Inverted Thinking
I’ve been tossing this phrase around recently, so it’s time to give it some space all to itself. The concept is simple. If you were to think of something in terms of the world, many times God’s way to think about it is exactly the opposite. Let’s say that the world’s idea is about “me first”, which most of the time seems to be that way. God’s way is the exact opposite, Jesus taught selflessness. That’s pretty easy to pick up on, you’re probably in complete agreement. Where it gets rough is when you discover that Biblical thinking is actually inverted from the church around you teaches you in words and actions.
We need inverted thinking in these dark days, so I’m starting a list of things where we need to be opposite of what we would normally think.
A Secret Rapture
Blame the Pre-trib doctrine for this one. We read Jesus’ account of the End Times already filtered through Pre-trib. Jesus is very plain about when He will gather His elect, and He will do it in great power and glory:
“30: And then shall appear the
sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth
mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with
power and great glory.
31: And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and
they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of
heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:30-31 KJV
This is indeed the Second Coming, and He says that He will gather the elect right then and there! The concept goes like this: He gathers, they meet in the air, and then they can come back with Him in their new, changed bodies. Very simple, it works perfectly and there is no need for millions of people to suddenly disappear. The people of the Earth will get to see it happen. You’ll say it happens in the twinkling of an eye, but let’s look at what Corinthians really says:
“50: Now this I say, brethren,
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
51: Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
be changed.
53: For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must
put on immortality.” First Corinthians 15:50-53 KJV
If you read the verses before that you will discover that Paul is talking about different kinds of bodies, natural and spiritual. Then he suddenly says that we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. The change is quick; it does not say that going up will be instantaneous. We could go very slowly so that everyone can gawk, why not?
The only way for Pre-trib to work is for there to be two raptures, one at the beginning and one at the end so that Jesus can gather His elect a second time. Where did anyone in the Bible tell us there are two raptures? Invert your thinking; forget what the church tells you.
We’re All One
Hate to break it to you, but God isn’t into heresy. Each denomination is convinced that their doctrines are correct, which means that everyone who differs with them has to be wrong. Some are willing to call other people/groups heretics; others will try to make a pitch for oneness. Heresy is a big enough deal to God to be listed as a work of the flesh:
“19: Now the works of the flesh
are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness,
20: Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21: Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before,
as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21
KJV Emphasis added
Someone has to be right and someone has to be wrong. Being wrong and teaching wrong is no small matter. When you call someone a heretic you are essentially saying that they are on the way to Hell and taking people with them. It’s great as long as you yourself aren’t preaching heresy.
It’s Only Between You and God
“Confess
your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much.” James
The problem with confessing our faults is that the gossip which follows is rather painful! It’s easy to fall into a “safety first” trap and act all spiritual and religious, putting on a false front that hides what’s really going on. If operating correctly, the church should be a safe place where we can confess, pray for each other, and receive healing (and I don’t think it’s just physical).
We’re too caught up in looking good, keeping everything private. God of course does the forgiving, but the human aspect needs to be there too.
We’re All Sinners
No! Sinners go to Hell. Saints go to Heaven. Many times I see people say this, but if you have been washed in the Blood of Jesus you are a saint. If you transgress and don’t repent, however, that’s when it gets ugly.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 KJV
That is what we were, we were sinners and Christ died for us. But now we are different and need to be different:
“But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;” Ephesians 5:3 KJV
If you look up the word “saints” you will find it a lot. Now there is one glaring case in which it seems that a saint is called a sinner, and that is Paul, so let’s look at it:
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of
whom I am chief.” First Timothy
I looked up that word “am” to see what it means. Turns out it’s different than normal English, for the definition includes “have been” and “was”. You can look it up; it’s Strong’s #1510 in the Greek.
The Church and the
Tribulation
It is a true saying that the church drops out of the picture during Revelation after the seven letters. This is not, however, because the church gets raptured out of here. No, invert that and realize that the church is part of the problem, then notice how many times “saints” is used afterward. Your church won’t get you to heaven, only saints will get to heaven. Instead of being raptured, much of the church is going to Hell. No I don’t like it, but it is truth.
Redeeming
Part of the
Pre-trib theology is that through the Tribulation God will redeem His people
“And their dead bodies shall lie in the
street of the great city, which spiritually is called
This is
during the two prophets’ portion of Revelation; they’ll get their time to
prophesy and then be killed, coming back after three and a half days.
Earthly
“33: Nevertheless I must walk to
day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet
perish out of
34: O
The New Jerusalem is different, this is true, but when the focus turns back to the old one it will be for desolation, killing these two prophets, and spiritual darkness.
You need to
understand that any Jew who rejects Christ is going to Hell. They were provided the New Covenant just as
we were, and each individual must choose or reject Jesus. Jesus is not going to redeem people who have
rejected Him. He is going to redeem His
people the saints, Jew and Gentile.
Spiritually speaking you are of
“28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
29: And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs
according to the promise.” Galatians 3:28-29 KJV
They’ve turned it all around to fit their theology.
Hatred
No, I’m not
telling you to go hate people. But you
need to expect hatred from people close to you, people you thought you could
trust.
Part of the End Times is that we will be hated by all, and “all” includes mainstream church who will think that we’re whacko.
“16: And ye shall be betrayed
both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and
friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
17: And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.” Luke 21:16-17
KJV
It will be painful, let no one tell you otherwise. Get used to the idea now so that when it happens you’ll be prepared. The church has often made Christianity seem easy, but it’s not. Simple and easy aren’t always the same thing.
Slightly different but on the same vein; every ministry that is really preaching truth to people should be getting attacked and trashed by others in the church. Many times the strife comes from within, and truth is dangerous to those who love their sin. Hence attacks should be coming from the very people who you should be able to trust.
You Can’t Go to Hell
I hate Eternal Security with a passion. Even if it were true, the dark part of it (being never saved) would come back to bite many who were certain that they were saved, meaning that they would have done nothing but deceive themselves. But the person who was never saved is always someone else, unless someone lives in complete condemnation (which can happen).
“But I say unto you, That
whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the
judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca,
shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be
in danger of hell fire.” Matthew
But I suppose if you are “really saved” you can call someone a fool and not have any danger of Hell? Probably “fool” meant more to them than it does to us, but the principle remains that Jesus was telling people that their actions could put them in danger of Hell.
Not only can you go to Hell, it’s a guarantee if you accept the mark of the beast.
None Righteous
I’m sorry,
but using Romans
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the
10: Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the
Now consider that John tells us not to let any one deceive us:
“Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.” First John 3:7 KJV
Thus anyone who insists that there is none righteous is a deceiver. Whoops.
It is correct to say that you can’t be righteous without Jesus, however. Jesus is the essential ingredient.
Chasing Prophets
I’ve been guilty here. The fad – at least amongst those who are into the workings of the Holy Spirit – is to get people to prophesy over you, tell you your future, the huge ministry that God has for you, and on and on and on.
Some of you might notice that there aren’t a lot of personal prophecies that speak of being a servant, or helping someone else’s ministry. What happened to the servant mentality?
What happens if two different prophets tell you different things that are mutually exclusive? Been done in my life, I’m sure it’s happened to plenty of others.
We were warned about false prophets which means that we need to be careful of all who predict the future and make sure everything is on the up and up.
“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Matthew 24:24 KJV
For that matter we chase signs and wonders too, as if they’re going to prove to us that there really is a God. If you name Christ and you don’t know that by now, probably a sign or wonder isn’t going to help much. As a general rule, that stuff is a sign for unbelievers to show them that God is for real.
The other side of that is to just reject everything, which has its own deception. We are guaranteed two more real prophets because of Revelation 11, so to throw away all workings of the Spirit is just as bad.
God Will Judge the
World
This is true! But the inversion is to make it seem like God won’t judge (and purify) the church first, once again thanks to the Pre-trib lie (it’s amazing how it has skewed our thinking). Judgment starts at the house of God!
“For the time is come that judgment
must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end
be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” First Peter
This happened in Ezekiel, we have quite the glaring example of it:
“4: And the LORD said unto him,
Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a
mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the
abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
5: And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through
the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
6: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and
women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which
were before the house.” Ezekiel 9:4-6 KJV (Emphasis added)
The people who were spared were those who mourned because of the state of the nation, will you mourn?
God doesn’t change His methods; we are going to see one very judged church. Many will stand to the end and be purified. The rest… well it’s going to be ugly.
Come and Get
Blessings. Love. Salvation. Prosperity. Words from the Lord. All these are great, but certain words are almost like swearing in some places. Words like “serve” and “obey” are nasty, horrible things that we must avoid. Jesus called servants. Obedience is not an option.
“For, brethren, ye have been called
unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the
flesh, but by love serve one another.” Galatians
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
John
Everything has its part, but too much is left out of the things that aren’t so fun.
Think New Testament
This isn’t
wrong, but can result in missing a lot of the message of the Old
Testament. The general thought process
is to read the New Testament a few times, then perhaps tackle the Old, since
we’re New Testament believers. Again
it’s not wrong, but what if someone never gets there and doesn’t see just how
messed up
“13: Yet the LORD testified
against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers,
saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes,
according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to
you by my servants the prophets.
14: Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like
to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.”
Second Kings 17:13-14 KJV
There is
nothing wrong with grace; indeed we are under grace instead of the law. But there is much that can be learned about
what happens when the grace of God gets trampled on. We already have the devastating results from
Old Testament
The Accepted and
Popular Doctrine is Right
As a general rule you would think that the general consensus is going to have the most truth, it makes a lot of sense. If a lot of people read the Bible and come up with the same thing, you’d think it’s safe to put trust in it. The problem becomes if all of them read the Bible the same way and miss the balancing scriptures that tell the rest of the story.
And since we’re very near the end of the age, a passage becomes very prevalent for us:
“3: For the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap
to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4: And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be
turned unto fables.” Second Timothy
4:3-4 KJV
The accepted and popular doctrines are wrong. They are nice little lies from Satan so that men will wind up worshiping him through the Antichrist. Eternal Security and the Pre-trib rapture together will send millions to Hell who are not prepared for the darkness and deception to come.
It’s ironic
to be telling the church to do something that I know it will not do. It’s already set in stone that all this is
going to happen, and not many will change their ways. But you yourself can change your thinking;
you yourself can come through as a saint who stands to the end. If even one person heeds and understands,
it’s all worth it.