Does God have a Plan for us to get through the End Days?
MattS AMTM August 2019 (Midrash)
The World in Chaos
If stick your head out the window at the moment to gaze at the world, you will quickly realise that there is a lot going on. Many non-Christians are realising that the world is very much a mess. Iran is ramping things up in the Middle East. The Right versus Left, Progressive Liberal versus Conservative show is escalating. The controversy of the LBGT Alphabet Soup Gender movement are stamping their mark on the world. Islam, the religion of peace is wreaking terror and havoc, persecuting Christians on what seems to be a daily basis. There are rumours of war and wars going on. Trade wars are looming and economies are tanking. Crops are failing around the planet. The sun is cooling down. Mass shootings seem to be happening on a weekly basis now.
The way people are behaving now is out of control, openly and deliberately violent behaviour, engaging in bizarre rituals, taking drugs that cause them to connect with the spirit world (demonic necromancy). Even day to day behaviour is troubled and troubling; all over the world there are reports of people who seem to be driven to act on their rage and get their own way in matters. I observe these behaviours even in my local community at times, when driving people just don’t seem to be bothered about the road rules. The way many people treat each other now is very disrespectful, discourteous and rude, the love of people has grown cold.
Earthquakes are happening like they’ve never happened before, volcanoes are erupting on a regular basis and the weather seems to be going crazy with larger storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, extreme heat and extreme cold, anyone would be lead to think we are living in the last days…………………………..
Grand Solar Minimum
Tony had Scott Chapman on AMTM recently, and I ended up watching Scott’s 2 1/2 hour presentation on the science and research behind the Grand Solar Minimum. Apart from enjoying hearing and seeing the science and rationale behind GSM. I was able to make my own comparisons of how weather had been in New Zealand for those 11 year cycles of sunspot activity. These 11 year cycles appear to determine weather patterns, and my own memories of the weather of those time periods, seemed to fit with what Scott was showing in the computer models in his presentation.
I don’t know if Scott is a Christian, he certainly does not appear to know about biblical creation or about the book of Revelation or the Olivet discourse of the gospels. However, some of the information Scott discussed gave me pause for thought. If Scott’s research into the sun’s effect on the earth’s weather is a real, then climate change as it is promoted by the Mainstream Media, world governments, the UN and various other political organisations, is a complete and utter sham. If the GSM science proves to be good science, Satan is perpetrating a huge deception to divert the world’s people away from what is coming.
Many of the things that Scott used in his presentation to indicate a GSM, can be found in prophetic scripture, Matthew 24 and Revelation 6-10 just for starters. However, Scott said something close to the end of his presentation that gave me even more pause for thought.
Scott described the work of Professor Valentina Zharkova. Professor Zharkova has identified 4 magnetic fields coming from the sun. Normally these magnetic fields follow a reasonably synchronised pattern. However, Professor Zharkova was able to determine that during a very cold period of recent history during the “Maunder Minimum” of 1645 to 1715 AD, two of these 4 magnetic fields were out of synchronisation in this time period.
Professor Zharkova and a growing number of scientists are indicating that we are now going into another GSM; the alarming thing about this GSM is that in the next 10 – 20 years, the suns 4 magnetic fields are ALLout of sync, and no one can speculate what will happen as it has never been observed. However if 2 magnetic fields caused climate problems during the “Maunder Minimum”, we may be in for a wild ride of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, extreme heat, extreme cold, food shortages due to crop failures, solar flares that may have the same or similar effect as an EMP weapon, (just think the Carrington Event). Social chaos could also result from these climate changes.
The thing that occurred to me is that this could also be related to the events of the birth pangs described in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 17& 21 and the book of Revelation. I will clearly state that this is my opinion, my speculation. I am not prophesying or predicting what will happen, I am simply making a comparison based on the times we are in (biblically speaking), and what the Bible has to say about these times, and the potential effects of a GSM.
To fully understand what I am saying here, I would urge you to watch Scott’s full presentation on GSM, it is very long, but it is easy to watch and very informative.
Given that the GSM science is valid, we are in for a rough ride in the next 10 to 20 years. To me this rough ride will be one of Biblical proportions and I do not say this lightly. So, for Christians, what should this mean? Well, it means that “our redemption draws near“, Jesus is coming back soon, that we will, as Christians, suffer persecution and tribulation. But! I believe strongly that we will not suffer God’s wrath.
To illustrate this I’m going to go to something Midrashic in the book of Jeremiah.
What Does This Mean?
The book of Jeremiah spoke of the events leading up to the Jews being captured and forced into exile in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. In my previous readings of Jeremiah, I recognised that there was something familiar about the events described in Jeremiah, and the things happening today. I was aware of these events spoken of in Jeremiah, even before I was aware of Midrash. I have since learned that Jeremiah is one of the books of the Bible that foreshadows what will happen in the end days.
To describe this to you I will lean heavily on the teachings of Jacob Prasch. It is through Jacob that I have learned about Midrash, and I thank God that he is teaching these things with his expertise of Biblical Greek, Hebrew and his Biblical scholarship. In this day and age we are in need of more teachers like Jacob.
The Midrashic Cycle of Remnant & Rescue
The concept of a “remnant” of people is often found throughout scripture. Midrashically speaking, this appears to be a repeated cycle of God rescuing a small group of faithful followers. The very first account of this is found in Genesis 6 & 7. God saved a very small group of people (Noah and his family, numbering eight people). They had 100 years to prepare and God gave them warning of the impending flood. God describes Noah as a righteous man and a preacher of righteousness in 2 Peter 2:4-5. In another account of a remnant being saved, God saved Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, In the book of Kings there is an account of 7,000 saved by God because they refused to worship Baal. In another account in the book of Jeremiah, God saved a remnant of people from going to Babylon. In the years after Jesus came, God saved a remnant of Christians from going through the siege and capture of Jerusalem. In these days that we are now living in, I believe that God is going to save a remnant of Christians from going through the “wrath” that will be poured out on the world, as per the book of Revelation.
There will be Christians who disagree with me on this but I’m just not that interested in arguing about it, unless I’ve made a glaring error in what I believe scripture shows. There are distinct recurring patterns in scripture even for someone like myself, who has not had the benefit of a Hebrew education. I am not a scholar, but I am a serious student of the Bible and I ask that the Holy Spirit show me things from scripture, and teach me things as God would have me see them.
The pattern of remnants and rescue must mean something. I ask myself the question, why would God be showing this on such a regular basis, and what does it mean for those of us who read this in scripture? This is my speculation, but, I believe that God has given us repetitive events with similar outcomes in His word, to demonstrate His plan for our time in the last days. I also believe that God loves us and is consistent and unchanging, God is faithful to His word and covenants, even though we as humans tend to make a mess of things on a regular basis.
There seem to be certain patterns of behaviour and certain conditions that are present for the faithful remnants, here are some of the things observed;
- They are faithful to God and stay faithful to God.
- They listen to what God has said.
- They do their best to follow God’s commandments.
- They love God and do not follow other Gods.
- They take God seriously.
- Abundant sin seems to be all around them, homosexuality, the worship of other gods, greed, sexual sin, deceit, the love of money, false teachers, false prophets, false religion and apostasy to name a few.
- These remnant groups seem to be the exception in their day and persecution seems to be prevalent for this group.
Does God just let his faithful followers get swallowed up in evil, chaos and judgement? No he does not. I don’t expect that we will get cushioned from tribulation, however, tribulation and persecution are character building, and knock off the rough edges; and yes, many many Christians die for their faith, which may well happen to some of us also. But, I believe that we will not just be left to suffer the “wrath” and “judgement” that the rest of the world is going to suffer as per the book of Revelation.
What is it that God does for his faithful remnant?
- God rescues his faithful remnant is the nick of time.
- God allows persecution and tribulation for his faithful people but not his wrath or judgement.
- God is faithful to those who are faithful to him.
- God shows his consistent, faithful and loving nature to his faithful remnants.
- God takes his promises seriously.
- God takes care of the faithful remnants physical needs.
In the Book of Jeremiah we see a faithful remnant left in Israel after the capture and enslavement by the Babylonians. They did not go to Babylon; which, midrashically speaking, Babylon represents a type of the false religions and systems of men. This remnant were pondering going to Egypt, which is seen as a type of the world. The leaders of the remnant asked Jeremiah to seek God for directions as to what they should do, and stated they would do whatever God commanded of them. After ten days, God responded to the remnant through Jeremiah. The “arrogant” leaders/men of this remnant rejected Jeremiah’s word from God, calling Jeremiah a liar. God already knew that they would do that, but, he also told them that if they did as He instructed, He would look after them.
To cut a long story short, the whole book of Jeremiah is like a snapshot of the world in these last days. There are many false prophets, false teachers, false leaders, New Age types, occultists, apostates, false shepherds/pastors, idolaters, war, destruction and so on, and the people refuse to listen to God’s prophets, they would prefer a lie. Anyway, getting back to Jeremiah, God is very angry with the Jewish people as they have pushed Him too far. God now judges Israel through King Nebuchadnezzar and exiles the Jews to Babylon. I believe this is where we are today with Christendom. The world is in chaos and Christendom is a mess, with a shrinking group of believers who have chosen to remain faithful to God. The world and Christendom are indeed ripe for judgement.
What does the Midrashic pattern show us that we should have hope in these last days?
I have often wondered what God intends for the faithful remnant at the end of this age (and I do count myself and many others among them). I believe God gives us a clear picture from scripture as to what he would have happen. There are a number of examples throughout scripture; however I will use four obvious stories to demonstrate God’s plan.
The first is Noah. Noah lived in exceedingly evil times; they were so bad that God wiped out every breathing land dweller except for Noah, his family and the animals that were saved on the ark. God gave Noah a plan of escape and instructions on how to do it, God also indicated that Noah was righteous. Noah’s escape from the flood came right down to the wire. Noah and his family were a very small remnant that was faithful to God, and He took care of them. We also know from Matthew 24:37-39 that there is something about the age that we live in, that will be like the days of Noah.
The second is Lot. Lot was a relative of Abraham who with his family ended up living in Sodom. Once again things were so bad in Sodom & Gomorrah that the Lord sent two angels to destroy the cities. As an aside, there seems to be a strong link to the sin of homosexuality in this account, just as we have the LBGT movement burgeoning in our age. When the angels arrived in Sodom, Lot seemed to be beaten down; he was certainly making poor decisions to offer his daughters to the men wanting to have sexual relations with the angels of the Lord. The angels protected Lot and his family and the angels told Lot they were there to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.
The angels asked Lot to get his family together and flee before the destruction occurred; they did so but were instructed not to look back. Lot’s wife did look back and was destroyed. Again, here is a remnant that is rescued, and they were considered righteous and faithful by the Lord, or they would not have been saved (as per Abraham’s conversation with the Lord re the numbers of righteous men in Sodom & Gomorrah). Once again it was at the last minute that Lot and his family were saved, Lot’s wife looked back (a type of backsliding) and was destroyed. Genesis 18 & 19. As the days of Noah are mentioned in Matthew and Luke, so are the days of Lot mentioned in Luke 17:28-30.
The Third is the Remnant of Jews in the book of Jeremiah. This account is very different in some ways as it does not go through a straight forward account of a remnant of faithful believers and a rescue by God. The account of this remnant group is found in Jeremiah 39 – 45. It goes into a lot of detail as to what happened to this remnant group and the decisions they faced. In my opinion this appears to be a Midrashic foreshadowing of how things will be for the faithful Christians of this time.
This remnant group in Jeremiah are faced with three choices, go to Babylon, go to Egypt, or do as God says (remain in God’s palm as Jacob Prasch puts it). The remnant know that going to Babylon will be certain death but Egypt looks much more appealing as it is peaceful and away from the influence of the Babylonians (or so they think). They ask Jeremiah to seek God’s voice in this matter (as mentioned already) but, some of the “arrogant” leaders question Gods plan which, by the way, is an awesome plan. God promises to look after them if they stay put, and hang in.
However, there are dissenters in this remnant group who want to trust in themselves and do their own thing. There is a group (mainly of women) who want to continue in the worship of the queen of heaven. There is a group in this remnant that is having second thoughts, they want to compromise and go with the Babylonians. God spells it out plainly, that if the go to Egypt they will die, and a very few will survive as Nebuchadnezzar will invade and destroy Egypt in the near future. If the remnant stays with God he will look after them, if they go to Babylon they will die.
The Fourth are the Early Christians. There are accounts of the early Christians who were in Jerusalem at the time that the Romans decided to lay siege to Jerusalem. Jesus speaks prophetically of this time in Matthew 24:2 & Mark 13:1-2. God’s judgement on Israel for rejecting his son was the siege and sacking of Jerusalem, and the massive enslavement and forced dispersal of the Jewish people throughout the world. It is believed that God warned the Christians to get out of Jerusalem prior to, or during the Roman siege, and they escaped to Pella, possibly Petra (now in Jordan). There is debate about what happened, but there is some historical evidence to suggest that this did occur. Once again we have a remnant of faithful believers that God saved at the last minute. The siege and sack of Jerusalem in 70 AD was horrific from the historic accounts. The Romans essentially camped outside Jerusalem for around four months according to the account from Josephus (a Roman/Jewish historian). It is also believed that there were factions amongst the Jews, and some of those factions destroyed some of the food supplies hastening the demise of people inside of Jerusalem.
God’s plan for the Remnant at the End of the Age.
When you read the Bible (cover to cover) often enough, there are some patterns that emerge, even if you take the account at literal face value. However, when you start to look at the Midrashic, cyclic, prophetic interpretation of these patterns related to remnant groups of believers, it seems clear that God is wanting to show the final outcome to the Christians of our time.
If I stick my head out the window to have a good hard look at the Christians of today, there is a lot happening. There are many Christians involved in the New Apostolic Reformation movement, there are many Christians in the Emergent Church movement, there are still many Christians in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church, many people have rejected Christianity turning to socialism, New Age (new spirituality) or other religions including Buddhism, Pagan religions, Freemasonry, Islam and the Ultra Orthodox Noahide Religious movements. There are few people who identify as Christians that are not in some way affected by false teachings or false religion. Sadly, there are few Christians that are Bible reading, Bible believing and aware of the times that we live in.
The Apostle Paul tells us what to expect in the latter days and at the end of the age. Some examples are heresy, false teaching, false teachers and apostasy (falling away from the faith), these scriptures are found in the books of Timothy and Thessalonians. It is my belief that there is a faithful remnant within Christendom that has not defected to Babylon (false religions and manmade religious systems) or fallen away to Egypt (the world). I count myself as one of the faithful remnant and know of many others who I count to be in this remnant group also. Having said that, I know that we still have choices to make in relation to our faith in Jesus. We are told by Jesus that we should expect persecution and tribulation on account of his name.
However, I believe that despite the persecution and tribulation which are all spiritually refining processes that will test our Christian character, God is going to look after us. Will some of us die for our faith? Yes it is possible but, there is also the great possibility that God will take care of us if we stay in his hand. Some of us may well die of natural causes before God rescues the remnant believers. I do believe that to be a remnant believer, there are certain conditions we must meet with God.
I know I’m taking a while to get to the point, but I really want to spell it out, so that you understand why I am hopeful that God will care for us and rescue us.
I spoke of conditions that are required for us to be a remnant believer, and here are list of many of these conditions that we need to meet.
- God speaks of remnant people as believers in Him.
- God speaks of the remnant people as righteous, (as he spoke of Noah), not perfect, Noah was not and nor am I.
- This group is faithful to God despite the troubles, testing and persecution, they are willing to believe God speaks the truth, and that He honours His promises.
- They will listen to God despite what is happening around them and have faith that God will take care of them.
- They will be aware of what God’s word says prophetically and be readers of his word; they will know the times they are in.
- They will be watchful and aware of the things to be avoided; they will understand that they have choices, and that some of these choices will have negative and deadly consequences.
- They will be survivors, content with what they have.
- They will not be afraid to stand up for their faith but they will also be discerning and prudent.
God has shown that he will take care of remnant groups of believers as I have outlined in the four examples. For all those groups, life was not easy but as they stuck with God in their faithfulness he delivered them from His “wrath” and “judgement”. I believe that the world is soon due for God’s “wrath” and “judgement”. I believe that as a faithful remnant group, we will be tested and persecuted. We will need to listen to the Holy Spirit and hold our day to day existence lightly, be ready to move where God tells us to go, and be content with what we have.
If you read the account of the remnant in the book Jeremiah (the whole book), God speaks to the problems that will arise for this remnant group. There will be those in the remnant that will cause trouble, be divisive, want to go to Babylon i.e. the false religions, NAR, the Emergent church, New Age, Ecumenism, Coexistence, Catholicism, Hebrew Roots etc because they see no alternative but to compromise. God says “come out of her my people” referring to the actual Babylon in Jeremiah 51:49-50 and the future Babylonian system of Revelation, (maybe not so much in the future as we think) Revelation 18
There will be those in the remnant group who will be betrayers (the kiss of Judas) in order to get personal gain, and curry favour with the Antichrist or the Whore of Babylon. There will be those that fall away from the faith and return to Egypt (the world). Jeremiah 44:11-14is clear that of those that return to Egypt (the world), most will die, and very very few will escape back to God. Jeremiah 44:15-30 indicates that there will be those of the remnant that will return to idolatry and the worship of the Queen of Heaven. In our time this may be feminist witchcraft beliefs or Marionite Mary worship.
There will be people left once God has cleared out all the who choose to turn away from him, and I truly hope that both you and I are in this remnant group of believers, for God is going to rescue us in the rapture just before He brings His “wrath” and “judgement” on the earth. ItWon’t be a good time to be a “Kingdom Now” believer at this time!!I believe that God is going to rescue/rapture us out because he shows that this is his pattern to do this in scripture, and because the apostle Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 that we are not destined for “wrath”. I have written about this before, but will go over this again. There is a difference between “tribulation” and “wrath”. Tribulation or Thlipsis in Greek, is Satan’s wrath on us as believers, God uses this to refine us and weed out the unfaithful. Wrath, specifically God’s wrath, is Orge in Greek. It is my opinion, albeit a firm one, that God does not want us to undergo the judgement that he will inflict upon the world, and I believe that scripture demonstrates this.
In Luke 21:36, Jesus instructs us to “keep on the alert at all times, praying that we have the strength to escape all these things that are about to take place and stand before Him (Jesus). To put this scripture in context, Luke 21 is like Matthew 24 or Mark 13, it is Jesus speaking of the “Signs of His Return”, these are the instruction that Jesus has given us for this time, the time of the “birth pangs” and tribulation. He asks us to keep alert at all times and pray that we have the strength to get through the tribulation, the testing, and the persecution prior to our rescue and His return. Jesus indicates that we can get through this time, but we need to pray for the strength to do this. For me personally this is heart-warming and awesome. Will these times be tough? Yes they will, but if we submit to God and resist the devil, he will flee.
Babylon (Satan, the Antichrist, the False Prophet, the Whore of Babylon etc) and all things associated are destined for judgement and destruction. The unbelieving world (Egypt) is also destined for destruction. It seems hard to see this at times but groups like the New Apostolic Reformation and the Emergent church are destined for judgement and destruction. If you want to pray that God opens the eyes of these people, do it now, as there will be a time soon when God will not hear the prayers for these people, who have rejected God for another Jesus and another Gospel Jeremiah 11:14.
There are so many false prophets out there and those claiming to be Christ or claiming to be divine, having a Christ consciousness, or even being a “little god”. These lies and deceptions are flooding in because Satan knows his time is short and the powers and principalities of Ephesians 6 sit behind the chaos that is flooding into the world. It is not flesh and blood we are up against, though Satan would have you believe that it is. So the enemy is not Donald Trump, or Barak Obama, or Benjamin Netanyahu, or Vladimir Putin, or Bashar Al Assad, it is Satan and his powers and principalities. They are the real enemy using humans as pawns.
Satan has the world, he has the Catholic Church, he has the Emergent Church, and he has the New Apostolic Reformation, he has Judaism and Freemasonry. However, he does not have you and me, the remnant of faithful believers. But he will do his utmost to get us before he goes down. The heart-warming thing that I have seen, is that God is with us and promises to take care of us as long as we remain in His hand. He will rescue us at the last minute but in the mean time we will be aliens and pariahs. It’s going to be a bit tough, it will be a bit lonely and isolated and it won’t be a lavish lifestyle, but we will have our lives and in the end we will be with one of the most amazing groups of people in Biblical history.
So if you are feeling despondent with all that is going on in the world today, take heart that God loves you and has a plan to look after you, and rescue you. If you stay faithful to Him and don’t go to Babylon, or to Egypt, and listen to His word, and remain watchful, he will be faithful to care for you.
“blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed“
References.
https://www.moriel.org/sermons-in-english/5880-egypt-babylon-or-the-palm-of-god.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqGVJWC-l-E&t=1484s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/josephussack.html
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/josephussack.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-remnant.html
https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Remnant
https://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/PW/k/544/Remnant.htm
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+50%3A20&version=NASB
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