Trouble Ahead - By Daymond Duck -
https://www.raptureready.com/2020/06/14/trouble-ahead-by-daymond-duck/
 
When asked about the signs of His coming, part of Jesus' reply was:
 
Famines, pestilences, earthquakes, persecution, etc. (Matt. 24:7-9): Coronavirus, locusts, damage churches, synagogues, etc.
 
Kingdom against kingdom (ethnos against ethnos; people group against people group (Matt. 24:7): could include black race against white race, Sunni Muslims against Shiite Muslims, etc.
 
Iniquity shall abound (Matt. 24:12): Abortion, gay marriage, riots, deceit, etc.
Like the days of Noah (Matt. 24:37: Great wickedness (Gen. 6:5).
 
Distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring (Luke 21:25): riots and/or storms, hurricanes, etc. (Rev. 17:15).
 
There now seems to be ample proof that America is the victim of an organized effort to weaken the U.S., and it could signal more trouble between now and the next election.
 
I have concluded that Antifa, Black Lives Matter, extremist groups and socialists that give large sums of money to the Democrats and their Party (and to a lesser number of Republicans) are tools of the Deep State.
 
If these people knew Bible prophecy, they would realize that God will let the Deep State succeed, and this submission to Satan is the beginning of an unstoppable worldwide day of trouble on earth (Zeph. 1:15).
 
Here are ten signs that there is more trouble ahead.
 
One, on June 2, 2020, Dave Hodges reported that Social Security is at risk, and the impact on Medicare is up in the air because of the Coronavirus lockdown.
 
Millions of people are out of work and not paying into these funds, but the money is still going out; and some politicians are delaying the economic restart.
 
Those on Social Security and Medicare need to vote in November and remember the politicians that refused to lift their stay-at-home orders when they were asked to let their citizens go back to work.
 
Politicians that say hundreds of people marching in the streets, rioting and looting, won't spread the Coronavirus while refusing to allow churches and businesses to open because of the Coronavirus are clearly not acting in the best interests of our nation.
 
Two, concerning a global economic collapse in the Tribulation Period, on June 1, 2020, the Congressional Budget Office projected that the U.S. will lose about $16 trillion in GDP over the next 10 years as a result of the Coronavirus shutdown.
 
As that great sermon says, there is a payday someday.
 
Three, on May 29, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court essentially ruled that the First Amendment freedom of religion clause in the U.S. Constitution can be set aside by biased public officials.
 
Chief Justice Roberts wrote an opinion that essentially said it is not unlawful for public officials to discriminate against churches by limiting attendance at church services, even though those same public officials did not limit attendance at bars, stores, theaters, and other places.
 
As I understand what Roberts said, under certain circumstances public officials must have broad authority to act without being questioned despite the plainly stated freedom of religion clause in the U.S. Constitution.
 
This kind of distorted thinking is no different from the thinking that says women have a Constitutional right to an abortion.
 
Setting aside the U.S. Constitution has caused decades of trouble in our nation.
 
Four, on June 3, 2020, it was reported that a former lawyer in the Obama administration posted a $250,000 bail for the woman accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail into a police car in New York City.
 
The alleged firebomber is also accused of passing out Molotov cocktails to other rioters and looters.
 
She was arrested in a van that was carrying bomb-making materials, and police have at least one photograph of her carrying a Molotov cocktail.
 
It was reported that the former Obama administration lawyer that bailed out the firebomber received scholarships to attend law school from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans (Paul is a nephew of George Soros).
 
George Soros denies that he is funding riots and looting, but his foundations have contributed millions of dollars to Democrats, Obama, (Hillary) Clinton, Biden, Antifa and Black Lives Matter.
 
Some will say this article is too political, but it is not hard to find the political affiliation of the officials that protected the rioters and looters while citizens were being injured and killed (mostly black people whose lives didn't matter to the thugs and politicians that surrounded themselves with security forces), and businesses and police cars were burning, etc.
 
It is a fact that NY Democrat Mayor DeBlasio's daughter was arrested, Democrat presidential Candidate Biden's staffers took up an offering to bail out protesters, and a lawyer in former Democrat Pres. Obama's administration bailed out a woman accused of throwing a Molotov cocktail into a police car.
 
On June 6, 2020, six policemen were injured in Seattle by improvised explosives.
 
Jesus said, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself cannot stand" (Matt. 12:25).
 
We may well be witnessing a New World Order attempt to divide the U.S., and God may be allowing it because Pres. Trump is pushing for a map that will divide Israel (Zech. 12:3).
 
People are ignoring God and the Scriptures, and that is the real problem.
 
Five, perhaps Christians should notice that a church (St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington D.C.) has been torched, a church (St. Patrick's Cathedral) in NY, two churches (St. Paul's Episcopal Church and West Broad Church of Christ in Richmond VA) have been vandalized, a Jewish group (Beth Ahabah in Richmond VA) had its windows broken out, and several Synagogues in Los Angeles have been damaged.
 
The members of these churches and synagogues had nothing to do with the wrongful death of George Floyd (and for whatever it is worth, many black people are not blaming Pres. Trump, because his approval rating is going up with them).
 
Lawless people with no respect for God desecrated these churches and synagogues, and it is a reminder that the ultimate lawless one (the Antichrist; against the Christ) is coming (II Thess. 2:5-12).
 
Six, on June 5, 2020, the Minneapolis City Council agreed to disband their police department and replace it with a non-violent public safety group that "doesn't fear our residents" and "murder black men," according to one of the council members.
 
They offered few details about how this will work or when it will start, the Mayor is opposing it, and other politicians (including the Mayor of New York) are talking about defunding the police.
 
Change is needed; but without the police, lawlessness and anarchy will increase, and former New York policeman, Dan Bongino, predicts that thousands will die.
 
I am not a prophet, but if politicians go through with this, I predict it will fail, and then they will call for UN troops to be brought in to disarm Americans.
 
Seven, on May 28, 2020, Prime Min. Netanyahu indicated that he will move forward on the annexation of about 30% of Judea and Samaria on July 1, 2020, and he will accept Palestinian demilitarized rule (but not a state) over part of the Promised Land.
 
In connection with this, PA leaders are consulting with Arabs, international groups, terrorist groups and others on ways to stop the annexation.
 
For whatever it is worth, it is my understanding that the PA will not be allowed to have an independent state unless two things happen: 1)They agree to a peace treaty in the next four years (from Israel's agreeing to it) and 2) They are no longer a threat to the existence of Israel.
 
Their agreement is not worth the trash that I set out by the side of the road.
 
Eight, on June 1, 2020, Israeli Defense Min. Gantz ordered the Israeli military to prepare to deal with increased terrorism and violence when Israel annexes part of Judea and Samaria.
 
He said, "Striving for peace while maintaining security (peace and safety) is foundational for every Israeli citizen."
 
Saying "Peace and safety" is a reminder of trouble ahead (I Thess. 5:3).
 
Nine, on June 1, 2020, it was reported that the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia are holding secret discussions with Jordan's knowledge to change the makeup of the Islamic Waqf that controls activities on the Temple Mount, with the goal of advancing Pres. Trump's peace proposal.
 
Jordan is supposed to appoint, fund and control the Islamic Waqf, and Jordan has often refused to change the process; but Waqf members die, need to be replaced, etc., and some of the newer members have started taking money from Turkey.
 
Jordan is quietly discussing changes with the U.S., Israel, and Saudi Arabia to get Turkey (non-Arabs) out of the picture.
 
People should not conclude that this will lead to a rebuilt Temple, but it is linked to Trump's peace proposal, and it signals a softening of the Islamic position on the Temple Mount.
 
Saudi Arabia is seeking a better relationship with Israel, and Jewish access to the Temple Mount would be a major breakthrough.
 
Saudi Arabia is even encouraging the PA to start negotiating Trump's peace proposal with Israel.
 
Ten, on June 6, 2020, it was reported that a national emergency has been declared in Pakistan where a locust plague of Biblical proportions is threatening 25 million people with famine.
 
Look up, lift up your heads; true Christians will escape the worst of the trouble ahead (Luke 21:28).
 
Prophecy Plus Ministries, Inc.
Daymond & Rachel Duck
[email protected]

The Coming Gog-Magog War - Pastor Mike Taylor - https://pastormiketaylor.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-coming-gog-magog-war.html
 
2 "Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:" (Ezekiel 38:2-4)
 
On Christian forums that I host, many questions arise about when the prophesied war that is spoken of in this passage found in your Bible will happen. Especially the question is who will make up this vast invading force that will be decimated on the mountains of Israel.
 
"16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone." (Ezekiel 38:16-22)
 
This is a massive invasion that God comes to fight against with Divine intervention that slays all but a 1/6 of this army that the bible calls a cloud "thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee." (Ezekiel 38:9b).
 
But the question is raised, who are these people, and where do they come from? Let us explore what is happening right now in our own news channels and what the Bible foretells who this invading army will consist of and how close we are to seeing this come to pass.
 
According to the prophet Ezekiel, there will arise in the last days, a massvie military and political alliance known in the bible as the Gog-Magog Alliance.
 
Ezekiel prophesies that a conglomeration of many nations and their armies will think to come into Israel to finally destroy the nation and murder her inhabitants. The Bible also speaks of the disastrous results that will happen on the mountains of the reborn nation that was formed in 1948 and has been in existence now, over 70 years.
 
In Ezekiel 38, verse 3, Ezekiel clearly identifies Gog as a person, rather than a place,
 
"3 And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:"
 
The Scofield Reference Bible's notes to Ezekiel claim that "Meshech" is a Hebrew form of Moscow, and that "Tubal" represents the Siberian capital Tobolsk.
 
This interpretation would make Gog both a "place" or the Russian Federation of Nations, AND a 'person' as in the sense of the leadership of this Russian Federation.
 
The Interlinear Bible (Hebrew - Greek - English) renders that verse as:
 
"Son of man, set your face toward Gog, the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; and prophesy concerning him."
 
(In Hebrew, the word 'Rosh' meant, 'chief prince', or, the 'chief of the chief princes.') Would Vladimir Putin be considered the chief prince amongst princes of Communist Russa? Let us examine.
 
HISTORY OF THE ANCESTORS OF THE PEOPLE
 
In examining ancient history, we find that Magog was a son of Japeth, who together with his brothers Tubal, Meshech and Togarmah settled in what is modern day Russia and the southern steps of the Caucasus Mountains..
 
10 "Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah." (Genesis 10:1-3)
 
The prophet Ezekiel identifies 'Gog' as coming from the north of Israel. If you follow the compass to due north of Jerusalem, it will take you through the center of Moscow.
 
The army of Gog and Magog primarily includes people from the nations of Gog, Gomer, Tubal, Meshech, and the house of Togarmah from the "north parts." They will be joined by Persians (Iran) from the East, Put from the West, Cushites from the South, and others.
 
"Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. . . " (Ezekiel 38:5-6)
 
"Gomer" is mentioned in Genesis as well as Ezekiel. The Jewish-turned-Roman historian Flavius Josephus identified Gomer with the Galatians.
 
"For Gomer founded those whom the Greeks now call Galatians, [Galls,] but were then called Gomerites." (Antiquities of the Jews, I:6.)
 
Without getting too involved in the geographical landscape of the ancient land of Galatia, the land is part of Turkey and the modern capital of Ankara, Turkey is part of Ancient Galatia.
 
Historically, 'Gomer' is also linked to the ancient Cimmerians. The Cimmerians eventually settled the regions north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea, in what is now parts of Russia and the Ukraine. The same can be said for Gomerites who spoke a form of the Persian language, and the Soviet State of Georgia is where the son of Japeth, Tubal settled according to the historian Josephus.
 
Note that Ezekiel begins his listing of the Gog-Magog alliance by naming Persia as the main instigator of this invasion, but with help from his allies of Ethiopia and Libya, but known in Ancient times at Phut for Libya, and Cush for Ethiopia. Most likely, the Russian federation will be the financial supporters of these people.
 
(Some versions of Scripture render 'Libya' (as does the KJV) whereas others render it 'Put' -- a grandson of Noah.)
 
Put settled an area that included most of North Africa including Libya and parts of modern Egypt. Let us name the ancient followed by the modern names of each of these players that will comprise the coming Ezekiel prophesied invasion of Israel in the "last days".
 
-Rosh and Magog-Russia
-Meshech and Tubal-Turkish nation
-Cush-Ethiopia
-Put-Libya
-Gomer-from eastern Europe, even to Germany
-as mentioned Persia is Iran
 
Note that each of these invading nations have one thing in common...they are all Muslim and have a natural hatred of Israel that has festered since the time of Isaac and Ishmael.
 
WHAT DO WE SEE TODAY?
 
Let us stand back and look at what is happening right now in the Middle East. I have wrote about this in times' past, but the details keep getting stronger and more into focus as the days pass by. No where has there been an alliance in the past, where Iran and Russia were thick as thieves in their relationship, as has been in the last 20 years or so. In the past, they have been natural enemies, but all that has changed. Russia has taken a major interest in propping up the Iranian regime with help in the military search for the nuclear bomb, by giving the Iranians nuclear reactors, thereby giving the Persians access to nuclear material. This was all done for Russian political purposes and control of the region.
 
Also, war in Syria was raging for some years, as the Russian regime seeks to keep Assad in power and use its military to build bases and airfields that are beginning to surround the tiny nation of Israel. We read about Iranian troops on the border of the Golan Heights to its east, Hezbollah creating more missiles that can reach every city in Israel to the north and are itching for the next war that will seek to destroy their hated cousins to the south. We read about Hamas feverishly building more sophisticated missiles in the Gaza strip, that Israel has been trying to keep tabs on both of these players on their borders with fighter jet sorties to knock out advanced chemical, biological, or computer directed missiles to deliver destruction to the tiny nation of Israel. And we read about the Muslim Brotherhood, into factions such as ISIS and Al-Queda rampaging in northern Africa down into Central Africa and Egypt.
 
If you look at any map of the area, it can be plainly seen that Israel is surrounded on all sides by enemies that have longed to destroy her. It is prophesied in Psalm 83 that an inner ring of these Muslim nations will think to attack, much as they did in the 1967 and 1973 wars that caught Israel off guard in the last war listed and nearly caused their defeat, if it were not for the God of Heaven who was directing their paths and protecting their flanks from a fanatical enemy. We have been watching and wondering when this war of Psalm 83 might happen, and I believe the stage is being set right now for a skirmish that will bring a big increase in the real estate that Israel will claim for it's own. This is the run-up to the war we are discussing, but Israel will have a short lived peace, when the enemies that border her are defeated.
 
2" For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:
6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. " (Psalm 83:2-8)
 
I believe this is the next war that is on the horizon. Maneuvers are being taken to surround Israel from all sides with military muscle that they feel, will insure their victory. Only one problem. The God of Heaven is in the corner of Israel, and will not allow that to happen. Our Amazing God will bring victory by His Hand, that will direct the nation of Israel to complete victory. We may see this coming war, before the Church leaves this world, and we may not for the timing of God's body of believers could leave at any moment.
 
LET US EXAMINE WHAT WE KNOW
 
We know that in the latter days, the chief of the chief princes of an alliance called Gog-Magog will arise from a location to the uttermost north regions of Israel. We know that Moscow is on the same longitude (south and north) from the city of Jerusalem and is directly north of the capital city of Israel.
 
We know that this 'Gog' will be reluctantly drawn into a conflict with Israel, to where that Ezekiel says that the nation that comprises Rosh and Magog will be drawn as "hooks in its jaws" into this conflict. It may be over natural resources that they covet, or an alliance that has formed that makes them obliged to honor with resources to support the effort...Both could be right.
 
The Gog Magog alliance includes modern Russia, the Ukraine, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, North Africa, and the Middle East extending from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf.
 
We also know that the target of the Gog Magog Alliance is the restored nation of Israel. And finally, we know the time frame. Ezekiel says it will take place 'in the latter days'. Here is something else we know. Ezekiel's alignment of nations was never possible in previous generations.
 
To begin with Ezekiel's scenario, the nation of Israel must exist and was created in 1948, as spoken in this passage
 
"the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations . . " (Ezekiel 38:8-9)
 
As we all know, that day was completed in May 1948 and there was never a place called Israel until then. Prior to this date, Russia has no to little interest in the dry and barren land in the Middle East, as it had been part of the Ottoman Empire since the time of America being discovered by Columbus.
 
There has been 2500 years since Ezekiel's prophesy and the formation of a reconstituted nation called Israel, and the prophecy depends on the simultaneous development of two events. The rebirth of Israel and the birth of Mohammedan-style, radical Islam to fulfill this prophecy. How could Ezekiel have known that this would come to pass, unless God had him to write these words?
 
ARE WE IN THE SEASON OF THIS FULFILLMENT?
 
Look at Ezekiel's main protagonists. There are three.
 
The first is Gog and Magog, the modern Russian federation. Gog and Magog's participation in the invasion force, according to Ezekiel, comes as a result of God's promise to,
 
3 "And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:" (Ezekiel 38:4)
 
I've wondered about the phrase "turn thee back" (Hebrew 'paqad' or 'call to remembrance')....There is a story is about when the new Russian parliament ca. 1992 rushed out of the halls of the Duma where newly admitted Western missionaries were handing out free New Testaments.
 
The people were so hungry for the Word of God, that the missionaries were welcomed with open arms. After a life long bout with Communism the people were eager to read the Words of God.
 
For several years, Russians were offered this 'call to remembrance' of Scripture before former KGB operative Vladimir Putin slammed the door shut on foreign missionaries. The Russian Orthodox Church -- which was heavily infiltrated by the KGB during the Communist era -- the only legal "Christian" religion in Russia was all that is allowed. All other outside Christian influence were banned.
 
This call of remembrance was now officially over, and when Russia entered into a nuclear alliance with Iran, the hook was set. The support of Iran by the communist country was now set in stone.
 
THE SECOND IS THE ALLIANCE ITSELF
 
As mentioned before, and it is part of the alliance is that every single nation and of the region of the Gog-Magog alliance is part of the Islamic world. All of them.
 
Islamic North Africa, [Ethiopia and Libya] including the Sudan, whose Islamic government is currently conducted genocide against its Christian population.
Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and the heart and soul of radical Wahabbist jihadist Islam.
 
Turkey, (ruled by the Islamic Party), together with most of the Russian Republic's Islamic 'stans'.
 
Persia, or modern Iran, is the 'hook' in Gog's jaw. Iran's nuclear program was built by, overseen, guarded and maintained by Russian scientists, technicians and military forces. Iran's leader has made it something of a habit to mention the destruction of Israel in every speech.
 
Which brings us to the third protagonist in Ezekiel's prophecy-Israel itself.
 
The focus of this alliance of Muslim nations has but one focus, the destruction of Israel. Israel now has two choices, and neither of them are good for Israel.
She can pray that the international community will restrain the mad mullahs, which with the climate we see of Anti-Semitism taking a rise in the last few years, the doesn't seem likely in the United Nations that is populated with mostly Muslim nations, and even with veto power by the USA, she may be powerless to stop the forces beyond a official protest., as even the rest of the Gentile nations have risen to condemn her in the European Union and elsewhere.
 
13 "Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?" (Ezekiel 38:13)
 
The names of the protesters are Sheba and Dedan, geographically from Saudi Arabia, and young lions of the merchants of Tarshish, which is believed to be the British and the American continent, who are somehow powerless to stop such an invasion.
 
Second choice is that Israel can mount a military response to remove the threat themselves, but from reading scripture, they are militarily overwhelmed by the extent of the invasion from all sides. I remember that they were surprised in the 1973 war and could have conceivably lost, as the invasion was on one of the Holy Days that the nation observes and they were not prepared for the sudden invasion, but regrouped and became victorious, and in some explanations of the events, Divine intervention was mentioned and was most obvious.
.
A third possibility, although not among Israel's choices, is that the United States will act to remove Iran's nuclear facilities before Israel faces the point of no return. The possibility the US will act in time is just that -- a possibility. But according to scripture, American is not in the mix when it comes to this war. Why? Has an event happened that could cripple their ability to respond effectively to this threat of invasion by this massive Islamic invasion? Has the once great nation of America succumbed to Socialism and abandoned Israel as a friend?The Western nations of the American continent is the last bastion of the Christian world, although we have been going the route of luke-warm Laodecia and have had major falls with the apostasy of the Church, but if those who still seek the Lord God in Spirit and in Truth, were suddenly removed from the military, from the halls of government, from government agencies, from the leadership of this nation in a flash and with out warning, then that might explain why the nation is not in a position to respond effectively to this threat.
 
Why do I say that American will not be able to respond? First, I believe that we as the Church will not see the war we speak of. When this war is finished and it will come in a flash, as God will be the Champion of Israel and will fight for them in His Fury.
 
Remember the passage spoken of above?
 
18 "And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord." (Ezekiel 38:18-23)
 
There are several reason why I believe that the Church will not be here.
 
-First, the USA has always been the protector of Israel and its ally since her birth, and for the USA not to be in this war, says she is not able.
 
-Second, God will not share His glory with anyone, not the USA or anyone else. God will show His people that He is still very much alive.
 
-Third, on the heels of this war that slays 5/6 of the invading army on the mountains of Israel, and follows the survivors back to their homeland, where the plague of death follows them to the own countries, that this war will devastate the Muslim World to its knees.
 
-Fourth, I see a man coming upon the scene who will try and prevent another war such as this one that has decimated the entire Muslim population and decimated Russia's hegemony war machine. This man will be a person of charismatic personality and will come from a premier nation that Israel will somehow trust. He will "confirm" a covenant with Israel, that could even be the Trump "Deal of the Century" that no one has enforced yet, as it was rejected by the Palestinian leadership. .The only nation that I could conceivably argue that Israel would trust, would be the USA. But who knows where this man will come from. Will he be from a revived Roman Empire, or from an outside Muslim country, or from Turkish background? Many possibilities, but only one solution. The glass is dark and we can't see the image just yet.
 
Note that Israel is looking for nothing more than peace and security to live their lives without fear, and have been looking for a "political messiah" since the time of Jesus to rid themselves of domination by other nations. In Jesus time, it was the Romans. In the modern era, it will be the Muslim nations, that even though they have been victorious, they will accept this "political messiah" who will give them permission in the international community to rebuild their Temple and resume animal sacrifices. Israel has never realized they needed a "Spiritual Messiah" found in the Lord Jesus Christ, as they had the law of Moses, and didn't need a Savior, at least in their blinded minds. They didn't believe it then, they do not believe it now...At least they won't just yet when this "confirmation of a covenant" is signed giving them what they have longed for "peace and security" within their borders...but it will be a false peace.
 
The Bible says that this "politician" ..this Anti-Christ will not come into view on the political scene until the Holy Spirit is removed from this planet to Old Testament manifestations that were present prior to the Day of Pentecost, some nigh 2000 years ago..
 
6 "And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." (2nd Thessalonians 2:6-10)
 
As I've preached in prior messages, the HE is a Person who is preventing the full sway of evil to rule this earth. The only Power that can hold back this unrelenting evil to engulf this earth, is God's Holy Spirit. It's not an angel, as they are equal in power to the fallen angel, Lucifer, now Satan, and its not any person on earth. God's Spirit resides in every impregnated believer with God's Holy Spirit as an earnest deposit of our future glory and our being "BORN AGAIN" into the Kingdom of God.
 
13 "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." (Ephesians 1:13-14)
 
From all indications, the event could happen in the next few years. If the Church is not present, as the Bible plainly says, if you discern with a Spirit directed mind, then when this war happens, the man of Sin, the son of Perdition will be forthcoming...and his revealing will be the trigger that starts the Tribulation. Many believe that there is a "gap period" between the rapture of the Church, and the start of the Tribulation. That would be the period in Revelation between Revelation 4:1 and Revelation 6:1...how long is this period is conjecture on anyone's part, but how long will it be before the Anti-Christ is revealed after the Church is removed? It could happen at any future Holy Day, that I have offered as the Feast of Trumpets.
 
Will it be this fall, the next fall, or the one after that? We don't know which Feast Jesus will break through the clouds and call with the sound of a trumpet, "COME UP HITHER"...It could be that soon, or wait a few years, as we don't know. BUT we keep our focus on the signs that are screaming of His coming...the signs in the heavens. The alignment of planets that have never happened in any recent past. The past solar eclipses that spelled trouble for the Gentile nations, according to many Jewish and prophecy related teachers. Then we all remember the past Blood Moons that spelled something happening to Israel. And remember the past hurricane after hurricane coming from the path of this last solar eclipse. Was that the warning?
 
ARE YOU READY?
 
Should any of these prophecies happen tomorrow, would you be ready to meet Jesus? Note that the Bible says that they come in waves chronologically and each event triggers the next. The triggers that set this all in motion are right there on the horizon. It just takes one domino to fall for the sequence to begin. I have had many evangelist and preachers wondering if this Coronovirus so called "Plannedemic" is the prelude to the coming One World Government. Will it be? Will you be counted as ready to meet the Lord in the air?
 
16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. " (John 3:16-18)
 
Don't be like those in v. 19 of the preceding verses above....this world is passing away....If you love the world, then the love of the Father, our Heavenly Father God.
 
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. " (1st John 2:15)
 
I don't know about you, but I am getting tired of the chaos and blatant evil that is covering this planet...I want to go Home...How about you? The last bastion of Christian love and biblical concepts of how to live your life, found in the USA, are quickly dying all around us...we who call ourselves Christians, long to see the face of our Lord and Savior crying out with a loud trumpet, "Come up hither" and so shall we ever be with the Lord. So come Lord Jesus...we await anxiously for your appearing.
 
8 "But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:8-13)
 
In a nutshell, the above verses are how you are counted worthy and to be ready to meet the Lord in the air. The above scenario that I have outlined could happen very soon, and the coming of the Lord, even sooner...make that decision for Jesus Christ Today, as Ezekiel's war is on the horizon.
 
This is Pastor Mike Taylor, praying you be ready to meet our Lord Jesus Christ, If you need counseling, prayer, or just a listening ear, email me at [email protected] , God bless you all.
TILL WE MEET AT JESUS FEET

10 Signs of the Looming Seven-Year Tribulation - By Jonathan Brentner - https://www.raptureready.com/2020/06/06/10-signs-of-the-looming-seven-year-tribulation-by-jonathan-brentner/
 
Have you ever wondered during the past few months if the seven-year tribulation has already begun? I know that it hasn't yet started because Scripture says that we will be with the Lord before the antichrist establishes a covenant with Israel that starts the clock ticking for this time of God's wrath (Dan. 9:27; 2 Thess. 2:3-8).
 
Although the tribulation has not yet started, we see the beginning of conditions we know will be much worse during this seven-year period. I believe this is God's way of getting the attention of the world before His judgments begin. He's also assuring us that His appearing is imminent and we will soon be with Him in heaven and the place He is now preparing for us.
 
I have picked ten signs that tell us the tribulation is rapidly approaching.
 
Famine
 
Revelation 6:8 tells us under the fourth seal, the rider on the pale horse is "given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence . . .." Deadly famines will occur during the tribulation; they will be a factor in wiping out one-fourth of the world's population during the seal judgments described in Revelation 6.
 
According to a story published on the National Geographic website on May 12, 2020, swarms of gigantic locusts are swarming parts of East Africa bringing with them great famine. The National Geographic story also stated, "Some 13 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, and Eritrea already suffer from 'severe food insecurity' . . . meaning they may go without eating for an entire day or have run out of food altogether."
 
The National Geographic story also noted that swarms of locusts can destroy up to "300 million pounds of crops" in a day. Can you imagine the disaster this can bring to already impoverished nations? These swarms of devastating locusts have also invaded India according to recent reports.
 
Inflation
 
Revelation 6:6 reveals that a time of great inflation lies ahead for the world during the tribulation such that a "quart of wheat" will sell for a day's wages.
 
Do we see the potential for this in our world? Absolutely! Venezuela stands as an example of devastating inflation caused by government debt and printing of money.
 
The enormous debt in the United States alone along with its printing of money during the past decade has already pushed the economy to the edge of disaster. That, along with exceedingly high unemployment of over forty million, has moved America ever so close to a complete collapse.
 
Any more shocks will push it over the edge to great economic catastrophe and mind-boggling inflation and bring the same to the world.
 
Violence
 
Revelation 9:21 tells us this this about people during the tribulation: "nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts." Just as in the days of Noah, violence will fill the earth during the tribulation.
 
The antichrist will cause the killing of a large number of saints during this time. Revelation 7:9-14 pictures a large multitude of martyrs that have come out of the "great tribulation." These are no doubt the same ones John refers to in 6:9 who were killed "for the word of God and witness they have borne." We already see this violence against Christians in our world and the seeds of it in the United States.
 
Can there be any doubt regarding the deadly intentions of the left in America who advocate abortion up to and after birth, who put patients sick with COVID-19 in nursing homes, and who send police to stop worship services? Someday the rage and hatred of the left in the US will erupt into violent persecution against those who hold fast to the Word of God, if not before the rapture then surely after it.
 
The Increase of Anti-Semitism
 
We also know that the second half of the tribulation will be a time of deadly violence against the Jewish people (Matt. 24:15-20). We see the seeds of much anti-Semitism at work in our world.
 
New York City, home to 1.8 million Jews, saw a record number of anti-Semitic attacks in 2019. France and Germany are rapidly becoming unsafe places for the Jewish people to lie.
 
We also see antisemitism rampant at the United Nations. During the first couple months of the 2019-2020 session of the UN, it adopted 18 anti-Israel resolutions compared with just 7 concerning other nations.
 
The New World Order
 
Scripture tells us that a world government will dominate the entire earth during the tribulation, over which the antichrist will seize control (Dan. 7:24-26; Rev. 13:1-10). Today, we see this coming one-world government forming before our eyes.
 
The UN now has a web page titled "Let's Take Our Planet Back" at https://unnwo.org/. An easy way to remember the link is to think "United Nations New World Order." This website represents a more blatant revelation of the UN's desire to create a New World Order, although it has always been quite visible under its stated Agenda 2030 goals of establishing a Marxist world order by 2030.
 
The website puts a positive spin on the seventeen goals of Agenda 2030, which in reality reflect a Marxist/fascist world government in total control of the lives of people in every nation.
 
Surrendering of Rights
 
Since the onset of COVID-19, the willingness of people in the United States to surrender their rights and freedoms has astounded me. Many blindly follow unconstitutional restrictions without protest or any resistance whatsoever.
 
This has been a successful test-run for the globalists. The elite have learned that with a world crisis and control of the media, many people will unwittingly submit to whatever the government tells them with little or no resistance as long as it's for the "common good."
 
When the tribulation arrives on planet Earth, great fear and panic will also lead to a surrendering of rights and freedoms that will enable the globalists to finalize their plans for a New World Order.
 
The Mark of the Beast
 
I do not believe that Bill Gates is the antichrist, nor do I think that his vaccine and its accompanying tattoo is the mark of the beast that we find described in Revelation 13:16-18. However, I do believe these things are also preparing the world for the control that the antichrist will exert over the world during the tribulation.
 
The idea that the government can require a vaccine along with proof of it in order to leave one's home and participate in society would have been thought tyrannical just a decade ago. But now, after the fear generated in the media over COVID-19, multitudes now accept such an idea and see no problem with it.
 
In addition to this, we now have the technology for the antichrist to implement such a program worldwide. Revelation 13:16-18 is not here yet, but it's springing to life before our eyes.
 
Middle East Tension
 
While the world remains distracted by COVID-19, tensions keep escalating in the Middle East. Israel has inflicted heavy damage on Iranian military installations in Syria in recent weeks. And, Iran continues to promise the world that it will soon wipe Israel off the map.
 
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's pledge to annex portions of the West Bank on July 1 is also increasing tensions in the region. The Palestinians and their allies say they will never accept the adding of land in Judea and Samaria to Israel and will most likely react violently to such an annexation.
 
The Gog-Magog War described in Ezekiel 38-39 seems closer than ever. The nations remain aligned precisely as we read in 38:1-13. It's also interesting that Israeli Rabbis believe the war of Ezekiel 38-39 could begin at any moment.
 
Apostasy
 
In both 1 and 2 Timothy, Paul warns of great apostasy in the church during the last days. This day has arrived. The widespread acceptance by so many churches of what the Bible labels as sin is just the tip of the iceberg.
 
Just as the apostle predicted in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, people today flock to false teachers in great numbers. In some cases, these so-called pastors have become multi-millionaires as a result of their perversion of the Gospel.
 
It's far more popular for preachers today to regard vast sections of scriptural prophecy as allegory and proclaim a false, unbiblical hope to their congregations, one that denies the imminent return of Jesus.
 
The heretical teaching that the church will triumph through the tribulation and bring in the millennial kingdom itself has attracted millions of Christians during the past few decades. It's by far the fastest growing view of the end-times in churches today and yet another indicator of the great apostasy that exists in our time.
 
Lawlessness
 
I added this point after reading the accounts of the rioting in Minneapolis that has spread to many other cities. Is this not a prime example of the lawlessness that Jesus said would appear during the tribulation? In Matthew 24:12, Jesus said this about the signs of the end of the age, "And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold."
 
Paul refers to the antichrist as the "the man of lawlessness" in 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Right now we see the spirit of the antichrist visibly at work throughout the United States.
 
As I look at these ten indicators of the rapidly approaching tribulation, I am amazed that the true church remains earthbound.
 
I expect the rapture to happen at any moment. If the tribulation that begins months or perhaps longer after Jesus' appearing seems so very near, how much closer must we be to our blessed hope?
 
The economies of the world may recover from the brink of disaster, and the push for a New World Order may decrease. However, at the moment, this seems highly unlikely given the tremendous debt of many nations and the staggering high unemployment. Forbes online magazine recently stated that as many as 42% of the jobs lost in America may be gone for good. Could the growing lawlessness and riots push the US and world closer to economic collapse? It's entirely possible.
 
The history of the twentieth century tells us that the aftermath of great economic distress, war, or both provides fertile soil for the emergence of socialist/fascist dictators. I believe the antichrist will arise from the ashes of the coming worldwide chaos to seize control of the coming New World Order.
 
Given the condition of our world at the moment, it will not take much to plunge the world into a great economic disaster or trigger the Gog-Magog War. The resulting chaos will provide the perfect opportunity for Satan to place his man in charge of the world order, which he will do.
 
The good news is that we will be with Jesus before the devil unveils "the man of lawlessness" to the world.
 
Take heart; Jesus is coming soon!
 
Maranatha!
 
Jonathan Brentner
 
Website: Our Journey Home
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 Great Wickedness - By Daymond Duck -
https://www.raptureready.com/2020/06/07/great-wickedness-by-daymond-duck/
 
I have been asked, "Should I take the Coronavirus vaccine when it is developed?"
 
Know that I have no medical training, and the answer to that is way over my head.
 
But a friend sent me links to some disturbing articles that I think people should know about.
 
One, it is old news that scientists have been using computers to alter the genetic code of animals (a science called synthetic biology) to grow human ears on pigs, lungs in pigs, etc., that can be transplanted to humans.
 
It is also old news that these synthetic biologists have been working on synthetic vaccines for years (a flu vaccine, perhaps a Coronavirus vaccine, etc.).
 
Here is a link to an article on the subject that was written more than 5 years ago:
 
Synthetic Biologist Aims to Create Pig with Human Lungs.
 
Two, one of the links that my friend sent concerns a May 1, 2014 meeting of Synthetic biologists (called a 20-year old science) at MIT.
 
Representatives from two federal agencies (the FBI and the Dept. of Homeland Security) were present.
 
The FBI agent reportedly said, "These technologies do not just pose a risk to individual buildings or cities, but if cleverly deployed, can reduce our population by significant percentages."
 
Here is a link to the article:
 
FBI Agent: Synthetic Biology Could Reduce Our Population by Significant Percentages.
 
I will add that vaccine development and population reduction have been goals of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation for years.
 
They are avid supporters of abortion, and mega-Globalist Henry Kissinger recently pointed out that Gates has spent millions and is planning to spend billions on the development of a vaccine for the Coronavirus (April 3, 2020 op-ed article in the Wall Street Journal).
 
There have been reports (a Gates spokesperson denies them; I don't trust Snopes) of a call for Gates arrest in Italy, and Gates vaccine experiments paralyzing tribal children in India and Africa (who knows the truth, but this is coming from several sources).
 
If true, the FBI-predicted significant population reduction could be real.
 
Three, another link discusses the fact that synthetic biologists have been meeting with tech elites with god-like powers (Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, etc.) to re-engineer animals, create new species on earth, and create disease-resistant synthetic DNA vaccines that can be injected in animals and humans.
 
Here is a link to the article:
 
It's Time for A Rewrite: Genetic Code of The Planet Under Attack.
 
Four, another article says some scientists want to create genetically enhanced humans (designer babies, more perfect human beings, etc.).
 
The writer says a synthetic biologist at Harvard "doesn't rule out the possibility of rewiring the genome of a human embryo to be virus-proof."
 
According to the writer, more work is needed on this; these people think what they are doing is cool in this "Facebook generation," but it is actually extremely dangerous.
 
Here is a link to the last article my friend sent:
 
Writing Your Baby's Synthetic Genome: Genetic Engineering for the Facebook Generation.
 
Someone might ask, "What is wrong with altering the DNA of humans, if scientists are trying to create more perfect humans that are immune to the Coronavirus?"
 
Adam and Eve were created by God in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27), meaning their DNA was created by God.
 
Corrupting that DNA to create "a more perfect human" changes what God created and makes that person a hybrid that is no longer wholly in the image of God.
 
God told Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish the earth (Gen. 1:28), but that would be after their own kind (Adam's seed not a human-created hybrid seed).
 
Satan corrupted Adam and Eve with a sin nature when he got them to sin (Gen. 3:1-19), and I cannot settle the issue of the Nephilim (giants in the earth; Gen. 6:4), but it is difficult for me to not believe that these "giants in the earth" were not genetically contaminated.
 
Something caused the wickedness of man (Gen. 6:5) to become great at this time, and God decided to destroy all but eight people with the Flood (Gen. 6:6-18).
 
For your information, the enzyme that activates the quantum dots in Gates' vaccine is called Luciferase (Lucifer was Satan's name when he fell; Isa. 14:12).
 
Gates' tattoo is not the Mark of the Beast, but it is a major step in that direction, and everyone that takes the Mark of the Beast will be tormented forever (Rev. 14:9-11).
 
I will answer the question at the beginning of this article with a question: If ordered to do so at some future time under the penalty of not being allowed to buy and sell, will you allow yourself to be vaccinated with a substance that may not have been tested on humans, that will change your DNA, and when vaccinated, allow yourself to be marked with a tattoo that is activated by an enzyme called Luciferase?
 
Gates' vaccine will not be ready in time to inoculate school children this fall, but Gates' vaccine and tattoo are moving the world toward the Mark of the Beast; and if the Rapture happened today, it would be at least 3 ½ years before the Mark of the Beast is implemented.
 
Five, On May 15, 2020, it was reported that Bill Gates has explained that the Coronavirus vaccine will use experimental technology and permanently alter a person's DNA.
 
Put another way, Gates' vaccine will be unlike all previous vaccines, not fully tested, and the public will only know how effective it is by forcefully vaccinating and changing the DNA of everyone on earth.
 
Gates wants permission to vaccinate everyone on earth with an untested vaccine.
 
Six, the article has been taken down, but on May 16, 2020, it was reported that the Dept. of Defense and the Dept of Health and Human services plan to start vaccinating people before Oct. 1, 2020 so school can get started back (hopefully, the article has been taken down because they have changed their minds on the vaccinations).
 
Seven, the UN wannabe world government has a new website for its "global, high-level initiative."
 
The UN website says their New World Oder (a phrase that means world government) Project was founded in 2008 "to advance a new economic paradigm, a new political order, and more broadly, a new world order for humankind, which achieves the UN's Global Goals (world government goals) for Sustainable Development by 2030."
 
Check it out at https://unnwo.org
 
Eight, concerning other news, on May 25, 2020, in response to Israel's plans to start annexing part of Judea and Samaria on July 1, 2020, Turkey's Pres. Erdogan said, "We will not allow Palestinian lands to be offered to anyone."
 
The Bible reveals that Turkey will be part of the coalition of nations that attack Israel in the latter days and latter years.
 
One must wonder if the Battle of Gog and Magog is getting close.
 
Nine, on May 29, 2020, the U.S. terminated its relationship with the World Health Organization (about $450 million a year) over its mishandling of the Coronavirus Crisis, and for helping China cover her activities to the harm of other nations.
 
Ten, there will be an increase in the frequency and intensity of famine, pestilence, wars and rumors of wars, etc., at the end of the age.
 
Several nations in Africa and the Middle East are plagued with locusts and the Coronavirus; there is major flooding in Kenya, and the Coronavirus; the people of India are suffering from the worst locust plague in 50 years, the highest temperatures in several decades (in the 120's) a cyclone, flooding and the Coronavirus; life-threatening floods and the Coronavirus have hit Central America; the U.S. is suffering from rioting, looting, and the Coronavirus; etc.
 
China is preparing for war with the U.S.; India and China are threatening war with each other; Iran is threatening war with Israel and the U.S.; Turkey, Russia and others are fighting in Libya, etc.
 
Know that Jesus said the end of the age will be like the Days of Noah.
 
In the days of Noah, God sent the Flood because of Great wickedness (Gen. 6:5), and He uses locusts, pestilence, and natural disasters to call for repentance before His ultimate judgment falls (II Chron. 7:13-14).
 
He loves people, He wants a relationship with everyone, and He may be using these things to tell us we are running out of time, and lukewarm is not good enough.
 
Finally, I want to close by saying that I have been taken to task the last two weeks in a row for writing that the House of Representatives has passed a bill called TRACE under the number HR6666.
 
Those that are writing are saying HR6666 has been referred to a committee and has not passed.
 
Prophecy Plus Ministries, Inc.
Daymond & Rachel Duck
[email protected]

2 Vital Promises from 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 - By Jonathan Brentner - https://www.raptureready.com/2020/05/30/2-vital-promises-from-1-thessalonians-59-10-by-jonathan-brentner/
 
Scripture has become my lifeline these days. Even so, I often feel heaviness in my soul as I witness the response to COVID-19 in my state and nation. I see so much unnecessary suffering and loss.
 
I find myself returning again and again to God's Word and its precious promises that we need for the time in which we live. I mentioned Psalm 46:10 in an earlier post; I go to Psalms 46 and 47 at least a couple times each week.
 
For this article, however, I want to focus your attention on two particularly encouraging promises from 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, "For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him."
 
Our Blessed Hope
 
The first promise, from verse 9, assures us that the rapture will happen before the Lord's wrath overwhelms the earth. Jesus will come for us before the start of the tribulation.
 
The "wrath" Paul refers to in verse 9 is not that of hell, but of the day of the Lord. In 1 Thessalonians 5:3-8, Paul's topic is the "sudden destruction" that will overtake the world at the beginning of this time of God's wrath described by many prophets in the Old Testament. They repeatedly warned that this day would be a prolonged time in which the Lord would severely judge sinful humanity.
 
The prophet Isaiah, for example, tells us this day will be a time when much of the earth's population will perish (13:9-12). Zephaniah says this about the coming day, "A day of wrath is that day, / a day of distress and anguish, / a day of ruin and devastation, / a day of darkness and gloom, / a day of clouds and thick darkness (1:15).
 
This day of the Lord includes all of the tribulation which the apostle John wrote about in Revelation 6-18 about forty-five years after Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians.
 
Even though the horrors of the tribulation seem ever so close, we have this reassuring promise: the rapture will happen before the Lord pours out His wrath on the unsuspecting world during what Scripture refers to as the day of the Lord.
 
This is our blessed hope: the rapture will happen before the seven-year tribulation begins.
 
Our Blessed Assurance
 
There's a second wonderful promise in these verses that is often missed because the English language does reflect the differences between the words Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 and those he uses in verse 10, ". . . who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him."
 
In chapter 4, the apostle distinguishes between living and dead saints. In verse 10, he differentiates between those who are spiritually awake and those who are not. Let me explain how I arrived at this conclusion.
 
The Greek verb Paul uses for "awake" in verse 10 is gregoreo, a word that denotes moral alertness. In 5:4-8, Paul uses the word along with that of being "sober" to portray the idea of temperance in our walk with the Lord versus that of drunkenness or carelessness. "So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober" (v 6).
 
Jesus used the word gregoreo in Matthew 24:42 and Mark 13:35 as that of watchfulness for his return. It's this same sense of watchfulness and sober living that the apostle characterizes believers as being "awake" in 1 Thessalonians 5:6-10.
 
What about those whom Paul characterizes as being "asleep" in verse 10? Who are these people?
 
The word Paul uses for believers who are "asleep" in in 5:10 is katheudo. This word refers to someone who is physically asleep, not dead. Of the 22 times this word appears in the New Testament, it only once refers to someone who had died, and then Jesus used the word to refer to the girl He intended to raise from the dead. In 1 Thessalonians 4:17, Paul uses the Greek word zao to refer to living saints at the time of the rapture.
 
In the context of 1 Thessalonians 5:4-8, Paul uses katheudo with moral implications, applying the word to believers who are asleep in their walk with the Lord (v. 6); it's the opposite of someone who walks in the light of Scripture, i.e. the sober saint or the one who is gregoreo.
 
Based on the context and Paul's change of words from chapter 4, we know that the sense of 1 Thessalonians 5:10 is that when Jesus come for His church, He will take those who are alert spiritually as well as those who are asleep in their walk with Him as evidenced by their lack of watchfulness for His return or their care about the way they live.
 
This is incredibly good news as well as an amazing promise. Our inclusion in the rapture does not depend upon our behavior at the time Jesus' appears; it depends solely upon whether or not our sins are covered with the blood Jesus shed on our behalf.
 
1 John 5:10-12 spells out the only condition for your inclusion in the rapture. If you belong to Jesus, you are going up regardless of your behavior at the moment! If Jesus is not your Savior, your feet will remain earthbound.
 
This is our blessed assurance!
 
Please know I am not saying that our behavior does not matter. It absolutely does! What I am saying is that those who teach the doctrine of a partial rapture advance a doctrine that not only contradicts the heart of the Gospel, but Paul's specific promise in 1 Thessalonians 5:10.
 
The New Testament teaches that all believers will give an account of their lives to Jesus (Rom. 14:12; 1 Cor. 3:10-15; 2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 4:12-13). Faithful service will be rewarded (1 Cor. 15:58); saints who neglect their spiritual gifts and opportunities to serve the Lord with those provisions will suffer loss at the judgment seat of Christ, but they will not lose their salvation, nor will they miss out on the rapture.
 
So yes, our behavior matters; but our good deeds do not merit our salvation nor do they merit our rapid heavenward journey when Jesus appears to take us home. Those whom God justifies, He also glorifies (Rom. 8:30); this is an unbroken chain. Once God justifies us, it becomes an absolute certainty He will glorify us at the return of His Son. That is the promise of Romans 8!
 
You see, when Jesus gives us eternal life based on His work on the cross, it means we will never perish (John 10:27-29). The Lord forever seals our fate, eternity in paradise, the moment He brings us into His forever family.
 
Why do I emphasize these promises from 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10? It's because so many churches err on one side of the other. They either ignore our blessed hope or they ignore our blessed assurance. Both represent grievous errors in these last days.
 
In 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, the apostle Paul assures us of two precious promises in regard to our eternal hope. Jesus is coming for us before the tribulation, and our inclusion in our trip to His Father's house in heaven depends solely on His blood shed on our behalf, not our behavior.
 
Jonathan Brentner
 
Website: Our Journey Home
 
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Understanding the Mystery of Pentecost (Part 2) - by: Gary Stearman - https://prophecywatchers.com/understanding-the-mystery-of-pentecost/
 
PROPHECIES OF SUMMER
 
Biblically, the spring harvest is often seen to typify the "harvest" or catching-away of the church. As we have seen, this is the season when grain and fruit crops come to maturity. Fruit is judged and stored. Wheat is now safe in the graneries of the land. At Pentecost, a small sample is taken, ground into flour and baked into two loaves. They are the leavened "test loaves" of the new harvest. As already stated, they typify the two bodies of the redeemed at the end of the age: Israel and the church.
 
Bread and fruit are the perfect picture of redemption, blessing and bounty. But to Israel, at the time of Jacob's trouble, the harvest will not bring satisfaction. Instead, there will be the realization that something drastic has happened. The prophet Micah graphically describes this, as we see in Micah 7:1-6:
 
"1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit. 2 The good man is perished out of the Earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net. 3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. 4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. 5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. 6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house" (Mic. 7:1-6).
 
Here, the prophet Micah speaks as the voice of Israel in the latter days. The time is set at the end of fruit harvest - late April through early June - the season that begins with Passover and ends with Pentecost.
 
The summer fruits have been "gathered," or harvested. The Hebrew term asaph, means "to remove, or take away." But one of its major meanings is, "to be gathered to one's fathers at death." This translation easily fits in the context of these verses. The good fruit of the righteous has been harvested and taken for inspection and storage. From Micah's point of view, the friends of Israel have gone away.
 
As we continue, Micah's distress becomes more clear. He has a deep desire for the fruit that has been removed. And what is this fruit? Verse 2, tells us that it is the "good man," who has "perished" from the Earth. This fits perfectly with the idea of the judgment of the fruit of trees.
 
"Perish" is represented by the Hebrew verb avad, meaning, "to cause to vanish!" As the picture develops, it is easy to see that Micah's vision perfectly describes the conditions that will prevail when righteous mankind is instantly transported from the Earth at the catching-away of the church.
 
The unredeemed remainder of humanity left on Earth is devoid of morals, scruples or ethics. Lust and extortion become the basis of human behavior. There are no trustworthy friends; even family members can't be trusted without a suitable bribe.
 
The rapture has come. It is an event associated with early summer. And immediately afterward comes a horror that Israel has long dreaded. Verse 4 says, "... the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity." What is this visitation?
 
Jewish translations of this verse often say, "The day of your visitation from the north has come." The Jerusalem Bible translates it as, "Today will come their ordeal from the North, now is the time for their confusion."
 
Because of this fact, some ancient Jewish expositions of this passage link it with Ezekiel's prophecy of Gog's invasion of Israel.
 
This interpretation stems from the fact that the word "watchman" in Hebrew contains the root word for "north" or "northern." Thus, "watchman," is built around a word which carries the meaning of both "watch" and "north." Hence, ancient expositors see in this verse an invasion from the north. One of the most graphic of all latter-day prophecies is Ezekiel's narrative of Gog's invasion of Israel. It comes from the north:
 
"And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army" (Ezek. 38:15).
 
What makes Micah's prophecy most interesting, of course, is that it links the rapture of the church with Ezekiel's prophecy of the northern invasion.
 
First, there is the gathering up of the fruitful righteous. They are "made to vanish" from the face of the Earth. Then comes a time of horror, when Israel realizes that she is without friends upon Earth. Israel's difficulties begin in earnest, as society becomes totally degenerate.
 
Apparently, shortly thereafter, the prophesied invasion takes place.
 
But the sequence begins at the summer harvest. Without a doubt, this is the picture meant to come to our minds when we think of the rapture. Jesus prophesied His own coming for the church in this way:
 
"28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. 29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; 30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. 31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. 32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled" (Luke 21:28- 32).
 
What Jesus is talking about here is the very beginning of a long procession of events that will bring the Kingdom to planet Earth at last. Preparation is being made for the judgment of the fruit of trees, here, a metaphor of Israel and all the nations in the latter days. This metaphor applies to the change of dispensation that will come with the spring festival calendar.
 
THE BRIDEGROOM AND HIS BRIDE
 
Another well-known example of this thought is the coming of the Bridegroom for the bride in the Song of Solomon. He comes for His bride at the time when spring is fully come and the fruit is almost ripe:
 
"8 The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. 9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice. 10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. 11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; 12 The flowers appear on the Earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; 13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away" (Song of Solomon 2:8-13).
 
Once again, in another notable rapture passage, we see that the season is spring. Here, the coming of Solomon for his Shulamite bride is an obvious type of the Lord and His relationship with the church - the Bridegroom coming for His bride.
 
In this picture, the figs and grapes will soon be ready for harvest. The beloved is depicted as skimming across the mountain tops. In other words, he is near, but has not quite yet arrived. The season is late spring. Soon, the fruit will be gathered. This passage implies that the church will be taken home. The season is that of Pentecost.
 
Then, according to the prophet Micah, Israel will realize that her best and closest friend has vanished from the Earth.
 
A CHOSEN BRIDE FROM MOAB
 
As earlier noted, grain harvest comes in late spring. It was in this season that Ruth became the wife of Boaz.
 
Trees are laden with fresh foliage. Flowers are in bloom. The heart of humanity is light and optimistic. Jewish homes are decorated with fresh greenery and floral decoration. Hayyim Schauss says:
 
"Even in school the instruction is festive and breathes the spirit of the holiday. The children are taught the book of Ruth. So clear is the imagery thereof that they are carried back to the days of old, when Jews reaped the harvest of the fields of their own land.
 
"The older children sit around a long table with the teacher and study the Book of Ruth. But their thoughts are not on their studies; they are thinking of Bethlehem, the town where David was born and spent his childhood. They imagine they are standing at harvest time in the fields that surround the town. Gentle breezes blow from the hills of Judah. The fields are filled with freshly-cut sheaves. They hear the whir of the reaping scythe, and the song of the workers in the fields. And everywhere is the pleasing aroma of the newly-fallen gleanings which Ruth is gathering in the field.
 
"Their thoughts are carried still farther afield when the teacher recites, or rather sings, as he interprets "Akdomus." [This is an eleventh-century poem.] King David is descended from Ruth and Boaz, and from David's seed, it is believed, will come the Messiah. In 'Akdomus' is presented vividly a picture of the day when the Messiah will have arrived, the time of eternal bliss on Earth."
 
Many have said that the book of Ruth is the most beautiful narrative in the entire Bible. Ruth was a Gentile woman of Moab, who married into a Hebrew family. At that time, there was a famine in Israel, which the family hoped to escape by emigrating from Bethlehem to Moab. These events took place during the period of time in which the judges ruled the land after the death of Joshua. It was a time of deep moral and spiritual decline.
 
The husband and both sons died in Moab, widowing Ruth, her mother-in-law, Naomi, and her sister-in-law, Orpah, who soon departed. Naomi elected to return to her home in Bethlehem, urging Ruth to stay with her own people, as Orpah had done. But Ruth faithfully determined to go with her and remain by her side until death separated them.
 
They arrived in Bethlehem at harvest time. As was the right of the poor, Ruth gleaned in the fields for their food. As a poor foreigner, she had nothing to expect but a future of perpetual widowhood. Yet she found favor in the sight of Boaz, a wealthy landowner. He allowed her to glean even among the sheaves of the field. At Naomi's instruction, Ruth went to the threshing floor and laid down at the feet of Boaz on the night of Pentecost, the festival of harvest. That night, he claimed her and redeemed her as a near kinsman had the right to do. After securing the legal right to marry her, they were united in marriage, and she bore him a son. That son was Obed, the grandfather of David the king.
 
This is the story of a Gentile bride in a strange land, who started out with only her faith. She provides a prophetic picture of the Gentile bride of Christ - the Church. On the very night of Pentecost, Ruth came to lie at the feet of Boaz.
 
At midnight, startled, he awoke to discover the woman of whom he had earlier taken note as she gleaned in his fields. His acceptance of her set in motion a series of legal steps, which he undertook promptly, in order that he might marry her. Ruth had remained completely faithful to Naomi. Boaz knew of her reputation as a virtuous woman. He completed her righteousness in their marriage, making her an heir to the Messianic promise. A poor woman of Moab was brought into the lineage of the throne of David, from which the Messiah would one day rule over the nations.
 
According to Michael Strassfeld, writing in The Jewish Holidays, a Guide and Commentary, rabbinical authority calls for the book of Ruth to be read at Pentecost, because:
 
[1 ] The story is set at the time of harvest, [2 ] Ruth's conversion to Judaism is thought to bear a close resemblance to one's voluntary acceptance of the Torah and God's covenant at Sinai, [3] King David, according to tradition, was born and died on Shavuot [Pentecost]. The book of Ruth, of course, ends with a genealogy from Ruth down to King David. And, [4] Reading Ruth means that the totality of the Torah is celebrated on Shavuot, for Ruth is part of the ... writings that together with the Torah and the prophets compose the whole Bible.
 
AN OVERNIGHT VIGIL FOR JEWS
 
At this point, it is of great interest to note another element of this Jewish festival: The Jews stay up all night in their synagogue's house of study, poring over "tikkun." This consists of little sections from each book of the Torah and the Talmud, representing all of the most important texts of Judaism. But even this act of staying up all night sets forth the theme of resurrection. Michael Strassfeld writes of this custom:
 
"A kabbalistic custom emanating from the mystics in Safed (sixteenth century) is to stay up the whole (first) night of Shavuot studying Torah. The tikkun - a set order of study - was composed of selections from the Bible, rabbinic literature, and even mystical literature such as the Zohar. In this fashion the kabbalists prepared for the momentous revelation of the following morning.
 
"This practice of staying up all night is in stark contrast to that of the Israelites at Sinai, who according to tradition slept late that morning and had to be awakened by Moses. In atonement for this, Jews nowadays stay awake all night. The sense of preparation for Sinai is heightened by a mystical tradition holding that the skies open up during this night for a brief instant. At that very moment, we are told, God will favorably answer any prayer. The kabbalists also regard Pentecost as the wedding of God and Israel. Therefore, we stay up all night to "decorate the bride."
 
What an incredible picture of the rapture! The opening of the heavens "for a brief instant" corresponds with the message in I Corinthians 15:51:
 
"Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye ..."
 
Here is the perfect picture of Christ coming to catch away His bride! And where does He take her? - to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb! This corresponds with Pentecost, when the Jews "stay up all night to decorate the bride."
 
To an amazing degree, their activities remind us of the catching away of the church ... the bride of Christ; Pentecost has many features that are suggestive of the rapture. It is associated with harvest, marriage and the taking of a Gentile bride. Its date is variable, picturing the unpredictability of Christ's coming for His own.
 
Like all the Jewish festivals, it is made up of pictures and ideas that preserve God's truth, even among those whose eyes may be temporarily blinded by unbelief, or the rote practices of tradition. Quite significantly, it marks the birth of the Church Age, and before that, the giving of the Law. Each of these events marks the turning to a different dispensation: first to Law, and then to Grace. In the eyes of God, therefore, Pentecost must be an important festival. To the Jew, it is a vital part of the festival calendar.
 
Today, observant Jews seek spiritual purification (called taharah) on Pentecost night. Their vigil of prayer and study is the culmination of a process that begins every year on Firstfruits, and continues through the counting of the Omer. It reaches a climax on this particular night.
 
From The Three Festivals by Josef Stern, we read, "During these days and weeks [between Passover and Pentecost], our personal efforts to cleanse ourselves of spiritual impurities are critical, as the Torah says ... you shall count for yourselves. However, if we make sincere efforts during [the counting of the omer], we can be assured that Hashem [the Lord] will shower us with an outpouring of taharah on the night of Shavuos, as the Sages said, someone who comes to purify himself will receive Divine help."
 
More than just a single night, the Pentecost vigil is said to set the tone for an entire year, if it is taken seriously:
 
"The Zohar also reminds us that the taharah that descends on those who immerse themselves in Torah study on this night is a fragile thing. Unless we take active steps to preserve it throughout the year we cannot be assured that it will remain with us."
 
It is a day laden with rich spiritual types and symbols. Many Jews will stay up all night in the hope of catching that precise moment when the sky opens for an instant. They will read their Scriptures, pray and "decorate the bride."
 
Will the church be called home on a night such as this? Although it is impossible to name this particular night as the time of the rapture, it is nevertheless a stimulating thought for these last days. What a picture of our blessed hope! There are many precedents for what will happen to all believers on that day. Paul was once taken to heaven:
 
"I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth) such an one caught up to the third heaven" (II Corinthians 12:2).
 
To be "caught up" is the blessed hope of faithful Christians everywhere. Scripture makes it quite plain that this is our destiny. In some inexplicable way, the sky will open for a moment, and we shall be gone ... vanished without a trace! The language of I Thessalonians 4:17 is very similar to the preceding passage:
 
"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
 
This will be the biggest historical event since the Lord's own ascension into the heavens. And it will certainly be the trigger that sets in motion an increasingly cataclysmic series of judgments. In Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians, the restraining force associated with the presence of the body of Christ is given as the key factor in the timing of latter-day events. Its removal will provide the environmental changes necessary for evil to advance toward the fulfillment of prophecy.
 
In other words, as long as we are present and active, the revelation of the wicked one, and wickedness in general, cannot manifest itself in full power. Pentecost, the festival that has traditionally marked the dispensational change from law to grace, seems ideally suited as the model for this event. Then, a rapid succession of biblical marvels will bring Messianic rule to the Earth.
 
"He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20).

Understanding the Mystery of Pentecost (Part 1) - by: Gary Stearman - https://prophecywatchers.com/understanding-the-mystery-of-pentecost/
 
In Hebrew, the word Pentecost is "Shavuot," which means "weeks." In the Jewish calendar, the Feast of Weeks is the festival of the wheat harvest in the Land of Israel, which is always a metaphor of souls saved being brought into the household of God.
 
"9 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. 10 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee" (Deut. 16:9, 10).
 
As first given in Leviticus, it is seen as the culmination of seven weeks, plus one day ... the day after the Sabbath. These fifty days are mentioned in the New Testament as Pentecost, the Greek word for "fifty."
 
Of all the observances of the Jewish Festival Calendar, The Feast of Weeks is the most mysterious. In modern Judaism, Pentecost is always observed on two days, a mystery in itself. Because it floats on their calendar, it is called, "the festival without a date."
 
When most Christians think of Pentecost, they don't think of Jewish holidays at all. Quite naturally, their first thought is the Book of Acts. This book - the history of apostolic activity in the formative days of the Church - is founded upon the dispensation of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church on Pentecost morning. By itself, it is one of the most amazing events in the history of the world.
 
The Book of Acts opens near the end of the fifty-day period that began to be counted after the Feast of Firstfruits - the day that marks the resurrection of our Lord. Luke opens his narrative in Acts by referring back to his Gospel, calling it "the former treatise." At the end of that "former treatise" - The Gospel of Luke - Jesus ascends into the heavens after meeting with many people. He ended his appearances by saying "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high" (Lk. 24:49).
 
Then, in Acts, after a 40-day gap, Luke writes:
 
"1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: 4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence 6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the Earth. 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven" (Acts1:1-11).
 
Jesus rose before their wondering eyes, received into a "cloud." Many believe that this event foreshadows the moment when Christians shall be caught up to be with Him. During the following ten days, they gathered and prayed until Pentecost:
 
"1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:1-4).
 
FESTIVAL OF THE HARVEST
 
From its earliest days, Pentecost was known as a festival of the harvest. Long ago, the Omer was offered by the high priest, who stood before the Tabernacle, or later, the Temple. It was the token of the Festival of Firstfruits. In Leviticus 23:11, it is called, "the sheaf." In its most common sense, an omer was a dry measure that amounted to a little over two quarts. The offering of the Omer marked the first day of a fifty-day countdown to Pentecost:
 
"15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf [omer] of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: 16 Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. 17 Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord" (Leviticus 23:15-17).
 
The counting of fifty days from Firstfruits to Pentecost is typical of redemption in general. For the Jew, in the observance of the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), it has always represented the maturing relationship between God and Israel.
 
Think for a moment about the traditions that originated in the first years of the church. Its central doctrines were handed down through men brought up in the traditions of Jewish history and prophecy. Their lives had literally revolved around the keeping of the festival calendar. They had heard the teachings of Christ. Some, no doubt, had heard in person. They had listened to His parable of the harvest, when the good wheat and the tares, which had grown up together would be separated. They knew about the Festival of Harvest (Pentecost).
 
When Peter preached that historic sermon on the Day of Pentecost, he quoted the prophet Joel, whose entire book is centered around the harvest cycle.
 
When Joel wrote the prophecy, "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh," he set the theme of the harvest. Joel said, "The field is wasted, the land mourneth" (Joel 1:10). He said, "That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten" (Joel 1:4). That was a prediction of Israel's exile. The Jews must be scattered from their land, to suffer among the nations.
 
But that's not all. Joel also spoke of Israel's restoration and linked it to the time of the spring harvest.
 
"23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain and the latter rain in the first month. 24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten" (Joel 2:23-25).
 
This is a prophecy that began to be fulfilled in 1948. Furthermore, Israel was restored on May 14th of that year, during the season of the harvest cycle. This date, the 5th of Iyar in the Jewish calendar, was the 20th day in the counting of the Omer.
 
In Matthew 13:39, Jesus said, "The harvest is the end of the world." He indicated that end-time events would culminate in a great harvest of souls. Pentecost, the day following the seventh sabbath, marked the end of the grain harvest, at which time two loaves baked with leavening were brought to the Temple and held aloft by the High Priest. These two loaves symbolize the completed bodies of the redeemed. It seems quite reasonable that one is emblematic of spiritual Israel, while the other represents the church.
 
EARLY AND LATTER RAINS
 
Once the Holy Spirit was poured out in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, the prophecy of the "early rain" was fulfilled. Some day, the Holy Spirit will be poured out again in Jerusalem. It should be a fulfillment of the promise of a "latter rain." Will it also occur on Pentecost? In Peter's second sermon, he spoke of the ultimate fulfillment of the festival cycle. In Acts 3:19-21, he said:
 
"19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:19-21).
 
The prophetic implications of the festival cycle lie in God's promise to restore the Earth to the state of glory that He originally intended. So that His people would always remember what He has in mind, He planted this prophetic scenario in their culture. At some future time known only to Him, the story will become a reality. The festival narrative is arranged around events in their calendar that foreshadow their future counterparts.
 
We find ourselves experiencing another wave of renewed excitement about the near possibility of the rapture of the church. Interest in the prophesied culmination of the church age has waxed and waned over the years, periodically rising to its present level when world developments seem to signal a radical change. At the moment, an imminent war in the Middle East, coupled with financial collapse on a global scale, have aroused the attention of Christians around the world.
 
Many years ago, we began to share our studies on the traditions of Pentecost, which demonstrated numerous remarkable connections with the prophetic conclusion of the church age. It is the fourth and central feast among the seven Feasts of Israel: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur and Tabernacles. The first three are spring festivals, representing the blood sacrifice and resurrection. The last three come in the fall, calling forth judgment and the establishment of the Kingdom. At the middle - in summer - is Pentecost. In the Bible, it is represented by two loaves of leavened bread, held aloft by the High Priest. Today's Jews celebrate it in a ceremony called, "decorating the bride." Most remarkably, it typifies the catching-away of the church.
 
Every year, we are reminded afresh of Pentecost's enormous significance in the panorama of biblical prophecy. Many years ago, we first brought you its amazing prophetic truths. Better than any other ancient festival, it embodies the elements that we associate with the catching-away, or rapture, of the church. We repeat them here to refresh your memory concerning the joys of this season and to remind you that the Lord is near, even at the door. Our studies have made it increasingly obvious that the Lord-specifically for latter-day understanding-has inculcated specific memorial elements into the Jewish traditions surrounding Pentecost. As we continue to investigate this important subject, we are repeatedly impressed by the strong connections between Pentecost and the coming change of dispensation that will move the world into the age of the Kingdom.
 
Watching this festival, we constantly stress the fact that it is the most mysterious of all the Jewish festivals. First called the "Feast of Weeks," it is the major harvest festival. But its associated symbols and metaphors invoke meanings far beyond the mere harvesting of grain.
 
Among the Jews, this is the festival that celebrates the giving of the Torah, or Law. This was the time, they say, when Jews gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai. There, they heard the actual voice of God, as He spoke the commandments. The Bible does not seem, at first glance, to make a clear connection between Sinai and Pentecost. Nevertheless, the link is there, if we take the time to look.
 
Furthermore, this festival presents the ceremony of the marriage between God and Israel. In this context, Passover (which precedes Pentecost by seven weeks) becomes the period of God's courtship of His wife. The spiritual picture that emerges is the establishment of a faithful and holy household. A bit later, we'll examine it in greater depth.
 
JUDGMENT OF THE FRUIT OF TREES
 
Traditional Jewish belief holds that Pentecost is the day when the fruit of trees is judged in heaven. Christians throughout the Church Age have believed that the fruit of one's life will be judged following the rapture. This, of course, is the picture given by the apostle Paul to the church at Corinth in II Corinthians 5:10: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."
 
The resurrection of Jesus as the Omer or offering of Firstfruits began a countdown to the completion of the body of Christ. The good fruit of the righteous will be reviewed, then will come the judgment of the depraved world.
 
But there is more to add to this picture. Jewish families observe Pentecost by wearing bright and festive clothing. Homes are decorated with green plants and celebrative foods are prepared.
 
According to Hayyim Schauss, writing in The Jewish Festivals:
 
"The custom of decorating the homes and synagogues with green plants is variously explained. One theory is that the day is marked in heaven as the day of judgment for the fruit of the trees." Here is the theme of fruit-bearing, which points to the Judgment Seat of Christ following the rapture and resurrection. In Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus likened true versus false teaching to the fruit of trees:
 
"15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them" (Mt. 7:15-20).
 
Jesus teaches that false prophets can be known by their "fruits." The righteous will bring forth "good fruit." This "good fruit" is the "fruit of the Spirit," spoken of in Galatians 5:22, 23:
 
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."
 
Pentecost, associated with the giving of the Law, is a time for reviewing one's "fruit." To the Jews, the Law is seen as the way toward such "good fruit." But the apostle Paul wrote that only through the resurrection of Christ can we bring forth "fruit" unto God.
 
"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God" (Romans 7:4).
 
By His resurrection, Christ became our "firstfruits." He laid the "foundation" that made it possible for the church to bring forth more "fruit." This principle is clearly stated in I Corinthians:
 
"11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is" (1 Cor 3:11-13).
 
The judgment of the fruit of trees corresponds to the reward of the believer in heaven, here likened to a building. The good fruit of the believer's life will be judged for its final worth. This is exactly the theme seen in the Jewish festival of Pentecost.
 
PENTECOST: FESTIVAL WITHOUT A DATE
 
Remember, Pentecost is called Shavuot (or Weeks), in the Hebrew. It is so named to reflect the nature of its dating. It always falls seven weeks plus one day after the offering of the Omer.
 
Since it is based on counting the seven weeks following the Feast of Firstfruits, the date of Pentecost is fluid. Thus, when the Jewish calendar was still based upon visually marking the appearance of the new moon, Pentecost could fall on the fifth, sixth or seventh of Sivan. The final determination of the date would depend upon whether or not the months of Nisan and Iyar were full thirty-day months.
 
To this day, if one calculates the date of Pentecost as actually instructed in the Bible, its precise timing is always something of a mystery. Symbolically then, it becomes a perfect model for the rapture, since its date is also beyond reckoning.
 
According to Hayyim Schauss, the date for Pentecost cannot be fixed. He calls it the "only Jewish festival for which there is no fixed date." The Books of Moses do not state on which day of the month Pentecost is to be observed. It says only that it is to be celebrated fifty days after the offering of the Omer [Firstfruits], the first sheaf of the grain harvest, which was to be offered on "the morrow after the Sabbath," as we have already seen in Leviticus 23:15-17, making it a Sunday.
 
Following the destruction of the Second Temple in A.D. 70, it became physically impossible to commemorate either the Festival of Firstfruits or the waving of the loaves at Pentecost. The calendar date for Pentecost then became fixed at the sixth of Sivan ... the date upon which it is remembered to this day.
THE TRUMPET AND THE BRIDE
 
Around the same time, Jews adopted Pentecost as the time to commemorate the giving of the Law. The 19th chapter of Exodus relates that the giving of the Law at Sinai came in the third month on the third day of the month. This places the event at the time of Pentecost. They call it, "the revelation at Sinai." This revelation and the symbols of harvest are intertwined to give full significance to the observance of Pentecost.
 
In the festival, they also commemorate the symbolism of the marriage between God, the Groom, and Israel, the bride. They view Mt. Sinai as an enormous ketubah, or wedding canopy. The two tablets of the Law that Moses brought down from the mountain represent the marriage contract.
 
As mentioned earlier, this image is developed at Passover, which becomes the time of God's courtship with Israel, and Pentecost comes to represent the marriage itself. In its traditional aspects, Pentecost pictures the catching away of the bride more clearly than any other festival.
 
We have noted before that the blowing of the ram's horn on Rosh Hashanah has been suggested as representing the final trumpet of resurrection. But does it really? Is it possible that the trumpet blast on Rosh Hashanah represents instead, a "memorial" of the heavenly Pentecost trumpet?
 
"In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation" (Leviticus 23:24).
 
DISPENSATIONAL CHANGE
 
Let us review the part Pentecost has played at the beginning of two dispensations - Law and Grace. The rabbis say that the Dispensation of Law began on Pentecost. On that day, a heavenly trumpet was heard at Mount Sinai. The Jews remember this as a time when their national identity took a new direction.
 
"And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice" (Exodus 19:19).
 
Many Jews say that this, the first mention of a trumpet blast in Exodus was regarded by the spiritual leaders of Israel as having occurred on Pentecost. Exodus 19:1 tells us that this event came about in Sivan, the third month.
 
Furthermore, the trumpet was blown, not by man, but by a heavenly being. It was God's own voice! Moses and the Chosen People had gathered at Mt. Sinai, on the third day of preparation, wherein they washed themselves, cleaned their clothes, and were forbidden to touch the mountain. When God came down, a trumpet sounded long and loud, filling the people with awe and terror. On that occasion, the fire of God's glory descended and God gave the Ten Commandments. Here, we find the only heavenly trumpet recorded in the Old Testament. The next such trumpet should sound on the day of rapture and resurrection, making the day of Pentecost an interesting possibility for that event:
 
"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first" (I Thess. 4:16).
 
THE ORDER OF THE RESURRECTIONS
 
For the Gentile, Pentecost represents the relationship between Christ, the Bridegroom and His bride, the church. As mentioned earlier, the resurrection of Jesus was a literal Firstfruits offering that looked forward to the resurrection of all the faithful:
 
"20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection from the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power" (I Cor 15:20-24).
 
Here, Paul writes about Christ's resurrection in a specific way. Let's consider that word, "order." There is a specific order in the Jewish festival cycle and there is a well-defined order of resurrections. Paul, an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, had been schooled in the Scriptures at the feet of Gamaliel. Without a doubt, he was intimately aware of the tiniest details of the Jewish calendar. Therefore, when he speaks of Christ as the "firstfruits" in the context of an order of events, he knows that the next event in that order is Pentecost.
 
But of course, this was not the Pentecost at which the Holy Spirit was given to the infant church. No, that signal event had already taken place over twenty-five years before Paul wrote these words. He must, then, be referring to a future Pentecost which would conclude the harvest - Christ's resurrection being the "firstfruits," and our resurrection coming at the end of the harvest. Might this possibly occur on a future Pentecost? Might this be the time when Christ will come to take home His followers? Remember, Pentecost is the formal conclusion of the grain harvest.
 
It seems that when Paul used the word, "order," he intended the reader to see the order of the Jewish festival cycle. It is at least possible he was suggesting that the resurrection could take place on a future Pentecost.
 
Apparently the early church thought so. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible offers the following comment:
 
"The Church Fathers highly regarded Pentecost. Easter was always on Sunday, so Pentecost was also. Between Easter and Pentecost, there was to be no fasting. Praying was done standing, rather than kneeling. During this time, catechumens [new converts] were baptized. Many expected, because the Ascension had taken place near Pentecost, that Christ would return in the same season."
 
Pentecost was a time of expectation for the early Church. They felt that Christ might come for His own during this period. Why did they believe this? Was it because of its closeness to the time of the Ascension, or was it because of something else they had been taught? Remember, Christ's actual Ascension took place forty days after His resurrection. Ten days later, the Holy Spirit empowered the church for its future role in the harvest of souls ... the fifty days till Pentecost.

Just a Matter of Time - By Daymond Duck -
https://www.raptureready.com/2020/05/31/just-a-matter-of-time-by-daymond-duck-2/
 
On his Middle East Update for May 18, 2020, highly recognized prophecy teacher, Amir Tsarfati, said, "The New World Order is already here because all of the governments submitted willfully all the residents of their countries to orders coming from a central committee somewhere in Europe. . . . We are the generation that shall not pass away."
 
Tsarfati's point is well taken: Nations all over the world shut down their economies and ordered their citizens into lockdown almost simultaneously.
 
It is not likely that a global shutdown would happen unless there was a group of powerful people (the New World Order) behind it.
 
Along this same line, it may not mean a thing, but it seems more than strange that Bill Gates recently got a global patent on a cryptocurrency system to track all buying and selling under the number WO2020060606 (World Order 666) and the House of Representatives recently passed a bill called TRACE under the number H.R.6666 to track everyone.
 
Here are some more signs indicating that the Tribulation Period could be just a matter of time.
 
One, according to Jesus and Peter, there will be signs in the sun, moon and stars before and after the Tribulation Period (Matt. 24:29; Acts 2:20).
 
There have been several reports in recent weeks that 2019 and 2020 are record-setting years for the lack of solar flares on the sun.
 
Only God could know that the activity of the sun would change when so many other prophecies are being fulfilled.
 
For whatever it is worth, in mid-May 2020, the temperature at the Arctic reached the warmest ever recorded (80 degrees F.), and just a little south of the Arctic Circle, 86 degrees F. in Siberia.
 
Two, world leaders will divide Israel, and the Jews in Judea will need to flee into the wilderness at the middle of the Tribulation Period (Joel 3:2; Matt. 24:15-16; Rev. 12:13-16).
 
In April 2020, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor announced her plans to prosecute Israel for war crimes against the Palestinians in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.
 
On May 15, 2020, U.S. Sec. of State Mike Pompeo warned the ICC that it does not have jurisdiction in this matter, it is allowing itself to be a political tool of the Palestinians, it should not ignore international laws, and it must back off or the U.S. will "exact consequences."
 
The desire to divide Israel is sparking a controversy between the U.S. and the ICC.
 
Three, on May 18, 2020, Pres. Trump said the National Institute of Health (NIH) study that Dr. Fauci cites (and paid for as head of the NIH) to question the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin is faulty, and the data it produced is unreliable, so he (Trump) was taking the drug and doing well.
 
Is it reasonable to ask why is Dr. Fauci is using a faulty study to shut down America's economy and churches until Bill Gates can complete his work on a vaccine and tattoo to mark and track everyone on earth?
 
Four, as of mid-May 2020, the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) has successfully completed Coronavirus vaccine tests on rodents and will soon start tests on other animals.
 
If their new tests are successful, IIBR will test their vaccine on humans, and they could possibly have a vaccine in one year or less.
 
If they can come up with a vaccine that doesn't contain fetal tissue and doesn't require a global ID number and Mark, it could be an answer to prayer.
 
But don't get too excited.
 
The Coronavirus Crisis is not just about creating a vaccine.
 
It is primarily about initiating a tracking system and controlling everyone on earth by denying those that are not vaccinated the right to buy and sell.
 
Those that want to get excited should rejoice about the fact that the Rapture is at least 3 ½ years (and perhaps more) before a tracking system is implemented globally.
 
But do not be deceived: a global tracking system is now being fast-tracked.
It is not the Mark of the beast, but it could be the beginning of it.
 
Five, on May 18, 2020, it was reported that Alan Dershowitz said that in 1905 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government has a right to force citizens to be vaccinated to curb the spread of a contagious disease, and U.S. citizens have no right to refuse.
 
Dershowitz said a person that does not want to be vaccinated may not have a legal basis for refusal unless they can prove that it would seriously impair their health and possibly cause their death.
 
When the Mark of the Beast is instituted, a person will have two choices: take it or die (Rev. 13:15-18).
 
For whatever it is worth, attorney John Whitehead recently said Dershowitz is wrong.
Christians in the U.S. should pray that Whitehead is right.
 
Six, the Bible teaches that natural disasters will increase in frequency and intensity (like birth pains) at the end of the age.
 
On May 18, 2020, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said hurricanes and typhoons are getting stronger, moving slower, and causing increased destruction and flooding.
 
An interesting 12 min. video on YouTube documents this with graphic scenes of the worst sandstorm in Egypt since 1994; hail bigger than a baseball in Mexico; a 6.5 earthquake in Nevada; locusts and the Coronavirus in Africa pushing 265 million people toward starvation this year; the strongest cyclone in India in more than 10 years; the strongest cyclone on record before it weakened and devastated Bangladesh, etc.
 
All of this occurred around the middle of May and can be viewed at:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgQWSn-io8M
 
Finally, God offers everyone (a person can choose to accept or reject) a free gift (the atonement of the Christ on the cross) that will heal their sin nature, seal them with the Holy Spirit, get them a wonderful new body, and get them into heaven forever.
 
But Satan wants to force everyone (no choice) to take a vaccine that will contaminate their body (with DNA from fetal tissue, etc.), seal them with a tattoo or Mark, and get them into Hell forever (Rev. 14:9-10).
 
If you haven't made the right choice, do it soon.
 
Prophecy Plus Ministries, Inc.
Daymond & Rachel Duck
[email protected]