THE GREAT APOSTASY

SUMMARY:
At a future point in history, at the threshold of a great and epic moment of decision a global power broker and peacemaker will emerge onto the scene. He will confirm a covenant or treaty with 'many' for an agreed on period of seven years. Will Israel and the unified established western Church sign themselves over to this man? This will be the burning question and the intro into the end-time drama. What will they do? To sign on? Or not to sign on?

The prophet Daniel indicates that God's covenant people in Israel and in the Church will go along with this prince. (Dan.9:27) So did Moses in the Song of Moses. So did Jesus Himself. (John 5:43)

This coming peacemaker, whom Daniel calls "the prince who is to come" (Dan.9:26), will confirm a 7 year covenant involving the sovereignty of Israel and the western nations. This will be a confirmation of a covenant that was previously in the works but unable to be consummated. Is it the end event of the present day "Road Map to Peace in the Middle East"? The Bible clearly tells us that events will come to pass that change the present political landscape. This man will open up a deal with God's people that will draw many of them on to the ultimate abomination that makes desolate at the midpoint of the 70th week. After this initial deal the world will never be the same. The trumpets will blow and this world will be on its way into the final seven years of this age.

This humanistic 7 year covenant will certainly be an unprecedented compromise in which Israel will give their holy land away. The west will hand their national sovereignty away to a global megadealer. There will be consequences to this. This man will be a selfist Luciferian. He will lead many of God's covenant people on to deeper apostasy and to an abandonment of YHVH/Jesus Christ in the pophesied Great Falling Away of 2Thes. 2.

Daniel tells us the story in that crucial verse of Dan.9:27. Half way through those 7 years the future world ruler, the false messiah, will be possessed by the most abominable beast demon this world has seen since the days of Antiochus Epiphanes. He will break the covenant he made with Israel and stop the Temple sacrifices. He will then set up the "abomination that makes desolate" which both Daniel and Jesus spoke of. He will then be "revealed" as "the beast". At that time he will be supreme dictator of the world. And there is no surprise as to what happens next. The beast-man will turn around and demand total commitment to himself.

Midway through thos last 7 years of this age the Beast-Antichrist will establish his 666 economic system. This will be a worship based on some sort of blood covenant marking of citizens. This will be the ultimate apostasy. That 666 blood covenant marking, whatever it turns out to be, will be a sign before men, angels, and God of their eternal allegiance to him. It may involve an ID mark, a tattoo, or an implantable chip. With this blood covenant initiation they bring their witness and show their devotion to the Beast.

Is the church prepared to witness in the face of this? How devoted is the average Christian believer in the west today? How likely is it that many will slip off into apostasy?

Many faithful Christians will make their stand in witness in those future days just as they are doing in China and in the Islamic world today. They will give their lives in martyrdom just as they have done in times past. But then God will also provide a Way of escape for His people just as He did before in the former exodus. Will many saints go off into exile at Bozrah? Apparently so. Jesus will return as the Deliverer not only at Jerusalem but also at a place called Bozrah.

There is some intriguing evidence of this exile in Revelation 12 where the woman in travail is given the wings of a great eagle and taken to a place where she can be nurtured for 1260 days (Rev.12:6). This is also 3.5 biblical years. (Rev.12:14) See both scriptures here The very same time span, 42 biblical months, is given by John for both the trampling of Jerusalem by gentile powers, (Rev.11:2) and for the rule of the Beast. (Rev.13:5) The ministry of the two witnesses is also given as 1260 days. (Rev.11:3) What we are looking at here is the time span of the Great Tribulation which is the second half of those seven years of Daniel's 70th week.

Up ahead in the fall season of some future year the road narrows. The 'Highway of Holiness' awaits the passage of God's faithful witnesses. At some point in the future they will come into the end-time drama. Even now the end-time pilgrims are preparing to finish the race. That epic journey began with their father Abraham, father of the faithful. They will finish the journey he began 4,000 years ago. (Isa.35:8-10)

Desertion in the face of danger, dereliction of duty, and in military parlance "going A.W.O.L" or "absent without leave" is an awful thing. Abandonment is abhorrent to both God and man. This is amply demonstrated in the Acts 27 account of the shipwreck of the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul also warns us that there will be an apostasy, an abandonment of the faith by many in the end time. Here is the Word of God.

2:3 "Let no one deceive you by any means, for that Day will not come unless the falling away, (apostasy-NASB), comes first, and the man of sin, (man of lawlessness - NASB), is revealed, the son of perdition, (son of destruction -NASB)
2:4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God".
-2Thes.2:3-4 NKJV

Daniel also shows us quite clearly that the coming 70th week of Daniel will involve a 7 year covenant entered into by "many" in the household of God.

"And he shall enter into, (KJV "confirm), a strong and firm covenant with many for one week, (one "seven" or 7 years).
And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and offering to cease....:
And on the wing or pinnacle of abominations (shall come) one who makes desolate,
until the full determined end is poured out on the desolator."
- Dan.9:27. AMPLIFIED VERSION

They will go down to make a deal with a coming prince, a prince who is not the true Messiah but a false one. Yes "many" in the Judeo-Christian family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will go to the table of the coming prince of darkness and make covenant with this apparent global mega-dealer. This is an awful truth but God always warns His covenant people of things to come. The initial ploy of this false prince is to present himself as a global peacemaker and power broker. He will apparently sell the deal as a temporary borrowing of power from the kings and national rulers, especially of the G-7 nations. He will probably say that this 7 year sovereignty sharing treaty with the western nations is just an "emergency measure" to be taken just temporarily until the Utopian vision of a New World Order can be firmly established. This future great world leader will assume power by means of a sovereignty sharing treaty with Israel and the G-7/G-8 nations. This prince who is to come may even promise to hand back the political power to the rulers of the nations at the end of the 7 years. But during that time he will reveal himself to be a false messiah. He will be the coming prince of darkness prophesied to come in the apocalyptic passages of the Holy Scriptures. Basically he says to Israel,

"Trust me!
Just give me the power and I will set things right.
Then I will fix up the world and return it to you."

What a lie that will be! Yet the nations will have no choice. They have stated publicly that internationalism needs a "strong hand from somewhere". They believe in man. They are Utopians. They are humanists, and thias means both secular humanists and religious humanists. They believe a man with charisma can initiate the humanistic dream of a New World Order. They desperately want to see it firmly established. Nuclear disarmament, the assurance of middle east and global 'peace and security', freedom from hunger, world health, etc. All these world programs need strong central leadership. Global economic equality, global warming, and global eco-salvation are burning issues that they believe can be addressed by this "strong leadership". And so they await 'the man'.

The dream of achieving this man centered Utopian happiness (without God) is not new. It goes back a long way. It hails from the ancient post flood Tower of Babel. At that time Nimrod and his mother/wife Semiramis attempted to gather the peoples under one humanistic politico-religious covering. Of course they left God out of the picture. And so they failed.

But the dream lives on in the humanistic pantheistic heart. It has been fostered down through time by a host of hidden entities which we won't go into here. Beatle John Lennon reignited this dream some years back with his song, "Imagine".

So the world is waiting for this to happen. All that is required is the appropriate crisis and the emergence of the prophesied "crisis manager" onto the stage of history. The Bible tells us about this in Daniel 9:27. This humanistic covenant with "many" is what initiates the final seven years of God's determined dealings with His Jewish and Christian people. These are all the people who claim allegiance to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The coming world history will not be a pleasant time for people of conscience and Christian devotion. Many will fall away from the faith in the coming great apostasy spoken of by our Apostle Paul. But we can rejoice in this one thing. God is in control. He sets the agenda of holy history. In all of this God's sovereign purposes will overrule. When all is said and done, God will bring forth the remnant of His people in a victorious deliverance and return. They will be refined as gold and Messiah will return in vengeance and deliverance of His people at a place (or places) knowable spiritually as, the "sheep-pens" of "Bozrah". - Micah 2:12-13 As we come up to the last day of this age Jerusalem will be delivered, the Jewish nation will be saved (Zech.12:7-13:1). And the gospel will have been preached to the ends of the earth.

So that being said, let us face the facts of Holy Scripture. We are told that "many", (which we must assume will include God's people of interest Israel and Christendom), will make this 7 year covenant with this "prince" spoken of by the prophet Daniel. Here they will "take the low road". They will abandon their hopes, their faith, and their love for the coming Messiah. Instead they will turn aside to begin a walk with a global mega-dealer/peacemaker.

We know how all this will end up. In the very same verse Daniel tells us that this prince will step out of his guise as peacemaking Mr. Niceguy and reveal himself half way through the 7 years to be the coming covenant breaking Beast or Antichrist phase 2. (Dan.9:27B) To go with the man at this point will call for total commitment. He will call for, (and insist on), absolute surrender and obedience to himself and his 666 economic system. Any man or woman who enters into his 666 initiation and into his worship ceremony will be entering into total and absolute apostasy with no hope of redemption.

At the beginning of the 7 years it will be nice. Duped members of the political and religious institutions of mankind will sit down at table and make deals with this man. Of course he will be the ultimate agent of humanism. And 20th century history showcased such absolutist leaders in Stalin, Hitler, Mao Tse Tung, and Pol Pot. So we know what we can expect from godless humanistic leadership. But men who deny God are fools. (Proverbs 1) They prefer to make a deal with a crook rather than cry out to God for His covering of grace. Thus they will begin their desertion. As they make this 7-year deal they will begin to turn away from YHVH/God and the way of holiness. They deny God and the power of His everlasting covenant. Of course many during those first 3.5 years will see the light, change their mind, and turn back to God. Others will proclaim the Kingdom of God right from that very moment. These faithful ones will go forth as the Anabaptists did and proclaim Christ/Messiah as their only King. They will operate without political protection. Thus begins the end-time drama.

This is a blockbuster piece of information. How we respond on that epic coming day of apostasy will be a matter of life and death. This will be the ultimate collision between the Eternal Covenant in Jesus Christ and this ultimate Daniel 9:27 covenant of end-time humanism. The professors of 'higher criticism' have always hated the book of Daniel and sought to discredit it. And partial preterism today seeks to twist its meaning. So now we can begin to realise why such a battle is raging over this one little scripture in Dan.9:27.

Daniel was a man of prayer and fasting. He sought the face of God on behalf of His people. This includes his Jewish people and also us in the true church which overflowed out of Israel back 2000 years ago on the Day of Pentecost. We are also the congregation of God, the Elect, the ones 'called out' as an "ekklesia" to be the people in whom the promised Seed of Abraham is to reside. (Gal.3:29)

So as we can see, Daniel brought to us a huge amount of critical information on the last days. This information relates heavily to the Gentile powers and how they will behave throughout history and right up into the final 7 years of this age. God gave us this information. It is critical information for the saints as they pilgrim on to Zion. It is absolutely essential that we get it right. God forbid that we are led astray by religious wheeler-dealers. to find ourselves slipping and sliding down a precipice into apostasy.

Dan. 9:27 is the key scripture for us to understand. It is essential for our understanding of the endtime. It is the threshold into the 70th week of Daniel. This verse is an enormously important signpost on the pilgrim pathway. A veritable swarm of dark spirits are discharging a fog of disinformation over this verse. Preterist heretics are saying that the "covenant" in Dan.9:27 relates to the holy covenant. They say that it was fulfilled in the life of Christ or was totally fulfilled back in the first century. To any solid faithful Berean study of these verses such a notion is patently untrue. The Dan.9:27 "covenant" is dark and dirty. There is nothing holy about it. The latter part of the very same verse shows that this 7 year deal is cut by someone who goes on to become an abominator and one who leads many into apostasy. (Dan.9:27B)

Dan.9:27 is a revealing piece of information. It raises the curtains to reveal the crucial scenes of the drama at the end of this age. It sets the scene for the final act of the play. This is a not a holy covenant being referred to here. It is a very earthy one. Daniel is showcasing a future time when a covenant people who should know better give a man complete and total global dictatorial rule. It is authoritarian politics on an international scale. And they suffer for it. They end up in a Great Tribulation.

And where do we as Christian believers figure in all this?
Well during our lifetime we ourselves may be the ones going up onto that stage when that curtain opens. We had best take the early opportunity we have right now to prepare our hearts. Because in the midst of this darkness God's Light will shine forth in the nations. (Isa.60) We need the Holy Spirit's infilling. We need to find the oil for our lamps against the coming night.

Here is another clue as to how this apostasy or 'great falling away' (2Thes.2:3) from the faith will happen. Jesus said these very telling words to His disciples and covenant people. He told us just what spiritual qualities we would be looking for in our ultimate leader in the last days. Apparently we will want a selfist strongman, yes, even a sort of "Fuhrer".

God help us.
This is a sad and pitiful state of affairs.
But it is true. Jesus said,

"I am come in My Father's name,
and you do not receive me.
If another shall come in his own name
him you will receive." (John 5:43)

It seems that the crowds in Israel and in Christendom will apparently favour giving total power to a leader, even if he is steeped in Luciferian selfism. We are already seeing that to a degree. However, this endstage humanism/selfism will climax with that "awful horror" midway through the 70th week. This "abomination of desolation" was spoken of by Jesus in Mat.24. Jesus confirmed what Daniel had prophesied in Dan.9:27. He said that the "abomination that makes desolate" will be seen standing in the holy place and that this will initiate the Great Tribulation. (Mat.24:15-21)

Selfism is the hallmark of both "secular humanism" and "religious humanism". The dark spirit will not just be a secular reality. It will come inside the church as well. (Dan. 9:27) Selfism is even now a Trojan horse even now parked just outside the church. After the Dan.9:27 deal it will be trundled on into the church. The fact that "religious humanism" is unrecognised and not spoken of shows just how far we have been deceived. And it shows the extent of our present danger. The awful compromise of religious humanism inside the church will eventually debauch the faith altogether. This will inevitably lead on to the cessation of sacrifice and homage to God Amighty the Holy One of Israel. Homage and oblation to the God of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be replaced by homage to an abominable sacrilege, the 'abomination that makes desolate'.

Just how far has the Christian church gone into this mire of compromise and double dealing? The church is even now preparing to desert the "patriarchal" God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in favour of a more globally acceptable "generic god". The marriage and ordination of homosexuals along with the acceptance of infanticide/partial birth abortion are just some of the gross and heinous sins covered up and "normalized" inside the church. How many Christians are faithful to the God of the scriptures? And just how many in the church will sign on with this Dan.9:27 global megadeal? The answer is, we do not know. But we shall find out as the 70th week opens and the 7 year covenant is signed. The WCC and the United Religions Initiative have already begun to negotiate with the powers of this world. Many "roundtables" and "dialogues" are already in session. Many well meaning but dangerously seduced christian leaders have been invited to attend and are 'going over' to 'have a look'. Religious peace in the world is the key to world peace we are told. "Tolerance", "inclusiveness" and "understanding" are the catchwords. A lot of money and religious prestige is spread out on the table. Great opportunities for politico-religious activity is being offered by these emerging global entities. All sorts of new religious positions, privileges and perks are up for grabs. Many think this is a good thing. World peace is worth giving up nearly everything,(or so they say). Some are even ready to sell their most precious faith down the river. To them holiness seems to be a matter of human "choice", - just like abortion, homosexuality and perhaps gargoyle selection and steeple height.

Compromise is an awful thing. This is well known to those who know the God of the Bible. Warnings from scripture about mixing "the cup of Christ with the cup of devils" (1Cor.10:21) do not seem be a source of concern for those brazen church leaders who would dare to bring grief to the Judeo-Christian God who came in the flesh as Jesus Christ fully revealing the character of our God. But the Dan.9:27 scripture, brought to us by our dear faithful Daniel tells us the outcome of all this compromise. Three and a half years into this 7 year "covenant" this other "prince who is to come" will replace the true service of God with an unspeakable abomination. (Mat.24:15-21) This prince, who has now been "revealed" as "the beast", along with the ten global rulers will double-cross the very same religious double dealers who compromised the cup of Christ and bent over backwards in order to accommodate him. (Rev.17:16-18)

This deal of awful compromise spoken of in Dan.9:27 is the great apostasy. This is the issue initiating the crisis of the endtime. This act of high treason against the King of Kings is what starts the drama of the final 7 years, namely, the much discussed '70th week of Daniel'.

Let us pause here and ask ourselves a question. Have there been watershed moments in past church history when the ecclesiastical powers of established Christianity have bought into grievous compromise with the world and its systems? There most certainly has been. The prototypical accommodation that the church made was back in 325 A.D.. At that time the church was invited to "go up" to sit at covenant table with the Roman Caesar Constantine. There is no question that the Council of Nicea was a watershed moment in church history. The compromise with the worldly powers led western civilization into the Dark Ages for one thousand years. After a millennium of darkness, Gutenberg's printing press and the work of Bible translators brought the first glimmers of the gospel light back into mainstream Europe.

This history is all very interesting and instructive for us. But this future accommodation by the church, this 7 year covenant with a world prince as laid out for us by the angel Gabriel in Daniel 9:27, will be an even greater debacle. It will be a wrong turn in the pathway leading to grievous consequences for many. This 'covenant with 'many' will involve many of God's people. The deal these deceived ones are destined to make with the coming peacemaker will be a church-state, Israel-Internationalist mega-deal. It will be much bigger in scope than Nicea and far worse in its implications.

Somewhere up ahead in our future church history and in the history of Judah and the nation of Israel, lies a crucial fork in the road. It will give the people who think that they belong to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob a choice. Two roads will be laid out before us in that epic future day. One road will lead through a strait gate of persecution, trials, and tribulation. The other is wide and easy, a popular broadway. The difficult road is the Paradise road. That road will lead on to glory. But the broadway is the road to perdition. That smooth and easy road will lead on to deeper compromise and eventual abandonment of the eternal covenant of YHVH/Christ/Messiah. That broad way that looked so 'nice' will be deceiving. It will lead the traveler onwards to apostasy. And at the judgment they will face eternal torment in the fires of hell.

So much for church deals with secular kings and princes. Can we learn from this earlier church folly? Pray God we shall. Because the church will be asked to revisit Nicea. It seems that the church state deal we have at present is not compromised enough for the emerging secular powers. Ah, yes. We shall be asked to "renegotiate" the Nicea deal. Eventually the epic Dan. 9:27 megadeal with a humanistic global power-broker will open the 70th week.

This event, my dear brothers and sisters, is of critical importance to be aware of. This covenant between God's people and the principalities and powers of darkness is the crucial starting gun for the 70th week of Daniel and the final 7 years of this age. This event is what initiates the end-time drama.

Now is the time for us to draw near to our God. He knows all about this coming apostasy. And He has made abundant provision for us by His divine grace and favor.

The coming global peacemaker, who is probably even now working behind the scenes will ask us to go even further into pagan admixture. To participate, to profit, to even be licensed to operate legally, the church denominations will be asked to mix the cup of Christ with all the other religions of the world. This concession will be called for in the interests of "unity", "inclusivism" and "world peace". This end-time renegotiating of the Nicean accord in politics and religion to embrace not just Christianity but also Buddhism, Islam, Wicca, and animism and the deadly Luciferian selfism is what really starts the 7 year drama, NOT the rapture. This is the hidden church compromise that attempts to cover up the reality of the end time witness. This truth is being "cloaked" by this other story of a fabled special early rapture for comfortable western Christians.

Bible prophecy teachers repeat loudly and often that the rapture, ripped out of its resurrection moorings (1Thes.4:15-17) at the end of the age will occur early, at the beginning of the 7 years. But this is incorrect. This doctrine is without Biblical foundation. There is no scripture to support an early pre-resurrection rapture. Quite the contrary. The rapture will follow right on the heals of the resurrection of the righteous dead in Christ. Jesus said that He would raise His people up on the last day of this present age. (1Thes.4:15-17) Our Apostle Paul tells us clearly that the Rapture is actually a combined Resurrection-Rapture It cannot occur one millisecond before that resurrection, let alone 7 years before it. Rev.20:4-6 shows us quite clearly that the resurrection of the righteous dead will occur at the end of the 70th week since those saints given honorable mention at the head of that glorious company are resurrected tribulation martyrs. We know that the time frame here must be post-tribulational because John was told that these resurrected tribulation saints had not taken the mark of the beast.

A battle royal is raging in the church even among evangelicals and charismatics right now over this telling scripture given to us in Dan. 9:27. The rejecting and twisting of the message in Dan.9:27 by the Kingdom Now or Dominion Theology movememt is alarming. Furthermore we are seeing a resurgence of preterism and partial preterism. Partial preterism is more subtle and sinister version of preterism. If they cannot feed a full lie to the saints they will try a half lie. It is a cover job, a "cloaking" of the real truth. It is instigated by lesser angelic rulers in the lower heavens who rule over those who do not recognize the Lordship of Jesus Christ or the authority of the Holy Scriptures. These angelic powers preside over nations, religions, marketplaces and over the religious hirelings operating on their behalf.

There is another big lie abroad that is weakening the church. This doctrine claims that it is impossible for those who say that they belong to God to ever desert the faith. This Laodicean deception causes spiritual sloth and indolence. The reality is that apostasy from the faith is happening all the time. And it is happening to many who think they are okay with God. This 'falling away from the faith or apostasy would not be apostasy if it was not happening to those who claim to be and probably are of God, at least for the moment. Pagans don't apostatize! They never were at God's table. So they never were in a position to leave and desert Him!

This is an uncomfortable truth. But it is needful in these times of great deception.
The great "Falling away" from the faith has been prophesied by our apostle Paul.

3 Let no one deceive you by any means;
for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first,
and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God
or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God
in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. -2Thes.2:3-4

The possibility of apostasy, desertion of God, was clearly taught by Jesus in the parable of the sower. (Mat.13:1-23) The good seed sometimes falls by the roadside, or the rocky soil or among thorns. This new life springs up for a season and looks good for a while. Then it is choked by the thorns and cares of this world. Or the sun comes up and being without deep roots to the waters of life it withers away. Christians and also the so-called "christian nations" can and do fall away from the faith.

King David wrote a song warning us about the end time new world order conspiracy against the covenant of Messiah. David clearly saw the end time apostasy and the raging of the nations against the legitimate blood bought righteous rule of the returning Messiah. It is laid out for us clearly in Psalm 2.

Here is what the Bible says. There will indeed be an apostasy. A look at the World Council of Churches and the United Religions Initiative shows that the established church is even now deep into this false covenant with the emerging New World Order. So rather than neglect these lessons as "negative" we had best pay attention. There are many examples of abandonment in scripture. One classic case of dereliction of duty is laid out for us in Acts 27. This recounts the story of the shipwreck of the Apostle Paul. Let us look at them and learn. Then let us all seek the face of our God. He knows exactly where we are. And He always takes care of His own.

Having shared that basic truth let us go one step further.
Why do we not discern the pre-trib rapture phantasy for the dangerous selfish notion that it really is? Why do we not recognize dereliction and apostasy when we see it? Is the pre-trib rapture a "Pollyanna" style storybook fable? Is it Disneyized western Laodicean religious folklore that just happens sell well to the profane quasi-Christian crowds in the religious marketplace? And does this "cover story" actually "cloak" the real story of the apostasy by "many" in the 70th week so we don't hear the warning trumpets sound forth on that epic future day when the prophesied Dan.9:27 deal is signed?

Let us pause to take stock here. The Church, just like ancient Israel has a problem. The heart of that problem is the tricky Jacob character trait and playing fast and loose with the end-time fidelity to Jesus Christ. Pagans and sinners out there in the secular world are not the problem. But a compromised double dealing church certainly is. Nice and easy superficial religion built upon half truths and 'cover stories' crafted for the nominal Christian masses may make for a profitable religi-business. But the true saints arriving at this critical time in holy history deserve better than this. So these half-truths just won't 'cut it'.

Brothers and sisters in Christ we need the truth. We need the truth so that we can be motivated to seek the face of God and repent. We need to seek the oil of His anointing to prepare our hearts for the coming trials. Why? Because we are His witnesses! This judgment is not a terrible thing. It is merely an opportunity for a refining and separation of the gold from the dross.

All these "nice" spins on the scriptures negate the necessity for us to seek His Presence in our lives. Like the five wise virgins we are to prepare ahead of time. Darkness is coming. We are to procure the oil of the Holy Spirit for the lamps of our spirit against the coming night.

If the saints knew this information would we do things differently? Would we get up from the ballgame or the soap opera or the stock market report and seek the face of God? Perhaps we might. And this would be good. This disturbance to our comfort agenda which our flesh says is "negative" is actually exceedingly "positive". And as for future trials we need not worry about them if we have committed ourselves to God and our lives to His witness. If certain "adventures" in future times do take us away from the cares of this world and on into God where we belong then this will turn out to be a redemptive serendipity for us. Could tribulation actually be the "good grief" that Charlie Brown in the 'Peanuts' comic strip always knew was coming and always agonized about? If so, what is so 'good' about it.
We shall find out.

Pray God that in the times to come we are found as faithful servants of the King. I realize this has been a heavy dissertation, but I beg of you all to stay with me here. These words of caution are not sent to scatter, but to restore the saints to their true and glorious destiny. They are sent, not to dismember, but rather to cause the saints to remember the eternal covenant. This has been secured for us by the shed blood of the promised Sacrifice Lamb. He is the Redeemer of Israel, Yeshua Hamashiach and our Lord Jesus Christ. He is outside, knocking at the door of our heart.
Shall we let Him come in?

In the Jewish marriage betrothal the Bridegroom sets the cup before the prospective bride. She either drinks the cup in total commitment to her Betrothed, or she walks out on him. The new covenant in the cup and blood of Christ is in like manner set before us.

'Commune with Me' - by Keith Goodson.

Marriage, is a blood covenant unto death.

So is the New Covenant, the relationship between Christ and His church. -Eph.5:30-32

Jesus has promised to keep/preserve us (Gr."ek"/in, through, and out of our hour of trial. -Rev.3:10

He has also given us His personal promise to be with us right through to the end.

He said,

"Lo, I am with you always;
Even to the very close and consumation of the age".
-Matt.28:20

Shall we go with Him?

Grace and shalom to all the saints.

Some more devotional articles on apocalyptic Biblical themes for the enquiring Christian.