Preparing for His appearing -- "The Bride must make herself ready"

The days before Christ's return are ticking down quickly. The most probable dates, to me, are May 21st (the Ascension) and May 31st (Pentecost). However, we should be ready for His appearing at any moment. I have recommended a few action steps, which I repeat here for those who may be new to this blog or may have not seen them:

Get your spiritual house in order. REPENT. This means align your life with the law of God. Where you have sinned, you must acknowledge your sin, confess it to God, and make restitution where-ever possible and AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

OBEY - Every person who was saved in the Church Age repented, confessed, was baptized, and submitted to the Lordship of Christ in ALL of life. If you are not living in newness of life, it's because you are not reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Do yourself (and your loved ones!) a favor: turn off the TV, take out the trash (foul books, music, videos, etc.) and get your heart right before God. DO NOT PUT THIS OFF. Don't trifle with God, His law, or His offer of salvation. He WILL preserve you if your belief is evidenced by obedience, hatred of sin, holy living, and love of the brethren.

Don't be deceived. Study your Bible. The time is getting really short.

Pray for those you know who are still lost. No one can come to faith in Christ unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). IF you are saved, you have a privilege and an advantage that most people don't share: access to God's Throne of Grace. Use it!

I know that, especially among the Evangelical community here in the U.S. there is still a lot of resistance to what is mis-characterized as "water salvation" and this leads to a great deal of resistance to water baptism. I was once among them. However, true conversion ALWAYS results in obedience, and immersion is both 1) a command of Christ, and 2) a prerequisite for the rapture. Check out The Epic Event and notice that according to Hebrews 10, to participate in the Event we must:

1. draw near with a true heart,
2. have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,
3. have our bodies washed with pure water,
4. hold fast the confession of hope without wavering,
5. stir up love and good works, and
6. exhort one another.

Here is an excellent audio resource by Mark Biltz that you may also find helpful:

A Church Without Blemish — If you've ever wondered about the meaning of "spots, wrinkles and blemishes," this is an in depth study allowing the Bible to explain itself.

Remember - once that trumpet sounds, it will be TOO LATE to do any more preparation. Let's all be found without spot, wrinkle or blemish when our beloved Lord returns for us. Let's make it His most joyful day!

Why the "Tea Party" Movement Will Go Nowhere

The "tea party" movement will go NOWHERE. Here's why:

Our problem is not economic or political. It is a moral rot undergirt by the culture's willingness to accept homosexuality, and primarily by the culture's willingness to accept the "right to choose."

Our rights come from God as an endowment, but we have squandered the endowment by embracing what God abhors. We now have the blood of 50 million innocent American babies crying out to God for vengeance. God has obviously decided to take our God-given rights away.

Were these tea-partiers staunchly opposed to the wickedness of abortion, we would at least have standing to appeal to God and rely upon His Divine providence. Or His mercy. But alas! many of our conservative and patriotic comrades-in-arms have no problem with abortion at all! They think "choice" in all matters is a good thing, and object only to an overbearing central government's meddling.

There is no consensus for righteousness amongst these tea-partiers, and God is properly using Obama and his ilk to punish America for her sins.

So this "tea party" fad is simply a tempest in a teapot. There is NO call for repentance, or for the end of the shedding of innocent blood. For this reason, the patriots cannot prevail.

In the days of Israel's revivals, the idols were torn down and the center of Molech worship in Jerusalem, the valley of the son of Hinnom, was turned into a garbage dump. When we give that sort of treatment to the abortion "clinics" in our communities, then maybe ... MAYBE ... God will hear and relent. But I don't think it's gonna happen. It appears that the Libertarians are the strongest bloc within the "freedom movement" and they still don't get it. On most of the political forums I've visited, talk of tax resistance is fine, but talk of ending abortion is "mixing politics with religion" ... the same old cop-out.

I don't even know a lot of Christians who are passionate about ending abortion. So, if we won't end it, God will.

P.S. Another excellent treatment of this topic was written by Joel McDurmon: TEA-Party Hypocrisy: How Much Socialism Is Acceptable?

Prophetic Implications

In the world of eschatology, much has been made of the regathering of the Jews in their ancient homeland. I have been rather critical of this "sign" because many of the so-called "Jews" in the modern STATE of Israel are allegedly not descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Instead, they come from the Khazar kingdom of early Europe and they are not even Semitic people.

That being said, it may still be that the re-establishment of a Jewish nation could be a sign. It is certainly unprecedented. And in view of the prophesied destruction of 2/3 of the people in the land at the hands of the "Magog Alliance," it is not outside the realm of possibility that the survivors could be Mizrachim Jews; that is, Semitic people.

Highly speculative, and no offense intended. In any event, if the creation of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 is of prophetic significance -- if this is the "budding of the fig tree" that portends the final generation before the return of Christ -- then it's possible to crunch a few numbers. If the maximum time passes and Jesus does not return, we will know that Israel's re-establishment was not a sign. However, it is better to be prepared for the Lord's return and be mistaken, than to NOT be prepared and have Him come.

A Biblical "generation" is generally agreed to be seventy years. Indeed, that is the only possibility remaining if the "fig tree" budded in 1948. In addition, a prophetic year is 360 days. Thus, the duration of a generation would be 25,200 days and the last day would be on May 12, 2017. If there is a final 7-year period of worldwide tribulation, which many Bible students see as the most likely meaning of the end-time prophecies, that period would have to begin no later than June 18, 2010

However, a quick perusal of the news on the internet, or your favorite print media (if they haven't already gone bankrupt) seems to announce that some "tribulation" has already begun. Can you find anyone (who isn't trying to sell you something) who thinks things are going to get better any time soon? Will these multi-trillion dollar bail-out schemes help the average working stiff, or put any bread on YOUR table, or help you with YOUR mortgage?

Is it possible that we are seeing a ramp-up to world-wide chaos: economies in shambles, people at war, violence in the streets, famines and plagues? What would one expect the world to look like after the Four Horsemen begin their work?

My experience in discussing these things is that most people don't believe we are really on the threshold of the return of Christ. This, of course, is another confirming sign; just what Jesus said to expect. However, looking at the scriptures and at the state and direction of our world, it is hard to draw any other conclusion.

This is it, folks. Jesus Christ IS coming back. Russia and Iran are forming an alliance, and the next major event (besides the removal of the Bride of Christ from the earth) will be a major war in the middle east, and judgment on the "coastlands."

Read The Final Fulfillment of Pentecost (or re-read it - it's been enhanced) and follow the links at the bottom. If you are fearful as you face the future, it's because your heart isn't right.

Judgment is coming. Expect it, and be ready for it.

The Final Fulfillment of Pentecost

I've always been interested in prophecy, and I've always been a date-setter. One of the first books I read after becoming a Christian was a book by a guy named Taylor who had biblical "proof" that the rapture would occur in September of 1975, and that Juan Carlos of Spain HAD to be the Antichrist.

We've come a long way.

I've seen a lot of theories, believed a few of them, and have been "wrong" every time ... so far. But the point is not to be "right" ... the point is to be READY. Knowing when the Lord could come can be a very focussing activity. And whether the conclusions in my article are right or not is insignificant compared to whether we are ready ... or not.

These are my concluding thoughts, which also appear at the end of the article. If you're "too busy" to read the article, please at least spend some time on these:

1. First, this is NOT a time to panic. We have known for 2000 years that Jesus was going to return, set up His kingdom, and judge the earth.
   
2. Get your spiritual house in order. REPENT. This means align your life with the law of God. Where you have sinned, you must acknowledge your sin, confess it to God, and make restitution where-ever possible and AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
   
3. OBEY - Every person who was saved in the Church Age repented, confessed and submitted to the Lordship of Christ in ALL of life, and was baptized. If you are not living in newness of life, it's because you are not reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Do yourself (and your loved ones!) a favor: turn off the TV, take out the trash (foul books, music, videos, etc.) and get your heart right before God. DO NOT PUT THIS OFF. Don't trifle with God, His law, or His offer of salvation to those whose belief is evidenced by obedience, hatred of sin, holy living, and love of the brethren.
   
4. Don't be deceived. Study your Bible. The time is getting really short.
   
5. Pray for those you know who are still lost. No one can come to faith in Christ unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). IF you are saved, you have a privilege and an advantage that most people don't share: access to God's Throne of Grace. Use it!
   
6. If June 1st arrives and none of these things have happened, it is because I made unwarranted assumptions or otherwise erred in my study. The Bible is still true. You will never be any worse off for preparing for your inevitable meeting with God. And you could still be hit by a truck on June 2nd.

I hope this article blesses and encourages each of you, and I hope you have friends to whom you will want to forward the link:

http://www.rogershermansociety.org/pentecost.htm

Yes, I'm setting a date for the return of Christ. Please remember the boy in the fable who cried "wolf!" He was wrong every time ... except the LAST time. I have also been wrong every time ... but I've been ready. My earnest prayer is that we all will be; that we will not shrink back when He appears, or be found asleep instead of being ready as He commanded us.

May the Lord continue to bless you as you seek the truth in Him.

"Whoever believes in Jesus will ....."

I would submit that there are several Biblical ways to complete this, and all the completions are complementary. James says that the faith that saves is a faith that issues in obedience: "faith without works is dead." You SEE that a man is saved by works (because only God can see faith; all we can see is its results). Jesus said, "If you love Me you will keep My commandments." A "faith" that does not create any visible change in the life of the person is not a saving faith.

"Do I have to be baptized?"

That's probably not the real issue. The issue seems to me to be, "Just how disobedient and rebellious can I remain and still avoid hell?" These folks aren't particularly interested in loving God, submitting to Christ, becoming holy .... all they want is fire insurance. They want to remain fleshly; hence their aversion to burying the old man.

I see this throughout "organized" Christianity; people who want to "follow the program" so they won't go to hell, but who at the same time don't want to allow the Lord to transform them. That's why they continue to listen to the same garbage music, watch the same garbage movies and TV programs, run with the same worldly crowd, and let their Bible gather dust.

Baptism is a HUGE privilege. Those unwilling to submit to it are not going to fool God on the day of judgment. He won't be swayed by their theological rationale. But on the other hand, those who submit to the "ritual of baptism" and obey from the flesh rather than from the heart, and who don't continue in faith and obedience, will be just as lost as they were before they got wet. Baptism isn't magic; it's obedience. Talking about "saving faith" that does not issue in an obedient life is like talking about a one-ended stick. There is no such thing.

Rumor has it ....

Rumor has it that Michael Newdow, a fairly well-known atheist from California, has taken umbrage at the use of the phrase "so help me, God" in the inaugural oath of the President.

Anyone who doesn't believe in God is unfit to "serve" in government.

Period.

I don't care how many PhD's he may have, how popular he may be, how long he's been around, or how clever his arguments against the existence of God may be. He is UNFIT to serve.

Why do these morons keep giving Newdow and his ilk a platform?

Interesting - Newdow will marshall a "constitutional" argument against references to God, but says nothing about Obama's constitutional disqualification because he was born in Kenya. What a hypocrite.

There. I said it. I'm done ranting. Have a nice day.

Intemperate Thoughts About 'Christmas'

I am happy that the world has not dressed Jesus in red and white, and had Him sliding down the chimney with His twelve apostolic-elves. I'm glad that His mother has not been re-cast as Mrs. Santa Claus ... or some similar abomination. Still, I'm sure Madison Avenue has at least toyed with the ideas, along with making gift-giving a new sacrament.

But I have abandoned Christmas. The "Christmas Story" is such a twisting of the biblical history that it's an embarrassment. This "baby Jesus" is not what the world needs. Jesus -- displayed as a helpless Babe in a manger is the only Jesus that our crumbling world can tolerate. But it needs to see Jesus Christ the Triumphant, the Judge of the World, the Lord of all the earth, the One Whose fierceness against sin this country will soon face.

We do our country no favor by going along with a pagan Saturnalia feast that's been recycled for the American pseudo-Christian culture. There is no historical record of Jesus or the early church celebrating Jesus' birthday. Why we trot out His baby pictures once a year in a commercialized buying frenzy, laden with guilt and sugar cookies, and then think there's something redeeming about the whole exercise, remains a mystery. "Christmas" is not Christian. It does not honor Christ, it does not edify His people, it does not minister to the lost.

The message America needs to hear now ... ESPECIALLY now .... is "Repent! Judgment is here!" ... not "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" or "Away in a manger."

Let the church BE the church.