|
Author
|
Topic: Hard Times Coming
|
bluefrog
unregistered
|
posted
Matthew 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. Verse 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: BUT FOR THE ELECT'S SAKE THOSE DAYS SHALL BE SHORTENED.
The time will be changed from seven years to five months. Some of the elect will turn to the Anti-Christ and the Beast, some will be murdered, some will make it to the end. No one will go to heaven in a physical body.
IP: Logged | 
|
|
Eden
unregistered
|
posted
Hi, oneinchrist, I won't belabor the point in this thread, but quickly, in Noah's flood, the ones that were "taken" were the dead ones floating in the water, and the ones that were "left" were Noah and his family members in the ark.
love, Eden
IP: Logged |
|
|
oneinchrist
Advanced Member
Member # 6532
|
posted
Hi Eden,
First of all, I am not a pre-trib believer as it seems you may have thought. I do not believe that that rapture and second coming are separate events.
As far as the ones who are taken and the ones who are left. I have only recently first heard the interpretation that the ones who are left are the saved ones. In Matthew 24 Jesus uses Noahs flood as a parallel("so also will the coming of the Son of Man be") just before the mentioning of the "two men in the field"; therefore, it would seem more likely to me that the ones left on earth would be the ones in danger. In Noahs day it was the flood, and in the "Day of the Lord" it would be the vials of the wrath of God poured out........in fact Revelation Chapter 16 verse 1 would lend support to what I am saying.......
16:1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God ON THE EARTH."
With love in Christ, Daniel
Posts: 1389 | From: Wind Lake, WI | Registered: May 2007
| IP: Logged |
|
|
Betty Louise
Advanced Member
Member # 7175
|
posted
1Th 4:16 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:
At the rapture the dead in Christ shall rise first.
This is the rapture before the tribulation begins.
--------------------
Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Posts: 5051 | From: Houston, Texas | Registered: May 2008
| IP: Logged |
|
|
Betty Louise
Advanced Member
Member # 7175
|
posted
Angels don't resurrect people when they gather them for judgment.
When the angels are sent forth to gather the elect at the second coming (Matt. 24:29-31), some have wrongly interpreted this as the rapture. There is one huge problem with this interpretation. If we are resurrected at this time, why would we need angels to gather us? In the resurrection, we will be like the angels (Matt. 22:30), able to travel in the air at will. Obviously, these people who are gathered are not resurrected, therefore it can't be the rapture. No one would claim the wicked are raptured at this time, yet Matthew 13:39-41, 49 says the angels will not only gather the elect, but also the wicked. This gathering is not a resurrection.
http://www.thepropheticyears.com/reasons/rapture.htm
--------------------
Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Posts: 5051 | From: Houston, Texas | Registered: May 2008
| IP: Logged |
|
|
bluefrog
unregistered
|
posted
Mark 13:22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, EVEN TO THE ELECT.
23) But take ye heed: behold I have foretold you all things.
24) But in those days, AFTER THE TRIBULATION, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give off her light.
25) And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
26) And then shall they see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN THE CLOUDS with great power and glory.
27) And then shall He send His angels,
and shall gather together HIS ELECT from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
IP: Logged |
|
|
Eden
unregistered
|
posted
oneinchrist wrote quote:
What a scary thought to think that the one's who are left could be left ...
The ones who are left are the saved ones, not the unsaved ones.
Matthew 13
47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind.
48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
Let me ask you, oneinchrist, the good and bad are still in the net together when the net is gathered. If the good is already up in heaven for several years as the pre-trib rapture hypothesis supposes, then the net could NOT have gathered both good AND bad.
And indeed, if the good is already "gone up to heaven several years earlier", the good must have been gathered SEPARATELY from the bad, which is contrary to what the Bible teaches.
Matthew 13
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them who do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Malachi 4
1 For, look, the DAY comes that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yes, and all who do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the DAY that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But to you who fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3 And you shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the DAY that I shall do this, says the LORD of hosts.
Matthew 13
49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
The wicked will be severed from the just; that means the just have to still be present so that the wicked can be severed from them.
oneinchrist wrote quote:
What a scary thought to think that the one's who are left could be left ...
The ones who are left are the saved ones, not the unsaved ones.
love, Eden
IP: Logged |
|
|
oneinchrist
Advanced Member
Member # 6532
|
posted
I believe that both Matthew 24 and Revelation support a pre-wrath rapture.........but I will not allow this belief to sever my communion with my brothers and sisters in the faith of Jesus.
I am particularly concerned that the unbelieving could be given the wrong impression. What a scary thought to think that the one's who are left could be left only for the purpose of being prepared for the devil and his angels.......and not given another chance(3.5 or 7years)to repent. No matter how anyone looks at it, no matter how terrible the predictions, I believe that an additional 3.5 - 7 years to repent would be by the grace of God. I had rather die a terrible physical death than to rot in Hell forever.
With love in Christ, Daniel
Posts: 1389 | From: Wind Lake, WI | Registered: May 2007
| IP: Logged |
|
|
Michael Harrison
Advanced Member
Member # 6801
|
posted
There is a lot of 'information' on pre-trib rapture theory out there Betty. It is abundant without measure. Does that make it right? Go with whatever you want to, but what one invests in in hope, if it brings no return, will not be a proper investment.
By the way, David posted a vid of some cute enough believer who likes to preach, who expressed a pretty good version of whether there is to be a rapture or not. I cannot recall where it is. (Oh, you might not think of her as cute!) But one has to watch it to its conclusion to get the point. ![[spiny]](graemlins/spiny.gif)
Posts: 3273 | From: Charlotte N.C. | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
|
|
|
|
Betty Louise
Advanced Member
Member # 7175
|
posted
I believe in the pre-trib rapture and so does David, by the way.
betty
--------------------
Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Posts: 5051 | From: Houston, Texas | Registered: May 2008
| IP: Logged |
|
|
Michael Harrison
Advanced Member
Member # 6801
|
posted
Indeed. I feel like the passage:
- 2Pe 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
I have come to understand this to mean that people will be looking for a rapture, not understanding the suffering that has come upon them. In other words, they were looking for an escape, but were invested in the wrong thing.
I also point out from time to time that when Jesus says that HE will deliver us from the hour of temptation, that HE does not mean that HE will take us out of the world. He even prayed, "Father, I do not pray that you take them out of the world."
I keep discovering new stuff, and forgetting it. But it is there. But I think that the rapture theory is a rationalization of what scripture is saying. Besides, if there is a rapture, or if anyone is to be raptured before the great tribulation, then he or she will not be having to concentrate upon it, but will rather be focusing on Jesus. Then in no way will he or she miss it.
Posts: 3273 | From: Charlotte N.C. | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
|
|
bluefrog
unregistered
|
posted
This day and age the Rapture is so confusing that it's not funny.
Some think that Jesus will catch us up just as the end times begin, The Tribulation. Because Jesus said he would cut the tribulation short for the sake of believers, those folks say he is coming for them then. Those who are not aware of the Tribulation being cut short think He will come for us at the end of the Tribulation as originally stated. Somewhere, the handle "Rapture" got stamped on this activity, it's not in the bible, but used anyway, that is no big deal, as long as we know what we are talking about.
Go to and Read Mark 13, or get more details from Matthew 24:1-31 and I would suggest that in place of the Rapture, the Second Coming is good.
You scardie cats who are afraid of gettin caught during the tribulation had better check out the option, it ain't no good. As for Christ coming as many say now "Any Moment", they are just putting words in Christ's mouth.
IP: Logged |
|
|
Michael Harrison
Advanced Member
Member # 6801
|
posted
Relationship is the rule, as in, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, soul, mind and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself." And even that is a distraction, as Jesus is the Rule! Anything that distracts from the rule, is error.
Posts: 3273 | From: Charlotte N.C. | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
|
|
Michael Harrison
Advanced Member
Member # 6801
|
posted
quote:
The rapture will happen one day and it is not about relationships but about Jesus calling His people to Heaven to be with Him.
betty
Very well Betty. You are willing to stand before the Lord and make this argument? I do not believe in the rapture, as current pop theology would have it. But if there is a rapture, or if there were to be a rapture, those who are looking for it will simply miss it for focusing on something 'besides' Jesus Himself. It is about relationship.
Posts: 3273 | From: Charlotte N.C. | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
|
|
Eden
unregistered
|
posted
bluefrog, I believe the rapture happens simultaneously with the Lord's Second Coming.
love, Eden
IP: Logged |
|
|
Glory belongs to Him
Advanced Member
Member # 7432
|
posted
Very true Betty. There will be only one rapture and Jesus will not even come to earth then. HE is coming back for a church that is already ready. Those who have prepared themselves to go back with Him. These are the ones that will meet Him in the air.
He's coming for those without blemish or spots. This verse goes deeper than what some may read just from first glance.
As far as hard times let's just say these are trouble times. For God's people it's a time of some inconviences. But God will take care of His people for He is faithful. For He said I will never leave you nor will I forsake you. When all else fails God is always faithful for those who believe and trust in Him inspite of.
--------------------
If you ever get so hungry for God that you are in pursuit of Him, He will do things for you that He won't do for anybody else.
Posts: 112 | From: USA | Registered: Oct 2008
| IP: Logged |
|
|
Betty Louise
Advanced Member
Member # 7175
|
posted
The rapture will happen one day and it is not about relationships but about Jesus calling His people to Heaven to be with Him.
betty
--------------------
Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Posts: 5051 | From: Houston, Texas | Registered: May 2008
| IP: Logged |
|
|
Michael Harrison
Advanced Member
Member # 6801
|
posted
Rapture is in relationship. That is where one should search for rapture.
Posts: 3273 | From: Charlotte N.C. | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
|
|
bluefrog
unregistered
|
posted
EDEN...the only way your pre-trib or mid-trib rapture will work is if it wasn't mentioned in the bible, because Jesus said he would return at the end of the tribulation.
On the other hand, if you want Jesus to return prior to the end of tribulation, and many Christians will, you must get a third return scheduled.
IP: Logged |
|
|
bluefrog
unregistered
|
posted
EDEN...if you will back up about 6 or 8 inches to my message at 3:40 on the 1st you will catch up to our conversation.
IP: Logged |
|
|
Eden
unregistered
|
posted
Michael Harrison wrote to Eden quote:
When I refer to a 'rapture', 98 percent will know that someone speaking of it usually will be thinking of pre-trib.
Historically, there have been 3 positions, pre-, mid-, and at the Second Coming, so when you say, "I do not believe in the rapture", it is too vague and leaves the reader wondering too much which of the 3 positions is being referred to, or if any are referred to at all.
love, Eden
IP: Logged |
|
|
bluefrog
unregistered
|
posted
For those of you who believe that the pre-trib rapture is for real, I leave it with you. If that gives you comfort, so be it. Mark 13.
IP: Logged |
|
|
Michael Harrison
Advanced Member
Member # 6801
|
posted
That is at the Second Coming. When I refer to a 'rapture', 98 percent will know that someone speaking of it usually will be thinking of pre-trib. That has come to be thought of as the 'rapture'.
Posts: 3273 | From: Charlotte N.C. | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
|
|
Eden
unregistered
|
posted
Michael Harrison wrote quote:
bluefrog, your statement betrays that you believe in a 'rapture'.
Of course there will be a rapture:
1 Thessalonians 4:17
Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Since when is that not a rapture? Other than at Disneyland, how can an earthling be "caught up" and "meet the Lord in the air" and "so be ever with Him", if that is not a rapture?
love, Eden
IP: Logged |
|
|
Eden
unregistered
|
posted
bluefrog wrote quote:
Eden said:
"It's going to be bad for the world, but MIRACULOUS for the Christians"
Question: Does that mean you want to be there?
Be where? I am a Christian so the miraculous will happen to me too, as in: "but there was no hail in the land of Goshen where the Israelites were".
love, Eden
IP: Logged |
|
|
bluefrog
unregistered
|
posted
MICHAEL...Thanks, I thought I was the only one on this board that didn't believe in the rapture.
I always have to follow that up by saying:
No Pre Trib
No Mid Trib
If it is Post Trib, why call it the Rapture?
rivit
IP: Logged |
|
|
Michael Harrison
Advanced Member
Member # 6801
|
posted
Yea, I keep weighing it to see if God will give us a final reprieve! I had this sense that Bush would be the last 'reasonable' president (and I'll defend him even if he did make some irrational moves, in light of constitutional considerations). He may yet be. I have this (shudder) concern that it is downhill from here. Yet I do see a faint glimmer of hope. Nevertheless, nothing will happen until the country is severely shocked, enough so to realize what we have, and that we are about to lose it.
Posts: 3273 | From: Charlotte N.C. | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
|
|
Michael Harrison
Advanced Member
Member # 6801
|
posted
That's a grand statement, saying that it will be bad for the world, and good for Christians. However, if the Christian does not discover to "Enter His Rest," it will not be so well for the Christian. Nevertheless, bluefrog, your statement betrays that you believe in a 'rapture'. Some don't. And since God will be glorified in the earth, I don't think it will happen if all of the believers are 'caught away'. While I believed in that as a young believer, I do not now see how they could come up with that.
Posts: 3273 | From: Charlotte N.C. | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
|
|
bluefrog
unregistered
|
posted
EDEN...Subject:Hard Times Coming.
Eden said:
"It's going to be bad for the world, but MIRACULOUS for the Christians"
Question: Does that mean you want to be there?
IP: Logged |
|
|
Eden
unregistered
|
posted
The worse it gets for the unsaved people of the world, the more miraculous it gets for the Christians of the world as God miraculously provides for the Christians as God miraculously provided for the Israelites in the land of Goshen. When there was darkness in Egypt, there was light only in the land of Goshen. When there was hail in Egypt, there was no hail only in the land of Goshen.
For God must yet show the world that HE DOES PUT A DIFFERENCE between the profane and the holy:
Exodus 11:7
But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that you may know that the LORD does put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.
Israel is representative of Christians today and Egypt is representative of the unsaved world today. As the unsaved world (Egypt) fails, God will miraculously do for Christians what God did for Israel in the land of Goshen:
Isaiah 54:14
In righteousness shall you be established: you shall be far from oppression; for you shall not fear: and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
Psalm 91:7
A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.
Exodus 9:26
Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail.
As the world situation worsens, the miraculous increases for Christians because God WILL put a difference between the profane and holy.
And not that we are holy in ourselves, but because we have "put on Christ Jesus":
Galatians 3:27
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Only our faith in Jesus makes us holy and not having put on Jesus makes the unsaved world profane. But it is not our holiness that makes us holy; as God said:
Exodus 12:13
And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
It's going to be bad for the world, but miraculous for the Christians.
love, Eden
IP: Logged |
|
|
bluefrog
unregistered
|
posted
MICHAEL....Me thinks that according to my script I was not far off from what you said. We agree.
I just think that if the News would tell the truth it would not seem so bad as they pile it on day after day....all bad no good.
On the other hand, (don't you hate it when someone says that ?) (rivit) I have more faith in the American people, and as spoiled as we are we will still follow orders and go get the bad guys when the time comes. That's what we are doing now isn't it ? It certainly has brought on Hard Times (the subject here).
As for our new President, I believe that his taking office in a couple of weeks is easy to explain and yes, his color was a factor. Obama dediced that Whatever it took to get him and his family into the Whitehouse, he would do it. His color (and his mommie didn't raise no dummy) was his Ace card. Obama proved to us that some people will believe Anything. Unfortunately, I won't enjoy saying "I toad you so" (frog talk).
IP: Logged |
|
|
Michael Harrison
Advanced Member
Member # 6801
|
posted
I am not one given to alarmism, that is, not until Obama rose. And it is a painful situation to be in, for if I speak, I am a racist, to many. Yet if I do nothing, which is what got him where he is, then I am casting crowns at his feet. Anyway, I may as well be. And doing nothing got him where he is because people, wanting to be politically correct, for fear of how they would be perceived, allowed this to happen, THINKING THEY WERE DOING THE RIGHT THING! But it is wrong. It is all wrong. The enemy is literally behind the desk in the highes office in the land, if not the world.
I have said it before, he said in his book, "Memoirs of my father," (or whatever) that when he sat behind the desk of a corporate law firm, that he 'felt' like a spy. He added, "If they only knew." These are 'his' words. So how do we think he feels now? He now knows the deepest stragegic secrets of the more preserving force in the world right now, and he is soft on communism. To him, there are things about communism which 'seem to work'. That is a pronouncment. It is a pronouncment that we are in for the worst calamity this country has ever faced, excepts perhaps for the uncivil war, and maybe worse!
Posts: 3273 | From: Charlotte N.C. | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
|
|
Michael Harrison
Advanced Member
Member # 6801
|
posted
Bluefrog, I think you are missing it. We are in a devastating situation which has not yet begun to develop. And the absence of alarm in people is what has gotten us this far. We are in real trouble.
I have read, and intend to revisit some of the books by people who were persecuted in Russia. It is inconceivable what has taken place right out in the open. But soft Americans cannot realize the reality of this. They are too protected. The trouble is that when they, as a nation, get a whiff that says something is wrong, we will be well down the road. And being shackled, as we will be by that time, we might not be able to fight back. So the article is entirely right. If we do not wake up in larger numbers, we are going to face the unimaginable.
As it says in Revelations, "You think you are rich.... and Be not lukewarm or I will SPEW you out of my mouth." Moreover, if the salt has lost its savor, it is fit only to be cast out and TRODDEN under the feet of men. That will be our lot if Cobamunism flourishes.
Posts: 3273 | From: Charlotte N.C. | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
|
|
bluefrog
unregistered
|
posted
MICHAEL PEARL...Question: Hard Times Coming.
Your post is very much alive in the minds of Americans, Christians or not.
In my opinion, according to the News Media we are as bad as your descriptions or worse.
I can't help but believe that Americans will eventually come to their senses and think a good slap upside the heads of our leaders. It hasn't happened yet but when the plug gets pulled from our great living styles and are taken over by the enemy we will stop depending on those elected and hired as leaders. Fi, Fy, Fo, Fum I hear the beat of an enemy drum. (a little soap box time here)
Nope, I don't think it is quite that bad. The News being Democratic has Nothing Good to Say about anything worth mentioning, it doesn't sell commercials or ads. The News does sell us out though.
IP: Logged |
|
|
becauseHElives
Advanced Member
Member # 87
|
posted
For believers, there are bad times and then there are BAD times. A recession is not a bad time; it is an inconvenience.
Recession? Probably. We’ll get through it.
DEPRESSION? Could be. But it will be good for the character of the church.
Or Worse? Yes, something worse is coming.
I clearly remember every administration since Dwight Eisenhower, and I never heard a prominent official suggest that we could be on the verge of another Great Depression. But I am hearing it now. Sure, from time to time Christian alarmists come out with dire predictions, but not until now have political leaders dared suggest a possible return to the 1930s. My father told of collecting potato peelings out of garbage cans to make soup. Of course it is possible, but how probable? No one really knows.
For believers, there are bad times and then there are BAD times. A recession is not a bad time; it is an inconvenience. A bad time, with a little “b”, is a great depression when we are forced to eat “Gypsy Soup” in order to survive (see Debi’s article). A bad time can be a good time for the spiritual life of the nation, can bring out the best in the church and the family, and can create strength of character and enduring spirits.
A truly BAD time for us believers is when the state becomes hostile toward the Christian family and denies us the liberties to rear our children in a godly manner. That’s a BAD time. A BAD time is when the Department of Education forcibly assumes the role of overseeing the curriculum of homeschoolers, policing what parents teach their children in private. A BAD time is when the church is policed as to what it can say, the Thought Police arresting preachers for declaring the whole counsel of God regarding sin and righteousness. In Europe, preachers have been arrested for preaching that sodomy is a depravity contrary to nature. A BAD time is when ministers are silenced on pain of arrest for the crime of causing mental harm and guilt to children. A BAD time is when the State forbids parents from teaching their children the Word of God and encourages children to tattle on their parents as they did under the Communist rule during the fifties and sixties.
Bad times (with a little ‘b’) may come within the year—I said “may.” Who knows? And I don’t much care one way or the other. Families with small children should consider the Ant (Proverbs 6:6). But BAD times as described above are coming to America. There is already a famine for the Word of God—not the state’s fault—but there will be a time in the USA when the Word of God is openly forbidden, being labeled as “mentally unhealthy”.
When will this occur? I don’t know. But we can all see the trend. If you make a projection based on the present drift, it most certainly brings us to the BAD times in about ten to twenty years—maybe longer if there is a revival in the church. However, if the country is torn apart by extreme poverty and personal suffering, if violence so disrupts society that societal restructuring and social engineering are adopted, then Christians could be made the scapegoat as were the Jews in Hitler’s Europe. A nation that suffers greatly and sees no way out can be aroused to a hostile Nationalist spirit that is willing to believe the propaganda that the enemy within must be crushed for prosperity and stability to return. If a socialist or nationalist government were to publish propaganda that blames believers and the Bible for upsetting the country’s stability and prosperity, persecution could arise in one to five years.
The world is not going to get better. No political party is going to save us. Satan is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Our judges have neutered the Constitution insofar as it expresses Biblical principles and justice. That will not change, no matter who is in office. We just had an election between the bad and the very bad. This time, the very bad won. I think that God sometimes laughs as we choose our own form of judgment. Would it not be just for ten men and women to fall for every child the AMA digs out of the womb? You can be certain that abortion will continue, and with you, the taxpayer, footing the bill.
The USA leads the world in both the production and consumption of child pornography, with over one fourth of it depicting violence toward children. Judgment is surely at our door.
We will have socialized medicine to match the socialized schools and socialized culture now being engineered through the public schools and the digital entertainment industry.
The world stumbles around blindly, drunk on entertainment, while many Christians are planting “faith seeds” deep in the soil of avarice. The “emergent” church is emerging with a new christ, a gentle, tolerant, understanding christ who teaches us to love ourselves and lay down our narrow convictions for the greater good of a guiltless body of unified worshipers, swaying and swooning in a mega-Church and listening to light sermons from a New International Perversion. When the hymnbooks are closed, over half of the Christless-christian men hurry home to their computers to seek stimulation through pornography.
I am embarrassed to be called a “Christian preacher” and so be identified with the TV and radio charlatans hawking their latest key to a prosperous and fulfilled life. When people ask me what church I belong to, as part of the greater church I sometimes answer, “Laodicea,” which means “rights of the people”, defined in Scripture as the “lukewarm” church. It was the church that Jesus promised to spew out of his mouth (Revelation 3:14-20). He characterized it as a church that left him on the outside, knocking to get into the worship service. They were having a good time without him.
There will come a time when the state will threaten to take your children. It may not occur until after you have raised your now-young ones. It may be later when your children are raising their families, but it is coming—unless there is a revival in the church equal to the Great Awakening that saved England from the bloody revolutions sweeping Europe. Get passports for everyone in the family and keep them handy.
The only sign I see that indicates a revival is possible is the stone-cold deadness of the church and the empty psycho-savior doctrines of the modern apostate church. My hope is that as the church departs further and further from the truth, going to bed with the psychologists while dating the politicians, and “Christians” depart further and further from judgment, completely merging with the world, it will leave the overcomers standing alone to be recognized as the true historical representatives of the Biblical Jesus Christ—not the redesigned christ of the twenty-first century.
I am praying for a true revival, a deep down purity-in-the-inmost-being revival, a loving the Lord Jesus Christ, forsaking all, walking after the Spirit, telling your neighbor the good news revival, a taking the gospel to the whole world revival.
It may be that it will take suffering for us to get serious with God. I think so. And for that reason I am not in a panic to stay the reaping process that is surely coming. Let the fire burn away the chaff and lethargy of the structured church. Let the deprivation drive us to prayer. Let the world’s wholesale indulgence in sin actually cause us to hate it in our own souls so much that we would gladly take up our cross and follow him who died to save us FROM our sin.
When was the last time you sat with a house full of people, some weeping while singing “Tell me the old, old story”, or “Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life”, and they all meant it? I so long for the days of purity in the inward parts.
There will assuredly be persecution, unless there is a revival from God of major proportions. But then, the church is not yet ready for a revival, wouldn’t even welcome it. What will it take to get our attention? BAD times are coming.
In the meantime, I am not going to stop being joyful, and I will continue to live in and enjoy the blessings of God, sharing the same “blessed hope” that has been an anchor to saints for 2000 years. I will bless my children and help raise my fourteen plus grandkids, expecting good things to come our way. Deb and I will be here helping families and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ even after they carry us away cold and stiff, for our printed material and audio and video material will be out there on the worldwide web, as well as in many nations of the world. Join us for our online Bible study, video and audio, each week.
You can email me your questions any time at biblequestions@nogreaterjoy.org or call me 931-805-4820 while I am speaking. Go to www.nogreaterjoy.org
and click on the TUNE IN LIVE! button to participate.
Michael Pearl
--------------------
Strive to enter in at the strait gate:for many, I say unto you will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. ( Luke 13:24 )
Posts: 4578 | From: Southeast Texas | Registered: Jun 2002
| IP: Logged |
|
|
|
Printer-friendly view of this topic
