Feeling alone… we all have felt like it in one time or another. Elijah did as he hid out in the cave from Jezebel, thinking I’m the only one left (1 Kings 19). Elijah was depressed as he looked as his circumstance but was then admonished and encouraged by the Lord. God spoke softly and assured him there were 7,000 that were not worshiping a false god (Baal).

But what do we do when we feel our world is caving in on us and we are all alone on matters that concern our faith? Do we question God or do we question the men who disobey?

Though we have the Lord we see that every saint had someone in the flesh that would be a help. We all need people to stand with us. If you don’t have someone you trust as a friend that is aware of what is taking place in your life it does become more difficult, you need to ask the Lord and seek one out.

You know a person is a friend when you encounter trials, adversity or conflict and they help with more than their words. They stand by you, believing in your stand in the truth, are willing trusting your judgment and show their loyalty for the truth.

Jesus said in the end as brother will betray brother.

Matt 24:10 "And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.

(many will be skandalizo stumbled, trip up; hate Gr.miseo – to detest)

People get surprised when some people lie, the way things are today I’m surprise when someone continually tells the truth. This includes everyone from business to media and it especially includes pastors, of whom I have been lied to numerous times. Only a few tell the truth about their real feelings or on a topic being discussed.

I have been betrayed on certain levels over the years by those who I thought were brothers but over this past year I was lied to and betrayed by several; one is whom had worked with me in ministry. That is something that wounds like no other offense. People can mouth support for the truth but in the end lie by their actions. This is how it will be in these last days, if you haven’t experienced already. There will be less and less people who are willing to do what is right in the Lords eyes, but convince themselves they are when they are doing you wrong. They harden their conscience and are unwilling to yield to correction (Jms.3:14)

The apostle Paul says Israel is our example:

Israel’s history is one of ups and downs, valleys and mountain top experiences. We often get what we put into our walk with the Lord, Israel certainly did. They were zealous at times, fully committed and compromised at other times not caring what God had to say. In these last days we cannot be half hearted or indecisive in the way we deal with matters that are intruding on our faith. We must see them for what they are.

Judges 17:6 “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

Repeated again in Judges 21:25

As we look at the kings (rulers of God’s people) we see both those who did what was right and those who did what was wrong. I Kings 15:5 “because David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded.”

II Kings 12:2 “Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.”(2 Chr. 24:2 )

Azariah became king at sixteen years old II Kings 15:3 “And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done”

II Kings 18:1-3 “Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done.”

II Kings 22:1-2 “Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.”

2 Chron. 31:20-21 Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and true before the LORD his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered.”

2 Chron. 14:2-4 Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God, for he removed the altars of the foreign gods and the high places, and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images. He commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment.”

Here is where I want to focus on. Asa was a Levite, son of Elkanah and father of Berechiah, 1 Chr. 9:16. He began to restore truth and was zealous. 2 Chron. 15:16-19 Also he removed Maachah, the mother of Asa the king (*grandmother), from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah; and Asa cut down her obscene image, then crushed and burned it by the Brook Kidron.

But as Asa grew older something changed. The good king then committed the great error of his life. He resorted to an alliance with Ben-hadad I, of Damascus, purchasing his assistance with treasures from the Temple and the king's house. Ben-hadad made a diversion in Asa's favor by invading northern Israel, whereupon Baasha left Ramah. Asa took the material found there and built Geba and Mizpah. His lack of faith was reproved by the seer Hanani, who told him that he had lost the honor of conquering the Syrians because of this alliance, and also prophesied war for the rest of his days. Asa, angered at Hanani, put him in prison and oppressed some of the people at the same time 2 Chr. 16:1-10.(Ungers bible dictionary)

Asa made his decision apart from the Lord he used to consult. He then gave God’s treasure to the enemy (what Asa did was not legal, since the Levitical priests were in charge of this) He gave the treasure from God’s house to his enemy and initiated a treaty to deliver them to have safety (2 Chr. 16:7) While he had lived in peace the whole time but he was now promised wars.

From history we see that even those who once did good can go off and do wrong. Asa is our example of a good king going into compromise by turning away his reliance on the Lord to his own and it was something God made him accountable about. We should consider that maybe much of the conflict and confusion coming into the church today is from compromise with the enemies  of Christ and the gospel like Asa.

Look at just a few of the trends that have intruded on us in the last decade or so. Pray the prayer of Jabez, which taught that we should desire increase (who wants to stay insignificant for God?) that God always answers a prayer of increase as he did Jabez; as if that’s a doctrine taught in the Bible.

Yet people believed it and accepted the idea of not be content with what you have, ignoring Luke 12:30-31 “For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. "But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.”

What did Jesus mean? “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.” (Romans 14:17-19) To have genuine approval to men we must first do what is acceptable to God.

And what of curses passed on? The sins of the father is not passed on, they do not become the sins of the son. But they teach we have to break the generational curse that has somehow continued after we became Christian (Ezek 18:14,20; Heb.10:17). And they ask you send money to support them in teaching what does not exist or is even mentioned in the New Testament for the believer. And people do, they obey these spiritual manipulators instead of God.

Paul spoke of the leaders, the apostles as examples, “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness--God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others” (1 Thessalonians 2:4-6)

Think of what we see today as spiritual leadership. Where is the humility, the Spirit of Christ? Its swallowed up in lavish lifestyles and a “can’t touch me attitude” because they present themselves as “I’m anointed and you’re not.” It is pride when people boast of how many books they sold or where they speak, or who they know (name droppers) or speak constantly of all these miracle and healing stories etc. Gal.1:10 Paul said he did not seek the approval of men. The example we see today are the Pharisees “they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:43). The Pharisees loved to be noticed and made sure when they were in public that people saw them do things.

2 Thessalonians 1:4-5 “that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer.”

Paul pointed out (as a prime example to others) how they handled persecutions and tribulations; Imagine that?

The word/ faith prosperity movement has changed the churches view of God, not allowing the Spirit of Christ to conform them to the image of the Son through suffering which builds our faith. (1 Peter 4:12; Rom. 8:18; Acts 14:22). Phili. 3:10 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” To be conformed to His death gives us life. We enter into sufferings which strengthen our faith.

Thus to the last church, the one near fully grown today called Laodicea. Jesus said “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see” (Revelation 3:18)

The teachers of error will always pick and choose what they like out of the bible to live in their own man made imaginary world of make believe and claim Jesus is their Lord. They always neglect teaching and avoid entering into the suffering of the Lord.

All these teaching have one thing in common they are taught by those who are looking for preeminence and accepted by those who marginally understand the Bible. We draw our truth from the WORD, don’t add an L to the word.

Once you are born again you become an enemy of the world, because you adhere to the word. You will be hated even by nominal Christians (Churchians may be more apropos term) who are worldly, who are ignorant, who repeat what they do not know and think it is true. From what I’m seeing there is an increasing amount of brainwashing occurring in the church like that of the cults; I’m just being honest and relaying what I’m seeing. This is a disturbing trend to believe what the pastor does and act accordingly.

There have been too many casualties of spiritual warfare; many are from inside the church. They are ill equipped to go up against the schemes of the enemy who use other people and philosophies and ideaologies. This is because people have taken their armor off. The armor is the Word of God, if the church or individual lacks understanding of it then she is unprotected. Furthermore, the armor is put on the front for us to look at the enemy face to face, you can’t fight with your back turned, because there is no armor there.

You can be a good swordsman but if you do not have the breastplate on you can be wounded, so we must have the whole armor on and use the word of God correctly in battle. There is no quick way to put the armor, there is no silence to hear God or bible mantra to speak that will work. You must learn of Christ, the Word and apply it in each unique situation to have the armor on. We need to learn what the enemy is up to for we do not fight what is seen; flesh and blood but the mover of hearts and minds of those who are not following the Lord (yes, even those in the church). Much of the time the people do not even understand what they oppose or why.

We have heard the term of low information voters, what of low information Christians. Those who make decisions of what is right and wrong without the facts, without the wisdom of the Bible. These seem to be the hardest people to convince something is wrong. If they can’t recognize the false teachers, or believe of the abundance of false prophets Jesus warned would come in the last days then they are probably already convinced of their teaching and following them.

The body of Christ is not healthy, most of its leading members (shepherds?) do not identify foreign substances entering it and causing harm to its members. And the immune system is low because so few are taught to how to discern these errors. Mainly because they have a low volume of truth.

We need modern heroes of the faith in the day of our wilderness wanderings. Those who will defend the faith refute the errors and keep the church protected from the wolves that certainly seem to be increasing. But it must always be because of love. Sometimes this is not seen because the message is one of correction

Some teach that the antichrist can't do anything in the world as long as "the church is here" even claiming things like "I do not believe that the Antichrist can take over the rule and authority of the earth while the church is still here." Not recognizing that the spirit of the antichrist has already working in churches with ecumenicalism and unity alongside the world system. If one makes the mistake of thinking they are "safe" because they are in a "church" they need to think again. Sadly this is what is taught from the pulpits country-wide.

While the Bible warns us of the Great falling away of the churches and Jesus Christ warned of the mustard seed that grew into a gargantuan tree with birds of prey in its branches, (that is what this means Mt.13:32 see v.4). What am I to think of Christian pastors who preach over and over, "there is nothing to be concerned about" the rapture is coming while we are being invaded by liars in the pulpits.

Luk 21:8 And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am [Christ -anointed]; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.”

Have you been lullabied to sleep, accepting the false premise that being deceived is not a possibility for any Christian.

2 Thess. 2:3 “Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling (departure) away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”

Clearly this is about having no opposition to his unity being forged (Rev.17), it cannot mean the church is removed, because the verses before are about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, … as though the day of Christ had come. So the day he is speaking of is about us and Jesus together. This is not the same subject in v.3 as what is to come FIRST. v.4 that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (that which Jesus identified in Mt.24:15)

All this has been percolating for some time but a few smell the coffee.

Anyone interested in ecumenism, especially the Catholic unity movement should watch this video of Copeland and tony Palmer. 

Short version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PSV72Tjy8g

After Tony Palmer, a charismatic Anglican Bishop who Copeland has been supporting, now an emissary of the Pope warms up the Pentecostal/ word faith members with Kenneth Copeland he then shows a message made on an iPhone from Pope Francis’ office where he expresses his desire of unity with them. 

Bishop Palmer addresses the group describing his friendship with Pope Francis and how the video came about, but also making several challenging remarks about the value of the sacraments, Claiming Catholics and Protestants now agree on justification.

Priest Palmer actually states Rome used to teach salvation by works (it would be more accurate to say they still do). He says it has changed, when in fact the signing of the paper of this so called agreement by Roman Catholics and Lutherans in 1999, 15 years ago is a worthless paper from a former tree, since the doctrines of Trent the anathemas of canon law still remain are unchanged.

Now we have Joel Osteen, James Robison (Life today) and John Arnott (Toronto Airport vineyard AKA, Toronto blessing advocate) and others endorsing the Pope and Vatican doctrine of unity; whose next? What’s next?

The great deception, the departure of the saints from the faith has been going on and is now in a massive steroid phase. But much of the church does not want to face it. There are only two reasons; one is that they are involved and blind. The other is that the reinterpret the word to mean something else.

This is a key doctrine that has to be accompanied in the study of last things (eschatology) or one cannot know where we are at. We are living through a time of deception unlike any other, after this the tribulation comes upon the world which is already prepared by this great delusion.

It should be obvious that some of the professed church departs from the faith (believe in Christ) before the Tribulation as it becomes the atmosphere for the apostasy to reach its zenith in the tribulation period.

Before Paul wrote his treatise on Christ in chapter 2 he had this to say to the Philippian church Phil 1:9-10 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ” (2 Thess. 2)

Paul says love is contained in both love and discernment, and he wants it to about just like grace. To distinguish what is excellent until that day. This si why he states in 1 Cor 16:13-14 “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.

Discernment means to observe, understand what you are seeing and apply scripture for the solution.

What do we do when the men who are leaders in the apostasy have been challenged, confronted and will nor change what they are doing? We do not wait on them, we are told to separate. We are being lied to by our own leaders in all facets of life, especially in the church. Some had better figure this out quickly before they become part of the great deception that is driven by lies.  Don’t underestimate the false teachers influence who are already pillars in the visible church from America to Singapore to S. Africa.

The world is entering its last phases where there will be a sudden death round. Right now, everything that can go wrong is going wrong, we are seeing the Peter principle in action.

All the warnings by those who have been discerning the attacks against the faith have been spoken, this is not yelling fire in a crowded theater. We need the water of the Word. Dry vines go up flames quickly, are we going to see a sudden combustion as strong winds ( Eph. 4:14) blow from every direction?

What is the last man standing. It is the one who will find himself steadfast in grace and faith. 2 Cor. 1:24 for by faith you stand.” 1 Peter 5:12 it is by “grace of God in which you stand.”

1 Cor. 15:1 I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand.” We have an assurance “if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard” (Col. 1:23)

II Thess. 2:15 “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.”

Put on the armor Paul says this twice Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil V.13 “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” we told to be sober, and vigilant against the adversary “Resist him, steadfast in the faith”(1 Pet 5:8-9 )

Heb. 3:14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end” in other words keep the faith, which means to sat in the truth of the word.

Who will be the last man standing? ALL who are the just that live by faith (Heb.10:38 also Gala.3:11; Rom. 1:17) Thus, We can all be the last man standing.