End Time Revival or Falling Away

 Falling away or revival? What is coming?

The end times have come. Israel is once again in Jewish hands, but besieged by enemies, just as in the prophetic writings.

In Europe, we have long seen the fall of Christian civilisation.

The French Revolution was not just a revolt against monarchy and aristocracy. It was a furious rebellion against the Catholic Church and against God himself.

The ideology of Voltaire and the anti-Christian philosophers in France also had a profound influence in other countries, including the Enlightenment in Germany and Switzerland.

Humanist philosophy and theology appeared in Germany. The Bible was no longer understood as the word of God. Everything was questioned.

Today, many Bible-believing Christians are indignant that their children are taught to reject traditional sexual morals and to believe all religions are equally valid.

Even among supposedly Bible-believing Christians, we find many who see sex before marriage as perfectly normal and don't want to wait for marriage themselves.

Many claim that this is the fulfilment of Jesus' prophecy, and they are right.

And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. Mt 24:12 NRSV

We see this fulfilled. This is the great falling away.

But then we hear a completely different message, that a great revival is coming and is already underway in many countries and regions of the world.

But that cannot be! The Word does not speak of revival, but of apostasy, and this is confirmed before our eyes every day.

But in China, Indonesia, South Korea, South America and all over Africa, tens of millions are turning to Jesus. We hear amazing stories of miraculous healings and even corpses being called back to life.

How can this be? Some see it all as a demonic counterfeit.

And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Mt 24:11 NLT

But the Bible also tells us that people from all nations, all tribes and all countries will come into God's kingdom.

And they sang a new song,  ... with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. Rev 5:9 NIV

How does this massive crowd of people from every nation come to Jesus?

Let's take an example.

But how do millions of Muslims all over the world come to Jesus in our time?

Millions of faithful Christians pray earnestly and fervently from the heart.
God answers these prayers and millions of Muslims experience visitations from Jesus in dreams and visions.

I met a Christian woman in Germany. She was a Muslim from Iran. Then she experienced a visitation from Jesus in a dream. Eight years later she converted to Jesus.

Countless Muslims see or experience miraculous healings. Not only Reinhard Bonnke, but many others have preached in Africa and released God's power for miraculous healings.

There are more Muslims in Indonesia than in Iran, Pakistan or Arab nations, but there are also millions of faithful Christians in Indonesia.

In Indonesia, Christian evangelists are allowed to preach, but they are not allowed to evangelise Muslims. Many sick people experience miraculous healings and Muslims come to be healed. As a result, many Muslims are converted to Christ, in Indonesia as well as in Africa.

Without evangelism with miraculous healings, countless Muslims would never be converted.

Faithful Christians love Muslims with kindness, prayer and practical help. I know this from personal experience.

Some Muslims are challenged to read the Bible for themselves and they are converted through God's Word.

God's kingdom does not only spread through method A, B, C or D.

It is about prayer, preaching, kindness, miraculous healings, practical help, reading the Bible, dreams and visions, evangelising through the internet and satellite TV, and, and, and, and ...

We must believe, love, pray, help, and not limit God.

Biblical Meditation

 New Age is an alternative religion. In New Age, feelings and experiences are emphasised. In New Age meditation the imagination and especially the visual imagination is encouraged and developed.

Christians must of course avoid false religions. This is particularly emphasised in the Bible.

“You shall have no other gods before me. Ex 20:3 NIV

God's people must not only reject other gods. In the Old Testament, the Jews were not allowed to imitate the worship practices and religious customs of other religions.

Many Christians therefore avoid all intense meditation because meditation is very prominent in Buddhism, Hinduism, Yoga and New Age.

But this causes problems because the Bible teaches us that we must not only read, learn and study the Bible, but that we must also meditate intensively.

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,

but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. Ps 1:1–2 NIV 

 What is the Hebrew word ‘hagah’?

to roar, growl, groan, to utter, speak. to meditate, devise, muse, imagine. (Strong's Lexicon)

What does this mean? Our relationship with God and his word involves all aspects of our thoughts and emotions, including our imagination.

So are we allowed to meditate and visualise?

In the Bible, God's truth is repeatedly presented with vivid visual illustrations.

For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, I am about to set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires.

I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of jewels, and all your wall of precious stones. Is 54:10–12 NRSV

Should the Holy Spirit express himself in this way, but forbid us to think in this way?

New Age does not come from God, but from darkness. The devil cannot create anything. He copies everything from God, the Creator of all things.

He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ Mt 22:37 NRSV

Your thought world includes maths, logic, memorising, music, making plans, etc, etc.

But your world of thoughts also includes memories, dreams, daydreams, musing, meditating and all kinds of imaginations, including visual ones.  

Dreams and daydreams can be sinful or sacred. We must not abolish our imagination, but sanctify it with the Holy Spirit through God's Word.

You Can Know God Personally

 You only need to browse the internet to see that we are going wrong. Whether you take the mainstream media or conspiracy theorists seriously, you see a sick world around you.

What does religion have to say?

If you are an obedient religious Muslim, your virtue will outweigh your sin. Then hopefully you will escape the flames of hell after you die.

But the poor Muslims have no peace because they never know if their virtue is enough to escape hell.

What do the Hindus and Buddhists say? If you live virtuously, you will be reborn in the same ruined world after death, but you will have a better quality of life.

A Christian woman was a faithful missionary in Burma. The Buddhist women admired her Christian character very much. They said she was such a good woman that she would surely be a man in her next life.

And what does the Christian religion say? You hear different ideas. Many Christians try to regulate their lives with strict rules and fit into some church or denomination.

But Jesus was different. He came into this world as the Son of God, who had been in heaven with the Heavenly Father since eternity.

Jesus did not come just to found a new world religion. He came to undo the devastating damage we have done through sin.

There is a devil who has led us astray and ruined our lives. Jesus came to restore us.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. Jn 10:10 NRSV

Who is the source of abundant life? Only God, the source of all life.

Should we therefore expect, as some Christians preach, to always enjoy prosperity, health and success, without problems, without disappointments, and without persecution?

Jesus is our role model. He was persecuted and misunderstood from an early age, but his life had a purpose and a goal. He was in close fellowship with Father God throughout his life.

He experienced many disappointments, but he also experienced marvellous success.

He gained the trust of disciples who often failed, but after the resurrection and ascension of the Lord, they were transformed by the Holy Spirit of God.

If you trust Jesus, you can also live in intimate communion with God.

And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Jn 17:3 NRSV

Knowing God is quite different from knowing about God. God loves you and me better than the best mother or father, but we often doubt his love.

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! Is 49:14–15 NIV

What does Jesus say to you and me today?

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Mt 11:28 NASB95

God Wants to Give you a New Life

 Religious duty can be a slavery. Religious guilt can lead to madness.

Fifty years ago I was a student. In my summer holidays I worked for a few weeks as an unqualified assistant in an old-fashioned psychiatric hospital. In those days, many patients were in permanent care in large hospitals.

One day I accompanied a group of chronically ill patients on a walk with a nurse. I struck up a conversation with a man who would probably stay in the institution for the rest of his life.

He told me how, as a devout Catholic, he felt obliged to pray almost all the time. This devotion to prayer had become an addiction for him. He was good for nothing other than repeatedly falling to his knees and praying in all kinds of situations.

Religious duty can be a slavery. Religious guilt can lead to madness.

There are feelings of guilt that lead to insanity, but there are also real feelings of guilt that come because of our sin. They don't need to destroy you, because God gave his only eternal Son as an atoning sacrifice for you on the cross.

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. Jn 3:16 NIV

What does it mean to believe? Fulfilling religious duties like slaves? Jesus did not die on the cross in terrible pain just to found a religion.

Buddha, Mohammed and the Hindu gurus founded religions. In these religions, their followers must strive to attain some kind of holiness, but they are constantly plagued by insecurity.

A Buddhist or a Hindu hopes to have a better destiny in his next life. A woman in these religions can hope to return as a man in her next life. A Hindu woman must serve her husband well to earn this supposed promotion.

Muslims hope to escape the flames of hell, but they are never sure if their virtue is enough to outweigh their sins.

Jesus said God's salvation is a free gift that we cannot earn. Those who surrender their lives into God's hands are forgiven and have eternal life.

Paul knew he could never make up for his offence against Jesus. He knew that Jesus had died for his sins.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 6:23 NIV

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
not by works, so that no one can boast. Eph 2:8–9 NIV

We can't earn this new life, but that doesn't mean we don't have a purpose in life.

A well known preacher once said:

‘Jesus did not accomplish everything, so that you could accomplish nothing.’

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph 2:10 NIV

When we receive the New Life from Jesus, prayer is no longer a religious duty, but a communication with the kind God who loves you from the heart.

Jesus. The Way to God

Post-modern tolerance demands that we view all religions on the same level. We should respect both Mohammed and Jesus because they founded great religions.

I was once at the main railway station in Frankfurt and spoke to Jehovah's Witnesses. A young idealist joined us and began to lecture us with great enthusiasm. Discussing the Bible was a waste of time. All major religions are paths to God.

I asked him a difficult question and he was somewhat taken aback.

‘If all religions are from the same God, why does no sacred text claim that all religions lead to the same goal? You don't find that in the Bible or the Koran. You won't find it in any old world religion.
This idea came more recently, from humanism, from the Enlightenment, from German Romanticism.

If Jesus is supposed to be on the same level as Mohammed, then we must completely disregard some of Jesus' astonishing statements.

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. Jn 3:16–17 NIV

According to the Bible, all people must recognise Jesus as God's only Son in order to be saved.  
 
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jn 14:6 NIV

Jesus declares that God is the Eternal Father.

In Islam, Allah is the ruler God and judge but not a father. He has no children. This is said to contradict his nature.

‘Believe in Allah and his messenger (Muhammad), but say nothing of a trinity. There is only one God, far from him, that he has a son. Verily these are unbelievers who say: Allah is Christ, the son of Mary. Whoever joins someone to Allah, Allah will exclude him from Paradise, and his dwelling place will be Hellfire’ (Suras 4, 172; 5, 73f.).

Anyone who believes in Jesus as God's eternal son is rejected by Muhammad in the Qur'an and will suffer eternally in the flames of hell, according to Muhammad.

The human heart longs for a loving father who loves us unconditionally.

Jesus died to reconcile us with our Father, if only we believe and trust.

All atheists, Hindus, communists, Muslims or mystics who recognise Jesus as God's eternal, almighty, merciful Son and also want to repent will all receive eternal life, all of them.

Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.
Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” Jn 11:25–26 NLT