The Harvest is Ripe

Fall is upon us, the first month already underway. During this season the Farmers will be doing the traditional harvest, and there will be celebrations such as the holiday Thanksgiving Day and evil day of Halloween. Our Lord Jesus Christ said of the Harvest, "Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:35-38). Our God and Savior speaks of a harvest, but no one of fields, but of faith. Not sown oats but souls, "Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.  But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." (Matthew 13:24-30). Interestingly, in this parable makes mention of infiltrators, those hiding among the Wheat (Saints) who are Tares (evil people) who pretend to be part of the Crop of Christ, but in end shall reap the fires of damnation for they did not believe (John 3:18, 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11, Revelation 20:15, Revelation 21:8)

There is going to be a final harvest, where Jesus Christ Son of Man gathers us, "looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a Son of Man (Jesus, see Mark 2:8-11, and Mark 14:62) with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” ¹⁶ So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested." (Revelation 14:14-16). This cross references to verses where Jesus said, "Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other" (Matthew 24:30-31), and the Apostle Paul said, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). However, there is another part of the harvest, when the One who is Faithful and True will command the Tares to be gathered and destroyed, "Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.  Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. ²⁰ They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 280 Miles," (Revelation 14:16-20), and "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God (Jesus, John 1:1-18). The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.  Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords"  Revelation 19:11-16). It is important to be part of First harvest, when Jesus Christ takes His people up with Him when He comes on clouds, not the second where people are trod in Winepress of God's Wrath. 

The Harvest is Ripe, and when Christ Return He will take one sickle to harvest the Saints and another to cut to pieces the Wicked. God loves us, He proved this by dying on cross for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8), and He desires all to repent and believe in Him and be saved (2 Peter 3:9), but He knows that many will have rebellious hearts (Revelation 9:12, 16:11), and that love is growing cold (Matthew 24:12). In my estimation the reason Jesus says when He returns, "I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?," (Luke 18:8), has a lot to do with polluted Christianities and cults that are rising today. Many churches think nothing of dabbling in occult, kabbala, witchcraft, New Age, and other practices such as Yoga, Zumba, and other paganisms. They think that the LORD is not enraged by their idolatry and adultery, but in fact they are storing up for themselves wrath (Romans 2:5). This is why Jesus says "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness," (Matthew 7:21-23), by the way practicing sin is lawlessness, "Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness as well. Indeed, sin is lawlessness," (1 John 3:4), and remember the Antichrist is the Man of Lawlessness and Man of Sin, "For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction.He will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God," (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4) and "Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming. This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth." (2 Thessalonians 8-12). 

There are many in church that flagrantly break the commands of God, "You shall have no other gods before Me.You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; ⁵ you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me," (Exodus 20:3-5), "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God's temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: "I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore, "Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." (2 Corinthians 6:14-17), and especially they fail to follow Christ's own words,

"Away from me, Satan!" Jesus declared. "For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only," (Matthew 4:10), "Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment," (Mathew 22:37-38). The Harvest is ripe, but I fear many in Church are going to be gathered with the Grapes for Wrath because they have become Necolatians, Balaamites, Jezebelites, and Bablyonains who serve God and devil through thier practices, "But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate," (Revelation 2:6), "Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality," (Revelation 2:14), "But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols," (Revelation 2:20), and " 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. Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’ Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her." (Revelation 18:4-8). 
Nicolaitans were like: "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds (better, works) of the Nicolaitanes.—The Nicolaitanes were, as has been expressed, the Antinomians of the Asiatic Church. The life and conduct were little thought of, and the faith professed was everything. Some have thought that they were a sect who derived their name, under some colourable pretext, from Nicolas the Proselyte; others hold that the name is purely symbolical, signifying “destroyer of the people,” and that it is no more than the Greek form of Balaam. (See Notes on Revelation 2:14-15, below.) The existence of a sect called Nicolaitanes in the second century is attested by Irenæus, Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria," "Revelation 2:6. But — Or nevertheless; this thou hast — This honour and praise remaining; divine grace seeks whatever may help him that is fallen to recover his standing; that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes — A sect so called, it is thought, from Nicolas, one of the seven deacons mentioned Acts 6:5; according to ancient writers, their doctrine and their lives were equally corrupt. They allowed the practice of the most abominable lewdness and adulteries, as well as sacrificing to idols; all which they placed among things indifferent, and pleaded for as branches of Christian liberty," I. In regard to the origin of the name, there have been three opinions:
(1) That mentioned by Irenaeus, and by some of the other fathers, that the name was derived from Nicolas, one of the deacons ordained at Antioch, Acts 6:5. Of those who have held this opinion, some have supposed that it was given to them because he became apostate and was the founder of the sect, and others because they assumed his name, in order to give the greater credit to their doctrine. But neither of these suppositions rests on any certain evidence, and beth are destitute of probability. There is no proof whatever that Nicolas the deacon ever apostatized from the faith, and became the founder of a sect; and if a name had been assumed, in order to give credit to a sect and extend its influence, it is much more probable that the name of an apostle would have been chosen, or of some other prominent man, than the name of an obscure deacon of Antioch.
(2) Vitringa, and most commentators since his time, have supposed that the name Nicolaitanes was intended to be symbolical, and was not designed to designate any sect of people, but to denote those who resembled Balaam, and that this word is used in the same manner as the word "Jezebel" in Revelation 2:20, which is supposed to be symbolical there. Vitringa supposes that the word is derived from νίκος nikos, "victory," and λαός laos, "people," and that thus it corresponds with the name Balaam, as meaning either בּצל צם bàal ̀am, "lord of the people," or בּלץ צם baalà ̀am, "he destroyed the people"; and that, as the same effect was produced by their doctrines as by those of Balaam, that the people were led to commit fornication and to join in idolatrous worship, they might be called "Balaamites" or "Nicolaitanes," that is, corrupters of the people. But to this it may be replied:
(a) that it is far-fetched, and is adopted only to remove a difficulty;
(b) that there is every reason to suppose that the word used here refers to a class of people who bore that name, and who were well known in the two churches specified;
(c) that in Revelation 2:15 they are expressly distinguished from those who held the doctrine of Balaam, Revelation 2:14, "So hast thou also (καὶ kai) those that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes."(3) it has been supposed that some person now unknown, probably of the name Nicolas, or Nicolaus, was their leader, and laid the foundation of the sect. This is by far the most probable opinion, and to this there can be no objection. It is in accordance with what usually occurs in regard to sects, orthodox or heretical, that they derive their origin from some person whose name they continue to bear; and as there is no evidence that this sect prevailed extensively, or was indeed known beyond the limits of these churches, and as it soon disappeared, it is easily accounted for that the character and history of the founder were so soon forgotten.II. In regard to the opinions which they held, there is as little certainty. Irenaeus (Adv. Haeres. i., 26) says that their characteristic tenets were the lawfulness of promiscuous sexual intercourse with women, and of eating things offered to idols. Eusebius (Hist. Ecclesiastes 3. 29) states substantially the same thing, and refers to a tradition respecting Nicolaus, that he had a beautiful wife, and was jealous of her, and being reproached with this, renounced all intercourse with her, and made use of an expression which was misunderstood, as implying that illicit pleasure was proper. Tertullian speaks of the Nicolaitanes as a branch of the Gnostic family, and as, in his time, extinct. Mosheim (De Rebus Christian Ante. Con. section 69) says that "the questions about the Nicolaitanes have difficulties which cannot be solved." Neander (History of the Christian Religion, as translated by Torrey, vol. i, pp. 452, 453) numbers them with Antinomians; though he expresses some doubt whether the actual existence of such a sect can be proved, and rather inclines to an opinion noticed above, that the name is symbolical, and that it is used in a mystical sense, according to the usual style of the Book of Revelation, to denote corrupters or seducers of the people, like Balaam. He supposes that the passage relates simply to a class of persons who were in the practice of seducing Christians to participate in the sacrificial feasts of the pagans, and in the excesses which attended them - just as the Jews were led astray of old by the Moabite." They have dared to allow other gods in their lives with Yoga (which is yoked to Brahmin, and is tenant and spiritual all important practice in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism), and other pagan practices. The Lord Jesus has made it clear, "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon," (Matthew 6:24), "Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." But the people said nothing, Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only prophet of the LORD who is left, but Baal has 450 prophets." (1 Kings 18:21-22), "Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD," (Joshua 24:14-15), Christ is Coming Soon and there is no room for the Lukewarm, "I know your deeds; you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were one or the other, So, because you are lukewarm [χιλιαρος,, lukewarm: metaphorically, of the condition of a soul wretchedly fluctuating between a torpor/lethargy and a fervor of love, see Revelation 2:4-7], and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth," (Revelation 3:15-16), and, "But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. But this is in your favor: You hate the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans, just as I do." (Revelation 2:4-7). 

Today many believe there is nothing wrong with having Dreamcatchers, Yoga exercises, and other pagan practices, they like Israelites are becoming corrupted by Canaanite peoples, who the LORD warned, "When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead (necromancy). For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you. "You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. "For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so," (Deuteronomy 18:9-14). The LORD Jesus will punish the Lukewarm Nicolatians, and their fate is clear, " if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them." (2 Peter 2:20-21, cross references are 1 John 3:4 and 9, Romans 1:32, and Galatians 5:19-21). Jesus clearly states that anyone practicing magic and other arts of evil will be damned to fires of hell, "But cowards (deilós ,"fear-driven" – properly, dreadful, describing a person who loses their "moral gumption  or fortitude that is needed to follow the Lord Jesus, antonym or opposite example is the verse is Revelation 14:12 and Matthew 24:13), unbelievers (John 3:18, 2 Thess 2:10-11), the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft and magical arts, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." (Revelation 21:8). Make no mistake, you cannot be lukewarm. Each person must decide now, who you will serve! I even urge you who don't practice magic and are Christian, but are enterained by magic in case of Narnia, Harry Potter, and beyond; if God abhors and hates magic, what do you think He thinks of you being entertained by it? Why would you entertain yourself with something God hates?!