THE POST-TRIBULATION RAPTURE
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Pensacola Bay, N.W. Florida - photo by the author. |
A devotional/exhortational
By Gavin Finley MD
endtimepilgrim.org
Our Apostle Paul also speaks of our being "changed" (1Cor:15:51 and 52)
He also speaks of our mortal bodies "putting on immortality". (1Cor.15:53)
"Will it be a Pre-Tribulation Rapture?
Or will it be a Post-Tribulation Rapture?"
For the vast majority of Bible believing evangelicals the answer is a Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Only about 5% of Bible believing Christians believe that there will be a Post-Tribulation Rapture. There is no surprise as to why this is so. Throughout North America the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is what the Christians in the pews and watching Christian television are exposed to. This is what they being entrained in and taught. Few read and study the Bible for themselves and for their family. So they believe what they are told to believe by their churchmen.
God refers to His covenant people as being like sheep. We are gregarious creatures. Christian people, (unless we are reading the Holy Scriptures for ourselves and are walking personally with God and being guided by His Holy Spirit), tend to go along with the crowd. We are inclined to believe what everyone else around us believes. This "sheep-like" behavior comes from something we call "peer pressure".
Of course the Pre-Tribulation Rapture is a very popular doctrine. And so it has become a lucrative line of preaching as well. But later in this article we shall see just how this "special, early, "present Church/non-Israel" Rapture" scenario has left the ancient paths. This end-time scenario has departed from the pattern we see laid out in the Holy Scriptures.
So does the Bible tell us when this "Rapture", this "catching away" of the living saints will occur? No it does not. But the Rapture does happen to be linked to a major accompanying event. That accompanying event happens to be the Resurrection of the righteous dead. And the timing of that event is very well known. It is well pegged in the time-line of the latter days. This event immediately precedes the Rapture. So it can be placed very accurately on the chart of the final seven years of this age.
FEAR NOT!
We serve a God who loves His covenant people dearly. He wants the very best for His saints.
He guides and encourages them on their pilgrimage and as the journey home to Him.
And the words He brings to them on repeated occasions throughout the Scriptures are as follows.
'Fear not!'
But unfortunately our self serving attitude and our estrangement from God
leads to a lack of appreciation of His lovingkindness and His guiding hand.
And so in running away from full commitment we miss out on knowing the comforting and strengthening Presence of His Holy Spirit.
This is sad but true. For carnal Evangelical Christians our response to the challenges of the end-time witness are not one whit different from they were in the Garden of Eden. Our response to this high calling is one of fear and hiding. God calls us to respond in faith to the challenges we encounter, and not in fear. But fear, (and fear is the opposite of faith), is the real torment here. This fear response sets in because of our estrangement from God and because we are not rectifying this appropriately by crying out to God in faith.
This balking at the end-time Bridal witness and this craven fear in the service of an Almighty God is most unfortunate. This is not the good grief that leads on to a deeper relationship with God amd ultimately takes us on to glory. Instead it is bad grief that comes from fear and spiritual defeat. This establishment of fear and Edomite anger is what pushes us away from our Christian responsibility in the end-time witness.
Of course this fear response is precisely the intent of the principalities and powers, the angelic rulers of the darkness of this present age. The theological agenda sent down from the hierarchies of the second heaven is easily discerned spiritually. The gig is to paint a picture of the Apocalypse that is so awful that no Christian even thinks that he or she might be there during the tribulation period. It is to demoralize Christian believers, make them want to give up the spiritual battle, and to get them to believe the lie that we as Christian believers have no PURPOSE in the latter days and no Holy Spirit Presence to aid us in our witness there.
The human religious hierarchies of this world are for the most part deceived. They are under the spell of these religious angelic powers of darkness. These are the evil religious spirits, angelic beings who who hover above the children of religious disobedience and pull their strings. The human underlings toe the line. They do so at a subconscious level. Being deceived themselves they unwittingly teach Christians to think and emote and act naturally after the flesh rather than Biblically in the Holy Spirit.
The result is what we are seeing in the Western Church today. Christians in the rich countries are spoiled.
They live in their materialism and consider it the norm.
And so even when the mere thought of challenges come they do not respond to the high calling in Christ.
Instead of responding in faith believing they respond in fear and hiding.
As untried untested Christian believers we are not owning up to who we are in Christ here as we should.
We are accepting no part of the end-time witness. Instead we are dumping our responsibility on others
and the running away from the high calling like a runaway bride.
We are passing our Great Commission off 7 years earlier than the time when that commission expires.
We are dumping our responsibilities off onto others, even a small company of "144,000 Jews".
And we say we deserve to be raptured "outta here" for this deliberate wanton desertion!
God help us! May we repent of this ASAP.
Unfortunately the Western Church is steeped in an unrecognized spiritual disease. We should diagnose it and label it for what it really is. It is religious humanism pure and simple. Oh yes, we rail and decry "secular humanism". But religious humanism is far more dangerous to us. It lies undetected in our midst. It is a hidden serpent, an adder nestled inside the Church itself. We see it slithering down the pews, on Christian television, and written on the printed page. This religious humanism presents a far greater danger to the Church than the external easily seen pagan secular humanism ever did. What is going on here?
The answer is very clear. The principalities and powers know their eschatology far better than the unschooled, dumbed-down, Biblically illiterate Christians of the West. The dark angelic rulers of this present evil age know that that after the four horsemen of human government have run their course and exhausted themselves that the saints of the most High God will go up and take the stage of history. They know that at the 5th seal the end-time witness of the saints will eventually be seen before men and angels. And when it does it will be the end of the road for these principalities and powers of darkness who are ruling right now. This "final witness" will be curtains for them. And they know it! The 5th seal witness of the covenant people of God, the testimony of Jesus, is essential. There is no running away from it. The witness and testimony of Jesus isthe very essence and spirit of prophecy. (See Rev. 19:10.) This is the true and faithful Bridal witness. This is the normal blood covenant commitment that any true and worthy bride knows and understands implicitly.
So let us ask this question. Is the Western Church a true Bride of Christ? Or is she an uninvolved concubine, sitting there chewing gum, looking into a mirror, and awaiting a limo to take her to her mansions? Concubines do not bother themselves with any deep relationship with their "significant other". Nor do they respond to the call for their attendance to blood covenant matters here below. These are material girls. They are women under contract. They are not under covenant.
This is so sad to have to report. But the Western Church does not even know what Blood Covenant Christianity means. These blood covenant matters of our faith, the faith that was first delivered to the saints, have been sorely neglected by our popular preachers. And why? Because the church-going customers are not interested in hearing about it. They walk out when anything more than a low-grade superficial Christianity is preached. They pay the piper to hear the sermons they want to hear. They want their paid churchmen to deliver sermons embellished with lots of motivational hype and syrupy sentimentalism.
So our Church in the West is not "buying" into the deeper issues of the faith nowadays. These weightier matters of the faith of our fathers are simply not addressed. Christian faith is no longer presented as a "blood covenant" by our churchmen. Instead the Christian faith is re-engineered and re-worked to be presented as a "seeker friendly" business style "contract".
People get the ministry they deserve just as they get the government they deserve. Western Christians have all too often been content to pay their churchmen, (their religious lawyers in effect), to design a contract with their own special interests in mind. The main contract with God of course is for a cheap "ticket to heaven". Then they want to earmark a list of material and wealth blessings here below. Sometimes they even demand to be given the authority to be "little gods" with their own special "me first" kingdom now, right here on earth. And well, "that's all folks!"
The shady religious spirits pulling the strings of those who teach a Pre-Tribulation Rapture are of the same ilk. Salvation and is presented by many dispensationalists as just a "free ticket to heaven". And God's grace is presented as "unmerited favor" in covering of sin. But it is more than this. The Bridal response and witness by Christian believers in the way of the cross is also God's grace. It is God's divine enabling empowering grace, even in "the fellowship of Christ's sufferings". Unfortunately this "grace under fire" is disallowed and written off as "works" by many evangelicals today. Christians are told that witness under trial is something which God does not respect or call for, even in the latter days.
This, dear saints, is a lie. The true and genuine marital response between two lovers never has been and never will be
something considered as "works" or a "duty". God's true covenant people do in fact bring in the witness
to their Bridegroom. They accomplish this not by works but by grace through faith in the mystery of Godliness.
They serve their Bridegroom willingly out of their own volition.
They joyfully bring in the witness for one reason only.
They testify of Him because they love Him!!!
This continuing declension of the faith in the West is truly alarming.
But God just needs a few good men to perform this service and
finish the race.
And He will find His witnesses,
. . . even if He has to go to China and Indonesia and other places to get them.
There are many areas of the world where the Suffering Church faithfully brings in the witness.
When we look at Revelation 7 we see that John saw a great multitude of Christians from every nation, race, and tribe.
These are the faithful saints who will bring in the final witness of the Church.
This commitment, this
signing of the marriage document by the true Bride of Christ will be pivotal in holy history.
The 5th seal witness will lead on to the 6th seal that will see the angelic powers of darkness
falling as stars falling from heaven.
This is the awesome final epic cataclysmic Bridal witness our Western churchmen refuse to speak about.
And when it triggers the opening of the 6th seal the sign of the Son of Man will be seen in the heavens.
In those days Messiah's return in judgment and in deliverance will be imminent!
The angelic principalities and rulers of darkness know all this. And they tremble at this prospect. They know very well what this final end-time witness of the saints means for them. They know that this will be their ultimate undoing.
So their agenda is very understandable. The evil principalities and angelic powers do not want the saints to know about their vital role in the end-time witness. They want Christians continue in the entrained emotional response that they are used to receiving. For evangelicals it is "who cares? We are 'outta here'" before anything uncomfortable comes along. The older denominations give eschatology the "silent treatment" and this is especially true of Ecumenical churchmen. Those in the post modern church are often treated to raucous rabble rousing by their 'Kingdom Now' Crusader Churchmen. Many sermons we hear today are a warmed over psychological slop cooked up by money-making motivational speakers pretending to be men of God. Above all else the principalities and powers pulling the strings of Church leaders want Christians to respond to the end-time challenge under fear in the flesh rather than by faith in the divine enabling grace and comfort-strength of the Holy Spirit. They want us to react with fear and hiding and in anger rather than responding to the clear call of God in faith believing. They want Christians to entertain and pursue this unfaithful line of thinking.
"The final seven years of this age and tribulation = the wrath of God.
As a Christian the Bible tells me I am not subject to God's wrath.
Therefore, since tribulation = wrath, I am not subject to tribulation and trials.
Then there is the emotional issue. And sadly it often seems to trump the Word of God.
We say, "My witness before kings and rulers is too terrible and too fearful a prospect to even consider.
Surely the Church, (and I), can't be there!"
Religious hirelings stand ready to sell these reassurances to the nominal Christian masses on this score.
Many Bible teachers stand ready to market their modern day indulgences to the increasingly worried Christian crowds.
They join Jeroboam of old who declared among God's rebelling people,
"We have no inheritance with David!"Modern Churchmen are in effect announcing the very same thing.
To your tents, O Israel!"
"What has the Church got to do with the Jews and with Israel?Many Bible teachers are going even further by teaching this,
The trials and tribulations of the 70th Week of Daniel are for Daniel's people!"
And in our present unrefined state we say,
"We are about to be raptured, . . . . imminently.
Any time now we'll be "outta here!"
"Church, You have no place in Israel!This, dear saints, is unscriptural. It is a lie.
You have a special separate deal!
But what saith the scriptures?
Quite the contrary.
We as Christian believers do belong to Israel.
This is clearly stated by our Apostle Paul in
Ephesians 2:11-13.
Something we are not likely to be taught by Bible teachers is this. When we are saved we are no longer Gentiles. We cannot be Gentiles any longer. And why not? Because the word Gentile means "heathen".
Paul tells us that when we are born again we are no longer strangers, aliens, gentile heathen, or goyim. We are no longer strangers to the covenant of Israel. Through the blood of Christ we have been brought near. We as Christian believers are new creatures, even a new creation. Our Apostle Paul tells us straight out what happens. We now belong to the Commonwealth of Israel.
Yes, Christian believers, (if they can receive this), are a new creation, belonging to Christ.
When we are saved we are named in the Anointed One, Christ, and thus we are identified in the Seed of Abraham.
See
Galatians 3:29.
Some will ask, which tribe do we belong to? This is an excellent question. All who are saved have their inheritance in Joseph. All those born again in the Spirit of the God of Israel will bow down to Christ Jesus, even Messiah ben Joseph. Remember it was Joseph who fed the world the Bread of Life bringing salvation to all who will receive this.
And so we as Christians are in a spiritual war. But it is not the drum-beating crusade of carnal jingoistic religion, of religious Dominionism with all its empty hype and noise. Nor is the Christian called merely to a war of nationalism waged in politics and weapons of war. These aberrant Crusading behaviors of the Church were, (and still are), diversions from the real agenda. They are dalliances and delaying tactics fostered by an enemy who fears and dreads the coming of the faithful witness of committed Christian saints more than anything else. The powers of darkness loathe and dread the day the Christians begin to take their faith seriously and boldly take the stage for witness to their Messiah.
Of course these crusading preoccupations of the medieval style warrior monks still persist inside our Western Church. The cult of Dominionism still finds a home within the carnal elements of the Church. Dominion Theology still expects to rule the world and crusades towards its hopelessly flawed Utopian dream a worldly Christian dominion. If they have their way Dominionists will do incalculable damage to the Christian faith and witness. They will return Christendom to its shameful bloody crusading past. These are diversions, distractions from the real task at hand.
Dear saints, the spiritual war and the testimony of Jesus in the Word of God is the real war. This is the "good fight" to which we have been called. Like all wars it is an information war. This is why we must read our Bibles for ourselves and come to know our Redeemer personally in Word and Spirit. Like the five wise virgins, we too must make it our business to find the oil of the Holy Spirit for the lamps of our soul against the emptiness and darkness of the coming night. The real war focuses upon the Living Word of God as a Bride to her returning Bridegroom. A true Bride understands and accepts the essential end-time bridal witness of the saints. This is the final witness. And yes, the saints who finish the race will be the true Overcomers. There will be an epic "testimony of the saints". And it will bring in the final victory.
The powers of darkness know all this. They know it very well. They want to keep us in the dark concerning our vital role of witness in the latter days. That is why they want to keep Christian believers locked up in their own Church-centered man-centered thoughts and plans. The Pre-Tribulation Rapture agenda is simply this. It is to abandon our brethren and skip out whilst others who need to hear our witness are 'left behind'.
And so as the Western Church runs away from her responsibilities what do we see?
We have a Western Church with a deadly morale problem.
She has in effect become a runaway bride..
We as the Church in the West are not moving forward in faith believing.
Instead we are going around in circles, mulling over the minutia, stewing in the sum of all our fears.
But why are we worrying? We have a God of great loving-kindness. He covers His holy people with His Abiding Presence. We can also take courage in this. This epic latter day spiritual conflict and the "final witness" of the saints will not last for very long. The testimony of the saints will be delivered before God, angels, and men. The ministry of the two witnesses will last precisely 1260 days or 3.5 Biblical years. That is all.
So we can be encouraged here. The Ancient of days is presiding over the end-time from up in the courts of heaven. These trials will not last forever. Life here on earth is not an endless dualism of good vs. evil as we see in eastern mysticism. Nor do we have to live under the spell of the Dragon, being jerked around indefinitely and having to endure an everlasting bondage under the ying and the yang. God forbid that we become pawns of the empty eastern mysticism shipped in from the orient. Holy history is teleological. It does not just go around and around in circles forever. The true and faithful Judeo-Christian expectation sees life as a pilgrimage. It is a journey with a beginning and an ending. The climactic final seven years of this age will unfold precisely as prophesied. The history of this age is God-ordained. It is an orderly unfolding of a new and living Way, Our God drawing us to Himself in a stepwise linear teleological process. The pilgrimage of saints of this evil age marches on across the centuries to end in a sure and glorious conclusion. The Seven Feasts of Israel map out the journey of the people of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are the covenant people of God of Israel. They began this journey when Abraham walked out of Ur 4,000 years ago. And they will certainly finish the race precisely at the time determined.
End-time world history is not as totally black and horrific and out of control as some Bible teachers have led us to believe. Holy history is laid out for us by Someone who in Himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. A Biblical world view sees a sure passage and a glorious destiny for the single Elect of God as they pilgrim on through their histories on this planet. We saw the beginning laid out in the creation story back in Genesis. Then we saw the unfolding of a great drama where God's Elect protagonists met their antagonists, namely the world, the flesh, and the Devil together with the human agents of these three great evils. The epic drama really opens up in the national history of Abraham and the establishment of national Israel at Sinai. The saga goes on to see the unfolding of the New Covenant Jeremiah spoke about in Jeremiah 31:31-33. Then after the First Coming of Messiah the saga moves on into Church history at Pentecost. The Gospel and he Holy Spirit outpouring overflowed Israel and was being preached towards the ends of the earth. Eventually Messiah will return and the present age will end in an ultimate crisis. This great end-time drama will unveil and reveal and showcases the true character of all the players on the stage of history.
Of course there will be many surprises. Many will be the mysteries that will unfold before our eyes in times to come. The final 5th seal witness of the saints will come to a victorious climax. Then comes the magnificent 6th seal intervention by our returning Messiah. His Second Coming will break forth right at the end of this age. Christ, the expression and manifestation of God we see in this cosmos, will return. He will judge the wicked, deliver His saints, and glorify all His Elect at the Resurrection-Rapture. The woman will be delivered of the Manchild even as the Body of Christ is delivered and resurrected at the end of this age. The delivery and Resurrection-Rapture of the Body of Christ will come 2,000 years after the Head was delivered. Jesus was resurrected as the Firstfruits from the dead. And He is the first of many brethren.
So we need not fear. We have a God who covers His saints by His Holy Spirit. And we have a God who remembers His own. He will be returning to this earth. And He will come to His covenant people as a Deliverer.
The reign of the 666 Beast, (and his False Prophet), will not last long. Both of them will be terminated right at the 1260 days. And we have this assurance as well from Micah 2:12-13. The saints will be delivered. The Breaker will come and spring them out from their exile at Bozrah. And the Holy City of Jerusalem will be delivered from the armies mustering to the north at Megiddo. At the end of 1290 days the Day of the Lord will open for judgment. Messiah will return to terminate this evil age. The last day of this age will be that awesome final Day of Atonement or Day of Reckoning. On that day, the tenth day of the Tishri moon, the trumpets of Jubilee will sound to announce and to bring in the ultimate Year of Jubilee.
The Day of the Lord will be an unzipping and a rolling back of the very space-time Nature worshipers always thought was eternal. The skies will be rolled back to reveal Messiah. This will be a terrible day of sheer horror for the rebels. The wicked who belong to Antichrist will see the evil angels above them. They will be plucked up first, even as tares for the fires. (Mat.13:30) Then the Elect will be gathered. Al the saints, the living and the dead, will be glorified together in the Resurrection-Rapture. The Prince of Peace will then judge the unsaved, the nations. He will separate the sheep from the goats in the Sheep-Goat Judgment. He will reach out to save the little ones and minister among to those who mourn. That long awaited Millennium of Messiah will be established at last. Messiah will restore this poor toxic sin-damaged creation to the beauty it once knew.
Never fear dear saints. Our God is alive and well. He is coming back again. And He means business. Life is not just an endless series of cycles of ying and yang carrying good and bad Karma from one generation to the next in a meaningless merry-go-round of sex and death, marriages and funerals. The God of Israel is calling out a Holy People, bringing them ever higher into His ekklesia, His Pilgrim Congregation, His Church/synagogue. He takes them through the wilderness, onwards through their histories in a sure direction. They are the People of the promise, the Pilgrim Company of Abraham. As such they walk on by faith towards a sure destination, even a City with foundations not made with hands.
And so the Redeemed of the Lord shall return.
And come with singing unto Zion.
And everlasting joy, shall be upon their heads.
So the final outcome of this divine drama is assured.
"The Light shines in the darkness.
And the darkness has never overcome it." - John 1:5
In the Book of Revelation we see that God the Father is the Ancient of Days. He presides over the courts of heaven. And he judges righteously. He oversees all the covenant dealings of Israel upon this earth during the 70th Week of Daniel. He is in total control of events as the history of this present evil age comes to its appointed climax. And so we need to remember this. YHVH-God sets the limits on the raging of nations. The Holy Spirit will not be deserting us as we have been told. The God of Israel sends us His Holy Spirit to be our Comforter and our Guide. Even in the midst of a Great Apostasy there will in fact be an End-Time Revival among God's people. This will be a revival of epic, even Biblical, proportions. This spellbinding end-time drama will all come to a magnificent climax in a blow-out blaze of glory with the Arrival of Messiah.
So the Bible brings us much positive and encouraging information concerning the Apocalypse, or the unveiling of Messiah.
And if we ask him, our God will also give us the strength to receive what He is telling us here.
Because the Presbyterians are correct.
Without God's sovereign grace we cannot receive the Word of God.
We are just never going to interest ourselves in God by ourselves.
And the years are passing by.
Of course the Western Church, as Sleeping Beauty, is asleep right. For the most part she is oblivious to these things. But at some point we shall wake up and remember what we are all about. The medieval fog will lift and we shall remember who we really are. We are the saints of the Most High God. We are His witnesses!
Yes, we have been given a ticket to heaven, - if we can keep it. Pray God we abide in the Vine, remaining true to our Lord Jesus Christ. But at some point we must hear "the rest of the story". We are definitely in the loop here. Accordingly we should be as diligent in the Scriptures as the noble Bereans were. Let us dig a little deeper into the pages of our Bible. We need not fear. God is with us! So as we go forward in this study let us boldly go where we have never gone before. Let us take our investigation on faithfully to where the Biblical evidence is leading us.
God cares for His saints as a mother hen cares for her chicks. Through His Word He informs and guides His special agents as He speaks and operates in and through them. This is especially true as they approach the thresholds at the climax of the age. He informs us that some of us will go up before kings and rulers. And yes, many will suffer in the witness. But Jesus/Yeshua has promised to keep and preserve each member of His Congregation (Gr. "ek") 'in, through, and out of' the hour of their trial. Spiritually speaking, He tells them that not one hair of their head will be lost. And so in this devotion and with an open Bible and an open heart and mind our God makes it His business to "tell us of things to come". The prophecies will be unsealed. And Daniel's question will be answered. The Holy One of Israel will strengthen and guide His called, His chosen, and His faithful saints. It will be in that obedience that they will come into a clear understanding of their essential role of witness in the latter days.
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Christians who do not understand the necessity and the seriousness of the testimony of Jesus are not interested in these matters. God has blinded their eyes. And this is just and righteous of God to do this. Such people have no business inquiring into Bible prophecy. Because the true Christian faith that was first delivered to the saints, is as private a matter as a marriage covenant and as secret as orders presented to a commissioned military officer going out on a mission. All this is part of the blood covenant relationship we ahve entered into in Christ. The one who signs and seals the agreement knows the full implications of what they are doing. They have just entered into a realm of total and absolute devotion and commitment.
This is absolutely vital information. Unless believers understand the necessity of the end-time blood covenant witness they will not be able to comprehend Bible prophecy. Nor do they deserve to know about it. Carnal Christians are in this category. They will turn away from the truth. They will be content to accept a mere approximation to the truth or a twisted version of the Biblical facts. They will prefer to listen to worldly wise men who are telling them, (and selling them), fables fashioned by figments of their own human fancies.
But the truth will eventually come out. And as the prophet Daniel declared in Dan. 12, the wise will know the truth), and will understand. The Lord of Hosts, (like any Army Commander), is sovereign in the spiritual war which engaged the faith of our fathers. And the Holy One of Israel gives out His confidential information only to those who are committed and vitally involved in the spiritual war. These people can be trusted with the truth. Information is given to the agents of God on a "need to know" basis. The called, the chosen, and the faithful, are in this category. They are prepared to go up to the witness. And so they most certainly deserve to be in the know.
And they will.
The others will not.
Meanwhile, even now,
the woman of wisdom is crying out in the street.
Shall we stop and listen to what she has to say?
So this matter of the Rapture is more than good exegesis and a faithful interpretation of Holy Scripture.
Bible prophecy is more than sound doctrines and rightly dividing the Word of Truth.
Loving God is the key here, even the
Key of David.
And it will be in this devotion that our God will
"guide (us) into all truth.
. . . . . . . and tell (us) of things to come." (John 16:13)
Is there another very important event that accompanies the Rapture?
And if so, what is that other epic event?
1Thessalonians 4:15-17So what is that awesome end-time event that erupts into holy history right alongside and immediately before the Rapture?
4:15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord,
that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord
will by no means precede those who are asleep.4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.
And the dead in Christ will rise first. (in the Resurrection)4:17 Then we who are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them (in the Rapture)
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Here in this passage of scripture we can see that our apostle Paul is clearly showing
us a combined Resurrection-Rapture.
"The dead in Christ shall rise rise first."
Then we who are alive at that time, (the living saints), will be "caught up" or Raptured.
Paul nails down the 1 -> 2 sequence in no uncertain terms.
He tells us that the Rapture will "by no means precede" the Resurrection.
Now pause for a moment and ask yourself this question.
Have you heard Bible prophecy teachers murmur one word about the timing of the Resurrection of the righteous dead?
Of course the answer is "no", you haven't heard then speak of this.
Now, let us stop and ask ourselves this question.
Why not?
Oh yes. We have only just begun our study.
And already we are beginning to see that the plot is thickening.
 The Resurrection as seen by Ezekiel in his vision of the valley of dry bones by 19th Century German artist Gustav Dore. Click on the image to go to Ezekiel 37. |
The fact of the matter is, worldly wise Christians in the pampered West are spiritually weak.
They are not walking in the Spirit. Instead they are living on the carnal side of their nature.
Under the spell of materialism and laden with the cares of this world the Seed of God's Word is being choked out of Christian hearts.
Many Christians are turning away from full commitment to Christ. Not surprisingly they are
running away from the end-time witness as well. The red badge of courage notwithstanding,
untrained, unprepared, spiritually cold, sickly and unfed Western Christians are stealing away from the spiritual battlefield.
This is happening every day. They are led by religious leaders who are not true pastors and teachers.
Many prominent and leading churchmen have
deliberately chosen to neglect the vitally important realm of Bible prophecy.
They have found it easier and more "positive", (or is the real word "lucrative"), to become
social pragmatists, motivational speakers, and above all, "successful" religious businessmen.
God help us.
So what are the consequences to all this? The sheep of God's pasture are not being fed. They are not being nurtured in the faith that was first delivered to the saints. They are not being cared for. Instead, God's people are being exploited. Our modern evangelical Christian leaders are committing the sin of Jeroboam. They are spoiling God's covenant people and leading them into error. These leaders are drawing Christians away from their Biblical roots and leading down the garden path into ecumenism and a harlot Church. They are refusing to address the vital end-time blood covenant issues of the faith. See this YouTube video. All this is to our shame. And so this is why we as Christian believers need to open up the Holy Scriptures, seek the leading of the Holy Spirit, and do our own homework. Then we can teach our children to avoid these snares.
Back to our study.
As we can readily see, the Bible does teach a Rapture at the end of this age.
That Rapture is accompanied by another magnificent event.
The Rapture is time-linked to the Resurrection of the righteous dead.
So why is this matter of the Resurrection of the righteous dead so important?
The answer is quite obvious.
The timing of the Resurrection will also give us the timing of the Rapture.
Dear saints, this matter of the timing of the Rapture is not difficult. A little child can understand this. And why? Because they have an open heart. And they are without guile. Jesus had something to say about this. He said,
“Assuredly, I say to you,
unless you are converted and become as little children,
you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 18:3
1Corinthians 15So there we have it. Another Biblical proof of a Resurrection-Rapture. All the saints will be going up together, in one big happy party. And this happens, Paul says, "in a twinkling of an eye". All the saints, both the living and the dead, will be glorified into new spiritual bodies together as one single Elect. (See Jesus words on this in Mat. 24:29-31). The Resurrection and the Rapture will occur at the same time, at the last trumpet.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery;
We shall not all sleep, (or be in the grave when Christ returns),
but we (who are alive at His coming) shall all be changed, (in the Rapture)
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, (in the Resurrection)
and we shall be changed." (in the Rapture)
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So there we have it, a Resurrection-Rapture at the last trumpet. And here is the major truth that under-girds this hush-hush untaught unspoken doctrine. The Elect of the God of Israel, the children of Abraham's Seed, are undivided. God's covenant people are not to be chopped up and put in boxes as evangelical dispensationalist Bible teachers have done. They had no Biblical authority to commit that travesty. No, not at all. The saints are "all one in Christ Jesus". (See Galatians 3:27-29)
So from both sides of Calvary we see the passing parade of the saints.
They are Jew and Greek, male and female, free and bond.
And even in death God's covenant people are undivided.
God would never allow such a thing. They are His Bride.
"And what God has joined together,
let no man put asunder!"
Dear saints. We are looking here for Biblical evidence of a Resurrection of the righteous dead that will come some years before the end of the age. Does such an animal exist in Holy Scripture?
The answer is a loud resounding "No!"
We hear countless Bible messages on "The rapture!" "The rapture!" "The rapture!".
But let us not forget, (or be hoodwinked by Bible teachers under a spell of religious spirits with an agenda),
into not asking about this critically important intimately connected
blood covenant matter of the Resurrection of the righteous dead.
It seems that the whole issue of the Resurrection-Rapture is heavily guarded by religious spirits. So as we undertake to look into this matter be warned that this will not be easy. So be prepared in God with the full armor of God. Our Apostle Paul spoke about this vital spiritual preparation here in Romans 6:10-18.
This preparation in the Holy Scriptures and in the Holy Spirit is essential. Because as we press forward in our inquiry our pilgrimage will be bringing us up against religious trolls. These are spirits operating in and around us and in the written and spoken words of others. Religious disinformation comes to us in sermons, in books, and in films. Religious spirits do not want the true information to be revealed. So let us remember, dear saints, that the subject we are discussing here is not just a cold objective theological inquiry. If we have been saved and born again then we are immediately thrust into spiritual warfare. This is normal for the true Christian. And we need to understand that information, true and false, is the key here. Because all wars are information wars.
Let us remember this as well. As Pilgrim Christians the war we are engaged in here below is not carnal but spiritual. The prophet Zechariah was told how the victory is finally achieved. It is
‘Not by might nor by power,Every day should begin and end with prayer to God, even as the sweet savor of the morning and evening sacrifices went up to God back in the Israel's earlier times. We part company with our Puritan friends here. Our battle is not with sword and gun. The battle is over the Word of God and the preparation of the saints for witness before men. And in this war we deal with information that is spiritually guarded, cloaked, and smoke-screened. This critically important Biblical information concerning the saints in the latter days is contested all the way by evil spirits. These religious spirits trying to limit the flow of God's Holy Word are trolls at the gate, denizens of disinformation, shysters of religious shlock. This comes as a bit of a shock to us. Because we had never even imagined that religious spirits even existed, let alone encountered them and dealt with them before.
but by My Spirit,’
Says the LORD of hosts.' Zech. 4:6
We are 21st Century Christians. We live in the most sophisticated society this world has ever seen. We go to Church, we read our Bible, and we watch Bible prophecy teachers on TV. We imagine ourselves to be fully aware of what is going on and what will go on. But do we? Do we really have a good well founded Biblically correct handle on the Resurrection and the Rapture?
Even peasants in the middle ages knew about the Resurrection-Rapture. They knew from the Apostle's Creed that Christ would come for the quick (the living), and the dead. So this glorification into new spiritual bodies involves not only the Rapture but the Resurrection as well! At Christ's coming the righteous dead are going up as well. They are going up with us! They too will be "putting on immortality" in the very same end-time Second Coming of Messiah! In fact, as we look at our scriptures above we see that the righteous dead are glorified into new spiritual bodies right before the Rapture! All those who are Christ's, saved by His blood, all those who have passed on in the faith, from both sides of Calvary, are all raised up in the Resurrection. Then, immediately after this, in the very same process of putting on immortality comes the Rapture.
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So there we have it.
The dead will go up first. And then the living.
All the Elect will be glorified as one big happy family.
All the saints, the quick and the dead, will be there.
We will ALL be boarding the glory train TOGETHER! 
AND SO WE ASK THE FORBIDDEN QUESTION THAT FEW DARE TO ASK.
- - - - - - WHEN IS THIS RESURRECTION OF THE RIGHTEOUS DEAD?
As we have seen, the timing of the Rapture is time linked to the timing of the Resurrection.
They are a combined event.
So here in this article, (and I pray in our churches as well), let us dare to stand up and ask the question.
Mysteriously, this is a question that we are apparently hypnotized or intimidated
by religious spirits into not asking. But ask the question we must. And we must then
proceed on to answer it faithfully and
truthfully from the Holy Scriptures.
So here is our question again.
When is the Resurrection of the righteous dead?
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Is it here? |
Or is it here? |
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3.5 years (Rev.17) |
3.5 years (Rev.13, Rev. 11) |
This is not a difficult question. The Bible gives us the answer four times in in John 6, then in Matthew 24:31, Revelation 20:4-6 and many other places. It is like the game "pin the tail on the donkey". Only here we seek to "pin the Resurrection of the righteous dead, on the final seven years of this age."
Can we do it?
We look up the verses with the answers. Then we get the facts. It is easily done.
But we are having a hard time bringing ourselves around to pursuing this matter it seems.
And now we are beginning to understand the spiritual war and the foes that try to make us turn away.
OK, let's cut to the chase. Lets look up the Bible passages and see for ourselves.
When is the Resurrection of the righteous dead?
Does The Bible give us a specific timing for the Resurrection?
Yes, it certainly does!
But there is a problem.
The information is guarded and contested.
As we shall show in the next section the answer is right in front of them.
It is right there on the pages of their Bible.
Has the Church been put under a spell, like black magic?
Now that is a very interesting question.
When a Biblical truth, such as the Resurrection of those who are Christ's, is set upon by religious blocking spirits we must assume that something very important is being "cloaked". Something very significant is being hidden from us. And indeed when we succeed in answering this highly contested question of the timing of the Resurrection it is as if we break through a wall of heaviness. The spell is broken. Suddenly it is as if we are viewing something from a mountain top. The religious fog begins to clear. Suddenly we begin to get a clear view of the end time. And we "see" the "last day" timing of the Resurrection-Rapture at the end of the 70th Week of Daniel right at the end of this age.
So then, when is this mysteriously hidden Resurrection of the righteous dead?
Is it a Pre-Tribulation Resurrection or is it a Post-Tribulation Resurrection?
Well, let's stop and pray and ask God to rebuke the powers and open our eyes. The Bible is telling us very plainly and openly. Here below are the very words of Jesus Himself on this matter.
Four times in John chapter 6 Jesus refers to the Resurrection of His Elect.
Then we see in John 12 that Martha, has her say on this matter as well.
John 6:39 "This is the will of the Father who sent Me,Is our Lord Jesus trying to get a message to us here? If He saw fit to tell us four times in the one message that He will raise His people up at the "last day" then His Word on the matter should be final. And who would dare tamper with the message the Holy Spirit has so clearly laid out for us in the Holy Scriptures? Jesus tells us that the Resurrection of the righteous dead will occur at the 'last day". Therefore it must come at the end of the 7 year period at the tail end of Daniel's 70th week. And therefore the Resurrection must be a Post-Tribulation event. It must come after the Great Tribulation.
that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up at the last day."John 6:40 "And this is the will of Him who sent Me,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life;
and I will raise him up at the last day.""
John 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him;
and I will raise him up at the last day."John 6:54 "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day."
Here is Martha's word on the matter and her magnificent confession of the blessed hope of the glorification of the saints at the resurrection. This account is recorded by the Apostle John. As we see here in this scripture below, Martha knew very well when this end-time Resurrection of the righteous dead would occur.
John 11:24 Martha said to Him,This seems pretty plain and straightforward doesn't it?
"I know that he will rise again
in the Resurrection at the last day."
The Old Testament saints, unlike many of us evangelicals today, had a very good handle on the Resurrection of the righteous dead. The testimony of the patriarchs and Daniel bear witness to this. They knew when this Resurrection of the righteous would occur. Job, in the midst of his sufferings brought this magnificent testimony.
Job 19 (KJV-NKJV)Job declared that his Redeemer was alive. And in the latter day He would come to stand upon this earth as Messiah and raise him up from death. He also declared that even after worms had burrowed down beneath his skin to destroy his mortal body one day he would rise from the grave to be Resurrected to life in his own new immortal body. Then he would see his God face to face.
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God:
THAT RESURRECTION IS A CLIMACTIC ALL-INCLUSIVE RESURRECTION.
THERE CAN BE NO RAPTURE UNTIL THE FINAL RESURRECTION-RAPTURE AT THE "LAST DAY".
THIS HAPPENS IN A TWINKLING OF AN EYE AT THE
'LAST TRUMPET'
THIS WILL BE AFTER THAT FINAL
DAY OF ACCOUNTING AT THE VERY END OF THIS AGE.
As we have seen, the timing of the Resurrection of the righteous dead
is well established in Holy Scripture as being at the very end of this present age.
After the final
Day of Accounting, Day of Reckoning, Day of Atonement Messiah
will have all the information He needs on everyone and all will have been said and done.
As we saw in the sequence of events in the parable of the wheat and the tares the tares, (the wicked), will be gathered first. (Mat.13:30)
Then after Messiah has poured His wrath on the wicked He will then gather His Elect, glorifying both the living and the dead in one swoop.
Here in 1Cor 15 Paul tells us that this will happen in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
He tells us that this last trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible
and then we (those of us who are alive and remain) will be changed, (in the Rapture).
Here in this passage our Apostle Paul is showing us
once again the close relationship in time of the
Resurrection and the "catching up" or Rapture.
Most Bible believing Christians are quite familiar with this passage here in 1Cor. 15:51-53. and the earlier passage from 1Thes. 4:15-17. They quite rightly rejoice in the fact that the living saints will be "caught up" in the Rapture. But they fail to see that their glorification in the Rapture will occur immediately after the Resurrection of the righteous dead.
51. "Behold, I tell you a mystery:
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed--
52. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound,
and the dead will be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed.
53. For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
and this mortal must put on immortality. - 1Cor.15:51-53
To illustrate this point see this little skit which we might call 'BIG AWAKENING ON THE GLORY TRAIN'.
This one time total all encompassing glorification of the saints will happen in a flash. In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, we shall find ourselves changed, glorified, into new incorruptible spiritual bodies. Our new spiritual bodies will be like the one Jesus had after His resurrection that enable all who belong to the Body of Christ to walk through walls and travel through space and time. How glorious is that!
This future instant in time is a 'mystery', which means it is a future reality yet to be revealed and seen. We cannot yet fully grasp or comprehend it. Nevertheless the Holy Spirit tells us that this magnificent moment is an instant in time, a mere "twinkling of an eye". This future total body upgrade is out there in our future somewhere. We have good evidence that this will all come down during the Fall or Autumn Season of some future year.
REVELATION 20 SHOWS US THE FIRST RESURRECTION.
THE TRIBULATION SAINTS ARE COMING TO THEIR REWARD.
THESE ARE FAITHFUL CHRISTIAN/MESSIANIC BELIEVERS
WHO HAD DIED AS MARTYR/WITNESSES UNDER 666.
THEY HAD REFUSED TO TAKE THE MARK OF THE BEAST.
CLEARLY THEY ARE NOT RESURRECTED UNTIL AFTER
THEIR NUMBER IS COMPLETE AT THE END OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION.
HERE WE SEE THEM LEADING THE RESURRECTION PARADE OF THE SAINTS
WHICH JOHN CALLS THE FIRST RESURRECTION.
REVELATION 20In Revelation 20 John saw the Resurrection of the Tribulation Saints. These saints are the overcomers who had rejected the "mark of the Beast" during the Great Tribulation. They had died for their faith in Christ during the 666 economic regime, the final 3.5 years of this age. The 666 economic identification system will be instituted by the Antichrist in his Beast role during the final 3.5. years of the age, the final half of the 70th Week of Daniel, or the final half of the final 7 years of this age. Now in Revelation 20 John sees the Tribulation saints. They have come through the trials of their faith victoriously. John sees the Tribulation martyrs being raised up after the Great Tribulation. John is clearly told that this end-time Resurrection of the righteous is the "First Resurrection". This will be the Resurrection of all the righteous dead who belong to Israel's Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. And the list of saints being gathered here is a full list with no dispensationalist divisions or compartnents or theological boxes. The parade of the saints coming up out of their graves here is a glorious company of saints that goes all the way back to righteous Abel and perhaps even to the Garden of Eden if Adam and Eve were saved by grace through faith under the blood covering God provided them.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them.
Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus
and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image,
And they lived (were Resurrected)
and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.
This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the First Resurrection.
Over such the second death has no power,
but they shall be priests of God and of Christ,
and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
But the end time Tribulation saints are there as well. In fact the Tribulation Saints get special mention here! They lead the procession into the glory! The Tribulation martyrs are special saints. From what we are reading here in Revelation 20 they are at the head of the whole First Resurrection party of all the saints!
Revelation 20 spotlights the Resurrection of the righteous dead. And let us make no mistake here. We are told by John that this is the 'First Resurrection'. Quite obviously there is not, nor can there be, an earlier Pre-Tribulation Resurrection. There is no evidence whatsoever for the existence of some other splinter group rapturing earlier than this and separate from this First Resurrection. John saw a Post Tribulation post 666 Resurrection which he called the First resurrection. There can be no "special separate "Church resurrection" coming seven years before this Post Tribulational "First Resurrection" John saw. No other resurrection can precede this First Resurrection we see here in Revelation 20.
So Revelation 20 is describing the Resurrection of the righteous dead and as we see these precious saints are resurrected at the end of this age. Special mention is being given to a special group of overcomers within the Resurrection company. They are the end time heroes of the faith, the tribulation martyrs.
The very existence of the Tribulation saints as John sees them in Revelation 7 and Revelation 20 is a huge embarrassment to those who teach the Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrine. These are the saints who bring in the climactic 'final witness' of the 5th seal. These faithful witnesses who died for the faith will usher in the 6th seal appearance of the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens. These are the faithful runners we who break the tape to finish the race on behalf of all the saints who have run before us. The Bible says that these Tribulation martyrs are given white robes washed in the blood of the Lamb. They are in the "First Resurrection", the glorified dead who are raised up at the end of this evil age. (Rev.20:5) In fact they head up the Resurrection of all the righteous who have died in the faith. They are in there amongst all the saints gathered from both sides of Calvary. They head up the procession of all the saints as the Elect, (a single company), ascend up into the mansions of glory. This "First Resurrection" event clearly comes at the very end of this age, not seven years before!
Then we recall this passage.
. . . . we who are alive and remain until the coming of the LordSo as we see from this passage above, the Rapture of the righteous living saints
will by no means precede (in the Rapture) those who are asleep
(and coming up from the grave in the Resurrection).
The Bible tells of one transport into glory, one 'Glory Train'.
When all the saints are here the Archangel Michael will get the Word and call out, "All aboard!"
Then Messiah's train will pull out right on schedule, at the very end of this age.
Not one minute before!
Quite clearly, the Rapture cannot and will not precede the Resurrection. Dear saints, we must face the Holy Scriptures honestly here. This First Resurrection John mentions includes the Tribulation martyrs. So this Resurrection must come at the end of the Great Tribulation.
AND THREE EASY STEPS PROVIDING ABSOLUTE BIBLICAL PROOF
OF A POST-TRIBULATION RAPTURE.
STEP 1 (foundational Biblical truth #1)
We read Revelation 20:4-6 and see that martyrs of the Great Tribulation, overcomers of the 666 era,
are given prominence as they come into the glory. They head up the parade of all the saints who belong to Christ
who come up from their graves in the Resurrection, which John is clearly told is the First Resurrection.
So the Resurrection of the righteous dead comes after the Great Tribulation.
STEP 2 (foundational Biblical truth #2) We read in 1Thes. 4:15-17 and in 1Cor. 15:51-53 that the Rapture will be immediately preceded by the Resurrection of the righteous dead. So there can be no Rapture without the accompanying Resurrection which immediately precedes it. So there is to be a Resurrection-Rapture of all the saints. And this is what our Bible teachers really should have been speaking of all along.
STEP 3 - CONCLUSION
The combined Resurrection-Rapture obviously includes the Resurrection which
as we have seen in STEP 1 above comes after the Great Tribulation.
So the Rapture comes after the Great Tribulation and is a Post Tribulation Rapture.
THE RESURRECTION-RAPTURE WILL SEE THE SAINTS GO TO THEIR REWARD.
SO THERE MUST BE AN EPIC SUMMING UP OF PEOPLE"S LIVES BY THE RETURNING MESSIAH
BEFORE WRATH FALLS ON THE WICKED AND BEFORE THE REDEEMED GO UP IN THE GLORY.
THIS FINAL DAY OF ACCOUNTING/ATONEMENT MUST ALSO BE THE " LAST DAY" OF THIS AGE.
SO THE RESURRECTION-RAPTURE CANNOT POSSIBLY PRECEDE THIS DAY OF RECKONING,
THIS FINAL WRAP-UP DAY, THIS DAY OF ATONEMENT AT THE LAST DAY OF THIS EVIL AGE.
"The Final Call" Painting by Jewish artist Yossi Rosenstein This is a magnificent prophetic picture of the final Day of Reconciliation and the epic climactic regathering of the Elect from both houses of Israel. Click on the image to go to the website article on the Day of Atonement. Click HERE to purchase prints from the Israeli Poster Center. |
If John the Beloved calls this Resurrection of the righteous dead the 'First Resurrection" then we can safely surmise that there will be a Second Resurrection. Just as the First Resurrection wrapped up this present evil age the Second Resurrection will follow the Great White Throne Judgment and wrap up the future glorious 1,000 year Millennial Age of Messiah.
So let us make no mistake about this. This "First Resurrection" in which the Tribulation Saints get special mention is a very important all encompassing event for this age and a very late event as well! It occurs "after the (Great) Tribulation". All saints are gathered at once. This "First Resurrection" wraps up this present evil age. And the Bible only speaks of one Resurrection at the end of our age, and only one!
The Resurrection of the righteous dead is the big all inclusive "First Resurrection" mentioned by John in Revelation 20:4-6.
John refers to it as the first Resurrection. So we must not dicker with the Holy Scriptures and presume
to insert a separate earlier resurrection of the just just to suit our fancies. There can be no resurrection of the just before this
First Resurrection of Revelation 20!
The warnings against adding to the Bible are given at the end of the Book of Revelation.
Bible teachers, myself included, we must beware!
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.
No other resurrection of the saints can precede this Post Tribulation "First Resurrection" of Revelation 20:4-6.
So there cannot possibly be a Pre-Tribulation Resurrection!
From a Biblical perspective such a notion is absolutely and totally impossible.
Now let us look at some more solid Biblical evidence of a late Resurrection-Rapture.
So when is this epic gathering of the Elect?
And yes, Jesus only spoke of
one single unified Elect, not two.
Will the gathering of the Elect come before the Great Tribulation?
Or will Christ our Messiah be gathering His Elect after the Tribulation?
Again, the Bible speaks.
And Jesus Himself gives us a plain and simple answer.
Here are Jesus' own words on this important matter.
In the passage below He is talking to His trusted disciples including Peter, James and John.
There on the Mount of Olives Jesus tells them plainly when He will come to gather His Elect.
Matthew 24:29-31Jesus tell His disciples that he will be coming to gather a single Elect. Notice He makes no division of His covenant people into those dispensational theological boxes we hear about, namely a Church Elect and an Israel Elect. Nor does He divide His Elect into an "Old Testament Elect" and a "New Testament - Church Age" Elect". Nor does He speak of a Jewish Elect and a Gentile Elect or a Church Elect and a "Left behind Jewish Elect saved by martyrdom, works, and the keeping of the Law". This matter of "who is the Elect" as it is dealt with by the western Evangelical is a travesty against the Holy Scriptures. The poor inquiring believer has to try to make some sense of this confused mess. This matter of the Elect is the most muddled conflicted twisted bamboozling web of religious disinformation the Church has ever coughed up and sputtered on.
29. "Immediately of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.30. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
A plain reading of the Bible regarding the Elect is very straightforward, simple, and elegant.
Jesus tells us in the
Olivet Discourse that He would send His angels to gather His
one Elect, singular.
He also tells us in Matthew 24:29 above that this gathering of His Elect will occur after the Tribulation.
Our Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 3:28 that His Elect are
'all one in Christ Jesus'.
See
here in Galatian 3:28.
Matthew 24:29-31Then after the coming of these cosmic signs we have the gathering of the Elect at the last trumpet.
29. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.30. Then the SIGN of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.The darkened sun and bloody moon are the key signpost to the post-tribulation days. These are in fact the cosmic signs time linked to the sixth seal. They occur late in the 70th week, towards the very end. What will have happened?
Apparently our present day man-centered God rejecting human government will have come to its final day of infamy.
Nuclear weapons will have been detonated. And Messiah is coming back to His creation to put a stop to it, lest all flesh is destroyed.
Jesus Himself spoke of this awesome time in future world history.
He said
"And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved;Joel describes the awful scene in very descriptive poetic language. "Blood, fire, and pillars of smoke". Fire and pillars of smoke. Isn't this an accurate picture of a mushroom cloud from a nuclear explosion with hot smoke going up to fill the upper atmosphere? And bloodshed on a scale never seen before in all of human history? Thank goodness most of the saints, especially the women and children, will be safe in exile when this great international calamity happens. Because this prophecy will surely unfold. These will be awful days for unregenerate mankind as human history rocks up towards the end of the 70th Week of Daniel and as we come to the close of this present evil age.
but for the Elect’s sake those days will be shortened." - Mat 24:22
These are the cosmic signs that mark the 6th Seal. The sun will be darkened. All that smoke will be going up into the stratosphere to be carried east with the jetstream. A bloody moon will be seen by people all around the earth. These are the epic cataclysmic 6th seal post-tribulational cosmic signs mentioned by the prophet Joel. (Joel 2:31-32)
These cosmic disturbances are also associated with the Battle of Armageddon. This epic battle will be fought at the very end of the final 7 years of this age. These 6th seal cosmic signs indicate that 5th seal witness of the saints has ended. The Great Tribulation in the latter half of the 70th Week is now over. We are in the days between day 1260 and day 1290 which is the Day of Atonement, the final day of this age. And God is pleading with the nations for those final 30 days. The Day of the Lord and the Second Coming of Christ is now truly imminent.
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by Alfred Soord (1868-1915) |
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Ezekiel 34This will be an awesome scene. The righteous dead will come out of their graves in the Resurrection. And then the living saints are gathered in the Rapture. Something will have happened to the atmosphere around the earth. And the world is about to be judged. And yet here at the climax of holy history we are told that there will be a magnificent rescue of God's covenant people. Weknow that Messiah will intervene on behalf of His Holy City Jerusalem in His action at Armageddon. But there is more. The prophet Isaiah saw Him return and make an appearance at a place of mystery known as Bozrah. The prophet Micah brings additional information. He speaks of the Bozrah Deliverance.
12 'As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.' - Ezek. 34:12
So at the climax of the age
we see a single triumphant party gathered together as one.
They are gathering together around
the returning Christ.
All of His Elect Congregation spanning 4,000 years plus
are gathered together as one.
They are one united 'called out' company,
the 'ekklesia'/congregation of God.
They are the remnant Church / remnant Israel coming into confluence together
as a 'royal priesthood and a holy nation'. (1Pet.2:9)
The returning Christ will be gathering all who are in Christ.
All who belong to the God of Israel will be there.
At the "great sound of the trumpet"
all the saints will be gathered as a
single Elect.
They are glorified into new bodies from among the living and from among the dead.
They come from all races, from among both the Jews and the Gentiles,
and from both sides of Calvary,
and from all around the world.
Jesus Himself said that He would return to gather His Elect from
"the four winds of heaven", from
across space and time. He gathers His own from across the
racial divides of Israel and out from the clutches of the
heathen gentile nations. He gathers His people
from beyond the gates of Sheol and brings them home.
He draws them out from across the very borders of life and death.
What a magnificent harvest this will be!
FINALLY THE DISPENSATIONALISTS WERE READY TO PULL OFF THEIR FINAL THEOLOGICAL CAPER.
THEY SPLIT OFF THE RESURRECTED SAINTS AND PULLED THEM AWAY FROM THE RAPTURED SAINTS.
THEN THEY PROCEEDED TO HIDE, "CLOAK", "SMOKESCREEN" THE RESURRECTION OF THE RIGHTEOUS DEAD.
ALL THIS WAS EXPEDIENT IN ORDER FOR THEM TO LAY OUT AN ISOLATED EARLY RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH.
. . / . . / . . / . . / . . ALL THIS CHOPPING AND CHANGING. . / . . / . . / . . / . .
AND THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE DOCTRINE POPS UP ABOUT THE SAME TIME.
 Nelson Darby (1800 - 1882) |
You see, the Bible makes no allowances for chopping and changing, dividing and conquering, or trying to dissect and analyze the covenant people of God. The Bible speaks of one single unified, undivided Chosen People. And God's Word shows them all coming to their ultimate glorification at the end of the age together. As we search the Holy Scriptures we discover that the covenant people of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are a single unified company. As God views them this company of people is an indivisible single Elect.
But rationalistic modern churchmen think otherwise. (And post-modern churchmen have decided not think about these matters much at all). And so in this study we shall notice a very very curious thing. We shall discover that certain key 19th century Anglo-American churchmen set up an eschatology which did not recognize the Biblically established unity of all the saints. Instead of going with the Bible they set to work to craft a new device to process the Holy Scriptures which they called dispensational theology. They then proceeded to chop the saints of the Bible up into seven different dispensations or theological boxes.
Well this is a strange business.
Are we therefore left to suppose that God lays out seven different covenants for the redemption and salvation of His people?
What saith the scripture?
Are not all saved by grace through faith in the atoning blood of Israel's Sacrifice Lamb?
So these theologians, (if they actually were theologians), failed to recognize and respect God's covenant people as a single Elect. They refused to acknowledge that the Old Testament saints and New Testament saints were all part of one passing parade and all saved by grace through faith in the atoning blood of Israel's Sacrifice Lamb, Jesus Christ, Yeshua Hamashiach? The Holy Scriptures set forth no such compartments to divide God's Elect, not even between the Church and Israel or Jews and Gentiles. Our Apostle Paul calls the children of Israel at Sinai the "Church in the wilderness" does he not? (See Acts 7:38) All the saints from both sides of Calvary were the Elect of the most High God, the Holy One of Israel. Each one was bringing their witness to the Eternal Covenant as one of the myriad company of Abraham. One day, at the close of this age we shall all be sitting at the same table at the same Marriage Supper of the Lamb. All these dear and precious saints of former times will be there with us. We see them showcased here in Hebrews 11. They were shining lights in their day, even as the stars in the vault of heaven. Their lives shone brightly as they made their passage through the dark centuries here on earth.
And so we return to our opening issue. The 19th century modern era was in full swing. And here we see these machine age churchmen re-engineering he Bible and dividing up the Holy people, the covenant people of the God of Israel and apparently according to the whims of the newly emerging modern era Church. What came of it was a very unfortunate man-centered humanistic handling of the Holy Word of God. Dear saints, this was not secular humanism. It was something far more sinister. It was religious humanism. These men, religious champions of their day, were not careful in their handling of the Word of God. They failed to recognize the Biblical unity of all the saints, from both sides of Calvary. And they refused to look at all of God's covenant people as a single Elect. They failed to see, or their agenda didn't allow them to see, that magnificent vision splendid of the all the saints going up together in their final glorification in the Resurrection-Rapture at the last day.
So what was going on here?
What were they up to?
Why did they do this?
 Cyrus I Scofield (1843 - 1921) |
It is important for Christians in the West to know that dispensationalists have taken over the leadership of the American evangelical family. They have also re-engineered the eschatology to deliver up a Pre-Tribulation Rapture to please the merchants and the masses.
It is important for Christians to know that the evangelical theology we have today is not all bad. In most ways it is quite sound. One very faithful work they 19th Century evangelical churchmen did was lay out Daniel's 70 Weeks prophecy with a true and correct timeline. They went with Sir Robert Anderson's wonderful work on Daniel's prophecy of the Seventy Weeks. Quite correctly they have the first 69 weeks of years terminating on Palm Sunday of the passion year. Dispensationalists correctly teach a future 70th Week, and for this they should be given enormous credit. The older Reformed Churches are still in the Amillennialism of the Roman medieval Church. But unfortunately popular Dispensationalist teaching insists on placing a special early Rapture into the time line just as that final 70th Week of Daniel begins. This Pre-Trib Rapture doctrine, popular though it might be with the church-going masses, is hopelessly flawed. Many of the jig saw puzzle pieces of the end time picture are missing or twisted around. Other pieces of the puzzle are jammed into the wrong places.
This attempt to force a Pre-Tribulation rapture seven years before the last day at the end of this age is most unfortunate. It is throwing up a confusing mess of quasi-biblical disinformation. As we shall discover from the Holy Scriptures we have highlighted in this article, a separate early rapture coming seven years before the "last day" has been forced upon the Holy Scriptures. It is without any Biblical foundation whatsoever.
Dispensationalists began their dividing asunder of the holy people back in the 19th Century. This was happening just as the machine age was building up a lot of steam. During this time the German theology schools were being set up within the universities. Naturally they came under the influence of the secular thinking that was then extant in the universities, namely a secular humanistic rationalism. The popular culture was also imbibing this heady rationalistic potion as well. They were looking at the wondeful engineering progress that man was achieving and rejoicing in the triumph of human reason exhibited in literary characters like Sherlock Holms. The names Nelson Darby and C.I. Scofield are well known as movers and shakers of that era. Both of these men were instrumental in advancing an attempt to rationalize the Apocalyptic Scriptures using human reason.
These were the men who gave birth to dispensationalist theology in the American Church. The Scofield Reference Bible came out quite early in the 20th century, bundled as it was, and still is, with a heavy dispensationalist commentary in the footnotes and study guides. The Scofield Bible has been very popular with American and other English-speaking evangelicals ever since. Scofield's footnotes themselves were, (and still are), revered as "Gospel truth" by a large body of Christians in America. For many Bible readers those Scofield footnotes, (like the Jewish Mishna and Talmud commentaries on the Old Testament), have been considered to be virtually inspired.
Who were these men? And what was the agenda behind all this division and splitting up of the holy things of God? Why did they consider it necessary to compartmentalize God's covenant people of Grace into seven ages? Is God's house a vaticanized house with bricked in rooms? By whose authority and by what scriptural basis have these dispensationalists, (and not a few of them rough riding Texas cowboy preachers), herded up the saints into seven corals? Are not all of the saints redeemed by grace through faith in the same atoning blood, the blood of Israel's Sacrifice Lamb, even our Lord Jesus Christ? Will not all of us be sitting down together at one table the Marriage Supper of the Lamb?
Dear saints, we are not to judge people before the time. But we must be responsible and discern the spirits at work, even among ministers we trust. This, after all, is one of the gifts we are given in the Holy Spirit. Jesus called us to be "as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves".
The facts are plain. Deceiving religious spirits pulling the strings of compromised Christian churchmen, have craftily disconnected and unhitched the Rapture of the living saints from its proper place which is immediately following the Resurrection of the righteous dead. Then they have "submerged" the Resurrection of the righteous dead in a confused sea of theological discussions concerning the broad general topic of "resurrections".
There is no Biblical basis for this subterfuge. None whatsoever.
So we are left with one conclusion.
The reason it was done must have been for some hidden non-Biblical purpose.
So let us ask ourselves this question. Why was it necessary to separate off the Resurrection from the Rapture? Why was it expedient to hide the resurrection of the righteous dead away from Christians in their Bible study and away from Christian conversation? Apparently this "spiriting away" of the Resurrection from the Rapture had become a matter of some expedience.
Let us look at what happened again. The dividing asunder of the Resurrection-Rapture was job #1. Then this "vanishing act" performed upon the Resurrection of the righteous dead was job #2. This then completed the obfuscation of Biblical truth concerning the combined Resurrection-Rapture at the last day.
So why was this Resurrection hide-away such a big deal?
Why did all Evangelical conversation about the Resurrection of the righteous dead have to "go away"?
Why was the whole subject of the Resurrection made to vanish, like stardust under the wand of Tinker Bell?
Why was it necessary to hide the Resurrection of the righteous dead under a religious smokescreen?
Well this is where the plot thickens. It was necessary to do this "spiriting away" of the Resurrection in order to promote a new doctrine. The new doctrine being floated in the 19th Century was the notion of an isolated early Rapture, namely the Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrine.
So, you see, these Anglo-American churchmen wanted desperately to launch this Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrine. And they probably had some very good socio-political reasons for doing this. But there was a problem. Most sincere Bible believing saints would know from their Bible reading that the Resurrection comes at the "last day". So in order for the Rapture to be pulled forward seven years the Rapture had to be cut loose from its last day Resurrection moorings. The Rapture had to be avulsed. It had to be chopped off from the Resurrection. Then, to complete the illusion of this early Pre-Tribulation Rapture the Resurrection with its "last day" baggage had to be made to "go away".
Is this why the Resurrection of the righteous dead had to be shipped out into a theological no-man's land? Is this why, to this day, the subject of the Resurrection of the righteous dead has been "cloaked" in religious resurrection gobbledygook?
Oh yes, the Resurrection had to be religiously "cloaked" and never brought up into end-time Biblical discussions.
If it had not been hidden away then there would have been a lot of embarrassing questions.
Like this one.
When is the Resurrection of the righteous dead?
Will it come before the tribulation, (bundled up with a Rapture coming seven years early)?
Or will it come after the tribulation,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . like at the last day?
For a good Biblically accurate answer see this wonderful sermon by faithful 19th Century English preacher Charles Spurgeon.
See also this article on the Resurrection of the righteous dead by Paul Phelps.
As we shall see from the Scriptures we bring out in this article these men were not Holy Spirit led in their dividing of the end-time Elect. But the evidence indicates that they were truly "purpose driven". That is, they did on purpose and for a purpose.
You will notice that popular Bible prophecy teachers talk unendingly about "The Rapture". But they studiously omit any reference to the accompanying Resurrection, the raising up of "those who are Christ's". (See 1Cor. 15:20-23)
Please note, we are not sitting in judgment of people here. Only the Master of us all is authorized to do that. People are still in the process of learning about themselves and the hidden motives of the heart. It is only the Holy Scriptures and the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit that brings home to us as Christian believers the reality of spiritual seductions and religious witchcraft. Most people are completely unaware of the way they are being brainwashed. But in the devotion and lovingkindness of God we enter into spiritual warfare as faithful agents and witnesses to the God of Israel. And so in Christ our Messiah we come to discern the spirits, spirits that inhabit and energize doctrines and direct human beings into certain modes of thinking. As Christian believers we are in a spiritual war and all wars are information wars. So our warfare is heavily involved with God's holy revealed Word. We can all bow to God in humility here. None of us has the whole picture. And all of us are being deceived to varying degrees and in different ways.
So with that said let us make one point very clear. There is every reason to believe that the vast majority of those who teach the Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrine are quite sincere. Most of them are beloved Bible teachers to whom we owe much. And this is what make this matter so strange and surreal. Their Pre-Tribulation Rapture scenario for the latter days is unquestionably flawed. But in most cases the other doctrines they teach are Biblically well founded.
But we must square with the Bible here. Their Pre-Trib Rapture teaching, while it may be the accepted church tradition, is in direct conflict with the Holy Scriptures. So we are bound to conclude that these Bible teachers are under some sort of spiritual, social, or economic coercion to toe the party line. In many cases it appears that they are under a spell. They do not realize that they have been deceived. And when the Scriptures are laid out in 1Thes. 4:15-17 to show a combined Resurrection-Rapture and then Revelation 20:4-6 is opened to show the obviously late Resurrection of the Tribulation martyrs who died refusing 666 and then with the Holy Spirit telling them that this is the FIRST RESURRECTION they still don't "see" it.
And why don't they "see it". It appears they are under a spell woven by very cunning highly intelligent religious spirits. They do not realize that they have been deceived. They have been drawn into a complicated conflicted web of religious chicanery.
Pre-Trib Rapture teachers virtually always refer to the Rapture to the exclusion of the Resurrection.
Without even realizing it they give the timing of the Resurrection of the righteous dead the "silent treatment".
And yet this magnificent epic Resurrection event accompanies and actually precedes the Rapture!
What is going on here?
A good indication that the religious spirits are trying to foist a "cover-up" is as follows. Whenever the truth is pointed out to a teacher under religious witchcraft they exhibit certain behaviors. Typically they jump off the point being discussed. They do not respond to the question at hand as the Bereans did and dig into the Scriptures to see if these things are so. Instead, people under a spell or guarding an uncomfortable hidden truth become uncomfortable, white knuckled, and defensive. Sometimes they withdraw from the conversation. Sometimes they become angry and strike out against the messenger.
This sort of response is well know to those who have debated on Bible prophecy forums. These visceral types of reaction to the unveiling of an uncomfortable truth is also something with which police investigators and psychiatrists are quite familiar.
But we are talking here of Christians, devoted to Christ! This is why it is so amazing. And it is so disconcerting to see Christians showing this evasiveness and this discomfiture with Biblical truth. But we saw it on the forums day in and day out. And you can test this for yourself. Bible teachers who promote the Pre-Tribulation Rapture scenario always become very uncomfortable when they are asked about the timing of the Resurrection of the righteous dead.
Proof of this religious deception can be readily elicited.
A sure clue that religious spirits are present and at work
can be demonstrated just by raising the crucial issue of the Resurrection of the righteous dead.
Just raise you hand at the next Bible prophecy conference and ask the Bible teacher this question.
"When will the saints who have passed on come up from their graves?
When will the sea give up its dead saints in the Resurrection of the righteous dead?
Will it be before the tribulation?
Or will it be after the tribulation?
My experience with asking this question was on a national call-in radio show. I was on the line with some beloved Bible teachers who are among the most devoted and Biblically sound Bible scholars on earth. My experience that evening was truly a revelation. I was polite but insistent on addressing this question of the timing of the Resurrection of the righteous dead. But they simply would not answer it. They carefully dodged the question and obfuscated it into a broad theological categorization and discussion of the concept and scope of "resurrection" beginning with the resurrection of Jesus and Lazarus and so on. Then they asked to speak with me off the air.
It was surreal. This was a simple straightforward question. But instead of an answer in the Light of God's Word I could feel a dark cloak of disinformation descending down upon the whole discussion. I was appalled. Dumbstruck would be a better word for it. It was as if I had stepped off the planet and stepped into the Twilight Zone. It was one of the spookiest experiences of my entire Christian life.
This experience, along with what we had earlier encountered on the Bible prophecy forums,
clearly indicated that in this matter of timing of the rapture we were not engaged in
merely an intellectual discussion of "the facts". The issue we were dealing with was highly charged from
an emotional perspective. So this was more than just a Biblical discussion and a rational search for truth.
It was very much a matter of the heart. It was then I began to realize that we needed to approach the subject from a devotional perspective.
Because this whole subject hinges around the issue of blood covenant witness under trial in the latter days.
BUT WILL THE HOLY SPIRIT REALLY "WALK OUT" ON HUMANITY DURING THE 70TH WEEK OF DANIEL? IS HE NOT PART OF THE GODHEAD AND THEREFORE OMNIPRESENT. AND WON'T THE SAINTS WILL BE NEEDING THE HOLY SPIRIT MORE THAN ANY OTHER TIME DURING THOSE LAST DAYS OF THIS EVIL AGE? The Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrine has chopped up things so much that it has left us with many points of disconnection. Here is an important blood covenant issue that calls for our attention. Who gave dispensationalist splitters the authority to begin their so called "Age of Grace" or "Age of the Church" at the cross or at Pentecost? How were the saints in Old Testament times drawn to YHVH-God, if not by the Ruach Hadesh, the Holy Spirit? And by what right do they then proceed to terminate their "Age of Grace" seven years before the end of this age? Will God really yank out His Holy Spirit from off the planet during that final seven year time period? He has never exited any part of His cosmos before. We know as a matter of basic Christian doctrine that our God is omnipresent. According to the Psalmist in Psalm 139 God's Presence is readily accessible throughout the entire universe, even in Hades itself. Here is what King David declared in his song.
PSALM 139Does grace "fall short" and end seven years before the consummation? Will the work of the Holy Spirit terminate seven years before the runners finish the race? Will God by His Holy Spirit abandon us even as in Him we strain towards the prize of the high calling? Will God absent Himself from His creation and His people? Will He "go AWOL"? Will the Holy Spirit really desert God's yet to be saved end-time Jewish remnant? And what about the Tribulation saints we see in Revelation 7? Will the Holy Spirit absent Himself from His saints during their time of trial and witness?
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
God forbid that we even think of such a thing!
Is He not still commissioning His disciples today?
Let us take a careful look at this.
Here below are our
Commissioning Papers!
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And be sure of this: |
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even to the end of the age." (Mat.28:18-20)
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Have we taken a close look at our Commissioning Papers?
Have we taken Jesus's Holy Word to heart here?
Now, go ahead and take a deep breath.
And let us ask ourselves this question.
Just when does our Commission expire?
Right there in our commissioning papers does not Jesus Himself declare that He will be with His His covenant people, always, even right through to the very "end of the age"?
Is there any hint here that our Commission will be expiring earlier than the end of the age?
Is there one scaric of evidence that our Commission terminates seven years before the end of the age?
Of course we must remember that we now live in a democracy. Some even speak of it now becoming a mobocracy. We also live in a merchant society. Whatever sells goes. Is this Pre-Tribulation Rapture, (with a smoke-screened ecclesiastically "cloaked" Resurrection), something that the "middle of the road" Christian crowds wanted. Are they buying into this just as they would purchase any other thing they fancied?
Thank goodness we no longer live in the 16th century and have to endure domination by the Church of Rome or the Church of King Henry. But what has replaced the state churches of Europe, the Churches that dominated Christendom in former times? Is Biblical Christian faith advancing as we have been led to believe that it is?
It seems that the American style religion of the merchants is now in the place of prominence.
But are we lifting up Biblical truth as we claim to be doing?
Let us consider this dissecting away of the Rapture from the Resurrection. Was it a necessary compromise? If so what for? Does the end justify the means? Was all this done just to present a Pre-Tribulation Rapture? Do we bend the Holy Scriptures just to tickle the ears of the church-going masses? Was this merely another ecclesiastical indulgence, a merchandising of popular eschatology for the religious masses? Was God's Holy Word being reprocessed, sugar coated, and repackaged as a sort of "Eschatology Lite"? And what are we to say about our Christian writers, Christian film-makers and Christian bookstores? Are they compromised too, and primarily interested in the "bottom line"? Have the holy things of God now been brought down low to become just money making entertainment for carnal Christians?
We might wonder about this when we see the huge "success" of the present day "Left Behind" religious lore. Do we realize that the doctrine does not exist in China? (See Corrie Ten Boom's message to the Western Church).
So who constructed this early escape Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrine? And were these religious leaders just motivated by mammon? Or was there a political agenda important for the latter days that we are not being told about? Did these churchmen have Freemason connections? What was going on here?
When we stand back and have a close look at what dispensational Bible teachers have done here we cannot help but be impressed with the sheer brashness of these men. This dividing asunder of the last day glorification of all the saints was a highly presumptuous act before God. And why did these theologians find it expedient to divide God's saints into seven boxes? There was no solid Biblical basis or reason for doing this. Did God make seven different deals with His covenant people which changed abruptly as the centuries and time segments clicked by? Or did this division into seven ages make it theologically easier for churchmen to go on and put a cleaver between the Resurrection of the righteous dead at the Last Day and their specially crafted early Rapture coming seven years before God wrapped things up?
As we see, there is something happening here.
And what it is is not exactly clear.
But the facts are there for all to see. The Last Day glorification of the saints has been divided asunder. There is no good Biblical reason for doing this. But nevertheless, the deed was done, and very deliberately by dispensationalist theologians. Apparently they had a lot of money to popularize and present their views. How did this happen? And Why?
As we begin to look into this matter we can begin to see this. The last day glorification of the saints was split in two for a specific purpose. It was chopped up in order to unhitch the Rapture from the Resurrection and bring it forward seven years.
We know that the Christian crowds have wanted it this way. And they are buying it. There is a huge money trail here with billions of dollars per year going into the till. But is there more to the story? Was the Pre-Tribulation Rapture crafted for another specific "purpose". Could it be that this was done for political reasons?
So let us pause here and ask this question. Has a certain quieting of evangelical concerns about the last days become important? Is it necessary for the sake of civil peace? Is this syrupy end-time theology part of some secret social engineering? Was it considered necessary to keep the crowds "quiet" and off the streets. The crafting of a "seeker friendly" eschatology could well have been a part of all this. Had this development of a soporific 'feel-good' doctrine of the latter days become a matter of politico-theological expedience?
This is not a matter to dismiss lightly. And we must not be too hasty to judge. Disturbed carnal Christians can be among the most dangerous, even deadly, people on earth. Just take a look at the new video, 'Luther'. Do we remember the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the terrible Reformation wars? For those who know Church history this concern of the powers over Christian anger and Christian ultra-nationalism is quite understandable. The dangers of Christians with swords or Christians with guns is very real.
So we are left to answer this question. Did God, in His sovereign oversight, allow this Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrine, false though it may be, to be established in the English speaking world? Was this the lesser of two evils?
Perhaps this was the way it had to be. Perhaps carnal Christians do not deserve to have the inside scoop. The carnal Christian crowds are clearly not preparing themselves for the end-time witness. They have voted with their feet and wallets. Apparently their pursuit of happiness and their desire to have a nice day is their agenda. Someone is knocking at the door. But they do not want to be disturbed. And like the Shulamite in her dream she did not want to get up from her comfortable bed of ease. It seems that most evangelical Christians in the west want the Pre-Tribulation Rapture teaching right now.
But as we are beginning to see, this doctrine of a special early Rapture is not Biblically correct.
So even if it is a popular belief it cannot be God's perfect will for His covenant people.
But here is the crux of the matter.
Could this teaching have been His permissive will for rank-and-file Christians?
Did God actually allow this deception to go out for the middle of the road Christian crowds?
And do we not remember what God told the prophet Isaiah in
Isaiah chapter 6?
Here is
the mp3 for your iPod.
And here is
the wma for your Windows Media Player.
Of course for committed devoted Christians, (as we have in Indonesia, China, and other places), the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth will do. These are the people who are right now suffering and dying for the faith. They make it their business to seek out Biblical truth. They deserve good information. They can also be trusted to make good their spiritual preparation against the coming night.
So as we have seen, this dividing asunder of the Biblically united Resurrection-Rapture was very strange. It was clearly a very deliberate ecclesiastical action. And as we are beginning to see it is quite contradictory to the Holy Scriptures. And there must have been a very important reason and a "purpose" behind all this. Devoted Biblical Christians deserve to know the truth. So we shall be looking further into these matters as we go on into this article.
Let us stop and consider what we have learned so far from the Holy Scriptures.
So far we have established from God's Holy Word that there is to be a combined Resurrection-Rapture.
Pray God that Biblical Christians come to speak of it and to think of it as the "Resurrection-Rapture"
.
...... instead of just talking glibly about "The Rapture".
Pause and think about that for a moment.
Might this lead people into a conflicted confused end-time scenario?
For example, if there are two second comings as they maintain, let us ask ourselves this question.
Where do we place the Resurrection of the righteous dead?
As we have discovered, that is a very embarrassing question.
On the other hand we have the straight shooting Post-Tribulation Resurrection-Rapture.
The end-time scenario here is simple and elegant.
The doctrine arises simply and easily from the Holy Scriptures.
It has Him coming once, at the end of the age.
This is an ominous state of affairs. The logical consequences of this should be quite obvious. Whilst talking loudly about how wrong "Replacement Theology" is today's Biblical Christians are being led down the garden path to a very similar and very wrong conclusion. They are being led to believe that the God of Israel, the God who came to us in the flesh as Jesus Christ, will draw to Himself two separate Chosen peoples and that He as Messiah will never resolve the differences between the two and draw them together in Himself. This is selling our Messiah short. And why? Because He Himself is the bridge over these troubled waters and all the promises to restore both houses, and all 12 tribes of Israel are all through the Holy Scriptures including the beautiful prophetic poetry of the Old Testament.
Dear saints, this is a matter of great concern. The West is now entering into a serious economic decline. People of the flesh, (and many Christians among them), are beginning to rage in the manner of the heathen of Psalm 2 and rail against the future Messianic rule that is coming down from above. They are jealous of their Jewish brethren. Some are starting to say quite openly some harsh and untrue things concerning the bankers. Christians have been rambunctious Anti-Semitic crusaders during these past 1700 years. Those were some unfortunate and shameful histories. They could repeat themselves in our time if we are not careful. We must address this bad theology of "Replacement Theology", separate plans for Israel and the "Church" and an implied "apartheid of the Elect" and correct it, pronto!
So this is now a matter of some urgency. This dispensational separation and alienation of Israel from "The Church" presupposes two Elects. This in turn necessitates two Covenants, one being for "The Church" and one for "The Jews". This theology virtually guarantees misunderstanding and grief between the two parties during the difficult times to come. This is why the Post Tribulation Resurrection-Rapture needs to be taught.
We might say,
"Well, who cares? After all, isn't this just "religion" we are talking about here?"
Then someone might quickly answer,
"Yes. But so was the speech of Pope Urban at the Council of Clerment in France in 1095."
Of course we know what happened there.
The medieval Roman Pope preached a terrible sermon.
And the first Crusade reared its ugly head.
Are there similar concerns about our dominionist churchmen today?
Of course the carnal Christian message on that epic day had grave consequences for many people.
And the histories that ensued brought a series a huge international and Anti-Semitic tragedies .....
The Medieval Church was blighted by blood guiltiness on a massive scale.
She has not yet apologized for the outrageous behaviors of her crusading warrior monks.
So this matter of two Elects is not just a theological issue for religious nerds. This doctrine is right now espousing an "apartheid of the Elect". It makes no allowance for a reconciliation of the two estranged houses of Israel. But our Savior Messiah will regather and re-unite all His covenant people as we come to the climax of the age.
This is bad business. And as is amply demonstrated from Church history an incorrect or indifferent appreciation of the role of the royal Jewish House of Judah is a dangerous ideology. A bad or corrupted doctrine of Israel tends to give rise to a very deadly political impulse. In times to come this erroneous religious belief could work in Christendom to throw up another round of violent anti-Semitic history. Just like "Replacement Theology" has in the former Spanish, French, and German eras a flawed doctrine regarding the destiny of Israel could again produce some grievous consequences for our Jewish brethren. If this corrupted Israelology is not corrected soon, it may also prove to be very very unfortunate for us in the Church as well. Later on in this article we shall explain precisely why this is so.
Is this true? Are today's evangelicals two-timers?
Apparently so.
This becomes obvious when we try to answer that all important question,
"Who are God's
Chosen people?"
Just how do we as evangelicals answer that question???
Or a better question might be, who dares to answer that question?
Evangelical Bible teachers, for the most part, have done a lot of things right. They correctly affirm a future 70th Week. And they also teach that the Church and Israel are both God's people or at least contain God's people and that He will be dealing with both camps in times to come. But when it comes to the future massive corporate salvation of Jewish Israel as we see it in Zechariah 12:7-> they are not impressed by this glorious end-time turn of events. Nor do they care to look into who the people are who make up the Commonwealth of Israel. Our Bible teachers today are silent on these matters and fuzzy with the details.
So here is the main problem that needs to be addressed by today's evangelical leaders. In their eschatology Bible prophecy teachers seem to say that there will be no reconciliation between the two feuding camps. This leads Christians to believe that Israel and "the Church" will remain separated from each other on into the last days and on into eternity. Yes, most evangelicals believe that Israel and "the Church" will go on separate end-time pathways into two separate destinies, never to find reconciliation, re-unifification, and restoration in the Commonwealth or Congregation of Israel. Is this true? Or isn't it?
Of course Bible teachers do not actually spell out the eventual destiny of the Jewish House of Judah. Nor do they care to address the mysteries associated with the lost ten tribes of Israel. In their dispensational theology they have placed themselves inside "the Church" which, (as they see it), is forever separate from Israel. And before those final seven years open up they pen up the Church to a period of time they call the "Age of Grace". This Age of Grace, (as they lay it out), ends abruptly seven years before the end of the age.
So as these Bible teachers have it the Jewish camp had better get saved before the 70th Week of Daniel opens up and before the final seven years of this age begins. Because if they don't then they have missed the Age of Grace. They have missed the train to glory. Unsaved Jews and other unsaved people will be locked out and have no hope of being saved by grace. Because when their special Pre-Tribulation Rapture comes the Age of Grace, (as they see it), will come to a screeching halt. The Jews entering into the 70th Week will be cut off forever from God's grace. They will be locked out of this time period and forced to endure the Tribulation, (which they erroneously identify with God's wrath), for the full seven years before the end of the age.
No, I am not making all this up. Dispensationalists teach that the 70th Week is a wrath zone. As they see there will be no grace, no Holy Spirit, and no Church on earth during that time.
Some Bible teachers when pressed upon this matter respond quite logically. They say the Jews will missed out on the "Age of Grace". So to be saved during the future 70th Week the Jews will "have to keep the law" to be saved. Other evangelicals say that the Jews will have to be martyred, (which they consider "works"), in order to be saved.
Let us pause for a moment and have a closer look at all this.
Since when has anybody ever been saved on the basis of "works"?
Please name just one person?
Is there one scaric of scriptural evidence to support such a wild notion?
This just goes to show our woeful inadequacy in handling the doctrine of Israelology in a way that is faithful to the Holy Scriptures and in a way that is faithful to our yet to be saved Jewish brethren from over in the royal house of Judah. Today's dispensationalist evangelicals see the Church remaining "the Church" and Israel remaining "Israel" forever! As they see it the present day ecclesiastically ordained status quo will last for eternity!
Of course there is a serious problem with all this. The Church and Israel, (as they see them), are two Chosen peoples. They are on parallel tracks toward the last days of this age. And according to their eschatology Israel and the Church will never come together as a single remnant Elect. Their end-time scenario brings no resolution of this terrible blood feud, this awful dichotomy. They see no latter day healing of the Breach of Jeroboam and no true restoration of the nation of Israel as a "royal Priesthood and a holy nation". (1Peter 2:9) Their Israelology is undeveloped and malformed. It displays no understanding of Ephesians 2:12-13. They are completely oblivious of the fact that they as born-again Christians belong to the Commonwealth of Israel. As such their witness in the latter days is being called for. But they are not responding.
So in spite of all the "we love Israel" hoopla the Pre-Tribulation Rapture eschatology is really no friend of Israel at all. It has the Church abandoning their Jewish brethren and being raptured out seven years early in a special Churchy Pre-Tribulation Rapture. This makes no room for the magnificent last chance latter day salvation of masses of gentiles including the Jews. This epic end time salvation of the Jewish nation is prophesied and a sure thing. See the prophecy here in Zechariah 12:7-13:1.
Dispensational theology has very little to say about the promised prophesied restoration of all 12 tribes of Israel and their restoration to a glorious future together. The mansions of glory are in the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, a city of 12 gates each representing the 12 tribes of Israel. In short dispensationalist theologians have exhibited very little commitment to Israel. And the specter of the Church deserting the harvest field seven years early is a very shameful and sad state of affairs. Like wayward Gomer she has decided to shirk her end-time role and her bridal witness. She is about to "walk out" on her true Bridegroom, to stand Him up, to "cut and run". The Church right now is resolved to 'go AWOL', (absent without leave), just before those important latter day covenant dealings the God of Israel open up during the final seven years of this age. Can we warn her and stop her?
 RESTORED ISRAEL From Zechariah Chapter 4 |
The Old Testament poetry is full of prophetic references to this promised end-time restoration of all of the covenant people of God. This would have to involve a reunion of both estranged houses of Israel. But unfortunately today's dispensationalist evangelicals in the rich nations of the west continue to teach that God has a two faced policy for his people. In their minds one policy is for "the Church" and God has another policy for Israel.
They also fail to understand the full scope of Abraham's Seed and how it extends to cover a huge company of people numbering in the hundreds of millions. This great multitude from every nation, race, and tribe are showcased in Revelation chapter 7. This company, myriads of myriads in number, from every nation, race, and tribe, clearly goes far beyond the 8 million population of Jews worldwide who belong to the royal Jewish House. Most Christians today continue to insist that Israel is made up primarily of Jews from the House of Judah. They refuse to even entertain the possibility that the saved people of the lost ten tribes of the scattered northern Kingdom and heathen gentiles coming into Christ have a part in the entity our Apostle Paul refers to as the Commonwealth of Israel.
Evangelical dispensationalists of today are saying that the Church/Israel division is permanent state of affairs. As they see it this schism is a forever thing. They say that there are two factions today and that these will always be two factions, in short, two Elects. So they are teaching a spurious doctrine without Biblical foundation. It teaches a heavenly ordained "Apartheid of the Elect". And here is the sad situation. In their minds these prophecy teachers see this disconnected state persisting on into the end-time and on into all eternity.
There is no Biblical basis whatsoever for this notion of separate destinies for the Church and Israel. Out of the end-time mysteries must come an epic resolution and a restoration of both houses of Israel. This includes the royal Jewish house in Judah which we can see and the other house which at present time we are not seeing.
The body of evidence from Holy Scripture is overwhelming. There is one Elect. God's covenant people will be restored before the final 70th Week of Daniel runs out.
"And so all Israel will be saved". (Romans 11)So we must conclude that all of God's covenant people are destined to come into a glorious reunion at some point. From cover to cover the Holy Scriptures only attest to one single Elect. This can be proven very easily with a quick online word search of the words 'Elect' and 'Chosen'.
 THE TWO STICKS BECOME ONE From Ezekiel 37:15-28 |
Here are some of the twists and turns involved here. Dispensationalists affirm that we are now in the "Church Age". According to them the Church Age, (a time segment they label as the Age of Grace), began on the year of the crucifixion. They assert that the Age of Grace will close and slam shut with a nice early Rapture of the Church. They say this cutoff will occur a full seven years before the end of the age. So what happens to God's grace during the final seven years of this age? According to them the Church will be at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb celebrating.
Celebrating what?
An end-time victory that has not yet occurred?
They have written off the 70th Week of Daniel as little more than a "wrath of God" zone. And yet the Bible clearly shows us that this final seven year period of this age will showcase the final witness of the saints. But dispensationalist evangelicals teach that the Church will not be here to take part in this. Apparently the western Evangelical Church has decided to absent themselves from the family of Abraham, the family of faith. They have decided not to participate in the final leg of the relay race of the saints.
So what does that leave for our "Left Behind" Jewish brothers and sisters as they enter the final seven years of this age?
The answer is "precious little".
With no grace, no Church, no Holy Spirit, and a tribulation period defined by dispensationalists
as "the wrath of God" what hope do they have?
So there we have it.
In their dispensational theology today's western evangelicals are showing themselves to be a
runaway bride.
Clearly this end-time doctrine carries some bad theology concerning the destiny of the Jews.
And this in turn could spawn another upwelling of Christian Anti-Semitism.
Is this the best that we can expect from the western people of the Gospel? Is this alienation and desertion of the Jewish house in the latter days truly "Christian"? And is this "apartheid of the Elect" really a part of the "Good News"? Is it a faithful message to our yet to be saved Jewish brethren? Is this the best we can expect from the people of Grace?
In times to come we, as western evangelicals, shall be weeping over this.
What we are looking at here is another doctrine laying out a replacement and a rejection of Israel. This is another round of Ecclesiastical alienation of the Jewish people. Oh no, it is not being perpetrated by skinheads or neo-Nazis. This end-time doctrine is more subtle than that. But nevertheless, the "separate destinies for the Church and Israel" doctrine amounts to a theological alienation by the Church of the Jewish nation. It is a repeat of the very same rejection of the royal House of Judah we saw 2900 years ago at the Breach of Jeroboam.. It is being set forth and agreed to by western Evangelicals, Christians of the Bible.
Dear saints, this is a very sad state of affairs.
We call ourselves Biblical Christians?
Truly, we should know better than this.
How about the future political and social repercussions of all this?
Is this Church/Israel dichotomy going to become a problem for Israel?
If we come into bad economic times it certainly could. It could cause a resurgence of Church tolerated Antisemitism. Western Church history is replete with examples of this. There have been many of these shameful outrages. We saw it happen during the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Polish pogroms, and more recently the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.
Could it happen again?
Pray God the answer is no.
The Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrine is very comforting to the flesh for those who can see that the end of this age might be near. Could this be a problem? Does the doctrine have a soporific effect on the Western Church? Oh yes. Not surprisingly the average church-goer believes that they can sit back and be content. No preparation of the Gospel of peace is necessary. Christians believe that they are fine just as they are. Their "ticket to heaven" is in their pocket. This coupled with a belief in an imminent Rapture has them believing that they have all but arrived at the end of the Pilgrim pathway. They have come to believe that the Church, as we see it today, is as good as it is going to get. But is this true?
Let us take a closer look here. Evangelicals have been told that imminently, (that is, at any time now), they could be raptured "outta here". Holy history, (they have been told), does not await any further significant Church history. Christian believers, for the most part, believe that an awesome future call to witness may well be coming. But it will not come to them.
And why not?
They are "the Church".
They have "arrived".
Any future covenant issues or tribulations are for the unsaved, ...... and for the Jews.
So we live in a babel of religious confusion. Church-goers are bamboozled by it all, and understandably so. The prophetic jigsaw puzzle has pieces missing, pieces jammed together incorrectly, and pieces separated off and put into the wrong places. And yet Christians in the pews continue to depend on "experts" to tell them what the sequence of end-time events will be.
But they forget one important thing. Churches and denominational franchises have become a lot like country clubs. Rich and influential church members and powerful deacon boards hire and fire and set salaries for their ministers. And as we know, "he who pays the piper gets to call the tune." So Christians are hearing from the pulpits and television studios what they, the people, want to hear. Of course they are told that trials, tribulations, end-time revivals, and apostasies will all occur. But these trials and tribulations will happen to the other people, (notably their yet to be saved Jewish brethren).
The Western Church knows from Zechariah 12 that the Jewish nation will be saved. But they also know that this will be late, toward the end of the age. So it seems that the Western Church is ready to board the train to glory right now, right this very minute. Collectively they have made their decision and their position is clear. They are not going to sit around and wait for the Great Tribulation when their Jewish brethren are going to be saved.
Western Christians, (at least as we see them today), are pretty self-centered in their religious outlook. They are clearly not prepared to assume any responsibility for Israel's total restoration. Nor are they inclined to remain around for any of these awesome latter day mysteries to unfold.
Here then is the key issue. The Church in Western Christendom is ready to be glorified NOW! They are not inclined to assume any bridal responsibilities in matters involving the Blood Covenant Witness of our Lord Jesus Christ as we come to the climax of this age.
So here we are, approaching the climax of the is age. We have Christian people who are the quite clearly key witnesses to the resolution of epic global pivotal end-time covenant issues. And yet they are "out to lunch". The Western Church is denying any responsibility in these crucial matters. Oh yes, they are quick to snap up the salvation and all the "blessings of the covenant" of Israel. But in the end-time covenant matters they are copping out and dumping all the "problems of the covenant" on "the Jews". Are we expecting them to finish the race on behalf of all the saints. Are we expecting our Jewish brothers and sisters to bring in the final end time witness all by themselves?
This is very strange thinking for the people of the Gospel.
But Jacob is a shady character before he is transformed in the New Covenant Jeremiah spoke about. (Jeremiah 31-31-33)
The Good News is that God takes care of His covenant people and gives them grace in the trials.
Why are evangelicals living in fear here?
Why are they planning to "cut and run" seven years before the climax of the age?
Why are they planning to
desert the ship?
And why are evangelicals
snubbing their brothers and sister over in the royal Jewish House of Judah?
Have they done this before? And just when did it all this feuding start?
We have an answer
here
Today's western Church is clearly demonstrating here a departure from Christian grace. She is also showing her lack of patience in any anticipated trials and tribulations involving the Eternal Covenant. Apparently she favors her own happiness of the flesh over devotion to Messiah. She shows a distinct aversion to the end time witness and the true and genuine blood covenant Christianity we see in the suffering Church abroad.
So it seems that the Church in the West has a problem.
She is still embroiled in bitterness over past hurts.
She has an attitude problem, and with the Jewish house of all people.
Is this why the West joins the pagans in denying Judah his land rights in the land of Israel?
What is going on here?
Well this is where the plot thickens. It seems that it is not just our Jewish brethren who are in partial blindness. Both houses of Israel are in partial blindness. (See Romans 11)and more specifically Romans 11:25 ).
So where does the partial blindness of Israel come from? Well the answer is sitting there in the Old Testament. It is in some scripture precious few evangelicals are reading nowadays. There is an old family blood feud going on in what we will eventually come to appreciate is "Greater Israel". The split has existed for a very long time. What we are dealing with here, (or refusing to deal with), is nothing less than a great family divorce. The break-up occurred nearly three millennia ago. It happened after the death of King Solomon. Israel split into two kingdoms, two warring feuding factions.
Israel's Northern Kingdom went into captivity and were scattered by the Assyrians. Later they regathered in their family groups and drifted west. Many of people of European descent are descendants of the lost ten tribes. So that explains their involvement in this continuing blood feud with the Jewish people and their "problem" with the new nation of Israel emerging in the Middle East.
This matter of the lost ten tribes of Israel has has been researched by Jewish scholar and writer Yair Davidiy of Britam.org.
All this is well documented by Yair Davidiy. Western Christendom have many strong linguistic and historical connections to the lost ten tribes of Israel as they drifted west in their histories and settled in their geographical locations in the West. This explains the jealousy, the bad blood, the crusades, the ongoing persecutions of Jews, and the continuing specter of Church sponsored antiSemitism.
It seems clear that Western Christendom is heavily involved in this infighting with the Jewish House of Judah.
More specifically the venom is aimed at the Throne of David upon which Messiah will sit and judge the nations.
So what is the big drama all about? What is at issue here? It seems that Western Christendom is still in a huff over a very painful event that happened a full 2900+ years ago. Christians in the west are yet to realize this and to come to terms with it. They still harbor jealousy, anger, and bitterness against their Jewish brethren over in the other house, that being the house of David over in the royal House of Judah.
Why is this so? Well it seems that the Church in the West is still not secure in their Messiah. The Church still covenants with secular princes and rages with the heathen gentiles against the coming rule of Israel's Messiah. He is the One who enters human hearts and brings in with Him all the fullness of the Godhead. With His indwelling Presence come all the spiritual character flows of all 12 tribes of Israel. The Church has also still to address all the the blood covenant issues of Law and Righteousness championed by Judah as well as favoring and championing Messiah's issues of mercy and Grace Crucial issues of "Law and Grace" complement each other. They should not compete against each other. Both virtues surround an extremely important past pivotal watershed event in holy history, the Breach of Jeroboam. The ten Northern tribes went to the King, (King Rehoboam of the royal House of Judah asking for tax relief or Grace, if you will. The House of Judah responded by laying down the Law. So the ten tribes split, cursing the House of David as they went.
So with the Church's failure to appreciate this old blood feud and deal with these deeper blood covenant matters it is not surprising that we are in partial spiritual blindness concerning our roots in Israel. We live in a babel of religious confusion. Church-goers are perplexed and bewildered about Bible prophecy and where holy history is taking us. Christians depend on paid "experts" to tell them of the sequence of end-time events. And they pay them well to deliver broad assurances that Christian believers are just fine staying as they are and with the status quo. Christians have been told that there will be trials and tribulations at the end of the age along with end-time revivals and apostasies. But they are also told that all these unpleasant, (and sometimes glorious), events will not involve them! This future Holy History, the Apocalypse the unveiling of Messiah, and the revelation of the mysteries and great hidden secrets, (they are told), will not happen to them. It will happen to the other people, (notably their yet to be saved brethren, the Jews).
Evangelicals correctly believe that Israel will be involved in the end-time drama. But they do not understand that they as members of the true Church, the God of Israel's "ekklesia" or "called out Congregation", is grafted in to the olive tree. The true Church is part of what we might call the Elect or Greater Israel. We are not "outta here" until the end of the age. A true bride is not a disinterested concubine. She takes responsibility for covenant matters as all true brides do.
The upshot of all this is obvious.
We are in the loop!
The Congregation/Church in Israel? How can this be possible?
Well fortunately our Apostle Paul lays it all out quite clearly for us.
Through the blood of Christ our Messiah all those who belong to Christ
from any nation, race or tribe, male or female, bond or free, are
saved and "born again" to become "new creatures" in Christ.
Now, by the blood of Christ, they take on a new national identity, a new citizenship in Israel's Messiah.
Of course the secular kings and rulers and the merchants may not like it. And the principalities and powers of this world typically lean on their churchmen to keep these issues under wraps. But the fact remains. True Christian believers when they are born again take on a new identity. They now have dual citizenship. They have a second passport into the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom is at present invisible to natural eyes. True Christian believers actually belong to the Commonwealth of Israel.
This identity of the true Church in the Commonwealth of Israel, (or citizenship of Israel), was spoken of by our Apostle Paul. (See Ephesians.2:12-13) He also said that those who are in Christ find their ultimate blood kinship and identity in Christ, Israel's Messiah, who is the Seed of Abraham. See Galatians 3:26-29) It seems that Christ, the Seed of Heaven, overlies and supersedes the racial seed of men. Jews and heathen gentiles are both in need of this great salvation that comes in with the indwelling Messiah. And the Word of God in the human heart trumps the DNA lineage to set a new and glorious destiny for those who are "in Christ" among all the families of men.
Bible believing Christians are quite correct that epic events will unfold during the final seven years of this age. They know about that awesome future 70th Week of Daniel. But the modern or post-modern Christian has been led to believe that there is no end-time role of witness for him or her to play. They have been told that no significant events remain to unfold, or at least nothing requiring their presence or their witness. So in this false assurance the Church in the west sleeps. She does not seem to want anything or anyone to interrupt her spiritual slumber.
The result is easy to see, all around us. Christians are left to engage in their diversions, their television and video voyeurism, their money-making and shopping, and all that makes up the present day "pursuit of happiness". They have largely put aside the Great Commission, missions overseas, and the end-time call to witness. Many Christians are now concentrating all their efforts on "taking time out for me" and achieving their "best life now".
But is there more to the end time story?
Will the saints ever emerge from their soporific slumbers and be galvanized to action?
Where are
the charts for the road ahead?
And does the Pilgrim pathway extend out beyond the present
Pax Americana?
Is the battle Hymn of the Republic a prophecy hidden in American literature and lore?
Are there perhaps some things that Christian believers should know about but have not been told?
So here we come to the key question.
Is the Pre-Tribulation Rapture doctrine sound?
Is it Biblically well founded?
It is critically important that every responsible Christian looks into this matter.
They must ask that question for themselves, not only Biblically, but honestly, before God Almighty.
Oh yes, we are contented as we attend church on Sunday, pay our respects to God up in heaven, and then pursue our own personal happiness down here below the rest of the time. We have our ticket to heaven. It is right there in our pocket. Our bags are packed. And we have been told that the Glory Train could pick us up at "any time". Nothing further needs to be attended to. We believe what we have been told. And that is, our departure by rapture is 'imminent'. When the last trumpet sounds we are, (as the saying goes), "outta here!"
This sounds pretty good. But what if we have been called to attend to some further Kingdom business before we go? Is there an epic "final witness" of the saints in the 5th seal? Will the Ancient of Days be calling for His witnesses before the opening of the 6th seal when the son of Man appears in the heavens? And if so, then who told us that we would not be here? And where is their Scriptural authority for doing so?
Will saints belonging to the Church, (the wider Congregation of Israel), be called upon to bring some important testimony at this time? Or is all this to be done by 144,000 brand new Jewish Christians from just the tribe of Judah as our popular Bible teachers tell us?
Jesus Himself told His trusted disciples what to expect.
He laid it out for us in the
Olivet Discourse.
Our Savior has given us good information and His personal charge as well.
Is the Olivet Discourse "just for the Jews" as we are often told by churchmen?
Here is another important matter.
Just when does our Commission in Christ's service actually expire?
Do we need to take the
'Great Commission' document to our lawyer?
Do we need to ask him to tell us when our Commission expires?
Then there is this matter.
What if there are some earlier trumps before the
'last trump'?
Do the trumpets begin to sound
seven years before the last trump?
Should we open our Bibles and our minds and check this out personally?
So are we sure that the Bible teaches a special early rapture for the Church? Does the Bible teach that "the Church" gets a special separate deal? Is there a separate glorification of Church saints different from Israel's saints? Is the Church given a special early express rapture separate from God's 70th week covenant dealings with Israel? Does our God, the God of Israel, preside over two Elects or just one Elect. Are there two separate salvation deals under heaven? Does the Holy One of Israel have a down and dirty apartheid policy?
Our Apostle Paul gives us the answer here in Ephesians 2:12-13. When Christian believers are saved they come into intimate union with Christ who is the Seed of faithful Abraham. (See Gal:3:29) And so they become 'new creatures'. As new creatures in Christ the Seed of faithful Abraham resides inside them. In Christ they receive a new national identity to add to the national identity they already have. This is imparted to them by the Holy Spirit This is how Christian believers come into the Commonwealth of Israel.
So unknown to most Christians, they actually own two passports.
One of them is a mystery, still hidden in the Word of God.
It is a passport they have never seen or appreciated before.
It is their passport into the Kingdom of God.
Like the British Commonwealth this new citizenship is a sovereign or spiritual impartation. Citizenship in the Commonwealth of Israel is not directly linked with race or the flows of DNA through the generations. It is true that the promised Seed of the Woman spoken of in Genesis has historically tracked along through the bloodlines of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel. But that was just the beginning of the story.
Israel's Light the nations is shining. This is that wonder Isaiah spoke about. (See Isaiah 49:6) The wells of salvation have sprung up bringing streams in the desert. Truly, Israel is blessing the nations.
And the Jordan River overflows its banks,
All the days of the harvest.
There is only one Eternal Covenant. And that treaty with God is only to be found by grace through faith in the atoning blood of Israel's Sacrifice Lamb. After we are saved we eventually come to realize that we are in an eternal covenant with our Jewish Messiah. But there is more. Now we learn that we belong in the Commonwealth or citizenship of Israel of all things! Most Christians are almost completely in the dark about all this.
Why is this so?
We understand that the angelic principalities and powers put their pressure on the kings, merchants, bankers, and Hollywood idols.
They and the people of this world do not like Israel.
And kings do not stand for this Israel identity for their subjects one bit.
Naturally they do not want to see their subjects giving their loyalty to any other sovereign.
For them this amounts to disloyalty, even treason.
William Tyndale discovered this as did many other fine saints and martyrs.
But why are our church leaders so subject to these worldly influences? Surely these churchmen are more than hired religious power brokers. They cannot be just religious agents for kings, merchants, labor brokers and the greens. Why the secrecy? Why shouldn't Christians know about their vital blood covenant Calvary connection with Israel through Messiah? Is there an "ecclesiastical correctness"? And who is pulling the strings here? Are we seeing just another part of the wider worldly mosaic of "political correctness"? Is this "conspiracy of silence" in these vital covenant matters part of the conspiracy of the heathen nations King David wrote that song about? Or is it church sponsored anti-Semitism.
There is no doubt, the worldly powers, angelic and human, loathe and dread the coming of Messiah. And they rage against Him. When they cannot rage then they adopt Fabian's stategy. They quietly camp out against at the city gates of the kingdom they want to bring down. They conspire against Christ and seek to block out, dilute, and distort word of His Second Coming using disinformation. They angelic rulers are in stark terror of the Second Coming. Aand the heathen, the gentile nations, are under those dark angelic principalities and powers. (See Psalm 2)
The big worldly church and state conspiracy against Messiah would seem to be this.
The powers want to stop Christians from knowing their identity and responsibility in Israel.
They want to stop Christians from even thinking about testifying before the kings and rulers.
The powers know that the 5th seal witness of the saints will be their undoing.
The "final witness" of the saints will be followed by the 6th seal.
The sun will turn to darkness and the moon to blood.
The sign of the Son of Man will be seen in the heavens.
Judgment day will have arrived.
The Book of Revelation is the story of two women. These are two companies of people who claim to know God. John saw the harlot of Revelation 17. And he also saw the Woman of Revelation chapter 12 with the 12 stars of Israel upon her crown. One woman sits as a queen, saying, " I will see no sorrow". The woman with the diadem of 12 stars is in travail and yet she is clothed in the glory of her Father. These two are the main players we see on the stage of future holy history.
The Apocalypse is also a heavenly court case. And in the latter days the Ancient of Days will sit. He will be calling for His witnesses. Some will turn up. Others will be crusading, "fighting the system" or hiding in caves. The principalities and powers know all about thios crucial final witness of the saints. And they know that when this happens it will be their undoing. So that is why they want to hoodwink Christians. They want to keep them in the dark about their high calling in Christ.
The prophet Zechariah tells us that there will be a national repentance and late salvation of the whole Jewish nation at the end of the age. (See Zech. 12) As Evangelical Christians we often think of our Jewish brethren. We wonder about their "partial blindness" to the identity of their Messiah. (Rom.11)
But wait! If "blindness in part has happened to Israel" and if we, as Christian believers, are in the Commonwealth or citizenship of Israel (and don't know it) then what does that say about us? Why are we not "seeing" our vital connection to Israel? And why, in spite of all the Biblical evidence, are we as Christians so blind to our Hebrew roots. Our Hebrew roots are primarily a spiritual reality to be sure. But in the case of many westerners those roots may even go back to the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. For some interesting evidence of this see the Yair Davidiy interview on YouTube.)
Yes, so what is our problem here?
Are we as Christians partially blind too?
What does our Christian identification in the Commonwealth of Israel really mean?
We say we are Christian Australians, Christian Americans, Christian Dutchmen, Christian Germans etc.?
We know that we are under our Jewish Messiah from the House of David, the "Lion of the Tribe of Judah".
But what about this identification in this "Commonwealth of Israel"?
It seems a bit "over the top" doesn't it.
Here are the facts concerning western Christendom. Our western nations always fought and spilled their blood for "God and country". And for 1700 years the God of western Christendom has not been in question. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So even under persecution and duress, our national allegiance as Christians to our country still stands. The allegiance of all the nations, heathen and otherwise, is due Him.
So in Christ, the Messiah of Israel, our national identity is not in question here. In the Church, (the Congregation of Israel), we come to know a greater Sovereign Power than any earthly ruler. And when we study history we discover that he is the One who lies behind the glory of our nation. So if our nation under a worldly power summons us to witness and causes us some grief over God's Word then it will be "good grief". Our witness to the God of Israel will not be in vain. Through His witnesses God is in fact calling our nation, (and all the nations), up to a higher level. And we ourselves, as Christian believers, are being "called out" to blood covenant commitment. This is true patriotism, even the higher patriotism to a greater glory. We are witnesses to a greater king, even the King of kings.
We are speaking here of the latter day "Gospel of the Kingdom" spoken of in the Book of Revelation.
Our Lord Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach is our supreme Sovereign, our Messiah.
And remember this. Whenever Handel's Messiah was performed in Europe there was a response.
All the kings and royals stood on their feet!
So as Christian believers we are involved with Israel.
We are certainly not being called to repeat the bloody shame of the earlier crusades.
Rather, we are being called to the witness of the indwelling Messiah.
This is the essence of the New Covenant of which Jeremiah spoke.
(See Jer. 31:31-33)
Our witness by grace at the climax of this age will testify of His law within the heart.
And our witness in the latter days is the true and genuine
blood covenant Christianity.
What if we come into the fall season of some future year to find ourselves waking up one morning to the sound of trumpets. How shall we react if we discover that we have gone on beyond the current protective umbrella of the Pax Americana? What if that seven year "covenant with many" brings us into a New World Order? We look around. We pinch ourselves and say "ouch". We have not been raptured.
What then?
Are we prepared for this? Do we have the oil for our lamps against the coming night? Have we prepared ourselves in the devotion and in the Holy Spirit for a late time Post-Tribulation Rapture if that should prove to be the case? Have we even been given a heads up on this other strong possibility? Have our ministers given us any inkling at all about these things? Have we been told that we might do well to prepare our hearts for witness under some duress at some future time?
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Corrie Ten Boom was a woman of faith and commitment to her Jesus.
She knows of God's provision
during the inevitable trials of our faith.
This great woman of God is a lone voice speaking out for scriptural truth
in the present eschatological wilderness.
Corrie Ten Boom has sounded a warning
to American and western Christians.
She has spoken out very specifically about the popular
Pre-Tribulation Rapture teaching abroad today.
Here is
Corrie Ten Boom's warning to the American church.
But are they correct about this early special edition secret Rapture?
Is there any sound scriptural proof of this?
Do they have any solid Biblical evidence for it at all?
The short answer is "No. They do not".
The fact is there is not one single passage of scripture that gives sound and convincing proof of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Not one! The doctrine sounds nice and it goes down well with the middle of the road Christian crowds. And it sells well in the religious marketplaces. Indeed the Pre-Tribulation doctrine has become entertainment for the masses. It is a huge multi billion dollar a year religi-business.
But here is the question.
Can the idea of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture stand up to faithful Berean scrutiny?
Or is the doctrine emotionally driven by wishful thinking?
Quite obviously it is a soothing melodramatic eschatology.
Has it been crafted by men to keep the masses amused, - and "quiet".
The fact that this is now a popular amusement is reason for us to be concerned. Karl Marx was a very evil man, the father of humanistic state communism. And he once quite cynically said that "religion was the opiate of the people". If by "religion" he means an attenuated somewhat twisted Christianity founded on the traditions of men then was he right? Do our fancies, even as Christian believers, ride roughshod over a plain and faithful reading of the Holy Scriptures? Are we as submitted to the Bible as we suppose we are?
Pre-trib is a really quite a mess. It is a complicated colossus of disharmony and confusion. Post-Trib, on the other hand, is simple, elegant, orderly and beautiful. As we proceed on into this Bible study we shall soon see just how easy it is to use the scriptures to put the jigsaw puzzle of the end-time together harmoniously.
WISE VIRGIN WITH HER OIL Photo by the author. Click on the image to go to the article. |
The timing of the Rapture of the Church is an important matter to have nailed down. It must be made clear to the true saints of God. These essential truths of the revelation/apocalypse/unveiling of Jesus Christ are not going to remain a mystery forever. This information relates to the end-time drama. It is a history for which we need to be prepared. Epic events will erupt onto the world stage. They will do so very quickly and forcefully. It may well happen on some future Jewish new year on the Feast of Trumpets.
Here is the burden of this writer.
If the saints are not properly warned and adequately informed
and empowered by the Holy Spirit to give themselves to the Redeemer
in a time of peace then what will happen
when they find themselves suddenly thrust into the epic
events of the end-time?
They will be confused. They will be bewildered.
They will be fearful, and perhaps unpredictable in what they might do.
They could be caught unprepared and unready.
The scriptures warn us about this very thing.
The following scripture is time dated to the 'swelling of the Jordan'.
This is a biblical reference to the time of the harvest. - Josh.3:15
The harvest is that time of high intensity of events
as God prepares to reap the earth. - Rev.14:15
He will gather the wicked for destruction
and gather His elect for glorification at the end of the age.
- Mat.13:33
It is a message to us, ...now, ...today.
God is asking us some questions.
Jer 12:5Are we listening? And how shall we answer? Are we connecting the dots? Or do we just say.
"If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,
then how can you contend with horses?And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you,
then how will you do in the swelling of Jordan?"
Dear saints, now is the time for us to take a long hard look at our attitude to Christian witness. God has given us time for peaceful reflection and preparation in the Holy Spirit. And that time is now!
True shepherds know that sheep will only drink from still waters. God has given us this time of peace for a purpose. This is a time to leave our pursuit of pleasure and material things. Now is the time to allow ourselves to be led in quietness deeper into the heart of the Shepherd. Let us get to know His voice. (John 10:3-4) A dark and cloudy day is coming. (Ezek.34:12) True believers will need to stay very close to the Shepherd of Israel.
Let us join our Apostle Paul and affirm our faith to the end.
"For the which cause I suffer these things,
Nevertheless I am not ashamed,
For I know whom I have believed,
And am persuaded, that He is able,
To keep that which I've committed
Unto Him against that Day". -1Tim.1:12
The highway of holiness leads onwards and upwards;
- towards the gates of splendor.
Grace and shalom to all the saints.
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