Are you a Real Christian?

Some common misconceptions and false statements about some doctrine, end times prophecy and the book of Revelation. 

Most misconceptions come about from people who refuse to take scriptures literally, so instead they end up adding to and subtracting from the word of God.  Some won't quote scripture fully and even if they do, they may change just one word which changes the entire meaning.  

A great example of this is Rev. 7:13-14, which tells us a great multitude of people have come "out of" the great tribulation. Some will change the phrase "out of" to come through, which is not what the scripture says. Those who say they have come through the entire tribulation, are looking to negate the very clear teaching of the passage, which shows evidence of the Rapture event at the 6th seal.  The people proclaim earlier in the seal, that it is the first day of God's wrath, which in turn starts the great tribulation. The signing of the seven year peace treaty does not start the tribulation, the 6th seal does.

This still does not negate a pre-tribulation Rapture by the way, instead it confirms it and clarifies it. When one comes to realize that we are already living in between the 5th and 6th seal now, it removes confusion and twisting of scripture.

More misconceptions are as follows:  

1. Misconception: Rapture verses and 2nd coming verses are the same thing. Fact: they are not and one must learn how to separate the two. See article about Rapture vs.. 2nd coming

2. False statement: Some Doctors of theology like to say "If it's new it can't be true". This is usually in reference to workings of the Holy Spirit such as Tongues, miracles and healing, which have found new life in the Christian church since around the year 1900. Because they don't understand these things, nor believe in them, they preach against them and come up with false accusations against some who practice these things.

Bottom line is, the overall worldwide church got fat , dumb and lazy for nearly 1800 years and strayed from the original doctrines of the original 12 disciples and Jesus. Many of these so called "church reformer" followers of John Calvin,Martin Luther and others, would rather follow their teachings, then that of the bible, though they claim to be Christ followers. Many of these modern day dinosaur intellectuals, act as if the church began in the year 1600, instead of the first century. I have a saying for them: Just because it's traditional, it might not be scriptural.

These modern day Pharisees seek to put the Holy Spirit in a box and say he only worked in the 1st century church and he is not for today. This is a lie and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which was renewed around the year 1900, was just bringing the church back to it's original roots.

3. False Statement: "Don't be so heavenly minded that you can't do any earth good." People say this a lot, but it a dangerous statement to make. Scripture says just the opposite in Colossians 3:2. Jesus was 100% heavenly minded and 100% good.  In fact to be any earth good, one has to first be 100% heavenly minded like Jesus was.

4. Partial False Statement : A Christian can't lose their Salvation. Bottom line is some already have, so the entire thought of this is does not even recognize actual reality or biblical history. In Ex. 32:33 many had their names erased from the book of life, which means at least at one point they were on their way to heaven. But by continuing in sin after they knew the truth, they lost what they thought they had. Jesus also eludes to name erasure in Revelation 3:5, telling us it is a possibility to have ones name erased, if those who have soiled themselves with sin in the church, do not repent.

So the full truth then is, a Christian can be eternally secure if they continue on the road of holiness and remain in Christ. Sin is to be rare in the life of a Christian, not something taken for granted or practiced regularly. 1 John 2:1 says: " If we sin,(denoting one does not have to sin) we have an advocate in Jesus" . We are not free to sin, we have been freed from the shackles of sin to serve the one true Holy God who required Holiness to enter his realm. If we continue in sin, then we are fooling ourselves and the truth is not in us as Paul said. So then we must consider all scripture on a subject not just the ones we like.

5. Misconception: If two scriptures "appear" that they are contradicting one another, then only one can be true. "The one that I like trumps the other". The reality is, they are both true and they both carry equal weight. In fact if you had a certain doctrine with ten associated scriptures and another that only had just one, the one carries just as much weight as the ten. You will hear this type of thing from some preachers. They will say because the whole of the bible teaches thus and so, it trumps any other doctrine with less scripture attached. This is a typical ploy of a false teacher.

6. Misconception/ False Statement : The Rapture of the church will be a secret event. Not true. It will be so public that everyone will see it. It will come as a surprise to those not expecting it, but it will not be a secret. Rev: 1:7 & Matthew 24:30 and Rev.6:12-17, are all connecting verses, and they describe the Rapture event not the 2nd coming, which will accompany armies and war.

7. Misconception and False statements: The pre-tribulation Rapture must occur at chapter 4 of Revelation and before the 1st seal is broken. First of all this is an impossibility because the 1st seal was broken long ago, perhaps even as early as when Jesus went back to heaven after his crucifixion.

Also, we see in chapter 4 of Revelation that Jesus was only talking to John, when he said: "Come up here." He was not speaking to a multitude of people as we see in Rev chapter six. We have to add many things to Revelation 4, if we are to think it describes a Rapture. That is actually a sin to that and there is a punishment for all who take scripture that lightly to think they can do what they want with it, such as twisting, subtracting or adding to.

8. Misconception : The rider on the white horse at he first seal is the Antichrist. There are many reasons why this is false. One is, the 1st seal was already broken long ago and the lull between Daniels 69th and 70th week matches the lull in between the 5th and 6th seals. The rider on the white horse is Jesus and Jesus alone. He is the overcomer, not the Antichrist.  Also this rider is a spirit rider, as the other riders are, and the rider on the white horse has a crown which means he is in charge of the other spirit riders after him.  The Antichrist is a man and could never command spirits.

The bow in his hand which can be seen in Zech 9:14, is used by Jesus at the 2nd coming of Revelation chapter 19. 

The rise of the Antichrist does not occur until later in Revelation in chapter 13, it does not begin at the signing of the seven year peace treaty. One problem with trying to identify the Antichrist at the signing of the treaty, is because many leaders will be confirming this treaty not just one.  So then, the positive identifier of the Antichrist, will be the head wound event which Rev. chapter 13 also notes.

9. Misconception and false statement: The multitude seen in heaven at the 6th seal(Rev.7:13-14), has come through the entire last seven year tribulation. There are some who subtract from and add here as well. The fact is in every translation from the KJV to the NIV, it says they have come out of the great tribulation, not through it.

Early in the seal, we see that the people of earth proclaim this is the first day of God's wrath being poured out on earth. So then the multitude has come out at the beginning of the tribulation, not the middle and not the end.

The tribulation starts at the 6th seal, not beforehand. Also God's concentrated wrath does not begin until the 6th seal. Nowhere in seals one through five, is God's wrath mentioned, because it's not God's wrath for there to be no peace, wars, murders,disease and inflation. That's every day life folks.

10. Misconception: The locust of Revelation chapter 9 are helicopters and they will not torment tribulation saints, but they will be protected from them. Facts are different. The locust of Revelation are real actual locusts, but suited with armor to protect them from being killed by humans. They will torment everyone including tribulation saints for five months. This is part of the testing that saints will have to go through just like everyone else, otherwise everyone would try and become a Christian just for relief from the torment. 

There is a punishment for missing the Rapture at the 6th seal and the locust is one of those punishments that all will have to endure. The only ones who will be protected are the 144,000 special sealed Jewish evangelists who did not so much as even sin with women. Scripture says they will be pure. No one else during this time will be this pure until the very end after passing the testing. Those who make it to the end will be saved through heavy testing and persecution and finally death.  

11. Misconception: The blood that will flow out 180 miles and as high as a horses bridle(which is 4-6 feet high) in Revelation chapter 14, is associated with the Battle of Armageddon. Reality is, it is from the beheadings of the saints by the Antichrist and will represent somewhere in the range of 500 million to one billion saints being beheaded.

12. Misconception and false teaching: Hell is an incinerator, not a place of eternal torment. The bible clearly teaches the opposite. The account of Lazarus and the torment of the rich man in hell is an actual account not a parable. If it were a parable, Jesus would have been deceiving us if he knew that hell was just an incinerator where the soul would no longer exist, to then go on and tell a story of someone who is in torment in hell forever. The fact is, there are many other passages though one is enough, that decscribe hell as torment where there will be weeping, gnashing of teeth and darkness along with being salted by fire for eternity. Those who believe another way, do not adhere to all scripture and the scripture they do like, they twist.

13. Misconception: Revelation is mostly symbolic or allegorical. The reality is, it's just the opposite. It is mostly to be taken literally and very little is symbolic or allegorical. Problem with not interpreting it literally is, it is impossible to not add to or subtract from original meaning and it leaves interpretation up to millions of individuals all of whom have differing opinions on the matter. So then who do you believe? The person with the highest IQ or the highest education? No, that is not the way and is why there is so much confusion with all these things to start with.

14. Misconception: The Rapture of some in the church will come in the middle or the end of the tribulation period. Reality is, if this is true, then the blessed hope is meaningless. The fact is, there is much scripture that tell us some are escaping God's wrath early before the worst of the worst starts. Rev. 3:10, Luke 21:28&36 plus 1Thess 5, all speak of some who will not suffer God's wrath but instead escape it early. Also, anything that happens after the 6th seal of Revelation is so obvious, stark and even numbered, that Jesus coming with the surprise of a thief is impossible. There is no normal life going on after the 6th seal and we are told in Luke chapter 17, that he is taking one and leaving one behind when normal life is occurring.

15. Misconception: Jesus will Rapture the entire church, whether you are living a life of holiness or not. All church attendee's will go in the Rapture. The reality is Matthew chapter 25, and half the letters of Revelation speak of approx. half in the church who will be left behind to face the testing of the tribulation period. Scoffers, lukewarm and other hypocrites will all be left behind.

16. Misconception: None or few will be saved after the Rapture. Praise God this is a huge lie. The fact is, God is trying to save as many as possible during the last great tribulation. The reason it is called a time of testing is because, some will pass the test and some will fail. Chapter 14 of Revelation shows us that as many as one billion saints will be Martyred and therefore be saved during this time. Out of 6 billion or so that is a big number. Also one billion or so are probably Raptured at the 6th seal. This is based on current number of worldwide Christians, not even counting the few million there may be in the U.S.

More Coming Soon.......................