But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Tim 3:1-7

For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Matthew 24: 5-8

“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 

“Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together. Matthew 24: 23-28

In these last days seems the world, this great nation of ours, it becomes increasingly difficult to find truth in this saturated market of televangelists, churches on every corner, and everyone is a Christian of sorts, (except for those that aren’t) but our society grows ever so wicked. It’s like the Mcdonalization of Christianity. Remember the Burger King jingle, Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us… all we ask is that you let us serve it your way… anyway you think is proper…have it your way. 

Our minds are daily bombarded with images of all sorts of degeneracy. If I believed in evolution, from the previews of new television shows, I would surmise that mankind has surely regressed to it’s more animalistic state. Yet, as a Christian it’s clear that biblical prophesy is playing out right in front of our eyes, everyday.

I can’t imagine what in the world is going on in Hollywood? But not just in Hollywood. I get alerts on my phone of yet another missing child, or woman. There was a woman that disappeared here a few weeks ago and her body has yet to be found. Even though evidence seemed to point to her husband doing “something” they could not accuse him of anything. Where is his wife? Did she take off on her own? No one seems to know and her husband knows nothing. It is a sad state of affairs… Am I waiting for some great awakening, some great revival, nope. I am only waiting for the Lord’s return.

My greatest concern is for the state of the church, not the physical church, but the Body of Christ. Where is the Body of Christ? Is God in the Baptist church? Is God in the non-denominational churches? Is He is the AOG churches? The Lord said in …

Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” 

That’s where the Lord is… so, He might be in the church building, or He might be in the house next door where Christ believers meet for worship. He might be in both. So,  I ask myself “Where am I?” Am I being deceived? How would I know? Today, as a woman, and wife am I submitting to my husband’s authority? Is my husband submitting to God’s authority?

For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. Matthew 24

When I was single I was told that I needed to commit to a church, to a pastor’s authority. I needed to prove myself to the leadership that I was a committed woman of God. They had a laundry list of must do’s for me to follow before I was considered worthy, or godly enough to join their ranks.  And I thought, I am committed to God and the things of God. Why do I need to commit to a church? The physical church is not “the church.” So I struggled with my identity in Christ. And instead of church, the Lord took me on a journey. He set me aside where I was totally dependent on Him. I soaked in His word. I prayed. I wrote down everything the Lord revealed to me. I had two friends on this journey that encouraged me, and listened to me as I tried to understand all that the Lord was doing in my life. That was an amazing experience.

The first thing the Lord worked on was my identity. As believers in Christ, it is so important to know who we are. Our walk with God rests with our willingness to identify with Christ.

Where are we know… in these last days?

In the beginning…

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Adam had this knowledge – before Eve came in the picture. Did he share it with Eve?) 

Wait for it… Genesis 3

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), that it was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes), and a tree desirable to make one wise (pride of life), she took of its fruit and she ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 

In some form or fashion we are still falling for this line…“You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Could it be that Adam did not use his authority to prevent Eve from taking fruit off the tree? Wasn’t she under Adams authority? Nevertheless, she must have felt justified in exercising her right to partake of the forbidden tree – even though she knew better. (Although, God never said – nor shall you touch it. She added that on, perhaps for effect.) Is that not rebellion against God?  In the beginning it was God, Adam and Eve, and that pesky serpent in the Garden of Eden.

Today, God is still here – the serpent is still deceiving Eve … and the planet Earth is the serpent’s playground. The serpent’s mission has not changed. He continues to deceive the woman – to rebel against God and against the authority of her husband. In today’s social climate it’s most difficult for a woman to submit to her husband, as an authority – yes – even for Christian women.  The serpent has done an amazing work at convincing woman to question her man’s authority. She is woman – hear her roar! If mama ain’t happy – no one is happy. She wears the pants in the family.

As a woman that believes in God, in His word, in His Son… Jesus commanded me to love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind. And like it to love my neighbor as myself – to obey His voice. When the Lord sent me a man worthy of marriage, a man after God’s heart – I willingly accepted the command to submit to my husband’s authority. Because the Lord prefers obedience to sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22-24) and rebellion He likens to witchcraft. Submitting to a husband, is not easy – how much harder is it to submit to the living God? 

Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; for I have transgressed the command of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 

Let God be true and every man a liar. Romans 3:4

Christianity is not a cafeteria line where you say, “I’ll have a little salvation, but no Lordship right now. Adrian Rogers

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! Galatians 1:6-8 

Thank you for reading. Be blessed.