The Rapture of the Wicked
— Futurism vs. Historicism —
There are two great divisions of thought regarding people’s view of
prophecy: the Futurist and the Historicist. Both teach that Christ will
return to earth, but the division arises over the manner of His coming and
its timing in relation to “The Tribulation.”
Now, some may say, what difference does it make HOW Christ returns, so long
as we all believe that Christ will indeed come? It is really an important
issue? How will our viewpoint of prophecy affect our thoughts and actions in
preparation for the return of Christ?
First of all, it should be established that our eternal destiny and
salvation does not stand or fall upon our belief in either viewpoint.
However, our doctrines will determine our courses of action and our basic
attitudes and outlook on the world in general. Thus, the issue is important
to that degree.
The Historical view holds that the tribulation in the book of Revelation is
almost completely fulfilled, except for the final downfall of “Mystery
Babylon.” The Futurist view teaches that almost all of Revelation’s events
have a future fulfillment.
The Historicist teaches that the “Revived Roman Empire” prophesied by Daniel
was fulfilled in Papal Rome, and that the “great whore” now primarily rides
the “scarlet colored beast” Rev 17:3 of Red Communism. The Futurist teaches
that the Revived Roman Empire is yet future, and it is often identified with
the present-day Common Market of Western Europe.
The Historicist notes that all through the centuries the Church has
undergone tribulation and persecution at the hands of Mystery Babylon, as it
rides on various beast empires and systems throughout the course of history.
The average American Futurist is confident that he will be removed from the
earth before such tribulation arrives at his own door step.
The Historicist, in his study of the world situation in this century, learns
that communism, the Red Beast, has murdered untold millions of Christians
and other innocent victims since 1917, probably more than have been
slaughtered in all of past history. Many of these were tortured and were
forced to live a life worse than death. From his historical perspective he
reasons that such tribulation does not have to fall upon the American church
before it can be properly labeled “tribulation.” Furthermore, if such
terrible tribulation has already fallen upon untold millions of Christians,
how can we claim that God will remove us from the earth before it comes to
America?
On the other hand, the Futurist views the rise of Red Bolshevism with a
strange curiosity. Since he believes that a future “antichrist” will arise
as head of the revived Roman Empire (i.e., the Common Market of Western
Europe), he cannot identify this Bolshevism with Bible prophecy, at least
not directly. Instead, it has become common teaching that the Antichrist’s
empire in the West will elect the Antichrist to rule over them as a defense
against Red Bolshevism.
Thus, the Historicist generally will do what he can to oppose Bolshevism and
its child, the Socialistic World Government. He is more aware of the nature
of the conflict between East and West, between Socialistic Communism and
Christian Republicanism. The Futurist, when confronted with the millions who
have died agonizing deaths and languish in slave camps, can only say, “Well,
just wait until the Antichrist comes; that will make Communism look like
child’s play!”
So, whereas, our view of Bible prophecy does not affect our salvation, it
does affect our thinking, our outlook on the world scene, and it will have a
great effect upon our preparation for the return of Christ.
— Saints in Tribulation —
The Futurists are fond of claiming that the various “beasts” spoken of in
the book of Revelation are representative of the “Antichrist” or his allies
who will rule the world during a future tribulation. However, the visions of
Daniel clearly identify the beasts as representing the various nations and
systems of government that were to rise to power from Daniel’s day to the
end of this age. In the seventh chapter of Daniel those four Beasts are
described as (1) a lion with eagle’s wings, (2) a bear, (3) a leopard with
four heads and four wings, (4) an unidentified beast with iron teeth and
great strength, and (5) a “little horn” arising out of the previous beast.
Daniel beheld this “little horn” warring against the saints, and it
“prevailed against them” Dan 7:21
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out
the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws; and they
shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of
time.
26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to
consume and to destroy it unto the end.
27 And the Kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under
the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the most
High, whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all dominions shall serve
and obey Him.
This passage is usually explained to mean that the saints are the Jews, who
will supposedly be left on the earth during the great tribulation. However,
Jesus taught that the Jews were not to inherit the Kingdom of God in Matt
21:43-45.
43 Therefore say I unto you, the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and
given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. [i.e., it would be a
Christian Nation.]
44 And whosoever shall fall on THIS STONE shall be broken; but on whomsoever
it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they
perceived that he spake of them.
Note especially that in speaking of the Kingdom of God, Jesus called it
“this stone” in verse 44. He was referring to the great Stone Kingdom of
Daniel 2:34, 35, which is said to smash the image of the beast and break in
pieces all of the empires it represented. Jesus said that this stone would
grind to powder all on whomsoever it shall fall. And it was to fall on the
Jewish Pharisees, and by implication, all who followed their antichrist
religion.
Thus, it is not possible that the saints against whom the “little horn” wars
should be the Jews. They must be a Christian people. For further study on
who those people might be and which “nation bringing forth the fruits
thereof” this Kingdom of God was to be given, see the publication, audio
message and video presentation, “HEIRS OF THE PROMISE” by Pastor Sheldon
Emry..
The notion that Christians will not have to face the tribulation of this
world is foreign to the Scriptures. If a modern rapture-teaching preacher
had lived in Rome 1800 years ago, proclaiming that those persecuted
Christians would escape tribulation, he would have been disfellow-shipped
from the church as a deceiver, or he would have been laughed out of the
church for being a fool. In those days Christians were being slaughtered
just for sport.
The Red Beast of Communism is the modern vehicle that carries the “great
whore” of Mystery Babylon. The Christians behind the Iron Curtain do not
believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. They — like the Christian martyrs of
ancient Rome — see tribulation all around them. How odd it is that
Christians living in the West would be so near-sighted and so insensitive as
to suppose that the tribulation could NOT have arrived on the earth until it
lands on American soil! Thank God the full force of evil has not yet come
upon this great Christian Republic, but let us not forget our persecuted
brethren or think that God measures tribulation by its exclusive effect upon
American Christians.
— Where is The Kingdom of God? —
A strange phenomena has appeared in the doctrinal position of thousands of
today’s professing Christians. At one moment they speak of going to heaven
in the rapture (or when they die), where they say they will live FOREVER;
but then in the next breath they speak of Christ coming to earth with His
saints to rule all nations with a rod of iron (Rev 2:26,27).
This doctrinal schizophrenia is readily apparent to those who teach only one
of the above positions. However, there are literally millions who believe
both to be true, in spite of their inherent contradiction.
So we must examine the Scriptures to see where the Bible locates God’s
Kingdom and where Christ shall reign with His saints. Where is the
inheritance of the believer? Does the Bible promise heaven or earth as the
eternal abode of the Christian?
If believers are to receive their inheritance in heaven, then the rapture
would be a logical method of ferrying them to their reward. If, however, our
inheritance is on the earth, then there would be no need for a rapture,
except (as is supposed) to prevent us from undergoing tribulation.
We have already seen that the Beast-systems were to make war against the
saints here on the earth. We, also, touched upon the great Stone Kingdom
that was to smash the other kingdoms and grind them to powder. This great
Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, “became a great mountain, and filled the whole
EARTH”
Dan 2:35
Those who rule with Christ in His Kingdom will be on the earth as well, for
we read in Revelation 5:10, “and we shall reign on the earth.” This is but a
reflection of the Old Testament Scripture. As far back as the days of Moses,
this was the great hope of the believers. Numbers 14:21 reads,
21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of
the Lord.
Two other prophets took up the same theme. See Isaiah 11:9 and Habakkuk
2:14.
David’s theme, repeated over and over in Psalm 37 was that “the meek shall
inherit the earth.” Jesus verified his doctrine in His sermon on the mount,
when He taught the people in Matthew 5:5,
5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Jesus viewed the earth with a great deal more respect than many Christians
do today. After all, He was the Creator of this earth (John 1:3), and thus
His was the voice which pronounced it “very good” (Gen 1:31), It was Jesus
who inspired the Psalmist to write in Psalm 115:6,
6 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth hath He given
to the children of men.
When we learn to view Creation with the love as does its Creator, we will
not despise God’s good earth. Instead, out of love, we will attempt to
fulfill the first and foremost responsibility that God gave to man: to
subdue and have dominion (authority under God) over the earth (Gen 1:28),
which is God’s footstool (Matt 5:35). When Jesus Christ finally sets up His
Divine Government on the earth, and when true Christians rule with Him in
the Kingdom, then the earth will indeed become a paradise once again. It
will be “heaven on earth,” fit for habitation for Christ and His people.
— Meeting The Lord In The Air —
Perhaps the most well-known Bible passage today in rapture-believing circles
is 1 Thes 4:16, 17.
16 For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of the God; and the dead in
Christ shall rise first.
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the
Lord.
This passage teaches that Christ shall return to the earth some day, and
that the resurrection of the dead in Christ shall occur before the living
believers are caught up to meet Christ in the air. But there is no mention
of anyone going to heaven.
So the question is this: When the believers “meet the Lord in the air,” will
they escort Him back to earth to rule in His Kingdom, or will Christ escort
them back to heaven for a time?
The key to understanding this question is found in the verb, “to meet.” The
Greek word used by Paul here is apantesis, and this particular word is
loaded with meaning, which does not come forth in our English translation of
the word. It is a word which was used in ancient times to describe the
actions of an official welcoming delegation that had been sent “to meet” a
visiting dignitary. Thus, it literally means, “meeting and returning with.”
It was customary back then (as it is today) that when a V.I.P. visits a
city, the leader of that city sends out a delegation to welcome him and
escort him to the mayor. Thus when the Queen of England visited President
Ford during the American Bicentennial, she was not expected to get off the
plane and call a cab to take her to the White House. No, she was met by a
special committee that escorted her to the White House.
Therefore, when Paul uses the term apantesis to describe our action in
meeting Christ, he uses this particular term to show us that we are going to
be sent to escort Christ back to earth when he sets up His Kingdom.
Those who find this information to be unbelievable may do further study on
this Greek word by noting how it is used in other Bible passages. The word
is used in three other New Testament passages:
- Matthew 25:1 and 6 speak of the ten virgins who “went forth to meet the
bridegroom.” It was common practice in ancient times for the wedding party
to escort the bridegroom to the bride after the marriage supper.
- John 12:13 speaks of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem (a
prophetic type of Christ’s second coming, at which time He will truly have a
triumphal entry). It says that the people “took branches of palm trees and
went forth to meet Him.” Jesus certainly did not turn around and escort the
people back to Bethany with Him? No, the people escorted Jesus into
Jerusalem.
- Acts 28:15 speaks of Paul’s journey to rome as a prisoner. When the
Christians in Rome heard that Paul was outside the city, “they came to meet
us as far as Appii forum, which was about 43 miles from the city. They
treated Paul like a Christian V.I.P., and Paul’s heart was encouraged at
their boldness to be identified as Christian friends of his.
Thus, we conclude that Paul was not teaching that Christians would return to
heaven with Christ, but rather that Christians would form Christ's escort
back to earth.
A few verses later (in chapter 5) Paul writes further about “the day of the
Lord.”
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a
thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh
upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you
as a thief.
In reading this passage, most of us immediately picture Christ coming as a
burglar and stealing something of value in secret. However, 2,000 years ago
a “thief in the night” usually meant something entirely different. It was
common in those days for a band of robbers to swoop down upon an unprotected
and unsuspecting village in the middle of the night, when the people were
sleeping peacefully. The thieves would storm into town, throw everyone out
of bed, strip the village of all its valuables, and kill anyone who
resisted.
This is what Paul meant when he compared the return of Christ to a “thief in
the night.” When the world sleeps in “peace and safety,” then will come
“sudden destruction” upon the wicked, “and they shall not escape.” However,
the Christians, who are “watchmen” on the walls, will not be taken by
surprise. They will have prepared themselves for the “sudden destruction”
(called “tribulation”), and thus they will not be harmed.
Amos 5:18 has this to say about that day:
18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! To what end is it for you?
The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.
The Prophet Joel echoes the same theme in Joel 1:15.
15 Alas, for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a
destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
Again, he describes the day in Chapter 2, verses 1 and 2.
1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let
all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for
it is nigh at hand;
2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick
darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains; a great people and a
strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after
it, even to the years of many generations.
The descriptions of this alien enemy invading the land fits perfectly the
armies of Red Communism today. God said that they would be “My great army
which I sent among you” (2:25 in order that the people might repent from
their sins, call upon God for divine intervention and protection, and that
Jesus would then come to save them.
For the vast majority of the people, including, sad to say, many professing
Christians, the day of the Lord will come upon them unexpectedly. They will
not have prepared themselves spiritually, mentally, or physically for such
times.
So let us strive to be as those to whom Paul wrote: “But ye, brethren, are
not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.”
Thus, we see that in 1 Thes 4 and 5 Paul does NOT teach a pre-tribulation
rapture, but rather that when Jesus comes, we will welcome Him back to
earth, where He shall rule all nations in righteousness.
— For His Saints —
— And With His Saints —
It is common among rapture teachers to hear the theory that the Bible
teaches two separate comings of Christ in the future — the first time for
His saints, and the second time with His saints. In other words, the theory
says that Christ will only snatch the Christians off the earth when they go
out to “meet Him in the air,” and then after a period of either 3 1/2 or 7
years in heaven, Christ will return to earth with those Christians.
This theory is only partially based upon 1 Thes 4:17, 18. It is mostly based
upon Jude 14 and 15, which reads:
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying,
Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints.
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince [convict] all that are
ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed, and
of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.
Jude, here, is actually quoting from Deut 33:2, as well as from the
apocryphal book of Enoch. Moses says in Deut 33:2 that the Lord came with
His saints (or, “holy ones”) at the time He gave the Law to Israel at Mount
Sinai:
2 And he said, The Lord came from Sinai and rose up from Seir unto them
[Israel]; He shined forth from Mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands
of saints.
Now, when God descended upon Mount Sinai to give the Law to Israel, did He
come with ten thousand Christian People? Obviously not, for there were no
people in heaven to come with Him. Who were those “saints?” They were the
angels of God, who will again come with the Lord at His coming. Paul speaks
of these holy ones in 2 Thes 1:7.
7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.
The confusion lies in the broad application of the word “saints” (or, “holy
ones”). The Greek word is hagios, which is usually translated “holy” in our
Bibles. Strong’s Concordance says that it literally means “sacred.”
When used as a noun, the Greek word hagios may refer to Christians or to the
angels of God. Thus, since we cannot make any positive conclusions about the
Greek word hagios, we must rely upon the context of the verse for clues as
to what is meant.
Even the apocryphal book of Enoch that Jude mentions teaches no such thing
as a rapture, when it speaks of Christ’s coming “with His saints.” Chapter
one of Enoch reads:
1 The words of the blessings of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and
righteous who will be living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked
and godless are to be removed. . . .
2 And he took up his parable and said, Enoch, a righteous man, whose eyes
were opened by God, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, which the
angels showed me . . . . and from them I understood as I saw, but not for
this generation, but for a remote one which is for to come.
3 Concerning the elect I said, and took up my parable concerning them: The
Holy Great One will come forth from His dwelling.
4 And the eternal God will tread upon the earth, even on Mount Sinai . . .
9 And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His Holy Ones to execute
judgement upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly, and to convict all flesh
of all the works of their ungodliness, which they have ungodly committed,
and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.
Note that even the book of Enoch makes it very plain that the Christians
“will be a living in the day of tribulation.” The book says that Christ was
to come to Mount Sinai with ten thousands of His holy ones, and Jude picks
up the theme, applying it to Christ’s future return. This, the
pre-tribulation rapture doctrine is foreign, not only to Jude, but, also, to
the book of Enoch.
— One Shall Be Taken —
— The Other Left —
Matthew 24:37-42 is perhaps the second most popular Bible passage (other
than 1 Thes 3:17, 18) to teach the pre-tribulation rapture of the church.
The passage is a comparison between Christ’s second coming and the days of
Noah leading up to the flood. Jesus said here:
37 But as the days of Noe [Noah] were, so shall also the coming of the Son
of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood, they [The Wicked] were
eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark.
39 And knew not until the flood came and took them [The Wicked] all away; so
shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one [The Wicked] shall be taken, and
the other [The Christian] left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one [The Wicked] shall be
taken, and the other [The Christian] left.
As you noted in reading the above verses, the flood of Noah’s time took the
wicked people away (off the earth). In the same manner, when Christ returns,
the coming of the Son of man will see the wicked taken away, and the
righteous will be left to inherit a cleansed earth, as did Noah.
Those who teach the opposite view, that the one “taken” is the believer and
the one “left” in the unbeliever, miss the fact that the plural pronoun
“them” can only refer to all the wicked people in verse
38. “Them” could hardly refer to Noah’s family, because the wording of the
passage is such that Noah is referred to individually, It would have been
poor grammar to use a plural pronoun in reference to the singular noun,
“Noah.”
However, be that as it may, since there is some question involved in this
passage as to who was removed, let us allow Jesus’ other parables to
interpret the meaning for us. Do other passages teach a “taking away”
(removed) of the Christians from the earth, or do they teach the “taking
away” of the wicked? In other words, do other Bible passages teach the
rapture of the church or the “rapture” of the wicked?
— The Cleansing Of The Kingdom —
The Scriptures are full of references to the wicked ones being removed from
the earth, so that the righteous may inherit a cleansed Kingdom. Solomon
wrote in Proverbs:
1 The righteous shall never be removed; but the wicked shall not inhabit the
earth.
Prov 10:30
2 For the upright shall dwell in the land. . . . But the wicked shall be cut
off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
Prov 2:21, 22
Isaiah also echoes this same theme in Isaiah 13:
9 Behold the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger,
to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of
it.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her
place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of His fierce
anger.
The prophet Haggai also refers to the day of the Lord, when Christ shall
come in judgment. Haggai 2-6 says:
6 For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I
will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land.
The New Testament author of the book of Hebrews referred to this passage in
Haggai in Hebrews 12:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth; but now He hath promised, saying, Yet
once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, “yet once more,” signifieth the removing of those things
that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot
be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore, we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have
grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
In each case the theme is clear: God will soon shake the earth in
tribulation, in order to throw down all man-made systems and in order to
remove all the wicked from the earth. This shake-down will be so great in
the day of the Lord that only those things which support God’s Kingdom will
remain standing. God will cleanse His earth and rule all nations in
righteousness.
Jesus’ parables of the Kingdom reveal the same theme as well. In Matthew
13:24-30, Jesus pictured the Son of man planting good seed in his field, and
then one night an enemy sowed tares among the wheat. In the parable, no one
appeared to know about the tares until the wheat and the tares began to bear
fruit (or go to seed). At that point the tares were discovered, and the
servants asked what to do about it. The son of man instructed them to await
the harvest, lest the wheat plants be rooted up along with the tares.
Then the instructions were to “gather ye together first the tares, and bind
them in bundles to burn them,” and then gather the wheat into the barn.
The lesson is clear for those who know what tares are. Tares are today known
as zewan in Palestine. Tares look like wheat plants as they mature, but when
they are full grown and begin to bear fruit, the fruit of the wheat is
golden, while that of the tares is almost black. The wheat is nourishing,
but the fruit of the tares is bitter and poisonous. Farmers have to remove
each tare seed from the wheat before grinding the wheat to flour.
Thus, the tares were separated and removed from the wheat first. The wicked
are to be removed from the earth — not the righteous. Hence, we look not for
the rapture of the church, but rather for the “rapture” of the wicked. Only
then will come the harvest,” when the righteous will the “shine forth as the
sun in the Kingdom of their Father” (Matt 13:43)
Later in this same chapter Jesus told another similar parable, in which a
fisherman cast his nets into the water and drew to shore all types of fish,
both good and bad. Then he sat down and separated the fish. Jesus concluded
the parable with these words:
49 So shall it be at the end of the world [age]; the angels shall come
forth, and sever the wicked from among the just.
Again, note that it is not the just who will be “removed,” but rather the
wicked. This is the constant and consistent theme throughout the Scriptures.
We are never given any good reason to believe anything different.
— Conclusion —
In ancient time the prophets saw a long-term conflict between two great
cities: Jerusalem and Babylon. Jerusalem was the city from which God ruled
in righteousness; Babylon was the city from which the false gods ruled by
their own man-made laws. These two cities represented two opposing systems
of government, two different social orders, two different economical
systems, and above all, two different religions.
Both of these cities were eventually destroyed, but their influences and
systems lived on. In prophetic terms they are known as the New Jerusalem and
Mystery Babylon. These are not literal cities any more. Mystery Babylon is
not the old city, nor is the New Jerusalem the same as the old city of
Jerusalem.
When God revealed to John the destruction of Mystery Babylon in Revelation,
17-19, he told His people in chapter 18:
4 . . . . Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins,
and that ye receive not of her plagues.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her
iniquities.
6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according
to her works; in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double.
In other words, God has commanded Christian people everywhere to leave the
Babylonian system (political, social, economic and religious Babylon), in
order that we be not accomplices in her sins and thus receive her judgment.
Secondly, God commanded Christian people to judge Babylon and reward her
even as she rewarded you, The Law of God specifies that the witnesses
against a criminal are to be first to stone those convicted of capital
crimes. As Christians, we are witnesses against Mystery Babylon and will
eventually be called to witness against her and stone her. The Law also
demands that the offender pay double restitution to his victims in case of
theft. Thus, God says to render to Babylon double what she has done to you.
Paul wrote in 1 Cor 6:2:
2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world
shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
Thus our godly duties preclude us from leaving earth before the time of
judgment. God expects us to prepare ourselves to judge His enemies in
Mystery Babylon. But we must be careful not to do so before the harvest, or
we may uproot the wheat along with the tares.
But how shall we prepare ourselves to be used in the judgment of the Great
Whore, if we are only planning to evacuate the earth before that judgment?
This is not so much a question of salvation as it is a question of how much
we will be used of God in His great plan for us.
When viewed from that perspective, it does make a great deal of difference
which view of prophecy we take. Futurism, along with its child, the doctrine
of the pre-tribulation rapture of the church, we provide little incentive
for the average Christian to prepare to judge the world by the Divine Law.
How many Christians today study the Law of God to learn the basic principles
of Divine Justice?
Let us be about our Father’s business and occupy till He comes again. Let us
study to show ourselves approved unto God. Let us learn the basic principles
of Bible Law and Government, that we may be able to judge righteously, let
us prepare ourselves to rule with Christ on the earth in a cleansed Kingdom.
_______________
A Short Comment
By Pastor Sheldon Emry
To our Christian Brethren:
I do pray you have been enlightened by the reading of this article.
There is no doubt Christians are under attack by those who hate Jesus Christ
and His followers. As the serpent deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of
Eden, not with any outright denial of God, but with a twisted interpretation
of His Word, so do the adversaries deceive the People of God today.
Eve was deceived because of two things: (1) She did not rely wholly upon the
plain Word of God, and (2) She did not know the serpent was an enemy. Our
people today are deceived because they do not know there are enemies right
in their own “Garden of Eden,” their Church!
Now that you know the pre-tribulation rapture is a false doctrine, I must
remind you of God’s instruction to believers in 2 John, 9-11:
Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not
God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and
the Son.
If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine [the true doctrine
of Christ], receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
For he that biddeth him God Speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
You must stop giving help or support to those who teach the “rapture” lie,
or you will be a partaker of their evil deeds. You can, also, do a friend a
favor, and perhaps bring him out of the delusion of the false “rapture”
doctrine, by giving him a copy of this article. May the God of Abraham bless
you for it, in Christ.
Pastor Emry
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