Today we will share on the topic: “The Faithful and True Witness.”
“…These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (Revelation of John, 3:14).
“John to the seven churches which are in Asia: grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits that are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation of John, 1:4-6).
John the Apostle, who lay at the bosom of Jesus, blesses with the fullness – all the seven churches that were there at that time, that is, this is the network of churches of Christ – blesses from Him Who is Eternal, Who was and is and is to come, blesses from the seven Spirits before His throne and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful Witness, the Firstborn from the dead, the Lord over the kings of the earth.
We need to return to the Biblical truth today. We don’t know how to bless like that, we were not taught to bless like that, but this is the way the Apostles blessed. Many of today’s pastors don’t even know who these seven Spirits of God are. This revelation has to be yet unfolded, who the seven Spirits of God are, which are the lamps.
“And to the angel of the church of Laodiceans write: Tthese things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (Revelation,3). Amen can speak. Who is this Amen? Who is He? This is Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Faithful and True Witness, the beginning of God’s creation. And at the end of the whole Bible – “He who testifies to these things says: “Surely I am coming quickly!” Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus!” (Revelation, 22:20).
Today, more than ever, we need a sober look at the present world. It is very difficult to find a prayer. It is very difficult to hear a sober view of the world even from pastors. That’s when, more than ever, we’ve come to the point where we need prophets and Apostles. Because pastor is not “making it” to speak the truth. They can horizontally serve the people. Evangelists preach the cross of Christ. Teachers teach. Prophets are needed, and not just those who prophesy to the congregation, but prophets to the nations.
We need the Amen today! We need the Amens. We need the dimension of the Amen, who is the Faithful and True Witness. Today we need a sober and clear picture of what is happening in this world: for today’s situation in the world, we need the Amen; for the events that take place in the world, we need the Amen; on the human thing in general, on the humanity – we need the Amen; on the contemporary man, who he is, what condition he is in, his system of thinking – we need a witness that is true and faithful; on the nations in general – we need the testimony of the Amen; for each nation separately, we need the testimony of the Amen; on the spirit of the time we need a testimony of the Amen; to recognize the hero of our time, we need a testimony of the Amen.
When we read the ancient masters who write about the Divine, we hear their understanding of what they had known before their time. If it is a medieval prophet or a prophetic mystic or writer, he speaks about the heroes who came before him. Many and many more personalities have appeared today, who are often no less prominent and powerful than those anointed ones were, no less bright stars than those stars were, and we have a complicated system, the further we go, the more lies there are; the further, the more complex pattern of human destinies. Today, more than ever, we need the restoration of Apostles and prophets who will give us the testimony of the Amen.
We need the Amen for the heavenly Kingdom now, for the point of kairos from eternity. Where are we? – In the space, the destiny of mankind. To the place “now” in the revelation of Daniel, the prophets, the Apocalypse, to how God and heaven look at us, to how Angels and what kind of Angels cooperate with us. And only the Amen, the faithful Witness can recognize and give us an answer to this. Jesus is the Amen. We need a testimony of the Amen.
You know how unsafe it is to say “Amen” to a lie. When you say “Amen” to a lie, you will hold account for it, because “Amen” is not just “yes, I agree”, it is a sort of a vow, you call God to witness, you confirm either it is a lie or truth. But the Amen Himself is the Word, the Being, Jesus is the truth of God. So be careful when you say “Amen”. Pastors, do not ask: “Amen?” – You first give your own testimony. And the people speak up their support, using it as a parasitic word. Don’t do it. “Amen” is akin to the Name of the Lord.
I want to talk about some of God’s witnesses who carried the dimension of the Faithful Witness. Let’s remember how the Angels came to Sodom.
“Now the two Angels came to Sodom in the evening, while Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground, and he said: “Here now, my lords, please, turn to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.” But he insisted strongly;so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
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.” So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, and said: “Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! See now I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish, only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have came under the shadow of my roof. And they said, “Stand back!” Then they said: “This one 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.
But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door; and they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door. Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city – take them out of this place, for we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.
So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters and said, “Get up, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city.” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.
When the morning dawned, the Angels urged Lot to hurry, saying: “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
So it came to pass,when they had brought them outside, that he said: “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed… Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground ”(Genesis, 19).
The Lord rained brimstone and fire from heaven. “He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground”.
“And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt” (Genesis 19). Not all offered and available opportunities for man come from God. Discernment is required. If a chance or an opportunity is sent to you, it doesn’t always mean it’s from God. Don’t use every door to “break in” faster, don’t use every door to run out faster. Not all open doors are the way of God. Discernment is required for the right path.
The further we live, the more confusing everything will be: doors drawn, doors open falsely, dead end doors, trap doors. There will be many doors and we will need to know which one to go through. It is necessary to develop the ability to know the voice of God at this time when the Voice is leading you, a revelation path.
The Angels came at a time of terrible iniquity. Not in time of a holy rise, but during a terrible, raging lawlessness. The Angels came straight into the fire of the human sin. Angels may visit the darkest places on the planet, in the darkest times. And they may not come to our most religious places of worship. That’s why I say that I don’t always pray where churches pray. When they invite me to pray in certain places, I don’t want to go there because I don’t have a prayer, it’s not a portal, it’s just a “place for tourists.”
The Angels urged Lot. God is speeding up time today. The Angels urge people. Many of us are urged by them personally, many of us together as churches. The Angels are in a hurry. Hurry up! Throw off your spiritual arrogance! Don’t pretend that you are a spiritual person! Throw off your masks of spirituality. Hurry to the real things of God. Preparations were underway for the judgments, and preparations are underway today. This is just the beginning of sorrows. Diseases, wars, famines, persecutions, natural disasters will cause growing sorrows, and at the apogee of everything a personality will emerge that will make everyone bow to himself! It will bring some ground-level relief, security and control over food and even words. This shall be a sorrow. And the kingdom of the mankind, the earthly one, will plunge into darkness. It will be a dark realm.
Joy is leaving the streets today. It will be very difficult to find it. Joy will be more precious than gold. Joy will be a crime! It’s already inappropriate to say to people: “Good afternoon!” or “Good evening!” in some countries. These words are no longer used. Soon laughter in the street will be a crime, people will beat each other. Joy will cause hate.
Brimstone and fire fell from the heaven. Pieces of brimstone were falling like asteroids on the houses, and Sodom was burning, and Gomorrah was burning, and the surrounding cities were burning. The land was burning, smoke came up from the land.
The Angels were the witnesses! They realized that now the life of Sodom and Gomorrah and of all the plain depended on that holy remnant, which was called “ten righteous in the city.” But who are these righteous? How many righteous people are there in your cities? Will your “salt” bring salvation to the city? The Angels watched pieces of brimstone falling right on the city. They came to fulfill their part and said, “Lord! The outcry from the land is the truth!” “Lot, leave quickly!” And they retreated. And the fire came, and the brimstone came, and the cities were smashed. I look at the Angels that came to Sodom and see and confess that they were the faithful witnesses.
Only the “Amen” will give a clear assessment of what is happening. We need to connect with the Amen dimension. Today the relevant Name of the Lord to be proclaimed is “The Amen” – not at the end of the prayer, but at the beginning. When we say “Amen” it is equal to saying “Jesus”. But don’t use the Name of the Lord in vain, for it is the Name of Jesus Christ.
Another witness of God – Faithful and True.
“Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight in the plains of Jericho. And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come.” Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped, and said to him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?” Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so. Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in” (Joshua, 5).
Sometimes time of camping is not downtime, but preparation for new levels of the fufillment of the promises and of gaining new authority. This can apply both to a person if he looks up at heaven, and to a community, and even to a whole nation.
Often the transition from miracles to natural food is not a drop in the spiritual level. They stopped eating manna that the Father gave, for which they didn’t have to work, they only had to gather, they didn’t have to produce anything, they didn’t have to cook anything – just eat, it contained every component needed for survival. But they began to eat of the produce of the land on which they stopped. Manna ceased. It would seem that you were eating manna – these are miracles. Every day you thank God for the miracle – Angelic bread! And here are simple vegetables and fruits, grown by people, natural plantings… But things are quite the opposite – from the lower level of miracles of a primitive nature we transit to more mature levels of spheres of supernatural nature. We start moving on different levels.
The Commander of the Lord’s army was not the result of the spiritual efforts of God’s people. They didn’ call him forth. But he was a messenger from heaven. His visitation was caused by God’s purposes, foreknowledge and the calling of God. His order was short, a few words. Strangely, the Commander of the Lord’s army appeared with a drawn sword.
– What will you tell us? Will you give us tactics? Will you give us a strategy? Tell us a secret, how can we defeat the enemy? You are for us!
– No, I am neither for you nor for your adversaries – I am the Commander of the Lord’s army!
– Well, then tell us the strategy – what do we do now?
– Take off your shoes, for the place on which you stand is holy!
And that’s it? Is it all of the Word? Is this the whole strategy? What is implied in this order? Strange command! And then what? – But he was gone.
Today we must take off our shoes. Today, in order to win, saints must take off their shoes and walk barefoot. To make the place of your dwelling wonderful and marvelous and holy by taking off your shoes. This is a prayerful land. When you take off your shoes at the command of the Commander, you make your land holy. You make your land a place of miracles. We pull everything down to earth – we turn everything into our bags and storages. But this is the land of the Lord!
When Joshua wanted to receive a strategy for victory, he had to understand that there is an obstacle between him and the earth – these are the shoes he wore. It was necessary to remove this obstacle so that there could be straight connection. You know that electricity can’t go through when there is no grounding. But when God’s lightning strikes your head, passes through the body and goes into the ground, you have to stand barefoot – a complete conductor without resistance. The removed shoes symbolize our being conductors of heaven and earth, communicate the earth into heaven – raise a cry from the earth.
As we worshiped today we blew the shofar – my shofar wept, it translated the voice of the earth into heaven. When heaven communicates a voice from heaven, as it is now happening, this Word – take off your shoes and be condecotors from earth to heaven, and from heaven to earth.
Cities shut are a sign of God. Hear God’s voice in the situation that is happening to you! Stop cursing people, stop acting like blind and unbelievers. Hear the Voice of God, He will not speak to you about who is guilty, He will speak to you about heaven and about your own path. If you don’t hear, you can go completely insane. But a man of God is armed with a spiritual sword.
The Commander of the Lord’s army didn’t take sides in a military conflict, but came with a higher assignment – to fulfill the will of God, appointed from eternity. He was a true and faithful witness to God Almighty.
“Then one of the seven Angels, who had the seven bowls, came and talked with me, saying to me: “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of blasphemous names, heaving seven heads and ten horns.
The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication; and on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.” (Revelation 17).
“After these things I saw another Angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying: “Babylon, the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.”
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: “Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins and lest you receive of her plagues; for her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities” (Revelation 18).
“Then a mighty Angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying: Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore” (Revelation, 18).
“After these I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying: “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.
Again they said: “Alleluia!” Her smoke rises up forever and ever!” And the twenty-four elders and four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying: “Amen! Alleluia!” (Revelation 19:1-4).
The Angel of the seven bowls declares the destruction of Babylon. Another Angel illuminated the earth with his glory and proclaimed the destruction of Babylon. The earth illuminated from a source of light – the earth has to be illuminated. This can mean a worldwide catastrophe when the whole earth is illuminated with the light. And the Angel will illuminate it with his appearance. But it is this catastrophe that will cause the death of Babylon. Today, empires fall and crumble. You see how systems and structures fall, how they collapse – threads are torn, chains are blocked, networks collapse. The power of the Angelic world is breaking the connecting veins, destroying the junction of the Babylonian harlot with the beast. If it “sits” on the economy, it is so easy for God to destroy the economy! If it “sits” on culture, it is not a problem for God to destroy it! The harlot of Babylon must one day fall. But it is this catastrophe that can cause the death of Babylon – the habitation places of Babylon will become habitation places for demonic movements, devastation, lawlessness, obsession with evil, a prison for demons.
Then another Angel comes out – a mighty one. O Lord! You have a Mighty Angel! He takes a stone and throws it into the sea. The sea symbolizes the world, human movements, human flows. He casts this stone into the sea of people – and powerful human commotion will be a sign of the final fall of Babylon. The system of Babylon shall shift! Guarantees shall be destroyed, where people hide, these documents, papers with seals – they violate them, lie to each other – what does it take for God to burn all these guarantees? And all the money – pieces of paper with a platinum mesh – is dust! How can this compare with the breath of eternity in our nostrils, in our heart?!
Come back to your senses, people! Get out of Babylon with your head, heart and body. Get free! The system of the world will shift, the guarantees will be destroyed, but this will be the Providence of God. All stable systems of world economies, security, humanism, education, social insurance, medicine – will be destroyed! The apparent world chaos will be a sign of the unfolding of the completion of the Apocalyptic prophecies. The apparent end of the world systems will be the last stage of the Apocalypse. And it is inevitable. Because this is the book of the Revelation of John, this is the prophecy of Daniel, these are the prophets who say that the time has come.
You and I thought that we were an intermediate generation, that the next generations would experience the Apocalypse in an enhanced mode. Today we are on the red line. And only God knows at what point of completion of everything we stand. We must be ready, as the First Church was ready.
The saints of God will rejoice when they see these signs. That’s why we need the power of the Spirit – so that instead of sadness and discouragement, which are witness of a weak spirit in suffering, so that instead, the power of the Holy Spirit that we have accumulated will lead us to thanksgiving and rejoicing about the Lord’s coming! They will see, know and have the ability to survive in these difficult conditions, the Church will have the ability to survive, and also reinforce in the service and worship of God. Heaven on earth and heaven in heaven will give in one praise all the glory to God the Almighty. Because the systems of the world that tormented the saints will be judged!
So, the Angels who are already destroying our stability, the executors – are they from the devil or from God? Or are they participating in the global plan of preparing the world and the Bride of Christ?! Rise in the global level of God’s universe. The Bride shall be prepared, she will be cleansed from the filth of Babylon, the Angels who destroy the system of Babylon are true and faithful witnesses of God and the Lamb.
All these Angels, and also the Strong One who took the stone and threw it into the nations, and the one who proclaimed the fall, which is already happening in the point of kairos, are faithful witnesses. Only those who dwell in heaven, who are above politics and the wicked Babylonian mindset that defiles the spirit of the saints, will emerge victorious and preserve the holiness of God.
The season reveals – this is not a sermon, but a portal that opens and which we must enter in with our hearts and minds.