Rabbi Schneider - Why Is Religion Being Attacked Today?
You see, sin has defiled all of creation. The fact that people die, this is the result of sin. The fact that people get sick, this is the result of sin. All the evils that are happening in the world, it's all a result of sin. Things have gone haywire as a result of sin. And one of the manifestations of a broken world is, beloved, the behavior of homosexuality. Let me read for you the Book of Romans, chapter number 1, verse 25, speaking of mankind. The Holy Spirit is saying here: "For they exchange the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever, Amen. For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error".
Now my point is simply that homosexuality is not part of God's divine design. I want to say, as I said in last week's broadcast, I know that there are people that are listening right now and watching right now. I want you to know I do not condemn you. I am not pointing my finger at you. I am not judging you. I realize that you're broken, just like we're all broken in different ways. Jesus came to fix us. You see, Jesus loves us just where we're at, but he loves us too much to leave us where we're at. Jesus wants to bring all mankind to himself, cleanse us, change us, and transform us into his own image. I know this isn't gonna be easy, because when you've been engrained in a lifestyle for so long, sometimes those bondages, those addictions, those behavioral patterns, those way of, those ways of thinking are deeply engrained. But I want you to tell you, in King Jesus you can get free.
And Father, right now I break the spirit of homosexuality off of the lives of those that are watching right now that are reaching out to you and desire to get free. Jesus, in your name, I take authority over demons of addiction, I take over demons of defiled sexuality, and I break your power, Satan, off of the lives of God's loved ones. And Jesus, right now I release healing into the lives of your people. I ask, Father God, for cleansing; Father, that you would cleanse defiled ways of thinking, that you would wash, Father God, your people. Father, we love you today. Father, your Word says that Jesus came to release us from our sin. I ask you to release your people right now, Father God, from their sin. Father God, as they reach out to you today, I proclaim that they are being set free in Jesus's name, hallelujah, Amen and Amen.
I want you to know, beloved one, there's hope for you. I want to give you courage today. You can overcome this. I want you to know God can change you. He gives you a new nature. It may not be easy. The battle may be long. But I want to tell you today, in Jesus you can get free and have the victory. Take courage in Jesus's name.
Now the third area that we're seeing today in society that speaks to us of Jesus's soon return is in relation to the fact that we are living in a society, get it now, that's more stressed than ever before. Do you know, I travel all over the world, the Middle East, to Africa, Haiti, everywhere I go, people have got the cell phones. In fact, in some of these Third World countries, they've got two cell phones. I mean, they are talking on those cell phones, addicted to those cell phones. You can't even be with them without them being on their cell phones, it's ringing, it's buzzing, they're punching the buttons. We live in a society, beloved ones, that is more stressed than ever before.
People are in bondage to their jobs. They are just so weighed down with the simple stresses of living. Do you know we can all think about a hundred years ago, and, you know, there was not much stimulating man's mind. But with the breakthrough of technologies, and the increase in the modernization of transportation, and so on and so forth, people got to be more and more stressed and this increased stress is wearing people down. It's breaking them down. And this increased stress in society today, beloved ones, is actually, get it now, a sign that Jesus is getting ready to return.
I'm gonna go now to the Book of Timothy. Here we find Timothy speaking to us about the Lord's return. And here's what he said in realizing that Jesus is getting ready to come back. He says this, he said, "Realize this, in the last days difficult times will come". And these difficult times, beloved, are being evidenced in all the stress that we're dealing with today. The increased stress level is the Bible coming true. It's materializing in our culture before our very eyes. Jesus is getting ready to come back. The Bible told us it would happen.
The next contemporary sign that I want to bring to the surface today is something that I just alluded to, but specifically I want to tie it into the Scripture; the increased travel and information exchange that we're seeing today. In the Book of Daniel, chapter number 12, verse 4, here is what we read, the angel's speaking to Daniel. Here is what the angel says to Daniel in regards to the kingdom of God coming fully manifest on earth. Here's what the angel says to Daniel: "But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time". And then he says this in regard to the end of time. In regard to the time that God is gonna make himself known to the whole world, he says, as we move into this time period, that the Scripture calls the end of time, here's what Daniel says in preparation for God manifesting his glory to the world. He said this: "many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase".
In other words the angel is saying to Daniel, Daniel I've just given you all kinds of prophetic revelation about the future of the world. I've shown you how this one called the Ancient of Days is gonna be on his throne and how the Son of Man is gonna approach the Ancient of Days. And when the Son of Man approaches the Ancient of Days that the whole world is gonna be given over to him, and men are gonna worship the Son, even as they worship the Father. Jesus himself referred to himself as the Son of Man, tying in to this language that Daniel used. Remember Jesus said, in Matthew, 24, in relationship to his return, Jesus said in Matthew, 24, that the words of Daniel, the prophet will be fulfilled.
What did Daniel, the prophet, do? He talked about the abomination of desolation, how the whole world would become defiled, and he talked about the time that the Son of Man would come to the Ancient of Days. Daniel knew about the end of the world. And here is what Daniel writes for us. The angel says, Daniel, I've given you all the prophecies. I want you to seal up the book until the end. And here's what's gonna happen, Daniel, as we get into the end knowledge will increase and people will be traveling to and fro. What are we speaking of here? We're talking about airplane travel. How long have we had airplane travel? A hundred years, less than a hundred years people have been using airplanes.
We're in the last days, beloved. Information today, information technology, Daniel said, knowledge will increase. When's Daniel supposed to release the prophecy to prepare the world for the second coming? When knowledge is increased and people are travelling to and fro with ease. We're in that time right now. We are in the age of information. We are in the age of knowledge. I mean, all you have to do is punch in your Google, you can find out anything about anything. You don't have to go to the library anymore. You don't have to get in your car anymore. You don't have to travel to some distant city where there's a huge library. Knowledge is accessible to all.
Listen again: "But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase". You can go anywhere in the world now in a day. I travel halfway around the world to Africa in a day. It's unbelievable what we're experiencing today. This is a sign, beloved, of the end of the world. Praise God, blessed be his name. Jesus said, "behold, I'm coming quickly". Put your hand over your heart and say with me, "yes, daddy, Jesus is coming back for me". That's what the whole message is about. He wants us to wake up and get ready and live our lives recognizing, thinking about that Jesus is getting ready to return. Does that mean it's gonna be this year, next year? I don't know, but you know what, God wants us to be ready. We're in the time. The time is now.
The contemporary sign of Jesus's return, listen to this now, beloved ones, is a rise in false teachers. We have an increase today in false teachers. Listen to the Book of 2 Peter, chapter 2, verse 1-3, 2 Timothy tells us the same thing. Let's listen to verse, 2 Peter, 2: 1 and 3, 1 through3, 2 Peter, beginning in verse 1, chapter 2: "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep".
Second Timothy, chapter 4, verse three continues: For the time will come, that's now; the time will come, Timothy writes us, and I'm saying to you, that's now, that's now. "The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine". He's speaking about people. He's speaking about the population. He says the time's gonna come in the end of days where mankind, they won't endure sound doctrine. They don't want to be taught the Word. They don't want to be taught about repentance. They just want to be made comfortable. Listen to what he says: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth".
Beloved, we are in that time. We are living in an age right now where many, many people will not go to churches where the simple Word of God is being preached. They go to churches, beloved, that will tell them what makes them feel good. They'll go to churches that make them comfortable. They'll tell them, they'll go to churches that only talk about how to achieve the American dream, how to be healthy, how to have more money, how to have better relationships. All those things are good, but you know what, beloved, that's the icing on the cake. The message that Jesus came to bring was repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.
But we don't live in a day today when men want to be challenged with their sin. We're not living in a time where most people that call themselves Christians are willing to change. We're not living in an age any longer where most people that call themselves believers are willing to decrease that he would increase. We're living in a day rather that when people are challenged, their pride rises up and they leave. They won't endure it anymore. This is what Timothy and Peter said, they won't any longer endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled. In other words, wanting to just hear things that make them feel good; they'll accumulate for themselves teachers according to their own desires.
You look at the top selling books in the world of Christism today. What are they about? How to achieve the American dream; but I want to tell you today, Jesus isn't your magic genie. Jesus didn't come just to grant your prayer requests so that you could be famous, wealthy and wise. Jesus came to call us to repentance first. Jesus came to teach us seek first the kingdom of God and then all these things shall be added unto you. Beloved ones, unless we're willing to repent, unless we're willing to pick up our cross daily, Jesus said, deny our self and follow him, unless we're willing to be confronted by the Holy Spirit about issues in our life that need to change, unless we're willing to yield to the Spirit of God, unless we're willing to continue to grow in him, we're not gonna enter the kingdom of God.
Jesus said, straight and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. But you look today at where many, many Christian people are going to be fed, they're not being challenged with sound doctrine. They're being challenged, beloved, with light, fluffy, superficial Christianity. We're living in the last days. The Lord told us it would happen 2,000 years ago. I want to ask you right now, are you willing to be confronted about your sin? Did you know that conviction of sin is a gift of the Holy Spirit? And when we're willing to confess our sin, he's willing then to forgive us and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness? And we can't be changed until we do repent of our sin. And you know what, as we grow in the Lord, the Lord keeps on revealing to us deeper and deeper levels of sin.
In other words, when we first become believers, God begins to show us sometimes the outer things in our life. He begins to talk, you know show us the obvious things. But as we grow in the Lord, as we get more mature in God, what happens is God begins to show us the deeper areas. He begins to show us matters of the heart. And if we let him, he'll keep taking us deeper, and deeper and deeper so that we can examine our heart, we can examine our motives, we can examine our thoughts, all under the glory of God. And this is a painful experience often times. I know it's painful for me sometimes when God shows me in a mournful way my sin, when he shows me my selfishness, my pride, my egocentrism.
These things hurt. But you know what? The goodness of God leads to repentance. As we're willing to allow him to put us under the microscope, as we're willing to allow the Holy Spirit to put his light on us, to show us our sin, to show us our need, to convict us that these things bring judgment, as we're willing to allow him to do that, and we repent of it, we grieve about it, we call out to God for mercy from that place. God then cleanses us and transforms us, beloved, into his marvelous light. But many today, once again as we get back to this message, Contemporary Signs of the Lord's Return, are not willing to go through this process. And they're not willing to put themselves in an environment where they'll be taken through this process. They're not willing to endure sound teaching. They're not willing to endure sound preaching. But rather what has happened is, we have an increase in false teachers today that appeal to these desires of men just to have their ears tickled.
You think about it today, how many teachers and preachers are there, and these teachers and preachers constantly major on the same things week after week after week after week, how you could become more wealthy, how you could become more happy, how you can have better relationships. And it's all about you. You see, that is not the true Gospel. The true Gospel is the glorification of Jesus, not the glorification of man. If it's all about you week after week, I mean these messages all have a place, but if every week it's the same message, how you can become healthier, how you can become happier, how you can become more successful, how you can become richer. If that's what you're hearing every single week, I want you to know you're not hearing the real Gospel, because the real Gospel isn't man-centered. The real Gospel is God-centered.
The real Gospel that John the Baptist taught was he must increase and I must decrease. The real Gospel is learning how to become a servant. The real Gospel, beloved, is, is allowing Jesus to have his way in our lives for his purposes. And so what we're seeing today is a false gospel that's being preached. We've accumulated for them ourselves false teachers. And the reason we have so many false teachers today is because there's so many people that this is what they want. They accumulate for themselves, the Scripture just got done telling us, teachers in accordance with their own desires. They don't want to be challenged. They don't want to grow. They don't want to be confronted. Matthew, 24:11, continues on this same theme. Jesus said: "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many". Praise the name of the Lord.
Now I'm going to our next contemporary sign today of Yeshua's return, and that's this, many mainline churches that were once alive, where there was a movement of the Spirit that was taking place through them, many mainline churches that were once alive, forerunners for the Lord, are now cold, dead, religious institutions. Let me say it again. Many mainline churches that were once John the Baptist forerunner ministries having huge impact on planet Earth for the kingdom, many of these mainline movements are now dead, cold religious institutions. I'm reading now from the Book of 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 5. The Bible says there's gonna come a time when we're gonna see those that are holding to a form of godliness, get it now. "It's a form of godliness but they deny its power".
I want you to know today, beloved one, we're living in a time where much of the earth is covered by religious organizations that are cold and dead. I want you to wake up today. Jesus is coming back for you. If you're in an institution like that, I want to encourage you today, come out. Get into a place that's alive. Get into a place that challenges you. Get into people, beloved, that love God. God bless you and Shalom.