Program 270
Being Prepared For Christ’s Return

Matthew 24 speaks, very briefly, of Christ’s return. However, most of the signs given pointed to the destruction of Jerusalem, not the end of the world.

Welcome to WLC Radio, a subsidiary of WLC Radio Ministry, an online ministry dedicated to learning how to live in constant readiness for the Savior's return.

For two thousand years, believers of every generation have longed to be the last generation. Contrary to popular belief, though, Christ did not give believers “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, he repeatedly warned that his coming would take even the faithful by surprise. Yahushua urgently warned believers to be ready because, he said, “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” [Matthew 24:44] 

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.

* * *Part 1: (Miles & Dave)

Miles Robey: The Seventh-day Adventist Church is one of the primary supporters of Last Generation Theology. If that’s a term you haven’t heard before, it basically refers to the belief that Christ’s return is imminent and that there will be a final generation of believers that will have surrendered to the point of living a sinless life and thus vindicating Yahuwah’s character.

You can see how, with this belief, it would be very important to know just when Christ returns, and the Seventh-day Adventist church is really big into studying Bible prophecy. They even have a publication called “Signs of the Times” that focuses on things to watch for that apparently warn of the Savior’s soon return.

Now. Not all Christians are as convinced as Adventists that Christ’s return is imminent. But there is a wide-spread belief that Christ’s return will be preceded by events that, with the eye of faith, can be recognized as harbingers of the Second Coming. These include a belief in a secret rapture of the righteous, seven years of tribulation, the emergence of a global anti-christ, seven last plagues, lots of martyrs, and many more.

Now, obviously, there’s a danger to this belief. While it might be reassuring to think you can have a general idea of when Christ will return, there’s always the danger of putting off a full surrender to Yahuwah because you aren’t seeing the signs you’ve been taught to expect. But you talk to Christians who believe prophecy is foretelling certain events have to occur before Christ returns and they’re rather dismissive of this danger: that’s just the lost. Believers will watch and know and be ready!

But if you haven’t joined us before, my name is Miles Robey and you’re listening to World’s Last Chance Radio where we cover a variety of topics related to Scripture, prophecy, practical piety, Biblical beliefs, and living in constant readiness for the Savior’s unexpected return, whenever that might be.

One of the most widely-studied chapters of Scripture—studied by those looking for signs of Christ’s return—is Matthew 24. But is that really the correct interpretation of that chapter? Or could the Savior, perhaps, have been talking about another event … one that has already occurred?

Today, Dave Wright is going to be leading us in a study of Matthew 24. We’re going to look at what the Savior taught, the context in which it was taught, and see what he was actually saying. Later on, during our Daily Mailbag segment, a listener questions how to witness to an atheist; and then Jane Lamb has a promise for anyone who is struggling with guilt. I know I’ve struggled with guilt before and it’s a horrible feeling. So, if this is an issue for you, you’re going to want to hear what she has to share.

But first: Dave. Matthew 24. What can you tell us about that chapter?

Dave Wright: Well, first, I’m glad you pointed out the danger of looking for signs of the times to foretell when Christ will return. If the rapture hasn’t occurred, if you haven’t seen a “Sunday law” enforcing worship on Sunday, if the anti-Christ isn’t ruling from Jerusalem—or whatever your particular flavor of Christianity teaches—then there is a real danger of just drifting contentedly along, knowing you can keep playing with sin because you’ve still got some time to make that full surrender. And that’s a real danger because, as we shall see in today’s discussion, there are no signs to watch for. Christ warned that even believers would be taken by surprise, so that means all these signs people are waiting to see happen? Are never going to happen.

Miles: Eschatology—the study of final events—is a very popular area of theology.

Dave: Oh, it really is. Not only is Christ’s return something that all believers are longing for, but it also panders to the fallen human ego. If I know what’s going to happen, then that’s proof I’m one of the elect. I won’t be taken by surprise, so I’m safe.

Or at least, safer than the unbelieving, unwashed masses. History is full of stories of people claiming to be prophets with inside knowledge of when Christ would return. Ellen White, one of the founding members of the Seventh-day Adventist church, is simply one of many.

Miles: Didn’t the Adventist church start with predicting Christ’s return?

Dave: Well, it was one of several that grew out of the Millerite movement. This was a movement begun in America in the early 19^th century when a farmer by the name of William Miller became convinced that Christ would return in 1843.

This message swept like wildfire through Christian countries and even reached some Muslim countries. When he, obviously, didn’t return in 1843, the Millerites checked their calculations and declared that they’d made a mistake: he was going to come in the spring of 1844.

When Christ again failed to return as predicted, they recalculated once more and were adamant that he would come on October 22, 1844. What most Adventists themselves don’t know is that the way the Millerites arrived at October 22 was by using the original Biblical method of timekeeping: the luni-solar calendar.

Miles: So why did they start worshipping on Saturday instead of the Biblical Sabbath.

Dave: I don’t know. The assumption of a continuous weekly cycle is deeply ingrained. It might have been due to that. At any rate, they were quite obviously wrong, and this dashing of their hopes came to be known as the Great Disappointment. Several churches grew out of that experience, the Seventh-day Adventist Church being the largest with over 22 million members worldwide.

But Adventists aren’t the only ones who have repeatedly predicted a specific time for Christ’s return.

Miles: Yeah, didn’t Joseph Smith, the founder and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also predict that Christ would return by a certain date?

Dave: He did. He predicted that Yahushua would return no later than 1891. This was a belief held by Mormons for many years until … well, until he didn’t come.

Miles: Are there any other denominations that have set times for the Second Coming?

Dave: Yes. Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, believed and taught that the Savior would return in 1914.

Miles: I’m sure all the buildup to the First World War was taken as confirmation of the end of times.

Dave: Absolutely.

Miles: Adventists … Mormons … Jehovah’s Witnesses: these are all more on the fringes of Christian doctrine. I mean, they all hold doctrines that aren’t part of the mainstream. Are there any of the more mainstream doctrines that have date set?

Dave: Well … most mainline denominations don’t date set. However, the late Hal Lindsey, an American evangelical, published a book in 1970 called The Late, Great Planet Earth. He wrote that the signs listed in Matthew 24 indicated that Yahushua would return by 1988. The New York Times said it was the best-selling non-fiction book of the 1970s.

Miles laughs: “Non-fiction,” huh?

Dave: Yes, well … it was very popular. Anyway, he based his beliefs on the argument that the generation that had seen the rebirth of Israel as an independent nation in 1948 would be the same generation to live to see Yahushua return.

Because the adults that left Egypt and died in the wilderness were referred to as a generation, and because the Children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, he believed that a “generation” is 40 years.

So: 1948 + 40 = 1988.

But that was for the secret rapture. Then you have to add on an additional seven years for the great tribulation. So, Lindsey believed, Christ would actually appear to fight the battle of Armageddon around 1995. And he got a lot of evangelicals believing this, even in denominations that, traditionally, haven’t been date-setters.

Miles: And he based all this on Matthew 24?

Dave: Yes. Now, we all know the story. Christ was leaving the temple complex and, when the disciples admired the construction of the temple, he said, “Yeah, well, someday not a single stone is going to be left on top of another.”

This obviously shocked the disciples so, according to Mark’s account, the two sets of brothers—Peter and Andrew, and James and John—later came to Christ and said, “Okaaaaay. So when’s this all going to happen and what will be the sign of your coming?”

Miles: Did they conflate the two?

Dave: It kind of sounds like they did, doesn’t it? For a long, I believed that the disciples assumed they were the same event.

Miles: Well, you can kind of see why they’d assume Jerusalem would stand until the end of the world.

Dave: Yes, but Yahushua didn’t make that assumption. In fact, he treated the two as two separate events. In fact, the quote-unquote signs he listed for the destruction of Jerusalem are very different from what he said would happen at his return.

Most of the chapter is devoted to the various signs believers were to watch for that warned of the destruction of Jerusalem. And it’s important to note that every single one of those signs came true in the roughly 40 years between when Yahushua gave the warnings and when Jerusalem was finally destroyed in 70 CE.

Miles: And even if only Peter and Andrew, and James and John were present, you know that they passed that information along to the other disciples and early believers. We know this because not a single Christian lost their life in the destruction of Jerusalem.

Dave: That’s correct.

Again, most of the chapter, and certainly all of the “signs of the times” drawn from Matthew 24 that we’ve traditionally believed pointed to the Second Coming, all were signs warning of the impending destruction of Jerusalem. These “signs of the times” appear in the first 35 verses of Matthew 24. It’s not until verse 36 that Yahushua even began talking about his return. And it wasn’t to give signs. It was to say that there wouldn’t be any.

Why don’t you turn there and read it for us? Matthew 24 and verses 36 to 39.

Miles:

But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 

Dave: So let me ask you this: If Christ himself doesn’t know and can’t predict when he’ll return, do you think Ellen White, or Joseph Smith, or Hal Lindsey or you or I can know??

Miles: No!

Dave: Of course not. So, I know we need to take a quick break but in our next segment, then, we’re going to look at why the signs pointing to Jerusalem’s destruction can’t be applied to the Second Coming. There’s no secondary application. It doesn’t work. Those signs only pointed to 70 CE, not Christ’s return.

* * *

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* * *Part 2: (Miles & Dave)

Miles: Before we dive into this, are there any sources you can recommend for people who wish to look at this more in depth? Our radio programs are a great starting point but, of course, we always encourage people to do their own study.

Dave: Sure! If anyone is interested, grab a pen and paper to write this down. I’ve got three sources: one book and two articles. Conveniently enough, they’re all entitled “Matthew 24.”

The book, by J. Marcellus Kik—that’s K-i-k—was published in 1948. The articles, again both called “Matthew 24” appear in longer works. Roy Deaver, spelled D-e-a-v-e-r, had his article published in a book called Premillennialism – True or False? This was published in 1978. Wendall Winkler was the editor.

Then, in 1984, Cecil May’s article was published in The Biblical Doctrine of Last Things. These are all really great sources for more information.

Miles: That’s great. And Google Translate is a great resource, too, if these haven’t been translated into your preferred language yet.

Dave: So, moving on. There are four points that make a very strong case for Matthew 24, verses 4 to 14 applying only to the destruction of Jerusalem.

• The first is Christ’s plain statement that his words were for the generation then living.
• The second is the prophecies themselves contain details that only fit first-century Jerusalem.
• The third is Christ’s own teachings, the lessons he taught regarding the Second Coming.
• And finally, Yahushua’s words. He gave some very clear statements regarding his return that contradict Matthew 24:4 to 14 being applied to the Second Coming.

Miles: Could you expand on each point a bit?

Dave: Of course. You’ve still got Matthew 24 open? Read verses 34 and 35. This is where Yahushua’s discourse on the destruction of Jerusalem draws to a close. This is his conclusion. Verse 36 he shifts his focus to answering their question about the end of the world, but everything up to verse 35 is focused on the destruction of Jerusalem.

Go ahead.

Miles: “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

Dave: One of the rules of correct Biblical interpretation is that we are to take Scripture just as it reads. If something can be interpreted literally, it is to be. Only if it clearly cannot be interpreted literally are we to look for a symbolic interpretation.

Well, this statement is very clear: This generation—the one I’m speaking to right now—will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. And he said that 2,000 years ago! So none of the signs given in the preceding verses can apply to the end of the world.

Miles: Yeah, that’s a pretty clear, even adamant, statement. I know that dispensationalists like to define “generation” as the entire human race, but I don’t see how that really fits with taking Scripture just as it reads.

Dave: Not only that but defining “generation” as the human race contradicts how the word is used elsewhere in the New Testament. Would you grab that book there …? Yes, the one that says Greek Lexicon. Look up the word genea. That’s the Greek for “generation.” What does it say?

Miles: Uhhh … basically it’s, quote: “the sum total of those born at the same time, expanded to include all those living at a given time, generation, contemporaries.

Dave: This is how Matthew consistently uses the word. We don’t have time to look them up, but on your own if you want to look up Matthew 11 verse 16, chapter 12 verses 19, 41-42, and 45, chapter 16 verse 4, chapter 17 verse 17 and chapter 23 verse 36, you’ll find that Matthew consistently uses the word “generation” in this way. So, to say that, suddenly in chapter 24, he’s referring to the entire human race is …

Miles: Silly.

Dave: Well, I was going to say inconsistent, but silly works, too.

Moving on to our next point, Hal Lindsey and others believe that the descriptions given in Matthew 24 refer to an international nuclear conflict. But that contradicts specifics in Yahushua’s prophecy.

Miles: Such as?

Dave: Such as verse 15 where he refers to the “Holy Place.” That is a specific location connected to the temple.

Furthermore, in verse 16, Yahushua warned believers in Judea to “flee to the mountains.” That’s rather pointless in the event of a nuclear catastrophe.

Miles: That’s true. Same with verse 17 where he says, “Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house.” That wouldn’t make sense if we’re talking about a modern nuclear attack.

Dave: But it made perfect sense in first-century Jerusalem where houses were flat topped and built adjacent to each other. In a rush, you could flee across the tops of the houses and escape.

There’s also Christ’s instruction to pray that their flight would not occur on the Sabbath. The reason makes sense in the first century: the gates of Jerusalem were always shut on the Sabbath.

Miles: A factor that wasn’t a problem after Jerusalem’s destruction.

Dave: That’s right.

Point number three is that the illustrations Christ used to teach about his return demonstrate that it will be sudden without any prior warning. He’s very clear on this point.

Read verses 37 to 39. This after he shifts his focus to his return in verse 36.

Miles:

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Dave: He is describing an event that is so shocking, people are actually sitting down having dinner, all unaware that a flood is coming. This, he says, “is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” No prior warning. Just sudden and total shock.

You can’t have “signs of the times” that you point to as a warning of Christ’s return and this level of shocked unawareness.

Another illustration Christ used, down in verse 43, was that of a thief breaking into a house while the owner sleeps, blissfully unaware he’s being robbed. Would you read that for us, please?

Miles: “But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.”

Dave: Again: no warning. Because if he’d had a warning, he would have acted differently. He would have stood guard or something. This was a lesson taken to heart by the early believers. Read Paul’s warning in 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 1 and 2.

Miles: “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.”

Dave: It is believed Paul wrote this epistle sometime between 50 and 51 CE when Timothy came to him in Corinth. This was 20 years before the destruction of Jerusalem. If the signs warning of the destruction of Jerusalem had a dual application to the end of the world, Paul would have said so, but he didn’t. He didn’t believe that because Christ didn’t teach that.

Miles: Yeah, Peter taught the suddenness with no warning of Christ’s return, too. Let me find this really quick …

Here we go. It’s 2 Peter 3 verse 10. He says: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

Dave: For a long time, I assumed that it was the wicked who would be taken by surprise. Unbelievers who ignored the signs of the times would be taken by surprise. But notice that Peter and Paul were both writing to … unbelievers?

Miles: No. Believers.

Dave: And yet neither Christ nor the apostles ever gave “signs of the times.” Instead, the burden of their teaching was that it would be a shock, it would come when no one was expecting it.

Turn to Luke 17. This is another passage where Christ is using illustrations to demonstrate what a shock, and how unexpected his return will be. Read verses 28 to 30.

Miles:

Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded: But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

Dave: The cities of the plain had absolutely no warning given them. They were caught utterly by surprise. And this is what Christ says will happen at his return. And that brings me to my final point: when Christ did make statements about his return, it was always a warning that no one could predict when it would occur.

Read verse 36 again.

Miles: Uhhh … “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

Dave: This is a statement of fact. There’s no wiggle room here, no way to argue around it. If not even the angels, or Christ himself knows when he’ll return, do you really think that you or I or Hal Lindsey … Joseph Smith … Ellen White … can figure out by “signs” when it’s going to happen?

Miles: No!

Dave: Even at his ascension, Yahushua was hammering on this point. When the disciples asked him, “So! Are you going to restore the kingdom now?” He said, Acts 1 verse 7: “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power.”

The take-away for believers is: you can’t know when he’s going to return, so we need to learn to live in constant readiness.

Miles: Up next: How can believers witness to atheists? Next, in our Daily Mailbag.

* * *

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WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.

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Bible scholars have long understood the importance of knowing the true nature of the Savior. Even before the Council of Nicea in the fourth century, people disagreed over whether Yahushua was fully divine, fully human, or some strange admixture of the two. The majority of Christians today believe that Yahushua was a godman, being fully human and fully divine. However, this dual-natured Messiah is not supported by Scripture.

The Bible never claims the Messiah had to be divine. This is a perspective that has been read into Scripture following the Council of Nicea. The Bible actually teaches that Yahushua was fully human, and it asserts this repeatedly. In fact, Scripture explicitly states that “God” cannot be a “son of man,” which, interestingly enough, was Yahushua’s favorite way of referring to himself.

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* * *Daily Mailbag (Miles & Dave)

Miles: Today’s question is coming from the country that has the longest place-name in the English language.

Dave: Uh, um … New Zealand! New Zealand. We talked about it once before.

Miles: No, I know what you’re thinking of, but that’s a Maori word. Has 85 letters. I’m talking about the country that contains the longest place name in English.

Dave: Well, then, England.

Miles: Nope! It’s Ireland.

Dave: So what’s the place name?

Miles laughs: Uhhhh … something like … Muckanaghederdauhaulia. Mucka … Muckanaghederdauhaulia? I don’t know.

Dave: That’s pretty good! Do you know what it means?

Miles: “Pig-marsh between two salt waters.”

Dave: All right, then! So, what’s today’s question?

Miles: It’s kind of a tough one, so I’m interested in hearing what you have to say, too. Brianne Hayes writes, quote:

Five years ago, my sister-in-law got married. The man she married treats her well and is a good man overall. The problem is, he’s an atheist. In the years they’ve been married, he has steadily drawn my sister-in-law over to his views.

My parents-in-law haven’t handled the situation all that well, which has driven their daughter even further away. She still has a good relationship with my husband and me, but that’s largely due to the fact that we haven’t tried to ‘convert’ her husband to Christianity. That said, we are also concerned with how she seems to have abandoned Christianity for atheism, or at least agnosticism. How do we reach her and her husband? We’d love to win them for Christ but, after seeing how defensive they are when her parents try to witness to them, we’re afraid of messing up the relationship. They hold my parents-in-law at arms-length now and we’re worried that if we try to witness, we’ll be shoved out of their lives, too. Any words of advice for our situation?

Dave: Hmmm. Honestly, this is a very difficult situation with not a lot of good options.

Miles: Well, let me ask you this. I’ve heard it said that atheism is a religion without revelation. Would you agree?

Dave: Uhhh … no? No. I know that a lot of Christians like to say that atheism is a religion, but technically it’s not. Absence of belief does not constitute belief. Atheism is a logical extension of evolution but, by definition, it’s not a religion.

We don’t do ourselves any favors with atheists when we try to pigeon-hole them or make arguments based on a play on words. Atheism is not a religion and you’re not going to make any converts by insisting to them that it is.

Miles: So, how do you reach them?

Dave: Well, like I said, this is a really tough one. If a person is religious at all, there are certain arguments that appeal to that mindset. This simply does not work with anyone who lacks belief in divinity, any divinity.

Often Christians will try to “argue” with atheists and appeal to them through logic. They try and convince atheists that some kind of god is necessary.

Miles: Yeah, I’ve heard those sorts of arguments. They try and prove a young earth. Atheists have lots of arguments for an old earth. Or, Christians will insist that without Yah’s word to teach you right from wrong, no one would have any morals. Atheists have rebuttals for that. It’s like you’re speaking two different languages.

Dave: And you are!

Let’s admit it: arguing with an atheist never works. And, to be frank, it’s rather lazy witnessing.

Miles: What do you mean?

Dave: Christian apologists have developed a number of arguments that they think are convincing arguments – and they are … at least to Christians. So not a lot of thought is required with this level of witnessing. You just memorize the arguments developed by Bible scholars and, Whamo! Shmamo! You think you’ve got a convincing argument … right up until you actually try to use it with an atheist. And, as you know, they’ve still got a whole host of reasons why they won’t be convinced or why they think your reasoning is faulty.

You’re not going to convince any atheist by argument or reasoning.

Miles: Sooo … how do we reach them? What can we do?

Dave: The best way to witness to anyone is to speak their language. Atheists demand proof. They like logic and sound reasoning. Don’t belittle them by mocking and saying it takes more faith to believe we descend from monkeys than it does to believe we were created by design. Atheists are smart people. You need logic, proof … evidence to appeal to them.

Miles: Well, mocking and belittling never “won” anyone. I remember the old proverb that says, “A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still.” Mocking another’s beliefs is hardly compelling reasoning.

Dave: Nor is it Christlike.

Miles: But what sort of proof or evidence can you offer an atheist? I mean, Christians walk by faith. John 1:18 says, “No one has seen [Yahuwah] at any time. The only begotten son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared Him.” That’s a faith walk, and if they’re looking for solid evidence, the evidence Christians accept is not going to be anything atheists accept.

Dave: This is true, but you still need to “speak their language.” They want “proof”? All right. What’s the greatest proof of the power of Yah?

Miles: Um …

A changed life?

Dave: A changed life. This is not what you think of when you typically think of witnessing. We typically think of words and arguments, but as we’ve already seen, words and arguments don’t work with atheists. The greatest proof, then, that you can give them is the power of Yah as seen in the individual heart.

Now, this isn’t easy. In fact, it’s far harder than simply memorizing a couple of Bible verses or arguments already developed by Bible scholars. This is harder because it gets right down to our own conversion. Are we revealing Yahuwah in our own lives like Yahushua did?

Turn to Luke 15. This is one of my favorite Bible passages because of what it reveals about the Savior. If you’ve ever watched any movies of Christ, you know how he’s typically portrayed.

Miles: Yeah. Helmet hair.

Dave laughs: Yeah, that, too. Although I was thinking “joyless.” In most movies he’s portrayed as too holy to crack a smile, too holy to laugh. He goes around denouncing everybody and calling them hypocrites. But Luke sets the record straight. Would you please read the first two verses of Luke 15? What does that say?

Miles: “Woe unto you, hypocrites!” No, just kidding! It actually says: “Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’”

Dave: Yahushua drew people to him and the way he did it was by showing them non-judgmental kindness and acceptance. He loved them, and it showed in the way he treated them.

Like no one else has ever done, Yahushua truly lived his beliefs. And what it did was reveal what Yahuwah would be like if He were human: the same compassion, the same kindness, the same patience. All that was seen in the loving acceptance of Yahushua.

You want to win an atheist to Yahuwah? Then reveal His power to transform sinners in your own life. That’s the only way you’re going to reach them: if you can show them that you have something that they don’t. It’s not going to be by words; it’s not going to be by arguments. It’s going to be by revealing Yahuwah’s own pure love for them in how you treat them.

Miles: But …

Well, I guess I’m not used to thinking of “witnessing” in those terms.

Dave: That absolutely is witnessing. Yes, the great commission is to go into all the world, teaching and making converts. But we’re to do it like Yahushua did: through revealing Yahuwah’s loving compassion and infinite kindness. Love awakens love. Kindness draws hearts. Judgmentalism, criticism always repels. It’s that simple and that difficult.

Now I’m going to say something that might offend some of our listeners, so just hear me out. Listen to my reasoning on this. When it comes to witnessing, pagans just might have the right of it.

Miles: What?? Okay, you’re going to have to explain this. Devil-worshippers have the right way to witness??

Dave: “Pagan” is simply an umbrella term for everyone who is not a Muslim, Jew, or Christian. Any religious beliefs system that is not part of the Abrahamic religions falls under the term of “pagan.” That’s all. Not all of them are devil-worshippers. Many are worshipping Yah in the only way they know how. Remember, Yahuwah has made sure each religion has some truth so that the sincere of heart may be led to know Him.

Miles: So how do they witness? I have to confess, I’ve never heard of any other religions holding Bible studies. Well, I guess they wouldn’t call it that, would they? But some equivalent.

Dave: That’s because they don’t. They go about, living their lives by their beliefs. They wait for someone to ask, and then they share.

Miles: Isn’t that a little too, I don’t know … passive? I mean, we’re on WLC Radio. We’re out there sharing. We’re not sitting on our hands at home waiting for someone to come along and, say, ask us about Revelation 9 or whatever.

Dave: Yes, and Yahuwah is leading many souls into the truth through our broadcasts, and documentaries and articles. Sure, we’re His spokesmen. But He’s leading those who are ready to hear these messages. He’s doing the arranging to bring these messages to the attention of those who will be open to hearing them.

You try and force the truth on someone who isn’t ready to hear it, and you’ll have no more success than Paul did while trying to argue with the Athenians on Mars Hill.

Miles: Yeah, he never did that again, did he?

Dave: No.

We forget that Paul was a life-long Pharisee. He admitted it. He liked to argue and he was good at it. But he learned through that experience that arguing with people, using “logic” and “reasoning” doesn’t work if they’re not ready to listen.

All right. Let’s apply that to atheists. There’s nothing you can say that is going to convince them. That doesn’t mean you can’t still witness. But your witness will be your life: how you treat them and others. How you react under provocation. That’s a true witness and that’s what will convince atheists because it will reveal as nothing else that you have something they don’t.

Miles: Another thing I think we should remember is that many atheists have high morals and are very intellectually honest. They may have been raised in Christian homes that really misrepresented what Yahuwah was really like. In seeing only Satan’s lies about Yah, they couldn’t honestly say He was loving and just and good. And, when you think about the devil’s misrepresentations of Yahuwah, you have to agree with them. The lies Satan has told about the Father have really misrepresented Him.

Dave: So, in rejecting the Christian “God” they were taught in childhood, are they truly rejecting Yahuwah? Or Satan’s misrepresentation of Him?

Miles: Satan’s misrepresentation of Him.

Dave: Exactly. So, to Brianne and anyone else in that situation, the way you witness is the way Yahushua did. You don’t denounce. You don’t give unsolicited spiritual advice. You don’t witness at all verbally. That won’t work with an atheist.

Your witness is your life: showing Yahuwah’s loving kindness, His patience, His compassion, and His acceptance. Anything else will just push them away from you.

Miles: And isn’t that what we should always do? Reflect Yah’s image? Sure, we’re human. We’re fallen humans. We’ll make mistakes. But we can apologize when we do so and still reflect the divine image by how we choose to treat others with love.

Dave: That’s exactly right.

Miles: If you’ve got questions or comments, we’d like to hear from you, too. Just go to our website at WorldsLastChance.com and click on Contact Us.

Up next: Jane Lamb with today’s daily promise.

* * *Daily Promise:

Hello! This is Jane Lamb with your daily promise from Yah’s word.

Guilt is a strange thing. Sometimes people will think they feel guilty when what they’re actually feeling is grief. Other times, you might know intellectually you have nothing to feel guilty about, but emotionally you still do. That was my experience that I want to share with you today.

One warm summer afternoon when I was 12 years old, I was playing with my brother. In three days, we were scheduled to leave on a two-week-long holiday with my parents and grandparents and we were both excitedly looking forward to the trip. Suddenly, as we were playing, I had an accident: I fell off a ledge 14 feet high, or a bit over 4 meters, down to the ground. I was severely injured in the fall. I ended up needing two surgeries and had a week’s long stay in the hospital. Obviously, our trip was cancelled, which was very disappointing.

I had been home from hospital all of 48 hours and was still getting around in a wheelchair when my mother received a phone call. Her parents—the same grandparents who had been planning on traveling with us before my accident—had just been in a very serious car accident. My grandfather had several broken bones, but it was my grandmother that was injured the worst. She had very grave internal injuries and the doctors weren’t sure if she was going to make it.

My mother immediately booked a flight to go and stay with her parents until they were healed enough to be on their own. As illogical as it sounds, I felt sooo guilty for my grandparents’ accident. I reasoned that if I just hadn’t fallen, then we could have gone on our trip. And if we were away on our trip, they wouldn’t have been driving down the freeway at that precise time and gotten in an accident.

I know. Illogical. But emotions aren’t always logical. I never told anyone my feelings of guilt in the matter, but for years, any time I thought about their accident and the lasting impact their injuries had on their health, I felt guilty. It was awful.

Some 25 years later, my grandmother and I were working side by side in the kitchen when, somehow or other, the subject of that accident came up in the course of the conversation. I think it was some stray comment about the type of vehicle they’d been driving, or something like that. I confessed to my grandmother that I’d always felt guilty that they’d been in that accident. She was astonished! “Why ever would you feel guilty for that?” She demanded.

I explained that if I hadn’t fallen, we wouldn’t have needed to cancel our trip so they wouldn’t have even been there to get in that accident.

“Oh, pshh!” She scoffed. “That wasn’t your fault.”

Now, my grandmother wasn’t a warm-and-cuddly type of nan. There was no sympathy in her tone, just a very matter-of-fact statement: “That wasn’t your fault.” But it was exactly what I needed to hear and in just the tone I needed to hear it, too. The relief I felt! I can’t put it into words. I’d been silently suffering under a burden of guilt for two and a half decades and suddenly that burden was lifted. Grandmother didn’t blame me! It wasn’t my fault!

Even today, that memory can bring tears to my eyes. The relief from that burden of guilt was so great.

Isaiah 44 verses 22 and 23 tells us:

I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions,
And like a cloud, your sins.
Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”

Sing, O heavens, for Yahuwah has done it!
Shout, you lower parts of the earth;
Break forth into singing, you mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it!
For Yahuwah has redeemed Jacob,
And glorified Himself in Israel.

This promise is for you. If you’re feeling guilty for something you’ve done—or something you’ve failed to do—know that Yahuwah forgives you. You don’t have to stay away until you’ve groveled enough, you don’t have to avoid Him until you’ve somehow proven your remorse through … whatever. Come to Him, right now, just as you are. He loves you and will accept you … just as you are. Isaiah 43 verse 25 says: “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”

We have been given great and precious promises. Go and start claiming!

* * *Part 3: (Miles & Dave)

Miles: Today’s program may be a shock to some of our listeners. Eschatology—or the study of end time events—is a huge part of Christian faith and doctrine. There’s the “Left Behind” series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins giving a fictionalized account of what could happen after the secret rapture to believers who weren’t quite good enough to be whisked out of the world before the great tribulation. The book series was so popular, they were even adapted into five movies, an audio drama, and even a computer game!

Dave: Fear porn.

Miles: Wellll … I don’t know. That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?

Dave: Not really. The traditional view of last day events is scary. Whether you believe in a secret rapture of the righteous, or that the righteous will have to go through a great time of trouble – both scenarios are scary.

Miles: Okay, sure. But … not knowing when Christ is going to be returning is, in some ways, even scarier. How are you supposed to get ready when you don’t even know if Christ is going to return in your lifetime?

Dave: Are you equating being ready with being perfect?

Miles: Uhhh … maybe? I don’t know.

Dave: Well, if you are, let me set your mind at ease: you’re never going to be ready in the sense of being perfect. As we’ve covered in other programs, Romans 8 verse 7 is very clear on this point: “the carnal mind is enmity against [Yahuwah]; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”

So it’s not a lack of desire, but rather that beings with fallen natures cannot and will not ever be perfect. The good news is that Yahuwah doesn’t expect that of us.

But if your definition of being “ready” is to be in a state, even while being sinful, of welcoming the Savior when he returns and, in turn, being welcomed into Yahuwah’s kingdom, the answer to your question is found in a parable Yahushua gave during this same discourse. Matthew 24, as we’ve seen, focuses mainly on the destruction of Jerusalem. Only a few verses at the end cover the Savior’s return. Chapter 25 continues on this angle of Christ’s answer to the disciples’ question in chapter 24. And he teaches an important lesson in the parable of the 10 virgins.

Why don’t you turn there are read it for us? Matthew 25, verses 1 through 13.

Miles:

At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

At midnight the cry rang out: “Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!”

Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.”

“No,” they replied, “there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.”

But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

Later the others also came. “Lord, Lord,” they said, “open the door for us!”

But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.”

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Dave: We’re going to focus just on the wise virgins: the ones that were there to welcome the bridegroom and were then welcomed into the celebration.

Were … they … ready?

Miles: Well, yeah. They’d prepared ahead of time. They had extra oil.

Dave: But were they really ready? They fell asleep, too. When they were startled awake, their lamps were going out, too. They had to trim the wicks and add more oil to their lamps. So were they really ready?

Miles: Not really. They weren’t “perfect” at any rate.

So what are we to do? How are we to … I don’t know, obtain that extra oil that will let us, despite our imperfections, be welcomed into Yah’s kingdom?

Dave: Now you’re asking the right question. It’s beyond the ability of any of us to “be” ready in the sense of being sinless when Yahushua returns. Yahuwah knows this and doesn’t expect it of us.

It’s beyond the ability of any of us to be so prepared that we’re not taken by surprise. Yahushua makes it clear that even believers will be taken by surprise. That’s not necessarily a moral failing on their part, it’s simply an acknowledgement of the suddenness and unexpectedness of his return.

But what we can do is obtain the extra “oil” that lets us be accepted by the bridegroom at his return.

Miles: I’m hearing quotation markers around the word “oil.” It’s a symbol? What’s it stand for?

Dave: Yahuwah’s spirit. Throughout the Old Testament, Yahuwah’s spirit is symbolized as oil.

Now, the way we obtain that is hidden—by means of drawing a contrast—in this parable. Read verses 10 to 12 again. This is the foolish virgins trying to obtain oil at the last moment.

Miles:

But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

Later the others also came. “Lord, Lord,” they said, “open the door for us!”

But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.”

Dave: “I … don’t … know you.” I’ve heard it said that the original oil was supplied by the bridegroom for the attendants. I don’t know if that’s true, but if it is, it’s not just that they’d obtained oil from a counterfeit source. It was that the bridegroom didn’t—know—the foolish virgins. They were strangers to him.

Were the wise virgins “ready”? Not really. Christ says they “alllll” slumbered and slept. The wise virgins were also taken by surprise when the shout went out: “Here he is! Go out to meet him!” But they were prepared. They had extra oil.

And the way we get that oil is through our personal relationship with Yahuwah. That’s how you prepare for an event that may be tomorrow, or 100 years from now. You get to know Yahuwah for yourself, on a personal level. You spend time meditating on His word, you spend time in prayer. You build a personal relationship with Him.

Then, regardless of when Christ returns, you will be prepared to greet him, to receive the gift of an unfallen nature, and enter Yahuwah’s everlasting kingdom.

Miles: It’s a gift.

Dave: It is a gift. One that any of us can receive.

Miles: Thank you for joining us for today’s program called “Being Prepared For Christ’s Return.” If you’d like to share it with friends or loved ones, you can find it on our website at WorldsLastChance.com. Just click on the WLC Radio icon then select your language. Look for Program 270 called “Being Prepared For Christ’s Return.”

We hope you can join us again tomorrow, and until then, remember: Yahuwah loves you . . . and He is safe to trust!

* * *

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This program and past episodes of WLC Radio are available for downloading on our website. They're great for sharing with friends and for use in Bible studies! They're also an excellent resource for those worshipping Yahuwah alone at home. To listen to previously aired programs, visit our website at WorldsLastChance.com. Click on the WLC Radio icon displayed on our homepage. 

In his teachings and parables, the Savior gave no “signs of the times” to watch for. Instead, the thrust of his message was constant … vigilance. Join us again tomorrow for another truth-filled message as we explore various topics focused on the Savior's return and how to live in constant readiness to welcome him warmly when he comes.

WLC Radio: Teaching minds and preparing hearts for Christ's sudden return.