Don't Be Troubled When You Hear Of War

Mark 13:7, “And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.”

I was listening to Alexander Scourby read the King James Bible today and something caught my attention from the book of Mark. While prophesying of future events, Jesus told His disciples that wars must come, and that believers should not be troubled when they here of wars. Notice that Jesus didn't just tell us not to be troubled about rumors of wars, but also of wars themselves.

This truth is certainly applicable in 2024, when we are hearing of actual war in Ukraine, and also of the escalating North Korean and Taiwan conflicts. It's been in the news that North Korea is threatening to fire nukes against the United States if provoked. Russia has warned the U.S. against threatening North Korea.

Certainly, Americans worry, as would any nation's people, when we hear of coming war. I have four precious children. My second daughter is a sergeant in the Army National Guard. But I don't worry about her being deployed, because that is her choice, and the Lord told us not to worry. Okay, I worry a little. She's my daughter, and I'm very proud of her. She has my blessings. My children know my views on the Iraqi War, which was a massive fraud. I am not against the military. I'm against the exploitation of our youth by the U.S. federal government, to do the dirty work of the Luciferian elite. A needless 58,000 American youth were murdered in the Vietnam War, which was based upon a False Flag Terror Attack, the fraudulent Gulf Of Tonkin incident.

Few people understand the true reason behind the Ukraine War. Russia and China want the $12,000,000,000,000 worth of natural resources in Ukraine. The Word of God tells us in 1st Timothy 6:12 that the love of money is the root of all evil. Always follow the money and you'll know the truth of any earthly situation. I hate money and what it does to ruin people. That is why I have never (and never will) take a penny for serving God. I have invested over 60,000 hours of intense labor into my website ministry since 2002, and I did it all for the precious Lord Jesus Christ, because of my faith in Him as my God, Lord, Savior, King and Friend.

Few people, even Christians, can grasp the significance of the things I just said. I highly recommend Commander William Guy Carr's (1895-1959) book, “Pawns In The Game,” for an excellent overview of what is really going on in our world today. Worry is inevitable, but we don't have to stay focused upon it. Instead, we ought to “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:2-3). Most people (and we all do it sometimes) focus on the wrong things, which gets us into trouble. If we focus on our problems, they will seem to grow bigger in our own mind. You know that what I say is very true.

Most of the things that we worry about never actually happen. In fact, nearly everything that we worry over never occurs. At least that is true in my own life. I am now 57 years old. I have been a born-again Christian for 44 years. I have learned to let things go into God's hands and just trust Him. When you can't see what's ahead, trust God Who knows the future. Faith Him when you can't feel Him. Never go by your changing emotions, go by the unchanging promises of God in the inspired Holy Scriptures (i.e., the King James Bible in English).

Although the following passage of Scripture may seem like an over-simplification, it really is the answer to a happy life free of stress and worry. Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” That's why I only check my mailbox once a month. I don't care how important something may be, I really don't, because I refuse to live in fear of a mailbox. I check for mail when I decide to, not out of a feeling of worry that something important may be in there. Oh well, I'm thinking about Heaven. Amen! That is how I try to live. It works for me. When you have family time, or devotions, you ought to turn the phone off, so you don't even know if someone is calling. If you don't control your life, other people will, you can be assured of that.

Colossians 3:1-3, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

I absolutely love what the Lord Jesus said to all believers in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” How precious!!! As Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) said, “Life is a vale of tears!” When all the world seems to be crumbling around us, and war is happening, bills keep piling up, and problems seems to never go away, the Lord wants us to always BE OF GOOD CHEER, because JESUS HAS RISEN AND IS ALIVE, and everything is alright in our heavenly Father's house. What a beautiful truth!

So, when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, BE OF GOOD CHEER dear saint of God. Our future is very bright. We are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:37). Romans 8:37, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

The Bible Foretold Many False Prophets Would Come

2nd Peter 2:1-3, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”

False prophets are nothing new, but the inspired Scripture tells us that in the Last Days that not just a few, but “many” false prophets shall rise, deceiving and being deceived. Matthew 24:11, “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” Although this passage speaks of the coming 7-year Tribulation period, we are already seeing many false teachers arise in this generation. The list is simply too long to name of popular false teachers in our time, but a few such ungodly names are: John MacArthur, Ray Comfort, Paul Washer, John Piper, Marty Herron, Jeff Redlin, Gary Walton, Timothy Zacharias, Steve Pettit, Chuck Phelps, Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, Franklin Graham, et cetera.

Look at the Satanic trash that Pensacola Christian College's Campus Church mailed me yesterday!!! PCC is sinfully preaching another gospel, which perversion cannot produce the new birth by the Holy Spirit of God. It is tragic that PCC today preaches the same damnable heresy contained in the Devil's modern Bible revisions. How ironic! PCC uses only the inspired King James Bible, yet they have adopted and embrace the false doctrines propagated by the Devil's bibles. The fallacy that a lost sinner must “turn from your sinful bad habits” to get to Heaven is the Devil's lie taught in the new corrupt Bible versions. But you won't find any such nonsense taught in the blessed King James Bible.

It saddens my heart that from nearly every pulpit, television channel, radio station, religious college and social media platform today, a works-based-salvation is being preached. ...

2nd Timothy 4:2-4, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

When I post a picture of a puppy with a Bible verse, I get 50 likes on Facebook; but when I tell THE TRUTH that Pensacola Christian College (PCC) is pulling on the same rope as the Devil by preaching a counterfeit plan of salvation, I am fortunate to receive 2 likes. The Bible foretold that in these last days people who no longer tolerate sound doctrine. Instead, they have itching ears, only supporting what they feel like hearing.

They have turned their ears away from hearing THE TRUTH and instead have turned unto fables. The Greek word for “fables” here is muthos, meaning: “a tale, that is, fiction.” The Devil's lies of Lordship Salvation, misunderstood repentance and false bibles are all fiction). Most churchgoers today are mere sponges, absorbing whatever they are taught, whether it be doctrinally sound or perverse. Guard your soul dear reader, because today's pulpits in nearly every case are corrupt. Calvinism is NOT the Gospel. This damnable heresy has crept into nearly every church today to some extent.

I am as John the Baptist, a voice crying in the Wilderness. Americans are notorious for our arrogance, haughty price and stubbornness, having little or no humility. And what little humility we Americans seem to superficially display is a mere chip on our shoulder, ready to blow up on someone the minute they offend us, or have a bad day. That is not being Christlike. We should be slow to anger, full of compassion, and gentle toward others at all times.

The Holy Bible prophesied that “perilous times” would come (2nd Timothy 3:1-7), a time when people will no longer tolerate sound Bible doctrine (i.e., the truth). My preaching is not very popular lately. Most of my web and blog visitors couldn't care less about the heresies of wrong repentance or Lordship Salvation, or that Pensacola Christian College (PCC) and Bob Jones University (BJU) are both preaching these damnable heresies. RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!!

I challenge you dear reader, if you are guilty of not caring about the evils which I have mentioned in this blog, that you will do some homework to investigate the things I say. Go check what the religious cults teach about Bible repentance to get to Heaven. You will find that those who preach that you must “turn from your sins” to be saved, are teaching the same exact wicked trash as all the cults do. For example: Here is what the Jehovah's Witnesses (JW's) teach...

So, what does "accepting" Jesus really mean? Is it a one-time act of faith, or is it a continuing way of life? Must our belief be strong enough to motivate us to action? Can we really accept the benefits of Jesus' sacrifice without the responsibility of following him?

SOURCE: Have You Been Saved? - Jehovah's Witnesses Official Website

Here is another heretical JW quote on salvation...

Salvation is a free gift from God. It cannot be earned. Yet it does require effort on our part.

SOURCE: What Must We Do to Be Saved? - Jehovah's Witnesses Official Website

And still here is another heretical JW quote on salvation...

Thus, "accepting Christ" involves far more than just accepting the blessings that Jesus' superlative sacrifice offers. Obedience is required. ... So we must do more than simply hear and believe.

SOURCE: What Must We Do to Be Saved? - Jehovah's Witnesses Official Website

BLASPHEMY!!! Do you see how the Satanic JW's subtly mix works with grace? This is what Pensacola Christian College is also doing, mixing words with grace.

On page 62 of the “John & Romans” booklet (which Campus Church recently mailed to me and other residents of the city of Pensacola in November of 2023), showing people how to get to Heaven, they errantly require you to pray:

“I repent of my sins. I realize that sin is something that God hates and I no longer want to hold onto sinful bad habits.”

SOURCE: “John & Romans,” Campus Church at Pensacola Christian College, p. 62

PCC's Campus Church is guilty of preaching a false Gospel. Who cares, right? Well, I care. I don't care if I have 2 blog visitors left, I won't stop preaching against the wickedness in our ungodly corrupt churches and Bible colleges today. Somebody has got to care! Thank you for reading.

Beware Of Dogs In The Pulpit

What Does The Bible Mean: "Except There Come A Falling Away First"

2nd Thessalonians 2:1-10, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”

There is great controversy over the interpretation of this passage of Scripture in 2nd Thessalonians 2:3-4, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”

Let's begin by reviewing a helpful quote from one of my favorite Bible scholars, Dr. John R. Rice (18950-1980), who states in his Bible commentary on Revelation:

Note now the term “the day of Christ,” the same as “the day of the Lord,” when Christ sets up His Kingdom. It is not at hand until certain things occur (vs. 2). 

1. First, there needs to be a “falling away,” literally a departure, that is, as we understand it the rapture of the saints, the “gathering together unto him” of verse 1. The Greek word here is apostacio, so it is natural for people to think that it means a religious apostasy, a falling from grace. But it can hardly mean that. The word is sometimes used for departure, and “the day of the Lord” is the time of Christ's return to conquer and reign. It waits not on a religious apostasy but on the departure of the saints. The Man of Sin cannot appear until that time. (See the book by E. Schuyler English entitled Re-thinking the Rapture.) Dr. Ironside and other scholars agreed that the falling away here means the departure of the saints. 

2. Nothing here is preliminary to the rapture, but a regular schedule of events to follow the rapture. Since we are often warned to expect daily the rapture, the first phase of Christ's coming at any moment, “in the twinkling of an eye,” there cannot be and are not any prophesied events to come before that rapture. So before the rise of Antichrist, before Daniel's seventieth week of years can begin, before the tribulation period, must come the rapture of the saints.

3. But then Someone “who now letteth” or restrains the course of history so that the Man of Sin cannot appear—who is He? That Restrainer is the Holy Spirit. His worldwide influence through born-again Christians makes it so the restored Roman empire cannot rise nor the Antichrist appear until Christians are taken out and and thus the influence through them of the Holy Spirit is removed from its restraining power on the wicked world. 

How many men have tried to build a world empire after the decay of Rome, as such an empire! Charlemagne, the pope, 

SOURCE: Dr. John R. Rice, “Behold He Cometh: A Verse-by-Verse Commentary On The Book Of Revelation,” pp. 134-135; Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1977

Now, I have tremendous respect and admiration for Dr. John R. Rice, but I humbly disagree with his interpretation of 2nd Thessalonians 2:3. It is my humble opinion that to say that this is the Rapture is reaching. I've read Dr. Rice say elsewhere that where the Bible is silent we should be silent. I agree with that statement. Also, Dr. Rice has said elsewhere that the best way to interpret the Bible is to let the Bible interpret itself. Again, I fully agree with that wisdom.

I would now like to quote some commentary from Halley's Bible Handbook, with which interpretation I agree:

II THESSALONIANS 

Further Instruction About The Lord's Coming 

Written, probably about A.D. 52, only a few weeks, or months, after the First Epistle. In that Paul had spoken of the Lord's Coming as being sudden and unexpected. In this he explains that it will not be until after the Apostasy. 

Chapter 1, The Day of the Lord 

The particular feature of the Lord's coming emphasized in this chapter is that it will be a day of terror for the disobedient. In 1 Thessalonians 4 Paul had said that He would descend from heaven, and, at the shout of the archangel, the Church would be caught up forever to be forever with the Lord. 

Here he adds that the Lord will be accompanied with “the angels of his power in flaming fire” (7), rendering vengeance to the disobedient. Jesus had spoken of “eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41), and “unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43). In Hebrews 10:27 “devouring fire” is connected with the day of judgment. In II Peter 3:7, 10 it is stated that the destiny of the earth is to be burned with “fire” (see note on the passage).

Chapter 2, The Apostasy

The express purpose of this Epistle was to caution the Thessalonians that the Lord's Coming was not immediately at hand; that it would not be until after the Apostasy. 

What is the Apostasy? It is called the “falling away,”  in which a person called the “man of sin,” in the temple of God professes himself to be God, and exalts himself against God (3, 4). A False Church headed by an Imposter. 

The early fathers unanimously looked for a Personal Antichrist, to be manifested after the fall of the Roman Empire. 

The Protestant Reformers, being directly in touch with the awful corruption of the Church of the Middle Ages, believed the Papacy, an institution headed up in  person, usurping to itself authority that belongs only to Christ and being itself responsible for the prevailing corruption to have been a manifestation of the man of sin. 

In our own times, after 2,000 years of church history, there is still wide difference of opinion. There are many who think it refers to a period immediately before the Lord's Coming. 

The spirit of the thing was already at work in Paul's da7 (7). The story of the Church as a whole, even to this day, makes a sorry looking picture. Taking a broad general view of the visible Church, as it has existed from the first century to the present time, it is not inaccurate to call it an Apostate Church. What the final culmination is to be is yet to be seen. 

“That which remains,” (6), was general understood by the early father to have been the Roman Empire. Some take it to mean the Holy Spirit. 

Paul's Ideas of the Second Coming. It is quite common among a certain class of critics to say that Paul “had to reconstruct his ideas about the Lord's Second Coming,” that his “earlier and cruder view” contradicts his later view. This is absolutely not true. Paul's earlier view was his only view, first, last and always. The Thessalonian Epistles are his earliest extant writings. In them he specifically states that he did NOT expect the immediate appearance of the Lord, and that it would not be till after the Apostasy, which in his day was only beginning to work. It may not have been revealed to Paul what the Apostasy would be. But whatever his idea of it, it did not preclude the possibility that the Lord would come in his own lifetime, evidenced by the expression “we that are alive” (I Thessalonians 4:15; I Corinthians 15:52). First and last Paul looked for the Lord's Coming as a glorious consummation, meanwhile anticipating the eventuality of, in death, “departing to be with Christ” (Philippians 1:23); it not being any great matter whether he was in the body or out of it at the time of the Coming. In his last written word (II Timothy 4:6, 8), at the time of his “departure,” his mind was on the “appearing” of the Lord.

SOURCE: Dr. Henry H. Halley, Halley's Bible Handbook, pp. 629-630, 1927

There is nothing, in my own humble opinion, in 2nd Thessalonians 2:3 which indicates that this passage refers to the Rapture event, when the Church is taken out of the world. Let us review the Scripture passage in question:

2nd Thessalonians 2:3-4, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”

To be frank, we simply don't know for certain what the phrase “a falling away” means. Some Bible students think the phrase refers to the Rapture. (By the way, I always capitalize the word Rapture because it refers to a proper noun, in this case, an event.) Other Bible students think it refers to worldwide Apostasy. Search the internet for articles about "vanishing Christianity" and other similar searches, and you will find umpteen disturbing articles; such as this one.

Why Gen Z is Leaving Christianity

The Decline of Mainline Churches in America (2023)

Listen to what occultist Alice Bailey (1880-1949) said...

“The new world religion is nearer than many think, and this is due to two things: first, the theological quarrels are mainly over non-essentials, and secondly, the younger generation is basically spiritual but quite uninterested in theology. The intelligent youth of all countries are rapidly repudiating orthodox theology, state ecclesiasticism and the control of the church. They are neither interested in man-made interpretations of truth nor in past quarrels between the major world religions.

At the same time, they are profoundly interested in the spiritual values and are earnestly seeking verification of their deep-seated unvoiced recognitions. They look to no bible or system of so-called inspired spiritual knowledge and revelation, but their eyes are on the undefined larger wholes in which they seek to merge and lose themselves, such as the state, an ideology, or humanity itself. In this expression of the spirit of self-abnegation may be seen the appearance of the deepest truth of all religion and the justification of the Christian message.

Christ, in His high place, cares not whether men accept the theological interpretations of scholars and churchmen, but He does care whether the keynote of His life of sacrifice and service is reproduced among men; it is immaterial to Him whether the emphasis laid upon the detail and the veracity of the Gospel story is recognised and accepted, for He is more interested that the search for truth and for subjective spiritual experience should persist; He knows that within each human heart is found that which responds instinctively to God, and that the hope of ultimate glory lies hid in the Christ-consciousness.

Therefore, in the new world order, spirituality will supersede theology; living experience will take the place of theological acceptances. The spiritual realities will emerge with increasing clarity and the form aspect will recede into the background; the new emerging truths. These truths will be founded on the ancient realities but will be adapted to modern need and will manifest progressively the revelation of the divine nature and quality. God is now known as Intelligence and Love. That the past has given us. He must be known as Will and Purpose, and that the future will reveal.” [emphasis added]

SOURCE: Alice Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, pp. 201-202

Alice Bailey was a devil. I don't know if you caught it in the preceding quote, but Miss Bailey teaches that Jesus doesn't care if people accept or reject the Gospel, just so long as they have what she terms, “the Christ-consciousness”...

“Christ, in His high place, cares not whether men accept the theological interpretations of scholars and churchmen, but He does care whether the keynote of His life of sacrifice and service is reproduced among men; it is immaterial to Him whether the emphasis laid upon the detail and the veracity of the Gospel story is recognised and accepted, for He is more interested that the search for truth and for subjective spiritual experience should persist; He knows that within each human heart is found that which responds instinctively to God, and that the hope of ultimate glory lies hid in the Christ-consciousness.” [emphasis added]

SOURCE: Alice Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, pp. 201-202

In other words, Alice Bailey is teaching people to reject everything that the Word of God teaches, except for Christ's life of sacrifice for others. In the shameful, satanic, world of Miss Bailey, Christianity is summed up and limited to living for others without being born-again. This is why we often hear new agers talking about Christ's love, helping others and forgiveness; but they reject Christ's preaching against sin (John 7:7), the need for the new second birth, His command to “SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES” (John 5:39) and the Lord's teachings on everlasting Hell, fire and damnation for the unsaved (Matthew 18:8; 25:41). Effectively, new age retains the outer shell of Christianity, while hollowing out the interior and instead filling it with Luciferian doctrine. Or in other words, new age is repackaging Devil-worship in a Christian wrapper. The Bible warns us that this is how Satan normally operates...

2nd Corinthians 11:13-15, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”

My Christian brethren and sisters, what I have just shared with you ought to complete some of the missing puzzle pieces to explain what is going on in the world today. I believe this worldwide departure from organized religion, into a personal form of spirituality without Bible theology is part of the Apostasy Paul mentioned in 2nd Thessalonians 2:3. Alice Bailey's plot to build a New World Order is premised upon drawing youth away from Christianity and preparing them to embrace the Man of Sin (the Antichrist) when he comes.

Again, I humbly agree with Dr. Henry H. Halley that the intriguing phrase in 2nd Thessalonians 2:3b, “a falling away,” doesn't refer to the Rapture; but rather, to a literal Apostasy in the end times. This Apostasy, I humbly think, simply refers to the world departing from faith in the God of the Holy Bible, to follow after false religion. To accomplish this sinister plot, otherwise known as a New World Order (NWO), Satan knows that he must corrupt the inspired Word of God.

It was mentioned in the news this week that NWO kingpin, World Economic Forum (WEF) chairman, Klaus Schwab is calling for a new Bible revision that will correct the religions. Klaus wants the Bible “rewritten” by artificial intelligence (AI) to create a globalized “new Bible.” Yuval Noah Harari, the senior advisor to the WEF and its chairman Klaus Schwab, argues that using AI to replace scriptures will create unified “religions that are actually correct.” Good luck with that... lol. Dear reader, the Devil is a liar and the father of all murders, liars and thieves!!!

With approximately 900 English Bible versions today (either in part or whole), this is Apostasy. With the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation being preached in 85% of Baptist churches today, this is Apostasy. With youth worldwide leaving from the churches, this is Apostasy. The world as a whole is headed for something dark and sinister and evil, the coming of Antichrist, also known as, the “Man of Sin” (2nd Thessalonians 2:3).

Many Lost Sinners Will Be Saved During The 7-Year Tribulation

Many people will be saved during the 7-year Tribulation period. They will be saved by faith alone in Christ, just as lost sinners have always been. Some false teachers like Robert Breaker on YouTube, and the late Dr. Peter S. Ruckman (1921-2016) errantly teach that Old Testament saints, and those after the Rapture during the 7-year Tribulation, get saved by keeping God's commandments (i.e., the law). These false prophets (Robert Breaker and Ruckman, and William P. Grady sadly) teach that Old Testament and Tribulation saints get saved by faith plus works. But nothing could be further from the truth. Acts 10:43, "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." This Scripture passage plainly teaches that people have always been saved by faith without works.

I humbly believe that the 144,000 saints mentioned in the book of Revelation will be born-again believers, who will be Jews, and they will preach the Gospel throughout the world. Many people will be saved, likely tens of millions. I highly recommend reading some free online books by Pastor Max D. Younce...

I KNOW WHO HOLD TOMORROW:

• https://heritagebbc.com/library/i_know_who_holds_tomorrow_w_charts_web-pdf/
• https://www.jesus-is-savior.com/BTP/Dr_Max_Younce/i_know_who_holds_tomorrow.pdf

REVELATION: GOD'S FINAL WORD TO MAN:

• https://heritagebbc.com/library/the-book-of-revelation-gods-final-word-to-man-by-dr-max-d-younce
• https://www.jesus-is-savior.com/BTP/Dr_Max_Younce/revelation_gods_final_word_to_man.pdf

These are tremendous Bible study books.

Also, here is the helpful book: "SOME GOLDEN DAYBREAK" by Pastor Lee Roberson (1909-2007).

All saints, dead first, then the living, will be removed from the earth at the Rapture (1st Corinthians 15:51-58), which could happen at any time. I believe that the Bible teaches a Pretribulation Rapture, that is, the Church will be removed BEFORE the 7-year Tribulation happens. After the Tribulation, millions of people around the world will wonder what has happened. They will be confused, because MOST professed "Christians" will still be on earth, so how could this have been the Rapture? The Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Roman Catholics, Seventh-Day Adventists, Church of Christ, Lordship Salvationist Baptists and Lutherans (to name but a few cults today) will still be here on earth. They won't get raptured because they are not saved, and never were at all. So very FEW people will be taken at the Rapture.

The inspired Word of God will still be here on earth after the Rapture. Many people will read the Bible, and hear sermons left behind by fundamentalist Bible, free grace Gospel, preachers (e.g., Pastors' Ralph Yankee Arnold, Jack F. Hyles, Harry A. Ironside and Steven L. Anderson), which lost sinners will listen to and be saved. So, yes, many sinners (likely tens of millions) will be saved during the Tribulation, and many of them will be brutally martyred for their Christian faith. At present, in 2023 we just surpassed the 8,000,000,000 population mark for the planet. That number could increase much higher before Christ returns, but we don't know for sure if this is true, since Jesus could come back at any moment. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!!!

How Will People Be Saved During The Millennium, Since They Will See Jesus?

John 20:29, “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

Someone recently asked me a very good question. Bible prophecy teaches that when Jesus Christ returns, 7 years AFTER the Pretribulation Rapture takes place, He will put down the Antichrist and establish His earth Kingdom from Jerusalem. The next 1,000 year reign of Christ (as all saints helping Him reign - Revelation 20:6) is called in theology: the “Millennium.”

So I was asked how will it be possible for anyone to be saved during the Millennium, since everyone will see Jesus in the flesh. I mean, isn't faith trusting in what you cannot see? No, that is not what faith means! Faith is putting your confidence in Jesus, believing that He is the only begotten Son of God, the Christ. Faith is believing that facts that you are a guilty sinner, and that Christ died in your place on the cross, was buried and then bodily resurrected three days later. If that is your only hope for Heaven, then you are saved dear reader. You are a bonafide born-again child of God.

Scriptural evidence of what I say is found in John 20:29, “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” I love that! John 20:29b, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed...” Here we see clear Scriptural evidence that a person CAN believe in something that is right in front of their eyes. However, Jesus promised that there is a special blessing for those who BELIEVE, but have never seen Jesus in person. What further saith the Scripture? ...

1st Peter 1:7-9, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”

As an adopted child of God since I was age 13, by faith I have believed in whom I cannot see. Jesus Christ is my blessed Savior. I believe Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, my Redeemer, Creator, God, Friend, Lord and Savior. The true account of Thomas in the Bible is proof that lost sinners will be saved during the Millennial period, by simply accepting God's written Word as recorded in the inspired Scriptures, concerning who Christ is and what He did for us and why He needed to do it. To be saved you MUST agree with these FACTS:

• WHO Jesus is - The Christ, the only begotten Son of God (John 20:31)
• WHAT Jesus did - He died on a cross for our sins, was buried and resurrected from the dead the third day (1st Corinthians 15:1-6)
• WHY Jesus needed to die - It is because all humanity are sinners deserving of eternal damnation in Hell (Romans 3:19-23)

Simply BELIEVE IT, oh guilty and needy sinner, and you will be immediately and forever saved!

False Prophet Bryan Denlinger

Bryan Denlinger, who is an unsaved Calvinist, has a popular YouTube channel. Sadly, Bryan is an infidel, an unsaved false prophet, who denies salvation by faith alone...

Bryan Denlinger Exposed - Repentance Blacklist and Works Salvation

Bryan Denlinger hates Pastor Jack Hyles, Steven Anderson and anybody who preaches a free grace Gospel. Mankind by nature wants to help save himself, so he wickedly ADDS works to God's ultimate sacrifice (i.e., His only begotten Son) which was provided solely by Jesus through Calvary's cross. Jesus shed His precious blood and took that blood to sprinkle upon the heavenly Mercy Seat located in the Holy of Holies (Hebrews 9:12, 22-24; 12:24). Without the shedding of Jesus' blood (God's blood - Acts 20:28) there is no remission for sin. That is what the wonderful book of Hebrews is all about.

Bryan rationalizes that since everyone will physically see Jesus during the 1,000 year Millennium, salvation by faith will not be possible. So, he just assumes redemption will be by works. But, Jacob met the Lord face-to-face and still had faith. Genesis 32:30, “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

Abraham had conversations with the Lord; such as, when Abraham begged the Lord not to destroy Sodom if he could just find 10 righteous people. Jesus' apostles saw Him walk through walls, raise the dead and physically ascend into the clouds (Acts 1:11). Yet they had faith in Jesus, without works (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:4-7). Bryan Denlinger is a darn fool, unlearned and woefully ignorant concerning the Word of God.

Jesus told everyone, everywhere that He went, that if they saw Him they saw God the Father. This is because Jesus came to earth as the Godhead incarnate. That is, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, fully dwelt inside the spirit, soul and body of God the Son on earth (Colossians 2:9).

So faith is not just trusting in the invisible, as evidenced when Jesus rebuked doubting Thomas. The risen Savior had already appeared to the other disciples, but Thomas was out to lunch or something. When Thomas came back, he was so hurt in his soul that he vowed that unless he SAW THE SAVIOR, he refused to believe. So Jesus graciously appeared PHYSICALLY to Thomas, and invited him to touch His nail-scared hands, and thrust his hand into Jesus' wounded side. Thomas did so.

Afterwards, Jesus commended Thomas for his faith, but said blessed are they who have not seen, yet they still believe. John 20:29, “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” I love that. We have a special blessing from God because we trust in a Savior we've never seen, met nor heard. Albeit, the fact that Thomas had faith, ONLY BECAUSE HE SAW, proves that you can have faith even in plain sight of the Savior.

Faith is not always a matter of trusting what we cannot see, but also believing what we can see. We have the Holy Bible, which we CAN see. We have nature, which we CAN see. We have the godly testimony of other saints, which we CAN see. Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Most people interpret this verse wrong. They think it means faith is to trust in something invisible. But faith is believing that Jesus is the Savior, who is whom He claimed to be—the Christ, the only begotten Son of God.

Why did Peter trust Jesus, but Judas didn't? So we see that faith is trusting upon the Savior, whether visible or invisible. The Apostles all saw Jesus (God) face to face and ministered by His side for 3 years. All believed upon Him, except one, Judas. It will be the same way during the Millennium period. People will see Jesus, who will serve as our worthy omnipotent King, over the whole earth from David's throne in Jerusalem. Some people will trust Jesus, others won't, but they will ALL see Him, just as all of the apostles and thousands of disciples did.

False Teaching About The Last Days

by Evangelist John R. Rice (1895-1980)

(Chapter 3 from Dr. Rice's intriguing book, “We Can Have Revival Now”)

Thousands of tracts, magazine articles, sermons and radio messages tell the people, "Jesus is coming soon!" These last days of this dispensation" and similar phrases are very common in the Christian magazines. "Time is running out!" writes one Christian, who means that in a very short time Jesus is certain to come. "The last great mission opportunity before Jesus comes" is the way one mission field is described. A widely-known seminary professor on the west coast is quoted as saying recently, "I believe we are seeing the very closing days of this dispensation."

Some Christian writers regard the atomic bomb, the rise of Russia, the founding of the new Israel state, the last world war (as they regarded the first world war), as evidence that we are in the very last days before Jesus comes.

All these people, usually faithful Bible believers, earnest Christians, have been influenced and misled by a heresy that has become widespread in recent years. This mistaken teaching holds that we are now, according to what are regarded as definite signs, in the very last few weeks or months or years before Jesus must come; that this period which they call "the last days" is more difficult than ever. They believe that sinners are harder hearted, that Satan deceives people more than ever, that world conditions make it harder to reach people with the gospel, and that for all these reasons great revivals are less likely than ever, if not impossible.

A noble and greatly-used man of God says about the blessed Billy Graham revival in Los Angeles late in 1949: "For these three thousand we are profoundly grateful to God, and our confidence in the power of mass evangelism to sweep folks into the kingdom of God has been restored."

Our brother agrees that the day of mass evangelism has not passed, though it took the Los Angeles revival to prove it. But it is noteworthy that many other people like this noble brother had been led to feel that mass evangelism had been outdated, no longer able "to sweep folks into the kingdom of God." We thank God that his confidence in this matter has been restored, but we need to face the false teaching, so prevalent, which has undermined the confidence of the people that great revivals and mass evangelism are possible today.

Again and again godly men have asked me how the work in the revival field goes. "Isn't it getting harder to have revivals?" they ask. And they are astonished when I tell them that it is not. And many others who are defeated lament that they cannot get the publicity that evangelists could once get, that local conditions like the competition of movies and radio and sports and the grip of modernists on the churches is unfavorable to revivals. And in the case of literally thousands of preachers these thoughts are connected with the teaching they have absorbed that the Lord Jesus is certain to return soon, and that in the immediate period before His return we will be unable to have great revivals.

"The great apostasy is on," people say, and they mean that they think the modernism of today proves that the end of gospel opportunity is about at hand, forgetting that great waves of infidelity have come to the world and even to the church down through many centuries, as it was in England before the Wesleyan revivals, as it came in France before that, as it came even in the early church in the first centuries of the Christian era.

The defeatism of Christians, who are not bold in preaching nor bold in prayer because they believe that Christian work is less effective than ever before, that the gospel does not bring the results that it did before, and that great revivals are less likely than ever before, is tragic indeed. And it is especially sad to see this defeatism springing up because of misinterpretation of Scriptures by Christians who really believe the Bible and love Jesus Christ.

This ultradispensational teaching that Jesus is certain to come soon, that certain signs prove the age is rushing to an early end, that the apostasy, world conditions and increased activity of Satan make gospel efforts less fruitful and revivals more difficult and unlikely, is a distressing perversion of a great truth. It is true that Jesus may come at any moment, but the ultradispensationalists do not preach the emphasis that Jesus urged, "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (Matt. 25:13), and the Bible doctrine often stated and inferred that Jesus might have returned any time since Pentecost and may return now at any time. Instead, they emphasize world conditions and so-called signs, and spend their time in study of the technical details of prophecy and speculation rather than on the soul-winning work which Jesus clearly told us to be about until He should return.

Jesus would have us to watch for His coming simply because He commanded us to watch. However, the custom has grown up among a lot of premillennial Christians of looking for Christ's return because we have had the first or the second world war, or of looking for Christ's return because Zionists and infidel Jews have established the modern nation Israel in Palestine. Some are moved more by newspaper accounts than by the plain command of the Lord Jesus.

And earnest Christians ought to recognize that this ultradispensational outlook is largely a retreat from alarming conditions which Christians are not willing to face and for which they think the gospel is not sufficient. Too many Christians see the wickedness of the human heart, as expressed in Hitler's murderous career and in the far worse wickedness of communism, and their faith wavers. Instead of an attitude of aggressive evangelism with the gospel which is really the dynamite of God, sufficient for any generation, they declare that such a generation as this is too hard for God, that Satan is too active, that the apostasy is too great and conditions too unfavorable for a revival.

Let us face this defeatism for what it is. Let us recognize the lack of faith, the powerlessness for the retreat of Christians from the battle which seems hard.

Indeed, some Christians rationalize the situation and subconsciously evade the facts of their powerlessness and unbelief with the doctrine that we are in the last days, and it is impossible to win souls in any great numbers. That is bad enough, but many such Christians are actually not much concerned about soul-winning and would much rather examine the Scriptures with a kind of morbid curiosity, hoping to be thought wise, when really they shed no tears for souls and never wait before God pleading for revival or His mighty Pentecostal power.

Learned men say to the people, "Let us gather around the Word," and then they examine the Word of God as if it were a museum piece. It is as if, in a museum; soldiers gather around a sword, talk with interest of its history, how it was made, who wielded it, and tell what exploits were wrought with it in the past, yet never take this same sword to battle. So do many "Bible teachers" and "Bible students" use the Word of God. The Bible is not simply to be the object of dispassionate, technical interest and investigation. It is not a museum curiosity! It is the sword of the Spirit which ought to be used to cut sinners to the heart. It contains the gospel, the dynamite of God which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. "Is not my word like as a fire? . . . and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" (Jeremiah 23:29), the Lord asks. So all the searching of the Bible and the searching of the daily newspapers to find some "signs" that prove Christ will come within a certain specified time is contrary to the spirit of the Scriptures and does dishonor to the Lord Jesus Christ who left us here simply to get the gospel to every creature.


1. The Bible Doctrine That Christ's Return Is Imminent Cannot Be Reconciled With the Teaching That He Could Only Return After Modern Events

There are two theories about the premillennial coming of Christ which are contradictory. Both of them cannot be true.

One theory is that Jesus will not come until certain signs have appeared. Some think Jesus cannot come until the gospel is preached again to all the world. Some think Jesus could not come until what they call "the budding of the fig tree," the re-establishment of the nation Israel as it has recently been reestablished in Palestine. Others think that Jesus could not return until the so-called "great apostasy," the wave of modernism in the church which has occurred in America in the last fifty years and is now possibly past its climax. Many would say that the first and second world wars are signs of the soon coming of Christ. If that be true, then Jesus could not have come before these wars. Others believe that certain earthquakes, that famine following the wars, that the present capital-labor controversy encouraged by socialists and communists everywhere are signs of Christ's coming, and that therefore Christ could not have come before these clashes occurred and communism and socialism reached their present popularity. I want you to see that this first and popular theory I am discussing is simply that Jesus was to come only after certain definite signs should appear.

The other and contradictory theory is that Jesus might have returned any time after Pentecost. No one knew when He would return, so it would have been possible for Him to have returned before the first or second world wars, before the evolution theory became widely prominent and the present great rage of modernism developed. He might have come before the modern missionary movement. Or he may come now at any moment. This theory, or doctrine, we will call it, is the doctrine of the imminency of Christ's return. But note carefully that this doctrine of the immanency of Christ's return contradicts the doctrine that Jesus could not come until a certain set time in a program and that He must come after a number of specified signs are fulfilled. The teaching that Christ must come at a set time or in a particular generation and only after a certain program of signs is fulfilled is entirely different from the doctrine of the imminent coming of Christ. And the imminent coming of Christ is clearly taught in the Scriptures.

I beg your patience as I state it again. It is important for us to see that one cannot hold to the imminency of Christ's return, that is, that He may come at any moment, that He might have come at any time since Pentecost as far as any one then could know, and that Christians, all through the ages, were right to expect Christ to come at any moment, and to watch for His coming, and to believe at the same time that certain signs must come first. That doctrine that Christ's coming is imminent, the time of His coming unknown and unknowable, is clearly taught in the Bible. But one cannot hold to the imminency of Christ's return, and at the same time believe that there had to be a first world war before Christ could return, or that Christ could not return before the nation Israel was established in Palestine; or that Christ could not return before the present wave of modernism and worldliness. Every reader may take his choice; he can believe in Christ's imminent return, as taught in the Scriptures, or he can believe that Christ's coming had to await certain events. The two doctrines are irreconcilable. They cannot be harmonized. The intelligent Bible believer cannot hold to both positions. And the Bible certainly clearly teaches the imminent return of Christ, that is, that Christ may return at any moment.

That being true, it will naturally be impossible for anybody to tell when we are in the last days of this dispensation. That being true, there can be no signs which definitely show the approach of the return of Christ. If Christ had to wait until certain signs appear before He can return, then His return is not imminent. On the other hand, if Paul was right to expect the Lord's return in his day, as he did, speaking of "we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord" (I Thess. 4:15), then all are wrong who think that Christ's coming is now indicated by the first and second world war, the great falling away of these days, the founding of the nation Israel in Palestine recently, etc. Either Christ might have come at any moment, as He taught, or He could not return until certain other events occurred. Both cannot be true. If Christ cannot now return until the gospel is preached to some tribes in the Amazon valley, then the imminent coming of Christ could not be true.

But, let me say again, the immanency of Christ's coming is clearly taught in the Bible. To the disciples on Mount Olivet and to all succeeding generations of Christians, Jesus commanded, "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come" (Matt. 24:42). Again He said to them and to us, "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh" (vs. 44). Again He said to these disciples, and to all Christians who come after them, "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (Matt. 25:13). Then He told them, "And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch" (Mark 13:37). If these Scriptures are to be taken at honest face value, then all Christians, including those first disciples and including Christians of all ages, have been commanded to watch for Christ's return, since He might come at any moment.

Christ's second coming, then, does not now wait, and never did wait, on any world events.


II. No One Knows Even Approximately When Jesus Will Come

In the Olivet discourse the Saviour discusses the second coming. The clearest point in all His teaching on the second coming is that no one knows when it will be. Consider Mark 13:32-37:

"But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock crowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch."

Now observe the clear teaching of the Saviour that no man can know the time:

1. The angels do not know when Jesus will come.

2. The Lord Jesus Himself while on earth did not know when He would return.

3. Jesus said His second coming was so wholly unpredictable that it was illustrated by the servants waiting for their master's return. The master might come in the evening, midnight, cock-crowing or in the morning. In this world no one can foretell even approximately when Jesus will return and when this age will end. If the more than nineteen hundred years which have already elapsed since Christ promised to return be divided up into four watches or periods to represent evening, midnight, cock-crowing and morning, we find that Jesus is saying that no one can know even within centuries of the time of His return.

4. The all-important teaching of Jesus about His return is that He may come at any moment. His coming is imminent.

Jesus may not come for one hundred years, for five hundred years, for one thousand years. People often say, "Jesus is coming soon." That cannot be proven by Scripture. It is not what Jesus said. Jesus said, "Behold, I come quickly" (Rev. 22:7). We know Jesus will come suddenly. Whether He will come soon or late, we do not know. Whether He will come at evening or at midnight or at cock-crowing or in the morning, we do not know. Jesus said plainly that we are not to know. We are simply to wait. We are to expect His coming, to be ready for His coming and to be doing His blessed will in carrying the gospel to every creature but we do not know even the approximate time of His coming, nor of the end of this age.

This same strong teaching is given in Matthew 24:36-39. Again we have the clear statement of Jesus that no one can know even the approximate time of His coming. Read it carefully:

"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."

Again Jesus plainly says that no man can know the day or hour of His return. He repeats that even the angels in Heaven do not know the time, and then He illustrates the total lack of information which any man can have about the time of the second coming. As it was in the days before the flood when people ate, drank, married, and gave in marriage and had no hint of the time when the flood would come until "the flood came and took them all away," just so surprising and unforeseen will be Christ's second coming. Before the flood they did not know even one day ahead of time when it would come. So from the words of the Lord Jesus Himself, we properly infer that we cannot know even one day ahead of time when Jesus will come.

Again this question of Christ's return and the restoration of the kingdom to Israel was brought up by the disciples after Christ's resurrection. Read the discussion in Acts 1:5-7:

"For john truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power."

Jesus had told the disciples to tarry and wait there until they were endued with power from on high. They were to be baptized with the Holy Ghost and so supernaturally empowered for soul-winning.

Do you ever find Christians more concerned about the technical details of prophecy, more concerned about speculation as to the time of Christ's return than about soul-winning? Well, the twelve apostles before they were Spirit-filled had the same carnal viewpoint. Instead of rejoicing that they were to be filled with the Spirit for soul-winning, they immediately jumped to the hopeful conclusion that Christ referred to His return, the restoration of David's throne and the future independence of Israel. So they said, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel." Then Jesus in strong and emphatic language told the disciples that the time and season of His glorious return and the restoration of Israel were not within their province at all, not matters for them to know. He said:

"It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:7, 8.

It is well to remember that the carnal mind seizes on externals rather than spiritual internals. The carnal nature is more concerned with incidentals than fundamentals. Men would rather be baptized than born again. Men would rather talk in tongues than have the mighty soul-winning power of the Holy Spirit. Just so, modern speculating, ultradispensationalists prefer to look for signs rather than to obey the Great Commission and to win souls.

Let us clearly understand what Jesus taught. He said, "It is not for us to know the times or seasons" concerning the second coming. Not the day, nor the hour, not the year, not the era of the second coming can be foreseen. Jesus expressly said that the Father deliberately kept this secret and it is not one that Christians should seek to know.


III. Date-Setting, Speculation, an Embarrassing Heresy

How it appeals to foolish human pride for a man to think, "In my superior wisdom I have figured out something others do not know!" And particularly, Bible teachers like to show their superior understanding of the Scriptures and the times, because, first if 'the discovery' is sensational and will help get a crowd of excited hearers and second, if it will be a good alibi for man's powerlessness and fruitlessness in soul-winning. Men try to make the headlines by predicting when the next war will begin and when the next depression will be upon us. One can arouse more excitement and attract more attention if he can give plausible evidence that he has discovered approximately when the Saviour will return. That indicates that such a Bible teacher is more spiritual and more discerning and more everything that a proud carnal heart desires to appear to be! It is not surprising therefore that we have constantly recurring efforts to set the approximate date of the Lord's return.

For example, more than a century ago a farmer in New York state, named Miller, started to read his Bible and discovered, he thought, what the scholars had overlooked. By making a day mean a year (which it never does) he took some of the prophecies of Daniel from out of their setting and figured that Jesus must return on a certain day in 1846. He convinced many of his neighbors that he was right and these Millerites made them white robes and got ready for the rapture; but they waited in vain on hilltops and haystacks for the Saviour to catch them away.

One day last summer I sat at dinner with Dr. Lowe, a professor of Biblical Interpretation at the Practical Bible Training School, Johnson City, New York. He told me that his people lived in the community of Farmer Miller and many of them had been convinced that Jesus was coming on the day announced by Miller. One uncle planted no crops. Why should he when he wouldn't be there to gather them? He showed his faith by sitting on his front porch while others toiled. But Jesus did not come and that winter thirteen of his cows starved while he and his family barely lived on the milk from one cow and from corn meal given by a neighbor.

Seventh-Day Adventists are the spiritual descendants of the Millerites, and many of them still try to figure the time of the Lord's return by misinterpretation of Daniel's prophecy.

How foolish to think that the secret of the date of Christ's return is given in the book of Daniel and that Jesus and none of His disciples knew it!

The British-Israel cult could not find the date of Christ's return in the Bible so they turned instead to the Great Pyramid and they count it an inspired revelation like the Bible. In the ascending passage leading to the tombs of the kings in the pyramid they figured that one larger portion with a higher ceiling would represent the time of Christ's return; so they took a tape measure from the supposed original edge of the pyramid through the passage to the enlargement. They counted every inch a year and so began to foretell when Jesus would come!

One greatly-heralded British-Israel teacher in Los Angeles predicted that Jesus would come September 16, 1936, as I recall. Needless to say, his prophecy was proved wrong and his influence was broken. Date-setting for the return of the Saviour has always been a heresy which turns out with embarrassment.

In my boyhood I saw in the old opera house at Gainesville, Texas, a picture prepared under the direction of "Pastor Russell" of the "Millenial Dawn" cult. He predicted, "Millions now living will never die," and his books agreed that Jesus would come in 1914. When 1914 brought not the return of the Saviour but the First World War, Pastor Russell said Jesus came invisibly. The Russellites, later called Rutherfordites, now called Jehovah's Witnesses, still teach this heresy. But they still die!

Since speculation as to the date of the return of Christ has proved so foolish in the past and always is connected with heresy, it seems that Bible-believing Christians would take seriously the word of Jesus, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power" (Acts 1:7).

Such speculations are carnal, not spiritual, and grow out of human pride and from misinterpretation of the Bible. No one knows even approximately when Jesus will return. No one knows the day, the year, the generation when Jesus will return. He may come today. Praise His name, I would be glad to see Him; but there is no way for any honest Bible student to foretell whether Jesus will come soon or after hundreds of years.


IV. There Are No "Signs" of Christ's Coming by Which We May Know It Is Near

In my early ministry I sometimes preached on "Signs of Christ's Second Coming." I have a chapter on that subject in my book, The Coming Kingdom of Christ. In a second edition I was compelled to modify the chapter. I was compelled to see that the next thing on God's program, as far as Bible prophecy is concerned, is Christ's coming in the air to receive His saints when the Christian dead shall be raised and living saints changed and called up to meet Him in the air. That event is imminent; that means it may occur at any time. If Christ may come at any moment, then obviously we need not wait for any signs. And any signs could not make Christ's coming other than imminent, could not prove He would come this year or day and could not prove He would not come this year or day. The Bible teaching is that Jesus may come at any moment, signs or no signs. He could have come even in apostolic days before any recent events could have occurred.

But did not Jesus speak about signs of His coming? Jesus spoke particularly of one sign but that was not a sign of the first phase of His coming and the rapture but a sign which will occur after the rapture, at the close of the tribulation period, before Christ comes visibly, triumphantly, to the earth to reign.

This sign is mentioned in the Olivet discourse of Jesus. In Matthew 24:3 we have the disciples' question, "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"

You see, the disciples asked, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Or better translated, "What is the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the age?" In Luke 21:25-27 Jesus answered as follows about signs:

"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory."

It is similar to the passage in Matthew 24:29,30 where Jesus mentioned the sign in these words:

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

Note the following facts about Jesus' answer:

1. The sign is to be "immediately after the tribulation. I understand from the Scriptures that the tribulation cannot begin till after the rapture, so Jesus must come into the air to receive His saints before the Great Tribulation. "The sign" is after Christ's coming for His saints, not before.

2. We see that Christ's coming referred to by the prophets was His coming to the earth to reign after the rapture. Jews would naturally look forward to the part of Christ's coming that will affect them, when Jews will be regathered from all the earth, when the "angels...shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matt. 24:31), when Christ will destroy all the enemies of the Jews and overthrow all Gentile dominion and restore David's throne in Jerusalem and sit on David's throne. It is this kingdom that the apostles asked about in Acts 1:6: "Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Gentile Christians are naturally more concerned about the rapture, the first phase of Christ's coming. But Old Testament prophecies in the interest of Jews center mainly in the second phase of Christ's coming, His revelation to Israel.

After the world is in the Great Tribulation time it will be very simple for those who know the Bible to learn when Jesus will return. There must be seven years in Daniel's seventieth week. The Great Tribulation time itself is clearly announced to continue 3 1/2 years, 42 months, 1,260 days. (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 11:2, 3; Rev.12:14.) The terrifying reign of the Man of Sin is definitely limited. After the first phase of Christ's second coming, the rapture, the second phase must come within a specified time. And just before Jesus returns to the earth with saints and angels to fight the Battle of Armageddon and set up His kingdom, the sign of His coming will appear in the heavens.

There is no sign of Christ's coming promised before the rapture.

No preacher has a Scriptural warrant, I think, for preaching that current events are signs of Christ's soon return. Mussolini was not the Antichrist, as some Bible teachers said, and they will be as foolish if they so designate Stalin or Tito.

We are not to believe Christ is coming because of some "signs" but because He said so!


V. Christ's Coming for His Saints Does Not Await the Preaching of the Gospel to Every Creature

A great missionary leader, a friend whom I greatly admire and love, has recently published a book in which he pictures an imaginary scene. Satan is pictured as in counsel with the princes of darkness, the leading demons who supervise his work in various countries. Some demons report proudly that the gospel is not being preached in the countries over which they bear evil sway, and all gloat that Christ cannot now return until these people hear the gospel. 

Missionaries shot down or discouraged before they can enter Afghanistan, and the failure of missionary groups to reach other isolated tribes, is cited. And then Satan himself and his demons are pictured as being greatly distressed and defeated because at last there is prospect of the gospel being preached to every creature. Now, though they have defeated Christ's planned return so long, it appears that the gospel will be preached to every creature and the Saviour will return.

It is here taught that Jesus cannot return to take away His saints until the gospel is again preached to all the world. But I believe that this is an entirely wrong interpretation of Scripture. The gospel has already been preached to all the world in early Christian times, if not in this generation. And if Jesus could not return until the gospel is preached to every tribe again, then His plain commands to watch, that He might come at any time, would seem out of place and misleading, if not actually dishonest. That surely we cannot concede. The imminent coming of Christ, so clearly taught in the Scripture, means that He might have come at any moment, may come at any moment now, whether the gospel is preached again to all the world or not.

Mistaught people sometimes think that Matthew 24:14 refers to a sign of Christ coming. It says, "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." But the context shows that this is a message primarily for Jews who will be living in the tribulation time and not for us today. The next verse mentions the Abomination of Desolation, when the Antichrist will stand in the temple in Jerusalem claiming to be God, which event must come after the rapture and which begins the Great Tribulation time. The following verse speaks of the flight of the Jews from the Man of Sin in those days, and verse 21 plainly says, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."

So during the Great Tribulation time the gospel of salvation will be preached to the world in view of Christ's literal return. The preaching of the gospel to all the world mentioned in Matthew 24:14 will be after the first phase of Christ's coming, not before.

The simple truth is that the gospel has already been preached to all the world. I remember that Dr. R.A. Torrey called attention to two or three Scriptures which show that the gospel has already been preached to all the world. In Acts 2:5, "there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven" and these men heard the gospel at Pentecost. In Romans 1:8 Paul says "that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world," and how could people have heard of the wonderful faith of the fine Christians at Rome if they had not heard the gospel? Colossians 1:4-6 also says that the gospel had come to all the world in Paul's time. So Matthew 24:14 could not teach and does not teach that the gospel is to be yet preached in all the world before Jesus comes.

Besides, if the preaching of the gospel to some unknown tribe in Central America or the Amazon valley is an event that must occur before Jesus can come, then Christ's coming could not be imminent and the Scriptural warning that we must watch since Jesus may come any day or year would be foolish.

Let us say again there are no signs that will indicate when Jesus is to come and there is not a single prophetic event which must come before the rapture of the saints.


VI. The Modern Establishment of a Nation Israel in Palestine Not "the Budding of the Fig Tree," Not a Sign of Christ's Soon Return

Some months ago Editor Meldau, of Christian Victory magazine, my esteemed friend, wrote me and about a dozen well-known Bible teachers, asking us to prepare a statement for a forthcoming issue of his good magazine on a subject something like this, "Is the Re-establishment of Israel as an independent nation in Palestine recently, the budding of the fig tree mentioned in Matthew 24:32, 33, and a sign of Christ's coming?" I was glad to give my answer, and glad indeed when the symposium came out in the good magazine that nearly all the Bible teachers agreed that the recent establishing of an independent nation of Jews in Palestine did not fulfill the prophecy of the budding of the fig tree as foretold in Matthew 24:32, 33, and was not especially a sign of Christ's soon return.

Since that matter has often been misunderstood, let us read the passage involved and see clearly what the Saviour said in that Olivet discourse, about the budding of the fig tree. Matthew 24:29-34 reads as follows:

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."

Let us note very simply some of the things which Jesus taught in this passage:

1. The time discussed is at the close of the Great Tribulation, and some time after the rapture of the saints. It is "immediately after the tribulation of those days . . ." (vs. 29). So the parable of the fig tree does not apply to these days before the rapture and before the Great Tribulation, but to the days "immediately after the tribulation." Nothing before the tribulation period could be meant here. The recent developments in Palestine are not meant, it is quite clear, since they did not happen "immediately after the tribulation of those days..."

2. The meaning of the parable is clearly explained. Certain events which will follow the Great Tribulation are like a fig tree whose branch is tender and which puts forth leaves in the spring. These events are the appearing of the sign of the Son of man in Heaven, when Christ starts to return, and the sight of the Son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven; and the sending of the angels to regather Israelites from all over the world. Then verse 33 says, "So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." When converted Israelites at the close of the Great Tribulation time, or other saints converted in that tribulation time, see Christ coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory to set up His throne at Jerusalem and reign on the earth, and when they see the angels of God sent out miraculously around the world with the great sound of a trumpet to regather the elect, God's chosen nation Israel, from among all the lands of the earth, then these troubled people may know that Christ's coming and reign is immediately at hand. So there would be no use in speculating about the matter, because the meaning of the parable is clearly given in the words of the Saviour Himself.

And we should distinguish between the present immigration of godless Jews into Palestine, unconverted and unrepentant, and going by human means and with human purposes, from that other great gathering when every Jew left alive in the world will be gathered by the angels and brought to Palestine at Christ's return. The present movement in Palestine is human. It is not particularly a subject of Bible prophecy. It has no particular significance except that the Scripture indicates that some Jews will be in Palestine and will make a treaty with the Antichrist in the tribulation time. The present influx of Jews into Palestine is not the great regathering which will be done miraculously by the angels of God when Jesus returns in person to reign, after the rapture and after the tribulation period.

3. We must make sure to notice, too, that the coming of Christ here mentioned is the second phase of His coming. It is not His coming into the air invisibly to raise the Christian dead and receive them and us together, and carry us away for a honeymoon in Heaven. This is not the coming of Christ for His saints. It is the coming of Christ with the raptured saints, after the tribulation is over. The rapture will come, as most reputable premillennial Bible teachers agree, before the Great Tribulation time. Then after the Great Tribulation (which will occur in Daniel's seventieth week, as I believe), Christ will return with these saints and with angels to fight the battle of Armageddon, to destroy the kingdom of the Antichrist, and to set up His throne at Jerusalem and reign on the earth for a thousand years of joy and peace. There are two separate phases of Christ's coming. That for which we wait is His coming into the air to receive His saints. Then after the tribulation time, those who will have been converted on the earth will long for Christ's return, with us, to set up His kingdom. It is this second phase of Christ's coming, when He shall come literally to the earth to take charge and to reign, that is discussed in this passage.

4. Jesus said in verse 34, "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all things be fulfilled." I rather think that "this generation" means the race of Jews and the race will not be destroyed despite all the Hitlers and Antichrists. Dr. Scofield's notes on this verse say about generation:

"Gr. genea, the primary definition of which is, 'race, kind, family, stock, breed.' (So all lexicons.) That the word is used in this sense here is sure because none of 'these things,' i.e. the world-wide preaching of the kingdom, the great tribulation, the return of the Lord in visible glory, and the regathering of the elect, occurred at the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, A.D. 70. The promise is, therefore, that the generation-nation, or family of Israel—will be preserved unto 'these things'; a promise wonderfully fulfilled to this day."

But if the word generation here means people living in one particular life-span, it still could mean only that group living "immediately after the tribulation of those days . . ." as Jesus Himself places them in verse 29. The so-called "budding of the fig tree" cannot happen until after Christ comes for His saints, after the Great Tribulation.

I am glad personally that there is now a land where oppressed Jews will be welcomed. But these Jews, going back in unbelief, have possession of only a very small portion of the land of Israel. They do not even have undisputed possession of Jerusalem. They have not gone back under the blessing and forgiveness of God. Blindness in part is still upon Israel.

The veil is not yet taken away from their faces. The great future regathering and conversion of Israel will take place by supernatural means after the tribulation time. And the establishment of a little state called Israel in recent months is not a sign that Christ may come soon. Christ may come very soon, but it needs no sign such as that to prove it. He may not come for long years. No one knows.

Let me stress with all my soul that current events do not especially affect the simple fact, clearly taught throughout the Bible, that we can have revival now, that God is in the saving business, and that any time God's people meet God's requirements, they may have His glorious power and the manifestation of it in the saving of multitudes of souls, in great revivals.

Those who go by the newspapers and are greatly excited by current events may feel that the atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb, the upsurge of communism, the modernism in many churches, the possibility of a third world war, and the establishment of the modern nation Israel, mean we are in "the last days," and that therefore great revivals are impossible. But those who stedfastly depend upon the words of Christ will remember that "The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever" (I Pet. 1:24, 25).

The harvest is still great and the labourers few. If God's people, called by His name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways, God will hear from Heaven, will forgive their sin, and heal their land, as He promised in II Chronicles 7:14. All of God's promises are still true. God's tender heart toward sinners still yearns for them to be saved. God's Holy Spirit has all the convicting and saving power He ever had. The Word of God is still quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. The blessed promise of Jesus, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father" (John 14:12), is still true. Do not let false teachings and heresies about these so-called "last days" keep you from believing the Word of God, that we can have revivals now!

THE END

Comment by your blog servant, David J. Stewart — I would like to add my own opinion in response to Dr. John R. Rice's wisdom. First, I love and admire Brother Rice. He went to Heaven in 1980, so I never had the privilege of meeting him at Hyles-Anderson College (HAC), where he was invited and often preached prior to 1980. I enrolled into HAC in 1985 and graduated in 1993. I cherish the years and training at HAC, and am thankful to God and Dr. Hyles for the opportunity to attend and serve Christ during my 8 years at HAC.

I humbly disagree with Dr. Rice about not even being able to get a general idea of WHEN Jesus may return. I fully agree that we cannot know or set dates for the Rapture. I agree that we cannot know the week, month, year, decade or even century of Christs return. However, what saith the Scripture in Revelation 17:10, “And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” I cherish this precious passage of Scripture, because it helps us to understand God's time table for Christ's return. The five kings refer to the first world powers that ruled the world; namely: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece. At the time of the writing of the book of Revelation (96 AD), the aforementioned nations were no longer world powers. Rome was now a world power, that is, the 6th king. The 7th king will be the New World Order, from which the 8th king (the Man of Sin, the Antichrist) will emerge.

This is my humble interpretation of this passage of Scripture, of which I am 100% confident that it is accurate. Daniel's interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar's image in Daniel chapter 2 confirms my interpretation of Revelation 17:10-11. According to these passages, we are now living in the end times of Bible prophecy, concerning the world as we have known it. I do not know exactly when Jesus will return. Albeit, I would be surprised if the Lord doesn't return by 2100 AD. I certainly could be wrong. That is just my humble feelings in the matter. We all have to admit that the New World Order is now developing in full force. The following photos are but the tip of the iceberg, manifesting that the New World Order is now upon the world (this will be the 7th king of Revelation 17:10-11, from which the Antichrist will arise)...

Above photo: Did you know that the Washington Monument is 6,666 inches tall and 66 feet wide? The monument has the exact dimensions as Nebuchadnezzar's golden image.

Signs Of The Devil's New World Order

It is my humble opinion that we are now living in the last days, and the Lord's return is coming soon. All of the parts of Nebuchadnezzar's image have already come to pass, and the only thing left is the Rock cut out of the mountain without hands, which is Jesus Christ. Dr. Rice is 100% correct that we cannot truly say that “Jesus is coming soon,” because we simply do not know that for certain. We KNOW biblically that Jesus could return today, at any time!!! However, only a false prophet sets dates and claims to KNOW when Jesus will come back.

Jesus foretold in the Holy Bible that there would be SIGNS of the end:

Matthew 24:3-13, “And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

Jesus said that all of these things (i.e., earthquakes, famines, wars and rumors of wars) must come to pass, but are NOT signs of the end or His return. These things are the BEGINNING OF SORROWS. A series of deadly earthquakes just hit Turkey and Syria in February of 2023, killing 53,000 people. These tragedies are heartbreaking. Why does God allow these horrible things to happen? The answer is because we live in a fallen world because of Adam's sin (Romans 5:12). Adam's sin brought sin and death into the human race. That death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Those 53,000 dead victims in Turkey and Syria were not greater sinners than you or myself, they just died because of sin in general which has condemned the human race.

Matthew 24:29-30 describes Jesus' Second Coming (not the Rapture), “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” This is NOT the Rapture, which I humbly think will happen 7 years earlier. I biblically believe in a Pretribulation Rapture. This is the only doctrinal position that supports the Bible's clear teaching that no one knows WHEN Jesus will return. If the Rapture and Christ's Second Coming are the same event (as the New Independent Fundamental Baptist Movement errantly asserts), then people WILL KNOW when Christ is coming!

In summary, based on Daniel's interpretation of king Nebuchadnezzar's dreams in the book of Daniel, I think it is clear that we are now entering into the end times of Bible prophecy. Christ may not return for another 500 years, but I seriously doubt if it will be much longer. Anybody who has been paying attention can see that Satan is preparing the masses of the world to embrace the coming Man of Sin, Antichrist (meaning: “in place of Christ”) to deceive the world. Revelation 12:9, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

Thankfully, Jesus (the only begotten Son of God) came into the world by a virgin birth (Matthew 1:23), and He lived a sinless life as the acceptable Lamb of God (John 1:29), and Christ died on a cross to pay for your sins and mine, and all humanity (1st John 2:2). That is GOOD NEWS (which is what “Gospel” means). If any human comes to God as a guilty sinner, receiving by faith Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for their sins, believing that Jesus was buried but then miraculously bodily resurrected three days later, is saved (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). The Gospel plus your childlike faith equals eternal life (Romans 1:16; Galatians 3:26; 1st Thessalonians 4:14).

I only shared with you what Evangelist John R. Rice teaches, so you can decide for yourself what you believe, based upon the inspired King James Bible. I have shared with you what Dr. Rice taught, and what I humbly believe. I agree with nearly everything Dr. Rice teaches, I just differ in that I do think we can discern the times. Jesus may not return in the 21st century, but I humbly think He will. I simply don't know, and neither does anybody else, not even the angels according to Mark 13:32-37. Thank you for reading my blog dear reader. I love you unconditionally with Christ's love.