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Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – The Last Enemy

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The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. —1 Corinthians 15:26

When someone loses a loved one, there is a place for mourning. The depth of our sorrow is an indication of the depth of our love. But there is also a place for rejoicing if that loved one is a believer because we know we will see him or her again.

Even Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus as he saw the devastating power of death. Death is an enemy, and 1 Corinthians 15:26 tells us, “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.”

No one wants to die. No one looks forward to death. But we all will die, and we want to have put our faith in Christ before we enter into eternity. However, there is something we need to remember about heaven.

Paul the apostle, when he went to heaven and came back to earth, tried to put his experience into words. He could find only one word that helped him describe it, and that was “paradise” (see 2 Corinthians 12:4). It is an interesting Greek word that actually refers to the royal garden of a king. Think about the most beautiful garden you have ever seen or the most amazing sight you have ever laid eyes on. That was the depiction of heaven Paul gave. He was saying, “I don’t really have the words, but it was like a paradise.”

As Pastor Adrian Rogers put it, “The God who sculpted the wings of the butterfly, blended the hues of the rainbow, and painted the meadows with daffodils is the same One who made heaven.”

In heaven all questions are answered, all tears are dried, and all pain is gone. Heaven is pure bliss. That is why Paul said that he longed to be there. Heaven is far, far better than earth.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – God’s Heart toward the Lost

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There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. —Acts 10:1–2

In Acts 10, we are introduced to Cornelius, a Roman centurion living in Caesarea. As a military man, he would swear allegiance to Caesar not only as his leader, but also as his deity, which was required. But Cornelius did not go the way of other Romans. He was exposed to the faith of the Jewish people and was drawn to it. So Cornelius began to call not on the gods of Rome, but on the God—singular—of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He wanted to know this God.

God heard the prayers of this pagan man and sent an angel to him, who told Cornelius that he needed to talk with someone named Simon Peter. Then the Lord directed Simon Peter to go to the house of Cornelius and share the gospel with him, which Peter did. The result was that Cornelius believed.

As I have said before, there will be surprises when we get to heaven. One of them will be that some of the people whom we never thought would be there will be there.

The gospel is universal in scope. It isn’t for one group or one race or one nation. It is for everyone. That is why Jesus tells us to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

C. S. Lewis said, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no hell.”

God wants to save people. It is His heart to bring people to faith. He will more than reach out to them. He will more than reach them halfway

 

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Written on Our Hearts

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But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. —Romans 1:18

We are all born with a sense of right and wrong. Before children can even speak, they have a sense of it. You can tell by watching them. They check to see if they can get away with something, and when you tell them no, they do it anyway.

Right and wrong are in our human nature. There is a human conscience. Romans 1:18 says, “God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.”

Some say they live by their own standards, but I would argue they don’t. They know what is right, and they know what is wrong. And they have broken their own human standards. We are told in Romans 2:12, “When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it.”

Down in our hearts, we know right from wrong. God’s laws are written within them. Our own conscience either accuses or excuses us. And God will judge us according to the light we have received.

Know this: God wants to save us even more than we want to be saved. Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost” (Luke 19:10).

David told his son Solomon, “Learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever” (1 Chronicles 28:9).

If you are a true seeker, then you will find your way to Jesus Christ.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – A Master Designer

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For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. —Romans 1:20

God has revealed Himself in many ways to every person, everywhere. He has given us the testimony of His own creation. Romans 1:20 tells us, “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. . . .”

To say that all of the beauties of God’s creation came about randomly is ridiculous. The person who believes in the theory of evolution makes a choice to believe it. I believe they make that choice because the lifestyle they want to live has no place for God. If there is a Creator, then there is a God. If there is God, then there is a Judge. If there is a Judge, then there is a judgment. And if there is a judgment, they will have to stand there one day. So they have to try to find a way to write God out of the script.

But I think we know intuitively there is a Master Designer behind it all. To look at this world and say that it all just came about randomly borders on the absurd. It would be like saying the 747 aircraft was not the result of the engineering efforts of countless engineers, designers, and workmen at Boeing, but came into being because a tornado swept through a junkyard, and after it was done, there it sat in all its glory.

Yet people will look at something as intricate and amazing as the human body and the creation around us and say it all came about randomly. The Bible says, “Only fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God’ ” (Psalm 53:1).

God has given us the witness of His creation.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Don’t Look Back

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I find it interesting how we can look at the past through rose-colored glasses. Remember the children of Israel? They had been delivered from the tyranny and bondage of Egypt, where for years they had languished in slavery. In their deep distress they cried out to God for deliverance, and the Lord answered their prayers through a man named Moses.

As they made their way through the wilderness, God supernaturally fed them with an incredible bread-like substance called manna. Manna literally means, “What is it?” They had it daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But after a while, they got tired of it. They said, we are sick of manna. We remember the good old days back in Egypt, where we ate garlic, leeks, and onions (see Numbers 11:5).

They spoke of the good old days in Egypt, but as slaves they basically ate table scraps. They barely scraped out a miserable existence. Yet in their imaginations, they magnified these scraps into some sumptuous feast they had each and every day. Don’t build up the past in your mind. Remember it for what it was. Don’t allow the enemy to pull you down by fantasizing about it. Protect your mind, and don’t look back. Remember what Jesus said in Luke 9:62, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God” (NLT). These words contain an implied promise that ought to challenge us to the core. The Lord is telling us: If you do not move forward for My glory, then you will not be fit for My Kingdom. But if you move forward, then you will have an honored place at My table . . . forever.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Every Day Jesus

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“You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” —John 15:14

Jesus wants us to follow Him wherever He leads. But sometimes we may not want to follow Him. Sometimes we may not like where He is going. Even so, we are to follow.

Jesus said, “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you” (John 15:14). It is not for us to pick and choose the things of the Bible that we like and agree with but reject the things we don’t like and don’t agree with. Following Jesus is a package deal. When Jesus said to Matthew, “Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9), the word “follow” could be translated “walk the same road.” It also includes the idea of doing this continuously, and it’s an implied command. So a paraphrase of Jesus’ words might be, “I command you to follow Me each and every day.”

He doesn’t want to only be our Sunday Jesus. He wants to be our Monday Jesus. And our Tuesday Jesus. And our Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Jesus.

One day, we will be walking with God on earth, and the next day we will be walking with Him in heaven. One day we will start our journey on this planet, and the next day we will wake up in heaven. That happened for Enoch. The Bible says that “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:24).

I can just imagine the Lord saying to him one day, “Let’s go for a walk, Enoch.” Maybe after they walked for a while, God said, “We are closer to My house than yours. Why don’t you come to My house today?” So Enoch started out on one shore and ended up on another.

Are you walking with the Lord each and every day? Are you ready to meet Him?

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Out for a “Talk”

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Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”   —Matthew 16:24

I think sometimes that Jesus has a lot of so-called followers today who are more like Twitter followers. Twitter followers know what someone says, and that is the extent of it.

It is how a lot of us are with Christ: “I am a follower of Jesus. . . . Did He Tweet today?”

But following Christ is more than that. Jesus said to Matthew, “Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9). Matthew wasn’t a believer at the time. He was a tax collector working for Rome. But Jesus walked up to him, looked at him (or right through him), and said, “Follow Me.” Matthew bolted up from that table and began to follow Christ.

The phrase “Follow Me” also could be translated “Follow with Me”—not follow behind Me, but follow with Me. In other words, “Let’s take a walk together.”

The other day I took a walk with my wife, Cathe. I bolted out the door, and she asked me to slow down and wait for her. That is not the way for a husband to walk with his wife, and that is not the way to walk with the Lord. We are not to walk ahead of Him.

To be a follower of Jesus means that He walks with us. We are never alone.

Sometimes Cathe will take a walk with her girlfriends. When she tells me she is going on a walk with certain friends, I will say, “You are going on a talk, not a walk.” It has nothing to do with walking, and she admits that is true.

The Lord wants to go on a “talk” with you, not just a walk. It is not about how fast you can move. It is about fellowship and companionship.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – We Don’t Fool God

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If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. —1 John 1:8

I think the word “hypocrite” is misused a lot. For example, if you happen to be hammering away on something and suddenly miss the nail and hit your thumb, you might scream a word that you should not have. And if a nonbeliever overhears you, he or she might call you a hypocrite. But are you really a hypocrite?

I don’t think so. I think you are a human.

I am not excusing sin; I am just explaining it. We are all sinners. And Christians do still sin, unfortunately. The Bible says, “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (1 John 1:8–9).

It is only a matter of time until we will fall short in some way, shape, or form. We will say the wrong thing. We won’t do the right thing. But that doesn’t make us hypocrites; that just makes us flawed.

A hypocrite is different. Originally, the word “hypocrite” simply meant “actor.” In the dramas of early Greece, an actor would hold a mask in front of his face as he was portraying a character. When the mask was in front of his face, he was the hypocrite. It wasn’t a negative word.

To call someone a hypocrite today, however, is a criticism—even an insult.

Judas was a hypocrite. He pretended to be something he was not. So it is when we act as though we are Christians and we are not. We may fool a few people. We may even fool some of the people all of the time. But we never will fool God any of the time.

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – Spiritual Adultery

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Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. —James 4:4

Here is a simple truth to remember: If you are single, you are not supposed to have sex. And if you are married, you are to have sex only with your spouse (a member of the opposite sex, I might add). That is the way it is. Everything else is a sin.

Some will disagree, and some will say this viewpoint is not politically correct. Nevertheless, it is biblically accurate, and if they have an argument, then their argument is with God. The Bible says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9–10).

In Revelation 14 we read of 144,000 messianic believers who lived pure lives:

These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God. (verses 4–5)

The word “defiled” used here means immoral. And on more than one occasion, the Bible uses the metaphor of having other gods as being like adultery. James says, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (4:4).

To love this world means committing spiritual adultery. You have a choice. You can be the world’s friend and God’s enemy, or you can be God’s friend and the world’s enemy. Which will it be?

Greg Laurie

Greg Laurie – A New Song

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And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. They sang as it were a new song before the throne. . . .

—Revelation 14:2–3

Sometimes we see heaven depicted as a place where people sit around on clouds, strumming on their personal harps in boredom. While it is true there will be harps in heaven, not everyone will be playing them. In Revelation 14:2, John the apostle was describing a stringed instrument. It was a point of reference for him: “And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps.”

Maybe we could update this scene in heaven by saying there were a lot of guitarists rocking out on their electric guitars. The point is that it isn’t boring; it is a celebration of a new song that is being sung.

Every believer should have a new song. The psalmist David wrote, “He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth—praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord” (Psalm 40:2–3).

If you have trusted in Christ, if you have been lifted from a pit of despair, then you have a new song. Did you know that? It doesn’t need to be a literal song. You don’t have to walk around and sing, “I used to be an unbeliever . . . but now I am a Christian. . . .” Rather, it is the idea of having a new message.

So stop singing the old song. Sing the new song. Let others know what Christ has done for you. That is what these believers in heaven were doing. And that is what we ought to do.

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Greg Laurie – You Are Not Alone!

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Have you ever felt as though you were all alone and nobody cared? You might be surprised to know that the great apostle Paul felt this way too. In his final epistle, he wrote, “Everyone abandoned me” (2 Timothy 4:16 NLT). Know this: God has not abandoned you! He can compensate by His own loving presence for every earthly loss.

C.H. Spurgeon wrote, “If all else forsook him, Jesus was company enough. If all others despised him, the smile of Jesus was approval enough. If the good cause seemed to be in danger, in the presence of his Master, victory was sure. The Lord who had stood for him at the cross now stood for him in the prison. It was a dungeon, but the Lord was there; It was dark, but the glory of the Lord lit it up with Heaven’s own splendor.”

Listen: Better to be in a jail with the Lord than to be anywhere else without Him. Jesus is with us as well, in the good and bad times of life. God reminds us in His Word, “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you” (Isaiah 43:2 NLT).

When Jesus hung on the cross, He cried out the words “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). Those were not delusional words. They were factual. Jesus, at this point, was most likely bearing the sins of the world. Here is the good news: Jesus was forsaken for a time that you might enjoy God’s presence forever.

Know this: Jesus will never forsake you. You have His Word on that. Jesus said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). Or from the Greek it would translate out more like, “I will never, no never, leave you nor forsake you.”

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Greg Laurie – His Seal of Authenticity

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In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. . . . —Ephesians 1:13

Traveling by air today requires that you first go through airport security and present your identification before you can board your plane. And when the TSA agents pull out a mysterious little light and run it over your driver’s license, they are authenticating it. They are making sure that everything is legitimate. With that little light, they can find a mark that isn’t visible to you. But they can see it with their light.

There is a mark on believers that God can see. He knows who belongs to Him. But during the Tribulation period, there also will be a mark on the people of the Antichrist (see Revelation 13:16–18).

When Christ comes into our lives, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13–14).

In ancient days, when a king would send something, he would seal it. The seal from his signet ring, imprinted in the wax, essentially said, “This belongs to the king. Don’t mess with it.”

As a believer, you belong to the King. He has sealed you. He has marked you. You have his ID tag on you. You are his property.

An elderly gentleman who was known for his godly life was asked, “What do you do when you are tempted?”

He said, “I just look up to heaven and say, ‘Lord, Your property is in danger.’ ”

Do you have God’s mark? Is His I. D. tag attached to you? Can you proudly say that you belong to Him?

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Greg Laurie – The Name above All Names

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Then I saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. —Revelation 14:1

My mother, who was married and divorced seven times, allowed me to choose my last name.

“Pick your name,” she said to me one day. “Who do you want to be?”

I thought about it for a while, and then I chose the name Laurie. It belonged to Oscar Felix Laurie, one of the men whom my mom had married. He was the only father who treated me like a father ought to treat a son. Although he was not my biological father, in every way he behaved like a father toward me, and I loved him and respected him. So I chose his name because it was the name above all the other names.

Revelation 14:1 speaks of believers during the Tribulation who have the mark of God the Father and not the Antichrist: “Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads.”

The Lamb is Jesus, and His Father’s name is written on the believers’ foreheads.

Philippians 2:9–10 tells us, “Therefore, God elevated [Jesus] to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. . . .”

Just as I was able to choose who my father was by taking his name, you, too, can choose your father: You can be of your father the devil (see John 8:44), or you can be a worshipper of your heavenly Father.

If you are smart, you will choose the name above all names, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what these believers in Revelation 14 have done. And that is what we ought to do as well.

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Greg Laurie – A Self-Willed Choice

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And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. — 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12

I have found that many people will reject Christ without even knowing what He says. They will reject the Bible without reading it, even saying the Bible is full of contradictions. But when asked what so-called contradictions in the Bible they have a problem with, they can never identify them. That is because they haven’t read the Bible. They refuse to believe the truth, and instead they believe the lie.

What is the lie? When it is fully realized in the Tribulation period, the lie is that the Antichrist is God, and people will buy into this. Then God will confirm their choice and “send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:11ââ,¬”12). Those who turn from the truth of God to the Antichrist and refuse God’s answer of salvation will be turned over to their own self-willed choice.

For example, Pharaoh hardened his heart, even when miracle after miracle was performed by the hand of God through Moses and Aaron. But then we read, “The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh . . . ” (Exodus 9:12). Isn’t that a contradiction? No, it is a progression. Initially Pharaoh did harden his heart. He hardened it again and again. And then God hardened, or strengthened, it.

God has given us a free will. He will not force us to believe something we don’t want to believe. He will come to us and seek to convince us of the truth of the Scripture. The Holy Spirit will work on our hearts. But we have the ability to resist Him.

If you harden your heart again and again, there will come a day when God will strengthen you in your own resolve.

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Greg Laurie – God Knows . . . in Detail

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“Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.” —Isaiah 46:10

I am always amazed at my wife Cathe’s ability to remember details. When I tell her about something that happened, she always asks questions. She will interrupt me mid-story because she wants details that seem insignificant to me at the time.

“Who cares?” I will tell her. “Let me finish the story.”

But then, when I am retelling the story some time later, she notices that I left out a part.

“How do you know?” I will say. “You weren’t there.”

“No,” she says, “but I remember.”

And she is right. She remembers it better than I remember it because I forget details.

Some of us may forget details, but God does not. Not only does God remember every detail of the past, but He also knows the future with complete accuracy.

Revelation 13 describes a time when the Antichrist will introduce a cashless society. He will require people to take a mark by which no one can buy or sell without it, and the end game of this is to cause people to engage in devil worship.

he technology is effectively already here. Forty years ago this would have seemed impossible, if not implausible. But now with all of the developments in technology, we can see how such a thing actually could unfold before our eyes in real time.

 

God said in Isaiah, “Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me. Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.” (46:9–10).

When God tells us what is about to happen, He is not going out on a limb. He knows the future as well as we know the past.

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Greg Laurie – Before Time Began

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He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. —1 Peter 1:20–22

When Cathe and I watch our grandkids, we know they are going to make messes. When we put our little grandson, Christopher, in his highchair, we know that more food will find its way to the floor than will stay on his tray. And because we know this will happen, we make preparation for him.

God has made preparation for us, too. He knows the future as well as He knows the past, and He knew we would sin. So He made provision for us with the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Before there was a solar system, before there was a planet called Earth in that solar system, before there was a garden called Eden, before there was a man named Adam and a woman named Eve, before they ate of the forbidden fruit, causing sin to enter into the world, before all of that, God decided He would send His Son, Jesus, to earth. God would come to us as a baby in a manger in Bethlehem. He would live a perfect life. He would voluntarily go to the cross and die for the sins of the world. Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world.

Why did God decide that? Because He knew we would blow it—but He gave us our chance anyway.

So what is your reaction? Are you for Jesus Christ? Or are you for everything else but Christ?

If you have submitted your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, who will forgive you of all your sins, then you can know with certainty that when you die, your name will be written in the Book of Life. Your reservation is set, and you are ready to meet the Lord. I can’t think of anything more important than that.

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Greg Laurie – “I See Dead People!”

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Have you heard the story of the time when all the people came out of their graves and walked around town? People dressing up for Halloween? A Zombie film? No, not exactly. I am talking about a story right from the pages of Scripture.

As Jesus hung on the cross, a lot of supernatural phenomena took place, including a mighty earthquake, the sun going dark at 12:00 noon, and the curtain in the temple being ripped from top to bottom. But one of the most amazing things of all is when people came out of their graves!

It’s only mentioned in one Gospel. Mathew 27:51–53 (NLT) “At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead after Jesus’ resurrection. They left the cemetery, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.”

“They left the cemetery and appeared to many people”! Is this not an amazing passage? What is this all about? It is a preview of things to come. Sort of like when you are in the movies and you see the trailer for the newest films coming out. Fact is, most of the time, the trailers are better than the films themselves! But as amazing as this event was, the one it is pointing to will be even greater.

The Bible, speaking of this future day, says, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, all the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 NLT).

One day, we will be reunited with loved ones who have gone before us to heaven. What a glorious day that will be! In that day, dead people will come alive!

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Greg Laurie – Look Up!

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“Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” —Luke 21:28

Over the years people have come up with some crazy theories of who they think the Antichrist is. But according to Scripture, the Antichrist cannot emerge until Christians are caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

The Bible says, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:7–8).

Who is restraining evil today? It is the Holy Spirit, working through the church, working through Christians who stand up for what is right, who speak out against evil, who function as light and salt in our culture. Jesus said that as believers, we are the light of the world, and we are the salt of the earth (see Matthew 5:13–14).

Light, obviously, illuminates. And salt was used in the first century to preserve meat, preventing spoilage in the absence of refrigeration. We are here to tell the world about Jesus and shine our light. We are here to stop the spread of evil.

Regarding the signs of the end of the age, Jesus said, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28).

Notice that Jesus said, “When these things begin to happen, look up. . . .” He didn’t say, “When these things are happening, . . .” We should not be looking for the Antichrist; we should be looking for Jesus Christ. That is the emphasis of Scripture.

So look up. Your redemption is drawing near.

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Greg Laurie – A Clever Disguise

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For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. —2 Corinthians 11:13–15

One sign of the end times will be people turning away from the faith. The Bible speaks of an apostasy, a departure from the faith in the last days (see Thessalonians 2:3). We read in 2 Timothy 4:3–4 that in the last days, some “will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, . . . will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”

Sometimes the devil comes in like a roaring lion in his depravity. At other times, he comes in as an angel of light in his splendor. That is why the apostle Paul wrote to the churches of Galatia, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8).

There are people today who say that we need to reimagine the church, that we can’t do it the old way. But I don’t think we need to reimagine church. Rather, we need to rediscover the church the way Jesus set it up. We need to go back to the original template.

In some churches today, the sermons are short, more like pep talks than messages from God’s Word. I want to hear the Word of God. I want to know what the Bible says about all the things that I am going to face in life.

Paul wrote to Timothy, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2).

The antidote to the deception we will see more of in the last days is hearing and knowing God’s Word.

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Greg Laurie – A Foreshock of the Antichrist

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Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition. —2 Thessalonians 2:3

One of the things I appreciate about our country is our freedom to worship. I appreciate the freedom I have to stand up and say what I believe without fear of being arrested or murdered. I appreciate the freedom others have to hold views that are different from mine. Though I may not agree with them, I am appreciative of the fact that we can say what we believe in our country today.

Even if I were able, I would never impose the Christian faith on anyone. I would never want Christianity forced on people who did not want to believe. We as Christians have a reasonable faith, and our desire is to bring people to Christ as we share our faith with them. After all, God says, “Come now, and let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18).

In the last days, a new religion will come on the scene that everyone can embrace. There probably will be many beliefs intertwined with occultism. But any move toward a one-world religion is a foreshock of the Antichrist.

In our culture today, we see things moving toward an embracing of all faiths. We are told that we are all praying to the same god, that we are all just following different roads to the same god. But I beg to differ. I worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I worship the God of the Bible who sent Jesus Christ. There is no other God.

I think in the days to come, we will find a growing tolerance of any belief — except that “intolerant faith” as some would describe it (read: Bible-believing Christian). There will be less tolerance for that.

This is why we need to be very careful. The devil will come in the last days with religious deception.