WINNING WITH THE WORD
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Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is April 26, 2021, and this is Episode #12 of Series 2021. This episode is titled “How Close Are We to the End?”
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Any thinking person realizes that things are not what they used to be in this world. We not only sense that something isn’t right, but we wonder if things will ever return to normal.
Well, let me encourage you today. Not by promising you that things will return to normal, because I personally do not believe they will. But let me encourage you with the wonderful news that, no matter what happens in the world, if you follow Jesus Christ, you have a great future ahead of you!
You might be asking, “Dr. MaryAnn, how can you say such a thing? Is your head in the sand?”
No! Not at all. My head is very much above the sand. I’m continually looking around, observing current events, and comparing them with what the Bible says about our day. And, yes! The Bible has a lot to say about the day we’re living in.
Yes, the Bible. That ancient book that most people have never read. That ancient book that God gave us as our life manual. That ancient book that provides the answer to every situation we will ever face in life.
So, what does the Bible say about the days we are living in? The Bible says that when certain things begin to happen in our world, we can know that the return of Jesus Christ is near.
For those of you who do not know, Jesus Christ came to earth the first time two thousand years ago as a man in order to die for our sins, to rise again from the dead, and to restore man to God’s original intent for man. After Jesus accomplished His amazing victory over sin and death, He returned to Heaven for a time, promising that He would one day return for those who follow Him.
That return will take place in a cataclysmic event called the Rapture, which means an instantaneous “catching away” or removal from the earth of all of His true disciples. At the Rapture, Jesus will appear in the sky and take from the earth all those who are born again and follow Him. Only those who know Him will see Him. All others will be left behind to endure the most horrific period in human history known as the Tribulation.
In the past year, since Covid came on the scene, the world has had a small taste of what it will be like during the Tribulation. Our freedoms will be increasingly taken from us as the New World Order takes over the world. Here are some signs predicted in the Bible of what we would witness in the earth shortly before the Rapture:
1. Talk of “peace and security.” Hardly a single day goes by that we don’t hear or read the phrase “peace and security” or “peace and safety.” Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 3, says this: “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.”
Pay particular attention to how many times you hear or read the phrase “peace and security” or “peace and safety” during your daily routine. You may be surprised.
2. Increasing lawlessness and violence. Matthew 24: 12 tells us that “because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” We are seeing that today. Division is increasing in society, families, and even churches. Everywhere we turn, there is discord, division, and destruction.
3. Talk of the Third Temple. In 2 Thessalonians 2: 1-4, the Bible says this: “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers, not to be easily disconcerted or alarmed by any sprit or message or letter seeing to be from us alleging that the Day of the Lord has already come. Let no one deceive you in any way for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness–the son of destruction–is revealed. He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”
If you go to the website TempleInstitute.org, you will discover that everything is ready to build the Third Temple. All garments and all utensils have been crafted and are ready to be put to use. Even the required red heifer has been bred for the first time in 2000 years. It is being said that the Jews could rebuild the temple in 90 days once they get permission to do so. Part of the upcoming peace treaty may very well include permission to the Jews to rebuild the Temple in exchange for the dividing of Jerusalem.
4. An exponential increase in strong delusion and deception. It is no secret that the world has gone crazy, and now even the Church seems to be going crazy. We have so-called pastors joining Planned Parenthood to support its agenda. We have so-called pastors supporting homosexuality and transgenderism. We have so-called Christians saying that right is wrong and wrong is right. Nearly every day we read of some so-called Christian blatantly and brazenly opposing God’s Word and calling it truth.
We are seeing the fulfillment of Romans 1: 28 KJV: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.” The New Living Translation says it like this: “Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, He abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.”
“Reprobate” means depraved and foolish. A reprobate mind is a mind that can no longer think straight because it is separated from God Who is Truth.
5. The regathering of the Jews. The Bible speaks of this in Isaiah 11: 10-12: “In that day the Lord will reach out His hand a second time to bring back the remnant of His people–those who remain in Assyria and northern Egypt; in southern Egypt, Ethiopia and Elam; in Babylonia, Hamath, and all the distant coastlands. He will raise a flag among the nations and assemble the exiles of Israel. He will gather the scattered people of Judah from the ends of the earth.”
This Scripture began to be fulfilled when Israel became a nation in a single day on May 14, 1948. Isaiah 66: 8 NLT foretells this miraculous event: “Who has ever seen anything as strange as this? Who ever heard of such a thing? Has a nation ever been born in a single day? Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment?” Once Israel was established as a nation, Jews began returning to Israel since they now had a homeland to which to return.
Matthew 24: 34 states this: “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” What generation? The generation that saw the birth of Israel in a single day. This generation will not pass away until all the prophecies in Matthew 24 are fulfilled. How long is a generation? Biblically, a generation is between 40 and 80 years. This generation in which we now live–the generation that witnessed the birth of Israel in a single day–will be 73 years old on May 14th of this year of 2021 and will soon reach its 80th birthday in 2028. Does this mean that the Tribulation is at hand? I believe so.
6. A world without borders. A world without borders is a move toward a one-world order. It is a move toward the elimination of nationalism–in other words, the elimination of individual countries–and toward the establishment of one global community, While this may sound like a wonderful plan, it blatantly violates God’s Word.
The Lord established the nations, He says in Psalm 2: 8, “Ask of Me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance.” Nations are God’s idea, and, as the Bible predicts, man’s attempt to abolish God’s idea will result in catastrophe.
7. The alignment of nations in the Middle East. Two significant events stand out here. First, we have the coalition forming among Russia, Turkey, and Iran. This coalition is preparing the way for the invasion of Israel by these three countries. The second significant event is the alignment of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain with Israel in the Abraham Accords. It looks very probable that Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries will also sign the agreement. Scripture predicts that the Arab nations which, heretofore, were against Israel, would, in the last days, side with Israel.
8. A pope who, in some areas, defies the Word of God. In an attempt to promote a one-world religion, Pope Francis has repeatedly violated God’s Word by holding joint religious services with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and leaders from other false world religions. The Bible makes very clear in 2 Corinthians 6: 14 that light and darkness have no fellowship with each other. From all appearances, Pope Francis could be the False Prophet predicted in Revelation 16 who establishes a one-world-religion in the last days.
9. The current technological explosion that is preparing the way for the Mark of the Beast. Some Bible scholars believe that the image of the beast in the Temple will be a construct of artificial intelligence or AI. At the 2020 World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, Professor Yuval Harari, Professor of History at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, gave a chilling talk on the advances of AI technology, some of them sinister from a Biblical point of view. You can listen for yourself on YouTube.
Revelation 13: 16-18 predicts this: “He [the AntiChrist] required everyone–small and great, rich and poor, free and slave–to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead, And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name. Wisdom is needed here, Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.”
Already, we are seeing precursors of technology that could lead to the mark of the beast in Amazon’s recent introduction of Amazon One Palm, where one uses the palm of his hand to pay for a purchase. I went to Amazon’s website introducing the One Palm feature and read this (and I quote): “The first step is to insert your credit card. Next, hover your palm over the device and follow the prompts to associate that card with the unique palm signature being built for you by our computer vision technology in real time. You’ll have the option to enroll with just one palm or both. And that’s it–you’re now signed up.”
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Bottom line, the world is being programmed to submit to the New World Order.
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If we have eyes to see and ears to hear, we can discern that Amazon One Palm is programming the world to receive the mark of the beast. The mark of the beast will be required in order to buy or sell. We are already seeing glimpses of this future restriction in the so-called “vaccine passport” where people are prohibited from traveling unless they have been vaccinated.
The mark of the beast will eventually be something in the hand or forehead–possibly a computer chip–that will contain all of one’s identifying data, including medical and personal, and will mark one as as having given allegiance to the beast who, of course, is the AntiChrist or Satan personified. According to the Bible, those who give allegiance to the AntiChrist will be doomed to Hell forever. This truth is foretold in Revelation 20: 15 NLT: “And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
You may be thinking, “Dr. MaryAnn, aren’t you going a bit too far?” I would say to you, ‘Don’t take my word for it. Do your own homework. Study the Bible and compare what is predicted in the Bible with what you read in the daily newspaper headlines, with what you hear on the news, and with what you see before your very eyes.
Bottom line, the world is being programmed to submit to the New World Order, and the globalists are using fear to further their agenda of subduing the entire world. When man fears, he allows what he fears to rob him of his freedom. In the case of our world now, man fears Covid 19, and he is allowing his fear of Covid to plunge him into tyranny.
Jesus said this in Matthew 11: 15: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” The New Living Translation translates Jesus’ words as follows: “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!”
Do you have ears to hear? If not, I urge you to sharpen your hearing by studying the Holy Bible.
What is happening in the United States today closely parallels what happened in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The New World Order is taking over our nation under the guise of Covid fear and the Great Reset. If America does not repent and turn back to God, there is no hope for our nation to survive.
I say all of this not to spread doom and gloom but to alert the Church to be ready for persecution. Despite the evil around us, we can have hope because all of these signs of the times remind us that our redemption is drawing near. And that gives us great cause for rejoicing. It is very exciting to think that we may be the generation that sees the Lord’s Glorious Appearing in the sky to remove His followers from the earth. 
But we must occupy until our Lord comes. We must tell others that only Jesus Christ saves, that only Jesus Christ heals, that only Jesus Christ sets people free.
If you have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, I urge you to do so now. He is coming back soon for those of us who follow Him. Those who do not follow Him will be left behind to go through the worst time in human history, a seven-year period of horror the Bible calls the Tribulation. Do not be one of those left behind. Accept Jesus Christ now!
Just pray this simple prayer with me:
Lord Jesus, I need You to save me. I am a sinner in need of Your mercy and grace. I ask You now to come into my life. I receive You as my personal Savior and the Lord of my life. Forgive me of my sin. Thank You for welcoming me into Your family. In Your Name, I pray. Amen.
If you prayed this prayer sincerely, please write to me at drmaryann@maryanndiorio.com. I would like to send you a free e-booklet that will help you get started in your walk with Christ. I also encourage you to get yourself a Bible and read it every single day. The Bible is God’s love letter to you, His manual for your life. In the Bible, God reveals Who He is, and He teaches you how to live.
Finally, ask the Lord to lead you to the church of His choice for you where you can learn about Him and have fellowship and encouragement with other Christ-Followers. It is critically important in these last days to fellowship with other believers who are mature in Christ and can guide you as you grow in Him.
If you are not yet a subscriber to the Winning with the Word blog and podcast, I urge you to click on the link below to subscribe now so you will not miss a single weekly episode:
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PLEASE TWEET: “How Close Are We to the End?” (CLICK TO TWEET)
Now it’s your turn: Do you think we are nearing the Great Tribulation? If so, why? If not, why not? Please leave your comment in the Comment Box below. Thank you.
Photo Source: Image by Aleza at Pixabay
Source cited re: Amazon One: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/introducing-amazon-one-a-new-innovation-to-make-everyday-activities-effortless
“How to Survive the 21st Century”
Yuval Harari, World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland 2020
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For those of you who may not know, I write fiction about many of the issues I deal with in this blog and podcast. My latest novel, Miracle in Milan, will be released in June. But you can pre-order a copy now on Amazon.com for only $0.99. I also encourage you to visit my website bookstore at maryanndiorio.com/book-table .
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Finally, be sure to check out my latest book, The Iron Saint. This book, modeled after The Iron Man triathlon, talks about the coming persecution of the Church in America and how you can prepare for it. The Iron Saint is available on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and other major book purchasing venues. You may also find it on my website at maryanndiorio.com/book-table. Get a copy for your pastor as well.
Until next time, remember that God loves you just as you are and just where you are and that He will help you to keep on Winning with the Word!
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Now Available for Pre-Order: Dr. MaryAnn’s latest novel, Miracle in Milan.
When a young, female auditor discovers evidence that the man she loves is an embezzler, she must choose between ruining him or ruining herself.
Amy Torelli, Chief Auditor for New York City-based Enson Pharmaceuticals, is assigned to audit the books of Enson’s Italian branch in the enchanting city of Milan, Italy. Having made an inner vow never to trust a man again because of her father’s betrayal, Amy finds herself falling in love with Enson Italia’s American-born Vice-President, Ted Masters. Will Ted be the one to cause her to break her inner vow?
Ted Masters is on the run. A run from rejection. From himself. From God. Having been wounded by a father who made him feel worthless, and having been dumped by the woman he wanted to marry, Ted is determined to keep all women at bay. But will Amy be the reason he changes his mind?
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Featured Book of the Week: THE IRON SAINT by MaryAnn Diorio, PhD
The Church in America is on the verge of a tremendous spiritual awakening, an awakening that will first be fueled by persecution unlike anything we have ever seen before in this land. Indeed, a prophetic word given in my home church during the month of November gave this warning to the Church: “Prepare for the fire of persecution!”
But the Church is not ready for this persecution. For the most part, the Church in America has been weak and lukewarm. Flabby and lazy. Consumed with the world and not with the things of God. As a result, the Church has been deceived and has subverted the divine order of things.
In THE IRON SAINT, Dr. MaryAnn Diorio seeks to help equip the saints for the work of true, integritous, and effective ministry. As a teacher in the Body of Christ, it is her burning desire to help correct this devastating error.
In THE IRON SAINT, Dr. Diorio has outlined a plan of action for strengthening the Church through uncompromising obedience to the Word of God. This plan of action is based on her own 50 years of walking with the Lord and being led by His Holy Spirit.
If you are a born-again believer and member of the Body of Christ, make this book a top reading priority.
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Check out these popular Winning with the Word podcasts below. You may also search for a particular topic in the search box at the top of the sidebar on this page.
__When Your Prayers Don’t Seem to Be Answered
__The Privilege of Persecution
__7 Signs That the Tribulation Is at Hand
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“Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that helps you to deal with the daily problems of life by using the Bible as your guide to solving them. The Word of God will make you a success in life!
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