Trials and Apostasy
Hi Everyone,
Today I received two visions that I would like to share with you. I have been praying for understanding regarding our nation and the direction that it has been heading. I understand that both the “good” and the “bad” decisions that have affected our nation are all within the will of God. And that God uses all things regardless of how we value them to promote his will on the earth.
We know that our ways are not God’s ways, nor are our thoughts his thoughts. He looks at things from the perspective of achieving his ultimate goal. He wants his creation to bring him glory. He wants us all to be saved. And he will choose the instruments by which he brings His plans about. Very often, he uses hardship and distress to create a sense of urgency. We all need to be able to make a commit to God and decide once and for all that we will follow Jesus.
Yet, too many people think they are doing just fine without him. But in times of hardship and distress, when we have tried everything on our own, when we have exhausted all other possibilities, we may just call out to God for help. Who knows, the terrible situation that we find ourselves in, may be just the very thing that God uses to turn our hearts towards him to be saved. It is too bad that he cannot use a carrot. For many hard headed, defiant people, he has to use a club! But no matter what the instrument, God is faithful; he wants no one to go to hell.
Even believers need the trials of life to draw us closer to him. So the wickedness and the corruption that is in the world today, is being used by God to call people to repent of their sins and to put their trust in him. As believers we should know how much he loves us and wants the best for us. He knows our needs, he hears our prayers. His love, mercy and goodwill towards us, is priceless. He gives us peace and hope. Whatever is our need, he can provide.
But a non-believer sometimes must go through very difficult situations for his pride and will to be broken. When he humbles himself before the Lord and asks for help, the Lord is faithful and will come to his aide.
Over the last several years, we have seen a tremendous increase in evil. The lies and corruption have been blatant, and continuous. There is no shame, there is no fear of God. It reminds me of the days of Noah.
“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” Genesis 6:5-7
God did destroy the earth with a flood. But He used Noah and his family and many species of animals to re-populate the earth. After the waters receded, the Lord made a promise that he would never destroy the earth again by a flood. The rainbow He gave us as a sign of His promise to us.
But now we have evil as prevalent as it was in those days. How has this affected the Church? How are the faithful managing? What has all the corruption and lies produced in the believer? With all the fear mongering of the media, has it produced a greater dependence on God? An increase in faith to believe Him for our needs, for healing and provision? A more prayerful attitude in the church? A revival? An increase in church growth?
Well, maybe for some, but the fear mongering, the wickedness and the pandemic lock-downs have also wreaked havoc on church attendance. In several articles that I read, they attribute the loss of attendees on the lock-downs and COVID restrictions. Fear, and the change in habits also played a role in the attrition of churchgoers. The less committed Christians, represent the majority of those who have not returned. Many of them took the opportunity to watch the Sunday services online, and now prefer to participate from home. However, Christian surveys show that most pajama worshipers have dropped out, simply because of distractions and things that take precedence over tuning in. I believe that the COVID lock-downs only made the falling away from the faith more sudden and dramatic. Statistics show that it had already begun decades before.
I have been praying that this increase in wickedness does not bring apathy and complacency, but instead causes the church to wake up. I hope with all my heart that there has been enough prayer and enough changed hearts to tip the scales in the direction of a new season for us in this nation. We have been praying that God-fearing men and women will take their place in government offices, on every level: local, state and federal. I have been praying that darkness will be exposed. And all the lies, the corruption and wicked plans will be brought to light, and those who are corrupt will come to repentance. It is not the Lord’s will for people to go to hell. He wants none to be lost and all to come to repentance.
I have also been praying for the church to follow one of the most wonderful, and powerful promises found in scripture:
“If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
But what is going to happen at the polls on November 8th, just eight days from now? This has been the question for which I have been seeking God. Today as I was praying, I received two visions that I will share. I believe they answer the question for me.
The Visions
The Newspaper
In the vision, I saw just the upper right hand corners of several pages of paper. There were the typical holes and saw-toothed edges found on newspaper, so I believe that is what it was. On two of the pages where the corners were easily seen were the numbers 4 on one page and the number 7 on another page. The numbers looked as if they were printed crosswise to the vertical direction. The only way that the pages would be upright would be if they were printed in the lower right hand corner. Since I have never seen a newspaper do its pagination at the lower right hand corner, I am assuming that the numbers were printed crosswise to the length of the page.
As I continued to pray, I had another vision:
The Hand
I saw a right hand with the palm facing myself. Its fingers were spread apart, and there was a wound on the fourth finger, (the right hand ring finger). The wound was located where a ring might have been worn.
In our traditions, a wedding band would be worn on the left hand, which represents the natural and spiritual bond that is between a husband and his wife:
“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Mark 10:6-9
A wedding band is worn on the left hand which is the weaker of the two hands, so I believe that it represents submission. In marriage we humbly submit to one another in love, which forms a spiritual bond. By uniting together the two become stronger, and “one in flesh.”
In the vision, it was the right hand that was wounded where a ring would have been. This I believe represents a divorce. If the left hand is for our natural marriage, then the right hand would represent our union with the Lord as we are the Bride of Christ. What I see in this vision is the apostasy that Paul wrote about in 2 Thessalonians:
“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4
The word “rebellion” mentioned in this passage is actually speaking of an apostasy or a falling away from the faith, by those professing to be Christians. Many have called this “the great apostasy.” I believe that apostasy has been going on for some time. However when the churches went along with the government’s mandated lock-downs during the early days of the pandemic, that was the beginning of a much greater falling away. Since the churches re-opened their doors, there has only been a partial return in church attendance. It seems that people have become comfortable with staying home on a Sunday morning. Many churches began streaming their services in order to keep in touch with their congregations. But now that time has passed, many people have lost the desire to go to church. They have created for themselves a new routine for their Sunday mornings.
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25
Once a believer separates and stays away from the body of Christ, he becomes weaker in his faith, and more inclined to follow the leading of the world. A believer then does what every other person does: stay up late on Saturday night and sleep in on Sunday morning. Even turning on the live streaming service requires more energy than he might be willing to spend. Therefore, we see that a great falling away is already underway.
This is the wound that is on the hand. The ring that was the promise of God to his bride, the church, has been removed. This grieves the Lord. But at the same time, we know that there will be a testing of our faith. Those that remain faithful to God are the ones who will receive the promise of God. Those that do not keep covenant with God, will be like the foolish virgins that will be left behind.
“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
“And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
“Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” Matthew 25:1-13
Now let’s go back to the first vision of the number 4 and the number 7 on the corners of a newspaper. I’d like to share the meaning of the number 4 from a source called “Rock of Offense - Jesus.” After making a complete search of the scriptures, they have found that the number 4 symbolizes something they call “universal extent.” This is a quote from the article:
“It is evident that the number 4 is used throughout the Bible in a symbolic manner pointing to the ‘universal extent’ of the subject related to the number 4.”
The “universal extent” of the fourth day of creation is the creation of the sun and the moon and the stars. The “universal extent” of the “four corners of the earth,” is the entire earth.
The universal extent basically is a description of the subject in its entirety. It is a show of completeness. The four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are complete as a set describing all those that fit the description of “the gospels.”
There are so many examples of the number four throughout the Bible: 4 beasts, 4 living creatures, 4 faces on each of the 4 living creatures, 4 horses in the Book of Revelation, 4 horns on the 4 corners of the altar, 4 winds, 4 soils, 4 punishments for transgression, and many more.
One example that I found interesting was that God created the sun, moon and stars on the fourth day. And then we see in the last Book of the Bible, Revelation, God directs the 4th angel to release a plague which blocks out ⅓ of the sun’s light, ⅓ of the moon’s light, and ⅓ of the stars’ light. We can see that everything that God does from the beginning to the very end, He does with foresight and planning.
“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” Romans 11:33
So the 4 represents the universal extent of the subject to which the 4 is applied.
The 7 as I have described in an earlier post represents completion and perfection: Once again, I quote the following facts from Bible Study:
The number 7 is the foundation of God's word. It is Used 735 times throughout the Bible with 54 times in the book of Revelation. It symbolizes completeness and perfection.
There are 7 days in a week and God's Sabbath is on the seventh day. God completed this work and called it good.
In the book of Revelation, there are 7 churches, 7 angels to the 7 churches, 7 seals, 7 trumpet plagues, 7 thunders and the 7 last plagues.
There are 7 annual Holy Days in the Old Testament: Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles and Last Great Day.
So the number 7 represents perfection and completeness.
Now back to the vision. I had been praying to understand what is God’s plan for our nation. Will the wickedness, lawlessness and corruption continue to increase? Or, will we instead see a return to God and a revival? Will the government continue its path to destroy the economy, our nation’s sovereignty, our Constitution and the family? Will our society see greater and greater levels of moral decline, and the throwing off of all restraint? What will be the outcome of the election? Will there be a result that is trustworthy or will we see corruption in the election results?
I believe that the Lord has answered my questions with these two visions. The vision of the 4 and the 7 were purposefully shown on newspaper, to indicate that the vision concerns the current events. The 4 which means the “universal extent” of that to which it is applied, encompasses the outcome of the election and the general direction that our nation will take.
The 4 and the number 7 are horizontal to the vertical direction of the paper. A horizontal line on a graph indicates a status that is flat line - no change. I believe that this means that there will be no change in the direction our nation is already heading. It will remain the status quo. Our nation’s direction has been moving further and further to the left, and towards greater and greater rebellion against God’s ways. So I believe that our nation will continue on its downward trajectory.
The 7 means complete and perfect. I believe that God will work in his church to complete and perfect his bride. And He will complete all that has been revealed in the Book of Revelation. The trials and difficulties ahead, He will use to test and perfect our faith. As the Book of James says:
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4
“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” James 1:12
So I have my answer–In regards to the social and political climate of our nation, we will continue to have wicked leaders at all levels of government. Corruption, chaos, lawlessness and moral decline will continue to increase, just as Jesus declared it would be:
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-14
So we will continue to see more and more people falling away from the true faith. Some will fall away because of the cares of the world. Some will fall away because of persecution. And there will be those who fall away in a different manner. They may go to a church, but the church itself teaches false doctrine, so that their faith is not based on truth but on ideologies created by man. Many of the apostles spoke about false teachers and false prophets leading people away from a true faith in the Lord and the gospel of peace.
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared…” 1 Timothy 4:1-2
“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.” 2 Peter 2:1-3
“At that time many will turn away from the faith.” Matthew 24:10
The world is filled with false religions, and false gods. The current world view promotes ungodly practices, and dangerous ideologies that are diametrically opposed to the teachings of Christ. These worldly philosophies and ideologies are finding their way into the church, challenging the very foundational beliefs of the Christian faith. Compromise or giving into the world’s view causes people to emulate the world, as they fall away from true faith. The church becomes a social club rather than a light to the world. But to the undiscipled person, who cannot distinguish truth from falsehood. He could be easily enticed by a social gospel which appeals to the flesh or human nature. Instead of growing in the knowledge of God and developing the fruit of the Spirit, he is more likely to become more and more like the world.
This is clearly apostasy, for a church like this exalts man and insults God. They serve themselves, or a god of this world rather than God Almighty, the Great I Am, the creator of the universe. We are to worship God in spirit and in truth.
“But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24
These seeker friendly or worldly churches do not promote the Word of God. And too many Christians are not reading or studying scripture. Their faith is not based on the word but only on what someone tells them from the pulpit. They have no idea what the Bible declares as truth. Many do not know even what their own churches believe. Without a foundation in the truth, they can be easily led astray.
We must be prepared for the days ahead. We must take this warning of apostasy seriously for in the end times, God will send “a powerful delusion” to those who do not seek truth or hold to the truth.
“They perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
But Jesus is truth.
“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
Jesus is called “The Word of God,” and the Bible is the revealed word of God. If we are born again believers, filled with the Holy Spirit, and we have studied and understand the word of God, then we should be able to test the spirits and identify whether a message or a teaching comes from God or from the world. We are not to align ourselves with the teachings and views of the world.
“You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.” James 4:4
So we must be careful who we listen to on the television, on the internet, and from the pulpit. We need to know the word of God, and know the God who loves us, and died for us!
”For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:16-18
Apostasy also comes with persecution. As the vision of the 4 and 7 indicates, there will be no real change in the direction of our nation. Therefore, we must expect to be persecuted for our beliefs. For the Left’s ideologies of promoting the transgender agenda, and the abortion agenda, stand in opposition to our Christian beliefs. Our religious liberties will erode and the left will declare our Christian literature, sermons and messages to be “hate speech.” The more our nation moves left, the more our freedoms will be challenged. Eventually, sharing the gospel, worshiping God, and assembling together will be outlawed. This I believe is just around the corner. People will have to make a choice between their faith and pleasing God, or getting arrested, losing a job, having assets seized, and losing close relationships.
“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 10:21-22
It was just about six months ago that I heard the Lord say “Finish strong!” So that is what we must do!
Please share this message of apostasy with others. We need to help people stand firm in the days ahead and not fall away from the faith. God bless you!
