Revelation 22:17-18

Verse 17 “And the spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

The Holy Spirit, who convicts and the Bride, the Church who is supposed to be bringing the gospel to the world, tell everyone to come to Yeshua. Those who have an ear to hear, and those who are thirsty for a relationship with God are invited to come and drink of the water of life that Yeshua freely offers all.

Verse 18 “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book;”

Now comes a huge warning. For those who hear the words of the prophecy of the book of Revelation (and actually very few do in Christian circles), anyone who adds things which do not belong there, or changes the meanings of the words (such as spiritualizing things when they should be taken literally), or deletes (ignores) passages, God will make that person suffer all the plagues that are written in the book. This is a seriously frightening thing for me in writing this blog. I continually and have continually prayed over all the years I have been studying this that I not be deceived or led astray into lies and deceptions, nor lead others into it. I have prayed for truth and understanding and wisdom to understand what has been written, so that I can help others understand and be ready both spiritually and physically for what lies ahead. It scares me deeply to think that I could be the cause of leading anybody astray.

I was raised to believe in a pre-tribulation rapture (obviously I have changed my mind on that) and this verse always puzzled me when viewed through that belief. If all Christians were to be gone before any of these plagues took place, how on earth could this be a threat that they will suffer them, just because they taught Revelation incorrectly? Now I understand how that can happen. These so-called prophecy teachers that say, “Peace and safety,” because you are going to be raptured out, are in for a really bad time. Jer. 14:13-15 “Then said I, Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.” Under those circumstances, do not think that I entered into this blog lightly. For twenty years I have sought the Lord to show me truth no matter the cost. It has been a long journey, as He has had to reveal it in steps, as it was too hard to handle all at one time. I had to “grow” into understanding. And even now, I continue to learn and update. But I will continue to go back and correct as God shows me, so that I do not lead astray. My one fear has been that I might be guilty of this, and I have constantly prayed to not be guilty of that sin. While at times I have had to piece information together to understand, and hypothesis is the result rather than definitive facts, I hope that I have been clear that it is hypothesis and not fact, and have not “added” anything that does not belong. I abhor that in others, and I pray to not be guilty of it myself.

While it is helpful to look at extra-biblical sources to get a better idea of what else is going on in the world and to be able to better understand what the Bible does say by understanding the context of things, this information can never be in opposition to Scripture and be correct. That is where many go wrong. They supplant what the Bible says in lieu of what they learn outside of the Scriptures. This is what is leading many to declare whom they think the antichrist is, or predict events which the enemy is planning, but which are not described in Scripture. I have seen the enemies' plans be derailed more than just a few times. They can plan what they want, but unless God allows it, it will not come to pass, so no matter what we learn of their plans, we always have to weight it against Scripture.