IF IT QUACKS LIKE A DUCK

IF IT QUACKS LIKE A DUCK

                There is an old saying, an axiom of sorts that says: “If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, flies like and quacks like a duck; then it’s a duck.

                Years ago I had an experience that taught me that this axiom is not always true. I had a friend that was an avid duck hunter and he invited me to come with him on a couple of his outings to serve as his photographer. After midnight we loaded up the boat and headed to a large lake. There we launched the boat and headed out through the darkness for several miles until we reached a small island. It was a manmade island covered with brush. It was a duck blind.

                We spent the next hour or so unloading between 200 and 300 duck decoys. Each decoy had a length of string on it and a weight that would act as an anchor on the bottom of the lake. When we had finished deploying the decoys, we idled the boat up to the island, parted the brush in one spot and drew the boat inside.

                From the boat we climbed into a long box with a bench in it and the 4 of us sat down on the bench drinking hot coffee against the chill of morning, guns in hand, and the top door of the blind slid open, we watched for migrating flights of ducks to pass by the lake. When a flock of ducks or geese was spotted, they would begin blowing on their duck calls to lure the ducks to the lake.

                Looking out on the lake in the grey of pre-dawn, the sight was spectacular. Something close to 300 ducks all bobbing this way and that in the waves that had been kicked up by a light breeze it looked like they were alive. In fact you couldn’t tell by looking that they were not alive. It was really a beautiful and serene sight.

                Several times we saw ducks veer from their flight path to circle the lake. They would call out and the ducks in the lake would respond and in time the ducks would come in for a landing among the decoys. Shots would ring out and many of the ducks would fall to their death just shy of landing.

                I went on only two of these trips. I didn’t have the stomach for it. Being a philosophical type I could not see the sport of it. All I could see were lies a and deceit luring God’s beautiful and innocent creatures to their deaths and it served as a lifetime reminder that everything that looks, walks, swims and quacks like a duck is not always a duck.

                There is an important moral to this story and I was reminded of it when Debi shared the story on face book of Christians and Jews having a Bible study together in the Knesset. This joint Bible study looks like a fulfillment of Bible prophecy and it is… but which Bible prophecies is this gathering fulfilling?

                When speaking to the Jewish Christians in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21, Jesus always opened up the subject of the last days by saying: “See to it that no one misleads you. Mt. 24:4. “See to it that no one misleads you Mark 13:5. “Take heed that you be not misled; for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He’ and ‘The time is at hand’: do not go after them.”      

                It was like Jesus was speaking to a flock of ducks about to migrate and warning them saying,
“Do not be deceived. There will be flocks on certain lakes that will look and sound like ducks, but they are not ducks and if you are deceived by them you will be killed. Don’t take the bait!”

                This is why it is so important for God’s people to be studying Bible prophecy. After all, we all, and especially Messianic Jews, long to see Yeshua recognized by the Jews as their Messiah. We long for Jerusalem to become the City of the Great King just as it says in Psalms 48:1

                The problem is that in the cover of night, a whole lot of decoys are being set out in Israel. We must be extremely wise       as things progress toward earth’s final events. Those who know Bible prophecy know that Satan wants to rule the world from Jerusalem. He wants to reign in the place of Christ. He wants to be worshipped as God. WE also know that before the real Messiah returns there is going to be a Time of Jacob’s Trouble.

                Paul warned His fellow countrymen about the last days saying: “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it (The day of the Lord) will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perditions, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God displaying himself as being God.” 2 Thess. 2:3, 4.

                Jesus warned of this same last day event saying: “Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (Let the reader understand) then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains…” Mt. 24:15, 16.

                This warning was heeded by Messianic Jews an AD 70. They fled and were saved even as a million of their Jewish countrymen were slaughtered. But this prophecy has a second and even greater application to our day, because as we can see, this event (the abomination of desolation) is tightly connected to the second coming of Yeshua. Mt. 24:30.

                So when we see a flock of Jews and Christians studying the Bible together in Jerusalem, we need to ask some serious questions:

1.       Who is sponsoring this joint study and who is backing it behind the scenes?

2.       What kind of Christians are studying with the Jews. If these are ecumenical Christians being backed by the Vatican, for instance, then this is one of Satan’s decoys ad as such we need to question further.

A.      Whose name and what message will be left out of the Bible study in order to maintain unity? Will it not be the name of Yeshua and the Gospel of salvation?

B.      How long will it be until other religions such as Muslims are invited in? Will the true Gospel be left out for the sake of peace and unity? Will this end up as a triumph for Jews and Christians or will it represent the coming global religion of the Beast?

C.      We see Pope Francis playing the role of the False Prophet in drawing the world’s religions together into a common global religion. Is he not making way for the rise of the antichrist?

3.       We can be pretty sure that this thing that looks so good will end up with the building of the 3^rd temple and the subsequent deception of the antichrist as He takes his place in the temple declaring himself to be God. So while the Bible predicts the building of a third temple, it also warns us that it will be used as a decoy in place of the real thing. The true temple will be built by the real Messiah during His coming millennial reign.

4.       From Bible prophecy we can know that this is a preemptive move on Satan’s part to fake a millennial reign. It will deceive many and many will be lost when they take the Mark of the Beast.

                To be sure, there is a true move of God going on in Israel. I applaud the many Messianic Jewish congregations that are bringing Yeshua to Israel, but what they are doing is far different from the globalist agenda. They are preaching the Gospel and breaking down the barrier of the dividing wall between Jews and Christians just as it says in Ephesians 2:14-22. They are preparing the way for the coming of the real Messiah as in Romans 11:23-30

                All I am saying here is that, in our deep desire to see Yeshua coming to reign as King over Israel, we need to be certain that we are not lured into a flock that will bring death instead of life. Remember, if you will, a certain gathering sponsored by the Vatican a year or two ago called the Mekodeshet.   It was a gathering for the purpose of unity between religions. It had everything to do with globalism and nothing to do with Yeshua or the Gospel whereby all people must be saved. It was one of those flocks of decoys that looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, but isn’t a duck.

                I believe that this current Bible study in the Knesset is being headed up by Yehuda Glick. He is a member of the Knesset and a good man. He has a passion for Israel and for the building of the third temple and he loves and includes Christians in his plans. But the danger is that while He knows the glowing promises for the city of the Great King found in the Hebrews Scriptures, he doesn’t know of Christ’s warnings in the New Testament. So in his efforts to fulfill bible prophecy he is in danger of falling into the traps that the Vatican and the New World Order are laying out for the unwary.

                Just remember that the global kingdom of the antichrist is going to come first. He will deceive many. So try to remember that the true repentance of Israel will come when they look upon Him whom they have pierced and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born. Zechariah 12:10.

                Mt. 24:30 says this same thing saying: “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and then all of the tribes of the earth will mourn, and thy will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.

                We have to ask ourselves why so many will be mourning when they see Yeshua coming on the clouds with power and great glory. I believe the answer to that is the fact than many of them will have accepted and worshiped the imposter. Many of them will have received the Mark of the Beast rather than the Seal of God. They will have received the spirit of Satan rather than the Spirit of Christ.

                So if we want to do ourselves and our Jewish and Christian brethren a favor, we need to begin to study and preach Bible prophecy so that the deceived masses will be warned and many will come out of Babylon before it is too late. Rabbi Steven ben Denoon of Israeli News Live (A Messianic Jew) is one who is trying to warn his Jewish countrymen of this coming deception. More Messianic Jews and other Christians need to listen to his messages on You Tube

                There is a very distinct reason why churches everywhere have abandoned the study of Bible Prophecy just at the point where these things are being fulfilled. We are being set up. In the darkness of night, hundreds of decoys are being set out. Satan is placing his hunters in the blinds, preparing for the kill when unwary Christians and Jews come to land on the lake thinking that they are landing among friends.

                Pastors and Evangelists are no longer teaching Bible prophecy and preaching the full Gospel of salvation through repentance, the cross and the blood of Jesus. If they are not teaching the true New Birth and life in the Spirit rather than in the flesh, they are setting their people up to fall for the decoys instead of the real thing. If they are abandoning the infallibility of scripture and moving to self-help and psychology, or prosperity and positive thinking, they will be held accountable as false shepherds.

                And as for us? We need to study our Bibles and walk with Yeshua in such a way that we will be able to tell the decoys from the real thing. Selah.