Dreams of the Rapture

Acts 2:17 says that in the last days, God will pour out His Spirit upon his children and they shall prophecy, have visions and dream dreams.  Early Sunday Morning, I had a dream.

The Middle Eastern sands were hot beneath my feet as I fled a horrible dragon and assorted demons.  I was fleeing for my life when instead of me, the dragon captured the Lord Jesus.  The dragon bound the Lord about the waist with a metal cable which he tied to his tail.  I watched in horror as the dragon  began to smash the Lord Jesus into the ground, into ships, and into buildings.  I cried out to the Lord to stop the torture, that the body of Christ could not take much more.

Smaug the Dragon - The Hobbit

I ran waist high into the sea, that was calm and cool.  Above me, I heard a mighty trumpet and the skies opened.  All around me, spirits began to rise from the waters and I remember thinking - oh yeah, the dead in Christ shall arise first and then, I knew that the Rapture was happening.  The blessed hope, the greatest miracle since Creation was upon us and I was caught up into the clouds.

It does not take an interpreter to see the meaning behind the dream, the time is short.  

Random Thoughts on Faith

Abigail and Dolley readers I've been thinking a lot about Faith.   Hebrews 11:1 tells us that Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  The substance is defined in Strong's as the bedrock, the foundation, that footings of a building - thus, faith is something tangible.  It is the evidence of what we can not see.  Thus, faith, in this passage, is in the invisible... Understanding that is a key to why Salvation changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament and why faith will change during the Tribulation and the Millennium.  For it does not take faith to believe when the eyes SEE.

Think about it, if Jesus is on His throne in Jerusalem, ruling the Nations - how much faith do you have to have?  How much faith do you need to have to believe that Queen Elizabeth II is the sovereign of England?  None - you can see it, thus there is no real reward for believing it.  During the Tribulation when angels are flying over head issuing proclamations, do you need a lot of faith to believe?  When prophecy is opening right in front of you in perfect detail, you don't need a lot of blind faith to believe.  If you are an Old Testament believer on Mt Carmel and Elijah calls down fire from Heaven, how much faith do you have to have?

Elijah on Mt Carmel - The Evidence of God

"Blessed are those who believe but have not seen." John 20:29 is the last beatitude that Jesus gives before the Ascension.  Thus, the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is personal.  Your faith can not be strengthened by the work the Spirit does in me - I can not share with you the ways that He moves in my heart and my life and have that be REAL to you.  Our faith becomes personal - the depth of it our own choice.  He can move and speak to each of us through the wind, through a red cardinal on our porch, through a word a stranger says in passing.  We can share these things with other believers but they remain significant only to ourselves and can be frustrating to share.

In the end, Hebrews 11:6 and without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.  So we press on as this age of faith draws to a close, where the powers of darkness seem to over shadow the Almighty.  Where from what we can SEE the enemy is the one in power on this Earth but by faith we believe in His promises.  We believe in His soon return, we believe in His power and we long for the day when the evidence of our faith is manifested for ourselves and for this unbelieving World to see.

This World is on Fire

The World is on fire:  We see it literally, as fires are raging out of control across the planet.  We see it figuratively in Christian slaughter and persecution.

Literal:

I saw a global fire map this week and it shocked me with its imagery.  Lest I be duped, I checked it out, and found it to be legitimate.  Using the Shemitah Cycle as a guide, let's look at a comparative.  Our control will be the image from July 9-18, 2000 which is "before" judgments began.

Global Fire Map July 9-18, 2000

The satellite images detect fire from space, yellow is sustained fires over multiple days.  The full impact is appreciated as the pictures are enlarged, which I encourage you to do on the link.

Global Fire Map July 10-19, 2015

Figurative:

We are witnessing a Christian Holocaust and the world is silent.

To the faithful church, the Lord writes:  2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 And God will use this persecution to show his justice and to make you worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering.  (Then He goes on to give encouragement) In his justice he will pay back those who persecute you.  And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven. He will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power. When he comes on that day, he will receive glory from his holy people—praise from all who believe. And this includes you, (thus this is a Rapture verse to the church) for you believed what we told you about him.

Abigail and Dolley readers as the birth pangs (Matthew 24:8) increase upon the Earth, this Earth is travailing.  Even unbelievers know that fire is used by God as judgement, we know this in our hearts because God wrote it on our conscience.

Bible Prophecy the Ultimate Proof

I had a conversation with a good friend yesterday who said that even he, who is a skeptic about Bible Prophecy sees that we are living in dark times.  I questioned him, "Why are you a skeptic?  Prophecy is the absolute undeniable proof that Scriptures are real, inspired, and trust worthy."  Alas, there in lies the rub.  Prophecy forces the issue of Biblical inerrancy.

You don't even have to be an End Times prophecy scholar, there is PLENTY of fulfilled prophecy in the Bible. About 2500 prophecies are recorded in Scripture, of which 2000 have come to pass without error (source).  Of the Messianic prophecies, there are over 300 Old Testament prophecies that Jesus Christ fulfilled in his birth, life, death, and resurrection.  The odds of any man fulfilling just 8 of these was 10 to the 17th power.  

Thus, more than any book ever produced the Bible is the only text that has been completely accurate in every prophetic line.  These are not vague passages that can be interpreted in a number of ways like the so called prophecies of Nostradamus - the Bible holds day specific prophecies that have come true.

This leaves my liberal friends in a bit of a lurch because they like to pick and chose what Scriptures they are going to believe and which ones they are going to discard.  So instead of dealing with the rational arguments that dictate the faulty reasoning behind such theology, they leave prophecy out all together.  They don't deal with it past, present, or future.  (2 Timothy 4:3)

I Don't Want to Hear it

As a result, they are like wind swept waves (Ephesians 4:14) - thrown around by every wave of doctrine that passes as new biblical truth.  They have no foundation for interpreting world events, no way of judging where we are or who is teaching them (Matthew 24:11).  They rely on their opinions and feelings to tell them what is right and what is wrong (Proverbs 28:26).  They rationalize sin.  The Bible calls them carnal Christians (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Settle your mind Friend, the ONE source of truth, the ONE source of life (John 14:6), and the ONE source to tell you where we are going is the Holy Scriptures (Matthew 5:18, 2 Timothy 3:16).  Don't be proud (James 4:6), don't think too highly of yourself (Isaiah 5:21), you are not the arbiter of truth and you know if (Romans 3:4).

Jesus Speaks of the Rapture

Abigail and Dolley readers some skeptics will say that they do not believe in the Rapture because the Lord never mentions it but is that true?  Let's look at some compelling Scriptures and you decide for yourself:

First let's lay out two primary Scriptures on the Rapture:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 because the Lord himself, in a shout, in the voice of a chief-messenger, and in the trump of God, shall come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we who are living, who are remaining over, together with them shall be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in air, and so always with the Lord we shall be.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52  lo, I tell you a secret; we indeed shall not all sleep, and we all shall be changed; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, in the last trumpet, for it shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we -- we shall be changed:

Basics - if you are dead, you are raised first and then those who are alive will go to meet the Lord in the air.

The Blessed Hope

Words of Jesus:

John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, `I am the rising again, and the life; he who is believing in me, even if he may die, shall live; and every one who is living and believing in me shall not die -- to the age;

The above says that the dead in Christ are raised and those that are alive shall not die.

John 14:1-4 `Let not your heart be troubled, believe in God, also in me believe;  in the house of my Father are many mansions; and if not, I would have told you; I go on to prepare a place for you; and if I go on and prepare for you a place, again do I come, and will receive you unto myself, that where I am ye also may be; and whither I go away ye have known, and the way ye have known.'

This is Jesus promising to come again and receive us unto himself.  So there you go folks, short and sweet but a significant study and point to be made. (Originally Published 4/9/15)