THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE US

By Rick Lange
http://bibleprophecybyricklange.blogspot.com/
Posted with authors permission

In the early 15th century, the Byzantine Empire was about to be overrun by the Turks thus turning a once Christian (Constantinople) nation into a Muslim nation we know today as Istanbul. In grave concern for what was happening to their nation, a group of Orthodox monks made a visit to a highly revered man of God, an unnamed Orthodox monk who was known for his wisdom and understanding. They asked him what would be the outcome of this matter and he described for them the time of trouble that they were soon to face.

But then he said to the inquiring monks,” But this is not yet the end of the world. The end of the world will come later and the time of the coming of the end lies in the God’s hands” And then he went on to describe what the world would be like at the end just prior to the Lord’s return saying:

“At the very height of these tribulations and chaos in the world, the Antichrist will appear. He will come in the guise of a peacemaker, a good and wise leader who can bring the world to order. In reality, however, he will be an enemy to all, a despiser of all that is good, a tyrant and evil-doer, a destroyer of everything, the likes of whom the world has never seen and will never see.”

Now pay close attention to what this ancient monk says next:

“Each person will be registered; not only every facet of his affairs and his life, but his every word, every movement of his mental faculties will be under constant surveillance so that he will lose the habit of thinking for himself out of fear that the expression on his face might involuntarily reflect something incompatible with the authority of the world ruler, i.e. the Antichrist. Everyone will wear “stone masks.” All labor, every square inch of ground, every grain of wheat will be under the authority of the Antichrist. There will be calamities in nature: oppressive heat waves will alternate with periods of freezing cold, drought with floods; horrendous tornados and hurricanes will wreak frightful destruction; volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and diseases among people, animals and plants will be so dreadful as to make people despair. The earth, no longer blessed with bearing fruit, will be stricken with terrible famine and become utterly impoverished. And only those who have accepted the mark of the Beast, i.e. Satan, will be allowed to exist for a time, although in the most servile and base conditions of utter penury and contempt for the human dignity that man received from his Creator. Everything will be filled with Antichrist: the earth, the sea, the air. Everything will be done with the single purpose of eliminating totally the name of Christ from the heart of man.”

This is just an excerpt from this Orthodox monk’s dissertation on the last days. We like to call the 15th century a part of the Dark Ages and it was in many ways, but there were those holy men of God, who having separated themselves from the hierarchy of the times, went out to seek the face of God and in doing so, they came away with knowledge of our day not exceeded by anybody.

His descriptions of the calamities of nature eerily fit our day to a “T” and his descriptions of the control of the antichrist are described in such a way as to require today’s technologies including facial recognition, quantum computing and a dumbed down society that no longer thinks for themselves. He also describes for us the permeation of what must be the 5G network that is about to go on line that will fill the earth, the air and the sea with Antichrist. He describes fearful diseases that will drive men to despair, and we see these too, in Ebola, and Bird flu and the reappearance of ancient diseases along with new diseases like Morgellons disease that some believe may come as a result of the Nano-particles that are being broadcast in our atmosphere. Morgellons disease seems to be the colonizing of non- biological particles under the skin that cause horrendous sores and pain that result in people’s trying to dig these things out as if they are crazy.

Some doctors send these people to Psychiatrists rather than to medical doctors, saying that it is all in people’s heads. However, this may reflect the arrogance of some doctors, since there are so far about 20,000 confirmed cases. Personally I believe that this is a precursor of the “loathsome sores” upon those who receive the Mark of the Beast as described in Rev. 16:10, 11.

Friends, the 5G network for which they are now feverishly building towers all over the world, will indeed cause the air, the earth and the sea to be saturated with the Antichrist spirit and it will be connected to all present technologies so as to combine facial recognition with, every other form of surveillance. There will be a fusion of human/computer/spirit technologies that will control every man woman and child for Rev. 13 tells us that the dragon (Satan) will give the antichrist his power, his throne and great authority.

Today we see projects like CERN, and Transhumanism, of melding man with machine, and gene manipulation and a host of other new technologies seeking to create a super human race. But even in the 15th century, they understood that when the Antichrist ruled the world the masses would live in abject poverty, and famine and fear.

Still the world is clamoring for a global government not understanding that they are fighting for their own demise. They demand their Rainbow freedom and their right to kill babies and to live as they choose… not understanding that these so called freedoms are going to bring on the wrath of God and judgments that will bring their global dreams to an end forever.

Every time we are able to go to church and to worship God in the beauty of holiness, we should breathe a prayer of thanksgiving to God for a day is soon coming when such things will be forbidden on penalty of death and in spite of their supposed tolerance of all things, true Spirit filled, born again, Bible believing Christianity will not be included in their list of allowable things. Being a true Spirit filled , born again , bible believing Christian will be punishable by death, even beheading.

The one thing that this new witch infested society absolutely cannot stand is the Spirit of Christ and His Word which to this day stands as the sole paragon of absolute truth. There is no other legitimate standard by which men may live other than that standard by which the Creator of heaven and earth has instructed His people. Satan is at war with the Word of God and the Spirit of God and Revelation 13 tells us that the Antichrist will make war with the saints and to overcome them.

We see this “overcoming “ by the Antichrist happening right now as thousands or millions of Christians abandon the sanctity of the Word for the doctrines of demons. A Pastor of one of the largest churches in America is now advocating abandoning the Old Testament as irrelevant to us. But there goes the foundation upon which the True New Testament stands, for Jesus, beginning with Moses and all the prophets explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. If you abandon the Old Testament foundations you will soon worship a false Christ… for He is the true Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. He is the true fulfiller of the Old Testament.

Still thousands of other Christians are abandoning the teaching of the Word, for psychology and New Age. They are embracing things which God calls an abomination. They have abandoned the study of Bible prophecy as irrelevant even as Bible prophecy reads like today’s newspaper. There is an issue brewing in the Methodist church right now and other denominations as well. The leadership is pushing to embrace the LGBT movements, along with transhumanism and every other alphabet group and yet some people want to stand on the Word, rather to compromise with the world. these are real issues facing the body of Christ today.

We may not yet have a full understanding of how every piece fits into the puzzle, but this one thing I know: Jesus is coming soon and He is coming for a Bride that is without spot or wrinkle. He is looking for wise virgins whose lamps are filled with oil, who are waiting for His midnight cry to come to the wedding. He is looking for a faithful people who live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. He is looking for a people who are filled with His Spirit and who are reflecting His character.

Jesus is indeed coming and He is looking for a Bride adorned for her Husband… a people who have eyes only for Him. They have stopped dating the other gods and flirting with the world. They are learning how to dwell in the secret place of the Most High and to abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Listen friends, if you have set your heart and your mind on the things of God and you are pursuing Jesus with all of your heart and soul, you have nothing to fear. We can say right along with Paul: “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Phil. 1:21

Like that unnamed 15th century monk we too can separate ourselves from the world and its ways. We can seek the face of God and become wise beyond our times, for that which is foolishness to the world is” Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 1 Cor. 1:23-24

In his book “Reflections of a Humble Heart” we find amidst a collection of Byzantine manuscripts long lost in the Vatican Library, a collection of the thoughts of an unnamed man of God as recorded by another pious monk by the name of Basil. And it reminds me that even in the dark times of the past God has preserved His truth for those who seek His face.

We owe our very existence as Christians today to those humble men and women of God who faced persecution, suffering and death to preserve God’s Word for us… men and women of the past in whom the flickering flame of the Holy Spirit resided so that we for whom the ends of the age has come may benefit from their faith and love and wisdom. True Christianity has forged a trail of blood through many a trial and tribulation. After all, we live in enemy territory and we are not of this world.

Should we as Christians today give up even one morsel of truth for which our forefathers fought and died? God forbid! In fact Paul tells us that even the history of Israel was given to us as examples and written for our instruction upon the ends of the age have come. 1 Cor:10: 11.

Indeed the great apostasy spoken of in 2 Thess. 2:3, 4 is now taking place and this apostasy is going to clear a path for the arrival of the Antichrist and His global kingdom which we now see on the rise. We need to comprehend the momentous nature of our time and what it means to stand firm upon the Word of God as we truly enter a new Dark Age. Think on these things.