 A dramatic passage along a river valley viewed from the Routeburn Track, South Island of New Zealand. This is near where the movie "Lord of the Rings" was filmed. |
TO
POST-TRIB
By Gavin Finley MD
endtimepilgrim.org
Jan. 2005
GETTING A TRUE PERSPECTIVE ON THE END-TIME DRAMA AND SORTING OUT OUR PRIORITIES AS TO WHAT OUR ROLE SHOULD BE.
Bible Prophecy has been an interest of mine since I was saved at age 14. Like many evangelicals I read Hal Lindsay's book "The Late Great Planet Earth" when it came out in the 70's. Back in those days I didn't know the Bible well enough to question the end time scenario that was being taught. The idea of a Pre-Trib Rapture seemed good to me at the time. Some of the elements of the story rang true. Others seemed a bit strange and even dubious. I was interested and somewhat intrigued by it all. But at the time I was pretty busy in the medical world and raising a family. So I ended up putting the whole issue of Bible prophecy on a back burner for some years.Things started to come together for me in the late 80's. Christian books were coming out with all sorts of information on the New Age movement, the Illuminati, and the New World Order. Being somewhat of the inquisitive sort I educated myself in these subjects and found myself quite taken in with this for a while. There was no question there was a conspiracy against evangelical Biblical Christianity. There was also quite obviouisly a conspiracy against the Jews and the nation of Israel. I even began to get a bit worried that in this struggle with the powers of darkness God Almighty might be in a spot of bother. How was He going to deal with all this evil?
Little did I know, I was being drawn into a fearful and sinister mindset of dualism. This mindset has God slugging it out with the powers of darkness. As it is presented, God Almighty has found Himself an "iffy" situation. Oh yes, in an objective theological sense I had mentally and theologically assented to the Biblical truth that we served a sovereign God, the Ancient of Days. Theologically speaking I knew that He rules from the highest heaven. He sets the limits as to what happens in our cosmos. I knew that world history is controlled and the powers of darkness limited by His sovereign hand. - Job 38:10-11 God's Word is final in the heavens, and also here on earth in the affairs of men. He is YHVH, the God who was, is, and evermore shall be. He is God Almighty, the Holy One of Israel, who overrules in every arena of the multifaceted rebellion of mankind.
The big news is this. The Holy One of Israel has defeated Satan at the cross of Calvary. Now it just remains for Him to see the Light of Israel complete the Mission. The Living Word of God will go out to the ends of the earth. Then, when the evil humanistic agenda of rebellious men has come to a peak, He will step in. YHVH-God will call for His witnesses. Then He will step in personally to wrap things up.
John the Beloved saw Him in the Apocalypse. John saw Him take charge of affairs at the end of the age. It was Messiah Himself who stepped forward to open the seven seals. John saw The Ancient of Days officiate from His throne in heaven as holy history came to its appointed climax. YHVH, the God of Israel has written the script Just as He did way back at the foundation of the world. Pretty impressive!
So what was my problem? Here I was, reading these conspiracy tomes and allowing myself to be taken in. In my heart and emotional being I found myself getting worried and even a bit depressed about the House of God. Was I beginning to think that God Almighty was up against it? Was the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe under the gun! Could that be possible?
Well apparently, in my heart of hearts, that was precisely what I was beginning to think. Amazing isn't it? We are the children of the Great King. We know that He is the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe. We know that He will win in the end. And why? Because we have read the final chapters of the Bible. And yet here we were on approach to the end-time. And we were shaking in our boots. Our God was starting to look a bit puny to us.
The more I read these books on the New World Order and the New Age Movement the more it appeared that God had His back to the wall. He was about to be overun by secular humanists, Freemasons, the Illuminati, and New Age pagans. Could that be possible?
Well Daniel and John both told a story of a final victory for God's agenda. And the prophet Micah spoke of a glorious deliverance of His covenant people at the end of the age. So. What was a person to believe? All this information of what happens during the latter days just didn't add up. Obviously I was confused. Was I missing something? What was going on here?
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My heart!
The sinister bit of disinformation was the mindset of "dualism". It was bringing a Luciferian message into Christendom through the agency of fear. According to this false scenario God was going toe to toe with Satan. And somehow God was struggling. The Holy One of Israel was having a real hard time trying to keep all these evil forces at bay. As I delved into the inner workings of the conspiracy against God and His Christ things looked real bad! It seemed as if God Almighty was only just managing to hold on! What had gone wrong?!
Something was wrong all right. And quite clearly it was my attitude that was all wrong here. The struggle of Godly religion against the evils in this world goes on through history. And the Anglo-American Puritans will probably be the ones to take it to the limit. But the principalities and powers of evil mustered against God will not prevail. They were defeated at the cross of Calvary.
I came to realize that the rulership of Christendom over the nations of the world is not our calling in Christ or our personal burden. Societal evil is not the main concern for us as Christian believers. We have not been asked to take over the world and contain all the forces of evil in this world. That is Dominion Theology. Nor have we been asked to force the issue politically and to bring in His Kingdom Now. That is not God's way. Rather, we have been asked to go out into the world and to make disciples of all nations. We have been asked to be His witnesses, come what may!
This was a hard lesson to learn. It seems that God is the One who sets the agenda here below. He is our coming King. And He is the Commander in Chief of the hosts of heaven, even the armies of God. And He is able to take care of business. He is the One who rose up from the grave as the First fruits from the dead. He has defeated death at Calvary. The evil world out there is not a problem to Him.
So what is wrong with us. We are the children of the Great King are we not? Why then have we made the evils of this world such a problem for us? Is not Christ coming to fix this up at the last day, even on a Day of the Lord in which the heavens open and God says, "This far and no further". Even on the Day of Judgment? And what is our role anyway? Is it not to be faithful witnesses of Christ? Is it not our role to proclaim to the nations His coming Millennial Kingdom?
So here then was the big question. Have we been commissioned by God to take over the politics of this world? Has He ordered us as Christians to be His moral and religious policemen and bring in His theocracy now? Has the Church been given the burden to enforce global godliness? Where is the mandate for that? Has it been written in scripture? Do we see that outlined for us in the Great Commission?
Well quite clearly the answer is "No we do not"! In fact the scriptures bring us an entirely different message. We serve a risen and victorious Saviour. He is quite reasonable in His expectations of us. (Deut. 30:11-16, Rom.12:1 He has sent us out to make disciples from people among all the nations.
Reforming the world system is not our burden. Plucking tares from among the wheat, removing leaven from bread, and shooing birds out of mustard trees is not our job. Nor are "secular humanists", atheists, and pagans our problem. They are in the drama to testify to their belief in their own godhood. They will have their destiny, (an awful one). And the saints will have their destiny. (a glorious one).
The status quo may and the apparent triumph of evil over good is certainly upsetting. But it is temporary. Christ has defeated the powers of darkness at the cross. He pummeled them and took captivity captive. The angelic rulers of darkness know this. And they know what is coming. Their downfall! And their deceived human underlings will be dealt with as well. Evil angels and evil men will all come to judgment in due course. They are "short timers". And as we see in King David's song in Psalm 2, all these rebels are to be pitied. They are in a world of trouble!
So there it was. All I needed was a little attitude adjustment. God does not have a problem with the evil in this world. Nor does He have a problem with the New World Order or the New Age Movement nor pagans or end-time genocidal Edomites. The powers of darkness have been defeated at Calvary. And in due course, (after the faithful 5th seal witness of the remnant Church and remnant Israel), they will be soundly and decisively defeated here on earth. - Isa 63.
Why, then, are we vexing ourselves worrying about the powers of darkness and evil men? Jesus said to fear not those who kill the body, but rather to fear those who can cause us to turn our eyes away from Christ and cause the spirit and soul to be carried off into Hell. So are the forces of evil really a threat to us? God, it seems, does not have a problem with them. We are the ones with the problem! And our problem is not "out there with all those worldly secularist atheistic Luciferian Illuminist pagans". Our problem is "in here", inside our own hearts! As western Christians today we have not yet gotten to the point where we surrender ourselves to God's glory. We are still more concerned about our fading temporary flesh than about our eternal spirit. We are still living on the carnal side of our nature.
The real issue of relevance for us as Christians is not the enemy. He is defeated. It is us. It is our unbelief, and our resulting compromise and our dallying with the agencies of this world that keeps us out of God's glory and living in a dark vale of fear. The malaise in the western church and all the problems we are having are vexations of our own making. They stem from our own compromised state of disbelief and our oun carnality. And as we engage in dialogue with the world and enter into deal making and collusion with the powers of this present evil world system we compromise our standing with God and our standing in God. All this religious corruption comes out of our own selfism. This is the crux of our problems. And there is a nasty consequence to all this. Our Churchy pathway of compromise is leading us down the garden path towards apostasy. What are we going to do about it?
Yes, this was bad. Here we were thinking we were fine little Christians with everything under control. We were set for a painless journey on a special early glory train which conveniently and comfortably by-passes the Apocalypse.. Swaddled in our Pre-Tribulation Rapture fantasies we were in the merchant church. And just like everyone else we were engaging ourselves in the pursuit (and purchase) of happiness. But here is where the rank odor of corruption began to become noticeable. In this Pre-Trib Rapture scenario we were strangely absent from the end time covenant dealings. In fact, it began to become apparent to me that this western Church, (of which I was a part), was refusing to take the stand in the end-time witness. Now that is a real conspiracy! And it is a church hatched conspiracy at that!
Now this was a rteal turnaround. And when I saw it it blew me away. The "oh so terrible", and much ballyhooed "secular humanism" is certainly out there all right. It is part of the pagan world. But secular humanism, apparently, is not our real problem. We have another enemy, closer to home, even within our own bosom! And our own homegrown Religious humanism is in our hearts. This is the real enemy of our souls!
Yes Luciferian selfism is the essence of the religious humanism that we have embraced. And this is the real problem. The serpent is sliding along underneath the pews of the church! Why worry about the snakes out there in the world? Secular humanists will be secular humanists. And pagans will be pagans. But we have a far bigger problem. And it needs to be dealt with. There is a deadly viper of "religious humanism". And it is right there inside the church. The thing is slithering along the pew. Look, it is right beside us! What are we going to do about it?
Here then, was the central issue. If the Church was doing its job of calling the saints to draw near to God in blood covenant devotion, and if it was attending to the Gospel outreach and not being so carried away with its psychobabble and its obsessive compulsive disorder being totally fixated on "self esteem" then things might be different. We would be a whole lot better off. The Church would then have some Spirit! And it might be more inclined to abide in Christ and rest upon the sure Word of God! The Holy Spirit would then guide us into a healthy relationship with Christ. This would perk up our morale better than any of this psycho-heresy of selfism we are being fed. And then the Church would be spiritually equipped to deal with these challenges. Then we would not have to agonize and wring our hands over the end time drama. Not for one minute!
The performance of the established western church in all this is truly sad. It can only be described as pathetic. The New Age Movement is not a problem. Our faithlessness is the problem. The New Age Movement is merely a repackaged edition of the same old paganism we saw in Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. This paganism is nothing, if not boring. It has already fallen to the witness of the early church. This victory was seen way back in the 3rd century!
In short, paganism was, and is today, "small potatoes". So why are we afraid of Greek style secular humanism and paganism today? And as for the Freemason's plan for a humanistic New World Order well that will fail just as surely as the old Greco-Roman pagan order failed. Unless, of course, it is propped up and pumped up by compromised ecumenical churchmen. And we know that latter day paganism will arise again. Only it will be ruled over by a harlot religious system during the first half of the 70th Week of Daniel. After the depraved harlot church has her play with the New World Order then history must go straight on into the Antichrist play, the 666 system. Those final 3.5 years of this age will see the Great Tribulation and the "final witness" of the saints.
Aha! Now we come down to it. The dark powers have and agenda in keeping Christians in the dark about the end time. They do not want to see the saints go up to witness. They do not want us to enter into that final history one millisecond earlier than they have to. They know that when that final witness is finished it will be curtains for them. The principalities and powers, the angelic rulers of this current world system, know this. And as we approach the latter years of this age these dark ruling powers know that their time is short.
So the New World Order, whenever it comes, will be just a pipsqueak response of the dark side to God's grand and glorious Plan. God Almighty is in charge here below. He laughs at puny men in their attempts to stop the coming of His Anointed One. He fully intends to bring in His Messiah! (Psalm 2) And that is precisely what is going to happen!
The Second Coming will be awesome beyond words. Messiah will return on the day of vengeance. The wicked will be crushed beneath His feet! He will do this even as the head of the serpent is crushed beneath the heel of Christ, the Seed of the woman.
THE CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE ABOUT WHAT IS REALLY GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE END-TIME
The principalities and powers know all about the end time witness of the saints and that it means their doom. They know this full well. It seems they don't want us to know! As usual they are trying to keep Western Christians locked up in fear and in ignorance. They want to confuse us and keep us "dumbed down". They want to cut us off from the truth of God's Holy Word.The true and faithful message God is bringing to His covenant people is a word of encouragement. But the powers that be want to bamboozle us. They want to spook us. To an unredeemed mankind and to a Church kept ignorant of the scriptures the reality of blood covenant Christianity is kept under a smokescreen of gnostic religion. In such a milieu of ignorance of the scriptures Lucifer knows that "Fear is the key". The spirit rulers, the principalities and powers of this world know this very well. They want to keep Christian believers bottled up in fear and fixated on "survival". They want us to waste our time in carnal preoccupations. By that means they can prevent us from bringing in the "final witness". They are in terror of the faithful 5th seal witness of the saints. Because they know it will lead to the 6th seal, and the appearance of the Son of Man. This, they know full well, will be their undoing.
The powers of darkness also have another agenda.
They want to stop the flow of the
end-time information.
God has sent His precious Word
to mankind through the revelation of the Holy Scriptures.
We are the witnesses to Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach.
This is an honored role and an essential one.
We are a vital part of the end-time story.
The powers of this world don't want us to know this.
They want to keep us in the dark.
They want to keep Christians passive, disengaged, and bored with their faith.
The forces of darkness, the ruling powers,
are vainly trying to "cloak" God's Word.
This is the information warfare that is being used against us.
They want to cut off communication between God and
His covenant people.
Their ultimate agenda is to sideline or divert the saints from the
5th seal end-time witness.
They know something that most Christians in the western church do not know.
They know that it is this "final witness" of the end-time saints
that will bring them down. So they want to keep us ignorant
and distracted with a whole lot of religious misinformation.
UNDERSTANDING THAT SPIRITUAL WARFARE IS
INFORMATION WARFARE.
Soon after that God opened up to me another very enlightening discovery.
We are in a spiritual war. Like all wars it is an
information war.
Our enemies are waging a campaign of non-information and
disinformation. This world is
attempting to silence the Good News of God's Plan.
When they cannot cut it off they will try to twist it, corrupt it,
or "jam" the transmission with a whole lot of religious "noise".
God has a wonderful Plan for His people.
In that Plan God fully intends to redeem a lost people.
He will call out a people to Himself from this fallen world.
His Plan is also to return at the end of this age
judge the wicked, deliver His people,
and replace the angelic and human rulers of this world.
He will then establish His
Messianic Kingdom.
(See Psalm 2);
(Or listen to Handel's "Messiah")
Of course man centered humanistic institutions, both secular and religious, hate this whole idea of the end-time witness of the saints with a passion. Naturally they will try to give this story the "silent treatment". They will try to tell a contrary replacement story of the Church being the favored New Israel. They will attempt to say that the Church right now is the Kingdom of God. This is a sure way to overburden us, confuse our thoughts, engender fearful emotions, and motivate us to action in all the wrong directions. The resulting failure will paralyze our will to go on. The main aim of the powers of this world is to prevent end-time witness of the saints from happening. They know that this "final witness" will be their undoing.
THE END-TIME WITNESS OF THE SAINTS WILL GO FORWARD.
AND THEN MESSIAH WILL RETURN AND BRING THE FINAL VICTORY.
Of course the principalities and powers, the angelic
and human rulers of this world
cannot stop God's witness from going forward
in a climactic way at the end of this age.
It is going to happen.
And that is that!
Some group of saints at some time is going to bring in
the final witness. Some group of saints will
finish the race.
If we in the west,
the people of what once was called "Christendom"
do not respond to the call then God will raise up
His witnesses from another quarter.
Will it be those faithful and steadfast
Christians from Vietnam and Egypt who will answer the call?
Will they be the ones to break the tape at the end of
the race?
Yes, there is a "hidden hand" of global government. And a compromised gnostic Christendom, even a two-timing harlot of false religion is in the wings. Oh, yes, a harlot church tied in with all this compromise and New World Order goings on. The Apostle John saw her attempting to control the beast as she rode it. What an awful awakening she will have. (John 17)
She says, "I sit as a queen.
And will see no sorrow." (Rev.18:7)
This is the sort of compromised Christianity we see
trying to stop or sideline the unfolding of God's agenda here on earth.
But the attempt by the powers of darkness, angelic and human,
to stop the witness of the end-time saints will fail.
Holy history has already been written. The Grand Choreographer is now calling for players prepared to go up on the stage. When all four horsemen of the Apocalypse have had said their words and done their deeds and when the kings and the peasant rulers and the merchant/lawyer/bankers and the death dealing tyrants have finished their run then the four horsemen of the Apocalypse will have finished. Then God will call for His witnesses at the 5th seal. This history has to happen.
And then the sign of the Son of Man will be seen in the heavens. The 6th seal will open. The scriptures declare that the combined angelic and human rebellion against God's rule both in human hearts and also in the kingdoms of this world will be soundly and overwhelmingly defeated. (Rev.11:15) Their epic reactionary rebellion will be crushed by the returning Messiah.
Of course the dark spirits behind the New Age Movement and the New World Order know this. They are watching the unfolding of events with growing panic and rage. Because the day of judgment is fast approaching. And they know it. For them the sands of time are running out.
This is why the nations are raging. This is why we are seeing wars on an escalating scale. The principalities and powers, the rulers of this present darkness, are getting frantic. Lucifer, the prince of this present evil world system, is raging. He knows that his time is short. (Rev.12:12)
THE GREAT TRIBULATION IS NOT THE WRATH OF GOD.
Soon after this I realized that I had been led astray by Bible teachers on another very important issue. They had said that the Great Tribulation was the 'Wrath of God'. This was not only unscriptural but it also just did not make any sense from a clear thinking point of view. The Bible shows us that the Wrath of God will not be seen until the very end of the final seven years of this age.Around about that time the parable of the wheat and the tares jumped out of the Bible at me from Matthew 13. It was a picture of the gathering and final judgment of the wicked followed by the gathering and glorification of the Elect. The wicked were gathered first. (Mat.13:30) Only after this were the righteous gathered.
This blew me away. It was the exact opposite of what I had been taught. Jesus even explained the parable in detail to His inquiring disciples. God's wrath is delivered at the end of the eon/age by evil angels of wrath. These evil angels (Psalm 78:49) specifically target the wicked. They are not permitted to touch God's witnesses. Even back in Egypt at the first Passover we saw the same evil angels of wrath. They were very capable of directing God's wrath specifically and personally on those who were not under the covering of the blood of the sacrifice lamb. So shall it be in the judgment at the Last Day. This was another part of the end-time story we had not been told. I was having to unlearn a lot of things fast! Yet in the process things were beginning to become a lot clearer.
The coming trials of the saints in the Great Tribulation is not the Wrath of God as our prophecy teachers had told us. It is the wrath of Satan and the wrath of depraved humanistic man. God loves His people. He will save them out of the midst of their troubles. (Psalm 91) All these attempts by the powers of evil to stop the Word of God, and stop the witness of the saints, and even stop Christ Himself from coming to earth will be in vain.
This was an encouraging word. God was not "beating up" on His people in the end-time at all. We get into trouble for the same reason Hosea's wife Gomer got in trouble. They are dallying with the thorny princes of this world and releasing or loosing dark spirits in the heavenly realms. Is Gomer a prophetic picture of the Church? If so, then there is some exceedingly good news here. What we are looking at here is no less than a divine romance. And it has a happy ending!
DISCOVERING THE POSITIVE THINGS ABOUT THE END-TIME.
THE CLIMAX OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OUTPOURING AT THE LAST DAY.
I soon discovered that there were a lot of other good positive bits of news
about the end-time in the scriptures. One of the most encouraging
and inspiring discoveries
from the Holy Scriptures was the clear word of a future climactic blow out
End-Time Revival. (Joel 2:28-32, Isa.60)
This clearly contradicted the false picture
given by Pre-tribulationist teachers of a fearful doom and gloom scenario
in which the final seven years will be nothing more than a chamber of horrors.
We had been told that the Holy Spirit as
"the Restrainer" of 2Thes.2 and that He
will be "taken out of the way".
The Holy Spirit
is an omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent part of the Godhead.
And yet, according to them, He had "taken a train for the coast".
They had in effect said that the Holy Spirit of God will abandon
his people during the Tribulation!
But that was not what Joel saw! (Joel 2:28-32)
He saw the Holy Spirit poured out on all flesh
and even in the 6th seal cosmic disturbances of a
darkened sun and a bloody moon Joel said that "Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved/delivered".
How, pray tell, does this happen with a
Holy Spirit that has deserted God's people and taken a hike?!
All this was really starting to get my attention. Why had we not heard about these things? The pilgrim pathway will eventually lead us on beyond the comforts of our present way station under the Pax Americana. Didn't these Bible teachers realize this? Didn't they want us to consider our future role in God's ongoing Plan? Didn't they think it might possibly be a prudent thing to prepare our hearts just in case we were needed for vital role of witness in the end-time drama? Just who did they think would be the people who finished the race and took the baton to the finish line? The Chinese church?
Perhaps they will. At least Christians in the suffering Church operate in blood covenant devotion. They are seeing the greater works. But we, the richest church this world has ever seen, do not. The western church looks very pretty. But she seems to have been poisoned by something she has eaten. Like Sleeping Beauty she is asleep, or drugged. Who will wake her up?
It was then I realized that we in the western church have a very very serious morale problem. And yes, it was a grievous matter. It is a matter of betrayal of the highest degree.
THE AGE OF GRACE EXTENDS INSIDE THE LAST 7 YEARS OF THIS AGE
TO INCLUDE THE GREAT TRIBULATION PERIOD. THE DISCOVERY THAT
TRIBULATION SAINTS DO BELONG TO THE CHURCH AFTER ALL.
I continued to make discoveries as I read the Bible.
Previously I had been somewhat spooked by the teachings
I had received on the end-time.
They had told us in effect that the 70th week was
not within the bounds of the Age of Grace.
As the final seven years begin the Age of Grace ends,
(or so they say). They have it closed up and padlocked.
We were told that hideous powers of unimaginable
wickedness and horror
will totally have their way in those final seven years of the end-time.
They told us that no good thing happened
in the 70th week. It was an impossible place for a Christian to be.
They told us, "Don't even think of being there."
Then when they delivered the punchline
and assured us that we'd be raptured "outta here" before
this final seven year period everyone stood up in their pews,
clapped their hands and cheered. I know. I was there!
This is how we were manipulated into pre-trib. It was achieved by appealing to the continued comforts of our flesh life. But didn't Jesus say something about taking up our cross and following Him? And didn't He promise to be with us even to the end of the age?
THE END-TIME INTERNATIONAL CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE COMING RULE OF MESSIAH.
AND GOD LAUGHS.
One day I was reading Psalm 2 and realized it was a vignette of
the behind the scenes goings on in the emerging New World Order.
Right there in David's song the God of Israel was
observing the rulers of the nations
as they conspired and raged against His Son, the coming Messiah.
This was happening in the midst of tumultuous events that
clearly relate to the end time!
When I saw God the Father laughing
about the end-time conspiracy of the nations I was intrigued.
The end-time events we read about in Mat.24, Luke 21,
Daniel and Revelation do in fact make
for some pretty heavy reading.
We had been told this was 7 years of total and absolute doom and disaster.
And yet God was laughing? I was amazed.
Then I realized that God was sharing some very important information
and was giving us a huge morale boost in the process.
It was then that I started to get encouraged.
Psalm 2 is clearly a window into the latter days. David wrote this song 3,000 years ago. In the song he is seeing the nations rage against the coming of Messiah, David's greater Son. Awful things are destined to be done as this age comes to a close. And yet God is laughing?
I figured that if God is laughing about the conspiracy of man centered humanistic government and religion in the end-time then why should I worry? Why should I spend one minute of the precious time God has alotted me vexing myself about the New Age Movement or Alice Bailey or the New World Order. Why should I allow my mind and heart to be dragged into the dungeons and black holes of Satan's dark and pitiful excuse for a kingdom. In Psalm 2 it was as if God was setting me straight on a few things.
Here then is lesson one.
God Almighty is the sovereign ruler of this cosmos!
Not Bishop Pike or Carl Sagan,
not the secular humanists or the Illuminati
nor the religious humanists of worldly ecumenical religion
for that matter.
God has His holy agenda. And it will go forward!
There is no dualism here. The Ancient of Days sits upon the throne
of the highest heaven. (Dan.7:9-14, Rev.19&20)
He is the Sovereign One of this cosmos.
He is the One who is calling the shots here on Terra Firma.
And He fully intends to enact HIS program on this earth
for the redemption, sanctification,
and glorification of His covenant people.
He will draw His people out of Israel
and His congregation/church.
At the climax of this age
He will bring down the dark angelic principalities and powers,
the current "rulers of darkness" in this present world system.
And as for the rest, the gentile nations?
God says that they are as a "drop in the bucket". (Isa.40:15)
And so armed with this new information and heartened by the sure knowledge that God had full control of the end-time agenda I found myself once again becoming very interested in the subject of Bible prophecy.
MARV ROSENTHAL'S BOOK. AND THE SCRIPTURES BREAK FORTH THE WORD
OF GOD CONCERNING GOD'S AGENDA FOR HIS SAINTS IN THE END-TIME.
Around 1992 I read Marvin Rosenthal's book
"The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church". After seeing the
straightforward way in which he read the scriptures and then
laid out the various
end-time events on a time line I was very impressed.
So I was encouraged to
handle the scriptures in much the same way. I
delved back into the Bible
with renewed interest. Pretty soon I was
staring the truth
in the face. What a shocker that was!
It was quite a bit different from what I had been taught.
I had to go off and think about that for a while.
In 1995 I took off on the heels of hurricane Opal to join my friend Gary Poisson. We were about to set out on our own tour of Israel. What a wonderful trip that was! Awaiting our flight at the airport in New York we heard a messianic group singing in the lounge area. It was there I ran into Marvin Rosenthal. It was a real joy to speak with this man who has been so faithful in the scriptures. For years after publishing his book he was under such fierce attack by the fundamentalist establishment. I had a chance to chat with him about the timing of the rapture. I conveyed to him just how much I appreciated the book he had written. He had taken a careful and logical approach to the scriptures. He had clearly laid out information and shown us that the Pre-Trib rapture position was quite obviously in conflict with the Word of God. It was so good to meet him. Because of his diligence in the holy scriptures he has been instrumental in leading many seekers deeper into a fuller understanding of what God and His covenant people will be doing in the last seven years of this age. I have met more than one Post-Tribber who said that it was that book on the "Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church" that catapulted them all the way from from Pre-Trib to Post-Trib.
In spite of the helpful assistance Marv had been to me in making the discoveries from the Bible I was not entirely sold on the entire Pre-Wrath Rapture position as he had laid it out. Like many others I went from the Pre-Tribulation Rapture position straight into a firm belief in the correctness of the Post-Tribulation Rapture. The logical method Marv used in setting forth the various pieces of the end-time drama based on the sure foundation of holy scripture was invaluable. His approach to interpretation has been a great encouragement to me. Most Bible prophecy teachers, in contrast, are dancing all over the Biblical landscape and using allegory and other gyrations in their attempt to make the scriptures say what they, (and their customers), want to hear. What you end up with is a confusing mess. The pre-tribulation rapture scenario they teach just doesn't add up. They give us two second comings, two elects, They also tell of an Israel which is to be alienated and 'left behind' to later be sent off into some vague 'B' grade destiny and a future separate from the end-time church. Very often you just can't follow their disconnected lines of reasoning or pin them down on just when during the final seven years certain important events occur. Events such as the 'Day of the Lord', the 'Wrath of God', and the 'Resurrection of the righteous dead' are stretched out like taffy to span vague periods of time when they actually occur on specific days at the end of the age. These biblical events, emerging in certain discrete moments in time, are thereby rendered meaningless. The results are all too obvious. Confusion reigns.
DISCOVERY OF A HIDDEN ASPECT TO THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST,
THE DELIVERANCE OF THE ELECT FROM A PLACE, (OR PLACES), OF EXILE
AND INCARCERATION AT "BOZRAH". (Micah 2:12-13, Isa.63)
Our pre-trib friends are also strangely silent on
a glorious future event, the
Deliverance of the Elect at Bozrah.
They are totally silent on the subject
as it relates to the Church. Replacing the word "Bozrah" with the word "Petra"
they shunt the Bozrah story off to Petra in south Jordan.
Then they make it an exclusively Jewish tribulation escape action
related to the mid-70th week flight of the inhabitants of Jerusalem
during the Great Tribulation.
They have the escapees leaving Jerusalem at the Abomination of Desolation
half way through the final 7 years and fleeing south down the Arabah to
the caves in the rocks at Petra. But is this what the scriptures say?
The prophet Zechariah tells us that the flight will be just a short distance to the city of Azal, a short distance from Jerusalem. (Zech.12:1-10) So there is no prophesied flight down the Arabah to Petra at all. This is a hoax foisted upon evangelicals. In fact there is no mention of the Petra anywhere in the Bible. This is a fable inserted by men. So the flight from Jerusalem at the end of the age does not really fit into the Bozrah incarceration story at all. Nor does it fulfill the Bozrah deliverance story Micah 2:12-13 tells us about.
The Bozrah deliverance is also seen in Isaiah 63. It concerns Messiah returning in wrath upon His enemies and deliverance of His covenant people. It too would appear to come after the Great Tribulation. Like the Mount of Olives arrival of Messiah and His coming in the clouds of heaven the Bozrah story is never told by our Bible Prophecy teachers. And yet it is a vital and essential part of the Second Coming of Christ.
Unfortunately our new Bible translations don't help much either. Most of them have "lost" the word Bozrah. After going through the translation committees this crucial word has completely disappeared from the Micah 2:12-13 passage altogether. They just plug in the generic word "sheepfold". This effectively and totally cuts off the Bozrah-Esau connection from the text. Is this a problem? It certainly is! They cut out the very word that fills in the end-time story!
I don't like having to read the Bible in Old English with the thees and thous and dosts. And I do like to read the NKJV. But these "helpful" committees who have tried to translate the Bible and make things "easy" for us have let us down in the accuracy department time and time again. And in making things "easy" they have weakened God's Word and lessened its "bite". Here we see that they have decided to pluck the word Bozrah clean out of the Holy Scriptures! They have given it the flick! God help us!
Brothers and sisters, I hate to have to say this. But there are some occasions when only the KJV will do the job. And this is one of them. We can use the other translations for general reading, as I do, but when an important matter comes up and things appear a little confusing sweep those new modern translations right off your desk and onto the floor. Then pick up a trusty King James Bible or go to Crosswalk.com and get into the online Bible Tools. This has a Lexicon. Scroll down the list of versions and select the King James Version with Strong's Numbers. Then "click" on the word you want to research. For example, in this case, click on the word "Bozrah". This handy software will show you where that word has been used throughout all of Holy Scripture and in what context it was used.
Here is a little tip. Home in on the words that these dubious modern committees of churchmen have "left behind". Words like "fasting" and "Wrath of God" and "Day of the Lord". And "Bozrah" and a host of other gutsy words from God's Holy Word. All too often they seem to have "gone missing". They have been replaced with words and phrases that are a lukewarm milk toast substitute for the real meaning. We end up with a Bible verse with words and phrases that no longer convey the essential message. We get a message with a lesser meaning. This is not new. It is all part of the information war waged at very high levels by the powers of darkness against the Holy Word of God. These translation committee members are not evil people. Many times the people doing these things in committee have the best of intentions. They want to bring things down to the lowest common denominator so as to make things simple for the majority of their readers. But all too often there are important messages in the words that they leave out. And through their omissions and substitutions they are tinkering with holy things of God. Committee members don't want to "rock the boat" or be "obstructive". To keep their job they want to be "team players". This is quite understandable in the mores of Mammon. But they are dealing here with the holy things of God! They have no idea of how they are being deceived. They are being 'used'. They are assenting to a group spirit that comes to the table with one main aim. That agenda is to make the Holy Scriptures more marketable to the unsaved and to the partially committed, middle of the road, carnal Christian masses.
THE TIMING OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE RIGHTEOUS DEAD
AS A KEY TO THE TIMING OF THE RESURRECTION-RAPTURE
It is on the point of the timing of the
Resurrection of the righteous dead that so much hinges.
Most Bible teachers are particularly vague and evasive
on this extremely important matter.
Will the Resurrection come at the beginning of the seven years,
at the middle of the seven years, or at the end of the seven years?
Do we have an answer to this question?Often you will not get one.
This should be a straightforward question with a straightforward answer. But when I went on nationwide Christian radio with the call-in show "To Every Man An Answer" with that question of the timing of the Resurrection of the righteous dead at the end of the age it was like I had entered the Twilight Zone. I was absolutely amazed and a little bit spooked by it all. Some of the most saintly men, learned in the scriptures, and well educated in seminary were on the end of the line. The whole nation was listening. Yet when I asked the question when was the Resurrection of the righteous dead in relationship to the tribulation these nationally known Bible teachers were either unable or unwilling to give an answer to this critically important question.
That was one of the most surreal experiences I had ever encountered. It was a bit like the feeling I had when the O.J. Simpson verdict was announced. I was totally flabbergasted. The words of Jesus were sitting there in our Bibles! (John 6:39, John 6:40, John 6:44, John 6:54, John 11:24) Jesus Himself had told us four times in John 6 and even dear Martha knew the answer. The resurrection comes at the last (24 hour) day of this age! And yet these church leaders weren't willing to come out and say when this important future event will happen. It was a simple little question and answer. It was a case of "pin the tail on the donkey" or "pin the Resurrection on the time line on the 70th week". Yet they just refused to do it. What on earth was going on here!? Were these people under some sort of a "spell"? Why couldn't they simply believe what Jesus tells us?
Four times in John 6:39,6:40,6:44 and 6:54? Jesus repeats himself to say that He would be raising His people up at the 'last day'. Even Martha, a Jewish lady and a homemaker washing her dishes in the kitchen 2,000 years ago knew that the Resurrection was going to be at the "last day". (John 11:24) Why couldn't our modern Bible teachers, see this too?
Jesus said four times in one chapter that the Resurrection was going to come at the "last day" of this age. Obviously this had to be at the end of those final seven years. And why couldn't all those hundreds of thousands of church ministers and all those Prophecy Teachers on Christian Radio and Television "see" that?
It was then I realized that I had run up against an extremely powerful religious spirit. It was operating at a national, even a global level. I knew then that I had to take to prayer and fasting to deal with this whole matter. Daniel did this 2500 years ago when he faced similar challenges relating to the Word of God coming down to us from heaven.
Since that day my life was not been the same. I have felt like a scout sent ahead of the wagon train. I realized that I was like Micaiah, sort of alone and out of favor with the powers that be. And yet I could not deny what was happening. I had seen something up ahead of immense importance. There will be an epic and climactic corporate witness of the Church inside the coming rule of the Harlot and the Great Tribulation. Few others have seen this. In many case it is just that they don't want to see it. Yet in spite of this there is a lot of good news about this which has not been told. For example, the Holy Spirit will not be deserting us. And there will be a climactic outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh at the very end of the age. (Joel 2:28-32) Now I find that I have this urgency to get back to the Wagon Train, (the Church), and share what I had seen. This is what this website is all about.
PRE-TRIB ALLEGORY AND SPIRITUALIZATION OF SCRIPTURE.
Fundamentalist Christians are supposed to interpret the Bible carefully and literally whenever the text presents this as a viable option. We are supposed to make careful use of the grammatical/historical method. As evangelicals we are to shun allegory and man-made bridging doctrines. We are to discount any wild speculation based on allegory or fanciful end-time theories. Alas, I discovered that our Pre-Trib friends are not averse to using Augustinian style allegory to interpret the scriptures.
Here is one example. They insist that the appearance of the 24 elders in
heaven as we see recorded in Revelation chapter 4 = the Rapture of the church.
This is pure allegory.
How, pray tell, do they get the Rapture from that text? Surely
this is more than just a stretch. It is a giant leap in the dark!
Dear saints I am not making this stuff up.
This is actually what they teach! And the people in the pews don't dare to stand up and question this.
They submissively nod their heads and smile like Cheshire cats
as the church television cameras whirl.
Where are our Bereans today? Do we have any?
Marv Rosenthal's method of interpretation, by contrast, was like spring rain on a dry and thirsty land. It was honest, straightforward and logical. This was all so refreshing and encouraging. His laying out the various pieces of the puzzle on a time line based on scripture was truly a very instructive lesson. It was certainly a wonderful revelation to me. I have spoken with others who have had a similar experience to mine after reading his book. They too went from Pre-Trib straight into Post-Trib. I shall always be thankful to Marv Rosenthal for that. God bless him for his faithfulness. He has been under intense fire since he left Pre-Trib some years ago. But in spite of this, (and perhaps because of this), he has been greatly used of God.
PRE-TRIB TO POST-TRIB.
AN EMOTIONALLY WRENCHING PASSAGE.
During the transition to the Post-Trib Resurrection/Rapture position
I must tell you I was pretty emotionally disturbed,
even a bit neurotic for a time.
I know for sure that I was depressed and moody for a while.
My mind had the cold facts laid out neatly from 1Thes.4:15-17 and Rev.20:4-6.
But my heart was a different matter. I just didn't want to hear about it.
But I made the passage into Post-Trib because it was true.
It was a bit like proving a theorem in geometry.
I had proven Post-Trib right and Pre-Trib wrong.
It was as simple as that.
Of course it was pretty depressing for me at first. Finally I got desperate. I got on my knees before God and told Him that I was only going to believe what He Himself told me from the Bible. And as for my feelings? Well they would have to get their act together and come along. As for all my former fond beliefs about a pre-trib escape? Well they could go out the window!
I threw out all my religious presuppositions on the end-time events. And yes, I actually threw out some of my prophecy books and tapes as well. They went into the garbage can, - and the dumpster! Pulling out a fresh clean sheet of paper I sharpened my pencil and opened up my Bible. Then I went to those key scriptures again. Only this time I went with no pre-suppositions and no Bible commentaries. I was determined to start over from scratch. I resolved to use only the Bible and nothing else.
When I went back to the Scriptures and asked God to show me the truth from His Word things began to happen. I actually entered into an unexpected serendipity. It was like seeing pieces of a jig saw puzzle beginning to come together in clumps. I began to become excited. 1Thes 4:15-17 and Rev. 20:4-6 came together with a "ke-chunk!" I was often woken up at 4:00 a.m. with an inspiring connecting thought which needed to be immediately checked out. I would get up, open the Bible and there it would be. It would 'jump out of the page' at me. This was not unusual. In fact it happened quite a lot. One 'Eureka' moment followed after another!
The result of this was that I realized that God was no respecter of persons. I began to see that I myself, as a mere 'layman', could read and understand the end-time scriptures. Since I had a burden for God's Word and a burden for His people then God was going to honor that no matter who I was. I found that I could carefully and prayerfully piece together the sequence of end-time events. Soon afterwards I noticed that a lot of the end-time jigsaw puzzle was now beginning to come together. It was being joined together harmoniously and easily in a way that made sense. The picture had not been completed by any means. There were still a lot of pieces of the puzzle that I could not place. But I could see enough of the picture to get a pretty good idea of what was going on in the end-time.
Bible prophecy is a bit like geometry. You start with certain known truths or axioms. You then come up with theorems which you set out to prove one by one. Then piece by piece you proceed to build a whole body of truth based on the sure foundation of the Bible.
There was nothing arcane or highbrow here. I simply went back to what Jesus had said in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 in the Olivet Discourse. He had laid out a clear sequence of end time events. He was speaking personally to His trusted disciples. Were we not His disciples too? That Word in Matthew 24 was not "just for the Jews". It was for us!
Why not start by believing what Jesus said. Jesus said that He would be gathering His Elect, (singular), "after the tribulation of those days". Are we as Christian believers in His Elect? If so, then we shall be gathered "after the tribulation". No shenanigans. No "funny business". We can place the Resurrection-Rapture on the time line "after the tribulation".
Then I went to what the Apostle Paul had written in 2Thes.2 and what Daniel had written in Dan.9:27. Suddenly, Bible prophecy began to come into focus. The fog began to clear. Things began to make some sense. Soon the Old Testament poetry was chiming in as well from Psalm 2, Micah 2:12-13, Zech.12:7-13:1, and on and on it went.
The conclusions beginning to come from my studies were intriguing. This whole discovery process was somewhat unsettling as well. The biblical truth that was now emerging was quite different from what was being taught. The Word of God is sharper than a two edged sword. Now it was beginning to cut; And cut rather deeply. God was beginning to 'rock my world'.
The facts of the end-time were alarming, of that there was no doubt. And yet they were strangely exhilarating and inspiring at the same time. There was going to be a climactic end-time spiritual conflict. The church was heavily involved, of that there was no doubt. We are the saints. And we are in the Book of Revelation after all. We are the Bride of Christ. We are not merely purchased concubines of a heavenly sugar daddy. Nor are we irrelevant or absent from the end time drama. We shall be on center stage! We are not going to be zapped "outta here" before the final seven years of this age as we had heard so often. It soon became quite clear that we shall be very involved in these coming adventures. We shall be up front and center during those coming times.
The Church is the Bride of Christ. She is not a passive purchased concubine. She is involved in the end time proceedings. And vitally so. The word "church", or "ekklesia" in the Greek, means "called out". We, along with our returning Jewish brethren, are part of the final epic company of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There will be a remnant who will be bringing in the climactic 'final witness' at the end of the story. The remnant Church, the remnant of Israel, are those final runners on the relay race, They will bring the race to its final victorious conclusion. The tribulation saints are in fact the church in at the time of their final triumphant witness at the end of this age. (Rev.7) John saw the Tribulation saints. They must belong to the Church. Because they had washed their clothes in the blood of the Lamb.
The Tribulation Saints that John saw had died for their faith in Jesus. To my post-trib friends and to me that sounded like a pretty good recommendation for church membership! Yet our pre-trib teachers still insisted that the Tribulation saints were not a part of the Church! This absolutely blew us away when we got into the online discussions. We started getting these unexpected illogical answers to our questions. These dear Tribulation saints had given their lives for Jesus! Why wouldn't they be in the church!
The Bible was speaking to us. The Holy Spirit was clearly showing us that God's people will indeed go through the Great Tribulation. This was just as Jesus Himself has told us. (Mat.24, Luke 21) Yes, we in the church are the ones Jesus was referring to here. He was speaking to us along with our returning Jewish brethren.
The next issue that began to come into focus was the "great falling away". And yes, there would be an end-time apostasy. This great falling away would be a desertion of the faith by people who had previously claimed faith in Christ. (2Thes.2:3) How else could it be an apostasy? Pagans don't fall away from the faith! They never had it! Only believers fall away into apostasy.
The final seven years of this age would be a time of tragedy and also a time of glory. Both would be happening during the very same time frame. Many would fall away from the faith due to fear. And fear comes from the absence of faith. Faith, on the other hand, is based on the love and devotion which is centered in God.
THROUGH THE ROUGH STRAITS AND INTO THE GLORY!
Fortunately, there is light in the coming darkness. (Isa.60) The Tribulation church, the saints, will be getting some help. The Bible clearly shows us that there will be an End-Time Revival. The Holy Spirit is going to be poured out on the saints right in the midst of these awesome end-time events. He will be operating in and through God's people in ever increasing waves right on up to a glorious climax at the Second Coming of Christ at the very last day. (Joel 2:28-32) And then, wonder of wonders, what do we see? Daniel shows us the saints coming out victorious at the end! (Dan.7:18 & 12:1-3) They will be transformed to take on their new immortal spiritual bodies in a blow-out blaze of glory!This was all mind boggling to me. But the facts of scripture were unmistakable. Soon after that I left the Pre-trib camp for good and never looked back. Using Marv's wonderful method I by-passed his Pre-Wrath position, (which appeared a bit shaky in the scriptural interpretation of Daniel 12). Then I went straight on into Post-Trib based on a literal interpretation of the phrase "last day".
When I stopped and took a look around I was amazed at just how far the current Bible prophecy teachers had strayed from the true Bible message. From John 6 I had anchored the Resurrection of the righteous dead at the last day of the seven years which is the last day of this age.
Then came the second piece of information. Our Apostle Paul came in with the clincher. He had said that the dead would be raised first before the catching away or Rapture. (1Thes.4:15-17) I was shocked and a bit disturbed by all this. There was to be a Post-Tribulation Resurrection-Rapture of the elect from out of the Church and Israel right at the end of the 70th week at the end of this age. The glorification of the saints was a double barreled affair. First would come the Resurrection. And then immediately on its heels comes the Rapture or "catching away".
I was left completely amazed by all this. The Bible had exposed the Pre-Trib Rapture scenario as being scripturally unfounded. There was no sense giving it any credence at all as a legitimate eschatological position. It didn't deserve that courtesy. It was way off base. It was not even in the running. Yet this was the accepted teaching in the evangelical camp. What to do?
There was no sense being so polite about this that you let error go unchallenged. This was a blood covenant matter. The lives of hundreds of millions of Christians were at stake here. They were about to go out into the the climax of the age unprepared. It would be the most awesome passage of history that any "called out" congregation of God had ever faced. And millions of otherwise sound Christians in our churches had been given the wrong directions and the wrong chart! How could the evangelical family within church not know about this? And why weren't they interested in finding out about these important things? What was going on here?
THE DISCOVERY OF A SLEEPING CHURCH.
AND THE FISHERS GO OUT ON THE INTERNET.
In the late 90's I began to understand why.
The church didn't want to know.
I was deeply disturbed when I realized what was really going on.
The Church, like
the Lady of Shalott was drifting among the narcissus flowers.
The Church was like Sleeping Beauty.
What spiritual food had she been fed and what had she eaten?
What was that in her mouth?
The day would come when the Church, as Sleeping Beauty, would be awakened by a coming prince. But which one? Would she experience revival with the true Prince of Israel? Or would it be another, even a false messiah who awakened her to another calling? This was the end-time drama in a nutshell. And yet the church was unaware of this? There was a huge end-time drama beginning to brew. The plot was thickening. This was beginning to happen right inside the evangelical camp. And yet few were even remotely aware of this. Post-trib Christians began to realize that something was terribly wrong. We could no longer sit around on our hands! Something had to be done about this, and fast!
Around that time the internet was coming online. With it came an explosion of information (and disinformation). This was a wonderful opportunity for Christian believers seeking answers. Things began to get very interesting. Email was bringing us into new and historic 'age of letters'. An unprecedented era of Christian communication was now upon us. Christian forums were opening up everywhere and the Bible was being discussed in groups with members who were scattered around the world. Christians who made discoveries from scripture were no longer isolated and confined to their pews at the corner church or locked up in their homes. They were going global! They were on the information superhighway. What a world we were in!
I joined a lot of other post-tribbers on the net in those early days. Joining in the discussions on the various Bible prophecy forums we made our point clear. The Resurrection-Rapture was a single event. It would come when Jesus said it would come. It would come at the "last day" at the end of the age. In our discussions we found that Pre-Trib friends had no firm scriptural evidence whatsoever to support their position. When the Word of God came out we were all over them. Their position time and time again was shown to be without Biblical foundation. A special pre-tribulation rapture separate from the Resurrection at the last day was no more than a religious fantasy.
As we went on we made other discoveries as well. The tribulation saints belonged to the church! The Holy Spirit was not the restrainer of the Antichrist. Our precious Holy Spirit would not be 'taken out of the way'. The Holy Spirit would not be 'taking a hike' and deserting God's people in the end-time. The very idea was unthinkable. On and on it went.
As post-tribbers I regret to have to admit that we became quite rambunctious on those discussion forums at times. When we brought up the big guns of scripture our opponents on most occasions had nothing to counter with. We actually thought that when Pre-tribbers were confronted with the Biblical facts they would surrender. But they didn't. When we politely asked them to reconsider their Pre-Trib position they often began to get nasty. That made us get a little short with them too. Amazing! We had 'the facts, ma'am". We had the truth of Holy Scripture no less! But alas. In losing our tempers with each other all of us had fallen from grace.
Back in those days some epic wars of words erupted between pre-tribbers and post-tribbers. Pre-trib favoring discussion forums often set rules in an attempt to moderate these discussions. Sometimes they actually forbade the discussion of the timing of the Rapture. We usually had the scriptures to back up what we said. Our pre-trib friends did not. So the result was rather sad. They just locked us out. As post-tribbers we as post-tribbers were outnumbered at about 100 to 1. Yet we had the scriptural backing. We were all over them. It was strangely exhilarating. We were new and in the minority. Yet we always seemed to come out with the clinching arguments from the scriptures.
Soon it became somewhat of an embarrassment to the powers that be. The moderators defended the status quo with these "rules". Even when we brought in polite biblically based posts they were often deleted or, (as they would say), "hidden". Often we received an email from the moderator with a 'word of warning'. Sometimes, after a couple of "warnings", we as post-tribbers were banned from pre-trib dominated discussion boards altogether.
It was all so strange. The eschatalogical battlefield cannot be secured by Pre-Trib using scripture. So they have had to do the only thing that can be done under such a circumstance. They have shut down the discussion! The huge religious wall is being built up against the Post-Trib Rapture position and what we see as the clear Word of God.
This was all so amazing to me. We had the scriptures on our side. When we brought God's holy Word to bear on the end-time rapture timing issues then our pre-trib friends often had no good answer to this. We expected that they would "come around". But alas, that wasn't happening. Instead we were maligned as "unloving" or somehow possessed of some sort of a "martyr complex". What was going on here? Why was scriptural truth being sidelined? And why weren't Christians allowing the Bible to be the judge of the beliefs they held? I was mystified and deeply disturbed by all this.
I had been raised my father to value the truth. Not that I am any pillar of virtue because I am not. But my dear dad instilled in me the importance of absolute truthfulness in all my dealings. He often had to resort to the stick to help me to see the importance of this. To this day I love and respect him for that.
My teachers in school taught me to value the truth as well. I was schooled in mathematics and the sciences. I believed in the scientific method. Before a belief was accepted it was supposed to be tested and proven conclusively without any shadow of doubt.
As I entered the realm of medicine I received further discipline regarding the importance of uncompromising truth. We were taught that a wrong diagnosis was an extremely serious, even a grievous matter. A wrong diagnosis could seriously damage a patient. They could even die. Omission of the truth was just as bad as wrong treatment. This all added up to "malpractice". It was a very heavy and awful thing for a physician to be charged with malpractice. Now in the realm of Bible prophecy I was seeing the truth mismanaged in the same way. Was this ecclesiastical malpractice? The holy scriptures were being misrepresented by men who should have known better. They should have at least done their homework. God's Word for the saints in the end-time was surely even more important than medical practice. Yet the Bible was being twisted. This was a malpractice of sorts. How could Christian Bible teachers, of all people, be so wrong? How could they be so irresponsible!
This duplicity of Christian leaders was amazing to me. I regret to report that my initial response was anger. Bible teachers had been charged by God Almighty to rightly divide the Holy Scriptures in holiness and in truth. The fact that they were not doing this incensed me. Christian leaders were supposed to blaze the trail. They were supposed to explore the trail ahead and faithfully mark it out for the end-time saints. The safe passage of millions of Christian believers was hanging in the balance. At some time in the future we were going to enter the 70th week of Daniel. That future time would call for the straight unvarnished truth about the end-time. We need correct signposts. They need to be pointing in the right direction and clearly marked. Why weren't our Bible teachers providing it?
When I was raised in the Boy Scouts our motto was "Be prepared!" If Christian believers were going to go through the Great Tribulation then shouldn't we "Be prepared" for this too? Shouldn't we know the drill? Shouldn't we be made aware of what is expected of us in witness? Shouldn't we receive the encouragement God has for us as we approach the "hour of trial"? And don't we deserve a proper interval of time in order to seek the face of God. Don't we need time to prepare our hearts for what could be our "final witness"?
I was puzzled by all this. Who, pray tell, was "cloaking" this end-time information? And why? Didn't these Christian teachers fear God? Why weren't they doing their homework with all due diligence in the Holy Scriptures? Yes they were presenting a very popular version of the sequence of end-time events. But were they sure it was Biblically correct before they presented it for sale to the Christian masses? Just what was going on here?! Didn't these people fear God!
STUMBLING UPON A HIDDEN CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE.
AND THE INFORMATION WAR BEGINS IN EARNEST OVER THE HOLY WORD OF GOD.
It was only when I sought the face of God and went back into the
devotion that I slowly began to understand. We are in a spiritual war.
We
wrestle with God. And we wrestle with
the principalities and powers of this current world system,
both angelic and human. This spiritual war is an information war.
I was having to learn a few things here. I had assumed that all who name the name of Christ would revere scriptural truth. But I was quite wrong. Not every Christian wants to know the truth. In fact very few do. That was a very very hard pill to swallow. It shook me up when I realized the high drama of all this.
As a result of this variation in devotion to Christ, who is the Living Word of God all Christians apparently do not get the same information. Christians simply get the sort of information their level of devotion to God deserves. The data they get depends on just how much they are 'pressing in' to Christ Jesus. And of course that would vary from one Christian to another.
Gradually I began to perceive what was going on. With that understanding came a change my attitude. I began to understand what was going on inside the church and why it had to be that way.
It seems that we are in an information war. Some people, even some people who call themselves Christians, will never know the truth. And why? Well sometimes they just aren't interested in God's coming Millennial Kingdom. Is this why they not love His appearing? (2Tim.4:8)
Our God is a gracious God. He is not going to force His information on people who are not on His side. And since we are in a spiritual war, an information war, then some Christians, like some soldiers, just cannot be trusted with critical end-time information. Like double agents they could become compromised. As two-timers they might then turn the information into the hands of the enemy.
It was about this time that I realized that the Second Coming of Christ as Messiah and the restoration of Israel were truly important issues for us to know about. If the church was currently uninterested then that state of affairs could not be expected to go on indefinitely. The time would come when they would need that information. The Bible clearly indicated that God was about to do something new. I concluded that if He was about to reveal something glorious which has not been seen before then I wanted to be a part of it. I was a Christian believer on a glorious pilgrimage. Now God was calling me onward. I had a choice. I could answer His call, ..... or I could go sailing.
Well as much as I like to be out on a sailboat here was something coming down that I just could not ignore. The end-time info was critical information. Surely it had to be the key to a lot of other inspiring themes as well. Issues like "blood covenant Christianity", the "greater works", and the Holy Spirit Outpouring in the Endtime Revival certainly sounded positive and upbeat to me. These and many other themes began to emerge in my studies and writings. So did the important matter of true loyalty and Christian devotion.
THE DISCOVERY OF THE END-TIME GLORY!
So I began to discover the truth about the end-time I found myself entering into a serendipity. The end-time drama was not all doom and gloom after all! In fact this was starting to get inspiring and even exciting. I found that after my early broodiness as a Post-Tribber I was now beginning to become a happy camper. If I was all alone then so be it. If I had to be like a scout sent on ahead of the others to scope out the land then I was very glad to take on the job. Of course I was also sobered to realize what being a coastwatcher meant. But I was also an Aussie. And no Australian wants to be left out of the action!God has given me a lot more peace in recent years. I now realize that He is in control. His holy agenda is not off track at all. There is no dualism here. Nor is there a crisis in the courts of heaven. God is the Holy One of Israel. He alone is sovereign in history. Everything is under His control. His Kingdom is not under siege but advancing forward. The victory has already been won at Calvary. Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach is the Sacrifice Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. His blood is on the altar and will atone for as many as will receive Him. Yes we will see many former Christians fall away from the faith. But Jesus told us about it in the parable of the sower. (Mat.13) Yet many suffering Christians overseas are advancing. The Chinese church is under persecution. Yet it doubles its numbers every 7 years. The church is invincible.
Our Saviour is also the Good Shepherd. He loves His people. He will seek out and find every last one of His lost sheep. Not one of them will be lost. Not one will be 'left behind'.
God is not impressed with the notion of an of His people being 'left behind'. It is foreign to His nature and character. He is going to gather His Elect. It will be a remnant company from out of the Church and Israel. We are going to lose some of our numbers on the Way. And we are going to pick up a huge multitude of new people as the drama unfolds. (Rev.7)
The ekklesia, the called out Congregation, the Church which emerges from the Great Tribulation, will be quite a different Church than the one we have today. That is just the way it is going to be as the Bible states it. The true end-time eschatology will be far more awesome and dramatic than the low grade cheap eschatology being put forward by organized religion today. And yes, the real story is drama, sheer unadulterated drama. It will not be the syrupy melodrama of Pre-Trib. Who, having seen this, would want to go back to a Disneyized, milk-toast version of the end-time?
A few years have passed. Today I am not nearly as pushy with end-time truth as I was in the late 90's. People will make their discoveries as they grow in faith. Like obedience, and the embracing of the Way of the cross, it seems to be very much connected with devotion to God. I have discovered that the ability to receive and embrace information on the end-time is very much a love thing. May God help us to open our hearts wide to Him whenever those situations arise when we hear His wooing call.
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