The End of the World, in short

The world did not end yesterday. It will not end today, nor will it end tomorrow. And I'll tell you how I know--the Bible tells me so.

 

 

 Want to know the end of all things? You should really try picking up The Book sometime and reading it. It will tell you God's plan for the earth, its inhabitants, and its fate.

 

 

But just in case you don't want to do that much reading to find out the answer, let me sum up.

 

 

In the last days, many will claim that they are the Christ, the Messiah, the hope of the world. They will be lying, but so many will believe them. There will be wars and rumors of wars, international and interpersonal conflicts of every kind. A lot of it will be centered in the Middle East and focused on Israel. There will be famine, disease, and earthquakes in various places. These things signal the beginning of the end.

 

 

Christians will be persecuted, betrayed, imprisoned, hated, and martyred for the Name of Jesus Christ. People will turn away from the truth to believe lies, following after false prophets, teachers and christs. The world will become an increasingly lawless and loveless place. But whoever endures in their faith through all of this will be rescued from the worst that is still to come.

 

 

The last assignment Christ gave His disciples, the preaching of the Gospel in all the world, will be complete.

 

 

And then the end will come.

 

 

One day, the world will wake up in the midst of global war, crisis, and natural disaster to find that a portion of its population has disappeared. Graves will have burst open, the sleeping who lay there gone without a trace. An investigation will find that those troublesome meddling Christians who have been so offensive to humanity are gone, vanished in the blink of an eye. And oh the explanations that will follow, more lies to compound the lies that have come before. And humanity will believe them.

 

 

Nations will be devastated--Russia, South Central Asia, Turkey, Iran, Syria, Libya, Sudan--and their cities will lie in ruins after a failed attack on Israel. Five-sixths of their citizens will die in the inferno. Israel will overrun and occupy the Palestinian territories, plus Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. The world will finally unite and cry out for peace in the Middle East, peace at any cost, peace whatever the price may be.

 

 

And a world leader of Middle Eastern origin--Syrian or Iraqi--will take charge of the peace initiative. The world will unite behind him, and he will bring Israel to the table with its enemies and forge the peace. A seven year treaty to ensure the safety and security of Israel as it rebuilds its temple on the sacred mount in Jerusalem, a seven year period for the rest of the world to recover from its wounds. But it will all be a ruse.

 

 

Forty-two months into the new era of peace, the world will turn against Israel, led by a man considered to be God Incarnate. Invasion, occupation, expulsion will be the result for the Israelis from the homeland they have fought so hard to keep. Their temple will become the center of all cult religion, defiled by a shrine erected by the world to their new god, the man who finally brought peace to the Middle East. All other religions will be abolished, all worship merged into the syncretic adoration of the man of the hour. A mark will be issued for this man's followers, a registration, an oath of loyalty. Those who have it will be allowed to continue their normal lives, buying, selling, doing business. Those without it will be denied access to all of their daily necessities. Jews who hold to their ancient tribal God and those who have turned to Jesus Christ for the answers, these will be persecuted, hunted down, imprisoned, and done away with.

 

 

During the rise and reign of the world's god-man, all of the crises and disasters that rocked the world before he came will intensify and increase until it seems that no one will survive these last days. In his bid for peace, humanity's leader will wage war on all of his enemies. The staples of life will be impossible to buy, but luxuries will still be in high demand among those who can afford them. War, famine, disease, and infestation will kill off one-fourth of humanity. Earthquakes will shake the planet from its place.

 

 

Asteroids and other celestial bodies will pound the earth from the skies. A third of the trees and all the grass will be burned up. A third of the oceans will be turned to blood, a third of everything living in the oceans will die, and a third of the earth's ships will be destroyed. A third of the earth's fresh water will be poisoned. The light of the sun and the moon and the stars will be dimmed by thirty-three percent. Demon locusts that sting like scorpions will infest the planet, tormenting with their sting and with their bite but never killing. For five months, people will suffer all kinds of horrors, seek death as way out, and fail to find it. But when the season of the locust has ended, a supernatural army of demon horseman will invade this terrestrial sphere, striking another third of humanity with death.

 

 

Just when the world thinks it cannot get any worse, a plague of sores will break out on the bodies of those who took the infernal mark. All the water on earth will coagulate like blood, killing everything in them. The sun's intensity will increase to scorch the earth upon which it shines, but supernatural darkness will cover the capital of the world. The Euphrates River will dry up as a massive army from the east moves down the Silk Road to confront the man they do not want to serve. The earth will quake and shake again, rocking until every mountain and every city and every island on earth has been leveled. Giant hailstones will fall from the sky. And on the ancient battle field in Northern Israel, whose name has become synonymous with the end of the world, all the nations of the earth will gather together for the war to end all wars. There Armageddon will be unleashed.

 

 

And at the moment when all of humanity is on the verge of self-annihilation, Jesus Christ will return in power and great glory. The heavens will open, giving entrance to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Mounted on a white horse and followed by all the saints of all the ages who had put their trust in Him, the One who is called Faithful and True will, in righteousness, judge and make war. With the two edged sword of His Word in His mouth, He will strike the nations. With the rod of iron He will rule them. The great world leader who exalted himself as God will be destroyed with the breath of Christ's mouth and the brightness of His coming. All those who aligned themselves against Jesus Christ will be destroyed in a moment, their flesh melting from their bones. Jesus will rescue the Chosen People of Israel in their most desperate hour, delivering them from the hand of their enemy. And when he touches down on the Mount Olives for His second triumphal entry, the mountain will split and healing water will burst forth from the depths, flowing out to heal the earth.

 

 

Judgments will follow. The enemies of the King will be banished forever. The survivors of this great holocaust will find comfort and rest in the presence of the Savior. Under the omnipotent but benevolent reign of Jesus Christ, humanity will rebuild, and for a thousand years all will be peace. But in that last generation of earth's last millennium, one last rebellion will arise, one last defiance by the last of those who refuse to follow Christ. The lessons of old forgotten, the nations of the world will converge on Jerusalem, there to be consumed with a fiery blast from the throne of God.

 

 

The saints of the all the ages along with the remnant of humanity that remained loyal to Jesus Christ will be gathered into the magnificence of the New Jerusalem, and everything else will vanish away. The unrighteous dead will be raised to face the final judgment before the throne of God, consigned to flames of woe for all eternity, and then God will cleanse the physical plane with fire, making the heaven and earth anew. And there we will live with Him forever and ever, experiencing the next great adventure in the eternal plan of God.

 

 

So you see, the end of the world is at least 1007 years hence, and the events that begin that last millennium have yet to happen. But they will. Soon. The Mayans didn't get it right, but they shouldn't feel bad. No one ever has. Not 1000 years ago, not 100 years ago, not last year when they predicted the world would end in May, then October, then...Oh, I shouldn't have started predicting in the first place. Because Jesus said, "No one knows when...not even me. Only the Father in heaven knows when. But it will be soon."

 

 

Like a thief in the night. Like labor pains on a pregnant woman. Like the master returning from a long journey. Like the bridegroom who has been delayed. He will come suddenly.

 

 

And we need to be ready.

 

Thoughts on a Tragedy

Something very bad happened today.  Over the course of the coming days, we're going to hear all of the awful details as they emerge and are released to the general public.  We are going to learn the identities of those 28 people.  We are going to see the faces of 20 dead school children, images that will be imprinted on our national memory.  We are going to hear psychologists and assorted other experts trying to explain the inexplicable behavior of a troubled young man, and then they will attempt to tell us why this all happened.

Sadly, there will never be a satisfactory explanation.

Already, the cries of a nation are being heard.  Voices are being lifted in anger, in grief, in protest, in shock, all expressing varying sentiments.

How could someone do something like this?

This is why the government should take away everybody's guns.

He was on medications that warn of serious side effects.

Heaven has 20 new angels tonight (why that number is not 28 I cannot explain).

Where was God when this was happening?

And personally, I'd just like to say I wish the gunman had started with himself.  Or that he had tried to face off against multiple armed law enforcement officers and gotten a taste of what he had just inflicted on others.  Or that he had been taken alive and disabled, and then given over into the hands of the parents of those 20 kindergartners.  Or that God would have given me just a moment with this monster...and the power to make him suffer beyond measure before I conducted his passage into hell.

There is no earthly consolation that can be offered to comfort those who have suffered loss this day.  There will be no earthly justice, no closure, no comeuppance.  The souls of that lunatic and his 28 victims are now in the hands of God, who is a far better Judge than any man could ever be.  He will do what is right and just and fair.  And to tell you the truth, I'm glad it's Him and not me who has the responsibility, because He also has the power and authority to do all things well and good.

Honestly, I am somewhat at a loss for words on this subject.  Politics and personal feelings aside, there is really only one thing on my mind to say.

Parents, love your children.  Raise them in the training and the admonition of the Lord.  Teach them right from wrong, to do what is good and to shun what is evil.  Pray for them.  Bless them.  Be a good a example for them.  Discipline them early and often, but do it in love.  Teach them obedience, and show them the best way is God's way.  Do not provoke them to wrath.  Hug them, kiss them, tell them you love them.  Teach them to love God, and to love each other.  And when the day is over, and they are tucked safely in their beds, thank God every day that they came home to you.

Thanksgiving

100 Reasons I'm Thankful on This Day of Thanksgiving

1. Jesus
2. Salvation
3. Valerie
4. Love
5. Second Chances
6. Mom
7. Dad
8. Life
9. Health
10. Breath
11. Rosie
12. A bed to sleep in
13. A home to live in
14. A church to worship in
15. A job to work at
16. The Holy Spirit living in me
17. The Word of God
18. A song in my heart
19. Joy
20. Hope
21. My past, no matter how hard the path
22. My future, no matter how uncertain the way
23. Friends in general; and specifically (just to name a few)...
24. Jesse
25. Isabel
26. Matt
27. Megan
28. William
29. Andrea
30. Chris
31. Alex
32. Chris
33. Cindy
34. Mark
35. The Call of God
36. The Gifts of God
37. A huge extended family
38. A truck to drive
39. Food in my belly
40. Food in my fridge
41. Money in the bank (for now)
42. 42...
43. ...and the people who play
44. Chocolate
45. Prophecy
46. Creativity
47. Curiosity
48. Inquisitiveness
49. Answers to Prayer
50. God's healing power
51. God's grace
52. God's provision
53. God's protection
54. God's reassurance
55. God's forgiveness
56. Air Conditioning
57. Texas weather
58. God's faithfulness
59. God's promises
60. Former parishioners who still appreciate me
61. Opportunities to minister
62. Lessons learned
63. Lessons still being learned
64. God's patience
65. Having more than I need
66. Having enough to share
67. Memories
68. Old friends
69. New friends
70. Friends I haven't made yet
71. Sweet things in life
72. Vision
73. Direction
74. Laughter
75. The ability to laugh at myself
76. Co-conspirators and partners in crime.  (you know what I mean)
77. Help, just when I need it
78. Encouragement from unexpected sources
79. Open doors that I wasn't looking for
80. The faith of others in the face of hardship, pain and death
81. The persistence of others in serving the Lord
82. People who understand
83. Kids who give me fist-bumps
84. Beauty in the small things
85. Happiness in the simple things
86. An invitation to share Thanksgiving with special people
87. Knowing that all things really do work out for my good and God's glory
88. Seeing God work
89. The color red
90. Turkey legs
91. Left over ham, and all that comes from it
92. My Old Mammy
93. The Resurrection
94. The Rapture (even so, Come Lord Jesus!)
95. Fresh perspectives on familiar things
96. Facebook
97. Skype
98. Unlimited minutes
99. Good preaching
100. You

My First Love

I fell in love with the same girl three times.  Once at six, again at fourteen, and the last time at twenty.  I'll cut to the chase now and tell you it never worked out, and I'm not writing this to say I wish it had.  Although it would not have been in any way objectionable if it had.  And I'm certainly not writing this to embarrass said girl, who is now nearly forty, happily married, and a mother multiple times over.  Maybe she knows this story, maybe not.  But a young friend of mine is walking through life's journey, and he just might find something here to help.  Even if he doesn't, it's a story worth telling.

 

She was new in class; I was not.  I was six and she was five.  I was shorter and she was taller.  And she was so cute, with long blonde hair and big blue eyes and the sweetest smile.  And she was smart, which apparently has always been an attractive quality in women for me.

 

Now I have memories about those early days which she doesn't share--or perhaps selectively forgot.  Whether real or imagined, they are fond memories of several secretive rendezvous behind the gym at recess in which our lips were introduced.  Now the last time I ever mentioned this to her, when were twelve, she turned beet red and adamantly denied that any such thing ever took place.  Perhaps she's right (and if you're reading this, dear friend, please don't hate me for telling this part)...but I also remember being interrogated by my parents because I came home with my lips unusually swollen and red.  And I remember confessing in a torrent of tears that I had kissed a girl behind the gym, something my parents encouraged me not to do again any time soon.  Today, they'd throw me out of school for sexual harassment.  But then, well, it was the Seventies...

 

There is even a picture in existence in which we were standing side by side, me having lost my two front teeth, with swollen red lips, and a little paper heart I had cut out with my Kindergarten scissors and affixed to my chest--just to announce to the world that I was standing next to the girl I intended to love FOR-EV-ER!  Then I moved away.  And I came back.  And I was more convinced than ever that she was still the girl for me.  I may have even told her so, and I may also have mentioned that God might be intertwining our destinies or some other silly notion like that.  She didn't take me up on my offer to be soul mates, and time went on.  There were other crushes that I had, but I tell you, she was the first girl I ever loved.

 

Skip forward to teenhood, to puberty, and to feeling certain attractions that are just inexplicable.  First was the summer reading program in which were co-volunteers at the local library.  We were both thirteen.  I was still shorter, and she was taller.  And she was still cute, with long blonde hair and big blue eyes and the sweetest smile.  And she was smart.  Did I mention that she was smart?  And cute?

 

I stayed on the farm for two weeks with my great-grandparents that summer, who had been a couple since they were about thirteen, and married since they were eighteen, and they loved each other very much.  And they asked me if I had a girlfriend.  I said no, but I confided in these two very old people that there was someone special, someone I liked.  They asked me where, and I told them, "Skellytown."  And my Pappy had all sorts of suggestions for me.  He suggested I get a motorcycle and get her on behind me, and then pop a wheelie so that she would have to hold on real tight!  That might have worked...if I had known how to ride a motorcycle.  And also if I wasn't a menace to everyone in sight whenever I got on board a recreational vehicle.  Always after that, anytime I saw Pappy and Granny, they would always ask me if I had a girlfriend, and was she from Skellytown.  Can I just say, I NEVER had a girlfriend from Skellytown.

 

After my fourteenth birthday, I finally worked up the courage to actually ask her to "go with me", which is what we did in the Eighties.  I don't know what kids call it now, but that was back in the day when people were "going together."  Stupid me, I did it at a football game, during the third quarter, after half-time when everyone was going for snacks, and I did it in front of a mutual friend.  For the record, guys, don't ever ask a girl to "go" with you when there are people around.  Just in case things don't go the way you planned.  That way, no one will be there to witness your total and abject humiliation when she says, "We're just too good of friends."  I also gotta tell you, girls, that's a good way to ruin a beautiful friendship and break a heart in the process.  I could have handled, "I just don't like you enough."  But hearing, "I like you too much to go with you" is just AW-FUL!

 

Of course, it didn't help when an older, taller, darker, handsomer dude got the answer I was looking for, and I had to witness their togetherness.  With my parents.  Who knew of my fondness for said cute and smart blonde.  And then I had to answer their question:  What ever happened between you two?  Yeah, not one of my best memories.

 

I moved away and I didn't see her again for a very long time, except for brief instances when I was home visiting and friends got together with friends.  But one summer between college semesters I was back and I gave her a call and we got together for, what could arguably be called, one of the best times I ever spent with anyone back in those days.  We were both nineteen.  I was shorter, she was taller.  And she was absolutely beautiful, with long blonde hair and big blue eyes and the sweetest smile.  We laughed and cried and talked and remembered together--though not the episodes I just recounted--until the wee hours of the morning.  And ever since I have kicked myself for bad timing.  She was single and available, and I was hanging on to a failing relationship that self-destructed in two weeks time.  I even remember telling her, "If I was single, I'd really be chasing you right now."  Not literally of course, around the coffee table or anything.  But if I had been unattached, that summer MIGHT have been the start of something special.  Because for the third time in my life, I fell in love with this wonderful girl.

 

Shortly after I turned twenty, my heart broken by someone I would have been better off without anyway, I called my lifelong friend, intent on telling her how I felt about her, how I had always felt about her.  Only to have her answer the phone, excited to hear from me, because she thought I was someone else.  Someone with the same name as me, the same chosen profession as me, and coincidentally, an eerily similar weekend story to tell.  Imagine both of our embarrassments when we each realized that neither was having the same conversation with the other.  So I never got that chance...and a year later I attended her wedding.  And what a beautiful bride she was, marrying someone taller, darker, and handsomer than I.  The perfect man for the perfect woman.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Is there a point to this confession, of a lifelong love that never happened?  Let me put it like this:  I have genuinely been in love many times in my forty years of living.  Of course, that also means that my love has most often been unrequited, unreturned, and sometimes even unrealized by the object of my affections.  Maybe it's a mistake to think this, but I suspect there may have been others who felt that way about me, and found those feelings not mutual.  But I remain convinced that one day, I will share the kind of love I've always had to give with the woman who loves me in the very same way. 

 

And it will have been worth the wait!

 

*****

 

NOTE TO READERS:  If you have known me long enough, you may think you know who SHE is.  Even if you're right, please keep it to yourself.  There's no need for everyone to know.  :)  And if YOU are reading this, I hope you look back on our friendship with as much happiness as I do.  At forty, hopefully we can appreciate the follies of youth...

That Blessed Arrangement

He who finds a wife

finds a good thing,

and obtains favor

from the Lord.

Proverbs 18:22, NKJV

 

Marriage is honorable

among all...

Hebrews 13:4, NKJV

 

 

 

 

It was God's idea.

 

In the very beginning, God created a man.  He gave that man a home, a job, a yard to keep, a smorgasbord of fruits and vegetables to eat, a menagerie of animals to name and have as friends.  But God saw that it was not good for man to be alone.  He had no one like himself, no one to share his life or his heart or his home.  So from man God took a rib and fashioned a woman, whom he brought to the man.  The man recognized that she was from him and for him, like him but different.  And through marriage the two became one again.  What had been divided was now made whole.

 

Marriage was God's idea.  But Genesis Chapter Two was the only time God ever created one specific woman for one specific man and actually put the two together.  Everyone else pretty much had to figure it out on their own.  Or let their parents choose for them.

 

Whether Cain married his sister or not, the men of old generally looked within their family group and community for suitable brides.  Abraham married his half-sister, then sent his most trusted to servant to find a wife for his son Isaac among his near relatives.  Isaac married his first cousin-once removed.  Isaac's sons both married their cousins.  The parents of Moses were apparently Aunt and Nephew.  Later, the Law of God forbade marriage between immediate relations.  The Law also commanded God's people not to intermarry with foreigners, which wasn't about racial purity so much as it was about spiritual fidelity.  Foreign wives meant foreign gods, and God would have none of that.

 

In all the Bible, I can't think of a single instance where God instructed anyone to marry a specific person.  Except for maybe Hosea.  God told him to marry a prostitute, but apparently Hosea got to pick the hooker he wanted.  And I can only think of one instance where God told someone not to marry.  That was Jeremiah the Prophet, whose message was one of death and destruction upon wayward Israel, pronouncing a curse on all the children born in Israel, and upon the parents who bore them.

 

The Apostle Paul wrote, in First Corinthians Chapter Seven, that he thought singleness and celibacy was preferable to the troubles of marriage.  He thought it was easier to fully serve and please the Lord if one the distractions of marriage were absent.  He thought, regardless of our marital status, we should stay focused on Jesus.  But he also said marriage was not a sin; in fact, it was the preferable alternative to sin.  Don't burn, he said.  Get married!  And later he would write that anyone who commanded people not to get married was a false teacher.  Marriage is honorable among all!

 

Jesus first miracle was to bless a wedding couple with a gift of good wine.  In recent days, there has been much made over a fragment of an ancient manuscript suggesting Jesus had a wife.  But the Bible already tells us as much:  the Church is the Bride of Christ, betrothed to Him through salvation, awaiting His return to catch her away to the wedding supper and the fulfillment of all things.

 

And then there's one of my favorite verses in all the Bible (right up there with all the rest of them), the one from Proverbs 18:  The man who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. 

 

Marriage is a blessing!  It isn't something to be put off and avoided.  It is something to prepare for and anticipate.  It is the highest expression of human relationship, God's way of giving us the kind of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual fulfillment we need from each other.  It is a physical representation of the mysterious and miraculous union between God and man.  It is a wonderful, beautiful, glorious thing, and should be treated as such, especially in the household of faith.  Marriage is a good thing, it is a God thing.

 

And I am more than ready to be favored and blessed.

 

My Mind is Made Up

And since we have the same spirit of faith,

according to what is written,

"I believed and therefore I spoke,"

we also believe

and therefore we speak...

2 Corinthians 4:13, NKJV

When I was born, I didn't know anything.  Everything I know, I learned from somebody else.  So when you quote me, please don't give me any credit for it!  (...and in good conscience I have to admit that these statements are not original to me.  I first heard them from Rev. Howard Burroughs of Houston, Texas.  And in all likelihood, he got it from someone else, so...)

We are constantly inundated with a barrage of exhortations aimed at our knowledge, our beliefs, and our actions based on our knowledge and our beliefs.  The standard mantras of our post-modern world seem to be "open your mind" and "be tolerant".  The thing is, I can only do what my knowledge and beliefs allow me.  It's called having values, and if someone doesn't understand that, my contention is they probably don't have any.  Values that is.  True beliefs.

My values and beliefs are not my opinions.  I didn't just wake up one morning with the idea that I wanted to offend almost everybody at some time or other by speaking my mind.  Contrary to popular opinion, I do not think that I am right and everybody else is wrong.  Admittedly, when I speak, I usually do so with the conviction that I am right, but it's not arbitrary.  It's not me ascribing correctness to my own thoughts and behavior.  It is me expressing myself from the standpoint of what I believe.

And what I believe is something that was instilled in me from my earliest memories.  Mom & Dad believed in God as the ultimate sovereign of all that is and all that ever will be.  They believed in Jesus Christ as the uniquely begotten Son of God and Savior of all who died for our sins and rose from the dead and lives to bring us to God.  They believed in the powerful Holy Spirit who lived within us and gave us the power and authority and help and comfort of God to accomplish God's perfect will, plan, and purpose.  And they believed the Bible as God's revealed message to mankind, inspired, inerrant, infallible, and in need of no additions or subtractions.

I was four, and my folks didn't have alot of money, but a Bible salesman came to our door one evening and presented a line of Bible Story books--10 volumes for kids, 6 volumes for adults--which Mom & Dad decided were a good investment for a young Christian family just getting to know the Lord.  And every night thereafter, when it was time for me to go to bed, they read me a story from those Bible Story books.

Not only did they read to me every night, but they also took me to church every time the doors were open.  They raised me in the second pew, and taught me to sit up straight and be still and pay attention to what was going on.  I wasn't allowed to talk or sleep or play or make noise.  In the earliest years, I was given a Bible Story coloring book and a box of crayons to keep me occupied, but as I grew, I was expected to start listening to what was being preached.  I went to Sunday School and Children's Church, and I learned there as well.   And while I don't remember everything that ever got said in church, there are lots of things that impacted my young and impressionable heart and mind.

To their credit, Mom & Dad didn't leave my education up to my Sunday School teacher, our pastor, or the Skellytown Elementary School.  We talked about Father, Son & Holy Ghost at home.  We read and studied and discussed the Bible at home.  We went to the homes of Christian friends, or had Christian friends over to our home, and everyone talked about Jesus.  My Dad led lots of people to the Lord while he was working construction, and consequently he brought them home with him where they could study the Bible together.  And I can remember laying behind my Dad's recliner with my own Bible, listening to the discussion and even asking questions when I didn't understand something.

They weren't willing to leave my salvation up to random chance, or even up to the pastor's ability to communicate the gospel.  From the time I was three and a half until I was six, my Dad constantly explained my sinful nature and my need for a personal Savior.  After the spankings would come the lessons about how much I needed Jesus.  Every discussion was laced with references to Jesus and my need to have Him in my life.  And after thirty months of that, something in the message took hold.  One Sunday night at church, the pastor was making an appeal for sinners to get saved and receive Jesus Christ.  I was wiggling around, and my mother recognized my restlessness for what it was.  And right there on the second pew, my mother led me in prayer to receive Jesus.  Then she sent me to my pastor, who prayed with me again, with my Dad kneeling in the altar beside me.  I may have been young, but I understood my need and I knew what I was doing.  And that event shaped my entire life.

Someone asked me one time, "Haven't you ever questioned what you believe?"  And before they could even get the question out of their mouth my answer was a loud and clear, "No!"  Like Timothy, I knew I could trust what I was taught, because I knew those who had taught it to me.  My parents lived for Jesus, lived according to the Bible, every day from my earliest memory, and they did it right in front of me.  The instilled the faith and practice of true Biblical Christianity in me, discipled me in the ways of Christ, raised me in the training and admonition of the Lord.  And because it was something fully incorporated into ever fiber of my being, I knew that whatever contradicted the knowledge of truth was automatically wrong.

So I challenged my peers whose behavior was contrary to God's righteousness.

I challenged my teachers whose lessons contradicted the Bible.

I challenged my youth pastor when something he said didn't line up.

I challenged my college professors when they wanted to fill my mind with higher education.

And the first time I remember being told to open my mind, I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit with which I had become so familiar saying to me, "If you open your mind to her, you are selling you soul to the devil."

To this day, I continue to challenge that which is contrary to the Word of God.  When I speak, I'm not offering my opinion.  It's not my personal belief.  It's not my religion.  The Bible is simply my absolute standard for faith and conduct.  It is the source of all the knowledge I need to accomplish all that is really important.  And if your life, your actions, your beliefs, your words don't line up with what it says, well...you're just wrong.  Not according to me, but according to God.  And if it upsets you that I say that, I'm not sorry for speaking the truth.  I'm not doing it to hurt you, but rather to save you.

So when someone says, "Open your mind", what they are really saying is, "What you know is flawed, you need new information.  You must unlearn what you have learned.  You need to change."  And whenever I'm asked to change my mind, I'm reminded of how one smart (albeit fictional) man once responded, "Is there something wrong with the one I have?"

Basically, you got to me too late.  My mind was made up a long time ago, and there's no reason for me to quit believing now.  But for those of you who are still looking for answers, still searching for truth, for those of you whose minds are still open, Come to Jesus, and let Him close it for you.

Dan Cathy didn't say it, but God did

"We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.  We operate as a family business ... our restaurants are typically led by families; some are single. We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that."

Dan Cathy, President & COO, Chick-fil-A

So business man and Christian Dan Cathy, head of the family business Chick-fil-A, was interviewed by a Christian publication about how his Christianity affects the way he runs his business.  Chick-fil-A has never made it a secret that they support the Biblical ideal of marriage and family.  They support marriage enrichment organizations.  They encourage good Christian morals and values.  And it appears that Dan Cathy lives by what he believes.

In that interview, he did not say he hated homosexuals.  He did not say he was against homosexual marriage.  He did not say anything hateful or spiteful or despicable.  He did not say Chick-fil-A shouldn't hire homosexuals.  He did not say Chick-fil-A wouldn't serve homosexuals.

But to hear the clamorous and cacophonous outcry from the homosexual community and their hand-holders, you'd think Dan Cathy had called for the entire Christian world to drag homosexuals into the streets and stone them on public television.  You'd think he had committed some gross human rights violation worthy of a summons to the Hague.  You'd think he had stepped onto a global podium and given an internationally televised demonstration against the abominable practices of those who have perverted the image and likeness of God and desecrated the oldest and holiest of human relationships.

Instead, all he said was, "We are very much supportive of the family."  Why is that a problem?  Why has it become such a sensational issue?  Everyone ought to be pro-family.  Everyone ought to work toward successful marriage and successful parenting.  Everyone ought to rejoice that someone in our fracturing society is saying they believe in the sanctity and preservation of this foundational building block of human civilization.  And if no one else will say it, I will.  I agree with Dan Cathy.  I support the Family.

You know who else is supportive of the family?  God.  Jesus.  Moses.  Paul.  Peter.  To name a few.  The Bible is about family, from Genesis to Revelation.  God is our father, Jesus is our big brother, and we are all one big happy family--those who are in Christ Jesus.  But Jesus makes it very clear that whoever does not believe in Him and His word, whoever does not follow Him and His word, these are from a different family.  A family whose father is the devil.

The devil hates the family.  He deceived the very first family and got them kicked out of their home in Paradise.  He preyed upon the weakness of the first sons, turning one against the other and fomenting murder.  The devil and his family coopted and corrupted the family of man until a single individual was the lone voice of reason and righteousness in a world gone made with violence and lust.  Now the devil has hoodwinked our culture with the idea that homosexuality is natural, and that two homosexuals should have the same marital rights as normal people.  And society has run amuck.  In spite of God's repeated intervention, including the sending and sacrifice of His own Son for the sins of the world, that very world has continued to resist the love and goodness of God.  And if anyone speaks up, speaks out, speaks against sin, the world wants to kill them.  It's not Christians who are calling for the destruction of sinners and their way of life; it is the devil and his sons and daughters calling for the annihilation of all that is holy.

Homosexuality seems to be the popular and faddish sin of the day we live in.  If you're not homosexual yourself, it's cool to at least have friends who are.  And people are encouraged to experiment at least a little bit, just to make sure they aren't homosexual.  And even if you're not homosexual, you can be bi and have the best of both worlds.  And you can engage in homosexual activity without actually defining yourself that way. 

From the earliest age, kids are being taught in our public schools that homosexuality is normal.  The media inundates us with the message that homosexuality is everywhere.  Homosexuals are so proud of their homosexuality, and have come out of the closet and into the streets to show us how proud they are.  But God is not proud.  God is not pleased.  One need only look at the company He gives the homosexual and the sodomite in eternity:  Fornicators, adulterers, thieves, coveters, drunks, revilers, extortionists, cowards, unbelievers, murderers, perverts, sorcerers, idol worshipers, and liars.  These shall have no place in the Kingdom of God, but will rather find their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.  It is called the second death.

Dan Cathy didn't say homosexuality was wrong.  God did. 

Dan Cathy didn't say homosexuals would be judged if they didn't repent.  God did.

Dan Cathy didn't say homosexuals would go to hell.  God did.

Dan Cathy didn't say homosexuals couldn't go to heaven and have eternal life.  God did.

Unless, of course they repent of their wickedness and turn from their sinful ways to serve the living God.  Then, just like all the rest of us sinners who have found grace in the eyes of the Lord, they too can be saved.

A Mother's Heart

But Mary kept all these things

and pondered them

in her heart.

Luke 2:19, NKJV

Babies are born as a blank canvas, masterpieces yet to be painted.  They are empty vessels ready for filling and use.  They have their entire future ahead of them, unplanned and unpredictable by any except for God.  What a child might be when he or she grows up is anyone's guessing game, and even after the child is grown, life can change on a whim.  Some will be great leaders and thinkers, many will fulfill their dreams, a few may never really reach their potential.  And in their hearts, mothers ponder.

Mothers want their babies to be born healthy, with ten fingers and ten toes and all the rest of the parts in place.  They celebrate the little triumphs of rolling over and foot finding, of focusing and laughter.  They learn to discern the inexpressible meaning behind the cries.  They search for the perfect strained vegetable to nourish their greedy little monster.  They encourage the crawling and the walking and the talking--at least until all that leads to adventure.  Then it's all "No, no, don't do that."

They weep on the first day of school as their little tyke toodles down the sidewalk to meet the bus.  They fret through the days, counting the minutes until their little beloved comes home again.  They sit up nights wondering, and sometimes worrying, what their baby is turning into.  As the years pass, kids trade in their Tonka Trucks for real trucks, and the hand they want to hold isn't Mom's anymore.  Soon it's graduation, college, marriage, careers.  Then grandkids come along, and Mom enjoys the new tykes so much she wonders why she didn't have them first.

Babies are born to live.

But not this one.  After the excitement of labor and delivery, after the surprising visit by the shepherds, after everything was calm and quiet once more, Mary held her swaddled bundle to her breast, eyes closed as her breathing deepened.  Joseph was close by, watchful and weary too.  And as she pressed her lips to the warm forehead of Jesus, Mary had to be wondering what His life was going to be like.

Mary knew she had brought the Son of God into the world.  Her womb had given way to Divine Life.  His arrival had been prophesied with messages of greatness and power, of kingship and glory.  Though every person born to woman makes their mark on the world, this One would change it irrevocably forever.  Heralded by angels and visions and wandering stars, visited by shepherds and later by kings, born in absolute obscurity but destined for ultimate fame, her little Boy had His life all before Him.

But as she pondered it all in her heart, did she have any insight or inkling into what the future held for her tiny Christ child?  Soon she would hear forecasts of swords and sorrow, but on that nativity night, did she know that the cradle would lead to Calvary, that the Bethlehem babe would bear the burden of the world in himself, that he would carry the sins of humanity in his body to the cross?  Did she know that of all the children who were born to live, hers alone was born to die?

And yet through Him, we would all have life, abundant life, and life everlasting.

I'm Waiting

Show me Your ways, O LORD;

Teach me Your paths.

Lead me in Your truth and teach me,

For You are the God of my salvation;

On You I will wait all the day.

Psalm 25:4-5, NKJV

Let's face it.  King David had some issues.

Forgotten by his father.  Rejected by his brothers.  Hated by his father-in-law.  In a short period of time, he lost his Spiritual father, his wife, and his position of favor in the kingdom of Israel.  One tradition says he took his parents and brothers to find refuge with a foreign king, who then betrayed David by killing the entire family.  In the darkest days of Israel's struggle with the Philistines, David sought sanctuary among his enemies, but was never trusted.  And when he was sent home from the battle that made him king, he found that his house had been burned, his wives and children carried off, and his 600 loyal followers wanted to stone him to death.  At the age of 30, nothing seemed to be going right in the life of the man after God's own heart.

Even after he became king, he was not without his struggles.  First he had to deal with the loss of his covenant friend Jonathan.  The kingdom was thrust upon him and immediately erupted into civil war.  He repeatedly dealt with treachery from some of his most trusted advisers.  He was beset with enemies on every hand who were constantly trying to kill him...thus so many places where David prayed for God to rise up in defense of him and literally destroy his foes.

And then there were his personal battles with himself.  He was a passionate man, moved by deep rooted passions and emotions.  Violent at times, temperamental, occasionally melancholic.  One moment singing about the righteousness of God, and the next demonstrating the worst qualities a man of God could have.  One of the most unsettling stories in the Bible is the one of David's sin--how he lusted after another man's wife to the point of inviting her for dinner, keeping her until breakfast, and when she informed him of their impending surprise, he engaged in an horrific plot of deception and murder.  The consequences of one night of uncontrolled desire wreaked devastation upon David's family and the kingdom for the last half of his reign.

But one thing I can say about David:  for all his faults and failures and frailties, he had the redeeming quality of knowing how to get it right with God.  Psalm 25 is just one of many examples in the Bible of David throwing himself into the only hands that he could, the loving hands of God.

Remember, O LORD, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses...

Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions;

According to Your mercy remember me...

For Your name's sake, O LORD, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, for I am desolate and afflicted...

Bring me out of my distresses...

Forgive all my sins...

Keep my soul and deliver me...

Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You...

It was not David's perfection that earned God's approval; it was his penitence.  It was his humility regarding himself and his sin.  It was the turn of his heart toward God that found God's favor.  And when a man's heart is turned toward God, God's heart will be turned toward him.

And God will hear.  And God will act.  God will not let our enemies triumph, nor will he let us be put to shame.  God will show us His ways and teach us His paths.  God will lead us in all truth, and He will save us.  He will remember us in mercy and love.  He will guide us in justice.  He will always forgive.  He will bless and make us prosper, He will give us the earth as an inheritance.  He will reveal to us His secrets and show us His covenant.  He will deliver us from the traps of the enemy.  He will turn to us in our hour of need.  He will see us as we are, and He will deliver us from all our troubles.  God will redeem!



Casey's Really Dirty Rice

2 cups of white rice
4 cups of water
2 sticks of butter or margarine
8 chicken livers
1 medium onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
salt & lots of black pepper



Combine rice & water in medium saucepan, bring to a boil
reduce heat, cover & simmer about 15 minutes, or until water is absorbed by rice

Melt butter in a skillet
Add livers, onion & garlic
saute, breaking up chicken livers as they cook until they are finely minced

Combine rice, liver, onion, garlic and butter
Add salt & lots of black pepper (season for taste, and for the dirty appearance of the rice)

Enjoy!  (and if anyone in your family is squeamish about the giblets, just tell 'em it's chicken so they can enjoy it too)

He Didn't Need Bread

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

Matthew 4:4, NKJV

Jesus was in crisis.

Baptized, anointed by the Holy Spirit, acclaimed by God, now He had been driven into the wilderness by the Spirit where he fasted forty days and forty nights.  During that time he was tempted by the devil, threatened by wild beasts, and afterward he was hungry.  I would imagine he was very hungry, physically ravished from the self-denial of his fast.  But regarding that fast he was in good company—Moses and Elijah both endured forty day fasts as they prepared themselves for the work of the Lord.

Weakened in flesh, but empowered in Spirit, Jesus is confronted by Satan, who says to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

Jesus could have done it.  Later he will fill Peter’s nets with fish on at least two occasions and multiply the five loaves and two fish to feed 5000 men and their families, and multiply seven loaves and a few small fish to feed 4000 men and their families.  He will even turn water into wine and a mudball into an eyeball.  Jesus certainly had the power and ability to turn those rocks into bread.  So if he was hungry…

At least that was the devil’s reasoning.  You have the power.  You’re hungry.  If you are who those angels said you were 30 years ago, if you are who you claimed you were in the temple at 12, if you are who that voice at the Jordan said you were, if you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. 

Jesus had the ability.  But he refused to exercise it.  Why?

In three and a half years of ministry that followed, Jesus took the same course over and over again.  He never used his own power for his own personal benefit.  Not once.  Not when he was tired.  Not when he was thirsty.  Not when he was hungry.  Not when he was hurting.  Not when he was rejected.  He told James and John they did not know the heart of God when they wanted to call fire down on the Samaritans who rejected him.  He told Peter to sheath his sword when the priests came to arrest him; ten thousand angels stood ready to heed his beck and call if he wanted them.  Instead, he submitted according to his own prayer moments before—Not my will, Father, but thine be done.

Jesus had the ability, but he did not have the authority.  It was not in the heart and will of God for Jesus to turn stones into bread.  Jesus’ needs would soon be met by angels; he just needed to hold out a while longer in the testing.  He could have given up, given in, given over to the tempting of the devil.  He could have called forth a nice MLT—a mutton, lettuce and tomato, where the mutton is lean, and the lettuce is crisp, and the tomato is nice and juicy.  He could have used his power to meet his own need.  But he didn’t, because it wasn’t what the Father wanted Him to do.  So He goes to the word.

It is written, he said.  He gave us a good pattern for combating the temptations of the flesh and the devil.  Quote the word to your desires, quote the word to combat the whispers of the devil.  It is written, he said.  Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. 

He was quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, where Moses is teaching the Children of Israel an important lesson.  When they were wandering in the wilderness those first few days after the triumphant Red Sea crossing, they ran out of water, they ran out of food, and they ran into an enemy.  These tests were put there by God, to humble Israel and reveal what was in their hearts.  God wanted to see if they were really going to honor his commandments.  Of course, they didn’t.

Moses says, “He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.”  He goes on to tell how their clothes and shoes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell during all that wilderness wandering.  That God took care of them, as long as they obeyed Him.  Israel thought they needed bread to eat and water to drink; God showed them all they needed was Him.

Philippians 2:8 says that Jesus humbled himself and became obedient.  He humbled himself from his position of shared glory with the Father.  He humbled himself from his place at the right hand of the majesty on high.  He humbled himself from his eternally coexistence with God, and when He became a man, He put off the glory of the godhead and put on the cloak of humanity in all of its weaknesses and frailties.  He took on the ability to become less than the full Incarnation of God, and if he had chosen disobedience or rebellion instead of submission, he would have become just a man.  Instead, he chose humility and obedience.  He chose to deny himself and his abilities, to deny his own flesh, and rely upon God.

Jesus understood He did not need bread; He just needed God.

Rapture: The Secrets of the Open Door, part 4

After these things I looked, and behold,

a door standing open in heaven.

And the first voice which I heard

was like a trumpet speaking with me,

saying, "Come up here,

and I will show you things

which must take place after this."

Immediately I was in the Spirit;

and behold, a throne set in heaven,

and One sat on the throne.

--John, Revelation 4:1-2, NKJV

This is not the first time that The Door is used as Rapture imagery in the Scriptures.  Like I've said before, there is nothing new to be found in The Revelation.  It is a summary of all things prophetic that had already been revealed and recorded.  If you read the rest of the Bible first, nothing in Revelation should be a surprise.

In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus said Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

In Luke 13:24-25, Jesus said Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.  When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, ' I do not know you, where you are from.'

The door to eternal life, to salvation, and to heaven is standing open to any and all who would believe on Jesus Christ and be faithful to him.  It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the open door of Revelation is given to the faithful church, those believers who are doing what they are supposed to be doing, and living the way they are supposed to live.  The other churches that Jesus addressed were given warnings about their behavior, warnings that if they did not change, they would be extinguished as lights, removed as candlesticks, killed and cast into great tribulation for their destruction.

But something else that the Bible makes clear is that the door will not always remain open.  There is coming a time when the door, both to salvation and entrance into heaven, will be closed.  Revelation 10:6-7 tells of Christ standing on the earth and sea and making this declaration:  There will be no more delay; the mystery of God is finished.  Revelation 14:14-20 describes two great harvests at the hands of Jesus, a final harvest of souls for salvation, and a harvest of wrath for the unbelievers.  Revelation 15:8 reveals the heavenly temple being filled with God's presence, preventing anyone from entering or performing any of the ministries of grace until the wrath of God was completely poured out on the earth.  As a result, Revelation 16 reveals repeatedly the cursing and blasphemies of a humanity that will not repent.

Referencing the days of Noah, Jesus said there would be direct correlation between them and the days of his coming.  When we read the story of Noah in Genesis 6-7, we discover that after a century of building and preaching, Noah has finished his little construction project and the ark stands complete and ready for launch.  All they need now is to load up and wait for the rain.  In Genesis 7:1, the Lord speaks to Noah and says Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation...for after seven more days I will cause it to rain...and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made."  The Bible goes on to say that on that very same day, Noah did as the Lord commanded, and the Lord shut him in.  What is curious to me is Jesus remark in Matthew 24:38-39 that people carried on about their business until the day Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and took them all away!  After a hundred years of hearing him preach and pound nails, no one missed his voice when it fell silent inside the ark.  No one noticed that the door was shut, until it started to rain and they couldn't get in.

Jesus also taught of that door being closed, not just in Matthew and Luke as quoted above, but also in Matthew 25, in a parable that has especially significant connections to the Rapture of the Church.  It's about the ten bridesmaids assigned to keep the bride ready for her groom and waiting in anticipation.  On the night when the bridegroom calls, when the cry of his friend rings through the streets, "The Bridegroom is coming, the Bridegroom is coming," the bridesmaids rush out into the night with their lamps to light the way to the bride.  Only on this night, the Bridegroom is delayed.  The night waxes dark, the stamina of the bridesmaids is diminished, and soon their lamps sputter out and they all drift into sleep.

When the cry of the approaching Bridegroom stirs them from slumber, they all arise and trim their lamps, and five of their number produce jars of oil with which to fill their lamps.  The other five were foolish and forgot to bring extra oil, and when they beg to borrow from their wiser sisters, they are told to go find some for themselves, lest the Bridegroom be delayed longer and there not be enough.  But while the deficient five are out looking for more oil, the Bridegroom comes.  Those who are ready go in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut.

Arriving late--and Jesus does not tell us whether or not they found any oil; I am personally doubtful--the oil-lackers pound on the door crying out, "Lord, Lord, open to us!"  But the answer came back, "I do not know you."  And they were left outside.

To the faithful church, Jesus alone claimed the power and authority to open that door, and to shut it.  But once it is shut, there is no one who will be getting in until he opens it again.  The Open Door is something you don't want to miss.  You want to go through it now, while it stands open for your entrance.  You want to be among that number that hears the call, "Come up here!" and goes to heaven through the Open Door.  You don't want to wait until it closes.

Rapture: The Secrets of the Open Door, part 3

After these things I looked,

and behold, a door standing open in heaven.

And the first voice which I heard

was like a trumpet speaking with me,

saying, "Come up here,

and I will show you things

which must take place after this."

Immediately I was in the Spirit;

and behold, a throne set in heaven,

and One sat on the throne.

--John, Revelation 4:1-2, NKJV

The Rapture is an integral part of Biblical prophecy regarding events of the end times.  In Jesus' ultimate eschatological discourse on the Mount of Olives, recorded in Matthew 24-25, half of his teaching was taken up by talking about the rapture.  Though almost every New Testament epistle mentions the return of Jesus Christ, Paul alone dealt with the subject of the rapture.  He was so energized by the thought that two of his earliest writings, First and Second Thessalonians, expanded specifically the doctrine of the rapture--revealing the who, what, where, when, why and how of it.  In First Thessalonians and First Corinthians both, Paul emphasizes his own expectation that the imminent return of Christ will happen in his lifetime.  It is the blessed hope of the church, the promise of Jesus to return, to receive us to himself, and take us to that place he has prepared for us in heaven.  And one would think that in The Revelation, which puts summary to the whole of Bible prophecy, there would be a place for such an important doctrine as the Rapture of the Church.

Various attempts have been made to place the rapture elsewhere in the Revelation than in Chapter Four.  Some have tried to find it in Revelation 7:9, 14 with the great multitude that no one can number.  Others have looked for it in Revelation 11:12 with the resurrection and rapture of the two witnesses, or in Revelation 7:15 with the sounding of the seventh trumpet, or in Revelation 12:5 with the catching away of the Man-Child.  Still others have pointed to Revelation 14:1-2, the rapture of the 144,000 Jewish witnesses, or to Revelation 14:14-16 with the harvest of the earth.  And some even wait to place it in Revelation 19:11, 14, making it synonymous with the return of Christ to earth.

But wherever one places the rapture in The Revelation, it has to be in agreement with all the prophetic revelation about the event that has come before.

In Matthew 24:37-39, Jesus compared the time of his coming to the days of Noah, in which God gathered Noah and his family into the ark to preserve them seven days before He sent the flood that annihilated the inhabitants of the planet.

In Luke 17:28-30, Jesus compared the time of his coming to the days of Lot, in which God delivered Lot and his family from Sodom before He sent the fire of heaven to consume the wicked cities of the plain.

In Luke 21:34-36, Jesus warned that the Day of judgment was coming upon all those who dwelt on the whole earth, but that believers should watch and pray to be counted worthy to escape all the things that would come to pass and stand in the presence of the Lord.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, Paul warned that the Day of judgment and wrath was coming, but that Jesus would deliver believers from the wrath to come.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4, 9, Paul assured believers that they were not appointed to suffer wrath, but to obtain salvation and physical rescue through the Lord Jesus Christ.

In 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8, Paul acknowledged the trouble inflicted upon believers in the world, but he reassured those believers that God would repay with tribulation and vengeance those who troubled the believers, while at the same time giving the believers rest.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4, Paul revealed that the day of God's wrath and judgment would not, indeed could not, begin until the believers departed from this planet and the antichrist was revealed.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8, Paul said that the full power of lawlessness and antichrist would be held in check until that which restrains--the Holy Spirit working in and through the faithful church--is removed.

In Revelation 3:10-11, Jesus promised the faithful church that he would keep them from the hour of trial that would come upon the whole earth.

At least nine promises have been made throughout the course of the New Testament promising believers escape and deliverance before the time of God's judgment, vengeance, and wrath upon the earth and its inhabitants.  Nine times, the Bible makes it explicitly clear judgment is coming, but that believers will be given safety and rest in the presence of God during that time.  In my last post, I mentioned that the Revelation is a linear progression of events.  So if the Rapture of the church must precede the judgment, otherwise known as The Tribulation, it must be placed before such judgment is described in the Revelation.

Revelation Chapter Six tells of Jesus opening a scroll sealed with seven seals.  With the first seal, a spirit of conquest rides forth to conquer the earth.  The second seal releases a spirit of conflict between nations and between people.  The third seal inflicts a spirit of economic crisis.  And the third seal unleashes death and hell upon the population.  Each one of them is granted or given power, authority which can only come from God.

The fifth seal gives voice to the martyrs of Christianity, who cry out for vengeance and are told to wait a little while until their numbers are complete.  They are given white robes of righteousness and told to rest a little while longer.

And when the sixth seal is broken, a great earthquake accompanied by cosmic signs shakes the entire earth so violently that every person on earth cries out to the mountain and rocks, "Hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!  For the great day of His wrath has come!"  They weren't looking forward to an outpouring of God's wrath that was still future; they were experiencing it in the here and now of Revelation Six.  The great day of God's wrath had come.

One more point, and then I'm finished for today.  When John is caught up to heaven in Revelation Four to witness the things which must take place "after this", he sees first the throne shining with the brilliance of God's presence.  And around the throne are twenty-four other thrones occupied by elders wearing white robes of righteousness and golden crowns of reward.  Revelation 5:6 gives them harps of worship and bowls of intercession as well.  I will not attempt to identify the twenty-four elders, except to say that they are representatives of all the Old and New Testament saints, chosen by God to sit around the throne as Jesus said in Matthew 20:23.  And as saints, they have already stood before the judgment seat of Christ.  They have already given account of all the works done in their lifetimes.  And they have already received their rewards--robes, crowns, harps, bowls and thrones.  How can this have happened for John to see it in the Revelation, unless the Rapture had already brought all believers, both the living and the dead, to heaven?

The conclusion then, regarding the timing of the Rapture and its place in the Revelation, is that it will happen in time the same way it happened to John.  The Church Age is now, the Tribulation is coming, but between the two the church will be resurrected and transformed, raptured into heaven to face the judgment seat of Christ, receive their rewards and assignments for the kingdom, worship together around the throne, and participate in that great Marriage Supper of the Lamb before the King of kings directs us to the stables and says, "Mount up, friends!  We're going back."

Rapture: The Secrets of the Open Door, part 2

After these things I looked,

and behold, a door standing open in heaven.

And the first voice which I heard

was like a trumpet speaking with me,

saying, "Come up here,

and I will show you things

which must take place after this.

Immediately I was in the Spirit;

and behold, a throne set in heaven,

and One sat on the throne.

--John, Revelation 4:1-2, NKJV

Jesus said to the faithful church, "I have set before you an open door."  Many have viewed this, and I myself have taught it, as an open door of opportunity and ministry, but the text doesn't exactly bear that out.  It says because of their works, because of their strength, because they kept the word of Christ and did not deny His name, because they kept the command to persevere, because of all those things, they have been given the open door.  Because they have been faithful, they will be delivered from the great trial coming upon the earth.  Because they have been faithful, Jesus is coming quickly to give them a crown of reward and a new name, and to make them permanent fixtures in the presence of God.

So what is the open door?  It is mentioned again in Revelation 4:1, an open door standing in the heavens.  From the vantage point of Patmos, John lifts his eyes upward.  He has been communing with Jesus in worship on the Lord's Day, caught up in the Spirit, and suddenly has a vision of Jesus.  It starts with the sound of the Lord's voice, declaring His identity and His instructions for John to get a pen and write all this down.  John turns there on the beach and sees seven golden menorahs, with Jesus in their midst.  The Glorified Lord is dressed as their great high priest, and in his hand he holds seven stars.  He tells John, "The seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches."

Jesus spoke, and John wrote, and when they had finished the seven letters to the seven churches, John said, "After these things..."

I'd like to point out here that if Revelation is a message about past, present, and future--as indicated when Jesus commanded John, "Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this"--John continually uses phrases that indicate a linear progression of events, one after the other.  His Gospel, his letters, and his testimony about the Isle of Patmos recorded the things that John had seen; in other words, his past.  The letters to the seven churches revealed the things which are, even to this day, in the church of Jesus Christ.  But after this...

John looked up and saw a door standing open in heaven.  Having just heard from Jesus about an open door for the faithful church, I would imagine the imagery was clear.  And as he looked, he heard the first voice again, a loud voice, like a trumpet.  And it said, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."  In an instant, John was "in the Spirit," caught up to heaven and the presence of God.

A loud voice.  A Trumpet.  A catching away.  Does this sound familiar?  Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord."  John got to experience that very thing in an upclose and personal preview of that great day!

And he went to heaven right through the open door!