Saturday, September 29, 2012

Loose Ends

I knew I’d be opening a can of worms even before I popped the top. There are only a handful of hot button issues within the church nowadays, and besides the timing of the catching away, we have the debate over eternal security, and of course the debate as to whether or not the gifts and baptism of the Holy Spirit are still among us.

To those of you who exhibited such a level of Christian character that I could not post your comments for fear that someone reading them might take offense at your choice of words, I forgive you, and God bless you. What you do not seem to grasp is that when I first began studying the topic of the catching away, or the rapture, I did so desiring wholeheartedly to discover that the Bible supported and backed up a pre-tribulation catching away.

I’m not one of those guys who wants to suffer for suffering’s sake, but only insofar as it brings glory to God. I am not looking forward to, or desirous of seeing those times, and as I said in yesterday’s post, I pray every day that I be counted worthy to escape.

As far as judging my pre-tribulation believing brothers, you might be surprised to know that I pray for them more than I pray for myself, that their faith would endure and not fail during the coming days. I’m not judging anyone, and if I’ve come off as ‘judgy’ it was unintended. I will, however, stand on the word of God, and believe the words of Jesus as He spoke them without attempting to reinterpret them or filter them through the prism of human understanding.

I know all the scriptures used to support a pre-tribulation rapture, I’ve studied them, collated them, meditated upon them, and everyone is peripheral to the primary topic. Only when one has predetermined what they will perceive in a particular scripture passage, whether Amos 5, Daniel 7, Daniel 9, or 2 Thessalonians 2, is the notion of a pre-tribulation rapture supported.

What I mean by this, is that if I go into the word of God intent on finding Scripture passages to support my position on any given topic, if I interpret and reinterpret a certain verse long enough, it will eventually mean what I want it to mean.

‘You who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.’

‘For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

See, there! Pre-tribulation supported by Scripture.

Where?

These along with the other verses used to support this stance are peripheral scriptures, given to interpretation, tangentially relational to the primary topic.

Jesus said, ‘then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven,’ meaning ‘after’ which is a lot more conclusive than the indirect scriptures used to defend this position.

We’ve already established we will not suffer the wrath of God, but being spared persecution would make God unjust, and His word a lie, since it was in His word we are told ‘all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.’

I’m sorry; I don’t have a seminary degree, or the penchant to twist scripture into a pretzel just to make it support my denominational edicts. I read the Book, I read the words of Jesus, and I believe them. To me black is black. It is not white which has, through time and the process of oxidation turned a darker shade of white yet is not black as we understand black to be.

The Book is simple; we complicate it.

As far as Christ saying to His bride ‘hey let’s get married – I’ll beat the daylights out of you then we’ll go out to dinner!' It’s when we attempt to superimpose our thoughts upon God’s thoughts and filter His heart and intent through the prism of human understanding that we get such gems.

It is in hardship, affliction and persecution that the power and presence of God in us and through us is all the more evident. When God allows us to suffer persecution, He’s not beating the daylights out of us, He is facilitating the perfect environment in which we, His bride, will walk in the authority and power rightly ours.

When we are weak He is strong, for His power is perfected in weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, than the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.’”

What we perceive as God beating the daylights out of us is in fact God preparing His bride for her wedding day.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.

6 comments:

meema said...

Michael,

This sort of thing grieves me so. Truly, there are none so blind as those who will not see. I also pray for those who are determined to focus their energies on the wrong thing, that they will open their eyes before they are no longer allowed to see.

Recently I have bumped up against this new doctrine (new to me anyway) that claims the foolish virgins wash their robes in tribulation. This stuns me. How can anyone ignore the significance of Christ Crucified and our robes being washed in the blood of the lamb, in order to justify a silly doctrine? This, to me, is not just idolatrous, it’s blasphemous, and therefore extremely dangerous. I not only pray for those who are blind, but, at this late hour, I fear for them as well.

Chasing Truth - http://bagsallpacked.blogspot.com

For Christ,
Meema

ps, I understand if you feel this should not be posted. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Stand strong brother Mike! Forgive us your readers our foolishness as we pray the Lord will as well. What a gem you are; may God keep you strong, and may he keep your sense of humor and gentle nature intact, as He has so far.

Kevin said...

I've heard many say that if the pre-rapture does not happen, they will still be ready. But the problem is that if someone is expecting to be taken out of the world to not endure tribulation, they will not be ready because they lived with the mindset that they wouldn't suffer, so then they would not prepare as though they would suffer. If someone believes they will go through tribulation, they will prepare accordingly, knowing what they may face. This doctrine is very destructive because if you look at it from the standpoint of Satan, he knows that the end is not far off, so he convinces the majority of Christendom that they will not suffer what the Bible says will come, so there is no need to prepare, thereby potentially stealing their salvation by causing them to fall away, killing them through persecution, and destroying them because they are weak.

What about the brethren in the world that are suffering now for their faith? If we are supposed to be caught up before tribulation comes, why are they suffering, even to death, for being Christ's?

The Lord bless you Michael and strengthen you, as well as my brethren and that eyes are opened among the church. Brethren this is nothing to take lightly. If we truly love the truth with our whole hearts, then we ought to vehemently pray to God to expose and root out any deception in us and replace it with truth, and give us hearts to receive truth.

In Christ,
Kevin

Anonymous said...

Our jobs during the Great Tribulation will be to pray earnestly for the Yeshua (salvation) of the Jews. Who wouldn't want to be part of that miracle? As for your quote of Matt.24:29-31, heaven is a relative term. Most Rapture-embracers think it's related to a prior rapture. Wrong. It's related to an ingathering found in Duet 30:4 that proves the earth is the first heaven. (Remember Paul's 3rd heaven experience?) We're going through the 7 years. PTL!

Anonymous said...

God bless you brother Michael! Be encouraged, there are readers out here with one mind and one Spirit.

in Christ,

brother Sam

Anonymous said...

PTL Mike,
when i began to seek the Lord more earnestly in '95, through reading the whole word of God and praying earnestly, the Holy Spirit began to show me that i was NOT going to be "whisked away" before anything "bad" happened and that the elect Would be here until "The Last Trump!" Thank you Mike for your faithfulness to preach the WHOLE word of God!!
Bless you,
Nancy