Tag Archives: Tribulation

2015 Word from the Lord (Pt. 2)

Boots on the Ground

This New Year is the time to dress up in righteousness, put your “glad rags” on and be prepared to preach and minister the word of the Lord. It’s also time to put some “boots on the ground,” dig ditches and help build what God wants to build for the days ahead. Morningside is a place of safety and a refuge for the last days. We need to be ready.

A recent guest on our program said, “Everything could change in a day. A Mega-quake may actually be the first domino that will push us into the tribulation period.”

Spiritual warfare is at the door. The church has got to have their boots on – we have to be ready to do some work! Christian soldiers need to have “boots on the ground.” Continue reading →

The Imminent Judgment of God (Pt. 5)

John then told me about a pastor that contacted him and ordered 150 of his books for his church.  This pastor had a Dr. of Theology degree, very strong in the Word, and has pastored for over 40 years in a well-known and well-respected denomination that has preached a pre-trib rapture forever!   John read from his letter:

“Dear John,

I pastor a large Baptist church in North Carolina, and as such I have been taught and have taught for many years that there would be a pre-tribulation rapture. Several weeks ago, a member of my previous congregation called and told me that I just had to read your book. As I told you on the phone, I probably would not have purchased this book at first glance at a book store. But at my friend’s insistence, I ordered it. I did my first reading per the advice of a former college professor who told us to read books like we eat fish, ‘eat the meat and spit out the bones.’ In other words, if you stop reading a book at the first place where you disagree with the author, you will probably never finish, or you will finish very few books. Continue reading →

Staying in Perfect Peace as the World Goes Wild

I’m pretty sure that most people are feeling the pressure of a world gone wild, especially those who are a little older and can remember a safer, more stable world of a few decades ago. I know that what I’m seeing happen around the world in social issues, weather related events, global unrest and violence and the general hostile climate of our world is the stuff that makes people crazy and causes some to lose hope.

And, if our hope was only in this world, we may as well lose it. Continue reading →

Time Has Come (Pt. 4)

You are not in Darkness

Many sincere people are asleep at the wheel.  Some are cavorting with the devil, veering increasingly off course toward destruction. Others see the dangerous direction we are heading, but they naively hope that Jesus will come and save us before we hit the rocks.  Escaping the coming tribulation would be wonderful, but I’m convinced that we must go through some of these tribulation events. After years of studying the Scripture, I find little evidence that Jesus is going to return for Christians before the difficult times of Revelation begin to happen on earth. Although I’m certain Jesus is coming, we may indeed be here for what Jesus called the “beginnings of sorrows,” (Matthew 24:8, NKJV) and perhaps much more.  We need to understand the signs of the times and recognize the events leading to the Lord’s return.

In churches all across America, I’ve asked congregations, “How many of you believe that Jesus is going to come for us like a thief in the night?”  It’s a bit of a trick question, but I use it to make a point.

Most hands go up.  Nearly everyone has a vague familiarity with the idea that Jesus will return when we least expect Him.  Those who have made headlines in recent years for their foolish, unbiblical predictions of Christ’s return tend only to further convince us that we cannot know when Jesus is coming.

But if you look at the Scripture carefully, you may be surprised.  The Word does not say that He is coming like a thief in the night for believers.

“For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.  While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.  But you brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day.  We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. (1 Thessalonians 5:2-6 NASB).

Do you see that?  You are not to be in darkness.  You are not of the night.  You are to be watching and waiting, already prepared for the coming of the Lord. You will have advance information, namely, signs you can recognize that His coming is near.  You will not be caught unaware.  Or at least you should not be.

Jesus said, “My sheep know my voice.”  They recognize not just the sound of His voice, but the truth of His words.  If you are a fan of John Grisham novels, you recognize the author’s voice in each of his books.  If you’ve read the great writers from the past, such as Shakespeare, you recognize their style.  Similarly, if you study the Scriptures, you can know the voice of Jesus and recognize the truth of His Word. By becoming familiar with His voice, you will be able to recognize when something is consistent with what Jesus said or whether it is an idea concocted by someone else, well intentioned though they may be. There is no reason for you to be caught off guard by the cataclysmic events that are about to happen. Revelation will help you to be ready.

(excerpt from Time Has Come)

Who Ya Gonna Call (Pt. 7)

Stan shuffled his way through the lines, exited the grocery store, and returned home. The Chevy’s gas gage now edged to the left of the “E”. As he turned off the engine, Stan wondered whether the car would start again tomorrow with so little gas in the tank.

Christine and Natalie were wide awake on the sofa. “Stan! Where have you been? You’ve been gone for more than three hours …” It was then that Christine noticed the sparse amount of food Stan carried. “Simply to bring home some rice, bread, and beans? Stan, where in the world have you been? I’ve been worried about you. Our candles are getting low. And it’s really getting damp and cold in this apartment without any heat.” Continue reading →

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? (Pt. 11)

Jesus Could Come For You

Conclusion

My former teaching that “Jesus could come today” I now regard as a half-truth.  For you, Jesus could come today.  You could meet with some accident or die of natural causes and be swept into His presence in a heartbeat.  But as for Jesus coming back for the Church as a whole, certain events must yet take place before that can happen.

For instance, Paul wrote,

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

Notice, Jesus will not return until after there has been a great falling away from the truth and the Antichrist has risen to power by promising to bring normalcy to a world whose stability and security is convulsing.  Paul continued,

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.  And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.  The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (2 Thess. 2:7-10 NKJV)

Paul is implying that the Holy Spirit now retrains the Antichrist from catapulting to power, but one day soon that hold hindrance will be removed, and the Antichrist will be revealed to the world.  At that time the world will be clamoring for peace, but this false messiah will bring just the opposite.  “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.  And they shall not escape” (1Thess. 5:3 NKJV).

If your hope is in this world, get ready for the ride of your life.  The material systems of this world, the harlot of Revelation, are about to be destroyed!

The End of the “Will We Go Through the Tribulation” Series

Though the words above were written more than 12 years ago, they were never more true than they are today.

Love,

Jim

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 1
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 2
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 3
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 4
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 5
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 6
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 7
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 8
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 9
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 10

For further study, please get the book:

Published in 1998

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? (Pt. 9)

It’s All Over But the Shouting

Have you ever wondered, Just how long God is going to put up with this sinful world?  The answer is:  this long, and no longer.  John wrote:

The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets. (Rev. 10:5-7 NKJV)

In other words, the messenger stands on the sea and on the land and announces, “Time is over!”  Notice, the angel says, “There should be delay no longer” (v. 6).  The seventh angel is about to sound the seventh trumpet, and when it sounds, the mystery of the ages will be solved and the Lord’s return is at hand.

Ask ten Bible teachers what this mystery is and you may get ten (or more!) different answers.  I believe the mystery to which john refers is the same one the apostle Paul spoke of frequently, the mystery of the gospel.  Paul wrote, “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began…” (Rom. 16:25 NKJV).  He uses the term in a similar way when writing to the Ephesians:  “And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel…” (6:19 NKJV).

To the Colossians, Paul was more specific, writing, “…the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.  To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles:  which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (1:26-27 NKJV).  It is the preaching of the cross and the opportunity to accept the rich, full salvation Jesus offers that is finished.  The only thing left for this world to experience is the wrath of God, but before that wrath is poured out, Jesus says, “That’s it.  Game over.”

With this in mind, Jesus’ statement concerning the Great Tribulation is easier for us to understand.

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake thouse days will be shortened. (Matt. 24:21-22 NKJV)

Time is no more, the gospel is completed; it is time for the Lord to return!

(To Be Continued)

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 1
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 2
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 3
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 4
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 5
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 6
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 7
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 8
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 10
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 11

Excerpt from Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse

Published in 1998

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? (Pt. 6)

The Origin of the Pretrib View

When I dug into the matter further, I was surprised to discover that many of the ideas associated with the pretributional Rapture originated not in the Bible, but in an extrabiblical vision experienced by a young Scottish woman named Margaret Macdonald in 1830.  The woman sent handwritten copies of her “revelation” to Edward Irving, a controversial minister, who, with his great gifts of oratory and his magnetic personality, was drawing large crowds to his church in London.  In his pamphlet, “Why I Believe the Church Will Pass Through the Tribulation,” David MacPherson described what happened after Irving got hold of Margaret Macdonald’s vision.

It was from this supposed revelation that the modern doctrine and modern phraseology respecting the pretribulational rapture arose; it came not from Scripture, but from that which falsely pretended to be the Spirit of God.  Irving accepted this teaching and it was taught at prophetic meetings at Powerscourt House in Ireland, attended by Plymouth Brethren organizer John Darby.  Irving’s views influenced Darby, C. H. Mackintosh, and C. I. Scofield, whose Bible popularized the new theory.  Later, some of the leading Plymouth Brethren scholars, including Benjamin Newton and S. P. Tregelles, rejected this pretrib theory.  For 1,800 years the Church had believed only in a postrib coming which, during persecution, was occasionally thought to be imminent.  There is not a shred of historical evidence before 1830 that the Church ever believed in a double coming, or rapture before the Tribulation.

David Mac Pherson goes on to list some of the elements of Margaret’s radical vision, which included splitting the second coming of Christ into two phases – first, a pretrib rapture; then later, after the tribulation, the return of Christ to earth.  Her own statement clearly contains more of the major tenets found today in pretrib dispensationalism – meeting the Lord in the air, secrecy, suddenness, invisibility, immanency, a pretrib separation of believers and unbelievers, distinction between the raptured bride and the tribulation elect.

How, you may wonder, could a vision experienced by a relatively unknown young woman with no platform or sphere of influence have such an impact?  Actually, most people of her time did not know the vision was Margaret Macdonald’s.  They thought the new truth was something Edward Irving had discovered in the Bible.  Keep in mind that Irving was a popular preacher in those days, and his views were quickly adopted.  In The Rapture Plot, David MacPherson lists four reasons why he believes the young woman was not “credited” with her vision at first:  “She was a female in the male-dominated theological world of 1830; she was young; she was uneducated; and she had been a Christian only a year.”  Interestingly, many of the tenets in the teachings of highly respected prophetic teachers, and other advocates of a pretribulational Rapture, are similar to those first espoused by Margaret Macdonald.

(To Be Continued)

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 1
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 2
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 3
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 4
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 5
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 7
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 8
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 9
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 10
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 11

Excerpt from Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse

Published in 1998

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? (Pt. 5)

For me, belief in the Rapture played right into my prosperity theology.  It made for a perfect package: people could get saved by saying a few words, they could live in luxury and excess throughout this lifetime, and then Jesus would return to take them out of the tough times that others were to experience during end-time tribulation.  It was pure escapism.  My favorite prophetic passage was, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the son of Man” (Luke 21:36 NKJV).

I liked that verse because it gave me an out.  Christians did not really have to suffer.  They would be taken home to glory before all the bad stuff started happening on earth.  I felt it went against God’s very nature to allow His family to go through the horrors of the Tribulation.  Surely He loves us too much to allow that.  “Just keep praying, brother and sister, that you may be counted worthy to escape.”

Not only that, but it was easier to raise money if one believed in a pretribulational Rapture.  Many sincere Christians who want their lives to count for Christ are easily stimulated to give to ministries when they believe that Jesus Christ could come back at any moment.  After all, who wants to send money to a ministry that tells them tough times are coming and you will have to go through them?

In the preface to his book The Rapture Plot, author David MacPherson hints at a link between pretrib theology and money.  MacPherson describes belief in the Rapture as “Protestant evangelicalism’s most popular and most lucrative view of the future.”  Not surprisingly, most popular prosperity teachers – with a few rare exceptions – hold strongly to a pretribulational view, including belief in a Rapture that will allow believers to escape the calamities to come.

My own thinking on the matter began to change when, in prison, I began a daily, concentrated study of the Scriptures, especially those relating to Jesus Christ.  Naturally, I wanted to learn about Christ’s return, so I began searching for those passages that described a rapture that preceds the Tribulation.

To my amazement, I couldn’t find any.  Oh, sure, I found Scriptures that I and other preachers had twisted or had imbued with our own interpretations, but when I allowed the Bible to speak for itself, I came face to face with the fact that my preconceived notions of a pretribulational Rapture were baseless.  About that same time, God began to impress upon me that I myust warn people concerning the dark days to come.

Over the years since then, I have discovered that I am not alone in my opinion that there is no biblical basis to believe in a pretribulational Rapture.  For instance, Dr. George Eldon Ladd, the esteemed former Professor of Exegesis and Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, wrote, “The Scripture nowhere asserts that there is a Rapture which will take place before the Revelation.”

Dr. Ladd studied the prophetic Scriptures carefully and wrote numerous books on the Second Coming, including The Blessed Hope and A Commentary on the Book of Revelation.  In his book The Last Things, Ladd contends:

The only coming of Christ that is spoken of in Matthew 24 is the coming of the glorious Son of Man after the tribulation and the only thing that resembles the Rapture is the gathering of the elect from the four winds (Matt. 24:31).  There is not a hint of a pretribulational return of Christ and Rapture of the church before the Great Tribulation.

(To Be Continued)

Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 1
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 2
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 3
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 4
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 6
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 7
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 8
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 9
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 10
Will We Go Through the Tribulation? – Part 11

Excerpt from Prosperity and the Coming Apocalypse

Published in 1998