Friday, August 19, 2016
“When He opened the second seal…Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword” (Rev. 6:3–4). WW3 is much closer than you may think.
Additionally, “you will hear of wars and rumors of wars…but the end is not yet…nation will rise against nation…there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes…these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matt. 24:6–8). We have entered the beginning of birth pangs. Are you awake to this?
Riots erupted again in Wisconsin as historic killer floods in Louisiana and Missouri displace tens of thousands. This on the heels of killer floods in West Virginia. Monster wildfires rage in seven western states as volcanoes erupt along the Pacific ring of fire and earthquakes intensify globally.
Washington Times, 8/10/2016, “The coming age of the chimera…Human progress is limited only by the boundaries of the human imagination, and ours is an age when limits are routinely broken. The production of chimera…The idea of a man marrying a man…Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of man”. God promised this and worse for the end-times. Are you prepared?
From ABC News, “During her speech at the United Nations, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that the Department of Justice is launching a global police force in order to combat “violent extremism” in the United States.” Many UN armored vehicles and military troops are already in the U.S. This is the globalization agenda and rule of the U.N.’s One World Order.
From Charisma News, 8/16/2016, by Michael Snyder, “America: You Will Go Insane Because of What Your Eyes Will See”. Snyder says, “A cloud of madness is descending on America, and most of us are completely unprepared for the chaos that will be unleashed during the months ahead”. Most of ancient Israel also was offended when they saw giants in the land of Canaan.
The hope of our faith.
After Jesus’ resurrection and before ascending to His Father, He told His followers, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me” (Acts 1:8). It’s noteworthy that Jesus did not say to be witnesses to the traditions of men.
Yet, traditions of men are routinely held above the witness of Christ, but in the end will cause widespread offense and an exodus from the Christian faith as Jesus said. We must be witnesses to Christ and what He taught concerning the resurrections of the dead, with no details omitted.
This agrees with Jesus’ command to His followers to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19).
The greatest hope of our Christian faith is based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ which guarantees the resurrection of saints. We must cut through all the mumbo-jumbo of theology, traditions, dogma, programs, lectures, forums, meetings, panels and downloads from celebrity pastors to boldly declare “the resurrection of the dead” (Matt. 22:31) that Jesus Himself taught.
Why? Because it’s true, and if one disbelieves the when of the first resurrection, one is in trouble. And, no, it won’t just pan out. Again, what you don’t know, or choose to disregard, can and will hurt you. God is a God of divine order and He established when the resurrections occur that His Word be proven holy, right and true. To teach otherwise makes God’s Word of no effect.
Not counting the resurrection of Christ, there are only two resurrections of the dead and Jesus taught both: the first unto eternal life, the second unto eternal damnation (John 5:28–29). And those two resurrections are separated by one thousand years, see Rev. 20:4–6. But for lack of knowledge few can tell how many resurrections Christ taught and when they occur.
This should not be, for God said the resurrection of the dead is one of six elementary truths of Jesus Christ, Hebrews 6:1–2, yet that’s an area of great ignorance among many Christians. The whole truth of the first resurrection must be taught regularly, but to be such a witness to Christ in the church is disallowed as it exposes and destroys the pre-trib rapture lie and tradition of men.
Truths of the resurrection are found in 40 New Testament Scriptures. It’s integral to our faith, and to get wrong the when of the first resurrection will result in the destruction of the faith of many as foretold. Two teachers who spread falsehood like cancer, “strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some” (2 Tim. 2:18). The pre-trib lie promises an early resurrection, but an even greater falling away will result.
Those two men may well have taught the truth of Christ and new birth, but they lied about when the resurrection occurs causing the overthrow of salvation faith. Knowing when the resurrection occurs matters greatly, and anyone who tells you that it doesn’t matter, is a false witness in the manner of Hymenaeus and Philetus in that first-century church.
I do not teach knowing the day or the hour of the resurrection, only the general time frame of it, “Immediately after the tribulation”, in harmony with what Jesus taught for the first resurrection. “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity”” (2 Tim. 2:19). The greatest iniquity one can commit is to disbelieve the witness of the Son of God. Amen.
God made clear that “the first resurrection” does not occur until after, “those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast [Antichrist] or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years…This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection” (Rev. 20:4–6).
Thus, “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51–52). This is the first resurrection. There cannot be a first resurrection without the rapture immediately following; and there cannot be the rapture without the first resurrection immediately preceding it. That truth should make one prepare accordingly.
Marlin J. Yoder
