The
World’s Conversion
“Either-Or”
What alternatives
are foreseen in the future of our
nuclear world?
Moral regeneration or
Armageddon.
Note – The word Armageddon
appears once in the Greek New
Testament. The word comes from Hebrew
har megiddo, meaning
“Mountain of Megiddo.”
Megiddo was the location of many
decisive battles in ancient times.
The town Megiddo is approximately 25
miles (40 km) west of the southern
tip of the Sea of Galilee (or Lake
Tiberius to the Romans) in the Kishon
River area.
According to Christian
interpretations, the Messiah, the
“Lamb,” will return to
Earth and defeat the Antichrist, the
“dragon,” in the battle of
Armageddon. Then Satan will be put
back into the spirit world or Abyss
for 1,000 years, known as the
millennial age. After being released
from the Abyss, Satan will gather Gog
and Magog from the four corners of
the Earth. Then, Satan and all his
demons and the wicked from the
beginning of man to the present day
will encamp surrounding the Holy City
or New Jerusalem as it comes down
from Heaven to Earth to sit on the
Mt. of Olives that will flatten out
completely. The New Jerusalem will
take up the entire space of the Holy
Land, about 1,200 miles in every
direction. As Satan and his evil
throng attempt to take the New
Jerusalem, Jesus stands up and says
“Peace Be Still” and the
Lord opens up the heavens for
everyone to view the opening of the
seventh seal, the total revelation of
all that Jesus Christ is. The wicked,
Satan and his demons outside the city
together with all the righteous now
standing inside the New Jerusalem
watch a panoramic view of the fall of
mankind, the Flood, Jesus crucifixion
on Calvary and the suffering He went
through to save mankind and the Holy
Spirit’s work of bringing the
gospel truth to every soul that they
could make an informed decision to
follow Christ. The wicked will
plainly see why they are lost and
standing outside the New Jerusalem in
their old, weak and mortal bodies,
while they gaze upon the righteous
standing on the walls of the New
Jerusalem with beautiful immortal
bodies like Christ who gave them
eternal life. What a sight that will
be. Then Jesus will pass His eternal
judgment on the wicked and Satan as
they try to take the city one last
time Jesus will send fire and
brimstone falling from the Heavens
and devour the father of lies and the
rest of the wicked to be annihilated
in this lake of fire until it totally
burns out.
What did Jesus say
the conditions preceding His coming
would be?
“Just as it
was in the days of Noah, so also it
will be in the days of the Son of
Man.”
Luke 17:26. (See also
verses 27-30, and Matthew 24:37-39.)
‘The Lord saw how great
man’s wickedness on the earth
had become, and that every
inclination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil all the time. Now
the earth was corrupt in God’s
sight and was full of violence.”
Genesis 6: 5, 11.
Note – Men
everywhere recognize the prevailing
wickedness of our times. Currently in
the United States alone we have over
2 million individuals incarcerated in
prisons. What does this say about our
nation regarding the amount of sex,
drugs, murder, rape, robbery and
other violent crimes not mentioned in
this list? Selfishness and greed has
taken over the world and our
civilization today is repeating the
sins of the days of Noah on a much
larger scale, its beyond the
imagination and this why the Lord is
going to steep into the affairs of
mankind with His seven trumpet
judgments and the last seven plagues
during the Great Tribulation in the
next few years. Current Earth time
01-27-2010. Watch and be ready for
the Lord because He will come when
you least expect Him.
According to the
parable of the wheat and the tares,
how long are the good and bad to
remain together?
“The field is
the world, and the good seed stands
for the sons of the kingdom. The
weeds are the sons of the evil one,
and the enemy who sows them is the
devil. The harvest is the
end of the age, and the
harvesters are angels. Let
both grow together until the harvest.
At that time I will tell the
harvesters: first collect the weeds
and tie them in bundles to be burned;
then gather the wheat and bring it
into my barn. Matthew
13:38, 30.
Note – Thus it is
plain that the wicked (the tares)
live with the righteous (the wheat)
till the end of the world or during
the Great Tribulation. Only during
this time will there be a four-step
process that will be preached by the
144,000 servant prophets to the world
to try and save as many souls for
Christ and that they would have
eternal life with Christ forever.
Step One – The
Law of God Proclaimed: When
the censer is cast down, the 144,000
will go to work. The Holy Spirit will
empower them to preach the law of God
as a witness to all nations.
(Matthew 24:14) A
witness does not have to be human
being. Consider the example: “After
Moses finished writing in a book the
words of this law from beginning to
end, he gave this command to the
Levites who carried the ark of the
covenant of the Lord: ‘Take this
Book of the law and place it beside
the ark of the covenant of the Lord
you God. There it [the Words of
God] will remain as a
witness against
you.’” (Deuteronomy
31:24-26, italics and insertion mine)
God’s law
operates like a plumb line.
God’s law defines the truth and
in so doing, it destroys lies and
deceptions. Nothing is more wonderful
than the light of the truth to
those who love truth. During the
Great Tribulation, God’s Word
will be given unusual power to cut
people ‘to the heart.”
Remember Peter and the disciples on
the day of Pentecost? “[Peter
said] ‘Therefore let all
Israel be assured of this: God has
made this Jesus, whom you crucified,
both Lord and Christ.’ When the
people heard this, they
were cut to the heart and
said to Peter and the other apostles,
‘Brothers, what shall we do [to
escape God’s wrath]? Peter
replied, ‘Repent and be
baptized, every one of you, in the
name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins.
And you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit.’” (Acts
2:36-38, italics and insertions mine)
The overwhelming
devastation of the first four
trumpets will subdue religious
prejudice for a short time.
God’s manifold wrath will open
the minds and hearts of a religiously
diverse world so every person,
regardless of language, culture, or
religious background can thoughtfully
and intelligently consider His law
that the 144,000 will proclaim.
People will hear the testimony of
Jesus 9the words of Jesus) coming out
of the mouths of the 144,000 and the
honest in heart will be “cut to
the heart.”
Step Two –
Holy Spirit Discomfort: God’s
law makes no sense without the
enlightenment of His Spirit! ”The
man without the Spirit does not
accept the things that come from the
Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him, and he cannot
understand them, because they are
spiritually discerned.” (1
Corinthians 2:14)
God’s law will be
proclaimed throughout the world with
Holy Spirit power. The distinction
between truth and error, good and
evil, will be made so plain that
young people will even be able to
understand the difference. Conviction
will fall upon the honest in heart
and painful decisions will be
required. The social consequences for
following Jesus will be severe. (John
16:1-3) The Holy Spirit will
sufficiently “pressure”
each person to choose the right and
refuse the wrong. (See Joshua 24:15
and Hebrews 3:7-19.) Socially and
culturally speaking, the situation
will be difficult.
The gospel of Jesus
always puts a person in a tough
situation because the gospel demands
total submission and loyalty to the
law of God, and it goes without
saying that out fallen human nature
finds this difficult. When there is a
price to pay for submission to
God’s law, our faith in Christ
is tested. Do you remember how Peter
betrayed Christ outside
Caiaphas’ home? (See Mark
14:53-15:1.) That embarrassing moment
was a turning point in Peter’s
life. Peter realized that Friday
morning that there was a big
difference between knowing Jesus and
surrendering to Jesus. A few weeks
later, peter was chosen as the
primary speaker at Pentecost because
he had openly betrayed Christ and
repented. Jesus gave this converted
disciple a chance to let his
countrymen clearly know where he
stood. I mention this matter because
Peter knew firsthand the internal
struggle between loyalty and
cowardice. He wrote, “For the
time for judgment to begin with the
family of God; and if it begins with
us, what will the outcome be for
those who do not obey the
gospel of God? And, ‘if it is
hard for the righteous to be saved, what
will become of the ungodly and the
sinner?’” (1 Peter
4:17,18, italics mine)
Those who love God and
His truth will eventually step out in
faith and embrace the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Once a person decides
to take his stand to obey God’s
Word, he will be given as much grace
and strength as needed to face the
trials and persecution that will
follow. On the other hand, people who
cannot make a decision to obey the
gospel will capitulate. There is
no strength to bear the consequences
of persecution without first making a
wholehearted decision to follow
Christ. Cowards, faithless, and
double-minded people will go along
with the flow to avoid suffering, and
their eternal loss will be
mind-boggling. (Revelation 21:8) ‘….
‘No eye hath seen, no ear has
heard, no mind has conceived what God
has prepared for those who love him
– but God has revealed it to us
by his Spirit.’ The Spirit
searches all things, even the deep
things of God.”
(1 Corinthians 2:9,10)
For 1,260 days Jesus
will watch and wait, patiently
allowing each person to make up his
own mind. The Holy Spirit will pound
on every heart’s door. The third
member of the Godhead will do
everything short of violating human
choice to get rebellious people to
surrender to the plumb line of Truth
– the law of God; unfortunately,
many people will choose to rebel.
Like the rich young ruler, they will
conclude that the price for obedience
is just too great. (John 3:19-21;
Luke 18: 18-25; Revelation 13:8)
Without the enabling power that comes
from a determined decision to obey
Christ at any price, the wicked will
be right – the price for
obedience is too great.
Step Three –
Your Final Decision: During the
judgment of the living, three forces
will be working together. The Word of
God will be heard by everyone.
Then, the Holy Spirit will apply
great pressure within every heart
to obey God’s law, and last, persecution
will force everyone to make a
decision. At first, you might think
that the Two Witnesses are pulling
people toward the shores of salvation
and persecution is driving them away,
but it is not what you think! Those
who love God and His law will receive
the testimony of the Holy Spirit.
They will be willing to accept the
persecution because they are
committed to pleasing God at any
cost. On the other hand, those who
love their lives and possessions more
than God will not be able to take the
heat and accept the suffering that
comes from their decision. Jesus
said, “The man who loves his
life will lose it, while the man who
hates his life in this world will
keep it for eternal life.” (John
12:25) ‘And everyone who has
left houses or brothers or sisters or
father or mother or children or
fields for my sake will receive a
hundred times as much and will
inherit eternal life.” (Matthew
19:29)
There are always some
people who will waver back and forth
for a time, but increasing pressures
from persecution will eventually
force everyone into their final
decision. Everyone living on Earth
will either receive the mark of the
beast or the seal of God. There is a
simple reason for persecution of the
saints: Salvation comes through faith
in Christ. Therefore, the Great
Tribulation will be a test of faith.
Faith in God quickly separates
people. Remember the twelve spies
that Moses sent into the Promised
Land? (Numbers 14) Faith is a scary
thing to those who do not know God
and the power of His Word. Faith in
God separates sheep from goats. Our
actions declare our faith. James
agrees. He wrote, “… I
will show you [and God] my
faith by what I do.” (James
2:18, insertion mine) Jesus assured
the church members at Philadelphia
(an early Christians church that had
suffered persecution for years), “Since
you have kept my command to endure
patiently, I will also keep you from [or
during] the hour of trial that is
going to come upon the whole world to
test those who live on the
earth.” (Revelation 3:10,
italics and insertion mine)
Step Four –
The Seal and the Tattoo: Every
person who surrenders to the law of
God and the Holy Spirit will fall in
line with the testimony of Jesus.
After choosing to obey Jesus without
regard for the consequences, each
person will be given the strength and
faith to pass any test which
persecution might impose. The fires
of persecution will refine and purify
the faith of the saints. “….
I will refine them like silver and
test them like gold. They will call
on my name and I will answer them; I
will say, ‘They are my
people,’ and they will say,
‘The Lord is our
God.’” (Zechariah 13:9)
After passing some fiery tests of
faith, a dramatic miracle will
happen. It is ironic that after
losing everything he owns, each
faithful person will then lose his
carnal nature!
The sealing of the
saints requires the testimony of the
Two Witnesses. The law of God will
serve as a plumb line. It will
measure the actions of John Doe.
Jesus will see what John did, in
fact, submit to God’s law. John
will demonstrate his love for Jesus
and his neighbor. The Holy Spirit
will testify that John’s faith
was thoroughly tested and he loves
God with all his heart, mind and
soul, and his neighbor as himself.
John gave everything he owned for the
sake of the gospel! John was
persecuted for worshiping Jesus on
His Sabbath day. John actions clearly
showed his love for God and man. The
testimony of the Two Witnesses will
establish the fact that John loves
God and man. Jesus will announce His
judgment: “Seal John Doe! Set
him free from sin’s curse. Give
him the wedding robe!” At that
moment, John’s carnal nature
will be removed and John will no
longer have a propensity for sinning!
John Doe will be like Adam before the
fall. He will feel a joyful
difference and if he’s in
prison, he just might start singing
at midnight.
(Acts 16:25)
Those who
reject the law of God and the
prompting of the Holy Spirit will
become more rebellious and hard
hearted as time passes. Eventually,
everyone in this crowd will commit
the unpardonable sin. God’s
plumb line will measure their
rebellion and the Holy Spirit will
confirm the blasphemy of people. To
save their possessions and themselves
from death, the wicked will
eventually submit to wearing the mark
of the beast – a tattoo that
Lucifer will impose on mankind during
the sixth trumpet. After everyone has
been sealed or tattooed, the judgment
of the living will come to an end and
the influence of the Two Witnesses
will disappear. Their work and
influence is finished. “Now
when they have finished
their testimony, the beast that comes
up from the Abyss [Lucifer] will
attack them, and overpower them and
kill them…. The inhabitants of
the earth will gloat over them and
will celebrate by sending each other
gifts, because these two prophets had
tormented those who live on the
earth.” (Revelation 11:7,10,
italics and insertion mine)
