After 21 hours of intense negotiations, the peace talks between the US and Iran failed in Pakistan. Iran refused to commit to the proposal that they will not seek nuclear weapons or the tools that would help them to quickly achieve nuclear weapons now or in the near future. Iran must end all uranium enrichment. But Iran refused.
The goal of Iran to the very end and will never stop to be is to destroy Israel and the US because they are the two forces defending the course of Christ across the globe.
What is very important right now is that Iran is closing the strait of Hormuz. The blockade applies impartially to the vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas.
As a result of this impartial treatment, the US has blocked the strait of Hormuz to everyone. No one will go in or out of Iran.
This situation is a clear indication that this war may likely escalate and bring about the Second Coming of the Messiah.
Now, here is the point: we are about to enter the 7-year tribulation period when God will unleash His wrath on the Christ-rejecting world.
We have Good News and the Good News is that Jesus Christ is coming soon to take all the saved believers in the RAPTURE home to Heaven before the 7-year tribulation period begins because God has not appointed us unto wrath (1 Thess. 5:9-11).
What will happen at the Rapture? At the rapture, all the believers who died in Christ will be resurrected and will have transformed bodies. Every Born-Again believer alive will be “caught up” or suddenly disappear to meet with Jesus in the air.
The body of all that are in Christ from Abel to this time will be changed from mortality to immortality a moment and will be “caught up” (raptured) with the dead in Christ to meet the Lord in the air.
You and I, believers, will be transported to Heaven in an instant. Our physical bodies will be transformed into glorified bodies in the twinkling of an eye. Our bodies will be changed to be just like Jesus’ resurrected body, in which He ascended into Heaven.
Every Born-Again believer alive at this great event will not experience physical death, but will be transformed to be like Jesus immediately. What an exciting and glorious experience that will be for us! (1 Jn. 3:2). The dead in Christ shall rise first before the living are changed (1 Thess. 4:16).
Notice the phrase “the Rapture of the Church” as against “the Rapture of the Saints.” There is a definite difference between them.
The rapture of the church is the one that takes place just before the Tribulation period begins (1 Thess. 4:14-17; 1 Cor. 15:51-53).
The Rapture about the middle of the tribulation is called “the rapture of the tribulation saints” (Matt. 24:40-43; Rev. 14:3-5).
What then is Rapture of the church? The rapture of the church is, an event in which Jesus Christ Himself “snatches away” all Born-Again believers from the earth in order to make way (room) for His righteous judgment to be poured out on the earth during the tribulation period (1 Thess. 4:13-18).
What will happen to those in Christ who are alive at the moment Jesus returns to Rapture the church?
1 Corinthians 15:51 says, “We are not all going to die, but we shall all be changed (transformed)” (NLT).
“The dead will be raised incorruptible, and we who are still alive on earth and remain in faith (the remaining or surviving) ones shall all be changed (transformed)” (1 Cor. 15:52).
What will happen to those that are not in Christ at the time Christ returns for the Church? Those who died without accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour will remain in their graves for another 1007 years after the Rapture of the Church, until they come to the Judgment of the wicked – “The Great White Throne Judgment.”
This is “the second resurrection called the resurrection of the damned.” The wicked is resurrected at this time to be formally judged. They will be brought to the “Great White Throne Judgment” with weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth because they rejected the Son of God while they were on earth, and are now being formally sentenced to everlasting condemnation in the bottomless pit.
All Born-Again believers will be judged at “the Judgment Seat of Christ.” Here is the Good News: The judgment of Christians is the judgment of rewards, while the wicked will be judged at the “Great White Throne Judgment” unto condemnation.
The rapture will involve an instantaneous transformation of our physical bodies to fit us for eternity (1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Jn. 3:2).
We will finally be free from sin and the perils of this world. And we will be in God’s presence forever. And that is why the rapture is a comforting doctrine because it is full of hope (Tit. 2:13).
It is not a doctrine of fear, rather it is the confidence that when Jesus returns, even we who are alive and remain in faith will be with Him forever.And God wants us to “encourage each other with these words” (1 Thess. 4:18).
What of the Tribulation? The tribulation will be a time when the wrath of God will be poured upon the earth and billions of people will lose their lives in the most gruesome way. You will seek to die but death will run away.
The only way to escape this terror is to be saved by faith in Jesus (the finished work of Jesus Christ). Do not procrastinate. Put your faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ right now. He has paid for all your sins in full. Do not be left behind!
Here is what you must know: we were all born as sinners. And because of that, before we were saved, we cannot enter Heaven. We were all heading to an eternal lake of fire because we were already under the condemnation of God.
But Jesus came to this earth some 2000 years ago on a rescue mission. He died on the Cross at Calvary to pay for all our sins – past, present, and future. Instead of us receiving and bearing all the wrath of God that we deserve, Jesus Christ placed our sins on Himself on the cross in our place, and He also bore the wrath of God that we deserve upon Himself.
According to the Scriptures, He died, was buried and on the third day, He rose again defeating death. And based on what He has done for us, we can go to Heaven.
So, when you place your trust on Jesus, your sins are forgiven. Your sins are not only remitted, but you are totally redeemed. Your sins are not only forgiven, but you are totally redeemed from sin and the consequences of sin (eternal death in the burning lake of fire). And also, He redeemed you as His own. The moment you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you are born into the family of God. At that moment you are sealed with the Holy Spirit of God until the day of redemption which is the day of RAPTURE.
What we should do is to receive what Jesus has already done for us by putting our faith in His finished work (trusting in what He did for us). So, we should not trust in ourselves, in how good we are because that would be self-righteousness. The moment you put your faith in His finished work, you have everlasting life. You are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption, which is the day of RAPTURE. The moment you believe, Jesus places His righteousness into your own account. That is why on the Judgment Day God the Father judges you based on what Jesus did on the cross.
Time is running out! Today, you have the great opportunity to change your eternal destiny. Your name must be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life for you to qualify for the rapture. You are not going to be raptured because you are acting nice. You are not going to be raptured because you are a leader in the church. You will be raptured only on this condition: You must be in Christ (1 Thess. 4:14, 16, 2 Cor. 5:17-18).
Watch out for the next edition of the Good News from the Pulpit.
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