Hockey_Fan posted in message #1 of this thread:
Does the church you attend regularly and openly discuss end times
prophecies and how they might possibly relate to current events?
Greetings.
Any church which claims to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ must
at least preach the endtime prophecies of Mark 13, for they are an
integral part of the book of Mark, and the entire book of Mark is "the
gospel of Jesus Christ" (Mark 1:1).
Any church which claims to consist of disciples of Jesus Christ must
continually preach everything that Jesus taught, for Jesus said "If
ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed" (John 8:31).
The entire book of Revelation is from Jesus: "The Revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things
which must shortly come to pass" (Revelation 1:1); "I Jesus have
sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches"
(Revelation 22:16).
Any church which wants to keep its members from future deceptions
must preach the endtime prophecies, for they were given to the
church to keep it from future deceptions: "For false Christs and false
prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if
it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have
foretold you all things" (Mark 13:22-23). "Now we beseech you,
brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our
gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or
be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us,
as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any
means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling
away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or
that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God,
shewing himself that he is God" (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4).
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"If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark
in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of
the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup
of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone
in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and
they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his
image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the
patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments
of God, and the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:9-12).
Hockey_Fan posted in message #1 of this thread:
In fact, there seems to be no real consensus within many churches
as to whether Jesus will return at all, much less within any of our
lifetimes.
Some Christians, because they neither read the Bible themselves nor
have been instructed in their churches regarding endtime prophecies,
think that Jesus will return as a baby, instead of descending from
heaven just as he ascended into heaven: "this same Jesus, which is
taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye
have seen him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11); "the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thessalonians
4:16-17).
Not knowing how Jesus will return, or what events must accompany
his return, some Christians could come to believe claims by the False
Prophet of the Antichrist (Revelation 13:11-18, 19:20) that he (the
False Prophet) is the second coming of Jesus, when they see the
amazing miracles which the False Prophet will be able to perform
(Revelation 13:13). Just as Nicodemus said to Jesus "we know that
thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles
that thou doest, except God be with him" (John 3:2), so could some
Christians say to the False Prophet, "we know that you are from God,
for no man can do these miracles that you do, except God be with
him. If you say that you are Jesus returned, who are we to doubt
you?". We must never let miracles be the basis by which we
determine whether someone is from God or not, whether someone is
teaching the truth or not; we must stick with what the scriptures
themselves teach (John 8:31). Of course, this requires that we know
what the scriptures themselves teach; we must read them, every
last word of them (Matthew 4:4; 2 Timothy 3:16).