Bible Prophecy by Rick Lange

THE HOME STRETCH                 If we build our interpretations of Bible Prophecy with brick and mortar, it becomes exceedingly difficult to expand our understanding of last day events as they unfold.                 Right now, my understanding of last day events is being stretched and expanded in ways that I never would have suspected. Right now I am getting an inside look at the nature of the coming kingdom of the antichrist   and what I am seeing is shocking. No wonder Jesus said first off,” Let no man deceive you.”   Mt. 24:4.                 We need to understand that in Mt. 24 Jesus was answering 2 questions and not just one. The disciples said: “Tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age.                 So the two questions were these: 1.        When will this temple be destroyed so that one stone is not left upon another? 2.        And what signs should we look for in connection with your

MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE TO THE LORD                 During the Dark ages when Christianity had been mixed half and half with paganism, the sounds of joy were suppressed. Mournful chants took the place of exuberant praise as ascetic monks beat themselves with rods and whips, and crawled on stone floors until their knees were bloody and did many other acts of penance in order to purge the sin from their lives.                 Gregorian chant has a certain sad beauty to it as it rings through the high arched cathedrals of dead religion, but it is borne of man’s idea of holiness and not God’s.                 With the birth of the reformation, music began to move from the minor keys to the major keys and harmonies began to mimic the freedom that people felt as a result of their newfound freedom in Christ. Still to this day there are some churches and denominations that have held a somewhat modified sense of subdued worship, either by not allowing instruments, or limiting

THE DARK SIDE OF TRADITION                 Tradition can be a good thing. If your tradition, for instance, involves basing everything on the Word of God, then that is a good tradition. But if on the other hand you live by traditions that have been handed down and you embrace those traditions as being the truth, an amazing thing happens. You can become absolutely blind to anything in the Bible that speaks that is contrary to what you believe.                 Paul explained it like this:                 “But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. “2 Cor. 3:14-16                 When it says that their minds were hardened, think of clay. When it is soft and pliable it can be shaped by the potter’s hand, but once it has been

JUST AS I AM                 “Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me and that Thou bidst me come to Thee, Oh Lamb of God I come, I come.”                 We sing it, but we don’t always tend to believe it. After years of struggle and learning to put away sin in our lives and learning how to live sanctified lives, it is easy to begin to look at our track record as somehow contributing to our salvation in some way. And yet, if we are deeply honest with ourselves we would ask this one question: ”Would I rather stand before God with my own good record, or Jesus’ perfect record?”                 I once had an 80 year old friend come up to me and to tell me that he had been living a sinless life for some years now and that he expected to be among the 140,000 virgins listed in revelation 14:1 Of course he was basing his idea of perfection on the Law and since he had stopped breaking the Law, he felt that He was now in a special group somehow.

GOD FORGIVES THE PENITENT                 Until we come to fully realize that according to the Law, we are absolutely worthy of eternal death and separation from God and the hellfire that was intended only for Satan and his fallen angels; we will not fully experience gratefulness and deeply heartfelt worship.                 Until we understand that the Law writes all men under sin and that there is no means of escape, no way to reclaim what we have lost and nothing we can do including keeping the Law that will restore us to salvation… then we begin to understand the significance of Jesus’ death in our place.                 A long as we think that we can achieve any sort of merit by keeping the Law, or having the gift of prophecy or having faith so as to move mountains, or to feed the poor or to have our bodies burned, or to speak with the tongues of men and of angels… as long as we think that there is anything we can do to contribute to saving ourselves… we will

NOAHIDE LAWS                 In answer to questions about the Noahide Laws, I would first of all suggest that you look up Noahide Laws on the internet. There is plenty of information about them and why Christians should be concerned.                 The seven Noahide Laws are as follows: 1.        Do not deny God   (No Idolatry) 2.        Do not murder 3.        Do not steal 4.        Do not engage in sexual immorality 5.        Do not blaspheme 6.        Do not eat a live animal (In other words, don’t eat meat taken from a live animal) 7.        Establish courts and legal systems to ensure obedience to these laws.                 Okay, these are the 7 Noahide Laws that will be imposed upon Gentiles. They are somewhat of a reflection of the Ten Commandments and we are left to wonder why they don’t just let the Ten Commandments remain as God gave them to us.                 At first sight they seem innocent enough but the problem is that