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I would like to comment on another segment of
Todd Strandberg's article, "God Hath Not Appointed Us to Wrath":
"In 1 Thessalonians 5:9 Paul assures
us that God has not appointed His people to wrath. This wrath is plainly God's
anger that will be poured out during the Tribulation. Pre-Trib believers
interpret this as meaning that Christians will be removed from the earth. Post-Trib
believers tell a different story. They describe this as meaning that God will
protect Christians during the Tribulation and pour this wrath out on the
unbelievers only. This idea runs against the statement made in Rev. 13:7, where
the Antichrist is given power to make war with the saints and to overcome them.
A post-Trib view would make God's promise of protection from wrath into a lie.
In years past, it was possible to think of being protected from the guns and
swords of that day. Today, when any major war would involve nuclear and chemical
weapons, it's impossible to expect that same kind of protection. When Nagasaki,
Japan was bombed during W.W.II, the bomb exploded over a Catholic church.
Everyone that was in the center of the explosion died, both Christians and
non-Christians. The only way to validly interpret God's promise of protection
from wrath, is by viewing I Thess. 5:9 as the bodily removal of the Church from
this world."
My comments:
Todd Strandberg's statements, "A post-Trib view would make God's promise of protection from wrath into a
lie" is not true.
God's wrath and the Tribulation are not the same
thing.
During the Tribulation
the man of sin (that Wicked) will have his time to
pour out his anger on the inhabitants of the earth who will not bow down and worship him
and take his mark. (Rev. 12:12)
God's wrath
comes later, after the Lord Jesus Christ returns in the clouds to gather his church.
Those who represent the words, "tribulation" and "wrath"
as being the same thing are not honestly looking looking at these words in
biblical context. The words,
"tribulation" and "wrath" are not interchangeable.
Jesus Christ promised that we would have tribulation in this world
(John 16:33 and Rev. 2:10). He also prayed to the Father that we would not be
taken out of this world during tribulation but that we would be kept from evil.
(John 17:15).
God also tells us to wait for "his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to
come." We must wait for the Lord Jesus, who has already
delivered us
from the wrath to come.
The Lord Jesus Christ has already delivered each Christian from the wrath
to come! This verse does not say "will deliver." It says delivered. The Bible tells us
plainly what "the wrath to come" means. The wrath of God is directed toward those who refuse to repent and receive His
mercy: the children of disobedience. The wrath of God is His punishment on unbelievers. (See Luke 3:7, Eph.
5:6, Col. 3:6, Rev. 6:17)
The saints of God are appointed to tribulation.
The children of disobedience are appointed to God's wrath.
In Greek, the word wrath (ogre--3709) means punishment God
executes against the wicked.
The word tribulation (thilipsis--2347) refers to the
sufferings that Christians go through in this world for Christ.
God allows his children to endure
tribulation.
Matthew 13:21,
24:9, 21, 29
Mark 4:17, 13:19, 24,
Acts 7:10, 11, 11:19
Romans. 2:9, 5:3
2 Thessalonians 1:4
God pours out his wrath upon those who
reject his mercy (unbelievers) not his own children.
Mathew 3:7
Mark 3:5Lk 3:7, 21:23
John 3:36
Romans 1:18, 2:5, 8
Ephesians 2:3, 4:31, 5:6
Colosians 3:6,8
1 Thessalonians 1:10, 2:16
1 Timothy 2:8
Hebrews 3:11
James 1:19, 20
Revelation 6:16, 17, 11:18
We must purpose to not be offended in Christ if things don't turn out the way we hope
and the way we have been told they will. When Christians find themselves on earth when
the New World Order is in full swing and God's people are being sought after for
elimination, we need to understand that we are suffering the wrath of Antichrist,
not the
wrath of God.
God will not leave us or forsake us even during
the Tribulation if we keep the faith -- obey his word without reservation
and patiently endure until the end. He has no difficulty protecting His people from nuclear explosions,
biological warfare, etc. but that is for another article.
We need to understand and keep the difference between
tribulation and wrath in our hearts and minds so we will not be offended with
the Lord Jesus Christ and be spiritually set up to look for another Christ.
This is exactly what Satan is using his agents
to condition Christians to do. He wants them to embrace a false Christ right now
(a Fantasy "Christ" who will permit them to live ungodly in this
present world but will still bring them to heaven when they die).
If Satan fails to entice the Christian into following
a bogus Christ
now, he doesn't fret because he knows that most Christians have
been thoroughly primed to look for "another Christ" during the Tribulation
due to their belief in the false doctrine that the tribulation and the wrath of God are the same thing.
Since Christians know that God has not appointed
us unto wrath, the carrying out of the
Disappearances by the New World Order planners could cause their faith in
the biblical promises of God to crumble. What an ominous set-up for the
Luciferic Initiatition! Yes, some
false teachers (authors of the Left Behind Series) have, for years, been setting
Christians up for this very thing.
Believers whose have believed their pastor's words that God would
definitely remove them from this earth before Antichrist is revealed need
to go back and read the bible again and ask God to remove any spiritual blinders
that are in place.
We need to study the difference between tribulation and
wrath carefully so we do not set ourselves up for the spiritual fall Antichrist's
followers are hoping and planning for. We must never allow ourselves to think these apostate thoughts:
"Jesus betrayed
me. He could not have been the Christ. I will look for another."
The Lord Jesus Christ will never leave us or
forsake his precious sheep (who hear his voice and follow him.)
However, we are capable of becoming offended in him and falling away if we do not obey his command to not
become offended in him! (See John 16:1)
God's Promise: To keep
us from evil; Condition: Be Not of this World
The Lord Jesus prayed to
the Father:
"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world,
but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." Jn 17:15
"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world. Sanctify them through they truth: thy word is truth." Jn 17:17
God is quite capable of keeping us from the evil during
tribulation, but are we willing to be like Jesus prayed that we would be? This is the condition to being protected in the times to come. The condition
is that we would not be of the world even as Jesus is not of the world, and
the promise (if this condition is met) is "I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the
evil."
Also see the articles about Todd Strandberg's
Rapture Ready message board:
A
"Christian" Message Board Run By Satan's Workers
Rapture
Ready Administrators and their backers: Anti-Christ and Pro New World
Order Posts
Rapture
Ready and the Left Behind Series: Mixes Up Serving God and Serving Satan
Why
Are Pretrib Promoters Trying to Control the Thinking of
Christians Who Don't Disappear? |