September, 1995 

To briefly review the purpose of this study, we are addressing how to discern the times from the perspective of answering three ultimate questions:

1)  What is happening?

2)  What is not happening?

3)  What can we do about it?

The theme this year is the army of God “mobilizing.” There is an anointing for mobilizing that we need to understand—the anointing to draw people together for a cause. This can be from the Lord or from the devil. For example, Hitler had an extraordinary anointing from the devil to mobilize people. The people who followed him included some of the most brilliant, who repeatedly commented to others how they did not understand his command over them, but when they were in his presence all doubts faded and they just submitted to him.

The biblical day began with evening and then morning. Likewise, throughout Scripture it usually became darker before the light would be given. Therefore, when troubles come we should always look expectantly for the light.

Last week we discussed briefly the attitude toward authority that the Lord will bless. To a large degree, King David and his extraordinary and unique ability to touch the heart of God was the product of King Saul. It was mostly Saul's persecution and unrighteous treatment of David that helped fashion him into one of such remarkable character and grace.

This week we continue our study of the works of the flesh with “enmities.” The Greek word that is translated here is thumos, which is sometimes translated “fierceness indignation, wrath, hostility, or hatred.” In my search of the Scriptures I have only found two things that are legal for us to hate—sin and unrighteousness. To hate anything or anyone else actually opens the door for evil to prevail, not righteousness.

Last week we discussed how the ultimate slide of humanity into the abyss of darkness will begin with the betrayal of doctors with their most basic trust to save and preserve life. Instead, they will start to freely take lives. As this trend has been growing in the last few decades, we are not far from again seeing man rise to the ultimate arrogance—determining to play God by choosing who should live and die by their own discretion.

   One crucial aspect of being a disciple is we are called to be a disciple of Christ, not men. This does not mean we do not learn from others as our teachers, pastors, and even mentors in various disciplines and knowledge. It is a high privilege to sit under the great teachers and leaders of our times, but we are called to much more than this. We are all called to be first generation disciples of Christ Jesus Himself.

       To have a Christian worldview is to view the world as Christ does. The way we attain this is not by viewing the world, but by seeing Christ and being changed into His image as we behold His glory. Only when we become like Him in nature will we be able to see as He does. For this reason, the chief devotion of every Christian should be to see the Lord as He is, not as we want Him to be, and to keep Him as our first love and first devotion. We see this in II Corinthians 3:17-18:          

As I have shared with our local church, conferences, and through our Prophetic Bulletin over the last few months, it was only a matter of time before the media would realize the seriousness of the coming “bird flu” plague. That is now happening. The threat from this flu is very real, and it does have the potential to be just as deadly as the scientific community is stating. Even the terrible scenarios that are being projected are almost all being purposely understated to prevent panic.