A description of the pre-trib rapture, the protection of the saints because God takes car of His children who are not appointed to wrath.
1 Thessalonians 5:9 "9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,"
We are living in the time of man's wrath right now, but after the rapture of the church it will be the time of God's wrath, much more horrible than anything man could do.
Isaiah 26:19-21
"19 Thy dead men shall live, together with My dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
21 For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain."
Just as God shut the door on the ark for the safety of those who belong to Him, He will do the same before His wrath that will be poured out on the earth against all evil. God will hide His people in safety during the tribulation period on the earth.
Does anyone believe they can think any way they please as long as they hide their thoughts from others?
If you believe you can hide yourself, just remember the longer you continue in sin in your thoughts the greater the chances of them working themselves out into actions.
God judges the heart, he doesn't have to judge the actions, because before the action can occur, there has to be wickedness in the mind first.
Matthew 15:19 ""For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders."
Jeremiah 17:10 ""I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds."
Far too many people judge others as wonderful because they see people who are doing good deeds or restraining themselves from outward evil actions. Hiding what is in our heart doesn't make us a good person, it just makes us stealthful.
Notice in Jeremiah 17:10 God doesn't mention actions to be judged, He judges the heart and the "results" of the deeds. We are accountable for the things we cause in the lives of others.
Did you know that a person can go all their live without committing adultery, and still have adultery in their heart that will be judged by God?
Matthew 16:4 ""An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah." And He left them and went away."
God calls us adulterous when we merely lack faith and need Him to prove Himself in some physical or miraculous way.
Most people say "don't judge" when it comes to sin but we never hear them say "don't judge" when it comes to good deeds.
It seems to be acceptable to judge someone as good because of their deeds, but not acceptable to judge someone as bad because of their sin. I say that our deeds flow out of our heart but sometimes they are pretense for the purpose of earning kudos from those around us.
Many people will think they have lived a good life in their own righteousness who will be expecting to enter heaven only to be rejected by Christ. These people did good deeds, loved themselves and were proud, never having trusted Christ.
Those who are not changed by Christ but attempted to be good without Him, will be told in those fateful days, "I never knew you, depart from Me." Mathew 7:21-23. I can't think of anything more frightening and devastating than to believe you are going to heaven, only to be turned away at the gates of heaven and be thrown into hell.
It is always a good idea to ask the Lord to expose our own hearts to us that we might confess that which does not honor Christ. This is what cleansing is all about, confessing our sin to be cleansed, first in our heart and then our actions and attitudes will follow. Any attempt to cleanse ourselves is fleshly, will not last and doesn't honor Christ.
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Often we are not cleansed because we don't ask or we ask to show off to others.
James 4:3 "You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures."
If we want to be cleansed, walking with a pure mind we must ask God to do it in us, knowing we have no ability within ourselves to change our own heart. In short, only one who has humbled himself admitting his own inability to save himself or cleanse himself, will God work in their lives.
2 Corinthians 11:4 "For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully."
There are many teachers and preachers who are false teachers bringing a different Jesus, we must learn to be very discerning, we do that by knowing God's Word, while walking closely with Christ.
No one will know truth if they refuse to ask Christ Who lives in them.
John 16:13 ""But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."
Many people choose to believe what they were taught rather than seek God for themselves. They repeat the thing they were taught solidifying in their own minds a false gospel.
James 4:1-10 "4 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?
2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?
6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you."
We must ask God adn we must do it in faith, deciding to believe Him when He speaks, even if what He tells us goes against what we have been taught and that will never contradict His Word the Bible.
