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Sundie Morning Sistas Magazine
End Time Revelation
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wo years, five years, or 100 years. These are just a few estimates in the prophecies of individuals from all over regarding when our Lord and Savior will appear in the clouds to rapture his beloved bride, the church. There are too many religious doctrines and belief systems within Christendom to number, and each one believes they are the true church and the ones to be raptured, and the rest of us will be left behind. Given the condition of the world today, and the notorious dysfunction and power-hungry structures within many religions, the notion that any one of them can claim dibs on such an awesomely important and spiritual event is not believable.
The church that Jesus Christ will rapture are individuals from varied walks of life that have a heart and hunger to please God. He said in Matthew 5:8(NLT), “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.” So, the condition that meets God’s requirement is that of a pure heart. This is what is most important to our Heavenly Father. He said in Jeremiah 17:10(ESV), “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” He also warns us in Proverbs 4:23 to guard our hearts, for out of them come the issues of life. And to cement the importance of the quality of a person’s heart to Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ said in Romans 10:10(ESV), “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
God’s eyes are continually upon our hearts because they tell Him what we value most. They tell Him if we’ve prioritized our relationship with Him in the number one spot. There are many people that have been on this Christian journey for a long time, yet they do not have a heart for God. They don’t love Him the way He deserves, and their eternal lives are in jeopardy. Although we don’t know when our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will appear, we know that something in the earth has changed, and time is out for being insincere and laxed about our relationship with God. He has been extremely patient with us, but His weeding out process has begun.
This issue of the Sundie Morning Sistas Magazine is entitled “End Time Revelation”. We pray that it will be a wakeup call for many that have been on the sidelines and neglected their relationship with our Heavenly Father. For those who have a heart that is strong towards God, we pray it will be encouragement to remain ready and eager to please Him so that on that glorious day, you will not be disappointed. You will hear the Words of our King, Jesus Christ, exclaiming, “Well done, my good and faithful servant, well done!”
Lovingly In Christ,
Reverend Fran Mack, President and Founder, SMS
PS: Thank you for your continued prayers and support!
"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."
Romans 8:37(NKJV)
s we move about our lives from day to day, it might seem to us that the events and encounters of life are random, but that simply isn’t the case. There’s nothing random about our God or the way He has ordained everything in the universe to work. Nothing is by happenstance. He has made sure that there’s a reason for everything under the sun. Proverbs 16:4(NLT) affirms, “The LORD has made everything for its purpose.” And Ecclesiastes 3:1(NLT) tells us, “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” No detail escapes our Heavenly Father, and He knows everything there is to know. God has a plan, and He has brilliantly woven it together and included us in it. Although many people are not paying attention, everything that is happening in our world today is revealing His sequence for end-time events, and there’s no stopping them. God’s plan is coming together. His Will is moving forward, and the time is long past for tiptoeing around the truth.
There are as many schools of thoughts and speculations about end-time events as there are religions. There have been a slew of predictions, commentaries, books, and theories about this subject, and many people have grown skeptical of
end time prophecy because of them. It’s not too much of a stretch to say that most people don’t believe there’s an end time. They believe humanity will continue as it has been and will gradually evolve as intelligence and technology advance. Even within Christianity there are those that believe the Great Tribulation period occurred over two thousand years ago, and that no such future event like it will happen again. These varying opinions can be confusing, but 1Corinthians 14:33 tells us that God is not the author of confusion. His Spirit of Truth will always set us straight. Many of the individuals talking about end time events are not filled with the Holy Spirit, or do not know him intimately. The wisdom of 1John 4:1 (KJV) warns, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” The reality is that true disciples of Jesus Christ who walk by the Spirit never have to be in the dark about God’s prophecy for end time events. Jesus Christ said in John 8:32(NLT), “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Believers with a heart for God believe His Word, and His Spirit abides within us and will testify of the truth.
“In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
2Corinthians 4:4(ESV)
God’s Word is the truth! However, we live in a society that doesn’t believe it. People are so divided and polluted with darkness that every person has a different version of reality. That shouldn’t be the case with spirit-filled believers. Contrary to what the world would have us to believe, it is not possible to change the narrative of the truth. The truth is infallible, and it cannot fail. Through the Apostle Paul, God tells us in Hebrews 4:12(NLT) “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” The truth of God’s Word is a monument for living. All else will fall away, but God’s Word stands forever.
John 16:13(NLT) declares, “13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.” The Holy Spirit is a gift to us from God, and when we give our lives to Christ, the Spirit comes to live inside us. Jesus Christ tells us in John 16:13 that the Spirit will guide us into ALL truth; ALL means all. He will tell us what he’s heard from Jesus Christ, and he will both inform and warn us about what will happen in the future. The Holy Spirit is continually communicating with us, but too many of God’s people are so preoccupied with what is going on in the world that we can’t hear his voice. Given the severity of the times we’re currently living in, we need to change this and do so as quickly as possible.
In Acts 2:17(NLT), God’s prophecy from the Old Testament, in Joel 2:28, is repeated. This verse in Acts tells us, “In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.” We are indeed living in the last days. The
Old Testament speaks of the end of time and the New Testament unfolds the mystery of God’s plan and our part in it. As the evil, confusion, and darkness of our world worsens, we are not to be afraid, but to keep our eyes stayed on our Heavenly Father. We’re to deepen the intimacy in our relationship with Him through reading and studying His Word, so that we are strengthened and fortified through His truth.
Even the most ardent skeptic can’t deny that something significant has changed, and people are different. There’s an acceleration taking place, and God is pouring out revelation to many believers through visions and dreams. He is revealing what is to come. Regarding the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ, Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:36(NLT), “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself.” We don’t know God’s timing concerning end time events, but we know the end of the age will come because God has told us this in His Word.
Jesus also said in Matthew 24:44(NLT), “You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.” Our Lord and Savior has instructed us to be ready and to stay ready for his return. There are many people that are doing wonderful things to preserve the planet and to help others, yet they do not love their Creator. 1Corinthians 13:2 tells us that we can do lots of good works and even know God’s secret plans, but if a love for God through Jesus Christ is not anchored in our hearts, those things will not matter. Jesus Christ is coming back for a people that are sold-out in their love for our Most Holy and AllPowerful God. We must have a heart that is fully persuaded in faith in our Heavenly Father, and we must love Him with all that we are. This kind of heart keeps us prepared for whatever comes in the future, because God will reward our faithfulness to Him as we keep watch for our Lord’s return.■
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Thank you for helping us strive for excellence for the Kingdom of God.
o one knows the day or the hour when our Lord and Savior will appear in the clouds and that great trumpet will sound, but many have a sense that we're getting close. There’s no doubt that technological and intellectual advances are unprecedented, and that those living 50 years ago could not have imagined the gains the human race has made, but the level of gratitude to God for those gains are low to none. It seems that the more advanced we become, the further we travel from God. Violence, hatred, racism and all the isms, are as prominent today as they ever were, if not more so. Even believers are preoccupied with worldly things and our hearts are far from God. The level of rejection, rebellion, neglect, and denial among some believers and the world is shocking, and one can't help but ask, "Is there anything that will cause people to wake up?”
Many believe that the answer to that question is that “only a miraculous event of epic proportions can shake things up and cause people to come to their senses.” But will it be too late? That's the question that should occupy the minds of all who know Jesus Christ but have family and friends who don't.
Our loving and merciful Heavenly Father has been so patient with us. Mocking Him, His Son, and all that is Holy and pure is commonplace on all forms of media. For many who do not hold the things of
God sacred, and even for some who do, worship has been labeled as amusement and fodder for jokes. We must know that this is the enemy's plan in full effect. It's to blind the masses to the Greatness of our God and to separate His sheep from their Shepherd. Oddly enough, you don't hear many in leadership positions calling this out. Instead, there's a kind of denial taking place among many Christian leaders, and in many ways, they are not preparing the bride for the Bridegroom's return.
There are many individuals walking around in a haze of sadness, confusion, and chaos, and no one is giving it a name. It is the tone deafness that one has when their spirits have gotten the message, but there's too much going on in their souls to hear it. Jesus Christ said in Luke 17:26-30(NLT), “26 When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. 27 In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 “And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business— eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building—29 until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed."
“The Heart God Requires”
It is indeed the calm before the storm. We're trying our best to be in business-as-usual mode, but nothing about our current day is normal. The time for this way of thinking has passed and only a small few realize it. Many of us have been on this Christian journey a long time, but there's no distinctive difference between us and the world. We get angry, complain about everything, and have a bad attitude just like those who don't know Jesus. We're constantly talking about the good old days and trying to go back there, when God is continually moving forward. His Word is available in just about every form of media there is. For most, it is as close as our fingertips, and we can read it any time we choose, but we’re not reading and studying it as our Heavenly Father commands. He’s pouring out an abundance of fresh and life-changing revelation, probably more in our time than any other, yet we're trying to go back to a time when we didn't know even a fraction of what we know today about God.
t is indeed time to wake up. We need to open our eyes to the love that our God has for us and cling to Him as we never have before. God is not unfeeling as some have supposed. He has a heart, and He revealed His heart to us when He sent His only begotten Son to the earth to give his life as a sacrifice for our sins. 1John 4:10(NLT) says, “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” Our Heavenly Father loves us in many ways, and some are infinitely above our understanding. Even so, He has created our human minds to comprehend the immeasurable quality and depth of His love. He has fashioned our hearts so that His love connects us with Him and with others in the most profound way.
1Peter 5:7(NLT) encourages us to, “Give all
your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” Our Heavenly Father’s heart is filled with love for us, and He cares about the things we go through down here during this earth experience. With every hardship and demonic plot against us, God redeems what the devil meant for our bad and uses it for our good. Our Heavenly Father reminds us that He sent His Son to reign over our lives, so that we will not succumb to fear, but instead, we will mount up with faith so we can grow closer to Him. He wants us to genuinely trust Him because our trust in God demonstrates our love for Him.
In Ezekiel 36:26(NLT), God told His people, “And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.” Those He had chosen to be His very own people had developed a stony heart, a heart that was hard and rebellious against Him. He promised to give them a tender heart that would be responsive to
Him and His goodness. God wanted His people to have a tender and responsive heart because that is the kind of heart that He has. Through the years, many people have attributed the atrocities and tragedies of the world to the hand of God. They do this still today, and this kind of thinking is its own tragedy. God doesn’t punish or cause bad things to happen. He is in the business of blessing us, and this truth must be firmly etched in our hearts and minds.
2Corinthians 9:7 tells us that God loves a cheerful giver, and He does so because He is a cheerful Giver. He loves to lavish His love on us, and He wants us to be conduits of His love and lavish it on others. If this isn’t the portrait of God that we have in our heads, we need to deal with the areas of our believing that hinder our relationship with Him.
Jesus Christ said in Matthew 6:24 (NLT), “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other.” He’s teaching us two very important lessons in this verse. First is the one regarding our love capacity as human beings. We have the ability and capacity to be deeply devoted. The second lesson schools us about the way God has wired us. As human beings, we do not have the ability and capacity to be deeply devoted to more than one passion. Jesus clarifies in
this verse how God has designed our minds and hearts to function. He tells us that we cannot love God supremely and love something or someone else supremely. We must choose who is going to be the passion of our hearts, minds, and souls.
1John 4:18(NIV) affirms, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” Our minds are logical. They were created by God to discern and catalog so that information can be understood, processed, and stored. Our minds will not process that God is good all the time while simultaneously processing that He punishes us. Those are two masters, goodness and punishment, faith and fear. We can’t serve both. Fear has to do with punishment. So, if a person is continually anxious and fearful that God is going to put the hammer down on them, that person is not made perfect in God’s love. Love is not punitive. God’s love is perfect, and it expels fear, because fear is punishment. Therefore, God’s doesn’t punish us, He loves us, and He is always in our corners, rooting for us to be champions of, with, by, and through His love.
ur hearts must be responsive to God through faith and gratitude, for this is the culture of heaven, and as citizens of God’s Kingdom, it must be our culture as well. God created us to be like Him. Genesis 1:26-27(NLT) says, “26 Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground." 27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” The student is not greater than the teacher, and we must remember this. We can become so highminded in our interests, pursuits, and even empathy, that we think the good that human beings do is greater than the goodness of our God. It simply isn’t possible. God is good ALL the time, and all the time God is good. This is without exception.
In some cases, our teachers, role models, and influencers have led us away from God’s heart. We’ve found ourselves tossed about with their doctrines, and now our believing is shallow and aloof. “I believe in God, but I don’t know about Jesus Christ.” Or “I believe in God, but I like my life the way it is. I don’t want to make that commitment now.” These, or some derivative thereof, are the kinds of statements that people make because they are not sure who God is. They don’t know and don’t care about His requirements, and they think they have all the time in the world to make their way to Him. Our Heavenly Father isn’t in the business of scaring people towards His love. He’s given us free-will choice. We can either choose to walk in His love, or not, but the consequences are the issue. They are a matter of
life or death.
Through this earth experience, we are literally affirming who we believe we are by the choices we make. God told His people in Deuteronomy 30:19-20(NLT), “19 Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! 20 You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." God doesn’t force us to love Him, but we must never forget that He’s the One that created everything, owns everything, and knows everything. Had He wanted to, we could have been wiped away to such a degree that not even the faintest memory of our existence would be left, but that isn’t who God is. He is a God of love and He limits Himself according to His love. When we have a heart for God, we will choose to give Him back what He so freely has given us, and to do so according to the requirements of His Word. We will make decisions and choices that represent the love of Christ and demonstrate to others that we love God and are called according to His purpose. So, to choose God’s love is to choose life—eternal life in Christ. John 3:16(NLT) tells us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” God loved us so much that He gave us His only begotten Son, and our whole lives should be harmonized to faith and gratitude for what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. There should be a song in our hearts continually about His goodness and the reality that we are saved from death and darkness for all eternity.
A wavering faith and a stagnant and iffy sense of gratitude is not what our glorious Heavenly Father deserves. This is not the heart that God is looking for. 2Chronicles 16:9(NLT) says, “The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." God blesses those whose hearts are fully committed to Him, and He knows exactly who those individuals are. He knows their hearts and whether they truly love Him and desire to be close to Him. Everywhere you go in the world, people are looking for something real. One of the reasons for this is because it’s increasingly hard to find something real in the hearts of many individuals. We must know that God is looking for something real too. He’s looking to see a heart filled with real love for Him and genuine faith in Him. Jesus Christ gave up his life for us, his church, so that we could have the kind of heart that God wants to see in us.
Ephesians 5:27(NLT) says he sacrificed his life for our sins, and “He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.”
This is the real deal, the heart that God requires. We no longer have time to deny God’s requirements. Not only must our houses be in order, but we must make it our life’s mission to teach our families and loved ones about Jesus Christ, so that they can live in him too. 1Thessalonians 4:16-18 (NLT) tells us, “16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.” God has promised that our Lord and Savior will return to rapture us together in the clouds. Let’s pray that we and all those we love will have the heart that God requires and that we will all be raptured together in Christ. ■
salm 144:7-10(NLT), the psalmist, King David wrote, “7 Reach down from heaven and rescue me; rescue me from deep waters, from the power of my enemies. 8 Their mouths are full of lies; they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead. 9 I will sing a new song to you, O God! I will sing your praises with a ten-stringed harp. 10
For you grant victory to kings! You rescued your servant David from the fatal sword.” This passage was written after David had risen to assume the throne as king over the nation of Israel. He had lots of enemies and recognized that God was his rescue and made this plea in Psalm 144:7-10 for help. In our times of trouble, this is what we must do as well.
“6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.”
Philippians 4:6-7(NLT)
We have nothing like the responsibilities and trouble that King David had, but God is willing and able to help us with any obstacles and tribulations we face. Many of us are suffering mentally and emotionally from the pressures of life, and sometimes we feel that God is far from us, but this is not true. Psalm 145:18(ESV) tells us, “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” Our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to sacrifice his life for our sins. He wants to help us, and He instructs us in Philippians 4:6-7(NLT), “6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about every-
thing. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.” God tells us in Philippians 4:6 not to worry about anything, and this is what many of us do. We worry about the situations that diminish our peace and well-being, but God offers us the very best way of handling troubles and problems. He tells us to pray to Him about everything, and everything means we are to take before God all things, without exception, that are pertaining to our lives. We must also have faith that God hears us and that He is willing and able to help us.
Hebrews 11:6(NLT) says, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” Anyone that comes to our Heavenly Father for help must believe that He rewards us, but we must be diligent to pursue Him in the way that He requires. Diligence is a careful, steady, and devoted undertaking or pursuit. It means that when we pray, we really mean it. So, our prayers should not be one and done. We should view prayer to God as meaningful and consistent communication with Heavenly Father. It’s one of the important ways that causes our relationship with Him to grow in intimacy, and this is what He wants.
Our diligence in the practice of prayer must also acknowledge God’s sovereignty, love, and power. Jesus Christ tells us in John 4:24(NLT), "For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” God must be worshiped in spirit and in truth. Worshiping in spirit
means that we are not concerned with outside realities of places and looking a certain way, but we are recognizing the spiritual realities of Jesus Christ. We recognize that his sacrifice and resurrection has made it possible for us to be children who totally lean on our Heavenly Father for everything. Worshiping in truth means honoring the truth of who God is. He tells us in Revelation 1:8(NLT), “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.” There is no one in all eternity that will compare to our Heavenly Father. He is all-powerful and allknowing. Everything about Him is overflowing with love, truth, and perfection, and in like manner, His Word is overflowing with love, truth, and perfection. Understanding this about God and His Word will help us embrace the appropriate attitude of prayer.
ur Heavenly Father is a happy God, happier than our human emotions can express. All of creation speaks of His handiwork, and everything pure and excellent joins together in perfect harmony to sing His praises. He is magnificent in every way, and full of glory, love, and power. He is as happy as happy can be, and He wants us to be that way too. 1John 4:16(ESV) says, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” Our Heavenly Father is love—love is who He is, and it is impossible for love to ever be separated from who God is. His heart’s desire is for us, His created masterpiece, to dwell in His love and be perfectly at home in it. He created us for the expressed purpose of being and sharing His love, and not only this, He gave us free-will. So, we get to choose love every time, the same way that Christ did, but you and I must want to do this. We must accept God’s love deep in our hearts. This is accomplished when we accept the gift of salvation that God has made available to us through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:3(NLT) tells us, “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” Our Heavenly Father informs us in this verse that nothing has been spared when it comes to our victory in Christ. He has blessed us with every (all without exception) spiritual blessing, so we are complete in every way in Christ Jesus because we are united with him. This is what God accomplished by giving Jesus Christ to the world as a sacrifice for our sins. We lack nothing because of Christ. Again, no good thing has been spared. God loves us unconditionally and without limits; He desires that we live every day in the truth of this reality.
God didn’t want robots. He wanted a family and we’re it! He will not force anyone to come to Him, because His love never forces or shoves. God lovingly guides us when we allow Him to do so. Adam, the first man, and his wife, Eve, communed with God daily as He delighted in them and they delighted in Him. He gave them free-will, and they chose to use it to sin against God by doing the one thing He told them not to do.
Heavenly Father made it clear to Adam that he could
freely eat the fruit of every tree in the Garden of Eden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That tree was forbidden, and in Genesis 2:17(NLT), God said, “If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” Adam and his wife, Eve, used their freewill choice to go against the Word that God had given them. They listened to satan’s lies and bowed to him by making the choice to act upon those lies. There are no words to define how tragic their mistake was.
“30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.”
n Exodus 3:9-10(NLT), God told Moses, “9Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. 10 Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.” Moses was handpicked by God for a big task. During his beginning years, Moses had become intimately familiar with Pharaoh and the Egyptians, because he had been raised by Pharaoh’s daughter who had adopted him as her own. Having some idea of what he’d be up against, Moses protested when he heard God’s command. He said in Exodus 3:11(NLT), “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” That a person would have the audacity to protest a direct command of the One True Living God is unthinkable. Our Heavenly Father could have wiped Moses from the face of the earth. He could have done so in such a way that no one would ever remember Moses’s name, but God is merciful. In Exodus 3:12(NLT), He answered Moses, “I will be with you.” Moses had some insecurities, and we can see that they were pretty dug in. Even though our allpowerful, all-knowing God called him to carry out this task, Moses lacked confidence because of his speech impediment. He didn’t believe he could get this done, but God knew that he could. Our Heavenly Father didn’t force Moses any more than He forces us. God has placed a call on our lives, and He leaves it up to us to accept and fulfill it or to refuse to carry it forth.
Every believer is called by God. 2Timothy 1:9 (NLT) tells us, “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.”
Whether or not we believe it, God’s call is the greatest privilege of our lives, and this is the way we must view it. He has called us to live holy, and He has chosen us to achieve His purpose. Romans 8:28-30(NLT) declares:
Romans 8:30(NLT)
“28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.”
Romans 8:28 makes it clear that we are called according to God’s purpose for us, and as we pursue His purpose and carry it out, He causes all things to work together for our good. It’s a mistake to assume we can have the benefits of this promise without fulfilling its condition. We are here on this earth to get some things done for our Heavenly Father’s Kingdom. Not only has He called us, but He has equipped us with everything we need to fulfill the call. Moses was adopted because of the measures his mother had taken to save his life. God positioned Moses to see and know the things that would strengthen and help him from his youth to carry forth God’s purpose as a grown man. From the very beginning of his life, God qualified him to fulfill his purpose, and our Heavenly Father has done the same for us.
Being a Christian is a call, and we know that it isn’t always easy. There are obstacles sent by the enemy and there are people who seek to hinder us in life simply because we represent Christ. We must not be deterred. When God says go, we must go, and do so with a fully persuaded and sold out faith that He is going to back our every step. We must always be motivated by the Words of our Master Jesus in Matthew 25:23(NLT), “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let's celebrate together!” We’re praying for big things, so let’s be faithful in the small things and show our precious Savior that we are ready to go and prepared for all that God has in store.■
“13And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life agai n, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.”
1THESSALONIANS 4:13-14 (NLT)
he scriptures point to the Rapture, the sudden catching away of all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to heaven, as the first event of the end times. When considering the population of the whole earth, the disappearance of millions may for many people seem unnoticeable. For the unbelieving at large that do notice, it isn’t a stretch to think that most will attribute the
Rapture to some phenomenon completely opposite from God’s prophecy. They may even suspect aliens to be involved. A small few will believe it’s an act of God and may become saved after the Rapture. However, the majority of those left behind will think of hundreds of reasons other than the truth that Spirit-filled children of God, both alive and in the grave, have finally gone home.
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WHAT IS THE RAPTURE?
In a general sense, rapture is to be taken away or overwhelmed with intense delight, pleasure or joy. The Rapture we learn about in the Bible is an event that every born-again believer is waiting for with tremendous anticipation. It is when our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will gather us together in the air with him, and we will leave the earth and he will take us to our Heavenly Father’s home in heaven. The Lord gives us His prophecy of the Rapture through the Apostle Paul in 1Corinthians 15:51-53(NLT). This passage tells us, “51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.”
THE NEW BODY
It is inevitable that many of us will be alive during the Rapture, and we will be transformed from this corrupting body into a new body that is incorruptible. The new body that we will receive during the Rapture is often referred to as the ‘Resurrected Body’ because it is the same body that Jesus Christ had after the Holy Spirit resurrected him from the dead. We know from the scriptures that we will be recognizable in our new bodies according to our old earth suit and identity. We know this because after his resurrection, there were aspects of the new resurrected body of Jesus Christ that made him recognizable to those who loved and walked with him. He still had the wounds of the crucifixion in his hands.
Thomas, the disciple that many have coined ‘Doubting Thomas’, had trouble believing that Jesus Christ had been resurrected. John 20:24-28(NLT) gives us his record: “24 One of the twelve disciples,
Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he replied, "I won't believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side." 26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. "Peace be with you," he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don't be faithless any longer. Believe!" 28 "My Lord and my God!" Thomas exclaimed.”
The Rapture is possible for us because of what God accomplished through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Death will never touch our new ‘resurrected bodies’, and we will be able to do things beyond our greatest imaginations.
THE DEAD IN CHRIST WILL RISE FIRST
1Thessalonians 4:13-18(NLT) says, “13 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. 15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. 16
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.”
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he first coming of Jesus Christ to the earth was displayed in stages of his birth, ministry, sacrifice, resurrection, and ascension. The Rapture is one of the events of the End Times, and the Great Tribulation, referred to as the Tribulation in the Gospels and New Testament, is another, but there are also other events. The Second Coming of Christ is one of them. The Rapture occurs before the beginning of the Tribulation, which will happen in the earth after God’s children have been raptured by Jesus Christ. The Tribulation is a period of unprecedented hardship before the end of the world and before the Second Coming of Christ. There are those that are of the opinion that the Tribulation will not occur, but the signs of current upheaval, hate, violence, and corruption prove otherwise.
The number of believers raptured will seem astonishingly small in the minds of those who believe that all people in the earth are God’s children. This simply is not the case. God’s children are those who are born again, have received His Holy Spirit, and have made the commitment to love Him with all that they are. They believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten
Son of the One True Living God, and they have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. They believe that God resurrected His Son from the dead and because they’ve accepted the salvation that He offers, they will be with Him for eternity. Those who do not believe this and do not love God with all that they are may be the nicest people in the world, but they are not children of God and will not be raptured.
The Gospels tell us about people that were very religious and claimed to be God’s sons and daughters when Jesus Christ walked upon this earth. They were pious in all their practices, but they did not believe in Jesus Christ, and in truth, they hated him and plotted his murder. John 8:4244(NLT) tells us, “42 Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. 43 Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! 44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Many people are offended by the truth that Jesus Christ spoke in John 8:42-44, and it is usually because they love the darkness more than they love the light. This is a reality that many will not acknowledge until their eyes are opened by the Rapture. The saints of God will have disappeared from the earth, and the Tribulation that follows during that time will be like nothing they’ve ever seen. It will be an extremely challenging environment to worship God through Jesus Christ, but some will have faith in Him and receive His salvation. Their hope will be in waiting for the Second Coming of Christ back to the earth. Before the second coming, things will get progressively worse. After the Rapture, there will be seven years of tribulation, and the antichrist will come on the scene. He will rise to political power during the most severe confusion and troubles of the Great Tribulation period. This person is referred to in the scriptures as the antichrist, a leader seeded for satan. He will dominate the global stage and wreak utter terror on the earth. 1John 2:18,2224(NLT) says, “18 Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. 22 And who is a liar? Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist. 23 Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. 24 So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father.”
There are many living in our present day that deny Christ, and they indeed have the spirit of the antichrist, but another charismatic and tremendously wicked son of satan will rise during the Tribulation to control the masses. Vehemently against Christ, he will oppose him and his followers, while setting himself up to be worshiped by the world. Everything the antichrist has, his fame, power, and authority, all come from satan. Daniel, God’s prophet, describes the antichrist in Daniel 7:7, 25(NLT), “7 Then in my vision that night, I saw a fourth beast—terrifying, dreadful, and very strong. It devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and trampled their remains beneath its feet. It was different from any of the other beasts, and it had ten horns. 25 He will
defy the Most High and oppress the holy people of the Most High. He will try to change their sacred festivals and laws, and they will be placed under his control for a time, times, and half a time.” The antichrist will charm and bamboozle with words that are eloquent yet deadly, and those who will come to God by accepting Jesus Christ into their hearts during the Tribulation must guard against being manipulated and swindled out of their inheritance in Christ. They must not accept the mark of the beast and stand firm against it, because it has consequences that are eternal.
There can be no doubt that many that are saved during this time will be persecuted and executed for their faith in the Most High through Jesus Christ. However, rest assured that God is seeing everything and He is forever in control. It would be so much better if those that are living today would give their lives to Christ before the Rapture. If they would only let his love into their hearts, and be rescued from darkness, he would bring them into his glorious light, but he will not force anyone to come to him. He extends the invitation and it is up to every individual to accept it.
Romans 10:13 tells us that whoever calls on the name of Jesus Christ will be saved. That includes those that will live during the Tribulation. They must keep their hope in the reality that he will come again, but in the second coming, Jesus Christ will not meet people in the air as he does for the Rapture. He will come into the earth. He will bring judgment to his enemies and will begin to set up his Kingdom. He told his disciples in Matthew 24:27-30(ESV), “27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. 29 "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Jesus Christ affirmed his second coming, and he will return to the earth with great glory as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Romans 14:11 tells us that every knee will bow, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, at the name of our powerful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. ■
“2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”
James 1:2-4(NLT)
’ve been on this Christian journey for many years, and I’ve seen and heard many stories from women that have endured horrific and destructive relationships. Looking from the outside, you’d never suspect that some of them have a care in the world. From high-earning professionals and professors to stay-at-home moms and Sunday-school teachers, women from all walks of life and varied
backgrounds have smiles on their faces, but deep wounds in their souls. They try desperately to keep their tragic and abusive home life a secret, and no one knows the level of abuse they’re enduring. God gave the life of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, so that no one would have to live a life of pain. Healing is introduced in our lives as soon as we choose to believe this.
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Psalm 62:8(ESV) tells us, “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” Our Heavenly Father is our safe place. This is the truth, but when we’ve been battered by life, it is sometimes challenging to fit those healing Words into the places that have been blocked by our pain. We can’t imagine the journey from victim to overcomer, and that through Christ we can actually move ourselves to healing and wholeness. The healing process isn’t easy, but it isn’t nearly as gut wrenching as living in fear, and the rewards are far greater than anything we can imagine. We’re never alone. Jesus Christ is with us every step of the way, and if we lean on his strength, Philippians 4:13 tells that he will empower us to do all things.
There are many misconceptions about domestic violence, and what constitutes an abusive situation or relationship. This has caused some that are being abused to be in denial about it. We can be tricked by our need to understand and empathize with the abuser, and this can push us deeper into the cycle of abuse. It’s not just physical. Abuse comes in different forms. It can be psychological, emotional, sexual, financial, and stalking as well. So, it isn’t always physical, but it is always about control and trying to steal someone’s power through manipulation, coercion, or other threatening behaviors.
It is common for the person being abused to blame themselves, but they are not to blame, and releasing the shame is a pivotal step towards healing. For some, abuse was present in their homes growing
up, and for others it was completely foreign. No matter how abuse came to be introduced into a person’s life, it can ravage the mind, heart, and soul. God’s healing is necessary for restoration and repair, but we have to give Him space to move. Our Heavenly Father doesn’t want us experiencing any type of abuse. He wants you to experience the beauty and depth of His love, power, and strength, but these beauties come by faith in Him. We simply must trust God and believe that He will come to our aid.
Some aspect of difficulties and painful circumstances are facts of life for everyone. We all have baggage to unload and issues to work through, but God didn’t create life to be a series of painful experiences. He gave us life to enjoy our relationship with Him. Jesus Christ said in John 10:10(NKJV), “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have [it] more abundantly.” In this verse, Jesus makes us aware that we have an enemy, and this enemy is in the earth to steal, kill, and destroy. Our precious Lord and Savior came to the earth to deliver us from oppression and darkness, and to give us a more than abundant life. This is a life where we experience his wholeness and completeness every day that we are given.
An abusive relationship can seem like an emotional rollercoaster that never slows down long enough for you to get off. Our Heavenly Father is not unfeeling. He knows what we’re going through, and He wants to help us. To give Him room to move, we must meet God with a mind and heart that is hopeful towards Him and invested in the reality that He has all power in His hands. Colossians 3:10(NLT) tells us to “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.” We must be willing to release some of the old things that keep us drenched in a painful existence, and we must make our minds new with hope and faith in God. This gives Him room to move in our situations so that we can get off the rollercoaster of pain and begin to enjoy the freedom of living the life that He wants us to have. ■
Kim Times, Minister, Writer, and Editor
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Conclusion: The Rapture
God also tells us in Philippians 4:6 that the attitude of gratitude and thankfulness are also important to foster the honor and reverence we must have in prayer. Faith is the title deed to what we’re asking Heavenly Father to receive. This is vital to the right mind-and-heart-set of prayer. We should know when we pray to Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ that the answer is on its way. With joyful expectancy of praise and thanksgiving, we demonstrate to God, heaven, and everything beneath it, that we have full confidence in our Heavenly Father, and this pleases Him.
When tribulation paints the opposite picture of the more than abundant life that Jesus Christ came to earth to make available to us, we must not run in the opposite direction of God’s love and protection. Philippians 4:13 tells us that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. God wants us to get it in our cores that He has empowered us through Jesus Christ. When we pray to God, we can and should praise Him for the receipt of what we’ve asked for even though it hasn’t shown up yet. This kind of response and effort toward His goodness is what maintains the closeness in our relationship with God, and it demonstrates the kind of honor and reverence that He so richly deserves.■
The Lord himself will come down from heaven. He will not be sending angels, Moses, or any of the prophets. He will come down from heaven himself and in the clouds with a commanding shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet call of God, he will gather all believers to himself. Not everyone will hear these sounds. They will be audible to only those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Believers will hear this call to gather and meet him in the air. Jesus Christ will not come down to set his feet on the ground. He will remain in the sky, hidden to the unbelieving on earth, and we will rise in our new bodies to meet him.
Those of us that are living will not rise before the bodies of those that died in Christ. The King James Version of 1Thessalonians 4:15 refers to believers that have died in Christ as “those who are sleep”. The spirits of those believers that have died will have been perfected and Christ will bring them with him. They will be rejoined to their bodies which will rise from the ground and be transformed just as the bodies of those still alive will be. 1Corinthians 15:52 tells us that all of this will happen in a blink of an eye. The dead in Christ will rise and we will be changed.
As this world becomes increasingly more unstable and corrupt, we must keep our eyes focused on the prize of Jesus Christ and the Rapture. He is our Bridegroom, and he has promised to come back for his bride, the body of believers who love God and live in Christ. In Matthew 25:13, he tells us to keep watch with all diligence, because we don’t know the exact timing of the Rapture, but we do know it will happen because the Bible tells us so. As those who believe in Jesus Christ, we should be careful to pray fervently and frequently that the Lord will help us to have the kind of heart He requires so we can be raptured. In humility, we should ask him to reveal anything in our hearts that is impeding our fellowship and true spiritual worship of Him. Let this be your greatest priority, so that as his bride, you will be without blemish and ready to meet him in the air when he comes. ■
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