What is the Apocalypse?
The Rapture
Wake Up!
It seems to me that the Devil is having his way with a number of preachers in the spotlight lately. I’m becoming more aware of an aire of bitterness and vindictivenss between popular theologians who disagree on some debatable issues like the Rapture. The term ‘false prophet’ and ‘false teacher’ seems to be flying both directions. What must the unsaved who are witness to these ego competitions be thinking? The only conclusion I would expect from the unsaved is one of being turned off completely or so confused that they don’t know who or what to believe. God help us.
January 17, 2005
Having just finished reading the Assemblies of God (AOG) “offical position” paper on the Rapture I was so impressed with the concise summary of the position and Biblical references that I though it a good idea to add a link.
January 12, 2005
In the wake of the Christmas Day Tsunami that has claimed more than 150,000 lives throughout Sumatra, Indonesia, Thailand, India and even the shores of NE Africa, there seems to be a sense of anticipation or expectation of what the next large scale tragedy might be or when it’ll happen. Another tidal wave? A devastating earthquake? Perhaps an unprecedented volcanic eruption? Maybe all of these things and more? Take notice of these ‘birth pangs’. Contrary to the headline repeated on NBC National News last night, the Earth isn’t trying to tell us something through these tragic events, but the one and only true, living God is…
Matthew 24:4-8
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,[a]’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
The End Times News headlines have been updated for 2004. Often times we tend to forget some of what has happened over the span of just few short years. The return of Jesus is nearer than ever. God has clearly been confirming a message through those who truly love him and serve him that it’s time to WAKE UP!
City of Fallen Angels, Lost Angeles
The largest city in the state of California is Los Angeles, which means ‘The Angels’ in Spanish. Often times I think its the ‘City of Fallen Angels’ or ‘LOST Angeles’… The ‘Entertainment Capital of the World’, where the majority of television and film production companies reside, is responsible for most of the trash that comes into our homes through the electronic portal we know as television. Los Angeles is also less than 20 miles away from the San Fernando Valley, which has the regretable distinction of being the ‘Pornography Capital of the World’. Having lived in Los Angeles for 20 years I’ve seen a series of disasters and tragedies which I’ve always thought of as God’s attempt to get the peoples attention; major earthquakes, community destroying fire storms, mud slides, riots, blackouts…whats next I wonder?
Just a few weeks ago over 3500 homes were reduced to ashes by wild fires in Southern California. Then, just a fews days later, a freak thunder storm lingered over South Central Los Angeles during rush hour, dumping over 5 inches of rain in 2 hours, pelting cars with hail stones nearly the size of golf balls, unleashing 150 lightning bolts, and turning many of the streets into torrential rivers 3 feet deep, stalling thousands of cars knocking out street lights and traffic signals resulting in countless accidents. Hundreds of homes which were never before considered to be at risk were flooded with sewage and water that poured in through the doors and walls. Former Gov. Gray Davis declared a state of emergency, but the stories of tragedy and personal loss have already been forgotten by the local news. South Central Los Angeles is an area (principality) plagued by crime and poverty. Crack and prostitution are rampant, and the bullets from drive-by shootings or gang rivalry have an uncanny tendency to randomly kill children and babies. Many of the people who live in this area of Los Angeles feel helpless to do anything about the moral decline of their neighborhood, while many other people have no regard for life or property.
The day after the storm as I watched the inner city children on the local news playing in the piles of snow-like hail on a sunny day, I wondered if God has gotten the attention of the people of South Central. This kind of storm just doesn’t happen in Los Angeles.
Just when I thought I’d read or heard everything there was on the Rapture, about a week ago I heard a new teaching on the radio that has inspired me to do a short study on the Old Testament scriptures which were covered, which foreshadow the upcoming Rapture of the Church. Check back here for more in the days ahead…
Hosea 6
After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.
Exodus 34:2
…Be ready in the morning, and then come up…
“…forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
Numbers 10:1
The LORD said to Moses: “Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out.
Matthew 24:30
“At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
1 Thess 4:14-18
We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.
Revelation 8:1-2
When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
Revelation 10:7
But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.
1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed– in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
The First Trump of God deals with Israel and the Law (Ex 19). The Last Trump of God deals with Grace and the Church being gathered up to heaven.
The Blackouts of 2003 in the United States and Italy, a time when people can’t see the Light.
Aug / Sept / Oct 2003 Update:
October 4, 2003
In light of the recent blackout in the United States its interesting that the entire country of Italy experienced their worst blackout since World War II on September 28th. Whats even more interesting is that the Italian blackout happened on the Sunday that the Pope announced a new set of cardinals. Speaking of popes and cardinals, a new movie called ‘Luther‘ starring Joseph Fiennes, which chronicles the beginning of the Protestant Reformation by Martin Luther has just been released and it’s a ‘must see’. I had mediocre expectations of this movie and was gratefully surprised at what a gem it turned out to be. Even Catholics should see this movie, ( especially Catholics ).
August 18, 2003
The latest?
BLACKOUT… a time when people can’t see the Light.
4 days later after the largest blackout in history and we still don’t know the exact cause. Al Qaeda is claiming responsibility, but that doesn’t mean anything since lying and deception are such an instrinsic part of their culture. Millions of people were affected; some were simply inconvenienced while others suffered greatly. People were trapped in elevators for hours, each grocery store probably had to trash in excess of $ 1 million in perishable food, people slept in the streets because they couldn’t get home or were evicted from the hotels they had been staying in. Thankfully looting wasn’t a big problem, despite the summer heat. In the Book of Exodus one of Lord’s judgements against Egypt was darkness that covered the land.
Exodus 10:22
So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days.
Could this be seen as a warning? I think it can. Here are some of America’s greatest cities, New York City, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, but they’re so dependent on electricity which is delivered on an unreliable system that is out of their control. The day is coming soon when darkness will cover the land again:
Revelation 6:12
I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth…
Revelation 16:10The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness.
Men gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.
However, those who acknowledge the name of the Lord will be kept from harm…read this psalm:
Psalm 91
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD , “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you make the Most High your dwelling- even the LORD , who is my refuge- then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
“Because he loves me,” says the LORD , “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
It seems true that interest in the 2nd Coming of Christ has waned in these recent months, despite record breaking temperatures, the largest blackout ever, the ordination of homosexual priests, and the push for Israel to give up their land. The appointed time only draws nearer.
War, Evil, Peace and Communism in the United States
So the war has begun. As of this moment it is still unclear whether or not Saddam Hussein was injured or killed during the initial attack. Despite almost a dozen American casualties it seems that this war has been too easy so far, which is rather disconcerting. In the end if we were to lose only 5% of our combat troops that would amount to 2,000 lives. Hardly insignifcant. God loves each of them. Here at home and all across the world in major cities people are protesting against the war, againt the Bush administration and against everything that America stands for.
‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’
– Edmund Burke
Many of these people whose stale motto is “Give Peace a Chance” have no idea that the promoters of the largest organized protests are actually funded by enemies of the United States…they either don’t know or they don’t care. The World Worker’s Party, a communist organization, has been on of the largest sponsors of the catchy “Not in My Name” protests. Clearly there is something going on here thats on more of a spiritual level. I’m sure the battle is raging in the heavenlies. Many people are wondering if Armageddon is about to happen. Nobody can really say just yet, but it is going to happen, thats as sure as the Second Coming of Christ and the Rapture of His church before the Second Coming. It doesn’t take much of an imagination to see the equivalent of a World War starting soon when you consider the complexities of having to deal with Turkey, Iran, Russia, North Korea and China all at the same time. There will be wars and rumors of wars…
1 Peter 3:12-15
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.
Are you ready? If Christ were to return tonight while you are in your bed, would you be ready?
These are only a few exceprts from the Congressional Record by:
HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, January 10, 1963
- Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
- Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
- Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
- Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
- Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
- Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
- Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.
- Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
- Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”
- Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”
- Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”
- Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
- Internationalize the Panama Canal.