Nelson Walters recently posted this article at thegospelintheendtimes blog HERE
Excerpts below:
“Who are the foolish virgins? None of us think it’s us, but Jesus indicates that half his followers may be foolish virgins.
Who Are the Foolish Virgins?
This is the fourth article in the series “Why is the Rapture Debate Important?”
In the First Article, we examined whether one can take the Mark of the Beast and still be forgiven. We decided the answer was no.
In the Second Article, we discussed why the rapture debate is necessary and why Churchgoers with weak faith are at risk of falling away. In that article we discussed the three parables Jesus told his disciples after delivering the Olivet Discourse, his teaching on the Tribulation and his return. These parables are Jesus’s primary instruction on how he wants his end time teaching applied.
In the Third Article, we examined Jesus’s warning to Christian leaders in the Parable of the Head of the House, the Thief and the Master (Matt. 24:43-51).
In this article we’ll examine the Parable of the Ten Virgins. The pressing question in this article is who are the foolish virgins? They have the door of heaven closed on them, a fate no one wants.
The foolish virgins are virgins, someone keeping themselves pure from the world. We are also told they are awaiting the return of the bridegroom. This is a way you might describe a Christian, yet, they fall away so we know they are not true Christians. Let’s examine that falling away a bit closer.
Apostasy
As we discussed in the video accompanying the second article, Jesus’s three parables that follow the Olivet Discourse in Matthew are applications of his end time teachings, applications that center on apostasy or the falling away. In that video we discussed how those who fall away are churchgoers attending our churches who are unsaved. They think they are Christians but are not. They may believe Jesus is the Son of God, they may believe in his sacrificial death on the cross, but they don’t have FAITH in those beliefs. They aren’t saved, they have a human-form of belief rather than what comes from above.
As Jesus taught in the Parable of the Sower:
The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. (Matt. 13:20-21)
Those that fall away have a temporary kind of belief (not faith). But as James tells us “The demons believe also, and shudder” (Jam. 2:19). Belief alone is not faith.
So IMO, the foolish virgins are churchgoers who think they are Christians, but are not.
When does the Parable Take Place?
There is a common theory associated with the Pretrib. Rapture…”
I don’t think I should post his entire original post here. DO read the rest at his blog!
I commented: “Another excellent post. Preparing pre-trib Christians for disappointment (not being raptured away before the coming of the Antichrist) and explaining why they must not give up faith and fall away in the Great Apostasy is very important. We must love God not just when we feel blessed but even when we are being strengthened and refined through suffering and overcoming it. Keep up the good work, Nelson!”
I dealt with these topics in detail in Antichrist 2016-2019. Despite my focus on the clues pointing to Obama and June 2016, many readers thanked me after last June to say the book was still insightful and helped restore their faith even though the clues I focused on the most might be a dead end… Then again, Obama may still be an important sign just before the Antichrist, as Persian prophecy said: a tall black man will rule the greatest nation in the West just before the Antichrist arrives on the scene. If they were right, and if Bible prophecy is meant to be understood to say that the generation that saw Israel reborn will witness the fulfillment of all end times prophecy, then there isn’t much time left to wrap it up within 70 or 80 years of 1948. Maybe Nostradamus had it right; that the final 27 years of accelerating conflict between Islam and Christianity will be 2001-2028 as I described in Nostradamus and the Islamic Invasion of Europe – https://www.amazon.com/Nostradamus-Islamic-Invasion-Europe-Montaigne-ebook/dp/B0722TV1DC
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