Normally, at this time of year, I would be extolling the miracle of Christ's birth which is the hope of the world. And as I sit down to write this post, I can see the expression of the Christmas season all around me. For a few short weeks, we are all transferred into an atmosphere of joy, where the sights and sounds of the holiday mask the deeper concerns of our lives. And I have to admit that my soul is experiencing emotions of both great hopefulness ... and a sense of impending change. While I much prefer to be filled with hope, optimism, and expectation, the reality of events in my life [and the world] have directed my soul to a more enlightened sense of reality. To be sure, I absolutely enjoy the sentimentalism that accompanies the Christmas holiday ... the memories of childhood encapsulated in images of bubble lights on the tree; lying awake to see if I could hear Santa sneaking in gifts; and being surrounded by feelings of love and joy as family members gathered together for a day of celebration.
To be clear, that sense of anticipation has never left me. Christmas still produces a feeling of excitement, exhilaration, and expectancy, even as I enter that period of my life that recognizes and faces my mortality. But I now view Christmas beyond a childhood comprehension of Santa Claus, presents, and the magic of the season. I have been aware for some time now [with acute disappointment] that this holiday does not reflect Jesus's birthday [who was most likely born in September]. I am also aware that Christmas is a compilation of man-made traditions [both pagan and religious] as well as a product of pop culture, commercialization, mass marketing, and advertising campaigns. That doesn't mean I don't still experience all the warm feelings of joy and the thrill of this season; I do! It simply means I see it for what it truly is, including the truth that it is a manufactured holiday, borne from man's imagination.
Before you think I am heartless and blasphemous, I steadfastly and purposefully honor Jesus's birth; I honor Him as my Savior, born in a lowly manger at the time ordained by the Father; and born to rescue me from God's judgment. But it is His Death that my God points me towards in His Word. It all bears witness of God's perfect timing. That being said, I am determined that my opinions about Christmas will not be a cause for judgment against others. Neither are they a hill I'm willing to die on. Rather, there are much more unsettling things I'm dealing with than worrying about the delusion of Christmas.
To begin with, I have lost three very dear friends in the span of two months from sudden and unexpected deaths caused by aneurysms and compromised immune systems. They were healthy and flourishing one day; gone the next -- no warning signs or pre-existing conditions. I will not speculate on the origins or causes of these deaths, although I can see the agenda of Satan and his surrogates to carry out Lucifer's agenda to kill, steal, and destroy. And, yes, I know that Death is a natural consequence of our sinful state, but it is the unnecessary, unwarranted, and needless deaths that leave me in a state of heightened consciousness of the history, times, and seasons of God's perfect plan for the world and mankind.
It is up to each of us to determine what [and who] we will choose to believe and follow. In the midst of our culture's celebration of Christmas, the Holy Spirit is teaching both my husband and myself that there are much more important things we need to be paying attention to. The Spirit is leading us into higher levels of understanding regarding the deception that Satan and his proxies have fomented about our history, times, and seasons. I do not pretend to know why God is doing this at the present time, but when He continues to highlight certain thoughts and information, we pay attention. And this is where I am in the new revelations He is disclosing ...
In order to put it all into perspective, I have suddenly become cognizant of the stages of my journey with God. I can see my awakening to the attempts of Satan to hide his efforts to corrupt or prevent God's plan for the redemption of mankind. God has been so good to show my husband and myself the truth of His plan, as well as to shine His Light on Satan's attempts to pervert God's agenda. God has pulled back the veil, so to speak, to emphasize where Satan has hidden in plain sight [through Freemasonry, for instance], as well as to show us a new understanding of why Jesus came the first time. To our astonishment, the Church seemed to have lost the fact that Jesus came to re-establish God's sovereign domain of His Kingdom on earth through Saved men. This certainly sounds obvious to me now, but I see the blinders that we [and a lot of Christians] wore; that Salvation was to be the object of our Commission with Christ, instead of God's ultimate goal of "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven".
I could rehash how our spiritual eyes have been opened to so many of God's important truths that have been lost or disguised due to Satan's deceptions to move man away from God's intentions for us ... and him. But I feel an intense need to come to the latest point the Lord is impressing upon us; that time is of the essence. In other words, He seems to be saying that this time, [or this season of time] is very important and urgent that we understand what is taking place according to His timeline. From Genesis to Revelation, God's Word has made it clear that He has a plan to redeem us from our broken covenant with Him, and ultimately to defeat Satan. Through Jesus's sacrifice on the Cross and His resurrection, Satan's power of Death was defeated, affording us Everlasting Life with our Lord and Savior.
But, God has now made it clear to us that He wants us to consider two important prophetic passages in the Bible ... Daniel 2:21 and Daniel 7:25. But first, I need to point out that the Bible talks about both God and Satan changing times, seasons and laws. Daniel 2:21 tells us that it is God "who changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise, and [greater] knowledge to those who have understanding!" Then in Daniel 7:25, the Bible speaks about the fourth beast who sets up a kingdom on earth, "which will be different from all other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down, and crush it " ... And the king of this kingdom "will speak words against the Most High God and wear down the saints of the Most High, and he will intend to change the times and the law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time".
Now, I cannot say with any certainty, that God is moving our focus to what appears to be the time of the Great Tribulation. What I am sensing is that He wants us to understand that we must be alert to Satan's attempts to forestall his defeat. We must remember that God has announced since Genesis 3 that He has a plan to secure Satan's doom; Satan has known from that moment that he would ultimately be defeated. "I will put enmity [open hostility] between you and the woman, and between your seed [offspring] and her Seed; He shall [fatally] bruise your head, and you will [only] bruise His heel"; this makes God's plan pretty clear and irrefutable. Therefore, it makes sense that Satan, knowing his demise is certain, sure, and indisputable would try to thwart God's timeline and do everything he could to deceive us [and gain man's help] in changing our definition and understanding of exactly where we are in history.
To be honest, I am still working through all the implications of this new emphasis from the Lord. Frankly, He is giving us information regarding time that is blowing our minds -- both how it relates to His plans, as well as the attempts of Satan to change God's timeline, and how God will use that to serve His own purposes. We have been led to documents that allege a discrepancy between historical documents [from both Scriptural and pagan sources] that bring into question the true age of the world and Biblical events. Could Satan have intervened, with the compliance of misguided and deceived men, to undermine the reliability of the Biblical text? Perhaps this is why the Word of God says, Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you ... the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
And should we be looking closer at the Risen Christ's words in Acts 1:7, when, in response to the Disciples question of "Lord, are You at this time reestablishing the kingdom and restoring it to Israel, He answers, It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. The timing of the fulfillment of God's plans is definitely something He does not want revealed to Satan, our adversary. And perhaps that is a reason Jesus tells us, But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. God is going to protect Time, which He created, and over which He has complete authority and power, so that no man can interfere with His ordained schedule for the world.
Maybe I have it all wrong; maybe I haven't heard correctly from the Lord. But there are things I know for sure: Satan may be cunning, but he is not omniscient. He may have an extensive network of demonic partners, who [like him] serve from hearts filled with pride and arrogance, but he cannot and will not hinder God's plan. I do not know God's mind and He has not revealed where we are on that timeline of Satan's defeat and our ultimate victory. But I know that we can trust Him to be Sovereign in His rule of this world; using not only men, but even Satan, himself, to accomplish and achieve His plan. It is only a matter of time ... His time.
Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time. It hurries toward the goal; it will not fail. Even though it delays, wait for it, because it will certainly come; it will not delay
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