This is a word of preparation given at a recent Chronos Ministry weekly meeting. When Jesus unfolded the rapture and His second coming to the disciples, He compared an event that was about to happen in their time, the Abomination of Desolation that would bring the destruction of the temple (in 70 AD), to an event that would happen in our time. Specifically the shaking of the heavens.
          “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Luke 21:25-26).
            Notice that Jesus connects this shaking with the other signs of His visible coming and the rapture. Specifically, the final sign of total darkness over the whole earth at the same time. That sign alone would be enough to bring fear. Yet notice Jesus points to the expectation of something that adds to that fear. This fearful expectation is the snare of that Day described in so many of the Day of the Lord passages.
            Fear and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.  And it shall be that he who flees from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit, and he who comes up from the midst of the pit
shall be caught in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall totter like a hut; its transgression shall be heavy upon it, and it will fall, and not rise again. It shall come to pass in that Day that the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones, and on the earth the kings of the earth” (Isaiah 24:17-21).
            We know we are coming to the end of the age allotted to mankind in God’s plan of redemption, the end of the 6th great Day when counting from Adam. We know when Jesus was born (within a window of roughly four years) and we know when He started His ministry when He was around 30 years of age. We can see the Day of the Lord, the final 1,000-year Day, approaching (Heb. 10:25).
            We also know that the Bible speaks of trumpet judgments unleashed after the rapture and the seating of the Church as the heavenly court. The second trumpet angel unleashes something like a great mountain burning with fire that is thrown into the seas and the third trumpet angel unleashes a great star falling from heaven burning like a torch.
            Remarkably, NASA described such a scenario of an asteroid named Apophis that could match these judgments. It is set to strike on April 13, 2029. The Bible calls it Wormwood. After warning about the asteroid, NASA quickly removed the references, claiming that they now expect it to avoid the earth. Just as remarkable is that events like this were used to justify the development of the Space War unit of our military shortly thereafter. Is it possible that these references have been removed because it would bring about an expectation of great fear and the hearts of the people failing?
            Which brings us to why are we sharing this. Knowing what God’s Word records, enables us to be warn our families, friends, and others about what is written concerning these last Days so that they can make the crucial decision to know Jesus as their Savior. Believers shall be removed from the earth just before the trumpet judgments unfold.
            Of course, those left behind can accept Jesus after the rapture and become part of the family of the redeemed. But they will miss out on being part of the Church and ruling government. Plus, they will have to endure God’s vengeance against evil that is unleashed during the first 3½ years of the Day of the Lord (the 7th and Last Day when counting from Adam).  
            The bottom line is that the more we know about the truths of God’s end-time plan, the more we can be about the Father’s business and our Lord’s commission to preach the Gospel and continue His ministry by the power of the Spirit. After all, God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).

            This is a word of preparation given at a recent Chronos Ministry weekly meeting. The truth that the disciples’ beloved Jesus would have to suffer and die on the cross, only to come again was still unthinkable to them as He taught about the end of this age and the final signs. His teaching is commonly called the Olivet Discourse, which is recorded in Mt. 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 21. The disciples were still stuck on their earthly idea of a deliverer who would free them from the bondage of their Gentile oppressors—in this case the Romans—rather than the bondage of sin and the wages of death. This was their first introduction to the signs of this age and the fact that Jesus would leave and would return.
            Nor did they fully recognize the one thing they needed to know about the timing of God’s plan of redemption yet, but they quickly came to see it in God’s prophetic timetable of a “week” of thousand-year great Days (2 Pet. 3:8). So did the apostle Paul when he was miraculously called to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, as we see in his letters to the Thessalonians.
           “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
            Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.  For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved (2 Thess. 2:1-10, emphasis added).
       Notice that Paul says that he had already taught the Thessalonians these things, so they shouldn’t be shaken by any rumors they hear. He taught them God’s prophetic plan of redemption, what we refer to as the Day Code. In verse 6, Paul reminds them of this. “And now you know what is restraining the plan.”
          The religious scholars have come up with various ideas as to who is responsible for this restraining, including the archangel Michael, the Holy Spirit, and the Church’s commission to preach the Gospel to the whole earth. These various ideas come, for the most part, because the Church has ignored the Day Code specifically recorded in the New Testament with the intention that we, too, would be able to understand the times and the seasons in God’s plan.
            Paul even went so far as to give us a reminder. It all has to unfold according to God’s timetable and the corresponding signs that were given by the Old Testament prophets, just as Jesus taught in the Olivet Discourse. Paul then reminds them that the Antichrist, the head of the mystery of lawlessness, will come first. He must be revealed (vs. 3). Joel 2 and Daniel 8:12 tell us how he rises up, how he invades Israel with a coalition of Middle Eastern armies, and eventually enters the newly rebuilt temple. He even goes into the Holy of Holies in defiance of God the Father.
         Every prophesied event shall unfold according to God’s timetable. In case you’re wondering, we shall witness the Antichrist’s invasion and defiant transgression of desolation. The final sign of total darkness over the whole earth shall halt the invasion temporarily. Then the whole world shall see Christ coming in the clouds as the 7th and final great Day dawns with the rapture.
            The amount of Day Code references throughout the Bible should alert us to the fact that God expects us to see that Day approaching (Heb. 10:25). He doesn’t want us shaken. He wants us to be ready, earnestly expecting Christ’s return to gather us together and take us to Heaven as His joint-heirs and ruling heavenly court.   

        This is a word of preparation given at a recent Chronos Ministry weekly meeting. The prophet Daniel was given several visions of the time of the end, of God’s appointed times. One in particular reveals our heavenly calling. “I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened” (Dan. 7:9-10).
        This is the last Day, the Day of the Lord, which dawns with the rapture at Christ’s second coming. The fiery stream is the chariots of fire driven by the angelic escorts that gather the elect. Each believer has his or her own chariot, driven by the angel assigned to them in this life.
            We see in Acts 8 how an angel spoke to Philip to go south to Gaza. Philip just “happens” to encounter an Egyptian eunuch of the Queen of Egypt who just so “happens” to be reading from the scroll of Isaiah. Philip asks the man how it is going and the man admits that he is having a hard time understanding the text. So naturally, or should we say supernaturally, Philip jumps on board the chariot and explains the text by the revelation of the Spirit. Instantly the man believes in Jesus and asks to be baptized in the nearby water. Philip obliges and then is supernaturally carried way (what is called being translated).
            Psalm 103:20 explains this unique ministry of the angels. “Bless the Lord, you His angels, Who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.” This is a vital key in our own time especially as this age draws to a close. The Word is always here, both in the Scriptures and in the revelation of the Spirit of truth within us. Yet Psalm 91:11 also affirms, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” That phrase, all your ways, means the angels minister for us, to us, and with us. In fact, there can be a plurality of angels over us whose divine purpose is to do God’s will.
            But the angels cannot do anything until we give voice to God’s Word so that they can act on it on our behalf. We don’t command them. Nor do we worship them. We simply speak God’s Word revealed to us so they can do His will on our behalf.  No wonder Isaiah 59:21 says, “as for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”
            As we see the Day of the Lord approaching,  it should energize us to share the light of God’s gospel with those around us. Instead of being weighed down by the lawlessness, deceptions, frustrations, and hatred rampant around us, we should bring uplifting joy, peace, comfort, hope, victory and God’s love. After all, isn’t that part of the fruit of the Spirit within us? Doing so can open the door to share the source of our joy and peace, which is Jesus the Savior of the world.
            This is why the baptism in the Spirit with the speaking in tongues is so vital in this age. Tongues is simply speaking a language you haven’t learned, doing so by yielding your mouth to the Holy Spirit to speak God’s specific word for each situation. The angels are God’s tangible intermediaries in our earthly lives, especially in these critical last Days. We need to be aware of this angelic support and know the Word so we can speak it out on earth as it is in heaven.
            [By the way, if you think tongues has passed away once the Church was established, then tell me exactly when it was complete. What event marks that date? Aren’t we still supposed to be making disciples?  Isn’t the Church supposed to be bringing His light to this darkened world until we are taken?
             Paul reminds us in 1 Cor. 13:8-10 that once that which is perfect has come prophesies, tongues and knowledge will vanish. When does that which is perfect come? At the last Day when the Antichrist is defeated, all Christ’s enemies have been put underfoot, and evil has been avenged and contained in the Lake of Fire. Clearly that Perfect Day hasn’t come yet, so these gifts and abilities in the Spirit are still in operation.

      This is a word of preparation given at a recent Chronos Ministry weekly meeting. “Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into” (1 Pet. 1:10).
            Note that our calling as the Church is a time-specific offer. Our relationship is always by faith, believing even though we have not seen Him directly. When Jesus returns, Scripture tells us that the whole world will see Him come and see us gathered to Him and taken to Heaven. People can still be saved after the rapture, becoming part of the family of the redeemed, the family of God. But they will not be part of the Church, for that is always by faith, believing without having seen Him.
            Could it be that one reason for the timing and effort being made to disclose all that the government has collected concerning the UFOs, extraterrestrials, portals and such is part of the deception of this age? The government will have to offer their spin on what actually happened when the whole world witnesses the rapture.
            Notice, too, that the angels desire to look into this plan of God. The angelic council was originally put in place to rule over the created earth. But when Lucifer (Satan) rebelled along with some of the angels, mankind was created and given the delegated authority over the earth. When Satan caused Adam and Eve to question God’s word to them, whereby they disobeyed God and ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they forfeited their authority to the Evil One.
            This is why another man, the last Adam, Jesus Christ the Son of God and the Son of Man, had to come to restore the situation on earth. In doing so, the angels marveled at God’s perfect love and perfect justice. They, too, would no longer have to question God’s position, wisdom, or plan of redemption.
            Incidentally, Hebrews 1 and 2 describe the rest of the plan, particularly in regard to the angels. “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,  has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;  who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they [the angels]” (Heb. 1:1-4).
            Verse 14 adds that the angels are now ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation—that is, the Church, the Body of Christ, both now and after the rapture. Heb. 2:5 confirms, “For He [God the Father] has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels.” Instead, we know that all things shall be put under Christ’s feet and He and His joint-heirs shall reign over the earth from above until every enemy is put underfoot at the final judgment (1 Cor. 15:25).  
            Since we are “in Christ,” 1 Peter 1: 13-16 (emphasis added) reminds us of what our response as His disciples should be. Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” This is the attitude and mindset of a disciple, the seeker mentality, as we see the Day approaching (Heb. 10:25).