Category Archives: End-Times

November 5, 2018 · 1:01 pm

Is the Upcoming Civil War Our Prep for the End-Times? (Part 5)

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, 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 90% 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 7 and 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. 

Now, maybe, we have our fingers crossed, hoping we will be raptured into heaven before these terrible things happen.

“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…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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November 2, 2018 · 4:42 pm

Is the Upcoming Civil War our Prep for the End-Times? (Part 4)

A great conflict loomed on the national horizon in 1857 because of the unresolved slavery issue. Yet, unlike other times when America faced dangers, people did not flock to churches. God no longer seemed relevant to the nation, especially for businessmen who enjoyed great prosperity during this time period.

An unexplained financial panic then hit America. Banks closed. Railroads declared bankruptcy. Thousands of workers were laid off. Desperate families faced starvation.

But in the midst of financial despair, Jeremiah Lanphier, a middle-aged businessman, felt God wanted him to start a noontime weekly prayer meeting for businessmen in New York City. He printed a pamphlet, How Often Shall I Pray, and handed them out to local businessmen, inviting them to prayer meetings at the Old Dutch North Church.

The first meeting was held on September 23, 1857. Lanphier prayed alone for the first half hour, but six men joined him for the second thirty minutes. On the following Wednesday, twenty men showed up for prayer. Forty showed up the week following. By October 14, 1857, more than one hundred attended the meetings.

They soon decided that weekly assemblages were not enough. So, they met on a daily basis. Pastors whose spirits were inflamed by these gatherings opened their own churches for prayer times. Before long, meetings were overflowing with young, old, rich, and poor. Within six months, ten thousand businessmen attended over one hundred and fifty different prayer meetings in New York City on a daily basis.

The Spirit of Prayer then spread the fire across the nation tosuch cities as Boston, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Richmond, Louisville, Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, and countless other cities.

The prayer meetings were quite simple in structure. A leader would start the hour by announcing a hymn. All would stand and sing one or two verses. Then, the leader would say a brief prayer, and the service was turned over to the assembled members. Any person was free to speak or pray for no longer than five minutes. A bell rang if the man overextended his time so that another could take a turn.

Prayer requests were made for family members or others not present. Many stood asking prayer for themselves. Others exhorted the men to pray more fervently and to live holy lives. Over the weeks, testimonies were given on answered prayers and all praised the Lord for them. Promptly, at the end of one hour, the leader rose and ended the meeting with a closing prayer. The members filed quietly out of the buildings.

This move of the Holy Spirit was known as the Businessman’s Prayer Revival, Laymen’s Prayer Revival, or the Prayer Revival of 1857. Powerful preaching was not involved like most of the other awakenings in America, but rather, it was filled with earnest, forceful prayer.  Dwight L. Moody, the noted evangelist, and Fanny Crosby, the blind hymn composer, were numbered among the Revival’s converts. George Duffield wrote the hymn, Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus, to encourage businessmen.

The revival did not diminish with the beginning of the Civil War. Instead, it broke out in both armies, but in particular, the Confederate forces.  It began for the Southerners in the hospitals among the wounded and was spread into the camps when they returned to their units.  Prayer meetings were organized and hundreds joined the gatherings on the frontlines.

The great evangelist, Charles Finney, summed up the prayer revival: “The general impression seems to be that we have had instruction until we are hardened; it is time to pray.”

It was estimated that over 150,000 soldiers in the Southern armies were converted and overall, nearly 6.6 per cent of the entire United States became Christians in this prayer revival.

For those who think a Holy Spirit revival would stop a civil war from happening here in America today, the Businessman’s Prayer Revival of 1857 doesn’t offer us much hope. The Civil War broke out four years later, killing over 620,000 people dead – more than all of America’s other wars combined.

(Continued in Part 5…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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October 31, 2018 · 11:42 am

Is the Upcoming Civil War Our Prep for the End-Times? (Part 3)

Background:

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…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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October 29, 2018 · 11:40 am

Is the Upcoming Civil War Our Prep for the End-Times? (Part 2)

The prophet Jeremiah accurately spoke the Lord’s words to backslidden Judah for over forty years, from approximately 627 BC to 586 BC.

In one of the prophet’s most contentious confrontations, Jeremiah wore a wooden yoke around his neck to the court of King Zedekiah as a sign of being in submission to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.

The king’s court was filled with Judah’s leaders, temple priests, other prophets, various soothsayers and ambassadors from five neighboring nations. King Zedekiah and the ambassadors were setting up a military alliance to fight King Nebuchadnezzar at that precise moment.

Perfect timing, right?

Jeremiah stepped forward and said, “The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, has created all of the earth. He holds everything in His hands and gives control to whomever He decides should have it. Right now, He has given control to King Nebuchadnezzar. All of you need to summit yourselves under Nebuchadnezzar’s yoke. If you don’t submit yourselves to Nebuchadnezzar, God will punish you and your country. Don’t listen to any prophecies which disagree with these words because they are all lies.”

Heart beats probably sounded like base drums at that moment.

Then Jeremiah challenged them by adding, “Your prophets have prophesied that the vessels and articles taken from the Temple will soon be returned from Babylon. Well, if they are true prophets, let them make intercession to God to stop King Nebuchadnezzar from taking all of the rest of the vessels, articles and furniture  still hidden in the Temple and the King’s house to Babylon. God is giving all of these to Babylon and will restore them to Judah at a later time.”

A prophet named Hananiah stepped forward and prophesied, “The Lord will destroy Babylon’s stranglehold on Judah. All of the Temple’s precious treasures and all of the people, including Jehoiakim, our former king of Judah, will be returned within two years.”

Jeremiah may have shrugged his shoulders when he replied to Hananiah, “I hope you’re right, but you aren’t! My words agree with the prophets who spoke before me about wars and disasters befalling Judah. So, your words of peace will have to come to pass before we will know if God has sent you or not.”

Hananiah boldly broke the wooden yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and proclaimed, “God will do the same for Judah within two years.”

Jeremiah meekly walked away from the court. Maybe the onlookers cheered and applauded Hananiah and his boldness to stand up to the old prophet.

But Jeremiah returned a short while later and said, “Yes, Hananiah, you broke a yoke of wood, but God will replace it with a yoke of iron on these nations. And because you – Hananiah – have convinced these people to believe lies and have taught rebellion against the Lord, you will die before this year is completed.

Hananiah died three months later.

What do we know about Hananiah? He was the son of a prophet named Azur and would have been trained in the proper ways of the Lord and prophesying.

It’s my guess that Hananiah had a history of speaking accurate prophecies. Otherwise, why would anyone pay attention to his words?

(Continued in Part 3…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

 

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October 24, 2018 · 3:38 pm

Is the Upcoming American Civil War Our Prep for the End-Times? (Part 1)

 

The disciples asked Jesus about the signs of His second coming and also the end of the age. He replied, “There will be wars and rumors of wars with nations rising against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms and famines and earthquakes.”

But in the midst of His above words, Jesus said:

See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. (Matthew 24:6 ESV)

Since Cain killed Abel in Chapter 4 of Genesis, the world certainly has witnessed its share of wars and uprisings throughout the centuries. Yet, I don’t believe Jesus is talking about all of the historical wars here, but instead, I believe He is talking about a specific turbulent time period at the end of the age.

It’s my belief that the nations of the world, especially Israel, will be so fed up with war and the chaotic calamities happening during this turbulent time period that they will be willing to do anything to have peace. This will result in the signing of a peace treaty for a one-world government, which will usher in the Antichrist at its head. Just so you know, the Antichrist will not appear as the son of perdition (even though he is), but rather as an angel of light and a minister of righteousness. He might even be carrying a Bible and singing, “Power in the Blood,” when he takes his oath for office.

Okay, but why did Jesus say, “This must take place?”

Chapter 24 of Matthew is the best timeline for the end-times and the prophetic Book of Revelation. So, in order for all of the end-time prophecies to take place in the Father’s chosen time and season, some actions will have to kickstart those scenarios. These are a few of them.

Now we need to remember that some prophecies are placed in the Bible so we can pray the problems away, but others are there to forewarn us so we can prepare ourselves beforehand. Jesus’ words plainly tell us ahead of time not to waste our energy trying to pray these problems away, but rather, we need to prepare ourselves to go through these times of sorrows.

If you’re thinking the Lord wouldn’t allow His church to go through such suffering, let me ask a question: who sets the Antichrist and his killers loose to prey upon the earth?

Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals…When He opened the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh seals.. (Revelation 6:1 to Revelation 8:1)

The Lamb – our Lord Jesus Christ – is the only One who can open the seals for these seven seal judgments. He is also the One who releases Death and Hades to kill one fourth of the earth in the fourth seal judgment.

Each of us can study Revelation, Daniel, Zechariah, Matthew 24, and the other end-times’ scriptures to determine our own beliefs, but what does this have to do with an upcoming American Civil War?

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom… (Matthew 24:7)

Most of us can see the possibilities of wars breaking out between the United States, Russia, China, Iran and countless other nations, but how many of us can see the possibility of a civil war breaking out in America?

Sadly, I firmly believe it will happen. Not only do I believe a civil war will soon take place, killing thousands of Americans, but I also believe we can’t pray it away.

Why would the Lord allow this to happen to America?

(Continued in Part 2)

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October 22, 2018 · 10:15 am

Churches: Fellowship Without Fellowship (Part 12)

 

My guess is that 5 to 10% of American Christians believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for today’s believers. They believe the gifts were only for the early church and passed away when the last apostle died. Another 15 to 25% are either Pentecostal or Charismatic in their beliefs and believe the spiritual gifts are for all believers.

If my guess is accurate, this leaves approximately 70% of American Christians who either have not considered the spiritual gifts as important enough to seek or have received no teaching on them.

Here’s the dilemma for the 5-10% naysayer group and the 70% clueless group: what will we do when the Antichrist requires everyone to receive the mark of the beast in order to buy and sell anything?

What if our spouse needs special medications in order to live or our child needs emergency medical assistance to survive an ailment, what will we do? Will we let our spouse or child die? Or will we take the mark of the beast for their sakes? There will be no fence straddling at this time.

But here’s what we can do: we can prepare ourselves ahead of time for these end-time events by seeking the spiritual gifts now.  The gifts of word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues have already been provided by the Lord for these extreme situations. Thus, why not lay down our traditions and follow the practices of the early church by seeking the spiritual gifts now?

Ah, that brings up another dilemma.

Let’s say we seek the spiritual gifts and then receive them through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, where will we practice using our gifts? We have to remember that our gifts and our faith will be strengthened as we use the gifts, but still there is a learning curve and mistakes may occur along the way.

Can we practice using our newly received gifts in a median-sized sanctuary of 300 or more members? Probably not. This is generally the realm for pastors and elders to operate their gifts. Most pew-sitters are required to be spectators only.

So, the only place where each believer can practice using his or her gifts is in a small home fellowship where each knows and trusts each other.

(Continued in the future…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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October 20, 2018 · 3:26 pm

Churches: Fellowships Without Fellowship (Part 11)

In God’s first attempt at planting a new church, He did it in a unique fashion.

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:2-4)

The gifts of the Holy Spirit fell on all the people, not just the apostles or prophets or evangelists or pastors and teachers. Everyone was empowered by the Spirit and His spiritual gifts.

Four or five years later, Philip was preaching in Samaria when a revival broke out with many people being saved. Peter and John traveled to Samaria to help Philip. The first thing the two apostles did was check the new believers to see if the Holy Spirit had fallen on them.

For as yet the Holy Spirit had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:16-17)

Almost twenty years later, the Apostle Paul had already planted many churches, including the Corinthian Church, when he met some new disciples in Ephesus. What was the first thing Paul checked with these new believers?

“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” (Acts 19:2)

When Paul heard these new disciples had not been baptized in the Holy Spirit, but only into the water baptism of John the Baptist, he wasted no time.

And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. (Acts 19:6)

The evidence seems to prove that the apostles made sure that all of their new church plants followed the same pattern God used when He planted the first church in Jerusalem. They laid hands on the new believers and asked the Holy Spirit to fall on them so that the spiritual gifts were poured out on the new believers

Why was this important? And is it important for us today?

(Continued in Part 12…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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October 17, 2018 · 10:34 am

Churches: Fellowships Without Fellowship (Part 10)

 

“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts…Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.” (C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters)

We have to keep in mind that the Great Tribulation will be a seven-year time period, which begins in peace. A man of peace – the Antichrist – will forge a peace treaty that will be accepted by most Christians, Jews, Muslims, and nations. This will stop the wars – nations fighting against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms.

The peace treaty will be so strong that the Jews will be allowed to build a temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and carry out daily sacrifices. I know – it’s hard to imagine this ever happening again, but it will!

This peace treaty will be in effect for three and half years until the Antichrist sets up the image of the beast in the Temple and stops the daily sacrifices.

Now, don’t go thinking the three and half years during the peace treaty will be a time for Christians to sit around a campfire, strumming a guitar and singing, “Kumbaya My Lord.” No! I believe it will be a time when churches will be pressured to accept compromises – small at first, but increasing in severity as time passes – in order for them to survive.

How do I know this?

This is what the Communists did in China with their Three Self Patriotic Movement. The same Satan who authored the suffocating rules on the Three Self Churches will attempt to do the same on our traditional churches. All of it will be done under the guise of tolerance and keeping the peace.

Then, BAM!

Many traditional churches and believers will be preconditioned through the gradual slope of compromises into accepting the mark of the beast.

“Home fellowships are persecution proof and are the only viable form for underground churches. We believe in the years to come, we will see increasing restrictions on our ability to meet together, to worship together and to pray with each other.” (Chuck Missler)

(Continued in Part 11…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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October 16, 2018 · 6:43 am

Prayers for the American Church (10/16/2018)

Christ Church Stellarton

Photograph of Christ Anglican Church, Stellarton, NS. Taken the morning of October 28, 200

 

On the first Pentecost, a sound came from heaven like a rushing mighty wind, filling the house where one hundred and twenty believers waited for something to happen in Jerusalem. Then, divided tongues of fire sat upon each person.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:4)

The one hundred and twenty believers walked outside, still speaking in tongues. Devout Jews heard these believers and thought they were drunk.

Peter said, “These are not drunk, but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Acts 2:17-18)

What happened at the first Pentecost was only a partial fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. The Spirit was not poured out on all believers nor did every son and daughter prophesy. It only fell on one hundred and  twenty believers.

Even the Azusa Street Revival and the Charismatic Revival – as great as they seemed at the time – were only partial fulfillments of Joel’s prophecy. The Spirit was not poured out on every believer.

My prayer today:

Lord, help the American church to believe and pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on every believer; thus fulfilling Joel’s prophecy.

Join me on Tuesdays to fast and pray for the American church.

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October 10, 2018 · 11:13 am

Churches: Fellowships Without Fellowship (Part 9)

Using Chapter 24 of the Book of Matthew as our End-Times timeline, we read that the Anti-Christ will commit the abomination of desolation in verse 15.  This was prophesied by Daniel and Jesus tells us to understand his prophecy about this event.

Will believers and the Church still be on the earth at that time? Yes, because Jesus will not return for the Church and believers until verses 30 and 31.

Now, there are timelines in the Book of Revelation, but they’re not always chronological, according to chapters and verses. Some of the text is out of order and must be lined up with other books in the Bible.

Okay, with the above words as guidelines, what will be one of the church’s biggest problems in the End-times?

He [the Antichrist] causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. (Revelation 13: 16-18)

After the “abomination of desolation” takes place, the Antichrist will persecute and kill Christians and Jews. His biggest weapon to bludgeon people into obeying him and his government will be the “mark of the beast.” No one will be able to buy food or medicine or gasoline or whatever without the mark.

Can Christians just rely on His grace and take the mark of the beast, while tossing a wink toward God? You know, Daddy loves me anyway, right?

Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. (Revelation 14:9-10)

I am an eternal security believing Christian, but because of my fear of the Lord, I would never want to cross the line against these verses nor would I suggest others to do it. What might eventually happen to believers? I don’t really know nor am I interested in finding out. Just obey His words!

So, what can believers do to protect themselves?

(Continued in Part 10…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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