The Wedding Feast (~19.49) - Moriel Ministries

Guest Author
ognize it when it’s coming about? Because
something took place that we’re seeing
take place again in these final hours. What
happened then is happening again, and
the biblical term for it is “apostasy” – the
great, spiritual falling away.
It’s important to distinguish the difference
between “apostasy”, “heresy”, and
generic disbelief. A heretic is someone who
denies some essential part of the faith in order
to foster false teaching or join a different
religious group, whereas an apostate is
someone who having at one time believed
and sided with God, now turns against Him
and abandons those beliefs. It’s not a state
of ignorance or mistaken knowledge but a
deliberate renouncing of the faith. A nonbeliever
can’t renounce what they never
subscribed to in the first place. What took
place leading up to Christ’s First Coming is
again taking place as a prelude to His Second
Coming: a great spiritual falling away.
Let no one in any way deceive
you, for it [the day of the
Lord] will not come unless
the apostasy comes first,
and the man of lawlessness
is revealed, the son of destruction,
— 2 Thessalonians 2:3
Danny Isom
The star was most certainly a sign from
God, an indication in the heavens that spiritual
events were taking place, but it was
not a natural phenomena that everyone recognized.
Only the spiritually prepared saw
and interpreted the sign correctly; everyone
else was blind to both its presence and
proper context. It’s the real-life occurrence
of what Jesus taught in the Parable of the
Wise and Foolish Virgins [1] – only the biblically
prepared are ready when He comes.
The most repeated End Times issue
that has been brought up by every major
figure of the Old and New Testaments
— including Christ Himself — is that the
Last Days are marked by great deception
and even greater apostasy. It’s those who
hold fast to a faithful relationship with
Christ to whom the true meaning of such
things is revealed. It doesn’t come about
by “knowledge”, but “faith”.
• At the First Coming, the signs were
only visible and understood by those
who were faithful to Him. So it will be
at His Second Coming.
• At the First Coming the established
religious authorities had become so
institutionalized and corrupt that although
they possessed knowledge of
God’s Word, they did not know how to
apply it or use it to recognize the signs
of the times. Likewise at the Second
Coming the great apostasy will render
such authorities completely ineffective,
even working on Herod’s behalf
in his day, a major type of Antichrist.
• At the First Coming those who recognized
the signs of the times first went
to those most likely to be interested
but were not only rejected but actually
found to persecute the Son of the
God they professed to serve. Instead
of welcoming Him, they sought to kill
Him. At the Second Coming, much
of the persecution of true believers
comes from those claiming authority
and position within the church, not to
mention outright war waged against
the Son.
• At the First Coming a one-world
system of government that embraced
all religions as being part of a diluted
whole ruled the earth under a single
ruler in the form of the Roman Empire.
So at the Second Coming the merging
of religious institutions within a single
organization under the world rule of
the Antichrist will arise in the spirit of
the revived Roman Empire.
• At the First Coming the world’s
ruler instituted a worldwide census to
“mark” all its citizens. At the Second
Coming the Antichrist will “mark” all
of its citizens.
• At the First Coming the followers
of Christ rejoiced at His coming and
responded by worshiping Him. At the
Second Coming the Antichrist will
lead a war against Christ and His followers
and will do everything in his
power to get everyone to worship him
instead of Christ, but in the end every
knee will bow and every tongue confess.
• At the First Coming the signs of the
times provided Believers with the time
frame and general context that assured
them that Christ’s appearance was imminent.
So at the Second Coming we
shall know not the exact date and time
but the certainty and nearness of His
arrival.
With more examples I suppose I could
go on and on, but this is the sure point to
take with you: If you want to know about
the Second Coming, learn everything you
can about His First Coming. And not according
to the distilled holiday stories or
even elaborate scientifically-based theories
that have become so popular, but according
to His Word, which was the very thing God
gave to the earth at His First Coming.
In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. He was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through Him,
and apart from Him nothing came into being
that has come into being. In Him was
life, and the life was the Light of men. The
Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness
did not comprehend it. — John 1:1-5
Just as it was then, so it is now. The
difference between those who saw and
responded to the signs and those blinded
to them came down to the fact that such
things are not a test of knowledge but faith.
Knowledge of the Scriptures was enjoyed
by all, but only those who were putting it
into practice, who were doers of His Word
and not merely hearers were the ones who
passed the test of faith requisite for spiritual
clarity.
There are many things foretold in
Scripture that have and are coming true.
But there is no greater confirmation that
we are living in the shadow of Christ’s
imminent return than the apostasy that is
presently taking place within the church.
In His Love,
Danny Isom
American Priest Says,
“No Peace Without Syria”
Syrian Arab News Agency
American Protestant Pastor Rick Warren
on Monday said there was no peace in the
region without Syria, noting that 80 percent
of the American people rejected what the US
Administration is doing in Iraq and considered
the US policy in the Mideast as wrong.
Syria’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Badr al-
Din Hassoun received the American Pastor
in Damascus in which he referred to the importance
of spreading culture of amity, peace
and coexistence instead of the ‘clash of civilizations’.
The Mufti called for conveying the real
image of Syria, national unity and its call to
spread peace, amity and justice to the American
people which the US administration has
distorted their image before the world.
Pastor Warren expressed admiration of
Syria and the coexistence he saw between
Muslims and Christians, stressing that he will
convey this image to his church and country.
Quote of the QUARTER !
Winston Churchill, said:
“The farther backward you
can look, the farther forward you can see.”
18 Moriel Quarterly • December 2009