As born again Christians, we are spared from the wrath and judgment of God as concerns our personal sin. However, as with many issues, Christians, and in particular Western Christians, have taken this truth to a heretical extreme.
And yes, truth pushed to the ridicules extreme becomes heresy.
The wrath from which we are saved is not the tribulation, or the wrath of God on the earth in general, it is the wrath poured out in Hell against sinners who have rejected Jesus.
Extremists love to quote Scripture out of context.
1 Thessalonians 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath…
The extremists always use the first part of the verse and finish it with three little dots…
Did you never wonder what they are so carefully omitting?????
The whole verse reads “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” Even reading the verse in its entirety tells you that it is speaking of salvation versus damnation. If you read the entire passage, you cannot ever make that mean the wrath of God poured out on a sinful world in the tribulation. In its proper context, wrath is the opposite of salvation. We are speaking of Heaven and Hell, not the tribulation…
But… Pretribbers needed a proof text and the first half of that verse, removed from context, would work to support their fantasy, and it is such a happy lie!
When God judges nations and peoples, Christians often get hurt. The good news is that God goes through it with them, and when they die, they go to Heaven and not Hell. Many nations have been judged by God and destroyed. When that happened, Christians were hurt and killed. When the river flooded Kerrville, Christians died…
Speaking of the days in which we now live and the days soon to come, Jesus said…
Matthew 24:9 “Then they will hand you over for persecution, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of My name.
John, writing of Christians living through the Tribulation, penned these words:
Revelation 13:9 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.
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This demands the perseverance of who???
You!
THE AMERICAN CHURCH HAS LED THE WORLD IN THE GREAT APOSTASY…
To hear the Gospel from the average American preacher is to understand that Jesus died to make you fat, rich and happy in your mansion overlooking downtown Babylon… As long as you attend church, raise your hands, sing loudly, and throw money in the plate, you will be healed of every disease, protected from all harm, and given riches beyond your wildest imagination… If it doesn’t work out that way, it is your fault, not the preacher’s… you either didn’t have enough faith or more likely, didn’t put enough money in the plate…
Get a handle on reality, it isn’t just Stephen, James, Paul and Peter who suffered and died for Jesus, more than seventy million martyrs have followed them and hundreds of Christians are being given the opportunity to suffer and die for Jesus today… Right now!
If you will follow him, God will have you where He wants you, when He wants you to be there. You will suffer what God wills you to suffer and you will die on the day and at the hour He has determined. If you do not follow him, good luck!
There is another verse that heretics love to rip from context and misinterpret… a verse hanging on the wall in many Christian homes… Only again, just the first part of the verse, ending in those famous three dots that represent the part that your preacher likely never read you.
Philippians 3:10 My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection…
Again… Get a handle on reality! Look at the context!
Philippians 3:10 My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.
Context changes everything!!!!!
Is your goal to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, or would you really like to just stop after the first phrase? The truth is that those who do not want to know him in the fellowship of His sufferings or to be conformed to His death, will NEVER know him in the power of his resurrection!
PRAY-THINK-PRAY
David…
