Peace and grace to you in Jesus name.
SPECIAL NOTE TO MY READERS:
I have been off line since 11-3-11. Family emergencies arose on that very day which was the original date that this article was to be published. My wife received a phone call indicating that her Grandfather has suffered a massive stroke. We left our home and ministry immediately and during the next two months both her Grandfather and her Grandmother passed into the arms of Jesus Christ. A mixed blessing to be sure! Grief on the one hand and joy (of salvation) on the other.
Brandy's Grandpa Max & Grandma Alyce Kinnard
Obviously this was a difficult time for our family. Of course ALL human families go through this at some point. I know many of you have had to deal with the recent passing of loved ones and so you will understand why I have not been able to maintain my normal publishing schedule. We are however back to work and you will begin to see several more articles coming out soon. The one you are about to read will begin a series regarding the end times and what I believe we may possibly expect to see during the next few months or most certainly the next year---on an increasingly dangerous world stage.
In the meanwhile, the power of the internet continues to amaze me. While I have been gone we have continued to see new readers some of whom live in countries like Syria, Sweden, Lithuania, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Thank you one and all for forwarding the link to these articles to your friends and relatives. Now to continue the article I began over two months ago!
FACT or FICTION?
Is all this end times doom and gloom rhetoric justified or is it simply the result of human fear and paranoia? Can a solid Biblical case be made for the study of prophetic utterance or are we just wasting our time by doing so?
Today we are going to take a look at that subject. I think if you have not previously been a student of Biblical prophecy, you might end up being surprised at exactly what the Lord has revealed to us for what might just be our immediate future here on earth.
There are of course detractors, many within the church who state categorically that it is a waste of time to read and study Biblical prophecy. Personally I believe it is necessary to study the ENTIRE counsel of God. In other words, study the entire Bible, not JUST prophecy. My contention however is that there is simply no greater faith builder than to see what God spoke through His Holy prophets eons ago and then to realize that these Godly prophecies of future events were fulfilled TO THE EXACT LETTER hundreds of years later.
First, it may help to understand that depending upon the scholar you are reading, the estimates are that at least 40-45% of the entire Bible is prophetic in nature. That means that a HUGE portion of what God has to say deals with future events.
My ministry hosted an event recently. During that meeting one of the attending ladies said she read somewhere that ALL of Biblical prophecy had already been fulfilled except the second coming of Christ. She was surprised in the extreme when I began to outline all the future events that have been foretold---BEFORE the second coming of the Lord to this earth.
The Biblical book of AMOS which was penned in the 8th century B.C., looks forward in time as the Lord states through His Holy prophet in chapter 3 verse 7 "Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets".
Clearly the entire tone of scripture is one in which God has no desire for His people to be surprised about future events. Much later in time, during the beginning of the first century A.D., Jesus Himself weighs in on this very subject; The famous scene is just after Jesus was resurrected from the grave and is walking with two men on the road to Emmaus. Both men were His disciples but honestly thought Him dead and in the grave.
I can imagine that if it were me in that position, I might have a difficult time grappling with the man walking with me who resembled He whom I knew for a fact was slain. During that conversation, unlike Amos who was looking forward in time, Jesus looked backward. In verses 25-27, Jesus took them gently to task as He states "O foolish ones, and slow of heart not to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself".
Not only has God thoroughly advised us IN ADVANCE about future events but also explained about His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ from the very beginning of the Bible.
The subject of the Biblical prophets and prophecy in it's various forms are mentioned in scripture (according to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance), 881 times. It is estimated by some teachers that Jesus Himself completed over 300 prophecies at His first coming. Just shy of 90 prophecies are in the process of being fulfilled right now in the return of the Jewish people to Israel. Several were also completed with the rebirth of Israel as a nation on May 14th, 1948.
I would frankly have to write 50 articles to even slightly approach the number of prophecies that must still be fulfilled prior to the second coming of Christ. In fact the ONLY event that needs no prior prophetic fulfillment is the upcoming Rapture of the church which will include both Jew and Gentile who have sincerely repented for their sins and placed their faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel.
SPECIAL NOTE: The term GENTILE refers to all non-Jewish people on this earth. In other words, SALVATION, THE RAPTURE, AN ETERNITY IN HEAVEN, A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SON OF GOD---JESUS CHRIST, can he had as a free gift for any human being. That includes Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Atheists, Deists, backslidden Christians or any other human being who repents and places their true faith in Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God.
The rapture is an exhaustive subject matter all by itself and better left to another day. But before moving on, please allow me to mention that all this endless bickering over THE TIMING of the rapture is a fruitless endeavor. I have my opinion and as I have stated in prior articles it is based upon a pre-tribulational rapture. Friends of mine who are also in the ministry believe otherwise. What we do NOT allow this subject to do is separate us in fellowship. As a very wise man once said, perhaps it is best to be a "PAN TRIBER"! In other words, no matter what my personal opinion is, God will make it all "PAN OUT" in the end.
Now, regarding Biblical prophecy, it is nearly impossible in my opinion not to know that we are in a very desperate time and season that is tracking as straight as an arrow toward a climax of history as we know it. Jesus was extremely upset in the first century at the religious elite---men who were supposed to know the Word of God thoroughly. The specific reason He was upset at them was because they could not recognize the "signs of the times" that were obviously all around them.
Here we are 2,000 years later and many, many people of God are making exactly the same mistake that was made back then. We see all this unprecedented turmoil in the world of our day but somehow cannot (or perhaps are not willing?) to face Biblical facts as it relates to today's news.
I want to file a disclaimer here! I do not believe in date setting for any future Biblical event. But at the same time, I also do not want to be blindsided as these prophesied events come to pass.
I have found that in many cases people just do not want to hear about unpleasant future events even though they most certainly will eventually occur. No one likes bad news and frankly much of Biblical prophecy is exactly that. It is called the "OSTRICH EFFECT" ! "I don't want to have to deal with bad stuff so I will just hide my head in the sand until it all goes away". The problem with that way of thinking is obvious. No matter what we want or do---no matter how much we pray to the contrary, Bible prophecy cannot be changed. It is going to happen.
The problem lies in our understanding of prophecy. Naturally there are going to be differing opinions just like there are about the timing of the rapture. I always recommend that folks reading or studying Biblical prophecy, CHECK WHAT THEY ARE READING with the ultimate source---the Bible itself.
So, who do we believe as we read all these various prophetic writers? No matter what I (or anyone else) writes it is your responsibility to confirm what you are told by a study of scripture. That is your only safeguard. I do recommend that you stick to reading authors who are BIBLICAL LITERALISTS. In other words, if a writer allegorizes scripture then he or she really has no firm foundation upon which to rest an opinion. The Bible is true in every sense and when intelligent people discuss scripture from that perspective, a far better dialogue can be the result.
For those who still think that study of Biblical prophecy is a waste of time, please allow me to quote from an expert; his name is PETER, that's right, "THE PETER", the apostle chosen as 1 of 12 men who, through their teachings changed the entire course and path of mankind for the past two thousand years. The very flesh and blood men who themselves walked personally with Jesus Christ.
Peter spoke explicitly about the subject of Biblical prophecy; 2 Peter 1:19-21 "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the MORNING STAR rises in your hearts; Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit".
Peter spoke these words in A.D. 66. The earlier quote by the prophet Amos was spoken in the 8th century BC. Nothing in all these long years has changed.
God does not want His people caught by surprise. He has told us clearly what will happen in the future all the way up to and including the Battle of Armageddon. Actually even further than that. We can read scripture and see into the future all the way through the 1000 year millennial reign of Christ on this earth.
Of course there will always be arguments over the order in which these things will occur. However, the actual order is not as significant as the fact that they WILL HAPPEN in the course of time. In the coming weeks I will break these events down by scriptural reference and give my rational for coming to these conclusions. As always you are free to agree or disagree with my conclusions but if in the process your curiosity is piqued to study these things for yourself then I have accomplished my purpose.
Beginning in the next article I am going to give a rough outline of what I see happening in the run up to the second coming of Christ. REMEMBER---date setting not allowed. However I do maintain that a prophetic time clock began ticking once again on May 14, 1948 when Israel returned from the ash heap of history and became a nation once more!
The name of the article you are now reading is "FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE ARE APPROACHING"! In the book of Revelation, the first 3 chapters includes an introduction by the Apostle John who immediately tells us that the revelation itself is directly from the lips of Jesus Christ. Chapters 1 through 3 are messages from Christ to the 7 church types. We know from historical study that these specific churches physically existed at the time that John was still alive. Many scholars also believe that these 7 church types---and the admonitions given by the Lord to them, also represent the church down through the corridors of history plus the church as it exists today going into the final days of time as we know it.
Chapter 4 of Revelation depicts a scene in which John is drawn into heaven and shown all that is written in Revelation and instructed to write it in a record for future generations. That record today is still in our everyday Bibles and is called "THE BOOK OF REVELATION"!
A side note here: Most people who believe in a pre-tribulational rapture of the church, hold that the rapture happens at the very beginning of chapter 4.
Chapter 5 is extremely significant because we see revealed, the Lamb of God, slain from the very foundation of the earth---Jesus Christ the Lord of Lords and the king of kings. He is the only one found in heaven or on the earth or under the earth who is found worthy to open the scroll held in the right hand of He who is seated on the heavenly throne. That imposing figure is God the Father Himself.
This scroll is written on the inside and the back and is sealed with 7 seals. As we read through the book of Revelation we see that these seals represent judgements that will soon be released upon the earth by Jesus Christ. They are represented in ever increasing intensity as 1). The "SEAL JUDGEMENTS" 2). The "TRUMPET JUDGEMENTS" 3). The "BOWL JUDGEMENTS".
The entire purpose for these judgements being poured out upon the earth and it's population is to cause them to repent for their sins and accept the Messiah of Israel---Jesus Christ (Hebrew-Yeshua HaMashiach) as Lord. This purpose is directed to both Jew and gentile alike. But elsewhere in scripture (Jeremiah 30:7) God narrows the scope and purpose of the tribulation years. He tells us that this is "the time of Jacob's trouble". So, we know that the primary reason for this catastrophic time period is God's desire after these long centuries, to once and for all time, refine Israel and the Jewish people as His chosen ones.
Remember that (in my opinion) the rapture of the church has already happened. However scripture certainly seems to indicate that many, many people will be brought to Christ during the tribulation years, a very great number of whom will pay the ultimate price for their new faith at the hands of the infamous antichrist.
From the beginning of chapter 6, the time frame known as both the"70th week of the prophet Daniel" and "the 7 years of tribulation" begins. Now we see emerging those famous arch enemies of mankind, the "FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE"!
Of course this book also speaks of others like the false prophet, the antichrist, the two witnesses, the 144,000 Jews and much later, at the conclusion of the book, the BRIDE OF CHRIST. This last group are all people who have repented for their sins and embraced Jesus Christ as Lord---both Jew and gentile, that were earlier (the beginning of chapter 4) taken up in the rapture.
Now for the really bad news: At least it is really bad for those that missed the rapture!!! The first (white) horseman released upon the earth by the Lamb of God is none other than the ANTICHRIST himself. The second (red) horseman released is WAR. The third (black) horseman released is FAMINE. The last (pale) horseman released is DEATH AND HADES FOLLOWED HIM.
I have heard some Bible scholars expostulate that the first 3 1/2 years of tribulation are a relative time of peace on earth. REALLY??? Well, when the 4th horseman is released, he is given power over a fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. If that is a time of relative peace my friends I do not want any part of it!
At todays roughly 7 BILLION worldwide population figure, that means that nearly 1.75 BILLION people will perish, and that is only in the first 8 paragraphs of the 6th chapter. The entire book of Revelation is 22 chapters in length.
I am not telling you these things as some kind of evangelistic scare tactic. This stuff is very real and in my opinion is rapidly approaching. Perhaps it is a good time for you to examine your own faith and ask yourself a serious question? "IF THE LORD CAME BACK TODAY FOR HIS PEOPLE, AM I READY TO BE COUNTED AS ONE OF HIS OWN"?
In the next article, I will lay out a rough order of things to come and give you a simple explanation (always based upon scripture) of why I believe that way. Then as always, I will encourage you to study the scriptures for yourself.
In the meanwhile may I suggest that if you are not absolutely certain of your relationship with Christ that you bone up on Romans chapter 10 verses 9-10. Those scriptures coupled with sincere repentance for sin are the ONLY way to receive the free gift of God that is called SALVATION and guarantees you a pass directly to eternity with your Creator in heaven.
Until next week,
May the Lord of Glory richly bless you with every spiritual gift in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Pastor Rance.
