Friday, April 24, 2020
Last Friday I warned of coming global famines. This April 21, 2020 article by The Guardian confirms that truth saying “Coronavirus pandemic ‘will cause famine of biblical proportions’ – Governments must act now to stop 265 million starving, warns World Food Programme boss”. The main focus this week, however, is the fact that the church is facing a spiritual famine of ancient Israel’s proportion. End-time calamities are multiplying and prophetic events are occurring rapidly on the world stage. But who in the organized church is discerning it?
The world will not return to its pre-COVID-19 condition. The prophetic end of this age is upon us and it’s time for the New World Order to fulfill its biblically-prophetic mission. Thousands of businesses closed by COVID-19 will never reopen. Millions of the unemployed will not return to pre-pandemic incomes. People are herded to dependence on government bailouts and moved into urban centers where they can be controlled, because that’s the agenda of the New World Order.
Note these several headlines: from Politico, Coronavirus Will Change The World Permanently. Here’s How. And from Yahoo! News, Gates Foundation calls for global cooperation on vaccine for 7 billion people. And from savedmag.com, Bill Gates’ Quantum Dot Digital Tattoo Implant to Track COVID-19 Vaccine Compliance. And from Strategic Culture Foundation, Bill Gates Crosses the Digital Rubicon, Says ‘Mass Gatherings’ May Not Return Without Global Vaccine. And from Scott Keisler – 04/20/2020 Bill Gates is Setting the Stage for the Mark of the Beast.
The sad truth about those headlines is that even unbelievers know they face an unprecedented time from which the world will never recover. And they think vaccines really are their savior, never thinking that biometrics, AI and microchip-implants will lead to “the mark of the beast”.
And where’s the organized church on these glaring prophetic signs? Silent! And here’s one of the reasons: “Pastors were encouraged to keep quiet about the soon return of the Lord. Pastor Rick Warren even said in his Purpose Driven Life book that teaching Bible prophecy would distract you from your purpose and make you unfit for the Kingdom of God. Pastors listened to him!” (Source) Many were then led by seducing spirits, the praise of men, and love of money.
It’s spiritually grievous that the organized church has squandered time and resources on stuff that does not equip believers to endure to the end of this present age. And now SUDDENLY the door of opportunity has slammed shut, at least temporarily, as the organized church is banned from gatherings of more than ten people! I sincerely pray that if and when social distancing is lifted, that pastors return to their pulpits full of the Holy Spirit’s fire to preach the testimony of Jesus Christ for the end-times, because little time remains to get the FULL gospel truth out.
That needs to happen: this Barna survey proves the point. “Another notable finding of the study has to do with which denominations saw the greatest decline in a biblical view of God. The data show, “The largest declines in possession of an orthodox, biblical perspective on the nature of God since 1991 were among individuals who attend Pentecostal or charismatic Protestant churches (down by 27 percentage points).”
From the late 1950’s to the late 1980’s God’s prophetic end-time Word was far more front and center in evangelical churches than today. And that Word was boldly preached with fervor and conviction. But for the last three decades God’s prophetic Word has fallen deathly silent in the organized evangelical churches. What happened? Did God’s Word change, or did the men who handle His Word change? Indeed, men who handle God’s Word changed…and for the worse!
The full gospel is that Jesus Christ was born of the virgin, lived a sinless life, was crucified, dead and buried for the remission of our sins, and on the third day rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of His Father where He rules, having all authority in heaven and on earth…and is coming again to “judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom” (2 Tim. 4:1), and to gather His elect “Immediately after the tribulation” (Matt. 24:29–31). So, what happened to the latter prophetic gospel with ALL its associated and relevant end-time prophetic teachings?
What’s happened to Jesus’ prophetic Words “See, I have told you beforehand” (Matt. 24:25)? Why has the church deliberately ignored the biblical witness of end-time prophets and apostles? Here’s why: men fear men more than God! It’s all part of the falling away. The prophetic gospel is often considered negative because leaders like Rick Warren taught non-discerning pastors how to smoothly ignore select Scriptures and to otherwise pander to the ear-tickling likes and dislikes of swelling crowds, to preach what people want to hear, and not what they NEED to hear.
With the May 14, 1948 rebirth of the nation of Israel, dispensationalism’s pre-tribulation rapture dominated pulpits and revival meetings in America. The end-time excitement about the return of Christ was palpable throughout evangelical Christianity. As unbiblical and untrue as the pre-trib rapture is, at least the prophetic end-times were routinely taught. But today, that’s nearly gone.
So, the question remains: why has the once hotly-contended-for gospel of Christ’s return fallen so deadly silent from evangelical pulpits? In my view after we passed the 40 and 50 year mark of Israel’s rebirth, and the imminent pre-trib rapture failed miserably, (and it will continue to fail) leadership chagrined by that failure of over a century, introduced many spiritually immature, hip, cool, people-pleasing pastors not led by God’s Word or Holy Spirit, but by seducing spirits; men and women skilled in tickling ears, swelling attendance, and making big money.
Here’s the heartbreak: the generation born in the 1940s and ’50s not only remembers those days of the hotly-contended-for full gospel, but also has the aged wisdom to change course and return to that full gospel. But the generation born in the late 1980s and ’90s knows NOTHING of those days when the full gospel was preached, and is the generation now that knows virtually nothing of the end-time gospel to navigate its ways, because the church has turned aside! Therefore, it’s incumbent on the parents of that former generation to love, teach, instruct and lead our children in the FULL truth, because the distracted, organized church has obfuscated its responsibility.
The prophetic Word constitutes over 25% of the Bible, and the organized church has failed to present that portion to people because the Truth contradicts its traditional dispensational beliefs. Understand the severity of ignorance the overwhelming majority of Western Christians now face and it will drive you to your knees in prayer that the Holy Spirit be poured out, and discernment of the end-times replace seducing spirits preaching what the people want to hear. Consider this vital truth: flouting 25% of the gospel will radically skew what remains, and will create heresies.
Thus “All Scripture [and not just portions that make us feel good] is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17). My prayer is that when or IF the organized church is again allowed to regather that pastors will seize the opportunity and boldly declare the biblical truths of end-time prophecy now filling the world.
To not change course from the last twenty-five years, nor return to the once hotly-contended-for full gospel, and divorce the church’s Hollywood-styled entertainment, and CEO-led corporate-styled business venture, will mean the eternal loss of many souls. “An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power; and My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?” (Jer. 5:30–31). These verses are a highly relevant warning for the evangelical church today, but is it discerning?
Marlin J. Yoder
