Summary of Bible references on the Rapture

IMPORTANT - Understand the Tribulation 02/17/2023

https://rumble.com/v29vk3y-important-understand-the-tribulation-02172023.html

Wow, I used to think that Stan and I had a very different doctrines concerning the rapture and now I learn we essentially have the same understanding.

His understanding of Rapture is "all believers" whereas my understanding is that there will be multiple harvests (first fruits, general harvest and gleanings). Now I learn that what he is calling "firstfruits" I call Pre trib rapture.

Concerning the timing -- I believe the times of the Gentiles ends with the rapture* and the 70th week begins a 7 year period that would have to start on the first day of the year for the Jews**. I don't believe Rosh Hashanah is the start of the year for the Jews, Moses was told that Nisan 1 would be the beginning of the year for the Jews. Rosh Hashanah is the birthday of the world and is the start of the year for the Gentiles. Therefore I believe that this final 7 year period known as the 70th week and which many conflate with the tribulation will begin on Nisan 1 (perhaps Nisan 14)

However, the rapture taking place before does not necessarily mean the day before. It could be a week before, a period of time where the entire earth is silent before the Lord. Or it could be 40 days before so that the AntiChrist mimics the 40 day fast of Jesus prior to being revealed.

*By rapture I mean the firstfruits

**Or it could start on Passover which is when Messiah was cut off

AntiChrist is a Counterfeit Christ

like any counterfeit it will resemble the real thing very closely.

21 Now it came to pass, when all the people were baptized, that, Jesus also having been baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon him, and a voice came out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

I am wondering if this heaven being opened and the Holy Spirit descending is a mirror image of the rapture event when the heaven is opened and the Holy Spirit leaves or "steps aside" allowing the AntiChrist to be revealed.

23 And Jesus himself, when he began to teach, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,

This is 3/23 in Luke. I understand the gospel of Luke to give us a view of what happens prior to the tribulation whereas Mark begins with the tribulation having already begun. I also subscribe to the doctrine that Jesus is Lord, that all things take place under His sovereignty and that includes the chapters and numbers in the Bible. So whether you like it or not I think it is reasonable to infer meaning in these numbers. Pastor Sandy Armstrong has recently shared the significance of the number 22 and the chapters in the Bible with 22 verses. Others have seen some potential significance in the verse numbers in Daniel.

So I find it very interesting that Jesus begins to teach on 3/23 and 3/23 this year will be Nisan 1 and the beginning of a new year for the Jews and very likely the beginning of the 70th week. This also immediately follows the heavens being opened when Jesus was baptized. This doesn't mean the rapture is the day before.

If you read Mark after the Baptism Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days fasting. This is fascinating because we have a very long list of things that are pointing to the 70th week beginning in 2023 and on Nisan 1.

This could be two sides to the same coin. We could see the counterfeit Christ to begin his ministry immediately after the rapture, that would agree with Paul's word to the Thessalonians, however, the tribulation saints could be driven into the wilderness immediately after this event.

Pattern is Prophecy

Road to the Cross -- just a hypothetical, could certainly see other ways to look at this pattern. Purpose for doing this is not to be a date setter but rather to look at all the dreams and visions we have been given to see where they fit in the puzzle.

30th of Adar Lazarus raised from the dead. (a week later Jesus eats with them, because they had touched a dead body they needed a week to be cleansed). This could be the rapture, because this event causes the whole world to follow Jesus. The rapture could be followed by one week of darkness and all the markets being closed. (March 22nd, 2023)

6th of Nisan, Jesus tells disciples what is going to happen (tribulation)

Jesus heals two blind men in Jericho -- Jericho is the cursed city that tries to censor people. The two blind men could refer to two of the churches (Sardis and Thyatira -- involves a more detailed explanation)

Jesus eats with Zacchaeus This could refer to people in the deep state repenting and turning to the Lord. (March 28, 2023)

7th of Nisan, Jesus comes to Bethany (house of affliction -- tribulation saints), Disciples borrow a colt for Jesus to ride into Jerusalem on These are the left behind saints, very humble situation. (March 29, 2023)

evening — stays in home of Martha and Mary, church is meeting in the homes. Maybe just 2-3 in a meeting.

8th of Nisan, This is the Sabbath day, a day of worship in the home meetings. (March 30, 2023)

"Palm Sunday" — 9th of Nisan, TV and Radio is back up and working. You can see the glorious entrance of the Lord as believers are proclaiming His coming. Cleanses the temple (drives out buyers and sellers — think judgment on Great Babylon in Revelation 18 is fully revealed to the world) and allows His Messiah ship to be proclaimed. (March 31, 2023)

10th of Nisan, Curses fig tree and drives out the money changers. Collapse of the US dollar. US as an ally to Israel is gone leaving them all alone surrounded by enemies. (April 1, 2023)

11th of Nisan, Fig tree is withered, this was at the time of Jesus, we get the prophesy that this will also apply to “this mountain” the Roman empire. As you have done it will be done to you. Israel got judged at the crucifixion, Nebuchadnezzars idol gets judged at the tribulation. Olivet discourse. Dinner at Simon the Leper’s house, feet anointed with the perfume. "Why this waste?" The famine is here and people use this as an excuse to betray Christians. Judas agrees to betray Jesus. You have been warned that during the tribulation your family and friends will turn on you and betray you.
(April 2, 2023)

12th of Nisan, Jesus teaches in the temple and Sanhedrin plots to kill Him. You will have the Christians publicly rejoicing and teaching the Lord while the world leaders are plotting to kill them. Get the mark or you will be beheaded. Turn in your family and neighbors. (April 3, 2023)

13th of Nisan, Preparation for the Passover, in the evening they eat the passover. Jesus gathered with his disciples, washed their feet, Judas looks for guards to arrest Jesus and Jesus goes to Gethsemane. (April 4, 2023)

Crucifixion on 14th of Nisan, (April 5, 2023) Tribulation is turned on full blast revealing the criminality of the AntiChrist and his ruling.

What I am now seeing

You have to view the rapture as setting up the beginning of the 70th week. It is the reason that on Palm Sunday Jesus was greeted with a triumphant entry. Also it takes a week for the whole world to react. When you look at the timeline there is a week missing, a week of darkness. A time when the whole world will be silent before the Lord and let the full weight of what happened sink in.

There is a dichotomy here. The tribulation begins the reign of Antichrist, it also begins the ministry of the tribulation saints. We see Jesus teaching in the temple at the time of His crucifixion, and it is very likely we will see the two witnesses teaching at this time in the beginning of the tribulation.

A personal experience

I have come to realize that this may explain what the Lord is doing with the tribulation saints.

As a child I was on a PeeWee football team. Our first year we went undefeated up in NY and then flew to Florida to play a bowl game and beat them handily as well. In our bowl our top rusher was on the third string offense and our second string defense played twice as much time as our first string defense.

As a result of this everyone wanted to be on the team the next year and we had 70 kids show up when you can only have 40 on the team. Many of these kids had rich, powerful parents, so cutting them would have been a very big problem.

So what our coach did was schedule a preseason game with a team in the Bronx (we were in the suburbs). Their field was composed of gravel and broken glass. Playing on that field we cut up our hands, knees and elbows. Then what he did was he took these thirty new kids and rotated them in and out. I played middle linebacker on our defense and the other ten kids were new kids being shuttled all over the place. The kids were confused, and this team was beating up on them and scoring on us over and over again. Meanwhile he did the same thing with our offense which was looking like a comedy of errors. After an hour of this he split the scrimmage in two taking our first string agains their first string over in the corner while our new kids continued to get beat up. Our First string completely dominated them, but the other kids didn't see that. The next week at practice those thirty kids had quit, problem solved.

The tribulation will weed out the wannabee Christians from those with faith. The Lord knows what is coming, He has prepared us for this, the Spirit He has given us is well able to stand against the evil one, and Jesus is Lord of all including the Antichrist.

After getting rid of those thirty kids we went on to go undefeated again including our bowl game in Dallas. However, that team in Dallas was the toughest team we ever played. Throughout the entire season our first string rarely lasted past the first quarter and never into the second half. The game was always over by halftime. But in Dallas the first string played the entire game.

Thirty Lessons on how to overcome the accuser of the brethren (30)

21 Fear the Lord and the king, my son, and do not join with rebellious officials, 22 for those two will send sudden destruction on them, and who knows what calamities they can bring?

Who knows what calamities they can bring? Think about that, maybe you can think of some terrible calamities but surely the king can think of things you never even thought of. Now if that is true of the king, how about the Lord? Read the Old Testament and the Lord toyed with evil men regardless of what they tried. Read the book of Revelation. The amount and variety of sudden destruction is astounding. Right now we have rebellious officials involved in voter fraud, they don’t fear the Lord, they surely didn’t fear Trump or any of the Republicans. But let’s consider that for a moment. Trump instituted the “space force” which is in charge of monitoring all communications worldwide that travel via satellite. He had access to the NSA which is able to monitor all communications via computer and phone. Also, Trump put in place very strict regulations concerning anyone involved in election fraud. You might think “hey, if he was going to do anything he would have already done it”. That is reasonable except for one thing, after January 20th anyone involved in rebellion would be emboldened. It will be easier to piece together everyone that is guilty and the extent of their involvement. You can also monitor all financial transactions, who is paying who and for what. All I am saying is this word “who knows what calamities they can bring” is a very scary thing when talking about the President of the US and who is he compared to the Lord?

Think about Epstein. Most people think he was murdered, not suicide. For years they wanted to see the list of people who went to that Island and they were desperate to keep that secret. But now the list has been made public. The whole world knows what that list means. They know what these people did. They know they were surely responsible for having Epstein killed. If the list is made public does that mean they also have the video tapes from the island used to blackmail these people? This thing was a sophisticated honey pot used to lure the rich and powerful and then blackmail them. If you were there they taped it. For years these people have been sweating it that this would be made public.

Think about all these people resigning, CEO's, heads of state, Congressmen, Senators, etc. Are they cooperating witnesses? This is like the movie Goodfellows where they pull off this huge bank heist and then they start killing each other off. The ship is sinking, the rats are fleeing, and the most powerful are left like Scarface to die in a hail of bullets. It is psychological torture. Like Goodfellows they are afraid of being whacked by their own friends. They despise rats but that is your only option if you want to live. No friends, no family, no respect and you live in the dark. Suppose you see the Prime Minister of New Zealand all of a sudden retire?! Perhaps she knows nothing about what you have done, but maybe she is ratting others out who do know and now have the screws being turned on them? What do you do? You can't call anyone because if they have been flipped the phone will be bugged. Anyone who calls you will seem to be someone who has flipped. So you have to live in the dark, act like an idiot to anyone who calls and not call anyone yourself. So with every public retirement you can sense the noose is tightening. This is psychological torture of the worst kind. What some people will do is make a list of everyone who could rat them out and then go kill them. A hundred close associates of the Clintons have died. But these people aren't stupid, they see these strange deaths they know who is doing it and they know they must be on that list.

Who knows what calamities they can bring?

The conclusion

Luke 16:10 He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much: and he that is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much. 11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?

Luke 15 & 16 have parables that are unique to the book of Luke. The parable of the lost sheep, the woman and the lost coin, the prodigal son, and the unjust steward. This is the conclusion to those accounts! This gives a whole new viewpoint on these stories.

If the shepherd does not go and find the lost sheep then he is unrighteous and unfaithful shepherd. If the woman does not sweep the house to find that lost coin she is unjust and unfaithful. If the father is not praying and seeking for the prodigal son then he is unjust and unfaithful, and if the steward doesn't figure out a way to sell his master's goods then he is unjust and unfaithful. This is a warning to the believers, if you are unjust or unfaithful you won't be raptured prior to the tribulation. It is pointless to say this in Mark, they can see why they weren't raptured, they were not faithful with the unrighteous mammon, hence the Lord did not entrust them with the true riches.

If you have been entrusted with 100 sheep to care for then you better care for them. When I was a teacher I would be held to account, not for the kids getting 90s or 100s, but I had to make an account for every kid failing the class. They wanted to see what actions I had taken to help that particular kid. Had I been calling the child's parents to let them know? Did I make accommodations, did I allow this child to make up missing work, retake tests, etc.

What about that missing teaching, like a gold coin? What about the rapture, everyone misplaced that one, let's find out what that is all about. Did you shrug that off or did you sweep the house?

Can you imagine the father would be judged for losing the prodigal son? Based on the context that is what is meant when he says "32But it was meet to make merry and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found."
Everything about this story makes it seem that the Father is a good guy and the prodigal son is profligate. But the context and this conclusion tells us that the children have been entrusted to you by God, if you lose a son or a daughter will anyone entrust true riches to you?

Then you have the unrighteous steward. We need to get this message out, we need to get this word out. It does no good if it sits on the shelf. If you need to put it on sale do so!

Serving Mammon while pretending to serve the Lord

Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 14 And the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things; and they scoffed at him. 15 And he said unto them, Ye are they that justify yourselves in the sight of men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

This rebuke is only in Luke. Why is it that pastors, priests, and churches do not want to talk about the rapture? We have had debates on every single doctrine in the church, just because there are differing opinions, differing interpretations is not a valid reason. I have heard some say "it will all pan out in the end" indicating that these debates are trivial and yet the Lord charges us repeatedly to watch for His return and He rebukes those in Sardis for not watching. I have heard others quote the verse that "no one knows the day or the hour" and yet the context of that word is the Lord's charge for us to watch. No one knows the day or the hour that their wife will give birth, hence you must watch and be ready with a go bag. No one knows the day or the hour that the field will be ready to harvest, therefore the farmer must watch daily. No one knows the day or the hour that a thief will break in to rob the house therefore you must watch. What hypocrisy to use that verse as an excuse to not watch.

So I don't buy their arguments, there must be another reason and it must have to do with mammon. It may be that warning saints of the Lord's imminent return and judgement would be bad for them financially. Maybe many members would leave the congregation. What I see from this warning is that financial concerns have influenced the pharisees so that they do not give the full counsel of God. I have heard that FreeMasons and Jesuits get on the Board of Evangelical churches and tell them they will cut off the funds if they talk about the rapture and end time prophecy. The Lord is telling them very clearly that you will not be able to have a financially lucrative ministry if you are serving the Lord. True that last sentence will outrage many, I expect to get "scoffed" at for basically repeating the Lord's words. But what do we see them preaching? Seeking $5,000 gifts, looking for donations for private planes, using gold chains and luxury cars as evidence of being "blessed". Bottom line they use the word of God to justify themselves even though the Lord tells us "that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God." What do these "bless me club" pastors and "prosperity gospel preachers" all have in common (besides mansions, luxury cars and gold chains)? They focus on a few verses out of context, and do not touch topics like the AntiChrist, being beheaded during the tribulation, taking the way of the cross, hell, etc.

Anyway, the rapture will be the rebuke to these ones. After the pre tribulation rapture it is no longer necessary to give this rebuke, hence it is not in Mark or Matthew.

So let's consider a few recent examples. Why weren't all the pastors united when the pandemic came out that shutting the church was a violation of the constitution? Let the members decide whether or not to come, but the Federal government shouldn't be able to shut down the churches. I would like to know the answer to that. Why weren't the churches united in standing against them mandating an experimental vaccine that we knew nothing about? Why were doctors silent about them mocking the use of HCQ and Ivermectin, surely the doctors knew this was safe? I will hypothesize that it had a whole lot to do with people serving Mammon while pretending to serve the Lord.

What is true Revival?


3 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe. 2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision: 3 for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh: 4 though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh: if any other man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more: 5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 6 as touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.

This is a word of warning. All of us, every believer, should beware of dogs, evil workers and the concision. When Paul says we are the circumcision he is saying that we are the ones with the covenant with God. Three criteria for recognizing this: worship by the Spirit of God, glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. There are three ways to spot the ones we need to beware of. First they worship by something other than the spirit of God. They need money, a big band, a huge meeting hall, TV contracts, etc. It may start out pure, but then they come to you and want to help your ministry, help you get a big meeting hall, help you pay for all kinds of things, in return they will be on your board of directors. The second way is they glory in themselves, they glory in the flesh, this is what the "bless me club is" this is what the prosperity gospel is. Finally they have confidence in the flesh. It is hard to believe, but they think you can live fleshly and still be saved. They teach "once saved always saved" and by a few subtle changes to the word of God you would believe it. They say we are "sealed until the day of redemption" whereas a better translation is we are "sealed for the day of redemption". The day of Pentecost was our engagement ceremony. Yes, we have covenant for our wedding, but if we break those vows then there will not be any wedding, at least not for us. This doesn't mean that if you sin you are no longer saved. What it does mean is if you sin you confess, repent, and take the blood of Jesus. You don't have any confidence in the flesh. Someone with a Phd, are they putting their confidence in that? If you were raised in a Christian home, are they putting their confidence in that? I heard a Bible teacher say that children are sanctified by their believing parents, so if you were born into a Christian family you are more sanctified than an unbeliever who walks in off the street, and if your grandparents were Christians you are even more sanctified. It was a caste system in the church and demonstrated a confidence in the flesh. They wear these as little badges, this brother speaks Hebrew, this brother went to this seminary, etc.

7 Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ.

If you want a real revival it begins with this, counting all things loss on account of Christ.

8 Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ,

You have to have the revelation that all those things you pursued and treasured are "refuse", or "dung". I like the term dung. When you poop something out it used to part of you and it was important, it fed you, could even say it is the reason you are who you are today. But now it is poop. Dogs love to stick their noses in poop. Stay away from it, you will get flys from that poop and unless you properly dispose of it you will be getting sick, vomit and diarrhea. But it is even more interesting, you need to get rid of those things if you want to gain Christ. It is like being constipated and you can't eat. When we are focused on those things it prevents us from taking in Christ, it prevents us from the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.

9 and be found in him,

Where do people find you during the day. Are you day dreaming like Walter Mitty? Or are you enjoying the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, some new experience from that day?

not having a righteousness of mine own,

Think of your righteousness as garments that you wear. If you have counted it all loss and discarded as trash all your old garments so that now your righteousness is no longer yours, you are wearing a robe that Jesus gave you. Once I was attacked in a small church. The Pastor was trying to spread some very nasty rumors about me and he was doing it from the podium. For over an hour I would listen to the insinuations and slander. He never said my name but what he was saying could only refer to me. The things he was saying weren't true, but did it matter? The truth was I was a sinner saved by grace and I didn't have my own righteousness. So I ignored it, I never responded, and when my turn came to speak I focused on the word of God. After the meeting I was confronted by the members, "who was the pastor referring to?" I said "I don't know, ask him". The next week he doubled down, new and even uglier accusations and again, I ignored them. I was not about to fight for my righteousness. The fact that those sins didn't apply to me didn't mean they might not apply to someone else. It didn't matter, I was saved by the precious blood of Christ which washed me white as snow. So again, I focused on the word of God and never responded. This sent all the members of the church into a very big problem, someone is lying to them. But I realized this wasn't my problem it was the Lord's. He is my righteousness, so if someone is accusing me of being unrighteous they are actually accusing Him that His blood is not effective. That week an elderly couple moved to this church which had known me since the day I had been baptized. They exposed the lies and the pastor began to flail and sink as the lies were exposed. This is a wonderful thing to have the righteousness of Christ and not have your own righteousness.

even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ,

That was the lesson the saints learned. Just because this person is the "pastor" and has a wonderful resume, beware. Our righteousness is not of the law, it is through the faith in Christ.

the righteousness which is from God by faith:

It is an impenetrable shield. You are throwing down the filthy rags stained with sin and you are taking up robes that are white as snow, a shield that no flaming dart can penetrate.

10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection,

This is true revival to experience the power of His resurrection. The reason they were trying to destroy me was because I had already let them know that the Lord told me He was going to destroy them.

and the fellowship of his sufferings,

We all love the glorious resurrection, but before you get there you must go through suffering and during that time you are in constant prayer and fellowship with the Lord. It doesn't take long before you long for that sweet fellowship of His sufferings again.

becoming conformed unto his death;

A year later I was so happy with the church life, everything was wonderful, but I knew I had to be faithful to the Lord and that meant declaring to the lead elders over the entire region what it was the Lord had against them. It was this very matter of creating a caste system where being the child of Christians gave you a higher status in the church. I knew when I mailed this letter that in a few short days I would be excommunicated, but I had to be faithful to the Lord. The question I asked them was "who is this that his children are so much more important than God's?"

11 if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.

I knew they would receive my letter on Friday, that they would all gather before the Friday night meeting and read it, and then after the meeting would call the leaders of our church and discuss having me excommunicated. However, that same day a key elder that this all focused on was diagnosed with terminal cancer and at the same time he was announcing the engagement of his son, which by God's sovereignty made that question all the more cutting. As a result I was not excommunicated. When I had stood up in front of a thousand saints to issue that word from the Lord that He would not let me go until He had utterly destroyed them the vast majority of saints would have given the odds of 1,000:1 against me. But here we were a year later and the Lord had used me as his instrument. That is what genuine revival is, the resurrection from the dead.

Further Sayings of the Wise

23 These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judging is not good: 24 Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent,” will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations.

The whole world is watching what the US is doing. They are excusing 500 violent ANTIFA protests while having a big show trial for Jan 6th. They bring in a SWAT team to Mar a Lago to find classified documents, which probably did not violate any law but then when they find classified documents in at least three different locations that Biden took it is no big deal. What Biden did was criminal and the evidence suggests that Hunter Biden used those documents to justify his big contract with Ukraine. The US government is so corrupt they will be cursed by the people and denounced by the nations.

25 But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will come on them.

This “but” indicates we aren’t talking about the Jan 6th committee or these monkey trials with Trump, no it means those that convict everyone involved in Epstein island, those involved in election fraud, those involved in selling state secrets to our enemies.

26 An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.

My wife moved her IRA to a bank, I was there at the time. We told the person at the bank we wanted it in cash because in a month or two we would be buying a house. He put it into a fund that you pay 1% per year up front as a transaction cost even though they pay less than 1% interest on the money. Obviously a very disadvantageous fund for my wife, but quite good for him as he made 1% of her total IRA for an hours work. Then a month later when we needed the money he acted like we hadn't told him that we would be pulling it out to buy a house. That was absurd, I worked as a stock broker for years, I knew exactly what we had told him. That was a dishonest response and I knew why he said it, he was laying the groundwork for a defense in the event we were to sue him for violating his fiduciary responsibility. Our conversation was not recorded, it would be our word against his, and he now has made a basis to claim he had not understood the purpose of the money. We are not interested in all that, the Lord will judge, it just would be nice if people were honest and tell the truth. The truth is had he done what we asked he never would have been paid, he gets paid a transaction fee and 1% on her IRA balance was a very nice payday.

27 Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

Get your priorities right. If your work and fields are in order you will be able to support your house. Most divorces are due to financial issues. These people got married when their outdoor work was not in order and their fields were not ready.

28 Do not testify against your neighbor without cause— would you use your lips to mislead? 29 Do not say, “I’ll do to them as they have done to me; I’ll pay them back for what they did.”

If an honest answer is like a kiss on the lips what does it mean to use your lips to deceive? That is like what Judas did when he kissed the Lord as a sign to the soldiers. You think you are so slick but the soldiers know what you did, the king knows what you did, the Lord knows what you did. You will get sudden calamity, sudden destruction. You will get the field of blood and a name of ignominy.

30 I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense; 31 thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins. 32 I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: 33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— 34 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

I see this in my job all the time. Teachers have to grade papers every day. I have close to 150 students so it is a lot of grading every day. However, it is the same amount of work whether you do a little every day or a whole lot during one weekend. You do not save yourself work by putting it off, all you do is allow thorns and weeds to grow and walls to be in ruins. By keeping my grade book up to date several times a week kids always know where they are at and I can send weekly alerts to parents of kids who are falling behind.

Leviticus 26:1 Ye shall make you no idols, neither shall ye rear you up a graven image, or a pillar, neither shall ye place any figured stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am Jehovah your God.

What has happened with the apostasy? Some wealthy donor comes to a church and they will fund a new building, or musical equipment and sound equipment, or whatever if they can be on the board of directors. The Pastor exchanges the Lord of All telling him what to speak to allow the board of directors to tell him what he can and cannot say. Don't do that. When you are serving the Lord it must be 100% for the Lord. I was on Facebook and they suspended me for a month. The didn't tell me what rule I had violated nor would they tell me what post of mine was offensive. So there was no way for me to learn or correct my behavior. If you remain in a relationship like that then you become their pet dog, they tell you to sit, you sit. They say to beg, you beg. So instead, I deleted my account that same day. It isn't easy to delete a Facebook account, they try very hard to keep you from doing it. They don't want you to leave, they want you to be subservient. The same is true of Youtube. I see all these videos where the people are saying "I can't say this and I can't say that". Leave. Why are you allowing them to tell you what you can and cannot say? If you do that you are bowing down to them. I know why people do it. This blog is like being in a backwater channel while Youtube and Facebook are out there right by the highway. The old saying "location, location, location". Make your own location. What we are learning is that people will line up outside some church in Kentucky if they feel the Spirit of the Lord is moving there. You don't need to some pet dog for Google or Zuckerberg, what you need is Jesus Christ, Lord of all.

2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am Jehovah.

In the US we have been taught to disrespect this, after all Jesus was "the Lord of the Sabbath" and in the New Testament we no longer keep the seventh day, rather we keep the Lord's day. Knowledge puffs up and if you take this attitude then you are puffed up, whereas love builds up. When I first came into the church the Lord's day was a full day of worship. We had a big morning service that would last for several hours. After that we would go to a brothers house and eat and fellowship together for a couple of hours. Then we would take a nap and return for an evening Lord's table meeting where everyone would share their experiences of the Lord that week, their top ten percent. This is how you build people up and the new ones in particular need this kind of care. But what has the apostasy done? One pastor said that he was told by members of his congregation that he needed to be finished by such and such time so that they could go watch the game. That is not showing reverence to the Lord's sanctuary, and that is not keeping His sabbaths.

3 If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 4 then I will give your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

I remember when I first began to share my experiences of the Lord. I felt like I had a pantry with about three cans of beans in there. I thought, OK, I'll share these and then I'll be done. That was more than 40 years ago. When I started this blog I wanted to get all the various verses concerning the rapture together to give a fuller picture. I knew it was more than the ones everyone shared, but figured it might be 100 or 200 posts. I am now over 7,000 posts. Walk in the Lord's statutes and He will supply. You will see the increase. This morning a brother in our prayer meeting talked about a fund raiser they did last week. He has been helping out with this for 39 years. The first year they raised $1500, last week they raised $150,000.

5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time; and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

There is a time to sow and a time to reap, a time to plant and a time to harvest. God understands that. You take care of God He'll take care of that.

6 And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.

If you do not feel it is safe where you live, if you feel the streets are full of evil beasts, if the sword is going through the land, if your city is as dangerous as a war zone, then know the reason is you have not done these things. I remember a story the brothers told me, they started meeting in a meeting hall in one of the most dangerous parts of LA. Within a year the crime in the neighborhood was down. Soon the crime had fallen so far the police wanted to know what was going on. Ultimately they concluded it was the church having this effect on the neighborhood. If some lady calls the cops because a drug dealer is selling drugs in front of her home they will punish her severely. However, if she is meeting with the church and she goes to the Pastor and the Pastor goes to the police the drug dealer has no idea who did this. The Pastor may have 200 members, anyone could have gone to the pastor and if you take revenge on the church you know the police will come after you hard. So they leave. So don't be surprised if drug dealers are contributing money to churches to keep them quiet. This is what we saw in the Godfather, Michael Corleone contributed a lot of money to the church. We saw this with Gotti as well. We saw this in the movie Spotlight.

7 And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.

I saw this as a college student. We had five brothers on Rice University. I was preaching the gospel for three years until I graduated. My senior year we had the entire campus on the run, several thousand. People were praying and getting saved every day.

9 And I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you.

I saw this as well, God had respect unto us. When others attacked and slandered us God stepped in and dealt with them.

10 And ye shall eat old store long kept, and ye shall bring forth the old because of the new.

I do this all the time. I will bring forth old posts and because of current events or recent revelations they become new.

11 And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.

If people want to find God, if they want a word from God they will go to you.

12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. 13 I am Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you go upright.

Don't you love this? You shall not be a bondman. Stop being subservient to these taskmasters, stop bowing down to these ones because of their money or tech platforms. If you search for this blog on DuckDuckGo it will be the first site that comes up, however, if you use google it will be the 43rd post. What is the difference? The other 42 sites pay money to google. I have visited some of these sites, there haven't been any updates in months. This is the yoke. But, if enough of us will refuse to put our necks in that yoke, say 100 of us, then you will see the bars of that yoke will be broken. For example, if you do a google search, skip the first 40 links, they paid to be at the front of the line. Or, use DuckDuckGo. Instead of Youtube use Rumble. I prefer to walk upright, rather then bent over following the rules of the tech giants.

But, if you will not hearken unto Me

Leviticus 26:14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;

This is what happens to the apostasy.

15 and if ye shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhor mine ordinances, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant;

This is how the Jesuits and FreeMasons were able to get on the boards of many Evangelical churches and turn them into Mega churches preaching the prosperity gospel and "once saved always saved".

16 I also will do this unto you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away; and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

Consumption, is that what God calls the US government? We used to be a creditor nation, now we are $31 trillion in debt. What did we buy with that money? But it is worse than that because we have many unfunded obligations (Social Security and Medicare). So the true number is around $60 trillion. Do you realize the only way the US is solvent is if all our retired people were to die. This is what it means to "appoint terror over you". The people ruling the country are a terror to you. They will release violent felons onto the street to terrorize you while at the same time calling parents who show up at school board meetings "domestic terrorists". You don't like your daughter being raped in the bathroom at the JHS? Well then, they will arrest you. This last week we had an environmental catastrophe in Ohio destroying a town of 4,000 and making it unsafe to live there. A few days later Joe Biden announces that if you lost your home the US government will relocate you, put you in a new home, provide assistance for the move and if you lost your job they will pay you a pension. That is for people in Ukraine, not Ohio. In contrast FEMA said they could not provide any aid to the people in Ohio, not even to give them bottled water. You will sow your seed in vain for your enemies will eat it.

17 And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be smitten before your enemies: they that hate you shall rule over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you.

Iran, North Korea, Russia and China hate us. Well guess what, God is going to cause the US to be smitten before them and for them to rule over us.

18 And if ye will not yet for these things hearken unto me, then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins.

Whoa! Now we are talking about the tribulation.

19 And I will break the pride of your power: and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass; 20 and your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.

Consider the inflation, the price of eggs is 3x what it used to be. Consumer debt is skyrocketing. We can see a combination of massive layoffs and massive bankruptcies on the immediate future. Do you know what it is like when you are unemployed, homeless and can't afford a meal? The heaven is like iron and the earth is like brass.

If you walk contrary to Me

Leviticus 26:21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.

Having LGBTQ+ Pastors is to walk contrary to the Lord. Teaching that you don't have to obey the word of the Lord is to walk contrary to the Lord. Teaching that sins are not sins is to walk contrary to the Lord.

22 And I will send the beast of the field among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your ways shall become desolate.

5 million illegal immigrants have entered the US since Biden was president. Many, not all, but many of them are associated with the Cartels. They have made human trafficking their biggest money maker and they have brought in Fentanyl killing about 100,000 Americans per year. They bring them in to take jobs from blue collar workers. These are paid off the books, no benefits, no healthcare, and they don't pay any payroll tax. They rob all the social services while not paying a dime of taxes.

23 And if by these things ye will not be reformed unto me, but will walk contrary unto me; 24 then will I also walk contrary unto you; and I will smite you, even I, seven times for your sins. 25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute the vengeance of the covenant; and ye shall be gathered together within your cities: and I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

The prophets have been warning repeatedly since the 1980s that this sword is going to come. Initially these were warnings, telling us to repent and seek God's mercy and He could repent. However, more recently we have been told there is no more parole, no more mercy, the sword is coming, now is the time to duck. 2020 we had the pestilence among us, that is the first stage of this sword and yet no one repented.

26 When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.

There will be a famine, a shortage of food, a shortage of fuel for the oven. Suppose the electricity goes out in this country, you would have to find gas stoves to bake your bread or even wood stoves. All those electric stoves will be useless. Ten families sharing one stove.

A picture of the Great Tribulation

27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; 28 then I will walk contrary unto you in wrath; and I also will chastise you seven times for your sins.

This is the great tribulation. Let us define our terms. Tribulation is what everyone goes through for the last two thousand years. Paul went through tribulation but he said that God had not appointed us unto wrath. When we talk about being saved we aren't talking about being saved from tribulation but rather saved from God's wrath. This is talking about a period of time during the tribulation after all the Christians are gone, it is about 42 months long and we call it "the great tribulation" when God's wrath is poured out. It is the second half of the 70th week that Daniel talks about and this is when the Jews will look upon Jesus whom they have pierced.

29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.

Cannibalism, but it isn't just eating someone you don't know. This is where people cannot feed their children so instead they cook them and eat them. This happened once in the Old Testament where it was recorded, this happened during the great famine in China, so we do have some examples we can look at in history and it is utterly horrific.

30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your sun-images, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul shall abhor you.

Recently in China we saw huge lines to get people cremated. That may seem bad, but what is far worse is when no one bothers to even try and bury the dead. Suppose you had no fuel for the crematorium and no fuel for the backhoe to dig a grave. You are too famished to even think about digging a grave and you are surrounded by people dying. You just leave the bodies on the ground and wild animals will be eating them, birds will be eating them. This only happens when you are so foul that God abhors you.

31 And I will make your cities a waste, and will bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors.

People think that Detroit or Baltimore or Chicago are a waste and desolate. They have no idea how bad it is going to get. When it gets this bad you will see people on their knees praying and pleading with God and He will not take heed.

32 And I will bring the land into desolation; and your enemies that dwell therein shall be astonished at it.

The US has enemies. North Korea is an enemy. Imagine North Korea which is used to famine being "astonished" at how horrible the US is! That is how bad it will be.

33 And you will I scatter among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you: and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.

They will chase you out of your land, you will be fleeing like a girl running from a gang of thugs.

34 Then shall the land enjoy its sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye are in your enemies’ land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall have rest, even the rest which it had not in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.

The reason they did not let the land rest for the sabbaths was because they were greedy. You see this all the time with corporations. Someone comes along with a great idea, the company grows rapidly but then they decide the founder is not suitable to run the company and they bring in the accountants to run it. The accountants are paid six figure salaries and to justify their salary they need to maximize profits. You do that by cutting expenses. How do you do that? Longer hours, less pay to the workers. If I have a factory I want it running 24/7. I want to increase productivity so that three workers are doing the job of four, and soon two are doing the job that three did just a few months earlier. People refuse to work like that so what do you do? You bring in illegal immigrants, no benefits, and if they complain you deport them.

36 And as for them that are left of you, I will send a faintness into their heart in the lands of their enemies: and the sound of a driven leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as one fleeth from the sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.

I grew up in a suburb, the same suburb where Norman Rockwell grew up, and our town looked a whole lot like a Norman Rockwell painting. But my wife grew up in NYC and they were afraid of everything. The people who survive all that the Lord has done will then suffer from PTSD, even the slightest sound will cause them to flee.

37 And they shall stumble one upon another, as it were before the sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. 38 And ye shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.

This is why you need to fear the Lord. If I was going to plan out a punishment I would have long ago ceased, but the Lord, He is meticulous, no one escapes, and if you survive the famine, the pestilence, the cannibalism, well then you will suffer with PTSD the rest of your life.

40 And they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me, and also that, because they walked contrary unto me, 41 I also walked contrary unto them, and brought them into the land of their enemies: if then their uncircumcised heart be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity; 42 then will I remember my covenant with Jacob; and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.

This is the goal, to bring you to your knees. The sooner the better.

43 The land also shall be left by them, and shall enjoy its sabbaths, while it lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity; because, even because they rejected mine ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes. 44 And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them; for I am Jehovah their God; 45 but I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am Jehovah.

Let every man be a liar and God alone will be faithful. God will be faithful, He will remember the covenant, but even so you aren't allowed back in the land. You violated His law and you will pay the price and hopefully you will repent and when you do return to the land this time you will obey the statutes.

46 These are the statutes and ordinances and laws, which Jehovah made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by Moses.

All of this has happened to Israel. We should be warned by this, they are an example unto us. The Bible says that "judgement begins at the house of God". It doesn't end there, it begins there. What you saw during the holocaust, that will happen to the Gentiles. That is what the Great Tribulation will do.

Hosea 10:11-15 When the day dawns the king of Israel will be completely destroyed

11 Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh; so I will put a yoke on her fair neck. I will drive Ephraim, Judah must plow, and Jacob must break up the ground.

Ephraim here represents the ten tribes, what we generally consider “Organized Christianity”. They have been trained to keep the law (trained to use the yoke of the law) but they love to thresh instead. According to the law you don’t muzzle the ox as it threshes the corn, so organized religion gets to eat as they thresh, hence they love to thresh. Organized religion has turned into a big, beautiful, worldwide organization. So God is going to humble them, they will be forced not simply to “plow” but to be driven by a hard task master. Judah will have a slightly easier job of plowing even though not as intensely as being driven.

12 Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.

When we get involved in ministry we discover we have unplowed ground. Seeking the Lord involves breaking up this unplowed ground so that seeds can germinate and grow. The rain is like a blessing, a shower of righteousness. When we are right with the Lord we are seeking Him, breaking up the unplowed ground of our heart and we will receive a blessing from God. We are right with God and man.

13 But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors, 14 the roar of battle will rise against your people, so that all your fortresses will be devastated—as Shalman devastated Beth Arbel on the day of battle, when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children.

What the church is supposed to do and what they have done are two completely different things, though they are comparable. They have a ministry, they plant seeds, but they are seeds of wickedness. They depend on their own strength. You could have the best teaching in the world but if you are depending on financial backers, hiring experts in all kinds of areas to promote and distribute your ministry, but it is all based on your own strength. Then you are not walking by faith. It is as though you have hired soldiers from the world to fight your spiritual battles. You will be dashed to pieces. The fire will test each man’s work whether it is wood, hay and stubble or if it is gold and precious stones from God.

15 So will it happen to you, Bethel, because your wickedness is great.

Bethel means house of God. The church is being warned that if they are not walking by faith, obedient to the Lord then when He returns they will suffer loss. This is the problem with the Once Saved Always Saved doctrine. They ignore the commandments that they must keep, they ignore the instruction in righteousness.

When that day dawns, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.

“The King of Israel” isn’t talking about Jesus, He is talking about the Pope, the cardinals, the bishops, and all the big leaders in the major Denominations. They will be completely destroyed. The Lord is telling us that many of those who lead us mislead us. That there are many hypocrites in organized religion and when the Day of the Lord comes they will be completely destroyed. "When the day dawns" refers to the first rapture. Many in the church will be sleeping and not watching when He comes, so it is like "day dawns". The first rapture will wake them up. If the year were viewed as a 24 hour day then midnight would be the winter solstice, noon would be the summer solstice, sunset would be the fall equinox and sunrise would be the Spring equinox. March 21/22 which is also the last day of this year for the Jewish calendar for which a new year begins on Nisan 1.