Facing the Last Days - by Pastor Doug Riggs
by John Mark on 07/10/24
This
message was originally recorded January 17, 2016.
My
notes:
"This
is the generation Jesus Christ is going to return to." Though some may
say, "You've been saying that for decades..." “Where is the promise
of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it
was from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:4) The Lord has been very
patient. "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness,
but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come
to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) The technology required for a one-world
government led by the Antichrist is now in place. The time is short. "The
tragedy is that many in the church do not know this."
Once
again, Doug seeks to correct those who believe we as Christians have Hebrew
roots and should observe the Sabbath and other Jewish traditions. "The
church is an entity that is not rooted in time; it has no Hebrew roots. It's
rooted in eternity; it's rooted in Christ." It may be said of the Apostle
Paul, a "Hebrew of Hebrews", that he had Hebrew roots - but he
counted it as rubbish (dung KJV).
Doug
explains the seed war first introduced in Genesis 3:15 which carries on
throughout human history, the war between the seed of the woman, Christ -
including the corporate Christ, the church - and the seed of Satan, ultimately
culminating in the Antichrist. Since we have and are the seed of Christ,
"Wherever the seed of Messiah is, there will be oppression; there will be
darkness. And it's true today."
When
we look at Revelation 12, there are varying ideas of interpretation that need
to be adjusted so that we can better understand this passage. The "woman
clothed with the sun..." is a representative of Israel, not the church as
some teach. It seems this chapter, as much of Revelation, has many confused, so
it's nice to hear a bible teacher who actually knows what it says so we don't
have to say, "Well, this teacher says this, and that scholar says that.
You will need to decide what you think." Over the years that Doug taught
us the bible, we rarely heard his opinion on any of it. We heard its
interpretation and many applications.
"And
his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the
earth." Doug shines a lot of light on this that takes us back to Genesis
1:1 and 2. It didn't take God six days to create the heavens and the earth.
"He created the heavens and the earth in one word - and they all came into
existence." But after Genesis 1:1 and before Genesis 1:2, we can clearly
see the fall of Lucifer and the third of the angels that fell with him, and
God's judgment on earth. The planets clearly illustrate God's judgment when we
look at the scarred pock-marked moon and the planets visible to us. Genesis 1:2
begins to describe the restoration of the universe and planet Earth, leaving
the other unrestored planets as a witness to God's judgment. "He restored
the earth for man; it's the same earth, but it had to be restored for
man." Doug lets us know the "gap theory" is not a theory... it's
a fact.
In
this message, Doug expressed the battle he was going through to adequately
teach the complex interpretation of Revelation 12 as it speaks of 'a woman',
'child', 'a great red dragon', 'a son', and 'a male child'. The Greek tenses
are an important clue as to what our elder brother John is describing. As I try
to condense and summarize this, I come up with the following: 'a woman' as
being Israel; the 'child' is the seed of the woman, individually speaking of
Jesus the Messiah - and corporately, the seed is the church, the body of
Christ; the 'dragon' is Satan seeking to devour the Messiah (via Herod
murdering baby boys after Jesus was born), Israel (via Nazi Germany), as well
as the corporate Christ, the church (via SRA*); the birth of 'a son' is the
re-birth of the nation Israel in 1948; and the 'child' who is to be
"caught up to God and to His throne" is not speaking of the rapture,
but of the church upon the completion of the judgment seat of Christ being
snatched from the 2nd heavens up to the throne, completely and finally
displacing Satan, along with the principalities and powers who are cast from
the 2nd heavens to earth to carry out their agenda during the 2nd half of the
tribulation as the church in union with her head judges them; and 'the woman'
who flees into the wilderness is Israel at the midpoint of the tribulation as
they discover Antichrist is not the Messiah, as they escape to Petra where God
provides for their protection from the devastation occurring during the 2nd
half of the tribulation. This is the simplified version and hopefully goes along
with Doug's explanation. I apologize if I missed anything or skewed anything
not exactly following Doug's much more advanced and specific teaching.
*Doug
also makes the connection of 'the dragon' seeking to devour the seed of the
woman, the church, to that which has happened to the survivors he ministered to
so many years who's new birth identities were attacked, captured, and wrapped
in death by Satan. You'll find much of that explained on the website in many
messages, seminars, and counseling resources.
I
smiled as I heard Doug say in this message that it being the beginning of 2016,
"When we look on the landscape at the end of 2016, if we're still here,
we're not even going to recognize America... you wait and see." We all can
attest to this now mid-2024. This brings to mind what I began to think about
while listening to part of a recent message by Jamie Walden on the coming
judgment on America. It got me to thinking how so many teachers are warning
about it but ignoring the warning that judgment will come first on the
household of God (1 Peter 4:17). Since Jamie and others who do not have the
revelation of the mystery confuse what is Israel and its eschatology with the
church and what is coming to us, they mush together the idea the church will go
through the tribulation which will include the downfall of the US. Rather than
the church needing to repent of that which the Lord addresses in Revelation 2
and 3, they want America to repent and for the world to turn from its
wickedness. It's a complete avoidance of the real issues facing the church. The
sons of Issachar knew what Israel needed to do - but many of the modern
''watchmen" don't have a clue what the church needs to do. Who out there
is teaching on the 'day of visitation' (1 Peter 2:12) or the fiery ordeal that
is coming upon us for our testing (1 Peter 4:12)? This really accentuates to me
the warnings that Jesus will come upon the church like a thief in the night,
sudden and unexpected (1 Thessalonians 5:4-8; Revelation 2:16, 22-23; 3:3).
Another
thought: Jamie was talking about Revelation 18 and the likelihood New York will
one day be nuked ... and others warning of EMP nukes over America prior to the
day of the Lord... and some warning the Internet will soon be down, especially
not available to Christian ministries. I don't buy it at all. The Internet and
all the computers, devices, cell phones, etc. will be necessary for the
implementation of what the World Economic Forum is planning, including vax
mandates, digital global currency, tracking, etc. The Antichrist needs all that
in place for the mark of the beast to be a reality. So - forget about buying
those EMP shields. (Besides... if you get one for your car and everyone else's
car isn't driveable, just how long do you think you'll be able to keep it before
you're carjacked at gunpoint?)... I digress... (and hope you don't mind.) Doug
weighs in on this: "There will be no nuclear weapon strike America while
the church is here... PERIOD! Why? Because Jesus Christ is head over all things
to (the advantage of) 'the church which is His body, the fullness of Him who
fills all in all.'" (Ephesians 1:22-23)
Back
to the message in progress: Jesus, who was sinless, tells us that Satan had no
ground in Him ... no legal ground, authority, or access. "There will be a
church in the end where there'll be no place for the devil... The adversary
knows his tenure is up; it's done... When Christ in His church is fully
glorified at the end of that judgment seat of Christ process, the first
three-and-a-half years - right at that end, when Christ in His glory is seen in
the church in the heavens, and there's no more place found for them, the great
dragon is thrown down." "The glory of God in Christ in the church
completely displaces Satan and principalities in the heavens, and from that
moment on, that place is the domain of the church forever." This depicts
the 'new Jerusalem' kingdom through which the rule and reign of Christ in His
body is established.
So
how does this apply to us now? Is there a place for Satan in us now? Wherever
there's uncrucified flesh, there's a place; wherever there's dissociation,
there's a place; wherever there's willful sin, there's a place."
So if
Satan was cast down to the earth when he sinned, how is he now in the
heavenlies and will be once more cast down at the midpoint of the tribulation?
He "was exalted to the heavens when man sinned", whereby Adam, the
representative man relinquished the right to rule planet Earth to him. This
second time Satan is cast down to the earth, the next stop he will be bound for
1,000 years in the abyss at the end of the 7-year tribulation, and then, after
a short time, the lake of fire forever and ever.
What
is the revelation of Jesus Christ and its context in these last days? It is
related to the rise of the morning star (2 Peter 1:19); the exanastasis
(out-resurrection from among the dead) company (Philippians 3:11); the day of
visitation (1 Peter 2:12); the bride without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27);
and finally during the midpoint of the tribulation, that full, complete, and
final revelation of Christ in and through His glorified body snatched to God's
throne.
As
for these final days of the church age, "We're going to be in for it in
the days ahead. What's ahead for the church from right now before the rapture,
it will be the church's darkest hour in all of history. But what church will it
be dark for? Any church that's not Philadelphia."
Link
to audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/1-17-16+sunday+assembly.mp3
Discussion
followed where Doug further explains Jesus Christ as the seed of the woman, and
the seed war coming to its culmination during the final days of the church age.
He also mentions Ezekiel 38 & 39 that describes Russia invading Israel.
Since this describes Russia’s defeat, this invasion cannot happen before the
rapture (my take on this), as Russia, among other nations, will be used of God
to destroy the strength of America (i.e.: Revelation 18).
Link
to Discussion audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/1-17-16+discussion.mp3
Recommended:
The
Blessed Hope (also on the Video Page at https://www.dougriggs.org/Videos.html)
Maranatha!
John Mark
...hereby committing this unto the
providential care of the enthroned Head of the Church; whose Name is
blessed forevermore, Yeshua Mashiach - Jesus Christ!