“Will I have to go through the Great Tribulation?”

Steve Brown:
Will I have to go through the Great Tribulation? The answer to that and other questions on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
If you think laughter isn’t spiritual, or that faithfulness to God means conformity to Christian stereotypes, then this program probably isn’t for you. But if you’re looking for honest, Biblical answers to hard questions, then welcome to Key Life. Here’s our host, author and seminary professor Steve Brown, along with Pete Alwinson from ForgeTruth.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hi Pete.

Pete Alwinson:
Hey, that’s going to be an interesting talk. We’re going to have fun with that.

Steve Brown:
You know, it really is. I hope not. But a lot of Christians say I could.

Pete Alwinson:
I think you’re going to have to, Steve, personally. I’ll explain it later.

Steve Brown:
I’m going to have to deal with it.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah, you’re going to have to deal with it.

Steve Brown:
That’s Pete Alwinson. And I tell you over and over again, and if you haven’t, you’re going to get the hives. Go to, that’s a joke, don’t send letters, ForgeTruth.com it’s a place, a website for an amazingly effective men’s ministry. There’s a podcast there, a lot of video teaching and audio teaching. A lot of depth in that particular website, you ought to go there. And as you know, Pete comes in every Friday and we spend Fridays answering your questions. And we love you and your questions. You can ask a question anytime you want to, 1-800-KEY-LIFE, just dial that number. 1-800-KEY-LIFE, and it’s open 24 7. Follow directions and ask your question, sometimes we put your voice on the air. Or you can send your question to

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if you live in Canada, it’s

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or you can e-mail your question to Steve@keylife.org and we love your questions. We would love you more if you sent some money. No, we wouldn’t. That’s a joke, too. But if you can help us financially, I promise we’ll be faithful with your gift. As faithful as you were in giving it. And we’ll use it for God’s glory and the benefit of his people. Just as, item of information, yes, we are a part of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. Both of those credential us as an ethical ministry. If you can’t, we understand, say a prayer for our ministry, if you would. And Pete, speaking of prayer, why don’t you lead us in prayer and we’ll get to these questions.

Pete Alwinson:
Okay. We need it. Lord Jesus, we need your, we need you. And we thank you that we can come into your presence on this Friday just for a minute and thank you for being our Savior, our Lord, who said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And we don’t feel forsaken. And we know that you are near us. We honor you, our Triune sovereign God, who is immortal, invisible, the only wise God who never leaves us and is in us. And so, we praise you and Lord, you know us, you know our needs and you know how this week worked out, the good, the bad, the ugly. We come to you and we ask that you would help us to see what you are doing in and around us. Give us that sense of your presence and your power. Fill us, Holy Spirit, with yourself that we could feel your presence, but also live with your character. And now, we ask Lord that you would be with our leaders this week-end. Lord, we look forward to church. We want to worship. We want to be lifted into your presence and experience the joys that heaven will produce as well. But be with our leaders, give them power and wisdom and guidance to lead us. And now, we commit this time of Q&A to you and ask that you would continue your work in our lives. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Steve Brown:
Amen. All right Pete, this first question is an e-mail. I’m a Christian, will I have to go through the tribulation, the Great Tribulation?

Pete Alwinson:
Well, you know what I said earlier was, Steve, you are going to have to go through the tribulation. But really, kiddingly, my convictions are that Christians have always gone through suffering and tribulations and that as I read Revelation, that whoever is left alive as Christians at that time when the Great Tribulation happens, they will go through it. But it’ll be cut short for the sake of God’s people.

Steve Brown:
Yeah, and the Scripture teaches that.

Pete Alwinson:
I think it’s very clear.

Steve Brown:
There are other views from genuine Bible believers who believe, for instance, in a rapture.

Pete Alwinson:
Right.

Steve Brown:
What is that?

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah, you know, the taking off of the believers off the earth. And some believe it takes place before the tribulation, some in the middle of the tribulation, or at some point in the tribulation.

Steve Brown:
And that’s a legitimate view. All three of those are legitimate when you don’t divide as Christians over something like that.

Pete Alwinson:
Yeah, you could see where they can see those evidences in Scripture that would point to those views.

Steve Brown:
You know, referencing what you just said about we’ve always gone through tribulation. Corrie Ten Boom told me before she died that she saw more tribulation in the world at that moment than is even described in the Book of Revelation. And she had, boy, she’d seen some really bad things. And I think one of the things you have to be careful about, and I’m a teacher, so I’ve got to say this. You may be right if you believe in a rapture, a pre-tribulation rapture. And I hope you are, because I want to go with you. But be careful that you don’t set your doctrine by your fears. You know, sometimes we just don’t want to go through a tribulation.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right, that’s right.

Steve Brown:
And so, we build a doctrine that says we don’t have to. Now, we may not have to, but don’t build that on your fears of going through a tribulation.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s so helpful because the early church was told by Paul.

Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

So, we are told to be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, all these Scriptures. So, good counsel, Steve.

Steve Brown:
And there are so many eschatological views held by many very faithful Christians. We don’t generally, we tell you what we think, but we don’t generally fight about those particular issues.

Pete Alwinson:
So, you’re probably hang, because God is keeping you on this earth for a long time to do ministry. You’ll probably be here when that happens, Steve.

Steve Brown:
Maybe, but maybe not. You don’t know.

Pete Alwinson:
I don’t know, but I’m just surmising.

Steve Brown:
Yeah, but you’re smiling when you say it, it makes me uncomfortable. This is an e-mail question. When are parents no, this is a good question. When are parents no longer responsible for their children in a spiritual sense? At what age is a child responsible for their own spirituality?

Pete Alwinson:
You know, that question has come up, it’s come up in different ways. Excuse me. So, that people have talked about the age of accountability. The Bible never really articulates an age of accountability, but certainly there is an age when the parent ceases to be primarily responsible. When do you think that’ll be?

Steve Brown:
21. But I don’t know, that just came to mind. You can’t vote until you’re 21, at least 20. No, I think it’s before that, I really do. We have parents that are going around feeling very guilty about directions that their own children had taken. Now, there was a time when our culture, both Canadian and U.S. when we were an agrarian society by and large. And the most important impact on children was parents. That’s no longer true. There are all kinds of things that play in that, and that can hurt children. But as parents you’re the most important element in their lives, so don’t mess that up.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
Teach them about God, teach them about truth, teach them about faithfulness, teach them what godliness is. And a certain age if they go in a different direction, tell them you’re going to cry and you’re going to hate it, but you’re no longer responsible.

Pete Alwinson:
I do think that probably is, that’s a great description. I think there are stages in parenting, you know, like for instance, when they’re very, very young, you’re the caregiver, then you become the cop, then you become a coach and then you become a consultant. I think spiritually, I would, I cast the gospel to my sons when they were very young, and they did receive Christ. And had they not, I would have still seen that responsibility up through high school and beyond. I still would have kept calling them to Christ, but at some point, they would have experienced the consequences of their own behavior.

Steve Brown:
That’s true.

Pete Alwinson:
And I do think parents need to set that down and be clear about it.

Steve Brown:
Now, let me give you just a little bit of hope if you’re a parent and you have kids that have gone a different direction than your faith commitments. Children of believers, from our perspective are called covenant children. And they’re covenant promises that have to do with our children. They’re not absolute, in the sense that if you’re a Christian, you don’t have to worry about your kids, because God’s going to take care, but He’s going to love them in a special way. And I’ve seen it, and you have too, as a pastor, that some of the wildest rebels on the face of the earth come back home. And there’s a sense in which the Prodigal Son is a microcosm of that macrocosm of covenant children.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right.

Steve Brown:
So don’t give up. Pray, don’t be awful about it. Pray and be kind and love and see what God does for His covenant children. You might be pleased and you might be surprised.

Pete Alwinson:
That’s right. And never give up. Never give up with your kids at whatever stage.

Steve Brown:
That’s true. Okay, question we get often, do our pets go to heaven? That guy on Moody Network said one time, I don’t, a kid asked. And he said, I don’t know, son, when you get there, whistle and see if he comes.

Pete Alwinson:
See if he shows up, man. I mean, you know. And we are, we are animal crazy in America today.

Steve Brown:
I know.

Pete Alwinson:
Dog crazy, man. And so, did Jesus come to die for animals and is an interesting question, but we do know

Steve Brown:
you bring that up at the end of the broadcast and we’re not going to pursue that in 30 seconds

Pete Alwinson:
okay, but we do know that he came to restore all things, right? So, maybe in the restoration of all things is the restoration of animals.

Steve Brown:
And you’re, the animals are mentioned often in the Scripture. And so, there is a reason for hope. All of my German Shepherds are in Doggy Heaven, except the one we have now.

Pete Alwinson:
There’s going to be a lot of German Shepherds in Heaven, because you had a bunch of them.

Steve Brown:
Absolutely, and I have that on good authority, not Biblical authority, but just my heart.

Pete Alwinson:
I hope they’re nice to me, when I see them.

Steve Brown:
Well, if you’re nice to me, they’ll be nice to you. Guys, we’ve got to go, I’m sorry. Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.