Are you able to see what is coming, are you able to observe what God is trying to reveal in this hour, are you preparing yourself spiritually beforehand?
We pray that our readers have already been impressed through the Holy Spirit, to awaken from their slumber and observe what God has been revealing to us, through a sensitive spirit within us. If not, we pray that this discussion will open your eyes and ears to the revelation of truth that God desires for his children to receive, for our benefit.
It is our hope that each one of you will open yourself up to the work of the Holy Spirit, and not quench what the Holy Spirit is trying to reveal. We understand the protective nature within us, that strives to distance ourselves from adversity and the internal conflict arising from the unknown, by disengaging altogether and looking the other way. However, we must face the circumstances that have been presented for us to see, and discern through historical and biblical evidence, patterns for us to recognize and apply towards this hour, we are living in.
Taking a closer look at the book of Ecclesiastes will reveal that patterns are repeated, and that there is nothing new under the sun. Satan uses the same schemes over and over to deceive and mislead each generation into repeating the same sins as those before.
We sense the Holy Spirit telling us to observe, repent, and prepare. The world is changing, the love of many is growing cold, and political and spiritual divisiveness is ramping up. There is evidence of global leaders moving towards a one world economy, one world government, and one world religion. Technology has demonstrated the rise of artificial intelligence, robotics, and trans-humanism. Society is moving further away from the likeness of Jesus Christ, and tolerance for sound biblical doctrine is on the decline. Religious and racial tensions are on the rise, and insensitivity towards one another is growing. Sexual immorality, homosexuality, and transgenderism have become normalized. Social disorder, violence, and human trafficking are easily identified. Human sacrifice, ritual sacrifice, and abortions continue to happen. Wars, and rumors of wars remain a central topic throughout the world. And deception has infiltrated Christianity, in producing a counterfeit religion, that is lukewarm and inconsistent with the image of Christ we are to resemble.
This discussion is not meant to cause fear or trembling for those walking with Jesus Christ. However, if you call yourself a Christian, but have not been able to discern what the Holy Spirit is trying to reveal than we encourage you to ask the Lord to open your eyes and ears to his truth. And in so doing, that you may be prepared spiritually beforehand for what is coming, and not lose heart through a lack of faith to endure in a time of difficulty.
Please recognize that if your heart and mind are attached to the cares of this world, through the desires of your flesh, you will likely remain focused on yourself rather than the Lord. So, it is imperative to begin separating yourself from your flesh and this world, through your surrender to Christ, and allow him to lead you through the help of the Holy Spirit, as he directs. In addition, to accept that we are to be a living sacrifice in our walk with Jesus Christ, no longer walking according to the ways of the world. This means that we must become accepting of death, so that we are able to navigate without carrying this concern for self-protection. And the same goes for that feeling of responsibility in protecting others. We must accept that we do not possess the ability, in our own strength, to safeguard others from the unknown, even if we try.
This requires us to submit ourselves to God’s will and perfect plan over our lives and what ever challenges we may face. But, it also requires us to prepare our hearts and minds for the spiritual battle we will encounter, by spending time in God’s word, so that we fill our cup with his truth, to combat the internal spiritual battle we will face with our faith.
However, the relative importance you may feel towards this topic, may be inhibited by the spiritual eyes and ears you have at this moment. So, we are asking you now, Are you able to see what is happening in the world around you that is spiritually significant for you to observe? Can you see the devil in the details, who is working behind the scenes to create chaos, war, control, and division, not to mention setting up a global power structure that is ushering in the Beast System that scripture has warned us about? Are you watchful, and spiritually minded to recognize the movement towards a one world religion, the persecution of Christians, and the introduction of the anti-Christ? Are you preparing yourself and your home with God’s word, to sustain you with his truth, so that you may endure the challenges of the tribulation period, the Mark of the Beast, and not falling away from your faith through spiritual weakness found in your flesh?
For those holding on to a pre-tribulation rapture belief, please understand that this teaching is rooted in a dispensational viewpoint that is not universally accepted throughout Christianity. While, we would acknowledge the benefit of being raptured out of the earth, to meet Christ in the clouds, before the world encountered the Tribulation period. We would also acknowledge that this teaching leads to complacency in followers of Christ, through a lack of spiritual preparation, which is essential to sustain our faith through this time of great testing.
We would challenge you to consider how Satan might use this scheme of pre-tribulation rapture theology, implanted through man’s interpretation of scripture, to misguide Christians, so that many would fall away from Christ in the last days, through spiritual discouragement?
Our protective instinct, is by nature, to adopt the least harmful consequence threatening our survival. In this case, picking between two theological positions, having two distinctly different consequences for us to encounter. It is understandable that one would gravitate towards a pre-tribulation rapture view in safeguarding their emotions from the tremendous difficulties one could expect to face during the Tribulation. However, we must ask ourselves, through biblical evidence, whether this is consistent with God’s nature found in scripture?
To do this requires us to look honestly at the lives of Adam and Eve being thrown out of the Garden; at Noah encountering a global flood, at Abraham being asked to sacrifice his own son; at Joseph being sold into Slavery; at the Israelites being enslaved in Egypt; at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace; at Daniel being thrown into the lions den; at David encountering Goliath; at Jonah being swallowed by a whale; at Mary and Joseph fleeing Herod’s plan to kill the Messiah; at Jesus’ earthly ministry and death on the cross; at the 12-Apostles lives and the sacrifices they made to spread the Gospel, and the deaths they encountered as a result; and at the beheading of John the Baptist for speaking God’s truth and rebuking sin.
If we read scripture, by compartmentalizing that history to only those found in the Bible, without accepting that we too will be persecuted for our belief and walk with Jesus Christ, then we have been deceived. And it is not surprising that this occurs, since we have not encountered the presence of the Roman army affecting our daily lives, through our civilian experience, and the impact of this prescience on our existence. So admittedly, it is easy for our generation to feel less impact for religious persecution and dominance from emperor power over us, than for those found in scripture.
However, if we allow ourselves to observe what has been happening around us, through spiritual eyes found in Christ Jesus, then we should be able to see the return of Roman control over our society, through the language and actions of those presently in power. This requires spiritual understanding and awareness that only comes through the light of God’s word and the work of the Holy Spirit to reveal such things to us. But, until you surrender your flesh to Christ, you will likely not receive the truth of this revelation God desires for you to know.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12, ESV, 2001, Crossway).
This is not a political argument, but a spiritual argument to awaken to what scripture has already described would happen.
We are pleading with you, through God’s love, to acknowledge the war at hand, both in this world and also in the Spirit. We urge each of you to detach yourself from the desires of your flesh that war against your Spirit, and encounter Jesus Christ more intimately. Begin to sever your flesh that keeps you attached to this world, and prepare yourself for God’s kingdom. This is not something you can put off until you see more evidence to convince you otherwise. God spoke to Noah, and Noah listened, and built the ark in preparation for the rain and flood that were promised. Noah did not wait for the rain to start first, but was obedient to complete the ark beforehand. We too must build our ark of understanding, reliance, and faithfulness through the oil we collect, before the bibles are confiscated and burned, and before speaking the names of Jesus Christ is deemed a capitol offense according to the Beast System and the One World Religion, soon to be established.
Jesus warns us that, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
We must continually seek to know, and do, what our Heavenly Father has instructed, and follow Jesus closely to lead us to God’s kingdom.
Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
He also said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23).
And, “Whoever, has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).
But, how many Christians will possess the spiritual strength to endure scourging, imprisonment, stoning, or decapitation, for their faith in Christ? How many will relent to the persecution, so that they might buy and sell, remain clothed and sheltered, and enjoy what the Beast System is offering those who submit, by denouncing Jesus Christ as their Savior?
Many claim to love Jesus, but exhibit lives, thoughts, attitudes, behaviors, and actions that are contrary to the Jesus they claim to follow. So we must obtain knowledge through scripture of who Jesus Christ is, in order for us to follow in his steps.
James writes, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4).
Paul writes, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot” (Romans 8:7).
Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34).
“From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:15-16).
“And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia” (Revelation 14:20).
We, as followers of Jesus Christ, are the harvest that Jesus has been cultivating . We are the grapes who have been instructed to bear fruit for the world to see. He told us so in the Parable of Tenants. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent to them another servant , and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, “They will respect my son.” But those tenants said to one another, “This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture: “”The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the was the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes’”
This parable is about Jesus Christ, he was the beloved son, whom the world condemned to death. He is the cornerstone that has become our salvation, because we believed, and who is an offense to the world. If we associate with Christ, as our Savior, we can expect to receive persecution like those before.
“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2Timothy 4:3-4).
Jesus warned us by saying, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me” (John 15:18-21).
We must ask whether we are wrestling with the idea of being persecuted, or are we walking on the periphery of our Christianity, so as not to? Are we preparing ourselves for the world’s hatred, to be able to endure the persecution of hunger, thirst, homelessness, beatings, and death. Or, are we protecting ourselves from this biblical evidence, hoping and expecting that we will not have to suffer for the sake of Christ?
Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).
Have you considered what this means, to deny yourself, and take up your cross? Do you recall what Christ suffered by doing the same thing he has asked for us to do? This is not something we should overlook, or take lightly. We must ask ourselves honestly whether our faith is strong enough to encounter death, for Christ’s sake, let alone deny the desires our flesh pursues in this world.
This moment in the biblical timeline we are living in, can either be used to draw us closer to Christ, to fill our cup and lamp with sufficient oil to keep our light of faith burning through the difficulty we will undoubtedly face; or the time will be wasted through ignorance, complacency, and deception.
There is no evidence that we see in scripture that suggests that a Christian’s life will, or should be easy. Jesus’ yoke is easy, but the trials we face in the world will be hard.
We must be observant for Jesus’ warning to us, found in Matthew 24, ‘to not be led astray, to be watchful for wars and rumors of wars, for nations to rise against nations, and kingdoms against kingdoms, for famines and earthquakes. Then being delivered up to tribulation and put to death for his name’s sake. And recognize that many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But to those who endure to the end will be saved. And then the end will come’ (Matthew 24:4-14). And to also recognize that ‘when we see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place, to flee and not return, for then there will be the great tribulation. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short’ (Matthew 24:15-22).
There is no mention of pre-tribulations rapture connotations that we can secure through this, regardless of how we might try through our fleshly desire to circumvent carrying our cross to the point of death. Yet, we also acknowledge that God’s mercy and grace may lead us out from making a declaration against Christ, but we would caution against the notion of not enduring persecution for his name’s sake.
We hope that you will dive deeper into God’s word, and prepare yourself for the four horsemen of the apocalypse, described in Revelation 6. As well, as the seven seals which will be opened, foretelling future events we will likely encounter, in this late hour of scripture we are experiencing.
Our prayer is that you will accept the circumstances that God has placed you into, recognizing that in Christ you are saved; To accept the call as a Christian, to follow him into persecution; to be built up in your Spirit, through his word; to endure until the end with the spiritual oil you have been gathering through your surrender and reliance on him to walk with you through it; Being steadfast in you devotion to Christ, sensitive to the Holy Spirit working inside you, observing the signs of the times that God is revealing; staying focused on your Shepherd at all times; rebuking every form of evil; edifying one another in the truth of God’s word without hesitation, so as to encourage one another in the hope of our salvation and the kingdom that awaits those who persevere to the end.
In Christ.
