Evangelism Part 12: The Tribulation Series
Evangelism Part 12- The Tribulation- the message about humanity’s journey.
Tribulation-God’s purpose
Many early believers, especially writers of ancient times, made their doctrine based on what was already written. However, with a bit of manipulation of the word and changes, they claim it to be their own. Tribulation is allegorical writing which becomes popular due to its narrative expression about the character or behavior of the people, the place and time, and the events of life at its end. It’s either written in metaphor, literal, or symbolic; people are more concerned about surviving the hardship than trying to figure out how it was written. Many people are waiting for this event to come, which will be the answer to end their misery.
God is a Spirit, and Jesus is seated at His right hand. Therefore, Jesus is now a Spirit. Jesus said that God is a Spirit and Jesus is with God with a glorified body. This is revealed the truth that to be with the Father, we have to be a spiritual body which is a glorious body; therefore, to see Jesus, we should have a glorified body. From Spiritual to physical and back to the spiritual body, Jesus will not be in the flesh again. The flesh is related to sins, and human has a sinful nature. Human sins are called carnal sins from the Latin word caro or carnis, which means flesh.
Humans have everything since Adam allowed sin to enter the world. Humans have all kinds of fleshly desires, from sexual to a lavish lifestyle, vulnerability to all kinds of diseases, a never-ending acquisition of wealth and power, abusive behavior of the powerful against the powerless, deceitful acts, lying tongues, Worry, anxiety burden, distress, misfortune, and the whole nine yards. The most bothersome, if not shameful, is ignoring the commandments of love (Ten Commandments). Tribulation has been happening to humanity from Adam to the present, and humans still don’t get it. Humans don’t want to give up the desire of lust, and drawing near to God becomes a second choice.
Humans are weak to temptation; they are quick to believe a lying tongue, especially when it involves making easy money. If we do not allow the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, we won’t achieve good things to be the norm of living in peace and the outcome. The tribulation will not cease to exist in human lives as long as humans continue to embrace wickedness. The rewards of this tribulation are not limited to pains and sorrows that sometimes, if the situation is not bearable, people may wish to perish. If nothing good dwells in us like the presence of the Holy Spirit, all the desire to do what is right will stay in mind, and the ability to do it will be an act of thought. We need the Holy Spirit to help us carry out the good things in our minds and put them into action.
Humans are doomed if they will continue to disrespect the rule of God. So Paul advised us in Romans 8:13; it says: “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” We do not want to be separated from God. We want to live with God, which is also what God wants us to be with Him.
We have a choice to do good things but must be on guard because the wicked are deprived of sleep unless they destroy their victims.
If we want the tribulation to stop happening in our lives, we need to repent and be baptized in Spirit so that the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit will come sooner without delay. We need to come together in one Spirit with God. Without God, we are nothing; with God, we are above many things; with God, we have more than enough; and with God, we are the kingdom, a God-given domain to rule. The church is the body of Christ, the chosen ones destined to be the kingdom of God.
This is what we need to be aware of when we rule our kingdom:
2 Corinthians 12:6-7(NCV)—”But if I wanted to brag about myself, I would not be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I will not brag about myself. I do not want people to think more of me than what they see me do or hear me say.” “So that I would not become too proud of the wonderful things are shown to me, a painful physical problem was given to me. This problem was a messenger from Satan, sent to beat me and keep me from being too proud.”
1 Corinthians 6:18—”Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin someone commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”
1 John 2:16—”For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.”
Galatians 5:17—”For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”
Galatians 5:24—”And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
God is all in all.