Posted 10-28-00
...I read the following in today's "Special Jerusalem Report" from Barbara Richmond (For Your Glory): "Meanwhile yesterday during the rains, the sun broke through briefly in Jerusalem and a beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky, with one end rising from the Temple Mount and the other end of the rainbow touching down in the violence torn Jewish neighborhood of Gilo on the southern edge of Jerusalem. One eye-witness told me that people just stopped in the streets, looked up and began to weep, openly acknowledging the rainbow as a sign from the Lord of His continued care over Israel. Praise His Name!" So many have seen rainbows this year, and now this special rainbow in Jerusalem. Keep watching, and praying always to be accounted worthy. Love...
How right you are. Saddam has a factory underground there for producing weapons of mass destruction. He has hidden it under archaeological ruins in the hope we will not destroy it.
Someone also asked how quickly the temple could be built. It could be built in a matter of weeks, as stone for it has already been cut and hidden in the area.
That news about Babylon was in an article FWD to me: "Babylon, Iraq in Bible Prophecy," at: www.rapturewatch.com. It is the first time I had heard that. I don't know whether it is true or not. My reaction is that Babylon will not be destroyed by man's weapons, but by the Lord's, when an asteroid impacts Earth. Rev. 18:21 says, "a mighty angel took up a STONE like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." This ties in with Rev. 8:10: "there fell a great star (aster, star, meteorite, asteroid) from heaven, burning as it were a lamp."
This asteroid is called the "sword of the LORD" (Jer. 12:12; 47:6), the "flaming sword" (Gen. 3:24) and "the curse." It will impact Earth on the Day of God's Wrath, the 1st day of the millennial Day of the Lord. Jer. 46:10 says, "this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts (i.e., Christ, Isa. 44:6), a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts (Christ) hath a sacrifice in the north country (Iraq) by the river Euphrates" (Babylon). Jer. 50:35 says, "A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men."
Isa. 24:1,6,17-21 tells us what will happen on the Feast of Trumpets that begins the millennial Day of the Lord. It says, "the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof..... Therefore hath THE CURSE devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left....Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high (the fallen angels), and the kings of the earth upon the earth."
Information about "THE CURSE" (the 'flaming sword' of Gen. 3:24) is found in Zech. 5:2-4. It says, "I see a flying roll (megillah, rolling thing, i.e., the flaming sword of Gen. 3:24 that turns every way, i.e., rotates and orbits); the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits (i.e., it is twice as long as wide). Then said he unto me, This is THE CURSE that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth (i.e., orbits): for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it (as 1 stone tablet of the 10 Commandments); and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it (as the 2nd stone tablet). I will bring it (probably a binary asteroid) forth, saith the LORD of hosts (Christ), and it shall enter into the house of the thief (the False Prophet), and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by MY NAME (the Beast, the Tribulation Pope, claims infallibility and calls himself the Vicar of Christ): and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof."
I expect the headquarters of the One World Government and the United Religions to be built at Babylon and to be destroyed by the "aster" of Rev. 8:10. The other piece of the binary asteroid is the "great mountain burning with fire" of Rev. 8:8. It is "cast into the sea," the Mediterranean Sea at noon (Zech. 2:4,5) on the 1st day of the Millennium.
Isa. 26:20,21; 27:1 says, "COME, my people (the Pre-Wrath Rapture), 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. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of HIS PLACE (Heaven, Jn. 14:2,3) to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain....In that day the LORD with HIS SORE AND GREAT AND STRONG SWORD shall punish leviathan (Satan) the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." Agape
Revelation 1:10 is the KEY verse to we who study prophecy. It is John, telling us, that he was taken IN HIS SPIRIT, TO the Lord's Day, to the Day of the Lord, which is the DAY Jesus comes back, at the seventh trump. You are calling the literal Day He comes back, the rapture.
God the Father, YHVH, Yahveh, takes John FORWARD to the day that Jesus comes back to earth. In 4:11 we find John being shown what will occur AFTER the five month literal reign of the instead of jesus, which is that Jesus will come back and set up His milleneum reign. In the Book of Revelation we are given a panoramic view from different view points, i.e., being IN Heaven looking AT the earth, and vice versa.
> > The ESCAPE is the Rapture. In Lu. 21:34-36, JESUS says, "take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be ACCOUNTED WORTHY to ESCAPE (pheugo, to vanish, flee away) ALL these things that shall come to pass (i.e., in the Tribulation), and to stand before the Son of man" (Christ).
Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 are all three chapters in which Jesus Himself tells us what MUST happen BEFORE He comes back. The escape you want comes from KNOWLEDGE of the fact that when He says in verse 36 that you "escape all these things (WHAT things? the things in the previous verses, i.e., false christ coming, etc.) that SHALL come to pass (some have already come to pass, like the Fig Tree Generation birthed May 14, 1948).
There are TWO tribulations. One is Satan's five month period, same as the time of the locusts, and the BIG one is our Father's.....which will only hurt His enemies, those who do not love Him. Our Father's tribulation will be over the same day it begins, the Day of the Lord, which will be the first day of the new Dispensation of time, the third earth AGE, same earth, different time dispensation, in which we will ALL be in our spirit bodies, just like described in your following scripture from Thes.
> > PLEASE forget all you think is true and look at Scripture as if you had never read it before. Pray for understanding and new eyes to see with, and then just let it say what it will. Accept it as the truth in the original editions. In I Thess. 4:13-18, Paul said, "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren (believers), concerning them which are asleep (the dead in Christ), that ye (the living) sorrow not, even as others which have no hope (we have the "blessed hope" of the Rapture, Titus 2:13). For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will GOD (Jesus is God, II Cor. 5:19) bring with him. For this we say unto you BY THE WORD OF THE LORD (Kuriou), that WE WHICH ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN unto THE COMING OF THE LORD (Kuriou) shall not prevent (Old English for precede, as in the NIV) them which are asleep. For THE LORD (Kurios) HIMSELF SHALL DESCEND FROM HEAVEN WITH A SHOUT, with the voice of the archangel, and WITH THE TRUMP OF GOD (Theou): and the dead IN CHRIST shall rise first: THEN WE WHICH ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN SHALL BE CAUGHT UP (Gr., harpazo; Latin, Rapiemir; English, Rapture) together with them in the clouds, TO MEET THE LORD (Kuriou) IN THE AIR: and so shall we ever be WITH THE LORD (Kurioo). Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
Here we go, let me tell you what I read there:
13 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.
(The SUBJECT is WHERE ARE THE DEAD?) (Paul is speaking and telling them WHERE their DEAD relatives (people) are. He says he does not want them to be "stupid" like the heathen are when they believe their dead are still in the graves, he wants them to know WHERE their dead are.)
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
(IF Jesus died AND rose to The Father, know that those who call themselves after His Name, Christians, will also rise (their spirit.....not the physical body) and go to The Father.
15 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.
(Those of us who are alive when Jesus comes back cannot GO BEFORE those who are already dead because they are ALREADY with Him.)
16 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:
(This is at the SEVENTH TRUMP, when the Lord Himself comes back.......those who are already physically dead are already with Him. Paul is explaining what happens when one dies and/or when Jesus comes back.....the same thing happens to us, we shed our flesh bodies (the birds eat the flesh at the Great supper God supplies them with) the very second we die OR Jesus comes.)
17 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.
(Those of us who are alive when Jesus comes back will be brought together IN A LARGE GROUP, which is what in the clouds means. It is a figure of speech used by Paul that cannot be ignored, as NONE of the figures of speech can be ignored, yesterday and/or today, IF one desires to truly communicate. Paul used the figure of speech in Hebrews 12:1 "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,....", which means a throng of people.
air is NOT the air we breathe. It is pneuma in the Greek. It means your spiritual body. That breath of LIFE body, not air we breathe. We will meet Him in our spiritual bodies when we either die OR He comes. Either way. so means by resurrection or translation.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
(Back to the subject again, which is WHERE are the DEAD people? and find that it is indeed comforting to know WHERE they are, that they are NOT in the ground in a hole but they are WITH HIM, in their spiritual bodies.
Marilyn: please look up air in an Exhaustive Strong's, not an online one......they are not complete.
In verse 16 we find the archangel sounding the trump, and I can tell you that the archangel only sounds the seventh trump, the last one out. THis is NOT the instead of jesus, this is Jesus, our Father. The fake comes five months before the two witnesses are killed in Jerusalem. Jesus comes three days AFTER the two witnesses are killed. The instead of jesus comes BEFORE Jesus....In HIs Love, Becky
Rev. 1:10 says, "I was (lit., became) in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet." It is a Preview of the Rapture, not the Second Advent, which follows the 7th trump by 7 months (Eze. 39:12,13). At the Rapture in 4:1, it is Christ's voice like a trumpet that says, "Come up hither." The "great voice, as of a trumpet" in 1:10 is Christ's voice. Rev. 4:1 says that it is "the first voice which I heard." He heard it in 1:10.
Jesus Christ does not return at the Second Advent until Rev. 19:11-13. It says, "I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God" (Christ, Jn. 1:1).
The Revelation of Jesus Christ is written as if the Rapture is at hand. That is when he is revealed to his Bride. The Rapture is "at hand" in both the 1st and last chapters (1:3; 22:10). Jesus signs off at the end with, Surely I come quickly." He comes quickly at the Rapture (2:5; 3:11).
The Revelation is like a play, and like in our movies, there is a Preview given at the beginning. In the Preview, John was caught up to Heaven in 1:10. He saw Christ standing in the midst of the 7 churches. "And in the midst of the seven candlesticks (churches, v. 20) one like unto the Son of man (Christ), clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand (because he had just caught them up in the Rapture) seven stars (the star performers of the 7 churches): and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword (to cut off the foolish virgins, Lu. 12:46): and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength" (Rev. 1:13-16).
Christ said, "Fear not; I am the first (Lord of the Old Testament) and the last (Lord of the New Testament): I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death" (Rev. 1:17,18). In this Preview, not only are the saints that have never seen death in heaven, but the saints that have died have been resurrected and are there too. This is what I Thess. 4:13-18 is talking about. After Christ's messages to the churches when the Rapture is at hand, the Rapture happens when he says, "Come up hither" in Rev. 4:1. All the Tribulation and the Second Advent are future at that point. They come "hereafter" (4:1).
> > God the Father, YHVH, Yahveh, takes John FORWARD to the day that Jesus comes back to earth. In 4:11 we find John being shown what will occur AFTER the five month literal reign of the instead of jesus, which is that Jesus will come back and set up His milleneum reign.
That order is mixed up. Rev. 4 and 5 is the scene in Heaven right after the Pre-Trib Rapture. The False Prophet comes to full power in the middle of the Tribulation, after the 2 witnesses prophesy the first 1260 days (Rev. 11:3). The 5 months of demon activity follow the asteroid impact that opens the bottomless pit in Rev. 9 on the Day of God's Wrath. That catastrophe is 7 months before the Second Advent (Eze. 38:12,13). Jesus does not return until Rev. 19:11.
The False Prophet will be deposed from office on the Day of God's Wrath, as the 5 months start. Satan will come out of him at that time and operate on his own until Christ returns, dominion is taken away from Satan, and he is chained. Rev. 17:10,11 says, "there are seven kings (Nimrod, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander the Great, Caesar, the Beast and the False Prophet): five are fallen, and one is (the Beast, at the time of the Rapture), and the other (the False Prophet comes to full power Mid-Trib) is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space (1040 days, 2300 of Dan. 8:14 - 1260 of Rev. 11:5 = 1040). And the beast (Satan) that was (in Judas Iscariot), and is not (in man now), even he (Satan) is the eighth, and is of the seven (influences the 6 and possesses the 7th), and goeth into perdition."
Notice that at the time of the Rapture, Rev. 17:14 says that "they that are with him (Christ) are called, and chosen, and faithful." The Rapture has just happened. Yet, the "ten kings...have received no kingdom as yet. From Rev. 13:1 we know that all 10 are crowned as the Tribulation starts. Notice too that the Beast "is" in office at the time of the Rapture, but the False Prophet "is not yet come." The Rapture has to come before the False Prophet is revealed when the Beast and False Prophet "confirm" the covenant of Dan. 9:27.
> > The escape you want comes from KNOWLEDGE of the fact that when He says in verse 36 that you "escape all these things (WHAT things? the things in the previous verses, i.e., false christ coming, etc.)
The things we will be able to escape and the Rapture to escape them are seen in Lu. 21:25-28. Jesus said, "there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars (lit., constellations); and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those THINGS WHICH ARE COMING on the earth (the 2 asteroid impacts of Rev. 8:8,10 for instance): for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory (he comes at the Second Advent with glory). And when these things (the signs in the Sun, Moon and Constellations, which we have seen) BEGIN to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." We are to look up for Christ's coming for us at the Rapture is nigh. We are at this point in time today.
You are worried, afraid that you will accept the False Christ. That may be because of the KJV's faulty translation in II Thess. 2. Verses 2-8 say, "That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ (the major MSS have "day of the Lord") is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (the millennial Day of the Lord) shall not come, except there come a falling away (apostasia, departing, i.e., the Rapture) first, and that man of sin (the False Prophet) be revealed (when he confirms the covenant at the beginning of the Tribulation), the son of perdition (the one who will be Satan possessed); Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God (Mid-Trib, Rev. 13:5,11; Mt. 24:15). Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth (the Holy Spirit hinders) that he (the False Prophet) might be revealed in his time (the Tribulation). For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let (Old English for he who hindereth will hinder), until he (the Holy Spirit) be taken out of the way (he will cease to hinder when he takes us to Heaven in the Rapture). And then (after the Rapture) shall that Wicked (False Prophet) be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming."
> > There are TWO tribulations. One is Satan's five month period, same as the time of the locusts, and the BIG one is our Father's.....which will only hurt His enemies, those who do not love Him. Our Father's tribulation will be over the same day it begins, the Day of the Lord, which will be the first day of the new Dispensation of time
There is only one 70th week of Daniel 9:27 that we call the Tribulation. The 2 witnesses prophesy during the 1st 1260 days (Rev. 11:3). Its 2nd 1260-day period (Rev. 12:6), the Great Tribulation, the time of the False Prophet's full power, is the time that is shortened (Mt. 24:22). Dan. 8:13,14 says, "How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice (starts at the beginning of the Tribulation), and the transgression of desolation (when the False Prophet sits in the temple Mid-Trib), to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed."
We know from this that the Tribulation is 1260 days to Mid-Trib, then instead of the 1260 of the Great Tribulation, that part is shortened to 1040 days for the sake of the saints. (1260 + 1040 = 2300)
> > 15 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. (Those of us who are alive when Jesus comes back cannot GO BEFORE those who are already dead because they are ALREADY with Him.)
The word "prevent" is Old English for precede. The dead in Christ will get their resurrection bodies first, then the Bride group that are living will rise up "TOGETHER WITH THEM IN THE CLOUDS (i.e., in the sky), to meet the Lord in the air (aera, air, atmosphere): and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
> > 16 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: (This is at the SEVENTH TRUMP, when the Lord Himself comes back
This is the first trump of God (not sounded by angels as the 7 trumpet judgments are), typified by the 2 silver trumpets of Nu. 10:2-4. It says, "Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps. And when they shall blow with them (both), all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation (the Tribulation saints will be gathered to the heavenly 'assembly' of Heb. 12:23 at the 'last trump,' I Cor. 15:51,52). And if they blow but with one trumpet (the first trump, when the Bride saints are gathered, I Thess. 4:13-18), then the princes, which are heads of the thousands of Israel (the elders of Rev. 4:4), shall gather themselves unto thee." The 1st Rapture is Pre-Trib.
Christ does not return until the 2300-day Tribulation plus the 7 months of Eze. 39:12,13 have run their course. It will be Nisan 1 in a Jewish leap year, because there are those 7 months between the catastrophe on the 1st day of the millennial Day of the Lord on Tishri 1, the Feast of Trumpets, and the following Nisan 1.
Hos. 6:3 says, "the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth." He came as the former rain on Tishri 1 the 1st time. The King of kings and Lord of lords will return as the latter rain on Nisan 1, the 1st day of the Regnal and Sacred Year.
Eze. 29:17 sets the day as Nisan 1. It says, "in the first month, in the first day of the month." Then v. 21 says, " In that day will I cause the horn (king) of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth (the Word) in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD."
> > air is NOT the air we breathe. It is pneuma in the Greek. It means your spiritual body. That breath of LIFE body, not air we breathe. We will meet Him in our spiritual bodies when we either die OR He comes. Either way.
Green's Interlinear Greek English New Testament says "aera." It means air, atmosphere.
> > (Back to the subject again, which is WHERE are the DEAD people? and find that it is indeed comforting to know WHERE they are, that they are NOT in the ground in a hole but they are WITH HIM, in their spiritual bodies.
You are forgetting that "we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air (aera, air)."
> > Marilyn: please look up air in an Exhaustive Strong's, not an online one......they are not complete.
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (the printed book) says, 109 aer; from aemi (to breathe unconsciously, i.e.. respire; by anal. to blow); "air" (as naturally circumambient):--air.
> > In verse 16 we find the archangel sounding the trump, and I can tell you that the archangel only sounds the seventh trump, the last one out.
I Thess. 4:16 says, "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, (1) with the voice of the archangel, AND (2) with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first." It does not say that the archangel sounds the trump of God.
When the 7th trumpet judgment sounds, it does not say that the archangel sounds it. Rev. 8:2 says, "I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets." Rev. 16:17 says, "the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done."
> > The fake comes five months before the two witnesses are killed in Jerusalem. Jesus comes three days AFTER the two witnesses are killled. The instead of jesus comes BEFORE Jesus.
The 2 witnesses are killed Mid-Trib when the False Prophet comes to power as the Great Tribulation begins. Jesus comes 1040 days plus 7 months after the 2 witnesses are killed.
Jesus comes in the air at the Pre-Trib Rapture. The False Prophet comes to full power Mid-Trib, after the 2 witnesses prophesy 1260 days (Rev. 11:3). Jesus comes to set his feet on the Mt. of Olives (Zech. 14:4) after the 1040-day Great Tribulation and the extra 7 months go by. I believe it will be on Nisan 1, 5768 (Apr. 6, 2008), the anniversary of the Crucifixion on our Calendar. Agape
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Updated 10-28-00