The world – especially the church world – is preparing for the Grand Opening of the Great Tribulation. The noisy old-school church that holds to the Pre-Tribulation Rapture will be removed out of their way. Our presence empowered by the Holy Ghost holds the Wicked One, the Antichrist, at bay and restrains him from his official position as the head of the One World Order. The Antichrist is probably alive but being held in reserve and angry that his readiness to step up to the Satan-appointed task keeps getting held down and hindered. The entire world of One World advisors and promoters will call for the greatest celebration of this generation. Declaring the World of Nations as “One World Under god” will create pandemonium in every major city of this earth, even Jerusalem.

Religion is the one source of world peace and unity. Finally, there isn’t any religious entity left to deny “all religions as being equal.” With the Rapture-ready saints gone, the Jezebel church wins the day and is fully prepared to be partners with the powers of the One World Order. New revelations, new translations, and new interpretations will have prepared the world for a new view of God, of Christ, and of the Spirit. The deception will be so complete that Satan – as an angel of light – will step right up to the world church and receive the long sought after role as the Father’s replacement. He will produce his “christ” and his “spirit,” and the whole world will bow at his feet.

Five unbiblical ideas have prepared the church world for this coming dark hour.

FIRST, the false anointing and spiritual-type activities have become dominant in the spiritual world. The central place that the Bible and Jesus Christ once held has been replaced with a spirit being called the Holy Spirit. ItÂ’s like the church has entered a spirit dispensation, and the primary expectations revolve around some kind of strange spirit experience. Impartations from individual-to-individual are occurring at almost every church altar. There is no such Biblical truth as a Holy Ghost dispensation. The church life from Pentecost up until the Rapture is a Jesus Christ dispensation. He is the Lord of the Church. Yes, He fills us with His Spirit. Yes, there is joy and rejoicing. Yes, the gifts of His Spirit are available, but it is all centered in Jesus Christ alone.

SECOND, this new spirit has subjected himself to the individuals or at least convinced them that he has done so. Men and women speak in tongues at their own will as often and as much as they will. They prophesy over each other as is pleasing to them and constantly intrigue each other by promising good things. New revelations of doctrines and ideas fill their thinking with religious imaginations. They travel from city to city, binding spirits over these cities and calling down judgments of perceived darkness. Paranormal things are filling the lives of the religious world with signs, wonders, visions, and dreams, which are mostly bizarre and without any Biblical context. These are spirits willing to be used because the desired end is total control over the individual.

THIRD, prayer has moved from a relationship with the Father and His Son to a man-centered mindset. Instead of praying “Thy kingdom come,” it is proclaiming, even demanding, “Thy kingdom come.” They say that no one is supposed to pray for God’s will, but they are to command what they perceive is God’s will. The church world is being taught that they can speak things into existence and command the spirit world. One fad after another has taken the church world from a cross-centered spirituality to a man-centered spirituality and prayer life. Very few Christians are able to judge this incredible departure from truth.

FOURTH, the Bible is called the “dusty old truths of the past.” Almost everyone is looking for something new and intriguing. The evangelicals have their new translation, the charismatics have their new revelations, and many fundamentalists have their new interpretations. Any church movement that does not have a strict and unflinching devotion to the plain Word of God will be deceived. The Bible is infallible and our one and only rule for truth and life. We have a church generation where “truth has fallen in the streets” and there is no way back except for a return to “every Word of God.”

FIFTH, the theology of this deception is earth-centered instead of Heaven-centered. The environment, politics, and wealth are the heartthrob of the Jezebel church. They treat heavenly truths like some false “pie-in-the-sky” theology. They laugh at those of us who have our eyes trained on the coming of our Lord to take us out of here. The Pre-Tribulation Rapture is a hindrance to their Kingdom Dominion Theology. They think they are going to rule the world and are expecting to become “Manifest Sons of God” at any moment. They will actually call this manifestation the Rapture and use language that completely skirts the truth.

These five areas of departure from truth shows how close we are to the Antichrist religion of the Seven Years of the Great Tribulation. It’s amazing that all five of these dark teachings fit perfectly with the Catholic world. Much of the present day Catholic church has joined hand-to-hand with Paul Crouch, Benny Hinn, and other key evangelical leaders. That proves the absolute heresy of the present departure from the Word of God. I often hear people say that Jesus cannot return until the church goes back to the glory of the Book of Acts. That is a totally misleading statement. Jesus said the opposite. “I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). Apostle Paul stated, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (II Thessalonians 2:3). Peter stated, “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

ItÂ’s getting worse, not better. We are not going to ride with the Antichrist across the land, but with the Son of God down from above to defeat the Antichrist and establish the long awaited Millennial Kingdom on earth.

Joseph R. Chambers

Every false doctrine that is attacking the truth of GodÂ’s Holy Word would be dispelled if the proponents of those doctrines would believe the Book of Revelation. This Masterpiece of GodÂ’s revelation is fundamental Christianity at its best. Every major doctrine of the Bible is on display in the Book of Revelation. The rest of the Bible teaches the doctrines, but the Book of Revelation displays the doctrines in action. Why has the church world missed this great truth? IÂ’m afraid we have allowed the enemies of truth to build straw men about the Book of Revelation, which has driven the book to our shelves instead of our hearts. It is not mystical or hard, but rather open to the hearts of the seekers and the studious. It is revealed on the knees, not in the ivory towers.

The entire Bible goes into action when you begin to study the Book of Revelation. Of all sixty-six books of the Bible, no other book even begins to reveal Christ as matchless as this book does. John the Revelator certainly displays the divine nature of Jesus Christ in the Book of Saint John; but in the Book of Revelation, he reveals or displays the glorified person of our Christ and Savior. John was the only Gospel writer that recorded Christ’s prayer for His saints as recorded in chapter seventeen. John recorded this prayer of Jesus Christ where He uttered these breathtaking words, “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (John 17:5). In the Book of Revelation, John is allowed by Jesus Christ to prove that prayer was answered and to display the triumph of the style in which it was answered.

Anyone that doubts the eternal nature and personhood of GodÂ’s only begotten Son doesnÂ’t need to read anything but this Masterpiece. From chapter one to chapter twenty-two, He is seen crucified, glorified, possessing His FatherÂ’s kingdom, judging the world, redeeming the entire universe, and preparing an eternal New Heaven and Earth. No doctrine that misrepresents the Son of God would have seen the light of day if the misguided souls had believed the Book of Revelation. In this book, He possessed and displayed every name given to Him in all the previous sixty-five books of the Bible.

The trinity of God is on exquisite display in this book. The Father is on His throne and has the redemptive book in his hand. No one except the crucified – but glorified – Son even dares to approach to open the seven-sealed book. The Holy Spirit is present in all the responsibilities of His office to act upon the human hearts on earth while presenting the Bride to the Father to reign with Christ in Heaven. It is the omnipresent Spirit that bridges the total universe for the events that both separate the affairs in Heaven and on earth and tie it all together at the same time. Only the thrice manifested and revealed Godhead could unite the universe for its completed redemption and renewal.

Dispensational truth is never plainer than in the Book of Revelation. Even the city of New Jerusalem is revealed with twelve gates named after Israel and twelve foundations named after the apostles of the church. The twenty-four elders cannot represent anything less than the church and Israel — His two chosen but distinctive companies of saints. No one will enjoy the FatherÂ’s eternity but those that are either redeemed out of these two major dispensations or the dispensations prior to and ending with AbrahamÂ’s period.

The Pre-Tribulation Rapture is alluded to often in the Holy Bible but never put in a chronological setting until we come to the Book of Revelation. The Son of God left no doubt when this Rapture would occur when He revealed this book to John. No judgment of the completed and final hour could begin until the Lord called John “up hither” and showed him the saints – now elders – seated around the Father’s Throne. These saints are never called the church again after Revelation chapter four and verse one. No truth is more certain in this Masterpiece than the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.

You can argue against the seven years of the Great Tribulation until you begin to read the Book of Revelation. The Battle of Armageddon cannot be documented with any finality until you read this book. The Amillennial (no Rapture) or Post-Millennial (Christ comes after the Rapture) lose their entire argument when we believe this great book of the Bible. We see references to the city that the Son of God created but no final proof or description until we read the Book of Revelation. The Book of Revelation is our LordÂ’s final covenant of the future for His saints.

No Bible truth is more wonderfully on display in Revelation than the “whosoever will” of Saint John 3:16. The rainbow around the throne of the Father sends a signal of mercy that never fades until the last soul is redeemed. One of the closing statements of chapter twenty-two of this Masterpiece states, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17). There is a multitude in the Book of Revelation that cannot repent but it is because of their choices. There is a constant invitation to others to repent in this book. There are angels flying in the Heavens preaching repentance and two prophets – protected until the world hears their message — preaching repentance. This book is a book of redemption.

Last, but not least, the Book of Revelation declares the perfection of the Holy Bible and its infallibility. The foremost commandment in all Scripture says not to touch the Bible or change its great revelation. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).

The Book of Revelation is the display of truth for every church and every soul. It will bring blessings into your present life and will guarantee eternal life. Read it, obey it, believe it, and rejoice. He sent It To You.

Joseph R. Chambers