Perhaps the dumbest thing Christians ever do is to assume that what they were taught about the Scripture, is Scripture…
Did you know that it is okay to question God?
Perhaps the dumbest thing Christians ever do is to assume that what they were taught about the Scripture, is Scripture…
We seem incapable of even questioning the assumptions and presuppositions upon which our beliefs are constructed. Every denomination and group within the Christian Church has “Special Doctrines” and Super Truths, those questionable doctrines they will tell you that represent a truth misunderstood by all of the Christians in the whole world, except, of course, their group… These are the things that make a Methodist fear to enter a Baptist Church and terrifies Baptists when they even think about Pentecostal churches…
More than that, it makes it impossible for many Christians to question or challenge the eschatology they were taught back in 1968…
Let me give you a hint… If your church or denomination is the only group in the world that believes something… You absolutely, positively, must question it… The reason nobody else believes it is because it is questionable!
On the End Times and Eschatology, I, like many of you, learned all about it a very long time ago. My teachers believed what they were teaching, and I believed my teachers…
Most of it was wrong… very, very wrong!
I wrote a book called “Allah’s Jesus”. It is still for sale on Amazon. I do not believe a word of it now. Someone pointed out to me that in the Bible, the Antichrist deceives Jews, Christians, the State of Israel and his deception threatens even the Elect of God… Suddenly, it dawned on me that no Muslim could ever accomplish that!
I believed, strongly, in a PreTrib rapture… Then, someone challenged me to prove it with Scripture… I was totally confused and stressed for weeks, as I tried to prove it. After a while, I came to understand that while belief in a pretrib rapture calmed my fears and made me happy, it simply was not Biblical.
C. S. Lewis was a sceptic. He was a PhD, and a full professor at Oxford University. He was saved and brought to full faith in Jesus when he started to write a book disproving the resurrection of Jesus… His Questions found solid answers… He proved, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead…
It is Okay… It is necessary to question everything… If it is real, you will find that it is real. If it is wrong, you will find out why it is wrong.
The teaching of a Great Worldwide Revival in the end days is based on the misinterpretation of Matthew 24:14. In context, the verse does not support such a teaching. Scripture speaks of an end times struggle and the endurance of a small remnant of Christians, emphasizing suffering, martyrdom, and the refinement of the Bride of Christ.
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
There is a false and misleading teaching that there will be, in the end days, a Great Worldwide Revival…
That teaching is based entirely on this one verse, Matthew 24:14, because it is the one and only verse in Scripture that would appear to almost, sort of, kind of like, support that teaching…
The problem is that, read and understood in context, even this verse says no such thing… I challenge you to read the verse as a part of the entire chapter and to try to understand it in its full context.
In order to make this verse speak of a massive, end times revival, one must rip it from context, isolate it, enlarge and inflate it, and with great eisegetical form, reinterpret it, adding a great deal of wishful thinking…
Scripture, including Matthew 24, speaks of an end times struggle and a small remnant of Christians who endure to the end and refuse the Mark of the Beast… It speaks to the suffering, death, and martyrdom of the Saints.
Scripture speaks of the Martyrs under the throne being told to wait a little longer until THE FULL NUMBER OF SAINTS HAVE BEEN KILLED, EVEN AS THEY WERE!
Scripture says of the Beast that “HE WAS GIVEN AUTHORITY TO MAKE WAR AGAINST THE SAINTS AND TO OVERCOME THEM”!
It is “HE WHO ENDURES TO THE END WHO WILL BE SAVED”
Modern preachers simply do not like endurance, or suffering, or martyrdom… It lowers attendance and empties the collection plates… So, they fill their churches with itchy eared people and they preach happy and imaginative sermons based on isolated happy verses, and full of fear calming, wishful thinking…
Fear calming, happy sermons, full of wishful thinking, built with careful eisegesis, will damn many a wannabe Christian to a Devil’s Hell…
The Bride of Christ will be refined, as gold, in the refiner’s fire… God wants a pure and holy bride for his Son, not a big one…
But preachers, more than anyone else, hate the refiner’s fire!
The Promise of God is not that He will keep you from Tribulation but that He will go through the tribulation with you and take you to Glory with him when it is finished…
TRIBULATION COMES
Matthew 24:
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those daysthe sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Revelation 13:
5 And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear:
10 If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain.
Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
Paul writes:
1 Corinthians 15:
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
John, the Apostle, wrote:
Revelation 11:15
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
Revelation 19:
6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,
“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
9 And the angel said[a] to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Revelation 20:
4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.
In the light of these Scriptures, I would suggest to you that you have been lied to and taught a doctrine which calms your fears and feeds your daydreams, but violates both common sense and plain Scripture…
Ten of the original Apostles died as martyrs.
Stephen was stoned.
James lost his head.
Peter was crucified upside down.
Paul suffered tremendous persecution and died a martyr.
More than seventy million Christians have been martyred.
More than 16,000 Christians have been martyred in Nigeria over the last four years.
The lives of Christians are even now threatened in almost every nation in the world. The idea that Jesus is somehow obligated to rapture the church before any American Christians are called on to suffer or die for Jesus is absurd and narcissistic.
Paul, who would lose his head in a Roman prison, wrote these words:
Philippians 3:
8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
In the light of all of these things, some will continue to cling to happy doctrines and be deceived and drug into Hell by the great deceiver himself…
2 Thessalonians 2:
9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
If you insist on holding on to false and deceptive doctrine, you will receive the delusion sent from God, you will believe the lie, and you will be damned because you refused to love the truth and decided to defend your doctrine instead…
It is he who endures to the end who will be saved… He who holds on to the false hope of an early rapture is not going to make it…
The Promise of God is not that He will keep you from Tribulation but that He will go through the tribulation with you and take you to Glory with him when it is finished…
If anyone is destined for captivity,
into captivity he goes.
If anyone is to be killed with a sword,
with a sword he will be killed.
This demands the perseverance and faith of the saints.
This is a 25 minute sermon by me… I speak to getting ready for what is coming… ————————————————————————- Scripture: Revelation 13:7-10 7 And he was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them. He was also given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. 8 All those who live on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered.
9 If anyone has an ear, he should listen:
10 If anyone is destined for captivity, into captivity he goes. If anyone is to be killed with a sword, with a sword he will be killed.
This demands the perseverance and faith of the saints. ———————————————————————– Please listen and share…
…the same devil who inspired Hitler to kill the Jews, then saved the Jews and fulfilled God’s promise…
People keep sending me videos that claim that the same devil who inspired Hitler to kill the Jews, then saved the Jews and fulfilled God’s promise to the Jews by returning the Jews to the Land God promised them.
Now they insist that God hates the people the devil inspired Hitler to kill, the same people whom the devil then saved by fulfilling God’s promise of returning them to the land.
They would insist that God would have me stand firmly with Satan, Allah, Hamas, the Palestinians, and Muslims everywhere, and insist that the Jews whom Satan first tried to exterminate but then saved and returned to the land, must now be destroyed and driven from the Land God promised them but Satan gave them.
Seriously, and they insist that I do it in Jesus Name!
God promised to return the Jews to the land He promised Abraham’s descendants.
He promised to do it a second time.
He promised to do it in the last days.
The Jews have returned to the land.
This is the second time.
These are the end days.
You may believe that Satan has fulfilled a promise that God made.
You may believe that Satan rescued the people Hitler tried to exterminate.
You may believe that Satan now hates the Jews whom he returned to the land.
You may believe that Allah and Hamas are trying to destroy the people Satan rescued and steal the land Satan gave them.
You may choose to believe that while God promised it, Satan did it, and now the God of Mohammad and Hitler is trying to destroy the people he put there.
As for me, I choose to believe that God did what He promised to do and that Satan, the moon god Allah, Hamas, a few misguided Americans, A New York City Cult leader, Satanists, Luciferians, and a few misguided wannabe Christians are angry.
You are free to follow Allah, Mohammad, and Satan. You are free to follow the devil himself…
Really, you are free to believe that Satan caused Hitler to attempt the extermination of the Jews, then rescued the Jews and returned them to the Land God promised them and that he now hates them and is trying to destroy the people he rescued and expel them from the land he placed them in…
If you want to believe that, go for it!!!
As for me and my house, we will follow the God of Israel!
It does not matter on which side you err, a half-truth is always a lie, a half-gospel is no gospel at all.
Scripture is balanced, are you?
Scripture speaks to grace and to wrath, to reward and to punishment; it is never either/or, it is always both/and. Scripture speaks of Heaven and Hell, blessings, and curses. When we go off on one side and ignore the other, we are in error, always and without exception. It does not matter on which side you err, a half-truth is always a lie, a half-gospel is no gospel at all.
Continued below video:
Unbalanced and Bound For Hell
Jesus said, “I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18 but Revelation 13:7 says “It was also given to him (the Antichrist/Beast) to make war with the saints and to overcome them…” That demands balance.
A major problem with the Pharisees was their inability to accept change… Their whole lives, careers and reputations were built around their religion… the Law of Moses was forever and so nothing could ever change. The Prophets spoke freely of a day when God would take the Law written on stone tablets and write it on their hearts… The Scriptures spoke of a coming Messiah and the changes He would bring but the Pharisees could not see that and would not accept it… the Messiah would come to reenforce their traditions, not destroy them!
When the Messiah came, they did not recognize him, nor could they accept him. Jesus called the people down because, while they could forecast the weather, they had no idea of the times in which they lived. The death and resurrection were plainly prophesied, but they could not accept that… Grace brought an end to their careers and that was more than they could accept.
Between the Church Age and the Millennial Reign, there is a short period called the Great Tribulation. Things in the Tribulation period will not work as they have in the church age. The Tribulation will end the careers of Church leaders and that is something they cannot accept. As a solution to that problem, the great heresy of a Pretrib Rapture was invented. It has no Scripture to support it and it violates dozens of clear and plain Scripture passages, but it is an out for church leaders and a fire escape for believers.
While the “Gates of Hell” were somehow interpreted as being an offensive weapon, “Duck, the gates are coming!”, gates are a defensive weapon… Satan could not stop the advance of Christ’s Church. The American church has taken that truth to the ridiculous extreme and taught that it means that nothing can ever hurt you as an individual Christian… more than seventy million martyrs call that doctrine a lie!
It remains true that, in the Church Age, Satan cannot stop the advance of the Gospel… Can he destroy your church? You bet… thousands of churches have gone out of business in just the last twenty years… But, as has been proved ten thousand times, the church will continue to grow long after a satanic government has burned the last church building to the ground…
However, in the Tribulation, we find a number of Christian martyrs never seen in the history of the church. Satan is given the right to make war against the Saints and to overcome them… Church leaders will lose their careers and their lives. As we approach that day, Church leaders, like the pharisees before them, cannot accept that fact. Nothing will ever change… We will build a bigger church, and even if we have to rewrite the Gospel and redact huge portions of Scripture to do it, we will fill it with people, and they will tithe!!!
Jesus could look at the church today and say, “You can tell me what the weather will be like tomorrow, but you have no idea about the times in which you live!” Church leaders would stand up and call him a liar to his face, and immediately go back to planning their new sanctuary and discussing which parts of the Bible they need to leave out of their sermons in order to attract enough people to pay for it… They have no idea!
We must be real. We must be balanced. We must accept change. Everything changed with Noah. Everything changed with Abraham. Everything changed with Moses. Everything changed with Jesus. When the Tribulation hits, everything will change again.
Deuteronomy 28:6 says, “You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.” But Deuteronomy 28:16 says, “You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.” Preaching either one of those verses without the other is to generate heresy.
2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” But 2 Chronicles 7:19 and 20 say, “But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight.” Again, to preach either passage without the other is to preach heresy.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” If you preach that out of context to a people who have no idea what Jeremiah 1:1 through Jeremiah 29:10 teaches, you preach heresy.
I would think that no verse in Scripture has ever been so abused and misused as Jeremiah 29:11.
When you understand that this is written to people who have just witnessed the death of their family and friends, the burning of their houses, their city, and their temple…
when you understand that these people have just been marched across 500 miles of awful wilderness to a pagan land where they are being forced to serve the very king who has just killed their families and burned everything they ever knew to the ground…
when you understand that these people will all, every one of them, die in that foreign land and that none of them will ever get to go home…
Suddenly you understand that that verse cannot possibly mean what most preachers say that it does!
It is this lack of balance that has left the church in America absolutely unprepared for what is about to happen…
I do not care what others do… you need to find balance in the Scripture and in your life… Unbalanced people, believing an unbalanced Gospel will never make it in the days to come…
30,000+: Massive Crowd Greets Trump in South Carolina… Tens of thousands of people have turned out today to greet President Trump in downtown Pickens, South Carolina. There are so many people in attendance that even the overflow areas have overflowed. The Greenville News reports a crowd of 30,000 was “very possible” in the town of 3,370 residents. However, there are reportedly more than 10,000 people still waiting to get into the outdoor venue. And one television network said as many as 75,000 were in attendance.
Based, for the most part, on a single verse of Scripture, Matthew 24:14, many are looking for and preaching a great “End Times Revival”. Can a doctrine be built on a single verse? Did you ever read that verse in context? Certainly you have heard this preached, did the preacher put it in context or did he just pull it out and let it stand on its own? Scripture calls for a great end times apostasy… Are they calling apostasy revival?
End Time Thinker 