MaryAnn Diorio

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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!

AN INVITATION TO YOU: To subscribe to Winning with the Word, click here.

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Posted on Monday, March 23, 2020

You Are ALREADY Healed!

by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio

by MaryAnn

WINNING WITH THE WORD

“Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life.

AN INVITATION TO YOU: To follow this blog, click here.

If this blog has blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you!

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Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post:

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Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, your Virtual Life Coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, March 23, 2020. Today’s Podcast is Episode #12 in Series 2020 and is titled “You Are Already Healed!”

With the Corona virus pandemic literally bringing the world to a stop, the topic of sickness is on the minds of the great majority of people on earth.

Except, perhaps, for those of us who follow Christ.

Sickness should not be on our minds. Healing and health should be on our minds.

Sadly, however, many Christians are facing the pandemic in the same way the world is facing it–with fear and dread. Brothers and sisters, this should not be!

When we were born again, we received not only forgiveness for our sins but also healing for our bodies. Both forgiveness and healing are in the Atonement of Christ. The stripes He took on His back were for our healing. First Peter 2: 24 testifies to this truth: “By the stripes of Jesus, you were healed.” When were we healed? When Jesus took those 39 stripes on His back. Interestingly, the medical profession groups all diseases into 39 categories. So, Jesus took a stripe on His back for each category and, thereby, for all diseases.

When we take Holy Communion, we are commemorating both the forgiveness of our sins and the healing of our bodies that Jesus earned for us through His death and resurrection. The wine represents His Blood which He shed to pay the price for our sins. The bread represents His Body which He gave to be beaten to pay the price for our sicknesses. This is the two-fold meaning of the Atonement.

Yet, despite Christ’s gift of total salvation, few Christians are partaking of it. Instead, they are needlessly bearing a burden that Jesus already bore for us. Why?

There are several reasons. I would like to touch upon only a few:

1. Healing is not being taught in our churches. The Bible teaches in Romans 10: 17 that “faith comes by hearing.” This means that faith in anything comes by hearing. Taken to its logical conclusion, whatever we hear often enough will engender faith in that which we hear.

So, if we constantly listen to reports and statistics about the devastation being caused by the Corona virus–or anything else, for that matter–we will begin to have faith in those negative reports. But if we constantly listen to the Word of God and His message of healing and health, we will begin to have faith in God’s report.

2. False teaching has been preached from some pulpits. Such false teaching includes messages like the following:

___Healing is not for today.
___God doesn’t heal everyone.
___God uses sickness to teach us.

All of these false teachings are contrary to what the Bible teaches, yet few Christians challenge them but simply swallow them hook, line, and sinker.

Well, it’s about time we realize that God says what He means and means what He says. When He says in Psalm 103: 3 that He heals all our diseases, He means He heals ALL our diseases. When He says in 1 Peter 2: 24 that we were healed by the stripes of Jesus, He means that we WERE healed by the stripes of Jesus.

Healing is a finished work. Before He gave up His last breath, Jesus said, “It is finished!” He meant that the work of salvation was finished. Done! Completed! There is nothing left for Jesus to do. It is now our job to appropriate to our own lives what Jesus did through His death and resurrection.

How do we appropriate the Atonement to our lives? By simply believing God. By simply trusting that what God has said is absolute truth, and then by acting on it in our own lives.

3. Christians don’t spend time studying and memorizing the Word for themselves. The only Scripture many Christians hear on a weekly basis is what they hear from their pastor on Sunday morning. In Philippians 2: 12, the Apostle Paul instructs us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. This means that we are not to depend primarily on our pastor to learn the Word. We are to study the Word for ourselves. If we ate as much physical food during a week as we eat of the Word, we would all starve to death.

Perhaps you have faith but you are still not experiencing healing. Then you may be struggling with unbelief. Unbelief is doubt that quenches any faith we already have. We can have faith and unbelief at the same time. This condition is like having two horses hitched together to a cart, but each horse is pulling in the opposite direction. Their respective efforts cancel each other out. When we have doubt along with faith, we get nothing.

We need to get rid of unbelief and have only faith in order to receive from God. And it doesn’t take much faith to receive from God. Jesus said that if we have only enough faith as the size of a mustard seed, we can move a mountain. But the problem is that our doubt and unbelief overshadow our faith, and then we remain at a stalemate.

Remember the dear man in Mark 9: 24 who fell at the feet of Jesus and exclaimed, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief”? This man struggled with the same problem. He had faith, but he also had doubt. His doubt diluted his faith.

So, instead of trying to strengthen your faith, work on eliminating your doubt. How? By filing your mind with the things of God, not with the things of the world. Guard your heart carefully, for what is in your heart will determine the course of your life.

As a prime example, instead of listening continually to the negative news, listen to readings from the Bible. Listen to worship music. Listen to messages on faith and on your authority in Christ.

Finally, remember that God has already given us all that we need to live a full and holy life. Listen to what the Apostle Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1: 3: “God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and for godliness. This power was given to us through knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and integrity.”

Yes, God has given us all that we need to lead a victorious life. But if we choose to live by fear instead of faith, we will never experience God’s blessings in our lives.

It’s time to give up fear and take up faith. Perhaps, instead of bringing the world to a stop, the Corona virus will bring the world to its knees.

If you have not yet been born again, please pray this simple prayer with me to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, Only He can give you the abundant life that He died to give you.

Lord Jesus, I come to You just as I am. I need You to save me. I cannot save myself. I repent of my sins and ask You to forgive me. I invite You into my life to be my Savior and my Lord. I thank You for receiving me. In Your Name I pray, believe, and receive. Amen.

If you prayed this simple prayer, please write to me at drmaryann@maryanndiorio.com. I would like to send you a little booklet that will help you get started in your relationship with Jesus Christ. I also encourage you to get yourself a Bible and read it every day, starting in the Gospel of John, which is in the second half of the Bible. Finally, ask the Lord to lead you to the church of His choice for you where you can learn about Him and find fellowship and encouragement with other Christ-Followers.

For those of you who may not know, I write fiction about some of the issues I deal with in this blog and podcast. I invite you to visit my website at https://www.maryanndiorio.com/book-table. There you will find a complete list of the novels, novellas, and short stories I have written about characters with problems like yours.

To subscribe to “Winning with the Word”, click here.

To receive my monthly newsletter, click here.

On my website, you will also find additional resources, articles, non-fiction books, and podcasts to help you grow in your walk with Christ.

If you have been blessed by these messages, I also invite you to become a Winning with the Word patron on Patreon. As a patron you will enjoy special benefits only for my patrons. Just go to Patreon.com and search for Winning with the Word to join. This podcast is being sponsored by my wonderful patron, Karon Bekebrede. Thank you, Karon, for supporting the work of the Lord.

And to all of you wonderful listeners out there, thank you so much for listening. This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, your virtual life coach, reminding you 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.

Listen to the podcast here:

________________________________________________

Now it’s your turn: Do you need a healing? If so, let us pray for you. Please leave your comment in the Comment Box below. Thank you!

Please tell your family and friends about “Winning with the Word,” and please pass this post on to them. Thank you!

Check out these three 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.

__Is the World Coming to an End?

PLEASE TWEET: “The Dangers of the Enneagram” by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio (CLICK TO TWEET)

Are you new to this blog? If so, what is the “Winning with the Word” blog and why will it bless you to read it?

“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!

AN INVITATION TO YOU: To subscribe to Winning with the Word, click here.

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Posted on Monday, March 16, 2020

The Dangers of the Enneagram

by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio

by MaryAnn

WINNING WITH THE WORD

“Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life.

AN INVITATION TO YOU: To follow this blog, click here.

If this blog has blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you!

______________________________________

Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post:

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Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, your Virtual Life Coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, March 16, 2020. Today’s Podcast is Episode #11 in Series 2020 and is titled “The Dangers of the Enneagram.”

We live in an age of great delusion. Jesus prophesied that this would happen in the last days. When His disciples asked Him what would be the signs of the end times, His first words of response were, “Take heed that no one deceives you” (Matthew 24: 4). I find Christ’s initial response extremely telling.

The first sign Jesus gave of the endtimes was deception. He warned us that the last days would be characterized by great deception and great delusion. And He warned us to “take heed” against it. To take heed means “to guard ourselves against.”

Deception is the act of misleading in a wrong direction. Deception is the promulgation of a lie that will eventually lead to death, not only physically, but also morally, psychologically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.

One of the signs of this great deception is the widespread infiltration into the Church of the Enneagram. Like yoga, the Enneagram has been “Christianized” to make it look innocuous. But it is far from innocuous!

Perhaps you have heard of the Enneagram, or perhaps you have used it yourself. But for those of you who have never heard of it, what is the Enneagram?

The Enneagram is a tool used to analyze one’s personality. It became popular in the corporate world in the 1990s, and from there spread rapidly to the mainstream world. Now, sad to say, it has even infiltrated the Church!

The Enneagram is comprised of a diagram listing the numbers one to nine. The diagram has lines that connect each number to two other numbers. According to the Enneagram Institute, the nine numbers represent the so-called “nine divine forms” found in Gnostic teachings. Gnosticism, you may recall, was the heresy that the Apostle Paul refuted in the Book of Colossians. These nine forms of the Enneagram supposedly represent man’s perfect essence in unity with Divinity.

Under the guise of analyzing the personality for the purpose of better understanding oneself and others, the Enneagram at its core has as its purpose a spiritual awakening. Listen to what Marcia Montenegro, a former New Age astrologer who converted to Christianity, has to say about the Enneagram: “The Enneagram purports to lead a person to not only self-understanding, but to an integration of all aspects of the self and, ultimately, to an awakening to the true Self. ‘Self’ is capitalized because the Self is considered by the original (and most contemporary) Enneagram teachers to be divine.”

As with other things in life, we must look at the root to determine the fruit. The Enneagram has its roots in the occult. In other words, it has its roots in the demonic kingdom of Satan. Some of those roots can be traced back to mystic George Gurdjieff (1866?-1949) who was born around 1866 and lived until 1949. It is purported, although not proven, that Gurdjieff learned the Enneagram from the Sufis, a mystical subgroup of Islam.

Gurdjieff had two well-known followers–P. D. Ouspensky (1878-1947) and Oscar Ichazo (b. 1931)–who helped Gurdjieff to promote the use of the Enneagram. Gurdjieff taught that man cannot know true reality unless his consciousness is awakened. The Enneagram is a tool for awakening the consciousness.

One of Gurdjieff’s protegés was psychiatrist Oscar Ichazo. Ichazo, a heavy user of psychedelic drugs, stated that he had a spirit guide named Metatron who guided him and his followers.

With this background, it is shocking that so many Christians are now embracing the Enneagram. Yet, many Christians continue to promote it as an okay tool as long as it is Christianized. But I ask you, “Can one sanitize evil?”

So, what’s wrong with the Enneagram, and why is it dangerous?

As Marcia Montenegro writes: “A simple investigation into the Enneagram reveals that its theories of personality are based on esoteric teachings and an occult worldview. The clear origin and purpose of the Enneagram is to initiate a Gnostic spiritual awakening to one’s alleged true divine Self, which is in itself an occult initiation. This is the claim and goal of virtually all occult and New Age teachings. The purpose of such initiation is a shift in consciousness, a change in the way one views reality — God, the world, others, and self.”

We cannot justify an occult practice simply by slapping the label of “Christian” onto it. Yet, that is what the Church has done with yoga and now with the Enneagram. Church, it is time to wake up! You are being deceived, and deception will always lead to destruction and, if there is no repentance, even damnation.

If you have been using the Enneagram, repent now and stop using it. I caution you to open your eyes to this doctrine of devils. And, as Jesus commanded, be not deceived!

The only way to keep from deception is to develop an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. If you do not yet have such a relationship, I invite you now to accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord.

Pray this simple prayer with me:

If you prayed this simple prayer, please write to me at drmaryann@maryanndiorio.com. I would like to send you a little booklet that will help you get started in your relationship with Jesus Christ. I also encourage you to get yourself a Bible and read it every day, starting in the Gospel of John, which is in the second half of the Bible. Finally, ask the Lord to lead you to the church of His choice for you where you can learn about Him and find fellowship and encouragement with other Christ-Followers.

On my website, you will also find additional resources, articles, non-fiction books, and podcasts to help you grow in your walk with Christ.

If you have been blessed by these messages, I also invite you to become a Winning with the Word patron on Patreon. As a patron you will enjoy special benefits only for my patrons. Just go to Patreon.com and search for Winning with the Word to join. This podcast is being sponsored by my wonderful patron, Karon Bekebrede. Thank you, Karon, for supporting the work of the Lord.

Listen to the podcast here:

________________________________________________
Source cited: “The Enneagram GPS: Gnostic Path to Self” by Marcia Montenegro http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_Enneagram.aspx

Now it’s your turn: ? What do you know about the Enneagram? Please leave your comment in the Comment Box below. Thank you!

Please tell your family and friends about “Winning with the Word,” and please pass this post on to them. Thank you!

Check out these three 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.

__Is the World Coming to an End?

PLEASE TWEET: “Now Will Power, but Word Power” by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio (CLICK TO TWEET)

Are you new to this blog? If so, what is the “Winning with the Word” blog and why will it bless you to read it?

“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!

AN INVITATION TO YOU: To subscribe to Winning with the Word, click here.

_____________________________________________________________

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Posted on Monday, March 9, 2020

Not Will Power, but Word Power

by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio

by MaryAnn

WINNING WITH THE WORD

“Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life.

AN INVITATION TO YOU: To follow this blog, click here.

If this blog has blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you!

______________________________________

Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post:

_______________________________________________

Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, your Virtual Life Coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, March 9, 2020. Today’s Podcast is Episode #10 in Series 2020 and is titled “Not Will Power, but Word Power.”

Over my lifetime, I’ve struggled to overcome the bad habit of speaking before thinking. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve put my foot in my mouth only to take it out and put the other foot in.

I am a communicator by nature and by calling, and I love to communicate. This is the reason Satan fights me in the area of my tongue. Of one thing we can be sure, the enemy will always focus his attacks on our areas of strength by targeting the weaknesses that go along with those strengths.

For example, those of us who communicate well are susceptible to talking before thinking or talking too much. But the Bible warns that if we talk before we think or if we talk too much, we will eventually sin (Proverbs 10: 19).

Well, as always, the Bible is true. When I speak before I think or when I talk too much, I inevitably get myself into trouble. And getting out of trouble is much more difficult than getting into it, I can assure you.

As always, I went to the Lord with my problem. I told Him that no matter how hard I tried, I kept engaging my mouth before engaging my brain. The harder I tried not to talk before thinking, the more I talked before thinking. I felt just like the Apostle Paul who wrote in Romans 7: 15-24: “I don’t do what I want to do. Instead, I do what I hate. . . Although I have the desire to do what is right, I don’t do it. I don’t do the good I want to do. Instead, I do the evil that I don’t want to do. What a miserable person I am! Who will rescue me…?”

Have you ever felt this way? Have you ever wanted desperately to stop doing something–like, perhaps, to stop smoking, or to stop taking drugs, or to stop viewing pornography, or to stop overeating, or to stop spending too much money, or to stop yelling at your kids–but, no matter how hard you tried, you just kept messing up? If so, you are not alone.

One of the biggest reasons that bad habits are hard to break is that we try to overcome them in our own strength. And that, my friend, is impossible. We as humans have no power in ourselves to overcome the flesh. We need Jesus Christ in our lives to live the overcoming life through us.

So, the first step to overcoming a bad habit once and for all is to be born again–to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. Why? Because only Jesus Christ can set us free. Nothing else or no one else can set us permanently free. Yes, we may have some success using will power alone, but that success will eventually fizzle out. What we need to overcome permanently is not will power, but Word power. The power of God’s Word as found in the Holy Bible. Jesus is God’s Word made flesh as we read in John 1: 1.

Jesus said in John 8: 32, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The truth is found in God’s Word. As we learn the truth and apply it to our lives, we will become freer and freer. In fact, we will be free to the degree that we know and obey the Word of God.

Once we have Jesus living within us, we now have His power to overcome bad habits.

Sadly, however, some of us, even after we are born again, still try to overcome bad habits in our own strength. Whether out of ignorance or–excuse the pun–bad habit, we neglect to draw on the power of Christ Who is now living within us. It is only by allowing the life of Christ now within us to live through us that we can overcome bad habits.

So, what does this look like in practical life?

Well, here’s a scenario. Let’s say that a co-worker rubs you the wrong way. You find yourself growing impatient and annoyed with her whenever she asks you for help. How should you respond? First of all, give your negative feelings to Jesus. Then ask Him to love this person through you. These two steps–giving your negative thoughts and feelings to Jesus and asking Him to live His life through you– constitute what is called “crucifying the flesh.” You are putting to death your own negative thoughts and feelings and allowing Christ’s loving thoughts and feelings to flow through you toward your co-worker.

The key to overcoming bad habits is to focus on Christ in us. When we focus on the negative–our negative thoughts and feelings–we will magnify the negative. It will become paramount in our lives. But when we focus on Jesus living inside us, we will magnify Jesus and He will become paramount in our lives. In short, we cannot overcome bad habits by sheer will power, only by Word power. When we allow Christ to take our bad habits and give us His good ones in exchange, we will be living the life of Christ in us.

Just as we were born again and received Christ by faith, so must we also live the Christian life by faith. There is simply no other way to live it. It is His Holy Spirit living within us that gives us the power to crucify the flesh. When we yield our weakness to His strength, we begin resting in Him. And it is this resting in Him that causes us to experience victory over our tongues or over any other bad habit.

It took me a long time to grasp the concept of resting in the Lord. But it is the essential concept of living the Christian life. We live the Christian life by His power, not ours. As we yield our will to His will, we will be able to take hold of His power that is ever ready to help us not only to control our tongues but to overcome every bad habit and to live out every aspect of the Christian life according to His will.

If you have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, I urge you to do so now.

Pray this simple prayer with me:

Lord Jesus, I’m struggling with a bad habit, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t break it. I have come to realize that I cannot overcome this bad habit in my own strength. I need Your strength. And so I come to You now, asking You to come into my life. Save me and live Your life through me. I repent of my sins and ask You to forgive me. Thank You for giving me Your strength in exchange for my weakness. In Your Name I pray, believe, and receive. Amen.

If you prayed this simple prayer, please write to me at drmaryann@maryanndiorio.com. I would like to send you a little booklet that will help you get started in your relationship with Jesus Christ. I also encourage you to get yourself a Bible and read it every day, starting in the Gospel of John, which is in the second half of the Bible. Finally, ask the Lord to lead you to the church of His choice for you where you can learn about Him and find fellowship and encouragement with other Christ-Followers.

On my website, you will also find additional resources, articles, books, and podcasts to help you grow in your walk with Christ.

This podcast is found on Apple Podcasts, Blubrry, iHeart Radio, Spotify, Spreaker, Soundcloud, Castbox, Podbean, Podchaser, and Deezer, so I encourage you to subscribe and have it delivered right to your mailbox.

If you have been blessed by these messages, I also invite you to become a Winning with the Word patron on Patreon. As a patron you will enjoy special benefits only for my patrons. Just go to Patreon.com and search for Winning with the Word to join. This podcast is being sponsored by my wonderful husband and patron, Dominic A. Diorio. Thank you, Honey, for supporting the work of the Lord.

And to all of you wonderful people out there, thank you so much for listening. This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, your virtual life coach, reminding you 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.

Listen to the podcast here:

________________________________________________

Now it’s your turn: ? If so, which of the tips do you think will best help you to get through to God? Please leave your comment in the Comment Box below. Thank you!

Please tell your family and friends about “Winning with the Word,” and please pass this post on to them. Thank you!

Check out these three 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.

PLEASE TWEET: “Is the World Coming to an End?” by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio (CLICK TO TWEET)

Are you new to this blog? If so, what is the “Winning with the Word” blog and why will it bless you to read it?

“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!

AN INVITATION TO YOU: To subscribe to Winning with the Word, click here.

_____________________________________________________________

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Posted on Monday, March 2, 2020

“Is the World Coming to an End?”

by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio

by MaryAnn

WINNING WITH THE WORD

“Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life.

AN INVITATION TO YOU: To follow this blog, click here.

If this blog has blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you!

______________________________________

Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post:

________________________________________________

Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, your Virtual Life Coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, March 2, 2020. Today’s Podcast is Episode #9 in Series 2020 and is titled “Is the World Coming to an End?”

So, is the world really coming to an end? Let me say that the world as we have known it is coming to an end. Ultimately, however, after a seven-year period of time known as the Tribulation, Jesus will return to destroy the enemies of Israel once and for all and to set up His millennial kingdom–or His thousand-year reign on the earth. During this time, Satan will be bound and the world will be in peace under the rulership of Christ. At the end of the Millennium, Satan will be unleashed one last time and then destroyed forever by God Himself. God will then create a new heaven and a new earth that will last forever.

But, before that time, a lot must happen.

It doesn’t take much to realize that something different–and scary–is happening in our world. This year, if the Lord wills, I will have lived three-quarters of a century on this earth. What I am seeing today is something far different and far more frightening than I have ever seen throughout my entire lifetime.

So, what’s going on?

The answer to this very important question is found in the Bible, specifically in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24: 3-13. In that chapter, we read about a conversation between Jesus and His disciples. Let’s listen in:

“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately and said, ‘Tell us, when will this happen? What will be the sign that you are coming again, and when will the world come to an end?’ Jesus answered them, “Be careful not to let anyone deceive you. Many will come using my name. They will say, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they will deceive many people. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Don’t be alarmed! These things must happen, but they don’t mean that the end has come. Nation will fight against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All of these are only the beginning pains [of the end]. Then they will hand you over to those who will torture and kill you. All nations will hate you because you are committed to me. Then many will lose faith. They will betray and hate each other. Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. And because there will be more and more lawlessness, most people’s love will grow cold. But the person who endures to the end will be saved. This Good News about the kingdom will be spread throughout the world as a testimony to all nations. Then the end will come.”

All around us today, we see these prophetic words of Jesus coming true. Specifically, here are a few of those signs:

1. The phenomenal rise in wickedness. The Bible teaches that in the last days, wickedness would increase exponentially. In 2 Timothy 3: 1-5, we read this: “In the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly.”

Are we not now seeing this increase in wickedness all around us? Laws have been passed in some states that allow the killing of a baby after the child is born. Sex trafficking has reached astronomical proportions. Gay pride has infiltrated the Kindergarten classroom. How much worse can things get?

2. The push toward a one-world religion. Pope Francis’ recent call to merge Islam with Catholicism has stunned and angered many Catholics. The Pope’s historic signing of a “declaration of fraternity” with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar sent shock waves through the Christian world. This merger is a sign of what the Bible calls in 2 Thessalonians 2: 3 the “great falling away”–the rise of the apostate Church that will eventually become the one-world religion, possibly headed by the Pope himself. Many are already implying that he is the “false prophet” described in Revelation 19: 20. The Pope has even called for a revamping of Catholic school curriculum to include the study of Islam as a viable religion.

3. The sudden rise of anti-Semitism. A couple of years ago, I was having a conversation with a Jewish friend of mine. I mentioned to her that we would soon see the rise of anti-Semitism once again. She laughed and said, “That will never happen again.” Yet, we are seeing it happen before our very eyes.

4. The growing assault on Christians. More and more, Christians are being attacked for their positions on the sanctity of life, gender issues, and the freedom of expression. We are being cast as bigots, intolerant, and just plain anachronistic.

5. The spread of pestilence. In Matthew 24: 7, Jesus said there would be pestilence in various parts of the world. We are witnessing this now in the form of the Corona virus that has created panic throughout the world.

6. The increase in earthquakes and famine. I recently read that by April of 2020, many supermarket shelves would be empty because of the drought, heavy rains, insect plagues, and pestilence that have occurred both in our own country and in other parts of the world. As a result, our food supply has been greatly compromised. Famine already exists in many parts of the world. Could it not come to America as well?

As for earthquakes, they have increased in frequency and intensity. The ring of fire that borders world countries along the Pacific Ocean is on the verge of breaking in many places, particularly in the Cascadia Subduction Zone that stretches from Canada’s northern Vancouver Island to Northern California. It is only a matter of time before the “big one” shakes the entire west coast.

7. The amazing advances in technology, particularly in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Interestingly, it is believed by some that the image of the AntiChrist will be a robotic, lifelike statue powered by artificial intelligence: In Revelation 13: 14-15, we learn this: “He [the false prophet] was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die” (Brackets mine).

On another note, the increasing surveillance of the world’s population by means of computer chips, AI, facial and iris recognition all point to a coming dictator who will rule the world through a huge database of information. Ironically, much of that information we ourselves have voluntarily and unwittingly provided through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc.

These are but a few of the many signs about the end times prophesied in the Bible. Make no mistake about it, my friend. Every word of the Bible is true. Most of its prophecies have already come to pass just as predicted, and every one that has not yet come to pass will come to pass.

This should serve as a warning to all of us to be ready for the return of Jesus Christ to remove His followers from the earth. Are you ready? If not, what are you waiting for? Do you want to go through the Tribulation, the most horrific period of human history yet to come? Do you want to be forced to take the mark of the beast in order to buy anything, including your food? If you accept the mark of the beast, you will most certainly go to Hell when you die because taking the mark of the beast means you are giving your allegiance forever to Satan. There is no turning back once you take the mark of the beast.

I urge you now with an urgency that increases in my heart every day, do not take what I have said lightly. Consider this: If what I have said is not true but you believe it, then you’ve lost nothing. But if what I have said is true, and you do not believe it, you have lost everything. Some of you will recognize my challenge to you as “Pascal’s wager” in different words. That is exactly what it is. Don’t ignore it! Please! Your eternal destiny depends on it.

Years ago, a woman named Mary Katherine Baxter visited the church I was attending at the time. She had written a book called A Divine Revelation of Hell. The Lord Jesus took Mrs. Baxter to Hell in order to see how dreadful it is so that she could warn people against going there. You see, Hell is a real place, just as Heaven is a real place. One of Satan’s greatest deceptions today is to convince people that there is no Hell. But there is, and it is a place of eternal torment–a place you want to avoid at all cost.

So, how can you avoid Hell? By accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. You see, you cannot save yourself. You need someone to save you. That Someone is Jesus Christ. He alone was able to appease the wrath of God, and He did so on the Cross. God is both the One Who loves us and the One Who judges us. He must judge sin because He is holy and cannot allow sin in His Presence. God poured out His judgment for sin on Jesus. If we are in Jesus, then God considers the price for our sin as paid for. But if we are not in Jesus, then there is nothing left but for God’s wrath to fall upon us.

If you have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, I urge you to do so now.

Pray this simple prayer with me:

Father God, I want and need a personal relationship with You. I recognize that I cannot save myself. For this reason, You sent Jesus to save me and to restore me to fellowship with You. I invite You into my life to be my Savior and my Lord, Lord Jesus. I choose to follow You, Jesus. I turn my back on the world and its wicked ways, and I choose to follow You and Your holy ways. Thank You for accepting me as Your own. In Your Name I pray, believe, and receive. Amen.

If you prayed this simple prayer, please write to me at drmaryann@maryanndiorio.com. I would like to send you a little booklet that will help you get started in your relationship with Jesus Christ. I also encourage you to get yourself a Bible and read it every day, starting in the Gospel of John, which is in the second half of the Bible. Finally, ask the Lord to lead you to the church of His choice for you where you can learn about Him and find fellowship and encouragement with other Christ-Followers.

On my website, you will also find additional resources, articles, books, and podcasts to help you grow in your walk with Christ.

If you have been blessed by these messages, I also invite you to become a Winning with the Word patron on Patreon. As a patron you will enjoy special benefits only for patrons. Just go to Patreon.com and search for Winning with the Word to join. This podcast is being sponsored by my wonderful husband and patron, Dominic A. Diorio. Thank you, Honey, for supporting the work of the Lord.

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