On May 4, 2024

NOTES ON THE DAY OF GOD’S WRATH: ONLY THOSE WHO STAND FIRM SHALL ESCAPE – (WITH VIDEO)

THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE. “‘Behold, the Lord lays waste to the earth, devastates it, twists and distorts its face and scatters its inhabitants.’ And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor [as God’s impartial judgment of sin comes on all]. The earth will be completely laid waste and utterly pillaged, for the Lord has spoken this word.

The earth dries up and crumbles away, the world dries out and crumbles away, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. The earth also is polluted by its inhabitants, because they have transgressed laws, violated statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live on it suffer the punishment of their guilt. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned [under the curse of God’s wrath], and few people are left.” – ISAIAH 24:1-7, AMP

KEY TERM: “LAYS WASTE.” ‘Baqaq’ [בָּקַק]: “From a primitive root, ‘To pour out, to empty;’ to depopulate and make utterly void; to be profuse, abundant, luxurious [in the exquisite expression of ‘His Unmitigated Wrath’]; to totally devastate the whole earth and its inhabitants; to ravage; to desolate; to destroy all improvements [made by man].”

QUOTATION. “When the LORD leaves us to captain our lives, giving us over to our reprobate mind, it is a clear sign of Judgment. No more can we witness the protective hand of the LORD. All that we should remember is that we have unquenchable Wrath ready to consume our being. ‘The LORD is a gentle Shepherd, at the same time, He is also the worst Enemy.’” ― ROYAL RAJ S, Author of Malachi, University of Queensland, ret. May 2, 2024; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘All whose treasures and happiness are laid up on earth, will soon be brought to want and misery.’ It is good to apply to ourselves what the Scripture says of the vanity and vexation of spirit which attend all things here below. ‘Sin has turned the Earth upside down;’ the Earth is become quite different to man, from what it was when God first made it to be His habitation. It is, at the best, like a flower, which withers in the hands of those that please themselves with it, and lay it in their bosoms.

‘The world we live in is a world of disappointment, a vale of tears.’ The children of men in it are but of few days, and full of trouble. See the power of God’s Curse, how it makes all empty, and lays waste all ranks and conditions. ‘Sin brings these Calamities upon the earth;’ it is polluted by the sins of men; therefore it is made desolate by God’s Judgments. Carnal joy will soon be at end, and the end of it is heaviness. God has many ways to imbitter wine and strong drink to those who love them; distemper of body, anguish of mind, and the ruin of the estate, will make strong drink bitter, and the delights of sense tasteless. ‘Let men learn to mourn for sin, and rejoice in God; then no man, no event, can take their joy from them.’” – MATTHEW HENRY, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

THE THEOLOGY. “For God has not destined us to [incur His] wrath [that is, He did not select us to condemn us], but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died [willingly] for us, so that whether we are awake (alive) or asleep (dead) [at Christ’s appearing], we will live together with Him [sharing eternal life].” – 1 THESSALONIANS 5:9, AMP

II. SOMETHING’S COMING!

For some time now I have been driving around my lovely city, gazing at the majestic Rocky Mountains and Pike’s Peak, breathing the pristine air that years ago cured my then young son’s asthma. Yet as I take in all its delicious grandeur and beauty, there is a growing discordant note, a ‘Minor Key’ if you will, in my spirit. And I hear down in my deepest hallows a Spanish Word given me in June 2021:

“¡Se acabó!” – “It’s over!”

But what does that mean, beloved? Just ‘What’ is over? I propose here something here that I have never been led to write before. That is not hype; it is the absolute Truth. I keep sensing some sort of “Juggernaut,” impending “Catastrophe,” edging its way toward us in a slow, menacing, low to the ground crawl, surrounded by a suffocating Darkness.

THE APOCALYPSE. ‘Apocalupsis’ [ἀποκάλυψις]: “From a root word meaning, ‘a Disclosure;’ also,an unveiling, uncovering, revealing; an appearing, ‘a Coming [Event],’ a manifestation; indeed, ‘a Revelation of The Christ.’ NOTE: Most Bible expositors include all the Last Events in this general category that describes THE DAY OF THE LORD. Or as I wrote in my first book:

“The End of History As We Know It.”

All of which reminds of W.B. YEATS’ epic poem, “The Second Coming” (1919): “[With] a gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, is moving its slow thighs, while all about it reel shadows of the indignant desert birds … And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?”

So yes, beloved, “Something IS Coming,” and as Yeats rightly and accurately observed – It is Dark, it is Menacing, it is Grim, it is Perverse, it is Violent, and it is already on the move right here in the United States of America. Indeed, the good ol’ USA is very likely the Launch Point for this awful thing that is coming.

And yet, and yet …

The American Church is either breathtakingly Silent about it, or worse, actively in Agreement with it and pushing its vile Agenda. Selah. Therefore, borrowing heavily from my new book, The Sixth Seal II: A Pre-Wrath Commentary Redux on the Rise of Donald Trump and the Decline of the American Order (2024), I propose THREE GREAT EVENTS are underway that will severely test all of us on the Earth, saved and unsaved alike.

But With Different Outcomes – Depending on where one stands in relation to The Messiah in this Last Hour.

WRATH. This is the Game Changer, the point at which the Age of Grace comes to a violent and startling halt in a Single Day, beloved. Now begins the Great Tribulation prophesied by: Jeremiah (30:7); Daniel (9:27); Jesus (Matthew 24:21); and John (Revelation 3:10). NOTE: Based upon God’s Promise cited earlier in 1 Thessalonians 5:9, I again propose that true followers of Christ as part of the Last Days Remnant Church “are not appointed to [God’s] Wrath.” Therefore, this next Third Event takes place ‘just before’ the Opening of The Sixth Seal.

RESCUE. I do not teach ‘Classical Premillennialism’ that requires a belief that True Christians do not experience any supernatural tribulation at all, a doctrine that I argue does not fit the Biblical Canon. Instead, I teach a ‘Pre-Wrath Eschatology’ since, Jesus and the Apostles warned all future followers that they would: “Enter the Kingdom of God through much tribulation” (Acts 14:22); “If they persecuted Me [Jesus] they will persecute you” (John 15:20); and, “Many [shall be] the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).

To that Last Point: “Then He [Jesus] said to them: ‘But keep alert at all times [be attentive and ready], praying that you may have the strength and ability [to be found worthy and] to ‘escape all these things’ that are going to take place, and to stand in the presence of the Son of Man [at His coming].” – LUKE 21:36, AMP [“ESCAPE.”‘Ekpheugó’ (ἐκφεύγω): “To flee out, to seek or find safety in flight”].

So just what is it that the true follower of Christ “escapes,” exactly? The Apostle at Patmos explains:

“I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” – REVELATION 6:12-17, NKJV

WHO CAN STAND? All members of the TRUE REMNANT CHURCH of the Last Days. Not the Nominal Believer, nor the Unrepentant Backslider, nor, certainly, the Apostate Christian who has renounced his “Former Estate,” just at the Angels of God in Prehistoric Ages did when they rebelled against God and followed Lucifer, later named Satan, and are forever condemned to Hellfire.

Those, and Those Alone. CHARACTERIZED BY: (1) Deep structure entrenchment in the Word of God; (2) Vilification from both the World and the Establishment Church; (3) Preaches Counter-Culture messages; (4) Produces solid, fruitful, Courageous Disciples of Christ who obey His Commandments regardless of the dangers; (5) Will experience the Presence and Power of God on a regular basis by walking in His Light; (6) It will become Increasingly Visible as the Darkness deepens; (7) Will be increasingly and aggressively Excluded from the Establishment Church as divisions harden; (8) The Remnant Church will not change the world, but will Impact Lives effectively; and (9) The Remnant Church will “Endure” while the rest of the Church will fade away and finally disappear in Destruction. – Adapted from JOSEPH MATTERA’S Blog, but revised from his Pro-Trump interpretations (Dec. 1, 2020).

III. LAST THOUGHTS: WHAT NOW?

More than anything else as Preparation for the Last Days, the true follower of Jesus Christ must first and foremost obtain a firm grasp on the Church Reality of these tumultuous times. I have frequently observed that the American Church behaves as if is on an American Pleasure Cruise rather than headed for what Scripture clearly warns are Unprecedented Crises in this Tribulation Era.

“As it was in the Days of Noah and in the Days of Lot, Even so will it be in the Day when the Son of Man is revealed” (LUKE 17:26-30).

One could not possibly act more recklessly at such a time, which the great majority of self-proclaimed Christians are doing.

THE LAST DAYS CHURCH. To an excellent, thoroughly documented, condensed piece in Bible.Org by pastor, chaplain, author, and professor, GREGORY BROWN, adapted from his well-regarded series, The Bible Teacher’s Guide, 2017-2018 (edited). In “The Church in the Last Days” (2 TIMOTHY 3:1-9), he presents a no-nonsense ‘Wakeup Call’ to our slumbering Churchmen that is worth its weight in theological gold in this present wasteland of American Indifference.

My typical BULLET POINT SUMMARY follows below.

THE QUESTION. ‘What are the True Characteristics of the Church in the Last Days?’

TWENTY ANSWERS. (1) People will be Lovers of Themselves. (2) In fact, many if not most larger churches now focus on Self-Love. (3) Lovers of Money [greedy]. (4) People will be Boastful [braggadocious]. (5) They will be Arrogant [proud]. (6) Blasphemers [abusive of God and others]; (7) Disobedient to parents and authority. (8) Ungrateful [entitled]. (9) Unholy [no fear of God]. (10) Unloving [without natural affection]. (11) Irreconcilable [unforgiving]. (12) Slanderers [false accusers]; (13) Without Self Control [lawless]. (14) Savage [brutal, fierce, cruel]. (15) Opposed to the Good [loving evil, hating truth]. (16) Treacherous [will not keep promises]. (17) Reckless [without consideration of consequences]. (18) Conceited [full of self-importance]. (19) Loving Pleasure rather than loving God [hypocrites, apostates].

FULL OF FALSE TEACHERS. (1) Teachers who are Deceptive. (2) Who seek to Gain Control over and dominate others. (3) Will often Focus Attacks on Women. (4) They Prey on People’s Problems, offering fast solutions. (5) They also Prey on Seekers of New Truth. (6) They Oppose Truth and instigate rebellions against it and those who carry it. (7) Perform False Miracles by lying, subterfuge, and cheating. (8) They are Unregenerate and therefore have corrupted thinking. (9) God will eventually Expose Them [but only for those who sincerely desire truth; the rest will be left in to Delusion].

HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE IN THE LAST DAYS? Brown offers us deliciously wise and life-giving Preparations for what lies ahead, beloved. Here are FOUR KEY DISCIPLINES that will largely anchor us in our Faith and to the Lord in these Perilous Times.

EXAMINE OUR SALVATION. As a vital protocol demonstrating Humility, we are never to presume upon our salvation, as nearly all churches preach today under the seditious heresy of “Once Saved Always Saved.” The bottom lines here are to Obey and to Persevere to the End.
MAKE SURE CHRIST IS OUR FIRST LOVE. Do we love Him more than our own families and closest friends, more than our favorite past times, more than our material possessions, and most importantly – more than our own life? That is, are we willing to lay down our very lives for Christ should He require it, beloved?
TEST EVERTHING BY SCRIPTURE. And I mean, everything! No blind reliance on some famous Christian leader or our own pastors who these days who have been such an horrendous offense to truth. We must all become theologians now, beloved, knowing the Doctrines of the Church as well as our very best friends.
WE MUST DECIDE TO PERSEVERE! In both Truth and Love, by God’s unmitigated Power in our ministry to the Church, to our families, to our neighbors, and to our culture. As Salt and Light, but not, I repeat: Not as Overlords, but as Servants!

KELLY’S CODICIIL. Where we have most of us been taught for generations that these Characteristics of the Last Days were references to the unsaved, the unchurched, the ‘raw pagans’ among us, I say “NO!” the Great Apostle here and nearly everywhere else was writing to and writing about:

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH!

Indeed, our Insular Arrogance has been infused into our Spiritual DNA to the point where we have “Reversed” the very Purpose of the Gospel to rescue those sinners from Hellfire. ‘No, today we are taught to Hate the Unsaved,’ attack them and place all the blame for the Woes of the Nation on those who don’t know any better! All the while ‘absolving ourselves’ of all guilt because, you know, “It’s all under the Blood, brother. I am covered no matter what I think, say, or do!”

The American Church is in need of massive Spiritual Surgery, and one way or the other, God is going to execute it. Only Question is: Will it lead to Life Everlasting, or to Eternal Torment?

Kind of a big deal, wouldn’t you say?

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/ynZMLLXfEI4