Category: End Times Prophecy

Birth Pangs

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“But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.”  Matthew 24:8

There is a lot of talk about the birth pangs these days.  Many Christians are saying that we are seeing them now – earthquakes, wars, and rumors of wars, pestilence, even the potential for famines. 

Are we really experiencing the events that Jesus, Paul and John prophesied?   No, we are not.

We are not seeing the birth pangs that were prophesied because they are tribulation events.  We are not in the tribulation.  Are these types of things occurring today?  Absolutely, but nowhere near the level of magnitude as will happen in the 7-year tribulation period before the return of Christ to earth.

It’s easy to take the passage in Matthew – where Jesus is describing wars, famine, earthquakes, lawlessness and love growing cold – out of context.  These things have been occurring since the flood.  But that does not mean they are the specific things foretold as the ‘birth pangs’.

In Matthew 24, Jesus is clearly speaking about the tribulation.  His outline of things to come in response to the disciples question – “what will be the sign of Your coming and the end of the age?” – fits in precisely with the format we find in Daniel 9, 1Thessalonians 4 and 5, and Revelation.  The format, or timeline, is as follows:

  1. The Church is evacuated to heaven (1Thess 1:10; 1Thess 4:15; 2Thess 2:1-3)
  2. The antichrist is revealed (2Thess. 2:3-12)
  3. Peace and safety on earth (1Thess 5:3; 2Thess 2:8-11)
  4. An agreement is made with Israel and antichrist – probably to allow Israel to build the temple and sacrifice in peace. (Dan. 9:27)
  5. The birth pangs begin (Matt. 24:6; Mark 13:7-13; 1Thess. 4:15-5:3; Rev. 6)
  6. The 2 witnesses are killed (Rev. 11:7)
  7. Antichrist stops the sacrifices and enters Holy of Holies in the new temple in the middle of the tribulation, declaring himself to be God and Savior (Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24:15; Mark 13:14; 2Thess. 2:4)
  8. Jews flee Jerusalem and elsewhere into the wilderness for the 3 1/2 years (Hosea 2:14-16; Matt. 24:16-20; Mark 13:14-18; Rev. 12:6)
  9. Satan is thrown down from heaven and permanently shut out of the throne room of God (Rev. 12:9-10)
  10. Satan tries to destroy the Jews in the wilderness and the rest of the Jews on earth (Rev. 12:13-17)
  11. Armageddon takes place (Ezek. 38-39:8; Zech. 14:2-3; Rev.19:11-21)Jesus returns to earth at the end of the 7 years. (Zech. 14:4; Matt.24:30; Rev. 19:11)

So, we see there are four other major events that will take place before the birth pangs begin.  None of these events have happened.  One of the main reasons we put the beginning of birth pangs at the number 5 position is because Jesus is answering the question from His disciples, “…what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age”. 

The birth pangs occur at the end of the age.  They do not occur throughout the age or ages.  And they are signs that verify that the Day of the Lord has come.  The Day of the Lord is an idiom that essentially means the judgment of the world up to and including the return of Christ to earth, i.e. the tribulation. 

This is what Paul explains in 1 Thessalonians.  In his condensed summary of the tribulation, Paul says the birth pangs begin after the rapture and then sometime after peace and safety have been established on earth by antichrist (1Thess. 5:2-3).

The birth pangs that Jesus lay out in Matthew 24 match up with the seal judgments in Revelation 6.

Birth pangs chart

It is also important to remember that Jesus said that the trials he listed are just the beginning of birth pangs.  The pangs continue throughout the 7 years all the way until the firmament is ripped open and Christ is seen coming to earth in the clouds.  They include the Trumpet judgments and the Bowl judgments of Revelation.

The birth pangs are the judgment of the world.  As birth pangs do, these judgments get longer and more painful in magnitude up until the birth, which is Jesus’ return and reclamation of earth.

We are not seeing the birth pangs.  But, with the increasing earthquakes, the locust plagues in Africa and the Middle East, the coronavirus travesty, and now rampant lawlessness, perhaps the Lord is giving a little warning of what is about to come upon the whole earth when the Restrainer is removed.

Read also, Who or What is the Restrainer?, Times and Epochs, The Gog Magog War IS Armageddon, The GreatFalling Away of the Church, Valley of Achor – the Door of Hope, and Three Bankable Scriptural Truths That Guarantee the Church Will Be Raptured Before the Tribulation.

A Day’s Wage for a Loaf of Bread

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“When He opened the the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, ‘Come’.  And I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on him 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 do not harm the oil and the wine.”  Revelation 6:6

The verse above is the description of the 3rd of 7 seal judgments of the 7 year tribulation, or 70th Week of Daniel.  My goal here is to bear out the possibility that we are now living in the circumstances that will lead to the fulfillment of this verse in the tribulation period.  These circumstances are being driven by what is called Modern Monetary Theory, which is now being fully implemented by our government and the rest of the world.  I’ll get into this in a minute. 

You can find various perspectives regarding the meaning of the above passage.  It is pretty much a universal belief that a denarius was about a day’s wage when John wrote Revelation.  Matthew 20:2 seems to confirm it.  And a quart of wheat would make a loaf of bread.

What is not obvious is what the scales, oil and wine represent.

Some interpret this passage as famine with hyperinflation.  Seems reasonable.  Although the 4th seal is the judgment death-by-famine-and-pestilence, and not the 3rd seal.  That brings into question the scales, oil and wine and their meaning.

I interpret this verse symbolically.  The scales are clearly symbolic of something, as are the oil and wine.

Some say the scales represent famine because it would be necessary to measure out the wheat and barley carefully and precisely, due to scarcity.  Some say they represent judgment.  From what I can tell, this is primarily because our symbol of justice is lady liberty holding a sword and scales. 

I think perhaps the scales represent balance and fairness, or justness.  I also have an idea that the oil and wine represent plenty and abundance.  Bread was a basic staple, but oil and wine were luxuries.   

This passage may be describing a situation where hyperinflation is rampant and those with little can barely pay for basic necessities.  However, in this not-so-distant future period, the wealthy are not suffering, and still can have their treats. 

Today in the U.S. and the world, economic inequality, whether measured through the gaps in income or wealth between richer and poorer households, continues to widen.  According to the Pew Research Center, “the wealth gap among upper-income families and middle- and lower-income families is sharper than the income gap and is growing more rapidly”.

The Brookings Institute says, “the top one percent of the usual income distribution holds over $25 trillion in wealth, which exceeds the wealth of the bottom 80 percent. That is more than all the goods and services produced in the U.S. economy in 2018”.

In Scripture, one of the purposes for the Year of Jubilee, was to prevent the majority of wealth from winding up in the hands of just a few.  You can find my article about it my new book by clicking the link above.

So, in my hypothesis, what you have in this verse is the lower income strata struggling to survive while the elite wealthy are living their lives essentially unchanged.  The scales then would represent a lack of balance and fairness. 

Modern Monetary Theory is Now the Rule

Until recently, I had no idea about this theory.  Now that I understand what it is, so many things make sense. 

I understand why authorities have no problem printing and spending more money to solve any problem that arises.  I understand why Bernie Sanders and other radical leftists have no problem advocating for universal healthcare, universal government paychecks, universal EVERYTHING!

In short, Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is the belief that by printing more money, any economic problem can be mitigated (I’m getting sick of that word – thank you Fauci). 

It is the anti-orthodox, macro-economic framework which says that any ‘monetarily sovereign’ country does not need taxes or borrowing for spending since they can print as much as they need and are the monopoly issuers of the currency.

A monetary sovereign country is one that has exclusive, unlimited power to create their sovereign currencies.   The U.S., U.K, Canada, Australia, Japan, China and the European Union are entities that are monetarily sovereign.

Because the U.S. is monetarily sovereign, it never needs to tax or borrow, according to the premise of the theory.  It can just just print money to pay it’s bills.  Theoretically, the country can never be pushed into insolvency. 

To quote one source, “Everything you believe about your personal finances — debts, deficits, spending, affordability, saving, and budgeting — are inappropriate to U.S. federal finances. For this reason, your personal intuition about U.S. financing likely is wrong.”

Traditional thinking would say that’s nuts. 

But according to investopedia.com, MMT supporters say, “large government debt isn’t the precursor to collapse we have been led to believe it is.  Countries like the U.S. can sustain much greater deficits without cause for concern, and in fact a small deficit or surplus can be extremely harmful and cause a recession since deficit spending is what builds people’s savings.”

In this theory, taxes are actually a mechanism to take money out of the money supply to control inflation!  In other words, tax revenues are simply destroyed, or erased from the money supply!

Conventional thinking would say that the natural consequence of this policy is hyper-inflation.  But MMT’ers would say nay, you can just adjust policies to correct inflation.  Does the Fed rate come to mind? 

Right now (as of this writing April 14, 2020), the Fed Rate is .25%.  That’s the rate banks can borrow money.  The lower the rate, the cheaper borrowed money is (and the more commercial and personal debt increases), and the slower inflation would creep.

Do some research on it.  Investopedia gives a very nice explanation. 

The Coronavirus Play

So now comes the coronavirus.  My spidey sense is at 100%.  I try to get a 30,000 foot spiritual view of the situation.

This germ panic has prompted governments to declare a lockdown of the entire world economy.  The result of this lockdown is the most unprecedented (I know that’s redundant) printing-fest of fiat currency in the history of the world.  Trillions of new dollars are being printed to ameliorate the economic hardships of the man-made economic shutdown.

Recently, White House economic advisor, Larry Kudlow said that the U.S. economic stimulus package will reach $6 trillion.  $4 trillion would be immediate liquidity (that means cheap borrowing and bloating of the money supply) and the other $2 trillion would be paychecks, essentially. 

Kudlow called it, “the single largest Main Street assistance program in the history of the United States”.   Duh

The world is at full tilt printing new money.  Can you see the picture developing and the rationale behind my interpretation of Revelation 6:6?  Massive debt, hyperinflation, incredible wealth gap, economic depression.

What if the rapture happened right…now?

The Feast of Booths

Feast of Booths

“On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with a sabbath rest on the first day and a sabbath rest on the eighth day.”  Lev. 23:39

“You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year.  It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month.  You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native born in Israel shall live in booths.”  Lev. 23:41-42

This coming Sunday evening, October 13, begins The Feast of Booths (or Sukkot).  On the Hebrew calendar it is the 15th of Tishrei, which is the 7th month.   It is the last feast of the year of the 7 feasts designated by God in Leviticus (Leviticus 23:1-44).  These were God’s declared ‘holy convocations’ and ‘appointed times’ that the Hebrews were required to observe annually.  These feasts ultimately foreshadowed the coming Messiah and His mission.

All of the spring feasts (Unleavened Bread, Passover, First Fruits and Pentecost (or Shavout) have had fulfillment in Jesus’s first coming.  The fall feasts (Trumpets, Atonement and Booths) have yet to be completely fulfilled and will be at Jesus’s 2nd coming.  I do believe that a partial fulfillment has been accomplished with the Feast of Atonement and the Feast of Booths. 

I encourage you to research this subject for yourself.  While the feasts were only for the Jews to observe, they are important for Christians to understand.  They display God’s wisdom and His agenda.   I only want to focus on the Feast of Booths here.

The Feast of Booths, or Sukkot, is the last fall feast following the Feasts of Trumpets and  Atonement in that order.  Leviticus says that the purpose of this holy convocation is to remind the Jews every year that God had them live in booths when He brought them out from the land of Egypt (Lev. 23:43). 

In Exodus 23:16, it is also called by God as the Feast of Ingathering.  “…also the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field.” (See also Exodus 34:22)

The question is – why did God want to constantly remind the Jews that He had them live in booths?

A booth, or sukkoh (cukkah is the literal Hebrew), was a temporary meager shelter.  It had four sides and roof made with various types of branches from leafy trees (Nehemiah 8:15).   The tradition is that the night sky could be seen through them. 

In Genesis 33:17, it says that Jacob journeyed to a place where he built a house for himself and booths for his livestock.  The place from that time forward was called Succoth or Sukkot,  which means booths (cukkowth is the literal Hebrew plural).

This question of why God wanted to remind the Jews that He had them live in booths has even greater dimension when you realize that it is the only feast that will be observed by everyone on earth during the Millennial Kingdom with Jesus reigning from Jerusalem.  “Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths”  Zechariah 14:16

When the Hebrews were freed from Egypt, the first place they camped was called Succoth (Exodus 13:20).  This was not the same Succoth as Jacob’s Succoth. 

We have to assume that they made booths and lived in them there.  The reason we have to assume it is because it does not say specifically that they did in the passage in Exodus.  But, Leviticus does specifically say that God had them make and dwell in booths. 

When it comes to understanding the Feast of Booths, it is also significant that the Shekinah Glory of God appeared first at Succoth.  The Pillar of Cloud and Fire is first mentioned in this passage.  “And the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.” (Exodus 13:21)  So, God manifested Himself physically among the Jews.

Will God Indeed Dwell with Mankind on the Earth?

Coinciding with the above was that Solomon’s Temple was dedicated, and the glory of the Lord filled it, during the Feast of Booths.  “And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to King Solomon at the feast, in the month of Ethanim (Tishrei), which is the seventh month.”  “And it came about when the priests came from the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord.”  (1 Kings 8:2,10)  In 2 Chronicles 6:18, after the glory of the Lord filled the Temple, Solomon exclaimed “But will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth?”.

This was not a question of doubt, but of wonderment and awe.  And we know this occurred during the Feast of Booths because it was one of the 3 feasts where all the males of Israel had to assemble (Ex. 23:17, Ex. 34:23, Deut. 16:16), and it happened in the 7th month.  

As mentioned earlier in Zech 14:16, the Feast of Booths is the only feast that is required to be observed by all the nations during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ on earth (According to Ezekiel 45, it appears that the Jews in the Millennial Kingdom will also observe the Feast of Passover).   Representatives from all the surviving nations will be required to go to Israel and live in booths just as the Jews did before Christ.  This means Jews and Gentiles.  Any who do not go, that nation will not receive any rain, presumably at least until the next Feast of Booths (Zech. 14:17-18).  

Finally, Jesus was born in a booth.  He was born in a small shelter for livestock and laid in a feeding trough (manger).  And He was born during the Feast of Booths in the fall, not December 25th (I’ll write about this when we get close to Christmas).  God came to earth in the form of man during this feast and He dwelt with man.  This is why I say the Feast of Booths has been partially fulfilled as a foreshadowing.  

There is no specific passage that explains exactly why God commanded the Jews to live in booths for 7 days every year.  Nor is there a verse that explains why God will require the nations to observe this feast either.  But from all of the passages mentioned above, we can make an educated assumption.

I believe the Scriptures express 2 primary reasons. 

First, it was instituted to remind the Jews that God was their provider.  The feast takes place after the harvest is gathered.  The Jews celebrated with a great feast but sacrificed their first fruits to the Lord.  It reminded the Jews that it was God who brought them out of slavery and cared for them in the wilderness.  In the Millennial Kingdom, the nations will also need to be reminded that the King of Kings is the provider of all the earth.

Interestingly, it is also probably why  the forgiveness of debts every 7 years happened during the Feast of Booths (Deuteronomy 15:1-2 and 31:10).   In other words, the forgiveness of debts is an act of faith in the Lord providing.

I think it is important to include that when Jesus returns, there is going to take place the great harvest.  There will be survivors of the 70th Week of Daniel all over the world.  They will include righteous and unrighteous and they will be gathered up and brought to the new capital of earth, Jerusalem (Matthew 25:31-32).  Then there will be the separation of the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares.  All of the righteous and unrighteous, the wheat and tares, will be separated and gathered.  Matthew 13:40-42 says that,

“The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. 

This is describing hell, not the Lake of Fire (see the article ‘Eternal Torment or Eternal Destruction).  The goats and tares will be cast into hell to await destruction at the end of the Millennial Kingdom.  The righteous will enter the kingdom.  This happens during the Feast of Ingathering after Jesus returns, which is the other name for Feast of Booths.   This harvest of souls is a fulfillment of The Feast of Ingathering.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly,  Sukkot was to teach and remind the Jews that it was God’s desire and plan to dwell with man permanently in an eternal kingdom.  Booths, and the Tabernacle and Temple were temporary.  But God dwelt in all of them.  And when Jesus is reigning on earth during the Millennial Kingdom, He will require the feast to be observed because He wants the nations to be reminded that He is seated on the throne in Jerusalem, ruling and dwelling with man.  But that also will be a temporary realm.

It is God’s burning desire to dwell with man whom He loves, and provide all good things.  He has tarried this long to return because He wants to live with multitudes of people.

When the new heaven and earth are created, there will be no need of any reminders.

Outside

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“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.  Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers, and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”  Revelation 22:14-15

On the way home from visiting family over the Independence Day holiday I was listening to a Christian program on the radio.  It was one of those ‘Bible answer man’ type shows where people would call or write with questions.  The guy who was answering them was from Moody Bible Institute.  I’m pretty sure he had a doctorate of theology (ThD).

The subject of the verse is the city ‘New Jerusalem’ that will come down out of heaven and be the dwelling place for everyone on the new earth.  The subject of the question was basically, “what’s going on here?”.  The questioner said it sounded like there are unsaved people on the new earth living outside the gates of the new Jerusalem. 

I was really surprised at the answer that the scholar gave.

He said that it appeared from the passage that the Lake of Fire would be within eyesight of the new Jerusalem and that those who are living in the city would be able to see the suffering unsaved burning in the lake. 

I’ll pause here while you look at the passage and contemplate the response he gave.

I was kind of shocked at the level of understanding he showed.   It was evidence that a ThD does not make you Biblically literate. 

Before I get into the problems with the doctor’s answer, and the correct understanding of the passage, you should read my post “Eternal Torment or Eternal Destruction“.  If you haven’t read it or ever considered that the unsaved will be destroyed instead of suffering in unimaginable burning pain for eternity, it will give you the background and support of my response.

I can understand why the scholar responded the way he did.  He believes that people will suffer for eternity while burning in the Lake of Fire.  His bias and his ‘programming’ was what informed him of the passage’s meaning.  In other words, his incorrect belief led him to conclude that the saved will be able to see the unsaved roasting in the Lake of Fire. 

There are 2 problems.  One is his incorrect understanding of hell and judgment in the Bible.  The other problem is his lack of discernment as to the context of the passage. 

In a nutshell, the context is about spiritual position or condition, not geographic location.

Take a look at Rev. 22:12.  It says that Jesus is coming to render to every man according to what he has done.  It’s a future event.  For the saved it’s rewards.  For the unsaved it’s destruction.   (“And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord.” 1 Thess. 1:9)  Those who do not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess 1:8) will be destroyed away from the presence of the Lord. 

Rev. 22:14 also gives an obvious clue that vs. 15 is metaphorical and is talking about spiritual condition rather than geographic location.  It says ‘blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the RIGHT to the tree of life and MAY enter into the city’.  The others in vs. 15 do not have that right and they are characterized as outside.  They do NOT have the right to enter into the city and they will be thrown into the Lake of Fire and destroyed. 

I would venture to say that the scholar conflated Rev. 22:15 with Matt. 8:12 – “the sons of the kingdom shall be cast into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”   My guess is that he believes these verses are saying the same thing.  They are not.

Matt. 8 is talking about hell, not the Lake of Fire.  There IS weeping and gnashing of teeth in the darkness and heat of hell as these souls await their judgment at the Great White Throne in Revelation 20.  They will be judged and then destroyed in the Lake of Fire. 

Think about it.  If it’s outer darkness, then how would anyone from the New Jerusalem be able to see into it?  And what would be the purpose of having the Lake of Fire right by the New Jerusalem and everyone in the city constantly having to view the horrible suffering going on (that is if anyone was actually suffering in it besides Satan, the antichrist and false prophet – Rev. 20:10).   It’s absurd on it’s face.

The Greek definition of the word ‘outside’ in Rev. 22:15 is ‘exo’ which does mean outside.  Metaphorically, they are outside of the city.  They are not in the position or have the right to enter into the city that is coming.  They are separated from the glory and blessing of salvation.  The opposite of inside is outside.  In other words, a person can be both destroyed and also outside of the city.  The point is they are not IN the city.

We are not going to be subjected to some senseless and cruel eternal spectacle of tormented and suffering souls.  Neither will anyone suffer like that for eternity other than Satan, the antichrist and the false prophet. 

Lawlessness at the Gate

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barbarians at the gate

“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.”  2 Thessalonians 2:7

Like a horde of barabarians, lawlessness is pressing against the gate and the gate is looking like it’s beginning to buckle.

Barbarians were on parade during the Democrat Presidential debates this week.  These people are demonstrably insane as they promote their national suicide agenda which includes a wide open sovereign border to allow anyone who wishes to come into the USA.  Since the beginning of the year, approximately 100,000 people per month have illegally streamed across the southern border.

That’s bad enough, but they also want to give all of these illegals free healthcare and other American citizen-funded benefits.  One candidate said there should be a pathway to citizenship for ALL illegals and no one on the debate stage objected. 

The Democrat ‘Resistance’ is opposed to any enforcement of immigration laws as seen in so called ‘sanctuary cities’ that harbor criminal illegal aliens.

But it’s not just immigration where lawlessness is exploding.

We see it on the streets of Democrat run LA and San Fransisco where people are allowed to camp, shoot heroin and defecate on city sidewalks.

A Democrat D.A. in Dallas will no longer prosecute anyone who has been arrested for thefts of items valued at $750 or less.  Ostensibly, these items must be for ‘necessities’.  But who will sit as judge for what is necessary?

How about felons voting?   Democrats are advocating now for felons to be able to vote…WHILE THEY ARE IN PRISON!

The Democrat Portland Mayor stands by and holds back the police while Antifa thugs assault innocent people that their ‘No Fear – No Hate’ tolerance can’t tolerate, including a journalist who suffer a brain hemorrhage.

The Democrat Chicago D.A. refused to prosecute Jussie Smollet even though there was overwhelming evidence to show he committed numerous crimes in perpetrating a hate-crime hoax.

It’s clear why Democrats fully support all of these policies.  They want more votes.  They want the votes of all of the illegals and all of the felons.

But the point is this:  It’s not that the Democrats support all of these things, it’s that the Democrats are the law unto themselves.  They hate the Constitution, and they hate God’s law.  (Psst…they hate God)  Yes, if you hate God’s law, you hate God.

The Democrats want to lock up Donald Trump, despite the fact he has not committed any crime.  Yet they turn a blind eye to the crimes committed by Hillary Clinton with her illegal server and her destruction of over 30,000 government emails. 

They fight tooth and nail against any investigation into the Russian hoax ‘Steele dossier’ that was funded by Hillary Clinton and used to instigate the ‘witch hunt’ against President Trump.  They wail about a non-existent collusion with the Russians by Trump yet it was the Democrats who colluded with Russians to produce the Steele dossier.  I could spend hours going through other examples of this kind of hypocrisy.

Democrats only care about the law so long as it accomplishes their agenda.  Otherwise, the law is what THEY say it is.  This is the epitome of hating God.  They reject God and worship themselves.  And I would hate to see the millstone that will grace the necks of those who bastardize and twist the Word of God to support their godless agenda.

Full tilt, frothing-at-the-mouth radical socialists are at the gate and they are no longer disguising their intent.  They want control and they will be the law.  They want all the guns.  They want everyone on government healthcare so they can control our health.  They want control of all of our money.  They want full term babies to be aborted and allowed to die.  The law will not apply to them.  It will only apply to the government slaves.  (‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” ‘Animal Farm’ _Orwell )

I think we may be getting a glimpse of the Holy Spirit – the Restrainer – beginning to pull away.  Perhaps it is a warning that He will soon be taken away completely.  When the Body of Christ is removed, so is the Holy Spirit.  (See my posts “Who or What is the Restrainer”, and “Michael the Restrainer?”) What will fill the vacuum will be a world-wide tyrannical government that can scarcely be conceived.  The ruler will be the ultimate ‘man of lawlessness’.  He’ll make Hitler and Stalin look like 4th grade bullies.

Lawlessness will be the stage from which antichrist will gain world wide power.  After the departure of the Church, chaos and lawlessness will be rampant.  His signs and wonders (2 Thess 2:9) will mesmerize a gullible, godless world and he will calm the economic and social pandemonium.  He will usher in a new golden age that will last until the beginning of the tribulation.  He will be the sole arbiter of the law and he will exalt himself above everything, making himself out to be the Most High God (2 Thess 2:4).  

If the departure of the Church does not come soon, I pray that these people will not just be thwarted, but they will be rejected so strongly in the next election that the radicals are tossed out of prominence for decades.  But don’t count on it.  Satan knows the Day of the Lord is near.

Maranatha

Three Bankable Scriptural Truths that Guarantee the Church Will Be Raptured Before the Tribulation

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1. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 – “…and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.”

Really, this verse is all I need to be confident that the Church will be raptured prior to the tribulation.  The word ‘delivers’ in this verse is ‘ruomai’ in Greek which means “to draw to oneself as if dragging or pulling to rescue from danger”.  The word ‘from’ in the Greek is ‘ek’ which means ‘out of’.  A better translation of this passage would then actually be “…Jesus, who will pull us to himself to rescue us out the way of the wrath that is coming”.

This passage gives a much different picture than the picture put forth by those who advocate for a mid or post-tribulation rapture.  Their belief is that God will give the grace necessary to face all of the horror and suffering that will take place during the 70th week of Daniel. 

I don’t know about you but that doesn’t sound like being dragged out of the way of the wrath.  And it certainly doesn’t give me much comfort or peace of mind.  It’s no wonder why there is such a profitable business out there keeping the fear going by many preachers in the various media.   Apocalypse survival books make money!

This verse indicates a much more drastic action than just giving grace or strength.  It is saying that Jesus is going to pull us up to Himself and out of the world before the wrath of God is poured out on creation during the tribulation. 

2. Paul said that the rapture will precede the ‘Day of the Lord’ and the revealing of the antichrist.

“Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him, 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.  Let no one in any way deceive you, for IT WILL NOT COME UNLESS THE DEPARTURE COMES FIRST, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction”.  2Thessalonians 2:1-3

I go into greater detail in my post “The Great Falling Away of the Church”, but this verse is not saying the ‘Day of the Lord’ will come after the ‘falling away from the faith’, which is how most interpret it.  Most translations say “apostasy’ where I have ‘departure’. 

The Greek word ‘apostasia’ means departure or leaving.  There is no quantifying noun.  That is to say the word faith or truth is not there.  By itself, ‘apostasia’ simply means departure, leaving, or moving away from. 

In this context Paul is saying that the rapture or departure will come before the ‘Day of the Lord’.  ‘Day of the Lord’ is a Hebrew idiom for the 7 year period of judgment or tribulation before the return of the King of Kings. 

The Thessalonians thought they had been left behind and the day of the Lord had come.  Paul is clearly talking about the rapture when he says “with regard to the coming of our Lord…and our gathering together to Him”, and he uses the word ‘apostasia’ as another way of describing it. 

Paul says the order of events is 1) the departure will happen and then 2) the man of lawlessness will be revealed before the ‘Day of the Lord’.  The antichrist will not be revealed until the Church departs.  Which brings us to the the 3rd truth that guarantees the Church will be raptured before the tribulation begins…

3.  The ‘Restrainer’ is the Holy Spirit, and when He is removed the antichrist will be revealed.

“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”.  2 Thessalonians 2:7

I won’t go into all of the detail here about why the Restrainer is the Holy Spirit.  You can read all about it in my posts “Michael the Restrainer?” and “Who or What is the Restrainer?”.

The Holy Spirit clearly is the Restrainer.  Paul is reiterating something he has undoubtedly gone over with them thoroughly in the past; namely, that the antichrist will not be revealed until the Holy Spirit removes Himself from the world.  Ergo, when the Holy Spirit is removed, the Church is removed because the Holy Spirit resides in the Body of Christ!  This is exactly what Paul said in 2Thess 2:3 – the departure comes first (Holy Spirit is removed) and then antichrist is revealed. 

Paul’s comforting message is NOT that the Church will be given grace to endure the tribulation, it is that the Church will not go through the tribulation!

The Thessalonians were obviously disturbed and shaken by the thought that the ‘Day of the Lord’ had come and that they were going to go through the tribulation.  If Paul had taught the Church would go through the tribulation, then why wasn’t Paul reminding them that God would give them strength and grace to endure the unprecedented sufferings, horrors, and tortures that will come during that time?  Instead, he reminds them of the sequence of events leading up to the tribulation. 

Think about that for a minute!

Christians are not supposed to prepare for the tribulation.

The bottom line is that we, the Body of Christ, should not be worried about the tribulation.  Not because somehow we will be able to endure it by faith, but because we’re not going to be here when the antichrist is revealed and the tribulation begins!

That really is the message in 1st and 2nd Thessalonians.  Paul was trying to get them to quit worrying about it and focus on the real mission.  Our mission is NOT to get ready to go through the tribulation.

One last thought.  Peter said that judgment begins now with the household of God (1Peter 4:17).  As Christians, if we are trying to live by faith in the flesh in this corrupt world, then we all will suffer in varying degrees, but suffer nonetheless. 

This life is OUR tribulation and judgment, our trial and testing – we will not be here for the world’s. 

Now that is real comfort! 

Dan Baker

 

Who are the Elect?

Jewish elect

“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.”  Matthew 24:22

“For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”  Matthew 24:24

“And 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.”  Matthew 24:31

The answer is – it depends on the context. 

A client and friend of mine asked me to listen to a preacher by the name of Irvin Baxter.  She listens to him regularly and asked me to give her my thoughts about his doctrinal positions.  The video I watched told me everything I needed to know about how he interprets Scripture with regard to the Church and the departure (or rapture). 

Baxter said that the Church will go through the 70th week of Daniel, aka the tribulation.  He argues that the Church is raptured at the end of the tribulation (post-trib).  He says the basis for this belief is the 3 verses mentioned above and the elect in these passages is the Church.  Therefore, according to Baxter, the gathering of the elect in verse 31 is the rapture of the Church.

Baxter says Matthew 24:24 is a warning to the Church not to be deceived by false rumors of Christ’s return.  They would know He was returning because they, the Church, would see him coming in the sky.   Baxter said that ‘elect’ in Matthew and the other Gospels was the same ‘elect’ as Romans 8:33.  He said Paul was using the word with reference to members of the body of Christ – the Church, therefore Matthew was referring was also referring to the Church. 

Baxter’s explanation is another example of inserting the Church into passages where it doesn’t belong.  The context dictates who the ‘elect’ is.  In Matthew, the elect are the believing Jews in Jerusalem during the tribulation.  In Romans, the elect are believers who are the Body of Christ – the Church.  It’s that simple. 

The word ‘elect’ simply means ‘chosen ones’.  There is no basis to conclude that the ‘chosen ones’ referred to by Paul are the same ‘chosen ones’ in Matthew, Mark and Luke.  The context in Matthew, Mark and Luke are the same.  It is about the Jews who have fled Jerusalem into the wilderness after the antichrist defiles the Holy of Holies in the coming 3rd temple. 

It is Jews who are told not to come out of hiding in the wilderness when they hear the rumors that Messiah is around, not the Church.  That is the ‘elect’ in the context whom Jesus will save in vs. 22.  They – believing Jews – are the ones whom Satan will be trying to destroy by a flood in Rev. 12.  The context in Rev. 12 is the same as Mt. 24:15 – 31. 

Isaiah 11:11-12 says the Jews will be regathered a 2nd time. This passage in Isaiah prophesies that it is the DISPERSED OF JUDAH who will be regathered from the 4 corners of the earth. Isaiah and Matthew are talking about the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who will be gathered, NOT THE CHURCH! The first regathering of the Jews has happened. The 2nd regathering is what is prophesied in Matthew 24 and Isaiah 11. These passages are not talking about the rapture. They are describing a gathering of all of the Jews into the promised land for the Millennial Kingdom.

The ‘elect’ in the Gospels are not the Church; they are Jews who have believed in Christ the Messiah during the tribulation.  The gathering in Matthew is the gathering of all the believing Jews to the promised land when Christ returns to earth.  The rapture or departure of the Church takes place prior to the tribulation. 

For supplemental support for this post see my posts “The Great Falling Away of the Church”,  “Revelation 12 Sign”,  “The Greatest Sign”, “Who or What is the Restrainer”, and “Michael the Restrainer?”.

Dan Baker

The Golan Heights Have Always Belonged to Israel

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As I am writing this, Israel is firing rockets into the Gaza Strip in retaliation to a rocket attack by Hamas.  This comes right on the heels of President Trump signing a formal declaration that the Golan Heights is now Israel land.

Actually, it has always been Israel land.  In fact, the land that God gave to Abraham and his descendants makes the current borders of Israel look like Vermont compared to Texas.   The land that God set aside for the children of Abraham extends from  the Nile up to Turkey, down through the middle of Iraq to Kuwait and across west back to Egypt and the Nile River. 

biblical-boundaries

“On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates; the Kenite and Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and Cannanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”  Gen. 15:8

In the illustration above, #3 is the Nile River (River of Egypt) and #4 is the Euphrates River.  All of the land between these two rivers was given to the children of Israel.  This is the space that Israel will occupy during the Millennial Kingdom.  The promise to Abraham will be entirely and completely fulfilled when Jesus returns and reigns from Mt. Zion.

“And you will know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the land which I swore to give to your forefathers.”  Ezek. 20:42

The Biblical land mass granted to Abraham includes approximately two thirds of what is today’s  Syria.  The Golan Heights is a speck of land between Israel and Syria that Israel captured from Syria during the Six Day War in 1967.  In 1981 Israel unilaterally annexed this land.  Until today, Monday, March 25, no other nation has recognized the Golan Heights as belonging to Israel.

Of course, the anti-Israel, anti-Bible factions are condemning this act by the President as a threat to world order.  These condemnations simply give voice to the satanic forces that hate Israel as a symbol of the truth of the Bible and the reality that the God of the Bible is the one true sovereign Most High God.  This is the essence of the political war that is being waged by the nations and the military war that is building by the Islamic terrorist states against Israel.

What happened today is just another warning bell sounding an alarm of the imminent  second coming of Jesus Christ.  It is a simple reminder that Israel is a focal point of the spiritual war that is raging and that will climax at Armageddon when Jesus returns. (Zechariah 12:2, 14:2)  Also, see my previous posts “The Gog-Magog War IS Armageddon”, “Jerusalem”, and “The Greatest Sign”.

One last thing…notice that the boundaries form what looks like a mountain.  We know that God’s holy mountain is Mt. Zion, but Ezekiel 20:40 says this: “For on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel”, declares the Lord God, “there the whole house of Israel, all of them will serve Me in the land; there I shall accept them, and there I shall seek your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your holy things.”

I just find it interesting that God drew the boundary of Israel to look like a mountain., where the whole house of Israel will serve the Lord.  “And many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord’.”  Isaiah 2:3

Valley of Achor – the Door of Hope

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Achor

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness, and speak kindly to her.  Then I will give her her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope.  And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.  And it will come about in that day, declares the Lord, that you will call Me ‘my husband’ and will no longer call me ‘my master’.”  Hosea 2:14-16

This is a gem of last days prophecy tucked in the Book of Hosea.  It is a prophecy of hope to the nation of Israel and the sons and daughters of Abraham.  It goes hand in hand with Matthew 24:15-18 and Revelation 12.  It is a promise to the remnant that will survive the Tribulation or 70th Week of Daniel.

Hosea was a contemporary of Isaiah and prophet to Israel.  While Hosea is primarily a book of prophecy to Israel (as opposed to Judah when the kingdom was divided),  I believe that the passage in question is really meant for all of the descendants of Abraham.  I will get to that explanation.

When the antichrist takes his seat in the holy place, as described in Matthew 24:15 and 2 Thessalonians 2:4, the Jews who believe in Jesus as Messiah at that time are warned to flee Jerusalem into the Judean wilderness. 

The Valley of Achor is that doorway or passage of escape.  If you follow this link, you can see the valley heading east out of Jerusalam.   You can zoom in and get a very good picture of the valley.  It lies in the center of the wilderness between Jerusalem and Jericho, just north of the Dead Sea.  

Revelation 12:6 and 12:14 describe the scenario of Matthew 24:15-18.  The ‘woman’ Israel will flee into the wilderness and be ‘nourished’, or taken care of for the last half of the 7 year tribulation.  The woman in Revelation 12 and ‘her’ in Hosea 2 are both Israel. 

The righteous Jews, who are in Israel and Jerusalem at the time of the abomination of desolation, will know about this way of escape (see my post Is Travel and Technology a Last-days Prophecy?), and will be prepared.  When the time comes, dozens, hundreds, or maybe thousands of Jews will pour out of Jerusalem into the Valley of Achor and to a place of hiding in the wilderness where God will supernaturally care for Israel just as He did when Israel came out of Egypt. 

Zechariah 14:5 also describes this exact same scenario.  “And you will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.  Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!” 

This passage is saying the same thing as Hosea and Revelation 12.  The Jews will escape through the valley into the wilderness and after 3 1/2 years, the Lord will come with all of the saints and He will set foot on the Mount of Olives to save the elect (Zech 14:4).  See my previous post “Every Eye Will See Him“.  

Not only is the text consistent with the texts in Hosea, Matthew and Revelation, but the strongest evidence suggests that Azel was very near to the Mount of Olives – only 1/2 mile southeast – which is on the east side of Jerusalem.  This would put it directly on the path of the escape route into the Valley of Achor.

It’s obvious that this is a last days prophecy because God says that when it is fulfilled the Jews will call Him ‘my husband’.  Currently, the Father and Israel are divorced.  That is the primary message of the book of Jeremiah.  It is a declaration of divorce (Jeremiah 3:8). 

Israel will remain divorced from God until Jesus returns to earth and establishes the Millennial Kingdom.   The remnant that will be saved will recognize Jesus as the Son of God and the heir to the throne of David forever.  All of the believing Jews who are alive at the time of Christ’s return will be brought to the promised land (Matthew 24:31) and dwell there for the 1000 years and on into the new earth state. 

The passage in Hosea 2 describes the Millennial Kingdom:  1) there will be peace between man and all of nature and it’s creatures and everyone will lie down in safety (2:18); 2) God will be betrothed to Israel forever in righteousness and faithfulness (2:19-20); 3) there will be no lack of anything good (2:21-22). 

At the time of the Book of Hosea, Israel and Judah were divided kingdoms.  But Jerusalem was the capital of Judah, while Samaria was the capital of Israel – the northern kingdom. 

The Valley of Achor is the escape route from Jerusalem not Samaria.  So, this prophecy is directed to a time where there will be one nation of Israel.  That time is now.  It is for this reason I said that the passage was a prophecy to all the sons and daughters of Abraham.

A Curse Turned into a Blessing

The Valley of Achor is the location where Joshua had Achan and his family stoned for taking forbidden booty from Jericho (Joshua 7).  Achan’s sin caused a curse on Israel and a defeat at the hands of the city of Ai after the victory at Jericho and Joshua named the valley Achor that day. 

Achor means trouble in Hebrew.  What was once a valley of trouble for Israel will become a door of hope during ‘Jacob’s Trouble’ or the Great Tribulation. 

God has prepared all of the instructions ahead of time for the believing Jews in the Tribulation.  Amazingly, Satan is also aware of these instructions but he will not be able to do anything about it.

The Great Falling Away of the Church

departure

“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.” 2 Thessalonians. 2:3

There is no world-wide ‘falling away from the faith’ by the church in the Bible.

The ‘it’ in the verse above is the Day of the Lord.  That is what Paul says in the preceding verse.  The Day of the Lord will not come unless the ‘apostasy’ comes first.  The Thessalonians thought they were in the ‘Day of the Lord’, or the judgment of the world, i.e. tribulation. 

Most Christians understand this passage to say that the apostasy is the Body of Christ, or the ‘Church universal’  in general, falling away from the faith.  It is understood to mean that there will be a mass rejection of Jesus before the tribulation period begins, otherwise known as the 70th Week of Daniel. 

The Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, as Paul said in 1 Thess. 5:2, which indicates the rapture will take place before the tribulation.  Therefore, in this scenario, the ‘falling away’ of the Church will take place before the rapture.

If you hold to this view, then the ‘falling away’ would be a sign that would precede the rapture.  It must be if you read it that way. 

If the apostasy is the Church ‘falling away’ from the faith, then Paul is saying essentially that they will know when the Tribulation is about to start because of the worldwide rejection of Christ by the Body of Christ.  This is problematic because the rapture, by definition, has no signs precede it.  It is a hidden, secret event, which only the Father knows the timing. 

In this scenario, not only will the Thessalonians (and therefore all believers) be witness to the Church falling away, but they will also witness the ‘man of lawlessness’ being revealed. 

Paul links these 2 things together in the verse in question. 

To put it another way, Paul is saying that they would know that they were in the tribulation if the ‘apostasia’ had happened AND the antichrist was revealed. 

The latter obviously had not happened. 

They knew that the tribulation begins with the antichrist making the covenant with Israel (Dan 9:27).  This confirms that the ‘Day of the Lord’ is analogous with the 70th Week of Daniel.

Also problematic is that the definition of the word ‘apostasy’ (Greek – apostasia) does not mean falling away from the faith.  It simply means to depart from, separate from, move away from or leave.  It is a verb with no object noun.  In other words, faith, or belief in Jesus, is inappropriately inserted into the passage as an object to quantify or explain the ‘falling away’. 

Apostasia is a derivative of the word ‘aphestemi’, which means to flee from, desert or go away.   Faith was nowhere to be found in the passage.  It is assumed.  Without the word ‘faith’ the passage is simply saying that the departure must come first.

It’s significant to note also that many of the early bibles used ‘departing’ in the passage for the translation of apostasia.

Vulgate (405) – discessio (Latin): withdrawal, dispersion

Tyndale Bible (1525) – departing

Coverdale Bible (1535) – departing

Geneva Bible (1587) – departing

Finally, notwithstanding the definition of the word apostasia, ‘departing’ or rapture makes perfect sense in the context.  ‘Falling away from the faith’ is in-congruent.  It does not make sense.  Contextually it is a piece of coal in a basket of apples. 

The ‘falling away from the faith’ translation comes out of nowhere and there is no other passage in Scripture that indicates there will be a mass rejection of the faith by the Church.  Some point to Matt. 24:12, but you must really strain reason to get that out of the verse.  Also, Matthew 24 is prophesying about conditions that will exist DURING the tribulation for the Jews.

Paul was attempting to calm the believers in Thessalonica.  They were panicked that they were in the midst of the Day of the Lord, or tribulation.  This is the context. 

Paul starts the segment in vs. 2:1 by setting the context – “with regard to the coming of our lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him,”.  This is the concern of the Church.  They thought they had missed the DEPARTURE!  Paul is saying in vs. 3 that the Day of the Lord (tribulation) will not come unless the DEPARTURE comes first!

There is no great falling away by the Body of Christ that is prophesied in the Bible.