THE SANITATION OF CHRISTIANITY The objective of this teaching is to expose how Satan, unable to destroy Christianity outright, has sought instead to sanitize it—stripping it of its preserving power (its “saltiness”) and rendering it ineffective against corruption. By tracing the biblical concept of the “covenant of salt” from the Old Testament to its fulfillment in Christ, the study aims to show how the devil has historically infiltrated and weakened the church through doctrines like Balaam and the Nicolaitans, and how this continues today through cultural, educational, and societal corruption. It calls believers to remain steadfast, to preserve their “salt” through faithful obedience, and to resist idolatrous influences so that they may stand unashamed at Christ’s return. THE SANITATION OF CHRISTIANITY Pastor Marcos Marrero Objective: The objective of this teaching is to expose how Satan, unable to destroy Christianity outright, has sought instead to sanitize it—stripping it of its preserving power (its “saltiness”) and rendering it ineffective against corruption. By tracing the biblical concept of the “covenant of salt” from the Old Testament to its fulfillment in Christ, the study aims to show how the devil has historically infiltrated and weakened the church through doctrines like Balaam and the Nicolaitans, and how this continues today through cultural, educational, and societal corruption. It calls believers to remain steadfast, to preserve their “salt” through faithful obedience, and to resist idolatrous influences so that they may stand unashamed at Christ’s return. Synopsis: This teaching begins by exploring the biblical symbolism of salt as an antidote to corruption and a sign of permanence, focusing on God’s “covenant of salt” with David. This covenant is fulfilled in Christ, the Son of David, who holds the keys of dominion over Israel, the church, and all creation. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus became incorruptible, defeating Satan and securing eternal authority. Recognizing his defeat, Satan adopted a new strategy: if he could not destroy Christianity, he would attempt to neutralize it. This process of “sanitizing” Christianity is explained through biblical warnings—Jesus’ teaching on salt losing its savor, Paul’s reminder that every work will be tested by fire, and Old Testament sacrificial laws requiring salt. The devil’s aim is to corrupt ministries and ministers, removing their effectiveness by leading them into false doctrines. Two key doctrines are highlighted: The Doctrine of Balaam: enticing God’s people into idolatry, immorality, and compromise, thereby stripping away their spiritual protection. The Doctrine of the Nicolaitans: elevating the power of the people over God’s authority, leading church leaders to become crowd-pleasers rather than servants of God. The teaching then traces how these satanic tactics have unfolded in modern history, particularly in the 20th and 21st centuries. By infiltrating education, entertainment, media, and government, secular powers have advanced anti-God ideologies under the guise of equality, evolution, sexual freedom, and political correctness. This corruption has eroded the church’s influence, diminished its witness, and left Western civilization vulnerable to decay. Finally, the message calls believers to “have salt in yourselves” (Mark 9:50)—to personally maintain integrity, resist worldly contamination, and remain faithful to Christ. Though corruption abounds, Jesus’ promise stands: His true church will prevail, and those who abide in Him will not be ashamed when He returns. Inspired Teaching: 2 Chronicles 13:5 “Should you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the dominion over Israel to David forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt?” During Bible days in the Old Testament salt was a very valuable commodity, salt was required as part of most of the sacrifices that were offered to God in the Tabernacle. The symbolism was clear since salt was commonly used back then as an antidote to corruption. Before refrigeration one of the most effective ways to preserve meat, fish or poultry after they were killed, was by dressing then with salt and also saturating then in salt for preservation, hence the value of salt. By a covenant of salt: Second Chronicles makes the statement that when God committed Himself to give the dominion over Israel forever to David and his sons, that it was to be an irrevocable covenant, by making it a covenant of incorruptible salt. Now we know that Israel has never failed to have a descendant of David ruling over them, even to this day, for by David and his sons God meant that Jesus, a descendant from the line of David, would be the one that held the keys that represented God’s incorruptible dominion over Israel. Revelation 3:7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, these things says He who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens.” Notice how Jesus uses the phrase the key of David to announce the rapture of the church; now when John wrote this Revelation, Jerusalem and the temple had already been destroyed. But you see Jesus is stating that as a descendant of David after the flesh, He has dominion over the nation of Israel to be their King forever in accordance with the incorruptible covenant of salt that God entered into with David. And not only that, but also as the head of the church, which is His body, He is both King and High Priest over it; and not only that, but also He is coming back to assume His dominion over all the nations of the world that belong to Him as the last Adam who restores everything to God that the first Adam lost. Colossians 1:18-20 “And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness (head of Israel, head of the church, head of the nations) should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things (the entire creation) to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” Imagine how hopeless Satan felt when a mortal of divine origin, who could not be corrupted, assumed the position of King of kings and Lord of lords over all that He Jesus, the Word of God, had originally created, and before those gathered of the assembly, He uttered these astonishing words to all the creation: Hebrews 2:12-14 “…‘I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.’ And again: ‘I will put My trust in Him.’ And again: ‘Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.’ Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through dead He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Though utterly defeated, the devil knew that his time was not up yet, so as the old saying goes, if you cannot beat them join them. So that in order for him to continue with his malevolent work of corruption, he had to find a way to sanitize the preserving power that God had invested in all mankind when He instituted the covenant of salt. Mark 9:49-50 “For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor (saltiness) how will you season it (make it salty again)? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.” Here Jesus is prophetically telling His church how the devil would try to neutralized their power to hinder corruption, by making their labor to be the workings of man instead of the ministry of God. When Paul told the church that everyone of their works would be tested by fire, every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt, he was just simply quoting Jesus. Leviticus 2:13 “And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.” So that our offering or service to God, and salt, the antidote to corruption, should always go hand in hand. The devil understood this from the beginning, and knowing that he could not stamped out true Christianity, though he tried, his next best thing was to try and remove the saltiness from those whose labor and ministry was their offering to God. How does a ministry or ministers lose their saltines? Revelation 2:14 “But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.” When Balak hired Balaam to curse the children of Israel, Balaam told him that he could not curse that which God had blessed. After several tries Balak got frustrated because every time Balaam tried to utter the curse words against Israel that Balak was telling him so say, a blessing came out from the mouth of Balaam instead. Not to forfeit the great prize that he, Balaam was offered, he devised a plan that later became a doctrine on how to sanitize, that is to render powerless the corruption preventing covering of the covenant of salt. This is what Balaam taught Moab that they should do to neutralize Israel’s covering and protection: Numbers 25:2-3 “They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel.” The doctrine of Balaam is simply to introduce a ministry or minister to eat of, or to intake, or to partake of demonic doctrines, things sacrificed or offered to idols, so that that ministry or ministers becomes one with Baal, which means lord, a substitute for our real Lord. Once that takes place that ministry looses its saltiness and pretty soon it becomes totally corrupted, unable to proclaim the truth it was ordained to promote. The new world order visionaries of today’s end of times, wish that Christianity and all its influence on humanity could be banished forever, but deep in their hearts they know the impossibility of their dream. They know that when Jesus said that He would built His church and that the gates of hell could not prevail against it, that He was not kidding. So instead they have settled for the contamination of as much of the church and its influence as they can, to nullified the churches power to interfere with their corrupting agenda. At the beginning of the 20th century their agenda started to take shape. One of the tools that they used was that of what they called equality, equality to them does not mean the same thing that it does to us. They demanded that along with creation other theories should be taught in schools, that seemed fair at first, but after they gained a foothold with the theory of evolution, they managed to banish not just the creation story from the curriculum, but the entire Bible from our schools, that is what their definition of equality is. By taking over the faculties of the colleges and universities that once were founded to proclaim the virtues of Christianity and to promote its teachings, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all men who were willing to seek them. These colleges and universities have now become a corrupt incestuous cesspool of demonic doctrines, festering with nothing but hate for all that is good and decent and noble, hell bent on destroying all godliness in society. I just saw in the news one of such professors saying openly that when they demand equality for gay couples to marry, that that is not really what they are after, for what they are truly after, she said, is the abolition of the institution of marriage; she said, I hate marriage, so that by a very strong implication she is saying if we cannot abolish marriage, then let us denigrate it to the point where it really means nothing. They have also taken over the entertainment, games, and news producing industries in order to promote their anti-God agenda as an acceptable way of life, while at the same time portraying true Christianity falsely in order to turn innocent minds away from God’s saving grace for them. Now they are going as far as saying that our children do not really belong to us; Oh! When it comes to aborting, in that case, the mother has the inalienable right to end their lives at her choosing, but when it comes to Christians teaching their children our faith and way of life; Oh no in that case they belong to the state, and father and mother have no rights over them. I think we are in need of a new definition for idiocy, for clearly they surpass whatever the word idiot means right now. But sadly, all this corruption has its origin in the fact that we have allowed Christianity in our western civilization to be corrupted, we’ve lost our saltines and now we are paying the price for our compromise. Revelation 2:15 “Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.” Jesus tells the church at Pergamos of another doctrine that they’ve embraced that preceded the doctrine of Balaam, and which appears to be the culprit that allowed the doctrine of Balaam to infiltrate them. Nico means power and Laitans means laity, put together Nicolaitans means the power of the people. Democracy can be a great thing for a righteous people desirous of good laws to rule them but is a killer for the church. For once an elder of the church becomes subservient to the will of the people he ceases to be God’s servant and becomes nothing more than an ear tickler, promoting an agenda that aims to please the people rather than God. Have salt in yourselves: Remember what Jesus said in Mark 9:50? We may not have control over what goes on in our local churches, but we definitely have control into what we take in. You do not have to be part of any idolatrous pursuits that your church engages in to either please the crowds or to attract new comers by looking worldly. Remember that those who keep God’s Word, saltines, and do not deny the deity of Jesus, do not entertain Baal, will not have to go through the seasoning of fire that Jesus told us is coming to test all those who live in the world: Rev. 3:8/10 1 John 2:28 “And now, little children, abide in Him (have salt in yourselves, refute corruption), that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.” Amen! Previous Next Home

GOD'S COVENANT WITH DAY AND NIGHT To explain the unbreakable nature of God’s covenant with day and night as a symbol of His eternal promises to Abraham, David, and their descendants, showing how these covenants are fulfilled in Jesus Christ as both King and Priest. The lesson emphasizes God’s faithfulness despite human failure, the duality of conditional and unconditional aspects within His covenant, and the ultimate fulfillment of His plan of redemption and restoration through Christ. GOD'S COVENANT WITH DAY AND NIGHT Pastor Marcos Marrero Objective: To explain the unbreakable nature of God’s covenant with day and night as a symbol of His eternal promises to Abraham, David, and their descendants, showing how these covenants are fulfilled in Jesus Christ as both King and Priest. The lesson emphasizes God’s faithfulness despite human failure, the duality of conditional and unconditional aspects within His covenant, and the ultimate fulfillment of His plan of redemption and restoration through Christ. Synopsis: In Jeremiah 33:20–21, God declares His covenant with day and night as a parallel to His covenant with David, affirming that just as the natural order cannot be broken, neither can His promises. The day represents the unconditional aspect of God’s covenant—fulfilled solely by Him—while the night represents the conditional aspect, requiring obedience from David’s descendants. Even though Israel questioned God’s commitment during Jerusalem’s destruction, He reaffirmed that His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David was eternal and unshakable. The teaching traces how God’s covenant extends to two families—Abraham’s (priesthood) and David’s (kingship)—which find ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Abraham demonstrated his priestly calling through his encounter with Melchizedek, choosing spiritual authority over earthly kingship. David was promised an eternal throne, even though his descendants often failed. Jesus unites both offices as King and Priest, confirmed at His baptism and through His eternal priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. The covenant also included the Levites, pointing to God’s ultimate design of a kingdom of priests (Revelation 1:6). Though Israel’s disobedience led to judgment and exile, God’s covenant was never nullified; He promised restoration and mercy. This covenantal framework culminates in the end-times prophecy where the Two Witnesses represent Israel and the Church. Their death signals the temporary suspension of earthly representation, aligning with the “abomination of desolation” and a disruption of God’s covenant with day and night. Yet, this only precedes Christ’s return to reign for a thousand years, restoring His kingdom in fullness. Ultimately, the lesson shows how God’s covenants are perfectly interconnected across Scripture, affirming His faithfulness, sovereignty, and commitment to redemption. No matter human failure, His promises remain sure, culminating in Christ’s eternal reign as both Priest and King. Inspired Teaching: Jeremiah 33:20-21 “Thus says the Lord: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers.’” God’s covenant with the day and God’s covenant with the night are symbolic of the duality of God’s covenant with David and with his descendants forever. What I mean is that one part of the covenant is unconditional, that is what the light of day stands for, and is God’s part to fulfill in the and is God’s part to fulfill in the covenant; the other part is conditional, and that is what the darkness of night stand for, and that is David’s descendants part to fulfill. In other words, the one covenant is extended to cover two family lines; Abraham’s and David’s. Jeremiah 33:24 “Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the Lord has chosen, He has also cast them off’? Thus they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them.” What prompted God to mention that His obligation to the covenant was unbreakable was that they were questioning God’s commitment to His part of the covenant, because Jeremiah was prophesying the demise of the city of Jerusalem to the Babylonians. In their thinking, if there is no kingdom then there is no king. They failed to understand that God still reigns even after David’s descendants failed to keep their part of the covenant and suffered the consequences of their rebellion. Jeremiah 33:25-26 “Thus says the Lord: ‘If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them.’” Here God is establishing once more that His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is unbreakable, and that His choice of David and his family line to be rulers over the patriarchs descendants forever, is just as unbreakable. Then He adds, that they will be a nation again, for I will have mercy on them. “And with the Levites, the priests, My ministers.” Also notice that God’s covenant with David included the Levites and the priests that minister before God. God’s ultimate goal was to create a kingdom of priests, of which both Abraham and David are types! Revelation 1:6 “And has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Abraham had a choice being the first. In Genesis 14:16-24 we find that after defeating king Chedorlaomer to rescue Lot who had been taken captive, Abraham arrived in the King’s Valley and was met by Melchizedek king of Salem, who offered him bread and wine, for he was priest of God Most High. Those verses are full of types that we need to understand if we want to understand the nature of God’s covenant. In the original creation of man, Adam was both king and priest. A king as defined by my biblical understanding is one who exercises authority over the physical realm, and a priest as one who exercises authority over the spiritual realm. Because of the rebellion at the tower of Babel, God separated those powers when He confused the languages, and from that time on, rulers (kings) had to depend on priests for spiritual counsel and understanding. King Saul was immediately rejected by God according to the prophet Samuel, when Saul took it upon himself to offer sacrifices, which is the assignment and ministry of the priesthood and not the king. Abraham understood this principle and when he arrived in the Kings Valley he understood the significance. He had just defeated a consortium of kings and had now become as one of the kings. He was met by none other than God’s King-Priest Melchizedek and offered a choice. A this time Abraham owned all the spoils that were taken from Sodom where Lot lived, plus the spoils that belonged to the other kings. The future of Abraham’s ministry hanged in the balance, would he become ruler of man or priest of God? Genesis 14:18-20 “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’ And he (Abraham) gave him (Melchizedek) a tithe of all.” Immediately Abraham proceeded to renounce any association with the kings of the valley, even refusing to take any of the goods that he had captured, except for the offering that he gave as a tithe to God Most High. In essence the actions of Abraham were to reject the physical benefits of kingship, for the more enduring qualities of the priesthood and God’s favor in spiritual matters. So it is that in the next chapter God enters into an unbreakable covenant with Abraham and the priesthood to which he is called, where eventually Abraham is required to offer God Isaac his son of promise as a burnt offering, that act of faith establishes Abraham as the father of all the faithful, as he uttered those immortal words: God will provide for Himself a Lamb. 1 Kings 9:5 “Then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’” The two families, Abraham’s and David’s, symbolized the two components of the covenant, Priest and King, of which Jesus’ ministry is the fulfillment thereof. Matthew’s genealogy makes it clear that Jesus is a direct descendant of Abraham who offered tithes to Melchizedek, and His claim to the throne of David comes through His mother, Mary’s line, since Joseph’s line had been cursed. Hebrews 5:5-6 “So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was said to Him: ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.’ As He also says in another place: ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’” After Jesus came out of the water, from His baptism, God’s voice spoke from heaven saying: This is My beloved Son...Matthew 3:17 confirming that Jesus fulfills both ministries, He is King and Priest. 1 Kings 9:6-7 “But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do no keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight…” So that even if the descendants of David that sat on the throne failed to meet the conditions required of them in the covenant, to keep God’s commandments and statutes, and because of that, the nation of Israel being removed and cut off from the land, God’s covenant is not nullified. Jeremiah 33:11 “The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say: ‘Praise the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord is good, for His mercy endures forever—and of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,’ says the Lord.” Jesus our High Priest offers the sacrifice of praise into the house of our Lord day and night in our behalf, while Jesus our King and Redeemer builds His church and rebuilds the nation of Israel by His mighty power to be established forever according to the covenant. Now there is another mystery attached to God’s covenant with the day and the night which takes place in the middle of the seven years wrath of God, when the abomination that causes desolation is revealed. Matthew 24:15-16 “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” God’s Two Witnesses in Revelation represent the two families in God’s covenant, Israel and the church. And since the days of David either or both have not failed to have representation here on the earth as God’s ambassadors to the world, even during the dispersion of Israel or during the dark days of the church age, there has always been a faithful remnant to represent them. But when these Two Witnesses are killed, it means that the dispensations of Grace and Law are completed, as far as their physical responsibilities here on earth is concerned. So there will not be a representative from either one left on the earth at that time. That is what the abomination of desolation means, the throne of David is vacated until Jesus returns to the earth three and one half years later to begin His one thousand years reign. Zechariah 14:5/7 “Then you shall flee (when you see the abomination of desolation taking place)...It shall be one day which is known to the Lord—neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen that it will be light.” Isn’t it amazing! As the antichrist, who has just killed the Two Witnesses, begins to take control over the earth, and the throne of David is empty since God’s promised to have one of his descendants rule over it has been completed, immediately God’s covenant with the day and night in their season is abrogated as evening fails to come at its appointed time. Daniel 11:31 “And forces shall be mustered by him (the antichrist), and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation.” Not only is the covenant with David completed for the present time, but also the covenant with the Levites and priests that minister before the Lord as they take the daily sacrifices away. I wrote this lesson in the hope that the readers will come to appreciate how awesome and how perfect the Word of God is! How everything in the Bible is powerfully connected, and how trustworthy God’s covenant with us is. There should be no doubt in our minds as to the commitment of God to bring about our full redemption in His time. Amen! For more information on the day and night mystery that I just taught read my book Man’s Final Destiny , in the Books section of houseoffaithministries.org. Previous Next Home

MAHER-SHAL’AL-HASH-BAZ To explain the prophetic significance of Isaiah’s son Maher-Shal’al-Hash-Baz (“Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty”) in its historical context and to connect its meaning with end-time prophecies, particularly regarding modern Israel, Damascus, and the Russian-led invasion described in Ezekiel 38–39. The objective is to demonstrate how God’s dealings with Israel in Isaiah’s day serve as examples and warnings for the present generation, affirming the certainty of God’s Word and His ultimate plan for the nations. MAHER-SHAL’AL-HASH-BAZ Pastor Marcos Marrero Objective: To explain the prophetic significance of Isaiah’s son Maher-Shal’al-Hash-Baz (“Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty”) in its historical context and to connect its meaning with end-time prophecies, particularly regarding modern Israel, Damascus, and the Russian-led invasion described in Ezekiel 38–39. The objective is to demonstrate how God’s dealings with Israel in Isaiah’s day serve as examples and warnings for the present generation, affirming the certainty of God’s Word and His ultimate plan for the nations. Synopsis: In Isaiah 8, God commands the prophet to write publicly about His oath of judgment, witnessed by Uriah and Zechariah, and confirmed through the birth of Isaiah’s son whose name, Maher-Shal’al-Hash-Baz, signifies “Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty.” This name symbolized the imminent plundering of Samaria and Damascus by the Assyrian king. God’s message was clear: His prophetic word would quickly be fulfilled, and judgment was certain for those who rejected His covenant. The account not only addressed Israel’s immediate disobedience but also foreshadowed future prophetic fulfillment. Just as Assyria invaded Israel for spoil, Ezekiel 38–39 predicts that Russia will lead a coalition of nations against Israel in the end times with the same motive: plunder and gain. This invasion will involve Syria (Damascus) and Islamic nations aligned against Israel. However, God will intervene miraculously to deliver His people, proving His holiness before all nations. Isaiah’s prophecy serves as a warning: God’s Word is reliable, and what He has spoken will come to pass. The example reminds believers today not to be caught off guard by complacency or world politics, but to live in readiness for the fulfillment of end-time events. Ultimately, God will vindicate His name, protect His people, and establish His law through His appointed witnesses and through Christ’s return. Inspired Teaching: Isaiah 8:3 “Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Call his name Maher-Shal’al-Hash-Baz.’” I bet you are wandering what that name means, don’t worry is on the margin of my Bible, here what the meaning of this name is: Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty! There is a tremendous insight into what is going on today and what went on in the days of Isaiah concerning Israel’s disobedience to the Word of God. The key to look for here is found in the two opening verses. Isaiah 8:1-2 “Moreover the Lord said to me, ‘Take a large scroll, and write on it with a man’s pen concerning Maher-Shal’al-Hash-Baz. And I will take for Myself faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechi’ah.” What the Lord is doing here is taking a solemn oath, in regards to something that He is going to do here on the earth, and He commands Isaiah to get a large scroll and to write on it with a man’s pen, that is in clearly understood human language, and God even summons to Himself two witnesses that will testify, that this is what the Lord said that he was going to do, after it has come to pass just as the Lord said it would. Within the context of Isaiah’s day, it had to do with the invasion of Samaria by Assyria, now Samaria was the capital of Israel at that time when Israel was divided into two nations, Israel and Judah. Now this prophecy does not concern Judah for God will protect them at this time from the king of Assyria, but it is interesting that God includes in His prophecy the city of Damascus as well. Now why is this so important to us in our present day? 1 Corinthians 10:11 “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” So that God is clearly teaching us through the past examples of the saints of old, the unfolding of what we see going on today in regards to God’s prophetic words, and the surety of their fulfillment. Let us first begin with the name by which God calls the son of the prophetess on verse three: Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty. What prophecy has God uttered that has not yet been fulfilled, that deals with a foreign nation being drawn speedily, or suddenly, against the nation of Israel for the sake of gaining spoil and booty? Ezekiel 38:13 “Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’” This yet to be fulfilled end time prophecy refers to the Russian nation of our present day, which will lead a confederacy of nations against the nation of Israel at the end of days, and the reason why they are doing it, is very clearly laid out in our preceding verse of Scripture. In the oath that God took on Isaiah 8: He also includes the city of Damascus, today’s Syrian capital, as spoil to be gained by them as well. Isaiah 8:4 “For before the child shall have knowledge to cry ‘My father’ and ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be taken away before the king of Assyria.” Let’s see if we can put together how this ancient prophecy relates to our current geo-political situation. Here is what we know: From Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, we know with certainty that it will be our present day Russia the nation that will lead this invasion of Israel. Just let me give you a couple of verses for those of you who may not be aware of this declaration that God fore-ordained for our end of time. Ezekiel 38:2-4 “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords.’” Just like in the days of Isaiah the prophet, when God brought the king of Assyria against the nation of Israel to fulfill His fore-ordained plan, He will do so as well during the end to days, when He will bring this Russian confederacy against the nation of Israel to fulfill His desire to reveal Himself to the nations of the world, as He delivers Israel from the hands of their many enemies as in days of old. Ezekiel 39:7-8 “So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. Surely it is coming, and it shall be done, says the Lord God. This is the day of which I have spoken.” Now in Isaiah’s prophecy God took for Himself two faithful witnesses that would declare to the nation of Israel as well as to the nations of the world, what verse eight clearly spells out: This is the day of which I have spoken! And the reason why the nation of Israel will not profane the Lord’s name anymore at that time, is because after the Lord destroys the Russian confederacy that comes against them, He will send them the Two Witnesses who will not only place the nation of Israel under God’s law, but the rest of the nations of the world as well. Imagine that! The high courts of the nations of the world which declare that it is legal to kill innocent unborn babies through the practice of abortion will be told by the Two Witnesses that it is not! For such a hideous practice violates the law of God: Psalm 127:3 “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is His reward.” KJV And if these nations decide to live by their own laws and willfully disobey God’s commandments, then they will be punished severally for their disobedience by the Two Witnesses, for it will be their job to enforce God’s law upon all the peoples of the earth. Revelation 11:5-6, 10 “And if anyone wants to harm them (the Two Witnesses), fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. These (Two Witnesses) have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire...And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them (when they are killed after their prophetic reign ends after 1,260 days), make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.” So, what have we learned so far? Let me see if we can put all these things into their proper perspective utilizing our opening text on Isaiah 8: We have Israel and Damascus as the bait that will draw the Russian bear into God’s end of days trap. It is not a coincidence that Russia is heavily invested in today’s Syria, for even after the nations of the world demanded that the Syrian president resign after he used chemical weapons on his own people, Russia did not back off in their full support for Assad’s regime, instead they increased their armaments delivery and found a way to legitimize this cruel dictator so that he can stay in power. Now why Israel? What is the spoil and where is the booty that they can gain from an invasion of Israel? There is a lot more at stake here than gold and silver and oil, there is a great amount of political capital to be had if they play their cards right. It is painfully clear to many that the present strategy of the United States government is to lead from behind, which is a misnomer, for it really means not to lead at all, for all that this strategy creates is a vacuum of leadership that the likes of Putin would not mind filling up right away. In Isaiah’s prophetic context we are told that before the child of the prophetess is able to have knowledge of who his mother and father are, that the spoils will be gone. To me that means that before people even realize what is going on prophetically, it will be too late, for the vacuum would have already been filled. If the lesser nations of the world come to the conclusion that a power shift is taking place, as many of them are already realizing, then it is to their advantage to align themselves within the orb of this new emerging power, if it is to their own advantage of course. If Russia wanted to endear themselves to a majority of the nations of the world, the destruction and removal of the nation of Israel would play right into the hands of not only many of the Islamic nations, but some of the western nations as well, who privately hate Israel with a passion. As a matter of fact, the nations that join this Russian confederacy against Israel according to Ezekiel’s list in Ezekiel 38, many are Islamic nations today, Persia tops the list of these followers which is today’s Iran, they are continuously calling for the nation of Israel to be driven into the sea. We can honestly say that the might of the Unites States and what we might have done, is what kept Russia from even thinking of invading the nation of Israel in the past, but all of that is now changing rapidly. For even is the midst of the present power grab by Russia in the Ukraine, the United States government is warning Israel to reach an agreement with their enemies or else. I can say with confidence that the child of the prophetess has been born, and his name is Maher-Shal’al-Hash-Baz, Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty. I can also say with confidence that the bear of the north woods got his scent, and though he might try to resist the temptation of going after this child, if This is the day of which I (God) have spoken, this hungry bear will not be able to resist the bait that is in the hook of God Almighty. Isaiah 8:6-7 “Inasmuch as these people refused the waters of Shiloah that flow softly...Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them the waters of the River, strong and mighty…” Has any nation ever that was called by God to do His purpose here on earth gotten away with their sin of rebelling against doing His will? I am utterly amazed how anywhere that I look in Scripture, how I see the present unfolding just as it was told by the prophets of old it would be. Although we may not have much of a say about what our nation does or about what it fails to do, we do know that our God is a personal God, and that is why He sent His Word personally to save us from our sins, Jesus, His only begotten Son. Isaiah 8:11 “For the Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people…” This is our walk, looking for that blessed hope, that when He appears we will be with Him forevermore, no matter what! Previous Next Home

AS IN THE DAYS OF NOAH To exhort believers to remain vigilant, faithful, and fruitful in anticipation of Christ’s imminent return, avoiding the dangers of neglect and complacency. The teaching highlights Jesus’ warning that His coming will mirror the days of Noah—marked by ordinary living yet sudden judgment—and emphasizes personal accountability through the parable of the talents. The goal is to prepare hearts to live faithfully, shine their light, and multiply the gifts God has entrusted to them so they may be found ready at His appearing. AS IN THE DAYS OF NOAH Pastor Marcos Marrero Objective: To exhort believers to remain vigilant, faithful, and fruitful in anticipation of Christ’s imminent return, avoiding the dangers of neglect and complacency. The teaching highlights Jesus’ warning that His coming will mirror the days of Noah—marked by ordinary living yet sudden judgment—and emphasizes personal accountability through the parable of the talents. The goal is to prepare hearts to live faithfully, shine their light, and multiply the gifts God has entrusted to them so they may be found ready at His appearing. Synopsis: This teaching begins with the sobering reminder that neglect and complacency are hidden enemies that rob believers of their destiny. Drawing from Matthew 24, Jesus’ comparison of His return to the days of Noah underscores how people will be consumed with daily life, unprepared for sudden judgment. Using personal reflections from officiating funerals, the message illustrates how easily life can pass by without fulfilling God’s call. The parable of the talents (Matthew 25) is then explored to stress that believers will be judged not by what they started with, but by their faithfulness in multiplying what was entrusted to them. While the faithful receive eternal rewards, the fearful and unfruitful are rebuked as “wicked and lazy,” showing that even believers can face discipline if they fail to act on God’s gifts. Fear, torment, and complacency are depicted as forces God uses to strip away self-sufficiency and perfect His children in love. Jesus’ expectation at His return is for His followers to watch—to live with expectation, readiness, and devotion. Watching means not treating His coming casually but preparing both ourselves and others, feeding His sheep with God’s Word. The teaching closes by urging believers to transcend earthly living by uniting their lives with Christ’s, shining their light through faith, love, and active witness, so that when He comes, they will joyfully enter into His eternal joy. Inspired Teaching: Matthew 24:37 “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” If there is a mortal enemy to man of whom man is not aware of, it would have to be Neglect; and if that enemy had a partner in crime, it would have to be Complacency; and if they were headlining a Hollywood movie the title would be The Twin Killers. Someone once said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. After officiating at a gravesite funeral for a deceased person that I did not know, as I walked by the grave markers I wondered how many of those buried there had died before fulfilling what God had destined them to be while on this earth. I guess what prompted my query was the fact that there were only a handful of people there as they laid her to rest, and I did not have much of a clue as to the life history of the elderly person we had just buried. Out of all the funerals that I officiated, that particular one always reminds me of the rapture for some reason. For as I was walking by the many gravesites the Lord revealed to me the reality of how many of us while on this earth neglect our fiduciary duties to life and become complacent about our many responsibilities to the Creator. Matthew 24:38-39 “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” In life we quickly learn that our actions always incur reactions, but the one lesson that it is harder to learn is that our inactions also have reactions, and usually they are unwanted negative reactions, but many a times we come to that realization just a little too late. Jesus makes very clear in His teachings that life is full of uncertainties. But the one area of life that I want to focus on today is in our responsibility before Him at His soon return. What does Jesus expect from us at His return? Matthew 25:14 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.” In the parable of the talents Jesus is clearly teaching about the responsibilities of those who have been saved and gifted with God’s many goods and their having to give an accounting before the Master upon His return. In the parable Jesus puts the emphasis in the multiplication of the talents and not on how many talents each of the servants were given originally. For those who multiplied their talents received the same reward regardless of how many talents they started with. Matthew 25:21, 23 “His lord said to him (the one who had received five talents), ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord’...His lord said to him (the one who had received two talents), ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’” The only difference between the two is that the ones that were faithful are the ones that had been dead and were bodily resurrected at our Lord’s return, and the ones that have been faithful are the ones that are alive and rapture when our Lord returns, for they are still in the salvation process. But look at the fate of the one who failed to multiply, or at least increase the talent that he was given, for it was a horrible fate. Matthew 25:25-27 “‘And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.’” Jesus uses currency as an example for the lives of those who are His, remember how the parable began? The master called his own servants and delivered his goods to them, so that Jesus is not dealing here with unbelievers, but rather He is dealing with the believers at His return. Now the word wicked that Jesus uses for the servant that failed the master when He called him you wicked and lazy servant, is the same that He used earlier in reference to a believer that failed to forgive. Matthew 18:32-34 “Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.” Who are the torturers? The demons of fear and torment. 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” What was it that Jesus told us that the wicked servant first said to the master? And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. This may come as a shock to some, but not all believers will be rapture! They will all be saved but not all will be taken up to be with Jesus when He first returns, some believers, if not many, will be turned over to the tormenting demons that will be released during the first five months of the Wrath of God upon the earth. Psalm 78:49 “He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility—a band of destroying angels.” So that in both cases, the servant that refused to forgive as he had been forgiven and the one who feared being accountable to the Master, neither of them had been made perfect in love, so that fear and torment will be the catalysts that God uses to perfect them into the kingdom. Fear and Torment will drive Neglect and Complacency out of the believers that refuse to be perfected in love! What is it then that Jesus expects from us at His return? Matthew 25:13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” What does it mean to watch? I think it has to do with expectation; what are your expectations of Jesus as He returns? Is He coming to save you, or is He coming to judge you? What will His return be like? If you are complacent and neglectful about someone’s imminent visit, it would seem that you really do not care much about them. Your attitude may be that of, Well if I am not home when they happen to come, too bad. If the house is a mess when they come, who cares. That type of attitude implies that you own the house and that He is only a visitor, but if you are a believer you need to realize that He owns you and that He has invested into your life the gift of His life. He is not coming back to sit down and chit chat with you, He is coming back to claim the rewards from the gifts that He has invested in you and in your life. Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Let me ask you this, if I may; Does your life transcend this life? Matthew 16:25 “For whosoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” What light am I suppose to shine? What does it mean to lose our lives for His sake? What is transcendence? Jesus invested His life into our lives so that our lives can transcend and become one with His life. And just like He gave up His natural life to obtain a higher physical/spiritual eternal life, so must we. There is no hope in this life of death outside of the resurrection from the dead into eternal physical and spiritual life. Now if the return of Christ completes the natural life that is totally surrendered to Him, a life that is dead to the things of this world and alive in the hope of the resurrection from the dead, then His return is the most important event in all of life, and just a hint that it may be nearer should cause us to focus more closely into His possible return in our day. What is the engine that drives you? What are the predominant thoughts that preoccupy your mind as you fall asleep every night? Do you think about those love ones that may not be ready when our Lord returns? Are you planning your strategy for when the skies turn dark and the unbelievers fear? Are you prepared to tell them that Jesus is coming and that if they call on His name they will be saved? Psalm 116:10 “I believed, therefore I spoke…” A light shines through us as the result of a fire that is burning within us. If the Lord is our passion, if His Word is our compass, and if we make our lives His life, living for that wonderful moment when He appears to take us away with Him that we may be like Him, then we have already transcended this present life and are more than ready to be rescued. John 21:15 “So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?’ He said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ He said to him, ‘Feed My lambs.’” The only thing outside of our preoccupation with His soon return, should be our preoccupation with feeding His sheep with the sincere milk of the Word of God, preparing them for our Lord’s soon return. Is not the grandeur of our destiny that we should be eager to attain, but rather, in the grandeur of His coming that we should be eager to not only participate, but also to prepare as many as we possible can to participate in it as well? 2 Corinthians 4:11 “For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” Previous Next Home

THE PROMISED PROGENY The objective of The Promised Progeny is to reveal the significance of God’s earliest promise in Genesis 3:15, showing how the coming Messiah was foretold as the seed of the woman who would ultimately defeat Satan. This teaching traces the devil’s persistent opposition throughout history to prevent the fulfillment of the promise, contrasts God’s unbreakable covenant with His people, and emphasizes the hope and assurance believers have in Christ’s victory over sin, death, and Satan. THE PROMISED PROGENY Pastor Marcos Marrero Objective: The objective of The Promised Progeny is to reveal the significance of God’s earliest promise in Genesis 3:15, showing how the coming Messiah was foretold as the seed of the woman who would ultimately defeat Satan. This teaching traces the devil’s persistent opposition throughout history to prevent the fulfillment of the promise, contrasts God’s unbreakable covenant with His people, and emphasizes the hope and assurance believers have in Christ’s victory over sin, death, and Satan. Synopsis: The message begins with God’s pronouncement in the Garden of Eden, where He promised that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. This prophecy carried dual implications: for humanity, it offered redemption and deliverance from sin; for Satan, it spelled eternal defeat. Unlike mankind, who often treated this promise with casual anticipation, the devil became obsessed with stopping it because his fate depended on its failure. Throughout biblical history, Satan attempted to corrupt or destroy the Messianic line—through Cain’s murder of Abel, the corruption of humanity before the flood, the defilement of Noah’s descendants, and the repeated attacks on Israel. Even at Christ’s birth, Satan sought to kill Him through Herod’s massacre, but God preserved the promised Seed. On the cross, Jesus delivered the crushing blow, securing redemption for mankind and sealing Satan’s doom. The covenant with Abraham confirmed this twofold promise: physical (the land and nation of Israel) and spiritual (the eternal redemption through Christ and His church). History bears witness to relentless attacks on both aspects, from Israel’s exile and the Holocaust to the rise of modern hostility against Jews and Christians. Yet, just as the cross turned apparent defeat into victory, every satanic scheme ultimately advances God’s plan. Today, believers and Israel alike still await the complete fulfillment of the promise—Israel’s full inheritance of the land when Messiah reigns, and the church’s transformation into immortal, incorruptible bodies at Christ’s return. Until then, Satan continues his desperate resistance, fueling hatred and persecution, but his end is already sealed. The teaching concludes with encouragement: while tribulation is inevitable, believers must keep their eyes on the ultimate outcome—God’s righteous victory, the establishment of His kingdom, and eternal life through Jesus Christ, the Promised Progeny. Inspired Teaching: Genesis 3:15 “...He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” There were only two humans on planet earth when the Lord first gave the promise that a redeeming Messiah would come through the seed of the woman, and the promise was given while they were still in the Garden of Eden, for it wasn’t until after they were driven out of the Garden that Adam knew Eve, and she conceived. And is interesting to note that the promise was first issued to the serpent in the form of a death warrant that proclaimed that a crushing blow to his head, from the seed of the woman, would be his punishment for leading Adam and Eve in a rebellion against the will of God. Even though the promise had great implications for the human race, for it implied that from the seed of the woman the redemption would come that would deliver us from the consequences of Adam and Eve’s transgression, but from the serpent’s point of view it foretold his own demise for deceiving Adam and Eve and causing them to fall. What that means is that the devil fears the fulfillment of the promise more, than the desire of us humans is, to see it come to pass, for he has everything to lose in its fulfillment. Since we humans have everything to gain through its fulfillment, we do not experience the desperation that the devil feels when reminded of the promise. So that while humanity, the descendants of Adam and Eve, inherited a casual attitude towards the promise of a deliverer, the devil himself became obsessed by it, for he knew that in the fulfillment of the promise, his eternal doom was sealed forever and ever. The reason why this is a very important subject for us to know today, is because if we know what the number one priority of the devil is, which is to try to stop the promise that God gave from coming to pass, then we can prepare ourselves against the deceptions that he will hurdle against us concerning the fulfillment of the promised Messiah. Mark 13:22-23 “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. But take heed; see, I have told you all things before hand.” Biblical history is full of the devil’s attempt to keep the Messianic promise from coming to pass. Since the devil does not know the future, he puts his focus on those with whom God entered into a covenant. Since the promise named the seed of the woman as the inheritor, the devil perverted the very first seed of the woman, Cain; and got him to kill the second seed of the woman, Abel; thereby taking them both out, for he did not think that God would use a murderer as the Messiah. And what is interesting about this is that in biblical history many of those who assumed a role as God’s deliverers, ended up somewhere along the line, killing other people themselves. Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samson, David, Paul, to name a few, so that we can see the devil’s pattern against the promise repeating itself over and over again. Then the devil preceded to pervert humanity through demonic infestation to the point that God had to destroy the human race during the days of Noah, where only eight humans survived. The devil promptly corrupted Noah’s genes after the flood, so that he could not personally produce godly seed anymore, by a deed done to him by his son Ham, which re-introduced the curse after the flood upon humanity while at the same time taking Noah and Ham out of the line, that left just two sons of Noah to continue the seed line. As you know, Shem’s seed was selected to continue the Messianic line, which led to his posterity, the Semitic people, out of whom God selected Abraham and entered into a covenant with him and his seed, the nation of Israel. The devil then tried to kill the Messiah when He was born and came to the earth for the first time as the Seed of the woman. Matthew 2:16 “Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.” An angel of the Lord warned Joseph to take the Child and flee to Egypt away from the jurisdiction of Herod, and was told not to return with the Child until after Herod’s death. By the time that the devil found out that Jesus was the Messiah, the Seed of the woman, it was too late for him to stop His ministry. Because by the time that the devil finally got his human cohorts to kill Jesus, the foundation of the deliverance of mankind from their sins according to the promise, had been laid, in line with the pronouncement of Jesus, when He said, that He would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. On the cross, the crushing blow was delivered that sealed the fate of Satan and all his demons, for it was on the cross that the love of God towards His human creatures was fully revealed, God’s redemptive power could not be stopped, for there God kept the first part of His two-fold promise. After God chose Abraham and entered into a covenant with him, the covenant was a two-fold covenant; God promised Abraham that his seed would be as the sand of the seashore and as the stars in the sky. The first part of the covenant was a physical covenant represented by the sand of the seashore, and the second part of the covenant was a spiritual covenant represented by the stars in the sky. To the nation of Israel, the physical descendants of Abraham, were given the physical land of the Middle East as an eternal possession. Biblical as well as secular history details the struggles of the Jewish nation for over three thousand years, in and out of the land of promise, as freemen and as slaves in their own nation as well as outside of it. I’m just one generation away, since I was born in 1947, from the slaughter of six million Jews, who were systematically exterminated by a demonic Nazi regime whose leadership was hell bent in trying to keep those who are destined by God to inherit God’s physical promise from being alive to fulfill it. But just like when they killed Jesus on the cross it only aided in bringing about the fulfillment of God’s eternal promises. Even today, the devil is hard at work producing weapons of mass destruction and enough human entities to bring about his final solution against the Jewish people, which is their total annihilation in order to keep God from completing His first part of the covenant. Many reasoning politicians do not believe that Iran or any other hate filled nation would ever really endeavor to destroy the Jewish people and the nation of Israel as they continuously proclaim they want to do. They do not know the history of hate, and they surely do not know the history of the devil. That is why I am writing this historical perspective, no reasoning politician back then believed that Hitler could or would commit the atrocities that they so fervently, ruthlessly, and efficiently committed. You cannot take the desperation of the devil or the power of hatred out of the equation. The first decade of the new millennium has seen the rise of an unprecedented and alarming level of hatred, among civil people, against Jews and Christians as prophesied for the end times. Matthew 24:8-9 “All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.” By bringing Israel back to the Promised Land in this end of times, God has partially fulfilled His promise to them, He will complete the promise after He destroys all of Israel’s enemies and sets His kingdom age in their midst and rules the nations with an iron rod for one thousand years. Which brings us to the second part of the covenant, the spiritual covenant which is represented by the church. This part of the promise has also partially been fulfilled, for the penalty for the sin of Adam and Eve was the death of the human race, but Jesus took care of that on the day when He rose from the grave, when all the powers of hell could not keep Him in that grave no matter how hard they tried. John 11:26 “And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” Until the promise is completed and we are fitted with our new eternal physical bodies, our physical bodies can still be killed, but we really do not die, for His promise to us is that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” So just like the Jews who do not inherit the totality of the Promise Land until after all their enemies are destroyed and Messiah resides in their midst as King of kings and Lord of lords, we Christians do not receive our immortal bodies until our mortal enemy, death, is finally destroyed. 1 Corinthians 15:54-55 “So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’” Though the promise might be two-fold its still one promise, so that if the devil can stop any part of the promise from being fulfilled, he believes that he can stop the will of God for him which is his eternal damnation. Of course, we know better, for we are the heirs of the good promise of God, His promised redemption. But since the devil has already lost, he is going down with the ship and aims at taking as many fools along with him as he can. Psalm 56:13 “For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?” If we look carefully at the present day isolation of the nation of Israel, and come to realize that basic Christian principals have been rejected at all levels of society, and that Bible believing Christians are continuously targeted for ridicule and rejection, and I’m just talking about the nations of the west, for last year the number of Christian martyr’s double in the nations that for the most part never embraced Christianity. There is no other conclusion but that the devil is getting ready to strike with his vicious fury those who are the heirs of God’s promises in ways that have not been recently seen, and in places that have not seen such tribulations before, like here in the US. We cannot stop that which is inevitable, Jesus told us that while in this world we would have tribulations, but it helps if we know where they are coming from and why. It also helps if we keep our eyes on the final outcome. Psalm 7:14-17 “Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity; yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood. He made a pit and dug it out, and has fallen into the ditch which he made. His trouble shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown. I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.” Previous Next Home

THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE To explain why God allowed the serpent into the Garden of Eden by exploring the necessity of temptation, separation, and evil as part of the divine plan for humanity. This chapter aims to show that the human experience was uniquely designed by God to confront and overcome what angelic beings could not: the knowledge of good and evil. Ultimately, it reveals how humanity’s struggles, trials, and choices serve to magnify the goodness of God and prepare us for eternal life in His presence. THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE Pastor Marcos Marrero Objective: To explain why God allowed the serpent into the Garden of Eden by exploring the necessity of temptation, separation, and evil as part of the divine plan for humanity. This chapter aims to show that the human experience was uniquely designed by God to confront and overcome what angelic beings could not: the knowledge of good and evil. Ultimately, it reveals how humanity’s struggles, trials, and choices serve to magnify the goodness of God and prepare us for eternal life in His presence. Synopsis: The Human Experience opens with Isaiah’s cry of unworthiness, a reflection of mankind’s fallen condition rooted in the serpent’s deception in Eden. The chapter raises the essential question: why did God allow the serpent into the Garden? Through “sound reasoning,” it argues that this was no accident but part of God’s purposeful design, introducing humanity into a realm where good and evil could be experienced. Unlike angels, who fell irrevocably when exposed to evil, humans were created with the capacity to endure temptation, separation, and darkness, and yet be redeemed through Christ. Scripture is used to contrast God’s nature—untouched and untempted by evil—with the human reality of constant conflict between light and darkness. Jesus’ life illustrates the core of the human experience: though fully God, He entered the physical realm, was tempted, endured separation from the Father, and yet triumphed, making redemption possible for all. This human journey is portrayed as a process of gathering information, learning the consequences of sin, and contrasting the horrors of evil with the goodness of God. While angels know God’s holiness by proximity, only humanity can appreciate His goodness fully because we experience both sides of the moral spectrum. At the judgment seat of Christ, the record of our human experiences will be refined, shaping us for eternity where sin will no longer have hold. The chapter concludes by affirming that the human experience—though marked by temptation, separation, and suffering—ultimately serves to deepen our gratitude and worship of God. Without the serpent, mankind would have remained in innocence, never grasping the majesty of God’s love. But through the trials of human history, the redeemed will one day stand before the throne, eternally declaring, “Salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb!” Inspired Teaching: Isaiah 6:5 “So I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.’” Probably the number one question that most people would like to ask God, if they ever had the chance in their lifetime to ask Him directly, would be this: Why Lord, did you let the serpent into the Garden? It is obvious that when the Lord revealed Himself to Isaiah, that question was probably the last thing on Isaiah’s mind, but yet the very nature of Isaiah’s condition, which caused him to say: woe is me, was due to the fact that the serpent was in the Garden to begin with, messing around and tempting Eve to get her and Adam into trouble. Which leads me to ask this question: Was there a necessity for the serpent to be in the Garden? Sound reasoning will tell us that there was. It had to be! Why else would a good God allow it to be there? Let me explain what I call sound reasoning: Matthew 10:29 “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.” We know that God is the Almighty, and that nothing happens, that happens, without His will or knowledge. So, then we must conclude that there was a reason for the serpent to be there in the Garden, which brings us to our original question of why, what was the reason? I believe the answer to be, the phrase that I chose for the title of this lesson: The Human Experience. Let’s follow logic: Why would a God that has everything create something new? Or we could ask it another way: Why would a God that has everything create something different? If you think about it, we humans do not even exist in the same dimension that God dwells in. God lives in an infinite eternity that is spiritual. We live in a physical reality, a realm that is passing away. As a matter of fact, we humans are a different breed from anything that God had ever created in the past, and as such, we were placed in a totally different environment that any of the other intelligent creatures that preceded us were ever placed. What makes us different than any of the angelic creatures that preceded us, is our humanity, or what I call the human experience. What is the human experience? Genesis 3:5 “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” You see, I believe that only God has the capacity to know evil without ever being touched or tempted by it. Even creatures that God created with great wisdom, like Lucifer, fell when enticed by the knowledge of evil itself, unlike God who can never be tempted by it. 1 John 1:5 “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” God is totally and completely pure, inside and out, and the only reason that He knows evil is because as God He knows everything. James 1:13 “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” Did you get what the last two Scriptures are telling us? Its subtle, but in order for us to get it we have to look at it from the perspective of the human experience. Let us take a closer look at our last Scripture first. For God cannot be tempted by evil. Matthew 4:1 “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” Isn’t Jesus God? Of course He is! Is not the devil evil? Of course he is! So why was evil trying to do something that he is not allowed to do, like tempting God? The only reason that the devil was allowed to try and tempt Jesus, who is the Son of God, was the locality, the physical realm where the human experience is one of good and evil constantly. Let us look at our other Scripture that reveals to us the nature of God. In Him is no darkness at all. Matthew 27:45-46 “Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘E’li, E’li, la-ma’ sa-bach’-tha-ni?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” Here also we see how Jesus the Son of God is engulfed by darkness to the point that He becomes separated from God Himself who is light. So that darkness, which is separation from God, as well as temptation by evil itself, are both human experiences that no other spiritual creatures can ever experience and survive without falling. No human can experience temptation and separation from God either and survive it, were it not for Jesus Christ, the Son of God in the flesh, who experienced temptation and separation from God in His physical body on our behalf without failing. And by the power of His holiness was able to overcome both, temptation and separation from God, and still raise up from the dead. So that what we see in the human experience is a process. We can call that process the gathering of information that takes place during our lifelong experience while here in this physical realm. So, back to our original question, why was the serpent in the Garden? Not only did James say that God cannot be tempted by evil, but he added that God Himself does not tempt anyone. If there is a flaw, and I’ll use that word loosely, with the spiritual creatures that God created first, the angels, is that they dwell in the same eternity that God dwells, so that when the third of the creatures that were tempted fell, their nature was changed immediately and forever, for they were cast into the realm of darkness, and at once became separated from God and unredeemable. And not only that, the angels who remained faithful to God still lack the ability to know evil experientially, for if they personally experienced evil, they themselves would be lost forever as we were. I believe, the human race was created to overcome what the angelic creatures could not, to be like God in the sense of knowing good and evil and yet, not losing ourselves by being separated from God forever through the experience. By our experiencing the horrors of evil contrasted with the goodness of God, we would once and for all choose to renounce any and all knowledge of evil by recognizing that God and only God is good. All the holy angels know about the goodness of God, for they experience it daily as they cry out before Him day and night, Holy, Holy, Holy! But only humans can truly understand about the goodness of God within the contrast of good when compared against the utter darkness of evil that we have had to suffer and endure. Our physical bodies will one day die and return to the dust of the earth from where they were taken, but the experience, the information that was gathered while we were alive in our physical bodies is never lost. So, what happens to the information that was gathered through our human experience while we were here alive in the earth with our physical bodies? 2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” All the information that was gathered while in our human experience journey, has to be edited and formatted, made suitable for the new physical eternity that we will be a part of forever once we get our new eternal physical bodies. John 3:19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Not all humans will make it into eternal bliss with God, just like not all of the angels made it, but those of us who make it will have our abilities to fall into evil removed from us forever. Our experiences with the horrors of evil will make us a lot more appreciative of the goodness of God, and having our abilities to sin removed from us once and for all at the judgment seat of Christ, will be a greater cause for us to give God heart felt praise. Had there been no temptation in the Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve, the human race would still be in the age of innocence, as mere infants who could never understand the true Majesty of our Loving Father, the great compassion of our God and Savior, and the true love that He has freely demonstrated toward us, His creation, who will one day will be truly able to appreciate Him in the fullness of all His goodness. Revelation 7:9-10 “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the lamb!’” Previous Next Home

THE MIGHTY ONE IS COMING, HE WILL SAVE US. The objective of this teaching is to exhort believers to remain steadfast, obedient, and grounded in God’s Word as we approach the imminent return of Jesus Christ, the Mighty One who will save us. It seeks to expose the dangers of lukewarm Christianity, warn against the compromises of the Laodicean church, and remind the faithful that only by clinging to the truth of Scripture and the guidance of the Holy Spirit will we be prepared for the Day of the Lord’s wrath and ultimately be gathered into His everlasting kingdom. THE MIGHTY ONE IS COMING, HE WILL SAVE US. Pastor Marcos Marrero Objective: The objective of this teaching is to exhort believers to remain steadfast, obedient, and grounded in God’s Word as we approach the imminent return of Jesus Christ, the Mighty One who will save us. It seeks to expose the dangers of lukewarm Christianity, warn against the compromises of the Laodicean church, and remind the faithful that only by clinging to the truth of Scripture and the guidance of the Holy Spirit will we be prepared for the Day of the Lord’s wrath and ultimately be gathered into His everlasting kingdom. Synopsis: This message, rooted in Zephaniah 3:17, highlights the hope and assurance that Christ—the Mighty One—will soon return to save His people. It explains that the prophetic warnings given to Jerusalem in Zephaniah’s day carry a dual meaning, applying also to the end times and the state of modern Christianity. The text warns of a rebellious and polluted church, paralleling the Laodicean church in Revelation, which stands on its own traditions and wealth rather than the power and correction of the Holy Spirit. Such religious complacency fosters idolatry, compromise with the world, and the preaching of “another Jesus.” The result is a faith that denies the active involvement of God and mocks His promised return. Zephaniah’s prophecy is applied to today’s church, revealing that many leaders have corrupted the sanctuary, polluted worship, and abandoned the authority of God’s Word. Yet, God remains faithful—He is in the midst of His people and continues to call them to repentance, humility, and righteousness. The Day of the Lord is described as imminent, terrifying, and inescapable—a time of wrath, devastation, and judgment from which only the faithful will be rescued. Believers are called to stay true to God’s Word despite ridicule and persecution, resisting the world’s influence and the compromise of lukewarm religion. Finally, the message closes with hope: those who endure will be vindicated. God will restore, gather, and exalt the faithful who sorrow over the condition of the church. In a divine reversal, the very ones who are now shamed for holding firmly to Scripture will be honored and praised among the nations when Christ returns. Inspired Teaching: Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” There has never been a time in the history of the Christian church when so many of the signs that point to the end of times have been revealed, and when so many of the end time prophecies that precede the Lord’s return have been fulfilled. We are not only the generation that will witness the glorious return of our Lord to save us, but we are right in the end of the time that has been allotted to that final generation. The return of our Lord is imminent! It is implied in our opening text that before our Lord returns, that it would be a time of great turbulence and upheaval, for we are told that at His return He will quiet us with His love. Let us take a sober look at how the events that are taking place all around us right now fit within the prophetic scenario that is given before the return of our Lord. Zephaniah 3:1-2 “Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, to the oppressing city! She has not obeyed His voice, she has not received correction; she has not trusted in the Lord, she has not drawn near to her God.” When Zephaniah first uttered his prophetic words, they were meant as an indictment against the city of Jerusalem and the people of Judah. But it is very clear within the context of his prophecy that there is a double meaning to his prophetic vision that clearly is applicable to what the prophet calls the day of the Lord’s fierce anger, that foretells about the end of time, as we see in the opening verses of his prophetic vision. Zephaniah 1:2-3 “I will utterly consume (make a complete end of) everything from the face of the land, says the Lord; I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks (idols) along with the wicked. I will cut off man from the face of the land (ground), says the Lord.” It is clear from the sweeping judgments against man, beast, sea, ground, air, idols, and the wicked, presented in the opening of this prophecy, that God was clearly foretelling something more than what their present condition required. He was also speaking about the Day of the Lord’s wrath during the time of the latter days, our present day time. So that when He said in the previous verse: Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted about the city of Jerusalem of Zephaniah’s day, that He also had an end time entity in mind as well. It is very possible that the Lord is referring to a large portion of end time Christianity, what He calls in Revelation the Laodicea church. Revelation 3:15-17 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” It is clear from the context that our Lord’s focus is against Christian religious organizations of the end times that seem to be standing in their own merits and traditions, rather than having a continuous need for the Lord to be their entire focus; refusing the correction of the Holy Spirit, and not fully trusting in the Lord as their redeemer, having need of nothing. When a church entity becomes organized to the point that their bylaws and traditions take precedent over the guidance and counsel of the Holy Spirit, that church entity is in rebellion to the will of God for her and by her rebellion becomes polluted; it ceases to be a house of deliverance and becomes a house of oppressing legalism. If we think of the two thousand years church history as training and preparation for an event that will surpass every other event in human history, the coming of the Mighty One, then we can see why it is so important that the church be obedient and prepared, for we do not know how events will unfold before His return, so that we need to be in tune with His Word and with the revelation that the Holy Spirit brings to get us ready to be taken up with Him in a moments notice. Zephaniah 3:4 “Her prophets are insolent, treacherous people; her priests have polluted (profaned) the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law (did not stay true to His Word).” In the book of Revelation, the difference between the Philadelphia church that gets taken up in the rapture, and the Laodicea church that gets left behind, is that the Philadelphia church kept His Word and did not deny the Lord’s name, obviously the Laodicea church had need of none of those things, for it could stand on its own religious merits. Zephaniah 3:5 “The Lord is righteous in her midst, He will do no unrighteousness, every morning He brings His justice to light; He never fails, but the unjust knows no shame.” The Lord makes it very clear that even though the Laodicea church is in disobedience, that it still belongs to Him for He is in her midst, and after all, He promised His church to never leave her nor to forsake her; so if He were to abandon her that would be wrong, and He will do no unrighteousness, even if they continuously flaunt their disobedience in spite of His daily warnings against her, but they seem to know no shame. Who are these people? It is hard for me to reconcile the Christianity that I know with some of the people that are described as Christian ministers during the end of time in many of the end time prophecies. But Zephaniah gives us some great insight that will help us identify who some of these people might be, for they will be sharing some of the same qualities that the prophets and priests of his days had. Zephaniah 1:4-5 “I will stretch out My hand against Judah, and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem (for our present day interpretation this prophecy is against the Laodicea church). I will cut every trace of Baal (the false lord, or the other Jesus that they preach) from this place, (along with) the names of the idolatrous priests (Christian ministers that practice or follow pagan traditions along) with the pagan priests—those who worship the host of heaven on the house tops (astrologers); those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord (clearly referring to Christians), but also swear by Milcom (or Molech, to whom infants were offered as sacrifices during Zephaniah’s time, our present day abortionists).” We can clearly see that in end time Christianity there will be different churches, that to different degrees, will preach another Jesus, along with a different gospel that is influenced by the spirit of paganism, and that many of them will be supporters of abortion rights. And this is what they will acknowledge by their actions, the actions that will eventually bring God’s judgment upon them: Zephaniah 1:6 “Those (these are they that) who have turned back from following the Lord, and have not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him.” Zephaniah 1:12 “And it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men who are settled in complacency (lukewarmness, the Laodicea church), who say in their heart, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil.’” If religion has a goal, it is that of pushing God out to the back so that it, religion, can become the final arbiter in any given matter. In order to do that it has to neutralize God first, to the point where God becomes a bystander, a simple observer, and therefore it falls upon religion the sacred duties of deciding what is right and what is wrong. However, this is what God says is going to happen to religion when the time for God to act finally comes: Zephaniah 1:13 “Therefore their goods shall become booty, and their houses a desolation; they shall build houses, but not inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine.” What it finally boils down to is the fact that religion cannot sustain itself in the day of God’s wrath. For the day of God’s wrath is a day when the truth is revealed, and religion is built on a myth, the myth that God is not active in man’s affairs, and that He will not involve Himself in the everyday workings of His creation. This is why the belief that Jesus is coming back soon for His church, to set up His everlasting kingdom, is laughed at by many within the Laodicea church today. But how is this for their wake-up call! Zephaniah 1:14-16 “The great day of the Lord is near; it is near and hastens quickly, the noise of the day of the Lord is bitter; there the mighty men shall cry out. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high towers.” If I can encapsulate the flavor of what the prophet is telling us, this is how I would do it: That the day of the Lord is COMING SOON! And that the day of the Lord is REAL! And that the day of the Lord if going to be a BAD DAY! The day of the Lord is a day from which we will need to be RESCUED! The only way that a reasonable person, a person that calls himself a believer, cannot understand the clarity with which the Scriptures describes the end of times, is if such a person just decides that God does not mean what he says in His Word. In other words, they do not keep His Word, because if they do they would have to do away with all of their idolatries and man made doctrines. But as usual there is hope for those of us who put our hope in Him, and who trust on the veracity of God’s Word, and not on the corrupted religious traditions of men and demons by which so many unwilling Christians are enslave into their idolatry. Zephaniah 2:3 “Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have held up His justice (Word). Seek righteousness (not religion), seek humility (realize that we are always in need of Him and His grace). It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.” There is a price to pay for being an ardent adherent of God’s Word, there is no doubt about that. We are ridiculed constantly for the fervency with which we believe the inerrancy of Scripture, many a times from our own quarters. We are defamed in many instances, not just by the world, but by Laodicean Christians that believe that our stance against compromise with the world is a hindrance to their version of Christianity being accepted by the world, even though we are clearly warned in Scripture against being loved by the world or us loving the things that the world stands for: 1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him.” But you see, once you start denying the parts of Scripture that hinder what it is that you want to accomplish in what you yourself believe, then what is there to keep you from removing anything else from Scripture that does not conform with your relationship with the world? Here is the reason why we need to stay true to the Word of God. This is what God promises those who endure the afflictions of their ridicule and ostracizing for our staying true, in spite of their persecution and defamation, to the Word of God. Zephaniah 3:18-20 “I will gather those who sorrow over the appointed assembly (the condition of the Laodicean church), who are among you, to whom its reproach is a burden. Behold, at that time I will deal with all who afflict you; I will save the lame (those whose ministry was hindered by their slanderous accusations), and gather those who were driven out (kicked out of their churches for exposing their compromise); I will appoint them for praise and fame in every land (place) where they were put to shame. At that time I will bring you back, even at the time I gather you; for I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I return your captives before your eyes, says the Lord.” Those who compromise the Word of God today, do it to gain the praise and fame of the world, and in a twist of irony, that is exactly what God is going to give to those who refuse to compromise the Word of God today, in the world that is to come. Amazing! Previous Next Home

THE LORD WAITS The objective of this teaching is to reveal God’s gracious patience and His promise of blessing for those who wait upon Him. It emphasizes that the Lord, in His justice, mercy, and grace, waits for humanity to repent, accept Christ, and receive salvation. In turn, believers are called to wait eagerly and faithfully for Christ’s return, experiencing renewal, hope, and spiritual discernment in the process. THE LORD WAITS Pastor Marcos Marrero Objective: The objective of this teaching is to reveal God’s gracious patience and His promise of blessing for those who wait upon Him. It emphasizes that the Lord, in His justice, mercy, and grace, waits for humanity to repent, accept Christ, and receive salvation. In turn, believers are called to wait eagerly and faithfully for Christ’s return, experiencing renewal, hope, and spiritual discernment in the process. Synopsis: The Lord Waits highlights the divine truth that God patiently waits for humanity to receive His mercy and grace through Jesus Christ, the only One who dispenses justice and salvation by His sacrifice. Isaiah’s promise—“blessed are all those who wait for Him”—frames the message: God not only delays judgment to offer mercy but also attaches a special blessing to those who eagerly await Christ’s return. This blessing is revealed in a three-fold promise: the removal of sorrow and restoration of hope, the assurance that God hears and answers our cries, and the anointing of spiritual discernment through trials. Scriptures from Isaiah, Philippians, Hebrews, and Revelation reinforce that waiting upon the Lord strengthens believers, secures their hope in eternal restoration, and deepens their spiritual walk. Ultimately, the message calls Christians to wait patiently, faithfully, and joyfully for the Savior, knowing that every delay refines their character, renews their strength, and prepares them for the eternal glory of Christ’s return. Would you like me to also create a shorter version of the synopsis (2–3 sentences) that you could use as a quick description for a sermon, article, or video? Inspired Teaching: For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. Isaiah 30:18 “Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you: and therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him.” What a beautiful revelation of God’s grace and mercy toward us, and how He, who patiently waits for us to be ready to receive His mercy and grace, blesses us when we faithfully wait for Him in return—to return. Notice first of all that God is presented here as, For the Lord is a God of justice. And secondly that He is Gracious and May have mercy on you. The Lord waits, that means that He longs for us to be ready to receive His grace and mercy, which can only be received by accepting Jesus as our Savior and Lord. For only in Jesus can the Lord of Justice freely dispense His mercy and His grace to those who do not deserve it. Hebrews 1:8 “But to the Son He says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of (justice) righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.’” Only Jesus can dispense God’s justice—which includes His mercy and His grace—for it was with His own blood that Jesus paid in full the entirety of all human sins. That is why the Lord waits for humans to come to their senses, repent, and receive the mercy and grace that He has made available to all who believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins. Isaiah 30:15 “For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: ‘In returning (repentance) and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.’ But you would not.” The reality is that many choose to reject the Lord’s free offer of salvation. But that does not deter God, for He waits—even to our last breath—for us to enter into His rest. But there is a very specific blessing that is attached to those, who like God who is patient, learn to be patient, and in quietness and confidence wait as the Lord waits, and in the process they end up renewing the strength of their salvation. Isaiah 40:31 “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” A truth that many Christians do not know, is that God has assigned a very specific blessing to those who eagerly wait for His return: Blessed are all those who wait for Him. Revelation 1:3 “Blessed is He who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.” Revelation 22:20 “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” What is this very specific blessing all about? I believe this to be a three-fold blessing that applies to those who eagerly await for the Lord to return and to take them home to be with Him. • The first blessing assures us of the removal of all our sorrows. • The second blessing guarantees that He hears us at the very sound of our cry for help. • The third blessing is an anointing for learning spiritual discernment. Isaiah 30:19 “For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.” The first-fold blessing is, You shall weep no more! No more sorrows. Isaiah 25:8 “He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken.” The main root of sorrow is hopelessness; Jesus nailed sorrow on the cross and after He rose from the dead, He spoiled its fruit of hopelessness. Those who truly await the return of Jesus and the resurrection of the saints, have abolished all sorrows from their lives, for sorrow has to do with loss, and every thing that we’ve surrendered to Jesus, He is able to keep safe and secured until it is restored back to us. Matthew 6:20 “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” How can a person who is not even sure that Jesus is physically coming back to this earth, to restore to us all the good things that we have lost for His sake, be without sorrow? For where there is no hope, sorrow remains. Isaiah 65:23 “They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth children for trouble; for they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.” Clearly Isaiah is referring to the Kingdom Age of which all of God’s saints will be a part of. The first part of the three-fold blessing given to the descendants of the blessed, is the blessing of restoration. So that we do not sorrow like those who have no hope. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep (died), lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.” Those who eagerly await for the return of Jesus are waiting for the promised restoration as well—no loss, no sorrow! The second-fold blessing has to do with the assurance that God hears us. Isaiah 65:24 “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.” Faith comes as the result of that which we are hoping for. Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance (realization) of things hoped for, the evidence (confidence) of things not seen.” If we dare to believe that Jesus is coming soon to restore all things, and we live our lives based on that hope, then surely, we know that at any point in time—if we cry out to Him—that He will hear us. Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us (faith, hope and love).” The third-fold blessing is the anointing for spiritual discernment. Isaiah 30:20 “And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction (oppression), yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers.” If our hope is in the resurrection from the dead and the return of Jesus to implement God’s final restoration, then adversity and affliction are nothing more than teachers that God uses to train us as to the hearing of His voice. Isaiah 30:21 “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.” Who would have thought that having a firm belief about the soon return of Jesus Christ would be so beneficial to us? It is like waiting to be seated at a crowded restaurant on mother’s day, and they give you a gizmo that lights up and vibrates when your turn has come. Those of us who eagerly await for our Lord to appear have been given an array of very wonderful blessings. Philippians 3:20-21 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” So, we wait, patiently, hopefully, and faithfully for our Lord to return. But we do so with the hope that everyday that He delays His return, we become more cheerful, more secure in the fact that He hears us, and more intuitive about our high spiritual calling. Isaiah 30:29 “You shall have a song as in the night when a holy festival is kept, and gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute, to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel.” Previous Next Home

THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS To help believers understand the covenant name of Jesus—The Lord Our Righteousness—as the guarantee of God’s covenant with humanity. The lesson aims to show how Jesus, as the Faithful and True executor of the covenant sealed by His blood, alone provides righteousness for mankind. It also emphasizes the certainty of His soon return and urges believers to hold fast to the promises of the covenant without being swayed by doubt or false teachings. THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS Pastor Marcos Marrero Objective: To help believers understand the covenant name of Jesus—The Lord Our Righteousness—as the guarantee of God’s covenant with humanity. The lesson aims to show how Jesus, as the Faithful and True executor of the covenant sealed by His blood, alone provides righteousness for mankind. It also emphasizes the certainty of His soon return and urges believers to hold fast to the promises of the covenant without being swayed by doubt or false teachings. Synopsis: Jeremiah 23:6 reveals Jesus’ covenant name, The Lord Our Righteousness, which points to His role as the righteous executor of God’s covenant. Unlike humanity, which has continually broken the covenant, Jesus fulfilled every requirement perfectly through His blood sacrifice, ensuring the forgiveness of sins and right standing with God. Scripture portrays Him as Faithful and True, bound to the Word of God and faithful to bring every promise to completion—including His return to establish His Kingdom. The teaching stresses that many voices today deny the reality of Christ’s physical return, but the covenant leaves no room for spiritualized or metaphorical interpretations. Just as He ascended, He will return visibly in the clouds, and every eye will see Him. Believers are reminded not to be deceived but to cling to the covenant, for not one word of it will fail. In the last days, scoffers will question His coming, yet this itself is a sign of His nearness. Ultimately, The Lord Our Righteousness is our guarantee: He has taken away our sins, given us His righteousness, and will soon return to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. This truth should inspire reverence for God’s covenant, faith in His promises, and hope in the certainty of Christ’s imminent return. Inspired Teaching: Jeremiah 23:6 “In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Jeremiah inspired by the Holy Spirit gives us insight into the reign of the Lord during the Kingdom Age, and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he reveals to us the name by which Jesus will be called during His glorious reign. THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS is Jesus’ covenant name. A covenant is a legal document that guarantees the execution of those things which are stipulated within the covenant. What that means is that the executor of the covenant has to meet all of the requirements of the covenant in order to bring about their fulfillment. Revelation 19:11 “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.” God is God, and in His dealings with men He can do to men whatever He wants to do, and whenever He wants to do it, good or bad, for after all we are His creation and we are all subject to Him. But notice the name that precedes the righteousness of Jesus actions, we read that He is also called Faithful and True. Which means that God follows a carefully laid out plan in His dealings with men, a covenant if you will, to which God swears Himself to uphold. Where is that covenant found? Revelation 19:13 “He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.” Keep in mind that a biblical covenant requires the shedding of blood as a seal of its surety. So we see that THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS is Faithful and True to The Word of God, the covenant, and as a guarantee of His ability to implement all the provisions of the covenant He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood. How beautiful and how perfect is The Word of God! Revelation 19:16 “And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” He is KING ALMIGHTY GOD, and He is LORD OVER ALL THE CREATION, and still He follows the carefully crafted plan laid out in God’s Word, what He calls His covenant with men. Since God has such great respect towards the covenant that He instituted with Adam and his seed, should we not, the seed of Adam, have as much respect and a desire to understand the counsel that God Himself follows: the covenant that God made with man as written in His Word? Human history, in regards as to how good we humans are at keeping God’s covenant, is not a good one. Hosea 6:7 “Like Adam, they have broken the covenant—they were unfaithful to me there.” NIV Not only does the human race in general have a history of breaking the covenant—the Word of God—but also those through whom the words of the covenant were supposed to be lived out—Israel and Judah—have a history themselves of forsaking God’s covenant. Jeremiah 22:8-9 “And many nations will pass by this city; and everyone will say to his neighbor, ‘Why has the Lord done so to this great city?’ Then they will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods and served them.’” If there is one thing that we humans lack is the ability to do the right thing. Romans 3:10 “As it is written: There is none righteous, no, not one.” So that the executor of the covenant had to be righteous and a descendant of Adam, a human, who Himself would be able to impute of His own righteousness to His human brethren who lacked it, and in accordance with God’s covenant as stipulated in His Word. Romans 11:27 “For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” This is why He is called THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, for our righteousness, or right standing before God, comes from Him and Him alone, our kinsman redeemer. Hebrews 2:12-13 “Saying: ‘I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.’ And again: ‘I will put My trust in Him.’ And again: ‘Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.’” Hebrews 8:12 “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now why am I emphasizing that which should be very clear to all of us who believe? I want us to focus afresh on the covenant, especially as it relates to His soon return. For there are many voices out there that are trying to persuade true believers that the parts of the covenant that deal with His soon return and the setting up of His Kingdom Age, that they are not relevant anymore. Let me ask you, which part of the covenant did Jesus leave unfulfilled? Or is there any of you who believe that the covenant does not apply to the Kingdom Age as in regards to us His saints, ruling and reigning with him during the Kingdom Age? Revelation 1:6-7 “And has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.” What part of He is coming with clouds don’t they understand? Some say that His return is a metaphor and that His church is already here on earth ruling and reigning over the affairs of men. Then tell me, if you know, where is the One who will be called THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS when His kingdom is set up? Is He here in the earth right now, if He is, then why are we still in our sins? John 14:2-3 “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” Acts 1:11 “...Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Revelation tells us that every eye will see Him when He returns in the clouds of glory, I have eyes, mine eyes have not seen Him return yet, and neither have yours. Jesus told us that when He physically returns, He will receive us unto Himself, we are not with Jesus yet, so that He has not returned as of this writing. Do not be cheated out of your portion of the covenant my friends. Not one jot or tittle of His covenant Word will be omitted or left unfulfilled. Matthew 5:18 “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law (covenant) till all is fulfilled.” In one of the epistles it tells us about the inquiries of those who lacked faith, as they asked, where is this coming that we heard so much about? 2 Peter 3:3-4 “Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.’” In the last days they will be scoffing at His promised return which is a sign, according to God’s Word, that we are living in the days of Jesus’ soon return to set up His kingdom. Jeremiah 23:20 “The anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart (the contents of His covenant). In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.” I laid out to you the basics of the covenant, and how important it is from God’s perspective, that we understand the rigidity of the covenant. And since we are living in the latter days where we have the ability to comprehend the entirety and surety of the covenant, by the things which God has already fulfilled, then we should not have any problem understanding perfectly about the soon return of Christ to complete those things that are yet to be resolved. How do you see God? Does He feel near to you or is He far from you? Jeremiah 23:23-24 “‘Am I a God near at hand,’ says the Lord, ‘and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?’ Says the Lord; ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ Says the Lord.” Previous Next Home

REST IN TIMES OF TROUBLE To encourage believers to remain steadfast in love, forgiveness, and prayer during times of hatred, strife, and lawlessness, while trusting God’s ultimate justice and relying on the Holy Spirit’s restraining power against evil in the world. REST IN TIMES OF TROUBLE Pastor Marcos Marrero Objective: To encourage believers to remain steadfast in love, forgiveness, and prayer during times of hatred, strife, and lawlessness, while trusting God’s ultimate justice and relying on the Holy Spirit’s restraining power against evil in the world. Synopsis: This teaching, based on 2 Thessalonians 1:7, highlights the believer’s hope of finding rest in Christ amidst troubling and contentious times. Scripture reveals that hatred is the root of strife, and as lawlessness increases in the last days, love will grow cold (Matthew 24:12). The message draws from both biblical truth and personal testimony—such as the 1961 Bay of Pigs incident—to illustrate how easily crowds can be manipulated by hatred and how vital it is for Christians to remain sober-minded and not influenced by the venom of strife. Believers are reminded that God’s justice will prevail, that every person will face judgment (Hebrews 9:27), and that those in Christ already share in eternal life (John 11:26). The church, empowered by the Holy Spirit, serves as a restraining force against lawlessness, exercising authority through prayer and spiritual warfare (2 Thessalonians 2:7). Practical examples—including the stopping of a neighborhood fight through prayer—demonstrate the power of intercession to bring peace. Ultimately, the lesson urges the church to rise in unity, resist the pull of hatred, and enforce God’s peace through love, forgiveness, and fervent prayer, knowing that prayer works and that rest is promised to the faithful when Christ returns. Inspired Teaching: 2 Thessalonians 1:7 “And to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels.” Even for well-disciplined persons, we can all agree, that we are living in the midst of distress and highly contentious days. There are so many misguided people out there, many of which have a huge platform that allows them to stir up trouble and to sow the seeds of hatred and division, just for the sport of it, who do not care in the least if their rhetoric harm others. However, if we understand the spirit behind it, it will make it easy for us Christians to understand what all this chaos is all about and help us not to get caught up in the emotional turbulence of these last days. Proverbs 10:12 “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins.” The root of all the contentions that flare up constantly all over the world is the spirit of hatred, but as long as the spirit of love and forgiveness has the upper hand, the strife is contained. But if it seems that strife and contentions are ruling the day, maybe it is because we are living in the last days, because Jesus told us that during the last days the love of many would grow cold. Matthew 24:12 “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” So, the key for us believers is not to get caught up in the emotional hatred of the day, but rather continue in love, forgiving one another, even as the Lord forgave us all and gave to us His unconditional pardon. I know that for many of you out there, you may feel that the hatred and contentions of these last days will not have a direct impact on your personal life, but you have to remember that most people think that way, and if by chance you happen to get caught up in it, because of your failure to prepare yourself for such an occasion, you may end up failing to respond properly in your heart with the spirit of love and compassion, and instead you may lose your composure and respond with evil intent. When the Bay of Pigs invasion took place in Cuba in 1961, I was just 14 years old. Castro’s soldiers came to our house and arrested my dad and brother who was eight years older than me; I guess I was too young so they did not take me. They arrested everyone that they thought might be a threat to them, even though we lived far from the place where the invasion took place. Their strategy was to lock up everybody that might join with the invading forces in an uprising against the communist government. They took all the people that they arrested and put them in the yard of a government owned building. They put machine guns facing them in the two corners of the yard facing the building, and were ordered to shoot them if an invasion started near our town. I was there on the street watching in unbelief, looking as it all took place. Then communist agitators started fanning the flames of hatred toward those innocent people of the town, whose only crime was that they had not previously joined the communist militia in support of Castro. A large crowd of people had gathered on the street to see, like I had, all that was taking place. To my amazement the people of the town who knew the innocence of those who were locked there for no good reason, all of the sudden under the impulse of those communist agitators who were calling out for vengeance, joined them, calling out loud for the execution of those who were locked in the yard. I was there, in their midst, looking at them and saying to myself, that is my dad and my brother in there, how could you say that, but they were blinded by such a strong hatred that all they wanted was blood. I will never forget that day as long as I live, and thankfully the invasion did not come any where near us, so that eventually, after two weeks most of them were released, including my dad and brother. Who were the people in the crowd? Some of them were our very own neighbors. I remember thinking, as they were loudly chanting for the execution of innocent blood, the many times that my dad had so selflessly helped many of those in the crowd in their hour of need, for it was a small town of about three thousand people. But you see there is no reasoning with the spirit of hate, and the only protection against it is for us not to get emotionally involved with the propagation of such hatred, for those agitators can get pretty good at it. 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” When the believers were first filled with the Holy Spirit, many thought that they were drunk with wine, but under the influence of the Spirit of Love those believers transformed the world for the good of all mankind. Those in the crowd back in 1961, that were calling for the murder of innocent people appeared to me to be drunk as well, however their intoxication came as the result of them partaking of the venom of hate. By telling us to be sober, Peter means for us not to get intoxicated with the venom of hatred and strife that the world is constantly peddling. Remember that Peter was an eyewitness of that hatred, as he was there, present, when those who were so blinded by their hatred took our Lord away and beat Him into a bloody mess. What about all the injustices that are continuously taking place? 2 Thessalonians 1:6 “Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you.” God always has the final say. That is why He has appointed a day for every single individual to appear before Him in final judgment. Nobody gets away with anything, for if they repent and our Lord forgives them, then the sufferings that our Lord endured on behalf of all mankind pay in full for their misdeeds as well as ours; now that is something that we should all be glad about. Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” Now those of us who are in Christ have already been judged and have already passed into life eternal, though it does not yet appear like we have, because we are still here in this world. John 11:26 “And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” So that the only reason that we are still here is for our presence to be a restraining force against the spirit of strife and lawlessness that wants to intoxicate the whole world and drive them into killing each other. 2 Thessalonians 2:7 “For the mystery of lawlessness (hatred stirs up strife) is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.” What restrains the mystery of lawlessness, which is nothing more than hatred stirring up strife, is the Holy Spirit that is within us, His church. Once the Holy Spirit takes the church away to meet the Lord in the clouds, His restraining presence is removed as well. What that means is that we are privileged to exercise God’s restraining power over all these demonically manufactured crises, through our prayers of binding and loosing that which God has already foreordained to be bound and to be loosed. But how can we be effective in this ministry of restraining and reconciliation if we ourselves get caught up in the vileness and hatred that is so pervasive out there? 2 Thessalonians 3:1-3 “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. The evil one is a master at manipulating human emotions and does not care who is right or who is wrong. All that he is interested in is causing hatred to flourish, for that is what stirs up strife and contentions. I once heard screaming outside of my kitchen window that looked into the street to see a fight had broken out between three or four teenage boys. And in the middle of the chaos from inside my kitchen window I prayed: Lord, this is my neighborhood, I bind every spirit of contention that is at work right now between those boys and in my street. Immediately the fracas stopped, amazingly they started to converse as to what offenses they had committed against one another, and it was then that they saw the whole thing as a simple misunderstanding and shook hands in friendship. Needless to say my jaw dropped, as I turn to my wife who was standing next to me and asked her, did that really happened? I was just praying instinctively, but even in my best faith posture I did not expect such immediate results, yet there it was, once the spirit of contention was removed, animosity slipped away and reason prevailed. Imagine the power that the church has if we can just come together in the spirit of unity and enforce our restraining power over all the power of lawlessness that has engulfed our land! PRAYER WORKS! Previous Next Home

THE SYSTEMATIC EXTERMINATION OF CHRISTIANITY The objective of this teaching is to unveil the prophetic and historical pattern of persecution against God’s people—both Jews and Christians—and to demonstrate how the current global hostility toward Christianity reflects the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. It aims to warn believers about the intensifying attempt to eradicate Christianity worldwide, highlight the complicity of governments and secular ideologies in this persecution, and prepare the church to endure tribulation while holding fast to faith in the promises of God. THE SYSTEMATIC EXTERMINATION OF CHRISTIANITY Pastor Marcos Marrero Objective: The objective of this teaching is to unveil the prophetic and historical pattern of persecution against God’s people—both Jews and Christians—and to demonstrate how the current global hostility toward Christianity reflects the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. It aims to warn believers about the intensifying attempt to eradicate Christianity worldwide, highlight the complicity of governments and secular ideologies in this persecution, and prepare the church to endure tribulation while holding fast to faith in the promises of God. Synopsis: This message explores the opening of the fifth seal in Revelation 6, which reveals the souls of martyrs crying out for justice, and connects it to both the historic slaughter of the Jews and the ongoing persecution of Christians. The text distinguishes between the Jews who suffered martyrdom simply for their identity (particularly in the Holocaust and future tribulations) and the Christians who are killed for their faith and testimony in Jesus Christ. Together, their shed blood signifies the unification of God’s people in prophetic fulfillment. The teaching underscores that persecution is not a distant or isolated phenomenon but is happening now on a systematic, global scale. Examples are given of the eradication of Christian communities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, and Palestinian territories—nations where Christianity once flourished but is now nearly extinguished due to violence, intimidation, and government indifference. Even Western nations, including the United States, are shown as complicit through policies that empower hostile regimes and through their own cultural rejection of biblical values under the banner of secular humanism. The parallels with Lot in Sodom highlight how societies increasingly reject God’s moral law, demanding conformity to depravity and branding dissenters as intolerant. The rise of Islam’s demand for submission and the West’s embrace of secular humanism both work toward silencing Christianity. The teaching warns that this escalating trend fulfills Jesus’ prophecy of hatred “for His name’s sake” (Luke 21:17), pointing toward imminent judgment. Finally, the lesson distinguishes tribulation—what men do to believers—from wrath—what God does to unbelievers. While Christians are promised deliverance from God’s wrath, they are also called to endure tribulation faithfully. Believers are urged to remain steadfast, expose darkness with God’s Word, and trust that God will ultimately avenge the blood of His people when the fullness of martyrdom is complete. The ultimate choice is presented starkly: stand with Christ and suffer persecution, or conform to the world and face eternal judgment. Inspired Teaching: Revelation 6:10-11 “And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.” The opening of the fifth seal reveals that before the rapture of the church takes place, which by the way takes place after the opening of the sixth seal, that there will be a great slaughter of two types or classes of peoples, and then it defines who those peoples are and the reason why they were killed: Revelation 6:9 “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held.” Who are the fellow servants and who are their brethren, who have been numbered to die a martyr’s death before the Lord returns? In my book Man’s Final Destiny , you can read it in the books section of houseoffaithministries.org , I make the point that the souls under the altar are representative of the Jews who were slaughtered during World War II, since many of them were slain in gas chambers as a burnt offering, that is what the word Holocaust means, and that they died for the testimony which they held, they were just simply killed because they were Jews. It did not matter whether they were practitioners of Judaism or not, since so may innocent children were slain, over a million, who did not even know what religion or creed they belonged to. And I figured that the number of their fellow servants that were yet to be killed would be those Jews that would die later, before and during the invasion that sees Jerusalem surrounded by the armies of the nations of the world; and I’ve arrived at that conclusion because this is the only place in the book of Revelation where the martyrs are not referred to as dying for the testimony of Jesus, but rather for the testimony which they held, basically they were killed because they were Jews by race. But on a closer look of this passage of Scripture, it also seems to include the souls of those martyred for their Christian faith before the return of the Lord and it is symbolic, I believe, of the reunification of the blood of the fellow servants and of their brethren, upon which the original church was founded, since the foundation of the church included the shed blood of both the Jews and the Gentile believers; hence, there is a prophetic implication here of their final unification as one body, the body of the Lord, before He returns to execute His final judgments. Luke 21:17 “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.” The present-day persecution and the hatred perpetrated by the entire world against the Jewish people has been clearly documented and the evidence is irrefutable, just look at the United Nations record and see who it is that they continuously condemn and disapprove of unfairly. What is not clear to many today is, that right now, there is a systematic extermination of Christianity going on, and in many instances we are just talking about nominal Christianity, this persecution is not like the one that has gotten many Christians killed for their fervency and persistency in proclaiming the Gospel in hostile areas, no, this persecution going on right now in many parts of the world is for the simple purpose of eradicating Christianity itself by killing those, like they did the Jews before them, that are Christians even if in name or heritage only. And what might be the most appalling thing in all of this is, that our very own government, the US by its policies, is aiding and abetting the very evil that is taking place against the church of Jesus Christ. In Iraq for example, there was even under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, a large and healthy group of Christian communities. Ever since we liberated that country, those of the Islamic faith have used their freedom, which they did not have under the previous regime, to kill and intimidate Christian communities that have existed there since before Islam was even a religion, to the point that over half of the Christian population has fled the country and many have died, and before long there will be no traces of Christianity left in that nation. We see the same things taking place in Afghanistan, where our soldiers and those of the coalition are still fighting and dying to promote the freedom of those who want to eradicate Christianity forever. Egypt has one of the largest Christian populations of any of the Arab nations in the region, we just gave them some of our very best war planes plus billions of dollars; in thanks for our standing behind their rights to be free from a brutal dictatorship and supporting them with our weapons and treasure, they pay us back by torturing and killing Christians for the purpose of intimidating them to flee the cities and villages where their families have lived since the days of Jesus. The Palestinian areas where many of the Christian holy sites are, and where many Christians have lived for two thousand years, has been decimated buy kidnappings, torture and terrorism against those of the Christian faith so that right now the Christian population of many of those areas is nonexistent. All the while our hard-earned money and support is helping to feed and clothe those who commit these atrocities. Jeremiah 34:17 “Therefore thus says the Lord; ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, everyone to his brother and everyone to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you’, says the Lord—‘to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth.’” Luke 6:38 “...For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” There has always been the persecution of those, who belong to God either by word or deed, beginning with the first martyr, Abel, whose righteous blood still cries out from the ground for God’s vengeance to be executed on its behalf. The question that we must ask is this: When is the number of both the fellow servants and their brethren who are to be killed completed? Genesis 18:23 “And Abraham came near and said, ‘Would you also destroy the righteous with the wicked?’” In the narrative over the pending destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah Abraham engages in a numbers game with God, in other words, Abraham wanted to know what the ratio of believers to unbelievers in those cities would have to be to bring about the final judgment of God. Genesis 19:4-5 “Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.’” There was one righteous man left in that city and his name was Lot, and because of Lot’s refusal to give into their depravity, they were ready to do away with him. Genesis 19:9 “And they said, ‘Stand back!’ Then they said, ‘This one (Lot) came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.’ So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door.” It is obvious from the context that there was no room left for Lot in that city, it was compliance and conformance to their way or else leave or be killed. Notice what their charge is against Lot, and the reason they intend to harm him, he keeps acting like a judge, in other words, who are you to tell us what is right and what is wrong. There are so many parallels here that is scary. First you have a worldwide religion in Islam that, in many instances, when they become the majority rule in the country or in the community as cited earlier, is either what their religion demands, which is total submission to them, that is what the name Islam means by the way, or the only other options are death or exile. The other parallel here that is so frightening is, that in the western nations where traditional Christianity provided what we could say was a model for government, for it offered its citizens freedom for and from religion, that also included freedom of speech and of choice, have now become ensnared in the trap of secular humanism, which demands of its adherents total and complete subjugation to their philosophy, and if you disagree with them because of whatever reason, then, you are classified as a bigot, homophobic, intolerant person that needs to be dealt with. Luke 17:28-30 “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 so will it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” So that we have a flurry of nations that are forcibly removing from their ranks right now, any trace of Judaism and Christianity, and we have nations that have already done so; and in what is supposed to be the nations that were built on the Judeo-Christian values of Bible teaching, we have a total and complete rejection of the moral and ethical principles upon which they were founded. So, getting back to the numbers game, it is hard for me to see this trend changing anytime soon. There is no enforcement of the moral code of right and wrong anywhere in the world, nations just keep getting away with their evil deeds against those who have no say. I do not see a principled nation that is even able to speak on behalf of the innocent who are being slaughtered, even less one that is able to do something about it. Here in the United States the tales of the horrors that take place in the abortion mills has come to light in the trial of a doctor accused of murdering infants that were aborted but still alive, how their spinal cords were snipped with a scissor or flushed down the toilet while still alive. In another tape you can hear a doctor tell the pregnant mother that her almost full term baby will be killed inside of her before is aborted, she asks him, does that mean that I would have a dead baby inside of me? To which the Doctor responds, think of it as meat in the crock pot. Remember what they said to Lot? Who made you judge? Well, I definitely do not want to be part of this wicked and corrupt generation, I do not want to be a partaker of their judgment, so while I am here, I will not cease to expose their works of darkness to the light of God’s Word. So that when the Son of Man is revealed, I, like Lot, will be ushered out of this Sodom in a great hurry by God’s angels, before God’s destruction rains down from heaven upon this wicked and perverse generation. Revelation 6:14-17 “Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” God has not appointed us to wrath, thank You Lord! But Jesus did say that in this world we would have tribulation; my definition of tribulation is that of what men do to those they persecute for believing what the Word of God says, like what I have been teaching here in this lesson. My definition of wrath is what God does to those who persecute His children that believe what the Word of God says. And it is not pretty what God will do to them. So here are the choices: believe the Word of God and suffer persecution, for many of us here in the west is just verbal and situational persecution right now, and who knows maybe not for long, but for many Christians today who live under the rule of mad man, their persecution is very real, and their trials are excruciating, but their future is very secure, for wherever they go they are God’s holy property. And if you choose to conform with the world for the sake of not being out of step with societal evolution, you will end up wishing that you were under a pile of rocks with a bunch of losers, not that that is going to help you in anyway, for after all, hell is hell forever, whether you believe in it or not. Previous Next Home

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH ETERNITY? The objective of this teaching is to help believers and seekers alike understand the biblical reality of eternity, the two eternal destinations revealed in Scripture, and the importance of making a conscious choice in this life about where one will spend forever. It aims to awaken reverence toward God, clarify misconceptions about heaven and hell, and guide listeners toward salvation in Christ as the only way to secure eternal life in God’s presence. WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH ETERNITY? Pastor Marcos Marrero Objective: The objective of this teaching is to help believers and seekers alike understand the biblical reality of eternity, the two eternal destinations revealed in Scripture, and the importance of making a conscious choice in this life about where one will spend forever. It aims to awaken reverence toward God, clarify misconceptions about heaven and hell, and guide listeners toward salvation in Christ as the only way to secure eternal life in God’s presence. Synopsis: In What Would You Do With Eternity?, the author explores the profound question of what it means for humanity to live forever. Ecclesiastes affirms that God has placed eternity in the hearts of men, stirring both curiosity and a holy fear about what lies beyond this life. Through Scripture, the teaching reveals that every soul is eternal and that two distinct destinies await: eternal comfort in God’s presence or eternal torment separated from Him. Using Luke 16, the contrast between Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom and the rich man in Hades illustrates the irreversible nature of eternal choices. Revelation 20 further confirms that all will face judgment, where names not found in the Book of Life are cast into the lake of fire, while the redeemed experience everlasting joy, provision, and God’s presence. Heaven is not an eternity of monotony but a dynamic, glorious existence filled with wonder, love, and unending fellowship with God. The teaching concludes with a gospel invitation, showing that salvation is secured by confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and believing in His resurrection. It underscores the urgency of choosing eternal life now, before death ushers every soul into their unchangeable destiny. Inspired Teaching: Ecclesiastes 3:11 “...Also He has put eternity in their hearts...” Have you ever wonder what you would do if all of the sudden you found yourself with an unlimited amount of time...forever? I mean, let’s really think about it, a never ending life proposition would immediately arouse in any rationally thinking mortal human a variety of questions that are very relevant to the notion of immortality. Like...What kind of immortal life are we talking about? Will it include suffering and pain? What about sorrows and sicknesses? Is there going to be torment or tormentors in such an eternity? In the absence of any of the aforementioned, will I ever get bored in such an eternity? I mean, after all is said and done, how much harp playing can one human stand? It is bound to get to you after a while, isn’t it? Eternity is something that its very hard for us mortal humans to comprehend since we are surrounded by a world that is full of beginnings and endings. We see people that are near and dear to us leave this world, and they never come back. In one sense, life is turbulent like the weather in a Midwest state, if you don’t like the present condition, just hang around, for it will change, and usually not for the better. Ecclesiastes 3:14 “I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.” If there is an alarm that rings loudly in the hearts of men it is, It shall be forever, and our text makes it clear that God does this on purpose, so that Men should fear before Him. You see, according to the Bible, the human race in general, and individuals in particular, though we all had a beginning, we will never end for we are all eternal. And we have a choice as into which eternity we eventually end up in. An eternity that once we are in it, nothing can be added to it or taken away from it. So that we should not take it lightly, because sooner or later we will all enter into that eternal place. There are two eternal places to which we can go, and the choice as to which eternal place we enter is made here on the earth before we die, for that is when we enter into eternity, right after death. Luke 16:22-23 “So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.” Jesus is telling us that there are two clear and distinct destinations for all humans after they die and enter into their eternal abode. One is a place of comfort and the other is a place of torments, plural. Luke 16:25 “...But now he (Lazarus) is comforted and you are tormented.” And not only is Jesus telling us about the difference between the two destinations but He is also testifying to the fact that, once you get there, there is no way to get out, you are there forever. Luke 16:26 “And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.” Outside of faith, humans seem to think that once we die, since we are not in our physical bodies anymore, that we somehow are not really alive anymore and that the so-call torments of hell are not really real, but rather, something imagined. From every experience of the faithful into the spiritual realm, of which there are many Scriptural references, the spiritual realm is always a lot more real than our present reality could ever be, and that view is confirmed by our next verse of Scripture. Luke 16:27-28 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’” It does not sound like the man in the torments of hell was imagining things, if anything, he sounded very logical by saying that if he could not escape the torments that he was experiencing, that at least a warning should be sent to his five brothers that were still alive, to keep them from coming into the reality of this place of which he knew his brothers, like himself before them, did not believe existed, even though the law of Moses spoke clearly about it and warned against it. Luke 16:29 “Abraham said to him, ‘they have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’” Out of the mouth of Jesus Himself, He is telling us that failure in our part to act upon what the Scriptures teach about eternity, that if we abdicate our responsibility to choose into which eternal destiny we want to abide, in accordance with what the Scriptures teach, that that failure will cause us to forfeit God’s eternal comfort and peace and will cause us to end up in that dreaded place of torment. Now why would someone fail to act upon such important matter as the one that deals with our future eternity? They may say that they don’t believe that there is an eternity to be had, but yet our opening Scripture declares that God has put eternity into our hearts, so that right from the get go they are in violation of the Holy Scriptures. Let us look at a few Scriptures that deal with this very important subject. Revelation 20:12 “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things that were written in the books.” Let us begin by establishing the fact that there is, according to Scripture, a final day of judgment coming, that it will comprise the physically resurrected bodies of all who were dead, that have been brought back to life to stand before the great white throne of God’s final judgment, in order for them to give an account for the actions of their lives while here on earth in their physical bodies. Revelation 20:13 “The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.” Let us also establish that this judgment, although it comprises the multitudes that died throughout the ages, now appearing in their resurrected bodies, that it will be a personal judgment for each one of them individually. Each one of them standing or falling based on each one’s individual actions. Revelation 20:15 “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” So that all of those who ignored the instructions given by the Holy Scriptures on how to have one’s name written on the Book of Life, are cast into an eternity of torments with their eternally resurrected physical bodies into an Abyss from which they can never get out of. Revelation 20:10 “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” So now that we have seen what this one eternity looks like, let us also take a sober look at the other eternity and see what it entails. Revelation 7:9-10 “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” What a contrast! You can hear the jubilation in the voices of all the redeemed from all the ages, rejoicing in the God who saved them, and in the Lamb who had delivered them out of the trials and tribulations that this world had put them through. Revelation 7:16-17 “They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” In the book of Luke chapter 16, Jesus told us about the man that ended up in Hades, how he was tormented by the flames and its heat, and how his desire was for Lazarus to dip his hand in some water and to touch his tongue with it, to relieve some of the torment that he was suffering. Here we see the opposite, not even the rays nor the heat from the sun is able to touch them, and they neither hunger nor thirst, for to them have been opened fountains of living waters. And next we see that God wipes away every tear from their eyes; the scars caused by all their pain and sufferings are finally removed as they move into a state of perfect bliss. 1 Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’” Do not even think of getting bored in this eternity; we need to let go of those antiquated images of what heaven is like, you know, like sitting on a cloud playing with the harp all day long. We need to wake up to the reality of how vast and how great the present creation is, and how much more formidable and perfect the new heavens and the new earth that we will live on for eternity are going to be. Our God is so vast, His love so profound, His goodness unending, that everyday single day with Him will be a brand new exciting day filled with astonishment and unending wonders, as we behold the great and awesome marvels that He performs continuously, but most of all our daily basking in the great and perfect manifestation of His love for us. Sign me up! You say, How do I get my name written in the Book of Life? Romans 10:9-11, 13 “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame...’ For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” Pray this prayer: (say this outloud) Dear Jesus, I confess with my mouth that You are Lord, and I believe in my heart that God has raised You from the dead. Therefore I now confess before You that I am a sinner and I ask that You forgive me all of my sins and that You cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Thank You Lord Jesus for forgiving me all of my sins and for cleansing me from all my unrighteousness. I declare that You are God, that You are good, and that You are Holy. I declare that You are my God, that You have been good to me, and that by the precious blood that Your Son shed for me, to cleanse me from all my sins, that You have made me holy and have written my name in the Lambs Book of Life. Hallelujah! 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God willing, I will see you all who prayed this prayer for the first time in heaven someday soon. Amen! Previous Next Home