END-TIME STUDY; PREPARING FOR RAPTURE ( PART 5) PRAYING ALWAYS TO ESCAPE

TOPIC:   PREPARING FOR RAPTURE, (PART5): PRAYING ALWAYS TO ESCAPE

TEXT:   LUKE 21: 31-36

LUKE 21: 31-36
31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
 

32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.

33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
 

34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
 

35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
 

36 Watch ye therefore, and PRAY ALWAYS, that ye may be accounted worthy TO ESCAPE all THESE THINGS THAT SHALL COME TO PASS, and to stand before the Son of man.
 

INTRODUCTION

Throughout the Bible, The Lord, Jesus Christ, gave us instructions on how to prepare for His coming at rapture.  The text, above, presented to us, one of such instructions. In the text , Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, gave us  instructions on what not to do and what to do when we begin to see the signs of His coming. If you want to receive a teaching on those signs, you can send a request by mail to raptureglorious@gmail.com or jesuscoming@yahoo.com for the teaching, 50 SIGNS OF Rapture/End-Time or visit http://www.jesuscoming1.blogspot.com/2013/11/end-time-bible-teaching-50-signs-of.html to read it.

Now, Let us consider the instructions from the text above. In verse 35, He said we should not be carried away with issues of what to eat or drink. He said we should not concentrate our efforts on the cares of life. Rather, He said we should ‘PRAY ALWAYS TO ESCAPE ALL THESE THINGS THAT SHALL COME TO PASS’.

For the purpose of this teaching, we will explore in great detail the latter instruction that we should PRAY ALWAYS TO ESCAPE ALL THESE THINGS THAT SHALL COME TO PASS.

This instruction is a complete instruction that is worth analyzing. Let us assume the following conversation had taken place between The Lord Jesus Christ and Disciples as follows.

JESUS:         PRAY Always.
DISCIPLES:   Master, Why Should We Pray Always?
JESUS:         Pray Always To Escape.
DISCIPLES:   To Escape What, Master?
JESUS:         Pray Always To Escape All Things That Shall Come To Pass.
 

Three things are essential in that instruction. They are; PRAY ALWAYS, TO ESCAPE, and ALL THINGS THAT SHALL COME TO PASS. The Disciples might understand what it means to pray. I believe, you also, understand what it means to pray. As such, the last 2 parts of the instruction which are TO ESCAPE and ALL THINGS THAT SHALL COME TO PASS need to be explained for you to pray the right the prayer. This teaching seeks to explain to you what it means TO ESCAPE and also highlight to you those THINGS THAT SHALL COME TO PASS. Then, we will not pray amiss. Rather, we will begin to make the right prayer as we both PREPARE FOR RAPTURE.

GOD’S ANGER IS FIERCE

To fully understand the significance of what it means to escape in biblical term. Let us use two phenomenal attributes of God with respect to anger to explain. They are explained below as follows.

GOD is slow to anger:  

                                                                                                        God is so merciful. One of the countless ways He demonstrates His love for man is by being slow to anger. He can warn a man or a nation for decade before He will become angry with him. He used Prophet Jeremiah to warn Judah for about 40 years before He released them to Babylonian captivity. The Book of Nahum 1: 3a puts it in this way.

3. The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked:

Other scriptures from the Bible also state that God is slow to anger. In fact Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 3:9 advised us not to see God as being slack because He is slow to become angry towards our sins and wickedness. Rather, by being slow to anger, God is giving us a long grace to repent and be saved.
 

God’s anger is all-consuming:

We just stated above that God is slow to anger to give us a long grace to repent. But does that mean God will not become angry one day, if we deliberately continue to turn down all His opportunity to repent? Of course, God will become angry. And when He becomes angry, His anger consumes everything altogether; both man and beast. His anger brings total destruction. Let us see how the book of Zephaniah describes the situation of God’s anger.

Zephaniah 1: 2-3
2 I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
 

3 I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
 

We should be able to see from the scripture, above, that God’s anger is fierce and all-consuming and perhaps, this should be a reason to be slow to anger.

WAYS OF SAFETY FROM GOD’S ANGER

God’s anger is indeed all-consuming. Many accounts from the Bible, such as destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, can attest to the fierceness of God’s anger. Since we don’t want God’s anger to consume us, then, we must look for a way of safety from His anger. If we studied the Bible very well, we will discover that 1) only repentance stops God from releasing His wrath 2) But once the wrath is released, two ways of safety from consumption of God’s wrath were established in the bible. We will mention the two ways to be safe from God’s anger and cite relevant cases. The two ways of safety are God’s Mark of Protection and Escaping the Vicinity of God’s Anger. We will look at some cases under each way of safety from God’s anger.

1.  Safety From God’s Anger Through God’s Mark of Protection:

Case 1: Children of Israel in Egypt (Pass Over). Exodus 12: 7, 12-13.

7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
 

13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood (mark of protection), I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you (safety), when I smite the land of Egypt.
 

From the above scriptures, we see how God’s anger was to consume both man and beast (verse 12) but we also saw how God ordered the Israelites to mark their doorposts with blood of lamb to serve as mark of protection against the killings (verse 7, 13). Without that mark of protection, the Israelites would have been consumed (destroyed) by the plague as well.
 

Case 2:  144,000 Jewish Elects During Great Tribulation. Revelations 6:17, 7:1-4
 

Revelations 6:17
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
 

Revelations 7:1-4
1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
 

2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
 

3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads (mark of protection).
 

4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
 

From Revelations 6:17, it was stated that the great day of the Lord’s wrath (anger) had come. Then a question was asked if there was anyone who could survive the wrath. What followed Revelations 6:17’s question was seen in Revelations 7:1-4. God ‘s angels took positions to begin to hurt the earth, seas, and trees but another angel summoned them to wait till they put God’s seal (mark of protection) on the 144,000 elects foreheads. 

That seal put on the 144,000 elects was mark of God’s protection to spare them from destruction to come. Without that mark of protection, they will be hurt in the destruction to come when the angels begin to hurt the earth after Rapture. Can you see what we are trying to point out? Nobody could contain God’s anger without God’s mark of protection.
 

Case 3: Noah’s Ark During The Flood. Genesis 6:7, 14
7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
 

14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
 

We can see from Genesis 6: 7 above that God said He would consume man and beast after man had provoked Him to anger through wickedness. However, He asked Noah to build an ark in verse 14. This would serve as Noah’s protection from the destruction to come. Otherwise, God’s all-consuming anger will consume Noah and his family.
 

2.     Safety From God’s Anger By Escaping The Vicinity of His Anger
 

Case 1: Lot And His Family. Genesis 19:17-22
17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
 

18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:
 

19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
 

20 Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.
 

21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken.
 

22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
 

In verse 17 of Lot’s case above, we see how the angel of God told Lot to escape from all the plain; the vicinity of God’s anger. Otherwise, the angel said, Lot will be consumed.  The word ‘escape’ was used 4 times between verse 17 to 22.  Two other words of urgency, flee and haste, were also used in conjunction with the word ‘escape’ to show how serious and urgent Lot must take the issue of escaping. The angels understood that once the anger of God is released, it cannot be held back and it will consume everything, both man and beast: only those whom the Lord Himself had marked for protection can be spared.
 

Case 2: Bride of Christ at Rapture. Mark 13: 27
7 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
 

Rapture is a way of escape that God has provided for true believers in Jesus Christ to escape from earth so as not to be consumed in the destruction that God would pour upon the earth. Immediately after rapture, the cup of wrath (anger) of God will be poured upon the whole earth and its inhabitants. All people, cities, nations, tribes that are found on planet earth at that time will experience God’s anger. Bible calls the period, the great tribulation. Only the 144,000 Jews who have the mark of Protection of God would be spared. This is why Jesus Christ has to ESCAPE His bride from earth to HEAVEN. Otherwise, the bride of Christ will be consumed by the anger of God.
 

THREE THINGS THAT SHALL COME TO PASS AT RAPTURE
 

We have been trying to explain what it means to escape by using God’s anger as a reference. Now, let us highlight and explain the phrase ‘those things that shall come to pass’ as contained in the instruction Our Lord, Jesus Christ, gave to us in Luke 21: 36. Thereafter, we will understand the full weight of the instruction and what we are expected to be doing at this time.
 

Three things shall come to pass at rapture, and no matter who you are, you will experience only one of them. Everyone on earth, without exception, at the time of rapture must go through one or the other. Immediately the rapture trumpet sounds, you, even you will go through one of the tree events. They are listed and explain below.
 

1.      Some people will escape by rapture, 1 Thessalonians 4:17   
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
 

Many people will suddenly be caught up from earth to heaven. This is rapture. These are those that will escape the other two things that shall come to pass. This is what Jesus asks us to pray to achieve.
 

2.     Some people will go through Sudden Destruction 1 Thess 5:2-3
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
 

3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
 

In the scripture above, Apostle Paul said that on ‘the day of the Lord’ (day of rapture) sudden destruction would come upon people and they would not escape. Note that contrary to those people whom will escape by rapture, these people will not escape but will go through destruction. I will explain the term ‘sudden destruction’ with a revelation I had when I was studying the book of Revelations, Chapter 6 especially about verses 7-8.
 

7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
 

8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
 

While I was studying the Chapter, I became confused when I got to verses 7 and 8, because of what was said that when The Lord Jesus Christ breaks the 4th seal, Death and Hell will be released and they will be given power to kill a quarter of human population.  

I started making calculations as follows. I said the population of the world at that time, around 2010, was about 7 billion. I asked; Does that mean about one and a half billion people would die through all the prevalent disasters, wars, famine and so on, before the rapture happens.  I was confused not because I doubt what the scripture says but by the number of people I calculate that will be killed; over 1 billion people. 1 billion people is so humongous that I became confused and afraid.
 

Then, I fell asleep right beside my bible and had a dream. In the dream, I was given a piece of paper and a pen and I was asked to write. Five things were dictated to me to write down in the dream. One of them was that ‘on the day of rapture, about 1 billion people will die worldwide’. Then I woke up.
 

When I woke up, Holy Spirit began to minister to me about the dream. He made me know the following things:                                                        

(1) Death and Hell that were released would complete their assignment on the day of rapture. 

(2) He said it is on the day of rapture that about one billion people that I calculated would be killed.                                                                    

(3) He made me know that if I added the numbers of people that have died in disasters before rapture and about one billion people that will die on the day of rapture, it will make up the one-quarter that the scripture says the Death will kill.                                                                                                

(4) He said all those that die as a result of the rapture will go to hell immediately and that is why Hell accompanied the Death.

(5) He said that is why Apostle Paul called the day of rapture the day of sudden destruction.
 

May be, we should paint a picture of what the sudden destruction is. Assumed the pilot flying a plane is taken by rapture. The plane will lose control and crash. If it crashes into market place in Africa, for instance, a lot of people will die suddenly at once, without escaping: that is sudden destruction. Consider a very busy road with a lot of vehicles moving at the same time and many drivers are raptured, there will be a lot of multiple accidents at the same time and many people will die suddenly without escape. This is the sudden destruction that Apostle Paul was talking about. IF YOU MISS RAPTURE AND ARE CAUGHT BY THAT SUDDEN DESTRUCTION, YOU WILL GO TO HELL. It shows you are not in right standing with God. If you are in right standing with God, you should have made the rapture and escape.
 

Prophet Jeremiah saw the ‘sudden destruction’ that would happen on the day of rapture in Jeremiah 25: 30-33 but I will quote only verse 33 to buttress my point. His account describes all the pictures we have painted above.
 

33 And the slain (those caught up in sudden destruction) of the LORD shall be at that day (day of rapture) from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth (worldwide): they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground (they will be too many to gather for burial).
 

3.    the remaining people will go through the great tribulation
 

All those who did not escape by rapture nor caught up in the sudden destruction will enter into seven year great tribulation immediately. During this period, God will be pouring out His undiluted wrath upon all those aho are left behind. At the same time, the antichrist will be persecuting those who still want to stay with God. It is better to have escaped by rapture than to experience this period. Our teachings about the period of great tribulations will be released later. The teaching has been started and will soon be conclude.
 

SUMMARY
 

Now that we have known those things that are coming to pass and what it means to escape, you can begin to pray the right prayer and not pray wrongly again. I tell you again, if you did not escape by rapture, sudden destruction will consume you and you will go to hell. If you go through the great tribulation, God will pour His wrath on earth and you will not have any protection since you are not a Jew and ultimately the antichrist may behead you for not serving him (rev 20;4). Even if you are a Jew, you may not be among the 144,000 elects that will be protected and the antichrist will persecute the Jews as well. So, of all the options, to escape, is the only safe way. That is why The Lord Jesus Christ tells us to PRAY ALWAYS, that ye (we) may be accounted worthy TO ESCAPE all THESE THINGS THAT SHALL COME TO PASS .
 

If majority of your prayers is about cares of life (Luke 21:34), then you are praying wrongly, but thank God, rapture has not happened. You can change your prayer. Let majority of your prayer concentrate on how you will escape. God has shown some of these things to me in visions. I tell you if God shows you some of these things that are coming; you will not pray about any other thing again but about how to escape.
 

Pray to escape sudden destruction. Pray to escape great tribulation. Pray to escape wrath of God. Pray to escape the sword of the antichrist. Pray to overcome the riders of the white horse, the red horse, the black horse and the pale horse (revelations, chapter 6). Pray to overcome deceptions. Pray to overcome all traps satan has set to make you fall in this end-time. Pray to overcome your flesh. Pray to overcome all spells satan and its demons/agents have cast at you without your knowledge. Pray that God should wear you, His whole of armour (Ephesians chapter 6). Pray that you should hear the sound of the trumpet. Pray that you should answer the trumpet call. Pray that God should reveal to you what you are doing that can disqualify you from rapture and heaven. Pray without ceasing. Pray to escape.
 

PRAYER
 

•    Holy Spirit, teach me how to pray and not pray amiss.
•    Lord Jesus Christ, help me to escape with you at rapture.
•    Lord Jesus Christ, do not allow cares of this life to deny me a place in heaven.
•    Lord Jesus Christ, in this perilous time, I cast all the burdens of my life on you. Help me to bear them, so that I can concentrate on preparing for your coming.
•    Give me the grace to escape like Lot and Noah.
 

ACTIONS
 

Are you an elect of Christ? Are you truly saved? Are you on the narrow road? Do you want to make the rapture/heaven? If your answers are yes, then,                                                  
• Make all efforts to heed the warnings of Jesus Christ.
• Be watchful. Pay attention to what is happening around the World and see whether they match what the scriptures say.                                                                                   
• Be filled with the Holy Spirit and be in the Spirit all the time.
• Fast, consecrate yourself, run away from sin and worldliness.
 

If your answers are NO, then you can repent today. Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. Kindly sincerely and faithfully pray the prayer of repentance below and make a determination never to commit sin again.
 

PRAYER OF REPENTANCE
 

Lord, Jesus Christ, I am sorry for all my sins. I confess them with my mouth and I ask for mercy. Please forgive me and wash me in your blood. I accept you as my personal Lord and Saviour. Write my name in the book of life. Give me power over sins and fill me with your Spirit and Joy of Salvation. When rapture trumpet sounds, let me make it. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, I pray.  

Begin to read bible. Begin with the book of John. Pray always. Fast regularly (you can begin with once in a week). Look for a bible believing church where they teach repentance, holiness, salvation and fellowship with them. Pray before you go. Always run away from SINS.
 

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We will like to get as many people as possible ready for rapture. We wish nobody goes through the great tribulation. What are happening now are child’s play.              
 

Shalom                                             

JESUScoming.