Revelation

God with Us


Commentary from the In Touch Devotional, by In Touch Ministries, May 21, 2024.

He shows us the past and the future


Commentary from the In Touch devotional by In Touch Ministries, December 4, 2023.

How You Hear


One’s response to the light in this life is crucial, because at the throne of judgement there will be no opportunity to embrace the truth that was formerly spurned (Revelation 20:11-15). Those who scorn the light of the gospel now will have all light removed from them in eternity.

Notes from the MacArthur study Bible, notes for Luke 8:18.

The torment and eternality of hell


If anyone chooses not to believe upon Jesus for the salvation of his soul it’s important to know what that choice really entails. “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him-the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). The torment described in Revelation 14:11 refers to ceaseless infliction of unbearable pain. I don’t know if you caught the story recently of a priest from Michigan who said he had a heart attack in 2016 and died and then saw hell. I don’t know if his story is true or not, there is no way to know that. But the priest describes a terrifying scene.

Gerald Johnson says he died in 2016 after suffering a heart attack, and what he saw—and more specifically, heard—was horrifying. Johnson says he saw terrible, gruesome sights of torture and pain, and heard music that was designed to cause maximum trauma. Here’s what he says he heard during his death experience. He says instead of heading straight for Heaven as expected, he went the other way, down into the pits of Hell. Johnson says he saw demons enslaving humans, and a man “walking on all fours like a dog and getting burned from head to toe. His eyes were bulging and worse than that: He was wearing chains on his neck. He was like a hellhound.” Johnson claims Hell was much worse than he could ever imagine. “I entered the very center of the Earth,” Johnson says. “The things I saw there are indescribable. Johnson says there is a section of Hell where music is played… but very badly. The priest claims he could hear Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry Be Happy” being used as instruments for torture. To make things significantly worse, the demon choir performing these songs was deliberately performing them incorrectly for maximum pain. Johnson says he made his way back to his physical body, but will never forget what he saw. “I was angry with God because I did so much good in my life and ended up in Hell,” he says. “I rose up out of Hell and returned to Earth — and God spoke to me. He said, ‘You were secretly angry with people who harmed you, you hoped I would punish them. These are not your people. These are my people. I just want you to focus on the task I give you.’ Even though I did good, the thing I had in my heart was a lack of forgiveness for the people who wronged me.”

Even if this story is not true and not actually a glimpse of Hell, it could very possibly be even worse than what Gerald Johnson experienced. God made us, and he made us to honor and glorify Him. God loves us, and Jesus came to save us from the price we must pay for who we became after what Adam and Eve did. Hell, regardless of how bad a place it is, is what Jesus wants to save each of us from having to experience. Instead, God wants us all with Him, forever. However, this required a great sacrifice-Someone volunteering to die to save you from eternal separation from God and having to live with excruciating pain every single day, forever. Ask Jesus to be your Savior, and He will hear you calling out to Him. Accept His offer to save you from this Hell, do it now, today. None of us knows when our last moment will be-after that point it will be too late.

Gerald Johnson’s story has been printed in numerous media publications, the above is from: https://bestlifeonline.com/michigan-priest-rihanna-hell-news/

The Final World System

Zech 5;9b

Inside the basket was sitting a woman, personifying the final wicked system found in Revelation 17:3-5.  The wicked system is represented as a basket with a woman held captive inside under a lead lid.  Since storks are unclean birds (Leviticus 11:19; Deuteronomy 14:18) these must be agents of evil, demonic forces, protective of the wicked secularism, who set up the final system of evil.  The destination of the women bearing the basket was Shinar.  There it will be placed in a “house,” possibly referring to a temple, in which it would be set on a base or pedestal as an idol.  The secular commercialism is central to the final world system.  The vision is unmistakably looking forward to the final Babylon of Revelation 17, 18 at the second coming of Christ.

Commentary from the MacArthur study Bible, notes for Zechariah chapter 5.

The elements

2Peter3;10a

Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved,

what manner of persons ought you to be,

in holy conduct and godliness,

2 Peter 3:11

The “elements” are the atomic components into which matter is ultimately divisible, which make up the composition of all the created matter.  Peter means that the atoms, neutrons, protons, and electrons are all going to disintegrate (v. 11).  The whole of the physical, natural earth in its present form, with its entire universe will be consumed.  As man from atoms creates destructive bombs that burn a path of death, so God can disintegrate the whole universe in an explosion of atomic energy.  He exercises sovereign control over every person, object, and event, and not one molecule in the universe is outside that dominion.

Commentary from the MacArthur study Bible, notes for 2 Peter 3:7,10, and Revelation 1:8.