Treasure In Clay Jars

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. – 2 Peter 3:10 (NIV) Oftentimes the Lord suggests in scripture that people condemn themselves with their own words. Many in this world seem to be pre-occupied and alarmed by what they call “Global Warming”. With each passing day, the earth (and many of it’s inhabitants) are indeed moving closer to the scripture prophecy above. The earth is getting warmer indeed.

For those inclined to chuckle or otherwise enjoy the “failings” of yet another so-called Christian prophecy about the end of the world (which did not occur on 5/21/11), I will caution you to read what the Christ actually does say about His promised return: Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear. “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself.* Only the Father knows. “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes. (Matthew 24:35-39 NLT) The incorrect prediction by Harold Camping of Family Radio is simply the latest in a long list of “false prophecies” as pointed out by the Lord in the Bi...

(Ezekiel 38:1-5 NLT) This is another message that came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, turn and face Gog of the land of Magog, the prince who rules over the nations of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. Give him this message from the Sovereign Lord: Gog, I am your enemy! I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws to lead you out with your whole army—your horses and charioteers in full armor and a great horde armed with shields and swords. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya will join you, too, with all their weapons. Gomer and all its armies will also join you, along with the armies of Beth-togarmah from the distant north, and many others... (Ezekiel 39:1-3; 7-8 NLT) “Son of man, prophesy against Gog. Give him this message from the Sovereign Lord: I am your enemy, O Gog, ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you around and drive you toward the mountains of Israel, bringing you from the distant north. I will knock the bow from your left hand and the arrows...

(Philippians 2:5-11 NLT) You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Read in full context .

When I first read the Book of Revelation, among the many amazing future events that the apostle John wrote about was the many dramatic events that would take place towards the last days of the current earth age. To call the book awesome is an incredible understatement. Many people call it scary, and many others claim that it is mostly symbolism and not really an account of actual events that take place. But I for one fall firmly in the camp that believes that the Book is mostly a literal accounting of actual events that will take place. However regardless of one’s opinion, one thing is very clear and very literal: our Lord Jesus Christ accords His divine blessing on the readers of this book in it’s very beginning: This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the events that must soon take place. He sent an angel to present this revelation to his servant John, who faithfully reported everything he saw. This is his report of the word of God and the tes...

One of the many ‘creepy’ things about the Obama cult following is how much it would appear to mirror that type of sycophantic response we Christians expect from the world populace when the Anti-Christ appears on the scene. Now before readers start screaming at me, please note that I am NOT calling President Obama the Anti-Christ. I would not do so without what I would consider ironclad biblical evidence. What I am saying though is that the way people have evidently en-masses agreed that this man is worthy of the type of hyperbole that I have not witnessed ever being afforded to another human being is quite astonishing and to me very revealing about the readiness of our world for the character that the Bible predicts will deceive many, so much so that they will swear their eternal allegiance to him. Here are a few items of scripture to illustrate the point: Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive man...

The Book of Revelation covers some incredible scenes of horror and bloodshed. So much so that it scares many people into not reading it. “It’s too scary…” someone once said to me as to why they had not read it. The fact that it is a prophetic book about future events for this world should be the scary thing for many of us. One particular event that is incredibly horrific is the account of one of Christ’s judgment that is subtitled by many Bibles under the heading “The Earth Is Harvested”. I looked and saw a bright cloud, and someone who seemed to be the Son of Man was sitting on the cloud. He wore a gold crown on his head and held a sharp sickle in his hand. An angel came out of the temple and shouted, "Start cutting with your sickle! Harvest season is here, and all crops on earth are ripe." The one on the cloud swung his sickle and harvested the crops. Another angel with a sharp sickle then came out of the temple in heaven. After this, an angel with power over fire came from...

This post title is a from scripture spoken by Jesus Christ in reference to the knowledge of the date and time of His return to Earth. Needless to say it has developed into a very controversial topic as many people throughout the years have claimed to know when the Christ will return. All who have set this date in the past have obviously failed at this task, while there are others who claim “legitimacy” on this issue with future dates in mind. My own opinion on it isn’t quite so ambitious. In my humble opinion, “no one knows”. Albeit not a very original thought – but then again I welcome being in the company of my Lord Jesus Christ on this issue. I thought about this scripture one New Year’s morning as I watched the revelers on TV celebrate the arrival of 2009. I wondered if indeed this was to be the year of Christ’s return. And if He did return, would the New Year’s revelers enjoy that event as much as they enjoyed the revelry of ringing in the new year? As a Christian I certainly hop...

I just finished watching the movie Deep Impact , a movie I have seen many times before. I am drawn to this movie not necessarily because of the storyline, which is compelling (the earth threatened by the impact of a giant comet), but by the character sketches presented in the movie; about the reaction of a population when faced with imminent death. Death is not a subject that is discussed openly in our society. For obvious reasons. To most people death is very scary. It is natural that most people don’t want to die. The nature of life is such that we are instinctly created to strive for life. But it is also obvious that death is a part of life. Our physical bodies are born to die according God our creator: By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." (Genesis 3:19 NIV). The movie Deep Impact I think captured fairly accurately the expected reaction of people if faced wi...

When I was a new Christian in 1998, the Lord blessed me with the motivation and opportunity to study the Bible beginning first with the New Testament and then unto the Old Testament. As a still new Christian, I was up to the Book of Revelation when I came across a verse of scripture that really stunned me. Here speaking about the two supernaturally sent Witnesses that is to come to earth during the final seven years of the current world history the Bible states: Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented...

As a Christian, you look at everything that goes on in life within the context of God’s biblical timetable. That said, there is however always the danger of becoming over-zealous in your interpretation of things in order to fit the biblical worldview…particularly as it relates to attempts at ‘time-setting’ the return of Christ. On that point, always keep in mind that Jesus himself said: "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (Matthew 24:36 NIV). However the Bible makes very clear that there is indeed a biblical time-table for our world, and with each passing day we naturally move closer towards the end. Throughout the Bible, God gives us many clues to observe the behavior patterns that will emerge in people that signify the unstoppable move towards the climactic events at the end of the age. One such human phenomenon that I believe meets this criteria is the explosion of “human branding” or tattoos that has developed...

This month marks the one year anniversary of the horrific Tsunami that devastated the Indian Ocean countries on December 26th, 2004, and since that time, scientists have undertaken many steps to try and understand the immense geological forces that combined to unleash the destructive waves that killed almost 300,000 people. In 2005, a scientific team was brought together to study the ocean floor off the coast of Indonesia with a hope of learning how the gigantic waves were spawned after an undersea earthquake measuring 9.2 on the Richter Scale. Upon visiting the devastated islands in the region, the team reported being overcome by the still remaining scenes of destruction and trying to imagine the horror that faced the poor souls who experienced the coming waves that morning. During a documentary of their visit that is being broadcast on the Discovery Channel, one scientist remarked with incredible feeling that “the people died because they didn’t know the signs!” They didn’t know not ...

There has been much talk in the culture recently regarding the desire on the part of certain elements of society to use the issue of a separation of church and state to essentially force all references to Christianity out of the public arena. Some examples include judicial attempts to remove Christian symbols and images from courthouses, state flags, public parks or other federally controlled land etc. Forty years ago the push began in earnest with the removal of prayer from school grounds. The official position by sponsors of this type of activity such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other secularists is that these symbols impose an ‘undue burden’ on the members of society who do not share a belief in the Christian religion. The fact that over 70% of the population views themselves as Christian and so are in favor of these symbols is irrelevant as far as passing the ‘undue burden’ test. Apparently it would not be an undue burden to them to have these images removed. ...