Posts filed under ‘Pretribulational Rapture’
Bible Warns of Apostasy and Persecution, Part 2
Aside from mockers who come mocking the idea of Jesus as God returning to claim what is His, there is also the general tone of society that will exist during the end times and we will see it worsen as things lead directly up to the physical return of Jesus at the end of the coming Tribulation period. One thing to remember is that the Bible is a complete book. It must be allowed to interpret itself because even though there are roughly 40 human authors, physically writing their own book within a book over a period of approximately 1,600 or so years, the reality is that God is the main Author. He chose individuals to write down parts of His book, but it was God Himself who oversaw the writing of each book. The Bible is the only book that can claim this. No other comes close.
Bible Warns of Apostasy and Persecution, Part 1
I don’t want to get into setting dates, times, days, or hours. That’s not the point of this short series of articles. The point is for us to understand God’s prophetic timetable in light of society and it appears that it comes together. Can we…should we look for anything? If so, what? Should we become so preoccupied with the subject of the end times that we wind up being so focused on it that we fail to realize when we stop evangelizing and therefore fulfilling the Great Commission? Should our study of the end times cause us to want to be even more involved in the Great Commission? I think so. The way I look at it is that we are all one breath away from death anyway. No one alive now knows when they will die. That’s God’s department. If the study of the end times brings us to a greater awareness of just how close death is to everyone and helps us to lose the “ballast” in our lives that keep us from walking closer to God, then it has served it’s purpose (1 John 3:2-3). If we – on the other hand – tend to study the end times to simply gain “knowledge” and become puffed up, then it would be far better for us to not study that subject. I cannot emphasize how important this is for all to understand.
Israelites Went In and Out of Fellowship Constantly
Much like the Prodigal Son who deliberately chose to leave his father’s presence to live a life of sin (Luke 15) and had to deal with the consequences of his actions, Christians today make decisions all the time that directly impact whether or not we are and/or remain in fellowship with God. Just as Achan chose to disobey God and take what God warned he should not have taken (to enrich himself), the consequences of his actions resulted in death for Achan, his family, and animals. I don’t take this to mean that Achan lost salvation (if he actually had it). But it is clear that God was much quicker to judge those who fell out of fellowship with Him during the Old Testament times than He does during these times.
Continue Reading January 16, 2016 at 8:35 AM Leave a comment
Christ, Our Fellowship, Part 9
To fellowship with God – I believe – means to live in the present as He is in the eternal present. This does not mean we don’t consider what has happened in our lives. It also doesn’t mean we never think about future events. It means that we do not allow those things – either past or future events – to rob us of living in the present because God is at work in our present. He is working now and in order to “see” what He is doing, we also need to live in our present.
Continue Reading December 25, 2015 at 8:54 AM Leave a comment
Moving Toward Peace and Safety Ultimately Means Destruction, Part 4
We cannot stop what is coming. Most importantly, we are not called to attempt to stop it. Our calling is to be involved in the Great Commission (Matthew 28). I honestly believe as the time continues to draw near for these events to occur, people will become more afraid. They will be searching for answers. The last thing they need is for so-called Christians to tell them that as “patriots,” we must fight for our rights and stand against the government. That’s absurd. What people will need is what they’ve always needed. To hear the gospel of Jesus, the gospel that has the power to save them not only from what is coming in this temporal plane, but also to save them in the eternal realm.
Why Are You Interested in Studies of End Times?
The goal of studying anything related to the end times is this: it should cause us to focus on the fact that eternity is always a breath away…for everyone. This fact should create within us a strong desire for one thing. That is, we should become more focused regarding the Great Commission. The thought of eternity, whether it is in Jesus’ return or our going to meet Him in death, should refocus our thinking onto what is right, what is true, and what is worthy as Paul tells us in Philippians 4:8. What is more praiseworthy than focusing on spending eternity with Jesus?
Why Debating Blood Moons or Any Religious Topic is Pointless
Notice here the sun goes dark. Because of that, there is also no moonlight. The stars fall from the sky, also going dark. In other words, just like when the lights go out in an auditorium just prior to the curtain going up, the same thing on a far grander scale will happen in the heavens. The lights going out in an auditorium does one thing: it focuses our attention on the stage where we know events are about to unfold.
Man Interrupts Dr. John MacArthur’s Sermon Over Cessationism
If you’ve never had to deal with someone who firmly believes that God “told” them or “sent” them to do something, consider yourself fortunate. Too often, these people believe they have a “word of knowledge” and if you don’t accept that word, then you’ve rejected God. It’s really a very unfortunate, ambiguous, and even conceited way of living life, but these people don’t see it like that at all. Instead, they see themselves as a modern day John the Baptist or some other godly prophet who – as a watchman on the wall – has the responsibility of viewing the landscape of Christendom and pointing out the flaws they see. In this case, the “flaw” was Dr. MacArthur’s opposition to Charismatic gifts, like speaking in tongues.
Was Shemitah Ever Associated with Bad Omens in the Bible?
It is clear then that God took the Sabbatical Year seriously…for the nation of Israel. If we are going to say that America is part of that (which it is not), then we would have to agree that since the founding of this nation, at the end of every 7th year, all debts should have been forgiven, the land was to lie fallow, and creditors would essentially do a “reset.” It has not been that way at all, yet Jonathan Cahn has come along to try to make us believe that whether we knew it or not, America was in “covenant” with God right from the beginning.
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