GOING UP?

[Blood Bought 1953]

 

I suppose a fishing trip together is out of the question?

[Blood Bought 1953]

 

Ask me any question you like....right now I have something more important to do.....my tires need rotating....later , my good friend!

[missmuffet]

Revelation 3:10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

Those who continue in faith, grounded and steadfast until Christ takes us home in the rapture. These people are guaranteed not to go through God's wrath and judgment which is the seven year tribulation.

[simplejeff]

Corrie ten Boom exposed this decades ago, as did many true teachers.

http://www.endtimepilgrim.org/corrie.htm

"... .... those who teach a Pre-Tribulation Rapture are among the false teachers Jesus warned us about. See Mat.24:4-5).  ... ... "

[simplejeff]

excerpt:  ....

" Later that week, half the congregation of that church was executed.I heard later that the other half was killed some months ago. "

Corrie ten Boom,  et al. 

" .... ...

There are some among us teaching there will be no tribulation, that the Christians will be able to escape all this. These are the false teachers that Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days.  Most of them have little knowledge of what is already going on across the world. I have been in countries where the saints are already suffering terrible persecution.

In China, the Christians were told, "Don't worry, before the tribulation comes you will be translated – raptured." Then came a terrible persecution.  Millions of Christians were tortured to death. Later I heard a Bishop from China say, sadly,

 

"We have failed.
We should have made the people strong for persecution,
rather than telling them Jesus would come first.
Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution,
how to stand when the tribulation comes,
– to stand and not faint."

I feel I have a divine mandate to go and tell the people of this world that it is possible to be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in training for the tribulation, but more than sixty percent of the Body of Christ across the world has already entered into the tribulation. There is no way to escape it.
We are next.

Since I have already gone through prison for Jesus' sake, and since I met the Bishop in China, now every time I read a good Bible text I think, "Hey, I can use that in the time of tribulation."  Then I write it down and learn it by heart.

When I was in the concentration camp, a camp where only twenty percent of the women came out alive, we tried to cheer each other up by saying, "Nothing could be any worse than today." But we would find the next day was even worse.  During this time a Bible verse that I had committed to memory gave me great hope and joy.

"If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye;
for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you;
on their part evil is spoken of,
but on your part He is glorified."
(I Peter 3:14)

I found myself saying, "Hallelujah!
Because I am suffering, Jesus is glorified!"

In America, the churches sing, "Let the congregation escape tribulation", but in China and Africa the tribulation has already arrived. This last year alone more than two hundred thousand Christians were martyred in Africa. Now things like that never get into the newspapers because they cause bad political relations. But I know. I have been there. We need to think about that when we sit down in our nice houses with our nice clothes to eat our steak dinners. Many, many members of the Body of Christ are being tortured to death at this very moment, yet we continue right on as though we are all going to escape the tribulation.

Several years ago I was in Africa in a nation where a new government had come into power. The first night I was there some of the Christians were commanded to come to the police station to register. When they arrived they were arrested and that same night they were executed. The next day the same thing happened with other Christians. The third day it was the same. All the Christians in the district were being systematically murdered.

The fourth day  I was to speak in a little church. The people came, but they were filled with fear and tension. All during the service they were looking at each other, their eyes asking, "Will this one I am sitting beside be the next one killed? Will I be the next one?"

The room was hot and stuffy with insects that came through the screenless windows and swirled around the naked bulbs over the bare wooden benches. I told them a story out of my childhood.

"When I was a little girl, " I said, "I went to my father and said,
"Daddy, I am afraid that I will never be strong enough to be a martyr for Jesus Christ."
"Tell me," said Father,
"When you take a train trip to Amsterdam,
when do I give you the money for the ticket?
Three weeks before?"

"No, Daddy, you give me the money for the ticket just before we get on the train."

"That is right," my father said, "and so it is with God's strength.
Our Father in Heaven knows when you will need the strength to be a martyr for Jesus Christ.
He will supply all you need – just in time…"

My African friends were nodding and smiling.
Suddenly a spirit of joy descended upon that church and the people began singing,

" In the sweet, by and by,
we shall meet on that beautiful shore."

Later that week, half the congregation of that church was executed.

I heard later that the other half was killed some months ago.

... ... ... "

http://www.endtimepilgrim.org/corrie.htm
 

[simplejeff]

As noted recently also: quote: "

Posted Thursday at 03:21 PM

Please brothers and sisters pray for Chinese fellow Christians. The national persecution on Christianity seems getting worse and worse now. Recently a megachurch in Shanxi Province has been demolished. It is a nationwide campaign to tear down Christian churches. Please pray for us and God remember your brotherly love. Thank you."

As well as thousands of reports the last few years from VOM Voice of the Martyrs, world wide in 100+ countries.

[ScottA]

9 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

I'm wondering if I found an answer to a question I've pondered for some time now in Luke 21: 36. "... that ye may be accounted worthy to escape..." What exactly does that mean? 

Lu 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. [emphasis mine]

Today, spending a couple of hours studying I Corinthians 15: 1-3, and many expositor's and scholars comments, they seem to all agree on the meaning and intent of these verses. Notice in I Corinthians 15: 2, the conditional word "IF". Seems the context is Paul is talking to believers, "wherein ye stand", "IF" ye keep in memory. 

So, if my interpretation of the above scripture is true, it seems to me not every born again Christian will be caught up in the Rapture (that's a question)? Presently I'm just considering and pondering the meaning, that backsliders, those whom became weak in the faith, or living in the flesh maybe excluded from the "catching away"? I'm not stating this as fact, but questioning my interpretation thereof.

Like I said, I have documented a number of creditable expositor's that seem to concur with my understanding on I Corinthians 15: 1-3.

What's y'all's view on this?
 

Beware the teachings of men, for God has sent strong delusion out among the churches being taught by those who did not love the true but preferred a lie. Come out of their snare. Read the words yourself, and ask God to send His Holy Spirit to help you, for the words must be discerned spiritually. 

As for your interpretation: All will be caught up, but not in some mass end times event, but rather as Paul stated, "each in his own order", i.e., each in his own time. After which comes the judgement, followed by "some going to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt."

Tell God of your love for the truth...and you will be counted worthy.

[Justin Adams]

Close to the Lord's heart at this time was the devastation that Jerusalem went thru later. Josephus wrote 40 large pages about this event. It was truly horrific and the worst calamity to be visited on the Jews that had ever happened.

We tend to minimize this series of horrendous events, but if one reads about it, it becomes apparent that it was such devastation of the Holy City that there was nothing to equal it from an Israeli's perspective.

Not only the Romans were killing but also the Jewish factions were murdering their own people.

I suggest everybody reads this history fully. It may change your mind about other prophesied events.

[wingnut-]

13 hours ago, Marilyn C said:

Hi Dennis,

And who is the Lord speaking to?

Marilyn.

 

Though Luke does not specify, the other two accounts written on this tell us precisely who He was speaking to.

 

Matthew 24:3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

 

Mark 13:3 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,

[simplejeff]

36 minutes ago, Giller said:

And at a certain point in Matthew 24, it strictly refers to the tribulation period, which it mentions the second coming which of course never happened yet.

And how many "escaped" so far ?  How many of the families of those millions tortured, imprisoned, butchered and tortured and slaughtered in the last 120 years believe those who were thus treated "escaped".

How many Apostles "escaped" ? 

How many of the millions referred to in Foxes Book of Martyrs* "escaped" ?

Just in China in the last 100 years over a million Christians were tortured and slaughtered,  and remember Corrie ten Boom's testimony of what happened about 50 years ago in Africa:

 "There are some among us teaching there will be no tribulation, that the Christians will be able to escape all this. These are the false teachers that Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days.  Most of them have little knowledge of what is already going on across the world. I have been in countries where the saints are already suffering terrible persecution.

In China, the Christians were told, "Don't worry, before the tribulation comes you will be translated – raptured." Then came a terrible persecution.  Millions of Christians were tortured to death. Later I heard a Bishop from China say, sadly,

    "We have failed.
    We should have made the people strong for persecution,
    rather than telling them Jesus would come first.
    Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution,
    how to stand when the tribulation comes,
    – to stand and not faint."

I feel I have a divine mandate to go and tell the people of this world that it is possible to be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in training for the tribulation, but more than sixty percent of the Body of Christ across the world has already entered into the tribulation. There is no way to escape it.
We are next.

Since I have already gone through prison for Jesus' sake, and since I met the Bishop in China, now every time I read a good Bible text I think, "Hey, I can use that in the time of tribulation."  Then I write it down and learn it by heart.

When I was in the concentration camp, a camp where only twenty percent of the women came out alive, we tried to cheer each other up by saying, "Nothing could be any worse than today." But we would find the next day was even worse.  During this time a Bible verse that I had committed to memory gave me great hope and joy.

    "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye;
    for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you;
    on their part evil is spoken of,
    but on your part He is glorified."
    (I Peter 3:14)

I found myself saying, "Hallelujah!
Because I am suffering, Jesus is glorified!"

In America, the churches sing, "Let the congregation escape tribulation", but in China and Africa the tribulation has already arrived. This last year alone more than two hundred thousand Christians were martyred in Africa. Now things like that never get into the newspapers because they cause bad political relations. But I know. I have been there. We need to think about that when we sit down in our nice houses with our nice clothes to eat our steak dinners. Many, many members of the Body of Christ are being tortured to death at this very moment, yet we continue right on as though we are all going to escape the tribulation.

Several years ago I was in Africa in a nation where a new government had come into power. The first night I was there some of the Christians were commanded to come to the police station to register. When they arrived they were arrested and that same night they were executed. The next day the same thing happened with other Christians. The third day it was the same. All the Christians in the district were being systematically murdered.

The fourth day  I was to speak in a little church. The people came, but they were filled with fear and tension. All during the service they were looking at each other, their eyes asking, "Will this one I am sitting beside be the next one killed? Will I be the next one?"

The room was hot and stuffy with insects that came through the screenless windows and swirled around the naked bulbs over the bare wooden benches. I told them a story out of my childhood.

"When I was a little girl, " I said, "I went to my father and said,
"Daddy, I am afraid that I will never be strong enough to be a martyr for Jesus Christ."
"Tell me," said Father,
"When you take a train trip to Amsterdam,
when do I give you the money for the ticket?
Three weeks before?"

"No, Daddy, you give me the money for the ticket just before we get on the train."

"That is right," my father said, "and so it is with God's strength.
Our Father in Heaven knows when you will need the strength to be a martyr for Jesus Christ.
He will supply all you need – just in time…"

My African friends were nodding and smiling.
Suddenly a spirit of joy descended upon that church and the people began singing,

    " In the sweet, by and by,
    we shall meet on that beautiful shore."

Later that week, half the congregation of that church was executed.
I heard later that the other half was killed some months ago."

 

==============================

*Foxes Book of Martyrs in WORTHY CHRISTIAN LIBRARY (free to read, no signup required) >

Worthy Christian Library » Foxe’s Book of Martyrs by John Foxe

 

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs by John Foxe

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 – History of Christian Martyrs to the First General Persecutions under Nero

Chapter 2, Part 1 – The Ten Primitive Persecutions

Chapter 2, Part 2 – The Tenth Persecution, Under Diocletian, A.D. 303

Chapter 3 – Persecutions of the Christians in Persia

Chapter 4 – Papal Persecutions

Chapter 5, Part 1 – An Account of the Inquisition