Evil has a beautiful side

 

Rev 20:2

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

Mentioned here are a few of the names used to identify Lucifer – dragon, serpent, devil, Satan. (Dragon in Hebrew most often refers to a great sea serpent). By association, these names therefore refer to something extremely evil. And with each of these names there is a strategy to lessen the impact of them on our children.

If we focus on dragons, we know that descriptions of them often have an uncanny resemblance to the dinosaur skeleton remains that have been unearthed so far. In fact, the word ‘dinosaur’ was not coined until the mid-1800’s – up until then these types of creatures were called dragons. Although they were dangerous animals (as are crocodiles, lions, etc.), there is nothing inherent evil in them. But the dragon referred to here in Revelation is far removed from any earthly animal created by God – it describes the evil entity called Satan in his end-time form.

It is no coincidence that there has been a surge of books and films about dragons and taming your dragon lately. In the film version, the lead character discovers that dragons, who were always considered our enemies, are actually our friends. Children are conditioned to see dragons in a good light - they are portrayed as cool and fun, and no mention is made of the evil it represents in the time we are living in. As it currently is also the Chinese Year of the Dragon, followed next year by the Year of the Snake, expect quite a bit more of the same. Many dragon art drawings are found on the internet, also colour-in pictures for children, colour-in books, and video games - collectively influencing young impressionable minds to embrace the word dragon as representing something non-threatening and acceptable. Certainly not evil.

Then there is the American custom of Halloween, which regrettably has blown over to South Africa in recent years. Children are dressed up as the devil, complete with horns and a three-pronged fork, for the occasion. Who on earth needs to be on their guard or careful around a little devil running around on the night of 31^st October, asking for trick or treat? Certainly not the dressed-up child or his friends who trust their parents to guide them into embracing truth – if my parents think it is the right thing to do, then it is, isn’t it?

Cartoons with the devil as main character have been around for some time, depicting a small devil kid still in diapers. Too cute to be evil, right? These have since morphed into cartoons for adults, with really dark themes.

Evil has to present itself as beautiful and enticing, or innocent people would not be lured into participating in it. And children are easy targets, because they rely on the perception of the adults in their lives concerning what is evil or not. Once they are hooked into the occult, even innocently, they can be desensitised step by step into going deeper into the darker side of things.

It is time for Christian parents and teachers to awaken to the fact that there is an evil agenda out there against our children, an all-out war for their souls. Search out the source of all widely accepted children’s entertainment, the time has come to be extremely vigilant!

Points to ponder:

Nothing which depicts demons, devils, monsters, ancient serpents, dragons, and the like should be allowed into our homes, onto our children’s clothes, as stickers on their possessions, as toys, as video games – nothing. Heed Ps 97:10 “O you who love the Lord, hate evil…” - hate means not entertaining and inviting it into your life, on any level. Ever!

Hate evil

Prophecy revisited

 

Isaiah 10:33-34

But look! The Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, will chop down the mighty tree of Assyria with great power! And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

Some very interesting modern-day facts are tied up in these words. This prophecy given through Isaiah did indeed come to pass, as we read in 2 Kings 19:35. God sent the angel of the Lord and killed 185 000 Assyrians in one night. Even the proud and lofty king of the Assyrians was murdered by his own sons as he worshiped in the temple of his god after attacking Judah. And Lebanon (under Assyrian rule) was destroyed, as prophesied.

The very next verse after this prophecy is Isaiah 11:1-2, which speaks about the coming Messiah, described as the Branch out of the roots of Jesse (David’s father). Remember that the dividing of Scripture into chapters and verses came later, the original text would have been read as one continuous scroll. This implies that the reader would see these two prophecies as somehow connected to each other, and indeed many rabbis consider it that way – they see the fall of Lebanon connected to the coming of Messiah.

Gematria (where words are assigned number values by adding up the numeric value of their individual letters) is used to back up their claim – the number value of the words Lebanon and of Branch both come to 138 and are therefore considered to be linked to each other. Ben Elohim (Son of God) also adds up to 138.

This is where Rabbi Jason Sobel points out some very interesting facts about the current conflict between Israel and Lebanon. The above verse says that Lebanon will fall by the “Mighty One” and be cut down by iron. The Hebrew word for mighty one is Adir. It so happens that the Israeli Defence Force gave the F35, its main fighter jet, the name Adir. Also, this ongoing conflict, which started as a response to the surprise attack by Hamas on 7^th October 2023, is called The Swords of Iron War. A remarkable coincidence, as names of battles in Israel are computer-generated, not chosen by the army generals themselves!

Can we revisit a prophecy, which has already been fulfilled, and predict it into the future? We surely can. Jesus said that the signs pointing to the end times would be like giving birth - the same pain is felt, but it will repeat and intensify. Can we then say that the possible fall of Lebanon in the current war will signal the return of Jesus, our Messiah? We can at best consider it to be a sneak preview of all that has been prophesied, one of those events in a chain of birth pangs that will happen before He returns. Certain prophecies are like key dominoes, their toppling over leads to others falling in very rapid succession. Could this be such a one?

Points to ponder: We are not walking head-on into eternity, i.e. purposefully walking to the front end of a cliff top and falling off at a certain appointed time known to us. Rather, we are walking along that cliff top, parallel to its steep sides, and our falling off can happen at any time! The question is not so much whether we know the exact time of Christ’s return, but whether we are ready to meet Him at any time?

He's coming soon

Heaven on earth

 Revelation 20:4

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

There is going to be a glorious time on earth in the future, called the Millennium - a word which is a combination of the words mille, meaning a thousand, and annus, meaning year. The above verse is taken from Revelation 20, where the words “a thousand years” appear no less than six times – strong affirmation of the fact that such a time actually will exist!

It is not only here in the book Revelation that the Millennium is spoken about. Altogether there are more than 400 verses in more than 20 different passages in the Old Testament alone that deal with this time when Jesus will personally rule and reign over planet earth. We read about it in numerous places in the New Testament also.

The controversies surrounding the Millennium are easily silenced if we just decide to read and accept the revelation as given to John by God. For instance, the timing of the Millennium is clearly given in our quoted verse – John saw the Tribulation martyrs, who were beheaded because they had not received the mark of the Antichrist or its image and had not worshiped him. They were resurrected and then reigned with Christ a thousand years - the Millennium therefore begins after the Tribulation.

The belief that there is no literal Millennium, but that God’s Kingdom already started at the cross and we are therefore now living in the Millennium, cannot hold water as we clearly read in Revelation that Jesus will first physically reign here on earth for a thousand years before the rest of eternity unfolds. The fact that it has now already been more than two thousand years after the cross adds to the impossibility that this belief is true, it also is plain to see that Satan is not bound at the moment! And if you believe that the Millennium will only start after the church has prepared the earth for His coming, working diligently until peace, righteousness and prosperity is to be found all over the globe – then I am afraid that the utter chaos and destitution and wars that will be a sign of the end times will make this an impossible goal to accomplish.

What is the reason for the Millennium? It is so that God’s promises to Israel and also His promises to the church can be fulfilled. Among others, God promised that Israel will be the Head Nation on earth, occupying the whole territory given to Abraham and his offspring in Gen 15 and not just the sliver of land that currently comprises Israel. He promised that living water will flow from Jerusalem into the Dead Sea, redeeming it so that fish will be found there. He promised that old men and women and young children will be relaxing in the streets of Jerusalem. For the church, He promised that we would rule and reign with Him here on earth. All these will happen in the Millennium, where we will really experience heaven on earth!

Points to ponder:  Paul exhorts us to encourage one another with all the wonderful blessings that God has promised us if we only keep our faith to the end (1 Thess 4:18). The Millennium is one of those blessings – imagine a world where animals do not kill each other anymore; where a child can play with a cobra; where the earth will bring forth what is sown into it in abundance and where nobody will have to work extremely hard to let that happen.  A time when Satan is locked up! Let us look forward to it with eagerness and joy!

Victor's Crown