There needs to be a sobriety in believers in Jesus Christ today because we are living near the end of the age. We are called to be "awake to righteousness" to be "light" in the darkness being "sober and ready". The Lord will prepare His people for the end times that are upon us.
The world is being prepared for the rule and reign of the Anti-Christ for a short season. Yet the Church is not being prepared in many ways. Theology and ideas are being promoted that are telling saints they will never suffer great harm or persecution in the end times. Also it teaches believers will never see the Anti-christ and be raptured away before he is manifested. Such teachings are dangerous and will make it so that many believers will be unprepared to suffer for their faith in the end years of this age.
We can learn great lessons from the current rule of the wicked leader in North Korea. Also may we have a heart to pray for Him, he is an "anti-christ" yet the Lord could grant him repentance and grace in Jesus Christ the only Lord.
This is an excerpt from the soon to be released Principles book:
According to the North Korea constitution Article 1, section 1, all North Koreans are required to worship Kim Il Sung with all their heart and might, even after his death. They have to worship the pictures and statutes of Kim Il Sung. A North Korea witness said: "We must hang Kim Il Sung's picture in our homes.
Displaying the portraits of the Kim family is compulsory for every household. The portraits must be hung on the best wall of every home, and nothing else can be hung under the portraits. The pictures indicate that Kim Il Sung is god. We hang the pictures for the purpose of reminding ourselves that we depend on him." Only Kim Il Sung is god in North Korea.
All citizens of North Korea are required to worship their god and their current leader. Citizens are required to attend regular āself-criticismā meetings which include the singing of songs of praise of Kim Il Sung from a 600 song hymnal, readings from the writings of Kim Il Sung (including Sungās āTen Principles,ā reminiscent of the Ten Commandments), and emotional professions of faith to the Kim leadership.
Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il are examples of a future world leader, who will also declare himself as god. Scripture says about the coming Anti-Christ: āLet no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as god in the temple of God, showing himself that he is god.ā474
Anti Christ will declare himself god and persecute Christians: āthen he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.ā475
āAnd I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.ā476
In Revelation Chapter 20, verse 4, we are reminded that Christians will be beheaded for their witness and faith worldwide, when they do not worship Anti Christ. This will affect Christians in the future, who are in the world at that time point. For our Sisters and Brothers in North Korea, persecution and death because of their witness is reality today.
The question we must ask ourselves: āWould we stand up for Jesus when the time comes for us or would we deny our faith?ā If we say we will stand up for Jesus then the question is why are we not witnessing today in our countries where there is no persecution?
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Footnotes:
474 2 Thessalonians 2:3-43
475 Revelation 13:6-7
476 Revelation 20:4
