If you have been saved "by grace through faith"
from the guilt ("all have
sinned" Rom. 3:23)
and
penalty ("the wages of sin is death" -
Rom. 6:23)
of sin, by humbly receiving Christ
as Savior and Lord ("If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and
shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved." - Romans 10:9), and
If
you have obeyed 2 Tim. 2:15 by studying your Bible to show yourself “approved
unto God,” you doubtless know that the next world-shaping event on God's
Calendar is THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH, after which the saints of God will be
given crowns and rewarded according to their works.
2 Tim. 4:8;
1 Cor. 3:12-15; 2 Cor. 5:10; Col. 3:23-24.
The Joyful, Long Awaited, Event
“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: so shall we
ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thess. 4:16-18.
When this pivotal
event occurs, (the "blessed Hope of every Christian,"
Titus 2:13) the world will soon be made
aware of it by an alarmed, around-the-clock, media. Television, radio and
newspapers will share stories of disasters from coast to coast.
POSSIBLE SCENARIO:
Six o’clock news - a TV anchorman is speaking: "Ladies and gentlemen,
somehow, in some mysterious fashion, there has been a sudden, shall we say,
unexplainable evaporation.....an abrupt disappearance....an unnatural, or
super-natural wipe-out—whatever you want to call it—of untold numbers of people
across the globe. Disaster everywhere has followed in its wake.
Hundreds of thousands of reported accidents, injuries and deaths, are, at
this very moment, overwhelming Emergency Centers, the Police and Fire
Departments, the Paramedics, the Red Cross, the Military—every available public
service has been called in to cope with this situation.
We will keep you posted as more information is fed into our studios....”
A HALF HOUR LATER:
"Citizens of the Global Community, numerous releases from around the
world have been coming in to inform us that
transportation disasters on land, sea and in the air occurred at the
moment millions disappeared.. Here’s an FBI report just in: “Business, industry
and commerce have been seriously crippled due to the disappearance of citizens
from their work stations. Some distraught, probably hysterical, religious
informants, are even now saying something about a rapture that is supposed to
have taken place, whatever that means.....”
STILL LATER: Ladies and Gentlemen, the
president of the United States: “My fellow Americans, this is, in-deed a tragic
situation but not beyond control. I have just been informed by the Justice
Department that those people in America who called themselves Christians,
probably better referred to now as dangerous, paranoid, religious fanatics, were
secret enemies of our New World Order and deliberately brought this violent
protest on us by a well-orchestrated deception. If you have ANY information
whatsoever as to their whereabouts, where they are hiding,
what they are plotting next,
please contact your local FBI immediately.
If possible, stay home and, above all, stay calm.
Starting midnight tonight I’m imposing Martial Law on this country until
such time as...etc”
For most of the six billion people on planet earth, our
departure will likely generate an interesting sequence of emotions: first, shock
and confusion; Second, serious un- answered questions and, third, (as the
unbelieving world ponders it) “good riddance!”
But for us, the body of Christ, it will be pure, unalloyed joy as each of
us rises to meet the Lord in the air, clustering around His glorious Person
while He leads us into the fresh air of heaven.
1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 John
3:1-3.; Phil. 3:21.
Antichrist, the Man of Sin
“Antichrist,“ also called “the beast” in Rev. 13:2, “the
vile person” of Daniel 11:21, whose coming is after the working of Satan with
all power, signs and lying wonders,”
cannot be revealed until the church, the body of Christ, has been caught away,
2 Thess. 2:7-10, Then will the
restraining influence of the Holy Spirit be removed. Then will He cease
interfering in the affairs of men. Then will He allow Christ--hating,
sin-centered worldlings to go their way, to re-live the sins of the fathers
before the Flood— as described in Romans 1:21-32.
The Temple Mount
At this time, Israel will have already built, or will shortly
build, her desired temple. Ezekiel's
description of the temple (chapters 40-43) will likely be Israel’s blueprint for
its construction.
Ezek. 40-43.
Chapters 44-48 touch on the apparel of its future priests, as well as
their blood sacrifices (looking back to the cross), the observance of Sabbath
days, new moons, feast days, and the division of the land among the 12 tribes of
Israel.
Roman Catholicism
“So He carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness:
and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy,
having seven heads and ten horns.........
“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON
THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
“And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints,
and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, and when I saw her I wondered with
great admiration.” Rev. 17:3, 5, 6
It appears that the Vatican, with its vast world-wide land
and property holdings, in collusion with civil governments
(10 horns=10 kings - Rev. 17:3) will
play a major role during the first half of the tribulation—after which God will
remove her from the scene in terrible judgment.
“Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and
mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is
the Lord God who judgeth her.”
(Rev. 18:8)
Thus will ecclesiastical Babylon, with her surrogate Mary, her
elected Pope—to whom one billion blinded souls bow—her soul-damning doctrines,
her priests and prelates, her
confessionals, candles, beads, incense, indulgences, scapulars, inquisition
offices, torture chambers and prison cells—”IN ONE HOUR,” God says, all will
perish from the earth.
Read the entire 18th chapter
of Revelation.
Who Are the Harlot Daughters of “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT”??
It is my personal conviction that the harlot daughters can
be none other than those religious institutions whose spiritual lineage can be
traced back to Rome. Certainly Buddhism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, and other
ancient religions, did not come out of the Roman Catholic Church.
But PROTESTANTISM did.
In the great Reformation that swept Europe in the 15th and
16th centuries, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Huss, Tyndale, and others, led huge
blocks of Roman Catholics out of Romanism, protesting the sale of indulgences,
confessionals, and other rank heresies.
Unfortunately, these brave men brought out with them some of the
unscriptural practices of Romanism, including
physical ordinances, pagan holidays (such as Xmas and Easter), hireling
preachers, the distinction between clergy and laity, all of which are firmly
entrenched in Protestant churches today.
Over time, most of the thousands of denominations,
branching off from the few institutions initiated by these early dissenters,
have degenerated into weak, vacillating, compromising organizations that have
ceased protesting the wicked practices of Rome, some even to the point of
recognizing Catholics in general as brothers and sisters in Christ, thus
reversing 400 years of the Reformation for which millions forfeited their lives.
(No doubt there are some truly
born-again people in the Catholic Church or Rev. 18:4
would not have been written)
This general acceptance of all Catholics as brethren is
accelerating throughout Christendom, in spite of Rome’s official tenets that
salvation can only be attained by allegiance to Mary (as co-redemptrix, i.e.,
co-saviour of mankind), unquestioned obedience to the Pope, strict adherence to
the seven sacraments, and a final purifying of the soul
in a fabled purgatory.
We are told in Rev. 17: 6 that “Babylon the Great.....has
been made drunk with the blood
of the
saints and with the blood of
the martyrs of Jesus.” Fueled by her
fanatical intolerance, hatred and bigotry towards
all who
refused to
support the Pope, Rome’s office of inquisition engaged in the unspeakable
slaughter, torture and burning of many thousands of Christians throughout the
Middle Ages. As Hunt states in his
book, “A Woman Rides the Beast” (p.292)
“Catholic Rome has no rival among religious institutions in qualifying as the
woman who is “drunk with the blood of the saints and of the martyrs of Jesus.”
The Two Witnesses
In Rev. 11:3-6 we read that God says, “I will give power
unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy....”
These two Jewish men (whom some say are Enoch and Elijah) will prophesy
during the first three and a half years of things to come—possibly of those
things that the Book of Revelation reveals to those who read it.
We’re told that these two witnesses
“have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their
prophecy, and have power over the waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the
earth with all plagues” (conceivably the same plagues with which God smote the
Egyptians). Rev. 11:3, 6.
Having completed their mission, Antichrist will be allowed
to assassinate these faithful servants of God.
Once dead, their bodies will lie in the streets of Jerusalem for three
and a half days, (no doubt with television cameras focused on them for the world
to view) The nations will then make merry,
celebrating their death by sending gifts one to another,
not unlike “Christmas” today.
(Rev.
11:10). After this, the
Spirit of God will enter into them:
“And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, ‘Come up hither,’
and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.”
Rev. 11:12.
The Mark of the Beast
Then will Antichrist demand that all, small and great, rich
and poor, high and low receive the mark of the beast, without which no man may
buy or sell. (Rev.
13:16) This will be a
terrifying period to try men’s hearts as in no other time in the history of
sinful men. All
who receive this “mark,” doom themselves to eternal ruin.
(Rev.
14:11).
The Last three and a half years of the
Tribulation
For the world, it will be an unprecedented nightmare of
terror, confusion, chaos and death, “men’s hearts failing them for fear of those
things that are coming upon the earth.” (Luke
21:26) During this time, the
wrath of God, in the form of twenty one tormenting, pain-riddling plagues, will
be poured out upon the unbelieving inhabitants of the world.
(Rev. 6-16)
Antichrist breaks his covenant of peace with the
Jews thereby exposing his contempt for Israel and for her sacred
ordinances.
In the early days of the last three and a half year period
of the tribulation (now ravaged by unprecedented pain and suffering) Antichrist
will desecrate the temple of God by supplanting the daily sacrifice with his own
image, (referred to in Daniel 11:31 as “the abomination that maketh desolate.”)
Then will he declare himself to be God and command all men everywhere to
worship his image and receive his mark in their hands or foreheads, or the
number of his name, being 666. Those who refuse will neither be able to “buy nor
sell.”
Rev. 13:17.
See also Dan. 9:27;
11:36-39; 2 Thess. 2:4.
The Second Coming of Christ
At the close of the tribulation, the Lord will return with
His saints and destroy the armies of God-hating men gathered against Him on the
plains of Megiddo. This slaughter of the enemies of God is called
THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON.
See Psa. 2:1-4;
Rev. 16:12-16; 19:11-18.
NOW
FOLLOWS, THIS SEQUENCE OF EVENTS.
CHRIST PLANTS HIS FEET ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.
ZECH. 14:4;
Ezek.
38:19, 20; 48:2,11.
DELIVERS ISRAEL FROM THE MASSIVE ARMIES OF THE NORTH.
JOEL 2:18-20; ZECH.14:3
ESTABLISHES HIS KINGDOM IN THE CITY OF JERUSALEM.
ISAIAH 9:6-7; JER. 3:17.
JUDGES THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD IN THE VALLEY OF
JEHOSAPHAT.
JOEL 3:2
AND REIGNS OVER THE EARTH FOR 1000 YEARS,
JOEL 2:18-20; REV. 20:6.
RULING WITH A ROD OF IRON. REV. 2:27; REV. 12:5;
19:15.
After the Lord Jesus Takes His
Throne in Jerusalem
HE will first move to bring His people back to their land.
“Hear the Word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off,
and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him, as a shepherd
doth his flock....Behold, I will bring them [Israel] from the north country, and
gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame,
the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together: a great
company shall return thither....and they
shall not sorrow any more at all.”
Jer.
31:4 -14; 31:23-28; “And so all
Israel shall be saved, as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the
Deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob....for the gifts and
calling of God are without repentance”
(“irrevocable” RV)
Romans 11:25-29.
Thus the
New Covenant cannot go into effect
until Israel’s restoration
Jeremiah 31:33-34 informs us that
“after those days, (i.e., only
after the rest of the scattered
remnant of Jews has returned to Palestine (Jer. 31:4-14; 31:23-28)) will God make
a new Covenant with His people, Israel.. The last promise of the
covenant states, “And they [Israel] shall
no more teach every man his
neighbor and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord, for they shall all
know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” (vs. 34) ....for the knowledge
of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the
sea.” (Isaiah 11:9) These
prophecies MUST be fulfilled before
the New Covenant becomes effective.
All efforts, then, to teach people to know the Lord (as is
now being done) will have ceased,
for Christ Himself will be resident on earth, ruling the world from Zion
(Jerusalem) .
“And the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall
be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the
Prince of Peace.”
Isa. 9:6-7;
Dan. 2:44; 4:3;
Rev. 12:5; 19:15.
Christ’s 1000 Year Reign on Earth
At the end of the 1000 years, Satan will be loosed from the
bottomless pit (where he abode during the millennium reign of Christ) and will
be permitted to go forth to deceive the nations.
(Rev 20:7-8) Soon vast hordes of unsaved souls (born during the reign of
Christ) will marshal themselves
together to follow Satan’s unholy spirit, “the number of whom is as the sand of
the sea.” Rev.
20:8.
Once quiet, law-abiding citizens of the Kingdom, they now, in their new-found
freedom from the “iron” rule of Christ, will have become an army of
revolutionaries, rising in proud rebellion against the sovereignty of Christ.
Satan’s design is to use his army to capture “the beloved city” of
Jerusalem by force. It is met with
fire coming down from God out of heaven, decimating the mutinous insurgents.
Rev. 20:9.
This will be earth’s last rebellion against the sovereign
authority of Christ.. The devil will
then be taken and cast alive into the lake of fire “burning with fire and
brimstone,” —where he will remain forever.
Rev. 20:8-10.
The Great White Throne Judgment
Apparently we Christians will stand behind the throne as
witnesses (1 Cor. 6:1-2) while the unsaved, who will appear one by one
before the throne of His majesty, the
King of kings, and Lord of lords, will be judged, “every man according to his
works.” Then, they, too, will be
“cast into the lake of fire....and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up
forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night....this is the second
death.” Rev. 20:13-15; 14:11 with Isaiah 33:14.
FINALLY, THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW
EARTH
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first
heaven and the first earth were passed away;
and there was
no more sea.”
Rev.
21:1.
THE NEW JERUSALEM
“And He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed
me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God....and
the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the
[12] foundations of the city were
garnished with all manner of
precious stones.....”
Revelation 21:10-19.
As “...heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,”
(Romans 8:17) brethren, we can read
with grateful hearts this exhilarating, breath-taking account of your future
home. (Revelation 21:10-27).
Here is God’s unbelievable
real estate holdings reserved for you and me, and for the redeemed of all ages.
Christ said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place
[a home] for you, I will come again, and
receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:2-3.
As Elizabeth Barrett Browning, one of England’s revered
poets, once wrote, “...the best is yet
to be.”