Spiritual Endurance

By Jeff Curtis

     Throughout history, God’s people, who have faced difficult trials, have cried out for answers, asking, “Why?” However, for the most part, God has remained silent, with no answer coming from heaven. It may be that in times of suffering, what people of faith need the most from the Lord is not answers to “why” questions, but wisdom to know “how” they should respond to difficult times (James 1:5). Some questions might be more appropriate; 1) “Lord, what do You want me to learn from this?” 2) “How can this make me a better person?” 3) “How can I use this experience to bring glory to Your name?”

    I’m not suggesting that if we ask the right questions, we will the answers we want from the Lord. However, it is possible that we will be enabled to deal with difficulties. Trials can destroy us if we wallow in self-pity or become angry at God because of them. But they can produce steadfastness (endurance) if we approach our trials in the proper way. James the, the brother of Jesus, said, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance” (James 1:2-3).

     God allows trials in our lives to test our faith, in by doing so, His desire is that we will develop spiritual muscles (endurance). This is in harmony with the concept that weight lifters understand well. They have the expression, “No pain, no gain.” In order to develop strong muscles, an individual must have resistance, something to work against, and that involves pain.

     The same principle in involved in developing spiritual muscles. That’s why the Lord told His disciples that would suffer grievous trials; rejection by their own families and friends, hatred, persecution, and even death at the hands of their enemies, but He said. “It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony” (Luke 21:13). In other words, trials and persecution will give us an opportunity to grow stronger, by using the defensive armor of God, along with “the sword of the Spirit” and “the shield of faith” (Ephesians 6:16-17). So, by trusting in the Lord, and properly using His spiritual armor and weapons, we can develop spiritual muscles that turns hatred and persecution into a “testimony” of how to live. And if necessary, how to die like Jesus. Two powerful examples of this are; 1) Stephen’s testimony and prayer, all while being stoned (Acts 7:57-60), and 2) Paul and Silas’ songs of praise and prayer after being unjustly beaten and put in prison in Philippi (Acts 16:19-34).

     In the case of Rebekah, it was not just opposition from without that troubled her, it was also the struggles from within that distressed her, her own inadequacy and inability to conceive and child. She probably remembered the blessing of her family before she left for the land of Canaan to meet her future husband, “May you, our sister, become thousands of ten thousands, and may your descendants possess the gate of those who hate them” (Genesis 24:60). However, after twenty years of marriage, Rebekah was still without a child, and she may have thought that the Lord was playing some kind of cruel joke on her. Was she too proud or afraid to approach God in prayer about her infertility?

     Had she never prayed to the Lord about this on her own? Could it be that she was ashamed to request her husband Isaac intercede with God concerning her desperate condition? The text does not provide any answers to these questions. Whatever the case, in spite of her doubts and fears, Rebekah finally cast her cares upon the Lord through her husband’s prayer (1Peter 5:7), and God answered in a positive way, enabling her to conceive and give birth to twins.

A Rapture?

By Jeff Curtis

     People right now are not satisfied with where the election sits (at the time of this writing). So, a great many people are speaking as though this is the end of the world. People are writing letters to editor of the local newspaper and professing that “The Rapture” is about to take place. A good sister cut a “letter to the editor” out of a recent Times-Gazette. In reading this letter, about the Rapture, I find it interesting that they are typical of all others in spewing their false doctrine.

     When I read this “letter”, I was not impressed with what was written. It was filled with the same rhetoric as they as always use. Yet, the author of this letter said the “Bible predicts,” and never once used any Scripture to prove her point as being biblical.

     She did use phrases or language that is used in the Bible, but never once gave the reader a place to turn to in the pages of God’s Word to prove her points. She used phrases that sound like they would could be found in the Scriptures. The problem with this theory / false doctrine is that it is based upon the theory of premillennialism.

     This theory is predominant in several religious groups around the country. It teaches that God will send His Son back to the earth to reign in Jerusalem for 1,000 years. This happens only after the Rapture, where God snatches the “faithful” out of the world and takes them to heaven. This is such a dominating doctrine that a series of books and movies were produced several years ago. Tim LeHaye and Jerry Jenkins made a lot of money producing this series of books and movies.

     The theory of premillennialism says that those not taken in the Rapture will be “Left Behind,” and given a chance to get their lives right while Jesus is reigning in Jerusalem for 1,000.

     The problem that a Christian should have with this is this; it makes a God a respecter of people. This theory contradicts the Word of God. Peter, when speaking the household of Cornelius in Acts 10, he believed that God was desiring the Gentiles to receive the hope of salvation. Cornelius explained why he had sent for Peter and Peter’s response was, “³⁴ Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. ³⁵ But in every nation, whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.”

     When the Holy Spirit fell on the house of Cornelius, “⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. ⁴⁵ And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. ⁴⁶ For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.”

      In this text, we see that God is not a respecter of people. So, if God is going to give you a second chance after everyone has lived their life according to the Word of God, how is that fair.

      If I know that there will be a second chance offered by God, why should I even try to live a faithful life now. I could live however I may want, knowing God is going to allow me to have a “do over.”

     A question needs to be asked here, “How can Christ’s coming mark the beginning of a millennial reign when Paul says it marks the ‘end’ of His reign?”

      Another passage that these false teachers use is 1Thessalonians 4:13-14. Here Paul writes; “¹³ But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. ¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.”

     Paul here is teaching, 1) that either the Thessalonians had failed to allow what they had been taught about death and the resurrection. That this should provide for them the comfort they should have experienced. 2) they hadn’t fully understood the subject so that it didn’t bring them the comfort that such hope provided.

      Evidently what Paul wanted to do in this passage, was to assure them that not only would their dead brothers and sisters be raised, but that they would be raised to share in the blessings associated with the coming of the Lord in the same way that the living would participate in them.

     They teach that this passage, 1Thessalonians 4:13-16, teaches the “Rapture.” Strange, but I don’t read the word Rapture in this verse, we can’t find the word anywhere in the passages of Scripture. Paul wrote this passage because some thought that the return of Jesus was delayed. They also had lost hope in the return of Jesus because some prominent people had died.