The Last Days are Here

The Last Days are Here - Joseph Chambers - www.pawcreek.org

 

Nahum 2

 

3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.

4 The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.

 

 

I'm thrilled at the many signs of Christ's soon return. The Rapture is evident but so are the many great events of the End connected to the Rapture and His return to reign on the earth. Let's look at the times in Scripture where the writers are using the term, "Last Days." This very term means, "The Last of the Last." This is where we certainly have arrived.

 

Let's talk about:

 

1. The days of Revelation: Hebrews 1: 1-6

2. The Day of Great Wealth: James 5:3

3. The Day of Great Wickedness: II Timothy 3: 1-8

4. Time of Many Scoffers: I Peter 3:3

5. The Time of Technological Inventions: Nahum 2: 3-6

6. The Time of Great Awakening: Acts 2: 17-21

7. Infectious Diseases: Matthew 24: 6-7

 

It is an overwhelming experience to look at the "apostasy" in the House of God. Churches that were bedrock on the Rock are falling into deception like flies. Isaiah described this very hour perfectly. "In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment." (Isaiah 59:13-15) Truth, God's infallible truth, is lying in the streets.

 

I began this message with several points to preach about but never got beyond this crucial matter. When the Bible talks about "apostasy" the Holy Ghost is never talking to the world. It is only the church to whom He speaks. And it can only be a church that knows the truth and then turn away. Churches that have no truth in them cannot apostasize. Ministers who were once men of God and full of the Spirit but now are all a show and have become apostates. Churches where the Holy Spirit convicted sinners and made saints out of them but are now barren of true transformation have apostasized.

 

Let's start with our Bible. The new attitude is that the word absolute or infallible is said to apply only to the original autograph. Now we must search through many different texts to imagine we have made right choices. Fallible men are helpless to discover truth in this fashion. This is why God said He would preserve His Word and warned us to never change one word. I was saved and taught the doctrines of the Bible by a church fellowship that had an infallible Bible. After sixty-two years of serving the Lord and wearing out about one dozen Bibles, I have not changed one great doctrine I was taught. I can say with conviction my Bible does not contain one single error.

 

James 5

 

7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

 

I just read where a noted writer and radio minister said "There is not one single Bible that does not contain errors in the text." Look at what that ministry is doing to the people that follow him. Look at the numbers of different opinions concerning the End Times, the rapture, the antichrist, and every major doctrine of eschatology. I remember when prophesy was simple and plain and everybody trembled just to hear the truths again and again. Now the best way to have a church split is to have a prophecy conference.

 

The New International Version is absolute heresy. Yet it is the best seller of all Bibles. I have studied its text extensively, and it is nothing but a commentary from mostly apostate, so-called scholars. Look at this text for a lesson in error. Luke spoke of the young lad Jesus and said, "A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him." (Luke 2:32-33 KJV) That is the authorized text. Now look at the apostate text: "a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him." (Luke 2:32-33 NIV) Is it possible to be more apostate? Joseph was not the father of our Lord.

 

It was Apostle Paul the Holy Ghost used to warn us of this great apostasy we are witnessing. The New Testament church was so expectant of the Lord's return during its lifetime that they grieved over saints that had died. The return of Christ for His Bride was an imminent matter to them. The Spirit spoke, "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 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; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." (II Thessalonians 2:1-4) This is clear proof that the early church was Pre-Tribulation in doctrine.

 

There were two things that the Spirit said had to happen before the church would be "gathered together unto Him." One was the "falling away" or the Greek word "apostasy." The church was going to "turn from the truth" before the Lord would come. Number two: there would be a manifestation of the "fog of the antichrist." His deceiving presence would become so evident that his spirit would control the world's quick slid into deception. Notice I use the term "fog of the antichrist." Some Bible teachers have used this scripture to teach a mid or pre-wrath rapture. The revelation of the antichrist comes in two phases.

 

Matthew 24

 

6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

 

First, his coming is hidden in a deceiving fog of spiritual deception. He is everywhere visible but nowhere bodily. His evil presence is so overwhelming and dominant yet completely hidden from all but a very small remnant. You can see him in the shadows but you cannot get the lukewarm church to look and listen. They are blinded by the spirit of apostasy. This is a perfect picture of our church world.

 

Apostasy is a powerful form of deception. There are many ways that the unspiritual church is blinded by this darkness. If you study the present church world you will see this deceiving mindset everywhere. It is seen in the sin-friendly church, the relevant church without absolutes, the positive idea that denies all negatives, and many other thoughts that sound so beautiful. Nothing is more impossible for most churches to resist as the new music. The devil and his antichrist spirit have been successful in presenting a false harlot church as the true movement of end time religion.

 

The Apostle John saw this great deception in a vision and marveled at its beauty. He was rebuked for his blindness. Why do we expect a different picture today. If the great Apostle John marveled then only God can protect you and me from what is occurring. An angel rebuked John and John described the truth of this event: "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns." (Revelation 17:6-7) What a powerful warning for us today.

 

I am watching and hearing almost every day about another great man or woman or another great church of the past that has fallen into the trap. You will find that the music is usually the first standard to fall. How and what you worship and sing about will decide your theology in a very short time. If your music is generic and absent of absolutes from the Bible, your doctrine will fall in line with your music. I will never forget hearing the music minster at the Pensacola church say to the pastor right in the middle of worship, "Pastor, you could sing these songs to a lover that we are singing in church." This represents what wrong music does to a worshipping people.

 

The great text in II Thessalonians chapter two continues to show a perfect picture of the antichrist spirit that we are witnessing. When the rapture occurs, then the antichrist beast will appear out of the fog and will rule the world for seven years. John said it very carefully, "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (II Thessalonians 2:8-12) The church is presently having great pleasure in unrighteousness but the end is near.

 

Revelation 1

 

1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

 

Conclusion

 

You and I have a short space, days or maybe longer, to carefully live in the fire of the Holy Spirit and the truth of the Word of God. John saw this false façade of religion and warned us that this harlot system would be spued out of His mouth: "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." (Revelation 3:15-16) Most all of the present church world is totally unprepared for the rapture.