Monthly Archives: September 2012

Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Booths, or the Feast), 2012

30 Sunday Sep 2012

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Sukkah: 1723 engraving by Bernard Picart

Adonai said to Moshe, ‘Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of Sukkot for seven days to Adonai. On the first day there is to be a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work. For seven days you are to bring an offering made by fire to Adonai; on the eighth day you are to have a holy convocation and bring an offering made by fire to Adonai; it is a day of public assembly; do not do any kind of ordinary work.’~ Leviticus 23:33-36, CJB

Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles (also Feast of Booths, Festival of Ingathering, or the Feast) comes five days after Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), which is an annual Fall Feast that Jewish people accept as their holiest day of the year—the day on which they are “in unity” with Adonai. In other words, they are now the closest they can be to Adonai and to the most perfect or typical example of their own souls. For sure, it is on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) that Adonai decides both to accept His chosen people’s repentance and to forgive their sins. Indeed, in the Scriptures, Moses expresses this truth about Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) to the Israelites. Moses writes that it is “…on this day, atonement will be made for you to purify you; you will be clean before Adonai from all your sins” (Leviticus 16:30, CJB).

The point here is that like Yom Kippur, Sukkot, which follows Yom Kippur, also is an annual Adonai commanded Fall Feast; however, unlike Yom Kippur, Sukkot is a seven-day festival (eight in the Diaspora). Furthermore, the reason why, from antiquity until today, Adonai’s Jewish people have looked forward to Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles (Feast of Booths, Festival of Ingathering, or the Feast) with great anticipation is because on the Day of Atonement they not only have received Adonai’s forgiveness and cleansing of all of their preceding year’s sins, but also He has judged them worthy to receive life, health, and happiness for the new year. Therefore, the 15th of Tishri festival, which begins at sunset on September 30, 2012, is marked for its time of extraordinary joy—the joy that comes from having the closest possible relationship with Adonai. This amazing joy also is the reason why Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles is considered to be the most special time of the year, and why even today Jewish people refer to this Fall festival as The Time of Our Joy.

In ancient times, for this Fall festival, the single and married Jewish men would travel (make the third of three commanded “pilgrimages”) from wherever they were living back to the Temple in Jerusalem. To celebrate Sukkot, they would set up their temporary dwellings (sukkahs; booths; tents) in the Temple’s courtyard and live in their temporary dwellings throughout the duration of Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles.

Today, Jewish people might build and decorate their own sukkahs, or gather in the sukkahs at their temples or synagogues, or go to various beautiful places around the world where Adonai also has chosen to “put His name” (cf. Deuteronomy 12:5). What is most important is that in the 21st century, during the Feast, Jewish brethren leave behind their daily routines and come together not only to fellowship and rejoice before Adonai in complete peace, harmony and unity (cf. Leviticus 23:40), but also to eat and live in their temporary dwellings during Sukkot.

What also is very important about Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles is that from antiquity to today this festival looks back at the forty-year period of time when the Israelites wandered in the desert after Sinai. At that time, the Israelites could see the Presence of Adonai, who was dwelling among them. Also they had all of their needs taken care of, as neither their shoes nor their clothes wore out. Lastly, the Israelites also had righteous leaders in the persons of Moses, Joshua, and the judges.

Then too, from antiquity to today the Sukkot festival also looks forward to the 1,000 year Messianic Kingdom, when Yeshua will “tabernacle” among His people and rule from Jerusalem. The Lord’s millennial reign will be a time when all of the nations in this world would learn about the great blessings that Adonai bestows upon the people who follow the ways of the God of Israel.  Moreover, everyone in the entire world will experience shalom (peace), because shalom will spread out from Jerusalem and encompass the entire world.

Finally, for Christians and Messianic Jews, the three Fall Feasts are the last biblical feasts that Yeshua has yet to fulfill. The next big event on the prophetic timetable is the “Rapture,” the time when Yeshua calls His Bride/Body of Believers and then snatches them (the dead and the alive in Christ) out of this world by first gathering them together in the air in the clouds.

Thus, the “Rapture” event very well could be fulfilled during the very next Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets or “Jewish Civil New Year”). Once again, the “Rapture” is the time when the transformation/glorification of the resurrected righteous dead and the caught up righteous living takes place (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).

Then, on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), Yeshua’s Bride stands before His judgment seat (2 Corinthians 5:10) and is judged according to the works She did for Her Lord. Next, after He judges Her worthy, She not only will become “at-one” with Yeshua but also will receive Her fine linen robe and crown of righteousness (cf. Isaiah 61:10; 2 Timothy 4:8; Revelation 19:7-8).

Lastly, on Sukkot, Yeshua consummates the marriage, and then for the next seven years He and His Wife hide away in their Bridal Chambers (the mansions the Lord went away to prepare for Her so that He can come back and receive Her unto Himself). There She and her Husband will “tabernacle” together until it is time to return with Yeshua to destroy His enemies at the Battle of Armageddon (cf. Isaiah 26:20; John 14:2b-3; Revelation 19:11-17). Afterwards, there will be the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (cf. Matthew 22:2; Luke 14:15; Luke 22:15-18; Revelation 19:9). Hallelujah!

Gideon Is a Type of Christ

21 Friday Sep 2012

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Gideon Defeats Midianites from The Story of the Bible… by Charles Foster, 1884; Illustrators: F.B. Schell, et al

Then Zevach and Tzalmuna said, ‘You, do it. You, kill us. Let a grown man do what takes a grown man’s strength.’ So Gid‘on got up and killed Zevach and Tzalmuna; then he took the ornamental crescents from around their camels’ necks. ~ Judges 8:21, CJB

 

The Old Testament’s events that are recorded in the Book of Judges, specifically in chapters 6 through 8, clearly are divinely designed to be a forewarning about the end-times conflict that Israel will have with her Arab enemies, as well as a forewarning about the One who will be Israel’s end-times Deliverer/Savior. In fact, Psalm 83 is a second biblical source in which can be found proof that Gideon’s Midianite onslaught is a type of end-times Arab invasion, and proof that Gideon is a type of Christ.

Numerous biblical prophecy scholars agree that the Arab attack mentioned in Psalm 83 is a final war that will take place during the end-times Tribulation Period. So then, when the psalmist states in Psalm 83:4 that the purpose of this final Arab invasion is so that these enemies of God and Israel can wipe Israel off of all maps so that Israel’s name will be forgotten, it stands to reason that the psalmist then would utter the following curse:

Do to them as you did to Midyan, to Sisra and Yavin at Vadi Kishon — they were destroyed at ‘Ein-Dor and became manure for the ground. Make their leaders like ‘Orev and Ze’ev, all their princes like Zevach and Tzalmuna, who said, ‘Let’s take possession of God’s meadows for ourselves.’ ~ Psalm 83:10-13, CJB

Now, since Gideon is the one who destroyed the Arab enemies mentioned in the above Psalm 83:10-13 curse, then it should be clear that Gideon’s Arab onslaught also is a foreshadowing of the same events that will take place during the Tribulation Period, as well as a prediction about this biblical Truth: Gideon is a type of Christ Jesus. For sure, what Gideon did to his Arab enemies, especially Zevach and Tzalmuna (or Zebah and Zalmunna), Christ Jesus will do to His Arab enemies! Gideon not only killed these Midianite leaders but also removed the crescent (moon-shaped) chains that were around the necks of these Arab leaders’ camels. Similarly, the Lord Christ Jesus not only will destroy every Arab who, in the end-times, comes against Israel and her people, but also He will remove from this Earth every crescent moon with a star symbol that now is visible throughout the Arab world—indeed, this symbol is visible throughout the entire Muslim or Islamic world.

There are so many other hints in Judges’ chapters 6 through 8 that Gideon’s Israel is also a picture of end-times Israel. This truth is made evident beginning with the opening verses. The Word of God says:

But the people of Isra’el did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, so Adonai handed them over to Midyan for seven years. Midyan exercised its power harshly against Isra’el, and because of Midyan the people of Isra’el hid themselves in mountains, in caves and in other safe places. ~ Judges 6:1-2, CJB

The 7 years in the above verse represent the duration of Israel’s punishment at the hands of the Midianites. Prophetically, these 7 years also signify the length of Daniel’s 70th Week (cf. Daniel 9:25-27). Daniel’s 70th Week is the time when God will pour out His wrath on this Earth during the Tribulation Period, flooding this world with His intense global judgment mostly during the last 3½ years, which is the time of Jacob’s Trouble. Jacob’s Trouble is the time when God especially punishes Israel, the land and the Jewish people, for the Jewish people’s rejection of the Savior God sent to them, and for their deliberate disobedience and unbelievable unfaithfulness shown to God and His commandments.    

Now the initial reason for why the Midianites, Amalekites, “…and others from the east…” (Judges 6:3) attack Israel in Gideon’s day and time seems to be so that they could ravage the land and steal the cattle, oxen, donkeys, and sheep, for the purpose of leaving the people of Israel absolutely NOTHING to live on (see Judges 6:4). Apparently the Ezekiel 38 invaders have the same motive, because the prophet Ezekiel questions if the raiding end-times Arabs have “…come to seize spoil…to loot; to carry off silver, gold, livestock and other wealth; to take much plunder” (Ezekiel 38:13, CJB).

In contrast, the Psalm 83 writer emphasizes that couched in the Midianite Arabs’ religious zeal language is the real reason for why the Midianite Arabs attacked Israel in Gideon’s day, and therefore the reason why the Arab 10-nation alliance will attack Israel in the end-times. The psalmist writes that the Midianites’ leaders like Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah, and Zalmunna eventually declared that they really wanted to “…take possession of God’s meadows for [them]selves” ~ Psalm 83:12-13, CJB (bracketed word is this blogger’s emphasis).

So for six years, while the marauding Arabs are depleting Israel’s livestock and diminishing the land’s grain, Gideon’s Israelites are hiding in caves. After crying out to the Lord for relief, in the seventh year God finally pro­vides a deliverer/savior: Gideon. Similarly, at a time when it takes “…[t]wo pounds of wheat for a day’s wages! Six pounds of barley for the same price” (Revelation 6:6, CJB), the Tribulation’s inhabitants, Jewish people included, also will be hiding in the caves, because they will be terrified by the Tribulation’s cosmic distresses. Sadly, even then, they still will believe God to be a vengeful being. This is the reason why they will be crying out to the rocks and mountains to hide them from the imminent “wrath of God” instead of crying out to God. John the Revelator agrees, because he writes:

Then the earth’s kings, the rulers, the generals, the rich and the mighty — indeed, everyone, slave and free — hid himself in caves and among the rocks in the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us, and hide us from the face of the One sitting on the throne and from the fury of the Lamb! For the Great Day of their fury has come, and who can stand?’ ~ Revelation 6:15-17, CJB

Even though these petrified people are hiding in caves and crying out to the rocks and mountains to save them from the “wrath of God,” Father God still will send them a Deliverer/Savior, who will be Jesus Christ. However, the Lord will not appear until the end of the 7-year Tribulation Period.

Next, what needs to be considered is the size of Gideon’s army and the peace this mighty man of God achieves with his soldiers’ help. After reducing his army to 300 warriors, the Israelites’ deliverer/savior, Gideon, defeats the Midianites, in the same Plain of Esdraelon and Valley of Jezreel where the Battle of Armageddon will be fought. Peace is restored in Israel, but this peace only lasts for the rest of Gideon’s life, which is about forty years. After Gideon dies, the Israelites once again turn away from God to worshipping idols, and once again peace is broken. This time the Israelites’ peace is broken by three years of betrayal and mayhem caused by Gideon’s son Abimelech, the traitor Israelite who has himself proclaimed king.

In comparison, the Lord initially chooses only 12 Jewish men to follow Him, and by the start of the Tribulation Period only 144,000 of the possible left-behind masses will be His spiritual warriors on this Earth. At the end of the Tribulation Period, when the Lord, Christ Jesus returns to Earth and solely defeats all of His Arab enemies who have come against Israel and her Jewish people, there will be 1,000 years of peace. At the end of the Lord’s 1,000-year reign, there is one last attempt to wage war against Christ Jesus. Satan, the ultimate traitor, is released from out of the Bottomless Pit so that he can deceive many of the millennial kingdom’s individuals to join his global military. However, before any fighting begins, Father God rains down fire from Heaven, and Satan’s soldiers are consumed (cf. Revelation 20:7-10).

It is important to note here that in Gideon’s day the Midianites (Arabs) were wealthy people. This truth is revealed in the list of plunder taken by Moses when he fought the Midianites some two centuries before Gideon’s war (cf. Numbers 31), and revealed in the list of plunder taken in Gideon’s war against the Midianites, Amalekites, “…and others from the east…” (Judges 6:3; Judges 8). Together, the goods Moses and Gideon took  forcibly were gold, silver, brass (bronze), iron, tin, lead, tablets; purple garments; jewels of gold, like chains, bracelets, rings, earrings, pendants, neck bands, crescent (moon-shaped) chains that were about the camels’ necks; sheep, cattle, and donkeys, and so forth (cf. Numbers 31:11-12, 22, 32-34;  Judges 8:24-27).

More important than the kinds of spoils Gideon took forcibly is the fact that the English word “ornaments,” as mentioned in the King James Version of Judges 8:21, is translated from the Hebrew word saharon, which means crescent moon. Thus, the crescent (moon-shaped) chains Gideon removes from around the camels’ necks are comparable to the latter-day crescent and star symbols of today’s Arabs, Muslims, and their Islamic religion. This truth is the reason why this crescent moon and star symbol is seen almost everywhere there are Arabs and Muslims. Therefore, as already mentioned, Gideon’s removal of the crescent (moon-shaped) chains clearly foreshadows Christ Jesus’ removal of every crescent moon with a star symbol that now is visible throughout the Arab, Muslim and Islamic world, because this Islamic symbol conveys the idea that Allah, a moon god, and Lucifer, the devil, are one in the same!

The above last statement is true, because both the Midianites’ crescent (moon-shaped) chains around their camels’ necks and the 21st century’s Islamic crescent moon with a star symbol on armored combat vehicles, minarets, turrets, and flags no doubt represent the idolatry copied from ancient Mesopotamian civilizations, of which their people not only worshipped a pantheon of pagan gods but also one common god—the moon-god Sin. What is important to note here is that as ancient Mesopotamian  astral religion grew, the worship of stars also increased, especially since every god was given its own star. More important, after the astral triad, which consisted of the supreme gods Sin (The Moon), Ishtar (Venus), and Shamash (The Sun) developed, worship of the moon, the stars, and the sun eventually spread across the entire ancient world.

Consequently, nation states like Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Phoenicia, Canaan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia all assimilated some of the same Mesopotamian idolatrous worship features. More important it was Ur, the city from which Abraham came, that was the center for worship of the earlier mentioned moon-god Sin, who was reverenced in the form of a golden calf with crescent-moon shaped horns, and a long flowing lapis lazuli beard.

Thus, once the worship of the moon-god Sin spread across the entire ancient world, in every one of the aforementioned Middle Eastern nation states the moon-god Sin usually was represented by the crescent moon. This truth is why, when Israel fell into idolatry, it typically was because the Israelites or Hebrews or Jewish people were worshipping a feature of the moon-god Sin, like, for example, the golden calf venerated near Mount Sinai.

Even though the moon-god Sin has been around since Pre-Islamic Arabia; indeed, since the earliest post-flood world, it is conceivable that the Divine Truth in apostle Paul’s statement “…what one earns from sin is death…” (Romans 6:23, CJB) will be demonstrated best by those individuals who will be worshipping the moon-god Sin during the Tribulation Period. The fact that this idolatrous worship of the moon-god Sin still permeates the Middle East, and the truth that this last fact is verified today by countless Islamic images of the crescent moon and star, undoubtedly point to the future masses of people who will continue to reject Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior all the way up until the second He returns!

Perhaps since the symbol of the crescent moon has been used by the Arab religions as far back as the time of Abraham, this 21st century Arab, Muslim, and Islamic religion’s universal image, which is a remnant of ancient moon-god Sin worship, will be the main reason why, when Christ Jesus returns to destroy the enemies of God and Israel, those individuals who worship this image will be found guilty of committing the unpardonable sin for which their crime is punishable by death. That’s why it should be clear that the Tribulation’s Jewish people who survive up to the moment of the end-times Arab/Muslim/Islamic holocaust (Armageddon) but still refuse to learn the lesson of total commitment to their Messiah will be destroyed at pretty much the same time as the extant remnant of their Arab/Muslim/Islamic enemies. This Divine Truth is what Gideon’s life and his Midianite (Arab) victory teaches, because Gideon is indeed a type of Christ Jesus and Gideon’s divinely orchestrated triumph is a type of Battle of Armageddon.

In a nutshell, like Gideon, Christ Jesus also led a humble, hidden life during His early years. Also like Gideon, the Lord overcame his numerous enemies with a few soldiers. Gideon defeated his Midianite Arabs and other enemies with just 300 warriors, and Christ Jesus defeated the first century’s secular world with just 12 disciples turned apostles.

Finally, just like Gideon won his war against the Midianites, Amalekites, “…and others from the east…” (Judges 6:3) with broken pitchers (clay jars), trumpets, and torches, Christ Jesus’ disciples turned apostles’ only weapons were their individual body (clay jar, pitcher) broken so that the life and Light of Christ Jesus could shine through; their preaching (trumpet) of the Gospel; and the Holy Spirit (torch) within in them who caused them to produce good works, and who caused others to see the life and Light of Christ Jesus in them.

These are today’s disciples turned apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds-teachers’ weapons, too. So let a word to the wise be sufficient!

Yom Teruah or Rosh Hashanah: Feast of Trumpets 2012

15 Saturday Sep 2012

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Shofar (by Alphonse Lévy); Caption says: “To a good year”

‘Blow the shofar in Tziyon! Sound an alarm on my holy mountain!’ Let all living in the land tremble, for the Day of Adonai is coming! It’s upon us! ~ Joel 2:1, CJB

 

In Israel, starting at sunset on Sunday September 16th, the Jewish people will begin their celebration of Yom Teruah, which in modern Judaism is called Rosh Hashanah (the New Year; the first month of the Hebrew calendar’s civil year).  In Christianity, this festival is known as the Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets also is called “the feast when the shofar cries.”

The main reason why Yom Teruah or the Feast of Trumpets is called “the feast when the shofar cries” is basically because Yom Teruah also is known as the day of the Shofar (ram’s horn) Blast or noise, as well as the Day of the Awakening Blast. In other words, Yom Teruah represents a loud warning cry, because it is the time when Jewish people must wake up and repent. Yom Teruah, thus, is the time for Jewish people to make sure that they are prepared for Adonai.

Now the Holy Bible never refers to this Fall festival as Rosh Hashanah. The names that this holiday is given in the Holy Bible are Yom Ha-Zikkaron (the day of remembrance) or Yom Teruah (the day of the blowing of the trumpets) ~ see Leviticus 23:24-25 and Numbers 29:1. Of the seven mandated annual festivals, Yom Teruah is the fourth, yet the first of the three Fall feasts.   

For Messianic Jews and Christians, Yom Teruah or the Feast of Trumpets, which once again is the first of the three Fall feasts, takes place during the Fall harvest season. The time of this feast is why Yom Teruah or the Feast of Trumpets also symbolizes the need for Messianic Jews and Christians to be prepared for the return of Yeshua, to be prepared for the resurrection of the righteous dead to glorification, and to be prepared for the reunion of the Bride (body of believers) with her Bridegroom (Yeshua the Messiah, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords). Put differently, Yom Teruah or the Feast of Trumpets is the time of the next major prophetic event (the time of the Resurrection-Rapture), when Yeshua returns on a cloud to a world that is preoccupied with slumbering to resurrect the dead in Him, first, and then Rapture (snatch away, catch up) His living Bride.

Let us, therefore, stay prepared; stay alert; and keep looking up, for our Redeemer is near! PEACE….

Drowning Out His Voice

15 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by in Spiritual

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It is amazing how much noise our favorite modern-day gadgets can make. Who would have thought, though, that the very contemporary gadgets that stimulate our senses so well also could make us deaf to our Shepherd’s voice?

But the unfortunate truth is that we actually can drown out our Lord’s voice, and this spiritual deafness of ours usually happens when, instead of being more immersed in the Word of God, we are immersed in what is playing on our 32” to 65” LED-LCD flat screen televisions, or very wrapped up in what is playing on our pocket, portable, and/or stationary radios. We also can drown out our Lord’s voice, when we let whatever is playing on our smallest MP3 players (or other portable media players) to our most elaborate hi-fi systems captivate us.

Similarly, we can drown out our Lord’s voice, when we are gripped by all of those multimedia digital files that we have downloaded from the Internet to be played back on our mobile media players, personal computers, and etcetera. These multimedia digital files not only can be saved but also copied, edited, and shared with other people. Therefore, we actually can drown out our Lord’s voice, when we become swamped by podcasts, songs, films, and videos our families, friends, and colleagues send to our e-mail inboxes, or post on our blogs or on the social networking sites we all are connected to via our PCs (desktops, laptops, notebooks), or via our tablet PCs, and/or our wi-fi smartphones. Likewise, drowning out our Lord’s voice also can come from being overwhelmed by the various mobile applications (apps) that are available for us to use on our cell phones, especially all of those numerous game apps, and so forth.

While 21st-century technology is indeed a blessing, it also can be a curse. Undeniably, this century’s technology has helped us accomplish life’s tasks faster and with greater precision. There is no doubt, thus, that today’s technological advancements have been a true blessing, especially where the Internet and communication are concerned. Still there are many technology critics who say that our easy access to the Internet and to the stored information (“memory”) in our smartphones have cursed us by making so many of us incapable of thinking for ourselves. For example, these technology critics say that because we rely on our smartphones’ “memory” more than we depend on our own brain’s memory for recalling telephone numbers, meeting notes, appointments, and so on, we end up having a difficult time remembering said information. Other technology critics say, for example, that today’s secondary and post-secondary students do not know how to act in society, if they do not have their own smartphone in hand, their own laptop at the ready, and their own portable e-Reader in the bag!

More important, as already suggested, modern-day technology also has cursed those of us who are believers by making it possible for us to become incapable of hearing our Shepherd, when He calls to us. Our Good Shepherd gently is calling our names, expecting us to respond favorably to His call so that He might lead us to a place where He already has been. To lead us there, our Good Shepherd has positioned Himself between danger and us, His sheep, but if our nifty technological gadgets are drowning out His voice, then we won’t be able to avoid the sure enough dangers that lie ahead of us, especially the dangers that exist in this world at such a time as this. As a result of us not being able to hear our Good Shepherd’s voice, the same devices that we use every day to save us from living a humdrum life also undoubtedly could expose us to very high degrees of peril, like bullying, identity theft, robbers, swindlers, schemers, interlopers, murderers, terrorists, rapists, sexual predators, lewd and lascivious activity, pornography, insomnia, introversion, memory loss, false doctrines, apostates, false christs, and so many more unshielded hazards.

The bottom line is that if we are using 21st-century technology to our detriment, then a change needs to take place. However, before we can understand that there needs to be a change, we must first find out if we are, indeed, unable to hear our Savior’s voice. If we have checked our hearing, to make sure we do not have a physical deficiency, and we have found out that our hearing is satisfactory, then perhaps all that we need to do is to spend less time using our modern-day gadgets. However, if after scaling back on our television viewing time, radio listening time, music playing time, online video watching time, and so forth, we discover that our hearing still has not improved (that we still cannot hear our Good Shepherd), then we need to find out exactly what is causing us to not hear His voice. The Word of God says:

Yeshua answered them, ‘I have already told you, and you don’t trust me. The works I do in my Father’s name testify on my behalf, but the reason you don’t trust is that you are not included among my sheep.  My sheep listen to my voice, I recognize them, they follow me, and I give them eternal life….’ ~ John 10:25-28a, CJB

Consequently, if we are not able to hear His Voice, after making the immediate checks and necessary changes, then just maybe we are NOT His sheep! The Good News, however, is that we don’t have to continue in our spiritual deafness. In the Word of God, the apostle Paul writes that God says: “At the acceptable time I heard you; in the day of salvation I helped you” (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:2b, CJB; see also Isaiah 49:8). In other words, we should never let this “now” moment of Grace pass us by, for we might never get the opportunity again to receive the Gift of salvation. For this last reason, NOW is the day of salvation for every one of us who wants to be helped, who wants to be saved, and who wants to hear the Good Shepherd’s voice.

The cartoon used in this blog is from Joyful ‘toons.

Remembering 911 in 2012

11 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by in National Tragedy

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Collection of photos related to the September 11 attacks, meant to be used as the infobox image for that article on Wikipedia.

May this pile be a witness, and may the standing-stone be a witness, that I will not pass beyond this pile to you, and you will not pass beyond this pile and this standing-stone to me, to cause harm. ~ Genesis 31:52, CJB

 

No doubt many of us have heard, time and time again, the following benediction: May the Lord watch between me and thee, while we are absent, one from another. Yet, I wonder how many of us know the real meaning of this classic benediction, recited by countless pastors, and other spiritual leaders, at the end of a Saturday or Sunday worship service.

The well-known “May the Lord watch between me and thee, while we are absent, one from another” benediction actually comes from the Holy Bible. It is in reference to the Mizpah (Mizpeh) or watchtower—the heap of stones piled up by Jacob and Laban. The first time this Mizpah (Mizpah) is mentioned is in Genesis 31:48-50:

Lavan said, ‘This pile witnesses between me and you today.’ This is why it is called Gal-‘Ed and also HaMitzpah [the watchtower], because he said, ‘May Adonai watch between me and you when we are apart from each other. If you cause pain to my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, then, even if no one is there with us, still God is witness between me and you.’ ~ CJB

Now, it is obvious that this Mizpah (Mizpeh) was meant to be both the covenant Jacob and Laban entered into AND a landmark of the boundary between them, these two extremely incompatible and hostile men (cf. Genesis 31:48-54). More important is the fact that Jacob and Laban’s covenant to agree to disagree also means that these potential hotheads needed the Almighty God to watch over them so that they would be sure not to break their covenant. Therefore, it is clear that their Mizpah (Mizpeh) symbolizes the presence of God, which then and now watches over the emotional bond between people who either are separated by moralistic differences, or geographical distances, or physical death.

The abovementioned benediction and its history indeed relate to this day in American history, especially in respect to Americans’ bone of contention, which is the Islamic Terrorists who caused the 911 deaths, emotional and physical pains, and the piles of rubble where the Twin Towers used to be. That is why, on this anniversary of September 11, 2001, as Americans remember the Islamic Terrorists’ senseless plan to take innocent lives, to create trauma and sicknesses, and to leave behind uncalled-for fragments of broken glass and concrete slabs, as well as the pieces of contorted steel, Americans also should remember the Ground Zero Cross that miraculously appeared on September 13, 2001, standing almost upright in the rubble—the demolished World Trade Center 6—that was caused by the  landmark Twin Towers’ debris.

From that day until this present day, this intact crossbeam that first appeared in the middle of the crater beneath 6 WTC’s rubble, but now is in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, has been more than pieces of steel coincidentally shaped into an identifiable Christian icon. This Ground Zero Cross also is a symbol of joyous hope, enduring faith, phenomenal healing, and inalienable freedom. Therefore, Americans should let this symbol be a reminder that the Lord indeed is watching “between me and thee, while we are absent, one from another.”

Resurrection-Rapture Believers Are Hated And Ridiculed

09 Sunday Sep 2012

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From Hal Lindsey’s There’s A New World Coming Comic Book; Illustrator: Al Hartley

Watch out! Don’t let anyone fool you! For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. …At that time you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and put to death, and all peoples will hate you because of me. At that time many will be trapped into betraying and hating each other, many false prophets will appear and fool many people;  ~ Matthew 24:4-5, 9-11, CJB

There can be no doubt that the apostles Paul, John, and Peter all received the supernatural gifts of prophecy and spiritual discernment from God, which made them able to foresee and shrewdly illustrate why genuine born again, saved (justified), and progressively sanctified full of the Holy Spirit pre-tribulation Resurrection-Rapture believers would be hated, in the last days, by fake Christians. No doubt this last days’ hatred is the reason why God also inspires these abovementioned apostles to use their spiritual gifts of foreknowledge and preternatural acumen to explain accurately why in the last days the authentic ekklesia in their day would become the institutional “church” of the 21st century. This institutional “church” would be so corrupt that it not only would be opposing what God’s truly called, anointed, appointed, equipped, and sent men and women have been preaching and teaching from the divinely inspired unadulterated Word of God and in Christ Jesus’ name, but also they (these fake Christians in their local “churches”) would be opposing what Christ Jesus Himself taught, while simultaneously insisting that they are faithful to the Lord (cf. Matthew 24:9-10; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; 2 Timothy 4:2-5).

Because of the above-stated reasons, these aforesaid apostles are warning even today’s true believers that they diligently must watch out for those fake Christians who would be attempting to transform a sacrilegious world into what they believe is the Kingdom of God on Earth. For example, what these apostles specifically predicted was that modern day fake Christians, after commandeering the institutional “church,” not only would reject the biblical Truth about the pre-tribulation Resurrection-Rapture but also, as earlier stated, they would hate the true believers who unequivocally have the God kind of faith in the pre-tribulation Resurrection-Rapture to boldly practice their faith in the last days by unashamedly preaching and teaching that the Resurrection-Rapture will take place just before prophet Daniel’s 70th Week begins. In other words, these faithful believers would be preaching and teaching about the forthcoming Resurrection of the righteous dead in Christ Jesus and the imminent Rapture or catching up of the living, real Bride of Christ (see Matthew 24:40-42; 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).

Now the Divine Truth is, logically speaking, that the last days of this current institutional “church” Age only can be brought to an end by the pre-tribulation Resurrection-Rapture! Why? Well, because only the pre-tribulation unanticipated and unexplained disappearance of countless believers could produce an environment most fitting for the prophesied Antichrist’s rise to power and his created global economic chaos and fear, which happen primarily during the Great Tribulation Period. The apostle Paul supports this last statement about when the Resurrection-Rapture and Tribulation Period are likely to take place, for he writes:

But you have no need to have anything written to you, brothers, about the times and dates when this will happen; because you yourselves well know that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. …But you, brothers, are not in the dark, so that the Day should take you by surprise like a thief; for you are all people who belong to the light, who belong to the day. We don’t belong to the night or to darkness, so let’s not be asleep, like the rest are; on the contrary, let us stay alert and sober. People who sleep, sleep at night; and people who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us stay sober, putting on trust and love as a breastplate and the hope of being delivered as a helmet. For God has not intended that we should experience his fury, but that we should gain deliverance through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who died on our behalf so that whether we are alive or dead, we may live along with him. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2, 4-10, CJB

From Hal Lindsey’s There’s A New World Coming Comic Book; Illustrator: Al Hartley

Certainly, since most of the people in this present world don’t believe in any kind of Rapture, including many of today’s “churchgoers,” this is the main reason why the next-to-happen prophetic event will be an unanticipated and unexplained disappearance of the true Bride of Christ. More important, as suggested earlier, the pre-tribulation Resurrection-Rapture is going to be both the resurrection of every never seen on Earth again dead in Christ believer, whose eternal spirit and soul are united with his or her decayed body that has been resurrected and glorified, AND the removal of the still living, never has seen physical death true Bride of Christ.

Right here is where a very relevant point about the “elect” should be made. It is important to know that the Holy Bible differentiates between those pre-tribulation resurrected-raptured saints and those left-behind saints who are called the “elect.” Because the Scriptures refer to both of these saints as Christ Jesus’ “elect,” this is the main reason why the New Testament Bride of Christ’s saints or the “elect” Body of Christ, which is both resurrected and raptured, is not resurrected nor raptured mid-tribulation or post-tribulation.

First, where the mid-tribulation Rapture beliefs about the “Church” are concerned, the only prophesied resurrections and raptures in the Holy Bible that pertain to Christ Jesus’ “elect” or saints being resurrected and/or raptured at or near mid-tribulation, as well as sometime after the start of the second half of the seven-year Tribulation Period, are as follows: 1. the raptured 144,000 sealed with the Holy Spirit Messianic Jewish evangelists, who never experience a physical death (see Revelation 14:3b-5); 2. the resurrected and raptured two witnesses/prophets who are seen alive again on Earth after they died a physical death and remained dead for 3½ days. These dead saints receive life again in their expired physical bodies, after which they are raptured off of this Earth alive (see Revelation 11:7-12); and 3. the resurrected, martyred Tribulation saints, who are beheaded for refusing to accept the Mark of the Beast (see Revelation 7:13-14 and Revelation 20:4-5). Please notice that the “Church” or Bride of Christ is not included in these resurrections and raptures!

Secondly, concerning the post-tribulation Rapture beliefs about the “Church,” based for example on Matthew 24:29-31 and Mark 13:24-27, the word “elect” specifically refers to those Tribulation survivors who are gathered (as translated from the Greek word, epistrpho) at the end of the Great Tribulation by the Lord’s angels. This “elect” clearly is not the same “elect,” which also is known as the Body of Christ/Bride of Christ, who is resurrected AND raptured/caught up (as translated from the Greek word, harpazo) to meet Christ Jesus in the air.

Put differently, at the time of the pre-tribulation Resurrection-Rapture, Christ Jesus comes alone on a cloud, and He is unseen by any earthly humans. This supernaturally hidden by the clouds Christ Jesus calls out to the dead in Christ and to His living Bride for them to come up and meet Him in the air.

In contrast, at the end of the Great Tribulation, all of the people living on the Earth will see Christ Jesus coming on a cloud and displaying all His power and great glory, which will be such an impressive wonder to see that “all the tribes of the earth will mourn” when they see Him (cf. Matthew 24:30; see also Revelation 1:7). After the Lord returns to Earth with His armies of resurrected and raptured saints and defeats the Antichrist and his armies of apostates and infidels, Christ Jesus then will command His angels to gather all of the Tribulation survivors. It is from these gathered alleged sheep and/or supposed wheat that the Lord will separate the sheep from the goats, and His angels will separate the wheat from the tares (see Matthew 13:38-43; Matthew 24:31; Matthew 25:31-32; Mark 13:27).

There can be no doubt, therefore, that the “elect” mentioned in Matthew 24:31 and Mark 13:27 only refers to those AFTER the pre-tribulation Resurrection-Rapture individuals who are those left behind deceived apostates and those lifelong infidels. The former represents those left behinders who have been snatched from the fire just in time to become believers in Christ Jesus once again (cf. Jude v.23), and the latter represents those left behinders who become born again and saved at the 11th hour, as it were (cf. Matthew 20:6). Both of these believers make up the Great Harvest of the Lord’s Harvest, which takes place at end of the Age of Grace. By the way, the Age of Grace began with the death of the innocent and perfect Sacrifice—Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God.  

For the above stated reasons, there can be no doubt that these tribulation survivors are those sheep that have been separated from the goats, and those wheat that have been separated from the tares. In other words, these end-times believers are those tribulation “elect” or saints who will have their natural physical bodies. These tribulation survivors are the ones who will repopulate this Earth during Christ Jesus’ millennial reign.

Be that as it may, additional proof that the living Bride of Christ is raptured before the mid- and post-tribulation is the fact that John the Revelator foresees twenty-four elders, who represent both the dead in Christ Old and New Testaments’ resurrected saints (“elect”) AND the alive in Christ New Testament’s saints (“elect”), who have been clothed, crowned, and enthroned before the first judgment ever is sent upon the Earth (see Revelation 4:4).  Then too, there is the fact that the word “church” never is mentioned during any of the seal, trumpet and/or bowl judgments, and that is because these judgments are mainly meant for spiritually blind Israel—the country and her people!

Now, the apostle Paul is not the only one who describes a time when Resurrection-Rapture believers will be hated. So do Christ Jesus and the apostles John and Peter.

As alluded to earlier, Christ Jesus predicts that, in the last days, His disciples (not just His Jewish followers but also His Gentile followers) will be hated, which is why they must be careful not to give anybody the opportunity to deceive them. In the below passages from His Olivet Discourse, the Lord makes His prediction, and He gives very clear commands. Christ Jesus says:

Watch out! Don’t let anyone fool you! For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. …At that time you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and put to death, and all peoples will hate you because of me. At that time many will be trapped into betraying and hating each other, many false prophets will appear and fool many people;  ~ Matthew 24:4-5, 9-11, CJB

Just as the Lord predicts that there will people in the last days who will hate His disciples, the apostle John teaches this same truth to the believers he is discipling. John cites the Lord as being the One who says this divine Truth: “If you belonged to the world, the world would have loved its own. But because you do not belong to the world — on the contrary, I have picked you out of the world — therefore the world hates you” ~ John 15:19, CJB.

In another passage written by the apostle John, he once again quotes Christ Jesus, but this time on how true believers who have received and correctly understood God’s Word, even the Word that pertains to the Resurrection-Rapture, are hated by those individuals who are not real believers. John writes:

I have given them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world — just as I myself do not belong to the world. I don’t ask you to take them out of the world, but to protect them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Set them apart for holiness by means of the truth — your word is truth. ~ John 17:14-17, CJB

For the record, fake believers are people who publicly profess that they are Christians, but they act like they really are infidels. In other words, they act the same way as those lost souls who still are in the world!

Lastly, the apostle Peter also teaches about apostates’ desire to hate and ridicule genuine believers who have faith in God’s divine Truths, including His divine Truths about last-days Rapture and end-times judgment. The apostle writes:

For the Messiah himself died for sins, once and for all, a righteous person on behalf of unrighteous people, so that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but brought to life by the Spirit; and in this form he went and made a proclamation to the imprisoned spirits, to those who were disobedient long ago, in the days of Noach, when God waited patiently during the building of the ark, in which a few people — to be specific, eight — were delivered by means of water. ~ 1 Peter 3:18-20, CJB

~ AND ~

First, understand this: during the Last Days, scoffers will come, following their own desires and asking, ‘Where is this promised ‘coming’ of his? For our fathers have died, and everything goes on just as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But, wanting so much to be right about this, they overlook the fact that it was by God’s Word that long ago there were heavens, and there was land which arose out of water and existed between the waters, and that by means of these things the world of that time was flooded with water and destroyed. It is by that same Word that the present heavens and earth, having been preserved, are being kept for fire until the Day of Judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed. ~ 2 Peter 3:3-7, CJB

The hatred for born again, saved (justified), and progressively sanctified full of the Holy Spirit Resurrection-Rapture believers is ever so evident these days. There are so many mass and social media contributors, and even Christian pulpit preachers and classroom teachers who not only are denying the concept of a Resurrection-Rapture but also these deniers are bashing those true believers who have given their total trust (faith) to God and, as a result, earnestly do believe that the Resurrection-Rapture is indeed imminent. With so many people vehemently criticizing and scoffing at the Resurrection-Rapture, and its believers, it is almost fruitless to try to explain or defend said biblical doctrine to the unsaved as well as many of the saved children of God.

Yet, regardless of the number of Resurrection-Rapture detractors, the Great Commission’s commands are still applicable today. So then, born again, saved (justified), and progressively sanctified full of the Holy Spirit 21st-century believers even now must go into all the world, lead the lost world to the Lord through the preached Gospel of Christ Jesus, and make disciples of everyone the Lord saves and the Holy Spirit indwells and infills (see Matthew 28:19-20a). Additionally, it wouldn’t hurt to pray to God, asking Him not only to prepare the unsaved but also the saved hearers’ hearts so that the sown Seed will fall in “fertile” ground and so that the hearers will understand the Word of God and produce spiritual fruit that yields “…hundred or sixty or thirty times what was sown” (Matthew 13:23, CJB). Amen.