A Terry James Article on Children and The Rapture

I’m sharing this article with you on And Then The End Will Come, in order that I might comment on its content. As I’ve told you in the past and it is still true: that my blog is blocked from commenting on Terry’s posts on his WordPress sight. I’ve been cancelled by him, so I resort to the only avenue that I have in order to comment on his version of Biblical truth.

I will share with you here his thoughts in quotes and I will discuss his thoughts from a scriptural basis. By doing this I’m sharing with you his entire article for your consideration should you wish to read it all.

But first let me explain his position, because you would be confused without that understanding; then you can better analyze his argument, and mine. He believes that all little children will be raptured; that all children who die before the age of accountability go to heaven. You may also think this to be true? But what is scriptures teaching?

He says and I quote: “The very character of our Heavenly Father is at stake in the matter of all children below the age of accountability going to be with the Lord when He calls at the moment of Rapture.”

I have to take exception with Terry’s statement here. He argues that Jesus taught this to be God’s position based on Jesus’ own statement. Here is the applicable portion of the scripture verses that Terry uses to justify his position.

But, whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. (He quotes all of Matthew 18:3–6)

The problem with arguing his point from this verse is that “all children” is not what Jesus stated. Jesus makes clear that these children are “little ones which believe in me”. Paul understood this teaching of our Lord very different than Terry does, and his understanding aligns completely with that of Jesus’ in this verse. Here are Paul’s words on the subject:

And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. 1 Corinthians 7:13-14 NASB1995

You might ask: — why are only the children of families with at least one believing parent sanctified and holy? The answer seems clear. First all creation is fallen (unclean). All are sinners. So, sanctified parents are Believing parents, and they would teach their children to believe in Jesus, but even before Jesus they would have taught their children to believe in Him as one who is coming one day as the Messiah. So, Jesus only referred to these “believing” children in this verse which Terry uses or twists to mean “all children”. — both believing and unbelieving. Terry states it this way:

“The words of the Creator of all that is, while in His earthly flesh, makes it clear beyond question of His love for those who are too young to be aware that they are born sinners and separated from God, thus need a Savior to reconcile them to their Creator.”

Terry’s argument is that “The very character of our Heavenly Father is at stake”. But Jesus says that these little ones to whom He refers believe in Him. So, the character of our Heavenly Father is only at stake if He goes against His own word, and Terry is leading us in that direction. He actually admitted in his above statement what Paul has said here. These children are unclean without a believing parent. God has never in scripture stated that the children of evil people are protected by Him. All men are blessed by Him, but most don’t recognize Him as their creator.

Terry continues:

“These humble little ones have the very spirit of innocence God requires in order to inhabit Heaven. They’re in this state until they’re convicted by the Holy Spirit that they need that Savior and are capable of accepting or rejecting the offer of God’s grace through the salvation process.”

Although this sounds good it is mostly false. This if true would allow all men who have never heard (for whatever reason) the truth of God’s word to be completely innocent before Him, with no accountability to Him until they hear of Him. Terry seems to in this statement connect the age of ones accountability (if there even is such a thing as accountability) with their hearing of the gospel. I was in church from the time I was a baby, I heard the gospel on a regular basis as a kid. I was not born again until the age of 27. Was that age my age of accountability?

The next statement of Terry’s that I want to interact with takes place following his statement that the “wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah-like evil” is as bad today against these little children as it was in those days of Lot. It is then that he states:

“The Tribulation will see that millstone of condemnation placed around the necks of all who have participated in such treatment of children, as part of a deliberate turning of their backs on the God of Heaven.”

Again Terry uses “all” inappropriately, but probably not in his own way of thinking. Here he associates “all” with the men in tribulation, and this occurs when speaking of God’s punishment for all those men, who have offended these little ones. Jesus spoke of this millstone but not in any way associated with the tribulation. Two things are wrong with Terry’s thinking here. One all men who have offended these little ones will not be alive to see or be in the tribulation. Most of them are dead by then. Secondly there is a judgment of wrath that all men will see, and it is called hell and the lake of fire not the Tribulation. It has nothing to do with the Tribulation. Men like Terry very seldom think about the conflicts between what they say and what scripture actually teaches, which mistakes makes all believers look as though they are nothing but gullible.

This man is a teacher of the word; of the gospel; he writes books, and I was told by his staff that he is so much smarter than I am in his understanding of scripture, that my questions are inappropriate and merely given as an attempt to build my own blog base.

That statement is of course a judgment with no proof, because it requires that one be able to see the motives behind why I challenge one man’s truth as compared to scripture. God knows my heart motives, and I know my motives. I do my very best to not intentionally lie. All liars are promised hell, and it is my intent to help you and other believers see God’s truth, not mine and not Terry’s. In the end we will all be judged by the word, so it’s best we do it now before we stand in judgment. Thanks for hearing me, Jerry Parks

Now to Terry’s shared article

As regular readers perhaps know, I ‘m convinced that all children below the age of accountability will go to be with Christ at the Rapture of the …

A Millstone Milestone