Study: What Is The Great Tribulation?

The Great Tribulation is mentioned four times in the New Testament. One of these mentions

is by Jesus Himself found  in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24 in which He linked this period to the time of  "trouble" such as never happened  since there was a nation prophesied of by Daniel ( Daniel 12:1). Both Hebrew and Greek words used in these passages for "trouble" and "tribulation" mean adversity, suffering, and persecution.

There were of course many times in history, including, even now when God's people were being persecuted and suffered greatly because of it, but it is evident from Scripture that during the time of Great Tribulation it will be worse than ever before, and that there will not be another time like this after.

Jesus placed this period after the "abomination of desolation" is set up in the Holy place. Many Bible scholars concluded that this event will be the Antichrist proclaiming himself God in the rebuilt Third Temple in Jerusalem, which is very plausible since the description of his global reign in the Book of Revelation 13:7-10 includes great persecution against both Israel and the gentile believers in Jesus:

"And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear:

If anyone is to be taken captive,
to captivity he goes;
if anyone is to be slain with the sword,
with the sword must he be slain.

Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints."

 

The reason why Bible scholars think  that the reign of the Beast ( Antichrist) and the Great Tribulation are one and the same is that both last for 42 months, but the good news is that this period will be shortened by God Himself when He returns to Judge the earth and throw the Beast and his false prophet into the lake of fire before His 1000 year reign.

 

It is not clear from the Scripture exactly when in this chain of events the Rapture of The Saints will take place, whether before the Great Tribulation, during, or after it, but nowhere it these passages do we see Great Tribulation described as the wrath of God. Furthermore, Jesus told us Himself that in this world we will have tribulation, so I think it is wise that we prepare ourselves spiritually and physically for it just in case.

 

There is also a description of the great assembly of the saints who washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb who according to Scripture " came out of the Great Tribulation." It is found in the Book of Revelation chapter 7:9-17:

 

"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

“Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

 

So, we know for sure that there will be believers in Jesus living during this terrible time. though we don't know whether it will be the Church or the people who will come to faith in Jesus after the Rapture, one thing is certain, God will deliver them out of it in one way or another, and those who die during Great Tribulation for their faith will share  the victory of Christ over the Beast:

 

"And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

Great Tribulation therefore is the reign of the Beast ( Antichrist) and a short lived wrath of the devil, and not of God.

Author's Note: Image courtesy of pintrest.com

Jewish Rabbi Expects The Messiah To Come Through Pagan Portal

One of my friends shared with me an article written by a Jewish Orthodox publication that was both

                                                                                            

interesting and very disturbing. It was about the Palmyra Arch that is traveling the world as a sign if defiance against The Islamic State, but it has really a more sinister purpose.

The Rabbi correctly noticed that the elite behind the work towards the creation of World Government is not a secular group of people, that they do venerate the old pagan deities such as Baal to whom the Arch Of Palmyra was dedicated by the Romans, as well as the Egyptian cult of Isis, and so it is no accident that this arch appears in close relations to meetings of the most powerful world leaders and is not so much as a protest against the destruction of archeological sites by the Islamic State, but an effort tom opening a spiritual gateway for their Messiah.

What was disturbing to me the most in this story is that the Rabbi correctly recognized the spiritual significance of it and yet is thinking that the real Messiah the Jewish people are waiting for could come through such portal!

Really? Does he really think that the Holy God of the Bible would use a pagan portal that is an abomination to Him to send His Messiah through?

If anyone ever comes through such portal it will be an Antichrist of the Book of Revelation, not the true Messiah, and this Rabbi is part of Jewish Orthodox leadership in Israel. This shows me that they are ready to be deceived and will accept this false messiah when he appears, just as the Bible predicted.

For those interested here is the link to the article I referred to, so you can see for yourselves.

Arch of Ba’al, With Shadowy Ties to New World Order, May Be Messiah’s End-of-Days Gateway: Rabbi

 

Author's Note: Photo The Courtesy of alamy.com

Is Great Tribulation The wrath of God?

This question is very important as it is the key to resolving a big debate among Christians today about the timing of an event predicted in the Bible called "Rapture of the Saints" or simply "The Rapture." There seems to be two or even three camps. 

The first camp claims that the period of time called in the Scripture "the great tribulation," is the time when God pours out His wrath on the earth and therefore the Church will be taken away before it begins, and everyone agrees that it will begin with the appearance of a man called "The Antichrist" on the world's stage.

The second camp believes that God's wrath will begin to be poured out in the second half of the great tribulation period and that the church will witness  appearance of the Antichrist, but will be snatched away before he shows his true face as all agree that he will be a very charismatic man, highly respected by the world community who will succeed in bringing peace to the world, especially Israel for a short time and will be even accepted as the Messiah  by Israel, but they will reject him when he desecrates the newly rebuilt third temple by proclaiming himself God, after which he will seek to destroy Israel and will be ultimately destroyed by the return of the true Messiah, Jesus Christ of Nazareth to earth.

And then there is a third camp that believes that Jesus will take up His Church to heaven very shortly before His physical return to earth at the end of the great tribulation period, and then He will judge the wicked of the earth for their wickedness, but all three positions depend on the timing of God's wrath and whether or not the great tribulation is indeed the judgement of God or not.

Personally, I take neither of those positions, but I choose to remain open to each one of these three possibilities. I would love it if the rapture happened before the great tribulation, but just in case it does not, I am preparing myself mentally, emotionally, and spiritually to endure it by the grace of God by walking close with Him and listening to His Spirit.

In the parable of the foolish and wise virgins( Matthew 25), Jesus warned us against not being ready for His coming. All of them were virgins, which symbolizes the believers and all of them woke up when the call went out that the  bridegroom ( Jesus) is coming, but it took longer than they all thought it would and half of them did not have enough oil in their lamps to last until the end. I am putting  extra oil in my lamp by being open to the idea that the end time prophetic events written in the Bible might not come to pass in the order or the timing that I expect. I think it would be wise of all of us to be more flexible in this regard, and to focus more on  filling ourselves with the Word of God and His Holy Spirit, growing  spiritually stronger, and into greater maturity,  and on preaching of the gospel to this dark world instead of fighting amongst ourselves over eschatology.

The Bible admonishes us that we must endure until the end. Jesus told us that we will have tribulation in the world, especially the closer we will get to His return. That means that we are not immune from persecution, as a matter of fact there are more Christians being persecuted and killed for their faith right now than at any other time in the history. What makes the Western Christians who at the moment enjoy relative freedom to practice our faith think that somehow we are better than our brothers and sisters who live elsewhere? Jesus said that the time will come when the whole world will hate us because it hated Him first, so let us toughen up and not get offended at God when things are not easy for us and remember in our prayers those who have it even worse.

He is with us no matter what and  He gives us the power to overcome Satan himself and his hordes of hell by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony if we stay faithful to Him and do not love our lives even unto death. ( Revelation 12:11)

Warning Dream: Russia Declares War Against United States

 Recent escalation of rhetoric between Russia and United States reminded me of a warning dream that I received back in 2015. It was actually a series of war dreams that ended with a dream in which Russia declared war on United States and the West.

In that dream I was shopping in a small convenience store when a sales person interrupted the transaction and said with a very grave expression on her face, " It began. Russia declared war." She did not say against whom, but I just knew that it was against United States and by extension against all its allies including Canada and my native country of Poland.

The atmosphere was tense and despite everything around me going on as usual, I knew that we were living in a quite new world, that the old good days were over. I remember thinking in that dream that this is what must have felt like to all the people on the day World War II began.

This dream ended a series of dreams I had  between May and July of 2015 about war both in Canada and  in Poland, shootings, bombings and fight for survival. I really hope and pray these dreams will never come true, but I believe that we must pray against this possible future coming to pass. These dreams( and I know I am not the only one having them) are a warning from God about what the enemy wants to do and a scary part is that the current U.S. administration is walking into a trap set up by him.

The plan is to create another World War or another form of chaos in The United States, and the rest of the world, so that all the nations would agree to the creation and submit themselves to a new world government, which will be eventually ruled by a man whom the Bible calls the "Antichrist", "The Beast," and " the Man of Perdition."

We cannot stop this world government from forming or the Antichrist from coming, but I believe that through our prayers we can delay it. All who know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour are the Church and collectively we have the authority from Him to destroy the works of evil. We must use that authority now more than ever.

Let us join our brothers and sisters in the United States in prayer for mercy and another revival in their country, as well as for the right leader who could stop that chaos from coming. Now, Donald Trump is not a godly person by any stretch of imagination, but at least he feels in his "guts" what is coming and is willing to try to stop it by developing a better relationship with Russia and by placing his country on a better economical track.

Because if nothing changes in Washington and America stays its present course, Russia will finally declare war on United States. Russia holds America responsible for creating a climate in which groups like ISIS could form and not only did America not taken any responsibility for that, they continue to fund and support rebel groups in Syria in hopes of them forming a more "moderate" government there while in reality they are fanatics ten times worse and more bloodthirsty than current Assad regime that Russia is backing. They will not just look on as Middle East and its oil go down in flames along with world economy. Putin said just as much in his warning to western press that was never aired on any main stream media news and he was right when he said that most Americans have no idea that the world is on the brink of another nuclear war.

"Do Not Fear The End Times"

I watched a very encouraging message this week by  a messianic rabbi, Jonathan Cahn, in which he

said those very inspiring words: "Do not fear the end times." He reminded the audience that though the end times are full of fearful signs to the world and  persecution against both His people Israel and the Church of Jesus Christ, they are also a sign if impending return of our Lord and wonderful sings and wonders of God among those of us who remain holy and faithful to Him.

God is doing amazing things around the world, and we should not be afraid or discouraged by the evil we see daily around us. Instead, we must come closer to the Light and be more dedicated to what is holy and good, only then we can overcome the darkness that is deepening day by day.

But in the deepest darkness the light always shines brighter. We are living in the times when the culture of the world is hostile towards the gospel of Jesus, just as it was when our message just began to be preached. And we know what happened. The empire that persecuted the Church and destroyed the Temple fell apart, her might is no more. So, it will be with that last of empires that is rising now as well as with any other anti-Christ ideology or movement, such as Islam.

The more they will persecute the Church, the greater their fall will be. We must have a long view of things, just as our eternal Father who has an eternal view of things. He may allow evil to triumph for a time, just to uproot and destroy it completely later on. He is the one who fights our battles, so do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but can do no harm to your soul. The victory is on our side.

Below is the link to that video message. Please watch it in your free time and do not fear the end times. I dedicate it especially to our brothers and sisters in Russia, who are also mentioned in this video.

When Sudden Destruction Comes

"Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night."

Those were the words of apostle Paul written to the church of Thessalonica nearly 2000 years ago. I was reminded of that verse when a dear friend of mine who rarely receives any prophetic dreams and visions told me about a dream vision she did have on October 16 th of this year.

In this dream vision she was watching TV when a regular programming was interrupted with a message "destruction in 400 days." She felt that it was a warning that was issued once before and she had a sense of unease and foreboding, as well as a desire to warn others, but had no specifics of where this would take place and what kind of destruction it would be.

When we calculated 400 days from the time she received this vision, we arrived at the date of November 20, 2016. This day interestingly coincides with the end of the "holy year of mercy" of which the beginning Pope Francis proclaimed just yesterday and celebrated it with a show of nature photography using St. Peter's Basilica in Rome as the background.

Could it be referring to Rome? It is quite possible, but we just don't know for sure as we were not given any more information. What we do know for sure though is what the Scriptures tell us will happen in the end times.

The Book of Revelation clearly describes the destruction of the city of Rome in the end times and the Roman Catholic prophecies of st. Malachy as well as the third secret of Fatima seem to echo this as well, though I do not give them the same credence as I do to the Scriptures. But it is a very interesting convergence nevertheless.

Apostle Paul stated clearly that this sudden destruction will be a form of judgment upon  unbelievers and their world system and he charges us to be "sober" and "alert." We can see that the various parts of the world system are unravelling right now and the world leaders including the Pope are trying to use the issue of climate change to bring global unity, calling effectively for UN to begin acting as de facto world government.

This in turn will only pave the way for the appearance of the man whom the Bible calls the Antichrist, who will eventually become a global dictator. In addition to that, just recently, there was a conference held in the United States regarding the ethics of a new technology of DNA editing  that will in theory allow scientists to delete genetic mutations that cause a disease, but it will also alter a person irreversibly in possibly unforeseen ways as well.

Now we have the power  not only to destroy our environment, but also to alter our own genetic code. The Bible warned us of the consequences of that in the story of Noah's flood, in which God was forced to intervene because His creation was being corrupted by genetic experiments done on both animals and human beings by fallen angels. Most people focus on the sin of violence as a reason for this judgment, but a careful study reveals that there was much more going on than that.

Jesus warned us that the days before His second coming would be just like the days of Noah and this is what is happening now. God promised that he would not completely annihilate the world, but He will intervene by destroying the corrupt world system before it destroys the earth.

I encourage all my readers to watch  following video that deals with those very issues.