Things are beginning to ramp up all over the world, and the huge earthquake that hit Turkey is a reminder of what YESHUA already told us would happen when He said:
Matthew 24:7-8
“For peoples will fight each other, nations will fight each other, and there will be famines and EARTHQUAKES in various parts of the world; all this is but the beginning of the ‘birth-pains.’
Another sign is that the Abrahamic Family house is now open in Abu Dhabi, which consists of a Church (Christianity), Synagogue (Judaism), and a Mosque (Islam), so the writing is clearly on the wall for a one world religion. Atlatniccouncil.org says “What is the Abrahamic family of religions? This inspiring development, which was named after Abraham-the forefather of the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam- is dedicated to the pursuit of PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.”
What is the definition of COEXIST? It calls for all people of all different RELIGIONS, along with the NON-RELIGIOUS, should recognize that NO ONE RELIGION IS MORE RIGHT OR TRUE THAN ANY OF THE OTHERS; ALL RELIGIONS ARE EQUALLY TRUE.”
This is in complete OPPOSITION to the words of YESHUA!
John 14:6
“YESHUA said, “I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life; NO ONE comes to the Father except through Me.”
They want to promote a false peace by uniting the religions of the world together, and again YESHUA said the opposite:
Matthew 10:34-37 (Hebrew)
“Moreover YESHUA MASHIACH said to His disciples, “Do not think that I Myself came to set SHALOM (PEACE) on the earth, but certainly I Myself came to SEPARATE the father from the son, and the daughter from the mother, and daughter-in law from her mother-in-law, and people acquainted ones from their acquaintances. Whosoever loves his father or his mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.”
YESHUA came to separate those who truly follow Him by accepting Him as Savior and the blood atonement He did for our transgressions, and keeping the commandments of the Torah, away from those who walking in the many false religions of the world. YESHUA did not come unite the false religions together, so how can all religions be equally true? That is a lie from Satan! Following the NARROW path of having faith in YESHUA and keeping the commandments of the Torah causes division amongst those who are not truly following Him, and the gap is widening. YESHUA says plainly that no one can come to our Father YAHWEH except through believing in Him, which clearly shows that there are NOT 1,000 different ways to have eternal life and that goes for Muslims, Buddhists, Hinduism, New-Age, any form of Judaism that denies Him etc. In other words, we are all NOT praying to the same ELOHIM! YAHWEH, YESHUA, and the RUACH HA’KODESH is the only true ELOHIM! People already hate YESHUA, but how much more will they hate Him and us, when we are telling them that their one world religion is false and there is only ONE WAY!
Matthew 24:9
At that time you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and put to death, and all peoples will HATE YOU BECAUSE OF ME.” The Hebrew says, “ON ACCOUNT OF MY NAME.”
John 15:19-20
“If you belonged to the world, the world would have loved its own. But because you do not belong to the world on the contrary, I have picked you out of the world---therefore the world HATES YOU. Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will PERSECUTE you too; if they kept My word, they will keep yours too.” But they will do all this to you on My account, because they don’t KNOW the One who sent Me.”
2 Timothy 3:12
“And indeed, ALL who want to live a righteous life united with the Messiah YESHUA WILL BE PERSECUTED…”
John 16:1-2 (CJB)
“These things I have spoken to you so that you won’t be CAUGHT BY SURPRISE. They will ban you from the synagogue; in fact, the time will come when ANYONE who kills you will THINK HE IS SERVING ELOHIM! They will do these things because they have understood neither the Father nor Me.”
John 16:1-2 (Hebrew)
“These things I have spoken to you so that you should not be hurt. They, they will put you outside the houses of their assemblies. And a time will come, that EVERY MAN who comes will try to kill you, and it will seem to him that he is DOING SERVICE TO YAHWEH. And these things they will do to you, because they do NOT KNOW THE FATHER, NOR ME.”
You see, they will persecute us because they don’t truly KNOW YAHWEH nor His Son YESHUA and they will persecute us “THINKING” they are doing the right thing in the name of the “COEXIST” movement. They will say things like “You are preaching YESHUA is the ONLY way and that the Torah must be kept, that is YOUR TRUTH and you are going against the peace we have established amongst the world!”
YESHUA said they will do this because they don’t KNOW Him or YAHWEH?
1 John 2:3-4
“The way we can be sure we KNOW HIM is we are OBEYING HIS COMMANDS. Anyone who says, “I KNOW HIM,” but ISN’T OBEYING HIS COMMANDS IS A LIAR—the truth is NOT IN HIM.”
They will think that they are doing a good work in the Name of our Father. Which reminds me of how Paul USED to think! Paul USED to reject YESHUA as the Messiah and he persecuted those who followed YESHUA. This will be their mentality against us:
Acts 26:9-11
“I USED to think IT WAS MY DUTY to do all I could to combat the Name of YESHUA from Nazareth; and in Jerusalem I did so. After receiving authority from the head priest, I myself threw many of ELOHIM’s people in prison; when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Often I went from one synagogue to another, punishing them and trying to make them blaspheme; and in my wild fury against them. I even went so far as to persecute them in cities outside the country.”
When it becomes a law to not speak against any religion, they will feel like it is there duty to combat us. Are you ready to be hated? Are you ready to stand against the world and keep preaching YESHUA? I have seen this hate first-hand while street preaching and it is increasing!
Almost two weeks ago, my brother joined me as we went downtown to a crowded area preaching the Good News and we got persecuted as expected, but one incident drives home the point I was making about how those who don’t truly know YAHWEH and YESHUA will persecute us. We came to a location on the public sidewalk that was in front of a Church, and we were talking to our new brother in YESHUA we met 5 minutes earlier, who is a Jew from Poland, when suddenly the pastor approached and asked us to move away from his church. You would think a pastor who believes in YESHUA would be all for what we were doing right? Not at all! It was obvious that he did not like the signs, which reads on the front: YESHUA is EL (God) Who became flesh and died for you, and on the back of the sign it says “YESHUA said if you love Me you will keep My commandments, Satan is lawlessness!” Though he believes in YESHUA, he hated the truth of obeying the Torah! So again, just professing faith in YESHUA does not mean you know Him and that was evidenced in that moment just as YESHUA said. This mindset will be completely in line with the COEXIST agenda. But remember this:
2 Esdras 7:88-89
“But this is the order of those who have kept the ways of the Most High, when they shall be separated from their mortal vessel. During the time that they lived in it, they laboriously served the Most High, and withstood DANGER EVERY HOUR, THAT THEY MIGHT KEEP THE LAW OF THE LAWGIVER PERFECTLY.”
Through the RUACH HA’KODESH (The Set-Apart Spirit) we will have the strength and boldness to continue to keep the commandments even under such persecution. My brothers and sister this is all a cause to rejoice because YESHUA already told us this would happen and lets see how our ancestors handled these situations.
Rejoice! Our ancestors knew this was a good thing!
Polycarp’s letter to the Philippians (Written 108 AD)
Chapter 1
“I have greatly REJOICED with you in our Master YESHUA HA’MASHIACH, because you have followed the example of true love as displayed by ELOHIM, and have accompanied, as became you, those who were BOUND IN CHAINS, THE FITTING ORNAMENTS OF SAINTS, AND WHICH ARE INDEED THE DIADEMS OF THE TRUE ELECT OF ELOHIM and our Master…”
Let that sink in my brothers and sisters, Polycarp who was a disciple of John understood that persecution and imprisonment are the true jewels for the saints of YAHWEH! Wow! This makes perfect sense why YESHUA said to rejoice when persecution happens, because we are being adorned with jewels that are fitting for the saints.
Matthew 5:10 (Hebrew)
“Blessed are those who BEAR THE PERSECUTIONS because of RIGHTEOUSNESS, for theirs will be the heavenly kingdom.”
What is righteousness?
Deuteronomy 6:25 (CJB)
“It will be RIGHTEOUSNESS for us IF we are careful to OBEY ALL THESE COMMANDMENTS before YAHWEH our ELOHIM, just as He ORDERED US TO DO.”
Matthew 5:11-12 (Hebrew)
“Blessed ones you will be when the men curse you, and PERSECUTE YOU, and say all kinds of evil things against you, and lie--- because of Me. SHOUT WITH JOY-your wages are GREAT IN THE HEAVENS, for so they PERSECUTED THE PROPHETS who were before you.”
Paul and Silas understood this rejoicing while in prison knowing that the chains are the jewels of the saints:
Acts 16:19-25
“But when her owners saw that what had come out was any further prospect of profit for them, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the market square to face the authorities. Bringing them to the judges, they said, “These men are causing a lot of trouble in our city, since they are Jews. What they are doing is advocating customs that ARE AGAINST THE LAW FOR US TO ACCEPT OR PRACTICE, since we are Romans.” The mob joined in the attack against them, and the judges tore their clothes off them and ordered that they be flogged. After giving them a severe beating, they threw them in PRISON, charging the jailer to guard them securely. Upon receiving such an order, he thew them into the inner cell and clamped their feet securely between heavy blocks of wood. Around midnight, Paul and Silas WERE PRAYING AND SINGING HYMNS TO ELOHIM, while the other prisoners listened attentively.”
Notice they weren’t depressed and questioning YAHWEH’s will for their lives? They knew that this is what we are called to endure as followers of YESHUA! It’s just up to us to heed this words and put them into practice.
Peter and John rejoiced as well:
Acts 5:40-42
“After summoning the emissaries and flogging them, they commanded them NOT TO SPEAK IN THE NAME OF YESHUA, and let them go. The emissaries left the Sanhedrin OVERJOYED at having been considered WORTHY OF SUFFERING DISGRACE ON ACCOUNT OF HIM.” And not for a single day, either in the Temple court or in private homes, did they stop teaching and proclaiming the Good News that YESHUA is the Messiah.”
1 Thessalonians 1:6
“You, indeed, became imitators of us and of the Master; so that even though you were going through SEVERE TROUBLES, you received the Word with JOY from the RUACH HA’KODESH (The Set-Apart Spirit).
YESHUA told us that we will be hated for His Name in Matthew 24:9 and we see the Sanhedrin attempted to ban them from saying YESHUA’s Name and preaching about His resurrection, but notice that they continued preaching YESHUA anyway, despite the threats because this is what we are called to do.
Imprisonment and persecution
Acts 4:1-3
“Peter and John were still speaking to the people when the priests, the captain in charge of the Temple police, and the Sadducees came upon them, very annoyed that they were teaching the people the DOCTRINE OF RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD and offering YESHUA as proof. The Temple police ARRESTED THEM; and since it was evening, they put them in custody overnight.”
Acts 6:8-13
“Now Stephen, full of grace and power, performed great miracles and signs among the people. But opposition arose from members of the Synagogue of the Freed Slaves (as it was called), composed of Cyrenians, Alexandrians and people from Cilicia and the province of Asia. They argued with Stephen, but they could not stand up against his wisdom of the Spirit by which he spoke. So they secretly persuaded some men to allege, “We heard him speak blasphemously against Moses (Torah) and against ELOHIM.” They stirred up the people, as well as the elders and the Torah-teachers; so they came and ARRESTED him and led him before the Sanhedrin.” There they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this set-apart place and against the Torah; for we have heard him say that YESHUA from Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs of Moses handed down to us.”
Acts 12:1-4
“It was around this time that King Herod began ARRESTING and PERSECUTING certain members of the Messianic community; and he had James, John’s brother, put to death by the sword. When Herod saw how much this pleased the Judeans, he went on to ARREST Peter as well.”
Acts 21:28-33
“Men of Yisra’el, help! They shouted, “This is the man (Paul) who goes everywhere teaching everyone things against the people, against the Torah and against this place! And now he has even brought some gentiles into the Temple and defiled this set-apart place! They had previously seen Trophimus from Ephesus in the city with him and ASSUMED that Paul had brought him into the Temple. The whole city was aroused, and people came running from all over. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the Temple, and at once the gates were shut. But while they were ATTEMPTING TO KILL HIM, word reached the commander of the Roman battalion that all Jerusalem was in turmoil. Immediately he took officers and soldiers and charged down upon them. As soon as they saw the commander, they quit beating Paul. Then the commander came up, ARRESTED him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done.”
Philemon 1:10
“My request to you (Philemon) concerns my son, of whom I became the father while here in PRISON, Onesimus.”
1 Thessalonians 2:13-16
“Another reason we regularly thank ELOHIM is that when you heard the Word of ELOHIM from us, you received it not merely as a human word, but as it truly is, ELOHIM’s Word, which is at work in you believers. For, brothers, you came to be imitators of ELOHIM’s congregations in Judah that are united with the Messiah YESHUA---you SUFFERED the same things from your countrymen as they did from the Judeans who both killed the Master YESHUA and the prophets, and chased us out too. They are displeasing ELOHIM and opposing all mankind, by trying to keep us from SPEAKING TO THE GENTILES, so that they may be delivered. Their object seems to be always to make their iniquities as bad as possible! But ELOHIM’s fury will catch up with them in the end.”
1 Thessalonians 3:1-3
“So when we could no longer stand it, we agreed to be left in Athens alone and sent Timothy, our brother and ELOHIM’s fellow worker for the Good News of the Messiah, to make you solid and encourage in your trust; so that none of you would let these PERSECUTIONS unsettle him. For you yourselves know that these are bound to come to us; even when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were ABOUT TO BE PERSECUTED; and indeed IT HAPPENED, as you know.”
Whether imprisonment or death its pleasing to YAHWEH:
The greatest example of all was YAHWEH giving up His own Son YESHUA for humanity!
Isaiah 53:10 (Dead Sea Scrolls)
“Yet YAHWEH was WILLING TO CRUSH HIM, and He made HIM SUFFER. Although you make His soul an offering for iniquity…”
Psalms 116:15 (Aramaic)
“Precious in the sight of YAHWEH is the death of His saints.”
We see a good example of this with Peter:
John 21:15-19 (Hebrew)
“Then, as he ate, YESHUA said to Simon Peter, “Simon of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” Then he answered, Master, yes—you know that I love you.” So YESHUA said to them, “Keep my lambs.” Then YESHUA asked him again, “Simon Peter, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” So Simon said, “Yes Master, you know that I love you.” Then YESHUA said unto him, “Shepherd and feed My lambs.” He asked Him a third time, Simon of Jonah, do you love Me? (Now Peter was anxious because he had asked him three times if he loved him.) He said to him, “Master knowing all things, you know that I love you!” So YESHUA said to him, “Feed My flock. Truth I say to you---when you were a young man you were staying and going to the place of your pleasure, but when you become and elder you will stretch out your hand and another will go after you and drive you into a place that you do not find pleasure in.” And YESHUA said this, alluding with what DEATH HE (PETER) WOULD ESTEEM EL.”
1ST Epistle of Clement 5:24-31
“But not to dwell upon ancient examples, let us come to the most recent spiritual heroes. Let us take the noble examples furnished in our own generation. Through envy and jealousy, the greatest and most righteous pillars of the Assembly have been PERSECUTED AND PUT TO DEATH. Let us set before our eyes the illustrious apostles. Peter, through unrighteous envy, endured not one or two, but numerous labors and when he had at length suffered MARTYDOM, DEPARTED TO THE PLACE OF ESTEEM DUE TO HIM. Owing to envy, Paul was obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled to flee, and stoned. After preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation DUE TO HIS FAITH, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the EXTREME LIMIT OF THE WEST, and SUFFERED MARTYDOM under the prefects. Thus was he removed from the world, and WENT INTO THE SET-APART PLACE, having proved himself a striking example of patience.”
Philippians 1:21-25
“For to me, life is the Messiah, and DEATH IS GAIN. But if by living on in the body I can do fruitful work, then I don’t know which to choose. I am caught in a dilemma: my desire is to go off and be with the Messiah --- THAT IS BETTER BY FAR --- but because of you, the greater need is to stay on in the body. Yes, I am convinced of this; so I know I will stay on with you in order to help you progress in the faith and have JOY IN IT.”
The sole purpose of this message is to strengthen the Body of Messiah to understand what is coming and not to panic, but rather REJOICE and stand strong for YESHUA as our ancestors did! This should be exciting times for those who know that this world is not our permanent home and that we are just passing through. Embrace the jewels of the saints and be prepared to lose your life in this world to gain it in the world to come, and receive the crown that won’t fade away.
As always may our Father YAHWEH bless you in YESHUA’s Name!