General Articles

Special in Christ :: By Candy Austin

Published on: by RR7

1 Peter 2:9 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

In Christ we are special. There is no good thing in and of ourselves. Our only virtue is having Christ in us and in having the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit, Mind, and Nature working in and through us. We were created in Christ Jesus for good works, and there is now no more condemnation for those who are in Him. Those of us who receive Jesus and believe in His Name are given the right to become the children of God. Whoever abides in Jesus and He in us, can bear much fruit, for apart from Him we can do nothing.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Our relationship with Christ is very much like a Marriage Union. It is a merging of two becoming one, a type of intimacy concerning Spiritual Unity, one that causes us to leave the old life to now cleave spiritually to our new life in Him. This is why we are called the Bride of Christ, for He is the Head and we are the Body, we are in submission to Him and His Headship over us, the Church. Jesus makes us New, Beloved, Highly Favored, and Special in the eyes of God the Father. Without Him we are nothing.

1 Corinthians 6:17 “But he that is joined unto the LORD is one spirit.”

Those who have been growing in their relationship with Christ, alongside abiding in a God-honoring marriage for any considerable length of time, can begin to understand this concept of being in the Bride of Christ. It is a ‘special union’ beyond any earthly relationship and one that is not ‘fully understood’ until we can see Him face to face. For now, we have His Word to convey this to us through parallels such as the relationship between a husband and a wife or a parent and a child.

Basically, God wants us to be in His Family, so He describes His relationship to us in ‘familial terms.’ The fact that the Creator of the Universe wants to have us in His Family is so ‘special and monumental’ that it is beyond comprehension! Seeing how the family unit is ‘fiercely attacked’ by Satan in these Last Days, and the ensuing reality of the love of many growing cold in countless families everywhere, should alert us to the fact that our time here is running out!

Ephesians 2:19 “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.”

My husband and I started dating in 1991, and we got married a year and a half later. Throughout these past 29 years of being together, we have not been apart for more than a day, up until recent years. Since my husband’s job change in the past 5 years, he has had to travel for work. We have had to learn to be apart for days and sometimes weeks at a time. During our absences from one another, a fondness and an appreciation grows. It is during these times that I ‘reflect and ruminate’ on how ‘really special’ my husband Doug is to me.

Abba Father knew that we needed each other in these Last Days, seeing how our children have largely forsaken us along with most of our family members. So, to have the friendship and companionship that we have now has become very precious to us. Greater still is the spiritual union and companionship we have in Jesus which is ‘beyond priceless,’ especially when one has been forsaken by so many!

Ephesians 5:23 “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body.”

Definition of Special: better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual; exceptionally good or precious; belonging specifically to a particular person or place.

All people should be special, especially loved ones and family. Spouses should be ‘particularly special,’ but with divorce rates at 2,400 a week in the U.S. and rising each year, apparently these days they are not. Parents should be honored as it says in the Bible, but with rebellion running rampant with young adults ‘going rogue’ in these Last Days, it is not surprising that the ‘norm’ for these apostate individuals is to go ‘no contact’ even for no real reason!

Nothing is ‘Sacred or Special’ anymore; we are in the age of satanic mantras of the ‘Do as thou wilt,’ ‘Do whatever you want,’ ‘Do what is right in your own eyes,’ ‘You are your own god,’ ‘Bad is good and good is bad’ type of generation now. Just look at our culture, flip on the television, listen to the secular news or radio, and it won’t be long before you will see that the sanctity of Marriage, Child-rearing, and Family has been eroded beyond God’s originally ordained biblical recognition!

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

Even with all of the darkness closing in, thankfully those that are in Christ Jesus have a special place in God’s amazing household who are currently awaiting our arrival in Heaven!

Here is a timely quote from the late Pastor Adrian Rogers: “We’re living in strange days, are we not? When I see what’s happening to this world, if I didn’t know the Lord Jesus Christ, I’m not sure what I would do. Yet, knowing the Bible and Bible prophecy, when I see all these things coming to pass, they do not shake me. Sometimes they grieve me, sometimes they sadden me, but they do not shake me. That’s because I know God’s Word. I know they’re a fulfillment of prophecy. I can say with all the saints, ‘Praise God, it’s getting gloriously dark.’”

It is definitely growing Gloriously Dark!

Recently, tears were shed for the loss of another great pastor, Ravi Zacharias, who went home to be with our Lord. He and Adrian Rogers are brothers in Christ that I cannot wait to meet! Not to mention so many of those whom we have read about in the scriptures!

These are our brothers and sisters in Christ who are our ‘Great Cloud of Witnesses’ cheering us on to the finish line, seeing how we are so near the end of our race! I cannot wait to take my ‘special place’ in Abba Father God’s house and to sit at His banquet table! Most of all, I cannot wait to see my Jesus face to face and to hug Him and know that I am finally HOME! Come quickly Lord Jesus!

Hebrews 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

Revelation 22:20 “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, LORD Jesus.”

Until next time… Maranatha!

(JESUS = THE WAY, THE TRUTH, & THE LIFE)

The Thunder Heard ‘Round The World :: By Daniel Payne

Published on: by RR7

A recent article posted by a brother here on R.R. got me thinking: what exactly will the rest of the world hear the moment that the true remnant church is snatched from the face of the earth?

The Rapture will, of course, involve the entire surface of the planet. The Rapture will likely be a physical, as well as a spiritual event. God’s Word says that, at the Rapture, believers will be given their physical bodies, equipped for life in eternity with the Lord:

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality” (Corinthians 15:52-53).

From living believers positioned at various locations above ground, and the earthly bodies of those returning with Jesus buried at various locations underground and underwater, it’s possible a type of nuclear fission/fusion will shake nearly every molecule in every location on earth.

According to the Duke Energy Nuclear Information Center, fission is the splitting of a heavy, unstable nucleus into two lighter nuclei, and fusion is the process where two light nuclei combine together, releasing vast amounts of energy.

Not only will a widespread physical event take place at the Rapture, but the voice of the Lord will also ring out.

Incidentally, the trumpet that will sound at the Rapture will be the last trumpet blown for the true remnant church. More trumpet blasts will be heard by the rest of the world in the days following the Rapture.

Along with the sound of a trumpet at the Rapture, there will also be the sound of the Lord’s voice. Speaking of the Lord’s voice, this is what those who were with Jesus heard when the Father spoke to Him from heaven:

“‘Father, glorify Your name.’ Then a voice came out of heaven: ‘I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.’ So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, ‘An angel has spoken to Him’” (John 12:28-29).

Some people in the crowd understood that a voice spoke from heaven, yet others who were there only heard thunder. A similar situation occurred when the Lord spoke from heaven to Paul, prior to his conversion:

“And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.’ The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one” (Acts 9:5-7).

Some of those with Saul understood that they heard a voice from heaven, yet apparently there were others present who did not understand:

“And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me” (Acts 22:8-9).

Could it be that those who were with Paul when the Lord spoke to him from heaven, and did not understand His voice, also heard thunder like those without understanding who were with Jesus? Maybe.

According to various examples in the Word of God, the voice of God resembles the sound of thunder. The voice of an angel can also sound like thunder. Even when what the Lord speaks is understood, those who hear His voice still describe it as sounding like thunder:

Job 37:4-5a, “After it a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, And He does not restrain them when His voice is heard. God thunders marvelously with His voice.”

Psalm 18:13, “The LORD thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice, Hailstones and coals of fire.”

Ezekiel 3:12-13, “Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a great thunderous voice: ‘Blessed is the glory of the LORD from His place!’ I also heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, and a great thunderous noise.”

Revelation 6:1, “Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, ‘Come and see.’”

Job 40:9, “Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?”

Psalm 77:18, “The voice of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; The lightnings lit up the world; The earth trembled and shook.”

Psalm 104:7, “At Your rebuke they fled; At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.”

Revelation 14:2, “And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps.”

Revelation 19:6, “And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!’”

Since obviously no one who is left behind will have the discernment of the Holy Spirit to allow understanding of the Lord’s shout from heaven, it stands to reason that the only sound they will hear is thunder.

The Rapture will very likely be a thunderous noise the likes of which the world’s ears have never heard. If a sonic boom is loud, the hypersonic boom of Jesus arriving from heaven will be much louder.

Another interesting point as recorded in Acts, is that when the Lord Jesus spoke to Paul from heaven, a very bright light flashed all around Paul, like lightning.

“But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me” (Acts 22:6).

One can only imagine the combination of the nuclear physics of the event of the Rapture along with the thunder of God’s voice, hypersonic booms, and a very bright flash of light. Planet Earth will indeed be shaken!

Amen! Even so, come, Lord Jesus.