Unity

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; not selectively so.  God will  "avenge the martyrs" when a pre-determined number are killed.  Rev. 6:9-11.  No Believer is subject to God's wrath.

The purpose for the seven Last Plagues is to "manifest God's righteousness and truth."  Rev. 15:4.  Once that is done, God's wrath has come.  That is why these Plagues only "complete God's anger." 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 have failed to recognize that God's longsuffering (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.”  Because 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.

Seven classes of men hiding in the mountains will be seized with terror because the sun suddenly refuses to shine. Rev. 6:12-15. Armageddon is about to occur because Christ will appear on that "Day of God's wrath." The seven classes will be hiding from the 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 no constitute God's wrath; but Satan’s wrath against God’s people.  The people hiding from the armies will express their fear of God’s wrath after the last Plagues demonstrate that God's anger, but not yet His wrath, has been "completed." Only then does God's anger combine with His wrath.  Seal Six signals the Lastday has come and warns of the impending Cup of Wrath. Rev. 14:10. This truth lies at the foundation of Believers' Unity.

Surely, with the sun blacked out on that Day, all 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 Plague empties into midair.  If the Great Tribulation expresses God's wrath, why would He "purify and refine and purge many" during this Endtime of 3½ years of Satan's wrath? Dan. 7:25; Dan. 12:7,10; Rev. 12:14.  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 the Great Tribulation.  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 as teaching the Day of the Lord destroys all the sinners. That is correct, except for those who call on the Lord when Christ appears.  But He appears in one day, not over the entire Endtime.  God certainly does not destroy 200 million hate-mongers months before Christ comes on the Lastday.  So how does the destruction of all the wicked identify the Great Tribulation period as the Day of God's Wrath? By claiming, without evidence, that the entire period is one of God's wrath!?

Stearman ignores the Biblical principle that judgment always starts with God's people.  He states: "There is no Scripture that defines the 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 are Overcomers ... the very thing required of each of the seven churches to obtain the reward of ruling with Christ over the nations! Why does even Daniel speak 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 of belief 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 for being so faithful that not one of them bows to the Beast nor wears his mark nor accepts his number? Rev. 13:8; Rev. 17:8?

Second, after assuming the entire period is a time of God’s wrath, Stearman wavers between the KJV (that the Day of the Lord)  was "about to come" or had "already come."  Stearman does not directly 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;  NIV.

Stearman shifts gears subtly by resorting to the old KJV translation that "the Day of Christ was at hand" instead of the Day of the Lord. 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.  He thinks the Day of Christ follows the Great Tribulation and Day of the Lord precedes it.  Did the Thessalonians have the Great Tribulation in mind as being the Day of the Lord that had "already come"? Were they sure it was a period of time? 

This 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 so-called 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 that Day." Mal.  4:5.  

While Pre-Tribs still separate the Rapture and the Revelation by seven years, most of them now speak of ONE seven-year day of the Lord rather than two days of the Lord, one for Rapture and one for Revelation.

This idea of two separate days is confusing.  So the idea has been changed to ONE “seven-year Day of the Lord.” But does this tactic remove the confusion? Did the Thessalonians think the Tribulation included the future Temple's destruction in AD 70? If so, when Jerusalem was "surrounded with armies" and the Temple destroyed (Luke 21:20), their faith could have been shattered when the Lord failed to return. They needed to realize, and we must recognize, that the Day of the Lord is "Near" because it must include Deliverance for God's people as well as Destruction to all His enemies.  Neither one took place in AD 70.  Both Deliverance and Destruction must occur in the context of the Temple being desecrated 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 as part of  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.  Dan. 7:22-27;  Matt. 16:27;  Matt. 24:30.

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 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 the resurrection at His coming they will have also fulfilled part of that same prediction made to Caiaphas 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 is about to occur as the Son of Man comes with the Saints.  "The (Kairos) time to destroy the destroyers of earth" arrives in John's "open Temple of the Tabernacle of Testimony" after the seven last Plagues. Rev. 15:1,5.

That 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 it sounds.  God's Mystery was finished in the days whenever the Temple Drama us 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.

Even 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 leads to the destruction of a third Temple.  They look beyond the second Temple's destruction to the Deliverance that follows the 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 are capitalizing 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. This will become the fodder for Antichrist to spread "the Lie" that the Christian hope is an empty hope. Falsely, but effectively, men 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.  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 its Deliverance in Luke's account applies to the Jews after "Gentile Times are finished." They will see the Elect, the Believers who pierced Him, appearing with Christ.  That's why Luke omits the Elect and the Great Tribulation and those days being "cut short" for the Elect's sake.  Only Luke introduces the Day of the Lord as the day of redemption from Gentile dominion. Luke 21:24,28,31.  He goes quickly to the necessity 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” is referenced in Revelation.  Luke 21:35;  Rev. 3:10.

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 even with Believers who pierced Him ... Believers who had just seen Him sitting at the right hand of power ... coming like lightning ...  raising every one of them on the lastday ...  gathering these Elect from earth to heaven (vertically) ...  and sending the 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, after the Jews begin to mourn, He sends the angels at the second blast of the great trumpet, to gather the Elect out of the 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 is 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 their Deliverance.

The big point is that Jesus, in Matthew and Mark, shows Deliverance for the Elect on the same day that Jews "mourn." The 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 then near.  Their Kingdom is near.  Luke 21:28,31. The Day of the Lord has come.  

"Every eye," including those who mourn,  will literally behold Christ and the Elect,  even 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 nearly 2000 years ago.  Matt.  23:39.  This expectation is the only true basis for Believers' Unity.

The Day of the Lord involves the deliverance of Israel and the destruction of all of God's enemies on the Lastday.  Matthew and Mark, in this context, are concerned with the Elect being delivered from wrath on the Day of the Lord.  They refer to those who are not yet believers as ones who "mourn 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 the mourners who are left behind to "remember Lot's wife and beg to be able to escape all these things if they wish to be preserved from death and stand before the Son of Man." Luke 21:36;  Luke 17:32,33.

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 also wondering if the Antichrist should have been revealed "first" as Paul wrote.  Hopefully, they will come to realize (before they suffer the loss of their investments at the fall of Great Babylon) that the Day of the Lord is still “Near.” 

Stearman assumes the Great Tribulation is the extended Day of the Lord;  that 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? Was the Temple's destruction also God's wrath on them? One who is confused about the Day of the Lord may fear God's wrath instead of realizing His long-suffering 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) 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 them as a thief." I Thess.  5:2-4.  Does it begin with the Covenant, or the desecrated Temple or 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 be told the real Covenant is still future since  Antichrist was not revealed.  Paul declared he must be revealed "first" by breaking the Covenant; not “first” by signing the Covenant.  In confirming the Covenant, he will be just “one of many.” Dan. 9:27.

Stearman reveals his subtleness by applying the KJV idea that the Day of Christ comes 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 being "at hand" (KJV) does not apply to Pre-Tribulation 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 no Believer is “appointed to wrath." I Thess. 5:9.  The problem continues because that single Day that cannot occur until the sun ceases to shine for less than 12 Hours!

Believers will wake up to their false view that only Trib-Saints must suffer God's “wrath.”  How can they justify putting faithful Endtime Saints under God's wrath? When the sun refuses to shine, signifying God's unavoidable wrath has come, we believe the single Day of the Lord will include the Rapture of the Saints and redemption for Israel.  Rev. 6:12-17; Mark 13:24-17; 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. The New Jerusalem Bible.  This fact is hidden because English translations render "thumos" as wrath instead of anger. Over and over, Stearman assumes Matt. 24:21 signifies the Day of the Lord is the Great Tribulation.  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 period, how can it come after the Tribulation? Again, does this not show how 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 (The Day of Christ) shall not come until two conditions are fulfilled: the falling away and unveiling of the man of sin.  In other words, 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 the man of sin.” Jesus put the Sign of His coming, as part of the Day of Wrath, after the Tribulation.  Stearman has to flip-flop by saying the Day of Christ is NOT the day of the Rapture but that two things precede the Day of the Lord.  If these "two things must happen prior to the 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.