The Final Gospel Proclamation
In the midst of great evil in the world, the Lamb of God stands on Mt. Zion together with His 144,000 disciples who are the ministers of His light throughout the period of dark tribulations in the latter days. At this point in time, the world will demand that all professing Christians commit spiritual adultery and worship the Antichrist or they will be expelled from the earth. And a great number of professing believers will listen to the demands from the world and turn away from the Lord.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
However, the 144,000 who are standing with the Lord on Mt. Zion are the ones who maintain their spiritual virginity in the midst of great pressures and temptations. Their love for the Lamb of God who sacrificed His life for His people was of much greater value than their own lives. These are warrior-spirited soldiers in the Kingdom of God who continue to hear the voice of their Commander-in-Chief:
"If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man give in return for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
These are those who follow Christ in all of His ways while on earth. They are His disciples. Many will be sealed prior to the judgments, yet many more will enter the Kingdom as they hear and believe the gospel message of the 144,000 and stand for Him in the midst of persecutions. Being “sealed” implies protection from the judgments of God that fall upon the earth; so that they may proclaim the everlasting gospel during the Great Tribulation right up to the end of their lives or until the coming of their Lord. This may or may not lead to martyrdom, yet a significant number of those who enter the Great Tribulation will certainly experience martyrdom. Unlike pagan Christendom which “exchanged the truth of God for a lie” they make no compromise with the heretical demands of the antichristian government. Thus the great question for the people of God is not whether they will undergo great sufferings for the cause of Christ, but whether they will remain faithful in the midst of tribulation.
THE GOSPEL MESSAGE OF THE 144,000 CHRISTIAN WARRIORS
Christian warriors of the end-time generation, symbolized by the “sealed 144,000,” will boldly and fearlessly stand united against the apostasy of this age as they bear the testimony of Jesus Christ and His truth among all the nations of the earth:
And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
As to the contents of their message, this army of 144.000 witnesses will continually stand before the Lord of the whole earth and they will speak nothing but that which their Lord has commissioned them to speak. They will speak of Christ and His atoning blood, which is the witness of the righteousness and holiness of God in the midst of a sinful world. They will openly condemn all efforts to seek salvation outside of that atoning blood, and this will infuriate the false church and the worldly leadership that is attempting to establish a one-world kingdom. This will be a time of tremendous miracles as the gospel message goes forth in a power greater than the world has ever seen: the blind will see, the deaf will hear, and many of the afflicted will be healed throughout the world.
But this will also be a time when waters turn to blood, the skies are shut so that no rain may fall, and plagues strike throughout the earth. The kingdom must come through tribulation and through all kinds of plagues and calamities. Do not think that this is strange; Moses delivered his people from Egypt by bringing great devastating plagues upon the land, which brought Egypt to its knees. During Elijah’s day, the kingdom again was strengthened when he prayed that God would withhold rain from an apostate nation. It may also be that the people of God in the last days will consciously refuse to pray for blessings on the wicked world, and they will beseech God for plagues and judgments that His kingdom may come. And it shall become plain to the entire world, even as it was plain to Pharaoh in the case of Moses and to Ahab in the case of Elijah, that it is the 144,000 witnesses of God, ministering throughout the world, who bring about these plagues upon the earth.
The mission of these end-time witnesses for Christ is not to bring peace to the world but to bring division and war, not just among nations but within neighborhoods and families.
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
This is a hard teaching that is never heard from the pulpits, but separation has to take place. The pure light of holiness will not compromise with darkness. There can be no middle ground in the Kingdom of God. This truth of God is 180 degrees opposite that which is embraced by the worldly system which emphasizes “tolerance” as a requirement for world peace. Not surprisingly, the world’s government will once again unite with the false church of Christianity to persecute the true church with the objective of erasing the hard gospel truths of Jesus Christ from the earth.
However, if we keep our eyes upon the Lord, our attitude in the midst of persecution and suffering will be one of great joy, knowing that the eternal rewards that await us will be great.
"Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Yes, this will be a time of great tribulation never before seen since the creation of the earth, yet this also will be a time of a great harvest of souls such as the world has never before seen. And there will be no more gray areas; one stands either with Christ or against Him. Love and hatred will be clearly visible among all the inhabitants of the earth.
The world must hear the gospel message proclaimed by the church and must hear it repeatedly so that they become fully conscious of their sin and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Those who reject Him will do so willingly and deliberately. Then the testimony is finished and may be silenced. At this point the Antichrist will overcome the witnesses and kill many of them, but perhaps not all, for there will be a remnant of saints who are alive at the second coming of Christ. But for most of the saints of God, this will be a time of terrible persecution as the Antichrist rises up to silence their testimony. Then the Antichrist will reign supreme, and the world will rejoice and send gifts to one another because the true church, which spoke of blood and judgment has finally been overpowered; or so they believe.
The Hatred of the World
"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
Mankind shall be well-acquainted with the gospel message of Jesus Christ before the final judgments fall on the earth. Those who scorn the message will be without excuse when they stand before the judgment seat of almighty God. Certainly many people will respond and be brought into everlasting life, but the great majority of the world will blasphemy this message and will mock and persecute those who proclaim it. Finally, this gospel message not only will be a calling to mankind to repent and give glory to God, but it also will contain the prophetic warning that final judgments are soon coming to the world.
Consider this: Many true Christians may have been called to this leadership role, yet they did not forsake their lives and thus did not achieve their full calling. They certainly are among the saints of God, but they did not rise up to the leadership role that God had prepared them for. Many of us wrestle with this calling while living in the midst of our blessed comforts. Those who have been called know it deep down inside, yet many are continually excusing their laziness by believing they will start tomorrow. However, tomorrow never seems to come. We need to fight these comforting temptations that impede our calling to prioritize the Lord in our lives. Every one of us faces these temptations toward apathy, as it is an ongoing attack from the enemy. Today, we must continually resist and prepare, for the Day of the Lord is shortly before us. Warriors, we must continue to seek for our individual destinies that He is calling us to and preparing us for!