Beloved. The only way the household of God will stand through this hour of judgment from the Lord re: idolatrous, political nationalism is NOT by becoming people who broadcast endless proof of the evil that fills our hallways of power – an evil our family is readily ingesting, and promoting. We will ONLY OVERCOME the strategies of hell’s stronghold being erected against His Kingdom as we, the church, become a people who are more enthralled with the God of Joshua, Isaiah, John the Baptist and Revelation, Who they meet in the tent of meeting, than the cadaverous god that is being conjured as a mascot by the court prophets, and the false shepherds.
We will neither perceive the nature of the delusion, nor overcome the various issues that are confronting our hearts, our relationships, and our fidelity to Christ, without becoming people of ardent prayer, who see what the angels see, and bow low to the eternal God of 300 trillion galaxies.
If prayer isn’t an integral pattern of your daily life right now, you already are being spun by the god of this age, and will not traverse the fearful way of the Lord through this hour of monumental tribulation.
Hear the Word of the Lord through Isaiah 28 “Therefore, listen to the Lord’s message, you who scorn and boast – For you say, ‘We have made a treaty with death, with Sheol we have made an agreement. When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by it will not reach us. For we have made a lie our refuge, we have hidden ourselves in a deceitful word’.” (Isaiah 28:14-15)
The rest of Isaiah’s message can only be heard and appropriated in our lives, families, churches, and culture by giving ourselves to being the people of the tabernacle of God.
“16 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord, says: ‘Look, I am laying a stone in Zion, an approved stone, set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. The one who maintains his faith will not panic.” (Isaiah 28:16)
The judgments of the Lord isn’t merely about Him rebuking a wayward people, He’s setting the order of His Son in place upon the earth so that the peoples of the earth can either agree with this administrative order, or faithlessly disagree with this administrative order. When we agree with this heavenly order – the order of the King – our hearts can be set at peace – though they be greatly constrained by the demands of faithfully heralding the true prophetic Word of the Lord to a deaf, and deluded people. When we surrender to the One Who is bringing His order of stability to our world, we can be filled with the peaceable fruits of righteousness – which is the administrative order of King, Jesus – even though we know that the setting in place of this eternal Kingdom will cause great great disruption on the earth.
“17 I will make justice the measuring line, fairness the plumb line; hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place. 18 Your treaty with death will be dissolved; your agreement with Sheol will not last. When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, you will be overrun by it. 19 Whenever it sweeps by, it will overtake you; indeed, every morning it will sweep by, it will come through during the day and the night.” (Isaiah 28:17-19)
Again. The Lord’s promise to establish His Son’s order upon the earth, will greatly disrupt the paradigms of men and demons. When God arises, His enemies are about to be scattered – often with alarming tumult, and typhoons of chaos. It’s pure foolishness to think that when the Lord’s storm comes to the earth, (and we are already being tossed by the early winds) we will automatically stand securely, because we have a “theology of security”, though we have never parsed the ways and means, and details of the beautiful roots of that security in the place of much prayer, and dialogue with the Spirit over scripture.
“When this announcement is understood, it will cause nothing but terror. 20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap around oneself. 21 For the Lord will rise up, as He did at Mount Perazim; He will rouse himself, as He did in the Valley of Gibeon, to accomplish His work, His peculiar work, to perform His task, His strange task.” (Isaiah 28:19-21)
Who is able to say, “Lord, bring the fulness of Your Presence, even though it comes with great terror…”??? Only the one who has been terrified by the Lord in the secret place; in the crevice of the Lord, as His glory has passed by, and then discovered that he/she has not been destroyed in the process. This is the necessary strength that can only be cultivated and accumulated in the place of face to Face encounter with the Living God of Mount Sinai, and the transfiguration.
“22 So now, do not mock, or your chains will become heavier! For I have heard a message about decreed destruction, from the Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies against the entire land. 23 Pay attention and listen to my message. Be attentive and listen to what I have to say!” (Isaiah 28:22-23)
There is no place for mockery in the household of God. In the Presence of the Lord, all forms of ridicule and scorn is irreverent “racca”… making one guilty of hell-fire itself. (See Matthew 5:22) The work being done within ourselves in the tabernacle of the Lord will produce a holy sobriety of the spirit, that knows full well the disastrous consequences that will come to those who do not avail themselves of the Lord’s summons to His threshing floor.
“24 Does a farmer just keep on plowing at planting time? Does he keep breaking up and harrowing his ground? 25 Once he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter the seed of the caraway plant, sow the seed of the cumin plant, and plant the wheat, barley, and grain in their designated places? 26 His God instructs him; He teaches him the principles of agriculture. 27 Certainly caraway seed is not threshed with a sledge, nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin seed. Certainly caraway seed is beaten with a stick, and cumin seed with a flail. 28 Grain is crushed, though one certainly does not thresh it forever. The wheel of one’s wagon rolls over it, but his horses do not crush it.” (Isaiah 28:24-28)
The one who goes into the tabernacle of the Lord will soon learn there is nothing more necessary, needful, efficacious and life-giving than for the human spirit to seek out, receive, and perceive encounter with the Holy One. This is where the wisdom that is necessary to navigate the hour of tribulation is given. Nowhere else.
“29 This also comes from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, Who gives supernatural guidance and imparts great wisdom.” (Isaiah 28:29)
Each morning, (from 7:00am – 8:00am) All Nations begins with an hour of humility, repentance and contrition. As we come before the holy God, we revere the honor of His majesty by considering the grace that He extends to us to come into His Presence. We consider our own unworthiness, the mercy He has shown us, and our persistent appreciation for His salvation, the bearing of our cross, our awareness of His judgments that are on the earth, and the call to walk in Christlike meekness and lowliness. This is our way – the way of prayer – before God, and others in our world.
This part of the morning is often more quiet than the rest of our time together. Feel free to join us as we sit quietly before the Lord, listen for His Voice, humble ourselves in prayer, and bring our weak hearts before His eternal strength and glory.
HUMILITY
We begin our morning by assuming our eternal posture of humility before the Lord. He is our God. And we are His people; His daughters, and sons. As we enter into His courts, we become aware that we are in a holy realm, an atmosphere of pure beauty and majesty.
PRAYER: We bow before You, holy Father! We humble our spirits, our minds, our emotions, and our agendas before You, and Your perfect leadership. Holy Spirit, help us to embrace humility; the attitude that Jesus had toward the Father. We are glad that we belong to You. We yield ourselves to You, and all that You have for us today. Help us to walk without presumption, toward You, and others. Clothe us with this supernatural quality, that we may walk and live and breathe like Jesus.
REPENTANCE
In an evangelical culture that honors self-justification, image-management, and conspiracies more than humility, contrition and the fear of the Lord, the household of God desperately needs to rediscover the blessed wisdom and strength of “radical repentance”.
The latin word for “radical” literally means “to get to the root”. Because sin is primarily a heart issue, and not just a surface issue, repentance, by definition should always be, “radical”.
So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.(Joel 2:13)
The word that the Bible most often uses for “repentance” is the Hebrew word, “SHUBV”. SHUBV is a radical term that literally means “to put fire to your house and leave with God”. The Hebrew characters in the word (Hebrew being a pictorial language) actually visualize the activity of a man setting fire to his house.
SHUBV is making a radical life-correction, abandoning an old way of living, to do life God’s way, with God Himself.
It’s the Lord’s kindness (Romans 2:4) to expose the dangerous inadequacy of our ways. His call to SHUBV repentance is an invitation for us to leave our rickety, self-constructed, self-governance and walk under the soundness of His leadership.
In this part of the morning we continue in a spirit of humility, acknowledging our personal sins, and owning the corporate sins of our culture. This is a time of tender listening to the Spirit as He faithfully brings issues and offenses before our minds for us to confess to the Father.
Over the last few years the King has been “burning down our old normals” so that He may bring us into the order of His new, dawning normal. Throughout numerous contentious events He’s been asking us: “How willing are you to have Me? Do you see that through plagues and race-riots and political treachery I am helping you to ‘burn your insufficient house down’ so that you may live in My superior dwelling? Do you understand that I am dismantling your meager perception and human-powered reasoning in order to bring you into My eternal realm? As I am bringing My government to this world I want you with Me, thinking My thoughts, understanding My emotions, agreeing with My judgments and thriving in My wisdom.”
PRAYER: Father, we ask for You to give us the spirit of repentance; that we would see ourselves, and our ways in the light of Your assessment. We specifically confess and repent of the following: • We repent of our culture’s devaluation of human life, from conception to the grave. • We repent of our culture’s dishonorable norms, values and attitudes toward sex, family, and marriage. • We repent of our culture’s insensitivity, and often hostility toward Israel, and the Jewish people. • We repent of the ways we have dishonored people and families of different nationalities and cultures. We ask that You forgive us for being apathetic toward the enmity that we’ve allowed to exist within our hearts re: various people-groups in our nation, and region. • We repent of our hostile socio-political ways, and our nationalist pride. We ask that You would entirely disentangle us from the idolatry that so easily entangles us. • We repent of our abusive, manipulative ways that does injustice to the identity and destiny of others with whom we fellowship, and are called to live in humble unity with. • We repent of the ways we have transgressed Your Son’s explicit exhortations in His Sermon on the Mount. Forgive us for considering these majestic assertions as so small and inconsequential. • We repent of harming and abusing others as we have considered the issues that flood our world. Forgive us for being impatient, and not trusting You way of “meekness.”
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you other issues in your own heart that need confession and repentance:This is more than a general confession. Your sins were committed one by one; and as much as you are able, they ought to be reviewed and repented of one by one. This is a spiritual work. Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and show you what is out of line with the character of Jesus’ heart.
Ingratitude. Unbelief. Lack of Love for God. Neglect of the Word. Lack of Humility Before the Word of God. Lack of Prayer. Neglect of Fellowship. Casual Compromise in Pursuit of God. Lack of Love for Souls. Neglect of Family Duties. Lack of Care forthe Poor. Lack of Love for Other Races/Nations. Lack of Watchfulness Over Your Witness. Neglect of Your Cross. Vanity. Pride. Love of Things and Possessions. Sexual Lust and Sexual Immorality. Envy. Bitterness. Slander, Gossip and Condemnation. Self-Determination. Lying and Deceit. Alienation. Lack of Forgiveness and Repentance. Cheating. Hypocrisy. Hostility. Intolerance. Violence. Idolatry. Dissension. Mockery. Open Defiance. Lack of Worship and Praise. Self-Justification. Evil Entertainment. Participation in False Religion.
If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. (1 John 1:6-10)
CONTRITION
Once we have confessed our sins to the Lord He graciously gives us forgiveness, power to be free from our sin, and a heart-attitude that is sorrowful for the ways our sins have injured His Kingdom, and others.
For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment of wrong! (2 Corinthians 7:11)
This heart-attitude is an essential safeguard against spiritual pride – an ever present enemy to our walk in the Lord. Contrition also cultivates a humble zeal within our hearts, a zeal that quietly enthrones the values that make for future righteous relationship as we increasingly give ourselves to living faithfully unto the reign of Jesus Christ through our lives. We’re not merely “sorry for our sins”. We live with an enlightened passion to live differently, to live like Christ, under the holy power of the Spirit.
“Why would a good and loving God let anyone suffer the eternal torment of hell?”
This is a familiar accusation against God in our 21st century culture. At it’s core, is the allegation that God cannot possibly be loving, and in control of everything if He allows anyone to experience such a horrible place as Hell.
Recently, I was dialoguing with a Yale professor who’s written a book championing Rob Bell’s argument for universalism. The premise of his work is that a “God of love” cannot possibly consign anyone to a place of eternal torment. Hence, this doctor of theology argues: “All (including Hitler, Stalin, the demons and the devil himself) will ultimately be saved”.
THE KINGDOM OF RIGHTEOUSNESS vs. THE KINGDOM OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS My response to this ancient and tried accusation is that ultimately, our salvation isn’t about our assent to mere philosophical principles about justice, kindness and peace. It’s about our fidelity to a God/Man Who has been promised to rule the Nations. Human salvation is deliverance from an unworkable order of chaos and ultimate destruction, into an eternal Kingdom where love, truth, goodness, joy and life operate without hinderance. Furthermore, the foundation of this Kingdom is entirely predicated upon one’s relationship to the King of this Kingdom; a King Who is the essence of this grand, order. The Bible describes this order of love, truth, goodness, joy and abundant life: “righteousness”.
Those who have no baseline faith in this King, nor His order of “righteousness”, are subjects of the anarchist kingdom of unrighteousness. One cannot say they subscribe to the King’s order of righteousness and have no fealty toward the King Himself. The King is the Doorway, and indeed relationship with the King, is the Way itself within His realm of righteousness. Righteousness is, at its core, “right relationship with the King”. And the King’s great desire is to be as perfectly united to His human creation, as He Himself is with His Eternal Father.
There’s a lot there in these few statements. But they are essential truths that the Bible underscores from Genesis, through the prophets, the gospels and through the end of Revelation: God’s aim is for humanity to be thoroughly, and intimately united to Himself, in thought, emotion, will, and behavior.
God’s aim is for humanity to be thoroughly, and intimately united to Himself, in thought, emotion, will, and behavior.
“You shall love the Lord your God, with all of your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12; Mark 12:30)
Having asserted this baseline understanding of His Kingdom, it follows that all of the Kingdom of heaven will be a hell for those who have no will to live under the Kingdom’s King of righteousness. Put another way, those who have tasted no sense of the wisdom of humbling themselves before the King, operating in meekness under the reign of the King, hungering for the reign of the King, being purified from every vestige of disagreement with the King, and see little value in bringing their heart, soul, and mind into harmony with the King, will utterly despise the order of the King when it becomes the order of the earth.*
On the day that the world sees the resurrected Jewish King, Jesus of Nazareth, return to earth to set up His government, humanists, satanists, dominionists, universalists, nationalists, fatalists and communists, will all tragically love their self-directed ways and opinions no less than they do today. They will not tolerate the sovereign reign of another – even though life itself functions to perfection in submission to Him. They will be filled with protesting narratives that will stir them to crave, and be bent toward their own self-government, no less than they are today.
Here’s the immovable problem to this circumstance: The King has a Father. And the Father is adamant about His Son ruling the nations (the diverse collection of humanity on the earth) The Father simply will not suffer insurrection against fidelity to His Son.
“I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.” I will declare the decree: ‘The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.'” (Psalm 2:6-8)
Here’s the key point: Those that Jesus consigns to hell will neither want, nor submit to His reign any more in His presence than in His absence.
“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'” (Matthew 25:41)
By eternally separating them from Himself, Jesus is removing them from relationship with Himself – which is the realm of His reign. He is giving them what they’ve wanted – to live in a kingdom other than His; indeed, in a state that exists independent of relationship with the King – the One Who has been ordained to rule every human soul ever born.
Why would anyone not want to live under the reign of a King Who rules with perfect love? In order to answer this question, we must understand the essential nature of human life, in a broken and fallen world.
THE KINGDOM OF THIS WORLD IS UNDER A CURSE The Bible tells us that humanity exists under a curse that causes our hearts to desire thoughts, ways, and behaviors that destabilize us from the way of life, and will ultimately destroy us.
Their eyes, full of adultery, never stop sinning; they entice unstable people. They have trained their hearts for greed, these children are under a curse! (2 Peter 2:14)
This curse infects every human heart – all 8 billion of us. We’re born with it.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned. (Romans 5:12)
The curse compounds itself (Romans 1:18-32) If we don’t deal with it, it doesn’t lie there and get weaker. It multiplies, infects and harms others around us. It utterly destroys, souls, relationships, societies etc. If the curse is not put in check it has the capacity to destroy all of humanity and the earthly creation.
The curse is essentially composed of rebellion. Our unwillingness to live as God’s creatures, unwilling to live under His rule is what constitutes and feeds this rebellious curse.
Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. (Jeremiah 17:5)
The curse is 100 times worse than cancer.
Hell is nothing less than the horrors of the curse – with no restraint to hold it back. Fear, unsatisfied lust, murder, suspicion, shame, and alienation all thrive in hell. The inhabitants of hell are utterly, forever helpless to fend off the hideous, torturous, destructive power of these dynamics. (Matthew 18:34; Mark 9:48)
What kind of loving God would let a disease one hundred times worse than cancer spread boundlessly?**
Hell is God’s answer to imprisoning, and restraining the viral, devastating nature of the curse. In hell, the human soul will experience unabated terror, shame, torment, isolation and hatred – including self-hatred. It will be the complete vacuum of every bit of light and grace that Jesus preveniently gives to the human soul in this age.
“Hell… where ‘their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’” (Mark 9:44)
Originally, hell is/was God’s answer to the rebellion of satan and the angels. It was never intended for humanity. Indeed, God has made every provision for us to not be consigned to hell. (John 3:16) But He will decree those who reject His mercy to this eternal condition. (See Mark 9:45-47; 2 Peter 2:4-10; Revelation 21:8)
At its essence, the great torment of hell is really the rage of creation against a perfect, and loving God, Who has made every provision for humanity to thrive apart from the ravages of the curse, enjoying His reign – forever.
Unless we break our agreement with the curse by surrendering our lives to the Curse Breaker, Jesus Christ, unless we take up our own cross in covenant with Him, we are living in rebellion to Him and His Kingdom – AND we are giving more power to the curse in our world.
JESUS IS THE CURSE-BREAKER Fortunately, there is ONE MAN Who possesses the unique qualifications to set us free from the power of the curse. He’s the only person ever, Who’s claimed to have the authority to put an end to the curse… and“He’s the friend of sinners.” (Luke 7:34)
The claim that God has inflicted hell upon His creation can hold no water for one, vital and historically important reason: At great great cost, Jesus Christ made every provision for us to escape the looming threat of hell.
Knowing the dynamics that are arrayed against us, He forever set aside His eternal state as the uncreated God, and voluntarily subjected Himself to the death-curse that we, ourselves, inflicted upon Him. It was a horrible torture, and a gruesome death. Jesus was put to death by humanity. Romans imperialists, religious elites, and the oppressed poor abhorred Him, betrayed Him, tortured Him and then executed Him. We put God to death! Every single one of us. Had He been born in any other culture; any other age, or among any other society, Jesus would have fared no better. We’re all guilty of rejecting, despising and killing Jesus.***
In view of all this we ask: Where are we going to find a better leader, with more wisdom, more ability, more commitment to our good, more tolerant patience, compassion toward our decrepit condition, more understanding of our self-betraying heart, and power to bring us into fruitful love than Jesus?
Jesus is the Leader our hearts have always longed for! He’s the perfect Leader, Who leads with perfect wisdom, perfect love, perfect power, perfect empowerment… etc. Under His leadership we live with the ideal antidote to the corruption of the curse. Instead of hatred, we experience perfect love. Instead of fear – security. Instead of lust – pure, and holy satisfaction. Instead of loneliness – mutual, unashamed union with God and others… There’s no logical reason why any human being would not thrive, emotionally, physically, intellectually and spiritually living under Jesus’ reign. None.
In the final analysis, Hell is God’s “prison” then for those who irrationally oppose the perfect Leader that our own hearts crave now.
When Jesus returns (yes, we believe that…), He will rule the earth with perfect love and perfect wisdom and justice. With death and the curse banished, Jesus, and those in His Kingdom, are forever free to enjoy 100% mutual, perfect love, where there is no taint of hostility, fear, suspicion or alienation – only joy, beauty and affirmation centered around the radiant, joy, beauty and affirmation of Jesus Christ.
And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3-4)
Here’s the critical question: What then should He do with those who have resisted, and rejected His perfect, loving, all sacrificing leadership? Would a God of love endlessly tolerate a viral curse infecting His Kingdom?? Of course not. The truth of the matter is, Jesus reigning over humanity isn’t an issue that’s up for debate. It’s a settled fact – determined by the will of the Father. It will be a manifest reality.
And again, the human will, being what it is, will no more honor, and/or submit to the perfect reign of Jesus in this next age, than we have in this one. If we want a life that exists autonomous and disconnected from His leadership now, we will honestly not clamor for it anymore when He’s standing right in front of us. Our hearts are that that tainted by the curse, and stubbornly set on our selfish ways.
BELOVED, TODAY, Jesus offers us freedom from the curse, and a new life of profound goodness under His reign. If we will dialogue with Him, admit that our hearts have been filled with accusations against His leadership, admit that we’ve wanted our own way and ask Him to forgive us for not trusting Him, He will forgive us, and show us how to live free from the power of the curse that stubbornly clings to our lives. If you want His forgiveness and His liberating leadership you can have both, instantaneously, by praying a prayer like this:
Jesus, thank You for everything that You’ve done for me – most especially, for dying on the cross. Forgive me for the many ways I’ve rejected You, and rebelled against You and Your ways. (It may be helpful for you to recall some of the ways you have rebelled and resisted His reign in your life.) My heart has been filled with sin, and the ways of the curse. I want it to be clean, and filled with the ways of Your love. Please come into my life, and lead me. Put to death the things in me that keep me separated from You, and from others. Direct me into the joys of everlasting life, forever living under Your reign.
__________ JSB • August, 2025 (Revised)
In 2015, while I was fully awake, the Lord gave me an open vision of hell that’s forged a deeply-rooted sensitivity to the horrors of hell. Check out my story in this companion article, “From Hell to Heaven“.
*NOTE: This is also why it is SO VITAL that the Church respond to the (1 Peter 4:17-18) corporate judgments of the Lord in this hour, by giving the world an example of how to respond to the reign of a holy, sovereign and gracious God. The corporate judgments upon the Church right now are intended to give the unsaved world a witness of the blessedness of His reign that liberates humanity from the oppressive, murderous, selfish ways of unrighteousness. If the world sees us casting off the judgments of the Lord with self-justification, and violently demanding our own way, they will find no reason, and see no example of how, or why to respond to the Lord any differently than we have. They will see no reason not to live from the flesh. They will hear no joy re: the contra-curse goodness of His reign. Nor will they understand the pathway into His Kingdom. They will remain in a mind-set that divorces the heart, mind and soul from His leadership, and the Kingdom of righteousness.
**For us to sit in judgment re: “Why” God allowed the curse to infect humanity in the first place is to assume that we know more than God, see further than God, love deeper than God. This is nothing if not the foolish pathway of pride. The fact of the matter is we’re not God. (We should at least know this much…) We did not create ourselves. Each of us struggle with a curse that will ultimately put each of us to death. God invested Himself in supplying both a way of escape from the penalty of the curse, and the Object of our desire for perfect love and perfect leadership in His Son.
***There is great power and hope in the apostolic belief that “CHRIST DESCENDED INTO HELL.”
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison…” (1 Peter 3:18-19)
A sixth century Catholic devotional reading for “holy Saturday” (the day after Good Friday – and the day before Resurrection Sunday) reads: “Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. . . He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him – He who is both their God and the son of Eve. . . “I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. . . I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead.”
The fact that Jesus as a man in death encountered hell itself declares that there is no power, affliction, stronghold, illness, curse nor depth of evil that can be arrayed against us that is not subject to the reign and authority of Jesus.
Beloved. Death was never His equal. It was only His enemy.
Below are 24 Scriptures from the Bible on topic of Hell
For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your offspring and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD. And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh. Isaiah 66:22-24
At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Daniel 12:1-2
If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. “If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell. Matthew 5:29-30
Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. Matthew 7:13
…but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 8:12
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28
Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you. Matthew 11:20-24
Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend and those who practice lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13:40-42
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous. Matthew 13:47-50
He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:16
Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. Matthew 18:6-9
Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers unit he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses. Matthew 18:32-35
You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? Matthew 23:33
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” . . . Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. . . . And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46
Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” Mark 9:42-48
Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. “Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ “Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’. But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the protest in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.’ Luke 13:24-28
In being in torment in Hades he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us. Luke 16:23-25
This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment. 2 Peter 2:4
Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Jude 7
[These people are] wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. Jude 13
If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.Revelation 14:9-11
And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. Revelation 19:20
And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. . . . Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:10, 14-15
____________________ If you would like to dialogue about these scriptures, and/or the reality of hell, and/or the promise of eternal life in Jesus’ Kingdom, contact me: Jon Boegl xaris4u@yahoo.com I’d love to connect with you.
In accordance with what the Bible tells us about the ways of the Lord with a wicked and rebellious people, millions of church-going believers in our nation are being given over to a spirit of delusion.
“Just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, GOD GAVE THEM OVER to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper; people having been filled with all unrighteousness…” (Romans 1:28-29)
“Consequently GOD SENDS ON THEM A DELUDING INFLUENCE so that they will believe what is false.” (2 Thessalonians 2:11)
“For many live, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears, I tell you that THEY ARE THE ENEMIES OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things.” (Philippians 3:18-19)
“They are pure vanity, the work of delusion and error. When the day of their visitation comes, they will be destroyed.” (Jeremiah 51:18)
What does being given over to a spirit of delusion look like in a soul, a community, and/or a culture?
12 Signs and Consequences of a Christian Being Given Over to a sPirit of Delusion:
1. You cannot also be filled with the Holy Spirit
2. You will not crave the fruit of the Spirit – you will crave and justify the fruit of the flesh
3. You will (increasingly?) suffer (literally) the natural, compounding consequences of unrighteousness
4. You will not be able to rightly bear a cross; you will have no means of true discipleship in Christ, and will therefore have no means to cultivate increased living faith in Christ Jesus
5. You will be found testifying to things that actually harm the reputation of God, and harm others.
6. You will seek out greater and greater religious zeal to make up for the lack of Spirit power in your life
7. You will listen to the destructive and divisive arguments/doctrines of demons
8. You will increasingly NOT walk in the light of honestly, vulnerability, poverty of spirit, humility, meekness etc., but instead walk in darkness, shame, isolation, and evil suspicion
9. You will fill your self with more and more of a “curse” – that will actually often manifest itself as “cursing”
10. “Prophetic” words (charismatic), and Biblical teaching (dispensational) are more and more about “saving self”, and less and less about exalting Jesus, or even mentioning Jesus at all.
11. Daily intimate fellowship with Jesus and His Word, and prayer (watching and praying) becomes more and more burdensome, and the invitation to political, social, ethical, religious zealotry becomes more and more appealing.
12. Ultimately, the terms of your own covenant with Jesus are on the table, and you find yourself questioning key elements of the gospel for yourself, and others.
The Moravians stood shoulder to shoulder with native Americans during America’s first great awakening.
Evangelists and abolitionists marked the second great awakening.
Azusa, was led by a one-eyed black man, and embraced nearly every ethnicity on earth.
Like the very first “revival” recorded in Acts 2, all the great nation-wide revivals in America also ushered in grand, societal-shifts toward heaven’s value for race.
The last bonafide, national revival we had was the Jesus People Movement of the late 60’s and 70’s. One of the reasons it was so pervasive was because it participated in the national humbling of the general populace re: our nation’s long history of racial sin, while casting a broad vision for the multiethnic culture America was becoming. The Spirit of the Lord touched all aspects of our society as a result.
Race was one of the chief issues that Jesus confronted through all four of the gospels. It was a perpetual component of the Acts of the apostles. It was an issue that was repeatedly addressed in the epistles. And it is a sparkling facet of the beauty of redeemed humanity in the book of Revelation.
To be racially tender (even toward Haitians, Afghanis, Central Americans, Canadians, Greenlanders, and Mexicans) is to make room for His Kingdom, even at the expense of our own kingdoms. To love with humility and empathy across convivial norms, and divisions is part of the warp and woof of what it means to be a New Testament Christian. It is to be like Jesus.
At the same time, the way of the devil is to ply self-justification, insensitivity, and a “look out for my own” mentality into communities. It is the way of antipathy, and the anti-cross. It plays on fear, rather than excelling at love. It is the anti-1Corinthians13 way. Neither does it value making oneself poor, meek, mournful, hungry for justice, peaceful, pure, or merciful. The way of the devil diminishes the distinctively deep, and wonderful elements of ethnicity. It is a form of “trashing family” as sure as sexual perversion, divorce and abortion.
With this in mind, with the callous, defensive, insular spirit that’s currently in vogue with so many of our MAGA evangelical leaders, I don’t believe we are “making a way” for the increased Presence of the Lord, and a modern, nation-wide revival. To the contrary – much of the neo-nationalist rhetoric seeks to shift our collective attitude in ways that grieve and militate against the Lord of the nations.
Racial celebration remains one of the most cherished elements marking great surges in Kingdom expansion. And right now, our ways are stained with indifference, unrepentance, and lack of compassion toward our neighbors’ racial wounds and inequities.
O, Father of glory! Give us a considerate, and contrite heart for Your magnificent design for race.
My heart-wrenching concern for American Evangelicalism over the last 36 months has less to do with who our president is maligning, or what the godless in our nation are championing, than it does with the spirit I hear in the Church as we engage the socio-political issues of our day. Through storm after storm, the Lord is providing our evangelical family with an MRI of the 1 John 2:16 carnality that festers in our soul, and the idols we’ve harbored on the high places. And although I’m ultimately confident in the Holy Spirit’s ability to bring us forth as a part of Jesus’ glorious Bride1, I’m presently alarmed that from top to bottom, we American evangelicals seem oblivious to the nature and cure for the malignancy that’s ravaging our nation.
What’s the source of our nation’s cancer? It’s a cancer of the spirit. And it finds host in Pentecostals, atheists, conservatives, democrats, racists, LGBTQ, and fundamentalists alike. It metastasizes from one reality: failure to take up one’s cross. It isn’t surprising that this lack should be discovered among a godless, scripture-shunning society. What’s alarming is that a people who, for decades, have been feeding on Jesus’ Words of life, should have no cross.
I’m not saying we Christians don’t revere the cross, or quote from cross-teaching giants like A’Kempis, Luther, Murray, Bonhoeffer and Tozer. I’m not saying we don’t esteem references to the cross, lyrics about the cross, or that we don’t “like” pithy memes about the cross. I’m saying we leaders have failed to teach the cross. We’ve left the gospels’ foundational call to Christ in the footnotes. As John Wimber used to say, “We’ve left the crucified life in the fine-print of our contract with Christ.” For a hundred self-retaining reasons, we’ve simply not instructed the saints on how to take up their cross and follow Jesus. Period. Consequently, as evangelicals address the host of serious moral and spiritual issues in our society, what our neighbors hear sounds more like a people who are desperately For a hundred self-retaining reasons, we’ve simply not instructed the saints on how to take up their cross and follow Jesus. Period. Consequently, as evangelicals address the host of serious moral and spiritual issues in our society, what our neighbors hear sounds more like a people who are desperately “seeking to save their own lives” (Luke 9:24), than those who are so confident in our Lord that they’re joyfully willing to lay down their lives for His sake. (1 John 3:16; John 15:13)
Allow me to clarify where neglecting the way of the cross leaves us in this hour.
When we evangelicals refuse to take up our cross… 1. …we will find ourselves reaching for the world’s definition of power. We will fail to manifest Christ’s definition of power, which is filled with truth, grace, and redemptive compassion. (Luke 9:54, Matthew 18:1-5)
2. When we do not deny our “selves”, we ARE swallowed up by the (Romans 3:9-18; 2 Peter 2:14) curse of rancor, malice, alienation, self-justification, shaming and deceit that rages in man’s pursuit of power; the only cure for which is the cross.
3. When we neglect the crucified life 3. When we neglect the crucified life we will find ourselves clamoring for our own rights and privileges without asking if the fervor of our pursuit is impeding our witness, and our primary mandate to look like Jesus. (See Philippians 2:5-11)
4. When we lay down our cross, we are restricting the beatitudes to Sunday sermon notes rather than employing them as the norms of our heart as we engage our culture. (See Matthew 5-7 and Luke 6:20-49) The simple & tragic truth is, when we evangelicals champion a President without voicing our objection to his deeply carnal spirit we’re declaring to our lost world that when social-moral issues are at risk it’s most wise to ditch Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in favor of the hostile politics of the flesh. Beloved, Jesus didn’t give us the Sermon on the Mount because He wanted to make us religious. He gave us the Sermon on the Mount because He wants our relationships to work, and to honor Him.
5. When we deny the cross and take up our self, we gerrymander sin; neglecting the truth that Jesus calls humanity to bring our whole self to death. Instead, we’re found arguing that sins within our camp (pornography, sexual assault, malice, massive adultery, racial insensitivity, and hostile hate-speech) are less disqualifying than the sins outside of our camp. (See Matthew 5:27-32 and Matthew 5:21-26)
6. When we forgo the cross, we forfeit the integrity and authority of our prophetic voice. (See Mark 6:18 & Luke 13:32) Without the cross we make small prophecies that indenture the Church to political polarization and fear, rather than making Kingdom prophecies in a Spirit of true liberty that call a whole nation to repent.
7. When we shun the cross, we become so intent on defeating the evils of liberal humanism that we become willing to cut deals with the evils of conservative hedonism – the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life that is in opposition to the Father. (See 1 John 2:16)
8. When we do not die daily, we will find ourselves choosing to compromise the values of Christ’s Kingdom in an attempt to “save our own life” (Luke 17:33). The lust for political power intoxicates us so that we more readily give up our fidelity to the way of Christ. (See 1 Peter 2:23)
9. When we marginalize the way of the cross we reformulate what it means for a soul to come to Christ. We redraw the terms of His covenant, giving “baby Christians” in our own political camp every benefit of the doubt; giving them mulligans rather than Jesus’ invitation to “come and die”. (See Mark 10:21; Luke 9:23)
10. When we bear no cross our family, neighbors and culture cannot see Jesus at work in us. (See Colossians 3:3; John 3:30)
Because the Father has promised to give His Son a co-companion Bride, I do have great hope! The Holy Spirit’s zeal to bring forth a bride is greater than our zeal to make America great again. If the Church will maintain her (Ephesians 5:15,16) perspicuity and cry out to God while maintaining our uncompromised fidelity to Jesus, He will use the firestorms of this hour to beautify us, so that we shine forth with unmistakeable Christlike character, favor and power. Halleluia!
But we must not be deceived, beloved. Taking up our cross is foundational to His plan to bring forth the Bride. And a cross-bearing Bride is vital to His plan to redeem a nation. The truth of the matter is, the longer we refuse the way of the cross, the more it will require of us to take it up in the future.
Jesus, above all else, give us passion, unction and grace to take up our cross unto YOUR INCREASE – not our own!
__________ JSB • June, 2019
In the June 2025 article, “Many Have Bowed Down and Fallen“, I lay out why I believe the Lord is now giving millions in our family over to the curse of unrighteousness; an unrighteousness that we have clamored for in our persistence to obtain our own selfish ways at the expense of our cross. I remain confident that the Lord will have His purified Bride for Himself at the end of the age, but I understand that this Bride will be severely refined, and many will “fall away”, and no longer be a part of the Bride through the purging process. Make no mistake however, the “giving over to unrighteousness” is also a part of the refining process. Where His people have spurned being disciplined by a Righteous Hand, the Lord is now allowing us to be disciplined by an unrighteous hand. ↩︎
A WATERSHED HOUR The Church America is in a “watershed” hour.
The spiritual atmosphere is shifting. Thought patterns, narratives and paradigms are being sealed into whole networks of Christians; where pastors, pundits, prophets and intercessors not only believe false storylines, but care little for cautionary scriptures, and heartily draw each other into the destructive spirits attached to the lies. There is no argument, no amount of reason, no logical presentation of the facts that can budge individuals from the realities that so many are clothing themselves with.
When a full web of deceit has been allowed to infiltrate the minds of any collection of humanity, (ie. married couple, family, small group, church fellowship, or denomination) the perverted world-view then determines the truth. The deceived bend the scriptures to reenforce the perverted truth, and scriptures that militate against the perverted truth are marginalized and ignored altogether.
This is where the household of God finds ourselves in 2025 – entranced by the myths of a gilded delusion.
False, collective mind-sets have overtaken the people of God throughout history. From the tower of Babel, the days of Noah, the Children of Israel, to the days of the prophets, to the church in Corinth, Sardis and Laodicea, to the crusades, to the civil war Southern Baptists in our own United States, and the Lutherans, and Catholics in 1930’s Germany, and Italy – whole elements of the people of God have repeatedly veered into degenerate beliefs about the ways of the Lord.
FALLING AWAY The Bible often refers to this phenomenon as “falling away” from faith in God.
“These ones have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they fall away.” (Mark 4:17) (See also Luke 8:13)
“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to FALL AWAY.” (John 16:1)
“Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never FALL AWAY.” (Matthew 26:33) (See also Mark 14:27)
“Then many will FALL AWAY into sin, and they will betray one another, and hate one another.” (Matthew 24:10)
“Blessed is everyone who does not FALL AWAY on account of Me.” (Matthew 11:6)
“Let no one deceive you by any means; for (the Day of the Lord) will not come unless the FALLING AWAY comes first…” (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
“Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never FALL AWAY…” (2 Peter 1:10)
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” (1 Timothy 4:1)
“Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:11)
We can be easily deceived by our uncrucified mind. The ability to see when one is falling away is a supernatural work of the Spirit. Our flesh will distort our reality, and the nature of the faithlessness that’s truly in our hearts. “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12)
PSALM 20 • SOME TRUST IN HORSES In Psalm 20, David notes that many in his day “put their boast in chariots, and horses” (v.7), and had “bowed down” (to another) and “fallen away” from “trusting in the Name of the Lord” v.8. This erosion of faith; whereby the covenant people of God are seduced by lies, and place their ultimate trust in another power of provision other than YHWH is routinely identified as “IDOLATRY” in both the Old, and New Testaments.
THE IMAGE OF GOLD One of the most prominent pictures of idolatry is vividly detailed in the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s “image of gold”, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
After years of hearing of the Lord’s judgments upon the nation of Judah, the Jews had finally been deported to Babylon. There, the covenant people of God would spend the next generation, outside of the land of promise, under the unrighteous reign of a series of pagan kings. In Daniel chapter 3, we learn that the first king, Nebuchadnezzar, has erected a towering statue on an open plain near the city. Furthermore, the king is demanding that all of the inhabitants of his realm “bow down” to this image upon his command. Undoubtably, many Jews in Babylon heard this decree, and, in varying states of faith and unbelief, were faced with a choice: “In light of YHWH’s first commandment, how do we respond to this summons to extol the glory of Nebuchadnezzar?”
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image – any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.” (Exodus 30:4-6)
Apparently, many “bowed down” (Exodus 30:5; Psalm 20:7; Daniel 3:6) to the king’s demand to worship his image. Perhaps they rationalized that they were simply showing proper respect for their new ruling authority. Or maybe, many had already begun to embrace the Babylonian cult-legends, ultimately believed the lie that by submitting to the false glory of the king of Babylon, they would be sufficiently provided for, and protected… (who knows?) What they didn’t perceive was that they were actually taking the next step in their long process of “falling away” from their God; the One Who had been pleading with them, and their father’s fathers through the prophets. Undoubtably, many of these Jews had a correct belief in Who YHWH was, but in the heat of self-preservation their theology was exposed as a rhetorical construct and not a practical reality that shaped how they lived their day to day lives. With meager faith in YHWH, many children of Judah capitulated to Nebuchadnezzar’s orders, perhaps even donning fashionable golden-image jewelry, or chanting popular, emotional phrases, and prostrated themselves before a demonic entity.
Though many tragically bowed down to the image on the plain in those days, Daniel records that three would not. There were three who saw the moment for what it was. In spite of the pervasive cult beliefs, the peer pressure, the Facebook memes, and perhaps even arguments from their own teachers – these three saw Nebuchadnezzar’s executive order as an affront to the power and glory that belonged to their God.
Of the thousands who were on the plain in that day, only three passed the test in the courts of heaven.
FALLING AWAY HAS CONSEQUENCES The story of the “golden image” is much more than a quaint Bible story about three noble young men who made a wise choice. It was a significant day of judgment upon the people of God. One that would lead to potential reward and blessing for some, and consequence and additional curse for others.
Over the last several weeks, as our authoritarian President has dictated that our nation honor the birthday of the flag, the army, and his own life, (a demand that would have sounded familiar to Nebuchadnezzar, and many other self-exalting supremacists throughout human history including Mao, PW Botha, Pinochet, Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, Kim Jung Un, Stalin etc. – all who held military parades on their own birthday) the Lord has brought the American Church into an hour of judgment no less pointed than what Shadrach, Meschac and Abednego were faced with. The Lord is looking us in the eye, and confronting us with our own idolatry. In a very troubled, and tumultuous cultural context, He’s issuing the pointed question to our souls: “Who will you honor? Will you put your nimble, daily trust in Me? Or will you ‘bow down’ and hail another carnal king who promises to provide for you, protect you, and make you a great people?”
Simply put, the Lord is bringing us to a moment when He is testing the nature, and strength of our faith.
PROFESSED FAITH vs. CRUCIFIED FAITH The faith we want, and need to have in this hour, must be more than a correct propositional statement. It needs to be more than orthodox dogma about Jesus. In Matthew 16, Peter declared what was true about Who Jesus was, truth that Jesus even affirmed as being “revealed by the Father” (Matthew 16:17). But in the minutes after this inspired assertion, as Jesus described what was about to happen to the Messiah, “doctrinally correct Peter”, is found rebuking Jesus! He openly opposed the way that Jesus was describing – the way of humility, crucifixion, death, and abject faith in the will of the Father. Peter let the prominent cultural legend about the mission of the Messiah to determine his belief, and even override the expressed Words of the Messiah, Himself! His narrative had the Messiah violently overthrowing pagan oppression. Jesus was indicating that both pagan oppression and religious orthodoxy were about to put Him on a cross. It was oil and water in Peter’s mind. He had no template for what Jesus was talking about. Death meant failure and loss. Victory looked like spiritual, moral, and governmental domination.
Peter’s ideologies toppled all the more as Jesus underscored the way of true anointing: Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:24-26)
This was Jesus’ vision of robust, living faith: to lay down one’s life, without complaint, and to trust that the Father would receive the complete offering of self, along with all of one’s hopes for self-glory, self-sustenance, self-determination, self-justification, and self-gratification, and raise us up in the same Spirit of Christ, so that we share in the same glory; the same authority; and the same character as Jesus, Himself. Jesus was saying that He was about to offer His Father “obedience to the point of death” (Philippians 2:6-8) and by it, the Father would see to it that Jesus’ covenant love, mercy, and leadership would be extended to the whole world. Complete surrender of the impulse of self to the Father, even to the point of death, was the way Jesus was going to extend His Kingdom, from Jerusalem, to Galilee, to Syria, to Turkey, to Rome, to Europe, to the Americas, to all of Africa, China, the Islands – in person after person, and ekklesia after ekklesia.
It takes a lot of real faith to believe this – both, from a global / missions perspective, as well as from a daily, personal perspective. The way seems small, too slow, and too dangerous. It takes faith to believe that there is a Father in heaven Who sees and rewards every little extension of kindness, forgiveness and sacrifice with His favor, and His “dunamis” power.
It takes faith to believe that poverty of spirit, meekness, mourning, and asking for forgiveness is going to extend Jesus’ reign on the earth. In a dog-eat-dog (X, formerly TWITTER) world, it takes trust to display love when everyone around you is hating; to rejoice while everyone else is raging; to walk in peace while everyone is declaring war; to be patient while everyone is seizing the moment; to extend kindness after you’ve been vilified; to operate in goodness while those around you are compromising with holiness; to be gentle when everyone else is taking up the sword; and to surrender self, when everyone is urging you to take what’s rightfully yours.
But this is the real, moment-by-moment world the Lord calls us to manifest faith within… And what I’ve just outlined above, is what true faith looks like to Jesus. To not possess this type of faith is to either not have faith, or to have FALLEN AWAY from real faith.
“When the Son of Man comes, will He find real faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)
This is also the type of faith that Paul describes that many will fall away from in (2 Thessalonians 2:3); a faith that both believes the true things about Jesus, and willingly lays down our selfish lives down unto the increase of His glory within the context of a hostile world.
And this is where, in this crucible of faith-analysis, that we, as a people find ourselves. For ten years our family has been challenged by one man to assert self, rather than deny self. He has openly, and daily challenged the Body of Christ to cheer words and ways that are antithetical to Christ. He’s goaded us to “fight like hell!” Seize your rights Curse! Revile! Push! Shove! Demand your own way! Condemn! Never forgive! Never admit your mistakes! Murder! Abuse! Justify your fleshly impulses! Crave! Take! Lust some more! Rage! Deceive! Alienate! Divide! Conquer! Exalt self! And, especially, at every opportunity, “exalt me!”
The followers of Christ have been selectively targeted to compromise the integrity of their wholehearted allegiance to the Father. Their trust has been assailed with temptations that are as real as Jesus’ temptations in the desert. (See Luke 4) It’s been a decade-long barrage on the Church. Every day our collective group-speak about what is evil, and what isn’t moves a centimeter – until one day, the voice of murder, lust, pride and impatience can wait no longer and openly makes us an offer: “All this power and glory I will give You… if You will bow down before me.” (Luke 4:6-7)
This is the day that is upon us – a day when the devil’s barter is seen for what it is. “Worship me! Worship my power and might! Worship my authority to not only rule the nation, but rule the earth! Hail my way of hostility, pride, self-assertion and covetousness. Acknowledge that my way – the abusive way of might – the way of Peter in (Matthew 16) – is the right way – and even God’s way.”
You’ll notice that Jesus’ answer to the devil in (Luke 4) is the same as it was to Peter in (Matthew 16). “Get behind Me, Satan!”
Selah
Selah, some more…
Would that this had been our family’s response to our President’s latest appeal to “bow down” and honor him, and his display of might and power. Would that our family would learn that Jesus’ response in both of these instances is the “real faith” that the “Son of Man” (Luke 18:8) will be looking for at the end of the age. “No. I won’t bow down to you and your contra-Kingdom definition of power, your false promises of glory, and your hostile way of self-determination. Get thee behind me, satan!”
There was a day when many children of Israel, who had celebrated the first Passover, put their trust in the familiarity, pomp, and empty promises of a deity represented by a golden calf. (Exodus 32:28) Even after being threatened by Moses, 3000 would not repent, and instead laid down their lives for their idol.
There was a day when 10 children of Israel put their trust in their own ability to win the day, and would not go into the land because of the giants (Numbers 14). All ten of them, and their families died outside of the land promised to them by YHWH.
The Lord has been giving us such a choice in these days. Will we continue to extol and vaunt the way of one who is promising us greatness through carnal strength and self-determination? Or will we humble ourselves, put self in the grave, and walk in the noble, incorruptibility of our faith, daily being made into the image of the One we long for?
This is the ultimatum that the Lord has put before us.
Allow me to be straightforward.
It’s 2025. If you’re hailing Trump, defending his arguments of carnal selfism, casually offering him displays of adoration, you have taken the devil’s bait; you are bowing to Nebuchadnezzar’s image of gold; you have fallen away from faith in God.
It’s vital that you know what your approbation is communicating to the Son of Man:
A. Your “boast” in the Lord (Psalm 20:7) is more rhetoric, than daily, practical, Biblical reality.
B. You’ve compromised your allegiance to the way of Christ. In fact, you’re “bowing down” (Psalm 20:8) to a king who is contraChrist.
C. You’ve “fallen away” (Psalm 20:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:) from heaven’s definition of faith in God.
D. You need to return to pure, and sufficient faith in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:20) The Lord knows there are grim consequences to “bowing down and falling away”…
“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief FALL AWAY from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:12-13)
“They have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they FALL AWAY, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” (Hebrews 6:5-6)
1. Your adulation will cause you to side-step the faith-cultivating process that Holy Spirit is working in the Bride through the Sermon on the Mount. Consequently, you will not have a breathing, adroit faith that will be sufficient for the “troubled” day in which we’re living. You will lack the humble responsiveness to the Lord that will keep you safe from losing your obedient love for the Lord.
2. The spirit of delusion (2 Thessalonians 2:11) is a bonafide threat to your Christlikeness, and to your salvation. In apologizing for this man’s demonic spirit, you are being beguiled by greater and more self-satisfying lies. You will defend the indefensible. Truth-be-told, if you’re reading this with an argument in your spirit, you already are. And ultimately, you will encourage others deeply into these contra-Christ thoughts and behaviors. This is the sure, scriptural, mathematical pathway to destruction traversed by the envious, those filled with strife, deceit, malice, insolent, arrogant, unfeeling, and unmerciful.
“Just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper, people having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil… without understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, and unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also approve, and encourage others to practice them.” (Romans 1:28-32)
“Consequently GOD SENDS ON THEM A DELUDING INFLUENCE so that they will believe what is false.” (2 Thessalonians 2:11)
“For many live, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears, I tell you that THEY ARE THE ENEMIES OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things.” (Philippians 3:18-19)
“They are pure vanity, the work of delusion and error. When the day of their visitation comes, they will be destroyed.” (Jeremiah 51:18)
What does being given over to a spirit of delusion look like in a soul, a community, and/or a culture?
12 Signs and Consequences of a Christian Being Given Over to a sPirit of Delusion:
1. You cannot also be filled with the Holy Spirit
2. You will not crave the fruit of the Spirit – you will crave and justify the fruit of the flesh
3. You will (increasingly?) suffer (literally) the natural, compounding consequences of unrighteousness
4. You will not be able to rightly bear a cross; you will have no means of true discipleship in Christ, and will therefore have no means to cultivate increased living faith in Christ Jesus
5. You will be found testifying to things that actually harm the reputation of God, and harm others.
6. You will seek out greater and greater religious zeal to make up for the lack of Spirit power in your life
7. You will listen to the destructive and divisive arguments/doctrines of demons
8. You will increasingly NOT walk in the light of honestly, vulnerability, poverty of spirit, humility, meekness etc., but instead walk in darkness, shame, isolation, and evil suspicion
9. You will fill your self with more and more of a “curse” – that will actually often manifest itself as “cursing”
10. “Prophetic” words (charismatic), and Biblical teaching (dispensational) are more and more about “saving self”, and less and less about exalting Jesus, or even mentioning Jesus at all.
11. Daily intimate fellowship with Jesus and His Word, and prayer (watching and praying) becomes more and more burdensome, and the invitation to political, social, ethical, religious zealotry becomes more and more appealing.
12. Ultimately, the terms of your own covenant with Jesus are on the table, and you find yourself questioning key elements of the gospel for yourself, and others.
CONCLUSION After ten years of this man’s vanity, deceit, lust and malicious words, the Lord is saying to our 21c blind, Laodicean spirit: “If you’re celebrating this man with no alarm about the (1 John 2:16) antiChrist spirit that’s in his soul, you’re giving him what he wants – ‘worship’; worship that only belongs to Me. This is idolatry in My eyes. The many in My household who continue to bow before this man, and his blasphemous pride and carnal hostility, ‘I am giving over’ (Romans 1:28) to a (2 Thessalonians 2:11) “strong delusion” – a spirit that has the power to cause all who elevate this man to “fall away” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) from the cross-bearing faith that will be necessary to stand with first-commandment love for Me at the end of the age.”
Today is a good day to weep. Truth be told, our tears over the compromised state of the church in America have far more glorious might than all the firepower in our military arsenal.
Shame upon a people who have lost their vision to see this…
There are a few across the land who are heralding this warning unto repentance with love, prayers, and the anticipation of redemption. And on the open plain where the false prophets bid the people of God to bow down to nationalist glory, there are a handful who dare to stand and boast in nothing but the Name of the Lord, our God.
And this is the message of those who stand. This is the invitation that we cry on the slippery slope of our culture: “Come! Repent of our idolatry! The Lord is bidding us to get up from bowing down, and come to His threshing floor, together. The hour is late. Let’s put away our spots, wrinkles and blemishes! Let us engage the fire that Jesus first offered to our Laodicean sisters and brothers: “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.” (Revelation 3:17-18)
____________________ JSB • June, 2025
POSTSCRIPT: The only way to break the curse of the unrighteous delusion that clings to us is for believers, churches and ministries to come to the Lord’s threshing floor, and engage the Lord in brutal personal truth over His Word. It’s only as we dialogue with the Spirit about the destructive contra-Christ thought-patterns and narratives, and give ourselves to weeping, repentance and contrition that we will find power to extricate ourselves from their invasive affects on our hearts, ways and relationships.
This was the type of engagement that Ezra gave to the Lord when his people were found to infected with the virulent strain of rebellious adultery in their day:
“O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God! For our iniquities have climbed higher than our heads, and our guilt extends to the heavens. 7 From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and priests, have been delivered over to captivity, plunder, and embarrassment—right up to the present time.8 “But now briefly we have received mercy from the Lord our God, in that he has left us a remnant and has given us a secure position in his holy place. Thus our God has enlightened our eyes and has given us a little relief in our time of servitude. 9 Although we are slaves, our God has not abandoned us in our servitude. He has extended kindness to us…“And now what are we able to say after this, our God? For we have forsaken your commandments 11 which you commanded us through your servants the prophets with these words: ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land defiled by the impurities of the local residents! With their abominations they have filled it from one end to the other with their filthiness. 12 Therefore do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons, and do not take their daughters in marriage for your sons. Do not ever seek their peace or welfare, so that you may be strong and may eat the good of the land and may leave it as an inheritance for your children forever.’13 “Everything that has happened to us has come about because of our wicked actions and our great guilt. Even so, our God, you have exercised restraint toward our iniquities and have given us a remnant such as this. 14 Shall we once again break your commandments…? Would you not be so angered by us that you would wipe us out, with no survivor or remnant? 15 O Lord God of Israel, you are righteous, for we are left as a remnant this day. Indeed, we stand before you in our guilt. However, because of this guilt no one can really stand before you.”
While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself to the ground before the temple of God, a very large crowd of Israelites—men, women, and children alike—gathered around him. The people wept loudly. 2 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, addressed Ezra: “We have been unfaithful to our God…” (Ezra 9:6-15 and 10:1-3)
Friends. This hasn’t been our way. We don’t value this kind of prayer in our evangelical circles. Nor have we “learned Christ” in this manner. Our prideful theology demands that it all be settled in a moment. Our hearts and minds are “dead set” on dominion, even if it means waving our paper swords in make-believe worlds to manifest it.
The tragic tragic truth of the matter is, MANY who believe that they are sons and daughters of the most High God will be lost under the power of the strong delusion simply because they refuse to let the Holy Spirit make them real through the fires of weeping, conviction of sin, lament and repentance. It’s so vital that we allow the Lord to begin to do this work within us today.
SPIRIT WORD & CROSS 