Passage: Revelation 13:3-4 & 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12
Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, in their novel The Indwelling, depict the beast of Revelation (also known as the antichrist) as one who literally dies and comes back to life. LaHaye and Jenkins present the events of Revelation 13 as a resurrection of the Satanic Beast. Is this really what the text of Scripture means?
As we see the decline of the remnants of a Christian based culture in the United States and throughout the world, we need to be reminded of God’s standards and purpose for humanity. God’s will for mankind has been revealed in the first book of the Bible—Genesis. About forty years ago I was introduced to a summary of God’s will for the human race through a presentation called “The Divine Institutions” by Pastor Charles Clough of Lubbock Bible Church in the 1970s. Learning this biblical information gave me an outlook on these issues that have been of great help since that day.
Passage: Revelation 3:10 & Revelation
Revelation 3:10 is rightly known as a passage that supports the pre-trib rapture doctrine, but the second half of the verse introduces us to the first use of the term "earth dwellers." "Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth." 3:10 is the first use in Revelation of a phrase I call "earth dwellers" but usually translated "those who dwell upon the earth." This phrase is used eleven times in nine verses in Revelation. "Earth dwellers" is a designation for persistent unbelievers during the tribulation.
The Bible teaches that during the seven-year tribulation there will be a global government for at least the final three and a half years. Revelation 17–18 indicates that the Babylonian globalization will be built upon three major planks: economic trade, false religion, and centralized government. Obviously we do not yet live in the time of the coming seven-year tribulation. But we do live in a time where God is setting the stage for events that will take place after the Rapture, during the tribulation. Globalization is one of those things that will characterize the tribulation. We are seeing it take place daily, all around us....
The free-fall of American evangelical Christianity into various kinds of apostasy in the last couple of decades has been breathtaking. The last twenty-five years have witnessed the greatest change in the American Church in her entire history. Where are things headed? What does this mean in light of the Bible's prophesied plan for the church age? ...