As we near a new year, it would be beneficial to consider what God has been saying to us these last few years.

“You will be punished by the LORD of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire.” – Isa. 29:6

 “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;” – Luke 21:26

“By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed. Therefore the land will mourn; and everyone who dwells there will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.” – Hosea 4:2,3

Beginning in 2010 unexplained mass die offs began happening all over the world; fish, turtles, and dolphins began washing up on the shores by the thousands. Birds suddenly began falling out of the shy for no apparent reason, hundreds of cows and buffalo began dropping in the fields. While the news media covered these things at first, these events have continued happening but the media usually doesn’t cover them now because it has become ‘old news‘.

The large rise in major earthquakes and volcanoes has been well documented and they continue to increase. We have been hit with major hurricanes and flooding in recent years that have caused millions of dollars of damage and fire storms continue to devour California. All these are ways in which God says He disciplines the wicked and warns them.

Then there are an abundance of recent heavenly signs that have been given; strange dark spots in the sun, strange sounds in the atmosphere and in the earth, blood red moons occurring on Jewish feast days, once in a lifetime constellation alignments such as the Virgo alignment – the Draco alignment – and the Taurus alignment, all of which are forecast in Revelation 12 as end-time heavenly signs.

While many of these signs have happened all over the world, the United States has been specifically selected to receive some of them, such as the once in a lifetime solar eclipse seen only in the United States and a second similar eclipse in 7 years that will also travel across the U.S. in the opposite direction marking a ‘X’ right over the New Madrid earthquake fault line.

While some of these events happen periodically, the stark increase and concentration of them in the U.S., and the rarity of some of them, ought to encourage us all to seriously consider that God is likely warning us to get right with Him.

While war in the Middle East or war with North Korea are frequent topics now, there is another war I want to concentrate on in this article – War in the Heavens.

“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” – Rev. 12:7-9

Think of all the damage and evil Satan has been able to foster on the earth while he was in heaven and now imagine how much more he will do when he is cast down to earth! Scripture expressly warns us about this event –

“Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” – Rev. 12:10-12

There are two points to consider in these passages.

1. Woe to all those who do not have Christ, the Holy Spirit, or the word of God to guard them.
2. Because Satan, who accused us and hindered our prayers from being answered such as he did with Daniel in Babylon (Dan. 10:12,13). The prayers of God’s people will be unfettered and receive answers speedily.

“Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.” – Dan. 10:12,13

I believe there is not much time left before this war in heaven takes place. It is time to consider where you stand with God, who alone can help you be among the overcomers who will face the downcast Satan and his angels. We all need to be sure of our foundations in Jesus Christ,  as are revealed in the book of Hebrews –

“Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.” – Heb. 6:1-3

Each of these seven foundations will require a teaching by themselves and revelation by the Holy Spirit to fully comprehend them,  and these are just the foundations of Christianity! How woefully unprepared most Christians are in the faith they claim.

1. Repentance from dead works – no one begins without repentance from ‘dead works’ which are our attempts to earn salvation without the Holy Spirit’s work.
2. Faith toward God – not in our ability or some man-made religious system – no humanism or evolution will produce this kind of faith.
3. Doctrine of baptisms – there are two, water baptism
4. and second, the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
5. Laying on of hands – the gifts of the Holy Spirit meant to empower believers to do the same works that Jesus did on earth.
6. Resurrection or the dead – there are two to come, the resurrection of the righteous at Christ’s second coming and the resurrection of the wicked at the Great White Throne Judgment.
7. Eternal judgment happens. What we do in this life determines where we will be for eternity.

Most Christians have never faced the full force of Satan’s wrath and I can tell you the anemic preparation given to most ‘one day a week’ Christians is not enough! We must learn the word of God as applied by the Holy Spirit. It alone is the sword of the Spirit, the shield of faith, and the armor of God that will protect us in the battle to come.

Though this message may seem harsh to some, it is urgent to prepare. I pray it will encourage us all to do so.