Revival And The Spirit Of Antichrist

It is my firm desire to see the society I live in transformed by a third "Great Awakening".  Transformation of a society, at least for a season, maybe decades, hopefully longer, can only come through changed hearts of a large segment of the population.  And that change can only happen through a powerful move of the Holy Spirit.

He will bring upon the people a desperate desire for repentance and will draw men and women to a living relationship with the Christ.  This will not be the Christ of hymnbooks and doctrinal statements, so many of which flowed from the revivals of the past.  This will be the Christ who drives us to our knees to cry for mercy, then helps us stand up to live for Him.

God has a plan to finally end rebellion and although I do not know His timing I can read the signs of the times. But I have hope.  As the dark gets darker there must come a light that shines brighter.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world". (I John 4: 1-4)
      
Even in the first century of the Christian faith there were people who proclaimed themselves Christians, but who had separated themselves from the Christian community. They fashioned theologies that used Jesus to represent the mystical, pagan and worldly ideas that permeated their surroundings. Their Jesus was not God who became man, dying and rising from the dead so that man could be reconciled to the Father, and who comes as a person to live in our hearts and to lead us by His Holy Spirit. Instead, their Jesus is a lifeless icon, representing religious works, denying that God who became man shed His precious blood to redeem mankind. The spirit of antichrist denies that Jesus is indeed the Christ, and that spirit has been at work in the world to prepare the world for the son of rebellion, The Antichrist.

The Antichrist is identified in Revelation as being one of the horns that comes from a beast that comes out of the sea "having ten horns and seven heads" (Rev. 13:1), who will appear at the end of this age, not only to lead men to worship the false god of this world, but also to try and complete the process of rebellion in this world that has been going on since the evil one first sinned. The evil one has always wanted, not only dominion over this world, but also to be recognized and worshiped as the true god of this world. But the end of this age will instead see the Son of Man restoring all to the plan that the Father always had. Jesus is the Christ, and He will reign and rule on this earth, and He will give all the glory to the Father, and will restore all things to the Father.

In one of his visions Daniel saw a series of beasts. The 4th one was "dreadful, and terrifying and extremely strong", and it had 10 horns. From among the horns rose up a little horn which would grow bigger and rip out 3 of the first 10. Daniel keeps looking at the vision until he sees that "thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took His seat; His hair was like white snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, and the books were opened". (Daniel 7: 9-10)

This is an awesome picture of a judgment that is yet to come. God is shown here as a holy and righteous judge who has waited patiently for thousands of years for rebellion to take its course but is now ready to burn away all the accumulated rot and re-establish His dominion and kingdom. 

Dominion over the earth had originally been given to mankind through Adam who by sin surrendered it to the evil one. Jesus came thousands of years later, living a life obedient to the Father, showing Himself glorified at the transfiguration to Peter, James and John, so they could testify as to who Jesus really was.  

Jesus died on the cross as the sacrifice that the Father required to conquer sin, rose from the dead as the first fruits of a promised eternal life with Jesus and the Father, ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father and asked the Father to pour forth the Holy Spirit.  

The Spirit would change, empower and comfort all those who would confess that Jesus had come in the flesh to be their Savior and Lord. The kingdom of God could now be in the hearts of people, who in turn could minister in the power of the Spirit to change the hearts and lives of others. But there still remained a struggle over the dominion of the earth and the control of it's kingdoms.

The little horn is a picture of the coming Antichrist who will make an agreement with the many that is to last seven years (see Daniel 9:27). I believe that this agreement will allow the Jewish people to once again set up a tabernacle in or near Jerusalem. When it is set up they will anoint priests, cleanse the tabernacle, and set up daily offerings and sacrifices. 

Midway through the seven years the Antichrist will cause the offerings and the sacrifices to stop. An image of the Antichrist will be set up in the tabernacle, and it will be given the power to speak by the false prophet, who has received power and authority that came from the evil one, and many will begin to worship the image (see Matthew 24:15). 

Worship of the image in the tabernacle is the ultimate denial that Jesus is God come in the flesh, who became the sacrifice the Father required to reconcile man to Himself. The evil one, through the Antichrist, wants to inherit and rule through the earthly kingdom promised to Jesus, and from there to have permanent dominion over all the kingdoms of the world.

But it is not to be. Daniel sees that the forth beast (the kingdom of the Antichrist) will be slain, its body destroyed and given to the burning fire. Then Daniel notices with the clouds of heaven "One like the Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed"  (Daniel 7: 13-14).
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We are told in the first chapter of John that Jesus, who is called the Word, was present with God from the beginning, and that all things were created by Him and for Him. Jesus is called the Son of Man because the Word became flesh. As both the Son of Man, having become the second Adam, and the Son of God, He will be given authority and dominion over the kingdoms of the earth, ruling from Jerusalem.

John writes later in the Book of Revelation; "And the beast (the Antichrist) was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who have received the mark of the beast, and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone" (Rev. 19:20). 
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The evil one is bound for a thousand years, released for a short time near the end of the 1000 year reign of Christ, then is also thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone for eternity. After this there will be a new heavens and a new earth, Jesus will turn everything over to the Father, and things will be different in ways we cannot now imagine. Indeed, even now our image of who God is; His glory, His eternal nature, the vastness and complexity of a creation that He designed and implemented, and His love, is so limited.

The visions in Daniel would identify the ancient of Days as being the Father. But the apostle John records in the beginning of Revelation another vision in which he sees seven golden lamp stands, "and in the middle of the lamp stands one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His breast with a golden girdle. And His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire; and His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters" (Rev. 1: 13-16).  
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Here John, who saw the transfigured Jesus, sees in a vision someone who has the same look as the person described in the vision of Daniel, who appears as both priest and judge, and who identifies himself a few verses later as God did to Moses at the burning bush; "I am the first and the last" (v17). This is repeating how Jesus identifies Himself to John earlier in the 1st chapter; "I am the Alpha and the Omega', says the Lord God, 'who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" (Rev. 1:8).

My daughter Becky went to a Division I University to play soccer and to get her nursing degree. Eighty per cent of the students at that college had been born and raised Catholic, maybe 40 per cent had gone to private Catholic high schools, and religion for most was part of their daily lives. So Becky, coming from a religious and conservative non-Catholic home was very surprised to find that most of her teammates would get drunk every weekend and many were sleeping with their boyfriends on a regular basis. I don't suppose that this was any different than the average secular college, or perhaps the same thing can be said for some  other Christian colleges, Catholic or non-Catholic, but it was upsetting to my daughter.
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She saw in so many students religion without any relationship with Jesus and tradition that did not lead to a healthy fear of the Lord.  Becky eventually began to pray that there would be revival at that school. She prayed for revival everyday and even started a meeting that meet early in the morning at the student union, joined by students from a variety of Christian groups on campus to pray for revival. But it was easy for her to get discouraged. One time Becky expressed to me her frustration that she was not seeing anything happen and I e-mailed some encouragement, telling her that I sensed that there would come a time when people would fall under the power of the Holy Spirit at the school, even in the classrooms.

One evening that winter she went for a prayer walk around her downtown campus, lifting it up to the Lord for revival. As she was walking it started to snow. Becky had actually walked several blocks pass the campus, and when she turned around to go back she noticed that everything on the campus was covered in white. Even the main city road running alongside the campus was now snow covered without any traffic having cut channels through to the pavement. At that moment God spoke to her and said something like this. "Revival will come when repentance covers the campus as the snow you see now is covering the campus. And when it does you are to lay your hands on people and say - Believe in the Lord God, the Almighty; who was, and who is, and who is to come. - And when you do, they will fall in the power of the Holy Spirit".

This hasn't happened yet but the point is still valid.  All revival, be it one person at a time or a mighty surge of humanity, starts with the Holy Spirit leading us to repentance.

John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Jesus and he ministered with a baptism of repentance. Jesus said of John that no greater man had walked the earth. But when Jesus eventually came John realized that the focus of what the Holy Spirit was doing through him wasn't about him at all. John's attitude was that he must decrease so that Jesus would increase. 
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Lord, it is my prayer that you would search my heart, and show me where pride is limiting the move of your Holy Spirit in and through my life. Show me where sin is hiding. I repent of my rebellion towards you and my lack of love toward those around me. Burn your light into every corner of my life, and let my life be pleasing to you., I reject the lies of the evil one, and I will make every effort to walk in honesty and humility before you and my fellow man, no matter what the cost. This is my prayer, not just for now, but for the rest of my days on this earth. You have been my Savior for these many years. Help me know you as Lord each day forward.

What Kind Of Birds Don't Fly?

Christopher drives up for his road test today in a nice late model Chrysler 300.  I'm pretty happy to see this particular vehicle approach because it's 99 degrees out and the 91 Subaru Loyale driver by Jessica just prior was without working AC.

The guy behind the sunglasses looks like he is in his mid 30's so I know that he probably has had a previous license, lost it for some reason, and is now in the process of getting it back.  His temporary permit says "verify restrictions" and those are on a sheet stapled to said permit.  I read among other restrictions listed that he is only permitted to drive a vehicle equipped with an interloc, which is a device he must blow into to check for the presence of booze or drugs before the vehicle will start.  Not seeing this device I ask him anyway if his vehicle is equipped with an interloc.

"They told me at the Secretary of State Office that I don't need one for my test." 

I explain to Christopher that the test includes driving and that according to the restrictions on his permit he is only allowed to drive in a vehicle equipped with an interloc.  "I do several tests a week for people who bring a vehicle equipped with an interloc.  In fact I did one early today.  Don't you have a vehicle with one?"

"I do but I didn't bring it because they told me at the Secretary of State Office that it wasn't necessary."

Um, right.  I inform Christopher that it will not be possible to continue on with the test and that he will need to reschedule and bring a proper vehicle next time.  He complains that he is going to have to pay a reschedule fee when it was not his fault and then guns the car through the parking lot toward the office.  About 10 minutes later I'm sitting in the shade waiting for my next test when I spot the Chrysler 300 speeding across the parking lot, a one finger salute pointed my way.  Like I'm the one responsible for any of his problems.

This made me think of a wonderful young man, neighbor to family, who was killed last year by a young repeat drunk driver who was involved in prior multiple accidents caused while he was intoxicated.  Even after being convicted for a very long time he still could not show remorse or take responsibility for his actions.

It is rare for someone to fail the driving test if they have had a previous license.  However if I do end up with Christopher again (won't happen, these guys usually go somewhere else because their failure must have been our fault) he would be wise not to do any rolling stops.  I could mark "rolling stop" on my score sheet, one point deduction, or I could mark "ran stop sign", an automatic failure. 

Hmm.  What kind of birds don't fly?  JAIL BIRDS!    

 

Great Expectations

Ariella was a pretty 21 year old who stopped in today for her road test.  She had mentioned early on that she hadn't finished high school but someday may start working to get her GED.  It was a very quite drive until Ariella announces that she is feeling quite clammy.

"What do you mean by clammy?" I ask.

"You know, nervous, sweaty all over, like I really need a shower.  I get like this when I go in for an interview.  I've been hired all but two times but I'm worried if like I'm going to be interviewed for a CSI job that I'll get too nervous.  My dream occupation is to be a crime scene investigator but if that doesn't work out then I may do cosmetology.  But it's like people do cosmetology because it's easy and they can say they went to school.  I am really good at helping people find things.  I tell them to back up their steps so they can remember everything they did and I think that would be helpful if like, you know, someone got murdered.  I don't want to be a police but a CSI investigator would be fun."

Quickly calculating in my mind the odds for Ariella actually doing CSI work and comparing that with the current pleasure she gets from watching crime shows on TV and thinking - "I can do that" -  I tell her;  "You go girl!"

Jet Travel

Our family manufactured furniture and we had a showroom for our pretty items way down in North Carolina.  In the early 70's my older brother Jet and I would drive a truck load of our mirrors and tables via a route that was then not interstate all the way through.  There was a long flat rural stretch in Indiana and a couple of sections in North Carolina where we would wind our way up the mountain and down again, followed by another 30 miles of up the mountain and down.

Learned to drive a stick shift in a truck with a 28 foot box I did.  First stop for a red light was in a little burg in Southern Michigan that had me at an upward incline, playing with the gas and clutch and praying that no fool was too close behind.  We were not cuddled back then.  "Don't drive a stick son?  No better way than to learn on the fly with multiple gears while carrying a load of our expensive furniture."

Speaking of which my brother Jet was always interesting to drive with.  Jet has an IQ that is MENSA level but some fine points understood instinctively by lesser mortals like myself sometimes takes him a little longer to grasp.  We brought that same truck to Chicago one time and needed to back into the huge indoor freight docks at the Chicago Merchandise Mart.  At least 30 semi loads could occupy that area at the same time.

As Jet was backing in I noticed from my shotgun position that the large mirror outside my window was going to soon encounter a beat up and faded yellow cement support and I advised my brother of the same.  As he is explaining to me the dimensions of the mirror combined with it's angle and how it is impossible to hit said post with said mirror we get the crunch of glass against cement.  Maybe I should have been taking notes.

One time we are in the mountains of North Carolina and Jet needs to find a rest room.  We stop at a little general store and frankly I'm starting to get a little worried because Jet was kind of a radical in college and he was still wearing a pin that was a black and white hand shaking underneath the letters NAACP.  Knowing that he wouldn't listen to advice from his younger brother I don't say anything about the pin but I'm worried.  I'd seen movies of guys down South wearing sheets and this place looked like the backdrop to one of those movies.

In the store there were a half a dozen white men dressed in bib overalls sitting around a pot bellied stove.  Some were actually whittling sticks with sharp looking knives.  They were talking until we entered the front door and then became quite.  Jet passed them by on the way to the can in the back and I stand about two feet from the front door, ready to combine my old track skills with my new found driving ability.  Fortunately we were at the top of the mountain and it would be downhill for miles. 

No one says a word, looks at us, or even moves a muscle the entire time we are there.  As we are leaving and driving past the fleet of old cars with no rust sitting in a field I keep glancing back at my recently repaired outside mirror.  It was a nice break from looking at the little post it notes that Jet has pasted for himself throughout the cab.  "Slow down on curves."  "Don't forget the turn signal."  "Objects in the mirrors may be closer than you think."  If only one would say, "Listen to your brother." 

Jesus Is Lord

In the ancient bygone past, the 1970's, Jackie and I were involved with the charismatic renewal in the Catholic Church.  We shared some leadership responsibilities for prayer meetings, went to big exciting conferences at places like Notre Dame and helped conduct Life in the Spirit seminars.

The first priority wasn't necessarily receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  Much more important was the message that the Father's love was made real to us through the person of Jesus.  As important as it was to surrender our lives to Him as savior it was also necessary to ask Him to be the Lord of our lives as well.  The heart of the charismatic renewal could and was expressed in the phrase - JESUS IS LORD.

I love how Jesus as Lord is emphasized in Paul's greeting to the Corinthians in his first recorded letter to them;

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and in all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you,

so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

"God is faithful."   How powerful those words are when we are hurting and confused.  Why?  Because we know deep in our hearts and so we can still proclaim on our lips - Jesus is Lord.  We don't have to understand the why, the where for, the timing.  We don't have to have been perfect in all of our ways.  We don't have to muster up the strength and courage on our own to go forward.

He has taken my burden and loves me with a love that comes from the Father of love.  Because He is Lord I surrender all to Him.  Because He is Lord I trust that I am not on my own.  Because He is Lord I know He has a plan and a purpose for everything.

As my brother-in-law Jerry and sister-in-law Sherry travel to Japan today to pick up the body of their son Matt I pray that just as Matt knew and trusted Jesus as his Lord, so there would be many more through this that would be lead to confess - JESUS IS LORD!   

This Ain't That Bad

I think it was W.C. Fields who wanted it put into his movie contracts that he wouldn't have to appear with either children or dogs because they would steal each scene they appeared in.

Neither Jackie or I are dog people, and that holds true for most of our kids as well.  That being said, if any one of us happens to visit someone who has a dog, that large furry creature with his huge saliva coated tongue is sure to make a leaping beeline toward us, even if there happen to be 20 other people in the room.

That has been my lot in life.  More enjoyable however is the fact that almost all children seem to love me as well.  All except my niece Holly's little two year old Lauren.

The first time Lauren laid eyes on me as an infant she screamed.  Every time after, no matter what mood she was in, if she spotted me she would start to cry.  Before the big family Christmas gathering last winter her mom talked to Lauren and told her that Uncle Bob would be there and that everything would be OK and that she didn't have to cry or be worried about anything.

I talked to Lauren a  few times that night and she looked right at me and didn't cry or even try to hold onto Holly's leg or anything like that.  She did give me the look from her eyes that said; "I'm being good and you may have fooled my mom but you better watch your step Bud."

The next couple of times we met she acted fine but then last week, boom, as soon as she saw me she started crying.  This is a challenge where I'm sure one day we will be buds, but not yet.

Did a road test for a 20 year old guy last week named Melvin.  At a very slender 6'2" Melvin had a shaggy goatee, cornrows in his hair and a Bob Marley thing going on with his pony tail.  I asked him what he did for work and Melvin told me he worked with children.

"So you must really love kids" I started.  "Well, not at first.  They're just like dogs:  Dirty, smelly, loud, run around all the time and always jumping on you.  Dogs and kids seem to love me though so I'm getting use to it."

I tell Melvin how dogs love me as well and then ask him, "I gather you don't have a dog?"

"My mother recently gave me a Pit Bull.  I told her - Take it back!  I don't want it!  But she wouldn't take it back.  That first week I didn't talk to it, I didn't feed it, I didn't wash it.  My brother did though.  After a week I'm laying in bed and that Pit Bull jumps into bed and snuggles right up next to me.  It was then that I thought, hey, this ain't that bad!"

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!  Maybe one day Lauren will see me coming and think, "Hey, he ain't that bad!"

Forty Wonderful Years

On June 3, 1972, Jackie and I said YES YES YES and off we went on our grand adventure.  I suppose it's fitting that on our way out to Ba Ha Ba (Bar Harbor, Maine)  we stopped at an establishment known as Perry's Nut House.  For five hundred miles we had noticed the signs and it was just a little bit out of our main route, so we took the chance.

Now if this was, say, a museum that honored the War of 1812 Admiral Perry whose courage and daring was key to throwing off the last vestige of British rule on the continent, thus the phrase "That Perry sure had some big ones", it might have been worth (at least for me) the three hour delay.  As it turned out Perry's main feature was a stuffed giraffe (body on one floor, neck and head through an opening on top).  This, I found out in the trial and error which is marriage, was not something that appealed to my sweet bride.

I learned a few other interesting things on that initial trip as well.  Thinking that it would be great to be able just to drive and have an on board navigator it was surprising when we were approaching Buffalo and just as we were passing exit 41A that lead to the bypass Jackie says "Turn here.  TURN HERE!  You should have turned there!"  Lesson number one for me;  Don't assume, learn to communicate.

Lesson number two was about the need to stop for breakfast.  One of us, aka "the Grinch that stole Christmas" was not use to eating breakfast.  The other evidently considered it a sacred ritual that might under special circumstances be delayed for maybe an hour, but always must be honored.  I was stubborn one morning when nothing looked appealing to me right away and drove until lunch.  What did I learn?  Toast and juice are a lot more appealing than silence and steam from the one who means everything to me.  (And I find out many years later that her body actually has to have at least a little nutrition several times a day.)

Now we have been married forty years.  Forty years - Anytime someone would ask me how long I have been married I would always preface the number of years with the word "wonderful."   And it's still true, we have now been married forty wonderful years.

You see a lot and go through a lot together in that amount of time.  I have been blessed that a woman who was a believer did not do the smartest thing and fell in love with and then married a non believer.  I have been blessed that the Lord of the Universe gave me parents that loved me, an interesting and fun family to grow up with, a great extended family, and a woman who has stood with me through every challenge.

He reached through the darkness of my soul and revealed Himself to me and has been my source of strength for over thirty nine years.  He has blessed Jackie and me with children who have also come to know my incredible Lord, and given them believing spouses, and He has blessed us with many wonderful grandchildren.  May the Holy Spirit move in their lives so that each may come to know The Father through Jesus.

Last night for our anniversary Jackie and I went out to dinner and then to the IMAX to see MEN IN BLACK III in 3D.  In the movie agent J goes back in time to the year 1969 and pairs up with young agent K to save the world once again (or twice again?)  They end up at a SoHo party hosted by Andy Warhol who is actually an undercover MIB agent and who is going crazy doing what he does.  "I paint a picture of a tomato soup can and everyone thinks I'm a genius."  My favorite line from the movie is after he begs agent K to get him a transfer he calls out to J and K as they are leaving;  "I can't tell the boys from the girls anymore!"

Ah, transgender dressing, one of the relics from 1969.  My mother use to say; "As long as they can tell the difference, who cares?"  In 1969 I was in college and it seemed to me the whole world was changing.  Music was different.  Drugs became easy to find.  The Viet Nam war is in full gear.  Aquinas would go through a self study and make A through F grades optional.  Students were shot by the National Guard at Kent State and revolution was in the air and appeared to be more than just cultural.  Fads come and go but the decrease in moral certitude not only remains but builds upon itself, year by year.

On the positive side, The Catholic Church in America was beginning to experience a fresh move of the Holy Spirit.  A by product of that was a woman took a bus trip to South Bend, found a book on the Catholic Charismatic renewal on a vacant bus seat, gave it to her brother-in-law who then went to prayer meetings at an Abbey in Three Rivers, got excited and prayed the name Jesus through the night for two straight nights and was given the gift of tongues during the third, who prayed with his kids to receive the Holy Spirit baptism, one of which was dating a guy named Bob who thought it was nice for the daughter but let's not talk religion, who married that crazy gal who prayed for that crazy guy who later surrendered to the move of the Holy Spirit and is thrilled that he did.

Since it's almost impossible for the Holy Spirit to move in fresh ways when someone or an organization wants to control Him the revival in the Catholic Church eventually faded, but the fruit produced also builds upon itself, year by year.

In marriage you learn to humble yourself to best serve and get along with your mate.  The life we live together must be based on trust.  Love is a commitment that transcends feelings.  Communication has to always be open. We need to spend time together.  Even after 40 years I find that I sometimes fall short on all counts.

The above is also true of our relationship with the Lord.  All is based on trust which increases as we humble ourselves and pray.

Jackie and I have had forty wonderful years together.  May the Lord  bless your lives and marriages as well.