The Curse

“Behold, Jehovah empties the earth and makes it bare, and distorts its face, and scatters its inhabitants.  And as it is with the people, so it shall be with the priest; as with the servant, so with the master; as with the maid, so it is with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.  The land shall be completely emptied, and utterly plundered; for Jehovah has spoken this Word.  The earth mourns and fades away; the world droops and fades away; the haughty people of the earth grow feeble.  The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, and have broken the perpetual covenant.  Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are held guilty; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left. The new wine mourns, the vine droops, all the merry-hearted sigh.  The mirth of the tambourines ceases; the tumult of the jubilant ends; the joy of the harp ceases.  They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.  The city of emptiness is broken down; every house is shut up so that no one may come in.  There is a cry for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land has gone.  Desolation is left in the city, and the gate is battered and destroyed.  For so it is in the midst of the land among the people. It shall be like the shaking of an olive tree, and as gleanings of grapes when the vintage has been finished.  They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of Jehovah, they shall cry aloud from the sea.  Therefore glorify Jehovah in the light of the fire, the name of the Lord Jehovah of Israel from the seashores.  From the ends of the earth we have heard songs, glory to the righteous. But I said, Leanness to me! Leanness to me! Woe to me! Deceivers deceive, even with treachery. Deceivers deceive!  Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.  And it shall be that he who flees from the sound of terror shall fall into the pit. And he who comes up out of the midst of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the windows from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth quake.  The earth has been badly broken! The earth is split open and cracked through! The earth has shaken greatly and is tottering!  Like a drunkard the earth is staggering back and forth! And it sways to and fro like a hut! Its transgressions have been heavy upon it; and it shall fall and not rise again.  And it shall come to pass in that day that Jehovah will punish the host of the haughty ones on high; and on earth, the kings of the earth.  And they shall be gathered, as prisoners are gathered in a dungeon. And they shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days they shall be visited.  Then the moon shall be abashed, and the sun shall be ashamed, when Jehovah of Hosts shall reign on Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, and before His elders, in splendor.”  Isaiah 24

 

Consider how serious it is that the curse devours the earth.  What exactly is a curse?  The most fitting definition in my Webster’s University Dictionary, Unabridged, 1942, seems to be the following:

 

Condemnation; sentence of divine vengeance on sinners. 

 

In this definition the following verse is referenced in the dictionary:

 

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree),”… Galatians 3:13

 

Keep that verse in mind. 

 

Imagine a time when as the opening passage says that ‘few men are left.’  Is there even words to describe how serious this is?  Is there anyway to put into perspective how important it is for us as societies around the world to give glory to our Creator (Gen. 1:26-27), as well as on an individual level to accept the free gift of Salvation (Eph. 2:8-9) by repenting of our sins and believing into Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior (Ac. 20:21)?  Well perhaps some think that that is not very realistic, that somehow it does not mean what it says, to them, consider a bit more of the following verses, describing the same time period, which is the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7), better known as the Great Tribulation; or is it even known hardly nowadays at all???

 

“And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothing; only let us be called by your name, to take away our reproach.”  Isaiah 4:1

 

“Howl! For the day of Jehovah is at hand! It shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.  Therefore all hands shall be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt; and they shall be afraid. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. They shall writhe like a woman giving birth. They shall be amazed at one another; their faces like flames.  Behold, the day of Jehovah comes, cruel and with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land waste; and He shall destroy its sinners out of it.  For the stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not give light; the sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not shine its light.  And I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. And I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the tyrants.  I will make mortal man more precious than refined gold; even mankind than the pure gold of Ophir.  Thus I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall move out of its place, in the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger.  And it shall be as a hunted gazelle, and as a sheep that no man takes up; each man shall turn to his own people, and everyone flee into his own land.  Everyone who is found shall be thrust through; and everyone who is captured shall fall by the sword.  Their children shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished.  Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not value silver; and they shall not delight in gold.  Their bows shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.  And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the majestic beauty of Chaldea, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.  It shall nevermore be inhabited, nor shall it be lived in from generation to generation; nor shall the Arabian pitch his tent there; nor shall the shepherds make their flocks lie down there.  But the wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of howling creatures; and young owls shall dwell there, and wild goats shall skip about.  And howling beasts shall respond from desolate places, and dragons in the delightful palaces. Indeed, her time will soon come to pass, and her days shall not be prolonged.”  Isaiah 13:6-22

 

“Therefore prophesy against them all these Words, and say to them, Jehovah shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation. He shall mightily roar over His dwelling place. He shall give a shout, like those who tread out grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.  A roaring noise shall come to the ends of the earth; for Jehovah has a controversy with the nations; He will enter into judgment with all flesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword, says Jehovah.  Thus says Jehovah of Hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest shall be roused up from the recesses of the earth.  And in that day the slain of Jehovah shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be mourned, nor gathered, nor buried. They shall be as dung on the ground.  Howl, you shepherds, and cry! Wallow in the ashes, you majestic ones of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and of your scattering are fulfilled; and you shall fall like a delightful vessel.  And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the majestic ones of the flock to escape.  A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the majestic ones of the flock shall be heard; for Jehovah has spoiled their pasture, and the peaceful pastures are cut down because of the fierce anger of Jehovah.  He has left His den like a lion; for their land is wasted at the presence of His fierce violence, and before His fierce anger.”  Jeremiah 25:30-38

 

The curse will devour the earth and men will be few on the earth.  Right now the population of the earth stands at approximately 7.9 billion people, that is 7,900,000,000 individuals, all of which need Jesus Christ as their Savior (2 Pet. 3:9).  Now Jesus explicitly said:

 

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many entering in through it.  Because narrow is the gate and distressing is the way which leads unto life, and there are few who find it.”  Matthew 7:13-14

 

So why is that?  Why is it that man does not consider the things of God to be important?  Why is it that the world is the way it is?  The curse.  Sin entered the world (Ro. 5:12), God provided a solution to the curse by giving Jesus Christ, His Son, to pay the penalty on the Cross for our sins (1 Pet. 2:24).

 

“Yet it pleased Jehovah to crush Him; to grieve Him; that He should give His soul as a sin-offering. He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the delight of Jehovah shall prosper in His hand.  He shall see the travail of His soul, and shall be fulfilled. By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.”  Isaiah 53:10-11

 

“For by grace you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  not of works, that no one should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  Ephesians 2:8-10

 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone believing into Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”  John 3:16-17

 

“For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the full true knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing into the full true knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who has delivered us from the authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins.  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by Him all things were created that are in Heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.  And He is the Head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn out from the dead, that in all things He may be preeminent.  For it is good that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him making peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in the heavens.”  Colossians 1:9-20

 

God has commanded all men everywhere to repent.

 

“Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has established a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has appointed. He has given assurance of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”  Acts 17:30-31

 

I’ve lived in both major metropolitan areas, as well as rural small areas.  I’ve been through much of the United States and the vast majority of Central America.  What exactly consists of ‘few’.  Well to me, it simply means what it says and that is few, few people. 

 

At last count I have been to 38 states and in many of those states have traveled fairly extensively.  Though my family might has just passed through quickly, nonetheless, we have seen much of them.  Consider with me a moment just how serious this is.

 

If I were to take 50 states and minus 38, leaving 12 states remaining, would that be few?  In my mind it wouldn’t be.  I wouldn’t yet tell people that I only have a few states remaining to have seen all the states, but if it were say 46 or 47 states that had been visited, certainly in my mind I could tell people that I only have a few more states to visit.  How about countries?

 

There are 193 countries that are part of the United Nations, which is perhaps the basis for a one-world governmental system (Rev. 13:1-2; Dan. 7:24)???  To date I have seen 9 countries, counting the United States as one, of which I would consider I have seen few countries in regards to the total amount of countries that there are in the world.  But why be so picky about what precisely God means regarding few men left in the opening passage.  Let me just go with the 38 states I have seen to make my point.  So let’s assume that the 12 remaining states are few in comparison to the 38 that have been seen.

 

Right now I reside in Michigan, now consider your state and where you reside.  Imagine a time period where whatever happens is so destructive against the world that few people are left.  To put this into perspective, I could simply imagine how shockingly horrific it would be if all of the 38 states that I had been to were without inhabitant, not a soul.  Could you imagine driving from New York to Florida without a single person being alive?

 

How about driving from California to Texas or from Washington State to Minnesota?  How about from Indiana to Georgia or Arkansas to Iowa?  Hollywood has come up with movies with such scenarios where there are few left in a major city or a country, well this scenario is not so far-fetched, for God has spoken and it will indeed come to pass (Is. 46:8-11), the only question is when.

 

Really it is a sad state of affairs and my good friend and the one who taught me much about the Bible used to say that this was the saddest verse in the whole Bible, I would agree:

 

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”  Jeremiah 8:20

 

You see when the starting gun, the Rapture happens (1 Thes. 4:13-18), of which you can read more about in the article called His Glorious Appearing, which is also in the free ebook entitled Repent! that is available on the website, www.allwillstand.org, when that happens, it is too late.  Right now I couldn’t think of some more important verses to stipulate where we are in our individual societies of the world:

 

“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.  The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.  Let us walk decently, as in the day, not in carousings and drunkenness, not in cohabitation and licentiousness, not in strife and envy.  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”  Romans 13:11-14

 

I write as the Lord leads and few listen.  I have obeyed the calling of Jesus Christ and do a radio show, but I am not sure who hears?  I have talked to pastors about preaching the full Gospel, which means that people must also repent, but most ignore me.  I have talked to other pastors about ungodly music, false doctrine or other things and they simply down play it.  I tell others to take such things seriously, but they don’t seem to get it.  They refuse to listen or many others agree that they should listen, but they never seem to actually be able to get to where they want to. 

 

This is a worldwide emergency, not this pandemic.  Last time I checked most people were still alive and when you consider the world’s population verses the amount of people who have died from COVID, it is relatively few in number.  Now imagine if COVID killed 98% of people who got it?  Could you imagine?  What would the response of the world be?  What would the responses of our governments be?  What would the response of individuals be?  Would they take it seriously?  Would sheltering-in-place until it passed, even if many died of starvation from doing such, be a logical thing to do?

 

This is a GREAT emergency, one that the world is ill prepared for.  Now the tools have been given for the inhabitants of the earth individually to avoid this emergency and that tool is Salvation through Jesus Christ, but they refuse to repent (Rev. 9:20-21), they refuse to yield their lives to Him who died for our sins!

 

All around the world there is problem after problem that is plaguing the global.  Wildfires, earthquakes, floods, now mice plagues!  These are the beginnings of trouble (Matt. 24:7-8) a relatively –small- amount of trouble compared to where the world will eventually end up.  All in all these are more nuisances than flat out emergencies. 

 

If there was a nuclear war tomorrow between the United States and Russia, with both countries effectively wiping most of their opponents population off of the map, plus the nuclear fallout that would plaque the earth from such catastrophic weapons, this would be minor in comparison to what is coming!  Take heed, take it seriously, this is no joke, we are in an absolute emergency situation.

 

While no one knows the day, nor the hour (Matt. 24:36), what we do know is that we ought to be ‘watching and ready’ (Matt. 24:42-44), we also know the parable of the fig tree.

 

“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.  So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, at the doors.”  Matthew 24:32-33

 

I assure you that if the Rapture were to occur today that the world is nowhere near ready.  We aren’t even ready in the United States should an EMP hit our electrical grid.  In comparison, our churches in this country and around the world are by and large not doing what God wants them to do, but rather following vain traditions or so apostate that they are simply appealing to the people rather than being appealing to God Almighty.

 

“Preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season. Convict, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own lusts, desiring to hear pleasant things, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to myths.”  2^nd Timothy 4:2-4

 

Oh, if only I could tell the world how important it is what Jesus Christ did for us!  If only I was given the opportunity to shout aloud to the world and tell them that they must repent and believe into Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior or else they will spend eternity in Hell (Rev. 20:11-15)!   If only the world could pause, not for some ill thought out lockdown, but to admit our transgressions against our Creator (Jer. 14:20), to cry out (Lk. 18:13; Ps. 51:17), to repent towards God (Acts 17:30-31) and individually place our faith in Jesus Christ.

 

“testifying both to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Acts 20:21

 

“Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be immersed in the name of Jesus Christ to the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”  Acts 2:38-39

 

Leaders around the world have addressed their respective populations in regards to this pandemic emergency, but how about some of these preachers address those who will listen to the emergency of the world being lost in their sin, as the His glorious appearing approaches (Titus 2:13)?  Nonetheless, will they continue to rebel against their Creator?

 

Certainly at the moment there does not appear to be some sort of great revival happening across the world.  Where are those who are crying out to the people to seek God before it is too late?  Where are those who are hollering from the mountaintops, proclaiming the glorious Truths of the Most High God?  Where are those who are busy knocking on doors, telling anyone who will hear the Gospel (Matt. 28:18-20)?  In that regard there are few.

 

Well the Bible is quite clear that the last days will be like the days of Noah.

 

“And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:  They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.  Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;  but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.  Even in the same way will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.  In that day, he who will be on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not return back.  Remember Lot‘s wife.  Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.  I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left.  Two will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left.  Two will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.  And they answered and said to Him, Where, Lord? And He said to them, Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”  Luke 17:26-37

 

So here we are…how long do we have?  We do not know, but the time will come when there will be no more time.  The time will come when the last Trumpet (1 Cor. 15:52) will sound and then the Judgment of His appearing (2 Tim. 4:1) will have happened, the Church age will have ended (Rev. 4:1). 

 

For God has made known to us, to you who are reading this now, that there will come a time, there will be a day.  We have been warned to be found watching and ready (Lk. 12:37-40), not caught off guard (1 Thes. 5:1), consider the following:

 

“But if that wicked servant says in his heart, My master delays his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not expecting him and in an hour he does not know, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Matthew 24:48-51

 

“And he said to me, Do not seal the Words of the Prophecy of this Book, for the time is at hand.  He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.  And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to what his work shall be.”  Revelation 22:10-12

 

Will you wait for everyone else to join (Ex. 23:2)?  Will you wait until this is popular in our society (1 Cor. 1:18), your neighborhood, amongst your coworkers or your family (Lk. 14:26)?  Or will you be one of the few who when Christ comes to take His Bride (Rev. 19:7-9), you will meet Him in the air (1 Thes. 4:17)?  What about you? 

 

The world is not going to declare and emergency.  The preachers are not going to declare an emergency.  Our governments are not going to declare an emergency.  Rather when the emergency begins, when that time comes and men begin to become few in number quickly, these people will only further the deception.  They will declare an emergency alright.

 

The world will declare an emergency, perhaps faking an alien invasion as a pretext for what happened or an excuse regarding the Rapture, lies.  The preachers who will have been Left Behind will either be deluded for not loving the Truth (2 Thes. 2:9-12) or will have been so watered down they don’t have any clue what is occurring (Matt. 15:14), they will continue to preach lies (1 Tim. 4:1-2).  The governments will declare emergency after emergency measures, only furthering the Antichrist agenda during that time, eventually killing those who at that time get Saved (Rev. 7:14).  The government will be focused on the mark of the Beast (Rev. 13:16-18) and beheading those who refuse and who name the name of Christ as their Savior (Rev. 20:4), spreading the lies of their father (Jn. 8:44), the devil (Rev. 20:10).

 

But you, dear reader, what will you do?  Do you think perhaps you will be one of the few who survive?  My same dear friend who taught me much regarding the Holy Scriptures also took the time to ponder how many people will die during that Tribulation.  Adding up the percent here and the percent there throughout the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, he concluded that it appears that perhaps 90% of the earth’s population would die.  So perhaps the 10% of people left (1/3 left for the Jewish population (Zec. 13:8)) would be the ‘few’ that is spoken about in the opening passage of Scripture. 

 

Currently I live in a town of about 15,000, if suddenly there were 13,500 people killed throughout the course of a few years, certainly there would seemingly be few people left and their bodies would indeed be as dung upon the earth.  I don’t know about you, but I certainly would not spend my time, during such a time where my home, according to the Bible, would be closed up, so essentially I guess I would be sheltering in place, but I wouldn’t spend my time digging graves for those who still refuse to heed to God, even as the Two Witnesses (Rev. 11:3) and the 144,000 (Rev. 7:4), as well as others are preaching that people should repent.  In fact, I would consider to simply avoid such a scenario and release that I am guilty (Ro. 3:23), that indeed I am a sinner that is deserving of God’s Judgment (Ro. 6:23), for I would admit my transgressions (1 Jn. 1:9).

 

Then I would be mightily thankful that God sent His Son (John 3:16), as a free gift (Eph. 2:8-9), so that I might accept Salvation.  I would give glory to God for having been so generous and so kind, then I would understand just how absurd that we live in a world where only few deny that God exists, but few give reverence to the seriousness of Whom we serve.

 

For truly God will restore all things and fix all things, along with removing the wicked who refuse to yield their lives to their Creator.  In the end, things will be restored, whether that means that you, as an individual will spend your deserving eternity in the Lake of Fire or whether or not you will be undeservingly rewarded by our merciful and mighty Creator, being with Him for all eternity (1 Thes. 4:17).

 

Consider this an emergency, do not be one of the many who ignore the seriousness of God, the seriousness of the eternal consequences for your sin, the seriousness of realizing just who God is!  For God is not mocked (Gal. 6:7), He knows our hearts (Heb. 4:12).  You might be able to fool men, but you will never fool God.  Seek Him before it is too late (Is. 55:6)!

 

“And he showed me a pure river of Water of Life, clear as crystal, going forth out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.  In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the Tree of Life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.  And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.  And they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.  And there shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.  And he said to me, These Words are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must quickly come to pass.  Behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the Words of the Prophecy of this Book.”  Revelation 22:1-7

 

Amen!