UNDERSTANDING
THE TIME, The End-Time 2, (The Snare)
Text: Luke
21:25-36
Luke
21:25-36
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in
the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the
sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men’s
hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those
things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
27 And then
shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 And when
these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for
your redemption draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a
parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees;
30 When they
now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at
hand.
31 So
likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of
God is nigh at hand.
32 Verily I
say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.
33 Heaven
and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
34 And take
heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and
drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day (the day of rapture) come
upon you unawares.
35 For as a
snare shall it (the day of rapture) come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole
earth.
36 Watch ye
therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these
things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Introduction
In the part one of this message, we
mentioned that God wants us to understand that this time, the end-time is
-1.
a time of distress and perplexity of nations
-2. A time of distress for the
church
-2b. A time of distress for families and
individuals
-3. A time of fear upon whole
earth, Luke 21:26b
In continuation of those points summarized above about this time, we
will like to stress that there are many more things that God wants us to understand
about this time. We will mention only one addition and it is that this time is
also a time of snare, and that is what we will be looking at majorly in this
teaching.
The End-Time
is A Time of Snare
God wants us as believers to
understand that this time, the end-time, is A time that SNARE will be set for the entire world.
Luke 21:34-35
34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your
hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life,
and so that day come upon you unawares.
In verse 34, the
Lord was warning us to take heed to ourselves lest a certain day comes upon us unawares,
that is without notice. Which day was the Lord warning us of? It is the day of
His coming, the day of rapture.
35 For as a snare shall it (that day) come on all them that
dwell on the face of the whole earth.
In verse 35 above, the Lord quickly changed
from cautious warning of verse 34 to emphatic affirmation that, that day (the
day of rapture) shall come as a snare on all those that dwell upon
the earth, as though they will not heed His warning of verse 34.
Similarity Between A Snare and
A Conspiracy
What then is a snare?
Cambridge Online dictionary defines ‘snare’ as
the following
-1. a device for catching small animals and birds, usually with a rope or wire that
tightens around the animal.
-2. a trick or situation that deceives you
or involves you
in some problem that
you do not know about:
Combining the two definitions
above, we can say that a snare is a trap to catch animals suddenly (unawares)
or a trick that deceives someone into a problem without him knowing (unawares).
Now, there have been so many
arguments and counter-arguments of conspiracies about the cause and the intent
of the ongoing Corona Virus that is plaguing the whole world and shutting down
everything.
What then is a conspiracy?
The same online dictionary
defines conspiracy as follows
-1. a secret plan made by two or more people to
do something bad, illegal,
or against someone’s wishes:
If we compare the
definitions of snare to that of conspiracy above, we will note the following
-1. A snare or trap is
secretly set while conspiracy also is secretly made.
-2. A snare is set for
others; either animals or persons. A conspiracy is also made against others.
-3. Both snare and
conspiracies are set to make their targets run into trouble.
-4. Both are set to
catch their targets unawares or against their wishes.
It can thus be concluded that
a snare means almost the same thing as a conspiracy or that a conspiracy is a
kind of snare.
The Dangers
of Falling Into The End-Time Snares/Conspiracies
Before, someone will say why
are they emphasizing snare like this, let us consider the following dangers of
a spiritual snare/conspiracies of the end-time.
If a snare (trap) appears as a snare (trap), it
will never catch an animal. Proverbs 1:17 attests
to that fact
17 Surely in vain the net
(snare) is spread in the sight of any bird.
To be able to achieve its
desired purpose of catching animals, a snare has to be made attractive or look
like something different entirely.
In the same way, if a
conspiracy is open to everybody to know or understand, no one will fall for it
and it will not achieve its desired purpose.
So it can be seen that both
snare are conspiracies have deceptions of a very high order as their
foundations.
Thus the followings spiritual dangers
can be highlighted of falling into an end-time snares/conspiracies.
-1. Whether a believer dies of earthquake, corona virus, terror attack or
even hunger, he will make heaven once his life is right with God, but if a
believer falls into the snare/conspiracies (deceptions) of the devil/agents for
the end-time, the chance is high the believer may miss heaven/rapture if he
failed to retrace his steps.
Mathew 24:24b
insomuch
that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
-2. For Satan to make the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ come upon us
un-prepared/unawares, satan has to set snares of things that will distract us
on focusing on the Lord’s coming.
To this end, a lot of technological
inventions of these last days have ‘succeeded’ in taking away the focus of many
believers from the Lord and the reality of His coming. Care should be taken to
guard against misuse of any inventions from taking our attention from God.
-3. To make believers/everyone fall into the Devil’s Plans without the
believers consent, the devil/agents have to set snares for everyone, including
believers.
During the ongoing lockdowns
around the world due to Corona Virus, I read an article on CNN that Apple and
Google are planning to release phones that can track corona virus.
You can read the article on
the link below.
Do you think people will not
embrace such phones if corona virus plague did not go on-time? Surely many
people will embrace such phone.
Now, let us imagine that it is
a chip that should be implanted in the hands or foreheads that are eventually
found as a total solution to this whole plague of corona virus or any other
deadly plague, and only those that have the chip implanted in their hands or
foreheads will be allowed in offices, banks, public place, or even churches
because of protecting public health.
Many people, including believers
that are tired of lockdowns, will embrace it without thinking twice about what
the scriptures say about it. After all, many people have been implanting the
chips in their hands without Christ having returned. That will be a very deadly
snare/conspiracy to fall into. The devil doesn’t take chances; He wants to
capture everyone as much as possible even before rapture.
God’s Expectations
From Believers on What To Do
We stated in the part one of
this teaching that if you understand the time, you must know what to do. Now
that we have known that this end-time is the time that the devil and his agents
will set snares/conspiracies for all men for the intents of achieving the
dangers mentioned above, God expects us to know what to do to guarding against
falling into the snares/conspiracies.
The expected steps include the
followings.
-1. Continue to read about this time in the bible as
emphasized last week
Revelation 1:3
3 Blessed is he that
readeth, and they that hear the words of this
prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is
at hand.
You cannot guard
against whatever you are ignorant of. Read more about this time in the bible
and obey whatever instructions given. Pay attention also to the book of
revelation. The prophecies written there are fulfilling right before our eyes.
-2. Hear messages about end-time
Revelation
1:3
3 Blessed is he
that readeth, and they that hear the
words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for
the time is at hand.
If you are not
educated and cannot read, cultivate the habit of listening to messages on
end-time. God associates your knowing that time is at hand to your hearing
about end-time messages from end-time preachers. Pastor should focus more on
preaching messages about Christ’s return. However, contrary to God’s
expectation, this is the time many pastors have turned to prosperity,
new-world, and itching-ear messages.
-3. Perfect your salvation
Luke 21:28
28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift
up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
This end-time is not the time to play with
your salvation. Anything can happen any moment. Perfect your salvation.
-4. Do not be carried away by cares
of this life, Luke 21:34
Luke 21:34
34 And take heed
to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with
surfeiting,
and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that
day come upon you unawares.
One of the
conspiracies flying around about this Corona Virus Plague is that it is
designed to destroy global economy in order to pave way for the one-world
economy of the antichrist. Many economic experts have projected that about 25
million jobs will be lost globally and over 200, 000 jobs in Nigeria, after the
Corona Virus pandemic.
Those projections
were given at the early stages of the plague. But guess what, on the 23rd
April, 2020, Aljazeera News reported that 26million workers have lost their
jobs in United States alone after six weeks of being hit by Corona virus.
That corresponds to one out of every six American workers, and corona
virus pandemic is not over yet. That
means those early projections must have also changed. The United Nation has
also warned that the Corona Virus will trigger worldwide hunger of bible
proportion.
If this is true
many believers will not be able to concentrate on preparing for the coming of
Jesus Christ again but rather their hearts will be filled with how to cater for
the family. Do not let this be. Concentrate on your preparation and focus on
Him. He knows you will eat and He will find away to cater for you. After, all
He provided for the widow of Zarephat in famine. Otherwise, someone will be
entering the snare of what the plague is designed to achieve, assuming that the
conspiracy theory is right.
-5. Pray always to escape
Luke 21:36 36
Watch ye therefore, and pray always,
that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall
come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
Most believers are not praying
always as the Lord commanded us above. Of the few that are praying always, their
prayers are not about how to escape with Jesus at rapture. This is the time to
change our prayers to, or keep praying those prayers that will make us escape
like Lot and Noah.
If only one plague can shut
down the entire world system, what do you say of the so many plagues that shall
befall the earth after rapture?
Rev 11:6
6 These have power to shut heaven, that it
rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them
to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will
These are a few of
what the Lord, Jesus Christ asked us to be praying at this time to escape. Let
us focus less on the plagues or whatever darkness we see befalls the earth.
Rather, concentrate more on praying always to escape with Jesus. God bless you.
Summary
It can be seen that this time,
the end-time, is a time that snares and conspiracies will be set for all men
for the purpose of making the coming of Jesus fall on them unawares. Having
heard about many conspiracies and counter-conspiracies theories about the
Corona virus pandemic that is plaguing the world; assuming those theories are
true, then it can be seen said we are living in times of snares.
We have also seen that the
dangers of falling into spiritual snares at this end-time can also be
devastating. However, we thank God who has given us the understanding of this
time and what to do not to fall into snares.
Conclusion
The only way not to fall into
the snares of the devil and his agents at this hour is to trust and obey the
instructions given to us by God Almighty, who alone sees what the rulers of
darkness do in their secret places where snares are being set.
Actions
Are you an
elect of Christ? Are you truly saved? Are you on the narrow road? Do you want
to make the rapture/heaven? If your answers are yes, then,
• Make all efforts to heed the warnings of Jesus Christ.
• Be
watchful. Pay attention to what is happening around the World and see whether
they match what the scriptures say.
• Be filled
with the Holy Spirit and be in the Spirit all the time.
• Fast,
consecrate yourself, run away from sin and worldliness.
If
your answers are NO, then you can repent today. Accept Jesus Christ as your
Lord and Saviour. Kindly sincerely and faithfully pray the prayer of repentance
below and make a determination never to commit sin again.
Prayer
Of Repentance
Lord, Jesus Christ, I am sorry for all my sins. I confess them with
my mouth and I ask for mercy. Please forgive me and wash me in your blood. I
accept you as my personal Lord and Saviour. Write my name in the book of life.
Give me power over sins and fill me with your Spirit and Joy of Salvation. When
rapture trumpet sounds, let me make it. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name,
I pray.
Begin
to read bible. Begin with the book of John. Pray always. Fast regularly (you
can begin with once in a week). Look for a bible believing church where they
teach repentance, holiness, salvation and fellowship with them. Pray before you
go. Always run away from SINS.
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Please,
Share This Message And Also Drop A Comment.
We
will like to get as many people as possible ready for rapture. We wish nobody
misses the rapture. What are happening now are child’s play. In view of these,
please, share our messages on different media to help circulate as fast as
possible before Trumpet sounds. Also, you can drop a comment. Thank you. God
bless you.
Shalom.
To Make Rapture:
Confess your sins to JESUS CHRIST and ask Him to save you.
Repent of your sins constantly on daily basis and run away from sins.
Be filled with the Holy Spirit
Live in Holiness and Righteousness
Do all Restitutions
Cut off all worldliness.
Forgive all people.
Pray and fast.
Consecrate and study the bible.
Watch.
