HHA | 11/5/2014

The Enemy In Our Midst

As I write this post, it is less than a week away from the long worked on conference brought to you by The Prophecy Forum titled A WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN: Decoding the Dramatic New Signs Hastening the Lord’s Return. 2014 has been a hectic year for me with the uncertainties of unemployment. But thanks to my wife and the Lord, I have been blessed to work full time on ministry. Throughout the year, I have learned a tremendous amount and have gained a new level of insight into the study of Bible Prophecy and fervor for the Word which I love so much. I thank God on a daily basis for allowing me to do what I do, yet, the level of strife and division amongst my brethren have also exponentially increased. One could say I’ve had to grow a new layer of thick skin this year.

When I began in this space, I had known that the reason why my megachurch peers were not into Bible Prophecy was because of what they saw; folks who were divisive and overtly passionate about their doctrine, breaking fellowship, friendship, and even denouncing others of their salvation upon disagreement, (as if that is something we as mere fallen humans can prescribe on another) over a disagreement on translations concerning Biblical eschatology. Nevertheless, my outlook was positive and my slate clean, hopeful about how I can contribute to the Christian community and beyond with my own take on Bible Prophecy. My vision was a sense of idealistic fervor thinking that even if we disagreed on particular eschatological doctrine, we could still get along, be friends, and fellowship. Perhaps it’s due to my “post-modern” state of mind that allows me to be so hopeful. But the deeper I got into the trenches, the more the enemy seems to rear its ugly satanic head amongst our fellow brethren.

Just in 2014 alone, I’ve been undermined by the church where I was saved, called a heretic by some “Christian” discernment blogs, falsely accused of plagiarism and thievery by someone who claims to be a Christian, been stabbed in the back by someone who I considered a close friend and brother in Christ, thrown under the buss by Christian associates that caused me and my family unnecessary suffering and hardship, accused by fellow Christians as being money hungry, and to top it off, labelled as someone who blindly defends an eschatological doctrine akin to National Socialism a la Nazism.

What’s strange is that this has been a major progression of hatred from what I used to face from non-believers and anti-Christians trolling AGE OF DECEIT: Fallen Angels and the New World Order just a couple years ago. I grew some thick skin then, but it was in the name of defending the faith and Christianity. Such trolling still exists. Just a month ago, I received this lovely comment from a YouTube user:

“f***ing crap, I landed on the bulls**t side of youtube again. Take your god, your satan, your ignorance, your superstition, and the rest of the nonsense and shove it up your f***ing *ss.”

But such comments don’t phase me as much anymore; not compared to what I get from fellow believers. I know that trolls aren’t in it to have fruitful discussions, but simply to undermine and attack Christianity as a whole. And while I can wax arguments for the existence of God and the validity of Christianity with the best of them online, the attacks from fellow brethren hit closer to home. I have been troubled to see the many Christians who have gone after me personally, or my character, or my eschatology. I wish not to endorse any kind of public slander of any colleagues or others in the alternative Christian niche, but the behavior of some of those in this space recently have been appalling for a lack of a more provocative, yet accurate word. But after some assessment of what has transpired this year, which I care not to discuss in detail, I have some Scriptures I would like to share as a means to both absorb for myself and as a means to reflect on the entire experience.

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.” ~ Proverbs 16:18-19

What I have noticed is that pride is central to all of these attacks. One believes they have a better way, or that their own views, perspectives, or interpretations are somehow superior and therefore gives them the right to declare some kind of superiority over me, justifying their slander against me. There are two aspects of this I would like to mention. First is that pride blinds. No one likes to be wrong, or feel like they are undermined in some way. As pride enters the emotional radar, it’s natural to shoot down or flex one’s intellectual or rhetorical muscles to put down others. Secondly, no one is completely free from pride. As such, I too am highly susceptible to pride.

I personally have a lot of things I can be proud about. I have a film that has over 3 million views on YouTube (probably closer to 6 if you count all the people who re-uploaded or mirrored the films), a podcast that is gaining global popularity, and a reputation in the alternative Christian world as a “young” face in the world of Bible Prophecy. But I understand that these things seem to hardly be of any significance without the providence of God. My fear is that the things I produce, whether it be the book I am writing right now, or the next episode of Canary Cry Radio, or the conference in Dublin, Ohio, would not have the providential leading of God, and that it would be something of my fleshly design. Because ultimately, when we meet the Lord at the Bema seat judgment, we will be judged for how we occupied our time on earth (2 Corinthians 5:10). To protect myself from pride, I have always tried to thank God for giving me the opportunity, skills, and vision for the things I produce. And my prayers have always been that I become a vessel for His purpose. But I know how easily I can be blinded by pride, and the amount of attacks I’ve had may be the Lord’s leading to protect me from it. In other words, perhaps God is allowing these attacks on me to keep me humble, because the Lord knows my heart, and knows that I, more than I would like to admit, am highly susceptible to pride.

“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” ~ Proverbs 19:21

But perhaps these attacks on me are also signs of doing something right in the eyes of the Lord. If the enemy has targeted me with such devices, then it would stand to reason that what I am doing is not benefiting the kingdom of Satan. This leads to another temptation that I have done my best to keep at bay: Public Venting. I have tried my best not to be terribly public with these trials as I felt there is no need to turn my ministry into a Christian edition of TMZ. Some of these events have forced me to be more vocal than others, and admittedly, there are probably blog posts on this blog that would be considered public venting. But there would be zero fruit by making a big fuss about some of the issues that have been going on behind the scenes recently. Rather, I have been quietly trying to absorb the blows and continue pursuing what I felt called to pursue. But I cannot tell you the times I felt compelled to blast Facebook, or make a blog post with some highly charged intellectual rebuttals to proclaim how my particular views are correct, or to undermine and go after the character of those who slandered me. Holding back in these circumstances is far more difficult than spewing hate.

“Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.” ~ Proverbs 23:13-14

This passage jumped out at me and hit me in a peculiar way. In light of Proverbs 23:13-14, I feel I am the child, being beaten with a rod by my Father, God, so that I would not die, and so that my soul would be saved from Sheol. I’ve always considered myself quite stubborn and so perhaps a spiritual rod beating, is what’s actually going on using my fellow brethren as the culprit…who knows? (God)

Nevertheless, the point here is that I have been troubled by a lot of things this year, much of it coming directly from my fellow Christians, and I feel it will come to a head and expressed in an not so obvious way in my talk at the conference called The Secret Weapons of Antichrist: Preparing the Saints for the Beast War Machine.

What began as a talk that was suppose to be about the Secret Space Program and the possible connection to it and the Antichrist, has evolved into a deeper message, that the Antichrist’s most powerful secret weapon, is the not so secret methodology of deception. The thesis is in the form of a question to the Bible Prophecy buffs and their fans of today:

What if everything we thought we understood about the end times will be used against us by Satan and the Antichrist?

It stands to reason that Satan himself is not interested in performing what will appear to be signs and wonders to impress the lost. Rather, it would seem that such acts would be in an attempt to deceive the saved, or what Matthew 24 refers to as, “the elect.”

“For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” ~ Matthew 24:24

My message will include all the tickling topics concerning Secret Space weapons, but it will also speak into being aware and considering other possibilities given Biblical passages of end times scenarios, because our goal should not be to find out the one exact way things might play out, but have knowledge of the various possibilities so that when things begin to happen, we are well educated in the Word and of what God revealed to us through written prophecies, so that we won’t be deceived.I believe the Spirit of God will move in those of us who are saved, and many won’t necessarily be carried away by their particular perspectives on how the end times will play out. But, it is interesting that the really outspoken Christians, and those who are the most adamant about their particular doctrine, are those entrenched in eschatology.

[…]because our goal should not be to find out the one exact way things might play out, but have knowledge of the various possibilities so that when things begin to happen, we are well educated in the Word and of what God revealed to us through written prophecies, so that we won’t be deceived.

There is a lot more that can be said about it, but I will have to save it for the conference itself. I plan to make the powerpoint lecture into a video after the conference, so look out for that. I’ve also been making the Trials of Transhumanism posts into videos for the YouTube channel as well.

In the meantime, check out the latest promo video for the Live Stream for the conference.