An acquaintance of mine threw a question/challenge out to the public in the hope of a response. No one seemed to respond, so I took a couple of days to put together a response, and this is it.

Posted on 06/11/2023 by remso

You asked general but widespread questions. I separated what you wrote into assertions and questions, and this is my response.

“… does anyone else see some resemblance in the description of the rapture and the events at the crucifixion?”

I briefly saw that one of my end times teachers was talking about something like this, but I didn’t pay attention and moved on. However, we must understand why Jesus went to the cross and, in both events, there is a catching away. 

This ONLY happened because He went into the heavenly temple and poured out His blood as a sacrifice for us to fulfill the demands of the law, to bring salvation by repurchasing humanity back from Satan, and to bestow righteousness upon all who would accept this salvation.

“Jesus ascended into hell to catch up the unredeemed spirits and graves opened.”

No doubt, Jesus went into hell, but was “catching up the unredeemed spirits” the only reason He went there? 

Hardly, but then you should have known that. 

Ephesians 4:8-10 NKJV “Therefore He says: “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE, AND GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.” 9) (Now this, “HE ASCENDED”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10) He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.”

If I may speak freely, this wording, “ WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE,” makes no sense. It implies that Jesus took these captives from one captivity to another, which He did NOT. Several versions read just like this, but that does not make it correct. 

The Good News Bible tells us, “When He went up to the very heights, He took many captives with Him.” In a sense, these alternate translations are more explainable. The usage of the word many indicates that some chose not to go. What kind of foolishness would motivate a response like that?

Look at what Hebrews tells us. 

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.”
Hebrews 2:9 NKJV

While we must all taste death, the fear is supposed to be gone. If you are having fears about death, I must tell you that this fear is a demon working off of a known weakness, and fear is a big problem for most of us.

Where did go to suffer death? 

Hell. The book of Revelation shows us that Jesus took the keys from Satan. I am sure that most perceive Jesus as struggling with Satan, but having God stand before you, would you fight?

My wife’s father did forward communications in Europe during WW2. He came home with a German trench knife. Since they did not hand these collectibles out to the enemy, that tells me that her father had to take it from at least one of them; that realization gave me a greater appreciation for such a quiet man.

“I am He who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”
Revelation 1:18 NKJV

Note how the NKJV translation uses the terms Hades and Death. 

Death is the Greek word thanatos and means death both literally and figuratively.

Since we never really die, is it possible that death implies something else, like an eternal separation from God.?

It is possible. 

While there are indeed souls lying in Hades, I contend that there is NO ONE in hell as yet. Ecclesiastes tells us that the dead lie in silence until the final judgment; 

“For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten.”
Ecclesiastes 9:5 NKJV 

and that only happens at the great white throne; and NO, not everyone before that throne goes to hell. Read about the sheep and goats in Matthew 25.

Hades, on the other hand, is “the place (state) of departed souls: – grave.” Strong’s

Some will sharply argue that there is a separation even today. In an effort to respond to this aggressiveness about the usage of the word hell, I give you Matthew 5:22, which says, “Whoever says, ‘You fool,‘ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” The CEV translation says, “And if you say that someone is worthless, you will be in danger of the fires of hell.” 

Doesn’t all this smell of road rage? 

And if it is a crime in God’s eyes, then we are all guilty.

So the word you did not see here in the Revelation, and a relatively common word that the Bible translators used, is hell. 

Hell, is the Greek word geenna, pronounced gehenna. 

“Gehenna, the basis for the word hell, was a place just outside the walls of Jerusalem, the valley of Hinnom. This valley the idolatrous Israelites devoted formerly to the horrid worship of Moloch, 2Ki_16:3; 2Ch_28:3. In that worship, the ancient Jewish writers inform us, the idol of Moloch was of brass, adorned with a royal crown, having the head of a calf, and his arms extended as if to embrace anyone. When they offered children to him they heated the statue within by a great fire, and when it was burning hot they put the miserable child into his arms, where it was soon consumed by the heat; and, in order that the cries of the child might not be heard, they made a great noise with drums and other instruments about the idol.” (Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible.) The place became a trash dump, burning constantly and smelling horrible.

The name Gehenna or the word hell are both indicative of everlasting punishment. 

And everlasting punishment is also eternal separation from God, which we see when people are finally cast into the lake of fire, which burns forever.

However, since one event changed everything – Jesus and the cross, “hell” also changed. 

What changed in hell that day?

Remember the rich man and Lazarus – the poor Jewish beggar. Both died, and we find that the rich man was now in torment and Lazarus, the former beggar, was being comforted in Abraham’s bosom. 

This story is important because Jewish tradition would put the rich man in Abraham’s bosom merely because righteousness and riches went together. 

Jesus, by His words and actions, undid that tradition.  

He took the keys of death, hell, and the grave. In so doing, He removed Satan’s control and effectively removed the fear of death. 

He also eliminated this split system that we see in the Lazarus narrative. 

Why did that happen? 

Because Jesus became the serpent upon the pole that we are to look upon and live. 

Numbers 21:5-9 NKJV “And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” 6)  So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. 7) Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it, shall live.” 9) So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.”

The effect is that when someone dies now, having already looked upon Jesus, they are either in the arms of Jesus or merely asleep and know nothing. 

All time changed at this event, and the potential for all to have life in Him became available that day. 

Death is no longer to be feared.

So these levels or separations that people see in hell were removed. Mind you, much of this so-called understanding about hell came from the author Dante Alighieri and his book The Inferno, where he, as the author, created stages and levels in hell, where he put corrupt politicians and leaders from the Catholic church.

“Jesus ascended into hell to catch up the unredeemed spirits…” 

I am sure you mean to say descended, but that is irrelevant. Since Jesus preached to the captives, one might assume that everyone there was a captive, but we cannot yet make the assumption that anyone there was redeemed. 

I came to this understanding because there was no one in Christ, seeing as He had not gone up to the Father yet, and the Holy Spirit had not come. And though it seems too simplistic, I will say it, there was no church to make converts.

 So, does the rich man, who was now in torment, fall under the category of unredeemed? 

The answer to this question must have driven the Jewish audience crazy. I suspect that was a part of Jesus’ intent. If someone fell under the category of redeemed, I would imagine the beggar Lazarus was your man. 

But what about King David? 

You should not be able to give him the righteous award as he was quite the scoundrel when it came to Bathsheba. 

How about King Saul? 

This man had the Spirit of God on him and lost not only it but his mind as well. 

I suppose the point here is our inability to determine who is righteous and deserving of God’s redeeming grace and who should remain under punishment; this is precisely why the forgiveness of sin is extended to everyone, including Saul and Judas (Yes, I said Judas. I threw him into the mix because I do see repentance in his words and actions toward the end. Now to say that someone has unforgivably condemned themselves to hell, 1) prematurely judges that person, and 2) moves us into the category of being a judge, and that is NOT our jobs, as all judgment has been given unto the Son, NOT YOU. Read John 5:22.) 

Imagine what Jesus must have preached to these “captives.” 

Could there have been some who turned Him down? 

Any answers we have to this question are pure conjecture on our part, seeing as we have no definitive answer.

“People previously dead were alive and walking among the living.”

“The tombs broke open, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After Jesus’ resurrection, when they had come out of the tombs, they entered the holy city and appeared to many people.”
Matthew 27:52-53 BSB

Who were these people?

Perhaps the answer as to who these people, coming out of their entombments, is this: 

“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” John 11:25 NKJV

We do NOT know the answer to this question, but what did Jesus preach to these “captives” who were lying in silence? 

The good news – is that life, freedom, hope, and eternity with the Father are available, and you can have all that if you will follow me. If it was life, it would appear that many believed and, therefore, came to life and emerged from their grave sites.

The first thing we deal with is the number of people who emerged from their entombments.

The Greek word translated as many is polys, which means great in magnitude or quantity. 

 It is difficult to even imagine, as Jerusalem suddenly became inundated by people who had previously been dead. (I also assume it was a localized event, but we have NOTHING to tell us that it only happened in Jerusalem.) 

To make this a bit more interesting, let’s discuss Lazarus, Jesus’ friend who died. (Read John chapter 11.) So many struggle to explain why Jesus waited four days to come and raise him up. The reason lies in the Jewish tradition says the soul finally leaves the body after three days. Jesus waited that long to ensure that these religious zealots could not say that what Jesus did was easy because Lazarus’ soul was still in his body. As the faith teacher Kenneth Copeland once said, if you think it’s so easy, then why don’t you get a freshly dead person and try it.” 

“Recently…, hearing the (“dead in Christ will rise first“), I immediately thought we who are born again are not dead in Christ even after we die in flesh.”

Born. gennao. Meaning: to be begotten. Metaphorically of God making Christ the center of your life. Regenerated. 

Again:  It is the Greek word anōthen and means from above, anew. A second time, once more.

Paul, writing to the church in Corinth, talks about this transition that we, as corruptible mortals, must go through. We don’t talk about this transition because it is death, and death makes people squirm because they fear death. As I have pointed out, we no longer have to fear death, so let’s dive in. 

Becoming “born again” does NOT kill the flesh or make sin disappear. It is like pushing the reset button on your spirit, but you cannot eliminate that one flawed processing chip. If you could go and buy another, you would find that they all used that one faulty chip; therefore, the machine will eventually fail in a similar manner.

So, assuming that you realize that you were born from above, and are made in the image of the Father, then you know that this all happens independent of death. 

Look at 1 Corinthians 15:50-54, and you will see things like flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. 

Well, guess what? 

If you are reading this, you are flesh and blood. It would certainly seem as though these air-breathing bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God. 

So what’s the workaround? 

These bodies have to die, and No, that is NOT your job; it is God’s, and this is part of the MYSTERY that Paul speaks of. As you can see above, we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. Surprise, you will most likely shed this corrupted, mortal body as you migrate upward. Those dead people, believers, will have already gone through this and will pass us by momentarily as we put on our immortality. 

I keep thinking about the guy who died but came back to life. One of the dominant things he could remember was that he felt a good site better while he was in heaven.

1 Corinthians 15:50-54 NKJV “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51) Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53) For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54) So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY.””

Our being in Christ Jesus is a product of our simplistic faith in Jesus Christ, and we will never become separated from this life that we have in Christ, even if it involves death. 

Here are a few verses to help strengthen your knowledge of Him.

Rom_6:11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gal_3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Col_1:28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

 Put something like the Blue Letter Bible app on your phone and then do a search for “in Christ Jesus,” you will find a vast number of passages that may help to assist you in your understanding, and that will help you hold on to the truth that you, because of your belief are in Christ, never to be separated.

“… Who might qualify as dead in Christ?” 

Anyone who has come to a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ and died. 

Before the cross, no one could come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. However, two people in the New Testament challenge my understanding of how we know Jesus Christ: Simeon – the old but devout and holy man, that was led by the Spirit to come to the temple at the exact moment that Joseph and Mary brought Jesus for His bris – circumcision. The other person was Anna – the elderly prophetess. These two spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Now, consider that Jesus lived for 33 more years. 

Did Simeon and Anna die and go to the Father or Hades, the place of departed souls? 

We can only assume, but it would be a good one. Therefore, until Jesus came and took the keys from Satan, Hades may have been the holding place for Anna and Simeon, not to mention a few others that God pronounced as righteous in the Old Testament. On the day Jesus showed up in Hades, all that changed as He offered them a one-way ticket into the Father’s arms by preaching to the captives. 

Consider, if they were righteous, as Jesus was, then Satan holding them there in Hades would have been an illegal move on his part. If Satan held them, they were captives until Jesus set them free. At that moment in time, they became the dead in Christ.

In the statements above, I focused on qualifications. Now let’s define what it is to be “dead in Christ.”

Search for the term dead in Christ; it only comes up once, 1 Thessalonians 4:16. 

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16 NKJV

Dead is the Greek word nekros and means corpse (literally dead.) The Word Study Dictionary takes it further and defines it as a deceased person. 

Although I am not dead now, it is apparent that death is required. Seeing as life is vital for the work of God. (I am scratching my head as I say that.) I suspect that even God sees a purpose for our being born, as it allows for our gifts and free choice to Worship the creator – God. 

But flesh carries with it a problem, as the Apostle Paul told us that flesh and blood CANNOT inherit the kingdom of God. 

“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption.” 1 Corinthians 15:50 NKJV 

This air-breathing body is corrupted because this body carries a broken genome that drives our selfish impulses – the impulse to sin. (I say it this way because it is the only thing that makes sense.) and Heaven has no corruption in it, which is why flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So, we, in these bodies, cannot enter into heaven. 

Obviously, something will change, and we will shed these earth suits. But until then, Jesus gives us the right to consider ourselves dead to sin. I get to practice that one daily. 

“I surmise that those pre-crucifixion believers had not been redeemed until that day.”

It is often difficult to see some of these characters as righteous. Samson is called righteous, but he did many things outside of what we would think was God’s will. Turns out it was God’s will, but we could barely see it until the last page of the narrative. Lot was willing to give his daughters to those pond scum pounding on his door, and then the angels had to drag Lot and his family out of town to safety. And what about the guy I consider the biker of the Bible, Jephthah. God called them all righteous. 

When we use the word redeemed, there is a mountain of religious rules and regulations attached to it, and there is the assumption that we will walk away from the situation with a bright shiny face. I can tell you that I walked away from a few things while dragging my exhausted behind out of there, and my face was NOT shining. I can look back now and see how God called me righteous, but few may have picked up on God’s plan and hope for me. 

“They were the dead in Christ that rose first.” 

As I pointed out above, it would seem that people God called righteous were illegally held captive against their will. Since Christ preached to the captives, He may have changed their status to being in Christ. Thank God they were already dead because they got to rise first. I have nothing more than what I have proposed here to prove that, but what a great story. 

“Where does that leave us? …”

You sound so depressed. If your life is hidden in Christ, then, at the moment, you are ALIVE in Christ and living inside an earth suit, and you get to deal with a thousand different feelings, most of which were a gift from God. Obviously, Satan managed to corrupt those feelings, but soon, we will shed those suits, put on our new robes, and spend eternity with the Father. 

“The end will see a battle in which God destroys all his enemies…”

Revelation 19 shows us one of the last great battles, where Jesus comes riding back with a sword coming out of His mouth, and He is followed by the saints of heaven. This sword is the Word of God. But notice something; you never see Him swing it, nor do you see the armies of heaven engaged in battle. That Word does all the killing and kills all who choose to fight against Him in seconds.

If He kills all infidels, who would be left to rule over? 

Think about this. After killing the combatants, we are told that He rules over the nations for a thousand years. 

“And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.”
Revelation 21:24 NKJV)

The New Testament has the Old as its foundation, so here is a passage from the Old.

“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come and let us walk In the light of the LORD.” Isaiah 2:2-5 NKJV)

He and those slaughtered saints from the seven years will sit on thrones in judgment during the 1000 years. How appropriate. 

“Then I saw thrones, and the people sitting on them had been given the authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony about Jesus and for proclaiming the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his statue, nor accepted his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They all came to life again, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4 NLT)

Okay, that battle is over, and who is thrown into the lake of fire? 

Satan – for 1000 years, and the only two humans there, the antichrist and the false prophet; that’s it. 

“And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who did mighty miracles on behalf of the beast—miracles that deceived all who had accepted the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue. Both the beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.” Revelation 19:20 NLT)

“and binds them a thousand years.”

No one human is bound by God.

Remember, all sins were forgiven on the cross, so NO ONE is being judged for sin. Now, there will be a time of judgment, but that judgment is based upon what you did with Jesus, and that happens at the great white throne. This is the only place and time this will happen. 

Fast forward a thousand years. What happens next?

Satan is released and once again deceives the nations. Those poor fools, many of them, will attempt to surround the Holy City with the hope of killing us, Jesus and God. God, on the other hand, kills all who join in this stunt. Those dead people join all the other dead from the beginning of time who have not gone up in the rapture (this is where Matthew 25 kicks in), and some are shown mercy. Those not afforded mercy are then judged and thrown into the lake of fire, where they are forgotten and permanently separated from God.

And all the rest of us join Jesus and the Father in eternity, never to be troubled again.

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The Near And Sudden Appearing of Jesus Christ. Part two. 2 Thessalonians 2:3, and a few others.

Posted on 06/06/2023 by remso

This is a continuation of part one, a previous post based upon Pastor Jack’s sermon notes from his message Signs Of The Coming Anti-Christ – Part 3 – 8:00 AM, 4/30/2023

If you understand what Pastor Jack asks when he says, “On what Authority do we base this “Blessed Hope”? 

Then you probably do as I do and frequently remind yourself of all He has done to give me this blessed hope and salvation. I do not do this because I doubt God’s word, but having had enough verbal mud slung at me, I sometimes get tired and stagger. I ask myself, is this life I have chosen to live true. While my challenges and questions may seem simplistic, they are still genuine, as I, and others like me, rehearse things like Jesus’words where He told the disciples what He would do and then did it.

In the previous post, I ended by quoting Pastor Jack as he pointed out, through the scriptures, how men, like the Apostle John, Paul, and Christ Himself, declared why their word carried the authority and confidence to sustain our hope. 

Assuming that you have bold confidence in your salvation, the next question is,

What are we supposed to be doing in the meantime?

“and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
(Hebrews 10:24-25 NASB)

Keywords in verses 24 and 25 are: stimulate, assemble, and encourage.

Although the phrase “as you see the day” is not characterized as “the Day of Christ,” it still means the same thing. Other ways this is addressed in scripture are  “The Day of Christ Jesus,” “The Day of Jesus Christ,” and “The Day of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

(I searched for the specific phrase “The Day of Christ,” which only shows up 3x; they are all in the letter Paul wrote to the church in Philippi – Philippians.) Other New Testament passages allude to The Day of Christ, but this sentence structure is unique to the Apostles John & Paul and Jesus Christ Himself.

What is this day that is drawing near?

It depends on what side of the fence you are on.

 If you are a follower of Christ, then you should be looking for Him to return in the clouds for those who are His own, and you will meet Him there. 

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 KJV)

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” (Titus 2:11-13 NKJV)

If you have not given your life to Jesus Christ, that puts you on the wrong side of the fence. You, then, fall under the category of those who do not know Him and, therefore, be subject to His wrath.

To add to your confusion, “The Day of the Lord” also has a sinister side, as it refers to the seven years of God’s wrath that will come immediately after the church is removed from the earth. Whether you felt like you did not deserve wrath or not will be irrelevant on that day because you obviously did not have a relationship with Him.

2 Peter 3:10-12 NKJV  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.  (11)  Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,  (12)  looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

An example in which God saved the righteous and destroyed those who did not believe.

Jude 1:5-7 NKJV  But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.  (6)  And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;  (7)  as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

What can we understand about the DAY of Jesus Christ? 

For those who do not believe, this day or time will not come with an announcement; it will come as a thief in the night. Since you were not looking for Christ to come for His church, you certainly will not see or expect this. 

It is a time of wrath.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,”
(Romans 1:18 NKJV)

“… At His wrath the earth will tremble, And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.” (Jeremiah 10:10 NKJV)

“But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will repay each one according to his deeds.”
(Romans 2:5-6 BSB)

Should you need to read all the details about this time of wrath, I suggest reading Revelation chapters 6 through 19. In chapter 19, Jesus comes on a white horse, followed by the saints of heaven. This crowd is those who went up in the catching away of the church, and He has a sword coming out of His mouth. This sword is the Word of God.

Another aspect of “This Day of Jesus Christ” is a moment in time when – either by death or rapture – our redemption is made complete.

Why would I make a distinction?

Because the dead in Christ will rise first.

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.”
(1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 BSB)

Think about the fact that the dead “in Christ” begins to rise, and then those of us who have been waiting for Him to call us home. 

Do you think He merely leaves us in our current conditions (both the physically dead and those who are dead in their sins)?

Having pondered this repeatedly, I cannot see us, those of us alive, being able to take these bodies that carry the damaged genome that motivates us to sin into the presence of Jesus.
Because they are dead, they will have already shed the housing we call a body and its damaged genome. So this is NOT an issue for them. 

You do know that we followers of Christ must stand before the Bema seat, right? Of course, it’s NOT something you need to worry about, as it is a time of rewards, but what if it is also the place where we get to shed this (in my case) fat, damaged body?

Paul, writing to the church in Corinth, seems to be discussing this very thing.

“For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
(1 Corinthians 3:11-15 NASB)

To make a dramatic point, I tell the guys that if they idolize their Gucci underwear, perhaps now would be a good time to buy something like Fruit-of-the-Loom, and then maybe you won’t be standing there naked before the Lord. But what a perfect time to rid ourselves of this sin-damaged body. I am with you; just thinking about losing this body gives me mental anguish. It and I have been close for a long time, and there have been moments when I thought I looked good. But those days are long gone.

I want to show you something from the Revelation. In a sense, it applies to the followers of Christ as we ascend to meet Jesus in the air. In Revelation 21 (remember that the Revelation is a revelation of Jesus Christ), we see Jesus talking about the nations during the 1000-year reign of Christ and the city of God, the New Jerusalem.

“But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”
(Revelation 21:27 NKJV)

If we did not, in some way, shed this body with its built-in damage, then how would we get in?

We would not, and this adds to the idea that this body must die, and the best place is that Bema seat.

It is also a time when God avenges Himself.

Jeremiah 46:10 NKJV  “For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, A day of vengeance, That He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; It shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; For the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice In the north country by the River Euphrates.”

“The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and full of wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on His foes and reserves wrath for His enemies.” (Nahum 1:2 BSB)

The seven years will come to an end when Jesus physically returns to the earth; this, of course, is after He slaughters all those who chose to fight with Him. The Jews have been looking for the Messiah to physically return to the earth. Well, this is when He does just that. Although scripture tells me that many of them will mourn as they realize that this is one they previously rejected, they will repent and turn to Him.

What I am pointing to comes from Revelation 19. 

Revelation 19:11-16 Weymouth  “Then I saw a door open in Heaven, and a white horse appeared. Its rider was named “Faithful and True” –being One who in righteousness acts as Judge, and makes war.  (12)  His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many kingly crowns; and He has a name written upon Him which no one but He Himself knows.  (13)  The outer garment in which He is clad has been dipped in blood and His name is THE WORD OF GOD.  (14)  The armies in Heaven followed Him–mounted on white horses and clothed in fine linen, white and spotless.  (15)  From His mouth there comes a sharp sword with which He will smite the nations; and He will Himself be their Shepherd, ruling them with a scepter of iron; and it is His work to tread the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Ruler of all.  (16)  And on His outer garment and on His thigh He has a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Only moments later, we see the birds being called to the great supper of God. Note who has been laid to rest.

“Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice, he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”
(Revelation 19:17-18 ESV)

This great supper consists of The flesh of:

– kings,

– captains,

– mighty men,

– horses and their riders,

Up to this point, they have all been people who have chosen to fight against the Lord. However, the following line creates a small problem, as it could include those who merely hate – “and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, small and great.“

If I only read Revelation 19:15, I would see what appears to be God smiting the nations and, therefore, killing off anyone who is not a “Christian.” I say it this way because I was surprised to find that there are people who believe that theory. This is ridiculous because an aspect of this paragraph tells us that He then goes on to rule the nations with a scepter of iron. Well, what is it, total destruction, or are there survivors from the nations that enter the millennial reign?

Survivors.

Only moments later, we see the birds being called to the great supper of God. Note who has been laid to rest.

“Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice, he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”
(Revelation 19:17-18 ESV)

This great supper consists of The flesh of:

– kings,

– captains,

– mighty men,

– horses and their riders,

Up to this point, they have all been people who have chosen to fight against the Lord.

The following line creates a small problem, as it could include those who merely hate – and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, small and great. However, it shows us that among those fighting against God, there is a wide variety, not merely elites and the poor.

In these days, prior to Jesus’ return for His church, we have two opportunities that we should be taking advantage of.

One, take the opportunity whenever possible, and preach the gospel. This is exactly what I am doing and fits well into the game plan God seemed to have for my life.

The second is to live as pure, holy, blameless, and faultless as possible.

Philippians 1:3-6 “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until The Day of Jesus Christ;”

1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

Philippians 2:14-15 “Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in The Day of Christ.”

1 Corinthians 1:6-8 “Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the Day of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Stay focused, time is short, and Jesus is coming back soon. Today would be a great day for Christ to return for His church.

One last thing.

Why the church cannot be on earth during the 7 years, and therefore, excluded from God’s wrath.

1 Thessalonians 5:9 “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, In Great Contrast is The Day of The Lord. Beginning with the Rapture of the Church, (The Day of Christ) only then can The Day of The Lord begin – a time of God’s wrath and judgment to be poured out upon a hostile, rebellious, Christ-rejecting world. The Day of The Lord is a period of time that follows after the Rapture and is carried out through the entire 7 years of the Tribulation Period and continues on out until the end of the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ on earth.”

(1 Thessalonians 5:9 is NOT the only verse that convinces me that the church is NOT here during the seven years, the time of God’s wrath. Genesis 19, where we find the narrative about Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah, is one of those instances where the angel said, “for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” The implications for Lot were safety, away from God’s wrath. In Exodus 9-11, we see the plagues upon Pharaoh and Egypt. All the plagues impacted everywhere in Egypt except in Goshen, where the people of Israel lived. The final plague kept those who were covered by the blood safe from death – as they put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts. This would have worked for anyone who followed those specific instructions or came under the shelter of a house with the blood.

Since we only need two witnesses, I will stop with this one.

John 5:24 NASB “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.)

Posted in 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, antichrist, Antichrist, apostasia, apostasy, bible study, body, dead, death, departure, Geneva Bible, gentiles, Israel, Jews, Messiah, Millennium, rapture, Revelation, the nations, the prince that shall come, thief, twinkling of an eye | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Who are these people, because I see them everywhere in scripture?

Posted on 05/30/2023 by remso

Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him. So the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans(?) to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. And the king said to them, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.” (Daniel 2:1-3 NKJV)

Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.” The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “My decision is firm: if you do not make known the dream to me and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made an ash heap. However, if you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor. Therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation.” (Daniel 2:4-6 NKJV)

Where is Daniel while all this is going on? 

Obviously, Daniel was not a part of any of these groups. Because of their attempts to save their lives, as they did not have answers for the king, everyone, including Daniel and the three other Hebrews with him, is under a death threat from a king that has demonstrated how serious he is about his decrees.

Daniel goes before the king, buys a little time, and comes back with the dream and what it means.

 Daniel answered the king, saying: “The mystery about which the king inquired is such that neither wise men, astrologers, magicians, or sorcerers can disclose it to the king. But, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar the things that will happen in the latter days. The dream and the visions that went through your head as you lay on your bed are these.” (Daniel 2:27-28 TLV)

 Daniel tells the king what the dream was.

“You looked, O king, and behold, there before you stood a huge statue—an enormous and dazzling image whose appearance was awesome. The head of that statue was of pure gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet partly iron and partly clay. While you were watching, a stone was cut out, but not by hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together and became like chaff from summer threshing floors that the wind blows away. Not a trace of them could be found. Then the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” (Daniel 2:31-35 TLV)

 “Wherever mankind, beasts of the field, and fowls of the heaven dwell, He has given them into your hand and made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold. “Now, after you, another kingdom will arise, one inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over all the earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron shatters and breaks everything—and just as iron smashes everything, so will it shatter and crush all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly potter’s clay and partly iron, so this will be a divided kingdom. It will have some of the strength of the iron, for you saw the iron mixed with clay. As the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle.” (Daniel 2:38-42 TLV)

“You are the head of gold.” The first kingdom in the equation. The head of gold is Babylon under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar.

  • Now, after you, another kingdom will arise, one inferior to yours. The second kingdom in this equation is The empire of the Medes and Persians, whose union was denoted by the breast and two arms of silver, and which was established on the ruins of that of the Chaldeans on the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, B.C. 538.
  • The third kingdom. The kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. The UCRT dictionary tells us that “The empire of the Macedonians, or “brazen-coated Greeks,” aptly denoted by the belly and thighs of brass, founded by Alexander the Great, who terminated the Persian monarchy by the overthrow of  Darius Codomanus at Arbela, B.C. 331″ To put this plainly, the Grecian Empire. This is not a quiz, but do you know who the remaining two generals were and what regions they controlled? Seleucid in the North and Ptolemy in the South.
  • The fourth and what seems to be the final kingdom, represented as iron, which many believe to be the Roman Empire, does not show up until almost 255 years after the remains of the Grecian Empire. Considering the closeness of all the others in terms of time, bringing the Roman Empire into this dream seems odd at best. Biblically we are told about the Babylonian, the Medo-Persians, and finally, the Macedonians or Grecians, but nothing is said about the Roman Empire. Do you know what Empire causes the most grief and plays a role in affecting both the Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires?  The Assyrians. Do you realize that one of the names of the Antichrist is the Assyrian? Yeah, we seem to ignore that aspect when we are ranting about how the Roman Empire will rise up again in the last moments of time. And, since the Assyrians have been so influenced by Islam, we ignore their potential through Jihad, of bringing as many as possible under the influence of Islam; hence, a global religion.
  • Note: there is no mention of who makes up these toes of iron and clay, but it is obvious that there is an attempt at integration, which clearly fails. Do Sunnis and Shiites get along? Have paid attention to what Isis, coming from Afghanistan, is preparing to do to Iran as of 5/29/2023? They have threatened war over water, and they are backing it up with army tanks and heavy equipment.

Let’s focus on what Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel 2:43 KJV And whereas thou saw iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

Notice how “they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men.“

Mingle means to mix or combine. The word mingle, and the word mixed are the same Aramaic (Strong’s concordance calls this language the Chaldean) word ărab. H6151 ‛ărab, enunciation: ar-ab’. (Chaldee); corresponding to H6148; to commingle: – mingle (self), mix. Total KJV occurrences: 4.

Seed: – zera‛: An Aramaic noun meaning seed or offspring. This word is used only once in Dan_2:43 in the idiomatic phrase “with the seed of men” (KJV).

The question is, offspring of whom?

The Word Study Dictionary tells you this

“This mixing of people with the seed of men is a reference to other people groups joining a community or nation.”

The implication is that in the statement above, they are trying to join themselves to Israel, but that is not the case, and we see it going all the way back to Ishmael and Esau. Just a short heritage listing from Ishmael begins to show you the beginnings of the nations.

Isn’t it fascinating that Abraham was able to produce nations of Gentiles and then Jews?

Just for the fun of it, here are the names of the twelve princes that came from Ishmael. Many have associated regions to go along with their names.

“These were the sons of Ishmael and these were their names, by their towns and their settlements, twelve princes according to their nations.” (Genesis 25:13-16 NKJV)

The firstborn of Ishmael,

Nebajoth and or Nebaioth. From Nebajoth sprang the Nabatheans, who inhabited Arabia Petraea (Petra.)

Kedar. From Kedar, the Cedreans, who dwelt near the Nabatheans. The name means darkness or dark-skinned.

Adbeel, Disciplined of God.

Mibsam, A fragrant, sweet odor.

Mishma, A report, a hearing.

Dumah, Silence. A town of Judah ten miles southwest of Hebron.

Massa, Gift; burden, a prophecy; enduring.

Hadar. More than 300 Manuscripts and printed editions read Hadad, as in 1 Chronicles 1:30.

Tema, South desert; Southerner.

Jetur. An enclosure; defense. The Itureans, who inhabited a small tract of country east of Jordan, which afterwards belonged to Manasseh

Naphish, Refreshed; recreation; taking breath. :Note: These are evidently the same people mentioned in 1Ch_5:19, who, with the Itureans, assisted the Hagarenes against the Israelites, but were overcome by the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.” 1Ch_1:31; 1Ch_5:19. The Ultimate Cross-Reference Treasury

Kedemah. Eastward.

“But they shall not cleave to each other.”

Cleave is the Aramaic verb meaning to cling to, stay together, to adhere together.

As you can see from the Amplified version below, they will not hold together.

“And as you saw the iron mixed with miry and earthen clay, so they shall mingle themselves in the seed of men [in marriage bonds]; but they will not hold together [for two such elements or ideologies can never harmonize], even as iron does not mingle itself with clay.” (Daniel 2:43 AMP)

As you can see, the Amplified Bible implied that their mingling could be seen in marriages. This idea of marriage should have a familiar ring to it, as Balaam told Balak, the king of Moab, how to defeat Israel. Dr. J Vernon McGee points out that Balaam is mentioned three times in the NT.

“Balaam is mentioned three times in the closing books of the New Testament. In 2 Peter it is the way of Balaam. In Jude it is the error of Balaam. And it is the doctrine of Balaam in the Book of Revelation.”

The Old Testament also helps to define what Balaam did.

“And Moses said to them: “Have you kept all the women alive? Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor…” (Numbers 31:15-16 NKJV)

In spite of God’s clear admonition that Balaam should NOT speak a word against Israel, he did so by telling Balak how to destroy them subtly by introducing foreign women, and they would cause the children of Israel to collapse from the inside out by their demands for compliance with their foreign gods and shrines.

In relation to these people who mingle with the great sea of people are words from Ecclesiastes.

“And I discovered (something) more bitter than death, the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her.” (Ecclesiastes 7:26 NASB)

This takes us back to Daniel, where the mixed have but one intention, to destroy from the inside out. What does that mean to us? They start with small demands, then they get themselves voted onto your governing bodies – like school boards and city councils. They then begin to change the rules and laws to suit their ideological teachings. Some call this a religion. All of this is Jihad to the group of people I refer to, the Islamic religion.

Did you know that, under the guise of the Ottoman Empire, they almost overtook the world?

Thankfully, the British were able to squelch and, in a sense, deliver a mortal wound to the Ottoman Empire in 1924 by forcing them to disband and making the empire illegal by international agreement. While the “civilized” world began rebuilding after WW1 and enjoying the Roaring 20’s, the Ottoman Empire, shortly thereafter, began reorganizing under the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

Did you not notice that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey has, on several occasions, espoused that he would resurrect the Ottoman Empire?

(AMP) “And as you saw the iron mixed with miry and earthen clay, so they shall mingle themselves in the seed of men [in marriage bonds]; but they will not hold together [for two such elements or ideologies can never harmonize], even as iron does not mingle itself with clay.”

All this should have a familiar ring to it if you have read about God’s promise to Abram/Abraham. Abraham, in an attempt to move God’s plan along, at the prodding of his wife, produces a child, Ishmael.

“ And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.” Genesis 17:20

Does anybody want to venture a guess as to who that nation is?
If you said the Arab nation(s) are descendants of Ishmael, then you would be right.

I can hear the religious as they say, how dare you speak in that manner?

Look at what the Strong’s concordance says about the simple word “nation.”

Nation is the Hebrew word gôy or gôyim. It is a masculine noun meaning nation, people, Gentiles. a foreign nation; hence a Gentile. This noun is also used to describe anyone other than Israel, whether they be pagan, Gentile, or heathen.

The term Goiim, to my understanding, is a very negative word applied to outsiders.

My thoughts.

Daniel was given the interpretation and perhaps the understanding; that alone should move the context into an Israeli, or at the least a Middle Eastern one. Regardless, you should never read the Bible without considering the context of God’s people and the promised land.

Some may say that the dream was meant for Nebuchadnezzar exclusively and, therefore, should be seen as one that is primarily a Babylonian context. The problem with that thinking is how quickly the story moves off Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians and onto the Medo-Persian Empires and then the Grecian, and that the Babylonian empire, though a conquering one, was also one that protected and helped to develop God’s people.

In trying to convince you that the narrative is about global rule, many have tried to argue that the statue shows us the Roman Empire. In pushing that argument, they ignore that the Grecian empire, during the time in which they conquered the Holy Land, was under the command of Alexander (one man) the Great. Sadly, he died, and the kingdom was divided four ways (between four Generals). That did not last long and ended with two Generals ruling a somewhat divided kingdom, with Seleucid in the North and Ptolemy in the South (Egypt.) I can easily see then how the thighs and legs of bronze would continue to represent the Grecian empire to a degree.

But what happens when I get to the feet of this statue?

Historians tell us that the two remaining Grecian generals clashed with each other for control. In the North, the Assyrians were integrating into Seleucid Empire – this is the same violent people group that gave us the Ninevehites that Jonah was sent to with a message of destruction. The Assyrians, also known as Chaldeans, were part of the Babylonian and Medo-Persian Empires; they also joined with the Egyptians in the South to fight against Israel. The Assyrians, descendants of Ishmael and Esau, are an integral part of the events we are seeing in the Middle East and news related to Israel today.

See how that sort of ended there, and it worked without including the Roman Empire, which also had two branches or legs to it. If you must insist that the Roman Empire is glued to Daniel’s explanation of the statue because of Daniel 9:26, then I suggest that you pay attention to the role that recorded history plays in this belief.

Josephus, (the Jewish historian that worked for the Romans), told us that Assyrian conscript troops, with an open and violent hatred of the Jews, even though they knew that their punishment would probably mean their death, disregarded commands from Titus to cease their actions and destroyed Herod’s temple primarily to obtain the gold that was melting and running between the cracks. They did not know that they were fulfilling prophecy and showing us what was to come.

But what do we do?

We follow religious traditions and loudmouth teachers who tell us that because Daniel 9:26 was fulfilled in 70 A.D., while Jerusalem was under the control of Roman soldiers, that this tells us that, “the people of the prince that is come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary” will be a part of the Roman empire, once again. These teachers will convey to you that they don’t need to pay attention to Josephus or Tacitus (a Roman historian) because these “people” were doing all this damage under the Roman flag, and the coming actions of the followers of the Antichrist can be blindly attributed to the Roman Empire and, therefore, indicative of the Antichrist and the followers of his global religion.

I added global religion as the scripture tells us that they “worship” the beast – the antichrist; and, because of this term “worship,” that there will be a global, unifying religion.

Worship means nothing close to my grateful, heartfelt love for the Father because of what He has done for me through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Thayer’s concordance gives us this.

Worship is to kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence. Among the Orientals, especially the Persians, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence. And in the NT (worship is shown) by kneeling or prostration to do homage (to one) or make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication. And finally, it is used of homage shown to men and beings of superior rank.

In many of these instances, the alternative is often death for non-compliance.

The understanding that I apply to the Roman empire, unlike the others, is that it is NEVER specifically mentioned in the narrative about the giant statue, and this is a narrative that effectively takes us all the way out to the catching away of the church and the entrance of the antichrist – a leader that will have an influence on the Islamic nations.

“Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly potter’s clay and partly iron, so this will be a divided kingdom. It will have some of the strength of the iron, for you saw the iron mixed with clay.” (Daniel 2:41 TLV)

“A kingdom, undefined by previous pattern. The word kingdom in the Hebrew is malku and means a rule or dominion.” Word Study Dictionary

What do we have that looks like that?

Islam. They have had, in the past, a caliphate; a central leadership – ruling authority, and many are desperately trying to reestablish the caliphate that rules over the world with Sharia law.

So, you may have picked up on a problem. 

We have two groups of people trying to control the world; the filthy rich and followers of Islam.

Seeing as the rich have already demonstrated their desire and ability to control and kill off much of humanity, you might think that they will win. Not quite so fast. It is obvious, from scripture, that they will quickly kill off 1/4 of humanity with their vaccines and contagions, but at the three-and-one-half-year mark, the false prophet will switch teams and align himself with Islam, the beast, and Sharia law. Jesus told us, about this time, that the killing will be so great that if God does not stop it, no one will be alive on earth.

I hope you can understand that the best time to pledge your allegiance to Christ is now, before the catching away of the Church. Scripture tells us that the antichrist will be revealed very shortly after the church is gone. If you are here at this point, you can still come to Jesus. Just know that just about everyone not on your side will be trying to kill you.

Posted in Assyrians, bible study, Daniel, dreams, empire, gentiles, Islam, Nebuchadnezzar's statue, the fourth kingdom, the nations, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

This blog originated from Pastor Jack Hibbs’ Sunday Morning message dated 4/30/2023. The coming of the antichrist. Can we see that he is coming?

Posted on 05/16/2023 by remso

This blog is based upon Pastor Jack Hibbs’ Sunday Morning message dated 4/30/2023. It is NOT meant to disrespect the Pastor, but I, too, have been challenged by people telling me that the rapture is not in the Bible, while others ask me who will be the antichrist, even though they have their own ideas of who this man will be.

For several years I have struggled to remember specific scriptures that would decisively answer what seems like the simplest of questions, but then, I have been studying these things for many years. As I write this, I am aware of how I used to talk to people when I was involved with the Faith movement. Don’t get me wrong, I think faith is an essential part of our lives as believers. Accosting people for their lack of faith does not represent God and is abusive. Teaching people to act this way is false teaching and should be avoided.

So, being put on the spot to define where we can find this removal of the church from the earth and when we might see the antichrist, I have, at times, struggled to define passages that clearly demonstrate Jesus coming back for His bride. (If you are willing to look at things that do not specifically say “rapture,” then you will find extensive references that speak of the harpazo, our catching away, and statements that Jesus made about coming back for His own.) It is obvious to me that our removal from the earth unleashes: the antichrist, God’s wrath for seven years, a time of tribulation that will be more deadly and destructive than your imagination could come up with and will culminate with Jesus returning as the warring Messiah that the Jews have been looking for. Do not be misled; God’s wrath continues up to and including the great white throne.

I will have to break this up into 3 or 4 posts as it is currently 15 pages long. If you want to see Pastor Jack’s notes for the purposes of assisting you in your study, they are available at https://calvarycch.org/wp-content/uploads/JHX566-Signs-Of-The-AntiChrist-Part3.pdf.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12  Is one the most definitive sections of scripture that speak about Jesus’ return for His bride, the church, and then the entrance of the Antichrist.

I am NOT looking for the antichrist, for I have come to understand that as a follower of Christ, I will not be here when he comes, and neither will anyone else who belongs to Jesus. The reason that I have this expectation is my knowledge that the antichrist cannot come until the church – the bride, is lifted out of here.

If this puzzles you, consider Lot and Noah. In both cases, the devastation was coming; however, both were removed prior to the destruction.

This next statement, “In Light of Signs of The Coming Antichrist and The Imminent Rapture of The Church,” is one that Pastor Jack made as an introduction to his sermon.

I find it uncomfortable to read as I have never been looking for the antichrist, as church gave me a healthy fear of this guy. I have, however, been looking for the prophetic signs that we are in the last days of the church on this earth.

Do you want a major sign that we are in those last days?

Then consider Israel becoming a nation in a day.

“Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.” (Isaiah 66:8 TLV)

Well, this is what happened with Israel.

“At midnight on May 14, 1948, the Provisional Government of Israel proclaimed a new State of Israel.”

https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/us-israel#:~:text=At%20midnight%20on%20May%2014,on%20January%2031%2C%201949).

Prior to that moment in time, Israel was never thought of as a nation. Oh sure, for a time, there was Israel, the “Northern “kingdom” and, in time, the two kingdoms – Judah and Israel, were eventually unified, but it was, as always, a monarchical kingdom, most of which was evil. Both the Northern and Southern kingdoms were sent into 70+ years of Babylonian captivity but eventually returned to become a unified kingdom.

“And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a mighty nation; and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from thenceforth even for ever.” (Micah 4:7 JPS)

If you cannot accept Israel as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, then what other signs or prophecies do we have?

Occasionally, I choose alternate translations of the Bible because they, in my mind, portray what the Holy Spirit is saying. The Literal Standard Version leans toward a 1500s translation that holds to one of the earliest and correct translations of the Greek word apostasia. The Geneva Bible, published in 1587, was in usage for almost 172 years before the King James Bible, which was demanded by the State Church of England at the compulsion of the Catholic Church, with the agreement of King James as the corrections made by church leadership reflected how the church felt about people leaving for Protestantism.

In my opinion, the King James Bible’s usage of the word apostasy is unclear and leaves one thinking, at what point is this “leaving” deemed enough. The terminology departure, one of the word choices that could have been used, conveys the departure of the church from this earth. This event can be summed up in a word, the rapture. The unfortunate thing about the word rapture is how foolish people constantly want to tell you that the word rapture is not in the Bible. When the unlearned try to use this argument, they demonstrate how little they understand about this event, and they express their lack of desire to learn, for the word, Harpazo means the same thing. The word rapture is a transliteration of the Latin term rapio or rapturo; both point to the catching away of the church – a departure.

2 Thessalonians 2:3 reflects one of the clearest of those changes demanded by the early Catholic church.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 LSV  “And we ask you, brothers, in regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of our gathering together to Him,  (2)  that you are not quickly shaken in mind, nor be troubled, neither through spirit, neither through word, neither through letters as through us, as that the Day of the LORD has arrived;  (3)  do not let anyone deceive you in any way, because if the departure may (does) not come first, the man of lawlessness may (will) not be revealed—the son of destruction,  (4)  who is opposing and is raising himself up above all called god or worshiped, so as for him to have sat down in the temple of God, proclaiming that he is God.  (5)  Do you not remember that, yet being with you, I said these things to you?  (6)  And now, you have known what is restraining, for his being revealed in his own time,  (7)  for the secret of lawlessness already works, only the One now restraining will do so until He may come out of the midst,  (8)  and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the LORD will consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and will nullify at the appearance of His coming,  (9)  whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders,  (10)  and in all deceitfulness of the unrighteousness in those perishing, because they did not receive the love of the truth for their being saved,  (11)  and because of this God will send to them a working of delusion, for their believing the lie,  (12)  that they may be judged—all who did not believe the truth, but were well pleased in the unrighteousness.”

Verse 3, from the NASB, reads like this.

2 Thessalonians 2:3 NASB (3) Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,

If I use the NASB, it also conveys that “it” – the antichrist, will not come unless one or the other takes place. It is unfortunate that the NASB pushes us to be looking for the churches, in general, to fall away; ah, but from what?

The assumption is that the churches and there are a number of denominations involved in this falling away are falling away from some moral or denominational standards.

So, if we find, as we study the scriptures, that we should be focused on the departure of the church from Earth instead of the church turning its back on Jesus and morality, then we are looking for Jesus to return to collect His bride, the church. If you are still waiting for a greater number of churches to fall away, then you need to know that we have adequately surpassed that adequate number.

If your church is letting you know that they are going to have a transgender entertainment night, your church has thrown off its moral boundaries and accepted lawlessness as its standard. Wisdom, if nothing else, is telling you that it is time to find another church. The one that I currently attend teaches the Bible in almost every service, in a line-by-line, word-by-word manner.

This verse above, prompting us to await for what we already see, makes no sense, that is, until you get to verses seven and eight. So let me give you those verses from the ESV.

2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 ESV  For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.  (8)  And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

What can we gather from verses 7-8?

That the spiritual entity that we call the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

So the logical assumption here is that there is NO NEED to wait for a total and complete apostasy – a falling away of the church; as it is, the apostasy, along with an exponential rise in lawlessness, is already at work.

Based on scripture, we know that something is restraining that mystery of lawlessness.

The scriptures imply that the spiritual entity will enter a human once again.

(The Bible has been telling us that this demonic entity has been entering men throughout the course of human history, almost as if Satan, under the guise of the beast or dragon, has been testing the waters to see if the time was right. Well, it wasn’t then, but it is now.)

If saying that Satan has only placed this beastly demon in men bothers you, then you need to study your Bible. You need to go back to the beginnings of the narrative, Genesis, where you not only see God giving man dominion over the earth (who in turn gives it away,) but you also see God admonishing Eve and telling her that a descendant (only in terms of a baby being brought into the earth) will be a man. If Satan is looking for someone specific to eliminate, then it has to be a man. If Satan is going to mimic God, then it makes sense for it to be through a man, also as God’s redemptive plan for humanity comes through a man, Jesus.

“I will make you and the woman hostile toward each other. I will make your descendants and her descendant hostile toward each other. He will crush your head, and you will bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15 GW)

The only thing resisting Satan’s plans and the unleashing of the antichrist in full force has been Holy Spirit-led followers of Christ, who not only prayed but took action, which for some meant death.

This restraining action continues until “he” who now restrains is taken out of the way.

The “he” in Genesis 3:15 is not only the church but Jesus Christ.

Considering that we are in Christ, it is relatively easy to understand how the church, a rather large number, can be thought of as a solitary unit.

How is it that we (the church) will be taken out of the way?

The world is trying to sell you the idea that aliens, which they claim are already here, will be the thing that removes the church. That is NOT the case, as Jesus will return to collect His bride. So this leads to one of the loudest questions/challenges.

Does the Holy Spirit leave the earth along with the church?

The simple answer is NO, as the Holy Spirit remains and continues to lead and guide others into the truth. Obviously, the church is gone, but an untold number of people will continue to come into a relationship with Jesus. Since the age of Grace is over, then these people will enter the kingdom through, in many cases, a violent death – martyrdom.

Once the restrainer is removed, then the one who receives his power from the dragon (Satan) will emerge in full force and will be identified.

We seem to plead; tell us who this antichrist is?

The problem is, no one can tell you with authority who this will be, but I can assure you there are many front-runners, and they have, albeit unwittingly, been interviewed.

Why should we study what the Bible has to say about a coming world leader – the Anti-Christ, if he has no immediate impact on the church?

The primary answer to the question is that no one with qualifications, as this man will have, would be thrown into the fight without training (If you think that Barack Obama slipped off quietly into the night, you are wrong, as he is still discretely dominant in American “politics” as well as having a global influence.) Whoever this man is, he has already been trained. His power(s) will be given to him by Satan, the serpent, and evil people.

The secondary answer to the question is that this drive for such a world leader leads to the full onslaught associated with the antichrist, a time that will be filled with death and torment. If you are sitting comfortably at a hamburger stand, sipping your morning coffee with your “friends,” while thinking, what is this guy talking about? My life is relatively good, then consider yourself fortunate that you were raised in America and not Nigeria.

I can almost assure you that the actor Jamie Foxx felt the same way, but as of 6/02/23, we have learned that his recent medical emergency had everything to do with a movie production company insisting that he get vaccinated, which he did under protest. The vaccination, in short order, created a blood clot in his brain, and he is now paralyzed and blind.

For a long time, we have been protected from having fire bombs thrown at us as we tried to go to church, and we, in America, have yet to go full digital currency, as Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa have.

Nigeria, which only recently transitioned to full digital currency, had warned the people to turn in their old paper cash as it would become illegal when the switch took place. Those that did not believe or listen began violently rioting after the cutoff date – to no avail.

CryptoSlate, an online “news” source about the progress of CBDCs, says this on their website.

“Since October 2021, 99.5% of Nigerians have refused to use the central bank’s digital currency, the so-called e-Naira, preferring to continue using cash. So what did the central bank do? It doubled down. “Drawing parallels with what happened in India in 2016, in which high-value bills were demonetized, Corbishley pointed out that Nigerian officials ruled a similar move in December 2022. “The goal is to make it much more difficult for Nigerians to use cash. And it’s working like a dream/nightmare.” This policy has culminated in a severe cash shortage triggering anger and disruption as businesses refuse to accept old denominations. Incidentally, a general election is set to occur on Feb. 25 of 2023. CBDC global expansion is on the way

Corbishley said concerning Nigeria, “people would die, as they did in India, and businesses will close, turning daily life on its head in the country.” However, according to Corbishley, “the Nigerian government and central bank “say the pain is worth it.”

Nigeria’s CBDC program called ‘a very dark experiment’

It will help if we have some definition as to who he (this antichrist person) is and what he tries to accomplish.

Let me be very clear, the Anti-Christ can only be revealed after the Holy Spirit has removed the church, the Bride of Christ, that is us, the church. So I am not sure the antichrist should be at the forefront of our thinking, but the very point of writing something like this should demonstrate the similarities associated with the removal of the church and the wrath that is coming.

My wife and I recently were having lunch with a “Christian couple” when his wife says to my mine, I don’t want to talk speak about the rapture, as we have been looking for this event for over 2000 years, and He is NOT coming back anytime soon. Obviously, this woman has no hope and may soon be looking down the barrel of God’s wrath. I am not saying this just to prove how harshly I can speak but that it appears that He is only coming back for those who are waiting for Him.

Is this what scripture tells us to do? Look for the antichrist?

No, for we have an admonition to remember that we are to be always “looking for” and eagerly awaiting the arrival of Jesus Christ – not the Anti-Christ.

Titus 2:11-13 NASB “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, (12) instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, (13) looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,”

When you are new to this thing called Christianity, it is wise to build a firm foundation.

You do that by investing time in reading the scriptures but don’t just do it casually, read and study like your life depended upon it. To do that, you may have to read slowly, learning to take apart even the simplest of words by looking at a concordance like the Strong’s, where you frequently find alternate words that make more sense. If you don’t know by now, the Bible many of us use was heavily influenced by the motives of the Catholic church – the state church, and the politics of 15th-century England. Another good reason to read the Bible is that you might say something to your unbelieving friends, only to have your words angrily thrown back in your face. If you have spent time studying the Word, then you won’t be so challenged in your flesh and spirit; and, worse, give up.

Run-ins like this evoke another question, and that is,

“Can We Trust The Bible?”

One of the primary validations, proving that we can trust the Bible, is the Word of God itself. This is also addressed as The Authority of the Scriptures.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;” (2 Timothy 3:16a NASB)

That’s great, but who did you convince when you started angrily spewing scriptures at them?

So learning specifics in which Jesus told His own disciples things like I will be put on a cross, die and rise again. Again, this did not mean much until the events happened to Him, just as He said. They all knew He died, and many watched this with their own eyes.

“And He (Jesus) began to teach them that the Son of Man (Jesus) must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” (Mark 8:31 NASB)

“As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way, He said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.” (Matthew 20:17-19 NASB)

Peter, a disciple himself, later writes that the Holy Spirit is to be trusted as well.

“So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:19-21 NASB)

This gets brought up frequently in religious circles, and that is the fact that we have hope.

Ah, but hope in what and why do we have it?

On the Authority of:

Jesus Christ.

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-3 NASB)

Keep in mind what we just covered, Jesus said and then did exactly what He said. He established credibility.

The Apostle Paul said.

“When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4 NASB)

And,

“For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.” (Galatians 5:5 NASB)

The Apostle John.

“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3 NASB)

The end of part one.

What is going to happen after the church is gone will make anything we have experienced look like a board game. I strongly suggest that you turn to the Lord now while you can.

If I did not tell you, let me do so now. Jesus is coming, and it could be today. If you read this blog, then you know full well that today is a perfectly good day for the rapture, but, He is only coming for those who are looking for Him.

Is that you?

His name is Jesus, call upon Him, and He will hear you.

Posted in 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, antichrist, Antichrist, Apocalypse, apostasia, apostasy, bible study, Daniel, departure, Geneva Bible, overtake, Revelation, Satan, the little horn, the prince that shall come, the willful king, thief, Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire. Matthew 311-13.

Posted on 05/06/2023 by remso

I ask this question as I think about the thief on the cross. How many baptisms are we supposed to endure?

That came off rather pessimistically and I have experienced far too much religious tradition, but it’s a rhetorical question anyway and I am not expecting an answer. Undoubtedly, we will likely find out.

This next section in Matthew’s gospel is entitled

“The Baptism of Jesus.”

John, the Baptizer, had effectively told the religious Jews that the Messiah was here and that He would clean house, something that none of them would like.

“I indeed am baptizing you in water on a profession of repentance; but He who is coming after me is mightier than I: His sandals I am not worthy to carry for a moment; He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire. His winnowing-shovel is in His hand, and He will make a thorough clearance of His threshing-floor, gathering His wheat into the storehouse, but burning up the chaff in unquenchable fire.”
(Matthew 3:11-12 Weymouth)

John said that his baptisms, in water, were for the profession of repentance, but He (Jesus), who is coming after me, will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire. Those are two completely different baptisms, and it appears that John’s method would be set aside once Jesus took over, and He did.

“Just at that time Jesus, coming from Galilee to the Jordan, presents Himself to John to be baptized by him.”
(Matthew 3:13 Weymouth)

“ Just at that time.” What time was that?

At the time that John was there (conveniently placed there by God because God had arranged an appointment), either at the river Jordan or another water source within the Jordan Valley. Considering that Jesus had been up by Galilee, He could have been as much as 70 miles north. With no good way of communicating or setting up this appointment, Jesus begins walking south at a precise time in order to have John baptize Him.  

Notice that the verse tells us that Jesus presented Himself to John to be immersed by him.

Having looked intently, trying to find the commandment that instructs someone to baptize people, and not finding it, it occurs to me that there may have been additional reasons on Jesus’ mind, such as having John witness the Holy Spirit coming upon Him, or for John to acknowledge Him and pronounce that there should be a public acceptance of Jesus’ ministry.

This may help you to understand where I am coming from.

This makes me think of church, where someone is publicly ordained (Do you know what that word ordained means in religious circles? The connotations are decreed, appointed, consecrated, and dedicated – before you, the audience.) The psychological effect on the audience is to give the person being ordained a obligated and automatic level of acceptance, something that may not happen to the “stranger, even though they have been part of the church for a while. It took me a long time to figure out my calling. You might ask why I would even tell you that, well, there is a tremendous amount of manipulation involved with organized religion, as the church leadership will try to convince you to be a missionary in Zambia or a street evangelist on skid row in Los Angeles, Ca. (I can tell you that none of that appealed to me.)

As a young man, a few years before I got married for the first time, I had a very vivid dream / vision. I say it that way because of how real it seemed. Jesus stood at the end of my bed (although I could not see His face) and told me, with precision, my entire life. When He was finished, I thought, I need to write this down. I did not, because I was thinking while He was talking that I would remember every word and I could write it down later; I merely went back to sleep (I had been asleep, but in the dream, I was wide awake and thinking). When I awoke that morning, I knew Jesus had been there, but all I could remember was being filled with great joy at how the account ended. Having lived my life, I can tell you it has been far from joyous. I suppose that means that there is an unending joy yet to come.

Sometime later, I was doing some Bible reading and came across this bit of information, Moses had a sister.

Why is that important?

Because his mother put him in a thatched basket and set him in the river, hoping that someone kind would find this new male baby alive and provide for his well-being. That person was Pharaoh’s daughter. The sister of Moses, quite possibly Miriam, watched until the baby was pulled from the water and then offered Pharaoh’s daughter a “woman” that could nurse the baby. Pharaoh’s daughter agreed with the understanding that she would come and collect the baby back to herself once he was weaned.

(If you feel that you must challenge me on what I have just said, then I suggest that go back and reread Exodus chapter two. The Amplified Bible adds the name Miriam in italics as a proper name is merely a logical assumption.)

There is some argument about how long this weaning period lasted, as some women continue to breastfeed their children well beyond a couple of years. 

Why are we even talking about this?

Because forty years later, we are told that Moses, who had been educated in Pharaoh’s courts, suddenly seems to realize that he has a non-Egyptian ancestry (although, at this point, they are known as the Hebrews.) No, the Bible does not give us all that detail; instead, the narrative moves Moses from the basket in the water to a life of royalty, privilege, education, and celebrity to the point where he kills an Egyptian on behalf of a Hebrew, one of his kinfolk. 

“Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”
(Exodus 2:11-12 NASB)

The book of Acts tells us that Moses, at age forty, flees for his life and spends 40 years in the wilderness working as a shepherd with Jethro and living with Zipporah, his wife.

“Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came to draw water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. Then the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them and watered their flock. When they came to Reuel their father, he said, “Why have you come back so soon today?” So they said, “An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and what is more, he even drew the water for us and watered the flock.” He said to his daughters, “Where is he then? Why is it that you have left the man behind? Invite him to have something to eat.” Moses was willing to dwell with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses.”
(Exodus 2:16-21 NASB)

What eventually happens is that Moses is told by God that all those who wanted him dead for the murder of the Egyptian are now dead.

At this point Moses is now 80 and there is NO mention of children or of Miriam.

“Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Israel is My son, My firstborn. “So I said to you, ‘Let My son go that he may serve Me,’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.”‘” Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and threw it at Moses’ feet, and she said, “You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me.”
(Exodus 4:22-25 NASB)

If this is all we get (“Now it came about at the night’s resting place on the way that the LORD met him and sought to put him to death”) as an explanation for why Zipporah cut off the foreskin, there is a severe lack of communication. By the way, I always thought Moses cut off his child’s foreskin. But, unfortunately, it seems Zipporah went on a verbal rampage, at the least, after she circumcised Gershom, the first son, who may have been a young man by this time.  

After this incident, we NEVER see Zipporah again. 

Why is that? 

I have struggled to understand the answer to that question, but it is evident that women had no rights.The Ten Commandments with Moses Facing the possibility that Moses took action against her changes the imagery that Cecil B. DeMille helped to create when he made the movie The Ten Commandments. 

What we do see down the road is Jethro, Zipporah’s father, coming to give Moses some wisdom about managing his time and all the demands being placed upon him. 

Moses demands that the new Pharaoh let God’s people go. Once the people gained their freedom from Egypt, Moses, under God’s mandate, ruled God’s people for 40 more years. In a relatively short time after their liberation from Egypt, Miriam reappears and does so as a prophetess.

Exodus 15:20  “And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.”

Who pronounced her a prophetess, I don’t know. But watch this mutiny that suddenly ensues.

“Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman); and they said, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” And the LORD heard it.” (Numbers 12:1-2 NASB)

I don’t know if this played a role in the conversation, but I have been told that the Cushites were very dark-skinned. I do not suggest that you allow your racism to run rampant here or anywhere else, as God looks upon the heart, and He can also see your heart. What might have played a role is that Moses already had a wife.

God had a response for Aaron and Miriam when they started bad-mouthing Moses.

Numbers 12:4-15 NASB

(4) Suddenly, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them came out.

(There will be several of these short thought insertions.) The fact that they were inside the tent tends to mean that this was a private shouting match.

(5) Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward,

Just pointing out that they had eventually come forward demonstrates a hesitancy on the part of Aaron and Miriam, perhaps to own their “sin.”

(6) He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream.

Ah, and now we are back to the dream I had. If that dream made me a prophet, what am I supposed to do with this calling? 

I am a tremendous fan of Biblical men like the prophets Samuel (who hacked up King Agag) and Elijah (who boldly called down fire from heaven on multiple occasions. Of course, things like this make for great action movies, but causing a widow’s food supply to never end, or bringing a woman’s son back to life, an act which restored her financial security and provided for her future care in an age where social security did not exist; those are positive life-changing events and also done at the hands of prophets.

(7,8) “Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?”

Many will tell you that God is not bringing justice to evil people during this time of grace. The question you have to ask yourself is, does God change? The answer is no, but He has, as in the case of Jonah’s declared judgment against Nineveh, that God asked him to deliver; God relented (or postponed) in carrying out that announced judgment. Jonah whined about God’s decision and never got to see how that worked out for Nineveh, and we may not either when it comes to dealing with the disgusting swamp of a government we have, both locally and nationally. Oh, and by the way, God frequently uses people (sometimes radically insane people) to carry out his judgment. Some of us can see this as handing people over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh to preserve their souls. Read 1 Corinthians 5:5 to know how the Apostle Paul handled this.

(9,10) So the anger of the LORD burned against them and He departed. But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous.

This shows the immediacy with which it attached to her. It is obvious  to me that God was angry at both of them, but only Miriam got the leprocy on her. I honestly don’t understand that.

(11,12) Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. “Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!”

(13) Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “O God, heal her, I pray!”

(14, 15) But the LORD said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.” So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again.

How does any of this relate to baptism?

I do not see a necessity for anyone to get water baptized, and having a baby sprinkled does nothing except give you some internal comfort, which buys you nothing. If you, as an adult, wanted to demonstrate the serious nature of your commitment to Christ, perhaps getting baptized is the thing for you to do, but I must tell you that I know several people who shed tears and got water baptized and then lived for the devil. Obviously, this is not the way with everyone.

Then which baptism is the one that we, as believers, should be pursuing? 

The baptism that Jesus encouraged, the baptism in the Holy Spirit with fire. It seems odd to use the word encouraged as what He said came across more like a command. In Luke 24, some of the disciples, unnamed except for one we are not familiar with and a disciple named Cleopas, had been walking on the road to Emmaus when Jesus appeared to them and walked with them. During this walk, Jesus directed them to gather in Jerusalem and stay put until the Holy Spirit and the fire from God came upon them. 

“And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But remain in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
(Luke 24:49 BSB)

Clothed is intriguing as very few translation dictionaries direct you to the Greek word enduō. The NASEC and Mounce’s dictionaries are the only resources I have that address the word clothed.

Does that make clothed an improper choice?

Hardly, as the word enduō give us the idea of being “clothed with (in the sense of sinking into a garment.).” The King James Version expresses it this way “but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” It’s the same Greek word, but suddenly the resources are many. One I like to use is the Word Study Dictionary; it conveys this definition “To put on as a garment, to cause to get into a garment, to clothe, dress in, to be clothed; to clothe oneself.”

At Jesus’ command the disciples (now equaling about 120) began gathering in Jerusalem and in the upper room.

“And having met with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to await the promise of the Father which you heard from Me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
(Acts 1:4-5 MKJV)

Were they waiting for the infilling of the Holy Spirit or for Jesus to leave and the Holy Spirit to come?

I seriously doubt they understood what was happening, but having lost Jesus once they did not want to lose Him again. The wisest thing they could do was to follow His instructions.

What were they waiting for?

  • Power from on high.

  • Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

  • Fire, but what did mean.

  • “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” Acts 2:3 

___________

The Holy Spirit was not a foreign subject to the disciples, but thanks to King David, it was an accepted and integral part of their lives that they did not think about. For the disciples, it was wisdom.

  • Jesus tried to explain that the Holy Spirit was no less a part of God than He was.

  • He told them that Holy Spirit would comfort them in ways that I still don’t fully understand.

  • And the Holy Spirit would teach them, lead and guide them into all truth.

    This speaks to me about all the voices (preachers, pastors, evangelists, Bible teachers, and internet “personalities” that all think you have to listen to them). To be honest, listening to all these talking heads can get your head to spinning. I have 55 Bibles, and about 40 commentaries on my computer; some are fairly solid resources and some are just bizarre. I can use information from a variety to convey what needs to be said, but it is the Holy Spirit that is guiding what I write to you, not the collection of talking heads that created the translation or transliteration of the Bible you are looking at. All of them have issues, so don’t let some bully tell you that you can only use the King James version.

    While we are on this earth, and especially in these last moments that we have on earth, you have to learn to trust and follow the Holy Spirit.

Jesus led by example; in that regard, they saw the Holy Spirit in action daily.

Jesus knew things about people and situations, and that is one of the ways that the Holy Spirit works.

If you watch the series The Chosen, watch the faces of the disciples as they try to figure out how He knew certain pieces of information, especially when no one said anything about what was coming next.

I tried to share this with my wife and she asked me a question, What is the fire?

If it was something that would painfully burn us to ashes, well then, I don’t think I want that at all. Thankfully, we saw that the fire was LIKE cloven tongues of fire. If it is my tongue on fire, then praying in the Holy Spirit helps to define this fire for me.

Example: One Sunday morning, in the little church, the worship music was awesome. I judge awesome based upon how it moves my spirit into spiritual warfare mode. This particular week, the pastor that I could not stand to be around chose to sit on the front row, directly in front of me. I believe that he values the Holy Spirit and he had joined in dancing before the Lord on occasions. It seems like the song had the words “let it rain, open the windows of heaven.” I just poured my spirit out before the Lord and began praying down the rains of warfare as I prayed in tongues. I could not tell you what I was praying about but I know this, God was splitting the heavens on my behalf. That pastor turned around and stared at me for several seconds. I was not in the mood and I kept it up for the length of the song.

That morning was fire for me.

Posted in baptize, bible study, Holy spirit, Matthew's gospel, winnowing fork | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

One of the frequent discussions I hear centers on this phrase, “as it was in the days of Noah.”

Posted on 04/24/2023 by remso

One of the frequent discussions I hear centers on this phrase,

“as it was in the days of Noah.”

This comes from Luke 17:26, where it says, “And [just] as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the time of the Son of Man. (AMP)” 

Those that speak on this subject talk about how people just went about their business, getting married and having birthday parties, as though everything was good for their level of advancement (instead of merely banging two rocks together.)

What I just brought up doesn’t even come close to assessing how bad the world was at this time. So let’s start in Genesis 6:1-2 and see where this takes us.

“When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.” (Genesis 6:1-2 ESV)

  • “When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them,”

    It is not the multiplying part that creates the problem; there was plenty of land. It was this next aspect that God was paying close attention to.

  • “the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.”

Who were the sons of God?

They were angelic beings, and though there are both righteous and fallen angels our focus is on the fallen ones. Jesus in trying to explain a twisted and unusual question to some Jews, spoke of the angels that did not fall, when He said,

“… For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.” Matthew 22:29-30 NKJV)

What can I make of this? 

That the angels, that remained subject to God and heavens laws, do not participate in sexual activity.

One of our primary pieces of evidence that these were fallen angels comes from an interaction between God and Satan, found in the book of Job.

“Now there was a day when the sons of God (the righteous ones) came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason?”
(Job 1:6-9 ESV)

Some obvious things you might have picked up on, as Satan – who the Revelation describes as being thrown out of heaven, is meandering about in the heavenlies with the angels that did not fall, is that he is there and nothing no one is doing much to challenge him. 

Satan doesn’t seem to care if he is welcome or not, and so what do we see? 

Satan shoves himself right up near the throne to get God’s attention.

God asks Satan a question.

Does God ask questions because He is lacking answers?

Never, and so we can think of these inquiries as forensic – as He is studying the words you say and the manner in which you respond. You cannot lie to God.

How did Satan respond to God’s question, Have you considered my servant Job?

Well, of course, he had, and it was probably the basis for his being there in heaven, among the sons of God, of which he was still considered to be one. Consider the response of the disciples after being sent out. (This sending happened on two occasions: In Mark 6:7, it was only the twelve, but in Luke 10, the number being sent out was seventy. On both occasions, they were sent in pairs.)

“The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
(Luke 10:17-18 ESV)

Satan didn’t just trip and fall out of heaven, he was thrown out.

“A war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels were fighting against the dragon and its angels. But the dragon lost the battle. It and its angels were forced out of their places in heaven and were thrown down to the earth. Yes, that old snake and his angels were thrown out of heaven! That snake, who fools everyone on earth, is known as the devil and Satan. Then I heard a voice from heaven shout, “Our God has shown his saving power, and his kingdom has come! God’s own Chosen One has shown his authority. Satan accused our people in the presence of God day and night. Now he has been thrown out! Our people defeated Satan because of the blood of the Lamb and the message of God. They were willing to give up their lives. The heavens should rejoice, together with everyone who lives there. But pity the earth and the sea because the devil was thrown down to the earth. He knows his time is short, and he is very angry.” When the dragon realized that it had been thrown down to the earth, it tried to make trouble for the woman who had given birth to a son. But the woman was given two wings like those of a huge eagle, so that she could fly into the desert. There she would escape from the snake and be taken care of for a time, two times, and half a time. The snake then spewed out water like a river to sweep the woman away. But the earth helped her and swallowed the water that had come from the dragon’s mouth. This made the dragon terribly angry with the woman. So it started a war against the rest of her children. They are the people who obey God and are faithful to what Jesus did and taught. The dragon stood on the beach beside the sea.” (Revelation 12:7-18 CEV)

So the life-changing question that people ask is, When did Satan get thrown out of heaven?

Logic would tell you that this happened somewhere between Genesis 1:1 and the serpent showing up in the garden.

Genesis 2:2 indicates that God felt everything was done and good, but it was good once before and then not. The prophet Isaiah tells us that God made it perfect, to begin with.

“For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the LORD, and there is no other.”
(Isaiah 45:18 ESV)

So when I read a verse like Genesis 1:2, I can see that something cataclysmic happened.

“The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
(Genesis 1:2 ESV)

Well, Genesis 1:2 may have been the result of Satan’s being tossed to earth.

Were there any people other than Adam and Eve on earth?

The answer is a strong maybe. Look, you put a young, naked man and woman in the most spectacular of settings, and they will find a multitude of things to explore ( if you get my hint.) Didn’t you ever notice that God said to Eve, after the fall, now you will have pain in childbirth?

Why would He say that if she had never had children?

Give me a break; they had many. And, if all they knew was what Adam, their papa, said and acted like, then they, too, were Godlike. I know this opens a large “can-o-worms,” but try not to let your mind melt over this.

Then why didn’t the serpent – Satan go after one of the others?

Because, in the long run, Satan was going specifically after “God’s” creation,  those who had been given dominion over the earth, Adam and subordinately, Eve.

“And God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of heaven and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that crawls upon the earth.””
(Genesis 1:26 AFV)

Dominion is the Hebrew word râdâh and means to tread down, subjugate, have dominion over, prevail against, and most importantly, have rule over.

Adam had been given command over this planet, and just like Jesus, he only did what the Father told him, except for that moment in the garden.

In that brief moment of time, he handed the entirety of the planet over to Satan by following his wife’s lead.

Now, if you read Genesis 1:26 attentively, you noticed that there is a plurality inferred, and you would be right, but God does not put a body on the man until Genesis 2:7, and then He only formed one of the two; so conversations about making humanity was all in the spiritual mode until He put flesh on them. All the instructions pertaining to this dominion were given specifically to the man, who, in time, informed Eve once she had been made.

If you can understand what I have just told you, then you will better understand what took place when the Serpent said to Eve, did God really say that?

Satan was trying to put a rift between God and Adam, Adam and Eve, and eventually all humanity that could never be repaired. In that masterful move, Satan sowed seeds of doubt, deceit, lying, and an unending heap of trust issues.

Oh, about that rift that could never be repaired. 

The laws that make this universe run are moral laws created and put in place by God himself. Therefore, the only one who could pay the price that justice demanded was God himself, and He did so by sending His Son, Jesus. He also bypassed an inherent problem we have had since the garden, and that is our built-in sin mode. Jesus did not have that, as He was not a creation of either man or woman and was, therefore, sinless. Jesus, being sinless, is the thing that Satan did not count on. So this irreparable rift was not too big of a problem as long as you have a sinless God-man to take your place, and Jesus did just that.

Back to this paragraph,

“the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.”

Having established that these “sons of God” were fallen angels that fell when they followed Satan in his folly, then they were taking the daughters of men, anybody at any time, as they chose. And I don’t think they cared about looks (even though the passage, as though the writer had interviewed them, says they noted the attractiveness of women) as they were trying to manipulate the human genome even further. Hold that thought for a moment. 

We live in a day when science is consistently modifying or attempting to modify the human genome. The American Department Of Defense (under the guise of DARPA) has been doing it for years as they try to create super soldiers. 

Since the ingesting of that fruit changed the human genome and instilled a propensity within us to sin, it permanently damaged the DNA strain that was the base origin of humanity. Every human from that moment forward has that same damaged marker. If that be the case, then when science began looking at DNA, they saw a commonality in every human strand compared. This damaged marker, for which they cannot find a purpose, becomes an expected marker in all of humanity.

I know most translations are using delicate wording so that you cannot easily pick up on the offense of the word “took.” Perhaps we could say they were merely grabbing these women, or shall I say abducting, whomever, whenever, they wanted. These fallen angels may not have copulated with their victims in the manner to which we are accustomed, but the scriptures tell us that they did it.

Do we have anything bizarre like this happening today?

Unfortunately, yes, we do. If you are into the paranormal, a Christian brother named LA. Marzulli writes books and speaks at conferences about demonic abductions. By the way, those that have withstood these encounters have only done so because they possessed ownership of the name of Jesus Christ because they had accepted Christ into their lives at some point, and they used it against what was happening to them.

LA Marzulli, along with others, like Brian Forester, have pursued unexplainable oddities, such as elongated skulls – that have had their DNA tested, and, though in this case found in Paracas, Peru, had parentage leading the researchers back to the Middle East and NO known earthly being.

Let’s assume that you don’t believe me at this point. Let me ask you a question;

Can you accept the Bible as non-challengeable?

I am not talking about known errors or translation disputations, of which there are many, but I know that God’s unchanging moral authority runs through the entirety of scripture. I also know that there is nothing of note in the New Testament that cannot be validated by prophetic words in the Old Testament. Our standard for proving this comes from the Law.

“One witness shall not rise against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin which he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses a thing shall be raised up to judgment.”
(Deuteronomy 19:15 LITV)

So, no matter whether it is a law matter or the validation of God’s Word, it can and should be validated by scriptural witnesses.

I brought up the possibility that Adam and Eve had other children. How do you explain that?

  1. Time, as we understand it, began that day in the garden. If you wish to say the earth is only ten thousand years old, basing the presumption of time from the garden event makes all the sense in the world. Sin, death, and rebellion in the lives of humans all came out of the garden and the eating of that fruit.

  2. What else happened that day? If you foolishly said that the plan of redemption began that day. To a degree, you would be right, but do you seriously think that God was caught off guard and had to come up with a plan now that the two people you have been close to for an untold amount of time will come to an end. Knowing that Satan would rebel and, in a way, take out God’s man, Adam, the plan to recover His creation and entirely eliminate Satan came into being long before we were a thought – and based upon what King David said, you knew me before time began.

  3. So children born outside of the garden do not fall under the category of sin, as sin, it would seem, became a genetic issue. The logical course would follow the change that began as the parents damaged their genetics and then passed that along to any children that followed.

    If they were outside of sin through genetics, then why would they have to be “judged” alongside everybody else?

    Good question, and maybe they are not. Consider that the fallen angels are given no recourse for their mutiny; perhaps those children which were not affected by tainted genetics sustained damage, just as the creation did and cries out for the day of their redemption.

    “All of creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal his children. For creation was condemned to lose its purpose, not of its own will, but because God willed it to be so. Yet there was the hope that creation itself would one day be set free from its slavery to decay and would share the glorious freedom of the children of God. For we know that up to the present time all of creation groans with pain, like the pain of childbirth. But it is not just creation alone which groans; we who have the Spirit as the first of God’s gifts also groan within ourselves as we wait for God to make us his children and set our whole being free.” (Romans 8:19-23 GNB)

So, anyone born outside of the garden was still affected by what happened there, just as the entirety of the earth was. 

Some would say, how would those born outside of the garden know about salvation? 

Well, first off, who was their daddy? Yep, Adam. Adam told Eve, and he also told them as well.

I told you that the garden and its sin were the basis of the world we live in. That moment in the garden initiated the prophetic insertion of Jesus into humanity and the plan of redemption’s calendar.

Did you, as you read, pick up on the fact that the method of momentary relief from sin came through appropriate sacrifice?

God, on the same day as the conversation in which He told Eve that one of her seed would crush the serpent’s head, killed animals – adequate enough to make appropriate coverings, and He showed Adam how to make sacrifice using those same animals. Do not assume that Adam had been stripped of his title; therefore, he was still meant to take dominion.

“for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29 NASB)

Testimony from the Old Testament.

“God is not a man who lies, or a son of man who changes his mind! Does He speak and then not do it, or promise and not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19 TLV)

That meant he was still in the chain of command for the redistribution of information. Since we DO NOT see any mention of those born outside of the garden, the most logical assumption is that they fell and went out of fellowship with God, as Cain did. 

If you can’t handle the idea that there were others born outside the garden and wish to hold to a chronological reading of the scriptures, then where did Cain get the idea that there were others, as violent as he, waiting to kill him?

“Since You expelled me today from the face of the ground and I must be hidden from Your presence, then I will be a restless wanderer on the earth—anyone who finds me will kill me!”” (Genesis 4:14 TLV)

Another bizarre anomaly also follows Cain as he went to a city (?) and found a wife (?). Keep in mind that we are trying to follow a chronological pattern. So, Cain, then, would have to wait for Mom and Dad to produce a daughter that he could have. 

But who was next to be born? 

Seth, a “righteous” son. Try to imagine how long you might have to wait before a sister was born that you could have for a wife. A bizarre train of thought, but so is the logic.

Then Cain left Adonai’s presence and dwelled in the Land of Wandering, east of Eden. Cain was intimate with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. And he was building a city, and he named the city after the name of his son, Enoch.
(Genesis 4:16-17 TLV)

Assuming that we have eliminated the possibility that children born outside of the garden could have been called the sons of God, then the only beings left, as we have pointed out when we looked at Job, are the fallen angels.

One of the boisterous arguments against the angels procreating with humans is that angels have no male organs and, therefore, have no sex. This is based on this passage, where the Pharisees, who were always trying to trap Jesus, brought up a scenario in which a woman is passed through the family members, much like a sex slave, to produce children with the family name.

“In the resurrection, when they (these family members who each had her) rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.” Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”
(Mark 12:23-25 ESV)

Luke’s gospel conveys this theme.

“In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.” And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.”
(Luke 20:33-36 ESV)

At the moment, we live in the age of grace; this age will come to an end with the removal of the church. At that point in time, those of us in heaven become a part of a term that I have come to despise, that “new age,” where we will be married to Christ, the groom. We will be like the angels in that they are eternal. We will be the Sons and Daughters of God that we were designed to be. Stop here. Our spirits are already eternal as we have been made in the image of God – an eternal spirit, and as such, we will merely go on living with our Father. Our relationship with Jesus moves us into what we call the body of Christ. So, in a sense, we are already married to the Lamb. The angels, who also have free will, for the most part, know their duties and place – and it does not include sex. Satan, his name was Lucifer, decided to supplant God, an act that exceeded the limits of his position. He managed to convince a third of the uncountable number of angels to follow him in this rebellion.

Did their spirits die?

No. Many of them were locked up in chains, as they, in their rebellion, became very dangerous. They will be cast into outer darkness, along with Satan and those who choose to follow him, to the place where there is gnashing of teeth, fire, and perpetual anguish.

The scripture leaves no one out, and the flooding killed everything that walked on land and breathed air, that includes half-breed angels, referred to as Nephilim. The giants died, but scripture tells us that they came back after the flood. 

“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.” (Genesis 6:4 NASB)

This can be attested to by Joshua and Caleb’s testimony upon their foray into Canaan and David’s killing of Goliath. Because we have very few records of Titans upon the earth, anymore, then I would suggest that the fallen angels changed their techniques and game plan.

So, the question is, who will you willingly be married to?

There are only two options, Jesus or Satan.

Posted in bible study, fallen angels, Genesis, God does not lie, Goliath, Joshua, Nephilim | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Things that puzzle and provoke me. Matthew 3:9-12.

Posted on 04/16/2023 by remso

In the previous post on Matthew 3, we touched on verses 9 – 12, but as I look at these verses again, I see things that provoke and puzzle me. For example:

“And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.”
(Matthew 3:9 BSB)

If you are unaware, one of the primary purposes of the seven years of God’s wrath is to drive Israel to God and bring about their repentance.

When you read a statement such as “I tell you that out of these stones, God can raise up children for Abraham,” at the least, it sounds like a threat, as though God is telling the Jewish listener, don’t be so sure of yourselves. If you don’t know God’s capabilities, this thing with the rocks is doable. (Think about it, He -Jesus, created it all and made man from dirt. Dirt is a combination of many things, and one of them is rock.) I cannot begin to imagine what raising up stones as His children would look like, but it would be easy for God to do a substitution. Suddenly, this Gentile, who was graciously adopted into the family, feels very small.

Now look at what Jesus has to say.

“The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
(Matthew 3:10 BSB)

Who is He referring to when He says trees?

The Children of Abraham.

“And since Abraham and the other patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also be holy—just as the entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an offering is holy. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be, too.”
(Romans 11:16 NLT)

Many will try to tell you that the Gentile church replaced Israel. NOT by a long shot. The Apostle Paul begins to explain.

“Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves. Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it.”
(Romans 11:11-12 NLT)

I can’t help but think about the implications where “the axe lies ready at the roots of the trees.”

  • If you cut even a single, large root, you will severely damage the tree and possibly kill the tree; death, in this case, is slow. Some of the effects from such damage may have played a role in several tall trees falling due to rain, wind, and who knows what else. Fortunately, no one was struck by the trees.

  • Cut all the roots, and you will cut off the water and nutrient supply. Death will come quickly, anywhere from days to weeks.

If you are a farmer and your life is dependent upon the crops you produce, you only buy the best. A tree represented as top quality should not produce bad fruit; if it does, then you have insect damage or soil nutrient issues, which you should have checked. 

But what does Jesus say?

Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

I think about my life, where I was raised in the church. Whether I understood what I was doing or not seems irrelevant because I have been able to look back upon these detrimental events and know that God has always been a part of my life. Undoubtedly, I turned my back on God several times as I soaked in my shame, but God NEVER turned His back on me.

This would be an excellent place to throw in my two cents.

First, many have said God cannot look upon sin. Most recently, in my hearing, Pastor Greg Laurie once again made this assertion. The implications are that God must turn His back on you, effectively cutting you off from His active grace and mercy.

Is that true?

No, How can it be? 

Adam and Eve did not only sin (they missed the mark and blew it up for all of us) in the garden, but some feel it is appropriate to say that Adam committed high treason. 

So what did God do in response to their actions?

Turn His back on them?

No, He comes down, as usual, and walks in the cool of the garden, as He always did. Yes, He spelled out what the sin had done and what would continue to happen. But have hope, as Eve’s seed would eventually crush the Serpent’s head.

And while a rant like this could go on for volumes, let me repeat what the Apostle John told us.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”
(John 3:16-17 BSB)

Not only did He NOT turn His back on us, but He put Himself on the cross for us. Just the opposite of turning His back.

Did God cut me down and throw me into the fire?

This statement certainly sounds permanent, much like Gehenna/hell, and in a recent conversation with my wife, I think I realized that God had brought the fire into my life to purge and purify me. The circumstances drove me into the Word, where, as one dear lady puts it, it made me a Bible Nerd.
Look at what John the Baptizer has to say in the very next verse,

“I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
(Matthew 3:11 NLT)

There is that word fire again.

I understand baptism with the Holy Spirit because of statements that Jesus made to explain it. Still, there were the cloven tongues that appeared like fire upon the disciples, equaling about 120 persons. There was obvious evidence of speaking with other tongues and power, which for many equated to boldness.

Jesus had to go so that the Holy Spirit – the comforter, could come, and He did, but along with comfort comes boldness.

“But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.”
(John 16:7 NLT)

People are always willing to fight over terminology, especially if you did not say the correct word by their standards. So let me show you the Amplified translation, as they give more than enough supplementary words to define.

However, I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say it is profitable (good, expedient, advantageous) for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you [into close fellowship with you]; but if I go away, I will send Him to you [to be in close fellowship with you].
(John 16:7 AMP)

The Holy Spirit, acting on God’s behalf and doing only what the Father says, as Jesus did, strengthens our hearts about Jesus.

“But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.”
(John 15:26 NLT)

The Holy Spirit will abide with you forever. Doesn’t this speak of a God that will not let you go?

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.”
(John 14:16 NLT)

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.

If you live under a rock and put your faith in Him, the comforter will teach you what you need to know and help you understand. Now, mind you, Jesus was referring to the things the disciples had been told at a time when there were no Bibles, and absorbing the Word of God could only come through repeated hearing from the Torah scrolls – typically kept in the synagogues.

“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”
(John 14:26 NLT)

I tried to run this past the wife, where John the baptist says, “ He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire,” and she had to ask me what the fire is supposed to be in our lives. Well, to be honest, I don’t know, in spite of the fact that many have tried to explain what they think this is.

Elijah called fire down from heaven upon troops that would take him, prisoner. And when you consider the two witnesses that show up on the streets of Jerusalem after the church has been removed, they are adeptly spewing literal fire upon anyone who tries to harm them.

Here is the drawback to thinking regarding the physical spewing of fire.

James and John exclaimed at one point,

“Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?” (Luke 9:54 NLT)

They had no lack of faith that this could be done, but you won’t see their potential motivation if you use one of the simplistic translations. So instead, the Amplified expands the verse appropriately and gives you the backreference.

“But [the people] would not welcome or receive or accept Him, because His face was [set as if He was] going to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John observed this, they said, Lord, do You wish us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elijah did ?” [II Kings 1:9-16.] (Luke 9:53-54 AMP)

Some things to notice here in this narrative about Elijah. It’s an amazing narrative; perhaps you should read it.

  • Because at least these two disciples had paid attention that day in synagogue school, James and John had a strong faith that they, too, could call fire down. Paying attention and having Jesus perform miracles on many levels could have built their confidence to the point where they felt they could call down fire on people. It’s a fantastic narrative; perhaps you should read it. 

    The context begins in 2 Kings 1:2.

    “One day Israel’s new king, Ahaziah, fell through the latticework of an upper room at his palace in Samaria and was seriously injured. So he sent messengers to the temple of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, to ask whether he would recover.” (2 Kings 1:2 NLT)

  • So instead of turning to the Lord, he turns to Baalzebub, the god of Ekron. On their way to the temple of Baalzebub, the king’s messenger meet Elijah.

    “But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are on your way to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’ Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘You will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’” So Elijah departed.” (2 Kings 1:3-4 BSB)

    Of course, there is a God in Israel, but it is so easy to forget, and secondly, no one wants to hear that they are going to die and the messengers return to Ahaziah.

    “When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you returned?” They replied, “A man came up to meet us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him that this is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending these men to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’” (2 Kings 1:5-6 BSB)

    If you send someone on a mission knowing how long it should take, and they are back within 30 minutes when it should have taken a couple of hours, you know there is a problem. Having had experiences with Elijah, the King asks:

    “The king asked them, “What sort of man came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?” “He was a hairy man,” they answered, “with a leather belt around his waist.” “It was Elijah the Tishbite,” said the king.” (2 Kings 1:7-8 BSB)

    I am the king; go get him.

    “Then King Ahaziah sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. So the captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down!’” (2 Kings 1:9 BSB)

    The response from Elijah to this command.

    “Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” And fire came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men.” (2 Kings 1:10 BSB)

    This happened three times, but the third captain was wiser and could see the results of the previous two attempts.

    “So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. And the third captain went up, fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, “Man of God, may my life and the lives of these fifty servants please be precious in your sight. Behold, fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty, with all their men. But now, may my life be precious in your sight.” (2 Kings 1:13-14 BSB)

    This response also pleased the Lord, so God gave Elijah the green light to go with the captain. 

    “Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.” So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king. And Elijah said to King Ahaziah, “This is what the LORD says: Is there really no God in Israel for you to inquire of His word? Is that why you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.” So Ahaziah died according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken. And since he had no son, Jehoram succeeded him in the second year of the reign of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat over Judah.” (2 Kings 1:15-17 BSB)

    Setting aside the fire momentarily, God carried out His word, and Ahaziah died. There is an intriguing phrase within this paragraph: “So Ahaziah died according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken.” Wow, I am sure that Elijah merely said what the Lord had told him to say. Perhaps there is a relationship thing that we are missing when we skim over something like this. 

  • Jesus didn’t denounce the two disciples. The Bible tells us, depending upon the translation, that He reprimanded them.

    The word that the majority of translations use is rebuked.

I’m not too fond of that word because, as a child, I was rebuked savagely, and let’s leave it at that.

The word rebuke is the Greek word epitimaō, and the meanings read like this:

REBU’KED, pp. Reproved; reprehended; checked; restrained; punished for faults.

REPROVED, pp. Blamed; reprehended; convinced of a fault.

CHECKED, pp. Stopped; restrained; repressed; curbed; moderated; controlled; reprimanded.

RESTRAINED, pp. Held back from advancing or wandering; withheld; repressed; suppressed; abridged; confined.

Did Jesus control, hold back, curb, restrain, and convince of a fault, these two disciples?

Most certainly, and He did it without rage. He did NOT tell them that what they were proposing was stupid and impossible because it wasn’t, but they were learning that they were living in the age of grace. So the instructions that Jesus had repeatedly given them were to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves.

Alright, the last verse for this post.

“His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into thewinnowing fork in action barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
(Matthew 3:12 ESV)

The idea behind a fork like this is that the lightweight, unwanted portion gets caught by the breeze and moves away, forming a pile of debris while the wheat falls at your feet. 

Eugene Peterson’s The Message tells us that “He (God) is going to clean house” soon. He goes on to say, “He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

The seemingly simplistic word burn is the Greek word katakaiō and means to burn down (to the ground), that is, consume wholly.

The King James Concordance tells us that the word katakaiō was used 13x in the New Testament. Revelation 18 is one of those places where the term katakaiō is used and is used concerning Babylon. Many seem to think that Babylon, the physical place, is to be rebuilt.

How about NOT. About a year ago, a Christian archaeologist went to the site of former Babylon and demonstrated how much it matches the description in Isaiah 13.

“And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there, Nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there. But desert creatures will lie down there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches also will live there, and shaggy goats will frolic there. Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers And jackals in their luxurious palaces. Her fateful time also will soon come And her days will not be prolonged.” (Isaiah 13:19-22 NASB)

So Babylon is a demonic spiritual entity; watch what happens to it.

“To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I SIT as A QUEEN AND I AM NOT A WIDOW, and will never see mourning.’ “For this reason, in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong. “And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour, your judgment has come.’ “And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more –” (Revelation 18:7-11 NASB)

And it goes on.

“The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls; for in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste!’ And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor, and as many as make their living by the sea, stood at a distance and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What city is like the great city?’ “And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste!’” (Revelation 18:15-19 NASB)

One more passage where the word katakaiō is used.

“The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.”
(Revelation 8:7 ESV)

When you start with Revelation chapter six, you see the beginning of God’s wrath being poured out upon Israel and the nations in the seals. Then, as the seals end, God moves into the “trumpet” judgments that begin in Revelation eight. Remember that the word katakaiō implies a complete burning where nothing is left.

I began this look at Matthew 3:11, where John the baptizer discussed how Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire. I focused on fire and pointed out what it was not. What fire does is purify, so I cannot exclude God from bringing fire into our lives. If it needs to bring that idol you have set up to the ground, let it, as God is purifying you.

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
(2 Corinthians 5:10 ESV)

We will be tested with fire as part of the judgment seat. This is NOT a trying to see if you pass the admission test, but removing those things NOT allowed into the Holy City.

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
(1 Peter 1:6-7 ESV)

Fire brings warmth and comfort, so I hope you can see yourselves as someone who brings these aspects into the lives of others. 

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All the region were going out to him, and they were baptized, confessing their sins. Matthew 3:4-12.

Posted on 04/09/2023 by remso

I am a big fan of the series The Chosen. If you were to ask why, I would tell you that even though we have limited information to define the events we see on screen, there is enough information in scripture to validate that an event, such as the feeding of the five thousand, happened. To those who would include me among the false teachers because I can enjoy The Chosen and be deeply and emotionally moved by the love of God through what I see there, you need to eliminate the box that your religious practices force you to keep Jesus and God inside; they are NOT big enough to hold such love. Like the old wineskins Jesus described, you will burst if you try to take in this much love and be ruined. There is all that and the fact that I read my Bible and know immediately whether a conversation or physical act is valid according to scripture. I also apply my ability to think and ask questions like, does what I just saw invalidate the entirety of scripture and therefore need me to scream that Dallas Jenkins and the producers of the show are all false teachers, which they are not.

One of the things that surprised me was the portrayal of John the Baptizer.

John enters the scene by jumping out from behind a large bush while trying to shock and surprise Jesus, Philip, and a couple of other disciples carrying knives to subdue their fears of living in the wilderness. John is laughing while his crazy-looking hair goes in every direction. Jesus catches His breath and joins in the laughter, obviously, deeply pleased to see His cousin, that He loved. Philip, a disciple of John and now a recent member of Jesus’ team, seems used to John’s peculiar behavior and gladly gives John a big hug.

What does scripture say that might confirm that John the Baptizer was “unusual”?

“This John had his clothes made of camel’s hair, with a leather girdle round his loins; his food was locusts and wild honey.”
(Matthew 3:4 Moffatt NT)

Food is the Greek word trophē, meaning nourishment or meat.

If you were to try to argue that this was the seed pods off of the Locust tree, you would be hard-pressed to convince me. It is fairly obvious that locusts were common and plentiful. Honey speaks for itself. Since I have the potential of a horrid allergic reaction to bee stings, you won’t find me playing with bees. So, yes, this is a bit unusual.

Having your clothes made from camel hair is the antithesis of a fashion statement.

Look at what Jesus said.

“Now as they were leaving, Yeshua began to talk to the crowd concerning John. “What did you go out to the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? No? So what did you go out to see? A man dressed in finery? Look, those who wear finery are in the palaces of kings! Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, even more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send My messenger before You, who will prepare Your way before You.’ “Amen, I tell you, among those born of women, none has arisen greater than John the Immerser. Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Immerser until now, the kingdom of heaven is treated with violence, and the violent grasp hold of it. For all the prophets and the Torah prophesied until the time of John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.”
(Matthew 11:7-14 TLV)

To say the least, he was unusual.

I used to seek an answer as to why Jesus could say of John – the Baptizer,

“among those born of women, none has arisen greater than John the Immerser. Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Immerser until now, the kingdom of heaven is treated with violence, and the violent grasp hold of it.” 

I used to think that the answer was associated with the belief that John was the first to be filled with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but I couldn’t prove that assertion, so I stopped saying it. Consider that all prophetic words from the Lord fell silent for 400 years, right before the advent of John and Jesus. Jesus, I can understand because He is the Son of God. On the other hand, John is a six-month-old baby in his mother (Elizabeth’s womb) when she had the Holy Spirit infill her. 

Why, by the way, would the Holy Spirit filling Elizabeth be unusual? 

Because, as Jesus told His disciples, “if I do not go away, the Comforter (Gk: paraklētos – advocate, comforter) will not come.” [John 3:16].

That could, in some minds, make the infilling of the Holy Spirit before Jesus’ return to the Father impossible or improbable at best.

“In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,”
(Luke 1:39-41 ESV)

Filled is the Greek word plēthō and means to “fill,” however, it also (literally or figuratively) means to imbue or influence. 

Imbue – according to Webster, is an old English word that means to dip in water to saturate it. So the key word here is to saturate.

A piece of evidence to validate the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of humans prior to Jesus departing the earth can be found when we look at this prophetess, Anna.

“And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”
(Luke 2:36-38 NASB)

Anna had no television advertising and no theological training with a special emphasis on the prophetic. She, we are told, never left the temple but served day and night by fasting and praying. And yet, at the right moment in time, the Holy Spirit moved her to greet the family with the baby Jesus as they came near the doors of the temple to be circumcised. Consider one more thing about her, she was a woman. Women were not allowed to serve in the Temple, and they were certainly not permitted to participate in circumcision. Mary was restricted to the outer court for women, just as Anna would have been subject to. Since Jesus was most likely considered to be illegitimate and ostracized in any town where they were known, He would not have been able to have a Bris ceremony.

What happened next in Anna’s life?

She went about and began giving thanks to God and speaking of the Messiah to all those who were looking for the redemption of Israel. The end of this sentence is important because not everyone, even if they sit next to you in church, is looking for the redemption of Israel. In our case, the catching away of the church.

—–

When I was too young and naive to stand up for myself, receiving the Holy Spirit was an absurd and irritating experience. We were not told that the Holy Spirit came into our lives when we received Jesus Christ.

“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”
(Ephesians 1:13 ESV)

If you are a religious zealot, then what I just said probably set you into a rage because you were never taught that, and even if you were, you, much like I was, could not see the Holy Spirit as an integral part of the Godhead, the three-in-one.

Perhaps that understanding would have changed everything for you as well. I know that for most of those early years, I felt powerless. 

Back to John.

“Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”
(Matthew 3:5-6 ESV)

In a previous post I discussed how difficult it is to see Jesus coming to John to be baptized, especially since there is about a 72 mile span between the two locations.

Let’s say you read the Bible from front to back and saw many times the admonitions to offer sacrifices for your sins.

Did you see anything that instructed them to immerse in water for the forgiveness of sins?

The answer is NO. The Jews did baptize slaves and there was the ceremonial cleansing in a mikveh (a ritual bath,) where the person would discretely get naked and dunk themselves, quickly and completely, underwater in an act that indicates that they had been born anew. At this point, they were considered to be sinless, like a newborn. The problem with that is that it ignores that we are born into sin.

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
(Matthew 3:7 KJV)

Apparently, there was an association between spiritual cleanliness and an escape from the coming wrath. Since that wrath would be at least over 2000 years later, and many Jews still refuse to understand, I am not sure the logic is working for them.

“Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance;” (Matthew 3:8 TLV)

In Matthew 3:5,6, the implication is that everyone from that region came to John to be baptized. If that was the case, then there should have been a tremendous amount of evidence that demonstrates their repentance or change of heart (for the better).

Jesus said,

“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.”
(Matthew 12:33 BSB)

First, horticulturalists have observed and studied to determine if a peach tree variety with good flavor and valuable qualities could be grafted onto a rootstock that is NOT susceptible to the nematodes in your soil. Then, because someone else did the hard work for you can trust that the fruit tree you just purchased from the garden center will have a healthy start and will, in most cases, have a rootstock that resists disease, while the upper portion of the tree that brings enjoyment will be what I consider a good variety. 

Secondly, assuming that you allowed someone who realizes that issues must be overcome, such as sin in the case of a human, appropriate actions have been taken to procure a good tree. If you merely dig a hole, shove it in the ground, and walk away from it, what are the chances that it will produce good fruit or any at all? Marginal at best. So, again I have to take actions, such as nutrients, soil amendments, and water – like a drip system so that I don’t water the weeds and ensure that the tree gets adequate sunlight. In many cases, like apples, it should get satisfactory cold temperatures. Did you know that many trees produce fruit on second-year growth? That means that the trees need to be pruned to promote healthy growth.

The tree, in itself, has the innate qualities needed to be a good tree. Failure to maintain that tree and the fruit will be poor in quality and eventually inedible. Can you see how the Word of God and an active relationship with the Father promote and maintains this tree called us.

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.”
(John 15:16 BSB)

Our relationship with Christ is meant to produce fruit.

“Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. ”
(Romans 7:4 BSB)

And if you are not sure what your fruit is supposed to look like, there is this.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
(Galatians 5:22-23 BSB)

John the Baptizer continued to say,

“And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”
(Matthew 3:9 ESV)

Obviously, the ESV uses the word presume instead of think.

The UCRT conveys that the word “think. Gr. dokeō, *S# G1380. (Implies) Think not for a moment (Aorist). This is an idiom to be frequently met with in the Jerusalem Talmud and means be not of that opinion” (CB)

The New Living Translation conveys,

“Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.”
(Matthew 3:9 NLT)

Can you imagine that?

“Already the axe is laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire!”
(Matthew 3:10 TLV)

Dr. J Vernon McGee (who, for me, always had a rural attitude) says, “Fruit bearing is the result of having the right kind of tree. Only a fruit tree can produce fruit. He talks here about the axe being laid to the root of the tree, and the reason is that the tree is not bearing fruit.”

Let’s try to finish this until the next look at Matthew.

John is still speaking.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
(Matthew 3:11-12 BSB)

In trying to find a validation for John to baptize, I am only concerned with passages from the Torah and Tenach, the law or instructions given to Israel. I find none. I am jumping ahead a bit because Jesus spoke about this very thing.

“Let it be so now,” Jesus replied. “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness in this way.” Then John permitted Him.”
(Matthew 3:15 BSB)

So, Jesus was fulfilling some act of righteousness. Perhaps this is it.

““Now this is what you are to do to consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests: Take a young bull and two rams without blemish, along with unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil. Make them out of fine wheat flour, put them in a basket, and present them in the basket, along with the bull and the two rams. Then present Aaron and his sons at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water.” (Exodus 29:1-4 BSB)

Apparently, this can be perceived as preparation for Jesus to serve as a priest in human eyes.

Have you ever wondered why denominations ordain someone as a pastor? Think about what they do: they present that person before the crowd; in Jesus’ case, it may have been a very small number of people, but for the most part, it seems to have been Pharisees and scribes. So, John would have been, unwittingly, presenting Jesus before the elders as a representative of God to serve as a priest.

Perhaps you doubt this, then consider what the writer of Hebrews tells us.

“Every high priest is appointed from among men to represent them in matters relating to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and misguided, since he himself is beset by weakness. That is why he is obligated to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not take upon Himself the glory of becoming a high priest, but He was called by the One who said to Him: “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.” And in another passage God says: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him and was designated by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek.”
(Hebrews 5:1-10 BSB)

No, He is not the ominous God that will strike you down at a moment’s notice, but He can. The passage above tells us what His nature is when it says, 

“He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and misguided, since he himself is (was) beset by weakness.”

I have been to the cemetery on multiple occasions with my wife. Then, one day I read this: 

“Do not mistake kindness for weakness.” 

God, who showed you who He was through His Son, is kind. You should have been able to pick up on that fact when He put Himself on that cross for you. 

Now, as for the ominous God that we correctly understand. Very soon, He will lift His church off this earth and unleash His wrath upon a world that has repeatedly rejected Him.

Some seem to think the first half of the seven years will be a cakewalk; you could not be farther from the truth. It will be filled with heat, fire, poisoned water, death (at the hands of just about everyone,) starvation, diseases, and then the second half begins; and Jesus told us that this portion will be so bad that it will seem like no one will survive, and so God shortens this time for the sake of the Jews. Rest assured that the remaining Jews will wholeheartedly turn to the Lord by then.

I would turn to the Lord now rather than later.

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A voice cries out in the desert: “Clear a way for the LORD.” Matthew 31-3.

Posted on 04/02/2023 by remso

Matthew chapter three opens with a fast-forward of about 25 years.

The headline from the Berean Study Bible (and most of them say the same thing) reads:

“John the Baptist Prepares the Way”

“And in those days John the Immerser comes, proclaiming in the wilderness of Judea,”
(Matthew 3:1 LSV)

FYI: The LSV = The Literal Standard Version of The Holy Bible is a registered copyright of Covenant Press and the Covenant Christian Coalition (© 2020).

I don’t know if the LSV carries any extra importance, but I like to check to see if it offers some insight that others may have missed. Immediately I am delighted because of the emphasis on John being the Immerser. This word can be substituted with baptizer; however, it is what he did, not who he was, a Baptist. Amir Tsarfati told the story of a person approaching him after a tour lecture and asked, so, was Jesus Catholic or Protestant? One part of the obvious is that there were no church affiliations as there was no church as yet. If you insist that John was such and such, then he was more of an evangelist who called the nation and Herod (who was half-Jewish by blood) to repentance.

In the series “The Chosen,” John (the immerser) is portrayed as someone a bit unusual, to say the least. He has a classic, Jewish, sarcastic sense of humor, and if you think about the comments he made to the Pharisaical crowd that came to be baptized by him, he called them vipers – a bit of a harsh jab. Our introduction to John has him jumping out from behind a bush as his cousin, Yeshua, and a couple of the disciples walk by. Jesus smiled and was glad to see John. Philip was one of those disciples from John’s team and threw his arms around John’s neck, demonstrating how loved he was. Several episodes convey to us how attached Andrew was to John. (When talking about the disciples, you can begin to see where making a distinction as to which John you are referring to can come in handy.)

Pay attention to where John is immersing, Judea, which was, at one time, the Southern and separate kingdom from Israel to the North. The wilderness of Judah runs North to South and parallels the Dead Sea. 

The point is that I have no idea how Jesus and John got together, for, as you can see, there are close to 90 kilometers or 70 miles between the two.

“Turn away from your sins, for the kingdom of heaven is near!” (Matthew 3:2 TLV)

He was referencing Jesus, the Son of God, and, by the way, the Messiah. 

Almost all of Israel looked for and longed for the Messiah, as He would free them from the bondage of the Romans. Well, that was not going to happen.

Matthew describes John the baptizer as the one crying out. However, the designation “crying in the wilderness” certainly makes it sound pessimistic.

I started this blog almost twenty years ago, and that is what I named it, The voice of one crying in the wilderness. Experience has taught me that few listen, and I am not just talking about listening to me; they don’t listen to God either. So the idea of a wilderness speaks to me of the barrenness of our souls without the Word of God being poured into them. You would be foolish if you are willing to depend on someone else doing the pouring; this has to be you.

“This is he who was mentioned by the prophet Isaiah when he said, The voice of one crying in the wilderness (shouting in the desert), Prepare the road for the Lord, make His highways straight (level, direct).” [Isa. 40:3.]
(Matthew 3:3 AMP)

I have used the Amplified as they frequently give you the related passage. It is Matthew who gives us this.

“And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.” (Matthew 11:14 NASB)

So, allow me a moment here. Elijah was lifted off this earth without dying, and scripture tells us that:

“… it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment “ (Hebrews 9:27 NASB)

Well, when did Elijah get his turn?

I do not know, and I will not accept the idea that he was reincarnated as John the baptizer. Just the fact that Jesus refers to Elijah in terms of coming back merely promotes the idea that Elijah did not die and must yet die. Consider the fact the two witnesses, who come from God, stand in the streets of Jerusalem witnessing about Jesus as the Messiah and the glory of God, will die after their time is done (3.5 years.) But, after lying dead in the street for three days, they will rise again and return to the Lord.

Appointed is the Greek word apokeimai and means reserved or awaited.

I will let you in on a little-known fact. There is nothing that will prevent this body from dying. The body, which carries the broken DNA chain that motivates us to sin, has to be purified. A passage that almost everyone has heard at least once tells us that our works will be tried by fire; this is probably part of the bema seat judgment and where the body will die.

You are aware that Jesus died? Right! Then you should also be mindful that He came back to life and continued to walk this earth for forty more days, sharing the good news.

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He will be called a Nazarite. Matthew 2:18-23.

Posted on 03/28/2023 by remso

We ended our last dive into Matthew’s gospel with Matthew 2:16.

So let’s see what we can come up with after recapping the last verse. This will give us a foundation for the following few verses.

“When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.”
(Matthew 2:16 BSB)

While most will look at this and see an evil man, it is much more profound than that.

Do you actually believe that “our enemy,” Satan, did not have everything to do with this vile murder of innocent children, as he tried to, once again, eliminate, in this case, the toddler Jesus, that would bring salvation to all humanity?

This battle started when God spoke “prophetic” words over Eve.

Here is a side note for your extracurricular education.

Time, as far as humanity was concerned, began with Genesis 3:1-7. Time was of no concern, and no record was ever kept until this day in the garden. Why do you suppose that is? Because it impacted all of humanity, damaged by the genetic transfer of sin, and it was the beginning of God’s plan to restore a relationship with anyone who would choose to accept this salvation. If you are a thinker, I know I opened a big can-o-worms for you. Lean on the Holy Spirit; He will straighten it out for you. 

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
(Genesis 3:15 BSB)

Every time I see this word, enmity, I struggle to remember what it means because this is no longer a commonly used English word.

Webster’s dictionary defines it like this. “The quality of being an enemy; the opposite of friendship; ill will; hatred; unfriendly dispositions; malevolence.”

It doesn’t get real until you hit those words: hatred and malevolence. 

Striking his heel sounds like child’s work compared to getting your head crushed. I would also note that the crushing of the head sounds like a permanent death blow, while the striking of the heel can be a temporary discomfort.

If this is the case, then why is Satan still alive?

The endless question. Because the entirety of God’s plan will be completed, as it takes us all the way out to the judgment at the white throne, where it all comes to a final end. As a follower of Christ, from the catching away of the bride, we will live in peace from that point on.

In case you did not know, this relationship between Satan and the seed was guaranteed to go both ways, and what we see in Matthew 2:16 demonstrates that Satan does not care one bit about you and wants you dead.

Why? 

Because being in Christ and made in God’s image, you look like the enemy.

If you haven’t noticed, God and the enemy use people to carry out many of their wishes. Therefore, since you are in a spiritual battle, attack it with the weapons of Spirit, the Word of God, and stand your ground.

“For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
(2 Corinthians 10:3-4 BSB)

If I have left you hanging, wondering what the weapons are, here is verse five.

“The weapons we use are not human ones. Our weapons have power from God and can destroy the enemy’s strong places. We destroy people’s arguments, and we tear down every proud idea that raises itself against the knowledge of God. We also capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ.”
(2 Corinthians 10:4-5 ERV)

Do you see that the most significant battle always occurs in the mind?

Ask yourself, what are the things that can raise themselves up against the knowledge of God. Most are associated with doubt and defeat.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things.”
(Philippians 4:8 BSB)

True or honorable things can only come from God as they are based on His moral authority. The LSV translation expands this to anything from the heart of God that is true and honorable.

“As to the rest, brothers, as many things as are true, as many as are revered, as many as are righteous, as many as are pure, as many as are lovely, as many as are of good report, if any worthiness, and if any praise, think on these things;.”
(Philippians 4:8 LSV)

Ephesians 1:3-9 (LSV) lays out many things that you could think about.

  • “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us in every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

  • “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, for our being holy and unblemished before Him, in love,”

  • Foreordained us to the adoption of sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

    Honestly, I could not get any of my dictionaries to define the word foreordained.

    We should understand that fore implies a previous state or event, like before the worlds were created. Ordained is to be Appointed; instituted; established; invested with ministerial or pastoral functions; settled.

    Do you realize these are the things that God thinks about you? HE established you, invested His life in you for a purpose, and gave you the giftings to make that happen. 

  • (We are) to the praise of the glory of His grace.

  • (And, it is through this grace that) He made us accepted in the beloved,

  • (It is because of that grace that) we have redemption through His blood.

  • The forgiveness of (all) trespasses.

  • (Because of His grace) He has lavished all of the wisdom and intellectual insight we need.

    Even if it doesn’t seem like it.

  • And, because of that grace – unmerited favor, He has made known to us the secret of His will.

    Some would say we can’t know God’s will. Well, you can, and He has made it known through the scriptures. A clue, as you read, you are looking for the nature and character of God. His Word is His will, and Jesus walked that out perfectly.

Several years ago, we used to sing a worship song that goes like this. “I remind myself of all that He’s done.” I just spelled out many things that He has done for you. If Satan has you going in circles, it is because you have forgotten who you are, a child of the King.

Consider being proactive. Paul, in his letters to the various church bodies, told the recipients, including you and me, that the enemy is restrained from being able to launch total frontal attacks because WE, God’s people, are doing everything in our power to resist the enemy. 

Well, that was quite the introduction.

Herod’s interactions with the Magi and subsequent order to kill all the little boys in the Bethlehem region were foretold. Unfortunately, the intended person that was meant to be receiving the brunt of Herod’s jealousy is not spelled out in Jeremiah 31.

“This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted because they are no more.” (Jeremiah 31:15 BSB)

If Jesus was born in Bethlehem, why is the slaughter, according to Jeremiah, focused on Ramah? 

  • Potential answers lie in what Herod learned from the Magi.
  • The star took them to the home where the family was NOW living.
  • And the Magi were able to calculate His approximate age, about two.

The commentary written by Albert Barnes tells us that Ramah was the mother of three tribes, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh, but Rachel is regarded as “the mother of the whole ten.”

All this about the tribes happened before they left Egypt, where the final few were the sons of Joseph. So can I assume that the ten referred to those born through Jacob? I am still determining.

Adam Clarke’s commentary states that Rachel was buried very near Ramah.

The UCRT gives us a few additional reasons why there is such symbolism in Ramah. “(1) A city of Benjamin, where captives captured by Nebuchadnezzar were guarded, Jer_31:15; Jer_40:1, (2) A town in Mount Ephraim, also called Ramathaim-zophim, the birthplace of the prophet Samuel, 1Sa_1:19, (3) A town on the boundary of Asher, Jos_19:29, (4) A fortified place in Naphtali, Jos_19:36, (5) Another name for the city of Ramoth-Gilead, 2Ki_8:28-29, (6) A place where some Benjamites returned after the captivity, Neh_11:33.”

So there is a tremendous amount of symbolism, but for me, it is the place that the Magi identified merely by their presence.

“But when Herod died, behold, an angel of Adonai appears in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those seeking the Child’s life are dead.”
(Matthew 2:19-20 TLV)

Joseph, having been warned in a dream to escape to Egypt, did so. You might think that Joseph was an expert at prophetic dreams by now, and this is where they stayed until they were given the green light to return.

The only question left to answer is, where are they to go upon their return?

Why would I bring up the idea of where they should go?

Because their hometown of Nazareth (a relatively small city) may still be hostile toward Joseph and Mary, both for what the town folk deemed was their respective silence about their premarital activities or the possibility that Mary had an extramarital relationship. If you are struggling to understand or believe this, consider that Joseph took his pregnant wife to Bethlehem, his hometown, under Roman orders, to be counted in the census.

What would Joseph expect to find there?

Kinfolk. Kinfolk or not, NO ONE took them in, and they had to make due in a stall alongside cattle and their excrement.

For the longest time, I was not clear about the city they came out of. Luke’s gospel solved that problem for me.

“In the sixth month (of Elizabeth’s pregnancy), God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man named Joseph, who was of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.”
(Luke 1:26-27 BSB)

You see, unless you have had vivid, clear dreams yourself, you are NOT going to fully understand what God has told them and what they were to do, and you may not want to understand what “God” has been telling you, such as, you are going to have a child without any human contact.

So, Joseph now has the green light to go back home.

“So he got up, took the Child and His mother, and went to the land of Israel.”
(Matthew 2:21 TLV)

Ah, so he does not go directly back to Nazareth. The land of Israel is relatively big; it only makes sense that they might have gone back to Bethlehem or Ramah, but I am only guessing.

But when he learned that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. And having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
(Matthew 2:22-23 BSB)

  1. It seems like fear motivated Joseph at this point. Just saying.

    Archelaus, being a son of Herod, may well act just like his father. You have heard the saying, the fruit does not fall far from the tree. So it would be reasonable to feel fear about this man. Nazareth was not Joseph’s first choice of places to live.

  2. Again, Joseph is warned in a dream.

  3. “he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.”

    This sounds like this was the first time they had been here, but that isn’t true.

    I pointed out some reasons that Yeshua might sustain attacks from people, which you can perceive as you read the gospels. If you, like me, had concerns about the abuse Yeshua might receive upon their return to Nazareth, then perhaps we should try to do the math.

    By the time the Magi arrived, Jesus was about two years old, and they were living in a house, most likely in Ramah. Joseph was identified as a craftsman by the Pharisees. The Bible translators assigned the word carpenter to the Greek word tekton, which means craftsmen but covers poets, artisans, and stone masons. Details about how they afforded that house are unimportant at this point. The family flees to Egypt, fully funded by the gifts that the Magi brought. 

    And there is a strong possibility they will return home to Israel when Jesus is about four. 

    At this point, they have been gone from Nazareth for at least five years. Nazareth is not a big town, and people are always willing to remind you of your past, but we don’t see that in scripture. This does not mean it didn’t happen, but I think the damage may have been minimal at this point, and Jesus might have attended synagogue school unnoticed. 

    Besides, have any of them seen Jesus or pictures of Him as He grew to the age He is? NO.

    To demonstrate that there was evident knowledge and almost open aggression, I give you several scriptures.

    “They replied to him, “You were born completely in sin, and you’re teaching us?” And they threw him out.” (John 9:34 TLV)

    This comment, “you were born completely in sin,” is not a casual comment. It is a direct and aggressive challenge to Jesus’ parentage.

    “We know for certain that God spoke with Moses, but as for this Fellow, we know nothing about where He hails from.” (John 9:29 AMP)

    His surrogate parents were from Nazareth, and Jesus spent most of His life here. They knew exactly where He was from, so once again, they challenged His parentage.

The law given to Israel while they wandered in the desert clearly spoke about illegitimate children.

“A person begotten out of wedlock shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall his descendants not enter into the congregation of the Lord. 3) An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation their descendants shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord forever,” (Deuteronomy 23:2-3 AMP)

Jesus, according to family lineage, was a descendant of Moabites through Ruth, and because of the silence of His surrogate parents, He was thought to be the product of adultery. Please don’t get the impression that Mary and Joseph were wrong; they were, in fact, bold and brave, declaring that He was the son of God. Sadly, you quickly learn that no one cares about the truth, as they each have their own truth.

Posted in Bethlehem, bible study, dreams, Egypt, Herod, Israel, Joseph, Magi, Mary, Matthew's gospel, Nazareth | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment