Rabbi Schneider - Dark Times Ahead
I don’t think there’s even one of us that doesn’t feel the extreme shift and change in the spiritual atmosphere that we’re now living in if we compare it to just a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, four years ago. Everything has shifted. And a great eruption of darkness has swept into the world that is affecting us in ways that we don’t even realize what we’re dealing with, beloved ones. Beloved children of God. What we’re dealing with in the spiritual atmosphere, it is bigger and more profound than what we even know. Chaos has been released. We’re going to be looking today in the 24th chapter of the book of Matthew. It’s the clearest revelation that we have of what the church is going to face in the end of days, in the end times.
Of course, we have more information in the book of Revelation. We know that the prophet Daniel talked about the end of the age. But I’m talking about simply the clearest word that we have. And it comes from Yeshua Himself. About the end of the age is in Matthew 24. We’re going to be going there in just a few moments. But before we do, I just want to set the stage. Everything shifted just like that. It seems like it began with COVID, but really things were brewing before COVID. The reason that things were brewing before COVID, beloved ones, is because there was an evolution of evil that had entered into the spiritual atmosphere that we’re living in.
This goes back a long time. I’ve talked about it on other platforms. I mean, let’s face it, man has always been troubled because we live in a sin-infested world. But it began really when the United States, I’m talking about in our country and in the Western world, specifically in America, it began when the United States legalized federally same-sex marriage. I was actually in Uganda teaching and preaching when I heard that the Supreme Court ruled on same-sex marriage being federalized as we are now endorsing it, blessing it, accepting it, getting behind it. Yes, marriage was redefined.
You know, one of our previous… I shouldn’t even say previous. A president that we all know that I’m not going to name by name, when this issue came up years ago as to whether the United States should actually put in writing what the definition is of marriage, that marriage is the union between one man and one woman, this president said that, «Oh, we don’t need to put that in writing. Everybody knows what that is». Well, look, it’s just a little bit later since that president said it doesn’t need to be put in writing, and now a complete reinterpretation of marriage has taken place. So this extreme shift of the spiritual atmosphere that we’re living in, the floodgates really opened when the United States legalized federally accepting same-sex marriage.
You see, when we reinvent God’s order of creation, when we start messing with what God designed, everything, beloved, gets messed up and falls apart. This is why many times in the Hebrew Bible, the Lord was saying, don’t mix two species of animals together. Don’t cross-pollinate different species and interbreed. The Lord even commanded the children of Israel not to mix certain types of fabric together in their clothing. The Lord was saying what He created is good. The Lord finished creating and He said it is very good. When mankind tries to improve on God’s creation and starts messing with it, ultimately everything gets messed up and screwed up and falls apart.
So we are now experiencing the fruit of all this. Again, it began really big time back with the legalization of same-sex marriage and all that has happened since. And then COVID hit and everything got broken down. All our systems got broken down. People’s psyche got rewired during COVID, right? Everybody was staying in their own home. Everyone was focused on the internet, spending all day online. And now after COVID, everybody’s still in that world. Not everybody, but in general. You know, you sit next to somebody on the airplane, they don’t want to talk anymore, they just want to, you know, play with their devices. Everyone’s mind now is connected to their technology.
And this has separated humanity, it has separated mankind, it has broken apart brotherhood. All these things are playing and bringing into focus what we’re experiencing right now, a satanic environment of darkness that we’re living through and walking through. And what mankind, beloved, needs right now is hope. This is what man needs, is hope, because when man looks to the future, they don’t see hope. They don’t see things getting better. They just assume that things are going to get worse, because we see that they are. We see that, for example, the nuclear capabilities of rogue countries that hate the United States and hate Israel, those countries that are getting their hands on weapons of mass destruction, they just keep on getting closer to the day that they can push the button and detonate the bomb.
And then we have countries that were afraid to oppose America before now they’re doing it right to our face. So hostilities are not only increasing amongst people with the polarization of people’s political views, that people can no longer just disagree with somebody’s position. Because now, if you disagree with somebody’s position, you’re hated, because people so identify with their position, and they don’t have the ability to be able to say, you know, this is just an ideology that I hold. It doesn’t mean that we can’t still be friends. And that’s changed. People are so polarized. Now, this is all part of the same mishigas, the same confusion that’s coming from the spirit of enemy to bring division.
So I wanna go now to the book of Matthew chapter 24, and we’re gonna look at the words of Jesus and how closely they parallel what we’re dealing with today. Jesus said, «Listen, I’m telling you these things to tell you in advance so that you’re not afraid when they happen». He said, «Look up when you see these things happen, for your redemption draweth nigh». I know it’s not easy to look up. I know that when we’re surrounded by terror and disaster, when our phones go off, there’s an alarm that someone’s just been kidnapped, when we hear about another devastating climactic crisis that hit, the hurricanes in Florida, the fires in California, and the tornadoes in the Midwest, and on and on it goes, it’s hard to look up and be encouraged and to not be afraid when we’re constantly hearing of these terrorizing things that are happening around us.
We’re hearing about little kids wanting to transition their gender as young teenagers, and sometimes even younger. And the school systems are supporting those kids' decisions and not even making the parents aware of it. Yeah, these things are so horrific. They’re unimaginable. So how can you look up and be encouraged and be happy when we’re living in such a plight? There’s only one way, beloved. It’s to look up to Him, to know that God is happy, God is victorious, God’s got a plan, to find ourselves centered in Him, to know that our lives, beloved ones, are hidden with Christ in God and that our joy is a straight connection to Him. It’s His joy upon us. Our soundness of mind is His soundness of mind. Our peace is His peace.
Jesus said, «I give you a peace that the world doesn’t give». So that’s why we’re able to look up in the midst of all this chaos and confusion and terrible things that are happening all around us. So when Jesus described these things that we’re going to be looking into now, He said, «Look up and don’t let your heart be afraid. your redemption draweth nigh». In other words, «Look unto Me». So here we go, beginning in verse one. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord, the word of Hashem, blessed be His name, abides forever. And He loves you today. Here we go.
«Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came out to the point of the temple buildings to Him. And He said to them, 'Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down.'» Now, this is an amazing prophecy that was fulfilled only about 40 years after Yeshua spoke it. So let’s point out the setting again. Jesus was right outside the temple and the disciples said to Him… they’re marveling at the temple. They’re marveling at it. It’s like the wonder of the world, the temple that God Himself designed. And Jesus points to the temple and He says, «Do you see this? All that you’re seeing right now pointing to the temple, not one stone of it,» He said, «will be left standing upon another».
And as we read about a parallel account of this, He said, «Because you did not recognize the time of your visitation». So amazingly, the prophecy was fulfilled just 40 short years after Yeshua spoke it, when the Romans, in 70 AD, invaded Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. What’s remarkable about this is it becomes the foundation, beloved one, to give us the trust to know that the rest of the things that Yeshua prophesied about in Matthew 24, as well as the other prophecies that He gave us in Scripture, can be trustworthy, because we see how many of the things that Jesus spoke have already been fulfilled. So Jesus prophesied the destruction of the temple, happened within a generation. And now Jesus continues on. «As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives…»
Now this is just the narrative and then Jesus is going to speak to it. So Matthew is recording, «As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately saying, 'Tell us, when will these things happen, and when will be the sign of Your coming, and at the end of the age? ' And Yeshua, Jesus answered and said to them, 'See to it that no one misleads you.'» Now, before we go on, I want you to notice that there’s actually a few questions here. The disciples say to Him, «Tell us, first of all, when will these things happen»? That’s the first question. «When will these things happen, these prophecies that You’re going to give us»? And the second question, «What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age»?
When is it going to happen, and what are the signs it’s going to happen? And Jesus answered and said to them, «See to it that no one misleads you». You know what this speaks to me right now, beloved, is it’s going to be a time leading up to the coming of the Lord, listen, of mass, get what I just said, of mass, mass, deception. The scripture tells us in the book of Revelation that the devil, that ancient serpent of old, listen, he deceived the whole world. So the first thing that Yeshua does to prepare us for what He’s about to say is He says, «See to it that no one misleads you. See to it that you’re not deceived. Where are you going to get deceived»?
Who’s going to mislead you? Try the internet. Try the news, both the national news as well as the local news. All of it can mislead you. It’s mass deception. It’s the spirit of the world. The spirit of the world. The spirit of the world is in opposition, beloved, to the Ruach HaKadosh, the Holy Spirit. The Lord is going one direction, He’s going counterclockwise, so to speak. The world is going clockwise. It’s a no-brainer system. And most people just get sucked into it. I remember my beloved mom of blessed, precious memory. And I remember my wife Cynthia asked my mom, «Why didn’t you breastfeed Kirt»? And my mom said, «Well, no one was doing it at the time».
So the point is, people just do what they think is culturally appropriate for the time and they’re not rooted in God’s word. People get deceived when they’re not rooted in God’s Word. People just go along with the flow. That’s the point that I’m trying to make. People will just go along with the flow. Their values are determined by the culture. Jesus warned us, see to it that no one misleads you. Don’t allow your values, the way that you think, the way that you understand reality, don’t allow yourself to be programmed by the spirit of the age. Because if you do, you’re gonna get sucked away in a tidal wave of destruction.
Jesus said, broad and wide is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that take it. Strive, He said. Strive. That takes effort. Strive. You’re going against the grain. You’re swimming up river. You’re going against the culture. You’re going against people. You’re going against the spirit of the age. «Strive,» Jesus said, «to enter through the narrow gate for few that be that enter and find it». So the first sign, beloved, mass deception that’s gonna carry the majority of the population away like a tidal wave.
Yeshua continues in the 5th verse. «For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ'». Now the word Christ, it just means anointed. So it’s not just that there’s going to be people that are claiming to be the Messiah. It’s that people are claiming to speak for the Messiah. They’re claiming to be anointed. And how many voices in the church right now is in the name of Jesus? They’re not actually claiming to be Jesus, they’re just speaking in Jesus' name. That’s what Jesus was referring to here. Not just someone that stands up and says, I’m the anointed one, I’m the promised Savior. No, we’re talking about people that claim to be anointed, that claim that they’re speaking for Christ, and are actually misleading. «For many will come in my name saying, 'I am the Christ, I’m anointed, '» and Jesus said, «And they will mislead many».
And we have so much of that that’s already happened in America. How many mainline denominations have already split because they’ve compromised on the Word of God and have begun to endorse the Spirit of the World because they didn’t endorse, some wanted to endorse the same-sex marriage, others didn’t. So major denominations that were founded on the great reformers of the church, the Protestant Reformation. I’m talking about Martin Luther, the founder of the Reformation. I’m talking about the Presbyterian Church, John Calvin, the one who the Presbyterian Church… I mean, these people were committed, beloved ones, to the Word of God. I’m talking about the Methodist Church, John Wesley, one of the great pioneers of the evangelical faith.
And now we have the United Methodist Church endorsing same-sex marriage. Jesus said, Many will come in my name, speaking in my name, and will mislead many. And you know what the real problem is, beloved? It’s not just same-sex marriage. It’s that they’ve forsaken the Word of God. And the problem is when we’ve compromised in one area that’s so big, what are we going to compromise next? You know what the next area of compromise is for the church and for leaders that are standing in pulpits claiming they’re speaking in Jesus' name?
You know it’s the next huge wave of mass deception that’s coming to the church, is Christian leaders teaching their congregations: You don’t have to believe in Jesus to be saved, that all paths lead to the same place, that the Muslims are going to heaven, that the Buddhists are going to heaven. That all the people of the world, as long as they’re sincere, as long as they acknowledge they’re a creator, they’re all going to heaven, because we’re inclusive. We love everybody. We don’t want division. We want unity.
Yeshua said, «Be careful. Many false Christ, many people will come in my name saying they’re speaking for Me and will mislead many». I want you to hear me, beloved ones. If we want to know the truth, Jesus and the Holy Spirit gave us the truth. The Word of God is the truth. We do not have, you and I, nor anyone else, has the authority to change God’s Word. We don’t have the authority… if God’s Word says yes, You and I do not have the right to say no. We do not have the right to change the Word of God, not the real Word of God, but what we’re claiming to be the Word of God, to something that seems acceptable to us.
In closing today, I want you to take this away. If you’re gonna stand during these times that we’re living in, these difficult, angry times, because there’s so much anger out there. If we’re gonna stand, we’re gonna have to be fierce and clinging to the Almighty through His Word. Jesus said, «Many will hate you because of Me and because of My namesake. But he that endures to the end will be saved. He who loves his life not unto death». In other words, «He that’s willing to give their life for Me, shall receive everlasting life». Beloved, do not be deceived. Times are gonna become more difficult, but you and I can be strengthened and conquered in Jesus' name.