The Level of Intimacy we share with Jesus in this life DETERMINES our position in the Kingdom of God.
Too often modern Christianity focuses on just getting a person "saved", which is, of course, the most important thing overall. Still, I would wager to guess that over half the "converts" to Christianity are false converts. A person may, in a moment of emotional weakness or stress, or because of familial pressure, come forward, say a prayer to "believe" in Jesus and then they are instantly declared "Saved". And since most pastors preach that you cannot lose that salvation, they go about their happy sinful way, devoid of the Spirit of God and without any fear of their eternal future.
Yet, the salvation the Bible teaches is completely different. In fact, I'm reading through ACTS now and I've yet to come across any of the Apostles leading anyone in a prayer to be saved. I just read the account where Peter was preaching to a group of Gentiles, and while he was still telling them the Gospel, the Holy Spirit fell on all of them and they started speaking in tongues! No alter call, no prayer, just a true belief in their hearts that allowed the Holy Spirit to fall. Boy, do we sure need that today!
Another thing the Bible teaches is that salvation is only the beginning of the journey to Heaven. The Christian walk is not easy. It is fraught with troubles, tests, and trials, along with moments of great joy, spiritual peace and purpose! At the end of our journey, rewards are given. This is also something you rarely hear about in modern churches. At the bottom of this post, I'm listing a ton of Scriptures about "rewards". However, I want to focus on the coming rapture and how it is a Reward as well.
There are Three Main Groups of Believers right now in these Last days, and which group you are in will determine your destiny. The outcome of your destiny is determined by your degree of surrender to Jesus.
1. Fully Surrendered. In this group are people who have surrendered completely to Jesus, mind, soul, and body. They have a personal daily walk and relationship with Him. They walk in humility and repentance. Their minds are on things of the Spirit and not the Flesh. These are the Lord's Jewels and will be His firstfruits Bride. They have learned obedience and discipline through trials in this life and have passed their tests. They will be taken in the first rapture wave and nothing else will be required of them. This is not about works. This is about surrender and intimacy with Jesus. I've posted about this group before and listed several Scriptures to prove it.
2. Final Assignment Group. This group is PART of Group 1 Above. These people are fully surrendered to the Lord, but their lives here have been a training ground and preparation for assignments in the first part of the Tribulation. They will remain on Earth for a short time to minister and help Group 3 below and will be given special gifts and talents to do so. This is not a punishment, but rather a blessing and reward to those chosen. The Holy Spirit will be poured upon them with such measure that they will perform signs and wonders even greater than the book of Acts. These people will help those left behind to see why they were left and to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. After they complete their work, they will be brought home. This is an opinion only. Not a fact. I posted it here because I know at least four very Godly men and women, all prophets whom I've listened to for years who talk about this. Since it is NOT contradictory to Scripture, I'm posting it here.
I realize that this may sound really weird and not Biblical to some of you. Believe me, at first, I was skeptical. But I've heard MANY Godly men and women say the Lord has shown them this and many others who have had dreams about this group. We already know from the Bible that the 144,000 Jews AND the two witnesses will be witnessing to the world during this time, so why not more? The Scripture does talk about a final outpouring of the Holy Spirit (The latter rain) that will grant gifts greater than the former. IN addition, we know from Revelation 7 that there is a HUGE Harvest of souls from the Tribulation. How did those left behind come to such saving grace? Someone had to lead them!
3. The Left Behind. These are those believers who were not ready when the Lord returned for His Bride. These are the Five Foolish Virgins, the believers who never fully surrendered to the Lord and didn't live for Him. These are the lukewarm, the wayward. They must endure part, if not all ,of the Tribulation in order to be made ready to meet Jesus. Many in this group will suffer martyrdom. But great will be their reward in Heaven!
I encourage you also to do a study on the various crowns mentioned in Scripture. The truth is, our reward in eternity depends entirely on what we do here! In this short life... 70-80 years... what we do here determines what sort of home we live in, what job we have, and how much authority the Lord grants us to assist Him in ruling and reigning. Yes, there are "Positions" of authority in God's Kingdom. I'm reminded of the parable of Jesus where He grants rewards to his faithful servants to rule over cities and countries. (Luke 19:17) While rewards should not be your motivation for serving the Lord, it's important to know that everything you do here counts. I'm not talking about WORKs. I'm talking about your level of surrender to God and your love for Jesus. Out of those, good works will come. This is well proven by Scripture.
Every single choice you make each day determines your eternal destiny, a determined outcome that cannot be reversed after you leave this earth. Why would you choose to accept anything less than the full outpouring of the Lord's blessings for you just because you chose very poorly in the here and now?
For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Matthew 16:27
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. Luke 6:23
But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Luke 6:35
If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 1 Corinthians 3:14
Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, Colossians 2:18
knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:24
Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. Hebrews 10:35
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6
Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. 2 John 1:8
And all the assemblies (churches) shall recognize and understand that I am He Who searches minds (the thoughts, feelings, and purposes) and the [inmost] hearts, and I will give to each of you [the reward for what you have done] as your work deserves. Revelation 2:23
The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth.” Revelation 11:18
Behold, I am coming soon, and I shall bring My wages and rewards with Me, to repay and render to each one just what his own actions and his own work merit. Revelation 22:12
Greetings Precious Daughter of the Lord of all creation !
ReplyDeleteAmen ! I watched a meeting that was called by a group of "reliable" Christian leaders to question the actions of some of these mega church pastors. A dispicable group in my view. Among them wer TD Jaques, Tod White, Steven Furtic and several other. Boy I'll say one thing, those evil buggers really know how to talk the talk while they evil walk. They were giving the panel all the right answers. When they got to Furtic, again, he spoke very well, but he said something that I felt the panel failed to dig deeper on. They asked how he culd handle such a large number of people in his church. He said; to me it's all about the numbers. We get them in they hear the words, done deal.
And none of the "reliable ones' questioned that.
About a month ago I took a pretty harsh flogging for a post I made about Copeland and that band of Word of Faithers. I showed a video in which he called himself a god, and the I Am. I asked if the followers of these false preachers ahd ever heard the term "guilty by association" or your known by the company you keep. Futher more I said ; because if you support these people so they can push their false message out, if you give them money so they can can spend it on lavish indulges's,, and you share the lies in their lucrative books,, Then you are partakers of spreading "another gospel" that will lead many astray from the true Gospel. And Paul has called a curse upon you !
I also listend saying that the sinners prayer has probably lead more people into a false hope than any other prayer. For all the reasons you mention MaryLu. People think they are all set to go and live their best life now. Yup, the Apostles simply preached the Gospel of Christ and the Holy Spirit did the rest.
Thank you for all the reward scripts, I'm going to copy them and use them for study !
May you walk in His light of Truth thru your week Sister.
Those "pastors" you mentioned! Yikes! They are all apostate. So, I'm not surprised at their answers. Pastor Sandy says that many pastors are FreeMason plants.. put there to get the church off track. I'd say they are doing a great job. Keep posting the truth, Joe. If people weren't coming against you, I'd start to worry you weren't preaching truth! It's only the truth that gets the demons riled up. Blessings on your week, Joe!
DeleteI appreciate your love for and anticipation of the soon rapture of the Church and I share it with you. I am also, as you are, concerned about teaching in the Church that seems to cheapen God's grace and give false assurance of salvation.
ReplyDeleteI think, however, that you should retain some of your initial skepticism about this teaching of three raptures. You mentioned as proof, only that you see many beginning to teach on this topic of a tiered rapture system as described in your article, have had dreams about it, and that it seems to fit for you.
There is very little or no evidence in the Bible that God has designed a three part program for the timing of the rapture. While this seems "fair" or "just" to me as well when I consider it from my own human perspective, I see no evidence that it is taught in Scripture. I would lovingly and respectfully ask you to pray about this post and ask God to clarify His truth on this subject to you before you teach it as fact.
Dear Anonymous, thank you for your comment. Believe me, I do pray over every post. I'm not entirely sure what you refer to when you say a 3-part program for the rapture? Are you referring to one of my other posts or this one? In this post I only referred to those taken and those left behind and the few others whom God chooses to help the left behind. We already know there will be some raptured and some left. That is entirely Biblical.
DeleteAlso from Scripture, we know there will be 3 raptures. One in the beginning of the Tribulation, one in the middle (The two witnesses rise from the dead and are taken up) and one at the end that we see in Revelation 14. So, there are actually 3 raptures in the Scripture. However I have postulated that more than the Two Witnesses go up in the second one, that perhaps those left behind who have now surrendered to Jesus would go. I do not know this for sure, though it certainly makes sense when we see the thousands upon thousands of believers in Heaven who were beheaded for their belief in Jesus. But you're right. I should have labeled this an opinion based on prophetic words and my study of Scripture.
If, however, you are referring to number 2 above which are the people God asks to remain to help those left behind, I cannot tell you how many trusted prophets I have heard that from... Godly men I have come to trust over the past 10 years. However, no, Scripture does not mention that, though it seems like it could be true. Again forgive me for sounding as though it was a fact.
If you are referring to the rapture as a reward for a surrendered life, there are actually many Scriptures that prove that. I've listed them here on the blog many times. Jesus is not coming for a lukewarm Bride who barely gives Him a second thought, nor is He coming for those who walk in the flesh and live to please themselves. Jesus, Himself, tells us to pray to be found "worthy" to escape the things coming on the world.
In any case, I appreciate your kind tone and I take to heart your words to not teach something as fact when it is not found directly in the Bible. I will in the future, label those things as educated opinions. However, I will add that everything I post here is with the intent on helping people make it in the rapture. My mission is to wake up the church and those who are lukewarm and living for this world to fully surrender to our Lord. I am deeply saddened thinking of anyone left behind. So, it is my hope and prayer that God will use these posts to bring people to the Lord. Nothing I have said or posted should be contrary to that. But I take your advice and will pray about it. Blessings,