With Everlasting Love

Isaiah 54:7-8 ESV

“’For a brief moment I deserted you,

    but with great compassion I will gather you.

In overflowing anger for a moment

    I hid my face from you,

but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,’

    says the Lord, your Redeemer.”

This evening my husband and I watched a small video of a news (and/or political) commentator. He was speaking on the subject of artificial intelligence (AI), and he was describing the types of things now capable of being done via AI that used to only be done with human beings and via human hands. And as I listened to him speak, and I heard him describe the kinds of things AI can do now in imitating human beings, it immediately caused me to think of the prophecies of Scripture regarding the last days.

Now, I am not saying that everything this man said was the truth, but over the years I have seen evidence of some of the kinds of things he spoke of. And so the Lord has been having me give out warnings to Christians that we are not to trust everything we think we see or hear or read because liars abound everywhere, and because anything can be faked, altered, and photoshopped. So just because you see it in a video or you hear someone’s voice it doesn’t mean it really is that person or that it really happened.

And this is not so farfetched if you think about the kinds of things described for us in the book of Revelation and in other prophetic Scriptures regarding what the last days before the return of Christ will look like. But basically we live in an era where we really can’t trust much of anything except God and his word, for deception is everywhere you look, pretty much. It is coming from advertising, the media, videos, politicians, the church, preachers, Christian book authors, social media memes, emails and text messages, etc.

Scam artists are everywhere. Robots serve as customer service representatives. Real and honest people seem to be disappearing. So many things are now automated. We are losing human to human contact and that personal human touch, and those things are being replaced with mechanical and electronic devices. Smartphones are consuming people’s lives and are overtaking human interactions with people in person. And people are letting social media memes speak for them instead of speaking for themselves. 

And one of the worst things is sexually explicit and seductive movies, videos, still pictures, games, songs, art, and plays, which are teaching and training and captivating the hearts and minds of so many men, in particular, but also women and children, too. And the Smartphones just give easy access to all the evil that is in the world and that is available for humans to devour. And these devices, in many cases, are being handed over to children and to immature adults who are lacking in good sense and judgment. 

So a fake world is massively overtaking the real world via electronic computerized devices and robots and doctored and altered videos, etc. And it is turning many human beings into robots, too, who do and accept things automatically without giving thought to whether or not they are true; and who habitually engage in sinful practices because they are letting the unreal world overtake their minds and their hearts and consume their thinking and reasoning and responding, instead of yielding their hearts to Jesus Christ.

So, what does all this have to do with this Scripture in Isaiah 54? It has to do with what was prophesied regarding these last days and what God says in his Scriptures are going to take place. So, he is allowing them to happen, or they could not happen. He is allowing wickedness to spread and to deceive the hearts of many, and for Christians to be persecuted. And he is allowing evil to consume people’s minds and hearts, although all us humans are responsible before God for what we do (see Romans 1:18-32).

So, it is going to seem as though God has deserted us, as though he has abandoned us, but this is only for a time and then it will be gone. But right now he is allowing all these things to take place as he prophesied would take place through his prophets and apostles. And it is going to continue to get much worse before Jesus returns for his faithful ones, his bride, and he takes us to be with him for eternity, which is when he is going to judge the people of the earth and the earth.

So, we need to be aware of the times in which we live and that the things prophesied in the Scriptures regarding these last days are happening in real time, but they are still in process. So, we are not at the finish line yet. And we need to be people who first of all are committed to following Jesus Christ with our lives, who are living separate from the world in holy and godly living, and in walks of obedience to our Lord. And we must no longer be those who are engaged in deliberate and habitual sin.

And then we need to accept that the evil that is now prevailing is temporary and that one day Jesus is going to come to the rescue, and he will have compassion on those who are of genuine God-given faith in Christ, who are no longer walking in sin, but who are living holy lives to the glory and praise of God, and who are serving the Lord Jesus with their lives in obedient walks of faith. For if sin is what we practice, and righteousness and obedience are not our practice, we will not have eternal life with God.

So, don’t be like those in the days of Noah who were carousing and partying and not paying attention to the Lord and to his commands and who ended up dying in the flood. Please be those whose lives are surrendered to Jesus Christ, to obey him and his commands (New Covenant), to walk in his ways, and to do his will for your lives. For then you will have the hope of eternal life with God and heaven as your eternal home. Then the Lord will gather you with his bride and you will live forever with him.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

My Sheep  

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-18 NIV

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full… 

They know my voice, so they follow me.

https://vimeo.com/114938263