Mount Helena Community Church

Is the “tribulation” all or partly fulfilled by events that have occurred already—like Romans destroying the Temple and killing all the Jews in 70–78 AD? If so, is there still one final “week” of tribulation yet to come? Is the Rapture pre- or post-tribulation? “One will be taken, the other left”—but is the first one the believer, or the unbeliever? We don’t know. We don’t even know if the beast, antichrist, and man of lawlessness are one thing, two things, or three things – or whether each is a person, or is instead more like the spirit of the world (as in “the spirit of antichrist is in the world”). And “the mark of the beast” could be a literal/physical mark, or it could be a metaphorical/spiritual mark (as in Exodus 13:9 and Deutoronomy 6:8). The purpose of Bible prophecies is not to reveal the exact future, but to strengthen and prepare us for it. So, our doctrine can’t be based on concrete interpretations (or misinterpretations) of prophecies; the Jews did that, and even missed Jesus because of it! Instead, we should be like the Bereans, who used scripture to test everything Paul said.

Is the antichrist one being, or a symbol for many – like Proverbs’ adulterous woman? Is it the beast or the man of lawlessness, or both? Or neither? May details are unclear. Yet the purpose of prophetic scripture is NOT to predict the future, but to strengthen our faith! God tells us some things about the end so we can prepare to be steadfast.

The exact details are fuzzy, but it is clear Christ will return and reign for 1,000 years on earth; before that, deception will greatly increase throughout the earth, with great sin and evil abounding more and more. “Terrible times will come…” (2 Timothy 3:1-5), and Satan will try to deceive “even the elect” (Mark 13:22). So what are we to do? We are to live the mission!

Scripture teaches that the end is coming. This week JR begins to dive into different schools of thought on Jesus' return by addressing premillennialism, amillennialism, and postmillennialism.

The end is coming! What matters most? Acting like Jesus, not being right on disputable details. We can’t know exactly when or how the end will come (Mark 13:32-33), but we do know Christ will return suddenly, visibly, and bodily (Acts 1:10-11, Luke 17:24, 1 Thessalonians 4:16). We are “on mission” to this broken world, and it matters how we act. God says to avoid quarrels (Romans 10:1) and “establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (James 5:7-8).

JR Quigley continues in our series on conflict and relationships.

We must be like Jesus, who forgave the adulterous woman but said, “Go and sin no more”—and was killed unjustly yet forgave his killers. Like him, we can’t condone sin—yet we must learn to love. Similarly, especially with other believers, we must learn to recognize non-essential “meat-eating” issues (Romans 14) on which not all believers agree—issues like COVID masks and vaccines, how to run a Sunday service, and whether the charismata are still available today.

Pastor and counselor Mark Spencer hosts a workshop on the interactions between rest, relationships with each other, and our relationships with God.

We must learn to compromise—not on God’s standard of right and wrong, which never changes, but on yielding to others in love. God is perfect, and would’ve been perfectly justified in wiping us out for our sin; yet instead he “compromised” by taking all of it upon himself in love. And since God loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:9-11).

Scripture calls us to remain in relationship with other believers - but what do we do when conflicts arise?