Over the years hundreds of powerfully thought provoking books, films and docudramas have been written with the goal of bringing to life a rapidly approaching, extraordinarily horrific seven year period. That period is re-ferred to, in Scripture, as "THE GREAT TRIBULATION PERIOD." Sadly, while some of those books and movies have made every effort to align themselves with what the Bible actually reveals, other (mostly secular) writers and producers, despite clear warnings from the Lord, have, often, shown a complete lack of reverence for the sanctity of God’s Holy Word.
And, while books and movies about "Armageddon" and the end of the world are often exciting and, to some degree, enlightening, the truth is, many of those books and movies (even those written by Christians) have been based on "traditional," widely taught, theoretic interpretations of end-time prophecies, some, of which, we now, know cannot be properly supported by Scripture "alone." That being said, we should not be ashamed or embarrassed of our former inability to accurately interpret end-time prophecy, because, our inability to do so was, in itself, a fulfillment of prophecy. That’s right! Long ago, the very prophets, who foretold of these end-time events, were warned that the saints would not be able to properly interpret certain, "key," end-time prophecies until "the time of the end."
Well, I’m happy to announce: "The time of the end has come!" All those, formerly, mysterious pieces of the end-time puzzle have fallen neatly into place! Christians no longer have to curiously wander through an endless wilderness of "Speculation" and "Supposition," theorizing as to how all these end-time prophecies are going to be fulfilled. By allowing the Bible to interpret itself, Christians can, now, easily understand the end-times (including John’s Book of Revelation), and they can confidently support what they learn while doing so! A HOUSE OF CARDS
Currently, most of what is being taught about the end-times has been built like a house of cards, with each end-time prophecy representing a single card. Some of those cards are solid, having not been weakened by "speculation" or "supposition." Others, unfortunately, are hopelessly weak and never should have been used to build the house. When those cards are removed (and, we must remove them) our current end-time interpretation of prophecy quickly comes crashing down! There is, however, a bright and encouraging light at the end of the tunnel. Since we’ve, apparently, reached "the time of the end," if we can resist our natural, prideful inclination toward "supposition," we’ll find that God has de-signed His perfect Word to interpret itself. We don’t have to guess! All we have to do is be willing to humbly reexamine our current "views" and ho-nestly subject everything we—"believe we know to be true"—to the scrutiny of "pure scripture." If we’re willing to do that and, in doing so, disregard all commonly accepted "terminologies," "theories" and "teachings," which cannot be, clearly, proven to have "self-emerged" from the text (scripture), we will soon be able to see how miraculously God’s infallible Word has been divinely designed to "self-interpret!" Thus, we’ll finally know and be able to properly support (using only scripture) the answers to questions, which have continued to baffle the Church for centuries, questions like:
• Will the "Rapture" (the "catching-away" of the Church) take place before, during or at the end of the seven year tribulation period?
• Is it really true that the "Marriage Supper of the Lamb" will take place immediately after the Rapture?
• How horrific will it be for our lost and, still, unrepentant loved ones if they get "left-behind"?
• What will "the beast" in John’s Revelation vision actually represent?
• What will the "mark of the beast" be, and how will it be enforced? (The answer to that question may surprise you!)
• Should we be teaching that the "Door of Salvation" will still be open during the millennial period?
• What will the millennial period kingdom of Christ be like, and who will sit on thrones?
• Could it be said that, today, most end-time teaching is based, largely, on an "emotionally obscured" view of prophecy, rather than on a straightforward, candid interpretation of scripture?
As we’re about to see, the answers to these and many other end-time questions are scripturally provable. God certainly didn’t give us such a wealth of end-time prophecy so we would be confused by it! As was prophesied, this generation certainly seems to be the first generation, to which these amazing end-time scriptures are being revealed.
God is about to initiate His final call to repentance to this progressively rebellious and obstinate world, and He wants His saints (true believers in Christ) to understand what will happen when that earthshaking, seven year, "GREAT TRIBULATION PERIOD" begins. This should be extremely exciting news to every true believer in Christ! True Christians have nothing to fear. In fact being able to clearly and confidently understand, teach and prove what the Bible actually reveals about our "final days on earth," whether a novice student of scripture or a seasoned Bible teacher, is a major faith booster and will greatly enhance one’s ability to be a powerful witness for Christ! We should treat every day as though it were our last chance to share the Gospel, because we don’t know how much time we have left! So - let’s get to it. Because, as Jesus said; "The time is at hand!"