Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 12

 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment  2Peter 2:4-9

 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Matt. 24:24

                I've always wondered about that Matthew (and it's repeated in Mark) verse. Is it possible to deceive the elect? Would it be possible for true believers to fall prey to false teachers? My answer would, I guess, be yes, however, in time they would see the light and be rescued as God exposes the false teachers which he will do.

           Currently there is a vast exposing going on and people are hopefully being drawn out of these ministries. Taking these verses to another level, like in the times of Noah, Lot, Genesis 4, this world is going down the drain in ungodliness and people have been predicting the rapture is near. Although people have predicted dates for years, the most recent being Sept. 23-25,2025, the cool thing is they are looking for it. Jesus warns that the end should not sneak up on us unawares and we should always be ready and busy, not lazy. Scoffers of the rapture, which surprisingly are in greater numbers Christians, say it was a theory not developed until the 1800's and the early Church didn't believe in it. I don't know about that, as I wasn't around then, but as I understand scripture, I believe in the rapture and this passage gives me two Old Testament illustrations.

          Noah was righteous in a time so decadent that God was going to have to start over with global judgement. Rather than have Noah go through the wrath of God, he was lifted above it to float over the top of it in a boat. Sodom and Gomorrah were so evil that God was going to wipe the whole city off the map, but it had one righteous person, Lot, inside and he was taken out of the city before God's wrath. Likewise, when the prophetic time clock of seven years starts ticking and God's wrath will be poured out on sin, Satan, the Antichrist, the false prophet, we will be rescued like Lot and Noah. Now whether that's at the beginning or sometime in the middle, we don't know but I believe it to be at the beginning, but it will happen!

        I don't have a problem setting dates for the rapture. So many people are blasting the latest guy for doing it. His heart is in the right place. He's looking forward to the return of Christ. Are you?