Tag: prophecy

Why keep watch, why be ready?

If you had to come up with one Bible verse or story that sticks out the most to you, one that you cannot forget or that unsettles you, what would it be? Maybe it convicts you, or maybe it confuses you because you wish you understood it better. I’ve had one for several years now, and it just keeps coming back to me. In Matthew 25:11-12, Jesus shares a parable about 10 virgins. Five are called wise, five are called foolish. The parable seems to be talking about the rapture of the church. The five foolish virgins have been left behind. These virgins are upset and they are calling out to Jesus, saying “Lord, Lord, open the door and let us in. His response to them is chilling. At least it is to me. “But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.”

What?! He doesn’t know them? Then why are they called virgins? Why do they know He’s coming? Why are they finally awake and aware, just like the 5 wise virgins? It is a puzzling parable to say the least. I’m no scholar, but I don’t think it takes a scholar to realize that there are people who think they are Christians, who go to church, but who will be left behind when the rapture finally happens. Can I explain what is really going on here? No. I’m not sure anyone totally understands, although I’ve heard a couple of pastors who have tried. Most don’t even bother. When was the last time you heard a sermon on this parable? I bet never! But even if I don’t fully understand, that doesn’t mean I cannot take this parable as a warning. And what would that warning be? Make sure that He knows me. Let me repeat that. Does Jesus know me? 

I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the phrase from some Christian leader, “Do you know Jesus?” Every time I hear it, I cringe. Maybe the better question would be, “Does Jesus know YOU?” Realistically, even the devil knows Jesus.

With that phrase in mind, allow me to share some of the thoughts that I’ve had, as I have pondered this strange parable. Let’s address the elephant in the room first. It’s obviously a prophetic parable, dealing with what can only, in my opinion, be about the rapture of the church. After all, why would some be “left behind”?

I am saddened by the number of people I know who do not want to talk about Bible prophecy. Did you know that almost 30% of the Bible is about prophecy. Much of that prophecy is about Jesus’ first coming 2000 years ago. However, the majority of it is about His second coming, the tribulation, the rapture and the millennium. So why do so few want to hear about it or even talk about it? 

I would venture to guess that it might be because of fear. They are not really sure about their relationship with Jesus and the thought of eternity, dying, or being raptured, is frightening. The majority of churches do not touch the topic, so there is much ignorance in the church. The message of course is that if my pastor doesn’t talk about it, it must not be important. After all, doesn’t the pastor have my best interests at heart? 

I would guess that there is also a lot of false teaching about end time prophecy and therefore there is a lot of confusion in the church. Who does one believe? One pastor says this, another one, says that! And with that confusion is also the idea that prophecy doesn’t really matter. Let’s talk about important things, like the Gospel. We are told from the pulpit, if the topic even comes up, that prophecy is confusing and hard to understand and therefore, not important. But is that really true?

So what does the Bible say about this? 

I became a Christian in the 70’s. I was taught the idea that Jesus was coming back soon. But then I fell asleep like most Christians, and I lived my life. I got married, raised kids, went to church, read my Bible when I had time and didn’t think much about it. Why would I? Life was fairly easy. In the 90’s The Left Behind series of books came out and were very popular. But I think most of us read them like they were fiction, or entertainment, certainly not a warning. If you read them, did you consider them a warning? I bet not.

So what changed? The world! I think many of us woke up after our lockdowns and fear of dying of covid. Too many pastors and friends, family and neighbors died. Everyone knew at least one person who died unexpectedly. Suddenly, we didn’t trust things anymore. Suspicions grew about what we were being told by the media. Some of us woke up. The world began to wake up for sure. There are more unbelievers than you can count, who know something is wrong with the world. They know something big is happening and they don’t understand it. But it frightens them. The church, not so much. We love our naps, don’t we. Coming home from Sunday service and falling asleep in front of the TV is greatly loved. Some of us are too scared to look at what is happening in the world. Some of us just believe that it doesn’t matter, it will happen the way it’s supposed to. Whatever. Don’t talk to me about scary stuff. I’m a Christian and that’s all that matters. 

But if it doesn’t really matter, then why does Jesus tell us repeatedly in the gospels, to “keep watch”? What are we supposed to watch for? And why are 5 foolish virgins left behind? Yes, that verse again. Why are they called foolish? Why does He not know them? Let me share a scripture with you that gives some insight, I think:

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Matthew 24:36-44

I want to point out some things that Jesus tells us in this passage.  Life will be normal, business as usual when he comes to rapture His church. Eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage are normal activities. Two people will be together. One will be taken, one will be left. There’s that 50% again. (5 wise, 5 foolish virgins)

We must keep watch, so we can be ready. He is coming at an hour we do not expect and if we are not ready, if we are not keeping watch, we will be left behind. 

Let me leave you with a final thought to ponder on. If you were engaged to be married, and your bride or bridegroom didn’t care, would you want to marry that person? If they never talked about the upcoming wedding, never helped make any wedding plans, scoffed at the idea of setting a wedding date, and spent as little time with you as possible, would you still marry that person? Why not? Because it would become  more and more obvious, if you are wise, that this person doesn’t love you. They don’t care about spending their life with you. Actually, you would realize you hardly know them. They might have looked good at first, but in the end, they were shallow and uncaring. They wanted to be married because of what it could do for them, but they didn’t love you. 

Now, are we not called the bride of Christ? How do you feel about the wedding day? Are you looking forward to it, searching the scriptures to understand it more, talking to Him about it? Are you, as Paul says in 2 Tim 4:8, loving his appearing? If not, then you might want to examine your heart and see if you really love Jesus. Because if you don’t, then He probably doesn’t know you. And that would be a shocking and terrible thing to find out after it’s too late. Wake up my friends. Be a wise virgin! He’s coming soon. Be ready.

Is revival still coming to this earth?

The year was 2008. I remember getting up early in the morning to watch the news about Hurricane Ike, set to make landfall in the Texas coastal area. As I watched the devastation unfolding, I remember asking the Lord some questions. Clearly this was His judgment on that region and I wondered how He could judge the middle of the country. The coastlands seemed obvious. But I was living in the northern Midwest at the time and we hardly ever had bad weather that could cause such calamity. I know these seem like strange questions and thoughts. But if you know your Bible, you know the Lord uses calamity to wake us up and turn our hearts to Him. So I asked Him, how would you judge this region, the one I’m living in? I was just talking to Him, honestly. It was just a question, curiosity. It’s how I talk to Him. I did not expect to get an answer. But I did. Within 48 hours that storm hit Cincinnati with 70 mph winds and brought devastation to our region. 750,000 homes without power. Some of those homes didn’t get it back for days or even a week. Trees down everywhere. It was a bad storm to say the least and yes, I was shocked at how He answered me. This was in September. Fast forward to January 2009. 

I’m sitting in church one Sunday. The preacher is preaching. The Lord begins to speak to me so loudly that I couldn’t miss what He was saying to me. I heard Him say to me, “just like that hurricane came through this region and not one home was left untouched, so my spirit will roar through this region, and not one home will be left untouched by my presence.”

I wasn’t sure what to think of what I heard. It confirmed other words I had heard from the Lord, and also from many prophets who had spoken similar things in times past. But as with most words spoken by the spirit of God, there is always a time of waiting for that word to come to pass. Years went by. Truthfully, I began to doubt that I had heard Him. Maybe, I had just imagined those words out of my own heart. Maybe, I wanted revival so badly, that I had made it up. But did I?

The end of 2019 was not good. There were many false prophets who prophesied things over 2020 that were not true. They all spoke revival, packed stadiums with people hungry for God, good things about to happen. We all know how that ended. Not well. Many people became disillusioned about prophets and rightly so. Instead of revival, we got lockdowns and closed churches. 

I became so disillusioned with the whole prophetic movement that I stopped going to charismatic churches. The funny thing was, I still believed in prophecy. I still believed in the gifts of the Spirit. But I no longer knew who to believe or what to believe about these things. It seemed so confusing. But I also knew that confusion is not of God. 

During this season I began to listen to Christian teachers or pastors who talked about end time prophecy. They talked about the rapture and the tribulation. They talked about the second coming of Jesus Christ. They made a lot of sense, because what was happening in the world was in fact lining up perfectly with what Daniel and John, and even Jesus Himself, had prophesied would happen at the time of the end. I could see end time prophecy unfolding before my very eyes. But there was always that nagging thought, how about that revival I had heard so much about? 

I saw there were two camps in the church. One believed that the end was near, the only revival they thought would happen, no, could happen, would be during the tribulation when millions would get saved because they finally realize that the Bible is true. But there was also the other camp, insisting that revival was coming. I could see little pockets of revival happening, some of them in prayer groups, others in universities or schools. And there was always those words that I had heard personally from the Holy Spirit, that He would pour out His spirit on all flesh. Slowly it dawned on me what that meant. Joel 2:28 says this: “”And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh”. Notice it says all, not some. All flesh. Not the church. All flesh. In other words, the whole world!

Now why would the Lord do that? I asked myself that question because I was still trying to reconcile, or marry the two different beliefs that the two camps held. Are we in the end times? Or is revival coming? 

It’s been my personal experience that when there are two different doctrines, for want of a better word, in the Bible, it’s probably both. For example, predestination and free will. It’s both, people! Some things are predestined to happen, like the first coming and the second coming. There is a day and an hour! Nothing will change that. But, the Lord also says He will have mercy, and He will pour out His Spirit on all flesh. Why? Because, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 

He doesn’t want to send people to hell. He wants to give all of us, the entire world, a chance to repent before He raptures His church and pours out His wrath on the earth, as shown in the book of Revelation.

It’s funny how things make no sense, and then one day, a light bulb goes on in your mind. Yes, it’s both. Perhaps you have struggled, as I have. Perhaps the shenanigans in the church have left you disillusioned and confused. You’ve watched the scandals unfold over the past year, you’ve heard the false prophecies that did not come to pass and you have grown weary of it all. Let me encourage you with this. Your faith is not in your pastor, some teacher or some internet prophet. Your faith started with Jesus Christ and it ends with Him! He is the author and finisher of your faith, not some man or woman. Seek Him. Seek His word. Get grounded in the Bible. It is the foundation of your walk with Him. When you know the word, it is harder to fool you. 

When the disciples asked Jesus in Matthew to tell them about the time of the end, “Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.“ Why would He make this the first warning? Because that’s the number one sign to watch out for, deception! So be encouraged my friend. Revival is coming, but so is your redemption. He’s coming soon. Be comforted and know that He who has promised is faithful.