Summary of Bible references on the Rapture

Luke 23:1-23 -- The impeachment trial

Impeachment is to bring formal charges against someone while they are in office. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, had an office given Him from His baptism and the religious and political leaders objected to Him ruling over them and brought charges against Him.

1 And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King.

What was it about Jesus that caused this vehement reaction in the mob? You don’t see people this worked up about a serial killer. Reminds me of this whole impeachment. They have gone from saying “orange man bad” to he’s dangerous to he’s guilty of accessory to murder. We were told that he was mounting an insurrection, and that is why they needed 25,000 troops in Washington DC.

3 And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it.

Is that it? Seriously, they have no evidence, no witnesses, nothing but this?

4 Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man.

This is a very strange interaction. You are on trial for your life, the judge asks “are you the king of the Jews”? Yes, you said it, that is why they are so upset. This is jealousy, Pilate realizes it, I see no fault in this man. Surely the US government is not really this worried about one man. The reaction you are seeing is not about him, it is about you. They are worried about 75 million who voted for him. They are worried about the fact that no one believes a word they say. They are worried about a popular uprising. They are worried about their corruption being exposed.

5 And they were the more fierce, saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place.

How about that! It is now a capital offense to “stir up the people and to teach throughout the land”. Is this jealousy? Surely when you listen to speeches from Pelosi, Schumer, AOC, Waters and the rest they are trying to stir up the people.

6 When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean. 7 And as soon as he knew that he belonged unto Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time.

Funny, we see the same thing. No judge wanted to touch this thing concerning election fraud. They all looked for some technicality for why it wasn’t their responsibility to judge.

8 And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. 9 Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing. 10 And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him.

It is very strange. You can tell Pilate wants nothing to do with judging Jesus and Herod is so happy to see this man who he has heard about. But look who is angry, jealous, even vehemently accusing Jesus. It is the priests and scribes. The accusations that I have heard are truly vehement, referring to the peaceful protests as “mobs”, and referring to words like “peacefully protest” as inciting violence. They liken supporters to the Klan, Hitler, and a cult leader. It is now illegal to be popular.

11 And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate.

Well, we are seeing the same thing today with the “men of war” in the capitol mocking the supporters, accusing them of sedition. All those who are standing for righteousness, standing to “Stop the Steal” are being painted with the same brush. We are all cloaked with the same robe. This term “gorgeous” refers to a shining white robe. In Mark it is purple and in Matthew it is red. This was a basis to claim that the Bible was in error for years, but now we see that these three gospels refer to three different groups of people. If you are a believer in the Lord you definitely want to be arrayed with this gorgeous robe. Go outside the camp and embrace His disgrace.

12 And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves.

Herod is used to having court jesters and magicians. He thought Jesus would perform for him. What we see here is just despicable. Herod is a judge, he is supposed to judge concerning very serious charges against Jesus but because Jesus won’t perform for him and entertain him he gets angry and sends him back. He is acting like a spoiled child. A sham for a court. We use the term “monkey trial” and this is what we are seeing today. People saying things that are so idiotic it reminds us of “planet of the apes”.

13 And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, 14 Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him: 15 No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. 16 I will therefore chastise him, and release him.

This would be like the mayor of a city putting a letter of reprimand in the file of the police responsible for George Floyd’s death.

17 (For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.) 18 And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas: 19 (Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.)

Instead the mob demands that you release this man who just walked up to a cop car and ambushed the cops shooting two cops in LA. Right now we have two groups on trial, ANTIFA who is responsible for riots and looting all over the country and MAGA who are accused of being responsible for one riot at the capitol. They didn't shoot anyone, didn't kill anyone, didn't have any weapons. But they are treated as far more serious than cold blooded killers.

20 Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them. 21 But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.

The crowd has been whipped into a frenzy by someone, some evil spirit.

22 And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go.

Really, what evil has Jesus done? He has healed people, raised people from the dead, and freed people from demon possession. What He has done is to overthrow Satan’s kingdom. If you couldn’t see people caught in the grip of Satan’s kingdom before you can’t miss it now, it is as clear as a bell. Again I’ll use the current events to illustrate this. What evil has Trump done? He has said offensive things, but when you look at his actions, what has he done? What he has done which is unforgivable is to expose the corruption of the swamp. He has stirred up the people against the political establishment.

23 And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.

So much for law and order. They shouted louder so they are going to kill Jesus? I like this expression "they were instant with loud voices". We have seen this time and again these last few months, a rush to judgement, instant calls for judgement. There is no presumption of innocence, no "innocent until proven guilty".

Luke 23:24-38 The ruler of this world is losing all legitimacy

24 And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. 25 And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will.

Let’s be clear, Jesus knew that if He was going to rescue us from the Satanic kingdom He would have to be delivered to their will. This impeachment trial that we are witnessing is also about sedition and murder. They are not impeaching someone in office, they are impeaching the citizens of the US and those who are truly guilty of sedition and murder (Antifa) they are letting go free.

26 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. 27 And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.

It seems so confusing, there is a great company of people who are lamenting Jesus being condemned to death, yet the voices of those shouting to crucify Him prevailed? How did this happen? Ten people show up to a Biden rally and 500,000 show up to a Trump rally and all they could hear is those ten people? How does this work? First, put up a fence and barbed wire and keep the 500,000 far enough away that you can’t hear them. Then bring in some guy who is clearly ANTIFA but claiming to be a Trump supporter and bring in another guy who looks like Chubaca and make sure they are the only ones anyone can hear.

28 But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. 29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. 30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. 31 For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

Look at how outrageous Herod, Pilate, the chief priests and the scribes behaved. Yet, the point is the horror will be much greater at the end of this age. For example, we have had many forest fires in the history of the US, but look at how horrifying they are when the forest is dried out. There has been drought, heat wave, and an infestation of bark beetles all that have caused the forest to dry out. As vehement this fire was, it was all focused on one man, Jesus Christ. But at the end of the age it will be focused on the many, on the forest. They are choosing one who will suck all the life out of the forest so that when it does burn it is a raging inferno.

I think the most logical reason to vote for Biden was this hope that it would put an end to the rancour and division and we could go back to a more pleasant time of “Leave it to Beaver” and “The Andy Griffith Show”. That has obviously not happened and instead the forest fire is raging worse than ever. But what happens when all those standing on the front lines fighting the fire are taken away? There is going to be a great tribulation.

32 And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.

John Sullivan and “Chubaca” have also been caught up in this mess.

33 And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. 34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

This is who they are crucifying the one who would have saved them, the one who sees the coming destruction and even in this moment is warning people. Today how many people could say this, “forgive them for they know not what they do”. There is a lot of screaming back and forth that people “don’t know what they are doing” but you don’t hear any forgiving, only condemning.

Notice how this account is different from both Matthew and Mark. There is no “why have you forsaken me?” This event is different for different people. For those who are raptured at the beginning of the Great tribulation their word is to “forgive all those who didn’t know what they were doing”. For those who are not raptured but are left behind their word is “why hast thou forsaken me?” In either case the good news is that you can be one with the Lord and He will be your savior. If you are not one with the Lord you are not going to be able to say “Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing”. And if you don’t know what you are doing and are left behind you can ask the Lord why and He will answer that prayer.

35 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. 36 And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, 37 And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.

Instead of forgiveness all you hear is insults. There were many saying this word, thinking that somehow Trump was going to save himself on January 20th. We were told that this is why they needed 25,000 troops.

38 And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, This Is The King Of The Jews.

The entire world is watching what is going on. The rulers are not only losing all legitimacy in the US but also in the world.

Luke 23:39-56 The ruler of this world is about to be cast out

39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.

Jesus didn’t need to be saved, we did. This is what He was doing, He was saving us.

40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.

How is it that he is able to see this and Herod, Pilate and the chief priests weren’t? I applaud him, he is admitting that entering the capitol building and whatever he did there was wrong. Be warned, you can believe in the Lord but follow according to your own idea rather than according to His speaking.

42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. 44 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.

That is pretty weird. Recently we saw some people on the West coast at mid day and the sun was darkened due to the fires. They described it as “apocalyptic”. A solar eclipse only lasts for a minute or so, this was three hours.

45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.

This age began with the veil of the temple being rent. It signifies the flesh being rent so that the way to the Holy of Holies would be opened to us. This is what the Lord had to go through in order to open the way for us to meet with God. Jesus is the way, no man cometh to the Father but by Him. The rapture is the Lord’s people being caught up to the Holy of Holies. The word shows us how to enter the eye of the needle. The Lord opened the way now we are to follow Him.

46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

It seems trivial to me to hear anyone claiming that they are in the right and that others have wronged them after watching the way in which Jesus was crucified.

47 Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man. 48 And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.

Jesus didn’t just rend the veil to the temple, it is as though all of flesh was torn in two. You have those who are vehemently railing against him on one side, and those who smite their breast in lament on the other. One thief is mocking, the other is believing. Pilate is doing whatever the loudest people in the mob shout, whereas the centurion can see this was a righteous man.

49 And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things. 50 And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just: 51 (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.

So although the chief priests and scribes really bear a lot of judgement here, not all do. There are still good men and just men who were counselors of the people.

52 This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. 53 And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. 54 And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. 55 And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. 56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.

Once again we can see this is the thing, Jesus is Lord. That is what this age is about. That is why the Satanic kingdom has become so riled up and vehement. The ruler of this world is about to be cast out. You get to choose which one you want, there is still time, but the opportunity to choose will soon be over.

The US constitution says that the people are Lord. You cannot be Lord until you have gone through this experience like steel being tempered.

Luke 24:1-26 -- "It will all work out in the end"

If you have been paying attention the internet is filling up with “rapture” dreams. I also had one a couple of days ago. I do not have the peace to share what I saw, but it was related to this chapter in the Bible, so instead I’d like to share this chapter and the insights based on that dream.

1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

What is the point? If He is resurrected they’ll find out, it will all work out in the end. What is the point of anointing His body with spices 3 days after the crucifixion? I hear that very often from Christians when we discuss the Lord’s second coming. “It will all work out in the end”. Don’t you want to just tell these sisters, “hey, don’t worry about it, it will all work out in the end”? I didn’t think so.

2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. 3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: 5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

Others say “we cannot know the day nor the hour”. There have been 1,000 interpretations, etc. But the words were spoken, they were there in the Bible, all you had to do was believe and seek and you would have found them. This is a word to us, He has given the word already, we need to remember what He said.

8 And they remembered his words, 9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. 10 It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. 11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.

Idle tales, this is the way too many are taking the word on the rapture, they feel it is simply an idle tale. These weren’t backsliders or lukewarm Christians, these were the apostles!

12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.

There was a reward for Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James to discover the resurrection. There was a reward to Peter.

13 And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. 16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

Mary mistook Jesus for the gardener and these two also did not recognize Him at first. I suspect this is the resurrected Jesus being very playful. The harder I look and rack my brain trying to remember the words spoken the more I feel like Jesus is playing with us.

17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? 18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?

Right now all these political leaders in Washington are so self important, thinking they are so powerful. I suspect that after the rapture of the saints will anyone really think that? I think they are headed for a terrible crash. One day you are rich, powerful, you can do whatever you wish and ignore everyone else. The next day you are Saddam Hussein hiding in a hole in the ground.

19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: 20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. 21 But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. 22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; 23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. 24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.

If Jesus was five years old He would have been totally loving this. How great is this! How does He keep a straight face?

25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

Fools and slow of heart to believe. I think that is what Jesus will say to all those with the “it will all pan out in the end” doctrine. How can you take such a lackadaisical attitude towards Christ’s return?

Luke 24:27-53 He's Back!

27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. 29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. 30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

This is very clearly a game of hide and seek. No other way to describe it. Unless you want to call it a game of peekaboo. Also there is a secret here. The sisters were told to remember what He said to you, but here when He speaks He goes over the entire revelation of scripture. This is the way the Bible is, here a little and there a little. It is like one of these massive jigsaw puzzles, there is no single piece that is the “silver bullet”. Rather you can’t see the forest because of all the trees. When you put all the pieces together what do you see? Our Father is in Heaven, we His redeemed hallow His name, and we are praying that His kingdom would come and His will would be done. The world is ruled by Satan and it was necessary that Jesus and Satan would face off at the cross. Death versus life.

32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? 33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, 34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.

All of these people are seeking Jesus, looking for Him, trying to find Him. Yet in each case He tells them He was hidden in the word of God. If you had not been foolish and slow of heart you would have found Him sooner.

35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. 36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

Wherever two or three are gathered together into My name there am I in their midst.

37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. 38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. 40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. 41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? 42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. 43 And he took it, and did eat before them.

The Lord is manifested in fellowship with one another and in the breaking of bread, sharing our testimonies, and ministering the word.

44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

The Lord has risen from the dead, what is at the top of His agenda? Opening the understanding of the disciples that they might understand the scriptures. Mix your personal experience with the word of God and prayer.

46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

There was a purpose to everything He went through. You don’t just learn the facts concerning when the Lord is going to be resurrected, you also learn the purpose.

48 And ye are witnesses of these things.

Then you learn your purpose. An apostle is a “sent one”, someone who has been sent from the Lord with a message. Their message is that they have witnessed the resurrection. Their message is to open the understanding of the saints to see Jesus in the word of God. If you take this attitude “I’ll find out in the end so no reason to bother with it now” then you can’t be sent. You have effectively nullified the grace of God.

49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

Up till now I think very few saints (other than Paul) have fully appreciated the power endued to the church from on high.

50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

The appointed time — Luke 24 — He's Back part 2

“remember how He said unto you”, “slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken unto you”, “all things must be fulfilled”, “thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to rise from the dead on the third day”.

These verses really hit me, everything was there at the Lord’s resurrection for the disciples to know and understand, they simply needed to remember what He had said to them.

Revelation 4 After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter.

This verse is a very strong support that the rapture, at least the first one, takes place after the church age (After Revelation 2-3). I shared about this in the account of Revelation 4. It also refers to the feast of Teruah when He says “a door opened in heaven”. The voice speaking like a trumpet saying come up hither links two concepts. First of course, the festival of trumpets, but also the marriage of the lamb. A week before a man is married the rabbi will call for him to come up hither to read the Torah to the congregation and when he comes forward the congregation will say “blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord”. That is a direct reference to the Lord’s return. A week before the coming of the Lord would be the tribulation. So this connects the Lord’s word that we would not see Him again until we say “blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” with the rapture taking place prior to the tribulation.

Luke 12:45 But if that servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;

Because of this many saints felt the Lord would return during the Feast of Teruah, the festival of trumpets. This was also based on the great sign in heaven referred to in Revelation 12 appearing on September 23, 2017. In a wedding ceremony the bride circles the groom three times before the ceremony starts. The earth had circled the sun three times since this sign appeared. But the festival came and went and so some might say “the lord delays His coming”. Of course this hearkens to a long list of failed predictions of the Lord’s coming. Many therefore have taken the Lord’s expression “you shall not know the day nor the hour” as the key principle in rejecting all discussion of the Lord’s return. The problem is that that phrase is an idiom of the Jews referring to the festival of Trumpets. This festival begins when two witnesses discern the new moon and report it to the Sanhedrin. They then blow the trumpets to signal the start. Since they don’t know the exact start and since it is very unlikely to start right at sundown this festival occurs over two days. It is called “the long day” and “the concealed day”. Paul said that these festivals were a shadow of things to come. The first four festivals marked the key events in the beginning of this age. Passover -- Lord’s crucifixion, Unleavened bread -- Lord’s burial, First fruits -- Lord’s resurrection, and Pentecost -- birth of the church. Therefore the next festival, the festival of Teruah should signify the beginning of the Tribulation accompanied by the rapture of the saints. However, the festival of Teruah is part of the Old Testament, not the New Testament. Christians are not required to keep this festival so I don't think this applies to our rapture. The festivals that we do keep are resurrection day / the Lord's table, and December 25th. We are told that December 25th is Jesus birthday even though we know it isn't. However, the festival of Hanukkah and the eight days of light are used by Paul in 2 Corinthians as foreshadowing the New Testament ministry. Interestingly in 2024 Hanukkah takes place on December 25th, so if the New Testament ministry came to an end at that point it would be quite ironic. Also, the whole Santa Claus story is similar to a photographic negative of Jesus coming as a thief in the night, only Santa is Satan who is duping people with his trivial gifts, and his creepy surveillance state.

21 From that time began Jesus to show unto his disciples, that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.

The rapture is the resurrection of the believers. Jesus was the first fruit, the believers are the harvest. If it must be that the Lord is raised up on the third day it makes sense that the believers would also need to be raised up on the third day.

But I like the second part of this “He must go unto Jerusalem”. Instead of focusing on “when” the Lord tells us “where”. We have three different groups: Luke, Mark and Matthew. For the Jews and the Matthew group Jerusalem here should refer to Jerusalem in Israel. But for the Luke group here referring to the church it should refer to the “new” Jerusalem, not the one that descends from heaven to earth, no I mean the one that was established with the Mayflower compact. I have shared in the discussion in Daniel (and Jeremiah) why I think the US can be viewed as both Judah and Babylon. I will post those after this. In the first crucifixion Jesus had to go up to Jerusalem, in this one at the end of the age His believers had to go up to Jerusalem. This is one reason why I think this January 6 rally in Washington DC is significant. The Lord said that the biggest sign to those in this book of Luke (the first rapture) is that we would see Jerusalem compassed about with soldiers. We now see Washington DC compassed about with soldiers.

Luke 24 & my rapture dream

I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown.

Here is another seeming paradox. The Lord delays His coming and yet tells us “I come quickly”. I love these seeming paradoxes because they are so unique it really is a prophesy that could only refer to something very specific. First let’s illustrate how someone can delay their coming and still say “I come quickly”. I remember Bobby Fischer versus Boris Spassky. For those of you too young here is what happened. This was a huge chess match, the US versus Russia. Everyone was excited, it was taking place in Iceland, a place no one thinks about but a place where Chess is very big. Fischer “delayed his coming” and forfeited the first two matches. In this tournament it is the first person to get 12 ½ points wins. You get 1 point for a win and ½ point for a tie. But once he did show up he had tied up the match by the fifth game and took the lead in the sixth. I watched this, it was psychologically crushing to Spassky. It is like giving your opponent a big head start in a mile race and then catching him by the end of the first lap. It is a lot of work to prepare for one of these matches. You have to study every game of your opponent, prepare counter moves, anticipate what they are going to do while also trying to come up with creative strategies that you are going to do. That is hard enough, but if the entire time you are doing this you are wondering where your opponent is and if they are even going to show up. That is mentally very difficult. It is like being in a championship fight blindfolded. You can’t see your opponent, but you have this dread that at any moment he will show up and clobber you. It is also hugely disrespectful. This is next level trash talking. Now let’s look at these soldiers at the Washington DC capitol. Pelosi brought them in because she was told there was “chatter” of an impending uprising. She is looking like an idiot or worse, a paranoid tin foil hat person buying into conspiracy theories. The inauguration looked like it took place in a concentration camp as though the prisoners all voted for a president. For the first time in US history the outgoing president wasn’t there. This isn’t simply rude and disrespectful, it is also disconcerting. There is a very critical routine that takes place the hand off of the nuclear football. Not only so but Biden has been signing executive orders and actions furiously. It exposes him as a total hypocrite and fraud since he said only dictators do that, but it also is very similar to Spassky winning the first two games. Clearly you can look at this situation and say “the Lord has delayed His coming” but when He does come He is going to come quickly, in the twinkling of an eye.

So many Christians feel “what is the point, there are many different theories, etc”. But in Luke 24 the three sisters are searching for the Lord in the cemetery and the angel says “why do you seek the living among the dead”? They made a mistake, but there is no condemnation, just correction. The two on the road to Emmaus are told by the Lord that they were slow to believe all that the prophets spoke, there is a little bit of rebuke there but again no condemnation. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Where you are tells a lot about your heart. Are you in some movie from Hollywood? Are you in some video game? You can be sure if you are not in Christ Jesus there very well may be condemnation. The Lord may come as a thief in the night. You may go running through the temple naked. You may be put to shame for the whole world to see. Thomas Edison tried a hundred different ways to make a light bulb before they got one that worked well enough. He didn’t describe the first 99 attempts as failures, but rather they had discovered 99 ways that didn’t work. This is like solving a puzzle, it is extremely challenging, and it is fun. Just because Mary didn’t recognize Jesus and thought he was the gardener doesn’t mean she is condemned, no it meant all those who were too lazy and complacent to be out looking for the Lord were.

Then it turns out in the dead sea scrolls the Essenes say that their calendar was corrupted and never fixed. You can imagine why the enemy would do that, set the festivals a month early and everyone appears to be wrong. That then opens the door for atheists to mock. It also will cause some to “say in their heart my Lord delays His coming”. The Lord is the discerner of our hearts. We should all know that “all is fair in love and war”. We are not ignorant of Satan’s devices. Again, I see this as “dividing the soul from the spirit”. When hit with adversity there are two possible responses, use that difficulty as an excuse to quit or double down harder. I am reminded of the story concerning Michael Jordan and the Bulls. They were getting beat up by the Detroit Pistons. You could argue that the Pistons were ruining the game, turning it into a brawl rather than “poetry in motion”. You could use it as an excuse to quit. Or you could do what the Bulls did which was to hit the gym and make sure the next year they were the ones beating up on the Pistons. Then when they did meet they swept them 4-0. The Lord allows Satan to operate because it manifests those that deserve the reward at His Bema judgement. Meanwhile what happens to all those complacent ones? They haven’t been perfected, they are still unable to overcome Satan, they will need another 3 ½ years in the Tribulation. Is that fair? Watch the TV show “The Last Dance”. Everyone tells you that playing on that team with Jordan was a daily tribulation. They went through the tribulation already, why should they have to go through it again? The Bema judgement is similar to being crowned the champions. Those that are crowned champions are raptured, those who aren’t still need to work on their game.

So now I feel comfortable sharing my dream. I was in the garden of Gethsemane and a brother I didn’t recognize, but I knew he was from a congregation that had kicked me out was asking me to clean up their mess. It was yard work. I told him I already had a job but I thanked him. He was surprised, why was I thanking him. I told him it was because he had remembered me and thought to ask. I felt this dream was very encouraging, the Lord telling me that I was expressing Him.

Colossians 2:16-17 What about the feast of Unleavened bread?

16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day: 17 which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

I was reading this and wondered “what about the feast of unleavened bread?” Is that a shadow of “things to come”? I thought this feast was fulfilled already. I think others have seen this as well because I saw some translations said that they “were a shadow of things to come” indicating that when the feasts were instituted they were of things to come. However, this is from the 1901 American Standard translation, one of the best. But assuming that this is what Paul meant, what about the Lord’s table? We are keeping this as a New Testament version of both the Passover feast and the feast of unleavened bread, it is a “holy convocation” which indicates it is a dress rehearsal for the real thing. Which brings me back to the question, what about the feast of unleavened bread?

Exodus 16:1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto Jehovah thy God; for in the month of Abib Jehovah thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. 2 And thou shalt sacrifice the passover unto Jehovah thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Jehovah shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there. 3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.

There is a seven day feast that immediately follows the Passover, it immediately follows when we “came forth from the land of Egypt in haste” and it is called “the bread of affliction”. This sounds to me like the tribulation. You have to clean out your house of all leaven and for seven days you eat “the bread of affliction”. If the leaven signifies sin (we’ll get to that in a minute) then it doesn’t refer to the lamb that was spotless and without sin. The Passover feast is like a big red line drawn by God separating out the Egyptians from the Israelites. The Israelites were protected because the blood of the lamb was on the door, but that is on the outside. We now have seven days where the inside of the house has to be cleansed and they need to be cleansed. Eating the unleavened bread removes the leaven that is inside of them.

So let’s understand what this leaven represents. Leaven is from microbes that are in the air, all around. If you just mix up a little bowl of flour and water and leave it in the kitchen for a day it will become sour dough and you can use that as your “leaven”. If you use a wooden bowl to make bread all you have to do is mix up flour and water in the bowl and it will become leavened because these microbes are in the pores of the wood. The leaven is all around us, just as sin is. However, it takes time to leaven bread. You can mix up flour and water and then fry it and make pancakes in a matter of minutes. But, if you want leavened bread it will take hours because the flour needs time to leaven. In the same way I can tell you the truth in a matter of minutes, but if I am going to fashion a lie, a really good lie it takes time. If you want to catch a liar let them tell you their lie that they have had time to fashion. Then pepper them with questions that require quick answers without any time to “leaven”. One common trick is to just ask them to tell you the story in reverse. For example: flour, water, oil, mix together and fry. Now tell me in reverse? Fry, mix together oil, water and flour. If you are telling the truth it is easy to do that, if you are lying it is much harder. The bread of haste doesn’t allow you to add, embellish, or decorate. I saw this recently because our administration is now under pressure to answer quickly and they are tripping and falling all over themselves. They put out a CGI video of Biden talking to reporters which was clearly done in a studio as a deep fake. CNN and Sixty minutes tried to slander Governor Desantis and they got caught red handed. The NY Times got caught trying to frame Matt Gaetz. When they are forced to do these things in haste they get caught, it takes time for them to “leaven” the bread. Don’t give them time and they will be caught. A big part of this feast is to clean house of all leaven, how do you do that? You have to catch those who are adding leaven to their stories. Project Veritas is suing the NY Times. The NY Times claimed a video showing people stealing votes for Omar and paying people for them was fake news. In the court they claimed that their claim that it was “fake news” was an opinion even though it wasn’t in the opinion page but rather the news page. This exposed their entire paper of being an opinion rag as an arm of the Democratic party.
And thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is Jehovah’s passover.

Right now Christians have their loins girded, their shoes are on their feet, their staff is in their hand. They realize they need to leave this evil world. They cannot sit idly by with this cancel culture. We also realize we need to eat in haste, don’t give them time or opportunity to leaven the bread.

18 The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. 19 All that openeth the womb is mine; and all thy cattle that is male, the firstlings of cow and sheep. 20 And the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a [f]lamb: and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck. All the first-born of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.

There are three feasts where we must appear before the Lord, this is one of them. That struck me because there are also three raptures where we are caught up to appear before the Lord. These feasts are “appointed days of the Lord” and the rapture is “the day of redemption” an “appointed day”. Also, when we do appear before the Lord we are not to appear before Him empty. The parable of the talents tells us that. Also the parable of the ten virgins with the lamps tells us that as well. Our vessels should be filled with oil, our lamps lit, and we should be able to make account of what we have done with what the Lord gave us.

This feast is called “the bread of haste” and the bread of affliction. I think both refer to the tribulation. This feast reminds us of the day we leave Egypt in either the first or the second exodus, again reminding us of the rapture. This feast is for those who “open the womb”, which suggests to me it is for those who raptured before the tribulation. The first rapture.

Proverbs 16:1-9 -- Better is a little with righteousness

To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue.

We see this all the time in sports. You have a strategy, a plan for the game, but then something happens to disrupt those plans, how do you respond. In game six of the NBA finals between Chicago and Utah Scottie Pippen, a key player was seriously hurt at the start of the game. Nobody plans for this but now, how do you respond? The other players rose to the challenge and Chicago win’s the game and the series in the final seconds of the game. First there was a jump ball which if Utah wins they could go up by 5 and all but put away the game, but Chicago wins the jump, goes down and ties the game. Then Utah has the ball which if they score they either win or send it into overtime, but Michael Jordan steals the ball from Moses Malone. Finally, Jordan takes the ball down and scores on the last shot of the game. With Pippen getting hurt from the start Jordan had to work twice as hard the whole game and still had something left at the end for those three key plays. That was a proper response, from God. Mike Tyson said everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

2 All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord.

Isn’t it incredible how people can justify anything they do because “their motive is right”? Recently the news was outraged that a “Trump caravan” that was armed surrounded a Biden bus and escorted it out of Texas. During this time it was claimed that Trump supporters tried to run Biden staffers off the road. When you actually saw the whole video it is possible that these trucks did have shotguns in them, that is typical in Texas, but guns were never part of the story in any way. Second, it is true that one car tried to side swipe another and run it off the road, but it was the Biden staffer trying to run the Trump supporter off and not the other way around. I heard about this from someone who was outraged at how terrible these Trump supporters were so we watched the video and they could see the media had completely lied to them. But even then they tried to defend the car sideswiping the truck because “why does that pickup truck have to drive right behind the bus”? What’s next, ‘why do those people have the right to breathe’?

3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. 4 The Lord works out everything to its proper end— even the wicked for a day of disaster.

So let’s focus on what Jesus is doing. I think it is clear that the Lord has committed to God all of His plans. It is also clear that God is going to establish those plans, He will work out everything to its proper end, even the wicked for a day of disaster. What is the proper end? They need to separate out the wheat from the tares. The wheat is for the barn, the tares are for the fire. They need to separate out the fish from the net, the good fish go to the wedding banquet, the rest get thrown out. This needs to be done in a way that is not only clear to God, clear to the angels, but even clear to us. If someone is raptured and someone else isn’t it needs to be clear why. The rapture is our "day of redemption", but for the wicked it is the "day of disaster". Why? When the Israeli's left Egypt it was Egypt's day of disaster, they lost all their slaves! The people who were despised and treated as the lowest of the low were actually the foundation of the economy. Without them the whole economy collapses into a heap.

5 The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

In this election we see the proud of heart on full display. To censor news about Biden but not about Trump demonstrates your pride. Their polls were shown to be atrocious if the purpose was to reflect the electorate. However, if the purpose was to affect the election it shows how proud they are to think they can ignore the will of the people and manipulate them as though they were that gullible. Why is it that 44 states can get their results in quickly, but the 6 key states for Trump with Democratic governors can’t? Why is it so hard for them to count votes? It is one thing to be incompetent, it is another to think that you can simply steal an election. That is pride and arrogance. I have been watching a documentary on Hitler and he epitomizes the proud of heart. He only got 2.6% of the vote yet refused to be anything but Chancellor. He rolls into Austria and Czechoslovakia to the adulation of crowds throwing flowers. He takes over Poland in six weeks with the help of Russia. Then he conquers France in even less time than that. People were calling him the greatest military genius in history. They were calling him the bloodless general. These things made him proud in heart. He refused to listen to anyone else's advice. The former military chief of staff had said that if he pursued this course he might win the battle but he would lose the war. It would become a world war. He had to leave in disgrace, but we now know he was right. Because of Hitler's naivety he allowed the British to escape at Dunkirk, instead of being "the greatest military genius" he was actually the reason they didn't conquer Europe. But because of pride he had to top himself, so he turned his army towards Russia and his downfall began.

6 Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided.

There is a lot of sin that needs to be atoned for in this country. What we are lacking is love and faithfulness, that is why we are seeing so much evil. We could have avoided this if we had feared the Lord but for the last 50 years or more you can see no fear of the Lord.

7 When the Lord takes pleasure in anyone’s way, he causes their enemies to make peace with them.

Let’s get to the heart of the matter. Why is there no peace in this country? It is because the Lord does not take pleasure in these ways. He doesn’t take pleasure in the way the Supreme court usurped the constitution to force abortion to be legalized in every state. He doesn’t take pleasure in the things that are being taught to children in schools. He doesn’t take pleasure in the things that are not being taught to children, like the fear of God.

8 Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice.

Some people see this lockdown as God’s judgement on the schools. The things that are being force fed to kids in the schools was abhorrent so God intervened. It is better to be homeschooled, even if in many ways it is less than what we had with the schools if we have this education with righteousness. I can definitely see a future where schools can be run by the church. The public school teachers can still provide online lessons in various topics, but instead of each kid staying at home, they can go to the church with twenty other kids. Parents can go to work while also controlling the curriculum and their kids can be taught in a humble school but with righteousness.

9 In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.

This is a repeat from verse 1. How does the Lord establish your steps? How was Michael Jordan able to rise to the challenge when Pippen got hurt? You train twice as hard as you think you have to. You don’t cede authority to evil worldly authorities, rather better is a little with righteousness. Through love and faithfulness you atone for sins. You commit your ways to the Lord, you fear God. You purge your heart of pride. And you believe that the Lord will work everything to its proper end, including the day of disaster for the wicked. That game that I mentioned was the last championship game that Jordan won, his sixth. It crowned an already spectacular career. It was a proper end.

Proverbs 16:10-12 Their mouth betrays justice

10 The lips of a king speak as an oracle, and his mouth does not betray justice.

I love these expressions “his mouth does not betray justice”. During the Kavanaugh hearings the #MeToo movement erupted claiming that we need to believe women that are claiming they have been sexually abused. This was a poor example in my opinion as it violated the Biblical rule that you don’t accept an accusation against an elder except with two or three witnesses. Still it became a major cause and during the Democratic primaries Kamala Harris pointed out that she believed the three women that had made allegations against Biden. So what happened? How is it that now that she is the VP candidate she no longer believes them? What happened to the #MeToo movement? To my observation their mouth betrays justice. Cuomo has been accused by 9 women, where is the #MeToo movement? Matt Gaetz was framed with a phony story about him abusing a 17 year old girl, problem is the girl has never made a complaint and there are many women who know and work with Matt Gaetz who are coming to his defense. What ever happened to "believe women"? Their mouth betrays justice.

11 Honest scales and balances belong to the Lord; all the weights in the bag are of his making. 12 Kings detest wrongdoing, for a throne is established through righteousness.

Right now we are still waiting to find out who won the election for President regardless of what the mainstream media says. Still I can say one thing for sure, Biden will not be established. Why? There is no righteousness. Hiding from questions about his involvement with his son’s influence peddling, that is not righteous. Having the media censor these stories to help you, that is not righteous. Kings detest wrongdoing, and Jesus is King. He detests the proud of heart and they will not go unpunished.

Luke 16:13-17 Did he take an evil path?

13 Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value the one who speaks what is right.

These are two things and they are not always the same. Honest lips are a pleasure, a person without any deceit is a pleasure, but that doesn’t mean it's always right to say certain things. You can take pleasure in someone who is honest, but you value, you respect, the person who speaks what is right.

14 A king’s wrath is a messenger of death, but the wise will appease it.

I am reminded of Abigail who appeased David’s wrath which was literally “a messenger of death”. This is what the Stop the Steal protests and the election integrity legislation is all about, appease God's wrath. There is nothing political about wanting every person to trust that their vote will count.

15 When a king’s face brightens, it means life; his favor is like a rain cloud in spring. 16 How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver!

Once again think of Abigail’s husband, Nabal. He had wealth and thought that made him somebody. But he was a fool and that cost him his life.

17 The highway of the upright avoids evil; those who guard their ways preserve their lives.

How much better to avoid evil. Again I consider this election and it was stunning. There were two main candidates, one campaigned like there was no tomorrow. Everyone on both sides was amazed at how hard he worked. The other was equally stunning in how little he did. No one could believe that he would virtually curtail all campaigning for the last two weeks. Once during this time he even said “I don’t need your votes to get elected”! What kind of campaigning is that? How did he plan on getting elected if he didn’t need their votes? Did he take an evil path?

Luke 16:18-33 The day of destruction for scoundrels and the perverse

18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

I have to believe that this must refer to the proper ending of this age and the day of destruction for the proud. Everyone should see Hitler's end as a warning. When he rode into Paris he was proud, on top of the world. But it was that pride that caused him to ignore all advice, it was that pride that caused others to follow him to certain destruction.

19 Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.

If you share plunder with the proud you will always live in fear. Will those we plundered rise up? Will one of these proud that I am sharing with get caught in their crimes and rat me out? Will times get tough and these other proud ones turn on me to plunder me? Right now they are terrified rats. Recently we had a very big ship run aground in the Suez canal. The US Navy and the Russian Navy had this ship trapped, there was no escape. On board they had a thousand kids who were being trafficked. We are seeing the day of destruction approaching for all those who have shared plunder with the proud.

20 Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord. 21 The wise in heart are called discerning, and gracious words promote instruction. 22 Prudence is a fountain of life to the prudent, but folly brings punishment to fools. 23 The hearts of the wise make their mouths prudent, and their lips promote instruction. 24 Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

Right now there are a lot of words being spoken which are not sweet to the soul. Right now you can see a lot of folly on the streets. First, take care of your walk with the Lord, make your calling and election sure. If you are all bent out of shape because someone else’s election is not sure, what about yours? Isn’t that much more important to you? Yes, someone is trying to steal the election of the president, that is for sure, but even more Satan is trying to steal your election. Imagine that we have a time machine and we can go into the future to a point in time where you have died. Do you really care who won this election, or what they did about healthcare or climate change? Aren’t you more concerned about your standing before the Lord Jesus? Do you think that referring to your brother or sister as “thou fool” because of who they support in this election will sound that wise when it is repeated at the judgement seat of Christ? Maybe you are right, you are full of discernment and wisdom, but then your lips should promote instruction and your words should be healing to the bone.

25 There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. 26 The appetite of laborers works for them; their hunger drives them on.

Whoa, look at Solomon getting all political here. Hunger motivates people. It doesn’t have to be hunger for food. You can hunger and thirst for righteousness, you can hunger and thirst for a better kingdom.

27 A scoundrel plots evil, and on their lips it is like a scorching fire.

Right now some of these lips are like scorching fire. When I hear someone speak like that I know they are a scoundrel. Joe Biden accused Bobulinski of being part of a Russian disinformation campaign. That was like scorching fire to man who had served his country honorably and considered himself a patriot.

28 A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.

Recently I saw a special on Artificial intelligence used by China. They design algorithms specifically to stir up conflict which explains why some people act deranged. They have been stirred up by this perverse Chinese plan. Recently Charles Barkley said that Politicians are stirring up conflict with the race war, they are perverse.

29 A violent person entices their neighbor and leads them down a path that is not good.

We are seeing violent people involved in riots and looting. I suspect many of those who got involved got enticed. You can’t “loot” or “riot” by yourself, you need to lead others down that path to join you. The January 6th riot was all about some people enticing others to go into the building.

30 Whoever winks with their eye is plotting perversity; whoever purses their lips is bent on evil.

When Biden said “I don’t need your vote to win” he was “winking the eye”, he was plotting perversity. When he accused reporters who asked him about Hunter’s emails of being part of a smear campaign he was “pursing his lips”, he was bent on evil.

31 Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness. 32 Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city. 33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.

And once again, we return to where we started. Every response is of the Lord, every decision is of the Lord. This is what it means to commit your ways to the Lord. The church has been patient for 2,000 years. Many times it appeared that those bent on evil would win and yet our gray hair is a crown of splendor demonstrating that we have attained unto the way of righteousness. We need self control. There are many things happening today to knock you off balance, make you lose your self control. We plan, we train, we work hard, but in the end we commit our ways to the Lord for Him to establish them.

Exodus 15 -- Defeating tyranny in 10 steps, part 1

1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.

Tyranny controls people by creating a terrifying enemy whether internal or external. In this case it was the Egyptian army. They will harras you, imprison you, attack with a thug caste system, and seek to control what you say and think. Dissent equals treason. To “sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted” would have been equal to treason to Pharaoh. They impose this tyranny with both the horse and the rider. So the government leaders will call for censorship and make free speech illegal. Protests are now evidence of insurrection. Meanwhile the horses of Big Tech and the mainstream media carry this message far and wide. This victory throws both the politician trying to become a dictator and the large corporations supporting that effort into the sea. This is what the recall efforts for Newsom, Cuomo and others will do. This is what the laws passed by Poland, Hungary and proposed by Florida will do.

2 “The Lord is my strength and my defense[a]; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

The Lord is our strength. The church is headed up by the Lord and follows Him, they will see the victory. Only 3% of those living in the American colonies rose up to fight against Britain, the Super power of the day, and they defeated them. It doesn’t take every Christian on earth or even every Christian in the US, just a portion of them following the Lord will be enough.

3 The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.

It is time that the Lord Jesus, the warrior, be revealed to the world.

4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea.

The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea.[b]

Tyrannies and wannabe dictators will target individuals. We saw this at Smith College with the phony “Eating while Black” scandal. Four people were fired from their jobs or lost their jobs over the scandal and they attempted to get everyone else at the University to conform ideologically even though it was plainly evident to be bogus. They target universities because they are historically a hotbed of activism. Well, you reap what you sow. The Lord in turn hurls their best officers into the sea. Twitter, Google, Youtube, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, CNN, NY Times and Disney are just a few of the examples of their “best officers”. All of these companies have been exposed and people in the US and around the world are leaving these services as fast as they can.

5 The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone.

Stock prices are highly leveraged based on projected growth rates over the next five years. A company that is projected to grow by 15% per year due to rapid expansion into a worldwide market who now is seeing a 15% decrease due to their blatant censorship and arrogance could see a very rapid drop in stock price of 80% or more. In other words the stock will sink like a stone.

6 Your right hand, Lord, was majestic in power. Your right hand, Lord, shattered the enemy.

Apple, Amazon and Google all acted together to try and destroy Parler. That violates antitrust laws. When companies violate antitrust laws the response is to “shatter them”, break them up.

7 “In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble.

Microsoft and the other tech giants want to identify every computer with a “fingerprint” so that not only can they delete posts they disagree with but they can also go and shut down your computer as well. Imagine if in the very near future when Twitter deletes your tweet not only is the tweet deleted but your computer is shut down as well. This is the ultimate dream of tyrants, to be able to have an internal surveillance system so powerful that they can monitor every person what they are saying and then harass and target individuals. Well, the Lord has His own internal surveillance system and He knows who opposes Him and He will throw them down. He will unleash His anger on them and you will see their laptops being shut down like a grass fire sweeping through the plains.

8 By the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up. The surging waters stood up like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.

What we are seeing today in the US has caused great indignation to the Lord.

9 The enemy boasted, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake them. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them.’

We see this with every tyrant. They send out a thug caste of scary young men in order to shut down society. Already in Europe they want to divide up the failed restaurants and give them to a communal ownership. First you bankrupt these private businesses and then you can just take them over without even having to pay a dime. This is how they will pay for their new “communist system” by taking everything the middle class has built up.

10 But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

Twitter will sink like a stone, Antifa will sink like lead.

11 Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

The Lord delivered Israel from the Egyptians, he delivered the Americans from the British and He can deliver us now at the end of this age.

12 “You stretch out your right hand, and the earth swallows your enemies.

We saw this during WWII. The US getting involved was like the Lord stretching out His right hand. Once that happened the earth swallowed up the fascists and those belonging to the emperor.

13 In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed.

In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.

We have been redeemed by the Lord, we belong to Him. Anyone tries to mess with us they are messing with the Lord because we belong to Him.

Exodus 15 -- Defeating tyranny in ten steps, part 2

14 The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the people of Philistia.

Ha! Tyrants try to seize power by creating terrifying internal and external enemies. Terrorists, domestic terrorists, pandemics, any excuse to suspend the rule of law. Well, when they see the Lord destroy the huge tech giants as well as all those politicians who tried to become tyrants then they will be the ones who are terrified. Tyrants will set up a gulag, a prison system outside of the law. Well, once again when they see what the Lord does to these ones they will become imprisoned, anguish will grip them.

15 The chiefs of Edom will be terrified, the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling, the people[c] of Canaan will melt away; 16 terror and dread will fall on them. By the power of your arm they will be as still as a stone— until your people pass by, Lord, until the people you bought[d] pass by.

The Lord has given the order, the church is on the move, we are passing by, setting up our own economy, heading to the Lord’s Holy dwelling. This will be the promised “city on a hill” as an example to the rest of the world.

17 You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance— the place, Lord, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established.

Every knee will bow, every tongue confess when they see the Lord’s shining wisdom in what He has built up in the church.

18 “The Lord reigns for ever and ever.” 19 When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen[e] went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. 20 Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing. 21 Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.”

22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.[f]) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”

25 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.

There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. 26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”

27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.

This is what happened when people left Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Google etc. It took awhile to set up alternate sites like Gab, Parler, Rumble, DuckDuckGo, Dissenter, and so on. You have to learn to actually go to the websites you need like Mike Lindell’s site and other sites. I don’t allow CNN or these other sites to gather my approved news anymore, I have to search around and dig, but BonginoReport is a good site, National File sometimes has good stuff, the Daily Wire is well worth subscribing to, Newsmax, even the BBC. Stop crying, take up your cross and follow Him.

Hebrews 1 -- Let us learn from the best

1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.

If we want to be river crossers (Hebrews) then we need to listen to the word of His Son. Jesus is superior to the angels and prophets. There might be some hidden treasures of wisdom with them, but we are told in Colossians that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus Christ. The Lord is heir of all things, and through Him God created the universe. So you can be quite confident that it is with His words you will discover whatever it is you need.

3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

When you are in the battle you need to be sustained by the powerful word. Also, the Lord is the “exact representation”. Too many people are careless and inexact. I have recently seen people equate “Day of the Lord” with “End of Days” and “Apocalypse” with “Armageddon”. This is inexact.

4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

When we get a word from Jesus we are getting a much superior word. Jesus is Lord and is sitting at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. You are getting a word from the throne. Angels are not on the throne, they are the servants. They do not inherit all things, they did not create the universe, they are not the radiance of God’s glory, they are not the exact representation of His being. We want to cross this river, we need to be very particular, very specific about who we get our word from. Prophets spoke the word of God but Balaam was also a prophet who spoke the word of God. Angels are servants of God but Lucifer can also disguise himself as an angel of light.

5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father”? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”? 6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”

God will speak to the angels and give them a word, He will speak to the prophets and give them a word, but that relationship is not on the same level as His relationship with His son. God wants all the angels, all the servants, all the messengers to worship His Son. This is a key goal of this age, that every knee would bow, that every voice would worship the Lord Jesus.

7 In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels spirits, and his servants flames of fire.”

They are spirits, a breath, a spoken word, and a burning flame. They can animate, they can enlighten. But they are not forever. They do not sit on the throne, they do not wield the sceptre. Why do you think the call for justice is being ignored? Why do you think we are getting lip service from public officials about fighting for the integrity of the elections while doing nothing?

8 But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”

Maybe, if we love righteousness and hate wickedness we should listen to the Lord. Why not ask the guy who has gone before us and been victorious? If you have Michael Jordan on your basketball team why is he sitting on the bench? In the same way since we are on Jesus’ team let’s make sure He is on the floor, He is the one doing the speaking.

10 He also says, “In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

The Lord is laying a foundation. He has done it before, He knows what He is doing. Have faith in Him. We have a chance to learn from the very best.

11 They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. 12 You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”

The sooner you realize this the better. The “great reset” is all about the worldly system perishing and wearing out. We have seen many “great resets” in the past, we just call them a collapse of the empire. “The Fall of the Roman Empire” for example. The wealthiest and richest people see their kingdom crumbling, they know that it is wearing out and they fear change. The French revolution was change. The Russian revolution was change. The cultural revolution in China was change. They hope to do a “great reset” so that they control the change. They understand that the world’s economy is unsustainable, it is going to go over a cliff. Generally when that happens the bigger they are the harder they fall. So the great reset is their attempt to make sure they cushion the fall with lots and lots of poor people. They are keenly aware that their years will end. John D Rockefeller was the richest man in the world in 1920, 100 years later many of his descendants are simply middle class, and his family is no longer a ruling power.

13 To which of the angels did God ever say, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

Make no mistake, making the enemies of Jesus a footstool for His feet is a key goal for God during this age. If you are the body of Christ, then surely you know who the feet are. There are some very humble believers, they are not billionaires, they are not the “elite”, they are not the “experts” you see on TV telling you what you are supposed to think. But by the end of this age those billionaires and elites will be a place for the most humble members of the Body to rest. We have an expression “take a load off your feet”. These members are the ones who are carrying the load. Well the rich, the famous, the “beautiful people” are destined to become a beautiful footstool fit for the king.

14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

So then, let’s talk about the salvation that we are to inherit.

Hebrews 2 -- How shall we escape?

1 We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

“Drift away”. You have to carefully tie up your boat to the dock or to the mooring, otherwise it will “drift away”. Sometimes we are wide awake at the helm sailing our boat, but other times we are asleep and at those times we need to pay careful attention that we don’t “drift away”.

2 For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

How shall we escape? Our great salvation includes everything in the old creation perishing and being rolled up like an old garment. It also includes the enemies of Jesus Christ being made into a beautiful foot stool. Our gospel includes this, that the end of the age will see these things take place. So then, how do we escape? The rapture is referred to as our escape. The greek word actually means to be snatched away right before destruction. You would use this word to describe snatching someone out of the way of an oncoming train. So then, how exactly do we escape? Do we invest in gold? Do we get a rifle and learn to hunt? I have heard messages where they go from discussing the end of the age to the need to invest in gold and silver! That is what it means to “ignore so great a salvation”.

4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

It is miraculous to think we will be saved by this “rapture”. However, God has testified to us that this is the case. The Lord’s resurrection is referred to as “the firstfruits” and the rapture is referred to as “the harvest”. Crossing the Red Sea is a miracle showing that God can snatch up the entire nation of Israel from the clutches of the Egyptian army. That is how Israel escaped Egypt. The book of Esther also describes how Israel escaped the clutches of the evil Haman. If you look and pay attention you will find God testifying again and again concerning how we shall escape. Don’t ignore this testimony.

5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking.

We are going to be kings and priests to God in this world to come. That is why we cannot ignore this salvation, if we do we won’t be ready, we won’t be prepared.

6 But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him? 7 You made them a little lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor 8 and put everything under their feet.”

Isn’t that amazing? Right now there are tens of millions of Americans concerned about the election fraud. But it seems like the “powers that be” are doing everything they can to ignore them. Mainstream media won’t cover them, the Tech giants are censoring them, and the politicians are mouthing the words but not walking the walk. The lesson here is that everything is under our feet, not theirs. Would the “Tech giants” be giants if 70 million Americans ceased to use their services? Would the mainstream media continue to be the “mainstream” media if 70 million Americans ceased to listen to them? Could the US government continue to stand if 70 million Americans ignored these politicians the way they are ignoring them? “A house divided cannot stand”.

In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them.

That is nice talk but we don’t see it. Of course if we look back at our history with the revolutionary war we can see it. We can see a rag tag group of settlers who were made lower than the superpower of the day, and yet everything was under their feet. They had to stand by faith, but they did.

9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Oh yeah, we also see Jesus. This was just one man objecting to the unrighteousness of the times. He was made lower than all those kings and rulers. And yet, we are still here two thousand years later looking at Jesus while all those other “rulers” have become dust and gone into the ash heap of history.

10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.

Can we please pay attention to this verse? Our great salvation includes us being brought into the glory of the Son of God. Yes He was resurrected, but He was also crucified and that crucifixion didn’t condemn Him, it condemned those that crucified Him. That is a path that Jesus pioneered for us. That is how our salvation is made perfect. That is how everything is put under our feet even though we are made lower than all these rulers and leaders.

11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

When we are raptured it is not in shame, in defeat. The Lord’s resurrection was victory over death, victory over the grave. We are going to share that glory, we will be part of the same family.

12 He says, “I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.”

We will be the family of the resurrected ones, the family of the victorious ones.

13 And again, “I will put my trust in him.”

We will be the family of those who trust in God.

And again he says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.”

We will be the Lord’s family.

14 Since the children have flesh and blood,he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

The only power these ones have over us is the power of death. If we are the family of the resurrected ones, the ones who have conquered death and the grave, then what power do they have over us?

16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

So, once again we come back to this question, “how shall we escape?” The same way Jesus did. He is with us to help us take up our cross and follow Him on this path He has pioneered.

Hebrews 3 -- Bending the Arc of History

1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.

We have a Holy calling. “Fix your thoughts on Jesus”. This takes us back to the last chapter about “drifting away”. We need to lash our thoughts to Jesus just like tying a boat up to a dock.

2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.

Who appointed all these representatives in our government? They were appointed according to the constitution, but in a democracy they are appointed by our vote. If you do not take care of the integrity of the election you are not being faithful to the ones who appointed you. However, we have a few notable exceptions: Jesus and Moses.

3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.

When you see a beautiful house like the Taj Mahal, there is a lot of honor to that beautiful house. However, you realize that the person who built it is worthy of greater honor. Right now we are realizing that we have a wonderful constitution that anticipated fraud and the attempt of the deep state to steal the country. The founders said as much when they said we had a Republic “if you can keep it”. We have everything we need to catch and prosecute this fraud and that is all to the glory of God and to Jesus. All we need is for some to be faithful to those who appointed them just like Jesus and Moses were.

4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.

Can we all agree that the US was built by God? Can we all agree that the covenant with all human government was made by God? If you steal this election from the voters in the US you are stealing it from God. You are usurping the covenant God made with His people. You are robbing God of His children.

5 “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,”[a] bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

We need both. We need faithful servants and we need a faithful Lord who hears us when we cry. Our confidence and our hope in which we glory is in Jesus and in His body.

7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did.

We are witnessing a rebellion right now. They have hardened their hearts just as pharaoh did to ignore Moses, and they are trying to steal the Lord’s vineyard. You saw what the Lord did to Pharaoh, you saw what the Lord did during 40 years in the wilderness. You have seen what has happened during the French revolution, you saw what happened in South Africa with Nelson Mandela, you saw the collapse of the USSR, you studied the Fall of the Roman Empire.

10 That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’

Fix your thoughts on Jesus, tie your boat to the Lord.

11 So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

The great reset is all about giving them some rest from the impending collapse. “Let them eat cake” is the desperate last ditch attempt to swindle the American public. It won’t work, the Lord has declared in His anger that they shall never enter His rest.

12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

Can you imagine the shame you will feel if you gave your life to the Lord, followed Him, testified of Him, and then in this great moment in history you turn away from the living God?

13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

Encourage one another daily. Every day we need a word of encouragement, one more word where we have pushed forward towards the goal.

14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

Again? He just told us this. Sad but true. Pharaoh hardened his heart and was destroyed. Then Korah rebelled against Moses while in the wilderness. Pharaoh and his army was swallowed up by the sea and Korah and his rebellion was swallowed up by the earth.

16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

We are bending the arc of history towards justice. That is our calling. We are fixing our thoughts on the guy who went before us and pioneered the way, Jesus Christ, Lord of all.

7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did.

We are witnessing a rebellion right now. They have hardened their hearts just as pharaoh did to ignore Moses, and they are trying to steal the Lord’s vineyard. You saw what the Lord did to Pharaoh, you saw what the Lord did during 40 years in the wilderness. You have seen what has happened during the French revolution, you saw what happened in South Africa with Nelson Mandela, you saw the collapse of the USSR, you studied the Fall of the Roman Empire.

Sometimes we forget, it was 40 years in the wilderness. Imagine getting disheartened after 40 days. The French Revolution was ten years from 1789 to1799. Imagine getting disheartened after ten months. Nelson Mandela was in prison for 27 years.

Hebrews 4 -- Apart from Jesus we can do nothing

Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.

There is going to be a rapture where some will enter into this promised rest. At that time some will be found to have fallen short of that rapture. So then let us be careful. We need to tie our thoughts to Jesus, tie our boat to Jesus.

2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.

It is not sufficient to have heard and received the gospel. True, if you receive the Lord’s salvation you receive eternal life, but that doesn’t mean you have entered into this promised rest. Everyone in the wilderness had also received this salvation having partaken of the Passover lamb and having crossed the Red Sea. What they needed was to share the faith of those who obeyed. Joshua and Caleb shared the faith of Moses. They entered into the promised rest.

3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

Look at the path the Lord took us on. If God had made us kings immediately we would be like the arrogant, the elites, with little sense of justice or compassion. No, first we had to be the slaves at the bottom of society so we could understand how to truly rule. We needed to see how the corruption and lies of the elites impact the poor. But the problem with that is many have the mentality of a slave. We need a new heart of flesh and we need our mind renewed by the Lord of all. You don’t need to fight to be a slave, just surrender. But to rule and reign with Jesus requires that we stand with Him on the battlefield.

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” 5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

You can’t enter into His rest if you can’t do all His works. You need to do a work of faith before you can enter into the promised rest.

6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 7 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

The Lord gives the command, you obey and follow Him, that is the work you must do, and the work you can only do if you have mixed faith with your obedience. The reason some harden their hearts and refuse to obey is because they don’t have faith.

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,[e] just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

We are doing a work of faith so that we can enter that rest. This is the church age, we are building the Body of Christ with gold, silver and precious stones. This warning is about disobedience, the Lord will speak to us, it will be difficult for us to obey, it will require faith, it will require us knowing the voice of our shepherd.

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

The word of God is a light to our path, it is also a light that examines our innermost spirit and soul. This word judges our thoughts and attitudes. No one and nothing is hidden from this light.

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

The Lord is superior in every way. We have someone who will go with us and help us along the way.

Proverbs 17:1-5 Gaslighting

Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment.[1] It may evoke changes in them such as cognitive dissonance or low self-esteem, rendering the victim additionally dependent on the gaslighter for emotional support and validation. Using denial, misdirection, contradiction, and misinformation, gaslighting involves attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim's beliefs.

Instances can range from the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents occurred, to belittling the victim's emotions and feelings, to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim. The goal of gaslighting is to gradually undermine the victim's confidence in their own ability to distinguish truth from falsehood, right from wrong, or reality from delusion, thereby rendering the individual or group pathologically dependent on the gaslighter for their thinking and feelings.

Signs and methods[edit]
As described by Patricia Evans, seven "warning signs" of gaslighting are the observed abuser's:[25]

1. Withholding information from the victim;
2. Countering information to fit the abuser's perspective;
3. Discounting information;
4. Using verbal abuse, usually in the form of jokes;
5. Blocking and diverting the victim's attention from outside sources;
6. Trivializing ("minimising") the victim's worth; and,
7. Undermining the victim by gradually weakening them and their thought processes.

1 Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.

This is the fork in the road, this is your choice in the election. You can have a dry crust of bread with peace and quiet or you can have a house full of feasting with strife. However, they will withhold the information about the strife and make the choice “dry crust of bread or house full of feasting”. When the more prudent and wise point out the risk of strife they will discount that. We had the perfect example in this last election. Salaries will go up, everyone gets free medical care, we’ll get rid of the pandemic and the rich will pay for everything. You were promised a house full of feasting. But when you arrive to celebrate this new regime what do you see? A total lockdown of the city, 25,000 troops stationed in Washington DC, fences and barbed wire. The border is thrown open with a crisis down there. They bust the budget with $6 trillion in spending and they are just getting started. You were told you would get $2,000 on day one, then you were told that this included the $600 you already got, and then you learned that many people were exempt (it is now April and I have not received anything). Meanwhile they are already pushing the biggest tax hike in US history.

2 A prudent servant will rule over a disgraceful son and will share the inheritance as one of the family.

Wisdom and prudence will trump your birthright. The US has a birthright, but if you behave disgracefully you can be replaced by those countries who are currently your “servant” because they are prudent and wise.

3 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart.

How many times have I heard that “the Lord is in control”. Yes, the Lord is in control of the furnace and He is testing your heart. Are you going to behave disgracefully, are you going to allow yourself to be gaslit?

4 A wicked person listens to deceitful lips; a liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.

I talked to a con man once and this was his strategy. Wicked people listen to deceitful lips. He wanted wicked people as his clients because once they had been conned they wouldn’t sue him. If you reel them in with a temptation to do something wicked, in order to testify against you in court they will have to reveal this.

5 Whoever mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.

Again, go back to what gaslighting is. They verbally abuse the victims. You were a victim due to your own stupidity, not due to their corruption and evil intent. Many who were conned during the mortgage meltdown blamed themselves, their own stupidity. That is true, they did make a mistake, but it doesn’t absolve the lawyers and bankers who violated their fiduciary responsibility. Why does Clinton call the Trump supporters “deplorable” why does Biden call them “chumps”. They are mocking them. Clinton said they were “irredeemable”. She is showing contempt for their maker. They gloated over the riot at the capitol because it gave them an excuse to blame these people appealing for justice while at the same time denying them justice. They will not go unpunished.