Imminent Return?

By Dan Baxley 

Have you ever heard of the "Imminent Return'?" Most likely you and every believer that takes their belief serious has heard about the "Imminent" return of the Messiah.  But, for those of you that have not let me enlighten you: Imminent Return is the doctrine of our Lord, the Savior of the bible, will return at any "Moment" - at anytime, right now this minute.  This is not taught as a "possibility" but as a fact.  It is so popular among the "dispensationalist" it has essentially become a Major doctrinal issue.  As such, it is false, pure and simple deception -- a deception hooked to the Rapture Doctrine.  Some may admit it is only speculation and making a "speculation" is one thing but turning that speculation into fact is just what Satan specializes in.  Be on your guard, testing every spirit by the words you can trust in, the Scriptures a recording of our Savior's opinions.  Truly, the Bible is the only thing we have, outside of the Holy Spirit, making known to us what our Creator and Savior think about things.  Our judgments should be His judgments by the fact we use Their Word to measure by, to make proper judgments.  We test any and all, men or angel, or demon, or woman by those words contained in Scripture.  The doctrine of the Imminent Return is so flawed but is powerful in deceiving those eager to listen to others tell them what the bible says as opposed to reading and studying it for themselves. 

This deception is something everyone seeking the truth should look into.  It is my position that the Evangelical Christian works of today are preparing the way for the False Christ and for the Scoffers to come. 

2 Peter 3:3-4  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

My friends, I have heard many a teacher, preacher, self-proclaimed prophets quote this verse in reference to an end-time condition of the world, but I tell you, this verse is not speaking of worldly men but of "spiritual" men.  The "scoffers" are those that professed 'belief" in the Word (the Bible, in this case) of the Living God.  The deception they have bought into is the deception of the "imminent return", the return of our Master, our Savior, at any moment.  When He does not appear at their prescribed time they cry, moan and complain, not the teachers only but those that have accepted this deceiving doctrine.  Tripped up in their own evil hearts, their own desire to be saved in the flesh they have accepted a doctrine of false hope.  The teachers if this deception are fooled by their own deception -- they believe what they teach -- this makes for the perfect deceiver.

You see, the non-believers of the world, the atheist, the whore-monger, liar, cheat, thief, murder, and average person of various faiths outside of the Holy Bible, could care less about any proclamation of an invisible "second coming".  They, those not concerned with religion, should not be seen as the scoffers.  No, it would have to be those living under the false impression of such an event and when they find themselves in the middle of the "Tribulation" (The time of Trouble) they, those deceived and being deceived will then become the "scoffers". I prefer the term "complainers", but "The Complete Word Study Dictionary" will shed some more light:

Strong's #1703 (from #1702) to deride, mock.  A mocker, scoffer, spoken of impostors, false prophets.

This is a word, scoffers, based on #1702 and this word, from which #1703 is derived would have been a much better choice if it were to only mean, "mock", or "to mock".   This use of #1702 is only found in 2 Peter and thus suggests the "scoffers" or "mockers" are associated with "impostors" or, "false teachers".

And what is it they are mocking, or scoffing about?  "Where is the promise of His coming?"

Our God be true and every man a liar

YaHshua, our Savior will not return until the Words given Him by our Heavenly Father come to pass.  His return is not "imminent" it is for "sure" and will happen according to our Father's will, his plan -- by His time-table and not before.  It cannot be an "imminent return" (at any moment), and will not be an "imminent return" until all of the words, leading up to His return, are complete.  This is where true faith enters -- you BELIEVE the Word of our Lord YaHshua.  If He says an event is going to take place before He returns then that event will take place.  That is a fact and to believe anything other than that is to live in a cloud of deception.  The Word proclaims events to occur prior to (before) He returns.  There is no secret coming --   

Revelation 6:12-16  And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:  KJV

Have you lived through this yet?  Have you seen this yet?  This is the beginning of the Lamb's warning, the "Wrath of the Lamb" that hardly anyone speaks, or teaches about.

Revelation 8:6-10  And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
  The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
  And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
  And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; KJV

This isn't even the half of it.  My dear friends, most of the Book of Revelation has not happened yet.  The Messiah will not come until these and many other things happen and not before.  His return is absolute and is to happen in the future but not an "any moment".  To teach such a thing to young believers in the Messiah is to call our Yahshua's Words into question, to even suggest the words are wrong.  Let Him be true and everyone else a liar.  Until this Earth is shaken to its very core, until an asteroid the size of a mountain slams into one of the seas, until a comet poisons the fresh waters of this Earth -- until these things happen our Lord and Savior, YaHshua will not come.  The 6th Seal of Revelation is warning, the setting up, if you will, of the coming "Wrath of the Lamb", and it begins with the "Great Earth Quake" a World wide event.  Has this happened yet?  No!  while some try to "spiritualize" these events away the fact remains it is only when the scriptures themselves reveal a different meaning are to to take a prophetic statement and make it something els -- we do not see that here.  The vision is given and no further explanation is given.  John has other vision throughout the book of Revelation that are given another explanation by the "Messenger", but in this case the only explanation is a factual one -- these events are going to physically happen and this blows a giant hole in the "imminent return" doctrine and the Rapture doctrine.

So, what are we to say then?  Shall we throw our arms up and quit the study of the word?  Shall we then resume our evil lives as before?  No imminent return, no rapture, then why go on studying the word?  Don't be foolish, this should change nothing in your faith, sadly, however, it will for many and for those clinging to this false hope the disappointment may be too much for the little faith they do have.

You see the World has an image of mankind being immortal.  When men grow old and see the truth of their end, to dust, and the concept of immortality in the flesh suddenly evaporates, it is nearly too late.  When did mankind begin to teach itself we humans can solve all the World's problems mankind will go on forever, and this somehow makes us immortal?  I'm not saying that is what the World says but that is the way the World acts.  If we could picture our degeneration back into dust -- from birth -- perhaps we would start life out differently but our ego will not let us do this.  The problem with this human flaw is that we need it to survive, to at least make us accept some sort of moral life on the chance we do go on to eternity.  If this feeling of immortality were not part of our make-up a feeling of uselessness might overwhelm the human population into a kind of mass suicide, a degrading into a society not unlike the societies described concerning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  It is all pat of our survival mechanism and is not due to faulty wiring.  Even the atheist does not fully see the uselessness of his being and he, or she, should.  The atheist claims no belief in a god or a life after this, so why do they continue?  Are you beginning to see, the feeling of immortality is built in, for our own good and from here we are then given a certain amount of information directing us toward the Salvation of the World.  This information, however, is not for everyone, nor will it be received by everyone. Satan and his bunch are only too happy to help perpetrate the lie of immortality outside of our Savior, playing on this inner feeling of immortality -- after all, who need a savior?  "Surely you shall not die?", He says.  It is a crafty deception, a lie put in the form of a question and from this point the individual's  own desire takes over.  Certainly we have all heard of the Near Death Experiences with people coming back telling us of the wonderful life waiting for us on the other side.  Some even see Jesus and even some have talked to him.  Have not heard of anyone that has talked to YaHshua yet, but most of these experiences do not involve the need for a Savior, or a salvation through Yahshua as the scripture teaches, but rather, life after death no matter and no need for religion, no need, really for a god and certainly no need for a Savior -- satan's original lie carries on and on in a modern day form -- "you will not die".

 We need a change of heart and it is our Father's pleasure to give us that needed change and begin the growth toward spiritual maturity in the knowledge of our Father and of our Savior, YaHshua.  There is salvation into eternal life by no other than Yahshua, son of the Living God of Heaven.  He has defeated death for us.  There is no eternal life for those rejecting the Savior, and the ultimate time of acceptance or rejection will come at the final judgment.  What about all of those NDE?  Certainly, no one that has truly died come back to tell us. Three days dead is a good test, not a few minutes or even an hour, but three days, now that would be a test.  Certainly modern medicine can keep the body alive and on some rare occasions someone declared brain dead has revived.  None of those having come back, under those conditions, have spoken of being in a heavenly place of happiness and well being.  In virtually every case all they remember is the last thing before, or a few hours before they were put into the vegetative state.

There is no eternal life after this life, not out side of YaHshua, none.  There is not other religion, concept or belief that can promise eternal life except for YaHshua.  There is no other name under heaven by which wee must be saved, Acts 4:12  

(False Hope -- The Escape Doctrine)

email:  servant@yahshuaservant.com