The Damned Cowards!

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.  This is the second death, (Revelation 21:8, emphasis mine).

The first few times that I read Revelation 21:8, it just didn’t sink in.  Take a good look at who leads the list of people that are destined for hell: cowards!  When it finally dawned on me that cowards are going to hell (along with murderers, idolaters, liars, and the rest of the nasty crew), I wondered why.  After all, aren’t they already scared?

Then the Lord reminded me that courage is not about not having fear.  Courage is facing down the fear and triumphing over it.  Courage is not allowing fear to stop you when you know what you should do.

Courage is something I see every day in the missionaries and pastors of Europe.  While the rest of the world treats them as irrelevant, these brave men and women—and whole families, even!—take their faith to the nations.  Many of them have sold all their possessions to enter into the mission field.  Some have suffered hardships that have cost them dearly: health, marriages, and family death.

The cowardly are the ones who go to church, but don’t obey when God calls them to ministry.  In their amazing book, Experiencing God, Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King wrote that God invites you to join Him in work that He’s already doing, and that God’s invitation leads to a crisis of belief.  Joining God in His work requires major adjustments in your life.  But the thing that was hardest for me when I was working my way through Experiencing God was the chapter titled “Joining God Requires Obedience,” and especially the section titled “The Cost of Obedience.”

I was fine with obedience costing me, personally, but when I got to the subsection titled “Cost to my Family for me to do God’s Will,” it stopped me cold.  This was 1997, and I was a housewife and stay-at-home mom.  My family was more important to me than anything else on earth.  How could I ask my family to suffer and sacrifice for my answer to God’s call on my life?  Of course, at the time, I didn’t know what God’s call on my life was.  And if I hadn’t counted the cost—including the cost to my family—I might never have known.  God might have deemed me unsuitable for service if I had chosen my family over serving Him.

Baby Steps

God took me along in baby steps.  I didn’t jump into missionary service right then.  Later in the book, it asks the question: What work is God inviting you to join Him in?  When I prayed about that question, I remembered that I had been asked by another mother to help put together a children’s church program.  The church had been through a very bitter split just before I moved there, and the children’s program was a casualty.  So Sunday mornings consisted of great music, great teaching and preaching, but absolutely nothing for the children.  While the adults enjoyed the sermon, the children all around me colored pictures, ate candy, and went out to the bathroom with a frequency that far exceeded the needs of even the tiniest bladder.  So I called this woman and we met to pray and plan for putting together a children’s church program.  We had so much fun, both with each other and with our own children, that really the hardest part of all had been making that initial phone call.  That phone call had taken courage.

One day as I was showering I had an idea for a children’s program.  I was living in New England at the time, and there the kids had a week off from school, usually in February, and it was called Winter Break.  Many times, winter break put a strain on working parents, who then had to scramble to find someone to watch the kids while they work.  If they didn’t find someone, they simply had to take time off work for that week.  My idea was a one day Winter Carnival at which the kids could play games, win prizes, and learn about Jesus in a fun atmosphere.  My immediate reaction was “What a fantastic idea!” and on the heels of that thought was resistance because it was going to be a huge task to put it together in just a month’s time.

Having recently been through Experiencing God, I knew that an idea that great for sharing the Gospel together with my feeling of resistance meant that this was really God’s idea.  So I called the pastor and told him the idea.  He loved it, and told the elders about the idea.  They also loved it.  Before I knew it, people were calling and volunteering time, volunteering resources, and volunteering to help.  In the end, I had only a small part to do in planning, most of the set up, implementation, and clean up was done by others.  I had so many volunteers and so many resources that in the end, I couldn’t take any credit for any of it.  The biggest thing I did was call the pastor with the idea that God had given me.  And all that the phone call took was courage.

I knew at the time that children’s church was a temporary call, but I had no idea that God had a much bigger call on my life.  Two years after Experiencing God, and having Him change my life through service in children’s church, I got the big call.  But even the big call happened in small steps for me.  That story is too long to place here, but it is recounted in detail in my book, Laughing in My Dreams.

The point is that as I showed myself to be faithful in smaller things, God gave me bigger things.  The biggest obstacle to overcome was my own resistance.  That’s not to say that there wasn’t resistance and obstacles from other quarters.  There was.  But once I made my mind up, it was easy to overcome those things.

When I moved back to Italy as a missionary, I had a strong call of God upon my life, and my own determination to follow that call.  People on both continents told me that I am a very brave woman to have moved to Italy alone.  At first I thought that they just didn’t know how scared I am at times.  But then I realized that courage is not the absence of fear.  Courage is going ahead despite the fear.  And you know what I learned?  Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”  What I learned in facing down fear is that fear flees when faced with determined action.

As many of my readers know, the End Times is on my mind a lot lately.  In reading Revelation 21:8 again, I realized that there will be a lot of people who take the Mark of the Beast, knowing that the Bible says not to.  In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Antichrist made that mark the number 666, just to snub his nose at God.  I have heard that several non-believers are reluctant to take a microchip into their hand because they recognize that it sounds like what Christians say will happen.  Those people who take the Mark knowing that they shouldn’t, will do so because they don’t want to be beheaded.  They are cowards.  They will end up in the Lake of Fire because they chose temporal comfort over eternal security.  And really, the only reason why they would do that is because they just don’t love God.

Don’t be cowardly!  Stand up for your beliefs.  We will overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of our Testimony.  And never forget: God is good!  He will give you the strength and the joy to go through whatever you must go through.  Yes, joy!  The joy of the Lord is your strength.

Rapture!

The Rapture has been on my mind a lot lately.  I believe that it is going to be soon, probably within the next 2 years.  Here’s how the Rapture is going to work:

The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever, (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

What an exciting time to be alive!  But also, how dreadful it will be for those left behind.  I don’t believe that there will be a single church (of more than 20 members) that will be completely taken away.  The ones left behind will be comprised of those who danced around the edges of Christianity, liking the music, liking the people, perhaps even liking the message, but who had never made a personal commitment.  Also among the ones left behind will be those so-called carnal Christians.  Those are the ones who prayed the prayer of salvation, they attend church regularly, and honestly believe themselves to be Christians, but their lives do not bear fruit.  These people probably have a fish on their car and pray before meals, but there is no real evidence of a change in their heart.

There will also be those who became Christians, but then changed their minds.  They may have been enticed away by the so-called pleasures of the world or they may have just bailed when trouble came.

In the parable of the 10 virgins, Jesus clearly stated that not all of us will be carried away in the Rapture:

At that time the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the Bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The Bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight the cry rang out: “Here’s the Bridegroom! Come out to meet Him!” Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.” “No,” they replied, “there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.”

But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the Bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with Him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. Later the others also came. “Lord, Lord,” they said, “open the door for us!” But He replied, “Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.” Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour, (Matthew 25:1-13, emphasis mine).

Oil is symbolic of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.  Notice how the foolish virgins think that they can borrow the anointing from the wise ones?  There are those who hang around with people who are more spiritual than they are, thinking that their anointing will rub-off onto them.  It won’t.  The anointing can only come from a personal experience with the Lord, and that will only come with commitment and surrender.

Those left behind are not necessarily going to hell, but they will have to go through the Tribulation, which will be the most terrible period in the all of earth’s history.  They will remember what they have learned about the Rapture, and they’ll know what happened to the rest of us.  At that time, many of them will finally make a real decision for Christ.

The enemy (the antichrist) is going to deceive the whole earth.  His powers of deception will be so strong that even committed Christians will have a hard time not falling for his lies (Matthew 24:4-5).  In fact, such deceptions are already being set up, with people investigating how the ancients built the pyramids and Stonehenge.  Some of these people have said that the ancients had the help of alien technology.  They have concluded that these aliens inhabited the doomed island of Atlantis.  These conclusions are supported by the writings of Edgar Cayce.  Some people claim that Jesus was an alien.  The antichrist will explain the Rapture away by saying that we were abducted by aliens.  I assure you, there is no such thing as extraterrestrial aliens.  Do not be deceived!  If the devil can appear as an “angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), then he can easily disguise himself as an alien.

The Antichrist will have supernatural powers, make no mistake about that.  But the source of those supernatural powers will be the devil, himself.

The secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the One who now holds it back will continue to do so till He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendor of His coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved, (2 Thessalonians 2:7-10, emphasis mine).

Because he will have supernatural powers, people will believe what he says, no matter how ridiculous.  He will likely claim to be the reincarnation of Jesus or Jesus returned to earth.  Jesus will not return to earth until the end of the Tribulation, which will take place over a 7 year period of time.

At some point, the antichrist will require all the inhabitants of the earth to receive a tattoo, or more likely an implanted microchip into their right hand or forehead that will allow them to buy and sell.  That is the mark of the beast:

It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666, (Revelation 13:16-18, emphasis mine).

Those who are left behind who don’t take the mark of the beast will be beheaded—if they are caught:

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the Word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years, (Revelation 20:4, emphasis mine).

Notice I say if they are caught.  My advice to those left behind: make a commitment to live for Jesus, and find a remote place—hide!  But if you must choose, have the faith and courage to lose your head for Jesus (literally!).

Best of all, make a commitment now!  I have written about missing flights and trains because of divine appointments (see I Missed the Train and Chapter 11 of my book Laughing in my Dreams).  But believe me, this is one flight you do not want to miss!  God is good!

Fast and Pray for The Answers

Day One

I have always had a fascination with End Times prophecies.  It’s an interesting subject.  I read the Left Behind series by Jerry B. Jenkins & Tim LaHaye, and the Christ Clone Trilogy written by James BeauSeigneur.  Both are interesting and well-researched, but regarding the Rapture, I think both are wrong.

Left Behind has people being Raptured out of their clothing.  The Bible tells about 2 people who were Raptured:  Enoch and Elijah.  Neither of them was Raptured out of their clothing, though Elijah’s mantle fell from him.  What about the rest of his clothing?  Surely Elijah was wearing more than just his mantle (or coat).  I believe that Elijah’s mantle was left as a sign of the double portion of Elijah’s anointing having passed to Elisha.  What happened to their clothing, and what will happen to ours in the Rapture?  I believe that just as our physical bodies will be transformed into spiritual bodies, so our clothing will be transformed into new clothing.  Is anything too hard for God?

While we’re on the subject of physical transformations at the resurrection: it’s silly to think that God can only resurrect a body that has been buried and preserved whole.  Lots of people shun cremation, believing that God can’t or won’t resurrect a body from ashes (scattered or not).  Absurd!  What about all the Christian martyrs whose bodies were eaten (and pooped-out) by lions?  Do they think that God just throws up His hands and says, “They should have been buried whole.  There’s nothing I can do!”?  Or what about the Christian martyrs that were burned at the stake?  What about Christians that drown at sea?  Or Christians blown up by bomb attacks?  Or beheaded, with their heads separated from their bodies, like John the Baptist?  Ridiculous!  They think that God, who made the human body in the first place—made a man out of dirt and made a woman out of a rib, can’t resurrect a body that’s not preserved whole.

All the dead in Christ worldwide will be resurrected and raptured in the twinkling of an eye.  God, who can do that, can also recover bodies and missing body parts from ashes and dust.  The problem is that many people (maybe even most people) have an idea of God that’s way too small.

I even had a funeral director dig my father’s grave in the wrong place, despite my very clear instructions.  She said that the reason was so that when Jesus comes to raise the dead, my father (and eventually, though she still lives) my mother will be raised standing just as they stood at their wedding: he to her right.  Poor Mom was very upset when she saw that the grave had been dug in the wrong place.  I told the funeral director that it is utter nonsense.  Jesus clearly says that in the resurrection there is no marriage (Matthew 22:30).  I told her to fill-in that hole and bury my father where I had told her to dig.

The Christ Clone Trilogy has a different error.  In the Rapture, it has all the Christians being found suddenly dead.  Again, Enoch and Elijah did not leave their bodies behind.  If they had, then they would have been counted as dead like all the rest that had gone before them.  In Elijah’s case, 2 Kings 2:11 (and following) would also contain an account of Elisha burying Elijah’s body.

A lot of conflicting theories about the End Times are circulating on the internet, and I realized that it would be useful to know what’s true and what is erroneous speculation, like the aforementioned Rapture errors.  When I prayed about it, the Holy Spirit reminded me that Daniel asked these same questions, praying and fasting for the answer (Daniel 10).  So today I am starting a fast to understand the true End Times answers.

One thing I want to make clear: I am not asking God when Jesus will come to Rapture the Church away.  Jesus said that only the Father knows, not the angels and not even the Son knows (Matthew 24:36 & Mark 13:32).  So to ask God to reveal something to me that He is keeping even from Jesus is pointless.  It blows my mind that some people think they have that revelation, when the Bible is so clear about it—and somehow they convince others, too!

Here in my blog I will keep a diary of the progression toward understanding the End Times.  You’re welcome to join me in fasting and praying for the important answers to these questions.  Please let me know anything that God reveals to you.

Blessings to all of you!  God is good!