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Eternal
Gospel: No Beginning and No End Part I
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Then
I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had
the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live
on the Earth to every nation, tribe,
language and people.
-
Revelation 14:6, italics mine
The Bible says the eternal
gospel will be proclaimed to everyone living
on Earth during the Great Tribulation. The
eternal gospel is a collection of changeless and
eternal truths about the Godhead. The eternal
gospel is like a molecule consisting of many
atoms and each atom represents a specific truth.
For example, one atom represents eternal truth:
The godhead will rule over the universe forever.
Another atom represents this eternal truth: By
right of creation, the Godhead owns everything in
the universe. Another atom represents this
eternal truth: Because the Godhead knows
everything, their laws are perfect. Another atom
represents this eternal truth: Because the
members of the Godhead are love, they granted the
power of choice to their offspring. Many more
atoms are in the molecule of the
eternal gospel, but I hope you can see how many
truths combine to make up the eternal gospel.
During the Great
Tribulation, every person on Earth will hear
three critical truths of the eternal gospel.
These three truths are represented in Revelation
14:6-10 as three announcements given by three
angels. Currently, these three truths do not have
the power and authority they will have during the
tribulation, but this does not diminish the
beauty or truthfulness of the eternal gospel.
Eternal truths can be hidden for thousands of
years and still be true! However, when the
appointed time arrives, there is nothing more
powerful than a truth revealed.
Soon, the Holy Spirit
will empower 144,000 prophets and they will
proclaim the eternal gospel with uncommon power.
Everyone on Earth, regardless of culture,
language or religion, will hear them. Right now,
peoples minds are closed by religious
arrogance. God loves us and to open our diverse
minds and overcome our preconceived ideas,
He will traumatize the human race by a global
earthquake and four trumpet - judgments. The
nations of Earth will be ruined. The
infrastructures of life as we know them will
collapse. World order will collapse and a crisis
government will take over. Personal beliefs about
God and in God will crumble. In the disheveled
and chaotic context of the Great Tribulation, the
eternal gospel will radiate with unparalleled
power and authority. Three atomic
truths about Jesus will be proclaimed. The world
will hear the truth about His divine authority,
the terms and conditions of His salvation, and
His wrath for defiance.
The first four
trumpets of Revelation 8 will (a) darken the
heavens, (b) burn up a third of the Earth, (c)
turn a third of the sea to blood, and (d)
contaminate a third of Earths drinking
water. The 144,000 will point to these judgments
saying, Fear God and give Him glory,
because the hour of His judgment [of the
living] has come. Worship Him [the
Creator] who (a) made the Heavens, (b)
the Earth, (c) the sea and (d) the
springs of water. (Revelation 14:7,
insertions mine) The call to worship Jesus the
Creator will be highly inflammatory to Moslems,
Jews, Hindus and other non-Christians who reject
the divinity of Jesus. Many Christians will also
consider this first call of the eternal gospel to
be high inflammatory because they think they can
worship Jesus as they choose rather than
according to His laws and commandments.
Jesus is a mystery
character. Ask some of your Christian friends if
the God of the Old Testament is Jesus or the
Father. The fact is, most of the references about
God in the Old Testament refer to Jesus. Jesus is
Jehovah God, the Yahweh of the Old Testament.
Most Christians do not know this. They think the
God of the Old Testament is stern, legalistic and
deadly, and the God of the New Testament is
forgiving, full of grace and life. What a
surprise it is to them when they realize that
Jesus is the same in both cases! The Old
Testament reveals that Jesus sent a flood that
drowned an entire world in Noahs day. He
also sent fire that burned Sodom and Gomorrah
because divine justice deemed it necessary. The
New Testament also tells us that Jesus will
destroy the wicked at the Second Coming.
(Revelation 19:19-21) This behavior seems
contradictory to the sweet and lowly character of
Jesus as He is described in the four gospels.
This contradiction occurs because Jesus functions
on two different levels. As a member of the
Godhead, Jesus oversees the sin problem on
Earth. As a man, Jesus demonstrated how God wants
us to live in a sinful world. The Creator of
Earth came to Earth to show us how to please God,
not how to be God. Studying the behavior of Jesus
in the Old Testament and studying the life of
Jesus in the New Testament is thrilling because
the atomic elements of the eternal
gospel are revealed through the actions of Jesus!
This is why the book of Revelation exists. The
book of Revelation brings all of the other books
of the Bible together to expose Jesus for all
that He is. Everything we know about the eternal
gospel comes through Jesus. Jesus
answered, I am the way and the truth and
the life. No one comes to [understand] the
Father except through me. If you really know me,
you would know my Father as well. From now on,
you do know him and have seen him [through
me]. (John 14:6,7, insertions
mine)
A
Gospel with No Beginning and No End Part
II
Revelation 7:1-4
indicates that Jesus will select and seal 144,000
people just before the Great Tribulation begins.
When the global earthquake in Revelation 8:5
occurs, these people will begin speaking for
Jesus and they will testify for 1,260 days. Jesus
will give them the words to speak and this is how
the whole world will hear the eternal gospel
during the Great Tribulation. The global
earthquake will fracture the world into
small cells. Travel will be very
difficult and I believe each cell will have at
least one of the 144,000 in it. The next events
will occur in rapid succession. After the global
earthquake, the first trumpet-judgment will
occur. (Revelation 8:7) A fiery hailstorm of
white-hot meteors will burn up a third of the
trees of Earth and all of the grass. The second
trumpet-judgment will be large asteroid impact on
an ocean, causing huge tsunamis that will destroy
thousands of coastal cities and sink ships
by the hundreds. Then, the third trumpet
judgment will occur and a continent will be
impacted by an asteroid which will kill millions
of people at ground zero and it will shatter
geological strata allowing sewage and other
poisons to contaminate underground springs for
thousands of miles. Poisonous water will kill ten
of millions of people. Shortly thereafter, the
fourth trumpet-judgment will fall and a great
darkness will spread over one-third of the Earth.
This darkness may be caused by hundreds of
volcanoes erupting. As far as I can tell, the
first four trumpets will occur within a period of
thirty to sixty days. The death toll from the
first four trumpets will be a staggering 25 % of
Earths population. When these displays of
divine wrath subside, the people of Earth will
sit in darkness and silence. Every family will be
grieving, stunned, overwhelmed and frightened
because they have just witnessed the reality of
Gods authority.
I believe the 144,000
will predict the date of each trumpet-judgment.
This ability will prove they speak for Jesus. The
144,000 will say many things, but the essence of
their testimony will be three simple messages
that have their origin in the eternal gospel. The
first message will be, Jesus is Sovereign
over the nations of Earth. Submit to His demands.
Worship the Creator. The Bible describes
this message saying,
Fear God and give
him glory, because the hour of his judgment
[of the living] has come. Worship him who made
the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs
of water. (Revelation 14:7)
Out of fear, almost
everyone will agree in principle with
the 144,000 at first, because the sudden presence
of overwhelming destruction indicates that more
destruction will be forthcoming if Gods
wrath is not appeased. In an effort to maintain
some semblance of order, the governments of Earth
will impose martial law upon their respective
nations. Rationing will be necessary. The leaders
of Earth will meet for an emergency summit and
the Bible predicts a crisis
government will be formed quickly. In light
of all that has happened, leaders will conclude
that the crisis government must be authority over
all nations for the purpose of appeasing
Gods wrath or more destruction will follow.
Because the popes worldwide appeal, the
Roman Catholic Church will lead a coalition of
religious leaders from all religions in this
effort to appease God. The Bible predicts this
coming event saying,
And I saw a
beast [the crisis government] coming out
of the sea [of humanity]. He had ten horns
[representing ten political leaders] and seven
heads [representing seven religious leaders],
with ten crowns [diadems of authority] on
his horns [indicating political leaders will
exercise authority], and on each
[religious] head a blasphemous name [indicating
the seven religions of the world are opposed to
the authority of Jesus]. The beast I saw
resembled a leopard [this parallels the
swiftness of Grecia in Daniel 7], but had feet
like those of a bear [this parallels the
strength of the Medes and Persians in Daniel 7]. The
dragon [the devil] gave the beast [the
crisis government] his power and his throne
and great authority. One of the heads of the
beast seemed to have a fatal wound [the Roman
Catholic Church was wounded in 1798], but the
fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was
astonished [bewildered] and followed the
beast [did not resist]. Men worshiped
[submitted to] the dragon because he had given
authority to the beast [the crisis
government], and they also worshiped
[submitted to] the beast and asked, Who
is like the beast? Who can make war [resist
the laws of the crisis government] against
him? The beast [crisis government] was
given a mouth to utter proud words [claiming
demeaning the authority of Jesus] and
blasphemies and to exercise his authority [on
Earth] for forty-two months. (Revelation
13:1-5, insertions mine)
A
Gospel with No Beginning and No End Part
III
United in
an Unthinkable Union
The Bible
indicates the first four trumpet-judgments of
Revelation 8 will kill more than 1.5 billion
people over a period of thirty to sixty days.
Because the religious and political leaders of
the world do not understand apocalyptic prophecy,
they will fearfully anticipate that more
judgments will fall if something is not done
quickly to appease Gods wrath. In panic and
in fear of the living God, the
worlds religious and political leaders will
be invited to a summit to discuss Gods
horrific actions. I believe that since the Roman
Catholic Church already has relationships with
most countries, it will host the summit. The
outcome of this meeting will forever change the
governance of the world. The book of Revelation
predicts the leaders of the world will unite in
an otherwise unthinkable union. (Revelation
13:3,4)
When the first four
trumpet-judgments destroy thousands of cities and
millions of square miles, everyone present at
this solemn meeting will be afraid of God. Like
Nebuchadnezzar after he recovered from seven
years living as an animal, the leaders of the
world will humbly acknowledge the sovereign
authority of the Most High God. They will notice
that Gods anger was directed at geological
locations known for degenerate behavior. This
will prove in their minds that God observes the
ways of men. Everyone will clearly understand
Gods wrath against sexual immorality,
violence and other forms of degenerate behavior.
(2 Chronicles 16:9; Colossians 3:5,6) After a few
days at the summit, the leaders of the world will
unite on three civilization-changing matters. First,
the leaders of the world will agree that all
mankind, as one man, must appease God
through repentance and worship; otherwise, the
whole world will be destroyed by Gods
anger. Second, to guide nations in how to
repent and worship God, religious leaders will
unite and form a crisis authority.
Since the world is currently divided into large
groups of religiously diverse people, the
crisis authority will consist of
representatives from the seven religious systems
of the world. Third, political leaders
will agree to follow the counsel of the
crisis authority in such matters of
repentance and worship. In an effort to appease
the Almighty, these world leaders will believe
that if they enforce the mandates of the crisis
authority in their respective nations, Gods
anger will cease.
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