Radioprogram, The Spirit Of The Last Days, 21.08.2017
Announcer 01: Dear listeners, our today’s subject is “THE SPIRIT OF THE LAST DAYS”
It is so important for us Christians to have understanding of the times, to view them through the Bible and to see the current events in the light of the prophecies of the Bible. For us Christians it is critical to know the voice of the Lord, to see and understand the Spirit of the Lord…
It is written in Psalm 89, verse 15, “Blessed is the people who know the trumpet sound.”
Today we, Anna and Suren, are here with you in the studio, and I think there is no Christian who is not interested in the last days or the end time.
In fact, we can speak about subject for a very long time; it is a very extensive and interesting subject; so today we will try to see what the Bible says about the end times and what is the fight of every Christian about.
Announcer 02: For example, Paul writes in Second Timothy 3, verses 1 through 5,
“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”
In Matthew 24, verse 24, even Jesus Himself says that many of the elect will be led astray, which means such evil times will come, that even those who are chosen will be strayed from the truth.
I always thought what kind of times those would be and how gross the evil would become, that even the elect of the Lord would go astray… and you know, if a Christian is alert and is very close to Christ, they will easily understand that it is not that the evil of this world will bring physical torment or persecution to Christians to the extent they will not endure and forsake God; but the evil will imitate God to the extent that if a Christian is not alert, if they are not close to Jesus Christ, if they do not read the Bible, they will confuse the spirit of this world with the Spirit of God.
Announcer 01: So correct! The devil, the enemy of Christians, is very cunning; each new day he devises even more schemes in order to lead astray not only individual Christians, but also entire Churches from the Spirit of God.
Recently a person whom I know said something that made me think:
“The devil is running an institution, a huge study center, to achieve his goal of leading astray even the strongest Christians. And he saw since the first century that it is not easy to make a Christian backslide from God simply through physical torture, such as burning them alive, killing or crucifying them. The many centuries taught him that it is impossible to fill the hell employing physical torture.
“So he launched this institution as he saw that it is far easier to lead a Christian astray from Christ and His Spirit by imitating God, doing things, which they would approve as something pleasing to God. He knew that by realizing projects that seemed good outwardly, he would make many souls stumble.
“In fact, these seemingly good works are just poisonous baits, that put Christians to sleep, make them blind, deaf and dull”.
Today hell has released a spirit, which is called by many believers the spirit of Babylon.
Announcer 02: And today that spirit of Babylon does not just enter the homes of those who do not know the Lord, but comes straight to the Church. It attacks the children of the Church leaders, it strikes and weakens their spirit, and builds their souls and intellect instead. Thus it forms a strange culture among Christians, which leaves even the people in the world puzzled.
Those who are under the influence of this spirit forsake Christ, do not know Christ and cannot discern the Spirit of Christ at all.
Announcer 01: Anna, recently I received a book by John Bevere, a very famous Christian Author. The title of the Book is Good or God. In that book, he speaks very strongly about this subject. I would advise all the Christians to read it. It will awaken you, and you will feel at once that it is written in a prophetic spirit.
Announcer 02: Please give it to me when you are through; I would like to read it as well. So the title is Good or God?
Announcer 01: Yes, Good or God.
Announcer 02: Dear Christians, dear listeners, it is very crucial for us to know that the spirit of the last days is the spirit of the antichrist, and that the devil both establishes it in this world and tries to bring it into Christian institutions.
Announcer 01: Yes, and it is important to mention that in the last days, there are three key terms: power, pleasure, and exaltation of self.
I have read the following in a book by a good Christian Author, written some 30 years ago,
“There will be influential groups with global agenda for forced unity, and unlimited rule through technologies. As a result, the number of genetic manipulations, euthanasia and abortions will increase. All the doors will be open for commerce and marketing, the popular culture will be merged with the traditional cultures, and in this mixture, the decisive factor would be the psychological wellbeing of a person, not the truth. Such is the society that awaits us. And Christians must not miss the opportunity to preach the Gospel in it.”
Announcer 02: And in such groups, people eventually get dried up. People fall into hopelessness, are swallowed by a quagmire of vanity and selfishness, and are bound by their own rebellion and sins.
Announcer 01: That is how the spirit of this world operates. The society gradually influences the Christians; and oftentimes, we do not notice the calls and exhortations of the Bible any longer.
Here is an example: a Christian who knows God can say, “Yes, I love Jesus! It is true that I want a divorce, but I love Jesus the same way as before.”
In fact, something is wrong here. God loves faithfulness. God loves truth.
When we Christians replace the Word of God with ideas and thoughts that are convenient to us, we make gods of ourselves before the one true God.
Announcer 02: The churchgoers often ask, “How can I live in this society, when you depend on your government, boss, family, friends and surroundings? I cannot live my life without them. Shall I run from this world? Shall I separate myself from the society to be free from the influence of the spirit of this world?”
Announcer 01: You know, Anna, the Bible has answers to even the least things and problems of our life. I am thinking about Daniel and the three friends who lived with him in Babylon. At that time, Babylon was the most advanced and powerful nation that subdued all the nations of the world. It was filled with paganism and terrible sins. Pride and selfishness had no limits; freedom to sin and forced moral violence went hand in hand.
Out of all the captives, the captivity was most difficult for the four Hebrew young people. The bondage of Daniel and his friends was not only physical, but also spiritual and religious. They are the best examples for today’s Christians.
Announcer 02: You are right; they were faithful in their prayers and supplications before their God. They were so confident in their God; they knew Him so well; and they were certain that He is a God who shows up in difficult moments and brings changes.
Announcer 01: Yes, they knew the faithfulness of God their Keeper very well.
Announcer 02: And how brave they were! They stood before the greatest ruler of all times and boldly spoke about their God!
Announcer 01: Daniel and three friends of his were so well prepared and strong in the Lord, that they were ready to go into a fiery furnace and a lion’s den. And God in turn answered them with His shocking miracles and faithfulness.
Announcer 02: I like this so much! Even now when we are talking I know that there is a great army of Christians who are ready for such trials.
Announcer 01: Yes, there are such people… however, nowadays the attack is a little different. Young Christians, that are like Daniel and his friends, are attacked by another Babylonian spirit, - by the mentality, psychology and culture of Babylon.
Announcer 02: Suren, can you explain what you just said? I am so interested. And please tell what form the Babylonian culture takes in our days.
Announcer 01: I will start with very simple examples.
For a society under the Babylonian culture, the most important thing is appearance, fashion and style. These are considered far more important than many values that bring true happiness in our lives.
A person finds their identity by having a certain appearance. I dress this way, so this is my identity. A person is expected to have different roles in life. You are one person at home, another person at work, and a very different one at night, at parties. So a person can be a heterosexual in the morning, and a homosexual in the evening. These are simply different roles that a person plays and then sets aside, and no one has any right to say if they are right or wrong. You simply choose a role; it has become a custom now, and there is no universal or absolute truth at all. This creates conditions for what the Bible calls lawlessness.
This fashion mentality does not focus on personal confidence; instead, it focuses on group mentality and will, because of which societies and families have no stability. This has been prepared for centuries, and now is rapidly advancing.
The same situation was in Babylon. We think what has penetrated our society is a new thing, but it was formed back in the Babylonian times. If you spend a little time to study the history of Babylon, you will see it yourselves.
Then I think about the wilderness where the people of God walked for 40 years. They only had the lifestyle suggested by God the Creator of heaven and earth. This lifestyle was not inferior to the well-developed worldly lifestyle by its beauty, productivity and ability to make a person happy; moreover, it made the people of God invincible and greater than the other nations.
Both in past centuries and today, the most talented people in art, technology, film industry, etcetera were Christians who knew God and were churchgoers. They brought innovations to the society and did other notable things.
But unfortunately, there were some people among them who had a great downfall, deceived by the misleading vividness of the spirit of Babylon. They lost their peace, but received a great number of fans, along with sleepless and restless life.
Why the people of God were taken captive to Babylon in the Old Testament? Because they were deceived by the vivid culture of Babylon. The people of God were deceived by arrogance and pride of Babylon. When they considered that culture, service to the Living God seemed tiresome to them.
Announcer 02: Suren, allow me to add this. Today’s gadgets that are constantly being developed and upgraded can lead astray even the most alert Christians. One can spend so much time with their mobile devices exploring the ever-changing apps, internet pages and social media, that they will miss the precious time that they are to spend with the Word of God.
Announcer 01: Yes, I would like to mention another subtle thing. Oftentimes, we give the time we have to spend in prayer and reading the Word of God to listening to brilliant sermons of famous preachers. And we justify ourselves saying that we spend time with the Lord. I do not mind listening to sermons; it is a great blessing in this age of technology; and thank God for such blessings and opportunities.
However, there are times when you clearly hear in your spirit that you need to pray and read the Bible. And you simply flee from it, as it seems something outdated to you. And to avoid the reproof of your conscience, you just find a sermon on the Internet and try to build up yourself spiritually through it, but to no effect.
You can secure peaceful and happy life only when you listen to your Creator and obey Him. It is the spirit of this world that makes what is intended to bless us look like a curse. Today we have the Internet and we do not need to attend the Church. We follow the Church services through the Internet, but the Word of God says in Hebrews 10, verse 25 about “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together”.
Today we have social media and so we do not need one another. We feel no need to speak to one another, to tell one another about the glory of God; we forsake the fellowship of the saints and the social media comes to replace them.
In fact, we can use these means in a right way, as a blessing, but they also can distract us from spending time with the Word of God.
Announcer 02: And the Word of God tells us in Joshua 1, verse 8, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
Announcer 01: So what the people that claim to follow Christ do today? Can’t we notice how the spirit of the end time invades our lives and makes us more receptive to images than to words? Today people prefer watching television to reading books.
We cannot live as if television or the internet does not exist at all, as they influence millions of people. It is an ostrich theology to put your head in the sand and pretend that all is well, and I do not believe it can work. We live in this world, but we do not conduct our lives as this world does.
Announcer 02: People who fall under this group mentality, start to think by images, not by words. This is indicative to the Babylonian mentality. They strive both to be independent and to belong to the group.
Announcer 01: When you read, especially when you read the Bible, it requires total concentration of your mind. While you read, your mind responds to what is written and creates images. So when you read, you are mentally active. And if you read the Bible, your spiritual ears hear, and your eyes take what is written and put it into your spirit.
Announcer 02: So true. Of course I don’t think that the written word will disappear at all, but the internet and television stuff us with junk information in huge volumes, which does not require much effort of the mind.
Today’s youth has spent their childhood in a room where TV set was always on, and a great variety of images were displayed one after another. The mind of this generation is passive, and they think that nothing is really important. All that happens on the screen creates a chaos of images. Television estranges people from the reality. It removes the boundaries. With a push on the button, you go to China, the U.S., Russia, Europe… as a result, the mind receives everything on the same level.
Announcer 01: This makes people passive, and unwittingly everything becomes relative to them. Truth is not significant to them anymore.
Announcer 02: Yes, such is the spirit of the last days. And we try to describe it as concisely and understandably as possible.
Because of giving in to fun and stimulating their feelings, people reject the thoughts given by the Spirit of God and deny sound judgment, morals and truth. The most important thing today is not the search of truth, but temporary pleasures. However, we must not allow this tendency to enter the Church.
Announcer 01: The real purpose of life and the truth are denied for the sake of entertainment. Facts are to be presented in fun ways, or people won’t listen. Conscientious modernists and humanistic scientists are replaced with postmodernist pleasure chasers. The world goes from fulfilling one’s obligations and social improvement to pleasures and decline, and this happens not only in the world, but also in the Church.
Announcer 02: We must do what God declares is right.
Announcer 01: Exactly, and I will continue my thoughts about the consequences of the spirit of this world or the spirit of Babylon. A contemporary Christian Author writes the following,
“The society will split into many minor parts. There will be various associations, communities, religions, and all of them will demand power and rights. The society will decompose; its many parts will create chaos, and the whole society will somewhat look like many groups of sectarians. The spiritual void coming as a consequence, must be filled with something, and if Christianity does not respond, nationalism, technology and technocracy will.
“Globalism will spread through economy, media and other means. People will worship the unity. And in the diverse society with all the communities and tribes, people will accept anything as long as they can preserve the unity.
“Luther became so hated for the Catholic Church not because he was right, and they were wrong, but because he destroyed the artificial power structure, which they called unity.
“We will see unprecedented unity in the world.
In the days of the Roman Empire, Christians were cast to the lions, as they did not want to make an incense offering to the Caesar. However, this was only an outward reason. The real reason was that people got angry when they saw a bunch of “slaves” and “nobodies” stand and deny the Gentile philosophers of their days saying “You are wrong, and we are right”.
“In this diverse postmodern society, the global unity will be broken if we declare that Jesus is the Truth and we need to follow Him.
“Something else will take place. People will deify the society. This has already started. People praise wellbeing, and freedom is traded for safety. True knowledge is replaced with technology and pleasures. Life is built through advanced technology.”
Announcer 02: Praise God that we have examples like Daniel and his three friends, or Ezra and Nehemiah – people whom the spirit of this world could not defeat, and who did not follow the ways of Babylon. They were not tempted by the ways of this world, but instead rebuked the people who followed them. They became the ones who rebuilt Jerusalem and the Temple. They restored the walls of the Holy City, and prepared the way for the coming of the Christ. Thank God for these Jews!
We must not be downhearted or confused, but renewed and strengthened; we are to take a step of joy to live this wonderful life, to run the race that is set before us victoriously and to prepare the way for the the second coming of the Lord. This time He is coming to reign.
Announcer 01: Dear listeners, this is all for today. Unfortunately, our time is up, but I hope this will awaken your spirit and you in turn will awake many souls, exhort your friends and relatives to live and walk with God every day. This is our joy and our sure hope that will never make us ashamed.
Let us be sober, no matter how deep the world goes into lawlessness and deceptive pleasures. We serve a faithful God, Who rewards both sinners and the righteous.
