Tag: Elect

Podcast Episode – Eschatology Explained: Will Believers Face the Anti-Christ?

Podcast Episode – Eschatology Explained: Will Believers Face the Anti-Christ?

Pip: If you have ever wanted someone to walk you through the end times with the calm urgency of a person who has genuinely thought this through, cj at The Way of the Rabbi has been doing exactly that.

Mara: This episode follows one extended argument about eschatology — specifically, whether believers will be present when the final Anti-Christ arrives, and what Scripture actually says about that moment.

Pip: Let’s start with the question of who exactly is still on earth when things get very, very bad.

Will Believers Face the Final Anti-Christ?

Mara: The central tension here is timing — specifically, whether the Church will be present during the tribulation period, or whether a pre-tribulation rapture removes believers before the worst of it unfolds.

Pip: And the post goes straight to the source, opening with Matthew 24 and the disciples asking Yahoshua directly about the signs of the end. The audience for that teaching matters enormously to the argument.

Mara: The post sets up the key passage this way — Yahoshua is speaking privately to His disciples, and here is what He says: “So when YOU SEE, the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.”

Pip: The word “you” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, and the post leans on it hard. If Yahoshua is warning His disciples to flee, the pre-tribulation reading has to explain who exactly He thought He was talking to.

Mara: Right, and the post addresses that directly. The pre-tribulation response is that the disciples were Jewish, not the Church. The rebuttal offered is pointed: were they not Messianic Jews, and are Messianic Jews not worthy of the rapture?

Pip: There is also the nursing-infants problem — which is the kind of scriptural detail that quietly dismantles a tidy theological system.

Mara: Exactly. The post asks why Yahoshua would say “woe to the pregnant women and for those who are nursing infants” if infants are raptured. It is a concrete, textual inconsistency the pre-tribulation reading has to account for.

Mara: The stakes the post names are pastoral, not just theological. The concern is that believers shaped by pre-tribulation teaching may be spiritually unprepared to resist the final Anti-Christ — and the post is direct: “I fear if they are not ready to stand against the final Anti-Christ, they will end up standing with him.”

Pip: That is the real weight of the argument. It is not a debate about timelines — it is a warning about readiness.

Mara: And the post closes by reading Matthew 24:29-31 alongside 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 and asking the listener to notice how much they sound like the same event. The gathering of the elect, the trumpet, the clouds — the post invites the comparison and lets it sit.

Pip: The eschatology is the stakes. And the stakes are whether you are spiritually braced for what comes next.

Mara: The thread running through all of this is preparation — not fear, but clear-eyed readiness to stand when the pressure is real.

Pip: Next time, we will keep following where the signs point. There is more ground to cover.

For More check out the posts series *Signs Read the entirety of this post here: Will Believers Face the Final Anti-Christ?

Signs 1, Signs 2, Signs 3, Signs 4

Paganism and the Church (הסוף)

Paganism and the Church (הסוף)

i feel the need to end this series for a time. Sadly, paganism and the church is a big deal. It has been a part of the church for hundreds of years, if not tens of hundreds. So much so that the majority in the church are so blind to it that when you even point in its direction, they become defensive and irritable. Precisely the devil’s plan. Just think if he can fool so many with a little levin, just get one of the marks ever so slightly. Those that are not genuine students of the word will be easy targets when the great deception takes place. Let’s be honest most “Christians” are 1-2 Sunday’s a month pew Christians that may have access to a Bible but rarely even crack it at church.

Here’s the problem. The “Stronger” Christians need to be even greater light. Here’s why the great deception that is coming has the potential of even fooling the elect. What does that word “elect” mean? First, here is the passage i am referring to in its context.

23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand. (Matthew 24:23-25)

The word “elect” comes from the word, eklektos, in Greek and in Hebrew, ἐκλεκτός, it means in its root form, select; by implication, favorite:—chosen, elect. There are three groups of people given the title elect, the Hebrew Nation, the Church, and those who come to faith during the Great Tribulation. Each one of these groups is found in this passage in Matthew regarding the end-times. So which one is being referred to here? It is my opinion as i read through this that it is referring to the people of God. Which group are the real people of God? ALL THREE! i have read many different versions, and many commentaries, i have listened to different sermons on this as well. Each one is trying to align it to a particular group of the three named above. There isn’t a true consensus. Therefore, one must draw the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, God didn’t want one drawn at this point. For this particular use of elect. The deception is going to be so great, so believable that those who are of God in those days, if possible, could be fooled. 

It is why we are told to be alert, to study the scriptures, and to not be taken aside by whims and culture. God is a jealous God. He doesn’t want our worship to be two-faced. He doesn’t want our worship to resemble in any way the pagan culture around us. He says it in multiple places, including 1 Corinthians 10:20-22.

20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

Oh, i am sure i will hear, this is about food. Look, my friend’s food is the least of our worries. Would you buy a ouija board because it is sold in the toy department and just call it a game? Would you decorate your home with Hindu statues because you happen to like elephants or cows? Would you practice pagan worship posses because it is culturally acceptable to do so? Sadly, for many Christians, the answer is yes. Oh, if only we would be so quick to defend the Word of God, rather than to justify the traditions of man. What of God in all of this? What does He think?

12 Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. 13 You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God) – Exodus 34:12-14

i write these things, i share these things, not as condemnation, but as a warning. i desire only the Will of God, Him glorified. i hope that it causes one to pause and think critically of how and why they celebrate and worship. For one day, we will stand before God, and we will give an account of our actions, of our worship, and of our life. i want to be able to stand before Him and say, “As You oh God instructed, i did all i could to proclaim, all that You put on my heart, whether popular or unpopular, i proclaimed. Even still oh’ Lord, Thank You for the grace and mercy in my short-comings.”

You are loved,

cj