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The End Times Church

Rev. 3:14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.
Rev. 3:15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!
Rev. 3:16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
Rev. 3:17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
Rev. 3:18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Rev. 3:19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
Rev. 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Rev. 3:21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Rev. 3:22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Those of you who have studied biblical prophecy have no doubt read the verses above many times. However, there is a whole lot of information contained in the narrative about the Laodicean Church, some of which you may not have noticed in the past.

One thing I want to point out right away is verse 3:20. Very often this verse is used to lead a person to Christ. The verse is read and then it is said; “Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart, ask him to come in and you will be saved.” Well, that is true, but it is not what this verse is talking about. Notice, that Jesus is outside the door of this church, they have put him outside of his own church. The Christian Church of the end times is a Christless Church.

Matt. 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Jesus, the founder of the Church, has in the end times found himself outside of it. Not that he is surprised. This is prophecy, he revealed it to John 2000 years ago. The end times church will be very rich, in material things, Rev 3:17. But they are poor in spiritual things. They have lost sight of the fact that their very reason for existence is to tell people about Jesus. Instead, they have become a social club. You may as well join the Elks or a country club as this Church. Going to this church is not only a waste of good time but the doctrine is so false that if you believe it you will be on your way to hell.

Verse 3:16 also shows us that this Church will be a “dead” church. By that I mean a spiritually dead church. A Church without zeal or fire for Christ. A church without passion or power. A Church without purpose, except for the enjoyment of its members. Essentially it is not a Christian Church at all, except perhaps in name only.

An example of this type of Church today would be the Episcopal Church in America. Today, it pretty much stands for nothing. They do not believe the bible or practice it. Since they stand for nothing they fall for everything. They offend no one because they their doctrine is as bland as milk toast. That is why most U.S. Presidents attend Episcopal Churches, that way no one gets mad at them about it. Nothing happens in that Church that can be used for campaign fodder by the other party, because nothing happens, period.

But, lets not just pick on the Episcopalians. (Note: The African branch of the Episcopal Church is still fighting against modernism) It is happening to all of the old mainline denominational churches and even many of the newer non-denominational churches. The Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Congregational Churches, the Liberal Lutheran and Baptist churches, the Community churches, and many more are all heading in the same direction. The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, along with the strictest of the Baptists, Lutherans and Pentecostals are hanging on for dear life. How long can they last? Time will tell. When I say they are hanging on, I don’t mean that they all have correct doctrine. I mean that they are hanging on to what they have and are trying not to change. They all have some truth and some error. But, at least they are fighting against the forces that would lead them to put Christ and the bible outside the door of the Church. I hope they persevere, even if they all go financially bankrupt, at least they won’t be spiritually bankrupt.

The government may tax the churches out of existence that still preach Christ, crucified, risen and coming again. They will say, that’s prejudicial, you can’t preach that without losing your tax exempt status. Even if they (the churches) hold fast to the truth, they will soon either disappear or become so small as to be almost unnoticeable. That is Satan’s plan, to work through the government to destroy the churches. He will not completely succeed though. Even if the gates of hell were opened and every demon in existence was loosed to attack her, the church would survive, because Jesus will protect it until he returns.

You may say, you just contradicted yourself. First you said the church would shrink so small as to be unnoticeable, and now you say it will survive, which is it? Well, it is both. It depends on your definition of “the Church.”

The real “Church” at any given time is the sum total of believers in Jesus Christ alive in the world. The Church is not a building or an organization, it is individuals who love the Lord. That is the church that will survive. Everyone who is alive when Jesus returns who welcomes his coming, that’s the Church. The buildings and the hierarchies will fail. Elijah in the old testament thought that he was the only faithful person left in Israel when Ahab and Jezebel were persecuting the believers. But, the Lord straightened him out and informed him that was not the case. He wasn’t the only one. God had 7000 more who were faithful to him. Elijah was speaking in the first verse below, and the Lord was responding to him in the second verse.

1Kings 19:14 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

1Kings 19:18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.”

The real church will suffer persecution. They may become small in number, but the Church will survive.

Rev. 12:17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Rev. 14:12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.

The end times church will suffer the wrath of Satan, but will never suffer the “wrath of God,” Jesus paid for that for us.

Rev. 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

1Th. 5:9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We may suffer some unpleasantness due to Satan’s anger, but we will never suffer from God’s wrath in the tribulation period.

Now, we have seen what organized religion will look like in the end times, so lets find out what the real church will look like.

We can get a clue from how the church at Laodicea looked at the beginning. Note: The scripture does not give a gender for Nymphas. Some translations say “him” others say “her.”

Col. 4:15 Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.

At the time the Laodicean letter was written, almost 2000 years ago, the church was meeting house to house.

At the beginning of the church age, the believers met house to house. They were taught by the apostles and those who were appointed as leaders by the apostles. They sang, they worshipped, they celebrated communion, they baptized and they fellowshipped and broke bread together. They also met in the temple on occasion, before Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD.

Acts 2:41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Acts 2:43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
Acts 2:44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.
Acts 2:45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
Acts 2:46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
Acts 2:47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Now, there were only seven churches mentioned in Revelation chapters two and three, but eight is the number of completeness, eight brings us full circle. Eight is the number of new beginnings. Eight is how many people God started over with after the flood, and there will probably be an eight involved in the population total when Christ returns.

1Pet. 3:20 who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,

It may be eight million, but you can be sure there will be an eight in it. God never changes.

Mal. 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not…

The eighth of something always takes us back to the beginning. An eight day festival on God’s calendar always begins with a Sabbath day and ends with a Sabbath day, in other words it consists of two Saturdays and the six days in between, completing eight days.

Lev. 23:39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.

Neh. 8:18 Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner.

Even the entire history of humanity revolves around eight. The world was perfect when Adam was created and placed in the garden of Eden. If our prophetic understanding is correct, Christ will return at the end of the sixth day (six thousand years) then there will be a 1000 year Heavenly Sabbath day (A heavenly day is 1000 earthly years) followed by eternity and perfection again, the eighth day. So things started with perfection and will end with perfection on the eighth day.

Psa. 90:4 For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.

I have said all of this just to show you how God runs all of his programs around in a circle based on the numbers seven and eight. Seven signals completion of a program, eight commemorates new beginnings, the beginning of a new program or cycle.

It appears that it will be the same with church history. God gave us descriptions of seven church ages (Rev chapters 2 and 3) and we are now at the point in history where we have come full circuit and passed through all seven. Now we will begin again with the first one and it will be the eighth.

So, what was the church like in the beginning? If we find that out we will see what the church will be like in the near future.

Without quoting every scripture on the subject I’m going to give you a description of the early Church.

1. First of all it was primarily Jewish. All of the Apostles were Jewish and most of the converts were Jewish. Gentiles were of course allowed, but in the beginning most gentiles were idol worshippers and thought that they were too smart in worldly science to become Christians. In writing to the Romans and to Timothy, a minister with a gentile father and a Jewish mother, Paul warns about the customs of the gentiles. Things have not changed.

Rom. 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

1Tim. 6:20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:

2. The Church met house to house. They had no buildings. The buildings, the synagogues and the temple belonged to the Jewish religious leaders. The leaders of the Jewish religion did not for the most part accept Jesus as their Messiah. Therefore the Christians had no buildings to use for worship. They met in their homes. This situation will exist again in the end times as those who hold to the truths of the bible will be unwelcome in the Churches of today. If you say that Jesus is the only way to salvation, the bible is the everlasting Word of God and cannot be changed, and that we need to flee from sin, you will be given the left foot of fellowship from most liberal denominations. In other words, you will be booted out.

Acts 5:42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

Acts 20:20 You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.

3. The early Church was persecuted. Because the gentiles loved to worship their idols, and the Jewish leaders loved their religious traditions, there was no comfortable place found for the Christians until 325 AD. That is a longer period of time than what the United States has been in existence. The Christians were considered to be nuts and traitors. According to the common perception they worshipped a dead God, some guy named Jesus, and they refused to worship the Roman emperor. So, on the one hand they were crazy and on the other they were traitors to the empire and the emperor because they would not worship him and go along with his religious programs and holidays. The church in the end times will be treated in the same way. Verbal persecution will precede actual physical persecution.

Acts 8:1 …And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.

2Tim. 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

4. The early Church was quite pure both in doctrine and in practice. Persecution drove out the nominal Christians. There was no reason to be a Christian and suffer hardship unless you really believed it. Persecution drives out the fence sitters and those who are left are the committed people.

Matt. 13:21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

Mark 4:17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

In the end times God will again make a distinction between the righteous and the wicked, like he did at Passover in the book of Exodus. Those who put the blood on the door were saved, their firstborn did not die. But the Egyptians and all of the wicked Israelites who did not follow God's command lost their firstborn. Jesus on the cross is represented by the blood on the door. Those who are under the blood will be safe. Jesus is the door to safety in the end times.

But, it is not just safety that we are talking about here. The verses below tell us how it is God's plan to once again make a distinction between the righteous and the wicked in the end times. Satan is not fooling god with his persecutions or almost winning the battle. No, though he does his worst (Satan) is playing right into God's hands, and if we are in Christ he is playing right into our hands.

Mal 3:16 Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.
Mal 3:17 "They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.
Mal 3:18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.
Mal 4:1 "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them.
Mal 4:2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in His wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.
Mal 4:3 Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the LORD Almighty.

One note on the word "wings," in the Hebrew it means the tassels on the hem of His garment. The tassels waved back and forth as one walked like little wings. That is why the woman in Matthew had faith to be healed if she could only touch the "hem or wings "of His (the Messiah's) garment, She knew and understood the prophecy about healing. Jesus confirmed that by saying it was because of her faith that She was healed. She had faith in the old testament.

Mat 9:20 And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.
Mat 9:21 For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well."
Mat 9:22 But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well." And the woman was made well from that hour.

The bible is just so much more meaningful when we understand the Hebrew. Thats is why it will be wonderful to find a Church with some Jewish people in it who speak Hebrew. It just adds so much to the meaning. During the millennium the verse below will be fulfilled, and it may begin to be fulfilled on a gradual basis shortly before Christ's return.

Zec 8:23"Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."' "

5. The early Church was evangelical. By this I mean that they were vocal about preaching and spreading their faith. Read the book of Acts to find out what the early church was doing. The Apostles were preaching and starting new churches everywhere they went. They were appointing people to lead those churches and the leaders and their members were also preaching and teaching and baptizing. They were on fire about fulfilling the great commission, and God blessed them.

Acts 4:13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
Acts 4:14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.
Acts 4:15 So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together.
Acts 4:16 “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it.
Acts 4:17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”
Acts 4:18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
Acts 4:19 But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.
Acts 4:20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

Acts 8:4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

Acts 18:9 One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision:“Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.
Acts 18:10 For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”
Acts 18:11 So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

6. The early church was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. God has promised another Pentecost type experience in the end times. Pentecost was one season of rain, and the end times will be another season of rain.As is the natural, so is the spiritual. Rain symbolizes the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Miracles, prophecies and powerful preaching will be the norm. You might ask, if this is so, how come the Church will be persecuted and not grow like we would expect?

John 3:19 "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
John 3:20 "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
John 3:21 "But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."

It is because in the end times people will be unwilling to repent of their wickedness because they are enjoying it too much, even if the truth is presented for them right before their eyes with signs and wonders. They reject salvation because their deeds are evil.

Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
Acts 2:2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Acts 2:3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
Acts 2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Acts 2:5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
Acts 2:6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
Acts 2:7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?
Acts 2:8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?
Acts 2:9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
Acts 2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome
Acts 2:11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”
Acts 2:12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Acts 2:13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.’”
Acts 2:14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.
Acts 2:15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!
Acts 2:16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
Acts 2:17 “ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
Acts 2:18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
Acts 2:19 I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
Acts 2:20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
Acts 2:21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Acts 8:5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there.
Acts 8:6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.
Acts 8:7 With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.
Acts 8:8 So there was great joy in that city.

Deut. 11:14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

James 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

Rain symbolizes the Holy Spirit. In Israel the rains came in fall and in the spring. Because their calendar (the Jews) is different than our calendar, the former or early rain is in the fall, and the latter rain is in the spring. Not that it really matters except that we might see the last great revival before the return of Jesus Christ begin sometime in the spring on our gentile Gregorian calendar. Most likely it will begin again on Pentecost. The real date of Pentecost, the Jewish date, fifty days after Passover. Then again, it may happen in the fall. We will just have to watch and see. Most likely the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will happen when it is raining in the natural in Israel. Check the weather report in Israel when you see the power of the Holy Spirit working in the world like it was on the day of Pentecost.

The point is that we have had one outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that which is recorded for us in the book of Acts. But, there is another outpouring coming, the end times outpouring. In the scriptures we find that God has never sent judgment without warning. He has always given people an opportunity to repent before they are destroyed. He has always sent prophets to warn the people, even Jonah to Ninevah and Lot to Sodom. The majority never heeds the warning, but God sends it anyway, and he will do so again before he returns. We can be positive of that.

Matt. 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Notice, it says “as a witness.” It doesn’t say a lot of people are going to accept it, but it will be preached to all the world. We hope a lot of people receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, but whether they do or don’t, they will at least have the opportunity before they face first the wrath of Satan through the Antichrist, and secondly the “Wrath of God.”

1Pet. 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Rev. 16:1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”

The point is that we are going to see some great preaching and some signs and wonders before the rapture. God wants everyone to be saved and to miss his wrath and he will give the world opportunity to repent, but sadly enough, most will reject that opportunity and be forced to undergo the worst time of trouble to ever come upon the earth, a time known as “Jacobs Trouble,” and also as “the great tribulation.” The time of God's wrath begins with chapter sixteen of the book of Revelation, which begins right after the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet, which initiates the rapture.

Rev. 9:20 The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk.
Rev. 9:21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Notice, that verses 9:20 and 9:21 occur BEFORE Gods wrath is poured out in chapter 16. See 16:1 above. The preaching and opportunity to repent comes while there is still time to escape. Those who reject that opportunity face the fate in the verses below.

Rev. 16:9 They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.
Rev. 16:11 and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.

Notice how God writes: In his mind these things have already happened because he knows the end from the beginning. He says “they were” as if a newspaper reporter is writing about it after the fact. These are not predictions that can have a different outcome as Satan would deceive some people into believing. These events have already been seen in the mind of God and he has had John write them down for us in yhe past tense, so that we may know about them before they happen, and know that they are certain to happen.

John 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
John 10:2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

John 10:7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
John 10:8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
John 10:9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

Luke 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

There is no escape from them, except by faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the door to our salvation and our escape from the things that are coming upon the world. Jesus saves us from death, especially eternal death in hell. The blood on the doors of the homes at Passover time in Exodus represents the salvation found by having faith in Jesus Christ.

7. The end times church(es) will be loving. Love for the brethren will be the characteristic of the end times church. In a sense they will be driven together. The early church shared all things in common, primarily out of necessity. They developed strong bonds with each other because they needed and appreciated each other. The end times church will have no one but each other and Jesus to lean on. Not like it still is today where we all have our own individual little kingdoms in our nice homes. It is possible that we may be driven out of our homes by unfair tax laws against Christians and have to gather together in out of the way places and form little communities of 10 or 15 people all helping each other to survive. Many of us may have to live like the Amish. In some ways I envy them, they are already prepared for it in a sense. They are pretty much self sufficient without government services. We may have to emulate them when times get tough. We may have to contact some Amish brothers and sisters in Christ for some tips on how self sufficient living without modern conveniences is accomplished. They are keeping the art alive.

John 8:42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.

John 10:17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command.

John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

John 14:23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

John 14:31 but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
John 15:10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

John 15:12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:17 This is my command: Love each other.
John 15:19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

8. The end times church will be victorious. We will Win! We know the end of the story. Jesus will rescue us and destroy the armies of the world at Armageddon and set up his 1000 year kingdom, and fulfill the heavenly Sabbath day. Knowing we will ultimately win, no matter what the world does to us will enable us to live victorious lives. Live or die, alive or dead, we will be raised to a new life and a perfect new body at the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet, when the rapture takes place. We just have to hang on to our faith until then. When I say hang on, I don’t neccessisarily mean cling to life. I mean cling to faith no matter what happens. If they kill us they kill us, so what. We don’t fear those who can kill the body, we fear God only. You can sing, "Victory in Jesus."

Luke 12:5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

Some will live until the rapture and some won’t. God promises that there will be some believers who will be caught up alive to meet him in the air at his return, but not everyone has this promise. We don’t know who or how many that will be. Our job is to make sure that whether we live or die, we do it with faith on our lips. That makes us victorious, like Job who said, “though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. That is to be our battle cry.

1Th. 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

2Th. 2:8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.

Rev. 19:11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.
Rev. 19:12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.
Rev. 19:13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.
Rev. 19:14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.
Rev. 19:15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
Rev. 19:16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Rev. 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God,
Rev. 19:18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great.”
Rev. 19:19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army.
Rev. 19:20 But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

Rev. 20:4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

So, now that we know what is going to happen, what do we do? How do we prepare for it? Right now it is primarily a mental thing. We have to get ourselves ready to accept the fact that we are not just going to attend a large beautiful church and have a great time there every Sunday morning until one day the trumpet sounds and we go home to be with Jesus. Many Christians have that opinion, but it is a false one.

What we can expect is that the big beautiful churches, the ones that maintain their governmental tax exempt status will become spiritually deficient. In order to find true preaching and teaching in the near future we will have to go to a small church. Very possibly a Messianic Church. By that I mean one that has some Jews in it. Remember what I said earlier, the Church began with primarily Jewish believers and it will end that way too.

When your current church throws you out or becomes so corrupt you can’t stand it any more and you leave, then look for a Church with some Jews in it. That one might survive until Jesus comes. It may not survive in a nice little building though. I expect that first the large bible believing churches will be put out of business by the government, then they will eliminate the small bible believing churches and then they will attempt to stamp out Christianity altogether by persecuting individuals.

We have not even fully begun the first stage yet, so many of us may die of old age and natural causes before any of this even happens. I’m writing this for people who are 40 and under. You may live to see all of this transpire. Those of us who are old already may not. My desire is that those who are alive as this transition takes place will not be deceived as it happens. Prepare your mind to keep downsizing your lifestyle and church affiliation as time goes on and then you will not be disappointed when it happens. In fact, you may want to just go ahead and do it now, that way you will be all set when the time comes.

What do I mean by that? I mean get involved in a home fellowship church, a cell group as they are often called. You can attend another church too for as long as they last, but find yourself a small group of people to meet with who love and honor Christ and meet and break bread together and study his word. That way the transition will be easy for you. When your church closes you can just keep on meeting and having fellowship with your Christian friends in your small group.

Likewise with your finances. Stay out of debt. Live below your means. Don’t get trapped in a house you can’t sell or toys you can’t pay for if you lose your job. When persecution comes many Christians may find themselves out of work. Schoolteachers may find they have to sign a document stating that they are not Christians in order to renew their credentials. Likewise government employees. Soon private industry will follow suit as the government makes it financially rewarding for them to do so. In a financial sense, stay under the radar screen. Avoid having a credit card balance. Make up your mind that the amount of possessions that you absolutely want to keep is small. Make sure you can load everything you really want in a car or a pickup truck and get out of Dodge if it ever becomes necessary. I’m not saying they are going to chase you out with pitchforks and torches, but you may need to pack up and move to a Christian community out in the boondocks somewhere in order to feed your family. God had Abraham and Jacob move many times before their descendants arrived in the promised land. All I’m saying is just be ready and have a plan to vacate the premises, just as if you were living in New Orleans just before the big hurricane hit. Don’t be like the ones who refused to leave. They stayed and died or wound up in the Superdome awash in sewage and unlivable conditions. Be ready at all times for God to call you anywhere to do anything. That’s good advice even if nothing was ever going to happen. Be ready to follow and do whatever the Holy Spirit lays on your heart, always. Then you will be in God’s will for your life, which is where we all should be all of the time.

This concludes our lesson “The End Times Church.”

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