“MY FRIENDS. THIS IS the day that … (we) … gave up everything for.” “It comes to this, at last.” “Everything … (we have) … ever done is about to converge in one pivotal event.” “Yes. But we’ve never discussed in detail what follows. I can’t stop wondering . . . What will tomorrow bring? With this task accomplished, what will we do after?” “There may be no tomorrow. We go wherever he takes us.”
from “Fearless (Dominion Trilogy Book #2)” by Robin Parrish -copy
Wow!! How scary is that.
Looking at the guy in the image – he looks safe enough. But what do we really know about him?
And who would ever put themselves in a position like that – following him wherever he takes us?
But not knowing ahead of time where we’re going?
“There may be no tomorrow. We go wherever he takes us.”
No one –
OK –
let me ask you a question.
What position is it that you think I’m asking about?
Be very specific.
Because the answer may surprise you.
But first –
It’s from a book series that I recently finished reading –
quote and book info on amazon.com: http://amzn.to/2aXP7hi
This conversation takes place in a secret society meeting where they are controlling the outcome of the world. All their hopes rest on one person that they have groomed for the position he’s now in. And all their hopes rest on him. They (and the rest of the world) will go where he takes them.
Now –
What position is it that no one would ever put themselves in?
If you think I meant –
If you think I meant –
including the very real possibility of taking them to oblivion –
You may have noticed – this is Version One.
Apparently – there will be at least one more version – starting the same way – but with a different ending.
Kind of like some of the mystery movies – where they have one ending in the theatre – but then you can buy the DVD with alternate endings.
Except this is real life – not a movie
So – real life.
Most people would want to know at least a little about who they’re going to be following – especially with stakes like this.
Here’s some information from the resume / biography of the chosen leader in Version One:
- the model of perfection
- full of wisdom
- perfect in beauty – OK, maybe I picked the wrong image?
- collector of precious stones – not sure that’s a good qualification, but it’s on his bio
- experienced guardian
- able to walk through fiery stones – that could be really important if we’re going to a place with volcanoes
- blameless – never did anything wrong
Now that sounds good.
Who wouldn’t trust someone like that?
Did I mention – this is real life?
Yes, I believe I did mention that this is real life.
And it wasn’t without a good reason.
In real life, we get lied to.
This wonderful sounding guide lied to two of his early followers.
You may have heard about it.
It was a pretty big deal at the time.
Oops
I’ll put your guide’s words in pink below –
The Fall of Man
Ge 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
Ge 3:2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”
Ge 3:4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Ge 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Ge 3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
Ge 3:10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Ge 3:11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? ”
Ge 3:12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Ge 3:13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Your guide said only three sentences.
His followers listened – and apparently agreed with him.
And if you don’t remember what happened – here it is –
Ge 3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all the livestock
and all the wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
Ge 3:15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
Ge 3:16 To the woman he said,
“I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
Ge 3:17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
Ge 3:18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
Ge 3:19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
That’s just not good.
Your guide lied to them!
Shocking!
How could someone with a biography / resume like the one we saw earlier possibly tell lies like that?
Well – truth is – your guide also lied in his bio.
He lied big time.
Here’s what your guide left out
By the way, your guide’s name is Satan. AKA Lucifer, Prince of Darkness, The Evil One, The Prince Of The Earth
The first part of his bio is actually the one below –
Eze 28:11 The word of the LORD came to me: 12 “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
“ ‘You were the model of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
Eze 28:13 You were in Eden,
the garden of God;
every precious stone adorned you:
ruby, topaz and emerald,
chrysolite, onyx and jasper,
sapphire, turquoise and beryl.
Your settings and mountings were made of gold;
on the day you were created they were prepared.
Eze 28:14 You were anointed as a guardian cherub,
for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God;
you walked among the fiery stones.
Eze 28:15 You were blameless in your ways
from the day you were created
There’s a few warning signs in there –
- “take up a lament” – a lament is an expression of grief or sorrow. That doesn’t sound good. Especially right at the beginning.
- Another important word – “were“- keeps being used. Not “are“. “were“. as in you used to be all these things, but you aren’t any more.
- You may have also noticed that there’s no period at the end of that last line. Uh oh. Your guide left something off the end of his bio.
And here is that missing last part of the sentence –
till wickedness was found in you.
Talk about Oops!
That’s a really major omission!
And – of course – it only gets worse.
Eze 28:16 Through your widespread trade
you were filled with violence,
and you sinned.
So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God,
and I expelled you, O guardian cherub,
from among the fiery stones.
Eze 28:17 Your heart became proud
on account of your beauty,
and you corrupted your wisdom
because of your splendor.
So I threw you to the earth;
I made a spectacle of you before kings.
Eze 28:18 By your many sins and dishonest trade
you have desecrated your sanctuaries.
So I made a fire come out from you,
and it consumed you,
and I reduced you to ashes on the ground
in the sight of all who were watching.
Eze 28:19 All the nations who knew you
are appalled at you;
you have come to a horrible end
and will be no more.’ ”
Let’s look closer –
Eze 28:16 Through your widespread trade
you were filled with violence,
violence – not something you really want in a guide.
and you sinned.
So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God,
driven from God in disgrace – not good either, unless you already have a negative disposition towards God.
and I expelled you, O guardian cherub,
from among the fiery stones.
oh – so that’s where the fiery stones thing comes from. Apparently that’s not really a good thing.
Eze 28:17 Your heart became proud
on account of your beauty,
and you corrupted your wisdom
because of your splendor.
Pride and corruption. Don’t we already have enough leaders with those qualities? One would hope we could find someone without them.
So I threw you to the earth;
I made a spectacle of you before kings.
Not only thrown out in disgrace – but embarrassed on top of it.
Eze 28:18 By your many sins and dishonest trade
you have desecrated your sanctuaries.
So I made a fire come out from you,
and it consumed you,
and I reduced you to ashes on the ground
in the sight of all who were watching.
Eze 28:19 All the nations who knew you
are appalled at you;
you have come to a horrible end
and will be no more.’ ”
… and it just keeps getting worse.
That’s all bad enough. But there’s still more!
Can it really get worse?
Actually – yes, it can get worse.
You may remember, I pointed out where our Version One guide, Satan, had lied to two of his early followers.
Note the word “early”.
They weren’t his first followers.
Not by a long shot.
Satan had many followers before Adam and Eve.
You see – those words at the top – the quote from the book –
I’m not saying those words are for only you – people who choose to follow this leader.
No – those words are from long ago.
Let’s set up the scenario =
In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus says –
Lk 10:18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
Later, when John writes of his vision in Revelation, we see –
Rev 12:3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.
This is what Jesus was referring to when He talked about Satan – your guide of choice in Version One – when he fell from Heaven. It’s what Ezekiel spoke about when he said Satan was thrown down to earth.
Notice one more thing – The dragon (Satan) swept a third of the start out of the sky.
That’s showing that one third of God’s angels had also chosen Satan as their guide.
And look where that took them –
And remember the part about “We go wherever he takes us“.
Rev 12:7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Yes – He took them someplace.
Obviously not where they expected though.
They probably heard something from Satan – just like Adam and Eve did, later on.
They probably considered what Satan said.
They may have even had a discussion something like the one from the book –
“MY FRIENDS. THIS IS the day that … (we) … gave up everything for.” “It comes to this, at last.” “Everything … (we have) … ever done is about to converge in one pivotal event.” “Yes. But we’ve never discussed in detail what follows. I can’t stop wondering . . . What will tomorrow bring? With this task accomplished, what will we do after?” “There may be no tomorrow. We go wherever he takes us.”
One third of the angels went along with the decision to go wherever Satan took them.
At this point – they still had a tomorrow.
But – would it last?
Satan’s Doom
Rev 20:7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Would it last?
No.
It won’t last.
It will end horribly.
That was the angels.
They sealed their doom at the end of that “meeting” I referred to.
When they decided to follow Satan wherever he would take them – that was it.
Decision made.
No going back.
But for you –
for the people living real life in Version One –
It’s not yet over.
By the way – as we’ve seen in other articles –
if you are not for Jesus – you are against Him.
As Jesus said –
Lk 11:23 “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.”
Unlike those angels, us humans do have a way to avoid the penalty that Satan’s following angels will receive.
Unlike those angels, we can be forgiven – if we want to be.
Unlike those angels, we can change our minds and accept Jesus’ offer of forgiveness and accept His death as payment for what we’ve done.
Unlike those angels, we can make a choice, just like the two men on the crosses with Jesus –
The Crucifixion
23:33-43 pp — Mt 27:33-44; Mk 15:22-32; Jn 19:17-24
Lk 23:26 As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then
“ ‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!” ’ 31 For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Lk 23:32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
Lk 23:35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”
Lk 23:36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
Lk 23:38 There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Lk 23:39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
Lk 23:40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
Lk 23:42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’”
Lk 23:43 Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
So we saw the two criminals on the crosses with Jesus.
If you would like to look deeper into these two men who were on the crosses next to Jesus.
please see my article – who were the other two men on the crosses?
They had choices.
They – essentially – also had that discussion of “we go where he takes us”.
One chose to make fun of Jesus.
The other chose to follow Jesus.
In Version One of this story =
we focus on the one who chose to make fun of Jesus.
The one who chose to follow the lead of his guide – Satan.
So – where will this guide – Satan – eventually take us?
Many people know something of what it says in Revelation concerning this topic –
Right after the section we just saw, called Satan’s Doom, we read this –
The Dead Are Judged
Rev 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
We see the people who followed this guide from Version One –
whether they followed Satan intentionally, with a purpose,
or followed Satan because they rejected God –
on their way to the lake of fire –
just like Satan’s fallen angels that followed him.
It sounds like God made the lake of fire for the fallen angels and for us.
However – did you notice this?
The lake of fire wasn’t made for us.
In Matthew, we see Jesus telling us that there was a purpose for the lake if fire – someone for whom it was prepared –
Mt 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
Mt 25:44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
Mt 25:45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
Mt 25:46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Yes –
into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels
that lake of fire was prepared for Satan – your guide in Version One –
and the angels that followed him.
And now it will also be used for those of us who have chosen to follow Satan wherever he leads us.
Satan’s headed to the lake of fire.
If we choose to follow Satan – we will go where he goes – into the lake of fire.
Even though God really would like us to not go there.
Even though God didn’t intend for us to go there.
But we will go there – if we choose to follow someone other than God.
Why does God allow this?
This is a tough answer –
because we don’t understand it –
but it’s love.
He loves us so much –
he wants us to have free will –
because one can only show real / true love – when it’s given by choice – by free will.
So – we can choose to love God, or we can choose not to. Our choice, entirely.
Conclusion
“MY FRIENDS. THIS IS the day that … (we) … gave up everything for.” “It comes to this, at last.” “Everything … (we have) … ever done is about to converge in one pivotal event.” “Yes. But we’ve never discussed in detail what follows. I can’t stop wondering . . . What will tomorrow bring? With this task accomplished, what will we do after?” “There may be no tomorrow. We go wherever he takes us.”
You have chosen a guide.
If you’re a Version One person – you have chosen Satan as your guide.
Even if you have consciously had that meeting about who you’re following –
even if it was only with yourself –
you can meet again.
If you’re not concerned about where your Version One guide is taking you –
you should be!
Who’s your guide?
Who are you following?
And where is your guide taking you?
Whoever you have chosen –
even if you’ve chosen the Version One guide of Satan, by refusing to choose –
your guide is taking you somewhere.
Please – be sure you know where you are going.
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