Expert: Marilyn - 7/14/2010

Question
I am a saved born again believer, my partner and I are raising 6 kids together.  I finally came to grips with God still loves me and I'm still saved even tho I love a woman, now I cannot sleep at night thinking about the end time, armageddon, my family murdered by terrorists or muslims (I saw a vid on John of allfath's site). What is really going to happen to the born again believer when the antichrist arises. whats next??? what should we be doing?

Answer
Hello Wendy;

The Apostle Paul wrote about the "rapture" of the church--the snatching away. Two places where he discusses this are: I Corinthians 15:50-58; I Thessalonians 4:13-18. In I Thessalonians 4:18 he wrote, "Therefore encourage each other with these words." The words we are to encourage one another with are the words about the rapture.

In chapter 5 he goes on to discuss how we will not be taken by surprise. Verse 9, "For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." If we are not to suffer wrath and we are to encourage each other with discussions of the rapture, then Paul would seem to be telling us we won't be here when Anti-Christ comes to power, for it is during Anti-Christ's reign that God's wrath will be poured out.

II Thessalonians 2 discusses the rise of Anti-Christ in more detail. Verses 7 & 8, "For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming."

Ok, so who is the one who holds back the secret power of lawlessness? God. Jesus promised He would send the One who will bring comfort and power at Pentecost and what happened when that One came? The Holy Spirit came and the church was born. 3000 were saved on that day. When Peter preached, every person heard in his own language and received Jesus. The church became a force which transformed the world. The church, empowered by the Holy Spirit is the one who holds back the power of lawlessness. Hence, Anti-Christ cannot be revealed until the church is taken out of the way.

Daniel wrote in Daniel 9:24-27 about Christ and Anti-Christ. In verses 26 & 27, "...the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven,' but in the middle of that 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And one who causes desolation will place abominations on the wing of the temple until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."

Christ is Greek for "Anointed One," Messiah in English, Mashiach in Hebrew. Anointing means to be covered over, to be smeared all over with something. In this context, the Anointed One is covered over with the Holy Spirit. He is the One who was "cut off," slain by violent means, with seven years left in the seventy 'sevens' mentioned in verse 24: the seven year tribulation.

At this point, the "prophetic clock" was stopped. This prophecy is for the Jews. The church was a mystery to the Old Testament readers. They didn't see it coming. It is hardly mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament. The "prophetic clock" is stopped to allow for the time of the Gentiles, the church age. When that time is over, the clock will restart. The rapture ends the church as we know it today because we'll be taken out.

The Romans came and destroyed Jerusalem and the second temple in AD 70 just as Jesus predicted they would, Mark 13:1 & 2. The "he" of verse 27 is Anti-Christ. Daniel said "he" would confirm a "covenant with many for one 'seven,'" a seven year deal. But for what purpose? Since temple sacrifices end in the middle of the covenant, part of the deal has to include the rebuilding of the Jewish temple, a third temple, otherwise there could be no sacrifices to stop. (I assume the deal also includes some hollow promises for peace, with maybe some land deals--repeats of previous deals but with the temple thrown in. The temple might be a deal sealer for the Jews and maybe encourage them to do things they might not otherwise agree to.)

An abomination that causes desolation is either a pig sacrificed on the Jewish temple altar (this happened when one of Alexander the Great's generals did this, Daniel predicted that earlier in the book)or to place an idol in the Jewish temple. Revelation tells us that the false prophet who causes the earth to worship Anti-Christ will place a robot idol in the Jewish temple which has the power to zap those who do not worship it, Revelation 13:11-17. The rebuilt Jewish temple is described in Revelation 11. Verse 2 says that the outer courts will be given over to the Gentiles. This could mean that the Muslim Dome of the Rock will stand there.

Jesus said that the end would not come until the Gospel had been preached to the ends of the earth, Matthew 24:14. There remain a few thousand people groups who do not have the Scripture in their own language. This is one sign which has not yet been fulfilled. However, Israel is back in the land, which is fulfillment of one crucial sign. Other fulfilled signs: satellite TV makes it possible for the entire earth to witness any given event; the bio-chip, presently used mostly by exotic animal owners is now available. The bio-chip could be the technology which would allow a cashless society, i.e. centralized control of all monetary transactions as described in Revelation 13 whereby Anti-Christ controls who can purchase anything. If you refuse the mark of the beast, you can't buy or sell, verse 16 & 17.

I'm telling you this so you can watch the horizon. Is there someone out there who could potentially make a deal between the Jews and the Muslims to allow the Jews to rebuild their temple? Peace promises between the Jews and Muslims are a dime a dozen and will amount to nothing--a deal to rebuild the temple, now that should get everyone's attention.

The Jews are presently busy training priests and working on creating the articles needed for their temple. See http://www.templeinstitute.org/ . Presently, American breeders are attempting to bring to life the red heifer whose ashes are needed to ordain the Jewish priests. This is no easy task since the animal may not have any white hairs next to one another, Numbers 19:2.

There are three theories about the rapture. I will add a fourth, which is my personal theory and which I haven't heard elsewhere, maybe it exists elsewhere, but I haven't heard it.

1) the pre-Tribulation rapture, of which I am a believer (in so far as it affects Christians now); I gave the Scriptures backing this view above, but I will add this proof to those: Revelation chapters 1-3 are Jesus analyzing the seven churches. These are churches which existed during John's day and are types of churches which have existed throughout time. Some believe that they also represent churches in chronological order, that is, we may be part of the last church, the church in Laodicea.

But notice, in Revelation 4:1 John says, "After this I looked and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." Ok, the first "after this" refers to after John listened to Jesus analyze the various churches, but the second "after this" refers to the end of the church age indicating the beginning of a new age--the Tribulation. Also, the voice, like a trumpet, says "Come up here." Paul said that when the last trump sounded we would go up to heaven. John, in effect, was experiencing what will happen in the future. He was raptured in the vision and then saw what will happen next.

2) the mid-Tribulation rapture: Revelation 11:15-19, "The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in Heaven, which said, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign for ever and ever."..." The argument is that the "last trump" which Paul mentions is this trumpet, the seventh and last trumpet to sound in Revelation. Another argument used in favor of this theory is the fact that the Israelites suffered most of the plagues inflicted upon Egypt and were spared from only the last few before they were "taken out."

3) the post-Tribulation rapture: Revelation 20:4-6; Jesus said that the wheat and the tares would grow together until the harvest, Matthew 13:24-30; see also John 6:40 & 44. http://www.oasischristianchurch.org/air/019.pdf

4) all of these will occur; all believers alive now and who have died before now are raptured before the Tribulation; new believers are raptured in the middle and more new believers are raptured near the end. Jesus is the Firstfruits of the rapture with harvests occurring one during the mid point of the Tribulation and a final one at the end of the Tribulation.

Some argue that because we are promised that we will have tribulation, John 16:33, we cannot expect to be spared the Great Tribulation. A post-tribulation rapture theory misses the point that we are promised to be spared God's wrath, I Thessalonians 5:9. And the Tribulation is definitely a time of God's wrath. It could be argued that He can spare us here and a rapture is not necessary, the three Hebrew teens Nebuchadnezzar threw into the fiery furnace were protected while in the fire; Daniel was protected while in the lion's den etc.. There is evidence for each of these interpretations in Scripture.

A final theory out there states that all prophecy has already been fulfilled. I haven't studied this theory very much. It puts a lot of spiritual significance on things and discounts physical fulfillment of prophecy, which I think the Bible does not support. God is interested in the material universe, in the our physical bodies and environment. "His eye is on the sparrow..." The Passover was a physical event with spiritual significance, it was not totally spiritual.

Each person must study diligently and pray to the Holy Spirit for revelation. Whatever we believe, we believe it because that's what we have decided to believe. Once we've decided, we will behave accordingly.

The early church believed that the end was coming very soon. This is why they didn't codify the Bible right away and make an effort to create a New Testament until some 300 years after Jesus--they were that sure that He was about to come back. Paul, himself, felt that that way. Jesus opens and closes Revelation by saying, "Behold, I am coming soon," NIV or "quickly," or "suddenly," Revelation 3:11; 22:7. To the human mind 2000 years after this promise was made and still He hasn't returned isn't soon or quickly. I think, more to the point, we must live as if the Lord will return any minute, like warriors, we are on a spiritual battlefield we must not only hold the ground we have now, but take ground for Him.

For more you might read: "Rosh HaShanah and the Messianic Kingdom to Come," by Joseph Good.
You can find the book at: http://hatikva.org/ click on "store," click on "online store," and to the right will be a link labeled: "Rosh HaShanah and the Messianic Kingdom to Come." I think this new copy right from the source is cheaper than a used copy from Amazon. This book is very informative.

What every believer should be doing is exactly what he should be doing all the time: walk in love, read the Bible, pray and witness about Jesus to everyone. Win souls for Christ so that as many as possible will avoid the Tribulation. Essentially, live by Jesus command: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.

Remember, Peter did just fine as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus. It was only when he noticed the storm that he could no longer walk on the water and he began to sink. Just like Peter, we need to have the nerve to keep our eyes on Jesus and do as He bids and just like Jesus, we need to keep our eyes on God not counting the cost. If we will do these things, we will bring glory to God and He will guide our steps.

God promises us many wonderful things in this life, but He has not promised us we will be protected from persecution for His sake. If you are to be persecuted for His sake, then He will give you the strength to endure it and it will bring Him glory.  

Sincerely,

Marilyn