Seven Reasons Why

By Elmer D Grobler

On the 2nd of January 2018 Elmer Grobler received devastating news. Something happened that he never thought God would allow! He was so sure of his convictions about God's character that when it happened, his entire faith in Jesus Christ suddenly stood on shaky ground. He was totally unprepared for what happened. Like Job, he suddenly found himself among the ashes, scratching his emotional wounds. He even considered suicide, and like Job he tried to reason with God. Why did God allow this to happen? How could this be?

For approximately two years Elmer went through a time of depression, simply trying to spiritually keep his head above water. Thank God for Christian brothers and sisters who supported him during this time in prayer. Then, as with Job, God started speaking out of the whirlwind. The Lord revealed to Elmer that He had been preparing him for his next assignment, which was the publication of this book. Amid this mess, there was purpose!

This book is addressed to millions of Christians world-wide who are placing their hope in an imminent pre-tribulation rapture before the return of Jesus Christ. What will you do when you realise that the mark of the beast is becoming mandatory for everyone in order to travel, enrol your children in school, qualify for a job and participate in the economy, and the rapture has not yet occurred? Millions of Christians world-wide are going to be spiritually unprepared and devastated when the Antichrist is revealed and the rapture has not yet occurred! What is the possibility that this may happen? What Biblical evidence do we have that the Antichrist may be revealed and the Great Tribulation begin before Jesus Christ returns for His bride?

SEVEN REASONS WHY Every Christian Must Prepare Spiritually For The Antichrist And Great Tribulation provides the answer and explores the spiritual challenges Christians will have to face. The objective of this book is to point the way to a solid foundation and victorious faith in Jesus Christ in times of tribulation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elmer D Grobler
• Release date: Jan 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005504472

Elmer D Grobler

Living in South Africa, God called me as a missionary during 1988. He prepared me for an internet Gospel ministry in a very unique way and so Scripture Educational Programs was later founded. SEPROGRAMS in short, is an internet discipleship ministry, facilitating my calling to proclaim the Gospel and make disciples of Jesus Christ via the digital media. Although the Lord has given me a special vision for the unreached world, God is also using this ministry among my own people -- the Afrikaans speaking population of South Africa. I tell a lot more about myself in my book, Seven Reasons Why. SEPROGRAMS is: Biblically-founded - Evangelical- Non-denominational - Non-sectarian.

Book preview

Seven

Reasons

Why

Every Christian Must Prepare Spiritually for

the Antichrist and Great Tribulation

Elmer D Grobler

Copyright © 2020 Elmer Grobler

Published by Elmer Grobler Publishing at Smashwords

First edition 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Published by Elmer Grobler using Reach Publishers’ services,

P O Box 1384, Wandsbeck, South Africa, 3631

Edited by Laura Grey for Reach Publishers

Cover designed by Reach Publishers

Website: www.reachpublishers.org

E-mail: [e-mail]

Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version.

Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Elmer Grobler

[e-mail]

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Seven biblical pointers that the rapture will not occur before the Great Tribulation

2. Facing reality

3. When your faith fails the test

4. Passing the test of saving faith

5. The Church’s identity crisis

6. The spiritual fulfilment of the mark of the Antichrist

7. When your faith is destined for the furnace

8. When victorious faith is required

9. Restoring a confused

Christian identity

10. Passing the test of victorious faith

Annexure A

References

Introduction

The background to this book

I am a South African missionary, called by the Lord to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to help make disciples of all nations through the internet and digital media. At 70 years of age, it pleased the Lord to allow me to go through an experience in my Christian life that I can only describe as a ‘great tribulation’. My whole world suddenly collapsed. Everything that was precious to me was suddenly gone — my marriage, my family, my ministry, my home and my financial security. All I had left was my faith in Jesus Christ — and like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, my faith was cast in the fiery furnace. Would my faith survive the test of fire?

Fellow Christians viewed us as a model family. My wife and I were happily married for many years with four wonderful, exemplary children — until Satan got a foot in the door! This was no usual marriage and family breakdown. This was a satanic onslaught. I was caught in a spiritual battle I was totally unprepared for. It shook the foundation of my faith to the core. Why would God allow something so destructive to happen to a beautiful Christian family?

I had been through many difficult times and tribulations before, but this one I can honestly describe as a ‘great tribulation’. However, the grace of God brought me through victoriously and God used this experience to prepare and commission me to write this book. Praise the Lord! The message of this book was birthed in God’s school of ‘great tribulation’. In fact, the message of this book is the cause of my ‘great tribulation’ — and my ‘great tribulation’ is the cause of this book.

It is not possible to share my complete story with you here as it is still in the final making and is the subject of a book on its own. I believe this story is going to end in victory and it is my prayer that the Lord will make it possible for me to share the story of this victory with the Church and the world before He calls me home! In this book, I share with you titbits of my experiences as they relate to the message.

The purpose of this book

I will be discussing seven biblical pointers that the rapture will not occur before the Great Tribulation, and how to be spiritually prepared for the future. The purpose of this book is to prepare Christians for difficult times ahead, and the theme is victorious faith during times of tribulation, in particular the Great Tribulation. This book is not meant to be an exhaustive study about the rapture or the end times, but rather to convey a message that I believe is of absolute importance to the Church of Jesus Christ in our time.

I am delivering this message in all humility. I do not claim to have superior gifts of knowledge and prophecy — I am simply carrying out what I believe to be a commission from the Lord for which He has prepared me in a unique way. Some of the chapters consist of articles I have written and published online over a period of some years. This is the reason why you may notice that some of the subject material overlaps here and there. However, as with the Apostle Paul, my defence is: … For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. (Php 3:1)

By writing about the timing of the rapture, I am acutely aware that I am embarking on the debate-train at a rather late stage and that much has already been said and written on the subject. However, this book is not written with the purpose of swinging or winning the theological debate. It is written for ordinary Christians who will recognise the value of its message!

I am a Bible-believing evangelical who believes in the rapture of believers! It is my view that anyone who does not believe in a rapture of believers, is simply not reading (or believing) the Bible. However, there are three schools of thought about the timing of the rapture. The pre-tribulationists believe that the rapture will occur prior to or at the beginning of the Great Tribulation; the mid-tribulationists believe that the rapture will occur during the middle of the Great Tribulation; and the

post-tribulationsts believe that it will occur at the end of the Great Tribulation.

Pre-tribulationism is a very popular view and is supported by a significant number of evangelical Christians across the world. However, it is my humble opinion that this view ignores several important biblical pointers — with serious unexpected and unprepared consequences for Christians relying on this view! I want to reiterate that the purpose of this book is not to win a theological argument — but to help prepare the Church for what is to come!

Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, I am writing this book with a heavy heart and deep concern in my spirit because I am acutely aware of the shock and anger it may cause among many dedicated and beloved Christian brothers and sisters in my own church environment. I grew up in a Christian home and have been worshiping with an evangelical church and denomination where the pre-tribulation rapture is strongly believed and preached. I dearly love and respect my church, spiritual leaders and fellow brethren. I have also followed (and am still following) many well-known, highly respected, international Bible teachers and preachers from the pre-tribulation school. I want to emphasise that it is not my purpose to cause division. In fact, my heart is crying when I think about the possibility of that occurring! However, I believe we are living very, very close to the return of Jesus Christ and what we believe about this subject will have a radical effect on how prepared we are for the future.

For the past 20 years or so, I have refrained from writing or talking about the timing of the rapture for the simple reason that I viewed it as a peripheral issue which did not affect the essential message of the Gospel and I did not want to be the cause of division. However, as I have already explained, the Lord has recently revealed to me the importance of this subject in the days we are now living and I believe I have been specially prepared and commissioned by the Lord to write and publish this book. I had to decide whether to be obedient to God and accept the consequences or take the route of least resistance. At the time of writing this paragraph, I am still wrestling with this issue — especially in the light of the school the Lord has taken me through!

It is my prayer that you will read this book with an open mind and heart so as to hear what the Lord wants to communicate to you.

Elmer Grobler

April 2020

Chapter One

Seven biblical pointers that the rapture will not occur before the Great Tribulation

Dear reader, I would like you to understand that the biblical pointers I am discussing in this chapter are not meant to be assessed individually, but rather in totality as a complete picture. In this chapter, I am painting a picture, of which each pointer is an element. The validity of each pointer should be evaluated in the context of the overall picture.

1. God’s plan and purpose in creation and the purpose of the Gospel

During my more than 30 years in God’s service as a missionary, I have arrived at more than one point of faith-in-crisis in my life — where I had to come to grips with certain doctrinal beliefs I held in my own Christian life. Time and again, the Lord sent me back to basics to sort out the questions: What is God’s true plan and purpose in creation, and what is God’s true plan, purpose and calling for me