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Archive for April, 2022

The deep meaning of God’s word…

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on April 18, 2022|

Wonderful article partially listed and linked below, shows how deep the word of God is. I am always impressed with how deep His message is for us, like the author states with 2 or 3 meanings as you study His word. It is such a blessing that He has preserved it through out the ages and we can read it today, just like those living in the days of the disciples.

‘You can’t unsee it!’: Mind-blowing double and triple meaning in 1 resurrection verse

‘We only need to connect the dots with the rest of the Bible’

WND StaffBy WND Staff
Published April 17, 2022 at 6:00am

As millions of believers commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, they may be stunned to learn one of the most famous Bible verses dealing with the event is actually packing additional, hidden meanings that make the episode even more spectacular.

This according to a Christian author who is shining the light on the hidden content of Scripture.

The line in question is from the beginning of the 20th chapter of the Gospel of John where it states: “On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb” (John 20:1 CSB).

“On the physical level, most people already understand what’s happening in this passage,” says Joe Kovacs, author of the new best-seller, “Reaching God Speed: Unlocking the Secret Broadcast Revealing the Mystery of Everything.”

“There’s a believing woman in the person of Mary Magdalene arriving at the tomb of Jesus early Sunday morning and she sees the rock had been removed from the tomb.

Is eternal life available for mankind thanks to Jesus?Yes No 

“But when we open our spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear, this verse is broadcasting a mind-blowing double and triple meaning that sums up the phenomenal message of the Scripture in one single sentence. Once you understand it, you can’t unsee it!”

Kovacs says the sentence to focus on is: “She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.”

“Beyond the physical event that everyone already understands, there is a Spirit-based parable message being aired here, and to grasp its meaning, we only need to connect the dots with the rest of the Bible. It’s actually quite easy and fun to do.”

“Let’s start with the stone. We all know what a stone is. It’s a rock. And who famously is called a rock as well as a stone in the Bible? Yes, it’s Jesus Himself!”

Just a few of the verses calling Jesus a rock or stone include:

Kovacs says the second word to focus on is “tomb.”

“We all know what a tomb is. It’s a grave. It’s where dead people are,” the author says. “And interestingly, Jesus even likens PEOPLE to tombs at times, especially when He’s talking to hypocrites.”

As He said: “You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of impurity” (Matthew 23:27 CSB).

Kovacs says: “On the parable level using God’s Spirit, tombs represent evil people. Even the apostle Paul calls our body of flesh the ‘body of death’” (Romans 7:24 NKJV).

“Even though we think we’re alive, unless and until we come to God, we’re actually the walking dead, and Jesus called people that when He said, ‘let the dead bury their dead'” (Matthew 8:22).

“So let’s connect the dots now. When Mary saw the stone had been removed from the tomb, this is simply another way of saying that Jesus Himself had been removed from the tomb, as in resurrected from the dead! The stone or rock removed from the tomb ultimately refers to Jesus taken away not only from His gravesite but also from His body of death!

“To drive this point home, the very next verse of the Bible has Mary uttering these words confirming the thought: ‘They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb’ (John 20:2 CSB).

“So yes, there’s a secondary meaning in addition to the physical one of merely seeing a solid rock removed from the grave. It is the Ultimate Rock, Jesus, being removed from the tomb. But if that’s not enough to astonish you, there’s a third meaning as well.”

The author, known for his “Shocked by the Bible” series, says not only do stones and rocks represent God Himself, they can also represent human people.

“Those who read the Bible know it’s no secret that Jesus called Simon His apostle ‘Peter,’ a word meaning ‘stone‘ or ‘rock,” says Kovacs. “And this stone called Peter can represent all believers who repent of their sins to follow God and feed the sheep, as he was famously told to do in John 21:17.

“Scripture also refers to all believing people as ‘living stones’ in 1 Peter 2:5.

“Even in the story of David and Goliath, the shepherd took ‘smooth stones’ (1 Samuel 17:40) as the weapon to defeat the evil giant, because we the believers are, on the metaphoric level, the fearless smooth stones prepared and polished by God to take on and defeat the evil giant, who is none other than Satan the devil.”

“So let’s again connect the dots from the Gospel of John, keeping in mind that God often is ‘declaring the end from the beginning’ (Isaiah 46:10 KJV). When the verse says ‘the stone had been removed from the tomb,’ this is also a prophecy for the future for all people who come to follow God. Because we ourselves are the stones that will be removed from our own personal tomb, our body of death, our grave of perishing flesh. Like Jesus, we will be removed from our grave when we are resurrected from the dead and granted everlasting life!”

“Yes, folks. One single verse from the Bible that we’ve been reading all these years is broadcasting so much more than has ever been trumpeted. It’s so much more than just a physical stone being removed from the tomb. It is about the spiritual Rock Jesus being removed the grave 2,000 years ago, as well as all of His other stones, the faithful believers, eventually being removed from our temporary tombs in which we walk around every day.

“With ears to hear, the glorious conclusion for your life is no longer hidden. So when we hear someone say, ‘He is risen’ (Matthew 28:6), it’s not just directly referring to Jesus rising from the dead, it’s also alluding to the wondrous immortality for every single person who truly follows Him in order to get out of his or her own tomb.”

Link to full Article: https://www.wnd.com/2022/04/cant-unsee-mind-blowing-double-triple-meaning-1-resurrection-verse/

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The hook in the mouth of the Gog…

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 8, 2022|

Could this be the hook in the mouth that Ezekiel 38 mentions that would draw Russia join with Iran and others to attach Israel to take spoils (and prevent the building of this competing pipeline)? Is this the reason that Russia has not used its best equipment and troops to invade Ukraine?

10 ‘This is what the Lord God says: “It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan, 11 and you will say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, who live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, 12 to capture spoils and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the ruins that are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who live at the center of the world.’

Ezekiel 38:10-12 NASB (New American Standard Bible)

Good article laying out the basics of the politics surrounding energy supply in Europe, Israel, & Russia.

AS RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR CONTINUES, ISRAEL COULD CAPITALIZE ON EUROPE’S ENERGY CRISIS

Rettig doesn’t entirely blame renewables for Europe’s energy problems. He said Europe’s record-high energy prices last year were mainly caused by Russia. Russia was asked to increase its gas output and refused, demanding that Nord Stream 2—a pipeline that crosses the Baltic Sea to Germany—first be approved.

“That’s what got prices soaring,” he said.

Rettig said the lesson to be learned from the Europeans is that energy security comes from “diversity and diversity alone. You can’t be too dependent on just a single country, even if it’s your friend at that time.”

Dubi argued that Israel should contribute to Europe’s energy diversity by supplying it with natural gas. He advocates restarting the EastMed pipeline project, a proposed 1,300-mile pipeline—1,000 miles of which would be undersea—from the Levantine Basin and making landfall at Cyprus, Greece and Italy. The project was halted when the Biden administration pulled its support.

https://www.israel365news.com/

A map of the proposed East-Med Pipeline…

from https://greekreporter.com article

Image Article Link: EastMed Pipeline: The Mediterranean Mega-Project That Will Change Europe’s Energy Map Forever

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A Thief in the Night…

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 7, 2022|

It has been a while since I posted. My original purpose that God led me to create this blog was to raise awareness to all of the headlines coming at us that were related to Bible prophecy and the soon return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. By the time we hit the end of 2018, you would of had to be completely blind to not see all of the prophecy stage setting and fulfillment all around us daily, if not hourly. There was so much that you simply could not keep up with all of it so I backed away from trying to keep up with it all and simply took in the amazing speed of events along with everyone else.

Now in 2022, after reading Terry James article on April 4th, copied and linked below, I feel a new urging from God. I truly believe we very soon see the return of Christ for his followers in the Rapture. We all need to double down on leading people to Christ and His gift of salvation. But also lay the seeds for those that will be left behind, so that they can know the Truth in this world of deception we will leave behind!

This commentary/article by Terry is very well done and gives a concise comparison between the pre-Tribulation and post-tribulation views with God’s word, Truth.

Thief in the Night

By

Terry James

No scriptural proof-text in God’s Word more clearly points to the first of the two phases of Jesus Christ’s second coming than does the following: “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” (1 Thess. 5:2).

We who hold to the pre-trib rapture viewpoint are often accused of being deceivers. We are condemned by our detractors as leading astray Christians alive now –if they live to see it–  who will be required to endure the tribulation, thus to wash their robes clean in preparation for inheriting God’s Kingdom.

We are castigated for foisting upon innocent, gullible believers a “secret rapture” that will somehow lead these Christians to take the mark of the beast (Rev. 13:16-18).

I’m not precisely sure of their “reasoning,” but I think they claim this because they are convinced that the ones who fall for the rapture viewpoint won’t be able to recognize Antichrist when he comes to power. We who teach the pre-trib rapture, so the accusation goes, would have falsely led these people to think the Church would not be here when Antichrist is on the world scene.

Almost all who are antagonistic to the pre-trib rapture doctrine teach that the “elect” will have to endure part or all of the seven-year tribulation era.

Those who hold to a post-tribulation rapture, or a no-rapture position, believe that Christ will come back at the end of the tribulation, at Armageddon.

They hold to the notion that that is His only return in the second coming. There are other views of the second coming that have Christ returning when the earth is perfected and made ready, but we won’t go there in this essay.

Let us look at only the pre-trib rapture and the post-trib rapture positions for the purpose of exploring what is meant by the “thief in the night” references in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and 2 Peter 3:10.

These two viewpoints–the pre-trib, and the post-trib–offer the greatest contrast to examine in consideration of the second advent of Jesus Christ, within the overall belief that rapture will, according to Bible prophecy, happen before Christ’s foot actually touches down on Planet Earth.

The pre-trib view of rapture says that Christ’s second coming is in two phases, separated by at least seven years. The post-trib rapture view says that the rapture and Christ’s coming back to the Mount of Olives will occur almost simultaneously–certainly with no more than a matter of days separating the two events. The post-trib position says there is no “secret” rapture. Christ’s coming again will be fully seen in the heavens by all, including Christians who will be watching for Him to break through the darkness of that hour.

We agree that the rapture of the Church (all born-again believers in Jesus Christ for salvation since the Church Age began at Pentecost) will be anything but a “secret”. The world will instantly go into cataclysmic chaos at the moment that stunning event takes place. The imagination is hard-pressed to fathom the ramifications of what will happen when millions suddenly vanish. Every child below the age of accountability will be gone in that mind-boggling instant of time. I am convinced that all babies (including those in the wombs of their mothers) will be instantly in the presence of Christ in the clouds of glory. Every corpse of every dead Christian will be raised to join with his or her soul to meet Christ in the air in that atomos of time.

The rapture will be mystifying, and to some an inexplicable phenomenon, but it will not be a secret. It will happen before the eyes of a stupefied planet of left-behind earth-dwellers. This declaration that Jesus will call His Church to be with Him seems audacious to many. But, it didn’t seem so to the Apostle Paul. He was quite confident–even adamant—in his prophecy concerning the “mystery” he had been given by the Holy Spirit to instruct all believers down through the Age of Grace (Church Age).

“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor. 15:51-52).

He explains what will take place next, in that stupendous fraction of a second: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:15-17).

Jesus himself told of this “mystery” Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 15:51. The Lord explains what happens after believers –both the bodies of the dead and those who are living– are caught up in the air to be with Him: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (Jn. 14:1-3).

So, the rapture will take place. Believers and the bodies of those who died during the Church Age will be “caught up” in one single moment of time. “ALL,” not “some,” will go instantly to be with Jesus, who will then take them into heaven, where He has been preparing their dwelling places since He ascended from the Mount of Olives.

Again, the pre-trib position on this joyous event is that it is imminent (could happen at any moment), and will happen before the tribulation period begins.

The post-trib position says that it happens at the end of the most terrible time in human history, just as Jesus Christ is returning from heaven at Armageddon.

The pre-trib view holds that it will occur at an unknown time. It will be a stunning, sudden, and unannounced-to-the-world-at-large break-in upon business as usual on Planet Earth. The post-trib proclaims that it will occur following all of the horrors of the judgments outlined in Revelation.

The pre-trib view says that the world at large (left-behind earth-dwellers) won’t see it coming. The rapture will cause all left on earth to wonder what has happened. The post-trib view says that all eyes will behold Christ’s coming again to a hellish planet, and the living and dead saints will then be gathered to Christ.

The defining thing to consider in thinking on the two diametrically different views of the rapture and second coming is wrapped up in the term “thief in the night”. The Apostle Peter again uses this mysterious term, first used by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:2: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10).

Peter is saying here that the day of the Lord–that time when God and His Christ, His Son, takes over this fallen planet—will begin like a thief in the night.

It will be a sudden, catastrophic break-in upon a world doing business as usual. (Read Luke 17:26-29 to understand how things will be going along as usual when Christ comes back.)

This description hardly fits the post-trib view, or any other view that says Christ will rapture His Church during a time of unprecedented trouble (Jer. 30:7; Matt. 24:21). This indicates that it will be a total surprise, because a thief in the night doesn’t announce his coming with great, cataclysmic fanfare.

The break-in is swift, stealthy–a totally unexpected event.

Peter foretells in these passages that the “day of the Lord” will then run its course, until the remaking of the heavens and the earth. The rapture will begin this “day of the Lord,” which will then run at least 1,007 years.

This is the first phase of Christ’s second coming. The rapture occurs like a “thief in the night”. The second advent, when Jesus’ foot touches down on the Mount of Olives, is the second phase of His second coming.

There are those who say with vehemence that it is blasphemous to equate Christ’s coming again as being like the break-in of a thief in the night. How dare we liken their Lord to a “thief”!

Really? Here’s what Jesus, the Creator of all things, said about this matter:

“But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 24:43-44).

Looks like a pretty good case for the Lord’s sudden intervention into the nefarious affairs of this increasingly wicked world, does it not? That thief-in-the-night

moment could happen, literally, at any moment. Certainly, signals of the tribulation are beginning to come to pass.

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Lk. 21:28).

—Terry

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