Hi there,
Just making observations leading up to my cross (2053).
The failings of the Church are not something you should dwell on naturally, but there is an important point nevertheless that you should avoid habitual cycles of behaviour that are not constructive. As such it is important to look at how the Church will cope with the impending tribulation and what each of the phases of its coming to terms with conviction will look like.
The first stage of dealing with tribulation is militancy. This means the Church will rally itself to a call to order and make demands of its followers to be holy and pure and such things. This will be effective for some time, while people have strength to follow it, but over time it will fade, since people require understanding more than order and militancy is a poor substitute for understanding. The drivers of this movement will be the false preachers primarily, who perceive the coming danger and do not know how to cope with their own ambitions in the light of imagined persecution. Seeing that they must press on, they will press down on the Church.
The next stage of dealing with tribulation is hostility. This means that people will perceive that they are able to continue but that there livelihood is in some way in question (as will everyone's be), a change of belief will be required but they being sinners will instinctively reject it and so will become hostile to the one presenting the change of belief. This will be contained as the Church knows that good fruit is required and hostile behaviour is not tolerated in wider society, much less from the Church. Nevertheless the frustrations of being militant will spill over into this hostility and it may last. The drivers of this hostility will be the false prophets, since they create false churches and false hopes that confuse the person who needs to make a change of belief to something new. Only those that keep their horizon (future) pure will really avoid this.
The third stage of dealing with tribulation is bickering. This means that when it is perceived that the tribulation cannot be avoided and particularly that the rapture is not necessarily bodily transport, there will be fighting with words among believers. At this stage it is hard to imagine anyone being left out, since no man can tame the tongue, but those that hold fast to the words of Jesus will be most quickly delivered. More often than not this will simply lead to people growing cold and either moving on or changing tack entirely. The drivers of this will be the false leaders, since there will be confusion about how best to handle the immanent tribulation and those with any kind of leadership nous will easily be able to take advantage, people who have grown cold with bickering hardly fight back, in the end.
The fourth and final stage of dealing with tribulation is resignation. This is where people come to the realization that they honestly can't change their fate all that much and they really are in the hands of God, about what He wants to do with mankind. It is at this point that most of the Church will realize that with work, there is nothing to worry about and that God will most certainly provide, despite all their failings. As such it is very, very, very unlikely that all the hubub about what the tribulation is will ultimately cost any believers their faith and all but the most doubtful will see it through. The drivers of this stage will be the doubters obviously, since only if you really and truly hold on to doubt through resignation does it really actually cause any harm. The simple solution here is to simply avoid such people as the bible says ("withdraw from those loaded with doubts" letters).
So as a result of all this, the Church will actually be in the best possible position to help those in the world who are attempting to make it through the tribulation themselves. This is a great sign to the world that the faithful are true and there for them in their time of need. Not everything will be possible and some concessions will have to be made, but on the whole the message will be clear: the Lord Jesus loves the world, through the Church, with whom He is One. To this message there can be no clear opponents and there will be much rejoicing when it is evident that the work that continues is largely driven by a faithful and obedient Church that knows the will of God and does not diminish hope even under the most adverse circumstances.
With this the Lord will be most pleased.
Just making observations leading up to my cross (2053).
The failings of the Church are not something you should dwell on naturally, but there is an important point nevertheless that you should avoid habitual cycles of behaviour that are not constructive. As such it is important to look at how the Church will cope with the impending tribulation and what each of the phases of its coming to terms with conviction will look like.
The first stage of dealing with tribulation is militancy. This means the Church will rally itself to a call to order and make demands of its followers to be holy and pure and such things. This will be effective for some time, while people have strength to follow it, but over time it will fade, since people require understanding more than order and militancy is a poor substitute for understanding. The drivers of this movement will be the false preachers primarily, who perceive the coming danger and do not know how to cope with their own ambitions in the light of imagined persecution. Seeing that they must press on, they will press down on the Church.
The next stage of dealing with tribulation is hostility. This means that people will perceive that they are able to continue but that there livelihood is in some way in question (as will everyone's be), a change of belief will be required but they being sinners will instinctively reject it and so will become hostile to the one presenting the change of belief. This will be contained as the Church knows that good fruit is required and hostile behaviour is not tolerated in wider society, much less from the Church. Nevertheless the frustrations of being militant will spill over into this hostility and it may last. The drivers of this hostility will be the false prophets, since they create false churches and false hopes that confuse the person who needs to make a change of belief to something new. Only those that keep their horizon (future) pure will really avoid this.
The third stage of dealing with tribulation is bickering. This means that when it is perceived that the tribulation cannot be avoided and particularly that the rapture is not necessarily bodily transport, there will be fighting with words among believers. At this stage it is hard to imagine anyone being left out, since no man can tame the tongue, but those that hold fast to the words of Jesus will be most quickly delivered. More often than not this will simply lead to people growing cold and either moving on or changing tack entirely. The drivers of this will be the false leaders, since there will be confusion about how best to handle the immanent tribulation and those with any kind of leadership nous will easily be able to take advantage, people who have grown cold with bickering hardly fight back, in the end.
The fourth and final stage of dealing with tribulation is resignation. This is where people come to the realization that they honestly can't change their fate all that much and they really are in the hands of God, about what He wants to do with mankind. It is at this point that most of the Church will realize that with work, there is nothing to worry about and that God will most certainly provide, despite all their failings. As such it is very, very, very unlikely that all the hubub about what the tribulation is will ultimately cost any believers their faith and all but the most doubtful will see it through. The drivers of this stage will be the doubters obviously, since only if you really and truly hold on to doubt through resignation does it really actually cause any harm. The simple solution here is to simply avoid such people as the bible says ("withdraw from those loaded with doubts" letters).
So as a result of all this, the Church will actually be in the best possible position to help those in the world who are attempting to make it through the tribulation themselves. This is a great sign to the world that the faithful are true and there for them in their time of need. Not everything will be possible and some concessions will have to be made, but on the whole the message will be clear: the Lord Jesus loves the world, through the Church, with whom He is One. To this message there can be no clear opponents and there will be much rejoicing when it is evident that the work that continues is largely driven by a faithful and obedient Church that knows the will of God and does not diminish hope even under the most adverse circumstances.
With this the Lord will be most pleased.
