Mark 6-18

Many think that this warning will have another fulfillment in the end times. I guess we will have to wait and see, but Jesus’s words were a shock to the listeners. An underlying truth is that following Jesus may involve difficult times, requiring a trust and allegiance that we have not experienced. Throughout the globe in 2025, there are numerous reports of persecution and executions of those who follow Christ. I read that there were 4476 Christians murdered for their faith in Christ in 2024. I’m guilty of minimizing the black and white, no riding the fence commitment we make each day as we follow Him. 

“The conflicting missions of the two armies seemed to have no fog, no gray, only black-and-white clarity. I had lived my life in terms of compromise, rule-bending, trade-offs, concessions, bargaining, striking deals, finding middle ground. In these two great armies, there was no such thing. Good was good, and evil was evil, and they shared no common ground.

Randy Alcorn, Edge of Eternity

“The desolating sacrilege” was a historical reference the author expected his readers to recognize. In 167 BCE, the Greek general Antiochus Epiphanes marched against Jerusalem with the intent of forcing the Jews to embrace the Greek culture and language. As a part of his campaign, he set up in the temple an altar dedicated to the Greek god Zeus. He offered a pig as a sacrifice to Zeus on that altar. Naturally, this act was highly offensive to the Jewish people. In their minds, Antiochus desecrated the temple. They viewed his sacrifice as a sacrilege that made the temple ritually unclean.  “The desolating sacrilege” referred to this event in their history. Jesus used the reference to speak of a foreign intrusion into the temple that would profane it. When they saw foreigners (Romans) taking over the temple, they were to flee to the mountains for safety.” - Excerpt, Following Jesus: Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark by Steve Langford

DECEPTION ALWAYS PRECEDES DESTRUCTION.

It has always been this way.
The enemy doesn’t start with fire.
He starts with smoke.
He clouds the mind.
He blurs the lines.
He makes the truth feel too sharp, too narrow, too unkind.

And before long, the flame is burning—
And what once stood as holy is reduced to ash.

I think of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu.
They offered strange fire—smoke that God had not ordained.
And they were consumed by it.
Not because they were evil men,
But because they presumed upon the sacred.
They treated the holy as casual.
And God said, “Enough.”

Beloved, I write this not to scold but to awaken.
To plead with the Bride of Christ:
Do not breathe the smoke.
Do not entertain what God has called unclean.
Do not make peace with deception because it comes with a smile.

Return to the fire of His holiness.
Return to the flame of His Word.
Let your heart burn with what burns in Him.

And I say this gently, but boldly:
Some churches, some ministries, some believers have allowed the smoke to settle.
They’ve silenced the voice of conviction.
They’ve substituted emotional highs for spiritual transformation.
They’ve traded the fire of God for fog machines.

But oh, dear one—
God is raising up a remnant.
A people who still see clearly.
Who still discern between holy and profane.
Who still know the scent of smoke… and run.

He’s calling His Bride to sound the alarm.
Not in fear.
Not in self-righteousness.
But in love.
A love that says, “We must return.”

We must return to the altar.
We must return to tears of repentance.
We must return to the narrow road, where few walk but many are called.

So, if you sense that haze…
If you feel the pressure to compromise…
If your heart aches for what you see happening in the Body—
Let that ache become intercession.
Let it drive you to your knees, not into bitterness.

Cry out for fire—not strange fire, but holy fire.
The fire that refines.
That purifies.
That makes ready the Bride.

And remember this:

The smoke is not the end—
It’s the warning.

- Steve Porter