Question
With all of the various interpretations of the second coming today how do we know if we are on target, or off on a wild tangent?

Answer
This question seems to be the one that plagues the believer most often and it is easy to see why. Do we go with a pre, mid or post tribulation rapture? Should we believe the teachings of the pre, post or ah millennialists? And there are many other questions swirling around today in a dizzying melee that will confuse anyone, regardless of how well grounded in Gods word they may be. There is an answer to this dilemma, and it is the only answer that can prevail against the confusion.

To start with we can split the whole field of second coming teachers and interpreters into two camps, this rule also apply to teachers and interpreters of any part of the Bible. They are either conservative or liberal in their approach. We hear these terms being used largely in politics, but for the teacher or the student of the Bible these terms have a slightly different meaning.

The liberal interpreter of the Bible doesnt take Gods word nearly as serious as conservatives do. Mostly they do not believe the Bible is inspired, inerrant or infallible. They may believe the Bible to he inspired in spots, and that occasionally, they may be inspired to spot the spots. Some liberals may hang to the moderate side, and think that God is only serious about the most serious things like, thou shalt not kill, or thou shalt not commit adultery. But the dyed in the wool liberal is not sure God is serious about anything.

This kind of biblical liberalism winds up using terms to describe Gods word like, poetry, allegory, symbolism, simile, myth, or fable. Liberals may also use terms like unknowable, questionable or false. They are often in doubt about who wrote the scripture and if it has any practical place in our lives. They may question the historicity not only of the Bible, but of the characters of the Bible as well. The list of attributes seen in the liberal is much greater than I want to mention here.

One attribute that looms glaringly apparent is that they are like ominous, dark, rolling thunder clouds that never produce any useful rain. The Bible refers to them as scoffers. 2 Peter 3:3. We may only see them as, those guys with the other view, but in the last days they will make up a large portion of the detractors of Gods word and will even become the enemies of God.

The apostate church or the church that is falling away in the last days will have many liberals speaking for it. They will help to hammer out a sort of trinity of deception that will weaken the church. They will drain its power and resolve with watered doctrine, empty liturgy, dry ceremony, religious traditions, secularism and a great deal of unbelief, so much so that the church will fall victim to the antichrist. The trinity of deception is first, ecumenicism or bringing all the churches under one roof, and one leader. This idea seems good on the surface, but ignores the biblical teaching that declares that every believer is already united worldwide by each individuals profession of faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. No one, not Christ or his Apostles ever required that we all come under one worldwide leaders auspices or general universal doctrine.

The second part of the trinity of deception is liberalism itself. In all of its form and fury it serves to essentially take the power and life out of Gods message reducing the Bible to a book of literature, poetry or a compendium of wishful thinking. The religious bodies that most liberals are attached to can continue to function although tacitly under the guise of being something God would actually have something to do with.

The third facet of the trinity of deception is synchronism. This is the business of shuffling essential doctrines of the churches so that one uniform belief will work for everyone. If the virgin birth or the resurrection doesnt fit for them, it can be altered or even discarded to please the crowd. The object being to make everyone amenable to the changes and thus they will he able to walk together, in principle at least. The liberal is one who takes seriously the business of not taking things to serious.