Preparing for The End of the World

By Russell Stendal

We’re living in very exciting times, when many Bible prophecies are being (or are about to be) fulfilled. Are we approaching the end of the world? And if we are, how can we prepare for it? Fortunately, we don’t need to know all of the intricate details, but one thing is of paramount importance as we enter the prophesied day of the Lord: Our hearts must be clean and pure. As we eagerly await the return of our Lord, we can trust in his promise that the pure in heart shall see God, and we know that every passing day brings us closer to this wonderful reality.
Preparing for the End of the World takes a close look at what it means to have a clean heart, and also digs deep into biblical prophecy in order to help us understand what is soon going to be our new reality. This picture is not dark or bleak, but bright – for those who understand what it means to genuinely live for the Lord.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ransom Press International
• Release date: Oct 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9780931221200

Russell Stendal

Russell is the oldest of Chad & Pat’s four children. At the age of four while his family was living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he prayed and asked God to call his parents to be missionaries. God answered that prayer and within just a few years the whole family was in Colombia as missionaries. He married a lovely Colombian lady named Marina and they have 4 children, Lisa, Alethia, Russell Jr., and Dylan. When Russell was 27 years old, he was kidnapped by the Marxist guerrillas called the FARC. The story of his kidnapping is told by him in the book he wrote titled Rescue the Captors. His reason for the title is because he realized that his captors were more prisoners than he was. There was a chance he would be released, but most of his kidnappers were young boys who had been taken from their families, given a weapon and taught to kill. They are threatened with death to themselves and/or their families should they try to escape. Not to mention their spiritual captivity. Russell formed a publishing company called Ransom Press International. He has published about 20 books in English and some 40 Spanish titles. Most of his time recently has been editing the Spanish Bible written by Casiodoro de Reina in 1569. Russell has been running a 24 hour Christian radio station out in the southeastern plaines of Colombia, which reaches into an area that is mostly guerrilla controled, but also reaches some drug traffickers and some paramilitary. There is a link at the bottom of this page that will take you to a website in Spanish with lots of pictures of Russell and his work. Russell also has an extensive ministry as guest speaker in churches around the world. His speaking is unique in that he is very sensitive to the Lord’s voice and does not hesitate to deliver that which the Lord has imparted to him, no matter how uncomfortable it may be to him personally. Above all, Russell desires to have a pure heart and clean hands in order to bring forth the unadulterated word of God, with a humble attitude.

Book preview

Preparing for

The End

of the World

Writings from the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians Regarding the End Times

Russell M. Stendal

Contents

Looking Forward to the Future

Ch. 1: Why a Clean Heart is Crucial

Ch. 2: Our Need to Be Led by the Holy Spirit

Ch. 3: Occupying until Christ Returns

Ch. 4: The Secret Rapture Error

Ch. 5: Staying Awake

Ch. 6: Prevailing through Persecution

Ch. 7: Beware of the Tares

Ch. 8: The Lord Wins in the End

About the Author

Introduction

Looking Forward to the Future

I wrote this book after sailing our boat, the Dawn Treader, into the Hemingway Marina in Cuba, as I soon found myself struck by the many parallels I saw between the Thessalonica of Paul’s time and the Havana of the present day, where the Lord has also established quite a beachhead. In Havana, we visited with people from all walks of life as we interacted with those on all sides of the Colombian peace process that has been taking place in the city over the past three years; but mostly, I spent my time writing in the quiet solitude of the sea.

Quite a number of sport fishing boats are based at this marina, and I always found it interesting to watch anglers fish for the blue marlin that the area is famous for. It seems that many regard marlin fishing as the pinnacle of offshore sport fishing, due to the size, power, and elusiveness of the species. But believe me, it’s not nearly as exciting as fishing for men! Jesus promised to make us fishers of men if we would follow him, and for us the results have been above and beyond our wildest dreams.

We’re living in very exciting times, when many Bible prophecies are being (or are about to be) fulfilled. Are we approaching the end of the world? And if we are, how can we prepare for it? Fortunately, we don’t need to know all of the intricate details, but one thing is of paramount importance as we enter the prophesied day of the Lord: Our hearts must be clean and pure. This book deals first with the individual prior to getting into more specific end times detail. As we eagerly await the return of our Lord, we can trust in his promise that the pure in heart shall see God, and we know that every passing day brings us closer to this wonderful reality.

Russell Stendal

December 30, 2015

Chapter 1

Why a Clean Heart is Crucial

1 Thessalonians

...as ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father with his children, that ye would walk worthy of God, who has called you unto his kingdom and glory (1 Thessalonians 2:11,12).

As we know, the Thessalonians lived in the city of Thessalonica, a word meaning the victory of that which is false. When Paul traveled there with Silas (Silvanus) and Timothy, they certainly had reason to believe that this was an appropriate name, inasmuch as false gods had apparently been victorious in taking over the city. Far from being welcomed, Paul received considerable opposition from people whom Scripture describes as disobedient Jews, moved with envy (Acts 17:5), who followed him to Berea and stirred up trouble there as well.

Thessalonica was definitely an Enemy stronghold, filled with dark spiritual forces that did everything possible to choke the spread of the gospel. Sadly, there are still many places like this all around the world – places where it seems very difficult if not impossible to make missionary journeys. But those are only the most visible strongholds of the gospel’s enemies. There are also congregations and churches all over the world that appear to be benign until someone challenges their false doctrines with the truth.

Challenging false doctrines was Paul’s strong suit, so the situation in Thessalonica failed to daunt him. He knew that he could rely on his Lord, and indeed, the Lord opened the door so that some of the Jews and a great multitude of the Greeks believed in Jesus and consorted with Paul and Silas (Acts 17:4). Later, after receiving a good report of them, Paul wrote these believers the letter we know as 1 Thessalonians.

(1:1) Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the congregation of the Thessalonians congregated in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The word translated here as congregation is translated in many Bibles as church, and originally it had a very different meaning from the one we now generally associate with this word. The Greek word is ekklesia, which means called-out ones, and in the Jubilee Bible the word is translated as congregation and footnoted. Ekklesia doesn’t mean an institution or a religious fortress. It’s not a magnificent stone building with stained-glass windows nor a humble construction of wood or brick. It simply describes those who were called out from among the Jews or from among the pagans to join the Lord Jesus. The word ekklesia describes the people or local congregation in a given place who left what they were doing in order to follow Jesus Christ. In this sense, we are the church if we have left the world or a contaminated religious institution so that we can follow Jesus. There are many congregations or churches of called-out ones described in the New Testament, but there is only one universal body of Christ (Ephesians 4:4).

(1:2) We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.

The body of Christ has only one head, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, but it has many members. If we’re members of the body, we will each be linked directly to the head and also to our brothers and sisters who are all around us.

This body is not a formal organization but a living organism. If we are part of the body, then we sense and feel and think in accord with the head and