Look carefully at the above: "Because of rebellion." I think the NIV has done a good job here. God is looking for traces of rebellion in the heavenly host. After all, the original rebellion began in Heaven around the Throne of God.

Let me put this in simple terms. You have been a Christian, perhaps a minister, for many years. Your born-again life, the Life of Christ in you, is in Christ in the Father.

Now God is shaking you. Perhaps He is showing you that you have been incorrect in some of your preaching. It is true that much Christian preaching consists mostly of fables, such as the teaching that God's grace is an alternative to righteous behavior instead of being the wisdom, authority, and power that enables us to keep His commandments.

Or perhaps you have been searching the Scriptures and are beginning to believe you have been incorrect concerning the so-called pre-tribulation rapture.

Now you have a clear choice.

Should I go before my congregation and inform them that I have been wrong for the past forty years?

Should I pretend I still believe in the pre-tribulation rapture, that God is going to remove His people from the earth so they won't suffer and carry them up to Heaven, even though I have discovered there is no such doctrine in the Scriptures?

Can you see what a shaking this would be? Perhaps God is pressing you to tell the truth to the people. You have been mistaken all these years!

If you disobey God, if you continue to tell your listeners there is no danger facing them, you then become a false prophet. The enemy is at the gates and you are crying "All is well!"

Do you know what happens next? Daniel tells us: "It threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them." You no longer are a victorious saint. Satan has used the spirit of Antichrist in you to pull you down from your high place in God. You have lost the battle! You no longer can claim to be a person of integrity. You are trying to shore up the wall with whitewash. You are a hypocrite.

I am using such terms to show you the reality of what we are facing in the present hour.

There have been prominent ministers in our day who have been pulled down from their place in Christ and trampled on by Satan, because they yielded to the lusts of their flesh. Isn't that true? It may be true also that they pulled down other people with them!

The old religious games are over. The Lord Jesus Christ is moving among the lampstands.

To be continued.