“The New Normal”

We’ve all heard this term – “the new normal”, although no one can quite articulate what it means. Do we all stay in our homes until told otherwise? Do we wear masks and limit interactions with anyone outside our family units?  No one really knows, and that seems like it is by design.

Designed by some James Bond level mastermind set on world domination? Yes, actually. However, I’m probably not talking about the person that just popped into your head.  The person I am talking about is the anti-Christ, Beezlebub, Satan – aka: the devil.

If you didn’t close out the article after reading that, then hopefully this will be enlightening and beneficial to you.  First I’d like to share what Jesus said the time leading up to the tribulation would be like (this is what the scoffers referred to in 2 Timothy 2 always claim ‘has always been’):

Matthew 24:3-14 (NKJV)
³  Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
⁴  And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.
⁵  For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.
⁶  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.
⁷  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
⁸  All these are the beginning of sorrows.
⁹  Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.
¹⁰  And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
¹¹  Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
¹²  And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
¹³  But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
¹⁴  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

• A few notes:
  • many coming in His name includes anyone that says that they have a special word from the Lord, special revelation or that say that “if you just do (x) you will be saved and/or blessed by God”.  Be wary of these wolves in sheeps’ clothing, as they intend to destroy and not to save or build up.
  • Wars and rumors of wars: most people think of conventional warfare when reading this, but wars today are waged in many different ways.  We are all familiar with the mostly conventional wars in the middle east and also in parts of asia, but there is also cyber war and economic war that can cause much more damage than conventional war, and those have been ongoing for decades.
  • Kingdom against kingdom refers to civil war – a kingdom fighting against itself – are you aware of any nations/kingdoms where there is internal, physical conflict?
  • Famines, pestilences (illnesses) and earthquakes in various places. Look at all of the strange locations for earthquakes this year, huge swaths of crops have been destroyed by natural disasters all over the globe this year and we all currently know about the COVID-19 Pandemic (amongst other nasty illnesses all over the globe).
  • Verses 9-12 seem to be written specifically about what we are experiencing with all of the protests – there is no love there, no seeking to obtain an understanding.  It is all just hatred at this point.
  • The love of many will grow cold – this is something that masks have begun to reveal – people are rude and unloving when out in public, especially if you are not conforming to their version of reality. It’s heartbreaking, but this is where the Bible predicted what we are seeing.
  • Verse 13 talks about enduring. That suggests a rocky, not so fun road to be travelled. Are you prepared to endure? Or will you be one that “falls away” because the road doesn’t appear to be worth it to you?  You WILL face this question in the future.

Later in the same passage, Jesus said the following:

Matthew 24:36-44 (NKJV)
³⁶  “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.
³⁷  But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
³⁸  For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
³⁹  and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
⁴⁰  Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.
⁴¹  Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
⁴²  Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
⁴³  But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
⁴⁴  Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

• Verse 36 is WIDELY repeated by the majority of people when the topic of the end times comes up.
  • It is also absolutely true – No one knows the day or hour, but we will know the season!  (Luke 12:49-56 (NKJV) )
    ⁵⁴  Then He also said to the multitudes, “Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is.
    ⁵⁵  And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is.
    ⁵⁶  Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?
  • Paul affirms this in 1 Thessalonians 5, with some additional color:
    1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 (NKJV)
    ¹  But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.
    ²  For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
    ³  For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.
    ⁴  But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
    ⁵  You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.
    ⁶  Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
    ⁷  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.
    ⁸  But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.
    ⁹  For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
    ¹⁰  who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
    ¹¹  Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.
• As in the days of Noah – many speculate that this means that there will be peace on the earth when the judgement starts on the earth.  This is not true – the passage is stating that the people of the earth will be concerned about the everyday things of their lives, and not the spiritual things of God.  Even in Noah’s day God sent a sign giving the inhabitants an abundance of time to discern and repent – the ARK that was being built no where near the water!  Still, how many heeded the warning? Just Noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives/families.
• In the days of Noah, God called Noah onto the boat to escape the judgement, verses 40-41 refer to a similar action by God in the last days – an event known as the rapture where Jesus comes to get his bride before the judgement is executed on the earth.

There have been several recent events that are very interesting and have Biblical-level impact on “the new normal”:

1. The acceptance of lawlessness and the demonization of religious worship, specifically Christianity.  Leaders across the United States have been trying to restrict Christians from meeting by putting onerous restrictions on the practice.
2. China has been destroying religious meeting places of all religions and has even reportedly required an elderly Christian to pray to PM Xi instead of to God.
3. Literally out of nowhere, amongst all the chaos everywhere in the world, there is a peace agreement announced between the United Arab Emerates (UAE) and Israel. No one was expecting this announcement – the Israeli Prime Minister even left a pre-planned meeting to hold the call with the leaders of the US and the UAE, telling those in attendance that there would be big news in a few minutes to explain his sudden departure.   The name of the agreement?  The Abraham Accords. The significance of the name should be obvious to all Christians – the Arabs and Jews are both direct descendants of Abraham – Isaac and Ishmael, Isaac being the father of God’s chosen people and Ishmael being a son born out of Abraham’s lack of faith.  The agreement aims to bring back long-lost brothers, and no one knew to expect it. It happened just like the re-establishment of the nation of Israel in the Holy Land!

Using events to discern the times:

Beware the trials and wonders that will be coming on the earth in the near future – God’s timeline is on the move again and big things are coming.  Be prepared. Persevere. Pray.

I have a sense of foreboding in my spirit over the United States and the coming months.  I don’t have any evidence to put forth, but I get the sense that this election is not going to go well for either side due to both sides currently setting fuses that are attached to claims of voting issues surrounding the Presidential election, with both sides claiming victory afterwards and potentially setting off national violence.  Pray that this sense is misplaced!

What do we do as Christians?  Exactly what Paul instructed in 1 Thessalonians 5:11:
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NKJV)
¹¹  Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

Find Christians that can and will help keep you comforted and edified with sound doctrine.  Learn how to pray and do it often, as much as possible.

• Ask God specifically to have the Holy Spirit teach you to pray. You are a warrior and your best tool is prayer, you need to understand how to wield it!
• Lift up those that are unsaved and pray for their salvation
• Lift up Christians and pray for their perseverance when the world comes against them (and it will)
• Praise God in heaven for sending His son to die for us so that we might spend eternity with them
• Pray for God’s supernatural protection for all prayer warriors
• Pray for your and your family’s sustenance, that the Lord will provide food and water for all those in your household

 

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I pray, MARANATHA! (Come quickly, Lord Jesus!)