The Power of Prayer and the Election

I am going to deviate from my discussion of the Second Coming of Christ to speak on what has been a miracle election in our country. This national election for the president of the United States has been an event that is unprecedented in the history of our country, and I cannot let it go by without saying something about it. I will show you through biblical scriptures how and why the media did not get what they wanted or what they predicted. I will also show you why they now cannot understand how Hillary lost and how Trump became our president elect.

(Again this is a rather long blog, however I hope that you will take the time to read it. I have divided it into sections and topics so that you can have starting and stopping points if you cannot read the entire blog in one setting. I hope you enjoy it!)

The Power of Prayer

Over the years, I have studied about the importance of prayer in not only the small everyday things in our lives, but also in the large events of which we may feel that we have no control or at least very little control. Christians know that prayer makes a tremendous difference in how we get through life, and it makes a difference in even such things as a presidential election. Certainly, without prayer this election could have turned out much differently.

In studying about prayer, I have discovered that as Christians we often fail to pray and ask for God’s will to be done in our lives. Furthermore, we often only pray when we don’t know what else to do or when we think praying is a last resort. However, we should be praying every day and several times a day. In fact, the Apostle Paul told the Philippians and us that “in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.”  -- (Philippians 4: 6. Amplified). This means that we should pray every day and continually talk to God about our needs, wants, and desires. For, prayer is us having a personal conversation with God through His Son, Jesus Christ, who is our intercessor before God the Father.

Prayer is God’s gift of communication to us so that we can talk to God on a moment by moment basis. Indeed, God wants us to talk to Him and to express our needs while at the same time showing God that we are relying on and trusting Him for His perfect will in our lives. Moreover, God wants us to not only pray for the small things in life, but also pray for help with our personal problems and for our nation. In fact, God said to the Israelites in the book of Second Chronicles, “If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” – (II Chronicles 7: 14). The Israelites needed help in restoring their land and God wanted the people to pray and return to Him.

Christians are God’s adopted children. Just like the Israelites, we are His people. This means God will also hear our prayers, if we humble ourselves as we seek God and turn from our wicked ways. That is why, when Christians all over this nation, humbled themselves and prayed for Trump to win over Hillary, that God heard our prayers and was willing to give us a second chance to right the direction of our country. I know the unsaved liberal media will never understand this, but prayer is the reason that Trump won.

Unfortunately, many people give up praying when they can’t see that they got what they asked for from God. But, prayer is not just about getting what we want, it is about praising the Lord, acknowledging His greatness, and expressing our gratitude for everything in the world that He has given to us to enjoy. Prayer is also about expressing our gratitude for each day that we live and for the provisions and the protection that God has blessed us with throughout each day. There are, however, those times when Christians should come together and pray specifically for the greater good of our nation or for the greater good of something that will benefit someone or will provide help when someone is in need. That is why Christians often come together in church services to collectively pray for the needs of others.

We can individually or collectively pray to God for His will to be done in our lives when we don’t know what to do or when we need God’s help, just as when Christians across our nation came together and prayed for Trump to win. (We do not all have to be in the same room or pray at the same time, but it is important that we do set aside time to pray specifically for our nation or any other national or world need, which is what Christians did in praying for this election). We recognized that it was important for us to pray and that we can’t just sit back and let others do all the praying. So, authentic Christians everywhere prayed for God to save our nation.

Christians trusted in and had faith that God would hear their prayers, but Christians understood, too, that God might have chosen to not answer our specific prayer about Trump. For, we know that that as a nation, we have fallen so far below God’s standards, and that God could have chosen to punish our nation with a socialist/would be communist, such as Hillary. (In case you didn’t know, “progressivism” is just a new word for socialism and socialism is just one step from communism.). We are so thankful that God chose to give us a second chance. Now, it is up to president Trump and the new congress to turn our nation around before it falls off the economic and moral cliff. But, we can’t stop praying now, for we have to continue to pray for the renewal of our nation and its safety. It is also up to Christians everywhere within our nation to stand up for their faith and not let the bullies take away our freedom of religion. For, it is the bullies of political correctness and liberalism that are trying to change our country. But, to keep the Christian roots of our country, we will need to keep in constant prayer and listen for the Holy Spirit’s direction and God’s words for our lives and for the nation.

As followers of Christ, we are to trust in the Lord, and pray through Christ, who is our intercessor before God. Christ presents our prayers and the Holy Spirit touches our hearts with the answers to our prayers. Jesus said, “And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive.”  -- (Matthew 21: 22. Amplified). Christians everywhere believed that God would save our nation, and they prayed in faith, believing, that God would give us a second chance.

David in the Older Testament certainly believed in faith that God would answer his prayers. In fact, we have many of David’s prayers of faith in the book of Psalm. For, David relied on God to keep him safe as he ran from the enemy.  One of the prayers of David found in the book of Psalm is filled with not only supplication, but is also filled with adoration, glory, and honor to God. This particular Psalm gives us an example of a beautiful prayer that David sent up before God, starting with David’s preamble to his prayer. David prayed, “Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and distressed, needy and desiring.” – (Psalm 86: 1. Amplified). Notice that the first thing that David did in his prayer was to humble himself before the Lord.

Next David tells the Lord that “I trust in You [leaning and believing on You, committing all and confidently looking to You, without fear or doubt].”  -- (verse 2). Then David, glorifies and honors God by praising Him for Who He is.  David says, “For You, O Lord, are good, and ready to forgive [our trespasses, sending them away, letting them go completely and forever]; and You are abundant in mercy and loving-kindness to all those who call upon You.”  -- (Verse 5). “For You are great and work wonders! You alone are God.”  -- (Verse 10).

David also comes to God in supplication asking for God’s help. For, in this prayer, David makes a request of God to: “Preserve my life, for I am godly and dedicated; O my God, save Your servant, for I trust in You, …”  -- (Verse 2). David had been continually pursued by King Saul who wanted to kill him. In fact, there were many times when David prayed for protection from King Saul and his enemies, and God answered each and every prayer. Ultimately, God not only answered each of David’s prayers, but God also arranged for David’s future. For, God had a plan for David’s life. David later became King of Israel after the Philistines killed King Saul in battle. So, God not only protected David, but God set up David as King of his own nation. That nation, Israel, will continue through to our Savor, Jesus Christ, when He comes back to earth to rule. 

In this particular case, God not only answered David’s prayer for protection, but He gave him much more. Moreover, David knew that it was God Almighty who had his life in His palms. Indeed, David understood that He first needed to come before God in humility and love, before he asked for anything. If we do the same then we, too, will receive answers to our prayers.

Not all answers to our prayers, though, will be what we may want to hear. For, God has a plan for our lives that we cannot see. Although God’s plan for us personally may not be to make us a King or Queen, we need to trust in God and acknowledge that His plans are greater than ours. (See Isaiah 55: 8, 9). Furthermore, we also know that the Holy Spirit will touch our hearts to give us comfort or to instill God’s answer in our minds or in our lives. However, whatever the answer, we know in faith that God will help us through any situation. For, God wants to be there for us, but we have to first acknowledge Him and our Savior, Jesus Christ, through prayer, trust, and faith. We first need to become a child of God’s. Then, we have to allow God to lead us as we live for Christ.

We should always have trust in God and faith in the fact that God will do what He feels needs to be done to bring to fulfillment His plans for our lives and for the lives of those around us. We also must realize that prayer is not magic or something that is superstitious. Rather, prayer is communication with the powerful One and Only God of the Universe and beyond. So, we are to pray to God and talk to Him just as we would talk to a best friend, while at the same time remembering to give God, and His Son, the glory and honor that they deserve. David expresses His love and honor of God and His Son beautifully when he says, “But You, O Lord, are enthroned forever; and the fame of Your name endures to all generations. … When the Lord builds up Zion, He will appear in His glory; He will regard the pleas of the destitute and will not despise their prayer. Let this be recorded for the generation yet unborn, that a people yet to be created shall praise the Lord.”  -- (Psalm 102: 12, 17, 18. Amplified). Then David continues in the next Psalm, “Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul; and all that is deepest within me, bless His holy name!”  -- (Psalm 103: 1 Amplified). How many of us can say that we have prayed something similar in our prayers to the Lord, or how many of us have put our compete trust in the Lord?

We must pray with thoughtfulness and discernment

Prayer is powerful. But, this does not mean that we will always get what we pray for. Nor, does it mean that in getting what we want, that we will not have other issues for which we need to pray to God. However, it does mean that God wants to hear from us, and He will answer our prayers with a yes, no, or not at this time answer. But be careful for what you pray. King Hezekiah in the book of Isaiah, prayed for God to extend his life. He was dying and he wanted to live. So, God told His prophet, Isaiah: “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father; I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add to your life fifteen years.”  -- (Isaiah 38: 5. Amplified). But one of Hezekiah’s sons that was born to him during those extra fifteen years became Hezekiah’s successor. That son was ruthless, and he spent fifty-five years undoing all the reformation that had been done in Israel by Hezekiah. Hezekiah’s son took Israel back to idol worship and even killed God’s prophets.

We, too, need to be careful for what we pray. For, we have also seen how in praying for diversity and for a president who represents a different ethnic culture that like God’s gift to Hezekiah God may give us what we have prayed to receive. But, it was not until that president, who was in office for as little as eight years, was able to undermine the democracy of our nation, and bring our nation back to the brink of civil war between the races through his executive decisions and in looking the other way and leading from behind that we finally became aware that we need to be more discerning and be more willing to look beyond the political correctness of society to what is actually best for our nation. Yet, in a rush to be politically correct and embrace diversity, we embraced this president’s original idea of change, without really knowing what his ideas for change would be about.

The change that our president instituted turned out to be a personal ideological change that has nearly destroyed the fabric of our nation. So, be careful for what you pray, and first look into the background of every presidential nominee before just accepting a nominee simply because they will be the first black president or will be the first woman president. There is more to a person than their color or gender. It is the values, morals, and ethics, as well as the ideological beliefs of the nominee that will be what the nation gets from the person they choose. Those of us who lived through the Clinton presidency certainly remember the lack of values, morals and ethics that both the Clinton’s presented in their lives, not to mention the ideological beliefs that Hillary has always espoused which could change our nation into a socialistic/communistic nation. There will come a time for the first woman president, but let’s pray that the woman we choose to run for president will be highly moral, ethical and truthful as well as for the democracy of our republic.

Because we do not like to hear the word “no”, sometimes we become unhappy with the answer that God gives us to our prayer. It is the “no” and the “not at this time” answers that bother us the most, because as self-centered humans we want what we want when we want it. But we need to learn to thank God for the “no” answers as well, because God can see down the road and He knows what a “yes” answer could do to our lives. We also need to learn to rely on and depend on God for His omniscience, superior knowledge, wisdom, and His plans, which can be a hard thing for us to do. Moreover, it is especially hard to accept the “no” answers if we have not fully turned our lives over to Christ, the Son, and God, the Father. But, we need to put our faith and trust in God for all things and understand and trust that He knows what is best for us.

Making a Difference

This brings me back to this election and the prayers that were said by Christians everywhere for our nation to turn around before it runs off over the cliff. Christians everywhere not only prayed for our nation, but many also finally got the courage to get out and vote, whereas in the past many had meekly sat around and failed to vote out of apathy and frustration. Many Christians also prayed for other Christians and for all the people who had failed to vote in the past to get out and vote, because we knew that it would take as many people as possible actually getting out to vote in order to get Trump elected. Indeed, the Christians that turned out to vote made a difference in the election. Moreover, this was an important difference to make. Why?

Unfortunately, our country has been going downhill since the 1960’s. Moreover, like a roll of toilet paper that rolls faster and faster when it gets closer to the end of the roll, our nation has been rolling ever faster downhill toward socialism (progressivism) and debauchery, as all morals, values, ethics, and truth have been pushed aside as if they are trash. As the Supreme Court has been eroded with liberals and our other courts with even more liberals and ungodly men, Christians have been relegated to being ridiculed and to receiving lawsuits against them for attempting to stand up for their faith, the constitution, and their rights. That is because the liberal agenda and the ALCU has stomped on the rights of Christians in the name of inclusion and political correctness. But, with this election Christians saw a chance to put someone in office that might be able to bring our country back to some semblance of truth and back to the use of the constitution as the founding fathers intended it to be used. Because Christians prayed and got out to vote, we now have a chance to add a Supreme Court justice to the bench who believes in a constitutional justice and who knows that God is our benefactor. But without Christians coming out in droves to vote in this election we would not have gotten a chance to right our nation’s downward spiral.

The media, though, cannot understand how they lost, because they used deception and slander to put down Donald Trump. Then they brought out the big guns and attempted to ruin Trump’s character by releasing a locker room type tape that showed Mr. Trump talking badly about women. Last, but not least, they encouraged women to come forward to say that he is a sexist so that other women would not vote for him. (No one knows if these women are being truthful or not, but at least one woman was proved false in her allegations.) However, their ploys failed, because most Christians could see through their shenanigans. Moreover, the other candidate was morally and ethically corrupt, and many people just could not vote for the other candidate. So, the explanation for Trump’s success is simple: Christians prayed, believing that God would give our country a second chance, and believing that God would encourage those who had never or who had not voted in a long time to come out and vote. In this way, God created the miracle through His followers. God made Trump the president elect.

Another reason that Christians came out and voted in this election was that Christians everywhere had finally realized that they had given up control of their country to the liberals. Over the years many people had failed to get involved in voting and guiding the direction of our country. Instead, we just sat back and allowed the secular world to control our lives and the nation. But, in this election, Christians not only decided to get out and vote, but they also decided to pray. Consequently, Christians everywhere saw the power of prayer and the power of standing up for what we believe in. According to the polls and to the lying media, president elect Trump did not have a chance to win. So, how did it come about that a man who had never been in politics and had basically no backing from the political establishment could and indeed did become the president elect of our nation? In order to understand this phenomenon or this unprecedented occurrence we will need to turn to the Bible.

God puts leaders in position and removes

leaders from their position

.

First, let’s take a look at the Older Testament and the book of Daniel. In the second chapter, Daniel wrote: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever! For wisdom and might are His! He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings.” – (Daniel 2: 20, 21. Amplified). Here we discover that it is God who puts leaders into their position and it is God Who removes them. In fact, God uses the leaders and kings that He sets up to benefit a nation or to discipline a nation. But, to better understand this, let’s look a little closer at one of Daniel’s prayers and the answer that he got from God to enlighten a particular king.

Long ago, Daniel, the prophet, prayed to God and was given the answer to King Nebuchadnezzar’s question about his forgotten dream. It seems that after King Nebuchadnezzar awoke from a dream and couldn’t remember what the dream was about, that he asked all the wizards and the magicians in his country to tell him the dream. But, no one could tell the king what he had dreamed, so King Nebuchadnezzar threatened to kill the people whom he thought should be able to tell him his dream, including Daniel and his friends. But, Daniel was able to come up with the answer to the king’s dream through his faith and trust in God. So, how did Daniel find out what Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed? Well, Daniel and his friends, Hannaniah, Mishael, and Azariah started their quest for an answer by praying to God. Then God revealed the unknown dream to Daniel in a night vision. After getting the answer, Daniel first praised God before he told King Nebuchadnezzar his dream.  Let’s read what Daniel said to God.

“Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever,

For wisdom and power belong to Him.

It is He who changes the times and the epochs;

He removes kings and establishes kings;

He gives wisdom to the wise men

And knowledge to men of understanding.

It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things;

He knows what is in the darkness,

And the light dwells with Him.

To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise,

For You have given me wisdom and power;

Even now You have made known to me what we requested of You,

For You have made known to us the king’s matter.”  -- (Daniel 2: 21-23. NASB).

Notice that in Daniel’s blessing of God, he acknowledged that it is God and God alone who establishes and removes kings or leaders of kingdoms and nations. Looking back through the centuries, including all the centuries during biblical and up through medieval times and then into those centuries that have brought us into modern historical times, we can see both good and bad leaders that that were allowed to come into power for a period of time. Some of the leaders were good, but some of the leaders were down right evil. However, we can always have faith in the fact that God has been and always will be in control of this world, even when some of the leaders or kings that He has allowed to reign or to have leadership positions were evil or ruthless.

Why does God allow these evil leaders to have power over us? Well, God does not condone these evil leaders and there is no evil in God, but God does allow Satan’s evil leaders to have leadership positions in order to fulfill God’s plans in spite of the deception and evilness surrounding those that Satan and the evil and undiscerning humans have promoted to leadership positions. God allows these leaders to rise to their positions so that even through this hardship, people will turn to God and Christ and come to know that God and His Son are there to help and protect them.

People just need to have faith in God and His Son, Jesus Christ, and turn to Him for help and protection, no matter who has been placed in power. Remember that God has told us that “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, … For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” – (Isaiah 55: 8, 9. NASB). Moreover, we need to remember that God has also told us that “I know the plans that I have for you,… plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”  -- (Jeremiah 29: 11). Knowing that God is the sovereign truthful, kind, and loving God that He is, should at least help us to understand that, as humans, we can’t possibly see or understand the workings of the mind of God. We just have to believe that whatever leader that comes into power, is there because of God’s ultimate good plan for humanity, even if it seems that life has gotten hard. For, God wants as many people as will to come to the saving grace of His Son, Jesus Christ. But, for some people, it will only be through trials and hardships that they will stop and think on and then accept the Gospel message of Salvation. Although we may not understand that plan, we must trust in God’s plan. For, God wants humans to be saved and spend eternity with Him.

God Disciplines through the Leaders He Allows to Have Power

Sometimes, though, God will allow bad leaders into power when a country needs discipline or needs to turn back to Him. In modern times, God can bring about this discipline by allowing an unjust or even an ideological leader who can help to humble a nation after encouraging the people to express their own hate, lust, and idol worship in the name of tolerance, inclusion, and political correctness. Then, in humility and pain, people will eventually see that they have been deceived and that they have gone against truth and God's laws. It is then that they will turn to God and ask for God's help. Are we not experiencing hate, lust, and idol worship within our country today?. Indeed, everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes. But, when people do what is right in their own eyes and dismiss or eliminate God from their daily lives and their government, God will start the discipline process by allowing foreign nations to overtake the nation or by allowing chaos to reign from within the nation. We are experiencing the beginnings of chaos, which has been silently promoted by our sitting president who seems to want the chaos to reign. Let us pray that our new president can stop this chaos and institute a more godly nation under God before further discipline from God.

Throughout history, we can find leaders who have engaged in evil while other nations and their evil leaders or groups of people have taken over a specific nation for the express purpose of oppressing the people. This may be hard to understand, but if we look at the book of Judges in the Bible we can get an overview of what happens when God allows evil leaders or other nations to take over a country for a time period. In looking at the book of Judges, we can begin to understand the reason behind God’s plan to discipline a country.

The book of Judges is the recorded cyclical history of Israelite people falling away from their faith in God by worshipping idols and doing other evil things against God and His laws. It is cyclical because the people failed to learn their lessons and ended up repeating the same mistakes over and over again. In this particular book of the Bible we see that God disciplines the people and their nation by allowing them to be oppressed by another nation or group of people for a period of time. Sadly, the Israelite people experienced this type of discipline over and over again, as each new generation of people failed to remember what previous generations of Israelites had to live through for their failure to live for God. Consequently, God would punish them, too, by allowing another ungodly and evil group of people to overcome the Israelites for another period of time.

Each time the Israelites would be oppressed, it would take 20 or more years of oppression before the people would cry out to the Lord and ask for His help. They would finally repent of their misdeeds and their failure to worship God alone. Then they would promise to worship only God again and also promise to turn from their evil ways. In His graciousness, God would accept their repentance and would send them a deliverer who would help the Israelites to overthrow their evil oppressors. Obviously, the Israelite people would be thrilled and so would again return to worshipping God and living for Him for a while. But, as time went by the people of the next generation would again forget Who gave them their freedom, and they would forget all about their true Lord as they again lived only for themselves. Why did the next generation forget about God and do only what each deemed right in their own eyes? Well, it was because the parents did not mentor or teach their children Who God is. They did not teach their children to love God with all their hearts, minds, and souls. Does this sound familiar?

Throughout the book of Judges, is recorded the phrase: “And the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, …”. – (Judges 4, 6, 13). Gradually, the Israelites would return to worshiping idols and living for themselves rather than living for God. Another phrase that is often found in Judges is the phrase: “In those days … every man did what was right in his own eyes.”  -- (Judges 21: 25). (Does this sound familiar to you?) But, God would only tolerate so much, before He would again discipline the people. As discipline and punishment, God would once again allowed ruthless oppressors to overtake and suppress the people for a period of time. When the people could no longer stand the oppression, they would cry out to the Lord for help. Then the cycle started again with their repentance -- being delivered from their oppressors -- living for the Lord for a little while -- but finally again doing what was right in their own eyes, as they worshiped other gods besides God -- which led to them again being oppressed for years -- before they again repented and cried out to the Lord for help. Then the cycle would start all over again with their repentance. In fact, there are seven distinct cycles of sinfulness, oppression and redemption throughout the book of Judges.

Sadly, the Israelite people did not seem to learn from their past mistakes. (Does this, too, sound familiar about some people and our nation today?) For, time and again the Israelite people would suffer defeat again and again because of their rebellion against God. But this book in the Bible is not atypical to what has gone on throughout all of the world’s history. Rather, the book of Judges is just a microcosm of or an internal look at what can be seen deep within the hearts and lives of many people throughout history and even yet today. Does this type of personal and national rebellion against God remind you of where our nation might be heading today?

Obviously, God raised up our nation to be a beacon of hope and salvation to the nations of the world. We are to be an example to the rest of the world and are to individually be active relational Christian mentors to others, including to the leaders of other nations, but especially to our children. Our nation was founded on God, and our founding fathers based our Constitution on God’s laws, values, morals, integrity, ethics, etc. But, where has God’s laws, values, morals, integrity and ethics, etc. gone?

In being a Christian nation, we have had 240 years of God’s blessings and protection. But, like the people in the book of Judges, we have begun to think only of ourselves and to worship things, false gods, and ideologies other than God. We are now allowing “every man to do (did) what is right in his own eyes.” Furthermore, as a nation, we no longer respect God, with many people wanting to do away with worshipping God altogether. Moreover, we have allowed a few leaders, such as the Clinton’s and Harry Reed to destroy the concept of ethics, truth, and justness by accepting their terrible behaviors as the norm. Such things as promoting rioting, promoting shakedowns, and promoting chaos to get their way tells us that we have fallen far from the goodness and truth that God expects us to adhere to.

There are, however, many Christians who have finally had enough of the murder of unborn babies, the immorality daily expressed, the shakedowns and blackmail of individuals who get in the way of these evil leaders, as well as the evil that permeates society, and the socialistic ideas that leave God out of the picture and put down those who aren’t in the elite. Christians have had enough! So, this election was about bringing our country back to its Christian roots and about bringing all of us back to serving God. It was also about bringing back an economy that supports the middle-income people rather than just the elite. We also recognize that we need leaders who can change this nation back to a nation that protects its citizens, supports the faith of those who desire to worship God, and quits killing unborn babies. In other words, we recognize that we must discipline ourselves before God disciplines us and we are overrun by oppressors. Furthermore, we have to again become the Christian example that sets the standards for other nations as well. We have to again become an example and role-model to other nations.

We have to again become a melting pot of Americanism rather than just an America that is divided by ethnicity and race. The only way that we can do that is for Christians to again get involved in not only spreading the Gospel message, but to also become Active Relational Christian Mentors who are willing to reach out to help and empower other individuals to become the best person they can become.

Just as importantly, we have to refute the lying media and the intolerant people who are teaching our children that President elect Trump is a racist. Just because Trump wants to beef up our borders and deport the criminals does not mean that he is racist. But, in this politically correct society that believes their view of the world is more important than anyone else’s view of the world, it is hard to find the truth. That is because many people just latch on to what the media says whether or not it is the truth. In fact, people no longer research to find the truth or try to seek out the truth in their daily lives. They just accept what they hear some commentator on the news espouse. Worse still we, as a society, are allowing teachers with hidden agendas to indoctrinate our children into hating our president elect. Shame on us! What happened with teaching our children to have respect for the position of the President of the United States, whether they like the president or not? As parents, we have abdicated our role as parental teachers and mentors to our children. Now, is the time to return to our mentoring.

We Must Continue to Pray and to Mentor our Children

Christians must also continue to pray for our country and for the wisdom of President elect Trump, because he and our country are in a very vulnerable position. The world is watching how we handle this election and they are seeing a nation that has demonstrators against the outcome of our election process. So, Christians everywhere, must pray for president elect Trump’s protection and for the Electoral College not to be swayed by those who would attempt to blackmail them to get them to change their vote to Hillary. God hears our prayers and like the Psalmist may we pray: “May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. … He will answer him (us) from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand. … Save O Lord; May the King answer us in the day we call.”  -- (Psalm 20: 5, 6, 9. NASB).

Prayer is Powerful! God wants us to pray. So, lift up your voices in prayer asking that Satan will not be allowed to derail what our prayers have already accomplished. Remember that we are to: “be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  -- (I Peter 5: 8. NASB). Satan wants to devour Christians and this election, and he is using all those misguided and unethical individuals to attempt to do so. But God is more powerful than the devil. We just have to let God know that we are not going to pull our heads back into our shells and allow things to return to what they were before President-elect Trump was elected. Instead, we are going to continue to pray for our country while giving God all the glory, because the next two months or so are very crucial to the ultimate health and restoration of our nation. We cannot allow the liberal progressives to take back our nation. But, it is only through our trust and faith in God, shown through believing our prayers will be answered, that we can with God’s help and power stop Satan’s evil agenda. We need to pray, too, that our children are not indoctrinated or mentored by liberal teachers or brainwashed by those with hidden agendas. Parents need to know what our children are being taught and then correct what the teachers have said if it goes against the truth. We have to mentor our children in truth, values, morality, integrity, love, and etiquette. You can do it!

Parents everywhere should be standing up and demanding that our children not be indoctrinated, but rather given all the facts that are pertinent and necessary to their mental growth. They should be taught the truth about our Constitution, the true history of the world and our nation, mathematics, science and health, etc. But they should not be influenced by their teacher’s personal beliefs. Sadly, we have relegated the teaching of our children to a society that has a totally different worldview than those who believe in God and truth. Unfortunately, we have allowed the liberals to negate our parental teaching. Moreover, these teachers have taken on the role as active mentors to our children in order to change our children’s worldview to their teacher’s worldview.

As Christians, we are going to have to stand up for the truth and mentor not only our children, but mentor others who have been indoctrinated with hate for those who don’t agree with them. It is ironic that those who think that they are teaching tolerance are actually teaching hate and disrespect for others that don’t agree with their views on life and their views on politics.  But if we remember our history, that is exactly what Hitler did with the youth of Germany. He indoctrinated them with hate for the Jewish people and hate for the Christians who supported the Jews. We cannot let something like that happen in our country! We must not let some politically correct and misguided teachers indoctrinate our children and turn them into self-righteous hate mongers. So, we must continue to pray for our nation, our children, and the teachers who are attempting to share the truth.

Yes, Christians everywhere need to continue to pray for our nation. The enemy of hate and chaos is roaming everywhere inciting our youth and indoctrinating them with hate. We just saw God answer our prayer to give our nation a second chance, but we cannot stop praying now. It is more important than ever that we pray for the safety and peace of our nation, the safety of our president, the president’s wisdom to do the right things, and to pray for congress to come to together to accomplish the things that can get our nation back on track. We just saw how powerful the prayer of righteous people can be when we humbly come before the Lord repenting of our sinful ways and asking for help and restoration. For, the scriptures tell us that “the earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. (For example:) Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have [with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours]; and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months. (see I Kings 17:1 & I Kings 18: 42-45). And [then] he prayed again and the heavens supplied rain and the land produced its crops [as usual]. – (James 5: 16-18. Amplified). As God’s children, we can pray for this hate to stop! We can pray for the wisdom of our president elect. We can pray for congress to make the right decisions and pass the right bills. We can pray for a new health care program that negates most of Obama Care. We do not have to stop praying, because God hears our prayers!

 We have just seen what collective community prayer can accomplish. Let’s not stop now! We must continue to collectively pray for the safety and peace of our nation, for the well-being of our new President, and for the comradery of congress. We also must reach out to our children and mentor them in the truth so that when their school teachers and the news media try to indoctrinate them with false news and opinions, as well as indoctrinate them with the teacher’s or the media’s personal worldviews, that our children can see and discern the difference between the truth and someone else’s narrative. This means that we each have to become Active Relational Christian Mentors to those around us and especially to our children. So, go to it! You Can do it! You can be a great Active Relational Christian Mentor who teaches the truth and is an example of an authentic Christian who loves Christ and prays to God through Christ each and every day. 

Christ's Second Coming

Christians talk about the second coming of the Lord, but what they usually are really talking about is the Rapture when Christ calls all believers to meet Him in the air. The Second Coming is different than the Rapture. When the Rapture occurs believers will be taken from this earth and not have to experience the Tribulations Period. The Second Coming, however, occurs at the end of the Tribulation Period.

True Christians need to be very thankful that we will not be on the earth for the Tribulation or for the Second Coming. For, it is during the Tribulation Period that Antichrist, i.e., the beast as he is referred to in the book of Revelation, the false prophet, and Satan, who is also called the dragon, will control the lives of the people left behind. Some people, though, in spite of the terrible things that will happen during the Tribulation Period, will actually find their way to salvation, for God does not give up on people. Sadly, though, people give up on God or don’t believe in Him or His Son. Consequently, a great many people will not be saved, because they simply refuse to believe on Christ as their Savior. Moreover, these people, who are living during the Tribulation, will experience God’s judgment upon them and the earth. Indeed, the wrath of God will be poured out upon these unbelievers for their evil pride and their refusal to believe. But, for the sake of the elect, or for those who have turned to Christ during the Tribulation (see Matthew 24: 22) which includes both the new believers and the sealed 144,000 believing Jewish men in Revelation 7:4, God cuts short the Tribulation Period, making it only seven-year period. Otherwise, all people would be killed within the judgments that God metes out.

As we have already discovered, God gradually increases the the seal judgments and the trumpet judgments in the hopes that people will begin to realize that they need to turn to God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Some people, in spite of the danger and terrible living conditions, will indeed turn to Christ. But, their lives will be constantly in danger and they will have to hide to keep from being killed. Those that are killed for believing in Christ will become martyred saints who are in heaven awaiting judgment on those who killed them. God will avenge them when the time is right. In the meantime, "there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also."  -- (Revelation 6: 11. NASB). So, more people will turn to Christ as their Savior. However, a little later in the book of Revelation, we learn that God is going to increase dramatically the judgments on the people of the earth for refusing to acknowledge Christ as the Son of God.

The Seven Bowl Judgments or Plagues

Soon after the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowl judgments are all passed out upon the world before the end of the Tribulation Period, Christ will come a Second Time. We have already talked about the seven seals and the seven trumpet judgments. Now, we will just briefly mention the bowl judgments that are also referred to as plagues, which are actually the wrath of God that will be poured out upon the world. Still, just as with the plagues that were experienced by the Egyptians before the Israelites were allowed to leave for the Promised Land, people in the Tribulation will also stubbornly refuse to acknowledge God. Each bowl judgment or plague will be worse than the last one.

In his vision, when the first bowl judgment or plague is poured out over the earth, the apostle John said that “horrible malignant sores broke out on everyone who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue.”  -- (Revelation 16: 2. NLT). So we know that the pain will be excruciatingly terrible for those individuals. But, then the second bowl will be poured out on the sea, and the Word of God through John says, “and it became like the blood of a corpse. And everything in the sea dried up.”  -- (Revelation 16: 3. NLT). But that is not the only waters that will be turned to blood. For, when “the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs, and they became blood.” Then John heard “the angel who had authority over all water saying, ‘You are just in sending this judgment, O Holy One, who is and who always was. For your holy people and your prophets have been killed, and their blood was poured out on the earth. So, you have given their murderers blood to drink. It is their just reward.’” – Revelation 16: 4-6. NLT).

John tells us that the fourth bowl was poured out upon the sun, “causing it to scorch everyone with its fire. Everyone was burned by this blast of heat, and they cursed the name of God, who sent all of these plagues. They did not repent and give Him glory.”  -- (Revelation 16: 8, 9. NLT). I cannot image the pain and confusion that will happen to these unbelievers, but more than that, I cannot imagine them cursing God and not repenting of their sins. What hardened hearts of pride and evilness they must have at this time. If you don’t know Christ as your Savior, you shouldn’t wait to experience all these judgments. Turn to the Lord now, before the Tribulation starts. Remember, too, that none of us know when the Rapture will occur, but we do know that when the Rapture occurs that the Tribulation will start for those left behind. Will you be one of those left behind? I certainly hope not.

The fifth bowl is poured out on the beast, that is on the Antichrist and all of his kingdom. When this bowl is poured out, John says that the beast’s “kingdom was plunged into darkness. And his subjects ground their teeth in anguish, and they cursed the God of heaven for their pains and sores. But they refused to repent of all their evil deeds.”  -- (Revelation 16: 10, 11. NLT). How sad! Even knowing that they could still repent, they refused.

Although it may appear that these bowl judgments are not much different than the trumpet judgments that we talked about in another blog, they are quite different. The difference is found in the completeness of these judgments. For the trumpet judgments were dispensed in partiality. In other words, only a third of the earth, or only a fourth of the people were affected by the trumpet judgments. However, with the bowl judgments, the whole earth is affected. Another difference is that the trumpet judgments offered people the opportunity to repent when they saw the devastation of the trumpet judgment upon other people. But with the bowl judgments, people are not given an opportunity to repent before the they too feel the wrath of God. Instead, everyone will experience the bowl judgment when it is poured out on the earth. But still, these people refuse to glorify God. Instead they curse God. What hostility and unrepentant hearts these people will have. Their hearts will have hardened to the point of becoming like stone. Their evil hearts will not be able to see any good at all. Moreover, they will not recognize why they are receiving these judgments because they think that they have done nothing wrong.

It is the sixth bowl judgment or plague, though, that will actually set the stage for the battle of Armageddon for when Christ returns. For John tells us that “The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that way would be prepared for the kings of the east.”  -- (Revelation 16: 12. NASB). How did this judgment prepare the world for the battle of Armageddon? Well, the Euphrates river is a great dividing line that naturally provides a protective barrier that easily keeps eastern armies from crossing over.  But, if the river dries up, there is nothing to keep these armies from invading the countries on the other side of the river.

The seventh bowl judgment occurs when “the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done.” And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And huge hailstones, and about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and the men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.”  – (Revelation 16: 17-21. NASB). The seventh bowl judgment takes place on the last day of the Tribulation Period, probably right after the battle of Armageddon. Can you imagine what kind of hardened hearts that the people must have, though, to continue to blaspheme God instead of turning to Him for repentance and hope? Little do they know, but their complete and final judgment is not far behind.

The seventh bowl judgment is actually the beginning of the total destruction of this earth that will eventually come about to bring to bring in the creation of the new earth and Christ’s heavenly reign. But only those who have turned to Christ in repentance for their sins will be able to enter into a life on the new earth. All others will end up in the Lake of Fire.

The Second Coming of Christ

It is only after these bowl judgments, which express the wrath of God, are all poured out as described in Revelation chapter 16, that the end of the Tribulation period is brought about by the appearance of Christ. (Take a moment to read chapter 16 so you can get the full impact of all these bowl judgments.).  But, Christ’s coming isn’t a peaceful appearing event. For Christ comes with armies prepared to do battle, and there is a battle that will immediately be fought.

As mentioned previously, it is after the judgment seat or the appearance of all Christians before the Bema seat in heaven where believers will receive any earned rewards and crowns that they deserve, and it is only after the celebration of the marriage supper of the Lamp, which also takes place in Heaven, that Christ will gather all the saints, i.e. all believers that are now in heaven, and everyone will follow Christ to earth to do battle. In this vision, the Apostle John saw the gathering as well as the preparation of all the believers who will accompany Christ to earth. Then, the Apostle John describes this vision of Christ and the gathering of the saints and angels which encompasses the next event that is Christ’s return or Second Coming as told within chapter 19 of Revelation. John tells us:

“I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.  His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.

He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.

From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.

And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, ‘KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.’”  -- (Revelation 19: 11-16. NASB).

John tells us that Jesus comes to earth riding on a white horse. The white horse symbolizes purity, victory, and triumph. Certainly, the people in the Apostle John’s day to whom he was writing would have understood this symbolism, because victorious Roman generals riding on white horses after coming back from battles often led a procession through the Roman streets to the cheering of crowds. Furthermore, Christians would understand that when Jesus comes back, He will no longer be just that gentle sacrificial Lamb, but rather He will be a mighty Warrior who will righteously judge both the living and the dead. In the above verses we are told that Christ will also appear as a reigning King who has the authority and power to judge everyone.

In chapter 19 and verse 11 the Apostle John tells us that Jesus is called Faithful and True. That is because Jesus faithfully fulfills all the prophecies and covenants that God has previously made. Christ is also true to all the promises He made while here on earth the first time, fulfilling all the promises. Furthermore, Christ is faithful and true, because like a Roman General, He will wage war on anyone who goes against the King. The war Christ will engage in is done to bring judgment upon those who have rejected Him here on earth.

John then tells us about Christ’s appearance. John says that Christ’s eyes are like flaming fire. This vision of flaming fire symbolizes the piercing fire of Christ’s eyes that can like purifying fire, bring out all the impurities that are in the human heart; bringing these impurities and the truth of each heart to the surface or to light to be seen and judged. In other words, no one can hide their true thoughts and heart desires from Christ. For, Christ will be able to see any deceptions or evil within a person’s heart. No one can hide from Him.

John also tells us that in this vision Christ has many diadems or crowns. This indicates that Christ is the Supreme or Ultimate Ruler and King. Additionally, John tells us that Christ “is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.” So, what does this mean? Well, having the name, “the Word of God”, means that Jesus is God. In fact, we are told that Christ is part of the Godhead or the Trinity of God in John 1:1-3; 10:30.  For the scripture says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”  -- (John 1-3. NASB).

Later in John 10: 30, Christ clearly says that He is part of the Trinity of God when He says, “I and the Father are one.” So, we learn that Christ is also the Word, which is God’s incarnate expression of Himself within the Trinity. For we are told in John 1: 14 that “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  -- (NASB). Indeed, whatever Jesus does, He does with grace and truth. Not only is He full of grace and truth, but Christ is the only begotten Son of God. So, at the Second Coming, Christ, the Son of God, not only comes with power and might, but He also comes with grace and truth.

Jesus does not come back to earth alone, though. For, we are told in the above verses that Jesus Christ will be accompanied by armies of believers. How do we know that these armies are made of up of believers? Well, John tells us that “the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.” – (Revelation 19: 14. NASB).  First, the armies are clothed in fine white linen. White linen represents purity, lack of corruption, and freedom from immorality and evil. Remember too, that the bride or Christ’s church is clothed in white linen (see Revelation 7: 9), and the bride’s clothing also represents the good deeds of believers.

Remember that God has millions and millions or billions and billions of angels that live to do His bidding. “Yes, Praise the Lord, you armies of angels who serve Him and do His will.”  -- (Psalm 130: 21. NLT). So, some of these armies that accompany Christ will also be made of up God’s angels as well. In fact, these armies will be a magnificent presentation of Christian saints and angels who accompany Christ when He returns to earth. What an awesome sight! Just as Jesus said, people will see “The Son of Man Coming In A Cloud with power and great glory.”  -- (Luke 21: 27. NASB).

These armies, though, will not be required to engage in war or engage in any battles, because Christ will do all the fighting with the sword that is coming out of His mouth. In John’s vision, “From His (Christ’s) mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.”  – (Revelation 19: 15. NASB). This is not literally a sword that is coming out of the mouth of Christ, but in this vision of a sword coming out of Christ’s mouth, it is a representation of the tremendous power of Christ’s spoken Word. Remember, that Christ spoke the earth and everything on it into existence. Then when Christ came to earth the first time, He used His spoken words to comfort, to heal, to calm the storm on the sea, to cause demons to leave the bodies of people, and to raise the dead. Christ’s words are powerful! More powerful than we can even imagine.

The sharp sword coming out of the mouth of Christ described in John’s vision is actually the fulfillment of a prophecy by Isaiah. For, Isaiah said, “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him…. And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, and He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.”  -- (Isaiah 11: 1-4. NASB).

Isaiah’s prophecy is about Christ. In fact, verse one of his prophecy tells us that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, would come from the line of Jessie who was King David’s father. And indeed, Christ came to earth and fulfilled the covenant that God made with David. Verse two of this prophecy tells us about Christ’s character and verse three tells us that He will be the judge over everyone. But, it is verse four that speaks of the future or of Christ’s Second Coming as judge of all people. We also learn in this prophecy that Christ will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and “with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.” Later in this same chapter of Isaiah, within verses six through ten which I am not including at this time, we are even told of Christ’s millennial reign. But we will talk about the millennial reign in a future blog.

It should not be a surprise to believers that Christ will speak words that will bring about the destruction of this billion-man army at Armageddon. For, whatever Christ speaks will come about. We know this because in Genesis, chapter one we learned that Christ spoke the universe into existence. How then can it be hard to believe that Christ will again use His words, or the sword of His mouth, to end the Tribulation Period by killing with His words all those who try to fight Him at the battle of Armageddon.

It is amazing and awesome to see how God has worked throughout the history of the world and how everything that He says, comes to fruition, including the birth of our Savior and the salvation that He offers to all those who will believe on Christ as the living Son of God. For those who believe on Christ, a glorious eternity awaits, but for those who do not believe, an eternity of hell and damnation is all they will have to look to.

Next, within chapter 19 John tells us about Christ’s iron rod or scepter, which will be one of the first things that all unbelievers will see when Christ returns at the Second Coming. In verse 15 of the 19^th chapter of Revelation, the Apostle John tells us that Jesus will rule the wicked with an iron rod or scepter. So instead of the traditional kingly jewel encrusted scepter that is symbolic of power, this scepter made of iron symbolizes both the power of the ruler and the type of rule the wicked will face as well as the authority with which the scepter is wielded. For, this scepter will be used to destroy Christ’s enemies.

In Psalm 2, David writes of both his own coronation as King and the coronation of Christ as the ultimate King. About Christ, David writes, “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’” – (Psalm 2: 7-9. NASB). Notice that God tells His Son that He will shatter the nations like earthenware. But, even more descriptive is the words that John writes in Revelation about shattering the nations. For, John tells us that Christ “treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.”  -- (Revelation 19: 15. NASB). We know that a winepress is a large vat used to crush or pulverize grapes so that they can be made into grape juice or wine. So, you can imagine just how pulverized or crushed the nations will be when Christ uses the words or the sword of His mouth to annihilate the armies at the battle of Armageddon. For, “You, (i.e. Christ) shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.”

When Christ returns not only will the nations have formed an alliance with the beast, i.e. the Antichrist, to fight against Christ’s armies, but most of the people in the world will be worshiping the Antichrist, who is now indwelt by Satan. People will believe that the Antichrist is all powerful, but they will be surprised when Christ and His armies burst through the heavens. There will be no doubt as to Who it is that is riding in front of all these millions of saints and angels because John tells us that “on His robe and on His thigh, He has a name written, KING of KINGS and LORD of LORDs.” – (Revelation 19: 16. NASB). This name represents Jesus’ absolute authority over all the kings and lords of this world. In other words, Christ has total power over all the earth!

The Battle of Armageddon

Eventually all the armies of the nations and the armies of the Antichrist will band together and will form an alliance against Christ, and they will be awaiting for the battle to commence on the plain of Megiddo. This plain is where the beast, i.e. the Antichrist, and the false prophet will have mustered all the armies of the world to fight against Christ. For some reason, Satan still thinks that he can win. But, we know that he can’t win this battle, because we have been given the ending. In fact, in anticipation of Satan’s armies and all the nation’s armies’ total destruction, we are told that an angel has called all birds to “Come assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of men, bot free men and slaves, and small and great.”  -- (Revelation 19: 17, 18. NASB).

These birds are being called in anticipation of a gruesome scene of death. It is the death of all Christ’s enemies that will have fallen at the battle of Armageddon. For, with the sword of His mouth, Christ will kill all the armies that have assembled against Him. Then, the birds will feast on the bodies of the dead. We are told that these birds will even eat the bodies of both the great and small individuals which includes kings and commanders as well as the ordinary soldier.

But to better understand this battle, we need to turn back to Revelation 16: 13-21. How and why did all these armies meet on the plain of Megiddo? Well, it is in these verses that we learn that the armies of the world will have finally gotten the courage to gather in Palestine to oppose the beast, i.e. the Antichrist, and his armies. However, in seeing Christ and His armies coming through the clouds, the armies of the world will suddenly unite with the beast and his armies to fight against Christ and His holy army. Although this will be the greatest battle ever to be fought, these armies are powerless against Christ and His Words. For, Christ will just speak, and they will instantly be defeated and killed. The beast and the false prophet will also be defeated, but Christ has something else in store for those two. (Remember that the beast or the Antichrist and the false prophet are demonically empowered beings. They were empowered by Satan to be the worlds’ political and the world’s religious leader. But that is not going to do them any good now.)

The Apostle John explains what happens next. John says, “I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs of his presence by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”  -- (Revelation 19: 19-21. NASB).

So, the Antichrist and the false prophet were thrown into the lake of fire. All others were killed and eaten by the birds. But what happened to Satan? Well, we have to turn to chapter 20 of Revelation to find out what happened to Satan. Here again, John tells us what happened. John says, “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.”  -- (Revelation 20: 1-3. NASB). So, for a thousand years Satan will be bound and locked up. No one will now be able to say that they were enticed by Satan to do anything wrong. Each person will be able to rely on God’s truth and be able to worship God and Christ without the presence of evil.

What happens after Christ’s thousand-year reign here on earth? Well, we will discuss that next time. For right now, think on the things that will occur during the Tribulation. If you are a Christian, be sure that you tell others about the Rapture and the Tribulation Period after you have first shared the Gospel message. For some people, it will be enough to know that Christ will cleanse them of all their sins and for them to know that God loves them so much that He sent His Only Son as a sacrifice for their sins. It will be enough to know that Christ is alive and that life can be so much better through the gift of salvation. For, all they need to do is repent of their sins and ask Christ to forgive them and then ask Christ to come into their heart. If they do so, they will find such joy and happiness in knowing Christ. Be sure to tell them about the Rapture and how they can look forward to an eternity spent with God. But other unbelievers may need to be told about the Tribulation period and the final outcome in order to get their attention. They will need to understand that those who refuse to believe on Christ will really be left behind to face the consequences and that the consequences are not pretty.  Hopefully this will make an impression on them. If they still reject Christ, they at least know what they can expect to face at some future date. 

As Christians who are sharing the Gospel message with other people, we will know when it is time to discuss the Tribulation Period. But, we can’t discuss it if we do not know about it. In fact, it is important to know everything we can about the Word of God so that we can share what we know with others. Moreover, God has given us everything in His Word to help us live abundant and joyous lives. We have to read and study His Word, though, if we desire to have that abundant and joyous life. We also have to study God’s Word in order to be great Active Relational Christian Mentors who can speak godly words into the lives of others and can help people. You can do it! You can be a great Active Relational Christian Mentor. You can do it! You can share the Gospel message! You can help others.

If you have not yet asked Christ to cleanse you from your sins and to forgive you, you too can still do so and have salvation. With a truly repentant heart, just ask Christ to forgive you and then in belief of Him as the risen Son of God, ask Christ to come into your heart and give you the rebirth that He longs to give you. You will then experience the joy of salvation and look ever forward to an eternity with God! You can do it!  You can be saved!