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I would like to comment on another segment of Todd Strandberg’s article, “God Hath Not Appointed Us to Wrath”:
“In 1 Thessalonians 5:9 Paul assures us that God has not appointed His people to wrath. This wrath is plainly God’s anger that will be poured out during the Tribulation. Pre-Trib believers interpret this as meaning that Christians will be removed from the earth. Post-Trib believers tell a different story. They describe this as meaning that God will protect Christians during the Tribulation and pour this wrath out on the unbelievers only. This idea runs against the statement made in Rev. 13:7, where the Antichrist is given power to make war with the saints and to overcome them. A post-Trib view would make God’s promise of protection from wrath into a lie. In years past, it was possible to think of being protected from the guns and swords of that day. Today, when any major war would involve nuclear and chemical weapons, it’s impossible to expect that same kind of protection. When Nagasaki, Japan was bombed during W.W.II, the bomb exploded over a Catholic church. Everyone that was in the center of the explosion died, both Christians and non-Christians. The only way to validly interpret God’s promise of protection from wrath, is by viewing I Thess. 5:9 as the bodily removal of the Church from this world.”
My comments:
Todd Strandberg’s statements, “A post-Trib view would make God’s promise of protection from wrath into a lie” is not true.
God’s wrath and Antichrist’s wrath are entirely different things. The purpose of the Tribulation is for Antichrist to have his time to pour out his wrath on the inhabitants of the earth who will not bow down and worship him and take his mark. (Rev. 12:12) God’s wrath comes later, after the Lord Jesus Christ returns for His church.
Making the words tribulation and wrath mean the same thing is not honest when one honestly checks the context of scripture. The words, “tribulation” and “wrath” are not interchangeable.
Jesus Christ promised that we would have tribulation in this world (John 16:33 and Rev. 2:10). He also prayed to the Father that we would not be taken out of this world during tribulation but that we would be kept from evil. (John 17:15).
God also tells us to wait for “his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come.” We must wait for the Lord Jesus, who has already delivered us from the wrath to come.
The Lord Jesus Christ has already delivered each Christian from the wrath to come! This verse does not say “will deliver.” It says delivered. The Bible tells us plainly what “the wrath to come” means. The wrath of God is directed toward those who refuse to repent and receive His mercy: the children of disobedience. The wrath of God is His punishment on unbelievers. (See Luke 3:7, Eph. 5:6, Col. 3:6, Rev. 6:17)
The saints of God are appointed to tribulation.
The children of disobedience are appointed to God’s wrath.
In Greek, the word wrath (ogre–3709) means punishment God executes against the wicked.
The word tribulation (thilipsis–2347) refers to the sufferings that Christians go through in this world for Christ.
God allows his children to endure tribulation.
Matthew 13:21, 24:9, 21, 29
Mark 4:17, 13:19, 24,
Acts 7:10, 11, 11:19
Romans. 2:9, 5:3
2 Thessalonians 1:4
God pours out his wrath upon those who reject his mercy (unbelievers) not his own children.
Mathew 3:7
Mark 3:5Lk 3:7, 21:23
John 3:36
Romans 1:18, 2:5, 8
Ephesians 2:3, 4:31, 5:6
Colosians 3:6,8
1 Thessalonians 1:10, 2:16
1 Timothy 2:8
Hebrews 3:11
James 1:19, 20
Revelation 6:16, 17, 11:18
We must purpose to not be offended in Christ if things don’t turn out the way we hope and the way we have been told they will. When Christians find themselves on earth when the New World Order is in full swing and God’s people are being sought after for elimination, we need to understand that we are suffering the wrath of Antichrist, not the wrath of God.
God will not leave us or forsake us even during the Tribulation if we keep the faith — obey his word without reservation and patiently endure until the end. He has no difficulty protecting His people from nuclear explosions, biological warfare, etc. but that is for another article.
We need to understand and keep the difference between tribulation and wrath in our hearts and minds so we will not be offended with the Lord Jesus Christ and be spiritually set up to look for another Christ.
This is exactly what Satan is using his agents to condition Christians to do. He wants them to embrace a false Christ right now (a Fantasy “Christ” who will permit them to live ungodly in this present world but will still bring them to heaven when they die).
If Satan fails to entice the Christian into following a bogus Christ now, he doesn’t fret because he knows that most Christians have been thoroughly primed to look for “another Christ” during the Tribulation due to their belief that the doctrine of the tribulation and the doctrine of the wrath of God are the same thing.
Since Christians know that God has not appointed us unto wrath, the carrying out of the Disappearances by the New World Order planners could cause their faith in the biblical promises of God to crumble. What an ominous set-up for the Luciferic Initiatition! Yes, some false teachers (authors of the Left Behind Series) have been setting Christians up for this very thing for years.
Believers whose have believed their pastor’s words that God would definitely remove them from this earth before Antichrist is revealed need to go back and read the bible again and ask God to remove any spiritual blinders that are in place.
We need to study the difference between tribulation and wrath carefully so we do not set ourselves up for the spiritual fall Antichrist’s followers are hoping and planning for. We must never allow ourselves to think these apostate thoughts:
“Jesus betrayed me. He could not have been the Christ. I will look for another.”
The Lord Jesus Christ will never leave us or forsake his precious sheep (who hear his voice and follow him.) However, we are capable of becoming offended in him and falling away if we do not obey his command to not become offended in him! (See John 16:1)
Promise: Keep us from evil; Condition: Be Not of this World
The Lord Jesus prayed to the Father:
“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” Jn 17:15
“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through they truth: thy word is truth.” Jn 17:17
God is quite capable of keeping us from the evil during tribulation, but are we willing to be like Jesus prayed that we would be? This is the condition to being protected in the times to come. The condition is that we would not be of the world even as Jesus is not of the world, and the promise (if this condition is met) is “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”
Also see the articles about Todd Strandberg’s Rapture Ready message board:
A “Christian” Message Board Run By Satan’s Workers
Rapture Ready Administrators and their backers: Anti-Christ and Pro New World Order Posts
Rapture Ready and the Left Behind Series: Mixes Up Serving God and Serving Satan
Why Are Pretrib Promoters Trying to Control the Thinking of Christians Who Don’t Disappear? |
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