A Serious Look at Matt 24 & Rev 6 in Parallel: Part 2 - By Ron Ferguson - https://www.raptureready.com/2020/07/14/a-serious-look-at-matt-24-rev-6-in-parallel-part-2-by-ron-ferguson/
Here is the link to part one for those who have not read it. https://www.raptureready.com/2020/07/07/a-serious-look-at-matt-24-rev-6-in-parallel-part-1-of-2-ron-ferguson/ SIGN NUMBER 6: The purpose of the 6th seal is to stamp the signature of God on the whole period. What has happened on the earth so far could be excused by the sceptics' arguments, but now we see the direct intervention of God in the affairs of men and what a dread it gives. What torment men of the age will have! They will know once and for all that the great day of His wrath has come, and no one can stand. Rev. 6:12-17, "I looked when He broke the sixth seal and there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place (and all the mountains and islands were moved out of their places). The kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?'" Matthew 24 no longer traces a chronology of events that parallels the rest of Revelation, but keeps its focus on the tribulation saints, and then on the coming of the Lord in Glory. Matt 24:27, "For just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be." This coming is dealt with in some detail, and it matches the Rev 19 passage. Part of Matt 24 can also be matched with Revelation such as Matt 24:14 and Rev chapter 7. The disciples had asked about signs of His coming, and Matt 24:29-31 gives those. "But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other." These are the obvious signs of His coming that the Tribulation saints will recognize at the time. The "elect" are the Jewish Tribulation saints. The signs have nothing to do with the Rapture, and those who say Israel is now the Church are dishonoring God, who has set out all the future restoration of Israel. In fact, I go as far as to say that it is following the devil's line to do that, because Satan has always sought the destruction of God's chosen earthly people. It is sad that some promote this teaching. In verses 27-30 of Matthew 24, the cosmic signs of the Lord's Second Coming are given and replicate many of the Old Testament signs for The Day of the Lord. Straight after verse 31 of Matt 24, we have these remarkable verses: Matt 24:32-33, "Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. Even so you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door." The disciples had been asking about the signs of the Lord's coming, and He gave those in verses 4-14 (the beginning ones) and in v 29-31. Now He follows that by the parable, which in its context, has to be understood as belonging to the period immediately before the Second coming. What Jesus is saying is that when you begin to see those cosmic signs mentioned in Matt 24:29-31 (and also in the Old Testament Prophets such as Joel), then it is like the fig tree which heralds summer when the tender branches and leaves are showing. Summer will be His Second Coming outlined in this chapter, and in the Old Testament passages and Rev 19. I know this passage (v 32-33) is used for the Rapture sometimes, but it does not fit there and is wrong to do so because it drags the Rapture into Matt 24; and there is NO rapture or Church in Matt 24. (Look back at the Introduction.) Perhaps we could say that currently the fig tree (Israel) is budding, because the fig tree is a type of Israel. SIGN NUMBER 7: Well, the 7th seal in Rev 6 opens into the Trumpet and Bowl judgments, and Matthew does not touch on the details of this severe time of wrath, but covers, as we have seen, the "beginning of sorrows" or "the beginning of the birth pains." [D]. THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM: Matt 24:14 Matt 24:13-14, "But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come." All right, now we must consider this Gospel of the Kingdom to see what it is. This is essential as there is much confusion over it. The term "Gospel of the Kingdom" is exclusive to Matthew, the Jewish Gospel, and has to be understood as the Kingdom to be set up in Israel over which the Lord is the King-Messiah. Remember, neither the Church nor the gospel of grace is in Matt 24. John the Baptist came preaching that Gospel of the Kingdom: Matt 3:1-2, "Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" His message was that the Messiah-King was about to come to set up the Kingdom. Repentance and confession in the waters of baptism meant entry into that Kingdom. John could only have referred to the Kingdom as known in the Old Testament as he is in a sense, the last of the Old Testament prophets. He preached that the kingdom was at hand. That kingdom could only come through a national repentance and acceptance of the rightful King, and that is what John the Baptist preached. There was no way would he be preaching "the Christian gospel." Jesus began His ministry the same way: Matt 4:23, "And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people." He preached this very same Gospel that John preached - that of repentance and entry into the Kingdom. Here it is mentioned again: Matt 9:35, "And Jesus was going about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness." The next mention of the gospel of the kingdom, oddly, does not occur again until Matt 24. Why is this? Why did Jesus stop preaching it? What had happened? Well, the Bible is clear on that point also when we look into it. This is the very crucial changing point: Matt 12:1-4, "At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grain fields, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat, but when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, 'Behold, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.' But He said to them, 'Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions - how he entered the house of God and they ate the consecrated bread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests alone?'" Okay, what does that have to do with it? When you read the passage in context, you find that the rightful king of Israel, David, is fleeing for His life in REJECTION FROM HIS THRONE, pursued by Absalom, I think it was. Because the nation had rejected the Law and the rightful king, then he could eat what was not allowed to be eaten, as the nation had set the Law aside and made it invalid. OR, to put it another way, the fact that the holy bread was eaten meant that the rightful king was in rejection and could eat blamelessly. What Jesus is doing is carefully paralleling Himself and David. He was now in rejection, so it is quite okay for Him to eat as He did of the grain. Except for a few faithful ones, the nation had rejected His message. No more would the nation hear the Gospel of the kingdom until the days of the Great Tribulation. Not long after this incident, we now read these very crucial words: Matt 16:21, "From that time Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day." There we see the complete change in His ministry and direction, because His own people rejected their rightful King. John 1:11, "He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him." Because of the fall of Israel, salvation has gone out to the whole Gentile world. Let us look further at this gospel of the kingdom as it will be preached in the Tribulation: God has assigned 144,000 selected Jews to be sealed to preach this gospel (Rev chp 7). They will naturally all be Jews and will be like the powerful Apostle Paul as he hinted in this great statement: 1Cor 15:7-8, "Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as it were to one untimely born, He appeared to me also." ("Untimely born" means "born before his time.") The method of Paul's salvation will be similar to the way God will take up those 144,000 as the Church is no longer on the earth. Every one (or many) of these will be killed for his faithful preaching: Rev 6:11, "And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, should be completed also." But that preaching is so successful - this gospel of the kingdom preaching - that the kingdom of God (Messianic) is at hand and about to be established on the earth - it is so successful that many are saved, and these are the ones who will enter into His kingdom (which is what Matthew 25 is about). This is the record of those saved through that preaching: Rev 7:9, "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands." [E]. INSTRUCTIONS TO THE JEWISH TRIBULATION SAINTS: Matthew 24:15-26. The Lord gives instructions, spoken to His immediate disciples in Matt 24, but actually addressing His Tribulation believers, the Jewish saints, especially those in Jerusalem, who must flee at the appropriate time. But I will not now expand on that for the sake of length, except for this important section: Matt 24:21-22, "For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall. And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short." Note the description - there is no doubt exactly where we are there in history. The timing is indisputable. This is the Great Tribulation like no other. That needs to be vitally understood. This is right bang in the Tribulation. It cannot be transferred to the Church. It cannot be set in the Church age. Matthew 24 has nothing to do with the Church, for it is Jewish. The elect are Jews in this chapter. [F]. THE SECOND COMING. Matthew 24:29-44 In the next few verses right up to verse 28, we see the activity of false messiahs as the Second Coming gets closer. I will not expand that part either. Then we very quickly come to the Second Coming itself; but note so carefully exactly how the verse begins: Matt 24:29-30, "But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory." The Lord mentions "After the tribulation of those days." As the 7 years draw to a close, then activity will happen just before His coming - After the downfall of religious and commercial Babylon (Rev 17 and 18), false christs, cosmic and stellar signs. There will be no doubting then that the Messiah's Second Coming is so close. See Revelation 19:1-11 for His coming, but the Old Testament prophets give many references. A section to look at: Matt 24:36, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." The Jewish disciples awaiting His coming at the end of the Tribulation are told that no one knows the exact day or hour. Yes, we know it is 7 years after the rapture, but those 7 years, I suspect, won't start straight away after the Rapture, but very soon after it, and begin with the treaty of peace the World Leader draws up with Israel for 7 years as well as breaking the first seal. These are literal days and hours. Yes, no one can exactly pinpoint it apart from 7 years. Now another matter that is misunderstood. It is this passage: Matt 24:37-42, "The coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah, for as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away - so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there shall be two men in the field - one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill - one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming." I will say most clearly that this does not mean the Rapture. IT IS NOT the Rapture but is the Second Coming. To apply it to the Rapture is to misapply these verses. Let us look at this to see why. Firstly, the chapter is set in the Tribulation and develops point after point, relating to the world THEN, and to the Jews THEN, and we are given this passage. To apply it to the Rapture is totally out of place with the context. It is likened to Noah's day. The usual interpretation many give to explain those verses is that it is the Rapture and that the Lord comes to take the saved and leaves behind the unsaved. He takes the "Christian" at the mill and in the field and leaves behind the others. In fact, the exact opposite is the truth, and the error comes from making it fit the Rapture which it is not meant to do. Let me ask, "In the time of Noah, who were left behind for the inheritance? Who were taken away in judgment?" Why, even Jesus used this exact term here, "the flood came and took them all away." Who were taken away? Why, the unbelievers of course, and the righteous were left behind to inherit a new earth (Noah's family). Can you see how clear that is? And just to be absolutely sure, the Lord adds the words, "so shall the coming of the Son of Man be." There you have it - the unrighteous will be taken away in judgment, and the righteous saints are left to inherit the Kingdom Christ sets up on earth, the Millennial Kingdom. The Rapture is the opposite when the righteous are taken and the unrighteous left behind. Matthew 25 follows on with illustrative parables. Matthew 24 is set in the Tribulation, and once that is understood, then everything in it flows naturally in understanding. The Rapture and the Second Coming cannot be mixed and confused. I hope that was clear, or mostly so. Ron Ferguson ronaldf@aapt.net.au
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The Coming World Leader - By Tommy Stone -
https://www.raptureready.com/2020/06/16/the-coming-world-leader-by-tommy-stone/ All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts - William Shakespeare. Did William Shakespeare really know just how true his words were? I suspect he did, because the world indeed is a stage. The script was pre-written by God, before the foundation of the world, and it's being played out in perfect detail in front of those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. The Bible foretells of two world leaders coming on the scene in the last days. The first will come on a white horse (Rev 6:2) and will be for those who reject God's choice. His kingdom will be short-lived; he will be dethroned and cast into a lake of fire after he destroys the cities of this current world system (Isaiah 14:12-17). The second, God's choice, will also come on a white horse (Rev 19:11) and will be the Lord of lords and the King of kings. He will dethrone the first, and will rule and reign in righteousness. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom. God proclaims in Isaiah 46:9-10: "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." If we back up to Isaiah 9, verses 6-7, we see what God's good pleasure is. 700 years before Jesus was born, God gives Isaiah this two-part prophesy. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this." The first part of this prophecy - the child born; the son given - was fulfilled 700 years later when Jesus was born into the world and laid down His life: a sacrificial payment for the sin debt of the world. The second part of the prophecy - "the government shall be on his shoulders" - will come to pass at his return. More specifically, his government begins on the second part of his return, when He physically returns to earth with the believers who were taken up in the rapture of the church seven years earlier at the first part of His return. The second part of Isaiah's prophecy has not yet come to pass, but we know that it shall, and that it will happen exactly as foretold in the Bible. Every detail of His first advent came to pass exactly as foretold. (See Isaiah 53 & Psalm 22). Therefore, every detail of the second part of the prophecy will also come to pass, exactly as foretold. Because we are now far enough through God's script in the history of the world, we know that every word from God in the scriptures is true. Thus, we know the remaining unfulfilled prophecies, of His plan for the world, will also come to pass just as foretold. Many know in their hearts the Bible is true, yet they choose to reject it. The current world-controlling, Christ-rejecting, Satan-worshiping global elites know the Bible is true, yet they are actually attempting to overthrow God's plan by establishing their own global government, one that has complete control over all people. This brings us to Psalm 2: "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. "Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." Knowing the Bible is true, and that God's plan is coming to pass exactly as foretold, why do world leaders foolishly continue to choose the path of evil that will clearly lead to destruction? Why have societies always chosen evil over good? At the trial of Jesus, the people cried out for the release of Barabba s, a common criminal, and asked that the perfect Son of God, Jesus Christ, be crucified. Why did they do that? Why has the majority always rejected good leadership? Because good leadership always holds people accountable for their actions. This is why the majority will always reject the Lord Jesus Christ. They foolishly think they can escape the righteous judgement of a holy God. They think they can do what they will without being held accountable. They are sadly mistaken. Jesus will return, judge the world, and set up His kingdom. By the way, if you are still not sure about the majority always choosing the wrong path, read the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." We were told in the Isaiah chapter nine prophecy that when Jesus returns to establish His kingdom, it will be with "judgment and justice." Part of the Lord's judgment and justice is allowing the kings of this current world system to try and set themselves, establish their own world government, and choose their own leader. The Bible foretells of a man of sin, a false or counterfeit Christ, entering the world's stage. A man that will appear on the scene of a world in great turmoil. He will be the people's choice and will be received as a great world leader. A peacemaker, a miracle worker, a man that will appear to solve world problems and unite the people as one. Yet, in reality, he will be a conquering evil dictator that brings judgment, death and destruction. The Bible says Jesus releases him, as a judgment on the world, to conquer all those who refuse to believe the truth of God; those that will not receive His plan for salvation. Because they refuse to believe the truth, the Lord sends the man of sin, that they all might believe his lies and be damned. Thank God, the Lord removes His own, those who have repented and believed the gospel, in what is known to be the rapture of the church, before all of this anarchy happens. 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12 proclaims: "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 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: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." This great delusion, sent by God, comes when Jesus Christ takes a book from the right hand of God, opening the book and breaking the first seal of the judgments of God therein, releasing the man of sin on a panic-stricken world. A world in turmoil, a world that has also just experienced the thief in the night, the rapture of the church. The great lie will likely be the false Christ taking credit for the rapture of the church. Revelation 6:1-2, "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer." The noise of thunder could very well be the great sudden destruction that follows the rapture of the church as seen in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 - 5:2-3: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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: 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape." From these verses we see that God is a merciful God; he removes his church before the great sudden destruction comes on an unsuspecting world. This is why Paul goes on to say in verses 9-11, "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do." God truly has declared the end from the beginning; the script is being played out before our very eyes, just as foretold. The final act is about to begin. It will begin suddenly and will end as proclaimed. Jesus will soon come as a thief in the night. Those that understand their need for a Savior and call on the name of the Lord, placing their faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, before He comes, will not go through the terrible time the world will soon go through Those still alive and unwilling to put their faith in Jesus, when He comes as a thief in the night, will go through the worst time in history the world will ever know, and will be subject to, or killed by, Antichrist. I urge you, if you have not yet trusted in the Savior for the forgiveness of your sins, "choose you this day whom you will serve." By choosing Jesus, you can know with certainty that you will not only be saved from Hell, but also the great time of trouble the world will soon go through. (See - Do you know for sure where you will spend eternity?) Website: https://truthfellowship.org Almost There - By Daymond Duck -
https://www.raptureready.com/2020/07/12/almost-there-by-daymond-duck/ While preparing a message for an upcoming event, I decided to look back at things I have written about world government. I have written too much to mention in this article, but I want to recall some of it because it has relevance for today and the upcoming election. These things will help readers understand what is going on, and why some believe we are almost there. One, concerning world government, Daniel said, "The fourth beast (the Antichrist's government; the coming New World Order) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces" (Dan. 7:23). Two, concerning world government, John said, "And it was given unto him (the Antichrist) to make war with the saints (those that become believers during the Tribulation Period), and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations" (Rev. 13:7). So, the Antichrist will rule over all nations, and people should be aware that many globalists are working hard to turn the UN into a world government by 2030. Three, Winston Churchill said, "The purpose of the New World Order is to bring the world into a world government." This famous politician (not a preacher) said, "New World Order" means world government, and it is important to understand that the Bible teaches that it will be headed by the Antichrist, and he will be a Satan worshipper (Rev. 13:4-6). Four, in 1990, Pres. George H. W. Bush (Bush Senior) said, "Out of these troubled times (out of the Persian Gulf War), our fifth objective-a new world order-can emerge." Know that world government is an objective of the U.S., and the "Deep State" has been working to bring it in for years. Five, know that the establishment of a world government is in the UN Charter. Six, in 1997, Pres. Bill Clinton said, "What I am trying to do (to build a global system) is to promote a process of reorganization of the world." Seven, on May 14, 2008, Barack Obama was running for president of the U.S.; and Michelle said, "We are going to have to change our conversation; we're going to have to change our traditions, our history; we're going to have to move into a different place as a nation." On July 24, 2008, U.S. presidential candidate Obama supported a "globalized world," and he said, "The burdens of global citizenship bind us together." On Oct. 30, 2008, candidate Obama said, "We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America." On Oct. 24, 2014, Mr. Obama had become president, and he issued a Proclamation urging all 50 governors in the U.S. and all officials under the U.S. flag to observe "UN Day" with "appropriate ceremonies and activities." He released a joint statement with the UN Sec. Gen. at that time, Ban Ki-moon, that said global government should be further empowered. Eight, on Sept. 25, 2015, the UN was presented with a document called "Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development." Supporters called this document a "New Universal Agenda." This word "Universal" comes from the preamble of the document, and it means this document covers the entire earth and more. Some experts said the document calls for a one-world government, a one-world religion, and a one-world economic system to be established by 2030. Delegates from 193 nations unanimously approved it and applauded the decision. Nine, two days later, on Sept. 27, 2015, Pres. Obama assured the UN of America's commitment to the "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" goals. He called the UN document "one of the smartest investments we can make in our own future." The next day, he addressed the UN and said, "Global integration (the merging of nations) is an agenda that transcends the narrowly defined interests of nation-states." He was saying merging nations into groups such as the U.S., Canada, and Mexico (USMCA) is more important than their national sovereignty. Be aware that the USMCA went into effect on July 1, 2020, and globalists believe it is more important than the sovereignty of the U.S. I believe ten global trading blocs will form. Shortly after that, each one will elect a leader (the Ten Kings), and then the Antichrist will appear. Ten, Pres. Obama's vice president was Joe Biden, and he called for the establishment of the New World Order (world government) on several occasions. On April 5, 2013, Mr. Biden spoke at the Export-Import Bank Conference in Washington, DC where he said, "The affirmative task we have now is to actually create a new world order." Mr. Biden was saying it is now America's job to create a literal world government. Suppose he gets elected, and he or whoever replaces him follows through with this. Eleven, on May 28, 2014, Vice-Pres. Joe Biden told the U.S. Air Force Academy graduating class, "I believe we and mainly you have an incredible opportunity to lead in shaping a new world order for the 21st century." Mr. Biden said the 2014 Air Force Academy graduating class could help shape a world government (Biden supports the surrender of U.S. sovereignty to a world government; this explains why the globalists hate Trump. He opposes it.). Twelve, on Jan. 21-24, 2015, a group called the World Economic Forum (WEF) met in Davos, Switzerland. These globalists agreed to speed up the development of regions of nations all over the world. Speeding up the development of regions of nations will speed up the surrender of their national sovereignty. (There is reason to believe it has been speeded up.) Thirteen, here is some information about the UN Sustainable Development goals for 2030 that people need to pay attention to because Mr. Biden is running for president of the U.S., and he has spoken out in support of the UN goals. Mr. Biden is running for president of the U.S. Mr. Biden is running for president of the U.S. For one thing, the document's preamble says, "All countries and stakeholders, acting in a collaborative partnership, WILL (not may-WILL) implement this plan." By 2030, the UN WILL be transformed into a body that can require all nations to obey the UN. (The Constitution of the U.S. will be irrelevant, and global law will prevail.) Unless God intervenes, in less than 10 years, the UN WILL become a satanic one-world government, and the U.S. will be required to obey the laws of the UN. One government official said not a single human being will be allowed to escape this next great leap forward (this includes everyone in the U.S., but he is overlooking the Rapture). One reporter said the world's children will now be indoctrinated with the idea that we are all "global citizens" (people will be citizens of a borderless world, not citizens of the U.S., Mexico, Canada, etc.). For another thing: in 2015, then UN Sec. Gen. Ban Ki-moon called the UN Sustainable Development goals the "start of a new era." (A New Era has started, and America will not return to what was considered normal a year ago.) Fourteen, on Jan. 1, 2016, it was reported that the UN Sustainable Development goals for 2030 had gone into effect and that everyone should expect all nations to make a strong push to bring them to pass. Trump was elected president in Nov. 2016, and he called for making America great again (MAGA. This opposes the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and it has created a big problem for the globalists, Deep State, etc.). Fifteen, on Mar. 10, 2016, it was reported that the UN had released a Master Plan called, "Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals." According to the report, every government is now required to promote wealth redistribution; government control of all production, a reduction in the consumption of goods and services, the consumption of less meat and frozen or convenience foods, the use of fewer and smaller vehicles and appliances, the use of less air-conditioning at home and at work, and the use of smaller houses and apartments. Governments must take control of all education systems to ensure that children are "agents of change" that support world government; governments must indoctrinate everyone to accept a new set of attitudes, values and beliefs to promote a new culture of peace and non-violence (the global Ethic or world religion); and governments will provide universal healthcare, mental health services, sexual and reproductive services to everyone on earth. Understand that this is not what the UN wants to accomplish in the next 50-75 years; this is what the UN wants to accomplish before 2030, and you need to ask yourself if these are the things you want our next president to support. As far as this writer is concerned, there is ample proof that America is the victim of an organized effort to weaken the U.S. and bring in the New World Order. Mrs. Clinton was supposed to complete Pres. Obama's goal of fundamentally transforming the U.S. and empowering the UN, but God put Trump in office; and "Make America Great Again" clashes with Obama's goal. Satan's Deep State is behind it, and they are desperate to get Trump out of office because four more years of Trump will interfere with the UN's goal of world government by 2030. People need to pay careful attention to these goals because Biden is clearly on record for supporting Obama's goal to fundamentally change America, and for his desire to create and lead in the shaping of the NWO (Google the quotes). Know that the Rapture will take place before the Antichrist appears, but these things indicate that if Biden (or someone of the Deep State's choice) becomes president, that person will bring in the NWO, and that would be a strong indication that the Rapture is close. For your information, one of the Sustainable Development goals is population control (a global right to abortion, LGBQT rights, etc.). Biden said if he is elected, one of his first executive orders will be to re-fund Planned Parenthood and do anything he can to be as pro-abortion as he possibly can be. (He is supporting the UN agenda which requires the weakening of the U.S.) Having said this, here are five recent events that seem significant: One, on June 19, 2020, the World Economic Forum (WEF) announced that it will hold its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in Jan. 2021 and the theme will be the "Great Reset." The "Great Reset" means changing every aspect of society by redistributing the world's wealth, enacting a global tax, supporting world government, and more. On that same day, former U.S. VP, Al Gore, went on TV to call for a "Reset" of the global economy to support "climate change." He said air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels heightens the death rates of the Coronavirus. Expect what the WEF agrees to at that Jan. 2021 meeting to be pushed on the world shortly thereafter. Mr. Biden has already come out in favor of tax increases in the U.S., and if he is elected, he will be at the president's desk when the request to fund the New World Order goes around the world. Two, on June 25, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Charter, UN Sec.-Gen. Guterres said, "The world needs an overarching level of multilateral governance that can sideline problematic 'national interests.'" (In my words, he was saying, "The world needs groups of nations, not one person, with the power to set aside the desires of individual nations.") Guterres said there is a need to "reimagine the way nations cooperate." Guterres added, "We need a networked multilateralism, bringing together the U.N. system, regional organizations, international financial institutions and others." (Know that I believe the Bible teaches that 10 regional groups of nations will rise and be headed by the 10 leaders or 10 kings before the Antichrist rises.) Three, on June 26, 2020, it was reported that Facebook will start blocking and removing everything that criticizes the globalist agenda. They immediately placed a "hate speech" warning label on a Republican pro-Trump video campaign ad. The video shows true events, but Facebook gave in to people that want to silence the events. The next day, it was reported that Republicans and conservatives (Sean Hannity, Jim Jordan, Kayleigh McEnany, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and others) are flocking to a new app called @parler_app Four, on June 29, 2020, NYC Mayor de Blasio announced plans to cut $1 billion from NYC's police budget. Some of the leftists complained that defund the police means defund, not cut. Many local police departments won't submit to globalist control, so the globalists want all local police departments disarmed, dismantled or placed under the federal government to weaken the resistance to their global policies. In years past, some globalists have suggested that U.S. troops be sent out of the U.S., and troops from other countries be brought into the U.S. to deal with U.S. citizens that might want to resist the surrender of America. Citizens need to elect politicians that won't go along with these control tactics. God may use the next U.S. presidential election to impact how soon the New World Order will take over, but regardless of who wins, events are now moving with unprecedented speed, and we are almost there. Five, in my article that was posted last week, I reported that Atty. Gen. Barr said that some of the individuals and groups that have been involved in the violence in the U.S. may be supported by foreign entities. A friend sent me an article this week that says the U.S. has caught Communist China supplying weapons to Antifa and Black Lives Matter. https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-07-03-communist-china-providing-automatic-weapons-to-antifa-black-lives-matter.html I am not making any of these things up, and if these things are true, there are no words to convey how serious all of this is in light of Bible prophecy. The NWO could drag on for a while, or something could happen that causes it to come together almost overnight. Many think things are happening fast now, but they will happen faster in the future. Every church member needs to be sure they are really saved, and every person that hasn't accepted Jesus as their Saviour needs to sincerely do that immediately. Prophecy Plus Ministries, Inc. Daymond & Rachel Duck duck_daymond@yahoo.com A Serious Look at Matt 24 & Rev 6 in Parallel: Part 1 of 2 - Ron Ferguson - https://www.raptureready.com/2020/07/07/a-serious-look-at-matt-24-rev-6-in-parallel-part-1-of-2-ron-ferguson/
[A]. IMPORTANT INTRODUCTION: In 1Cor 15:51, "Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed," Paul sets out the revelation from God of the Rapture, developed further in maybe 10 years time in 1Thess 4. He calls it here a "mystery," which is a Greek work meaning the revelation of a new truth that has been hidden and not previously known. Up until this time, the Rapture had not been known. This was something altogether new. Therefore, the whole concept of the Rapture was unknown to the disciples when Jesus was here with them. The only slight hint of the Rapture in anything Jesus said may have been in John 14:1-6. It is important to realize these points, because it will determine how we are to look at prophecy passages, especially Matthew 24. There is one passage I'd like you to consider. It is this one here: Acts 1:6-7 "And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, 'Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel'? He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.'" This was on the Ascension Day, some 40 days after the Resurrection, and Jesus had been teaching them during those 40 days. Do you see where their focus was still centered? It was on the Messianic Kingdom that was the expectation of every righteous Jew. That was what was in their minds. It was that kingdom that is set out in the Old Testament by almost every prophet. It was Israel's glorious hope. In other words, the concept of a Rapture was as foreign to them as the durian fruit (a tropical fruit which I love and grow)! It was the expectation of those disciples on the Lord's departure that the kingdom would be set up, but they wanted to know just when. The Rapture was an absolutely foreign concept for the disciples at that time and had not been covered by the teaching in the 40-day period. Not only that, but consider this verse also: Acts 1:3, "To these He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God." Do you see those words "Kingdom of God"? I have no doubt that His Kingdom (the 1,000-year reign) was included in that, and is what prompted the disciples' question in verse 6. Jesus would also have included the gospel (of grace) in His teaching. I hope you don't think I have extended this out too much, but the purpose is to show beyond doubt that the Rapture was a Pauline revelation (mystery) and was not what was taught by the Lord while He was here. Therefore, the contents of Matthew 24 and 25 cannot relate to the Rapture but to the events that concern Israel. You know also that Matthew is the Gospel of the Jews/Messiah/King; whereas Mark is the Servant; Luke, the perfect Man; and John, the God Man, the Word in His divinity. The events that relate to Israel and the kingdom are the matters covered in all the Old Testament prophets and are all included in what is called "The Day of the Lord." The Day of the Lord covers the wrath of God poured out, the coming Gentile domination under the World Leader/Antichrist, the time of Jacob's sorrow (Tribulation), the judgment of the Gentile nations and Babylon the great, and the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom. I can give all the Old Testament references for those. However, Jesus keeps a lot to Daniel as he is one of the key prophets as to the unfolding of events. Now, all the matters I outlined in the previous paragraph are the content of Matthew 24 and 25. Knowing that helps immensely in understanding those two chapters. For example, we can see (I hope) that the Rapture is not part of those two chapters. I think what I have already said covers that. Therefore, the crucial question asked of the Lord is partially answered. This question asked, and which formed the basis of these two chapters, was this one: Matt 24:3, "And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, 'Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age'?" To the Jewish mind, the end of the age was fundamentally interlinked with the Old Testament prophetic events concerning Israel; and this is what the Lord knew they were referring to, and answered them specifically. For several reasons already stated, the Rapture was not Jewish, and had not yet been revealed - still a "mystery" - and was foreign to the disciples listening to the Olivet discourse here. "The sign of Your coming" is specifically the coming in glory as we have in Rev 19:1-11, or what we call "The Second Coming." Jesus directs His answer exactly to this Second Coming. I trust that what has been said by way of introduction is enough to show that these events of Matthew 24 and 25 are not in any way speaking about the Rapture and are only connected in as far as the Rapture has to happen before the focus again returns to Israel once the Church has been removed. The Rapture is unknown in the Old Testament and rightly so, because the Church is the Bride called from a far country (type of Isaac taking his bride). The Coming is the coming in glory, the Second Advent. Just expanding this thought on the mystery, we might look at it from another angle - Eph 3:4-6, "And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit - to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel...." You see, Jesus did not teach the facts of the Church apart from one reference to it (Matt 16:18) or the facts of the Rapture apart from a passing suggestion in John 14:1-6. This "revealing" was left to the Apostle Paul. From memory, there are 7 mysteries in the New Testament, but only two of them are termed "great mysteries." Here is one of those: Eph 5:32, "This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church." What I am attempting to show is that Jesus did not teach about the Rapture or the Church, but His reference to His coming in Matthew 24 is rightly in line with the disciples' understanding of His coming in glory as taught throughout the O.T. Therefore, when questioned about the signs of His coming and the end of the age, there can be no possible allusion to the Rapture or the Church, because neither is in view at that point in history. Those who want to include these signs from Matthew 24 in the Rapture are doing injustice to the background and interpretation of the chapter. [B]. INTRODUCING MATTHEW CHAPTER 24: In my opinion, this chapter is one of the most misunderstood and misapplied chapters in the whole Bible. The chapter breaks into two parts. The first relates to history, and the second to the future. The first two verses form the first part. Matt 24:1-2, "Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him, and He answered and said to them, 'Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another which will not be torn down.'" This was fulfilled in 70 AD with the destruction by Roman Titus. The remainder of the chapter has not been fulfilled; neither does it contain any prophecy relating to the Church age or to the Rapture. I know people quote it all the time, trying to make it fit into our age, but that is a square peg in a round hole. It simply does not apply. If you think that is wrong, then reread the Introduction above. In fact, the events described by Jesus here slot into the book of Revelation as will be shown. [C]. THE BEGINNING OF THE TRIBULATION: Matt 24, Verses 4-33: We must note verse 3 again: "...'Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age"? The "coming" is the coming the disciples knew, that is, the Second Coming referred to over and over again in the Old Testament, and "the age" is the ending of the age of world powers and domination and the passing into God's earthly kingdom. It is most important to realize that as the Lord answers the question. However, these signs in the chapter light the pathway to His Second Coming, which we have established, is the only one that could have been meant then. Second Coming, not Rapture coming. It is safe to assume that the Lord begins at the beginning with these signs, that is, what will emerge right after the Rapture. Indeed, that is what He does, and this is in perfect harmony with Revelation. We must realize that the structure of Revelation is paramount to the understanding of that book. Chapter 1 is the introduction, followed by chapters 2 and 3 which set out the picture of the whole Church age until the time of Laodicea, which is right now. Then, chapter 4 begins this way: Rev 4:1, "After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, 'Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.'" That is the Rapture call, and John is told he will see what is going to happen right after the "Rapture" (his calling to heaven through the opened door). Well, chapters 4 and 5 feature the Church in heaven, all the saints of God from Adam until the Rapture; then, from chapter 6 until the end are the events to happen, beginning with the Tribulation that commences with the breaking of the first seal. We would, therefore, expect Matthew 24:4-14 and Revelation chapter 6 to parallel each other; and guess what? They do! Jesus' answer throughout chapter 24 can be seen to be a progressive one, that is, he reveals the information step by step, beginning at verse Matt 24:4, "And Jesus answered and said to them, 'See to it that no one misleads you.'" From there He moves to the series of events that will unfold, which are leading up to the time of His coming mentioned in the Old Testament, which we call the Second Coming, or His Coming in Glory. In doing this He reveals the "signs" that the disciples asked Him of, the indicators of that event. SIGN NUMBER 1: This verse begins the signs: Matt 24:5, "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many." The greatest of these will be the Pretender, the Ruler, the Political leader who will want to reign in the place of Christ. He goes under many descriptions - Political leader; the head of the new Roman Empire; World Leader; the first Beast of Revelation 13; The Man of Sin/Lawlessness. Many refer to him as the Antichrist, and he and the False Prophet will be wholly possessed by Satan. Thus, you have a trilogy of evil - the Ruler, the False Prophet and Satan. This is the counterfeit Trinity. Do not be too hung up on terms and get distracted by them. This is the opening of the revelation Jesus is giving and, therefore, corresponds with the first seal of Revelation 6 that will begin all that happens on earth after the Rapture. The verses: Rev 6:1-2, "And I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, 'Come,' and I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him; and he went out conquering, and to conquer." How sad it is that some commentators still want to say this is Jesus. This is the coming evil Ruler who will take control of the earth, the false Christ, who will be received even as Jesus Himself. So confused and deluded the world will be after the results of the Rapture, that this one will come with absolutely no opposition (white = no blood; no warfare) and almost immediately will assume control of the whole political system. SIGN NUMBER 2: Jesus continued with the second part of the teaching - Matt 24:6-7, "And you will be hearing of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end; for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." The peace that seems to herald the coming of this false christ will not last, and there will be an outbreak of strife. Because of this trouble, some may think the end is right at hand (the coming of the Messiah to Israel), but Jesus lets them know that this is not the end and more must happen. The parallel, of course, is the breaking of the second seal of Rev 6 - Rev 6:3-4, "And when He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, 'Come,' and another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men should slay one another; and a great sword was given to him." This will be a terrible time with all trust gone and the shedding of blood rampant (red horse). We currently live in a violent world, and it is simply the institutes of law and order that hold a measure of peace in check, but even those are failing under riots, ethnic violence and rebellion. When restraints are gone, there will be great violence unleashed. Of course, the removal of the Church will take the restraining factor away (the Holy Spirit), and war and violence will naturally show what is in the heart of man. SIGN NUMBER 3: Jesus next introduces famines - Matt 24:7, "...and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes." I guess this could be the flow on from warfare, as we have seen this frequently in the African nations where civil war has caused the population to die through starvation. There will be famines and starvation. The breaking of the third seal of Rev 6 corresponds with this. Rev 6:5-6, "And when He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, 'Come,' and I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand, and I heard as it were a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, 'A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.'" Black means death (and apparently the color of death through starvation), and this horse proceeding from heaven shows that death will be upon the earth through hunger, famine and starvation. One quart of wheat will cost a day's wage (one denarius). Now, we should note here that everything so far, of the things that are happening, have come from the hand of man. God's direct intervention has not yet happened, but will do close to the time of the 6th seal. This is still in the section called "the beginning of sorrows." When God's wrath is really revealed (especially in the trumpet and bowl judgments), then that time will be many times worse. I would challenge all the amillennialists and those who say that all this has been fulfilled in the Roman times (preterists) to explain each of these seals, and show to me that they have happened the way the Word says they are to happen. They have not, and that gives the lie to amillennialism and preterism. SIGN NUMBER 4: So far in Matt 24, Jesus has mentioned some terrible situations, namely war, famine, death, earthquakes. These have taken their toll and will continue. The fourth seal of Revelation is the magnification of the situation that is existing, gathering up the plagues and multiplying them, and these same things are mentioned - war (sword); famine/starvation; and pests and wild animals. The colour "ashen" is pale and sickly looking. What a terrible multiplication this will be, for one quarter of the earth's population will perish (or part of that within one quarter of the earth). Even the animals will turn violently feral and attack humans through lack of food. Rev. 6:7-8, "And when He broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, 'Come,' and I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him, and authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth." One can't help notice the word "pestilence." The corona virus is the greatest pestilence to hit the earth since the Spanish flu (if you want to count that as a pestilence). God is allowing us right here and now to have just a small glimpse of what will be so tragic in the Tribulation. Incidentally, Australia has the largest fruit bat in the world, the flying fox, and there are millions upon millions of them that come out around sunset and plague fruit farms and defecate on everything, and it takes the paint off surfaces. These bats carry 2 or 3 deadly viruses, but they are fully protected through the actions of green environmentalists convincing governments. It is a catastrophe waiting to happen. It seems the world is preparing itself for the tribulation. SIGN NUMBER 5: Jesus explains that all which has happened so far is but the beginning of the birth pains - how terrible must be the judgments that follow! Matt 24:8, "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. He has concentrated on the worldwide results and has done so generally. Revelation has supported Matthew 24. Now, the whole emphasis changes, and Jesus hones in on His own saints (the Jewish saints of the Tribulation) - and though He speaks to His disciples with the generic "you," it is the Tribulation saints who are being addressed, for none of this happened in the disciples' time. It does not relate to Christians, as they are in heaven. Jesus continues with this discourse: Matt. 24:9-12, "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. And because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold." We see in that passage above that it will be a very hard time for the saints. These are the Jewish believers He refers to as later verses of Matt 24 show. The saints will be suffering under great persecution, hated by ALL nations with many killed. It will be a time of fear and betrayal and apostasy and misleading, for ones will arise to teach full error, embracing satanism; lawlessness will prevail, and people's love (I think it means the saints here) will grow cold, probably because the way is too hard under such adverse circumstances. There will be many defections. That is what Jesus is teaching. There are several aspects in those verses 9-12 which I would take to challenge those who say this has already happened (such as ALL nations; great apostasy; rise of multiple false prophets; increased lawlessness), but no time here to do that. Some of that has always been - consider Elijah, but this speaks of intensity. Now we again have the parallel in the next seal broken and this is it: Rev. 6:9-11, "And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained, and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth'? And there was given to each of them a white robe, and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, should be completed also." That is a MOST interesting passage and a total challenge to those who would want to place it in the Church age before the Rapture! The picture here is of the Tribulation saints who had been killed, according to Matthew 24:9-12 verses. John was permitted to see them with the opening of the 5th seal. These faithful saints died because they would not compromise their testimony of faithfulness; worship the beast or receive his mark. However, we have to consider verse 10 most carefully. The saints here are calling out for vengeance! Is that the teaching we are given for the Church age? Certainly not, for we are told to do the following: Matt 5:44, "But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you." Rom 12:14, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not." In Revelation 6:10 there is no blessing; no forgiveness; no praying for their souls. Instead, there is the call for vengeance upon their enemies. You people who try to tell me that this is the Church in view, explain, please. This is NOT the Church, nor the Church age, and these are not Church saints. What would you expect the Lord to do with an avenging prayer like this? Reprimand them? Tell them to love their enemies? No. They are given white robes and asked to wait until the full number of martyrs is complete. The Lord knows their prayers are correct. What a revelation this is! This passage is assuredly fixed in the days of vengeance of the Great God in the day of His wrath, and their prayer for an avenging hand is a correct prayer for the age they are in, which, of course, is the Tribulation Judgment. It would be totally inappropriate for the Church age. To be continued in Part 2 ronaldf@aapt.net.au The Dying Light of the Day / Antichrist Zeitgeist
- By Pete Garcia - https://www.rev310.com/2020/07/the-dying-light-of-the-day-antichrist-zeitgeist The people of the great nations of the past seem normally to have imagined that their pre-eminence would last forever. Rome appeared to its citizens to be destined to be for all time the mistress of the world. The Abbasid Khalifs of Baghdad declared that God had appointed them to rule mankind until the day of judgement. Seventy years ago, many people in Britain believed that the empire would endure forever. Although Hitler failed to achieve his objective, he declared that Germany would rule the world for a thousand years. That sentiments like these could be publicly expressed without evoking derision shows that, in all ages, the regular rise and fall of great nations has passed unperceived. Sir John Glubb, The Fate of Empires (p.17) As America gets ready to celebrate her 244nd birthday this as a nation, we should take a moment and pause to wonder what became of this once mighty nation. Is it so far-fetched to believe that our nation will not last forever? Or even last another decade intact? Would we recognize her 10-20 years from now? Would the Founders of this once great nation even recognize her today? Most likely not. Looking around today, it seems almost inconceivable that 400 years ago, our nation was once forged by Pilgrims who were fleeing an oppressive, monarchical Europe, seeking only religious liberty in the New World. These were men, women, and children, who braved the perilous voyage, carrying with them, only their hopes, dreams, and faith that God would bless their endeavor. Even harder to believe that out of that meager Plymouth effort, 150 years later, a nation would be born; baptized in blood and in the righteous indignation that at the very least, taxation should equal representation. This spurred such men as John Hancock, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Thomas Jefferson, and fifty others to risk their livelihood and their lives, by signing their Declaration of Independence against the imperial superpower of the day, Great Britain. Almost a hundred years and a lifetime of westward expansion later, the nation was at another boiling point over the issue of slavery and states' rights. The spark that ignited the fire was the creation and election of the Republican Party and its first presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln ran on an anti-slavery platform. His election and subsequent commitment to both anti-slavery, and these United States, was the straw that finally broke the camel's back of the Democrat South. They seceded and formed what we now know as the Confederacy, after which, 750,000 Americans died fighting. After the War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by Democrat John Wilkes Booth, the nation was subjected to a prolonged period of grieving. This is really where the idea of the democratic shadow government first began to form. However, this shadow government needed a militant arm to give teeth to their poisonous ideas, hence, the creation of the Ku Klux Klan. Don't ever believe the modernist spin that somehow the two parties flipped. Republican's did move south, from the high-tax north, to follow jobs in low-tax, business friendly southern states...in the 1970s and onward...not because they mysteriously turned racist overnight. Remember, the Democrat (LBJ) Civil Rights Act in 1964 was similar to the Republican Civil Rights Act they vetoed in 1957. However, out of the grievous racial tensions that followed the Civil War, came a new and burgeoning class of American citizens who have contributed tremendously to the history of this great nation. Men and women like William H. Carney, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, and George Washington Carver, began the long and industrious history that modern Americans would continue emulate. In the 20th-century, some of the greatest philosophical, judicial, and intellectual heavyweights come forth from black community and continued to help shape, heal, and steer this nation into its status as a superpower. People like Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, Shelby Steele, Walter E. Williams, Condoleezza Rice, and Ben Carson to name a few. Despite it all, our nation's often turbulent, but magically cohesive structure, was only cohesive because it centered around two central themes- that all men are created equal, and that our rights and freedoms come from our Creator, not government. And now, 244 years into this American-experiment, our nation has seemed to be entering into the twilight of its years that Alexander Tytler had so long ago spoke about: From bondage ~To spiritual faith ~To courage ~To liberty ~To abundance ~ To selfishness ~ To complacency ~ To apathy ~ To dependence Then starting over with Bondage As of 2020, we are a nation who has screamed past apathy back into the arms of dependence. Although, we shouldn't be surprised should we? Every nation, empire, and kingdom prior to us, rarely lasted more than 200 years. Rome, being the exception as to her unnatural longevity; even she underwent a massive transition from a Republic, to a dictatorship near the turn of the first century. From 27BC to 476AD, Rome remained under the control of one emperor after another. However, once the power, prestige, and position of Emperor came into being, that authority, was never relinquished willingly. However, wealth and comfort ultimately gave birth to corruption and decline, and after 1200 years (as both a republic and monarchy), the Western Roman Empire collapsed and was consumed by barbarians. Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom, and then lost it, have never known it again. President Ronald Reagan But America was a rarity. She was the best of all possible human governments, rolled into one, and then capped off by both a Judaeo-Christian moral foundation, and a Greco-Roman form of government (pre-Julius Caesar). The founders had the foresight to take the best forms of government, and then put enough checks and balances so that not any one part of it, could get too powerful. The American form of government was designed to have gridlock. Serious changes to the Constitution's Bill of Right's could be changed, but only through a slow, deliberate process from all parties involved. Fast forward to today. To quote Thomas Sowell's timeless wisdom, each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late, for which we have failed. After nearly a century of progressive indoctrination and propaganda that once great shining city on a hill, now, lay smoldering in the ashes of her own, uncompleted suicide. Lawless bands of criminal opportunists and anarchists, claim victory over the ash heap as if they achieved something so grand as to destroy the very vehicle that afforded them the ability to act in their basest nature. And because the invasion came from within, we have only two recourse's. The first, is to either completely take back the mediums and narrative for which this nation was founded upon through spiritual revival, or secondly, face another bloody civil war. Except this new civil war will not be between north and south, but between left and right. And given the dividedness of our nation, and even within the Church, revival seems unlikely. Also, Scripture has forewarned us that in the last days that not only would things would go from bad to worse, but there is no nation like the United States listed. (Luke 21:34-36; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; 2 Peter 3) Did we think as a nation, we could write into law, the systemic, government-sanctioned infanticide and not draw the wrath of an angry God? Do we think that even if the Democrats win, and the nation burns, that God has not already foreseen it? He has. He has already told us by our very conspicuous absence in Scripture that we are not the final superpower in the world of the last days. However, that does not mean we go down without a fight. Without question, we know the Lord will return for His Church and will take us up in the Rapture. We know that the Lord has unfinished business with both the nation of Israel, and the Christ rejecting world (Jer. 30:7-11). The only problem is, we don't know when this is going to take place. He could return today, tomorrow, or twenty-years from now. So in the meantime, we must occupy until He comes. While we are instructed to keep our gaze upwards, we must not neglect the needs of those in front of us. Jesus said, behold the fields are white for harvest (John 4:34-36). We must hold fast and become salt and light to a nation whose light is quickly being drowned out by the darkness of our age. Jesus said that He would build His Church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. When the Church is pulled up, the world will come apart rather quickly. In the time being, we must do our best to make our nation, a safe place for our children to live as untainted by sin, corruption, apostasy, and violence for as long as we can. We must stand, for as long as we can, even though we have little strength (Rev. 3:8). We must not roll over and let the world become what its master, Satan, wants it to become (1 John 5:19). While I do not know how apropos it is to quote Dylan Thomas here, however, I can resonate with the sentiment that in our final moments on earth, the Church should not roll over and give in. We must stand. "Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light... Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." Dylan Thomas Antichrist Zeitgeist Zeitgeist: the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. 1 John 4:2-3 Why did God wait 430 years to free the Israelites from their sojourning, affliction, and ultimately, Egyptian bondage? Was it just because He enjoyed watching them suffer? Perhaps it was because God loved the Amalekites more than the Israelites? The answer, unsurprisingly, is no to both. According to Genesis 15, we know that God was allowing a certain level of iniquity (wickedness) to come to its full measure, before He meted out His just-punishment upon the wicked Amalekites. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. Genesis 15:16 However, there is also another consideration I would like to throw into the mix that might be overlooked. Perhaps, God was timing this for just the right Pharaoh to come along as well (Exodus 2:23). We know, according to Genesis, that both Abraham and Joseph had previous interactions with earlier Pharaohs, and in both scenarios, things worked out well for both Abraham and Joseph. In Abraham's case, the Pharaoh was justifiably afraid of the God that Abraham served. As for Joseph, once he interpreted the dreams that were plaguing Pharaoh, Joseph was elevated to the number two spot in all the land. After Joseph's ascension, his family stayed on there in Egypt and began to flourish greatly after much time had passed. It was here, that we pick up the opening verses in the book of Exodus. And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, "Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land." Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage-in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor. Exodus 1:6-14 We see that the Israelites who came to live under Joseph's protection, grew comfortable in Egypt and flourished. However, Egypt was not the land that God had given them. He allowed them to get comfortable, but after much time had passed (roughly 64 years), a certain pharaoh arose who escalated that level of misery and rigor he put upon the Israelites, and began making them suffer even more. In their affliction, would be an increasing desire to depart from that place. Isn't that like God though, to allow His own to not get comfortable too comfortable this world, because this world is not our home. He allows Satan a certain measure of "free leash" to persecute believers in this world, to a point. God does this because He does not want us planting our roots too deeply in this world, because this world has a rendezvous with judgment and destruction. Make no mistake, Satan knows Bible prophecy. When Satan misquoted the Psalms (Psalm 91:11-12; Luke 4:10) to Jesus during His Wilderness Temptation, he demonstrated a certain level of proficiency and knowledge of the scriptures. The reason Satan hates the Jews with a supernatural passion, is because they are a central theme to God's plan of the redemption, not just for the Jewish people, but of all mankind. Therefore, if he could destroy the Jews and / or Israel, he could theoretically break prophetic promises of a last-days restoration of the Jewish nation, thus nullifying the word of God. However, I would add, even more so that Satan has a special place in his heart for breaking bible prophecy. Why is that you ask? Well, since he cannot travel back in time, and much of bible prophecy has not yet been fulfilled, that is all he has left. His hope is that he can break one line/ one verse/ one eventuality from actually coming to fruition. Theoretically, if he could break bible prophecy, then he could nullify the word of God as being errant...and thus, God a liar. And if one verse of bible prophecy could be broken, then it would invalidate the other 30,999 verses. You see, the entirety of the book of Revelation sits in the middle as a fulcrum between the whole weight of Scripture and the whole foundation of Scripture- all 31,000 verses. Everything has to come to pass in Revelation, or it could invalidate the entirety of the rest of the Bible. From a strategic standpoint, and playing devil's advocate here (no pun intended), if I were Satan, the last candidate I would want to fill the role of Mr. Antichrist, would be someone from the boundaries of the old Roman Empire (Dan. 9:26). He may have used Europeans in the past (Nero, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Hitler, etc.), but since Israel has been restored as a nation, he KNOWS he is running out of time. Satan has even used Jews in the past (Rothschild's, Adam Weishaupt, Karl Marx, etc.) to bring hatred and fear upon the Jewish people. If I were Satan, I would use someone who comes as far away from that place (the Mediterranean region) as possible. Which makes an American Antichrist an interesting candidate. Albeit, we are a nation of immigrants. [I am not saying the Antichrist will be American-this is just wargaming] Nevertheless, what Satan wants, and what Satan gets, are often two, very different things. His goal is to break Bible prophecy...but God. God gets the final say. God is not bound by time like Satan nor the rest of Creation are. God already knows who the final gentile, world ruler, will be, which brings us full circle back to where we are today. Let's say that Satan wanted to use a man like Barak Obama to become the final world ruler. Obama has the credentials (former two-term president of the United States). He's a globalist/internationalist, and completely comfortable with the idea of the United Nations running the world. He's an apostate Christian (if he ever was one), who was raised on a steady diet of Marxism, Human Secularism, the Social Justice Gospel, and Islam. Obama loathes Israel's very existence. He's popular with the left, the media, and most international leaders around the world. He is an eloquent speaker, and charismatic to the core. He's corrupt, completely at peace with the destruction of traditional norms, values, and is pro-abortion (infanticide). So for all intents and purposes, he would SEEM like the perfect candidate to be Mr. Antichrist. Let's run with this hypothetical scenario for a minute. IF Satan had his way, he would continue to destroy and demoralize the Trump presidency with this faux-global pandemic, racial tensions, and general lawlessness at all levels, so that the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden (and Obama's former Vice President) could win in November. It is also becoming blatantly obvious, that Biden is suffering from an aggressive form of dementia (or some form of cognitive regression). This is why his campaign team have been hiding him these past few months. He has difficulty stringing sentences and thoughts together, and often times, doesn't remember where he is or what he's talking about. Regardless, even if Biden did win, he would not be the one in charge of the United States...his vice president would. Now, the Obama's decided to maintain a residency in Washington D.C. after their presidency ended in 2016. They did so under the pretenses that their daughters could finish out their education at the elite private school, Sidwell Friends. The last president to remain in D.C. after their presidency ended was Woodrow Wilson (1912-1921), and he only did so because had suffered a stroke in 1919 and was incapacitated until he eventually died in 1924. Additionally, Barak Obama has maintained a low-key, but ever-present, shadow government that has been covertly fomenting a secret coup d'état against the current Trump Administration. Consequently, if Biden did manage to win (i.e., voter fraud, crisis, etc.) he would undoubtedly be declared medically (or mentally) incompetent within a matter of months of his inauguration. Either a democratically controlled congress or senate, or both, would call for an emergency session to declare Biden unfit to serve and would be forced to retire. His VP (perhaps Michelle Obama) would be made President, and Barak would come in and serve as the Vice President or at the least, an advisor. While this seems too wildly fantastical to even consider with a straight face, stranger things have happened. If I were a leftist/socialist, this scenario would be the best possible outcome I could hope for. Given the Obama's history in office and continued popularity, I don't see it as an impossibility (should Biden actually win). So how does that potentiality serve Bible Prophecy? How does that serve Satan's agenda? Again, what Satan wants, and what Satan gets, are two different things. To the latter part, Satan would have no issue dismantling the US Constitution from the inside out and morphing our nation into some type of United Nations on steroids. Satan would try to install his man (Obama) into this new office of a global regime, and thus, break Bible prophecy. But God. Daniel 9:26 is very clear in stating that this final world ruler, will come from within the boundaries of the old Roman Empire. That would be from somewhere within the boundaries of North Africa, the Near East, Southern Europe, and up to the United Kingdom, France, or Germany. Here is what the Angel Gabriel told Daniel- "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined Daniel 9:26 The people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. According to historical fact, those people, were the Romans under General Titus who came and destroyed Jerusalem in AD70. From Daniel's time, fast forward 600 years (circa AD95) and the Apostle John is shown that the future last kingdom would be like a dragon coming out of the sea with ten horns, seven heads, and ten crowns (Rev. 13:1-3). One of the heads seems to have a fatal head wound, but it is healed. Bouncing back to what the Prophet Daniel had written centuries earlier, we see the correlation between the head, horns, and crowns- that that beast was dreadful and terrible, and it was a combination of the previously mentioned chimeras, and it had ten horns, and that a little horn rose up from amongst them, and plucked out three of the other horns to gain control over all the rest (Daniel 7:7-8). Two of my favorite teachers disagreed slightly as to the interpretation of these heads, horns, and crowns. Jack Kelley, the late, great teacher from Grace Thru Faith, believed the numbers to signify the completeness of this beast's awful power and authority over the earth. Jack Kinsella, the late, great bible prophecy teacher and founder of The Omega Letter, once wrote in his article "And Then There Were Ten" that these were actual countries whose leaders would be supplanted by the little horn. I'm like the character Delmar O'Donnell in O' Brother, Where Art Thou, when caught in the middle as the deciding vote between George Clooney's character and John Turturro's as to who should lead their gang he says..."I'm with you fellas." But where there was zero disagreement on, was where this leader came from. This Mr. Antichrist must come from within the boundaries of the old Roman Empire. [For a fascinating discussion, see here.] I don't want to speak out of turn, but Satan does not want his man of sin / antichrist person, to come from the boundaries of the old Roman Empire. However, this little horn clearly rises, and is able to pluck up three other horns, and thus gains the majority over the rest of the ten horns. Perhaps Obama does come to power over the "Americas" (North, Central, and South) once again and rules through the United Nations somehow. But he is not The Antichrist. He might be an antichrist (little a) but whoever this man of sin ends up being, he will, as the British are fond of saying, have to come from across the pond. Conclusion It is of much interest that we are now in several overlapping stages of humanity. On a philosophical level, we are in the post-modern era. This means that our present zeitgeist believes that all truth is relative. On an economic/technological level, we are at Industrial Revolution 2.0. This means that we are in what is known as, the cyber-physical age. This means that everything has, or is in the process of getting, a digital footprint. On a political level, we are at the fourth turning point. We went from hyper-nationalism pre-WWII, to globalism, and now back to a hybrid mix between globalism and nationalism. These ebbs and flows are precipitated by the cyclic nature of global affairs- high, awakening, unraveling, and crisis. We are in crisis on numerous levels. The age we live in is known as the Age of Information. With the development of computers, and later, the Internet, has rushed us into an ever increasing dependency on digital technology. As mentioned in previous briefs, if the great race in the 20th-century was over nuclear supremacy, the great race in the 21st will be over artificial intelligence. But given that we are still in the longest war ever waged (the war on truth), we should really call this the Age of Disinformation. Fake news, yellow journalism, deep fakes, misinformation, and the increasing polarization of political, religious, and philosophical views, are forcing us into positions we will not be able to deescalate. Is it any wonder that deception was the one sign Jesus repeatedly warned us of when was asked about what the last days. It is also interesting that since World War II, the United States has taken on a protectorate role over Europe. This has allowed for them to spend the money they normally would have spent on defense, to spend on infrastructure and technology. It has also allowed them the luxury to experiment with varying forms of economic and political unions. They have since formed into a federation of states we now know as the European Union. As of 2020, their latest formation (27 nations and counting) has proven troublesome, and it is my opinion that they will ultimately be forced to go back to the ten-nation configuration. Perhaps the only reason God is preserving us now, is because He is also waiting for the right geopolitical conditions to be set. This includes the right antichrist character to come along. When that man is in position, along with the timing of perhaps a fall feast, a specific number of believers come into the Body of Christ (as mentioned in my previous brief), as well as hitting some minimum threshold (like Abraham's bargaining over Sodom), God pulls the trigger and the Rapture occurs, throwing the world into a tailspin. This is, in my estimation, why the Rapture has to happen before the 70th Week of Daniel; it has to be a surprise. Granted, Satan likely already knows who all his antichrist candidates are now. He also likely knows our calendars even better than we ever could, since he was there throughout it all. So he presumably has "high-watch" dates for a potential Rapture on his calendar. The fact that we are still here and given the meteoric rise of wickedness and lawlessness, probably has him wondering when as well. If we can draw a parallel back to Noah's day, we remember two things. First, Enoch was taken up mysteriously some 669 years before the Flood. Some argue that has no connection to the flood given the length of time, but when men routinely lived up and beyond 900 years, it's still within the realm of an antediluvian lifetime. Second, once Noah, his family, and the animals were on the ark, God shut the doors for seven days before the first rain drop fell. (Genesis 7:4-10) As crazy as it sounds, this latest global pandemic has likely been used by the powers that be, as a test run for the Rapture itself. Satan knows a Rapture is coming, he just does not know when. When it does happen, the world will be thrown into chaos. He will not have the luxury of time to get all of his players in place. He needed to see if something like a Chinese Coronavirus could force the nations into a) conditioning, b) compliance (mask, social distancing, shutting down), and c) acceptance (of the narrative). Evil and wicked men will use crisis to grab control like kids fighting over candy under a broken piñata. But out of that chaos, will arise one man (The Antichrist) who will assume control. How exactly he does that is anyone's guess. Paul was clear when stating we (the Church) will not be here when he is revealed, so it's pointless to speculate with any attempted authority. Satan at that point, will have no other alternative but to use, and he puts all power and authority (Luke 4:5-6) behind him to carry out his satanic plans. In closing, I have presented much information about a variety of topics to think and ponder upon, however, let me tie this up and leave you with two thoughts. First, is that the United States was a surprise to Satan. Even still, he was able to chip away at the greatest nation in the history of the world with poisonous ideology, and get us to willingly succumb to lawlessness and wickedness. That once great shining city on the hill, has lost her light. The day is almost done, and darkness is falling across our land. It is unlikely that a revival will come to our shores again. Second, even though that might be the case, we (the Church) must remain those small beacons of light (candles) in the dark, and fight for as long as we can, to preserve what's left of that which is good, while we can. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 2 Thess. 2:7-8 The Rapture: How Soon Is Soon? - By Ron Ferguson -
https://www.raptureready.com/2020/07/05/the-rapture-how-soon-is-soon-by-ron-ferguson/ One of the readers asked me if we could tell how far away the Lord's coming for His Christians might be. It is a very valid question, and I thought about "How soon is soon"? That became the title of this article. In John 14:4 Jesus promised He would go away and then come again. There is considerable evidence the early disciples expected Jesus to return in their lifetimes. Near the end they knew that was not going to happen, especially Paul. John closes Revelation with, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." In the second century, the church was being racked by persecution. The disciples were hanging in there, and as time went on, there was a door shut on the emphasis of the imminent return of the Lord. In the 4th century the Nicene Creed just lumped any return into one in this statement - "He suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven; he was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried, and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." The Apostles' Creed ends in the same way - "He ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead." Both these creeds had moved away from the Rapture; and things remained that way, with a few exceptions, until about the 1820s when the Holy Spirit revived the hope of the Lord's coming for His Church. Students of Bible prophecy were gifted by God to understand eschatology (doctrine of the last things), and so we have now a clear understanding of future events. From the early 1800s there was an expectation of the Rapture, and it was generally believed it could be any time. It is a constant expectation of the Church that the Lord will come to take His Bride away. Charles Wesley wrote a beautiful hymn called "Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending" in which he seems to deal with both future comings of the Lord. Stanza 1 is His Second Coming, and stanza 4 suggests the Rapture. I quote both stanzas. "Lo! He comes with clouds descending, Once for favored sinners slain; Thousand, thousand saints attending, Swell the triumph of His train: Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! God appears on earth to reign. Now redemption, long expected, See in solemn pomp appear; All His saints, by man rejected, Now shall meet Him in the air: Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! See the day of God appear!" Having said that, where do we stand in 2020? Are there any obstacles to delay the Lord's coming? How soon is soon? I will answer it this way: 1. There are no prophecies relating to the Rapture-ones that have to be fulfilled first. There are hundreds of prophecies relating to the Second Coming. The closest we can get to, with some guidelines, are the "last day" prophecies of the Church age in 2 Tim 3:1-5, and those features we see in our world today. Some people say, "But we have always had those things." The point is that it is the intensity we have to look at. Are these things getting worse? The answer most assuredly is that they are growing in intensity. The "difficult/perilous times" have worsened so much over the last few years. I am amazed with what has changed in the world just in 2020. I don't know if you saw my article, "The Signs of the Times: Part 1," posted previously where I touched on these things, but I will expand on a couple. Christians who lived 100 years ago likewise believed the Lord could come in their lifetime, but there was one essential element missing. Consider this verse - Matt 24:32 "Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near." The fig tree in scripture is always symbolic of Israel, a type of Israel, and this is an important verse. Israel, as the fig tree, has remained leafless for about 1,900 years; but at last it began to sprout, and in 1947/48 became a nation. It has leaves but no fruit. The fruit will not appear until Israel is saved in the Tribulation when this passage will apply (this time another symbol is used for Israel, that of the olive tree): Rom 11:24 "For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more shall these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?" Rom 11:25-26 "Brethren, I do not want you to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and thus all Israel will be saved just as it is written, 'The Deliverer will come from Zion. He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.'" Paul speaks of this transition from Jew to Gentile and then back to Jew. The Jews were the olive tree, but its branches were cut off and the Gentiles grafted in. We are right near the end of that when the Gentile branches will be removed in the Rapture and the olive tree shoots out everywhere with saved Jews in the Tribulation. What I am saying is that the Jewish nation firstly has to be formed and in their land ready for God straight after the Rapture. They have been there for 72 years and in place. That is a strong indication that the Rapture must be very close. Israel is God's time clock, and currently we are in the times of the Gentiles; but the clock, prophetically speaking, has only a few seconds to go before the alarm sounds, the Church goes, and God again turns to Israel for its salvation. Lawlessness. What we have been seeing all over the world is now uniform whereas it was once spasmodic. It is not just confined to one nation. The World Leader/Antichrist is called "The Man of Lawlessness," so increasing lawlessness in the world will be the garden he grows in when he comes. That "garden" is here now, and there is so much hostility towards Jew and Christian from people. Another indication the Rapture must be nearing. The beast/Man of Sin. He is the one who comes with the opening of the first seal in Rev 6:1. The Church is in heaven in Rev 4 and 5; the Tribulation starts in chapter 6 and goes right through until chapter 19. This one (World Leader/Antichrist) comes on a white horse but there is no war, just a bloodless conquest and acceptance by the people of the world. I believe the corona virus will weaken the world so much financially and in other ways that it helps prepare the scene for the Antichrist's arrival. He is seen as the savior of the world and will fix its problems. The current world is sinking in financial problems and debts so huge that no nation will be able to pay them. The world is looking for a person right now to fix all the problems. They will accept the beast with open arms when he appears. In all likelihood he is alive today. Also, when the rapture happens, it will cause a lot of problems like chaos on the roads and in business when people just disappear. The Drug Culture. There is a very significant verse in Revelation - Rev 9:21 "And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their immorality, nor of their thefts." This summary closes chapter 9, where just before we read - Rev 9:18 "A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths." This is the terrible time of God's wrath on the earth when mankind is powerless to do anything about stopping God's wrath. What man needs to do is repent, but note what verse 21 said. They refuse to repent. Do you see the word "sorceries" there? Sadly, all Bible versions have the wrong translation, or maybe they are partly correct. The Greek word translated "sorceries" is φαρμακεία = pharmakeia. It means the use of medicine, drugs or spells and is the word from which Pharmacy comes. I do not know why translators translate as "sorceries" rather than "drugs." Of course, in 1611 when the KJV was translated, they had no idea of the pandemic of drugs as we have in the modern world, and they associated drugs (correctly) with the practice of sorcery and casting of spells. Sorcery or witchcraft often uses drugs as part of the enchantment and altered states of mind; so, in a way, it is understandable why the KJV would consider sorcery as the translation. What we can deduce from this is that the time of the Tribulation will have a drug-functioning culture in its satanic worship of the Beast and False Prophet. Satanism is the religion of the Tribulation. In the world today we have an out-of-control drug epidemic and a great rise in Satanism, paganism, eastern religions and new-age beliefs. You see how close this is to what is coming. The seeds of it are here today, and they have germinated. I suppose one might ask, "How long can this deterioration continue before the Lord intervenes?" But when the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit goes at the Rapture, the depravity of man will explode, and drugs and Satanism will increase exponentially. Communication. 100 years ago, how quickly could you communicate with someone overseas? Well, you could have used Morse Code invented in the 1830-1840s and the subsequent development from that with the telegraph, but only from one sender to a receiver, not to the public universally, or to the whole world. One could use a computer to send things after about 1975, but it was impossible to send messages and pictures to people anywhere on earth before the universal usage of the cell/mobile phone aided by many satellites. In fact, before 2010 only some of the world had this coverage; but today with saturation from satellites, the whole world can send and receive messages one to another. Why is this important? Well, it has to be because of this passage - Rev 11:3 "I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth." Rev 11:7-11 "When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. "Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were beholding them." This is the record of the two witnesses who will come, I believe, exactly halfway through the Tribulation and witness in Jerusalem for three and a half years. (Some believe they're here for the first 3 1/2 years; some believe in the middle, overlapping both the beginning and the end.) Enoch and Elijah are those two witnesses. It cannot be Moses because he has died, and the Bible says very clearly in Hebrews 9:27 "Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment." When these two prophets are killed by the World Leader/Antichrist, THE WHOLE WORLD WILL SEE IT IN REAL TIME. In verse 8, "The peoples and tribes and tongues and nations" means all nations and languages (dialects and tribes) - in short, everyone - and this can only be possible because of the universal cell/mobile phone coverage. I read not too long ago in a survey that 68% of people sleep with their phones in the bed or under their pillow. Social media seems to control people's lives like an addiction. Things go viral all the time. We are right at the stage now where an event in the city square in Jerusalem in a coming day can be viewed universally and the entire world will rejoice because God's prophets Enoch and Elijah have been killed. What horrible days! For centuries, skeptics mocked this Revelation passage, scorning the fact that no one could see anything outside of the immediate vicinity. They dismissed the Bible as a fairytale. CONCLUSION: In my article, "The Signs of the Time: Part 2," some extra points on the nearness of the Lord's coming were explored. 50 years ago when I was speaking on these prophetic subjects, I remember saying, "There is not one thing that has to be put in place before the Lord can come for us. Everything is ready." Now, in hindsight, I see that was not the case. Just to cite two items from the material above - the drug culture and phones! I think now I can say there is nothing whatever now. It is just a matter of how quickly conditions might continue to decline and how bad and depraved it might become before we hear, "Come up here!" and the Lord takes us home. The virus has damaged the world. Financial problems are now a concern. Violence is increasing. The world seems incapable of repairing itself. False prophets and liberalism and humanistic theology are very widespread, along with "easy believe-ism." We must be right at the end of the Church age. The Rapture is most certainly close, but how close? How soon is soon? We are not to worry about that. We keep our eyes on the Lord and patiently wait. Rulers of Darkness :: By Daymond Duck
According to the Bible, there are rulers of darkness (satanic or demonic spiritual forces) influencing the citizens and events on planet Earth (Eph. 6:12). Many U.S. citizens have never seen a time when this was more obvious. Those that have not accepted Jesus as their Saviour are called the children of disobedience (lawlessness) and the children of darkness (Eph. 2:2; I Thess. 5:4-7). Satan is using them; they are living by his rules and doing his work. They do not like America’s Judeo-Christian heritage, the Ten Commandments, public prayer, freedom of religion, what Christians say about abortion, LGBTQ, just one way to be saved, etc. I pray that many pastors are listening: These children of disobedience and darkness want to change America’s culture, and if they get control of the U.S. government, they will come after every Church. Here are nine items that recently made the news: One, on June 21, 2020, Dr. Matteo Bassetti, head of the infectious diseases clinic at San Martino hospital in Genoa, said he believes the Coronavirus is weakening, it could die out, and there might not be a need for a vaccine. According to Scott Gottleib, former Commissioner of the FDA, the recent spike in cases in some areas is due to young people going out into the public more and taking more risks. Two, on June 22, 2020, it was reported that Liberty Counsel Chairman Mat Staver said five vaccine research companies are not using aborted fetal tissue, but they are using cell lines that came from aborted fetal tissue. He urged Congress and governors to protect citizens’ right to refuse vaccinations by rejecting the idea of mandatory vaccinations. He said some states plan to void religious exemptions and try to force people to be vaccinated. He said pharmaceutical companies are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into lobbying, and they will make big money out of forcing everyone on earth to be vaccinated. He added that it is absolutely imperative that we stop this push for forced vaccinations. Mandatory vaccinations with a global ID number and tattoos have implications for the Mark of the Beast, and they should be opposed. Three, on June 22, 2020, a Black Lives Matter activist and supporter of former Democrat candidate for Pres., Socialist Bernie Sanders called for all statues, murals, stained glass windows, etc., to be removed that depict Jesus as a white person, that depict Jesus with a white mother, and that depict Jesus with white friends. There is no question that Jesus was not a white European, and it is the blood of Jesus that is important, not the color of His skin. The blood of Jesus will save anyone that accepts Him as their Lord and Saviour regardless of the color of their skin. Jesus loves all people, and all the saved are brothers and sisters in Christ regardless of the color of their skin. He will even save people that have rioted, looted, burned and killed if they will turn to Him and repent of their sins. Racism and white supremacy exist, but Antifa and Black Lives Matter are more about defeating Trump and bringing down America than they are about racism and white supremacy. Four, on June 22, 2020, it was reported that, during an interview, black rapper Lord Jamar was asked if he supports Black Lives Matter, and he replied, “No. Absolutely not.” When asked why, he said it isn’t our movement (a black movement); it is a movement that was given to us by George Soros. When told that Soros funneled 100 million dollars into the movement, Lord Jamar said it was control money. He said Black Lives Matter is a movement that Soros basically controls. According to the article, Soros has been involved in the “defund the police” movement since early 2016. One of the Black Lives Matter slogans is “No justice, no peace.” In his Weekly Roundup for June 19-June 25, Amir Tsarfati rightly said that means, “If we don’t get our way, we will keep rioting.” Five, on June 23, 2020, Pres. Trump said, “I have authorized the Federal Government to arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such Federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison.… This action is taken effective immediately, but may also be used retroactively for destruction or vandalism already caused. There will be no exceptions!” On June 26, 2020, he signed an Executive Order to this effect, and the destruction of statues had almost stopped. U.S. Attorney Gen. Barr announced the creation of a task force to investigate and prosecute individuals and groups that have been involved in the violence and destruction of property. He mentioned that some of these individuals and groups may be supported by foreign entities. Six, on June 23, 2020, it was reported that tapes of phone calls that appear to be conversations between former U.S. Vice-Pres. Biden and former Ukrainian Pres. Poroshenko and documents about payments to Hunter Biden have been turned over to the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General’s office. The phone calls are in the process of being authenticated, but they appear to be discussions between Biden and Poroshenko with Biden asking Poroshenko to stop an investigation of Hunter, and Poroshenko asking Biden what he needed to do to qualify for an IMF bailout loan. https://www.rt.com/news/492755-biden-poroshenko-burisma-ukraine-tapes/?utm_source=miximedia&utm_medium=miximedia&utm_campaign=Miximedia Seven, concerning a falling away in the church at the end of the age, it is not unusual to hear pastors and church members say that they don’t think church attendance will get back to where it was before the lockdown. Eight, concerning a global economic collapse, on June 24, 2020, the International Monetary Fund said the Coronavirus Crisis has more severely impacted the global economy than originally thought. The U.S. economy is in wor se shape than thought, but better off than many nations. The Rapture or a second surge of the Coronavirus could trigger an economic collapse. The Rider on the Black Horse in Rev. 6:4-6 is hyperinflation and an economic collapse. Those that believe in a Pre-Trib Rapture are likely to view the possibility of a second surge and a global economic collapse as a sign that the Rapture is close. Nine, on June 23, 2020, Dennis Prager said violent mobs have been destroying and stealing. He noted that the Seventh Commandment is “Thou shalt not steal,” and wondered why the vast majority of clergy is not speaking out. Even worse than not speaking out is the fact that some religious people and clergy are praising the movement. Ten, concerning persecution, on June 26, 2020, a federal court ordered NY Gov. Cuomo and NYC Mayor de Blasio to end the discrimination against churches and Jewish groups. They were allowing Black Lives Matter protests against police, limiting meetings and restaurants to 50% and religious gatherings to 25%. Eleven, on June 17, 2020, it was reported that China will collect blood from about 700 million male citizens to build a genetic map for their surveillance system. This is significant because the Kings of the East will lead a 200-million-man army that will kill 1/3 of mankind during the Tribulation Period, and there weren’t 200 million people on earth when the prophecy was written (Rev. 9:16). Twelve, concerning wars and rumors of wars, and natural disasters, on Jan. 23, 2020, the hands on the Doomsday clock were moved to 100 seconds to midnight, the closest in its 73-year history because of existential danger from nuclear war and climate change (natural disasters). Know that the rulers of darkness are going to get more active at the end of the age because Satan knows his time is short. Point number three above tells you what to do. Prophecy Plus Ministries, Inc. Daymond & Rachel Duck duck_daymond@yahoo.com The Signs of The Times: PART 2 :: By Ron Ferguson
THE DANGERS: In studying and teaching prophecy, there is a great danger to go too far with trying to understand events. This has been a common failing by some who begin making predictions and claims; only one of those has to fail, and all credibility is lost. As an example of this, I will post this review from TIME Magazine. In the 1970s and in 1988, I was teaching Revelation in the places where I was living, and we had to debunk these silly ideas which were sweeping the churches at that time. “Edgar Whisenant published a book in 1988 called 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988, which sold some 4.5 million copies. Whisenant once famously said, “Only if the Bible is in error am I wrong.” When 1989 rolled around, a discredited Whisenant published another book, saying the Rapture would occur that year instead. It did not sell as well, nor did later titles that predicted the world would end in 1993 and again in 1994. The genre’s most popular tales are in the Left Behind series, written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, which, though they do not predict an end date, provide a vivid fictional account of how Earth’s final days could go. The 16 novels have sold more than 63 million copies worldwide.“ As mentioned earlier, this is what happens to those who made predictions in the past, and now again, predictions for 2020 or for some other year, or who try reading events into blood moons or distorting a person’s name to make it read something someone wants it to read (like President Trump = “the last trump” [1 Thess 4, KJV] the trumpet leading to the Rapture). All biblical prophecy is literal, but making it fit the times is something that needs caution. For example, in Zechariah 14, Jerusalem is surrounded by all the nations’ armies (yes, that is what the verse says), and it is written in terms the writer knew in his own day. With modern warfare, things are different, and Jerusalem could be destroyed with just one bomb. However, taking the Zechariah passage literally, Jerusalem WILL be surrounded and WILL be sieged as Zechariah says. (We must take note that Zechariah 14 is set for the Second Coming [time of Armageddon] and beyond. It ends the Tribulation; and if you study Revelation taking note of the judgments of God through those 7 years, it seems only a small minority of people are left on earth. Mind you, right through the Tribulation, people have the opportunity to repent, but this is typical of their attitude (Rev 9:20-21). I caution again – anyone calling him or herself a prophet is not one. There are no prophets past the completion of scripture. These are false prophets, and we are warned about many false teachers arising. Study the Bible, comparing scripture with scripture, and have all that you find meld together as a flawless whole. If a Bible prophecy does not fit harmoniously with other biblical prophecies, then you are applying it wrongly. There were commentators who lived a few hundred years ago who really did not understand the position of physical Israel, mainly because back then no one remotely saw the beginning again of the Jewish nation; that happened in 1947 thanks to WW2. These commentators used to take the Old Testament prophecies about Israel and apply them to the Church, which is where they placed their fulfillment. Look at Joel 2 and 3, where these great chapters deal with Israel’s future and restoration in terms that could never be applied to the Church, and it does not fit; but a lot of commentators try making it fit the Church. That is what happens when you force prophecy to fit some wrong theology or wrong event or wrong timescale. That, though, is a different kettle of fish from the modern herd, those who arise and claim for themselves the title “prophet.” We know from chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel that Gog and Magog and their allies will be part of the world’s armies in Israel at the end of the Tribulation, leading up to Armageddon. This is one small part – Ezek 38:1-6, “The word of the LORD came to me saying, Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him . . . Persia, Ethiopia, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops — many peoples with you.” There you see Persia (Iran) and the nations of the remote north (of Israel), which has to be Russia and its allies (and possibly current Islamic nations). They will have a hatred for Israel, and assemble for the battle of Armageddon. Today, Iran is building its forces and supplying Israel’s enemies in ‘Palestine’ with weapons. Iran is threatening to exterminate Israel. Also, Russia is developing a military base in Syria where Putin and Assad are in an alliance. Assad is one of the world’s most evil men. This is most significant: Gog and Magog is taking shape. These are the signs of the times. Jesus said of His Jewish believers in the Tribulation, “You will be hated of all men for My Name’s sake.” The world will increasingly hate Israel, and has started to legislate against God’s nation. Here is a report on the United Nations vote on Israel from 30 November 2017: “The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to disavow (disallow) Israeli ties to Jerusalem as part of six anti-Israel resolutions condemning Israel it approved on Thursday in New York. The vote was 128 in favor and 9 against, with 35 abstentions. The resolution came as the Trump Administration decided to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem. “In New York, only nine countries out of 193 UN member states fully supported Israel’s ties to Jerusalem: Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Togo, Guatemala, Palau, Honduras, the United States and Israel itself, voted against the UN resolution. There were 35 abstentions. The full list of abstaining countries (a bit cowardly of them) was: Antigua-Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, the Bahamas, Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Haiti, Hungary, Jamaica, Kiribati, Latvia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, the Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda and Vanuatu.“ When speaking on “the signs of the times,” one must be careful not to read too much into what is observed, because it is possible that events in coming years or even months might alter or clarify one’s view. We read the signs of the times according to our current estimations. False prophets and false teachers are definitely on the increase, and because of the social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.), have worldwide exposure. There are two of these at present who have huge YouTube followings, and I am following the errors on both sites. One is an Arian (from the Arianism heresy in the 300s A.D. that taught Jesus was begotten of God in heaven = He was created by God and has existed from that time, and many other falsehoods). The other believes we are in the Tribulation and explains the 4 horses of Revelation 6 as matching world events now. He reads messages into numbers and signs of the moon. The Pandemic of Lawlessness There is one important matter emerging as we look at the Signs of the Time. I call this a pandemic because it has gone worldwide. Let us consider these verses: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, “Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him [THE RAPTURE], that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. [THE DAY OF THE LORD COMES AFTER THE RAPTURE.] Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.” The man of lawlessness is the Antichrist/World Leader who arrives on the scene with the opening of the first seal in Rev 6:1. Lawlessness is rebellion, and the one who fits that description is Satan who rebelled against God and was cast from heaven. Those who do not follow God are sons of rebellion. It is Satan and his demonic forces who stir up lawlessness in the world. Decent people in June of 2020 were horrified and saddened at the unfolding events over the death of a man in the USA. As a result of that, there have been protests worldwide, marches with banners saying “black lives matter,” and emerging from that, an attack on statues and institutions everywhere, but not in totalitarian nations like China and North Korea. Why is this movement of protest and rebellion the way it is? Nothing will justify the way the black man in the US died, but why is it that we are seeing such violence and retribution and anger being spread throughout because of it? These people are protesting against the violence that killed him, but are themselves far more destructive and horrifying and violent than the initial act. Then to follow that wickedness and to turn against statues of ones like Winston Churchill and Captain James Cook, and even a threat to Abraham Lincoln’s Memorial, is a sinister move. It can only be understood in terms of increasing lawlessness in this world. I believe we must expect that as we near the end of the Church age, because it won’t be long before this world finds itself in the Tribulation where lawlessness will be rampant, because the lawless one will have control. There is no time to talk about the anarchists and agitators, mainly from the left, who inflame these protests. Personally, I get really saddened about the unfolding of chaos the nations are entering, but I know lawlessness will increase. Paul says so: 2 Thess 2:7, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.” (The Restrainer is the Holy Spirit, but that is another topic.) Our redemption is drawing near (and fast). The Lord is our Hope! The rapture is our blessed hope. LASTLY, THE VIRUS: There is a lot of discussion about this corona thing from what could be called “Christian websites,” from the utter ridiculous to some sane comments. Can we say anything about its relationship with the signs of the time? No doubt, this is the greatest tragedy to hit the world since the second world war, but can we read anything into it or match it with some Bible prediction? There is no link whatever to any biblical event or prophecy. This is another health disaster like the Spanish flu was in 1918/19 when one-third (or 500 million) of the world’s population was inflected, and at least 50 million people died. That is over 300 times more than those who have died with corona. The Spanish flu (from bird origins) was a pandemic as corona is. I have said this before, but what I see in it is God allowing a slight glimpse into what is one small detail of what the soon-coming Tribulation will contain. The fourth horse at the start of chapter 6 (verse 8) is a pale or dappled horse and represents “pestilences” which include infections, diseases, etc.; following the third horse which is famine; following the second horse which is wars and rumours of war when peace is taken away from the earth. All that follows the first horse in Revelation 6:2 which is the appearing of the Revived Roman Empire, or Antichrist if you like. The Church WILL NOT ENTER THE TRIBULATION, FOR THE RAPTURE TAKES THE CHURCH AWAY BEFORE ANTICHRIST CAN BE REVEALED. 1 John 4:1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Matt 7:15, “Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” 2 Timothy 2:15-16, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth, but avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness.” Look up, for your redemption draws near. The Lord is coming again, and that should be soon. ronaldf@aapt.net.au The Rapture is Real - by Pastor Mike Taylor -
https://pastormiketaylor.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-rapture-is-real.html 8 "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 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. 11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences." (2nd Corinthians 5:8-11) Wondering about the end times and the rapture can cause confusion, worry and fear for a lot of people, even Christians! For ages people have tried to figure out the exact time that the prophecy of Jesus's return will happen. The best place to turn for answers about the rapture is Scripture! God tells us everything we need to know in the Bible. There are some things that God has left a mystery for us, but has given us enough information in His Word that we should have complete confidence and hope in the Hope of our Salvation. 11 "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.(Titus 2:11-14) The opening verses speak of a time when those who are found in Jesus Christ will stand before Him and receive what has been done in our body, either for Him, or for ourselves. WORK TO SHOW THYSELF APPROVED As a Christian believer in Christ our Lord, our service is to be about our Father's business. Jesus gave us commands to follow and rewards will be coming for a job well done and contributing to the building of the Kingdom of God. I don't know about you, but I long to hear the words come from my Lord Jesus "well done thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of thy Lord" This from what I can gather from scripture happens to each of us who are found with the robe of righteousness that only comes from accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That robe is not our righteousness, but we are clothed with His righteousness, and our ABBA Father only sees the glory of His Son found in us when we finally stand before Him. Some question the timing of the return of our Lord Jesus and have all kinds of theories, being Pre-Trib, Pre-wrath, Post-Trib, (or in the extreme) no rapture at all, as Jesus will come to us and we, by our own endeavors create a utopia and we deliver the Church to Jesus when He returns. But what does the Bible say? Which belief is the truth? As I said, all the answers to this question are found in the pages of your Bible. What I find among many believers, or even unbelievers, is a misunderstanding of what scripture is saying. The Bible has the concept of the removal of the Church BEFORE the coming tribulation all over its pages and a wise person in these last days, mines them out like precious jewels, or as a discovery of a vein of gold in the earth.. Let us take a journey down the verses that speak of this time of the "Harpazo" or the snatching away of the Church of the Living God in what is popularly called "the Rapture" . LET'S START IN THE OLD TESTAMENT WITH ISAIAH 17" Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O Lord. 18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. 19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. 20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. 21 For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain." (Isaiah 26:17-21) For the believer in the pre-tribulation removal of the Church, this is where I like to start, as the prophet Isaiah saw the removal of God's people, both the living and the resurrected departed from their graves. Isaiah speaks of the dead rising to new life, even as dew on the herbs and the earth, its graves, casting out her dead in resurrection. The prophet sees judgment coming upon the earth and tells God's people to enter into their chambers and shut their doors to hide them from the wrath of Almighty God. God will punish the "earth dwellers" for their unrighteous acts and evil they have done in rebellion to His authority over all creation. And Jesus will stain His robes with their blood, as we see in Revelation chp. 19 when our Lord returns with the armies of heaven. It is not His blood, but the blood of those He has trodden down in His righteous wrath. One wonders what chambers is God telling Isaiah that the people of God will enter into. Then I remember what Jesus said to His disciples, even saying it to us. 14:1 "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know." (John 14:1-4) For nearly 2000 years, our Lord God has been preparing a glorious mansion for each of His brethren, and God the Father's children. Jesus calls them mansions, and I can't imagine, even trying to envision the splendor of what God has prepared for us. 9 "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." (1st Corinthians 2:9-10) But note in one passage, God tells us to shut our doors, and Jesus tells that we will come to Him, to be where He is, not coming to where we are. Question. Where is Jesus right now? Of course, the answer is at the right hand of God the Father. Jesus said He would come again, to RECEIVE YOU UNTO MYSELF. Note that He will do the receiving. We will not receive Him, but He will receive us. THE TWO COMINGS OF OUR LORD FOR AND WITH THE CHURCH The Bible speaks of two comings, that many people cannot see, even written right in front their eyes, or they have not read the Bible at all, but take the word of others who convince them of this error. As spoken of, many people have tried to pinpoint the time of the return of Jesus for 2000 years, and on a Christian forum that I host, I have had people proclaim that no one knows the hour of the Lord's return and use it as a reason to scoff that Jesus is not coming anytime soon. And though that is true that we don't know the exact timing of His return, we have been given many clues that point to the season of His return, not for judgment, but for removal of His chosen people, the Bride of Christ. So what are those verses that speak of the return of Jesus, most likely sooner than anyone of this world even thinks? One of the most quoted passage of verses that points to the coming of our Lord is found in 1st Corinthians: 50 "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"(1st Corinthians 15-50-55) This is Jesus coming for His church, and then later in Revelation chp. 19, He proclaims that He will come to rule and reign and the saints are with Him, clothed in linen, white and clean, a sign of the saints. Note verse 52 in 1st Corinthians? In the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. Many people make an error, because they have a pre-conceived notion of a post Tribulation return of Jesus Christ to rule and reign for 1000 years and the 7th angel blowing his trumpet, and don't take the historical aspect that many Jewish people understand, but those who misunderstand are ignorant of Jewish terminology, because they don't believe that the Feasts of the Lord are still in effect for us today. What is the term that points to a Feast of the Lord quoted above? And note that the 7th angel of Revelation is not the same trumpet blown in this passage. Why? One produces joy, the other indescribable horror of the 7th angel's trumpet. They are NOT the same trumpet Paul and John describe. THE COMING FEAST OF TRUMPETS In Jewish life, since the giving of God's Law to the Hebrew people at Mt. Sinai, God also gave them appointed times in their calendar that would proclaim markers, or Holy Convocations that they were to observe. Even they did not understand, as it was for us, not for them but they observed in the letter, but we look at it in the spiritual sense of "God's Plan for Mankind" or the salvation of humanity based on God's appointed times. If you follow, or have in the past, any of my messages, you know that there are four Feast unto the Lord in the Spring, and three in the fall. We have established in the past sermons that Jesus fulfilled each of the Spring Feast days, called Holy Days on the exact day of their observance. Let me recap what those days were completed by Jesus and then we'll look at what He will complete in the near future. The four Holy Days, or Feast days that were fulfilled by Christ in the Spring were: Passover- Jesus became our Passover Lamb and was slain on the exact day of its observance. Feast of Unleavened Bread-Christ was slain outside the camp and was buried along with our sins that He took upon Himself. Feast of First Fruits-on the Sunday after Passover, the priest would wave a barley sheaf before the Lord in the Temple, as being the first fruits of their harvest. At the exact same time, Jesus was before God our Father, and became the first fruits of them born of the dead and completed payment in His own blood for the remission of the sins of the world and those who believe on His Name. Feast of Pentecost-on the exact day, the Holy Spirit came to those in the upper room and the church was born. And what of the coming fall feast of the Lord, what is God's plan that continues? the Feast of Trumpets, or return of the King, called "no man knoweth the day or the hour," because they keep two days, as it is the only day that starts when a small sliver of the moon is visible. After this, the Jewish people call the next 10 days, the Days of Awe, proclaiming to one another "may your name be found in the book"...This COULD correspond to the coming Tribulation that leads up to the next Feast in God's plan. Day of Atonement (At-One-ment) with God...could coincided with the return of Jesus second coming and putting down all rebellion on this earth and setting up His Millennial Kingdom for a 1000 years. Feast of Tabernacles, or God dwelling with us in reigning with justice and with a rod of iron. And last is the Great White Throne Judgment, called the Last Great Day, or the judgment of all mankind who have failed to accept Jesus as Savior...this is the second resurrection and they are cast into the Lake of Fire where the Anti-Christ and False Prophet are. For 2000 years or this Church Age (or the Age of Grace), people have been looking for the return of Jesus, even the apostles thought He would return in their lifetime. But here we are, and each generation has thought Jesus was coming for them in their lifetime, and they have been wrong. Why? They lacked ONE ingredient to start the countdown of the final week of Daniel's 70 week prophecy. That ingredient that started the countdown for the return of Jesus was the founding of Israel again, as a nation. "Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children. " (Isaiah 66:8) But that is exactly what happened. In May, 1948, the one thing lacking in the return of Jesus Christ in prior generations was put into place. Israel became a nation again, after nearly 2000 years of desolation of the land, and the scattering of the people of Israel to the four winds. Israel was REBORN. Why do I say Israel is a sign that was lacking in past generations? Let us quote what Jesus said concerning the budding of the fig tree. 32 "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." (Matthew 24:32-36) Some say, how can we know that Jesus is close at hand for the coming for His Church? Note that Jesus said that this generation. MY GENERATION, of those born during or right after the forming of Israel as a nation will not pass away till all things be fulfilled. Let us review what a generation is, that Jesus spoke of. "The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. " (Psalms 90:10) God has been shortening the lifespan of mankind down from nearly a 1000 years in Adam and Eve's time, to just 70-80 years in our modern time. Knowing that no man knows the exact day or hour, but we can know the season, as Jesus said, this generation will not pass till all things be fulfilled...what will be fulfilled? Jesus will be on this earth reigning and ruling for a 1000 years. All rebellion will be destroyed and the earth will be returned to the time of the Garden of Eden... But let us observe one thing, if this generation born right after 1948 lives the outside of 80 years, that is 2028, which is 8 years from now. BUT..there is that word, but if we believe that we will not be on earth for that last 7 years of tribulation, then the number is 2021 approximately, not trying to pinpoint a date, but knowing the season is close, very close at hand. That is just a year from this day you are reading this message. The next Feast day that Jesus, I believe will fulfill, on the exact days of its observance by Israel, and the Christian who understands their significance, is the Feast of Trumpets...some call the "Return of the King" and what Israel calls "No man knoweth the day or the hour"...coincidence? God is not about coincidences. Could Jesus come in the near future on a Feast of Trumpets? We watch and pray, and believe you me, I will have a trained ear listening for the sound of a trumpet this coming fall, and every fall there after till this Feast is fulfilled. THE COMING TRIBULATION IS UPON US But as I read rapture verses in your Bible, I am confident, and I am full of the Hope of Jesus Christ, that I'll not see one day of that coming Tribulation...oh, we will see tribulation in this life, but when I say the coming Tribulation, I'm talking about GOD"S WRATH. Many say they don't know when God's wrath will begin, but reading Revelation chp. 6, the 1st seal that Jesus opens unleashes the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The first rider on a white horse is none other than the Anti-Christ who is revealed holding a bow but no arrows, meaning he conquers by deceit and lies. As you read this chapter, the nations know who is bringing this calamity upon them, and they know they will not escape. 15. "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16, And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17, For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? " (Revelation 6:15-17) Jesus is using men to enact His judgment, much as He used men to bring judgment to Israel by Babylon, and Assyria. Jesus is causing events to come to pass, as each seal is broken. He is in control of making the earth ready for its redemption, that He has already bought with His own blood on the cross of Calvary. And after chp. 6 of this apocalyptic book, Divine judgment is enacted that no man can misunderstand. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth." Revelation 16:1) Read the whole of the 16th Chapter of Revelation that shows mankind who are in rebellion will not repent and give God glory to their own destruction: 10 "And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, 11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds."(Revelation 16:10-11) We Are Children of Light So why am I full of Hope, and confidence that I will not see one day of this awful time? Because Jesus my Lord told Paul the Apostle, and John the Beloved a promise to each of them and to us: 4 "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him."(1st Thessalonians 5:4-10) And the glorified Jesus, the Son of God told John the Beloved Apostle when He appeared to him: and spoke of what we can hold onto with both hands and know that Jesus will NOT send His bride through the horrors of the wrath of God that will cover the whole earth. 10 "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. 13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." (Revelation 3:10-13) I repeat here, as I often have done...in verse 10 of the above passage, the words "I also will keep thee from" is the Greek word, "EK"...or by definition, "being removed from the time and place of the event." What event is Jesus speaking of to the Apostle John? The coming Tribulation is what the Son of God is referring to. Note we are NOT appointed to God's wrath, and Jesus will keep us from the hour of temptation that shall try this whole earth. That is a promise from my Savior, and I pray your Savior. So let's recap the nuggets that I am sharing with you. We are in the time of the end of days, the season of the return of Jesus Christ, in our generation since Israel was made a nation again. We are bumping up to the end of a generation since Israel was made a nation 72 years ago.. The Tribulation starts when the saints of God are taken out "by force" and snatched away from this earth. When? At some future Feast of Trumpets, as No man Knoweth the day or the Hour. A term for this day. But He could come at any time, this would just be another Feast fulfilled, that I believe God is a God of order and He changes not. We are not appointed to wrath, but receive salvation from our Lord, but the earth will be purged of all rebellion and destruction will cover the earth and the dwellers who inhabit its land. Note as I have mentioned in past messages, that the Tribulation is designed by God for two things, and that is the redemption of Israel through much Tribulation, that is why it is called "Jacob's Trouble" and the nations who have rebelled against God will be destroyed who do not accept Jesus as Savior during this time, from witnessing from the 144,000 Jewish Evangelist, the Two Witnesses at the Temple, and the angel who flies overhead proclaiming the Gospel. WILL YOU BE READY? If Jesus would actually come this fall, would you be ready to receive the glorified body that He has planned for those who have accepted His free gift of grace and mercy through God our Father? Or would you be in darkness and not imagine that your world just got more dangerous than at any other time in history? Note I am not making any predictions of the day, but stating clearly and unequivocally, that Jesus return is close, right at the door. We don't know the exact day or hour, so its pointless to try and nail it down. BUT we know the season, and by all signs in the heavens, on the earth, and events of evil men and the forming right now of a One World Government just waiting for the green light to have a spokesman usher in the New World Order and the revealing of the Anti-Christ, that God said I will not see, that the Holy Spirit will be taken out along with those He indwells, and then the wicked One will be revealed...not before we are gone. "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.(the Holy Spirit, my explanation) 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:" 2nd Thessalonians 2:7-8) Will you still be here, and in total resignation of your fate of enduring the tribulation. Or will you be those who have no clue, and have pleasure in their unrighteousness? Don't be counted among these have little hope of being in heaven. Many will be saved during this time, yes, but also, many will die for the truth of God's salvation found in Jesus Christ. Many will be deluded with lies and false doctrines of devils, or many will just not care, as they think it's party time. Party is not what it will be, but hell on earth for all who inhabit the nations. As for me, and those like me, who have found redemption through Jesus Christ our Lord, I will be at a feast in heaven, called the "marriage supper of the Lamb" and at the Bema Judgment Seat of Christ do receive rewards for salvation and works done in His Name...I will live for eternity in the glorious light of my God and do His will, whatever He has in store for those who love Him... What about you? Will you be with me, or will you be cast away into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, and the worm dieth not or is consumed? I pray you will not let that happen but embrace these next verses and confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.. 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, my emphasis) And the three verses that brought a 10 year old boy, to the realization that he needed a Savior..ME... 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."(John 3:16-18) Make Jesus the Lord of your life today, while the time is there for you to make that decision in freedom of conscience and not in Tribulation, if at all. Because friend and brother, we are close, as the pre-tribulation RAPTURE IS REAL. This is pastor Mike Taylor, praying you will receive Jesus right now, and have confidence in the coming rapture...if you need prayer, counseling, or just a listening ear, contact me at pastormiketaylor@yahoo.com, God bless you all, TILL WE MEET AT JESUS FEET |
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