A Warning (and a bit of encouragement, too!)

Last year I wrote often about what was happening all around us. I shared much of my journey with you as I tried to process all the changes we were all experiencing in the light of my faith (or lack thereof). As we settled down into the unsettled and uncertain “new” normal, I chose to go back to my normal style of writing, at least for the most part. But today, I want to talk just a bit about all that’s happening around us and simply offer a warning and also some encouragement.

This summer has given us a bit of our old lives back, albeit with shortages and rising prices, the brandishing of sin as never seen before, and the terrifying threats of governments to citizens who won’t do their bidding. And, of course, here in the U.S. there is the very strange phenomenon of the government handing its citizens gobs and gobs of money that it doesn’t have. You have to admit that this is just…weird.

While all this stuff is going on, it’s been nice to experience a bit of normal. The masks are off, the store shelves are mostly full, people are vacationing, and life feels okay for now. But I think we all know it’s temporary. As much as we’d like to believe differently.

The other day I was in a store and overheard a conversation between two women. They looked to be in their sixties and the one mentioned how she had gotten the v-xine and wasn’t sure if she should have and the other women said something in response that I couldn’t hear and then, as they walked away, I heard one of them say that she just feels like something else is coming, although she doesn’t know what. My husband has shared with me that customers and business associates often mention this same thing to him, as well. I think we all know that this unsettled normal we find ourselves in this summer is only temporary. It’s like a bubble that is floating along that has to pop eventually.

I know some of you just don’t want to hear this. It’s overwhelming or too negative for you. And I get it. Sometimes I feel that way, too. You will not offend me if you just don’t want to read this. Go to something else and forget about this particular post.

But for those of you who see it coming and are trying to process, please keep reading.

Jesus gives His followers a warning in Mark 13:5–

And Jesus, answering them, began to say: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and will deceive many.

He continues on in verses 21-23 on this topic of deception–

“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, He is there!’ do not believe it. 22 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the g]”>[g]”>gg]”>]elect. 23 But take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand. 

2 Thessalonians 2:3 also warns us not to be deceived–

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of b]”>[b]”>bb]”>]sin is revealed, the son of perdition

 

I believe deception is one of our greatest dangers as we navigate this strange new world. I have been so disappointed to watch well-known Christian after well-known Christian cast their lot in with one side or the other. There is the “great reset” side– the social justice/socialism/left side and there is the “great awakening” side–the freedom/we have rights/”a great revival is coming”/right side.

Please understand: Both sides are dangerous. Both sides represent evil. And Satan is using them both, pitted against each other, to prepare the world for what Revelation says is to come.

You may be thinking: How can you say that??

So let me tell you how.

I have spent many years researching things I never write about here on the blog. Very little is as it seems in this world. If you value truth, it doesn’t take long to figure this out. Many are uncomfortable with what they find out and turn away. Some even mock and ridicule those who talk about these things. (This always makes me laugh a bit because it is so well-documented. I always say that I don’t care at all if you don’t agree with me, but do the research first and then tell me you don’t agree.)

But my point is this: As I have come to recognize that nothing is as it seems, I have also come to understand how Satan uses the Hegelian Dialectic to move the world in the direction he would have it go. The left side and the right side are two wings of the same bird.

It is critical to understand this if you are going to keep yourself from being deceived. And we know from the verses above that deception, which has always been a danger for believers, will ramp up considerably towards the end of this age. I believe we are watching this “ramping up” take place right before our very eyes.

As believers, may we heed Christ’s warnings and keep our eyes on Him. I caution you to keep from aligning with either side. You will find that the one side may talk more about “Jesus” but, if you listen carefully, you will find that the majority are not talking about the Jesus of the Bible.

Discernment is more critical than ever at this time. We cannot let our guards down for a second. I know so many don’t want to live like this. It’s not in them to be a skeptic. They just want to glide along in life. Well, let me tell you a secret–I’d like that, too! But scripture makes it clear in so many places that “gliding along” is never an option for a believer. And when we choose to do so, we end up going the wrong direction. It’s inevitable.

I want to encourage you to really think about what’s happening in light of where we know the world is eventually headed. If you have been around here awhile, you already know that I am most certainly not a date-setter. So the Revelation scenario could be a few years from now or it could be fifty. That’s not my point. My point is that we can see things setting up for what the Bible has told us is coming and deception is occurring at unprecedented levels.

Have you ever watched a small animal that stops with ears pricked as they listen for a predator? They have a God-given sense of danger that they heed. As they stop and intently listen for their predator, they are an example for us. So, we, too, should be aware of our predator (I Peter 5:8).

Blindly lolly-gagging in a meadow is no place for us to be at the moment. We are surrounded by wolves on every side. Many of them are dressed in “sheep’s clothing”. We must be vigilant. But, most importantly, we must stay close to the Shepherd. For He is truly our only hope for protection and comfort and rest.

As I consider this world full of spiritual land-mines that we currently are traveling through, I have to wonder if we genuine Bible-believing Christians are going to end up the very hated minority crushed between the two movements. It will be interesting to watch this all play out.

With this in mind, I did also want to offer some encouragement. As I was reading in Ephesians last week, there was a short passage that profoundly struck me. Let me share it now–

Ephesians 2:4-7–

 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

 

Many days it feels like we’ve landed in an alternate universe. But this universe is so temporary. Paul reminds us in the above passage that we have AGES to come where we are going to experience the EXCEEDING RICHES of God’s grace. Oh, to keep an eternal perspective as we move forward into the unknown on this broken and sinful earth.

So keep your eyes and ears alert to danger. It’s all around now. But don’t let it get you down. This is but a temporary home and we are headed to a wonderful place where there is no sin or Satan or evil plots. And we will be in that home forever!

 

 

8 thoughts on “A Warning (and a bit of encouragement, too!)”

  1. Well thought out and true. Though it’s nice to “be free” from masks, they are still there. In our state, we are mask free if fully vaccinated, except businesses can still require them. And how to prove you are vaccinated? That’s a whole different banana. Anyway. It’s true. You know there is more coming. Like when school starts. I’ve already heard students and staff fully vaccinated can go without masks. Sorry, I keep going to masks. It’s a sign of the problems we face. But only 12 and over can have the vaccines. So that means most likely all will go back to masks. That government control bit. It’s such a huge thing, trying to get an octopus in a box, but the arms keep popping out..By that I mean explaining what is going on. You did a great job putting it all in perspective. I think most of us can “feel” the other shoe is waiting to drop. Now I better have a cup of tea so I can get my brain working.

    1. I like your analogy of the octopus. So true! And I think the masks symbolize so much, don’t they? They symbolize the freedom we thought we had that was just an illusion, after all. They symbolize the pettiness of man and how easily we become disgruntled with one another. They symbolize the ease with which most men have been brainwashed to follow any narrative that is given to them often enough– even if the scientific studies say something that is completely opposite. In short, they symbolize the world that we thought we knew and loved that is now crashing down upon our heads relentlessly. Is that too dramatic…? It really is how I feel. The masks were the beginning of the end of any semblance of freedom that was left. They were also the precursor to what we are seeing take place now with the v-xine. It’s just so surreal, isn’t it?? Insanity.

  2. Well said, and absolutely necessary! I can’t agree more about the need to avoid extremes. I’ve seen that danger even in discussions on the roles of women. Egalitarians, of course, are wrong, but lately I’ve encountered people who advocate extreme patriarchy. They say NO woman should work outside the home, or even attend college. And they say women should never have been given the right to vote.

    Reading your article, I wondered if these two extremes are an example of the Hegelian Dialectic, destroying women from both sides. Sure seems that way, doesn’t it? One small part of the destruction all around us, I think. And such evidence that we must develop discernment!

    Thanks for your courage and obedience to write this post, Leslie.

    1. That is a great point that I never considered. The role of women and the extremes within Christianity are really strange, are they not? Perhaps this is to destroy women. Or it may also be to advance the agenda of androgyny which is so at work in this world currently. So much destruction on so many levels in so many places. It’s hard to take in sometimes.

  3. I really enjoy hearing what you have to say about some of these things. I’ll have to admit that I fall pretty far on the right side. I’d love to know more and will have to do some digging. I tend to trust what you say considering who you trust as in MacArthur, AiG etc. Thanks for speaking the truth!

    1. Hi, Ray! Thank you so much for your kind words. If I had to fall anywhere then I, too, would definitely go right. The left is unthinkable with its wicked agendas. The thing is–I think this may end up being the great deception. Because the right can sound so “Christian”. You have to know your Bible and listen pretty carefully to recognize that something is most definitely amiss.

      I want to also add that, while you have listed men I have trusted, I want you to know that my allegiance and trust is not in any man. Even these men may fail. I just wanted to clarify because people I thought I could trust are compromising at a rate that is almost incomprehensible and the bottom line is that I really don’t trust anyone anymore. Unless they are already gone from this earth. :) Like J.C. Ryle, Spurgeon, etc.

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