Stop Living in La-La Land

 Stop Living in La-La Land - Nathele Grahams - twotug@embarqmail.com We are living in the times of the signs, yet most Christians are asleep. Of course, that’s another sign of the times. Instead of digging into Scripture and Biblical prophecy,many Christians just put in an hour sitting in a pew and think that’s good enough. That’s sad. That makes it easy for Satan to confuse and befuddle you. His tactics haven’t changed over the years; He still uses the same smooth talk with which he confused Eve.God was very clear when He told Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shaltnot eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17. That seems clear to me. God didn’t “suggest” but “commanded the man”. The Hebrew word is “sava’” and means “to command, charge, give orders, lay charge, give chargeto, order”. After giving this command to Adam, God took part of Adam and made Eve. Adam knew God’s commands, but it seems he neglected to instill this command into Eve’s understanding. It wasn’t long until Satan attacked Eve’s mind. Satan can take many forms,and he chose to appear to her as a serpent. Right away he twisted God’s words and put doubt into her mind. “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall noteat of every tree of the garden?” Genesis 3:1. The truth is that God did say they could eat of every tree, except the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve, was easily out-foxed, but tried to be very, very holy, and added to God’s words. “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Genesis 3:2-3. God didn’tsay not to touch it. Touching wasn’t the problem, but eating it – taking it into their bodies – was what would cause them to die. Satan began planting doubt through lies. “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know thatin the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5. She believed Satan over God, ate the fruit, then gave it to Adam. Just like that, God’s truth was proved correct. Paradise was lost.Satan is patient and he has been busy planting doubt in the minds of people who are easily manipulated. Over the ages he has convinced people that the Creation account is a fairytale and that the fairytale of evolution is true. When God’s word is doubted,sin abounds. Satan has been busy on many fronts planting doubt concerning what God clearly says. Like Eve, most people are easily befuddled. Why is that? Because they don’t study God’struth. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.” 2 Timothy 2:15-16. There are many so called teacherswhose teachings are nothing more than profane babblings. The only way to spot erroneous teaching is to know the truth. It may be that the preacher at your place of worship doesn’t teach the pure word of God. As we draw closer to the end of time this will becomeworse. It’s important for every Christian to study God’s word in order to discern God’s truth from twisted truth. God inspired the authors of the books of the Bible to write the words they wrote. Scripture is directly from God, and His truth never changes.The thing that can twist Scripture is interpretations. Most of us aren’t fluent in Ancient Hebrew and Greek, so we prefer translations in our own language. These translations are interpreted by humans, and that’s when things can get twisted. When Jesus was asked by His disciples about the end of the age, He gave a discourse about signs we can watch for. There were many things He spoke about, beginning with deception. “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.” Matthew 24:4. If you follow teachers who water down Scripture or twist the meaning of God’s word, then you’re being deceived. Satan does know Scripture. That’s rather surprising, buthe proved that when he tried to trick Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus had been fasting for 40 days, and His human body was weakened. That’s when Satan approached Him with a way to get out of His troubles. All Jesus had to do was worship Satan, and He wouldn’thave to face persecution or mocking. Satan twisted Scripture to try to convince Jesus to worship the evil one. Jesus didn’t live in La-La land. He knew what He had to face. Old Testament prophecy talked about it, and He answered Satan’s twisted words withpure Scripture. All teachings of men need to be filtered through the truth of Scripture. One false teaching is that Christians have replaced Israel. That teaching is heresy. That isn’t taught in God’s word at all. As Jesus spoke further to His disciples about the end times, He mentioned wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. These things have always happened and will continueuntil Jesus returns and puts a stop to these events. Those are signs that time is marching forward, and these things will increase in frequency and intensity as we near the end. Jesus likened the time of the end to the days of Noah. This is another point thatis misunderstood because God’s truth has been twisted. What were the days of Noah really like? For one thing, most people were living in La-La Land. There was wickedness everywhere, but they didn’t seem aware of it. “For as in the days that were before theflood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:38-39. People just wentabout living their lives as if nothing unusual was going on. They weren’t paying attention. “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they werefair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” Genesis 6:1-2. What could this mean? Some have twisted the meaning to say that the “sons of God” were powerful kings. These kings went about marrying any fair young maiden they wanted. Because of thatGod destroyed everything. Another twisted interpretation says that Adam and Eve’s son Seth was so good that his sons were the “sons of God” while Cain was so bad that when Seth’s sons married Cain’s daughters, God had to judge the world and destroy everybodyand everything. Both of those twisted interpretations make God look bad. It’s better to believe what God says, even if we don’t fully understand the “how” of it. The phrase “sons of God” is “ben” meaning “son”, and “’elohim” meaning “God”. If Scripture meantthe sons of Seth, it would have said “ben set”. Whenever the phrase “sons of God” appears in the Old Testament, it describes angels (Job 1:6, Job 2:1and Job 38:7). When we add New Testament Scripture, we understand that “sons of God” refers to a direct creationof God. Angels were directly created by God, as was Adam. After Adam, people are no longer direct creations of God, but sons and daughters of our parents. The New Testament says that when we accept Christ we become “sons of God”. We are a new creation (John1:12, Romans 8:14, Philippians 2:14, among many others). Now back to the days of Noah. Some of the angels had rebelled against God and decided to take human women for their pleasure. Angels are always described as males, so, therewas no marriage in Heaven. When the fallen angels saw human women, they took them for wives and hybrids were created from these ungodly unions. “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them, thatthe sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” Genesis 6:1-2. It all becomes clear if you don’t twist God’s words. The children of this ungodly union weren’t human, nor were the angels. Theywere “Nephilim”. The human genome was corrupted. What happens when a human spirit combines with a non-human spirit? Evil. That evil grows and permeates everything. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination ofthe thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5. All the while these ungodly unions were happening, people just went about their daily lives “… eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into theark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”. Matthew 24:38b-39. They were living in La-La Land and unaware…probably very “tolerant” of this evil, just like today. Not only was mankind corrupted,but it seems so were the animals, birds, and all of creation was affected by these fallen angels, because God had to destroy everything. “And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creepingthing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.” Genesis 6:7. We also know that there was one family, led by Noah, who had remained pure without allowing the corruption of his human genome.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of theLORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” Genesis 6:8-9. This doesn’t mean Noah was without sin, but means his genome…his human genes…weren’t corrupted. God would send His judgment,but He would save Noah and his family, as well as some animals. Noah wasn’t living in La-La Land, but sought to live his life pure unto God. God honored Noah’s diligence and had him build an Ark. God’s judgment is coming again, and we have God’s word to guideus and make us aware of what to look for. Jesus said it would be like the days of Noah. Is that corruption happening today? Yes, it is, but most people are living in La-La Land; going about their lives, and notpaying attention. I first became aware that things were getting strange when I read about genes being patented. That told me that the basic genome of God’s creation was being changed. Today, gene editing is being promoted as a way to correct genetic materialin order to treat a disease. If you allow your genes to be edited, you may not be prone to cancer, but your genome is no longer pure. When my granddaughter became very ill after getting a “regular” vaccination, I began looking into all vaccines and was shockedto see what is in them. It’s no wonder so many children have Autism, ADHD, gender confusion, and more. If you’re interested, here’s a link to the CDC’s list of ingredients: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf.Our food is also being genetically modified. Oh, it’s all done to make crops resistant to pests and chickens to grow bigger, but it changes the way God created food to be used by our bodies. You might check this link about modified food: https://www.fda.gov/food/agricultural-biotechnology/gmo-crops-animal-food-and-beyond. Now, do you think we just might be living in the days of Noah? If so, do you understand that God’s judgment is coming? This time it will not be by a world-wide flood. Aswe see wars, pestilence, and famine growing in strength and frequency, we know we are nearing the end of time. There will be a one world monitory system (look into what the World Economic Forum wants to do), a one-world religion (that can’t happen unless Christiansallow it), and a one-world government (the Beast of Revelation is growing and his mark will soon be in place). A promise to Christians is that we won’t be on Earth when God’s final judgment begins. The first “picture” of this was prior to the Flood. Noah’sfamily was genetically pure, and his great-grandfather was Enoch. “And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” Genesis 5:24. Enoch was Raptured prior to God’s judgment. Notice that Enoch “walked with God”. Today, we have the promise of eternallife through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you’ve placed your faith in Him, then your life should reflect Christ. Sin should no longer rule your life. We still live in this world, with its sin and temptations, but we shouldn’tallow sin and temptation to rule our choices. If you’re living in La-La Land and think that everything is just like it always was, then you need to wake up. Prophecy is being fulfilled. “Knowing this first, that thereshall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 2 Peter 3:3-4. Christ will call His BrideHome soon, and if you haven’t given your life to Him, you’ll be left on earth to face horrendous judgment. Stop living in La-La Land move into a new life in Christ. God bless you all, Nathele Grahams