Traditions of Men

01 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Bible Study, Spiritual

Tags

alterations, Annual Feasts, believers in Christ, Biblical Feasts, blind leading blind, changed dates, changed feast names, changed feast significances, changes, Chrismas, disdain for God's Appointed Feasts, Easter, Emperor Constantine, errors of their ways, First Fruits, God's prophecy calendar, God-Appointed Feasts, Good Friday, inherit, life of compromise, man-made customs, man-made laws, man-made rules, Passover, Pharisees, Protestants, religious leaders, removals, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Empire, Sadducees, Traditions of Men, unholy legacy

Jesus replied, “You are frauds and hypocrites! How accurately did Isaiah prophesy about you phonies when he said:

‘These people honor me with their words
while their hearts run far away from me!
Their worship is nothing more than a charade!
For they continue to insist
that their man-made traditions
are equal to the instructions of God.’

“You abandon God’s commandments just to keep men’s rituals, such as ceremonially washing utensils, cups, and other things.”

Then he added, “How skillful you’ve become in rejecting God’s law in order to maintain your man-made set of rules. For example, Moses taught us:

‘Honor your father and your mother,’
and,
‘Whoever insults or mistreats his father or
mother must be put to death.’

“But your made-up rules allow a person to say to his parents, ‘I’ve decided to take the support you were counting on from me and make it my holy offering to God, and that will be your blessing instead.’ How convenient! The rules you teach exempt him from providing for his aged parents. Do you really think God will honor your traditions passed down to others, making up these rules that nullify God’s Word? And you’re doing many other things like that.” ~ Mark 7:6-13, TPT

Long before the time of Jesus, the Jewish religious leaders frequently added to the Law of Moses their own traditions—the traditions of men—that were their rules they made everyone follow. The reason they added their traditions was because these religious leaders wanted to make the Word of God more convenient to themselves. They also wanted to control the entire Jewish population—to control Israel—and they wanted to take the place of God.

Over the course of time, mostly after the Roman Empire destroyed the Jewish Temple in 70 AD, as well as after the deaths of Jesus Christ’s apostles, the Roman believers in Christ developed their own highly sophisticated theology and organizational structure that was controlled by the papacy. The papacy was nothing like the Ekklesia that began on the Day of Pentecost, which was right after Jesus Christ’s Ascension Day that happened forty days after His Resurrection.

By the way, Jesus Christ was raptured twice. He first was raptured on the Day of First Fruits, when He rose from the grave and then secretly went to Heaven where He was presented before Father God who accepted His Son as the firstfruits of the resurrected dead. Secondly, Jesus Christ was raptured when He ascended to Heaven right in front of His original disciples.

Now, although the Roman Catholic Church has claimed that it is the Church Christ died for, according to the New Testament, the real truth is that the Roman Catholic Church’s beginning was not based on the teachings of Jesus Christ or His original disciples who became apostles. Indeed, for the first 280 years after Jesus Christ established His Ekklesia on the day of Pentecost, the Roman Empire banned believers in Christ and His teachings.

In fact, it wasn’t until after the Roman Emperor Constantine’s alleged “conversion” that the Roman Catholic Church made “Christianity” the ONLY religion of the Roman Empire. As a result, the Roman Empire stopped persecuting and crucifying believers in Christ around 313 AD.

However, even though the Roman Catholic Church has claimed it is the Church Jesus Christ established, nowhere in the New Testament are there any mentions of a papacy; the confession of sin to a Catholic priest for his absolution; the immaculate conception of Mary, the mother of Jesus; the worship of Mary, the mother of Jesus; purgatory; infant baptisms; the petitioning of saints in Heaven for their prayers; calling priests “fathers”; the rosary and its string of prayer beads; Lent; and so many more of the Roman Catholic Church’s traditions of men.

Like the Jewish religious leaders who added their own traditions to the Law of Moses, the Roman Catholic Church added its own traditions to the teachings of Jesus Christ and His disciples—to the New Testament. The Roman Catholic Church did this because it wanted to make the Word of God more convenient to its papacy and the religious leaders under the Pope, and it wanted to combine and control the “Christian” and pagan populations. Moreover, the Roman Catholic Church’s early religious leaders wanted to control the world, to take the place of God, and to give absolute POWER to the Roman Catholic Church. Indeed, even the Roman Catholic Church’s history confirms that many Popes, Bishops, and other religious leaders were wicked, power hungry, and greedy for monetary gain. This description also applies to many of the Jewish High Priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees.

Most important, because the Roman Empire was massive, sprawling, and diverse, the Roman Catholic Church’s religious leaders not only wanted to distance themselves from the Jewish communities that were still celebrating God’s appointed seven annual feasts but also these religious leaders wanted to absorb the pagan feasts, beliefs, and rituals of their non-Christian citizens—feasts, beliefs, and rituals the Roman Emperor Constantine also continued to practice. Thus, the Roman Catholic Church’s religious leaders at the time of Emperor Constantine wanted to absorb the existing paganism so that these religious leaders could get all Roman citizens to embrace the Roman Catholic Church’s religious brand—“Christianity.”

Long story short, it is the Roman Catholic Church’s traditions of men that became the law and the customs the entire Empire had to follow as soon as said religious leaders during Emperor Constantine’s reign “Christianized” their existing pagan rituals and feasts. These traditions of men became the law and customs that most of the world, Protestant believers included, still follow today. A few of these traditions of men are the celebration of Christ’s birth (the annual Christmas holiday), the celebration of Good Friday (the annual celebration of Christ’s death), and the celebration of Easter (the annual celebration of Christ’s resurrection).

The uncomfortable truth is that there is nowhere in the entire Word of God—the Old and the New Testaments—that Father God instructs His Children to celebrate His Son’s birth. Christmas, therefore, is not an annual God-appointed feast day. It is just one of the many pagan feast days and rituals that the Roman Catholic Church absorbed and Christianized.

Likewise, there is nowhere in the entire Word of God that Good Friday is presented as a God-appointed feast (annual holiday). Good Friday is the Roman Catholic Church religious leaders’ attempt at getting rid of Passover—the annual God-appointed feast day that is in the Word of God. Passover is the day of preparation for the Jewish High Sabbath (a sacred day), and Passover is the day the Roman soldiers crucified the Messiah on the Cross.

Then too, there is nowhere in the entire Word of God that Easter is presented as a God-appointed feast (annual holiday). Easter, however, is the Roman Catholic Church religious leaders’ additional attempt at getting rid of Passover, which they did by making Easter fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurred on or after the spring or vernal equinox. These same religious leaders also changed Passover’s name to Good Friday, changed First Fruits’ name to Easter, changed Passover’s significance—Jesus Christ’s crucifixion day—and changed First Fruits’ significance, which was Jesus Christ’s resurrection day. By changing Passover and First Fruits’ dates, names, and significances, the Roman Catholic Church’s religious leaders were able to get rid of three Jewish feasts—Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. These were Jewish Feast days that many of the Roman Catholic Church’s “Christians” were observing. Having Roman Catholic “Christians” who also celebrated these Jewish Feasts days was causing a big problem in the Empire. Even so, the truths these early Roman Catholic Church religious leaders tried to bury were the Holy Bible’s annual God-appointed feast days of Passover and First Fruits, which were the days when Jesus Christ died and rose from the grave—not Good Friday and Easter.

The bottom line is as follows: If the Roman Catholic Church started with Jesus Christ and His disciples it certainly has done everything in its power to change or remove the Lord and His disciples’ teachings by either altering or replacing them all together with their own traditions of men, all for their own convenience. Out of their own disdain for the Jewish festivals’ traditions that line up with the entire Word of God, and because of their own life of compromise—mixing Christianized pagan feasts and rituals with their “Christianity”—the early Roman Catholic Church’s religious leaders ended up leaving behind an unholy legacy.

Tragically, today’s believers in Christ have inherited from these early Roman religious leaders the same life of compromise and the same disdain for God’s appointed seven annual feast days that begin with Passover and end with Tabernacles. Consequently, way too many of today’s believers in Christ—Roman Catholics and Protestants—still religiously celebrate Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter. They do so as believers in Christ who are ignorant of the following fact: By continuing to celebrate these nonbiblical feasts, they are saying that the Roman Catholic Church’s attempt to change Father God’s prophetic calendar was ordained by God when it wasn’t.

It is evident that Father God foresaw this unfortunate example of the blind leading the blind—not only in the Roman Catholic Church’s celebrations of the wrong feasts but also in ALL the Hebrew and Roman religious leaders’ other traditions of men that have been added to the Word of God. Sadly, every followed tradition of men is why so many believers in Christ who will be living right before the Tribulation Period begins will be so unprepared and unalert that they—carnal believers and natural men and women (unbelievers – Jews and Gentiles)—will miss the Rapture and end up suffering during the Tribulation Period.

May the Lord help them see the errors of their ways before it is too late. Amen.

Religious Hypocrites Are Dangerous!

06 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Heavenly Insights

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Tags

decaying process, ethylene, father, fermenting process, fruitless, hypocritical righteousness, Leaven, man-given honorable titles, Master, narcissistic, Oral Law, Pharisees, phony, Rabbi, religiosity, religious hypocrites, religious hyporisy, ripening agent, rotten apple, Sadducees, spiritual pride, traditions of elders, venomous attitudes, Written Law

Jesus said to them, ‘·Be careful [Watch out]! Beware of the ·yeast [leaven] of the Pharisees and the Sadducees [^Cyeast or leaven refers here to the dangerous permeating power of their influence].’ ~ Matthew 16:6, EXB

The Pharisees and Sadducees were the biggest religious hypocrites in Christ Jesus’ day, which was the reason why the Lord taught that these religious leaders’ outward religiosity was thoroughly fruitless, phony, and narcissistic. For these reasons, He warned His disciples to beware of the Pharisees and Sadducees’ leaven (their venomous attitudes), and why He advised His disciples to avoid judging other people with the same kind of hypocritical righteousness the Pharisees and Sadducees used.

For the record, the Pharisees were strict observers of the Written Law or Torah, as well as strict observers of the Oral Law. They adopted the “traditions of elders”—the interpretations of the Oral Law (unwritten laws) they claimed had been handed down from Moses. However, by placing more emphasis on the “traditions of elders,” the Pharisees made God’s written commands of no effect. Even though the Pharisees explained/taught the Law of Moses and enforced a strict adherence to said Law, they usually didn’t practice what they taught and enforced. Furthermore, they were nitpickers, but ONLY about SOME commandments; they actually ignored following many of God’s commandments, as well as many of the laws they themselves added. Because they were full of spiritual pride, they demanded to be greeted in public as Rabbi, Master, and/or Father, and they expected to be shown the proper respect. Then too, their deeds were constantly on display; they had a habit of praying, fasting, and giving alms in public, because they loved to be seen of men. They made sure that their phony religiosity and man-given honorable titles impressed the people watching them so that they (the Pharisees) could make money off of their religion, as well as receive praise.

In contrast, the Sadducees believed in a strict literal interpretation of the Written Law or Torah, which was to them without any influence from their contemporary society or the Oral Law (unwritten laws) that had been handed down. Their main concern was maintaining the integrity of the Mosaic Law. They insisted that the Torah, the Law of Moses found in the Pentateuch (first five books of the Old Testament), was binding. The Sadducees believed that the oral regulations based on “tradition” misrepresented the Torah, and this is why they rejected the “traditions of elders.” They also didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead, nor in angles or demons. Moreover, because they didn’t believe in Judgment, Heaven, or Hell (denied the afterlife and the immortality of the soul), they also did not believe in rewards or punishments at judgment day. The taught external cleanliness (modesty; clean clothing), but they didn’t teach about inward holiness or obedience to God. They were rationalistic and worldly minded, heavily influenced by Greek customs and culture, and were in favor of adopting them. They accepted human reasoning over Divine Revelation, believing that if they couldn’t conceive or comprehend something, then that “something” could not exist. Although they believed in God, they denied the supernatural. Lastly, they didn’t believe in God’s involvement in everyday life. In fact, the Sadducees were exceedingly self-reliant.

Even though the Pharisees are the ones who consistently are given a bad rap, the truth is that the Pharisees and Sadducees in Christ Jesus’ day were spiritually proud religious hypocrites, legalists, murders, and militants. Both groups/sects also were involved in political scheming.

What is important to note here, however, is that the leaven Christ Jesus tells His disciples to watch out for refers primarily to the Pharisees and Sadducees’ spiritual pride and religious hypocrisy, which Christ Jesus teaches God never rewards. Metaphorically speaking, Christ Jesus is saying that the leaven in Pharisees and Sadducees’ unregenerate inner spirit or heart has the same internal and external altering effects as does the little amount of yeast that is put inside a portion of bread dough. In other words, both the Pharisees and Sadducees’ sufficient amount of toxic attitudes in their individual spirit/heart and the accurate measure of yeast in bread dough modify internal and external characteristics as they spread or rise. Bottom line: The Lord is saying that sooner or later the Pharisees and Sadducees’ leaven (spiritual pride and religious hypocrisy) will spread from the inside – out, causing internal emotional, moral, and spiritual changes and external physical alterations to the people in their Jewish Temple community.

For the purpose of being very clear, let’s mix metaphors. Pharisaical and Sadducean leaven is a rotten apple. That is to say, malicious leaven during the process of fermentation has the same internal and external poisonous effect on an infected person and the region of people he or she pollutes, as does the internal and external decomposing effect the overripe apple during the ripening process has on itself and the other apples around it. In the case of the one bad apple that spoils the whole bunch, the riper apple gives off a higher level of ethylene, which is both a natural gaseous hormone and a ripening agent. It is the ethylene from the overripe apple that speeds up the ripening process in the other apples around it, and eventually rots them.

Additionally, an apple that is infested with mold also will contaminate the other apples (or the different fruit) it is stored with, because the mold on the infected fruit spreads to more food sources, ruining or rotting them as well. Likewise, this same rotting principle is true of the Pharisees and Sadducees’ leaven. Just like one bad apple most definitely will contaminate the other apples its around and ultimately cause their premature rotting, the Pharisees and Sadducees’ leaven (spiritual pride and religious hypocrisy) also will corrupt everyone with whom their leaven comes in contact.

Today, as it was in Christ Jesus’ day, the Pharisees and Sadducees’ cancerous leaven (spiritual pride and religious hypocrisy) pertains to both our natural and spiritual lives. In the natural realm, the Pharisees and Sadducees’ malicious leaven represents the destructive power one person’s contaminative influence can have on his or her own natural developmental process—mental and physical maturities—as well as on other individuals’ natural developmental process. Likewise, in the spiritual realm, the Pharisees and Sadducees’ malicious leaven signifies the destructive power one spiritually unrighteous, unholy person can have over his or her own eternal life status and spiritual growth, as well as over other people’s eternal life status and spiritual growth.

Finally, the main thing to remember is that a spiritually proud religious hypocrite who is in the process of spiritually, emotionally, morally, and physically decaying his or her own life, both internally and externally, absolutely can emotionally, physically, morally, and spiritually decay the internal character traits and external behaviors of the people who are around him or her. For this reason, a spiritually proud religious hypocrite is a dangerous enemy to the Household of Faith children who are in the Kingdom of God on Earth, because a spiritually proud religious hypocrite swiftly contaminates the inward emotions and attitudes of others. Additionally, a spiritually proud religious hypocrite’s behaviors always dishonors, disrespects, and diminishes the “much good” that genuinely holy and righteous people do. For these reasons, believers today still need to watch out for the Pharisees and Sadducees’ leaven, for it rots within and affects without. AMEN.

Pre-Wrath Is Misnomer

28 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Bible Prophecy

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144000 Sealed Jewish Evangelists, 7 years of Tribulation, Armageddon, Christ's elect, Daniel's 70th Week, deliver, God's wrath, harpazo, judgment, millennial reign, misnomer, persecution, Pre-Tribulationism, Pre-Wrath Rapture Theory, punishment, rapture, rescue, Sadducees, save, Time of Jacob's Trouble, unparalleled

These are the words the Lord spoke to Israel and Judah. Yes, this is what the Lord says:

We have heard a cry of terror,
of dread—there is no peace.
Ask and see
whether a male can give birth.
Why then do I see every man
with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor
and every face turned pale?
How awful that day will be!
There will be none like it!
It will be a time of trouble for Jacob,
but he will be delivered out of it. ~ Jeremiah 30:4-7, HCSB

As for you, My servant Jacob,
do not be afraid—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
and do not be dismayed, Israel,
for without fail I will save you from far away,
your descendants, from the land of their captivity!
Jacob will return and have calm and quiet
with no one to frighten him.
For I will be with you—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
to save you!
I will bring destruction on all the nations
where I have scattered you;
however, I will not bring destruction on you.
I will discipline you justly,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished. ~ Jeremiah 30:10-11, HCSB

Seventy weeks are decreed
about your people and your holy city—
to bring the rebellion to an end,
to put a stop to sin,
to wipe away iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness,
to seal up vision and prophecy,
and to anoint the most holy place. ~ Daniel 9:24, HCSB

He will make a firm covenant
with many for one week,
but in the middle of the week
he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering.
And the abomination of desolation
will be on a wing of the temple
until the decreed destruction
is poured out on the desolator. ~ Daniel 9:27, HCSB

Many believers today are preaching and teaching the Pre-Wrath Rapture Theory. There are many problems with this theory, starting with the fact that Pre-Wrath is a misnomer, especially since ONLY Pre-Tribulationism is 100% pre-wrath!

Be that as it may, another widely used misnomer is Tribulation, as in the prophesied 7-year period: the 3½ years of Tribulation and the 3½ years of Great Tribulation. In the Old Testament, it is Daniel’s 70^th Week that is described as the entire 7 years of Tribulation. This Week is the decreed time God has established for bringing Israel’s obstinate rebellion against Him to an end, and the decreed time for completing His final discipline and judgment upon Israel (His elect; His chosen Jewish people), as well as the decreed time for making His final judgment upon this world’s unbelieving inhabitants. Furthermore, Daniel’s 70 Weeks are described as the time when God cleanses the entire Earth (the time when He puts an end to ALL transgression, seals up and makes an end of ALL sins, makes reconciliation for iniquity, and brings in everlasting righteousness, seals up vision and prophecy, and anoints the most holy place; see Daniel 9:24). These abovementioned prophecies are scheduled to be completed before Jesus Christ’s Millennial Kingdom on Earth begins!

On the other hand, the Time of Jacob’s Trouble is the Old Testament’s description of the last 3½ years of Daniel’s 70^th Week, which most end time biblical prophecy scholars also call the Great Tribulation. God says that though this time will be filled with birth pangs that increase in intensity and frequency, becoming more relentless than they’ve ever been at any other time, He will deliver/save Jacob. Here Jacob symbolizes God’s elect or chosen Jewish people, and they are the ones God promises He will NOT let perish during the terrible Time of Jacob’s Trouble, even though He will judge and punish them (see Jeremiah 30:4-24). The reason why the Jewish people as a whole must be judged and punished is because they still need to give their hearts to God, by accepting His Salvation program—Jesus the Christ, who is their Lord and Savior! Ultimately, the nation of Israel, like Jacob, will receive a new name—Hephzibah (my delight is in Her) and the land Beulah (married)! According to Isaiah 62:4, this name change also is the purpose of the decreed Time of Jacob’s Trouble.

Now there are many Christians who believe that ONLY right “…now is the day of salvation” (see 2 Corinthians 6:2). That is to say, these believers maintain that if unbelievers haven’t accepted Jesus Christ BEFORE Daniel’s 70^th Week begins that NONE of them will receive salvation during this prophesied unparalleled seven-year Tribulation. They also believe that it is a lie of the devil to preach and teach that the people in the Tribulation Period will still have another chance to get saved.

While “NOW” always has been the time for the lost souls living on this Earth to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, “NOW” also is the time for all believers to allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify them completely. However, just like the majority of lost souls are not accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, too many saved believers are not allowing the Holy Spirit to do His sanctifying work in them. No doubt believers’ refusal to surrender totally to the Holy Spirit’s mighty sanctification process, and their refusal to surrender totally to His leading, prompting, teaching, and so forth, are why God does say in His Word that countless people will be saved during the seven-year Tribulation.

For sure, many unbelieving left behinders will be saved (receive salvation) before the Day of Judgment (before Jesus Christ’s Second Coming, when His feet actually touch the Mount of Olives, which is by the time the Book of Life and the Book of Death have been sealed). Moreover, many unprepared (not holy enough to be raptured or taken) believers in Christ also will be sifted like wheat during Daniel’s 70^th Week, especially during the Time of Jacob’s Trouble (cf. Jeremiah 51:33; Amos 9:9; Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17; Luke 22:31).

The sifting like wheat analogy refers to unprepared believers needing to experience some violent trampling or threshing, some forceful winnowing or throwing into the air to allow the wind to blow away unwanted parts, and some upside-down strong sieving or shaking, before their true “grit”—staying power, like steadfast faithfulness, holiness, obedience, and so forth—can be verified. Perhaps this end time wheat sifting is why, when John the Baptist describes the coming of Jesus the Christ, he does so by painting the image of the Lord separating genuine believers from fakes, via threshing, winnowing, and sieving. John the Baptist also describes the Lord as the prophesied One who will gather His shifted like wheat true believers into the Kingdom of God on Earth, in the same manner that grain is gathered into a barn. The Lord also will gather the fake believers and the ones who totally rejected Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but then He will throw them into the Lake of Fire where they will burn in an unquenchable fire (see Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17).

There can be no doubt that this end-time sifting by the Lord certainly will cause not only countless numbers of lost souls to repent and be saved but also will cause numerous left-behind unprepared believers to get back onto the right path—the path that leads to an eternity with God. Therefore, it should be clear that, although numerous people will be saved and others sifted, during the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, which primarily involves God’s chosen left-behind Jewish people, their salvation and sifting will be achieved only because they went through the worse Hell on Earth. Many of these left-behinders not only will suffer persecution, starvation, thirst, earthquakes, and so forth, but also plenty of them will experience a beheading! Even then, there still will be other left-behinders who will continue in sin, including cursing God up until the time of Christ Jesus’ bodily return!

Now, for the record, the gathering of His elect “…from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other…” (Matthew 24:31) is not a reference to the Rapture of the Bride of Christ. When Jesus Christ speaks of the gathering of the His elect in His Olivet Discourse, He is referring to His angels gathering together all of the nations of the world, from the four corners of the Earth, AFTER the Great Tribulation has ended. In other words, this is the gathering of the Tribulation survivors—the metaphorical wheat/tares and sheep/goats.

That the saved sheep/wheat will be allowed to enter into the Millennium, which is the time when Jesus Christ rules as King of this Earth for 1,000 years, is undisputable evidence that proves people (metaphorically, the sheep/goats and wheat/tares) in the Time of Jacob’s Trouble not only will be separated from one another but also will repent and get saved during the Tribulation Period. As mentioned in this blogger’s several other blog postings, the only people who will be able to re-populate this Earth during Jesus Christ’s Millennial Reign are those “saved” survivors from the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, because the Bride of Christ (both the dead and the alive in Christ at the time when they meet Him in the air); the alive and pure 144,000 Jewish evangelists, who have the seal of God; and the martyred saints ALL will have received their glorified bodies.

Now, Jesus Christ teaches the Sadducees that neither those resurrected nor those raptured humans who are in Heaven will be marrying and giving in marriage in Heaven. Matthew writes:

The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, ‘Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. So too the second and third, down to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.’ But Jesus answered them, ‘You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God:‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.’ And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. ~ Matthew 22:23-33, ESV

Likewise, the apostle Paul teaches in the Scriptures that those who enter Heaven are primarily the resurrected dead and raptured alive Bride of Christ members, who have received glorified bodies (bodies like what the angels have). Thus, since marriage is the only way people on Earth will be able to procreate, those people who re-populate this planet during Jesus Christ’s Millennial Reign will be the surviving saints from the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, who indeed are “saved” but still in their natural bodies!

Concerning the gathering of the Bride of Christ, whom the apostle Paul speaks about, this gathering is not the same gathering of the already mentioned end-time saints—the Tribulation’s surviving sheep/wheat. This gathering apostle Paul speaks about is the Rapture of the Bride of Christ—the taking or snatching out of harm’s way (catching up; harpazo). Now the only way this harpazo makes sense is if it happens before the 7-year Tribulation begins, because the apostle Paul repeatedly makes in clear, in at least four Scriptures, that the Bride of Christ is NOT going to experience God’s Wrath (neither during the Time of Jacob’s Trouble or Great Tribulation nor during the first half of the Tribulation Period). The apostle Paul writes the following about the holy, righteous, faithful, obedient, totally sanctified, and absolutely saved Bride of Christ:

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ~ Romans 5:9, ESV

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ~ Ephesians 5:6, ESV

and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. ~ 1 Thessalonians 1:10, ESV

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:9, ESV

The problem then with far too many believers’ thinking, where the Rapture of the Bride of Christ is concerned, is that far too many of believers have not understood the difference between God’s Plan of Salvation (deliverance, rescue, preservation, safety) for the Bride of Christ who is both the resurrected dead in Christ and the raptured alive in Christ, and His Plan of Salvation for Israel who is the Jewish Time of Jacob’s Trouble saints, the saved Jewish people living in the Promised Land or Israel, at that time. In other words, these saved Jewish people will be the individuals who, as mentioned earlier, are experiencing the prophesied Time of Jacob’s Trouble—the decreed time for bringing Israel’s obstinate rebellion against God to an end, and the decreed time for completing His final discipline and judgment upon Israel (His elect; His chosen Jewish people), as well as the decreed time for making His final judgment upon this world’s unbelieving inhabitants.

Since numerous people don’t seem to know the difference between God’s Plan of Salvation for the Bride of Christ and God’s Plan of Salvation for Israel, it also is important to note here that there is a major difference between God’s Wrath and mankind’s persecution, including the Antichrist’s tribulation or persecution. Wrath is God’s RIGHTEOUS judgment and RIGHTEOUS punishment, which He will pour out on the rebellious UNRIGHTEOUS unbelieving people of this world. Tribulation is the unrighteous persecution of believers by unrighteous unbelievers!

There is no denying, then, that Jesus Christ prophesies that in this world there is going to be much persecution, but based on the above definitions of Wrath and tribulation, it should be obvious that what man does to people will in no way measure up to the Wrath of God, which will be poured out on a sin-sick world. This last point is why ALL of the persecution Christians have suffered from the 1^st century A.D., and forward, will not compare to the suffering that happens in the 7 years of Tribulation. This future suffering will be unparalleled, so much so that if Daniel’s 70^th Week isn’t sped up, NO ONE will survive it (see Matthew 24:22)!

For sure, as prophesied, during the Time of Jacob’s Trouble (a.k.a., the Great Tribulation), God’s Wrath will increase in frequency and intensity, beginning with the Lamb of God’s Seal judgments (the wrath of the Lamb; see Revelation 6:16), and continuing throughout the entire Time of Jacob’s Trouble until the last bowl judgment is poured out. Thus, based on all of the above provided information about Daniel’s 70^th Week, the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, wheat sifting, and so forth, the Pre-Wrath Rapture Theory indisputably suggests that, even if the righteous and sanctified Bride of Christ goes through just the first half of Daniel’s 70^th Week, She still would suffer some of God’s Wrath, despite the fact that the Word of God declares the Lord’s righteous and sanctified Bride has NOT been appointed to suffer ANY of God’s Wrath (orge, in the Greek language), because She has been DELIVERED or SAVED from the Wrath to come by Christ Jesus’ finished work on the Cross!

Still, believers in Christ Jesus should not be deceived! Not everyone who professes to be a Christian will be exempted from God’s Wrath. Indeed, many professed Christians who sin willfully and/or who neglect to live the Christian lives they should will suffer some, if not all, of God’s Wrath during Daniel’s 70^th Week (the 7 years of Tribulation). A word to the wise should be sufficient!

Shalom . . . .

For more detailed information on Daniel’s 70^th Week, the Tribulation Period, the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, the Rapture (gathering of the Bride of Christ), and etc., please read these blog entries: Are We Close to the Battle of Armageddon?; Making the Case That the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Is Biblical; Christ’s Elect Is His 144,000 Jewish Evangelists PLUS . . .; The Last Trump: When Our Bodies Are Glorified; and Misunderstandings about ‘Thief in the Night.’