| The Apostles weather the storm! |
Sometimes, as we struggle along through and endure these perilous last days, it can seem like the Devil is winning on every front. Oftentimes it truly does seem that every single hallmark of morality and righteousness in the world is not only under demonic attack but is in fact being relegated to the dustbins of society. Sometimes it may seem as though God has totally withdrawn, and that we are left to fend for ourselves. Truly, the chalepos snares of the forces of darkness abound today like no other time in history. The result of these perilous days will ultimately soon culminate in full-scale apostasy during the Tribulation of course. (as the Laodicean Church evolves into the Apostate church) But we members of the terminal generation era (alive at time for rapture) of the bride of Christ need always to ponder and reflect upon the fact that all these ominous signs of the times need not cause us to fear. Rather the prevalent perilous times present today should give us renewed hope and spiritual vigor as we labor onward in this ever darkening world.
Many people fail to understand or to grasp the unique spiritual blessing that is inferred by the phrase, “blessed hope.” The Greek term “makarios elpis,” is the rendered phrase that we as Christians know uniquely as the wondrous “blessed hope.” It is a term that is intended to convey to every Christian alive during the last days, a quiet but assuring message about an imminent gathering with the Lord before the climactic Day of Trouble.
(Day of the Lord) The term means that the last days Christian is “supremely fortunate and able to confidently anticipate” the Lord’s coming even as we witness the signs of the Last Days taking place all around us. And what a blessing it is too! Christians should never allow the Devil to rob them of this wonderful makarios elpis! The blessed hope and the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ (epiphaneia) are majestically and supernaturally interlocked in the providential plan of God. Otherwise, the Christian of today could not look out across today’s world landscape, and see a view that is overflowing with the ever-advancing forces of darkness, and still yet be filled with absolute confidence and an anticipatory sense of excitement. These perilous times indicate that the time for Jesus return is on the radar screen for Christians and that we, his ambassadors in this world will soon be recalled home. The great tribulation era is simply not on the radar screen for Christians!
Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope,[ the pre-trib rapture] and the glorious appearing [ 2nd coming] of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;
Some reasons to be encouraged even during the perilous times of the Last Days are the following:
· Jesus has promised his children that he will never leave us nor forsake us. Even in the most perilous of times, the Lord is our constant refuge and strength.
Hebrews 13:5-6 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Psalms 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalms 62:7-8; Psalms 118:4; II Corinthians 12:9)
· The providential plan of God does not call for his children to be subjected to the “Day of the wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:16) when Jesus returns to this world as a Lion! (Revelation 5:5) Yes, God’s plan calls for our withdrawal and rescue!
1 Thessalonians 5:1-9 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
· This world is not our home. Heaven holds our citizenship, and as citizens of Heaven, we are presently serving as the Lord’s ambassadors to this present world. We are literally spiritual aliens in this world, and this evil infested world hates us just as it hated Jesus. Our rewards, our crowns, our substance, and our inheritance are all in Heaven. There is an old song that says it plainly: (This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through, my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue, the angels beckon me to heavens open door, and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore!) (Romans 8:17-21; Titus 2:12; Galations 1:4; Ephesians 2:12)
Revelation 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
· Accountability to God is the great motivator for righteous living, and persisting in the faith even under the most trying of circumstances. In the end analysis, we will all (Christian or non-Christian) discover that real accountability rests solely with God. Accountability should always be a powerful reminder for us to live righteously and soberly in this present world. Every action, word, deed, and thought for every individual will be scrutinized and evaluated by God. No one shall escape God’s strong right arm of justice. Vengeance, mercy and justice belong to him alone, and all earthly kings, presidents, dictators, and all men, rich or poor, whether evil or good will one day be required to give an accounting to God. Anticipating the Lord’s words, “well done good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,” are wonderful words that should encourage every Christian to endure to the end.
Romans 14:11-12 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. (Matthew12:36; Matthew 18:23; I Peter 4:4-5; Revelation 20:12-13)
· Jesus is absolutely 100% victorious and he is coming soon to claim his kingdom! Regardless of the perils that we are subjected to while we are in this world, we must never forget the fact that Jesus Christ has already won our salvation and we must also never forget the fact that he will soon return to this earth avenge his/our adversaries.
Jeremiah 46:10 For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries:
Luke 18:7-8 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.
Deuteronomy 32:43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.
· The Church is and always will be triumphant! Although the Church will experience the onslaught of Hell, the forces of Hell will never prevail over Christ’s bride. It is true that the Church of these perilous last days will be enamored with the gods of this world and become amalgamated into the Apostate church of the Tribulation. But for us as Christians during these perilous last days, we can labor on for Christ with full confidence that the power that resides in us is more powerful than the anti-Christian powers that are presently peaking in this evil world.
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Romans 8:33-39 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." --- Hallelujah !!!!
· Even the great falling away (II Thessalonians 2:3) that is taking place within the church today is cause for spiritual exuberance and encouragement! Even as the modern church is undergoing a phenomenon of a deplorable luke-warmness that is coupled with an abandonment of sound doctrine, we can take comfort in the fact that the Lord foretold that this anemic spiritual condition would reach its climax within the church in the days just prior to his glorious return. The Bible has a name for this kind of enemy inside of the church. It is called apostasy, and involves the workings of the mystery of iniquity. (there is an ecclesiastical enemy inside the church today operating with amazing power) The Greek word from which we derive the word apostasy simply means "a falling away, or a rebellion or revolt." To apostatize in biblical times meant to desert one's station or post. (abandon the doctrinal faith) The Greek biographer Plutarch used the word to describe a political revolution. In apostasy, those who profess to be Christians actually pollute and compromise the clear teachings of the Scriptures, turning God’s word into a popular age of fables. The Scriptures also show that apostasy has existed from the church's infancy and will continue with its highs and lows right up until the Lord returns. The grand apostate will be the Antichrist. The Church has experienced an ebb and flow throughout history, but the falling away will reach such an intensity that it will be allowed by God to result in the coming of the Antichrist and the establishment of a one-world apostate religion. Then and only then will Christ return and establish His kingdom. For this reason, even as I continue to observe the modern decay of the church and alhough it is a sad scene, I am also greatly encouraged. I am encouraged because I understand that God is preparing to separate the true believers from the pretending believers. The activated blessed hope of every Christian conveys to his spiritual instincts the fact that our stubborn resistance to the spiritual wiles of the antichrist movement is still obstructing his rise to power in this world. The mere fact of the present apostasy should awaken genuine believers to vigilance and readiness for the Second Coming of Christ. For those of us who are on the spiritual front lines of Christian fundamentalism and activism, there is every reason to be confident. Because whatever the finale, whether revival or rapture, the rise of apostasy indicates there is a very happy ending in the near future of all us who truly have faith in the Lord!
To the many, though dwindling stalwart Christian faithful out there still manning the Lighthouses around our world, let me encourage all of you with these resounding words; Press Onward Christian Soldiers, because Christ the royal master leads against the foe! Be encouraged, even in these perilous days!
1 Peter 1:3-8 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: Thatthe trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1 Peter 1:18-20 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
1 Peter 4:12-16 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
II Corinthians 1:3-5 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation,that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
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