Posted 11-7-00
> > We are praying unceasingly for those in our church and those in all churches to turn their lives over to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I am thrilled that you are concerned about people turning their lives over to Christ. Some people seem to think that just being a member of a church is enough. It isn't. Each and every one of us should make a conscious decision to accept Christ as our own personal Saviour. Rom. 10:9,10 says, "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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
> > I want you to know that there are many of us Catholics out here that know that we are in for the trial of our lives and it is coming very soon.
It is true that the Tribulation/70th week of Daniel is coming soon. I think the 70th week of Daniel will start on the Feast of Weeks, Sivan 6, 5761 (our May 28, 2001).
However, do you know that you personally do NOT have to go through that Tribulation? Rev. 3:10 says, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee FROM (ek, out of) the hour of temptation (peirasmou, trial), which shall come upon ALL THE WORLD, to try them that dwell upon the earth." In Lu. 21:36, Jesus said, "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be ACCOUNTED WORTHY to ESCAPE all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man."
Do you know what we have to do to be ready when the Bridegroom comes for the wise virgins (Mt. 25:1f)? We need to be filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit. When we first accept Christ, all our "OLD SINS" (II Peter 1:9) are forgiven. They are wiped off the books. We get a fresh start. When we sin after that, we must use I John 1:9. It says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." We must confess our sins to God. He is the only one that can cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When we are as pure virgins, the Holy Spirit will well up within us as a fountain of living water. We will be filled with the Holy Spirit, be in fellowship with our Holy God, and be ready to go with the Lord when he comes as the Bridegroom for the Bride of Christ.
I Thess. 4:13-18 says, "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 (Old English for precede) 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."
This ESCAPE, or CATCHING UP, is called the RAPTURE. The Lord will take those that are ready to Heaven so we will not have to go through the worst 7 years since there was a nation, even to this time. It is imperative that we get ready now, for the catching up is not far off. I think it will be before the beginning of the Tribulation, before the Beast and False Prophet confirm the 7-year peace treaty. Agape
But strange as it may seem, the City of Jerusalem as it existed in the time of Christ Jesus was also reckoned to be the "City of Seven Hills." This fact was well recognized in Jewish circles. In the Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer, an eighth century midrashic narrative (section 10), the writer mentioned without commentary (showing that the understanding was well known and required no defense) that "Jerusalem is situated on seven hills" (recorded in The Book of Legends, edited by Bialik and Ravnitzky, p. 371, paragraph 111). And, so it was. Those "seven hills" are easy to identify. If one starts with the Mount of Olives just to the east of the main City of Jerusalem (but still reckoned to be located within the environs of Jerusalem), there are three summits to that Mount of Olives. The northern summit (hill) is called Scopus [Hill One], the middle summit (hill) was called Nob [Hill Two], the highest point of Olivet itself, and the southern summit (hill) was called in the Holy Scriptures the "Mount of Corruption" or "Mount of Offence" [Hill Three] (II Kings 23:13). On the middle ridge between the Kedron and the Tyropoeon Valleys there was (formerly) in the south "Mount Zion" [Hill Four] (the original "Mount Zion" and not the later southwest hill that was later called by that name), then the "Ophel Mount" [Hill Five] and then to the north of that the "Rock" around which "Fort Antonia" was built [Hill Six]. And finally, there was the southwest hill itself [Hill Seven] that finally became known in the time of Simon the Hasmonean as the new "Mount Zion." This makes "Seven Hills" in all....
The small piece of rock was discovered during an international drilling mission to recover samples from beneath the floor of the Pacific.
It is only 2.5 mm in size, but a detailed chemical analysis indicates that it is rich in metals and seems typical of a type of meteorite called a carbonaceous chondrite. This strongly suggests that the body that so devastated the Earth 65 million years ago was an asteroid 10km across....
Ten kilometres across may not sound very big, but it would have been travelling so fast that it would have slammed into the ground with overwhelming force - it would have distorted the very crust of the Earth....
Most of the asteroid would have been vaporised during impact.
But landing in the ocean would not soften the blow. Superheated steam would have been thrown into the atmosphere and tidal waves would have raced around the globe, repeatedly devastating seaboards.
Molten rock from the sea floor would rain down on the land within thousands of miles of the impact. A searing blast wave would race away from the impact point at thousands of miles an hour setting alight anything in its path....
The Sun's light would be cut off and the single most important chemical reaction on Earth would cease - no sunlight, no photosynthesis.
Plants would die and food chains collapse - entire species would become extinct.
Some calculations of the impact suggest that not all of the meteorite would have been vaporised. Perhaps, if it came in at an oblique angle some would have survived....
Not every living thing perished after the impact. Many plants did survive, as did crocodiles and turtles. This puzzles scientists.
***From Marilyn: Guess they have to figure out how we were descended from crocodiles and turtles, huh? That would be puzzling to a nonbeliever.
***From Marilny: Over all, I liked your defense of the Pre-Trib Rapture. Thanks for sending it. The pictures are spectacular, especially of Saturn. I'll add the URL to this posting if you will send it to me.
***I had to laugh though when thinking that after the Rapture, I would pass Mercury (travelling toward the Sun) and then Mars, Jupiter and Uranus (travelling away from the Sun). That would be backtracking quite a bit. We would pass Venus twice. I think Saturn is actually our destination. In II Cor. 12:2-7, Paul told of his being caught up to the third Heaven. To me that is simply (1) Mars, (2) Jupiter and (3) Saturn.
***Heaven has a halo. In Rev. 4:3, "there was a RAINBOW ROUND ABOUT THE THRONE." That fits Saturn's ring system. In his vision of "the heavens," in Eze. 1, he saw Heaven. Farther out in space than the 4 terrestrial planets in their concentric orbits, Ezekiel saw "the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone (v. 26). Sapphire means dear to the planet Saturn, from the Sanskrit sani, Saturn, and priya, dear. This is why at Sinai, Ex. 24:10 says, "they saw the God of Israel (the preincarnate Christ): and there was UNDER HIS FEET as it were (symbolic language) a paved work of a SAPPHIRE STONE, and as it were (symbolic language) the body of heaven (THE HEAVENLY BODY) in his clearness. Ezekiel also saw Heaven in his 2nd vision of the heavens. In Eze. 10:1, he said, "behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims (the 4 terrestrial planets) there appeared over them as it were a SAPPHIRE STONE, as the appearance of the likeness of a THRONE."
***Eze. 1:27,28 says, "I saw as the colour of amber (Saturn is golden, brushed with amber), as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins (mothen, waist, i.e., from the equator) even upward, and from the appearance of his loins (from the equator) even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had BRIGHTNESS ROUND ABOUT. As the appearance of the BOW that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the BRIGHTNESS ROUND ABOUT. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD."
***The number of God and perfection is 7. Therefore, it is not surprising to find out that Heaven was the 7th object, counting the Sun as the first. Josephus showed that the candlestick in the temple represented the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (Ant.III. VII.7).
***Eze. 28:13 gives us the symbols of all of the original planets, not including the Sun, but including Satan's planet that was split apart and became our Asteroid Belt. Saturn is again number 7 in the list. Eze. 28:13,14 says, "Thou (Satan) hast been in Eden the garden of God (both the earthly one and the heavenly one); every precious stone was thy covering (surroundings), (1) the sardius (Mercury), (2) topaz (Venus), and (3) the diamond (Earth), (4) the beryl (Mars), (5) the onyx (Rahab, Satan's planet), and (6) the jasper (Jupiter), (7) the sapphire (Saturn), (8) the emerald (Uranus), and (9) the carbuncle (Neptune), and (10) gold (Pluto): the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth (guards); and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire" (planets). His planet was # 5 out of the original 10.
***Zech. 3:9,10 in the LXX says, "behold, I bring forth my servant the Branch. For as for the stone which I have set before the face of Jesus, on the one stone are seven eyes (orbs, i.e., rings)." Saturn is # 7 and has 7 rings.
> > One thing that pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, pre-wrath, and post-tribulation rapture folks all have in common.. ..they all believe that the Lord Jesus is coming back soon! However the ‘blessed hope’ is only for those who believe in the pre-tribulation rapture. The other views unfortunately, are all waiting for the Anti-Christ and not the Lord Jesus Christ. They have lost their blessed hope!...
> > However in this Church age, God is restraining the Wicked One by His Holy Spirit through the Church. When the Church is removed the Holy Spirit will still be here, but the restrainer won’t be! At that point the Anti-Christ will be free to rise to power and confirm that covenant with Israel to start the 70th Week of Daniel....
***I agree. It is unfortunate that the KJV translators put "day of Christ" in II Thess. 2:2. All major MSS have day of the Lord. It is the day of the Lord that cannot come until the "apostasia," departure, takes place first. The Rapture has to take place before the wicked one, the False Prophet, can be revealed.
> > ...God has made provision for Israel after the abomination of desolation. They are told to flee and there is a place prepared for them. There is no such provision for the Church, because the Church will not be here in the 70th week....
***Good point. If we were to be here, the Lord would have given us instructions on how to prepare for those days. He didn't, because he planned for us to be in Heaven with him during those 7 years.
> > Trumpet errors. The post/mid tribulation view tries to make the trumpet in 1 Corinthians & 1 Thessalonians 4 the same as the trumpets in Revelation & Matthew 24. They get really hung up on the trumpets trying to prove the last trumpet is all the same: in Matthew 24 & Revelation, and 1 Corinthians.
> > The trumpet error has lots of holes in it. For example the trumpet Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 15:52 is a trumpet of blessing directly blown for the church. It is associated with great blessing for the Church. Also in 1 Corinthians 15:51 Paul states that this is a mystery... .something new, not-revealed. At the trumpet in Matthew 24...men will hide and be fearful as Jesus is returning in judgment. The last trumpet in Revelation is a trumpet of judgement. Clearly different trumpets...
> > The incorrect assumption made is that there is only one kind of trumpet blast. This is a bad assumption. There are trumpets of judgment in Revelation. Who says the trumpet calls for Israel, The Church, and the judgments of Revelation are the same type and trumpet? Only be streeeeeeeching the Scriptures can those trumpets be linked into the-same trumpet blowing.
> > THE TRUMPET IN REVELATION IS NOT THE SAME AS THE ONE IN MT. 24
> > In the book of Revelation the 7th angel sounds and the call is made that the kingdoms of this world become Christ’s. BUT we still have the 7 bowl judgments to be poured out on the earth. This is also a proof that we have a different trumpet than the one in Corinthians and in Matthew. When the one in Matthew sounds, Jesus is seen by all on earth as He returns (Matt 24:30). Matthew 24 does not have the bowl judgments as they have already occurred...Jesus is returning to earth and everyone will see Him coming. But when the last trumpet sounds in Revelation, this signals the beginning of the bowl judgments. Clearly a different trumpet from the one in Mt. 24.
***To clarify this a bit, Mt. 24:30 is talking about the Sign of the Son of Man. It is seen in the sky when the clouds are rolled back like a scroll (Rev. 6:14f). It is not the Second Advent. This is the Day of God's Wrath. The Lord will fight this day for Israel when Gog's army attacks. Eze. 38:20 explains what will happen. It says, "the fishes of the sea (the Mediterranean, Zeph. 2:4,5), and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake (the worldwide earthquake of Rev. 16:18) at my presence (paneh, face; i.e., the Sign of the Son of Man), and the mountains (2 asteroids, Rev. 8:8,l0) shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground." All but 1/6th of Gog's army are killed (Eze. 39:2). Then Israel will bury the dead bodies 7 Jewish months to cleanse the land for the Lord's return at the Second Advent (Eze. 39:12,13).
***The account in Mt. 24:27-31 goes no farther in time than the Day of God's Wrath. The "last trump" of I Cor. 15:51,52 sounds to call the Tribulation saints up to Heaven (Mk. 13:27). The Sign of the Son of Man is seen. Then the 7 trumpet judgments hit Earth. After that the 7 vials/bowls hit when the 7th trumpet of judgment sounds.
***The first "trump of GOD" (I Thess. 4:16) is the Pre-Trib Rapture. The "last trump" (I Cor. 15:51,52) of GOD is the Pre-Wrath Rapture. Only after all the saints are safely in Heaven do the 7 judgment trumpets sounded by angels begin to sound. It is the unbelievers left on Earth that are to be punished with this catastrophe.
***The Day of God's Wrath is on the 1st day of the millennial Day of the Lord, Tishri 1, the Feast of Trumpets. It looks like Christ returns 7 months later, on Nisan 1 (Eze. 29:17,21; Hos. 6:3), the first day of the Regnal and Sacred Year in a Jewish Leap Year, such as 5768 (our 2007/2008). Agape
The former day of battle was on Joshua's Long Day. It was a type of this latter-time YESHUA/JESUS' LONG DAY. Yeshua is from the Hebrew Yehoshua (Joshua). Jos. 10:11-14 says, "as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron (house of the hollow), that THE LORD CAST DOWN GREAT STONES FROM HEAVEN upon them unto Azekah (dug over), and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.... And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man (next time, the Lord will do it on his own): for THE LORD FOUGHT FOR ISRAEL." Agape
I have wonderful news to those listening in and reading this message...I'm going HOME soon and ready for that meeting in the air which the Bible talks about...awaiting what is described called The Blessed Hope.
When this happens, which will be in a twinkling of an eye, those left behind can continue to argue until their hearts content and try staying alive when Almighty God pours out His judgements upon the earth....
I sure feel sorry for someone like Becky who plans to refuse to go in the Rapture because of the mistaken notion that the "Instead of Christ" is coming first. Heb. 12:25 warns, "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall NOT WE ESCAPE, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven." Believe me, I won't turn away. Agape
What peaked my desire to respond was the second P&C 623 incoming email that the writer basically said that God can't tell us exactly when He's going to do something least the devil will find out and foil our Lord's plan. No, these are not the writer's exact words but if one reads them I think one will agree that I accurately summarize the point the writer was making.
I hope the writer would agree that God does not need to hide any battle plan from the devil. He hides his plans from lukewarm servants like me, for our own good. I want to serve the Lord, I love him. I know he loves me too. But he has given satan enough power to lure me and bedazzle me with the sins and pleasures of this fleeting life/world.
I/we are being tested by all of this. Often I fail the test. I am a procrastinator. I wait until the night before the due date to cram, whether for exam or tax filing or whatever. If God told me the "due date" too far in advance I would likely fail the test as I would wait until the night before to repent.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Noah had any idea EXACTLY when the flood would begin UNTIL God said, "Get in the boat NOW". It was NOT raining that day. Procrastinators of that day, may have been considering hedging their bets by hopping onto the arc should the water actually start to rise. Years before the arc was complete. Besides, Noah was likely compassionate enough to let them if it were his choice to make.
But the arc was SEALED by God for what, seven days BEFORE the flood began? Noah, God's faithful servant had sufficient warning to escape. So too did everyone else at the time. For seven days they must have mocked Noah. "Hey, look at that fool now, all pent up in that arc with the dung of a thousand animals." Do you think that if even one of them were to have repented during those few days that God would have saved that person too? I do. They were warned but listened not. And when the rain did begin don't you think that it was them, the mockers, that realized who were actually in deep "doo-doo"? ;-)
So for the many years that Noah was building the arc the people could see that God's servant, Noah was preparing for some major event at a future date. Then as that date approached the signs became VERY clear.
The animals were loaded which had to take a while and the Noah's family boarded. Surly anyone could have cried out for mercy at that point and been granted a boarding pass. None did or we would have read about it. They were too proud to admit that they might be wrong.
Marilyn, I believe the work you are doing like many others watching for the signs and counting the seasons is like building an arc. You are being tested by warning all with the impending future events. As God decides to delay these events, probably to save some (even one) more of his children that will choose to follow him (as I think he did for Noah's contemporaries). During this time the mockers will mock and try to shake your faith. And that is part of your test. What if after building the arc and being sealed up in it, Noah said, "You know we've been in this stinking arc for six and a half days with those folks laughing and mocking us out there. Oh heck, lets jump ship and go have a drink with them." ;-)
Well in short I think that God will reveal the EXACT date a very short time before the departure to his elect. They will have been warned to watch for years but the exact date was withheld to help folks on the bubble like me, NOT to fool satan. Satan knows the Word and therefore the plan. Yes he will try to defeat God's plan but God has foreseen all things and knows the outcome, unlike satan.
Thanks again for all the hard work, I will keep you in my prayers.
> > But the arc was SEALED by God for what, seven days BEFORE the flood began?
No. I used to think that too, but the door was shut the same day it started to rain. It is not as clear in the KJV as in some other versions, but Gen. 7:11-17 (KJV) says, "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the SAME DAY were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth FORTY DAYS AND FORTY NIGHTS. In the SELFSAME DAY entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: AND THE LORD SHUT HIM IN. And the flood was FORTY DAYS upon the earth."
> > I think that God will reveal the EXACT date a very short time before the departure to his elect.
Noah still knew 7 days ahead of time. He could start loading the food and clothing then. Gen. 7:4 says, "For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights. Agape
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Updated 11-7-00