Where Are We Headed? Part 3

Subtitle: Ungrateful Resentment

Romans 1:18-22.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on April 03, 2022.

Last week, we looked at the overall endpoint of where we would be headed if God allowed and helped us get there.  Today, we are going to step back to where we are now and show the trap that we have created for ourselves. 

Just as the universe would become a coffin in which we would find ourselves trapped, we are even now entrapped in the mechanism that will take us into what the Bible calls “The Last Things,” or the end times.

Let’s look at our passage.

Facing our true problem

Humanity is much the same as it was 20 centuries ago when the Apostle Paul described the plight of the world.  Yes, our buildings are taller and more sophisticated; our communication methods are more powerful; our weapons are far more devastating, and our wealth is vaster.  However, we are still doing the same things, just with far more powerful technology.  Our great buildings are still full of proud people who are plotting proud plans in the face of God and their fellow man.  Our communications are still used to lie and gossip about one another.  We still use our weapons in order to force our agenda on weaker nations.  We still blow that vast wealth on feeding our flesh rather than glorifying God.  Yes, we are in the same plight because we refuse to face our true problem, which is a spiritual problem that Paul highlights in this passage.

In verse 18, Paul points out that God is going to judge the ungodly for suppressing the truth even though it has been made obvious by God Himself.  We should also notice that the truth that Paul pictures being suppressed is essentially God Himself.  Through the creation, God has made His existence, eternal power, and divinity obvious to all humans. 

The Creator is ultimately something that is other than the stuff of this creation.  The incredibly complex systems that work just perfectly and with little tolerances to allow life on this planet speak of an engineer, a designer.  It speaks of a designer that is powerful enough to create all that we can see and more.  This designer would necessarily be an uncreated one.  Yet, we suppress that great and obvious truth that we call God. 

Friends, you cannot suppress the truth and be headed in a good direction simply because you desire it to be a good direction.  Truth by its very nature is unchangeable.  It simply is what it is.  In fact, it is only truth that can navigate the treacherous waters of this world for today and the future.

Like the young men in the illustration that I used during part 2 of this series, Paul points out the lack of thankfulness and gratitude that people have to God.  We deny His existence, suppress the truth about its necessity and this leads us to a place of not giving Him thanks for the plentiful resources all around us. 

We see this ungratefulness all across our land today.  We are materially blessed more than any society ever, and yet we are full of ungratefulness and still do not have enough.  Like the leech in Proverbs, we cry out, “Give more, and more!”  We are never satisfied.

This ungratefulness may seem perplexing, but you must understand that it is driven by a resentment of the Truth that we are trying to suppress.  This is why we see the purposeful breaking down of the concepts of family, marriage, gender, and even individuality.  All of these were created by God to be immense blessings to us, but our resentment of the Creator drives us to despise anything that could be connected to Him- consequently, we despise even ourselves (at least in our current form).  We despise things that are good gifts and will tear them apart with our own hands in a deluded attempt to be our own benefactor.  Ungrateful people driven by resentment of The Truth cannot hope to build anything that is good, much less a Utopian Paradise.

Verse 22 describes our society perfectly.  We are the apex of all human wisdom, but we have become fools.  We must understand that there are different kinds of fools.  Too often, we only see the moronic fool who is simple and unable to think beyond the moment.  However, there is another kind of fool, the sophisticated fool.  This is a person who is very smart in comparison to most humans, or it can be a group who represent the smartest of a society, even the world.  Yet, because they insist on disregarding the God of Israel, the One True God, they will not be able to navigate the catastrophic choices that are in front of them.

In verse 21, Paul describes how we get to such a state.  The rejection of the Truth about the One True God leads to thinking that becomes futile.  This is the phrase from Ecclesiastes, “Vanity, Vanity, all is vanity!”  Also translated as “meaningless,” futility pictures something that will not be enough no matter how sophisticated it is. 

Secondly, Paul pictures that their hearts become darkened.  Light and darkness are often employed to speak to truth and ignorance, and definitely this darkness comes upon the thinking of the fool.  However, a darkened heart recognizes that our desires, will, and affections take a turn for the worse when we refuse to admit the Truth.  Thus, the fool is not so much a fool because of his or her IQ, but essentially because their mind and heart have attached to futile, darkened things.  The fool is one who persists on a path that will destroy them over the top of all the evidence, that is, the Truth. 

This is what Paul pictures and it completely describes us today.  Even the Church has been closing its eyes and ears to the things that the Lord Jesus made absolutely clear in his word.  Thus, we can become the most sophisticated, the most religious, of fools of all time, quite literally, sophomores.

Falling into a trap of our own making

In Luke 21:34-35, Jesus warns us that Judgment Day will come upon the world like a trap.  The world cannot escape the trap of Judgment Day because it is already trapped by its own refusal to face the Truth of God.  This becomes a trap of our own making.  We can resent God for holding us accountable to Truth and Reality, or we can repent and be thankful that He loves us too much to abandon us to folly.

We are essentially trading our God-given freedom for a “scientific” dictatorship.  It matters not whether it is ran by one, a few, 545 (100 senators, 435 representatives, 9 justices, 1 president), or more.  Ultimately, we surrender our minds and hearts to an elite class that hold us in their sway.  By the way, this is even true within my life as an individual.  I can surrender my mind and heart to an elite idea (science=knowledge) that holds me in its sway.  Keep this individual aspect in mind as we move forward.

These elites are the pinnacle of society and power on this planet.  They have scratched and clawed their way to the top of the pyramid of humanity; they are the capstone.  They see themselves as having the evolutionary right to exercise dominion over all of humanity, and those who are not a part of the elite can come to admire them and vicariously lift them up.  Yet, even the elite are merely the base and slaves of the dark powers of Satan himself, many knowingly and a few unknowingly.

In rejecting God, Who is The Truth, they (I) become unaccountable to all but themselves.  There is no concept of the prophet who has stood in the presence of the Creator and can call all both small and great to repentance.  There is no true freedom of speech because, if you are not one of them, you have nothing to say that they want to hear.  Who do you think you are?  In evolutionary terms, the prophet is a nobody, and they don’t listen to nobodies.  Yet, what if God became a nobody?

Because they represent the smartest, strongest, and most beautiful of humanity (per an ungodly definition), we like sheep are led astray into a path of folly.  Is it not folly to pit all of society against itself into a seething cauldron of identities, all struggling against one another for power and ascendancy?  Who will hold them accountable for such atrocities?

The world’s vision of a utopia is not even its own vision.  It is a remnant of the Heavenly Vision of God.  The world has cast God aside, but then it has plagiarized God’s vision of a world in which there is no evil.  Of course, they have changed all of the definitions of the terms.  Thus, it will be no true utopia, and no true evil will ever be banished from its lands.  They will build a hell full of every wickedness and slap a utopia sticker on it when in truth it is only Pandemonium.

In this way, they abuse true utopia.  Any real thing of this world will fall short of the ideal.  A real parent falls short of the ideal parent.  A real government falls short of the ideal government.  In this life, nothing real can ever compete with the ideal.  Thus, it becomes an eternal mechanism of never being thankful for the enough that we have, and always trying to wring another drop out of water out of the cloth.

Ultimately, we are reduced to a slave-class under those who have crawled and scratched their way into the capstone.  Just as marketing campaigns use all manner of psychology to get you to buy their goods, so too, those in the capstone employ psychological programming against the lowly masses.  We the masses are too dumb to know what is good for us, and so they justify themselves in their deceptions.  This creates a sinister triad of resentment, arrogance, and deceit.  This is the trap that we have made for ourselves.

“Follow the science,” “Protect American interests abroad,” and “Save the planet,” have all become trite sayings that manipulate the masses, but never actually save anything.  Never fear!  They are working on new rallying cries, so that we can create a “Great Reset,” and “Build Back Better!”

This is where we are at, where we are headed without God.  We are moving full steam into a global trap.  However, I have good news for you!  The one who puts their faith in Jesus is never trapped because God is on their side, and they are on His side.  In the midst of the most manipulated generation ever, there is the True Church of Jesus of Nazareth that listens to his teaching and follow his instructions. 

Friend, God knew where this was all headed long ago.  He has pre-positioned the answer for us in this age through the work of His Son Jesus.  Embrace Jesus today, before you get so far down the trap that you no longer want escape.

Part 3 Ungrateful audio

The Things that God Hates 3: A Lying Tongue

Proverbs 6:16-17; Exodus 20:16; Deuteronomy 32:3-4; Psalm 109:1-4; Revelation 21:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12; Ephesians 6:13-14. 

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 22, 2021.

Today, we will continue our look at the seven things that God hates.  Proverbs 6 lists a lying tongue as the second thing that God hates. 

Let’s get into our passages.

God hates a lying tongue

The word translated as “lying” in Proverbs 6 can be translated as: an untruth, a lie, a sham, falsehood, fraud, and deceit.  The phrase is literally “a tongue of falsehood,” or “a tongue of lies.”    It is like the tongue is the offspring of lies and belongs to them.  Of course, the tongue is not the real problem.  Even if God had not given us a tongue, we would still be capable of misleading and lying to one another.  The tongue is just a powerful tool for those whose hearts are inclined to mislead others.

At its core, a lie is a refusal to face the truth, to face reality.  This is precisely why we see much of what we see in these last days.  Mankind is in league with fallen spiritual beings, and are rebelling against truth and reality itself.  Of course, to rebel against reality is to rebel against the One who created it.

Many people object to a God.  They may never say it this way, but they feel that reality is a straitjacket that restricts them.  Only a liar would call reality a straitjacket because it is their own perversity that restricts them.  It is their own life of pursuing pleasure that leaves them shackled and bound to sin.  This is what we all would be, if it weren’t for the love of God calling us back from the precipice, saying, “I love you.  Why will you die?  Choose life!” 

The ninth commandment in Exodus 20:16 tells us not to bear false witness against your neighbor.  Of course, it is wrong to bear false witness against anyone, but the neighbor part is added to intensify the command.  It is not setting the limits of the command, but rather intensifying it.  How could you do such a thing to your neighbor, or even your brother?  If neighbors do not live truthfully with one another, if we lie against those we depend upon for mutual protection, then no society can last long in such circumstances.

There are different reasons why people lie.  Some people really will say anything in order to protect or promote themselves.  Others lie because they believe the ends justifies the means.  Lies are told to conceal activity from others, and in some cases, lies are told to protect others from harm.

Regardless of the reasons why we may lie, such reasons are only the superficial motivation.  There are deeper reasons that go to the core of our human nature, which brings us to the rub.

In Deuteronomy 32:3-4, Moses declares the nature of God.  He is something that is like a large Rock.  It cannot be moved and can be trusted.  You can build your life upon Him and it will hold up, as opposed to sand, which looks solid at first.  I mean, isn’t it just broken up rock?  However, sand is not dependable between sinkholes and liquefaction.  God doesn’t change, yesterday, today, or forever.  The words Justice, Truth, Righteous, and Upright are woven together to highlight God’s nature.  God by His nature is truth, but we are not.  Even when we speak of justice, truth, and righteousness, we are not generally being completely honest.  We just want the justice that is in our favor, and not that which hurts us.  Moses reminds Israel, and us, of just who God is, so that they will do the hard work of fighting against their own sinful nature.

Lies come too easy for us, and only a person who keeps their eyes upon God and has a healthy fear of Him, can be transformed into His image.  The choice is always to conform to the perversity of this world, or be transformed into the truth of who God is.  Titus 1:2 tells us that God cannot lie.  Why?  He cannot lie because He is Truth.  It is His nature.  Whereas, lies are contrary to the nature of God and the reality He created.

In Psalm 109:1-4, David was able to take his prayers, his cries to God, and put them in poetic form.  Always remember that songs which move us deeply are crafted from the difficult things and the anguish that they have gone through. 

David speaks of how the wicked have lied against him, that is within society.  Saul is a good example of what David is talking about.  Saul continually defamed David as a rebel insurrectionist, a usurper, but the truth is that Saul was the true rebel.  He was in rebellion against the path of God, and though he was not usurping the throne, he was usurping God’s place of leadership within Israel.  Still, Saul deflects the truth and paints David as the bad guy.  David also mentions that the wicked do this without cause.  Even their feigned reason for coming after him is a lie.  He has done nothing to them, but good!

Like the cry of Israel rising up from the mud pits of Egypt to God, the cry of the righteous reaches God’s ears.  Even people who lie against others often complain about those who lie against them.  However, notice what David’s answer is to all this frustration. “…but I give myself to prayer.”  David appeals to The Power that is higher than King Saul, or anyone else on this planet, or in this cosmos, for that matter.

If you are not convinced that God will deal with all liars, then read Revelation 21:8.  There, we are told that “all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone…”  It may not look like it in this world, but God is committed to destroying those who give themselves to lies, and to lying.  This passage uses inheritance language.  They will have their part, their portion, their lot, in the Lake of Fire.  It becomes their inheritance.  They will not be allowed to enter into the new heavens and the new earth.

Any time a person complains that a good God should not allow so much evil on earth, remind them that they should be more careful.  God has set a day of recompense, but will you survive?  Will I survive and come through the coming Great Filter of God?

Let us not fool ourselves.  God hates lies and false causes.  He will bring to destruction everyone who embraces them, and He will separate them from His creation.

God loves truth

The flip-side of hating lies is that God loves truth.  I could have said that He loves a truth-telling tongue, but there is a deeper issue here. 

In 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, Paul reminds us that part of what God is trying to do is to give us a love of the truth.  Think about that.  What is God doing right now?  He is working to help us learn to love truth.  To love truth is to love God because He is truth by nature.  You can’t separate these two.  This includes our wrestling with our sinful nature, and learning to cooperate with the lessons of truth that God is trying to teach us.

Paul pictures the end times as a time in which God quits trying to convince the world to love truth, and He hands them over to a strong delusion, a great lie that the whole world will believe hook, line, and sinker.

In fact, we should recognize that salvation itself, the Gospel, is all about asking people to embrace truth.  I am a sinner, that is the truth.  God’s judgment hangs over my head, that is the truth.  Yet, God doesn’t want me to be destroyed, that is the truth.  If I will throw myself upon His mercy, die to self, and put my trust in the person and the way of Jesus, then I will be spared.  Truth!  If you don’t love that truth, then something is very wrong with your heart.  Something is wrong with all of our hearts, but God can help us if we will trust Him.  Many today keep pushing away the love of God that continues to reach out to them. However, one day it will come to an end because God loves others too much to give you eternity of choosing lies over truth.

In Ephesians6:13-14, Paul reminds us that Truth is part of the armor of God.  Like Saul with David, this world offers us all kind of armor that it says will protect.  Lies and deception are the protection of the wicked.  David knew that he would not survive using this world’s armor.  His trust was in God and the truth.  The truth is that God has either sent Goliath and the Philistines to chastise Israel, or that God is looking for someone with enough guts to trust that He would be with them.  David was that man.

Of course, Jesus also trusted in truth, and it got him killed.  At least, that is what the world, and your flesh, wants you to think.  The truth did not get Jesus killed.  They were actually killing truth when they killed him.  He willingly laid down his life for us, that is the truth!  To overcome the attacks of this world upon our faith, we must love truth more than life itself.  This is the real battle.

As we close, I bring to our remembrance the warning of Jesus himself.  Perhaps Matthew 24 and the Olivet Discourse is what Paul had in mind when he wrote 2 Thessalonians 2.  There, Jesus gave his disciples a look at what lay ahead of them from the first century to the end of the age and his Second Coming.

Jesus emphasized and warned against deception, false prophets, false christs, and lying signs and wonders that are coming to convince the world of The Big Lie.  It will be convincing to those who have not clung to the truth of God and loved it.  Many who claim to be believers in Jesus will become believers in the anti-Jesus because they let themselves use lies as a defense instead of repenting before Christ.

Today, let us not only hate those lies that are told against us, but to hate the deceptive cause that is dripping with a false coat of righteousness and appeals to our sinful nature.  May God enable us to love truth because He is truth, and without Him, we will not survive what lies ahead of us.

A Lying Tongue audio

The End-Times Battle for Humanity

Mark 13:19-23; John 5:43; Revelation 13:5-8, 11-18.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 27, 2020.

Being that this is the last sermon of this year, I felt it appropriate to examine the end-times battle that God has warned us is coming in His word, the Bible.  It is the apex of the battle for the hearts and minds of humanity that has been going on ever since the fall of Satan from perfection into sin and destruction.

We know very little about that initial fall, though there are some hints here and there in Scripture.  By pure logic, he appears to be the first being to fall through self-deception.  All those who came behind him, both heavenly and earthly beings, have been deceived by him to some degree.

The Bible tells us that the critical victory in this battle was won by Jesus through the cross and his resurrection.  However, it will not be completed until Jesus comes back and kicks out the usurpers, again, both heavenly and earthly.  None of them deserve to rule over humanity, but Jesus alone is worthy to receive all power and rule.

If believers in Jesus are to resist the deceptions that are even now being cast before the world, then we will need to heed the warnings of Scripture, and recognize them as they materialize.  Thus, the big-picture in the Bible must be recognized on the ground in our own life, or we will be deceived.  Let’s look at our passages.

Jesus warns of The Great Tribulation

The passage in Mark that I have noted above comes at the end of a prophecy that Jesus gives concerning the period of time between his ascension into heaven and his return to earth.  Towards the end of this period, Jesus warns about the Great Tribulation.  Mark doesn’t use the word great like Matthew does, but the description is clear.  This will be the worst time of trouble that the earth has ever seen in the past and will ever see in the future.  It comes upon the world right before the Second Coming of Jesus.  What makes this troubling time so bad is that God stops restraining Satan’s evil plans, and pours out His wrath upon a world that would choose to follow The Beast and reject the message of the Lamb of God, Jesus.  Of course, I am using terms that the book of Revelation uses.

Jesus has already presented himself and his plan to the world.  Christians are his emissaries continuing to plead with a world that has heard, and to give a hearing to those who have not.  In a spiritual sense, Satan has been presenting his plan to the world as well.  Yet, The Great Tribulation is a time when a particular being called The Beast will rise up with a plan for the world that is satanic in origin.  John 5:43 reminds us that Jesus came representing God the Father and was rejected.  However, another (christ-figure) will come in his own name, and the people will receive him.  This is the overall state of the world.  We will reject that which is good and innocent, and embrace that which is evil and guilty.  Now, let’s go to Revelation 13.

The Beast’s plan

The groundwork for Satan’s final kingdom has been laid down over the millennia.  Every empire up to now has been prologue and perhaps trial runs, or war games that are done in preparation.  Satan knows that God is partially restraining him, but he also knows that the restraint will one day cease.  He is ready with his plan at all times.

However, it is worth taking a few moments to ask this question.  Does his plan really involve helping or saving humanity?  He continually deceives the world with the carrot of a path of salvation, a path of fixing the world, that does not depend upon the One True God.  His plan tells man that there is an alternate way that does not involve following the God who actually created all things that exist.

Satan loves to project himself as the light-bringer who is only seeking to free humans from the tyranny of God.  However, this is either a form of psychosis, or pure deception.  He either really thinks that he can make something better than God, or he knows that he can’t, but wants to “stick it” to God anyway.  It is highly doubtful that Satan actually wants to help mankind.  We are simply a means to an end, useful idiots in a megalomaniacal plan that will destroy all those who participate in it.

Regardless of the true intentions of this being, one thing is absolutely clear from Scripture and from history.  He cannot save humanity; or better, he is unable to save humanity.  He is impotent, and powerless to stop the coming judgment day for himself or humanity.  Thus, his plan is itself a dream world that can never truly be because it refuses to submit to reality, and the God who created it.  Perhaps, this is why we see so many revolting against reality and seeking to make their own imaginations real and consequence-free.

Scripture warns us continually against trusting evil, fallen spirits and their propaganda.  In the Old Testament, people were warned against seeking the wisdom, or the leading, of these spirits instead of God Himself.  Leviticus 19:31 says, “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God.”  I could quote many others.  It is generally presented as a loyalty issue in the Old Testament, but it does include a warning against deception.  Deuteronomy 11:16 says, “Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them…”

Ultimately, the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that Satan and his spiritual cohorts are deceivers.  In John 8:44, Jesus says, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Evolutionists and modernists love to present religions as the attempt of ancient man to explain the cosmos so that he wouldn’t be afraid of the dark, the unknown.  This itself is a propaganda.  Religions all have a spiritual origin.  The false religions of the world and the twisting of true religion are all propaganda from evil spirits who are intent on separating mankind from its Creator.  The doctrines and teachings of demons are more prevalent today than ever before.  They have even infiltrated much of the Church, just as they had infiltrated the religion of Israel in the days of Jesus.  Christians today must wake up to the spiritual deception that comes through secular and religious sources.

The Beast of Revelation is not Satan, but a representative of Satan (see 13:1-4) that comes on the scene with a global kingdom in the last days.  The picture of the beast rising up from the waters is not what he actually looks like.  Rather, it is a symbolic picture of his character, and the attempts at such a global kingdom by Satan.  The origin and identity of this Beast is scattered throughout Revelation.  However, it is in Revelation 17:8 where we are told, “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit, and go into destruction.  And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.”  This picture of beings coming out of the bottomless pit happens several times in Scripture.  In Revelation 20, Satan himself is captured, chained, and locked up in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years and then is released at the end of the millennial reign of Christ.  This makes it pretty clear that the bottomless pit is some kind of prison, or holding place, for spirit beings that God determines must be removed from His creation temporarily.

This is all tied to Revelation 9 and the sounding of the fifth trumpet.  An angel with a key to the bottomless pit comes down and releases a locust hoard whose king or ruler is called The Destroyer (Abaddon in Hebrew, Apollyon in Greek).  This is a key point in the end times.  These are not actual locusts.  However, the symbol of locusts describes the kind of voracious beings they are.  They are destroyers by nature and leave everything wasted in their wake.  Also, they are clearly spiritual beings who have been locked up in the bottomless pit for a long time (many connect these to the time before the flood).  The king and leader of these spiritual locusts is The Destroyer, which is another name for The Beast.  The beast is also a spiritual being that apparently tried to rule the earth in the past, and was judged, imprisoned, and will be released at the end of the age.  This evil, spiritual being will come out of this prison with a pent-up rage.  Yes, the world is going to embrace a global leader who is a psychotic prisoner of the spirit realm.

His plan requires: global political control of the nations (13:7), global religious control through worship (13:8,12), and global economic control through a mark of the beast (13:17).  It will be touted as guaranteed security and peace for the world, but will lead to anything but.  It will be tyranny over the masses of humanity.  It would be a boot in the face of humanity forever, if God allowed it to continue.  Those who reject this pledge of allegiance that is called the mark of the beast will be killed, and the world will buy the idea that it is for the sake of peace (they will be pictured as terrorists that are thwarting peace). 

The plan of Satan and his Beast will end up leading humanity down a path that is away from God’s.  God made mankind to be imagers of Him.  However, Satan plans to deconstruct the mark of God or image of God that is upon us.  The term “mark of the beast” can refer to a mark, but it can also refer to the fact that the taking of this thing marks us as something less than human.  Of course, it will be marketed as a means of becoming something greater than human, breaking free from our human shackles, but this itself is a lie, which I will come back to in a bit.

We see a dehumanizing plan throughout the world today in a variety of ways.  Our schools are wanting to teach our children that they are not bound by biological gender.  Their sexual preference need not be limited, but can be fluid.  We need not be accountable to our decisions because our technology allows us to have remake reality.  We can have abortions or sterilize ourselves in order to embrace sexual immorality.  In the end, we are being propagandized that reality itself is the enemy.  Our biology is the enemy.  We are being led down a path of hating the weakness and frailty of our humanity.  Instead of waiting for the Creator to make us immortal, we will make ourselves gods, which is the original lie that Satan told Eve.  “You will be like God.” 

Why is Satan so bent on teaching us to destroy our humanity and to make ourselves over in an image of our own making?  Is it just pure hatred against God and His Creation?  Or, is something else going on?  Hebrews 2:16 reminds us that God does not give help to angels, but does give help to the offspring of Abraham.  Of course, we are told elsewhere that all who put their faith in Jesus become his, and, by definition, also become the offspring of Abraham.  Redemption is not available for any beings, but humans.  Think about that for a moment.  Why would I make myself something other than human?  That would disqualify me from being redeemable.  It is a mark of a beast because, in taking it, we become something less than human.  Thus, Revelation 14:9 and the following verses warn.  Anyone who takes the mark will be doomed to the Lake of Fire, the second death, no option for redemption.  Yes, the plan of Satan is to dehumanize humanity and thus damn us forever.

The Lamb’s plan

The plan of Christ requires us to be patient, and to embrace our weakness.  We are to embrace our humanity as God created us instead of fighting against it.  We are to live in loyalty to Jesus and die with faith in him and his plan.  A plan in which Jesus will resurrect all who believe upon him to inherit immortality, and a place with him in a New Heavens and a New Earth.

Our weaknesses are not our problem.  Our problem is that we are deceived into thinking that they are the things that hold us back from greatness.  Our weakness is actually the greatest strength that we have.  It is our weakness that allows us to be forgiven, redeemed, and resurrected. 

Contrary to the motives of Satan and The Beast, Jesus has proven his intentions and ability.  At the cross, Jesus shows the depths that he is willing to go to in order to save us, and he does just that.  His resurrection proves to all time that he is the Lord of Life and is able to conquer death.  Even if Satan intended to try and give to humanity what God is offering, he cannot deliver.  Everything he would try would be a cheap imitation that leads to destruction in the end.  Only Jesus is both worthy and able to raise humanity up out of its weak state and put us into a state of strength that is even greater than that of the angels. 

What kind of heart do I have?  One that wants to follow a crushing beast so that I can feel strong and powerful for a brief amount of time?  Or, one that will follow a sacrificed lamb who trusts the plan of the Father, which feels weak and powerless to our flesh?  You see our hearts and the choices we make are demonstrating to God whether he should give us true strength or not.  Only those who can humble themselves and lean upon Him and His strength can receive the strength that He has offered us.

The Beast’s plan gets mankind to trade its freedom for security, but Jesus offers us true freedom, the freedom of the Sons of God.  True freedom cannot be found in fighting creation and its Creator, fighting our nature and nature’s God.  This only leads to self-tyranny, and ultimately to the tyranny of Satan as a useful idiot in his kingdom.  2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!”  This is a true freedom where I am no longer a prisoner to sin and my own fallen flesh.  It is a true freedom where I am no longer manipulable and easily duped through the baser desires of my flesh.  It is a freedom in which I break free from my human condition by trusting in the God who loves us with a steadfast love, and mercies that are new every morning!

The plan of the Lamb does not reject and despise our humanity, but instead it capitalizes on the very reality of our humanity, even embracing it and joining us in our humanity.  If we embrace our weakness and learn to lean upon God’s loving strength that He has promised to use on our behalf then we will rise triumphant in the end.

In the years ahead, depending on how much longer God allows this to go on, we will face a growing case that is being made for us to use technology to free ourselves from these human shackles.  It is a deception and a lie.  Even with our knowledge of DNA, we cannot genetically manipulate ourselves into godhood.  We cannot seize the reins of our evolution and lead ourselves to a place that we’ve never been and by a being who is anything but God.  No.  His plan will make us beasts, irredeemable, and destroyed in the end.  Trust the plan of God.  This may not sound scientific, but it is actually created by the One who created all that we seek to understand through science.  Think about that.

End-Times Battle audio

Views of the End Times: Pretribulationism

Various Passages.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on October 6, 2019.

Over the last 2 weeks, we have talked about different views regarding when the Rapture of the Church will take place.  Posttribulationism says that the Church is raptured at the end of the Tribulation during the Second Coming of Jesus.  Midtribulationism says that the Rapture of the Church is an event that is separate from the Second Coming of Jesus.  In the middle of the seven-year period called the Tribulation, Christ will resurrect believers who are dead, rapture the living believers, and take them to heaven to await the Second Coming.

Our view today is the only, main view left.  Thus, we will not have a new filtering question today, but will recognize that this view is the only one that answers, “Yes,” to our last question.

Is there a rapture of the Church before the Tribulation?

Pretribulationism, or the Pretribulation Rapture view, believes that the Rapture of the Church will happen before the Tribulation begins.  Some see this as the event that starts the Tribulation and others give a gap between the Rapture and the Tribulation.  We will not get that precise as we look at this view.

Another thing to point out, before we look at this view, is that the previous challenges to the Posttribulation and Midtribulation views have strengthened the position of this view.

Here is the view of Pretribulation Premillennialism regarding the end times.  As we have stated, Christ will rapture his Church before the Tribulation begins.  Some people will come to faith in Christ after the Rapture and during the Tribulation.  These will face martyrdom and must refuse the mark of the beast to the end in order to be saved (this assumes a true, living faith in Jesus).  These are called Tribulation Saints.  In heaven, resurrected believers will be rewarded for their service, and a marriage supper of the Lamb will occur.  Then the glorified Church will return with Christ and his angels in order to remove the usurping powers, and to take control of the kingdoms of the earth.  Those who were faithful in the Tribulation will be allowed to enter Christ’s kingdom.  The Tribulation Saints who were killed will be resurrected at the Second Coming of Christ.  The rest of the view is basic Premillennialism and has been covered in our previous sermons.  Now, let’s look at the arguments used to support this view and any problems with it.

Argument 1.  The removal of the Restrainer in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-7 is in reference to the Holy Spirit working through believers, and He cannot be taken away from believers.  Thus, the Rapture must occur at the same time the Restrainer is removed.  If we look at the passage in question, it is clear that the Apostle Paul is trying to calm down the Thessalonian believers who had been led by some teachers to believe that the Day of Christ had already started.

To be clear, the Day of Christ is synonymous with the Day of the Lord mentioned by practically every prophet of the Old Testament.  The Day of the Lord referred to a time when the Lord would rise up in terrible power to judge the nations of the earth.  It would be a time full of judgments and is basically the Tribulation period that we have been mentioning.  They are afraid that the Tribulation has already begun. 

Yet, Paul is telling them that they are not in the foretold Tribulation, or judgment of the nations, because certain things haven’t happened yet.  The two things that must happen before the Tribulation can begin are: the falling away and the revealing of the man of sin.  It seems clear in the argument that these two things had not happened yet, and so the believers could stop worrying that they were in the Day of Judgment. 

For our purposes, we need to deal with two aspects of the Pretribulation argument.  First, in verse 5, believers are reminded that Paul had taught them these things when he was with them.  How I wish Paul had filled us in on all that he had taught them because he mentions several things without further explanation that would be extremely helpful to our understanding.  He emphasizes that something or someone is restraining the work of lawlessness on the earth.  If it was not restrained then the man of sin, or the Antichrist, would have come forward long ago.  Verse 6 refers to a thing that restrains, but verse 7 changes the grammar and refers to a being who restrains.  The Holy Spirit is uniquely qualified to fit both of these expressions.  He has the power to do so, the word “Spirit” is neuter in Greek and thus can take a neuter participle “the (neuter thing) that is restraining,” and He is a being and thus can be referenced with the personal form “the (being) that is restraining.  I know that this is a language mechanics issue that can easily cause our eyes to gloss over, but it is important.  The main point is that the most likely candidate for being a thing and yet a being who restrains the Antichrist from being revealed is the Holy Spirit.

Now that we have identified the Restrainer, the argument moves to verse 7 where we are told that the Restrainer is taken out of the way.  The Holy Spirit must be removed, and yet cannot be taken from believers.  Ergo, both will be taken together (the Rapture).  There is one problem with this logic.  It doesn’t actually say that the Holy Spirit is “taken” out of the way, or that He is removed from the earth as some say.  It literally says that He will restrain until “He becomes out of the middle of the way.”  Of course, this is not good English and requires some translation polish.  The Holy Spirit is not “taken.”  Rather, He comes to be out of the middle of the way.  He isn’t taken from the earth.  Rather, He is not standing in the middle of the way of Satan’s final plan.  This does beg the question.  If Christians are left on the earth full of the Holy Spirit, wouldn’t they still be a restraint to this guy coming forward?  The response would be that God gives him authority to have power over Christians for a short season.

The second issue with this passage has to do with verse three.  Some in the Pretribulation view have taken the word “falling away” and challenged its meaning.  The Greek word is apostasia.  All other uses of this word in the Bible refer to a defection from faith in God.  However, its main meaning is “to move away from an established place.”  Some have tried to make this about Christians moving away from the earth (the place that we have been established).  This argument has a technical genius to it that smacks of creativity more than it smacks of truth.  Either Paul used this expression as a kind of tongue-in-cheek statement, or he is simply saying that there will be a falling away from the true faith of God in the end times.  Both interpretations would fit the passage well.  However, the most natural understanding of the phrase is a defection from the faith.

So, where does this leave us?  I still think the Pretribulation view gives the best understanding of this passage, but it is not without its questions.  Are we missing something in Paul’s shorthand account that would could critically change how we view the passage?  It seems likely, but it is just as possible that that information would tilt this passage towards the Pretribulation view.  Paul didn’t want them freaking out that they were in the day of judgment.  The Holy Spirit being “out of the way” doesn’t require the Rapture, but it doesn’t preclude it either.  In this age, the work of the Holy Spirit is hand and glove with true believers, and it is possible that the Rapture would be an event in which the restraint of this world’s wickedness would be removed.  The main problem is that Paul didn’t give us all the answers that he could have due to the fact that he had already told the Thessalonians these things.

Argument 2.  The Philadelphian Church in Revelation 3:10 symbolically represents the faithful Church in the end times.  Christ promises to keep them out of the hour of trial that will come upon the whole earth.

Here, Jesus gives the Philadelphians of Asia Minor (Turkey today) the promise that they will be kept out of the hour of trial that will come upon the whole world.  He doesn’t explain how they will be kept out of it.  Will it happen during their time, but not touch them?  Or, will Christ remove them before the hour of trial begins?  Last week we mentioned two critical points about this passage.  One, the word “from” is better translated as “out of the trial.”  Second, there is a definite article with trial “the trial.”  This means that this is a very specific trial that they know is coming.  A particular trial that would come upon all the world is something that believers have known about throughout the Old and New Testament periods.  Some people try to limit this trial to the 2^nd century AD by saying it refers to the whole Roman world, but this is an artificial limiting.  The word refers to the inhabited areas of the earth, which went far beyond the Roman boundaries.  So, is it more likely that Jesus is referencing the Great Tribulation?  It is very possible since we are at a loss to find a time of trial that came upon the whole inhabited earth.

It is common among this view to see the Seven Churches of Revelation chapters two and three as being typical or symbolic of 7 Stages of the Church Age.  We don’t have time to look into the arguments of this view.  It has a certain charm because the descriptions do follow a similar path as the history of the Church.  Also, there are a few clues in the text that hint at something more going on here than just a message to seven first century churches.  The word “mystery” is used of these churches, and they represent the “things that are,” which can be extended to mean the whole Church Age. 

This view would see the sixth Philadelphian Church as the sixth phase of Christianity.  There would be a rise of faithfulness to the truth of Christ.  However, at some point the Laodicean type Church would take the ascendency within Christianity.  The last phase involves both Philadelphian believers holding on to the truth and a large group of Laodicean "believers" who are useless to Christ.  This can also give rise to the idea that only strong Christians will be raptured and the carnal Christians will be left behind.  Regardless, contextually it is not completely clear that the Seven Churches are seven phases of the history of the Church.  However, it is possible.  Also, the Great Tribulation is the best fit for interpreting “the hour of trial,” mentioned here.

Argument 3.  Christians are promised to be delivered from the wrath to come and thus must be removed before the Tribulation.  This is the same argument that we saw last week with the Midtribulation view.  It is a powerful argument that can be seen in 1 Thessalonians.  1 Thessalonians 1:10 mentions that Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come, and 1 Thessalonians 5:9 says that God did not appoint believers to wrath, but to obtain salvation.

The main objection to this argument is that these are referring to the wrath of the Lake of Fire, not the wrath of God during the Tribulation.  This is possible and the passages can be read either way.  Yet, most references to the wrath of God refer to events here on earth, and the wrath of the Tribulation is what believers would have directly in front of them more than the Lake of Fire.  Sure, we can die any day and thus the Lake of Fire is closer to us than the Tribulation.  However, in regards to God delivering the Church from the Wrath that He is going to pour out, the Tribulation is the more natural reference than the future judgment at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20).  So, I rate this as a fairly strong argument.

Argument 4.  The promise of Jesus in John 14 parallels the Bride and Bridegroom imagery.  In John 14:1-4, we have Jesus telling his disciples that he is going away to his Father in order to prepare a place for them.  He then says that, if he goes away to prepare a place for them, he will doubtless come again to receive them to himself (literally to receive alongside oneself).  It pictures him coming to be reunited with them.  From that point, his disciples will no longer be separated from him.  Where he is, they will be.  The natural emphasis of this passage is that Jesus prepares a place in heaven, then comes back for his disciples, and then takes them to the place he prepared.

This is most likely an allusion to the Hebrew wedding practices of the day.  A bride would be betrothed to a husband.  He would then go and make a place for them within his father’s estate.  When he is finished, he would come to pick up his bride and take her to the place that he has prepared.  There would be a marriage supper, or feast, to celebrate the couple’s union. 

This gives better light to Revelation 19.  In that chapter, we are told that the wife of the Lamb has made herself ready, and then a blessing is declared.  “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!”  The next scene is Christ coming with his saints and angels to destroy the beast, false prophet, and the kings of the earth and their armies.  Revelation doesn’t explicitly state that the marriage supper of the lamb happens in heaven before the Second Coming, but in view of John 14, this seems to be the most likely explanation.  John is writing to people who would totally understand the things being mentioned.  This is another strong argument to me.

Argument 5.  It makes the most sense of the passages that portray the coming of Christ as imminent.  I won’t go through all the verses.  However, many verses speak of Christ’s coming as being near, or at hand.  Only the Pretribulation view satisfies the idea that Christ could come at any moment.  All the other views have a number of years in which obvious prophesied events are happening. 

Typically, people who reject this argument do so by stating that the disciples and Jesus were simply wrong.  They thought it was near, but it was really quite far away.  Of course, then we would have a problem with the trustworthiness of the teachings of Jesus.  He is either the Word of God, and is therefore not wrong, or he is not trustworthy even in matters of salvation.  You can’t have it both ways.  I choose to trust Jesus, and to believe that the passages are intended to keep every generation on their toes.  Yes, God knew that the coming of Christ would be at least 1,900 years away, but that generation would need to know that he could come at any moment.  Such a promise, or warning, helps believers of every age to live a life that is ready for Christ at all times.  So, I find this to be a strong argument as well.

Argument 6.  The righteous being rescued before judgment is a common theme in Scripture.  However, the only safe place during the Tribulation will be in heaven itself.

This is a good argument because there are so many examples.  Enoch is removed before the flood.  Even Noah and his family enter into the safe place of God and are lifted up above the destruction on the ground below.  Lot is removed from Sodom and Gomorrah, and then destruction falls.  The children of Israel are taken through the Red Sea, and then destruction falls upon Pharaoh and his army.  The spies are helped out of Jericho and then the judgment falls on the city…and the list goes on.  The problem with such parallels is that they can only make the case that the Rapture of the Church before the Tribulation is in keeping with how God operates.  It can only support the other arguments; it can’t be a main argument itself.  There are too many other places where God protects believers through judgment and tribulation, e.g. the prophet Jeremiah.  That too is in keeping with how God operates.

As we bring this view to a close, I realize that I have only scratched the surface on all of these views.  Yet, I think what we have done over these weeks serves the issues well.  God has told us that his judgment is coming upon all the nations of the world.  It is our job to warn people to flee the wrath that is coming by getting into God’s ark, the Lord Jesus.  It is also our job to be humble regarding the prophecies that we have received regarding the end times.

We must daily encourage ourselves and one another to keep our eyes upon Jesus in the way that we live from day to day.  This is not the time to compromise and pursue sin, or at least redefine sinful things as moral.  This is the time to hold the line and love people enough to warn them. 

Whether I am dead or alive at Christ’s coming for his Church, I want to be among those who are lifted up to Christ in glorified, immortal bodies.  I want to be among those who rise up to inherit the kingdoms of the earth with Christ.  May the Lord help us to be faithful to the end!

Pretribulationism audio