On October 8, 2013, I had a dream in which I was standing alone in a large corridor of a theatre of the arts. Two ballerinas were walking side by side in my direction. One wore a costume and tutu that was all white. The other wore a costume that was identical to the ballerina on her right, with the exceptions that her costume had a random, holstein-like pattern of black and white. She wore a matching headpiece that covered her skull. The headpiece had what appeared to be fiber optics extending from it that moved like very thin feathers as she walked.
The dancer on my left, the one whose costume was white, moved with the fluidity and grace befitting a ballerina. She remained silent as she looked at the other dancer who was telling her something that I couldn't hear. The body of the ballerina on my right jerked violently and twisted into strange movements that were not only unexpected from a ballerina, but reminded me of short circuited robot. She struggled to speak because her head and mouth jerked as badly as the rest of her body. The contrast was so stark, and the contorted ballerina so unnatural, that the scene was not only disturbing, it grieved my spirit.
As I awakened from the dream it was with the knowledge that the mark of the beast will consume. It will alter the body, mind, spirit, and soul. And I suspect its very DNA; thus making it less than human and irredeemable. Revelation 14:9-12 You may think the preceding statement about the alteration of human DNA to be a bit extreme. Well, we now know that immunizations change our DNA. So if vaccinations can do that, is it really far fetched to think that the mark would alter it to the extreme? Do I expect people to be walking around as the short circuited ballerina in my dream? No, although Revelation 16:1-2 does point out that those who receive the mark and worship its image will break out in harmful and painful sores, the Bible also tells us that people will be going about their lives as they did in the days of Noah. Honestly, I expect changes that will be most obvious will be the qualities that make humans able to feel and act on things like compassion, will be erased and their thoughts will be toward evil, continually.
This mark will be deceptively marketed as humanity's only hope for survival, and for those who "seek to save their lives ...", accepting it will be a given. But what about those who choose to lose their lives for His sake? It is that question that has prevented me from further writing this post. What could I possibly say about that that would bring the slightest bit of comfort or some sense of consolation to those who will not love their lives so much as to lose them? The answer came three days ago through the Inbox of my email account. The Berean - Church of the Great God is the daily devotional I am subscribed to and that day's devotion answered my prayer. What follows is in part, a paraphrase of that devotion.
In Jewish tradition, when a man wanted to marry a woman he would pour wine into a cup and offer her to drink from it. If she accepted the cup and drank from it, they were engaged to be married. If she refused, there would be no marriage. If she accepted his proposal and drank from his cup, he would then go away for an unspecified period of time to make a home for them at his father's house. She was expected to make herself ready so when he returned, she would be free to go be with him. The only way that she knew he was returning was to hear the sound of a shofar that preceded his arrival. The first time I heard this tradition, I was overwhelmed with emotion at the undeniable similarities at the symbolism Messiah Yeshua used when He spoke similar words to his disciples. To drink from the cup that He offers means that we belong to Him, and one day, when the shofar sounds, we will either be raised from the dead or rise from the ground, both groups meeting Him in the air to forever be with Him!
However what isn't often mentioned is that there is another side to the cup. The bride to be is supposed to remain chaste; faithful to the one to whom she has been betrothed; forsaking all others. Making whatever changes are necessary in her life in order to join her life to his. Walking in a manner that would not dishonor his name or his reputation. Willing to suffer whatever the groom suffered. We must honestly ask ourselves, why is this truth so often left out of the story?!
When the mother of James and John asked if her sons could sit on either side of Messiah Yeshua in His Kingdom, He replied that she didn't know what she asked, that that choice was not up to Him. In turning to the men, He asked them if they could drink from the same cup and be baptized with the same baptism? Knowing well the betrothal tradition, they said that they could. Yet in perhaps their excitement and/or zeal, I don't know that the men considered the other side of the cup when they answered Him. If not, in time they would know exactly what He meant.
Those of you who read this blog are probably of the belief that we are nearing the time of Messiah's return. If that is so, then you know that the time before His coming will be unlike anything the world has ever seen before, or will ever see again. Tragically, even as we are moving ever increasingly into that time, members of the clergy are not known for presenting both sides of Yeshua's cup. However this much we know is true. HE never lied or omitted anything. And His Word, contrary to what you might have been taught, is eternal!
So if the Scofield Study Bible was wrong and rapture doesn't occur ...until Messiah comes back as He went up into the clouds. And if the very popular Left Behind books and movies (though I wasn't one of the people who read them or watched them) were wrong when they included that people "forced" to receive the mark of the beast could still be saved. Then what are we to do? This may sound simplistic, but truth often is. The time to be making difficult choices is not when we are faced with temptation, but before. But with that said, the sad reality is that for all of the bravado that may come out of a person, if they aren't already living a life of godliness, they aren't likely to begin when the temptation is before them.
The foundational truth that I am trying to convey is this: You were created by an Elohim who loves you with a Love beyond your comprehension! And you are hated with a hatred that won't be satisfied until you, a person made in the image of your Creator, is consumed in the fires of the the second death. It is a truth so simple that a child could understand. The Father made it that way and gave us the choice because He IS Love.
I could think of no better way to end this post than with a quote from the devotion I received three days ago:
"Part of what Jesus' cup entails is suffering. When we drink of His cup, we are saying we are willing to suffer with Him and experience with Him whatever He ordains for us. We symbolically pledge that we are willing to walk down the same path He walked, with similar consequences.
We do not just drink the wine at Passover - we drink "of the cup" of Passover, meaning we are proclaiming our willingness to share in similar trials as Jesus did. We proclaim we are willing to endure whatever He has appointed to us as our lot.
We are also identifying ourselves with Him exclusively: We are cupbearers to the King of kings and to Him only. Psalm 16:5 says, 'O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; you maintain my lot.' The Eternal is our cup! Do we grasp the meaning of this? We cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). We cannot simultaneously identify with Christ and Satan. Our lives, our actions, our words, our thoughts, continuously announce which is our father, God in heaven or Satan. Drinking of Jesus' cup means to live His way of life and renounce Satan's ways."
*Quote taken from The Berean - Church of the Great God
*New Vaccines Will Permanently Alter Your DNA
