Month: June 2016

“Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.  And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.  As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.  And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed…” (Daniel 2:41-44).

In the book of Daniel, God laid out the remaining world empires that would rule over Israel, from Daniel’s time through the end of this present age.  This information was initially delivered in a dream given to King Nebuchadnezzar of a giant statue of a man.  Daniel was called in to interpret the dream.

The statue was composed of four main metals:  gold, silver, bronze, and iron.  Each metal represented an empire, and was succeeded by an even stronger metal or empire.  The final empire was the iron empire of Rome.  Rome would  continue in some way, shape, or form through the end of this present age.  Ultimately, the kingdom of Christ— represented as a stone cut out of the mountain without hands— would strike the statue on its feet and bring about its downfall.

In the statue, the composition of Rome in its latter days changes from that of all iron to one of iron and clay.  What does that represent?

All nations have experienced immigrants to their lands.  A normal slow and gradual process results in assimilation into its culture, such as America has experienced over its history.

But what has happened to Europe in the past few years has been a rapid, huge influx of refugees on a constant basis.  Instead of gradual assimilation, the masses of refugees have remained within their own enclaves and culturally distinct from the host nations.  As a result, we have the mess going on in Europe right now (and also threatening America).  We have the Roman descendants of iron not mixing in with the Middle Eastern clay refugees.

The refugee crisis in Europe is what drove the Brexit vote a few days ago.  The iron and clay do not mix.  They do not “cleave together”, just as iron does not mix with clay.  It is akin to adding flour to your mix.  Do it slowly and carefully and it mixes in well.  But dump a lot of flour suddenly, and you have a real mess  on your hands!

NOW I AM GETTING TO THE REAL MESSAGE HERE.  In the statue of Nebuchadnezzar, the feet of iron and clay change over into ten toes of iron and clay during the final days.  What drives the change from feet into the ten toes?  We may be experiencing that right now.  It may be the very fact that the iron/clay are not adhering together that forces a CRISIS, which brings about the final government of the ten kings (and Antichrist).

HAS THAT “CRISIS” BEGUN WITH THE BREXIT VOTE?  We are naive and much too idealistic if we believe that a vote will somehow solve the already existing refugee crisis.  Or that the interdependent global economy will not be markedly affected by this.  For the exiting of Britain is inciting other countries to do the same.

If the EU is modern day Rome with its feet of iron and clay, could the BREXIT shaking transform it into the ten toes of iron and clay?

What does the Bible actually teach concerning the timing of the rapture?  The Bible spells it out plainly in a passage of scripture that has been misused by prophetic teachers as a basis for every weird theory of end times out there.  The Bible passage is Luke 17:26-30:

“And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:  They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage UNTIL THE DAY THAT NOAH ENTERED THE ARK, AND THE FLOOD CAME AND DESTROYED THEM ALL.

“Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot:  They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, BUT ON THE DAY THAT LOT WENT OUT OF SODOM IT RAINED FIRE AND BRIMSTONE from heaven and destroyed them all.  EVEN SO WILL IT BE IN THE DAY WHEN THE SON OF MAN IS REVEALED.”

This passage is NOT talking about how evil society will be in the end times.  Eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting, and building are normal activities of daily life.

What this passage IS saying is that normal activities of daily life will go on UNTIL THE DAY that the righteous are removed and THE JUDGMENT OF GOD (as typified in the flood, fire, and brimstone) BEGINS!

I Thessalonians 1:10 agrees with this:  “…and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”

And then there is 2 Peter 2:9:  “then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.”

What the Bible actually teaches about our deliverance is that it occurs ON THE SAME DAY that the judgment of God begins.

So the question becomes, when does the day of God’s wrath start?

The Bible does not reveal dates, but it does given certain things that MUST take place BEFORE the great and terrible Day of the Lord commences.  I will give you 5 of them:

– The great apostasy (II Thessalonians 2:3).

– The revealing of the man of sin (II Thessalonians 2:3-4).

– The coming of Elijah the Prophet (Malachi 4:5).

– The cosmic disturbances of the sun, moon, and stars (Joel 2:31 and others).

– An unprecedented silence in heaven (Zephaniah 1:7).  By the way, this silence is documented in Revelation 8:1, with the breaking of the seventh and final seal!

According to scripture itself, certain events MUST take place BEFORE the great and terrible day of the Lord can occur.  If we take the Bible for what it plainly teaches, the wrath of God cannot begin any earlier than the second half (the last 3 1/2 years) of end times.

This would leave us Christians— while not knowing the day or hour— yet knowing the SEASON of His return!  Are there other scriptures to back this up?  Consider this important instruction by Paul the apostle:

“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.  For you yourselves know perfectly that the Day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.  For when THEY say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon THEM, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.  And THEY shall not escape.  BUT YOU BRETHREN ARE NOT IN DARKNESS, SO THAT THIS DAY SHOULD OVERTAKE YOU AS A THIEF!  You are all sons of light and sons of the day.  We are not of the night nor of darkness.  Therefore let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober…” (I Thessalonians 5:1-6).

How could we not be caught offguard by the Lord’s return unless He had given us clearly defined signs of His return?  We are not in darkness because His “word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.”  The Word of God is our lamp.

Revelation promises a blessing to those who hear and keep this word.  However, keeping this word requires that we do a sober study of it.  And neither give in  to sensationalism nor the pressure of the religious majority.

In regard to the rapture, what the Bible actually teaches is that we are not appointed unto God’s wrath.  It says nothing about us being exempt from the persecution of Antichrist.  In fact, when seal #5 is broken, the martyrs are heard asking God how long before He judges and avenges their blood!

In Matthew 24:21-22 Jesus tells us that the great tribulation of Antichrist will be SHORTENED for the elect’s sake.   What shortens it?

 Jesus documents His Second Coming and a gathering of His elect (Matthew 24:31) from the heavens and from the earth (Mark 13:27) at an indeterminate day following the onset of the great tribulation!  THIS IS THE RAPTURE OF BELIEVERS!

Jesus’ Second Coming occurs with the cosmic signs given in Matthew 24:29-30, which is the breaking of Seal #6 (Revelation 6:12-17).  It is at this point that the people of the earth recognize that DIVINE WRATH has come to the world.

BUT THE ELECT OF GOD HAVE JUST BEEN REMOVED.  WE ARE NOT APPOINTED UNTO WRATH.  It is a PRE-WRATH rapture that the Bible teaches.