Time to Choose: You Cannot Serve Two Masters

One thing is certain: As it is impossible for a man to mount two horses, so no man can serve/please two masters, you cannot serve God and the pursuit of wealth. You must choose between one or the other. For if you serve the pursuit of mammon, it will be your master. It will govern every decision you make. It will consume you with all that you have. You will never have enough. On the other hand, if God is master/focus, there won’t be enough room to contain the abundance poured out. It is The Valley of Decision, and a choice to be made. In this so-called ‘time of uncertainty’, it’s time for discernment to make certain. Jesus said to pay attention always so ‘that Day’ doesn’t come upon you in unawareness. That Day? What Day? The Day of the Lord! Just like when Moses required the people to make a choice between God’s servant and a rebellious servant. Making the wrong choice was a bad decision.

“No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon/pursuit of wealth.

The priests also, who were covetous (that is: fond of money, avaricious or greedy for riches), heard all these things: and they derided/sneered at him. Jesus said to them, ‘You are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.’”

Jesus – Gospel of Luke 16:13-15

The Love of Money

“…But they that are rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts/desires, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some covet after, they have erred from the faith/truth and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

But you, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith/truth, love, patience, meekness.”

Apostle Paul – 1 Timothy 6:9-11

“The love of money leads to idolatry, because once they are led astray by money, they designate as gods those that are not gods. It makes anyone who has it go out of his mind.”

The Testament of Judah 19:1
The Love of Money
The Almighty-Dollar$

Pagan Idolatry

The worship of pagan gods, statues and idols has always involved magic, sorcery and superstition: presenting a false sense of reality to the worshiper. The Latin word superstitio, means an unreasonable religious belief. They shall be greatly ashamed that trust in graven images. The power and plagues that God brought against Egypt when they had enslaved Israel in the time of Moses, clearly demonstrate that their gods were/are powerless and not gods at all before the true and living God of Israel.

The Canaanite god most referred to in the Old Testament is Baal, which means “lord” or “master.” As a god who symbolized the productive forces of nature, Baal and his cohort Ashtoreth, “Queen of Heaven”, were and are worshiped with much fervor and veneration. The Canaanites were the merchants and financial administrators or bankers of the earth.

“And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim (pl. Baal): And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.”

Judges 2:11-13

Ahab and Jezebel

Ahab, the king of Israel and his wife Jezebel built altars and high places to her Canaanite gods, Baal and Ashtoreth. Together, as a shadow of the “beast” and the “whore” in the Book of Revelation, they caused the House of Israel to worship Baal and forsake the God of their fathers (1 King 16:30-33). Ultimately this caused them to be taken into captivity in Assyria and to become known as the “Ten Lost Tribes of the House of Israel” (2 King 18:11-12). But before that happened, Elijah, the Prophet of God, showed up!

“It came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, ‘Are you he that troubles Israel?’ And he answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the Commandments of the LORD, and you have followed Baalim (pl).’

Elijah said, ‘I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken Your Covenant, thrown down Your altars, and slain Your prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.’

The LORD said to him, … ‘Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him.'”

1 Kings 19:14-18

Paul quotes this very scenario in Romans 11. What was the answer of God to Elijah? ‘I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.’ Even so then at this present time also there is a Remnant according to the election of grace.” This Remnant will not bow the knee nor worship Baal and his image nor take his mark. Who are these people?

“And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the people seek: and his rest[ing-place] shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the Remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.”

Isaiah 11:10-11

Hear the Word of the LORD!

Hear the word of the LORD, O ye people, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock. For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all.”

Jeremiah 31:10-12

The Remnant of Israel make the right choice

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion/Zion and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s Name written in their foreheads. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures, and the elders: and no one could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. …These are they which follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile/deceit: for they are without fault before the throne of God… …here are they that keep the Commandments of God, and the faith/truth of Jesus.”

“And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.”

The Book of Revelation 14:1-5, 12; 7:4

Some teach these are ‘Jews’. All Jews are Israelites, however, not all Israelites are Jews! There are twelve tribes of Israel, one for each son. Judah was the fourth son of Jacob, one tribe. Many years ago, before Jesus’ time, they were split into two houses: The House of Israel (ten tribes) and the House of Judah (two tribes). They’ve gone their separate ways ever since. They don’t even recognize themselves or each other anymore. But in that Day, the Trumpet shall sound and the two houses of Israel and Judah will come together as ‘One Nation under God‘ and be the servants of the LORD their God. (Ezek 37)

“I will make them one nation in the land and upon the Mountain of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more. Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols…”

Ezekiel 37:22

Who will worship the Image of the Beast?

And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If any man/person worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixer into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name.’”

The Book of Revelation 14:9-11

Don’t get caught by a Snare

“They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead… And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.”

Psalm 106:28, 36

This word snare in the Strong’s Dictionary #4170 means: a noose (for catching animals) (literally or figuratively): by implication, a hook (for the nose): – be ensnared, trapped. From #3369, to lay a snare, to be a birdcatcher (to plot against). People are now being treated as lab rats with their minds and behavior analyzed, manipulated and controlled. Watch out and take heed for the snare being laid!

“My son, do not walk in the way with them; refrain your foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which takes away the life of the owners thereof.”

Proverbs 1:15-19

Follow the Lamb

Pertaining to the end times, Jesus said:

“Truly I say to you, This generation shall not pass away, till all is fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

So take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts become overcharged with surfeiting/headaches, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you in unawareness. For as a snare it shall come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Adam.”

Jesus – The Gospel of Luke 21:32-36

Defiled with their own inventions

“They were mingled among the heathen and learned their works. They served idols: which were a snare unto them. Yes, they have sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto demons, they shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.

Thus they were defiled with their own works and went a whoring with their own inventions. Therefore the wrath of the LORD was kindled against His people, insomuch that He abhorred His own inheritance. And He gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.”

Psalm 106:35-42

Artificial: adj. produced by man, made in imitation or as a substitute; contrived, feigned

Intelligence, n. capacity for reasoning, understanding and other similar forms of mental activity

Artificial intelligence (AI), sometimes called machine intelligence, is intelligence demonstrated by machines, unlike the natural intelligence displayed by humans and animals.

Wikipedia
Nothing made by the hand of man shall stand!

War in Heaven

That old Serpent, the Devil has said in his heart, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation…: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”

Isaiah 14:13-15

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ/Messiah: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”

Revelation 12:7-10

The word ‘devil’ here is Greek, diablos, #1228, which means: prone to slander, slanderous, accusing falsely; satan is a Hebrew word meaning ‘adversary’ or enemy; the serpent is an ‘artful, cunning and malicious person’; and a dragon is a ‘fabulous kind of serpent’.

“Whosoever exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.”

Jesus, Gospel of Luke 14:7-11, 18:9-14

“Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after Righteousness, for they shall be filled… Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so did they persecute the prophets which were before you… You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a mountain cannot be hid…”

Jesus, Gospel of Matthew 5:10-20

The Serpent presented a choice

This is that same old Serpent who from the beginning in the garden deceived Eve and convinced her to disobey God and to ‘eat’ of the Tree which God had commanded against. He told her, “…your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as gods…” To Eve, it “looked good to make one wise,” so she chose to partake of it. To this day that ‘old serpent’ has deceived the whole world with subtlety, causing people to disobey God’s commands, which are meant for their good. Now they are in Great Tribulation having to deal with the thorns and thistles! (Gen 3:14-19)

Moses gave them a choice

“I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil. In that I command you this day to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His Commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply: and the Lord your God shall bless you in the land where you go to possess it. But if your heart will turn away, so that you will not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that you shall surely perish, and that you shall not prolong your days upon the land, where you pass over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live:”

Moses, Deuteronomy 30:15-19

Joshua said, ‘Choose you this Day’

Joshua said to the children of Israel: “Now therefore reverence the LORD, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve the LORD.

And if it seems evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites (“powerful people of Canaan”), in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. And the people answered and said, ‘God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;

For the LORD our God, He it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed:’

And the people said to Joshua, ‘The LORD our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey.’

So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God, and took a great stone and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. And Joshua said to all the people, ‘Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest you deny your God.’”

Joshua 24:14-17, 23-27

Shadrach, Mishach and Abedneggo made a choice

Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, set up an image of gold and commanded all, great and small, to bow down to his golden god when they heard a certain song played. The proclamation of the king was, “whosoever will not fall down and worship shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” The king said to the three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Mishach and Abedneggo, who had been carried off to Babylon, and who refused to bow, “…who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” They answered him, “Our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us… and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He doesn’t, be it known unto you, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image that you have set up!” (Daniel 3)

A Numbering of People

Punch-card technology has been around since before World War I. It was invented as a tabulation machine to aid the Census Bureau. It produced a card that is stamped or encoded and was initially used to count, then to identify and locate and then to exile and exterminate. This was IBM’s Hollerith System used in Nazi, Germany to identify and exterminate the Jews/Hebrews and others deemed by them to be undesirable.

IBM Punch Cards – precursor to digital ID Cards

The same technology, advanced and upgraded, has been creeping in to become the most ubiquitous thing the world has ever seen! It is now the new god/idol of the people. It’s priests are merchants greedy for gain and have become the wealthiest of men on earth. And it’s all about data! They never have enough! The more data, the more mammon. The more money, the more they can buy! The more they can buy, the more they own. The more they own, the more they control. Till they own and control everything! The more they can stir people up, the more data it creates for their profit. So they turn things upside down and stir people up! They have no care for anyone. They have no loyalty to any land. They have no reverence for God. Their only focus is financial profit and having their will be done.

Earmarked
Sheep marked with a number and barcode of ownership

This is the snare that has been laid: A special ID card or encoded material (‘mark’) will be required shortly to participate in the following venues: (Anyone not having this special card will be cut off.)

Financial services
Health Care, treatment, insurance, records, etc.
Schools, education
Employment, businesses
Travel, Drivers license, gas and oil, air, train, bus, etc.
Entertainment, concerts, movies, game parlors, etc.
Sports venues
Ticket purchases
Buying and selling

“Mass surveillance is the single most indicative distinguishing trait of totalitarian regimes.”

Google of Mountain View, the modern Mount Olympus

“From its rarified heights, Google has become humanity’s oracle, its source of wisdom and knowledge of all that exists in the universe. It knows just about everything about us—down to our deepest secrets… It answers our every question… Nobody has been able to compete with the Google god…
Like a religion, Apple has its own belief system, its own idols, and a cult of people eager to worship… Apple is able to price at a premium, making it the most profitable company in history… So while all but Apple and Amazon are merely three commas deep on their own balance sheets, they are in a position to effectively control 97% of the world’s wealth.”
The Norway Council of Consumers released a report titled, “Deceived by Design.” This report came out of the most thorough investigation yet on how Facebook and Google manipulate users…”

Big Tech Tyrants, How Silicon Valley’s Stealth Practices Addict Teens, Silence Speech, and Steal Your Privacy, by Floyd Brown and Todd Cefaratti, © 2019

Will you forsake Almighty God?

Will God and His Word be forsaken for this modern and deceptive technology ‘god’ and new ‘master’ of the people? It is poised to completely consume humanity in a relatively short time. As caught in a snare, the nations have been deceived and turned their backs on the Living God for a machine of “artificial intelligence” made by man. They worship the works of their own hands as surely as any idol or graven image. This cunning serpent wants the capability to track, trace and scan every human on the planet. Does he want to be ‘like the Most High’ to know all things? How would this be accomplished?

“The Mark of the Beast”

“And he does great wonders, so that he makes fire (information) come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast…

And he had power to give life/breath unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed/put to death. And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom. Let him that has understanding count/compute the number of the beast: for it is the number[ing] of man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six (666).”

Revelation 13:13-18

“Every punch card would become an informational storehouse limited only by the number of holes. It was nothing less than a nineteenth-century bar code for human beings.”

IBM and the Holocaust, The Strategic Alliance between Nazi Germany and America’s Most Powerful Corporation, by Edwin Black, c 2001, p 25
The Hollerith System allowed for surveillance and collection of data on the population

The Abomination of Desolation

The ‘abomination of desolation’ is something that causes you to have nothing. To be without God is to be desolate. Idolatry, which is an abomination to God, causes desolation.

Real ID Card for identification
Real ID Card – You can’t buy or sell without it

This abomination has been in the process up for a very long time. It was in the 1980s they began requiring the bar code on all items for sale and the installation of ATM machines also requiring a special encoded card along with a PIN (personal identification number) in order to transact with the machines. The word translated ‘mark‘ in the Book of Revelation is the Greek: charagma, which means a stamped or imprinted mark; graven image, carved or engraved (cf facsimile). Root word: character.

“When you therefore shall see the Abomination of Desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand/set up in the holy place, (whoso reads, let him understand:) …then shall be Great Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be again…”

Jesus, Gospel of Matthew 24:15-22, Daniel 11:31, 12:1

Discernment to Choose Given to a Remnant

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion/Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s Name written in their foreheads. … These are they which follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

And I saw another angel/messenger fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Reverence God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.”

The Book of Revelation 14:1-7

“And they shall be Mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him. Then you shall return and discern between the Righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves him not. … Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful/terrible Day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the Father to the children, and the heart of the children to their Father, when I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

Malachi 3 & 4

So then the Remnant that serve God has the Name of the Father in their foreheads. Those that serve and worship the image of ‘the beast,’ have his name in their foreheads. So choose you this day whom you shall serve. You can’t serve two masters! But as for me and my house, we serve the LORD!

Which Way will you Choose medley:
Which way will you choose, Randy Travis
I think I’ll Read it Again, Gold City
Tribulation, Charlie Daniels
The Ten Commandments, The Statler Brothers
The Overcomers, Michael Card
Hallelujah, Handel’s Messiah


Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Oldest
Newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Scroll to Top