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Prophe-Zine Issue 098
From: bob@prophezine.com
Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2000 10:03 AM
To: bobl@jvim.com
Subject: PropheZine Issue #98 (July 1, 2000)
PropheZine #98
July 1, 2000
Bob Lally Publisher
Lori Eldridge Senior. Editor
Bob Ippolito Asst. Editor
To Subscribe, Unsubscribe or Change email addresses see notice at the
end of this newsletter.
======================================================
IN THIS ISSUE
- - - -GREETING FROM LORI ELDRIDGE
- - - -MINISTRY NEWS
- - - -ARTICLES
James BeauSeigneur
The Third and Fourth Trumpet Judgments
-- An Explanation through Dramatization
Wilfred Hahn
Were Jeremiah Here Now
Dr. David R. Reagan
The Rapture of the Church: What is it and
when will it take place?
- - - -DEVOTIONALS
By Paul Kusiak
WINGS OF SILVER, FEATHERS OF GOLD
- - - -POETRY
S. West
While I was Listening
- - - -SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
- - - -SUBSCRIBE and UNSUBSCRIBE
- - - -PRIVACY NOTICE
======================================================
GREETING FROM LORI ELDRIDGE
======================================================
Greetings Everyone,
First I would like to apologize for using an article in the May 15 issue of
PZ called *Fraud and Deceit in the Presentation of the Gospel.* It was
pointed out to me that this article was presenting Lordship Salvation,
i.e., one has to *make* Jesus Lord of their life as a condition for
salvation, which is Salvation by Grace through faith plus works. I didn't
take the time to thoroughly examine all the statements and scriptures in
that article and thus the need for this retraction now. Live and learn! We
will have an article explaining the difference between the two doctrines in
a future issue, but in the meantime a good book on the subject is
*Absolutely Free: A Biblical Reply to Lordship Salvation,* by Zane Hodges.
Check out Amazon.com for reviews on the book.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310519608/qid%3D962280668/102-0170864-9760973
In this issue we have another installment of the trumpet judgments as well
as a new look at prophecy from an economical perspective and also an
article on the PreTrib Rapture.
Enjoy,
Lori Eldridge
lorel@ior.com
Senior Editor
======================================================
MINISTRY NEWS
by Bob Lally
======================================================
Hi!
The PropheZine web site currently has thousands of articles in the archives. Within the next month we will begin the process of adding tens of thousands of articles to the archives and Search Engine (http://www.prophezine.com/search/) This is a major undertaking which will keep us busy day and night! I thank Mark and Simon for their assistance in design and coding. I am looking for a *free* PC to house the search engine and database as the database will be many gigabytes. If anyone has a working Pentium PC that they no longer need I would be happy to accept it as a donation!
Speaking of donations, I am researching the possibility of incorporating PropheZine and becoming a non-profit organization. This will allow donations to be tax deductible. This should be accomplished this year.
The Shopping Mall is nearly complete. I am awaiting confirmation from a number of merchants. The Mall has nearly 1,000 store!
Bob Lally
PropheZine
bob@prophezine.com
**************
ARTICLES
**************
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The Third and Fourth Trumpet Judgments
---An Explanation through Dramatization
by James BeauSeigneur
======================================================
*The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a
torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of
water -- the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned
bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter. The
fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a
third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned
dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.*
(Revelation 8:10-12, NIV)
In the previous two issues of PropheZine we saw how the events of the first
and second trumpet judgments (Rev. 8:7-9) could result from an encounter
with two asteroids, the first passing through the earth's atmosphere, and
the second striking the earth in the deepest waters of the Pacific Ocean.
With the third trumpet's *great star,* again we see what appears to be the
description of an extraterrestrial object falling to earth.
As with the first two trumpets, we find a curious combination of results
from which a number of questions arise. With the third trumpet these
questions are:
1. What is the object which John describes as a *great star*?
2. How are the effects of the great star dispersed over one-third of the
earth's rivers and springs?
3. What is it about the great star which results in the waters being poisoned?
4. Why is the water poisoned, but the soil and air are unaffected?
5. Why is the fresh water poisoned, but not the sea water?
Though I have listed these questions in what seems to be a reasonable
order, in fact, they must all be considered simultaneously rather then
sequentially. We cannot answer any single question without considering the
answer to each of the other four. This makes it a bit difficult, but the
conclusions are far more revealing, because as we narrow the plausible
scenarios, we are left with a very few (I can think of only one) which
conform to the events which John describes.
Whereas the second asteroid *was thrown into the sea,* the results of the
third trumpet's *great star* are curiously dispersed, poisoning a third of
the rivers and springs of water. This much at least seems easy. Somehow
before the great star impacts our planet, it is pulverized into tiny
particles which are spread across the earth's surface.
There are four extraterrestrial candidates for John's vision. These are 1)
a huge cloud of space dust, 2) a chunk thrown off from the collision of two
white dwarf stars, 3) a comet, and 4) an asteroid.
While a huge cloud of naturally occurring space dust is a natural candidate
for spreading its effects over the surface of the earth, we can rule this
out, as John would not have described a dust cloud as *a great star.*
Whatever we are dealing with must be a relatively solid object prior to
being spread across the earth in order to fit John's description.
We can eliminate the second candidate as well. By its very nature, a piece
of white dwarf star is bound together by such immense gravity that it
wouldn't break apart when it encountered the earth. Rather, it would pass
effortlessly through, probably killing everything on the planet, and
tearing much of our home world from its orbit.
A comet would seem to be an ideal candidate. Because of its brittle
composition of interstellar dust, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia,
and other gases, a comet could (depending on its angle of descent) easily
shatter in the atmosphere before reaching the earth's surface. On June 30,
1908, in the skies above the Stony Tunguska River basin in Siberia, a comet
exploded at an altitude of about seven miles as it met with the earth's
thick atmosphere. Though it never reached the earth's surface, the force of
the explosion was equal to a twelve megaton bomb, leveling 800 square miles
of mature forest. People 45 miles away were knocked down and seared by the
heat; the glare was seen for hundreds of miles; and the sound was reported
as far away at 600 miles. The first problem, then, with John's *great star*
being a comet, is that for it to be large enough to spread its particles
over one-third of the rivers and springs, the comet would have to be so
large that it would destroy hundreds of thousands of square miles of the
earth's surface. But John mentions no such occurrence associated with the
third trumpet or any other trumpet judgment. Secondly, even if the
explosion took place far enough out to sea so as not to cause tremendous
destruction on land, there is nothing in a comet's composition which would
poison the fresh water while leaving the air, soil and sea water relatively
unaffected.
This leaves only an asteroid, but there are two problems with the asteroid
scenario as well. First, an asteroid is not likely to break apart on its
own; and John describes no impact of the great star in the third trumpet
judgment. Second, what is there in an asteroid's composition that would
poison the fresh water, yet leave the air, soil, and sea water relatively
unaffected?
As we consider the meaning of this prophecy we must also recognize the age
in which we live. Any object large enough to be spread across one-third of
the earth's fresh waters in enough concentration to poison those waters,
would almost certainly be spotted by modern telescopes many millions of
miles from the earth. Should such an object be sited heading for a
collision with the earth, modern military science has the capability to at
least attempt to destroy or avert the object using atomic warheads launched
to intercept the object in space. An interception would have to occur far
out in space in order to divert as many of the large pieces of remaining
debris as possible away from the earth. But there is a second reason that
makes early destruction imperative. No matter how successful the
interception, some of the debris from the nuclear explosion will reach the
earth, and initially that debris will be highly radioactive.
As with fallout from a nuclear explosion on earth, the radioactivity of the
debris would drop fairly quickly. The exact time required for the particles
to become safe depends upon the composition of the comet or asteroid, but
any less than two weeks from the time of the explosion could be very
dangerous.
Of course, one possibility is that the waters are poisoned by the
radioactive material. The problem with this theory is that the lethal dose
of radiation for most humans is about 400 RADS exposure within one week.
Based on normal consumption of water by humans, this scenario would require
that the debris be so highly radioactive that exposure to the radioactive
dust in the air and on the ground would pose a much greater danger than
drinking the contaminated water. But again John says nothing about
poisoning of the air or soil.
So what's the answer? What scenario answers all the specifics of the prophecy?
And how does the fourth trumpet judgment fit into the overall scenario of
an encounter with asteroids?
As before, allow me to offer an explanation in the form of a dramatization.
While it is not necessary that you read the related articles in the
previous two issues of PropheZine in order to understand this article, it
is suggested that you do so. What follows is from chapters 7 and 8 of THE
CHRIST CLONE TRILOGY (available through the PropheZine Bookstore at
http://www.prophezine.com/bookstore/james.html)
August 2, 2021 - 2:27 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time (G.M.T.)
Deep in the void of space, at a point 113 million miles from the
sun, three clusters of warheads, propelled forward by inertia, sped through
space at just over 25,000 miles per hour headed toward the asteroid
designated 2021 KF. Twenty million miles away, the frightened people of a
devastated planet waited in anxious anticipation for word on their attempt
to destroy the menacing form. Failure would mean almost certain death of
all remaining life on their planet.
At 2:27:32 a.m. G.M.T. the first group of forty cone-shaped
twenty-megaton warheads began to deploy in a predetermined pattern,
preparing to intercept the 30-mile-wide asteroid, which was advancing
toward the earth at 65,000 miles per hour. So far everything was going
according to schedule, but the biggest test was just ahead. In ten minutes,
as they came to within 100 meters of the speeding asteroid, the warheads
would detonate in a first attempt to destroy the target. With a combined
head-on speed of 90,000 miles per hour, the window of opportunity for
detonation within 100 meters was less than one five-hundredth of a second.
On earth, all humanity waited. Now only about half the distance
between the earth and Mars, the massive asteroid shone in the night sky
like a great star. If there was a total or partial failure, a second and
third group of warheads launched after the first at intervals of
thirty-five minutes would provide two more chances. Among the second and
third volleys of warheads, infrared sensing devices would monitor the
success of the preceding volley and provide telemetry to target the
warheads in the later group on any remaining large pieces of the asteroid
which were headed toward earth.
Because of the distance, it took a minute and forty-eight seconds
after the first cluster's interception of the asteroid for the signal to
travel back to earth. To everyone's great relief and many people's
surprise, the interception was a complete success, far more successful than
even the most optimistic estimates had been. The largest portion of the
asteroid's mass had been reduced to pieces ranging in size between dust and
chunks no larger than a few cubic feet. And of the pieces larger than that,
none were now headed toward the earth.
As information of the interception's success reached earth, there
was brief consideration given to using the warheads of the second and third
clusters to further disperse the material that remained on a course for
earth, but after careful analysis it was determined that the remaining
material posed no threat and that detonation of the warheads would only
serve to further irradiate it. The remaining pieces headed for earth were
all determined to be small enough to either burn up harmlessly in the
atmosphere or sift through as tiny particles of dust.
The decision was made to disperse the warhead clusters and, once
they were fully clear of the asteroid debris that remained headed toward
earth, they were detonated. Scientific review of the interception would
conclude that the unanticipated success of the first volley was due to an
unusual feature of the asteroid's composition. The asteroid's predominantly
iron mass was apparently honeycombed with veins of stone or of a metal much
more brittle than iron.
That day huge celebrations were held to mark the successful
destruction of the third asteroid. To a visitor from another planet it
would have seemed the strangest of festivals, for as celebrants drank to
their success, forest fires smoldered across two ravaged continents, the
largest of the planet's oceans lay barren, and widespread volcanic activity
spewed plumes of steam, carbon dioxide, sulfur gasses, ash, and cinders
into the atmosphere.
August 15, 2021
Despite the growing cover of ash in the stratosphere, the skies
provided an unprecedented display of fireworks which lasted for two nights
as millions of tons of dust and small debris from the third asteroid
plunged through the atmosphere. The warheads had done their job
exceptionally well, leaving very few fragments large enough to survive the
trip through the atmosphere and reach earth in identifiable pieces. Like
most meteorites, the small chunks of the asteroid began to melt as soon as
they reached the stratosphere, each providing a brief streak of fire in the
darkened sky as they disintegrated into tiny molten dust particles which
cooled and fell harmlessly and unnoticed to the earth's surface.
August 17, 2021 - Villa Valeria, Argentina Juan Perez held his
grandfather's hand in eager excitement as they walked together in the cool
night air just before dawn toward the nine-acre lake and adventure. In his
other hand Juan held his brand new fishing rod. Today was Juan's sixth
birthday and it was to be marked by his first fishing trip. His head was
filled with anticipation of the enormous fish he imagined he would catch
and of the look that would come over his mother's face when he returned
home and showed the fish to her.
The cloud of volcanic ash which hung high above them blocked out
much of the starlight, and the moon appeared as if in a deep, black fog.
His grandfather held the flashlight under his arm so they could see the
path as they made their way toward the lake, and though they were still
twenty yards from the shore, Juan walked on tip-toe as he remembered his
grandfather's admonition to be careful not to scare the fish.
A light breeze at their backs shifted and as it did it brought with
it the unmistakable stench of rotting fish. Juan reached up to hold his
nose and nearly poked his grandfather in the eye with his fishing rod.
Ducking to avoid his grandson's pole, Juan's grandfather released his hand
and then walked slowly toward the lake, leaving Juan where he stood, still
holding his nose. Juan was happy to stay behind, suddenly not so sure that
fishing was as wonderful as he thought it might be.
Lifting his flashlight to illuminate the surface of the lake,
Juan's grandfather found the source of the smell. As far as he could see,
bloated fish floated belly up, covering the surface of the lake.
Mt. Gretna, Pennsylvania
The alarm clock rang and Betty Overholt reached to turn it off and
then buried her face in her pillow as she groped for the switch to turn on
the lamp. It was 4:15 a.m. Slowly she peeked out from the pillow to let her
eyes adjust to the light and her nostrils filled with the delightful aroma
of fresh coffee and bacon from the kitchen. As usual, her husband Paul was
already up and had started breakfast. She had always envied his ability to
get up every morning at the same time without an alarm. It was in his
genes, she guessed. The son, grandson, and great grandson of dairymen, Paul
Overholt had never known anything else. When he was in high school he had
thought of becoming a lawyer, but on the day after he turned seventeen his
parents and two older brothers died in the Disaster and left him alone with
the farm.
When Betty got to the kitchen Paul had already started eating. With
one exception, it was the same breakfast he always had: three scrambled
eggs from their hens, six strips of bacon from the hog they had butchered
last month, a large glass of milk fresh from the cow the night before, and
a double-sized cup of coffee. The only thing missing from his normal fare
was four pieces of toast. Bread had become extremely hard to find and very
expensive since the blight on grassy plants, including wheat, rye, and
corn. At Betty's place at the table were smaller portions of the same,
except the coffee; she had never gotten used to coffee made with the sulfur
water from their well.
Paul left the house and started toward the barn while Betty cleaned
up from breakfast and put the dishes in the dishwasher. It would be another
hour until dawn but Paul Overholt had walked the path to the barn so many
times there was usually no need for him to carry a flashlight. Besides,
there was the light at the barn which he turned on from the porch as he
left the house. For the past month, however, the combination of smoke from
the fires in the west and volcanic ash in the upper atmosphere had so
darkened the night skies that Betty insisted he carry a light, lest he trip
over something. It was cool; it had been for the past couple of weeks. The
television news said the temperature was averaging 14 degrees below normal
because of the ash cover.
It really wasn't necessary that Paul begin milking so early. He had
thinned his herd by about one-third in order to conserve the hay he had
from the previous year. But it was what he was used to, and what the cows
were used to as well. Like Paul, the cows needed no alarm clock to know
when it was milking time. Every morning they'd be there waiting when he
arrived.
Paul was luckier than most. The previous winter had been very mild
and the Overholt farm still had a silo full of corn and a barn full of hay
from the previous year. That and the fact that Paul had planted most of his
fields in clover, which was not affected by the blight, meant that he could
keep most of his cows and continue milking. Despite everything - actually,
because of everything - it was a good year for the Overholts: milk prices
were sky high; beef was low as farmers thinned their herds, but that was
sure to change later in the year.
Paul was only halfway to the barn when he first sensed that
something was wrong. The cows were too quiet. It was not that cows are
noisy animals, but with sixty cows in the loafing area outside the barn,
there was usually a moo to be heard here and there, and the sound of manure
or urine as it hit the ground in the holding pen was almost a constant. As
he got closer, Paul could see by the light from the barn that there were no
cows waiting.
It was not that unusual for a few of his cows to be missing, and on
occasion none would be there, but that was rare. Paul Overholt cupped his
hands around his mouth to form a mini-megaphone and called out, *Sook,
cowwww! Sook, sook, sook, sook, cowwww!* It was the same call that his
father and grandfather had used. Most everyone he knew called their cows
the same way. He didn't even think to question the fact that it sounded
silly.
The cows would be there soon enough; their late arrival would just
give him a chance to get ready. Paul walked into the cooler room and
checked the 1,500-gallon stainless steel cooler to be sure everything was
operating correctly. The temperature of the milk in the cooler from last
night's milking was precisely 39 degrees Fahrenheit, just right. The next
thing to do was to run a strong chlorine solution through the pipes of the
system to kill any bacteria. Having completed that, Paul thought that at
least a few of the cows should have gotten to the barn.
At that moment his wife walked in. *Where are the cows?* she asked.
*Aren't they out there yet?* Paul asked. *Not a one,* she
answered.
*I called them.*
*I know. I heard you.*
*I don't know,* he said. *I guess I must have left the gate closed
last night. I don't think so, but I'll go check. Go ahead and fill the
feeders with silage and mix up some iodine dip.*
Paul left the milk barn and walked down toward the field by the
creek. He couldn't remember closing the gate but it would not be the first
time he had done something without thinking about it, especially when he
had something else on his mind. Last night he had been thinking about a
conversation he had with his brothers on the night before the Disaster and
. . .
Paul Overholt stumbled and fell to the ground. He had tripped over
something - a cow. It didn't move as Paul fell over it, so it was unlikely
it was just asleep. Paul wished he had brought the flashlight. He looked
closely and even in the dark could see it was dead and well bloated,
meaning it had been dead for at least several hours. Quickly he went to the
barn, got the flashlight, and headed back. He found the dead cow and shone
the light on it. There was no sign of a predator; no blood anywhere, so it
wasn't some crazy hunter; the cow's belly wasn't discolored so it hadn't
been struck by lightning; and the cow was not a new milker,' so it
couldn't be milk fever. He'd have to check closer when it was light and
call the vet to find out what had killed her. He didn't want something
spreading among his herd. Depending on what it was, they might also have to
dump the previous night's milk.
For now there was still another puzzle that needed to be solved.
Paul continued toward the gate he thought he might have left closed. It was
wide open. He called the cows again. Paul brought his light to bear on
something lying on the path. It was another cow, bloated and stiff. Paul
had no idea what was happening. He ran toward the creek at the end of the
field. There was another cow and it was dead, too. And then another, and
another. Paul froze and lifted the light above his head and shone it over
the field in front of him. All around him and especially down by the creek,
cows lay motionless and bloated.
Gdansk, Poland
Dr. Alexander Zielenski carried his five-year-old daughter, Anna,
in his arms to the emergency room at St. Stanislawa Hospital. She had
gotten sick during the night with what seemed like a common stomach ache
but as time passed the symptoms grew worse instead of better. He tried to
treat the illness himself but after several fits of uncontrollable
vomiting, followed by severe purging, he had decided to bring Anna to the
hospital. The parking lot was full, which was unusual for this time of day,
so he drove around to the physicians' lot and parked in his reserved spot.
Entering the emergency room, he discovered why the lot was full. All around
him men, women, and children waited to be seen. The few who were well
enough sat in chairs or on benches. Others lay on the floor, comforted by
family members. The air reeked with the fetor of vomit.
Dr. Zielenski scanned their faces. Their features were sunken, as
if they had suffered severe malnourishment.
*Thank goodness you're here, Alexander,* he heard a familiar voice
say from behind him. *We need all the help we can get.*
Turning, he saw it was his colleague, Dr. Josef Markiewicz. *Oh,
my,* Dr. Markiewicz said as he saw Anna in her father's arms. *It's hit
poor Anna, too.*
*What is it?* Zielenski asked.
*We're not sure, yet,* Markiewicz answered, leading Zielenski into
an empty office where they could talk privately. *Based on the symptoms,
we're guessing its cholera, but we're running tests to be sure. The onset
is marked by burning in the stomach and throat, followed by severe vomiting
and then diarrhea. The stools are all fecal at first, but later take on a
rice-water appearance, and often contain blood. The patient suffers from
extreme thirst and dehydration, but anything they drink comes back up
within minutes. There is weakness and physical collapse; the features
become sunken; the skin moist and cyanosed; and additional pain comes from
cramping in the calves. The pulse is increasingly weak and irregular, and
respiration becomes more and more difficult. Death . . .*
*You've had deaths!* Zielenski interrupted, instinctively holding
his daughter more tightly to him.
*Three so far here. I spoke with Lech at St. Tadeusz. They've had
two so far and I understand there's been more than a dozen in Warsaw.*
*I had no idea. How could cholera strike so quickly over such a
widespread area?*
Dr. Markiewicz shook his head.
*I've got to get Anna cared for,* Zielenski said, satisfied he
understood what was happening, though he didn't know the cause.
*Let's get her checked in and we can start her on an IV right away
to restore her fluids.*
At that moment the door opened and in stepped Dr. Jakob Nowak.
*Good,* he began, *One of the nurses said you were in here.*
*I've got to get my daughter started on an IV. Can this wait?*
Zielenski asked.
*This will only take a minute,* Nowak insisted. *We were wrong.
This isn't cholera.*
*Then what is it?* Zielenski asked, not giving Nowak a chance to
finish.
*All these people have been poisoned,* Nowak said. *It's arsenic
poisoning,* he continued before Zielenski could interrupt again. *It's all
over Poland.*
*But how?* Zielenski asked in disbelief.
*It's in the water.*
August 18, 2021 - The United Nations, New York *We've received reports of
thousands of cases of arsenic poisoning from all over the world,* Dr. Sumit
Parekh of the World Health Organization told the special meeting of the
U.N. Security Council. *With the cloud of volcanic dust continuing to
spread and worsen, at first we thought that the arsenic was from the cloud.
But atmospheric samples from the cloud taken at various altitudes in
different parts of the world showed no significant levels of arsenic -
certainly not enough to cause widespread poisoning. That's when we made the
connection to the dust of the third asteroid.
*You're saying the asteroid was made of arsenic?* asked Ambassador
Clark, who represented North America.
*Not all of it, no. But enough to create a problem, yes. Most
tested meteorites contain only trace amounts of arsenic, usually less than
.1 percent of their total composition. So it is unusual but not impossible
for an asteroid to contain sufficient levels of arsenic to cause what we're
experiencing.*
*Has this theory been tested?* asked Ambassador Rashid, who
represented the Middle East.
*Yes,* Parekh answered. *Of the pieces of the asteroid that reached
earth in identifiable fragments, most are no larger than a softball. A few
of the recovered pieces have been turned over to museums and universities,
but most have been kept as souvenirs by the people who found them. Luther
College in Decorah, Iowa, has one of the larger pieces, weighing 288
pounds. Working with the college we have confirmed the hypothesis: running
through the asteroid fragment are veins of a dull gray brittle material
which, when chipped, reveals a tin-white color with a distinct metallic
luster. Further tests have verified it. The third asteroid was apparently
honeycombed with arsenic. We believe this is what caused the asteroid to
shatter so completely when it was hit by the first volley of missiles. Now,
as the dust of the asteroid settles to the earth, it has entered the water
table, polluting lakes and rivers and reservoirs and poisoning the drinking
water of thousands of communities.*
*But the poisoning seems so random,* Ambassador Clark said. *It
hits one city and skips another altogether.*
*We believe this is due to a number of factors, including the
weather patterns. Like rainfall, some areas have received heavy amounts,
while others have been passed over completely as prevailing winds blow the
arsenic dust safely past. Where it falls, shallow rivers and reservoirs are
more affected because the smaller volume of water creates a greater
concentration of the arsenic. The deeper the river or reservoir, the less
the concentration. Because they are fed by underground springs and
generally have very limited exposed surface area, most wells have been
unaffected. Other factors such as water temperature and pH levels
dramatically affect the dissolution of arsenic into the water.*
*Will the water supply stay like this?* Clark asked. *Is there
something that can be done to purify it?*
*With seasonal changes, temperature and pH balance shifts, and
settling of the arsenic, eventually - perhaps in six months - the water
will become potable again. Until then, affected areas will have to ship in
their water.*
James BeauSeigneur
<sr@selectivehouse.com>
Note 1: The Merck Index, Ninth Edition, (Rahway, N.J.: Merck & Co., Inc.,
1976), p. 107, item 820.
The three books of THE CHRIST CLONE TRILOGY (In His Image, Birth of an Age,
and Acts of God) are available through PropheZine at
http://www.prophezine.com/bookstore/james.html with a percentage of each
sale going to support the on-going ministry of PropheZine. Mr.
BeauSeigneur's other published works include technical manuals on military
avionics and strategic defense technology.
Reviewer Jay Carper says of The Christ Clone Trilogy: **Apocalypse fans,
here is your Hobbit. Every turn was unexpected. The characters were real.
The plot was real. And never have I seen the Seven Seals broken with such
clarity and imagination. . .**
http://www.prophezine.com/bookstore/james.html
Reviewer Bob Lally (PropheZine): **The most exciting end-time story I have
ever read. I have read the trilogy two times in the past 18 months and will
most definitely read it again this summer.
http://www.prophezine.com/bookstore/james.html
======================================================
Were Jeremiah Here Now
by Wilfred Hahn
======================================================
Ever wonder what an Old Testament prophet like Jeremiah would be doing
these days if he was living during our times? If he did, would he be
feeling complacent, comfortable and spiritually at ease? Or, would he be
warning us - our society - of an impending judgment and calling us to full
obedience to God?
Just what were conditions like during Jeremiah's time? Are there any
similarities to our day? Scripture rhymes, after all. Furthermore, God is
fair and just. The standards He would use to measure His people then could
hardly be different today. If they were different, it wouldn't be just.
Jeremiah's warning that Judah was judged and would soon be vanquished by
the Babylonians therefore serves as an useful example to us living more
than 2,000 years later. We could even use the history of Judah during
Jeremiah's days as a type of time piece. The more similar the conditions to
our day, the more we may gain a sense of the season of our times the
imminency of Christ's return.
Well, what if Jeremiah were a prophet today? It's not an unimaginable
situation. After all, the world is flooded with so-called prophets these
days. Jeremiah's calling would hardly be out of place. He jousted with
legions of financial forecasters in his day, too. Of course, in those days
different kinds of techniques were employed to forecast prosperity. Today's
modern forecasters may sound enlightened and academically rooted, talking
about arcane economic developmental theories, technological advancements,
future earnings growth, world geo-political alliances etc. Such talk
makes them appear so knowledgeable and credible definitely relevant to
our times. Though the jargon and the forecasting techniques may be
different from twenty five-hundred years ago, the fact is that they are
still making predictions about the future sometimes far, far into the
future. And since time memorial, that realm remains as mysterious, dark and
surprising as ever.
Whether by dint of astrology, modern quantitative models, or spirit-led
advisors, there's absolutely no evidence that the reliability and accuracy
of forecasts concerning the future affairs of mankind have improved. In
fact, if anything, the accuracy of seers may have even worsened. Swings in
public consensus beliefs seem to be more rapid and fickle than ever.
Society is very quick to discard its financial prophets and gurus for new
ones with more favorable predictions. Moreover, forecasting inaccuracies
are widely evident to anyone who cares to read a month-old newspaper not
to mention any forecasts of a decade earlier. No doubt, all predictions
must be considered highly suspect, especially those that make claims about
the distant future - two, five or more years ahead. Yet, the forecasting
business is booming as never before. It must be; there are more economists,
brokers and financial planners than ever before.
Beware! Predictions have always been highly prone to certain forecaster
biases - the itching ears of a willing audience, a heavy bent towards
optimism, an indefatigable quest to find security in a volatile world,
demagoguery contests, and of course, a love for monetary prosperity. With
all these imperfections, forecasting nevertheless remains big business
always has been. There was and will always be a large audience and
clientele willing to pay for and listen to viewpoints that want to be
heard. We all identify with this innate tendency, preferring good news to
bad, and see this tendency at work all around us. We all know people that
continue to seek advice from others until they hear the view that they
want. *Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things,
prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting
us with the Holy One of Israel,* is what the people told Isaiah .
Actually, the parallels with Jeremiah's age are many in fact, alarmingly
so. Israel and Judah were living in heady economic times, in a fraternizing
frenzy on the international political stage. They had taken up with strange
and morally perverse ideologies, and were totally preoccupied with
prosperity and gain in the material world. Godliness and eternity were far
from the popular focus of the public arena. The two sister countries were
over-run with self-anointed prophets - mostly politicians and priests - who
were advancing their views of the future. Their visions were very similar
stealing material from each other. What was their popular message in that
day? In short: peace and prosperity for as far as the eye could see.
Similar conditions exist today, particularly for much of the Western World
uppermost North America.
The similarities do not stop there. Jeremiah was very critical of the
practices and conditions of that day, his forecasts being in direct
opposition to the popular entertainers. God was very displeased with Israel
and Judah, so much so that His wrath followed in the form of a Babylonian
conquest. Near total economic destruction was the result. The books of the
prophets tell us of the conditions that angered God in that age. Reading
through these books several times, two realizations strike me: Firstly, how
much of the sins of Israel and Judah had to do with commerce, trade and
economics; secondly, how similar are conditions in our society today.
Actually, conditions today may be even worse.
A good start on this road of personal discovery is to consider some of the
statements made by Jeremiah, Hosea, and others and to compare them to
prevailing conditions today. In the economic arena we discover that God was
displeased with the extent of greed, complacency, arrogance of the rich,
deceit, widespread corruption, financial oppression, pronounced wealth skew
(a few super rich and many poor), conspiracy and high intrigue.
The following verses perfectly capture the mood of the times: *`When will
be the New Moon over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that
we may market wheat?' - skimming the measure boosting the price and
cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy
for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.* (Hosea
8:5-6) We see that commerce and making money were uppermost in the minds of
people. *How to get rich quick!* was a pervasive motive. No doubt, a
presentation in the middle of the desert on the topic of how to double your
money in two weeks would have pulled in big crowds in those days.
In the trample for wealth and gain, noble principles were crushed. Cheating
and economic oppression were commonplace. The attitudes of business people
were downright carnivorous. *You have increased the number of your
merchants till they are more than the stars of the sky, but like locusts
they strip the land and then fly away.* (Nahum 3:16) They would constantly
and incessantly push productivity increases, whether through new technology
or deceit. Every scrap was utilized and nothing left for the poor. Laborers
were scrimped of their fair wages. Weigh scales were tampered with; labeled
consumer products were sold with filler. Of course, all of these practices
are evident today in commerce. Hams are artificially impregnated with water
to boost their weight. Purchasing agents extort the sellers for lower
prices. Beef is pure beef as long as it doesn't have more than a certain
percentage of filler. Chocolate containing 5% vegetable fat can still be
called chocolate. Labor is treated as an inanimate commodity. The point of
life after all is to profit to boost the stock prices to hoard wealth
to stake a secure claim in the material world.
A materialistic society by necessity must be a greedy one. *From the least
to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all
practice deceit.* (Jeremiah 6:13) We see that all of society was infected
with burning greed. Gain had become the motive and incentive for all human
action. And in the competitive sweepstakes to accrete wealth, gold diggers
needed to resort to deceit. After all, if everyone was seeking gain, an
advantage was necessary to succeed. One needed to be deceitful in order to
win a bigger share of the pie. After a while, deceit became an accepted
practice and society was *blessing the greedy.* Truth was sacrificed for
one shekel more.
Greed was not just limited to the heathen or the non-believer. Rather, the
deceitful practices driven by greed found a home in the highest
institutions of the land including its priesthood. *With their mouths they
express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain.* (Ezekiel
33:31) That sounds little different than today. A significant part of the
church is teaching so-called godly principles for no other reason than to
achieve greater success in winning *increase* and *prosperity.* Scripture
is studied so as to be able to apply biblical principals to get rich as
opposed to the purpose of worshipping and honoring God for Himself.
Christians who aren't prosperous (read: wealthy, both in a relative and
materialistic sense) apparently don't have enough faith. We are to believe
that Christians, if they have been perfected in righteousness, will
accumulate above average wealth in a world that is governed by an ungodly
financial system. Of course, that's not to say that Christians can't be
wealthy (notwithstanding the fact that it's harder to get into heaven that
way). It's just impossible that all can be rich. And, it's even less likely
that charitable Christians would be among the majority of that number. In
my experience, businessmen that identify themselves as Christians are often
no less treacherous in their dealings than unscrupulous operators who make
no pretense of being ethical. The shark-like conduct systemized into our
society's commercial activities is so pervasive and accepted that it's
often difficult for us to see our weekday hypocrisy against our holy
conduct on the Sabbath.
The pursuit of gain, aided with a good measure of deceit, in time leads to
the hoarding of wealth. This presented a new challenge - arrogance and
complacency. *Ephraim boasts, 'I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With
all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin.* (Hosea 12:
7-8) *They all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain. 'Come,' each
cries, 'let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will
be like today, or even far better.'* (Isaiah 56:12) *Oh unfaithful
daughter, you trust in your riches and say, 'Who will attack me?'*
(Jeremiah 49:4 NIV).
Nowadays, review any magazine newsstand and we see wealth and arrogance
idolized. The business magazines - Forbes, Fortune, Money, and many others
- all dote on the powerful and the rich ad nauseum. Those that have
accumulated great wealth are profiled for us to envy. They are scrutinized
so as to discover their secrets of success. Most of them love to see
themselves quoted and arrogantly ascribe their success to their acumen,
wisdom, and possibly a bit of luck. The implied message is this: Since
they're rich, they must be intelligent and noble people.
The pervasive materialism of the prophet's day resulted in complacency.
With the great accumulation of wealth, surely tomorrow won't be any
different. Prosperity will continue. Why would anyone tamper with such a
successful system of beliefs? Today, this same arrogance is expressed in
many forms. Quantitative modeling is used to predict the future. These
techniques, though they sound esoteric and sophisticated, are all based on
a simple assumption that the future will be like the past. Some even openly
claim that the superior mathematics of today have actually superseded the
need for a belief in God. Like that society of old, what we see today is
that society has put its trust in wealth, either real or its mathematical
derivations.
The price of this headlong pursuit of wealth is that society agrees to
sacrifice truth. *From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain;
prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.* (Jeremiah 8:10) *They
strengthen the hands of the evildoer so that no one turns from his
wickedness.* (Jeremiah 23:14) *Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever
shuns evil becomes a prey.* (Isaiah 59.17) *Truth has perished; it has
vanished from their lips.* (Jeremiah 7:28) *They make their tongue like a
bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the lands.*
(Jeremiah 9: 3) *Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks with deceit.
With his mouth each speaks cordially to his neighbor, but in his heart he
sets a trap for him.* (Jeremiah 9:8) There are too many similar verses to
quote them all. The message is clear: Today, great success in worldly terms
is likely to come with a heavy price the loss of truth, faithfulness and
uprightness. In fact, it's gone far past this condition. Only the fit will
survive, we are told. If you don't play the game, you'll be the victim. The
message? Join in. Play the game vigorously.
Our entire society winks. When a toothpaste company says that if we use
their product our teeth will be *whiter than white* we wink. Of course,
nothing can be whiter than white. But, that's OK. We know that they're only
trying to sell their product, after all. Wink, wink. Salesmen pitch their
products based upon what they believe clients will want to hear, not what
the product will actually deliver. Marketers openly agree that their
practices are really a form of gamesmanship. A little artistic license is
therefore necessary with the concept of truth.
We learn, too, that economic oppression was a condition of society during
the time of the prophets. *Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait
like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch men. Like
cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich
and powerful and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit;
they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend
the rights of the poor.* (Jeremiah 5: 26-28). By and large, in a deceitful
society driven by greed, it is generally (though not always) true that
every winner must have a loser as its counterpart. The wealthy can only
become super rich if there are many others who are less than rich or
poor. To a degree, wealth is a relative concept. *You have not obeyed me;
you have not proclaimed freedom for your fellow countrymen.* (Jeremiah
34:17) It's obvious that many people became enslaved by the economic system
of that day.
One reliable sign of increasing oppression is the trend of indebtedness.
High debt levels indicate two conditions, one the mirror image of the
other. The higher that debts soar, the greater the oppression. This is true
both for individuals and sovereign nations. The handmaiden of high
indebtedness is an increasing gap between the *haves* and the *have-nots.*
After all, debt is borrowed money. It must be borrowed from someone or some
entity that has money to begin with. Therefore, the more borrowed money,
the wealthier must be those that are lending it.
The more skewed the distribution of wealth in society or the world, the
greater the oppression. Not only are debts higher today than ever before,
what is true also is that wealth is more unevenly distributed today than
ever before in modern financial history.
The World Bank's research indicates that the gap between rich and poor
countries continues to widen. In 1993, the richest country had 72 times the
wealth of the poorest on a per capita basis. This difference was only a
factor of 3 in 1920. Elsewhere, this year's Forbes survey of its list of
200 global billionaires topped out at well over trillion far more than
the year prior. That's more than the entire annual economic output of
China. This country has a population of approximately 1.25 billion people.
Imagine the state of the world's wealth skew: 200 individuals have more
wealth than billions of the planet's poorest people! No doubt, there is
extreme financial enslavement in the world today. *They trample upon the
heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the
oppressed.* (Amos 2:6-7) *You trample upon the poor and force them to give
you grain.* (Amos 5: 11) All of the conditions referred to in this verse
apply to today as never before. For example, the poorest nations today tend
to be the commodity producing countries. It's not surprising then to
discover that many commodity prices are no higher today in real terms than
one hundred years ago.
Are there conspiracies at work today? Of course. They were evident 2500
years ago. *Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from
the Lord, who do their work in darkness and think 'Who will see us? Who
will know?'* (Isaiah 29:15 NIV) The dilemma of the commodity-producing
countries alone raises the question. Conspiracies are seen everywhere today
despite rafts of laws that seek to counter such behavior. An enormous
amount of money is being plundered from shareholders today through the
unprecedented use of employee stock options for senior corporate
executives. Few are trying to stop it. Securities regulators, accounting
standards organizations, investment analysts and portfolio managers all
have complicity. It's been a lucrative game for those who are part of this
conspiracy. Why stop it? Corporations use aggressive and creative
accounting practices to pump up their earnings in order to boost their
share prices. Space doesn't allow a broad review of these techniques. The
most heinous of these is the raiding of pension funds. It's being done
today by some of the most recognizable companies in North America.
Conspiracies abound in today's global financial environment.
We may have become inured to this fact: No other cause or objective is more
noble these days than the pursuit of money. It's true, isn't it? Reading
all of the indictments of the prophets of several millennia ago casts this
reality into stark relief. Question to ponder: If God, who is
slow-suffering, did not tolerate the sins of Israel and Judah 2500 years
ago, would He be more inclined to turn a blind eye to the practices of
so-called Christian nations today? Furthermore, would Christ allow his
Church to be part of such a system of conduct today?
My humble view? I hardly dare answer as I am unworthy to make such an
assessment. Yet, looking at the facts, the answer must surely be no. Isn't
it true that much of the Church is indistinguishable from broader society
in terms of its heart and main focus? A good part of the church is in the
midst of the fray, trying to grab its share of financial prosperity. Saying
this, I would be the first to admit that I carry personal culpability, too.
Through the study and research of these issues, I have come to realize how
much I have yet to face up to my own idolatries. I've been born and raised
in this society; therefore my eyes are surely only partially opened to the
moral reality of our day.
A crucial fact to realize is this: Only a handful of the prophets of 2500
hundred years ago actually spoke the truth actually heard from God. *They
are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the
delusions of their own minds.* (Jeremiah 14: 14) The Old Testament prophets
began their forecasting many years ahead of the calamities that eventually
resulted. They weren't day-traders by any means. Their only interest was
truth the Truth. These prophets were more concerned about the road
traveled, warning about where this path would ultimately lead. They had no
interest in trying to predict the exact point that God's wrath would fall.
They weren't making a living with timing services that tried to get their
subscribers out of their real estate holdings not a moment too soon near
the point that the Babylonians were crashing the city gates. If they were
managing real estate portfolios, I doubt they would have been concerned
about short-term timing. Neither is it likely that the prophets would have
been cashing in on their *predictions* (things revealed to them by God) and
trying to build a reputation for themselves. Would they have tried to make
themselves wealthy by setting up survival supply companies? These types of
things were the furthest from their minds, I believe. They were singularly
motivated to speak God's message. They were compelled. As unpopular as they
were, it gave them relief simply to complete God's beckoning. To not
prophesy would have filled them with even more anguish than did the
rejection of society at large.
Jeremiah whined to God, *I have never lent nor borrowed, yet everyone
curses me.* (Jeremiah 15:10) He was not participating in a financial system
that operated to oppress the poor and transfer wealth to the *experts in
greed* by way of a loose credit culture. And because he wasn't, apparently,
people thought that Jeremiah was being judgmental. How dare he not endorse
the *perpetual money machine* that was enriching a select few and
oppressing the many.
Having briefly examined the economic conditions during the times of some of
the Old Testament prophets, we discover two lessons that are relevant to
our times today. Those who don't want to endorse the prevailing system of
greed will not have it easy. They will be seen as unwelcome misfits. They
will be cursed as party-poopers. The second message is that there is hope:
Though conditions may seem difficult and insecurities may press in from
every side, Jeremiah, with all his scare-mongering, provides a comforting
promise: *But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence
is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its
roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are
always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to
bear fruit.* (Jeremiah 17:7- 8) It's a simple message: Trust not in gold,
share portfolios etc. Trust in the Lord foremost, and there will be no
reason to worry about droughts.
Wilfred Hahn
Mullpress@aol.com
======================================================
The Rapture of the Church: What is it and when will it take place?
by Dr. David R. Reagan
======================================================
The Rapture is a glorious event which God has promised to the Church. The
promise is that someday very soon, at the blowing of a trumpet and the
shout of an archangel, Jesus will appear in the sky and take up His Church,
living and dead, to Heaven.
The Term
The term, Rapture, comes from a Latin word that means to catch up, to
snatch away, or to take out. It is a Biblical word that comes right out of
the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible. The word is found in 1
Thessalonians 4:17. In the New American Standard Version, the English
phrase, *caught up,* is used. The same phrase is used in the King James and
New International Versions.
A Promise to the Church
The concept of the Rapture was not revealed to the Old Testament prophets
because it is a promise to the New Testament Church and not to the saints
of God who lived before the establishment of the Church.
The saints of Old Testament times will be resurrected at the end of the
Tribulation and not at the time of the Rapture of the Church. Daniel
reveals this fact in Daniel 12:1-2 where he says that the saints of that
age will be resurrected at the end of the *time of distress.*
Biblical References
The first clear mention of the Rapture in Scripture is found in the words
of Jesus recorded in John 14:1-4. Jesus said, *I will come again, and
receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.*
The most detailed revelation of the actual events related to the Rapture is
given by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. He says that when Jesus appears,
the dead in Christ (Church age saints) will be resurrected and caught up
first. Then, those of us who are alive in Christ will be translated *to
meet the Lord in the air.* Paul then exhorts us to *comfort one another
with these words.*
Paul mentions the Rapture again in 1 Corinthians 15 - his famous chapter on
the resurrection of the dead:
*Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall be
changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.*
(verses 51 & 52)
Paul's reference here to being changed is an allusion to the fact that the
saints will receive glorified bodies that will be perfected, imperishable
and immortal (1 Cor. 15:42-44, & 50-55).
The Timing
The most controversial aspect of the Rapture is its timing. Some place it
at the end of the Tribulation, making it one and the same event as the
Second Coming. Others place it in the middle of the Tribulation. Still
others believe that it will occur at the beginning of the Tribulation.
The reason for these differing viewpoints is that the exact time of the
Rapture is not precisely revealed in scripture. It is only inferred. There
is, therefore, room for honest differences of opinion, and lines of
fellowship should certainly not be drawn over differences regarding this
point, even though it is an important point.
Post-Tribulation Rapture
Those who place the timing at the end of the Tribulation usually base their
argument on two parables in Matthew 13 and on the Lord's Olivet Discourse
in Matthew 24.
In Matthew 24 the Lord portrays His gathering of the saints as an event
that will take place *immediately after the tribulation of those days*
(Matt. 24:29). This certainly sounds like a post-Tribulation Rapture. But
it must be kept in mind that the book of Matthew was written to the Jews,
and therefore the recording of Jesus' speech by Matthew has a distinctively
Jewish flavor to it as compared to Luke's record of the same speech.
Note, for example, Matthew's references to Judea and to Jewish law
regarding travel on the Sabbath (Matt. 24:15-20). These are omitted in
Luke's account. Instead, Luke speaks of the saints looking up for
deliverance *to escape all these things* when the end time signs *begin to
take place* (Luke 21:28 & 36). The saints in Matthew are instructed to flee
from Judea and hide. The saints in Luke are told to look up for
deliverance.
It appears, therefore, that Matthew and Luke are speaking of two different
sets of saints. The saints in Matthew's account are most likely Jews who
receive Jesus as their Messiah during the Tribulation. The saints in Luke
are those who receive Christ before the Tribulation begins. Most of those
who accept the Lord during the Tribulation will be martyred (Rev. 7:9-14).
Those who live to the end will be gathered by the angels of the Lord (Matt.
24:31).
The parable of the wheat and tares (Matt. 13:24-30) and the parable of the
dragnet (Matt. 13:47-50) can be explained in the same way. They refer to a
separation of saints and sinners that will take place at the end of the
Tribulation. The saints are those who receive Jesus as their Savior during
the Tribulation (Gentile and Jew) and who live to the end of that awful
period.
Mid-Tribulation Rapture
There are variations of the mid-Tribulation Rapture concept. The most
common is that the Church will be taken out in the exact middle of the
Tribulation, at the point in time when the Anti-Christ is revealed.
This concept is based upon a statement in 1 Corinthians 15:52 which says
that the Rapture will occur at the blowing of *the last trumpet.* This
trumpet is then identified with the seventh trumpet of the trumpet
judgments in the book of Revelation. Since the blowing of the seventh
trumpet is recorded in Revelation 11, the mid-point of the Tribulation, the
conclusion is that the Rapture must occur in the middle of the Tribulation.
But there are two problems with this interpretation. The first is that the
last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15 is blown for believers whereas the seven
trumpets of Revelation 8, 9 and 11 are sounded for unbelievers. The
Revelation trumpets have no relevance for the Church. The last trumpet of 1
Corinthians 15 is a trumpet for the righteous. The last trumpet for the
unrighteous is the one described in Revelation 11.
Another problem with this interpretation is that the passage in Revelation
11 that portrays the sounding of the seventh trumpet is a *flash forward*
to the end of the Tribulation. Flash forwards are very common in the book
of Revelation. They occur after something terrible is described in order to
assure the reader that everything is going to turn out all right when Jesus
returns at the end of the Tribulation.
Thus, the eighth and ninth chapters of Revelation, which describe the
horrors of the trumpet judgments, are followed immediately by a flash
forward in chapter 10 that pictures the return of Jesus in victory at the
end of the Tribulation. The mid-Tribulation action resumes in chapter 11
with a description of the killing of the two great prophets of God by the
Anti-Christ. Then, to offset that terrible event, we are presented with
another flash forward, beginning with verse 15. The seventh trumpet is
sounded and we find ourselves propelled forward to the end of the
Tribulation when *the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of our
Lord.*
The point is that the seventh trumpet of Revelation relates to the end of
the Tribulation and not the middle. It is therefore no basis for an
argument in behalf of a mid-Tribulation Rapture.
Pre-Wrath Rapture
A variation of the mid-Tribulation Rapture is the pre-wrath Rapture concept
that places the Rapture at the beginning of the last quarter of the
Tribulation, about five and a half years into the Tribulation.
The argument for this view is that the Church is promised protection only
from the wrath of God and not the wrath of Man or of Satan. It is then
argued that only the bowl judgments in the last quarter of the Tribulation
(Revelation 16) represent the wrath of God.
But the argument for this view disintegrates when you consider two facts.
First, it is Jesus Himself who breaks the seals that launch each of the
seal judgments recorded in Revelation 6. These judgments occur at the
beginning of the Tribulation. Second, the seven angels who blow the
trumpets that initiate each of the trumpet judgments are given their
trumpets at the throne of God (Rev. 8:2).
All the judgments of Revelation are clearly superintended by God. That is
the reason we are told in Revelation 15:1 that the bowl judgments at the
end of the Tribulation will finish the wrath of God, not begin His wrath.
The Pre-Tribulation Rapture
I believe the best inference of Scripture is that the Rapture will occur at
the beginning of the Tribulation. The most important reason I believe this
has to do with the issue of imminence. Over and over in Scripture we are
told to watch for the appearing of the Lord. We are told *to be ready*
(Matt. 24:44), *to be on the alert* (Matt. 24:42), *to be dressed in
readiness* (Luke 12:35), and to *keep your lamps alight* (Luke 12:35). The
clear force of these persistent warnings is that Jesus can appear at any
moment.
Only the pre-Tri
bulation concept of the Rapture allows for the imminence of
the Lord's appearing for His Church. When the Rapture is placed at any
other point in time, the imminence of the Lord's appearing is destroyed
because other prophetic events must happen first.
For example, if the Rapture is going to occur in mid-Tribulation, then why
should I live looking for the Lord's appearing at any moment? I would be
looking instead for an Israeli peace treaty, the rebuilding of the Temple,
and the revelation of the Anti-Christ. Then and only then could the Lord
appear.
Focus
This raises the issue of what we are to be looking for. Nowhere are
believers told to watch for the appearance of the Anti-Christ. On the
contrary, we are told to watch for Jesus Christ. In Titus 2:13 Paul says we
are to live *looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of
our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.* Likewise, Peter urges us to *fix
our hope completely on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of
Jesus Christ* (1 Peter 1:13). John completes the apostolic chorus by
similarly urging us to *fix our hope on Him* at His appearing (1 John
3:2-3).
Only Matthew speaks of watching for the Anti-Christ (Matt. 24:15), but he
is speaking to the Jews living in Israel in the middle of the Tribulation
when the Anti-Christ desecrates the rebuilt Temple.
Wrath
Another argument in behalf of a pre-Tribulation Rapture has to do with the
promises of God to protect the Church from His wrath. As has already been
demonstrated, the book of Revelation shows that the wrath of God will be
poured out during the entire period of the Tribulation.
The Word promises over and over that the Church will be delivered from
God's wrath. Romans 5:9 says that *we shall be saved from the wrath of God
through Him [Jesus].* 1 Thessalonians 1:10 states that we are waiting *for
His Son from heaven . . . who will deliver us from the wrath to come.* The
promise is repeated in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 - *God has not destined us for
wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.*
Deliverance
Some argue that God could supernaturally protect the Church during the
Tribulation. Yes, He could. In fact, He promises to do just that for the
144,000 Jews who will be sealed as bond-servants at the beginning of the
Tribulation (Rev. 7:1-8).
But God's promise to the Church during the Tribulation is not one of
protection but one of deliverance. Jesus said we would *escape* the horrors
of the Tribulation (Luke 21:36). Paul says Jesus is coming to *deliver* us
from God's wrath (1 Thess. 1:10).
Symbolism
There are several prophetic types that seem to affirm the concept of
deliverance from Tribulation. Take Enoch for example. He was a prophet to
the Gentiles who was raptured out of the world before God poured out His
wrath in the great flood of Noah's time. Enoch appears to be a type of the
Gentile Church that will be taken out of the world before God pours out His
wrath again. If so, then Noah and his family are a type of the Jewish
remnant that will be protected through the Tribulation.
Another Old Testament symbolic type which points toward a pre-Tribulation
Rapture is the experience of Lot and his family. They were delivered out of
Sodom and Gomorrah before those cities were destroyed.
The Apostle Peter alludes to both of these examples in his second epistle.
He states that if God spared Noah and Lot, then He surely *knows how to
rescue the godly from trial and to keep the unrighteous under punishment
for the day of judgment* (2 Peter 2:4-9).
Another beautiful prophetic type is to be found in the Jewish wedding
traditions of Jesus's time. After the betrothal, the groom would return to
his father's house to prepare a wedding chamber for his bride. He would
return for his bride at an unexpected moment, so the bride had to be ready
constantly. When he returned, he would take his bride back to his father's
house to the chamber he had prepared. He and his bride would then be sealed
in the chamber for seven days. When they emerged, a great wedding feast
would be celebrated.
Likewise, Jesus has returned to Heaven to prepare a place for His bride,
the Church. When He returns for His bride, He will take her to His Father's
heavenly home. There He will remain with His bride for seven years (the
duration of the Tribulation). The period will end with *the marriage supper
of the Lamb* described in Revelation 19. Thus the seven days in the wedding
chamber point prophetically to the seven years that Jesus and His bride
will remain in Heaven during the Tribulation.
Revelation
Speaking of Revelation, the structure of that book also implies a
pre-Tribulation Rapture in a symbolic sense. The first three chapters focus
on the Church. Chapter 4 begins with the door of Heaven opening and John
being raptured from the isle of Patmos to the throne of God in Heaven. The
Church is not mentioned thereafter until Revelation 19:7-9 when it is
portrayed as the *bride of Christ* in Heaven with Jesus celebrating the
*marriage supper of the Lamb.* At Revelation 19:11 the door of Heaven opens
again, and Jesus emerges riding a white horse on His way to earth, followed
by His Church (Rev. 19:14).
The rapture of the Apostle John in Revelation 4 appears to be a symbolic
type of the Rapture of the Church. Note that it is initiated by the cry of
a voice that sounds like the blowing of a trumpet (Rev. 4:1). Since the
Tribulation does not begin until Revelation 6, the rapture of John in
Revelation 4 appears to be a symbolic type that points to a pre-Tribulation
Rapture of the Church.
Some counter this argument by pointing out that although the Church is not
mentioned in Revelation during that book's description of the Tribulation,
there is constant mention of *saints* (for example, Rev. 13:7). But that
term is not used in the Bible exclusively to refer to members of the
Church. Daniel uses it to refer to Old Testament believers who lived long
before the Church was established (Dan. 7:18). The saints referred to in
the book of Revelation are most likely those people who will be saved
during the Tribulation, after the Church has been taken out of the world.
Paul's Assurance
An interesting argument in behalf of the pre-Tribulation timing of the
Rapture can be found in 2 Thessalonians. The church at Thessalonica was in
a turmoil because someone had written them a letter under Paul's name
stating that they had missed the *gathering to the Lord* and were, in fact,
living in *the day of the Lord* (2 Thess. 2:1-2).
Paul attempted to calm them down by reminding them of his teaching that the
day of the Lord would not come until after the Anti-Christ is revealed. He
then stated that the Anti-Christ would not be revealed until a restraining
force *is taken out of the way* (2 Thess. 2:3-7).
There has been much speculation as to the identify of this restraining
force that Paul refers to. Some have identified it as the Holy Spirit. But
it cannot be the Holy Spirit because there will be people saved during the
Tribulation, and no one can be saved apart from the testimony of the Spirit
(John 16:8-11 & 1 John 5:7).
Others have identified the restrainer as human government. It is true that
government was ordained by God to restrain evil (Romans 13:1-4). But the
governments of the world are in rebellion against God and His Son (Psalm
2), and they are therefore a contributor to the evil that characterizes the
world. Furthermore, the Tribulation will not be characterized by a lack of
government. Rather, it will feature the first true worldwide government
(Rev. 13:7).
In my opinion that leaves only one other candidate for Paul's restrainer -
and that is the Church. It is the Church that serves as the primary
restrainer of evil in the world today as it proclaims the Gospel and stands
for righteousness. When the Church fails in this mission, evil multiplies,
as Paul graphically points out in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Paul says that society
in the end times will be characterized by chaos and despair because *men
will hold to a form of religion but will deny its power.* When the Church
is removed from the world, all hell will literally break loose.
Escapism?
The pre-Tribulation concept of the Rapture has often been condemned as
*escapism.* I think this criticism is unjustified. The Bible itself says
that Christians are to *comfort one another* with the thought of the
Rapture (1 Thess. 4:18). Is it a comfort to think of the Rapture occurring
at the end of the world's worst period of war instead of at the beginning?
Regardless of when the Rapture actually occurs, we need to keep in mind
that the Bible teaches that societal conditions are going to grow
increasingly worse the closer we get to the Lord's return. That means
Christians will suffer tribulation whether or not they go into the Great
Tribulation. And that means all of us had better be preparing ourselves for
unprecedented suffering and spiritual warfare.
If you are a Christian, you can do that on a daily basis by putting on *the
full armor of God* (Eph. 6:13), praying at all times in the Spirit that you
will be able to stand firm against the attacks of Satan (Eph. 6:14-18).
If you are not a Christian, your only hope is to reach out in faith and
receive the free gift of God's salvation which He has provided through His
Son, Jesus (John 3:16). Copyright © 1996 Lamb
and Lion. All rights reserved worldwide.
http://www.lamblion.com/
Dr. David R. Reagan, founder and senior evangelist of Lamb & Lion
Ministries in McKinney, Texas, has written a new book entitled, Living for
Christ in the End Times. The book is scheduled to be released by New Leaf
Press on July 1st in time for promotion at the Christian Bookseller's
Convention which will be held in New Orleans in mid-July.
The first section of the book is entitled *The Descent into Paganism,* and
its two chapters spell out in detail the unique nature of the challenge
that confronts Christians at the beginning of the 21st Century. One of the
chapters deals with the decay of society; the other, with the growing
apostasy in the Church. Both chapters are very specific and are likely to
stir considerable controversy.
The book should be in bookstores by the end of July. It will retail for
.99. Dr. Reagan's ministry is providing the book during the month of
July for a cost of , including shipping. To order a copy, call
1-800-705-8316. Further information regarding the book can be found at
<http://www.newleafpress.net/>http://www.newleafpress.net/
*******************
DEVOTIONALS
******************
WINGS OF SILVER, FEATHERS OF GOLD
By Paul Kusiak
*Though you lie down among the sheepfolds, You will be like the wings of a
dove covered with silver, And her feathers with yellow gold.* - Psalm 68:13
It was a dark and stormy night.
A corny description I know, but an accurate one nonetheless. We're in the
middle of a horrid early summer thunderstorm. It's one o'clock in the
morning and I am lying awake listening to the *rat tat tat* of rain hitting
against the awning. The lighting is so frequent that if you looked outside
you might think it was morning. And the thunder is so loud you would be
sure the storm was right over your house. It isn't long before I hear the
tiny, high-pitched voice my year-old son Joshua crying.
He is wiping the sleep from his eyes as I entered his room. He had a look
on his face that said, *What the heck is going on out there!* My
grandmother used to say that thunder was really the angels bowling and when
you saw lightning it meant one of them had just gotten a strike. I was
going to relay that little nugget of info to him, but I don't think he
would have bought it - I never did. I picked him up and wrapped my arms
around him and told him daddy was here and that everything was alright now
and that I loved him. The storm was still intense outside but he put his
head on my shoulder and soon fell asleep right there in my arms.
When my child called out to me I was there to comfort him. In the same way,
when we call out to God He is there to comfort us, His children.
Just as I wrapped my arms around my child, shielding him from what he
feared, God is always there to wrap His heavenly arms around us. He shields
us with wings of silver and feathers made of gold. He holds us tight as He
whispers to us, *Daddy is here. Everything is alright now. I love you.* And
even though the storms of life are still raging around us, we can rest easy
because we are in His arms and all is well.
E-Mail: Kusiak3@aol.com
http://www.homestead.com/estudies
*******************
POETRY
*******************
While I was Listening
by S. West
You opened my eyes while I was asleep
And all Your dreams revealed to me
A land to be conquered through gentleness A world that's devoured by cleverness
Crafty are the serpents ways
Minds are host to thoughts depraved
Smooth and silent the serpent slips in
Souls are weak to the powers of sin
His eyes of love will viciously kill
Those accepting of his poison instilled
He whispers the words we want to hear
Unaware that he is our greatest fear
We like zombies walk his dreadful path
While all along mockingly he laughs
He's so sure he's got our souls for good With the strings we're his puppets
of wood Dangling from his taloned fingertips
We wait to decay into the abyss
But our Lord and Saviour with eyes of fire Will smite the dragon, 'tis His
main desire But we who he's called must willingly act Upon the words given,
the call to attack And gird ourselves with the armour to fight The day has
finally come, there'll be no sleep tonight For the angel of death 24-7 is
on the prowl Waiting for the moment when our guard comes down Stand your
ground, soldiers--stand your ground And your reward shall be; no longer
lost but found
S. West
copyrighted 05/06/99
<chosenpoet@ilovejesus.net>
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