Welcome to the End Times; I’ll Be Your Guide
(Blog 0013 AndrewHadden.org)
I found myself thinking of writing something introducing people to the end times. I thought of the title above, thinking I was just seeing a need, and God shocked me by saying, “Write.” I typed in my journal that I had heard this and God said, “Do it. They’ll need it. They will be shocked, utterly. They will need to get their bearings, come to acceptance, know what it means. Help them.” I knew God was very serious and that I needed to obey and write very prayerfully, undertaking to say exactly what he wanted said. I’ll do the best I can.
First off, why would you listen to me, or allow me to guide you on this at all? Why not listen to an esteemed pastor who preaches on television or on the radio, and has taught on the end times? Or, why not listen to someone who has written books or done teaching videos on the end times? First off, it is better to listen to someone who is prophesied in scripture to lead God’s people in the end times. There are several roles prophesied in scripture that fit that. In the Old Testament book of Zechariah, there are two leaders, in chapters three and four, that are identified as predictive types of leaders to come in the end times, and provide leadership and have God’s anointing for the tasks, and anointing to distribute for God’s people, in the end times. The types are Joshua the High Priest, and Zerubbabel, the governor. Note that one of them is in the priesthood, a religious leader, and one is the governor, but anointed by God for the role.
These two are predictive types of two leaders prophesied directly in Revelation chapter 11, verses three through twelve. They are prophets. And some note that, in the original Greek language in which it was written, the term for prophets can describe a group that includes a woman. A prophet is part of the five-fold ministry of the Church (apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists, per Ephesians 4:11-16) and the four daughters of Philip, the evangelist, are said to have prophesied, which would mean speaking in the church. When faithfully translated and interpreted, the New Testament commends a woman listed as an apostle. Dishonest translators masculinized her name for a long time. They saw a woman in leadership as prohibited by the apostle Paul. They, through inadequate understanding of the culture and Church settings of the time, misunderstood Paul’s teaching on the matter. Paul was speaking of women not exerting authority over their own husbands, and not speaking publicly, asking their husbands questions, in a way that disturbed the services. He was not saying they could not be teachers, or apostles, or prophets, in the Church. If God has chosen a woman to be one of the two witnesses, one of these two end times prophets, it would not be wise to speak against her authority in the Church. He has. Carefully consider and receive instruction – or judgment. God will defend their authority.
Many leaders in the Church, and end times “experts,” have told everyone to expect the rapture before the final seven years of tribulation starts, and they have clearly expected that to be before anything bad happens. But that is based more on hopes and assumptions, not clear statements of scripture. They want to believe that a promise of us not being appointed to God’s wrath guarantees that we won’t be here at all, even if protected by God from his judgments in other ways. God does have other ways of protecting his people in the end times, and they are prophesied in scripture, but ignored by many.
So, do you want to listen to prophets that God predicted in the Bible, and prepared all their lives, or listen to pastors or end-times “experts” who are already wrong – by these prophets showing up on the scene without them having prepared you, and the end times having begun in a way very different than they have told you they would? In contrast, for decades, God has told me things coming on the country and the world, and they have come. I have a sermon, in text, on this website, as a blog entitled, “The End Times: Expect the Unexpected.” It would serve you well to read it now. Also, please note that it was preached in April of 2016 and includes a list of things coming on the country, much of which started coming to pass, step by step, right after it was preached, including: violence; brutality; riots; various categories of storms, including hurricanes; and plague. When it was preached, a hurricane had not struck Florida as a hurricane in over ten years. Florida started getting pounded by hurricanes, even record ones, right after that sermon was preached. I also warned leaders of Arab Islamic terrorism coming ten months before 9/11, and again ten days before 9/11.
But don’t expect even true prophets to never be “wrong.” I address that, with lots of scripture, in a blog on this site entitled, “When Prophets are ‘Wrong.’” It exposes another case of Bible translators choosing a translation that better serves the motives of those that control their pay, than true and accurate translation that considers the same teaching in a nearby passage, and the teaching and examples all over scripture. Deuteronomy 18, though ambiguous, should be translated consistent with Deuteronomy 13, and the rest of scripture, such that it says prophets are false prophets only when they are wrong and they lead people to serve other gods. And Moses, in Deuteronomy 18 warned of a prophet like him coming, Christ (per the apostles), and that those that did not listen to him would be judged. And Christ changed how prophets are to be judged, saying that you would know them by their fruits, their inward nature.
God includes rules in scripture clearly stating that he changes his mind about his promises, to people or nations, when they unacceptably change their behavior. God says,
The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it” (Jeremiah 18:6-10 NKJV).
There are no unconditional promises, but God does keep his side of promises when others keep theirs. As shown above, God also states he changes his mind about declared judgments when people repent. He also indicated he changes his mind based on prayers of intercession. All of these things get prophets falsely accused, by false teachers, or, maybe more clearly, false translators.
Where are we? Maybe we should start with that. Let us first start with a definition of the term, “end times.” The Bible speaks of a final seven years on the earth called the “tribulation.” That time is divided into two three-and-one-half year periods. But note that the years that they used were 360-day years. A lot of trouble, judgment, for mankind is prophesied to come in that time frame, but people argue about how much they expect to come in what part of the seven years. Then there is the time leading up to that final seven years which the Bible calls the “birth pangs” or “the beginning of sorrows.” The “end times” generally includes both of these time frames, which leaves us with an indefinite time period that ends with a seven-year time that is more definite once an event occurs that we can recognize as being at some fixed point in that seven years. That is the time frame we are in now, where the end times have begun, but not the final seven years.
Some will be shocked that the two witnesses would appear earlier than when they are mentioned as prophesying in the last three and a half years, in Jerusalem. However, God can do as he pleases, though he will fulfill scripture – but not some people’s faulty interpretations of scripture. Some might assume that the two witnesses have to be Jewish. I did, when God first gave me this calling. But God does not see it that way. Christ sees his people in a way consistent with his words, and those of John the Baptist, in scripture – in that a Jewish bloodline does not make you one of God’s people if you are not also like Abraham, a man who walked with, and obeyed, God, in faith, including faith reaching forward to a coming Messiah who would be the once-and-for-all sacrifice for our sins.
God defined his people to me as “Christians and Jews, Christian Jews.” This is consistent with what God says in Zechariah 2:11, “Many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and they shall become My people” (NKJV). And, so that no one thinks of me as against the Jews, God eventually connected me to the testimony of a distant relative in England who had traced my family line back to a Jewish bloodline, and the line of John the Baptist. But don’t make the mistake of some, and assume the end times will bring the fulfillment of God’s promises to a national Israel who rejected their Messiah and did not keep their side of their covenant with God. But God will provide a protected place for his people, as he defines them, “found worthy to escape” (per Luke 21:36), in the end times.
When it comes to the end times, it is also important to consider that God does not tell us everything, and does not tell us everything that will happen. Some seem to assume that he has told us everything in scripture, but scripture itself clearly indicates that is not so. The book of Revelation tells us that the “seven thunders” spoke something, but also that the apostle John was not permitted to write down what was said. Therefore we know that scripture is not intended to tell us everything. The book of Daniel also predicts much, but he was instructed: "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end . . .” (Daniel 12:4 NKJV). That seems to indicate that God has more for us to know, or understand correctly, when the end times arrive.
But many bring dishonest motives to the scripture, and especially scripture on the end times. Some of that is enforced by denominations, and their leaders. Denominations seem to have accepted certain teaching on the nature of the end times long ago, and those in that denomination enforce the teaching and interpretations accepted long ago, such that even scholars are forced to not allow themselves to question the past, even in the light of more history, or more discoveries shedding light on the meaning of the scriptures, such as by archeological discoveries in modern times, like the Dead Sea Scrolls, or other records. Honest scholarly investigation and reconsideration is then hampered. And few seem to give honest consideration to the viewpoints of other scholars in other denominations, other than to set up the same old “straw men” arguments they can discount using the same old arguments provided by their predecessors in their denomination. It seems each denomination can have some truth to contribute, some right understanding, and each denomination can have some things wrong. Maybe it is time we admitted that.
One area where scholars and teachers can come together and accept more truth not previously accepted, is in considering what prophecies, or what portion of prophecies, have already been fulfilled. And, we need to also consider that, even though some things have been fulfilled, they might be fulfilled more than once. For instance, Christ, in Matthew 24, warned of “the abomination of desolation” predicted by Daniel as having a future fulfillment, but it was widely known to have already been fulfilled once. And many see it as having already been fulfilled at the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70.
Others complain about the method of interpretation used by others, their “hermeneutics.” The reformation had much to do with reigning in methods of interpretation that allowed leaders to make the scripture mean whatever leaders wanted to make it mean. The study of the end times has been much influenced by methods of interpretation that others find faulty, and as not staying within the limits recognized and popularized in the reformation. Some insist in imposing a method that allows them to reject much that Christ said, or the apostles said, as not applicable to Christ’s followers today. That is a method of interpretation that honest scholars do not see as within the bounds of the methods of interpretation accepted since the reformation. Others take issue with those that do not fully consider the genre of the passage in considering its possible interpretations, and the correct one. The reformation addressed more literal interpretation, but with recognition of the literary category of the passage, its genre. This is especially important when considering the apocalyptic literature (addressing the end times and judgment), and the oracles of prophets. Wooden literal interpretation can be wrong in those cases, even though the reformers threw out symbolic and spiritual methods when literal interpretation was more honest, and made more sense, in teaching and historical passages. The principle of “scripture interprets scripture” can keep us all from much error. One can then see that apocalyptic prophecies already fulfilled should inform how we interpret ones yet to be fulfilled.
I will be honest. God has not told me everything that is coming, and he has not told me exactly how to interpret every end-times prophecy. But he has had me study the works of scholars from more than one “camp” of the Body of Christ, the Church. And he has told me I am more in the middle of the pack and he will explain more as I go, and teach me what to accept, and what to reject. I will also add that I wanted a doctorate, and people want you to have a doctorate to be taken seriously on matters of the proper interpretation of the Bible – but it is very clear that if a doctorate made you right, then everyone with a doctorate would agree – and that is very far from what we see among scholars. And consider that when I started with God revealing the future to me, I had not had anyone explain to me that there could still be prophets today, and I did not accept that for a long time – even though they are prophesied in the New Testament, including specific ones in the end times. And when God actually told me my fullest calling, I could not help screaming in shock. God can bring us all a long way in the days and years ahead.
Let’s conclude with something of upmost importance: THERE IS HOPE. God has wanted me to note that my first task is to give people hope. End times movies, novels, and teaching have left people with the casual impression that, as soon as it is recognized that the end times have begun, everyone still here is somehow doomed. That is NOT the case here. Number one, we are not yet in the final seven years, the tribulation. People can still repent of their sins, asking God’s forgiveness and turning away from their sin. We can only receive forgiveness for our sins by Christ’s perfect sacrifice to pay the price for our sins – death. So, we ask forgiveness in the name of Jesus, asking that God count the penalty for our sins as paid by Christ. Nobody can do enough good deeds to win their own salvation. Our good deeds can never pay the price for our sins. Being a “good” person also cannot save us. The blood of Christ is the only payment God will accept for our sins. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ’s sacrifice, or not at all. Then from that point, God will give us grace that is enablement to successfully, eventually, do a good job of stopping doing the sins we used to sin. We all struggle at first, but God is willing to keep forgiving if we are willing to keep trying. Christ walks with us as we try to walk with him. He helps us, or none of us would make it.
There are good things coming. God will bring many, many people to salvation from their sins, and its punishment. Many will want to know how to pray and how to get “saved” (have their sins forgiven and get on their way toward eternal life with God). Many believers in Christ will grow very rapidly into mature Christians in much shorter time frames than used to be the case. Ministers and everyday believers in Christ need to prepare to disciple and mentor others. We cannot leave this task only to the “professionals.” The task will require the help of us all. The new believers will be very much worth our time. We need to set aside our entertainment, and selfishness with our time, and prepare to help others who want to grow and learn rapidly – to prepare for the times ahead. People who know Jesus and the scripture can help others in their homes. House churches will be needed, because the churches will not be able to hold all the people wanting to come to the Lord. In some places and times, churches might not be safe, but ministering to, and worshiping with, people you know, in your own home, will be.
Another good thing coming will be God pouring out his Holy Spirit upon his people. There has been much poor teaching on the baptism of Holy Spirit, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, including prophesying, as to if it applies to the Church today. On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples that Christ told to wait for it, the apostle Peter preached and explained to everyone, from then on, what was happening. He first rooted what was happening in a prophecy from the book of Joel, saying,
But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
“'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy’” (Acts 2:16-18 NKJV).
Then, Peter’s conclusion is recorded as,
“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call’" (Acts 2:38-39 NKJV).
The Church has been too long robbed of its power by those using scriptures wrongly interpreted, or clearly taken out of context, to say that the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, are no longer for the Church today, or are received with no outward evidence of God’s power at work in our daily lives and ministry. Do not go forward into the end times without the provisions God has made for his people to stand strong in the times ahead. It was the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that made Christ’s disciples into people that carried the gospel to the nations, and were noted to have turned the world upside down. But many have claimed to have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, yet have failed to remain full of the Holy Spirit, but we are called to walk in the Spirit. Few, even in the ministry, even know what that really means. The whole Church needs to repent, and walk as we were taught by Christ and the apostles.