Dividing Times Are Coming!

 

I hate it when people call me a hater. I don't hate anyone. I may hate the things people do but that is where it stops. Satan however hates everyone. He hates everything in this world that God has created and especially those of us doing the work of God in our lives. Don't forget that. He hates men but despises women. Satan never has a good day. He hates that people are praying all around the world, different times zone, 24 hours a day if you think about it. You might be having marriage struggles, that is because Satan hates your marriage. He's brilliant too, he'll wait and wait for just the right time to trip you up. Everything good that God has created, Satan hates it.

Church. He hates church. He is trying to undermine church, Bible studies, prayer meetings, pastors, Christians, simply everything that God loves. If you are living your life for Jesus, speaking words in love and truth to those you meet, you stay biblical, people are going to hate you. They hated Jesus. Satan hates Jesus. Satan's goal to destroy the church will be to propagate false doctrine through false teachers and false prophets, false pulpits and false churches. The Bible warns us through the apostle Paul that in the last days people will look religious but deny Godly power. There will be churches that look amazing and have all the latest and greatest stuff, and it is all done by human effort. When human effort gets involved, and Satan is going to have his hands all involved in that, rather than having a dependence upon the Holy Spirit to be the power of a church.

Jesus said it Himself in the last days there will be spiritual movements taking place, that will manifest the deception through signs and wonders. Right now there are so many professing Christians that don't know their Bibles, but they are Christian in title. If there was a tent meeting operating down the street that is offering a different kind of Jesus but they are doing all kinds of signs and wonders, people would flock to that. They don't know Bible doctrine and they just have a immediate need they want to be addressed. God might have told them, they have to bear that cross for the rest of their life and stay true to my doctrine. Dividing times are coming. Remember that those of us that have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, will not have to deal with what we are studying in the Book of Revelation pertaining to the Tribulation Period.

Revelation 9:1-12 ~ "The fifth angel sounded his trumpet and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down from the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. They were told not the harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails and stings like scorpion, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon. The first woe is past; the other two woes are yet to come."

The doctrine of Satan is found in Old and New Testament alike. In seven of the Old Testament books, the doctrine of Satan is introduced and in each of the New Testament books, the doctrine of Satan is addressed. Jesus, Himself, teaches that the devil is a real personality. He is the angel that has the key to the bottomless pit and he goes by several names. Jesus makes mention of Satan personally and says that he is real and talks about them in the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It is Jesus who says it is Satan's agenda to destroy you and I. It is Satan's agenda to seek to destroy the church, did you know that? I don't think he'll accomplish it but he is trying. His plan is to destroy the witness and the presence of the church in the earth.

Luke 22:31-32 ~ "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

Matthew 16:18 ~ "And I tell you that you are Peter; and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

You might wonder why some churches fail to exist, Satan does win some battles, but he will not win the war. If Satan can get into a church and get it divided, by arguing and bickering, to the point of destruction, he wins that battle. But he will not, has not, or will ever win the war. Jesus promised that the gates of Hell will not prevail against His church, but if we let our guard down, a church could fail, it could fall under the attack of Satan and lose. That is why we need to be walking in obedience to God, praying, falling on our knees faithfully to God, because what the church has done through history is begin to bicker and dismantle itself from within, and then there goes the local witness. The good news is that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the church of Christ on the earth.

Those who seek to hinder or destroy the church of Jesus Christ, stand willingly with the works of Satan whether they want to accept or deny that. It's true. Be careful that you, as a Christian, do not in any way to work to hinder the work of Christ or you will unwillingly fall right into the hands of Satan unknowingly. Are you for the kingdom and building of the church? Don't fall victim of neutralizing the great commission without knowing about. Jesus Christ said to take this gospel and preach it around the whole world. We have to be committed at both our local witness and global witness.

Satan's agenda is to promote and bless the cults of the world. Satan and his agenda as well as those man-made cults of which Islam is the largest , have no promises to cling to, no loving arms to run to, no compassion to receive. They have no all caring, no all loving, no all merciful, no all gracious, no all patient, no all kind, no all gentle, no all loving God like we do through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Prior to the late 600 A.D., there was no Islam did you know that? It is a cult. There was no Islam, no Mohammed, no Q'uran prior to 600 A.D. They are the most influential cult on the earth. I am not asking you to do this, but those who obey be chapter and verse the beheadings of men, women and children, in direct obedience to the Q'uran. They were faithful Muslims. Islam is a cult. Jehovah Witnesses are a cult. Mormonism is a cult. Anything that puts down the deity of Christ is a cult. Keep these scriptures handy when dealing with a cult below:

Isaiah 43:11 ~ "I, even I, am the Lord, And beside me there is no other Savior."

Isaiah 44:6 ~ "This is what the LORD says - Israel's King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God."

Psalm 68:4 ~ "Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds - his name is the LORD - and rejoice before him."

Our God tells us His name. It is YAH - which means salvation. This is important, you want to know why? Because Adam-god of the Mormon church is not salvation. The god of the Jehovah Witnesses is not salvation. The god of Islam, they don't even know his name. They will even tell you that. You might say, well isn't his name Allah? No that is a title. Allah is Arabic for God. They will even tell you that they don't know the name of their god. They will tell you that they can't know him and can't know his name. Our God tells us His name and it is salvation. That is awesome. You need to determine where your faith lies.

Isaiah 45:21 ~ "Declare what is to be, present it - let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me."

Proverbs 30:4 ~ " Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!"

Isaiah 7:14 ~ "The LORD himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."

Luke 1:30-32 ~ "But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David."

Philippians 2:10-11 ~ "that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Philippians 3:20 ~ "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ."

The number one thing that Satan tries to do is convince the world that Jesus can not be God. He was just a nice guy, a prophet, the enlightened one, one of the great gurus of the earth. Anything but Him, being God, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. All the cults have this one thing in common, that Jesus Christ can not be who He says He is. People everywhere are puzzled by Proverbs 30:4. That is how powerful this verse is, especially to our Jewish friends. Notice God's challenge in this verse. Go check out this verse in the Hebrew!

Is There Any Precident That Must Happen Before the Rapture?

Most people have probably wondered about the very same statement I'm about to share, and wonder what the answer is? What about people living in the most remote places on earth, how do those tribes here about Jesus? How are they saved or are they? It's simple.

The answer is found in Romans 1:20 ~ "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

We still should however keep on with our efforts to reach the ends of the earth with the gospel of Jesus until He calls us home. But Scripture clearly points out that even if it doesn't make it through radio ministries or missionaries, His revelation to the mind of man is that He is Creator God. All of humanity, even the ones not yet reached are without an excuse. He is speaking to them and He will reach them even if we don't. That is how merciful our God is.

Right now you have the choice which type of saint you want to be. Either the Church Age saints, the Tribulation saints or you are going to reject God and be forever separated from the love, grace and mercy of Jesus Christ when your life comes to an end or until the Lord comes and raptures the church out of this world. There are some who have stopped by here today, and will say to themselves, well if that all really comes to pass, then I will accept Jesus if it happens like the Bible says it will. Be warned, there are some Scriptures that say if you had the opportunity to come to Jesus before this all happens, your heart might grow so hard, that you will buy into the deception and will forever pass up your opportunity to make that choice. Don't play games with God now. You might end up regretting it for the rest of all eternity.

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 ~ "And in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness."

What this means is that if you understand today, that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior, that He died on the cross for your sins and mine, rose from the dead, and that He is the Almighty and that He loves you, there is a possibility that if the rapture were to take place today, and you were left behind, you might not be able to believe. Accept Jesus today, while you can!

The question might also be asked why was the Tribe of Dan deleted from the list of the 12 Tribes of Israel in Revelation 7:5-8? Dan was the first tribe to introduce idolatry into the tribes of Israel. The tribe of Dan also did not want to cross over into the Promised Land, they wanted to stay on the other side. Many Jewish and Hebrew scholars believe in the Scripture that concerns the tribe of Dan in the Old Testament, a rider shall come forth and he shall fall backwards upon his neck. It is a reference that the tribe of Dan will bring forth the Antichrist or that the Antichrist, himself will come out of the tribe of Dan. It is interesting to note however that the tribe of Dan is not mentioned in Revelation 7.

The people mentioned here in Revelation 7 are not the church age saints, they are the Tribulation Saints and it is clear that you must not confuse the two groups. The church age believers come to Christ in faith before the Tribulation. These other people find their faith in Jesus Christ during the Tribulation period. The church age believers are kept from the Tribulation period, while this group must go through the Tribulation period. The church age believers are seen in heaven wearing fine white linen whereas the tribulation believers wear white robes. The church age believers are called to express their faith by living for Jesus Christ, whereas the tribulation believers are called to express their faith by dying for Jesus Christ. The church age believers are seen seated in heaven before the tribulation period whereas the tribulation believers are found suffering on earth during the Tribulation. The church age believers, they are the heavenly wedding scene whereas the tribulation believers find themselves invited to attend the wedding as well as the Old Testament saints. The Bride and Groom are never invited to the wedding, they are the wedding party. The church age believers are married to Jesus Christ in eternity, whereas the tribulation believers are servants of Jesus Christ forever for all eternity. The church age believers wear crowns in heaven whereas the tribulation believers wear no crowns at all in heaven. The church age believers have harps and vials and the tribulation believers have palm branches. 

Heaven will be well attended by those who have come out of this world.

Revelation 7:13-14 ~ " Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes - who are they, and where did they come from?" I  answered, "Sir, you know." 

When John says, "Sir, you know," it is a subtle play on words, it is basically saying, "I don't know, how could I, I am new here." John was basically telling him he has no knowledge of these things because he is new in heaven. John knows intuitively that the elder knows both whom they are and where they come from. This is a significant truth here. Why? Because these are the ones mentioned in Revelation 6.

Revelation 6:11 ~ "Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed."

This tells us that in the first 3 1/2 years during the opening portion of the Tribulation period, there will be believers who die during the advent of the Antichrist and his antics. When they die and go to heaven, they cry out in the earlier portions of Revelation 6 about being under the altar and crying out to God how long do they have to wait before God vindicates them and they were told to wait a little longer for the others. Now in Revelation 7, these are the others in that parenthetical insert of the Scripture. We know that the 144,000 are Jewish converts to Christ, and that they do not belong to the church age believers. The preaching of the gospel in the earth will be prolific by this men at that time.

There are some who say, based on the way they have been taught in their churches or doctrines that Jesus Christ can not come back until the gospel has been preached to all the world. Did you know that this is not true? This is not true. There is nothing that proceeds the rapture of the church. There is no prerequisite. In fact, even after the preaching of the 144,000 during the Tribulation period, an angel has to be sent into the atmosphere to preach the everlasting gospel to all peoples and then the end will come. So the gospel will be preached in the world to all the ends of the earth during the Tribulation before the end comes but it is post rapture. The church is already gone. So will the church succeed in reaching every person on the planet? No, but that doesn't mean we give up our mission either through outreaches, because Jesus told us to go into the world and share the gospel to all the ends of the world. We will not reach everyone with the gospel.

The 144,000 will not reach everyone. There will come a moment, when we will study it later, that God will send an angel preaching. This will fulfill Jesus' prophetic words in Matthew 24, this gospel shall be preached in all the world and then the end will come. It will be a gathering of God's faithful in heaven. A faithful believer is one who has his course set.

Revelation 7:14-15 ~ " And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them."

When you stand before the altar as husband and wife, what is the whole thing built upon? Faith! They make a pledge to be faithful to one another. Will rough times come? Will tribulation come? Yes! But will that husband and wife endure and make it through those tough times? We need to be faithful. Even if one of you in your marriage has been unfaithful, turn it around. Keep your focus on God and He can turn it around. Don't make things worse by walking away or become unfaithful as well. God can make you both faithful again. You want your marriage to be so strong in your faith, that if one of you walks away it will be leaving the most godly man or woman on the planet. Be faithful in your duties as a husband or wife. If they attempt to leave, let them know that they are leaving the best man or woman in the world. Faithful and that is just in marriage.

Let us be faithful in ministry. Faithful in loving God, faithful in all of the above. You know that is what heaven will be populated with? Faithful people. All Jesus is looking for is faith in Him. If we have faith in Him, our faith will be an active and loving kind of faith. Are you one of God's faithful people? You must believe and trust and faith in Jesus. We just need to yield to Him! Are you ready to meet him? Accept Jesus today, now is the time!