Discerning the Times
By Dr. Ken Matto
And of the children of Issachar, which were men
that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads
of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their
commandment. (1 Chronicles 12:32)
During the time when David became king of Israel in the
place of Saul, the children of the tribe of Issachar were considered men that
had understanding of the times and it was for the purpose of knowing what Israel
was to do since Saul had died and David was now the rightful king.
The word “understanding” carries with it the meaning of “knowledge,
meaning or wisdom.” The word “times”
is an interesting word because it has a cognate with the Hebrew word “ad” which
carries with it the meaning of “eternity, everlasting, perpetually.”
It also is a synonym to “Olam” which means “eternity or everlasting.”
There is more to this than just knowing the actual time and events.
Knowing them has a greater purpose than just knowledge.
What we see happening in our country and also in many
places around the world it is not a coincidence nor is it just people being paid
by the left to destroy. It goes
further than that. It seems that
within the last twenty years, there has been an exponential rise in sinful
activity all around this world.
Human life has been devalued as people are murdered each day by the hands of
citizens and the government beginning with 9/11 when the Global Elite took down
the Twin Towers and building seven which was not even touched by the
“airplanes.” Since that time it
seems that life and living conditions in this world has been deteriorating and
getting worse by the day. As I write
this there is looting and rioting in many cities which was well-funded by the
Global Elite. It goes further than
that.
It is true that many billionaires are now taking
authority over the people and none of them have been elected to office yet they
are wielding unfettered authority as many of the politicians are in their
pockets.
5 And the devil, taking him up into an high
mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and
the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I
give it. (Luke 4:5-6)
Remember the temptations of Christ as Satan tried to get
Jesus to bow down and worship him?
If you notice in verse 6, there are two major rewards for worshipping Satan.
The first is “power” which is the Greek word “exousia” which means
“authority or jurisdiction.” The
second is the “glory” which is the Greek word “doxa” that carries the meaning of
“honor, praise, and dignity.” So
power and glory are given to those who worship Satan and that does not
necessarily mean that they are bowing to a statue of Satan or wearing
pentagrams. They are showing worship
by doing the will of Satan making him their master and doing the works which
line up with satanic values. Now we
have always had people who were sinful and desired power and glory for
themselves but they were not as visible as they are now.
As I previously mentioned, it seemed that sinful activity has cropped up
exponentially and there is a biblical reason for that and it is found in
Revelation 20:7-9:
7 And when the thousand years are expired,
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to
deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog,
to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of
the sea. 9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and
compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down
from God out of heaven, and devoured them. (Revelation 20:7-9)
According to Daniel 7:25, Satan will “change times” and
this is exactly what he has done by getting people to believe that there is
going to be a physical 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth.
The thousand years is representative of the entire New Testament period.
Once the New Testament period is completed which is from the first coming
of Christ to the return of Christ, then the end of the world shall come.
Just before the second coming, there is a little window of time when
Satan will be given a free hand (but still under the authority of God) to go out
and deceive the nations of the world.
What we are seeing at present
is that a virus with over a 99% recovery rate has literally shut down the world
by deception perpetrated by the media and yes that includes Fox News.
When it says that Satan will be loosed out of his
prison, it is telling us that the great chain which kept him tied has now been
taken out of the way which is the Holy Spirit who applies salvation to the
Elect. For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the
way. (2 Thessalonians 2:7) Satan will no longer be hindered as he makes the
final attempt to make war against the Lord Jesus Christ and the body of
believers. The Holy Spirit has been taken out of the way as the great restrainer
of evil because now comes the final battle with Satan and he must be allowed to
muster whatever forces he can for this battle.
Gog and Magog represent the entire world. This verse
tells us that Satan is going to attempt to muster every evil spirit he can to
come to the great and final battle. We saw this battle previously as Armageddon
in Revelation 16. Satan will apparently be able to muster a countless number of
demons who will attempt one final battle against the Kingdom of God. This
deception right before the return of Christ will see many false religions and
false gospels come into existence. If you notice that Satan’s last weapon in his
repository is deception, so the extreme final days of earth will produce
pandemic deception in the area of the gospel as he will try and make one major
attempt to attack the body of believers by trying to deceive them.
This will also include the closing of all the churches and the
governments of the world will do what they can to keep them all closed while
Mosques and Synagogues will be able to remain open.
They shall put
you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will
think that he doeth God service. (John 16:2)
We see this happening all over the world where Christians are being
physically killed but there is a principle in this verse which applies to our
present time. With the attacks upon
the churches and the government closing them they are in essence killing the
gospel by silencing the Christians.
Many Christians will not do things by themselves and are much more comfortable
being with other Christians. The aim
of the unbelieving person whether government or not is the destruction of
Christianity.
Satan will make one last great sweep of the earth in an
attempt to deceive all the nations with his false religions and false gospels.
His main point of attack will be the body of Christ where he will attempt to
separate the believer from the Lord Jesus Christ through false teachings. The
camp of the Saints and the beloved city are one and the same as both describe
the body of believers. If you notice that verse 9 specifically states that the
believers are still on earth during that time, they have not been raptured to
Heaven. The camp is where the body
of believers dwell on earth but they are part of the beloved city, the New
Jerusalem which is the body of believers. Just as in the time of Nehemiah when
they returned, many of the people lived outside the city walls yet they were
still part of the nation of Judah.
Then comes the end for Satan. God then sends fire down from heaven and devours
Satan and all his cohorts. The word for “devoured” in the Greek carries with it
the meaning of “destroy or consume.” It is the end for Satan and all of his
evil.
So you can see that all the things which are happening
on this earth are happening in rapid succession 9/11, war in the Middle East,
release of manufactured virus from China, destroyed economies, thousands
unemployed, riots in the city streets, China-American saber rattling and it will
just continue to escalate. It seems
these things just popped up out of nowhere and came on the scene quickly.
This is because Satan is well aware that he has but a short time.
Therefore rejoice,
ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of
the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great
wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. (Revelation 12:12)
The word “short” is the Greek word “oligos” which carries with it the
meaning of “brief, small, a season.”
It is interesting that this word carries with it the meaning of “a season”
because in Revelation 20:3 we read: And
cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that
he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be
fulfilled: and after that he must be
loosed a little season. (Revelation 20:3)
Satan is to be loosed for a little season right before the return of the
Lord.
As soon as the last one is saved in this world, then the
end will come. So what can
Christians do? One of the best
things to prepare is to get your spiritual house in order.
If you are truly saved, then you are secure.
What I mean by preparing is that since we do not know how long this
“little season” will last, we need to make sure our spiritual lives are living
in harmony with the word of God. We
need to make an all-out effort sending forth the gospel as best as we can in
these final hours. It is time to
forget about the Bachelorette or American Idol and concentrate on your spiritual
walk. It is unfortunate that
dispensationalists take the 1,000 year reign of Christ and make it literal and
then place it sometime in the future which confirms the fact that Daniel 7:25
correctly teaches that Satan changed times.
Until 1830 the correct biblical teaching of the end taught that it
commenced at the cross and would end at the second coming of Christ.
In 1830 a woman named Margaret MacDonald at the Glasgow, Scotland
prophecy conferences had trance-channeled the view that Christ was coming back
twice which is in total contradiction of Scriptural teaching.
Who is the one behind trance channeling?
It is Satan and the result of her trance-channeled teaching?
He pushed judgment day 1,007 years in the future when it could be right
on the doorstep of this generation.
He changed the times! If you follow
dispensationalism, then you are following a satanic view and will never come to
true understanding about the end times.
You will remain deceived which as we have previously read, is Satan’s
main tool in these final hours.