For a moment ignore that God has forbidden it. You are not harming anybody, are you, not even Adam? Rather it will actually do you some good, and I am sure God won’t mind.’’ Isn’t that how the devil comes and entices us into to sin? “Ah, these are little things, it doesn’t matter.” It’s often some small little thing, whether it is some internet pornography site or some dirty picture, or flirting around with some girl, or whatever else it is, the devil says, “it doesn’t matter, it’s not so serious.” It’s by his craftiness that the devil deceives us. He won’t straight away tempt you to commit adultery or murder.

Further the deception happens in our minds. The battle is in the mind, and it is there where you become a Bride or a Harlot. You are the Bride, if you keep your mind for Christ. “Your minds can be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). The fervent devotion to Jesus is taken away from your mind, and is replaced by a routine of going to meetings, listening to messages, nodding your head and saying, “that was a great message”, and going back and living life without any fervent devotion to Jesus. Then obviously the devil has led you astray. How many people can recognize that they have gone astray, because their devotion to Christ has gone and that their passion and love for Christ has ceased? Just as Eliezer jealously protected Rebekah, Paul was jealously concerned about the preservation of the Corinthians.

The bride becoming a harlot – Friendship with the world system

What else does make a bride to become a harlot? James in his epistle repeatedly addresses the readers as ‘my brothers’ (Jas. 2:1, Jas 3:1). Then suddenly in James 4:4, he addresses them as “you adulteresses.” Can brothers in the church become adulteresses? Yes, absolutely! In fact, by definition, an unbeliever can’t become an adulteress. Only the bride can be an adulteress. A girl who is not engaged to anybody, not committed to marry any one, can she be an adulteress? She can choose to go with any man; it’s completely fine and permissible. She has the freedom to choose and marry any man. But what would you say about a woman who is engaged to one who has gone on a long journey, and in the meantime flirts around with some other man? She is an adulteress. An unbeliever therefore can never be a part of Babylon. And how does that come about? “Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (Jas. 4:4). A brother becomes an enemy of God! How many of us would seriously consider the possibility of us ending up as enemies of God? “Enemy of God?” we would say, “Impossible! I am not an enemy of God. I am a friend of God.” Let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.

If you pay close attention to the word of God, you will not have any surprises when Christ comes again. Now when James says “the world”, he doesn’t mean the people of the world; He’s talking about the world system. There is a whole system that controls this world, and the one who is controlling it all is the devil. He is called the “god of this world, the ruler of this world.” Naturally it follows that if I become friendly with that system and that ruler, I immediately become an enemy of God. James addresses his readers as “my brethren” so many times, but then he says, “You adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God.”

Babylon is populated with people who claim to have accepted Christ, claim to be born again, but are friendly with the world system. We all confidently affirm that Jesus died to save us from our sins. But let me tell you another reason why Jesus died. Paul says that Jesus gave Himself up for our sins in order to rescue us from this present evil age. ‘‘He gave Himself up for our sins so that He might deliver us out of this present evil world system, this evil age according to the will of our God and Father’’(Gal. 1:4). Paul essentially repeats what James said. That’s why Paul says in Galatians 6:14, “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” The Bride of Christ has been crucified to this world system and the world system has been crucified to her. The Living Bible paraphrases it as, “I have as much interest in this world system as a dead man has.”

When we talk about “friendship of the world” and the ‘‘world system,’’ we need to distinguish between “the world” and “the earth.” We live on this earth, and so we buy food and clothes, build houses, get married, give in marriage and we eat and drink. A lot of legitimate things are done while we live on this earth. Jesus also did many of those things. He ate and drank, wore clothes, and He bought and sold things as a carpenter, but He kept Himself apart from that world system. There’s nothing wrong in buying and selling, but in those very acts there can be a lot of sin, if one is not careful enough not to get caught up in the system. There can be all kinds of cheating in the buying and selling of things. Or you may give your word to someone and later you realize that you stand to lose in the process, and you might go back on your commitment. You might then find all excuses like that it’s a small thing, or that you didn’t have a written commitment, etc., to wriggle out of that commitment. The world system says, “Ah, your word doesn’t matter. Only a signed and witnessed statement on a certified paper is legitimate.” But Jesus told us that our “yes” should be “yes” and our “no” should be “no.” Have you ever had this experience where you promised to sell something to someone, and agreed on a price, but later discovered that the actual price was a lot more. You are a true Christian if you stuck to your word, unless the other person releases you. But, if you drew back on your word or tried haggling with them later, you are a friend of the world system? Psalm 15:4 says that “the one who lives in the presence of God keeps a promise even at a loss to himself.” There aren’t many people in that category on the earth who take their words seriously.

There are a number of things of this world system like money, sex, politics, music that dominate Babylon and we shall briefly look at some of them:

Money is a major factor in this world system. Remember what Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters.” I believe He was speaking about Jerusalem and Babylon here. In our discussions so far, were you able to see how these two systems manifest? We began with the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life. Then we looked at the contrasting lives of Cain and Abel, Saul and David, the Pharisees and Jesus, and Babylon and Jerusalem. And now we have the two masters. Notice, these two masters are not God and the devil but God and mammon – which often times is money. I can assure you that there is no one on this earth who is in danger of serving God and the devil at the same time. Some people will love the devil alone, and some people will love God alone. Yet there are millions of Christians who try to love God and money at the same time. Unfortunately they don’t realize that, as far as God is concerned, they only love money. These people, while being the bride of Christ, are flirting with money, thereby becoming harlots. Jesus further said, “You will either hate the one and love the other, or hold on to one and despise the other.’’ The only way to escape the love of money is by loving God with all our heart and holding on to Him. Otherwise we will be led by this love of money into Babylon.

Money is a major part of Babylon. Whenever Christianity tries to serve God and money, it will end up as Babylon. That is why, we as CFC churches, for the last 45years, have taken such a radical stand on the matter of money that we don’t take offerings, we don’t have any paid pastors or elders, and we don’t send any reports asking for money or any such thing. Is it because we don’t need money to do God’s work? How then could we have built buildings in cities and church halls in several poor villages of India? But we never solicited funds from outside or pressurized our congregations. Money is important and we are need of it, but if we don’t have a right attitude to it, we will build Babylon amidst all the Christian work that we do. Sadly, so much of Christian work is done by fervent and desperate repeated appeals for money with all sorts of sob stories. How do we get money then? It is like Hudson Taylor once said, ‘God’s work done in God’s way will never lack resources.’

Once a visiting Christian brother from a foreign country stayed at our home, and witnessed our penury and financial struggles. I was editing and publishing a Christian magazine then. He asked me, “Why couldn’t I pay myself for the editing and publishing of the magazine, as I was labouring in that work?” I was so shocked that this man whom I respected as a godly man was telling me that I should pay myself for writing Christian articles. That’s when I began to see the hollowness of a lot of people who claim to be Christians. He publishes a magazine, and he said he pays himself for that work. Babylon is not a kingdom you arrive at all of a sudden, with a single decision. It’s a road in which you make many little choices like this. Of course you can always find Scripture verse to back you up, such as “the labourer is worthy of his hire.” Well, if we go along that line of reasoning, we will ultimately end up in Babylon. The devil is too crafty to show you the entire story right at the beginning, and to reveal how you are going to eventually destroy yourself.

The God who made Abraham rich, Job rich, Solomon rich, David rich, and many other godly men in the Old Testament very rich, why didn’t He make Peter, or Paul or any other Apostle rich? To me, it’s very simple. In the New Covenant, riches would have been a hindrance to their ministry. So God didn’t give them earthly riches. Whiles riches were not a hindrance in the Old Covenant, for a ministry in the New Covenant they are. In my over 60 years of being a believer, I have discovered that when money enters the picture, when there is dependence on money, so often the work of God is destroyed. Do you know the number of Christian workers in India who get disturbed when the value of the dollar comes down, because rupees they get on hand is reduced? Or get excited when rupee depreciates! What a sad state of Christianity today? I can’t imagine Jesus getting disturbed by the value of the denarius coming down during His days?

Politics

The other thing that we read in Revelation 17 is politics. Babylon is religion plus politics. We read in Revelation 17:3 “the woman sat on a beast.” The beast is the political power and the woman, Babylon, is religious Christianity. When religious Christianity joins up with politics, you have Babylon. You find it especially in Western countries. For the past several years, 20 to 30 years at least, I have noticed that every Presidential candidate of the United States wants to garner Christian votes. They even go to preach in churches. Are they preaching in the churches to lead Americans to a godly life? No, they just want their votes! You can’t imagine a presidential candidate attending a little house group of about 20 people; they will go to the largest or the most influential church available. This is the harlot sitting on the beast. How long does this alliance last? The beast “will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire” (Rev. 17:16). Once their purpose is achieved, these political leaders will dump the church. It may not be Christianity always, but any religion, like it happens in India. It is the same tactic of religion plus politics.

In Revelation 18, we read that Babylon is also a commercial, financial, and economic system. The entire 18th chapter speaks about the merchants of the earth. “The merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo anymore” (Rev. 18:11). Can you imagine the tremendous loss of business and loss of millions upon millions of rupees, and dollars, and Euros, and every other currency all over the world, if there was no Christmas or Easter? During Christmas 99% of the shops are decked up with lights, Christmas tree, star, etc. Are they celebrating a Christian festival? Hardly, it’s all business for them. I’m sure we’re all smart enough to recognize that! So the merchants of the earth will weep, if this business is destroyed.

God and money is big business. This is not a new thing. What do you think the money changers were doing in the temple, the people who sold sheep and doves during Jesus’ time? The doves and sheep were not for cooking a meal, were they? They were for legitimate sacrifices to God. Why did then Jesus drive them away, when they were facilitating God’s service? It had become a racket for making profit! Jesus had no problem with the people in the markets of Jerusalem, where they sold sheep and doves for a profit. In fact, Jesus Himself made stools and benches as a carpenter for a profit, otherwise how could He have supported His family? Profiting from a business was not the issue, but what you do in the business place you don’t do in the church. In the temple of God and in the house of God, you must not make a profit.

Music is also characteristic of Babylon. “The sound of harpists and musicians and flute-players and trumpeters” (Rev. 18:22). Music is a great gift of God. Such a good thing was not devil’s invention. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t subvert and pervert it. Look at it this way. The atom was undoubtedly made by God and not the devil for sure. Who made the atom bomb then? It was made with something that God had created. It was not God who made the bomb. Again what about all those harmful drugs like marijuana and cocaine? There are a number of things on the earth that God has created for a certain purpose but men have abused it.

The first place of music was in heaven managed by Lucifer, as worship leader, before he became the devil (Eze. 28). Then we read about a descendent of Cain - Jubal was “the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe” (Gen. 4:21). There was music in the Temple of God as well. But here’s something very interesting. In the Psalms you read so much about music (all possible instruments are mentioned in Psalm 150). Why is it then, in the New Testament, in any of the Epistles, we don’t read about instruments? Is it wrong to have instruments in a New Testament church? No, it’s not that. It’s just that they are not as important. Yet music has taken the church by a storm that it is leading Christendom towards Babylon. There are many churches who don’t mind getting unconverted musicians to play the music to glorify Jesus Christ. For them having good music is more important. Can you imagine Jesus asking Peter to hire some good musicians for a public meeting being planned? Imagine Peter telling Jesus that the only musician he could find in town was an atheist and Jesus responding, “Never mind – get him. All that matters is that he is a good musician!” How far Christianity has gone from the faith of Jesus and the Apostles?

As part of our praise and worship, we so often sing or shout Hallelujah. Where in the New Testament is it used, and in what context? We find it in Revelation 19. “Hallelujah… for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality” (Rev 19:1, 2). A second time they said, “Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever” (Rev. 19:3). The 24 elders say, ‘Amen, Hallelujah’ in verse 4, because Babylon is destroyed. How about us? Do we shout “Hallelujah” because Babylon is judged or that we want Babylon to be destroyed? Heaven rejoices and says “Hallelujah” when Babylon is destroyed, Babylon – that corrupt system that led believers into worldliness and ungodliness by seeking the honour of this world, money, position, power, and glory and all these other worldly things.

We must deeply fear that Babylon can entrap us. I am especially concerned for the younger generation in our churches that the Babylon’s spirit will grip them and they will lose grace. I say this because “grace” is the power in God’s kingdom, the same way that money is the power on this earth.

It is my earnest pleading with you; listen to the call of God that says, “Come out of her” (Rev. 18:40). Who does this call go out to? The call goes out to “My people”. “Yes, you are my people, I don’t deny that,” says God, “but you need to get out of that system.’’ You need to get out of a corrupt Christianity that doesn’t lead you to holiness, that doesn’t lead you to devotion to Christ, and that doesn’t challenge you in every single meeting to be devoted to Christ. You need to come out of a corrupt Christianity which is taken up with good music, great choirs, choice songs, money and prestige, large and attractive buildings, great jobs with good salaries.” Devotion to Christ is what matters most when He comes again.

Chapter 2

Great Deception

In the last chapter we looked at the manifestation of the church in the last days. On one hand, we have the Bride, the true church which keeps herself as a virgin for Christ, and on the other, we have the Harlot, the false church with the right doctrines but no devotion to Christ. When Jesus spoke about wolves in lamb’s clothing, he was referring to the Harlot. The lamb is the Bride.

Now let us start looking at things related to the last days. We are approaching the second coming of Christ and it is imperative that we are ready for it. There is only one book in the whole world that can tell us exactly what is going to happen in the future – the Bible.

Deception – the great identifier of last days

One day as Jesus was coming out of the temple, and heading to the Mount of Olives, His disciples pointed out to Him the magnificent temple buildings (Mat. 24:1, 2). That was when He started talking about the last days. He said to them, referring to the physical structure of the temple, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” This was around 30AD or so, just before He went to the cross. Forty years later, around 70AD, that’s exactly what happened. The temple was completely destroyed by the Romans and the Jewish people were plundered and scattered throughout the world. It was concerning this future event that Jesus warned those in Judea not even to return to pick up anything but to just run. He further told them to pray so that their flight won’t be on a Sabbath day, and that there are no pregnant women at that time. Jesus was predicting something that was going to happen 40 years later. I personally believe that this was a punishment to the nation of Israel for rejecting Christ and crucifying the Son of God. He gave them 40 years (40 years in the Bible being a period of testing) to repent, and then He punished them. They never came back to that land for the next 1900 years, until 1948.

Having now arrived at the Mount of Olives, as Jesus sat with the disciples in privacy, they asked Him, “when is this going to happen?” The “when” here refers to the time of temple’s destruction. Remember, the disciples hadn’t really comprehended the concept of the second coming of Christ. They knew there would be a coming, but they thought once the temple was destroyed, it meant that Christ could come as the established King, and all this would be a single event. Then Christ will be ready to set up His own kingdom. They thought that all these three events – the destruction of the temple, the return of Jesus and the end of the age, would happen all at once. But we know that it was not so, as it is over 1900 years since the destruction of the temple.

The first thing that Jesus said in relation to the last days was not earthquakes, famines, wars, or any of those things, as people normally think of. He said “see to it that no one misleads you” (Mat. 24:4). See to it that no one deceives you. The number one characteristic of the last days is spiritual deception. Jesus often spoke about this. Even at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, He warned to beware of false prophets (Mat.7:15), and that we ought to distinguish between the true prophets and the false. We are to discern true versus false prophets “by their fruit,” not by their gifts (Mat. 7:16). So the first thing He said in relation to the last days was to make sure that no one deceives us. We must keep that in mind, as Jesus further said, “For many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ and will mislead many.” (Mat. 24:5).

Now there are two ways we can read verse 5. One way to read is that someone will come up and say, “I am Jesus Christ.” How many Christians do you think will be deceived this way? I don’t think even children in Sunday school will be deceived. What did Jesus mean then? The other way of reading is: “Many will come in the name of Jesus, and say, “Jesus is the Christ.” Now that makes sense. So many come to preach in the name Jesus and they proclaim that ‘Jesus is the Christ’, yet they can deceive. Here Jesus was warning about Christian preachers who come in His name and deceive many people. Let me elaborate on this and explain this a bit further. The word ‘Christ’ means Messiah, the Anointed One. The Jewish people were waiting for the promised Messiah. Most of them didn’t believe that Jesus was that Messiah. This brought a deep division between most of the unbelieving Jews and the disciples who believed that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. Remember when Jesus asked Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Christ. You are the Messiah that we have been waiting for, for centuries.” And Jesus’ replied? “Flesh and blood didn’t reveal that to you!”

So here in Mathew 24, Jesus was telling the disciples, “You’re not going to be deceived by someone that says Jesus is not really the Messiah. If somebody does say that to you, you will reject his teachings outright, and you will not be fooled by him. But what about people who come to you and say, ‘Jesus is the Messiah’? You would consider him to be a Christian, one among you. That’s the guy who is likely to mislead you!” Many will come in My name saying that I (Jesus) am the Messiah, but will then proceed to mislead many. The point is that when somebody wants to deceive a Christian, he is not going to come to with the Koran or the Geeta or some other holy book; He will come with the Bible in hand proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah. Then when all your defences are down, he will mislead you. Jesus warned, in the last days, there will be many deceivers like that. Not just one or two, but many!

Our fear therefore shouldn’t be of the leaders of the other religions trying to lead us astray but the wolves that come in lamb’s clothing. What does the wolf look for when it comes in the lambs clothing? Do you think he comes to bless the sheep? All that the wolf wants is to steal something from the sheep. Any preacher who uses the right-sounding doctrines but whose aim is to get something from the sheep (usually money), he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Deception by false prophets

After talking about deception, Jesus spoke about many other things, but He came back to the subject of deception again in verses 10 and 11. Jesus said that “many will fall away.” There are two ways one can fall away: you can fall away because of being persecuted for your faith, and you give up on faith. The other way of falling away happens when “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many” (Mat. 24:11). Please note that Jesus spoke about wars, famines and earthquakes but once, whereas He warned about deception thrice. It’s almost as if that “deception” is the single most identifier for the last days. False prophets are the wolves in sheep’s clothing, who come proclaiming Jesus as Christ, using the same Bible as we do, speak the right doctrines, but only interested in blessing themselves of your substance.

Jesus stressed about deception the third time when He said, “Then if anyone says to you, 'Behold, here is the Christ,' or 'There He is,' do not believe him.” For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect’’ (Mat. 24:23-24). The false prophets can show great signs (miracles) and wonders. Did you know that even the devil has power to do miracles? He received power from God when he was an angel, and when he fell, God did not take it away. God took away His grace and His anointing from Lucifer, but not the devil’s gifts and power when he fell. The devil was once an anointed Cherub (Eze. 28), but he is no longer one. He doesn’t have grace but has gifts. It follows therefore that it is possible for a person to have gifts without grace, and that the existence of gifts doesn’t mean Spirit anointing. Therefore even among Satan’s servants, who may have been good believers once, there can be gifts without the Spirit anointing. Just like Satan was a good angel once, they pursued God and were anointed with the gifts from God. But then in pursuit of money and fame they backslid and fell away, and lost their salvation. They have lost grace and anointing, but not necessarily their gifts, because God doesn’t always take back gifts (Rom.11:29). God could have taken away all the gifts from the devil, but He hasn’t. He has allowed the devil to be one of the most intelligent being; “you are wiser than Daniel” (Eze. 28:3).

Clearly the devil is very clever and intelligent and he has tremendous supernatural abilities. That’s why Jesus said, “False prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” I suppose you don’t expect the elect to get deceived if this false prophet came in the name of some strange god? Other people may be deceived, but not born again Christians! Would you be deceived if someone did a miracle in the name of some other god? Certainly not! But we read here “to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” This means that these false prophets will come in the name of Jesus and do miracles in His name.

That is exactly the warning that Jesus gave at the end of the Sermon on the Mount when He spoke about false prophets. He described them as bad trees that produced bad fruit. Then on the final day, these false prophets will say to Him, ‘‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’’(Mat. 7:22). Jesus’ response to them will be, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.’ Depart from me, says Jesus, as they practiced sin. The point Jesus is making is: ‘I am sending you to hell, even though you blessed many people.’ Can you imagine the number of people who were blessed by their ministry of God’s word, miracles, healings, and deliverances from demon possessions? Yet, these preachers end up in hell. We’ve got to get to grips with this. Jesus related this especially to the last days in Matthew 24, and warned about people coming in His name, and doing signs, wonders and miracles, so much so even the elect can get deceived.

Note carefully what Mathew 7:22 says. These people prophesied in Jesus’ name, they cast out demons in Jesus’ name, and they performed many miracles in Jesus’ name. But Jesus declares that He ‘never knew them.’ That means they never had a personal relationship with Him. What does this teach us? It is possible for people to do miracles in Jesus’ name without ever having a personal relationship with Him. How that can be? I don’t know how, but I take Jesus at His word. I believe that it is possible for a person to do all these supernatural things in His name without a personal relationship with Him. That is why Jesus said, “I never knew you.” He didn’t say, “once upon a time I knew you, but then you backslid.” That is understandable. But He says, “I never knew you.” In other words, they had some type of conversion, but it never came to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I think there are lots of believers without a personal relationship with Christ but just a desire to go to heaven when they die. Don’t you think it is possible for people to believe that Christ died for their sins and give up certain bad habits, all with a desire to go to heaven when they die? But they may never have a personal relationship with Christ? They didn’t care to be a pure virgin for Christ. Is it possible that you can be one of them?

When the Christian goal is only heaven, it becomes easier to flirt with sin. Such believers are not at all concerned with their anger, jealousy, various kinds of lusts, dabbling in pornography, etc. For them personal relationship and devotion to Christ is not important. If at all they avoid sin, it is because they want to go to heaven when they die. But they are not at all interested in knowing Jesus? That’s what Jesus emphasized when He said, “You never knew Me, because you were not interested in getting to know Me.” Anyone can get to know the Lord when they want to know Him. If they were asked if they wanted to go to heaven when they die, their answer would be a resounding yes. But we see here that they will never make it to heaven. I am sure that there are a lot of people who want to go to heaven when they die, but will not make it to heaven because of their attitude to sin.

The focus and the preaching in all CFC churches have always been against sin. You can go to heaven if you have never done a miracle in your life or never cast out a single demon. You can go to heaven with 25 sicknesses in your body. You can go to heaven even if you are poor, even if you live in a hut. You can go to heaven even if you never own a bicycle in your life, let alone a scooter or a car. But you will not go to heaven, into God’s kingdom, with sin in your life – not even secret sins. But in the last days, false prophets will say, “No, no, God is a good God; He won’t do such a thing.” They don’t realize that that is exactly what the devil did. He convinced Eve that to disobey God (that is to sin) is not serious. It’s not a big thing if you disobey God a little bit. He is a good God and you are His child, so He won’t turn you out of Eden. Well, we know how that turned out for Eve. God did send them out of Eden.

If you want to know how serious sin is, there are only two places to look at – Eden and Calvary. Just look at Eden; just for one sin, they were out of Paradise. It means Paradise can’t tolerate even one sin. And then look at Calvary and see the enormous price that Jesus had to pay for sin in being forsaken by God. I don’t need to look anywhere else in the Bible to understand the seriousness of sin. These false prophets however are more interested in miracles, casting out demons and prophesying. Are they important? Certainly they are. Jesus cast out demons, performed miracles and prophesied more than all of these false prophets. I want to see miracles in my life, and I want to cast out demons whenever they interrupt God’s work, and I want to prophesy till the end of my life. But above all I want to give up sin in my life. And that’s how we ought to distinguish between true and false prophets.

Attitude to sin determines relationship to Jesus

We can easily appreciate the importance of these two aspects that Jesus emphasized: (a) our knowledge of Jesus and (b) our attitude to sin. My longing therefore is to be in a church that encourages me to have a personal knowledge of God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. I want to be in a church that teaches me to flee from sin and to overcome it. Whether that church casts out demons, does miracles or gives prophesies is immaterial to me. It also of no matter if there is no great and eloquent preaching in that church, provided that church is against sin, and encourages me to know God personally. That unfortunately is not true of so many believers. They want to be in a church that does miracles, healings, casts out demons, and prophesies constantly, and so on. They are not concerned that their church doesn’t preach about freedom from sin? That’s not so important to them.

When was the last time you heard a message against anger or the lust of the eyes in your church? Are you satisfied that your Pastor does miracles, casts out demons and prophesies a lot but doesn’t preach on these subjects? But if he doesn’t encourage you to know Jesus personally and to walk with Him in purity, in lowliness and humility, I want you to know where you will end up according to Mathew 7:22, 23. The two important things to know in last days are, do you know the Lord and did you give up sin? Now we can see why so many of the elect are deceived. When they are deceived, the devil’s aim is to lead them completely away from God.

There is no such thing as once saved, forever saved. In Revelation 3:5, the Lord Jesus Himself said that He will not erase your name from the Book of Life, if you overcome. What if we continue not to overcome? Well, then He will erase your name from the Book of Life. You don’t suppose that Jesus was giving empty threats as the old grandmothers do to encourage little children to eat their food, do you? Jesus is no grandmother to offer empty threats! When He says that He will erase your name from the Book of Life, He means what He says. When He says that He will spit you out of His mouth, He is really going to do that. It is not because you didn’t do miracles? No, it’s because you had no interest in knowing Him, and in being free from sin.

So I urge you to be in a church and in fellowship with believers who teach and exhort you to be free from sin. Be in a church that preaches this so much that you may even get offended at times. Be in a church that stirs you to a deeper knowledge of God as your Father, a deeper knowledge of Jesus as your Forerunner and your Example and a deeper knowledge of the Holy Spirit filling your heart.

The manifestation of deception

Warning against deception is not restricted to the gospels alone, but also in the Epistles. Paul, talking about the last days said, “The Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith” (1 Tim. 4:1). Now we know that every verse in the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit. Then why does he say “the Spirit says this explicitly?” Imagine receiving a letter from your dad with few lines stressed by underlining. It’s obvious that those lines are more important than the others. Similarly, though the whole Bible is from the Holy Spirit, the phrase “the Spirit explicitly says” means that these are more emphasized, and you need to give special attention to that. So who are the ones who are falling away from “the faith”?

In order to grasp what Paul said here, we must have the correct understanding of “the faith” referred here. Scripturally no one can be born a Christian, yet we have millions upon millions who believe they are Christians because of Christian parentage. That is nominal Christianity. The faith is not nominal Christianity, and you can’t fall away from that. “Falling away from the faith” is where someone, including a nominal Christian, accepts Christ as his Saviour and is born again, but then falls away from his faith in Christ. He falls away because knowing God and avoiding sin become less serious to him and he gets more taken up with music and Bible-knowledge etc., This happens when he starts “paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrine of demons.” Bear in mind, it is the believers who fall away from faith being deceived, not unbelievers, as they can’t fall away. Don’t you imagine that you are clever enough, knowledgeable enough not to get deceived, for you are dealing with the very devil that is the cleverest of all beings? You are no match for the devil. That’s why a lot of clever people never become believers, and a lot of clever people never become spiritual. They think they are pretty smart, and the devil easily fools them. Knowledge doesn’t make one spiritual; it is humility that makes you spiritual.

What does characterize these people who are being deceived? Paul further says that they are deceived by “the hypocrisy of liars” (1 Tim. 4:2). The two sins mentioned here are hypocrisy and lying. The hypocrites are the ones who are deceived. That’s why I preach a great deal against hypocrisy. Don’t live a double life, and don’t pretend that you are something outside that you are not in your private life. If you do, you will be thoroughly deceived. To those who pretend to be holy in the church, but are not in their private life, I warn you that you are a target for deception. The form of deception is such that you might think that you are spiritual when you are not; you might think you are born again, when you are not. Take heed!

However freedom from hypocrisy is the easiest thing in the world. Even if you are a prostitute, you can be free from hypocrisy! All that she needs to do is to admit that she is a prostitute. Being honest through and through is the simplest means of freedom from hypocrisy. Jesus loves honesty no matter how bad the condition is. In the story of the Samaritan woman (John 4), when Jesus asked her to bring her husband, He was testing her honesty. She was five times divorcee and now she was living with a man without being married to him. She could have simply gone and brought that man and said, here is my husband, and tried to fool Jesus. But she didn’t. She could have easily preserved her reputation by bringing that man, but she was being honest. In effect, Jesus said to her, “since you have been so honest with me, I will teach you something about worship. I couldn’t teach this to Nicodemus a few days ago, because he needed to be born again. But because you so utterly honest, I will teach you about something more exalted than being born again, I will teach you about worship.”

Have you noticed that this is the only place in the entire Bible where it says that “God must be worshipped in spirit and in truth”? And it was to a five times divorcee who was having a live in relationship with someone! Imagine, giving such a deep revelation of worship to such a woman! Would anyone of us be doing that? I reckon not. We would rather be preaching to her on divorce and remarriage. Jesus was different! Was that all? After explaining worship to her, He used her to bring a revival in Samaria! He couldn’t use any of His 12 disciples who had gone away in search of food. Meanwhile, this lowly woman of Samaria was preaching the gospel to all her friends and bringing a revival.

The other thing that leads to deception besides hypocrisy is lying. These two are connected. To lie is to give the wrong impression to others. This could be about your spirituality or about anything. It could be spoken or just impressed upon. In the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5), Ananias lied without even opening his mouth. He simply gave an impression to be wholehearted like the rest. He pretended that he was giving everything when he wasn’t. But Peter’s verdict was that he lied to the Holy Spirit. Be careful of hypocrisy and be careful of lying. Be careful of giving an impression to others that you are something when you are not. That’s the surest way to be deceived in the last days.

What else does the Spirit say explicitly about the last days? Some will fall away “paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrine of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1).What are these doctrines of demons? Instinctively we might be drawn to think of horrible things like Satan worship or dabbling with the occult. The devil is simply too smart to try to deceive you by explicit advise to worship him, or to play with the occult, or something like that. Rather, he will tell you something that sounds very spiritual like “you can be holier if you don’t get married.” There are doctrines like that in Christianity. There are groups in Christianity that teach that you should be celibate to serve God. To me that is a doctrine of a demon. Peter was married and he was the leader of the Apostles. Most of them were married, except Paul and Barnabas.

The doctrine of demons is not a doctrine of evil, but a suggestion to achieve holiness by external adherences like avoiding marriage, veganism, avoiding certain foods like pork, etc. (1 Tim. 4:3). There are all types of doctrines like that floating around the world today. We must always beware that holiness is not an external thing but an inward one. Even fasting does not make you holy. If you are not a fasting type, this might sound sweet to you. Remember however that Jesus fasted and implied that we must fast, in His Sermon on the Mount. There is a place for fasting in the Christian life, but it’s not the way to be holy. There are a number of such external things that the devil gets Christians to occupy themselves with and deceives them into believing that they are becoming holy.

Loving the truth

Let’s look at another passage from Paul’s writing to the Thessalonians on the second coming of Christ. “Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him” (2 Thes. 2:1). He was talking about the rapture at the coming of Christ. He continues in verse 2, “that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.” Paul was essentially telling them not to be disturbed by anyone who claims to speak by the Holy Spirit, or that they had a message or letter from Paul announcing that the day of the Lord has come. Then he told them, in verse 3, “Let no one in any way deceive you…” Once again, in relation to the coming of Christ, Paul was warning about deception.

That’s why, while all other Christians are looking for famines, earthquakes, and wars, I simply look around for deception. From reading my Bible, I know that that’s going to be rampant in the last days. And the particular type of deceivers that I especially look for are those who do miracles and heal the sick, as well as those who magnify such things. I do listen to them to see if they would help me to be holy most of all. But I see that their message simply decreases my bank account and they do NOTHING to decrease sin in my life. I see the deception of the elect, as so many believers are falling for this type of stuff. Paul says, “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first…” The apostasy means the falling away. This means that one of the things that will happen before Jesus comes is that a lot of believers are going to fall away. As said before, falling away is not to Satan worship, or Ouija boards, or any occult activities, but the apostasy is a falling away from holiness and knowledge of the Lord. To what do they fall away to? We shall see shortly.

Paul continued in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.” The day of the Lord will not come until the antichrist arrives. Does that surprise you that Christ does to return until the Antichrist is revealed? It’s amazing that so many Christians are either unaware or they don’t even believe it, because they don’t read their Bibles. This Antichrist is going to exalt himself and take a seat in the temple of God. Then Paul said, “Do you not remember that while I was with you, I was telling you these things?” (2 Thes. 2:4, 5). Further down, in talking about the antichrist (the lawless one), Paul said, “whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders and with all the deception of wickedness” (2 Thes. 2: 9, 10). We can see clearly here that the falling away is into being fascinated and taken up with the supernatural, such as miracles, signs, wonders, and prophecies. Take careful note of this, not everything supernatural is from God!

We have already seen that the devil has supernatural power. If the historians are right, Job lived before Moses, and in his life you can see the devil’s supernatural power right there in the first chapter of Job. He brought fire down from heaven, he brought a storm, and he brought the enemies to come and attack Job’s family. Right from the beginning God has been revealing to us that the devil has supernatural power. Now who are the people that are going to be deceived? “They did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.” (2 Thes. 2:10b). It is very clear; one great way to keep ourselves from deception is to receive the love of the truth that leads us to be saved from sin in our life. What is the truth that we must love?

Firstly it is ‘the truth’ about us. In some particular situation, if the Holy Spirit tells you through your conscience, what was wrong with your attitude, or thought, or motive, or behaviour, how do you respond? If you accept that verdict of the Holy Spirit and repent, you have received the love of the truth about yourself. If not, you have not received the love of the truth, and therefore you will not be saved from that sin that has been shown to you. Secondly ‘the truth’ that you must love is with regards to Scripture. It is possible that you have believed a certain doctrine for last 25 years, and now, may be as you read this book, or heard a message recently; you discovered that that doctrine was wrong. What would you do? If you loved the truth, you will change your mind and believe in the truth you have just received. But you can be proud to admit that you were wrong for 25 years and try and twist the scripture to adapt to your belief. Then you have rejected the love of the truth! When I was converted more than 60 years ago, I decided that if I came upon truth in Scripture on any subject that was contrary to what I presently believed, I would be quick to change my position to agree with the Scripture.

The consequence of not loving the truth is very severe – God Himself will deceive such people. “For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence…” (2 Thes. 2:11). In the Bible we are warned of various sources of deception. Jeremiah chapter 17 tells us that “the heart is deceitful above all things.” In the parable of the Sower, in Mark 4, Jesus speaks about the deceitfulness of riches – money deceives a lot of people. The devil is portrayed as a deceiver in several passages of the scriptures. So these are the forces that we are normally familiar with in terms of deception. On top of all this, if God also deceives us, what hope is there for us? Our only hope against the numerous deceiving influences surrounding us is to have God on our side. He alone can protect us from all this deception.

When you don’t receive the love of the truth about a sin you are being convicted by the Holy Spirit, you are in danger of being deceived by God. Not because you are a great sinner. There is something so much more dangerous than being a great sinner. And it is this: not loving the truth about you so as to be saved. Then God Himself will allow you to be deceived. How? “God will allow such people to believe what is false” (2 Thes. 2:11). Imagine that for a moment! What that would mean is that God will allow some people to believe that they are saved and born again, when they are not. I have met numerous such people who think they are born again but show no evidence of it in their lives. Similarly, there are thousands of people that I have met who believe that they are filled with the Holy Spirit, when all they did was to speak in an unknown tongue but show no evidence of holiness in their life. God allows them to believe what is false. What can be more dangerous? I remember years ago asking God, “Lord, how can I protect myself from the deception in Christendom?” The Lord said, “It’s simple. Love the truth about yourself to be saved from sin and to be saved from everything of Adam that is still left in you.”

I am extremely grateful for the light God has given me on myself and on His word. If you ask me, “What is the mark of God’s blessing in your life?” my response would be this: “God shines the light on the areas in my life where I am un-Christ-like.” He is actively working in various areas to make me more Christ-like. God’s blessing on me is not at all in money, houses or lands, and not even health. God has indeed given me very good health all these 80 years. That I consider as the bonus and not the salary. The mark of God’s blessing is that He shows me where I am un-Christ-like day after day so I can repent of it. That is the reason why Holy Spirit is given to me.

Four kinds of lovers

Let us briefly see what Paul said to Timothy concerning last days: “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come” (2 Tim. 3:1), or as the Living Bible says, “It’s going to be difficult to be a Christian in the last days.”

Why is it going to be difficult to be a Christian? Is it because there will be a lot of persecution? True, there will be, but along with persecution there will be something more subtle than persecution, namely deception. The devil is not only depicted as a lion (1 Pet. 5) and a dragon (Rev. 12), but also as a serpent (Gen. 3, Rev. 12). So we can see that the devil comes as a lion to persecute and as a serpent to deceive. Persecution and deception are two weapons of Satan that prevent people from following Jesus. Paul brings these two aspects of last days clearly in rest of the chapter. He said, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” “But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Tim. 2:12, 13).

The persecution from evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse wherein deception becomes rampant in the last days for Christians. The rampant deception will be more difficult to resist than the physical persecution. Furthermore, during the last days, Paul exhorted how men (believers who claim to be Christians) will primarily be lovers of different things, but not of God. ‘‘For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these’’(2 Tim. 3:2-5). Four types of lovers are mentioned here: (a) Lovers of self, (b) Lovers of money, (c) Lovers of pleasure and (d) Lovers of God. A true Christian is one who is a lover of God, instead of being the lover of the other three.

True identity of lovers of self is contained in their quest for own rights, self-reputation and self-honour. They get easily offended when their rights are denied, or when they are not respected or honoured. One who doesn’t love himself but loves God, will never get offended by anything another person says or doesn’t say, or by anything another person does or doesn’t. So many of us easily get offended and get hurt by the way others treat us. We get offended if somebody backbites. We have never understood what it means to take up our cross by putting the self to death. In the last days, there will be lovers of self, as there will be very little preaching about the cross and death to self-life. How often do you hear this preached in churches of today? It is never heard of in Christian television today. When there is a lack of preaching on death to self, the self-life is going to flourish. People won’t realize that they can’t follow Jesus if there is self-love. They think that one can love self and still follow Jesus. Just look around and see the number of Christians who get easily offended never realizing the immensity of their sin. Christians have embraced the worldview that it is a right to feel bitter when someone hurts or offends them. That’s an indication that they are compromisers and not disciples of Jesus. If you were a disciple of Jesus, then you have no right to be hurt or bitter. Jesus was never hurt when they called Him the prince of devils. They spat on his face and humiliated Him in every way, but He refused to react.

So what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? It means that we must take up our cross and follow Him. There will be a very few Christians who will take up the cross in the last days and follow Him. It is going to be very difficult to be a true disciple, because we are surrounded by people claiming to be Christians, claiming to be filled with the Holy Spirit, claiming to speak in tongues, but who continue to get hurt, or offended, or disturbed when their name and honour is tarnished. We are taught by Lord Jesus to pray – “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name,” and not hallowed be my name! But in the last days, Christians are going to be more concerned about their own name than the name of Jesus. Do you realize how much the name of Lord Jesus is dishonoured around us every day? Does that disturb us, so called Christians, as much as when our own name or that of our loved ones is disgraced? If not, can we call ourselves as disciples of Jesus? Those who love themselves are thoroughly deceived into believing that they are followers of Jesus. Nobody can change you from being a lover of self, if you don’t want to be free from it yourself. When you desire to be free and seek for it with all your heart, God will deliver you from self-love.

We have looked at lovers of money in some detail in chapter 1. You can look around and see the multitudes of Christian who think that they can love God and money at the same time. It is in this connection that Paul said that it is going to be difficult to be a Christian in the last days. It will be difficult, because you will be surrounded by people who love things than God. You can easily get infected by their sickness of “the love of self” and by the sickness of “the love of money,” unless you take heed.

Pleasure is another great god that many Christians worship today – this god called “entertainment”. They are more interested in entertainment than in God with the excuse that entertainment is needed to relieve stress. There certainly is a need for entertainment, but very often the kind of entertainment in contemporary world is such that it leads to pollution and defilement of minds by explicit sexual content. When Christians are lured into that kind of pleasure seeking, while continuing to go to church, sing songs, read the Bible, etc., can make them think they are still disciples of Jesus. That is not possible. They are already deceived by the deceiver and have become part of Babylon. One day they will find themselves in hell. Unfortunately the church is not being warned about pleasure loving.

Fifty years ago, Christians didn’t watch movies, and there was no television. But today, almost all Christians watch movies. The standard of TV programs and movies has degraded to a far greater degree of obscenity and that doesn’t seem to disturb the conscience of believers. Is it because very few people live up to the standard of God’s Word and His standards of discipleship? We are living in a day of decline even in the best of churches, and this decline is especially among the young people.

Another way this love for entertainment manifests itself is with the music in the churches. Music has never made man more spiritual than studying the Bible. Why is it then Christians are more interested in Christian music today than in studying their Bibles? Studying the Bible is not entertainment but music is. So they go to a church that entertains them with music. Going for worldly rock show creates a guilty feeling, but they can’t get by without satisfying their god (which is entertainment), so they go to churches that provide lots of frothy entertainment. It never leads them to give up on sin, take up their cross, die to self and follow Jesus.

Reading further in 2 Timothy 3:3, we see that there is going to be a great deal of gossiping in the last days. There are numerous Christians around who gossip, backbite, and spend a lot of time speaking evil of others, without ever thinking that it is so unchristian. The point to be noted is that Paul said that all these people hold to a ‘form of godliness’ (2 Tim. 3:5). That is to say that these people will hold on to a form of godliness while being “lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited and lovers of pleasure” (verse 2-4).

It is understandable if these were outright worldly. But these are Christians who talk about holiness, righteousness, victory over sin, etc., never realizing that they are only holding on to a form of godliness. If you don’t keep away from such, you can be thoroughly deceived by their great speeches. They can talk about victory over sin, holiness and righteousness on the one hand, but indulge in sensual entertainment on the other. Can you imagine a greater deception than that? Such people will be taken up with the supernatural like healings and miracles. They will not however seek the supernatural power to be free from sin. Haven’t you noticed the multitude of Christians that wait on long queues to have some preacher to lay hands on them that they can fall down, supposedly under the power of the Holy Spirit? Does their life change after that fall? Not at all! If you simply want to fall down, you can get drunk with alcohol and fall down. You don’t need the power of the Holy Spirit for that. But you will need the power of the Holy Spirit if you want to be holy.

There’s only one way to respond to those who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof - “avoid such men as these” (verse 5). Therefore my advice to those, especially the young who are at a greater danger and who want to follow the Lord, is this: Don’t look at the other people around you, only look at Jesus. Look at the standards of God’s Word, and forget about the standards around you. Concentrate on following the Lord, and fellowship with only those who follow the Lord in this way. Yes, it will surely be difficult, because you will be walking a very lonely path. You may be branded exclusive and called names and there won’t be many people who want to go with you, but you can be sure that you will be walking with Jesus.

Chapter 3

Like The Days Of Noah And Lot

In the last chapter we have looked at great length about the onslaught of deception during the last days from Jesus’ discourse on the Mount of Olives. Jesus, at that time, also gave a precursor history of times of Noah and Lot as another sign. As they say, the history repeats itself, we can learn a great deal about last days from times of Noah and Lot. ‘‘For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah’’ (Mat.24:37). The parallel passage from Luke shows us how exactly the last days compare to the times of Noah and Lot. ‘‘And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building: but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed’’ (Luke 17:26-30).

Explosion of population

Genesis 6 begins with saying “men began to multiply” indicating a tremendous explosion of population during the days of Noah. There we have the first indicator of about Noah’s days happening in our generation where we see a tremendous population growth worldwide. While the rate of growth in the western world is declining, that is more than being compensated from the exponential growth in Asia and Africa. We have today over seven billion people on the face of the earth, more than ever.

Genesis 6:2 talks about sons of God. These were not what we refer today as “born again” sons of God. Only after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ could one be born again as a son of God. The sons of God mentioned in Genesis 6 are a reference to angels. We understand this by a similar expression found in Job –“there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them” (Job 1:6). Here “sons of God” were angels. The word “son” indicates that they are a direct creation of God.

Except Adam and Eve, none of the human beings are direct creations of God. They are born into the world as descendants of Adam and Eve through procreation. God did not create each man and woman presently on this earth. All the billions of people on earth, since Adam and Eve, are result of reproduction, and not creation. The angels were not procreated, but each angel was individually created by God. Every one of the millions of angels, being direct creation of God, is called “a son of God.” To further stress this point, look at Jesus’ genealogy in Luke 3. This genealogy of Jesus is via Mary (as a descendant of David by flesh), while the genealogy of Jesus in Mathew 1 is through Joseph (as a descendant of David through Royal line). As you see the progression of this genealogy, we see inverse 38, “the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son Adam, the son of God.” Here we see Adam was called the son of God, because he was the direct creation of God.

That’s why we too are called sons and daughters of God, when we are born again, because we are now direct creations of God. You don’t become a child of God, if your father was a child of God. God has to make your father a son of God and separately make you a son of God. Each birth into God’s Kingdom today is a direct act of God. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Obviously you were born once to your physical parents, and then you are born again as a child of God. It is not a question of mere following Jesus as people follow some guru, but God does a direct work within the person by putting His very nature inside and makes that person His child. A lot of people who call themselves Christians are not really born again, because God has not done a new creation work in their heart. They may be part of a church, they may participate in all religious activities, but they are not really children of God. The proof is that they have never taken seriously the matter of being a disciple of Jesus, and they have never truly repented of their sins.

Explosion of sexual perversity

So in the context of Genesis 6, we are reading about angels. These angels don’t have any sexual ability. Jesus said in Matthew 22:30 that in the resurrection we will be like angels in heaven and there will be no marriage. There won’t be any sexual function in heaven in the resurrection body. Though the angels have no sexual ability, we know very well that angels can be tempted from the example of Lucifer, the head of the angels, who was tempted with pride. We read in Genesis 6 that there were angels in heaven, good angels, who didn’t learn a lesson from the fall of Lucifer, years earlier, looked at the daughters of men, and lusted after them. “The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose” (Gen. 6:2). An angel can’t marry a woman, as they have neither a physical body nor any sexual ability. So they possessed men in order to satisfy their lusts. They possessed men, filled them with lust, and satisfied their own lust on pretty women by proxy. It is like getting pleasure through someone else’s pleasure.

Do you realize that that is exactly what happens in watching pornography? Those who watch it are not directly experiencing any pleasure of sex; they get pleasure through seeing someone else getting the pleasure. The sons of God looked at the daughters of men, lusted after them, and craved to somehow experience the pleasure. Then they satisfied this craving by possessing the men and making them commit the pleasurable act. Today pornography is rampant throughout the world through the Internet. Thus we know that we are in the last days. There are evil spirits behind it, and the people who watch pornography gradually lose their natural resistance. The lack of resistance doesn’t happen immediately but gradually, over a period of time, as they continue to yield to temptation. Watching pornography even once is a sin. But the greater danger is that it is addictive; you want to watch it again and again. The natural resistance wears thinner and thinner, and finally it snaps completely, and an evil spirit of lust gets in. Besides being a serious sin issue it also destroys relationships, marriages and families. Their minds are destroyed and they suffer with dirty dreams. The devil makes them to think that it’s not serious, that they can just enjoy themselves, and that they would be fine. The pleasure that you get from it keeps decreasing and you crave for more of it, or more grotesque form of it, eventually destroying yourself completely.

We must realize that the devil has a long term plan in mind when he starts off with pornography for young people in their teens. The devil won’t let them have even an iota of where this would lead to. Did the devil ever tell Eve that her little act of disobedience, in seeking to eat a desirable fruit from the forbidden tree, would eventually end with her first son murdering his sibling, and all the subsequent problems in the following generations? No, of course not! The devil never tells people of their future. He just tells them to enjoy now and not to worry about future consequences, live in the moment of pleasure. He will never let you know that in order to get what he offers, you have to give something up. Was that not what happened to Esau? The Bible exhorts us that there should be no one like Esau in our midst, who for a bowl of soup sacrificed his birth-right. What is our birth right that we end up giving up when we are taken up with pornography or other sin? Our birth right is to be like Jesus Christ, to have a mind like Him – pure, humble, and loving, to speak like Him – full of grace and truth, and to have the same attitude towards women, money, and everything else in life.

You can throw away your birth right for a bowl of soup. And what is that bowl of soup; something that satisfies your bodily need in a way forbidden by God. Eve gave up her birth right of walking with God in paradise for a little fruit that satisfied her present bodily desire. Pornography is exactly like that. It is something that will satisfy your bodily need right now. But what do you throw away when you indulge in it? - Fellowship with God and an eternity with Him in heaven. I don’t think you realize what a terrible price you pay even when dabbling with TV or internet pornography. Internet pornography is leading millions into the lake of fire. In the last days, there is going to be an explosion of it. Just look at what goes on in all those internet cafes in every country of the world. People read pornography books even 50 years ago, but it wasn’t as widespread as is now. We should not be surprised, because just like the days of Noah, sex will be a big craze in the last days.

Explosion of disobedience and insubordination

In Genesis 6:3, we read, “Then the LORD said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever.’” In effect, God is saying that His Holy Spirit will speak to people for a while, once, twice, thrice, or even quite a few times, as they read the Bible or hear a message in the church. But if what He says has no effect on them, He will not go on speaking for ever. A day will come when God will let them do what they like; He will give up on them. Why? They are flirting with some sin or the other, which no one may ever find out but God is trying to get them to deal with it. C.S. Lewis once said, “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right then, have it your way.’” Those, who allow God’s will to be done in their lives, will find that God opens heaven’s doors for them, but to those who are insistent on doing their own will, God will eventually say, “Okay, I’ll stop hounding you. I’ll leave you alone.” If you want to see this great conflict between self and God’s will, you only need to look at the devil. That is exactly how the anointed Cherub became Satan as he is now, the evil one. Satan’s attitude was one of, “I will, I will, I will, and my will, my will, my will.” And the person who says, “I don’t want God’s will but my own will” will eventually find himself where Satan ended up.

Isaiah 14 tells about the fall of Satan where one can see how the perfect angel became the devil. What was it that caused this change? Notice carefully a little phrase ‘I will’ that comes five times in just 3 verses. ‘‘How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations! "But you said in your heart,’ I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High’’’'(Is. 14:12-14). How did God respond to this five ‘I will’ of the devil? God said, “Okay, so you want to do your own will, fine, do just that and go to the place where my will is not done –hell.” That’s why we read in the next verse, “He was brought down to hell” (Is. 14:15 – KJV).

Look at the contrast between heaven and hell. When Jesus came from Heaven, He said, “I have come from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38). Jesus came, not to do His own will, but the will of His Heavenly Father. There is the definition of true holiness. It is the devil who entices us to do whatever we feel like doing. That’s why we have to train our children against this. My advice to parents always is to begin breaking the stubborn self-will of their little children; otherwise they can become a pain in the neck as teenagers, and worst still they will end up in hell. There is a place for softness in dealing with little ones, but not in the issues of self-will. You have to break that stubborn self-will inherited as a child of Adam. That’s also why the first commandment for children is to honour their father and mother. Because the “my will, my will, my will” attitude leads to hell, while the Lord’s attitude of “Not my will but Thy will be done” leads to heaven. Jesus was tempted in all points exactly like us, and we read in Romans 15:3, “Christ did not please Himself.” He never sought His own pleasure. He only sought the Father’s pleasure.

So we can see that “God’s Spirit will not always strive with man.” The Holy Spirit strives with us when He is speaking to us in a meeting. When you are living in sin and you come to church, the Holy Spirit speaks to you. He warns you, urges you, exhorts you, and encourages you to give up your sin. But you stubbornly resist Him in the meeting. Sometimes you might concede and repent, but again you fall back into the same sin. Holy Spirit strives with you again and wants you to completely give it up, but you don’t listen, and continue to live your life the way you want to. One day God will say, “My Spirit is not going to always strive with you. I will move on to work with some others. I am giving up on you.” That’s a terrible place to be in. It is when the devil takes over and demons take hold of that person. Lack of fear of God leads you there. Don’t take this lightly for yourself and when your children are not serious about being disciples of Jesus.

We see the time period associated with striving in Genesis 6:3. Prior to Genesis 6, men lived up to 900 years, but then God said, “I will give mankind 120 years more.” Compared to a life span of 900 years plus 120 years was a short span. It will be like saying, ‘I will give you 10 years more’ for our times. And during those 120 years, He looked for a man who pleased Him, and if He hadn’t, He would have destroyed all of humanity.

“Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”(Gen. 6:5). Perhaps some of them were religious, just like Christians today. They offered sacrifices and talked about God regularly, but their thoughts were absolutely filthy. The Lord knew their thoughts and paid no attention to all their sacrifices. These people may even have had a form of godliness, and yet we read in verse 6 that “The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth.’’ When God had finished His creation work in six days He had said that it was very good. Now He says that He was sorry that He had even created Adam. What a tragic turn of events!

You mustn’t conclude that God was regretting here. God knows the whole future, and in that sense He doesn’t have regret about anything He did. God’s feelings are depicted here for our understanding. He was terribly disappointed with the way human beings were behaving, for whom He had done so much good. He had given them many blessings – good crops and physical health etc – just like He has given us. But they were thoroughly ungrateful – and also filthy in all their thoughts and actions. What about us, Christians, today? I believe that the vast majority of believers are thoroughly ungrateful to God for all the goodness that He has showered upon them. Sure, they come to church, sing a few songs, and put some money in to the offering box, but they basically live for themselves. God is sad and highly disappointed. How about you? Is God disappointed that He ever brought you to the knowledge of the gospel and gave you new birth? You were brought to the place of salvation, and even He may have filled you with the Holy Spirit. But how is it today? Are the thoughts of your mind just worldly? Is the Lord sorry about the state of your heart?

I don’t want to be one of those who bring even the slightest grief to my Heavenly Father’s heart. I don’t care if the whole world thinks that I am too super-spiritual, or if they call me a “holy Joe”, or any other name. I don’t care if I am different from all the other so-called “Christians” around me. He gave His Son to die for me and that means a great deal to me. I don’t know whether it means that much to you.

Explosion of violence

Another distinctive about the days of Noah is violence. “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Gen. 6:11). There was violence against people, killing, terrorizing, etc. The earth was filled with evil thoughts on how to hurt others, on how to rape women, and on how to take advantage of vulnerable people. This was how it was in the days of Noah. When Jesus made this statement to the Jews 2000 years ago the world was not that corrupt. There was such a sense of reserve and modesty, and there was nothing close to pornography in those days. Terrorism by people strapping bombs to their bodies and blowing themselves up was such a crazy notion even 100 years ago, let alone 2000 years ago. So I can imagine people listening to Jesus and saying, ‘what are You talking about, Lord? Repeat of Noah’s day! No way, such a thing could happen.’ They probably could have never imagined our world today where religious people are so filled with lust, pornography and thoughts of terrorizing others? But here we are today witnessing the very same things in our midst. The world filled with violence, hatred, and corruption?

It so “grieved Him in His heart,” that finally He said, “I will blot out man…” (Gen. 6:7). Thankfully, there was one man who found favour, one man whose thoughts were not filthy and violent, and one man who was not lusting after women. Just like God was looking for one man in an evil and corrupt world then, He is also looking for one man and one family today. It wasn’t just a man then, it was Noah’s entire family. Now we don’t know anything about Noah’s wife. However from the fact that all the three sons of Noah found grace in God’s sight along with Noah, we can assume her discharging her responsibility as a godly wife and mother. She possibly faced ridicule from people around, but remained steadfast to God in prayer, worship, and being the wife and mother she should have been in bringing up her children at home in a godly way. That was much more important to her than conforming to the world around. She was different, just like Noah was different. Noah was not just living his life, but was preaching righteousness (Heb. 11:7). Imagine doing that in such a world.

The first thing we notice about Noah is that he had a tremendous reverence for God. “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” (Heb. 11:7). There is very little reverence to God in today’s Christianity. There is a tremendous lack of reverence in today’s singing, as well as in today’s preaching. The old time hymns had a lot of reverence in them. Most of present day songs are frothy, superficial, which when sung repeatedly create a sense of emotional high than real reverence for God. Preaching is laced with humour for the applause, but lack reverence. But Noah had reverence. And in the last days, there will be only a few people like that who have a reverence for God.

It is with that reverence he built an ark for the salvation of his house hold. I can imagine him crying out to God for the salvation of his three sons and their wives. This man was desperate to save his family. He would have prayed, ‘Lord, I don’t want them to buy into this world’s system of rampant pornography, lusting after women, and violence like all the people around us.’ Also he made it clear to the people around that he had no interest in pursuing the things that they were running after. He knew that he couldn’t live for the things of this world, as they were all going to perish. He didn’t know that it was going to be 120 years before they would perish, but he had heard from God that they were all going to perish. We know from God’s word that all the things of this world are going to perish. “The world is passing away, but he who does the will of God remains forever” (1 John 2:17). But who believes it? Noah believed it. He had to eat, drink, sleep and earn his living, so he did all that, but he didn’t live for this rotten world. He condemned the world and thereby became an heir of righteousness which is according to faith.

2 Peter 2:5 also speaks about Noah where it says that Noah, a preacher of righteousness, was saved along with seven others. The seven others are: his wife, his three sons - Ham, Sham and Japheth, and their three wives. It was just his family. What a man this Noah was! He made sure that his three sons married god fearing women. Imagine finding three godly women among the condemned world ready to perish. It wasn’t easy. He must have prayed asking God that he didn’t want his sons to marry any pretty and stylish girls who can ruin their lives. Rather he wanted them to marry god fearing women. As he looked around and prayed, God provided three god fearing women for his sons. They may have been the only three god fearing women around, and Noah’s sons got all of them! Imagine if you had three sons, and in the world there were only three god-fearing girls and your sons got all the three! That wouldn’t be luck, but the blessing and honour of God.

If you are a parent, does that challenge you? Do you let your children do whatever they want, watch whatever they like on television. Well, if you let things continue as they are, in five or six years’ time they are likely to be a pain in your neck. They will bring disgrace to you, to your church, and to the name of the Lord, all because you took the position that they need some entertainment, and that you don’t want them to be made fun off by their friends. Young people need to be careful. The devil is out to get them. He’s trying to wear them out and weaken their resolve until he can finally possess them. Take the advice of god fearing fathers like Noah. We have already seen what kind of a woman Noah’s wife must have been in aiding Noah’s resolve to have a god fearing family. Unfortunately we have fathers or mothers nowadays, who prevent their spouses from disciplining their children to the eventual peril of those children.

Explosion of over indulgence in legitimate things

In addition to all the evil that was happening during the times of Noah, which will be happening again during the last days, Jesus draws our attention to some legitimate things as well. Jesus said in Matthew 24:38 that “they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.” Now what is wrong with these? Are they not legitimate day to day affairs of mankind? Jesus ate and drank, and attended marriages. Furthermore God Himself ordained marriage.

The point here is that they were so taken up with these legitimate things that that’s what their entire life consisted of. How much of indulgences in eating and drinking we see around today. If there is one business that doesn’t see recession is the food and beverages industry. There is that continuous quest to indulge in eating and drinking. Restaurants and bars abound and lack no customers. Believers, so called Christians, flow along the tide of the world and indulge themselves. They find no time to read their Bibles, but have enough time to try out every new joint in town. Let me be clear. All these earthly things are normal. There is nothing wrong with them. But it’s when these things fill our mind, so much so, that we find no time for the things of God, we enter into the danger zone. When the devil finds that he can’t drive you into pornography, violence, hatred, and all kind of evil and filthy things, he’ll try to occupy your mind with legitimate things like eating and drinking. It is possible many never even suspect that these things can crowd God out of their lives. When people were so wrapped up with these things, suddenly one day, the flood came and took them all away!

In addition to comparing the last days to Noah’s times, Jesus also compared them to the days of Lot. “It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, and they were building” (Luke 17:28). This is similar to what we saw Jesus say about Noah’s times. These are other legitimate activities like buying and selling, plating and building; there is nothing wrong in them. We buy and sell so many things, and we plant and build. Again the point that is being made here is that we can be fully occupied with these things. Our work and the cares of this world can so fill our minds that we don’t have time for God. God gets crowded out of our lives.

When the devil fails to entice people with evil and filthy things, he entices people into overindulgence in legitimate things. We end up so occupied with these legitimate things that our scripture reading time is lost, church attendances is missed, personal prayer time is reduced or lost. Thereby devil succeeds in crowding God out of our life. None of these things are sinful by themselves. Somehow with advancement of science we are lured into having more and more gadgets. In order to afford them you have to work more? When you come home, you are so tired that you want to have some relaxation. You eventually end up with watching TV. Then you don’t even have five minutes to sit quietly and listen to God. Have you found that happening in your days? That’s the devil crowding God out of your life, little by little, until finally your whole day is so filled and occupied that you are too busy for God. It’s certainly not filled with sin like some of those other believers, but simply with a long list of perfectly legitimate things until one day “fire and brimstone” fell and the people were destroyed: ‘‘but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed’’ (Luke 17:29-30).

Also we know how rampant sexual sin was in Sodom at the time of Lot. We read about that in Genesis 19 where two angels came to Lot’s house. The men of Sodom lusted after these men and wanted to have sex with them. Lot was even willing to offer his own daughters to satisfy them to protect his guests. But the men of Sodom weren’t interested in Lot’s daughters. They wanted to have their way with these men. Have you seen how that the same sort of perversion has come in the last days? Homosexuality has been there since the time of Sodom, i.e. about 4000 years ago. It’s not something new. It will be like that in the last days as well –men lying with men, women lying with women, and all kinds of unnatural sex. So many Western countries have legitimized such unions by law. These are in addition to adultery, fornication, and pornography.

It is interesting to note, when Jesus compared the last days to those of Noah and Lot, one of the most predominant sins of both of their time was sex, and specifically perverted sex. With every pleasure God has given man, there is a law called “the law of diminishing returns.” That means the pleasure you get out of anything decreases with every successive engagement in it. If you are crazy about sex, you get less and less pleasure out of it every successive time you try to satisfy the craving. You want more of it, and you are always trying to reach that original level of pleasure. And since you can’t get it, you look at more bizarre and perverted forms of sex. Then you try to satisfy this desire with other men, and even with animals. Man gets so perverted that they even molest small children. Sex is going to be one of the big things in the last days along with violence and terrorism. And when these things happen you know that the coming of the Lord is very near.

Differences in the witness of Noah and Lot

God wants to save us out of this. But He also wants us to be a witness. Yet see how different Noah’s witness was compared to Lot’s. Noah was an upright man who brought up his family in a godly way. Lot also claimed to be a believer. He was connected to the greatest man of God who was living in his time – Abraham. Instead of valuing that relationship, he went after the world. If he had not known Abraham, we could say he didn’t know any better. But he was related to and knew the man of God in that country, and still chose the way of sin. That’s terrible. It’s much worse when we have heard some of the most wonderful truths of Scripture and still keep falling into sin.

Also look at the way Lot brought up his family. His wife was not interested in the things of God and neither were his daughters. He had two daughters and he probably just wanted them to marry some rich and influential businessmen in Sodom. They were engaged to two such men at the time of Sodom’s destruction. When Lot persuaded his to-be sons-in-law to join him in getting out of the city, as God was going to destroy it, they laughed at him (Gen. 19:14). Why not? Lot was part of the Sodom system. These men had no holy witness from Lot. As far as they were concerned, Lot was in agreement with what was happening around them. How could he now talk about judgment and hell? No wonder they laughed at him. He lost them then and there. Does that not happen with a worldly Christian today? Everybody sees his testimony and knows that behind that religious facade, he is living for the world just like them.

Nonetheless, Lot grabbed his daughters and his wife and ran. Even though his wife followed him, her heart was in Sodom. She turned around to look and became a pillar of salt. Lot lost his wife. He took his daughters and went into the mountains. It should have been a solace that he had escaped with his daughters, but he lost them too. He didn’t lose them physically; he lost them to incest. Imagine a father committing adultery with his own daughters! And worst of it all, it was the daughters instigating that. Can you imagine how evil they had all become by living in Sodom?

You must remember that the reason Lot went to Sodom was to make money. Lot left Abraham for Sodom, because he saw the rich, thriving country of Sodom and desired to maximize his money there. But he got a full package. Along with money came all kinds of wickedness on his daughters. Lot could very well be in hell, unless he managed to repent in the last minute and went to heaven. But the fact remains that he lost all his family, while Noah managed to save all his family. He lost his family, because he didn’t have godly standards for his family, evidenced by the type his daughters had become and the type of men they were engaged to. It would have been far better for his daughters not to have married at all, and to have lived in a hut far away from Sodom.

What about you dear reader. Whom do you follow in your household? Noah or Lot! As we live in the 21st century, we can see all around us the very same things that were happening during the times of Noah and Lot. That is a clear indication that the last days are upon us and the coming of the Lord is imminent. Be ready for the coming of the Lord. And not only you, but like Noah, your wife and your family. And if you have grown up sons and daughters, then their spouses as well!

Chapter 4

What Christ Will Look For

“If we have hoped in Christ in this life only we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:19). If Jesus had gone to heaven after His resurrection, and we knew nothing of what was going to happen thereafter, we wouldn’t have any hope. What are we looking forward to? As Paul said here, if our hope in Christ is for this life only, then of all the people in the world, we are most to be pitied. Why in the world should we live so faithfully, if this life was everything? In the same way, if we don’t have a hope of the second coming of Christ burning in our hearts, our Christian lives can be greatly hindered.

The point is, do we really long for Christ’s return? What is the evidence of such a hope? It is possible, many may presume upon their longing but, as with everything, the truth can only be discerned by its fruit. The Bible tells us what this evidence is: “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2, 3).

What you hope for determines your readiness

How many Christians know what their hope is? For most that hope is the return of Christ to this earth. But, when you read this carefully, the blessed hope is that we shall be like Him when He returns. Therefore, when He returns from heaven, if I remain as I am today, then I will be very disappointed. But the hope we have is that when He appears, we will be like Him. What then is the proof that this is your hope? You will purify yourself until you reach His level of purity. This means, with every passing day, you will keep on cleansing yourself of everything that the Holy Spirit shows to be unlike Christ in you, especially your inner life. It is in our thoughts, attitudes, and motives that we are most unlike Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can show the hidden parts of our life. You will only know whether you have the hope of the second coming of Christ, when you daily allow the Holy Spirit to show you the areas of un-Christ-likeness in your actions, words, thoughts, attitudes, and motives? How do you respond to His promptings? Do you seek His power in prayer to overcome these issues or do you ignore His call to repentance? If you respond to the Holy Spirit, you won’t change overnight. As you keep purifying yourselves day after day, one day you will be there. When do you stop? The only time you can stop purifying is when you have already become like Christ!

I am not saying this from a pedestal of perfectness. Without knowing what we say and preach, we are often accused of preaching sinless perfection. We are not promoting sinless perfection. We know it is an impossibility on this side of the earth. In our church, we have a plaque on our pulpit which speaks for itself: ‘Let us press onto perfection.’ That is the clearest testimony that everyone who stands behind our pulpit is really saying, ‘I am not perfect.’ Those, who don’t preach on pressing onto perfection, are the ones who must be already perfect! All of us, who have the hope of Christ’s return, are on a journey of pressing onto perfection.

The ones who think they are already physically clean do not take a shower or bath! But then there are others, especially in hot climates like India, think that they need to wash more than once a day. They recognize that they can quickly become unclean. Similarly, the one who recognizes that he is most unlike Christ is the one who really longs for the Holy Spirit to show him where he can cleanse himself. This is a key way in which we are going to be ready for the coming of Christ. I must stress this as there are multitudes of denominations and groups in Christianity who study the Last days and the Second coming of Christ, but concentrate on everything else. They have big charts and bars showing the various dispensations (which are all manmade ideas anyway), but those who hear them don’t prepare themselves for the coming of Christ! I say this from my personal experience. I remember intently studying this subject many years ago, so much so that I could teach it to others. I took a Bible study on it with all those fancy charts and time lines and everything else. At the end of it, all I found was that people were excited; they said it was wonderful, they had lots of academic information with them, but they continued to live in sin. They were still angry, they were still bitter, they still loved money and they still fought with one another. There wasn’t much pornography in those days. If that was there, they would have been into that as well. Then I realized the futility of all this study and the futility of studying about the last days just to satisfy my curiosity and their curiosity.

I have been in numerous meetings where when the Last days and the Second coming of Christ are studied, invariably it boils down to curious details. Our curiosity is such that we want to know details like whether the Antichrist is already born, where is he going to come from, when will the rapture take place, etc. If that challenges you to live a godly life, go ahead and study that. But if it is just information, and worse still, if it’s just information that you want to impress others with, then you are to be most pitied.

Keeping God’s Word in your heart, NOT just in the mind

As you read Christian books and listen to Christian sermons, remember that, through the faculty of your eyes and ears, it’s only going to your mind. If it stays in your mind alone, you will not profit. The word needs to go into your heart. When we receive truth into our mind, we must fight against a common Christian mistake –to receive the truth into our minds and keep it there. It is akin to putting food into our mouth and keeping it there. You can’t keep on stuffing your mouth with food. If the food doesn’t go out anywhere from the mouth, you will have to spit something out in order to get some fresh food in. The way body works is: the food from the mouth goes down to the stomach, gets digested, and powers up the body. Unfortunately many Christians are just stuffing their minds, and not letting it to get digested, not letting the word become flesh in them. So they have to spit out something in order to get some new teaching in. And that’s how Christians gain in knowledge. They forget something here and then they put something else in. Unfortunately they never become strong, because it has never been digested.

How do we get the truth that is already in our mind down into our heart? Even though the distance is very short, it’s a difficult process. We have to meditate on what we have heard or read, and obey it. It is through meditation on God’s Word and obedience to His Word that the truth comes down from one’s mind to reside in one’s heart. Listen to what David says: ‘‘I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, because I have observed Your precepts’’ (Ps. 119:99, 100). First step is to meditate on what I have received. Then I must obey – that’s what it means to observe God’s precepts. Then I will have more insight than even the elder brothers. If you follow just these two steps, you will have more insight than all the Bible teachers who have it all in their heads. You will have more insight than those who have been Christians for many more years than you but who didn’t let God’s Word sink into their hearts.

Psalm 119:11 talks about keeping God’s Word in our heart. “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.” Keeping God’s word in our minds won’t help us, but keeping God’s word in our heart can save us from sin. Are you wondering why, after so many Bible studies, so many challenging messages, so many conferences and meetings, and so many times of having determined, you still fall again and again into the same sins? Is it possible the devil has fooled you into keeping the truths of God’s word in your mind alone? You never meditated on what you heard, you never obeyed the little promptings of God, and so it never sunk into your heart. The food came into your mouth, and was spat out, or it came into your stomach, and it was vomited out.

The definitive sign of end times

In connection with the last days Jesus gave a parable. “Learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.” (Mat. 24:32-33). What are “these things” that Jesus was referring here? Note clearly that Jesus was saying this is a parable. These things here refer to “When the fig tree puts forth its leaves.” Let’s see how that comes about.

In the Old Testament the fig tree was a picture of Israel, just as vine is a picture of Church in the New Testament. This is a general rule that you can mostly apply when you study the Bible. Jesus said in John 15, ‘I am the vine, My Father is the Gardener, and you are all branches in the vine.’ In the book of Jeremiah, we read about God showing Jeremiah a basket of figs – both good figs and bad figs. God was illustrating to Jeremiah about good Israelites and bad Israelites. Jesus also talked about a man who had planted a fig tree– “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any” (Luke 13:6). That was Jesus coming to Israel and looking for fruit, not leaves. Leaves are religious activities such as reading the Bible, praying, fasting, going to meetings, etc. Every religious activity is a leaf. Fruit on the other hand is character – love, joy, peace, purity, humility, gentleness, goodness, etc.

We must distinguish a fig tree with only leaves with that which has fruit as well. Jesus came looking for fruit but didn’t find any. In the parable from Luke 13, the man tells the gardener that he has been looking for fruit for last three years. Jesus had a ministry for three years – and eventually died after about 3 ½ years. So Jesus was saying to Israel after three years, ‘I have come to this fig tree looking for fruit and I haven’t found anything. Cut it down, let’s finish with Israel.’ The gardener (a picture of God the Father) however said, ‘give it one more year, and then if it doesn’t bear fruit, cut it down.’ Jesus ministered for part of another year, and there was still no fruit, and then we see that Israel was rejected.

You see another example of Israel being described as a fig tree when Jesus cursed a fig tree on the way to Jerusalem (Mark 11:12-14; 20-21). Jesus was hungry and came looking for fruit in the fig tree, instead He found only leaves, and then we read that Jesus cursed it. Now many wonder, why would Jesus curse a fig tree for not finding any fruit in it? Was it anger out of hunger? Again the fig tree here was a picture of Israel. He was teaching the disciples something about Israel. He was telling them, “I came to Israel looking for fruit, which is character – a love for God and a love for one another. But I didn’t find any. Instead, what do I find? I find plenty of activity – plenty of sermons in the synagogues, plenty of fasting, and plenty of praying. But they don’t care for the widows, the poor, and they don’t keep their inner life pure. All they have are leaves.” And Jesus cursed that religion. The next day when they passed by that fig tree again, the tree had withered completely. It started withering on the inside the moment Jesus cursed it, and a little later it had withered completely. And that’s exactly what happened to the nation of Israel. Jesus prophesied that the temple would be destroyed, and sure enough, 40 years later the temple was destroyed. And the fig tree, which was Israel, dried up because it was cursed by God. Israel was scattered to the ends of the earth.

Here in Matthew 24:32, Jesus was saying that one day this cursed fig tree will put forth its leaves again. Not producing fruit, mind you, but only leaves. The nation of Israel will be re-born (leaves), but they won’t be spiritual (fruit). Now we know from history that this happened on May 15th, 1948. In 2018 the nation celebrated their 70thanniversary of the founding of Israel. Now this had not happened for 2000 years. The nation of Israel had been ruled by other countries. In fact, even when Jesus lived, the Romans ruled Israel. And subsequently others ruled at different times. Various Muslim empires ruled for several centuries (it was called as Palestine by them), and then about 100 years ago, after the first world war, the British took over and ruled it for about 30 years. Great Britain had promised to give the nation to the Jewish people but defaulted in their promise. Nevertheless God in an amazing way arranged for the children of Abraham to come back to the land of Israel soon after World War II. God kept His promise that He made to Abraham centuries ago.

The fig tree has finally put forth its leaves. Once again, this does not at all mean that the Israelites are children of God, or that they will go to heaven. No, all we are talking about is that the promise of God to Abraham for the physical land has been fulfilled. God promised it to Israel as an earthly promise, and He has fulfilled that promise. So when Jesus talked about “when that fig tree starts putting forth its leaves,” He was talking about the time when the Jewish people would be back in that land. That’s what He said in verse 33, “so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.” Even though Israel, as a nation, was reborn in 1948, they still didn’t have the most important part of the former land, without which Israel was incomplete. They still didn’t have control over the city of Jerusalem. They had to wait until June 1967 when they took control of Jerusalem. Only then the Israelites could really feel that they were a nation.

To further see the significance of Jerusalem, notice this in Luke 21:20-24: "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land and wrath to this people; and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.’’

Jesus was talking about Jerusalem here. Jerusalem was indeed surrounded by armies in 70 AD, about 40 years after Jesus was crucified, exactly as Jesus had said, “recognize that her desolation is near.” In the same passage, we can see Jesus telling the very same Jews, who would crucify Him within few days, about all the troubles that they would face. He was not talking about Christians in the end times, but about Jews. From that very generation onwards, and for almost 2000 years since, the Jews have fallen by the edge of the sword, have been captive to several different nations, and were scattered to the ends of the earth. Jesus said in verse 24, that “Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles.” This means that Jerusalem would be ruled by non-Jewish nations. Notice here that He was speaking about Jerusalem specifically and not whole land of Israel. But even that will not be forever. The ruling of Jerusalem was to continue “until” the times Gentiles rule are over. These gentile rules came to an end in June, 1967, when Israel finally got possession of Jerusalem.

Now getting back to Matthew 24, where Jesus was talking about the fig tree putting forth leaves, we see Jesus telling us that this (the putting forth of leaves) is the sign that He is near – right at the door (verse 33). And then in Matthew 24:34, Jesus says, “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” Jesus is saying here that the generation that sees these things (fig tree putting forth the leaves) happening before their eyes will not pass away until everything is fulfilled.

Now if my interpretation (and it’s at best an interpretation) is right, and considering that a generation is about 70 years, generally speaking, we are looking at 70 years from 1967 for the last days. I don’t want to put any firm dates, but I can say this: while Jesus told us that we will never know the day or the hour when He returns, He also said that we will know “when He is near.” So personally, I believe that the coming of the Lord is very near.

What motivates you to be holy?

We can see that Jesus’ return is imminent. As I said in the introduction, that doesn’t motivate me to live a holy life. I would want to live a holy life even if Christ was coming a thousand years from now. It makes no difference whether Jesus Christ was coming tomorrow or a thousand years from now. I wouldn’t live any differently today or tomorrow. If you have to set certain things right only because you feel Christ is coming tomorrow, then you will never really be ready for the coming of Christ, because you don’t have the right attitude towards sin. You won’t hate sin itself. You’ll only hate getting caught in sin when Christ returns.

While the Jews had10 commandments, many Christians live with this one commandment: “Thou shall not get caught!” You can sin, but it’s not serious if you don’t get caught. We must search ourselves to see if that is indeed how we live. If there is a choice, I would reckon it is way better to live by the 10 commandments. Those who live by the commandment of “thou shall not get caught” will be frightened into a righteous life, because Jesus is coming anytime. But they never obtain what Jesus really came to bring – a hatred for sin. To put it in a crass way, somebody telling me to commit sin is like them asking me to lick the floor if I want to. Or worse still, them telling me that I am permitted to lick the inside of the toilet. As disgusting it might sound, that’s exactly how it is when one commits any sin, from anger to dirty thoughts to pornography. If I tolerate sin, any sin for that matter, and I don’t see it as a horrendous thing, I probably have no clue as to why Jesus died on the cross.

I don’t believe in scaring people out of sin by the message of Christ’s imminent coming. I simply don’t believe that it’s a valid reason for seeking holiness in life. Of course, it might scare people for a while, but that’s not the motivation to be holy. Further, as explained earlier, I don’t think that Christ will come at any moment, because I believe that we as Christians have to go through the great tribulation before Christ can come. That means, at the least you have a few more years. But what would you do with them? One of the two things – either continue to sin or purify yourself as He is pure. Even after being a believer for more than 60 years, I am so far from being Christ-like that I keep asking God for more time. And if I knew I had only seven years left, I’d have to work really hard, because I want to be ready for the coming of the Lord.

Note that when Jesus was on the earth, He didn’t know the exact date and time of His second coming. “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone” (Mat. 24:36). He knows it now as He has ascended to heaven and has full power again as God. But when He was on the earth, He deliberately chose to limit His Divine powers. He wanted to live on earth with only the power that all human beings have, so that He could be an Example for us. That was why He once had to come near a fig tree to find out if it had any fruit on it or not. If He had not limited Himself, He would have known even from the other side of the earth whether there was fruit on the fig tree or not. Jesus was tired, He slept, and He was thirsty, just like the rest of us, when He was on earth.

Faithfulness in service

Once we are told to recognize the times by looking at the fig tree putting forth its leaves, Jesus then said, “Therefore be on the alert, for you don’t know which day your Lord is coming” (Mat. 24:42).You know His coming is near, but you don’t know the day or hour. What should you do then? Be on the alert. That means, “Be awake spiritually!” The most important preparation for the coming of the Lord is to be awake spiritually. When you are physically awake, you can easily avoid dangers, you can watch out for pitfalls in the path, keep your dwelling places safe from theft, etc. If you have sleep walking habit, you can be in big danger. Similarly if you are asleep spiritually, you can walk right into spiritual dangers, and give access to the devil (the thief) into your life. If you are awake, you will know when the devil comes to steal something from you.

That’s exactly what Jesus meant and He explained it in the next verse (43), “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.” If the master of the house knew that the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert. No thief comes by making an advance announcement that he would come at such and such hour. No, if that were true, the master would be on the alert from at least 15 minutes before that time. But we don’t know when He will come. That’s why Jesus further said in verse 44, “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”

And what should those who are alert be doing? Verse 45 tells us – “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?” The two most important virtues in the last days are faithfulness and wisdom and not cleverness and giftedness. There are too many clever and gifted people who won’t be ready. But the faithful are those who diligently use whatever little God gives them. God will never ask you, ‘‘why you didn’t travel around the world preaching like Zac Poonen.’’ You would simply say, “Lord, if you had given me that gift, I could have done the same thing.” He will only ask you about the gift He has given you, not about a gift that someone else has. But with the little that you were given by God, were you faithful? God is not going to ask you why you didn’t give millions to the Lord’s work like some other millionaire did. If you were not given millions, you will not be asked this question. Someone may have had a lot of free time with which to serve the Lord, while you had very little spare time. Mothers with nursing or little children don’t have much free time. The Lord is therefore not looking for quantum of accomplishments; rather He is looking for faithfulness.

And the other thing mentioned here is wisdom. Being wise is different from being clever. There are a lot of clever people who are not wise spiritually. There are a lot of people who didn’t get good grades at school, may be in subjects like mathematics or science, but they are wise spiritually. I don’t suppose apostle Peter was ranked first in his studies, but I am sure he was wise spiritually. Are you then a faithful and wise slave whom the master has put in charge of his family?

Let me share my heart here and tell you what breaks my heart in relation to the last days. This is one of the greatest sorrows in my heart, as I have seen different churches that God has raised up over the last 45 years, including our church in Bangalore. There are so few of whom the Lord can say, “These are the people that I can put in charge of my family, to give them their food at their proper time?” Imagine if you were a parent that never fed the children at the proper time, because you were busy watching television, going to the movies, grooming yourself, and host of other things. What type of a parent would you be? As a parent you must have given your children their food at their proper time from the day they were born. In fact there are many mothers who give up well-paid jobs to care for their children, because their children are more important than monthly pay cheque. I wish there were more people like that in the churches, who seek a hunger to study God’s word so as to give something of God’s word to the people that are under their care in their church. This is equally applicable both for men and women. The Bible says women too would prophecy in the last days –they too will share God’s Word with others. How many times have you given some spiritual food to people younger than you? How many times have you looked out for people who are new to the church and sought to encourage them? Or have you just left it to the elders of the church to handle all that?

I once visited a family who had 15 children. You would expect that the mother would be a nervous wreck managing those 15 children. Some people become nervous wreck with just two children, let alone 15! It was quite the opposite in this home. The mother didn’t have to do mostly anything. One daughter did the floor, one daughter did washing, one daughter did the cooking, couple of sons went out to work to earn money and some other daughter or son changed the diapers of the little baby, etc. The father and the mother managed overall household aspects, while the older children took care of the younger ones and most of the details. The parents were not at all nervous wrecks. They could have been nervous wrecks, had the older children been irresponsible as it seems to be the case with many brothers and sisters in our churches. Just imagine if these 15 children were irresponsible. The 25 year old son lazing around the house, the 23 year old girl never doing any cooking or helping around the house, and nobody helped with little kids, and the mother was constantly running around doing every chore in the home, and the father was constantly busy trying to earn money for the house. Then they would have been nervous wrecks. They would have probably died before their time making the children orphans.

Now I tell you this, we have a lot of people like that in our churches. They sit in the church saying that they can’t do anything. They are just like this 25 year old son who sits at home just eating, sleeping, watching TV, going to bed, and constantly saying, “I can’t do anything, I can’t earn anything, and I can’t feed anybody.” They are not the faithful and wise slaves!

Do you want to be ready for the Lord’s coming? Remember, Jesus was talking about the Lord’s return and in verse 44, He said, “be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you don’t expect.” Immediately after that, Jesus asked, who can the master put in charge to take care of His family. It doesn’t always have to be an elder of a church, does it? God can give you two or three people who can be like your spiritual children. He puts a burden in your heart to encourage just a few people and you can be faithful to that burden. I believe that there are plenty of teenagers in our churches who are drifting around, getting hooked on to internet pornography and things like that, who could have been protected had older brothers befriended them and helped them. Sadly the older brothers are busy making money and 100 other things. As Jesus said in the parable of the sower, “the cares of this world have choked out the word.” The end result is that you have a couple of elders running around like constantly stressed parents, being forced do everything under the sun.

My point here is not only about the logistical aspects of running the church. For example, in our church in Bangalore, there is perfect coordination in handling the logistical tasks by so many volunteers. Running our meetings and conferences are efficiently taken care off. So for a church like that, where all are working so hard for all the physical necessities of the church, here’s the question – do you feel that the logistics is the most important? Are we a sort of a club where only the physical logistical things are important? In a club, everything must look neat, and all the arrangements must be great. Honestly, I would rather prefer a home where things are in disarray, rooms are messy, but there is harmony, love and the children are all god fearing. It’s not to say that neatness and orderliness is out of place at home or church, but where does our priority lie. I don’t want a church that is spic and span, and everybody sits quietly listening, but nobody takes any spiritual responsibility. I would rather have a little hut with a thatched roof, if people had a sense of responsibility, and took things seriously in their lives. So in being ready for the coming of the Lord, I want to be one of those who are willing to take responsibility in the Master’s house. Jesus calls such a person blessed– “Blessed is that slave [man or woman] whom his master find so doing when he comes” (Mat. 24:46).

I don’t know about you, but I can honestly tell you that I had that desire when I was just 21 years old. When I read this verse, I said to the Lord; ‘I am not a great preacher, I was born again just two years back and was baptized only six months back, but I give myself fully to You.’ And so, I started reading the Bible and with whatever little I knew, I would teach those who didn’t know, because I wanted to give food to anybody who was hungry. And there were a lot of people around me without food, many of whom were not born again. At that time, I didn’t know how to handle the Hindus and Muslims. I left them alone and focused on nominal Christians. I would approach them and ask if we could have half-an-hour Bible study in their home, once a week. You need to be aware that, at that time, the only thing of the Bible I knew was how to be born again. And that little I knew, I would share with them, and when they got so interested, they called others as well. It wasn’t a great meal, rather a little bit of milk here and there, but it helped them grow. One of them was born again, and he left the navy to serve the Lord through a radio programme. Looking back I wonder; had I not gone there and done that little when I was 21 years old, think how many other people whom he brought to the Lord would have missed out!

Do you realize that that with which you are fed, the Lord is expecting you to feed others? As a believer you cannot say, ‘‘I don’t know anything.” Even a 1st standard student can be a teacher? Certainly not to a 2nd standard student, but he can teach to a kindergarten student. And even a kindergarten student can be a teacher to someone who is too poor to go to school or who doesn’t even know alphabets. If you are born again, you are at least in the kindergarten. Don’t hide behind the excuse that your church elders don’t give you an opportunity or have not given you any responsibility. Many a times, the elders of the churches that I was part of didn’t give me a responsibility, because I was too young. I just looked around to see if there was a hungry person and tried my best to give him some food and to share some of my food with him. It can be the same with you. And if you are faithful in those little things, God will give you greater responsibilities.

Jesus then warns us of the opposite attitude of a lazy servant: ‘‘The evil slave says in his heart, 'My master is not coming for a long time,' and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards…’’ (Mat. 24:48-49). Don’t be a servant that thinks he can be lax, because Jesus isn’t coming back for a while, or who beats the fellow slaves. There are many preachers who like to hit people with verses? Don’t ever do that! I used to do it myself long back, which I am ashamed to admit today. Hitting people with verses is worse than hitting them with a hammer. People get crushed under it, feel condemned, and become depressed and discouraged. Personally, I finished with that ministry long ago, as I discovered that it was an old covenant ministry. For example, don’t go to your wife and say, “Did you know Ephesians 5 says that wives ought to submit to their husbands?” That’s exactly what I mean by taking a hammer and hitting your wife on the head. At least give her a helmet before you do that, so that she can protect her head! God has no patience with that – “the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mat. 24:50-51).

The hidden life of a believer

Continuing on the theme of being ready, we see Jesus next talked about the ten virgins in Matthew 25. The context still remains to be the fig tree putting forth its leaves, indicating that the coming of Jesus is near. Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to ten virgins who were preparing to meet their bridegroom. Virgins with their lamps burning indicate that their external life, their testimony, was good. Jesus was referring to Christians who have a good external life and a good testimony in the church. They “went out to meet the bridegroom” (Mat. 25:1) indicates their eagerness to go forward to meet Jesus. But the very next verse says, “Five of them were foolish and five were wise.”

What distinguishes a wise Christian from a foolish Christian? It is not about cleverness and academic excellence; it is about spiritual prudence and wisdom. And here is the way to be wise: “For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps” (Mat. 25:3, 4). Somewhere in the pockets of their gowns, the wise virgins had a little flask of oil. They had their lamp plus the extra flask of oil hidden, while the foolish virgins just had the lamp. What does this mean? Both had their lamps, so both had an external testimony. Jesus said in Matthew 5, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works…” Here Jesus was talking about one’s external testimony. The external testimony involves coming to the meetings, being nice and polite, looking holy in the meetings, never shouting at your spouse on Sunday morning in the church, being patient, and not watching pornography on Sunday morning, etc. Your light is shining before men – that’s good!

But the hidden flask of oil is the hidden life, the part of your life that nobody else can see. Oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. So these wise were ones whose inner lives were controlled by the Holy Spirit. That’s the difference between the foolish virgins and the wise virgins. There are many people who glory that they are virgins spiritually. They glory that they have their light burning. The Pharisees were like that too – their life was pretty good before men. Even Jesus confirmed that the outside of their cup was clean. They didn’t go around with cups that were dirty on the outside. But the inside was full of muck. One characteristic of a Pharisee is that his external life is so good - his light burns, and the people see all his good works and say, “what a wonderful Christian he is.” But if you were to look inside his heart (we can’t, but if we could), we’d see that it’s absolutely filthy. You look at his private life, although he pretends to love God with all his heart, he actually loves something else. Such people are not ready for the coming of the Lord.

“Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.” This simply refers to physical sleep, not spiritual sleep. As we have many chores on this earth we do get tired and need to rest including physical sleep. These virgin’s lamps were burning even while they were asleep. The bridegroom delayed for a while, and then we read: "But at midnight there was a shout, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. "The foolish said to the prudent, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'" But the prudent answered, 'No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves'’’ (Mat. 25:6-9). Please note that the foolish virgins did have their lamps still burning, but they were going out; they didn’t have the flask of oil - the hidden life with God. So they asked the wise virgins to spare some of their oil reserve. A hidden life with God is such that even the wise virgins couldn’t give it, even if they wanted to. They could only suggest that the foolish virgins go to the dealers and get some oil for themselves.

Who are these dealers that can dispense you with oil, the godly inner life? These dealers are the trying and difficult circumstances and temptations that we face every day in life. These things that we face are like the shop keepers who can give us a hidden life, if we are faithful in those temptations, in the areas of our life where nobody can see, or when we face trying situations. We must recognize those opportunities and pray, ‘Lord, this is the time for me to buy some oil. I can have life in the Spirit through this trial or I can react in a bad way, and waste this opportunity.’ Those wise virgins had gone to the dealers earlier, paid a price and acquired oil; it wasn’t for free. Salvation is free, forgiveness is free, but an inner life is not free. Had it been free, we would have all obtained it. No, it takes time and effort to build up an inner flask full of oil.

Here is the essence of this parable of the 10 virgins. When Christ returns, we must have an inner life that is full of the Holy Spirit. That means there should be an inner life that is full of love. Romans 5:5 tells us that the Holy Spirit floods our hearts with love. So a flask full of the oil of the Holy Spirit is a flask full of love for God and for fellow believers. That includes people who hate me, who speak evil of me and who are my enemies. If my heart is full of oil, I won’t have secret complaints against them, and I won’t judge them.

Do you have a flask full of oil? You are the only one who can determine this. God will give it to you, but you can easily squander it away when you hate somebody who provokes you or when you have some bitterness against someone else. If you keep doing that, one day your flask will be empty. That’s why I often remind people in my messages that it is important to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in these areas, as that’s what makes us ready for the coming of the Lord? And NOT by understanding all charts about 10 headed beasts, 7 headed beasts, 10 horns, the antichrist, etc. What’s the use of knowing all of these if your flask is not full of oil? On the contrary, even if you don’t understand any of those things in relation to the second coming of Christ, you will be very ready if your flask is full of oil.

We must make sure we prioritise things right when we study the Bible. The foremost result of all the studying of God’s Word must result in conquering sin in our hidden lives. As we saw earlier, the Psalmist says, “Thy word have I treasured in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” Once the Bridegroom comes, there will be no more opportunities to overcome sin in our hidden life. “The Bridegroom came…and the door was shut” (Mat. 25:10). And when the foolish virgins came later on, the Bridegroom replied, “I do not know you.” That was the final outcome of this story.

Faithfulness in gifts and talents

To further illustrate His point, Jesus gave His disciples another story, about a man who went on a long journey. Before he left, he called his own slaves and distributed certain talents (gifts) among them. He gave to one five talents, to another two, and to another one, and he asked all of them to make use of the talents (Mat. 25:14, 15).

Do you know that God has given us different abilities? Not all of us have the same abilities. There is no point looking at someone who has five gifts and crib saying, ‘I have only one.’ It doesn’t matter how many gifts you have. What matters is the degree of faithfulness in using those gifts. Will you be faithful with the one you have and will the other he be faithful with his five? If you have only one talent, all you have to do is produce one more, but the one with five has to produce five more. “Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them” (Mat. 25:19). What does this tell us? Jesus, when He returns, will settle accounts with us with respect to the gifts He gave us. He is not going to ask, whether you produced as much as someone else. No, He will ask you, if you were faithful with what was given to you. Those who are faithful get a reward. The reward was the same for the man who produced five and the man who produced two, as they both produced 100%.

But look at the man who was given one talent. He said to the master that he was afraid of him and that he had hidden away the talent by burying it in the ground. This means that this slave didn’t use it productively for the master. He buried his talents in the earth, that is, he invested his one talent for the things of this earth. None of us can claim that God has not given us anything. At the minimum we all have been given 24 hours in a day. Also to almost all of us He has given sound health, fully functioning bodies, and so on. Then some of us have been given houses to live in, jobs to earn money, and many other things like that. When you look at all that God has given you and realise that that you could have used them to bless others, what have you done about them? If you take all that God has given you and use it all on things on this earth, then you have “buried it in the ground.” And when you come to God saying, “Here is the talent that you gave me, Lord,” the Lord will say, “Throw out this worthless slave into the outer darkness (verse 30), because he has despised what I gave him.’’ We must be diligent to use what has been given to us.

Faithfulness towards fellow believers

Jesus ends the Olivet discourse on His second coming with a third story that deals with how we treat fellow brothers and sisters who are in need – both spiritual and physical needs. Jesus said that when He returns, He will separate people like sheep and goats are separated. "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’ For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me’’ (Mat. 25:34-36).

Many Christians who read this passage assume that Jesus was talking about social work here and think that that is what we should be engaged in as our readiness for His coming. We must read the whole story carefully and come to right conclusions. When the righteous asked the King, “Lord when did we see You hungry, when did we see You a stranger, and when did we see You sick, and when did we help You,” listen to what the King’s says :“The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me’” (Mat. 25:40).

Jesus is the King here. How many believers would consider that every human being on the face the earth is brother or sister of Jesus? Jesus did not teach universalism. He once said, “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:35). Obviously the brothers referred by the King are the born again children of God, and not every human being. Essentially the sheep and goats are separated based on their actions or lack thereof towards fellow believers. Further, in another place, Jesus didn’t say, “All men will know that you are My disciples when you love them.” It seems reasonable and logical to say that, doesn’t it? But Jesus said, “All men will know you are My disciples when you love one another” (John 13:35). The disciples of Jesus are those who love each other.

Galatians 6:10 similarly says, “Do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” The unfortunate reality today is that a lot of Christian work is focused on social work. Social work is certainly important. Those with a calling like that of Mother Teresa must do it. Consider however, if you just help a person physically - care for him, give him food and clothing, and still allow him to go to hell, you haven’t really done a lot of good to him, have you? It’s like sewing up few tears in one’s shirt, while not doing anything about the cancer with which he is suffering from. You might give your shirt to him or even buy a new shirt for him, but what use is this if his real problem is cancer? I would rather get his cancer treated, even if he has to manage with his old torn shirt for the time being.

The Spiritual should always take precedence over the physical and at the same time physical should not be ignored either. As the coming of Lord is pretty close (I am excited and I am looking forward to it), the question that you need to answer is: will you be among the sheep or the goats? That entirely depends on how you have responded to the needs of fellow brothers and sisters in the time of their need.

The fig tree has put forth its leaves and the coming of the Lord is at hand. We saw Jesus asking us to be alert, asking us to be faithful and wise. Then we looked at how the five virgins were ready with the oil of inner life when the bridegroom came. We also looked at how Jesus will take account on our faithfulness with what He has blessed us with. Finally we have just seen how that Jesus is going to separate believers based on our actions or lack thereof with reference to the needs of our brothers and sisters. Are we going to be ready?

Chapter 5

Christians Will Face Persecution

One sad thing that Christianity faces today is the dilution of the original message preached by Jesus and the Apostles. After 2000 years, the message is so diluted that in most places it is no longer recognizable with the original. The result is that if one doesn’t read the Bible carefully, he is going to be deceived easily in these last days. If you are habituated to reading Christian books more than the Bible, or if the Christian books that you read don’t drive you to the Bible, then you are a prime candidate for deception. We’ve already emphasized enough that the deception will be rampant around the world in the last days.

How exactly does Satan succeed in deceiving so many people? It is often by getting them to lose interest in reading the Bible. Are you one among those? Can you think back to your early days when you were first converted and how you never missed a day in reading the Bible? How is it today? Suddenly now you don’t have time to read. Do you see how Satan has succeeded! He doesn’t deceive you all at once. Slowly and cleverly he has brought you to a place where you watch Christian television more, and you listen to all these men and women who preach more. You are taken up with their flowery oratory skills and moving story telling. I can see through their hollowness in five minutes, but I guess you can watch them for hours. You might ask, ‘what’s wrong with these preachers or their messages?’ Had you read your Bible, you wouldn’t ask that question.

The undiluted message of Jesus

There are a very few people today, who preach the whole counsel of God. Let me give you one simple test. When you listen to all these preachers and read all their books, find out just how many of them speak from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6 and 7). Jesus said, at the end of that Sermon, that the one that hears those words and obeys them is the one who will build a house on a rock that will never fall. Obviously I want to build such a house. Remember, Jesus also said that it is the narrow way that leads to life and to beware of false prophets who don’t show you the narrow way (Sermon on the Mount way of living) but will show you a broad way that leads to destruction.

What are the things in this Sermon that we are to obey? Here is an overview:

Have a poverty of spirit – have a sense of your own need all the time.

Have a pure heart.

Hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Get rid of anger completely.

Get rid of lusting with the eyes.

Speak the truth always.

Never seek the honour of men in any religious activity.

Be free from the love of money and be free from anxiety.

Love your enemies and bless those who persecute you.

Be perfect in the mercy you extend to others, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect in mercy.

Don’t judge other people, but discern who is a swine and who is a dog.

Discern who is a false prophet. And be very careful of being taken up by those who do signs and miracles and wonders, because many of them will go to hell.

It is about these things did Jesus say at the end of His Sermon, “If you listen to these words and obey them you will be like a wise person who built his house on the rock.” So if you are part of a church that preaches all these things regularly, and if you listen to messages and read books that preach all these things regularly, then I guarantee that you won’t be deceived. You will be then building your spiritual house on a rock that will never be shaken. That is the surest way to protect you from deception.

It doesn’t mean that everyone who hears these things will be ready. I have preached on being free from anger and from lust now for over 45years but there are still people who aren’t bothered. There are still people sitting in my church who watch internet pornography. It is not that I expect everything that I say will be heeded, because people didn’t take even Jesus seriously. That’s why Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” As we approach the last days, some will stand for the Lord and some will fall away. It is those houses that are built on the rock that will stand, while those who have not taken these things seriously, no matter how wonderful a Christian they might look today, will fall away.

In my military days we were taught that “the more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war.” What that meant was: if we work hard and prepare ourselves for war in times of peace, then when the enemy comes, we can overcome with lesser casualties. The greater danger is when there is peace. We take it easy and put our feet up and relax. Then, when the enemy comes, we are not prepared. Today, in many parts of the world, we are living in times of peace. At least that is the case in my city of Bangalore, and generally in India as well. Therefore, it is now, we should be preparing for difficult days ahead – preparing for days of difficulties for Christians.

Two nations at the centre of conflict

When the Lord Jesus started speaking about the last days, in Matthew 24, He said, “You will be hearing of wars and rumours of wars” (Mat. 24:6). After speaking about deception that we have already looked at in chapter 2, He spoke about wars in the last days – in fact, many wars. Wars are not pleasant to hear about. The Bible is a book that has never needed to be rewritten in 2000 years, and all its prophecies have come true. The same thing can be hardly said about the self-proclaimed prophets of today, yet they have a great following. When the Lord gives a prophecy, it will be fulfilled. For it is written, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My word will not pass away.”

We have solid grounds to believe what is written in the Bible. When I see things happening around me, I am convinced that everything else that is written in this book is also true. I have no problem believing that salvation is through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone, and that he who does the will of God will remain forever, while everything in the world will pass away, all because they are written in the Bible. As regards to the last days, I believe all that Jesus said, just as surely as Noah believed when God told him that everything was going to be destroyed. Nobody else believed it. God asked him to build an ark, as that would be the only thing that would remain. Just the same, when you see everything around you being slowly destroyed, remember that your eternal home is somewhere else. Go ahead and use what you need on this earth, but don’t live for it, as nothing in this earth is eternal.

There are only two places of the earth that are specifically mentioned with regards to “a lot of war” in the last days. The first place mentioned is Jerusalem in Zechariah 14. Zechariah talks about Jesus’ feet standing on the Mount of Olives. It was from the same mount that Jesus went up into Heaven nearly 2000 years ago, and it is on that same mount His feet will stand once again when He returns to earth. Just before that, we read, “For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured… Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations” (Zach. 14: 2, 3). Now this is not a reference to the time in A.D. 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed. There are two reasons for this. First of all, at that time, only the Roman Empire came against Jerusalem, whereas Zechariah talks about a battle of several nations against Jerusalem. Secondly, the Lord did not fight against the nation that came against Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Zechariah categorically tells us that the Lord will go forth to fight against those nations.

Clearly this is about another time, about the last days. Thus, we know that immediately before the Lord’s coming, there is going to be concentration of war around Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a city that is going to be frequently in the newspaper in the last days. That wasn’t true 50-60 years ago, not nearly as much as we see now.

The second nation that is mentioned with relation to the last days and war is Iraq. In Revelation 9:14, the sixth angel who had the trumpet was commanded to release the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates. River Euphrates flows through Iraq. Then we read, “And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind” (Rev. 9:15). So there is going to be war and a third of mankind will be killed. With the population of the world today at about seven billion plus, one third of that is over two billion people. I can’t think of any man-made way to kill so many people, except through atomic bombs. Other way is for a series of coordinated natural disasters to strike the world. The next verse says that “the number of the armies of the horsemen was 200 million.” Then we see read, “The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the river Euphrates; and its water dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east” (Rev. 16:12). It is through this path that all the kings will lead the army “for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty” (Rev. 16:14). This prophecy is accompanied by a warning: “Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keep his clothes…” (Rev. 16:15).

When we read about wars in Matthew 24, these are the two areas of the world, where there will be concentration of wars in the last days. And looking at today’s newspapers, it’s almost as though the Bible was written with the 21st century specifically in mind. Interestingly, a war around Iraq first started in the 20th century – never before that.

The beginning of birth pangs

The situation of wars during the last days is compared to birth pangs that a woman goes through before a birth. ‘‘You will be hearing of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs’’ (Mt. 24:6-8).

There is tremendous pain just before a woman gives birth and immense joy after that. Some mothers say that the pain is so great that they have wished they could die. I don’t think men can ever understand the pain that a woman goes through when she gives birth to a baby. Thankfully, it’s a relatively short period and immediately after the baby is born, the mother forgets all about the pain. The joy is so much that the birth pangs become a vague memory. Jesus used this birth of a baby to describe how His coming from heaven would be; it will be of great excitement. Expectant mothers are in excited anticipation of the coming baby. The extent of the joyful anticipation is such that they are not troubled or concerned about the birth pangs that they have to undergo. They are very much prepared to go through those intense pains for what lays ahead of them – the birth of a bundle of joy.

So how are we to feel when we hear about wars, rumours of wars and great tribulation? I know that things will get tough but that’s for a short time only. The anticipated excitement of His coming can numb any short lived pain that we may have to go through. Jesus illustrated this when He spoke to the disciples just before His departure in John 16:16: “A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.” When Jesus said this, His disciples wondered as to the meaning of His statement. Jesus knew that they wished to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, 'A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'? Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. Whenever a woman is in labour she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you” (Jn. 16:19-22).

A lot of people think that weeping and lamenting is a bad thing, but Jesus didn’t think so. He told His disciples that they would weep. He said, “Blessed are those who weep and blessed are those who mourn; for they shall be comforted.” There is a joy that a Christian has that is with in his heart, even though outwardly, there may be very often sorrow, pain, weeping, and lamenting. The world is different; they have an outward joy but nothing on the inside. The world’s joy is dependent on circumstances and money and prosperity. Jesus said, as far as His children were concerned, they would weep and lament and be sorrowful, but that sorrow will be turned into a joy that lasts – a permanent joy. And once again, He used the example of the pain of a pregnant woman. The church has gone through a lot of sorrow for 2000 years, “but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”

The four fold test to save you from deception

So with that joy to look forward to, I don’t want to be a traitor to Him by flirting with a world that crucified Him and rejected Him. I am not interested in the honour of a world that rejects Him, and not even of a Christian world that has rejected the true Jesus of the Bible and proclaims another Jesus today. This other Jesus who they say will make you rich and healthy but is not committed to making you holy. The real Jesus of the Scriptures came to the world to save us from our sins (Mat. 1:21) and not to save us from difficulties, troubles and trials; not even from poverty or sickness. There is no doubt that these things are bad, and He will remove them completely when He returns again. But when He came to the earth 2000 years ago, it was to save us from sin.

Those to whom salvation from sin is the primary will know the true Jesus. And to those to whom salvation from sin is not the primary goal in their life will be deceived. If what you live for is a life of comfort and pleasure, and even the occasional sinful pleasure (which of course you keep confessing and asking Jesus to forgive), then you will be deceived, because you will not be living as God wants you to live in the last days. When I strongly speak about falsehood abounding in Christendom, my intention is not to prevent people from attending Christian public meetings, or listening online messages, or reading this or that Christian book. We are not a cult that teaches that you should do only this or that, but my earnest desire is that you would be careful with what you listen to or what you read from, because there is a lot of deception. Be watchful to discern whether people are teaching the Scriptures faithfully.

I knew of a great man of God who died some years ago, who was a leader of many churches. He had the habit of reading 10 chapters of the New Testament every day, even after being a believer for 30-40 years! He felt this need to study so much every day, because he had a responsibility for so many people. So he would read through the whole of the New Testament once every month. I am not suggesting that you do that. If you have responsibility for churches (or desire to have), then there is a great need to know the New Testament thoroughly, because we live in times of great deception.

We normally don’t have cable television in our home. However some years ago I decided to have it for a year in order to watch the Christian television programs. Many people were asking my views on various Christian television preachers. Rather than give any second hand opinion, I wanted to hear them for myself before making any comments. So for about a whole year, I frequently listened to every one of these television preachers. No one seemed to preach from the Sermon on the Mount, the things that can make one’s spiritual house built firmly on the rock. Nevertheless, despite being thoroughly rooted in the Scriptures, I found that they sounded very convincing. I began to wonder whether there was anything really wrong with these folks; what they said did not seem untrue. I had to re-read the New Testament to see the difference; the difference between what Jesus taught and what a lot of these preachers taught.

We must recognize that the devil often comes as an angel of light, so we must be very careful. It is not my desire to name any names. I don’t need to do that. All I ask you to do is to read your Bible diligently, and God will show you what is from Him and what is from an angel of light (Satan). But if you are too lazy to read the Bible, then you probably deserve to be deceived. I say this with much anguish and hesitation. You deserve to be deceived, because you have God’s Word in whatever language you prefer to and yet you don’t read it. Instead, you listen to many other people, and you don’t take the time to test to see if it is the truth. Only when you get to know your Bible better, you’ll know to differentiate the truth from the counterfeit. Not everyone can differentiate a counterfeit currency note from a genuine one, unless he is an experienced banker who can do it by just a touch.

Over the years, I have learned to ask myself these four questions when dealing with deception: (a) Did Jesus do it? (b) Did Jesus teach it? (c) Did the apostles do it? (d) Did the apostles teach it?

Let’s take an example of something often seen on Christian TV; preachers pushing people down and calling it as the power of the Holy Spirit. When I apply my four-fold test, I find that it fails on ALL FOUR counts! There is no evidence of Jesus doing it or teaching it. There is also no evidence of the apostles doing it or teaching it. How is that millions of Christians are so taken up with that when it doesn’t conform to the standard of truth – the Word of God? A lot of things might seem good, but for myself, I want to stay with what is written in the Scriptures, because my eternal soul depends on that. I have only one life to live. I can’t afford to waste part of it fooling around with fantasies, imaginary things, the opinions of men, and what psychology teaches us about ourselves, etc.

I am not advocating that one should read the Bible or Christian books all the time. I can’t do that myself. I fully appreciate the need for physical and mental relaxation. There are plenty of clean, legitimate secular forms of relaxation. In fact, I encourage people to do that. We only need to make sure that we don’t go overboard even on those things. We need to relax the body and the mind, but it is of primary importance to know the Scriptures, if we want to be protected in the last days.

Are you an Old Covenant Christian or a New Covenant Christian?

Further to speaking about wars, Jesus said, “they will deliver you to tribulation and they will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. And at that time, many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because sin has increased, most people’s love will grow cold” (Mt. 24:9-12). The Lord makes it very clear that, in the last days, we can expect a lot of tribulation and persecution for Christians. Tribulation and persecution is not a very popular subject for most. The reason is that they don’t understand the difference between the New Covenant and the Old Covenant.

Most people think that all the promises in the Old Covenant are for Christians as well. That is not true. The proponents of the “Health and Wealth Gospel” always go to the Old Testament to find supporting verses. They can’t find them in the teachings of Jesus or the Apostles. The Old Testament has plenty of promises to Israel on material wealth, physical health, and many other such things, including a land of their own. Jesus came to offer something fundamentally different. He didn’t promise us land on this earth even though it was promised to Israel. Jesus came to tell us about being spiritual and about the Kingdom of Heaven. Did you know that there is not even a single promise about heaven in the Old Testament? Three quarters of our Bible is the Old Testament and yet there is not a single promise that God gave to Abraham or his descendants about becoming spiritual, going to heaven, or the kingdom of God!

The promise for Abraham and his descendants was for a kingdom on this earth and all these promises: Canaan’s land, material prosperity, many children, sound health, no miscarriage, etc. Furthermore they had the promise of prosperity in business, in farming, multiplication of cattle, and so on (Deut. 28:1-15). Undoubtedly those were amazing promises by God. With the coming of Jesus all that changed. His coming was preceded with a message by John the Baptist: “Time to turn around (repent) from facing this kingdom of earth, for the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Heaven, is near. Those who want to turn around from this earthly gospel to a Heavenly gospel, get ready, because it’s about to be preached.’’

Repent means, turn around. What did the Israelites have to turn around from? John was telling them to turn around from this kingdom of earth that Israel had been promised for 1500 years, completely turnaround from following this health and wealth gospel. He came to tell them that what they needed now was heavenly wealth and heavenly health. They now needed to please God with holiness (spiritual health) and having many heavenly children (bringing more people to Christ – spiritual wealth). That is the message of Jesus Christ that John the Baptist prepared the people for. When John the Baptist was killed, Jesus continued in the same vein, proclaiming that the kingdom of heaven is near. And that kingdom of heaven finally arrived on the day of Pentecost.

Material prosperity and physical health were the blessings under the Old Covenant. Nobody in the Old Testament was promised holiness of heart. In the New Covenant however the Lord promises to give us a pure heart for those who will seek it. A pure heart is available for those who want it and who pursue it. But we have a choice now and we will end up going to whichever Covenant we really want to. Consider this: Why do you go into a particular shop when you want to buy something? Obviously that shop sells what you are looking for – whether it’s milk for your child, or spares parts for your car, or medicine for yourself. Likewise there are two spiritual shops for us: the health/wealth shop (being sold in the Old Covenant) and the holiness and inward life shop (being offered in the New Covenant). And each of us will go to the shop that we want for our life.

You must recognize however that the true holiness very often comes only through persecution. Persecution sifts the real Christians who are willing to pay any price to be holy from the superficial Christians who want to avoid it wherever possible. The Old Testament also contains warning against deception from false prophets: “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder…” (Deut. 13:1, 2). Suppose a prophet in the Old Testament came to Israel and prophesized in the name of Baal or Molech or one of the other heathen gods, do you think Israel would even stopped to listen to him? Obviously not; no false prophet would “arise from among them” and come in the name of Baal or Molech. The false prophet would come in the name of Jehovah, and only then the people of Israel would stop and listen. If they then performed a few signs and wonders in the name of Jehovah, then there was a higher probability of deceiving the people.

It’s the same in the New Testament. As we have already seen that many will come to Jesus and say that they did signs and wonders in His name, who will be eventually rejected by the Lord (Mat. 7:22, 23). So we must protect our hearts from blindly following the signs and wonders knowing that signs and wonders will be done by false prophets in the name of Jesus in these last days to deceive people. Because their signs came true, the false prophets of the Old Testament were able to turn the Israelites away from Jehovah to Baal or something else. It will be the same today.

The equivalent of Baal today is Money! Elijah stood on Mount Carmel and said, “If Jehovah is God worship Him, if Baal is god, worship him.” Today the prophet stands and says “If Jesus Christ is God, live for Him, but if money is god, then live for it.’’ Make your choice, but you cannot serve Christ and money (Luke 16:13). So if somebody does a sign and a wonder (standing on a platform all dressed up in expensive clothing and claiming to be a millionaire by trusting God) and says, “Come on, God has called us to make a lot more money and you too can become a millionaire,” then this should be your response: “you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams who tells you of the angels he saw in the dreams he dreamt; for the LORD your God is testing you” (Deut 13:3).

The LORD your God tests you to see whether your love is for real. It’s much deeper than even a desire for holiness. Whether we truly love the LORD God with all our heart and soul or do we love the Lord AND something else as well - a little money or a little comfort – that’s what the test is all about. That’s an underlying principle behind deception. It’s a test for Christians as they interact with all these preachers around today to see which kind of preachers will they listen to?

We are living in the days of rampant deception. When you listen to a preacher, you are being tested by God to see how your heart responds to the message – to see what your heart truly desires. That is the one reason why so many Christians are so easily fooled by many of the Christian TV preachers today. God knows that you want a little bit of holiness but at the same time your desire for material things is much greater, and He wants to expose it. He does this by sending preachers who offer those things that you are after. Surely they will refer to a Scripture verse here and there and you get fascinated by them. But you don’t really know the Scriptures yourself, and you are not filled with the Spirit enough to discern what the preacher’s spirit is.

Whenever I listen to a preacher, I see if I can sense a humble spirit in him or her? I have seen women preachers that say everything right, but there is a haughty spirit about them. They don’t have that meek and quiet spirit which is precious in God’s eyes. Most Christians don’t even know what a meek and quiet spirit is, mostly because they don’t have it themselves. They get carried away with the fine oratory of the preacher not realising that it is nothing more than pseudo psychology. The Lord God is testing us, and many people are fooled, even elders of many churches. No wonder the Bible says, “Even the elect may be deceived in the last days.”

As we have seen earlier let me give you a simple test to discern whether a preacher could deceive you. Read Matthew 5, 6 & 7 about 20 times or so to familiarize yourself, and see whether the preacher is preaching those things. You will discover immediately whether what is being taught will help you build your house on the rock or help you build your house on the sand. “You must follow the Lord, keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him” (Deut 13:4). These are the days where you really need to cling to Him, because even the elect may be deceived. I am emphasizing this because of my own personal experience. I almost got deceived by listening to these TV preachers, and I had to shake myself off and get back to the scriptures. The scriptures are the only basis by which you can save yourself from deception.

The last days elect do not escape tribulation

Therefore, since I am in the New Covenant, I must listen to what Jesus said about spirituality and realize that persecution and tribulation is part of what I must go through, no matter what any other expert might say otherwise. Jesus said that we will be delivered up to tribulation (Mat. 24:9). He also said that there would be a time of great tribulation (Mat. 24:21). “But immediately after the tribulation of those days…the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky…all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” (Mat. 24: 29-31) Jesus is going to come immediately after the tribulation and immediately after the revelation of the antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:3). So there is going to be a time of tremendous persecution before Christ comes again.

I am not looking forward for persecution, just as you would not. I am definitely not asking God to send the tribulation. Nobody likes persecution and nobody likes to be tortured in the horrendous way it has been done and being done in various parts of the world. Nevertheless we must face the reality of Jesus’ words; Persecution will come and we have to be prepared for it. We can also see this from the book of Revelation: “A great multitude, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes” (Rev. 7:9). Who were these people? – “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14). So these are Christians cleansed in the blood of Jesus Christ and they came out of the great tribulation. Obviously these Christians did go through the great tribulation. In spite of reading this verse, some people defy logic by saying that those who “came out of the great tribulation” never went into the great tribulation. Suppose I say that I came out of Africa to India, does it mean that I never went to Africa? No. I had to go into Africa before coming out of it, I didn’t bypass it. These Christians, having been there in the tribulation and having come out of it, are now in heaven. In fact, every passage about the last days and persecution indicates that Christians will go through the great tribulation before Christ comes.

Also look at Revelation 13 which talks about the antichrist (referred to as the beast). Verse 5 tells us that the beast was speaking “arrogant words… and authority to act for 42 months was given to him.” This time period is of note, because he imitates the ministry of Jesus Christ of 3 ½ years (42 months). Then we read, “It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him” (Rev. 13:7). How can the antichrist make war with the saints, if the saints are already in heaven? Despite such stark clarity in scripture, it’s amazing how many people twist the Scriptures to believe that Christians will escape the tribulation and be raptured before Christ comes again.

The whole concept of the rapture is a theory that started only about 150 years ago in England, a country that has never faced persecution for centuries. You would never see such a doctrine coming out of China, or communist Russia, or any other country where people face persecution. This theory comes from people who live in comfort and who love comfort. This passage in Revelation is so clear that the antichrist would make “war with the saints and overcome them.” Let’s be clear; the antichrist overcomes the saints physically, because you can’t overcome a saint of God spiritually. So physically the antichrist was able to overcome the saints – and so, was allowed to kill the saints. Again, “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written…in the book of life” (Rev. 13:8). Here we see that there will be Christians on the earth who will not worship the antichrist. If anyone has an ear to hear, let him hear.

We also see that that there will be a false prophet who is going to support this antichrist and “will perform great signs” (verse 13). He will even make fire come down out of heaven to the earth and people will believe him. “He deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform.” There will be plenty of miracles in the last days, and a lot of people are going to be deceived by those miracles. Don’t we already see this among many Christians today? When something is supernatural, people believe that, attributing it to God, even more so, if it is done in the name of Jesus. Many Christians do agree that not all supernatural is from God. But if it is done in the name of Jesus, then it must be from God. Sadly they don’t realize that Jesus warned in Matthew 7 that people would come in HIS Name and do miracles in HIS Name. We have already looked at that.

So what then is the perseverance of the saints in the last days? The answer is simple and it is specifically mentioned in Revelation. “Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus” (Rev. 14:12). While there are a lot of people who are worshipping the beast having received the mark of his name, there are some people in the midst of this, who persevere and don’t yield to pressure, torture, or even killing. “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord…so that they may rest from their labours, for their deeds follow with them” (Rev. 14:15).

God supplies grace to face persecution

There will be two kinds of believers around when Jesus returns - those who are ready and longing for His return and those who are ashamed. “Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame” (Rev. 16:15). So it is possible for a believer to be ashamed when Christ comes. Look at 1 John 2:28 “Little children, abide in Him (he is talking to little children, the born again believes), abide in Christ so that when He appears, we may have confidence, boldness to run up and meet the Lord and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”

The trumpet sound will herald the return of Jesus and some people will be much excited as they have been waiting for that event. Others however would be alarmed, and possibly say, ‘I am not ready, I haven’t apologized to my spouse with whom I fought this morning. Lord, can you please hang on for a while; let me go and settle things first.’ Jesus said that if you were on the roof of the house, you shouldn’t even have to go back inside for any reason. If you were in the office, you wouldn’t have to go back home. Because there was nothing back in the home that needed settling!

Yes, we are going to face very difficult times indeed. Jesus said “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace.” Will there be prosperity in the world? No! In the world His people will face tribulation, but they should take courage as Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33). He has overcome the same world that will persecute us. And we see that in Mark 10: 29 as well. “I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but will receive a hundred times as much in this present age, houses and brothers, sisters, mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions.” Persecution is in the same package as other things promised. These are after all things in this age, then “in the age to come, eternal life.”

We have so many in our church who are estranged from their parents, siblings and other kith and kin, because of their stand for the Lord. My wife also faced that for many years. Many others have lost houses, property and other things, because they stood for Christ. But God has given us hundreds of brothers and sisters around the world, who treat us better than any of our blood family would. Hundreds of homes are open to us around the globe. And of course, along with that has also come opposition, persecution and court cases. All of that comes in the same package, exactly as Jesus said. Would you ever lose out by following the Lord? No, never! You might lose your physical family when you become a Christian. But if you are integrated into a local church that sees itself as the body of Christ, you get an even better family! Now you won’t get that if you’re a visitor or an occasional attendee, or one of those so-called members who just comes on Sundays. If you are integrated with the body of Christ, as I have been, you will see that it’s a family. I can honestly say that my local church is my family. Now I don’t know whether you can say that, but that is what Jesus promised, and that is what I have been experiencing.

Let’s look at another scripture in 2 Timothy 3, a chapter that we have already looked at it in the context of there being a lot of deceivers during the last days. We read here that “they will always be learning the truth and never coming to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim 3:7). There will be people in the last days, who keep on hearing, but no matter what they hear, they don’t understand the truth, so they don’t make any progress. They began in the kindergarten spiritually, but now after thirty years, they are still in the kindergarten. They were defeated by anger thirty years ago, and they are still defeated by anger today. They were defeated by the lust of the eyes thirty years ago, and they are still defeated today. Basically, they have made no progress. A lack of spiritual progress is a clear sign of being deceived. Paul then contrasts Timothy with them: “you followed my teaching, you saw my life, my purpose my faith, my patience, my love, my perseverance and persecutions and sufferings” (2 Tim. 3:10, 11) – all of which comes in the same package. Then we read in verse 12: “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

In every generation, and in every country, there is persecution. Now the persecution may not always be physical. It may just be a prejudice against you at the office, because you are a true Christian. When I was a naval officer, I had to stand up to my senior naval officers on numerous occasions. I had to stand at attention and say, “Sir, I am a Christian, and I can’t do a certain thing, because it’s against my conscience.” Once I was transferred out my posting within the first half an hour of reporting for duty at the port. And they wouldn’t write good reports about me. That didn’t bother me, because I was most interested at the report that Jesus was writing about me in heaven. I stopped pursuing my next promotion. Prior to my conversion I worked hard for promotions, and climbing the ladder of success in this world was big for me. But the day I was converted, I knew I had to be finished with that. I saw that every promotion was really in God’s hands. He could give me every possible promotion in the world. In fact, He gave me the greatest promotion of all when He called me to serve Him. But He tested me first. He tested me for the first five years, after I was born again, and then He said “Quit your job and serve Me.”

God will test us all, and I pray that God will give us grace to be faithful till the very end. Every day is a battle for you and for me. Pray for me as well! It’s not easy to stay faithful to the end. Therefore we must pray for one another. We need to stay true in these last days. There are very few who preach the whole counsel of God. We must proclaim that whole counsel of God and not just the convenient parts of it. We are not afraid of the great tribulation, because God will give us grace. When I read, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor. 12), I take God at His word, and I know that it is sufficient for me.

I look at it this way: If I sent my son, a young boy, with Rs. 10 to buy something from the store, I know that that’s all the money he would need. If I knew that he needed more money, I would have given him more. If he had to pay his school fees, Rs 10/- wouldn’t be enough, I would have to give more, say Rs300/- or whatever was needed. I wouldn’t give him more than what he needed either, because he was a little boy and he could lose it. Likewise God gives us grace according to our need. He gives us the grace needed for today’s need and in the day of persecution, He’ll give us the grace according to our need then.

We have many saints of God over the ages that have been imprisoned and tortured for decades and have stayed faithful. How is it that a man like Watchman Nee could be imprisoned in communist China for 20 years and still remain faithful? They were hoping that he would deny his faith but he didn’t. There were other Christian leaders who denied their faith in China, but at the end of 20 years, they found that Nee still wouldn’t deny his faith! So they locked him up again for another five years, but he still didn’t deny his faith. And he said, “I am rejoicing in the Lord.” How could he say that? He could say that, because he had grace according to his need. Many of God’s greatest saints have been persecuted. Peter was crucified. Thomas was speared to death in Chennai, India. Andrew was crucified on an angular type of cross. In fact, all the apostles, except John, were martyred for their faith. John was exiled to the island Patmos. Through the ages, faithful Christians have been thrown to the lions, burned at the stake, and tortured unimaginably and killed. Christians have even been killed by other Christians because of their theological position. Those who preached the new birth were persecuted and killed by other so-called Christians who didn’t believe in the new birth. Those who preached water baptism were persecuted at some points too. This is what our fellow Christians have faced because of their love for Jesus.

Chapter 6

How God will Wind up Everything

In chapter five we looked at what Jesus said about a mother going through travail, or birth pangs, before the arrival of a baby from John 16. In the same passage, Jesus said, “A little while, I will be gone from you and in a little while you will see me again” (John 16:16). That “little while” has now extended beyond 2000 years. Also Jesus further said, “You will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice” (John 16:20). This seems to contradict with Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 4 that Christians must rejoice in the Lord always. How do we reconcile these two positions?

The world’s joy is limited to the external – a superficial joy that depends on circumstances, and counts on things going right. The Christian’s joy however is completely independent of circumstances. What’s happening in the world around doesn’t matter, because he is not rejoicing in his circumstances – he is rejoicing in the Lord. So the world is made up of people in one of two categories: those who rejoice in the Lord and those who rejoice in their circumstances. Now you can ask yourself which category you belong to. The Lord never changes and so, if you rejoice in the Lord, you will never be discouraged or downcast at any time in your life, no matter what happens. The people of the world, however, find their joy in circumstances. When circumstances are good, they rejoice, and when circumstances are bad, they are unhappy. If that is how things are with you, then you need to wake up and be honest to admit that you are not finding your joy in the Lord at all.

Two gospels: Old Covenant and New Covenant

You are presented with a choice of being like the world and rejoice externally and superficially, or have the joy of a true Christian that is internal. So when Jesus talked about weeping and lamenting, it means that a Christian may go through a lot of suffering externally causing them to weep and lament but never have to lose their joy within. Jesus not only spoke a lot about that, He exemplified it in His life. He was so filled with joy on the day before His crucifixion that He could share His joy with others. “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (John 15:11). At the same time, He was known as the “Man of sorrows” (Is. 53:3). He went through a great deal of suffering, pain, and opposition in His external circumstances, but inwardly it never took away His joy.

He is our forerunner for us today. We read in Hebrews, “let us run the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus who for the joy set before Him endured the cross…’’ (Heb. 12:2). He did not enjoy the cross – He endured the cross. We are also not asked to enjoy the cross but to endure it, because there is a joy set before us – the joy of fellowship with the Father. Our sorrow will be turned into permanent joy when Jesus returns. Then there will be no more suffering. Just like a woman has sorrow in her travail, so also we have sorrow now. But when she gives birth, she completely forgets about her pain, because of the joy of the baby’s birth. Jesus used the same analogy of the mother’s birth pangs both here in John 16 as well as in Matthew 24 – to describe the times just before the Lord’s return.

Now why is it that the word “tribulation” never seems to appear in the Old Testament? References to persecution mostly appear in the Psalms. Generally speaking, the idea of persecution and tribulation are hardly found in the Old Testament. The Old Testament has great deal of an emphasis on concepts like prosperity, physical health, rule over nations, possession of heathen lands, victory against earthly enemies, etc. But in the New Testament, Jesus said, “in the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Now if you don’t understand the significant difference between the Old Covenant and the New, you will probably gravitate to the Old Covenant message and open your heart to it, because it’s pleasant on the ears! Accordingly, in Christendom today, there are two types of preachers, broadly speaking – those preaching the Old Covenant gospel and those preaching the New Covenant gospel. The Old Covenant message says that God will make you healthy, that He will give you houses and lands, and that He will make you very wealthy. But they will seldom speak on God giving you victory over anger, lusting with your eyes, love of money and anxiety.

In contrast, the New Covenant preacher does not speak about prosperity and health. The New Covenant preacher says that if you seek the kingdom of God, He will give you enough for your earthly needs; He will give you just enough health and just enough wealth. God will not make you rich, but He will never let you starve; never leave you out in the dumps. In the New Covenant the things of this earth are not our primary focus, but our focus is on knowing God personally and salvation from our sins. It’s natural therefore for worldly believers to embrace an Old Covenant gospel over the New Covenant gospel. Thus we can understand why God has allowed both these gospels to be preached in the world today. He is testing all believers to see which one they will respond to, and what they respond to will prove the true nature of their hearts. As Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mat. 6:21). So as you hear these two competing messages, recognize that you are being tested. As you yourself can now know the true condition of your heart, you can make the right choice; whom to hear and follow.

The coming of the Antichrist

In chapter 2 we have looked at how not loving the truth will lead people into deception, from 2 Thessalonians 2. The context of that passage is “with regard to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him” (2 Thes. 2:1). That means we can be deceived even about the coming of Christ and our being taken up to be with Him – what is known as the rapture. Paul also said, “Don’t be shaken from your composure or disturbed by someone claiming to speak in the Spirit, or claiming that a message has come, or a letter has come from the apostle Paul” (2 Thes. 2:2). Since it was possible for someone to send a fake letter claiming to be written by Paul and distort the message, he alerted them saying, “Don’t be disturbed by people who claim that the day of the Lord has already come.” Even though Jesus had clearly said, “As the lightning shines from the east to the west, so will it be when the Son of Man comes,” some said that Jesus had already come secretly and took some people. Warning against such teachings, Paul said, “Let no one deceive you, for that day will not come, until first there is a great falling away (apostasy), that day will not come, until the man of sin, the antichrist is revealed” (2 Thes. 2:3). Can there be anything plainer than what’s written here in the Scripture? Paul further said, “The son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself above everything and he will sit in the temple of god, displaying himself as being god” (2 Thes. 2:4). Clearly the New Testament teaches that someone will arise who is going to be a sort of a world ruler and that Christ will not come till that man arises.

It certainly is a good thing and nice to believe that Christ could come tonight or tomorrow. The Scripture however makes it very clear that there is a preceding event - the appearing of a man of lawlessness before Christ comes. There are many areas in our life where we have to change our way of thinking from what we have learned as children. We have a way of sticking to traditions rather than what the Bible plainly teaches. I have changed my views on many things. I decided long ago that the Bible is God’s Word and everything else is the teaching of men. In fact, even when Jesus was on earth this was His problem. One great battle He had was with people who clung to the traditions of men.

Paul goes on to say, “don’t you remember that when I was with you I was telling you all these things, why then are you disturbed by all this type of teachings, but you know what restrains him, so that in his time, he will be revealed” (2 Thes. 2:5, 6). The Holy Spirit is restraining the forces of evil that allows the Antichrist to come forth, until the particular time that God has ordained. Meanwhile, and until then, the mystery of lawlessness is already at work (2 Thes. 2:7). What is this mystery of lawlessness? I can’t be absolutely sure, but my guess is that it is the message that believers don’t have to take sin seriously, because they accepted Christ sometime back. Where in the Bible do you find the Holy Spirit saying that it’s not a serious matter if you sin? But I know exactly who said that. It was the devil who said that to Eve! The numbers of believers brainwashed into believing that they are saved for eternity if they had sincerely said a prayer some time ago, are numerous. They are led to believe that their eternal destiny is not affected, even if they continue to sin now. That to me is the mystery of lawlessness. It is a “mystery” because it’s unfathomable how a Holy God could possibly tell people that it doesn’t matter if they sin. It makes no sense in the light of the Ten Commandments, let alone the New Covenant.

Now when the lawless one does arise (“whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming”), his (the Antichrist’s) coming “is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders” (2 Thes. 2:9). When Satan wants to manifest himself, he will do so with signs, miracles and false wonders? That is quite clear here. I’ve said this before but it bears repeating. So many Christians believe that if a miracle is done in the name of Jesus, then the person doing it must be a man of God. I don’t arrive at that conclusion right away. I want to see his life more than anything else, because Jesus said that we will know true from false prophets by their fruits. We will not necessarily be able to discern a difference in their gifts, but by their fruit we can tell. I want to see if this preacher is free from the love of money and I want to see if this preacher has humility. And if it’s a woman preacher, I want to see if she has a meek and a quiet spirit. I don’t care for doctrine alone, because the wolf will come with sheep’s clothing. Sheep’s clothing means correct doctrine. If the person is interested in the sheep’s money, then I am not going to be fooled with the sheep’s clothing. And I hope that you won’t be fooled either.

The antichrist comes not only with signs and false wonders but with deception as well. But look whom he deceives: “those who do not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.” These people are being deceived by the spirit of the antichrist even in the world today. We must be completely open to God’s truth. We must love the truth because we want to be saved from sin. We have looked this subject in detail in chapter 2.

The many mini antichrists

In writing to the church in 95 A.D. the Apostle John talks about many antichrists. “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour” (1. John 2:18). If 95 A.D. when John wrote this was the last hour, what is it now? If it was 11 P.M. in 95A.D. then it’s probably 11.59 P.M. and some seconds today. If there were many little antichrists that had arisen by 11 P.M., can you imagine how many more little antichrists there are now in the world – now that it is past 11.59? Where are these little antichrists? Where were they located? They were sitting in the church. “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19).

Why did these people leave a church where the apostle John preached? You would not expect a Christian to ever leave a church where a very disciple of Jesus was preaching, would you? But that’s how it often is. Today, everybody respects the apostles, and Christians speak reverentially of them, but back when the apostles were living, they were treated like scum. It’s very easy to respect a man of God after he is dead and gone. The history of 2000 years of Christianity teaches us that– a man of God and an apostle is usually not respected or recognized in his lifetime. During his life time John Wesley in England was treated like scum! Yet today they revere him. Likewise they treated William Booth and all these great men of God in their life time. So it was with John, he didn’t have the respect we give him today.

If we want to know what is that they didn’t like of John’s teaching, all we need to do is read his letter – 1 John. They got offended at his preaching and left. The inference is that if you preach the subjects mentioned in 1 John, people can get offended! Consider this – John doesn’t say a word about speaking in tongues in this book. He had been speaking in tongues for 65 years (from the day of Pentecost), so he was clearly not against it. Speaking in tongues is not the main theme for John. He doesn’t preach about healing either. I am sure God healed him in many ways to live up to the ripe old age of 95 in those difficult days. God took care of him but that was not his subject. He didn’t preach about prosperity, even though some people try to quote 3 John 2 to say that he did. These prosperity preachers misquote one verse where John said to Gaius, “I hope all is well with you, and I hope you are prospering like your soul is.” They latch on to that verse, because that’s about the only verse they can find in the entire New Testament to support prosperity theology. I believe that God has put that verse just to lead people astray – all those people who don’t love the truth. If all of your doctrine is based on half a verse and not the other thousands of verses in the New Testament, then you deserve to be deceived.

John also appeals to them as little children, to walk in the light (1 John 1). And again, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you don’t sin.” (1 John 2:1). Obviously those who left the church didn’t like that. And in 1 John 4:20 – “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar.” Aptly called as a son of thunder by Jesus, John was strong in his preaching. He was an apostle of love, but it was a fervent and passionate love for God – which meant a steadfast obedience to His commandments. Of course there were people who didn’t like that either, so they left him.

When John talks about “antichrist,” he means one who is “against Christ” – so an antichrist is one who is against the message that Christ came to preach – which is that He came to save people from their sins. If you are not interested in being free from sin, then there is a little bit of the spirit of the Antichrist in you. You will not stay in a church that preaches against sin, but you will go to a church that teaches you how to be rich in the world, even if you continue to be defeated by sin.

Let me illustrate this with an example. Do you know the number of times where Jesus lifted people up who were paralyzed and those who were forced to the ground by evil spirits? Pushing people down is against what Jesus ever did. But do you know the number of believers who sit with their mouths wide-open in awe when people are pushed to the ground by the preachers saying that it is the manifestation of God. That’s not a manifestation of God. The manifestation of God is when the man that you just prayed for overcomes his anger, lusting with his eyes, the love of money, bitterness and jealousy, and loves his enemies and speaks the truth always. Then I would say it is the manifestation of God. But if the person gets up and lives in the same old sinful life, it is the greatest deception of the devil. For myself, I want to do what Jesus did, not the opposite of what Jesus did. I don’t find Jesus condemning sinners. He almost entirely condemns religious hypocrites and Pharisees. He was ruthless against those who made money in the name of religion in the temple. When you are not ruthless against people who make money in the name of Christ in the church, you are an antichrist. Christ never made money through preaching. So if we do the opposite of Christ, that means if we make money through preaching and bringing people to a godly life, then we are antichrists. Jesus came to save people from their sins – and not to get money from anyone. True servants of God will follow Jesus’s example.

Purpose of all trials and temptations

Now why has God allowed a lot of deception and persecution? Why has God allowed the devil to come as a serpent to deceive and as a lion to persecute? Why did He allow the early apostles to be killed through beheading and crucifixion? These were the faithful disciples who were filled with the Holy Spirit, yet every one of them, except John, was killed. Some of them were killed when they were very young. James, the brother of John, was probably in his early thirties. Even John, who lived into his nineties, was once put into a cauldron of boiling oil, but somehow he escaped. Wasn’t God in heaven able to protect them?

Let us see what Bible says about this. ‘‘Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us’’ (Rom. 5:1-3) .Many of us know how to exult in the hope of the glory of God, but how many of us know how to exult in tribulations and why should we? Not because of the tribulation itself but because “tribulation brings perseverance; and perseverance, produces proven character, and proven character hope.”

A lot of us might have character, but that’s not the same as proven character. It is wonderful to see a newly married couple who seem to love one another on their wedding day, but that’s not proven love. For proven love, you must see that 30 or 40 years later. Proven love is proved through many, many ups and downs. It’s the same with character and proven character. You can have good character that was instilled in you as a child. Then how are you in your thirties or forties? What you had first was character, now you are proven in character, because you have gone through so many situations and you held on to the truth.

James says the same thing in his epistle. “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance” (Jas. 1:2-3). Trials and tribulation are God’s way of producing character in us and testing of our faith. Did you really believe all that you heard and said “Amen” to at church on Sunday morning? Well, it is Tuesday afternoon now, and you are facing a trial in your office or in your factory or in a bus or on the road, and your faith is tested. Faith is not tested when we nod our heads on Sunday morning; it is tested out there in our difficult situations. What then is the result of all this testing of our faith? “And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (Jas. 1:4). You can be totally perfect and complete like Christ, but the way to that is through trials and tribulations. That is how it was with all the apostles, and we can’t expect any different.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 that God comforts us in all our afflictions so that we can comfort other people when they are in affliction – with the same comfort that we received from God. Do you realize that you can have some kinds of ministry in the New Testament that only comes from the comfort of God – and that comfort in turn comes from trials and tribulations? Jesus was born with the Holy Spirit and faced innumerable trials in His first 30years. Then He was anointed with the Holy Spirit for ministry, but before He could get started with that, He first had to face 40 days of temptation, and then 3 ½ years of various trials throughout His times of ministry. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is not enough to produce an anointed ministry. Along with the baptism in the Holy Spirit, you also need to go through many, many trials. It was that way with Jesus and with any man of God worth his salt in the last 2000 years – they trod the same path. They won’t tell you all about it. Jesus didn’t tell us what all He went through in his first 30 years. Also there has never been a man in the history of the church that has had an anointed ministry, who has not gone through some type of trials in secret, a little of which you may know but most of it you won’t know. Because it is in those afflictions that we get the strength from God that we can give to others. Just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also are the comforts we receive from Him.

The reason many Christians never become strong and have a powerful ministry is that they have been unfaithful in temptation. They sit like holy people in the meeting, but out there in the time of trial, they compromise. They love money, or they seek their own, or there is something they are interested in for their own gain. And so they compromise. Yet they come the next Sunday and once again sit like holy people in the church. This can go on for 50 years and nothing changes. They continue to sit in the kindergarten of God’s school forever, because they are not faithful in private. Lest you think that trials and tribulations are unbearable, we must remember this wonderful promise in 1 Corinthians 10:13 where we read that God will never allow us to be tested beyond our ability, and that He will provide a way of escape in every situation. So when we think about the difficulties, sufferings, persecutions, tribulations that we might have to face, we have a big source of comfort – we have a Heavenly Father who allows only what we can handle.

So whether it is tomorrow, the next year, or 30 years from now, God will never ever allow me to face even one trial that is too much for me. He will regulate it. He determined how much Satan could trouble Job. He decided when Paul and James should die. He decides when I am going to die, because I want to do His will. If you want to do His will alone, it will be the same for you. But if you don’t want to do His will alone and you have your own private plans, then I don’t know when you will die. You could die many years before His time or with all these electronic gadgets, medical gadgets, you could even live longer than God ever intended you to live on the earth. Personally, I don’t want either. I want to live only as long as God wants me to live. If you are determined to do God’s will alone, and you have no other ambition in life, except to do God’s will, then I can give you an iron clad guarantee that you will not die even one second before God’s time. No cancer, no road accident, absolutely nothing can just kill you. What a wonderful way to live. So why not live doing the will of God? “The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God will abide forever” (1 John 2:17).

The trumpet call and the coming of the Lord

We read in Revelation 12 about the fall of the devil – and I want you to notice the stages of Satan’s fall. We know that the devil was thrown out of God’s presence, but he didn’t go to hell. In fact, Satan has never been in hell and never will be!

Isaiah 14 says that he was thrown out of heaven - out of the 3rd heaven in to the 2nd heaven. We know about this 3rd heaven where God dwells from 2 Corinthians 12 when Paul was taken up there. The 1st heaven is what we see as the sky – space and the universe. Between that space and God’s 3rd heaven is the 2nd heaven. The 2nd heaven is what Ephesians 6:12 refers to as the ‘heavenlies.’ Finally, 3 ½ years before Christ’s second coming, Satan will be thrown down from the 2nd heaven to the earth (Rev. 12:9), and he won’t be able to go back to the 2nd heaven after that. Up until then the devil can wander around the earth (like in Job’s time), but he didn’t dwell on the earth. When he is thrown down, he will persecute the saints like never before through the agency of the Antichrist. In fact, I believe that the Antichrist will be indwelt by the devil.

There are many people who are possessed by demons, but Satan himself indwells certain evil people. There may have been a few in human history who were indwelt personally by Satan, one among them was Judas Iscariot (John 13:27). Satan may have indwelt a couple of big figures in history who severely persecuted some of God’s people. But he will definitely be in the Antichrist. After 3 ½ years when Christ return we who are still on earth will be caught up to Jesus. But through it all, God will not allow any of us to be tempted beyond our ability. Even when the Antichrist is here, we will be true and faithful to Jesus and refuse to receive the mark of the Antichrist. We will be tested in this by the Lord but never beyond our ability.

Isn’t it wonderful to be among those who remain faithful to Jesus? It will be a tremendous honour to be one of those who didn’t want to run away, but who wanted to fight for the Lord and stand for Him. The prospect can be scary, especially when we read and hear about how Christians were tortured, but God will give grace. If God doesn’t give the grace, none of us can stand. Even if we have to die for His name it will be a tremendous honour? A lot of saints are going to be killed during the last days, but they die with great expectation. Because then Christ will come with a shout! “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch-angel and with a trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thes. 4:16).

There is going to be a trumpet sounded by the arch-angel that heralds Jesus coming in the clouds. The dead will be raised up from the cemeteries around the world along with those who are buried in the sea, and we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air to welcome Him down to the earth. We’ll be like children who run out to meet their father who had been away for a long time. We’d be filled with joy. It’ll be the welcoming committee going up to bring Jesus down to the earth. It is my understanding that the time, between when we meet Him in the air to when we are down on this earth, is probably 24 hours.

Jesus will then destroy the Antichrist in the battle called the Battle of Armageddon in the plains of Israel. We read Ezekiel 38 that Russia and other nations will come against Israel, but in the last day the Lord will come down and smite His enemies. Then, as we read in Revelation 19, Jesus will come with His saints, will set His foot on the Mount of Olives, and will establish His kingdom in Jerusalem, and will bring peace on the earth for 1000 years. During those 1000 years, “Satan will be bound in a bottomless pit” (Rev. 20:2). Satan is not bound today and neither can we bind him. There are a lot of people who say “Satan I bind you…,” but you can’t bind Satan. We can bind his activities, but we can’t bind Satan himself (or any of the demons for that matter). For if you bind him today, what allowed him to be free tomorrow? No, only Jesus can bind him, and He will do it one day.

Finally, after the 1000 years are over, Satan will be released (Rev. 20:7), and he will be permitted by God to come to earth for a short period to deceive people once again. Then the Lord will come down and judge him and he will be cast into the lake of fire, not hell (Rev. 20:10). Hell is only a small pond of fire. This pond of fire will finally be thrown into the lake of fire and Satan also will be thrown into that. So Satan’s descent was initially from the 3rd heaven to the 2nd heaven, then it will be to the earth, and then to the bottomless pit, and then finally to the lake of fire. The final event will be where God sets up His throne (Rev. 20:11) where all the people that ever lived from the time of Adam and whose names were not in the Book of Life, will be judged according to their works. This will be to show everybody a video tape of all their entire life and to prove that these people deserve to go to hell. Then the time will be right for a new heaven and a new earth to be established (Rev. 21).

In conclusion, the most important thing is to be ready, even if we don’t understand all the timing details. We can live life with a wonderful hope – knowing that it will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ. Like John said in 1 John 3:2: We are already children of God, but we don’t know exactly what it will be like when He appears. But we do know one thing: that we will be just like Him. So we will have a physical body like His glorified body that cannot be hindered by walls, or by distance, or by gravity, and which can move from earth to heaven in a fraction of a second. But more than all those physical things, we shall be like Him. Our nature will be totally Christ-like. So if you have this hope, and if this excites you, then you will purify yourself until you reach His standard of purity (1 John 3:3).

Chapter 7

Don’t Get Drunk with Worldliness

Thus far we have looked at Mathew 24 and 25, where Jesus spoke about the last days, in great detail. Let’s now turn our attention to a parallel passage from Luke 21, where Jesus said that men will faint from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world (Luke 21:26), and then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21: 27-28).

A true disciple of Jesus can have his head lifted up at all times. It never needs to hang down in defeat, in depression, in gloom or occupied with innumerable earthly things. Have you noticed the animals in the world; every animal has their head to the ground, whether it is a cow, or a dog or a pig. We must rise above the standards of these animals, which are always looking down at the earth, searching for what they can get for themselves. The primary occupation of animals is food, sex and sleep. When these three become the most important things for man, he has reduced himself to the level of an animal. You never see a cow looking up and praising God. Neither does a pig or a dog or even a lion. That was reserved for humans. Unfortunately there are plenty of human beings whose heads are not lifted up. One of the first questions, if not the first question, that God asked a man outside the Garden of Eden was the one he asked Cain, “Why is your face fallen?” (Gen.4:6). It was a posture that humans were never intended to hold. I must walk with my head lifted up, because God is “My glory, and the One who lifts my head” (Ps. 3:3). If your head is not lifted up because of any earthly reason, then you should ask the Lord to lift up your head.

I am not talking about a life without problems. It has pleased the Lord to take me through many trials in my life – otherwise I couldn’t have had a ministry today. The point that I want to make is, the Lord can lift up my head and not let me sink under the weight of the trials – even as I go through them. We were meant to walk on top of the water. It’s His power that can keep us, because we surely can’t do it without this power.

Deluded by materialistic pursuit

Then Jesus goes on to say in Luke 21:34-35 – “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth.” Jesus often asked His disciples to be on our guard in the last days, so that we should not find Christ coming like a thief. Paul said the same thing. “For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labour pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief” (1 Thes. 5:2-4). The Living Bible translates this as: “a thief is not going to call ahead and make an appointment before he comes to your house. It’s when everybody is walking around complacently, congratulating each other saying, “Hey, we have it made, we can take it easy now” – that’s when suddenly everything will fall apart.’’

We are living in a time of materialistic pursuits due to increased wealth. We are seeing that happen in Indian cities as well. People have become rich and congratulate themselves for having made it, and that they can take it easy in life. But suddenly everything is going to fall apart and the Lord asks us to be ready for that. A lot of people have put their trust in currency, large bank accounts, the stock market, real estate, and their secure jobs. I want to tell you that everything is going to fall apart – and we could well be seeing the beginnings of that. This is not intended to scare you but to get you ready so that you can keep your head lifted up trusting in the Lord. If you do that, things will not fall apart in your life no matter what happens around you.

The coming of the Lord like a thief in the night is for unbelievers, and not for believers. It’s going to surprise them, because they are not alert to it. The believer is not surprised by the thief, because he is alert. What I mean by this is that the believer never sleeps spiritually. Like the wise virgins in Matthew 25, they were physically asleep, but their lamps (their spiritual lives) were burning.

What did Jesus mean when He said in verse Luke 21:34, “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with drunkenness”? We all understand physical drunkenness. I hope none of us ever get drunk physically. But there is another drunkenness that Jesus spoke about – a drunkenness of the heart. There are a couple of ways we can know that a man is physically drunk. One way is by his unsteadiness; he walks unsteadily. Spiritual drunkenness is, in a way, similar. You know that you are drunk with this world when you can’t walk with the Lord in integrity and faithfulness – there is a bit of crookedness in your life. Another characteristic of a drunken man is his unawareness of things around him. You can steal his money and he won’t know it. When someone is really drunk, metaphorically speaking, he is in another world, and is unaware of people and events around him. The real world is no longer real to him! When a Christian lives in a way where the real world (heaven) is not real to him, but another world which is unreal (this earthly world) becomes real to him, then he is drunk. I have made this a rule for myself. When the things of this earth are more real to me than the things of heaven, then I am drunk.

You may not be drunk all the time but once in a while! Most drunken people are not drunk every day either – they are drunk once in a while. The spiritually drunk person doesn’t live as if this world is going to pass away. Instead, his heart says this: “This world is not going to pass away, so I am going to save all my money for myself, my children and my grandchildren. I am going to live for this world.” The spiritual drunkenness defined here is not to be confused with Paul’s instruction in Ephesians 5:18, where Paul exhorts us to be drunk with the Holy Spirit. The drunkenness mentioned here is about being drunk with the world.

Being drunk with the world does not mean that they forget God altogether. They may do the minimum they can to appease God. People of all religions (including Christianity when it becomes a religion instead of a relationship) ease their conscience by going to a temple or a church or a mosque to keep their god happy. And they even give him a monetary tip every now and then. For some religions they go to placate god on Sundays. For others it could be Fridays or Tuesdays. And they tip God like you tip a waiter in a restaurant, because they want to continue to get a good service. Most religious people have this kind of religion of tipping god so that they can keep him happy and hope that he will return the gesture by blessing them. Unfortunately many a Christians are just like that. They read the Bible or go to church as a way of tipping God – they must keep Him happy, because when they die, He has to keep them from going to hell. That is not Christianity. If you think that this kind of life makes you a Christian, you are living in a world of delusion.

Jesus’ instructions and promises are only for the wholehearted, radical disciples. Jesus made it clear that the Law and Prophets were summed up with: “Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.” And Jesus said, “If you don’t keep that, there’s no use keeping all these other rules.” The problem with the Pharisees was that they didn’t keep this one. Neither did they keep the second one which says, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” They forgot about those two and got occupied with circumcision, keeping the Sabbath, keeping the feasts, measuring the amount of oil in the sacrifice, and things like that. Jesus’ verdict to them was that they had missed the bus completely – they had missed the very essence of God’s Law.

He would say the same to a lot of us Christians today. So many Christians don’t love God with all their heart, soul, strength and mind. There are a lot of other things in the world that are more important to them. Besides, they don’t even love their brothers and sisters in the church like they love themselves. They seek their own interests, they are jealous of others, they are always boasting about themselves, they always elevate their family above others and they are always criticizing others behind their back. For the Old Testament it was circumcision and offerings that was most important, and now it is going to church and reading the Bible and saying a few prayers. I fear that the Lord is saying the very same thing to us that He said to the Pharisees. I am aware that I can’t change your lives myself, but I can warn you to be careful. I am often reminded by God about His warning to Ezekiel, “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman to My people. You shall hear the word from Me and give them warning like blowing a trumpet. If you see the enemy coming and you don’t blow the trumpet, I will require the souls of My people at your hand” (Eze. 33). I take my responsibility of a watchman very seriously. If I blow the trumpet to warn the church today and you don’t take heed, I will escape. Otherwise God will make me responsible for your blood.

The warning from Jesus today is: “Be on guard, so that your hearts are not weighted down.” (Luke 21:34). We will be prevented from going up when things are weighing and pulling us down – dissipation, drunkenness, and the care of this life. In the Message Bible it says, “Don’t let the sharp edge of your expectation get dull by parties, drinking, and shopping.” Are these the important things in our life? Why has shopping become so important, as if we don’t have enough things already! No, we just have to keep up with the latest fads, don’t we? We just have to keep up with the folks next door or someone else in our office. Then we are really drunk! Then the day of Jesus’ return will take us by complete surprise –it will spring up on us suddenly like a trap. We know that the whole basis of a trap is the element of surprise. Animals have no idea that there is a trap set up for them. So whatever you do, don’t go to sleep spiritually, keep on the alert at all times, and pray constantly. It doesn’t mean that we can’t have our jobs and the many other responsibilities that we have for our families. No, it’s a spiritual alertness that should always be there at the back of our minds even while we do many other things.

Let’s take an example from modern day life. Most of us are familiar with devices like computers, ipads, etc. Thy have certain programmes always running in the background, even as the device is doing other things in the foreground? Programs like virus checks, performance balancing, etc. happen in the background. Being spiritually alert is something like that. Our mind is like a computer in one sense, many times sharper than the best computer around. There are certain things that can always be “running” in the background of our mind, even as we are doing other things. The truly spiritual person is constantly checking for earthly viruses that are coming in. It is an irony that when we are so diligent in keeping viruses out of our computers, we freely let them into our minds. How foolish! You care for something that lasts for a little while, but you pay no attention to the viruses that can destroy your eternity.

To “Be on the alert at all times,” means to keep those background checks going on at all times. In the midst of legitimate earthly chores like caring for our family, our job and many other things, we must be alert and in prayer at all times with that constant dependence upon God. We constantly ask the Lord for strength to overcome - strength to escape deception that comes subtly or powerfully. Without this dependence on God the subtle deception can even have the elect deceived. The deception is going to be so powerful that people will perform miracles in Jesus’ name, cast out demons in Jesus’ name, and will prophesy in Jesus’ name, but will have no knowledge of Jesus. We have already seen what would be Jesus’ response to such people from Mathew 7:22-23. I have gone around different countries prophesying in Jesus’ name and preaching God’s Word. I haven’t done any miracles, but I have cast out a few demons here and there in Jesus’ name. So for myself, having done all of that, I don’t want Him to say to me, “Get away from Me, you who lived in sin.”

Our attitude towards sin is going to be the most determining factor when we stand before the Lord. The mark of God’s seal on anybody who names the name of Christ is this: that they have departed from sin. Just like the President has a seal that represents his office, God’s people also have a seal. If you want to know what is written on that seal, you can find that out in 2 Timothy 2:19 – “Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.” There are two sides to the seal – the God-facing side and the man-facing side.

The side that God sees is this: “The Lord knows those who are His.” He is not fooled. As the Lord looks at all of us, He knows those who are His. None of us know about the other person. We might think of someone who comes regularly to our church as belongs to the Lord, but we could be totally mistaken and discover in the final day that this person never belonged to the Lord at all. We might discover then that he was just a first class hypocrite who fooled all of us for several years. If you sit in my church, I can warn you, but even then, only the Lord knows those who are His. If I could see the upper side of the seal, I could tell you who were the Lord’s right now. But no human being can see it. Only the Lord sees the upper side of the seal and He says, “I am not fooled. I know those who are Mine.”

But I can see the bottom side of the seal and that’s how I know those who are the Lord’s. The bottom side of the seal says, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.” When a person says that he or she is a Christian, they “name the name of the Lord.” And those who name the name of the Lord must stay away from sin. I don’t know the Lord’s side of the seal, but if a person is not staying away from sin, and he is not seeking to lead other people away from sin, and all he is interested in is doing miracles, healing, casting out demons and preaching, I can’t say for sure whether he’s even saved. I don’t know. I can be certain only when this element in his life that indicates the seal of God is revealed.

Praying for strength and living by faith

Luke 21:36 tells us to be alert and praying, “so that you can have strength so as to escape these things that are about to take place and to stand before the Son of Man.” What are the things that God wants us to escape from? Some people read this verse and conclude that they can escape the tribulation, because the most important thing for them in life is to escape suffering. I guess it depends on what you are most interested in escaping. As for me what I am most interested in escaping is sin. So I read this verse quite differently. I don’t pay any attention to escaping hell. I focus on escaping sin, and I know that if I escape sin, I will automatically escape hell. But the irony is that a lot of people who want to escape hell are not at all interested in escaping sin while on this earth. What are you to be constantly praying for? Pray constantly that you may have strength to escape sin. If Jesus were to come and rapture me before the tribulation, I don’t need any strength. I am not going to lift myself up to ascend to heaven, but He will lift me up without any problem.

Then what do I need strength to escape for? I want strength to escape denying the Lord in the time of tribulation. I want strength to escape sin because temptation can be very powerful. I want strength to escape the forces of this world that seek to swallow me up, that seek to make me drunk. That is the context in which Jesus was speaking! The context is not that you are going to suffer and hence need a way of escape. The context is that our heart is going to be weighed down with drunkenness and with the cares and worries of this world – so pray that you will have strength to escape these things. That’s why we need strength to escape, so that we can stand before the Lord. Then His coming will not catch us like a thief.

If I were to paraphrase what Jesus was warning us about; Make sure that this world doesn’t get into your heart in any way. Pray that you will have strength to keep the world outside. What do I mean by the world? I don’t mean the people of the world. The Bible tells us that God so loved the people of the world that He gave His Son. I too must love them. I must love the fellow who hates me and the boss who harasses me day and night. I may decide to leave my job and choose another job, but if I am a Christian, I cannot hate anybody. I am not permitted to hate anybody, not even one who might rape my daughter or murder her. We are not permitted to have an unforgiving spirit towards anyone, no matter what they do. I know it’s tough – that’s why we need to pray for strength to escape from the sin of having a wrong attitude towards people.

Now I know that it is tough to forgive some people, it is not just tough but impossible even. It is the same with the Sermon on the Mount. It is not just very difficult to live up to that standard, it is impossible. As long as you think it’s difficult, you are likely to keep trying. But when you realize that it’s impossible, you will stop trying, and cry out to the Lord for help. That’s the difference. Some folks are trying and trying and constantly failing. Why not recognize that it is impossible and come to the Lord for the power of His Holy Spirit, so that you have strength. Only with His Holy Spirit helping, you will be able to keep those commandments. Then you will be able to live according to God’s standards, and have strength to escape the things that are seeking to come into your heart.

The last days are going to be like the days of Noah, and God’s people are required to be like Noah. This means that, as God’s people, we should live by faith, because we see in Hebrew 11:7 that Noah lived by faith. By faith, I don’t mean the kind of faith you often hear in TV preaching - faith for a house or a better car or a better any worldly thing. Let none of us be deceived by the multitude of preachers these days on television. We need to hear God ourselves and not be swayed and influenced by people who have a lot of money or desire to have a lot of money. These people who claim to have become rich by faith may not know God at all. People who own their private jet planes are not the ones who know God, but people like Paul and Peter who were humbly dependent on God and who never asked anyone for money, know God.

The faith of humble people is the faith of Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Hebrews 12:2, “He is the Author of our faith.” An author is one who writes every single letter of a book. So Jesus being the author of our faith means that every single letter of faith in my heart is written by Jesus, not by some television preacher. Where did you get your faith from? Was it from some man or woman, possibly a favourite preacher of yours on television? - A preacher with grandeur, urging you to have faith for a better car or a better house and at the same time soliciting your money! Well, then God have mercy on you, because you can’t be ready for the last days with that kind of faith. Instead of such a faith, why not have Jesus be the Author of your faith. When Jesus is the author of our faith, we will run the race and overcome (Heb. 12:2) and be ready for His second coming.

The faith that Jesus Christ authors would prefer sickness over sin! God is my witness. I would rather have 10,000 sicknesses in my body than have one sinful thought in my mind, or look at one dirty picture for two seconds, or any sin for that matter. If you can say the same thing about you, and you have such an attitude towards sin, you would have experienced victory long ago over those evil habits that plague you. Instead, you are crazy about physical healing and material prosperity. I know that I have not sought after and pursued healing or money. I sought the kingdom of God first and His righteousness. I am not saying this to boast but as a testimony. At the end of our lives, we should all testify that we spent our lives seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness, and that He took care of all our physical health and earthly needs.

Jesus never went around begging other people for money. It would have amounted to His Father letting Jesus down and Him asking others to lend Him some money. Can you imagine that? No. He never had to go and borrow a cent from anybody. It’s an absolute shame when a believer has to either solicit money from a pulpit or go and borrow money. For such people Jesus is not the author of their faith, and they have not received their faith from the Scriptures. Instead, they have received a faith from worldly preachers who are after their money, and who appeal to the carnal instinct to be rich.

Live for the things that remain

We have looked at the times of Noah in chapter 3. We shall study a few things more from his life. “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen…” (Heb. 11:7). As you have been reading this book, have you been warned in these days about things that have not yet happened? The first thing that is said about Noah is that he had reverence. He had a tremendous respect for the word of God. Noah didn’t have a Bible full of verses, nor did he have any preachers around or fellowship. All he had was one word from God. We have 31,175 verses in our Bible but Noah had one verse. What was his one verse? “I am going to destroy this world, so you better make an ark and save yourself and your family first, and then try and save as many others as you can by preaching to them.” That was the only verse he had, and he heard it only once. He didn’t have a preacher reminding him of that every Sunday. He heard it once, and he kept that word in his mind for 120 years, and lived on that.

You too can do that, if you have faith! When you hear something from God, you won’t be interested in what man has to say to you after that. We know what Jesus said to the devil: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from God’s mouth.” Are you listening to God? We have a Bible, so we can listen to God every day. Noah heard the word from God and in reverence he believed it. He knew that this world was going to pass away – with all its sex, pleasure and violence. He saw the pollution and the sexual perversion that people were indulging in, and he heard God say clearly that He was going to destroy it. Was there a way out of this? God told him: “Noah, you have lived all your life to make money till now, but from now on, live for the things that are going to remain when this world is going to be destroyed.” It did not mean that he gave up his job and started to preach? He couldn’t have. If he did, then he wouldn’t have had time to build the ark or care for his family, or pray with his family.

Can you imagine what family prayer with Noah was like? Every day, for 120 years, there was only one verse. He would have said, “Family, I have the same verse that I have given you for the last 100 years. I am sure you all know this by now. This world is going to be destroyed. So let us live for the things that will remain after this world is over. Let’s build the ark.” And his family united together to build the ark. His sons and their wives saw that their dad was wholehearted and stayed with him. He was not supported by anyone financially to complete the ark. Today, we have a lot of Christians who say, “We have to have money to do the Lord’s work.” If Noah had asked God as to who would pay for the cost of building a mammoth ark, it would have been a reasonable question. That is the first question an average preacher nowadays would ask? Now I don’t know if Noah asked this question. If he had, I believe, God would have answered that Noah himself would have to pay for it. There were no organizations to finance Noah’s work there.

Now God may not ask you to build a ship or a meeting hall. Why do you think, we as a church have never asked money for God’s work in the last 45years? Why is it that we have never taken a public offering in any of the scores of CFC churches in all these years? Why is it that in all the churches that the Lord has planted through our ministry in India and in many other countries, we never even asked anyone for money? We keep a box at the back of the church for those who want to give, because Jesus said, “You have to give secretly and cheerfully.” How can you give secretly or voluntarily or cheerfully when somebody thrusts a bag in front of you in a church-meeting? Even if you don’t want to give anything, you will at least pretend to give by putting your hand inside the bag! Why practise hypocrisy of any kind in God’s house?

Let me tell you what the Lord told me when I began my ministry. He said to me that as long as I had one rupee left in my own bank account, I was never to ask money from anybody for God’s work. I have more than one rupee left in my bank account, and that’s why no one has ever heard me ask for money for God’s work. If my bank account does come to zero, I don’t think that will happen, then I will ask. Imagine if all the preachers in the world followed that rule, which I think Jesus followed. I can’t imagine Jesus passing a bag around and asking the multitude for money for God’s work. If we can’t see Jesus doing that, and if Jesus is the Author of our faith, then how can we do that?

I feel the same way about the songs that we sing in the church. There are a lot of worldly songs that have crept into the church. By worldly, I mean songs that have been written by people, who don’t have reverence for God, by people who are more interested in making money, =and the fame that comes with being a top Christian singer. Would you prefer listening to someone who is devoted to God and writes songs because of his devotion to God and doesn’t care about making money from them – or a person who writes songs and charges money for anyone using them. Can such a song-writer hear clearly from God? That’s one of the reasons why I prefer old hymn writers, as they never made money out of it – people like Fanny Crosby and Charles Wesley, who wrote hundreds of hymns.

Does your way of life condemn the world?

The next thing we get to know about Noah is that his entire family was saved. I hope you are interested in the salvation of your entire family? I say this especially for the fathers. If your children are not saved, if they are not becoming disciples of Jesus, it is possible that you are not too serious about it. It doesn’t befit you to blame the children for it. You can’t say that you raised them right but they weren’t up to it. I can’t imagine Noah complaining about Shem, Ham or Japheth to his wife claiming that they were no good. He was the head of his home. He took responsibility, and he didn’t let his sons to wander off in any way that they liked. He didn’t let his sons flirt with worldly friends in his days and lose their salvation. He wanted the circle to be unbroken.

There is a song that says this, “will the circle be unbroken by and by, by and by?” I picture a family circle where father, mother and children are all holding hands, whether you have 2 or 3 or 4 children, all of them are holding hands and standing in a circle. Then you go to heaven and when they stand in the circle, there are gaps here and there. What happened to one of our sons or one of our daughters? They are in hell! So will the circle be unbroken in heaven? I want the circle to be unbroken. I determined that for my family long ago. We have four sons, and we decided that if all our sons were not going to follow the Lord, then there was no use in my going around preaching and telling other people to be saved? And if they don’t marry believers, there was little use being a globetrotting preacher?

I desire that we have fathers with such determination about their children. Parents these days are more concerned about the earthly aspiration of their children. Don’t give up control over your home. Children, by virtue of Adamic nature, would like to take control of their home from their parents. Noah did not permit it, and that’s why he saved his family. Noah’s circle was unbroken when they came out of the ark. When I get into heaven, I want all my children there along with their wives and my grandchildren too. That’s important for me and I hope it is for you as well.

It is impossible for us to have a burden for the whole world. God can, because of His large heart. We are small, and God puts us in small units called families, so that we can care for our own families and bring them to Christ. He wants us to make every one of them into disciples. Don’t be just satisfied that they raised their hands in some meeting and are now participating in communion. I have no doubt that a lot of people who break bread today will go to hell. I am not interested if your son or daughter is breaking bread. My question is this: Are they disciples of Jesus? How do they live every day? Do you know what they are doing in their private life? Do you know what they are watching on the computer every day? Do you know what type of DVDs they are watching? You give them an allowance, but are they accountable to you?

Noah prepared an ark for the salvation of his family first, and then by this process he condemned the world. Noah’s life spoke: “I have nothing more to do with this rotten old world. I am not going to live for this rotten old world.” Does your way of life condemn the world like that? When people see the way you live, do they say, this guy is not interested in this world. He lives here and has a normal life, but this is obviously not his home. Think of the foreigners who come to your country for work. You can tell by their way of life that they don’t belong. This is not home for them. They live there, they may have a house, buy things, etc., but their mind is back in their home, because that’s where they are eventually going. They are here for a short while, maybe they have come for six months or three years or whatever it is, but this is not their home, and it is clear to see. They are citizens of another country, and they are always interested in knowing what is happening in their country, even though they live here.

That’s exactly how a Christian is supposed to live. Of course, I don’t mean this by one’s external appearance, but rather by their thoughts and purposes. Do people get that impression when they meet you? Do they think that though you live just like them in terms having a job, having a house, eating, drinking, etc., but your mind is not on these things? In fact, you condemn the things of this world. Noah was like that. He lived a normal life, but the people around him clearly saw that this guy had his mind set on building an ark. Come to think of it, this was the craziest of all things. There was no sea anywhere nearby, and it had never rained before. What purpose would this ark serve, where can it go? Before Noah’s time, there was no rain (Gen. 2), and so to talk about water coming out from heaven was absurd. I don’t even know if Noah himself knew and understood. Yet he obeyed God and built the ark.

As absurd as water from heaven was in those days, is fire raining down from heaven today. I hope you know from your Bible that God is going to send down fire from heaven. Yes, it has never happened, but it is going to happen. So we better build the church, and we better make sure that our families are in the church, and we better make sure that our hearts are not weighted down with worldly care.1 Corinthians 7 has a great verse for believers in our time in this connection. It primarily talks about marriage, but we can find an application for our subject. Verse 31 says, “and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away.” Paul is asking us to deal as sparingly as possible with the things of this world. We need to use things of this world, but we shouldn’t get occupied with it, because this world is passing away.

When I was a young man, I put verse 29 and verse 35 of this chapter together on a piece of paper and stuck it to my table. “The time is short, so give your un-distracted devotion to the Lord.” I have had that in my mind for many years, and I hope to keep it all my life. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get married or should not have a job. What it means that we shouldn’t get drunk with it. There is a world of difference between having a cup of wine and getting drunk with it. In the same way, there is a world of difference between using the world as sparingly as possible and getting drunk with the world.

Chapter 8

Two Bridegrooms: Jesus and the World

Jesus gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us out of this present evil world (Gal 1:4). What does it mean to deliver us out of this present evil world? Also, in the last prayer of Jesus in John 17, He talks many times about the disciples being in the world but not of the world. We need to understand not only what sin is by what our conscience tells us, but also to be aware of the influences of this world that our conscience may not point out to us, because they are more subtle. From the New Testament, we understand that there is a whole system that the Bible calls “the world.” This term is not explicitly found in the Old Testament. It was only after the Holy Spirit came to reside within us that the god of this world became clearer to God’s people. We don’t find the devil being referred to as the ‘god of this world’ in the Old Testament, but we do in the New (2 Cor. 4:4). It means that the devil is the ruler of this world, and hence he controls this world system. Even though the Old Testament doesn’t describe the evil one this way, there were people like Noah who opposed the world system. So when it says that Noah condemned the world, it means that he proved by his life that what God had said was far more important than everything this world has to ever offer.

The confession of Lord Jesus

I believe, in the last days, God is looking for people whose way of life demonstrates that the things of heaven are more real to them than the things of this earth. Paul wrote to Timothy, “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate” (1 Tim. 6:13).What was that good confession of Jesus that Paul referred to? When this verse is read in context, Paul was talking about the love of money; never making Christianity a source of gain for us (1 Tim 6:6). “We brought nothing into the world, we take nothing out. We must be satisfied with food and clothing, because if we desire to get rich, we will fall into a lot of temptations’’ (1 Tim 6:7-9). And “the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil, and some who longed for it have wandered away from the faith, but flee from these things, you man of God” (1 Tim 6:10). Flee from this whole spirit in the world of pursuing after money more than one needs to live on. We certainly need to work and earn our living, and if we are not earning enough to take care of our family’s needs, of course we seek God’s help for that. But Paul’s warning is against any pursuit of wealth beyond our needs. If we succumb to that, we will be in deep trouble including the real possibility of wandering away from the faith. When verse 10 says that “they wander away from the faith,” we must recognize that this is not a sudden falling away; rather, it’s a gradual process. I have seen it happen to many believers. They started off well in humility and fear of God, but then somehow, the pursuit of something in the world caught their attention, and they slowly drifted away.

It is in this context Paul referred to the confession of Jesus before Pilate. We read about this confession in John 18:36: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would fight.” The mark of those whose kingdom is of this world is that they fight for earthly things. They fight for earthly honour and for earthly position. Or they fight for things in the church – a fight for honour or power or property. There are so many churches that take their fights to court of law to decide on positions of power such as bishop, or on to have control of church assets. Jesus’ words stand in stark contrast – ‘My kingdom is not of this world! If I had belonged to this world, I would be fighting and My servants would be fighting too.’ When our struggle is for the things of this world, it proves that our kingdom is of this world. We’ve seen this previously in Luke 21:34 – “Be on guard, so that your hearts are not weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap. When our hearts and minds are so taken up with earthly things, then when Jesus comes, we are not ready.

In John 12:31, we read “Now judgment is upon this world.” This whole world system is far more sophisticated today than it was 20 centuries ago. It is an even more subtle force that seeks to influence our minds and draw us away from God. But God passed His judgment on this world system. When Jesus died on the cross, He said, “The ruler of this world will be cast out.” Satan is the ruler of this world, and he was defeated on the cross, so there is no need for him to have any influence on our minds towards worldliness from now on. Jesus is now available freely for all those who seek Him. That is why He went on to say, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself” (John 12:32). The way Jesus is going to draw us away from the world is by drawing us to Himself. There are many people who want to be drawn up to Jesus when He returns, but they don’t want to be drawn up to Him and away from this earth now. We might want to be with Christ when He returns, but do we want to be drawn up to Him right now – away from the spirit of this world that can seem so attractive? Or do we want to have everything in this world first, and then be taken up when He comes?

I recall a story about a boy in Sunday school where they were learning about the rich man and Lazarus. We know that the rich man went to hell and Lazarus went to heaven. The Sunday school teacher asked the students, “Who do you want to be like – the rich man or Lazarus?” One clever boy answered, “I want to be like the rich man on earth and like Lazarus after I die!” That unfortunately is so true of many, many believers today.

What is real worldliness?

When it comes to worldliness, I must emphasize an important fact that this is not an area where we can judge others. Through the ages, Christians have judged other Christians calling them “worldly” and “of this world”, based on trivial external indicators like dress style, the size of the house they live in, etc. Most Christians have an attitude that their standard is the right standard – so anybody who has more than them is probably worldly, while anybody who has less than them is being unnecessarily ascetic or super-spiritual!

Worldliness has nothing to do with one’s salary, or wealth one inherits, or the house one lives in, or the clothes one wears, or the length of one’s hair, or any of these things. I wish it were that simple to define worldliness, but it’s not. Worldliness is in the mind. It is in the mind that we can become drunk with the spirit of this world. As we approach the end of time, the battle will be for our mind more than anything else. It’s in our mind that we decide what type of clothes to wear. So it’s not the clothes itself that are worldly but the mind that decides. I have seen people who wear very modest dresses and all-white apparel, who are some of the worldliest people I have ever seen – Pharisaic and worldly to the core in their minds. We see this clearly in Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The way to stay from being affected by the world and conforming to it, is by renewing our minds! Because worldliness begins in our mind, not in any external thing as such!

The one command that Jesus gave, which I find to be one of the most disobeyed, is: “Do not judge according to appearance” (John 7:24). I have discovered through the years that Christians in every denomination, and particularly the holiness and legalistic types, are often the quickest to pass judgment on others based on people who dress differently. They may not verbalize their displeasure, but they clearly think that such people are worldly. For all that such a person may be worldly of course. However the person who judges him thinks that the worldliness is only in the person’s appearance. That’s the sad part. So even though a person is worldly in the clothes he wears, we must realize that it is not his appearance that makes him worldly. It is not his clothes, but his mind that makes him worldly or not.

Suppose you find a person dressed in what you might consider worldly, but being dressed simply, you love money more than anything else in the world. Who is worldlier then? You might judge him for being worldly, but you are a million times worldlier than that other person. You may not come across as being worldly. You hide it behind the simple clothes you wear and your simple lifestyle. That’s why we need to realize that worldliness stems from our mind, and that Jesus came to deliver us from our slavery to the world in our minds!

With this in mind, we can appreciate why Paul told Timothy that the last days will be difficult ones (2 Tim. 3:1). It is going to be difficult primarily not because of persecution, but because of the kind of people that will be in the church. These people, Paul said, will hold to a form of godliness. They are religious to the core and come to church regularly dressed in what they think is a very unworldly way. But they love themselves, they love money, they are arrogant, they are disobedient to parents, they revile God and they are unthankful. There are too many unthankful people in the church professing themselves as Christians. Lack of thankfulness is a distinguishing mark of pride. The more proud a person is, the more unthankful he is. And the more humble a person is, the more grateful he is – both to God and to man. So we can test our humility by how thankful we are to God and other people.

We have already looked at (in chapter 2) the contrasting lovers that there are from 2 Timothy 3: lovers of pleasure, lovers of money, and lovers of self on the one hand, and lovers of God on the other. This love for pleasure, money and self will occupy peoples’ hearts in the last days. But they may not recognize this as worldliness, because the “the god of this world has blinded their eyes.” One distinct way he blinds our eyes is by deceiving us as to what worldliness is. The devil will try to make us focus on a drunken man as a worldly man, or a drug addict, or a girl who wears the latest fad, or a girl with fashionable hair, or a man with long hair, etc. If these are the worldly people in our eyes, then the god of this world has blinded us. Real worldliness is the love of self, the love of money and the love of pleasure and comfort in our heart.

John said the same thing: “Do not love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15). Was John saying that we shouldn’t love good food or decent clothes? No, John was talking about a spirit, a value system that is all about this world. And John instructs us not to be occupied with that, “because if you love the world the love of the Father is not in you.” That is such a clear statement. You might know this scripture: “If you say you love God and you don’t love your brother you are a liar” (1 Jn. 4:21). But do you know the other kind of a liar who claims to love God, but loves the world? That’s what John was saying in 1 John 2:15:“If you say you love God, and you love this world, you are also a liar.” It is important therefore for us to know what is meant by this world that I should not love. We live in this world, and we use and enjoy many things, like good food. Jesus enjoyed good food too; so much so, some people called Him a gluttonous man. Worldliness is obviously not in the food we like. Worldliness is a value system in our mind that makes the things that the world considers valuable, as valuable for us too. And worldliness is that value system that makes us disregard the things that the world disregards.

Many are familiar with Matthew 6:33 that tell us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. But in the previous verse (32), Jesus said, “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” So in contrast to these worldly material things that the Gentiles seek, Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” The people of the kingdom of God are called to eagerly seek the things that the Gentiles do not eagerly seek. What are the things that the world does not eagerly seek? You won’t find the people in the world eagerly seeking to have a pure thought-life. They are really not bothered about that. They may seek to control their external behaviour, because they desire to be cultured and refined. They may not want to lose their temper, because that will impact on their reputation. But they definitely don’t eagerly seek after inward purity. They don’t eagerly seek after being 100% truthful, and they don’t eagerly seek after being free from habits that destroy themselves.

If I am also seeking the things that the people in the world eagerly seek, then I will be more interested in getting healing from cancer than in overcoming anger. Let me use an example here. Assume that you have both cancer and a serious problem with anger. Which one do you want to be free from first? A worldly person would want to be free from cancer first, the anger can wait as once he is cancer-free, then he has plenty of time to work on his anger. If you as a Christian are also more eager to be free from cancer than from anger, what’s the difference between you and the world? The only difference probably is that the worldly person sits and watches television on a Sunday morning, while you come to church. Otherwise, there is not much of a difference, is there? Physical health is more important than freedom from sin for both of you.

Don’t get me wrong. It is certainly not wrong to seek God for freedom from cancer. Let me make my point clear by an illustration. Suppose you have a pet dog and it fell ill at the same time as one your children did, who would you take to the hospital first? You don’t have to fast and pray for a decision, do you? Your dog needs to be taken to a vet for sure, but wherein lies the priority? Can we see the same contrast between our anger and our cancer! Cancer has never sent anybody to hell. In fact, I can tell you, it has sent a lot of people to heaven. An aunt of mine died of cancer, but it was her cancer that drove her to God, and she was born again shortly before she died. I don’t think she would have been born again if she didn’t get cancer. I believe that we will meet many people in heaven who got there because they got cancer. I can assure you that you will never see any one in hell just because they got cancer. But you will certainly see many people in hell because of their anger. I hope you can now determine which is more serious?

Now you would understand when I say that I don’t get excited seeing 100,000 people come for a Christian meeting to be healed of their sicknesses. Everybody in the world is eager to be healed of their sicknesses. I would however be very excited if just 100 people gathered together and eagerly sought to be free from anger. Unfortunately, we have a kind of preaching today that has very subtly shifted its focus and emphasis away from freedom from sin to being completely free and healed of all our sicknesses. They don’t realize that even though Jesus healed the sick while He was on this earth, there was something much more important to Him. While we must trust God for our physical healing, we must recognize that Jesus primarily came to save us from our sin! When we put physical healing over spiritual freedom from sin, we place the wrong priority on Jesus’ interests for our lives.

The seduction of the bride

In the New Testament, the world is pictured as a man who seeks to draw us, the Bride of Christ, away from our Bridegroom. The world is another handsome rich man, trying to draw the betrothed, to-be wife of Christ, away from the temporarily-absent Bridegroom. What we have here is a girl engaged to a man who has gone to a distant country, but before leaving they had exchanged rings with a promise to come back and marry her. They still talk to each other (that means we pray and read the Bible). However there is this man in town that the girl lives in, who is always trying to attract her, and he has plenty to offer her. The Bridegroom is so far away, but this man is near seducing the girl with the offer of so many things. With this picture in mind, Paul said, “I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.” (2 Cor. 11:2). Paul was saying that when Jesus comes back, he wanted to present the Corinthians as a virgin.

In Indian culture the virginity in a girl is highly valued, and rightly so. No parent would ever want their daughter to lose her virginity. They want her to keep her virginity for her husband. The Holy Spirit is exactly like that. He wants to keep us spiritually pure virgins for Christ. But here is the other man called the “world”, who always tries to attract us by his craftiness. And how crafty is this other man? He is just as crafty as “the devil that deceived Eve by his craftiness.” That craftiness ends up with our minds led astray. It’s in our mind that the devil tries to draw us away and lead us astray from that simple and pure devotion to Jesus.

At the end of the Bible, in Revelation 17, we read about this bride who has become a harlot. It refers to a Christian church that has lost its virginity and has become a harlot. Multitudes of churches in the world today are becoming spiritual harlots. This is not at all about physical adultery. There are a lot of Christians who have never committed physical adultery but are constantly committing spiritual adultery. They have an intimate relationship with the world that betrays their relationship to Christ. Internet pornography is just one of them, but it could be many other things in which an intimacy with the world is maintained even while claiming to be engaged to Christ. An unconverted person, one who is not born again, can never be a harlot, because he doesn’t claim to be engaged to Christ. The unconverted person clearly states that his husband is the world. If he gives himself to the world, he is not a harlot. He is only being loyal to his husband; he is very faithful wife to the world. That’s why the word ‘harlot’ here doesn’t refer to people of the world, but to the church that has lost its virginity.

Here is a poem that shows how at one time the church and the world walked apart, and then how cleverly the church was attracted to the world.

The Church and the World walked far apart

On the changing shores of time,

The World was singing a giddy song,

And the Church a hymn sublime.

“Come, give me your hand,” said the merry World,

“And walk with me this way!”

But the faithful Church hid her gentle hands

And solemnly answered “Nay!

I will not give you my hand at all,

And I will not walk with you;

Your way is the way that leads to death;

Your words are all untrue.”

“Nay, walk with me but a little space,”

Said the World with a kindly air;

“The road I walk is a pleasant road,

And the sun shines always there.

Your path is thorny and rough and rude,

But mine is broad and plain;

My way is paved with flowers and dews,

And yours with tears and pain.

The sky to me is always blue,

No want, no toil I know;

The sky above you is always dark,

Your lot is a lot of woe.

There’s room enough for you and me

To travel side by side.”

Half shyly the Church approached the World

And gave him her hand of snow;

And the old World grasped it and walked along,

Saying, in accents low:

“Your dress is too simple to please my taste;

I will give you pearls to wear,

Rich velvets and silks for your graceful form,

And diamonds to deck your hair.”

The Church looked down at her plain white robes,

And then at the dazzling World,

And blushed as she saw his handsome lip

With a smile contemptuous curled.

“I will change my dress for a costlier one,”

Said the Church, with a smile of grace;

Then her pure white garments drifted away,

And the World gave, in their place,

Beautiful satins and shining silks,

Roses and gems and costly pearls;

While over her forehead her bright hair fell

Crisped in a thousand curls.

“Your house is too plain,” said the proud old World,

“I’ll build you one like mine;

With walls of marble and towers of gold,

And furniture ever so fine.”

So he built her a costly and beautiful house;

Most splendid it was to behold;

Her sons and her beautiful daughters dwelt there

Gleaming in purple and gold.

Rich fairs and shows in the halls were held,

And the World and his children were there.

Laughter and music and feasts were heard

In the place that was meant for prayer.

There-were cushioned seats for the rich and the gay,

To sit in their pomp and pride;

But the poor who were clad in shabby array,

Sat meekly down outside.

“Your preachers are all too old and plain,”

Said the gay world with a sneer.

“They frightened my children with dreadful tales

Which I don’t like them to hear

They talk of judgment and fire and hell

And the doom of darkest night

They warn of a place that

Should not be thus spoken to ears polite

I will send you some of a better stamp

More brilliant and gay and fast

Who will show you how men may

Live as they like and go to heaven at last”

“The father is merciful,” the world said,

“Great and good, loving and tender and kind

Do you think he will take one child

To heaven and leave another behind?”

So the church called for pleasing and gay preachers,

Deemed, gifted and great and learned

And the plain old men that preached the cross

Were out of her pulpits turned.

Then mammon came in

And supported the church

And rented a prominent pew

And preaching and singing And floral display soon

Proclaimed a gospel new

“You give too much to the poor,” said the World.

“Far more than you ought to do;

If they are in need of shelter and food,

Why need it trouble you?

Go, take your money and buy rich robes,

Buy horses and carriages fine;

Buy pearls and jewels and dainty food,

Buy the rarest and costliest wine.

My children, they dote on all these things,

And if you their love would win

You must do as they do, and walk in the ways

That they are walking in.”

And so the church her purse strings

tightly held and willingly lowered her head

And said, “I have given too much away,

That’s right, I do sir as you have said.”

So the poor were turned from her door in scorn,

And she heard not the orphan’s cry;

But she drew her beautiful robes aside,

As the widows went weeping by.

Then the sons of the World and the Sons of the Church

Walked closely hand and heart,

And only the Master, who knoweth all,

Could tell the two apart.

Then the Church sat down at her ease, and said,

“I am rich and my goods increase;

I have need of nothing, or aught to do,

But to laugh, and dance, and feast.”

The sly World heard, and he laughed in his sleeve,

And mockingly said, aside:

“The Church is fallen, the beautiful Church;

And her shame is her boast and her pride.”

The angel drew near to the mercy seat,

And whispered in sighs her name;

Then the loud anthems of rapture were hushed,

And heads were covered with shame.

And a voice was heard at last by the Church

From Him who sat on the throne:

“I know thy works, and how thou hast said,

‘I am rich,’ and hast not known

That thou art naked, poor and blind,

And wretched before my face;

With pride and ruin enthralled

The expectant Bride of a heavenly Groom

Is the harlot of the world

You have ceased to watch for that blessed hope

You have fallen from zeal and grace

So now alas from my presence cast I thee out,

And blot thy name from its place.”

(And now for the best part of it)

But out from the side of this harlot church

While she slept in indolence shame

Came out a remnant who keep God’s word

And honour His holy name,

By the word of their testimony

And the blood of the Lamb

They overcame the world

And they prayed for the day

When the devil their enemy

Would be into the abyss would be hurled

For those who keep their garments clean

Shall walk with Jesus in white

In the day when He comes to claim His own,

To make them His jewels bright

(By M.C. Edwards – 1936)

As you can see from this poem, losing one’s devotion to Christ and getting drawn away into worldliness is a very slow process. The world doesn’t ask you to make any radical changes. Just make a slight change here and a small change there. Usually it comes with the cloak of spirituality such as saying that we shouldn’t be so legalistic, or that we shouldn’t be so full of rules. But what is the end result? Over a period of time, the spirit of the world has come right in, and the church is seeking after the very things that the gentiles also eagerly seek after. Finally, as we read in that poem, no one in heaven or earth or hell except the Master can say which one is the church or which one is the world. We are living in such days all around us, and this kind of spirit comes into any church as it grows in size. That is why there are people in every church whose example you must not follow, because they have the spirit of the world in them. If you follow them, you will back slide yourself. Not everyone, even in the best of churches, is wholehearted and radical for Christ. Not everyone, even in the best of churches, is keeping themselves as a pure virgin for Christ.

Becoming an enemy of the cross of Christ

In writing to Philippians Paul said, “Brethren follow my example and not only my example, observe (look carefully at) those who walk according to this pattern that you have in us” (Phil. 3:17). Paul tells them that they have seen a few people like himself and Timothy, who really seek to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. The Philippians must look carefully at such examples and follow them, “because there are many others of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ”(verse 18). These “others” don’t reject Christ outright; they just reject the way of the cross. By doing that, they reject the way by which Jesus condemned the world. Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ, so the world is crucified to me and I am crucified to the world. So follow people like Timothy and me in this. Don’t follow those others who are enemies of that cross.” They may say they love Jesus, but they don’t love His cross, that cross that brought a separation between the things of heaven and the things of this earth. For such people, Paul says, “Their end is destruction, their god is their appetite, their glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things” (Verse 19). Here again, it’s a battle of the mind, and the distinction is clear. People who set their minds on earthly things are called “enemies of the cross of Christ.”

In the last days, the great battle will be for our minds. Who is going to get your mind, is it Jesus or is it the world? The world is constantly bombarding our minds. There is an onslaught from what we read and see in the newspapers, advertisements, billboards, television programs, and now the Internet. We must be very careful what we allow inside. We are quick to put up mosquito nettings on all our windows to prevent a little mosquito from coming inside. But what about protecting our minds? Do we filter the things that come into our minds? Are we not very careful in what we eat? In India, we don’t eat stuff from ration shop straightaway. We sift it and throw the chaff and stones away. But our mind is so much more important. The words of Scripture serve as a stern warning to us: “Set your minds on the things above, not on the things of this earth” (Col. 3:1). Now we have to think about earthly things for about eight hours a day at our job, and then we have to spend many more hours a day with our family responsibilities. We have to buy food; we have to clothe and educate our children, and maybe arranging their college education as well. I have gone through all this myself, so I am telling you from experience. I know that you have to save money for their education, and all these things. In fact, if you don’t take your responsibility as a parent seriously, you are not a good Christian. It certainly is important.

I use a picture of a rubber band to illustrate how to set our minds on the things above. If our minds are the rubber band, this rubber band must be pegged in heaven where Christ dwells, and you can stretch it for earthly things – for eight hours for your work and maybe another four to five hours for other things. But once all those earthly chores are over, the rubber band is released, and it springs back to its resting state– in the heavenly places. This however is not a reality for most Christians. For most, the rubber band is fixed down here on the earth, stretched on Sunday morning for a few hours to think about heavenly things, and maybe stretched occasionally during the day to think about heavenly things. Then when it is released, it’s back to the earthly things. That’s the difference between the mind set on earthly things and the mind set on heavenly things.

As we approach the end of time, God is looking for a pure virgin for Christ. If He finds you like that, He can use you to draw many people to Himself. Your life must be a living example to other people that though you live in this world, you don’t belong to this world. That’s how Jesus lived. Take this matter very seriously, and be aware how very slowly the world tries to get a hold of you with its own set of values. If you are influenced by what you see in worldly people and their life style, and if it takes you away from God, then you need to ask yourself whether you are ready for the coming of the Lord. Has your heart being drawn away from that simplicity of devotion to Christ? Will you be ashamed when He comes?

Let me end with 1 John 2:28 a verse we have seen earlier: “Little children abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.” There will be people who will be ashamed of Him when He comes, because they are not virgins. He, who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Chapter 9

Enduring In Love

At the very beginning of the book I made it very clear that when Jesus spoke about the last days, His emphasis was not on knowing the details (that satisfies the curiosity of carnal religious Christians), but was on being ready. That is much more important for us. We may possibly know every last detail of end times and our understanding of all the details may even be correct, yet we may not be ready – and that would be terrible. On the other hand, even if some of our understanding of the details is wrong, if we are ready, we will meet the Lord when He comes in the air and have no regrets. So even from a logical standpoint, it is much more important to be ready than to know the details.

As we have seen from the last chapter, it is imperative that we untangle ourselves from any attachment to the world, and become increasingly attached to the Lord, if we want to be ready for the coming of the Lord. Speaking of last days, Jesus said, “At that time many will fall away.” (Mat. 24:10). The warning of “falling away” is emphasized throughout the New Testament. Not only will there be a great amount of deception in the last days, and not only will there be a lot of false signs and wonders in the last days, but many believers are going to fall away. And let’s remember once again, that this is not referring to unbelievers. Unbelievers don’t fall away, as they were never “in” to begin with. You can only fall away from a position to which God has brought you into.

Often when people fall away, they begin to hate others. When people leave the church, I have observed two prominent sins that creep into their lives very soon. One is their propensity to tell lies, and the other is hatred. When we are able to lie without our conscience bothering us, we know that we have begun to fall away. And when we start hating (which in turn produces all types of offspring – bitterness, jealousy, strife, etc.), we know that we have begun to fall away. We’ve seen Jesus warn us about this already when He said that the love of many will grow cold. This has two dimensions: In one way, their love grows cold when the pleasures of sin and world draw them away from fervent love for Jesus. And the other way their love for others grows cold, because others are going to be so hard and evil in the last days. Based on the context that this is in, it appears to me that people are going to fall away from their love for God and their love for one another. It is in contrast to this falling away that Jesus said a few verses later that “the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Mat. 24:13)

Love – the reservoir of oil

What does it mean to endure till the end? In the context of the love of many growing cold, it’s clear that Jesus was talking about the one who endures in love till the end. Those who endure in love till the end will be saved. So another exhortation for the last days is this: Endure in love. When sin increases around you, and when people treat you badly, and when the sin in others increases towards you, be the one who endures in love till the end. Then you will be ready to meet the Lord.

We can now better understand the parable of the 10 virgins which we studied in chapter 4. Remember that all 10 were virgins, and not that five were virgins and five were harlots. This means that all 10 of them had external lives (represented by their lamps) that were good. Yet, at the end of the story, only five of them were able to meet the Bridegroom, and the other five were left behind. Here harlotry was not the reason for them to be left behind; they didn’t have their lamps burning till the end. Why were their lamps not burning? It was because the Bridegroom delayed in His coming. If the Bridegroom had come earlier, then their oil would not have run out, and all ten would have looked wise, because all had their lamps burning. But we know that “The bridegroom delayed and they all got drowsy and began to sleep.” When the Bridegroom finally came at midnight, the foolish found their lamps were dying out. The light that the foolish virgins were seeking to revive refers to life in Christ – “in Him was the life and the life was the light of men” (John 1:1:4). It also means that their light was burning once upon a time, but it was dying out now. So, it is possible for us to have the life of Christ at one time, and for it to die out later, because we are not careful to keep a vessel full of oil. This is the key point of this parable.

The only difference between the two sets of virgins was that one set of virgins had oil, while the others didn’t. Somewhere hidden away in their person of wise virgins was a flask of oil. When you look at their lamps (their external life), all 10 of them looked fine. But there was another part of their lives that no one could see (their internal life), and that is symbolized by the flask of oil. Now as we’ve seen, oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture, and it is the Holy Spirit who floods our hearts with the love of God. “The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 5:5).The Holy Spirit is the one who keeps this lamp burning.

Now when we relate this parable to what Jesus had said earlier, that the love of many will grow cold, we understand the cause for the dying out of the foolish virgin’s lamp. Please remember that the oil in their lamps was exhausted, because the Bridegroom delayed in His arrival. If the Lord had come earlier, it would have looked as if all of them had love.

Often it is ‘time’ that tests the sincerity and seriousness of our commitment. Can you think back to the time when you first got converted, or some years ago, when you had fervent love for the Lord and you loved everybody in the church? You hardly knew anybody, yet you were so happy to be welcomed and loved by everybody. As years went by now you have conflicts with some people in the church. You don’t feel like talking to some people. Do you see what has happened to your light? It’s dying out. But do you recognize that? Why is it dying out? - Because you won’t allow the Holy Spirit to keep renewing you with fresh oil. This oil is something that no human being can give. The oil to keep our lamps burning is non-transferable. Even if I wanted to, I can’t give you the love that I have for God and for others to be in your heart. I can love you, but I can’t give you the love that God has put in my heart. This love comes from the Holy Spirit, so you have to get it yourself.

That’s exactly what the wise virgins told the foolish virgins – go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. We all have to go to the only dealer of fresh oil – God, as He is the only one who can give us love. When we don’t go to God at times of pressure due to different situations and circumstances, we lose our love. When we are tempted to lose our love for God and for others, we should go to God instead of wallowing in self-pity. We should go to God and say, “Lord, I come to You for fresh oil. Please give me Your love (for You and others) in this situation. I don’t want to be drawn away by the pleasures of this world. I don’t want to have an unforgiving attitude towards this person. I am being tempted now to lose my love, so please help me.” If I don’t go to God at such a time, but allow the innate and natural selfishness in my flesh to rule, I will find that over a period of time, my light dies out.

We also read about this light in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.” What is the glory of God being described here? We know that when Moses asked God to show him His glory in Exodus 33 and 34, the Lord said, “I will let all my goodness pass in front of you.” That implies the glory of God is His goodness. So we don’t see the light of the gospel of the glory of Jesus Christ, who is the image of God, when we don’t see His goodness towards us clearly. We lose our spiritual focus when we don’t see what God wants us to have, and why God sent Jesus on this earth. We lose our spiritual focus when we forget that the Holy Spirit has primarily come to make us like Jesus Christ.

The law of love

With this purpose of being changed into Jesus’ image in mind, God has given us freedom and liberty. “The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17). Many people have misunderstood this liberty as a freedom to dance and shout. Yes, there is that sort of freedom, but we can have that type of freedom even without the Holy Spirit. All you have to do is get drunk with alcohol and you will have that type of freedom. But what is a type of freedom that only the Holy Spirit can give? Think about a freedom that alcohol can’t give you, that your outgoing temperament can’t give you, and that only the Holy Spirit can give you. It is freedom from sin, freedom from the flesh and freedom from selfishness. All human beings have a flesh and one way to describe this flesh as selfish, self-centred, and always seeking one’s own interest. Even when we have been born again, we still seek our own. We do not lose our great desire for selfishness when we’re born again. Jesus came in a flesh just like ours, so He faced this temptation most of all, and that’s what Jesus conquered. He never did His own will. This is the likeness of Jesus that we must be transformed into.

The experts of the Law during Jesus’ time had the same problem. They felt that the greatest commandments were the Sabbath and the circumcision. They were taken up with a set of external rules, just like many Christians are today. Their Christianity is summed up by a set of external rules, such as reading the Bible every day, breaking bread every Sunday, specific kinds of clothing that people should wear, specific kinds of behaviour or language, praying in a particular way, etc. Just like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, we too can have a list of external rules that are very important to us. They were surprised when Jesus said, “The greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and the other side of the coin is to love your neighbour as yourself.” They didn’t like Jesus saying that the entire Law and the Prophets hung on just these two commandments. And it remains true today.

When Christ comes again, and we are in the kingdom of heaven, we will discover that there are no rules. The kingdom of heaven is not run by rules. Here on earth everything is run by rules – every country has its own rules. Unfortunately, there are so many rules by which people are tested, judged, and condemned even in so many churches. But when we are in God’s kingdom, we will discover there is only one law there, and that is the law of LOVE. God’s kingdom is ruled by the principle of love, and God is preparing people now through all types of trials and situations to rule in that kingdom by love. But we won’t be fit to rule then, if we don’t understand how to live by the law of love now.

Choosing to love God and others is what it means to be conformed to the likeness of Christ. When we read that the Holy Spirit is going to make us like Jesus, this is what it means. How would you know whether you are becoming like Jesus or not? If you find yourself loving God more and more fervently every day, and if you find yourself being able to love the unlovely people around you, then you can be sure that the Holy Spirit is making you more like Jesus. If that can’t be said about you, it is time to go to God and ask His grace to love someone, to forgive that difficult to forgive person, and have love burning hot and fervent for God and for others.

We have already talked quite a bit about internet pornography. Watching pornography is a clear indication that the person has lost his love for God. One of the clearest evidences that a person’s love for God is decreasing is that “iniquity shall abound.” Is that happening to you? You do not prove your love for Jesus by going to church and singing a lot of songs and feeling very emotional. If that’s what you think then the god of this world has already blinded you to the truth. When a brother irritates you, you can discover whether you have oil in your lamp or not. If you have oil in your lamp, your light will continue to burn in love for God and for that brother.

Also, let’s recognize that the brightness of a lamp doesn’t depend on the degree of darkness around. A lamp never complains that it’s too dark to shine. Yet there are people who complain about the difficulty to forgive someone, or to love that person. If the lamp doesn’t shine, there is only one reason: there is no oil. As long as we say that the problem is with someone, the devil will have us focused on the wrong reason. As long as the devil can blind us and keep on convincing us that the problem is with our spouse, and that’s why we are always sinning, we will continue to be blinded. The reason I lose my temper so often is not because my spouse is irritating me, but because I don’t have oil in my flask, and I don’t go to God often and ask Him to fill me with the power of the Holy Spirit. In these last days, as the iniquity will abound in people around and affect their attitude towards us, I hope that we can learn the secret to keep our love from going cold.

That’s why it is so important to take the circumstances of life seriously. When you are tempted with money, it is a test of whether you love God with all your heart or not. Jesus said, “You can’t love God and money at the same time.” So you know that in every temptation, you are being tested in your love for God and others.

Love overpowers lust

When you are tempted to lust after a woman, whether by someone walking down the street or on a computer screen, or by looking at a billboard, it’s a test of whether you love God and also whether you love your neighbour as yourself. You wouldn’t lust after your own daughter would you? That girl that you are lusting after, is she not somebody’s daughter? Obviously you don’t love her. Had you loved her, you wouldn’t lust after her, would you? We have this misconception about love that it includes lust. No, you can never lust after someone you love. Lust is the result of the flesh, and it’s selfish at the core. Lust seeks some pleasure for itself, whereas love gives pleasure to others. And since I can’t touch her physically, let me just look at her, look at her naked body. That’s how pornography begins and spreads. In that process do you realize that it’s your neighbour’s daughter you are looking at?

We are an epitome of virtue when we say that nobody should ever do that to my daughter or to my sister. Yet, with reckless abandon we allow our eyes to roam and lust when that other person’s daughter walks down the street, or is in the pornographic film. Can these really the thoughts of Christians? Sadly it is with many Christians. What are these Christians really saying? “I would never let my daughter or my sister behave like that. But that is not my sister, and that is not my daughter, so I don’t care. I don’t care if that person goes to hell living in that sin.” You are watching people doing things that will send them to hell and you derive pleasure out of them!

As a young man, I remember hearing how one man conquered lust. Whenever he saw a pretty girl through whom he was tempted, he would say, “Lord, you created that body to be the temple of the Holy Spirit.” Oh, how I wish we would all say that the next time we see a girl improperly dressed. “Lord, you created that body to be the temple of the Holy Spirit, but that girl doesn’t have a clue what she was created for. You died to save her from that sin. Lord, please save her from sin.” If we pray such a prayer, we will find the fight against lust quickly changing. Such a prayer comes out of love for God and for others. Can you recognize how your light might be dying out in your life, and how there may not be much oil left in your flask?

We don’t need to be particularly smart to realize that sin is abounding more today. Fifty years ago, if somebody wanted a pornography book, they had to go secretly looking for it. Not so today; the internet cafes are full of people closeted in cubicles watching freely. So many married men sit in the privacy of their bedrooms and sin. The number of believers deceived by the devil in this area is absolutely amazing. All of these make us lose the precious oil in our flasks. And when we see this happening, and when we see sin increasing, then we know that the coming of the Lord is near, and it should drive us to want to keep our flasks full of oil. Don’t let the world ensnare you. Make sure your heart fervently loves Jesus and that every area of your heart is flooded with love for God.

It’s amazing how many Christians are more convicted that they didn’t read their Bible faithfully or didn’t have their morning prayer, but they don’t seem to care at all that they violate the principle of love so many times in their conversations and in their behaviour. Their conscience is eased because they kept rule No. 289 which says “Read your Bible every day.” They follow these rules and they think that they are okay. Don’t be deceived. There is only one law– the law of love. Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbour as yourself and love your fellow believers as Christ loved you.

Love determines our readiness

Just imagine how the foolish virgins shrank in fear when they heard that the Bridegroom had come and they had no oil. They knew that this was the one thing that the Bridegroom was looking for. If we don’t have that love in our hearts, we too will shrink in fear. ‘‘Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming’’ (1 Jn.2:28). We can keep ourselves from shrinking in fear and shame when He appears by abiding in Him in an activity of purifying of ourselves. That’s what we read a few verses later. “When He appears we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope purifies himself just as He is pure” (1 Jn. 3:2-3).

There is a cleansing that God does, and there is a cleansing we have to do. We don’t read here that God will purify the one who wants to be like Jesus – No, “he purifies himself.” How do I know that I have the hope that Christ is coming again? Is it an intellectual matter of ticking a box, or is it a statement of beliefs, or is it a matter of heart? There is no exception here – everyone who has this hope has only one option. To purify himself! If you spent the last week purifying yourself, you would be ready. On the other hand if you just read your Bible, went for meetings, and followed other rules that Christians follow and eased your conscience, but you haven’t purified yourself of unloving attitudes, unloving thoughts and unloving words, then you are going to be ashamed when He comes. Let me emphasize again that John’s exhortation here was for believers and not for unbelievers. Obviously there will be believers who are not ready, and who will shrink away in shame when Christ comes again. They think they are ready, because they intellectually believe that He is coming again. But they don’t realize that love will be the determining factor. Without love, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, whatever else you may have is worth nothing.

We must be so careful about this, because we are living in the days where Christendom is majoring on the gifts of the Spirit. Now I believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit – every one of them. I believe, without the gifts of the Spirit, Jesus’ ministry would have been useless. We all need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, as we need the gifts of the Spirit to serve Him. It’s possible however to have all of these gifts, but not have love. I heard of an illustration of a mother giving a teaspoon of medicine to her child which has remained in my mind. The teaspoon is the gift of the Spirit, and the medicine is the love. The tragedy today is that a lot of people have golden teaspoons, but there is nothing inside of the love of God in that teaspoon.

That’s why we see that God allowed Jesus to live for 30 years on earth without any gifts of the Holy Spirit. In those 30 years Jesus never preached a sermon, never cast out a demon and never healed anyone. But He loved His Father with all His heart and loved others as Himself. Yet, at the end of 30 years, before Jesus began His public ministry (which required the gifts of the Spirit), the Father testified of Jesus saying, “I am delighted with My beloved Son.” Can God be delighted with a man who has never done a miracle, never healed the sick, and has never raised the dead? Alternatively can He reject people who do miracles and cast out demons? Yes, He can. We’ve already seen from Matthew 7:21-23, how that Jesus rejected all those claimants of healings and casting out of demons in His name.

Can you imagine someone coming to Jesus, in the final day, claiming to have done his best to love God and love others, and Jesus rejecting that person for not healing anyone, not casting out demons, and not prophesying in his life? Most of Christendom has got it all wrong. Their focus has shifted from what the entire Bible hangs on - love God with all your heart and love others as yourself. The focus instead has shifted to supernatural miracles that the devil can duplicate, or which can be done in the name of Jesus without love in one’s heart, or without purity in one’s heart.

There has never been a man on the earth who did as many miracles and healings as did Jesus. He healed the sick by the thousands, but how many of them ended up being His disciples? So few! Even at the end of His life, Jesus says in John 17, “I am not praying for the crowds who got healed. I am praying for these 11 whom You have given me. I pray for them, that they may be one, as You and I are one.” Has the devil blinded our eyes to see what Jesus is really after? How will all men know that we are His disciples? Today’s Christian world would respond, “It’s when you heal the sick and when you miraculously solve the needs of the world like hunger and poverty.” Jesus however said, “When you love one another.” Jesus had His focus right, and if you don’t believe this, you are a prime candidate for deception.

What is the nature of deception? It is a path that you go down without even knowing it. I don’t know how many people expect or plan to go to hell? I reckon a lot of people who end up in hell will get a big surprise. In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, I believe the rich man was surprised. That’s why he pleads with Abraham to send Lazarus down to warn his five brothers, because they will be surprised too. Abraham’s response, in a nutshell, was, “If they don’t read the Bible and pay attention to what is most important, nothing will convince them. If they don’t understand what the whole Scripture hangs on, they too will go to hell.” Did the rich man go to hell because he didn’t do miracles, or he did not heal the sick or he didn’t have faith for miracles? No, it was simply because he didn’t love God with all his heart. If he had loved God with all his heart, he would have loved the poor man Lazarus who was sitting at the gate of his house, because Lazarus was his brother. All Israelites were children of Abraham and hence they were brothers.

It’s just the same for us who are brothers and sisters in Christ. When we love God and one another with all our hearts, we are ready for God’s kingdom. We lose this focus, when we get distracted by many other things. So in the last days, the devil is going to shift people’s focus to other things – earthly prosperity, satisfying our own interests, things of the supernatural, etc., from caring for others who are God’s children. Look at the number of people in the world today who have more than enough already, but who are trying to muster up faith for even more. They are being taught by preachers to have faith for more and more. They have plenty already, but they want to be millionaires; they want to have bigger houses and bigger cars. I wish they would all come to the poor villages in India where they could see born-again believers living on 1 ½ meals a today. There are sick people there who only get to see a doctor when my wife comes with me (when I go to preach) and treats them. But these rich preachers who charge a hefty fee of thousands of dollars for an evening, have no interest in such people who are also their family in Christ.

Love protects from deception

The area of healings and other supernatural gifts is full of deception – and we are living in a world where the devil has used this to blind the minds of many believers. I want to urge you again to remember that all of Scripture hangs on these two truths: To love God with all your heart and to love others as Jesus loved you. If you have this right, even if you never see a miracle in your entire life, you will be ready for God’s kingdom. And even if you don’t get healed, you will be ready for God’s kingdom. Paul reflects this same principle in his instruction to Timothy. “Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin. No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments” (1 Tim. 5:22-23).

What was Paul telling Timothy? “Timothy, keep yourself free from sin. Concerning your sickness, I have prayed for you a number of times, but you haven’t been healed. I laid hands on you and I anointed you with oil, but you didn’t get healed. So take a little medicine for that.” Can’t God heal stomach sicknesses? Can’t the same God who made the lame to walk and blind to see, heal a man’s stomach infirmities? Didn’t Paul have enough faith? Did Timothy not have faith? If that were the case, surely Paul would have told him. That was not the problem. In fact, the only problem Paul saw was to lose focus on what was most important. Paul had his focus right; keeping oneself from sin. He knew one day Timothy would get a new body, and meanwhile he had to keep himself healthy by taking medicine. I wish there were more people like the apostle Paul who would give such sensible advice to people in our day. Personally, I think it was Timothy’s ‘thorn in the flesh’ to keep him humble. No matter how much they tried believing, Timothy was not going to be healed.

But isn’t that exactly what the devil has got a lot of people to spend all their time today on? They go to 100 meetings to get healed of this and that, and they go to this special man to lay hands on them, but all the while they don’t concentrate on the main thing – to be free from sin. I am not saying that healing is unimportant. I have experienced healing in my own body by the name of Jesus. I have even experienced something even better than healing called “health.” We can certainly ask God for health, but the reality is that not everybody is healed and not everybody is healthy. Even in every single healing meeting in the world, 99.99% of people are not healed. What shall we tell them? Shall we tell them that they don’t have faith? And does that mean that only .01% people only have faith. No, rather we tell them that healing is secondary to being free from sin. So most of all, pursue being free from sin.

Let me also show you the deception in these healers’ argument – this theory of theirs that it is a problem of faith in the sick people. They suggest that if you had the level of faith that the healer did, you would be healed. They back it up with stories from their own lives in the past where they just had faith for something (usually more money or better health), and they got it. This is my problem with such argument: We all agree that it is a greater miracle to be born again than to be physically healed. Every Christian healer will agree with this as well. With superb eloquence and teary eyes they talk about what a great thing Jesus did on the cross. How is it then these same sick people have faith for the greater miracle (to be born again), but don’t have faith for a lesser miracle (healing from their sickness)? To use monetary terms, they have faith to get a million rupees from God, but they don’t have faith to get 10 rupees. Do you know what happens to a man who thinks logically about all of this? He hears this “man of God” tell him that he lacks faith for his sickness, and that it takes even greater faith to be born again. So if he doesn’t have faith for the smaller of the two miracles, then he probably feels that he is not born again either. He ends up thinking that he is just fooling himself about his faith in Jesus as well. This is where the devil is leading a lot of Christians through the deceptive logic of these faith-healers.

Please realize this: Jesus never preached a single sermon on healing. Neither did Paul or Peter. In fact, you won’t find a single sermon on healing in the entire New Testament. Jesus and the apostles never spoke about the healing that happened elsewhere. Jesus never went around saying, “Back when I was in Capernaum, I opened this blind man’s eyes. And the other day, when I was in Galilee, this is how I made this lame man walk.” We never hear Jesus or the apostles saying these things, and yet today thousands of sermons on healing are preached. Of course, they’re always talking about things that happened elsewhere. But the one thing that Jesus and the apostles did – they actually healed thousands. We don’t see that today. What does the New Testament call such people who do the opposite of Christ? - “Antichrist!” He, who has ears to hear, let him hear.

You will never go the way of the antichrist, and you will never go astray from God, if you focus on loving God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and loving your neighbour as yourself, and loving one another as Christ has loved you. When you do that, it will even bring health to your body, because our body is for the Lord and the Lord is for our body. Let me show this scripture, lest you think I don’t believe in healing. I have experienced healing in my life, and I have seen people healed in answer to my prayers. “The body is for the Lord and the Lord is for the body” (1 Cor. 6:13). I have claimed this promise countless times. I have said, “Lord, I have absolutely no desire to do anything in this body but Your will. I don’t want to seek anything for myself in this body. I don’t want my eyes to look at something that You don’t want me to look at. I don’t want my tongue to speak anything that You don’t want me to speak. I don’t want my feet to take me anywhere that You don’t want me to go. This body is totally for You. Because of that, I claim with confidence that You are totally for my body.” Try that prayer for yourself, and see how that works out for you.

Here’s another verse in that connection. “My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight. Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body. Watch over your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:20-22). The advice from the wise man Solomon in one sentence was: “Don’t worry over your body, worry much more about your heart.” We also know what 1 Corinthians 13 tells us. If you speak in tongues but you don’t have love, you are zero. If you perform miracles, and prophesy, and give your money to the poor, but you don’t have love, you are nothing. You are zero spiritually.

So then, what about the man who has so many abilities? What’s a preacher like Zac Poonen, for example? Zero! The Bible tells us that we are all zeros. It is Jesus Who gives value to all of us who are zeros, because He’s the only one who has any value.

Chapter 10

Faith That Overcomes Fear

God gives us His Word to prepare us for the future. That is the meaning of prophesy. In the Old Testament, prophesy was meant to direct people. Even kings went to the prophet to ask him, whether they can set a battle or not, or if they will get healed from certain sickness or not. The prophet then waited on the Lord, and came back after a few days. There was a time when Jeremiah was locked up in prison by the king to please some false prophets who wrongly accused Jeremiah. Even then, the king went down to the dungeon, and asked Jeremiah if there was a word from the Lord. He knew that Jeremiah was one man that had a word from the Lord. That is how prophecy was in the Old Testament – it gave direction.

In the New Covenant however, we don’t need to go to the prophet to hear from the Lord, because as it is written, “They will not teach again, each man his neighbour and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them” (Jer. 31:34). This is possible, because the Holy Spirit has come to reside within each of us. In the Old Testament only the prophet had the Holy Spirit, so they had to go to the prophet. Now every child of God has the Holy Spirit within, directing us. That does not mean that there is no place for prophesy about the future in the New Testament. Prophesy in the New Covenant is not meant to direct people. So don’t believe any prophet that comes and tells you, “This is what you must do or not do, this is whom you must marry, and this is where you must go.” They are either false prophets, or they are speaking from their own spirit.

The New Covenant prophesies do tell us of something that can happen in the future, in order to prepare us for it, like Agabus did twice in the book of Acts. He didn’t give any direction however. He prophesied that there would be a famine, but he never told anybody what to do. He told Paul that if he went to Jerusalem, he would be caught and be imprisoned, but even then, he didn’t tell Paul whether he should go or not to go. So prophesy in the New Testament is never directive, telling people where to go or what to do. Instead, it prepares us for the future. A real New Testament Church should definitely have this spirit of prophesy (1 Cor. 14:1), that will prepare us for the days to come.

New Covenant prophecy prepares the church for the future

If a church has a prophetic word from the Lord, that word will prepare the church for the immediate future. In Agabus’ day, it was a famine on one occasion and to Paul on another occasion about an impending imprisonment. So in your case, it may be a trial or temptation that you are going to face in the coming days, and the prophetic word can prepare you for it. That’s how it should be in every church meeting, where a prophetic word is spoken that prepares us for the future. At the same time, we must also listen carefully and judge all prophesies to see whether they are really from the Lord or from man, because there is a human element in immature people when they tend to prophesy. It is very important for us to understand this in the last days. In the days of the Old Testament, there were true prophets and false prophets, and the proportion was about 1 to 100. So even now, there will be about one true prophet for every 100 false prophets.

The false prophets came out of the school of the prophets. They had Bible schools in those days, and you read about them in 2 Kings. These folks got their Bible school degrees and called themselves prophets, but they were all false prophets. Interestingly, not one true prophet came out of a Bible school – not one from Genesis to Revelation. All the true prophets came out of a lonely walk with God. Christianity today has gone astray. We have a lot of false prophets who accumulate a wealth of knowledge, but do not walk alone with God. These false prophets can understand the complicated doctrines of the Bible, and even know vast passages of the whole Bible, but they are not in touch with God; they don’t walk with Him in secret. In Samuel’s time for example, we read that the word of the Lord was rare. That doesn’t mean that they didn’t have the Law. They didn’t have people who listened to God, and what He was saying. People were in too much of a hurry to do things for God that they didn’t have time like Mary to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen.

We must beware of false prophets and false prophesies. Many people think prophesy is when a man speaks in a changed or overly authoritative voice with eyes closed and hands raised for 2 – 3 minutes and usually prefaces with, “Thus says the Lord.” That’s a lot of garbage. We have the clearest definition of prophesy in the entire New Testament, so we don’t need to look much further: “But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation” (1 Cor. 14:3). Prophesy is that which speaks to men for exhortation, edification and comfort. You don’t have to alter your tone, you don’t have to close your eyes, you don’t have to raise your hands and you don’t have to speak for a minimum of three minutes! In connection with the last days as well, we must seek to use the gift of prophesy to prepare us for the future and to be on the alert, and not to simply grow in knowledge.

Holy Spirit fire – antidote for fear

In Luke 21:26-28, Jesus said, “Men are going to faint from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then after that they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But, when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” What Jesus is asking us to do is the opposite of fear. A man who is afraid doesn’t straighten up and lift up his head.

There will be two groups of people on the earth in the last days. One group is gripped with fear when they think about what’s going to happen. The cost of living is going up, the value of currency is going down, and the economies of all countries are shaking. Well, we are actually warned that this is going to happen. “God is going to shake everything that is going to be shaken, so that the things which cannot be shaken will remain” (Heb. 12:27). So anything that people place their confidence in, other than God, will be shaken. You can place your confidence in money, in the stock market, in trading, in real estate, in the local bank, etc. –whatever it is, if it is a created thing, it will be shaken. And if you are counting on that, you too will be shaken. The other group are those people who have their feet founded firmly on the rock of God and His Word. They can lift up their heads and not faint in fear even when things are failing around them.

Who are these people? They are those who have spent their life seeking the kingdom of God first. Now this doesn’t mean full-time workers. Vast majority of God’s children are not full time workers, yet every child of God must seek God’s kingdom first. What does that mean? Simply put, they must seek righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit, because that’s what the Kingdom of God is (Rom. 14:17). It is not missionary work primarily. If the whole aim in your life is to be filled with the righteousness of God and His Christ, and the joy of the Lord at all times, and to be at peace with God and all men, then you are seeking God’s kingdom first. And I guarantee you on the basis of the greatest guarantee that you can ever have (God’s word), that all the things that you need for your earthly life will be added to you, and you will be able to lift up your head in the last days. You can be sure of that. But people who place their confidence in money and resources and savings and things like that – they are going to be shaken.

“Do not fear” was something that Jesus often reminded His disciples. Even after His resurrection, the disciples were holed up in a room out of fear for their lives. Jesus came into their midst, and said, “Peace be with you.” Then He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:19-23). After such an encounter, you would think that their fear would be gone. Yet, eight days later, we once again find the disciples inside with the doors shut (John 20:26). What do we learn from that? You can walk with Jesus Himself for 3 ½ years, listen to Him, and still be full of fear. You can actually see Him raised from the dead, and physically touch Him, but still have fear. You can even have Him breathe on you and say, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” and yet be afraid.

But their fear went away when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. That is why the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire is so important. Being immersed in water is important, but far more important is to be immersed by Jesus in the Holy Spirit and fire. What was the impact? All the disciples came out from the upper room full of boldness. What could not be accomplished by 3 ½ years of walking with Jesus, listening to His sermons, seeing Him resurrected from the dead, His breathing on them, etc. – was finally accomplished when they were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

What are we to do then during the last days in response to the temptation to fear? If men’s hearts are going to be faint with fear, then our only chance to stand upright with our heads lifted up is to be filled with the Holy Spirit; not just once but continuously. Ephesians 5:18 says, “Be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit.” I can possibly teach you a number of things that can convince you not to be afraid in the last days, but can I do better than Jesus in teaching? We have just seen that even after listening to the most anointed sermons for over three years didn’t keep the disciples from being afraid in the time of crisis. We may be stirred and motivated to be free from fear in a moment, but it all evaporates when the actual temptation comes. The only way to hold on without fear is to let the Holy Spirit set us on fire and keep us on fire.

Manna was a food made by God – completely untouched by man, and yet in 24 hours, this God-made food began to stink. God’s word that we hear today is the bread from heaven. You can hear a message and in mere 24 hours, it can become stale for you. But the same manna kept inside the Ark of the Covenant didn’t get stale for 40 years. What was the secret? The difference was that this manna inside the Ark was in the most Holy Place – where the fire of God was burning all the time. The living presence of God was there and in this presence, the manna never becomes stale.

Being filled with the Holy Spirit is not evidenced by an experience or a particular gift. We live in a day when most people go for experiences. When people ask you, “Are you baptized in the Holy Spirit?” what they really mean is, “Did you have an experience – did you feel something and do you speak in tongues?” To be full of the Holy Spirit, according to Scripture, is to be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. I can’t call myself “Spirit filled”, because I got baptized 30 years ago in the Holy Spirit. A lot many of those who got baptized in the Holy Spirit 30 years ago, are not only not baptized today, they have backslidden so far back that they have lost their salvation and are no longer children of God. It is so important to be a “Spirit filled Christian” in the present. It is like the petrol tank in your car. It doesn’t matter how full it was a few months back. What matters is whether it is full right now!

Overcoming fear in our lives

‘Fear not’ was as important a theme for Jesus as was ‘sin not.’ He was as much against fear as He was against sin. Now many of us know that sin is wrong. I don’t know if there is any one sitting in any church would condone sin if one fell into it. But the danger is that many of us don’t think there is anything wrong in being afraid. You may think that fear is just a weakness or a normal human reaction. Thereby we don’t take Jesus’ command seriously.

Many Christians have a bad habit of picking and choosing some favourite verses in the Bible and majoring on those only. “Do not commit murder” becomes important, but “Do not be anxious for anything” is not. What happens then is that we try our best to follow that, but if we can’t, we ignore it as a minor issue. Would we do the same with the command, “Don’t commit adultery”? Would we say, ‘well I tried my best, but I didn’t succeed and it is okay? Or would we rather say, ‘it is not okay and I want to take it seriously?’ What about when the word of God commands us not to be anxious for anything then? The same Lord Jesus who said “Sin not” also said “Fear not.” And just like He has made provision for us, through the grace of God, to be free from the power of sin in our lives, He has also made provision by the same grace to be free from fear. Fear is just as bad as any sin – and certainly much worse than any sickness. I suppose you hate sickness. Do you then equally hate fear? We know there is no verse in the Bible that commands us ‘not to get sick’ and yet we are so careful not to get sick. Why not have that same eagerness and even more to be free from fear, especially since Jesus commands us so often not to fear!

Overcoming fear is something like going to school. When a four year old child goes to school, he doesn’t start learning geometry and trigonometry straightaway. They learn the numbers first – 1 comes before 2, 2 comes before 3, etc. They then gradually progress in school to more complicated arithmetic functions. In the same way, we progress in our freedom from fear from little things to big things. It’s not the big things that we need to be free from fear first – those will come later. Can we now be free from worries and anxieties in the little things that plague our minds? The devil cleverly puts fear in our minds by having us think about ways by which we might be tortured in the future, and possible trials that we might face. Things like, “What will happen to you if your husband dies, and there is no income left? What will happen to you if you don’t have a house of your own, and you’re renting a house, but don’t have enough money to pay the rent with the rising cost of living?” We must recognize that this is the devil’s work, putting all kinds of hypothetical fears in our minds and keeping us in fear. Let us learn to conquer these fears now. How do we do that?

‘‘In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus’’ (Phil. 4:6-7). Supplication means a “specific request,” while prayer is a more general request. And we do this with a heart of thanksgiving for a God who is quick to help us. So when we are tempted to be anxious, we go to God and say, “Lord, please deliver me from this particular thing that is causing me to be anxious, or this general feeling of anxiety that is coming over me. I want to be free from it. And thank You that You have heard my prayer.”

It’s similar to how things work in many Government Offices today. A junior officer gets a file on his table on some complicated matter beyond his scope and ability. He immediately forwards it up to the higher officer who has to deal with it. The file leaves his table and has been sent to a higher authority. In the same way, we must take all our “files” of worry and anxiety off of our mind and send it up to Heaven. When we offer our prayers and supplication with thanksgiving, we are essentially saying, “Lord, you asked me to send the files up to you and I believe it has arrived on Your desk. Now it is Your business. Not mine!” Once the Senior Government official has received the matter, the junior officer need not worry anymore. But as Christians we pray and we may even believe that God has heard us, but we still keep on worrying as though the file is still on our desk. No, Paul goes on to say, “The peace of God will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

I want to challenge you to seriously prepare for the days to come by being increasingly free from fear and anxiety. This world has many things that can cause us anxiety. God has allowed this world to be a very uncomfortable place, so that people can realize that sin is a terrible thing. All the chaos, sickness, and other problems on the earth are the result of sin. Life on this earth will never be easy, and there is no safe place on this earth. You can go to the safest country on earth, and you may not be killed by a terrorist, but you can be killed by a drunken driver, no matter how careful you are.

Contentment defeats fear

I want to address specifically the worry that we won’t have enough money to live on this earth in the future days. Possibly the rich don’t have this fear, but a lot of poor people do. Most of God’s saints are poor. The Bible tells us that “God has chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith” (Jas. 2:5), and I have seen that to be true. Rich people have faith in their money. Since poor people don’t have any money to have faith in, they find it easier to have their faith in God. So it is quite possible that a monetarily-poor person would be more prepared for the final day. This is why we must learn to free ourselves from putting any faith in our money or putting our faith in other people, and learn to put all of our faith in God. Even if you have plenty of money and even if you live in a very safe country, you must discipline yourself to say, “Lord, I will not put my trust in man and I will not put my trust in my earthly resources. I will put my trust only in You.”

Look at what God says: “Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have, because God Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you’” (Heb. 13:5). I believe that in one translation of this verse, the “never” is repeated three times for emphasis. So it reads something like this: “I will never, never, never leave you nor forsake you.” There is a close connection between being content with what you have and being free from fear. When we are not content with what God has given us, we can have a tremendous problem with anxiety and fear. It is so vital to be content with what you have, and never compare what you have with somebody else’s. Be very careful, because that’s how you can get quickly yourself into credit card debt as well. For years I have urged people never to buy things on credit and to try your best to live within your income. I urge you not to borrow unless you are in an emergency, and even in cases where you have to borrow, work hard to return it as soon as possible. But definitely don’t borrow to simply satisfy your covetousness. You will definitely stunt your spiritual growth this way.

In Western Socialist countries, people place their confidence in the Social Security System. They trust the Government to care for them. In India we don’t have such a system, so we tend to place our confidence in our children to take care of us. There are a lot of people who never want their children to go away from them, because they are scared that nobody will take care of them when they are old. Yet, this is what God says in Isaiah 46:4: “Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your greying years I will bear you. I have done it and I will carry you; and I will bear you and I will deliver you.” What an incredible promise! But this is only for those who have faith in God. Our confidence should be in Him, and not in our money, in our children, or even a good church.

If you trust the Lord, because He has promised never to leave you, or never to forsake you,” then you can say, “the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?” (Heb. 13:6). You will need this in the days to come – when there will be calamities on the earth, when there will be wars and rumours of wars, and when there will be famines and earthquakes. And when Satan comes against you to be afraid, what shall we do? We shall use the same weapon that Jesus used. His weapon was this: “It is written.” Every single time Satan came against Jesus, He replied, “It is written.” There was no more need for discussion because, for Jesus, the Word of God was final. I wish Satan would find more such believers today, who will always be swift with the Word of God when he comes with his deception and his fears of persecution.

It’s going to be hard – and probably more so for the poor. We see this in Revelation 6:5 where it speaks about the last days. “He broke the third seal, and the third living creature said, ‘Come.’ I looked, and behold, a black horse; (a picture of famine) and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand (a picture of selling food). And I heard something like a voice in the centre of the four living creatures saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.’” So for a denarius (one full day’s wage) you get only a bit of wheat and a bit more of barley – food of the poor, whereas the oil and wine for the rich is unharmed. So it seems to me as if the poor will suffer a lot more than the rich in the last days. This is definitely bearing true in most countries including India –the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. There is going to be a lot of fear and insecurity plaguing the poor as the cost of living increases. We are not all millionaires, so most of us get affected when the cost of living goes up.

On top of that, the other type of fear that can come is this: “They will deliver you up to tribulation. Men will persecute you, they will kill you, you will be hated by all nations, because of the name of Jesus Christ, because you take the name of Jesus Christ you will be hated by every nation and that time is going to come. And at that time many will fall away, they will deliver up one another and hate one another” (Mat. 24:9-10). Christians are going to face persecution in the last days just like they did in the first century. God can certainly protect us from being persecuted. He could have prevented Jesus from being killed. He could have prevented James the apostle from being beheaded, and He could have prevented Paul from being beheaded at the age of 67 by Nero. He could have prevented Thomas from being speared to death in Chennai 1900 years ago. But He didn’t. The same God, who shut the mouths of the lions in Daniel’s time, could have shut the mouths of all those lions in the Roman Amphitheatres when the first-century Christians were thrown to the lions. But these were not Old Covenant people – they were New Covenant Christians. He could have saved the martyrs who were burnt at the stake quite like He saved Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, but He didn’t.

In the Old Covenant, God was glorified by His people escaping the fire and by escaping the teeth of the lions. In the New Covenant however, God is glorified by his disciples being burnt in the fire and by being eaten up by lions, but still standing firm. God has people on earth whom He can point out to Satan and say, “You can do whatever you like to them, but they will never deny Me, and they will never give up in trusting Me.” He didn’t have many people like that in the Old Testament, because the Old Testament people didn’t have the power of the Holy Spirit. Nobody in the Old Testament was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Remove the baptism in the Holy Spirit; we will be just like the Old Covenant people. I have seen a lot of Christians today who don’t value the baptism and the power of the Holy Spirit, and their lives are like Old Covenant people.

Enoch and Elijah

We have two Old Covenant people, who never saw death and were raptured straight to heaven - Enoch and Elijah. There are some things we can learn from them on how to be ready for the rapture.

Let’s look at Enoch first. Enoch lived a normal life till the age of 65 (Gen. 5:21). Then he had a child called Methuselah. Then we read, “Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah” (Gen 5:22). When Enoch was 65 years old, he had a revelation from God in his child’s name –Methuselah. It was revealed that when this child died, God would judge the world. Enoch was shaken up as we do when God tells us that this world is going to be judged. From that day on Enoch walked with God for the next 300 years. He still lived a normal life begetting sons and daughters; he didn’t become a hermit. After 300 years God took him to heaven, alive. How did God take Enoch up to heaven? “Enoch was taken up by faith.”(Heb. 11:5).

We read in Jude 14 & 15 that Enoch was a preacher. He is the first to be called a preacher in the Bible. What did he preach? He preached judgment. He said, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones” (Jude 14). Enoch was preaching about the second coming of the Lord, way before even the first coming of Christ! Think of that for a moment. He said, “I see the Lord coming with many thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon the world, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done, and all the harsh things that the ungodly sinners have spoken” (Jude 15). Enoch certainly wasn’t comfortable to listen to, as he preached strongly against sin. Any man who walks with God will preach against sin. He will preach judgment on sinners. He is not going to be like these preachers who study psychology and make people comfortable in their sin. There we have the account of the first type of person who was raptured – one who preached hard against sin.

The second person was Elijah. We read in Malachi 4:5 “I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.” We know that John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah and preached strongly against sin, calling people to repent and prepare the way for the first coming of Christ. We will be looking into this in detail as how the church will fulfil this ministry in preparing the way of the Lord for His second coming, in the next two chapters.

We all know the story of Elijah as how he confronted the false prophets and priest of Baal under the rule of Ahab and Jezebel in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Elijah stood on Mount Carmel and challenged the apostate Israel: “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). The people did not respond. However when, in response to Elijah’s prayer, fire fell on the sacrifice, the people fell on the ground and shouted, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God” (1 Kings 18:39). God took such a man alive to heaven.

The only two people who were raptured without seeing death confidently said that their kingdom was not of this world. As we’ve seen earlier, this was also the confession made by Jesus before Pontius Pilate and described by Paul to Timothy: “My kingdom is not of this world.”

But there was another important confession that Jesus made before Pilot which is relevant for us in these last days. At that time Pilate was the greatest authority in that land and Jesus was standing before him all bruised and beaten up, humiliated and standing helpless, but still standing with dignity and authority. Jesus was not scared in the least; He was not pathetically pleading for mercy from Pilate. So when Pilate said that he had power to kill Jesus or release Him, Jesus said, “Pilate, you have no authority over Me unless My Father in heaven gives it to you. I am under My Father’s authority. You can’t touch a hair on My head without My Father’s permission.” And that’s a promise He has given to us as well – that not even a hair on our head will perish without God knowing. He tells us in Isaiah 54:17, “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper.” We have no reason to be afraid!

I remember hearing of a European lady missionary who went to China in the early part of the 20th century. She was travelling in a little ship from one part of China to another, and it was overtaken by gun wielding pirates. When they entered her cabin pointing a gun at her, she said, “No weapon formed against me will prosper, put that gun down.” The pirate was shocked. He had never met a woman in his life like that. The pirates put their guns down and treated her with respect for the rest of their time on that ship, till that ship finally came to shore and the pirates left her alone. Imagine this kind of courage – and from a woman.

In India, I remember the story of one of our elder brothers from Tamil Nadu when he went to Bangladesh on official duty. He landed at the airport very early, before daybreak and took an auto rickshaw to his hotel. It was still very dark and suddenly two people came up to him to confront and mug him. He just started speaking in tongues and started praying to God. The robbers got scared and ran away.

We are on the side of victory. Satan was defeated 2000 years ago, so we don’t have to fear him at all. God is on our side, so let us strive to keep a clear conscience, and stay humble. Jesus has gone ahead of us to prepare us a place that we cannot even fathom. We must keep that in mind all the time, as we get nearer and nearer to that day. We must live with eternity in view making full use of the few days that are left before Christ comes again. Don’t regret in the final day that you didn’t live more wholly for Him. Don’t regret then, that after all this reading and messages you may have heard, it stayed simply as information in your head and never sunk down to your heart. If Christ is God, then live for Him. But if the world and money are more important, live for that. But no matter what, don’t be lukewarm. He, who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Chapter 11

The Bride Makes Herself Ready

We have been studying the subject of Last Days and the Return of the Lord. In the process we have looked at how to be ready ourselves when Christ returns. In the remaining chapters our focus will be primarily being ready ourselves as well, as a church, prepare others also to be ready for Christ’ return. When we are reconciled with God, we also have been given a ministry of reconciling others to God (2 Cor 5:20, 21). We shall see how, as a church, we have a mandate to prepare the way for the Lord’s second coming.

When Jesus came for the first time, John the Baptist was sent beforehand to prepare the people for His coming. John’s coming was in fulfilment of the last prophecy from the Old Testament found in the last book of the Old Testament: “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.  He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse” (Mal. 4:5-6). When priest Zacharias was praying in the temple, an angel of the Lord came to him, and told him that he was going to have a son. That son, we know, was John the Baptist. While speaking to Zacharias the angel quoted this last prophecy: ‘‘It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord’’ (Luke 1:16).

When the people of Israel asked Jesus, whether John the Baptist was really the fulfilment of the prophecy about Elijah, He responded to the multitudes, who were there, ‘‘and if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come’’ (Mat. 11:14). The people of Israel did neither accept John the Baptist nor his message. What Jesus implied was, ‘if you accept him then he is the fulfilment of the prophecy.’ Since the Jewish people did not accept John the Baptist, we can say that the prophecy still remains unfulfilled.

Bridging the generational gap and abolishing the lonely ministry

By a careful review of this prophecy, we discover that it is pointing to the second coming of Jesus. ‘‘Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD’’ (Mal. 4:5). Now, when Jesus came the first time, He did not come to proclaim the great and terrible day of the Lord; He came to proclaim the day of God’s favour and forgiveness (Is. 61:2a). The great and terrible day of the Lord is actually the second coming of Christ, when He will be judging the world (Is 61:2b). So, this Elijah, spoken of in Malachi 4, is going to be there before the second coming of Christ; someone who will come in the spirit and the power of Elijah to prepare people for the second coming of the Lord. As we can notice from the prophecy, one of the special ministries he will have in preparing the people for the coming of the Lord is: ‘‘He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers’’ (Mal. 4:6).

What we learn is, before the second coming of the Lord, there is going to be a great distance between the parents and the children. We see this already happening in the world, even in so called Christian homes. There is a big gap between the parents and their children. Children feel that their parents don’t understand them, and the parents complain that their children have become rebellious. Not only has this become a reality in families but also in the church. There is a generational gap between the spiritual fathers and the spiritual children. We have generation of young people growing up, who do not have respect for the older generation. Part of the reason for this is the lack of whole-heartedness and radical spirituality among the older generation.

In the world this is called as generation gap. In the true church of Jesus Christ, there is not supposed to be any such generation gap, because we are one in Christ. A young person can be spiritual and an old person can be carnal. Age, therefore, does not make a difference for spirituality. God does not make a difference between old and young in His dealings. There are godly older people and there are godly younger people. There are carnal older people and there are carnal younger people. There are fathers who are hypocrites, and there are young people who are hypocrites.

There is another aspect of last day’s Elijah that is unlike John the Baptist. In the Old Testament, all the prophets operated as individuals - lone rangers. You never come across two prophets working together in the Old Covenant. The first person to be called as a prophet in the Old Testament was Abraham (Gen. 20:7), and he was alone. Moses was a great Old Testament prophet, and he was alone. We then have great prophets like Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, etc., all of them were alone. Right up to John the Baptist, all the Old Testament prophets worked alone. That is the pattern seen throughout the Old Covenant.

Jesus came and abolished the Old Covenant in its entirety, and established the New Covenant through His blood. How much better is the New Covenant than the Old Covenant? It is the difference between the blood of bulls and goats on one hand, and the blood of Jesus Christ on the other. The difference cannot be measured; it is infinite!

Most Christians hardly have any understanding of the New Covenant. An average born again believer doesn’t know to differentiate between the Old Covenant and the New, because they don’t have any passion to go on with God. They are like children in the slums of the world, who give up their studies after the 3rd or the 4th grade saying that will do for them. There are others however with a passion to go on and get a Ph.D. Among believers also, there are people with passion to go to the highest degree of spirituality, whereas others who are just satisfied in going to heaven one day. The vast majority of the believers that I have come across have only interest in going to heaven when they die. Many years ago, I had resolved and prayed to the Lord that I wouldn’t want to go looking for people who just wanted to go to heaven when they die. I didn’t want to build a church with them which could have been a mega church. Everybody wants to go to heaven when they die, whether believers or unbelievers. I wanted to find people who would want to follow Jesus now on the earth before they die - disciples. That number is really very small. I didn’t want people who simply like to listen to my messages, but wanted those who would listen and obey.

In the New Covenant, as soon as Jesus came, He abolished this Old Covenant principle of the lonely prophet. In the New Covenant you never find a lonely prophet, whereas the Old Testament is full of them. As soon as Jesus came, He sent his disciples two by two. Never alone! Even in the book of Acts, we read: Peter and John were together (Acts 3); Paul and Barnabas were together (Acts 13, 14). When they separated, Paul and Silas were together (Acts 16). That is God’s way for the New Covenant, where He makes two people an expression of the Body of Christ. That’s why Jesus said, ‘‘for where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst’’ (Mt. 18:20). The minimum is two. If there are no two people, then there is no midst! You may claim saying, Jesus is in my heart, but you can’t have the authority and power that comes when two people are working together. It was impossible under the Old Covenant for two people to become one; the reason being, they couldn’t be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire.

Where do you belong – living body of Christ or an anatomy laboratory?

Without the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire, it is impossible for anybody to become one with another. That is why the devil has made the doctrine of Holy Spirit Baptism the most controversial doctrine in Christendom. On one hand, there are all types of strange, fanatic and foolish things that a lot of people do under the guise of Baptism in the Spirit. On the other, there are those who react to this and say, ‘we don’t want to have anything to do with the Holy Spirit Baptism.’ One has fallen on one side of the cliff of fanaticism, while the others, who have rejected it, have fallen over the other cliff. Devil is happy with both of them. But the Bible says that the Holy Spirit baptizes us into one body. He can’t do that with one person. That is why Jesus said, when two or three are gathered together in His name, He will be in their midst.

So fathers and children coming together is one of the most important things we all must experience before the second coming of the Lord. No wonder, wherever the devil sees two people coming together, he tries to separate them as soon as possible. That is why almost every husband and wife has quarrels between them, even Christian husbands and wives; even, so called, spirit filled, tongue speaking husbands and wives! They speak in other tongues on Sunday morning church service, and quarrel in their mother tongue, at home, on Sunday afternoon. Who instigates all these? The devil of course! He doesn’t want two people to become one! He even separated Paul and Barnabas whom God had joined together!

But the Lord is going to have people, who are ready for His second coming. That is one of the work the Lord is doing these days. He is gathering people around the world, few here and few there, husbands and wives, who are filled with the Holy Spirit. The main characteristics of them are not that they speak in other tongues, but that they take up their cross everyday day and die to self (Luke 14:27). The only way two people can become one is when they die to self. The Holy Spirit takes us to the cross. When the husbands and wives are crucified with Christ, they will become one. When two brothers or sisters are crucified with Christ, they will become one. So the last day’s Elijah is not going to be a lone prophet. It is a group of people, who are an expression the body of Christ, which in the New Testament is called the Church.

There is a lot of difference between a body and the members of a body. Consider for example a fully functioning human body. All parts are working together - the eyes, hands, legs, etc., are working fine, because they are all connected to the brain. They are all perfectly obedient to the brain. There is no part of the body that doesn’t listen to the brain, unless it is paralysed. Suppose you go into a medical college and there have an opportunity to visit an anatomy laboratory, you can see a number of human body parts lying around. The medical students use them to dissect and study the human anatomy. There may be all of the human body parts there, strewn around as it were, all around the laboratory. But they are not connected together to each other through a body. That is exactly the picture of a number of churches today. Each member says, I am part of a body, but they are not connected to others. The husbands and wives are not connected together, let alone other members sitting in the same church. There is a sister who has a quarrel with another; they are not in talking terms and yet sit in the same church. That is not a body of Christ; it is actually an anatomy laboratory called church where parts are lying around.

The Lord is not coming for such a church; He is coming for a functioning body. Are you part of a body or are you sitting in some anatomy lab called church? This is a very serious issue. Christ is coming for the church which is His body. Such a body is the Elijah of last days that prepares people for the coming of Christ. It is no longer an individual like John the Baptist, but a group of people. There is no one person, who is outstanding in one act. There may be some with prominent gifts in a body. For example, in our physical body, there is one part that speaks - our tongue. That is an important part of the body, but it is not the whole body. If I didn’t have one, no one would listen to me. The tongue is able to speak because of the other parts in the body. The heart is pumping blood causing some other parts like the lung to pump air, vocal cords to move, and the throat to produce the sound, whereby the mouth speaks. The heart is pumping, because some time back the hand had fed the body with some food, which some other parts like the intestine, stomach and other parts worked together in digesting the food causing the blood to be produced and keep the heart going. The tongue therefore is not everything. In the church you can compare the preacher to a tongue, as he is the one who speaks in the church. Sadly, in many churches, preacher is considered as everything. Such an assertion is as foolish as saying my tongue is everything in my human body. No doubt it is an important part, but very different from other parts in my body, both in shape and function.

A bride who will be ready and a bride who wouldn’t be

The Lord is preparing a body in the last days for His coming. Then there will be a marriage of the Lamb. ‘‘Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready’’ (Rev 19:7). This refers to the second coming of Christ, where He comes for His marriage. Today, we are called the bride of Christ, and not the wife of Christ. What is the difference between a bride and a wife? A bride becomes a wife on the wedding day. Before the wedding day, the bride prepares herself for the wedding and waits eagerly for the day. After the engagement she prepares with various things, such as buying new clothes, ornaments, and host of other things a bride needs. Every bride, even a poor bride, needs some type of preparation. There may be need to spend money on various things. No bride would consider it as a waste. She needs to dress properly and appear acceptable on the wedding day. She won’t wear any rags as clothes, but care a great deal about her appearances, even a poor bride.

The Bride has made herself ready says the scripture. How to be ready then for the wedding? It is not automatic; the scripture doesn’t say she is ready, rather the bride made herself ready. So, if we consider ourselves as the bride of Christ, it becomes obvious that we have to make ourselves ready for the marriage of the Lamb. Sadly, many do not take this very seriously. They say they have accepted Christ as their Saviour. That is indeed wonderful, and what that means is that you are engaged, and have become a bride. Don’t you want to be married then? From the day you were engaged, till the day of marriage, you have to make yourself ready. Isn’t that the proof that you are really a bride? What would you think of a girl who claims that she is engaged and the arrival of the bride groom is imminent, but she hasn’t got her wedding dress? She has not prepared herself in anyway, and doesn’t even know where and when the wedding is to be held. Then it is questionable that she is even a bride. Most of the Christians are like that. Their start and end point is that they have accepted Christ. What then this phrase ‘His bride has made herself ready’ mean? Does it not mean that you have to make yourself ready?

The next verse says how she made herself ready. ‘‘It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints’’(Rev. 19:8). What is that fine linen? That is the dress the bride made herself ready with; a life full of righteous actions! Every righteous act is like one more stitch in the making of the final wedding dress. She made herself ready with multitudes of righteous acts.

Is it possible to be a bride, and never become a wife? Let me draw your attention to a verse in Rev. 16 about someone who did not make himself ready. That is the opposite of what we already saw. ‘‘Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame’’(Rev 16:15). We have seen early in this book how that the scriptures say, several times, that Jesus Christ will come like a thief in the night. That is, it will be a big surprise; He is not going to make a big announcement that He is coming tomorrow or next week. No thief makes an announcement that he is coming next week. Jesus will come without warning.

When a thief comes without warning, what does he take from a house? He does not take old rags and old papers. He takes the most valuable things in the house. In the same way, when the Lord returns, He will take away the most valuable people on earth – those Christians who lived for Him in uprightness, who spent their life doing righteous deeds after they were born again, and who did not flirt with the world, or with sin. Revelation  16:15 says, ‘‘Blessed is the one stays awake.’’ Staying awake spiritually means keeping our bridal dress spotless and bright. One who does not keep his bridal dress like that will be spiritually naked in that day, and everyone will see his shame. When Christ comes, some believers will be without a wedding dress – in other words, they never did any righteous deeds (spiritually speaking).  They just said they had accepted Christ and were eager to go to heaven. Unfortunately some preachers concur with that attitude. They preach saying, ‘If you pay your tithes you will be all right.’ That is one of the biggest lies by which many are led astray. But the truly upright will not listen to such lying preachers. They know that they have to make themselves ready. Some of them may perhaps be sitting among dead believers in some dead church; but yet they keep their garments clean. They are faithful – and so they will not be naked when Christ returns. So, seek with all your heart to be among those who are properly dressed.

In this connection let us look at another verse, a verse which we have seen a number of times in various contexts in the earlier chapters. It is important that you don’t depend on my opinions, but on the word of God. ‘‘Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming’’(1 John 2:28). Why should you shrink away in shame when Christ comes? Have you heard of any bride shrinking away when the bride groom comes? Why is the bride running away when the bridegroom is coming? Real bride will run towards the bride, possibly sailing in the air. Obviously she is not ready! All these verses teach us that there are many who call themselves as believers who will not be ready.

Once again let me remind you that this verse does not refer to unbelievers. John must have been about 95 years old at the time of writing this letter. While addressing them as little children, he was speaking to believers. In 1 John 3:2 John says that we are children of God. Obviously, he was not referring to all human beings in the world but to children of God; those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour were given the right to be called ‘children of God’ (John 1:12). You might argue that, that is not the theology you have learned. If the Bible teaches something else, you better change your theology. Otherwise you will be deceived. If all your life, you have believed that 2+2 is 5, and one day you discover 2+2 is 4, what do you do? If you insist on not changing your mind because of your long held belief, then I must warn you that you will be deceived all your life.

Those who don’t accept the Bible as God’s Word and don’t submit to the total authority of Bible as the Word of God, deserve to be deceived. If you didn’t have a Bible in your own language, that is understandable. But if you have a Bible in your language, and you didn’t read it or you read it, but didn’t believe it, or you didn’t read, but someone else took the trouble to explain it to you, and you still don’t believe it, you certainly deserve to be deceived. You don’t believe it, because it does not fit into your way of thinking. Note however, God’s ways of thinking is not our way of thinking (Is. 55:9). There are numerous things in the Bible that don’t fit into our way of thinking. If you want to know the truth, the onus to change your way of thinking with the Bible’s way of thinking is on you (Jn. 8:32, Rom. 12:2).

For more than five thousand years, people believed that sun circled around the earth. How many of us believe that today? Had we lived one thousand years ago, we all would have certainly believed it. But there were a couple of people, Copernicus and Galileo, who decided to question this long held belief. They were scientists who studied astronomy and physics, and they discovered that what man had believed for over five thousand years was wrong. The sun does not go around the earth, and in fact the earth revolves around the sun. When they published their findings, many people opposed them as wrong teaching, and questioned them. How dare they question such long held beliefs? Galileo was even severely persecuted. On hindsight who was proved right? All the multitudes who opposed them were wrong, but these two men were right.

We can be even more certain when we read the Bible. Ten thousand pastors can be wrong, but the Bible will always be right. The Bible describes this very nicely and succinctly. Look at Rom. 3:4, a great Bible verse, one which I love very much, and one among my favourites. In the middle of that we read: ‘‘let God be found true, though every man be found a liar.’’ Not just one thousand pastors, but every man on the whole earth! If they say something else other than what God says, God is true and all the seven billion people are telling a lie. I have decided to follow that, because I know that God speaks the truth. Man does not know anything about the future; man does not know anything about heaven; man does not know who is going to be ready for the coming of Christ. If you think you know how to be ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ based on a message you may have read or heard, and if it is not according to the Bible, then it is totally wrong.

So 1 John 2:28 is written to born again children of God, but little children should not take advantage of this privilege. He exhorts the little children to abide in Christ, so that when he appears they can have confidence and boldness and be glad to meet Him, instead of shrinking away in shame. So there are going to be two categories of people among the children of God; those who eagerly run to meet Him, and those who shrink away in shame; those who made themselves ready and those who did not make themselves ready.

The music that comes from the heart

In Chapter 3 of Revelation, we read about a church that had a name that it was alive, but it was actually dead. There are thousands of churches like that today and thousands of leaders as well. If such churches existed in the first century, how many more exist today, in the 21st century! This was a town called Sardis in Asia Minor, what is today known as Turkey. The letter was addressed to the leader of the church. ‘‘To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead’’ (Rev. 3:1). How does a church get a name that it is alive but is actually dead? Can I suggest a couple of reasons? If the church is very big, say five thousand people, it is likely to be reputed as a church that is alive, but in reality it may be full of five thousand spiritually dead people. Yet, it has a name that it is alive, because of sheer membership, or maybe even because of grand building in which it meets, or it has fantastic music with host of instruments and a grand choir, with music played like a rock concert. In the world, people who hear rock music say that it is lively or alive. You can therefore have similar music in the church, and make people say that the church is alive. Then there could a clever preacher who has studied psychology and knows how to make people happy with his messages.

God, who looks at the heart, proclaims that the church is dead because there is sin. He is not so concerned about music. I remember, once in my own church, as I was listening to the music played in our meeting, I sensed that it was not proper; there was some discord in the tune, and I was disturbed. As I was standing there with that disturbance in my heart, God spoke to me. The Lord said, ‘you are disturbed with the musical discord, but I am not. I am more disturbed when there is a husband and wife there, who are not in one accord. I am more disturbed when there are two sisters who are not in tune with each other; there are two brothers who are not in tune with each other.’ Then I realized that God is not bothered about musical discord. He is listening to the music that comes from our hearts.

When there is anger, bitterness and un-forgiveness, the music that comes out of the heart to God does not produce a good sound. I prayed a prayer that day: ‘Lord, I am your servant, and I want to be like you.’ In fact that should be the goal of every servant of God, to feel like his Master, not in power and authority, but in character - in purity, in love, and in humility. I said, ‘Lord, from now onwards anything that does not disturb you shall not disturb me. If the music is not so good, it may disturb other people, but it won’t disturb me. But the things that disturb You should disturb me. From now on, I am going to be concerned with people who are not in tune with each other than with music being not in tune.’ So I changed my thinking that day to think a little bit like God. Then I could hear so many discords in the churches, even in those churches which had a name for wonderful music. That is the meaning when the Lord said to the church of Sardis, ‘you have a name, but your condition is such that the church is dead.’ Dead means there is impurity there.

There are some who display an aura of holiness about them when they are in church meetings, but are watching internet pornography secretly. Nobody in the church knows about that. They have a name that they are alive, but they are dead. There can be unrighteousness in their money dealings. They are not ready for the coming of Christ. There are even pastors addicted to internet pornography. They are deceivers, agents of Satan, fooling people. Do you expect people who are cheating other people of money, are ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ? Do you suppose that you are ready, just because you go to a good church, sing few songs, and give some money? You can’t bribe God with all that. You don’t have any clothes on. The garment for the wedding of the Lamb is not ready.

The church in Sardis was like that and with a leader like that; having a name that they are alive, but thoroughly dead! But look at what the Lord said to that church: ‘‘But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy’’ (Rev. 3:4). Even though the leader and the church were dead, there were a few people who were alive. The church may have had, let us say, about 200 people, with almost all of them dead. Nevertheless there were about 5 or 6 faithful believers who would walk with Jesus in white, when He comes back. They had cleansed themselves by repenting their sins. May be once upon a time, they were also slaves to pornography! May be they were slaves to all types of unrighteous actions in their life. But they had repented, turned around. Not only had they continually asked forgiveness for committing the same sins again and again, but also sought God for the power to break the chain of sin in their life.

The blood of Jesus is no tap water

When I think of people who keep on sinning, and keep on claiming the blood of Christ for forgiveness (1 John 1:9), I am reminded of the Israelites in Egypt. The Israelites in Egypt is a picture of God’s people living in sin. The Lord told the Israelites to put the blood of the lamb on their door post and then get out of that place that night. But among today’s Christians, many of them put the blood on the door posts and stay back in Egypt. Next day they commit more sins; again they put the blood on the door posts at night, and stay back. They go on repeating this cycle day after day. They commit sins and ask Jesus for forgiveness, asking Him to cleanse them by His blood. They commit the same sin again, and ask cleansing by His blood. They have been doing this for years. The devil is happy and comforts them that it is okay; it doesn’t matter if they live in Egypt and sin. They just have to put the blood on the door posts and they will be fine. What a deception? Don’t fool yourself. The bride who made herself ready did not take advantage of the blood of Christ.

‘‘For if we go on sinning wilfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins’’(Heb. 10:26). Here the Holy Spirit is not talking about sinning once, as each one of us may slip up and fall; He is talking about repeated wilful sins. And why do you go on sinning wilfully? Because you say the blood of Christ is available to cleanse me. Here is a stark warning for such people that a time will come when God will just give up on them. If you go on sinning wilfully after you know the truth (now having read this, you know the truth), there is no more sacrifice for sin. No use confessing that Christ has died for your sins. Then you can only expect the sure judgment and the full force of God’s just wrath: ‘‘but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries’’ (Heb. 10:27). The Holy Spirit then reminds us on how God dealt with disobedience to the Old Testament commandments and how severe will be the punishment for violation of the New Covenant. ‘‘Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?  For we know Him who said, ‘vengeance is mine.’ And again, ‘the LORD will judge His people’’’ (Heb 10:28-30).

By speaking of the blood of Jesus every time you commit the same sin, you treat the blood of Jesus with contempt, as if it is a cheap tap water, to put some soap in your hand, and wash under it. By doing so, you have insulted the Holy Spirit. The verdict is out. God says, vengeance is mine and I will repay. ‘‘It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God’’ (Heb. 10:31). To whom is this whole passing addressed to? ‘‘Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus’’ (Heb. 10:19). It is talking to us believers, the brethren, who enter into the most Holy Place with the blood of Jesus.

What do you do with a medical scan?

What I have done so far is to carefully explain few scriptures to bring out the plain and simple truth in them. It is a systematic exposition to point out scriptural truths, enabling you to read them slowly, and understand the scriptures. It is possible, either you have never read these verses before, or never read them carefully. May be your leaders have not been faithful to expound these verses. What I have shared in this chapter is most important. If you have any arguments, your arguments are against the scripture, and not against me. Jesus said he who has ears to hear let him hear.

What you have now is the scan of your inner condition. If the doctor gives you a scan that says you have cancer, there is no use getting frustrated with the doctor, and tear away the scan in anger. That won’t help you or heal you. On the other hand, if you can ask the doctor, if he can do some surgery and heal you, the scan serves its intended purpose. Jesus, the great physician, says yes to such a request. He will heal you completely. He can make you ready for His coming. Decide today that you will turn around from everything you know to be wrong in your life. Don’t keep saying the blood of Jesus will cleanse me. Give careful heed to the warnings you have just seen above in the passage of Hebrews.

Chapter 12

The Spirit of John the Baptist

In the preceding chapters we have looked at several aspects of how we can be ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Also from the last chapter we saw how there is a prophecy, the last prophecy of the Old Testament, that Elijah would come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. John the Baptist came in that spirit, but the Jews did not accept him. Consequently that prophecy still remains to be fulfilled. We also saw that there is a big difference between the Old Covenant and the New, in that the Old Covenant prophets were all lonely people, whereas in the New they are a body. Accordingly, when John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah to prepare people for the first coming of Christ, he was just one man.

When Jesus came, He always sent his disciples two by two. Since the day of Pentecost there is no longer a lonely prophet. We have to be very careful about the lone prophets of these days, who think they are like the Old Testament prophets. Without realising that the Old Covenant has been abolished they presume that there are still lone prophets today. There certainly are prophets in Christendom today, but primarily, it is the church itself that has to fulfil the prophetic ministry. I have emphasised in the last chapter that we do not give prominence to one part of the body alone. Even if a prophet is like a tongue in the body that speaks, it is the whole body, the church that stands for the Lord. There are certainly gifts today, but we do not give prominence to any one of them at the cost of others. Therefore, the last day’s church must be a prophetic voice, just like John the Baptist was, to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That must be one of the main ministries of the church today. We know that only a few people responded to the preaching of John the Baptist and only a few were ready for the first coming of Christ. How about today with regard to the second of Christ?

The ministry of Elijah today

Did you know that a number of Jesus’ early disciples were originally the disciples of John the Baptist? They were initially drawn by the message of John the Baptist and that is why they were prepared to be disciples of Jesus. ‘‘Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”’’ (John 1:35-36). That exactly is what the ministry of church should be today - to point people to Christ. These were his disciples, but when he pointed to Christ, we read in verse 37 that the ‘‘two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.’’ That is the true essence of any prophetic ministry. - They heard the prophet speak, and they did not follow the prophet, but they followed Jesus. That is the difference between John the Baptist and the prophets of today. Today people hear the prophet and follow the prophet. I would suggest that such a prophet is a false prophet. When a true prophet speaks, they hear him speak, and follow Jesus. Anyone who speaks the Word of God must have that longing. I have said to the Lord, ‘Lord, at the end of my ministry, if it can be said of me, if it can be written on my tomb stone; ‘they heard him speak and they followed Jesus, and that they did not follow the man, I would have succeeded in my ministry.’’ That is the greatest ministry you can ever have.

Today we have so many great preachers whom people hear and follow. The preachers like this kind of following, because they can collect all their money. Such people are not true servants of God and they are not preparing people for the second coming of Christ. Just as John the Baptist was the forerunner for the first coming of Christ, today all of us, who are disciples of Jesus, must be forerunners for the second coming of Christ. Not just the preacher, the whole church is the body of Christ today. When I am speaking in a church meeting, it is not just my tongue that is present but my whole body. So the church is like a body that must be preparing people for the coming of Christ. Every member has a responsibility there. If you are born again, then you should become a disciple yourself first. Then you must live in such way that you can turn other people to become disciples of Jesus. That is how we prepare people for the coming of Jesus Christ. There is no believer who can say, ‘I don’t have anything to do, my duty is to go to church and give my money, and support the preacher.’ That is a wrong attitude. Each one of us has a responsibility, just as much as any preacher.

That is the difference between Old Covenant and the New. In the Old Covenant, people of Israel would sit down and listen to Moses speak. The same thing could be said of Jeremiah or Isaiah. We are a body today in the New Covenant. This body, the church, is the Elijah of the last days. Today the church must have the spirit of Elijah that can prepare the people for the coming of the Lord by admonishing them to prepare the way of the Lord, turn from their sins, and make the crooked things in their life straight. And just like Elijah was totally uncompromising and had power with God to bring down the fire from heaven, the true church of Christ also must have that spirit to bring down the fire of God from heaven. That is why we need to be filled with Holy Spirit. Like Elijah, the church must stand on the Mount Carmel of today and say, ‘If Christ is God, then follow Him, and if money is your god, then worship that. But don’t try and mix the two, and don’t be diplomatic. If you are going to live for God, live wholly for God. But if you are going to live for the world, then live for the world. But don’t be lukewarm, because if you are lukewarm the Lord will spit you out of His mouth.’

Having prepared people for the first coming of Christ, John the Baptist is a great example for us. We have just seen that how the people heard him speak and followed Jesus. We see in John 1:40 that one of his disciples, Andrew by name, heard John the Baptist speak and followed Jesus. After following Jesus, he went and called his brother, Simon Peter. So Simon Peter became Jesus’ follower. We must follow the same example. When we follow Jesus, we find someone else and bring him also to follow Jesus. That is how the ministry of John the Baptist continued through his disciples. If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, then it is not enough to be disciple yourself. You must find someone else, and bring him to be a disciple. If you are married and have children, then you must bring your children first. My wife and I have four sons. We have brought all of them to Jesus and have made them disciples of Jesus. You also must seek to do that. That is your first responsibility. God will help you in this. Then we also have a responsibility for others, whom we know, to bring them to be His disciples.

God always gravitates towards the humble

John the Baptist was called the forerunner, going before Jesus in His first coming. Likewise, today the church on earth is the forerunner preparing the way for the second coming of Christ. When we look at the ministry of John the Baptist in Luke 3, we have a wonderful example of the ways of God with human beings. ‘‘Now in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness’’ (Luke 3: 1, 2).

Have you ever wondered why the Holy Spirit has given a list of all these great people? Whenever you read anything in Bible, make sure that you give attention to every detail, for we know from 2 Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable. There must be a very good reason why the Holy Spirit has given all these names here. All the men mentioned in verse 1 were the greatest men at that time in their respective spheres: Caesar, the Roman emperor was the greatest man on earth. Pilot was the greatest man in Judea. Herod was the greatest man in Galilee. Likewise Philip and Lysanias were great men in others parts of Israel at that time. So we have a list of all these great men of political authority. Then in verse 2 we read about greatest religious authorities in Israel: Annas and Caiaphas. Then we see this marvellous thing that God bypassed all these great men and went to one simple man, John the Baptist, out in the wilderness.

Today also there are many great men; presidents, chancellors, prime ministers, and rulers all over the world. There are great religious leaders like popes, bishops, cardinals, superintendents, etc. Even today, the Word of God bypasses all these great men in the world, whether in political authority or religious, and will go to a whole hearted young man or woman, who may be in some wilderness. John was a young man, probably in his thirties, whereas all these political and religious leaders were old, senior, and grey headed men, possibly in their sixties and seventies. We must remember that the Word of God does not go to some big men today, not even to someone who thinks himself to be a senior pastor of a great congregation. The Word of God goes to some humble people who are filled with the Holy Spirit. These are people who don’t fear any man, who live before the face of God alone, who are not seeking to collect money in order to live in palaces, and who are not interested in flaunting their life style.

Look at what Jesus said about John the Baptist in Mathew 11.  This is the type of man who prepared people for the first coming of Christ, and this is how we must be, if we want to prepare people for the second coming of Christ. ‘‘As these men were going away; Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind’’ (Mat. 11:7)! The great leaders in the world are like that. These great men like presidents, kings and rulers claim that they are very powerful; but they are really not so powerful. When people want them to move one way, these political leaders move that way, because they need their votes to remain in power. They are all like reeds shaken with the wind. Unfortunately many preachers are also like that. They will not offend the rich people in their congregations, because they want their money. They will see which way the wind is blowing, and they will blow that way. Christian churches today are filled with such preachers who say that we must please our people; when people are in one direction, we must move in that direction. Since people in the church now accept divorce, they will not speak against divorce any more. They will not speak about anything that will hurt people’s sentiments. These are reeds shaken with the wind.

Jesus asked, ‘did you go to see someone like that in the wilderness?’ No! Caesar, Annas and Caiaphas were like that. John the Baptist was straight and steadfast, and no one could influence and bend him in anyway. He could tell Herod that it was a sin for him to marry his brother’s wife; divorce is wrong and remarriage is wrong. Herod was so angry that he had him locked up, and subsequently he had him beheaded. That was how John the Baptist was and that is the type of ministry we need today to prepare people for the second coming of Christ. All these men-pleasing pastors will never prepare people for the second coming of Christ. Neither do the money loving preachers, even if they say that they heal the sick, can prepare people for the second coming of Christ.

John the Baptist did not have either a healing ministry or a miracle ministry. We know that John the Baptist never performed any sign or miracle (John 10:41). Today many people think that only the people who perform miracle are men of God. For Jesus, John the Baptist was the greatest man ever born since the time of Adam to Jesus. Not only that, He also said that he was the greatest prophet that was ever born; greater than Moses, greater than Elijah! What a certificate? The greatest Old Testament prophet never healed one sick person, never did one miracle and never prophesied one single thing about the future. Are we not so blind today? We think the greatest prophet is someone who does a miracle or someone who can predict something about the future. Don’t you know that Satan can do miracles? We have seen how that, in last days, Satan will practice a lot of deception with false signs and wonders (2 Thess. 2:9).

Therefore we can clearly see that when a person comes in the spirit of Elijah, he is not going to do miracles. Let us look at the prophecy in Malachi again. ‘‘Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.  He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their father’’ (Mal. 4:5-6). This is primarily a prophecy about John the Baptist and also at the same time a prophecy about the last day’s church. There is a double fulfilment here; one fulfilment before the first coming of the Lord and the other fulfilment for the second coming of the Lord - John the Baptist coming in the spirit of Elijah and the church in the last day’s having the spirit of Elijah. The prophet speaks in verse 6 about a restoration of fellowship between the older generation and the younger generation. It is only through such fellowship built together, the church can be built. There is such a great need, in our time today, for such restoration, due to the separation that is coming in the families.

So in the last days, the Lord is going to send forth a ministry that is going to bring fellowship within families. And it is going to begin with the fathers; it is going to begin with the older people. It is not going to begin with the younger people. It is of no use the fathers blaming children as rebellious, the young as all rebellious. The rebellion is there because the fathers are not wise. In our church in Bangalore more than half the congregation is young, in their twenties or thirties, but there is no distance between me and them. There is no distance between the 80 year old and the 25 year old. We respect one another and fellowship together. I give them room for their ministry and they give room for my ministry. That is because we believe we are members of one body. The same thing is true in my home. There is no distance between me and my children. We are good friends; we are like brothers in Christ. This is so important in the last days. Don’t let a distance come between you and your children. We see plenty of it already in the world; the rebellious spirit among the younger generation. It must not be found in the church. For that we must be gripped by the spirit of John the Baptist.

Inward righteousness and outward righteousness

Before John the Baptist was born, the angel came to his father, and told him that he and his wife Elizabeth would have a son, and that they should name him John (Luke 1:13). Then there are a number of things mentioned about him. In verse 15 we read that he will be great in the sight of the Lord; not in the sight of men. The church must never seek to be great in the eyes of the world. Anything highly esteemed in the sight of man is an abomination in the sight of God (Luke 16:15). If your church is popular with the world then it is a backslidden church. Jesus was not popular in the world. He was the first body of Christ. The world rejected him because he preached holiness. The world accepted the false prophets like Annas and Caiaphas, but the true prophets like John the Baptist and Jesus, the world rejected.

It is going to be the same today. All over the world today, we see so many preachers trying to make the church popular in the world. To do this they allow so many wrong things in the church and they don’t preach against sin in the church. If you watch and listen to Christian Television programs, you will notice nobody ever speaks strongly against sin. How many preachers have you heard tell you that getting angry is a sin or lusting after a woman is sin? John the Baptist preached against sin. John the Baptist didn’t preach on how to make money like today’s preacher do. He did not preach that you should trust God for a better house or car. His preaching was against sin. That type of preaching is not popular in our days. When a preacher wants popularity, he will not preach against sin. He will see what the people want to hear and, like the reed, he will bend with the wind whichever way it is blowing.

We have looked at the importance of the Sermon on the Mount earlier. It is the greatest sermon ever preached in the world. I expect that you have read it. Anybody who has begun reading the New Testament, within no time, would encounter Mathew 5, 6, and 7. It’s possible that you have read it several times. Let me ask you a simple question. How many times does the word ‘hell’ come in the Sermon on the Mount and in what context? Where does Jesus warn about the danger of going to ‘hell’? Of course, He spoke about it other times, but in the Sermon on the Mount He spoke about it twice. The word ‘hell’ itself comes three times but only in relation to two particular sins. Jesus spoke about a number of sins in these three chapters. He spoke about anxiety as a sin, but He didn’t say that you would go to hell if you are anxious. He spoke about the love of money as a sin, but He didn’t say that you would go to hell if you love money. He said when you give money to God don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does. But if you did allow people to know about it, He didn’t say that you would go to hell. He said you must love your enemies, but He didn’t say that if you don’t you will go to hell. He never said about hell except in relation to these two sins, where He did say that you will end up in hell if you do commit them. Those are the two sins that almost no preachers talks about.

First of all Jesus said, ‘‘for I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven’’ (Mat 5:20). In this introductory statement to the whole Sermon on the Mount Jesus said that our righteousness must be more than the righteousness of Pharisees. In our human mind, whenever we hear the word ‘more’, we immediately think in terms of quantity. Thus we conclude that Jesus is asking us to pray more than the Pharisees, to fast more than them, etc. If they pray thrice a day, we should pray five times a day, if they fast twice a week, we must fast thrice a week, and if they give 10% of money, we must give 20% of money, and so on. Pharisees also did evangelical work by crossing the land and sea and that we should do more evangelical work than them. But that was not what Jesus meant. When Jesus said more, He was not thinking in terms of – more praying, more fasting and more giving money, etc.

When Jesus spoke about more, He was talking about quality; the quality of our life must be better than the quality of the life of the Pharisees. When you go to buy an expensive electronic gadget, why do you go in for a product made by a company with an established brand name? Why not buy a product from an unknown company? Obviously you are looking for quality! If you have to take someone with a serious sickness to a hospital, you look for a hospital with reputation for quality. When you want a good education for your child, you look for a school with quality. You don’t choose a school simply based on the number of children there. You don’t choose a hospital based on the number of beds it has, do you?

Then why don’t we look for quality in Christian life? We should not be looking at the amount of activity the church has, or the number of meetings they have, or how many people attend that church, but what is the quality of the preaching there and what is the standard of holiness they preach and seek to practise. Our righteousness must be of higher quality than that of the Pharisees. Then in the remaining verses, Jesus tells us what that difference is. I can summarize that in one sentence. The righteousness of the Pharisees was external and our righteousness must be inward.

That is another big difference between the Old Covenant and the New. In the Old Covenant everything was external. In the New Covenant everything is inward. You must remember that if it is not inward, it has no value. If your Christianity is only what other people can see on the outside, it is not of New Covenant. New Covenant means, it starts from the inside. That is where our righteousness is higher than that of the Pharisees. So what Jesus was doing in the Sermon on the Mount was taking the Old Testament law and putting it inside. He was saying that it is not enough if you keep the Ten Commandments on the outside. If it is not inside then your righteousness is like the righteousness of the Pharisees. Then you are not going to get into God’s kingdom. Yet, most Christians have their righteousness on the outside. If you have understood the Sermon on the Mount, you will learn one thing: the hidden part is more important than the visible part. That is the main message of the Sermon on the Mount.

Man looks at appearance but God looks at the heart

That is how Jesus began the Sermon in Mathew 5:20. How did He finish it? Jesus concluded the sermon in Chapter 7 by taking two examples: He talked about a good tree and a bad tree and then another example of a strong house and a weak one. Now you know that the important part of a tree is what you can’t see, under the ground. When a storm comes, why do you find some trees are uprooted while the others are still standing? Sometimes a huge tree falls down and a much smaller one still stands, though the storm was same. There is only one reason. This tree that looked so big didn’t have good roots, but the tree which looked so small had strong roots. When you suddenly find a Christian pastor, or somebody you thought was so spiritual, suddenly fall into sin, you know the reason; they didn’t have roots. And another simple brother, whom you didn’t think much of, stands strong. He may not be so big and so famous, but he had good roots in his life. So when Jesus used an example of a tree, He was saying that the hidden part of your life is more important than the visible part. You may spread out like a big banyan tree, and show other people what a great spiritual man you are; so much of Bible knowledge, so much of ability, or that you are a senior brother or sister who has been in the church for 30 years, so on and so forth. This has no value before God. What matters is how it is inside, how is it underground, the part of your life that nobody can see; your hidden life, your private life at home. How do you speak to your wife, how do you handle your money where nobody can see it? That is the real value of your life.

The other example Jesus used was a house in Matthew 7:24-27. In every building the most important part is the foundation which is underground. The higher the building the deeper you have to go underground. That’s the part no one can see. You can build a beautiful structure on the outside, but if the foundation is not strong, it will fall. The wise man built it with a strong foundation. Why was he making such a strong foundation which no one was going to see? He wanted his house to remain! The foolish man said, ‘who cares about the foundation, let’s make a house that looks great.’ This man was more interested in what people thought about his house than whether it was strong.

What is the message for us? When you are more interested in what other people think of your Christianity than what God thinks about it, I don’t care who you are, you are a foolish person. One day you will collapse. The Bible says in 1 Sam. 16:7: God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. That is like saying, man looks at the tree but God looks at the roots. Man looks at the building but God looks at the foundation. In the Old Covenant most people never had a good foundation. It was all on the outside. The temple was outside and the sacrifices were on the outside. In the New Covenant God’s temple is inside; the sacrifices we make for God are in secret. Jesus said that if you make a sacrifice, don’t let anybody know about it.

For over 50 years I have been preaching this message to people in many countries around the world. Often I have been asked on what difference is there between our church and other churches? I never say that our church is better than other churches. Only God can judge that. Our churches are not bigger than other churches either. Like in every church, we have hypocrites in our churches too. Even in Jesus’ church of 12 people, there was one hypocrite - Judas. In those things we cannot glory in. There is one difference though; for many churches the important day is Sunday. How did the music go today, how was the sermon, how many people came for the meeting, how much was the offering, etc.? It is all about Sunday. But for our churches the important day is Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday and Saturday.

In other words, how do you behave at home, how do you behave in your office, how do you behave in market and how do you behave on the road. If that was okay, then on Sunday, if the music was bad and if the preaching was not up to the mark, it doesn’t matter. For us how we live throughout the week is 100 times more important than how the sermon was or how beautiful the music was? In those six days of the week no one in the church knows how you behave at home, how you handle money, how you behave in office and how you behave on the road when you drive a car. Does that mean, just because nobody knows about it, you don’t have to care about those areas? Then you are living to please men, and not to please God. The Bible calls those who seek to please men and not please God as a Hypocrite!

Let us now look at the two sins that Jesus said can lead you to hell. They are inward sins that may or may not manifest outside. ‘‘But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell’’(Mat 5:22). You can see the difference plainly. In verse 21, the Old Testament law was outward – if you killed a man, it didn’t say you would go to hell, it said you would go to court. But now the Lord says that murder comes out of a root called anger. I have come to lay the axe to that root (Mat. 3:10). The root of murder is anger and if you don’t get rid of it in the heart, step by step, it will lead you to hell. Not immediately! There are three steps in verse 22. First of all he is angry in his heart, in the next step he says something with his mouth, and then he says something more and then he is in hell. Anger is first of three steps to hell.

The second sin that leads to hell; Mat 5:27, ‘you shall not commit adultery.’ That is the fruit. Jesus did not come with scissors to cut that fruit off. He came with an axe to the root. So where does it begin. When you see a woman, you lust after her, and then you begin to sin. It begins in the heart, and then gets done through the eyes or through the hands. It is so serious that Jesus said you must gouge out your eyes or cut off your hands. Otherwise you will go to hell. ‘‘If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell’’(Mat. 5:29-30).

Those were the only three times Jesus spoke about hell in the Sermon on the Mount. Why didn’t He speak about hell with regard to other sins? Why did He start the sermon with these two first? Obviously they must be very serious. Is it possible that in your entire life so far you have never heard a sermon about these two sins? You may have heard many sermons that we should love others, we should do good to others, we must forgive others, we must give money to the church, we must support missionary work, support orphans in poor countries, support Bible schools, send blankets and clothes to the poor, etc. That is wonderful. But you won’t go to hell if you don’t do any of these things!

These are the two sins almost nobody preaches about. What an amazing work the devil has done? He has made Christians emphasise on small things and neglect the big things. It is like the illustration that we have seen earlier. If a man, who has cancer and a torn shirt, goes to the doctor, the doctor says, ‘lets us stitch the shirt first; that is important.’ That would be absurd, you say; treating cancer is most important. John the Baptist came preaching against sin. He never did a miracle, he never healed a sick man, and he never predicted the future. Today people would say, ‘what type of prophet is this that never does a miracle, never heals a sick, and never predicts the future?’ The likely conclusion by today’s Christians would be that he can’t be a prophet at all. But Jesus had a different opinion. He attested John the Baptist as the greatest prophet. We need to change our way of thinking to think like Jesus. This is very important, because that is the spirit we need in the last days to prepare people for the second coming of Jesus.

Chapter 13

People who were ready for Christ’s First Coming

In the last two chapters we have looked at having the spirit of Elijah in order to prepare people for the second coming of Christ. In this context, it will be of great benefit to study about people who were ready for the first coming of Christ. There is a great deal that we can learn from their examples. We have a number of such people who were ready for the first coming of Christ.

Wise men from the East

Even though the first coming of Christ was predicted in the Old Testament very clearly, and a lot of people knew about it, they were not really ready for it. Let alone being ready, some were not even interested. We read in Mathew 2 about some wise men that came all the way from the East, travelling perhaps for weeks or months, to Israel, to see baby Jesus. These non-Jewish people had neither read the Old Testament nor were acquainted with the prophecies surrounding Jesus’ birth. They were star gazers, and somehow God spoke to them by putting a big bright start in the sky. They interpreted that as a sign that the King of the Jews is born. Think for a moment and consider; people who had no understanding of the Bible somehow learnt from God about Jesus’ coming. Not only that, they were willing to spend a great deal of money and time to travel through that entire stretch of treacherous desert for several weeks, or even months, just to see Jesus. What a tremendous hunger that must have been? That’s why God spoke to them even though they were not Jews.

As believers we would be haughty to think that God will only speak to us, and that we will be ready for the second coming. But there may be people even today, just like those wise men, who have no Bible, yet be ready for the second coming of Christ. Some Christians may not be able to believe this. Do you think that the Israelites would have believed, if they were told in those days that some group of people from East, who had no Bible, would come to see baby Jesus? They wouldn’t have believed for sure, but it happened. Here we can see the contrast. When they arrived in Jerusalem, they went to enquire where the one born King of Jews was, as they had come looking for Him from faraway. Then we read in Matthew 2:4, how that Herod enquired the Jewish scholars. Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They knew the answer immediately. They knew where the leader of the Jews was to be born from the prophecy of Micah 5. ‘‘They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:  ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; For out of you shall come forth a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel’”(Mat.2:5-6).

They knew that He will be born in Bethlehem. They also would have known from the Book of Daniel, when Jesus was to be crucified, and could have easily deduced the approximate timing of His birth. Despite having all the information they didn’t go down to Bethlehem even after encountering these foreign men! But these wise men that had come from so far away, when they heard this, immediately went to Bethlehem. What do we see here? These heathen people had a desire to go and see baby Jesus in Bethlehem, whereas the people who had studied the Bible, who knew all about it, didn’t go down see Him. Is this anyway different today?

Jesus once said to the Israelites that many people would come from the east and the west and sit with Abraham and Isaac in the Kingdom of God, whereas some of them, from His audience, who claimed to be children of Abraham, would not be there. So what I learn from all this is that God has no respect of persons. Wherever He sees people with a hunger for Him, He will meet with them. And Christians, who study the Bible and go to church, but have no hunger for God will be bypassed. Just because you go to a good church doesn’t mean that you are ready for the coming of Christ. That is the lesson I learn from these wise men who met Jesus. It will be the same during the second coming of Christ also. It is not Biblical knowledge that makes us ready for him, but the hunger in the heart for God Himself. That precisely was what John the Baptist came to try and create among the people.

The humble couple - Mary and Joseph

There was this young woman of perhaps about 19 years old, called Mary, whom we know as the mother of Jesus. Think of 19 years old girls of today in a good Christian church. Do you suppose God would select one of them to be a mother of Jesus? I see so many 19 years old girls today, so stylish, so worldly, with more interest in the fashions of the world than in the word of God or the fear of God. If there were such girls in the first century, God would never have chosen them. Why did God choose a girl like Mary? Why did God reveal Himself through an angel to her and said, ‘you are the one whom I have chosen to send My Son through?’

The Roman Catholics worship Mary and have gone to one extreme of error. The Protestants have altogether rejected thinking about Mary and have gone to the other extreme. I certainly don’t worship Mary, but I admire that young girl whom God Almighty could choose to be mother of Jesus. She must have been a very God fearing girl. Let me give you one proof of it. When her husband Joseph brought her to Bethlehem from Nazareth, they had to travel on a donkey, possibly, for more than 100 kilometres. Have you ever thought how it is to travel on a donkey for 100 KM slowly through a rugged mountainous path, especially when you are in the 9th month of pregnancy? After this tired ride of so many days, when they arrived in Bethlehem, there was no place to stay. What would today’s 19 years old girls tell their husbands? They would have raved and ranted against their husbands for not planning the journey and stay arrangements, especially when there were relatives in that place. Joseph had relatives in Bethlehem. But not so Mary! They finally had to settle for a cowshed full of muck and all kind of dirt on the floor. Imagine if Mary was a complaining type of girl, fighting with her husband, and the Son of God was to be born into that atmosphere of a quarrelling family; God would never have allowed that.

God picked up a young girl who had been freed from the spirit of complaining. It requires humility to be free from complaining. Pride makes us expect many comforts and seek that everybody treats us with great respect. If we are humble, we don’t expect anything from any one. I must emphasize that if you have the spirit of complaining about your circumstances, I don’t think you are ready for the second coming of Christ. Jesus Christ is not coming for a complaining, grumbling and murmuring bride. Mary is an example. She just accepted the situation saying, ‘if I have to give birth in a cow shed, so be it.’ That was the type of young woman that God chose. I would encourage all young and old women to look at the example of this young girl and follow her in that. Your husband may not be able to do everything perfectly. He may not be able to make all those perfect arrangements that you expect. Be humble and say, ‘I will accept if that is God’s will for me.’

How about Mary’s husband Joseph, what kind of a man was he? He was a young man, probably in his mid-twenties. He was unlikely to be older than this. Would the Lord have chosen you to be the husband of Mary to walk so many miles with your wife on a donkey? To end up in a cow shed for child birth, and still have no complaint against God. He was not a college graduate. He was a young, poor carpenter; so poor that he did not have money to pay for a hotel or something like that for his wife. These are the type of people whom God chose to reveal the first coming of Christ.

So what do we learn from this? Whoever you are, whether you are rich like these heathen wise men, or some poor woman like Mary, or a poor carpenter like Joseph, God sees if you have hunger for Him and whether you have humility to accept His will. So many smart clever people are not going to be ready for the second coming of Christ. These people who were ready for the first coming of Christ are examples for those of us who should be ready for the second coming of Christ.

Secondly they were alert and awake to the voice of God. Why did God speak to Joseph? Because he was willing to hear! God spoke to young Samuel, a small boy, because he had an ear to hear. While Mary had a vision of an angel when she was awake, God spoke to Joseph in a dream through an angel in the night. What do young 25 year old men, including Christians, dream about these days? Dream about angels and God or filthy dreams that come as a result of watching so many filthy pictures on Tele Vision! I believe our dreams tell us about what our thoughts are like. If your dreams are filthy, it is likely your thoughts are filthy. May be for many years you had filthy thoughts, so now you have filthy dreams. You don’t have to feel guilty about it. Be radical to cleanse your thought life, so that gradually, over a period of time (it may even take years) your dreams will become purer.

When Joseph, son of Jacob from the Old Testament (Gen. 37), was 17 years old, he had dreams about things of God. At that age with no Bible and no Holy Spirit, he dreamt about the future as to how God was going to do something in his life. As a young man, when I read this in the Bible, I was challenged. I said, ‘Lord, why can’t I have dreams like that about God’s kingdom. Why should I as a Christian have dirty dream like the worldly people have?’ Are you disturbed by those things in your life? Ask the Lord to cleanse your thought life. Pray, ‘Lord, clean up my dreams, clean up my thoughts. Don’t let me have fearful dreams. Don’t let me have dirty dreams. Give clean dream about the kingdom of God’. If you radically desire it, God will give it to you. God promises that: ‘‘delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart’’ (Ps. 37:4).

John the Baptist

Another young man like Mary and Joseph, who was ready for the first coming of Jesus, was John the Baptist. The wise men from the East are likely to have been older people. There were both older and younger people who were ready for the coming of the Lord. John the Baptist had a call upon his life right from his child hood. It is really a wonderful when children can have a call of God upon their lives. John the Baptist and Samuel were Old Covenant people, but from a very young age, there was a calling of God in their lives. If you are a parent you must think of your children. Pray that there will be a calling upon them. I have grand children today, some as young as about three years old, and I pray for them. I say, ‘Lord, I want your hand to be upon them; I want them to grow to be anointed with the Holy Spirit, and I want them to speak Your word and be witnesses when they grow up.’ It is never too early to pray for children, however young they may be.

Zacharias knew that this little child of his had a calling of God upon his life. So, as he was growing up, he protected him from all the worldly influences. He grew up to be a prophet. Imagine if you can care for your children so that one of them grows up to be a prophet. So much depended upon the parents that John the Baptist could become a forerunner for Jesus Christ. Even though God’s call is upon a person, he can lose his calling, if he is not found faithful. Abraham was called when he was in that idolatrous land of Ur. I have sometimes wondered. Supposing God had gone to someone else first, asking him to leave his land and his parents with a promise that God would make him a great nation. Supposing he had declined because he was quite old, living a retired life in Ur of Chaldea and that he didn’t want all that now. Then God turned to this other man, Abraham. Abraham was at this stage 75 years old, settled well having built his own house, living a retired life. But Abraham immediately responded to God’s call and you know the rest of the story. May be Abraham was not God’s first choice. May be somebody else was God’s first choice and he missed it, because he did not respond to God’s call. Do you think that was possible? I really believe it was. Let me tell you why.

Let us look at Rev 3:11 where the Lord is talking about His second coming. Jesus is coming and we are studying as how shall we be ready for his coming. ‘‘I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown’’ (Rev. 3:11). How can someone take my crown? - A crown that God has planned for me as a reward for my faithful service! This someone gets his crown plus my crown too! It can happen when God calls me and I decline because it is too much for me to serve Him and I don’t want to be troubled. God’s work however must go on and He will find someone else to do His work. And finally in eternity, I discover that the crown that should have been mine went to someone else. This wasn’t said to some backslidden useless elder. There were five backslidden elders in Revelation 2 and 3. But this particular elder in Philadelphia was a wholehearted radical man. This one was one among the good elders of two good churches. You might be a wholehearted radical believer and yet the Lord says to you, ‘be careful that no one takes your crown. I am coming quickly.’

My personal desire is to be a wholehearted and a radical disciple of Jesus. I don’t want my crown given to someone else. Even if I am 100 years old, I am prepared to go to any part of the world. If I have to go to a poor village in India, travelling in a rickety bus, I will still go. God will give me the grace. He can never call me to do something, and not give the power to accomplish it. If you are old in age never say you are too old to serve. Even old people can bring forth fruit for the Lord (Ps. 92:14).

I am 80 years old now and I have served the Lord now for about 60 years, since my conversion. Let me share with you a prayer from the Old Testament that I have often prayed for myself. ‘‘O God, You have taught me from my youth, and I still declare Your wondrous deeds. And even when I am old and grey, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come’’ (Ps 71:17-18). We all must serve till the last day of our life on the earth, and don’t let somebody else take the crown that God has meant for us. God called Abraham when he was 75 years old and Moses when he was 80. We must always be ready for God’s call and be faithful to it.

John the Baptist was faithful. When God called him to go out of the house and live in the wilderness, he went out and lived there. He didn’t live for very long. I think he died when he was about 32 -33 years old. He was born just a few months before Jesus and died before Jesus died, by being beheaded. Imagine at the age 32 or 33 he had finished his ministry and was gone. Being faithful from a young age he accomplished much for the Lord. Teach your children to be faithful to the Lord from the time they are young. May be some of them are to grow up to be prophets for God.

John the Baptist was humble. Even though Jesus recognized him to be the greatest prophet ever born, he considered himself only as a voice (John 1:19-23). He did not want be seen or known as a prophet. He wanted to decrease more and more, so that Jesus would be greater in the eyes of others (John 3:30. He said he was unfit even to carry Jesus’ sandals (Mat. 3:11). And finally he did not advertise himself. People came to hear him (Mat. 3:5).

Simeon

Let us look at another example. In Luke 2, we read of the time when Jesus was brought to the temple as a baby to be dedicated. There we get to meet a very old man by name Simeon. ‘‘Simeon was a righteous and devout, and looking for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon Him.’’ He had a great desire to see the Messiah born. He lived with a promise from God that he would not see death before he saw the Messiah. The Holy Spirit sometimes tells godly people certain things about the future. Not for them to talk and boast about it, like some prophets do today. These were humble people who heard God and kept it to themselves. He didn’t go around the temple trumpeting what the Holy Spirit had said to him. He knew what was told and he waited patiently for the fulfilment.

He used to come to the temple regularly. ‘‘And he came in the Spirit into the temple’’ (Luke 1:27). Think about that beautiful expression – ‘came in the Spirit.’ Whenever I read it, I ask myself: ‘whenever I go to church meeting, do I go in the Holy Spirit?’ How do you go to the church meetings? Do you just dress up; tidy up your hair and go. It is right to be dressed up well but of greater importance is to see that you come in the Spirit. Suppose you come without tidy hair, you are not going to create any confusion. On the other hand, what a blessing you can be if you go in the Spirit. What does it mean to be in the Spirit? There is no unrest or disturbance in your heart, you have no grudge or un-forgiveness towards anybody, your heart is at peace, rejoicing in the Lord in the Spirit. You are not a preacher or pastor; you are just going to sit there among the people. But because you come in the Spirit, you can affect the whole atmosphere. Haven’t you experienced some women who have some powerful perfume on them, even though they are sitting 10 seats away, affect you with their perfume? You can be like that if you come in the Spirit - a spiritual fragrance spreads out of your life. These are the people to whom the Lord revealed the first coming of Christ. God will have people like that in the last days also, to whom He would reveal the second coming of Christ.

When Simeon came in the Spirit to the temple there must have been a number of babies being dedicated that day. Baby Jesus looked pretty much like any other baby. Don’t believe all those Christmas paintings which show Jesus with a halo around His head. He never had any halo around His head. With about 25 babies around, how did Simeon know which baby was Jesus? How did he walk straight up to that lady, Mary? We can clearly see how the Spirit led him there. That’s how the Spirit leads us. He took the baby in his arms and said; ‘‘Lord, at last my eyes have seen your salvation.’’ Simeon blessed them and prophesied to Mary about Jesus. He was an old man, but he was looking for the coming of Christ. He didn’t want to die till he saw Jesus. How many of us have a desire like that? I have that longing. I don’t know if the Lord would permit that, but I certainly have a great longing. I want to see the Lord come in the clouds and I want to be ready. I want to be like Simeon, always in the Spirit, alert to voice of the Holy Spirit. You can be like that, whether you are young or old.

Anna

Here is another example and this is an old woman. ‘‘And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage’’ (Luke 2:36). It probably means that her husband died after she was married for 7 years. It is really sad when a young woman becomes a widow, just 7 years after her marriage. May be she was only 26 years old, already a widow, and then she lived without complaining against God right up to the age of 84. What was she doing? She was always in the temple, serving God night and day, in fasting and praying. Is it too old at 84 to fast and pray? She is a tremendous example that it is never too old to serve God, and it is never too late to fast and pray. To such people the Lord reveals the second coming of Christ.

She also came into the temple at the same time led by the Spirit. We read in Luke 2:38 that at that very moment she came up, while Simeon was still holding this baby. As soon as she saw Jesus, she knew that this was the Messiah, and she began to give thanks to God, and began to be a witness at the age of 84 to all the people proclaiming the message of salvation. It is a tremendous challenge to me to see 84 years old ladies, cheerful, and witnessing about Christ. I have seen one or two people like that in my life, more than 80 years old, with radiant face like sun shining, witnessing for Jesus. We must learn to grow old with grace. I see so many old people always grumpy and complaining about this, and that, and the other, and yet they call themselves as believers. Isn’t that shameful? A Christian must have a radiant face never complaining about anything, always ready for the coming of Christ.

Hunger for God is the key

What an example we have in all these people that we have been studying. These are the ones to whom the Lord revealed the first coming of Christ. I believe these are examples for us today that we should be ready for the second coming for Christ in a similar manner. The secret is to have a hunger for God. That is what all these people had. Whether they were heathen like those wise men from the east, or whether they were young 18-25 years old people like Mary, Joseph and John the Baptist, or whether old people in 80 -85 years age bracket like Simeon and Anna; age made no difference. Some who didn’t know the Bible like those wise men and some who knew the Bible. So we see God selects all types of people. The one common thing about them was that they all had a hunger for God. I believe that is precisely what God is looking for today among His people. You who go to church or for special conventions or retreats, do you have hunger for God in your heart? I have, and I never want to lose it. I want it to be more next year than it is this year. I had a hunger for God when I was converted at the age of 19, and at 80 now, I believe, I have far greater hunger for God today.

Let me show you an example from the Old Testament. When you read the Bible, if you read it very slowly, God can teach you things you wouldn’t normally notice. If you read it very quickly, you will miss some precious things. If you have read the first few chapters of Genesis, you probably know who the first man was who walked with God. Most know that it was Enoch. But who is the second man about whom it is written that he walked with God? It was Noah and that is not so well known. ‘‘These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God’’ (Gen. 6:9). Many miss this when they read or when they hear preachers who mostly talk about Enoch, but not about Noah.

Now let me tell you something about Noah. When I read my Bible, I try to use some imagination. I try to think of things that are not written explicitly there. In our unconverted days, we used our imagination to think of all type filthy things. Now that we are converted, why not use our imagination for some good things. So let me tell you what I imagine must have happened. Enoch was a worldly person for 65 years. We have already seen from an earlier chapter that at the age of 65, he had a son called Methuselah. The meaning of Methuselah is ‘when he dies it will come’ – the judgment will come. So Enoch had a revelation in his son’s name that when this baby dies, God is going to judge the world. If you calculate the ages in the remaining verses, when Methuselah was 969 years old, Noah was 600 years old, and the flood came. The flood came in the year Methuselah died.

Imagine if you had a son and his name was ‘when he dies judgment will come’. Every time you call him, you will call him like this: ‘hey, when you die judgment will come,’ come here. Another day, ‘when you die judgment will come,’ where are you, I am looking for you. Enoch could never forget that when he dies the judgment will come. When you have a little baby born, can you predict how long he will live? Some babies die at one month, some at six months. Suppose one day Methuselah had a fever when he was one year old, Enoch would have been worried. The fever was not subsiding but rising. What will happen? May be it is time now. It brought such a fear into Enoch’s heart that he started walking with God. Scripture says that he walked with God for the next 300 years after he became the father of Methuselah. He probably would never have expected God to be so patient that He would allow this child to live for 969 years. Why in the first place did God warn about that judgment? The world had become so bad. God was so patient with the evil world that he made Methuselah live longer than any other human being. One day he died, and the judgment came as a flood during the time of Noah.

When Methuselah was 187 years old, he became the father of Lamech and when Lamech was 182 years old, he became the father of a son whom he called Noah. So Methuselah, the grandfather of Noah, was now 369 years old. Enoch died when Methuselah was 300 years old. That means 69 years after Enoch died, Noah was born. He never saw Enoch. As little Noah was growing up, say when he was about 7 or 8 years old, I imagine him going to his grandfather. I use my imagination because I also have grand children in this age who come to me as a grandfather. So I can imagine Noah going to his grandfather and asking him; ‘grandpa, I heard that your father walked with God, can you tell me something about him’? Methuselah must have tenderly explained what his father was like. He would tell Noah, the little boy: ‘Noah, my father was a godly man, I have never seen any man like him, and he would go for a walk, and come back with all his face radiant with the glory of God. He was such a gracious good father!’ Thus, I believe, Noah developed such a hunger for God in his heart as he grew up. What a blessing it is when you have a little son or daughter, who has desire to walk with God when they are still small. Those are the type of children we need to raise in our days.

Some people are only thinking that we will see him face to face, and that we will go to heaven. I will tell you something about myself. I am not interested in going to heaven, but I am interested in being with Jesus. There is a lot of difference between the two. What are you looking for - mansions, golden streets? No, I am not interested in them. I told the Lord once, ‘Lord if you are in hell, I would like to be hell’, because hell will become heaven for me if Jesus is there. Even now I find that if Jesus is with me, heaven has begun for me. Are you looking for heaven or Jesus? When I go home, if my wife is not in the house, the house is empty. I don’t want to be in a house if my wife is not there. If my wife is there, I don’t care if the house is a little hut. Do you feel like that about Jesus? I hope you are looking for Jesus and not for heaven. So many believers are looking for heaven. There is a song in English which says:

I’m satisfied with just a cottage below,

A little silver and a little gold;

But in that city where the ransomed will shine,

I want a gold one that’s silver lined.

I've got a mansion just over the hilltop

In that bright land where we'll never grow old

And some day yonder we will never more wander….

But what will I do with a 14-bedroom mansion in heaven? I will gladly give it to you. I just want to be with Jesus wherever He is and not be alone in a 14 bed mansion. Are you looking for a mansion above? Or as some say, I will get a crown. Do you think I am going to walk around in heaven with a crown on my head? We will throw all our crowns at Jesus’ feet, saying, ‘we are not worthy’ (Rev. 4:10-11). Heaven is to be with Jesus. We shall see Him and we shall be like Him. If that is your hope, listen to John. ‘‘Everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure’’ (1 Jn. 3:3).

How can you be ready for the second coming?

Here is the answer. Look at Jesus’ life and purify yourself to become like Him. That is why He has given us the power of Holy Spirit. Are you a seven year old boy or girl, look at Jesus’ seven year old footsteps? What did He do when He was seven years old or nine years old? He obeyed his father and mother; He honoured His father and mother; He honoured godly older people. Walk in those footsteps. Purify yourself even when you are young to be like Him, and you will be ready for His coming. And if you are a teenager of 17 - 18 years old, or a man or woman of 24 - 26 years old, look at the footsteps of Jesus, as a young man, as how He fought the battle against sin, and lived in humility. Purify yourself to be like Him, and you will be ready for the coming of Christ. Don’t be like the worldly carnal Christians.

Do you use a computer? Ask yourself what Jesus would have done if He had one in His days? What would He have been browsing? He would never be looking at dirty pictures, not even for a second. He wouldn’t be reading all those useless gossip. He wouldn’t be reading all those strange doctrines in Christendom about the Bible. So many people spend time researching all these useless doctrines and go astray. I think if there were godly people preaching in those days, He would have turned to those sermons, and listened to them. He possibly may have looked at little bit of the news. We know that Jesus knew the current affairs. You know once the tower of Shiloh fell, and few people died, and Jesus knew all about it, and spoke about it (Lk. 13:4). That is an indication that the Lord Jesus kept in touch with the news. But he wouldn’t have had time for all that the people these days spend time on internet.

Chapter 14

The Law of the Spirit

In studying about being ready for the second of coming of Jesus, it is imperative that we learn some important spiritual principles. In this chapter we shall look at one of the most important verses in the New Testament; ‘‘for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death’’ (Rom 8:2).

We know that all over the world people seek for freedom. Jesus came to set us free; free from sin, free from slavery to our passions, free from strife in our home, and free from many prejudices we have in our minds. Very often we are not able to understand the things of God, because we have already made up of our mind as to what to believe. Very few human beings keep their minds open for new truths. The Bible is God’s Word. But there are many things in it we may not have understood, because we have already made up of our minds to think in a certain way. If from childhood we have been brought up to think in certain way, it requires a lot of courage to change it. We can learn lessons from the scientific world. We have already seen how that for more than 5000 years, until about 1000 years ago, man believed that the sun went around the earth. It took great courage for Copernicus and Galileo to question that premise and discover that all the millions of people in the world were wrong and to show the whole world that the earth goes around the sun. Looking at another example, about 100 years ago, people believed that the atom can never be split, and that it is the smallest of matter. But some people decided to question that. And now the whole world knows that the atom can be split and how a split uranium atom can give electricity to a whole city. Consider what man would have missed, if they were not willing to think differently.

However, whenever somebody challenges the existing belief, he is always persecuted. Martin Luther was persecuted when he questioned what the Roman Catholic Church believed. He had to flee to Germany to escape the persecution. It is wonderful that God has given us a mind to think with. He has made the world to run according to certain laws. To discover those laws is to understand God’s way of thinking. Scientific discovery is thinking God’s thoughts after Him. It is because there are laws in the universe that the planets don’t collide with each other.

In our spiritual life also there are laws. If we don’t know those laws, we suffer loss in our life. Those who discover these laws have a wonderful life. Do you think it is God’s will that man should be gloomy or discouraged? No, it isn’t. Why is man like that - because they haven’t discovered God’s laws? The scientific discoveries of certain laws have made our lives easier. If Adam knew the laws by which waterfall can turn a magnet to produce electricity, he could have had electricity in the Garden of Eden. How about the laws by which an engine runs a motor car? Man lived 1000s of years without it. The same thing applies in our Christian life. If our mind is prejudiced saying, ‘I will only think that way,’ we will remain in bondage.

God’s Laws are sign of His love for us

The laws of the Holy Spirit are the most important laws. Much more important than whether we drive a motor car or ride a horse. The scientific laws only make our lives little bit easier on the earth. The laws of Holy Spirit on the other hand can change our whole life. It can make our marriages happier; it can make our children grow up in a godly way. Why are there so many unhappy marriages among Christians who read the Bible? Because, even though they read the Bible, they do not understand the laws. I am not a doctor, but I know that doctors study the laws of the human body. When we have a problem in our body, we go to a doctor who has studied those laws, who can help us to be healthy. He will tell us what type of food is good for health and what types of foods are unhealthy, what type of food can increase our blood pressure and what type of food can lower it. We hear their advice and follow it, and we become healthier.

In like manner, there are laws of the Holy Spirit. Most Christians are so careful when it concerns the laws of the body. Why aren’t we so eager to find the laws of Holy Spirit? It is not that people don’t want to live a happy life. Just like the devil deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden, he is deceiving men all over the world today. When God gave the laws to Israel through Moses, about 3500 year ago, the nation of Israel became the most upright nation in the world at that time. With Ten Commandments, they had a higher moral standard than the rest of the world. When they obeyed God’s law, they had a good life, and when they disobeyed, they suffered. That is the history of Old Testament. When we read this, we learn that it is better to obey God’s law. Often the children of Israel were very foolish; they thought they knew better than God and, when thought this way and acted accordingly, they invariably suffered.

When we read the Old Testament, we learn one thing; God’s laws are for our good. In our childishness we don’t understand that sometimes. When a mother takes a knife from her one year old child, the child can’t understand why its mother is refusing this beautiful shiny knife to play with. The child doesn’t know that it can hurt itself, or even kill itself. The child doesn’t understand that the mother knows best. It is not only when they are just a year or two old. What about when they grow up to be 17 or 18 in age? Do you think teenagers believe that their parents know better than them? Not at all! They consider parents to be old fashioned and unable to understand the younger generation, and that the new generation knows better. And when that teenage girl goes and messes her life, she realises that her parents were right.

Just like the little children and teenagers don’t understand that their parents love them and they are trying to protect them, we also don’t understand that God love us and seeks to protect us. We think that God’s laws are restrictive. God makes laws for us so that we can live a better life, and to protect us from destroying ourselves! So the Laws of Moses raised Israel to high moral standards. Almost all the countries of the world follow the laws in the Ten Commandments now. Everywhere in the world it is known today that man cannot work for seven days and that they must rest at least one day in seven.

Life frees you from laws

When Jesus came He gave us something better than the Law of Moses. Moses went up a mountain and came down with Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone. Jesus ascended up to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit. He didn’t send laws or rules, but He sent the Holy Spirit - God himself. He no longer wants us to live by external rules, but by His Spirit guiding us from living inside of us; He will teach us His laws (Heb. 8:10). That is what we read at the beginning of this chapter about the Law of the Spirit. In Rom 8:2 the Law of Spirit is called life in Christ Jesus. The Law of Moses was Ten Commandments, but the Law of the Holy Spirit is not so many commandments, it is life.

When we have real life, we become free from laws. Let me give you an example. As a doctor, my wife has worked with lepers in India, and I have learnt something from lepers. When a person gets leprosy, he loses sensation in the affected parts, like the hands and the feet. They can put their hand in hot stove and feel nothing, but it will burn their hands. A thorn can get into their foot and they feel nothing. I have heard of lepers in India getting up in the morning after a night’s sleep and finding their toes missing; rats have come in and bitten them and they knew nothing of it. There was blood and missing toes. That doesn’t happen to you and me. We don’t wake up in the morning with one toe missing! It is because we have sensation; any pain, even a tiny mosquito bite, we sense it immediately.

Pain is one of the greatest blessings in the human body. Pain is what tells us something is wrong - a thorn has entered the foot, the stove is too hot to touch, etc. Therefore when people have leprosy, they need laws. When you go near a stove - check if it is hot? Don’t put your hand on it straightaway. At night, before you got to bed, look under your feet and see if there are any thorns. Why is it that you don’t need such laws? Because you have life in your hands, you have life in your feet. Where there is life, you are free from the laws. As soon as you touch a hot stove, your hand will move away. That is the blessing of pain; blessing of life in body parts. Life frees us from these unnecessary laws. That’s why the Law of the Holy Spirit is called as Life. When the Holy Spirit comes in, you no longer need a law from the Ten Commandments.

Sin is like leprosy; it kills our conscience. We don’t feel sin when our conscience has leprosy. You get to read or hear about so many people, like the suicide bombers, who can kill others and yet not feel bad about it. They don’t feel guilty about it. How can that be? By killing their conscience for so many years, they feel nothing about hurting others. When you have the Holy Spirit, you don’t need a law which says don’t kill. That is why Jesus said in Mat. 5:21 that the Old Testament law said don’t commit murder, but I say to you: ‘don’t be angry.’ So He raised the standard. As we have seen earlier, murder comes from a root called anger within, and He came to cut the root inside, so you will not commit murder. The Commandments of Moses are like scissors to cut off all bad fruits. Suppose you had a tree that always bore bad fruit, and you don’t want anybody to see the bad fruits. You then must always have a pair of scissors on hand, so that as soon as you see a bad fruit, you can cut it off.

A better way is to hit at the root of the tree, and pull it off. Jesus didn’t come with a scissor, but with an axe to deal with the root of problem inside. That is the Law of the Spirit of Life within. The Spirit convicts me as soon as I get angry. The Spirit of God gives me some pain when I get angry with somebody, even before I speak out with my lips, just as a thorn getting into my feet is felt immediately. But if you can get angry with somebody and you don’t feel bad about it, you have got leprosy in your conscience. Now you may not like to see it this way, but know that it is the plain truth. When a doctor tells you something, it is better to face the fact so that you can be cured, than getting into denial.

A new nature is what we need

The wonderful thing about Jesus is that He not only shows us what is wrong, He can also cure us. All of us have this leprosy of sin whereby we do something wrong and we don’t feel it is wrong. As I have said before Christians, even married ones, watch internet pornography or gaze with lust at some other man or woman, and they don’t feel bad about it. They don’t feel they are being unfaithful to their spouses. That is a clear indication of leprosy. The sensation is lost and they are happy to live like that. I have never seen a leper who is happy to be a leper, but I have seen many Christians who are happy to sin. Isn’t this really amazing? How can you be happy with all this leprosy of sin in your life?

When the angel Gabriel came to Joseph, the message he gave them was that Mary would bear a Son who should be named Jesus (Mat 1:21), because He will save His people from their sin. That is the meaning of the name, ‘Jesus’. We use that name every day without realising that every time we pronounce that name, we are confessing that He is our Saviour – one who save us from our sins. But the reality is that we consider Him as a mere forgiver of sins. There is a big difference between forgiveness and salvation. Suppose I had warned my little son that he must not go outside, as there was an uncovered ditch into which he can fall down. Suppose he disobeys me and fell into that deep pit, and then he cries out to me from there. Obviously I run out and enquire. Suppose he says that he is sorry that he disobeyed. I see my son there, deep in the pit, and I say, ‘okay son, I forgive you, good bye,’ and walk away. I have certainly forgiven him, haven’t I? But having not pulled him out of that ditch, I haven’t saved him? Has Jesus forgiven your sin? Yes, He has. Has he saved you from your anger and lusting? No! Then Jesus is not your saviour. He is your forgiver.

Many Christians know Jesus as their forgiver, and not as their saviour. When somebody claims Jesus as their saviour, it is really a great confession, but the question is, what has He saved him from? Can you name sins in your life that He has saved you from? If you are still committing so many sins, how can you call Him your Saviour? Isn’t that lying? You are still lying in the pit and He keeps on forgiving you, but He never lifts you out of the pit. Then He is not your Saviour, is He?

I was born in a Christian family. My father was a very god fearing man. He was very zealous to preach the gospel whenever and wherever he could. In 1956, he organised the first ever Billy Graham crusade in India. I grew up in that kind of a family. But I didn’t become a Christian until I was 19 years old. My father sent me to a good Sunday school. I heard all about the gospel from childhood. Then I joined the Indian Navy in order to become an officer. I saw the emptiness of life in the world all around me. When I was 19½ years old, I bowed my head to the Lord Jesus, and asked Him to come and be the Lord of my life. He forgave my sins. I really believed that He forgave me. I loved Him. But I was again and again defeated by my sins for the next 16 long years. I used to go to church, sing songs, read the Bible, witness about Christ, but in my private life, I was defeated by sin. My thoughts were as bad as any unconverted ones were. But outwardly I was a holy person. Nobody in the church knew what was going on in my thoughts. I know from my experience that most of the Christians, sitting in the churches are like that. I was ashamed to let people know what was going on inside. I know that a lot of Christians in many churches are ashamed to let others know what is going on in their life too. I thought that I had to resign to this fact and live in defeat for the rest of my life.

But when I read the Bible, I saw the Apostles had another life. I sought God for that life and sought Him to fill me with the Holy Spirit. Then I used to see some of these people who talked about being filled in the Holy Spirit. They would do all kinds of crazy things, and say they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Soon I realised that I didn’t want that, and I said so to the Lord. One day, I knelt in my room and said, ‘Lord, I see all these people who talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit and do so many of crazy things; I do not want that. I don’t want that type of a Pentecostal experience. But I want the power which Peter, John, and James got on the day of Pentecost as it is written in Acts 2.’ And as I sought God, and studied the Bible, God filled me with the Holy Spirit. Once I discovered the Law of the Spirit, which is a Life, I had a great desire to keep myself clean.

Consider a pig for example; it loves to be dirty. You can scrub it, clean it, and even put some perfume on it. But as soon an opportunity avails, it will be dirty again. How to keep a pig clean then? You must tie it down with so many chains and don’t let it go out anywhere where there is dirt. Then it will be clean, absolutely clean. The Ten Commandments are like 10 chains put on human beings. Then the man is clean. The moment you take away the chains, they become dirty. That is why, in so many churches, they have so many laws; you can’t do this, you can’t do that, and so on and so forth. Now think of a cat. It doesn’t have any desire to be dirty. What does the cat do when it falls into dirty water? It immediately jumps out of it and licks itself clean. Indian cats, German cats, American cats, are all the same; they all like to be clean. Indian pigs, German pigs, Russian pigs, are also the same; they all like to be dirty. As human beings, born of Adam, we are all like the pigs. Let’s be honest. There are so many things in us, in our inner life, which are not clean, and we know it, we allow it, and we like it. Do you think people watching internet pornography don’t like it? They do really like it. Surely they know that it is bad, but the fact that they enjoy it, can’t be denied. There is pleasure in sin for sure. They are just like the pigs who know it is dirty, but they like it. But the cat by nature doesn’t like dirt.

How can a pig be made like a cat? Not by putting on a cat’s dress on top of it! That surely is deception. I think a lot Christians in our churches are really pigs with a cat’s dress, putting on that holy Joe look on them. But God can do that miracle. God can put the nature of a cat inside a pig.

That’s what God does when He puts the Holy Spirit inside us; His pure holy nature comes inside of us. Then the transformation begins. We can love our enemies; we can bless those who curse us. It doesn’t become difficult. Is it difficult for a cat to keep itself clean? What is difficult for a pig is easy for a cat. Most human beings find it very difficult to love their enemies, but Jesus, when He was crucified, said, ‘Father forgive them, they do know what they are doing’ (Luke 23:24). That wasn’t a big struggle for Him. When the soldiers came to capture Jesus at Gethsemane, Peter took out his sword and cut-off one person’s ear. Jesus immediately picked it up, fixed it back and healed him. His love for His enemies was immediate - just like a cat that fell into dirty water immediate jumps out. What a wonderful message that Jesus can give me His nature. That is life in Christ Jesus. That is the Law of the Spirit. It is not chains and commandments to keep me clean. It is Life, like the cat has a desire to keep itself clean. This is the message of the Gospel.

The Law of brokenness

There is a Law of Spirit in 1 Pet 5:5(b) which says that God gives His grace to the humble. He doesn’t give it to everybody. It is like the law of water; it always flows to the lowest point. God’s grace is like that. It goes to the humble person first. The proud person, who is sitting on top, doesn’t receive it. God communicates this Life of the Spirit through grace.

The Holy Spirit is called as the Spirit of grace. When the Holy Spirit comes into us, He gives us God’s grace and His life. There is only one requirement. We have to humble ourselves. That is a Law of God. Proud person doesn’t get grace, because God resists the proud (1 Pet. 5:5b). Jesus described it in another way in John 12:24: in nature, a grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die. It goes underground, breaks open, dies, and then comes out as 100 grains of wheat. But if you don’t allow that grain to die and instead keep it inside a glass show case, even after 100 years it will still remain one grain of wheat. But if you allow it to go down and break, it will come out as 100 grains of wheat. If you let those 100 grains to go down and die, they will become 10000 grains of wheat. In this way, in 100 years, it can become millions of grains of wheat.

That is the difference when you allow yourself to be broken or unbroken. God has to break the pride in our heart. That is the meaning of the grain of wheat falling into the ground, and breaking open. If it does not break-open it will remain alone. This is called the law of brokenness; it is everywhere in nature. All the seed that you see in plants and trees are a result of some seed broken underground. Take an atom for example. When that atom is broken, there is such a mighty power, called nuclear power, is released. Among other things nuclear power can be used to produce electricity. That nuclear power can run a ship for many months. One broken atom is now running the ship? That is a law that God has put in nature, teaching us the power of brokenness, the power of humility. There are laws of chemistry, laws of physics, and all the inventions in the world were made by discovering those laws, thereby making life easier for man. Similarly there are Laws of the Holy Spirit, and if we follow them, we can be greatly benefited. Oh the spiritual loss of not following these laws!

Once Jesus had to feed a large gathering with 5000 men alone. All they had on hand was five loaves of bread and two fish. He had it brought to Him and He blessed it. Even after Jesus blessing the bread still remained as five loaves. Then He broke it and it became 50000 or more loaves so the entire crowd could be fed and still have left overs. Therefore it is not enough for Jesus to bless you. We give ourselves to the Lord just like that boy who gave those five loaves. We see here that the Lord Jesus blessed the loaves and only when He broke it, the multitudes could be fed. These are written in the scriptures to teach us some eternal spiritual lessons. It is only when our pride is broken that we can become a blessing to thousands of people. If we remain proud, we only show off what wonderful people we are, and will not be a blessing to others.

It is very difficult for God to humble a man. He could create the universe with just one word, but finds it difficult to make a proud man humble. Don’t think God can change everybody. He can, if the man is willing. However if the man is not willing, even the Almighty God cannot change him. Because He says, ‘I stand at the door and knock. Only if you open the door, I can come in and do a work in you’ (Rev. 3:20). If you don’t invite Him in, He will not come in. If you don’t ask Him to break your pride, you will remain proud person all your life.

It is a wonderful thing when we discover a new law. Great scientists have discovered laws of nature that have improved our standard of living on the earth. Medical science has discovered the laws of the body that men live longer today than in olden days. These laws were always there but man had to discover them. Similarly there are laws written in the Bible for over 2000 years. Because people don’t study it, they don’t discover them. I myself did not discover them for so many years.

In my early Christian life, I used to be greatly discouraged very often: frequently angry, discouraged and defeated! But as I began to understand the Laws of the Holy Spirit, I opened every area of my heart to the Holy Spirit and I found God setting me free. God set me free from discouragement, He set me free from having bad moods, from anger to which I had become a slave to, and He purified my thoughts. None of us enjoy being dirty. When you are dirty, how fresh would you feel after a shower? That’s how I felt. For so many years I was in sin, and I was dirty. When God allowed the Holy Spirit to come and flood my heart, it was like having a shower; fresh and clean. There is so much we are missing when we don’t open ourselves to let the Lord Jesus to be the Lord of our life

Steps to life in the Spirit

There are just two simple steps towards this kind of life. The first thing to do is to acknowledge our sin. Sometimes, it is very difficult to acknowledge our sins. What is the difference between the two thieves who hung on either side of the cross? One man was only asking to be brought down from the cross. He never got down from the cross; he went straight down to hell. The other thief was as bad as this one, but he had one good quality. He knew that he deserved that punishment. He didn’t blame his parents for his upbringing or his friends who might have led him into bad habits. Human beings always try to find someone to blame. It’s always somebody else’s fault. It is like when God asked Adam, whether he had eaten the fruit from the tree, there were only two possible answers: yes or no. Adam did not say, ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Instead he blamed his wife Eve first and then he blamed God for giving Eve as wife to him. Only after this he admitted having eaten the fruit. What a roundabout way of confessing one’s sin.

We have to be honest with God. That is exactly what that thief did. Acknowledging your sins is the first step. Jesus responded to the thief, ‘today you will be with me in paradise.’ What good had he done? None whatsoever! On the contrary, he had done so many wrong things. But one good thing he did was to acknowledge his sin. What a lesson we can learn from the thief on the cross. I have heard a lot of people say that they want to sit at the foot of the cross of Jesus. My answer to them always has been, ‘before you go and sit at the foot of the cross of Jesus, sit at the foot of the cross of the thief, and learn something from him. See what he did and then come to the foot of the cross of Jesus. Acknowledge your sin and ask Him to forgive you.’ Jesus didn’t even take one second to promise paradise to that thief.

God’s forgiveness is immediate. Not only that, Heb. 8:12 say, I will not remember your sins anymore. There is such wonderful power in the blood of Jesus Christ. Not only is there forgiveness, but God also offers not to remember our sins anymore. That is such a blessing and comfort to me. I have committed so many sins in my life, and I have confessed them too to God. The blood of Jesus has cleansed me. When God looks at me today, He looks at me as if I had never sinned in my entire life. Such is the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. As we have seen earlier it is more than forgiveness; it is called justification. Many Christians have heard about forgiveness, but they don’t know justification. Rom. 5:9 says that we are justified by His blood. What is the difference between forgiveness and justification? Forgiveness is good, but justification means, God looks at you as if you had never sinned in your entire life.

The second step is to earnestly desire to be free from the besetting sin. It requires a deep desire to be free from that endless cycle of sinning, confessing and asking God’s forgiveness. It will be like sitting in kindergarten for 20 years and never going beyond 2+2=4. When we ask God to set us free from those sinful habits, He frees us and we overcome sin in our life. The Lord wants to take us out of that endless cycle, but He will deliver us only if we have a great desire. The Lord says, ‘‘if you seek Me with all your heart, you will find Me’’ (Jer. 29:13). It is a great insult that we don’t seek God with all our heart.

How to seek earnestly for freedom from sin? Suppose you lost a 10 paise or10 cent coin in the grass, how long would you look for it – two hours, three hours? You would not bother at all. But suppose you misplaced a bundle of 100,000 Rupees or Euros somewhere, how long would you look for that? You wouldn’t stop until you find it. So the question is, how eagerly you seek for God. God sees how much value you place on Him. Those who seek Him like 100,000 Rupees or Euros, will find Him.

Chapter 15

Keeping a Good Conscience

Our focus in this book has been on how we can be ready for the second coming of Christ. The important thing to note here is not just to understand the theory, but actually be ready. The Bible says that when Christ comes, there will be a resurrection. The dead in Christ will rise first, and we who are alive shall meet him in the air (1 Thes. 4:16, 17). How are you going to be sure that you will be in that resurrection? I suppose all Christians feel that they are going to be there with the Lord in eternity. I don’t think there is any Christian who believes that he might go to hell.

Let us study carefully about this resurrection as explained in Acts 24. No other man had as many revelations from God as did the Apostle Paul. Towards the end of his life, when he had walked with God possibly for 30 years or so, he was standing before a king to be judged (Acts 24). In his defence he spoke about resurrection about which he must have had clear revelation from God. In those days the people labelled Christian religion a cult. According to the Jewish people, Christians were not following the Word of God. For them the Word of God was the Old Testament. As per them both Jesus and Paul were not going according to the Word of God. Paul response was: “I admit to you, according to this Way which is called as Christianity, which others call a sect (or cult), I serve God” (Acts 24:14). All through history, whenever anybody stood up for the truth of God, people have labelled them as a cult or a sect. In every generation only a few really stood for truth. Jesus said that the way to life is narrow, and that very few find it (Mt. 7:14).

Paul was not afraid of people calling it a sect or a cult. He believed everything that was written in the Law and Prophets (Word of God) (Acts 24:14). The Law and the Prophets is an expression for the Old Testament Word of God. Today we could say the same about the whole Bible. I want to affirm to you that the people who believe everything written in the Bible will be, even today, labelled as belonging to a cult. You shouldn’t be afraid of that. Your concern should be whether you obey everything written in the scriptures or not. That is what Paul was saying here that he believed everything written in the Bible. From my personal experience I find that most Christians don’t believe everything written in the Bible.

Two resurrections

Further, Paul said, he had a hope in God that there will definitely be a resurrection (Acts 24:15) - Two resurrections in fact - one of the righteous and the other of the wicked. I am absolutely convinced that everybody is not going to be in the same resurrection. The resurrection of the righteous is going to be when Jesus comes – the dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thes. 4:16). The resurrection of the wicked will be many years later (Rev. 20:13), after the millennial rule of Christ.

On the surface we might assume that someone like Apostle Paul would certainly be in the resurrection of the righteous. He had accepted Christ many years ago, he was an Apostle now and if he is not going to be in the resurrection of righteous, who would be then? But not so Paul! He doesn’t say that he will definitely be in the resurrection of righteous because he had accepted Christ some years ago, contrary to what many Christians would believe and claim today. Look at what the mature Apostle Paul, who knew God better than you and me, said: ‘because I believe there will be two resurrections, I want to ensure that I will be in the resurrection of the righteous and not in the resurrection of the wicked.’ In other words, ‘I want to be there when Christ comes again.’ So what does Paul do? In order to ensure that he would be in the resurrection of the righteous, he does his best to always maintain a blameless conscience before God and before man (Acts 24:16).

Most Christians have their ideas developed by what they hear from preachers, and not from God. From my experience I can tell you that most of today’s preachers do not preach the whole truth. Now, when people go to a doctor and get a diagnosis, why do some people often seek a second opinion? - Because they want to be absolutely certain of the diagnosis. There are many inexperienced doctors, or doctors who are only after our money, in every country. So we always go to an experienced doctor who can tell us correctly what is wrong with us. You may have cancer and the doctor who saw you first has failed to detect for a number of reasons. Then when you go to an experienced doctor, he not only finds that you have cancer, but also offers a solution - an operation or treatment that can cure you. It is a good thing you went to an experienced doctor. Otherwise you would have died. People are very careful; Physical health is important for them.

However, I am amazed that in spiritual matters, they don’t go to a godly man to find the truth. Any preacher who loves money can’t be a godly man. It is impossible for a man who preaches for making money to know the truth of God. He is not interested in helping you. Paul didn’t preach for money! Even though he was persecuted and shipwrecked, he continued to preach. I would any day listen to such a man. He said, ‘I want to be in the resurrection of the righteous that is going to take place when Christ comes, and not in other resurrection of the wicked, which will take place many years later. Because of this I do my best to keep my conscience absolutely clear before God and man.’ Why in the world was he taking so much trouble if he was automatically going to be in the resurrection of the righteous. A great many Christians think that they would be automatically in the resurrection because they had accepted Christ once in their life. So they relax in life. However Paul was doing all he can, by keeping a clear conscious at all times, in order to ensure that he would definitely find himself in the resurrection of the righteous. That is how we are ready for the coming of Christ. So all the people who are careless about sin and think they are ready for the coming of Christ are fooling themselves. They will get a big surprise.

Our conscience is like a magnetic compass

Why are people so afraid of holiness? Are people afraid of being healthy? Supposing somebody conducts a class on how to be really healthy, would you be interested in attending that? Would you rather say that it is not so important to be healthy and that you don’t mind having a sickness or two and that you would enjoy sickness? Certainly such people would be considered insane. But do you realise that sin is exactly like that? Perfect holiness to the spirit is exactly the same as perfect health to the body. Why are you careful about how and what you eat and drink? Why do you avoid things which you think will make you sick? Why do you wash your hands? You are so careful about these things, because you are concerned about your physical health! Even when there is some minor pain or some discomfort, you immediately rush to a doctor. Why? We are concerned about our physical health and rightly so. We love our body.

If we were as concerned about our soul, all of us would be much holier than we are right now. The fact is, even though we call ourselves as Christians, we are often more concerned about our body than our soul. We never seem to stop and think as to why we are not as concerned about our soul as we do our body. Why are we not as serious in avoiding sin as we seek to avoid a virus or bacteria? Paul was a very serious Christian. He wasn’t playing the fool with God. Most Christians that I have come across are just flirting with religion. They think I am preaching a high standard. No, all I am preaching is the basic standard of the Bible. Paul understood that the spiritual is much more important than the physical.

Our conscience is a very good guide whether we are ready for the coming of Christ or not. Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:19 that faith and a good conscience go together. He goes on to say that if you reject a good conscience, you will make a shipwreck of your faith. I am sure you know what a shipwreck is. Your ship is on the way and hits an obstacle like a rock or something, and becomes a wreck. Your faith is like a ship. It will be destroyed if you don’t listen to your conscience and maintain a good conscience.

In the olden days, the ships used to be guided by a magnetic compass. These days we have these global positioning satellites (GPS) and related implements for guiding the ship in the waters. In the olden days there was only one way to know which direction we were going – using a magnetic compass. When you are out in middle of the sea, all around you can only see water. You can never know which direction you are going. You never know which is north, south, east, or west direction. When the sun rises and goes down you can may which is east and west, provided it is a non-cloudy day. But when the sun is up there, you don’t know which is south or north or east or west. I spent many years in the seas, and I know how it is. When you use a magnetic compass, it aligns itself to the magnetic north (which is quite close to the North Pole) and thereby you know which direction you are heading. Our conscience is like that. It shows you this is the right direction. Supposing a person ignores the magnetic compass and throws it away, there may be rocks in the path, and he has no way to know them. The ship might hit them and his ship is wrecked, and that is the end of his ship. It has happened to many ships. That was the example Paul used here.

Conscience is like a compass which shows you in which direction God’s will is. Every sensible sailor in those days would go by the compass. He wouldn’t just look at the sky and assume upon a direction and end up being completely wrong. Very often Christians live like that. They think what they are doing is right. Have you read the Word of God? Are you sure that the Word of God says that you are right. Does your conscience give you peace about it? For example, supposing you have hurt somebody by being angry or rude to them, even if it is a simple thing like speaking a rude word to your spouse, doesn’t your conscious trouble you? Some people do it every day and think nothing of it, and say, ‘it isn’t serious’. Did you know, according to the Bible, when such person goes to pray to God, God doesn’t even listen to him?

A good conscience gives us boldness with God

Do you know that if you have hurt somebody with your words, and you go and pray to God, God will not even listen to you until you go back and settle the matter (Mat. 5:23, 24). There is only one book in the whole world that shows us the right direction to God, like a magnetic compass does. I know it by experience having read this book for over 60 years. It has changed my life and it has drawn me to God every time. How do you know the GPS in your car works? Because, every single time it has taken you to the right destination; it has never made a mistake. Then you know it is reliable. That is exactly how I feel about the Bible. Many Christians today believe in their GPS more than God. If the GPS says, ‘after 100 meters turn right,’ without thinking they will turn right. Then if it says, ‘after 800 meters turn left,’ without thinking they will turn but if the Bible says something, they don’t listen.

Let me show this through an example from Jesus’ teaching on the Sermon on the Mount. ‘‘But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell’’(Mat 5:22). We have looked at this verse in detail as how anger is the root that leads to murder and how that Jesus has come to deal with the root. Here is a situation you got angry with someone, a brother, spouse, or any one. Then you proceeded to say something rash and after a while even more. A little later, you come to the altar and kneel down to pray (Mat. 5:23). When you pray (it’s an offering to God (Mat. 5:23)), what did Jesus say? Leave your offering there - stop praying. You just started saying, ‘Heavenly father...,’ and then suddenly you remembered that you have hurt somebody a little while ago. Stop your prayer, go to that person, be reconciled to that person, set it right, then come back and pray to God (Mat. 5:24). Have you followed it always? That is what your conscience asks you to do. Had your GPS had said, ‘turn right,’ you would have responded immediately but when your conscious signals, you ignore it. The spiritual GPS says, go back and ask forgiveness of your brother. You say, ‘forget it; I am not going to go.’ No wonder you end up in the wrong place. This is the reason why many Christians never get near to God. They imagine that they are praying to God, but God is not even listening to them.

Here is another example of how God doesn’t listen when man doesn’t keep his conscience clear, even though he may think God is listening to him. In Luke 18 we have a story about two people going into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee and other a tax collector. The Pharisee started praying in his heart; ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like this other man….’ We read in that story that God was not even listening to Him. Is it possible a man can pray, ‘O God’, and God doesn’t listen? Christians have got so used to the fact of having their prayers unanswered; they come with that attitude of thinking, ‘well nothing is going to happen if we pray, nevertheless hope something does happen.’ Prayers of hope but not of faith! Don’t you know, as children of God, we have a right that our heavenly Father will listen. We are not supposed to pray hoping that my Father might listen, but with an assurance that He will hear us.

I heard of a temple somewhere, I don’t remember which religion it was, in some country. There is big idol placed at quite some distance away from the place where people stand to pray. No one get close to the idol with a barrier separating them from the idol. So what you are required to do is to write your prayers in a piece paper, role that in a ball of wet mud and then throw it at the statue. If that strikes the idol and sticks there, you may get answer to your prayer. If it falls down, it is too bad for you! It is a funny story, but that’s exactly how some Christians pray; ‘Oh God this, and this, and that, and they get up and go.’ Did God hear them? I don’t know.

When we pray we must have the certainty that God hears us. ‘‘Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God  and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight’’(1 Jn. 3:21- 22). That means we are following the GPS advice. When it tells me to go straight, I go straight; when it says turn right, I turn right; when it says turn left, I turn left. And finally, in half an hour’s time or so, it brings me to the place where I must arrive. It never makes a mistake. Likewise, if I listen to God, if I do what He tells me to do, then I will arrive in the place. In other words, I pray and He hears me. We must have this confidence.

‘‘This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him’’ (1 John 5:14 – 15). Do you have that confidence when you pray? Exactly as we read in 1 John 3:21, if our heart doesn’t condemn us, then we have confidence. When everything is right between you and other human beings, you can have great confidence when you come to God. It is like God picks up the phone when you dial. Prayer is like a phone call. But for many believers God doesn’t pick up the phone. I am convinced that with many believers their prayers don’t go beyond the roof. Prayer is wonderful if we can have communication with God, but many people don’t have that because they don’t keep their conscience clear. Look at another verse on this. ‘‘If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear’’ (Ps 66:18). If your heart condemns you about something you did wrong, and you don’t go and ask their forgiveness, I want to tell you in Jesus name, God will not hear your prayers for next 50 years. You can pray as much as you like, it will be like praying to an idol, you will not get an answer.

You can start changing your way of life from today. If you keep your conscience clear, God will listen to your prayers. You will get some amazing answers to your prayers that you may have never experienced till today. Most Christians think that if there is human possibility of an answer, then they will get it, but God is never going to do anything supernatural to help them. The whole Bible is full of examples of God doing amazing and supernatural things for His people. I believe with all my heart that God wants to do amazing things for His people. The only reason God doesn’t do it for most of his children is, because they have a bad conscience. They fight and quarrel as husbands and wives, and they never ask forgiveness with each other. There are things wrong in their life, and they don’t set them right. They are too proud to deal with issues. The result is that God never hears their prayers. What a tremendous loss that is. If you lost one day’s wages at your work, you would be disturbed, and you would question your employer as to why your salary was cut? But if, one day, God doesn’t listen to your prayers, you don’t seem to be bothered. All this shows that we value health of our body more than the health of our soul. We are more disturbed if we lose one day’s salary than if we are not able to speak to God one day. If that is the case, what difference is there between a Christian and someone of the world? Many of them also pray to some god or the other. You ask them; has your god heard your prayer? They are most likely to respond either in the negative or say that they are not sure. Shouldn’t we as Christians be different?

Paul said that he wanted to be in the resurrection of the righteous; he wanted to be ready for the coming of the Lord. That is why, at all times, he kept his conscience clear. What does it mean to keep our conscience clear? Keeping our conscience clear is like pulling out a thorn from the foot as soon as it gets in. We are so sensitive to pain and, as soon as we feel pain, we immediately seek to get rid of it. Supposing a mosquito bit your hand, that is not an unbearable pain, is it? It is only a slight jab. Even then you won’t watch it suck your blood? No! You will strike it off as soon as you sense the slight jab. If a small speck of dust gets into your eyes, you will immediately stop everything you are doing and wash it off. How many people keep their conscience clear like that? If you live like this every single day, God will hear you every time, and you will be ready for the coming of Christ.

The principle of sowing and reaping

Don’t think that we can keep on neglecting the conscience, and think everything will be alright someday. During my Navy days there were plenty of people drinking alcohol regularly in the ship. It was available very cheap on the ship as there was no customs duty or tax applicable for defence personnel. They would drink, and drink, and drink. Then one day you hear, at just 42 years of age, suddenly they are dead and gone, because of a ruined liver. They didn’t feel it every day. Little by little something was destroyed in them, and they never realized it. It is the same with those who smoke cigarettes. They don’t realize the incremental damage to their lungs and then suddenly, one day, they have lung cancer. Soon after that they die. When they were habituated to addiction, they looked on some other people who kept on smoking or drinking, and nothing happened to them, and took it as a license to indulge in the habit. Yes, some times, that is possible, as some people may have a little stronger constitution, but for this person, it was total deception to rely on someone else’s condition.

Conscience is like that. Every time you neglect the conscience, something is being degraded there. It is like the lungs, every time you smoke a cigarette, some damage is being done. For that matter with any harmful addiction you have. You keep on watching internet pornography, and say nothing is happening. Something is happening in your mind, but you don’t realize it. Little by little, your mind is getting polluted, and is getting dirtier and dirtier. After some time, it will be so filthy that all your dreams will be only filthy. For the next 50 years you will be troubled with dirty dreams. Even though you decide today to watch no more internet pornography, because you indulged in it for so many years, for next 50 years, you will continue to have dirty dreams.

Every evil thing that you do has an effect on you that is permanent. God will forgive you. But you still have to reap what you have sown. Some people think that they won’t reap what they have sown. I am sorry to disappoint you. God forgives you, but you have to reap what you have sown. I have met people who got AIDS because of their sinful life. Then they got converted, really repented, and were born again. I knew from their life that they had become children of God. However after some years they died of AIDS. They certainly went to heaven having repented of their sins but died premature when they were just 32 years old. They were forgiven, but they reaped in their body what they had sown in their former life. God didn’t remove AIDS just because they had repented of their sins. I know of young people who were on drugs for long time. Then they repented and accepted Christ. They were really forgiven. But their mind was affected, because of the long term drug use. There are certain things we will reap even if we are forgiven. We can’t escape that, because that is a law of God. ‘‘Do not be deceived, for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life’’(Gal. 6:7 – 8).

Why does it say, ‘train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it’ (Prov. 22:6). Supposing a father and mother are very strict with the children, in love of course; they teach their children to respect their parents, to respect older people, teach them to read the Word of God from a young age, teach them not to fight with other children, teach them to walk in love, and all the virtues taught in the New Testament. That child grows up to be a godly brother or sister. Those parents are reaping what they had sown. Consider another set of parents going to the same church, claiming to be believers, but casual and very careless. For them, if children are a bit disrespectful, it doesn’t matter. They buy them all they demand, because they have plenty of money. The child grows up to be a spoilt brat, and goes completely astray, away from the Lord. Then the parents begin to cry asking what they can do. They have trained up the child that way when he was young, and now he will go the same way when he is old. They trained him up in a careless way, and he is now careless and has gone astray. They are only reaping what they have sown.

That is why it is so important that you follow your conscience, like we would follow the GPS in our car. You don’t argue with the GPS. That knows the way better than you do, particularly if you are in a strange city, and you don’t know the way around there. Our life is like that. What do you know about your future? Our future is like a strange city where we don’t know our way. God has given us a GPS to guide us to the right place in the Bible. I decided many years ago, if the Bible tells me to turn left, I turn left. If it tells me to go straight, I go straight.

For example look at what the writer says in Proverbs 4. ‘‘My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings’’ (Prov. 4:20). This is like the GPS saying I will take you where you want to go, just listen to me. ‘‘Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart, for they (My Words) are life to those who find them and health to all their body’’ (Prov. 4:21 – 22). Then the author gives a number of instructions in the following verses.

The first thing he says, ‘‘Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life’’ (Prov. 4:23). 23). Not your eyes, or mouth, or ears, those come later. Everything comes from the heart. If you don’t watch over your heart, you will not land up in the right place. So the first exhortation is ‘watch over your heart carefully.’ That means watch over your thoughts. If you were carrying a large sum of money, say 100,000 Rupees or Euros in your bag, in some train, you will watch over that bag carefully. You won’t leave your bag there and go to the wash room. Would you? When you come back, it may not be there. Secondly he goes onto say, be careful with your mouth; when you speak, don’t tell lies (Prov. 4:24). Thirdly, he speaks about the eyes to look straight ahead (Prov. 4:25). There are times when you must look straight ahead. You saw something there on the right side which tempted you. Turn your eyes away. The first look was temptation, the second look is sin. The first look may not be avoidable. The world is such a filthy place that you see all types of things, but if you turn to take a second look, you have sinned. Fourthly, watch the path of your feet (Prov. 4:26), – see where you are going. Finally don’t go to the right or to the left, stay away from evil (Prov. 4:27). These are very simple words. Conscience is like an inner GPS. I wish every Christian would follow his conscience exactly like he would his GPS in the car. Now you know the reason why many of us don’t arrive where we should arrive, and end up in the wrong place. Then we will not be in the resurrection of the righteous; we will not be there when Christ comes again. You may not hear other preachers say this to you; either because they don’t know the Bible, or they just want to tickle your ears and collect your money. I am giving you the plain truth.

God’s final word

God wants us to take sin very seriously, more seriously than any sickness. How to know if we are spiritually minded or not? Do you take sin as seriously as cancer? If you were diagnosed with cancer, how would you react? Would you not explore every avenue to get rid of it, even when you know that some of the treatments like chemotherapy are very painful? Chemotherapy usually results in loss of hair and for a woman it is very painful experience. Yet, she would be prepared. How I wish we would hate sin as we hate cancer. If you hate sin like that, you are a spiritual person. If you don’t, you are not a spiritual person, even if you think you are. You may consider yourself spiritual based on your Biblical knowledge, or you singing ability, or your eloquence in prayer or you are onto some ministry in the church. Unfortunately these don’t determine if you are spiritual. It is your attitude to sin that determines whether you are spiritual or not. It is your conscience that tells you, what your attitude to sin is.

May God help us to take this word seriously, so that we can be ready when Jesus comes and calls us! Make sure you have settled everything and cleared all your debts. When Jesus comes to take you up, there should be nothing unsettled. Be ready for the coming of the Lord. Jesus once said that if you are in the upper room when Jesus comes, you should be ready to go from there. You shouldn’t have to ask the Lord to wait as you had not settled an issue with your spouse, or colleague or anyone. Wherever you are, at home, out in the field, in the office, or anywhere, you should be ready to go.

That is how I have sought to live my life for many years now. The results are: life has become very happy, I never get discouraged, I am never in a bad mood, and I am always full of joy. The best part is that the devil can’t come anywhere near me. Why does he allow you to have some sin in your conscience? That’s how he gets a foothold in your life. Would you rather have that?

We have this verse towards the end of our Bibles: ‘‘Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy” (Rev. 22:11)? Can you believe such a verse exists in the Bible? I was puzzled with this verse myself for several years. One might even think this to be the word of the devil as it asks you to keep doing wrong. No, it is the Word of God and it is this word that I want to leave with you as we come to the end of this book as well.

The Bible has about 1000 plus pages (may vary according to the type and version you use) from the beginning of the Book of Genesis to the end of the Book of Revelation. What this implies is, if after reading this whole book, after you have come to the last page of the Bible, you still want to sin, then go ahead and sin; there is no hope for you. You still want to be filthy after reading 1000 pages of this book, go ahead and be filthy; There is no hope for you. On the other hand, if you want to be holy, continue to be holy. What God is saying here is that after all that I have said in the last 1000 pages, you are still not serious about keeping your conscience clear then I am not going to say anything more to you. This is the end, this is the last page, and this is My last warning. You still want to keep sinning, go ahead and keep on sinning. You want to remain filthy, go ahead and be filthy. You want to live carelessly about your conscience, go ahead live like that.

That is what I would like to say as well. The purpose of this book is not primarily that you might know all the details about the last days, but rather that you become ready to meet the Lord Jesus Christ when He returns again. My prayer is that you would listen to your conscience and find yourself in the resurrection of the righteous.

He who has ears, let him hear.