God clearly defined how the last days would play out, in the Bible. In fact, the book of Revelation provides the best overview of the transition from the age of grace into the seven-year Tribulation, which ends with the inauguration of the millennial kingdom. However, the primary focus of the book of Revelation is the Tribulation, during which all governments succumb to the one world: government, religion, and economy of the antichrist (Rev 13). This suggests that all nations will be in a state of decline at the end of the age of grace, an end which is clearly upon us. Therefore, trying to revive the United States is akin to warring against God’s plan. This means those who are procreating the great awakening have fallen for a grand deception that will leave them hopeless when the delusion crumbles.
This article will attempt to shed light upon the grand deception of the great awakening while simultaneously proving that believers are actually to be occupied with fulfilling the Lord’s will while looking for that blessed hope called the rapture.
Everywhere you turn, someone is proclaiming that a great awakening is taking place in America. Indeed, the call for revival is rising to a crescendo as the voices of many spiritual and political leaders converge into a plea for the impossible, the resurrection of a once great nation. Sadly, America, once the greatest beacon of hope to ever exist, is now fallen and writhing as a blind one in death throes. The brilliant light of this nation, which was founded upon Judeo-Christian principles, has been extinguished because of continued rejection of God.
Now, incredibly, even this call for revival is a sign of America’s departure from the true light provided by walking in the will of God. You see, the great awakening is not about following the biblical mandate of the Great Commission and reaching out to lost souls (Matt 28:19-20). Instead, it is about reviving a lost nation. This is not what God called the church to do. Throughout Scripture, the church is charged with being about His business of making disciples and told to ‘look up’ when the signs of the times became what they are now as the great falling away manifests. With this in mind, it is paramount to understand what is behind this grand deception known as the great awakening: the ‘Kingdom Now’ heresy.
Briefly, the ‘Kingdom Now’ adherents allege that new apostles and prophets have brought forth new revelation from God, which changes the end God so laboriously set forth in Scripture. They believe the kingdom of God will manifest in those who adhere to ‘kingdom now’ beliefs. Thus, doing away with the messy aftermath of the rapture and the subsequent Tribulation. There is just one major problem with their belief system; it is not biblical.
Here are the Scriptures that validate the viewpoint that the church purifies the world through a great awakening and establishes the kingdom now: Chirp…Chirp…Chirp…Crickets. That’s right; there are none. Therefore, this idea is completely man-made. This is one of the many ways false leaders have drawn men unto themselves. [1] They simply depart from the sound doctrines of Scripture (1 Tim 4:16; Titus 1:9), make up their own doctrines, and disperse their errant beliefs to the masses who, because they have itching ears, want to hear the message put forth (2 Tim 4:3). [2]
Proponents of the kingdom now theology believe that Jesus will not return until the earth is conquered by the ever-expanding ‘Kingdom of God’ built by men. In reality, consulting God’s Word on the kingdom depicts a ‘coming’ kingdom rather than a ‘now’ kingdom. Perhaps the best place to look for defining information on how the final kingdom actually comes about is from the aforementioned last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, which is a panoramic view of the last days.
Close study of the entire book of Revelation establishes the fact that the authentic church does not usher in the kingdom of God into the world by infiltrating its systems and rising to supremacy. Instead, this most magnificent book describes, in great detail, how the kingdom of the antichrist is built and used to destroy those who come to true belief in Christ during the Tribulation, and the Kingdom of Christ will not ‘come’ into existence until Jesus returns at the very end of the seven-year Tribulation (Rev 20:1-6).
Sadly, many who have been led astray are unknowingly building the faux kingdom of the antichrist, and they will even, without repentance, inadvertently worship the antichrist, believing he is the Christ they had so diligently built the kingdom for. [3] They will even fall for the mark of the beast, believing it is the seal of God. [4] Worse yet, they will also become so zealous that they are the very ones who pursue, persecute, and slay the Tribulation saints. [5]
Throughout history, many of the greatest persecutors have been those who are the most zealous adherents to errant religious belief systems. Fox’s Book of Martyrs provides great detail about these instances. [6] Unimaginably, the coming Tribulation will cause all former persecutions to pale in comparison, as it will be global in scale:
Revelation 13:15
“And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause all who do not worship the image of the beast to be killed (NASB).” emphasis mine
Contrary to kingdom now theology, the church is clearly absent from the earth during the Tribulation. In fact, this absence coincides with John being called up to heaven in Revelation 4:1, which many believe is indicative of the rapture. By way of proof, the next time the church is mentioned as the church is in the closing statements of the book in Revelation 22:16, when Jesus reiterates the fact that the entire message of the book of Revelation is to be testified to the churches. This means those who spread the false doctrine of the ‘kingdom now’ are doing so in direct opposition to God’s Word, which is very dangerous.
The specific dangers associated with changing the way God depicts the end are varied and should be emphasized. First, the book of Revelation contains a specific warning about how it is to be preserved and shared:
Revelation 22:18-19
“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
This warning is serious indeed. Think about it for a second; changing what the Lord said about how things are concluded, according to His plan, causes the plagues of this book to come upon the one who changes it. Do you realize what this is saying? It is saying the one who dares to change what God has said will not make the rapture and have to suffer the plagues of the Tribulation. Even more serious is the fact that those who alter what God has said will be removed from the book of life. Ironically, this means those who generate and share the kingdom now theology will, in their misguided attempt to establish God’s kingdom on earth, actually be excluded from it altogether.
The second danger, believing there is no rapture and that building a physical kingdom now is the only hope for mankind, causes misplaced focus, which will have a devastating impact on the eternal future of those who are deceived. Imagine for a second that you were deceived into believing that you had to work very hard at rising to the top of whatever field of endeavor you are involved in for the sake of building the kingdom now. Thus, you are steadily working on promoting the physical kingdom while disregarding the future kingdom altogether.
At the last hour, somehow, someway, you see the error of your ways and repent and make the rapture. At that moment, you realize that although you made it to heaven, you got there by the skin of your teeth with no heavenly rewards. This is true because you were busy building the earthly kingdom, which was never to come, instead of building the heavenly kingdom. After all, Jesus teaches that men should lay up treasures in heaven rather than on the earth where moth and rust corrupts (Matt 6:18-19). Sadly, you even missed out on the crown of righteousness which is given to those who long for His appearing (2 Tim 4:8).
One last danger should be discussed here. Believing one lie from false leaders makes the deceived susceptible to other lies. Typically, those who are unsound about one area of the Bible are, because of their misconceptions, wrong about other areas. This often results in the remainder of the Bible having to be modified in order to justify the errant doctrine. This generally leads to increasingly worse deviation, which can cause the deceived to rely even more heavily on the deceiver to sort out all of the problems created by getting off track in the first place. The end result is that deception grows as the blind lead the blind further away from sound doctrine.
The simplest way to avoid all of these dangers is to rely solely on Scripture as the standard of truth. After all, Scripture says, “Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Rom 3:4). Therefore, the best way to assure correct understanding of what God has relayed to man is to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15).
This often-quoted Scripture is paramount because it indicates that every individual has a responsibility to validate each thought and belief by examining it through the light of God’s Word. This type of examination is what caused the Bereans to be included in the pages of the Bible. They simply verified everything said by everyone, even the Apostle Paul (Acts 17:11). This type of exploration of Scripture, regarding the last days, will lead the student to realize the falsehood of the kingdom now doctrine while simultaneously validating the doctrine of the pre-tribulational rapture, which will take place when the church is in the midst of decline rather than revival, a process that is already underway. [7]
This is not to say that the remnant church is in spiritual decline. Instead, the point is that the remnant church will be in decline in terms of numbers, as many will fall away because they love this world more than the next (2 Thess 2:3; 2 Tim 4:10). Ironically, the false church that propagates the kingdom now doctrine will absorb those who fall away and continue to grow right past the rapture, and they will even achieve their goal of becoming dominant in this world. [8] Unfortunately, they will, without repentance, end up part of the apostate church of Babylon.
Before concluding, it is very important to note that it is not improper to desire revival, which undoubtedly provides growth of the kingdom of God on earth. However, it is crucial to understand exactly what the kingdom of God is right now. Jesus made it very clear that His kingdom is not of this earth, and it will not come to earth until the full force of God’s wrath has reshaped everything we now know as earth during the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments of the Tribulation. With this in mind, what is the kingdom of God right now? Simply put, God’s kingdom exists in the hearts of those who have chosen to make Him King (Luke 17:21). Therefore, the kingdom of God is not a physical, religious or political kingdom. Instead, it is a spiritual kingdom that may only be built and or expanded spiritually.
One special note should be added here. Throughout history, the times of greatest revival have not caused people to rise up and take back their countries. On the contrary, those who have witnessed these great moments always affirm the fact that these times of refreshing are marked by bended knees and yielded hearts which, in turn, leads to the salvation of many in fulfillment of the Great Commission. This is how the ‘spiritual’ kingdom of God grows.
This reflection upon true revival provides further proof that the kingdom now doctrine is false because the doctrine runs contrary to historical revival and the revealed will of God held in Scripture. The good news is that when one forsakes their own will to follow the will of God, He will always lead them to His revealed will in Scripture. In the case of the kingdom, He set forth a specific way for things to play out at the end of time, and that is exactly how things will happen.
By the way, who is it exactly that has always tried to change God’s plan? That would be the great deceiver himself, the god of this world, Satan, who will empower the antichrist during the Tribulation. Dare I forget to mention that God has a plan for Satan as well. He will end up in the ever-burning lake of fire along with all who serve and/or worship him (Rev 20:10-15).
Conclusion
The ‘Grand Deception of the Great Awakening’ is growing in strength and scope. Incredibly, this is further affirmation that God is God as He foretold this nearly two thousand years ago in the Bible. Indeed, the Lord told us that many would depart from teaching sound doctrine while, simultaneously, many would flock to these false teachers because they want to hear the lies they tickle their ears with (2 Pet 2:1-2; 2 Tim 4:3).
The best antidote for this grand deception is a healthy dose of the truth of Scripture which indicates that the remnant church will remain steadfast and continue to fulfill the great commission while simultaneously looking up until raptured. When this light of God’s Word is applied to the errant beliefs of the kingdom now doctrine, the doctrine crumbles because it has no biblical foundation.
Be a Berean and search this out. God has already provided all the answers you seek.
Isaiah 46:10
“I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish'” (BSB).
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