Friday, October 7, 2016
Cutting through all eschatological and theological opinions, this truth remains: we either believe Christ that He gathers His elect saints, “Immediately after the tribulation” (Matt. 24:29–31) and prepare accordingly, or we disbelieve Him and exchange the truth for the pre-trib, mid-trib and pre-wrath rapture lies, and do nothing; our freedoms to believe or not, continue, unhindered.
Salvation faith demands action. If one loves God more than familial relations, as Christ requires, one will defend “the testimony of Jesus”. That’s the action of faith. If one believes Jesus for the end-times, he will likewise testify to the end-time truths Christ taught and make preparations for the same. That too is the action of faith. However, unbelief has entered. But how?
In the first century church Peter preached, “Be saved from this perverse generation” (Acts 2:40). If that was true two-thousand years ago, how much more corrupt is our unbelieving generation! On many fronts God’s Word has been corrupted in order to bolster traditions of men that calls little to no attention to the called out, separated, narrow and difficult road of the one born again.
Western freedoms, and especially the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, are often subliminally upheld from pulpits as being on par with God’s Word and have thus greatly perverted how many perceive faith in Christ: free to believe this but not that, free to have salvation on their terms.
We now stand on the brink of WW3 when a fourth of mankind will be killed, “with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth” (Rev. 6:8). What have you done to prepare? God said, “if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:8). This too is the action of faith.
God has given you His Word, and your choice to believe or disbelieve. But what will you do since your church taught you to disbelieve, “the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:9) for the end-times? That’s right: if your church is like most, you’ve been taught to believe the pre-trib rapture lie. It’s a lie right from hell and millions have bought it hook, line and sinker!
Obviously, the pre-trib rapture requires nothing of you except to await your blissful, imminent snatching away to eternal glory. But there’s a big problem with that: it will not happen! You’ve been taught to believe a lie and your church is not reversing that lie. What will you do when the imminent tribulation events begin to unfold? Will you remain faithful or will you be offended?
Here’s why I ask: Jesus prophesied of the seven-year tribulation, saying, “And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another” (Matt. 24:10). What will you do?
The time is near. The beginning of the seven-year tribulation is imminent. Dear saint, have you prepared yourself and your loved ones in the love, faith and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you prepared to endure to the end as Christ taught? Faith must be accompanied by action.
After His resurrection but before ascending to His Father, Jesus, speaking to Peter who became a powerful New Covenant preacher and gospel writer, asked Peter three times, “do you love Me?” And three times Peter replied, “Lord, you know that I love You” (John 21:15–17).
In response to Peter’s affirmation that he in fact loved the Lord, Jesus replied, “Feed My lambs” (vs. 15), and “Tend My sheep” (vs. 16), and “Feed My sheep” (vs. 17). Jesus was telling Peter that if he truly loved Him, to then spiritually feed and tend, with whole truth, the saints of God.
Immediately after Pentecost Peter did just that. He preached by the power of the Holy Spirit. He preached filled with reverent fear of God and not man. That’s important, for whole truth is the testimony of Jesus Christ and must be preached free of fear, traditions and doctrines of men.
Peter preached the whole gospel truth, from, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38), to, “that He [God] may send Jesus Christ [at the rapture]…whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things” (Acts 3:20–21).
That model of preaching and teaching from new-birth conversion faith in Christ to His return at, “the first resurrection” (Rev. 20:4–6) of dead saints, “at the last day” (John 6:40, 44, 54), at, “the restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21), “Immediately after the tribulation” (Matt. 24:29–31), is the whole preparatory and enduring truth that God requires of those who proclaim His gospel.
This world is sick and dying and plunging into end-time chaos. Jesus said to His followers, “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:14). Jesus also said about salvation, “narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matt. 7:14). I have prayed for you many times, hoping upon hope that you choose to believe Jesus Christ.
The deceptions that will soon unfold on the world stage will be unprecedented. The world will have seen nothing as deceiving as what is to come in the near future. The walls of the church have already been breached with manifold deceptions and unbelief. The enemy is within.
Noah’s action of faith built the Ark by which he endured the flood. Joseph’s action of faith stored food by which he and his family had food for seven years of drought. Moses’ action of faith put the blood of a lamb on the door posts and lintels on homes of Israel at their exodus from Egypt. Joshua and Caleb’s action of faith bore fruit to possessing Canaan, their Promised Land.
I ask you in the love of Christ: what action of faith have you taken to prepare to endure the tribulation the Son of God promised will attend the last seven years of this present age? First, have you invested the Acts 17:11 Berean heart, “and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so?”, because the church you attend will not teach you these truths.
God wants you to know truth for, “the first resurrection” (Rev. 20:4–6) and when it occurs. God wants you to know that Christ returns “at the last trumpet” (1 Cor. 15:51–52 & Rev. 11:15–19) and not at the first trumpet; and that the righteous dead are raised, “at the last day” (John 6:40, 44, 54), and not seven years before the last day, which accommodates the pre-trib rapture lie.
Oceans and rivers are filling with radiation poisoning. Wild weather events are becoming more destructive. Nuclear nations loath one another. Communications have broken down and now ceased between Russia and the U.S. regarding Syria. Aleppo and Damascus, Syria are daily becoming more of a wasteland. The Isaiah 17:1 destruction of Damascus is now very near.
Note this 10/06/2016 headline from ABC News, “Russia Warns US Not to Intervene in Syria, Threatens to Shoot Down Any Airstrike Attempts – Russia has warned the United States not to intervene militarily in Syria against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, threatening that it may shoot down any aircraft attempting to launch strikes.”
Only you, with God’s Word and His Holy Spirit can draw back the veil of deceit the church has perpetrated against you. It’s time you put away from yourself the comfortable traditions and lies of men, and put on the Word and Spirit of Truth. Jesus Christ said He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. The question is, do you believe Him, and have you put your faith into action?
Marlin J. Yoder
