News Updates and Lessons

NEWS UPDATES AND LESSONS

By Dr. Stephen Jones

Blog Post Date: 8-12-2020

Having finished Book 4 of Isaiah, regarding prophecies of the destiny of nations, we see that Isaiah began with Babylon (Isaiah 13) and ended with Israel and Judah (Isaiah 28, 29). After this, the prophet continues to prophesy about (and against) Judah more generally. Those prophecies will be covered shortly in Book 5.

It’s not ideal to end in the middle of a chapter, of course, but the chapter headings are not always put in the right place, even as many verses are not divided properly. But I cannot change this.

Books in Process

I have been working on my commentary on the Gospel of John in order to get it into print. I have one book ready for printing, and the second is being proofed now. There will be five in all. As always, I have to go through each book to make text changes and clarifications before handing it over to the proofers.

I have had to interrupt my work on John in order to work on Secrets of Time, which will need to be reprinted soon. That book always requires updates, since it deals with prophecy and timing issues. I have added a page and a half in a section at the end to bring people somewhat up to date. The main thing I had to include was the revelation that the mandate of the beast empires expired in 2017. I only learned that in September 2013, which was long after the book had been reprinted in 2007.

I have other brochures and books that I want to write as well, but I learned years ago to be careful not to start new projects before completing the current ones. Once I learned that lesson, I began to accomplish things in life. Of course, because of the nature of the weblogs, I cannot stick to that principle fully. I always have to start on a new weblog study before I am able to get the previous study ready for printing.

Hurricane Isaia is hitting the Bahamas and heading toward the eastern coast of Florida. It may be significant that it is hitting while I expound on the prophet Isaiah. There may be a revelation in this somewhere. We will see.

The Opposition to the Kingdom of God

Meanwhile, the rioters in Portland continue to do what George Soros tells them to do in order to vent his anger on the president that he hates so much. Q told us in November 2017 that there were three funding mechanisms of the Deep State that were going to be taken down: Saudi Arabia, George Soros, and the Rothschilds. The Saudi funding was cut off immediately in November 2017, and now they are working on the other two.

Soros is fighting for his life, so we should expect him to hire rioters and anarchists. His tactic is time-tested and was used very effectively in every revolution since the French Revolution (1789-1791). Most people have not studied the history of the modern revolutionary movements, so they are unaware of such tactics or the real motives behind them.

The latest came last night when Portland rioters burned a Bible and an American flag.

They always send their messages, but few pay attention. Their goal is ultimately to overthrow Jesus Christ, but to do so, they intend to ban Christianity. That is what happened also after the revolution a century ago that established communism in the Soviet Union. We see similar persecution of the church in China as well as in California, where the government has now banned church attendance and has even banned singing. (Trump’s personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, is very active in fighting these bans in court.)

Meanwhile, the Democrat leaders such as Jerry Nadler (NY) speak of these reports of rioting as “myths.” Others continue to label them as “peaceful protesters,” even when there are burning buildings in the background behind the reporters. Their lies are obvious even in their own reports, but yet they know that many people do not know how to think reasonably and will believe whatever the mainstream media tells them.

Dealing with Anarchists

There is no doubt that God has allowed this to bring judgment upon the church and to cause Christians to repent. Hence, from God’s perspective, this all serves a good purpose in the end. We ought to view these things through God’s eyes. Instead of just blaming the ungodly rioters and expect them to repent or die, we should first search our own hearts.

All of this craziness should concern us, of course, but yet we do not react to circumstances around us but only to plan and will of God. Being led by the Spirit of God is not always easy, but it is part of the life that every Christian is supposed to experience. It helps greatly to know that God is indeed sovereign. Many Christians tend to think that they are the ones ultimately responsible to make changes and to correct the world problems. While we certainly are involved in those solutions, no man is sovereign—not us and not the communists.

It helps to know the divine plan so that we know the outcome of the present situation. If we had been living in the days of Isaiah or Jeremiah, we would be facing national destruction and exile. But we are at the other end of this judgment. God is stirring the pot in order to cause the church to repent of its corruption and lawless theology, in preparation for the Kingdom Age. People must see lawlessness (anarchy) firsthand in order to understand Christian anarchy.

In other words, the anarchists out there are not the real problem. The real problem is that the church has cast out every law that they disagree with, giving them the power of veto over any law that chafes their flesh. This has been the problem since Adam, and it was the reason God judged Israel and Judah.

The anarchists in Portland, Seattle, and other cities hate the church, not just because they hate God but because of the corruption that they see in the church. They claim that the church is oppressive. They do not know biblical language, but they see that the church is a promoter of the Old Covenant (Hagar, the bondwoman) while pretending to promote the New Covenant.

The Old Covenant is based on man’s vows, man’s will, and the power of flesh. The New Covenant is based on God’s vows, God’s will, and the power of the Spirit. The church tries to combine the two by claiming that the New Covenant is God helping us fulfill our Old Covenant vows, that salvation comes by men’s decisions, and that if Christians can just discipline their flesh enough, then they can attain perfection and salvation.

This is the foundation of a system of bondage. So the anarchists are technically correct. The church is indeed a system of bondage and oppression. But their solution is to institute a greater system of bondage called communism. They do not have the solution, because they have turned to Karl Marx and Lenin for answers, rather than turning to God. Hence, the statue of Lenin in Seattle remains untouched, though the rioters pull down every other statue, including those of famous abolitionists who worked tirelessly in their day to abolish slavery in America.

The Faith of Overcomers

We ourselves do not burn the Scriptures but study them to know the divine plan to save the world and set it free from all oppression. We have faith in God, rather than men. Our faith is in the fact that we believe God is able to fulfill all of His promises, not that God will help us fulfill our own promises to God. God is sovereign; therefore, God is able.

Neither do we look to any man to save us. No president, pope, prophet, apostle, or church board can save us. On the other hand, we observe how God has use for everyone. He uses the anarchists to expose our own lawless hearts. He uses bad presidents and kings to judge us for our refusal to repent. He raises up one nation to overthrow another, such as raising up the ungodly king named Cyrus, who overthrew Babylon and funded the rebuilding of the temple.

I receive mail all the time from those who think President Trump is a near saint and from those who think he is the devil incarnate. I can only say that we should take our eyes off men and look to God. See how God uses everyone for His purpose. God does not need saints to be successful in His work. If He did, He would have converted Cyrus before raising him up against Babylon.

Remember that the devil himself has a purpose. If he had no purpose, he would not have been created in the first place, or at the very least, God would have bound him and disposed of him long ago so that he would have no influence in the earth.

Ultimately, the devil’s job is to point out our sins and weaknesses and prosecute us in the divine court. The job is necessary, not that we should continue to wallow in guilt, but that we should be driven to find the path of forgiveness and restoration through proper lawful means.

When the devil accuses us of sin, our response should be that Jesus has already paid the penalty for that sin. You can’t hang a man for the same crime twice. In so doing, we uphold the law and thereby respect the nature of God that is His righteous standard for creation.

Christian anarchists try to justify themselves by saying, “There is no law against that, so stop trying to make me guilty of sin.” But God has not justified us by putting away the law. He justified us by upholding the law and paying its full penalty at the cross. Hence, we are not Christian anarchists, nor do we live according to lawless grace.

The anarchists in Portland have been raised up by God to accuse the church and expose its problem of lawlessness. The question is whether we can hear the voice of God coming from them, or just see them as thugs and enemies. Hearing God’s voice is not just about hearing the Holy Spirit, or an angel, or an inspired preacher. It is about having the ability to hear the word of God through donkeys, pagan kings, and anarchists. Your ability to hear His voice is not yet well developed until you can hear Him through your greatest enemy.

This was one of the first characteristics of Jacob when he overcame and was given the name Israel. The next day he was able to see the face of God in his greatest enemy, his brother Esau (Genesis 33:10.)

This does not mean that every accusation is true. It means that we should inquire of God and not just assume that accusations are false. If our relationship with God is up-to-date, accusations should not be a problem, because we know the solution set forth in Scripture.