-
The Good Confession Series
Contributed by Maurice Mccarthy on Mar 12, 2019 (message contributor)
Summary: I believe that we have entered what I am calling the age of antichrist. The social credit system active in China is the pattern the antichrist will institute around the world. This message is a challenge to be ready to confess your faith even if it costs you.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next
The Good Confession
PPT 1 Series title
Last weeks message we asked who is igniting your tongue?
PPT 2 tongue on fire
PPT 3 apostles on fire
Then we talked about the best of people can let their tongues get away from them, i.e. Peter. Jesus calls him satan for something he said, and Jesus said on his confession of faith, Jesus would build His church.
Recap last message
PPT 4 pic of someone being punched by words.
Today we are going to talk about what the bible calls the good confession, let me set that up by talking about the time we are living in.
We have entered the age of the antichrist. Our nation has changed in just the last 6 months in ways none of us would have been able to predict.
One little example, recently a man many believe will soon announce he is running for president, former VP Joe Biden said in comments he was making during a speech, "Mike Pence was a decent man." He was immediately bombarded and lambasted by the left saying, since he isn't pro lgbtq than he is an evil man. Facing the backlash from potential voters in his party, Biden came out with a statement shortly thereafter saying, you are right Mike Pence isn't a decent man. In the eyes of the world in the US a Christian cannot be a decent person if they hold to biblical views of sexuality.
Now let me show you an interesting verse:
PPT 5 text:
Revelation 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
Revelation 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
I never understood why the image of frogs was given until someone recently pointed out that a frog catches its prey by attacking with its tongue which has an unusual almost glue like ability. In other words the frog image was used to convey the idea of demon spirits that entrap people with the power of their words. These frogs are gathering people to fight against God, how stupid do you have to be to do that. The fight going on in the world today is not against Christians, but against God Himself. All the pieces are coming together, and they are coming together quickly. I believe we are living in a time where God is shortening the days.
Let's talk about what is going on in China
PPT 6 pic of mega church
50 k members this is what it looks like now:
PPT 7 pic 2 of mega church destroyed by Chinese authorities
Recently Zion a mega church in Beijing was closed because they refused to allow the government to install video camera's with facial recognition software.
China has instituted a social credit system. We have credit reporting, they have social credit reporting. BTW employers are checking fb now and some have demanded access to fb to view a prospective hires online activity. A social credit system is growing in the US, just ask any democrat who disagrees with the socialist wing of the democratic party.
This social credit system in China:
You can find numerous articles describing this in very negative terms and also numerous articles saying it is not as bad as it seems. (Chinese bought and paid for influence??)
The Chinese call it A measure of trustworthiness.
It is believed that the system entails a series of big data and AI-enabled processes that compute an individual's behavior, from online purchasing to obedience to traffic laws, timely bill payments, or your choice of friends.
High scores beget social privileges.
According to a government document about the system dating from 2014, the aim is to "allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step."
But it has broadened from now to limiting financial transactions. Bad score you can't buy real estate or take out loans. The slogan now is "Once discredited, limited everywhere". Recently a journalist who had done some negative reporting against the Chinese government reported he can't take out a loan, buy real estate, the government has financially shut him down. Read this link and you will see what life under the antichrist will be like: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/chinese-blacklist-an-early-glimpse-of-sweeping-new-social-credit-control/article37493300/
China has blocked millions of "discredited" travelers from buying plane or train tickets as part of the country's controversial "social credit" system aimed at improving the behavior of citizens.
According to the National Public Credit Information Centre, Chinese courts banned would-be travelers from buying flights 17.5 million times by the end of 2018. Citizens placed on black lists for social credit offenses were prevented from buying train tickets 5.5 million times.