The following is very personal in opinion and didactic only in so
far as what would we have if not a mind, a desire to know God and
proclaim His glory.
Should the problems in America build into catastrophes they should have one of two effects on its citizens, some people will humble themselves before God.....and others will become even more hardened. If the return of Jesus Christ is indeed near, the latter will far exceed the former for that is the picture that is painted in Scripture. The Christian church itself will become divided into the haves and the have-nots....'have' Jesus Christ as their Savior and 'have only a name,' misused and abused, and not Jesus as their Redeemer.
This is a difficult scene to envision. I cannot put into words the turmoil of the mind, at least initially, that will accompany a time like this. I bring it up because I think that we have to know what would be ahead...and we have to prepare for it. Believe it or not it is hard for me to write this. I chose a while ago to look into these things and cannot turn back now. I don't regret it but in the same vein I don't smile at the thought of those first days because I knew and understood so little.
We have the Rapture theory with us in the church today, more accurately the Pre-Tribulation Rapture theory. I'm sure that the intent was good when it was seized upon and proclaimed as Biblical truth but it is not in fact Biblical. Oh yes, there will be a Rapture and the glory of it can hardly be imagined, but it will come very near the actual Second Coming of our Lord. How do I know this? Well, I don't know with any more certainty than what you believe for we are Christians doing our best to understand God's Word to us. I may sound like I know with certainty but that is because all we can do is study God's Word and proclaim what we are confident of and hope and pray that the Holy Spirit is the source. We have the history and the evolution of the church itself to study and consider and we have the mind that God gave us. That must be good enough, for that is what God planned.
There is a large percentage of the church today that spends a lot of time studying prophesy in the Bible. You would have only to turn on Christian television or go into a Christian bookstore to see this. Their desire to learn of the return of Jesus is good but not so good the further study that is done for the 'experts' today are often misguided and in error the more popular they are, while the better ones struggle to sell books. In fact that's the same with just about all Christian literature.
As for 'preparations,' they are no more than preparations throughout the past two-thousand years for we are pilgrims here and have always been pilgrims. This world may be more evil than it ever has been but the same temptations exist...only packaged much prettier and easier to access. There were times of peace and times of war, times of persecution and times of great fellowship, and times of great preaching and times of......well times much like today. If indeed the Lord has not already mounted His horse and summoned His angels, then He has further plans and more souls to save, but our task remains the same as it had for every generation....to look with hope for His return.....and to keep watch.
Should the problems in America build into catastrophes they should have one of two effects on its citizens, some people will humble themselves before God.....and others will become even more hardened. If the return of Jesus Christ is indeed near, the latter will far exceed the former for that is the picture that is painted in Scripture. The Christian church itself will become divided into the haves and the have-nots....'have' Jesus Christ as their Savior and 'have only a name,' misused and abused, and not Jesus as their Redeemer.
This is a difficult scene to envision. I cannot put into words the turmoil of the mind, at least initially, that will accompany a time like this. I bring it up because I think that we have to know what would be ahead...and we have to prepare for it. Believe it or not it is hard for me to write this. I chose a while ago to look into these things and cannot turn back now. I don't regret it but in the same vein I don't smile at the thought of those first days because I knew and understood so little.
We have the Rapture theory with us in the church today, more accurately the Pre-Tribulation Rapture theory. I'm sure that the intent was good when it was seized upon and proclaimed as Biblical truth but it is not in fact Biblical. Oh yes, there will be a Rapture and the glory of it can hardly be imagined, but it will come very near the actual Second Coming of our Lord. How do I know this? Well, I don't know with any more certainty than what you believe for we are Christians doing our best to understand God's Word to us. I may sound like I know with certainty but that is because all we can do is study God's Word and proclaim what we are confident of and hope and pray that the Holy Spirit is the source. We have the history and the evolution of the church itself to study and consider and we have the mind that God gave us. That must be good enough, for that is what God planned.
There is a large percentage of the church today that spends a lot of time studying prophesy in the Bible. You would have only to turn on Christian television or go into a Christian bookstore to see this. Their desire to learn of the return of Jesus is good but not so good the further study that is done for the 'experts' today are often misguided and in error the more popular they are, while the better ones struggle to sell books. In fact that's the same with just about all Christian literature.
As for 'preparations,' they are no more than preparations throughout the past two-thousand years for we are pilgrims here and have always been pilgrims. This world may be more evil than it ever has been but the same temptations exist...only packaged much prettier and easier to access. There were times of peace and times of war, times of persecution and times of great fellowship, and times of great preaching and times of......well times much like today. If indeed the Lord has not already mounted His horse and summoned His angels, then He has further plans and more souls to save, but our task remains the same as it had for every generation....to look with hope for His return.....and to keep watch.