Should Believers Be 'Preppers'?
"The Lord knows the days of the upright,
and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time,
and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied."
Psalm 37:18-19
Believers know that the great Tribulation is looming.
Most understand that the New World Order is currently being set up for the kingdom of the coming Antichrist. Many believers are very aware of what is going on, and of how the prophecies of the Bible concerning "the last days" are unfolding right before their eyes.
Believers are also very aware that great judgment is looming and that things are going to get bad. Very bad. There are teachers who are teaching that believers should stock up on food, supplies, and guns, and make all kinds of preparations for what's coming. Teachers are preparing their people to weather the Great Tribulation. Is that wise?
First of all, Scripture makes it very clear that believers will be removed before the Tribulation even begins.
THE RESTRAINER:
The church, the Body of Christ, is what is holding back, or restraining, evil. Once believers are gone, evil will have free reign over all the earth. The Lord takes believers BEFORE the Antichrist is revealed.
"...he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.
AND THEN the lawless one will be revealed..."
2 Thessalonians 2:7-8
Difficult and perilous times are ahead even before the Tribulation.
“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come.”
2nd Timothy 3:1
The word “perilous” is the Greek word chalepos, which is also translated “fierce.” And that's what we're looking at today.
So what should be the response of the believer? Should he stock up on food, guns, and other things? Well ...we probably should be stocked up at any time, for we never know what disaster may come upon any part of the world, it's just a general common-sense kind of thing. But to go into the frenzy that "preppers" go into thinking they can weather the Tribulation ...now come on friends, come back to the Word of God. We are NOT going into the Tribulation and even if we were, there is no amount of preparation one could amass in order to preserve himself through that awful time. The Tribulation is going to be the time of the most terrible, cataclysmic wrath of Almighty God poured out upon the world, and Jesus said that it will be so terrible that if that time hadn't been shortened no flesh, human or animal, would survive. There is no preparation possible against this.
"For then there will be great tribulation,
such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time,
no, nor ever shall be."
Matthew 24:21
What I would say to those who teach that we will experience part of the Tribulation at least: have you read what takes place at the very beginning of the Tribultation? Have you read about the Seals, the four horsemen of the apocalypse? How on earth could anyone think believers will soar through that time and survive it? It's not that it gets progressively worse - it's the wrath of God from the very beginning. If you think you can weather it, I suggest you read those parts about the beginning again.
..."there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair,
and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth,
even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together;
and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men,
and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man,
hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
and said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him
who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?'"
Revelation 6: 12-17
Friends, this is the Seals, the BEGINNING of the Tribulation.
There's no way for believers to prepare for the Tribulation. God himself has provided the escape from these things. Jesus Christ will take his bride, the believers, the church, out of the earth before these terrible judgments begin.
Jesus Christ told believers that we are to pray that we might be able TO ESCAPE. The Rapture is the only means by which we can escape.
“Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy
TO ESCAPE all these things that shall come to pass,
and to stand before the Son of man.”
Luke 21:36
Most importantly, the believer must prepare his heart so that his attitude is always utter trust in the Lord, knowing God will be present to the believer at all times. This trust doesn't come automatically when one is saved, this is a faith, a trust that is developed through deliberate preparation of the heart and long-time walking with the Lord. Without THIS kind of preparation, a believer can fall and many have.
Most believers have already come through times of hardship and calamity in their lives, and have learned that it is in those times that the Lord seems closest. There is an intimacy with him that can only be experienced in times like that. Trust him, friends. No matter what happens, you are safe in him, and not only safe, but chosen to bring to others the encouragement that you have gleaned from having gone through hardship or trauma and found him to be utterly faithful!
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