“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).

We fear that many believers today take the things of the Lord far too lightly. Of course, the concern is that at the end of their life they are going to look back with regret at what could have been, if only! When you come to the end of your life are you going to find yourself uttering those dreadful words? If only, I had lived a godly life when I was raising my children, perhaps they would have an interest in spiritual things today. If only, I had heeded the Lord’s leading and had gone to Bible School, I might have made a difference on the mission field in those regions beyond. If only, I had agreed to become a Sunday School teacher, perhaps I could have helped one of our young people avoid a shipwrecked life.

If only, I had taken the time to study the Scriptures, perhaps I could have been used of the Lord to win souls to Christ and comfort those who were crying out for help! If only, I hadn’t been so selfish and self-serving. If only! As we prepare to stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ, mark these words, and mark them well: “Only one life, ’twill soon be past; Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

“And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs” (Rev. 14:20).

The great winepress of God is the area around the holy city of God. It extends from north northwest to south southeast of Jerusalem, from Mt. Megiddo, known as Armageddon (Rev. 16:16), to Bozrah (Isa. 63:1-4). Tactically, the Scriptures seem to suggest that the Antichrist will launch an attack simultaneously from both the north and the south. The center of the battlefield will be the narrow Kidron Valley, called the Valley of Jehoshaphat, located just east of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. According to the Spirit of God, the area of the battlefield is said to be “a thousand and six hundred furlongs,” a distance of exactly two hundred miles.

Christ will crush the Antichrist’s forces of evil with merely a spoken word and the brightness of His coming. When He tramples His enemies in His almighty power, their blood will stain His garments (Isa. 63:2-4; Rev. 19:13). The blood from this innumerable host of godless unbelievers and their horses will run high to the horses’ bridles, according to the Apostle John, writing in the Spirit. Many commentators shrink from taking a literal interpretation here, saying it is utterly preposterous. We feel, however, more comfortable taking God at His Word. On average, an adult male has about five quarts of blood. Millions upon ten millions of men would bleed a deep river of blood. Interestingly, the Spirit emphasizes that the winepress is “trodden without [outside] the city” of Jerusalem in direct connection with the blood rising to the horses’ bridle. In all likelihood, the blood will probably run the deepest in the valley of Jehoshaphat (Kidron Valley), which is a rocky, mountainous ravine that’s about 20 miles in length.

Responsibility: Only the believer in Christ can fully understand the seriousness of the coming wrath of God. Many of the unsaved are clueless, and Satan would like nothing better than to keep it that way. We must therefore bear in mind that, if an unbeliever refuses to receive God’s gracious offer of reconciliation and foolishly rejects Christ as his personal Savior, he must be warned about the bloodbath that lies ahead.

“What do you attribute the lawlessness to that currently plagues the nations?”

It is a product of the mystery of iniquity, which is Satan’s plan to undermine all God-given authority. He has been effectively working behind the scenes since the days of the Apostle Paul to bring the world to a state of chaos, with a specific purpose in mind (II Thes. 2:1-12).

The false religions that Satan introduced throughout the centuries all stand in direct opposition to the true Church, where righteousness is extolled as a virtue. Contrariwise, in the name of religion, which Karl Marx called “the opiate of the people,” terrorists shed the blood of innocent victims to promote their ungodly ideology. Sadly, we are only witnessing the tip of the iceberg. Make no mistake, the primary target of these extreme jihadists is Christians. Simply watch their training clips, and you will find that most of the images they are shooting at have the Cross of Christ embossed on them.

Satan also loves to sing the praises of theological liberalism! The Word of God that once influenced the lives of both the believer and unbeliever is no longer held up as the final authority. The new normal is there are no absolutes any more. The mantra of our day is, “Let every man do what’s right in his own eyes” (cf. Judges 21:25). As a result, our streets have become like the wild west with shootings and murders commonplace.

With no spiritual mooring to the Word of God, marriage has become optional with more and more couples living together. This is the seed plot for immorality and pornography which have become rampant, leaving the souls of men and women burdened with guilt and a sense of worthlessness. Satan has successfully undermined the authority of the home, which is foundational to any society. Every time he destroys a home it weakens the moral fabric of a nation.

Clearly Satan is behind these evil influences and every other evil known to mankind. He merely sets things in motion, and the flesh is more than willing to accommodate whatever sinful pursuit that is put before it. The goal of the evil one is to bring the world to the precipice of utter confusion. When he accomplishes this objective, he will introduce the Antichrist after the Rapture of the Church. The man of sin will step onto the stage of the world as a man of peace, with all the answers to the world’s ills that have eluded men. He will be an overnight sensation being the Devil’s “Answer Man.”

“I have a question regarding something I believe is called contextualizing of the gospel message…I would like to understand more about this….”

The contextualizing of the gospel is a concept that has been popularized by the emergent churches out west, which in itself is a cause for concern. It is essentially an attempt to accommodate social change, culture, tradition, and religious views of other so-called faiths when presenting the gospel. The Word of God is then conformed, as needed, to adapt to these areas more effectively to minister to others.

For example, the Muslim holds a monotheistic view of Allah. That is, there is only one true God. Contextualizing theology asks the question whether this is compatible with Christianity since it also holds to a monotheistic view of God. With what appears to be common ground they feel they have an open door to advance the gospel. While this is only one facet of contextualizing, it is a practice that is questionable at best, and in some cases heretical.

The Word of God stands alone as the final authority in all matters of faith and practice. It does not need the assistance of concepts, which only serve to undermine the Scriptures. There is one true and living God whose name is Jesus Christ, “For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). All other gods or views of gods are false!

“Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Phil. 4:9).

With this we challenge you! Heed these words of the Apostle Paul, and you will find fulfillment in your Christian life.

LEARNED

What things had these believers at Philippi learned from the apostle? They had “learned” the Mystery from him and all that it entails. They understood they were members of the Body of Christ. Paul had communicated effectively to them how Christ is carrying out His heavenly ministry today, and that they were the recipients of a heavenly hope and calling. You must do the same!

RECEIVED

They also “received” these teachings of grace as their own. They could defend Paul’s gospel with the best of them. You see, it is one thing to know the message of grace; it is a completely different matter to accept it fully and stand for it without compromise. These saints were fully committed to Paul’s apostleship and message, which God expects every believer to embrace in the age of Grace.

HEARD

The Philippians had “heard” the gospel of the grace of God, not secondhand mind you, but directly from Paul himself when he visited Philippi. They had heard him proclaim the secret of the gospel regarding what God was doing in Christ at Calvary. Now they were sharing the good news that Christ died for the sins of the world.

Furthermore, they had heard Paul emphasize the importance of church planting and the need to train faithful men to serve as pastors “who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2).

SEEN

These saints had “seen” firsthand how Paul handled adversity. He didn’t lash out in a tirade at his persecutors when he was beaten unmercifully before the very eyes of these saints. Nor did he curse the Philippian jailor when he threw Paul into the inner prison and put his feet in stocks. He rather prayed and sang songs of praise to God, which so moved the jailer that he trusted Christ immediately after the earthquake took place (Acts 16).

Paul had been a spiritual father to them. It is far more beneficial for a son to see his father living for the Lord, than to hand him a list of do’s and don’ts.

DO

You see, Paul not only taught these things, he lived them! With this in mind, the apostle challenges these brethren to “do” these things, in the sense of performing them repeatedly, to which he adds, “And the God of peace shall be with you.” This charge is as relevant today as it was when Paul first gave it—a solemn challenge.

The other evening I turned on the national news to see what chaos and mayhem was going on in the world. I really wasn’t surprised by what I heard! Year after year, the headlines are becoming increasingly more ominous. In the Middle East, Syria is embroiled in a major civil war; Israel is repeatedly threatened with annihilation; and ISIS is attempting to build an Islamic State where the beheadings of those who reject their ideology is commonplace. Then there’s Iran, which is nearing the completion of a nuclear bomb, that will undoubtedly result in the nuclear proliferation of other nations in the region.

In Europe, many countries are facing financial collapse. Greece has already declared bankruptcy. Here in America, our government has managed to rack up a national debt to the tune of 17 trillion dollars, which our country will probably live to regret simply because there’s no one to bail us out. If this isn’t troubling enough, most of our cities are becoming more like the wild west where lawlessness has taken over our streets with daily carjackings and shootings being a common occurrence.

The opportunists have seized the moment to run commercials between these alarming headlines to alert everyone to the coming economic collapse that will make the 2008 crash look insignificant. The survivalist takes advantage of this mass hysteria to warn everyone to be prepared for the next act of God or man-made disaster by purchasing a survival kit with a large supply of food.

If you had to take two aspirins and lie down after reading these lines, it is important for you to remember that Paul predicted that perilous times (II Tim. 3:1) and lawlessness (I Tim. 1:9) would be widespread in the last days of the age of grace. These troubling events have caused many believers, who fail to rightly divide the Word of truth, to wonder if we are in the early stages of the Tribulation. But we want to assure everyone who reads these words that if you are a believer in Christ you are delivered from the future Tribulation and wrath to come (I Thes. 1:10; 5:9 cf. Rev. 6:15-17).

Not one Old Testament prophecy is being fulfilled today, including those found in the four Gospels and early Acts. This does not necessarily mean that the stage isn’t being set by Satan for coming world events. The above headlines should remind us that we are living in man’s day and will experience many times the injustices of man’s wrath (I Cor. 4:3). Through it all, we can rest in the peace of God that passes all understanding—it will keep our hearts and minds through the most trying times!

We have all had the unfortunate experience in life of having to speak with someone who is demeaning and offensive in how they approach a matter. They seem to relish putting people on the spot. Somehow they think that taking a hard-hitting approach will drive home their point more effectively. Usually the opposite is true, because their manner of speech is speaking more loudly than what is being said. Rather than relationships being strengthened, they are destroyed by abrasive words.

This type of response from the unsaved shouldn’t surprise us, but it should never be true of a believer in Christ. Sadly though, it is becoming increasingly true in the Christian community. One of the graces that nearly has been lost in the Church today is tact. Tact is a “keen sense of what to do or say in order to maintain good relations with others or to avoid offense.” Essentially, it is having perception and grace when dealing with others. The Apostle Paul was a seasoned veteran in the art of tact. While he could be firm when it came to confronting error, he always did so with grace, hoping to restore the offender. More often than not, however, he exercised tact to accomplish his purpose.

A good example is when Paul addressed his countrymen in Jerusalem who were determined to take his life. As he was being led away to the castle, he requested that the chief captain allow him to speak to the unruly mob. We’re sure this probably seemed to be a strange request to the Roman captain, but he gave Paul permission to speak to his countrymen.

“Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defense which I make now unto you. (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,) I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel…” (Acts 22:1-3).

Before Paul shared his conversion on the road to Damascus, he, tactfully addressed them with titles of respect, “men, brethren, and fathers.” Then he perceptively spoke to them in the Hebrew language, the mother tongue of the chosen nation. Notice their response, “they kept the more silent.” Once he had their undivided attention, Paul identified himself with them, revealing that he was a Jew, born in Tarsus, but lived most of his life in Jerusalem, where he sat at the feet of one of their revered doctors of the law, Gamaliel.

That’s tact! May the Lord give us this type of discretion when we minister to others! And may it be to the praise of His glory.

“There seems to be some confusion over the future resurrections these days. C. I. Scofield, for example, taught that at the Rapture, ‘Not Church saints only, but all bodies of the saved, of whatever dispensation, are included in the first resurrection.’ What are your thoughts on this statement?”

We hold the Scofield Reference Bible in high regard, but Dr. Scofield often failed to rightly divide the Word of God consistently, which is somewhat understandable, seeing that the truth of Paul’s gospel was still being recovered. With that said, the order of the future resurrections is as follows:

1. Secret Resurrection of the Body of Christ: This glorious event will take place at the Rapture of the Church. It will only include those who are “in Christ,” from the Apostle Paul to the sound of the trump (I Cor. 15:51-53; I Thes. 4:13-18).
2. First Resurrection of the prophetic saints: After the seven year Tribulation Period runs its course, it will be followed by the Second Coming of Christ to the earth. At that time, Christ will raise the believing prophetic saints of time past, along with the martyrs of the Tribulation, and usher them into the Millennial Kingdom (John 5:28,29; I Cor. 15:23; Rev. 17:6; 20:6).
3. Resurrection of Damnation: This particular event occurs immediately following the 1,000-year reign of Christ. In that day, the unsaved of all ages will be resurrected from the dead and appear at the Great White Throne Judgment, where they will be found in their sins and judged accordingly (John 5:29; Rom. 2:4-6; I Cor. 15:24-26; Rev. 20:5,11-15; 21:8).

Thankfully, those who have trusted Christ as their personal Savior have been delivered from the wrath of God at the Great White Throne (Rom. 5:9). But what about that unsaved loved one or friend today? Don’t put it off another moment. Tell them about Christ before they slip away into a Christless eternity where all hope is lost.

We often hear from grace believers who have been told, by someone who should know better, that those who belong to a denomination could not possibly be saved because they have no understanding of the Grace message. In their mind, they are entangled in a form of “religion” and merely going through the ceremonial motions. To them their hearts are far from God; therefore, those who attend a denominational assembly should be called “anathema.”

Those who hold this extreme position have a short memory, seeing that many of them are the fruits of one of these churches. According to them I was not saved when I was a Baptist. With this I would take issue. It is my firm conviction that it is not a prerequisite to fully understand the Mystery to be saved. Anyone who believes the terms of salvation set forth by the Apostle Paul—that Christ died for their sins and rose again—is saved by the grace of God and is a member of the true Church, the Body of Christ.

This means that anyone who has believed the gospel of salvation is saved, no matter what their denominational affiliation. Even though they may not have the understanding that we have of Paul’s gospel, we owe them both honor and respect as members of Christ’s Body. In light of the coming Judgment Seat of Christ, we are well served never to speak disparagingly of them. Mark these words of the Apostle Paul, and mark them well, “Why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought [despise] thy brother? for we shall all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ…So then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:10,12).

We most certainly acknowledge that Catholicism spiritually binds its hearers with the need to earn their salvation through good works. This false “religious system,” with all its unfounded traditions, must be exposed as heresy. But even here we must give thanks that there are Catholics who have believed the gospel and eventually recanted Catholicism. Protestantism, on the other hand, with all its shortcomings and denominational bias, does at least in varying degrees preach faith in Christ. Even though they have many times opposed us for proclaiming the gospel of the grace of God, we like Paul, are grateful that Christ is preached (Phil. 1:15-18).

Rather than criticize those of the denominations who are saved, we have a responsibility to share the Word rightly divided with them so that they too might be delivered from the commandments of men. As Paul says, we are to “speak the truth in love,” something that is oftentimes lacking in the Grace movement.

Winter is a great time of the year to sit down by a crackling fire with a cup of hot coffee and read a good book. But thankfully, winter’s blast eventually turns into the warm breezes of spring when the flowers begin to bloom. We go from the barreness of wintertime that symbolizes death, to springtime when life wondrously springs forth, a fitting illustration of the resurrection.

After the Apostle Paul addressed our heavenly citizenship in Philippians, and how we are to be looking for the Lord’s return, he made an interesting statement: “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself” (Phil. 3:21). Paul believed in the resurrection!

Notice when the Lord comes, He is going to transform this body of humiliation that is prone to suffering and corruption, and conform it to His glorious body. Therefore, our resurrected body is going to be like His resurrected body, with the exception of His being God. If we understand the nature of our Lord’s resurrection, it will give us a better understanding of our future body. For example:

• The Lord appeared in a visible form (Luke 24:36,37).
• He had a body comprised of flesh and bones(Luke 24:39;John 20:24-28).
• The molecular structure of His body was such that He could pass through solid objects, such as a door that was closed (John 20:19,26).
• His identity was preserved in the resurrection. The disciples recognized Him (Luke 24:31; John 20:20).
• He had the ability to speak and reason with them (Luke 24:25-27).
• The Lord had a memory of past events (Luke 24:44).
• He ate with the disciples on more than one occasion (Luke 24:41-43;John 21:12-15).
• He retained His knowledge of the Scriptures (Luke 24:46,47).
• The Lord had the ability to appear in another form (Mark 16:12).
• He could instantly vanish out of sight (Luke 24:31).

Our resurrected body is going to be very adaptable to its surroundings. While these natural bodies are given to weakness and fatigue, our new ones will be raised in power. Since it is controlled by the Spirit, we will have an endless source of energy to serve the Lord throughout eternity.