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« on: December 29, 2005, 10:23:50 PM » |
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So many things seem to be happening in the world today that it can often be difficult to truly understand the full prophetic impact of everything going on. Add into the equation just how slanted and manipulative much of the media is today (especially in the US) and it is all the more difficult to fully comprehend just how far “into the game” we are. Yet even with the difficulties we face in catching every bit of relevant information out there… the overwhelming tide of events taking place before our very eyes should make it clear the world is surging toward the fulfillment of all the biblical prophecies pertaining to the end of days.
In order to grasp how all the pieces of the puzzle fit “neatly together” it is imperative for those who love the truth to fully understand the fundamentals of the Christian faith… and the fundamentals of God’s prophetic word. Those fundamentals include understanding the fact that the Church will not be called up to the Lord (i.e. “raptured”) until the very end of this present age and that the Church is to remain for the purpose of serving as a Witness for God during this time. [The Church is to serve as one of Two Witnesses during the end of days, with the other being Israel.]
S.R. Shearer’s free online book, The Antipas Papers, covers these subjects in great detail and in doing so provides all the relevant scripture to each point offered. I encourage everyone reading this journal to make use of this resource in order to fully understand these and other fundamental issues… because without a clear understanding on these matters… it will be almost impossible for believers to grasp the big picture… much less the details.
As mentioned above, one must fully realize that the Church is not going anywhere… anytime soon. Regardless of what the Tim Lahaye’s and Hal Lindsey’s of the world might say, there will be no “rapturing” away for believers in the US or anywhere else in the world at anytime before the Lord’s one and only Second Coming. In the Antipas Papers, Chapter 4: The Great Escape- Misconceptions Concerning the Rapture, S.R. Shearer provides clear biblical evidence the Church is called to remain until the “Last Trump”, which further reading reveals does not take place until the end of the age:
The Church is called to remain until the "Last Trump"
Turning again to I Thessalonians 4:16-17, we read, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the TRUMP of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." Now turn to 1 Corinthians 15:52, "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, AT THE LAST TRUMP: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
Notice three things that are mentioned here: (1) the TRUMPET sounds; (2) the RESURRECTION of the dead in Christ; (3) the living saints are CHANGED (which all agree, is when this mortal puts on immortality and believers rise to meet the Lord in the air). Both of these passages mention the sounding of the trumpet, but the latter passage specifies that this trumpet is the LAST TRUMPET. Bearing this in mind, we turn to Revelation 8:2 in which we read, "And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets - so the LAST trumpet (in linking this passage with the others) would be the seventh.
Let us now notice what events are connected with the sound of the LAST trumpet: "The seventh angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven, saying the Kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever ... And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and THE TIME OF THE DEAD, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give REWARD unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." (Rev. 11:15-18) Again, we notice the same three things that were included in the other three passages: (1) the TRUMPET sounds (the seventh - the LAST TRUMPET); (2) the time of the dead to be raised - the RESURRECTION); and (3) the saints REWARDED, which would include their having changed from mortality to immortality; caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
These things indicate that the Rapture will be at the END of the age; at the LAST DAY, at the LAST TRUMP. But according to the Pre-Tribulationalists, the Rapture would have to take place at the time of the FIRST trumpet or EVEN BEFORE, since - according to this interpretation - the Church will be gone when the trumpets of Revelation sound. Revelation 11:18 says that the sounding of the seventh trumpet - the LAST trumpet - will be the time of the dead to be resurrected. God will then "give reward unto ... the saints." Where, then, is there any room for the idea that before any of these trumpets sound the saints will have already been raptured to heaven to be rewarded?
Jesus made it clear that there will be no "secret" coming before His coming in glory with the holy angels. "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation," He said, "of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." (Mark 8:38) In that day, Christ shall be ashamed of some, of others He will not be ashamed. Some will be accepted and some will be rejected. WHEN? "When He cometh in the glory of His Father." It is agreed that the coming of Christ in glory with the holy angels is at the END of the age, and this verse actually shows that there will be no secret coming prior to this. Why? Because if there had been a secret coming of Christ seven years before His coming in glory with the angels, whether Christ would be ashamed of people or not would have ALREADY taken place.
The evidence… in its totality… makes it quite clear that the Church is to remain until the end of the age. Yet the question, which needs to be answered, is “for what purpose?” You see the Church is not called to ride out the storm merely to carry out the act of survival. The Church is not supposed to remain until the end so that the saints can hole up or hide out from all the bad things, which are to come.
In fact… to misunderstand exactly what Christ requires of His people during the end of the age is to place one’s self in very real spiritual danger… insofar as the Lord is concerned. Shearer touches upon this fact in the above quoted passage when he mentions:
“In that day [the day of Christ’s return], Christ shall be ashamed of some, of others He will not be ashamed. Some will be accepted and some will be rejected.”
He shall be ashamed of some and of others He will not be ashamed. Exactly what does this mean… and how is this point relevant to the matter at hand? The relevance is this… the dividing line between His being ashamed of you or unashamed of you rests in large part on whether or not one understands and acts upon Christ’s command for the Church to serve as a Witness for Him during the end of days. This act of witnessing is not to be a silent act… hiding in the shadows as an inaudible observer. Rather the Church is called to be a Witness charged to testify for Christ and His kingdom to come, while also testifying against this present world, its false Christ, and its kingdom, Babylon the Great. Christ identifies this testimony as The Gospel of the Kingdom… and the Church has been commanded by Him to carry this testimony throughout the world before His return.
Interestingly though… the call upon the Church to serve as a Witness and testify in this manner is not relegated merely to the last seven years. We are not supposed to live our lives embracing this present world, remaining silent in our witness, with the thought that when the end of the age finally comes we will somehow summon the strength and courage to be bold for Him then. As I noted in the ISRP Journal on December 16, 2005:
“The time to begin serving and obeying the Lord is now. As S.R. Shearer has duly noted… Tribulation doesn’t so much build character as it does reveal that which is already there. Along those lines this means those who are already acting in obedience to God and serving as a testimony for Him are those whom will “rise to the challenge” in the days to come.
Just as David wrestled with a lion and a bear before going out to meet Goliath on the field of battle… so too should we be testing our faith and strength in the Lord by acting NOW. If we wait until Goliath calls us out… chances are we’ll find ourselves too afraid and dismayed to take action, as was the case with David’s contemporaries. (1 Samuel 17)”
So once again… the time to begin serving and obeying the Lord is now. Our testimony as a Witness for God is not to be a “date-sensitive” affair. The harvest has already begun in one sense… and in this respect the requirement for our testimony is already there. In fulfilling this call… by taking action as He commands… we place ourselves in the position of being “where He is”… in the field of harvest:
(Matthew 9:37-38) Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
(Luke 10:2) Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.
(John 4:35) Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
And it is only when we are labouring in the harvest, which is where He is, i.e. when we are in His presence… that we can fully understand matters related to the end of days. Upon understanding these things and acting upon the call He has placed upon us… we will then be able to see more clearly the relevance of all that is occurring around us. We will be able to wade through the propaganda and misinformation. We will be able to identify and stay clear of the apostasy, which has overcome so much of the Church. We will be able to see clearly the identity of Babylon the Great and the reasoning behind God’s call to flee from it. And finally, we will be able to recognize the full significance of God’s prophetic word upon our lives.
The stage is truly set for the final act of this present age. The nations of the West, directed by the United States are marching further into a full-scale civilization conflict with the Islamic world. Two key nations insofar as prophecy is concerned; Egypt and Turkey are quite literally on the brink of falling to Islamic militants who desire to defeat the US Empire and its underling, their long-time adversary Israel. Israel itself stands at the crossroads. While its own hardliners wish to continue aggressive expansion of the occupied territories… the US continues to push it to accept a peace that can only be assured via US protection.
Meanwhile the Church within the US continues its own slide into militancy and a complete rejection of the Christ presented in the Gospels. They fawn over the powerful and sell themselves brazenly to the forces and powers of this world. In a very real sense… just as the religious fundamentalists within the Islamic world are pushing their culture into a world war with the west… so too is the American Church at the forefront of pushing the US and its western flunkies into a civilization conflict with Islam.
The security state within the US continues to grow. The US metamorphosis into a full-blown fascist state with domestic spying, death squads, pogroms, and all that it entails… is finally becoming an utter and complete reality. Throughout the world nations are desperately fighting to come out from the American yoke… yet rather than causing the people of the US to examine the “why’s” behind this… it has instead caused them to dig their heels in all the more insofar as their devotion to the American Empire is concerned.
The whole thing has been totally wrapped up in the cloak of Christianity… and in doing so the people of the US, as well as the nation itself… have placed a wedge between themselves and the Lord, which will never be removed. The course has been set, so to speak… and the children of the light will move further along their way… while the children of darkness will continue their headlong descent into destruction.
There is truly no middle ground here… no “lukewarmness”… no mixing of fruits. Either we stand for the Lord as true and obedient servants… or we stand for the enemy in our failure to serve and our disobedience. Either we stand for the Lord as hot for the truth or we stand against Him in disobedience and end up cold… and finally, if we stand for the Lord in truth and obedience… as good trees we will bear good fruit. The Lord says:
"For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great." (Luke 6: 43-49)
It is in this state of “giving it all to Him” that we find ourselves as part of that good tree. It is when our knowledge and understanding leads us into action on His behalf that we become “doers of the Word” whose house is founded “upon a rock.” (Christ) And it is only when we are truly in this state that we will fully grasp what the end of days are actually all about. In our giving it all to Him we will have the faith to serve and obey Him in all things. Lastly… it is only when we are truly His obedient servants that we will have the courage and conviction to flee when He says flee, testify when He says testify, and love all men… whether friend or foe.
ISRP JOURNAL
By Sean Mayfield
December 28, 2005
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