Larry Who

Almost thirty years ago, I worked as a maintenance man at a motel in Ames, Iowa, near the campus of Iowa State University. The motel hired track athletes to help them set up for banquets in its ballrooms. Many of those track athletes were runners from Africa. One of them was from Kenya, who I spoke to in casual conversations from time to time.

One day, while I was talking to him, I had a quick vision. In it, I saw his parents holding hands and praying for him. They prayed, “Lord, we put our son into Your hands and ask You to do whatever You have to do so he will walk in his calling as a preacher here in Kenya.”

I looked at the young man. “You’re a Christian, right?” I asked.

“Yes,” he replied with a smile, “how’d you know?”

“I just had a quick vision of your parents praying for you to walk in your calling in Kenya.”

He laughed. “That’s not happening!” he proclaimed. “I am the number-three ranked triple  jumper in the world and ranked in the top five or six in the four-hundred meter dash. I will earn $75,000 this summer running in events in Europe and next year after graduation with my degree in international finance, I’ll earn hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you —”

“Don’t worry! I’ll be okay.”

A couple of months later on a cold December morning, I walked into the motel’s kitchen to begin my work day. There sitting on a chair with his pant-leg rolled up and blood dripping from his knee was my Kenyan friend.

“What happened?” I asked, rushing to him.

“I was late. So, I ran across the parking lot and slipped on some ice. My knee is ruined,” he said with tears rolling down his cheek.

“Ah, you’ll be okay,” I said.

“No, world-class runners never come back from knee injuries like this. The half-second they lose puts them in the losers’ bracket forever. I’m done.”

I stayed with him until the ambulance arrived.

If you’re thinking God wouldn’t do something like this to bring a man into His kingdom purposes, you need to reread the book of Jonah. God is a loving Father who will do whatever He has to do to fulfill His purposes, especially in answer to prayers.

Okay, maybe God will do something like this in answer to the prayers of parents for their son, but will the Father do this in answer to prayers for a region or state or nation?

(Continued in Part 7)

Most Christians fall into the Pre-Tribulation or Post-Tribulation theological camps for the end-times. Just so you know: there are other end-times viewpoints for believers, such as the Amillennial and Preterist point of views, but both of these require believers to read the Book of Revelation, Daniel and Matthew 24 through fogged-up glasses.

The Pre-Tribulation viewpoint is held by approximately 80% of American believers. This viewpoint believes the Body of Christ will be raptured and taken to heaven at any time before the Seven Years of the Great Tribulation (Daniel 7and Revelation 13) takes place. Then, the church will return with Jesus at His second coming to set up His thousand-year reign on earth.

The Post-Tribulation viewpoint believes the Body of Christ will go through a major part of the Great Tribulation, will be raptured and taken up to heaven at the Seventh Trumpet Judgment, just before the disastrous Seven Bowl Judgments. The Post-Tribs agree with the Pre-Tribs on the church returning with Jesus at His second coming. About 90% of the Chinese, North Korean and Asian believers believe in the Post-Tribulation viewpoint.

But there are a some scriptures most Pre-Trib and Post-Trib believers seldom think about —

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:5-8)

The “beginning of sorrows” will be one tough time-period for us believers to endure. We will be arrested, persecuted and killed. The whole world  will hate us, just because we follow Jesus. Many believers will turn away from following the Lord, betraying and hating other believers. There will be many false prophets who will deceive many believers. Sin will be rampant and everywhere, with the love of many believers growing cold. 

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)

Who preaches the gospel? Believers do.

Therefore, it makes no difference whether Jesus returns for us before the Great Tribulation takes place or near the end of it because we have to remain on earth and endure the “beginning of sorrows,” so we can preach the gospel to all nations (or people groups).

(Continued in Part 6)

First and foremost, everyone must remember Jesus Christ is a Jew and always will be one. His life, ministry, death, resurrection, burial and ascension were based on a Jewish calendar, not on an American one.

The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar based on moon phases, which occur generally in thirty-day cycles. America and most of the world follow the Gregorian calendar, which follows the earth’s movement around the sun. The main differences are the Gregorian calendar has very little seasonal drift, only a day or so from year to year, but the Jewish calendar can vary fifteen or twenty days from one year to the next. For instance, Easter is always celebrated just after Passover, but the dates may vary greatly from year to year on our Gregorian calendar.

On the Jewish religion’s calendar, there are seven major feasts: Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles. These feasts are the very heart of the Jewish religion.

The first three feasts are spring feasts, taking place in the last of March or April. The fourth feast occurs fifty days after Passover or in May or early June on the Gregorian calendar.

Jesus Christ, the Messiah, fulfilled the first four feasts when He became the Passover Lamb for all of us, when He was buried without sin, when He rose from the grave and when He sent the Holy Spirit to His church on the first Pentecost.

Now, the last three Jewish feasts are fall feasts and take place in September and October. These have not been fulfilled by Jesus as yet, but must be. Why? Because Jesus is a Jew.

The Feast of Trumpets (also known as Rosh Hashanah) will be fulfilled when Jesus returns for His church. Then those believers who are alive and those who are in the grave will be caught up to meet Him in the sky.

The Feast of Atonement or Yom Kippur will be fulfilled when Jesus returns with all of the saints out of heaven.

Finally, the Feast of Tabernacles will be fulfilled when Jesus establishes His tabernacle with His church in Jerusalem.

This simple explanation should dispel the belief that Jesus can return at any time and will also help us to understand timelines.

(Continued in Part 4)