Subject 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 24-6] Recognize the Coming of The Tribulation and Defend Your Faith (Matthew 24:29-31)
(Matthew 24:29-31)
“Immediately
after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the
moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the
powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man
will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn,
and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with
power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of
a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds,
from one end of heaven to the other.”
In
today’s Scripture passage we read these words, “after the tribulation
of those days,” it tells us in this verse that there really will be
great tribulation on the earth. There will be natural calamities such
as: terrible pestilences, wars and earthquakes, as well as calamities
caused by humans. These are things Scripture mentions as the
tribulation. It clearly says the sun will be darkened immediately after
the entire tribulation has passed. We should be giving this much
consideration instead of simply thinking that; “These are things that
will happen in the end time.” We just cannot afford to glance it over if
we were to apply this passage to our own lives.
The
sun will be darkened immediately after the tribulation. How frightening
it will be if the sun is darkened! Have you ever imagined the sun
becoming dark? How terrifying would it be if the sun was darkened and
the world gets filled with darkness during the daytime when the sun
should be shining brightly! But that’s exactly how it’s going to be
after the tribulation. It is written, “The moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be
shaken.” It tells us at that time, the moon, the stars and the powers of
the heaven will be shaken, then they will all fall from heaven and will
no longer give there light, the sun will also be darkened. The world
will then no doubt become a very dark place indeed. No matter how many
electric generators humans may have, there will not be sufficient to
light up the world. As the result the entire human civilization would
have been ruined, and the entire world would have become pitch dark just
like the sun, the moon, and the stars.
Honestly
speaking, I get terrified and scared when I think about this world
after the tribulation. Can you imagine the stars of heaven falling like
celestial missiles? Have you seen the movie “Deep Impact”? There will be
even greater catastrophe if the stars would fall from the sky. The
world will be shaking, how scary is that? Will this really happen, or
not? It will really happen. This is something that will really happen on
the earth after the tribulation.
Then
when will this tribulation begin? Scripture tells us that the beginning
of the tribulation is when famines, earthquakes and wars become
prevalent and when nations rise against nations. What will it be like
when the tribulation begins? At the beginning of the tribulation Satan
will be very active and will deceive many people. He will be at war
against the true believers, therefore Scriptures record that God will
send down from heaven the calamities of the seven trumpets and the seven
bowls filled with the last seven plagues. It says that God will send
down these calamities. One-third of the trees will be burned up.
Something like a great mountain burning with fire will be thrown into
the sea, and then a third of the sea will become blood, a third of the
ships will be destroyed, and a third of all living creatures in the sea
will die (Revelation 8:7-8). And great hail from heaven will fall upon
people, each hailstone about the weight of a ‘talent’ (Revelation
16:21). These disasters are just a part of the seven calamities to come.
It says that Satan will be against the people even as these things are
happening.
The
sun will immediately be darkened after the passing of all these
calamities. It means that the sun will suddenly become pitch dark. It
would be less frightening if the sun gradually became dark. But how
frightening would it be to face such sudden darkness! How frightening is
it when the electricity of your house is cut off without prior notice?
When the lights go out at night we are unable to do anything and become
rather frightened. How frightening would it be if these calamities
really happen after the tribulation? That ‘the sun will be darkened’,
‘the stars will fall’, ‘and the powers of the heaven will be shaken’
means that the whole God-created universe will be shaken, and it will be
in absolute chaos as the heavenly bodies break away from their
established orbits, crashing into each other and falling away.
During
this time the ‘sign of the Son of Man’ will appear in Heaven (Matthew
24:30). Would it not it be extremely frightening if the stars of the
heaven should crash into each other with violent sounds never
experienced before even with the electrical lights on? But unfortunately
there will not be sufficient electrical power, how frightening would
that be? The passage reads, “then the sign of the Son of Man will appear
in heaven,” this means that the Lord will appear at that time. It is
written, “And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will
see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great
glory.” People of all the different tribes in this world will be so very
frightened that they will be mourning when they see the Lord coming as
the Lord of Judgment with great power and glory. The Scriptures says
that they will cry out and mourn when they see the sign of the Lord’s
coming.
Matthew
24:31 states that; when the Lord comes, He will send His angels with a
great sound of a trumpet and they will gather together His elect from
the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. It says that the
Lord will come on a cloud with great power and glory, and He will send
out the angels with the sound of a trumpet to gather together His elect
from every corner of this earth. This is what the word ‘rapture’ really
means at the time of the Lord’s coming. It is the event of the Lord
lifting up the believers from this earth.
That
is why I regard the truly born-again believers as very precious people.
I also think and believe that ‘the believers’ work of sharing the
gospel for the salvation of souls is precious as well. We should be
proud of the work we do in the Lord and treat one another as ‘very
special individuals in Christ’ because these things will surely take
place on this earth, and the Lord will surely come with great power and
glory. Our Lord will definitely come in this manner, and we are the
precious people of God who will be living with the Lord eternally after
being caught away.
Therefore
whilst living on this earth, we should really care for one other. And
we should live out our faith by believing that we will live with the
Lord in the Millennial Kingdom and the Eternal Kingdom of Heaven after
the rapture. My earnest desire for all of us who have received the
remission of sin is to really care for one another, to uphold one
another in the Lord, and to live with the understanding that each one of
us is a precious child of God.
At
times I have these thoughts running through my head. The Lord will come
at a time when this entire universe, the sky, the wonderful Milky Way,
as well as this earth are completely destroyed and demolished. What then
will the Lord actually do with this ‘destroyed’ world? Will the Lord
start a new development project to rebuild the earth for us to live in
for a thousand years? Certainly not, that is not the way it is going to
happen. The Lord says the following words often in the Book of
Revelation, “I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). When He says
these words, He does not mean that He will reconstruct the world by
relying totally on human resources and technology by mobilizing human
power.
We
may think, “We will never be able to reconstruct this world should the
universe be utterly destroyed,” but I believe the Lord who has created
everything in this universe can again create another world. Also the
Lord is very able and will recreate this universe anew if it does get
destroyed. The Lord will again make both this universe and this world
anew. I also think that the Lord can create another world on an
undisturbed planet and have us live there. In any case, I believe it is
the power of the Lord that He will allow us to rule over the world with
the Lord as kings for a thousand years, and then live happily for all
eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven.
When
we look at ourselves, including the work we are doing, I am convinced
we are doing this precious work. We will be ‘lifted up’ when the signs
of the Lord’s coming appear after the tribulation. The Lord said that He
would first resurrect the believers who are asleep in the grave, and
then send the angels to gather the born-again believers from every
corner of the entire world. All the born-again believers, ‘dead or
alive’ will be transformed and lifted up to the sky at the time of the
Lord’s coming in the sky, and that our bodies will be transformed into
spiritual bodies which will neither deteriorate nor become old.
The
Word in Revelation clearly says that God will choose 144,000 from the
Israelites, 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes, and save them by
putting a seal on their foreheads. The Book of Revelation then says that
countless number of people clothed with white robes will stand before
the Lord giving Him praise. John the Apostle, who recorded the Book of
Revelation, asked the Lord who these people clothed with white robes
were, the Lord replied saying that these were the ones that had come out
from the great tribulation. This means in the end times the Lord will
save many, many people.
During
this time, those who have received the salvation by believing in the
salvation of the Lord who had wiped away all of their sins, will resist
and disobey the rule of the Antichrist and be martyred. It means that,
during the time of tribulation, many people will believe in the Lord as
their Savior and His salvation through the ‘water and the blood’ with
their life on the line. Then the Lord will transform those who are still
living who had received the salvation from the Lord. The Scriptures
declare that the Lord will lift them up, protect them, transform their
bodies into heavenly bodies that will never deteriorate, and make them
glorious and happy forever. I believe it.
During
this end time, many people will come to believe in this gospel of which
we are now preaching. During the tribulation, those who believe in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit will defend their faith with their
lives, and many will become martyrs for their faith. I believe that
there will be a very large number of people receiving the ‘authentic’
salvation in the end time. That is why each one of us is so very
precious. Each one of us who has now received the ‘authentic’ salvation
and serving the Lord in this born-again Church is precious. That is why
we care for one another, uphold one another, bring our strengths
together to serve the Lord, and live together as a single family before
God.
In
fact all the people in this world who have received the remission of
sins ‘in God’ are one family. It is a blessing to be living as one
family and to be upholding and caring for one another with love until
the day of the Lord’s coming. I believe that we have to really love one
other before we meet the Lord. That is why we need to look within the
Church to see if there are any souls that need caring, souls that need
to receive the remission of sin, souls that are going through difficult
trials because we have not cared for them properly. We need to visit and
care for each other and to encourage and support one another’s faith.
The
Word of God as recorded in this Bible will certainly come to pass.
Tragically people do not believe this because they are so ignorant. The
Word of God will really come true. I have witnessed it so many times,
and I am experiencing it at this time too. In my heart, sometimes I
curse those who challenge this precious gospel, by saying; “You are
mounting up God’s curse over your heads. You will surely be cursed. Be
cursed. Be crushed by God and come back to the Lord as lowly beggars
with nothing.” There were many instances when this actually did happen
the way I was thinking. I saw what happened to them and realized that
God’s curse will be upon me too if I challenge God.
All
people who have not been born-again will eventually face this reality.
When people who ‘are not the born-again’ go against God’s Church, and
should the born-again people ‘curse them in their hearts’, the curse
will certainly fall upon these very people who have gone against God’s
Church. God made Abraham the source of blessing. And He said, “I will
bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; And in
you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).
People should ‘recognize’ the truly born-again people and be kind to
them if they desire to be blessed. People receive the greatest blessing
of their lives, by receiving the remission of sins, when the born-again
people share this gospel with them. If the righteous really wants to
send them to hell, all that they have to do is to just leave them alone
and not share the gospel with them.
There
is nothing else that they have to do for it. It really happens like
that. No matter how smart and powerful one might be, if someone who has
not been born again, should be ‘cursed’ by the righteous, saying; “You
shall be cursed!” What we need to remember is that the born-again cannot
do such a thing like this groundlessly, but should someone become an
enemy of the righteous people and hurt their heart very harshly, then
the born-again could very well pass on such a curse. There is evidence
of this happening where some have actually died as the result of having
been cursed.
A
few years ago one of our sisters was harassed and persecuted and was
forbidden to attend God’s Church by her grandfather. So this sister
prayed in her heart. “God, please take my grandfather away as he will
not accept the true gospel and continues persecute me to the end,” and
it actually came true. A long time ago, there was a brother who went to
serve in the military, and there was one senior soldier who often
harassed him. He had such a hard time, and he once asked me, “Pastor
should I report this matter and they will send him to jail? He is
constantly beating me up and harassing me, and I could send him to jail
if I file a complaint.” I told him, “You don’t have to do that. If he’s
really bothering you, then just pray to God. God will then use other
means to send him to jail.” After a while, I received a phone call from
him. He said, “Pastor, that guy actually went to jail.” I said to him,
“Why are you so happy about him going to jail?” He replied, “Well, it’s
nothing to be overjoyed about. But he went to jail anyway.” God is
really on the side of the righteous. God will actually do such things if
the wicked keeps harassing the righteous people of God and continue to
hurt their feelings.
Really
speaking, the righteous keep on giving away good things to everyone in
this world. They give much to people around the world. What about the
people who are not the born-again or those who are simply evil? These
people borrow and take from the righteous, but never pay it back.
Instead they fight and quarrel with the born-again. That is why I live
boldly as I serve the Lord even though I am so insufficient. I can do
this because I believe that the Lord is taking care of me despite all my
insufficiencies. When someone goes against us and does terrible things
to us, all we have to do is to pray to God and curse them, “You shall be
cursed. You will go to hell anyway, and you shall lose everything in
this world. When I observe the way you are living, that is exactly what
will happen.” Then we will witness the Lord taking everything away from
them, sometimes even their very life, and the truth is that I did not
have to do anything but only pray. Because we are witnesses to such
things, we can now live boldly relying on God. We can be courageous and
boldly share the gospel by relying on God who hears our prayers.
We
are the righteous and the precious people of God, and ‘the people’ who
believe in this gospel and share it with others; we are indeed very
blessed people. Firstly after having received the remission of sin the
blessing might not seem much, but the fact is that this is truly an
amazing blessing of God. How many people have heard this Word of the
Truth, this gospel of salvation, which tells us that God has wiped away
all of our sins? Among all the wonderful and joyful news that you have
ever heard in your life, what could be better than this? There is no
news more wonderful than this, the news that Jesus had come to this
world and had taken upon Himself all our sins by being baptized and that
He has saved us by taking those sins, being nailed to the Cross,
shedding His precious blood, and receiving the full punishment for our
sins which was meant for us. In this world I have not heard any news
that is more beautiful than this.
We
once were people destined to go to hell due to our many sins. But the
Lord came to this world, saved you and me through the water and the
blood, and made us the righteous people of God by blotting out all our
sins. How precious are we? The Bible says, “But as many as received Him,
to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who
believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). So how great
it is to those who sincerely believe in Jesus! He received baptism,
shed His blood, wiped away our sins and has now become our Savior by
receiving the judgment on our behalf. As the result of this we have been
given the authority to be called the children of God. These are the
ones who have accepted Jesus and His salvation.
What
a great blessing it is to be a child of God! When those who ‘are not
the children of God’ become abusive and challenge the true children of
God, will have to be extremely careful, as they will inevitably face
utter destruction. They will experience hell on this earth before they
actually go to hell. When a righteous person has been done wrong by a
non-believer who flaunts his wealth and power, causing misery to the
righteous, and whose heart has been pained, should then curse that
person, “You shall be cursed. You shall be penniless, and be a beggar
all you life.” And that will be the end for that sinner who is cursed. A
righteous person may say these things without much thought, but God the
Father listens to the wishes of His child and fulfills them. Therefore,
those who have been cursed by the righteous will face destruction.
That
shows how blessed we are as children of God. What a great blessing it
is to be a child of God! But just being a child of God is not
everything. Becoming a child of God without having the authority as a
child of God amounts to nothing, but we do have the authority as a child
of God. Doesn’t a child enjoy the authority of their father in his
place? Doesn’t the child inherit this authority? Like this example we
are the same. Do not underestimate the salvation you have received. You
must realize what great authority you have come to receive through
salvation. That is why we never submit to this world. We seek and pray
to God with wishes in our hearts, serving and following the gospel by
faith. And the Lord will lead us on a virtuous path as we live by such
faith.
The
world is now becoming more and more unified. A representative of the
IMF (International Monetary Fund) announced recently that they would
increase the value of US dollar. The US stock market became uneasy and
soon after the stock market crashed. One person’s announcement created
havoc, and the stock market crashed. Of course this immediately led to
an even greater price drop of Korean stocks, validating the saying,
“When the United States coughs, Japan catches a serious case of flu, and
South Korea catches pneumonia.” In these times the world has become
interconnected as one. Korea would almost automatically be ruined if the
US stock market should crash. Circumstantial changes in superpower
nations will have repercussions throughout the entire world even though
there may not be any serious changes within the less powerful nations.
The world now is like a single organism that has a mutually connected
relationship, moving as cogs in the wheels that are in synchronized gear
with one another.
Many
peculiar weather patterns and phenomena are occurring around the world
these days. When there is a drastic change in the weather, we should not
be careless and just say, “Well there was a change in the weather
condition. That kind of change is nothing.” But you no doubt know very
well that a disastrous weather phenomenon in one country could have
great economical impact on your country and bringing along severe
consequences as well. We are now living in very precarious times. This
is the period just before the tribulation. We should know that the earth
does not flow along peacefully all the time. It is now flowing along
with a ‘hint of chaotic danger’. Natural calamities will not only happen
on earth, but will also happen outside the earth’s atmosphere,
resulting in satellites and other electronic equipment in space will
become useless. This world ‘will suddenly’ be faced with the
tribulation.
Wars
will also erupt all over as if unintentionally. People will be against
each other, and nations will rise up against each other. A missile of
say mass destruction could be fired upon another country
unintentionally, and that country hit by the missile will not just sit
idly by. It will respond in the same way, and a war will erupt in that
manner. The United States these days are developing space stations
outside of the earth’s atmosphere equipped with laser beams which can
shoot down missiles inside the flying zone of a country that fired the
missile. Although the United States is actually doing this, the problem
is that the whole world is not moving along according to the US plans.
That is why the entire world these days have become very anxious about
China. China has a huge population, and there is hardly any effective
measure against the ‘human numbers strategy,’ which professes, ‘try and
wipe us out if you are able to.’ China will become a country that will
wield great power in the end time. Already we are experiencing China’s
influence in the world community is beginning to increase substantially.
No one knows what the world will be like in the future.
And
the world today is integrated through a new technology field called the
Internet. Through the Internet people are able to connect with an
infinite storage of information, and are able to go anywhere in the
world. The entire world could communicate with each other at anytime and
pay a visit to the United States at any moment using the Internet. This
is really amazing because you do not need much money to share this
infinite amount of information and knowledge.
Korean
people in the United States are able to communicate face to face with
their families here in Korea by simply using the computer screen and a
camera. Not only that a book hundreds of pages long could be sent within
a few seconds using a compressed file format. The Chinese translator of
our books in China sent a Chinese version of our first book through the
e-mail in a compressed file format. How wonderful is it that we could
just decompress the file, print it out, and look at it? How costly would
it be and how long would it take if we were to do so using a postal
service? But they just compress the file in China and click the “send”
button, and we receive it after a few seconds right here in Korea,
sitting in front of our computer. We live in that kind of age in which
the world is changing at an amazing speed.
The
world has truly changed so much. Even this will become old-fashioned
soon. This is an age when 100,000 well-trained Internet hackers are more
useful than one million soldiers. Hackers go into other people’s
computer files and programs, destroy their system, and steal
information. It is like a spy or a guerilla working in cyber space.
There are not many things that we can’t be done with a computer these
days. That is how some unscrupulous people use the computer to hack into
bank computers, get secret passwords for other people’s accounts, and
transfer money into their own accounts. They just sit in front of a
computer and simply transfer other people’s funds into their own
accounts.
As
credit cards are being used more than cash these days, you should use
credit cards very carefully. You must be ever so careful about using
credit cards just anywhere and of course lending them out to others.
Some time ago I went to a small business product exhibition in my town
called Chuncheon City. I wanted to purchase a specific product, and the
vendor insisted on me paying for it with my credit card. I wanted to
purchase it with cash, but the vendor wanted me to use a credit card. He
said that he would give me a discount if I were to use a credit card,
and this is the way things are these days. But I do not trust these
people. How do I know they will not make a copy of my credit card and
use it illegally? I can’t help it even if you do think that I am being a
little too cynical. I do have much doubt about many things. I think,
“No, I had better not give you the credit card. Why won’t you take my
cash? Normally it would better for the merchant to sell for cash. Cash
is always better than a credit card. Why do you want my credit card? You
are probably gaining something from the credit company, and there must
be a reason why you would want credit card instead of cash.” This is the
way things are going in our times.
I
wish for you to understand that we are at the doorstep of the great
tribulation. I want to share the gospel with the entire world and the
people around us because we do not know precisely when the tribulation
will actually begin. We will still be able to share the gospel even when
natural disasters, wars and earthquakes start becoming prevalent, but
we will not be able to share the gospel as actively as we do now. How
could we share the gospel freely during the tribulation? How will we
work vigorously through the Internet, gather together to have worship
services or to listen to God’s Word, share fellowship, publish books,
and share bread together? How will we be able to do all these things? We
will not be able to do so at that time. That is why we are sharing the
gospel now. We are sharing the gospel with all our hearts even though we
lack much. Although I am unable to save the world from the tribulation
with supernatural powers in a flick of a finger like Superman, but I can
share the gospel to save many people from their sins, and that is much
more precious.
We
are working hard to share the gospel as rapidly as possible. That is
why we are publishing books and distributing them through the Internet.
We do not have much ability to do anything else, so we go on publishing
many books and distributing them to people so that they may read them
and believe in Jesus. To tell you the truth our books are like
‘spiritual nuclear bombs’. At first people do not take it very
seriously, but as they continue reading our books, they will begin to
see, “Jesus wiped away all my sin in this manner” and come to believe
and receive the remission of sins. It could be that some readers of our
books may not believe it right away, but when the tribulation falls upon
this world, they may come to realize the Truth saying, “There is no
hope except for the receiving of salvation from God,” and believe in
God’s Word. At the time of the tribulation, many people’s hearts will be
well prepared for the harvest. People who have no hope cannot help but
wait for God’s salvation. In this hopeless age, there is no other hope
except the faith in God’s salvation. This is the greatest hope, the
ultimate hope, and the most definite hope. There is nothing that can be
compared with this hope.
How
many people do you think will receive the remission of sin? God said,
“Gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven
to the other,” and these chosen people are, like us who believe in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. He will lift up all these believers
in the world and crush and trample on all those who are left in this
world, those who do not believe in this true gospel. God will crush and
trample these non-believers, kill them, and bring them back to life
again only to cast them into the eternal fire. The final end for them is
hell.
Those
who challenge God the Creator will face the wrath of God exactly as God
has said in the Scriptures. God will show His wrath on those who do not
believe in Him. When one person goes against another person, the worst
thing that can happen is one being put to death. But when one challenges
the Lord God the Creator, that person will be thrown into the eternal
fire. That is God’s fair judgment. It is all right to challenge one
another and play games and all that between human beings, but a person
will end up in the eternal fire if that person does not believe in Jesus
Christ, who created this entire universe, rebelling against and
challenging Him. God will show what a great sin it is to rebel against,
and challenge Him. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 says “In flaming fire
taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not
obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” People are not excluded from
the judgment just because they do not believe in God owing to their
ignorance. Do you think that will appease God?
Let’s
read 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 together in one voice: “since it is a
righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble
you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus
is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking
vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This
Scripture passage says that there will be an eternal punishment of
destruction for those who do not know God. Those who do not know God are
somewhat like the beasts that perish (Psalm 49:20). You were very able
to see that there is God and that He is the Omnipotent God, the Creator
of the universe, just by looking at God’s great creation (Romans 1:20),
and people will not be able to escape the judgment by saying that they
did not believe because they did not know God. People will receive the
judgment according to their disbelief. A student who does not know the
answers to the test questions for having not studied the test material
will receive a failing grade. In the same manner, God will completely
dispose a person as a non-believer if that person does not know God who
came by ‘the water and the blood’. It means that God will send the
non-believers to hell, cast them into the fire and fan the flames (Mark
9:49). There will be many, many people like that in the end time.
The
very work that Jesus accomplished here on earth is this gospel. The
gospel means the good news. The gospel has the power to rid one of sin
in one stroke. The word “power” is translated in Greek as “dunamis” and
in English we get the word “dynamite” coming from this. Our Lord has
taken upon Himself all of our sins through the baptism and saved us by
receiving the judgment on the Cross-on our behalf. What blessed news
this is, and how very powerful, like dynamite! Were not the sins that
were in our hearts removed since we heard the gospel and believed in it?
“Jesus has taken my sins away through His baptism and received the full
judgment for those sins. All the worlds’ sins had been transferred onto
Jesus. Therefore as a result of this righteous Act, we no longer have
sin.
The
power of the gospel for sure, is like the explosive power of dynamite.
We had many sins in our hearts, but these were removed in one single
stroke through this awesome gospel. The gospel has this kind of power.
The gospel of the water and the Spirit has this power being the true
orthodox gospel. By being born again His way, we go to heaven and become
the precious children of God, gaining this authority as ‘the children
of God’ by being obedient and believing in this gospel. And by having
this Heavenly authority as the rightful children of God we will rule
over this world.
Therefore
being born again by believing in this very gospel of the water and the
Spirit God gave us is truly a great blessing. Although it may not seem
so according to the worldly standards, there is none who has received
greater blessing than you and I as we consider God’s Word as the
ultimate Truth. There is no one in this world who has received greater
blessing than you and I even if we do suffer through many challenges and
difficulties in life and are unable to do many things people of the
world enjoy doing. We are nevertheless truly blessed. There is no one
who has received greater blessing than us even if we were to die at this
moment. We have received this amazing grace. That is why we are always
full of contentment in our hearts. Although we may seem unfashionable
and to be a small group, we nevertheless have received such a great
authority and blessings from God. We are people exactly like this.
That
is why the people who have received the remission of sin should not
compare themselves with one another as the world does. They should not
hate each other, but love one another and help one another whenever they
can. We should help one another by faith, share fellowship together,
and live as one body of Christ until the day of the Lord’s coming. Not
even one among us should fall in our journey of faith. Even the Apostle
Paul also said “Therefore comfort one another with these words” (1
Thessalonians 4:18). I also say to you to comfort one another. We should
realize that we have been most blessed. We should care for one another
and serve the gospel, realizing that we don’t have much time.
If
we share the gospel until the time when we are unable to do so anymore,
the tribulation will then become apparent. And when the tribulation
period is about to end, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not
give off its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of
the sky will be shaken. Then the Lord will come. The signs of the Lord’s
coming will appear in the sky. The Lord will suddenly appear in the
midst of clouds with the trumpet sound of the archangel as He descends
with His angels in the sky. No glorious scene on this earth will ever
compare with the sight we will see on that day. A grand entrance of the
Roman emperor will not compare with its magnificence, and the respect
bestowed upon a visiting chief of state from another country by honor
guards will not compare with such majesty. We will see the Holy,
majestic, and powerful King of kings appear before His creation as God
the Creator, but very different from the modest appearance of the Lord
in His first coming.
We
will witness this incredible sight at the time of the Lord’s second
coming. The Lord will come soon and therefore we should now live in this
world by faith, caring for one another, and in the end we will be
lifted up to be with the Lord when He returns. Soon after this event of
the ‘rapture of the saints’ this world will be destroyed.
The
Book of Revelation states that the Lord will crush and trample those
who reject the Lord’s love and all those who challenge this gospel
because He will be filled with wrath, as it is written, “And the
winepress was trampled outside the city, and blood came out of the
winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, for one thousand six hundred
furlongs” (Revelation 14:20). This verse tells us that the Lord will
crush and trample all the non-believers and it has a further meaning
that being; the Lord’s wrath has reached its full measure.
The
Creator is so very angry at His creatures that He is going to crush and
trample on them. This is exactly what will take place during the
tribulation. Not only will Satan harass the people, but also along with
this, God will pour the tribulation upon them. During this tribulation
period, God will pour down His wrath upon Satan and all those who do not
believe in Him. However I do believe that God will shorten the days of
the tribulation and will pour at this same time His blessings upon us
because there will be many of us righteous people in the midst of that
tribulation. We must also pray and trust God to pour upon us such grace.
Then I also believe that God will pour His grace upon us even in the
midst of such terrible circumstances.
Dear
fellow believers live your lives quietly by faith, for you do not know
how this world will change in the future, am I right? Because this world
is changing rapidly, do not think it's changing in every direction.
This is definitely not the case at all. All things of the future will be
fulfilled exactly in accordance with the Word of God.
In
the very near future, the various peoples and tribes of this world will
jointly establish a certain important organization. Do you know what
type of organization this will be? This organization will possess great
power to unify this world as one. The organization will insist that it
is for the citizens of this world’s own welfare. Currently we are
witnessing a worldwide campaign being waged, and this is called the
human rights protection campaign.
The
‘human rights protection campaign’ proclaims as its main thrust that
everything we do is ‘for the people’ and that we must protect human
rights. And its most important priority is always placed upon the people
and for the people. This sounds very appealing indeed. But in essence
whoever only thinks about the people is in truth rising up against God.
If this movement for humanity becomes organized and gains worldwide
recognition and respect, there will eventually be another organization
led by a ‘certain individual’ which will amalgamate with this
organization, this individual will soon challenge God with his false
power. And as the result of this newly amalgamated organization it will
now grow to a huge behemoth, and any other institution or organization
that does not follow its principles and wishes will be simply destroyed
and pushed aside.
We
are now seeing this ‘type of movement’ already taking shape around the
world. Such movements have in the past manifested itself on religious
unification movements around the world. The religions of the world
namely, Buddhism, Catholicism, Judaism, and Christianity are making
great efforts for unification at this time.
There
is a Buddhist temple nearby Deacon Lee’s house, and during the last
Christmas season, the temple had a “Happy Birthday Jesus” placard
hanging in its front. We saw this placard whilst we were driving and
were passing by this Buddhism temple; we were all taken aback and very
surprised. Not only that, a certain church in the beginning of last
April, actually had a placard hanging in front of its building that
advertised “Celebrate the Coming of Buddha.” How could this be
happening? Maybe it appears good to see different religions sharing good
relationships with one another. But on the contrary we should realize
this is a frightening cunning scheme of Satan. What do humans do when
they get together? They go against their own Creator God.
In
Psalm 2:4, we read “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord
shall hold them in derision.” God sits and laughs at people who join
together like this and challenge God in the name of serving humanity.
Serving humanity seems so altruistic, but it is actually a very
frightening way of thinking. Who would oppose the idea of establishing
an organization that will serve human needs? Everyone will be happy with
it and naturally join the organization. Who will oppose it when they
say ‘anything that does not benefit humankind is an enemy of the
humankind?’ The organization is just fine if it really serves human
needs and respects God. But if the world becomes unified and is led by
‘an organization’ that only serves the human purpose, such an
organization will wield amazing authority and will eventually challenge
God.
People
will be convinced and say that it is solely for humankind, but they are
actually rising up against God. Even though we must believe in God, if
we were only to serve human needs, people will then say, “It does not
matter if people believe in Buddhism, Muslim, or Confucianism. We should
leave them alone. They should do as they please. Why do you people
insist that all of us need to believe in a particular religion as a
must? Why should we believe in one God? That is persecution of human
rights, not protection of them. It is being against the protection of
the human rights,” and as the result of this they will persecute and go
against those who believe solely in God.
Human
rights movement will prevail strongly throughout the world in the end
times. These types of movements are very frightening. The thought of it
makes my hair stand up in fear. As I witness a trend such as this, I
think to myself “Wow, this is an amazingly huge movement that is only
possible in this day and age.” If this were so, were there not any human
rights campaigns back in the previous century? Oh Yes, there was human
rights campaigns like this before as well. But fortunately they were
established and contained within individual countries. But now this
campaign is a worldwide one. Did you know that the environmental
protection campaign has now unfolded and been accepted worldwide? Human
rights protection movements are now all around the world. In some ways
it may seem like a good thing, but actually it is a very harmful
organization. If all the people of the world were to unite their power
and make a world that serves only human purposes, then it will become a
terribly powerful tool for Satan to be used against God. When that
eventually happens, God will crush and trample this world, killing
everyone with hail from the sky or wiping them all away with water and
fire.
Because
these signs are now becoming more apparent in our times, I am telling
you this in advance that we are all heading towards the end time when
humans will be waging a war against God. We will not be able stop this
trend of the world anyway. Therefore we should not waste our efforts
trying to stop the world from rising up against God. We just need to do
what in expected from us. Do you think these things will come about?
Maybe there are those who think these things will only happen depending
on the amount of commotion we create?
We
just need to be faithful to the Great Commission of the Lord to spread
this awesome gospel throughout the world. We will be able to share this
gospel with about half of the world by the end of this year if we are
faithful to this task. According to my evaluation for the year, I have
the full confidence that this can be achieved. Those who quietly do
their best in doing their entrusted work do not create all kinds of
commotion. Such people just get on with their work quietly, and it may
not seem like much. But in the end we were able to see that an
incredible amount of work has been achieved. It is all because they have
worked at a reasonable and consistent pace resulting in substantial
results.
We
believe that everything will be accomplished on this earth exactly as
it is recorded in God’s Word. And I believe whole-heartedly that the
last of the days are not that far away. Therefore we must discipline
ourselves even more and devote our remaining days to the preaching of
the gospel, because the Scriptures declares: The Day of the Lord will
come like a thief in the night.
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