Posted on 04/04/2020 8:05:01 AM PDT by pastorbillrandles
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. ( Luke 21:34-36)
The subject of the Rapture is really about escape.
The Scripture polarizes humanity into two different groups, “Those who dwell on the face of the earth”, and “Those who escape…. .
The “earth dwellers” is a technical designation, especially in the book of Revelation, (3:10; 6:10; 8:13; 11:10 2xs; 13:8, 12, 14 2xs; 14:6; 17:8), describing the unsaved, all of those who persistently reject God, and whose entire hope is fixed on the advancements and developments among the “Kings of the earth”, of this world, (i.e. Making the World a better place).
Those who dwell on the face of the earth, refer to those whose entire horizon, is this life. They do not have a vision that goes beyond this world, the wisdom they operate in is the conventional wisdom of the world, they live for the here and the now, and seek their joy, and happiness in this life only.
By contrast, the Redeemed are a pilgrim people. We know this world is not our home. We look for another country, a city whose builder and maker is God. We are constantly being detached from this world, and look for the Savior to rescue us out of it.
Jesus tells us that those who “dwell on the face of the earth” are being lured into a snare . A snare is a trap, usually set for birds or rabbits, which involves a hidden cord or wire on the ground, camouflaged, but set to be pulled and to trap the prey when it steps into the noose, and usually suspends the prey on a branch by the feet.
The Immorality which this world has been given over to, especially over my lifetime, in which pornography has been legalized, Abortion becomes commonplace , and marriage has been badly damaged and marred as an institution, is one aspect of the snare that is being set. So many men and women have been trapped and snared by pornography of various kinds.
It is very hard for a Government to control self governed people, who have the power to say “no” to their passions and lusts. This is one reason why all of the old societal restraints which once reflected Biblical morality, have been dismantled. Liberalized divorce and obscenity laws have a political aspect, they make people much more passive and mallable, especially men.
As the unacceptable becomes acceptable, and more and more ‘tolerance’ is demanded of us, it seems obvious to those who read the Bible seriously that our society is being herded into a snare which has been set.
Financially also, as credit has become incredibly easy to obtain, and personal debt normalized in ever increasing amounts, a financial component to the snare is being prepared. We are on the verge of a financial collapse, and the great reset is almost upon us, in which the malaise which the whole world has fallen into, will set the table for the introduction of the new digitalized currency, also known as “the Mark of the Beast”.
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. ( Revelation 13: 16-18)
It has only been recently that humanity has even had the power and technology to do what John is describing here. China’s ‘social credit system” was the dry run for this insidious trap for humanity.
Western Technological giants such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, have lined up to help the World’s largest Communist country utterly imprison more than a billion people. They haven’t hesitated in the slightest to help install a system on a people which utterly controls every aspect of an individual’s life under the brutal totalitarian State. They gave them the technology to cut off people who displease the State out of every financial transaction!
The lure is efficiency. People will clamor for the order and “normalcy” which will seem to be restored by the New Beast System.
The people will crave security also, for which they will be willing to surrender privacy, by totally accounting themselves to the State in all transaction. It will all seemingly be worth it, for it would cut off at the knees Identity theft, Cartels, and much other criminal activity.
Immigration of unruly, and even uncivilized peoples in the millions into orderly and civilized societies is part of the plan. People are afraid, they want order an ‘normalcy’ , since they feel like strangers in their own homelands. They will clamor for a solution.
The trap is a lure to participate in such a system, which will cause us to commit the final and irreversible act of apostasy, and in God’s sight it will amount to worship of a beastly system which has set itself up as the rival to the God of the Bible.
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. ( Revelation 14:9-11)
We have all seen the massive spectacle of the complete and voluntary shutting down of all entertainment, Sports, restaurants and virtually 95 percent of all public events here in America, and the rest of the World. It is all voluntary! Carefully crafted and heightened fear campaigns have done this to us.
As our leaders drive the bus, (which was our vibrant economy) over the cliff, incredibly there are virtually no protests and little or no public debate.
This would have been unthinkable even ten years ago. So also would Transgender Story Hour, and the host of other bizarre new forms of public expression we see almost daily.
Behold the power of skillful social engineering! Orwellian terms such as “social distancing” enter into the public discourse as if they had been in use for decades. The skillful use of fear, and of social conditioning have been deployed in a way that would have made Goebbels blush. Manipulation and control of millions and millions of unwitting people has almost been achieved!
The Snare is set.
On one level, the Kings of the earth and their rulers, are setting a snare for the earth, humanly speaking. These ‘ruling elites’ despise the Freedoms and the elevation of a middle class that came about as a result of the influence of the Bible on society. They are ‘herding’ people in the direction of their Brave New World, a godless Utopia, a Technocracy, which will seek to control even the number of people on the earth, in defiance of God who said “be Fruitful and Multiply”.
On a deeper level, Satan is preparing a Snare for humanity. He would herd the masses of people into the Mark of the Beast, something which will amount to the final act of Apostasy, and will be far more than an Act of economic efficiency. God sees it as an Act of worship. The New Economic system coming is a trap to get the people of the World to worship Satan. It will all seem so reasonable and useful, but it is a snare.
Finally God himself has set this snare. He is going to give the multitudes of people who “dwell on this earth” what they think they want, seeing they reject Him. “I will choose their delusions, saith the LORD”. His Agent, (AntiChrist) is already in the wings, waiting to come out of the Shadows and take his brief place on the World Stage, and to the Worldly minded, He will be an irresistible figure.
But there is another group of people, that will be delivered from the Judgment coming upon “those who dwell on the face of the Earth”. The true church are not “earth dwellers”, we used to be, but are not anymore. We have been captured by a heavenly vision, and have a different destiny, i.e. the Rapture.
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. ( Revelation 3:10)
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.( I Thessalonians 4:16-17)
As the world becomes worse, and society allows just about anything, we long for that day. The older generation knows how it was and what we live in today. Like darkness has taken over. My grandchildren have to grow up in this world and it isnt fair that they do not know a life as we did before.. The answer is for us all to be taken out of the evil that permeates our society.
To the younger generation, it seems normal to live in all that has been introduced into society. No. .this is darkness intruding into everything that used to be good. it does not bring comfort...takes the foundation out from under us if we dont hang onto the Truth.
Could you provide your educational background...degrees held, seminaries attended, etc?
The government really has no authority to say no to people's passions and lusts. That is the purpose of one's Christian faith.
We already have the ten commandments (not the ten suggestions).
We need good Christian families and friends to support us.
MOST OF ALL we need God's grace to HELP us.
The younger generations have always poo-pooed the older generations and those younger generations WILL make their OWN bunch of mistakes for THEIR children to hold in distain.
You miss the point, the government has encouraged passion and lust , for purposes of control
I am self educated and have no degrees
You have something more powerful and enlightening than any of those things. You have the Spirit - May he always guide your path.
How has our government encouraged passion and lust?
All the US/state/local governments want from me are TAXES, taxes and more taxes.
All I REALLY want is to be able to attend daily Mass again and get the sacraments. Is that too much to ask?
--My husband went back to school at 29 years old. He got his degree in engineering...mechanical, which means he could do ANYthing.
--My mother started law school at 55 years old. At 60 years of age she took the bar exam, passed it and practiced law until she was 80 years old.
People liked going to her because she had some WISDOM and life experience
--I got my master's degree at 40 years old.
The “earth dwellers” is a technical designation, especially in the book of Revelation, describing the unsaved, all of those who persistently reject God, and whose entire hope is fixed on the advancements and developments among the “Kings of the earth”, of this world.Those who dwell on the face of the earth, refer to those whose entire horizon, is this life. They do not have a vision that goes beyond this world, the wisdom they operate in is the conventional wisdom of the world, they live for the here and the now, and seek their joy, and happiness in this life only.
I know many dispensationalists like to dis Augustine, but you really ought to read his City of God. This is a very Augustinian statement.
They have dismantled laws against pornography, made it almost as easy as drive by voting to get a divorce. and have promoted Homosexuality as a favored species...
I appreciate that. Augustine was brilliant, I loved his “Confessions” . I disagree with her aspects of his theology but have to grant that he was a genius, humanly speaking.
thanks for the encouragement
All true but one isn't REQUIRED to look at any porn. That is a CHOICE. If one has the Christian ethics imbued into his soul, then it's a lot easier to NOT look at porn.
Divorce is easy because Catholics are the only Christians who can't get an easy divorce.
Again, if one had the Christian ethics imbued into her soul, then divorce isn't an option.
One girl I knew in high school DID get an ANNULMENT of her marriage. It's a long story but the crux is that her husband BEAT THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS out of her. He KNEW that she couldn't divorce. They had five children.
Her family and friends BEGGED her to see a priest. FINALLY she did.
It took two years but the Church discovered that her husband ALWAYS meant to beat her, even before their wedding.
She was awarded an annulment since HIS intentions were never as he vowed.
All five children WERE legitimate.
Anyway, they had the annulment.
My high school classmate married again and now she is SO happy. Her husband ADORES her.
It's not often that these cases end happily but with my high school class mate, it did.
I am not in any way arguing that the Government should restrain anyone’s lust, the Law cannot save anyone, only Jesus Christ can , and he does it from the inside out. I am only saying that those who wish to have greater control over us, promote immorality because that is the avenue in which to gain such control. The promotion of Abortion, Homosexuality, striking down strict divorce laws, the attack on the family are all (leftist) initiatives and the insidious truth is, that they love debasing people for easier control. Subsidizing out of wedlock booths, gives the left side a steady and constant underclass, now the Government is the Father, and the single mother and her children are the constant, dependent voter base.
From Google
The underclass is the segment of the population that occupies the lowest possible position in a class hierarchy, below the core body of the working class.
I must seem obtuse because I cannot, for the life of me, see how debasing people gives the government control over them. In fact, anyone with a brain or backbone would resent the control.
People react very differently to things, all depending on their character, upbringing, faith and intelligence. Those factors simply can't be controlled by government.
Also, I can't see how the single mother and her children are a dependable voter base. Statistics would disagree with that. They MIGHT be the least dependable voter base.
They probably top the welfare rolls but that's no recommendation for being a reliable voter base. The "underclass" doesn't care who runs the cities, states or government. Why would they?
The easy-peasy divorce laws go back to morality, don't they? People like ELIZABETH TAYLOR got married and divorced MANY times and she was still admired because of her beauty. How shallow is that?
PEOPLE MAGAZINE is a primer for HOW NOT TO LIVE YOUR LIFE. You know that.
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