So what do I think? Part 1

In light of everything we have discussed up to this point, there are, it seems to me four basic questions that come to light:

Are we in the “endtime”?

Is what we are experiencing the judgment of God upon us for our sin?

Is the world stage being set for the coming of the Antichrist?



Is this the end of the United States of America as we know it?

The answers to these questions are: yes, no and maybe (not in that order).

In the interest of keeping these posts necessarily brief, I will tackle these four questions one at a time in four separate posts.

The first question seems to be on the mind of all; believer and unbeliever alike. We are curious about what to make of the troubled times in which we live, and as to whether our times are the last days. We are so troubled about these times in which we live that even some pretribulationists are looking at this as a pretribulation tribulation. We are often caught in the act of interpreting these times as that which Jesus referred to as the “birth pangs” (Matthew 24:8 NASB). We cannot help ourselves, especially those of us who so eagerly look forward to His return, to try to see this as the beginning of the end. But so have many in many generations before us. Are we indeed in the endtime?

 

So what do I believe? To the first question, I will answer a qualified “no”.

First of all, let me qualify my answer by saying that I believe that we are close enough to the endtime that there are people alive today that will see the revealing of the “man of sin” (1 Thess.2:3) and the coming of our Lord.

Having said this, it will be of no surprise to those who have listened to my sermon (see former post My Sermon on the Web) that this is what I believe. I understand that some of you, as I have also, experienced some technical difficulties as you have tried to access this message on sermon.net. I apologize for this, though the circumstances are beyond my control. For that purpose, I will recap those parts of it that are pertinent to what we are discussing here. In that previous posting, which instructed you how to access that sermon, I included a set of scripture references that I used in the message. I would encourage you to refer to that posting for those scripture references that are included.

The message revolved around a much ignored statement by Jesus in Matthew 24:14;

“. . . the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.”

Even conservatives have found many ways in which to explain away this seemingly clear statement by our Lord. I have not found any of these explanations convincing, certainly not as convincing as the idea that I should take this literally, and believe that Jesus meant exactly what He said.

If there is any doubt that Jesus meant what he said, there is another largely ignored passage in Revelation 5:9 that should clarify this for us:

"And they sang a new song with these words:

“You are worthy to take the scroll

and break its seals and open it.

For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation.“

Please note the tense of the verbs. This all takes place in the throne room of heaven. It is observed that only the Lamb of God is worthy to open the scroll because he was slain for our salvation. The seven seals on the scroll, and the events that issue forth from their opening are considered to be the beginning of the end, regardless of what your point of view regarding the endtime events. We all get this. The part we don’t seem to get is the reason that the Lamb is considered worthy includes the fact that His blood has ransomed people from every tribe, language, people and nation. This is stated in the past tense as a completed action. The first seal is not opened until this redemption of “. . . every tribe and language and people and nation“ has been completed.

We often ask the question “can Jesus return at any time?”  This is not the question that we need to be asking. He can come any time the Father wills.  If you take these verses literally (as I do) He will not come until sometime after there is at least one redeemed representative from “every tribe and language and people and nation“!

I also appealed to our logic, making mention of the great commission that we are to “make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach[ing] these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.” (Matthew 28:19-20 NLT)

Jesus gave His church a mission to perform. Would He take His church out of the world before their mission is complete? While there is no promise that He will come for us immediately after the last language group or tribe is evangelized, we can be confident in light of these passages that it will not occur before this happens.

For what it is worth, the Wycliffe Translators are on track in their goal to have the Bible translated into every language by 2030. No, I am not trying to date the Lord’s return, but just to illustrate that we probably have a few years to go.

Now that I have said that, the point that I am trying to make is this: the Lord is not going to swoop down and deliver us from that which is currently plaguing our world. If the events that we see taking place before us that are causing us concern run their present course and continue to get worse, we are in for a lot of suffering.  Part of the thesis put forth by Robert Jefress is that these times can be an unparalleled opportunity to minister to our world in the name of Jesus. I read once that during the smallpox epidemic of the middle ages, Christians were noted by the secular world to be the ones that were aiding the sick rather than running from them in fear, and were responsible for many who were made well who otherwise may have died.

Perhaps God’s plan in all the suffering which we now are and will be experiencing, is that He will be glorified in what we do and how we handle these crises. Perhaps it will be said of us, as Joseph said to his brothers:

“God intended it all for good. He brought [us] to this position so [we] could save the lives of many people.” (Genesis 50:20 NLT)

So then comes the next question: are we experiencing the judgment of God upon us for our sin? or have we simply sown the wind and are reaping the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7)?  We’ll talk about that next time.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.

Other Voices

I mentioned in my last post that I have been influenced by the views of several others who have taken to writing about the times in which we are living and the crises we are experiencing and whether they have any meaning spiritually or prophetically. I even said that I regard some of these as prophetic voices. I want to say at the outset that I follow the advice of Paul in that I do not “scoff at prophecy” but test it for truth (1 Thess. 5:20-21). Moses gave us additional advice about testing prophets as well, which should also be noted here:

 “But you may wonder, ‘How will we know whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord?’  If the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared.” (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)

While few of the people below have claimed a gift of prophecy, and some have even denied it, I believe that they have given a message to us from the Lord regarding our times, and where all of this is leading, and I think we need to be listening to what they have to say.

Below I have indicated each one’s name, the book or other work I have read of each regarding the subject at hand, and a brief synopsis of what each had to say. I am resisting the temptation to give a full book report on each. If you are interested (and I hope you will be) you can read each for yourself. Keep in mind that I do not agree with everything that each of these folks say. In fact, I disagree with each of them at some point.

The late David Wilkerson; America’s Last Call (1998), and God’s Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression (1999).                For anyone who is unfamiliar with David Wilkerson, he is best known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade in which he wrote about his ministry to street gangs in New York City in the 1960’s. He is also the founder of the Teen Challenge addiction ministry and was the senior pastor of the Times Square Church prior to his tragic death in an auto accident in 2011. I think that the message he puts forth in these two books is best summarized by his own words in God’s Plan to Protect His People . . . :

“. . . what is happening cannot be fixed. There is no magic bullet to save us. God is about to chasten the nations of the world through an economic holocaust—and His sword is already unsheathed!” (P.5).

He wrote these things in 1998-1999, yet when I picked up these books in 2011 it seemed that they could have been written that very year, rather than before the turn of the century.

Dr. Wilkerson believes that what is happening is a result of our society’s turning its back on God and of three major points over which our nation is going to suffer God’s judgment:

·         Its support of abortion.

·         Its support of the homosexual agenda.

·         Its mistreatment and persecution of the Christian Church.

Dr. Wilkerson seems to see this as a phenomenon that is leading to the end of America as we know it, rather than the end of days.

Jonathan Cahn, The Harbinger   Mr. Cahn, a Messianic Jewish believer, wrote his message in the form of a novel. Unlike other novels that present fictionalized accounts similar to current events, Mr. Cahn has done a very good job of taking actual current events and the news articles therein produced, and has crafted the story of his fictional characters around these. He compares what is going on in America to the events prior to the fall of Judah in the Old Testament, particularly a passage found in Isaiah 9, verses 8 and following. It is eerie to see him point out the similarities of that time and our own, sometimes right down to the choices of words made by persons in our present day. His basic message is that God is bringing judgment on our nation for our godlessness, our unrighteousness, and our arrogance.

Dr. David Jeremiah, The Coming Economic Armageddon                               David Jeremiah is a well known TV evangelist, author, pastor of a large evangelical church, and the editor and publisher of the popular Turning Points devotional magazine. In this book he sees current financial events as leading to a collapse of the global economy, followed by a new global economy and the “new world order” that will welcome the Antichrist.

The late Grant Jeffrey, One Nation Under Attack                              Grant Jeffrey, a prolific author on the subject of Bible prophecy, wrote this, his final book shortly before his unexpected death on May 11, 2012. He predicts a financial collapse that is too late to reverse, a decline in freedom, a decline in morality, an abandonment of foundational American values, and a wholesale turning away from God and toward a secular-humanist society. He sees this as the result of a liberal political agenda in which American politicians are the (usually unwitting) instruments of Satan. He too sees the result of all of this as leading to a world where the Antichrist can rise to power. He gives considerable advise as to how Christians can protect themselves from the horrors to come as a result of the financial  collapse and how to minimize the painfulness of such a time as we are about  to enter.

Perry Stone, www. Perrystone.org          Perry Stone has spoken and written much regarding Bible prophesies. Rev. Stone claims to have had prophetic visions, as apparently did his father and grandfather before him. There is one thing in particular that I found on his website that stood out. Several years ago he had a vision that included three things:  one was a vision that he later identified as hurricane Katrina. A second feature of this vision was later identified by him as the BP Gulf oil spill. A third feature of this vision was that he foresaw a time when our ability to travel would be restricted for a brief period. This of course has not happened yet. I am waiting for the proverbial “other shoe” to drop.

Robert Jeffress, Twilight’s Last Gleaming             Dr. Jeffress, the pastor of the largest Southern Baptist congregation in America, the First Baptist Church of Dallas, sees the current upheaval as the end of America, rather than the end of the world. Jeffress claims no prophetic gift, and reading between the lines, I doubt that he even believes that prophecy is a currently available spiritual gift. In fact, in a fashion typical of many Southern Baptist authors, he doesn’t even acknowledge the importance of the Holy Spirit and His work until page 103! That being said, I particularly found interesting that which he had to say about how he had met with resistance and ridicule from both the secular world and from his own parishioners when he has tried to speak out on various moral and political issues. His advice on voting and how to stand up for our beliefs in these difficult times, I found to be especially challenging and helpful.

There are some general comments I want to make about the persons mentioned above. First, many of them engage in what I like to call “comparing Old Testament apples to New Testament oranges.”  Indeed, anyone who reads the New Testament regularly cannot help but believe that God not only differently defines who “His people” are, but deals with them differently since the accomplished work of Christ on the cross, and the coming of the indwelling Holy Spirit, as compared to the Old Testament. Yet, while God deals with His people differently now, is it still a reality that He deals with nations as He did in the Old Testament? We will explore this in more detail later.

Second, nearly all of these commentators are pretribulationists, which prohibits them from identifying any of the current events as true last-days happenings. More on this later as well.

Finally, I found an ambivalence in many of these writings as to whether they believed that God’s judgment was coming upon us because the world of unbelievers were sinful, or because the church was sinful.

That all being said, the belief seemed to run through all of these that there was a need to repent and turn to God as the only hope for ourselves as individuals and for our world.

So what do I believe? Is this the end of days, or is it the end of America? Is our Lord coming soon to save us from all of this, or have we simply sown the wind and are reaping the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7)?  We will talk about this next time.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.