Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Current Affairs (06/08/12)
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TITLE: What's Happening? | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doug Laird
06/08/12 -
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Biblically edified believers know that the next global event in the spiritual realm will be the Rapture of the Church.
At that Rapture, believers in Heaven and on the Earth will instantaneously receive their resurrected bodies and be gathered together as one unit (1Thess. 4: 15-17) in the air above the Earth.
The Rapture precedes the horrible events that are to take place on Earth following the Rapture and prior to the Second Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In fact, if it were not for the manifestation of the Second Advent, no human life would survive the horrible calamity in progress that the Second Advent cuts short (Matthew 24:22).
As atrocious as the events of the end times following the Rapture and preceding the Second Advent will be, Biblical prophesy clearly reveals that the world is not coming to an end any time soon.
After the Rapture takes place, we still have such things as the Tribulation years, the Second Advent, and the 1,000 year earthly kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ that take place before the elements of the present world melt away (2Peter 3:12) and the new Earth is formed by God (Rev. 22).
Only God knows if any one of us is going to be one of the believers who are in Heaven or one of the believers who are on the Earth when the Rapture finally takes place.
Even if the Rapture were to take place by the end of this day, there is not one of us who can say with a certainty that God will not call anyone of us Home in the next five minutes, making us a part of the group that is called from Heaven (1Thess. 4: 15, 16).
Tens of thousands of souls depart this Earth every day. For many of them, their departure was the last thing that they or those who knew them expected or anticipated.
Rather or not we, as individuals will be in Heaven or on the Earth when the Rapture takes place us beyond our control.
What is within our control is rather or not we will be found doing the will of God when the appointed time for the process of death and/or our time of departure arrives.
When given the opportunity, the greatest testimony can take place while going through the dying process here on Earth.
Regardless of how global, local, or personal current affairs impact our daily lives, God was well aware of all of these factors when He authored the Divine Decree in eternity past.
The Divine Decree consists of everything that the direct, permissive, or intervening will of God directs, allows, or prevents from happening.
It is the evil that God permits and some of the things that He chooses not to prevent that bring the advancing disciples many tests of faith.
These tests of faith reveal to us what God already knows about the status of our walk with Him at any given time.
The writing of the Divine Decree did not violate the free will that God would give to each soul, and neither can we change what God has decreed.
It was through His omniscience that God was able to author the Divine Decree. God knew in eternity past what every thought, decision, action, and inaction every group and every soul was going to choose to do before they or we received our first breath.
God holds us accountable, as it is still our choice when the moment in time comes.
Be it as momentous as the rise and fall of the nations (Acts 17), or as seemingly insignificant as the birth or death of a human being, all such things are a part of the Divine Decree.
No event can take place without first passing through the filters of God direct, permissive, or over-ruling will.
“Current affairs” are merely the present day unfolding of the Divine Decree over the course of time.
The bottom line is that God is in charge!
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
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It did little to convince me re your particular theological persuasion. However, I was encouraged with your conclusion.