A.  Peter said this will be specific to the end times. These scoffers will deny the possibility of the Lord’s return based on their belief that life has always gone on without intervention and will always continue to do so.  He said these people deliberately ignore the fact that it was God’s intervention that caused the creation in the first place and it was His intervention that caused the flood that destroyed it.  The truth is that God has periodically intervened in the affairs of man and will do so again, regardless of what these people think.

So he wasn’t speaking about people who disagree with the pre-trib rapture, but about those who deny the second coming altogether, and expect the world to just go on and on forever.  Some of them will still be around to mourn when they see the sign of the Son of Man appear in the sky (Matt. 24:30) because they’ll finally realize they’ve been wrong and now it’s too late.

A.  It’s not the particular kind of work that matters, although helping the needy is something the Lord specifically mentioned several times.  What matters is that we consult with the Lord about doing something and receive confirmation that it’s consistent with His will for us, and that we refuse to accept any credit we receive for doing so but redirect it to Him.

It’s quite possible that God placed the desire to do this in your heart.  But if you’re uncertain about it,  ask Him to confirm that it’s the right thing for you.

A. First of all every believer is given a certain amount of discernment if they just apply it. In John 16:13 Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would lead us to the truth. Also, I didn’t just trust my own interpretation.  Nor did I only listen to one or two teachers. Here’s what I said in the article;

“Over the next several years I spent hours every day learning all I could about Bible Prophecy. In addition to studying the Bible, I read every view by nearly every respected scholar before forming my own opinion that the pre-trib, pre-millennial, dispensational view is the one most consistent with a strict literal, historical, grammatical interpretation of Scripture.”

So I read my Bible, I read every major view of end times prophecy as expressed by respected scholars, and I followed the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  By the time I felt confident in my position I had consumed hundreds of books and recorded studies over a period of several years.

A.  First let me say it’s quite possible that the Bema Seat judgment, which appears to be more like an awards ceremony,  is unique to the church. There’s no mention of anything similar for Old Testament saints. Nor does the Bible describe such a thing for Tribulation and Millennial saints.

But there is a hint that the Great White Throne judgment will involve more than just the unsaved dead. Speaking of that judgment Rev. 20:15 says, “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

By definition the names of the unsaved dead would not be written in the book of life.  Why would the Lord have John even mention it unless there will also be some there whose names are written in the book?  These could be tribulation and millennial believers.

The fact that the Bible leaves much unsaid about life in the millennium leads me to speculate that a third testament will be given to millennial believers, just like a second testament was given to Church age believers. And like the New Testament has done for us, this third testament would guide believers in understanding and living their faith during the millennium. I think it would likely include the requirements for eternal life as well as describing their translation from mortal to immortal in preparation for eternity.

A.  The Bible uses three phrases used to describe the Holy Spirit’s interaction with men.  In the Old Testament He was with men.  The Apostles received the Holy Spirit late in the day of the Lord’s resurrection and from then on He was in them, as He is in us (John 20:22, 2 Cor. 1:21-22).  The Holy Spirit’s visitation on Pentecost was a special event where He came upon them (Acts 2:3) .

A.  Scholars are divided as to whether the birth pangs begin before Daniel’s 70th week or whether they’re meant to represent the seal judgments. I think this is due to the fact that the first specific sign of the end times the Lord gave us is the abomination that causes desolation (Matt. 24:15)nwhich won’t appear until the middle of the 70th Week.

Personally I think the birth pangs were intended to begin before the 70th Week because in Matt. 24: 6 Jesus said not to be alarmed by the news of wars and rumors of war because the end is still to come. Then He added the rise of nation against nation, famines and earthquakes in various places saying these are the beginning of birth pangs (Matt. 24:8).

Since both the Lord and Paul compared the end times signs to a woman’s labor, let me continue in that vein by comparing the three stages of labor to the end times signs.

The first stage is called early labor.  It’s the longest and least intense of the three stages. This is when a woman first concludes her time of labor is beginning.  In my opinion this is what Jesus was describing as wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, etc. I think this is where the world is now.

In the second stage, called active labor, things become more serious. A woman’s contractions become much stronger and more frequent.  I believe this stage will begin after the Church is gone, with the introduction of the anti-Christ as the rider on the white horse (Rev. 6:2) followed by the seal and trumpet judgments. This is the first half of Daniel’s 70th Week, the beginning of the time of God’s wrath.

The third stage is called transitional labor. It’s the last, shortest, and most intensive part of a woman’s labor. I believe transitional labor can be compared to the Great Tribulation where the world will experience the bowl judgments which will bring the time of God’s wrath to a conclusion (Rev. 15:1) and set the stage for the Second Coming.

A. In Luke’s account of the Olivet Discourse, specifically Luke 21: 24, Jesus said that after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, it would be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. When Israel recaptured East Jerusalem in June of 1967, many prophecy scholars saw it as the fulfillment of this prophecy.

However in Rev. 11:1-2, which takes place just before the beginning of the Great Tribulation, John wrote of being given a measuring rod to measure the Temple  and count the worshipers there. He was told to exclude the outer court because it has been given to the gentiles, who will trample on the holy city for 42 months.

I find it curious that John used the same phrase as Jesus did to describe the Gentiles trampling on the Holy City.  And the 42 month period is the length of the Great Tribulation. Therefore I’ve concluded that the times of the Gentiles won’t really be fulfilled until the 2nd Coming.

A. The five crowns are identified as the Everlasting Crown (Victory) in 1 Cor 9:25, the Crown of the Soul Winner in Phil 4:1 and 1 Thes 2:19, the Crown of Righteousness in 2 Tim 4:8, the Crown of Life in Jas 1:12 and Rev 2:10, and the Crown of Glory in 1 Peter 5:4.  These crowns will be awarded to qualifying believers at the Bema Seat judgment that follows the Rapture (1 Cor. 3:10-15).

The Crown of Life is for those believers who persevere in their faith even under persecution. Church history abounds with the stories of believers remaining faithful in cases of severe persecution and trial, and the Bible promises them a special reward.  Speaking to the church at Smyrna Jesus said, “Be faithful even to the point of death and I will give you life” (Rev. 2:10).  Many scholars believe He was symbolically addressing the Church during the time of Roman persecution, although the persecution of Christians endures to this day and is becoming more severe as the end approaches. 

A.   I think the Book of Revelation is pretty much written in chronological order, but there are exceptions to this.

One exception is when there’s too much happening for John to explain it all at once, because we can only talk about one thing at a time.

I liken it to a sports commentator trying to explain everything that’s happening in a football game. There are 22 players on the field but he can only describe the actions of one of them at a time. So he uses instant replay and stop action tools to do it, backing up to show us something that’s already happened.

It’s the same with John. He has to describe things in heaven and things on earth all happening at the same time. So from time to time he’ll “stop the action” to show us everything that’s going on.

The other exception is when it makes more sense to follow a thought to its conclusion even though its end takes you out of the time frame of its beginning.  Rev. 20:7-17 is a good example of this. John followed Satan’s story to its end, spanning the entire 1000 year Millennium to do so, and including the Great White Throne Judgment. Then he backed up to the beginning of the Millennium to describe the New Jerusalem in Rev. 21.

There are several clues that confirm this.  First, Rev. 20:7 begins “When the thousand years are over…”.  Then Rev. 21 opens with a direct quote from Isaiah 65:17, which is about the millennium on Earth, and goes on to describe the New Jerusalem.  Rev. 22:1-2 is a summary of Ezekiel 47:1-12, another millennial passage.

A.  You can prove the Sheep and Goat judgment happens just after the 2nd Coming by looking at the reference to its timing in Matt. 25:31, “When the Son of Man comes in all his glory …”  Also, in Matt 25:34 He welcomes the “sheep” (surviving Tribulation believers) into the Millennial Kingdom. The Great White Throne judgment takes place at the end of the Millennium (Rev. 20:7) and is for unbelievers only (Rev. 20:11-12).