(Need to inform you that I've had to go through this a few times and edit for typos and clarity. Sorry I'm so disorganized but I think it's easier to understand now.)
One of the signs, among many underway these days, that we are speeding toward the very last days of planet Earth, is plans in the works to set up a world government. According to the Book of Revelation such a global government, headed by a man known as the Antichrist, will be in place at least by the midpoint of the seven-year Tribulation period. There seem to be many events spelled out in Revelation for the Tribulation period already underway these days, as if to give us a heads-up that it is definitely very close. Although the signs of the last days given by Jesus Christ in His Olivet discourse of Matthew 24 and parallel passages in Mark and Luke, are fulfilled at the beginning of the Tribulation, since it's all about when we are to expect the return of Christ and the first phase of His return is the Rapture of the Church, it makes sense that the signs would be operating before the Rapture as well. Then in Revelation 6 the same signs become the judgments of God as the first of the seven seals are opened and we see "the four horsemen of the Apocalypse" being sent into the world, bringing first spiritual deception in the form of a false Christ or antiChrist, ushering in a false peace, then war and famine and death by pestilence among other things. So begins the outpouring of the wrath of God known as the Day of the Lord in various parts of the Old Testament. All these things can be seen somewhere or other in the world right now, and a sense of global catastrophe is already brewing. The formation of a global government has been in the works for decades and now seems to be gaining strength from the global pandemic.
Guess I was preoccupied with unimportant things and missed it, this radio broadcast from Jan Markell's "Understanding the Times" series done at the beginning of May, but God in His mercy didn't let me miss it altogether. Here she is interviewing Gary Kah who has been following the developments toward The New World Order for decades and sees it shaping up now through the work of Pope Francis. This of course buttresses my own view of this Pope as at least a major player in the end times, but specifically as a likely candidate for the Antichrist of the Great Tribulation period. Antichrist would have to be both substitute for Christ and a political leader, which historically happens to describe the papacy already, so the idea isn't at all far-fetched. The papacy as both religious and political power was once the leader of the western world at least, through the centuries of the "Holy Roman Empire," until Luther and the Protestant Reformation gave it what could have been thought of as a mortal blow. But the RCC didn't completely die though its power was severely curtailed. Various Popes since then have presented themselves as some kind of world leader, and Pope Francis is one of the most aggressive about it, as Gary Kah describes him in this radio show.
The papacy itself has a Latin title (VICARIVS FILII DEI) which in itself is a definition of Antichrist ("In the Place of the Son of God,") whose Roman numerals add up to the infamous number "666," and this particular Pope was elected under odd signs that include a flurry of thirteens and even a 666. I'll try to remember to find the posts where I lay out these things. I suppose even such auspicious signs may not identify him as the final Antichrist, though it is hard for me to see how anyone else could come with better qualifications. Note that IF he should be slated for that role, since he is in his eighties all these events must be very very close.
After Gary Kah the radio program turns to Pastor J.D. Farag who discusses his sense of urgency about these being the very last days before the Rapture, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and its likely impetus to the formation of the World Order.
Surely it is at the very door. The Rapture must be right around the corner, the event that will restart the clock ticking where the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks of Daniel left off-- that was at the end of 69 of those weeks, at the announcement of Jesus the Messiah in Jerusalem on the day we still commemorate as Palm Sunday. We couold say that Old Testament time came to an end on that day and God's dealings with Israel will then resume to fulfill the last week of Daniel's prophecy, or the seven years of the Tribulation or Day of the Lord, as the Church age comes to an end with the Rapture. Those who are to go through the following seven-year period have a lot of catching up on biblical prophecy to do. I pray for faith and courage for all those the Lord will save during that time. . .
Part 1 of the interview of Gary Kah is on this page: https://www.oneplace.com/ministries/understanding-the-times/listen/the-new-world-order-cries-for-a-savior-816174.html
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Later:
A Sketch of Biblical History and the Meaning of Salvation
I suppose I really need to say more in order for people who are not familiar with these things to understand what I'm talking about, I do tend to shoot off a post or an email on impulse that hasn't necessarily been written with unbelievers in mind. And I'm not particularly good at knowing what an unbeliever needs to know either.
All this is based on prophecies in the Bible, particularly the Book of Revelation which is the last book of the Bible, which describes the very last period of time on Earth. Overall the Bible is a history of God's doings on Earth starting with His creation of it all. It chronicles the history of the people of Israel, now the state of Israel, from God's calling of its founder Abraham to be the father of a great people. It follows the lives of his son Isaac and Isaac's sons Jacob and Esau and Jacob's twelve sons who become the patriarchs of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
The story of Adam and Eve precedes all this, their disobedience of God which brought a curse on the human race under which we all are born. Their disobedience brought the whole Creation under this curse. They were made to live forever in a paradise of happiness but their disobedience brought evil and death into the originally happy world, which we call the Fall. We are all born "fallen," inheritors of the original sin of our first parents and all subject to death as a result.
But from the very beginning God promised to send us a Savior from this curse, from this fallen nature or sin nature, and early humanity looked forward to this Savior, who is known as the Messiah. From time to time the Old Testament reiterates the promise of the Messiah and builds up a view of His character over the centuries of Jewish history. From these prophecies we know that He will be God Himself and that He will live and suffer as a man. The book of the prophet Daniel includes a timeline that very precisely points to the time of the Messiah's coming which is quite accurate, counting from a particular decree of a heathen king to the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey which was the announcement of His being the prophesied Messiah. The following Firday He was crucified and on Sunday, which we know as Easter Sunday, He rose from the dead.
"Gospel" means "good news" and the good news is that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins, the sin nature we inherit from our ancestors, and all the sins we commit on top of it, that brings death and ultimately eternity in Hell. Jesus took our sins on Himself and bore our punishment for them so that we can be spared that punishement. This is what salvation is, it is being saved from eternal punishment, and to have that salvation all you have to do is believe it (though believing it entails a bigger commitment than the word itself conveys, a giving of yourself to Christ)..
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The Rapture is the removal from Earth of those who are saved, to be transported into heaven, an event that is prophesied in the New Testament by the spostle Paul. It is the event that triggers the Grand Finale of the outpouring of God's wrath in the Day of the LORD/ Great Tribulation followed by Jesus' return to Earth to rule for a thousand years.
From the Rapture on the Church is no longer on the Earth and the following seven years are when God deals with the nation of Israel and the unbelievers who are left on the earth. Many will become believers during this time, receiving the gospel of salvation.
Friday, July 10, 2020
Is there any refuge from the coming storm?
Surely the Lord's return is close. How much worse can it get on this miserable planet before God gives the signal and the final countdown begins? I hate to think it but unfortunately I suppose it could get much worse. On the other hand we know the Tribulation period which is soon to follow His coming to get His Church is to be the worst possible time on Earth and it won't reach that level until then. And at that point the Church is not to be present. Whatever happens now we are all going through it, and it does look like a sort of foreshadowing of the events of the Tribulation as spelled out in Revelation, particularly Revelation 6.
Although in a sense all this is God's judgment on human sinfulness, it is not God's pure outpouring of wrath which defines the Great Tribulation just before the Lord's return to reign on the Earth. I confess to having some confusion about how to think of the difference. That is, all disasters are from God in judgment, yet the Day of the Lord or the Great Tribulation is to be the fullest form of it. Maybe that's the best I can do with it.
Because I have unsaved family and friends I want something to intervene to change the tide of this current wave of evil to give them time to change their minds and come to Christ before the Rapture. The thought of the misery that awaits them if they are not part of the Rapture is immensely sad. I pray nevertheless that they will be saved during that time. Many will die saved at least, and some others will live through the whole catastrophe after becoming believers.
I think it must be close but what if it isn't? Barring a miracle through God's mercy I don't see how we can prevent what looks like the inevitable train wreck of civilization that has been picking up steam for decades. The fallenness of this world is racing wildly to its own perfection of evil if it makes sense to put it that way. I pray and search my imagination for any way to build at least some kind of refuge from it and keep coming up against a dead end. I guess there's the off-the-grid retreat into wild country for some people, but a refuge for many is what seems unlikely. Maybe someone with more imagination than I have will come up with a way.
If we are right at the door of the Rapture which itself is the door to the Great Tribulation perhaps such a refuge is also needed, a global refuge in that case but my imagination can't reach beyond the US at the moment. States opening themselves to refugees, first from the political mess in this nation but then from the events of the last days as spelled out in Revelation. Some will live through it, which is hard to imagine as you read through the horrors described in that book of the Bible, and God can certainly preserve whomever He chooses to preserve, but perhaps such a refuge would be part of that preservation strategy.
Saving the whole country seems impossible now, meaning a return to anything like what we thought of as normal life seems impossible. The forces of evil are entrenched and large enough to have their way. John MacArthur's sermons on the current situation have focused on the breakdown of the usual means of restraining evil in this fallen world, which he sees as four: conscience, the family, the police and the Church. Conscience has been undermined by decades of teaching in the universities that justifies the kind of violence we are seeing now; the family has been directly attacked by the policies of the Left, from abortion to feminism and the undermining of authority; the police are now directly under attack as the insanity of actually removing them is promoted as a solution to inequities. And the Church has been so compromised by false doctrines and capitulation to worldliness there is too little of it left to exert itself as salt and light to the culture. God COULD give us a great revival even now, but would He?
Although in a sense all this is God's judgment on human sinfulness, it is not God's pure outpouring of wrath which defines the Great Tribulation just before the Lord's return to reign on the Earth. I confess to having some confusion about how to think of the difference. That is, all disasters are from God in judgment, yet the Day of the Lord or the Great Tribulation is to be the fullest form of it. Maybe that's the best I can do with it.
Because I have unsaved family and friends I want something to intervene to change the tide of this current wave of evil to give them time to change their minds and come to Christ before the Rapture. The thought of the misery that awaits them if they are not part of the Rapture is immensely sad. I pray nevertheless that they will be saved during that time. Many will die saved at least, and some others will live through the whole catastrophe after becoming believers.
I think it must be close but what if it isn't? Barring a miracle through God's mercy I don't see how we can prevent what looks like the inevitable train wreck of civilization that has been picking up steam for decades. The fallenness of this world is racing wildly to its own perfection of evil if it makes sense to put it that way. I pray and search my imagination for any way to build at least some kind of refuge from it and keep coming up against a dead end. I guess there's the off-the-grid retreat into wild country for some people, but a refuge for many is what seems unlikely. Maybe someone with more imagination than I have will come up with a way.
If we are right at the door of the Rapture which itself is the door to the Great Tribulation perhaps such a refuge is also needed, a global refuge in that case but my imagination can't reach beyond the US at the moment. States opening themselves to refugees, first from the political mess in this nation but then from the events of the last days as spelled out in Revelation. Some will live through it, which is hard to imagine as you read through the horrors described in that book of the Bible, and God can certainly preserve whomever He chooses to preserve, but perhaps such a refuge would be part of that preservation strategy.
Saving the whole country seems impossible now, meaning a return to anything like what we thought of as normal life seems impossible. The forces of evil are entrenched and large enough to have their way. John MacArthur's sermons on the current situation have focused on the breakdown of the usual means of restraining evil in this fallen world, which he sees as four: conscience, the family, the police and the Church. Conscience has been undermined by decades of teaching in the universities that justifies the kind of violence we are seeing now; the family has been directly attacked by the policies of the Left, from abortion to feminism and the undermining of authority; the police are now directly under attack as the insanity of actually removing them is promoted as a solution to inequities. And the Church has been so compromised by false doctrines and capitulation to worldliness there is too little of it left to exert itself as salt and light to the culture. God COULD give us a great revival even now, but would He?
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