WHICH ONE IS IT?

WHICH ONE IS IT?

                There are two opposing concepts in prophecy running side by side in the church today. One of the key voices for one side is Mark Tylor. According to him, President Trump is going to clean the swamp, not only of a few bad eggs, but thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Anti-American communist types are going to be flushed out. Of the five previous presidents that ruled over the past 32 years, two will be taken (as in dying) and the rest will be indicted and put in prison. God will do a massive overhaul of America and the globalist regime will be overthrown.

                He also adds that Trump has opened up oil production again and huge oil and shale fields will produce staggering amounts of oil making America energy independent as well as wiping out our national debt and bringing prosperity and the strongest dollar ever to America. This same thing will be paralleled in Israel as huge oil deposits there bring Israel into a time of power and prosperity to Israel as well. The globalist plans will be defeated and many will come to the Lord in a great and mighty harvest.

                Now on the other side of the coin we have the globalists overcoming America and the world. We see the antichrist rising bringing on a reign of terror. We see the mark of the beast system coming into place. We see them taking control of our money, our politics and our religion forcing them all into singular global entities under the reign of the antichrist system (The dragon, the Beast and the false prophet along with the image to the beast that can both speak and to cause as many as do not worship the image to the beast to be killed.

                We also see nature spinning out of control bringing disasters and famine. We see huge numbers of animals and fish going extinct. We see the heavens and the earth being shaken. We see the nations of the Magog invasion gathering on the borders of Israel. We see a global war in the making and millions upon millions of people dying. We see a great shaking and a great falling away as many Christians give up their fundamental faith and join the global religion of the beast.

                In short the question is are we heading into a time of peace and prosperity, or are we headed into a time of trouble such as the world has never seen since there was a nation?

                According to Mark Taylor, Christians have been so programmed by doom and gloom that they can’t see the good thing that God is about to do in overthrowing Satan’s plans and bringing us into greatness once again.

                To tell you the truth I like Mark’s version. Especially as we head back to Tennessee to be with our children and grandchildren, I would like to spend  the rest of my life enjoying them. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that is the reason God is sending us back there and so I pray for an ever increasing anointing from the Holy Spirit to stand and to accomplish all that God has commissioned us to do in Tennessee.

                Another big question is where are we in time? Another question to ask ourselves is if times of prosperity will motivate us to take the Gospel of the Kingdom to the whole world and to restore righteousness and holiness to the church, or will prosperity just produce more of the same as we have been seeing? (A continuing falling away from the Bible and Truth and righteousness)

                Are we heading into the time of trouble that Jesus warned us about in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21? Are we heading into the scenario described in Daniel 12 and Revelation from chapters 5-22?

                Jesus said in John 16:13: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”

                Revelation 19:10 follows by saying that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

                Here we see, as Jesus Himself told us that one of the key works of the Holy Spirit is to show us things to come and that the Holy Spirit bears the testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of prophecy. So the fact that most churches avoid prophecy like the plague and choose rather to hear good news about the future tells me that they are rejecting, both the work of the Holy Spirit and the testimony of Jesus. And if you knock out key elements of the working of the Holy Spirit, are you not in danger of following a different spirit that is not from God at all, but from the coming antichrist?

                I hate doom and gloom as much as the next guy, but I love the truth even more and as I read my Bible I see that the Lord did not usually send prophets and watchmen to nations telling them that everything was going well and good times lay ahead. Usually they came to warn the people that because of their falling away from the Lord, times of judgment were just ahead.

                God has given us a reprieve from our downward plunge. He has put a momentary speed bump in the globalist’s plans. In fact this speed bump has literally caused the globalists to turn their focus back onto Europe, which is where last day events will occur if the Roman Empire is to be revived. (Remember if you will that Daniel 9:26, 27 tells us that the prince that is to come is from among the people that destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70. So the antichrist must arise from the Roman Empire, either from the eastern leg or the western leg.)

                As for Israel, they are surrounded by the very nations that are predicted by God to carry out the Magog Invasion. These nations want to drive Israel into the sea and to slaughter every Jew until it will be like they never existed. On the other hand we see the globalists, along with the Pope moving in to gain control of Jerusalem and this too fits Bible prophecy because we know that Satan wants to rule in the place of Christ and we know that he will bring peace to Jerusalem (probably just after the Magog invasion) and he will help them to build their third temple and for a time they will hail him as the Messiah… that is until he enters the temple and declares himself to be God. That is when every self-respecting Jewish believer will flee to the mountains.

                I have to come down on the side of doom and gloom… and really when we see all of these things happening Jesus says to lift up our heads for our redemption draws nigh. But there is a plethora of end time prophecies to be fulfilled as the great battle between Christ and Satan comes to a final head. Like it or not we are all involved and we have choices to make. Will we stand with Jesus Christ and His word? Will we learn to live by His Holy Spirit, to come out of Babylon and to resist even to the death if need be, the Mark of the Beast and all that it stands for.

                I do believe in the rapture and I pray that it comes soon. But as Jesus tells us, the Bridegroom came at midnight and only half of the believers were ready to enter into the wedding feast. Half of them did not have oil in their lamps and they were counselled to go and to buy from those that sell. Likewise Laodicea was counselled to buy gold tried in the fire.  They had to go through the tribulation, but they were also told that if they would repent and open the door to Him, He would come in. They that overcame would yet reign with Him on His throne.   

                In Israel there were three harvests that took place every year. They were first fruits, the main harvest and then the gleanings. I see the gleanings as represented by that final harvest of those who had been beheaded for their faith in Revelation 20:4. They also come to life and reign with Christ for 1000 years, but they had gone through the tribulation and been killed for their faith.

                When the rapture (First resurrection and catching away of the Bride)  occurs we cannot say for sure. Some Christians have purified their lives making full use of the work of Christ on the cross, His blood, His Word and His Holy Spirit. There are others who are more in the world than they are in Christ. It appears that these will have to go through the tribulation and will be resurrected as the gleanings at the second coming of Christ with His saints.

                Listen: All we can do is to cling to Jesus Christ and His Word. We can come out of the world and be born again so that it is no longer us, but Christ who lives in us. We can learn to live by the Spirit rather than by the flesh. We can’t know exactly when Jesus will come for us, but we can certainly see the seasons. We can see the signals in the sky and on the earth. The sun, moon and stars are all testifying of His soon return. The nations are in an uproar and nature is entering into convulsions. If those things are any indication, then I would say that we are in for a bumpy ride and that the harvest will come in, not in times of ease and prosperity, but in times of persecution and war and the rise of the antichrist.

                In Jeremiah’s time the vast majority of the prophets were prophesying peace and prosperity and victory ahead. Only Jeremiah was warning of Babylonian captivity and even how long they would be there. Jeremiah was right and the rest were wrong.  Only time will tell which of these two scenarios is true, but I believe that we are entering the time of the tribulation soon and I see the signs of it everywhere… yet I would be more than glad for God to put it off a decade or two so that we can live out my days in peace with my children and grandchildren and then go to be with the Lord at the appointed time.

                I will leave it to you to decide whether good days or bad days lay ahead.  We may have more time or we may be plunging into the tribulation even as we speak. You have a Bible. You be the judge.

                Either way, I am determined by His grace to grow in the Lord, ever learning to put away the flesh and to live by His Spirit and by His Word until the day He calls me home… And I want to win as many souls to Christ as I can along the way. How about you?