This will be the first of the eschatology post I will publish. I hope to publish more. However, these will be more warnings and cautions about the coming End Times Tribulation and the coming Rapture of the Church.
I want to begin with a scripture from Mark 13 (NASB1995) that is important to start with: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”
I want to put this out there I don’t know when the Rapture or the return of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will return but He has given us signs to watch out for. Luke 21: 25 – 28 (NCV) Jesus tells His followers there will be signs of the return of Jesus as detailed in the following passage “There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. On earth, nations will be afraid and confused because of the roar and fury of the sea. People will be so afraid they will faint, wondering what is happening to the world, because the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then people will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to happen, look up and hold your heads high, because the time when God will free you is near!”
The truth is that many signs have come to pass. Mark 24: 6 – 7 states “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” Today more conflicts are occurring around the world. There are a growing number of declarations of wars and escalations towards wars. China is threatening to Invade Taiwan, Iran is threatening to attack Israel, and Niger experienced a coup that removed their leader and installed a Military Junta as their government is several examples of Wars and Rumors of wars. Nation will rise against nation is more of an example of civil wars or internal conflicts as experienced by France with their citizens rebelling against their country and their policy to increase the retirement age, the truckers in Canada protesting the working conditions imposed by their government or the riots in the US protesting the 2016 election or government policies they don’t agree with. In fact, a study performed by Macro Trend has shown an increase in crime by over 5.5% yearly since 2019. And since 2020 there has been a rise in violence worldwide. This ranges from violence within national borders and violence across borders. You can cite the drug cartel wars that cross the Mexican – US border, to the riots in Iran for the removal of the Ayatollahs from power, to the buildup of forces in Belarus across from the Polish Border (an example of a rumor of war). The world is destabilizing and more and more countries are discussing conflicts or internal struggles that are causing disruptions in daily life for their citizens.
There are warnings in the Bible that in the last days, there will be those who mock God. This is increasing. Don’t believe me? Think of the movie on Netflix that portrayed Jesus as homosexual. Think of the movie called “Rapture Palooza” or “This is the End” that mocks the rapture. Or the many entertainers in Hollywood that have openly mocked God. There is a link on YouTube where you can see people openly mocking God, including entertainers singing a song about going to Hell (https://youtu.be/YSfYISxA6uU?si=dFuJGvbFQRBEvnKI). I will tell you that those who mock God will be surprised when the day comes and they are standing in front of Him explaining their actions.
2 Timothy 3: 1 – 5 (NCV) details the types of people we will see in the “last days” “Remember this! In the last days there will be many troubles because people will love themselves, love money, brag, and be proud. They will say evil things against others and will not obey their parents or be thankful or be the kind of people God wants. They will not love others, will refuse to forgive, will gossip, and will not control themselves. They will be cruel, will hate what is good, will turn against their friends, and will do foolish things without thinking. They will be conceited, will love pleasure instead of God, and will act as if they serve God but will not have his power. Stay away from those people.” Here is the New American Standard Translation of the same verses: But realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.” You might say that these personalities have been present all along. And you would be correct, however, we have not seen it to the extent it is today. More and more people are leaving God and are mocking Him openly. We have not seen the mocking of our Lord to this level, almost making Him a comedy sketch.
Series like the show Lucifer which depicts satan as a misunderstood character are distorting the true nature of satan…one who wants to destroy you and all you stand for. Someone who hates everything God created because God created everyone in His image..an image of love. The same satan who tempted Eve in the garden which caused our fall from grace. This same satan wants to see you in hell with him being eternally tormented, with no breaks, no time outs, and no parole. This satan wants to see you in hell with him because that is where he will be when the final judgment comes. Satan is not misunderstood, he is the pure definition of evil and wants to destroy you. And if you are a Christian, satan wants to punish you. As a Christian satan knows he does not have power over you, but he has power over the Non-Christian and he will do everything to keep you away from God.
There is power in the name of Jesus! Satan knows that. For this reason, satan does not want you to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Once you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior his power over you is completely destroyed. James 4: 7 – 8(a) (NASB) says “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” God wants you to have victory. God wants you with Him in eternity. However, God cannot allow evil to be in existence with Him for God is not evil. God is holiness. Revelations 4: 8 describe how the Angels in heaven sing continuously of God’s Holiness. It says: “Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty—
the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come.”
Our God, Our Creator is Holy and anything that is not holy cannot be allowed into heaven to reside with Him. 1 Peter 1: 15 – 16 (NCV) states “But as He who has called you is holy, so be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.””
The truth is that God is not trying to extend our suffering, He is extending His mercy to all who will accept His Son Jesus as Lord and Savior. As John 3:16-17 (MEV) says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” God wants everyone to come to Him. Why not? He created all of us.
As I was beginning this blog, my intention was also to show how time is running out. We are at a time which was described in the Bible. The signs of the end times are upon us and time is becoming short. My wish is that more people would come to Jesus in repentance and accept Him as their Lord and Savior. We are beginning to enter the final prophetic days before the Rapture and the Tribulation period. I believe satan has already been cast down from Heaven and is now cut off from God. The Rapture is close upon us. Once the rapture occurs the spirit that is holding the anti-christ back will be removed and life will literally be hell on earth. In fact, the word we are told in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 – 8 (NKJV) “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.” Right now the anti-christ is being restrained by the Holy Spirit, by the prayers and presence of God’s church, and by Jesus himself. However, once the Rapture occurs the anti-christ will be revealed. The truth is that without Jesus and the Holy Spirit we will not be able to know or identify the anti-christ. We will not be able to discern who the anti-christ is with his false preachings. We continue to read in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” I believe he is already on the world stage but his presence and his true identity are not known. When the Rapture occurs, his true identity will be revealed and the beginning of torment for “Christians in name only” or the “Carnal Christian,” and the Jewish people will begin. This torment will make the Nazi Holocaust of the Jewish People seem insignificant. The persecution on Christians and Jews will kill 2/3 of all Christians and Jews. This has been prophesied in the Bible. This will also be the time that God’s wrath will rain down on the earth. I will cover that in a future blog – but it won’t be too distant.
I will end with this plea, please, if you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior do it today because time is short. Please, accept Jesus because the Rapture is closer than you think. And you don’t want to be one of those left behind. Please, reach out to me or a friend who is a Believer / Christian to discuss your decision to accept Jesus, or to ask questions.
To the Christian / The Believer this earth will be the only Hell we will ever know. To the Non-Christian / Non-Believer this earth will be the only Heaven they will know. Choose eternal life – Choose Jesus!
DEAR LORD, I KNOW I AM A SINNER. I KNOW I HAVE HOPE IN JESUS. I WANT TO REPENT OF MY SINS AND COME TO YOU TO ASK FORGIVENESS. I WANT TO ASK YOU TO FORGIVE MY SINS, CLEANSE ME OF MY SINS, GIVE ME THE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE WITH JESUS, AND I WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE JESUS IS MY LORD AND SAVIOR AND HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR ME. I ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT TO COME INTO ME AS THE GUARANTEE OF MY SALVATION AND WANT TO REPENT OF MY SINS. ALL THIS I ASK IN JESUS HOLY AND PRECIOUS NAME, AMEN
If you prayed that prayer then I want to say CONGRATULATIONS AND WELCOME TO THE FAMILY OF BELIEVERS. The Angels, The Saints, The Lord Jesus, and all who have gone before us are having a party in Heaven because you chose Jesus. And I want to welcome you to the family. Find a good Bible-based church and continue to learn about Jesus. We are all on this Journey together. And in the end we will hear God say “Well Done my good and faithful servant!”
Heart for Jesus 