Category Archives: great tribulation period

March 6, 2013 · 11:13 pm

“Don’t Lay Up Treasures on Earth”–Christ’s Words About the Time of the End

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,” said the Savior (Matt. 6: 19-20). Why did He tell us this?

Our first response might be that we need to think about God and not ourselves. True. True. But a deeper reason looms very large as we prepare for the sixth seal to be opened.

Certainly God’s sons and daughters see that the treasures of money and material wealth are fleeting and ephemeral, that the present money system of the world is a sham and a scam duping the masses into believing that they either have or are striving for real material wealth. We got that.

But also the Savior is warning us about striving for the treasures of power and prestige and fame and fortune.

Why not strive for this, other than God does not like for us to? The real reason is that this current world system–the governments, religions, and the economic systems–all of them will fail, fall, and crumble during the soon coming “time of the end.”

His directive to not trust and lay up the riches of this world system has held true for 2,000 years. In centuries past personal treasures failed through the death of the possessor of the treasures. He would die having to leave it all for the next generation to enjoy (Ecc 6: 2).

Solomon literally had it all. He was the richest man in the world with power, honor, and prestige. This included 600 wives and 300 concubines and palaces full of gold and precious stones. Yet he concluded that “all is vanity.” Everything this world can offer is just “chasing the wind,” which is what the Hebrew word translated “vanity” means. In short, a man will die and leave it all to–we can’t be sure who will get it, can we? Not really.

And then there is the very real possibility that your country will go belly up economically. In history, all–100% of the economies of the world–all who went to fiat paper money, their currencies failed, and untold fortunes were lost.

Treasures will fail also if revolution engulfs your country. The story is so common, that some say it is history, the taking of one civilization by another. And material treasures and fortunes are lost or taken by another…

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth…” Christ’s words ring down through the halls of history to our day. And our day has special significance, for it is very close to the time of the end. Christ’s return to this earth draws nigh. We are living in the last of the last days, the latter days.

And it is at this time of the end of this world system that the greatest loss of personal treasures will take place. For just before He returns, there will be “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24: 21).

This “time of trouble” is horrendous. It is called by the prophets “the day of the LORD” (1). It is the total destruction of this world’s current economic, political, and religious systems. Those heaping up personal treasures of all kinds will not be happy, for they will lose it all.

But for His elect, His followers and supporters, after the cataclysm they will see Christ set up His new government. And because He is the King, it is called the Kingdom of Heaven, for like its King, this government originates from heaven.
There will be much work for His followers to do, for the earth will be in rubble after the asteroids and tidal waves and wars and calamities.

This last scenario is especially why He told His people to “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you” (Matt. 6: 33).

Our take away from all this? Those still trying to chase the wind of earthly riches and treasures when Christ returns are going to miss it. They will miss His kingdom, and they will ultimately miss all of their dreams of riches and treasures for themselves and their families. It is going to be a sad day for those on the wrong side of history. Kenneth Wayne Hancock

(1) http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=day+of+the+lord&t=KJV

3 Comments

Filed under Economy, end time prophecy, great tribulation period, kingdom of God, sons and daughters of God

Tagged as , ,

January 19, 2013 · 7:33 pm

More on Adding Temperance to Knowledge

In previous posts we have seen that in order to secure “an entrance…into the everlasting kingdom of our…Savior,” we must add certain spiritual attributes to the faith that God has endowed us with [1].  In so doing, we “give diligence” in making “our calling and election sure” [2].

We are told by the apostle Peter to add “temperance” to the knowledge of God and His plan for our perfection.

Since our very spiritual growth in Christ is in the balance here, a bit deeper examination of this word “temperance” is fruitful.  It is translated from the Greek word egkrateia (#G1466).  Thayer’s Lexicon states that it is “the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially his sensual appetites.”

It is derived from a Greek adjective egkrates (#G1468), meaning “strong, robust; having power over; mastering, controling, curbing, restraining.”  So “temperance” is from Greek words meaning “to have control over.”

So How Does the Holy Spirit Help Us Get Control Over Bodily Appetites?

Knowing the truth will make us free, Christ said–of whatever ails us [3].  “Ye shall know the truth…”  Know.  There’s that “knowledge” spoken by Peter again, as in “add to you faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge…”  What knowledge?  The knowledge of truth, which is the mind of Christ, simply put.  Yes, the mind of Christ–His thoughts, plans, and purposes.  He did say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” [4].  So, first knowing Christ’s thoughts, plans, purposes and His word, and then doing them–this will make us free of and give us control over sensual appetites.

There is another “knowing,” and this one is huge.  “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with [Him], that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin” (Romans 6: 6).  Our old sinful self, in God’s eyes, was crucified with Christ on the cross.  And our old sin-soaked heart, which was enslaved to sin, is now free from all fleshly pulls.  This knowledge, straight out of the plan and purpose and mind of our Savior, is the truth that makes us free from unrighteous haunts.  Period.

Now.  The ball is in our court.  We are forced by Him to either believe this truth, which is His word and plan written down in plain English, and thereby be freed from the slavery of sin and sinning, or we continue on in unbelief.  That is the choice.  Chosing to believe this truth opens up the way to add these spiritual qualities like temperance, that He has admonished us to add to our faith, thus enabling us to “go on unto perfection.”

Temperance, then, is an integral part of the character of one who is an elder of the body of Christ, one who is mature [5].  This is a description of a temperate man, one who has his earthly body under control, leading him to be able to “hold fast the faithful word as he has been taught.”  After adding temperance, the man of God will have the power to not soon be shaken through any temptations of the devil.  He will be able to walk in the power of the word of God.

The elect of God will begin to realize that gaining control over the earthly body is a necessary pre-requisite in fully becoming the manifested sons and daughters of God.  And because temperance is one of the fruits of the Spirit, the stronger the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the more temperance we will exhibit (Gal. 5: 22-23).  More Spirit in us, more self-control.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the passions and lusts.”  This last sentence is the very next verse, v. 24.  Isn’t it astounding that the word goes right back to being crucified with Christ?  In another translation we read, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires” (NIV).

Here it is in plain black and white:  There is a direct correlation of having the “fruit of the Spirit” operating in our lives and being crucified with Christ.  In fact, the crucifixion with Christ of our old nature is the very key in receiving His Spirit, which in turn yields the fruit of the Spirit in our lives–one of which is temperance or self-control.  It is much easier to control one’s self after knowing and then believing that it is dead.

Earlier in his letter to the Galatians, Paul writes, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (2: 20).  And there it is.  Our bodies live on now, but it is not our old selves anymore living in them.  But rather it is Christ’s Spirit that lives now in us.  And this life that we live is because of His faith in His own plan, now believed on by us, that by believing that He is raised from the dead, we too are now risen “to walk in a newness of life.”

It is this Rock that we are building up each other as the temple of God in the earth.  This is the solid Rock foundation that we must build upon.  Because the weather coming soon to this earth is going to shake and crumble all houses not built on the right understanding of His word, plan, purpose, and thoughts.  If it is built on a faulty foundation, then the house will come crashing down.  Tribulation is coming upon the earth, and it will touch us all.  Only He is our safety net–not some imagination of a rapture that someone dreamed up in the 19th century.

The Great Tribulation is coming.  We must prepare by first “knowing the truth.”  For Satan is going to deceive many in these latter days.  “Let no man deceive you,” Christ warned.  For the “falling away” or apostacy is already in full odious bloom.  The churches have been duped and lied to by false teachers and false prophets.  Many pastors are ignorant of this deception and yet, they continue to pollute the flock and inoculate them with poisonous doctrines and concepts.  But “the wise will understand” (Dan 12; 10).

[1]  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/the-additions-to-your-faith-prerequisites-of-receiving-immortality/

https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/add-to-your-faith-virtue-gods-strength-and-power-2-peter-1-5/

[2]  II Peter 1: 10

[3]  John 8: 32

[4]  John 14: 6

[5]  Titus 1: 7-9

Leave a comment

Filed under apostles' doctrine, church, cross, crucified with Christ, death of self, elect, false doctrines, false prophets, false teachers, fruit of the Spirit, great tribulation period, manifestation of the sons of God, mind of Christ, perfection, Rapture

Tagged as , , , , ,

January 12, 2013 · 6:47 pm

So Much Unbelief–Is It God’s Doing?

Ever wonder why there is so much unbelief out there?  You know, that stone cold stare of incredulity when you tell someone about Christ’s ability to “deliver us from the power of darkness” and to miraculously change our lives.  Why is that?  We can’t help but wonder how anyone could not believe in Him.

We have seen recently that it is God’s faith, His belief in Himself and His plan and His ability to perform it–it is His faith that He gives to certain individuals in the earth.  It’s the “faith once delivered” to His people.  After receiving it, we are admonished to “add to your faith” seven spiritual attributes that helps us “grow up into Him.”  They help us to always be bearing the “fruit of the Spirit” [1].

And with these things come the true blessings God has promised.  But why, then is there so much unbelief?

In fact, most Christians start out “setting the woods on fire”–telling everyone and expecting everyone to respond and believe them about our Savior.  But most of us settle down a bit and scratch our heads and wonder, Why don’t more people believe?

Why So Much Unbelief?

Some may say, Well, their hearts are hard, and they have rejected Him.  This is partially true.

Others might say, The devil has deceived the unbelievers.  True again, but that is not the whole truth.  This blessed news of living a forgiven, free, and happy life in Christ is hidden from the many “lost, in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light…of Christ…should shine unto them” (II Cor. 4:4).  So, yes, the devil has blinded them spiritually so that they cannot believe.  But that is not the whole story or the cause.

Still others, looking more deeply with eyes that only the Father could give, will see that it is God behind the current glut of unbelief in the world.  What?  I say this not as an accusation against God, but more in awe of His ways, which are past finding out.  I’m going by what He said in His word.

“All Things Are of God”

The apostle John saw this deep truth and expressed it.  “But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him…Therefore, they could not believe.”  They could not believe?  Why couldn’t they believe?  They had all the miracles proving that it was God in Christ doing it all.  But they could not believe.  Why?  “Because Isaiah said, He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them (John 12: 37, 39-40).

God has blinded them?  Yes.  He is behind it; that’s a tough one.  John was quoting and elucidating what the Spirit was saying through Isaiah (6: 9-11).  And how long will the deafness and blindness of the masses last?  How long will the unbelief reign in the hearts of mortal Adamic man?

“And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate.  And the LORD (Yahweh) have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land” (v. 11).

The masses will continue on in unbelief until the great catastrophes of the time of the end come upon the whole earth.  When destruction comes upon the people, then they will cry unto God, and then their hearts will turn and believe.

Catastrophes That Happened to Ancient Israel Warn Us of Things To Come

We need only look into the scriptures of truth to see the type and shadow of our modern day reality.  The children of Israel in the “Old Testament” serve as a painful example of this, for “that which has been is now, and that which is to be has already been” (Eccl. 3: 15).  “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come” (I Cor. 10: 11, NIV).  If we want to know how it is all going down in our day, we need only to look in the scriptures.

Many will begin to seek God and to believe Him when the disasters come to this earth, just like in the days of old.  The nation of Ancient Israel would enjoy the blessings of God, then they would get fat and complacent and forget God, and then He would allow other nations to conquer them and desolate their lives, and then they would cry unto Yahweh, and He would hear and come down and deliver them.  There would be revival for a time, and then the cycle would begin again.

We are in that same cycle right now.  We are growing fat and sassy.  Look at America, allowing our representatives in government to allow and fund the killing of our innocent children, and they have taken prayer and thanksgiving to the God of the Bible out of our schools.  And the people have allowed this!  And they have taken our complete money system out of the hands of the people’s representatives and given it over to a private banking corporation, a central bank.  I won’t even get into all the military adventures that have cost millions of innocent lives, with all their false flags.

We have sinned as a nation in so many ways, and most of us are complicit in these atrocities through our lack of courage.  Most have drunk the kool aid they have given us and have taken the government as our sole benefactor.  We have grown fat and lazy and do not “look to the Rock from whence we are hewn.”

And so, at the end of this age, which is coming very soon, God will bring us down.  He will break the pride of our power and humble us through unimaginable catastrophes where cities will be wasted and destroyed during the horrendous “Great Tribulation Period” that will come upon the whole earth.  And it will touch all those who are alive on the earth; that includes Christians, His elect, those He has chosen out to first believe in Him [2].

There is an elect, a remnant, those chosen by Him to be “a kind of firstfruits,” those destined to be the first to trust in Him and believe Him.  And it is left to us to edify each other as best we can, sharing truth with those who can believe at this time.  Maybe all of the above is why Isaiah cried out, “Who has believed our report? (53: 1; John 12: 38).

And it is left to us that have His faith to add to it the seven spiritual qualities  that will help us grow into full maturity.  Somebody is going to do it; it might as well be us.

Of course, the churches do not teach this.  You won’t hear this on Sunday morning anywhere, but I’ll stick with Isaiah and John.   They saw deeply into the heart of God, revealing secrets to those who can believe at this present time.  For most can’t–at this time.        Kenneth Wayne Hancock

1.  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/the-faith-of-god-in-himself-now-in-us/

https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/the-additions-to-your-faith-prerequisites-of-receiving-immortality/

https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/add-to-your-faith-virtue-gods-strength-and-power-2-peter-1-5/

2.  https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/no-pre-tribulation-rapture-gods-elect-on-earth-during-tribulation/

https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/dont-depend-on-the-rapture-all-christians-going-through-great-tribulation/

5 Comments

Filed under abortion, belief, Economy, elect, end time prophecy, Federal Reserve, great tribulation period, manifestation of the sons of God, Rapture

Tagged as , , , , ,

December 15, 2012 · 3:39 pm

Add to Knowledge Temperance–On Being Puffed Up

Someone on this earth will sit down on the throne of God alongside our Savior and will be a ruler in the government that the King will establish in all the earth.  In fact, a whole company of over comers have been “predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8: 29).  Fully matured, they will stride this crippled earth after the Great Tribulation.  In God’s stead as His ambassadors of the literal Kingdom of Heaven will they rule with Him, for they will have His Spirit fully developed within them.  These are the “partakers of the divine nature” who will do the King’s business after the disasters that will smite the earth.

“No man takes this honour unto himself” (Heb. 5: 4).  It is God’s doing.  He has a plan and He is quite capable of helping them carry out His own plan.  And that plan and purpose is to share Himself with His creation.  He is Love, and all Love can do is love and share and give.

Those of us who have been called to this “high calling of God in Christ” have been left a textbook explaining how to receive immortality.  We now are in the process of studying it and taking it to heart.  We need this instruction in order to receive the proper training and education to be an effective ruler with Christ in the soon coming Kingdom of Heaven right here on earth.  That textbook is found in the “scriptures of truth,” the Holy Bible, which is God’s letter to us, a guidebook He showed to His prophets and apostles.  And He is now showing it to us who believe, who have faith.

Adding to our faith

The apostle Peter instructs those of us who have been called to “partake of the divine nature” (II Peter 1: 3-4).  He relates that God  promised us immortality, and it is by these promises, that we can get rid of our old sinful nature and receive His divine nature.   And God’s nature grows and matures in us to the point that in the end, it will be all Him.  The divine nature grows in us through receiving more true knowledge of Him and His plan.  And part of that is the additions to our faith.

“Add to knowledge temperance”

The apostle Paul wrote that “knowledge puffs up, but charity (agape love) edifies” (I Cor. 8: 1).  This puffing up is the sound of an inflated ego that has no place to go with the knowledge; there is no desire to flow the knowledge on out to others.  Agape love, conversely, flows out of its heart of love and shares and builds up fellow Christians, helping them in their walk with God.

The novice in Christ will get the bighead after gaining some of the true knowledge of God.  There is an innate tendency in the old nature of man and spiritual babes in Christ to have one’s pride inflated upon receiving this knowledge, which has “been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 13: 35).

This knowledge flows out of the mind and heart of God and sheds light on the very mysteries of the acquisition of immortality.  This information is precious–so rare and fine a treasure, in fact, that “few there be that find it” (Matt. 7: 14).  A beautiful four lane highway is leading many to destruction.  “But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it” (v. 14 NLT).

Knowledge of these things will puff a person up.  Why?  Because they are still thinking that they are the object of God’s blessing and not the channel of it.

Therefore, knowledge of the holy things must have temperance added to it.  Self control must be added.  And the major lesson we must learn is that our little powerless self did not come up with this knowledge on its own.  It was not delivered to us for any great thing that we are or have done.  No.  It is pure grace flowing out of God’s heart to us.  It is all Him, favoring and having “mercy on whom He will have mercy” (Rom. 9: 15).  It is all Him.  It is our privilege to be a channel of this knowledge on out to His people.

Beware of False Teachers

Paul warns in another place about getting “puffed up” by knowledge.  He warns new Christians not to get entangled by men who teach a  “philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ (Col. 2: 8).

He is saying that men will deceive young Christians through all kinds of worldly earthly thoughts.  But Christ is all you need, which is knowledge about who He is and what He has done for His people.

“You are complete in Him” (v. 10).  You don’t need mumbo jumbo bells and whistles and gimmicks of worship, as it were.  “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily.”  And through His sacrifice of Himself, you have been circumcised spiritually.  His Spirit invisibly cuts out your old sinful Adamic nature, and He gives you a new heart.  “Buried with Him by baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him through the  faith of the operation of of God, who has raised Him from the dead (v. 11-12).

False teachers are “puffed up”

One who teaches false doctrines tries to “beguile you,” and is “vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind” (Col. 2: 18).  Remember that they “come to you in sheep’s clothing.”  They appear as “messengers of light.”  They have a little smidgeon of truth, and it has puffed them up as they imagine vain things about God and ways to worship Him.

How does a false teacher or preacher first go astray?  He gets all “puffed up by his fleshly mind.”  “Fleshly” here is from the Greek word sarx.  It is a mind controlled by the “flesh” (sarx).  This denotes the old nature, natural thinking man, unregenerate man.  He has an earthly mind.  “He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of the earth; he that comes from heaven is above all…for He whom God hath sent speaks the words of God” (John 3: 31, 34).

The phrase “of the earth” points to the same origins as Adam in the garden, made of the dust of the earth, clueless as to the heavenly destiny for mankind.  These false teachers are puffed up with a bit of God’s knowledge, yet remain Spirit-less when it comes to the truth of God.

So, yes, temperance must be added to knowledge.  This entails, of course, self-control in all areas of a Christian’s life.

Kenneth Wayne Hancock

1 Comment

Filed under baptism, crucified with Christ, elect, eternal life, eternal purpose, false doctrines, false teachers, glorification, great tribulation period, immortality, Love from Above, manifestation of the sons of God, sons and daughters of God

Tagged as , , , ,

November 6, 2012 · 9:25 pm

“The Day of the LORD” (YAHWEH)–The Fall of Mystery, Babylon the Great

Endtime Prophecy on Mystery, Babylon the Great

The “day of the LORD” (Yahweh) is a day not to wish for.  It brings desolation, cosmic collisions with the earth, utter upheaval and destruction of man’s status quo.  Suffering, “pangs and sorrows…pain” fills the faces of mankind.  It is “cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it” (Isaiah 13: 1-10).

Many will stop here and claim that this prophecy written in 713 B.C. was fulfilled when the Babylonian Kingdom would fall many years later.  It was on one level, but the prophecy has a deeper, more far reaching force that takes those ominous words and thrusts them into our modern day scene.  These inspired words of Yahweh through the prophet Isaiah take on a universal worldwide scope when God warns in the very next breath: “And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity…” (v. 11).

God goes cosmic in vision and scope while at the same time outlining the demise of  the ancient Babylonian Empire.

For the Babylon of old is a symbol of the one world system of false religion, government, and education.  The prophet Daniel in chapter 2 speaks of the Babylonian Empire as the head of gold of a much larger all-encompassing beast image.  All Bible scholars concede that the great image that Nebuchadnezzar dreamed was a glimpse into the future of four great world Gentile governments.  These would rule the earth in successive waves from c. 600 B.C. to our present day.

Nebuchadnezzar forgot the dream, much less the interpretation.  Contained in the dream was a secret from the Almighty.  “Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision.  Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven” (v. 19).  Daniel proclaimed before the king that God “reveals the deep and secret things: He knows what is in the darkness…” (v. 22).  Daniel goes on to say that the wise men of Babylon cannot reveal the secret of the dream, “but there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets, and makes known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days” (v. 28).

The God in heaven “reveals secrets.”  And what are these secrets?  The Spirit in Daniel says it another way in the very next breath.  Revealing secrets is the same as making known now what will happen in the future– “in the latter days,” the time of the end.  The time when the “day of the LORD (Yahweh)” comes.  The time when God “will punish the world for their evil.”  That is the time we are living in.

This passage in Daniel is profound and rich with meaning for us.  The religious wise men of ancient Babylon, of the world system of their day, could not reveal the secret to the king.  They prided themselves as fortune tellers and soothsayers predicting future events, but they could not really see into the future to our day.  They were “blind, leaders of the blind,” not knowing the extent of their parts in the false worship system.  The secret of what will happen in our latter day era was not revealed to them, for God withheld it from them.  They did not know that the secret of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is an astounding prophecy that takes us to the very latter days of end time happenings.

The dream, of course, was that of a “great image…whose brightness was excellent…and the form was terrible” (2: 31).  First, it was an image.  It was not the real deal.  The people were in awe of it, for it was bright and excellent.  It had a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, and legs of iron with feet of both iron and clay.  Then he saw a stone from heaven crash into the feet of the image and destroy it.  And the stone “became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Daniel by God’s Spirit interprets the image as four world empires, beginning with Babylon.  It is universally recognized that they are Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome.  The last kingdom that smashed them down is the kingdom of God, and “it shall stand forever” (v. 44).

Daniel told the king of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar, “You are this head of gold.”  The head of any body contains the brain, the thoughts, which dictates the actions of that body.  The thoughts of the head resonate on down through the ensuing kingdoms.  The Babylonian religions were the Eastern Mystery Religions that would permeate the West, finally lodging securely in Rome [for much more see The Two Babylons by Hislop here: http://www.biblebelievers.com/babylon/ ].  These mystery religions flourished so much that they became the very source of papal catholic worship to this day.

This is why the apostle John saw in Revelation that the world religious system at the time of the end would be called an evil woman, “a great whore that sits upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication…”  And the woman sat on “a scarlet colored beast…and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (Rev. 17: 5).  “An the woman which you saw is that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth” (v. 18).  And that city is Rome.  And those teachings out of Rome have come down to modern man through the mother Catholic church and her protestant daughters.  I does say that Babylon the Great is the mother of harlots and abominations.

Leave a comment

Filed under end time prophecy, false teachers, great tribulation period, MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT

Tagged as , , , ,

September 22, 2012 · 11:51 pm

The Manifestation of the Sons of God–When?

The “manifestation of the sons of God” is what the whole creation is waiting for–whether they know it or not (1).   And with these powerful Christians striding the earth like the pattern Son Christ, great miracles will be performed as a magnificent witness to the errant inhabitants of the earth*.

These 100 fold followers of Christ will do the “greater works” that He promised some of His followers would do (2).  “He that believes on Me, the works I do, shall he do also; and greater works shall he do,” He said.

Greater Works than Christ?

Greater works?  What works did Christ do?  He performed mighty miracles that are legendary now–raising the dead; healing those with palsy; curing severe cases of insanity and leprocy–you name it.  And his early apostles did the same, for they had His same Spirit and growth.

But how can anyone do any greater things than what Christ and a handful of His early apostles did?  The answer to this question lies in the harvest time of this world age.  What they did was fruit borne after the “early rain” or “former rain” of the Spirit just after the Resurrection.  The fruit after the “latter rain” of God’s Spirit poured out of the mouth of His sons during the time of the end of our age will be abundant (3).

For tens of thousands of sons of God will do the miracles.  That is how His followers will do “greater works” than Christ did.  The sheer number of miracle workers will be how those greater works will get done.  There will be 144,000, to be exact.  There will be 12,000 from each of the lost tribes of Israel (4).  They will be the first humans to receive immortality and have God’s glory revealed through them.  They will be immortal, striding the globe healing the hurts of suffering mortals (5).

Harvest Time Is When the Manifested Sons Will Come

They will come onto the scene in our age, right on time–the time of the end.  It will be harvest time.  The present world system, the evil “vine of the earth,” will be uprooted, squeezed, and burned (6).

Great calamities will bring this world system to an end, and many people in many lands will be hurt thereby.  This time is called in many books of the prophets “the day of the LORD,” or more correctly put, “the day of Yahweh” (7).  It is mentioned 31 times in the O.T. and speaks of a day of God’s vengeance and the utter darkness at the heighth of man’s government on earth.  God will reign down heavenly missiles onto the earth, and the rich men’s futile attempt to rule the world will come crashing down (8).

God Taking Vengeance

But this day of vengeance wreaked upon mankind by Yahweh is so heart wrenching, so utterly unspeakable that few talk about it; it is that depressing.  In fact, Christians in most denominational churches have gladly received the false doctrine of a rapture that they believe will preserve them and prevent them from going through the Tribulation Period, which is that seven year “day of the LORD.”

We are talking about the demolishing of mankind’s godless socio-economic-political system.  It will be coming down, not as much through man destroying man, but through the trumpets and vials of wrath that pummel the earth in that day.  Movies and television have served as a kind of herald of the coming disasters, as we see on screen the asteroids hitting earth.  It is coming.  And Christians will have to go through it (9).

God will be wreaking vengeance on the ungodly of this world system called “Babylon the Great” (10).  It will fall by God’s own hand though mankind will try to thwart its destruction.  But man never could prevent “acts of God.”

Right now, things are changing rapidly.  Few can keep up with the technology which will usher in the counterfeit new world order.  As Thomas Friedman wrote in his The World Is Flat, the technology of the last 10 years ios shrinking the planet.  And as it gets smaller, it gets easier to rule from a centralized government.

One World Government and Ruler Must Come First

Make no mistake.  The new world order, the one world government, must come first to this earth before Christ comes back to set up His government, the Kingdom of God.  It must come first, as the counterfeit in His plan always comes first.  And the Anti-Christ, the false Messiah must come first, as well, before the true King Jesus Christ, Yahshua Messiah, returns.

100, 50, even 20 years ago the satanic kingdom could not stretch around the globe, but now it can.  The Information Age will usher in satan’s rise to total centralized dominance.  Power will be given to one man to rule the entire world system.  He has man names other than the Anti-Christ: the devil incarnate, Satan incarnate, “the man of sin,” the “king of the north,” the Assyrian.  He will be the apex of satan’s power in the earth’s history.  Many types have foreshadowed his rise to power: Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, and Hitler, to name just a few.  But it was not the time.  They all had that same spirit of satan; they were kith and kin of him, but the time of their rise prevented them from worldwide dominion.

That time is now.  And because satan’s kingdom is divided, many want-to-be’s are vying for world dominion.  Western Europe/U.S.A./Zionist Israelis  are at war with the Islamic fascists, and much more in-fighting will take place before the Anti-Christ steps out of the smoke and ash and takes center stage for seven years.  It is at this time, when God is raining down hailstones and asteroids, that satan will make his play at being very God.  Good news is he won’t succeed.  God will bring Him down.

The Sons of God Come on the Scene

All the countries of the world will be going up in smoke, “men’s hearts failing them for fear.”  It is during this seven year tribulation period that God will bring forth His manifested sons.  They will be that glorious witness to all human beings from God.  They will be nothing less than the saviors of mankind.  God in His infinite mercy will do this for us all.  The world and everyone in it will literally be brought to their knees, humbled to their core.  It is then that God can reach them, and He will do it through His manifested sons at that day–the “day of Yahweh.”

These immortal sons are God’s firstfruits of the great harvest of God’s offspring.  There is always a firstfruits in God’s plan.  These sons are the first to receive their new immortal bodies; the first to “not taste of death,” the first to dwell in a heavenly spiritual body, where “no weapon formed against them can prosper” (11).  God’s very nature is formed in them.

They will go out all over the planet bringing forth glad tidings of God’s government coming.  They will “preaching good tidings to the meek.  They will bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim libery to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (12).  And they will give those suffering “beauty for ashes, and the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”

But this beauty will come out of the ashes of a destroyed man’s world system.  This is God in human form times 144,000.  It will be a powerful dose of love, joy, and peace for the earth and its lowly inhabitants.

And why does all this destruction come to the earth?  God says that He will take vengeance on the evildoers.  In so doing, His children will be broken hearted when they see the world wide destruction, and in their brokeness, they will turn to the Rock of their salvation, and they will be healed.   It has always been that way.  Moses warned the children of Jacob/Israel about getting too fat and sassy and turn from God’s laws and ways to serve other gods.  Then when they got conquered and lost everything, they would “cry unto the LORD,” and what?  He would raise up men of God to lead them out of the misery.

This is what the Bible stories from Exodus through Kings and Chronicles is about–examples for us to learn from.

And so now we find ourselves, like our Israelite forefathers, being brought low by the rich international banking cartel, who have devalued our money, taking our silver and gold circulating coins and our silver certificates and giving us an ever shrinking fiat currency, that is not worth much more that the paper it is printed on.  And we will be squeezed and squeezed until we either bleed to death or cry out unto our Maker and Savior.  Same song, different verse.  Except we are fast approaching the end of the song.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

* [see my book The Unveiling ot the Sons of God found at the top of this page.  Just click “Ebook…”]

1.  Rom. 8: 18-23

2.  John 14: 12

3.  James 5: 7; Joel 2: 23; Zec. 10: 1

4.  Rev. 7: 3-8; 14: 1-5

5.  Rom. 8: 18; II Cor. 5: 1-4; I Cor. 15: 51-55

6.  Rev. 14: 18-19

7.  Isa. 13: 6; Jer. 46: 10; Ezk. 30: 3; Joel 1: 15

8.  Rev. 8; Rev. 16; Rev. 17

9.  See https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/08/04/no-rapture-further-proof/

10. Rev. 16: 19; 18: 21

11.  Isa. 54: 17; Matt. 16: 28

12.  Isa. 61: 1-5

1 Comment

Filed under elect, end time prophecy, glorification, great tribulation period, humility, immortality, Lost Sheep of the House of Israel, manifestation of the sons of God, MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, new world order, One World Government, Rapture, sons of God

Tagged as , , , , ,

August 4, 2012 · 9:30 pm

No Rapture–Further Proof

Many Christians feel that, well, God would just not allow His true people to go through the Great Tribulation Period.  God would just not let us suffer like that because He loves us.

Many reason that God is too merciful and through Christ’s sacrifice we have been redeemed.  So God would not allow His Christians of the modern era be killed during Tribulation and waste, as it were, His redemptive work in us.

God did say, “I change not…I am the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Mal. 3: 6; Heb. 13: 8).  So we need to find out what He has done in the past; that will be the key to gain understanding about this mystery.

He also said, “My thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways my ways” (Isa. 55: 8).  Man thinks with man’s wisdom.  But God’s ways are grounded in precedent that He has laid out throughout history, telling “the end from the beginning.”  We all need to get this one thing: God is sovereign and will do things His way, not how we would do it. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14: 12). It seems right that God would not let His followers suffer through the tribulation period. But that is man’s thinking.

I recently had a comment supporting the rapture.  It was well reasoned and articulated.  In it the reader said, “God couldn’t protect them all [Christians during the Tribulation] AND fulfill what has been prophesied.” I disagree in that “with God all things are possible.” God can do with us whatever He chooses to do

He also said that “God has always removed his own from places that would receive his judgmentl.” I replied, “Where does it say that?” In fact, the scriptures reveal just the opposite.

Before the Great Tribulation Period begins, God induces the 7 year tribulation by first opening the seals of the book that contains the Great Tribulation Period in its pages. These seals include the world wars, calamity of nations, famine, and Death [seals 1-4]. To think that these God ordained catastrophes, which are the seals of the end time book opened by Jesus Himself–did not include true Christians is not thinking this thing through. I know that of the 500,000 American dead in World War II, there were several thousand American Christians who were killed.  And that was just one war since Christ started opening the seals–His doing.

Look at the fifth seal in Rev. 6: 9-11: the souls of Christians killed are crying, Revenge us. And they are told to wait until their fellow Christians that should be killed should be fulfilled. Should be killed?

And what about the sixth seal–the mother of all natural disasters–great earthquake, “stars of heaven” falling into the earth [asteroids, meteorites], the “kings of the earth and the great men” say to the mountains, Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come…” (6:15-17).

Christ even alludes to this time of the opening of the sixth seal when He spoke to those women, mourning for Him because of the imminent  death by crucifixion.  “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.”  Why? Because of the hardships on the little children brought on by the sixth seal.  “For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren…”  For the barren women won’t have children that will suffer through tribulation.  “Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us” (Luke 23:  28-30).  These are the exact words used by the “rich men” in Rev. 6 when earth wide disaster hits.  And He said that to His followers!

So God’s wrath has already started; it is all His doing and His followers are still on the earth. With all of these seals opening, Christians unfortunately may be killed.  But for us, “to die is gain.” And this is just the preview of the trumpets and vials to come during the actual 7 year Tribulation.

Moreover, Christ is speaking directly about the Great Tribulation Period in Matt. 24. At the time of the abomination of desolation, “there shall be great tribulation…and except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake, those days shall be shortened” (Matt. 24: 15, 21-22). We are talking about the real flesh bodies of the elect of God, perishing right along with the rest of humanity except that God would intervene and cut the wrath time short.

Historical Proof

Furthermore, here is biblical historical proof that God’s followers perish along with the unrighteous–done by God’s own hand: God is warning Jerusalem through Ezekiel. “Behold, I am against thee, and will draw out my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked…against all flesh…” (21: 2-4). What was Yahweh’s sword? The Babylonian army. “…That the sword of the king of Babylon may come” (v. 19). At the time of the fall of Jerusalem about 600 B.C., God still had “7,000 that had not bowed the knee to Baal,” and some of them perished by the sword of the LORD–Babylonia.

So we see that Christians have been and may be slain through God’s auspices; He is sovereign and can do His plan exactly the way He wants to. Perhaps this is what it means when it says, “You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations…You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us…All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant” (Psm 44: 11, 13, 17, NIV). And, yet, “as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter” (Rom 8:36).

God is sovereign, and His way of doing things is not our way.  He has His reasons why His followers will not be raptured, why no one will be raptured–a concept foreign to the early church apostles and fathers–a concept literally born in a dream by a woman in the 19th Century.

9 Comments

Filed under catching away of the saints, end time prophecy, false doctrines, false prophets, false teachers, great tribulation period, Rapture

Tagged as , , ,

April 7, 2012 · 5:51 pm

Don’t Depend on the Rapture–All Christians Going through Great Tribulation

We saw last time that The Great Tribulation Period is the “Day of the LORD,” spoken of by many of the prophets in scripture.  We referenced a few of them who wrote about this disastrous time on the earth–Daniel, Zephaniah,  the apostle John, to name just a few.

Many who read about all this destruction will say, What difference does it make?  It doesn’t pertain to us.  We Christians will be raptured out before the Tribulation starts anyway.

Many will not take this time of wrath to heart because they do not believe that it applies to them.  They believe in a rapture/reward for being good little children of God.  They do not believe that God could be that “cruel” to them and their families–to treat them just like the ungodly in that He would  make them go through the end time calamities.  God speaks about these foolish “followers” of Christ.

The Parable of the Five Wise and the Five Foolish Virgins

Christ was asked by His disciples what the sign would be for three things:  the total destruction of Jerusalem where one stone would not be found on another, the sign of His return to earth,  and the end of the world (Matt. 24: 1).  He answers these three questions in the next two chapters.  Everything in Matthew 24 and 25 is in answer to these three questions concerning “the end of the world.”  And this also reveals that some lukewarm Christians will be around during the tribulation.

Christ uses two parables to convey the secret answers to the mysteries of when the end will come.  In the parable of the ten virgins (Matt. 25: 1-13), five were wise and took oil in their lamps and had eyes to see, but five were foolish and had no oil for their lamps.  They were virgins; they were little children of God, but they were lacking in the Spirit of God, the oil, within themselves.  They had not studied and prayed and were told by the wise virgins to go buy their own oil from the same place where one may “buy the gold tried in the fire…and the white raiment…and the eye salve” (Rev. 3: 18).  It was too late to pray and study for those little children, the five foolish virgins.  For the bridegroom came while they were out and they missed  the wrap up, the great marriage supper.  And they cried to Him to open the door, but He told them, “I don’t know you” for this honor.

The Parable of the Five Talents

Another example of spiritual unproductivity is this parable in the very next verse (Matt. 25: 14-30).  Three servants were given talents by their master, “according to his own ability”–five to one servant, two to another, and one to another.  They all three were servants of the same master.  Those with five and two gained the same and were praised upon the master’s return as “good and faithful servants.”  The other servant was “afraid and …hid it in the earth.”  “You wicked and slothful servant,” said his master.  “Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Then the master took the talent from him and gave it to the one with ten talents.

What went wrong with the unprofitable servant?  He had no faith; he was disobedient and did not gain anything for his master with His goods.  Of course, this parable reveals a mystery “kept secret from the foundations of the world.”  The spiritual application shows us three levels of  fruit production as in the Parable of Sower in Matt. 13–30, 60, and 100 fold.  Christ has told all of His followers to study, pray, prove all things, and carry the good news of His kingdom into all the world.  He has told us all to dig deep and build our house upon the rock, and call out others to this great kingdom soon to fill the whole earth.

Laodecean Church Age–The Condition of the Church at Christ’s Return

But do most children of God do this, really?   I don’t think so.  In this last church age of Laodecea (laity deceived) painted for us in Rev. 3: 16-17, we see that today’s average church goer is lukewarm  in the spiritual works of God and is about to be “spued out of His mouth.”  Why?  Because they  say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.’  And they do not know that they are “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”  Pride in one’s denomination [‘our church is a Bible church, rich in the word of God], a particular church father, one’s pastor, priest, saint, pride period–all these lead one to say, ‘I am rich [in faith] and have need of nothing.’  Many denominations actually say that they are the only ones who have the truth.

In their heart they will say, Hey, we’ve got the rapture.  God will take care of us.  He wants us to prosper, to be materially well off while we are waiting for His return.  He’ll take us out of the hellishness of the tribulation period.  We don’t need these doctrines (teachings).  Mom and dad didn’t believe this new stuff.  Besides, all we need is Jesus.  And they go one as  sheep to the slaughter never realizing that “whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God” (2 John 1: 9).

And they will go on their shallow ways, having never proven the “rapture theory” from the scriptures–having never seen that they base it on 1/2 of one verse, never even quoting the other half of the verse: “and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”  They never realize that Christ is coming back HERE–not ‘up in heaven somewhere”!  In our new spiritual bodies, we will rise up into the “air” [look it up in the Greek and see that it is where the birds fly] but we won’t get too far, for He’s descending to earth, touching His feet on the Mt. Olivet, cleaving it, and we will be with Him in that wonderful moment!  “And so shall we ever be with the Lord!”  [I Thess. 4: 16-17].

And so I have to ask the rapture believers: Since Christ is coming back bodily to earth at the time of the “catching away,” who will you be with when your imagination carries you away?  Most have never considered what the scriptures really say in this one verse that they use to base the rapture on.

The Bridegroom comes here!  If this rapture illusion is not straightened out in a person’s heart and mind, if they are counting on something erroneous that is not happening, do you think He may cast them “into outer darkness where “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth”?

And why will all of this misery land on so many people?  It is because of their unbelief.  Christ said it with a broken heart as He looked on the people of His pasture.  “O ye of little faith.”

Unbelief–Just Like with Moses and the Children of Israel

But there’s nothing new here.  The children of Israel just would not believe the word of Yahweh. “So we see that they could not enter in [to the Promised Land] because of unbelief.”

So, whose voice were the children of Israel listening to?  They listened to Aaron,  a voice from a false god, who led in the worship of the golden calf while Moses was up on Mt. Sinai.  They murmured and complained and said, God would not put all this deprivation and sacrifice on us.  We are God’s people.  Out of 2-3 million people, only two, Joshua and Caleb, made it into the Promised Land.  And what happened to all of those millions of unbelievers?  Their “carcases fell” in the desert outside of Canaan land.  They had a false conception about how that era would end.  And they paid the price.  They died never glimpsing God’s glory.  And the things that happened to the children of Israel “are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come” [3].

The consequences of their unbelief admonishes those living at the “end of the world”!  That’s us.  And we should take the warning to heart.  To be one of the few to get into the promised land of His presence when He returns, we must throw away “every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God” [4].

The little children of God are mostly alive for what they can get from the Father.  That’s why they are children and not spiritual adults in the Lord.  They have consequently believed that the Father will miraculously deliver them in a supernatural “rapture” before tribulation breaks out.

The rapture is based on wishful thinking.  It is an imagination and a lie  that will not only disillusion millions of professing Christians, it will also alienate them from God.  When they are not “raptured out” before the tribulation, many will turn against God and will be part of those who “gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores” (Rev. 16: 10-11).  They will blame God for the wrath that He is wreaking, and not the liars that told them they would escape all of the bad things.

But even as just two people, Joshua and Caleb, entered the Promised Land, even so very few will denounce the rapture theory, one of the most addictive sugar stick false doctrines out there.  Most will not believe.  Consequently, they will not prepare, both physically and spiritually, for the tribulation period.  And the sad part is, they are the ones who will be most disillusioned and upset at God.   Kenneth Wayne Hancock

1.  See https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/no-pre-tribulation-rapture-gods-elect-on-earth-during-tribulation/

2.  Hebrews 3: 13-18

3.  I Cor. 10: 11

4. II Cor. 10: 5

3 Comments

Filed under catching away of the saints, end time prophecy, false doctrines, false prophets, false teachers, great tribulation period, Parables, Rapture

Tagged as , ,

April 1, 2012 · 7:08 pm

The Great Tribulation Period Is “The Day of the LORD”

Many Christians are longing for the Day of the LORD to  come, but few, it seems, know exactly what that day entails.

Many long for it to come thinking that the “rapture” will take them out of the end time troubles to come, seeing the day of the LORD as an escape hatch for God’s children.  But the rapture theory is just that–a theory, an erroneous imagination that is disproved upon closer inspection and study of the word of God [for more on this, see https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/?s=parachute ].

Others see “the day of the LORD” as a metaphor for “going to heaven, or going to be with Christ.

But few realize what they are wishing on themselves and this world. Why?  Because of the utter destruction that the  Day of the LORD will bring on this earth.  It is a time of God’s wrath, not mercy.  It is not an apple pie in the sky event.  It is a time of utter calamity and devastation.

Many prophets spoke of this day of the LORD.  It is a day of vengeance taken by God on the evil Satanic  system and those who have given their hearts to it.  It is when He takes revenge, not us.  Remember when we were taught from the Bible not to hold grudges and be vengeful?  “Vengeance is mine, saith the LORD, I will repay.”

And so shall it be during the wrap up of this present age. God will be dealing directly with wickedness, as only He can.  His body, His church will not be taking vengeance on anyone.  Christ in His first advent was the Lamb; He’ll be a devouring Lion in His second.  The “day of the LORD” is not a gloriously bright sunshiny day.  It is a time of gloom and despair and darkness, much like the day the death angel passed through Egypt.  It will be a day of mourning as that day during the original Passover–a day of wailing and crying aloud in the streets, a day of heart-rending loss of loved ones and cherished belongings.

So, no.  This day is not something to wish for.  Although it has to come on the earth before Christ establishes His kingdom, we would not wish this misery on anyone.

Spoken about by many prophets

We are talking about one of the most important events in the history of the world.  It is the end of an age;  it is a cosmic event of universal proportions.  Most of the prophets spoke of this event–this day of the LORD.  Think about it.  What greater prophecy could they have uttered and written down for us than the end of the evil empire of Satan and his human cohorts?

The prophet Daniel and the “Stone Kingdom”

It is what the prophet Daniel was shown in so many passages.  “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed…” (Dan. 2: 44).  Christ’s Kingdom is coming to earth, but before it makes its full arrival, the smashing of Nebuchadnezzar’s image with the stone kingdom not cut out by man’s hands must first take place.  “The Day of the LORD” is that time in history when man’s world system is coming down!  I’m not going to bring it down; my Christian brethren are not going to smash it; God is, I believe, with a literal “stone” [read “heavenly body”] from  heaven.  Call it a large meteorite, a comet, an asteroid, a hailstone, a star–the name is immaterial what man calls it.  The point is that there are innumerable examples in the Bible citing heavenly bodies falling into earth [that is another topic which space does not permit here].

So many prophets speak of this dark day for the inhabitants of the earth and the lovers of this world.

The prophet Zephaniah’s vision of the ‘day of the LORD’

For example, the entire book of Zephaniah is about this very “day of the LORD.”  The LORD [Yahweh in the Hebrew] is railing and warning through Zephaniah about how He “will utterly consume all things from off the land” (1: 2).  Those “things” include fowls, fishes, stumbling blocks (idols) with the wicked, and finally, man (v. 3).  Then He tells which men: those worshipping other gods.  He says, “The day of Yahweh is at hand” (v. 7).

Who exactly are these people who are about to be destroyed by God?  They are people who actually “swear by the LORD.”  They invoke His name, and yet, they  “have not sought…nor inquired for Him” (1: 5-6).  Ironically, these are professing Christians.

Consequently, Yahweh at this time “has prepared a sacrifice.”  2,000 years ago, it was the Lamb of God sacrificed through God’s great grace and mercy.  This time the tables are turned.  The evil doers this time will be sacrificed.  This will be through “acts of God,” not his elect. For He “will punish the princes [those in power] and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel” [not dressed in white, the symbolic clothing of the righteous] (1: 7-8).

Zephanaiah’s description of the day the world system collapses

“The great day of the LORD is near…The mighty man shall cry there bitterly.      That day is  day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day clouds and thick darkness..and I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung” (1: 14-17).

This is the time that God will execute wrath upon the world.  Compare this passage with Joel 2 and Revelation 16 when the “vials of wrath” are poured out on the earth.  Same time in history.  Same day of the LORD.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock    [To be continued]

1 Comment

Filed under children of God, end time prophecy, great tribulation period, new world order, One World Government, Rapture

Tagged as , , ,

February 18, 2012 · 6:53 pm

Why Christ CANNOT Come Back Tonight–And Who Is the Anti-Christ?

“You better get ready!  Christ could come back tonight!” shouts thousands of preachers every Sunday.  “Be ready for the rapture, that wonderful day when we all float serenely up  through the clouds to heaven,” they say.  But they are parrots in pulpits who mimic words that they have heard someone else say, never having proved it out according to the word of God.  Christ is not coming back tonight, no matter how much they  preach about it.

That’s right.  The Savior, known to the English speaking world as Jesus Christ, cannot come back tonight.  Why not?  Because He will not go back on His word.  He said that several things must take place before He returns, and He will not break His own word.

Which Word?

The key is found in II Thessalonians.  Paul is commending the Thessalonians for their “patience and faith” in the face of the “persecutions and tribulations” that they are enduring at present.  This patient endurance in the face of persecution makes them worthy of the kingdom of God, which is a “righteous judgement of God,” just like it is a righteous judgement of God “to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you” (1: 4-6).

The government of God is coming when Christ returns, and it is the stone kingdom that will smash and pulverize all of man’s governments, like the very Roman government at that time in A.D. 54 that is persecuting the Thessalonians (1).  This kingdom, coming down out of heaven, will bring with it “tribulation to them that trouble” these Thessalonians.  “Tribulation” here is the same Greek word used in Revelation concerning the tribulation period to engulf the world system.

Paul goes on to say in verse 7 that God will grant His followers whose earthly bodies expire a rest.  This rest will continue until the Master “shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ/Yahshua the Messiah” (1: 7-8).

A permanent destruction will come upon them, and this destruction will come from the very presence of the Savior and the glory that surrounds Him–right here on earth at His return (1: 9).

So we are talking about Christ’s return to this earth–a physical return, a smashing return, a vengeful return, a return to “recompense tribulation to them that trouble” us.  Then Paul gives us the key to when Christ will come to do all of this.

Don’t be “soon shaken in mind, or be troubled…as that the day of Christ is at hand” (2: 2).  They had heard from some men teaching that Christ was coming soon.  But Paul tells them, “Let no man deceive you by any means” (2: 3).  You mean, Paul, that there will be men preaching that Christ could come right now?  And that they will deceive you?

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [Christ’s return to earth] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God” (2: 3-4).

There is the key.  Before Christ comes back for His elect children and returns to deal vengeance to the unbelievers, the anti-christ, the man of sin, will be revealed.

Christ can’t come back tonight because we don’t know who this man is. 

So just who is this man of sin?  That is the question we should be asking ourselves as followers of Christ and people who long for His return.  How will we know him?  What signs will give him away as to his identity?  Since he will have to be revealed before Christ can return, we should be asking these questions and not listening to the siren song of rapture theorists.

First, he will oppose “all that is called God.”  He will “exalt himself” above God.  He will not just do this in word, but he will literally “sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2: 4).

Wait a minute.  Temple?  The anti-christ will sit in the temple of God before Christ comes back?  Yes.  There will be a man who will sit in the rebuilt temple of God palming himself off as God himself!

Christ speaks of this very scene in Matt. 24: 15.  “When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, “great tribulation shall break out (v. 21)–far worse than any trouble has ever happened on this earth.

What is this “abomination of desolation”?  When a man stands in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and claims to be God.

So we first need the temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem before the man of sin can stand in it.  The temple rebuilt and the man of sin revealed.

These are the signs of Christ’s coming back to earth.  But Satan will have his way with the “multitudes in the valley of decision.”  The masses will “wonder after the beast.”  The “coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders…”  And the people will perish “because they refused to love the truth” (II Thes 2: 9-11).  “And for this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.”

And there you have it.  Let us all beware of false teachings that will lead us astray from the truth.  The end of the age is upon us, but most will be deceived and miss the most important sea change in the history of this world!  Let us “prove all things,” both things we believe to be the truth and things we’ve been led to believe is a lie.  Let us study.  Let us dig deep and build our house on the Rock and on the stedfastness of His word.  Kenneth Wayne Hancock

 

 

1.  Daniel 2: 34-45

1 Comment

Filed under end time prophecy, false doctrines, false teachers, great tribulation period

Tagged as , , ,