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Millions of churchgoing
professing Christians are familiar with the 1,000 years of Christ's
reign. However, the mainstream fundamentalist churches all teach
that a man's soul goes instantly to heaven when he dies, denying
a millennial reign on the earth, while one of the major Sabbatarian
religions (Seventh-day Adventist) teaches the millennium will be
spent in heaven. WHY such confusion? You will be shocked to learn
that your Bible absolutely PROVES the Kingdom will rule on this
earth!
"And
I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto
them ... And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years"
(Revelation 20:4). Millions have read those words. Millions believe
in the literal, bodily second coming of Jesus Christ—and millions
are beginning to understand that Christ is going to set up His ruling
KINGDOM
Major
percentages of the mainstream fundamentalist ministry denied the
literal second coming of Jesus Christ; major percentages of those
graduating from the theological seminaries during the'50s and'60s
did not believe in the literal bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ;
His ascension into heaven at the right hand of God, nor His imminent
return!
But
there has gradually begun a revolutionary change in the thinking
of many theologians. As never before, a tremendous fascination with
prophecy; the events of the future, has gripped the minds of millions!
Hal
Lindsey, author of several best-sellers, not the least of
which was his original The Late Great Planet
Earth, as well as many other authors, has contributed to
informing countless millions of Americans, Britons, Canadians and
those in Europe and other countries that we are, in fact, living
in "the time of the end," as prophesied in the Bible; that a violent
REVOLUTION is going to take place on the earth, and that, eventually,
the Kingdom of God will be set up! Yet, for all the ballyhoo over
the FACT of Christ's imminent return; the FACT of the setting up
of the Kingdom of God, there remains great CONFUSION in the minds
of millions about WHERE that Kingdom will reign!
The Bible Prophesied Confusion
This
is hardly a surprise to serious students of the Bible. Satan the
devil is described as that great serpent who "deceives
the whole world" (Revelation 12:9), and Jesus Christ clearly
prophesied that the time of His second coming would be in a time
of mass confusion, deception, delusion and spiritual darkness!
"Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of
God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. "Hereby
know ye the spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus
Christ is come [is now coming] in the flesh is of God: "And every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye
have heard that it should come; and even now already is in the world"
(I John 4:1-3).
Millions
have heard about the famous "ANTICHRIST," knowing that there is
one individual, called the "false prophet" in biblical prophecy,
who will literally proclaim himself to BE VERY GOD, and who will
deceive millions!
John
also warned: "For many deceivers are entered
into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the
flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist" (II John 7).
What
many do not realize is there are MANY who bear the title "antichrist"
and that, while it is true this title may apply to one great false
religious leader, it is also plainly true from your Bible that anyone
who does not confess that Jesus Christ is able to live His life
over within us (Galatians 2:20) is the spirit of antichrist.
That
one great false prophet is described in II Thessalonians 2. "Let
no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except
there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition;
"Who
opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that
is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing
himself that he is GOD"! (II Thessalonians 2:3, 4).
Later,
the apostle Paul said that this great false Christ would have such
satanic power and lying wonders (verse 9) that multitudes would
be completely deceived. Notice!
"Even
him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all powers
and signs and lying wonders, "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish [are perishing]; because they received not the
love of the truth, that they might be saved.
"For
this cause God shall send them strong delusion [working of error],
that they should believe a lie" (II Thessalonians 2:8-11).
Satan
the devil is the archdeceiver. However, remember a deceived person
is completely innocent, unaware of the fact he or she is deceived.
A person laboring through various forms of mental and religious
deception can be a thirsting, questing, sincere person!
He
can have only the best of motives; be of impeccable character and
integrity; be striving to live a pure and holy Christian life! Because
a person is deceived does not mean he is deliberately wrong!
Oftentimes,
our human defenses rise up and ARGUE when an article such as this
might begin to tug at the corners of our mind, making us wonder
whether or not certain concepts and beliefs we have held to be true
are, in fact, false.
We
regard it as an attack upon our "empirical
self." Our defenses immediately begin to excuse ourselves;
surely WE could not have been deceived? We tend to believe anything
which proves we have been wrong about something we have believed
represents an attack upon our character!
Not
so! It has nothing to Do with character! People of good character
can be deceived! Satan the devil is the "prince
of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2), and is identified
as the present evil god of this sin-sick, deceived world! (II Corinthians
4:4).
Satan
the devil has his churches (Revelation 3:9; 17:4-6), and Satan has
his ministers in those churches! (II Corinthians 11:13-15).
How the Deception Is Being Prepared
As
never before, there is a fantastic obsession with life in outer
space; the mysteries of bygone civilizations; demonism, witchcraft,
the unseen, spirit world, and future events which will affect the
earth, such as various alleged "invasions" from outer space!
Millions
are being prepared for a false belief which will lead directly to
the fulfillment of the prophecy of Revelation 17:14.
HOW,
one might ask, could anyone in his right mind actually fight Christ
at His coming? Answer?
If
he believes the REAL Christ is actually the antichrist, if he does
not recognize the actual event of the REAL second coming of Jesus
Christ, but believes it to be the evil advent of the ANTICHRIST,
then he will be fully prepared, because of a masterful DECEPTION,
to attempt to resist the actual arrival of the conquering KING OF
THE UNIVERSE, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to this earth!
When
it happens—when Jesus Christ actually comes back to this earth—there
will be MILLIONS who will be convinced it is (a) an invasion from
outer space from strange beings from faraway planets; (b) an invasion
from a foreign power with super weapons such as lasers, space mirrors,
doomsday nuclear weapons, "space ships" and orbital satellites;
or (c) a superhuman attack by the ANTICHRIST and hordes of his demons
in a last-ditch attempt to take over the world and rule it!
What
is YOUR protection against deception? What is most important to
you? Are your concepts the traditions, cherished "beliefs," religious
teachings you received as a child growing up, or in the church you
attended, or is the criterion you use for belief the yardstick of
the holy, sacred, absolute WORD OF GOD?
In
this article you will see exposed one of the great false teachers
of recent years! You will see how deliberate distortions of the
Bible were perpetrated, and how countless thousands have swallowed
them whole, never comparing, carefully, what so-called religious
leaders have written with the Bible! Somehow, as religious people
begin looking to a human, religious leader, they subtly begin to
exchange that leader for Jesus Christ!
There
finally comes a time in this idolatrous type of human worship where
the unsuspecting lay member has unknowingly substituted his religious
leader for Jesus Christ Himself!
At
that point in time, the human religious leader, though fallible,
gripped by egotism and vanity, can begin to propound and teach doctrines
which are directly contrary to the written Word of God, and the
followers will meekly go right along with it; never questioning,
convinced they must follow that religious leader "NO MATTER WHAT"!
No
longer are they constrained to follow a human religious leader ONLY
as he follows CHRIST (I Corinthians 11:1)—now they will begin to
say following that religious leader ONLY as "he follows Christ"
is "not good enough"!
Desolation of the Earth?
Let
us investigate the doctrine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church,
which teaches the saints will be assumed into heaven for the period
of 1,000 years for "investigative judgment," while the earth remains
absolutely desolate, with Satan the devil virtually its only inhabitant,
endlessly reviewing the awful destruction his rebellion has wrought.
Adventists
are very familiar with the doctrine of the saints going to heaven
for the 1,000-year millennial reign of Christ, and the "desolate
earth" as portrayed in some of the writings of Mrs. E.G. White.
Certainly,
none of her books is more cogent to this doctrine than The
Great Controversy. Of course, widespread sensational publicity
has recently revealed that leaders in the Seventh-day Adventist
Church have themselves begun to debunk Mrs. E.G. White as a false
prophetess, and, allegedly, a proved plagiarist, who did not really
originate all of the prolific writings with which she is credited,
but who may have heavily borrowed from other sources, for which
she never gave credit.
The
"great controversy," indeed, now seems to be whether or not Mrs.
E.G. White ever was a "prophetess," as tens of thousands of Seventh-day
Adventists have supposed, and whether or not her books truly carry
anywhere near the weight it was previously supposed. Actually, many
sincere Seventh-day Adventists placed the writings of Mrs. E.G.
White on an equal par with the BIBLE! Perhaps, unknowingly, some
have even elevated her writings to a level ABOVE the Bible—and if
they have done, so then the idolatry of the gradual substitution
of the writings and sayings of a human leader ABOVE those of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth had, in fact, taken place in the minds of those
who would go so far in their adulation of another human being!
First,
let's see a description from The Great Controversy
of how Mrs. E.G. White imagined the scenario both in heaven and
on earth at the time of the beginning of the millennium:
"At
the coming of Christ the wicked are blotted from the face of the
whole earth—consumed with the spirit of His mouth and destroyed
by the brightness of His glory. Christ takes His people to the city
of God, and the earth is emptied of its inhabitants…The whole earth
appears like a desolate wilderness. The ruins of cities and villages
destroyed by the earthquake, uprooted trees, ragged rocks thrown
out by the sea or torn out of the earth itself, are scattered over
its surface, while vast caverns mark the spot where the mountains
have been rent from their foundations.
".
. . As the scapegoat was sent away into a land not inhabited, so
Satan will be banished to the desolate earth, an uninhabited and
dreary wilderness.
"The
revelator foretells the banishment of Satan and the condition of
chaos and desolation to which the earth is to be reduced, and he
declares that this condition will exist for a thousand years" (The
Great Controversy, pages 657, 658).
At
least one full volume would be required to thoroughly critique the
gross errors, flagrant misquotations, distortions and perversions
of Scripture which appear in The Great Controversy.
The
foregoing represents only portions of two pages in the chapter entitled
"Desolation of the Earth" in Mrs. E.G. White's well-known book The
Great Controversy. Now, please get your own Bible and carefully
perform the following experiment: Immediately below, you will see
quoted, word for word, exactly Mrs. E.G. White's version of Isaiah
24:1, 3, 5 and 6.
Remember,
her doctrine (commonly accepted by most Seventh-day Adventists),
as briefly set forth above, asserts that the entirety of the earth
will be absolutely DESOLATE for the period of the millennial reign
of Jesus Christ; that the saints are up in heaven, while Satan the
devil is chained to a desolate, uninhabited earth, suffering some
alleged mental anguish at seeing all of his attempted plots and
plans, the overthrow of God's throne and His government, destroyed.
But
is this what the Bible says?
As
you shall see, one would have to be afflicted with a strange case
of "tunnel vision," indeed, to presuppose that Mrs. White, in writing
this chapter, with her own Bible open before her to the 24th chapter
of Isaiah, did not see the many portions she deliberately LEFT OUT
Of her quotation—the very key words and phrases which would have
utterly destroyed her entire theory of a "desolate earth" for 1,000
years!
For
the purposes of your experiment, if you do not wish to mark in your
own Bible, simply write out the words from your own King James Bible
that Mrs. E. G. White deliberately omitted! Open
your Bibles o Isaiah 24, verses 1-6 and let's compare:
This
is Mrs. White's version, found approximately two thirds of the way
down on page 657 of The Great Controversy:
"At the coming of Christ the wicked are blotted from the face of
the whole earth—consumed with the spirit of his mouth and destroyed
by the brightness of his glory. Christ takes his people to the city
of God, and the earth is emptied of its inhabitants.
"Behold,
the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth
it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. "The
land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord
hath spoken this word.
"Because
they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the
everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth,
and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants
of the earth are burned" (Isaiah 24:1, 3, 5, 6).
Now
go back and underline, or write out, all of the words from verse
1 through verse 6 which were OMITTED from Mrs. White's quotation.
They
are as follows: "and it shall be, as with
the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his
master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer,
so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as
with the taker of usury, so with the giver or usury to him.
"The
earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth
away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. "The earth also
is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; ... and FEW MEN LEFT"!
(Isaiah 24:6).
What
a difference! But now, for the purposes of your experiment, go back
and read the entirety of the 24th chapter of Isaiah in its proper
context! Let's notice some salient points which Mrs. E.G. White
apparently (either afflicted with a most remarkable case of "tunnel
vision" in all of history, or just plain DISHONEST) failed
to notice!
The
subject of Isaiah 24 is obviously God's punishments to come on this
earth at the very time of the great tribulation (chapter 24:1-18),
the heavenly signs (Isaiah 24:23), the Day of the Lord and the second
coming of Jesus Christ (verse 23).
But
does the 24th chapter of Isaiah say that the entire earth is completely
EMPTIED of all of its inhabitants? >
Notice
the following statement! "Behold, the Eternal
maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside
down, and SCATTERETH ABROAD THE INHABITANTS THEREOF"'!
Remember,
the Hebrew word for "earth" is ehrets,
which can mean the land, partitively or commonly. It can apply to
the whole world, or it can apply to "the land" being spoken of in
the context. In this case, it is speaking (as it is obvious in the
context) of "the land" for the simple reason that the Holy Scriptures
say God Will "SCATTER ABROAD the INHABITANTS thereof"!
What
happens to these inhabitants—human, living, breathing people—on
the earth? Are they utterly destroyed? Is there not a single man,
woman or child left? Is the earth to be rendered completely DESOLATE
and Empty of all inhabitants?
No!
The Bible says the inhabitants (citizens, people, population) are
"scattered abroad"! That means they are widely dispersed from one
part of the land (ehrets) to another part. Then follows verse 2,
which says there is no respector of persons; that it will be the
same with the priest, maid, mistress, buyer, seller, lender, and
so on.
Notice
verse 4! It says, ". . . The haughty people
of the earth DO LANGUISH"! To "languish" means to mourn;
to be afflicted, perhaps in desperate straits of hardship, privation,
even injury and wounds! But people who are languishing are LIVING
PEOPLE!
Notice
the next few words in verse 5: "The earth
also is defiled UNDER THE INHABITANTS THEREOF"! Notice the
earth still has INHABITANTS! The earth is defiled and ruined; God's
judgments will come upon nation after nation until they shall be
utterly destroyed and there will be massive loss of human life!
But
there are survivors described in this passage of Scripture! Notice
verse 6. "Therefore hath the curse devoured
the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate"!
While
Mrs. White did quote this portion only of the verses she selected,
she went right over it, and then included the words "therefore the
inhabitants of the earth are burned," and placed a period where
a comma actually appears in the Bible! Note this well!
Turn
to Isaiah 24 and verse 6. Notice that following the words "of the
earth are burned" you see the words in your Bible "AND FEW MEN LEFT"!
Why
did Mrs. E.G. White deliberately OMIT those words—those very descriptive
words which PROVE that there are LIVING inhabitants left on the
earth after this great destruction? Yes, WHY did she DELIBERATELY
place a period where there is a comma in the Bible, the holy Word
of God?
Did she not realize the great curse Almighty
God pronounces upon anyone who would "take
away" from the Word of God? Now, finish reading the entire
24th chapter of Isaiah. Notice verse 9: "They
shall not drink wine…To them that drink it." Again, people
being described!
Verse
10: ". . . Every house is shut up, that
no man may come in."
Notice
verse 13! "When thus it shall be in the
midst of the land (ehrets) AMONG THE PEOPLE. . ." Notice verse 14:
"They shall lift up their voice ... THEY shall sigh for the majesty
of the Eternal, they shall cry aloud from the sea."
Who?
PEOPLE who are LEFT alive! Inhabitants of the earth! Notice verse
17, and many other verses, where it is proved over and over again
in this chapter that the earth is still inhabited!
"Fear,
and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O INHABITANT OF THE EARTH"!
Do
you need more proofs? All one need do is apply this very same experiment
to the entirety of the "desolation of the earth" chapter in The
Great Controversy and you will see example after example
of this type of distortion, perversion, deliberate omission and
twisting of the sacred Word of God!
Surely,
this represents one of the most blatant and deliberate examples
of the wresting and perversion of sacred Scripture on record! However,
there are MANY examples to be found in the writings of any number
of religious leaders—and a serious, careful, sincere and cautious
student of the Word of God will do exactly as God says and COMPARE
what these teachers say with the Bible!
Now,
what does the Bible really say about where the millennium will be
spent?
The Saints Shall Reign ON EARTH!
"And
I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto
them ... and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years"
(Revelation 20:4).
The
word millennium is never mentioned
in the Bible. It is merely an English word which means "one thousand
years." For purposes of reference to this "one thousand years" spoken
of in Revelation 20, verses 4, 5, 6 and 7, many use the word "millennium."
And WHERE will this "millennium," or 1,000 years, be spent?
It
said the resurrected saints, together with those who are to meet
Jesus Christ at His return in the air, are to "live
and reign" with Him for ONE THOUSAND YEARS! Where?
Notice!
"And they sung a new song, saying, thou
art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof—for thou
wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by the blood out of every
kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
"And
hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests: and we shall reign
ON THE EARTH"! (Revelation 5:10).
Jesus
said, "To him that overcometh will I grant
to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set
down with my Father in His throne" (Revelation 3:21).
WHERE
is that throne Jesus is coming to inherit? It is ON THIS EARTH!
Notice! "He shall be great, and shall be
called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto
Him the throne of his father David and He shall reign over the house
of Jacob forever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end"
(Luke 1:32, 33).
In
this salutation to Mary, prior to the birth of Jesus Christ, it
was predicted, even as Almighty God had made a covenant with David,
that Jesus is coming back to inherit David’s throne. Of this throne,
the prophecies say that it was to be "overturned,
overturned, overturned [three overturns!] and
be never more overturned until He come whose right it is"!
(Ezekiel 21:27).
Notice
how God promises Jesus Christ will reign on the earth, "Behold,
the days come, saith the Eternal, that I will raise unto David a
righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall
execute judgment and justice in the earth" (Jeremiah 23:5).
One
of the most important scriptures which absolutely destroys Mrs.
E.G. White's "desolate earth theory" is Isaiah the 11th chapter!
Read this interesting, important chapter with your own eyes! Notice
some excerpts from it: "But with righteousness
shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of
the EARTH and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth,
and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked...
The
wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down
with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
and a little child shall lead them.
"And
the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down
together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
"And
the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp [puff
adder] and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice'
den [the den of a poisonous snake],
"They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the EARTH
shall be full of the knowledge of the Eternal, as the waters cover
the sea.
"And
in that day there shall be a root of Jesse
[CHRIST], which shall stand for an ensign for the people;
to which shall the Gentiles [nations on this
earth!] seek: and His rest [the millennial reign of Christ]
shall be glorious.
"And
it shall come to pass, in that day [shortly
after the second coming of Christ, and as the government of God
is being set up on the earth], that the Lord shall set His
hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people,
which shall be left, from Assyria, from Egypt, and from Pathros,
and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath,
and from the Islands of the sea.
"And
He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the
outcasts of Israel [remember those who were
'scattered abroad' in Isaiah 24?] and gather together the
dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth ... And there
shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be
LEFT, from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day that he
came out of the land of Egypt" (Isaiah 11, selected verses).
Read
Ezekiel 36, how the waste places will be rebuilt. Then read the
magnificent prophecies of Isaiah 2 and Micah 4! Both are concerned
with the establishment of the KINGDOM OF GOD on this earth! Notice:
"And it shall come to pass, in the last
days, that the mountain of the External's house [a
type of the KINGDOM OF GOD] shall be established in the top
of the mountains [a symbol of larger nations],
and shall be exalted above the hills [a symbol
of smaller nations]; and all nations shall flow unto it!
"And
many people shall go and say, 'come ye, and let us go up to the
mountain of the Eternal, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He
will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out
of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Eternal from
Jerusalem."
"And
He shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many PEOPLE: and
they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into
pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war any more"! (Isaiah 2:2-4).
Read
the parallel account in Micah's prophecy where Micah says, ".
. . Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war anymore. "But they shall sit every man under his
vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make him afraid: for
the mouth of the Eternal of hosts hath spoken it.
"For
all people will walk everyone in the name of his God, and we will
walk in the name of the Eternal our God forever and ever. "In that
day, saith the Eternal, will I assemble her that halteth, and I
will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted:
"And
I will make her that halteth [the remnant
of Israel] a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong
nation: and the Eternal shall reign over them IN MOUNT ZION from
henceforth, even forever"! (Micah 4:1-7)
Can
anything be more PLAIN? Actually, these are but a few samples of
the literally DOZENS of scriptures which absolutely PROVE that Jesus
Christ of Nazareth is coming back down to this earth—that He is
going to establish His great Kingdom here, ON THIS EARTH, and that
He will rule over human, physical nations on this earth for the
period of the millennium—for 1,000 years!
Are
there lions, poisonous snakes, leopards, cows and little children
in heaven? Certainly, no thinking, rational, right-minded person
can read these many thunderous pronouncements from the Eternal God,
from the words of sacred Scripture, and not be absolutely CONVINCED
and CONVICTED that the Kingdom is going to rule ON THIS EARTH!
Read
Zechariah 14:4! This plainly shows, "In
that day," when Jesus Christ returns, His "feet
shall stand on the Mount of Olives"—that He is coming back
EXACTLY as the angelic messenger said He would (Acts 1:11), "in
like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven"!
When
we read in I Thessalonians 4:17 and the surrounding verses that
those who are alive at the second coming of Christ will be "caught
up together with them [the ones having just
been resurrected] to meet the Lord in the air," we
know that, true to the prophecy of Matthew 24:31, the angels will
gather the redeemed from around the world, they will be collected
together to MEET the returning, conquering Christ in the air (and
the AIR is very much a part of this earth's environment, its immediate
atmosphere), and continue on down to the Mount of Olives in that
very same day!
The
idea of a prolonged "rapture," wherein the saints are taken away
into heaven, is as false as any other lie which Satan the devil
has ever concocted! Surely, it is a shock to sincere, believing
people to realize religious leaders have (sometimes deliberately)
deceived them! Your ONLY protection against that kind of deception
is very careful comparison between everything they say or write
and the sacred Word of God!
The
events of the future are grouped together in three broad prophetic
divisions in the book of Revelation. They are: (1) the coming Great
Tribulation, (2) the heavenly signs, (3) the Day of the Lord! If
you memorize the following two scriptures, no one Will EVER deceive
you again with regard to the order of events very clearly set forth
in the Bible!
Simply
read Joel 2:31, and then Matthew 24:29! You will see that the heavenly
signs come immediately after the great tribulation (Matthew 24:29),
and that the heavenly signs occur just BEFORE the terrible Day of
the Lord (Joel 2:31).
The
"rapturists" presuppose that because of the horrors of the period
identified as "the great tribulation" it is inconceivable that any
of the "saints" are still on the earth at this time! But the Bible
clearly shows they ARE! Those who are overcoming, growing in the
grace and the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, watching
world conditions, praying and being deeply involved in the work
of God—including not forsaking their own very important personal
witness when required—will be supernaturally PROTECTED, even as
God protected the Israelites in the land of Goshen, during the plagues
upon Egypt!
We
are now about to enter the time of that great tribulation! That
means there are impending national calamities about to befall the
people of the United States, Britain, Canada, South Africa, Australia,
New Zealand, the Commonwealth countries and the democracies of Northwestern
Europe!
It
also means the rapid deployment of a multilateral force from Europe
at the behest of the papacy into Palestine and the Middle East!
(See Daniel 11:40 to the end of that chapter.) A great worldwide
TRADE WAR. is just ahead!
Global
economic collapse is just ahead! Out of the terrible poverty soon
to strike many of the major nations of this earth will arise militarists,
despots, dictators! Serious protectionism, "dumping" of various
products in order to gain a profit, tariffs, surcharges, exorbitant
export-import taxes, and trade wars are beginning, NOW, and major
reverberations are soon to be felt throughout the international
banking community!
Remember,
the mysterious "mark of the beast" is ECONOMIC as well as spiritual
in nature! It plainly says that unless a person receives this "mark"
(WILL it be some sort of invisible personal identification number
actually tattooed into the foreheads of those who accept it?) no
man may "buy or sell"!
Finally,
when the Western nations lie prostrate, under the heel of a new
DICTATOR, at the head of 10 nations in Europe, Almighty God Will
HALT all human activity just short of a global NUCLEAR WAR between
the new European power and the Soviet Union! Such a war would mean
the literal extermination of all of humankind! God intends STOPPING
IT (Matthew 24:21, 22) just short of that time! What event halts
it?
Read
the last of Revelation 6 and Revelation 7! This prophecy ties directly
in with Joel 2:31 and Matthew 24:19! Almighty God rolls back the
heavens, SHOCKS all of humankind with a dramatic display of His
"heavenly signs," wherein leaders from many nations are so terrified
they literally cry out for the rocks to fall on them and hide them!
Then,
swiftly, as those who have been lethargic, lukewarm, or who have
"lost their first love" are SHOCKED
into awareness—as millions who have heard the message but never
really HEEDED are STAGGERED into stunned realization of what is
really happening and beginning to cry out to God to be CONVERTED,
Will follow, immediately, the dreadful DAY
OF THE LORD!
The
Day of the Lord consists of seven trumpet plagues, the last three
of which are called "three woes," and the last of these "three woes"
is made up of the "seven last plagues."
Christ
does not come to this earth until the outpouring of the last and
FINAL of the seven last plagues!
Once
you understand this step-by-step ORDER OF EVENTS in Bible prophecy,
and prove it to yourself thoroughly by careful study of the book
of Revelation in the light of Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21, you
Will NOT be deceived by false leaders who would deliberately wrest
and twist the Bible for their own purposes, merely to gain a following!
It
is because of the masterful deception of Satan the devil that the
MILLIONS are utterly blinded to the very PURPOSE for human life!
HOW
FEW comparatively, really understand that this human life is like
"boot camp" or primary training for the very Kingdom of God!
HOW
FEW understand that we are to be busily QUALIFYING to become "KINGS
AND PRIESTS" and to actually sit on exalted THRONES, ruling with
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, making far-reaching judgmental decisions,
edicts, issuing orders which will enforce PEACE upon a sin-sick,
war-torn world at last?
This
earth is where the problems are! It is here on this earth, that
Jesus Christ intends cleaning house—solving the problems—ushering
in an era of absolute compulsory joy!
Yes,
the saints will reign ON THE EARTH!
Remember
Jesus' admonition (Luke 21:36), and ask yourself are you watching
world news and conditions; and are you praying always, that you
might "be accounted worthy to escape ALL
THESE THINGS that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son
of man"?
-End-
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