An incomprehensible outpouring of love and infinite power is about to furiously leap from the very heart of God. It is a gift of supreme extravagance that God has secreted deep within His own counsel since before the foundation of the world. God, in 2 Thessalonians 2:1, calls it “our gathering together unto him.” We Christians call it “the Rapture.”
The pre-tribulation Rapture is not a promise created in the finite mind of modern man. No human being is capable of crafting such a profound and audacious event. It is not a latter-day brainstorm contrived by misguided mystics. The concept and reality of the Rapture has intentionally remained latent from eternity past in the mind of God until He decided to yield this great secret only to one man - Paul of Tarsus.
Paul was to be God’s new apostle to the Gentile (non-Jewish) world.
"Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the
mysteries of God' ."
(1Corinthians 4:1) The reader understands that the mysteries, or secrets of God, are little studied and infrequently comprehended by most Christians, including pastors and Bible teachers. You now should understand that it was these very mysteries that Jesus personally conferred to Paul during his ministry.
Did not God command us to study His scriptures? Let me remind you of what 2 Timothy 2: 15 commands us. We are compelled to do as this verse states:
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be
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ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
Dear saint, are you following this command of God? If not, you need to honestly begin to confront your reasons for not pursuing His command for your life. Come judgment day as we stand before Jesus, He will ask us why we neglected His word. Obey the command of God.
When we faithfully and prayerfully study the word of God, especially the epistles written by Paul the Apostle, we will learn to apply what we have discovered about the profound mysteries that Jesus Christ personally gave to Paul.
Paul - God’s Holy Vessel
Our holy God, in His sovereignty, chose the method of direct disclosure (knocking Paul to the ground) to Saul, a man identified by God in Acts 9: 15 as a,
“chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and children of Israel.”
God powerfully, albeit gradually, unveiled to Paul new, divine revelations which God desired the entire world to learn, understand and accept. Paul was directed by God to author thirteen epistles, or letters, to the body of Christ, during the time period 52 A.D.- 66 A.D.
Paul completed six epistles prior to receiving the final revelation of the mystery and then followed up with the remaining seven epistles after he received the complete revelation of the mystery. Essentially, Jesus provided a progressive revelation of His mysteries to Paul according to His perfect timing.
By now you are certainly aware that the mysteries given to Paul were “waiting in the wings”
until God decided, in the dispensation of the fullness of times, to lovingly unwrap His heart and permit His great love to pour out upon all peoples, nations, and tongues through the ministry of Paul of Tarsus.
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Our Lord stated in Deuteronomy 29:29 that,
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God: but those things which are
revealed belong unto us and our children for ever…”
God’s many revelations were purposefully kept secret from the Old Testament prophets and the twelve apostles because our sovereign God was going to reveal them to Paul, His chosen vessel, according to His prescribed timetable.
I would like to re-emphasize an earlier point. I unapologetically offer you once again the reality that God had no reason to disclose the Rapture, or any other secret that was to be revealed to Paul, to Old Testament prophets and the twelve disciples.
The Rapture is an event for the “Body of Christ” - the Church, composed of all believers who had accepted Jesus as Savior and who believed in the finished work of the cross. The Nation of Israel has never shared their covenants with the true Church. Therefore, Israel had no awareness of the Rapture as an event in their prophecies.
The Old Testament prophets, as well as the twelve disciples, were deeply entrenched in earthly Kingdom of God. After all, it was what the prophets had been preaching all through the Old Testament.
The very concept of the Rapture would have been inconceivable and would have violated their belief that the Messiah would come to earth to establish His kingdom; not pluck the nation of Israel from the face of the earth and take them to heaven.
The Jews knew that God had promised Israel their own land. Hence, they were expecting an earthly kingdom. Genesis 15: 7 provides that promise:
“And he (God) said unto him (Abram) I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur
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of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit.”
Abram needed yet further assurance that God would indeed deliver on His promise.
God responds by stating in Genesis 15:18:
“In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.”
God had promised Israel that they would eternally have their own land. However, there was to be a specific order of events that would necessarily occur before this could be achieved. No
“Nation of Israel” Rapture was on God’s eternal agenda for His people. To accomplish God’s timetable, Peter and the other apostles preached that after Jesus ascended to heaven, there first must come the tribulation.
At the conclusion of the tribulation, Jesus the Messiah returns. He then sets up His kingdom.
Finally, the Nation of Israel would serve as traveling priests, evangelizing the Gentile nations of the world to bring them salvation, as described in Exodus 19: 6,
“And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.”
We know that Israel was expecting their Messiah to return to earth after the tribulation, sit on David’s throne, initiate the Kingdom of God, and usher in the millennium. Yet when they had their Messiah in their midst, they rejected Him and shared responsibility with Rome by hanging Him upon a Cross.
Isaiah 48: 18 tells of God’s painful lament:
“O that thou (Israel) hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.”
Our Lord Jesus, in broken-hearted tenderness, spoke these words in Matthew 24: 37-39:
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“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”
Jesus Christ knew, of course, that He would be rejected and crucified. Jesus also knew that Israel’s final opportunity to accept Him as Messiah would be through the deacon Stephen, who stood in the court of the Jews trying to bring understanding about Jesus to his “accusers.”
However, the chief priest and men of the synagogue, in great anger after being convicted by the truth of Stephen‘s words, decided to stone and kill Stephen. This final act of unbelief disallowed the opportunity for Jesus to return after an impending tribulation was concluded.
In response to Israel’s rejection, Jesus spoke these tragic words in Matthew 24: 38-39:
“Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you. Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
What was the price Israel paid for their unbelief? Their desolation was truly manifested when, forty years after Jesus’ crucifixion, the temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed in 70
A.D. Over one million Jews were slaughtered by the Roman General Titus. The rest of the Nation of Israel became desolate as they fled Israel, never to become a nation again until God miraculously brought them together again as a nation in 1948.
After Jesus ascended into heaven forty days following His rejection and resurrection, God spoke these words to His Precious Son in Psalm 110: 1,
“The Lord (God the Father) said to my Lord, (God the Son) Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
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When God (not antichrist) directs the enemies of the Jews to invade Israel, God will gather these enemies and will tell His Son to “Go!” and administer severe judgment and death on all the unsaved on the earth. Jude 14b-15 describes the event:
“…Behold, the Lord cometh (to earth) with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
The text states that Jesus is coming to earth in judgment with His “saints” to punish the ungodly. We are the saints who will accompany Jesus when He returns at His second coming.
However, Jesus and His angels will administer the judgments, not His Bride. God’s wisdom positions us as only observes of Jesus’ judgment - not participants inflicting justice.
We will, however, judge the angels:
“Do ye not know that the saints (us) shall judge (rule) the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the small matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels…?”
(1 Corinthians 6: 2-3)
“And the angels (demons) which kept not their first estate (heaven), but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”
(Jude: v. 6) Now, if the deceivers say that we must remain on earth during the tribulation, and if 196
God’s own word tells us clearly that “the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints,”
which is the truth? God’s words, of course!
Jude 14b-15 mentions four times the word “ungodly.” This is intentional to make certain that we understand who it is who will be punished. Is the Bride of Christ ungodly? The deceivers and liars who tell us we must face the seventieth week of Daniel are calling the Bride of Christ ungodly. Jesus will allow no one to insult His Bride in such a manner.
God’s Eternal Plan Switches from Israel to the Church
You have learned that upon the Nation of Israel’s rejection of their Messiah, God in His sovereignty essentially shut down Israel’s prophetic program temporarily. This precluded the hope of having the Kingdom of God established on earth. Jesus Christ, spoken of in Hosea 5:15
wrote these solemn words:
“I will go away and return to my place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face. In their affliction they will earnestly seek me.”
Our Lord said that He would “return to my place…” To what place is He referring?
Heaven, of course. He ascended into heaven after His resurrection to take His rightful place on His Father’s throne. He will return when Israel acknowledges their guilt and their portion in the crucifying the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
God instructs Israel to turn from their sin and seek God once again. And that is precisely what will occur when Jesus takes His rightful position of King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The nation of Israel must turn once again to God - and they will. However, they must first obey what God tells them in Ezekiel 18:30
“Therefore I will judge you, O House of Israel every one according to his ways, saith 197
the LORD GOD. Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.”
It has been established several times that the nation of Israel expected an earthly Kingdom to be set up under the rule of their Messiah. Similarly, it has been stated that the Rapture does not
“fit in” with God plans for Israel.
They are an “earthly” people and Christians are a “heavenly” people. Keep in mind that Christians are not a part of their covenants with God. Therefore, do not allow any pastors or teachers to tell you that you must suffer alongside of the Nation of Israel in the tribulation.
The Gospels According to Jesus
Please remember, and bury in your heart and mind the fact that there were two gospels, or systems of ministry, being preached concurrently under the leadership of Peter and of Paul. Both were valid in the eyes of God, or else He would not have permitted both to flourish. There are no longer two Gospels. The only Gospel God recognizes now is the Gospel of Grace.
This reality remains a sore point for many Christians who yet remain focused only in the earthly ministry of Jesus and His disciples, whose preaching, I remind you, was directed only toward the “lost sheep of Israel - Jews only.”
To reiterate the focus of Jesus’ ministry, Matthew 15: 24 testifies that Jesus was “… sent
only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” Most Christians believe that Jesus’ message to the Jews of His day is our message for today.
Certainly, the Lord Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. Paul has not replaced Jesus. Paul was only a servant, a vessel, for God’s will. We know that Jesus came to earth to save sinners and fulfill the prophecies of the Fathers. Yet the fact remains that Jesus gave Paul the Apostle a 198
“new Gospel;” a Gospel specifically designed for the true Christian Church - the Body of Christ.
God‘s Incredible Mercy with Mankind
God, in His wisdom and sovereignty, decided to change His message of salvation, which was directed to His minister to the Gentiles, Paul of Tarsus. The message of the earthly Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus and Peter preached, was simply to believe that He was the Messiah. Since He had not yet been crucified and resurrected, this was the only message they could preach.
Forgive me for “pounding” Paul’s Gospel into your mind at every opportunity. However, it is the only true Gospel, and you must embrace it or meet a horrible end if you reject it.
The Gospel that Peter preached was based upon a one-two-three system: repent; be baptized; receive the Holy Spirit. Paul’s Gospel (the one all true Christians must believe and follow) is also based upon a three step approach to the direct commands by Jesus to preach the Gospel of believing in the death, burial and resurrection, of Jesus Christ.
I again give you the fullness of Paul’s Gospel is found in 1 Corinthians 15: 3-4,
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”
How important is it to accept Paul’s Gospel? Romans 2: 16 tell us that it is the most important decision we will ever make:
“In the day (the White Throne Judgment) when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”
Did you get that? All non-believers, and those believing in any other Gospel other than 199
Paul’s, from the time of Paul’s ministry until the Rapture, must stand before Jesus at the Great White Throne Judgment (this is not the Judgment Seat of Christ) and will be asked the question,
“why didn’t you believe in the Gospel I gave to Paul?”
The above scripture of Romans 2: 16 clearly spells out to all human beings how supremely important is Paul’s Gospel. Jesus is actually going to question unrepentant sinners about their failure to accept Paul’s Gospel, and hence, salvation. Those who failed in life to listen to, understand, and accept Paul’s Gospel, are doomed to eternal separation from God.
I want to reassure you. This scripture has nothing to do with the true Christian who has earnestly received salvation. The Judgment Seat of Christ is exclusively for Christians with the express purpose of giving Jesus an opportunity to evaluate our “works.”
These works extend from the time we receive salvation until we are Raptured or die. It is not a time of fear, for that is not a product of heaven. It is a time of receiving your heavenly rewards for works will done.
Not accepting the words of Jesus Christ, delivered through direct revelation to the apostle Paul, will cause you to be “left behind” after the Rapture to face the horrors of the tribulation. It remains debatable if a person who has heard, understood and rejected Jesus can still be saved during the tribulation. I know that our God is merciful. This is all I can declare.
However, look at 2 Thessalonians 2: 10-12. This appears to indicate that those who heard the
“good news” of the Gospel, and rejected it, are eternally lost:
“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie (antichrist is the Messiah) 200
that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
These verses clearly indicate that people were actually presented with the Gospel, but
rejected it. The last verse states that “those who believed not the truth” will be damned.
How could a person not believe something they have never heard? They heard, but tragically turned their backs on the truth. Are you included in this lot?
Reflect Upon Your Spiritual Condition
My desire throughout this book was to constantly remind you of the Gospel of Grace, which leads to salvation by believing in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I am responsible to God to provide my readers with truth. Readers can dispute the truth, ignore it, or refuse to embrace it, but doing so spells their doom. How serious is it? Our Bible tells us in Galatians 1: 8:
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you that
which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
Any other Gospel? What does that mean? Time Magazine ran an article on February 25, 2007 that stated “57% of evangelical Christians were willing to accept that theirs might not be the only path to salvation…”
The stunning results of the survey included a finding that 75% of all Christians say there are multiple paths to eternal life, ultimately rejecting the exclusivity of Christ’s teaching, according to a survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
The survey of 35,000 adults provided other startling numbers: 70% of Americans share the view that Jesus is not the only way to achieve salvation. Sadly, the survey discovered that 83%
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of mainline Churches report that many religions can lead to eternal life.
Other results showed that 79% of Catholics, and 59% of historically black churches believe that Jesus Christ is not the only way to get to heaven. A statement Jesus made about His second coming in Matthew 18: 8b, brings the tragedy of the Pew Forum Report into specific focus:
“Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
These shocking survey results clearly displays the fact that the prophesized “falling away,”
or apostasy of the Church, has begun.
The reader is probably aware that one of the “signs” of the end times is, indeed, apostasy.
Webster’s Dictionary defines apostasy as “renunciation of a religious faith.” Those “Christians”
who believe there are other ways to heaven are walking on very dangerous ground. Let us recall the weighty words of John 14: 6:
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me.”
There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of “other Gospels” that have been cooked up in satan’s hell fires. Here is just a sampling of current false Gospels deceiving millions, even billions of people, worldwide:
There will be no Rapture.
Jesus is not the Messiah.
There was no virgin birth.
Jesus did not die on the Cross, but survived and lived out His life.
Life on earth began with “aliens” seeding life on our planet.
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There will be no tribulation; Christians will make the world a better place until we all somehow “just get along and purify the earth.”
Christians are reincarnated, not heaven bound.
There is no heaven or hell.
We are our own Gods. (new age lies)
God wants us rich.
There is no such thing as sin.
We must be baptized to earn salvation (not in Paul’s Gospel).
We must speak in tongues to receive the Holy Spirit (not in Paul’s Gospel).
We can get to heaven by performing good works.
If I live a good life, I will go to heaven.
Don’t believe the Old Testament - it is not for present day Christians.
All you need for salvation is the Ten Commandments.
Prosperity is expected.
Oprah’s New Age Religion
Dear saints of God, these are just a brief look at only a handful of false gospels that satan has created. If you have become a victim of any of these lies, or other similar falsehoods, examine your beliefs against Paul’s Gospel.
If your beliefs do not match up, you are in deep, deep trouble with God. Ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins, and admit to Him that you believe in the Gospel of Grace. If you choose to ignore the Gospel that Jesus gave to Paul, you are ignoring Jesus. Immerse your heart into this scripture:
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“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
(1 Peter 5: 8)
Satan is not in a rush to destroy you. Notice in the above scripture the word “walketh.” He is not frantically running around seeking whom he may devour. He is a seducer. He and his demons know that their time is short, yet satan carefully walks this planet as he subtly zeroes in on our proclivities for sin and puts us in bondage. Be sober - be vigilant.
The Trap of Intellectual “Salvation”
Only you know the condition of your spiritual life. I ask this question; as far as you know, do you just intellectually accept Paul’s Gospel? Or do you sincerely have a deep and profound conviction that you truly believe in the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus?
Now is the time to be completely honest with yourself. Your eternity depends on it. If you give only intellectual assent to Jesus’ Gospel of Grace, the following scripture details the consequences of such a choice: