Liberating The Terminal Generation

By Ray Cleghorn

You may already know the tremendous impact the first-century events of Jesus' birth through His Resurrection and Ascension have on our lives today. 

But did you know that a set of events he prophesied, which occurred 40 years later, also have a great impact on us today in the 21st century? 

A lack of understanding of these fulfilled prophecies that both Jesus and John foretold, will not only affect our attitude about life now but can determine how we view and prepare for our future. These prophecies by Jesus, their fulfillment and their effect on us in our day are all detailed in, "Liberating The Terminal Generation" 

I wrote this book for those whom the doomsayers have erroneously labeled the "Terminal Generation." You are not the terminal generation, you have a future and a hope. God placed you on this earth for a reason and that reason is not to waste your time here anticipating the end of the world. This book gives us clear insight into Paul the Apostle's explanation of exactly when the end of the world and its systems do actually occur. (The answer may surprise you.) 

It encourages the Church to be done with a Chicken Little mentality and get on with the process of living productive Christian lives. 

The Bible does not speak of gloom and doom for Christians but a victorious future. Blood moons are not an indication that the end is upon us and the sky is not falling. According to biblical truths plainly stated in the Word, we will not be checking out any time soon so let's make the best of it. 

This book may challenge your "end time" theories a bit, but it will also make you more aware of the absolute accuracy of biblical prophecy. You are about to gain a much clearer view of the Bible as a whole and of Jesus' Olivet prophesies in particular. You will better understand the intended purpose of the Book of Revelations and why it is so difficult for us to understand. You will no longer need to speculate about who the Antichrist may be or when the tribulation period will begin. Instead, you will be able to look forward to the future with the joy and anticipation that all Born Again Christians should enjoy. So grab your Bible, open your heart and your mind and hang on.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ray Cleghorn
• Release date: Mar 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9781386617402

Ray Cleghorn

Ray has served in some ministry capacity for over fifty years including pastoring four churches. He encourages people to read scripture and seek to understand their message for themselves rather than simply accept what someone told them. He invites you to question the eschatological position of this book along with its theological counterparts using the information in this book to compare scripture to see for your self what you believe to be the truth.

Book preview

Authors Preface

Everyone realizes that since we have only one life to live on this earth, we should make the most of it and enjoy it to the fullest. Jesus made that possible and even said that he gave us abundant life so that we could enjoy it while fulfilling our God-given destiny. Yet many Christians live in fear, dreading the events we have understood were prophesied to occur just before his return.

Modern Christians have badly misunderstood these prophecies and let that misunderstanding kill our joy and stall the advancement of his kingdom on earth.

The revelation you will discover in this book will help you to regain that joy that Jesus provided and free you to become the child of God that Jesus decreed you could be. When you begin to grasp the truth of what Jesus prophesied, you will begin to live a life free from fear and enjoy more fully, the abundant Christian life he gave us. You will truly be liberated from the unscriptural terminal generation mentality that so pervades modern religious thinking.

Liberating The Terminal Generation was written to help simplify a matter that should not actually be difficult, but often becomes very complicated because of the many winds of doctrine that have blown through the modern Church.

It is designed specifically for those who have a desire to know the truth about the end time, regardless of their knowledge or lack of knowledge of theological concepts and eschatology.

I want this book to help the everyday Christian in the pew to be able to understand the significance of the events that Jesus prophesied so accurately in the first century and how they affect our lives in this present day. It is vitally important that we realize that what we believe about these prophesies affects the way we view our future and live our lives today.

As you read this book, and as you begin to see Scripture from the perspective of a first century Christian, my desire is that you gain a clear perception of the truth of the end of the age as the Bible portrays it.

Psalms 119:144b

Give me understanding, and I shall live.

Proverbs 3: 13

Happy is the man who finds wisdom,

And the man who gains understanding;

As the Lord gives us wisdom to gain clear understanding of His Word, and we choose to be set free from Christian Fiction we are like horses turned loose from the confines of the corral, we are like birds out of a cage. When we are liberated from the burden of unscriptural baggage, then we are free to run the race we were chosen to run. When this becomes the choice of the majority of the Church, the bride will reach her full potential and the Kingdom will come forth on earth in its fullness.

2Tim 2:7

Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.         

Chapter 1 Part I Considering Our Future

What Does the Future Hold for You?

What do you believe is in your future? Our belief, our outlook about our future determines how we live in the present. If we believe the future is bright, we will live productive lives; if we are convinced it is not, we will lead lethargic lives.

In view of that, what do you believe is in you future? Do you believe you are a part of the Terminal Generation? Do you believe you are among the very last people to walk the earth? Do you believe tribulation and chaos are just around the corner for you and your generation?

If you do consider yourself to be living in the last days of the very last age in time, if you believe you are a card carrying member of the last generation to walk on the earth, can you believe that the Bible actually says that you are not? Can you believe that God has a better future for you? A growing number of Christians are discovering that indeed, we do have a future and a hope, and we are not the terminal generation.

Most of us have been conditioned our entire lives by the Imminent Return doctrine to believe that we are The Terminal Generation. Many of the sermons and most of the books and articles available to us stressed that the end is always near, and we should expect the Lord to return at any moment to snatch us away in a secret event. This secret event was labeled The Rapture and we were assured that this phenomenon could occur even before the next day dawns.

We were declared to be that Terminal Generation by self-appointed prophets of doom who, although lacking authority, pronounced us to be the last group of humans to live on the earth before the Lord returns again.

It may surprise you to know a large number of Christians have found that Jesus mandated a much different future for you in his biblical communications to his disciples. He spoke of a future of hope, and an opportunity for you to live your life fulfilling your destiny, not one of fear, chaos or turmoil.

Those who are willing to read the Bible without a predetermined mindset have found that He did not speak of a future of running in fear and hiding from the enemy for this generation. He did not teach of a time when the Church would be defeated, having only the hope of him snatching us out before the devil gets us. He spoke only of a redeemed future where His spirit helps us to bring his world into ours. * Not a future of defeat, but one of victory of the church.

When we understand the declarations Jesus made to his original disciples, we find that you and I are not the terminal generation. You discover you not only have a future, but also a hope for a full term, fulfilled life. God placed you on this earth for a reason, and that reason is not to waste your time here anticipating the end of the world or constantly wondering if he will return at any moment.

Jesus will, as he stated, return at the resurrection, which is described in 1st Thessalonians 4:17, but it is evident from specific biblical statements that we are not at the threshold of resurrection day and won't be until some very specific scriptures are fulfilled.

The end of time is not knocking at the door. We have a clear insight about this in Paul the Apostle's explanation of exactly when the end of the world and its systems do actually occur. (The answer, which we will discuss in chapter 15, may surprise you.)

Since our attitude toward our future depends in large part on our theology, our interpretation of biblical issues and events, we can't afford fairytale theology. It is imperative that we be certain our theology, our beliefs, and our biblical understanding is sound and not a shallow distortion of the Bible's message and intent.

I firmly believe the Terminal Generation theology is unsound doctrine. In order to understand why it is unsound, we need to examine it's scriptural validity as well as examine its origins, history and those involved in developing and promoting it.

We are going to take a close look at some bad theology as well as some good theology and in the process discover what we believe to be true. Let's begin by seeing how some bad theology has affected the Church as a whole, ruined people's lives, and how we can avoid it ruining more. We are about to discover why we are not the Terminal Generation.

Chapter One (part II) - Understanding God's Intent

Bad Theology Can Kill You

I recently read a report of a minister in a snake-handling church that died from a snakebite during a church service. What a shame that ignorance of sound biblical principles has led many people to a bad end while believing they were operating in faith. This person evidently had plenty of faith, but he also had plenty of bad theology.

This theology that told him he must interpret every verse of the Bible literally, resulted in his belief that he was not a true Christian, and did not believe Jesus if he could not display his faith in a dangerous and foolish act. Bad theology killed him just as surely as the snake bite.

In Mark 16:18 Jesus does literally say; ...they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them. However, this is not a literal command. It is instead, a firm declaration in symbolic language of a believer's authority over the evil, demonic poison from Satan's kingdom that always seeks to interject itself into our thoughts, lives, and situations.

Jesus never intended that we should test God by purposely ingesting literal poison or holding serpents in our hand. This is another legacy of bad theology from a literal interpretation of everything in the Bible. This is not only terrible theology, but it is also dangerous and harmful theology. It can... and has... killed people.

We have to remember that Jesus spoke in parables using symbolic language and that it is extremely dangerous, as well as very bad theology, to take everything literally.

In this snake handling verse Jesus indicated that Satan's lies are as dangerous as a snake, but cannot harm a true believer who follows the Lord and rejects the enemy. He is speaking of our ability to recognize, resist and overcome temptations, lies and deception of the old serpent himself, the devil. Jesus has neutralized him, and he no longer has a hold on any believing Christian as we follow Jesus' example.

Jesus spoke this word regarding snakes and poison immediately after He gave the Disciples their commission to preach his good news out in the world, where the poison and deadly snake venom of the devil's kingdom ruled. He was telling them that the devil is defeated and that they now have authority to neutralize his attacks on them. His intent was for them to go with confidence in God and spread the Gospel without fear. It is that simple. All bad theology has the potential to eliminate productive life in a church or in Christians who follow it's tenets. Unfortunately, in this snake handling instance, it was deadly.

Chapter One (Part III) - Understanding Consequences and Outcome

Bad Theology Changes the Road Signs

Bad theology is not a small matter, it veils true understanding of biblical principles and masks the message of the Bible. The Bible's message and the godly principles it contains are designed, not only, to help guide us through life's journey on this earth, but also to spread the good news of His kingdom on this earth. If we don't understand that message and those principles, we become misdirected. Our ability to wage war against evil is compromised, and we will fail to make that good news, that message and those principles, available to the rest of humanity. The total effect is; the church is severely hampered to the point of being neutralized by bad doctrines that change the spiritual road signs and send us on a fruitless detour. The Church is presently reaping the results of accepting some popular, but bad theology.

Evil is constantly challenging the church for a position of influence in people's lives and in the affairs of Government. The church has backed away in the face of this challenge, often imitating Don Quixote tilting with windmills believing them to be giants or Antichrist world leaders, along with a few other make-believe dragons. We have let the genuine giants of faith draining, legalistic attitudes, false end time doctrines and liberal misinformation, go unchallenged.

There are a great many authentic giants out there confronting and actively challenging the Church while we are focusing our attention on challenging the giants the first century Christians faced, leaving the giants of our century untouched. These are serious realities that have resulted in; diminishing belief in Christ by millennials, rampant biblical illiteracy among adult Christians, declining moral values in society and many more issues that do not even come under our radar. A lack of a unified direction in attacking these, and other issues looming before the Church, is a direct result of tilting at the windmills of