Prophecies Jesus gave in Mathew 24 and Revevelation require internet and smartphone

Gideon asks God - why him? inferring he's the last person God should choose for the task at hand:

Even "the least" in the kingdom of God are of use to the Father.

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Summary of Judges 6 up to the point Gideon is puzzled why God chose him to save Israel:

During this particular time, it was the Midianites who oppressed Israel. This oppression took the form of organized bands raiding Israel and burning homes and planted fields and killing the animals. Many of the people of Israel took to hiding in caves and strongholds in the mountains. As one might guess, they were hungry due to the loss of their crops and livestock (Judges 6:1-10).

The problems had begun when the children of Israel "did evil in the sight of the Lord" (vs. 1). As things grew worse and worse, many in Israel cried out to the Lord. A prophet was sent to the people with God's message. The three part message reminded Israel that God had "delivered you" in the past and secondly they were told, "Do not fear the gods of the Amorites." Thirdly, they were told the reason for their suffering as God spoke through the prophet saying, "You have not obeyed my voice." (vss. 8-10).

Then, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon at Ophrah while Gideon was threshing his wheat (vss. 11-27). Gideon is referred to as a "valiant warrior" (vss. 11-12). But this valiant warrior had a question for the Lord. Gideon's question was why had things gone so badly if God was with them (vs. 13). The Lord promised to be with Gideon and that he would defeat the Midianites (vss. 14, 16). Like many of the people God chose to work for Him, Gideon wondered "Why me?" He said his father's house was the least in the whole tribe of Manasseh and he was the youngest in the house.

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What makes Gideon so interesting is, he kept asking God for signs :)

God understood, and was very obliging

That's how awesome our God is

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Judges 6:16 And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.

17 And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me.

We also witness God's mercy and understanding in the story of Elijah:

Elijah received a message from Jezebel that he was going to die - causing him to flee for his life.

He had all the reason to depend upon God's protection, while doing God's work; yet he flees.

Other than providing food and water for him, God left Elijah to himself.

The lesson here is - left to our own devices we are pretty powerless.

It's God who gives us strength and will take care that we are furnished with resources and sufficient grace when we are fearful and weak.

Sometimes God's voice is a gentle whisper - like it was when Elijah ran for his life:

God's gentle whisper

God comes after His children, even if they try to run away
from Him. He lovingly whispers to them the way to go, and gives them the power and loving support to do it. To be on the right track in life, we must put away distractions and listen to His voice....

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Gideon asks God to be patient with him, and let him bring an offering to set before him. God agreed.

Judges 6:18 Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.

Gideon prepared an offering that consisted of a baby goat and unleavened cakes:

Judges 6:19 19 And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it.

When Gideon presented the offering, an angel of the Lord gave him further instructions:

Judges 6:20 And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so.

Then the angel showed Gideon a very convincing sign - he touch the flesh with his staff, and fire consumed it and the cakes:

Judges 6:21 Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight.

Here is a repost of Gideon's asking God for a sign:

Judges 6:17 And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me

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At this point he had no further doubts that it was the Lord who spoke to him:

Judges 6:22 And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face.

After this Gideon tore down the altar of baal and erected one to the Lord God on high; sending the people around him into a frenzy.

When Gideon realized his life was in danger - he once again pleaded to God for reassurance and another sign.

Gideon asks God once again - Are you 'sure' I'm your guy?

If so (for proof) - let me put out this bit of fleece - and if there is dew on it in the morning - and no wetness on the ground I'll believe it's to be.

Judges 6:36 And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said,

37 Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.

And God graciously provided the sign Gideon ask for:

Judges 6:40 And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

After this miraculous display - Gideon is all ears; ready to save Israel by his 'own' hands.

In this regard - God wants him to take as few people as possible into battle against the midianites, lest they think that sheer numbers defeated them.

Judges 7:2 And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.

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God told Gideon to send home any that were afraid - and the rest he said - test them by bringing them to the water.

Those that lapped it like a dog - were the ones he was to take with him.

Apparently, some bible translations are mixing up the verses where God tells Gideon to take the men with him that lapped up the water, and are instead saying those that drank from their hands:

Small excerpt:

Dozens of you vigorously protested my interpretation of Judges, 7:5-7, the passage about how Gideon reduces the size of his army. At God’s orders, Gideon takes his men to the water and has them drink. I wrote:

“Gideon sends home any soldier that picks up water with his hands. He keeps only the soldiers who lap up water with their tongues, like dogs. That leaves him with just 300 men.”

According to many of you, I’m dead wrong: You say Gideon actually sent home the men who lapped like dogs and kept the 300 men who picked up water with their hands....

In the book of Judges - what was astounding after all God did for the Israelis, is, it only took a generation to forget.

America has done the same thing. After being blessed beyond belief - they are turning their backs on their benefactor:

From Rapture Ready:

Generation in Trouble:

Excerpt:

God raised up Moses, sent the Ten Plagues and performed great miracles to deliver the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. But because of sin the generation that left Egypt wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and all of that generation from 20 years old and up except for Joshua and Caleb died before they entered the Promised Land (Num. 14:22-35; Heb. 13:17-19).

Joshua succeeded Moses. He led the people into the Promised Land and proved himself to be a servant of God (Josh. 24:29). The children of Israel were far from perfect, but they “served the LORD all the days of Joshua...

Following the death of the first generation of Jews to live in the Promised Land, there arose a second generation. And this second generation did not know God, did evil, followed other gods and forsook the Lord...

America is traveling the same path that the second generation of Israelites traveled. Our culture is immersing our children in sin; many parents are worldly and not teaching their children the Word of God; many pastors and church members are living a lie; many church members seem unhappy with what is happening, but there are no signs of repentance in the church. This has gone on for more than a generation; God will not put up with it forever; and, sadly, all of this is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

I know that I am preaching to the choir. No one knows, but many of the nation’s best prophecy teachers sincerely believe that our generation is that terminal generation before the Rapture of the church. Be absolutely sure that your heart is right with God; to the best of your ability meet your responsibilities to God and your children, and pray that you will be counted worthy to escape all the things that are coming upon the earth....

God confirms these are the 300 men to take with him, and send the rest home:

Judges 7:7 And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.

Then Gideon discovers what God meant when he said - I will deliver the Midianites into your hands.

The methods God used were unusual, but nevertheless, victory was guaranteed:

God used the confusion in the ranks of the Midianite army to set the Midians against themselves. It is written:

Judges 7:22 When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah,[a] as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.

So how did Gideon do it?

How did Gideon win the battle with only 300 soldiers?

Small Excerpt:

Gideon was extremely worried and discouraged by such a small army of 300 men going up against 135,000 enemy soldiers. In mercy, the Lord directed Gideon to secretly go into the Midianite camp where He would give him a sign of encouragement. Gideon heard a dialogue between some Midiante soldiers: “there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed. Then his companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp” (Judges 7:13, 14)....

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Strengthened by God’s message - he divided the 300 men into 3 groups:

More from enduringword:

So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outpost of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just as they had posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers; they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing; and they cried, “The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!” And every man stood in his place all around the camp; and the whole army ran and cried out and fled. When the three hundred blew the trumpets, the LORD set every man’s sword against his companion throughout the whole camp; and the army fled to Beth Acacia, toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath. And the men of Israel gathered together from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and pursued the Midianites....

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God's battle plan for Gideon was one of the most atypical in all of military history.

The only rival plans are the conquest of Jericho and the defeat of Pharaoh's army at the Red Sea.

Supporting verses:

Judges 7:9 And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand.

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Here God is telling Gideon - before the battle has even started, He has delivered the midianites into his hands.

How?

Through a dream:

Judges 7:11 And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host....


13 And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along.

14 And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host....

There was no place for the Midianites to escape to:

Judges 7:23 And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.

24 And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Bethbarah and Jordan.

Despite Gideons fears and doubts he turned out to be the right man to lead Israel after all.

And of course in all battles - the leaders must be dealt with:

Judges 7:25 And they took two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and Zeeb; and they slew Oreb upon the rock Oreb, and Zeeb they slew at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian, and brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side Jordan.

And yet, to spread said prophecy to his followers, another 1400+ years for Guttenberg to develop the technology to mass produce and distribute said prophecies to the masses, which still took a few centuries after that to happen.

So both the prophecies (which are to foretell all believers of what's coming) and the tools for the prophecies to take place needed another 2000 years to materialize.

Do you really pay attention to this nonsense

Which means it's even more amazing.

The fact that all these prophecies were told to us by Jesus and to boot, they would be for the time just before the end of the world - all true today.

Yep, I am a true believer.

Lessons to be learned from the story about Gideon:

Short excerpt:

From zero to hero:

Hear His voice

Listen to God’s leading voice in your life.

As we go from day to day, we may feel like we come up against walls and insurmountable obstacles; moments when we see our enemyMost often when a Christian refers to his or her “enemies” they are speaking about the sin in their flesh and the temptations and lusts that arise from there. These are enemies because they tempt us to act contrary to the will of God. These can also be spiritual powers such as the spirit of the times which oppose the... More – the sin that is rooted deeply in us – and we become tempted to feel afraid that we don’t stand a chance to win this battle.

But He knows who we are and He has chosen us before the beginning of time to emerge as victors over our indwelling sinSin is anything that goes against God’s will and His laws. To commit sin is to transgress or disobey these laws. The lust to sin dwells in human nature. In other words, it is contaminated and motivated by the sinful tendencies that dwell in all people as a result of the fall into sin and disobedience in the garden of Eden. This... More! When we put God in charge of leading our decisions, we will become conquerors!

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3 Important Lessons Gideon Teaches Us about Prayer

Small excerpt:

God has a much greater mission than demonstrating his greatness. His mission is demonstrating his love. His greatest challenge was getting his people to receive that from him.

In Gideon’s case, that was about to change.

“Don’t go away…” Gideon said to God. “And the Lord said, ‘I will stay here until you return’” (Judges 6:18).

And then God did a lot more than that.

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Asking God to not leave you when you need him most - and his saying I won't leave you, is an awesome display of his love for us.