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How many contemporary publications have attempted to chronicle what God has planned for the last days? Pre, Mid and Post-tribulation millennial thinkers each have a somewhat different timing in their scenario on Christ's appearing (II Thes 4:16-17). Dispensational models (ages) differentiate the Church Age from the Millennial Reign of Christ, occurrence of a tribulation period and the restoration of Jewry. Contemporary "apostolic" and "prophetic" oriented ministries seem to focus increasingly on the individual more than the establishment of the Kingdom of God and the end-time harvest of souls. There are various denominational "belief systems" which further polarize end-time events and their impact on the devout. So what is a person to believe with so many competing voices and stratagems? In Hebrews 12:25-29 [NKJV], God speaks about the great end-time shaking to come upon the earth:

25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on
earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven,

26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, "Yet once more I shake not only the
earth, but also heaven."

27 Now this, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of
things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we
may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

29 For our God is a consuming fire.

The first "shaking" of the earth mentioned in v.26 was at Sinai in connection with the giving of the Law (cf. Ex. 19:18). Another shaking (v.27), which will be attended by a total physical upheaval, will be at the return of Christ.[BSB] (see Hag. 2:6).

Every belief system, denominational doctrine, and eschatological postulation, will all pass through the fire and only Truth will emerge on the other side. God uses spiritual shakings as one means to separate the false from the real, the counterfeit from the genuine and the Truth from the lies of the enemy. Most of the great biblical patriarchs endured a shaking-out before God began to use them mightily and allowed His Power to course through their ministries.(see Acts - Chap. 9) Nations, governments and religious institutions do not escape the Lord's perfecting hand and His unrelenting quest to establish His Kingdom, which cannot be shaken nor removed.

Just as with any seismic (earth trembling) shock there are always minor tremors which precede the main upheaval and signal the forthcoming seismic event. Jesus was speaking of such "signals" in His discourse with four of His disciples, in Mk.13:3, i.e., "deceiving men", "false christs", "wars and rumors of war", nations and kingdoms rising against one another, "earthquakes in diverse places", "famines" ... these are the beginning of sorrows. There are those who believe when this end-time shaking comes there will be much less standing compared to that which has fallen. The religiosity of many men, their vicarious religious trappings and their increasing association with the secular, pagan, occult and humanistic teachings will all be subject to the great shaking-out. The ecumenismmovement in America (promoting worldwide unity among religions) along with budding syncretisticministries (fusion of differing religious systems of belief in order to make them homogeneous) are making circuitous inroads into the denominational church domains while attempting to minimize foundational Christian tenets and endeavoring to compromise Christ's supremacy. A shaking from God comes when man, and his religious systems are so corrupt and polluted they have lost their God-centeredness and are building "golden calves" (Ex. 32-19-21). Syncretism and Universal ecumenism are early precursors to a 'one world religion' (i.e., an order of religious unification), vis-à-vis the false prophet previewed in the Book of Revelation. Several long-standing ecumenical focus groups in the United Nations (U.N.), World Council of Churches (WCC - C.1994) religious synergy cliques and Vatican Proclamations (i.e., Vat. II) all have published and/or convened ecumenical unity-centered religious devotees to draft and map out a New World Order for religious unification. The counterfeit demonic trinity (i.e., the Dragon, the anti-christ and the false prophet) all are end-time eschatological players, currently in a temporary holding pattern, waiting to emerge upon the world stage for the end-time one act play. The false prophet will take the longest to establish and thus we can now detect the beginnings of world religious unification coalescing in many corners of man's religious activities. Parts of American Christendom believe they are perceptive enough, discerning and spiritually wise and no subterfuge nor wily counterfeit religious contrivance could ever be passed on them! The oh so sad truth is that such counterfeit activities are already operating in many religious venues, church organizations and some denominations. The wiles of the devil have had 6,000 years to become perfected ... and unless we (the Church and individual believers) are under the protection of the Blood of Christ and operating in the gift of 'discerning of spirits' from the Holy Spirit, even the elect can be deceived.(see Mk. 13:22)

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An embarrassing majority of churches in America today seldom speak, teach or preach about the shaking to come described in Heb. 12:25-29. A preferable message of "it's gonna just be alright" tends to prevail. The Laodicean church of Rev. 3:14-22 can be seen as one type of end-time church which is running over with its own self-sufficiency, complacency and un-repentant character. Where self-sufficiency, complacency and an unrepentant character reside there will not be found the Lordship of Christ exercising His providential grace. Corporate (congregational) praise and worship are two of the most powerful exaltation components in all of the Christian church's Order-of-Worship ... yet how often do we witness corporate repentance and open confession of our collective (assembly) sin, in the neighborhood church today?

The church in America needs a tout de suite refresher course, if not the first one, on the history of our Jewish roots. Corporate repentance was one of the saving graces in the historical Old Testament Jewish synagogue; and they knew all too well what a pleasing sound it was in God's ear and a sweet incense to His nostrils. In Luke 3:8, we are admonished to 'bear fruit worthy of our repentance'. What type of fruit do we bear, corporately and individually, without repentance being the seedbed for germination? At times God has to shake us down to our very core in order for us to confess our transgressions and allow repentance to flow openly from our hearts. When nations and religious institutions are reluctant or negligent in their repentance, a similar shaking will surely come either progressively or as a "Suddenly". The shaking and consequent total destruction of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11/2001 was a "suddenly" for America and one that was unanticipated, uncontrollable and unquenchable. Many believe this event was a beginning tremor-signal for America in her slide down the slippery-slope of 'falling away' from the In God We Trust tenant upon which America was founded. In so many communities we removed the ten commandments from the court house walls, disallowed prayer in public schools and prohibited praying in Jesus' name in numerous public ceremonial events.

Eschatological prophecy focuses significantly on the Middle East, parts of Asia, Rome and geo-military forces coming against the state of Israel. America seems notably absent from such prophecies, with the exception of its support for Israel and the end-time spread of The Gospel to all nations. When America, not if, withdraws her support for Israel (see Zech. 12:3) she will enter a darkened time and the last-hour events will speedily occur. Much is hanging in the balance of the immediate Middle East crisis and jockeying for geo-political positioning by world powers and lesser wantabees. Israel is the ultimate target for all the partisan hate and political subterfuge swirling about ancient biblical lands and adjoining territories ... Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, and several Persian Gulf states will have their fifteen minutes of fame when they form an Arab Defense Confederation with military factions from the remaining Russian empire. The Judeo/Christian biblical DNA body will, in the days to come, progressively find itself opposed by rapidly forming ecumenical consortiums, as well as polytheistic strongholds. These consortiums believe all "roads lead to Rome", i.e., whatever god you follow will surely lead to life after death and eternal bliss. The Christian position in John 14:6, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me", unequivocally opposes the polytheism of theses new age teachings.

Where do we find in scripture a concise statement of God's Plan for the end-times? First let us read Eph. 1:10:

9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed

in Himself,

10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ,

both which are in heaven and which are on earth; in Him.[NKJV}

11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose [Plan] of

Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.

Emphasis here (V.10) is on "all things in Christ". This applies to the individual believer, the corporate church and all nations and kindred tongues. All things that are not in Christ are subject to the world and its vagaries.

The second part of God?s Plan is set out in Eph. 2:15-19:

15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so

as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,

16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death

the enmity.

17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.

18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the
household of God

The 'one new man' from the two refers here to the Jew and the gentile believer becoming one in 'peace', that they may be reconciled to God by the Blood of the Cross. This message is not one we hear in great frequency in the modern-day church in America and one which continues to raise ire in certain venues in Christendom, anti-Semitic movements (especially in various European anti-Semitic religious persuasions) and is most pervasive throughout Moslem/Islamic population centers, worldwide.

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God's coming shaking(s) will deal directly with these strongholds of exclusion, insular religious enclaves and outright anti-Christian and anti-Semitic disposition. The contemporary doctrine of "Replacement Theology" (i.e., God is finished with Israel and is now essentially concerned with the Church and the Church will inherit all the promises originally sanctioned for Israel) ... is being trumpeted in more and more 'progressive' religious circles totally to the hubris of 'new age-type' pantheism. This 'theology' is a direct affront to God's plan set out in the Ephesians passages. It would be an eye-opener to list here the religious enclaves in America that ascribe to this 'theology' and/or a partial acceptance which asserts, "Israel has failed God and He now turns to the Church to fulfill His Plan for mankind". Dominion Theology (i.e., Jesus cannot or will not return until the Church has taken dominion by gaining control of the earth's governmental and social institutions) is straining to maintain its "gestalt" in view of the geo-political polarization evident in the current gamesmanship permeating many U.N. resolutions. Our purpose here is not to single out but to enhance understanding of scripture as it directly applies to events occurring today and those envisioned for the near-morrow. Google.com has more than enough references to "Replacement Theology" and "Dominion Theology" for the interested to research.

Col. 1:15-20 outlines God's great emphasis on "Christ the firstborn over all creation", "by Him all things were created", "He is before all things", and "it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell". It is "all thefullness should dwell" we hear so little about. When the gospel of Christ becomes encumbered with man?s religious paraphernalia, God will bring cleansing by dislodging all which is not pleasing in His sight. We read in 1st Peter 4:17, "for the time is come that judgment must begin at the House of God and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" This is clearly happening in the Catholic church, will in the Episcopal church, various broadcast ministries, some other denominations as well as in the lives of certain high-visibility ministers. To anyway compromise the "fullness of Christ", knowingly or unknowingly, is disastrous in the immediate and utterly fatalistic in the realm of eternity. Col. 1:15-19:

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible,

whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for

Him.

17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in

all things He may have the preeminence.

19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,

and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven,

having made peace through the blood of His cross. [NKJV]

The "fullness of time" began with the birth of Christ and will end, as a dispensation, on His second coming. The 'day of the gentile' began with King Nebuchadnezzar sacking Jerusalem and imposing his 'gentile' rule over that Jewish capital ... and the 'day of the gentile' will end when Jerusalem is once again under the full and uncontested authority of Jewry. Jerusalem today is a divided city embracing Christianity, Eastern Orthodox, Catholicism, Islam and an assortment of minor religious orders. You can be assured that the city of Jerusalem, and the authorities that attempt to rule over her, will not see uncontested Jewish rule until a great shaking occurs and Christ establishes His throne for earthly rule, in His chosen city. The exacerbated conflicts in the Middle East, the awakening of the sleeping dragon in many parts of Asia and the rapidly coalescing of the EC/EU, as well as a few nations playing 'nuclear brinksmanship' are all early groundwork for the coming conflagration in the Valley of Megiddo.(Armageddon)

How amazing it is sometimes the secular world sometimes seems to apprehend forthcoming events before Christendom recognizes their significance and end-time relevance. America's Home Land Security adventure is purely in the secular arena, yet the Church in many ways seems relatively passive toward the increasingly malevolent activity of 'principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness and wicked spirits in high places' throughout the world.(see Eph. 6:12) Parts of the American society seem to have opted-out for government intervention, legislative controls and political assurances that what needs to be corrected or protected will be. The difficulty is we cannot tax the populous out of their sinful pursuits, legislate morality nor curb appetites of the flesh per se, with curfews, more legal sanctions, and voter consternation. "The wages of sin is death" (see Rom. 6:23) and much of the world is beginning to pay that heinous price for such a long stint of plural wickedness. Wickedness is beginning to run rampant across the face of the earth and man is approaching the precipice of his end-time biblical calamities. What then is our hope? "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13) is our final sanctification. The 'tremor-signals' mentioned by Christ to His disciples are all around us and literally increasing daily.

The 'signs of the times' are not so much to chronicle the forthcoming apocalypse as they are to direct our conscious attention onto our own lives and provide us the immediate grace to fully submit to Christ's perfecting work through the Holy Spirit's ministry operating in the life of each believer. Submit yourself to be shaken by Christ via the workings of the Holy Spirit!

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None of us are able, nor truly willing, to shake ourselves sufficiently to bring about the purification required to be pleasing in

Christ's sight. The work of the Holy Spirit will compassionately pull you through the knot-hole-of-life, draw you through the eye-of-the-needle and pass you back and forth through the fire-of-purification, if need be ... all according to what He knows you need and He is willing to do for you. God's great end-time shaking can be a saving grace for many ... to be saved from themselves and their reliance on their own prowess. King David knew the wisdom of God's perfecting hand which he shares in Psalms 119:67,71, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word" and "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes." In a later chapter we will be looking at the concept of "Healing Afflictions" and our avoidance of divine correction and God's wisdom to bring or allow such even, if it is an unpleasant. Those who teach and preach that the Christian life should be 'conflict-free', without suffering, sorrow or tribulation, and fully managed by our 'faith' alone, really do not have a biblical grasp of how God perfects His own and brings them into the fullness of His destiny for their lives and service in the Kingdom.

If we adhere to the scriptural axiom that Christ is that in which "all fullness should dwell", "that all things will be gathered together in Christ", "that He is the head of the body" then everything 'outside' of Him, when shaken, will not stand ... institutions, governments, nations as well as individuals. Once the shaking begins it may well be too late for many to turn back from a life-long sojourn of sin. If you have not or are not now experiencing a shaking in your life, by Christ, you have either been told and convinced you are 'perfected' or you may be in an environment which fosters a false sense of spiritual completeness. Submit yourself for Christ's shaking and avoid the likelihood of other influences being allowed to test your faith, trust and obedience to Christ's commandments. No matter how long you have walked the straight path of His righteousness, there still are areas in your life which require the 'perfecting' work of the Spirit. There are those in your family, church, vocation and avocations who are experiencing the perfecting work of the Spirit through having things removed from their life and other things renewed ... in these situations the gift of helps may be a very great asset and resource to bring victory in another's life out of the chaos which accompanies many shaking experiences. Do not be dismayed if, and when, this end-time shaking, by Christ, invades local churches, worship centers and community ministries. Scripture describes the church-at-large as the bride-of-Christ in waiting and that she will not have "spot, wrinkle or blemish". The Father is preparing a bride for His Son who is worthy of Him ... and that will take some doing in view of the current state of her readiness. God's shakings work both ways, to 'shake-out' the undesirable elements and to also perfect that which requires His holy touch. If you have been through an earthquake, or even experienced the initial tremors of one, you know once the shaking begins we are told, and mans inclinations are, to "run for cover" and "save yourself". Let us submit NOW to Christ's perfecting hand, and His saving grace, and be able to stand in His strength when all which is to be spiritually shaken surely will be, as the end of this 'age' rapidly approaches. (Heb. 12:25-29).

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Amen Ministries of Austin - P.O. Box 27683 Austin, Texas 78755
www.aamen.org

The passages above are excerpted from "END TIME TRAVAILS", chapter VII. See book outline on index page link - click "back" button at bottom to return to Index page.