Matthew 5:8 - “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.”
Jesus was the ultimate peacemaker. Colossians 1:16b-17 says “All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” Then in verse 20 Paul goes on to say “and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”
Defining a Peacemaker
A peacemaker is one who brings reconciliation to all things that are out of God’s will. This was the very reason God took on flesh and became a man. Jesus became the mediator in order to reconcile all things to Himself through the perfect blood of the cross. This is true peace.
What Peace Are We Asking For?
The “peace” in Col. 1:20 in the Greek (G1517) is different than the “peace” in Mt. 10:34 (G1515) where Jesus says “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” The definition of the word “peace” (G1515) that Jesus did NOT come to bring was “a oneness, quietness, rest or prosperity.” Jesus came to make peace (G1517) - reconciliation of all things into God’s will. And this is what He is calling us to in the Sermon on the Mount… to be “PeaceMakers”. We should not be seekers of peace for the sake of peace. Non war time peace or prosperity peace or non-conflicts are not what we are to be seeking and pursuing, but a peace that is only found when things are reconciled to God by Jesus through the blood of the cross.
Apart from this reality, this peace… there can be no rest, quietness or oneness as long as things are not in alignment with the will of God. Every other sense of peace is a false peace and really no peace at all.
Can There Be Peace Without Reconciliation to God?
This has never been more a reality than when as a nation we voted in the most radical pro-abortion candidate in American history. Lou Engle brought a very alarming word to the Body of Christ Sunday when he said that many within the Church Leadership across America are calling for peace.
If by peace, they are calling for a radical pursuit of reconciling Barack Obama’s positions INTO the will of God; specifically on the issue of Abortion as well as every other position on issues he holds, then this is the peace we need. However, apart from this peace… there can be no peace. Unless this reconciliation happens and wrong things are made right, the next 4 years will be extremely terrible for human beings yet to be born and inside their mother’s womb.
Just as my friend Wes Martin said in his article on “Peace when there is no peace”, the Church Leadership of America MUST lead us the next 4 years in constant ‘Solemn Assemblies’ of prayer. When a moral crisis of this magnitude hits a nation this is the only Biblical Prescription.
In the last article in this series I laid out the 4 Part Overview of the Book of Revelation. Part 4 is the story line of the book unfolding here on earth. It spans from chapter 6 to 21, so putting it into one part of a 4-part overview doesn’t help much unless we unpack it. So that is where this next part comes in.
5 Chronological Sections
As the story line unfolds, there are 5 sections of the book that happen in chronological order, we call these the 5 Chronological Sections… very clever, I know. These 5 sections give the details, as they happen in succession, in which God’s judgment on the Antichrist’s empire unfolds on earth.
5 Angelic Explanations
During the process of unveiling the story as it happens in order, from one thing to the next, there is a pause in the story line. There is a pause after each of the 5 Chronological Sections. This pause allows for further explanation to give details and insight into what happens to God’s people. These sections answer some of the tough questions such as “Why is God’s wrath so severe?” and “What will happen to the saints?”
Chronological Section #1: 7 Seals (Rev. 6:1-17) - Angelic Explanation #1: Protection (Rev. 7:1-17) Chronological Section #2: 7 Trumpets (Rev. 8:1-9:21) - Angelic Explanation #2: Direction (Rev. 10:1-11:13) Chronological Section #3: Rapture & Jesus Replacing All World Governments (Rev. 11:15-19) - Angelic Explanation #3: Confrontation: Antichrist and False Prophet (Rev. 12:1-14:20) Chronological Section #4: 7 Bowls (Rev. 15:1-16:21) - Angelic Explanation #4: Seduction (Rev. 17:1-19:10) Chronological Section #5: Jesus Enters Jerusalem as King Over the Nations (Rev. 19:11-21:8) - Angelic Explanation #5: Glorification: Victory and Reign of the Bride (Rev. 21:9-22:5)
In the next article in this series I’ll go over the 7 Primary Symbols that occur in the Angelic Explanations.
Here it is in its most basic form. It’s not difficult, and it’s not my opinion mixed in with interpretations, it is just a plain sense reading of the book of revelation and breaking it down into 4 parts.
4 Part Overview of the Book of Revelation:
John’s Prophetic Commission (Chpt. 1)
Letters to the 7 Churches (Chpts. 2, 3)
Jesus’ Heavenly Commission (Chpts. 4, 5)
Jesus’ Action Plan to Cleanse the Earth of Evil (Chpts. 6 - 21)
Simple. It is of course missing the details, but its a great way to approach the book.
So now that we’ve figured out that it isn’t so difficult to wrap our minds around, let’s just look at these 4 sections and break it down a little further.
Part 1: John’s Prophetic Commission (Chpt. 1): In chapter 1 John is given a commission to prophesy in writing the things he has seen through the lens of Jesus’ majesty.
Part 2: Letters to the 7 Churches (Chpts. 2, 3): In chapters 2 and 3 Jesus is speaking throughout the 2 chapters and giving the 7 churches exhortations to be overcomers.
Part 3: Jesus’ Heavenly Commission (Chpts. 4, 5): In chapters 4 and 5 Jesus is given the scroll and given His mandate to take over the earth. In these chapters we also get a glimpse of the throne room of heaven.
Part 4: Jesus’ Action Plan to Cleanse the Earth of Evil (Chpts. 6 - 21): In these chapters we are taken through the story line of Jesus’ actions to cleanse the earth (Great Tribulation). In these passages there are 2 main literary sections:
5 Chronological Sections (the chronological order in which God’s judgments unfold on earth)
5 Angelic Explanations (the story line is put on “pause” to answer important questions)
I’ll stop here and start with the 5 Chronological sections and 5 Angelic Explanationsin the next post.
I hope this gives you motivation to jump into the book. In this book Jesus is giving us understanding of what He is doing and why He is doing it. This is something that will affect us, our family and our friends. We must have confidence that we can understand this book. Like I said in this article, it was written to be understood by all.
- 3,589 innocent adults in the U.S. were hung from the gallows on the steps of court houses?
What if this week….
- 25,123 innocent adults in the U.S. were systematically and legally murdered?
What if this month….
- 111,259 innocent adults in the U.S. were victims of genocide, and the government had given permission for this to take place?
What if this year….
- 1,310,000 innocent adults were executed without a trial, without their voice being heard?
What if this were actually true? And these were not adults but babies. And as a nation and a church we were unable or unwilling to stand against it? What would you do? Who would you appeal to? What would you expect from a Judge who had the power to do something about it?
This reminds me of the man who murdered both his parents. Then when his sentence was about to be pronounced, he pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” - Martin Luther King Jr.
“True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants - things which must shortly take place.” (Rev. 1:1)
“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.” (Rev. 1:3)
“Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him.” (Rev. 1:7)
I’m not a super theologian. I also haven’t yet heard the audible voice of God. Yet I know that the book of Revelation is meant to be read and meant to be understood. It’s the only book in the Bible that has both a blessing for those that read, hear and keep the words of this book, and a curse for those who add to it or take away from it.
This book is one of those in the Bible that many avoid. People read the good parts of course; Many times when they start to read the Bible in any regular fashion most want to see what happens in the end. They see that we win and many times that’s it. That’s good enough for them. They don’t hear about it too often from the pulpit, and they aren’t encouraged to study it.
If however, they decide to push a little farther, they then come upon the seals, trumpets, and bowls, the beast with 7 heads with 10 horns, and some woman and a dragon who wants to kill her offspring. Usually, because of the symbols, people think they can’t really understand the symbols and start to avoid those parts because they think they don’t apply to their life today.
So many say to themselves (even if they aren’t aware of it) “I’ll take the good stuff and not worry about the stuff I don’t get” and they leave it at that.
However, this is a dangerous place to be. From this place people may begin to take scripture out of context and misunderstand the very truths Jesus wanted us to know. Also a very deep motivation for living for the age to come lies dormant and people fail to develop vision to live for more than this life, believing that either “we won’t be here” or “it will all pan out in the end”.
I’ve heard people say “It’s too difficult to understand” or “it’s not meant for general reading.”
All of the Bible, including the book of Revelation, was meant for everyone to read and understand. Sure, you may not get it on the first go-around, but go back a 2nd time and a 3rd (The Bible isn’t meant to be read once). Also, throughout history the majority of the people in the world have been uneducated peasants. This book, as well as every other book in the Bible, was meant to be understood in its plain sense reading of the text as read by an average reader. It is NOT meant for only the elite, PHD, highly intelligent, super theologians of the world and then explained to the rest of us.
However, it does help having a road map of the book going into it. It’s not necessary, but makes the book of Revelation so easy to understand that a 6 year old can get it. So in the next few posts I am going to be laying out a road map of the book of Revelation. It’s pretty basic, but makes for a great guide in your journey through the book.
The book of Revelation is meant to be read and understood by everyone not just the scholars. This book gives us more information about the severe coming crisis than any other book in the Bible. As the body of Christ, we are responsible to know and act on this information.
Below is a series of articles to jump start you in your journey through the book of Revelation and ultimately help you to pursue knowledge of God. By reading and praying through this book you will get to know the leadership of Jesus at the end of the age.
Rumor has it that McCain is calling around asking grassroots republicans what they will do if he chooses a Pro-Choice VP. Upon hearing this rumor I thought it might be a good question to ask.
McCain really shined at the Saddleback forum. In my opinion he gained the support of many evangelicals and brought a sense of “comfortableness” to conservatives going out to vote for him. However, he is still highly suspect when it comes to Christian values, close to the middle on many issues. He obviously will side with liberals in many things he feels will be best for the country.
However, he did state in the forum that he believes life begins at conception. He is also for overturning Roe v. Wade and states on his website that he believes:
Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench.
McCain has said he’ll choose Supreme Court justices like those who have already cast votes to restrict abortion rights. “I will look for people in the cast of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and my friend, the late William Rehnquist — jurists of the highest caliber,”.
However, McCain does also support embryonic stem cell research, which makes him less than 100 percent Pro-Life. Also in the past McCain has flip-flopped on wanting to overturn Roe v. Wade (in 1999 he told the San Francisco Chronicle that he would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade). However, on McCain’s website he has in bold that he is for legislation that will overturn Roe v. Wade. McCain also is in favor of an exception to opposition of abortion in the cases of rape and incest with no testing requirement for rape.
I heard it said today that if McCain chooses a Pro-Choice VP then there will be 3 democrats or liberals on the Presidential ticket, so people will be more inclined to vote for Obama.
So here it is:
What Will You Do if McCain Chooses a Pro-Choice VP?
When biblical immorality starts to turn into state or federal law, it is past time to get involved in politics. Thus, I am here to be a voice for the life of the unborn. My voice is here for any and all who will listen, and today’s revealing news is quite shocking.
For 4 years Senator Barack Obama has put forth efforts to cover up his full role in killing legislation to protect born-alive survivors of abortions. However after an interview with CBN where he said three times that National Right to Life was “lying” in asserting that he had voted against a state bill virtually identical to the federal Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, his campaign has admitted Obama “misstated his position.”
In an article on the New York Sun website on the evening of August 17th: “Mr. Obama appeared to misstate his position in the CBN interview on Saturday… [Obama's] campaign yesterday acknowledged that he had voted against an identical bill in the state senate…”
In the New York Sun article it also makes mention of a 5-minute video on YouTube (Caution: Video is hard to watch) that highlights Mr. Obama’s opposition to the legislation. This clip has been viewed more than 280,000 times and features a testimonial from Jill Stanek, a former nurse who spearheaded the push for the bill in Illinois after witnessing a live infant discarded and left to die at a hospital where she worked. In the Sun article it also mentions the McCain Campain’s criticism of Mr. Obama:
The McCain campaign yesterday added its voice to the criticism of Mr. Obama. “Americans can differ on the issue of abortion, but Senator Obama’s extreme record on this issue and his willingness to misrepresent that record should concern any American who believes that we should be working towards a society where there are fewer abortions, not more,” a spokesman for Senator McCain, Brian Rogers, said.
As controversial as this topic is this issue must have light shed on it. We must be informed on issues such as these, especially when someone’s life is at stake.
Looks like God is really highlighting this issue with me right now. Angel Manuel Soto Vazquez, a friend here at IHOP in KC has just finished a film that will be released at TheCall in Washington DC. I’ve seen the trailer and can’t wait to see the film.
A young woman is locked in the bathroom of an abortion clinic after her baby was born alive.
This is a film about decisions, their effects and the echos they leave behind. Based on the shocking true story of “Baby Rowan”, on victim’s testimonies, and real 911 calls about one of the most controversial subjects of our time, “22weeks” achieves to confront both sides of the spectrum and their perspective to the ongoing question: “what would you do?”
Matthew 5:8 - “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.”
Revelation: 5 Chronological & 5 Angelic Explanations
Here it is in its most basic form. It’s not difficult, and it’s not my opinion mixed in with interpretations, it is just a plain sense reading of the book of revelation and breaking it down into 4 parts.
What if today….
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants - things which must shortly take place.” (Rev. 1:1)
The book of Revelation is meant to be read and understood by everyone not just the scholars. This book gives us more information about the severe coming crisis than any other book in the Bible. As the body of Christ, we are responsible to know and act on this information. 
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