"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
This scripture is talking about what we as Christians call "The Rapture." It was promised by Jesus in Matthew 24, that we would see certain undeniable signs that His return was very near. He said, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains." (Matthew 24:4-8). He gives the same warnings in Luke 21. “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away. Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven." (Luke 21:8-11). He also issued a warning "“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the seas. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:25-28).
So, let's review: Wars, rumors of wars, nation against nation (which when translated means "race against race." Kingdom against kingdom, (Gog/Magog, see Ezekiel 38-39 & Psalm 83), earthquakes in various places, famines and false Christs, signs in the sun moon and stars (which is happening now! See Acts 2:20). The first blood moon occurred earlier this year, on April 15th. I went outside at about 1 AM Pacific Time and I SAW IT! This is NOT A JOKE! IT IS REAL! The second one hits in October, then there will be a total eclipse of the sun and then two more blood moons in April 2015 and September 2015. But as Jesus said, don't let these things freak you out! It's just God's billboard in the sky, sending a sign to the Jews and to the rest of the world that His return is VERY NEAR! God used a star to guide the Three Wisemen to the manger in Bethlehem so they could worship Jesus! He's doing it again right now and we need to pay attention! (See Joel 2:30-31).
Look at the world right now? IT'S ON FIRE! There is a reason for all of this, and though I am completely stymied on some of it, there is one thing I believe very strongly! In Revelation 4:1, the Apostle John, imprisoned on the Island of Patmos because of his faith in Christ and spreading the Gospel, was taken to heaven and was given a vision for the end times, which is known as the Seven Year Tribulation. This scripture is a definite promise for the rest of us, that one day the Lord will come on clouds, with the sound of a trumpet and take us to heaven! Are you ready for a 1/2 millisecond elevator ride? I AM! I can't wait to go home and be with God! As for the seven seals, seven bowls and seven trumpets, we will have escaped those judgments because we will be in heaven celebrating the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and going through the Bema Seat Judgment! We will give an account for every idle word we've ever spoken, so remember to ask forgiveness daily from God! Not only will he grant forgiveness, He will lead us! When we accepted Christ, the Holy Spirit began to indwell us and began to help us, showing us right from wrong, and giving us a desire to know the Lord more closely and to be more like Him.
Jesus gives His final warnings to the Apostle John as he wrote down what He was hearing after being taken to heaven in the spirit in Revelation 4:1. Jesus asked him to write to the seven churches. In this scripture Jesus is talking to the Church in Laodicea. He said, "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I will spit you out of my mouth." (Revelation 3:15-16). This scripture happens before Revelation 4:1, which explains the Rapture, so this is a warning to us all! If you are cold or distant from God it is time to draw closer to Him! I know He is knocking on a lot of doors right now and we ought not to deny Him! "Draw nearer to God and He will draw near to you!" (James 4:8).
So do not be afraid! Fear has to do with punishment, and if you are living in fear, then you need to do a bit of soul searching! (Advice I take myself every time I sit down to watch the news these days!). Why? Because John tells us, "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." (1 John 4:18). This means we have a bit of work to do with God! We will be long gone into heaven when the Seven Seals, Bowls and Trumpets, add up to 21 judgments that will fall on this earth during the Seven Year Tribulation. Half of the world's population will be killed during those seven years! Jesus promised us, "If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened." (Matthew 24:22). He is talking about us! We are the elect because we BELIEVE!
It's really simple. Jesus is on His way! He is coming very soon! Just look at what is going on in the world! Putin is pushing into Ukraine, they are firing upon Ukraine from the other side of the border! It's now considered an escalation by the Russians! The Israeli's are in a battle with Hamas, terrorists who use their civilians to protect their missiles, who go on Al Aqsa TV and not only claim to use civilians for human shields, but they celebrate it openly! ISIS has destroyed an 1800 year old church in Mosul, Iraq, where the tomb of Jonah was! They already showed a video where they destroyed and desecrated the tomb of Jonah! Mosul is very close to Nineveh. (See the book of Jonah). ISIS is threatening the Christians there, telling them they have to pay a fine for protection, leave, convert to Islam or they will be killed!
What more does it take to see that things are happening so fast, we can't possibly understand, and God doesn't need us to understand. We can try to figure it all out until our heads hurt! He simply wants us to live our lives, day to day, and TRUST HIM! "And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3). So trust Him! If something goes bad, we get sick, or we die, or we're killed, etc., we will immediately be in heaven with Him! Our last breath here is our first breath in Heaven! I just don't want people to lose their rewards! What we do on this earth for others has eternal significance! We may suffer some loss, depending on our motives when we do kind things or tithe in our churches, but we will at least be in heaven with Jesus!
So please, won't you trust Him as your Lord and Savior today? Please say a prayer, ask for forgiveness and ask Jesus to come into your heart and guide you in your life, that you want to live for Him and Him alone! I have to pray every day because I'm a wretched sinner who needs forgiveness every day! Lamentations 3:23 says that "His mercies are new every morning." Why not take advantage of that blessing? He freely forgives us! 1 John 1:9 says that "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
God loves us! He wants a personal relationship with us! He wants us to lean on His everlasting arms and live dependent only on Him! That is why Jesus died, so that we could have that personal relationship with The Father! The rest of the world needs our salt and light for they are perishing in their sins! I don't want anyone I know to miss the Rapture!
This scripture is talking about what we as Christians call "The Rapture." It was promised by Jesus in Matthew 24, that we would see certain undeniable signs that His return was very near. He said, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains." (Matthew 24:4-8). He gives the same warnings in Luke 21. “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away. Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven." (Luke 21:8-11). He also issued a warning "“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the seas. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:25-28).
So, let's review: Wars, rumors of wars, nation against nation (which when translated means "race against race." Kingdom against kingdom, (Gog/Magog, see Ezekiel 38-39 & Psalm 83), earthquakes in various places, famines and false Christs, signs in the sun moon and stars (which is happening now! See Acts 2:20). The first blood moon occurred earlier this year, on April 15th. I went outside at about 1 AM Pacific Time and I SAW IT! This is NOT A JOKE! IT IS REAL! The second one hits in October, then there will be a total eclipse of the sun and then two more blood moons in April 2015 and September 2015. But as Jesus said, don't let these things freak you out! It's just God's billboard in the sky, sending a sign to the Jews and to the rest of the world that His return is VERY NEAR! God used a star to guide the Three Wisemen to the manger in Bethlehem so they could worship Jesus! He's doing it again right now and we need to pay attention! (See Joel 2:30-31).
Look at the world right now? IT'S ON FIRE! There is a reason for all of this, and though I am completely stymied on some of it, there is one thing I believe very strongly! In Revelation 4:1, the Apostle John, imprisoned on the Island of Patmos because of his faith in Christ and spreading the Gospel, was taken to heaven and was given a vision for the end times, which is known as the Seven Year Tribulation. This scripture is a definite promise for the rest of us, that one day the Lord will come on clouds, with the sound of a trumpet and take us to heaven! Are you ready for a 1/2 millisecond elevator ride? I AM! I can't wait to go home and be with God! As for the seven seals, seven bowls and seven trumpets, we will have escaped those judgments because we will be in heaven celebrating the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and going through the Bema Seat Judgment! We will give an account for every idle word we've ever spoken, so remember to ask forgiveness daily from God! Not only will he grant forgiveness, He will lead us! When we accepted Christ, the Holy Spirit began to indwell us and began to help us, showing us right from wrong, and giving us a desire to know the Lord more closely and to be more like Him.
Jesus gives His final warnings to the Apostle John as he wrote down what He was hearing after being taken to heaven in the spirit in Revelation 4:1. Jesus asked him to write to the seven churches. In this scripture Jesus is talking to the Church in Laodicea. He said, "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I will spit you out of my mouth." (Revelation 3:15-16). This scripture happens before Revelation 4:1, which explains the Rapture, so this is a warning to us all! If you are cold or distant from God it is time to draw closer to Him! I know He is knocking on a lot of doors right now and we ought not to deny Him! "Draw nearer to God and He will draw near to you!" (James 4:8).
So do not be afraid! Fear has to do with punishment, and if you are living in fear, then you need to do a bit of soul searching! (Advice I take myself every time I sit down to watch the news these days!). Why? Because John tells us, "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." (1 John 4:18). This means we have a bit of work to do with God! We will be long gone into heaven when the Seven Seals, Bowls and Trumpets, add up to 21 judgments that will fall on this earth during the Seven Year Tribulation. Half of the world's population will be killed during those seven years! Jesus promised us, "If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened." (Matthew 24:22). He is talking about us! We are the elect because we BELIEVE!
It's really simple. Jesus is on His way! He is coming very soon! Just look at what is going on in the world! Putin is pushing into Ukraine, they are firing upon Ukraine from the other side of the border! It's now considered an escalation by the Russians! The Israeli's are in a battle with Hamas, terrorists who use their civilians to protect their missiles, who go on Al Aqsa TV and not only claim to use civilians for human shields, but they celebrate it openly! ISIS has destroyed an 1800 year old church in Mosul, Iraq, where the tomb of Jonah was! They already showed a video where they destroyed and desecrated the tomb of Jonah! Mosul is very close to Nineveh. (See the book of Jonah). ISIS is threatening the Christians there, telling them they have to pay a fine for protection, leave, convert to Islam or they will be killed!
What more does it take to see that things are happening so fast, we can't possibly understand, and God doesn't need us to understand. We can try to figure it all out until our heads hurt! He simply wants us to live our lives, day to day, and TRUST HIM! "And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3). So trust Him! If something goes bad, we get sick, or we die, or we're killed, etc., we will immediately be in heaven with Him! Our last breath here is our first breath in Heaven! I just don't want people to lose their rewards! What we do on this earth for others has eternal significance! We may suffer some loss, depending on our motives when we do kind things or tithe in our churches, but we will at least be in heaven with Jesus!
So please, won't you trust Him as your Lord and Savior today? Please say a prayer, ask for forgiveness and ask Jesus to come into your heart and guide you in your life, that you want to live for Him and Him alone! I have to pray every day because I'm a wretched sinner who needs forgiveness every day! Lamentations 3:23 says that "His mercies are new every morning." Why not take advantage of that blessing? He freely forgives us! 1 John 1:9 says that "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
God loves us! He wants a personal relationship with us! He wants us to lean on His everlasting arms and live dependent only on Him! That is why Jesus died, so that we could have that personal relationship with The Father! The rest of the world needs our salt and light for they are perishing in their sins! I don't want anyone I know to miss the Rapture!
Are you ready? Time to get ready for that 1/2 millisecond elevator ride! This is the glorious unfolding! God is revealing more and more to me every day! It's time to stop trying to figure it out and just TRUST HIM!
The story is far from over! The blessings of God will continue with us throughout eternity! His blessings will NEVER END! This is just the beginning of the beginning!
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ChristianEncouragers.com