Edition 340: November 30^th 2016

Approaching darkness:

Approaching darkness:

Introduction:

In looking at the picture above and the title, don’t get the wrong idea!

This edition contains some deadly serious things, but in total, it is very liberating and positive.

Spiritual darkness is approaching fast. Spiritual light is still here but it is getting dim.

John 12:35-36 “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. He who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light...”

John 9:4 “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.”

Amos 8:11 “Behold the days are coming says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.”

It is very easy to fall in the dark. It is very easy to fall into darkness as well. Just do nothing and you will be in the dark!

In the previous edition, I pointed out some of the amazing qualities of light. Now I want to look at the character of darkness.

What is darkness?

Approaching darkness is all about spiritual darkness. We are talking about the symbolism of darkness and not necessarily physical darkness. The Bible is full of analogies, messages and warnings about spiritual darkness.

At the end of the day, darkness is about people. It is about morality, beliefs, traditions and practises. It is about worship. By the way, “worship” comes from two root words meaning work and bowing down in reverence. The Greek version of the word carries the idea of licking the master’s hand like a dog. It means to bow down before one and kiss their hand!

Darkened worship comes from a heart of pride and is all about illegitimate worship and the worship of “another Jesus,” who is all around us today. This “other Jesus” is a good close friend of the sin of the world.

Darkness is synonymous with evil, sin, wickedness, fear and the devil himself. It is also synonymous with ignorance, blindness, gullibility, deception, demon activity and spiritual death.

Darkness is the absence of light.

►The word “darkness” in Hebrew is “Choshek” (Strong’s H2822) It means: A dark place like Hades, misery, destruction, ignorance, wickedness or thick gloominess.

►The word for “darkness” in Greek is “Skotos” (Strong’s G4655) It means: darkened spiritual eyesight, blindness, ignorance of divine things. By extension it can mean: Spiritual ignorance resulting in ungodliness, immorality sin and hell.

►Another word for “darkness” is “Zophos” (Strong’s G2217) It means: Thick darkness of hell, or a dark, gloomy mist.

At the end of the day, everything that has not gone through the light - creating and generating cross of Calvary is darkness no matter how filled with knowledge, intellectualism, human reasoning, or any such thing it is.

The great cause of approaching darkness:

The biggest cause of universal darkness is pride. It always has been so, and still is today. It was the pride of Lucifer that turned him from the “angel of light” into the dark, death-angel! It was the sin of pride that caused the fall in the Garden, which has darkened the blood of mankind ever since.

Jeremiah 13:15-16 “Hear and give ear; do not be proud, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God, before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you are looking for the light, He turns it into the shadow of death and makes it dense darkness.”

What a powerful verse this is above! What a warning to all who would care to read it and study it! In fact, a study of the original word meanings is a lot more than enlightening! The great tragedy and the subject of this edition, is that few will even bother with a verse like this, and continue their blind, dark march to hell.

The cause of today’s approaching darkness is the stupidity of intellectual presumption. But pride has blinded their eyes. They can’t see or hear the speaking word of God. Some even look for the light in their own strength and human wisdom. A dense shadow of spiritual death hangs over them like a dark shadow that they can’t get rid of.

Today the love of sin stands in the way of many seeing the light and getting saved. The love of sin blocks the light from coming in. The love of sin causes darkness. The love of sin comes through the removal of God’s truth.

The post-truth era, the modern world is in, has produced a digital age of instant everything. There’s nothing wrong with sliced bread and pop-up toast, but there is no such thing as instant pop-up Christians.

Many people subconsciously think that they’re okay because they aren’t as bad as this person or that one.

Many will receive a huge shock when they land in hell and discover that their idea of being “good” and acceptable to God, which was comparing themselves among themselves, is wrong.

This is the problem with many dark churches also.

2 Corinthians 10:12 “We dare not class or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise.”

Darkness is approaching because the light of the church is getting dim.

The duty of the church is to keep itself pure and to keep deception out. The entire book of Acts is about establishing the church and coming against those who attacked it. Here is a classic:

Acts 13:8-11 “Elymas the sorcerer withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Then Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit looked intently at him and said, ‘O full of deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? And now indeed the hand of the Lord is upon you and you shall be struck blind not seeing the sun for a time. And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.”

Hatred for God:

This includes many Christians and entire churches and denominations.

The problem today is that ignorance of God’s word and the Spirit of God as the author has left people without any real authority except that of man and his stupid opinions.

There is godly authority in truth enlightened by the Spirit of God.

The church has an authority problem because it has largely ignored many truths. Man and his opinions are now the new God.

Much of man’s authority today, with many truths removed, is no different to pure witchcraft.

People hate God and His word because they love sin and evil. But the Bible says there is pleasure in sin for a season only. How stupid can you be to reject eternal life, purity and holiness in favour of fleeting pleasures for five minutes?

What the world wants is equality between sin and holiness, right and wrong. People want God but not His ways. They want an unholy, sin loving God. They want an evil God. They want a God with no cross. They want Barabbas. They have him! His name is Satan.

Evil minds see things that don’t exist. Many people today have a God that does not exist. They have created him their way.

Remember what Satan said in the Garden?  He said, “You can be as God”. You can decide what truth is. Adam bought the lie as do the masses today.

My friends, it’s a very stupid thing to interfere with God’s truth. Many would not believe the following verses for one second – to their eternal detriment:

Acts 28:26-27 “Go to this people and say: Hearing you shall hear and not understand; and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing and their eyes have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart and turn, so that I should heal them.”

Romans 1:21-26 “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools...Therefore God also gave them up...they exchanged the truth of God for a lie...they became homosexuals (verse 26).”

Please note, that in this discourse in Romans chapter one, exchanging the truth of God for the lie (that homosexuality is okay) brings the wrath of God.

John 8:43 “Why do you not understand My speech (word)? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father your devil...”

John 8:47 “He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear because you are not of God.”

Proverbs 4:19 “The way of the wicked is like darkness, they do not know what makes them stumble.”

In these incredible verses above, do you see that there are conditions to be met if you want to see the light? I hope you see that it is God Himself who blinds the eyes and makes people deaf to His word and ways, who refuse His conditions.

The church today is growing only in some quarters. In most of the western nations, the dying denominational churches continue to fall by the wayside. Most Spirit-filled churches are where the growth is. Large numbers, thankfully, are seeking to be identified as Christian Zionists and those with a Messianic character and flavour (without falling into the trap of coming under the law).

But the end-time church of Laodicea is growing like vomit in the stomach, about to be spewed out.

The problem is that many churches have changed the truth, watered it down, cast it out, interfered with it and interpreted it with the spirit of Adam, humanism and not the Spirit of God.

Matthew 6:23 “If the light in you is really darkness, how great is that darkness.”

This church has no authority in the world or with and against the devil. They are a cheap pushover, full of spineless, undisciplined, poisonous brats, calling themselves Christians. They are no more Christian than the devil himself.

Isaiah 7:9 “...If you will not believe, surely you will not be established.”

John 3:19 “This is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

A life of spiritual substance is required by God, opposed to a life of spiritual emptiness and nothingness. People think that materialism is substance. How wrong they are! That is pure poverty. Of course there is nothing wrong with needed things, but in an empty life that poverty is intensified.

The fear of God:

You can’t fear God as required if your belief system about God is all messed up. You need to know the truth and believe the right things to be safe.

The fear of God is one of the most powerful attributes and requirements for a successful Christian life. It is taught very little these days, which is evident by the dark churches hidden in the bushes rather than up on the hill spreading light.

Many people have a totally false idea of who God is, largely due to being taught by blind wolves. Satan did not kill the homosexuals in the days of Lot, God did. Likewise it was God who destroyed Babel, Babylon and the whole world in Noah’s day – not Satan.

When you see and understand the coming wrath of God in the tribulation, that’s a wake-up call. When you see and understand that He has the keys for your eternal home, that’s a wake- up call.

Bible prophecy teaches and gives you many things. It gives you hope, encouragement, the fear of God and great eternal success and victory.

Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride, arrogance and every evil way, and the perverse mouth I hate.”

Proverbs 14:26-27 “In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and His children will have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to avoid the snares of death.”

Psalm 19:9 “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.”

The danger of darkness

The huge danger of spiritual darkness lies in the fact that the enemy can see clearly in the dark! You can’t unless you have the spiritual gifts required. Otherwise you are blind to the attacks of the enemy.

The mass media and their off-shoot, the social media, are today attacking from their homes of darkness. They are pouring out their deception and most have no idea.

But as a true believer walking in the light, you get miracle eyes to see in the dark if you meet the spiritual conditions.

Psalm 139:12 “Even the darkness is not dark to You; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light within you.”

Psalm 18:28 “For You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.”

The ill-equipped Christian in these days is a sitting duck target for the devil, the god of this world.

My friends, we are in fast moving prophetic times. What many are unaware of is the battle on the go in the spiritual realm. There is a great, intensifying spiritual battle on the go in the heavens. There is a battle on the go for you and me. There is a battle on the go against the truth of God’s word.

Matthew 22:29 “You are mistaken not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.”

►Let me warn you with the same warning I’ve issued a number of times. I warn you, I warn you, I warn you: Dark deception is increasing fast. If you do not know it, see it and deal with it, through spiritual warfare, your deception will deepen to the point where you won’t escape from it.

It is knowing the truth of God’s word and knowing it well, that gives you power – even the power of God to live right in these days.

The tragic war to end all wars!

No it’s not WW111, although that will be so and soon. It’s the war on believers which is on the go even now. Christians are marching to war, blindfolded, with no spiritual weapons and no armour! Most don’t even know a war is on the go, others have surrendered already. Others do not know how to keep rank. Others think God has told them what’s going on, when they are really blind to the truth.

Some sit in the sin of silence on the sidelines with nothing to say, against the big sin issues of today, being a solid friend of sin. Like the Catholic church, silent during the Holocaust, so many think that their silence has absolved them. Their silence has in fact condemned them.

Israel’s darkness:

In the previous edition entitled “The light of life” I described the special light just for the Jews and the land of Israel. Now let’s look at their darkness and coming of the light.

What follows is most important indeed and is in fact the cause of the Holocaust, anti-Semitism and its Christian off-shoot, replacement theology.

●●Isaiah 42:16 “I will bring the blind (Jews) by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them...”

●●Micah 7:8-9 “Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall I will arise, when I sit in darkness the Lord will be a light to me...He will bring me forth to the light, and I will see His righteousness.”

●●Isaiah 29:18 “In that day the deaf (Jews) shall hear the words of the book and the eyes of the blind shall see out of the obscurity of darkness.”

The great key is this: The Lord brings the Jews back into their land – Israel in spiritual blindness and darkness.  As you see in the all-important verses above, He brings them back, blind, then the veil begins to lift and they come to spiritual light and sight.

The world, including much of the church can’t see this and has no understanding of it. This is one of the reasons for their hatred of the Jews. They think that God has given up on them and replaced the Jews with the church, because they are still in the dark.

Replacement theology in the church is of an evil spirit. It is the same spirit as Hitler. Yes it is, and it is in these churches. It is the same spirit as Satan himself masquerading in his camouflage uniform. Ministers of replacement theology may just as well wear a Nazi uniform behind their dark pulpits.

Most of the churches of replacement theology will go into the tribulation period.

Romans 11:12-15 “If their (Jews) fall is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness? If their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be, but life from the dead?”

The glorious answer:

2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?”

Ephesians 6:12 “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in high places.”

1 Thessalonians 5:4 “You brethren are not in the darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.”

I hope you have noticed that this edition is essentially about the separation between light and dark, right and wrong, truth and error. As we walk in separation from worldliness and in the truth, all sorts of wonderful things happen. We are set free. We are free indeed.

The other side of the story is that spiritual darkness is a prison. There is no freedom inside. The keys to get into the prison are pride, arrogance, ignorance, deception and refusal to accept all of God’s word.

The keys to get out of the prison are humility, fear of the Lord, surrender to His Spirit and word, and love for the truth.

Finally:

Proverbs 4:19 “The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.”

Great, deep spiritual darkness is coming. It will ensnare and trap many. You do not have to be one of them. You can and must apply the correct truth, verses and principles to be safe and free in these coming dangerous days.

Psalm 42:7-8 “Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will command His loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me.”

I took this picture of a large herd of springbok in the Kalahari Desert.

Shalom and grow in His Grace!