The End of the Age: Part 5–The Trouble with Tribulation

For those will be days of tribulation, the kind that hasn’t been from the beginning of the world, which God created, until now and never will be again! (Mark 13:19 HCSB)

Time to step on some more toes. A common theology in the modern Church is a pre-tribulation “Rapture,” the concept being that Christians don’t have to worry about any of this scary stuff, because before it all begins, we’re all going to get whooshed up to heaven and sit out the Tribulation.

Sounds great to me! Just one problem. The word “rapture” does not appear anywhere in the Bible. Neither is there any prophecy that specifically describes such an event. There are a few bits and pieces that have been strung together out of context, along with the odd mistranslation, upon which many people have constructed this wishful thinking. However, if the Rapture were something that we could be certain of, the Bible would have said so plainly.

And it doesn’t. Not anywhere.

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For the sake of the elect

Remember the very first thing that Jesus said when he started this speech to His inner circle? “Watch out that no one deceives you.”

(Now, “no one” includes me, so I’m not asking you to take my word for any of this. Anyone reading these words has access to a Bible. Look it up yourself and ask God to explain it to you. He may give you a different answer. I could be totally wrong about this. I hope I am, actually, because the Rapture is a much better deal than the one it appears we have coming.)

In Mark 13:20, Jesus speaks of the Tribulation:

If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. (NIV)

Now, if the elect (i.e., followers of Christ) have already been tractor beamed up to heaven before the Tribulation starts, then why would it matter to us if the days were shortened or not? If we’re already with Jesus enjoying our eternal life, we wouldn’t need to worry about surviving.

Yet, that’s the word Jesus uses, echoing Daniel 12:12, “Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.” (NIV) Patience, perseverance and endurance are fruits of the Holy Spirit that all true Christians display. Scripture is clearly stating that we will need these qualities all the way to the end of the Tribulation.

Jesus goes on in verses 21-23 to warn his disciples that there will be false messiahs and false prophets in the end times who will do fake miracles that will appear convincing enough even to deceive the elect. Again, how can we be potentially deceived if we are not still on earth?

Next, Jesus goes full-on apocalyptic, quoting Isaiah regarding signs and wonders in the sky:

As Isaiah said in the days after that great suffering,
The sun will refuse to shine,
and the moon will hold back its light.
The stars in heaven will fall,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. (Mark 13:24-25 VOICE)

This is the verse that causes false prophets in our current age to blow a nut every time there’s a solar eclipse. But Judgment Day is a whole lot more than a natural astronomical phenomenon. ALL light will be blocked out—no sun, no moon, and no stars. This is the part where God lays the final smack down on His enemies.

This prophecy is reiterated later in Revelation 6:

I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. (Rev 6:12-14 NIV)

Heck of a day. I’m not looking forward to that. I get that the elect will have their victory and live and reign with Jesus forever and ever, but THAT day. . .I really don’t want to be around for that one. Can you blame people for coming up with the concept of a Rapture? Sure beats unprecedented natural disaster any day of the week!

At that time…

Back to Mark now. As Jesus quotes these prophecies, He then says (emphasis mine):

At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. (Mark 13:26-27 NIV)

At. That. Time. Not before. The elect will not be gathered until Judgment Day itself, which happens at the END of the Tribulation, not the beginning.

So, how do we balance our awareness of The End of the Age with our mission and calling in the present? Well fortunately, Jesus gave us instructions for that too, in verses 34-37:

It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Therefore, keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: “Watch!” (NIV)

We are not to be lazy or complacent about Christ’s return. Yes, it has been 2000 years, but what of that? God is eternal. He doesn’t mark time like we do. Maybe He’s waiting for us to reach the whole world, or maybe He has a day marked on His celestial calendar that we haven’t arrived at yet. It’s enough to know that He is coming back, and He expects to find us ready to meet Him when He does.

Even so, Jesus’ illustration also mentions that the servants were left in charge, each with an assigned task. We are charged with taking care of this world and everyone in it until Christ returns. We can no more be slack about that duty than we can about watching for His return.

Antichrist

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 1 John 4:1-3 (NIV)

2020 has been a rough year for everybody so far, but especially for Truthseekers. The media has degenerated from fake news to absolute lunacy. A pandemic, or at least the fear of one, has gripped the world, but the scientists can’t seem to get their stories straight. Worst of all, opportunists of the lowest caliber have used fear and racial prejudice to turn us against each other.

Why do I say that one is worst of all? Because if we create enemies for ourselves along the lines of racial differences, we will forget that we have a common enemy. Which is exactly what our real enemy wants.

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So, what does John mean when he talks about “testing the spirits?” Some people get a little froke out by this, but it’s not all that weird.

Three years ago, we covered this extensively in the Overcoming the World series. In Part 8, we discussed that when a thought “pops into your head,” it is likely a message from God if it is in line with scripture, illuminates the solution to a problem and leads to a good result for all concerned. If this out-of-the-blue thought does not meet those criteria, it did not come from God. So where did it come from?

The passage above makes clear that deceptive messages are from the spirit of the antichrist. Now this is the spirit of antichrist with a lower-case A, not the big baddie of Revelation (more on that later). John uses this term literally to mean a spirit that opposes Jesus. You can see from this passage that this is the spirit that controls false prophets.

However, the wording above appears at first to be too simplistic. Every spirit that acknowledges Jesus has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that doesn’t, isn’t. If discerning the spirits were that easy, then why would we need to test them?

Well, have you seen what’s going on in the Church lately? It mirrors what’s going on in our country. Just as America’s greatest enemy has proven to be from within, so it is with the Church. Atheists are the least of our problems, annoying though they may be. They are a mosquito bite compared to the cancer that is eating away at the Body of Christ from within.

In the Flesh

To understand what it truly means to test the spirits, it is important to know that John snuck a coded message into verse 2 above. “Every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” Pretty much every church identifying as Christian acknowledges that Jesus was an actual human born into this world. Yet sharp division remains on what the Church’s role in the world ought to be. So, there must be something more to it than that.

There is. It’s hiding in plain sight at the beginning of John’s Gospel:

In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself.

And the Word (Christ) became flesh, and lived among us; and we [actually] saw His glory, glory as belongs to the [One and] only begotten Son of the Father, [the Son who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, who is] full of grace and truth (absolutely free of deception). John 1:1, 14 (AMP)

Jesus is the Word of God in human form. He is one with God Himself, which means that the Word is one with God Himself. Jesus is absolutely free of deception, which means the Word is absolutely free of deception.

Are you seeing where I’m going with this? Remember, the first criteria to judge whether a message is from God is if it lines up with scripture, logos, THE WORD, God Himself. Therefore, anyone who claims to speak on behalf of God but says something different than what God has already said—this is the spirit of the antichrist at work.

And we let it right in the front door. Because we didn’t want to be “judgmental.”

God’s righteous judgment

Wake up Truthseekers! Put on the armor of God and report for duty. John has already told us what comes next:

Next I saw heaven opened, and there before me was a white horse. Sitting on it was the one called Faithful and True, and it is in righteousness that he passes judgment and goes to battle. His eyes were like a fiery flame, and on his head were many royal crowns. And he had a name written which no one knew but himself. He was wearing a robe that had been soaked in blood, and the name by which he is called is, “THE WORD OF GOD.” The armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. And out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down nations — “He will rule them with a staff of iron.” It is he who treads the winepress from which flows the wine of the furious rage of Adonai, God of heaven’s armies. And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written:

KING OF KINGS

AND

LORD OF LORDS.

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out in a loud voice to all the birds that fly about in mid-heaven, “Come, gather together for the great feast God is giving, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of generals, the flesh of important men, the flesh of horses and their riders and the flesh of all kinds of people, free and slave, small and great!” I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to do battle with the rider of the horse and his army. But the beast was taken captive, and with it the false prophet who, in its presence, had done the miracles which he had used to deceive those who had received the mark of the beast and those who had worshipped his image. The beast and the false prophet were both thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword that goes out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh. Revelation 19:11-21 (CJB)

Can you see now why the spirit of antichrist is so intent on dividing us in terms of race? Because the devil knows well that when The Word Made Flesh returns, there will only be two kinds of people. The Army of Heaven, and Bird Food.

Now, I promised that I would get back to the Capital-A Antichrist.

What I did not promise was to reveal who I think it might be, because that is pointless speculation. Just as trying to figure out when Jesus is going to return is a distraction, trying to make news headlines line up with Biblical prophecy is also disruptive to the work we are supposed to be doing.

Trust God and His Word this much—when the Antichrist reveals himself, if you’re still here to see it, you’ll know.

Evidence: Part 5–Run the Race

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV)

So now, it’s time for the post on perseverance. Naturally, it has taken me five weeks to write it. So basically, I’m going to be listing all the things I do wrong. But I know I’m not alone.

The thing is, life is a marathon, but sometimes, we treat it as if it’s a sprint. We make to-do lists and cling to them as though we are trying to run the race in one day.

None of us knows, however, exactly how many days we have left on this earth. We don’t know exactly what work we’re supposed to accomplish before we race to the finish line. We can read (or write) books about finding our calling, and that can be helpful in getting us on the right track. Don’t forget, though, that we don’t achieve our goals instantaneously. We need to learn to appreciate the journey. And every journey proceeds one step at a time.

Therefore, if we fix our eyes on Jesus, and focus on what we’re doing now and what we’re doing next, then we can trust that God will get us where we need to be, and at just the right time. We will, of course, have obstacles to contend with on the way.

Distractions

The first key to dealing with things that distract you from running your race is to simply be awake and aware of the fact that the distractions are there. It’s so easy, especially when you do so much of your work on a computer, as I do, to fall down a rat hole on YouTube or Wikipedia or some such. You don’t even realize it’s happening until two hours have gotten away from you, and you wonder where the day went. In my family, we have several little slogans that we use to help keep us on track. Sometimes we actually even follow them!

Work first, THEN play!

via GIPHY

Most of us would rather goof off than work on any given day. But what typically happens is, at the end of the goof-off session, the tasks remain, and now you have less of the day to get them done. Plus, you feel guilty about the time you wasted, hours that you will never get back, so you don’t even enjoy the goofing off you were doing.

Instead, push forward and persevere in getting the work done as quickly as possible, so that you can relax guilt-free afterward.

*If it’s not on the list, it doesn’t exist!***

I actually started this one when my sons were little and we were broke. We had a very limited grocery budget, so when I would take them shopping with me, I would tell them, “If it’s not on the list, it doesn’t exist,” in order to ward off any impulse buys on my part and whining on theirs.

Today, this is a mantra that I use (or try to) on my to-do lists. Especially on days when I work from home, it is so easy to get distracted by things I notice in my house that need doing. Next thing I know, it’s 2:30, and I haven’t written anything, and I meant to start at 9:00!

I have found that it helps if I focus on the one task that I have to complete. And then just the next thing after that. I rarely get it all done, and certainly not in one day, but by the end of the week, I am able to look back and see real progress. And the following week’s list is smaller!

Avoid the fishhooks!

This is a reference to James 1:14, which reads, “Rather, each person is being tempted whenever he is being dragged off and enticed by the bait of his own desire. (CJB)”

Our lives are full of fishhooks. These are the things that distract us from running our race. Each person has his or her own problem area, but they all have these things in common:

They are something we enjoy.
They are something we would rather do than what we are supposed to do.
They are something we can see.

Just as a fish is lured by what’s on the fishhook, so we get dragged off of the race track by things that may not seem bad in and of themselves. After all, fish gotta eat, right? You’re not going to catch a fish by baiting the hook with something that is not attractive to it. But what happens to the fish after it is caught?

Then, having conceived, the desire gives birth to sin; and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. (James 1:15 CJB)

Fishhooks are a big deal. People try to justify them every day. “Well, that was a lazy day.” Or maybe, “Sometimes, you just have to blow off some steam.” If it happens once in a while, sure. But it is so easy to slide down into a habit of distraction. Before you know it, you’ll be baiting your own hooks. There is only one long-term vaccination against this kind of deterioration.

Run the Race with Integrity

Yes, if you’ve been around Truth Mission for any significant length of time, you’ve heard this before. Say what you mean. Mean what you say. Do what you say you are going to do. But most importantly, FINISH WHAT YOU START!

It is easy for well-meaning people, such as myself, to leave a trail of half-finished projects behind them. It is also easy for such people to beat themselves up over their inability to finish anything. If allowed to persist, this attitude can give birth to the lie that you are INCAPABLE of getting anything done. From there, it’s a short detour to, “So why even start?”

Folks, this is a lie. Call it what it is. Your life has already started. It is in the middle of a marathon that began long before you even knew there was a starting gun. You have gotten things done before. You can do it again. But you may have to get hardcore on those fishhooks.

Be kind to your mind.

Be absolutely merciless in removing distractions from your life. You’re not going to offend the distractions. Candy Crush or Toon Blast or Peggle or whatever the shiny, colorful game du jour is will not miss you when you leave. They may send the odd notification, but you can make those go away too.

If you need to install an app on your devices to filter out distractions, don’t wait another day to do that. I use StayFocusd, but there are many others that can block certain troublesome websites, or at least limit the time you spend on them.

If you’re a cyber-insomniac, enhance your sleep hygiene by setting your computer or phone to shut off when you ought to be going to bed. Or better yet, a half hour before, to let your brain to wind down.

Keep your eyes on the prize!

In a race everyone runs, but only one person gets first prize. So run your race to win. To win the contest you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best. An athlete goes to all this trouble just to win a blue ribbon or a silver cup, but we do it for a heavenly reward that never disappears. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I fight to win. I’m not just shadow-boxing or playing around. (1 Corinthians 9:24-26 TLB)

The fastest course through the minefield of distractions in your life is a straight line with your goal at the end. To reach it, you have to keep your goal in view.

Now of course, some distractions are fairly simple to deal with, since we bring them on ourselves. But what about the ones we don’t?

What do we do when a loved one gets ill? Or a child goes astray? Or if we lose a job, a car, a home?

Things happen that are beyond our control, and naturally, we are going to have an intense emotional response to them. Life is going to throw us curveballs, and we’re not going to be happy about it. But remember, there is a difference between happiness and joy.

We can endure hardship by keeping our eyes fixed on the finish line, by thanking God that the finish line doesn’t move, even when everything else is in turmoil, and by simply persevering. One foot in front of the other. Always facing forward, even if life is knocking us back.

Carry Your Cross.

The verse at the top of this post reminds us to consider Jesus. He persevered in His ministry, of course, but that last day . . .

You don’t have to be a doctor or an anatomy professor to be able to imagine the incredible pain that Jesus suffered on His last day. To be beaten within an inch of His life, and THEN to have to carry the heavy, wooden cross to the place where He would be nailed to it. The root of the word “excruciating” actually comes from the Latin for “cross.” Harry Potter fans may even recognize that J.K. Rowling used the word “Cruciatus” for the Unforgivable torture curse. Same word.

So I consider the agony that Jesus endured, but I also consider that He finished His race. He was able to finish, because He knew what would come after.

Guess what Truthseekers? We have the same “after” in store for us, only we don’t have to be tortured and nailed to a cross to get it. When I reflect upon my first-world problems, I sometimes ask myself, “Does this hurt more or less than a crucifixion?” (My kids HATE it when I ask them that, by the way.)

There are people in the world who are persecuted for real. They are in fear for their lives every hour of every day for standing up for their faith. The worst we typically get here in the US is smack talk at work or some fool in the comment section trying to pass his silly self off as an intellectual.

In other words, we can handle this. There will be days where it will feel like we can’t, but our great God has promised to be strong where we are weak. So don’t overthink your life. Look at what’s directly in front of you, and look at what you have in your hand. And trust that it is enough.

Then move. One step. Don’t worry about the next step until you have taken the first one. Planning is all well and good, but make sure you do it in pencil. Just stay on the track.

And keep running. Your perseverance will be the evidence that you know where your finish line is.

DN=: Part 2–Freedom

“All things are allowed,” you say. But not all things are good. “All things are allowed.” But some things don’t help anyone. (1 Cor 10:23 ERV)

We are big on freedom in this country, aren’t we? We have a Bill of Rights in our constitution guaranteeing us freedom of speech, the press, assembly, religion and petition. When our soldiers go off to war, we are told that they are “fighting for our freedom.”

It’s in all the songs we learn as kids. America is the land of the FREE and the home of the brave. We are proud to be Americans where at least we know we’re FREE. From every mountainside, let FREEDOM ring.

Christians are also fond of the words “free” and “freedom.” We also have phrases that we repeat or sing in songs, such as:

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
If the Son has set you free, you are free indeed.
My chains are gone; I’ve been set free.

Nevertheless, Christians can easily fall into the same trap as the rest of the world in the sense of abusing personal freedom at the expense of the freedom of another.

FREEDOM DN= LICENSE TO DO WHATEVER WE WANT

Within a generation of Jesus’ death, both Paul and Peter were dealing with this problem in the early Church:

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? Galatians 5:13-15 (MSG)

Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God’s emissaries for keeping order. It is God’s will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government. (1 Peter 2: 13-17 MSG)

Do you see the tie there? Freedom = service. Some translations actually use the word “slave.”

Now for Americans, that notion can be jarring. For Americans of African descent in particular, it can feel like a harsh slap in the face. After all that this country and its people have gone through to win freedom, God wants us to be slaves again?

The original Greek word in Peter’s letter is doulos, which does mean slave, but not in the way we Americans think of it. When we hear the word “slave,” we think of forced labor. In other words, a slave’s status is determined by the work the slave does and the conditions under which he is compelled to do it.

A doulos, on the other hand, is also a bondservant, or one permanently bound and subservient to a master; however, their slave status is determined not by their work, but by their relationship to their master.

The implication then, made by both Peter and Paul, is that to be a bondservant of Christ, one must no longer be a slave to sin. After all, as Jesus Himself said, “No one can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24a NIV).”

Furthermore, in this context a doulos is a VOLUNTARY bondservant. We are born slaves to sin, but we CHOOSE to be “slaves” for Christ. The only way to be in a position to make that choice is to have first been freed from the grip of sin in our lives. A slave cannot free himself; he can only be freed by the master. And the Master said this:

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13:34 NIV)

And also this:

Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. (Matthew 25:40b NIV)

Therefore, serving God and serving other people are actually one and the same. So being a doulos to Christ means being a doulos to the world as well, but to its people, not its philosophies.

As no one can serve two masters, and as it is impossible to serve both Christ and our own sinful desires, so it is also impossible to simultaneously serve the world while doing whatever we want.

This is the reason that no one is justified by their works alone apart from having been freed by the Master, with whom they have a relationship.

Which brings up another DN=.

(Which will be covered in Part 3–Righteousness)