RECOGNISE AND SUBMIT TO GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY

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“When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or SEND PESTILENCE among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  2 Chronicles 7: 13-14

“The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it,  if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.”  Jeremiah 18:7-8

How foolish are our leaders! The answers to our problems are in God’s Word as these two scriptures testify. Sadly, as God’s Word predicts, in the “last days” the world turns away from God and in fact denies His existence. The consequences of that rebellion are also revealed in the Bible – God’s wrath will be poured out on an unrepentant world just as it was in Noah’s day. Jesus also warns us beforehand of the coming tribulation that will face Christians who fear God and hold to the inerrancy of His Word, His commandments, particularly the sanctity of marriage, and gender.

“For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man (Jesus second coming). For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” Matthew 24:37-39

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, 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. And He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:29-31

He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

THE SEVEN SEALS OF REVELATION

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THE SCROLL SEALED WITH SEVEN SEALS OF REVELATION 5 & 6

“Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” Revelation 5:3-5

The trumpet blast with the opening of the seventh seal signals the Rapture and the Wrath of God being poured out with the Trumpet and Bowl Judgements.

Only Jesus had the authority to remove the seals from the Scroll and unleash the wrath of God with the Trumpet and Bowl Judgements.

TIMING OF GOD’S WRATH ON THE EARTH

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Abbreviated version of Alan Kurschner’s (Eschatos Ministries) article: Revelation 6:16–17 Is NOT a ‘Summary Statement’ of God’s Wrath

KEY VERSE: “They said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?’” Rev 6:16–17

It is the wicked who are exclaiming this! They are running to the caves during the sixth seal—not because the wrath of God is in the past—but because they realise that the day of the Lord is about to come upon them. This suddenness of the day of the Lord is consistent with the apostle Paul’s teaching regarding how the day of the Lord will come upon the wicked: “sudden destruction will come upon them, as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!” 1 Thess 5:3

The sixth seal, the context of Rev 6:16–17 is drawing from Joel 2:31 “The sunlight will be turned to darkness and the moon to the colour of blood, before the day of the LORD comes– that great and terrible day!” Joel 2:31 

Jesus’s teaches in Matthew 24 that the wrath of God begins when he returns to raise the saints from the dead and rapture the saints still alive, God separates the righteous and the wicked. This is when Jesus says the celestial disturbances will happen just before the wrath is poured out on the wicked (Matt 24:29–31; cf. Luke 21:25–28).  

The fifth seal martyrs cry out to God asking when the wrath of God will begin: “How long, Sovereign Master, holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” (Rev 6:10). Their heavenly answer to them is to wait for the wrath “a little longer” (Rev 6:11). In other words, it is still in the future. . The martyrs understand that they were not killed because of God’s wrath. And they understand that God will pour out his wrath in the near future. They receive their new resurrected bodies depicted in Rev 7

Between the sixth seal and the seventh seal there are two groups of people being delivered (resurrected and raptured saints). Why would they be delivered at a point after God’s wrath? Rather, they are being delivered from what is about to occur when the seventh seal is opened and the trumpet is sounded which introduces the trumpets and bowls of God’s wrath.

 

 

GOD HAS REVEALED HIS “END TIMES” PLAN

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The Bible is full of prophecies, at least 25% of its content and those already fulfilled were accurate. We can reasonably expect, the many yet to be fulfilled will also happen exactly as prophesied. However, those prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled are not so easy to interpret. There is a lot of disagreement on specific events, such as the last seven years prior to Jesus return and the timing of the Rapture.

I need to say that it has only been over the last two years that the Holy Spirit has burdened me to alert the church that recent events show clearly we are approaching the last seven years of Daniels 70 Weeks (Daniel 9:24-27). Moreover, God has miraculously connected me with the right partners to put together resources for the “last days” church. Check out http://www.powerpointsermons.net.

The Bible does reveal that God has an “end times” plan.

We know the end of the story, dead in Christ raised first, and the saints who are alive will be raptured before God pours out His wrath on an unbelieving world.

After God’s wrath has been poured out with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements, Jesus will return with us believers in our glorified bodies, exactly as He said He would, to Mount Olives. He will then complete the unfinished work to save and restore Israel where He will rule and reign  from Jerusalem for one thousand years (Millennial Kingdom).

Make sure you are in a church that understands the urgency of the times. A church that takes seriously Jesus command to GO and take The Great Commission to an unbelieving world. A church like in the Book of Acts that is raising up disciples who in turn will raise up more disciples.

 

SIGNS TO WATCH FOR, PRIOR TO JESUS RETURN

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Jesus does not teach a sign-less, imminent rapture. There are key discernible events/signs that must happen before Jesus returns for his church.

Jesus gave us due warning with signs/events that will occur prior to His return: 

  1. Israel will be reestablished – Jesus told the parable of the fig tree (Israel) when you see it sprouting (reborn). “So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.” Luke 21;31
  2. “False messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. “Remember, I have told you ahead of time.“ Mark 13:21-22
  3.  “And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” Matthew 24:6
  4. “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” Matthew 24:7
  5. There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth nations will be in distress, anxious over the roaring of the sea and the surging waves. People will be fainting from fear and from the expectation of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. “But when these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
  6. “Now regarding the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to be with him… Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not arrive until the rebellion comes and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, and as a result he takes his seat in God’s temple, displaying himself as God. Surely you recall that I used to tell you these things while I was still with you.” 2 Thessalonians 2:1–5
  7. “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and takes the mark on his forehead or his hand, that person will also drink of the wine of God’s anger that has been mixed undiluted in the cup of his wrath, and he will be tortured with fire and sulphur in front of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb… This requires the steadfast endurance of the saints—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to their faith in Jesus.” Revelation 14:9–12
  8. So when you see the abomination of desolation–spoken about by Daniel the prophet—standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.

Sadly, much of the church has been deceived into believing a Pretribulation Rapture. The Bible clearly teaches in these Scriptures that the Saints will experience tribulation even great tribulation. However, the Bible also teaches the Saints will be raptured at the sixth seal before God pours out His wrath upon the earth in the trumpet and bowl judgements.

WE ALL FACE GOD’S JUDGEMENT – HELL IS A REAL PLACE

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Do you have the Holy Spirit’s assurance that your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? What about family and friends?

2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
Revelation 14:7, “And he said with a loud voice, “’Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgement has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.’”
Revelation 11:18, “The nations were angry, and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your people who revere your name, both great and small— and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
Luke 13:23-28, “And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able… In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.”

2 Thessalonians 1:9-10, “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the  presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when He comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marvelled at by all who have believed..” 

John 5:21-23, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgement to the Son, that all may honour the Son, just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him.” 

Read also Matthew 7:21­-23 and Matthew 25:31-46

Lord, we bow in earnest petition today for those we know and love whose names may not yet be written in Your Book of Life. We pray with the same earnestness, Jesus for the unreached people in our local area and beyond. 

EVENTS THAT WILL TAKE PLACE BEFORE JESUS RETURNS

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“Now when they are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction comes on them, like labour pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would.” 1 Thess 5:3–4

Paul’s reassurance to the Thessalonians implies that they were anxious that they might not escape the day of the Lord and therefore endure God’s wrath. Paul confirms Christians will be raptured before God’s wrath is poured out on an unbelieving world. It is at the end of the sixth seal being opened that His wrath commences: “For the great day of His wrath has come who can stand.” (Rev. 6:17) The seven trumpet and seven bowl judgements are the wrath of God.

Note, Paul contrasts the ungodly, who will not escape because Christ is coming back as a thief for them (as in the days of Noah) , with believers who are obedient-vigilant and “not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would.” Incidentally, this reassuring promise undermines the pretribulational notion that Jesus is secretly coming back as a thief for his church.

During the Antichrist’s great tribulation, the world will experience peace and security for those who are loyal to him. Hence, Paul prophesies that the world will be saying, “There is peace and security” before Jesus returns to mete out His day of the Lord’s wrath upon the wicked.

The church will be here to witness the ungodly exclaiming that they are experiencing peace and safety. This prophecy that Paul mentions undermines imminence because it will happen before, not after, the rapture.

This is just another prophesied event in a long series of intervening events that will happen before the rapture—rendering the pretribulation teaching of imminence contradictory in light of this biblical evidence. [1]

The peace and safety will be illusory, a false security for unbelievers, because eventually unforeseen calamity will come upon them just as unexpected labour pains come upon a pregnant woman.

We should be careful not to confuse Paul’s use of the birth pangs analogy with Jesus’ purpose in using the same phrasing in the Olivet Discourse (“All these things are the beginning of birth pains,” Matt 24:8). Paul uses the phrase in a completely different application. Jesus applies the birth pangs metaphor to particular events before the .Antichrist’s great tribulation, while Paul applies it to the situation of the onset of the day of the Lord’s wrath  after the great tribulation.

For a more in depth coverage go to alankurschner.com – The Prophecy – “There is peace and security” contradicts Pretribulation Theology.

JESUS SAID, “They will deliver you to tribulation, they will kill you …”

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A staggering 90,000 Christians were martyred in 2016 alone, according to Dr. Massimo Introvigne, director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR). Approximately 600 million Christians are not entirely free to worship. The CESNUR study goes on to explain that the major source of persecution has shifted.

The monstrous new perpetrator of mass persecution of Christians is no longer state communism, but Islam, both state and non-state. According to Introvigne, “Islamic ultra-fundamentalism” is now the new murderer of Christians.

Consider for a moment the staggering arithmetic of modern martyrdom. According to my calculations, there are 525,600 minutes in a year. The report says 90,000 Christians were slain in 2016. That means every 5.84 minutes of every day in 2016, a brother or sister in Christ was murdered simply for being a Christian.

This Christian nightmare is not the occasional random murder by some lone-wolf psychopath. It is systemic persecution that includes rape, forced marriage, torture and “conversion” to Islam at the point of a sword—the literal point of a sword or muzzle of a machine gun. Islam is Satan’s Antichrist religion for these “last days”. As mentioned in my last post, the stage is set for the Antichrist figure in Revelation to surface.

Nations and world leaders must face up to the true nature of this slaughter. When Boko Haram kidnapped dozens of little girls in Nigeria, it was not political. The “Chibok girls” were Christians, and their kidnappers were Islamists who genuinely believed that, according to the Quran, they had a right to enslave, buy, sell and rape young Christian captives.

According to the annual watch list published by another organisation, Open Doors, the top 10 countries where intense persecution of Christians takes place were all more than 50 percent Muslim. Furthermore, 40 of the top 50 such countries are predominantly Muslim. While the United Nations obsesses over Israeli apartment houses in East Jerusalem, it is largely silent in condemning Islamic apostasy laws and the persecution of Christians in 40 nations.

Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Then many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. Matt. 24: 9-12

These are the words of our soon coming King Jesus, answering His disciples questions of what it will be like before He comes again. Does this sound like the events outlined above and the persecution being faced by outspoken Christians in western nations? Is the church prepared for increased persecution. Jesus tells us it will escalate, until finally He pours out His wrath upon the earth. When does Jesus pour out His wrath upon the earth, when the seventh seal is opened and the first trumpet is blown. What is your pastor/leader preaching this Sundays?