Trials Tribulations and Nicolae Carpathia

If you don't know who Nic is you can find out HERE. Or if you'd rather not, Nicolae Jetty Carpathia is the Antichrist character from the fictional Left Behind books. Yes, I read them. No, I didn't enjoy all of them for a number of reasons. But there were bits I liked - sorry about that.

The thing that offends a lot of folk is the "false premise" that believers get raptured before Nic comes along and struts his devilish stuff. They say this leaves the unprepared in grave danger. This apparent concern has spawned a considerable cottage industry of blogs, books and videos warning people of the dangers of not preparing for the Antichrist.

The problem with all these materials is that they're invariably only focused on changing the intended audience's position on the rapture. I once interacted with a posttribber who claimed his criticism of pretrib was motivated by concern. So I pressed him as to how he was spiritually preparing for "Antichrist's Tribulation." He finally responded that he was living in Canada and Antichrist's influence will be restricted to the Middle East and Mediterranean area. In other words he didn't have an answer.

How was he spiritually preparing for the possibility of future persecution and martyrdom which may come to the West long before the Antichrist? The books, blogs and videos don't discuss this. These efforts are generally virtue-signaling exercises which assume one's eschatology is the key to preparation.

Without going into details this has been a particularly tough three years for my family. To be honest, I've struggled. Moreover, I know people who've been in worse situations. Google Christian News to get an over-all indication of what Christians around the world are currently going through. We all need to be prepared now, and eschatology has nothing to do with it. It is our daily relationship with Christ which counts. Anyone who tells you different is sadly mistaken. I discussed this topic in a recent article on Zeteo.

Rather than buying a book emphasizing some eschatological position, go read John Murray's "O Death, Where is Thy Sting?" See especially chapter 11 "The Cost of Discipleship." Another book one ought to read is John MacArthur's "Hard to Believe - The High Cost and Infinite Value of Following Jesus." Here's an excerpt:

When Jesus told His listeners to take up their crosses, it meant only one thing to them. It meant willingly facing the possibility of death for His sake...The disciples understood that to "take up the cross" meant a willingness to die any death. It meant abandoning self to the lordship of Christ. The love of Christ has to overrule both the powerful appeal of family love and the more powerful instinct of self-preservation. (p 135)