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I hope that you took the time to read about my Ontario, CA “GOD HUG.” I believe that the PHENOMENAL “COINCIDENCE” that day gives credence to what I am about to share. If you have not read about it yet, click on the video.
First, I need to give you a brief background of what led to my THEOLOGICAL METAMORPHOSIS.
I majored in Religion in college and then received an MDiv degree from a Seminary. In my case, this theological preparation took me longer than usual ;-)! Most complete in seven years what took me NINE YEARS to receive my diplomas. I say that because even after all of that study, my ESCHATOLOGY, the theology of the END TIMES, could be summarized by the popularized position “PAN TRIBULATIONAL”: I graduated believing that the TIMING of the RAPTURE will simply “ALL ‘PAN’ OUT!”
In my case, this was a theological “COP-OUT” concerning a subject that I just wasn't really too interested in. MY "SCRIPTURAL" justification for my lackadaisical approach to the subject was that since JESUS did not even KNOW the EXACT DAY or HOUR of HIS RETURN, why should we mere humans attempt to figure it out?
My adopted “PAN” position on the subject allowed me the luxury of not arguing the theology of whether I was PRE, MID, POST TRIBULATIONAL. I felt rather sanctimonious by simply responding when confronted that it is better for one to simply BE READY WHENEVER the RAPTURE takes place. However, this trite theology stands in stark comparison to the DETAILED ACCOUNTS of END TIME PROPHECY contained within SCRIPTURE. For example, take the “OLIVET DISCOURSE.”
Within this message give to HIS disciples IN PRIVATE, or we could say directly to "the CHURCH", JESUS shared specific details concerning the events surrounding HIS RETURN.
The intriguing part of this sermon was that many of the same details were shared by all three "synoptic" authors: MATTHEW, MARK and LUKE! In light of ALL that JESUS said or did, it makes NO SENSE that the THREE authors repeated the basic same details since JOHN states in chapter 21 that if ALL that JESUS SAID or DID were written in books, that the world itself couldn’t contain them! The implication for REPETITION is that said passage MUST have EXTREME IMPORTANCE!
As I typed these words, it took me just a few minutes. In comparison, students of biblical history suggest that it probably took a MINIMUM of MONTHS for each of the GOSPELS. How long must it have taken for the three authors to almost verbally repeat the Olivet Discourse? The embedded TRUTH must be of EXTREME IMPORTANCE! My flippant "PAN" position began to undergo an EXTREME MAKEOVER!
I need to share that part of the story.
In 1990, Kay and our three kids and myself were assigned to open up the work of our denomination in the southernmost state in Brazil that borders on Uruguay in the South and Argentina in the West. The nearest of our denominations' churches at that time was over a 12-hour drive from us.
We basically had been stuck in Porto Alegre to "sink or swim" with VERY LITTLE financial or other support.
It didn't take me very long to find myself running day and night attempting to "DO the FATHER'S WORK!" I totally lost sight of the PRINCIPLE that GOD is never interested in what HIS children can DO FOR HIM! HE does long to build HIS KINGDOM THROUGH HIS children as they submit their wills to HIS WILL.
We had been in Porto Alegre for approximately for two years when my "lackadaisical" spiritual walk was T-BONED by HEAVEN! Now, looking back, I realize that I was so busy day and night “DOING” for GOD that I had allowed my intimacy with HIM to dwindled to a type of "MINISTERIAL OVERDRIVE" on "CRUISE CONTROL!" All the while, I was planting congregations, preaching, singing, playing keyboards, evangelizing, building church buildings, while spiritually could have been likened to an EMPTY SHELL!
The HIGHWAY of HOLINESS is strewn with the burnt out carcasses of ministers who became ROADKILL as a result of MINISTERIAL OVERDRIVE!
That ALL changed on Friday, March 9, 1990!
Kay, the kids and I had spent the day visiting one of our church plants that was about an hour drive from our house. Keep in mind that this was before the CELL PHONE technology was even introduced. As we arrived home that evening, the phone rang. Hearing mom’s voice did not surprise me since I was busy dealing with final travel details involving a very large Work and Witness team that was coming to Rio de Janeiro, about a 24-hour bus trip from Porto Alegre.
In 1966, mom and dad had started holding services in our apartment living room in MESQUITA, RJ, about an hour drive from the city proper of Rio de Janeiro. By 1990, that congregation had planted several other churches and was averaging close to 1,000 in attendance. They were beginning the construction of a 1,500 seat sanctuary and a Work and Witness team from mom and dad's home district, OREGON PACIFIC DISTRICT, was heading to work on that audacious project. I was going to make lodging arrangements and coordinate any tourism involved. I was planning to head to RIO the next week following that Friday in March.
GOD HAD DIFFERENT PLANS!
As I answered the phone and heard mom's voice, I was a little surprised since I had been dealing with dad concerning the details of the team's project. Mom blurted out, “Honey. Where have you been? I have been trying to call you ALL DAY!" I started to explain that we had spent the day with one of our pastors when she interrupted me, "Honey, DAD IS GONE!”
I was totally confused by her choice of words. I asked her WHERE he had gone.
She simply repeated, “DAD’S GONE!”
I think that at this moment I began to understand but quickly dismissed the thought and repeated my question, "MOM, WHERE DID DAD GO?"
“HONEY, DAD’S DEAD!”
I can still clearly recall the numbness that shot through my entire body at that moment.
My dad, Jim Kratz, or as he was known in Brazil, Pastor Jaime, was only 5’ 9” tall, and yet by anyone who knew him, dad was a GIANT in the faith. He was the antithesis of what I had become. He lived his faith 24/7/366 on leap year. He memorized vast portions of SCRIPTURE in English and in Portuguese. He MEMORIZED PILGRIMS PROGRESS in PORTUGUESE! I feel that to a degree, dad had fostered a similar relationship with the LORD that ENOCH had developed. In Genesis 5:24, it states that "Enoch walked with GOD; then he was no more, because GOD took him." Although the implication for Enoch was that he didn't pass through death. In dad's case, I could safely say, "Jim Kratz walked with GOD; then he was no more, because GOD took him!"
I say that due to the fact that medical personnel stated that dad had passed from this life to the next in LESS THAN TEN SECONDS! Everything that Jim Kratz did was on HIGH GEAR. He even DIED FAST!
GOD used my dad to disciple several young men who today have congregations numbering in the thousands. In fact, our denomination's largest congregation was led to eventually having over 10,000 worshippers on any weekend and which had been responsible for having planted DOZENS of other churches, some of which are running "thousands!" The pastor that GOD used in such a powerful way considers my dad to be his dad in the faith.
On the other hand, dad's only son to have his DNA, had become a “shell” of a minister due to SPIRITUAL LETHARGY! That all began to change with mom's shocking phone call. On that FRIDAY EVENING, my WORLDS COLLIDED!
Two days later, I found myself in dad’s TINY office in the basement of their TINY retirement home in Portland, OR, preparing for dad’s funeral service planned for the following Tuesday, March 13, 1990.
Through tears, confusion, feelings of guilt and repentance, I tried my best to put into words a message that could honor dad and his amazing legacy. As I was writing down my thoughts, I noticed a cassette tape with the words, "Last Thursday Message Jim Kratz - Coquille, OR - 03/08/90." On an inspired "HAUNCH", I placed the cassette tape on the player. Dad had been conducting what was supposed to be a week-long Bible Conference in Coquille, OR. On that Friday morning, Mom and dad were riding in the pastor's car with the pastor and wife headed out for breakfast. The pastor had stopped at the only traffic light in town. It was only a block away from the local hospital. Suddenly, dad stopped in mid-sentence and slumped over in the passenger seat. The pastor, ignoring the red light, peeled out to the hospital where the medical personnel immediately informed mom that dad had already "flat-lined".
Dad had been diagnosed with a tropical illness that is transmitted by bugs renown as "kissing bugs." When a person succumbs to this fatal illness, their heart quite literally explodes like an innertube that has a weakened area that is bulging. Similar to having a blowout one block from a tire shop, dad suffered a heart blowout one block from a hospital.
Mom had been trying to call me for hours that day. Instead of “WELCOMING my PARENTS back to BRAZIL accompanied by the Oregonian Work and Witness team,” I was giving my father’s farewell message in Portland, OR.
Back to the tape that I had placed in the player. Dad’s text his LAST NIGHT on Earth was John 17:17. “Sanctify them through THY TRUTH. THY WORD IS TRUTH!”
Dad’s final message described his life as well as mine to a T! Dad pointed out that the level of one’s “HOLINESS” is DIRECTLY CORRELATED with the quality of TIME spent in GOD’S WORD. He then applied the TRUTH this way:
Without HOLINESS no one will see the LORD! HEBREWS 12:14
The subsequent hours of preparation included periods of deep-brokenness and sincere repentance. It was a SPIRITUAL WATERSHED EXPERIENCE in my life. Similar to JACOB who limped the REST of his life following his night-long encounter with the angel, following my night-long encounter with my LORD, I have “limped” ever since!
That Tuesday morning, I made a vow in front of the hundreds present at Dad’s service! One does NOT make a VOW to GOD and then NOT keep it! My VOW? I PROMISED that from that day until death that I would take time to meditate on the WORD of GOD each and every day and that any days that I failed to keep my promise, that I would confess my failure as SIN and would repent!
In these 35 years, I have kept that vow! I have done a LOT of REPENTING and CONFESSING! However, I have also spent a LOT of TIME in GOD’S WORD.
Given this background, I did NOT set out to establish a COHERENT THEOLOGICAL STANCE as to the “TIMING” of the RAPTURE when I began to fulfill my vow! Simply in READING THROUGH GOD’S WORD without PASSING SCRIPTURE through THEOLOGIAN'S INTERPRETATIONS, I concluded that the GREAT TRIBULATION was going to be against the CHURCH!
One does NOT have to be a BRAIN SURGEON to figure this out.
Given an OPTION, if one is a "PAN" of course one would choose the “PRE” interpretation unless one has sadistic tendencies!
Even though at the time, I didn’t have a “THEOLOGICAL TAG” to ascribe my new eschatological understanding, I had concluded that there had to be a FOURTH POSSIBILITY as to the “TIMING” of the RAPTURE, and that is that it will be directly tied to the SIXTH SEAL!
To summarize my new found understanding, I started believing that on a day that ONLY GOD KNOWS, GOD will sound TRUMPET that will announce the SECOND COMING to RAPTURE the BRIDE of CHRIST, HOWEVER, as PAUL clearly states, “...we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the LORD, will CERTAINLY NOT PRECEDE those who have fallen asleep.” (1 THESSALONIANS 4:15)
There will NOT be a “SECRET” RAPTURE! THE RAPTURE WILL be “SUDDEN”, but NOT “SECRET!” Think about it. For the REDEEMED DEAD to be RAISED BEFORE the RAPTURE, there must be a GLOBAL EARTHQUAKE to “shake loose” all the GRAVES of the REDEEMED to release their REDEEMED CONTENTS!
That, dear ones, means there will NOT be a “SIGNLESS RAPTURE!” When graves around the WORLD are opened, THAT WILL BE THE SIGN THAT THE RAPTURE IS ABOUT TO TAKE PLACE!
I go into far greater detail about a suggested TIMELINE within this website, however, suffice it to say here, scientifically, what or WHO will CAUSE the GLOBAL EARTHQUAKE will be GOD when HE SOUNDS THE LAST TRUMPET!
The symbolic "blowing of the shofar" will release the children of GOD since ADAM and EVE from their earthen prisons!
JESUS stated that the Jews ALWAYS seek a “SIGN” and so there WILL be a “SIGN” that will precede HIS RETURN. THE SUN WILL BE DESTROYED!
HE states in MATTHEW 24:29, “…the Sun will be darkened, and the Moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
That fact IMPLIES that the Sun will be EXPLODED for it to CEASE to give light! Since the Moon REFLECTS the Sun, it will CEASE to reflect that which NO LONGER EXISTS! The Moon controls the GRAVITATIONAL PULL on this planet. To SUDDENLY be darkened, implies a GLOBAL EARTHQUAKE! Scientifically, that is why the EARTH WILL SHAKE! Spiritually, it will be "when the dead in CHRIST are raised."
Recently I produced the following video. Pay close attention to the timing of the RESURRECTION in relation to the RAPTURE.
First, I need to give you a brief background of what led to my THEOLOGICAL METAMORPHOSIS.
I majored in Religion in college and then received an MDiv degree from a Seminary. In my case, this theological preparation took me longer than usual ;-)! Most complete in seven years what took me NINE YEARS to receive my diplomas. I say that because even after all of that study, my ESCHATOLOGY, the theology of the END TIMES, could be summarized by the popularized position “PAN TRIBULATIONAL”: I graduated believing that the TIMING of the RAPTURE will simply “ALL ‘PAN’ OUT!”
In my case, this was a theological “COP-OUT” concerning a subject that I just wasn't really too interested in. MY "SCRIPTURAL" justification for my lackadaisical approach to the subject was that since JESUS did not even KNOW the EXACT DAY or HOUR of HIS RETURN, why should we mere humans attempt to figure it out?
My adopted “PAN” position on the subject allowed me the luxury of not arguing the theology of whether I was PRE, MID, POST TRIBULATIONAL. I felt rather sanctimonious by simply responding when confronted that it is better for one to simply BE READY WHENEVER the RAPTURE takes place. However, this trite theology stands in stark comparison to the DETAILED ACCOUNTS of END TIME PROPHECY contained within SCRIPTURE. For example, take the “OLIVET DISCOURSE.”
Within this message give to HIS disciples IN PRIVATE, or we could say directly to "the CHURCH", JESUS shared specific details concerning the events surrounding HIS RETURN.
The intriguing part of this sermon was that many of the same details were shared by all three "synoptic" authors: MATTHEW, MARK and LUKE! In light of ALL that JESUS said or did, it makes NO SENSE that the THREE authors repeated the basic same details since JOHN states in chapter 21 that if ALL that JESUS SAID or DID were written in books, that the world itself couldn’t contain them! The implication for REPETITION is that said passage MUST have EXTREME IMPORTANCE!
As I typed these words, it took me just a few minutes. In comparison, students of biblical history suggest that it probably took a MINIMUM of MONTHS for each of the GOSPELS. How long must it have taken for the three authors to almost verbally repeat the Olivet Discourse? The embedded TRUTH must be of EXTREME IMPORTANCE! My flippant "PAN" position began to undergo an EXTREME MAKEOVER!
I need to share that part of the story.
In 1990, Kay and our three kids and myself were assigned to open up the work of our denomination in the southernmost state in Brazil that borders on Uruguay in the South and Argentina in the West. The nearest of our denominations' churches at that time was over a 12-hour drive from us.
We basically had been stuck in Porto Alegre to "sink or swim" with VERY LITTLE financial or other support.
It didn't take me very long to find myself running day and night attempting to "DO the FATHER'S WORK!" I totally lost sight of the PRINCIPLE that GOD is never interested in what HIS children can DO FOR HIM! HE does long to build HIS KINGDOM THROUGH HIS children as they submit their wills to HIS WILL.
We had been in Porto Alegre for approximately for two years when my "lackadaisical" spiritual walk was T-BONED by HEAVEN! Now, looking back, I realize that I was so busy day and night “DOING” for GOD that I had allowed my intimacy with HIM to dwindled to a type of "MINISTERIAL OVERDRIVE" on "CRUISE CONTROL!" All the while, I was planting congregations, preaching, singing, playing keyboards, evangelizing, building church buildings, while spiritually could have been likened to an EMPTY SHELL!
The HIGHWAY of HOLINESS is strewn with the burnt out carcasses of ministers who became ROADKILL as a result of MINISTERIAL OVERDRIVE!
That ALL changed on Friday, March 9, 1990!
Kay, the kids and I had spent the day visiting one of our church plants that was about an hour drive from our house. Keep in mind that this was before the CELL PHONE technology was even introduced. As we arrived home that evening, the phone rang. Hearing mom’s voice did not surprise me since I was busy dealing with final travel details involving a very large Work and Witness team that was coming to Rio de Janeiro, about a 24-hour bus trip from Porto Alegre.
In 1966, mom and dad had started holding services in our apartment living room in MESQUITA, RJ, about an hour drive from the city proper of Rio de Janeiro. By 1990, that congregation had planted several other churches and was averaging close to 1,000 in attendance. They were beginning the construction of a 1,500 seat sanctuary and a Work and Witness team from mom and dad's home district, OREGON PACIFIC DISTRICT, was heading to work on that audacious project. I was going to make lodging arrangements and coordinate any tourism involved. I was planning to head to RIO the next week following that Friday in March.
GOD HAD DIFFERENT PLANS!
As I answered the phone and heard mom's voice, I was a little surprised since I had been dealing with dad concerning the details of the team's project. Mom blurted out, “Honey. Where have you been? I have been trying to call you ALL DAY!" I started to explain that we had spent the day with one of our pastors when she interrupted me, "Honey, DAD IS GONE!”
I was totally confused by her choice of words. I asked her WHERE he had gone.
She simply repeated, “DAD’S GONE!”
I think that at this moment I began to understand but quickly dismissed the thought and repeated my question, "MOM, WHERE DID DAD GO?"
“HONEY, DAD’S DEAD!”
I can still clearly recall the numbness that shot through my entire body at that moment.
My dad, Jim Kratz, or as he was known in Brazil, Pastor Jaime, was only 5’ 9” tall, and yet by anyone who knew him, dad was a GIANT in the faith. He was the antithesis of what I had become. He lived his faith 24/7/366 on leap year. He memorized vast portions of SCRIPTURE in English and in Portuguese. He MEMORIZED PILGRIMS PROGRESS in PORTUGUESE! I feel that to a degree, dad had fostered a similar relationship with the LORD that ENOCH had developed. In Genesis 5:24, it states that "Enoch walked with GOD; then he was no more, because GOD took him." Although the implication for Enoch was that he didn't pass through death. In dad's case, I could safely say, "Jim Kratz walked with GOD; then he was no more, because GOD took him!"
I say that due to the fact that medical personnel stated that dad had passed from this life to the next in LESS THAN TEN SECONDS! Everything that Jim Kratz did was on HIGH GEAR. He even DIED FAST!
GOD used my dad to disciple several young men who today have congregations numbering in the thousands. In fact, our denomination's largest congregation was led to eventually having over 10,000 worshippers on any weekend and which had been responsible for having planted DOZENS of other churches, some of which are running "thousands!" The pastor that GOD used in such a powerful way considers my dad to be his dad in the faith.
On the other hand, dad's only son to have his DNA, had become a “shell” of a minister due to SPIRITUAL LETHARGY! That all began to change with mom's shocking phone call. On that FRIDAY EVENING, my WORLDS COLLIDED!
Two days later, I found myself in dad’s TINY office in the basement of their TINY retirement home in Portland, OR, preparing for dad’s funeral service planned for the following Tuesday, March 13, 1990.
Through tears, confusion, feelings of guilt and repentance, I tried my best to put into words a message that could honor dad and his amazing legacy. As I was writing down my thoughts, I noticed a cassette tape with the words, "Last Thursday Message Jim Kratz - Coquille, OR - 03/08/90." On an inspired "HAUNCH", I placed the cassette tape on the player. Dad had been conducting what was supposed to be a week-long Bible Conference in Coquille, OR. On that Friday morning, Mom and dad were riding in the pastor's car with the pastor and wife headed out for breakfast. The pastor had stopped at the only traffic light in town. It was only a block away from the local hospital. Suddenly, dad stopped in mid-sentence and slumped over in the passenger seat. The pastor, ignoring the red light, peeled out to the hospital where the medical personnel immediately informed mom that dad had already "flat-lined".
Dad had been diagnosed with a tropical illness that is transmitted by bugs renown as "kissing bugs." When a person succumbs to this fatal illness, their heart quite literally explodes like an innertube that has a weakened area that is bulging. Similar to having a blowout one block from a tire shop, dad suffered a heart blowout one block from a hospital.
Mom had been trying to call me for hours that day. Instead of “WELCOMING my PARENTS back to BRAZIL accompanied by the Oregonian Work and Witness team,” I was giving my father’s farewell message in Portland, OR.
Back to the tape that I had placed in the player. Dad’s text his LAST NIGHT on Earth was John 17:17. “Sanctify them through THY TRUTH. THY WORD IS TRUTH!”
Dad’s final message described his life as well as mine to a T! Dad pointed out that the level of one’s “HOLINESS” is DIRECTLY CORRELATED with the quality of TIME spent in GOD’S WORD. He then applied the TRUTH this way:
- If a person spends a significant amount of time in GOD’S WORD, the POTENTIAL for HOLINESS is SIGNIFICANT.
- If a person spends little time in GOD’S WORD, the POTENTIAL for HOLINESS is MINIMAL.
- And now for the part that grabbed my heart that Monday morning. If a person spends NO TIME in GOD’S WORD, that person’s POTENTIAL for HOLINESS is NON-EXISTENT!
Without HOLINESS no one will see the LORD! HEBREWS 12:14
The subsequent hours of preparation included periods of deep-brokenness and sincere repentance. It was a SPIRITUAL WATERSHED EXPERIENCE in my life. Similar to JACOB who limped the REST of his life following his night-long encounter with the angel, following my night-long encounter with my LORD, I have “limped” ever since!
That Tuesday morning, I made a vow in front of the hundreds present at Dad’s service! One does NOT make a VOW to GOD and then NOT keep it! My VOW? I PROMISED that from that day until death that I would take time to meditate on the WORD of GOD each and every day and that any days that I failed to keep my promise, that I would confess my failure as SIN and would repent!
In these 35 years, I have kept that vow! I have done a LOT of REPENTING and CONFESSING! However, I have also spent a LOT of TIME in GOD’S WORD.
Given this background, I did NOT set out to establish a COHERENT THEOLOGICAL STANCE as to the “TIMING” of the RAPTURE when I began to fulfill my vow! Simply in READING THROUGH GOD’S WORD without PASSING SCRIPTURE through THEOLOGIAN'S INTERPRETATIONS, I concluded that the GREAT TRIBULATION was going to be against the CHURCH!
One does NOT have to be a BRAIN SURGEON to figure this out.
- PRE – the RAPTURE takes place before DAY 1 of the final 2520 DAYS.
- MID – the RAPTURE takes place on DAY 1260, when the ANTICHRIST imposes his MARK on all the inhabitants on Earth.
- POST – the RAPTURE takes place on DAY 2520.
Given an OPTION, if one is a "PAN" of course one would choose the “PRE” interpretation unless one has sadistic tendencies!
Even though at the time, I didn’t have a “THEOLOGICAL TAG” to ascribe my new eschatological understanding, I had concluded that there had to be a FOURTH POSSIBILITY as to the “TIMING” of the RAPTURE, and that is that it will be directly tied to the SIXTH SEAL!
To summarize my new found understanding, I started believing that on a day that ONLY GOD KNOWS, GOD will sound TRUMPET that will announce the SECOND COMING to RAPTURE the BRIDE of CHRIST, HOWEVER, as PAUL clearly states, “...we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the LORD, will CERTAINLY NOT PRECEDE those who have fallen asleep.” (1 THESSALONIANS 4:15)
There will NOT be a “SECRET” RAPTURE! THE RAPTURE WILL be “SUDDEN”, but NOT “SECRET!” Think about it. For the REDEEMED DEAD to be RAISED BEFORE the RAPTURE, there must be a GLOBAL EARTHQUAKE to “shake loose” all the GRAVES of the REDEEMED to release their REDEEMED CONTENTS!
That, dear ones, means there will NOT be a “SIGNLESS RAPTURE!” When graves around the WORLD are opened, THAT WILL BE THE SIGN THAT THE RAPTURE IS ABOUT TO TAKE PLACE!
I go into far greater detail about a suggested TIMELINE within this website, however, suffice it to say here, scientifically, what or WHO will CAUSE the GLOBAL EARTHQUAKE will be GOD when HE SOUNDS THE LAST TRUMPET!
The symbolic "blowing of the shofar" will release the children of GOD since ADAM and EVE from their earthen prisons!
JESUS stated that the Jews ALWAYS seek a “SIGN” and so there WILL be a “SIGN” that will precede HIS RETURN. THE SUN WILL BE DESTROYED!
HE states in MATTHEW 24:29, “…the Sun will be darkened, and the Moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
That fact IMPLIES that the Sun will be EXPLODED for it to CEASE to give light! Since the Moon REFLECTS the Sun, it will CEASE to reflect that which NO LONGER EXISTS! The Moon controls the GRAVITATIONAL PULL on this planet. To SUDDENLY be darkened, implies a GLOBAL EARTHQUAKE! Scientifically, that is why the EARTH WILL SHAKE! Spiritually, it will be "when the dead in CHRIST are raised."
Recently I produced the following video. Pay close attention to the timing of the RESURRECTION in relation to the RAPTURE.
The vision that JOHN had included what he termed as looking like “falling stars” also fits "SCIENTIFICALLY" within the narrative of an EXPLODED SUN! What JOHN PROPHETICALLY SAW was a meteor shower of “SOLAR ROCKS” entering Earth’s atmosphere! These will continue to strike Earth throughout the DAY of the LORD, the DAY of HIS WRATH which begins with the opening of the SEVENTH SEAL. Within that DAY, there will be the SEVEN BOWLS and the SEVEN TRUMPETS of JUDGEMENT. We know of at least one aspect of that DAY that will last for FIVE MONTHS! Without knowing the DAY or the HOUR of our LORD’S RETURN, we can biblically conclude that THE DAY will be AT LEAST FIVE MONTHS BEFORE DAY 2520! Since we know that the children of GOD are NOT children of HIS WRATH, we can "shorten" the time of GREAT TRIBULATION by at least FIVE MONTHS!
Now, listen carefully to the REST of the verse that precedes the “darkening of the Sun” in MATTHEW 24:29. “Immediately after the TRIBULATION of those days, …”
Like the feeling one gets upon completion of a 5000-piece jigsaw puzzle, when I placed the “TIMING” of the RAPTURE on a day between DAY 1260 and DAY 2520, ALL THE PIECES FIT! Since that BLESSED CONCLUSION, I haven’t found a single passage of SCRIPTURE that make me feel uneasy as pertaining to the “TIMING” of the RAPTURE!
OH, WHAT A BLESSED “RELIEF” IT IS!
About a year after I began my THEOLOGICAL METAMORPHOSIS from a “PAN-TRIBBER” to one who STRONGLY believes in the PRE-WRATH of GOD RAPTURE, a very dear friend gave me a book written by Marvin Rosenthal. I felt “checked” after I did a precursory read of his book, because I was still uncertain myself as to the SEQUENCE of END-TIME EVENTS and did NOT want to be UNDULY INFLUENCED by teachers who know SO MUCH MORE than I know about the subject!
Speaking of PhDs' in THEOLOGY, I have a NEW and MORE ACCURATE acronym for the degree. Puny Humans attempting to understand DIVINE intent! We offer DEGREES in this impossible subject since HIS THOUGHTS and WAYS are SO HIGH above our thoughts and ways!
I wanted the HOLY SPIRIT to confirm in my heart through the simple reading of SCRIPTURE, END-TIME CHRONOLOGY before I introduced any more THEOLOGIANS to my thinking! Once I had a firm grasp on what I believed the HOLY SPIRIT to be saying to me, I then began reading Rosenthal’s book. As I read his book, my spirit kept leaping up and “shouting, AMEN!”
Now, listen carefully to the REST of the verse that precedes the “darkening of the Sun” in MATTHEW 24:29. “Immediately after the TRIBULATION of those days, …”
Like the feeling one gets upon completion of a 5000-piece jigsaw puzzle, when I placed the “TIMING” of the RAPTURE on a day between DAY 1260 and DAY 2520, ALL THE PIECES FIT! Since that BLESSED CONCLUSION, I haven’t found a single passage of SCRIPTURE that make me feel uneasy as pertaining to the “TIMING” of the RAPTURE!
OH, WHAT A BLESSED “RELIEF” IT IS!
About a year after I began my THEOLOGICAL METAMORPHOSIS from a “PAN-TRIBBER” to one who STRONGLY believes in the PRE-WRATH of GOD RAPTURE, a very dear friend gave me a book written by Marvin Rosenthal. I felt “checked” after I did a precursory read of his book, because I was still uncertain myself as to the SEQUENCE of END-TIME EVENTS and did NOT want to be UNDULY INFLUENCED by teachers who know SO MUCH MORE than I know about the subject!
Speaking of PhDs' in THEOLOGY, I have a NEW and MORE ACCURATE acronym for the degree. Puny Humans attempting to understand DIVINE intent! We offer DEGREES in this impossible subject since HIS THOUGHTS and WAYS are SO HIGH above our thoughts and ways!
I wanted the HOLY SPIRIT to confirm in my heart through the simple reading of SCRIPTURE, END-TIME CHRONOLOGY before I introduced any more THEOLOGIANS to my thinking! Once I had a firm grasp on what I believed the HOLY SPIRIT to be saying to me, I then began reading Rosenthal’s book. As I read his book, my spirit kept leaping up and “shouting, AMEN!”
With his book available, it would be an exercise in futility for me to attempt to give a SERIOUS TIME-CONSUMING effort to duplicate what he did. I did however adopt his term as my theological position, “PRE-WRATH OF GOD RAPTURE.”
I found it extremely intriguing to read of his THEOLOGICAL JOURNEY. He was a RADICAL PRETRIBULATIONIST! He was the EDITOR of a large circulation magazine having to do with prophecy. For anyone to submit an article, he/she had to SIGN a document stating that they were “PRE-TRIB!”
It took several months of INTENSE BIBLE STUDY and INTERNAL STRUGGLE for brother Marvin to finally change his understanding of END-TIMES due to the incessant efforts of a close friend who kept challenging him with SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENTS that seem to refute the pretribulational interpretation. It takes a big man to admit a LONG-TIME THEOLOGICAL ERROR! In Marvin's case, it cost him his high position in the organization that he himself had helped to organize, as well as the friendship and support from almost all of his colleagues.
I found it extremely intriguing to read of his THEOLOGICAL JOURNEY. He was a RADICAL PRETRIBULATIONIST! He was the EDITOR of a large circulation magazine having to do with prophecy. For anyone to submit an article, he/she had to SIGN a document stating that they were “PRE-TRIB!”
It took several months of INTENSE BIBLE STUDY and INTERNAL STRUGGLE for brother Marvin to finally change his understanding of END-TIMES due to the incessant efforts of a close friend who kept challenging him with SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENTS that seem to refute the pretribulational interpretation. It takes a big man to admit a LONG-TIME THEOLOGICAL ERROR! In Marvin's case, it cost him his high position in the organization that he himself had helped to organize, as well as the friendship and support from almost all of his colleagues.
There is a SCRIPTURAL BASIS for why “PRE-TRIB” has gained SUCH MOMENTUM principally within WESTERN CHRISTIANITY! DANIEL himself, did NOT understand what he was writing under the inspiration of the HOLY SPIRIT. GOD told him in chapter 12 that the TRUE MEANING of what he was writing would be ONLY REVEALED when the appropriate time came.
I believe that we are at that APPROPRIATE TIME!
Think about how a PROPER THEOLOGICAL POSITION as to the END TIMES would have weakened the EVANGELISTIC FERVOR of the past CENTURY! If in the early 1900's, the church in AMERICA would have held to the PRE-WRATH RAPTURE position, it would have changed a major driving force behind GLOBAL EVANGELISM!
If one REALLY BELIEVES as PAUL taught that the RAPTURE WILL NOT TAKE PLACE BEFORE the "son of perdition" makes his GLOBAL DEBUT in the rebuilt TEMPLE in JERUSALEM, then for the past couple of hundred years, the argument that "JESUS CAN RETURN AT ANY MOMENT" would have been debunked! People who gave sacrificially or who literally went to the ends of the Earth at great personal sacrifice, may have justified to "WAIT UNTIL A MORE CONVENIENT TIME!" The CHURCH tends to PROCRASTINATE! So I believe with all my heart that the HOLY SPIRIT blinded the THEOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING of much of WESTERN CHRISTIANITY to keep the EVANGELISTIC FERVOR at a high pitch. However, now that we are LITERALLY getting very close to the fulfillment of the ABOMINATION PROPHECY, GOD IS BEGINNING TO REMOVE THE SPIRITUAL "BLINDFOLDS" THAT HE HIMSELF PLACED ON HIS ACCOMODATED CHILDREN!
Speaking of "ACCOMMODATED CHILDREN," one is HARD-PRESSED to find evidence of PRETRIBULATIONISM in persecuted areas of the world. For example, I would be SURPRISED to find the doctrine being expounded upon within places like IRAN, NORTH KOREA, CHINA, MANY MUSLIM NATIONS etc, due to the fact that those CHRISTIANS are already living WITH GREAT TRIBULATION! Many have been killed for their faith. That was what inspired me to create this cartoon that I placed in my book.
I believe that we are at that APPROPRIATE TIME!
Think about how a PROPER THEOLOGICAL POSITION as to the END TIMES would have weakened the EVANGELISTIC FERVOR of the past CENTURY! If in the early 1900's, the church in AMERICA would have held to the PRE-WRATH RAPTURE position, it would have changed a major driving force behind GLOBAL EVANGELISM!
If one REALLY BELIEVES as PAUL taught that the RAPTURE WILL NOT TAKE PLACE BEFORE the "son of perdition" makes his GLOBAL DEBUT in the rebuilt TEMPLE in JERUSALEM, then for the past couple of hundred years, the argument that "JESUS CAN RETURN AT ANY MOMENT" would have been debunked! People who gave sacrificially or who literally went to the ends of the Earth at great personal sacrifice, may have justified to "WAIT UNTIL A MORE CONVENIENT TIME!" The CHURCH tends to PROCRASTINATE! So I believe with all my heart that the HOLY SPIRIT blinded the THEOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING of much of WESTERN CHRISTIANITY to keep the EVANGELISTIC FERVOR at a high pitch. However, now that we are LITERALLY getting very close to the fulfillment of the ABOMINATION PROPHECY, GOD IS BEGINNING TO REMOVE THE SPIRITUAL "BLINDFOLDS" THAT HE HIMSELF PLACED ON HIS ACCOMODATED CHILDREN!
Speaking of "ACCOMMODATED CHILDREN," one is HARD-PRESSED to find evidence of PRETRIBULATIONISM in persecuted areas of the world. For example, I would be SURPRISED to find the doctrine being expounded upon within places like IRAN, NORTH KOREA, CHINA, MANY MUSLIM NATIONS etc, due to the fact that those CHRISTIANS are already living WITH GREAT TRIBULATION! Many have been killed for their faith. That was what inspired me to create this cartoon that I placed in my book.
If you have held to the PRE-TRIB position years, do NOT let SPIRITUAL PRIDE keep you from admitting that you may have been mistaken! THEOLOGICAL PRIDE has inflicted MORE damage on the BODY of CHRIST that all the demons of HELL combined!
Following my “COME TO JESUS” transformation in the early 1990’s, I realized that in Brazil, the PRETRIBULATIONAL RAPTURE THEOLOGY had a “DEATH GRIP” on the body of CHRIST within the amazing country. With the exception of the book that I wrote that was published in 1998, I am unaware of a single other book in Portuguese that does not expound the PRETRIBULATIONAL INTERPRETATION! There are many tens of millions of CHRISTIANS in the country that is a “TEXAS” larger than the continental USA! TRAGICALLY, the hellish theology of “health, wealth and prosperity” also made great inroads into the body of CHRIST within Brazil!
Do you see the inherent problem with this POTENTIALLY LETHAL theological combination? IF the church is STILL PRESENT when the GREAT TRIBULATION starts, then these PRECIOUS SOULS will be TOTALLY THEOLOGICALLY UNPREPARED TO FACE HELL’S FINAL STORM, and as such be VERY VULNERABLE to DOCTRINE of DEMONS that GOD really DOES NOT LOVE THEM or HE WOULD NEVER ALLOW FOR SUCH SUFFERING!
The LORD declared that the LOVE of MANY will “GROW COLD” in the LAST DAYS indicating that many will also "GROW COLD" in their LOVE for GOD which could place their eternal souls in danger!
PAUL’S admonition to TIMOTHY is that there will be those who will ABANDON THE FAITH in the LAST DAYS. My concern is that HELL will have a HAYDAY within the CHURCH as the TRIBULATION of the END TIMES due PRINCIPALLY TO ERRONEOUS END-TIME THEOLOGY!
Can you see how that HELL and the CEISP can use FALSE DOCTRINE to convince children of GOD to accept the MARK of the BEAST?
I am convinced that there is FAR MORE INVOLVED in accepting the MARK of the BEAST instead of being only the mechanism to function within a cashless society. I believe that there is a HELLISH PLAN for MIND-CONTROL with the convergence of BIODIGITAL TECHNOLOGY. After all, "MIND-CONTROL" has been the DEVIL'S ambition since the BEGINNING of his rebellion!
Following my “COME TO JESUS” transformation in the early 1990’s, I realized that in Brazil, the PRETRIBULATIONAL RAPTURE THEOLOGY had a “DEATH GRIP” on the body of CHRIST within the amazing country. With the exception of the book that I wrote that was published in 1998, I am unaware of a single other book in Portuguese that does not expound the PRETRIBULATIONAL INTERPRETATION! There are many tens of millions of CHRISTIANS in the country that is a “TEXAS” larger than the continental USA! TRAGICALLY, the hellish theology of “health, wealth and prosperity” also made great inroads into the body of CHRIST within Brazil!
Do you see the inherent problem with this POTENTIALLY LETHAL theological combination? IF the church is STILL PRESENT when the GREAT TRIBULATION starts, then these PRECIOUS SOULS will be TOTALLY THEOLOGICALLY UNPREPARED TO FACE HELL’S FINAL STORM, and as such be VERY VULNERABLE to DOCTRINE of DEMONS that GOD really DOES NOT LOVE THEM or HE WOULD NEVER ALLOW FOR SUCH SUFFERING!
The LORD declared that the LOVE of MANY will “GROW COLD” in the LAST DAYS indicating that many will also "GROW COLD" in their LOVE for GOD which could place their eternal souls in danger!
PAUL’S admonition to TIMOTHY is that there will be those who will ABANDON THE FAITH in the LAST DAYS. My concern is that HELL will have a HAYDAY within the CHURCH as the TRIBULATION of the END TIMES due PRINCIPALLY TO ERRONEOUS END-TIME THEOLOGY!
Can you see how that HELL and the CEISP can use FALSE DOCTRINE to convince children of GOD to accept the MARK of the BEAST?
I am convinced that there is FAR MORE INVOLVED in accepting the MARK of the BEAST instead of being only the mechanism to function within a cashless society. I believe that there is a HELLISH PLAN for MIND-CONTROL with the convergence of BIODIGITAL TECHNOLOGY. After all, "MIND-CONTROL" has been the DEVIL'S ambition since the BEGINNING of his rebellion!
