The Great Tribulation

What is it? When will it occur? What is its purpose?

By Dr. David R. Reagan

[read in Lamplighter (pdf)]

 

Observations

I receive several phone calls each year from people — some of them ministers — asking me if I think we are in the Tribulation yet. I always respond by telling them that when the Tribulation begins, the people who are on earth will not have to call anyone to find out for sure whether or not it has begun. The Tribulation will be a living hell with a degree of violence that is unparalleled in all of history.

The Bible gives us a lot of information about this horrible period of seven years that is fast approaching. The entire book of Zephaniah is devoted to it. In addition to many other Old Testament passages, like Isaiah 24, fourteen chapters in the book of Revelation focus on it (Revelation 6-19). But despite all this information, there are many myths concerning the Great Tribulation that circulate among Christians. For example, many argue that the first half of this time period will be peaceful and that only the second half will be characterized by intense warfare. Other misconceptions relate to the Antichrist and the Church.

The Biblical Basis

Before we consider some of these myths and misconceptions, let’s familiarize ourselves with the concept of the Tribulation. Where does the idea come from, and what does it mean?

The Concept

The first mention of the Tribulation in the Bible is found in Deuteronomy 4:27-30. Before the Children of Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses warned them that if they were unfaithful to God, they would be scattered among the nations. He then prophesied that “in the latter days” they would come under “distress,” and the result would be their “return to the Lord.”

Centuries later, Jeremiah used the same terminology when he referred to the Tribulation. He called it “the time of Jacob’s distress” (Jeremiah 30:7). In like manner, Daniel called it “the time of distress,” and he prophesied it would be the worst period of trouble in the history of the Jewish people (Daniel 12:1). Malachi stated it would be a time of refining for the Jews, as when silver is purified by fire (Malachi 3:1-4). And Zechariah used the same imagery when he prophesied that two-thirds of the Jewish people will perish during this time. Of the remnant remaining, he wrote, “I [the Lord] will bring the third part through the fire [and] refine them as silver is refined…” (Zechariah 13:8-9).

The Scope

The Jews will not be the only ones to suffer during this period of unparalleled trouble. The Bible makes it clear that all the nations of the world will experience catastrophic calamities.

Isaiah says it will be “a day of reckoning” for all the nations of the world (Isaiah 2:10-17). Zephaniah says that “all the earth will be devoured in the fire of God’s jealousy” (Zephaniah 1:18). Here’s how the psalmist Asaph put it: “A cup is in the hand of the Lord, and the wine foams… surely, all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs” (Psalm 75:8).

The Length

The prophet Daniel defined the length of the Tribulation. He said God would accomplish all His purposes for the Jewish people during a period of 70 weeks of years (490 years). Sixty-nine of those weeks of years (483 years) would lead up to the death of the Messiah. The final week of years would occur at the end of the age, right before the return of the Messiah (Daniel 9:24-27). This concluding week of years (7 years) corresponds to the Tribulation for, as Daniel put it, it will mark the time when “the prince who is to come” will “make desolate” — a reference to the Antichrist.

The timing established by Daniel is confirmed in the book of Revelation where the Tribulation is divided into two periods of 3 1/2 years each (Revelation 11:3,7 and 13:5). The dividing point between the two halves of the Tribulation will occur when the Antichrist reveals himself by entering the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, stopping the sacrifices, and declaring himself to be god (Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; and Revelation 13:5-6).

The Starting Point

When will this terrible period begin? The Bible says in general terms that it will start after the Jews have been regathered and have been re-established in their homeland and in their sacred city of Jerusalem.

Specifically, the Bible says it will begin at a time when all the world comes together against Israel over the issue of who will control the city of Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:2-3). In short, we are on the very threshold of the Tribulation today as we witness the United Nations, the European Union, the Vatican, and the Arab nations demanding that the Jews surrender their sovereignty over Jerusalem.

The specific event that will mark the seven year count down of the Tribulation will be the signing of a peace treaty between Israel and her Arab enemies — a treaty that will allow the Jews to rebuild their Temple (Daniel 9:27).

The Nature

The unparalleled horror of the Tribulation is spelled out in detail in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. Isaiah wrote that it will be a day of “terror of the Lord” when “the pride of men will be abased” (Isaiah 2:10,17,19). Zephaniah proclaimed that it will be a “day of wrath,” “a day of trouble and distress,” and “a day of destruction and desolation” (Zephaniah 1:15). Men will stumble around like they are blind and “their blood will be poured out like dust” (Zephaniah 1:17).

This dreary picture is echoed in the New Testament. Jesus said it will be a time of tribulation “such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall” (Matthew 24:21). In fact, Jesus said it will be so terrible that if it were not stopped at the end of seven years, it would result in the destruction of all life (Matthew 24:22). The Apostle John states that the chaos will be so great that the leaders of the world will crawl into caves and cry out for the rocks of the mountains to fall upon them (Revelation 6:15-16).

Misconceptions

With this biblical background, let’s turn our attention now to some of the misconceptions that exist regarding the Tribulation. Five of the major ones that I would identify are listed below:

1. The Antichrist will rise to world power through cunning, flatter, and deception.
2. The whole world will flock to the Antichrist in awe and adoration.
3. The Jews will accept the Antichrist as their Messiah.
4. There will be 3 1/2 years of peace followed by 3 1/2 years of war.
5. The Antichrist will be the most brilliant and effective leader in world history.

The Antichrist’s Rise to Power

The idea that the Antichrist will rise to world power through shrewdness and skilled diplomacy is based on Daniel 8:23-25a. These verses say a king will arise who is “skilled in intrigue” and who “will succeed through the practice of deceit.”

But the same passage also says that he “will destroy to an extraordinary degree.” He will destroy both “mighty men and the people of the saints.” Many of these he will destroy “while they are at peace” (Daniel 8:24-25a).

These verses make it very clear that the Antichrist is going to use both diplomacy and military power to gain control of the world. The likeliest scenario is that he will initially rise to power in Europe through the use of shrewd diplomacy. But he will extend his power from his European base through war.

The World’s “Acceptance” of the Antichrist

I believe his conquering of the world through the use of military power is what is pictured in Revelation 6:1-8. This passage pictures the Antichrist going forth at the beginning of the Tribulation with a bow “to conquer.” A red horse representing war “takes peace from the earth.” The result is widespread suffering and the death of one-fourth of humanity by the sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts.

It is a misconception to believe the non-European world will flock to the Antichrist in awe and adoration. The world outside of Europe is not going to submit willingly to the control of the Antichrist, no matter how charismatic and dynamic he may be.

Keep in mind that the nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America have fought for the past 200 years to rid themselves of European colonial rule. They are not going to passively submit themselves to a renewal of that rule. They will fight, and the result, as Revelation 6 so clearly indicates, will be a horrible world war of unprecedented magnitude.

Acceptance of the Antichrist by the Jews

The idea that the Jews will accept the Antichrist as their Messiah during the Tribulation is based upon a statement by Jesus that is recorded in John 5:43. Jesus said, “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another shall come in his own name, you will receive him.”

But the relevant end time passages in Daniel and Revelation seem to make it clear that the acceptance of the Antichrist by the Jews will be as a political redeemer who miraculously works out a peace settlement what will guarantee their safety and will enable them to rebuild their Temple.

There is no indication that they ever accept the Antichrist as a spiritual redeemer — as their Messiah. In fact, when the Antichrist enters the Temple in the middle of the Tribulation and declares himself to be God, the Jews revolt against him (Revelation 12:13-17).

When the revolt occurs, the Antichrist becomes obsessed with annihilating the Jewish people. That is when the “great tribulation” spoken of my Jesus in Matthew 24 will begin.

The Tribulation Holocaust that will occur during the last 3 1/2 years of that terrible period will be far worse than the Nazi Holocaust. Two-thirds of the Jews will be killed (Zechariah 13:8-9). The Antichrist will be possessed by Satan (Daniel 8:24), and Satan is determined to annihilate the Jews.

Satan’s obsession with the Jews stems from the fact that he hates them with a passion. He hates them because they gave the world the Bible. He hates them because the Messiah came through them. He hates them because God loves them, and because God chose them to be a witness of what it means to have a relationship with Him. And Satan hates the Jews because God has promised over and over in His Word that at the end of the Tribulation, He is going to bring a great remnant to salvation through faith in their Messiah, Yeshua (Romans 9-11).

The First Half of the Tribulation

Another misconception relates to the nature of the first half of the Tribulation. Many believe that this period of 3 1/2 years is going to be a time of peace that will be followed by 3 1/2 years of war. Some feel so strongly about this that they use the word, Tribulation, to apply only to the second half of the seven year period.

This view is based primarily on a statement Jesus made that is recorded in Matthew 24. According to this passage, Jesus referred to the last half of Daniel’s 70th week of years as “the great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21). But it must be kept in mind that these words of Jesus were directed specifically to the Jewish people.

The second half of the Tribulation will truly be the “time of great tribulation” for the Jews. That’s because they will live in peace during the first half of the Tribulation under a covenant guaranteed by the Antichrist. During that time, the Antichrist will be focused on conquering the world. Once he has accomplished that goal — as he will (Revelation 13:7-8) — he will go to Jerusalem, enter the Temple, stop the sacrifices, and desecrate the Temple by erecting a statue of himself (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

The Jewish people will be outraged and will respond in a revolt. When they do this, the Antichrist will become obsessed with destroying them. That will be his primary goal during the second half of the Tribulation.

So, to summarize, the Jews will live in peace during the first half of the Tribulation, but not the Gentile nations of the world. The wars of the Antichrist will devastate the world. One-fourth of humanity will die in the initial war (Revelation 6:8). That’s 1.5 billion people in today’s terms. According to Revelation 8 and 9, when the war resumes, one-third of those left alive will die (another 1.5 billion).

The first half of the Tribulation is going to be anything but a time of peace. It will, instead, be a time of unimaginable carnage, for one-half of humanity will die in the first 3 1/2 years!

The Quality of the Antichrist’s Leadership

The erroneous concept that the Antichrist will be the world’s most brilliant and glorious leader is based on Revelation 13:7 where it says he will gain authority over “every tribe, people, tongue and nation” on planet earth — something no other person has ever done.

But the evidence of prophecy points to the fact that his reign will be anything but brilliant and glorious.

For example, his conquest of the world will devastate the earth. It will be like Napoleon’s “victory” in Russia — he will win the battle and lose the war. The Antichrist will end up with a world that is devastated and polluted beyond imagination. Furthermore, the world’s subservience to him and worship of him will be based to a large degree on force, deception, and terror — not just genuine admiration.

Also, his obsession with the Jews will undermine his kingdom and ultimately lead to its destruction. Daniel 11:40-45 indicates that when his attention is diverted to the destruction of the Jews, a worldwide revolt will break out against his kingdom. Nations will send armies against him from the North, East and South.

The Antichrist may prove to be a successful military conqueror, but he will be a miserable leader whose world wide empire will last only 3 1/2 years — and during that time, it will be constantly ravaged by internal revolt.

A Misconception Concerning the Church

Another popular misconception about the Tribulation is that the Church will go through it and suffer mightily at the hands of the Antichrist. This concept is based upon verses like Revelation 13:7 which says that the Antichrist will “make war with the saints.”

But I believe the saints referred to here are those who are saved during the Tribulation. There is going to be a great harvest of souls during the Tribulation. Some will be saved in response to the Rapture. Others will respond to the preaching of the Two Witnesses in Jerusalem (Revelation 11). The response of others will be stimulated by the Tribulation judgments which will motivate many to repent. Still others will respond to the special angel who will be sent by God near the end of the Tribulation to proclaim the Gospel to every living creature (Revelation 14:6-7). Many will be saved, but most of these will be martyred for their faith (Revelation 7:9-17).

There is no purpose for the Church during the Tribulation. This will be a time of God’s judgment upon the unbelieving Gentiles and Jews who have rejected God’s grace, love and mercy expressed in Jesus.

Some argue that the Church must go through the Tribulation to be purged or cleansed. But the true Church has already been purified by the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 5:25-27; 1 John 1:7; and Romans 8:1). The Tribulation is not a Protestant purgatory.

The symbolic imagery of the New Testament focuses on the Church as being the Bride of Christ. Is the Bridegroom going to beat up His Bride for seven years before He comes for her? I think not. The Bible says that Jesus is coming to deliver His Bride from the wrath that is to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10). Also, Revelation 19:8 and 14 pictures Jesus returning with His Church at the end of the Tribulation, indicating the Redeemed will be taken out of this world before the Tribulation begins.

Revelation focuses on the Church in its first three chapters. Beginning with chapter 4, there is no more mention of the Church during the entire period of the Tribulation. The Church is not referred to again until Revelation 22:16.

The Purpose

What’s it all about? Why is there going to be such carnage? How could a God of grace, mercy and love allow such an outbreak of unbridled terror and bloodshed?

One reason is to satisfy the justice of God. Yes, God is characterized by grace, mercy and love, but He is also a God of perfect justice, righteousness, and holiness. There fore, He must deal with sin. His justice demands it. Even His love compels it. How could a God of true love simply overlook the actions of a murderer or a pedophile?

The prophet Nahum understood the true nature of God. He wrote that “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him” (Nahum 1:7). That is the love and mercy of God. But the same prophet wrote (Nahum 1:2-3):

“A jealous and avenging God is the Lord;
The Lord is avenging and wrathful.
The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries,
And He reserves wrath for His enemies.
The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
And the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.”

Truly, the Lord is “slow to anger.” He allows the iniquities of Mankind to accumulate over long periods of time because He doesn’t wish that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). His desire, instead, is that all should come to repentance. But there is always a day of reckoning, just as there was in the days of Noah, and such a day has been set for this age. Paul referred to it in his sermon in Athens when he said, “He [God] has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31).

A second reason for the Tribulation is to bring people to salvation. Amazingly, even when God pours out His wrath, His fundamental purpose is not to destroy but to save. Isaiah 26:9 explains it this way: “When the earth experiences Your judgments, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.”

The brutal fact is that God often has to hit us over the head with a two-by-four in order to get our attention and motivate us to repentance. The equally brutal fact is that most people respond to such discipline by either cursing God or continuing to ignore Him (Revelation 9:20-21). But some people always respond in humility and are saved. As Billy Graham has put it: “The same sun that melts the butter, hardens the clay.”

When God’s wrath is poured out during the Tribulation, some hearts will be melted, but most will be hardened, illustrating once again that nothing is as “deceitful” and “desperately sick” as the heart of Man (Jeremiah 17:9).

Man is frivolous about sin. God is serious. The Tribulation will be a graphic expression of how serious God is about Mankind’s rebellion against Him.

The signs of the times are shouting that we are standing on the threshold of the Tribulation. The message of the Holy Spirit is “Come out of Babylon” (Revelation 18:4). That message means for us to separate ourselves from the love of this world and prepare ourselves for eternity. For believers, it means a commitment to holiness. For unbelievers it means a commitment to Jesus as Lord and Savior before He returns as God’s avenger.

The time remaining is short. The time for action is now.

Timing Gog-Magog

Hope in a hopeless world

David Kupelian on what made America free, successful and happy, and how to reclaim those blessings today

December 27, 2021

Record-setting inflation that is rapidly making all Americans poorer. A full-scale invasion by millions of illegal aliens across the nation’s southern border. Tyrannical COVID policies decimating America’s economy. Solitary confinement and brutal treatment of Jan. 6 political prisoners in the bowels of Washington, D.C. The outrages of the Biden administration seem endless.

Indeed, hiding behind a weak and shockingly senile puppet president, today’s radicalized Democratic Party and its media propagandists are audaciously attempting a full-scale Marxist “reset” of America, one aimed at overturning capitalism, upending the U.S. Constitution with its limited government and individual rights, and “re-imagining” America’s key institutions of liberty. Everything from “stacking” the Supreme Court to repealing the Senate’s filibuster rule to “defunding” the nation’s police to eliminating the fossil fuel sector to eradicating suburbs. Or, as Barack Obama put it just before being elected president in 2008, “fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”

All terrible, devastating and destructive to a great country under mortal attack from within.

And yet – all of this is not the real war being waged against the freest and most successful nation in history.

The more fundamental, profound and ultimately consequential war being fought within the United States of America today is the one being waged against the American mind. A never-ending wave of assaults is literally targeting Americans’ core values, religious faith, historical memory, love of country, common sense, equanimity and happiness – indeed, their very sanity.

The weapons deployed against the American mind are many. They include relentless daily accusations that the U.S.A. – hands-down the least racist, most multiethnic nation on earth – is somehow irredeemably racist and predatory, even genocidal. White people must feel guilty and beg for forgiveness for crimes they never committed, while blacks are encouraged to identify as angry, aggrieved victims who can’t possibly succeed in racist America. The nation’s police are maligned as white supremacists who routinely “hunt” and kill black people for sport.

The racial brainwashing starts early, with public schools nationwide plying children with toxic Marxist “critical race theory” ideology that amounts to a blanket indictment of white people as privileged racists and America’s core institutions as inherently discriminatory.

Another devastating weapon being unleashed on the American mind is the ever-increasing promotion of debilitating fear. The COVID-19 pandemic, which could have been treated as a common foe uniting all Americans, as during World War II when virtually all citizens patriotically participated in the war effort, instead has enabled power-obsessed politicians – virtually all of them Democrats – to weaponize the pandemic via lockdowns and mask and vaccine mandates so as to maximize their authoritarian control over Americans. In the process, they have decimated a once-robust economy, fostered a culture of demonizing “the other” (“the unvaccinated!”), thrown tens of thousands of “last year’s frontline heroes” – nurses, doctors, paramedics, police, firemen and others – out of work, forced millions to take an experimental medicine even if they already possessed superior natural immunity, and suppressed cheap, safe, effective and readily available medicines that literally could have saved hundreds of thousands of American lives.

But most fundamentally, by imposing draconian mandates while suppressing early treatment, America’s ruling oligarchy has been intentionally promoting paralyzing fear as a means of controlling the citizenry. After all, a fearful, docile and compliant population is what all dictators and authoritarians have always craved.

Yet another weapon used to attack the American mind is the normalization and forced acceptance of transgenderism, the bizarre ideology that men are women if they think they are or feel they are, and vice versa – a form of mass psychosis that is causing much more harm than merely destroying women’s athletics worldwide. It is actually driving many people to madness and suicide, with the attempted suicide rate among transgenders being a staggering 41%. Yet America’s children are being targeted with gender-fluidity indoctrination in school and are encouraged to “transition” to the opposite gender via puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and even amputation. Even toddlers are being brainwashed via “Drag Queen Story Hour” in the nation’s public libraries, where innocent preschoolers are made to sit in rapt attention at the feet of mentally ill men dressed up as women, dramatically reading stories featuring heroic LGBTQ characters to America’s next generation.

All this while forcing children to wear dehumanizing masks that make it difficult for them to breathe, and which inculcate fear, insecurity and unquestioning compliance.

Meanwhile, in a desperate effort to suppress opposition to all this madness, the Biden administration portrays its political opponents – from conservative activists and Donald Trump supporters to parents upset over the Marxist indoctrination of their children – as “domestic terrorists” and “violent extremists.” This is exactly the kind of hardcore psychological warfare against a nation’s population one might expect from communist revolutionaries.

The casualties in this war on the American mind have been high. Violent crime has exploded across the nation, while rates of suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, various forms of addiction, depression and other “mental health” issues have all skyrocketed. The CDC recently reported that “Drug Overdose Deaths in the U.S. Top 100,000 Annually.”

And America’s young people have not been spared. In early December, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy reported in a rare and alarming “public health advisory” titled “Protecting Youth Mental Health” that rates of depression and anxiety among America’s youth have doubled during the COVID pandemic, with 1 in 4 American kids experiencing depression.

In early 2021, Murthy reported, visits to emergency rooms in the U.S. for suicide attempts were an astonishing 51% higher for teen girls and 4% higher for teen boys, when compared to the same time period just two years earlier. Sadly, large numbers of Americans, young and old, are finding life hopeless and not worth living.

Is America hopeless?

But wait. America – more than any other nation on earth – has always been a land of opportunity and freedom, and most of all, HOPE. Millions of refugees fleeing genocide and tyranny, including this writer’s father, grandmother and many other relatives, have regarded America as nothing less than their “promised land.”

What is the basis of this mysterious and wonderful hope? And more urgently, how can that hope on which the nation was founded be rekindled and restored?

The stark and otherworldly truth – unlikely to be uttered except in a Christian publication – is that the Christian faith is, and has been from the beginning of the American experience, the true basis of Americans’ hope. And it is the progressive abandonment of that faith that has led directly to the madness, hopelessness and tyranny Americans are now suffering.

Everything good about America – its Judeo-Christian culture, its Constitution, its exceptional level of personal liberty, as well as Americans’ unique magnanimity and generosity and even their willingness to sacrifice their own lives and substance for the sake of others – are direct emanations of the Christian faith of this nation’s founding generation and the largely Christian population and culture that have prevailed up until the current era.

The Christian faith is what allowed America to fight off and ultimately purge itself of the sin of slavery, and yet to remain one unified country. It was at the heart of the Civil Rights movement, led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister. It was the Christian sentiment that lived large in America that impelled it to rescue Jews from the Nazi death camps during WWII, sacrificing over 400,000 American lives in that war. And today, the Christian faith is the force behind the pro-life movement, which labors tirelessly to save the approximately one million American children targeted for death every year via abortion.

If you would like to explore this crucial topic further, I heartily recommend the current issue (December 2021) of Whistleblower magazine, which I have compiled and edited monthly for WND for over 20 years. It’s titled “FINDING REAL HOPE IN A WORLD GONE MAD,” and insightfully explores the Christian faith that has long been the source of Americans’ genuine hope, not just for this life, but for the next.

Hope in a hopeless world

VIDEO Hope for unvaccinated people – 203,000 SMART Members Stand Against Forced Vaccines- OK Gov – Pfizer Sr Dr of Worldwide Research RUNS – Pfizer Scientist Admits Covid Antibodies Transfer During Pregnancy – Military member class action

By Samuel Sey, Op-ed contributor| Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Girl receiving a vaccine for COVID-19 | Getty Images

“It is with a broken heart that I write this.”

“I never thought that I would be living this nightmare.” 

“Since the announcement of Ontario’s passport system I have seen my mental health severely deteriorate, and unfortunately I do not see any end in sight.”

These words are from some of the messages I’ve received from unvaccinated people on how vaccine passports and mandates are affecting them. 

Unvaccinated people in Canada are being coerced into choosing between getting vaccinated or getting pushed out of their jobs, colleges, and society. We’re forced to choose between something we don’t need — the COVID vaccine — and something we need: our livelihood. 

Why are we being forced to lose our livelihoods over a vaccine that isn’t guaranteed to protect our lives? Vaccine passports do not make us more healthy, they make us more hopeless. 

Hopelessness is the prevailing theme in many of the messages I’ve received from unvaccinated people:

“I have been under severe stress since the vaccine ‘passport’ was announced here in Ontario. I’m having difficulty sleeping, and difficulty focusing on work, or anything else.”

“I am submitting the following story on behalf of my 18-year-old cousin…I am heartbroken for him and what these mandates mean to his ability to earn a university degree and earn a living. He is currently unemployed and very discouraged by life.”

“I am having a lot of mental anguish about this passport and if I am forced I will have even more mental stress.”

“I feel constant anxiety about this ever-tightening situation and the situations that are yet to come.”

“Many many more sleepless, anxiety-filled nights to come I am sure…”

“I am depressed and cry every morning thinking about my future being ripped from me…I am so sad.”

“I hope we are able to change the way things are going, I personally am frightened and even more frightened by the people who just shrug and say it’s no big deal.”

Many unvaccinated people have become aware that the significant majority of people who consistently boast about how much they care about people suffering from systemic discrimination and “mental health” issues are simply opportunistic frauds.

Nevertheless, we shouldn’t be frightened. We shouldn’t be anxious. And we shouldn’t be hopeless — we should be hopeful. 

I hope the messages I’ve received on the vaccine passport change the Ontario government’s policies. When Ontario’s Advocate for Community Opportunities and I share these messages with policy makers, we’re hopeful it could make them end or at least restrain their oppressive policies.

However, I am not resting my hope on better policies by the government. I am not hoping for better politicians in government. My hope isn’t in people who are more concerned about securing their jobs than securing my rights. 

My hope is in God. 

Psalm 118: 5-9 says:

“In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered and set me free. The LORD is on my side; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The LORD is on my side; He is my helper. Therefore I will look in triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.”

If we’re distressed, we should pursue God in prayer. When the government oppresses us, God can set us free. If God is on my side, why should I be afraid of the government? Why should I be afraid of they can do to me? God is my helper. It is better to take refuge in God than to trust politicians. It is better to trust God than the government.

If we trust God, then we should be hopeful. However, if we don’t trust God — if we have not believed in Jesus Christ, we are hopeless: we do not have any basis for hope. 

You’re not in danger if you’re unvaccinated, you’re in danger if you’re unrighteous. Your unvaccinated status isn’t a death sentence: your unrighteous status is.

Though we’re unrighteous by nature, we Christians have been declared righteous by God through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection — received by faith. Our hope rests in Christ, knowing that just as he ascended to heaven — soon, He’ll descend and return to earth.

Therefore, though some of us have been stripped of our rights over the vaccine — we know our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly anticipate the day when Jesus will return as the King of kings and Lord of lords to renew the world and establish justice forever. 

That is our hope.

If you’re not a Christian, however, you do not have hope — not real hope. Who can you call at all times when you’re distressed? Who is on your side when you’re afraid? If God isn’t your helper, why shouldn’t you be afraid of what the government can do to you? If you don’t love Christ, how can you look in triumph on those who hate you? 

But more than that, if you have not repented and trusted in Jesus Christ — you will suffer the wrath of God in hell forever. So above all, please hope in the gospel. Hope in Jesus Christ. 

The reason why I am not hopeless despite my unvaccinated status is the same reason why I am not hopeless despite my unrighteous status: Jesus Christ.

Christ is the only real hope for unvaccinated and unrighteous people.

Therefore, in my distress, I will call to the LORD, and he will answer and set me free. The LORD is on my side; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The LORD is on my side; he is my helper.

That is the hope for unvaccinated people like me. I hope you can say the same.

https://www.christianpost.com/voices/hope-for-unvaccinated-people.html

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“What Else Are You Hiding From the Public?” – Pfizer Senior Director of Worldwide Research RUNS From Project Veritas Journalist (VIDEO)

By Cristina Laila October 14, 2021

Pfizer senior director of worldwide research ran away from a Project Veritas journalist asking her questions about human fetal cells used in their Covid vaccine program.

Last week Project Veritas released a video featuring a sit-down interview with a Pfizer whistleblower who went on the record with internal emails showing the pharma giant scrambling to hide information about their Covid vaccine.

In the last few weeks Project Veritas has released four under cover videos exposing the truth about Covid vaccines.

• Part One: HHS whistleblower goes public with secret recordings: ‘Govt doesn’t want to show the vaccine is full of sh*t’
• Part Two: FDA on under cover video: ‘Blow dart African American’ and wants ‘Nazi Germany registry for unvaccinated’
• Part Three: Johnson & Johnson: ‘Kids shouldn’t get the f*cking vaccine’ because of ‘unknown repercussions’
• Part Four: Pfizer scientists admitted natural immunity may be better than the Covid vaccine

TRENDING: NBA Player Got Blood Clots From COVID Vaccine that Ends His Season – NBA Told Him to Keep It Quiet (VIDEO)

Vanessa Gelman, Pfizer’s Senior Director of Worldwide Research said Pfizer is using human fetal cells in their Covid vaccine program and hiding that information from the public.

Vanessa Gelman bolted as soon as she was confronted with questions.

VIDEO:

“What Else Are You Hiding From the Public?” – Pfizer Senior Director of Worldwide Research RUNS From Project Veritas Journalist (VIDEO)

Project Veritas: Pfizer Scientist Admits Covid Antibodies Transfer During Pregnancy “Through the Umbilical Cord” (VIDEO)

By Cristina Laila October 15, 2021

Project Veritas on Friday released undercover video of a Pfizer scientist admitting natural Covid antibodies transfer during pregnancy through the umbilical cord.

Nick Karl, a scientist at Pfizer said of pregnant women: “it’s either you get antibodies naturally or vaccinated you pass it through.”

Meanwhile, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky has completely ignored natural immunity and continues to push the Covid vaccine on pregnant and breastfeeding women.

VIDEO:

In the last few weeks Project Veritas has released four under cover videos exposing the truth about Covid vaccines.

• Part One: HHS whistleblower goes public with secret recordings: ‘Govt doesn’t want to show the vaccine is full of sh*t’
• Part Two: FDA on under cover video: ‘Blow dart African American’ and wants ‘Nazi Germany registry for unvaccinated’
• Part Three: Johnson & Johnson: ‘Kids shouldn’t get the f*cking vaccine’ because of ‘unknown repercussions’
• Part Four: Pfizer scientists admitted natural immunity may be better than the Covid vaccine

Project Veritas: Pfizer Scientist Admits Covid Antibodies Transfer During Pregnancy “Through the Umbilical Cord” (VIDEO)

2 Navy SEALS, 4 Marines, Air Force major all sue Biden

Class action case challenges COVID-19 vaccination mandates

By Bob Unruh October 15, 2021

Hospital Corpsman 2nd Caine Collins instructs recruits on the importance of their COVID vaccination card before receiving their COVID-19 vaccine in Pacific Fleet Drill Hall at Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes, Illinois, May 26, 2021. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Spencer Fling)

Liberty Counsel on Friday announced a class action lawsuit on behalf of members of all five branches of the U.S. military – the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard – against President Joe Biden over his orders they take the experimental COVID shots or face dishonorable discharge.

“The Biden administration has no authority to require the COVID shots for the military or for federal employees or civilian contractors,” explained Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel chairman.

“Nor can the Biden administration pretend that the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment do not apply to its unlawful mandates. The commander-in-chief must end this shameful treatment and abuse of our brave military heroes. Forcing the COVID shots without consent or consideration for their sincere religious beliefs is illegal.”

The action in U.S. District Court in Florida is on behalf of two Navy SEALs, a Navy EOD Officer, a Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer, a Navy Chaplain, two Marine Lt. Colonels, two Marine Lance Corporals, an Air Force Major, an Air Force Technical Sergeant, an Army National Guardsman, an Army Colonel, and a Coast Guard Lieutenant.

TRENDING: Democrats’ killer prescription

It seeks a temporary restraining order preventing Biden and his appointees from “enforcing, threatening to enforce, attempting to enforce, or otherwise requiring compliance with the Federal COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate…”

Other defendants are Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

Liberty Counsel said the non-military plaintiffs include a Department of Defense contractor who has conducted Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance quantitative and qualitative assessments and studies, whose assessments are briefed to DOD senior leadership to inform decisions on future employment, allocation, and procurement; a federal civilian engineer employed by a large military defense contractor that provides LCD screens used in United States Armed Forces aircraft; a federal civilian contractor employer whose company develops and supports military weapons systems, including current and next generation land vehicles for the Army and next generation Navy vessels; a federal nuclear contractor employee who is a young woman opposed to abortion and who desires to have children of her own one day; and a Department of Energy Civilian Nuclear Tech who works at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The individuals for whom the case was filed are not named, but in a sworn statement on Navy chaplain explained, “I personally observed (and the Sailors told me in the course of counseling about) tremendous amounts of coercion, bullying, censorship, and intimidation being brought forth by the command to bear against the personnel who expressed objections of any kind to the COVID shot mandates, including religious objections…And clearly, the military has lost more lives to the increase in suicide from 2020-2021 (at least 1,012) than to all of COVID in 2 years (~52), but suicide has not been a focus.”

It was Austin who dispatched on August 24 the “Mandatory Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination of Department of Defense Service Members.”

But Matthew Oster, who is on Biden’s COVID task force, admitted the shots are “causing myocarditis” in “young men,” and the Journal of the American Medical Association Cardiology confirmed, “Myocarditis Following Immunization with mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines in Members of the U.S. Military.”

Then on Sept. 9 Biden issued a similar order for federal workers.

The case charges that under the federal Emergency Use Authorization law none of the vaccines has gotten full Food and Drug Administration Approval, so they cannot be mandated.

“Under the above statute, there is no legal basis on which the president may waive the EUA in order to mandate the COVID-19 vaccines for the military. Indeed, he has not done so because he has no statutory authority under the law,” Liberty Counsel explained.

Further, the mandates violate the constitutionally protected right to religion.

“The plaintiffs all hold sincere religious beliefs against the COVID shots on the basis that their body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and to defile it is a sin against God. In addition, the plaintiffs do not want to participate directly or indirectly or otherwise be associated with the destruction of human life through abortion by injecting a product that contains or was tested or developed with aborted fetal cell lines,” Liberty Counsel said.

But the military is telling the plaintiffs “there are NO RELIGIOUS exemptions, and merely submitting such a request will subject them to dishonorable discharge.”

Liberty Counsel said it also is representing clients on behalf of the 3.7 million employees under federal government contracts and two million federal employees who are under the Biden administration’s COVID shot mandate.

2 Navy SEALS, 4 Marines, Air Force major all sue Biden

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Related

VIDEO Institute lists COVID vaccines that rely on aborted baby cells – Your strongest defense against vaccine mandates – Fact checker exposed

Archbishop of the military defends those who refuse vaccines

BOOM! Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Union (SMART) with 203,000 Members Announces Stand Against Forced Vaccines

WATCH: Oklahoma Governor Stands Against Biden’s Vaccine Mandates, Says Shots Are a ‘Personal Choice’

Censored U.S. senator: Stop patronizing Big Tech sites

https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2021/10/15/catholic-archbishop-for-the-military-services-usa-statement-on-coronavirus-vaccines-and-the-sanctity-of-conscience/

Prophetic Warning and Encouragement

Hoping to write blogs on regular things like “Daily Time in the Word” or “Beauty of Fellowship”. But I feel the Holy Spirit leading to release another dream. Believing this is for His Church..

Dream 1/19/21 : Just a still vision.. Two huge crystals. One was a bowl. I was told it was an amulet. Another was like an earth and I was told it was an omni amulet.

Upon awakening, I wasn’t sure what an amulet was.  I googled it and learned that it is a form of magic to protect against danger and evil.. Onni means in all places and ways.

The omni amulet represents how the enemy is trying to cover all the earth in a spirit of witchcraft.. False truth.. An antichrist culture.. The bowl represents people.. Bowls are to be filled, so we can put things inside.. To eat and drink to live.. Many bowls are covered in spirits not of God.. Being filled with deceit, manipulation and idolatry.. 

We must be putting on the full armor of God.. Meditating on His Word day and night.. Overflowing with the Holy Spirit.. Authoritatively praying against the spirit of evil trying to cover all of the earth.. Pray that the spirit of God will cover all of the earth in His love, light and glory, in Jesus Name.. What life food are we filling our bowls with? May it be Jesus and Jesus alone.

I understand a lot of prophets didn’t get things as thought. May we not judge in unbiblical ways.  People have lost faith because their words did not come to pass.  This shows how much is looked to man and not God.. How much hearts need to be more devoted, learning in the Bible.. Hearing from the Holy Spirit ourselves. We are not to despise prophecies.

May prophetic messages be served and received in love and honor of Yahweh.. To build us up as His Bride.. To help keep our oil full and our lives on His narrow path.. Remaining faithful to Jesus. All is for His glory.

The Lord in His perfect love encourages and warns us.. This is an exciting time.. Do not fear man.. Beautifully fear God in reverence and awestruck wonder.. Our Father cares. He is working all things out in his ultimate kindness and goodness.. To reveal and bring breakthrough.. But it’ll be a ride.. 

We have entered a time where evil has been tolerated for so long.. that it’s become normal for others.. And even celebrated.. Brothers and sisters ~ People must see Jesus living within us.. Hope of glory.. Dwelling in us as His believers.. Church, lets pray without ceasing and discern with wisdom from above.. Walk in the Holy Spirit.. Abide deeply in His Word.. Keep your hearts pure.. Make your entire life a sacrifice of praise to Him.. 

Our Abba didn’t create us to just sit back and watch the movie.. We are citizens of heaven, His babies. He is empowering us to partner with Him for such a time as this.. Seek His face with all your heart.. Worship and proclaim our Lord is Jesus.. Rise and thrive in our Saviors love.. 

https://yourlastdayonearthdotblog.wordpress.com/2021/01/22/urgent-warning-encouragement/

VIDEO Where Do We Go From Here?

“Without hope, prophecy is a useless glimpse of the doom to come. With hope, prophecy is a useful picture of the glory to come.”

Dr. David Jeremiah’s three-step process infuses hope into each of the prophetic events unfolding around us.

Where Are We?

Take an honest look at ten critical and troubling issues we are currently experiencing in our culture.

What Does It Mean?

Dive into Scripture to see how these events are directly linked to biblical prophecy.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Receive practical biblical instruction for living with hope and courage in the face of these daunting prophetic happenings.

A CULTURAL PROPHECY | CHAPTER 1

Socialism

Are the public cries for shared wealth and government control a sign of the times?

AN INTERNATIONAL PROPHECY | CHAPTER 2

Globalism

The world is getting smaller and more intertwined every day. Does the Bible predict this?

A BIOLOGICAL PROPHECY | CHAPTER 3

Pandemic

Are the illnesses, plagues, and pestilence of our day signs we are living in the Last Days?

A FINANCIAL PROPHECY | CHAPTER 4

Economic Chaos

Is our cashless society, cryptocurrency, and microchipping technology mentioned in Bible prophecy?

A THEOLOGICAL PROPHECY | CHAPTER 5

The Falling Away

The Bible predicts the falling away of the Church. Is that what we are seeing today?

A BIOGRAPHICAL PROPHECY | CHAPTER 6

End Times People

Would you be surprised to know the decay of character is a precursor for Christ’s return?

A POLITICAL PROPHECY | CHAPTER 7

Cancel Culture

Does Bible prophecy predict a time when society tries to silence the voices of morality?

A SPIRITUAL PROPHECY | CHAPTER 8

Spiritual Famine

Is the indifference to God being experienced in the world today a sign of we are living in the Last Days?

A GEOGRAPHICAL PROPHECY | CHAPTER 9

Jerusalem

What role does Jerusalem play in the End Times drama unfolding around us?

THE FINAL PROPHECY | CHAPTER 10

The Triumph of the Gospel

As the world reels from the turmoil of our time, could we be looking in all the wrong places and at all the wrong people to find peace? Is the Gospel the solution to our broken world?

EXCERPT FROM WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Unfolding before our eyes

Overview/Introduction

Could we be living in the Last Days?

People have been asking this question for centuries! Perhaps this question is being asked more today than ever before.

There may never be a time in history when end times prophecy is more aligned with the culture and circumstances of the world than it is today.

It’s hard to ignore the prophetic signs playing out all around us. The “falling away” of the Church. The ravaging toll of pandemics. The silencing of Christians. The rise of globalism. A frail world economy. The fallout of socialism. Woke religion. Jerusalem’s prophetic role in the final days of this Earth. You don’t have to be a biblical scholar to see how Scripture predicted many of the events surrounding us. The prophecies about tomorrow reveal much about the problems of today.

But decoding these startling prophetic events can be confusing, and frankly, intimidating to understand. Bible prophecy can be both fascinating and frightening, but it doesn’t have to be. There is hope for us in the looming events of Bible prophecy!

If we explore the plan and place of prophecy in Scripture, we can discover God’s purpose for all the chaos around us. And this should give us hope.

https://www.davidjeremiah.org/where-do-we-go-from-here/presale

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Socialism – A Cultural Prophecy | Dr. David Jeremiah

Bible Verses about Mothers

Cindy K. Sproles

Take time to learn about mothers and their supportive roles. These verses are examples of the love of a mother.

Bible Verses on a Mother’s Role in the Family

Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. – Genesis 3:20 NIV

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. – Genesis 2:24 NIV

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. – Exodus 20:12 NIV

Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. – Leviticus 19:3 NIV

The Faithfulness and Love of a Mother

Each year his mother made him [Samuel] a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. – 1 Samuel 2:19 NIV

Turn to me and have mercy on me; show your strength in behalf of your servant; save me, because I serve you just as my mother did. – Psalm 86:16 NIV

While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, waiting to speak to him. – Matthew 12:46 NIV

The Joy of a Mother in Her Children

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. – Psalm 139:13 NIV

For I too was a son to my father, still tender, and cherished by my mother. – Proverbs 4:3 NIV

May your father and mother rejoice; may she who gave you birth be joyful! – Proverbs 23:25 NIV

Mary, the Mother of Jesus

…and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah. – Matthew 1:16 NIV

Pointing to his [Jesus] disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. – Matthew 12:49 NIV

But why am I [Mary, mother of Jesus] so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Luke 1:43 NIV

As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” – Luke 11:27 NIV

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. John 19:25 NIV

Can God change your life?

God has made it possible for you to know Him and experience an amazing change in your own life. Discover how you can find peace with God. You can also send us your prayer requests.

https://www1.cbn.com/bible-verses-about-mothers

VIDEO Rev 17 – A City By Its Name – “MYSTERY, BABYLON,” or “a mystery, BABYLON”

 

Equipping Site January 6, 2020

I. Opening Video Information. A Testimony. An Outspoken Jew for Jesus. Dec 3, 2007. The 700 Club. Bob Siegel was a Jew whose mind was poisoned against Jesus at an early age. Then, in college, two strangers shared a message that changed his heart.

II. Subject scripture. Rev 17:5. There are many opinions of this verse. We will discuss the factors of the verse, as well as those of the total 17th Chapter of Revelation. We will consider the worldwide ecumenical religion that is driven by the forces of the antichrist, that will be responsible for the persecution and murder of Jews and Gentiles which choose not to become a follower of this worldwide religion, and will not worship the image of the beast (Rev 13:4-17), but whom come to saving faith in Christ during the tribulation.

A. Revelation 17:5 (NKJV)
5 And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

B. Revelation 17:5 (NAS77)
5. and upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

III. Consider “mystery.”

A. Text. Matthew 13:11 (NAS95)
11 Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.

B. Note. MacArthur Study Bible. the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. “Mysteries” are those truths which have been hidden from all ages in the past and revealed in the NT.

1. Consider “kingdom.” The following verses relate to mysteries being revealed during the time of the Gospels and following times. The Kingdom Of God had been taught to Jews by Old Testament writers. Christ began teaching on the Kingdom Age, which was a mystery to those whom were in His audience of Jews. It was the Gospel of the Kingdom that Christ directed His disciples to teach to Jews (Matt 10:1-8). It is the Gospel of the Kingdom Age that must be taught to all during the tribulation, and will precede the return of Christ to earth at the end of the tribulation (Matt 24:14). It is important to know that the Gospel of the Kingdom of God was taught to Jews prior to his ascension to Heaven (Acts 1:3-7). It is the context of Isa 2:2 (below) that tells of the Kingdom Age (the Kingdom of God). The Gospel of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, with evidence of His being seen (1 Cor 15:1-8), is the “good news” (Gospel) that the apostles and their disciples began to teach to unbelieving Jews and Gentiles, in obedience to Christ’s “great commission” (Acts 1:8, Matt 28:18-20).

2. Consider the “Kingdom Age” mystery, which is also known as the “thousand year” Millennial Reign Of Christ.

a. Isaiah 2:2. (NAS77)
2 In the last days, The mountain of the house of the Lord Will be established as the chief of the mountains,
And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.

b. Note. MacArthur Study Bible. 2:2 in the latter days. The “latter (or last) days” is a time designation looking forward to the messianic era (Ezek. 38:16; Hos. 3:5; Mic. 4:1).

c. Other Mystery Texts. Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10; Rom 11:25, 16:25. 1 Cor 2:7, 15:51; Eph 1:9, 3:3-4, 3:9, 5:32, 6:19; Col 1:26-27, 2:2, 4:3; 2 Thes 2:7; 1 Tim 3:9, 16; Rev 1:20, 10:7, 17:5, 17:7.

d. Note. 4:11 mystery…parables. A “mystery” in the NT refers to something previously hidden and unknown but revealed in the NT

3. Consider scripture translation of Rev 17:5. “a mystery, Babylon” and “MYSTERY, BABYLON.”

a. Greek Interlinear states, “a mystery” Babylon https://biblehub.com/interlinear/revelation/17-5.htm
b. NIV, NASB, CSB, NET translations state, “a mystery, Babylon.” (The NIV 2011 translation).
c. NKJV, KJV, KJV 2000, American KJV, ASV, ERV translations state, “MYSTERY, BABYLON.”
d. Necessary conclusions.

(1) What is the correct Bible translation that relates to Rev 17:5?
(2) What is the mystery of Babylon?

4. Location Considerations.

a. The city of Babylon.
b. There are 259 OT scriptures that identify the literal place of Babylon. In the NT, the following verses clearly identify the literal location of Babylon (Matt 1:11, 12, 17; Acts 7:43; 1 Pet 5:13; Rev 18:10).

(1) 1 Peter 5:13 (NASB) “She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark.”
(2) Rev 18:10, “Babylon, the strong city!” 18:21, “Babylon, the great city.”

c. Babylon, “no great city.” Some may say that there is no such city in Iraq that represents the Revelation depiction of Babylon. The following link discusses how quickly cities can be built in the Middle East.
https://www.businessinsider.com/dubai-rapid-development-skyscrapers-expansion-warning-2018-12

IV. Full Text. Revelation 17 (NASB) (Notes taken from MacArthur Study Bible).

A. The Doom of Babylon. Chapters 17, 18 focus on one aspect of those bowl judgments, the judgment of Babylon.

1. Verses 1-7.

1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.” 3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, 5 and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” 6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly. 7 And the angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.

2. Notes: 17:1-7.

vs 1: “great harlot.” Prostitution frequently symbolizes idolatry or religious apostasy. “sits on many waters.” This picture emphasizes the sovereign power of the harlot. The picture is of a ruler seated on a throne, ruling the waters, which symbolize the nations of the world (see v. 15)
vs 2. “committed fornication.” The harlot will ally herself with the world’s political leaders. Fornication here does not refer to sexual sin, but to idolatry. All the world rulers will be absorbed into the empire of Satan’s false christ. “wine of her fornication.” The harlot’s influence will extend beyond the world’s rulers to the rest of mankind. The imagery does not describe actual wine and sexual sin, but pictures the world’s people being swept up into the intoxication and sin of a false system of religion.
vs 3. “a woman.” The harlot of v. 1, Babylon. “scarlet beast.” The Antichrist, who for a time will support and use the false religious system to effect world unity. Then he will assume political control (cf. v. 16). “having seven heads and ten horns.” This pictures the extent of Antichrist’s political alliances.
vs 5. “forehead.” It was customary for Roman prostitutes to wear a headband with their name on it. The harlot’s forehead is emblazoned with a 3-fold title descriptive of the world’s final false religious system. “MYSTERY.” A NT mystery is truth once hidden, but in the NT revealed. Spiritual Babylon’s true identity is yet to be revealed. Thus, the precise details of how it will be manifested in the world are not yet known. “BABYLON THE GREAT.” This Babylon is distinct from the historical, geographical city of Babylon (which still existed in John’s day). “MOTHER OF HARLOTS.” All false religion stems ultimately from Babel, or Babylon (cf. Gen. 11; see note on 14:8).
vs 6. “the blood of the saints…martyrs of Jesus.” Some see the first group as OT saints, and the second as NT saints—an unimportant distinction since this pictures the martyrs of the Tribulation. John’s point is that the harlot is a murderer. False religion has killed millions of believers over the centuries, and the final false system will be far more deadly than any that preceded it.
vs 7. “mystery.” Not that Babylon is a false system of religion, because that is already known, but that the beast will fully support the harlot and together exert vast influence over the whole earth.

3. Verses 8-13.

8 “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come. 9 Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, 10 and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. 11 The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. 12 The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 13 These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.

4. Notes: Verses 8-13.

vs 8. “The beast.” Both a king and kingdom are referred to by this term. was, and is not, and will ascend. A reference to the Antichrist’s false resurrection (13:3, 4, 12–14). “out of the bottomless pit.” After his “resurrection,” the Antichrist will become possessed by a great demon from the abyss. “perdition.” “Eternal destruction. “This is the lake of fire, the place of Antichrist’s destruction (19:20). “Book of Life.” Written in eternity past by God.
vs 9. “seven mountains.” The Gr. word is often used of hills. the final worldwide system of false religion includes. the 7 mountains in context likely symbolize the 7 kingdoms and their kings of v. 10.
vs 10. “seven kings.” Representatives of the 7 great world empires (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and that of the Antichrist). Cf. Daniel’s image in Dan. 2:37–45. Five have fallen, one is, and the other. When John wrote, the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Medo-Persian and Greek empires had gone out of existence; Rome still existed; and the Antichrist’s empire had not yet come. When it does, it will be brief (12:12; 13:5) and he will end in perdition.
vs 11. “and is not…the eighth.” The Antichrist’s kingdom is said to be both the seventh and eighth kingdoms because of his supposed demise and resurrection. He is the seventh king before and the eighth king after his “resurrection” when he destroys the harlot’s religious empire and demands exclusive worship of himself (v. 16).
vs 12. “ten kings.” (cf. Dan. 2:41, 42). These kings are sub-rulers under the Antichrist, whose empire will apparently be divided into 10 administrative districts. “no kingdom as yet.” Thus, the kings cannot be identified with any historical figures. “one hour.” Symbolic of the brief 3½ year period of time (cf. 11:2, 3; 12:6, 12, 14; 13:5; 18:10, 17, 19).
.
B. Victory for the Lamb.

1. Verses 14-18.

14 These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.” 15 And he *said to me, “The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. 17 For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled. 18 The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”

2. Notes. Verses 14-18.

vs 14. “make war.” A reference to the battle of Armageddon (16:14–16), where the Lamb will utterly destroy the kings (19:17–21). “Lord of lords and King of kings.” A title for God (19:16) that emphasizes His sovereignty over all other rulers to whom He has delegated authority.
vs 16. “these will hate the harlot.” After using the false religious system to unify the world kingdoms and gain control of all, the Antichrist—with the help of his 10 sub-rulers—will turn against the system, plunder and destroy it, and seize all power and worship for himself. They will be carrying out God’s will (v. 17). Cf. Gen. 50:20.
vs 18. “great city.” Here is another identification of the capital city of Babylon, centerpiece of Antichrist’s empire.

V. Conclusions.

A. Conclusion 1. “Babylon means Babylon.” The NIV (2011 Translation), NASB, CSB, and NET are correct in their translation of Rev 17:5, “a mystery, Babylon.” The closing video, that is provided by Dr. Andy Woods, provides a clarifying discussion of this subject. Check out my Equipping Site Page, “About Sources,” to see Andy’s credentials, “degrees and linked experiences.”

B. Conclusion 2. The MacArthur note on verse 7 provides the answer to the question about the mystery of the text: “mystery.” Not that Babylon is a false system of religion, because that is already known, but that the beast will fully support the harlot and together exert vast influence over the whole earth.

VI. Closing Video.

A. This video digs deep into the facts that reveal the location of Rev 17 Babylon.

B. Closing Video. This video has a duration of 29:31.

Andy Woods – Revelation (Crash Course) Part IX: Chapter 17-19. Oct 11, 2019. 29:31.
Unravelations. Dr. Andy Woods teaches 10 sessions of 30 minutes covering the entire Book of Revelation. These presentations were featured on the College of Biblical Studies’ TV program entitled “Up With the Son.”

Please follow the Equipping Site.

https://equippingblog.wordpress.com/2020/01/06/rev-17-a-city-by-its-name-mystery-babylon-or-a-mystery-babylon/

What if the Holy Book didn’t exist?

 

In their book, What If the Bible Had Never Been Written, the late Dr. D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe write:

Rev. Mark H. Creech is executive director of the Christian Action League of North Carolina Inc. | Courtesy of Mark Creech 

“The impact of the Bible on our culture, on our nation, on world history has been enormous. Author and former Yale professor Williams Lyons Phelps observed, ‘Our civilization is founded upon the Bible. More of our ideas, our wisdom, our philosophy, our literature, our art, and our ideals come from the Bible than from all the other books combined.’

“But what if the Bible had never been written? That’s a frightening thought! And yet, with Christian-bashing the only safe form of bigotry in practice today, it seems that many people wish that were the case.”

Indeed, many do wish that were the case. Last week, various news media carried the shocking story of Portland protesters burning stacks of Bibles and the American flag.

Twitter user Ian Cheong, who posted a video of the Bible burning, asked, “I don’t know what burning the Bible has to do with protesting against police brutality. Do not be under the illusion that these protests and riots are anything but an attempt to dismantle all of Western Civilization and upend centuries of tradition and freedom of religion.”

Amidst the destruction of the sacred Scriptures, there were silent voices which weren’t that way a decade ago when the pastor of Dove World Outreach Center, Terry Jones, announced his plan to burn copies of the Koran.

Then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton decried the plan, saying that it was “outrageous and distressful,” and a “disgraceful plan.”

Then-President Barack Obama said of Jones, “I just hope he understands that what he is proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans, that this country has been built on the notions of religious freedom and religious tolerance.”

Crickets. Crickets. Where are these voices today on the burning of Bibles? What does it say about the Democratic Party when its flag bearers are mute on an issue of such significance? Seems the Presidential nominee for the Democratic Party, Joe Biden, is silent too. Does silence equal violence in this case?

No book in human history has suffered more from suppression and the attempt to destroy it than the Bible. Evil men hate it because of its essential goodness. It advocates the rights of the individual, claiming that even the humblest and lowest of society is of the utmost value to God. Its content has always been, and will forever remain, a rebuke and irritant to the tyrannical.

Over and again, throughout the centuries, there have been efforts to get rid of the Bible.

Roman emperors decreed that along with the early church and its sacred writings, the Scriptures should be hunted down and torched.

Later came the nefarious forces inside the church itself that bitterly opposed every effort to translate the Bible into the common language and make it readily available to the masses. The worst of this opposition, unfortunately, came from the religious authorities. Thank God for courageous men like John Wycliffe, the English scholar and theologian, whose purpose was to translate the Bible and get it into the hands of everyone possible. He was so despised for his work and love of the Bible, after his death his body was exhumed and burned.

William Tyndale, who was also well-known for his translation of the Bible from its original languages, was the object of much disdain. He was tied to a stake, strangled with a rope, and then burned. The bishop of London had ordered that every copy of Tyndale’s translation be collected and burned. Nevertheless, the Scriptures and Tyndale’s translation for the commoners survived and would later be immortalized in the King James Version.

Foxes Book of Martyrs tells the stories of a seemingly exhaustive number of people who gave their lives at a time when even the possession of Holy Writ was a crime. Yet despite the persecutions, and the Bible burning that went on in those days, the sacred book lives on.

In more recent years, at least until Portland, the attack on the Bible was less direct, and more of an effort to discredit its content. There have been assaults on its historicity, claims that it is anti-science and full of myths and fables. But repeatedly, contrary to the claims of the so-called experts, the sciences have proven the Bible’s claims, and never successfully disproven any of them.

John Clifford’s poem, The Anvil of God’s Word, has a pointed message for the current generation of Bible haters:

Last eve I paused beside a blacksmith’s door,
And I heard the anvil ring the vesper chime;
Then looking in, I saw upon the floor,
Old hammers worn with beating years of time.

“How many anvils have you had,” said I,
“To wear and batter all these hammers so?”
“Just one,” said he, and then with twinkling eye,
“The anvil wears the hammers out, you know.”

“And so,” I thought, “The Anvil of God’s Word,
For ages skeptic blows have beat upon,
Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,
“The Anvil is unchanged, the hammers gone.”

The Bible burners in Portland have no concept of the futility to which they set their hands when they literally and symbolically struck a match to its pages.

“What if the Bible had never been written? Consider the implications of such a scenario,” concluded Kennedy and Newcombe. All of these things came about because of the Bible:

“There would be no salvation, no Salvation Army, no YMCA, virtually no charity, no modern science, no Red Cross. There would likely be no hospitals, for hospitals as we know them were born in the Christian era, and Christians have built hundreds of hospitals all over the globe. There would be no universities; they were created in the Middle Ages in order to reconcile Christian theology with the writings of Aristotle. There would probably be no capitalism, no accounting, no free enterprise. Millions of people would have been killed off by STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) – without any kind of inhibition against sexual promiscuity. Literacy and education might well be the exclusive domain of the elite. Many of the languages around the globe would never have been written down because there would have been no motive to do so. Many of the barbarians the world over would have never been civilized. Cannibalism and human sacrifice and the abandonment of children would still be widespread, even as abortion and infanticide plague us as we continue to move away from the Bible. Slavery might still be practiced, as it is in pockets of the world where the Bible is forbidden. And we might not even be in the New World – as Columbus clearly stated, it was the Lord who inspired him to make his historic voyage. If the Bible had never been written, there would be no Wilberforces, no George Washingtons, no Lincolns, no Dantes, no Miltons, no Shakespeare’s, no Dickenses. [We might also add no Frederick Douglas’, no Booker T. Washingtons, no Martin Luther King, Jrs.] Above all, if the Bible had never been written, we would be cut off from God, groping in the darkness and without hope.”

Burning Bibles is not just wishing away its incomparable message on vast subject matter fundamental to human happiness; its not only wishing away what made Americans the most liberated people on record, its the same as wishing away hope!

God forbid that these foolish people would be allowed to deprive us of our hope. The Bible will survive their assaults, but we won’t survive without the Bible.

Rev. Mark H. Creech is executive director of the Raleigh-based Christian Action League of North Carolina Inc.

https://www.christianpost.com/voices/burning-bibles-in-portland-what-if-holy-book-didnt-exist.html

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Still We Rise in Hope of God

Still We Rise (Isaiah 40:21-31)

“The old ones remind us that slavery’s chains Have paid for our freedom again and again.” These are the words of the African American poet Maya Angelou, offered at the Million Man March in 1995. Speaking to a huge crowd of black men on the Mall in Washington, DC, she reminded them of their difficult and painful history, and then invited them to focus their lives on joy, courtesy, gentleness and care. She said, “The ancestors remind us, despite the history of pain, We are a going-on people who will rise again.” Powerful words. Hopeful words. Inspiring words. Words which culminate in Angelou’s closing line, “And still we rise.”

This soaring sentiment could be a summary of the struggle for racial justice and civil rights over the past hundred years. The NAACP—the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People—was born in a time of segregated hotels and widespread discrimination in voting booths The NAACP was designed to “promote equality of rights” and to eradicate “race prejudice among the citizens of the United States.”

February 12, 1909 was not an accidental birthday for this organization. The date was picked because it was the centennial of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln, who emancipated the slaves during the Civil War. Just think about the progress made from 1809, when slavery was legal . . . to 1909, when the NAACP was founded . . . to 2009, when we have inaugurated the first black President of the United States. And still we rise.

There isn’t a one of us here tonight who can fathom the problems experienced by African Americans just a few years ago. Having been reared after the Civil Rights Movement, it’s hard for me to fathom that some people couldn’t use a restroom or drink from a water fountain or sit in the front of a bus or go to school simply because their skin is darker than mine.

Yet, the Israelites for whom Isaiah writes tonight’s text knew full-well such difficulties. Isaiah’s prophecy is easily divided into two parts—chapters 1 to 39 contain prophecies for Isaiah’s contemporaries and chapters 40 to 66 are written for the Jews who would be in Babylonian Captivity 200 years or so after Isaiah’s day.

Those exiles had a difficult existence in Babylon. The Babylonians wanted to keep the captives under their thumb, so they placed them as close to the city of Babylon as possible. The exiles served as household servants and slaves to the Babylonians. These were the Judean princes—the leaders, the rulers, the professionals—now doing manual labor and menial tasks as servants under the Babylonians. Everywhere the Jews looked, they would have seen temples to pagan gods—there were 53 pagan temples in Babylon.

Can you even fathom what the Jews must have been thinking as they were in Babylon? Where are all the great promises of God? Aren’t we to be the light of God to the nations? Isn’t the Messiah to come through our father Abraham? It is against this background that Isaiah writes tonight’s text to comfort the people in exile.

The message God gives the Babylonian captives is the same message Maya Angelou gave to the men on the Mall in Washington: “Still We Rise.” As we look around this world and see the immorality, greed, and oppression of fallen man, we, too, may wonder where God is in the midst of all this. This message God gives us through Isaiah is: “Still We Rise.”

But how shall we rise?

The Picture of God, v 21

“Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?”

God here tells his people to check their picture of him—to know who he really and truly is.

Surely, the Israelites had heard from the beginning who God is. It was the responsibility of their parents to teach them about God. Deuteronomy 6:6-7. Notice that God asks, “Has it not been told you from the beginning?”

God had done so much for the Israelites. He had sent plagues upon the Egyptians, allowed the Israelites to cross the Red Sea on dry ground, provided them manna, quail, and water in the wilderness, raised up judges when enemies came against Israel. Was it too much to expect that the God who had done all these mighty acts for his people still had their best interests at heart?

God also says, “Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?” It was God who had created the foundations of the earth: Job 38:4-6. The Israelites—even in Babylonian Captivity—should have known that the God who had created this world out of nothing could create them into a new people.

The Israelites in captivity had no reason to despair—they simply needed to check their PICTURE OF GOD.

How many times do we despair because we forget to check our PICTURE OF GOD? Do we ever feel as though troubles are crashing in around us and forget the God to whom we pray has all power? Do we worry about our current economic situation and forget the God who has promised to supply all his people’s needs? Do we worry about some sin we’ve committed in the past and forget the God who sent his Son to redeem us from all sin?

Tonight, do we need to check our PICTURE OF GOD?

The Providence of God, vv 22-24

“It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.”

The idea of God’s sitting above the circle of the earth is that he sits upon a high point from which he can watch man. The image is almost like our going to the top of the Empire State Building from whence we could see for miles and miles and miles. From there God is able to watch over man.

In his watching over man, God effortlessly rules over the leaders of the world. God effortlessly rules over world leaders by bringing them to nothing, withering them, and allowing the tempest to carry them off like stubble. The point is that the Israelites in Babylon did not need to worry themselves with the oppression of their captors, for God was ultimately in control of the rules who were there. God, in his providence, allowed just the right rulers to govern Babylon during this period and when they no longer served his purpose, he would pluck them up.

God has always been in control of the leaders of the earth. Exodus 9:16. Pharaoh did not reign over Egypt at the time of the Exodus by birth, but by the will of God. When Mordecai encouraged Esther to go to the king to stop Haman’s plot against the Jews, he says, “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). The Book of Esther demonstrates how God works behind the scenes in his providence. The word “God” does not even occur in the book, but God is there as an “invisible Worker” to bring about his purpose.

God controlled the leaders of Babylon during the Captivity. The Lord sent Nebuchadnezzar into the fields to live as a wild animal when he was carried away by his pride (Dan 4:28-33). Daniel interpreted handwriting on the wall for Belshazzar: Daniel 5:24-28. That very night Belshazzar was killed and Darius the Mede took possession of the kingdom (Dan 5:30). It’s not clear who Darius the Mede was, for Cyrus, the king who allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem, was King of Persia when Babylon fell. There is no reference in the history of Daniel’s time to a Darius the Mede—he may have been either a general of Cyrus or Darius may have been another name of Cyrus. Thus, depending upon whether Darius and Cyrus are the same person, three or four kings reigned over the Israelites during their 70 years of captivity. God raised them up and when they no longer served his purpose, he brought them low.

Therefore, God is the one ultimately in control.

The Power of God, vv 25-28

“To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God’? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.”

In the Babylonian Captivity, it would have been quite tempting for the Israelites to compare God to the other gods who surrounded them. Those other gods hadn’t led their people into captivity; those other gods weren’t impotent to protect their people from attack of other nations. Surely, as the Israelites looked upon all the Babylonian temples day by day, they believed their God wasn’t all that powerful.

God says, “Wait just a minute! You want to compare me to these lifeless idols?! Look at the greatness of the creation.”

God brings out the host of heaven by number, calls them by name, and through his strength, not one of them is missing. God declares that he has named all the stars. That feat alone demonstrates the great power of God. Scientists estimate that in the entire universe there are over 10 billion trillion stars. That number itself boggles our mind. Who among us could easily recall the names of 1,000 people? Yet, God has named over 10 billion trillion stars. Not a single star is out of place—there isn’t a single star missing from where it’s supposed to be.

The everlasting God is the Creator of the ends of the earth. The “everlasting God” juxtaposes God to the host of idols the captives saw in Babylon. Every one of those idols had a beginning—someone fashioned it—not so God; he is everlasting. Those idols would come to an end—not so God; he is everlasting. The God of Israel created the earth, but the idols the Israelites saw daily were made out of the earth.

God does not faint or grow weary.

• On one hand, these likely references those who make idols. Isaiah 44:9-12. If those who make the idols become weary, how much can be expected from the idol itself?
• On the other hand, this undoubtedly references God’s people. A theme in this chapter is how easily humans become faint: verse 30. Yet, their God never becomes weary.

Because God is so powerful, the children of Israel had no reason to worry about their plight in Babylon. God says to them, “Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God’?” Because of God’s great power, he knew the plight of Israel and it was all part of his plan. Before the Babylonian Captivity, the Israelites struggled greatly with idolatry—over and over they were carried away by it. Yet, after that captivity, idolatry was no longer a problem—this affliction cleansed them of that sin.

People often discuss the meaning of Romans 8:28: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” As I’ve said before, verse 29 tells us what the good is that all things work toward: being transformed into the image of God’s Son.

I believe this text serves as an example of that. The captivity wasn’t a pleasant experience for the Israelites, yet it served the purpose of moving them closer to what God wanted them to be. God did so through his great power. Shall we rise through the POWER OF GOD—through trusting God’s power to providentially transform us into Jesus’ image?

The Patience of God, vv 30-31

“Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

The Israelites needed to wait for the Lord. Waiting on the Lord refers to a patient expectation that God will act in his time for our benefit. In the midst of the Assyrian threat upon Judah, Isaiah says (Is 8:17). Isaiah 40:1-2.

The point is that God doesn’t always use our timeline to do what we want him to do. God, in his power and sovereignty, knows the best time to act for both our discipline and our defense. God acts according to what is best.

Shall we rise in THE PATIENCE OF GOD? Shall we know that God does all things well and that he acts how and when it is best? Shall we patiently wait for him?

Expository Sermon on Isaiah 40:21-31 | Still We Rise in Hope of God

Bible app banned as Muslim extremism surges

National policy of religious tolerance facing headwinds

A decision to prevent citizens of Indonesia from being able to access a Bible application for cell phones and mobile devices is sparking arguments amid that nation’s openly tolerant campaign to allow people to choose their own faith and practice it.

The worldwide Christian ministry Barnabas Fund is reporting that the Bible application for the Minangkabau people was removed from the Google Play Store for residents of Indonesia following a demand from Irwan Prayitno, the governor of West Sumatra.

He claimed it was causing discomfort in the Minangkabau people who are living in his province, the majority of whom are Muslim.

Only about 1.43% of the people there, about 69,000, are Christian.

The Indonesian Ulema Council supported the censorship by the nation’s Communication and Information Ministry, with a statement of secretary general Anwar Abbas that said, “The guidance of the Minangkabau people is not the Bible. Hopefully there will not be a Bible [published] in the Minangkabau language.”

“The decision to ban the Minangkabau Bible App failed to take into account the rights of Minangkabau Christians,” the Barnabas Fund reported.

And the decision was criticized by the chief of the nation’s longtime Agency for Pancasila Ideology Education, which advocates for tolerance.

That agency’s opinion is that holy books could be translated into any language as long as they were not misinterpreted.

The chief of the agency said, “Every individual is given the freedom to observe their beliefs as long as they do not cause disruption in the public. And, of course, some of the residents of West Sumatra are also Christian, and the governor himself is governor to everyone, not a certain ethnicity or religious belief.”

Pancasila is a formal doctrine instituted in Indonesia to encourage tolerance for religions – and discourage extremism. It prevailed for many years, with Christians and Muslims living as equals. That started changing only a few years ago.

Then, Barnabas Fund reported, the nation saw “a rise in hard-line Islamic ideology in recent years. A generation ago, Muslims and Christians lived peaceably as equals in accordance with Pancasila.”

“In 2019, the government took several steps to counter the spread of fundamentalism by urging members of the public to report extremist content posted online by civil servants and taking action to replace school textbooks deemed to contain radical material.”

That battle against “hard-line Islamist ideology” includes requests to the public to “report extremist content posted online by civil servants and taking action to replace school textbooks deemed to contain radical material,” Barnabas Fund said.

Indonesian Communications Minister Johnny G. Plate said the intention was “to bring together and improve the performance of our civil servants, as well as to foster higher levels of nationalism.”

Indonesia has the world’s biggest population of Muslims, and reports suggest that 19% of civil servants and 3% of military personnel favor an Indonesia under Islamic rule. About 18% of private employees and 23% of students share the view.

Bible app banned as Muslim extremism surges