Belief, Gospel, Heaven, Hope, Pretribulation Rapture
Jonathan Brentner
Jesus Is the Only Path to Eternal Life

Eternal life resides in Jesus and in Him alone. No one else! This is true now and will also be the case after Jesus removes His true church from the earth.

In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus Is the Only Path to Eternal Life
Eternity, Hope, Jesus, Gospel, Belief
Jonathan Brentner
Salvation In No Other Name

What do people need the most? The answer remains the same as it’s always been: A clear understanding of the Gospel. By this I mean that people need Jesus, not the one that so many today create in their mind but but the One revealed on the pages of Scripture.

Salvation In No Other Name
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Prelude to the Tribulation

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Prelude to the Tribulation

A common response to those like me who believe we live in the last days is this: “The world has seen violence and wickedness all through its history. What’s so different about today?”

I fully understand that question especially when one considers the world wars of the previous century. Seventy-five years ago many Christians thought Hitler was the antichrist based on his hatred of the Jews and his efforts to establish a worldwide socialist empire. This was truly a terrible time in world history, but it was not the prelude to the tribulation.

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The Repackaging of Amillennialism

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The Repackaging of Amillennialism

For several months I attended a church whose doctrinal statement affirmed its belief in premillennialism, the belief in Jesus’ reign over the nations before the eternal state. So my wife and I faithfully attended assuming the church stood by its statement of faith. Such was not the case.

Later, in discussing prophecy with the pastor I discovered he identified himself as a “covenant premillennialist.” I remained hopeful even then that he believed in a future for Israel and an actual millennium. I later discovered that he did not believe these things.

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The Signs Scream with Both Peril and Hope

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The Signs Scream with Both Peril and Hope

In 1893, Norwegian Expressionist artist Edward Munch painted what has come to be known as The Scream. Munch originally called his work The Scream of Nature.

According to Munch, the inspiration for the work came while on a walk at sunset. As the setting sun turned the sky to red, he sensed an “infinite scream passing through nature.” Historians speculate that a volcano eruption may have turned the heavens him into such a daunting red hue.

For those paying attention; world events scream with great danger for those who do not know Jesus as their Savior. For those who trust Him, we await the sound of the trumpet and shout of an archangel.

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5 Perils of Denying Jesus’ Future Reign

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5 Perils of Denying Jesus’ Future Reign

I could not have written this article several months ago. Although I had no doubts about the biblical truth of premillennialism, I did not fully comprehend the perils of denying Jesus’ thousand year’ reign over the nations of the world as described in Revelation 20:1-10 and Zechariah 14. The denial of Jesus’ rule over a restored Israel is known as amillennialism.

When I heard a popular prophecy preacher refer to amillennialism as a “false teaching” and a “doctrine of demons” (Tim. 4:1), I shuddered; I was not sure I agreed with him. Now I know he was correct.

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7 Reasons Why the Rapture is Not the Second Coming

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7 Reasons Why the Rapture is Not the Second Coming

Is the rapture unique or just another way of describing the second coming?

Pastors, teachers, and Christian writers have differing opinions on this. One assistant pastor at a Bible-believing church once told me he did not believe in the rapture. Along with such denials, many today assert that the book of Revelation is mostly allegory or past history, which necessitates that the rapture and second coming be the same event.

When I look at Scripture, I see two unique events separated by a period of time. The New Testament teaches Jesus will appear to take believers back to His Father’s house in heaven.

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Our Meeting in the Clouds

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Our Meeting in the Clouds

Clouds fascinate me more and more as I grow older. I am not sure any correlation exists with age, perhaps the reason for my growing interest lies elsewhere.

When cloud formations catch my eye, I often think of the time we will meet Jesus in the air. One day during the past week the cloud formations took me in a different direction. They brought to mind Jesus ascension.

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Understanding High Profile Departures from the Faith

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Understanding High Profile Departures from the Faith

As for the recent high profile departures from the true biblical faith, questions keep coming to my mind: How can a person walk with Lord and worship Him without the inner confirmation of the Holy Spirit regarding the truth of the Gospel and the claims of Jesus? What do they do with the historical fact of the empty tomb?

How do we understand what is happening?

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Lessons from My Battle with PTSD

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Lessons from My Battle with PTSD

I know a great many believers, like me, have struggled with issues related to anxiety either in the past or are doing so now. My battle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was long, much longer than necessary because of my slowness in learning how to combat the anxieties and wounds from my past.

I will not go into the circumstances that led to my PTSD; I did that in another post.

These are not steps to healing, but rather biblical truths and lessons I gleaned along the rugged path to my healing from PTSD.

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When Did the Belief in Jesus’ Millennial Reign Begin?

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When Did the Belief in Jesus’ Millennial Reign Begin?

I talked with a gentleman a few weeks ago who told me that belief in Jesus’ millennial reign was relatively new in church history. He asserted that it did not begin until late in the late nineteenth century. Was he correct?

Absolutely not! Premillennialism, the belief in Jesus’ thousand year rule upon the earth before the eternal state, dominated the first three hundred years of the church.

In essence, there has been a rewriting of church history that ignores the existence of early church beliefs regarding Jesus’ future reign.

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Will Jesus Leave Us Behind?

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Will Jesus Leave Us Behind?

I was terrified! I had wondered away from my parents and now I could not see them. For a brief moment, I wondered if they had left me behind. Maybe my parents thought I was with my older sister. Maybe each thought I was with the other. Where were they? I had looked away just for just a moment and now I did not see them!

The unfamiliar surroundings made the situation more frightful.We were visiting my sister in Southern California and after spending the day sightseeing we went to Chinatown for supper and shopping, where I became distracted looking at toys and lost sight of my parents.

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8 Fake News Stories . . . About Heaven

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8 Fake News Stories . . . About Heaven

Randy Alcorn, in his book Heaven, wrote, “As long as the resurrected universe remains either undesirable or unimaginable, Satan succeeds in sabotaging our love for Heaven.”

What are some popular stories about heaven that the enemy of our soul uses to sabotage our desire for the home Jesus is preparing for us?

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Dealing With End Times Complacency by Britt Gillette

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Dealing With End Times Complacency by Britt Gillette

To say the world is the same today as in years past – that we don’t live in unique times – is just not true. More than any other generation, ours has reason to expect the Second Coming. Jesus and the prophets said to look for specific signs heralding the end times. For over 1,800 years, you couldn’t find one of the signs they said to look for. Today, in one form or another, you can find all of them. Here are just a few examples:

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What Does Jesus Tell Us to Do in Light of His Coming?

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What Does Jesus Tell Us to Do in Light of His Coming?

Though only a small child at the time, I remember the sight of a large old farmhouse with a peculiar small room on top of it with windows on all sides. The farmer told my dad that the previous owner of the homestead had the lookout post built on the pinnacle of the roof so he could watch for the return of the Lord.

While we admire this man’s confidence in Jesus’ promise to return for us, is this really what Jesus meant by watching for His appearing? Although our English word for “watch” fits such passive behavior as looking out a window, the word in the original implies much more than that.

What does Jesus tell us to do in light of His imminent return? What do His instructions tell us about our expectation of His appearing?

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Top 10 Signs of the Last Days

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Top 10 Signs of the Last Days

We live in the last days of human history as we know it before the start of the tribulation.

We do not know the day or the hour when Jesus will come for His church or when day God’s fierce wrath will begin. The prophetic signs we see all around us, however, tell us these things are getting ever so close.

I shared this list a couple months ago through my newsletter. As events continue to point toward the soon return of Jesus, I decided to update the list and make it available to more who may be interested. I have also changed the order a bit.

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Saul: A Strategy for Waiting

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Saul: A Strategy for Waiting

With each step I took, I begged the Lord to work on my behalf. I had waited long enough; it was time for things to change. Surely God would listen to my desperate cries for help. I had recently interviewed for a promotion at work and was sure it represented the answer to my financial woes. As I awaited the decision of the hiring manager, I used my late afternoon runs to plead with the Lord to give me the position I so earnestly desired.

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Do You See the Storm Clouds?

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Do You See the Storm Clouds?

Most of us have seen it at some point in our lives. The daytime sky becomes dark ahead of an approaching strong storm; the blackness of the clouds makes it seem like night outside our window as our smartphones buzz with weather warnings. This happened outside my window as I was writing this post.

In Jesus’ day, people did not have our technology to warn of approaching storms. Instead, they learned to recognize signs in the sky that told them what to expect.

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How Do We Respond?

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How Do We Respond?

If you are like me, you find it difficult to maintain your sanity as you watch the growing apostasy in the church and look on as the world descends deeper into wickedness and violence seemingly every day.

One morning this week I read the story in Luke 9:51-56 about a Samaritan village that would not accept the presence of Jesus. In response to the city’s rejection of Jesus, James and John said “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” There are days, I confess, when I have sentiments that are far too similar to these two disciples than not.

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The EFCA Turns Away from Premillennialism

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The EFCA Turns Away from Premillennialism

On the afternoon of June 19, 2019, the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA) voted to remove the word “premillennial” from their statement of faith. As one who has attended EFCA churches in the past, I feel a deep sense of sadness at the decision. I believe this removal of the word “premillennial” takes the EFCA in an unacceptable direction.

I believe that the members voting in favor of removing “premillennial” from their statement of beliefs made their decision the basis of three false assumptions.

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The Biblical Necessity of Jesus’ Reign

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The Biblical Necessity of Jesus’ Reign

In my last post, I looked at what Scripture teaches about our glorious role in Jesus’ kingdom during the millennium, which takes place between the Second Coming of Christ and the eternal state (referred to as “eternity” in the above timeline). For those of us in Christ, this thousand year period of time will be a thrilling time of renewal as we reign with Jesus for a thousand years sharing in His inheritance.

After reading my previous article, some might ask, “Is the millennium really necessary for us to experience the wondrous restoration you wrote about? Won’t these things also be true in the eternal state?”

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The Triumph of the Redeemed!

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The Triumph of the Redeemed!

At some level, all believers share in the sufferings of Jesus. We may not face torture and martyrdom for our faith as many of our brothers and sisters in Christ experience throughout the world. But nonetheless, we know the pain of rejection and ridicule as a result of our love for Jesus and His Word.

Just as we share in Jesus’ suffering we will also someday share in His triumph. Now we endure the ridicule and persecution of those who reject the Savior; in the future we will reign with Jesus.