Matters of Consequence

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter… (Proverbs 25:2). This is a work on preparing Christians, the Body of Christ, for what may lay ahead for us. Numerous passages in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible indicate a particularly severe period of human history before the return of Jesus Christ, our Lord. In fact, Jesus Himself declared, “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved” (Matthew 24:21-22). For anyone, then, living in the days preceding Christ’s return, the Endtimes, thought, if not action, should be made towards preparing for such an event. This leads us to the most basic issue of preparation. There is a standard axiom in emergency preparation and management: “Hope for the best, but, prepare for the worst.” Indeed, the scriptural counterpart of the second half of the axiom is found in Proverbs 22:3, “The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, but the naïve go on, and are punished for it” (see also Proverbs 27:12). In 2008, as a direct result of my Masters capstone project and resulting thesis, I was led to create the Bible-based Emergency Preparation Ministry to prepare Christians for the Endtime events depicted in Scripture. Though it was greeted with some open-mindedness, for the most part, it was heralded as unnecessary. The arguments to support the, often open and hostile, rejection consistently stemmed from three deeply held beliefs. Though I would patiently try to persuade, these beliefs were so entrenched that no amount of evidence could convince. The mistake in my rebuttal, I came to realize, was that I was trying to dissuade the listener from their long-held beliefs (a near impossible task) as a prerequisite to getting them to see their need for preparation. The truth, I have come to see, is that their beliefs don’t need to be changed; the person just needs to see the possibility of the worst-case scenario, which places them in dire jeopardy, should their current belief be proved wrong by future events. This writing, then, is not an apologetic. Its intent is not to change one’s mind from one set of beliefs to another. Its intent is to clearly set a worst-case scenario before the reader, and demonstrate the need to prepare for that worst-case, all the while current beliefs being maintained. It is hoped taking this approach should prove less antagonistic. The key for the reader is the opening quote from Proverbs: “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.” Humility dictates that none of us “know it all.” God has withheld information from us (see Revelation 10:4 as an example). This information is not the basics of the Gospel, which must be understood for justification; they are other issues for which the Church has “debated” (often vehemently) amongst herself during this, the Church Age. Once one acknowledges that these issues may actually be being seen “through a glass darkly,” the possibility of seeing other outcomes becomes less intrusive. From there, preparation becomes a viable alternative. That is my hope. In order to keep a focused approach, though there are probably many objections to the need for preparation that can be made, I have found there are three consistent ones. They are held so tight-fisted by their advocates that it has proved near impossible to discuss without causing a rift. Yet, these three, if their adherents are found to be wrong, place them in the gravest of danger. That is because they are unaware that their tightly-held beliefs have placed themselves in the worst worst-case scenario. As an act of Christian love, in fulfillment of the New Commandment (John 13:34), this writing has been undertaken. Finally, it should be noted that although I have a 3-year Advanced Bible Study Certification from a well-known conservative Christian University, a program I sometimes refer to as, borrowing from cola advertisements, “seminary lite,” as well a Masters from another conservative Christian University, my background is not theological. I have spent over 28 years in Federal law enforcement, 21 of them as a criminal investigator, attaining the position of senior special agent. My approach, then, to much of what is to be presented here is from that investigative training and experience. Yes, the issues are theological, but the approach to them is not that of a seminarian. For that I make no apologies. My hope is that this method is seen as “refreshing,” not intrusive. More, that it will help individuals see past “theology” to the very practical need for preparation. My very firm belief is that when Jesus said, “Behold I have told you in advance” (Matthew 24:24), He did so for a reason… that we prepare for the events He was describing. So let it be. Allen Richard “Rick” Young