Summary of Bible references on the Rapture

Returning to the point

1Corinthians 10:1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

Every Christian has the word of God, all of them get baptized, they all have the same Spirit of God and yet if these things are an example to us not all of them entered the good land.

6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.

The difference is that those who fell set their hearts on evil things. It is interesting how it defines idolatry. Everyone says they are not committing idolatry, so he doesn't even bother with that, instead you can tell when someone is being idolatrous by the way they behave. Parties, revelry, getting drunk, fornication, these are all examples of the behavior of idolaters.

11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Someone on this thread said that no one keeps Saturnalia anymore! Really? Saturnalia is a 7 day feast and revelry. We don't do that for "Easter" or any other holiday, but to have non stop Christmas parties for work and friends, that is common. This doesn't mean that eating at a friends house has to be "idolatry" and anyone who would try to twist this to that clearly has an agenda. No, what it means is that many (not all) use this season as an excuse to get drunk, go to parties, and even get involved in fornication.

Idol Feasts and the Lord’s Supper

14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.

Therefore flee idolatry because you could lose your birthright! You could be discarded in the wilderness.

18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

When we partake of the Lord's table we are not simply doing some meaningless ritual, it means that we are partaking of all that it entails to be a believer in Christ. Jesus said that we must take up our cross and follow Him. This is included in our partaking of the body and blood. In the same way there is an assumption that if you partake in the table of demons that you are partaking of all that this entails. He is comparing this to a woman who is engaged to one man going out for a night out with another man. Nowhere is this more plain to see than with Christmas. You spend half of the holiday with the babe of Bethlehem and the other half with "Santa baby".

He will return from the marriage feast, the apostasy, be ready and watching

Luke 12:35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; 36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. 37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.

I completely disagree with the vast majority of Bible teachings on this verse. Many say this refers to the marriage of the Lord. It doesn't make sense on multiple levels. First, if the master of the house were getting married the wedding feast would be in His father's house and His servants would be hosting the feast. Second, suppose this really is referring to the Lord's wedding feast, he is there till midnight or some later hour, He comes back with His bride and if the servants open up immediately to Him He will abandon His bride, gird Himself and serve dinner to the servants?

So instead this reminds me of three other portions of the Bible.

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

At the end of the age at the time of the Lord's return we will see the church in Laodicea. The Lord will be knocking on the door and many in this church will not open up to Him, they will not be watching, they will think they are rich and don't know they are blind, naked and poor. I find this very similar because in both cases it is the Lord's house (the church), we are His servants who are to be watching for His coming, and if we do open up to Him immediately then He will gird Himself and sup with us. But if that is the case, what is the feast, or the marriage feast that He is coming from?

Exodus 32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. 2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3 And all the people brake off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 4 And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf: and they said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 5 And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To-morrow shall be a feast to Jehovah. 6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

This is a reference to a feast that the Lord was at and He does return from this feast. We do see that Moses calls on the faithful servants who rise up immediately in response to Moses and as a result they become the Levitical priesthood because they were faithful and responded immediately. However, here it looks like they are worshipping idols and in Luke the Lord is returning from a wedding feast. Both of these are feasts, but would we really refer to Exodus 32 as a wedding feast? This in turn reminds me of

2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Put this all together and it makes sense. Paul told us the apostasy must come first. We realize that Shavuot is the feast that appears most similar to the account of the rapture, yet prior to the rapture what has to happen first is this falling away, this apostasy, likened to idol worship and a wanton feast, they are like Demas who loved the world and forsook the ministry, and in Luke we are told the Lord left that feast but rewarded those servants who were watching for Him, not partaking in that idolatrous worship, opened the door to Him immediately (as with those in Laodicea).

In Luke we are told before the rapture you will have "the shaking of the powers of heaven" and in 2Thessalonians you are told before the rapture you must first have the apostasy where some in the church, like Demas, will fall away from the Lord because they love the world, and here in Luke the Lord calls it a wedding feast. Remember after the rapture those of the synagogue of Satan come to Philadelphia to worship before them. The were married to Satan. Why do you think Moses delayed his coming down from the mountain, he exposed these ones.

Dung it for 1 year

Luke 13:6 And he spake this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit thereon, and found none. 7 And he said unto the vinedresser, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why doth it also cumber the ground? 8 And he answering saith unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: 9 and if it bear fruit thenceforth, well; but if not, thou shalt cut it down.

This parable is only in Luke, it isn't in either Mark or Matthew. This is significant, Luke is the gospel to those who are raptured before the tribulation, this is something that they would see. Mark begins with all those left behind going out into the wilderness to John the Baptist (Elijah who is to come, one of the two witnesses) so they obviously would not see this, and Matthew is to the Jews who come very late to the realization that Jesus is Lord.

But for those paying attention to the signs there was a very big one in 2017, the Revelation 12 sign. Many thought the rapture would be in 2020 because of this sign (3 years and then 3 1/2 and 3 1/2). What happened? Well it turns out that the Jewish year which began at Rosh Hashanah in 2020 is the same word as "dung". This last year God "dunged it" and sure enough the number of people waking up has grown exponentially. All these things that are going on that you can't believe, that is simply "dung" to the tree.

Psalm 120:1 In my distress I cried unto Jehovah,
And he answered me.
2 Deliver my soul, O Jehovah, from lying lips,
And from a deceitful tongue.
3 What shall be given unto thee, and what shall be done more unto thee,
Thou deceitful tongue?
4 Sharp arrows of the mighty,
With coals of juniper.
5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech,
That I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
6 My soul hath long had her dwelling
With him that hateth peace.
7 I am for peace:
But when I speak, they are for war.

Someone has discovered the "prophecies in the Psalms". I will be posting a lot on this, but suffice it to say at this point that Psalm 120 refers to 2020. It was a year of lying lips and the deceitful tongue. We have learned that Fauci was a liar, the CCP are liars, Cuomo was a liar, the Mainstream media are liars, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, NY Times, WAPO, etc. are liars. Biden is a liar, Harris is a liar. The list is outrageously long and the sins are horrible. They hate peace. They are trying to race bait and divide us.

Now one confusion of course is with the calendars, do you use the Hebrew or the Gregorian, and if you are using the Hebrew does the year start with Nisan 1 or Tishrei 1. The solution to these questions is very simple -- we use the Fig tree prophecy beginning with Israel being reformed in May 1948. May 14 of 1949 would begin the 81st year and put you out of that prophecy. You can adjust that slightly, May 14th was the first quarter of the moon, 2nd month. That is May 21 of 2029. Doing this you can fit all of the prophecies from Daniel to the Lord's prophecies in the gospels as well as the prophecies in Psalms in as long as the 70th week from Daniel begins by May 8, 2022. Nisan 1 is April 1, 2022 which would be when the 2nd year after the dung year begins. So then if they rapture takes place the year after the dung year it would be before April 2022.

Judges 15 -- Jawbone of an Ass? Why not just say Donald Trump?

1 But it came to pass after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in. 2 And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her. 3 And Samson said unto them, This time shall I be blameless in regard of the Philistines, when I do them a mischief. 4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between every two tails. 5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks and the standing grain, and also the oliveyards. 6 Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they said, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he hath taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire. 7 And Samson said unto them, If ye do after this manner, surely I will be avenged of you, and after that I will cease. 8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam.

When you join Corporate America with Social Justice Warrior by the tail (two foxes) and then light that with Cancel Culture (fire brand) the result is their crops are ruined. As they say “get woke, go broke”. MLB moved the All Star game from Atlanta to Denver because they “got woke”. Major disaster. Disney’s revenue was down $636 million in the second quarter shortly after cancelling a star actress for comments she made. NBA’s ratings are down 40-45% depending on which network and what time frame you are looking at. CNN has gone broke, Facebook has gone broke, and now the entire US stock market is down 33% because Biden has gone woke. What was the slight in Judges that provoked Samson, his wife was given to a Philistine. That could easily refer to a job or a house. But then they go and burn her and her father with fire. This would be like the police killing an unarmed person. Biden stole the election, Facebook and CNN were involved in suppressing the Hunter Biden story. Jesus is the strong man and He is paying them back.

9 Then the Philistines went up, and encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. 10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they said, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us. 11 Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what then is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. 12 And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. 13 And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock. 14 When he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him: and the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands. 15 And he found a fresh jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and smote a thousand men therewith. 16 And Samson said,

With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps,
With the jawbone of an ass have I smitten a thousand men.

A jawbone of an ass? This deplorable Israelite killed them with the jawbone of an ass? What, was he making mean tweets? Why are they calling it “the jawbone of an ass” why not just come out and say Donald Trump? Who delivered Trump up? It was the RINO republicans and the apostate Christians.

Why would the Lord Jesus, the strongman, use the jawbone of an ass, why would He use Trump? It puts them to an open shame that with all their weapons, all the tens of millions they put into these election campaigns with all the attack ads, and all the lies of the very best liars that even so there is going to be a huge red wave. Jesus is having fun.

1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,

The evidence is quite strong that Jude was the brother of Jesus just as James was and yet he doesn't make that claim. Can you imagine a false prophet not bringing that up? I find it very instructive that neither James nor Jude try to use their relationship in the flesh to Jesus to give them some special standing. Likewise they both make it clear that they are servants of the Lord Jesus.

To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

Called -- 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Romans 8 gives us 5 things: Foreknew and predestinated (Abraham), Called (Isaac), Justified (Jacob) and glorified (Joseph).

We can see these five in the structure of the children of Abraham. We are children of Abraham, children of the promise. I consider this to be the first correlation between the book of Jude, Revelation 12, the lord's birth in Luke and Christmas. By the time we finish Jude we will see an amazing number of connections.

loved in God -- 20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

These verses by the Lord describe what it means to be loved in God and what it means to be loved even as God loved the Lord. Think about it, the birth of the man child will be "just as" the Lord's birth. Their birth will be so that the world may believe. No doubt this refers to the testimony of saints who have been reborn over the last two thousand years. However, it also seems reasonable that it could refer to the rapture as an event, just like Jesus birth, that could spark a marvelous revival.

Kept for Jesus Christ -- We are talking about the bride of Christ who keeps herself as a virgin. No other epistle uses this term, it refers to watchful care. It is a direct reference to the Lord charging us to watch for His return and the word in greek actually means 'continually kept". This is not once for all. This word is used for Peter when he was 'kept' in prison, confined. It is also used concerning our heavenly inheritance which is kept for us. This word is used again in this epistle when it says the fallen angels kept not their first estate. The idea is that we are constantly vigilant to watch and keep ourselves from falling but that the lord will also work together with us to keep us. The concept here is a direct contradiction to the "once saved always saved" doctrine going around now that we don't need to worry about sin. The word is also used for the church in Philadelphia where it says "He will keep us from the hour of trial". This verse indicates the Lord is keeping us, verse 21 tells us we need to keep ourselves. 1Thessalonians 5:3 says we are kept blameless unto the coming of our Lord and savior.

We are not "kept for Santa". The whole "he knows if you've been bad or good" is just another deceit used to mock the Christians.

2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

Mercy is a direct reference to judgement and "the royal law" in James. Jesus said "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". James interprets that to mean that we are to treat others with mercy since we also want to be judged with mercy. What a contrast with the celebration of Santa version of Christmas. Grace is getting what you don't deserve, Mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Mercy implies we are a failure and so we need God's grace and mercy. The whole Santa "gospel" is that you get what you deserve and if you are bad you had better watch out. No mercy with Santa.

Peace -- this is a big term during Christmas, "Peace on earth and good will towards man". We have peace through Jesus Christ. However, there is no peace for the wicked Isaiah 57:21.

Love -- This is the mark of the saints, the way in which the world identifies us. Everyone is talking about the mark of the beast, well we also have a mark and it is love.

These three terms all point to the Lord's coming. We are praying for mercy, we are not worrying about anything but praying about everything and trusting that we will be kept from the hour of trial. And like Philadelphia we are keeping the Lord's command to love others as ourselves.

But this also leads us into the discussion of the apostasy. Where does it begin? With Ephesus losing their first love. Next they lose their peace. Finally if they are completely apostate they treat others without mercy like Jezebel and the inquisition.

Incidentally all these elements show up in the birth of Jesus. The scribes and Pharisees had lost their first love, they knew Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem but didn't so much as go to see. However, hearing about His birth caused everyone in the city to lose their peace and they responded without mercy, killing the 2,000 kids.

Faith is where the battle takes place

Jude 3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.

Dear Friends is also translated Beloved. This epistle is written "to the beloved", to the Bride that will be raptured prior to the tribulation.

This verse reveals that his original intention was to write about the common salvation. However there was a divine compulsion on him that changed the direction of this letter. This term we translate as "compelled" is used in Acts to say that Jesus was compelled to suffer and die on the cross. This term is also used by Paul who says he is compelled to preach the gospel and woe to him if he doesn't.

Urge you to contend for the faith -- that is the theme of the letter. The challenge that you and I are being given.

Contend for the faith is to agonize on, to strenuously labor on the faith. This is an active military word (do not confuse it with contentious that is a different word). In many respects this refers back to the Lord telling us to watch and Paul telling us to watch because wolves will sneak in, and the warnings concerning the apostasy and the falling away and the heaping up of teachers for their itching ears, and giving heed to fables and old wives tales. To be an unflinching witness is an example of contending for the faith. Standing against those who deny or compromise with the whole counsel of God is another example of contending for the faith. The book of Galatians where Paul stood against "another gospel" is an example of contending for the faith.

We can see this in the celebration of Christmas. It begins with an unflinching testimony that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, that He is God with us. We then stand against all those who would mix this message with a compromised mixture of fables and old wives tales. Something they have mixed up into "another gospel" which isn't a gospel at all.

He doesn't tell us to contend for the gospel, he doesn't say to contend for salvation, he says contend for the faith. For example Paul says to examine yourselves whether you are in the faith. We must check, the things I am doing am I doing them out of faith? Did I pray about them? Did they originate with the word of God?

We need to prove that we are in the faith. In other words faith is more than believing. When you go through a trial by faith you prove your faith. Abraham offering up Isaac proved his faith. The apostasy departs from the faith. Faithful teaching established the church. We are all instructed to stand fast in the faith.

Faith is where the battle takes place. The apostasy is trying to peel you away from the faith. The apostasy is based on extra biblical teachings, cleverly devised myths. Think about Halloween, Christmas and Easter. Notice in every case they appeal to children. In every case parents are shamed into letting their kids participate otherwise they are "the grinch" who stole Christmas.

Deuteronomy 4:2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.

Revelation 22:18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

Becoming sensitive to the Spirit


I look for brothers and sisters who have different gifts and different insight into the word from me. This brother has many insights I have never seen. However, it seems all his insight is Biblical as he will always tie it into the revelation in the NT and many of the things he shares matches my experience.

You shall ask what ye will and it will be done for you

John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

"My words" refers to the Rhema, words that God has spoken directly to you.

For example, the Lord spoke a word to me from Colossians -- all the riches of wisdom and knowledge is hidden in Him. (Colossians 2:3)

Now here are the conditions, you must abide in the Lord. You must obey His speaking to you, you must take up your cross and follow Him, and you must stand on the blood. Second condition is that "His words abide in you". You remember them, you reflect on them, you let those words direct your life and you grow by those words.

If you do those two things then you can ask whatever you will and it will be done for you.

For example, the Lord spoke a word to me from Colossians -- all the riches of wisdom and knowledge is hidden in Him. (Colossians 2:3)

Ever since that point I have asked repeatedly for riches of knowledge and wisdom and any time I have asked it has been done.

1. I was a HS science teacher in Brooklyn. My school was at the bottom of the barrel in many metrics. The school had been closed because it had too many felonies and reopened as five smaller schools in the same building. Our kids were the poorest in the city and our kids entered the school with the lowest JHS test scores in the city. So I asked the Lord for wisdom. My thought was that I have 180 days to teach these kids a subject they know nothing about, just like every other school with a few exceptions. So although they did have some issues to overcome at the beginning, if I was exceedingly wise in my approach it seemed to me after 180 days my kids should be able to compete with anyone. The top 5% of the HS in NYC are ranked as some of the best schools in the country. We have quite a few schools where kids have to take exams to get into them. I wanted my kids to do just as well as those kids on the end of year state exam. Many teachers would say that is impossible and they justify this thought with all kinds of reasonings. But my feeling was I have all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Jesus, if I need something I'll just ask. I won't go into it here but over the next few years we saw steady progress until my kids were scoring in the top 5% of kids in the city. The year of the Pandemic I thought we would break the top 1% but they cancelled the exam. This was not one miraculous answered prayer, but hundreds of much smaller miraculous answered prayers where I was able to find the narrow way that led to life one step at a time.

2. This blog would be another example.

Now I saw the same thing reading the biography of George Mueller. He was given a word "seek first the kingdom and all these things will be given unto you" and based on that word he opened an orphanage trusting that God would supply his every need.

Each one of us will have a different word and therefore a different function, ministry, burden. But in every case the proof that you have a ministry from the Lord is that you are daily asking Him for things based on the controlling vision and on a daily basis you are seeing it done for you.

Desire spiritual gifts -- 1 Corinthians 14:1

The first church that I met with focused on prophesy (not predicting but speaking forth the world of God). That was the major focus for everyone in that church and there were tens of thousands of saints around the globe with that goal. However, later I met with a church that strongly encouraged us to all "desire spiritual gifts".

So I considered one after the other and nothing rang a bell in my spirit until I came to James 5.

James 5:16b The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

When I saw that the bells were ringing. My response was "yes, Lord, that is what I desire, to be able to have effectual, fervent prayer that avails much".

So then, what does this mean "a righteous man". I don't believe that James is telling us this to mock us saying "ha, ha, see what you lost when you sinned!" On the other hand I don't think this is referring to every blood washed and redeemed Christian, otherwise testimonies of answered prayer would be much more common.

The first use of this is with regards to Joseph, it says Joseph "was a just man" and didn't want to make a public example of Mary. It is also used in the verse where the Lord says "verily I tell you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see". So these are both encouraging, James is not talking about "who is worthy to open the scroll" from Revelation 4, but rather people who are just, upright, and merciful. This is also used in the verse "so shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from the just". So if you consider that you will be taken by the Lord at the end of the age this is talking to you. There are other verses, you can't cheat others, you have to deal with hypocrisy and iniquity hidden within, and you have to treat others the way you would treat Jesus. In Luke we learn that Simeon was a righteous man and devout. Jesus refers to the "resurrection of the just" and that also is the same word used here. We are also told that Joseph, the man who buried Jesus in his tomb was a just man. Cornelius was a just man. In Romans we are told that "the just shall live by faith".

The Just shall live by faith

So there you go, if you have been climbing this mountain of "living by faith" when you get to the top you learn that your fervent and effectual prayers avail much.

This aligns with what the Lord said

John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

You cannot abide in the Lord if you are not just. The minute you lie, cheat, steal, or do anything that is not just the spirit will immediately bother you. At that point you will not be able to prayt until you have thoroughly dealt with whatever is offending your conscience. Second, the Lord's words abiding in you is what it is to live by faith. You aren't living by the Logos. You are living by the word spoken to you which has become light and life and is filled with faith. That word strengthens you to rise to a much higher standard than you ever could in the natural. So then "if ye abide in Me" = Just. "My words abide in you" = live by faith. "Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done for you" = the effectual and fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much".

Effectual fervent = this is one word in greek which means to be operative, to put forth power.

For example, I didn't pray general prayers about my HS class. I would pray "Lord, I need to know how to measure accurately if we are improving". "Lord, I need to know how to use the data in a way that will improve our performance". These are prayers that are specific, operative. The word means "to work for one, to aid one".

Availeth = be strong, be robust, to have power, to wield power, to be a force, to be serviceable, to be able.

Much = great (as in great multitudes), a lot (as in a herd with a lot of swine feeding), many (as in many of the Pharisees). This word occurs 365 times in the New Testament. So either you believe in coincidences or you believe that the Lord is telling you that your prayers can be a force every day of the year.

1Corinthians 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels?

This word "judge" means to pick out, to esteem, to prefer, to rule, to govern. It is used in the verse "judge not that ye be not judged". It is also translated as condemn in "God sent not His own son into the world to condemn the world". It is translated as "determined" in this verse "and when it was determined that we should set sail".

So this is strange that beings that are greater than us, that have been around much longer than us should be judged by us. Why is that?

The angels know God the creator but they don't know Jesus the Savior. Who do you want judging you, someone who knows all about how things should be and how they were created, or someone who knows all about a savior that can save someone who has fallen?

I was a teacher and a teacher is a judge. You will be grading kids, judging their work, and having an impact on their life, probably as much as any judge in a law court will and for most of these kids a lot more than any judge. Your job is not to say "guilty" or "failure". Your job is to be a savior. Ignorance is like a pit, if you can't pull the kid out now while their young you know they will suffer the rest of their lives. So as a teacher you are trying to pull the kids out of this pit. Half the kids are diligent little hikers and will climb out themselves. What makes a good teacher is determined by what happens with the other half. If you have been saved you know what I am talking about. But imagine this, angels don't know what I am talking about!

Do we ever see angels in the Bible judging Lucifer? No, instead we are told they don't dare bring a railing accusation against him (Jude 1:9). Apparently Michael was to get the body of Moses and Lucifer tried to take it. Michael had to claim that his orders came from the Lord and hence outranked Satan. But that is not judging. If a captain has orders to seize evidence in a crime and a general wants to take that evidence, the captain shows that his orders come from the Commander in Chief and hence outranks the general. That is not judgement, rather it is simply following orders. That is mind blowing to me.

Jesus is the judge and He was not sent to condemn the world but to save it. In the same way teachers are not hired to fail kids but to teach them so that they will pass. This is probably the single biggest lesson that a principal will try to instill into their teachers. Whenever you meet with the principal they want to know who is failing and why and what have you done about it. Obviously it is very easy to just pass everyone, but then they want to know why kids who passed your class fail the year end exam.

So likewise, imagine we are sailing in a ship and we have to determine the best course. We look at the weather and the predictions and we have to decide if we can make it to the next harbor or if we'll be caught in the storm. Surely angels can do that. We were made lower than the angels. But sailing a ship is an analogy, what we are determining is the best way to save someone and that is why being made lower than the angels helps. It is very difficult for a superstar like Michael Jordan to be a coach. On the other hand it is much easier for Steve Kerr, or Phil Jackson to be a coach. These guys were role players, they can see how all ten players can play a role, they can help the less talented to do what they need to be a contributing member of the team. Because we were made lower we can empathize.

James said that we can look in the mirror. For example, I used to hear many teachers talk about the kids being lazy. I looked in the mirror and knew that I was very lazy when I was a student. During my first three years in high school I didn't take a book home once, never studied for a test, didn't take notes in class and yet the school I was at considered me "the hardest working student they had ever seen". That is because I made sure I did 100% of my school work at school and to study for tests I simply gave 100% of my attention during class. So when I look in the mirror I know that I was lazy and yet I did well in school, so I don't have an issue with kids who appear lazy. I can show the lazy kids how to be successful. Maybe angels have no idea what it is to be lazy, so they can't empathize and they can't determine the best way to help that lazy kid to succeed.

Why is there a rapture?

1. If you have fruit growing on a tree and you take the fruit that is ripe it will help the fruit that is not ripe ripen. If the sap doesn't go to the fruit that is picked it will go to the fruit that isn't picked. Right now the internet has exploded with people speaking and sharing about the Lord. But for everyone who is sharing on a platform there are probably two others who aren't. If you remove these ones it makes it easier for those who are left to take their place. Once I was in a church where 10 or 15 people would stand up at the end of each meeting to share. But then the front two rows of this church all got up and moved to another city to build a conference center. That was about half the members. Two years later I returned to this church and they had replaced all those members who had left with new members and the people who had been sitting in the back two rows were now in the front two rows and had picked up the mantle to speak. Those saints on the front two rows leaving helped the saints on the back two rows to step forward and function.

2. In a chemical reaction, if you remove the product the reaction will create more product as it is trying to reach equilibrium. Removing the saints in the rapture will change the equilibrium of the earth and spark a worldwide revival. All those saints left behind will have no choice but to step forward, and all those people who didn't believe the gospel will be stunned by the rapture and will seek out the saints to be saved.

This is a strange fire they have

4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

There are subversives in our midst, that is not up for discussion, that is what Jude tells us. What are they doing? They are trying to peel us away from the faith by either denying the words of the Bible, either by taking something away or by adding something to it. In brief there are tares among the wheat. The sower sows the word of God, an enemy sows the weeds among the wheat. This is why the book is written.

Paul says the same thing. Galatians 2:4 This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.

Think about that, the goal is not simply to peel you away from the faith but to make you slaves. What is the very clear and obvious goal of the world's celebration of Christmas? To make everyone go out and buy junk, to be a slave of this economy. Once again this isn't up for debate, we are told repeatedly in the gospels and the epistles that wolves will come in among the sheep. This is particularly true in the latter times. Enoch, the father of Methuselah warned us of this.

Apostasy is not simply error or even getting tangled up in a heresy. It signifies a rejection of the truth of God. The examples are Judas, Cain, Balaam and Korah. These four are Biblical examples of apostates, false prophets. Think about that, we have had apostates since Cain and Abel. All of the world was founded by an apostate.

These people have "secretly slipped in beside you". They are ungodly, like Cain. The world was started by Cain, he had a mark on him, he was a murderer. He is out to annul the word of God. This is what the world has done with Christmas becoming Xmas. They could care less about the babe of Bethlehem, in fact they eliminate all of that because "it could offend some". All they care about is having kids sit on Santa's lap and beg their parents for junk being sold at the store. Look at the Thanksgiving day parade, they are not celebrating the birth of Jesus. Ungodly means they don't have a reverential awe of God. That describes the world. They have the form but deny the power. They will take various "Props" like these floats in the parade, they'll put up a poster that says "Peace and good will" but they will refuse to put up anything about Jesus Christ, the power of our celebration. They are happy to have the outward appearance of celebrating the Lord without the inward reality.

19 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

Did you catch that? They are accusing Jesus of being a bastard. This is what the world thinks of Jesus birth. Don't tell me that the world is celebrating Jesus birth at Christmas. These guys are supposed to be religious leaders and yet Jesus says they don't know God.

44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

They are descended from Cain. The whole Santa Claus story is a lie, the ones who came up with this it was easy, like speaking their native language, the whole thing comes from a liar, and the father of lies.

They will pervert the grace of God like Balaam. Read Balaam and he was legitimately a prophet of God who knows God's word but he perverted it. He thought that he would sell his ability to speak God's word to the highest bidder and instead of using it to build up he would use it to destroy. They push this celebration as a "Christian celebration" when in fact it is a thinly veiled Saturnalia celebration. Balaam taught the believers to commit fornication and idol worship. He teaches that grace allows you to do anything, doesn't matter whereas Titus tells us the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. Loyalty to anything other than the word of God perverts the grace of God.

And they deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ just like Korah who rebelled against Moses. Some of us are pointing out that the Christmas tree is not in the Bible, it is not in our covenant with God and that this is a pagan practice. We are saying this is strange fire that they have.

You need both a green thumb and a black thumb

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

We have two gardens, one is the flesh, the other is the spirit. You want to have the spiritual garden to grow but you want the fleshly garden to wither and die.

This is easier done than you might think. First cut off anything that is feeding or watering the flesh garden. When I was baptized as a freshman in college I cut a lot of things off. I was living on campus, I moved off campus into a brothers house with several other Christians. I stopped working as a bartender at the schools bar (back then 18 year olds could drink). We had no TV at the brothers house. I also quit the Rugby team. You may think that these things "aren't bad", that isn't the issue. They are branches that don't bring forth fruit. This freed up hours, maybe twenty hours a week.

Then you need to spend that time sowing to the spirit. When I would study every hour I would stop and spend 5 minutes in the Bible. Over the course of the day I would often read 20 chapters in the Bible. I went to five meetings a week with the church. I had CDs where they would sing the books of the Bible. I would listen to these while on the bus going to and from school. There was an older brother that lived near me and I'd go to his house often for fellowship. Also I did some odd jobs to supplement my income, working with various brothers.

You cannot simply say "I'm going to spend more time in the word". More time doing one thing means less time doing something else. This is what the Lord meant when He said

29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Is there a loss when you cut these things off? Did I lose something by not having a TV? Probably, in a profit and loss statement there would probably be a huge profit but also a very small loss by not having that TV. The same thing with the Rugby Team and my job at the bar. You can point to things about those activities that were "profitable". But in the grand scheme of things they were a net loss. The question is not whether they were "bad" or "unprofitable" but was I sowing to the spirit? Because if not it is an opening to the flesh. The world is a river, it is flowing downhill, either you are swimming upstream or you are floating downstream. So it isn't good enough to simply cut these things off. If you do that you will be bored, lonely, and make it seem like being a Christian has made you into a stick in the mud. You have to replace that time with time that is sowing to the spirit.

This was over 40 years ago. Today I am retired. My schedule is two hours in the word of God every day, another two hours listening to various people expound the word of God. In addition about 2-3 hours listening to the news concerning current events. I also spend about 3 hours a day involved in some kind of ministry or church service. In addition I will put about 10 posts a day in this blog. All of these activities keep me busy with things that are sowing to my spirit.

This is why I say you can't simply have a green thumb, you need the time to spend sowing to the spirit and that means cutting off things that are not profitable. As a result your fleshly pursuits will dry up, wither and turn brown. That is a good thing, not something to mourn over.

A specific heresy -- Be Careful what you pray for

5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.

Do you remember the amazing delivery of Israel from all kinds of enemies in Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy? Pillar of fire, Pillar of cloud, the Red Sea parts, the Earth splits and swallows up the rebellious. 1 million leave Egypt, 2 made it into the good land. It was an 11 day journey that took 38 years. Were those 1 million who didn't make it, were they saved? What is the issue? Apostasy, falling away, the destruction that comes upon them because of that.

Read the history and it is very clear, God reserves the right to destroy that people if they become guilty of certain forms of unbelief, or other sins to which unbelief leads. Now we can certainly remember the Lord's promise that we shall never perish and no man shall pluck us out of the Lord's hand. It is the same Bible and the same God. You can have eternal security and still suffer destruction.

Those Israelites who were destroyed had eaten the Passover, they had put the blood on the doorpost and they passed through the Red Sea typifying the waters of baptism. Repeatedly God calls them "my people". Now there were some who snuck in there, the "mixed multitude" so it is reasonable to think that not all, not 100% were saved, but the vast majority were. Remember of all those who crossed the Red Sea none ended up back in Egypt.

So then to understand the unbelief that caused them to be destroyed we have to turn to Numbers 14. The spies come back with an evil report and they lift up their voice and cry "would to God that we had died in the land of Egypt or in this wilderness"! God responds "as you have spoken in my ears so will I do to you"! Their destruction in the wilderness was an answer to their prayer! In their prayer they say their little ones were going to be a prey so God says all those you said would be a prey, them I will bring in.

Paul, the same guy who said we are saved by grace, and we are justified by faith, this same guy said "Now all these things happened unto them for ensample: and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come". Nothing in scripture is extraneous. Everything is for our learning. So I ask you if we were to look at the Israelites in the wilderness would it be the 999,998 that were celebrating Christmas according to the world or was it the 2 (Caleb and Joshua) who were and the 999,998 were saying no way? Who was crying about we can't follow God because our children will become a prey? Some will argue that there was nothing in the OT about Christmas. Well Paul says "with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were for our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted". OK, no "Christmas" in the wilderness. Do we have "evil things" in the celebration of Christmas? Any chance God was not well pleased with some of this?

There are a lot of types in this story: Egypt a type of the world, Pharaoh a type of the Devil and his armies, Moses a type of Christ, Red Sea a type of the Baptism, Manna a type of the bread of life. So what do you think the destruction of all these Israelites who were destroyed due to unbelief is? Jude tells us clearly it is a type of the apostasy. The people who were overthrown were out of Egypt but not in Canaan. Look at the seven churches and especially at Sardis, a name that you are alive and yet you are dead.

Returning to Paul's word -- "we should not lust after evil things, as they lusted, neither should we become idolaters as it is written they sat down to eat and drink they rose up to play. The New Testament tells us to flee from idolatry. John tells us to keep ourselves from idols. An idol is anything that you put between you and the Lord, anything that displaces the Lord. Once again, let's ask, how many of the Israelites were involved in Idolatry? Moses and Joshua weren't, but apart from them who wasn't? Who wasn't involved in the golden calf idolatry? Neither commit fornication -- Novels, movies, cable TV, modern music is all involved in fornication. Consider those who died by being bitten by the snakes. They said they loathed the manna, that was the word of God that we need for our daily sustenance. If they had been in the word daily they would not have been bitten by the fiery serpents. Think about Christians today who got the jab and now regret it. I wonder what their time in the word was like prior to that?

What is the lesson? We are under constant attack from the great serpent and the word protects us. Once the church leaves the word of God they open themselves up to attack. The only cure is to look on the crucified Jesus.

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall

In Revelation they stand on the glassy sea. The laver where we wash in the word is called a glassy sea. The word that we wash up in is also the word that we stand on.