By Rob Pue
July 14, 2024
As followers of Christ — Jesus, the Son of God, our souls are saved by the blood He shed for us on Calvary, but we remain strangers, foreigners in this world. We must understand, we’re living in a world ruled by Satan, sojourners among the enemies of God, and we’re commanded to “occupy” until Jesus returns.
In Matthew 25 and Luke 19, just prior to Jesus entering Jerusalem, where He knew He would shortly be crucified, He told His disciples the “Parable of the Talents.” In this lesson, Jesus told of a nobleman who gave each of his servants a number of “talents,” each according to his ability. He didn’t assign any of them more than He knew they were capable of handling well. And prior to leaving, the man in the story told his servants to “occupy ‘til I come.” Jesus also explained that the people would hate the nobleman and rebel against him and would be hostile to his servants.
We all know the story. The first two servants invested their talents and their work of “occupying” bore fruit. But the third man — who had only been given one talent, because the nobleman knew that was all he could handle — buried his, gained nothing for his master and gave a lame excuse when asked to give an account. Most likely, this third man did nothing with the talent he’d been given because of cowardice. He feared the people who hated the nobleman and were hostile to his servants.
Friends, the “nobleman” in this lesson was Jesus. His servants were His disciples — His disciples then, and His disciples now. This is a lesson for all of us who claim the name of Christ today as well. We live in a world that hates Christ and true Christ-followers, yet we’ve been given a command, a duty, marching orders: to use the talents we’ve each been given to serve our King, bring the lost and perishing into His kingdom and occupy until He returns. Sad to say, most who call themselves Christians today will never hear the words, “well done, thy good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy Lord,” but rather, they’ll be called “wicked.”
No, those who truly know Jesus and are known by Him will not be well liked and popular in this world. They’re the enemies of this world — mocked, ridiculed, minimalized, censored, shunned, banned, persecuted, hunted and martyred for His name’s sake. Many want to maintain the illusion of “fire insurance faith,” but are too cowardly to occupy until He returns, and so they will reap what they have sown.
In contrast, we have the words found in Daniel 11: “…the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.”
Our Creator, God, sent His Son into this hostile world to seek and to save that which was lost… to offer life, light and hope. But as we read in John 3, “…light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Our assignment as Christ-followers is to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, snatching souls from the enemy, Satan, impacting the wicked culture of darkness and death and showing the lost the only way back to God. “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).
These are dark days we’re living in, and the darkness is growing ever more ominous. Since the fall of our first parents in the garden, this earth has been a battleground, and a spiritual battle has been raging all around us, though most cannot discern it. Revelation 12:12 tells us, “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” The clock is ticking, and the devil’s time is running out, even as his rage increases minute by minute.
So, if this world seems more hostile, more violent, more sinful, more evil and wicked, it’s because it is. Time is speeding up and running out, leading to a final battle — and that great and terrible Day of the Lord. On that day, you’ll be called to account for your performance in this spiritual battle; for how you’ve invested the talents God’s given you and whether or not you stood your ground, and then, having done all, to stand. How will you fare? Revelation 21:8 tells us, “…the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.”
Notice who’s mentioned first in that list — the cowardly. If you’re afraid of conflict, if you’re ashamed of your Lord and Savior, then He’s not your Lord and Savior. If it seems like the devil is winning this war, it’s only because those enlisted to stand against the enemy have failed in their duties. Very sadly, many will be surprised on Judgment Day. Understand: the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. But narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few will ever find it.
It’s not easy being a true follower of Christ, making Him both our Savior and our Lord. And it’s often difficult to follow His commands in this world that hates us. But that’s our purpose for being here, and that’s why we were saved. We were saved to serve our King. “Fire insurance faith” is no faith at all…you may as well be an unbeliever. Many “believe,” but are too cowardly, too lazy, too apathetic to put their faith into action. Please don’t sing “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord” if you’re not willing to see. And don’t ask God to order your steps if you’re not willing to move your feet.
Everywhere we turn today, evil reigns in this world. The nations are self-destructing because they’ve turned their backs on God. Having thrown Him out of every area of society and culture, thinking we know better, we now have a world on the brink of absolute desolation. As so many choose to embrace the idea that we are our own little gods, we’re seeing the results of rebellion against the one true God of heaven: depravity, great delusion, madness, drug addiction, sexual perversion, exploitation of children, violence, rage, homelessness, enemy invasions, war, lies, deceit, and the open worship of evil.
As statues and monuments of our American history and heritage are torn down, ostensibly to fight “racism,” and to promote “diversity, equity and inclusion,” we’re more divided than ever before. Meanwhile, the demonic statue of Baphomet travels the country, put on display to “counter” any displays of Christian faith. God-haters will constantly talk of the importance of caring for children, while fighting with all they have in them for the right to expose them to pornographic books, videos and drag queen performances, mutilate their bodies as well as their minds, confusing them about their own genders and shoving “transgender” ideology down their throats at every opportunity and in every possible venue.
Since 2016, a replica of the archway to the temple of Baal has been traveling the world. It’s appeared in London, in Florence, Italy (for the political G7 Summit), in Dubai (for the World Government Summit), at the City Hall in New York City and on the Capitol Mall in Washington, DC.
The original arch of Palmyra was built by the Romans in the second century as an entrance to a major temple of Baal that had already existed for 3000 years in Syria. This temple had a powerful furnace below a bronze statue with a bull’s head, which represented the god Baal. Temple priests would place children and babies into its outstretched arms who would then roll into the blazing fire as human sacrifices. Loud drumbeats would drown out the screams. Temple prostitutes were used so that men or women who sought help from Baal would perform lewd acts with the prostitutes as a form of “worship.” It was a place of the most heinous atrocities committed against innocent children, against all that is good and just, and against God Himself. Baal is mentioned 94 times in the Bible as a destructive force against the people of God – the lord of the flies, the god of dung, a symbol of Satan himself.
And now a replica of this demonic religion is being honored around the world and praised by historians as part of our “global heritage.”
And perhaps you’re not aware of this, but the timing could be called “prophetic.” In June, New York City was immersed in the Satanic. A 270-foot dragon was wrapped around the Empire State Building. In addition, giant banners that featured red dragons with seven heads, ten horns and seven crowns along the ominous message, “all must choose,” were draped over iconic landmarks all over the city. If you look at Revelation 12, you’ll see this is an exact depiction of Satan. And Satan invaded New York City in a huge way in June, and I bet you never heard about it.
These banners were hung proudly and prominently at Grand Central Station, Rockefeller Center, CitiField, near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, on Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange and even in many restaurants and other entertainment venues.
This was all being done to promote the second season of an HBO series called “House of the Dragons.” So, it was a promotional stunt to push a demonic TV show but it’s ironic that this took place in our nation’s largest city and targeted many of the financial institutions our country relies upon for a functioning economy, even as our economy is on the brink of total collapse.
As with all things now, this was a world-wide phenomenon, as cities around the world followed suit, including at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It’s also interesting that this year, 2024, is the “Year of the Dragon” on the Chinese horoscope. There are several types of “Dragon Years” on the Chinese zodiac, including Earth, Metal, Water, Wood and Fire. This year it’s the “Wood Dragon.” Without going into too much detail, according to Chinese mythology, Wood begets fire and fire must be fueled by burning wood. Since wood also represents wind, it also nourishes fire, which is the next Dragon to come in the Chinese calendar.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe in coincidences and saturating New York City with dragons, along with the slogan “all must choose” — especially now, seems to me to be the equivalent of begging for God’s wrath to fall upon us quickly.
Our nation is now more violently divided than ever, our economy is in ruins, we’re being invaded and threatened by enemies intent on our destruction, sexual perversion and brainwashing of our children is at an all-time high. We’re on the precipice of all-out civil war, with great, credible threats of extreme violence heading into election season, not to mention the agenda of tyranny and oppression being heaped on our shoulders by the Globalist’s “Great Reset.” Our so-called “justice” system has been weaponized against all things good and we have the worst corruption in our government this nation has ever seen.
In America today, we worship ourselves as gods; we worship false gods; we worship and serve created things rather than the Creator, and in fact, we spit in the face of our Creator in every area of our culture at every possible opportunity. We call evil “good” and good “evil.” When we’re not twisting the minds of our children with perversion and teaching them the ways of the devil, we’re abusing them or killing them. One in four of our kids now claims to be “transgender.” Our churches celebrate the abomination of sodomy. Our families are in distress. Yet, where are the Christians? Where are those called to “occupy” and serve as a restraining force against evil?
Satan, the dragon, the serpent, is raging. Meanwhile, our pastors are silent, like dumb dogs, and rarely, if ever, train their people for the any type of significant kingdom work. But God gave us His Word. We must use it to educate, train, prepare and equip ourselves and one another for this work and work as hard as we can, while we still can. And how do we overcome the dragon? Revelation 12:11 tells us: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives even unto the death.”
© 2024 Rob Pue – All Rights Reserved
E-Mail Rob Pue: Rob@WisconsinChristianNews.com
