Luke 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
I started this blog to try and learn as much as I could about the rapture, no one seems to teach about it in church and all the books about it seem to be "unstable" and something like what the Lord is warning about here. People saying "look here and look there". Here I am over 11,000 posts later and what I have been completely impressed with is the Spirit moving in different people. Vicki Goforth Parnell and her prayer life, Stan Johnson and his life devoted to prophecy, Aaron and his encouraging study of the word, Tom Loud and his healing ministry, and many of the watchmen. A watchman is not someone who is seeking the Lord in the newspaper. They are listening to what the Lord would say to them. Some people have given themselves to the Lord their whole lives and others are clearly just recently saved in the last couple of year. Look at all these testimonies from dreams and visions. Take this blog, nothing about it would attract anyone to it, no advertising, no fancy graphics, not on a prominent tech platform, and yet over 320,000 people have found this.
What I get from these verses is that we are not spectators, we are on the field, we are participants. It is the fact that the Lord and the Spirit is moving in so many people all over this Earth that forces Satan to act and it forces the kingdom of God to come. What was the response when Jesus was crucified?
John 11:47 Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. 48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.
What forces the hand of Satan is that the Kingdom is rolling and if they leave us alone all men will believe.
22 And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.
This was not the days of Acts. During those days you could clearly see the Lord moving on the Earth. What the Lord is saying is that the same people who reject your testimony today will be seeking to find you and hear from you tomorrow.
23 And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.
So this is your basic cult. Jesus is warning that this is a common refrain. When the church rejects the Lord the word dries up, the people leave like a diseased tree slowly dying and that is when you will see cults proliferate as people are out seeking. It is like people in the desert, the water hole has dried up so they are out digging about in the ground looking for water.
24 For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.
You don't need to be in the desert when the Lord returns. It won't matter what continent you are on, or whether you are in the city or the country. If you belong to the Lord at that time you will be taken, and if you don't you will be left, regardless of what church you are meeting with.
25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
This is important. This is what will cause many to repent, because they first rejected the Lord. The reason they are weeping and gnashing their teeth is they know it was their fault, they were arrogant, they were insulting, they mocked, they ridiculed, they rejected the Lord and yet He was offering them salvation for free.
26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Noah was a preacher or righteousness and he is in the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews. Entering into the ark signifies the rapture. Noah entered into the ark seven days before the flood and the rapture is seven years before wormwood and armageddon. Now they are not all destroyed until seven years later, but the eating, the drinking and the weddings seem to cease on the day that Noah enters the ark. So one thing I have been noting is how there seems to be a conspiracy to wipe out the food supply and even undermine marriage, questioning what a woman is.
28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
Lot is different from Noah. He is not in the faith Hall of Fame, nor does it say he was a preacher of righteousness, rather it says he was righteous. When the mob comes to his house and he tells them not to do this they tell him "who are you"? It seems Lot was an important person in the city (that is what it means to be in the city gate) but he didn't preach the gospel like Noah. There are many christians who have key jobs in the city and they are righteous, but they don't warn people of the coming judgement or preach repentance from sins for salvation from hell. I think the Lord is presenting two different rescues here. Noah had prepared for over a hundred years for his rescue, whereas Lot loses everything but is saved, but so as through fire. Noah's rescue is glorious, Lot's is by the skin of his teeth and he loses half his family. Noah was absolute about no compromise, and Lot felt that you need to go along to get along. One is saved seven days before the flood and the other sees the cities go up in smoke and his wife turned to a pillar of salt as they flee the judgement.
30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
Remember the context, the Pharisees wanted to know what they would see that would tell them the kingdom of God is coming. Jesus says when you see the Son of man is revealed you better run and not look back.
31 In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. 32 Remember Lot's wife.
If you need to memorize verses start with the shortest verse in the Bible: Jesus Wept. Then go to the second shortest verse in the Bible: Remember Lot's wife.
33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.
This is half the gospel message, take up your cross and follow the Lord. ABC stands for Admit, Believe and Confess. After that you need to Obey, Take up, and Follow. With Noah he did all of that prior to the flood and so he had a glorious rescue. With Lot he only did ABC and so he did OTF during the tribulation. He lost everything in the fire including his wife. He lived in a cave during the tribulation and his children became the Ammonites and Moabites, children of incest.
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
I heard a message that this "bed" refers to the way people eat. Think of the church, you have two there who are being fed, the church is the "bed" and one will be taken and one left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Grinding refers to grinding wheat to turn it into flour and make bread. Again, think about the church, you have many pastors and preachers who are grinding during the week to get a message to feed the sheep. One will be taken and one left. Also this word left is used for "divorced". Taken is a word that means a close personal friend. So to interpret this as referring to believers and unbelievers doesn't make sense. An unbeliever would not be "divorced".
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
The field refers to the ministry. There are many in ministry that will be divorced. Recently I have learned about how Satanic the Christian music ministries sometimes are. Half of those in ministry (based on this verse) are charlatans. Think about Judas, he was one of the twelve, or Balaam, he was a prophet of God.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.
In 2017 and 2024 there were two solar eclipses that criss crossed the US. They intersected over a place in Illinois called "Little Egypt" and in particular in this place they have an annual celebration for the "gathering of the vultures". Isn't it ironic that this word for eagles can also be translated as vultures. The US is the great eagle, the US is where the Eagles are gathered together, and the US is the only "Christian" nation that is filled with churches. Many of them are apostate, many of the pastors are apostate and many of the ministries are satanic.