THE END OF THE AGE
THE END OF THE AGE
October 20, 2024, the Year of our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Since October 7, 2023, many prominent Christian writers/ministers have been led to write about “The End of the Age” or the “End Times.” The parallels of the Palestinian/Hamas’ terrorists attacks on Israel from the Gaza strip are a repeat of ancient history and a sign of the last days.
One of those writer’s, Max Lucado’s new book “What Happens Next”, the End of this Age, addresses The Rapture, Reigning with Christ, Heaven’s timeline, etc. I purchased the book at the airport and have read 50+ pages.
Max Lucado: “I have a reserved seat at the PWPOET Café in heaven---Pastors Who Preached On End Times. We will celebrate what we understood correctly, chuckle at what we missed entirely. Mostly, we will honor the one Teacher who stands above us all, Jesus Christ.” (End of quote).
Another, which I have preached excerpts from is the Dragon’s Prophecy, by Jonathan Cahn. I will continue today from that study.
I am one of those who are expecting and believe that we are yet to see the Great Harvest. However, it cannot be denied the Harvest and War raged by the devil to stop the Harvest will be simultaneous. I am also persuaded the Lord reveals in Israel what is happening in the realm of the Spirit. There is a great battle raging in the natural and in the Spirit.
It is my persuasion and Cahn’s that Israel and the church are intrinsically joined. The return and resurrection of Israel (1948) corresponds with the return and resurrection of the Church (Latter Rain Revival). (1967 – Charismatic Renewal). At the end of the age, the Jewish people have returned to where they were in the beginning of the age. It is also time for the followers of Jesus Christ to return to the power of the Acts’ Church at the beginning of the age, yet go Beyond Pentecost onto a greater glory, the glory of Tabernacles.
“In the beginning of the age, the church was not established or part of the status quo. It was not comfortable in the world or endowed with worldly power. It was not favored or supported by institutional power or mainstream culture, but rather was, by these, opposed. Yet, in the ensuing centuries, it would become increasingly joined to the world and worldly power. By so being, it would lose the spiritual power it once had. It moved from being a revolutionary entity to one of the status quo. The church was never so pure, so powerful, so life-changing, so world-changing, as it was in the Book of Acts, at the beginning of the age. It was then, when its worldly power was at its least, that its spiritual power was at its greatest” (Cahn).
“The end of the age will see a great persecution waged against the followers of Jesus Christ. That persecution will not come out of the blue. The Antichrist’s rule will come in the context of a culture and world prepared for and conducive to it.”
The signs of Christ’s coming are all around us and visible to those who know the Word. Read Matthew 24.
“When the apostle Paul speaks of the Antichrist and Messiah’s second coming, he says this:
1 Thess. 2:3: That day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed.
So, there must first come a great falling away. The Greek word behind “falling away” means “to leave, to depart from one’s former stand, as in a defection from truth, a falling away from faith.”
It is the falling away from faith that will open the door for everything else that is to come.
There is only one civilization that can fall away from the Christian faith ---a “Christian” or “Judeo-Christian,” a civilization that has known the Christian faith. According to the prophecy, there will be a metamorphosis in which Christianity is transformed into a non-Christian, secular, or neutral civilization, and after that, into an anti-Christian civilization.
It is that which we are now witnessing. We have seen the secularization and dechristianization of Western civilization. We are now witnessing the next state – the anti-Christianization. A civilization that once upheld and revered biblical values now increasingly wages war against us.
Many churches have become compliant with the demands of progressive social culture instead of changing the culture to reflect Christ’s values. The Acts Church changed the world. The end-time church covers the whole world with missionaries and the Word of God; but has become compliant with the world.
“The Antichrist will rule over every tribe, tongue, and nation and, at the same time, make war with the holy ones. Therefore, he will war against those under his rule. The war against believers will be waged through governmental and governing institutions --- persecution. It is no accident that even now governments that once upheld the gospel are increasingly targeting, prosecuting, and persecuting those who uphold the gospel within their jurisdictions.”
Ted Cruz is under heavy persecuting for his stand against abortion. The persecution is so strong that few politicians have the meddle to make a stand for Pro-Life. If Melania’s stand for pro-choice was a compromise to get Donald J. Trump elected, there will be a cost to pay. I pray for her that she will repent and make an equally strong stand for the life of the baby.
Another sign of what is coming is that what had once been associated with communist and fascist dictatorships is increasingly manifesting as an emerging characteristic of Western civilization. We are witnessing a creeping progressive totalitarianism in which government, economics, and culture are being weaponized against biblical and traditional values and those who uphold them. Though it masks itself in progressive terminology, it is nevertheless a manifestation of totalitarianism, one that even now seeks to cancel, to band, to deplatform, to defund, to fire, to expel, to prosecute, to punish, and to imprison those who will not affirm it. It even seeks to decree which words and thoughts are acceptable and which must be eliminated. It is the civilization and government of the Beast.
What does Israel, and what happens to Israel have to do with the followers of Jesus, Yeshua?
Israel and the Church are intrinsically bound. The one was born of the other, Christianity, in its essence, was, is, and will always be a Jewish faith, and, at the same time, universal to all peoples. True Christians are spiritually joined to the nation of Israel, as revealed in the New Testament, grafted in to Israel’s olive tree. Our Savior is Israel’s Messiah. As Israel is the physical, flesh and blood nation of God, the church is the spiritual nation, an Israel of Spirit, a Spiritual Israel. Both correspond to each other.
In the vision of Revelation 12, the two are joined for another reason: The Dragon (Satan) wars against both the woman and her children, Israel and “those who have the testimony of Jesus.” Both are bound together in that both are the object of Satan’s wrath and focal points of his war.
The Dragon’s war in the last days will intensify against both Israel and those who follow Christ. The two must and will be increasingly and effectively joined together.
In Revelation, the Dragon, and the Beast wage war against the Lamb. There are two entities on earth that are joined to the Lamb --- the church and Israel. The church is joined to the Lamb in Spirit. He is our Savior and Redeemer. Israel is joined to Him in flesh and blood. Jesus Christ is the Messiah of Israel. The Dragon wages war against both. They are two sides of the same war, the Dragon, and the Lamb.
Do not doubt the battle around the 2024 election in the U.S.A. is the battle between the Dragon and the Lamb. The battle in Israel is the battle between the Dragon and the Lamb.
Both Israel and the Church are essential for the glorious, triumphant, overcoming Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven at the second coming of Christ.
The Church is to fulfill its mission and Israel its purpose in the land, then all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” (Ro. 11:26-27).
“The Dragon will war to keep the church from its mission and Israel from its purposes. He will seek to marginalize and alienate Israel from the nations and the church from society.” (Cahn)
“The Dragon will seek the delegitimization of each. He will challenge their right to exist. He will stir up hostility against the church and rage against Israel. He will attempt the spiritual destruction of the church and the physical destruction of Israel. The nations will in turn, persecute the followers of Messiah and seek Israel’s annihilation.
The closer we come to the end of days, the more important it will be for the two people of Messiah to stand as one. The coming together has already begun. That Israel’s greatest friends are those who follow Jesus Christ and are known as Christians is more evident now than it has ever been. As for the church, it has increasingly been moving to reclaiming its biblical roots as it turns increasingly from Rome to Jerusalem. The Dragon’s rage against each will accelerate their reunion. For each is destined in the end to be rejoined to the other--- just as each will be joined as the focal point of Satan’s fury--- in his rage against the woman and his war against the rest of her children.
God brought the nation of Israel into existence to bear witness of His existence. They are because He is. They exist because He exists. They continue to exist because He yet still exists. They survive despite the attempts of all hell to destroy them --- because more real than any other reality is the reality of God, and more powerful than any power is the power of God. That they have survived against all odds and all hell is a cause for rejoicing. For the Jew is the microcosm of man.
In Revelation 12, the Dragon pursues the woman in order to destroy her--- but cannot. He cannot destroy her because he cannot overcome the will and purposes of God.
It was all there in ancient times. Thousands of years before the modern world, it was all foretold. The word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah and said:
Jer. 31: 35-36: Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name): “If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the LORD, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me Forever.”
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
10115 West Hidden Lakes Lane
Richmond, TX.
Scripture from N.K.J.V. – I entered into the labors of Jonathan Cahn, The Dragon’s Prophecy. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those who I entered into their labors. I paraphrased to put into a sermon context. Quote from Max Lucado: What Happens Next?