Aliens and the Antichrist: Unveiling the End Times Deception (25 page)

Acts 6:15

And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

Acts 7:54-60

When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up sted- fastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

I’m a member ofVOM (Voice of the Martyrs), and nothing fires me up more than to read about the persecuted church at
http://www.persecution.com.
1
I was turned on to VOM after reading an incredible book called
Jesus Freaks.
Another similar book I recommend is
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
Christians are beaten, tortured, raped, sold into slavery, and murdered—EVERY single day, all around the world, for no other reason than being Christian. Close to 156,000 Christians were martyred for their faith in 1998.
²
This number is expected to grow with each passing year.

VOM currently operates in forty nations around the world, where such atrocities are common. China is currently the number one human rights violator in the world,
³
which is why I would deliver Bibles there. I heard a missionary say on a video I watched in my church the other night that one of the prerequisites for being a home-church pastor in China is serving time in jail. Now that’s an interesting job resume! In America, we put “Graduated with honors at theological seminary bla bla bla,” while in China, they put “Look forward to more time in jail.”

In Pakistan, Christians will routinely have an arm (or some other appendage) chopped off as one of the various tortures to choose from.
⁴
The faithful step forward, losing their arms, and give praise to God because they have one arm left in which to give him praise!

There’s nothing wrong with fear and commitment in the Pakistan church, and if a Christian in Pakistan voiced a belief in the rapture of the church, who would object? What theological concept is worth arguing about with a Christian who lost an arm because of his or her faith? This is very different from the theological bickering I alluded to previously. For anyone who wants to get into an emotional, theological debate about anything, I highly recommend spending

some time in the mission field of a country like Pakistan, because actions speak much louder than words.

What makes Christians so brave like those in China and Pakistan? The love of Christ is a source of infinite power. The fearlessness exhibited in these Christians has nothing to do with someone withholding the doctrine of the rapture from their ears. They’re on fire for God, and nothing will extinguish them. When I hear about these saints, it makes me want to be a martyr too.

When I was young, I used to be terrified at the thought of the Antichrist. Now, however, I’d relish the opportunity to boldly, publicly deny him to his face, and then sing glory to God while being killed for doing so. This attitude is nothing I want to
impose
on anyone; it’s simply the kind of Christian character to wish to have.

So there’s my disclaimer about promoting an escapist doctrine. My mindset will always be in favor of sacrificing for Jesus, and my belief in the pretribulation rapture of the church has nothing to do with wanting to escape persecution. I might not be volunteering for persecution at this time in my life, but if it comes my way, I hope I won’t cower away from it. I also advise anyone who believes in the rapture of the church because of a fear of persecution to watch
The Passion of the Christ,
and to read books like
Jesus Freaks.
Jesus died not only to atone for all the sin in the world, but also to show us how to die as well. Taking all of this information into account, I will now discuss why I believe there will be a pretribulation rapture of the church, because that’s what I see in scripture, and not because I don’t want to endure persecution.

In the process of researching the rapture of the church, I have found a few reasons why there is so much confusion about this future event. Many scriptures referring to the rapture of the church are very clear, however, and leave little room for misinterpretation. I am now of the opinion that the rapture of the church will definitely happen, and I believe it will occur before the great tribulation (which unbelievably, will actually be worse than the tribulation currently going on in the world). If it doesn’t, that’s fine, because all Christians should be willing to suffer for Christ, following his example and being pleased to have something extremely tangible to offer him. I think scripture indicates that those who will be suffering in the great tribulation, however, are those who aren’t Christians now, but will become Christians after the rapture of the church.

For those who have no interest in knowing when the rapture of the church will occur, I recommend simply skipping to the next chapter. But for those who want to know more about this “rapture of the church thing”—read further!

1. The Pretribulation Rapture of the Church Is Consistent with the Heart of God

Christian terms, such as “pretrib,” “midtrib,” and “post-trib,” are spoken of in Christian circles, referring to the rapture of the church as happening either before the great tribulation, during the middle of the great tribulation, or at the end of the great tribulation. After studying all of these views, I have found the pretribu- lation view to be perfectly consistent with the heart of God, as well as with scripture, while all the other views are contradictory to both the heart of God and scripture.

The simplest argument of all concerning the timing of the rapture of the church comes from knowing the heart of God. The Old Testament gives what I believe to be an excellent example of a foreshadowing of the rapture of the church. In Genesis 18:23-25, before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham asked God a bold question: Is it just that the righteous be destroyed with the unrighteous? God answered Abraham’s question by taking Lot and his family out of Sodom and Gomorrah in the nick of time (Genesis 19:1-29). This is God; it’s who he is.

Genesis 18:22-25
(bold emphasis added)

And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said,
Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked:
and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee:
Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Now it’s true that God allows suffering and severe hardships to befall his children, and even his own Son for that matter; there’s no doubt about that, but the suffering poured out is not coming from God himself. It’s coming from Satan, this sinful world, and the consequences of our own sins. Furthermore God never appoints anyone to meaningless suffering. His love and glory are always at the center of all of his actions. When people are martyred for Christ, the world sees the suffering that Christians are willing to go through because of their love for God. Concerning wrath issued directly from God himself, this is not the case. How could God receive glory by pouring out his own wrath on his own obedient children? A child beaten up at school because he’s defending someone or standing up for his family’s honor brings glory to the father of the family, but the father beating all of his children to death because of the disobedience of
some
of them does what? This is commonsense stuff, and I don’t need any commentary to understand it.

The only time suffering is in the will of God is when it benefits other people or gives glory to God in some way (as implied in Hebrews 11:35-40).

Hebrews 11:35-40
(bold emphasis added)

Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:

And others had trial of cruel mocking and scourging, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

When it comes to suffering, God leads by example in an extreme way. Jesus’s death glorified God the Father, because he took upon himself the punishment we all deserve in order to save us from hell (John 3:16). God wants to save us, not kill us! He’s not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9).

John 3:14-19
(bold emphasis added)

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For
God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

2 Peter 3:9
(bold emphasis added)

The Lord is
not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is
longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,
but

that all should come to repentance.

As for the martyrs who have followed Jesus’s example even to this day, they too suffer for Christ’s sake, because they love him too much to deny him, or even hide their faith in him. As the apostle Paul stated, the weight in glory received from God is far more than the price paid in suffering (2 Corinthians 4:17).

2 Corinthians 4:17

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

God receives glory in martyrdom and sacrifice for the good of all, but he does not receive glory from personally killing his own faithful children. Going back to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, if Lot and his family died in that destruction, God would not have received any glory from it. With that same commonsense reasoning, doesn’t it make sense that God would save his faithful children from the great tribulation in the near future?

Now there will be people who will suffer for Christ during the great tribulation, but this is because of their own lack of faith preceding the rapture of the church. This is a common misunderstanding some people have. Some advocates of the rapture have a fire-and-brimstone message concerning the rapture of the church, stating that all will be hopeless for those who are left behind, and that it will be too late for them to accept Christ after the rapture of the church. This is unscriptural, because many will be saved during the great tribulation (this is actually one of the primary reasons God is bringing his judgment to Earth—it’s a last- chance wake-up call for the sake of mercy), though their faith will be tried to utter extremes.

The tribulation saints, as they are called, wouldn’t have to deal with the great tribulation if they were “in Christ” before the rapture of the church (2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Thessalonians 4:16).

2 Corinthians 5:17
(bold emphasis added)

Therefore if any man be
in Christ,
he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.

1 Thessalonians 4:16
(bold emphasis added)

For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead
in Christ
shall rise first.

In essence they will be forced to endure some of the hardships of that time, because of their unbelief prior to the rapture of the church. The brunt of their suffering will come especially from the Antichrist, but God in his infinite mercy will still allow them to accept him even after the rapture of the church (tribulation saints are saved—Revelation 6:9-11, 13:7-18, 15:2-4, 20:4-6; and the 144,000 Messianic Jews will all be saved—Revelation 7:4, 14:1-3).