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#ChurchLeadership #faith #jesus #Messiah #raptureofthechurch #salvation #SecondComingofChrist #SignsOfTheTimes
https://lightforthelastdays.co.uk/articles/the-rapture-second-coming-and-the-millennium/rapture-arguments-the-issues/
https://lightforthelastdays.co.uk/articles/the-rapture-second-coming-and-the-millennium/rapture-arguments-the-issues/
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00:00One has to say that generally church teaching through the ages and particularly in the early church
00:04was that the church would face the Antichrist and must be therefore prepared for tribulation.
00:10This is true then, the church will face the tribulation and will face a time of trouble.
00:15So it should be exercising your mind to think how you're going to cope with a time of trouble.
00:21And some people say that the pre-tribulation view was invented by a man called J.M. Darby in the 19th century
00:26after a dubious prophecy given in a suspect church.
00:31Actually, I don't believe that is the case, but that's what the accusation is.
00:34There are arguments against that, which I haven't time to go into.
00:38And there is a question, who is the Antichrist going to persecute if the church has been removed?
00:44A chap called Joe Shulam made a film called Left Behind or Led Astray
00:48in which he said that those Christians who are looking for the pre-tribulation rapture
00:52when they're left behind will lose their faith
00:55because they'll suddenly find themselves being persecuted by the Antichrist.
01:00Well, that could be a possibility, but I want you to be prepared for both options,
01:07so hopefully that won't happen.
01:09There's also a question that if the post-tribulation view is correct
01:16and we are imminently moving towards it, should we actually be preparing for it?
01:24Actually, if I really believe this, I think I would probably want to move out of London
01:27and go and live somewhere in the countryside and store up a bit of food
01:30and be ready for the time of trouble, which some people in America are doing.
01:33You've got a movement called the Preppers who are getting ready now for the time of trouble,
01:37moving out of the cities, moving into the countryside
01:39and getting themselves ready, even installing ways in which they can survive
01:44in a time of great tribulation.
01:48As I say, basically God wants us to use this time to preach the gospel, not to get up.
01:52And I have no intention of going out of London to prepare for the tribulation.
01:56I'm just going to carry on life preaching the gospel.
01:59But these are some of the issues.
02:01People do claim that the early church would face the tribulation
02:13and that there's no evidence of any pre-tribulation rapture in early Christian writings,
02:17but actually there is.
02:19There are certain writings which were written during this time
02:22which do suggest that there were people who were looking for the coming of the tribulation,
02:27coming of the rapture before the tribulation, particularly a writing man called Ephraim the Syrian.
02:33And I'll read you what he said.
02:35He said,
02:35Behold, the kingdom of heaven is at the doors, ready to flash forth,
02:39but we don't want to hear about these things.
02:42The signs and wonders which the Lord has said about to happen,
02:44the famines, the earthquakes, the terrors, the nations, the upheaval.
02:49The report of these things does not disservice nor the spectacle itself.
02:52Then he says this,
02:53For the elect shall be gathered prior to the tribulation,
02:56so that they shall not see the confusion and great tribulation coming upon the unrighteous world.
03:01The season for harvest is now drawn near.
03:03The end of the age holds forth.
03:06Angels holding sighs are waiting but for the nod.
03:08Let us fear, brethren, for it's the eleventh hour of the day.
03:11That was written in 350 AD.
03:14And the expectation of many Christians was that the Roman Empire would fall,
03:19then the ten kings would rise,
03:20then the Antichrist would come,
03:23and then Jesus would return.
03:25It didn't happen that way,
03:26but you can see what is interesting with this.
03:28He says that the elect will be gathered prior to the tribulation.
03:32They should not see the confusion and great tribulation coming upon the unrighteous world.
03:36So it's not true to say there was never any early church teaching on this subject.
03:40Now, some people say that the pre-tribulation rapture is a kind of soft option
03:48for soft Western Christians who can't face suffering for their faith.
03:52Obviously, many Christians today are suffering for their faith,
03:55and we have to be ready that we may suffer for our faith in this country as well.
04:01And you have a question,
04:03who's going to evangelize the world?
04:05Who's the Antichrist going to persecute if the church has disappeared?
04:08Now, the pre-tribulation answer actually is that the passage in Matthew
04:15can be seen to harmonize with other passages in the Old Testament,
04:18particularly Isaiah 27,
04:21which speaks of a trumpet sounding to gather the remnant of Israel
04:23at the tribulation time.
04:25Also, you could say that at the time of Jesus,
04:39Jewish people were looking for one issue coming of the Messiah,
04:48sorry, he'd come and fulfill all the prophecies in one go.
04:51There was no idea that he would come and then go away,
04:54and there'd be two stages.
04:56So it's possible that we could say that there are reasons to believe
04:59there could be two stages in the second program for the second coming of Jesus.
05:07Now, there are valid criticisms of the pre-tribulation rapture view,
05:10especially when it's used to give Christians the idea
05:14that they will be taken out of the world before any persecution comes their way.
05:18But having looked at all the scriptures,
05:21I do see that it is plausible to believe that the pre-tribulation view is correct,
05:26that there will be a sudden taking away of the believers before the tribulation comes,
05:32and that then the tribulation will come on the earth,
05:34and that then Jesus will come back with the saints,
05:37who have then gone through the,
05:39passed through the judgment seat of Christ,
05:41and will go to the marriage supper of the Lamb,
05:46and will then come back with Jesus at the second coming of Jesus.
05:51That is the program which I see happening,
05:54and on the earth there will then be the revelation of the Antichrist,
05:57the time of trouble,
05:58and the second coming of Jesus to the earth.
06:03Does it matter what you believe about this?
06:06In the end, it doesn't actually matter,
06:08because whatever is going to happen, God's going to have his way.
06:12And all that matters,
06:13part of your faith is concerned that you believe that Jesus died for your sins
06:16and rose from the dead.
06:18If you don't believe in the rapture and suddenly it happens,
06:21well, then you can argue with God on the way up what's happened,
06:25and you can probably come to the conclusion
06:27that God's going to have the last word.
06:30All of this depends totally on the actions of the Lord.
06:34We can't affect any of it, so that's another thing.
06:37The other point is that it hasn't happened yet.
06:41We can be totally dogmatic on the question,
06:46did Jesus die on the cross and rise from the dead?
06:49Either you believe it or you don't believe it.
06:51It's already happened in history.
06:53It's a historical event.
06:55You can believe it or you can disbelieve it.
06:59These events have not yet happened.
07:00So our understanding of them are based on our interpretations of scriptures
07:06concerning things which have not yet happened.
07:09Therefore, you have to hang a bit loose on your conclusions.
07:13We're all fallible.
07:14None of us has got it all right, including myself.
07:18So we have to depend upon God and upon him actually delivering on his word.
07:22Now, having given you all these alternatives,
07:27I can say actually that there are reasons to believe each one of them.
07:32Personally, I think that the first one is the most hopeful one, anyway.
07:36And I think it's plausible.
07:38But I'm not certain.
07:39It's not definite it's going to happen that way.
07:41Therefore, what you should do is be ready for both events.
07:46Certainly you should be ready for Jesus to come at any time.
07:48It also applies to the moment of your death, by the way,
07:52because you don't know when that's going to happen.
07:54So you should be ready at any time to meet with the Lord.
07:57How do you do that?
07:58Well, you repent of your sins.
08:00You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
08:01And you do what you can to live a life which is pleasing to him.
08:06If you really believe what I've told you,
08:08then there should be some emphasis in your life
08:11to try and tell other people about this so that they're ready.
08:16We've got loads of leaflets.
08:18Some booklets, et cetera,
08:19which you can give to people to tell them
08:21about the second coming of Jesus.
08:24If you really believe this,
08:26this is also the only hope which there is for the world.
08:30I have absolutely zero hope
08:32that any of the political or religious leaders
08:34in the world today are going to sort out
08:35the mess which humanity's in.
08:38Unfortunately, the mess that humanity's in
08:39is getting bigger and bigger all the time.
08:42Whether it's the wars,
08:43whether it's the ecological problem,
08:45whether it's the financial and economic problems
08:48which are coming on the world,
08:49nobody has a solution to these problems.
08:52Basically, they can't be solved.
08:54They can't be solved by someone who's greater than we are.
08:57All these problems have come about
08:58because of human sin and human mismanagement
09:00of the planet God gave us to look after.
09:02Also, through the activity of the devil
09:06who has actually come down,
09:09as it says in the scriptures,
09:10with great wrath because he knows his time is short.
09:13And he's very busy out there deceiving people
09:16with all kinds of views and all kinds of ideas
09:19which are not right with God.
09:21And only a minority of people,
09:25even a minority of people who call themselves Christians,
09:29truly understand God's purposes
09:30and truly are saved.
09:33Apparently, there are 1.5 billion Christians in the world.
09:37How many of those are going to heaven?
09:38I think a very small fraction.
09:41And so we have a job to do, actually,
09:43to tell people the truth.
09:45Now, you don't have to tell them all the details
09:46of the rapture and the tribulation.
09:48You do have to tell them the details
09:49that Christ died for our sins,
09:50was buried and rose again from the dead.
09:53So our priority should be to get this message out
09:56which is described in the book of Titus
09:58as the blessed hope of the church.
10:00The only hope of the church
10:05and the only hope of the world.
10:09In Thessalonians, it's described as a comfort
10:12and a help to the believers.
10:15It should be a comfort to you to know
10:16that the answer is not going to be
10:18the world being destroyed.
10:21I remember before I became a Christian.
10:23One of the formative influences on my life
10:26was in 1962 when I was sitting in a classroom
10:29at Bedford School.
10:30And the teacher said we could be on the brink
10:33of the Third World War.
10:35I was actually talking about the Cuban Missile Crisis
10:37when we really were on the brink of a Third World War
10:40and nuclear weapons could have started flying
10:42between Russia and America.
10:45I kind of freaked out at that and thought,
10:47well, what's the point of life?
10:48What's the point of doing anything?
10:49What's the point of studying for my exams
10:50to go to university?
10:51What hope is there for the world?
10:54I wandered around through various philosophies after that,
10:57through Marxism,
10:57through all kinds of new age and other ideas
11:01until in 1970 I picked up this book,
11:04became a Christian,
11:05and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
11:08Having believed in Jesus,
11:09I then had a hope for the future,
11:11which I've had ever since.
11:12Read through the whole of the Bible,
11:14strided that there were three things
11:16which the Bible teaches.
11:17One, that the Bible is the Word of God.
11:19Two, that Jesus is the only way to God.
11:22And three, that we're living in the last days
11:24before Jesus returns.
11:25Never changed my view on any of those.
11:28And now I believe that that is the message
11:30we have to give out to the world.
11:33So if you have different views on the rapture,
11:36don't worry too much about it.
11:39It'll happen in God's time and in God's way.
11:42Above all, don't fall out about it.
11:44And we've had issues even here
11:45where people have taken issue
11:47and they've argued and left the church
11:49because of views on the rapture of the church,
11:52which to my mind is actually
11:54a wrong way to approach it.
11:57There are certain things we can disagree with,
11:59but we must agree on the main points.
12:02One, that Jesus died for our sins
12:03and rose from the dead.
12:04Two, that Jesus is coming again.
12:06And we have to get that message out.
12:09And we have to agree that
12:10there is one way of salvation
12:11through repentance of faith
12:13in the Lord Jesus Christ,
12:14who is the only hope for our world.
12:17And we do see so many signs
12:19of the second coming of Jesus.
12:22Where this war in Iran and Israel is going to go,
12:26I don't know.
12:27I'm trying to write about it
12:28for my next life for last days,
12:29which is difficult
12:30because the situation changes all the time.
12:32But we can be sure that this is
12:34another precursor for the end of days struggle.
12:38The Bible does say in the last days
12:39there's going to be a war against Israel
12:41which will involve Persia and Iran.
12:44How near we are to that?
12:45I don't know.
12:47But we're certainly on the way.
12:48And you can see so many signs
12:50which are pointing us
12:51to the second coming of Jesus.
12:54All this technology stuff,
12:55development of AI,
12:57all fitting in with the possibility
12:58of creating the kind of
13:00mark of the beast system
13:01which you have in Revelation chapter 13.
13:05The ecological problems,
13:07the way in which the earth
13:10is being defiled under its inhabitants.
13:11All these things are described in the Bible
13:14and they're signs of the second coming of Jesus.
13:17So what do we do?
13:20Well, don't panic.
13:23Jesus said,
13:24when you see these things begin to happen,
13:25look up, lift up your heads
13:26because your redemption draws near.
13:29Jesus is coming.
13:30All these things are signs
13:31of the second coming of Jesus.
13:33I've given you some of the,
13:36sort of trying to break down
13:37some of the issues relating to it.
13:41Okay, it's a big subject.
13:42You could go into it for hours
13:43and I'm going to wrap up right now
13:45because I've gone on for long enough.
13:47But believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
13:48and you shall be saved.
13:51Trust in him.
13:52And spread the message.
13:53Get the message out.
13:54I've just put out the whole box full
13:57of the It's Happening Now leaflet
13:59which speaks about the things happening now.
14:03Points us to the second coming of Jesus.
14:06And it also actually advertises
14:08our meetings here
14:10and our prophecy talk
14:12which will take place next Sunday evening
14:14which I'll give you a few more details
14:16on what's going on behind the scenes.
14:18But take these leaflets,
14:19take the booklets,
14:20give them out.
14:21Tell your neighbours,
14:22tell your friends,
14:23tell your family.
14:25Tell them that Jesus is coming.
14:27Even tell the Orthodox Jew down the road
14:28that Jesus is coming.
14:30And he needs to be ready
14:31by believing in Yeshua,
14:33Jesus the Messiah.
14:35Praise the Lord
14:36when you see these things begin to happen.
14:39Look up, lift up your heads.
14:41Your redemption draws near.
14:43Amen.
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