Friday, June 02, 2006

The Omen of 666 6-2-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Let the truth and light of Your Holy Spirit shine in my soul. Bind back the darkness and deception of these days and open my eyes to see the One who is the Truth. By Your grace, You are my Way, my Truth, and my Life. ... "False christs and false prophets will appear and produce signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be alert; I have already told you everything. But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory. Then He will send out the angels, and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven" (Mark 13:22-27). Last week, all the famous "double-decker" buses in London we saw had advertisements pasted on their sides for the movie coming out on 6-6-06 called "The Omen." It is an obvious reference to the antichrist and the mark of the beast "who performs great signs" and "deceives those who dwell on the earth" (Revelation 13:11-18, NKJV). "Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666" (verse 13:18). He comes looking "like a lamb" but speaking "like a dragon" (verse 13:11). But You have warned us to hold fast to what is true, to test everything against the truth of Your Word and Your Spirit. "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:15-16). The enemy of our souls "is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44). His fruit is doubt and unbelief, confusion and fear. He is a counterfeiter of the truth. The movies and books in the media of our day are flooded with deception and distortion of the truth. "The DaVinci Code" book and movie present as facts a litany of outrageous lies easily contradicted by even the secular, historical record; yet the faith of many is being shaken by the false appearance of objectivity and supposed revelation of hidden conspiracy. "The Gospel of Judas" has surfaced as an ancient document but also an ancient distortion of the truth in line with the Gnostic philosophies that were asserted in contradiction to the truth of the Gospel. These are days of relentless and accelerating deception. "Then from his mouth the serpent poured water like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood" (Revelation 12:15). But Your truth will prevail over every counterfeit and deception for those who choose to seek Your face and stand firm in Your Word by Your grace. "When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him" (Isaiah 59:19, NKJV). A counterfeit only has significance because it is a counterfeit of what is real. There are false signs and wonders because there are true signs and wonders. There are false christs and prophets because there is a true Christ and His true prophets. "And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved" (Mathew 24:11-13). These are exciting days! The seeds of truth and deception, of good and evil have grown into maturity for the time of harvest (Matthew 13:36-43). Lord, give me grace to stand firm in the faith. Give me grace to endure to the end. Let the banner of Your cross, the standard of Your Word, and the power of Your Spirit be the true omens of our day. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, one good web site with excellent material on these issues is: www.JesusAndDavinci.com Also, one of the professors I had at Asbury Seminary, Dr. Ben Witherington has written an excellent book called The Gospel Code on this subject. Please check out the Global Day of Prayer events this Sunday June 4th in your area: http://www.gdop-usa.com/ Our events in the Lexington, Kentucky area for the 3:00 gathering at Rupp Arena and the prayer sites across town for the 10 Days of Preparation are at: http://www.metrolexprayer.org/ Messiah Ministries will host the Friday prayer time focused on healing at 12:00 noon and 7:00 pm at the Prayer Tower at Centenary United Methodist Church, 2800 Tates Creek Rd. Please come join us! Also, I am very excited to be joining in the preaching on Pentecost this Sunday at Centenary for all three services -- please come join us if you can and pray for us if you can't. To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's (and now cd's) for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, write to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com"Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502: www.messiah-ministries.org Come to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer, praise, and healing worship. Daily archives of my devotional: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com