Second Coming ...

And just when you thought your life was at the end of its rope … Given the massive scenes of destruction described in Revelations that immediately precede the most anticipated event in history - the second coming of Christ; it is a miracle that anyone is alive and still waiting. From the loss of religious freedoms by well-intentioned moralists, to the coming of Satan as Christ – from the prohibition to follow the Bible, to the demands to worship as one is told, not as one believes – from the plagues that comes from God, and the destruction and demonic possessions that originate from Satan – now finally to the mental agony of knowing your past is laden with sin, but unable to find one in the present to ask forgiveness for: it all comes down to this – Jesus returns.

A small dark cloud appears in the sky about the size of a man’s hand, as it approaches the earth it becomes larger and larger. Scientists will no doubt attribute this event to a world-wide cataclysmic end to our existence. As it approaches it transforms from darkness to light, eventually becoming more brilliant than the sun. I imagine when He is finally near enough that every eye shall see Him, He will be seen large enough to encircle the Globe, surrounded by angels in the clouds around Him. What the wicked will hear as the most ominous sound in human history, the righteous will hear as the most beautiful music they could ever comprehend. The sound of love to one, is the sound of guilt to the other. The sounds of acceptance and belonging to the those who have maintained their allegiance to His word, is the sound of impending doom to those who have rejected it. Our brothers, wives, and children personally engaged in the premeditated act of taking our very lives to extinguish all remaining opposition to the world’s new leader Satan disguised as Christ, will break off from their deeds and realize quickly their error.

Terror begins to fill the hearts of those who have sworn their allegiance to the imposter Christ. They realize they are deceived, and even more realize their own willingness to participate in the deception. Those who presumed they had control over the lives and fates, and believed that nothing could touch them now, find themselves vulnerable in the presence of true power. They like Adam and Eve in the garden, feel exposed, naked, unable to mask their wickedness. And “self” cries out to hide from the expositor of its evil nature. They begin to think better to die, than to face the picture of infinite love with a heart that is devoid of all love. Great regret fills their minds, as they realize all the times that love reached out to them, and they refused it. Their unyielding addiction to self overwhelms them, and they begin to seek suicide as their answer, crying for the rocks and debris to fall on them and hide them from the light of love.

But as afraid as the wicked are, there are a few Charlatans who believe despite their recent past, and compromises with evil to stay alive, they will be forgiven and join with those who have remained faithful unto death. They approach Christ, and ask Him, why they are not ascending to greet Him in the clouds, for they have waited a long time too. And He reveals to them the emptiness of their words as He says … “Depart from me, for I know you not.” Their religious actions were as upright as any human eye could determine. They cast out demons, healed the sick, preached to the masses – and yet never had a true conversion of the heart. They never learned how to love, or what love means. For despite their outward appearances, they did not visit those in prison (the guilty). They felt no kinship with the homeless (the poor, and sometimes mentally ill). They had no sympathy on the sick when the cameras and lights were not around. In short, they were able to walk by every need – unaffected. If this is you today, you should ask Christ to change your heart so that you see “need” as He sees it; so that in this great and mighty day, you will not be a part of this crowd.

So many profess Christ in our world today, but do not allow Him to truly change who they are. They do not let Him root out the self-addiction we all suffer from, and as such are blind to the needs all around us. Without true change the heart does not break for the condition of our fellow man, it hardens against them. Without true reform, we are unmoved at the plight of others, and completely subsumed with our own fates. The mark of a Christian is the tear stains on his cheeks as he listens to the pain of his brother. The mark of a Christian is far from the 666 branded in the evil doers, but is the smile he offers when helping another’s needs even at the expense of his own. The mark of a Christian is the heart of Christ embedded within him. It is unnatural for humans to become like Christ, it takes an active action of Christ on our hearts and minds to become as He is. We must ask for it. We must allow it. Or we will never know the joy or the power of it in our lives today or in heaven.

We watch amazed from our positions around the globe, as He calls all the righteous dead to resurrection. There are no disembodied souls accompanying Him on His triumphant return to earth to claim His family and servants. There are angels with Him. There are those first fruits He took with Him from His first trip to earth when we arose on the third day. There is Enoch, who was the first human to so totally submit his own will to Christ, that he literally left earth to walk heavens streets since before the flood. There too is Elisha who was carried away on a chariot of fire. Moses who was called from the earth since long ago. These men and women were real humans, who lived real human lives, and some died real human deaths. But they were all invited to heaven before the main harvest, as a sampling of first fruits to present to God. But now is the time for the main harvesting of the world.

The remaining dead come forth from the last place on earth they died or were buried. They come forth from death, nowhere near as they went into it. They come renewed, recreated in perfection, back to the image their creator intended, fully restored in body, mind, and heart. They are the perfect age, perfect height, perfect weight. They can see for miles with their transformed eyes, and hear a pin drop at the edge of the galaxy with their renewed ears. Their hearts are beating rapidly as their king who they gave their last ounce of courage for has called them back into existence. Death, like sleep, has passed many years as if only a second. Their minds were just seconds ago occupied on their imminent demise and now are fully engaged at the spectacle of their ascension in to the clouds to be with their King. They have no knowledge of what has taken place since they died, nor how long it has been. It is as if their lives have never been interrupted by death, only a momentary pause, and then the scenery changed dramatically.

Now perfected in His image, their hearts, minds, and bodies are free from all traces of sin. They have no natural inclinations to do evil, or serve self. Those things have been finally, and fully eradicated from their existence. They are inclined to love. They are inclined to serve. And now, as the realization of what is happening to them comes fully to mind they turn and ask their accompanying guardian angels, where their loved ones are. I hope the answers do not break their hearts once again.

How merciful our God to allow the dead to sleep untouched by woe in our world that continues after they leave it. Those who believe the dead in Christ, never really die, have no concept of what it would be like to be perfect mind, heart, and soul, and watch the sin and evil of your loved ones be repeated again and again and again. No Saint, should even have to be exposed to the true nature of evil in those they care about around them. The revelation of true character would break their hearts over and over and over again. It is the mercy of God, to allow the dead to sleep without dreams of consciousness of any kind. When finally awakened in the great day of His coming, their lives will forever focus forward on the positive things around them, no more to contend with the burden of sin.

But on this day, death itself must yield up its harvest to our King. Adam and Eve arise, and every faithful servant of God since them to us who have fallen, wake up. They are caught up first says the scripture, then we which are alive and remain (Thessalonians 4:16). Finally it is our turn, our angels are revealed to us as in the twinkling of an eye (or perhaps better worded the blink of an eye), we too are transformed into the perfection God intended for us. Like the dead who have been raised, we are still unique, still distinctive, and still recognizable to those who knew us – but perfection is a long way from what we are today. The blemishes in our skin are gone, the discolorations in our hair gone, the cowlicks, the scraggly beards, the imperfect muscles, the over-abundance of fat cells, the imperfections in our senses, and perhaps most importantly – our minds are freed from the effects of sin both inherited and indulged in our lifetimes. We are truly, and finally free.

This alone, the final and full freedom from sin and all of its effects, and inclinations makes this day the greatest in the existence of mankind short the days that enabled it. Only the life of Christ in our world could mean more to us than the day of our freedom, for without His life, our day of freedom would never be. The Bible will have finally reached its fulfillment as reconciliation with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit will have been achieved. No more prisoner to self, or bound to serve it, we can walk into the throne room and bow and speak directly to the God of the Universe. This is beyond the imaginations of men. It is asking an ant to describe nuclear fusion in a common language, our minds like those of the ant, have been limited by our sinful condition so long, that in the present world there are no words to describe the meaning it will have to be face to face with God without fear, with only love.

Time itself is put on life support. As a concept, time will lose much significance when facing eternity with God. But there is still some events that take place in the measure of time. A prophet once wrote we would not immediately return to the city that same day. It would take as much as a week to get there. I imagine during this week, families will reunite. Lessons will be given to us about the remainder of the Universe, how it functions, how to travel it at the speed of thought. I imagine our work will be laid out in front of us as for the coming 1000 years we have a new duty to perform. I imagine there will be so much joy and information than even now, our feeble minds cannot begin to comprehend it all. But it will be.

Back on earth, the ascensions of both living and dead righteous complete. There remain a few tasks to complete. There were a small group of people who were raised at the second coming of Christ to witness it first-hand. These were not a privileged few, rather a cursed few. They were the priests who killed our Lord on His first trip here. They were raised to see His words fulfilled with their own eyes. And their lament was loud, and formidable. As with all the wicked who were seeking death, the final plague of hail in the fifty pound variety begins to fall and they are granted the deaths they seek. Accompanied with the first world-wide earthquake plus 10 on the Richter scale, islands moved out of the sea, coastlines fall into it. In short, nothing survives this final global ending event except Satan. The world will lie dormant and destroyed completely for the next 1000 years. Satan will be bound here for a 1000 year “time-out”. He will be alone with no-one to tempt chained to the desolation he is responsible for.

But for those who have experienced the transforming power of Christ on our lives; for those who have remained steadfast to His word and have not yielded or compromised with evil for the sake of preservation of their earthly existence – this will be the day we have waited long for. This will be the final end to our earthly existence. From this point forward, our nature, our bodies, and our very lives will return to the perfection God intended. From this point forward, our point of view, will be radically altered. But there is more still to come …