A TIME TO SPEAK OUT

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the Heaven… (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

Sometimes, we just need to shut up.  And sometimes, we are obligated to speak out.  This is a time to speak.

Addressing “political” issues is not popular in the church today.  But some things scream out for our attention.  With the growing threat of Islam worldwide, America’s leaders should be looking out for our safety and protection.  But there is something seriously wrong in the White House.

We want to share a link with our readers, “An Open Letter to President Obama” by Brigitte Gabriel.  It is a powerful, yet respectful, letter to the president which was published in response to President Obama’s “outreach” speech to Muslims in Cairo, Egypt, which he gave on June 4, 2009.

In the letter, Gabriel speaks from first-hand knowledge and experience of the effects of Islamic terrorism.  And she points out that when Jihadists (Muslims who advocate or participate in “holy war”) commit acts of terror, they are simply being faithful in following the Qur’an, just as they have throughout history.

In his speech in Cairo, Obama claimed to be a “student of history,” but Gabriel points out to the president how he seriously misrepresented history in that speech.  To make matters worse, Obama blames America and the west for the tensions between Muslims and ourselves.  You can find Brigitte Gabriel's letter here:

http://www.khouse.org/articles/2009/858

RECOGNIZING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

What’s with all the crazy things happening in our world today?  What does the future hold, or one could ask, is there a future at all for mankind?  Bad things are happening all around us and our world often seems to be spinning out of control.  Dangerous drugs, murder, rape and terrorist attacks are becoming more and more common.   Such things used to be done only in secret, but now occur in broad daylight.  Criminals used to try and hide their evil deeds, but not so much today.  Added to that are outbreaks of new diseases, significant changes in weather patterns, threats of war and nuclear attack, dramatic increase in immorality, the structure of the family under attack like never before, etc., etc. There appears to be something major brewing in this unstable world we live in.  But all these things are signs that are telling us something about our society.  

The Necessity of Discernment

In the gospel of Matthew we see Jesus Christ rebuking the spiritual leaders of His time:  

And the Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Him asked Him to show them a sign from Heaven.  But He answered and said to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’  And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’  Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16:1-3 - NASV)

Jesus held the people of His day accountable and expected them to discern the signs of the times and to understand that the Scriptures pointed to Him as the Messiah.  But through their unbelief and their hard hearts, many missed the signs and missed the “time of [their] visitation” (Luke 19:44) and rejected the Messiah!  So, if THEY were expected to recognize the signs of the times in their own day, why would the same not be expected from US today?  In fact, it is said that there are far more Bible verses pointing to Jesus’ second coming than His first coming.  So, how much more accountable are we today to recognize the signs of His return?

Indifference

These signs of our day should be obvious to Christians.  But there is so much indifference, such a great lack of concern for the gospel, even in the church today.   And because of this lukewarm attitude, many Christians don’t study the Bible and are spiritually weak and vulnerable.  They are in a state of spiritual sleep, rather than a state of alertness (Mark 13:35-37; 1 Thessalonians 5:6) and, with no discernment, they are so easily deceived.  Being deprived of personal study of Scripture makes it easier to miss the signs altogether.

Early Warning System

In our advanced society today, we want, even demand, the security of early warning systems.  We have equipment failure alarms, smoke alarms, fire alarms, hurricane and tornado warning systems, railroad crossing warning lights, and even engine warning lights on our vehicles to let us know when there is a problem coming up.  Many of these things are required by law and are meant to protect us from great harm or expense.

 

And God, in His mercy, has given mankind the ultimate “early warning system.”  It is the most important (and dependable) early warning system of all time – Bible prophecy.  And these signs that we are seeing today (that even unbelievers can hardly miss), do confirm the truth of God’s promises.  They point to a cataclysmic time period, known as “the Day of the Lord.”  It will be a time on earth of destruction, chaos, confusion, terror, and trouble such as the world has never seen.  It will be a time of judgment, and it is on the horizon.  For more details on that topic, see here:

http://theresurrectionstillspeaks.blogspot.com/2014_09_01_archive.html

Birth Pangs

Jesus said that the signs that lead up to the Day of the Lord would be like “birth pangs” (Matthew 24:8; Mark 13:8), i.e., the labor pains a woman has before giving birth.  This means that they would increase in frequency and intensity as that time approaches.  And that’s exactly what’s happening today. 

  

The purpose of these signs is not just to have something to talk about, but to put the fear of God in us and to cause us to conform to His will.  It should cause every Christian to want to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible before that “great and terrible Day of the Lord” arrives (Joel 2:31).

The purpose of this article is to alert everyone to the signs around us, and to show that it is by God’s grace that we are allowed to see where the world is headed.   Our intention is to offer hope in these troubling times and to warn the church to wake up.  We urge all Christians to pray for discernment.

 

Note that it is not our purpose in this article to list every specific sign.  There are many very good articles out there that detail these signs.  Here are just a few of those articles:

http://www.lamblion.com/articles/articles_signs3.php

http://www.end-times-bible-prophecy.com/signs-of-the-times.html

http://www.end-times-bible-prophecy.com/signs-of-the-end-times.html

http://laymanswatch.com/LaymansWatch_files/Overviews/TheCrucialPerspectiveTheTimesoftheSigns.htm

“I Don’t Believe It!”

Many are saying, “This world is not that bad.  We can make it.  I have faith in mankind.”  Sorry to say, but man is NOT getting better and better, as “evolution” might try to suggest.  There may be great advances in technology, but the heart of man is still wicked (Jeremiah 17:9).   As a whole, our thoughts and intentions are not getting better, but worse… and the signs of our time prove it.

And many will say, “I don’t believe in all that religious hype used by Christians and their Bible-based scare tactics.”  But why does no one ever call fire alarms and railroad crossing lights “scare tactics”?  Don’t these things also warn us in case of trouble, just as the Bible does?  Getting caught in a fire is a possibility, and colliding with a train is a possibility, but rest assured that the Day of the Lord is not a mere possibility.  There is no “in case it happens.”  According to Scripture, it WILL happen.

The Bible speaks of those who will mock and say, “Where is the coming of the Lord?  They’ve been talking about that day for centuries; it ain’t happened yet, and it ain’t gonna happen!” (2 Peter 3:4)  But whenever it does happen, some of those very same people will be saying, “But why didn’t anyone tell us this was going to happen?!!!”  Well, we’re telling you now…  The signs are everywhere.  One need only look at the daily headlines.  What will YOU do about the signs of our time?

   

Will you be ready?  Study the Bible and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and trust in HIS work on the cross (and that alone) for your salvation, and let Him change your life.  This is the only escape from the Day of the Lord.

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. (Luke 21:36)

THE CURSE OF THE JUDAIZERS

Imagine living in a time when travel pretty much consisted only of walking, boat, and horseback (or other beast of burden).  You travel many miles on foot, risking your health and even your life, bringing the good news, the gospel message of Jesus Christ to a mostly pagan and barbaric country.  You convert many to Christianity there and start a number of churches along the way.  Your message has been clear and direct, mincing no words, yet, spoken in love.  Before you leave this faraway land, the churches there are showing a lot of promise.  Ok, great.  But you find out some time later that the teaching for which you risked so much, and fought so hard to share, has been twisted in a manner that voids the whole message and puts their souls at stake!

Such was the situation in the Apostle Paul’s case.  On his first missionary trip, he traveled through the region of Galatia, preaching the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, Who (mercifully) came to pay the full penalty for our sins.  But the message got distorted somewhere along the way.  Paul’s famous question to the saints in Galatia jerked them back into reality… “O foolish Galatians, WHO HATH BEWITCHED YOU, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” (Galatians 3:1) 

 

No New Testament epistle has a stronger message than the one to the Galatian churches.  Paul states that the message that he first brought to them is, and always will be, the true gospel.  He says that if ANYONE (including himself) would preach a different gospel, that messenger is cursed:

“But though we, or an angel from Heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8-9)

Sobering words!  But what was it, exactly, that grieved Paul so much?  What was this other gospel that had crept into the Galatian church?  It was the message of the Judaizers.  It was simply a message that accepted Jesus’ work on the cross for salvation, but also added something else to it.  It was salvation “by faith plus works.”  The works that the Judaizers added were circumcision and the Law of Moses (Acts 15:1, 5).  Ok, so what’s wrong with adding the Law of Moses?  Wasn’t this law directly from God, and therefore the ultimate guide to righteous works?  Absolutely.  And wasn’t the Mosaic Law summed up in the Ten Commandments?  Indeed it was.  And did not Jesus, Himself, condense all these even further into only two commandments, i.e., love God and love your neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40)?  So, what’s the big deal?  What could possibly be wrong with any work that would fit in the category of these two commandments? 

 

The fact is, ALL good works fall under this category.  So, nothing is wrong with the Mosaic Law itself, it’s the fact that it was added to the cross.  Therefore, any time we try to add good works…. any good works…. to the work of the cross in order to be saved, we are saying that Jesus’ work was just not quite enough.  But there is only ONE work that can save us… and it is HIS work, HIS suffering, HIS paying the penalty on the cross.  We can do nothing to add to our salvation at any point in our Christian walk.  In fact, if we even try to, we are insulting Him and we are cut off, we are severed from Christ and fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4)!  We have deserted Jesus for another gospel (Galatians 1:6)!  Any mixture of God’s grace and man’s works to be saved is fatal.

But the error of the Judaizers is not just a problem of the past.  We have many today who claim to be Christians, yet who strongly embrace this evil doctrine.  The Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, and even many Protestant churches all claim to believe and trust in the work of Jesus, yet try to add some type of work(s) to the cross in order to be saved.  This creates a false gospel.  It may be water baptism, it may be speaking in tongues, or perhaps performing the “moral aspects” of the Mosaic Law, helping your neighbor, giving to the poor, becoming a martyr (dying for your faith), etc., etc.  All these things can be good, but they cannot be trusted in to save us, even partially.  They cannot contribute to our justification.  Salvation is a gift, and you don’t work for a gift (Romans 4:4-5).  There is no amount of suffering or work that can be “added to” Jesus’ work for salvation.  To add even one of these works is to say that Jesus did not completely pay the penalty for our sins (John 1:29; Hebrews 9:12; 1 John 2:2).  This is blasphemy.  No wonder Paul was so severe with the Galatians.

 

Are we claiming that Christians should not do good works?  No, we are not at all saying that.  But we should simply do good works out of a love for God, and in appreciation for what Jesus has done.  And we will be rewarded for our good works which are done in the right spirit.  The wrong attitude would be, “I am doing these good works to help my chances of getting into Heaven.”  But if Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross wasn’t enough BY ITSELF, then surely nothing could save us.

Put your faith, your trust, in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.  Don’t put yourself under the curse… don’t be a Judaizer.

See also this article:

 http://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2010/08/sola-fide-revisited.html

THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH

Few religious topics will generate as much discussion (and heat) as the Rapture does.  There are a number of different views on the Rapture of the church, but basically it is understood by most people as Jesus Christ coming back to take His church, both those Christians who are still alive at that time and the bodies of those who already died as Christians.  This event is also called the Resurrection.  This “Day of the Lord” is also linked to the Tribulation (7 years of great distress, trouble, pain and chaos, such as the world has never seen) and the Millennium (when the devil is chained for a 1,000 year period, and Jesus Christ reigns on earth in peace and righteousness).  Without going into great detail, some of the more popular views of these end-time events include:

• Pre-Trib view (Rapture happens before the Tribulation)

• Mid-Trib view (Rapture happens in the middle of the Tribulation) [A variation of this would be the Pre-Wrath view]

• Post-Trib view (Rapture happens at the end of the Tribulation)

• Amillennial view (Rapture and 2^nd Coming are the same event and the Millennium is just symbolic of “a very long time”)

Let me just mention at this point that the Catholic Church’s view generally falls into this last category (Amillennial).  For more details and comments on the Catholic view, see my other blog here:

http://answeringcatholicclaims.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-rapture-and-catholic-eschatology.html

But from a biblical and logical standpoint, I believe that the Pre-Trib view is the only one that makes sense, given the whole of Scripture.  It is very important to keep in mind the distinction between God’s dealings with the nation Israel and His dealings with the church.  Remember, the Jews have always been God’s chosen nation.  But since the majority of them have rejected Jesus of Nazareth (their Messiah), God has then turned His focus, for an undetermined amount of time, to the (mostly) Gentile church (Romans 11:11), which has enjoyed the blessings and favor of God for over 2,000 years.  But when the Rapture happens, the church of Jesus Christ (including believing Jews) will be removed from the earth in an instant to meet Jesus in the air (1 Corinthians 15:51-52), and He will take us to Heaven.  But after the church is gone, God will turn His focus back onto the Jews on earth and deal with them through the Tribulation, where many of them will turn to God and accept Jesus as the true Messiah.  The purpose of this Tribulation is for the punishment of the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles.  This 7 year period is known as Daniel’s 70^th week (Daniel 9:24-27), and is a time of God’s wrath.

   

Note that the Bible uses different names for the same event – “Day of the Lord” (Isaiah 13:6-13; Joel 2:1-2; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-9), “the great and terrible Day of the Lord” (Joel 2:31), “the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6), “day of God” (2 Peter 3:10-12; Revelation 16:14-15), “the Last Day” (John 12:48), “Great Tribulation” (Matthew 24:21), “a time of trouble” (Daniel 12:1-2), the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7), etc. 

 

But how do we know that these terms all point to the same event or time period?  Because it will be a time in which man has never seen such chaos and judgment, nor will we ever see such again.  Since this is true, there can only be ONE such day / time period / season which is “like no other.”  And since the “Day of the Lord” is associated with “times and seasons / epochs” (1 Thess. 5:1), we know it is not just a 24-hour period. 

I believe that the Rapture is the very beginning of the “Day of the Lord” time period.  I will now give some reasons that support a Pre-Trib Rapture view.

The Church is NOT Appointed to (God’s) Wrath

1 Thessalonians 5:9, “For God has not appointed [“destined,” NASV] us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”  The context here is the “Day of the Lord” (verse 2), and the “us” that Paul is speaking of is the church.  The church of Jesus Christ will not go through His wrath (the 7- year Tribulation period).  The “elect” and the “saints” mentioned in Revelation are those who missed the Rapture, but got saved during the Tribulation.  They are not members of the church because the “church age” is a special dispensation, and its unique role on earth will be completed at the time of the “fullness of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:25).

     

Romans 5:9, “Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”  Just a little earlier in this chapter (verse 3), Paul speaks of Christians going through “tribulation,” that is, personal trials, persecution, etc., to develop patience and grow as a Christian.  But this “personal tribulation” is not the 7-year end-time Tribulation to which the book of Revelation refers.  To be sure, it is the wrath of Revelation’s Tribulation from which the church is saved. 

 

Some say that not all of the Tribulation is “God’s wrath.”  But early on, during the fourth seal, we see the fourth horseman bringing death by “the sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth” (Revelation 6:8 - NASV).  This is indeed the wrath of God, since we see God, in Ezekiel 14:21 (NASV), calling them “My four severe judgments.”  This is not just the wrath of man, or of the antichrist, or of the devil.  It is the wrath of the Lamb of God, who breaks ALL of the seals, and oversees all of the “trumpet” and “bowl” judgments, as well.

Again, Jesus has “delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10), and He promises “to keep [us, the church] from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them who dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 3:10).  Jesus also knows how to deliver the godly “out of temptations” (2 Peter 2:9).  In all three of these verses, the Greek “ek” means that we are delivered “out of” temptation and “out of” the wrath - not just offered protection while we’re in the midst of it.  This implies the Rapture of the church will happen before God’s wrath falls.  Notice that the context of 2 Peter 2 (just above) is the rescuing of Noah (verse 5) and Lot (verse 7), and the Day of Judgment (verse 9).  Which brings us to the next point…

As in the Days of Noah and Lot

If we must (as some suggest) go through the Tribulation and endure its suffering and distress, then why did Jesus give us Lot in Sodom as an example of the Day of the Lord (Luke 17:28-30)?  Was not Lot and his family “taken” (i.e., safely removed) by God from the danger zone, while the people of Sodom were “left behind” to suffer the wrath of God?  Remember, the angel said that he could do nothing until Lot and his family were safely out of the area (Genesis 19:22)!

And why use Noah as an example of the Day of the Lord (Matthew 24:37-39)?  Weren’t he and his family removed (“taken”) by God from the danger zone (the land) when they went into the ark?  And were not the inhabitants of the world “left behind” on the ground to suffer God’s wrath as punishment?  If the church were expected to actually go through the Tribulation, Jesus could have used passages like Daniel in the lion’s den (Daniel 6:16-22), or the 3 Hebrew children in the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:19-26) as examples, since these actually stayed in the danger zone while God protected them.  But He didn’t use those as examples.  The fact that Noah and Lot are used as examples tells us that the church will be taken in the Rapture, missing the 7-year Tribulation, while the unbelievers are left to endure God’s wrath.

Taken and Left

Notice that in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, the righteous are taken and the wicked are left.  But in Matthew 13:30, 49-50, the wicked are taken and the righteous are left behind.  These two events cannot be the same thing, and are necessarily two separate events for two different times.  The former is the Rapture, the latter is the Second Coming.

What Happened to the Church?

There are several points here that, taken together, will certainly point to a Pre-Trib Rapture.  First, before the Tribulation starts, there is a door opened in Heaven (Revelation 4:1), in which a voice like the sound of a trumpet says, “Come up here.”  I (and many others) believe that the Rapture of the church happens here, before the 7 year period of trouble begins.  These same words are also spoken to the two witnesses in Revelation 11:12, where they, too, were lifted up into Heaven.  Also notice that nowhere is the church mentioned after Revelation 4:1.  Furthermore, in Revelation 19:11-14, we see Jesus Christ coming out of Heaven toward the earth with an army on white horses, wearing “fine linen, white and clean.”  It is interesting to note that there is no mention of a resurrection in this context, because this army is no doubt the church which was raptured / resurrected 7 years earlier, and coming back to earth with Him in His Second Coming.  In 1 Thessalonians 4:14, it says that Jesus will bring with Him from Heaven those who have fallen asleep (i.e., died in Christ).  But how can Jesus bring them to earth with Him if they haven’t been first resurrected and taken to Heaven (in the Rapture)?

The Barrier Removed

Apparently, today there is something or someone that is holding back the appearance of the antichrist (and, by extension, the 7-year Tribulation).  2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 speaks of one who must be taken out of the way.  Paul is speaking of the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit in the church.  Since the church is “salt” (Matthew 5:13), i.e., a preservative, and is also “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14), it is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, and therefore, holding back the tide of evil that is trying to enter into the world.  Once the barrier (the influence of the salt and light) is removed (in the Rapture), the onslaught will start.  Thus, a Pre-Trib Rapture is indicated.

A Known Day and an Unknown Day

Within the “Day of the Lord” time period, there is a day which will come unexpectedly as a thief, and there is a day coming which can be calculated.  Jesus told us that no one knows the day or the hour of His Coming (Matthew 24:36; 25:13).  Yet, we know that after the antichrist reveals himself in the temple (Matthew 24:15; Daniel 9:27) midway into the Tribulation, he will have 1260 days (Revelation 12:6) to do what he wants, that is, until Jesus comes back to put an end to his reign.  This is confirmed by Revelation 13:5 (42 months) and Daniel 7:25 (“a time, times, and half a time,” i.e., 3 1/2 years).  All three of these are referring to the same amount of time and the same event, one that is known. 

 

The “known” day and the “unknown” day are two different events… the “unknown” is the Rapture, and the “known,” which has a reference point and can be calculated, is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.     

Business as Usual

Luke 17:26-29 and Matthew 24:36-39 both tell us that at the time of the Son of Man’s coming it will be “business as usual.”  That is, people will be eating and drinking, planting, building, marrying and giving in marriage – all normal activity.  This certainly does not sound like the Tribulation, where there will be major unrest, earthquakes, famines, wars, terrible signs in the heavens, plagues, 100-pound hailstones, etc!  The unexpected “birth pangs” (Matthew 24:8; Mark 13:8) have not yet come upon mankind when the Son of Man comes in the clouds for His church, to receive them in the air.

Typology

The Jewish Wedding is one of the best symbols that can be used for evidence for a Pre-Trib Rapture.  It includes the “midnight cry,” the return to the father’s house, the 7-days of “hiding” in the wedding chambers, etc.  See these:

http://www.khouse.org/articles/2003/449/

http://www.bridalcovenant.com/wedding1.html

Zero Population Growth?

Isaiah 60:21-22; 65:23; 66:22; Revelation 20:8 - According to these passages, there will be a definite increase in population in the Millennium.  But some (like the Post-Tribbers) say that the Rapture and the Second Coming are the same event.  If this is so, then who would be left to populate the Millennium, since Jesus destroys all the wicked, and the righteous / raptured would all be given glorified bodies, unable to produce children (Matthew 22:30)?  There would be no “natural” people left to populate the land.  The Pre-Trib view doesn’t have this problem, since the church returns to earth with Jesus, and all the wicked are destroyed, but the righteous survivors of the Tribulation are still around (with natural bodies).  

Imminency

Last, but certainly not least, is the issue of imminency.  “Imminent” means forthcoming, approaching, threatening, unavoidable, inevitable.  And such is the Rapture.  Jesus told us over and over to be watchful and alert because He will come unexpectedly, as a thief (Matthew 24:42-43; Mark 13:32-33; Luke 21:34-36).  He said this because we don’t know the time of the Rapture.  Once the Tribulation starts, we can easily count down the days and calculate its end.  But there is nothing to “count down” to the time of the Rapture, there is nothing that must precede it… it can happen at any moment.  Imminency must be dealt with, but none of the other views can account for it like the Pre-Trib can.

There are still other arguments for the Pre-Trib Rapture, but I believe these demonstrate that the Pre-Trib view is a very reasonable and biblical conclusion.  It is not only comforting (1 Thessalonians 5:11), it is our “Blessed Hope” (Titus 2:13).