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.
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.
At a time of great discouragement and much heartache in my past, I focused on biblical promises and wrote several pages in my journal of why I still believed despite my awful circumstances. Perhaps it’s time for another declaration of why I still believe that Jesus will come for us before the start if the Tribulation.
I believe the character of Satan, combined with that of the coming antichrist, explains the times and seasons in which we now live. In other words, should we not expect to see these traits in the world around us in the ramp up to the time when the devil’s kingdom becomes manifest on the earth through the “son of perdition?”
The path from here to eternity grows clearer with each passing day.
On the one hand, the globalists openly speak and write about their plans for transhumanism and the Great Reset, which sound remarkably similar to what the book of Revelation predicts for the future of the world. On the other hand, the Bible tells us that although these powerbrokers of today will enjoy success for a season, God will destroy them during the tribulation.
Just as the denial of creation’s story spawns false and misleading beliefs regarding the environment, so the denial of our entire story, as redeemed believers, leads to false teaching in the church today. Just as with creation, we, too, have a glorious ending that Satan works overtime to hide from the faithful.
Because many believers reject the idea that we live in the last days before the events of the seven-year tribulation sweep over the earth, they fail to identify the many ways that makes today radically different than any previous time.
The abundance of signs that we see everywhere in our world tell us the tribulation period is ever so near and with that our departure, which happens before it.
When the disciples asked Jesus about the signs of the end of the age, Jesus began His answer with these words, “See that no one leads you astray” (Matt. 24:4). Jesus’ first warning about the last days concerned those who would seek to deceive His followers by leading them away from the truth. Does this not describe the world in which we all live?
According to the notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Maryland’s delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, a lady asked Dr. Franklin, “Well Doctor what have we got, a republic or a monarchy.” Benjamin Franklin replied, “A republic . . . if you can keep it.”
This quote has been ringing in my ears since I heard about the election fraud taking place in many states.
What if we did not have biblical prophecy to provide a context for the events unfolding in our world? What if we did not have the book of Revelation to tell us we should expect to see a world government in the last days? What if we did not have Jesus’ words in Mathew 24 that speak of the days before His return to the earth?
Biblical prophecy is indispensable for the day in which we live!
How do we reconcile these diverse scenes? On the one hand, we saw a firm stand for liberty, the life of the unborn, and the preservation of our freedoms. At the same time, we witnessed demonic outbursts of hatred, murder, and violence fully intent at destroying our way of life and God-given rights.
What does it all mean? What can we expect in the days ahead?
Is this it? Are we living in the very last moments before the rapture? Is the seven-year tribulation taking shape before our eyes?
Far too many Christians answer “no” to these questions. It’s one minute to midnight and they remain asleep, unaware the we live in the perilous last days before the rapture.
Life in the eternal state will be spectacular, far beyond even our best experiences in this life. Randy Alcorn, in his book Heaven, does a superb job of expanding our imaginations regarding our future life on the new earth and in the New Jerusalem.
In the meantime, we live in a world submerged in chaos. The fear of CVID-19 has created a culture of fear unlike anything we have ever seen. Riots and violence fill the streets of our cities.
My heart ached this past Monday morning as I read about the chaos and lawlessness near the White House. I felt both anger and fear as I saw pictures of violence and deadly attacks on law enforcement in cities throughout the United States.
It was not until I read several Psalms and through about Jesus’ promises return that my heart began to settle down and my focus began to change from the rioters to my hope in Jesus.
Have you ever wondered during the past few months if the seven-year tribulation has already begun?
Although the tribulation has not yet started, we see the beginning of conditions we know will be much worse during this seven-year period. I believe this is God’s way of getting the attention of the world before His judgments begin. He’s also letting us know that His appearing is imminent.
Something clicked inside me the other evening as Ruth, my wife, and I read from the book Get Your Life Back by John Eldredge. As we took turns reading from his chapter, “Allowing for Transitions," a thought occurred to me on a completely different wavelength than that of the author.
What if our current COVID-19 experience is itself a time of transition for believers, the United States, and even the world?
Scripture has become my lifeline in these days of such uncertainty. Even so, I often feel heaviness in my soul as I watch the responses to COVID-19 in my state and in my nation. Perhaps the weight I feel comes from sensing that the tribulation is so close I can almost touch it, but in spite of that I remain earthbound eagerly waiting for Jesus’ imminent appearing.
For this article, I want to focus your attention on two particularly encouraging promises from 1 Thessalonians 5;9-10.
Since COVID-19 lock downs began across the United States, I have heard several Bible-based messages intended to comfort the faithful. Many of them, however, failed to offer any real encouragement to me because they ignored or missed the prophetic context of the day in which we live.
Today’s popular messages of comfort ignore what the Bible says is coming and thus leave believers uniformed of what’s at stake for them in the days ahead.
Our expectation is not the wrath of God that will be poured out during the day of the Lord or the seven year tribulation. Dying side by side with the Christ-rejecting world experiencing God’s horrendous judgments is most assuredly NOT our “blessed hope.” No, no, no! Our imminent expectation consists of seeing Jesus face to face and that moment is rapidly approaching. This is the substance of our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).
Since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, I have felt a wide range of emotions. At times anger has surged inside me as I have watched news accounts of many elected officials attempting to take advantage of the crisis for personal or political advantage.
The words of Psalm 46:10 have been my frequent place of refuge the many emotions stirring inside me; they have often restored peace and brought greatly needed reassurance to my soul. Like many of you.
