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THE
SILENCE OF THE CHURCH
Greetings
Watchers!
I
received this letter from a Watcher yesterday, and thought the
answer might be one that you’ve been wondering about.
Dear Brother
Sal,
I wanted to
write to you about a trend that is deeply disturbing to me,
and that is the apathy of the church regarding current events
in the world.
I used to watch
the International Intelligence Briefing on TBN with author and
minister Hal Lindsey every week, and felt like I gained
valuable information about events in the middle east that
wasn't being told on the news stations, and Mr. Lindsey's
commentary was always passionate and "against the
grain", so to speak. But as bible prophecy is being
fulfilled at a more rapid pace they're broadcasts have become
more generic, as are the teachings of most ministers.
I don't
understand this! This is the most exciting time in Christian
history and most churches are "business as usual",
they seem to be shying away from the subject. I don't know if
it's because they're afraid of creating a panic, looking
foolish, or that they have found their faith in the accuracy
of the bible wanting.
Isn't this the
time for revival? The time to bring as many souls to Christ as
possible in the short time we have left? In my opinion they
should be preaching about current events loudly and
continuously, offering encouragement and comfort.
It may be
wrong, but I don't go to church, I'm afraid of false teachers
and hypocrites. I would rather struggle along trying to teach
myself than to be taught something that is wrong. I know the
bible states that God will punish the false teachers, but will
He also punish the student who didn't know better than to
believe the false teachings?
My faith is
strong but my knowledge of some things in the bible is
lacking, and I don't want to be led down the wrong path. Why
can't we get knowledge and comfort from our local churches?
Why are ministers afraid to talk about current events in the
world, when that message is more important now than ever? I
feel like I've been left to fend for myself (except for prayer
and guidance from God).
I appreciate
your teachings more than you know; you’re providing a great
and much needed service to me and all Christians who can't get
help locally. Please pray for me and ministers everywhere that
God will show them the needs of the community that we rely on
them to meet.
Your Sister In
Christ,
S
____________________________________________________
Hi
S!
Thank
you for your note. It's nice to hear from you.
I
have answered this question many times, in many ways.
Just a couple of weeks ago I asked Dr. Dorothy Terry of the
Evangel Bible College that same thing, and her answer was:
"I
think the reason people don't see is because many are afraid
of prophecy. Most
of the ministers I know are very ignorant of the subject.
It appears to some, as if it threatens their position.
Others are a
little flippant of their ignorance of the subject.
And others are totally off in their understanding. Few
indeed, are the ones who have spent time studying the
prophecies of the end times.
And of those, most go along with the traditional idea
of it being the EEC. The
teachability of most of them is another problem.
If they have any understanding of the prophecies of the
end-times at all, they are seldom willing to listen to an
alternative viewpoint. I
think they all feel threatened by a subject they know little
about and are ashamed to admit to.
The rest? Pride.
Pride, pure and simple.
They think They KNOW what the Bible teaches.
Dr
Terry is a 45-year student of the prophecies, and
truth-seeking Eschatologist. She endorses CHN's teaching
on the end times, and is using its research in her own classes
at the college.
She
recognizes the same thing that I think we all see in what has
happened to the Church in recent times. Fulfillment of
Biblical prophecy is what happened to it. We have
entered the time when we are fast approaching the beginning of
the final week of Daniel, and at that time, scripture tells us
that the Church has taken on characteristics reminiscent of
the days of the Church at Laodicea.
These are lukewarm times in the Church.
Consider
the landscape painted of the Church, from the first to the
seventh, as Jesus writes to each of them.
A whole new world opens up as we begin to hear and
understand His displeasure with them right from the start.
Beginning
with Ephesus, the first Church, whose name is a flower opening
to the sun in the morning, is found guilty of having left
their first love. But,
in the second Church, Smyrna, which means, “bitterness”,
He found no fault. For
it was in that second age of the Church, called bitterness
that Christians were called upon to give up their lives for
the sake of the faith. You
talk about your Action, based upon your belief, sustained by
confidence; there is the full measure of the meaning of Faith,
as God defined it.
And,
He found fault with the rest of them right up the line, until
He came to the Church of Philadelphia.
Behold, He says, I have set before thee an open door,
and no man can shut it. And,
if you have any doubt as to where that opens door leads, just
read on past the letters to the churches, to the part that
says, I looked, and behold a door was opened in heaven!
But,
before we get ahead of ourselves, He even goes on to tell the
Philadelphians that He going to come quickly.
Now to me that means that this next age of the Church,
coming after the Philadelphians, called the Laodiceans
aren’t going to get much of a foot hold before He brings the
age of the Church to it’s conclusion.
Jesus
clearly delineated the Laodicean’s problems, gave them the
solution and told them that when they heard the warning, all
they had to do was repent.
Then He said that if you can hear what I’m saying,
you’d better pay attention to what you heard!
So,
what all of this says is that the landscape of the Church at
the end times is supposed to have characteristics which can be
depicted as “lukewarm”. A Church Full of folks justified in their own righteousness,
with a whole lot of material things on their minds, blinding
them to their nakedness.
And,
here once again in this scripture you encounter the Messiah
landscape, as it is the Messiah that is issuing this warning
to repent. And
here, it is made clear that it is the final warning.
That
brings us back to the warning sign of the Rapture, which is
also embodied in the Messiah landscape, which is cast in the
sign of Jonah. That
warning to repent to be saved from God’s destruction was for
40 days.
In
the Messiah landscape, there remain yet two things to be
accomplished, the 40-day warning and the saving from
destruction. The
saving from God’s destruction is the Rapture, and
resurrected saints will give the warning for 40 days, just as
the resurrected Jonah did.
Those saints will rise on the Feast of First Fruits as
the promise of the full harvest yet to come at the end of the
40 days warning period.
Now
the reason this is not widely preached today is because the
Pastors, who have little time or knowledge of the subject rely
on the “gurus” for their information, and like you, see
that history is making a mockery out of their case, so rather
than pass along outdated information to the flocks, they say
nothing in the hopes that everyone will be raptured if they
keep them focused on salvation.
They
are gun shy of “new” theories, because of how badly they
are being burnt for having listened to the old theories.
They haven’t the time to devote to learning it all
over again, so the congregations are either getting false
information, or no information, as you yourself have found to
be the case.
Now
realize that we are talking in broad terms.
There are some Pastors who don’t fall into this
category. But,
for the most part, I think this explanation answers your
question.
Now,
this is what to do about it.
STUDY! The answer is written in the scripture and in time.
It is God’s modus operendi to spell everything out in
His word, and then make some things a mystery to be known only
in their time.
The
case in favor of this is the fact that the Church was a
mystery, known only in the mind of God, written into the
scripture, but seen only in it’s time, after it was revealed
by God. The
Rapture was a mystery, known only in the mind of God until it
was revealed. But, the timing remained a mystery, even to
Paul.
God
choose to make the catching away of the living body of Christ,
the final event in this grafted on chapter in His salvation
plan. He revealed
that to be so, but he placed the timing of the event into the
prophecy of Daniel, which is the prophecy about the last days,
and sealed that word until it’s time.
Therefore, the timing of the catching away could never
be known until you reached that time when Daniel’s word
began to be seen on the historical stage.
And
when that time arrived, all the things that were previously
written into the scripture that had been hidden in the mind of
God become revealed, just as it was with the Church.
And, since this is the conclusion of the Church
revelation, the answers would be found in those same scripture
concerning the Church. And,
lo and behold, when we look there, we find them, sticking out
like a sore thumb.
But,
like in most fields of endeavor, it takes someone on the
cutting edge to advance the knowledge.
The best example I can give is that of the “comet
watchers”. They
scan the skies every night watching for potentially dangerous
comets and asteroids. Everyone
knows that the possibility of a collision exists, and even
though they don’t pay too much attention to it during their
daily lives, they would perk up to the info immediately if one
of these “watchers”, gave the word of an impending
catastrophe.
In
the field of Eschatology, “scanning the skies”, is
watching for the signs of the times that Jesus said would be
as easy to read as the Mediterranean weather.
I have been a devoted watcher for over 20 years, and
have mapped the landscape of the Biblical end times over that
period of time, and it clearly shows what it shows.
I don’t care what my protractors say, not one of them
has presented a case as solidly built on scripture and history
as has this Ministry.
It
should say a lot to Christians, when the academic dean of a
Bible College, affiliated with the Christian Life School of
Theology, a 45 year Eschatologist and seeker of truth writes:
“Sal
has done much historical and Biblical research and has answers
for some of the questions left unanswered by many other
exegetes. He allows the Bible to be its own interpreter
and thus comes through with the most Biblically accurate
interpretation I have studied thus far in my 45 years of
studying Bible Prophecy.
All of us living in this day and hour owe it to
ourselves to read and study the book and maps Sal has
provided”.
It
was false teachers that came to the Thessalonians and tried to
foil the teaching that Paul had taught them about the end
times. This Ministry is re-teaching EXACTLY what Paul
taught about the end times to the Thessalonians, who were the
same as you and I; Christians! In addition, this
Ministry adds the increased knowledge revealed by having
reached the time when Daniel’s prophecy is seen on the
historical stage of time.
And,
we build a solid case for it! But, it takes study to
understand it, because through the long ages, we lost contact
with the prophecies, so we are not as “up” on them as we
should be. It’s just like being out of shape.
You can’t get back into shape by just reading about a diet
and reading about the exercises you need to do. You have
to get in there and do them! Then you will see the
results you want, not before!
Our
end time awareness Bible study is what Dr. Terry is endorsing
with her word. If you want to catch up on the prophecies
quickly, and learn where we are in Biblical time, I suggest
you send for a copy and start your study now.
As
always, if my teaching is a blessing to you, then follow the
Biblical principle of giving to the storehouse where you get
your meat. Remember, giving is part of the trip, a very
joyous part of the trip. That’s why the Lord loves a
hilarious giver, and promises to pour down a blessing on him
that cannot be contained. So, when you give to support
this word, give generously and hilariously. The Lord
will love you for it. Remember also that we need your
prayers, so if that’s all that you can give, then give them
generously and hilariously.
And
as always, please pray with me: We made it through March!
We are faithing on that Lord. Amen. There are not many
days left in March, and we are quite a bit behind, so please
get your pledges in as soon as possible.
Thank you for listening and
God bless all of you.
God bless.
Humbly,
Your Brother in Christ
Sal from CHN
"The Prophecy of Daniel The Book of Revelation
The Rapture of the Church and the Mideast Today"
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