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Podcast
Living In The Future
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Transcript
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My name is Dave DeWitt.
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During years of teaching, we've encountered many questions which most people don't seem
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to answer.
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So I wanted to address the question today, what does the Bible say about life in the
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future?
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First of all, the distant future.
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Ultimately, this earth will pass away, and it'll be destroyed with intense heat in the
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earth, and its works will be burned up, according to 2 Peter 3, 10-13, and Revelation 21-21.
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Believers will be in a new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from God and sits
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on a new earth.
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Before that, there'll be a great white throne judgment for believers, where if anyone's
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name is not found written in the book of life, he's thrown into the lake of fire.
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Before that, resurrected and rewarded believers, the bride of Revelation 19-7, will participate
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in a thousand-year millennial kingdom reign with Christ over the earth.
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Before that, believers will be rewarded with fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine
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linen is the righteous acts of the saints, and they'll return with Christ at the second
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coming in Revelation 19.
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Before that, there'll be a great seven-year tribulation on earth, which is the wrath of
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God in judgment of the satanic world system.
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And before that, believers will live under the persecution of the Antichrist, who will
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be waging war with the saints and overpowering them.
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The prophecy is given to warn us about the future.
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As Noah was warned by God about things not yet seen, so we are warned about the coming
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Antichrist.
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Jesus said, I'll come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may
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be also.
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Paul said, God's not destined us to wrath in 1 Thessalonians 5.
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Even if you believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, as I do, that tells us believers are delivered
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from the wrath of God, which is the seven-year upcoming tribulation.
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The Bible does not say believers are delivered from the wrath of the Antichrist against God
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and against the people of God as the Antichrist builds his global blasphemous kingdom before
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the tribulation.
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What is next in this not as distant future?
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We do not know how far into the future it is, but the world that the Satan-inspired
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Antichrist is building will be characterized by a global government, a global economy,
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a global religious leader, and a global immorality.
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And all of this will have the purpose of opposing the God of the Bible.
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First of all, a global government will be different from other kinds of governments
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in that, number one, it will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it.
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Number two, it will also be given to him to make war with the saints, to overcome them.
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Three, authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.
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And four, all those dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been
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found written from the foundation of the world in the book of the life of the Lamb who has
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been slain.
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This is all according to Revelation 13, 7 and 8.
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An interpretation comment.
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The global society of the Western world, since the Reformation, generally accepted biblical
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morality through the 1960s, then tolerated biblical morality through the end of the 20th
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century.
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Then for the first time since the Reformation, opposed biblical morality in the 21st century.
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Next, because they believe in the Bible, Christians will face a global society that will make
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war with the saints.
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A global economy.
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This is where the Antichrist's world order, quote, and I'm quoting from Revelation 13,
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causes all the small and the great and the rich and the poor and the free men and the
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slaves to be given a mark on their right hand and on their forehead.
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And he provides that no one will be able to buy or sell except the one who has the mark.
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This from Revelation 13, 6 and 7 and also Revelation 16, 2.
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But the wealthy leaders of this economy trade in wine and oil and fine flour and wheat and
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cattle and sheep and cargos of horses and chariots and slaves and human lives.
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An interpretive comment.
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In the past, the saints were able to negotiate a living with the world system by using cash
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or a digital representation of cash.
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In the coming world order, the saints will live in an escapable starvation situation,
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unable to buy or sell.
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A global religious leader.
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First of all, this leader will open his mouth in blasphemies against God to blaspheme his
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name.
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Number two, he'll also blaspheme those who dwell in heaven.
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And three, all who dwell on the earth will worship him.
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Everyone whose name has not been found from the foundation of the world in the book of
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the life of the Lamb has been slain.
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An interpretive comment.
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The future global religion may be something like an umbrella religion that tolerates all
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religions, say of the Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, liberals, or liturgical Christians,
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so long as they also worship the Antichrist.
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But the global religion will blaspheme against the God of the Bible and the biblical Christianity
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of the saints, including the saints in heaven who the global religious leader apparently
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killed because they didn't worship the Antichrist.
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This global religious leader appears to be bringing peace.
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According to Daniel 9, 27, Revelation 6, 2, he'll come to power because, as with a democracy,
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he'll be popular with the people of the earth, that he'll be worshipped by everyone except
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the biblical saints.
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Global immorality.
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The future global immorality of the world system is described as a woman who is clothed
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in purple and scarlet, who held in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, who represents
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unclean things in her immorality, who's called the mother of harlots and the abomination
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of the earth, and who's drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses
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of Jesus.
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Interpretation comment.
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The next world order will be characterized by an immorality of material prosperity, abominations
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defined as actions that God hates, sexual immorality, such as confusing the sexuals
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of men and women, earthly focus, such as following theories of evolution, progressivism, and
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fixing the earth, and being obsessed, like being intoxicated with killing biblical Bible-believing
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saints.
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Many believers in Jesus Christ say something like, but this is all during the tribulation
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and will be raptured before the tribulation.
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Well, I believe we'll be raptured before the tribulation, but being raptured before
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the tribulation does not keep believers from the persecution against them during the time
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the Antichrist is building his satanic world order.
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For emphasis, I want to repeat what I mentioned earlier.
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First Thessalonians 5.9 says believers are delivered from the wrath of God, not the wrath
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of the Antichrist against God and against the saints of God.
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Because these four global characteristics are judged by the wrath of God during the
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tribulation, they need to be established, or mostly established, before the tribulation
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in order to be judged during the tribulation.
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Living in the not as distant future.
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As we enter the time of persecution from the Antichrist's world order, we'll need to
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apply Scripture to a world no one's ever seen before.
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But our interpretation of Scripture should be understood in a literal way according to
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the author's intended meaning.
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As Walter Hendrickson once said, everyone who does not take the Bible strictly literally
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will follow the Antichrist.
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The question we need to ask is, as we face an Antichrist global future, is there any
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difference in the way we should apply the Bible?
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Here's four thoughts.
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Number one, seek personal peace, not world peace.
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First Thessalonians 5.1-4 says the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
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While they're saying peace and safety, destruction will come upon them, suddenly like labor pains
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upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.
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But you, brethren, are not in darkness as the day will overtake you like a thief.
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The first horse to the apocalypse is a white horse, Revelation 6.2, indicating a false
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peace the Antichrist presents to the world, which seems to be a false peace and safety,
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Paul predicts in First Thessalonians 5.3.
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As the Antichrist progressive's world order moves increasingly closer to the satanic global
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economy, global government, global religion, and global morality, the world will think
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they're increasingly moving towards peace.
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Just for a definition, peace is freedom from conflict.
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Outward peace is freedom from conflict of circumstantial turmoil, and inward peace is
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freedom from conflict of mental anxiety.
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All believer relationships are based on peace.
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All unbeliever relationships are based on conflict.
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Jesus said in the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I've overcome the world.
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Because they claim no absolute standard, unbelievers can only think of peace in terms of managing
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conflict with tolerance and compromise.
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As we enter the progressive world order of the Antichrist, peace with the world will
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become increasingly impossible because the world will increasingly move everyone towards
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peace on earth through tolerance of sin and compromise with sin, resulting in an increasingly
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sinful world.
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The reason we can never have peace with the coming world order is because, as it says
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in 2 Thessalonians 2.11, God will send a deluding influence so that they will believe what's
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false.
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Unlike what we're told in the media, the world is increasingly united, not increasingly divided.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, nearly all the world united behind the vaccine and
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wearing masks and hatred for those who did not comply.
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Israel's response to the October 7 war with Hamas was led to a global uniting in favor
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of the terrorists.
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The world is increasingly united against the Bible and those who follow the Bible.
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So for the saints, outside outward peace with the world will disappear.
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Jesus did not introduce a dispensation of peace on earth.
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He came bringing individual peace for men and women whom he's well-pleased, not peace
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on earth.
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Jesus said in Matthew 10.34.36, I do not think I came to bring peace on earth.
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I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
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Man's enemies will be the members of his household.
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My peace I left with you, not as the world gives do I give to you.
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Do not let your heart be troubled or let it be fearful.
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That's from John 14.27.
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John 15 and 18 and 19.
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If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hates you.
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If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you're not of the
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world, because I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.
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Number two, discern everything but do not try to fix anything.
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Judge the Antichrist's progressive world order with discernment, not correction.
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At least at the start, it may be tempted to get involved socially, politically, culturally,
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trying to stand up against the satanic perversion, say, in our schools and civic organizations.
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Local governments, you may have heard the idea originally given by Stuart Mills, John
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Stuart Mills in 1867, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to
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do nothing.
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We'll be tempted to oppose transgender teaching in our schools and financial rewards for destroying
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the biblical idea of marriage and family.
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Probably the most tempting cause for the saints we'll want to get involved in is opposing
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abortion.
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Abortion will become a core issue in the Antichrist's progressive world order.
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Getting mothers to murder their own babies is typical of the devil.
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Jesus said the devil was a murderer from the beginning in John 8, 44.
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We need to judge all the world's evil with discernment and instruction for the saints,
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especially our children.
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As Joshua told the Israelites, Joshua 24, 15, but as for me and my household, we'll
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serve the Lord.
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Instructing our families and extended families and believers around us is our responsibility,
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but it's not our responsibility to impose biblical standards on the world.
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God does not fix correct discipline or rehabilitate the unrepentant world.
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What he's done in the past, say at the time of Noah's flood and the destruction of Sodom
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and Gomorrah and the dispersion of Israel, is to wait and wait and wait some more, but
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then suddenly he judges with wrath.
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Beware of the patience of a wrathful God.
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Psalm 98, verse 9, the Lord is coming to judge the earth.
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He'll judge the world with righteousness and the people with equity.
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Ecclesiastes 12, 14, for God will bring every act into judgment, everything which is hidden,
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whether it's good or evil.
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Romans 12, 19, never take your own revenge, beloved, leave room for the wrath of God.
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Number three, tell the truth, but understand that we'll be persecuted for telling the truth.
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Truth is the way things actually are, and things are the way they are because God created
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them that way.
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Truth is the attribute of God, where emulate, Jesus said in John 8, 32, and you'll know
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the truth and the truth will make you free.
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Truth is our message to the world.
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John 4, 24, God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.
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Concerning the unbelieving world, Jesus said, John 8, 40, but as it is, you are seeking
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to kill me, a man who's told you the truth, which I heard from God, John 8, 45.
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But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me, 8, 44, you are of your father
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the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.
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He's a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there's no
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truth in him.
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Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he's a liar and the father
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of lies.
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Truth is revealed in the words of the Bible, Psalm 119, 160, the psalm of your word is
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truth.
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Every one of your righteousness' ordinances is everlasting, 2 Timothy 2, 15.
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Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed,
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handling accurately the word of truth.
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What the progressive world opposes today and will increasingly oppose in the future
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is the Bible.
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Everything is about opposing the Bible.
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Of course, it's about opposing God, but only the God of the Bible.
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The reason the developing Antichrist world favors divorce, homosexuality, LGBTQ, gender
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change, abortion, euthanasia, evolution, open borders, man-made climate change, and Islamic
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terrorism and inflated economy, energy, dependence on Arab countries, relative truth, anti-Semitism,
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and teaching sex to children is because those things oppose the Bible.
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They hate Jews because they gave us the Bible.
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They hate Christians because they believe the Bible.
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They accept all other religions because they oppose the Bible.
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An obvious mega-example is the support the progressive world has for the Muslim terrorists,
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and yet Muslim terrorists oppose nearly everything the New World Order believes.
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But what they both have in common, which overrides everything else, is they hate the Bible.
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And most people do not know that, but some do, and many of the world leaders do, and
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even Satan does, 2 Corinthians 4.4, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the
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minds of the unbelieving, and in Ephesians 6.12, for our struggle is not against flesh
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and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of darkness,
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against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places.
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One more piece of advice, only marry someone with a biblical Christian body of believers.
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Believers have always understood that believers should not marry unbelievers, but as we approach
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the Antichrist world order, that'll not be enough.
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Marriage is under attack by the emerging world order.
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When Paul talked about the latter times, he told Timothy, 1 Timothy 4.1, but the Spirit
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explicitly says that in later times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention
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to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons by means of hypocrisy of liars seared in their
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own consciences with branding iron, men who forbid marriage.
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Paul includes in his list of people demonically influenced as those who forbid marriage.
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The word the numeric standard Bible translates, forbids, has the idea of hinders or prevents.
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We seem to be coming upon a time when marriage will be discouraged.
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As the hero of a TV program I recently saw said, quote, marriage is an archaic, outdated
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idea that needs to be replaced with a simple partnership, close quote.
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I have four practical suggestions.
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One, seek a spouse who is mature believer in Jesus Christ and the God of the Bible.
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Two, seek a spouse who comes from Christian parents.
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Three, seek a spouse who's involved in a community of Christian believers, such as
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a Bible-oriented church, high school, or college.
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Four, seek a spouse who loves God more than they love you.
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Conclusion.
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There's one underlying principle we, the positional saints in Christ Jesus, need to understand.
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All the issues, abortion, LGBTQ, destruction of the family, anti-Semitism, blasphemy of
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God and Jesus, efforts to save the planet, all are the tip of the iceberg.
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The base of that iceberg is a hatred for the Bible.
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It's a hatred for God, of course, but it's the God, Jesus, Holy Spirit of the Bible who
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are despised.
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Other gods, other Jesus substitutes, other supposed divine spirits are acceptable and
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promoted as noble, but the God, Jesus, Holy Spirit of the Bible will be despised.
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Thank you for listening.
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A longer paper on this subject is available on our website relationalconcepts.org.
