Friday, July 19, 2024
Today, I’ll be a little political, but will tie it into the principle message of the Letter that we true believers must always defend the testimony of Jesus Christ who redeemed us by His shed blood.
Former President Donald J. Trump, though a sinner with faults just like, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him [Christ] the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6), has been America’s best president of my lifetime and I hope he is re-elected in a landslide November 5, 2024. Nearly a week ago the world saw an assassination attempt on his life as his right ear was shot through with an AR-15 .556 round. Had he not turned his head slightly just a millisecond earlier, that round would have taken out his brain stem. With others, I also believe that was a God-moment of divine protection. This past Monday he received a thunderous and well-deserved hero’s welcome at the RNC, and tens of millions more all across America came strongly and passionately to his defense and justifiably continue cheering him on!
I want you to compare Trump’s assassination attempt and the many who immediately sprang to his defense with another Man, Jesus Christ, who, when arrested in Gethsemane, although sinless, had only one man, Simon Peter, come to his defense, “stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant [Malchus, (John 18:10)] of the high priest, and cut off his [right] ear. But Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword’” (Matt. 26:51–52). From there to that cruel Cross on Golgotha no one defended Jesus Christ, yet He gave himself lovingly and willingly to suffer a sinner’s death for the redemption of all who would by grace through faith believe and receive His gift of eternal life. In summary comparing the outpouring of support for Trump, a sinful man, how much more should EVERY professing Christian come to the immediate defense of EVERY end-time word of our Savior Jesus Christ!
Warning! I believe evil powers are yet working to literally destroy Donald J. Trump. Trump’s assassination attempt and deceptively improved media bias has not quelled the ever-increasing evil plans of the deep state and every alphabet agency under the sun. They have been fomenting WWIII and the destruction of freedoms to bear arms and freedoms of speech. Now more than ever it’s time to pray for loved ones, for fellow believers, unbelievers and those in authority.
Motives of true Christian faith are based in fear or love for the end-times of this present age. Only love for Christ must inform our belief of the end-times and return of Jesus to gather His elect in the rapture. Man’s creation of the pre-trib rapture does not demonstrate love for Christ, but rather contempt for Him. One’s belief of Christ gathering His elect is based either on fear or love – fear of the unknown or love for the known. Fear of the unknown will overshadow faith and truth while love for the known by reason of the testimony of Jesus embraces and sees God’s path of provision and safety through the known to assist true faith to endure until the end just as Christ taught at Matt. 24:13. God has not left us alone. By free will the choice is indeed ours.
Fear leads away from faith in Christ while love leads to Him and builds faith. Fear and love are opposite. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). And before going any further let me say (because I was there for over 40 years) that, if you recall any end-time messages in an organized evangelical church, those messages were always preached ABSENT the testimony of Jesus Christ and replaced with conjecture and assumptions of a pre-trib rapture! And the reason is called FEAR. The messengers of the pre-trib rapture “cannot fathom a God who would allow His bride to endure the persecution of the tribulation and then marry her” is common fodder for Dispensationalism. It remains protocol for pre-trib preachers to ignore the end-time testimony of Christ like a plague because they fear His truth, asserting that it must be for others less fortunate.
Below, I offer just eight of many Scriptures that fuel end-time fears of the unknown and frankly, real tribulation events; fear in hearts not made perfect in love for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ [the Antichrist] spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath” (Matt. 24:15–20). [My emphasis we’ll see Antichrist!]
“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened” (Matt. 24:21–22). No one wants to live through such a horrible time, but God made a plan to spare His committed saints through that time, but only if we believe Him and prepare as did the 5 wise virgins of Matt. 25:1–13.
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days [not pre-trib] the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:29–31). This is the resurrection rapture “at the last day” (John 6:40, 44, 54). The pre-trib doesn’t accept the truth that these Scriptures speak to and warn believers to prepare for this challenging time.
“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, 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. 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” (Rev. 13:16–18) But those who believe the testimony of Christ will, during this final period of 1,260 days, be kept within the safety and provision prepared by God specifically for this time.
“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, [Antichrist’s final beast-kingdom to rule the world seven years] dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns” (Dan. 7:7).
“It was granted to him [the Antichrist] to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Rev. 13:7–8) But those believing and prepared saints who are kept in the Bozrah shelter of God during the great tribulation, the Antichrist will not be able to find!
“I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom” (Dan. 7:21–22).
“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, [in the resurrection rapture] we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, [and we see that even now, with worse to come] and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, [the Antichrist] who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, [Israel’s rebuilt third temple which will be located in Jerusalem, Israel] showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:1–4). Believe this!
Ancient Israel and all they suffered through unbelief and rebellion as they were about to enter their eternal inheritance of Canaan as recorded at Num. 13 and 14 are examples for us. Thus the Holy Spirit said, “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Cor. 10:11). We, of true faith in Christ, must not be spiritually blind or ignorant of the things that befell Israel as they sought to inherit their eternal possession. Most of that generation perished outside the land of Canaan and their carcasses were literally “consumed in the wilderness” (Num. 14:33); compare Matt. 24:28.
And what confidence have we that what occurred to ancient Israel will occur yet again to this end-time generation? God said “That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, ‘See, this is new’? It has already been in ancient times before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after” (Eccl. 1:9–11). We must not be one of those who forget ancient Israel’s examples.
So, what’s deceptively occurred in the hearts and minds of pre-trib rapture believers is that these Scriptures, and many others that directly testify to Christ’s post-tribulation rapture, are made null and void by the teachings of false teachers saying “They do not apply to post-Calvary believers!” Of course, nothing could be further from the truth! Every one of those Scriptures apply to us for our warning and preparation. But like God said “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos. 4:6), and today, lack of knowledge is rampant. In saying that those Scriptures don’t apply to the Church, believers are being set up for an absolutely dreadful offense, hatred and betrayal just as Christ prophesied at Matt. 24:10 when the tribulation and its Antichrist are revealed.
In my new book, “ON EAGLES’ WINGS” with the subtitle “God’s Call, Your Response, Your Life Journey, Through The Tribulation, Until The Rapture”, I disclose in detail the place God has prepared for His people who actually believe the true and unchanging testimony of Jesus Christ. I invite you to discover vital biblical truths that you will never hear in a traditional church.
Marlin J. Yoder
