I trust you have learned much from our Part I essay on God’s negative promises. An unpleasant task, but worthwhile. Let us complete the task in Part 2.
7. II Tim 2:11-13 says:
This is a faithful saying: 12…If we deny Him, He also will deny us.13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
Many times I have heard sermons on v. 13 alone. The message the uplifting pastor gives is, if we practice sin, God will still remain faithful and see to it that we will go to heaven. Because we’re saved, the pastor says. But, folks, that’s not what the verses say. Taking the two verses together, it really says this: God will remain faithful in His promise as to what He does with people who deny Him. He will deny us! (Also see #6 (Part I), Matthew 10:33). Don’t read anything positive in the statement “He cannot deny Himself.” Read it as follows: if He doesn’t carry out His negative promise, He would be denying His perfection. Yes, He is faithful to carry out a negative promise as well as a positive one. Thus, we obtain an opposite meaning from the sermons—because the pastor doesn’t look at the previous verse, verse 12. Context is crucial.
8. Romans 8:13: For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live
We must consciously sacrifice worldly thoughts and behaviors. We cannot continue to live “according to the flesh,” pleasing our lower nature. Or we “die”—another reference to hell.
9. James 2:13: For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment
Showing mercy is an extremely important Christian fruit. Look at Luke 16:19-31 for Jesus' startling presentation on that subject:
“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell] from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ 27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”
Note the following: The rich man is in hell (hades, the same thing). Why such a horrible reward for his behavior? I mean, he’s rich—doesn’t that mean that God loves him, and would make sure he went to heaven? Bad assumption. He was in hades because he refused to show any mercy to the beggar, whom he passed every single day and refused to lift a finger. Yet, you say, this seems to be an extreme punishment for him not being merciful! Here, the rich man is suffering in great torment—extreme heat, parched tongue, flames—all truly what hell is. Think about that—would God do such a thing? Well, if we question Him doing it, it probably means we have no inkling of how much He hates sin! Don't forget, God was willing to give up His only Son, to die a horrible death, because He loved us—and yet we stamp on His love by ignoring His Son’s requirement to follow His commands. Finally, notice that the rich man, tormented as he was, gets not one simple request fulfilled—he doesn’t get his tongue cooled, not a word is said to warn his brothers. Why? His time of mercy has passed. “Judgment is without mercy,” as James 2:13 above says, since he had shown no mercy. No second chances! Once in hell, you get no mercy, you’re there forever! Let us learn from this and show mercy to the downtrodden. Make no excuse for yourself, thinking “they wasted their life, and deserve to be there.” God knows our every thought. Don’t we want God's mercy in judgement for our many sins when we die?
10. Revelation 14:9-12: Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. 12Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
When you read Revelation, when the day comes, it seems getting the mark is the way to get the needs of life met easily--food, clothing, medical care (Revelation 13:16-17). People will be fearful that without the mark, they may starve, or die because of poor health. The temptation to take the mark will be almost impossible to ignore. Yet the angel warns us that if we do take the mark, we get hell, we get the wrath of God, we get tormented with fire and brimstone—forever. Is the trade-off worth it? If we believe God’s Word is Truth, it actually makes sense to starve to death (although I think God will perform miracles to keep that from happening), in order to gain heaven instead of hell. Here are your choices: Do you prefer a couple months or years of filling your belly, and then death and hell forever? Or do you prefer death now, and heaven forever? Forever is a lot longer than a couple years. Heaven is unspeakably better than hell. If you believe that God speaks the truth, it’s no contest which way to go. Yet most people are predictable; their immediate needs are as far as they see. So Scripture speaks of a great apostasy (falling away from Him and His truth) in those End Times. And we may be in that unfortunate generation. We need to pray and be mentally prepared--and our families. Sad to say, many will be unprepared--a lot of “Christians” will make excuses to God while they apostatize and take the mark. To their eternal destruction. He will stick to His promise, regardless of their excuses. II Thessalonians 2:3 clearly says that there will be many who will be weak and fall away:
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition
11. II Chronicles 15:2: And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
Yes, it’s possible to be forsaken by God--if we forsake Him. What, you thought He was a God of unconditional love, patient forever, faithful to keep us safe to the end, etc., etc.? Guess you had the wrong idea about Him. If you’re smart, you need to read His Word about what He thinks, rather than guessing and hoping your way through. Let us not meantally make God out to be what we want--but what He isn't. We can't spend time on speculation that often turns on self-deception. Scripture says we guess wrong about what God is thinking. As Isaiah 55:8-9 says:
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
12. Ezekiel 33:13: When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall die
“Die” refers to hell. You say you had your one moment of receiving Jesus, you got “righteous”--but your life hasn’t really changed? You say that you behaved when you were young, but now you want to sow your wild oats before you get old, then repent of it all and get saved again? Convenient assumptions…but big mistakes; that trend doesn't happen. As the Ezekiel verse says, He seems to be a “what have you done for Me lately” God. He is patient with us when we ignore Him for a time, but His patience has a limit.
13. Matthew 7:21,23: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven…And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!
God promises hell to those who have the “lip service,” yet they “practice lawlessness.” These are people who say, “It’s all right to sin..I’ll confess it later,” or “Now that I’m saved, I can sin and not lose my salvation. Sinning just makes me lose fellowship, or lose a crown.” Such people encourage lawlessness. Their theology opened the door to sin. If they walk through it--they’re on their way to hell, regardless of sincere theology. They haven’t read their Bibles about expectations God had for them to fight sin.
14. John 5:29: … and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation
Note the key to the resurrection of life: Doing good. Faith cannot be alone and live. This agrees with the book of James which speaks of “dead faith,” James 2:17:
Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
That “faith” won’t get you to heaven; you end up in hell. Works, fruit, are necessary to maintain salvation. See my blogs on “initial…final salvation,” and “Paul v James.”
15. Psa 37:10-11: For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, But it shall be no more.11 But the meek shall inherit the earth, And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace
Thank God--no more wicked people!
IN SUMMARY: In Exodus 34:6,7 God describes Himself and emphasizes His mercy and patience
And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation
See also Nehemiah 9:31 and Psa 145:8-9 and Micah 7:18. BUT as I said in my opening remarks, you need to see the other side of God to get the true picture. He is jealous (Exodus 20:5), gets wrathful and avenging over sin, even slaughters people for their sin; in fact, He hates some people! See Psa 11:5
The LORD tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
It’s important to see both sides of God, that He is faithful to His promises, even if that means people go to hell. Let us never forget that few people make it to heaven—most people make up their own view about God, and consign themselves to hell. See Matthew 7:14 for proof that this happens to the majority of people:
Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Never forget this sobering fact.
Acknowledgement to Daniel Corner, writer and preacher
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Escaping Hell; God's Negative Promises (Part 1 of 2)
We all love thanking God for His promises, singing of how He is faithful to keep them. But did you know that Scripture contains many negative promises of His? These are sober warnings about hell—and did you know that He is faithful to keep those negative promises too? Scripture clearly says, more people will go to hell than heaven (Matthew 7:14). We seldom hear preaching on the negative side of God’s promises—only the positive. But we need to know all aspects of God, not just one side, to truly know all about Him. And we should want to figure His thinking--He will use it to be our judge. On what basis does He decide to send us to heaven or hell? Each church has its simple follow-the-pattern to get to heaven--but sometimes they got their pattern by cherry-picking Scripture. If you're serious about getting to heaven, you really want to know the truth. You should be rational. But there really aren't too many rational men when it comes to mortality. Keep in mind, we don’t know God just by thinking about how we’d like Him to be, or picking selected Scripture that we like. So, for a look at part of the truth, here are some negative promises that God will also be faithful to keep:
1. Romans 11:22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, IF you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
For God to continue to bless us, including saving us from hell (“cut off” says that), as this verse points out, we need to “continue in His goodness.” What does that mean? It means essentially the same as Jesus says in John 15:8,10:
By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples… If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love
“Abide in My love” is the same as “continue in His goodness.” But to do that, we must bear fruit, and keep His commandments, to truly be His disciples. If we don’t do these, we don’t abide in Him, we’re not saved, and we go to hell. See John 15:6:
If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned
These are “conditions to continue to be saved” that we seldom hear preached. I guess that’s because preachers are saying what people want to hear, not the whole truth. Consider II Timothy 4:3-4a:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth…
2. Matthew 6:15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
If we Christians don’t forgive people, then God won’t forgive us. That means we can’t go to heaven—we lose our salvation, we go to hell. Consider Matthew 18:23-35 for additional proof of the necessity of a forgiving spirit:
Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet] and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all. 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses
Note how the servant was originally forgiven, but the master retracted that forgiveness and had him “delivered to the torturers.” To apply the parable to us, that means our Master, God, will withdraw our salvation, and we go to hell. Why? Because the servant was unforgiving. The servant has no excuse; look at how much he was forgiven himself. But his original "salvation" was only temporary because it didn’t change his personality; he still turned around and was unforgiving and grudging. God is looking for changed personalities, people who are humble enough to see how their sin looks in His eyes, and appreciate their rescue from the terrors of hell, which we all deserve. If your “being saved” is just a “mental assent” thing, and you aren’t changed—maybe you aren’t saved. It is possible that we deceive ourselves.
3. Galatians 6:8: For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Paul is speaking to Christians here. If they ignore Him six days out of seven, if they focus on the world's ways, they may reap “corruption” (or destruction). This is speaking of hell, because it is given as the opposite of everlasting life. Why are these people in danger of hell? Not because they refused Christ—it’s because they spend most of their time in self-indulgence. If a Christian does that as a practice, he loses his salvation. A lot of people are into materialism and don’t worry one iota about the possible dangerous cost of loving the world. As I John 2:15 points out, worldliness removes your love of the Father. That makes you unsaved. Remember the parable of the Sower. One of his unfruitful soils was to people who still love the world. For such a person, the Word is choked. See Matthew 13:22:
Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world…choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful
Being unfruitful through your life--such as immersion in worldliness will do--is a ticket to hell—John 15:2:
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away
4. Gal. 5:19-21: Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul repeatedly warned Christians of going to hell for serious sin. (See also I Cor. 6:9-10; Ephesians 5:3-6, and Rev. 21:8). And why are these people in hell? Because they denied Christ? Yes, in their BEHAVIOR they denied Him. By not following His commandments, they show that they do not love Him—that amounts to denial. You single people who like to live together, Beware! Your current pleasure could yield an eternity of suffering in hell! Is that trade-off worth it?
Consider I John 5:3: For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.
How do we prove that we love Jesus? By keeping His commandments. This requires Bible reading, to see what those commandments are. By doing this daily, we love Him, and we abide in Him—and we can turn away from addiction to sins such as the above.We're not talking about the ten commandments, by the way. We mean the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus' many instructions and warnings throughout the Gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
5. Matthew 7:19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire
We need to know fruits. A list of fruits is in Galatians 5:22-23:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control.
If we are not consciously cultivating these qualities, if we are not making Jesus’ behavior ours, how can we call ourselves His disciples? How do we become more like Christ? It is unlikely that His characteristics just ossify on us. No, it takes conscious effort If we don’t develop these fruits as a consistent practice, we are “cut down and thrown into the fire.” Christian, focus on each of these fruits in turn, for your daily devotions—cultivate them.
6. Matthew 10:33: But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven
People assume that this denial has to be verbal. Not the case, see #5 above. If we are ungodly in our behavior, we are denying our Lord, because people look at our actions, not our words. Then what happens? He denies us…and God changes His mind about our destination; we are consigned to hell, not heaven.
Could God do this? Read some interesting verses in Deuteronomy 31. Let’s start with Moses’ words to the people of Israel in v. 6 (quoted frequently by uplifting preachers):
“Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”
So you say, “Ah, hah! God won’t ever forsake me!” Well, ah-ha, what word did you add to His Word there? “Ever,” right? Well, you only have to read ahead 10 verses (something I’ve never heard a preacher do) to read God’s limitation on His kindness. Read of the prophecy of the children of Israel’s sad future, vv 16-18:
And the LORD said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. 17 Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ 18 And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.
Yes, God changed His mind. When the people forsook God, He eventually forsook them. He is faithful to His Word—if you love Him, He blesses you; if you turn from Him, He tries to win you back. If you won’t come back, He sadly has to part from you. As you read in #2 above, He can RETRACT His forgiveness.
Scripture is clear that only a "few" (Matthew 7:14) go to haven. Polling indicates 75% of Americans call themselves "Christian," and thus believe they're going to heaven. That's not "few," is it? Lots of people who say they are Christian never think twice about God, their conversation is never about the eternal, they don't want to know all about God. They have deceived themselves! They should have asked if John 15:1-6 applies to them. God leaves lots of warnings in His word--but people don't really read the Word 6 days out of 7, they read uplifting devotions instead. God help us to fear Him, and seek the truth.
1. Romans 11:22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, IF you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
For God to continue to bless us, including saving us from hell (“cut off” says that), as this verse points out, we need to “continue in His goodness.” What does that mean? It means essentially the same as Jesus says in John 15:8,10:
By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples… If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love
“Abide in My love” is the same as “continue in His goodness.” But to do that, we must bear fruit, and keep His commandments, to truly be His disciples. If we don’t do these, we don’t abide in Him, we’re not saved, and we go to hell. See John 15:6:
If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned
These are “conditions to continue to be saved” that we seldom hear preached. I guess that’s because preachers are saying what people want to hear, not the whole truth. Consider II Timothy 4:3-4a:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth…
2. Matthew 6:15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
If we Christians don’t forgive people, then God won’t forgive us. That means we can’t go to heaven—we lose our salvation, we go to hell. Consider Matthew 18:23-35 for additional proof of the necessity of a forgiving spirit:
Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet] and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all. 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses
Note how the servant was originally forgiven, but the master retracted that forgiveness and had him “delivered to the torturers.” To apply the parable to us, that means our Master, God, will withdraw our salvation, and we go to hell. Why? Because the servant was unforgiving. The servant has no excuse; look at how much he was forgiven himself. But his original "salvation" was only temporary because it didn’t change his personality; he still turned around and was unforgiving and grudging. God is looking for changed personalities, people who are humble enough to see how their sin looks in His eyes, and appreciate their rescue from the terrors of hell, which we all deserve. If your “being saved” is just a “mental assent” thing, and you aren’t changed—maybe you aren’t saved. It is possible that we deceive ourselves.
3. Galatians 6:8: For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Paul is speaking to Christians here. If they ignore Him six days out of seven, if they focus on the world's ways, they may reap “corruption” (or destruction). This is speaking of hell, because it is given as the opposite of everlasting life. Why are these people in danger of hell? Not because they refused Christ—it’s because they spend most of their time in self-indulgence. If a Christian does that as a practice, he loses his salvation. A lot of people are into materialism and don’t worry one iota about the possible dangerous cost of loving the world. As I John 2:15 points out, worldliness removes your love of the Father. That makes you unsaved. Remember the parable of the Sower. One of his unfruitful soils was to people who still love the world. For such a person, the Word is choked. See Matthew 13:22:
Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world…choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful
Being unfruitful through your life--such as immersion in worldliness will do--is a ticket to hell—John 15:2:
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away
4. Gal. 5:19-21: Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul repeatedly warned Christians of going to hell for serious sin. (See also I Cor. 6:9-10; Ephesians 5:3-6, and Rev. 21:8). And why are these people in hell? Because they denied Christ? Yes, in their BEHAVIOR they denied Him. By not following His commandments, they show that they do not love Him—that amounts to denial. You single people who like to live together, Beware! Your current pleasure could yield an eternity of suffering in hell! Is that trade-off worth it?
Consider I John 5:3: For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.
How do we prove that we love Jesus? By keeping His commandments. This requires Bible reading, to see what those commandments are. By doing this daily, we love Him, and we abide in Him—and we can turn away from addiction to sins such as the above.We're not talking about the ten commandments, by the way. We mean the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus' many instructions and warnings throughout the Gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
5. Matthew 7:19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire
We need to know fruits. A list of fruits is in Galatians 5:22-23:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control.
If we are not consciously cultivating these qualities, if we are not making Jesus’ behavior ours, how can we call ourselves His disciples? How do we become more like Christ? It is unlikely that His characteristics just ossify on us. No, it takes conscious effort If we don’t develop these fruits as a consistent practice, we are “cut down and thrown into the fire.” Christian, focus on each of these fruits in turn, for your daily devotions—cultivate them.
6. Matthew 10:33: But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven
People assume that this denial has to be verbal. Not the case, see #5 above. If we are ungodly in our behavior, we are denying our Lord, because people look at our actions, not our words. Then what happens? He denies us…and God changes His mind about our destination; we are consigned to hell, not heaven.
Could God do this? Read some interesting verses in Deuteronomy 31. Let’s start with Moses’ words to the people of Israel in v. 6 (quoted frequently by uplifting preachers):
“Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”
So you say, “Ah, hah! God won’t ever forsake me!” Well, ah-ha, what word did you add to His Word there? “Ever,” right? Well, you only have to read ahead 10 verses (something I’ve never heard a preacher do) to read God’s limitation on His kindness. Read of the prophecy of the children of Israel’s sad future, vv 16-18:
And the LORD said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. 17 Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ 18 And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.
Yes, God changed His mind. When the people forsook God, He eventually forsook them. He is faithful to His Word—if you love Him, He blesses you; if you turn from Him, He tries to win you back. If you won’t come back, He sadly has to part from you. As you read in #2 above, He can RETRACT His forgiveness.
Scripture is clear that only a "few" (Matthew 7:14) go to haven. Polling indicates 75% of Americans call themselves "Christian," and thus believe they're going to heaven. That's not "few," is it? Lots of people who say they are Christian never think twice about God, their conversation is never about the eternal, they don't want to know all about God. They have deceived themselves! They should have asked if John 15:1-6 applies to them. God leaves lots of warnings in His word--but people don't really read the Word 6 days out of 7, they read uplifting devotions instead. God help us to fear Him, and seek the truth.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Getting to Heaven: Initial Salvation Easy, Final Salvation Not So Easy
1. Scripture contains seemingly contradictory claims about receiving eternal life. Some of its verses, those we’re usually more familiar with, say eternal life is possessed right now. Such as John 5:24:
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
I John 5:13 agrees:
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
As these Scriptures suggest, all you need is simple belief, and you have eternal life immediately. What is belief? As one author says, “when a person extends a trusting, submitted faith in Jesus Christ”—in what He did to save us from hell. We will call this Initial Salvation.
2. But there are other less-well-known Scriptures that say, actual receipt of eternal life is delayed until our life’s end—and that what we have now is just the hope of eternal life. Such as Titus 3:6-7:
…whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Or Jude 21:
Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life
3. Either God’s Word has a glaring contradiction here, or else eternal life must be in two stages. Let’s assume the latter. We’ve called the first stage “initial salvation.” Let’s call the second stage, represented by Titus 3 and Jude, “Final Salvation.”
4. Initial salvation is what's most often evangelized: It’s the moment when a person extends a trusting-submitting faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives, delivering us from the destination for our sins, hell.
Final salvation is the one we don’t hear too much: Entering heaven is only for those who die in a righteous state—they have been abiding in Christ, and are reliably obedient to His commands. Their belief in Him produced fruits in their lives. This is the aspect of salvation that’s hard to swallow, because it suggests that to be truly saved from hell, we have to go from merely belief, or mental assent, with no change in behavior necessary—to radical changes in behavior being necessary to go to heaven. The much-ignored final salvation contains what is called “conditional security.” Conditioned on our behavior, on works, after we're initially saved.
5. Since you’ll have a harder time accepting the delay, the works of righteousness, or the conditional security of Final Salvation, I have lots more verses for you to ponder.
• Romans 2:6-7 God will give to each person according to what he has done." 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life
• Galatians 6:8b-9 the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
• Titus 1:2a a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised
• Titus 3:7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life
• I Timothy 6:19: storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life
"Laying hold" suggests striving, works. This is more evident in the next verse.
• I Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
• Romans 13:11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
• Mark 10:30 who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life
•I Peter 1:9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
These verses say eternal life is future, and a process of behavior. But don’t we hate uncertainty, we'd rather have an easy formula, a one-off kind of deal.
6. With this “new” idea to many of us, an important question is raised: If eternal life is delayed, is it possible for anyone who has accepted Christ (has “initial salvation”) to LOSE IT between initial and final salvation? Calvinists believe the answer is NO, based on the 5th point of TULIP: Perseverance of the Saints. As the Westminster Confession (now remember, this is not the Bible) declares (Chapter 17, para.1): “They whom God hath accepted in his Beloved…can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace: but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.” They further insist that such does not depend upon our own free will but “upon the immutability of the decree of election.” This belief system has been popularly called, “once saved, always saved” (OSAS). Most popular evangelists adhere to this belief.
7. But there is an opposite belief system, called Arminianism. Some of their important beliefs are:
• Christ's atonement was made on behalf of all people.
• God allows his grace to be resisted by those who freely reject Christ.
• Believers are able to resist sin but are not beyond the possibility of falling from grace through persistent, unrepented-of sin.
It is the last bulleted point that’s the main bone of contention to Calvinists. Armininiasm believes it’s possible to lose eternal life between initial salvation and final salvation. So which theology is correct—Calvinism or Arminianism? See some of Scriptural verses above, for one thing.
8. IF God wants you to believe eternal life is sure and certain for believers, if Initial Salvation is all there is, and heaven is guaranteed (such as believed by Calvinists)--then Scripture would be full of secure statements for the believer and have no listing of conditional behavior. But that means we have to wave away all the Scriptures in #5 above, right? All of their conditional statements and delay are lies, right? Or else we accept glaring contradictions in Scripture that we began discussion with, right? No, wrong. The simple solution is, salvation has two aspects: Initial and Final. That resolves the "contradiction" in Scripture. Arminianism requires a holy life to achieve heaven. This is totally backed up by Scripture, as we saw many times above. As Hebrews 12:14 says:
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord
9. Final proof: Some more verses that are seemingly "in contrast" to one another, which HAVE to suggest two stages in eternal life to avoid a contradiction in Scripture:
Luke 7:50:
Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Versus Matthew 10:22, spoken to already-saved disciples:
And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved
I John 4:4 sounds like we’re already overcomers forever, no stopping us, it’s all done by Jesus:
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
But then there’s Rev. 2:10b-11, which seems to show that WE have to strive at overcoming to get there in the future:
Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”’
Why does God do this, saying, "you're saved," then saying, "you have to wait to be saved?" Perhaps, as Romans 6:11 seems to interpret, there is value in psychologically "reckoning" ourselves as overcomers--this helps us become overcomers. God also doesn't want us to fall into complacency.
Same contrast about sonship: Here’s a verse that says we are sons now: Galatians 3:26
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus
But here’s some verses that say “wait, there’s some conditions here, some things you do before you can be a son:” Rev. 21:7,8
He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death
10. And here’s just a few more verses which also condition eternal life: Hebrews 3:14
For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end
Hebrews 5:9
And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him
The word “obey” is in continuous sense. You’ve got to keep on obeying.
11. Sobering verses on the importance of sin depriving you of eternal life, and on how important it is to cut off all such behavior to keep it:
Mark 9:43-44, 47:
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 44 ‘where Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’ 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out….
Luke 13:23-24
Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?”
And He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
12. How can we feel eternally secure, when Scripture says we could:
Wander off, I Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows…
Turn back: John 6:66
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
Fall away Luke 8:13
But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away
And how could a God who doesn’t want anyone to perish, II Peter 3:9:
The Lord is not slack… not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
The God whose will is perfect in its attainment, how could He allow people’s faith to be shipwrecked? I Tim 1:19
having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck
Now you can’t make shipwreck unless you were first on the ship! The answer is, He gave us the free will to turn aside from the faith and lose what we obtained.
13. Consider how Christians are likened to a salt that can lose its saltiness, Matthew 5:13
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out,
Christians are compared to virgins (in Matthew 25:1-13) whose lamps run out of oil (note: they had it, then ran out)—and what do they hear Jesus say? As verse 12 sadly points out, “I do not know you.”
14. Calvinist teachers want us to be relaxed, less anxiety-prone. They tell us, “you’re assured, just love God; let good works arise out of thankfulness.” So why are so many verses comparing the Christian life to being:
• A soldier in a battle (II Timothy 2:3,4): You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier
• A wrestler, Ephesians 6:12a For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age
• Willing to shed blood, as it were, to defeat sin: Hebrews 12:4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin
• Willing to even leave our families (see my blog on "Defeating the Taliban"), Matthew 19:29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.
• A slave to God: Romans 6:22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life
15. When the rich young ruler popped the big question about obtaining eternal life to Jesus (Luke 18), what did He do? Did Jesus want to make it easy to understand, to win him? Did He tell him it’s just faith in Him, nothing else? NO! As Luke 18:18-23 records, He gave him a rough time defining the word “good,” then He gave him a rough time on how he should be saved, testing him by running through some of the 10 commandments first (!), then gives him an almost impossible restriction!
Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” 22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 23 But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.
Now, does Jesus, seeing that he is a good man, seeing his sorrow, beg him to reconsider, urge him, tell him how much he could lose? Does He water down his tough final restriction? NO! His words in vv. 24,25:
And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
16. These ideas might shock you. But don’t, whatever you do, reject them outright, dismissing them that “I’m taking verses out of context,” etc etc. There are things about God here that we should explore, take a fresh unbiased look at ALL of His Word. Attaining and keeping eternal life might not be as we were taught!
Acknowledgement to Brother Dan Corner, preacher, writer, and watchman on the wall.
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Most Americans are Not Saved (Revised)
Nearly a quarter century
ago, Yale’s Harold Bloom famously described America as a “dangerously
religion-soaked, even religion-mad, society.”
Well, how the worms turn. Here
are two proofs that America is NOT “religion-soaked” anymore. Number one is the latest twist in the Planned
Parenthood case. You know the one. Through hidden videos, they were found to be
selling aborted fetal tissue for a profit, which is illegal and disgustingly
immoral. This even goes beyond the
murder of the infants in the first place, horrendous as that is. So now they’re saying, let’s make a profit on
the fetus’s body that we just killed.
How bad can our country get? Well, this bad. Even after learning of this, our worthy
Congressmen, voted to continue to fund that same organization. Talk about
amoral cowards. Is this horror story
over? No; here’s another item, per
Reuters:
In a surprise move disclosed on Monday (January 25, 2016), a
grand jury in Harris County Texas not only cleared Planned Parenthood's Gulf
Coast affiliate but also indicted the two anti-abortion activists, David
Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, who had prompted the probe in the first
place. They have both been charged with
using fake driver's licenses and Daleiden for violating Texas' prohibition on
the purchase and sale of human organs - the same law he accused Planned Parenthood
of breaking - when he sent an email to Planned Parenthood seeking to buy fetal
tissue.
No one could touch Planned Parenthood now. Our culture of
death seems fixed in stone. We need to
apologize to Adolph Hitler. His genocide
was only 1/10 the size of ours—and ours is still growing. Besides that, all our victims are the most
innocent that society has.
Here’s reason number two of why America is anything but
religious. An article from Zionica.com,
busy taking the pulse of American’s religiosity—or lack thereof:
LYNCHBURG, Va. — A reality star hipster “pastor” who is known
for marrying Playboy cover model Kim Kardashian to blasphemous “I Am a God”
rapper Kanye West, and for collaborating with West on the script for his
“Yeezus” tour and other projects, was welcomed Wednesday by Liberty University,
which heralds itself as being the world’s largest Christian university, to
address students during convocation.
As previously reported, Rich Wilkerson Jr’s reality show “Rich in Faith” began airing last month on the Oxygen channel and follows Wilkerson as he launches a new congregation called “Vous Church.”
“I come from a different perspective. I don’t think people are interested in a bunch of religion, like tell me what I can and can’t do,” Wilkerson says in the promotional video for the show. “But I think people are interested in having a relationship with a higher power.”
The preview shows Wilkerson getting a tattoo, lying on the beach with his bikini-clad wife, and telling his parents that he plans to hold his first service at a bar.
As previously reported, Rich Wilkerson Jr’s reality show “Rich in Faith” began airing last month on the Oxygen channel and follows Wilkerson as he launches a new congregation called “Vous Church.”
“I come from a different perspective. I don’t think people are interested in a bunch of religion, like tell me what I can and can’t do,” Wilkerson says in the promotional video for the show. “But I think people are interested in having a relationship with a higher power.”
The preview shows Wilkerson getting a tattoo, lying on the beach with his bikini-clad wife, and telling his parents that he plans to hold his first service at a bar.
“In recent months, the themes of Wilkerson’s sermons have been
based on songs from the Top 40: Drake’s ‘Worst Behavior,’ DJ Snake and Lil
Jon’s club thumper ‘Turn Down for What,’ Beyoncé’s ‘Drunk in Love,’” the Miami
New Times reports.
“His messages take surprising detours on their way to the gospel. He might roll out a story about pissing his pants as a kid, talk about marital sex, or even point out the church’s proximity to Miami’s strip joints,” it outlines.
Wilkerson, who previously led a 1,500-member young adult group called “The Rendezvous” at his father’s Trinity Church, was put into the spotlight in 2014 after he officiated the wedding of profanity-laden rapper Kanye West, known for songs such as “I Am a God,” “Drunk and Hot Girls,” “Hold My Liquor” and “Jesus Walks,” to Playboy cover model Kim Kardashian, the step-daughter of Bruce Jenner.
“His messages take surprising detours on their way to the gospel. He might roll out a story about pissing his pants as a kid, talk about marital sex, or even point out the church’s proximity to Miami’s strip joints,” it outlines.
Wilkerson, who previously led a 1,500-member young adult group called “The Rendezvous” at his father’s Trinity Church, was put into the spotlight in 2014 after he officiated the wedding of profanity-laden rapper Kanye West, known for songs such as “I Am a God,” “Drunk and Hot Girls,” “Hold My Liquor” and “Jesus Walks,” to Playboy cover model Kim Kardashian, the step-daughter of Bruce Jenner.
He had met the couple two years prior after they visited his
father’s congregation.
“I just talked to Jesus/He said, ‘What up Yeezus?’/ I said, “[Expletive], I’m chilling/Trying to stack these millions,” West raps in his song “I Am a God.” “I know He the Most High/But I am a close high/… I am a god.”
“It began a relationship; we (Wilkerson and West) started emailing and calling each other. We collaborated on a few things: art, fashion, music, Jesus,” Wilkerson told People Magazine last year. “He invited me to write a few things for his tour, and I’ve been able to counsel him on a few things.”
“I just talked to Jesus/He said, ‘What up Yeezus?’/ I said, “[Expletive], I’m chilling/Trying to stack these millions,” West raps in his song “I Am a God.” “I know He the Most High/But I am a close high/… I am a god.”
“It began a relationship; we (Wilkerson and West) started emailing and calling each other. We collaborated on a few things: art, fashion, music, Jesus,” Wilkerson told People Magazine last year. “He invited me to write a few things for his tour, and I’ve been able to counsel him on a few things.”
There are so many things
wrong with this, that I just don’t want to begin. There is more of this information on Christiannews.net, if you’re dying to
read.
If you poll Americans, they think they are Christian. Yet we allow sin-sick stuff like this to go
on, and don’t lay a public ruckus about it. Such complacency! Such lack of fire against sin! Jesus has a word about this lukewarm
complacency, in Revelation 3:14-18:
“And
to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,‘These things
says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness… 15 “I
know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold
or hot. 16 So then, because you
are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out
of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I
am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that
you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I
counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and
white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your
nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you
may see.
You vomit something that doesn’t
belong in your body. Jesus knew who is
part of His body, and it doesn’t include lukewarm folk like many American
“Christians.” So here is the
announcement I boldly make:
Most Americans are not saved.
Most Americans are going to hell, barring a revolutionary event or
revival. That includes many “evangelicals.” So, you want to know, what proof do I have
for such a bold statement? Well, besides
the above, the proof is a numbers game, based on Matthew 7:13-14:
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is
the way that leads to destruction (hell), and there are many who go in by
it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life (eternal
life),
and there are few who find it.
Well, how many is “few,” the ones to be saved? I welcome you to take a survey to see if you agree
to my results. Invite someone to close
their eyes. Tell them to imagine viewing
from overhead, 100 people milling together on a person’s extended lawn. Then
say, “OK, picture in your mind that a few of those people cross over a bridge
to a gazebo.” Then you ask, “How many
people, to your best knowledge, did you imagine doing that?” I did ask people that, and the answers were 3
to 7. Let’s be generous and say the
average is 6. By that measure, Jesus is
saying 6% of the people are going to heaven—so 94% are going to hell. There is no third final location. I think 94% fulfills the word “most” in my headline.
Now, you might argue that Americans are “different” than these
depressing numbers would suggest, that we’re “better than just a few.” Well, I boldly assert that quite the opposite
may be true. Again—besides the above two citations above--consider
this well-known fact: America is the
richest large society in the world, and has been for several decades now. Our middle class is huge, and our middle
class—including you and me, most likely—is “rich,” measured by any standard in
world history. Now here’s my point: Jesus condemns rich people (and that includes
you and me) several times in Scripture. When
Jesus said, the chances of a rich person going to heaven are worse than the
chances of a camel going through the eye of a needle (Matthew 19:24), that
suggests to me that even less than the “few,” the 6%, are saved in our country.
So America’s saved folk wouldn’t be greater than 6%—we might even suggest that
it is less than 6%!
What do Americans do when they
read that their chances of being saved are like “the camel going through the
eye of the needle”? Do they experience a fear of God? No; they either say “I’m not rich” (which is
easily disproven in the vantage point of the world and of history, as I’ve
pointed out above), or they call the phrase hyperbole—and dismiss it. But folks, Jesus’ point in hyperbole is, it
contains mostly truth. And you never
dismiss what Jesus says. Well, people
may ask in pride, what is our great evil
here, that makes Jesus pick on us, that makes it extremely hard for us (Matt 19:23) to
be saved? It’s this: If you kept your
wealth (we’re talking larger houses, a 401k, stocks and savings)--and lots
of Americans have wealth, not just the upper class—you kept it by ignoring your suffering brothers. I know, an extreme
statement, but please read on, please. The
Scriptural fact is, we are supposed to use money on ourselves to fulfill basic
needs only—and give the rest away, to the desperately poor and needy of the
world. If we make the mistake of
accumulating wealth, Luke 12:33 tells us what to do: Sell what you have and give to those in need. This will fatten your purses in heaven! And the purses of heaven have no rips or holes in them. Your treasures there will never disappear; no thief can steal them; no moth can destroy them.
Scripture makes it clear what defines “need”: Food, basic clothing and basic shelter. Every dollar you make above the ability to meet your needs, as so defined, you have a choice: Do I give this to a brother or sister in the world who is starving, even to death, who is repeatedly terribly sick because he is drinking contaminated water, who doesn’t have a decent place to live—or do I just keep it, buy another toy, or throw it on my pile of savings to make my future easier? The fact is, most middle- and upper-class Americans choose the latter—without a single pang of conscience. But we must learn to know and think like God; He loves every person, especially defending the neglected, and hates to see people suffering. His saved ones are supposed to think like Him and make a difference in the world for the poor and the oppressed. As Jesus did. But we are complacently ignorant, consuming our extra money selfishly on ourselves. God will judge us for this—perhaps more than we know, because our pastors have been on a kick, far too long, of teaching us that God is a grandfatherly fellow, not a Judge. We assume we got the extra wealth because we’re smart, or God gave us this wealth because He loves us; but the reality is, He gave us this extra money for us to share it with His suffering children, thus Scripturally bearing fruit. But we spend it on ourselves, and do not bear fruit.
So what have you done with your extra dollars in the past? We’re talking about the difference between
eternal life or eternal death. Returning
to Scripture, surely you’re aware of the parable of the man who used his extra
earnings to build better storehouses. A simple impulse to save, right? Well, that “godly” saving impulse had a
shocking effect from God. It drew His
judgment—He took the man’s life away.
His sin? Clearly stated in Scripture (Luke 12:20-21)—he was adding to his wealth.
20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will
be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ 21 “So is he who lays up
treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
“Rich toward God” means using your treasure for heavenly purposes, as outlined
above.
We have a serious problem in consumer America: Hey, accumulating wealth is an American goal,
“everybody” does it—well, keep in mind--“everybody” is on the broad path; a
hellish goal.
Returning to Scripture again: What about the story of that rich man, who
passed by the beggar Lazarus every day (Luke 16:19ff)? What was his sin? He didn’t oppress him; he just ignored
him. What did God do to him because he
ignored the poor? Sent him to hell. And that’s also what most of us better-off in
America do. We are rich, but we buy,
buy, buy, gotta have more things. We gorge our lusts so much we even get into
debt, so we are trapped with huge payments—we get ourselves in a position that
we can never help the poor. Meanwhile, our sick and poor brothers often die due
to our complacency. God will judge
us.
Here’s another radical verse to think about: Jesus says in
Matthew 6:19, “Do not lay up for
yourselves treasures on earth...” That
is a crystal-clear command not to accumulate wealth. Frankly, I’ve never heard a single pastor—and
I’ve heard many—teach this simple truth of Jesus’ statement: DO NOT accumulate wealth. And Jesus says why in verse 21: Because the desires
of your heart will be thinking about wealth, rather than on what God wants you
to do for His kingdom.
Also think about the Sower sowing seed into the thorns: “the cares of this world and the
deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22). Guess where the unfruitful usually go? Hell (see John 15:5,6). What is the “deceitfulness” of riches? Maybe it’s this: Wealthy people assume they’re rich because
God loves them—so they conclude they are assured of heaven. In America, even the large middle class is
rich by world (and history) standards—so lots and lots of people feel assured
of God’s love, assured they’re going to heaven. They want to believe this—so
they ignore what Jesus says about rich people who hang on to it in
Scripture.
Surveys back up this confidence that people feel, since
surveys indicate that 76% of Americans say they’re going to heaven (Gallup
poll). But a more accurate number is 6%,
as we’ve said--or even fewer, considering our richer people—so that means the
other 70% are deceived, probably by their riches in most cases. So if 76% of Americans say they’re
heaven-bound, but the real number is 6%, there’s a whole lot of deceitfulness
going on. Another way of putting it is,
of every 12 people who think they’re saved, 11 of those are going to hell. Only one is going to heaven. Only one is truly saved. Think of the odds against you, my
friend. The fear of God, which is the
beginning of wisdom (Prov 9:10), might actually enter your heart.
So, have you been deceived? Out of the 12, are you in the 11? Or are you the one? If you assert that you are the one, what did
you do to deserve being the one? The
odds place you in the 11. Are you one of
those, in judgment day, pleading like in Matt 25:44,
‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty
or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’
Will you be one of those hearing these sad
words--
45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as
you did not do it to one of the
least of these, you did not do it
to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment…
Could hell be your destination, and you
don’t even know it? What would you do to
avoid that horrible possibility?
Let’s assume you believed in Christ as
Savior, you felt assured of heaven; but this paper, and your Scripture reading
(like John 15), are eye-openers; they show you that your “belief” might have
been a false intellectual belief, not of the heart. And you wonder what to do. You might read your Gospels
intensively, make a list of the sins you never thought about, make a list of Jesus’
commands—ask the Spirit to help you to be forgiving, to help the oppressed, to
turn the other cheek, to love your enemies—and repent and confess to God your
sin. If you haven’t been baptized, then
do so. Develop a fear of God’s judgment
on the unfruitful. After you do this, God
may still discipline you (that will help you to remember things better), but He
will forgive (I John 1:8,9). If you fall
back, out of weakness, get up, dust yourself off, and re-establish contact with
God through fresh repentance and confession.
God has patience, but it’s limited patience.
Believing in Jesus as God, Who died on the
cross to save us, Who rose again from the dead, will give you the Holy Spirit
and is a good start. Your subsequent action will prove that you were truly
saved, not just intellectually enlightened.
Scripture says we must endure to the end to be saved (II Tim
2:3,12). As the book of James says (especially 2:14),
you must show your intellectual faith is real by bowing to His Lordship, by
being His servant, ready to read His commands in Scripture and repeatedly work
on them. If you are gifted with income
above what you need (please prayerfully consider what the word “need” entails),
would you change your lifestyle? Sacrifice
is part of being a Christian. Would you
move into a smaller, less costly house?
Would you sell the second car? On
that second car: Think about it—you
should be happy to do this for your Lord. He died for you, the ultimate
sacrifice, you can’t do a little thing like this for Him? Yes, there would be
inconvenience, but the money you save and can give is huge; you could save many
lives. Your reward is in heaven, your reward
is eternal—that’s a much longer time than your “reward” for keeping the second
car on earth.
God has promised to return our investing in heaven’s treasures
30, 60, 100 times (Matt 13:23)! We’re
talking 1000% return! And you’re fighting for a 4% return on your investments
here, which keep you “happy” for a vapor in time, comparatively. Why fight for scraps on the floor, when if
you look to the table above, a feast awaits you! If you’re married, would you make it a
dedicated goal to see your spouse change his/her mind, so you can do this
effectively, together? Would you carry
out a tight budget for a long time, ride over debts, and go on to help the
Lord? It would take a lot of “no we
won’t buy more.” Would you go online to
get websites of relief organizations that are run efficiently (those that spend
little money advertising or trying to manipulate people)? Google “charity review sites” and get a long
list. Please, please consider
international organizations, not just your local church. I’m not sure God approves of all the money we
spend on making our buildings comfortable and beautiful when there are people
who cannot meet publicly, who cannot even get enough Bibles to go around. Will
you help these people?
Yes, obeying some of Jesus’ commands is tough. Lifestyle changes are tough. I know how you
want to dismiss His clear command to give away assets, thinking that Jesus
doesn’t want us to be so “imprudent.”
You have a million excuses to keep piling up savings: for your
retirement (does the Scripture talk about retirement--no), for your kids’
college (where they will learn how to defy morality and turn away from
God). But we must discipline ourselves,
turn away from self, and sacrifice.
Because Scripture says if we don’t obey His commands, we’re not saved (I
John 2:4). It’s being obedient on a
difficult command like this that we really learn the real meaning of faith. If
we begin obeying here, then if we lose our job and have no savings because we
gave it away to a needy brother, you can bet on this--God will help you find
another job. It will be far better than
what you could get on your own. None of His children beg for food, He promises
(Psalm 37:25). I pray your answer is Yes
to Jesus and No to the world.
How Long Do Christians Have to Suffer in Tribulation? (Part 3 of 3)
The order of End Times events we left off Part II was: Deception, wars, famine (these 3 are called “the beginning of sorrows”), then the abomination of desolation (the antrichrist) in the holy place (i.e., in Jerusalem), then the tribulation with death and martyrdom of Jews and Christians. Then the cosmic disturbance, blackening the sky, then the sign (like bright lightning), then His Coming in the clouds, visible to all, with angels blowing the trumpet, believers are rescued, gathered in the sky—and then on the same day, the Day of the Lord’s wrath on the rest begins.
Now other questions arise: “How long do all these End Time events take? How long will the tribulation—the death and martyrdom--be? What event triggers these horrors?” The answers to those three questions are in Daniel 9:24ff (keep in mind, this was written hundreds of years before any of it happened--and some of this prophecy still hasn't happened yet):
“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. 25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
Very difficult verses, but here are the main points:
a. We will change the word “seven” above (an accurate NIV translation) into “seven years,” simply because of the accuracy of the date that it predicts. Follow that assumption below and you'll see what I mean:
b.With that "week=7 year" assumption, the span of time from the command to “restore and build Jerusalem,” until “the Anointed One” (the Messiah, Jesus), was prophesied to be 7x7 years+62x7 years, or 49+434=483 years. But these are Hebrew years, of 360 days each. To translate it to Roman years, our years, with leap year every four years, a real year is really 365.24 days. 483 times 360/365.24 is 476. So 483 Hebrew years is 476 Roman, or our years, being predicted for the span of time between those events.
c. As it turned out, the 476 years prophesied was dead-on. The actual command to restore Jerusalem happened under the Persian emperor Artaxerxes, in 444 BC. Jesus, the Anointed One, died (as proven on another blog I have) in 33 AD. Keep in mind, you only count a year from 1 BC until 1 AD (there was no “year zero,” so you lose a year in the count. So the span of time goes like this: Adding 444 BC to 33 AD, minus 1, you get—476! As prophesied! Well, why should we be surprised—that’s the way God does it.
d. As you may have noticed, only 69 (7+62) of the 70 required “sevens,” or 7-year periods, of Jewish suffering have happened already. Only 483 of the required 490 Hebrew years. So the 70th seven-year period has not happened yet. So the last 7 years is still in the future. (The phrase “Anointed One will be put to death”—verse 26--MAYBE suggested a stop to the counting of years at 33 AD, with the final seven reserved for the future). I’m also suggesting (with proof for this idea, below) that the six events, or “seals,” we’ve talked about in Revelation 6 and confirmed in Matthew 24 (count 'em--deception, wars, famine, death, martyrdom, rescue) will happen in those 7 years—the 70th “seven.” I’m finally suggesting (with more proof below) that the last 3 seals last for half the seven years, or 3-1/2 years. That means, of course, that the tribulation (two of those last 3 seals—death and martyrdom) are in those 3-1/2 years as well.
What is my proof for these claims? Let’s start with the “ruler who will come," under whose orders "his people---will destroy….the sanctuary” (v. 26). That can’t be speaking of Jesus. It’s talking of the deceiver, the antichrist, who is trying to take His place as God. Before this, he will “confirm a covenant” (v.27), presumably with the Jews, to protect them as he pretends to be their friend (that's his deception). This will happen at the beginning of the seventieth 7 years, since he did it “for one seven” (v.27), a 7-year covenant. But then “in the “middle of the seven” (v.27), or after 3-1/2 years, he breaks the covenant, doing sacrilege (an “abomination,” as Daniel 9 calls it), thus revealing his true nature as an enemy of Jews. Jesus, in mentioning end times in the book of Daniel, warned Jews to run for their lives when they see this (Matthew 24:15-16). Now you can figure that the antichrist will spend the last 3-1/2 years, from the middle to the end of the 7 years, killing Jews and Christians. See Rev. 13:7 for proof of Christians being involved:
It was granted to him (the antichrist) to make war with the SAINTS and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.
There is NO Scripture that limits the word "saints" to Jews. Saints always refer to all God's children.
The importance of the second 3-1/2 year time period is exactly prophesied in several Biblical passages. It’s variously called “time and times and half a time,” or 3-1/2 times, “42 months” and “1260 days,” all meaning 3-1/2 years (these references are in Rev. 11:2,3; 12:6, and 13:5, and Daniel 7:25). That’s the length of the Death and Martyrdom —and the length of the tribulation, as the rescue/rapture doesn't come until the last day. As you can surmise, the first 3-1/2 years of the 7 year period was the deception period, the wars, and the famine. With the antichrist's unveiling in the middle. Since the antichrist boasts that he is God (Rev. 13:6), he gets his commands from Satan, and we can fairly presume he was the biggest reason for those first three seals, or disasters, too. As we pointed out before, Revelation 12:2 shows how Satan will be enjoying himself causing such grief and death. So for the first 3-1/2 years he makes a peace pact with the Jews, pretending to be their friend. But then he makes war, consolidating power. War's destruction helps bring on famine. Then in the middle of the 7 years, he does sacrilege, the abomination, and reveals himself as their (and saints') enemy, then in the last 3-1/2 years--the tribulation--he goes all-out to kill all Jews and Christians. Don't forget, this order of events is proven in Matthew 24 AND Revelation 6 (see Part II). After all that, at the end, the rapture saves genuine Christians and the wrath is reserved for those who have ignored God and ignored His laws.
Jesus, in Matthew 24:15-21, clearly says the antichrist’s revealing himself (which is in the middle of the 7 years) begins the tribulation.
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains… 21 For THEN there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Thus, to repeat this for emphasis, the real tribulation is not 7 years, but the latter 3-1/2 years. This period is also called “travail” in Rev. 12:2. Also, this is not God’s wrath, and also remember, Christians go through the tribulation, see Parts I and II in my blogs of the last two weeks for more proof of that.
Some interesting additional facts: In the tribulation will come the most audacious move of the antichrist’s reign. He will evidently have the world’s worship and control of the world’s money system—because he will implant, on the hands/foreheads of everyone who submits to him, a “mark,” so buying or selling food, etc. is impossible unless you submit to his lordship and receive the mark (Rev. 13:16-17). Let us never submit to that, because as an angel will warn everyone (Rev. 14:9-11), anyone who thus submits to the antichrist WILL WRITE HIS TICKET TO HELL:
Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
You may ask, "If I want to follow God and reject the mark, will God "reward" me by allowing me to starve?" or "Will God send me to hell for eternity just because I wanted food?" I'm betting God will show those faithful ones a separate way to get food. Maybe even by miracles. Exercising this kind of resolve and faith will be challenging for Christians, but saving your soul will be definitely worth it. Yes, in saving your soul, your body may be martyred. There will be many who will be weak and fall away. (II Thess. 2:1-4). Do not join them! You must endure to the end to be saved! (Matthew 10:22).
Another interesting additional fact: Two "witnesses" (maybe Elijah and Moses) will appear for the last 3-1/2 years, prophesying God's truth and performing miracles (Rev. 11:3,5-12), such as fire from their mouths destroying their enemies, stopping rain from falling, and rising from the dead.
***So here is our final course of events: Antichrist makes a covenant to protect Israel, deceiving he world--and the Jews. This begins Daniel’s 70th 7-year period. First 3-1/2 years are the “beginning of sorrows:” Deceit by the antichrist, Wars, and Famine. Then the antichrist desecrates the holy place in Jerusalem, reveals himself as an enemy of Jews and saints, and we begin the last 3-1/2 years, the tribulation, the “travail”: Death and Martyrdom of Jews and Christians. The antichrist institutes a mark--you must worship him to buy or sell. Two witnesses speak up for God and perform miracles. Then at the end of the 7 years, we have the cosmic disturbance, and the Coming, which is: the sign (bright lightning), then His appearance in the skies with angels blowing the trumpet, believers rescued, they are gathered to be with Him. On the same day, then the Day of the Lord’s wrath begins on the unsaved.
Let’s say this one more time: As you can see, from our three-week analysis: (1) the tribulation is not the same as God’s wrath; and (2) Christians are not raptured until the end—we have to endure the tribulation. (3) Saved people (rescued) and unsaved people (wrath) are dealt with on the same Day of the Lord—there is no one “left behind.” Other theories some theologians give are popular simply because they say just what you want to hear, as II Timothy 4:3-4 says:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
The most popular alternate theory is the pretribulationist, or “pretrib” theory—that Christians are raptured before the tribulation. Escaping such devastation sounds so nice. But don’t fall for this; as this 3-part study proves, the order of events is otherwise. Read the Scriptures yourself. (Consider this too: The pre-trib theory feeds an “AWOL” mentality; see my comments in part I). Even their best pre-trib mind, John F. Walvoord, from Dallas Theological Seminary, admits their theory is shaky and has no real Scriptural proof. In his book, The Rapture Question, page 16 and 148, he says: “Neither posttribulationism nor pretribulationism is an explicit teaching of the Scriptures…it is therefore not too much to say that the rapture question is determined more by ecclesiology than eschatology.” (Wait a minute…this is supposed to be a study of eschatology--a study in the future! Mr. Walvoord, you’re admitting you can’t find Scriptural support along those lines?) Richard Mayhue, also a proponent of the pretrib view, told the Grace Theological Seminary “perhaps the position of pretribulationism is correct although its proof at times has been logically invalid or at least unconvincing.”
And all the pre-tribbers say, “Thanks for the support.”
Let’s believe the Bible, not theological suppositions which have as their highlight, that you can escape suffering. After all, Jesus and Paul said we would suffer for Him (Romans 8:17, among many others).
Now other questions arise: “How long do all these End Time events take? How long will the tribulation—the death and martyrdom--be? What event triggers these horrors?” The answers to those three questions are in Daniel 9:24ff (keep in mind, this was written hundreds of years before any of it happened--and some of this prophecy still hasn't happened yet):
“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. 25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
Very difficult verses, but here are the main points:
a. We will change the word “seven” above (an accurate NIV translation) into “seven years,” simply because of the accuracy of the date that it predicts. Follow that assumption below and you'll see what I mean:
b.With that "week=7 year" assumption, the span of time from the command to “restore and build Jerusalem,” until “the Anointed One” (the Messiah, Jesus), was prophesied to be 7x7 years+62x7 years, or 49+434=483 years. But these are Hebrew years, of 360 days each. To translate it to Roman years, our years, with leap year every four years, a real year is really 365.24 days. 483 times 360/365.24 is 476. So 483 Hebrew years is 476 Roman, or our years, being predicted for the span of time between those events.
c. As it turned out, the 476 years prophesied was dead-on. The actual command to restore Jerusalem happened under the Persian emperor Artaxerxes, in 444 BC. Jesus, the Anointed One, died (as proven on another blog I have) in 33 AD. Keep in mind, you only count a year from 1 BC until 1 AD (there was no “year zero,” so you lose a year in the count. So the span of time goes like this: Adding 444 BC to 33 AD, minus 1, you get—476! As prophesied! Well, why should we be surprised—that’s the way God does it.
d. As you may have noticed, only 69 (7+62) of the 70 required “sevens,” or 7-year periods, of Jewish suffering have happened already. Only 483 of the required 490 Hebrew years. So the 70th seven-year period has not happened yet. So the last 7 years is still in the future. (The phrase “Anointed One will be put to death”—verse 26--MAYBE suggested a stop to the counting of years at 33 AD, with the final seven reserved for the future). I’m also suggesting (with proof for this idea, below) that the six events, or “seals,” we’ve talked about in Revelation 6 and confirmed in Matthew 24 (count 'em--deception, wars, famine, death, martyrdom, rescue) will happen in those 7 years—the 70th “seven.” I’m finally suggesting (with more proof below) that the last 3 seals last for half the seven years, or 3-1/2 years. That means, of course, that the tribulation (two of those last 3 seals—death and martyrdom) are in those 3-1/2 years as well.
What is my proof for these claims? Let’s start with the “ruler who will come," under whose orders "his people---will destroy….the sanctuary” (v. 26). That can’t be speaking of Jesus. It’s talking of the deceiver, the antichrist, who is trying to take His place as God. Before this, he will “confirm a covenant” (v.27), presumably with the Jews, to protect them as he pretends to be their friend (that's his deception). This will happen at the beginning of the seventieth 7 years, since he did it “for one seven” (v.27), a 7-year covenant. But then “in the “middle of the seven” (v.27), or after 3-1/2 years, he breaks the covenant, doing sacrilege (an “abomination,” as Daniel 9 calls it), thus revealing his true nature as an enemy of Jews. Jesus, in mentioning end times in the book of Daniel, warned Jews to run for their lives when they see this (Matthew 24:15-16). Now you can figure that the antichrist will spend the last 3-1/2 years, from the middle to the end of the 7 years, killing Jews and Christians. See Rev. 13:7 for proof of Christians being involved:
It was granted to him (the antichrist) to make war with the SAINTS and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.
There is NO Scripture that limits the word "saints" to Jews. Saints always refer to all God's children.
The importance of the second 3-1/2 year time period is exactly prophesied in several Biblical passages. It’s variously called “time and times and half a time,” or 3-1/2 times, “42 months” and “1260 days,” all meaning 3-1/2 years (these references are in Rev. 11:2,3; 12:6, and 13:5, and Daniel 7:25). That’s the length of the Death and Martyrdom —and the length of the tribulation, as the rescue/rapture doesn't come until the last day. As you can surmise, the first 3-1/2 years of the 7 year period was the deception period, the wars, and the famine. With the antichrist's unveiling in the middle. Since the antichrist boasts that he is God (Rev. 13:6), he gets his commands from Satan, and we can fairly presume he was the biggest reason for those first three seals, or disasters, too. As we pointed out before, Revelation 12:2 shows how Satan will be enjoying himself causing such grief and death. So for the first 3-1/2 years he makes a peace pact with the Jews, pretending to be their friend. But then he makes war, consolidating power. War's destruction helps bring on famine. Then in the middle of the 7 years, he does sacrilege, the abomination, and reveals himself as their (and saints') enemy, then in the last 3-1/2 years--the tribulation--he goes all-out to kill all Jews and Christians. Don't forget, this order of events is proven in Matthew 24 AND Revelation 6 (see Part II). After all that, at the end, the rapture saves genuine Christians and the wrath is reserved for those who have ignored God and ignored His laws.
Jesus, in Matthew 24:15-21, clearly says the antichrist’s revealing himself (which is in the middle of the 7 years) begins the tribulation.
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains… 21 For THEN there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Thus, to repeat this for emphasis, the real tribulation is not 7 years, but the latter 3-1/2 years. This period is also called “travail” in Rev. 12:2. Also, this is not God’s wrath, and also remember, Christians go through the tribulation, see Parts I and II in my blogs of the last two weeks for more proof of that.
Some interesting additional facts: In the tribulation will come the most audacious move of the antichrist’s reign. He will evidently have the world’s worship and control of the world’s money system—because he will implant, on the hands/foreheads of everyone who submits to him, a “mark,” so buying or selling food, etc. is impossible unless you submit to his lordship and receive the mark (Rev. 13:16-17). Let us never submit to that, because as an angel will warn everyone (Rev. 14:9-11), anyone who thus submits to the antichrist WILL WRITE HIS TICKET TO HELL:
Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
You may ask, "If I want to follow God and reject the mark, will God "reward" me by allowing me to starve?" or "Will God send me to hell for eternity just because I wanted food?" I'm betting God will show those faithful ones a separate way to get food. Maybe even by miracles. Exercising this kind of resolve and faith will be challenging for Christians, but saving your soul will be definitely worth it. Yes, in saving your soul, your body may be martyred. There will be many who will be weak and fall away. (II Thess. 2:1-4). Do not join them! You must endure to the end to be saved! (Matthew 10:22).
Another interesting additional fact: Two "witnesses" (maybe Elijah and Moses) will appear for the last 3-1/2 years, prophesying God's truth and performing miracles (Rev. 11:3,5-12), such as fire from their mouths destroying their enemies, stopping rain from falling, and rising from the dead.
***So here is our final course of events: Antichrist makes a covenant to protect Israel, deceiving he world--and the Jews. This begins Daniel’s 70th 7-year period. First 3-1/2 years are the “beginning of sorrows:” Deceit by the antichrist, Wars, and Famine. Then the antichrist desecrates the holy place in Jerusalem, reveals himself as an enemy of Jews and saints, and we begin the last 3-1/2 years, the tribulation, the “travail”: Death and Martyrdom of Jews and Christians. The antichrist institutes a mark--you must worship him to buy or sell. Two witnesses speak up for God and perform miracles. Then at the end of the 7 years, we have the cosmic disturbance, and the Coming, which is: the sign (bright lightning), then His appearance in the skies with angels blowing the trumpet, believers rescued, they are gathered to be with Him. On the same day, then the Day of the Lord’s wrath begins on the unsaved.
Let’s say this one more time: As you can see, from our three-week analysis: (1) the tribulation is not the same as God’s wrath; and (2) Christians are not raptured until the end—we have to endure the tribulation. (3) Saved people (rescued) and unsaved people (wrath) are dealt with on the same Day of the Lord—there is no one “left behind.” Other theories some theologians give are popular simply because they say just what you want to hear, as II Timothy 4:3-4 says:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
The most popular alternate theory is the pretribulationist, or “pretrib” theory—that Christians are raptured before the tribulation. Escaping such devastation sounds so nice. But don’t fall for this; as this 3-part study proves, the order of events is otherwise. Read the Scriptures yourself. (Consider this too: The pre-trib theory feeds an “AWOL” mentality; see my comments in part I). Even their best pre-trib mind, John F. Walvoord, from Dallas Theological Seminary, admits their theory is shaky and has no real Scriptural proof. In his book, The Rapture Question, page 16 and 148, he says: “Neither posttribulationism nor pretribulationism is an explicit teaching of the Scriptures…it is therefore not too much to say that the rapture question is determined more by ecclesiology than eschatology.” (Wait a minute…this is supposed to be a study of eschatology--a study in the future! Mr. Walvoord, you’re admitting you can’t find Scriptural support along those lines?) Richard Mayhue, also a proponent of the pretrib view, told the Grace Theological Seminary “perhaps the position of pretribulationism is correct although its proof at times has been logically invalid or at least unconvincing.”
And all the pre-tribbers say, “Thanks for the support.”
Let’s believe the Bible, not theological suppositions which have as their highlight, that you can escape suffering. After all, Jesus and Paul said we would suffer for Him (Romans 8:17, among many others).
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