ENDURING TO THE END - Part 4 - by Jackie Alnor

And you tell me Over and over again, my friend Ah, you don't believe We're on the eve of destruction.

End Times Countdown

Many, many a believer’s faith is shipwrecked by the antics of religious leaders. I’m reminded of the rebuke Jesus gave to the Pharisees:

"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” – Matt. 23:13

The horrific condition of the institutional church, however, did not catch God by surprise. According to Bible prophecy, the great apostasy of Christendom is right on schedule. This should not be a cause for walking away from the faith, but evidence for the veracity of the Bible and for believing that God is true and every man that contradicts His Word is a liar.

The parallels between the condition of the religious community at the time of Jesus’ first coming and the rampant unbelief seen in ecclesiological circles today leading up to His second coming is no accident. Jesus came to His own, and His own received Him not, the Bible says. The scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees were ignoring the Old Testament’s prophecies of the coming of the Messiah who would be the Suffering Servant, laying His life down for His sheep. They wanted a triumphant messiah that would free them from the political rule of the Roman Empire.

Likewise today, the mass majority of the religious leaders are not pointing their congregations to the soon return of the LORD and His coming Kingdom – they are preaching Kingdom-Now triumphalism, without the return of the King of kings and LORD of lords. They are coming up with programs and formulas of church growth principles so that they can build the kingdom on earth and take dominion over it without the presence of the King.

There were exceptions to the Jewish leaders who rejected Jesus in the Gospels. When Joseph and Mary brought the baby to the Temple for His dedication and circumcision, Simon the priest was filled with joy, holding the Savior, the consolation of Israel. And Anna was also there, glorifying God alongside him. And the future apostles who listened to John the Baptist were all Jews who were looking for their Messiah to come, but none of them were temple priests.

Today there are exceptions to the Kingdom-Now rule, although in the past 40 years their numbers have fallen dramatically. This is due to the folly of recent date-setters, such as the infamous Harold Camping of Family Radio whose May 21, 2011 date for Christ’s return was a great disappointment to many who believed what they read on his billboards around the world. Over the past 40 years of so, many premature heraldings of the timing of His return came and went, discrediting the study of eschatology. These ill-advised speculations brought ridicule upon Bible prophecy, mostly within the walls of the institutional church. Oddly, the secular world is more likely to see the lateness of the hour and currently there are several new films out of Hollywood with an Armageddon theme.

Perhaps this phenomenon is due to the fact that the LORD is removing the lampstand from these institutional churches, just like He warned He would do to the disobedient churches in His seven letters at the beginning of Revelation. One of Jesus’ parables demonstrates this – it is called the Parable of the Invited Guests. In this parable, Jesus spoke of a King who was preparing a wedding party and when he sent His servants to gather the guests, they each gave an excuse for not being able to attend the wedding. Each of them gave worldly reasons for putting carnal pursuits ahead of the King’s invitation. The King was angry and told His servants to go out into the highways and byways so that His table would be full. He angrily said that those who were invited would not be welcomed in.

This also fits biblical imagery regarding the Harvest of souls seen in both the Old and New Testaments. After the initial Harvest, according to the Old Testament law, farmers were not to go over their ground a second time. This was God’s way to provide for the poor. What was left over, the gleaners would be welcome to so that the poor would not go hungry. Today, the invited guests – the institutional church for the most part – has quit looking for the return of the Bridegroom. So the gleaners are going outside the visible church to find the outcasts to come to the Wedding.

In the parable, one of those outcasts tried to come in without his wedding garments on, and the King had him thrown out into outer darkness. Those garments represent the garments of salvation – as Jesus will clothe each of His followers with His own righteousness as symbolized by white linen.

The Parable of the Sower shows that a lack of understanding leads to apostasy for those whose soil is in the condition of those beside the road (Matt. 13:19). Those in the “church” who are intentionally ignorant of Bible prophecy and who tell others to disregard its study, do not have the discernment to read the signs of the times. They put themselves in danger of being ensnared by the thing that prophecy tells us to watch out for. They are not on the watch – they are sleeping virgins with no oil in their lamps. Their lamps are dark – they do not have spiritual sight. To ignore Bible prophecy is hazardous to your spiritual well-being.

Some would object that God would ever turn against His church. True. He will not turn away from His Bride, but He most certainly has major issues with the religious leaders today who do not follow His Word, but have built traditions and practices that “make void the Word of God.” They call themselves “church” but it is by lip-service, their heart is far from Jesus when their career is being part of the paid clergy with parsonage and retirement benefits. And their followers do not abide in the Vine, but turn all things spiritual over to their church or pastor for them to worry about.

In fact, the New Testament warns us that what happened to the house of Israel can, and most likely will, also happen to the professing church:

“And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches…You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.’ Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.” – Rom 11:17-21

All Things Lining Up

Bible prophecy can seem like such a complicated thing for a new believer to try to grasp. Many books and Bible studies have been published on the topic, so we won’t go into great depth here. But we need to at least look at the big picture so that the reader can see how all things are lining up for the final events of history before the LORD comes back and sets up His Kingdom on Earth.

Bible Scholars tell us that 30% of the Bible is prophecy. Much of it dealt with the birth of the Jewish Messiah – the fulfillment of which is celebrated every year on December 25th. Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection were all foreseen by Old Testament prophets as God revealed to His servants. Just as the prophecies about Jesus’ first coming were fulfilled, the prophecies related to His second coming can also be counted upon to make headlines. God’s Word assures us of this. Jesus said:

"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matt. 5:17-18

The following events are prophesied to take place before the second coming of the Messiah. These are iron-clad truths that the Bible clearly presents.

• There will be a seven-year period of time call the Great Tribulation in which the devil himself will possess a world leader in an effort to establish his diabolical power over humankind. This politician is known as the “antichrist” because he will try to counterfeit the attributes of the true Messiah as his calling card for those looking for a human savior.

• He will be preceded by false prophet, the forerunner, who counterfeits the position of John the Baptist in preparing the way for the hearts of men to accept the antichrist. He is most likely to be a religious leader and will direct humankind to the “man of lawlessness.”

• Leading up to this seven-year period, there will be many signs that will increase in strength and frequency, the intensity of which is compared to the birth pangs of a woman in labor. These include, but are not limited to, earthquakes, pestilence, famine, false prophets, false christs, wars, and rumors of wars.

• A major increase in knowledge and transportation as never seen before in history.

• The LORD will catch away His invisible church, the Bride of Christ, those who are truly born-again and belong to Him. This is known as the rapture, when the dead in Christ rise first and the living saints are transformed into immortal bodies and are caught up together with them to meet the LORD in the air.

• The antichrist and false prophet will institute an economic system in which no person can buy or sell unless they have a mark in their right hand or in their forehead thereby showing their allegiance to the antichrist. Long before the micro-chip system, prophecy students have seen this coming – even before the horseless carriage.

• God will set aside 144,000 witnesses from the physical descendants of the twelve tribes of Israel. God will put a mark in their foreheads so that no demonic thing can harm them. God does not need any genealogies to tell Him who these men are – even those whose ancestors have intermingled with other nations contain the seed of Jacob, but might not be recognized by anthropologists today.

• A global religion that is spiritually abhorrent that the Bible calls “The Mother Harlot.”

• God will also send two of His servants to testify against the antichrist. One of these two witnesses will be the prophet Elijah. The identity of the second witness is up for speculation.

• An image of the antichrist will be set up in the temple of God in Jerusalem and it is made to speak – all peoples will be compelled to worship this image and the antichrist as the embodiment of God. Those who refuse will be subject to execution by having their heads lopped off.

• The antichrist makes a seven-year peace treaty with the nation of Israel and breaks the agreement half-way through. This peace accord promises safety to Israel, the rebirth of which was also prophesied by Old Testament prophets.

• All the nations of the world will be against Israel that God calls “a cup of trembling” to the planet.

• After what the Bible calls “The Abomination of Desolation” is set up in the Temple, God releases judgments upon the earth that by this time have become very corrupt and immoral.

• God’s judgment mimics the judgments that fell upon Egypt during the time that Israel was held in captivity when God sent Moses to set His people free.

• Some sort of heavenly body crashes into the ocean and kills all the life in the seven seas.

• Fire and brimstone – whether man-made or God-sent – kills a majority of humans alive at that time.

• The antichrist rallies his troops to make his final attack against Israel. This is known as the Battle of Armageddon and the war will be cut short by the return of the LORD Christ Jesus who will destroy those who try to destroy the earth.

• The devil will be cast into the abyss for 1,000 years and locked away so that he can no longer corrupt the human race.

• The “New Jerusalem” where the saints dwell descends from heaven.

• Jesus then rules from Jerusalem for 1,000 years, transforming the earth to its original paradise state.

It is almost impossible for the imagination of man to fully comprehend these prophecies. When they happen, they will lose their mysteriousness. Much speculation about the timing of events and the little details have been seen in books and films for quite some time. It is part of our modern mystique to ponder the future. Novels like the Left Behind series and films like The Day After are commonplace as the signs of the times cannot be ignored by any thinking person.

Sadly, speculations that come from the imagination of man or the world’s seers and psychics come and go and discredit the truth of Bible prophecy. For those fully grounded in God’s Word, however, we do not let prophetic misfires discourage us from our excited anticipation of our LORD’s immanent return.

There are some areas alluded to in Bible prophecy that we cannot be definitive about since there is room for various interpretations. They will be obvious as they are fulfilled or proven to not play a role, but beforehand there are various views about these things:

• The nationality of the false prophet and the antichrist.

• The exact timing of the rapture and the start of the Tribulation.

• The involvement, if any, of so-called UFOs and space brothers.

• The return of, or nature of, the Nephilim, a hybrid creature spoken of in the Book of Genesis.

• The identity of “The Restrainer” that God takes out of the way before judgment falls.

• How certain futuristic technologies will play a role – such as robotics, computers, genetic engineering, satellites, drones, cashless money system, etc.

• How prophesied lying signs and wonders will play out.

• How those left behind will explain away the rapture.

• Timing of the rapture – pre-mid-pre-wrath-post/tribulation.

• Extra-biblical revelation from dreams and visions.

• Where various secret societies fit into any conspiracies to rule the world.

And then there are a variety of messages coming from false prophets and occult channelers whose insights are not only worthless, but muddy the water and need to be rejected. The Roman Catholic Church has a long history of such messages from Marian apparitions, such as Lourdes and Fatima, to so-called prophets such as Mother Shipton and Nostradamus. There is a definite demonic deception behind these phenomena.

New World Order

One theme in Bible Prophecy, both Old and New Testaments, is the rise of a one world order, or as it says on the American dollar "Novus Ordo Seclorum" meaning "New Order of the Ages.” The prophecies in the last few chapters of the Book of Daniel, as well as the Book of Revelation, prophesy about a revived Roman Empire in the last days with a world leader who heads it up, identified as the antichrist. The prophecies show that this leader’s new order is in control of the economy, religion and politics – his own rather successful rendition of the “three legged stool” boasted of by a variety of religious and secular peace brokers.

Knowing that the antichrist will be such a globalist, those of us who keep a lookout on the signs of the times recognize the danger signs when we hear news makers promote any sort of planetary citizenry. Certainly in this information age, the world is becoming a much smaller place. People all over the world are discovering like-minded people and exchanging ideas that will steer the course of the future of this planet one way or another. Even the Remnant of the true invisible church can network with one another instantly over thousands of miles with a click of a mouse.

The influence of the spirit of antichrist in the world in the 21st century is in your face every time you turn around. It is so obvious to us prophecy watchers, yet goes virtually unnoticed by everyone else. Only a prophecy student, for example, would see the significance in the European Union using the symbol of a woman riding a beast on currency, stamps, and even in a bronze statue of a woman on a beast outside the EU office in Brussels. And the Parliament building in Strasbourg is designed to replicate the tower of Babel which was built when the world was one people and one language and has come to symbolize the uprising of man against God.

Globalism on the economic front is also a trend that cannot be missed as a sign of the times. Back in the 1970s, prophecy teachers warning about a coming cash-less society were scoffed at and considered nuts for predicting such an unheard of system. But today when people buy and sell online using debit cards and their bank accounts, this concept is not foreign at all.

In Advance of the Antichrist

It is unmistakable that the world is being conditioned to accept things that would never have been acceptable coming at them all at once. The spirit of antichrist is influencing many movers and shakers to prepare society to accept a global religion, a global government, and a global economy. Patriotism and nationalism are both enemies of the new world order. Individualism is now being painted as a selfish backward idea compared to the group-think of the collective. Those who do not go along with the forward-thinking progressives are being systematically silenced and pushed to the sidelines of public discourse. Believers in absolute truth and constitutional freedoms are no longer in the mainstream and are being excluded from positions in the media and higher education.

On the religion front, inter-faith and ecumenism are the buzz words of the spirit of antichrist. The institutional, visible church is hard at work putting together Catholic and Protestant organizations and signing pacts with each other acknowledging each other as Christians, undoing all the gains that were made for Bible truth during the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. Unity in diversity is the name of the game that puts false doctrine on equal standing with sound doctrine. This metamorphosis did not happen overnight – but has only recently become the politically correct thinking for Christianity Today. It is now considered an act of unkindness to question the teachings of any professing believer. Threats are hurled at those who test all things by Scripture such as “touch not God’s anointed” or “you’re being critical.” Truth-lovers now are consigned to the back of the church bus.

There are many ideas in the visible church today gaining popularity that are what the Bible calls “doctrines of devils.” Universalism, the belief that there is no hell and all humans get to heaven no matter what they believe, has become a popular consensus for the mass majority of people calling themselves Christian. Panentheism, a pagan concept that God is not transcendent from his creation, but is a part of His creation and is in everything and every person no matter what their confession of faith happens to be, is a popular heresy in this new faith. These false teachings are being taught by those who used to teach sound biblical doctrines but have apostatized and joined with the liberal church. They have a name for themselves they wear as a badge of honor. They are Emergent – they adapt their beliefs to the ideas of the culture in their effort to remain relevant.

Backlash on Rapture Believers

When I came to Christ in 1981, on the heels of the Jesus Freaks movement of the 70s, the excitement over the soon return of Jesus was in the air. The belief in the soon return of Jesus Christ was part and parcel of that last major revival. The events going on in Israel and the realization that mankind was on the brink of self-annihilation were signs that even doped-up hippies couldn’t miss. Hal Lindsey’s bestseller, The Late Great Planet Earth, was on everyone’s night table. It gave hope to hippies and the establishment alike that the world was not spinning out of control, but that God was still in the driver’s seat.

I had discovered, almost ten years before I got saved, that the LORD was going to return to the earth and set up His Kingdom. Many years before the Left Behind series came out, there was a novel about the foretold events of the last days and the Great Tribulation first published in 1970. That book was called “666.” It was written by the late Salem Kirban, a WW-II veteran and former news correspondent covering the Vietnam War. I read it around 1973 while working for the County of Los Angeles, Venereal Disease Control.

There were around twenty others clerks in that office and we were all around the same age and very close-knit. I was astounded to find out that Jesus was coming again. As a Catholic at the time, I had only thought that at the end of the world Jesus would judge the living and the dead, but not from this planet’s soil. My friends at work all took turns reading it. By the time I got my book back, it was held together with a rubber band. If we only had a preacher to give us the salvation message, we would all have responded – that’s how excited we all got over the truth in that book.

There was one girl in our office, Karen, who seemed to know something about Bible prophecy. She had been going to Pastor Chuck Smith’s tent meetings in nearby Orange County for quite a while where she learned about it. She and her boyfriend quit attending because they moved in together and knew that their cohabitation would not sit well at Calvary Chapel. All of us who had read the book quizzed her and she told us a lot more and answered our questions. Somehow, without knowing it, the Spirit of God that was being poured out at that time visited us there on the grounds of Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in Downey.

Although we had no idea of the need to repent and commit our lives to Jesus, a seed of the Word of God was most certainly sown. In my own life it would take a few years to come to fruition.