The Shadow debuted on the radio July 31, 1930. Many of the episodes were voiced by Orson Welles. Actor Frank Readick, Jr. introduced the program with, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!”

I have noticed for some time now even in our area, and we live in the Bible belt, that evil is not just peeking its head out of the box, but is out of the box, running free from community to community. In my opinion, much of the rising crime experienced here and elsewhere is due to the increased use of illicit drugs. Murders and thefts, even here, are on the rise while law enforcement is kept busy just trying to keep up.

Across this nation every commandment God gave us is being trampled upon by those who want nothing to do with Him and anything He stands for. In the United States alone nearly one million infant murders (abortions) occur annually. Other murders, thefts and rapes are daily seen on the printed pages of the newspapers.

Speaking of the news, the media in general, more often than not, cannot be trusted to tell the truth. We hear of “fake news,” which is nothing more than a politically correct way to avoid calling it what it is – a lie. This comes from those who should be reporting truth, instead of pushing their agenda via lying.

Honor and moral character have gone the way of the Dodo bird. There is no respect for others. Sex is our god. Drugs and booze promise happiness, but deliver destruction instead. Women are sex objects. Men are brutes. Children are raised with no boundaries. Those who do live under a moral umbrella and show honor in their lives are rebutted and attacked by a sin-induced society.

I stated earlier that illicit drug usage is a major reason for the problem, but what has caused this problem? If we dig deep enough we find that our rejection of God, individually and as a society, is the real culprit. When we kick God out of our lives what do we get in return? Evil. The evil in our souls is no longer hidden. When boundaries are removed the true nature of man appears and it is nothing but evil.

“He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” (Mark 7:20-23)

Jesus spoke these words nearly two thousand years ago and our societal actions confirm every word. We are witnessing the results of the evil which lurks in the hearts of men. We have arrived at the point in our society that no evil is too outlandish to be hidden. Anything goes.

This isn’t new, unfortunately, but I have noticed in our local newspapers the following: Just within the last few weeks;

• A 42 year old man was arrested for first-degree rape and five counts of first-degree sodomy of a 4 year old child
• An 18 year old man was charged with raping a 12 year old girl
• A 58 year old man was charged with seven counts of child molestation from having sexual contact with five different children, ages 4 to 18, over a 25 year period

That’s only the tip of the iceberg in this area. Crimes such as these against innocent children are the lowest of the low. A month or so ago a mother and her boyfriend were arrested for sexual acts against her own small child.

Any adult found guilty of these heinous crimes against children should be executed by the state forthwith. This type of person is worse than an animal and has forfeited their right to life as far as I’m concerned, and I wholeheartedly believe that this would be the justice meted out by God Himself. When the King of kings and Lord of lords is ruling during the Millennium over the earth, in my opinion, this will be the verdict for these crimes.

I am old enough to know that evil has always been present, and much has gone on “behind closed doors” in the past. What is different in our day is that the evil heart of man has been unleashed by removing God from society. It is all now out in the open and is even more prevalent than ever before than in previous years. The hounds of hell are getting bolder and 21^st century man is running head-long into the jaws of hell while the pseudo church entertains those on their way to the same place.

The true Church needs to be much in prayer that at least some will wake up to the Truth of the Gospel and be saved before Christ returns. I don’t know when Jesus is coming for us in the Rapture, but I often ask myself, “How much worse can evil get until God Almighty removes His Church and casts down judgment on a rebellious world.”

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? God knows. How much longer will He put up with it? All I can say is keep witnessing and keep looking up. It may be sooner than we think.

Grant Phillips

Email: grantphillips@windstream.net

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

 

“Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied.” (John 8:25)

There have always been those throughout history who have claimed to be the Messiah, but none passed the test of fulfilled prophecies except Jesus Christ, the very Son of God. He came with solid proof which He openly displayed before the masses. He fulfilled over 300 prophecies with absolute precision, which is beyond the realm of all possibility, except it be of God.

Prior to the first century, during the first century and thereafter, false messiahs have arisen. We have seen several in our lifetime. Maybe that is one reason the scribes and Pharisees were honestly asking, “Who are you?” Another is because their pride and greed stood in the way of believing the Truth. They had allowed Satan to infiltrate their souls, and their only thought was on their own well-being. No one had touched the masses as Jesus did, and He was “rocking the boat” of their comfy positions of power.

All Jesus did, he did openly. Nothing was hidden, and no one ever found fault in Him, not even Pilate. Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead and removed demons, all in plain view of everyone. We can all read of a few instances in the Bible where these miracles took place, but did you ever wonder how many people were directly affected by His miracles? The Apostle John said that Jesus’ actions were so numerous during His 3+ years of ministry all of them could not be written down. The world could not contain the books.

“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” (John 21:25)

Jesus also calmed the storm, walked on water, changed water to wine, fed roughly 36,000 people (a very, very conservative estimate) from two small lunches, and even told people what they were thinking before they said it.

Considering only His healing miracles, let us consider the following Scripture passages:

“News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.” (Matthew 4:24-25)

Notice that the people brought all who were ill to Jesus for healing and He healed them ALL.

“Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill.” (Matthew 12:15)

Again, Jesus healed ALL who were ill.

“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” (Matthew 14:14)

From this large crowd, He healed their sick, and it doesn’t say “some” of their sick, but “their sick,” implying ALL of them.

“Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.” (Matthew 15:30-31)

Once again, great crowds (plural) came and he healed them, not “some” of them, but he healed them, implying ALL of them.

“Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.” (Matthew 19:2)

The Greek word used for “large” is the same for “great” in the previous verse. He obviously healed ALL who were sick within these large crowds (plural).

“At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.” (Luke 4:40-41)

We don’t know how many people in this instance, but Jesus heals ALL the sick among them. Why did He not want the demons to announce who He was? It was not time, and would not be the time for this announcement, until Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey.

“Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.” (Luke 5:15)

The news was getting around that Jesus could and would heal any and all infirmities, so the crowds kept coming, and Jesus kept healing them ALL.

“He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.” (Luke 6:17-19)

In these passages people were coming to Jesus from all over wanting to be healed. Notice “large crowd” of His disciples and “great number” of people from all over, and what did Jesus do? He healed them All.

“Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick.” (John 6:1-2)

Now we see a great crowd of people coming to Him, and if He healed all the others, is there any reason to doubt that He healed ALL these too?

Obviously, we don’t know how many people Jesus healed, keeping in mind all the other miracles, but we do realize that literally thousands had to have been healed by Him.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus healed them? The Bible does state that Jesus had compassion on them. That would be one reason, but the key reason is to authenticate that He really was the true Messiah which Israel had been looking for so many years. He was not one of the many imposters. He was the real thing (I respectfully say).

So to answer the question of the scribes and Pharisees, “Who are you?” He is Jesus the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God.

The Samaritan woman was on her way to understooding this.

“The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” (John 4:25-26, 29)

The temple officers were close to understanding this.

“No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.” (John 7:46)

No one, but Jesus, ever healed thousands of people from all sorts of physical, mental, emotional and demonic problems. No one, but Jesus, ever raised the dead, walked on water and even disappeared in the middle of a mob who wanted to kill Him before His time. No one can match the overwhelming proof that Jesus provided, proving He is God in the flesh.

Jesus attempted over and over to get through to these knuckleheads that He was the Messiah, the Son of God, but their narcissistic spirits always overruled. In my opinion, I believe they even accused Him of being an illegitimate child as seen in the following verses.

“Abraham is our father,” they answered. “If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.” (John 8:39-41)

When they replied, “We are not illegitimate children,” is it possible that this was a slur toward Jesus? I don’t think some of them ever accepted the fact Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and was not the biological son of Joseph or another man.

Keep in mind I have only addressed miracles Jesus performed relating to healings. Examples of which are, raising the dead, various diseases, severe pain, demon-possession, seizures, paralyzed, lame, blind, crippled, mute and many others. From what we have seen in the few Scriptures I have provided, Jesus healed not just 30 or 40 people, but literally thousands. So many were being healed, they knew if they just touched His garment, they would be healed, and they were. That reminds us again of what the apostle John said.

“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world wound not have room for the books that would be written.” (John 21:25)

So the scribes and Pharisees sarcastically asked, “Who are you?” Maybe some of them were just very puzzled and wanted to know, “Who are you?” I’ll close with Jesus’ words and the apostle Peter’s response.

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

“Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” (John 14:10)

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” (Mark 8:29)

Grant Phillips

Email: grantphillips@windstream.net

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html