Summary of Bible references on the Rapture

Table of Contents of this blog


Post 1 -- The Lord’s Table -- rehearsal of the marriage feast and the coronation of Jesus, rehearsal of the Festival of Trumpets. What is the message of those who are raptured compared to the message of those who aren’t?


Post 2 -- Christ’s resurrection is the crux of our gospel, Jesus rose at the feast of firsfruits at the beginning of the age and the rapture is the harvest of the saints at the end of the age. The rapture is the testimony that Jesus has destroyed the power of death.


Post 3 -- They are trying to lead you astray. How do you discern if you are off the path that leads to life? There are many antichrists at the end of the age and in every case “they went out from us”. They pretend to be Christians but deny the Lord’s redemption by adding some other requirement other than simply to receive the blood of Christ.


Post 4 -- Marvel not that the world hates you. Our hope is not simply to “be raptured” but rather when the Lord appears we also appear “like Him”. At the end of the age the Lord is manifested again, but this time He is with His army, the redeemed, to destroy sin. To do this we must love in deed and in truth.


Post 5 -- How do we recognize the antichrist.


Post 6 -- Dealing with bullies at the end of the age.


Post 7 -- We are the salt and the light. An example of a person who has lost their saltiness.


Post 8 -- Without God speaking through you your religion is nothing but a pretense and a sham.


Post 9 -- The battle is on, the sleeping giant has risen, only the church can defeat this giant.


Post 10 -- Tell us how to fix the problems we have created.


Post 11 -- Absolute proof. How do we know who to believe, who to follow?


Post 12 -- At the end of the age we will have to deal with the Antichrist, we will have to deal with bullies. As long as we have the Lord Jesus as our captain we can do that. We may be deplorable, but we are not irredeemable. We are not "rejected silver". 1Samuel shows how we can deal with fools and bullies to bring in the kingdom.


Post 13 -- The Antichrist’s theme song, the siren song of tyrants.


Post 14 -- Common mistakes in choosing a king.


Post 15 -- what it takes to rule and reign


Post 16 -- The rapture is all about the glorious return of the king. Those who are raptured are those who have the faith to rule and reign with Jesus. So then be anxious in nothing but in everything by prayer and petition let your request be made known to God because He cares for you. In addition speak forth in praise and worship with songs and psalms being filled with the Spirit.


Post 17 -- You need to take a stand. You don’t become king simply because Samuel says you are king. That works for a few who have great faith in Samuel being a man of God. You become king by defeating the enemies of Israel. That is what everyone can see.


Post 18 -- When is the rapture? The Lord said that you need to be watch because if you are watching you would prevent the thief from breaking into the house and if you don't watch then the Lord's coming would be like a thief. Right now we see a thief trying to rob our house. Doing things that are unconstitutional, passing executive orders and bills that are heinous attack on anyone who is faithful to the Lord and walks according to the fellowship of the apostles. Now is the time for Christians to wake up and take a stand.


Post 19 -- In the book of 1Samuel we see that different people like Hannah and the Israelites need salvation from a bully and that at the same time God also needs something. Hannah needs a son to stop the incessant attacks but God also needs a son who will be His priest. The Israelites need a King to deliver them from their enemies but God needs a man to stand by faith and obey His word. The rapture is when God gets what He needs then we also will be delivered and get what we need.


Post 20 -- What is the derangement syndrome? The rebellion against the Lord is loud and clear. Likewise the hand of God against us is also loud and clear.


Post 21 1Samuel part 2 -- What is the derangement syndrome? The rebellion against the Lord is loud and clear. Likewise the hand of God against us is also loud and clear.


Post 22 -- 1Samuel 13 -- The rapture, like the resurrection, will establish the Lord and His people in the eyes of the nation.


Post 23 -- 1Samuel 14 -- No one is going to listen to your idiotic rules.


Post 24 -- 1Samuel 15 How do you produce a king?


Post 25 -- The warning God spoke to Eli through Samuel which was fulfilled a number of years later was a word meant for Samuel as much as anyone. He was able to see from a young age the cost of not dealing with sin in an absolute way. Likewise, the warnings in this chapter are as much for David as they are for Saul. It is clear later in the book that the whole country was aware of what took place. It had to be very significant to David to know that Saul's key failing was in not being absolute in obeying God's command.


Post 26 -- 2 Corinthians 6 -- The Story of Hanukkah


Post 27 -- 2 Corinthians 7 -- Bringing down the entire house of cards


Post 28 -- 2 Corinthians 8 -- The privilege of participating in God’s move


Post 29 -- 2Corinthians 9 -- I will not be on the wrong side of history


Post 30 -- Comparison and Contrast of the three gospels


Post 31 -- Wake Up!


Post 32 -- The book of Joel -- the Feasts of Trumpets and the day of Atonement


Post 33 -- Joel -- the Feasts of Trumpets and the day of Atonement, part 2


Post 34 -- Joel -- the Feasts of Trumpets and the day of Atonement, part 3


Post 35 -- Jonah and BLM


Post 36 -- Concerning the great sign in heaven seen during the Festival of trumpets in 2017


Post 37 -- Before the antichrist can be revealed the apostasy has to first be revealed


Post 38 -- Luke 1 -- Seeing the end from the beginning


Post 39 -- Luke 1 -- Seeing the end from the beginning, part 2


Post 40 -- The rapture refers to the day of redemption

(First two pages of the blog, it will be completed eventually)

Proverbs 8:1-14 Which way do we go?

1 Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice?

2 At the highest point along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand;

3 beside the gate leading into the city, at the entrance, she cries aloud:

4 “To you, O people, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind.

5 You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, set your hearts on it.

I get it, there is a whole lot of people screaming and trying to be heard, no one has time to listen to all them so how do you decide? The good news is that in the midst of all that noise “wisdom” is calling out.

6 Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say;

The first reason we should listen to someone is because they have trustworthy things to say. Recently the Washington Post had to retract a story claiming that Trump was calling officials in Atlanta asking them to manufacture phony evidence of election fraud. The story was based on a single anonymous source who has since claimed to have been giving a second hand account of what they thought was said on the phone. Once the actual transcript was released they had to retract the story. What bothers me and any true journalist is that a story of this magnitude, accusing the President of blatant criminal mischief could be based on such a flimsy source. It is unconscionable. The Washington Post does not have trustworthy things to say, therefore, I cross them off my list. Next, the NY Times had a series of expose’s of Trump’s administration claiming they had a high ranking official in his administration as an anonymous source. Everyone reading that assumed that their “deep throat” source was the Secretary of State, or of Defense, or even the Chief of Staff. Instead it turned out to be a low level data entry clerk working in another building. This was deceitful and so I crossed the NY Times off my list. Twitter and Facebook censored stories about the Hunter Biden laptop prior to the election only to retract them and admit their justification for doing that didn’t hold water. I cross them off my list. Steve Bannon started a podcast called “War Room Pandemic” in January of 2020 because he was reporting that the Covid19 virus in China could become a pandemic. He was ridiculed, mocked, and portrayed as a tin foil hat conspiracy nut. However, he was right, they were wrong. He has trustworthy things to say.

I open my lips to speak what is right.

When people are vilified who “speak what is right” you now know that not only was it right but the truth they spoke was “over the target”. The analogy is to a bomber pilot flying in the dark of night. When the sky fills up with flak from gunners the bombers know they are over the target.

7 My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness.

You cannot possibly discern wisdom if you are clueless about wickedness. Why would WAPO, NY Times, Twitter, and Facebook all knowingly speak words that are not true? There is some form of wickedness at play here. They have sold themselves to do wickedness.

8 All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse.

All of them, not some of them. NY Times is called “the paper of record”. Not for me, not anymore. My dad used to be a vice president there, I don’t say this lightly. When you find a news source that is operating in a crooked or perverse way, you have to cross them off the list otherwise you will suffer loss.

9 To the discerning all of them are right; they are upright to those who have found knowledge.

“To the discerning”. Yes, it does take a certain amount of work. I get it, we are all doing our jobs, don’t have a lot of time to spend getting the news, so who has time to do this “discerning”? I was commuting back and forth to work and listened to the news. I wanted to know the outcome of the Mueller investigation, what did he find out, how come it seemed so certain they would something to convict with and yet they didn’t? However, every time I turned on CNN it was always the same thing “orange man bad”. There was no knowledge. I could listen for 30 minutes a day for a month and learn absolutely nothing. So I stopped wasting my time with them.

10 Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, 11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her. 12 “I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion.

Wisdom, prudence, knowledge and discretion. Words that are always right and trustworthy. Nothing crooked, nothing perverse, no wicked motives. A lot of people would think that is absurd, all the mainstream media are crooked and perverse and have wicked motives. I agree. These are not going to be the big names with the big paychecks. Money is the root of all sorts of evil. Many people crossed Fox news off their list after the election because of the way they called that election. However, because of this corruption talk radio and podcasts have sprung up. There are those whose only way to distinguish themselves is by speaking the truth, speaking trustworthy things and detesting wickedness.

13 To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If someone doesn’t hate evil, doesn’t hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech, then they don’t have the fear of the Lord. I used to listen to Bill Maher, he seemed to care about honest, logic and truth. But there is no fear of the Lord with him, so I crossed him off my list. Others that have perverse speech, cross them off the list. You begin with just an incredibly confused situation with hundreds, even thousands of different voices all crying out and trying to be heard. As you cross them off one by one you narrow the field. Then it becomes quieter, more sane, easier to discern.

14 Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight, I have power.

Exactly. Why would anyone listen to CNN? There is no counsel, no sound judgement, no insight. A white man shot and killed eight people in Atlanta, six of whom were asian. Within hours CNN and MSNBC were running with stories of white supremacists attacking chinese because of Trump (even though Trump had not been president for months). That was their counsel, their judgement, their insight. As it turns out he shot one white person, two hispanic people, four Koreans and two chinese. His motivation was his evil attempt to deal with his sex addiction and all those that he killed worked in the sex industry (massage parlors). Within twenty four hours the police had determined this and within two days the FBI confirmed this. You can use these events to cross people off the list. Jen Psaki got crossed off my list for her baseless attempt to blame Trump for this man’s behavior.

Proverbs 8:15-36 Which way do we go? part 2

15 By me kings reign and rulers issue decrees that are just;

That is important. Some rulers issue decrees that are not just. You need to measure them in this way. Why do you think Russia and China are now openly mocking and ridiculing Biden? They have measured him and know that he has no wisdom.

16 by me princes govern, and nobles—all who rule on earth.[b]

17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.

Encouraging words. If you seek you will find, if you love wisdom, wisdom will love you in return.

18 With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity.

I like this term “enduring wealth”. There are a lot of foolish people who through some fortunate event can get wealth, but it won’t endure. I was a stock broker and we had this one man who was one of our most active day traders one year. He had inherited $230,000 and put it all into Yahoo. Every day he was calling to trade in and out of this position or some other high tech company. After a little more than a year the account was empty, he had lost everything. So I went back to that initial trade and figured out if he had simply left the stock alone his $230,000 worth of Yahoo was worth over $2 million. Do you want riches and honor and enduring wealth and prosperity? You need wisdom. You don’t need a winning lottery ticket, you don’t need to inherit a million dollars. What you need is wisdom.

19 My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver.

20 I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,

21 bestowing a rich inheritance on those who love me and making their treasuries full.

I enjoyed one picture from the “Breaking Bad” series. It is a storeroom filled with cash. So much money they have no idea how much it is. All they can do is weigh it. But they didn’t get it through righteousness, so they can’t spend it. For them it is simply a big stack of useless paper. Is his treasury filled?

22 “The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,[c][d] before his deeds of old;

23 I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be.

24 When there were no watery depths, I was given birth, when there were no springs overflowing with water;

25 before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth,

26 before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth.

27 I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,

28 when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,

29 when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.

30 Then I was constantly[e] at his side, I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence,

31 rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.

32 “Now then, my children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways.

Why should we listen to this one speak? Because they have been there, done that, they have the experience. Bill Belechek is a very successful coach and one game in particular demonstrated that. It was the Super Bowl against the Atlanta Falcons. They were losing 28-3 with 8 minutes left in the third quarter. It is the biggest come from behind victory in the history of the super bowl. How did Belechek pull it off? At half time they were losing 28-3 so the Patriots adjusted their game plan whereas the Falcons didn’t. The game plan was working for the Falcons, why adjust it? Several reasons, first of all even though they were winning on the score the Patriots were dominating in time of possession. That means the Falcons defense was getting exhausted whereas the Patriot defense was fresh. Also the Falcons were playing a man defense, it is very aggressive, but also very exhausting. It worked in the first half but as they ran out of gas it wasn’t working in the second half. If they had switched to zone they could have held up much better in the second half. Also, their offense had been very aggressive in the first half, but with a lead like that they needed to run the ball and take more time off the clock. One person actually showed that if the offense had simply taken a knee on every offensive play in the second half the Falcons would have won. Amazingly the Patriots ended the game with over 90 offensive plays, about 50% more than is typical. This was due to the fact that the Falcons didn’t use up any time on offense. You have a lead, it is 28-3, why should you listen to wisdom, who is better than you? Was that an enduring lead? Do they now have a ring? Does anyone think of the Falcons as a team blessed with honor? You can lose the Super bowl and not be ashamed, but if you had a 28-3 lead and you lose, you need to be ashamed.

33 Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not disregard it.

34 Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.

35 For those who find me find life and receive favor from the Lord.

36 But those who fail to find me harm themselves; all who hate me love death.”

Wow, all who hate wisdom love death! Which is harder to believe, that there are people who hate wisdom or that there are people who love death? Still I have seen this over and over again. You tell someone something they don’t want to hear and they hate you. I once met a new employee who was from New Orleans, his dad owned ten houses and he was proud that he would move into his dad’s “real estate empire” shortly. When I heard this I told him that the next hurricane that hits New Orleans would destroy his dad’s houses. Everyone was shocked, how dare I say this. A year or so later Katrina hit New Orleans and sure enough all of his father’s houses were destroyed. This was simple, straightforward science. Everyone knew it, despite Bush saying no one could know it. How can I say that everyone knew it? Because to buy flood insurance on a house that costs $300,000 in the ninth ward in New Orleans costs $100,000 a year (where his houses were). Obviously no one bought insurance it was ridiculously high. But the insurance company was telling people the risk of flood was that great because they knew. And none of the large multinational corporations had property in the ninth ward, they weren’t about to invest in property that was likely to get flooded without flood insurance, so they knew too.

You have to seek the Lord's word daily, otherwise when you are in the heat of battle, when it is the third quarter of the Super Bowl, the Day of the Lord, you see the day approaching, at that point it is too late.

Exodus 8 -- Frogs, lice and flies

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:

Sounds like something Calvin would do in the comics “Calvin and Hobbes”. So, what are these frogs that are everywhere? A plague of frogs. These are idolatrous spirits associated with the Nile river, the world’s economy. For example, I did a little search on Ebay, just typed in New York Giants to see what I would get. All of these things have the giants logo on them: Jersey, Shorts, hat, cup, tie, umbrella, jacket, helmets, gaiters, decals, picture frames, boxing gloves, flags, t-shirts, apron, beach towel, polo shirt, facemask, pacifiers, necklace, ring, flip flops, sunglasses, lanyard, pants, hoodies, caps, mug, watch, license plate, photos, footballs, jigsaw puzzle, wallet, steering wheel cover, cupcake baking cups, tape dispenser, toddlers cheerleading dress, gloves, blankets, slippers, ring, bumper sticker, duffel bag, glass, wristbands, salt and pepper shakers, teddy bear, rain coat, oven mitt, earrings, underwear, magnets, scarf, bowl, koozie cooler, floor mats, socks, long johns, bobblehead, halter top, pendant, pillow, halloween bucket, bracelet, toy truck, flask, lunch bag, key chain, poncho, billiard balls, coin set, bathrobe, shoe laces, gnome, pajamas, water bottle, sneakers, xmas ornament, night light, collectors series empty coke can, money clip, tire valve stem cap, pins, coasters, inflatable pumpkin, stapler, playing cards, car seat covers. The world’s economy has brought forth idolatrous junk abundantly. They are on the people, they are on the servants, in the kitchen, on the car, etc.

11 And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; they shall remain in the river only.

This pandemic is having a very big impact on sports, viewership is down 30% and of course attendance is down to 0. Take the screaming fans out of the picture and all of a sudden a bunch of middle aged men playing basketball in a gym doesn’t look that entertaining.

18 And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.

The NBA tried to pretend that they were “woke” when it came to human rights. The problem was much of this junk that they sell is made in sweatshops. Hard to take a moral high road against human rights abuses when you are a modern day slave owner. You want to accuse others of human rights violations and yet you are covered in lice. Protests over human rights abuses are spreading across the globe. The problem is that everyone has lice. All that junk in their house was made in sweat shops by "slave labor". People are trying to complain about Breonna Taylor and yet prominent black athletes like Shaq and Charles Barkley point out that the police were serving a warrant and were shot at. Others point out how many kids and minorities are shot and killed every day without any protests. Everywhere you look you see the hypocrisy and unrighteousness. Everyone has lice.

Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 21 Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.

Right now we have a grievous swarm of protests, riots, looters and counter protests. Where did they all come from? Unemployment is sky high. Many colleges are shut down. With imports down 30% it is much easier for border security to stop the illegal traffic of drugs. As a result gangs have become unable to support themselves. These protests do not represent the saints in the church. There is a division between God’s people and these protestors.

25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. 26 And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us?

The world has all these rules about not preaching, not proselytizing, no prayer in school, no reference to God. Apparently even a slight mention of God is “an abomination” to them. The things happening on earth are a judgement from God on this evil age. The only way to restore balance is for us to worship the true and living God. But the world has made it clear that is an abomination to them. That is why the Lord is going to rapture His faithful ones, and the world will be left to reap what they have sown.

27 We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall command us.

Resurrection is a three day journey, Jesus was the first fruit, the church’s rapture at the end of the age is the harvest.

Pharaoh does deal deceitfully. That was his choice, he was warned not to, but as a result he and his entire army is swallowed up in the Red Sea. It will be the same at the end of this age.

Acts 1 -- I make known the End from the Beginning

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

This is very specific. Everything Jesus began to do and to teach until the day He was taken up to heaven. He was taken up “after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles”.

3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.”

The timing is fascinating. Jesus is raised from the dead after His suffering, HE is with the apostles and disciples for 40 days and then is taken up. They remain for ten more days until Pentecost when they are baptized with the Holy Spirit.

6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

It is not for you to know times and dates. However, we are the Lord’s witnesses. No one would call a witness if they didn’t know anything, so what is given to us to know is Jesus Christ, the resurrected King.

10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

“He will come back in the same way”. Does this mean that God is making known to us the end from the beginning as He said in Isaiah 46? Imagine the age of grace began with the Lord’s ascension and ends in the same way. Yes, the main harvest should be at the end of the year, but the first fruits should be reaped at the feast of the firstfruits. If there is roughly 3 ½ years between the first rapture and the second then there will be six months between them.


Isaiah 46:8 “Remember this, keep it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. 9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. 10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’

(If this discussion is too brief or confusing you can refer to for a similar exposition of this Hebrew word “In the beginning”)

In the beginning -- Berisheet -- the hebrew word we translate as “in the beginning”. The word is composed of six pictograms. The first letter suggests a tent or home, with an open door indicating someone is inside. This letter is translated as in or inside. The second letter is a head that appears to be crowned. It indicates the “head” or “Prince”. These two letters together form the hebrew word Son. So the Son is in the Tent. Jesus tabernacled among us full of light and life. When He came out to tabernacle with us we walked in the light. The third pictogram for “in the beginning” is Aleph, it means Ox, signifying a strong, powerful leader, it is also used for the number one. When you combine these three characters (tent+prince+ox) you get creator. Jesus is the son, and the Father is the creator.

The first character in the word “in the beginning” is also used for the number two. The tent indicating “in” or inside. Here, on the second day we have a picture of being “inside”. If we consider each of these days to be a thousand years then the second day is when God called out Abraham who then lived the life of the altar and the tent. Abraham was the father of faith and He walked in faith. The fourth character or letter in the word “in the beginning” is sheen (a picture of teeth) and it means to press down, crush and destroy. It is a word that signifies ownership. God made His covenant with Abraham and the sign of the covenant, circumcision, indicated that Abraham belonged to God. These three characters (Reysh + Aleph + Sheen) are the Hebrew word that means Prince. Likewise the three men Abraham, Isaac and Jacob resulted in us seeing Israel, the prince of God. Abraham belonged to God indicated by Sheen, Isaac was the son of promise indicated by Aleph, and Jacob was the prince of God indicated by Reysh. Initially we saw the Reysh (prince) in the tent, at that time darkness was on the face of the Earth. But by the time Israel comes forth with his 12 sons we see the full expression of the Son, Reysh Aleph Sheen, indicating the Son has come out of the tent. He is now revealed to be Israel, a prince with God.

The last letter of Prince is sheen (Reysh Aleph Sheen), meaning to crush or destroy. When we see Joseph’s dream we get a vision of the king who will rule and reign victoriously. He has come out to crush and destroy. But when we see Joseph’s life we see someone who was crushed and destroyed. However, when his brothers come to Egypt to get food they see Him as a conquering king who will crush and destroy them. There are two sides to the son, he went through death, but he conquered death. He was the stone the builders rejected but now God makes his enemies as a footstool for his feet. Joseph had a vision of the Sun, moon and stars, the same vision that we see in Revelation 12. This vision of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the 12 sons is a sign to us, governs us and is a lamp to us in a dark night. That vision is a sign to us of Christ and the Church. The prince, the son of the creator, has come out of the tent to fulfill the covenant. The fifth character in the Hebrew word for “in the beginning” is Yood. It indicates something amazing is going to unfold to mark the end of one thing and the beginning of another. Again if we consider that each day is a thousand years at the end of the fourth day Jesus was crucified. That was something amazing, it marked the end of the Old Testament age and the beginning of the New Testament age. The sun represents the nations and the moon represents Israel and the stars represent both the patriarchs and the apostles. The word given to us by the apostles is a light in the night given to govern the day and the night. This word is given to separate the light from darkness. The picture for Yood is of a hand doing a divine deed. Jesus came to do God’s will, a will that was planned and purposed by the Father. Jesus prayed not my will but thine be done. This letter Yood is often used to denote an appointed time. God’s plan and purpose includes appointed times. The Passover where Jesus was crucified was an appointed time. This brings us to the last letter of the Hebrew word for “in the beginning”, Tav. It is the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet and is the picture of a cross. This tells us from the very beginning that the divine deed ordained in heaven, accomplished on earth, will fulfill the covenant and be revealed by a sign that is a cross. This Tav, this cross, is a sign that marks both the end and the beginning. In human history this cross is a sign that marks the end of one age and the beginning of another.

So at this point we can understand the “who” that this “beginning” is focused on, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our soon and coming king. We see the divinely ordained deed of redemption. This deed opened a way for us to enter our home in heaven.

There is more to this word “in the beginning”. The Lord in Isaiah said “I make known the end from the beginning”. So we can also learn about the when, pretty important aspect to knowing “the end”.

There is an interesting theory based on this. The idea is that we had the cross of Christ where sin and death were judged and Jesus died in our stead. You can receive that salvation by faith and if you do you are saved by the blood of Jesus. Saved from what? Saved from the judgement of sin and death. Fifty days later we have the age of grace begin on the day of Pentecost. So the theory is that the age of grace will end, and then fifty days later the Great tribulation begins which will be the judgement of sin and death on all those who didn't receive the Lord's atoning work on the cross.

So there is a nice symmetry there.

What I find very interesting about this is there is a very interesting coincidence between Easter of 2021 and Christmas of 2024. First, Hanukkah takes place on December 25th in 2024. I think that is interesting because the New Testament ministry is likened to Hanukkah. The Prophecies describe the Lord's day beginning in the midst of the festival, it begins with singing and ends in a dirge. A Christian festival that is linked to singing is Christmas. Then of course, it would be interesting if the New Testament age, likened to the story in Hanukkah were to end on Hanukkah.

The other thing that has bothered me is we can see how significant all these feast days were in the Bible and Paul tells us they are prophetic of things to come. However, we are also told in the NT that we do not need to keep them and no one should judge us if we choose not to keep them. So this tells me they are prophetic for the Jews and their covenant, not for Christians and our covenant. In reality for Christians we are only given one day to keep, the Lord's table. However, there are two big feast days for all Christians throughout the year. Our year begins with Easter and resurrection Sunday, and it ends with Christmas, even though Christmas is not the day Jesus was born. Since there are 42 months and a number of days (somewhat confusing to figure out how many) between the two raptures one can imagine that these two days are prophetic concerning things to come for Christians.

Chapter 5 -- I exhort the elders to feed the flock

1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.

It is quite amazing, you can trace everything in this letter to key verses in the gospels and Acts. Elders need to be exhorted based on the fact that Peter also is an elder. He ultimately was also crucified for his stand to feed the sheep. Elders are exhorted based on Peter who was a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Peter is not talking to the “Pope” or “Arch Bishops” etc. He is talking to the lowly shepherds in the field who stand up to a pack of wolves to protect the sheep. Maybe they will be torn to shreds, but it is a glorious stand. The wolves that attacked Peter were unable to prevent him from getting this letter to us, from getting the word of the Lord to us.

There are many errors we can make in taking oversight. You need to embrace the service, rather than being constrained as though someone is forcing you to serve the Lord. Some err in doing this for filthy lucre. You can see the rings, gold chains, cars, houses, etc. Likewise the other error is that many make themselves out as “lord”. Peter’s teaching is that elders are to be “examples to the flock” not “lords of the flock”.

There is a tremendous need for this today. The Public school curriculum is very clearly designed to create a race war. This is a mis direction, without a doubt the system in this country is rigged against the poor. The mortgage meltdown is an example of how they stole widow's houses and this "critical race theory" is simply their pretense of making long prayers and pretending to stand for righteousness. The reality is that 1% are oppressing the bottom 50% and that another 4% are complicit in that. Therefore it is incumbent on these 5% to "divide and conquer". If everyone is fighting with each other they cannot focus on the true oppressors. Second, the only way they will get a compliant lower class is if they depend on them for everything (jobs, healthcare and homes) hence the push for a totalitarian regime (dressed up as a socialist revolution). Third they must defang the middle class which is the backbone of democracy hence the illogical response to the pandemic. When you realize the purpose of the pandemic is to bankrupt the middle class then the response is quite logical. Fourth, they must take over the education of the kids, to do that they must shut down churches and change the curriculum in public school.

These are the wolves that Paul warned us about and now Peter is appealing to the elders to take a stand. We need to establish a "homeschool" friendly church ministry. The church is the household of God and we need to make it convenient and affordable for the members to have their kids educated at the meeting hall as an alternative to the idiocy in the Public school.

4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

Teachers are shepherds. Jesus is our chief shepherd. Let's follow His example in setting up this school. Mr. Rogers set up an entire preschool curriculum that focused on the Lord's word to love your neighbor as yourself. A robotics class could be focused on the word "to be imitators of God". All of the materials necessary are available online and in libraries. Church congregations are filled with teachers and retired teachers. How many times does he refer to the glory of the Lord as “not fading away” in contrast to the flowers of the field that whither and die. Think of how many ways they try to give “crowns” to those in the world. Those crowns always fade away. Enron, faded away, MCI faded away, Compaq computer faded away, Woolworth, Eastern Airlines, etc. However, think of Mecius and Confucius, two "teachers" whose legacy has not faded away yet. To leave a lasting legacy you have to impart the word into the next generation.

5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

Obedience is a central line in this book. He doesn’t talk about elder’s lording it over the flock, he doesn’t teach authoritarianism, a common teaching of man. Rather he teaches something very unique and different, being subject one to another and clothed with humility. Incredibly hard to imagine in Peter’s time, but today it is becoming more and more common. It seems every person has authority over something and also must submit to others in some things. Just this week three powerful men in the US government resigned because of allegations made by women. This was unthinkable in Peter’s day but has become a reality. It is also one of the central tenets of Confucius and explains why China is known for success in education.

6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

Wow, what a revelation. After Peter denied the Lord we learn that “Satan wanted to sift him”. So then, resist the devil stedfast knowing that the same afflictions were accomplished in Peter. Earlier he told us to gird up our loins and to be sober. He understands that his experiences that almost led to him being sifted were an example for us, we also will suffer similar challenges.

10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.

13 The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.

14 Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

1Samuel 27 David thinks outside the box

1 But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”

Several things about this calculation were true. People all around him were thinking of cashing in by betraying him to Saul. David had six hundred men and their wives with him. There is no way he can travel unseen. As a leader you have to consider their welfare and safety, not just yours. It is also true that by going to the Philistines he did slip out of Saul’s hand. Now I know that some teachers consider this chapter as unbelief on David’s part. Unbelief is a great sin, we saw this with Saul and it was the reason he lost the kingdom. The wages of sin is death. So before I accept that interpretation I want to see the wages of sin.

2 So David and the six hundred men with him left and went over to Achish son of Maok king of Gath. 3 David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal. 4 When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.

Saul no longer searching for David was his goal, so in this case he was successful. Also, Saul searching for David wasn’t just bad for David it was bad for the whole country. Now perhaps Saul can focus on keeping Israel safe and secure. Although some are tempted to judge David harshly for this choice it is relatively easy to conclude that it was a decision that in may ways was very good for those following David and for those who didn’t follow David. Too many of our political leaders make choices that are good for them while having little or no benefit to the people they represent. Here is a decision by David that will surely result in his receiving condemnation from the self righteous but is essentially good for all the people he was anointed to lead.

5 Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be assigned to me in one of the country towns, that I may live there. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”

Once again, a child wants to be rich and famous and hang out with the king. David is clearly no longer thinking like a child. This indicates that his going to the Philistines was not the same as Demas who loved the world. He doesn’t love the world and he doesn’t love the things in the world.

6 So on that day Achish gave him Ziklag, and it has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since.

The New Testament says to “be not conformed to this world”. Instead of David becoming a Philistine Ziklag became part of Judah. This city was given as part of the territory of Israel, so David going to live there became a step in possessing the land. Think about this today, we are realizing that as Christians we need to be involved in all avenues of the economy and that includes politics. The reason for this turmoil in our country is because Christians have given the running of the country to the Philistines. It is time we took possession of that aspect as well. Originally Ziklag belonged to Simeon. When Jacob blessed Simeon he said “his sword is a weapon of violence” and that “Simeon and Levi were brothers”. Levi refers to the priesthood, to bureaucrats. Reuben refers to politicians and Simeon refers to the military. So this city went from being owned by the military to being owned by the kings of Judah. Judah is “the law giver”. In human history we had military dictators like Napoleon who ruled prior to constitutional government becoming the ruler.

7 David lived in Philistine territory a year and four months.

8 Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these peoples had lived in the land extending to Shur and Egypt.) 9 Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes. Then he returned to Achish.

These tribes are Amalekites. Saul was told to do this, David is now making up the lack in Saul’s administration. People take verses like this and use them to condemn the Bible. So let’s examine this a little closer. This judgement was due to the heinous way in which Amalekites behaved, trying to kill off the elderly and children among the Israelites. In that day it would be considered a war crime. Later, Haman (an Amalekite would attempt genocide against the Jews. There were norms at the time, we see this in the story about David killing Goliath. Instead of us killing each other why not just have our champion go against your champion and the winner wins. But the Amalekites are not interested in any of that, they will not be happy unless everyone else is dead. The Lord said to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, this is the standard of righteousness and it can be used to measure justice as well. “As you have done it will be done unto you”. It sounds terrible what David is doing, but it is also just. David didn’t write the rules, he merely played by them. So with Goliath, he played by Goliath’s rules. With the Amalekites he played by their rules.

10 When Achish asked, “Where did you go raiding today?” David would say, “Against the Negev of Judah” or “Against the Negev of Jerahmeel” or “Against the Negev of the Kenites.” 11 He did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he thought, “They might inform on us and say, ‘This is what David did.’” And such was his practice as long as he lived in Philistine territory. 12 Achish trusted David and said to himself, “He has become so obnoxious to his people, the Israelites, that he will be my servant for life.”

We see this, “undercover Christians”. Maybe you are at your job and don’t want to reveal you are a Christian. However you have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts (Amalekites) so while your colleagues at work are getting drunk on the weekend and calling in sick on monday you are more reliable. We also see this in the New Testament where Jesus has been driven out of the Church and is outside knocking on the door of Laodicea.

So what did this chapter reveal? David is the one carrying out God’s command to deal with the flesh, not Saul. David is the one who is concerned with the well being of Israel even if it results in his being despised and condemned, not Saul. David never left the good land, he merely went to a city that the Israelites had not possessed but was still part of the inheritance. Prior to this Israel had given this city up to the Philistines, but David possessed it for Israel. We also see that this was a “secret mission” of God, just like David said when he first fled from Saul.

Psalm 40 -- Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.


1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.


We have been waiting patiently for 2,000 years. What we are seeing happening around us is an answer to that prayer.


2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.


It is a mistake to think that only Blacks are descended from slaves. The great grandfather of mine that first came to the US appears to have escaped from a Turkish slave ship. If you go all the way back the Jews in Egypt you can probably find that all of us are descended from slaves at some point in our ancestry. What we need to see is that we are standing on a rock. The Lord has given us the church, a firm place to stand. Here is where we stand, praying and crying to the Lord to bring in a kingdom of righteousness.


3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.


It has been wonderful during this quarantine to listen to hymns of praise that are on the internet. Many churches sharing their hymns and choirs praising the Lord.


Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.


This next month can be a wonderful harvest as many people will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in Him. In the book of Acts it says that the Jesus will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. Well when we saw Him go into heaven 2,000 years ago there was a period of a great harvest as thousands came to the Lord. In the same way many will see and fear and trust in the Lord today.


4 Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.


Money is a false God, it is a graven image and a molten image. These Gods will all be shown to be false, they will all fall on their face before the Lord. Look at how proud those with money are. Do not look to them, do not turn aside to the false Gods. The church needs to have a backbone, we trust in the Lord.


5 Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.


The Lord has planned great wonders for us in this day. I love reading about the great wonders God did in the past but I am jealous of them. I want my experiences and our experiences to match those of the saints who have gone before us.


6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire— but my ears you have opened— burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. 7 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. 8 I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.”


The New Testament tells us that this verse was fulfilled with Jesus. The New Testament also tells us that Jesus lives within us and that it is no longer I that live but Christ that lives within me. So then, we can be one with the Lord and say “here I am, I have come, it is written about me in the scroll, I desire to do your will, my God; your word is within my heart”. Let us pray this word back to the Lord.


9 I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, Lord, as you know.


This is a time of confusion, protests, anger, and corruption. It is essential in these days that we proclaim the Lord’s saving acts in the church, the great assembly of the Lord’s called out ones. Do not seal your lips, do not hide the Lord within you.


10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help. I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly.


Now is the time to share your testimony of the Lord’s righteousness, faithfulness and saving help. Do not conceal it. Your testimony can strengthen others, it can help each of us to be saved daily.


11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord; may your love and faithfulness always protect me. 12 For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me.


What are we focused on? If you do not share and proclaim all that is within you then you allow the enemy to attack us, the accuser of the brethren recounting our sins, telling us of all the troubles without number that are surrounding us. Right now more than ever we need your testimony to see the glory of God and our glorious savior.


13 Be pleased to save me, Lord; come quickly, Lord, to help me.


The Lord delights to save us, it is His good pleasure. See that and you will be able to stand in the midst of this crooked generation.


14 May all who want to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace.


We are seeing the fulfillment of all these prayers. We are seeing the mockers all being put to shame and confusion. They will shortly be turned back in disgrace and have their tongues cut off.


15 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!” be appalled at their own shame.


You have to love this time, where every word is recorded on Youtube. Their shame will be broadcast for all to see.


16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who long for your saving help always say, “The Lord is great!”


This is my prayer for the church. We don’t care about the myriad of troubles swirling about on the news, we don’t care about the accuser of the brethren or the mockers. We are seeking the Lord, we are rejoicing to see His day, we are glad in Him and our testimony is that “the Lord is great!”


17 But as for me, I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; you are my God, do not delay.


Yes, we are poor and needy. Do not forget us Lord. For you alone are our help and deliverer, you alone are the God we worship, come Lord Jesus.

Proverbs 10:1-15 -- Destruction of the poor is thier poverty

1 The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

There are many who are claiming that the fires in the west are as much a result of poor forest management as climate change. Likewise the floods in China are a result of a poor design of the three gorges dam. Apparently it should have been about 20 meters taller if you really wanted to control floods. The Chinese leadership decided against it because they would have displaced a number of people, as a result they made a huge dam to control flooding that doesn’t control flooding. Others are saying that the cracks in the dam indicate it was made of sub quality concrete. These human errors, foolishness, result in a heaviness to the people who have to endure these fools.

2 Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.

We saw this in Haiti, they had a 6.5 earthquake which caused massive damage and destruction. This was not due to the earthquake which is 1/100th the power of an 8.5, but rather due to shoddy construction. They knew they were in an earthquake zone but they used fraud to get around the building codes.

3 The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked.

The floods in China, the fires in California, the earthquake in Haiti all caused the substance of those living there to be cast away. You have to dig a little deeper to discover the wickedness that caused this destruction. I think most people are starting to agree that they can no longer ignore climate change. No matter what the cost would have been prior to this year it would have been cheaper than the cost they will now see.

4 He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

It is easy to see that although it would have been difficult to make the dam 20 meters higher, failing to do so will be catastrophic to China’s economy. As for the forest fires in California it is quite clear that they knew the danger from dry brush and from the bark beetles. It would have been a lot of work to cut down the diseased trees and clear the brush, but there is no doubt that not doing that work has caused financial ruin to tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people on the West Coast.

5 He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.

Now is the time to share the gospel. All of these events are giving every believer an easy “lay up” to share the gospel.

6 Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

Everyone in the world blesses Nelson Mandela for his magnanimous spirit of forgiveness, everyone blesses Gandhi for showing us how to resist nonviolently. On the other hand there are those who are calling for violence as a necessary way to get their goal. This reveals that they are wicked.

7 The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.

Anyone remember the names of the KKK responsible for bombings and lynchings? Their name rots and no one wants to take credit for their evil deeds.

8 The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.

There are numerous blogs and chats of these BLM supporters, people belonging to one extremist group or another, there are many examples of prating fools. Ask them what the solution is, what do they want? If they can’t answer that then everything else they say is tedious and foolish.

9 He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.

Shall be known, not immediately, but you can be sure they shall be known.

10 He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall.

It just came out this week that Trump told Woodward he knew the Covid19 virus was much more deadly than he was saying publicly. He “didn’t want to cause a panic” but he definitely caused sorrow as many followed his lead to downplay the severity of the pandemic.

11 The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

When people pervert their ways as they have done in the oil industries attempt to discredit the science of climate change, then you can be sure it will end in violence. When the president winks with his eye saying the pandemic is no worse than the flu, then you know it will result in violence.

12 Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.

This is what we are seeing today on social media. Hatred is stirring up strife. Erroneous stories, half truths, blatant lies all motivated by hatred.

13 In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding.

There are many people in this country who have been involved in the civil rights struggle, they have understanding, they have wisdom. But these ones who are looting and rioting are void of understanding. They will be picked up, charged, convicted and then the rod on the back will become their tutor.

14 Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.

The cancel culture is making sure of that. Say something foolish on social media and they will destroy you, your job, and your business.

15 The rich man's wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty.

These rioters and looters think they are being strong. What they are doing is destroying their neighbors. Their poverty is a result of reaping what they sow. But the same is true of the rich. The Chinese leadership, through poor leadership, is causing millions of poor in China to be destroyed. That will become China’s poverty. Climate change is causing thousands of poor on the West Coast to be destroyed, that will be their poverty. For example, as a result of these fires insurance against fire will go up and the value of everyone’s house will go down. All those houses that got burned to the ground didn’t just leave those people homeless it also left the banks holding the mortgages broke as well.

Proverbs 10:16-32 -- The righteous shall never be removed

16 The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.

If you build houses in Haiti and make money by getting around the building codes through fraud, as your business grows so will the fraud. This age is likened to the Lord planting seeds of wheat in his field and the enemy planting seeds of tares. Both have been growing together, at the end of the age they will be reaped. The tares are thrown into the furnace of fire, the wheat is caught up to the Lord’s barns.

17 He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth. 18 He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.

There have been so many tell all books released recently it is very hard to discern the truth. But what is very clear is either they were hiding hatred with lying lips before, or they are doing it now. At least half of what is said is slander. These people are fools.

19 In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise. 20 The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth.

What is amazing to me is there is no accountability. Four years ago all the prognosticators were wrong, they all said Trump was not seriously running, they said there was no way Trump would be the nominee, and they said there was no way he would be president. So why are they still viewed as “experts”?

21 The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.

About two years before Katrina hit New Orleans I met a new employee at our brokerage firm. He said his dad owned 10 houses in New Orleans, his family was building a little real estate empire. But the houses were all in the 9th ward. I told him they would all be destroyed the next time a hurricane hit. He could have questioned me further and I would have explained in great detail the danger, but instead he was offended. So, when Katrina hit they were destroyed. They bought houses in a flood zone without any flood insurance. Pretty simple concept that only a fool wouldn’t understand.

22 The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

The church is the fulfillment of this, Psalm 133:3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord Commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. The church is the place that the Lord has commanded His blessings. And when we are in Christ we are blessed. Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

23 It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom. 24 The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.

I have seen people take great offense that many are rejoicing as they see the day of the Lord approaching. To the wicked they fear that day, to the righteous they desire the Lord’s return.

25 As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.

The fires in California are a very clear illustration of what the outcome for the wicked is. I’m not saying that a person who lost their house was because they were wicked, rather I’m saying that the end of this age will be like that, the fire will sweep through and the wicked will be no more.

26 As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him.

The Lord has sent us to be His witnesses. If you are lazy about witnessing for the Lord you will set the Lord’s teeth on edge and the sight of you will burn His eyes.

27 The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

You can preach out of love, you can preach out of fear. Either way it will turn out to salvation.

28 The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.

We will be glad when we see the hope of our salvation. But when you build your kingdom on wickedness then it will perish in the flames, in the flood, in the rubble.

29 The way of the Lord is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.

The Lord told us that if we listened to His word we would dig down to the rock and build our house on the rock. The workers of iniquity built their houses on sand. It was cheaper, faster and seemingly better right up until they are swept away.

30 The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.

That is the point of this age. Those that receive Jesus Christ as their righteousness will not be removed. Likewise the wicked, regardless of how high and mighty they appear shall not inhabit the earth.

31 The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out.

The froward tongue, those that used the threat of litigation to bully people, are having their tongues cut out with this cancel culture.

32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.

We have seen it time and time again. Could be the owner of the Clippers or some other very rich person who thinks they are untouchable. We hear the recording and then their tongue is cut out.

Exodus 9 -- This is not real. Oh yes it is!

1 Then the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2 For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still, 3 Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain.

Cattle are the engine, the power of the agricultural economy. They are the “big business”. The frogs might be the small retail outlets you see shopping malls with all the trinkets and junk they sell. They were the first to get wiped out. But these cattle would represent the S&P 500. The world’s economy operates on credit, it gives them “leverage”. However, since March they have been put into a terrible bind, they can’t continue to operate without borrowing money and no one would lend them money. As a result the US government has been buying up corporate debt at an unprecedented rate, even by 2010 standards the numbers are completely off the charts. It doesn’t show up as increasing US debt because on the books they have exchanged dollars which they print with corporate debt. It looks like an investment until the day you have to admit that paper is worthless. On that day your money will collapse in value. This is happening in the US, Japan, and Europe but it is even worse in China and Russia.

7 And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

What we have seen with the cancel culture and the censorship of conservative Christians is an exodus from companies like Google, Twitter, Amazon, Apple, CNN, NY Times, Washington Post, etc. Mike Lindell was attacked and instead of going to the stores where his products are sold people are going on line in droves to buy from him. He has been adding new products on a weekly basis. The companies that are independent of these giants associated with Egypt are not just losing customers in the US, they are losing their standing worldwide. Australia, Poland, Mexico, Germany, France, Israel, Taiwan, etc. These countries see the insidious side of these companies and they are moving to protect themselves.

8 And the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. 10 And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast. 11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians.

When you deal with something, investigate it, judge it, and carry out that sentence it is as though you burned it to ashes. Why are we having all these protests? Suppose the police make a mistake, they kill an innocent person. Well they write up the report to indicate the person was a suspect (recently a police chief was fired for instructing his officers to do that). They might plant evidence on them like drugs or a gun (police have admitted this happens frequently). They might in the case of the mortgage crisis determine that the crooks are “too big to fail”. Basically an admission that the country is run by crooks and the government is incapable of dealing with them. Every time the government does not thoroughly and completely judge sin those “ashes” carry something that will cause boils. The protests are boiling over because of this. The “criminals” know that being set up by the police or the government is commonplace, they also know that once they have a felony on their record they are a second class citizen. This hypocrisy, this failure to deal with sin affects the magicians. All these regulators and government officials and pundits and talking heads. They have boils on their face because they have failed to deal with sin. Governor Cuomo, Governor Newsom, Governor Whitmer, they all have boils on their face and can no longer stand before us. Hunter Biden and the FBI which had his laptop and even Joe Biden also are covered in boils.

15 For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.
16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth. 17 As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go? 18 Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.

There is going to be a great tribulation. Joel warns of this saying “blood, fire and pillars of smoke” saying this is a warning that the Day of the Lord is here. Everyone in California and Oregon had the same reaction to sky turning red, the fires, and the pillars of smoke. Whoever you asked responded that it was “apocalyptic” and “end of the world”. They all said they had never seen anything like it. But that is simply the warning, that is not the great tribulation, that is not the bowls of wrath poured on the earth, not yet.

26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail. 27 And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. 28 Intreat the Lord (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer. 29 And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord's. 30 But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God. 31 And the flax and the barley was smitten: for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled. 32 But the wheat and the rie were not smitten: for they were not grown up. 33 And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the Lord: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth. 34 And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35 And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the Lord had spoken by Moses.

Many people claimed this story was not real. They claimed there is no sin, there is no God, etc. They lied to you. Yes, it is real. Christians have been warning for 2,000 years that there is going to be the Day of the Lord, “a day of destruction”. They have been preaching the gospel that Jesus is the savior. But look how hard the hearts are of those who rule this evil age. It doesn’t matter that they have been warned, it doesn’t matter that they have been warned repeatedly, it doesn’t matter that what is happening now is not unlike what God did in delivering the Jews from bondage in Egypt. Their repentance is false and their hearts are hard. The nations are not able to abide the Lord’s indignation and they are not able to escape, and though they cry unto the Lord He won’t hearken to them. God is not mocked, you reap what you sow.

Acts 2:1-18 -- Tongues of Fire

1 And when the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in one place.

Each of these festivals is prophetic for this age. The age began with the Lord’s crucifixion, Jesus is our Passover lamb sacrificed for us so that we could leave the slavery in Egypt. Pentecost is the 50th day after Passover. There are 7 sabbaths, and the next day is the 50th day. Jesus' death and burial was the fulfillment of the sabbath rest, the very next day is the first day, a new beginning. Pentecost was a new beginning for the church, the Body of Christ. Jesus said that His death was like a grain of wheat being planted in the ground and then sprouting. Pentecost is when that seed sprouted. It is also called the feast of harvest. We need to appreciate that everything the Lord has done to this point sets up the church, just as everything a farmer does up to the point we first see his crop sprouting has been to set that up. This question “what must we do to be saved”, that is the set up, it is like an alley oop pass. Imagine the whole world all of a sudden asking “what must we do to be saved?” This sounds to me like the response people would have after seeing the crucifixion and resurrection. They see the corruption on full display and the power and majesty as well. This also sounds to me like the response people would have to the first rapture at the end of the age.

2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speaking in his own language. 7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying, Behold, are not all these that speak Galilaeans? 8 And how hear we, every man in our own language wherein we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, in Judaea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, 10 in Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and sojourners from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabians, we hear them speaking in our tongues the mighty works of God.

This is the most detailed account of speaking in tongues in the Bible. To my understanding the disciples that had been with Jesus were speaking the mighty works of God and people from every nation could hear them in their own tongues. So if a person was there from Japan they would hear one of these Jews speaking the great things of God in Japanese even though the person speaking didn’t know Japanese. This is what is happening today, you can hear people speaking the great things of God in every tongue. That is the real speaking in tongues. So I don’t understand how speaking in tongues has come to be equated with speaking in an unknown language, or the “tongues of angels” but apparently this had happened by the time of Paul. But, even if you do expand the idea of “speaking in tongues” to include the tongue of angels Paul wouldn’t permit this practice unless someone also translated it. The purpose of this gift is to speak the great things of God in every tongue, for the word of God to spread throughout the Earth like a rushing mighty wind. Acts 1:11b This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. Here we are at the end of the age and this is what we see. You can see the mighty works of God being spoken in every tongue on Earth. You can use google translate to take this text and have it speak it to you in your native tongue. This reminds me of something I saw in my church life experience. I met with a church with about 200 members. The meetings were set up with chairs in a big circle four rows deep. The saints who sat at the center of the circle were the most active (everyone was able to speak in these meetings) and those on the outside were more prone to be spectators. However, we had a big project in a nearby city and a hundred saints from this church moved to that city and it was primarily the front two rows. Well, the result was that the back two rows became the front two, those saints began to speak, and in a few years the church was back up to 200 saints. So the pattern is the same. Jesus was the one speaking, he is crucified and resurrected and ascends to heaven. Then the apostles and five hundred disciples take over with the tongues of fire. At the end of the age we have the rapture, and then those saints who were prone to be spectators now are thrust into the front row, they speak and they are now the ones with tongues of fire.

12 And they were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying one to another, What meaneth this? 13 But others mocking said, They are filled with new wine. 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spake forth unto them, saying, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and give ear unto my words. 15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose; seeing it is but the third hour of the day; 16 but this is that which hath been spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 And it shall be in the last days, saith God, I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh: And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams: 18 Yea and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days Will I pour forth of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.

I have seen men and women sharing prophetic visions on Youtube. But what is significant is that this is an age where the word of God is spoken worldwide, in every tongue. Therefore all Christians must support God’s word being spoken in every country. You can call this “freedom of speech” and “freedom of worship”. These two things are fundamental to this age. In the last election in the US I can understand those who felt strongly to vote for Trump and also those who felt strongly to not vote for Trump. It is all a matter of what is most important to you. That is between you and the Lord. But, I don’t see any basis for anyone to support censorship or the government deciding if and when we can worship.

Acts 2:19-24 Who is approved of God?

19 And I will show wonders in the heaven above, And signs on the earth beneath; Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke:

We did have a weird situation with fires in California where the sky was turned to blood and everyone was freaked out saying it was “apocalyptic”.

20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the day of the Lord come, That great and notable day:

These signs will appear before the great and notable day. This refers to the opening of the sixth seal. I believe that this seal is accompanied with the rapture of the man child to heaven and the casting of Satan and the fallen angels to Earth. We have had blood moon’s on Passover 2014, Sukot 2014, Passover 2015, Sukot 2015, a total solar eclipse over Washington DC 8/21/17. Those four blood moons appearing on Jewish feast days have to be considered a sign. It is called a tetrad when you get four in close succession. We have had 55 tetrads during the last 2,000 years. We have only had 3 tetrads that coincided with Jewish holy days since 1492, one was immediately after the time of the Spanish Inquisition and Columbus discovering America in 1493. The second took place immediately after the nation of Israel was reformed in 1948 and the third took place when the city of Jerusalem was reunited in 1967.

21 And it shall be, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

There are many who are asking what they must do to be saved. Quite simple, “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved”. Anyone who calls out to Jesus “Lord Jesus, save me” will be saved.

22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, even as ye yourselves know; 23 him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay: 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

In the Old Testament God testified to all that Aaron was to be the High Priest because his rod budded. The leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel each brought their rod to Moses. He put them into the Tent of the Covenant overnight, the next day Aaron’s rod had budded, that was God's testimony that he was chosen by God. In the same way Jesus was put into the grave and on the third day He rose again.

Numbers 17:6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron’s staff was among them. 7 Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant law. 8 The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each of the leaders took his own staff. 10 The Lord said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the ark of the covenant law, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.” 11 Moses did just as the Lord Commanded him.

This is how God testifies to us who is worthy to rule and reign. They are faithful unto death, and that the death of the cross. Then, they are raised up from the dead in resurrection. What was Pentecost? They were faithful to the Lord in His death and continued in prayer even while under threat by the Jewish leaders. Right now we have learned that the banks are looking into anyone who was in the vicinity of the MAGA rallies. There is a very clear threat out there against those who participated in exercising their constitutional right to protest. It is hard to discern, very confusing, but after the rapture it will be very clear who is approved of God.

Acts 2:25-43 What must I do to be saved?

25 For David saith concerning him, I beheld the Lord always before my face; For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

This is what salvation is all about. As long as the Lord is always before your face and on your right hand you won’t be moved. The coming tribulation will shake everyone and everything, the only ones that will not be moved are those to whom Jesus is before their face and on their right hand.

26 Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; Moreover my flesh also shall dwell in hope:

If you see what is happening and what is going to happen then it seems incongruous that you would be glad and rejoice. But if you have been proclaiming that Jesus is Lord and is the coming King it makes perfect sense that you would be glad, that you would rejoice, and that you are dwelling in hope in the midst of the tribulation.

27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul unto Hades, Neither wilt thou give thy Holy One to see corruption.

He didn’t say we wouldn’t see Hades, or that we wouldn’t visit Hades, only that we wouldn’t be left there. Just like Daniel was in the fire and yet the fire didn’t touch him in the same way we can walk through Hades and the death and corruption won’t touch us.

28 Thou madest known unto me the ways of life; Thou shalt make me full of gladness with thy countenance.

Look at the current situation. We have many world leaders, many experts, many scientists and advisors, they are all talking. Have any of them made known unto you the way of life? Have any of them made you full of gladness? Of course not, Jesus has already walked through Hades so He is the one that can guide us through this. All these so-called leaders keep telling you that “no one has seen this before”. Not true, Jesus saw it and told us about it already. Jesus is Lord. If you want to be saved keep your eyes on Him.

29 Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us unto this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins he would set one upon his throne; 31 he foreseeing this spake of the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he left unto Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear.

According to the atheists Jesus didn’t resurrect from the dead and these men were not witnesses of the resurrection. They made it up, or they were deceived, or this was some kind of myth. If that were the case how is it that everything they said would happen is happening? How is it that 2,000 years later there are a billion people hanging on every word they said?

34 For David ascended not into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 35 Till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet.

David is one of these witnesses. People want to know how this little shepherd boy could conquer giants and become the king? So he told you. He is only one of many, many witnesses.

36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.

When we first come to Jesus we will be ashamed of our sins and the fact that we have previously rejected Him. Peter was preaching to Jews who stood by as Jesus was crucified just a little over a month earlier. They got saved so surely you too can be saved. This is for the praise of the glory of God. No one will have anything to boast of, every one of us is a sinner saved by grace.

37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? 38 And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him.

If you call on the Lord you shall be saved. To call Jesus Lord means that you obey His word. The first word He speaks to you to obey is to be baptized. Many of us think that being dunked in a pool is not going to save us, you need to repent. What is going to save us is to give heed to the Lord’s words regardless of whether we think they are important or not. Every time you obey the Lord’s speaking, repenting of your own opinion, you will receive the gift of the holy spirit. This is how we grow in grace.

40 And with many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation.

Everyone knows this is a crooked generation. But no one has a plan on how to save themselves. You can see people complaining about climate change and saying we need to do this and that. But when you press them they know it won’t save them. The BLM protests are all based on the revelation that this is a crooked generation. But what is their plan of salvation?

41 They then that received his word were baptized: and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Simple, continue in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. The word of God is the bread of life, when we share the word with each other that is the breaking of bread. We don’t need to grow it, grind it, or cook it. The apostles have already done that, we simply need to break it into bite size pieces.

43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 and they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, according as any man had need. 46 And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved.

Third Day


“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, . . . that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve” (1 Cor. 15:2, 3-5).


In this verse Paul tells us that being raised on the third day is according to the scriptures. We have already seen that the rapture of the saints is likened to the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus was the first fruit, the church is the general harvest. Also, the two raptures reinforce this as the first rapture will take place roughly 3 ½ years prior to the second, that indicates the first takes place 6 months before the second. So if the first took place at the time that the firstfruits are harvested, the second would take place at the time of the general harvest.


Therefore I would like to look at these references for “the third day” in the Old Testament that Paul is referring to.


Genesis 1:9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

The dry ground is resurrected or raised up out of the death waters. Prior to this day it was hidden but after this it “appeared”. There is a strange reference here to “let the water under the sky be gathered to one place”. Liquid water will do this immediately due to the force of gravity. However, if the land were covered with Ice, a glacier, as it was during the last ice age, then you would have the “water under the sky” located in two places and once that ice melted it would be gathered into one place. During the ice age NYC was under 1 kilometer of ice. This is a great picture of the dry ground being suppressed, held down by this frozen wasteland. Once the land appears it begins to bring forth all kinds of life. This is a picture of the rapture, the worldly system is a frozen wasteland holding down the truth, suppressing freedom. Once this ice melts, and the age of grace is an age of “climate change”, then the land will appear and all the life will spring forth. The Lord’s resurrection heralded this “climate change” and at the end of this age the rapture will be the rapid change from “an ice age” to an age of life.

The Third Day -- continued


Genesis 22:3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.


Abraham is taking his son to be sacrificed and it is on the third day that he looked up and saw the place in the distance. We also are on a journey of faith as children of Abraham. We have given ourselves to be absolute for God and this journey is a testimony of Abraham’s faith in the resurrection and also of His absolute commitment to God. This will be the testimony of those who are raptured when they also look up.


Genesis 31:22 On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. 23 Taking his relatives with him, he pursued Jacob for seven days and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.


The rapture is likened to “a thief in the night”. It is also likened to our fleeing this world. We are “raptured to safety” or “snatched away”. When does the world realize what has happened? On the third day, the day of resurrection. Laban is close kin to Jacob, he is the father in law. Likewise Christians are close kin to the Jews, they are also like the “father in law” to the Christian faith. After the Christians are raptured it is seven days (one week in Daniel’s prophecy signifying seven years) before the Jews are also raptured.


Genesis 40:20 Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials:


The third day is a judgement day. The Lord is resurrected, that is a judgement that He was righteous, but it is also a judgement on the other two thieves who were crucified with him. When the rapture takes place what about those who are left behind, what of them. Some will be repentant sinners like the thief on the cross that Jesus said would see Him in paradise. Others will be unrepentant sinners and rebellious, like the baker who is ultimately executed. All of this is done as Joseph had said, in other words the rapture and the judgement will all be according to the gospel preached by the Apostles.


Genesis 42:18 On the third day, Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: 19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households. 20 But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die.” This they proceeded to do.


This is a fascinating story. Joseph was betrayed by his brethren and sold into slavery. His brothers were jealous of him but it was ultimately of God and resulted in Joseph becoming the prime minister of Egypt and saving people alive. However, Joseph does not know what has happened to Benjamin. If they sold him to slavery perhaps they did the same to Benjamin or even worse. He cannot truly judge if he does not see Benjamin. If Benjamin is fine, as they say, then what happened to him was not about trying to wipe out Rachel’s kids. But he leaves one man in prison, which one? The one who was most responsible for killing all those men when his sister was raped. Simeon was violent, believed in vengeance, and felt that the rape justified his murdering the whole town. This is a wonderful test “if you are honest men”. If they had lied about Benjamin there would be no way get around that. It is a wonderful technique to catch a liar, like they said “how would I know he would ask”. When people tell one lie you can ask other questions that will cause them to have to tell so many more lies that they get caught. But more than that their survival and the survival of their families now depends on them bringing Benjamin with them safely. Joseph has just made them all responsible for keeping Benjamin safe from this day forward. After all, why was Benjamin left at home? The idea that he was the youngest is idiotic, Joseph was thirty nine when this took place. It is thought that Benjamin was 22-35 years old. However, Benjamin had 10 kids and a wife when he went to Egypt. Regardless of the actual age this tells you he wasn’t a “kid” and had every bit as much responsibility to get food from Egypt as his ten other brothers. So then, the fact that they didn’t bring him indicated some problem which was that Jacob did not trust Benjamin with the ten. Finally, think of Joseph’s dream, eleven stars bow down to him, it is essential according to the dream that all eleven brothers come to Egypt. No one gets left behind. However, in the dream the Sun and Moon bow down to him yet his mother, the moon, is dead. So we also discover that Jesus is Lord of the living and the dead.

James -- Seeking Wandering sheep


James 1:1 “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:”

Today all of the Lord’s sheep are scattered in the world the mission of the Lord’s servants is to bring the wandering sheep back to the truth. I teach at an inner city school. There is a reason some call inner city schools “failure factories” and the “prison pipeline”. These kids are exploited by the system. They are like sheep without a shepherd who have gone astray. This situation will become much worse during the tribulation.

Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations

This can be very difficult to do. There are teachers that take “mental health” days. One teacher retired saying the job is like a bad marriage, you stay in it for the kids. This entire book will help you find the narrow path that leads to life. Once you are on that path then you can “count it all joy”. You may feel that you can count some it joy, but there are certain things that you definitely cannot count joy. I would ask that you go through the entire book and when we finish chapter 5 tell me then. I suspect that James will be able to show you, like he showed me, how to count it “all” joy. How are you going to survive the tribulation without this lesson?

knowing that the trial of your faith works patience and let patience have her perfect work.

My first year teaching I was surprised at how poorly my students did on the Regents exam. All the teachers at our school had the same results and they had come to accept it. That was the beginning of the trial of my faith. For thirteen years I have believed that my students can do as well as students in the best schools. Every year they get closer. If the students in my school in Brooklyn could do as well as the students at the best high schools in the US, then for me that would be a perfect work. Someone might argue that the US is ranked 18th in the world, so a real perfect work would be to do as well as the best high schools in the world. Actually, the very best high schools in the US compare favorably with the best high schools anywhere in the world. Several of the best high schools in the US are in NYC, so it is easy for me to compare my students with these schools. The reason we are 18th is not because of our best schools. Everyone must go through this experience, it is the only way to have a perfect work. Some will choose this path willingly, others need a little push.

4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Each year you discover there are more and more details to this work. If your goal is a perfect work you will count every trial as a joy, because with each trial you become more complete. But it is not perfect yet, as long as there is a disparity in the education of young men of color we are wanting. This is the training we need before we are equipped to rule and reign with Jesus Christ.

If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

It is a lot of prayer for wisdom from God. My school is 84% males, primarily young black men, a large percentage of immigrants with a very high poverty index. Last year my students scored in the top 7 percent and this year, the Lord willing, they will score in the top 3 or 4%. The top 3% is the point that I identify the best high schools in the country. For comparison, there is another school in Brooklyn that has the same makeup as ours, same percentage of males, the same percentage of blacks, the same percentage of special education students. They are in the bottom 17% of all NYC students. That is in line with broad statistical norms of this demographic group.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

You have to be firmly fixed on the goal. I feel like I am sailing into the wind and against the waves, but every year I make progress toward the goal. The waves crash over the ship but we don’t waver because I know it is a work of faith.

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: 10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

Many teachers claim that this goal is unrealistic because the students in the top schools in NYC start 9th grade with a huge head start over my students. That is true. What these teachers miss is that my students will rejoice far more when they are exalted. Our advantage is our motivation. For example, when I was in school we took the PSAT and then were told we were in the top 97%. We thought it was a joke and they were telling us this to boost our confidence. One friend of mine scored an 800 on the Math SAT and a girl in my english class scored an 800 on the English SAT. Yet there wasn’t any rejoicing in their exaltation, no rejoicing that this student went to Harvard and that one to Yale. If that were to happen at the school I teach at now the entire school would rejoice. We realize that the exaltation of any of our students uplifts us all. None of us takes it for granted. If you are rich your attitude has to be that this is passing away. You have to be focused on finding something eternal.

12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Unbelief is the temptation. You have to endure that. At the school you see teachers with hand sanitizer, concerned about the germs. I’m concerned about the unbelief. I was in a meeting with all the other science teachers and they were disheartened, ready to quit. We are so close to reaching the goal and these teachers are in the middle of the battle and can’t see that the battle is almost won. We need to endure the temptation to quit.

13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

There is a lot of money in education and that money is the root of all sorts of evil. Last year our very small school bought $200,000 worth of desks and chairs, not because the ones we had were old but because these are designed for the latest teaching fad. I am indifferent, but many teachers dislike the change. There are 400 schools like ours in NYC, this company might have sold $80 million worth of tables and chairs. First there was a new initiative, all students must be taught in groups, then we get these desks that fit nicely into a bigger square, but otherwise are not useful. Very few teachers are happy with this change and I have yet to hear a coherent argument for why this change is an improvement. So, I suspect that the real motivation was $80 million dollars. Companies give money to political campaigns, then in return the politician gives a fat government contract to this company. But in the end the school is being killed.

16 Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

The major error the experts make is to think that money is the key factor in the equation, since the suburbs have more money it is inevitable that they have the best schools. The formula for success in the suburbs is money. George Bush leveraged this benefit when he passed No Child Left Behind, and also when Hillary Clinton got a new law requiring least restrictive environment for students. Both of these laws are good, I do not disagree with the major premise of either law, however, neither law was funded. In the suburbs where they get twice as much money per student as NYC does they can afford to implement these laws without disruption to the classroom, but in the cities it caused chaos and confusion because there was no budget. Suburban schools got the carrot and inner city schools got the stick. What they miss is that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above”. Finland does much better than the US and they don’t spend nearly as much as we do. Money is not a perfect gift, it can cover up and compensate for poor practices. We have had to improve our practice significantly.

Work the righteousness of God

James 1:19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

I believe I am working the righteousness of God. Education is the heart of the Civil Rights movement today. A level playing field is the righteousness of God. You need to be swift to hear any improvement and slow to say you have figured this out. Think of the wrath involved in this issue. People blaming one another, claiming bias, and all the insults that fly back and forth. The blame game can only be played by the self righteous and it does not work the righteousness of God. Think about the civil rights movement and how far we have come. In 1967 the KKK bombed my uncle’s house in Mississippi with his wife and two children in the house because he was running a charity to raise money to rebuild black churches that had been attacked by the KKK. It was called operation “shoestring”. That name reminds me of the poor widow who cast in two mites. We have come a long way from that day. But even in 1967 they also could say we had come a long way in the 100 years from the 1860s. If you want to work the righteousness of God you must be slow to wrath, slow to speak, and quick to hear. I was encouraged when I read about Orville and Wilbur Wright. At the time that they were developing an airplane there were well funded research and development projects being carried out in the US. One person was given $30,000 to fund his research. Orville and Wilbur worked in their spare time, without any funding. They could have gotten angry over the US refusal to let them demonstrate their airplane. Instead they went to France. They could have gotten angry when the plane was badly damaged in transit on the boat. Instead they spent months fixing it. They could have gotten angry when the press accused them of being liars and frauds. They were slow to wrath because they were making progress working the righteousness of God. So don’t make the same error, money is not a perfect gift, a perfect give is from above. What would be the point of being raptured if the Lord had not already worked the righteousness of God, if the church were not already the perfect gift?

Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

The biggest issue I have as a teacher is how to get my students to receive with meekness the engrafted word. Every teacher has to have a strategy on how to deal with filthiness and naughtiness. Think of a dog with a bone, the only way to get the dog to lay it down is if you provide it with something better to chew on. Politicians have referred to these inner city schools as “failure factories” and “the prison pipeline”. There is a direct correlation between unemployment, dropping out, and these failing grades. So, yes, I believe this engrafted word can save my student’s souls.

22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

This is why all these researchers from elite schools come up short. You have to be a doer. You have to get into the middle of the battle. Only then can you truly make progress without deceiving yourself. They don’t want to do that. They will fund a six month study, they will analyze data, but to actually get into the classroom in Brooklyn and do it year after year, rather than tell others how to do it, that is not their style.

23 For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: 24 for he beholdeth himself, and goeth away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Stand on this promise: “this man shall be blessed in his deed”. The law of liberty is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In your ministry you are looking into this law, investigating it. Every day you ask yourself, why are they not getting it, how could I do it better and that in turn leads you to think “how would I have wanted my teachers to help me?” Ultimately, when you are investigating the law of liberty, it is like examining yourself in the mirror. If you are truly bending down and examining the law of liberty in your ministry those kids you are teaching will become a mirror where you see your own nature. Helping them to get it is helping me to get it. When teachers complain that the “kids today are lazy” they are like this man who has forgotten what manner of man he was.

26 If any man thinketh himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his heart, this man’s religion is vain.

We are slow to wrath because we are working the righteousness of God. This is bridling our tongue. We are remembering what manner of man we were, rather than blaming our students, this is bridling our tongue. We are investigating the golden rule, this is bridling our tongue. If you are not bridling your tongue you aren’t doing these three things, and if that is the case your religion is just empty words, vanity.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Many of my students are in the midst of affliction. Many are fatherless. 25% will spend time in a homeless shelter. The Lord said when you give a feast invite those who cannot repay. As a teacher it is easy for me to do this, I invite my students. But remember this warning to “keep yourself unspotted from the world”. The ministry is to the Lord, my labor is to the Lord.

One thing I really like about the book of James is that it is to wandering sheep that have been scattered. In Revelation the Lord tells the church in Philadelphia that they will not have to go out again. This indicates that everyone in that church at one point or another was scattered, they were all wandering sheep. I expect after the first rapture all those who remain will also be scattered, wandering sheep. Think about it, if the lord takes those who were the faithful and wise servants and leaves behind the foolish servants, then they will all be scattered without a shepherd. This word is for all of us, it leads us to the church in Philadelphia. If you can receive it early you can make the first rapture, if not then you can regroup and make the second rapture "let patience have its perfect work".

1Samuel 28 -- Because you did not obey.

This chapter answers very clearly whether or not David’s going to Ziklag was backsliding or not. Matthew Henry’s concise commentary: “27:1-7 Unbelief is a sin that easily besets even good men, when without are fightings, and within are fears; and it is a hard matter to get over them. Lord, increase our faith! “ It is easy to conclude this from David going to stay in Philistine. But I think this chapter will demonstrate how this is an error.

1 In those days the Philistines gathered their forces to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, “You must understand that you and your men will accompany me in the army.” 2 David said, “Then you will see for yourself what your servant can do.” Achish replied, “Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life.”

This is really a tough situation for David. He has been anointed King of Israel by Samuel, he knows his destiny, he is a man of faith, so how is he going to escape this. Fighting against Israel with the King of the Philistines would be a very grievous sin that he could never return from. It is very likely that Achish has some questions about whether or not David has truly been attacking Jewish settlements.

3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.

This chapter exposes his hypocrisy. So often we have seen this from politicians. They proclaim to be for “family values” only for us to then learn they are total hypocrites. Or they pretend to be Christians only to learn they are for abortion or some other heinous sin.

4 The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and set up camp at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. 6 He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. 7 Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.” “There is one in Endor,” they said. 8 So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.” 9 But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?” 10 Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will not be punished for this.”

Perhaps not, but Saul will be. Leviticus 20:6 “‘I will set my face against anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute themselves by following them, and I will cut them off from their people.

11 Then the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” “Bring up Samuel,” he said. 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” 13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?” The woman said, “I see a ghostly figure[a] coming up out of the earth.” 14 “What does he look like?” he asked. “An old man wearing a robe is coming up,” she said. Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. 15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” “I am in great distress,” Saul said. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has departed from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.” 16 Samuel said, “Why do you consult me, now that the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy? 17 The Lord has done what he predicted through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors—to David. 18 Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this to you today. 19 The Lord will deliver both Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.”

What was God’s command -- to carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites. In the last chapter we saw David carrying this out. This book began with Hannah being barren and needing a son and being bullied because God needed a son. God put her into a position where she cried out to him that if He gave her a son she would dedicate him to God. The book ends with Saul bullying David because God needed a king that would carry out his command against the Amalekites. God put David into a position where he would have no choice but to go to the Philistines. They seemingly gave him Ziklag but in reality it was God giving the kings of Judah Ziklag. David then needed to carry out raids against the Amalekites in order to stay in good graces with the Philistines as well as feed the men following him. The minute God got a king who would carry out his commands he cut off Saul, no more prophecies, no more dreams, no answering by Urim and Thummim. David was not the one with the sin of unbelief, in this chapter we see that it is Saul. This is a key point in this entire book, Jesus is Lord and He works out all things for good to those who love God and are called according to purpose.

20 Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, filled with fear because of Samuel’s words. His strength was gone, for he had eaten nothing all that day and all that night. 21 When the woman came to Saul and saw that he was greatly shaken, she said, “Look, your servant has obeyed you. I took my life in my hands and did what you told me to do. 22 Now please listen to your servant and let me give you some food so you may eat and have the strength to go on your way.” 23 He refused and said, “I will not eat.” But his men joined the woman in urging him, and he listened to them. He got up from the ground and sat on the couch. 24 The woman had a fattened calf at the house, which she butchered at once. She took some flour, kneaded it and baked bread without yeast. 25 Then she set it before Saul and his men, and they ate. That same night they got up and left.