Deception, and persecution

http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_245233308.html

Published: September 02, 2007 11:33 pm
By Mannix PorterfieldRegister-Herald Reporter

...Does the secret actually lie within the spiritual realm, as some fundamentalist Christians maintain?

Many a Web site advocates the position that UFOs are nothing more than demon spirits, part of Satan’s army, released in the “last days” to delude earthlings and provide a convenient explanation for the antichrist to explain the Rapture of the saints just before the seven-year Tribulation unfolds...

...As two magazine writers dig into a sighting in a small Texas town, a veteran government worker whose former agency was involved in the UFO controversy for years before his conversion, tells them, “I think the world is going to end soon and we’re living in the last days. As Christians, we believe that the Rapture is the next big event on God’s calendar. The devil knows this and he’s going to do everything he can to explain the event away. Now, that’s where the UFO phenomenon really comes into play.”

David's Analysis:

"as Christains, we believe that "the Rapture" is the next big event on God's calendar"...

He seems to speak for all Christians here... not that what the world thinks is of the utmost importance, but "the Rapture" is, I believe, going to be one of the falsehoods(as opposed to "the gathering of the elect" when the Lord appears, cf. Matt 24, Revelation 10, Revelation 6, 2 Thessalonians 2) that will serve to "disprove" Christianity to the world.

When it doesen't happen, and the events of the 70th week continue to unfold, many Christians will be unprepared for what will occur. Many will not want to accept the reality of what is happening, until it becomes undeniable.

I do believe that the last-days deception will(and already does) involve demons guised as extra-terrestrials, but this article, and some Christians, hold to little fallacies that can go a long way towards making it appear logical that Christians are deluded for not believing in ET's. One of them is:

"Many a Web site advocates the position that UFOs are nothing more than demon spirits, part of Satan’s army"

While I believe that the ET's themselves will either be demons, or perhaps nephilim(human-demon hybrids, or "demigods", cf. Job 38, Genesis 6), the UFO's themselves are real, physical aircraft, likely constructed by our govt. with the help of these demons or nephilim, who have deceived the government into thinking that they are extra-terrestrials.

For a UFO itself to be a spirit is contrary to logic and common sense... one reason why the world will rightly not buy that idea. The article continues, about the UFO's,

"released in the “last days” to delude earthlings and provide a convenient explanation for the antichrist to explain the Rapture of the saints just before the seven-year Tribulation unfolds..."

We can credit things such as the "Left Behind" series for presenting this idea to the world as truth, and what is believed by all fundamental Christians, when it is neither. False terminology ("seven-year Tribulation" as opposed to "Daniel's 70th week", which includes a 3 1/2 year "great tribulation", but is never designated as "the Tribulation" in Scripture) and false ideas(that the entire 70th week is equated with God's wrath, an idea that is not found in Scripture either) are going to collapse as prophecy unfolds, leaving Christains to appear to the world as gullible, deceived, and in error. We will pay a price for our lack of discernment, our lack of bereanism, and our sensationalism. All things can only be permitted by God's will, though, and He will bring us safely(in spirit) through the reprocussions of our mistakes.

Ps 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. 24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

Is it really a great thing if the entire world turns against us? We may perish in persecution as a result of their deception, but this is nothing new.

2Ti 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution

What is to be our response?

Ro 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Our souls cannot be harmed... even if the entire world stands against us, all they can do is harm this physical shell, and cause us to fear, which will not last anyways. Our hope does not lie in preservation from earthly harm:

Mt 10:27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. 28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Our non-resistance to persecution is a great safeguard... it assures that the world will have nothing to validly bring against us, other than past mistakes. It assures that we are peaceful, although we may appear paranoid to the deceived.

2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

This, also, is part of the Lord's plan. While it may appear dismal and dark,

Ro 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

My honest prayer is that the Lord will preseverve myself and others from persecution... I would love to be one of those that "are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord"(1 Thess. 4:15,17). In case that is not what is planned for me, though, I am trying to be ready for persecution when it comes. To quote Corrie Ten Boom, a Christain survivor of the Nazi concentration camps:

"In China, the Christians were told, "Don't worry, before the tribulation comes you will be translated – raptured." Then came a terrible persecution. Millions of Christians were tortured to death. Later I heard a Bishop from China say, sadly, "We have failed. We should have made the people strong for persecution rather than telling them Jesus would come first. Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution, how to stand when the tribulation comes – to stand and not faint."