What does it mean when you are asked, "Is the yoke uneven?"

Sincerely,
Huh?

Dear Huh,

The verse being referred to is 2 Cor 6:14.  A ‘yoke’ is a ‘harness used to tie oxen together, so that they can pull a plow or cart’.  When God tells us not to be “unequally yoked” to an unbeliever, He is warning us not to put ourselves in a position where we are committed and tied to someone who doesn’t share our values.  The most poignant example of this is marriage.

If you are a christian and you are married to someone who is not a christian… you are going to have MAJOR problems.  Your life is going one way, and their’s is going another.  It is hard to pull a plow if the oxen don’t both go the same direction!  This is why God tells christians to only marry other christians (1 Cor 7:39).  So when someone asks you, “Is the yoke uneven?”, they are probably asking whether you are married to a christian.

I have a quick question about the mark of the beast; I like to read others’ questions on this website ‘cause it helps me learn more about the Bible.  Often I have some of the same questions myself, so it helps a lot.  My question is about the "RFID CHIPS".  I’ve been looking at videos about them, and it seems that people will be putting computer chips into their hands to "buy stuff" and, of course, many other things.  It seems that the world is going to be pushing people to get these things one day, and maybe it would even be required.  This scares me because this sounds like the mark of the beast to me.  I admit I could be wrong, but I wanted to know what you thought about these so-called "chips".  I don’t know if this is the mark or not, but I do not want to risk it.  What do you think?  Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,
I Don’t Want Stuff In Me

Dear I Don’t Want Stuff In Me,

Nope, RFID chips implanted under the skin (although ridiculously creepy) are not the mark of the beast.  The topic of the book of Revelation was the battle between Rome and the church.  It has nothing to do with modern society or modern technology.  When John wrote the book, God told him the vision was "shortly to come to pass" and "at hand" (Rev 1:1-3).  That vision was dealing with a specific problem that the first-century christians were about to face - physical persecution at the hands of Rome.  Although the book of Revelation provides great encouragement to christians today through its message of hope through trials, it is not specifically applying to us.  The mark of the beast was most likely the practice of burning incense to Caesar as a god.  In Roman society, anyone who wouldn't burn incense to Caesar as a god was persecuted and often killed.  The only people unwilling to do that were christians.

From little up, I have been taught that in the End Times, there would be a pre-tribulation Rapture of christians.  Lately, I have been reading internet articles by writers who believe that the Rapture of christians will be post-tribulation.  They quote many Scriptures that support their thinking.  Where are the Scriptures that support the pre-tribulation theory?  I am confused and disturbed.  Please help.

Sincerely,
Confused And Disturbed

Dear Confused And Disturbed,

You, like so many others, are a victim of incorrect teaching regarding the book of Revelation.  The Scriptures never speak of a “rapture” event.  Every verse that is used to talk about a millennial tribulation or reign of Christ is a warping and perversion of the Scriptures.  The book of Revelation was a vision given to the apostle John that concerned the things “shortly to come to pass” (Rev 20:1) and events that were “at hand” (Rev 20:3).  We cannot explain the entire book in a short post, but we can direct you to our sermons and classes on this topic.  We have an entire series on Revelation taught by one of the AYP preachers that you can download as an mp3 or listen to online.  We highly recommend that you take advantage of this to see the entire book of Revelation in its proper context.

As a christian living in America, shouldn't we be concerned about the increasing number of Muslims in our country?  I read somewhere that in twenty years there will be enough Muslim voters in the US to elect a Muslim president.  Makes me worry that the period of suffering might be right around the corner.  Do you have any thoughts on this?

Sincerely,
Counting The Days

Dear Counting The Days,

One of the most enticing and alluring propositions in the world of religion is to try and pin specific dates to unfulfilled prophecies.  Yet, in the end, that allure always ends up as a wild goose chase.  As we said in the previous post, we cannot be dogmatic on the exact meaning of “the little time” of Rev 20:3.  If we can’t be dogmatic on that, then we certainly cannot be dogmatic on when such a time period would begin.  All we know is that the Lord does not abandon His people (Ps 37:25).  The Lord commands that we not be anxious or worry because He will always provide for those who seek first His kingdom, the church (Matt 6:31-33).  Where the Bible speaks, we will speak, and where the Bible is silent, we will be silent… and in this, the Bible is silent.  We’ll leave the prophesying up to the Lord; each day has enough trouble of its own (Matt. 6:34).

Why do we worship on Sunday (which is the first day of the week) instead of worshipping on the seventh day of the week (which is the Sabbath), a day that we must keep holy?

Sincerely,
Weekend Wonderer

Dear Weekend Wonderer,

The Sabbath was a holy day for the Jews, not for Christians.  The Old Testament has a myriad of laws that are no longer binding in the New Testament: animal sacrifice, clean and unclean foods, and various festivals… just to name a few.  2 Cor 3 is an entire chapter devoted to explaining how the Old Law has been surpassed by the New Law.  2 Cor 3:3 especially clarifies the issue when it states that our law is “not in tables of stone”, a direct reference to the Ten Commandments that were written on stone tablets.

Gal 3:24-25 makes it clear that the Old Law was a tutor to bring mankind to Christ, but now that Christ has come, we are no longer under that tutor.  The Sabbath is a part of that Old Law.  In the New Testament, christians meet on the first day of the week to worship and take the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7).  In short: different covenants, different days.