“I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive” (John 5:43).
The passage where this Scripture is quoted in John chapter 5, recounts the words of Jesus as He attempted to persuade the people of His day of who He really was. All through the gospels, especially the Gospel of John, Jesus shows them miracle after miracle and gives them reason after reason to believe on the “One whom God hath sent.” But as any Bible student knows, the people were blind and deaf to the reality that He was standing right in front of them. The people were looking for a warrior king, much like their ancestor King David, to unite and restore the nation of Israel to its former glory and remove the standing Roman army from their land.
Israel was sub-servant to the power of the Roman Empire and their hopes were pinned on the Laws given to Moses and could not see past the rituals that shadowed the coming Messiah. To them, Messiah meant a deliverer King, a fighting man with near supernatural ability to defeat the Romans and expel them in defeat. Who was this carpenter’s son that thought of Himself so highly that he spoke near blasphemy in their minds and in their hearing?
This was not what they envisioned. They did not want a poor man of lowly means that had no power of making war. Here was a Man who fit every prophecy of a coming Messiah to the letter, something that the religious authorities and the people had been waiting for over 400 years and knew every last detail of His coming and His family ancestry, based on the clear words of the Torah and the prophets, and they didn’t recognize Him, nor accept Him.
If you look back at Scripture, to when Jesus rose from the grave and appeared to the apostles and many others, even the men who followed Jesus for 3.5 years still did not understand the reason for the coming of the Messiah. As Jesus spoke with them, just before He ascended to heaven, the disciples asked Him in Acts 1:6-7:
“Now those who had come together began to ask him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “It is not for you to know what times or periods the Father has set by his own authority.”
At this time, even these men who lived, ate, and slept near the King of kings while He was a Man on earth, still did recognize His mission. Not yet, but they would when the day of Pentecost came and would be filled with the Holy Spirit and the ability to speak out boldly of who Jesus Christ really was, what His mission had been, and revelation of what He had accomplished; being salvation to the Jew first, then to the Gentiles, as Paul eventually took the message to the Gentile nations in Asia Minor and the world.
From that humble beginning, the Word of God has spread like wildfire to cover all the earth. Men have died to speak God’s Word and the Word has flourished over every nation. If you read the New Testament, coupled with the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah, the four gospel accounts give you everything you need to know to make a rational decision that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and the Son of the living God Almighty. But why is there still doubt and a disbelieving world that rejects this core of the very being of the Christian heart? Because just as God is working full time, over time, and every second of the day to win men’s hearts to God and justify them because of His Son’s sacrifice in blood, His adversary, Satan the devil, is working just as hard to deceive, to lie, to tempt men to give into their sinful nature and deny the need for a Savior. When Thomas doubted that Jesus had risen, but believed when he saw Him with his own eyes, what did Jesus say? Read the surrounding verses that come to this one thought about faith in John chapter 20:29:
“Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”
We, who live in the last days of the age of grace, believe by faith and not by sight. We believe because the Holy Spirit has revealed this truth to us in our hearts and minds and by faith, we have accepted Jesus as our Savior and Lord of our life. In our hearts, Jesus reigns supreme (or should) and we follow Him and His footsteps and model His behavior while on earth. You and I embrace the truth that Jesus is the Son of God, born of a virgin, lived and ministered on earth and was rejected by His brethren, the Jewish people. We believe that He was falsely accused, beaten, and crucified on a Roman cross and buried in a rich man’s tomb…But the most glorious of it all, we believe that He arose again 3 days later and is now, as I type, seated at the right Hand of Power, of Almighty God our Father, waiting to return to set up a glorious 1000 year reign of peace, finally, upon the earth.
If you want to know who Jesus Christ is, and who He was while on earth, my reader, you can get no better explanation that to read the book of John of the four gospels beginning the New Testament. We do not cling to the law, as the law condemned us, but Jesus has delivered us from the penalty of the law and its requirements of sacrifice, by being the sinless sacrifice required by God to forgive each and every one of us our sins that we cannot help but commit. So why did Jesus come? To supply a way back to the Father in Heaven and have His blood cover our sins, each and everyone who believes by faith.
FALSE MESSIAH COMING
Down through the last two thousand years, there have been many false prophets and many who have proclaimed to be the long awaited messiah the unbelieving world has waited for and especially the Jewish people, who to this day, do not believe in Jesus Christ, save a few blessed of God to receive their spiritual sight and believe in their Messiah. But by and large, the nation of Israel and the Jewish people are still in unbelief and waiting for that warrior king to deliver them from their enemies.
At this time we could go into the history lessons of the dispersion of the Jews from 70 AD up to this modern day era, but for brevity sake, we know that the nation of Israel has been reformed again, against all odds in 1948, but is besieged by enemies from all borders of their country who wish nothing more than destroy them and push them into the Mediterranean Sea. There is no peace when you speak of Palestinians and any words spoke of real peace is an utter lie. You know it, and the wise person who believes his Bible, knows it as well. The current “peace process” that our defacto dictator and his lacky, the Secretary of State, John Kerry are on a date with destruction for the nation of Israel and furthering the aim of the enemies of Israel to step closer to Israel’s eventual destruction (at least in their minds). There has been prophecy, after prophecy concerning the coming “lawless one” who will make a treaty with Israel for 7 years.
I have seen attempt after attempt by past American presidents to bring a so-called peace process to Israel and their neighbors to ultimate failure. I read about the current push for a two state solution, which on the Palestinian side is another attempt at lying words to mask their true intent and that is to destroy Israel and its Jewish heritage. This latest push began last June to last 9 months and to bring to the table a set of clear objectives for a permanent peace deal seen at this J-post link:
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/US-official-Permanent-peace-agreement-could-be-reached-by-April-336734
The article starts with these words:
WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State John Kerry hopes to narrow differences between Israelis and Palestinians in peace talks this week that are intended to guide the sides toward a deal in April, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday.
Now I recall from my Bible study that there will be a peace treaty that will be signed when the Antichrist is revealed and I’m not saying that this is that peace treaty, but the framework is there. Remember from your reading of God’s Word what the real peace treaty will do, when Daniel the prophet wrote in Daniel chapter 9:27:
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
Now many have postulated that Obama is the Antichrist and I have not bought into that theory YET…..but it has come to my attention and I’m studying its source by doing online searches, and it would do well with each of us to search and line-up events that are forming right now in our political and the world’s economic woes. It is reported that there is a parchment found in a clay jar, outside a nuclear reactor announcing the coming of the 12th Imam, known as AlMahdi. From all indications that Mahdi and the AC have striking similar prophecies associated with them in Christianity and well as Islam.
I don’t put any stock in Islam’s prophecies, but if a section of a particular people believe it, then that’s dangerous and could lead the world into more perilous times. I ask that each of you read and search for the following discovery that purports to identify who this 12th Imam is, known as the AlMahdi. The Ayatollahs in Iran are in firm belief that the man is alive and well today. This discovery is known as the Arak Codex #190001 and it correlates with the long held belief that the Muslim world has believed for a long time. In this Codex, It describes this man who is believed to the be the AlMahdi…I take this quote from PJ Media at this link
http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2014/01/05/the-return-of-the-twelfth-imam/2/
Notice the similarities of a president of these United States and the description of the AlMahdi? But what makes me wonder, and should you, are the prophecies coming from Muslim writings pertaining to this AlMahdi?
Now this could be a ruse, and I’m fully aware of that, as where did this Codex come from? Did it come from an archeological discovery, or a planted discovery? What I have read is that nobody outside of the rulers of Iran knows of its existence, save a few that have examined it on pain of death to its revealing to the media. But the amazing thing is that prior writing of the Sahih Muslim Book under various book numbers and pages, all talk about this coming Mahdi in the same context and description. I would also be a point of interest to understand that when the church is removed, that the dominate religion on earth will be ISLAM. What better way for Satan to destroy Israel than for the AlMahdi and the Anti-Christ to be one and the same?
THE COMING MAN OF SIN, FALSE MESSIAH
What of this coming man of sin? The Bible deals with him, as quoted from Daniel chapter 9, and Paul spoke of this false messiah in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4:
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”
Jesus spoke of this time in Jewish history future, in Matthew 24:15-16:
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains.”
OK, SOME LIBERTY HERE
What has happened up to this point? Remember when I said that the Jews were looking for a warrior king that would deliver them from their enemies and give them the peace and safety they longed for, and restore the glory of the Kingdom of Israel once more? Thinking out loud and taking Scripture for what it says, what if a powerful leader of the world’s lone superpower with military might that was unsurpassed in its ability to wage war were to bring a promise of peace and safety to Israel by making a treaty with a framework of two nations living alongside one another “in safety and security”…Sound familiar? It does to me, as that is the talking point of the U.S. involvement in pushing for a so-called peace in the Middle East for the last 40-plus years. It has all been elusive, but this latest push for a two-state solution is being pushed by any means available whether through the use of extortion, bribery, or threat of economic sanctions….not against the Palestinians, but against Israel.
SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS
I had a sister just ask me about these coming blood moons and those tetrads coming on God’s Holy Days of Passover and Tabernacles in the next two years and the significance of those events. As I have written before and it seems many ministers are picking up on it with their own variation, these coming signs seen in our heavens, based on previous blood moons in the past, have dealt with the nation of Israel and the Jewish race. Are the coming frameworks for a peace treaty with the deadline coming in April, alongside the first blood moon to be seen right around the Jewish Passover, have any significance in your mind? Let’s take the clues that we have covered so far and recap with some suppositions:
-A push for a Peace Treaty in Israel scheduled for April.
-A transformation of a Republic into something that none of us recognize, the USA.
-Iranian belief that the AlMahdi is on the scene and alive today and the man is pushing for a Muslim Caliphate to rule the world.
-The discovery of this Arak Codex #190001 and its description of the AlMahdi.
-The long held belief by the Muslims of who the Mahdi will be written in the Sahih Muslim books.
-Signs of the blood moons coming to Israel and has been associated with Israel in every instance of past Blood Moon Tetrads, with the first sign coming in April of this year coinciding with this “peace treaty” that Kerry and Obama are pushing.
-The suspicions of many people of who this president really is, as we know nothing about him, except he reads a good teleprompter.
-Our president’s Muslim roots that pander to the nation of Islam but slanders anything that smacks of Christianity. Oh, he says he’s a Christian, but the first law of Islam is to lie to the infidel until he be subdued.
Am I saying that Obama is the Antichrist? Not yet, I’m not, but if he’s not, then he is paving the way for the real deal. Everything the man does is Anti-American and designed at destroying our Republic and he is totally against Israel, no matter what he says. But let’s just for conjecture and theory decide Obama is the real deal, based on the above reasons. What may be Israel’s response in light of the opening verse of this message spoken by Jesus?
I propose that the media and the art world have done everything in their power to build an aura around this man and christen him, the new messiah, in word, print and art renderings. Israel has longed for a “savior” or someone to deliver them from their enemies; someone to give them a sense of peace and security that they have prayed for the last 66 years to arrive. Would they embrace a “false messiah” who gives them a false sense of security? Is the Pope Catholic?
They want to believe, they are primed for it, and they just might accept a deal with the devil thinking that this is their long awaited “warrior king”…to give them what they have desired, their land without fear, a new Jewish Temple of worship on Mt. Moriah, the Temple Mount and a 7 year treaty of lies that claim peace. Israel has been blinded to believe their Messiah was a suffering servant come to take away their sins (as temple sacrifices did that, in their mind), but a King David, fully man not necessarily divine, that would deliver them to regain what they had lost, the splendor of Solomon’s reign.
Only when the prophecy spoken by Jesus in Matthew 24 comes to fruition about the abomination of desolation standing in the temple claiming to be God, it is then that they will know they have made a pact with the devil. Then this false messiah will attempt to destroy everything Jewish and the nation of Israel will be trampled upon.
Two choices of either MESSIAH or messiah:
It comes down to this: Which one will you follow? Will you follow the true Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, or will you follow a charlatan with the title of “new messiah.” He may be the president of the USA, he may not. He will be the Antichrist, or by implication, instead of Christ. He will also, most likely be Muslim and the embraced AlMahdi by association, or what he will stir up, so they believe he is their leader to bring the reign of the Caliphate come to pass and Islam as the universal religion. The world will be ripe for deception. Carnage will be the name of the game, as many people will die…maybe even you.
This will happen when suddenly, many people from every nation that have a true Christian population disappear and there is no sane explanation from anyone left to sort out the details of the event. If you have read all the surrounding reasons of what is happening during the next few years, then you will have to decide if the events are close time wise and if they are reasonable. The false messiah could be on your TV screen at any given evening speaking lies to the unsuspecting masses of disbelievers. With signs becoming more prominent and exploding on your news cast, night after night, then any sane person would have to say….the Antichrist, the Almahdi, the lawless one, is alive and well today in our time.
Who do you put your trust in? Do you have to see with your eyes, and hear with your ears to believe? Remember what Jesus said: “Blessed are those who have not seen, but believe.” How will you find the true Messiah? By faith you will see Him, feel Him, and His Holy Spirit will call you in a still small voice to repent of what you have been doing. Turn around and fall into the arms of Jesus Christ, my Lord who wishes only to save you and deliver you from the wrath to come. Call upon His name and with remorse and tears, call out, “Jesus save me.” You know what? He will do as you ask.
This is Pastor Mike Taylor, praying for you. Should you need counseling, prayer, or just a listening ear, then email me at realteam1999@sbcglobal.net, or visit me online at www.churchofgod-usa.org. God bless you all, until we meet at Jesus’ feet.