UNITY AMONG BELIEVERS - WHEN?

[lastday]

When will all Believers Unite as One?

What is the greatest impediment to Unity among believers as it relates to the return of Christ? We believe those claiming the Great Tribulation is God's "appointed time for wrath" are victims of the same view that Paul sought to correct when he wrote: "The Day of the Lord will not come until the apostasy occurs first and the Lawless One is revealed... standing in the Temple showing himself as God." 2 Thess.2:3-4. When will the prayers of Jesus and Paul for Unity among Believers be realized?

The Great Tribulation is clearly a time of Satan's wrath. From Rev.12:12 to Rev.13:18. Satan will "overcome the Saints" by killing many. That does not make them subjects of God's wrath. God’s wrath is totally destructive of all who refuse to repent when Christ appears. God will "avenge the martyrs" when a pre-determined number are killed. Rev.6:9-11. No Believer is ever subject to God's wrath.

The purpose for the 7 Last Plagues is to "manifest God's righteousness and truth". Rev. 15:4. Once that is done, God's Day of Wrath has come. That is why these Plagues “complete God's anger" (thumos). See Rev.15:1 in The New Jerusalem Bible and all Greek texts. There is hope for all who call on the Lord until the last Plague gives way to God's wrath. No excuse will exist for mankind when His wrath destroys every unbeliever who refuses to call on the Lord for mercy on the Day of His "anger and wrath." Modern scribes do not recognize that God's “long-suffering” (long anger; Greek) will continue to exhibit His patience until the Lastday when that anger pours unabated into His Cup of wrath. Rev. 14:10; Rev.16:19-21.

In answer to the Martyrs’ plea in heaven about the vengeance that will come after a pre-determined number of "brothers and fellow-servants" have been killed first, they were told they must continue waiting a “short time.” The greatest holocaust of all time has been set for an appointed "year, month, day and hour." Rev.9:15. When that holocaust "passes by, having killed two billion people, the final woe comes quickly." Rev.11:14. Hordes of millions of hate-mongers will cross the Euphrates River to invade the land of Israel and annihilate its people.

Seven classes of men hiding in the mountains will be seized with terror when the sun suddenly refuses to shine. Rev.6:12-15. Armageddons are about to be destroyed by Christ on the "Day of God's wrath". The 7 classes will hide from armies invading their land. Armies of 200 million soldiers come from “lands of the rising sun” as the Day of the Lord is "about to occur." These armies do not constitute God's wrath; but Satan’s wrath against God’s people. The people hiding from the armies express their fear of God’s wrath after the last Plagues demonstrate that God's anger, but not yet His wrath, has been "completed." God's anger combines with His wrath on the day Seal 6 signals the Lastday has come and warns of His impending Cup of Wrath. Recognition of this truth will finally lead to Believers' Unity.

Surely, with the sun blacked out on that Day, Believers will know the Day of God's wrath has come. Those who equate the Day of the Lord's wrath with the Great Tribulation must explain why God's wrath begins after the last Plagues manifest that God was holy and true in His deeds. If the Great Tribulation expresses God's wrath, why would He "purify and refine many" during the 3½ years of Satan's wrath? Dan.7:25; Dan.12:7-11; Rev.12:7-11. Why would He rapture the Church and then purge the unfaithful if "judgment must begin with God's people"? I Pet.4:17. The Saints, united in the faith, endure this period of Satan's wrath (not God's wrath) by "loving not their life (in a corporate sense) unto death." Rev.12:11 to Rev.13:18.

Let us consider a current example of the lack of Unity promoted by teachers who claim the Great Tribulation is a time of God's wrath. An article appears in the magazine, "Prophecy in the News" for October of 1999. Published by J. R. Church, it deals with "Preparing for the Great Tribulation." This allegedly addresses what people should do who are not yet Believers...because it assumes only Pre-Trib Believers escape God's wrath. His response was the result of a caustic letter from an unknown person to Gary Stearman. The letter accuses him of "outright lies" and being a false prophet by claiming 2 Thess.2:1 refers to a "pre-tribulation rapture".

First, Stearman quotes Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum's teaching that all sinners will be destroyed on the Day of the Lord. That is correct, except for those who call on the Lord when Christ appears. But His wrath occurs in one day, not over the entire Endtime. God certainly does not destroy 200 million hate-mongers before Christ comes on the Lastday. Without giving evidence, how does destruction of all the wicked identify the entire Great Tribulation period as the Day of God's Wrath?

Stearman ignores the Biblical principle that judgment must starts with God's people. He states: "There is no Scripture that defines Tribulation as directed toward a judgment and consolidation of the church." But that's what Peter said in his epistle: "Judgment must begin with the family of God". I P et.4:17.

Jesus is not coming when some are "ashamed of Him.” Mark 8:38; I John 2:28. Those whose names are written in the "Lamb's Book of Life" refuse to bow to the Beast by corporately "loving not their life unto death." Rev.12:11. They Overcome...the very thing required of each of the seven churches to obtain the reward of ruling with Christ over the nations! Daniel speaks of the need for "purging many" during the final 1290 days. Dan.12:10-11. Their certainty of Deliverance on the single Day of the Lord produces the Unity that refuses to conform to the Beast's commands. It will take Unity and conviction that they will be rescued or resurrected on the Day Christ comes to "destroy the wicked". 2 Thess.2:8.

If Believers are "appointed to God's wrath" during the Great Tribulation, but Pre-Trib Believers are not, why would God punish Trib-Saints who are so faithful that none of them bows to the Beast or wears his mark or accepts his number? Rev. 13:8; Rev. 17:8. After assuming the entire period is a time of God’s wrath, Stearman wavers about the Day of the Lord being "about to come" (KJV) or having "already come." Stearman does not dispute his "post-trib letter writer" who points to the NIV idea that Saints of Paul's day were "deceived" to think the Day of the Lord had "already come". 2 Thess.2:2.

Stearman shifts gears subtly by resorting to the old KJV translation that "the Day of Christ was at hand" rather than the Day of the Lord. He thinks the Day of Christ follows the Great Tribulation and Day of the Lord precedes it. It is poor exegesis to build a truth on a single word like Christ or Lord as if they can be interpreted in two ways. The Day of the Lord has always been "at hand". Isa.13:6. Did the Thessalonians have the Great Tribulation in mind as being the Day of the Lord"? Were they sure it was a period of time rather than a single “last day on which all believers will be raised up”? John 6:38-40.

He doubles the confusion by claiming the Thessalonians had two separate days in mind...the Day of the Lord and the Day of Christ and that the Great Tribulation separates these two “days”. Much confusion has existed during the twentieth century that sees TWO Days of the Lord: one for the "Rapture of the Church" and one for the "Revelation of Jesus Christ." Renald Showers, in a book on "Maranatha," teaches there are two days: A "broad day" that includes the Tribulation and Millennium and a second "narrow day" so that Elijah can truly come "before” the so-called Day of great tribulation. Mal.4:5.

While Pre-Tribs still separate the Rapture and the Revelation by 7 years, most of them now speak of ONE seven-year day of the Lord rather than two days of the Lord, one for our Rapture and one for His Revelation. This idea of ONE “seven-year Day of the Lord” is confusing if both Elijah and the man of sin are “revealed before that day”. Mal.4:5-6; 2 Thess.2:7.
Did the Thessalonians come to think the Tribulation included the Temple's destruction in AD 70? If so, when Jerusalem was "surrounded with armies" and the Temple destroyed (Luke 21:20), their faith would have been shattered when the Lord failed to return. They needed to realize, and we must also, that the Day of the Lord is "Near" when the abomination sits in the Temple and even the Jews will know their deliverance as well as destruction of God's enemies is about to occur. Luke 21:28-36. Deliverance and Destruction must occur after the Temple's desecration for 1260 days but not destroyed as it was in AD 70!

We must understand in what sense God's wrath did occur in AD 70. Jerusalem's predicted fall is the only one of two statements in the Gospels, made by Jesus, with reference to God's wrath. One is that God's wrath abides on all who refuse to believe in Him. John 3:36. The other predicts the "Days of vengeance and wrath upon this people " (the Diaspora), which began with the Roman armies surrounding Jerusalem, would continue until "Gentile Times are fulfilled". Luke 21:22-24.

These days of wrath continue until the Deliverance that comes on the Day of the Lord. God's wrath and vengeance on those guilty of the blood of the Martyrs will bring Destruction on all of the wicked at once and will bring Deliverance to the Elect first...both taking place in the same Hour. God's wrath upon the Jews will be suddenly terminated by the appearance of Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven as they mourn and pray to escape ”after great tribulation”. Dan.7:22-27; Zech.12:10; Matt.24:30; Rev.1:7.

That is when "every eye will see Him coming”, Rev.1:7, and every Believer who pierced Him will also see Him coming in the clouds of heaven. Matt.26:64. Coming with Him in one body is the only literal way to include at least some of those to whom Jesus spoke in the presence of Caiaphas. Jesus will raise them up in glorified bodies and they will be among those who "see Him coming." Who knows but that Caiaphas himself became a Believer?

Indeed, by their resurrection at His coming they may fulfill the prediction made to the chief priest that they would "see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power." That is exactly what happens in Daniel's Court Scene and its aftermath in Chapters 7 and 12 where the resurrection occurs so that the Son of Man comes with all the Saints. "The (Kairos) time to destroy the destroyers of earth" arrives in John's "open Temple of the Tabernacle of Testimony" after the 7 last Plagues. Rev.15:1,5; Rev.11:18..

The Testimony, Tribunal and Triumph of the Temple Court Scene occurs in Daniel 7 and Seal 7 and Trump 7. Believers see Him sitting at the right hand of power and crowned with many crowns because "the appointed (kairos) time has also come to reward the Saints. Chronos-Time ends and Kairos-Time kicks in when “God's Mystery was finished in the days whenever the Temple Drama and 7th Trumpet is about to occur...on the Day of the Lord. Dan.7:9-27; Rev.7:9 to Rev.8:5; Rev.11:15-19; Rev.10:6-7.

Modern scribes fail to distinguish between Luke's predicted destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple's Endtime desecration as predicted in Mark and Matthew. These two Gospels do not specify Jerusalem being "surrounded with armies" as the direct cause of what happened in AD 70 nor even that it leads to the destruction of the Temple. They look beyond the Temple's destruction to the Deliverance that follows Great Tribulation at the end of 1260 days of the Temple's desecration; but not its destruction!

Matthew and Mark do not refer to the coming desecration as God's act or a result of God's wrath! It is Satan's wrath. God's people, the Jews, will have suffered His wrath for nearly 2000 years before they "see signs in the sun, moon and stars...and the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Luke 21:25-27. "Distress and perplexity among the nations" awaits The Sign of the Day of the Lord...with armies already having been gathered to Armageddon.

Scaremongers capitalize on the fears of Christians by writing books that portray God's "wrath" as part of the Tribulation period. Little do they realize the money they amass, while the operation may scare people into God's Kingdom, comes at the expense of perplexity among Believers. It will all come back to haunt those who feed the propaganda mills with the promise that Christians will escape to heaven before the god of this world" takes over the rulership of Mystery Babylon the Great. This teaching will become the fodder for Antichrist to spread "the Lie" that the Christian hope is an empty hope. Falsely, but effectively, he will capitalize on "this lie" that Christ was to come before Antichrist is revealed.

What is "The Lie"? "Christ is not coming at all; for all things continue as they have since the creation of the world". 2 Pet.3:4. Men have denied the flood that destroyed mankind and they deny the Jewish. Holocaust under Hitler. Beast-worshipers will deny Christ is coming because he failed to appear prior to Antichrist as “predicted”. Hitler's propaganda machine against the Jews will pale in comparison to the tirade against the lie promoted by Christians.

The Day of the Lord and the Deliverance of Jews in Luke's account applies to them after "Gentile Times are finished." Luke 21:24. Non-elect Jews will see the Elect, the Believers who pierced Jesus, appearing with their Messiah. That's why Luke omits reference to the Elect and the Great Tribulation and those days being "cut short for the Elect's sake” (although the remnant of Israel saved when their Messiah appears could well be called an “elect of God”). Only Luke introduces the Day of the Lord as the day of redemption from Gentile dominion. Luke 21:28,31. He goes quickly to the need for Jews to "beg to escape when these things come as a snare on all those dwelling on all the face of all the earth." This “Hour of Trial” and their “mourning” is referenced in Revelation. Luke 21:35-36; Rev.3:10; 1:7.

None of the Plagues affect the entire world at once as will God's wrath when Christ appears. Mark and Matthew weave together the blessed hope of what occurs in conjunction with Jesus "appearing with Believers who pierced Him...Believers who had just seen Him sitting at the right hand of power...and coming like lightning...raising every one of them on the lastday...gathering these Elect from earth to heaven (vertically)...and sending angels to gather them out of the four winds from all of the heaven’s extremities (horizontally) in the days after the Great Tribulation"...with two great trumpet sounds!

First the dead in Christ arise. Jesus gathers them and living Believers together above. Then, as the Jews mourn, He sends the angels at the second blast of the great trumpet, to gather the Elect out of the same four winds from all the extremities of the heavens (plural). Mark 13:24,27; Matt.24:27-31.

The Diaspora began the "Days of Vengeance upon this people" which Luke describes as God's wrath and which continues until "all things that are written are fulfilled." Luke 21:22-23. A Jewish remnant of 144,000 from the 12 Tribes of Israel will be kept safe and nourished for 1260 days. Satan changes from "great anger to wrath" against Believers. Rev.12:12,17; Greek. Luke climaxes the "Days of Vengeance" against the Jews with “The Sign of the Day of the Lord” and promises them Deliverance. Luke 21:28.

The big point is that Jesus, in Matthew and Mark, shows Deliverance for the Elect on the same day the Jews "mourn." Jews are not identified as the Elect to support the Pre-Tribbers' claim. Luke urges the Jews to "beg to escape all these things and be able to stand before the Son of Man.” Their redemption from Gentile suppression is near. Their Kingdom is near. Luke 21:31. “The Day of the Lord has come”.

"Every eye," including those who mourn, will literally behold Christ and the Elect, those who had pierced Him, coming together in the clouds of heaven! Jews suddenly realize they too had pierced Him! They will "bless Him coming in the name of the Lord." Their acclamation was the subject of Jesus’ prophecy 2000 years ago. Matt.23:39. This expectation is the one true basis for Believers' Unity!

The Day of the Lord Involves the Deliverance of Israel and Resurrection of all Believers

The Day of the Lord includes the deliverance of Israel and destruction of all of God's enemies on the Lastday: Resurrection Day. Matthew and Mark, in this context, are concerned with the Elect being delivered from wrath on the Day of the Lord. Luke refers to those who are not yet believers as ones who "beg to escape when the Son of Man appears...and the called, Elect and faithful" come with Him. Dan.7:22-27; Rev.17:14. In fact, Jesus urges those who are left behind to "remember Lot's wife and beg to be able to escape all these things if they wish to escape death and stand before the Son of Man on that same day." Luke 21:36; Luke 17:30-33.

Pre-Trib doctrine places the Believers’ Deliverance before the Tribulation instead of on the Day of the Lord. They miss this truth by claiming there are Two Days of the Lord or One seven-year Day. Those who expect a Pre-Trib Rapture will wonder if the Day of the Lord has already come when the Covenant of Daniel 9:27 is signed. They will be troubled by realizing the Antichrist should be revealed "first" as Paul wrote. Hopefully they will know (before they suffer the loss of their investments at the fall of Great Babylon) that the Day of the Lord is not only “Near”, but coming within 1263 or 1264 days!

Stearman assumes the Great Tribulation is the “extended” Day of the Lord and the Day of Christ occurs at the End. He equates the Day of the Lord with what had “already come” and the Day of Christ (old KJV) with what follows the Tribulation. The Day of the Lord is “at hand” during the Great Tribulation.

Did they think they were in the Day of the Lord having missed the rapture or the Temple's destruction was God's wrath on the Elect? One who is confused about the Day of the Lord may fear God's wrath instead of realizing His long-suffering patience, even toward the wicked, remains until the Lastday. A true sense of imminence strictly depends on what must happen at "any-moment" when we know the End of the 1260 days has occurred with the killing of the Two Prophets. There is no certainty in current signs (as of 2002 or to this editing in 2008) to require or even expect an imminent Day of the Lord!

Who will think that God's wrath has come when the so-called "Tribulation Period" begins and the Mideast Peace Covenant is signed? Paul had taught them: "That day would not overtake us as a thief." I Thess.5:2-4. Does wrath come with the Covenant, or the desecrated Temple...or with the Day Christ returns? Many will be troubled when they enter the first half of Daniel's 70th Seven, witness the Temple being built and then seek explanations as to why the Rapture has not occurred. They will claim the Covenant is still future since Antichrist was not revealed. He must be revealed "first" by setting an abomination in the Temple; not by signing the Covenant. Confirming the Covenant, he is just “one of many.” Dan.9:27.

Stearman reveals his subtleness by applying the KJV idea to a Post-Trib coming of Christ to destroy the Lawless One after applying the NIV idea to the Day of the Lord having already come. He argues the Day of Christ as "at hand" (KJV) does not apply to Pre-Trib Saints. Nor does it apply to the revelation of the Lawless One. He links the Day of the Lord to the Thessalonians thinking they were already in the Day of Wrath. Paul dispels such thinking; for none are “appointed to wrath." I Thess.5:9. The problem arises because that single Day cannot be recognized until the sun ceases to shine on the Lastday!

Believers will wake up to their false view that only Trib-Saints suffer God's “wrath.” How can they justify putting faithful Endtime Saints under God's wrath? When the sun refuses to shine, signifying the Day of God's destructive wrath has come, we believe that single Day will include the Rapture of the Saints and redemption of Israel as of the 7th Trumpet. Rev.6:12-17; Mark 13:24-27; Luke 21:28-31. Great Tribulation cannot be called the Day of Wrath since the Plagues must first "complete God’s anger." Rev. 15:1. See The New Jerusalem Bible.

Hidden Truth about the Timing of God's Wrath

The fact that God's wrath begins with the 7th Trumpet is hidden because English translations confuse the timing by rendering "thumos" as wrath instead of anger. Rev.15:1; 16:1. Over and over, Stearman assumes Matt.24:21 signifies the Day of the Lord is the Great Tribulation of God's wrath. He fails to include the word of Jesus that this unknown day of the Lord comes "after the great tribulation." Matt. 24:29,36. If that Day is the Great Tribulation, how can it come after the Tribulation? Does this not show Unity is impossible as long as the Day of the Lord is identified as the Great Tribulation?

Stearman is inconsistent in saying, on Page 10: "The day that shall come...does not refer to the rapture; but to the Day of Christ." He explains: "That day (Day of Christ) shall not come until two conditions are fulfilled: “the falling away and unveiling of the man of sin”. Two things must happen prior to the Day of Christ but not prior to the Day of the Lord. He refers to the “apostasy and man of sin.” Jesus put the Sign of His coming, as part of the Day of Wrath, after the Great Tribulation. Stearman has to flip-flop by saying the Day of Christ is NOT the Rapture-Day and that two things precede the Day of the Lord. If these "two things must happen prior to Great Tribulation as the time of God's wrath, he automatically contradicts Jesus who puts that Day “after the Great Tribulation.” Matt.24:29; Mark 13:24.

He seeks also to support his view of the Day of the Lord coming prior to the Day of Christ by reviving a teaching introduced by a contributor to the Scofield Bible, E. Schuyler English, i.e., that the "falling away which comes first" refers to the Rapture. It was a novel idea to change the meaning of "falling away from the truth” to the "departure of the true Church from earth.” It suggests we can be deceived by not realizing the Church must "depart" before the Great Tribulation. It was an attempt to justify the Church being raptured "first" when Paul states the Antichrist must be revealed "first." I was a student at Theological Seminary in the forties when its President, another Scofield editor, promoted this view.

Stearman turns desperately to this idea that the "falling away" refers to the rapture of the Church before the Day of the Lord. This is a subtle twist of truth. He claims the caustic post-trib letter writer's analysis is "mistaken" because the "day that is to come" is the Day of Christ; not the Day of the Lord...because it is false teaching to think the Day of the Lord and Day of Christ are one and the same.

Stearman actually uses the post-trib view of the Deliverance of the Saints by changing the Day of the Lord to the Day of Christ. He offers no evidence of a post-trib Day of Christ that brings deliverance for Israel but not for the Saints! He wavers between the idea of the Day of Christ being "about to come" as opposed to the Thessalonians thinking the Day of the Lord had "already come."

Then he resorts to "apostasy" as a departure of the Church from earth instead of a "falling away" from truth. He rejects "rebellion" (NIV) and "falling away" (KJV). Is it right to require two conditions prior to both the Day of the Lord (NIV) and Day of Christ (KJV) and then put only the rapture before the Day of the Lord? Why not accept the truth that Jesus promised to “destroy the wicked and raise all believers on the lastday and gather them from earth to heaven”? John 6:39-40; Mark 13:27.

Stearman assumes what he doesn't try to prove. This is a common tactic. He states over and over that the Great Tribulation is the Day of the Lord. He claims the "falling away," meaning the rapture of the Church, occurs before the Great Tribulation ...the Day of the Lord." Most modern scribes equate the entire 70th Week with the Day of the Lord. They have abandoned the "departure of the church" idea and adopted the explanation that the Church is the restrainer that must be "taken out of the way" before Antichrist can be revealed. That is just saying the Rapture comes before the Rapture Day of the Lord. With that as a common denominator, there can be no Unity.

What is the Final Form of Restraint against Evil?

We believe, instead, that the influence of the "Iron" of Daniel's great image (in the form of Democracy and human rights) is having its final global impact through its movement toward world government and the end to terrorism. That will produce “Babylon the Great” against which God’s hate and that of Ten Kings will be mutually directed...but not at first. Rev.17:16; Rev.18:6-8. Judgment begins with the apostate Church after Babylon rules the nations a “short time”. “Judgment must begin with the House of God who allows "Ten Kings" who hate the global system to remove Babylon in one Hour by Fire. I Pet.4:17. Antichrist will break the Covenant. Then the true Church will shine forth under Satan's wrath.

If the Rapture does not occur first, "The Lie" that God sends those who reject the Gospel will delude them after the Lawless One is revealed, i. e, that "Christ is not coming." They will jeer: "Where is the promise (or even the Sign) of His coming? Everything continues as it has from creation's beginning”. 2 Thess.2:11; 2 Pet.3:4. They will say: "Kill the crazies. Only the insane would propagate the fantasy of being taken to heaven before Messiah appears. Our Messiah has appeared already." The moderns help produce the lie by insisting, before the Tribulation and the Wicked One is revealed, "the rapture will occur." Stearman must be guilty if, as he says, "it seems the falling away refers to the rapture itself."

Stearman identifies Seal 6 as the "beginning of the Tribulation Period of God's wrath." Our Website presents the Sign as a warning of God's wrath at the beginning of "the Day of Wrath...after the Great Tribulation". During that day many events occur before the Hour Christ appears. Seal 6 heralds the Day and the 7th Trumpet heralds the Hour of Wrath. In Revelation 100 verses describe events between the decree that “It is Done” and the Hour Christ appears with all the Saints and destroys the wicked. Every eye will see Him because the glory of His presence will overwhelm the blight of a darkened sun.

Stearman correctly states: "The church is not called to endure the Wrath of God." But why should Trib-Saints endure His wrath? In Revelation's prophetic sections, Saints replace the church as those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation of the world. Rev.13:8; Rev.17:8. They “die in the Lord and are blessed because their works follow them." Rev.14:13. They are worthy of receiving the rewards that “He brings with Him; for they love not their life unto death.” Matt.16:27; Rev.22:12; Rev.12:11. They will receive the reward promised to the Church by "serving God as pillars in the Temple day and night." Rev.3:12; Rev 7:15-17. They die with their testimony; but will reign with Him 1000 years within the Temple of heaven. That's why John sees these "souls sitting in judgment” and singularly rewarded by "reigning 1000 years with Christ in heaven's Temple." Rev. 20:4-5.

Those hiding in the mountains from invading armies do not acknowledge the Day of Wrath has come until the last Martyr is killed. The Day of Vengeance for the wicked does not come until then or God's answer to their prayer, "How long, O Master, before you judge and avenge our blood on those dwelling on the earth," is false. Vengeance would come too soon. The Day of wrath for the wicked follows the last Martyr’s death...for the wicked blaspheme His name after the last Plague! They blaspheme God until their throats collapse. Only the wicked, and those who refuse to call on the Lord, "over all the face of all the earth," will perish in the Hour of Trial coming as a snare upon them. Luke 21:35; Rev.3:10.

Understanding why 100 verses in the Book of Revelation describe events of a single Day of the Lord will bring Unity among Believers. Paul urges us to not be troubled "concerning our gathering place to Jesus." For that Day will not come until the apostasy arises first under Great Babylon whose mysteries were at work when Paul wrote these words. Her power and authority must be removed because God hates her sins. Antichrist will be revealed and stand in the Temple as god. Christ will destroy him with the spirit of His mouth and by His outshining Presence and that of all the Saints coming with Him. Mel
Edited 10/7/08