1 Thessalonians 4 v 15 - 18: "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.
16 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:
17 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.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
Today I discovered that there is a group on YouTube called "Rapture Watchers", and they are expecting the Rapture to take place this July!
They have very compelling arguments on their side using Matthew 24 to highlight the scary things happening around the world since June 28. Top of the list is the 770 earthquakes in Yellowstone National Park this week.
If the volcano erupts, which some think it's planning to do, others say differently, it could have a disastrous effect on the whole of North America and the rest of the world. The eruption would be so huge that the ash cloud would bring on winter-like conditions, spoil Summer crops, prevent air travel for a long period, affect life.
The next is the threat of war against North Korea from USA, South Korea and Japan. The North Koreans blasted an ICBM into the Sea of Japan yesterday which rose to a height of 28000kms before landing. It was called "Bastard America" by Dear Leader and won him no friends there.
His friends are in Iran, who are friends with Hamas in Gaza, who fired rockets into Israel yesterday, as did Syria. They all displayed flags against Israel saying We Are Coming. Israel fired back at those who attacked her, and will probably be condemned by the rest of the world for being a bully.
My country, South Africa, as part of its ANC government policy conference which ended yesterday, declared its stance against Israel and for Palestine saying its time the Jews departed from the land they illegally occupy, and let its rightful owners move back in.
The Pope announced this week that its high time we had a One World Government for humanitarian reasons.
The last two paragraphs are my addition to end time rapture watching. The YouTube ones dealt more with the deadly floods, famines, drought, plagues, disasters happening this very week. I just added those two to the mix.
Jesus says that only the Father knows the time of His coming, not even He knows it. So no-one on Earth knows it either, therefore do not be deceived by it. What is happening is called a curtain raiser to the Beginning of Sorrows, which is the first half of the last seven years, Daniel's last week of years.
Daniel 9 v 24 - 27: "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."
In Daniel's prophecy the 70 weeks were actually weeks of years i.e. 490 years. Minus one week for verse 27, which is the last 7 years before the end of the world - this is not the end of Earth, but of Satan's world system. 483 years or 69 weeks of years from when the command to rebuild Jerusalem till the crucifixion of Jesus. These dates are accurate.
In the midst of this last week, the Antichrist will ascend into the Holy of Holies and proclaim himself God. Jesus, in Matthew 24, called this the abomination that makes desolate referred to in this verse 27. Jesus says Let the reader understand, meaning that this subject is complicated and complex.
Interesting to note that in AD 70, when the Temple was destroyed by the Romans under Titus, that was the only way Jesus could prove His lineage. All the tribes and lineages were written on the Temple walls. If He had not come before AD 70, the lineage written in Matthew 1, could not be proved.
The timing of the Rapture is known to God alone, but we do know the season because Jesus told us about the things like many people getting divorced, apostasy in the church, a falling away from the faith, weather out of control, earthquakes, eruptions, famine, floods, droughts, wars and rumours of wars. He also said, The end is not yet!
You can set your watch for the beginning of the last seven years. It starts with Israel signing a peace treaty with all Arab lands, not just with the Palestinians. Verse 27 He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week. There will be a seven year peace treaty.
Then the Beginning of Sorrows starts. The disasters increase. I truly believe that this will start the last revival which will last for 42 months and then the Rapture will be mid-tribulation. The Antichrist will not make his move until the Christians are gone.
2 Thessalonians 2 v 3 - 8: "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.......
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:"
Verse 7 says the mystery of iniquity, another name for Antichrist, is already at work - back when these words were written - and he who allows this to happen, i.e. the Holy Spirit, will continue to allow it until He leaves with the Body of Christ in the Rapture. Then shall the Antichrist appear in the Temple and not long afterwards meet his fate. It's all in God's plan.
The last 42 months of the 7 years is called The Wrath of the Lamb. No Christians will have to face that! Sinners will have to deal with the worst tribulation this planet has ever seen. Complete chaos and total anarchy everywhere. The Jews who now believe in Jesus their Messiah will flee to the mountains of Petra where Christians have hidden millions of New Testaments for them to understand all they have denied for 2000 years.
The end of this time is the Battle of Armageddon when all the world's armies gather to destroy Israel. In the revelation of The Bride of Christ (previous blog http://bit.ly/2tHqrB2) Jesus said He was the Ransom come to rescue Israel from the clutches of Satan. Now this is manifested on Earth as He comes with His whole body and the Antichrist armies are slain by the sword in His mouth. 200 million in the army and two thirds die in one moment of time. The rest run for the hills.
One of the videos on Rapture Watchers mention how the rich men would hide in dens and under mountains to try to escape His wrath. Somewhere in the mountains of America an elaborate bunker system was made in the time of JFK. The walls are nine feet thick in this underground hideaway.
It now has a fifteen storey block of luxury apartments which rich men have bought for large sums of money to live in until its all over, whether nuclear or chemical or Jesus Himself. Huge stocks of food, water, and everything they may need is stored there. Someone has convinced them that the Bible is true.
They should be aware though that no one can hide from Jesus. He sees it all and knows it all for He is God the Son, the Creator of everything. He is our beloved Saviour and Friend, to whom we owe our very existence. He has plans and purposes for all who follow Him and promises only good things for us.
We have our time, energy, resources, love to look at every human and know He died for each one to make it home to Heaven. He gave us the great commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel to everyone, baptizing those who believe and discipling them to go forth and teach others. We will stand before Him one day to give an account of how faithfully we carried out His assignments.
Prayer: Father God, we long for the Rapture when we will be caught up to meet Jesus in the sky above Earth and never be apart from Him again. We will be with Him at Armageddon to rescue His Bride from her enemy. What a day of rejoicing that will be! Father inspire us to reach the unreached to fulfil the assignments we have been given. In Jesus' name. Amen.
