"And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshiped. "(Rev. 5:14, NASB)    Have you noticed yet in the Bible that in every instance of someone's vision of heaven we see worship happening? In Revelation chapter five John tells us that he sees the four living creatures, the twenty-four elders, the angels, "myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands" of folks, and "every created thing" singing about and worshiping. (v 11-14) This is not only the case with John's vision. We see the same in the visions of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Even Jacob's vision way back in Genesis 28 hints at this same occurrence. With all this worship taking place in heaven, what are we missing down here on earth?    We usually equate worship to singing, but worship is more. The word "worship", in the original Greek language ( προσκυνέω)  means to "prostrate oneself in homage."* It is an...

"Satan...will come out to deceive the nations...the number of them is like the sand of the seashore." - Revelation 20:7-8 (NASB)    This passage of Scripture is fascinating to me. According to John, after the 1,000 year reign of Jesus, Satan will be loosed from his prison to go out and, well, be himself. In doing so he will deceive an untold number, "like the sand of the seashore." If you keep the context in mind, Jesus, the King of kings and the LORD of lords, will be physically present on earth, reigning. People living during that time period will be able to physically see Him. They will know about how He defeated the antichrist at the battle of Armageddon, how He will have brought peace to the world, and how even the natural order of things have been altered. And still they are deceived? Surely this is not right. How is this possible?     In Jesus parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man in torment wanted the angel to send someone to his famil...

"And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth..." - Rev. 14:6-7 (NASB)     We came to this passage during our verse-by-verse study last night at church and I wanted to share a couple of thoughts with you. The NT is clear that the preaching of the gospel is the responsibility and privilege of the church (see Matt. 28:18-20, Acts 1:7-8 ). The task was never left to an angelic being. In fact, after the birth of Jesus, the only angelic proclamations that we see is that which announced Jesus' resurrection at the tomb. If this is true, then why is this angel, in Revelation 14 , flying around preaching? There is no one else to preach. Dr. Stanley Horton and others agree that by this time in the tribulation all Jewish and Gentile believers across the globe have been decimated by the antichrist and his reign. Although there is no one to preach, the gospel message is still valid and available This is reminiscent o...