Satan Loves A False Alarm
Harold Camping and his false prophecy has caused Lucifer to dance with glee. This kind of fancy error is clearly Satan’s design to make fun of the Rapture. The Post-Millenniumist, Amillenniumist and the Mid- Tribulation and Post- Tribulation crowd are laughing at the fun the Media has had at our expense. We Pre-Tribulation Believers are scoffed at when these false alarms about the Rapture are fed to the multitudes. The whole purpose is to make truth look foolish.
But there is another side to this story. The devil does not waste his time fighting falsehood and false doctrines. This entire attack is all another proof that the Rapture is on schedule and will occur before the “Seven Years Of The Great Tribulation.” When Satan induces his false prophets to attack truth in a false show like Camping’s attention receiving Expose, he only proves the wonderful truth being laughed against. Satan never makes a false show of all the error doctrines being taught. They do him no harm and he pays them no attention. Thank you Harold Camping for your back-handed attention to the great “Catching Away.”
The anger of Satan against the Rapture of the saints is because this event will be his final defeat. Calvary, the Resurrection, and all the victory of Jesus’ death and life were certainly Satan’s greatest defeat. It has been downhill for him since he was cast out of Heaven. The Rapture will seal his doom forever. From the time that he deceived Adam and Eve in the garden, he has attacked the family of God. When Jesus descended into upper Sheol, Satan lost his hold on the First Testament saints. He could not damn them nor could they escape the prison house of the righteous dead. Jesus took the keys of Death and Hell and led this victorious company out of their prison into His resurrected presence. Their spirit and soul are with Him in Heaven, but the majority of them are still awaiting the Rapture and the Resurrection to receive their glorified bodies. Matthew records that a firstfruits number were resurrected and caught up when He arose from the dead.
There are complexities to the Rapture and the Resurrection that must not divide us. I personally believe that not one Blood-washed and Holy Ghost Oil soaked Saint (Old or New Testament) will be left in the grave when the Pre-Tribulation Rapture occurs. The earth must be free of the Godly dead before the traumas of the seven years of judgment can begin. The judgments of Jesus Christ will shake this earth to its very core so that nothing of sin will be left to defile or destroy in all of creation. The wicked dead will be in Death and Hell until the Seven Years of Tribulation and the Millennium are finished. Then they will be resurrected unto damnation to be judged.
Satan has waged war against the saints for six thousand years. His very thought of the dead in Christ being resurrected with glorified bodies forever out of his reach is terrifying to him. Add to that the Rapture and Resurrection of the living saints that he has pursued since the moment they were born again being removed totally beyond his reach. But the Rapture and Resurrection of the righteous is only the beginning of his future troubles. The saints that he has terrorized will become the Lord’s Elders during the seven years, and we will be used of the Lord to direct the judgments against him and his false trinity. We will be glorified saints; and the Bible says that we will judge the angels, and Satan is one of them.
Let’s begin by contemplating the defeat for Satan that will occur in the first heaven as the saints are removed to the presence of the Lord. Satan is called the prince of the power of the air. “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” (Ephesians 2:2) This is the area of his stronghold, where his kingdom of fallen angels is organized and operates. From this realm, he rules as the god of this world. He is called the god of this world and the prince of the power of the air. He affects everything that constitutes the world system, nature, and especially the weather patterns. God created a perfect world. There was no destruction until the destroyer deceived Adam and Eve. Satan usurped his way into control of the world system. Nature is out of control today because it is greatly affected by the devil and his princes of destruction.
The Bible warns us of the struggle that this horde of evil personalities will create for those that serve the Lord. Apostle Paul stated, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12) Notice those terms the Holy Ghost inspired Apostle Paul to use, “rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” This is an epic struggle, and natural men and women are absolutely no match for these great and strong spirits of evil. Every spiritual victory we win must be by the Blood, the Word, and the Spirit
Understanding these strong, experienced, and wicked angels operating under the leadership of Satan; we can see the battle that is developing to hinder God’s Prophetic program. When the Rapture occurs, we must travel right straight up through the middle of Satan’s stronghold. Hearing many strange stories about unidentified flying objects is not so strange when you know what is about to occur. The devil will stop at nothing to accomplish his goals and to defeat the saints of God.
Victory is already assured because “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.” (Ps 119:89). Apostle Paul said, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (I Thessalonians 4:16-17)
We will not need to fight our path through Lucifer’s stronghold. The Lord comes down to meet us in the midair, and with His Heavenly Host (multitudes) He leads us back right through Satan’s horde. The event of the saints being Raptured up out of their graves, joined together with the Raptured living, following the Lord of Hosts back to the Banquet Hall in New Jerusalem is too grand to consider. There has never been an army marching from some great victory back to the fatherland to match this picture. Satan has got to know that this is soon to happen, and he certainly has a counterattack planned.
His great defeat at our victory right through his stronghold will leave him vulnerable to the heavenly host of angels. He will never recover from seeing“ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands,” (Revelation 5:11)pass untouched through his hands into the presence of the Heavenly Father. A multitude of angels led by Michael will then engage Satan to finish his reign as the “prince of the power of the air.” Weakened by his losses, the angels of Jesus Christ will cast him down to the earth never to appear in Heaven again.
John recorded the future scene of Satan’s great heavenly defeat. “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” (Revelation 12:7-10)
His territory will now be restricted to the earth and he will know that he has but a short time. This loss for Satan is incredible. He has accused us to God throughout human history. The defeat of Adam and Eve gave him legal right to act as an accuser to every saint of God. He has been the world’s persecutor for six thousand years. The reason for many great defeats in the church has been man’s failure to stand solely on truth in their battles with evil powers and dark spiritual authorities. Our only rights against evil are those legal truths of Scripture contained in our blood covenant.
Now, ultimate truth prevails and Satan’s reign as persecutor is over forever. “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” (Revelation 12:12)Satan finally understands that he is losing and his last efforts will be efforts of desperation. By the end of the seven years, no creature on earth will doubt that he is a serpent, unquestionably corrupted, and a loser.
The victorious saints will be elevated to Elders during the coming Great Tribulation. We are never called the church again after Revelation Chapter Four. We will be to the Father and the Lamb, Elders participating in all the events of righteousness and righteous judgment. Too often we think only of judgment during these dark seven years but more than judgment is redemption. The Elders will share the glory of cleansing this earth from every curse of sin until righteousness springs forth when we return with Him to reign on this earth a thousand years.
Joseph Chambers