A Deep Burden for my Brothers

Why I am pastorally persistent on rapture timing, UFOs, politics and physical Israel.

Apostasy

Undoubtedly many of you will take this as a guy being highly annoying or being distracted or flat-out missing the “main thing” of the Gospel, but what has been ever-present the past few years is what I can only call a pastoral persistence on issues that are deceiving millions of my fellow Christians. The New Testament is similarly persistent beginning to end about Christians being deceived and falling away from the faith especially in the final years before Jesus returns culminating in the great apostasy. If that doesn't switch on the protective mode of shepherding I don't know what does. Like Jude reminds me I recall the words of the Apostles that “there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.” It's not a game, it's not a joke and real souls are at stake: the souls of my brothers and sisters (henceforth “brothers”) in Christ.

For nearly 25 years now I've been seeking every opportunity to help lift my brothers out of the swamp of the pre-tribulation rapture and the “any moment return of Jesus” lie. Contrary to what many will say (“it doesn't matter, what's the point”, “it's not a Salvation issue”), I completely disagree. people will lose their very faith when they discover they have been duped their entire lives. Losing your faith as a Christian means losing your salvation. Even now every single year there are multiple failed dates put forth that millions of my fellow Christians blindly parrot as being the date of the rapture and when it doesn't happen those of us who correctly said it wouldn't are marked with “nobody knows the day or hour - shut up”. I would have thought being a former adherent to the pre-tribulation Rapture in the imminent return of Jesus myself would help others to come out of it. but that hasn't been my experience at least it hasn't been shared with me. The rapture issue actually reveals a foundational misunderstanding and ignorance of Jesus’ words and Paul’s and the entire New Testament on the return of the Lord. it is not okay to agree to disagree on this! The Church is expected to know what she has been told plainly by her master, Especially since we are told that ignorance in these days would lead directly to that apostasy! The truth of the matter is that the church is afraid of persecution generally and is willfully ignorant of the topic of end times prophecy we just don't want to deal with it because it hurts the flesh. It is not tangential that the Gathering to Christ what we call the rapture happens after the Great Tribulation at the return of Jesus to the Earth. It is not trivial that the rapture event does not take us to heaven. It is not something for “the end times guys” but not for “normal Christians”. The devil has too much success blinding us in this; if we don't put away the LIE of the pre-tribulation rapture or any theory that says we are taken to heaven in that event, we will fall. Disagree if you'd like, that is my burden.

Similarly we see the abject idol worship in the evangelical Church of Donald Trump. The extraordinarily non-spiritual nationalism and boatload of lies from the liar-in-chief swallowed by my brothers. I've written about it before he was ever elected, published it before he was re-elected, live streamed about it countless times, gone on the record in public because it's such a brazen Antichrist spirit that has animated him and the MAGA movement. Predictably the answer is oh you're a liberal go vote for Joe Biden or are you saying you hate America or Christian shouldn't vote, etc. What I'm saying is don't support an Antichrist figure claiming to be a Christian. Don't we understand how corrosive that is not only to our personal walk with Jesus (such that it is) but to our witness to non-believers all over America and the world? Don't we understand the implications of false prophecies over and over and over claiming God spoke to us that Trump would win a second term in 2020, that would be overturned even after he lost, it would be litigated and new things would come out - all were lies from the jump! It is now proven that those prophets - even if you follow them or like them - never heard from God at all. And that's something we have to own up to and repent of. I don't care if this offends you and your voting record. I make no apologies and never will for sharing the burden that God has plainly placed there. And once again, I would have thought my previous experience in the political/electoral realm including working on multiple presidential campaigns and being the campaign manager for the Republican US Senate candidate for my state in 2012 would engender some type of goodwill, but apparently it does not. And now as we sit in September of 2023 at least to this point fake Christian Donald Trump is still leading in the polls though he is charged with many counts of criminal conduct the Church just doesn't care. THAT is a Church who is ready to fall (if she hasn't already) into apostasy and eternal damnation. So as much as I don't want to be, I must remain pastorally persistent on the clear and present spiritual danger of Mr Trump. By the way, show me an actual Christian conservative on Election Day and I will vote for him or her. This is just far bigger than any election of man.

Surely many think I have just gone into the Twilight Zone with my podcast lately HERE talking all about UAPs, UFOs, aliens, time travel, on and on - but the burden is just as strong because the Church is full of arrogance on this issue and it has maybe the biggest potential of all to lead my brothers away from the faith and into the arms of Satan. This is strongly reminiscent of the Pharisees and how they “just knew” Jesus had a demon. And who is this “rabbi” and his “unlearned” followers anyway - we know what the Scriptures say! We “just know” God would tell us if we were wrong. Of course He did, but they weren’t interested in learning they didn’t know it all, and in fact got it 180 degrees backwards. The prevailing opinion in the Church now is either we “just know” that they're all made up and this doesn't exist or we “just know” it's all demons and a great deception. I don't have a similar history of inner workings or a conversion of opinion as with the first two burdens, but what is becoming clear over the past two months or so is that we Christians had better stop assuming. See the Catholic Church vs Galileo 400 years ago about heliocentricity - it literally took 350 years for them to admit that he was right. To this day there are segments of my Christian brothers that say the Earth is flat, that we never landed on the moon, that space travel is impossible and base it all on their understanding of the Bible. The point is, there really are things flying around our world that no government knows what they are or how they do what they do and the time is coming quickly when we're going to learn a lot more and our worldview may be radically changed. The Church must be ready for this and realize the extreme amount of supernatural content that is in the Scriptures and is there for a reason - both from the Enemy and from the Lord. I confess I don’t feel ready for what’s coming on this topic myself and it seems the ripple effects will be devastating.

And finally, something that's probably not too controversial but still the burden is very heavy which is the proper view of physical Israel. I say physical to short-circuit the “spiritual Israel” comments sure to follow. Yes the Jewish people the physical descendants of patriarch Jacob. There is near constant false teaching online about this saying the Jews of Israel are fake, that they're not really Jews at all this other ethic group is really the Jews, that the Jews are irrelevant to God's plan after the cross, that the nation of Israel is not important in endtime prophecy, Jews are Satanic, on and on. But as I wrote about in FLEE TO THE MOUNTAINS, the burden for physical Israel has been life long for me and the reality is that no matter what your view the final seven years before Jesus returns will be characterized about how we in the church treat physical Israel. Are we willing to give our lives to make sure theirs are spared to call for Jesus to return? I will never shrink from this topic; I will never stop teaching about it, I will never stop engaging folks about it, it is what this whole culmination of the age is about: God's promises and His reliability as a promise keeper. As Jesus himself tells us in the gospels, this issue will be one that we Gentile Christians are specifically judged on when He returns and we see that many will fall at that judgment. As such, I would appreciate your prayers in the weeks and months ahead as I embark on a more collaborative second book/action plan with the working title of “Preparing the Way”.

So why I am pastorally persistent on issues like rapture timing, UFOs, Trump and physical Israel - I don’t want my brothers to suffer needlessly, to lose their place at the Wedding feast. Jesus doesn’t want this either. I pray my service rendered through Endtime Church will be obedient to my Lord and as effective as the fervent prayers of the righteous throughout the Body of Christ. Holy Spirit help us.

Your brother,

Christopher Mantei