Persecution-It is coming!-22

It may be difficult for many of you to fully believe that Satan has indeed deceived the entire world, but he has. This is exactly what Jehovah has told us, warned us, and hopefully prepared us for in the coming months and years. What schemes of Satan can we begin to understand from the Bible? Let us begin. First, what does Jesus expect any serious Bible student to know?

John 3:3  Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 3:4  Nicodemus *said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" 

3:5  Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 3:6  "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

Those of us who are truly born again believers understand this, but to an Old Testament Scholar this was not easy to understand. Jesus expected him to understand.

3:7  "Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 3:8  "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." 

3:9  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can these things be?"  3:10  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?

What can we learn from this very short exchange?

First, teachers and preachers may go all through life without truly understanding what they are teaching. Second, according to Jesus, it should not be that hard to see!

Third, only those who are truly spiritually open to the truth will come to an understanding of the truth.

Matthew 13:11  Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 13:12  "For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 

13:13  "Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 

13:14  "In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, 'YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; 

13:15  FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.

This is a very chilling exchange between Jesus and His disciples. It tells us that Jehovah doesn’t let some believe or understand. Their time may have passed. They may be too hardened by sin to escape their eternal judgment. They may have given their entire life over to be servants of Satan and therefore, are enemies.

John 5:1  After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 5:2  Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes. 5:3  In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters; 5:4  for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever disease with which he was afflicted.] 

We all know this story about this man who Jesus healed. It would be wise to ask ourselves why did Jesus just heal one man? This pool was apparently surrounded by many who were seriously ill.

5:5  A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 5:6  When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He *said to him, "Do you wish to get well?" 5:7  The sick man answered Him, "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me." 

This pool was understood to have miraculous healing powers whenever the water was stirred. They believed that an angel stirred it. But, apparently only the first person who was able to enter to pool would be healed.

5:8  Jesus *said to him, "Get up, pick up your pallet and walk." 5:9  Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk. Now it was the Sabbath on that day. 

First, the man did not even know who healed him. This reveals the lies that today’s ‘faith’ healers are guilty of when they ‘heal’ anyone. If they can’t heal a person they blame the persons lack of faith.

Second, Jehovah’s miracles are instantaneous. Legs that never had muscles, nerves, tendons that worked would have left these legs shriveled to the bone.

5:10  So the Jews were saying to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet." 5:11  But he answered them, "He who made me well was the one who said to me, 'Pick up your pallet and walk.'" 5:12  They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Pick up your pallet and walk'?" 

What was the main concern of the leaders? Carrying his bed on their ‘Sabbath’. We don’t read anywhere of their joy in seeing this man walk. Nor any praise to Jehovah for healing him!

5:13  But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. 5:14  Afterward Jesus *found him in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you." 

5:15  The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 5:16  For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.

Here is what the ‘world’ does to those who put their trust in Jehovah instead of ‘religion’. Anyone who violates their rules, who makes them look bad, or does things they have never done, must be stopped at all costs. Satan will not tolerate loosing his control over the mindless sheep following the false shepherds. That is the profound truth about religion. It teaches sheep to be just obedient followers without any questioning or challenging.

You could say that they ‘cancel’ all opposition. They take away any platform for the truth to get in their way. They remove them from all ‘social’ platforms. They conspire to come together to label them all as liars. So the liars are in charge. We sometimes call this propaganda. Whatever you call it, it is a vast, organized attack against the truth.

If we never challenge these lies, we become co-conspirators in their lies. Silence is not an option when we are to confront lies, especially lies that affect someone’s eternal life.

More next Saturday.