I can remember as a child whenever the water was going to be turned off at the house for plumbing
repairs; I would immediately get thirsty. With the time it took to make the
necessary repairs, I probably never would have gotten thirsty at all if I
didn’t know that the water was cut off. My doctor avoids telling me of any
side effects of prescribed medication because I will have them! He’s right; I will
experience those known reactions if I know what they are. So, I am an impressionable kind
of guy.
Dad would warn me to get a big drink
of water before the water supply was going to be cut off. Sometimes that gulp
didn’t last the duration of the drought. When the gulp got dry I got fidgety
and edgy and felt like my throat was severely parched. I figuratively started
grabbing my throat and stammering about like a demented person crying out,
“Water! I got to have water!” I knew that whenever I begin dehydrating, it was
not a pretty sight! It was a bit melodramatic; I know, but that’s me. I would
even save the slobber during those tortuous dry spells!
Now you might be thinking, gross and
plastic water bottles, right? It’s not that we didn’t have any; my mom had an
army of Tupperware. I believe the trend of consuming water from plastic bottles
has become an increasingly popular trend in recent years with improved plastic
technology. I was wrong to think that a big gulp of water would see me through
the dry spell. It was a faulty strategy repeated.
Even within my own home, I would notify
the family like my Dad before me that the water was going to be turned off.
Fortunately, there were a plethora of water bottles around. It is a good idea
not to believe that a single gulp would be sufficient. I hate plumbing issues
because it invariably opens up an unanticipated can of worms, causing the
drought to linger and placing additional pressure to get the water back on as
soon as possible. Plumbing repairs are not fulfilling episodes in my life. I am
literally getting thirsty just talking about being thirsty. When water isn’t
available, I really get thirsty quick. Have you ever felt that way?
As I got older my appreciation of
limited access to water increased. Years ago I stayed in the desert
surrounding the Chocolate Mountains in California for two weeks by myself. Believe
me when I tell you; if you hadn’t experienced the desert in its silence and
solitude, water takes on a new elevated meaning in that austere place,
particularly during the summer months. Ever see those cartoons of two desperate
men crawling in the desert with one making some quip?
Well, there were these two men
crawling in the desert; their clothes were tattered and torn from being
sandpapered as they crawled and rolled on the endless dunes. The nearest town
was over a hundred miles away. The situation looked bleak and gloomy. One man
looked at the other and said, “Man, I’m thirsty and hot!” The other man
reminded his complaining companion, “Yea, but at least it’s a dry heat!” Now,
that is a picture of powerless positive thinking.
Another place that doesn’t have much
water except for the Colorado River flowing through it is the Grand Canyon. The
danger of hiking in the GC is becoming dehydrated. It was so hot when I was
there; we saw an air temp reading along the trail at 3 PM of 113 degrees! It wasn’t
that hot everywhere, just in that particular spot. We were definitely at the
wrong place at the wrong time and bordering on the edge of dehydration
concerns, even with hydration systems on our backs. You just can’t get enough
water inside you being exposed to such intense conditions!
You never saw any perspiration; it
evaporated instantly. You never had to wipe the sweat off your forehead. Movies
that depict actors wiping their heads in the desert are Hollywood, not reality.
Your clothes are never damp with moisture. It’s dangerous not to keep hydrated
in such a climate when hiking in the Canyon in July. Some visitors to the GC
still fail to heed the warning of dehydration and wind up in serious trouble
from heat stroke or other heat-related problems. I think GC is considered to be
the third most dangerous National Park in the U.S. because of failure to take
hydration seriously, but don’t quote me on that. Dehydration doesn’t care if
you are the toughest man on earth. It will bring anyone to their knees.
Let’s take a spiritual twist on this
business of being thirsty. Try to refrain from automatically rejecting this
posed scenario as a remote probability or impossibility. Imagine, if you will,
the Bible (all translations) being banned in the US in our lifetime, barring
the rapture. All books and all software related to the Bible are censored. Church
history is really history; the doors of all churches are
barred, and the blessings of religious freedom are replaced with the option of
being behind bars. 80%+ of families, who had at least one Bible before the ban,
no longer have a Bible in their homes, or it is hidden from the authorities by
the minority who actually read it every day before the ban and after the ban.
The days of a Gideon Bible found in the room for the traveler are in the past.
All religious programming is removed
from radio, television, and the internet. The greatest physical treasure of the
believer is no longer being printed but burned in government-owned
incinerators. Everything remotely related to the Christian faith is banned,
including jewelry, pictures, and icons. 3:16 on a placard or shirt is a
guarantee of incarceration. Are you still imagining the possibilities?
Ok, think again if you think this
could never happen in America. There is a high probability of this
happening here, right in our hometown, once the church is raptured. The vast
majority will be more concerned about being able to buy or sell (Rev 13:16-17)
than worrying about possessing a contraband Bible and reading during the seven
years of tribulation following the translation of the Church. You won’t be able
to shop at Wally’s anymore, if it is still around, without having the mark of
the beast! Yep, right here in Cleveland, TN. So, if this is highly likely after
the Church leaves in the rapture, how does it relate to us who are no longer
here during the tribulation? Well, there is no guarantee that persecution will
not happen in America prior to the rapture!
Between now and the rapture, which
could happen at any moment, I am of the opinion it may prove to be a bumpy ride
between those two points (now and the rapture) for the body of Christ globally,
including here in America. We can see the swelling of the tide against
Christianity from a global perspective more clearly. It has always been there;
it’s just growing monstrously larger and faster in momentum which is suggestive
that the window, between now and the rapture, is closing (PTL). With the Church
raptured and the antichrist revealed; the tsunami of antichristian belief eventually
crashes upon the shores of the whole earth. There will be unimaginative great
tribulation upon the world that has not been before; for God’s wrath will be
poured out on the inhabitants of the earth (Mt 24:21).
It seems to me that the world has to
be to some degree in rough shape geoeconomically and geopolitically for the
antichrist to offer the world a solution and give occasion to his meteoric rise
to the stage of world leadership. He could very well be alive today, waiting in
the wings for his time to step upon the platform of history. America will
continue to irrevocably degrade in the morass of global events. Call me
unpatriotic, call me a doomsayer, call me a cynic, call me anything you prefer;
just don’t call me late for dinner!
Sure, my outlook comes from my being
naturally negative more than positive. What’s in your heart? It was Oswald
Chambers when commenting on Jude 20 in his book, My Utmost for His
Highest, “Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own
nature, not along the lines of God’s nature.” That hits me
between the eyes! But I think I am right on this one.
Given the theological spectrum of end-time events, I know some will disagree with me having another eschatological
belief. Be that as it may, I am of the pre-tribulation school of thought, meaning that I
subscribe to the belief that the Church will be translated prior to
the seven years of terrible tribulation. There are multiple reasons for taking
this eschatological position, but let me mention a simple idea here without
getting too bogged down in the groundwork for end-time events which is not
within the scope of this article.
If the imminent return of Christ does
not take place before the inauguration of the time of Jacob’s
trouble, the tribulation period, then it is possible we are taking away the
very hope (of His imminent return and avoiding all that mess
that comes with the tribulation period) that will impede one of the greatest
motivations for purity in service to the
Lord in the here and now. It ranks up there with love.
Between now and the rapture and with
the tribulation period looming on the horizon, the possibility of persecution
in the land of the “free,” is a very real and present danger. We should not be
so foolish as to discount the threat because of a false sense of security
(a “Christian” nation). We should be thirsting for God more than ever
before the coming drought. It can't get any worse than dying
for the faith, and there is no need of convincing anyone in other parts of the
world who had lost loved ones for the faith recently and are being threatened
themselves now for their unyielding faith. The persecution of Christians is spreading.
Whether we avoid a storm or wind up in a storm before we are out of here, we have no control over that. But what we do have control of is not to be about looking for signs, the antichrist, or the tribulation but looking for Jesus (1 Jn 3:2, 3; 2 Cor 5:9, 10), right here, right now.
Whether we avoid a storm or wind up in a storm before we are out of here, we have no control over that. But what we do have control of is not to be about looking for signs, the antichrist, or the tribulation but looking for Jesus (1 Jn 3:2, 3; 2 Cor 5:9, 10), right here, right now.
Beloved, make no mistake about this; a terrible and raging storm is coming, and it will be the most dangerous, destructive, and darkest storm to ever make landfall in earth’s history. We could possibly be on the very fringes of that storm brewing in the world while the antichrist is waiting in the shadows to make his appearance as “God” and “Savior” to a deceived world.
We know the sequence of events but are unsure of the timing of all of this. We can sense that we are on the edge of something ominous and foreboding. There is nothing in Scripture indicating that the Church may not feel the outer touches of this storm in an antichrist-like fashion before it hits the world for seven grueling years. We need to be very thirsty between now and rapture. We need to be rapture-ready at all times! <><
We know the sequence of events but are unsure of the timing of all of this. We can sense that we are on the edge of something ominous and foreboding. There is nothing in Scripture indicating that the Church may not feel the outer touches of this storm in an antichrist-like fashion before it hits the world for seven grueling years. We need to be very thirsty between now and rapture. We need to be rapture-ready at all times! <><
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