False Thinking

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

FALSE THINKING

Rev 16:12-14

12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. 13 Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

NIV

There is all sorts of ideas about what the Euphrates represents and who the kings of the East are and their purpose. Some think for conquest, yet there is some evidence in scripture they might be coming to pay homage at Jerusalem. It is unclear either way, but we know something was holding them back and now it is gone and here they come. The reason for the impediment was God and the reason it has been removed is God. IF there is any lesson at all in this passage that is it. But it would appear there is more for us to learn yet we should focus on this truth for a moment. When there are times in our life when it seems we are up against a brick wall, we need to understand God built that wall and for a purpose. If we are not advancing in our career, perhaps God has put this impediment in our way for his purpose. If we just can’t seem to get direction as to what we are to do, God us holding us back from doing anything, which means he wants us to stay where we are, he has kept the barrier up. But when he decides to remove this barrier and prepare the way for us to move on, we need to be moving on. It also appears here, the fact he removed the barrier for the kings of the East was very obvious and so it will be for us. Now as to those frogs. This again can be all sorts of things, but most likely they are more false teachers, false leaders who have sprung up from among the survivors of all the plagues. Wicked men will always attempt to take control of the lives of others for their own benefit. But these false teachers or leaders will be of world renown for they will have great power and be able to deceive even the leaders of other countries and gather them in an effort to destroy the idea of God worldwide. Again some scholars would focus all this attention only on the Middle East and make its meaning a historic one, using events of the past as evidence. But this is the great battle against God, this is the coming battle of Armageddon as we will see in verse 16. Whether this is an actual battle or if this is a battle of ideology we cannot be sure. If it is a battlefield with military forces fighting against God, it seems a little weird that any people could think they could win such a battle, especially if they do not believe in God. But if it is a great battle of ideologies then mankind might think he can win. This great movement of humanism and our power to save ourselves.  One world leader pushing for Global initiatives and having a foundation asking people to give now to improve the world.  Other leaders have tried to create movements, treaties to save the planet, save the environment, save our natural resources, save, save and save, all by the power of man. All this, even some professing a belief in God, is for the purpose of destroying the idea of God. The fact he created all the earth, he made it to sustain all life for as long as he determined it should be. One example of this provision of God is that within this country of America alone, we have enough coal in the ground to last us for over five hundred years, yet leaders would try to convince us it is dirty energy, and we, mankind needs to find clean energy. What God has created for us is dirty, and bad, and therefore we can save us from that filth and man can do better. It is an ideological battle of epic proportions. We cannot afford to be deceived by this sort of ideology, this false teaching, this false form of miraculous saving of the planet. God is God and he has all the power, we need to stay on the winning team and not get catch up in the ideas of man. Sure we should not deliberately attempt to do harm to our environment, as we would not throw trash on the street. But we also have to understand we cannot save the planet either. That is up to God as to how long it will last and when he will destroy it. Maybe God is holding back these ideologies of man for a while longer. Although they are there, they have not taken worldwide root, but the day is coming when God will remove all the impediments for them and they will gather strength and think they are going to win the hearts and minds of all the people away from any idea of God. But how foolish are men, how wise is God. The day is coming. We need to always be looking to God for all things. This is the correct way to think, however much of mankind is engaged in false thinking.