“Disagreement is everywhere throughout Protestantism. It is a spirit from hell that hides behind all our walls. We thrive on it. We honor it as a freedom. Confusion has become our friend because we are intoxicated with the results. We don’t really want a voice of clarity and unity. It jeopardizes our love affair with “differences”; sectarian wall building disagreements and all the money and power that goes with it.” LC

Yes I know we have a lot to cover. You may be wondering why I don’t move faster and get into the whole controversy of partial, full, secret, visible, pretrib., midtrib., posttrib., notrib. and what have you trib. debacle. Well honestly, I will not play along with the devil’s game on this, because that’s what it is; making a fool out of the church, a fool out of you and anyone who is unfortunately stepping up to the plate for the wrong team. Oh yes, hell loves the confusion that we, I said “WE”, have created on this subject; setting us up for a 21st century type replay of the 1st century rejection of Christ. Yes you heard me right! What do we expect to happen when Christians are all over the map, and off the map, on just exactly how our Lord will return and what will be involved in it? If this confusion is acceptable then why do we have a bible? If it is ok to believe whatever we want then what are the scriptures for?? We are becoming utter dupes, playing right into the “ignorance game” of “well whatever happens I’ll be alright because I’m a Christian.” Ah yes, just as the Pharisees were alright because they had “Abraham as their father” right? (Matt.3:9 ). Ok, I know the issues mentioned above are important and we’ll be considering them, but right now we just need to get the train back on the right track and going the right way.
(All the scriptures used will be taken out of the NKJV.)

While some may wonder why I begin so many articles with the word “restoring”, I find the opposite impossible. As was stated in the previous blog on this subject we are first setting a backdrop for what we will be looking at. Yes the backdrop may be a little larger than some may want but it is necessary. In the previous article I said,

“I am having to deal with confusion and a church system that feels right at home with it. Dear reader, did you hear what I just said? We have no problem with all the confusion on this subject. As if being all over the map on the return of Christ for the church, or any other biblical subject, is something to be admired! I ask myself, why am I having to write about such an obvious evasion of truth and what it means to believe in truth?? We are dancing ourselves into the fire! Biblical truth isn’t supposed to leave you confused and contradicting. It’s supposed to leave you understanding and convinced, enlightened and in agreement. We the church (primarily Protestantism) have sanctified confusion. We have made it orthodox. We have fallen in love it! Why? Because it makes sense? No! But because it justifies our walls and all the divisive thinking that keeps them up. And that’s the problem right there isn’t it? As was mentioned above, our current Christian church systems thrive on disagreement. Please think about that statement if you have too but don’t pass it off too quickly. Disagreement is everywhere throughout Protestantism. It is a spirit from hell that hides behind all our walls. We thrive on it. We honor it as a freedom. Confusion has become our friend because we are intoxicated with the results. We don’t really want a voice of clarity and unity. It jeopardizes our love affair with “differences”; sectarian wall building disagreements and all the money and power that goes with it.”

So here we are, in the midst of a church system that thrives on disagreement, trying to understand a subject that requires the opposite; because truth requires the opposite. Can we understand the contradiction here or do we see this debacle as something less? This is the story behind the story, the truth behind the truth. It’s the door that has not been opened and until it is our understanding of the return of Christ will go on in confusion. You can’t pull water out of an empty well but we keep dropping the bucket down anyway. BRAVO for the idiots the devil has made us to be!! Rivers don’t flow up, diets don’t work on fat food and truth avoids self-centered, arrogant buffoons who are in love with hearing themselves talk. Biblical truth comes to the humble who believe it to be more important than themselves! Let’s move on.

More Backdrop: Please think about this.

How was it possible for a nation committed to the worship of the one and only true God to murder His Son, their Messiah? Israel had been looking for the coming Prophet-Savior for about 4000 years. It was the hope of Jewish maidens that a virgin will bear a child, “Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel” (Isa.7:14). Israel’s prophets prophesied of His coming, prayed for the day, preached of it. It was a central theme of Israel and their faith, and they waited expectantly for His arrival (Lk.3:15). Yet when He finally came they not only rejected Him but committed Him to the worst kind of death possible- the crucifixion!! How was such a thing possible? Understanding this catastrophe is absolutely central to understanding where we are today throughout the Christian church and the jeopardy we face of repeating the same thing- obviously no crucifixion, just rejection. It’s absurd that we so easily brush off this atrocity of history without understanding the parallels to where we are today. Satan carefully laid the track for this rejection and Israel followed every foot of it.

We like to leave the history of first century Israel in the first century not comprehending its implications on our history that is unfolding today. What makes the church think it is any different from first century Israel? They were extremely religious, trusting in their heritage as God’s chosen people and yet it was they who sent Jesus, their own messiah, to the cross.

The excuse factory is in high gear from most pulpits today and many, I repeat many, are falling for the “when we all get to heaven” lyrics of sleepy time Christianity. This is very, very serious and when the implications of our excuses hit the proverbial fan there will be millions left in shock and “they shall not escape” (1Thes.5:3). Please hear me dear reader. I am not pitching for money or some big book sale. Let such things be damned! The reality of first century Israel is upon us once again today. We self-righteously read the story of their rejection of the Messiah and callously excuse ourselves from any thought of doing the same. Well dear reader this is about far more than first century history. It is about repeating itself with us. Why, I say why, do we think all this confusion is in place today regarding His return? This is planned! I repeat- verily, verily I say unto you, it is not an accident but has been carefully and methodically orchestrated in the halls of darkness. Yes the track is being laid again and this time around IT’S THE CHURCH that is on board!! Hello Gang the train is going the wrong way! Pinoccio’s Pleasure Island is in sight!

The ignorance on this issue is profound as apathy and indifference flood over so much of the church. Please understand! There is no way Satan is going to keep his hands off the wheel on this matter. It is far, far to important. We are talking about the wrap up of the ages, the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21) and Satan’s final judgment. Millions and more probably billions of souls will be coming to Christ and being prepped for His return in the greatest revival the earth has ever witnessed. Parallel with it will be incredible deceptions to gut the process. This is not an “armchair era” we have entered into. This is a boots on the ground and watch your backside time. Wake up, Wake up, Wake up church!!

There was a glut of prophecy that came to fruition around the first coming of Christ (around 300 prophecies), the implications of which were to transform the world. So Satan stacked the deck to nullify it through murderous attempts on our Lord’s life, deceptions, His deep loneliness- rejection and exclusion, and then the agony of the crucifixion and the incomprehensible shock of experiencing “my God my God why have you forsaken me.” But our Lord remained faithful to “Thy will be done.” So likewise there is a glut of prophecy surrounding our Lord’s second return, again around 300 prophecies. These are prophetic events that will finish up God’s plan on earth, send the devil and his angels plus all who have rejected Christ to hell, and usher in the millennium and the new heavens and earth. There is absolutely, absolutely no way that Satan will keep his hands off this time. He will seek to deceive and damn as many people as possible as things unfold!! Satan is not unaware of these prophecies. You heard me right, Satan is not unaware of these prophecies and their implication, any more than he was unaware of what was at stake during Christ’s first coming. You and I are on his chess board and only the fools will remain there. We will expose his moves but only you have the have the power to avoid “check mate.”

“Who is wise, let him understand these things. Who is prudent let
him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, the righteous
walk in them, but wrongdoers will stumble in them.” Hos.14:9

It was our Lord who asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” It was their response that was not only a bit shocking but highlights what we are talking about.

“And they said, ‘some say John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah,
And others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Matt.16:13-16

Jesus’ own brothers didn’t believe in Him. John tells us,

“For even His brothers did not believe in Him.” Jn.7:5

Let’s expand this a bit more. The incredible confusion and ignorance that surrounded the time of our Lord’s first appearance needs to be taken note of. We are so prone to excuse ourselves from facing the same scenario. It seems no one even considers the possibility. WHY, as we quibble and squabble about pretrib, midtrib, posttrib, no-trib scenarios, we completely fail to pay attention to a far more important and basic piece of the puzzle- WILL WE RECOGNIZE HIM WHEN HE RETURNS? WILL WE UNDERSTAND THE DAY OF HIS APPEARING?! AND DO WE KNOW WHY I AM ASKING THIS QUESTION?? If we don’t have that down what good is it to understand the rest?? I repeat, if we don’t have that down what good is it to understand the rest? We will have failed at the most basic level and it could cost us eternally! Peter told the Lord,

“‘Even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you!’ And so
said all the disciples.” Matt.26:35

And yet we know that when Christ’s arrest and death was imminent.

“They all forsook Him and fled” Mk.14:50.

Peter went so far as to say, “I do not know the man.” Matt.26:72

All the dynamics of our Lord’s first coming changed and they weren’t ready for it. They didn’t have it figured out that way and the events not only took them by surprise but threw them into confusion; a confusion that caused them to forsake Jesus. This shift in dynamics is on the horizon again as will be explained.

Please, Please try to understand what I am saying. I am not just trying to write something interesting here. There are serious deceptions woven all through so much of the current rhetoric on this subject completely ignoring what I am talking about and what the scriptures alert us too. Stay with me. I will fill in the rest of the puzzle pieces as we go on. Back to where we left off. It was Isaiah who said,

“He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Isa.53:3

The gospel of John also underscores this rejection highlighting the confusion of the time,

“But some said, ‘Will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the
scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from
the town of Bethlehem, where David was?’ So there was a division
among the people because of Him. Now some of them wanted to
take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.” Jn.7:40-44

One of the most famous scriptures on this is from Jn.1 which says,

“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him,
and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own
did not receive Him.” Jn.1:10-11

~!!The rooster is soon to crow again, but this time it will be
over the church!!~

It is a fact of history that the very nation to whom Jesus was promised and to whom He came- crucified Him. How is it possible that this same incredible rejection can happen again, but this time through the church? How quickly we dismiss the implications of history. “If it’s one thing we learn from history it’s that we learn nothing from history” it has been said. History often repeats itself because we so easily forget.

~While we point fingers at the idiots of society, we become idiots ourselves!~

The church is certainly no exception to this. Consider: Why did Jesus spend so much time emphasizing the need for readiness in regard to His return if it isn’t needed, and why isn’t the church asking that question?? It is typically passed over far to lightly. Jesus’s words about His second return are strewn with warnings to His people. Why aren’t these words highlighted? Here’s a few:

“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with
carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on
you unexpectedly.” Lk.21:34

“Watch therefore and pray always that you may be counted
worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and stand
before the Son of man.” Lk.21:36

“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord
is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known
what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not
allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready,
for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Matt.24:42-44

“Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time
is…lest coming suddenly He find you sleeping. And what I say
To you, I say to all; watch!” Mk.13:33-37

Take a breather….. Ok lets move on.

All that said we finally come to the most serious question. Why was there such ignorance and confusion in the first century regarding Christ? What was it that caused them to be so unprepared for His arrival? Why did they not only reject their Messiah but crucify Him? And how does this relate to the church today? This was not just some strange freak of human nature. It was very calculated from the deepest reaches of darkness dating back centuries in Israel’s history. Such incomprehensible atrocities of history are typically very predictable when the full truth is known and accepted. We build up systems of self-righteous pat-me-on-the-back justifications and we no longer recognize the trouble and jeopardy we are in.

Shortly before Jesus was crucified the multitudes hailed His arrival into Jerusalem,

“A very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others
cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried
out saying, ‘hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes
in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’” Matt.21:8-9

They just assumed they had it all figured out right?? Oh yes, a lot like us today. In our smugness and our arrogance we become way too confident in our safety and “love for Jesus”, and that’s when the gavel comes down. “Beware that when you think you stand, you fall” the scripture says (1Cor.10:12). This is the very thing that insulates us from the truth and is leading us to the same debacle today!

I mentioned above that Israel’s (Judah’s) eventual rejection of their Messiah was rooted in things that began centuries earlier. Three scriptures here.

“In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of
the Lord came to Zechariah…saying, ‘the Lord has been very angry
with your fathers. Therefore say to them, thus says the Lord of
hosts: Return to Me, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will return to
you, says the Lord of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the
former prophets preached, saying, thus says the Lord of hosts: turn
now from your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they did not hear
nor heed me, says the Lord.’” Zech.1:1-4

“For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard
of hearing, and their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with
their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with
their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” Matt.13:14-15

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones
those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your
children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but
you were not willing! See your house is left to you desolate..”
Matt.23:37-38

We can’t let the implications of these scriptures pass under the radar because they certainly did not pass under the radar of heaven. Israel’s rebellion against God was what Isaiah referred to as “scarlet” or “double dyed” (Isa.1:18). It went on for centuries and was in place when Jesus came.

~“Your sin will find you out.” Nu.32:23~

Yes their religious system went on. They continued with their temple worship and sacrifices but it was so convoluted with sin and rebellion it was completely rejected by God and they refused to see it. Isaiah says,

“When you come to appear before me, who has required this from
from your hand, to trample my courts? Bring no more futile
sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons the
sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies…when you spread out your
hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many
prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.” Isa.1:12-15

This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Jesus was and is “the stone of stumbling.”

“And He shall be a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and rock
of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Isa.8:14

And so it was when Jesus came. After centuries of rejecting the Word of God through the prophets they now were faced with it in the form of their Messiah.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among them.”

How or why would they possibly accept it now that it came in human form? All their years of rebellion brought them to this point of no return.

It was this apostate mindset that blinded their eyes from recognizing their Messiah, so they crucified Him! Jesus’ statement to His generation,

“O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?
How long shall I bear with you?” Matt.17:17

This is why there was a John the Baptist offering them repentance one more time, but it seemingly made little difference! And this was why they believed that when the Messiah came He would eliminate foreign rule and return their kingdom to them. They just didn’t understand the depths of their sin!!

First A Lamb; Then A Judge

Take heed church! Now it’s your turn! Israel thought their Messiah would come with a sword. We expect Him to come with love and forgiveness whisking us away to heavenly bliss. Nothing could be further from the truth! The dynamics are about to change again. People’s assumptions are going to be tossed into the dustbin of history. This time Jesus is coming back as a Judge. We’ve basically had 2000 years of the Nice Guy, speaking in poor human terms, now we are going to experience Jesus as THE JUDGE!! “That no flesh will glory in His presence.” Church are you ready for that? Do we have any concept of that and why it is necessary?? Or do we assume any time of judgment will be for the lost and for hypocrites; which we definitely are not part of right? The time of excuses and self-righteous justifications is over. Pulpit platitudes will not get us out of this one. First Peter says,

“For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God;
and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do
not obey the gospel of God?” 1Pet.4:17

So what are we going to do with this once it sets in? Do we really understand what’s coming? What will our reaction be? Will we follow suit with Israel of old and excuse ourselves from any guilt? Will we stand against the ONE behind it- Jesus?! Oh yes you heard me right. We like Israel have been excusing ourselves from guilt for centuries. We left the Kingdom teaching of the New Testament and divided the Christian landscape up into Catholicism, Protestantism, Mormonism, Jehovah Witness, Christian Science and what have you- with hardly a ting of repentance. Will we answer for this? Do we expect to answer for this as the church? Oh yes, and very soon. But the big question is this: Will we recognize Jesus in it or stand against it?? Take heed church! Much, much more to say on this. Stay tuned.

Luther Canon
Sola Scriptura