041 Pre-Tribulation Rapture?

Most of our Christian friends believe in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture*; in other words, they're convinced that Jesus is going to pick them up (to Heaven) before the 3 ½ year period of the Antichrist's reign after having broken the "Holy Covenant," the peace treaty among the world's leading religions (Judaism, Islam and Christianity), the quarrels among which are presently the greatest remaining threat to world peace. *(Rapture: also referred to as The 2^nd Coming of Christ.)

One friend told me on the phone yesterday, "I don't need all that persecution & stuff." She simply chose to believe the easy-way-out myth in spite of the hard in-the-face evidence from the Bible (which most obviously prefer to skip in their readings).

What a bunch of wishful thinkers mainstream Christians are. I think it shows that our friend was wrong: If there's anything Christians need, it IS the great Tribulation, and the Bible tells us why:

In the first description of the 3 ½ year period of the Great Tribulation, given to us by the prophet Daniel in Daniel 12, we find one of God's purposes for this, doubtlessly most troublesome time of world history: "Many shall be purified and made white, and tried" (Dan.12:10).

I believe the church still needs to be purged thoroughly from its lukewarmness, its infatuation with materialism and the world (as in: the System) per se.)

Mentioning and quoting from the book of Daniel Jesus, in Matthew 24:29-31 makes it totally plain that "immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days shall ... appear the sign of the Son of man (Jesus) in heaven. And ... His angels... shall gather together His elect (chosen ones)..."

Some Pre-Tribbers claim that He was referring here to the Battle of Armageddon, but if this is not a clear description of the Rapture, I don't know what is.

Incidentally, we have Him mention here (verse 31) the "great sound of the trumpet," which we find again in three other references to the Rapture: In his first description of the Rapture, Paul tells us, in 1.Corinthians 15:52-53: "I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

In his first letter to the Thessalonians (chapter 4:16, 17) Paul writes about this terrific incident, which marks the end of the world as we know it: "For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with Him in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air."

In the Book of Revelation we find out what Paul was referring to as the "last trump" in 1Cor.15:53." When the Lamb of God (Jesus) opens the 7 seals of the future in John's visions, upon opening the 7^th seal, 7 angels appear with trumpets, each heralding another cataclysmic Endtime event (see Rev.5-10). When finally the 7^th angel sounds his trumpet, we read: "In the days of the 7^th angel, when he shall begin to sound, they mystery of God should be finsihed, as He hath declared to His servants, the prophets" (Rev.10:7).

Finito. In other words, there won't be another 3 ½ years of world history left to go, but it'll be all over now, baby blue! All that awaits earth then is the wrath of God, followed by the Battle of Armageddon, initiating the tousand years of Christ's reign on Earth.

But there are two more indications of why Jesus won't come back before the Tribulation:

In 2Thessalonians 2:1-11 Paul cautions us not to believe the fairy tale that Jesus could come back any moment (which most Preachers will tell you, while telling you of their new 10 year building project of their new church in the next breath), but that Christ could not return unless there should have been a great falling away from the faith first, and the "son of perdition" (the antichrist) should be revealed, sitting in the temple, proclaiming to be God. We know that the AC (antichrist) will only sit in the temple after breaking the Holy Covenant (see Daniel 11:30,31). But Paul even goes as far to explain why many Christians choose to believe the easy-way-out fairy-tale, in verses 10 and 11: "Because they received not the love of the truth...God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie."

Some folks are simply not that fond of the truth, and rather settle for the much easier to believe lies the Enemy is handing us.

Finally, we find the church (church= "ecclesia"= the called-out ones) of Christ in Revelation 12, not being lifted entirely out of this world during the 1260 days or 42 months of the Tribulation, but merely brought to a safe hiding place in the wilderness. We also find the two faithful witnesses in chapter 11 prophesying for the full length of the Tribulation.

Seems to me like there's no easy way out, folks! It's natural not to want to go through such a time, it's natural to be scared, but that's why we've got supernatural means to acquire a supernatural faith to rise above our natural tendencies to be cowards and wishful thinkers...

In my opinion, with all this evidence pointing toward a Post-Tribulation Rapture, it would sound a lot wiser to be prepared for it, as our good old Dad always used to say: "Better have it and not need it, than need it and not have it." Better get some faith today and not be making in your pants tomorrow when you might find the Antichrist at your door and Jesus refusing to come any earlier than He always said He would.

040 Spirit

We're all trying to find our way Home. At least the seekers among us are, those who've always known this wasn't home. Any clue where it might be, our real Home?

Let's see; if it's not of this, physical world, and if the Head and Principal Character of our true Home World is a Spirit (John 4:24), might it be very daring to assume that our Home lies in the Spirit? What some call the Spirit World?

Just because we can't see spirit, we assume that it's somehow inferior to what we've presently got. But that is just as silly as assuming that US Dollars are worth more than British Pounds, just because you've never seen a Pound. Or better, that your dollars are worth more than diamonds, just because you've never seen any.

Just the fact that we can't see the Spirit World, doesn't make it inferior to ours at all. In fact, There, they can see both worlds and move from one to the other.

Doubtlessly, our dimension is the inferior one. To assume anything else would be as ridiculous as a declaration of war by Liechtenstein on the United States.

We just keep treating it as inferior, because that's the way we treat anything we don't understand and that is strange to us. That's why we treated God's very Son that way, and all His emissaries He ever sent, from the very first prophet, even until now.

It says about Jesus, that "He came into His own," (in fact, John had just finished describing how the world had been made by Him), "but His own received Him not" (John 1:10, 11).

The fact of the matter is, the physical world is a product of the Spiritual World, since He that made it, is a Spirit Himself, and dwells primarily in the Spirit World. The Bible says, there will come a time when He will come to live with us, along with His heavenly City, down here, on a newly formed and re-created earth, so, sooner or later, the veil that now parts the physical from the spiritual will be done away with. In other words, we might as well stop sooner to treat the Spirit World, its inhabitants, and those communicating with them and its emissaries to our realm as if we're never going to have anything to do with it, just because right now we can't see it. We might as well get used to the fact, that that's where we're going. We might as well get ready for it, get ready for the Spirit.

It's really not that strange, since we're already spending one third of our time there, namely when we're dreaming. And as far as the dark side of the story is concerned, the bad spirits, we don't have to be afraid of them, either, if we're a child of God, which we can become very easily by accepting Jesus as our Savior. In fact, if you look around, it seems like they're rapidly taking over this place, anyhow, & pretty soon they're going to have taken over this world.

John says that he saw the Devil and his angels being cast down to the earth, and that it would become a short, but very woeful time. I'd say, that's another reason to make sure you're on the right side, and in tune with the "Man Upstairs," the Boss & Master of this whole game,and apply for some help from His side in order to make it through that coming dark period.

In any case, the Spirit World is nothing to be afraid of, since its our true Home, or true Origin, and our destination, the place we're all inevitably going. Might as well get used to it. You don't have to be scared of it, because God already rules there. He may not have yet fully taken charge over our world yet, since He wants to teach all mankind (and the entire universe, for that matter) a lesson we won't forget, but in the Spirit World, He's already the undoubted Master, and has always been.

So, you're in good hands, and you're being well protected by your Maker, His angels, and all your brothers & sisters on the other side... no reason to be afraid of them. In fact, if you're still afraid, you need to ask yourself, where that fear comes from, and why it is there. It could be that the Devil is trying to stop you from something very important.

God is a Spirit. Yet you can trust Him, right? That's what's most important. You don't have to be afraid of spirits, because God is the greatest of all spirits, and if you've got Him on your side (by putting yourself on His), then, what is there to be afraid of? God is also Love, and perfect love casts out fear. It also says that "God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind." (2.Tim.1:7) So, if you're driven by a spirit of fear, then that spirit is not of Him, and you should seek to be filled by His Spirit of power (what greater power is there than His?), of love (which casts out fear) and of a sound mind (get rid of all the fog the Enemy of your soul is trying to create with his fears, worries and doubts!)...

Like myself, you might be surprised to find all that you've been looking for in your life, the happiness, the love, the fulfilment your inwardly seeking, in a place where you never expected it to be: flesh can satisfy flesh, the carnal can satisfy the carnal, but only spirit can satisfy spirit, that aching, yearning void inside the depths of our souls, which God created and reserved for Himself. "There's a God-shaped hole in all of us," as a song says, and since God is a Spirit, it's a hole that can only be filled by Spirit. Nothing else will be able to fill it.

Let that inner you, that dwells inside your body, find its way Home, where it belongs, and where the Father awaits you like the prodigal son, with arms wide open!

039 (more on) Popularity

Throughout the ages, there have been those who betrayed the church - like Judas, for which body of true believers didn't have a few of their own? But there were also those whom the church betrayed. Paul, for example, was a classical case, of an outcast of the very early church - the one we deem the purest - who, because of his different way, doubtlessly his former hostility, never really was full accepted by the original early church in Jerusalem, in spite of the fact (or was it even because of it?) that he was the first to truly fulfill Jesus' call and commandment to go into all the world (not just Judea and surroundings), prach the gospel to every creature (not just the Jews) and make disciples of all nations.

Of course, the list would become endless if we were to follow up throughout history and count those who were betrayed and forsaken by their own church for various reasons, because they wouldn't fit in. Some, like Luther, simply started their own movement, outside of the confines of the old. Others, like Father Damien, the leper priest of Hawaii, lived with their fate (and their church) until they died - some martyrs at the hands of their own brothers and sisters, cursed in their lifetimes and declared saints post-mortum.

How is it that most of the true prophets, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Moses, David and even the Messiah Himself, had to suffer persecution, disdain and contempt from their own people, their own brethren?

It must be that popularity - in God's eyes, even popularity among His own people, must really not be where it's at. It must really be so, as Paul said, that "All who would live godly (piously) in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution," and that, quite often, at the hands of their very own people.

Some had their temporary bouts and phases of popularity, but when the final crunch came, they were either thrown in dungeons, chased out of town, or crucified.

Amazingly, we observe this shocking lack of acceptance of genius not only in the field of religion, but in the arts as well, if you look at the lives of such great composers as Mozart or Haendel.

Haendel, as a German in England, got hell from the established church of his day for his attempts to put the gospel to music and make it accessible for the common people. He lived most of his life on the verge of poverty and had to go to Ireland for his works to be heard.

We all know that Mozart never lived to enjoy his popularity.

So, then, the price of real anointing seems to be that you hardly ever get to enjoy the credit for it in this life... Maybe that is what ensures that what you've got will also remain true anointing? Maybe it is to make sure that the credit goes to the One Who gives the anointing in the first place...

In any case, it seems - contrary to all we ever thought and wished to think - that popularity isn't necessarily any proof for quality nor genuine talent or spirituality. It rather seems like the opposite.

038 Lonely World

I'm finding myself lately having to break out of a box, a mental pattern of perception, which, I'm afraid, quite a lot of us are prone to. Especially when we're younger, we tend to only seek to impress a certain group of people, usually the age group that is the same as ours (or slightly above, when we were young teens), and later in life it becomes the prestigeous, those who, we figure, might have something to offer to us, people whose acquaintance we benefit from. Sometimes it's as if that group, our mental "target group," is the only one that even exists for us. There may be other humans, like our parents, teachers, etc., but they're either necessary evils or a downright nuisance and pain in the behind.

I dare say that in this day & age, where the media have mass-hypnotized us into thinking what is acceptable and what is not in a manner that would have let Hitler grow pale with envy, it is a rare youngster who doesn't care at all whether the person they talk to is "hip," in the accepted age group, or at least somewhere near the accepted range.

What is really shocking for me, though, is, how old I've had to become in order to even let it dawn on me just how much this kind of group think had affected me, and to realize just how sickening it was.

On the other hand, I'm grateful, because I probably wouldn't have been mature enough to handle the shock at a younger age, the shock that you get when you realize just how wide-spread this game has become.

We used to think that only snobs or racists would act in discriminating ways toward their slightly different fellowmen, but - gosh, that was in the 70s, maybe the 80s.

Waking up in the 21^st century means that all of a sudden those who were discriminated and looked down on in the past have developed their own snobbishness, their own class-consciousness, their own Nazi-ism, and just about every group tends to discriminate every other group.

You must give the Devil credit for being one hell of a smart b…… to have achieved this feat! Especially, because he managed to make this very game most popular among God's own people - or those who deem themselves such.

The end result of all this is, that the world is becoming a lonier place by the hour, as there are ever more little groups developing who will discriminate all the other ones, but especially those who don't belong to any of them, those who would just like to be themselves, & give a damn about clichés & cliques.

May God have mercy and turn our hearts of stone into real ones of flesh & blood, so that we may once again be able to hear our neighbor's heartcry and be able to look him in the eye and see a living soul there, instead of trying to analyze: "Which group do you belong to? Are you acceptable? Hip or uncool? Can I take the risk to be seen associating myself with you or not?..." Or, "Is s/he a potential customer or going to benefit me in some other way?"

I'm sure grateful for those I have come across in my life who have accepted me for the totally unhip and uncool dude that I am, and I'm looking forward to returning that favor to many a poor lost soul who doesn't know where the heck they belong in this lost & lonely world...