Activated Magazine Online - www.activated.org
May 2009
FAST FORWARD TO THE FUTURE
Personally Speaking
If we haven't lived the drama, we've seen it depicted in movies and on TV. The patient in the intensive care unit hovers between life and death while anxious family and friends fidget and pace in the waiting room and hallway, praying for the best, preparing for the worst, scanning the faces of the doctors and nurses as they shuffle in and out of the ICU, and hanging onto their every guarded word. Will the patient survive? If so, will there be permanent damage? Will life ever be the same?
That scene is being played out today on the big stage, and we're all players. The patient on life support is our world, and the financial policy makers are the medical professionals. The rest of us watch and wait. A near-fatal blow to the economy would have been hard enough to recover from, but looming complications worsen the odds. Will terrorism, nationalism, and base egoism proliferate like viruses in a compromised immune system? Will society's moral fabric suffer a complete breakdown? With all that going on, can multiple ecological threats be held at bay? Can international relations take the strain? What's the prognosis?
There is both good news and bad news, as it turns out--bad news in the short term, but good news in the long term. According to numerous passages in the Bible that foretell future events, things are going to get much worse before they get better; but when they get better, they will get unbelievably better!
We can't stop the bad from happening, but we can prepare for it. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, so the first thing we should do is find out what to expect. The next thing we should do is equip ourselves to go through those things, to come out on top, and to be able to help others do the same. This issue of Activated will get you thinking and moving in the right direction. Be a survivor. No, be a victor!
Keith Phillips
For Activated
The Safest Place
David Brandt Berg
When the world goes to pieces, the best place to be is in the charmed circle of God's protection. "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.' Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you" (Psalm 91:1-7).
Even if there's turmoil and confusion all around, you can have inner peace through the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ (John 16:33; Isaiah 9:6; 26:3). He never fails those who trust Him. So that's the secret: Live close to the Lord, in touch and in tune with Him and in step with His Word. It is His Word that makes you strong spiritually. (See Acts 20:32; Romans 10:17; 2 Timothy 3:15-17.)
One encouraging passage of Scripture regarding God's ability to protect and keep those who believe in and trust Him is the story of the harlot Rahab and the ancient city of Jericho. Because Rahab had faith and assisted two spies who were acting as God's agents, even at great peril to herself, when Jericho was later besieged by an invading army and destroyed, the only part of Jericho's city walls that didn't fall was the small section on which Rahab's house was built. She and her relatives survived and were spared by the conquerors. (Read the full story in Joshua chapters 2 and 6.)
All things work together for good to those who love God
When disaster strikes, whether it's natural or manmade, those who have been doing their best to live as they know God would have them live may find they receive His supernatural protection. "The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations" (2 Peter 2:9). That doesn't mean that He won't ever allow them to be harmed. He promises deliverance, but sometimes He knows that the best and most loving form of deliverance is to end their suffering by taking them home to heaven. So if you've received Jesus as your Savior, the "worst" thing that can happen to you is that you die and go to heaven that much sooner. You really don't have anything to worry about, because either way, whether here or there, you're in His loving care.
And remember, whenever anything bad happens to those who love God, He can and wants to bring about some good through it. "All things work together for good to those who love God" (Romans 8:28). Don't worry when times of trouble and testing come, thinking that God doesn't love you or that He's finished with you. What you feel is God's tender hand upon you, using the situation to make you into the person He knows you can be, or working other things in your favor. As hard as it may be to see the good that will come out of it, that's His goal and His promise to you.
You're in His hands, so "be confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). These tests are only for a time, and meanwhile you are safe with Him!
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All things work together for good to those who love God.
By David Brandt Berg
After the darkest night in world history, we are going to have the brightest dawn. The fast approaching night is going to be the nightmare of the great tribulation (a 3 ½-year period during which the world will be ruled by an iron-fisted dictator known as the Antichrist), and the dawn, the coming of Christ. Things have got to get worse before they can get better, but in spite of the horrors of the growing darkness of this world, we know that it's all going to work out right in the end. The darkest hour is just before dawn, and the faster it gets worse, the sooner it's going to get better!
We have to go through a dark place of trials and tribulations, but then we're going to come out into the sunshine on the other side and all of these things will be blotted out like an evil dream! One of these days Jesus is going to stop the world and we're going to get off, away from all this suffering and confusion and into the peace and quiet and beauty and love and wonder of that wonderland beyond in heavenly places with Him! Just a little longer, then dawns His glorious morn!
Fast Forward to the Future
Scott MacGregor
From Now to Eternity
Have you ever been reading a suspenseful book and peeked at the last page to find out how it ended, or have you ever fast-forwarded a movie to see how the plot was going to develop? Have you ever wished you could do that with time itself--fast forward to find out what's in store for this world of ours? Well, you can.
The Bible contains hundreds of prophetic glimpses into the future that describe specific people, places, times, events, and world conditions (Amos 3:7). Many of these prophecies are about the time in which we are now living--a period referred to as the end time.
Here is a brief summary of what the Bible indicates is ahead, in chronological order:
Where we are now
1. Signs of the times
The Bible gives numerous signs to watch for so we will know when Jesus' return is drawing close. These signs include the gospel being preached throughout the world (Matthew 24:14), dramatic increases in international travel and scientific knowledge (Daniel 12:4), and a great falling away from the true God (2 Thessalonians 2:3) as ungodliness and perversions proliferate (2 Timothy 3:1-4,13). All of this results in "distress of nations," with "men's hearts failing them from fear" of the future (Luke 21:25-26). Clearly these signs are being seen today.
The coming world government
2. The Antichrist
One of the most momentous signs of the end time will be the rise of a godless world government, led by a man whom biblical prophets described in various terms but who is now commonly referred to as the "Antichrist" (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; 1 John 2:18). At first many will regard him as a savior because he will appear to solve some of the world's most pressing problems, such as the inequitable distribution of wealth and consumption of resources; long-standing hostilities between nations, ideologies, and religions; exploitation of the poor; and economic instability. He will come to power through intrigue and nonbelligerent means (Daniel 11:21,24), but is in fact a man of war (Daniel 8:23-25). He will be in league with Satan, and in the end will become the embodiment of evil (2 Thessalonians 2:9; Revelation 13:4-8).
3. The covenant
The Antichrist will either initiate or be directly involved in an agreement--a "holy covenant," as the Bible calls it--that will temporarily bring a measure of peace and security to the world (Daniel 9:27a). The signing of this covenant will signal the start of the last seven years of man's dominion (Revelation 11:15).
Approximately three and a half years into the agreement, after surviving what sounds like an assassination attempt (Revelation 13:1,3), the megalomaniacal Antichrist will break the covenant, declare himself God, and abolish all other religious worship (Daniel 9:27b; 11:23,28,30b,32,36).
4. The image of the Beast
When the Antichrist breaks the covenant, the mysterious "abomination of desolation" will be erected in the precincts of the rebuilt Jewish temple (Daniel 11:31). In the book of Revelation, the abomination of desolation is called the "image of the Beast," and it has "power to both speak and cause those that do not worship it to be killed" (Revelation 13:14-15). However, those who willingly comply will be doomed along with the Antichrist upon Christ's return (Revelation 14:9-10).
Could this image be some sort of cybernetic representation of the Antichrist that is endowed with artificial intelligence?
Big trouble ahead
5. The great tribulation
Jesus said, "When you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place ... then there will be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matthew 24:15,21). We know from other passages that the great tribulation will last for three and a half years, or 42 months, or 1260 days (measuring months and years by the ancient standard used in the Bible's original manuscripts: 30 days per month; 360 days per year). (Daniel 12:7; Revelation 13:5; 11:2-3; 12:6,14).
A monetary system will be put in place under which no one will be able to buy or sell without a personal account number, the "mark of the Beast," in their hand or forehead--the infamous "666" of the Bible's book of Revelation (Revelation 13:16-18).
This system could have been in place earlier, but it's at this time that participation is made mandatory, perhaps tied in with a universal ID system. The mark of the Beast could be issued in the form of a microchip implant containing the individual's personal data, similar to those already being used to tag people in high security jobs.
The Antichrist will become possessed by Satan, and his government will persecute those who refuse to yield to his dictates (Daniel 7:25; Revelation 12:17). But God will help those who resist the Antichrist, and in their defense will unleash horrific pestilences and plagues on the Antichrist and his followers (Revelation 9:1-6). Two of God's end time prophets will perform miracles and publicly defy the Antichrist (Revelation 11:3,5-6), and other believers could have similar powers (Daniel 11:32b).
6. Nuclear war
At some point, probably near the end of the great tribulation, the Antichrist and 10 "kings" who join forces with him will destroy the mysterious "Babylon the great" in what sounds like a nuclear holocaust (Revelation 17:3,5,12-13,16-18). Scripture indicates that this Babylon is not the ancient city or empire by that name, but rather the worldwide capitalistic and materialistic system (Revelation 18:2,8-11,19). Today that system is epitomized and led by the USA. Visions received by the prophet Daniel indicate that the 10 kings who join with the Antichrist emerge from the ancient Roman Empire and thus could be from Europe (Daniel 2:40-43; 7:24).
Reversal of fortunes
7. The second coming of Jesus Christ
At the end of the great tribulation--"immediately after the tribulation of those days"--Jesus will return "on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" to rescue those who have received Him as their Savior, commonly referred to as "the saved" (Matthew 24:29-31; Revelation 14:14-16). The Antichrist's forces will be shocked as they see the saved from ages past resurrected in new immortal bodies (1 Corinthians 15:51-52), and "then we [saved] who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). This event is known as the "rapture."
8. The marriage supper
Immediately after the rapture, the grandest celebration ever, "the marriage supper of the Lamb," will be held in heaven (Revelation 19:6-9). The "Lamb" is Jesus (John 1:29), and His "bride" is the saved from all ages--those He has just rescued and those He has resurrected, collectively (Romans 7:4). At the judgment seat of Christ, they will each be rewarded according to what they did with their lives (Matthew 16:27; Romans 14:10b,12; 1 Corinthians 3:13-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Peter 5:4; Revelation 2:10b).
9. The wrath of God
While the marriage supper of the Lamb is happening in heaven, a number of devastating plagues described in the Bible as the "wrath of God" will be happening here, and the Antichrist and his forces will be the targets (Revelation 11:18; 15:6; 16:2-4,8-12,17).
10. The battle of Armageddon
Then, on a plain in what is now northern Israel, the Antichrist will muster his armed forces for his final campaign against the nations that still oppose him. This is the famous "battle of Armageddon," in which Jesus will return with His heavenly army to defeat and utterly destroy the Antichrist's forces and deliver those who have opposed his tyranny (Zechariah 14:3-5; Revelation 16:14,16-17; 19:11,14,16).
The Antichrist and his leading henchman, the False Prophet, will both be cast alive into the lake of fire, a place of punishment (Revelation 19:19-21), and Satan will be imprisoned in the "bottomless pit" (Revelation 20:1-3).
Order restored
11. The millennium
Jesus will set up His kingdom on Earth and rule for 1,000 years over those who have survived the battle of Armageddon and the cataclysms surrounding it--people who were neither followers of the Antichrist nor saved and rescued by Jesus at His return (Daniel 2:44; Revelation 11:15). The resurrected saved from throughout the ages will govern with Jesus (Daniel 7:18,22,27; Revelation 20:4,6), and restoration of the war-damaged world will begin. All wars will cease (Isaiah 2:4), the world will at last be governed justly (Psalm 67:4; 72:3-4; 98:8-9), love for God and others will be the rule of the day (Matthew 22:37-39), and Garden of Eden-like peace and harmony will be restored (Isaiah 11:6-9; 14:7; 65:25; 43:19-20; Hosea 2:18). This period is known as the "millennium."
Judgment day
12. The battle of Gog and Magog
At the end of the millennium, Satan will be released from the bottomless pit (Revelation 20:3). There will not have been any unbelievers during the millennium, because everyone will have been able to see Jesus (Habakkuk 2:14; Hebrews 8:11), however, there will be those who refuse to receive Jesus as their Savior and submit to refuse to receive Jesus as their Savior (Isaiah 26:10), and they will join Satan in an open rebellion that will culminate in the catastrophic battle of Gog and Magog. There the rebel forces will be obliterated (Revelation 20:7-9), and Earth's entire surface and atmosphere will be purified by fire (2 Peter 3:10-12; Revelation 6:14).
13. The great white throne judgment
Then all of the people from the beginning of time who did not know about or believe in Jesus will be resurrected to stand before God's throne and be judged. They will be either rewarded or punished according to their works, and will be assigned to their respective stations in the hereafter (Revelation 20:11-13; 21:5-6a). Satan will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).
Eternity!
14. A new Earth
Earth's surface and atmospheric heavens, which were burned up in the battle of Gog and Magog, will then be beautifully recreated, even better than before--truly heaven on earth, "in which righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1).
15. The heavenly city
God's golden heavenly city, the dimensions of which are an astonishing 2,200 km [about 1,400 mi] square at the base and 2,200 km high, will then descend to the recreated Earth (Revelation 21:2; 15-17). It is referred to in the Bible as the "mountain of God" and the "tabernacle of God," suggesting that it is pyramidical (Zechariah 8:3; Revelation 21:3a). God and Jesus will dwell in that city with those who love and serve Them (Revelation 21:3,7,22; 22:3). Read the Bible's grand finale, Revelation chapters 21 and 22, for a full description.
And that is the happy ending! Although there are dark days in the near future, we can take heart in knowing that God is in control and a bright, beautiful, eternal tomorrow is not very far away.
Responsible Earthlings
Richard Johnston
The issue of climate change is a charged one, but also one that can't be ignored. We can debate the causes and culprits till the cows come home, but the fact remains that this planet is our collective home for now, and we each share in the responsibility for it.
I've read articles by several Christian writers who have, I think, taken a sensible and scriptural approach: God has appointed us stewards over His creation, and it is our responsibility to care for it and manage its resources (Genesis 2:15). On the other side, I have read what I think is an irresponsible approach, based on a skewed application of certain other Bible passages. It goes like this: Earth's surface and atmosphere will one day be destroyed in a global conflagration, and God will create a new and better world on the remains of the old (Psalm 102:25-26; 2 Peter 3:7-12; Revelation 21:1), so it doesn't much matter what we do to it now; it's all going to burn up anyway. Why bother ourselves with trying to preserve it if God has other plans?
Yes, God is going to give our planet a makeover, but not until after the millennium, the 1,000-year period of relative heaven on earth that follows Jesus' second coming. And according to both biblical forecasts and present-day pundits, the world that Jesus will take over when He returns will be in a sad state indeed. By then, the problems we are creating today will have been compounded by a reign of global terror known as the great tribulation, led by the devil-man known as the Antichrist, which will be followed by the apocalyptic battle of Armageddon. Jesus will put things right, but the cleanup won't happen magically or all at once. It will be a better world right from the start, because one thing that does more damage to the environment than almost anything else--war--will be banned (Isaiah 2:4), but there will be much physical cleanup work to be done, and Jesus isn't going to do it all Himself.
Those who have proved themselves responsible will hold positions of responsibility
"That's not my problem," some say. "I'll be home safe. Jesus will take me to heaven when He returns, and all will be forgiven because I've received Him as my Savior." Yes, everyone who has received Him, either dead or alive, will rise to meet Jesus in the air at His coming and be whisked away to heaven, and yes, everyone's sins will be forgiven, but there is something else to consider: In heaven, each will be rewarded according to his or her deeds in this life. "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10. See also Daniel 12:2-3; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15).
As much as I, old egalitarian that I am, like to speak of the equality of all humankind, heaven is not going to be a classless place. Those who have lived by the precepts of loving God and loving others as best they could (Matthew 22:37-39) are going to be at the top of the heap, while those who have lived me-first lives are going to find themselves with pretty meager rewards in the next life. They get into heaven because salvation is an irrevocable gift not based on merit, but they may not get very far past the door.
It won't surprise me if many of those people end up helping with the monumental restoration projects that will be carried out during the millennium, after the battle of Armageddon and other prophesied catastrophes. There will still be mortals, the people who managed to live through the great tribulation and its aftermath, and they will be busy doing what mortals do, trying to make a life for themselves and their families. But the immortals, all the believers, both those who were dead and those who were alive when Jesus came back for them, will also have a role to play. "They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years" (Revelation 20:6). The Bible is clear that those who have proved themselves responsible will hold positions of responsibility, while others who have not proven themselves worthy of such trust will have to help out in more menial ways. As in the parable that Jesus told about the nobleman who turned his wealth over to his servants while he journeyed to a far country to claim his kingdom, authority will go to those who have earned it. "Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities." (See Luke 19:11-27.)
Earth will eventually get a complete renovation, but before that happens we still have a little over 1,000 years to try to make it a happy, healthy place. Live responsibly.