A Simple Request from my Heart

This post is quite different from all my other posts. It isn’t about something interesting I’ve learned while reading Scripture, it isn’t about a prayer that ended in a meaningful revelation.

It’s just one, simple request from me, to you, because your future has been on my mind. I'll first quickly summarize my journey for the last (almost) year, so you can fully appreciate the tiny thing I’m asking from you. My request won’t cost you a cent, and the amount of time you spend on it is entirely up to you.

At the end of August last year, a friend of mine posted on Facebook, announcing a blog he was writing. It sounded weird, so naturally I was interested. I read it, but it didn’t seem as weird as I thought it would. Then I researched a little, and it sounded even less weird. The blog was about the end of an age, which was potentially on our horizon.

People were making fun of this new awareness, claiming a bunch of crazy Bible-thumpers were preaching the end of the world based on Revelation 12:1-5. I'm sure it looked like that from their perspective.

The anticipated sign was an interesting series of movements in the heavenly bodies (sun, moon, stars, planets) that lined up with some scripture in the Book of Revelation, chapter twelve:

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

The specifics of this great sign were supposed to take place around September 23, 2017, involving the constellation Virgo (the Virgin) Mercury, Mars, Venus, plus the sun and moon. The combination of stars and planets equaled the prophetic crown of twelve stars, the moon was at Virgo's feet, and the sun was over her shoulder. Plus, the planet Jupiter was in the “womb” of Virgo in a retrograde motion for 9 months, the typical length of gestation for a human birth.

So what? It didn't seem like such a big deal, except that the person who discovered this quickly-approaching sign realized how very rare it was. In fact, that particular lineup hadn’t happened in the previous 6,000 years, and wasn’t due to happen again in the next 1,000 years. Many thanks to astronomers and software programmers that made that analysis possible!

The sign was also preceded by two years with another alignment that was purported to be the exact conjunction that created the Star of Bethlehem. The very same conjunction preceded the birth of Jesus Christ, on Rosh Hashana (not Christmas, like we’ve been told) by two years. That's no coincidence.

It was also discovered that the apparent retrograde of Jupiter in the womb of Virgo was preceded by C/2017 E1 (Comet Borisov) which is called the Conception Comet.

It was also noted that the Great American Eclipse was 33 days before the Revelation 12 sign, the same as the number of years as was Jesus when he died.

And the list of “it was alsos” goes on, and on. Something important was playing out in the Heavens.

There’s an interesting word for you: Mazzaroth. If you have time, look it up. Many years ago, our ancestors studied the movements of the planets and other astral bodies quite closely. They understood that God, who created and named these heavenly bodies, was using them as a way to communicate His plan for mankind, bypassing the troubles inhered to written language: variation and illiteracy. The Mazzaroth is mentioned in Job 38:32:

Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?

And, God specifically told us what He was using the heavens for in Genesis 1:14

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.  

In this passage, the word “seasons” doesn’t refer to Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall. It refers to the appointed times and seasons that mark God’s plan for salvation for his hot mess of a creation – us. It's the same word used for His appointed Feasts, which also lay out His plan for salvation.

All of this got my attention, and I began to ponder my life if there really were only a month left on Earth, as we know it? It was intriguing, to say the least. So I made a list of people to pray for each night, which was more regularity that I had attended to my relationship with God previously. I also spoke to friends of mine about what I was learning.

Aside from a few funny looks and awkward conversations, nothing happened. But I kept at it.

Fast forward through an outbreak of fires in California, a miraculous disappearance of a very painful 7mm kidney stone, and some remarkable time spent studying scripture. Prayer life changed. I started fasting, cut back on my wine consumption, and hit my knees in earnest. God began to move in my life in a big way. There was fallout. I stopped believing in Church as I had known it, and I realized how closely related we all were to the nation of Israel; we were brethren, under the same God, each taking our places in the continuous story through the Bible.

And I shamefully realized I hadn’t been doing a spectacular job of living for God’s kingdom, the main job I had been tasked with. Actually, that's the main job we have all been tasked with. I witnessed to more friends, loved ones, and some strangers. I started my own blog, revealing intimate feelings and humbling moments. Many of whom I shared laughed, blew me off, doubted my sanity, stopped communicating with me, or gossiped about me behind my back. I wish I could say that it didn’t matter. The truth is that it hurts to lose friendships and reputation. It's sad and lonely.

You see, early on I had asked God in prayer if I could contribute to his kingdom, and He said yes. The scriptures that opened up before my eyes were nothing like I thought the Bible was. I could no longer read a chapter and take it at face value, instead immediately parsing the application to my puny life, as well as the prophetic connection to future events. Through my studies I saw line upon line in scripture that pointed to everything prophesied about in the Book of Revelation, repeated throughout all the books of scripture. Everything I learned said to me, You need to change your life, because all life is going to change soon.

And, my friends, I now understand that what comes in this next season – for unbelievers – is terrifying. I cannot overstate that. That's why I endure your laughter, teasing, and rejection. My pain is for you.

In a nutshell, the nation of Israel rejected their Messiah who was offering redemption to all who believed in him – Jesus. And so, that salvation was offered to the gentiles which was clearly prophesied about in scripture. Take a look at every story in which a blessing was not given to the oldest son, but to a younger brother. Abel, Jacob, Ephraim, Joseph, David… It’s a pattern, and it’s God telling us that we’re all the same family, just different branches if we have faith in God’s plan for redemption through Christ. 

Actually, most of Israel is still waiting for their Messiah, whom they thought was going to offer redemption through force, not peace. That was a big mistake, because they had to atone for many years of sin and idol-worshipping. And so do the rest of us. Idols are more than statues, my friends.

What's scary is that scripture absolutely shows that one is coming who will look like the Messiah, with charm and charisma, offering peace through intellectualism and diplomacy. He's going to be the Master of Lies, and his only goal through millennia has been to separate us from God.

Here’s my request: Please, please, please…don’t remain half-hearted about your salvation. There’s no such thing as “just being a good person” to obtain salvation. You can’t send “love and light” by momentarily being sentimental about someone's bad situation. If you’re “putting it out to the universe” then you’re worshiping creation, not the Creator. There are plenty of things masquerading as a spiritual life that are not spiritual, and all paths do not lead to God. 

Our “feel-good” churches have been hiding the truth from us. We are still supposed to be doing everything we can to obey God’s commandments, and offering sincere repentance with humility. We're supposed to be praying, fasting, and engaging with others in love and truth.
 

Half-hearted Sunday/Christmas/Easter Christians are not being the salt and light for this fallen world. Not only are we not gathering for God, we’re scattering His people with our hypocrisy. We turn a blind eye to sin, calling it acceptance and enlightenment. We offer judgment of people, instead of judgment of sins and loving encouragement. We offer love and worship, but without heart - and only if we're getting what we want. We're living with secret sins of addiction, sexual immorality, and greed, withholding forgiveness from others with the same sins.

Don't despair - God has provided a way back to Him.

At a minimum, we must acknowledge that there is no way we can be a good enough person to earn salvation on our own. We need to understand and acknowledge that Jesus really is the Son of God, who died as a sacrifice so that our sins would be atoned for. We must ask God to show us the truth in sincere prayer. 

Please listen to me.

If you want to go deeper, or read scripture for yourself, pick up a Bible and start reading in earnest. If you want to see a picture of Jesus in the Cliff Notes manner, read the fourth chapter of each book. Read a post I wrote about how the number four has so much to do with Jesus in scripture. Also, read the book of Joshua, the first several chapters detailing the Jordan crossing are the very picture of the Rapture, mentioned in Revelation 12, also called the “harpazo.”

If you are not part of that Harpazo event, you will endure Hell on earth for a a very dangerous period of seven years, and you may well be coerced to take the Mark of the Beast that allows work, trade for food, etc. To do so will ensure the worst possible eternity you can imagine for yourself. Read. Understand.

Please don’t leave your eternity to chance, and don’t waste a moment. I’m praying for you. I’m available to talk with you about everything I’ve found; much of it is in my blog.

I’m here for you.

Please.