The Spirit of God: 12/14/09

Monday, December 14, 2009

BC Digest "not the age of God's judgment"-John MacArthur

John MacArthur

The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?”

And he said to them, “An enemy has done this!” The slaves said to him, “Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?”

But he said, “No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.’” - Matthew 13:24–30; see vv. 36–43

Throughout redemptive history, our Lord has planted believers (“good seed”) in the world as His witnesses, to be faithful to Him, become fruitful plants of righteousness, and reflect His will before a corrupt world. The tares, by contrast, are the children of Satan—unbelievers spread throughout the world until they thoroughly outnumber the wheat by a large margin.

“The harvest” represents the Father’s judgment at the end of the age, when His angels will execute sentence on the many unbelievers, just as the human reapers separated the tares from the wheat and burned them.

The apostles likely were ready and eager to separate out the tares immediately, as seen by James’ and John’s attitudes toward the unbelieving Samaritans (Luke 9:54). But that was and is not God’s plan, lest some of the good plants (believers) get inadvertently uprooted with the tares.

During His incarnation Jesus did nothing to destroy His enemies. He even appealed to Judas right to the end that he believe (John 13:26). On the cross He asked forgiveness for those who orchestrated His execution (Luke 23:34). Therefore we also should be instruments of truth and grace toward unbelievers.

Ask Yourself

This is not the age of God’s judgment—certainly not by the church—but rather the age for evangelism. What does this mean concerning the way we are called to perform ministry in this generation?

This material was brought to you by B.C.Digest, a ministry of Michael James Stone, Volunteers, and people dedicated to the Love of God and Salvation of Souls. We hope it helps you to prepare daily for life and living, as well as the return of Jesus, He is Coming Very Soon. BroadCast Christianity, operates by you. “Freely you have received, freely give” Pass this on, everywhere you can, anytime you can. You will be blessed if you do.

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Last Call Digest

Classic Christian Digest What Is Faith? -J. Vernon McGee

What Is Faith?

by Dr. J. Vernon McGee

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

The Greek word for "substance" is hupostasis. It is a scientific term, the opposite of hypothesis or theory. It is that which rests upon facts. In chemistry it would be the chemical which settles at the bottom of the test tube after you have made an experiment. Dr. A. T. Robertson translates substance as "title deed." What is the title deed? What is the substance? It is the Word of God, my friend. If your faith does not rest upon the Word of God, it is not biblical faith at all. It has to rest upon what God says. Actually, it means to believe God.

The question is whether you believe God or not. Don't come up with the "I've got intellectual problems" excuse, because that won't work. The thing that keeps men from the Word of God is sin. It is sin in your life that keeps you from coming to God. It is the heart that needs to believe - it is "the heart that believeth unto righteousness." When you are ready to give up your sin, the Holy Spirit will make real to you the Word of God.

Paul wrote to the Colossian believers, "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" (Colossians 1:9). To know the will of God is to know the Word of God. He prayed that they might know the Word of God. The Greek word for "knowledge" which Paul used is epignosis. There were Gnostics in that day who professed to have super knowledge. Paul told the Colossians that he wanted them to have super knowledge which was genuine by knowing that the Bible is the Word of God, and he believed that the Holy Spirit would make it real to them.

Therefore faith rests upon the Word of God. Our dogmatism comes from the Book. That is the reason the writer to the Hebrews said in Hebrews 10:39, "But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul." There are only two ways to go. Either you are going backwards, or you are going to go forwards. Anything that is alive cannot stand still. Out yonder in the forest there is regression and deterioration taking place, but there is also growth and development. Nothing alive out there is standing still - it cannot.

"The evidence of things not seen." In the Greek the word is elegchos. It is a legal term meaning "evidence that is accepted for conviction." When I was studying classical Greek in college, I observed that this word is used about twenty-three times in Plato's account of the trial of Socrates. Evidence is something you take into court to prove your case.

Faith is not a leap in the dark. Faith is not a "hope so." Faith is substance and evidence - substance for a scientific mind, and evidence for a legal mind. If you really want to believe, you can believe. You can believe a whole lot of foolish things, but God doesn't want you to do that. He wants your faith to rest upon the Word of God.

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Last Call Digest

Classic Christian Digest "Even Ceasar needed Money"-Leonard Ravenhill

Paralysis of Preoccupation
by Leonard Ravenhill

Caesar Augustus was having trouble with his tax income. Prices were high and armies of occupation, plus each soldier's need of a special bonus for danger money, kept the treasury low. Caesar needed cash!

This could be part of the trouble that furrowed the brow of Herod, vassal-king in the Roman-occupied Palestine. He must channel more money to his chief.

In the midst of his quandary, some star-gazers had asked audience with Herod because their craft had revealed to them that a person of royal birth had just entered the world, and in that vicinity!

Our story says Herod "was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." I imagine that there was a touch of fear about his message to the wise men: "When ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also." Half an hour on horseback and Herod could have investigated the spot where the royal child was born. But the demanding affairs of state crowded the time sheet of the ruler. He took a short while out to inquire of scribes and chief priests, but he went no further. Just half an hour's gallop away the greatest event in human history had taken place, and Herod had missed it. Had he gone and had he worshipped, his personal history and destiny might have been different.

Although Herod and all Jerusalem were troubled, there was a minority, too insignificant to mention, who were not troubled. Notice Mary and Joseph on their way to the temple with their holy child. The saintly Simeon is on duty to take the offering the poor couple bring at the dedication of Jesus. Notice the corners of Mary's mouth curve upwards as the priest says, "For mine eyes have seen thy salvation."

I think that often we overlook the first thing that Jesus ever did. Before He knew where He was, before He knew who He was, before He could walk, before He could talk-Jesus set a pattern for His life and, in measure, for eternity. He divided men!

The first thing that Jesus the Babe did was to divide the nation. Most were against Him, a few for Him. He divided men at His birth; He divided them on His blessed cross in death; He divided them in His life in the synagogue (John 7:43). He will divide them at the judgment seat. Jesus declared quite openly that His mission was to divide men (Luke 12:51). He still divides men, and He will do so until time ends.

Dr. Tozer once reminded us that after Adam sinned, he became occupied with things. Today we are too preoccupied with the complexities of our modern "rat race." Bunyan had an old materialist who was so busy looking down at his muck rake that he had no time to see the crown of dazzling splendor above his head.

Men are now so occupied with getting to the moon that they have forgotten how to get to heaven. They are so bent on inventing new ways to liquidate cities that they have lost sight of living. Some scientists spend their lives inventing death.

This troubled age so relentlessly broadcasts its groans over worldwide radios every hour on the hour that men have forgotten that there is a Prince of Peace.

Honesty is hard to come by even in the church of the living God. We believers are so preoccupied with the lesser things of the church that we have starved our own appetite for the moving of the Spirit.

As we enter this last phase of 1964, I challenge each reader, pastor, or missionary to check his record of soul-saving over the year gone. The strong wine of statistics has blurred the thinking of many. Just who of our group did get saved this year? Just which person was filled with the Spirit? Where are our ranks depleted because our members have moved off into full-time service for Christ at home or abroad?

Perhaps a nibble at Time magazine stirs us for a moment about the perils in Harlem. The flicker of the news on TV startles us as we see the deterioration in Vietnam and the setback in Cyprus. After our reading or seeing, we are back again so-preoccupied with events that the great event of His near return is clouded.

Had Christ come sweeping down the skies in the fiery chariot that Elijah went up in, the world would then have believed on Him. Had He come with ten thousands of His Old Testament saints and the blast of a million angelic trumpets, all men would then have fallen in worship.

Christ came veiled in flesh. He took the limits of any other infant. Today again He withholds His power and glory. Daily He hears millions blaspheme His holy name. He seems indifferent to the hourly breaking of His commandments and the wrecking of His sabbaths.

But wait! Who shall abide the day of His coming? Of this I am sure: Jesus Christ came to produce a better church than we have here at the moment. He said, "I am the door." He is the door by which we enter to greater power. By Him we enter into all the riches of the Godhead. By Him and through Him and for Him all things exist.

If we were not so preoccupied with lesser things, we would be grief-stricken that we have failed to inherit our possessions in Him. In failing Him, we hurt His dear heart day by day.

We are too preoccupied!

Posted via email from The Last Call Digest

BPT Digest Mysteries of the Star of Bethlehem-David Regan

MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2009

Mysteries of the Star of Bethlehem

By David Reagan

"Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east, and have come to worship Him.'" (Matthew 2:1-2)

The star of Bethlehem has always intrigued people. What was it? Could it have been a comet or a meteor or a super-nova? What about a special alignment of planets?

Various Theories

The longevity of the star rules out a comet or a meteor. The star had to appear each night for several months in order to lead the magi all the way from Persia in the Far East. The possibility of a super-nova or a planetary alignment is ruled out by the fact that the star constantly moved, leading the magi first to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem where the star hovered over the house where Mary and Joseph had moved to with the Christ Child (Matthew 2:9-11).

A Supernatural Alternative

The renowned Messianic Jewish scholar, Alfred Edersheim, has proposed another solution to the mystery. He points out that the Greek word translated "star" really means "radiance." The "star" could therefore have been what the Jews called the "Shekinah" — that is, a physical manifestationof the glory of God in the form of a supernatural radiance.

The Jews experienced such a phenomenon in the wilderness of Sinai when for 40 years they were led about by a pillar of cloud in the day that became a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21-22). When the radiant cloud moved, they moved. When the cloud hovered, they pitched their tents and settled down (Numbers 9:15-23).

This Shekinah later resided in the Holy of Holies after the Temple ofSolomon was built (2 Chronicles 7:1-3). Ezekiel describes how the Shekinah departed from the Temple in stages before God allowed the Temple to be destroyed by the Babylonians. First, the Shekinah moved from the Holy of Holies to the threshold of the Temple (Ezekiel 9:3). Then "the glory of the Lord" moved from the threshold to the Eastern Gate (Ezekiel 10:18-19). Finally, the Lord's presence moved to the Mount of Olives where it "stood over the mountain" before departing the city (Ezekiel 11:23).

The Shekinah is mentioned in the New Testament as being present at the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:9), at His transfiguration (Matthew 17:5), and at His ascension (Acts 1:9).

Considering the radiant and maneuverable qualities of the Shekinah that are demonstrated in these scriptures, I think it is very likely that the "star" which led the magi was really the Shekinah glory of God.

The Attraction of the Star

Another mystery associated with the Bible's account of the magi is why did these men "from the east" follow the heavenly radiance?

Their very title gives us a clue. Magi is a Persian term for a priestly caste of wise men who specialized in astrology, medicine, and natural science. The ancient historian Herodotus says they interpreted dreams and omens and claimed to have the gift of prophecy. Such men would naturally have been interested in an unusual heavenly radiance.

It is also very likely that they would have been familiar with the writings of Daniel who gained great renown as a wise man and interpreter of dreams in the Persian court of Nebuchadnezzar. If so, they would have known hisprophecy of "the seventy weeks of years" which is recorded in Daniel 9:24-27.

This remarkable prophecy established the general time period of the Messiah's coming by indicating it would be 483 years after a Persian ruler issued an edict to rebuild Jerusalem. The magi had probably been counting down the years since the Jews had been sent back from Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem, and they thus knew the general time period when the Messiah would be born.

Because of the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, the magi would also have had access to the writings of Moses (the Torah), and from those writings, they may have come across the Messianic prophecy of Balaam that "a star shall come forth from Jacob" (Numbers 24:17).

The Inclusion of the Gentiles

The final mystery is why God would open the eyes of a group of Gentile mystics and draw them to the Christ Child.

Undoubtedly it was for the purpose of symbolizing the universal importance of the birth, to emphasize that although salvation comes from the Jews (John 4:22), it is intended for all peoples.

That was certainly the message of the angels who proclaimed to the Bethlehem shepherds that their good news of the birth of a Savior was for "all the people" (Luke 2:10-11).

This point was affirmed and emphasized forty days later when Mary and Joseph took their son to the Temple "to present Him to the Lord" (Luke 2:22). As they entered the Temple, a prophet of God by the name of Simeon took the Christ Child into his arms, blessed God, and then announced:

My eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, A light of salvation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel. (Luke 2:30-32)

During the Christmas season as you think about the star of Bethlehem that pointed Mankind to the First Coming of the Messiah, keep in mind that Jesus will soon return as "the bright and morning star" (Revelation 22:16).

Posted via email from The Last Call Digest

Last Call Digest "taking time to pray" -Mike MacIntosh

Read Through the Bible in One Year
Today: Jonah 1:1-4-11 Revelation 5:1-14 Psalm 133:1-3 Proverbs 29:26-27

Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, "Sit here while I pray."
Mark 14:32

I hope you are taking time to pray, just like Jesus did. The reasons and benefits of prayer are too exhaustive to share with you in this brief devotional, but let me just say that everything that God has to offer you comes through prayer. He gives you His peace through prayer. He gives you joy knowing that when you pray, He's listening and responding. Prayer gives you comfort amidst painful and difficult times. Prayer lets us know that He's in charge of our lives and that we can go to Him as His kids when we need help. Prayer allows us to praise and worship God for who He is and what He's done--it's our way of saying, "Thanks" to Him.

Jesus is near His death in this passage from Mark, and what does He do? He prays. And wow, is that a message for us today. Whatever you are experiencing--whatever trial or trouble you are going through--take it to the Lord and let Him speak to you. He will give you His power and His strength to get through the day. Take it to Him in prayer. Philippians 4:6 says to "make your requests known to God"--that's the command. But the next verse gives us the huge payoff. Paul says that when we make our requests known to Him, two things take place.

"…And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

First, He gives us His peace. Notice that His peace surpasses any of our understanding, so when we pray, we're getting supernatural comfort. Second, He guards our hearts and minds. And oh, how we need to be guarded from the enemy.

When we pray, we are being protected from the enemy. We are under spiritual attack and the Bible says that the sure-fire way to ward off the enemy's attacks is through prayer.

Jesus commanded us to pray (Matthew 9:37, among others). Jesusshowed us how to pray (Matthew 6:9-13). And Jesus Himself prayed! Follow His lead and take time to pray, even if it's just a few moments here and there throughout the day. Let whatever is in your heart be made known to God.

Receive these daily devotions by email
Enter your name and email address below to receive these daily devotions in your email box every weekday morning.

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Last Call Digest

Classic Christian Digest The Necessity of Wounds- A.W.Tozer

December: Trials and Pain

The devil, things and people being what they are, it is necessary for God to use the hammer, the file and the furnace in His holy work of preparing a saint for true sainthood. It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.

The Root of the Righteous, 157.

December 14

Trials and Pain: The Necessity of Wounds

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word....It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. --Psalm 119:67,71

It is amazing to me! There are people within the ranks of Christianity who have been taught and who believe that Christ will shield His followers from wounds of every kind.

If the truth were known, the saints of God in every age were only effective after they had been wounded. They experienced the humbling wounds that brought contrition, compassion and a yearning for the knowledge of God. I could only wish that more among the followers of Christ knew what some of the early saints meant when they spoke of being wounded by the Holy Spirit....

In every generation, the people who have found God have been those who have come to the end of themselves. Recognizing their hopelessness, they have been ready to throw themselves on the mercy and grace of a forgiving God. Men Who Met God, pp.59,62

"Lord, don't let me waste the humbling wounds. Do Your great work within me, and help me to respond properly and learn all You want me to learn through Your working. Amen."

Posted via email from The Last Call Digest

Classic Christian Digest My questions come whenever I cease to obey-My Utmost for His Highest

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: . .

Let not your heart be troubled.

John 14:27

Whenever a thing becomes difficult in personal experience, we are in danger of blaming God, but it is we who are in the wrong, not God, there is some perversity somewhere that we will not let go.

Immediately we do, everything becomes as clear as daylight. As long as we try to serve two ends, ourselves and God, there is perplexity.

The attitude must be one of complete reliance on God. When once we get there, there is nothing easier than living the saintly life; difficulty comes in when we want to usurp the authority of the Holy Spirit for our own ends.

Whenever you obey God, His seal is always that of peace, the witness of an unfathomable peace, which is not natural, but the peace of Jesus. Whenever peace does not come, tarry till it does or find out the reason why it does not. If you are acting on an impulse, or from a sense of the heroic, the peace of Jesus will not witness; there is no simplicity or confidence in God, because the spirit of simplicity is born of the Holy Ghost, not of your decisions. Every decision brings a reaction of simplicity.

My questions come whenever I cease to obey.

When I have obeyed God, the problems never come between me and God, they come as probes to keep the mind going on with amazement at the revelation of God. Any problem that comes between God and myself springs out of disobedience; any problem, and there are many, that is alongside me while I obey God, increases my ecstatic delight, because I know that my Father knows, and I am going to watch and see how He unravels this thing

Posted via email from The Last Call Digest

Classic Christian Digest I take pleasure in being without strength-Streams nthe Desert

Thankful for the Thorns

"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Cor. 12:10).

The literal translation of this verse gives a startling emphasis to it, and makes it speak for itself with a force that we have probably never realized.

Here It is: "Therefore I take pleasure in being without strength, in insults, in being pinched, in being chased about, in being cooped up in a corner for Christ's sake; for when I am without strength, then am I dynamite."

Here is the secret of Divine all-sufficiency, to come to the end of everything in ourselves and in our circumstances. When we reach this place, we will stop asking for sympathy because of our hard situation or bad treatment, for we will recognize these things as the very conditions of our blessing, and we will turn from them to God and find in them a claim upon Him. --A. B. Simpson

George Matheson, the well-known blind preacher of Scotland, who recently went to be with the Lord, said: "My God, I have never thanked Thee for my thorn. I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorn. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross; but I have never thought of my cross as itself a present glory.

"Teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my thorn. Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbows."

"Alas for him who never sees
The stars shine through the cypress trees."

Posted via email from The Last Call Digest

BPT Digest How to Survive Hard Economic Times -Todd Strandberg

How to Survive Hard Economic Times

By Todd Strandberg

In last week's Nearing Midnight update, I laid out the reason I believe our nation is on a collision course with financial calamity. In this week's update, I plan to offer my advice about what people can do to survive hard times.

I should probably first explain why Terry and I believe that a "Great Depression" scenario is unlikely to occur just ahead of the Rapture. Here is a condensed version of an email we sent out earlier this week:

We believe Jesus was talking about the Rapture climate in Luke 17:26-29.He used the "days of Noah and days of Lot " to prophesy the time of His coming again.

He listed conditions at the time of that coming. People will be building, marrying, planting - it will be business pretty much as usual for the times. Those times will, of course, be wicked - much like the mockers and violence of Noah's day leading up to the Flood and the homosexuality and violence leading up to Sodom's destruction.

This could not have been Jesus talking about the end of the Tribulation period. At the end of that will be the most horrendous time in history, according to Jesus (Matthew 24:21-22). At that time, as many as two-thirds of the world's population will have died in God's wrath and judgment.

Yet the people in this Luke account are building, marrying, etc., when He suddenly returns and destruction begins.

If there were such great economic cataclysm as to completely throw the world into great chaos - as would occur with the U.S. and all of the world's economies collapsing - there would not be a time such as described by Jesus in His prophecy. People would not be building, marrying, planting, and harvesting. They would be starving, and things would not be going along pretty much as normal, which are described as conditions in Jesus' Luke 17: 26-29 prophecy.

The Rapture could be the pin that pops the economic bubble. The great destruction will then begin. God's wrath and judgment will follow as Antichrist and his global reorganization of things come onto the scene.

Nothing is preventing us from going through a deep recession. The Tribulation hour does seem to be very near, but since a train of economic despair is rapidly heading our way, we can't ignore reality. We may find ourselves having to endure a brief period of profound financial adjustment.

The first sign of problems is not the government defaulting on its massive debt. Uncle Sam has the power of the printing press behind it. The U.S. Treasury can print all the money it needs to continue its operations.

The breaking point is when buyers lose faith in the dollar and in Treasury bills and T-bonds. As confidence falls, inflation and interest rates will begin to climb. The drop in the value of the dollar would be the most painful. In a currency crisis (USD), things like Social Security checks, bank CDs, Treasury bonds, and insurance annuities all become worthless. To help you survive hard times, there are four core things you need to focus on:

1. Change Your Priorities

The first thing you need to do to prepare for hard times is change your priorities. In an economic downturn, our concern needs to switch from luxuries to core needs like food and shelter. Last year, Adolf Merckle, the owner of a holding company in Europe, committed suicide when his firm lost billions of dollars in bad transactions. This guy went from being worth over $10 billion to just $1.6 billion. Of course, most people would have been thrilled to switch places with him. Merckle took his life because he couldn't cope with the need to downsize his lifestyle.

2. Preserve the Value of Your Money

If we should go into a period of hyper-inflation, it is very important to preserve the value of your money. Gold and silver are good tools to hold the buying power of money. Because the government cannot produce gold or silver, it’s not going to decline in value. I prefer silver because you can sell silver coins as you need the cash. You have to be very careful about where you buy silver coins. Many precious metal dealers charge huge mark-ups or offer products that have no real value. Never buy anything from a TV ad or purchase items labeled "replica," "clad," or "proof."

3. Producing Your Own Food

During times of financial misfortune, it's good to be able to produce your own food. This may seem odd, but raising chickens is an excellent source of nourishment. Because most people don't live on farms, or they have limited space to grow food, a small-scale poultry operation is a great way to feed your own family and provide local food to others. Chickens provide eggs every day, offering a concentrated amount of nutrition and essential fats. When the time comes, you can order hatchlings by mail and raise them on corn meal and the bugs that live in your yard.

4. Jesus Is Our Deliverer

I don't recommend going hog wild by building a fortified compound in the backwoods. Nothing in the Bible says we should become recluses. Our hope is not in how much precious metal we have stashed away, in how well we can shoot a gun, or in our ability to process a deer carcass. Our trust should be in Jesus Christ, the One who has promised to deliver us from this doomed world.

Posted via email from The Last Call Digest

BPT Digest Rapture Readying _Terry James

Rapture Readying

By Terry James

This Wednesday (December 16), The History Channel is supposed to air a program as part of its series, "The Nostradamus Effect." The topic of the program will be "The Rapture." It is the program for which I was asked to interview, and did so last June.

The program was first scheduled, according to the documentary's project co-producer, for Wednesday, December 2. It was then moved to Wednesday, December 9, and finally, I was alerted that it will be aired this Wednesday (December 16).

While the move of the program's air date is frustrating in that we must keep changing our announcement to you, it is nonetheless interesting to observethat the program's delay allows for further developments on the world and national scenes that make us know the time of the Rapture itself is drawing ever nearer - thus the title of this commentary, "Rapture Readying.."

That's exactly how I view things that have been developing for these past months. The world is readying for the Rapture of the church of Jesus Christ. The fact is increasingly obvious to those who put their spiritual hearts and minds into observing the issues and events of these recent times, looking with spiritual eyes through the prism of biblical prophetic truth.

Readying for the Rapture was a part of Jesus' Olivet Discourse prophecies. He gave all the signals that would have taken place and/or that would be present at the time of His return. In answer to His disciples' question about the "sign of [His] coming and of the end of the age," He addressed those many signals, then said, "When you see all these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your head, for your redemption draweth nigh" (Luke 21:28).

Note that He said "begin" to come to pass. He was speaking, I'm convinced, not of the Second Advent as described in Revelation 19:11, but of the Rapture of the church He would build. At the end of Armageddon, with most of earth's population destroyed, most ALL the things He prophesied will have come to pass. But, again, the Lord said to "look up" for the redemption His Church Age believers - represented by His disciples - would receive. He was speaking of the Rapture!

If there were ever a time to be "looking up" for that redemption, it is now, because we have seen the beginnings of "all these things" for many years, starting with two great world wars and the return to the land of promise by the Jews - Israel.

There are so many such signals. We have covered them extensively here in our "Nearing Midnight" columns, and in the articles posted on Rapture Ready. We could easily use any of them to make the point that the things Christ prophesied have indeed begun to come to pass. It is overwhelmingly obvious that this fallen world is deserving of God's wrath and judgment, and that planet earth is readying for the departure - the sudden snatching up (harpazo) of the church, the Bride of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Preparation of born-again believers has been a major thrust of our efforts - thus the name of the site, "Rapture Ready." We believe the Church should be aware that Jesus will break in upon this fallen world in the "thief in the night" coming. We want, as does the Lord, all believers to be prepared for that sudden call to "come up hither" (Revelation 4:1-2). So, we have tried to "ready" those who will listen for that "blessed hope" (Titus 2: 3) so that Christians will not be ashamed to meet the Lord face to face, but will look forward to His saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Just as God the Holy Spirit has been preparing the hearts of His people for that electrifying moment of Rapture, Satan has been readying his people for holocaust beyond anything that has ever occurred. The devil is paving the way with falsely soothing words of deception that are designed to delude the fallen minds of mankind.

Just as Jesus knows He will soon step out on the clouds of glory and make that call to all believers to meet Him (John 14:1-3), so Lucifer, the fallen one, knows that event awaits. He doesn't know when, but he can sense it. He has helped develop the world conditions that must precede its occurrence. He is readying this world for the Rapture.

So this is an obverse view, somewhat, of the Lord's readying - preparing - His church for that sudden evacuation of Christians when He will take them to the many mansions He has prepared for them. I have chosen the following news excerpt for illustrating that obverse readying for the Rapture - showing, I believe, just one way Satan is preparing the world of earth-dwellers who will be left behind for the horrific times to come.

The issue of global warming has the capacity to unite faith communities in a common cause and challenge sectarianism, according to Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband.

Speaking to the JC on the eve of the UN talks on climate change in Copenhagen, Mr. Miliband said it was reassuring to him that leaders from religious groups, including the Jewish community, had embraced the cause...

"It has been inspiring to see the Muslim community, the Christian community and the Jewish community coming together."

Mr. Miliband said he believed the issue of global warming had a particular power. "This unites people of faith in a way that only some issues can. I think to have the world’s religions united in advancing this cause sends a very clear signal about its universal appeal and application."

In answer to those skeptics who are angered by being described as climate-change “deniers” (they are particularly annoyed by the clear association with "Holocaust-denial"). (Martin Bright, "Ed Miliband: Climate Change Can Unite Religions," The Jewish Chronicle, 12/11/09)

Lucifer, the fallen - who is now Satan, the roaring lion who stalks about earth seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8) - is preparing unwary souls who will be left behind for some ultimate lie. That great delusion of 2 Thessalonians 2 will most likely revolve around the mantra that Mother Earth must be saved. Already that siren song is resonating with many. When Christians are suddenly gone - and with them the restraining influence upon the reprobate minds of those left behind - earth dwellers will readily grasp for the answers Antichrist will have ready to assuage their fears.

That is why your mission and ours is so vital in getting out the word on how readying for the Rapture is taking place, both for those who will go to be with Christ, and for those who will be prepared to receive the soul-destroying mark of Antichrist. If ever there were a time for the Christian to put his or her full efforts and resources into getting this end-of-days message out, it is at this present critical hour. Jesus wants to say to each of His own, "Well done thou good and faithful servant."