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TheLastWordVideo: Bob Caldwell "Reaping What You Sow" Pt1
DoctrineOfGod: Am I in God's hands?
Am I in God's hands?
A basketball in my hands is worth about $19. A basketball in Michael Jordan's hands is worth about $33 million. It depends whose hands it's in.
A baseball in my hands is worth about $6. A baseball in Mark McGwyre's hands is worth $19 million. It depends whose hands it's in.A tennis racket is useless in my hands. A tennis racket in Pete Sampras' hands is a Wimbledon Championship. It depends whose hands it's in.A rod in my hands will keep away a wild animal. A rod in Moses' hands will part the mighty sea. It depends whose hands it's in.A sling shot in my hands is a kid's toy. A sling shot in David's hands is a mighty weapon. It depends whose hands it's in.Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my hands is a couple of fish sandwiches. Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in God's hands will feed thousands. It depends whose hands it's in.Nails in my hands might produce a birdhouse. Nails in Jesus Christ's hands will produce salvation for the entire world. It depends whose hands it's in.As you see now, it depends whose hands it's in. So put your concerns, your worries, your fears, your hopes, your dreams, your families and your relationships in God's hands because, you see, It depends whose hands it's in.--Author Unknown
DoctrineOfGod: WeekEnderBasics "Does God want to know me?"
Does God want to know me?
According to the Bible, you are God's masterpiece, or "workmanship" (Ephesians 2:10). He created you in His image (Genesis 1:27). God has incredible love for you (John 3:16). Hebrews 1:2 tells us God is speaking to you today.
The reason we have difficulty discerning Him is:"But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear." (Isaiah 59:2)"The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one." (Psalm 14:2,3)
ThyKingdomCome: Ron Graff and Lambert Dolphin "Satan's Final Empire: The New World Order"
Rise of Satan's final Empire What will happen to Israel in the future is not done in a vacuum. The whole Earth will be going through great changes during this Tribulation period. All of this is a culmination of Satan's evil plans for world government. This is described in the Book of Daniel in several dreams and visions.
Chapter 7
Satan's Final Empire: The New World Order
"You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue--an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay.While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 2:31-35)
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had terrifying dreams and did not know what they meant. His magicians, astrologers and fortunetellers could not help him interpret them. Daniel was of the captives whom Nebuchadnezzar's forces had carried off from Israel to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar called for Daniel to see if he could explain the dreams to him.
First God showed Daniel what Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed. Then He showed Daniel what the dreams meant.Since Nebuchadnezzar was the head of the Babylonian empire (which virtually ruled the then-known world), he was the head of gold. But the prophecy meant that another empire would arise that would overtake them. Every ruler would like to think that he will never be defeated, but that does not happen. Historically, there was another world empire which came after Babylon. That empire was Medo-Persia. There were of scores scores of other, minor kingdoms. Some of them were small empires over a certain number of countries for a period of time. But what Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream were world empires. From the time of Nebuchadnezzar until now there were to be only four of them, including his Babylon. The second empire was silver, meaning that it was inferior to the first in some ways, and it had two parts, like two arms: the Medes and the Persians. Then there was another empire (refer to Harmony of Prophecy chart).The Babylonians gave way to the Medo-Persians, and the Medo-Persians gave way to the Greeks, and the Greeks gave way to the Romans. It was the Romans who were in power at the time of Christ. There had been almost an unbroken succession of world empires from Nebuchadnezzar until the time of Christ. Nebuchadnezzar's dream indicated that one empire would be replaced by another. The iron legs, feet and toes of the statue represented the future empire of Rome.
Since the Roman Empire ceased to exist as a real empire, how many world empires have existed? Can you think of any? Not really. There have been some serious attempts. Charlemagne, Napoleon, and Hitler, tried to conquer their world. None of them succeeded. The Bible says there are only four of these world empires, and then a final form of the fourth one--feet made partly of iron and partly of clay.What would the iron and clay mean? It is a Revived Roman Empire--partly of the old iron of the ancient Roman empire, and partly of clay, something weaker and brittle. It would include some of the old areas, but it would not be as strong and monolithic as the old Roman Empire. When the stone comes out of Heaven and lands on these feet they will break. The stone from Heaven represents the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as King of Kings to destroy Antichrist's empire and to set up the Millennial Kingdom.
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying on his bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream. Daniel said: "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea. The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it.And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, 'Get up and eat your fill of flesh!'After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast--terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully. As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. (Daniel 7:1-9)
In the third year of King Belshazzar's reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me. In my vision I saw myself in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam; in the vision I was beside the Ulai Canal. I looked up, and there before me was a ram with two horns, standing beside the canal, and the horns were long. One of the horns was longer than the other but grew up later. I watched the ram as he charged toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against him, and none could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. He came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at him in great rage. I saw him attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering his two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against him; the goat knocked him to the ground and trampled on him, and none could rescue the ram from his power.The goat became very great, but at the height of his power his large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven. Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land. It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was brought low. Because of rebellion, the host and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground. (Daniel 8:1-12)
Daniel had one dream and one vision. They were about four kinds of creatures that represented these same four empires of Nebuchadnezzar's Dream. When we compare them we see many similarities. These dreams were given to confirm what Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his dream: that there would be a succession of four empires, and that they would become successively more fierce. In Daniel's visions there is also an element of a personal power--an individual who is extremely powerful, who comes on the scene at the end. This is Antichrist. The first specific teachings about Antichrist are from Daniel, chapters 7 to 9. Chapter 9 gives details of Antichrist's treaty with Israel which he breaks in the middle. He will then set up a statue of himself to be worshiped in the Temple.
The interesting thing to notice here is that, in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, there are ten toes on the feet, and in Daniel's dream, the final form of a world government had ten horns. So the number ten is very significant in the last form of world governments which is still future.We are looking for another empire that will come out of ten nations and then become a world power.Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. (Matthew 4:8-11)
What business does the Devil have offering Jesus, God the Son, the Creator of the World, these kingdoms? Was that nonsense? Or was it a legitimate offer? Satan is called "The god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), "The prince of this world" (John 12:31), and "The prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2). Because of the fall of man and the corruption that resulted from the fall, the Devil does have control of the kingdoms of the world today. That is not to say that every single nation is corrupt. There was a time in our country that we were not influenced much by the Devil. Godly people came here to begin a nation under God with religious freedom. In those days, before we had a federal government, there were states, like William Penn's "Holy Experiment" in Pennsylvania, that were almost theocracies. A theocracy is a government where God rules literally. But, for the most part, nations become ungodly. The people forget their blessings from God. Leaders become corrupt, and even a good nation like ours drifts, until they no longer seek and receive God's blessing. We have reached the point where many people say America is a "post-Christian" nation. It hurts to admit this. The good news is that we can return to our devotion to the Lord. We could have a revival. Many people feel there is a great renewal of faith brewing in our nation. However, America is not the Christian nation it once was.
In terms of world empires, there have only been, since Nebuchadnezzar, four world empires, and all of them have been dominated by evil. Your history teachers have probably told you this is true even if they were not Christians. These evil empires tolerated immorality and became corrupt. They were brutal. And they collapsed internally because of their sin and corruption. The Devil had a right to offer these kingdoms to Jesus. But why would Jesus want those corrupted kingdoms? Jesus is going to come back as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to set things up as they ought to be. He doesn't need the Devil's help, and He doesn't need the Devil's kingdoms. He would never have accepted that offer, but the Devil thought that was his "best card." Unfortunately, Satan does have control over the corrupt kingdoms of the world today.A New World Order
We have already studied the rise and fall of various world empires under Satan's control and the emerging final form of that political structure. We have also traced the course of false world religions from the time of Nimrod in Babel through the period of The Tribulation. Now we examine the secret societies which have controlled wealth and power from behind the scenes, and the sinister religious connections with these secret societies. Some have referred to this power behind the scenes as the Invisible Government.
Matthew 24:37 - As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
Jeremiah 6:14 and 8:11 - 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 - While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
Note: The implication in this section that there is a conspiracy to produce a universal government is accepted by many prophecy scholars, but rejected by others. There is no doubt that there will be a One-World Government, but there are differing views on the processes that lead to it. Some have called this an "open conspiracy," meaning one that is not totally hidden, but is more of a one-world agenda by the rich and powerful. This elite group publish their ideas, but the public is never made aware of their ultimate plans. For balance here, See Appendix - Warnings and Cautions.
Kabbalism
This was an ancient system of Jewish theosophy and mysticism which still has adherents today. It denies the inspiration of Scripture and blends metaphysical and occult practices, trying to mesh them with the Old Testament.
Gnosticism
This system of belief flourished during the time of the writing of the New Testament. It is a dualistic philosophy that there are two equally powerful forces in the universe- one good and one evil.
Knights Templars
Knights of the Temple
This fraternity arose during period of the Crusades. Some may have meant well at the beginning, but it was so corrupted that it became a great blight on Christian history and a serious stumbling block between Christians and Jews and between Christians and Moslems.
Here is a brief history of this movement:
- 1118 - Established in Jerusalem by 9 French knights.
- 1128 - Taken under the protection of the Pope.
- 1187 - Moved to Acre (when Saladin conquered Jerusalem).
- 1291 - Moved to Cyprus (when Acre fell to Muslims). By then they had become influential bankers of Europe. They especially influenced Spain, France, England.(Their work might have been good at first, but, according to occult historian Edith Starr Miller, it was influenced by Gnostics in Jerusalem and the Sect of Assassins, which practiced phallicism or sex-worship and Satanism, and venerated "The Baphomet," the idol of the Luciferians).
- Philip IV of France sentenced many of them to death, charging them with conspiracy, heresy and Satan worship.
- 1314 (Mar. 18) - The Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake. (The Masonic order for young men is named after him! Why would they?)
Rosicrucians
Order of the Rose-Croix
In the early 1300's, the surviving Knights Templars merged with them since they were not allowed to continue their own organization.
Their beliefs and practices were very secret through the 1600's. They may have been the pre-cursors of the Masonic Orders. The names of the last three Masonic degrees of the York Rite are: Knight of the Red Cross (means the same thing as Rose-Croix), Knight of Malta, Knight Templar. The 18th Degree of Scottish Rite of the Masonic Order is called the Sovereign Prince of Rose-Croix.In 1717 the world's first Grand Lodge of the Masonic Order was established in London. According to Gary Kah, it had Rosicrucians deep within its structure. These were the Princes of Freemasonry.The Illuminati
The Illuminati were an order within an order of Freemasons. This order was founded on May 1, 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, a college professor in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, a part of modern Germany.
Gary Kah cites John Robinson, 18th Century historian and prominent Mason, that the express aim of the Order was to abolish Christianity and overturn government.
The Scottish Rite of the Masonic Order
The Scottish Rite of the Masonic Order was established in 1801 in Charleston, South Carolina. It later moved to Washington D.C. A Masonic publication, Facts of Scottish Rite, states that all regular Supreme Councils have descended from it.
The Pladian Rite
The Paladian Rite was established in 1870 by Albert Pike, the leader of Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in the United States and Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian revolutionary leader and worldwide director of illuminized Freemasonry from 1834 to 1872. The purpose of the Paladian Rite was to be behind the scenes and control all the other Masonic groups. Most people don't know much about this group. According to Gary Kah, Mazzini wrote to Pike that this would be the supreme rite; that it would be somewhat unknown, but through it, the hand-picked high degree Masons who became a part of it would secretly govern all Freemasonry.
On July 14, 1889, Pike instructed twenty-three Supreme Councils of the world to tell people that Masons worship a God, but one who is adored without superstition. Further, they were told to explain to Masons only of the 30th through 32nd degrees that the "Masonic religion" should be kept in the "purity of the Luciferic doctrine." Kah then goes on to claim that the belief in Lucifer is not revealed until a higher level. He quotes from A.C. De La Rive's, La Femme et L'Enfant dans la Franc-Maconnerie Universelle, who recorded Pike's instructions on that date. Pike claimed that Lucifer was the good God of Light, and Adonay (The God of the Christians) is a cruel and barbaric God of darkness and evil. He believed in the dual god theory of Zoroaster, and the Gnostics and Templars after them. According to this view these two gods are always fighting. How could more terrible words ever be penned by a person who supposedly knows the message of the Bible?Notice that they do not equate Satan and Lucifer. This is also true of the New Age religion. Those who follow Lucifer usually think that he is actually the good god, and the whole idea of Satan is just a myth and a heresy.Kah also shows the connection between these beliefs and communism. Mazzini and Karl Marx were closely associated. He says that the early Russian revolutionaries called themselves Spartacusts, after Adam Weishaupt's Illuminati pseudonym. They were later called Bolsheviks. Still later they became known as Communists.Recent Developments Toward A New World Order
The Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve System is not a government institution, but a privately held corporation owned by stockholders. The top eight stockholders are Rothschild Banks of London and Berlin; Lazard Brothers Banks of Paris; Israel Moses Seif Banks of Italy; Warburg Bank of Hamburg and Amsterdam; Lehman Brothers Bank of New York; Kuhn, Loeb Bank of New York; Chase Manhattan Bank of New York; and Goldman, Sachs Bank of New York.
Jacob Schiff came to America from Germany with specific directives from Rothschild, the major banking mogul of England and Germany: to gain control of the U.S. money system. He bought into a banking house he could control: Kuen & Loeb. He married Loeb's daughter, Theresa, eventually bought out Kuen's interest, and moved to New York as sole owner. He posed as a philanthropist and man of holiness. He won over J.P. Morgan and others by offering help from Rothschild financing. These people were having a heyday with their businesses, but they were at a point where they needed a lot of capital to expand their businesses. Through loans to these people he gained great financial power. He also had to convince congressmen to enact the Federal Reserve Act. Some say that he used racial strife to plant liberals in congress and control media.The Federal Reserve Act was originally voted down as unconstitutional (Art. 1, Sect. 8 - the power of issuing money and regulating value belongs to Congress). It was later reintroduced in another form, when many opponents of such a system had left for Christmas holidays, and was rammed through Congress on Dec. 23, 1913. Now this private enterprise can control how much money will be printed and what the interest rates will be. Therefore, the powerful elite can know what to do about buying and selling, etc., while the rest of us are influenced negatively by their policies. They can drive prices up and down. They have an unfair control of what they can do with our fortunes.
The Council On Foreign Relations
World War I lasted from 1914 to 1918. The United States' was involved during the last two years. Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of State, Colonel Edward Mandell House, supported the Federal Reserve Act and planned the League of Nations. According to Walter Millis, in his Road To War: America, 1914-1917, Colonel House's justification for allowing Americans to enter this carnage was the hope of establishing a new world order of peace and security.
Colonel House was also a prime mover in the formation of the Council on Foreign Relations in 1919.Virtually all the literature about a conspiracy in the last thirty years has mentioned the Council on Foreign Relations as a key element. Most people know very little about the organization because they are very private. Their agenda has been supra-national (above or beyond national interests) from the beginning. They are seldom mentioned in the press even though a great number of prominent Americans are involved in it.Most Presidents and nearly all Secretaries of State in our generation have belonged to the CFR. Even the strong "Christian" presidents have generally filled their cabinets with CFR members. George Bush was a good example of this.The CFR has several branches. They are the Institute For Pacific Relations - New York; the Centre d'Etudes de Politicque Etrangere - Paris; and the Institut fur Auswartige Politik - Hamburg.The CFR is now so old that many other organizations have been formed to carry out their objectives. The network of influences controlled by these people, including the major networks, is unbelievable.Some of their purposes are hair-raising. For instance, Study Number 7, CFR position paper 11/25/1959 - stated its purpose was to advocate the "building [of] a new international order [which] may be responsible to world aspirations for peace...including states labeling themselves as Socialist." Today we might not be so alarmed about this, but when it first came out in 1959 it was pretty shocking to propose a new international order and unity between socialist and capitalist countries.
The League Of Nations
The League of Nations was established in 1920 in Geneva, Switzerland. It was an attempt to move toward a one-world government, but it failed because the Congress of the United States disagreed with its purpose and would not allow us to join it.
This global experiment came out of the same period of time as World War I. President Woodrow Wilson, and his Secretary of State, Colonel House, who was the champion of one-world thinking of his time worked for its establishment. It probably was a result of a euphoric feeling on the part of the people who had believed in these things for a long time, that the time was right for going public with their ideals. We saw the exact same thing during the Gulf War when President Bush started talking about "The new world order." You may not have heard a president say those words before (some say Kennedy and Nixon did, but if so, it wasn't obvious). President Bush used the expression over 200 times. The need was obvious to them for a world police force. It was very interesting that he suddenly stopped using the expression. Apparently the secret powers said, in essence, "Don't tell the people yet. They aren't quite ready."Pyramid On The One Dollar Bill
The pyramid was placed on the back of our dollar bills during the term of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This is the Masonic pyramid. It was always on our Great Seal, but most people weren't aware of it. It was only after we lost our "real money," Silver Certificates, which were based on actual reserves of Gold and Silver, and were given Federal Reserve Notes instead which were easily inflated, that the pyramid side of the Great Seal was put on the dollar bill. It has 13 courses. The all-seeing eye goes back to Egyptian idolatry of Osiris, and ultimately to Lucifer. It is not the eye of God. In the early orders, there is frequent mention of God, but not much about Jesus. It is only later that one learns who their god is. There are constant references to mythological characters and gods of other religions. President Roosevelt was himself a thirty-third degree Mason and a close associate of the CFR.
The words Novus Ordo Seclorum- "New Order of the Ages" in Latin--appear on the dollar bill. Basically this has the same meaning as "The New World Order." Many feel that the big banking houses of Europe saw the United States as a new world where they purposely sent their representatives so that it could be the kingpin of their future one-world government.The United Nations
The United Nations grew out of the world conditions leading to the start of World War II. By then the Council on Foreign Relations wielded great control of the State Department and of our foreign policy.
Hitler was financed by The Warburgs, The Rothschilds, and others. This demonstrates the practice of actually fomenting war by enabling it, financing both sides of various wars to keep the people in a state of unrest, waiting for a peacemaker and a one-world government.Ten of the original 14 founding council members of the United Nations were also members of the Council on Foreign Relations. Alger Hiss was the Secretary General of the U.N.'s founding conference. He was later exposed as a Soviet spy.Donald McAlvany states that when Hiss and the others formed the U.N., they established the Department of Political and Security Council Affairs, which would have jurisdiction over all future U.N. military operations, in a way that the head of the department will always be a Soviet citizen, military officer, or person designated by the Soviets. He goes on to note that has been faithfully followed for the past 47 years. To keep the United States involved, the land was donated by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.The United Nations is the parent organization of the World Bank Group consisting of these agencies: The International Monetary Fund (IMF), established in 1944, the International Finance Corporation, begun in 1956, and the International Development Association, founded in 1960. According to the Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia, 159 nations held membership in the World Bank in 1990. The United Nations also has a World Court, otherwise known as the International Court of Justice created by the charter of the United Nations in 1945. At present the decisions of the World Court are not always honored, but as the military strength of the U.N. grows, the actions of its court will also become more binding.Once we have surrendered our power to the United Nations, we will have no power to stand for our uniquely American ideals.The Gulf War and Bosnia air strikes are examples of U.N. police work, using U.S. as world cops.The United Nations appears to be ineffective in keeping peace. It may be that they are purposely using wars and rumors of wars, economic instability, and environmental crises to finally bring the world to the place where we will say, "OK, if you have the plan and the power to bring order, we will accept it because things have been so bad." Purposely allowing things to get worse now will help them achieve their objectives at the proper time. At last, hope for all these political, economic and ecological issues will be offered when it is time for a one-world government.In 1995, delegates from more than 170 sovereign nations attended the U.N. 4th World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, China. This was the most anti-family conference in the history of the world. China was a terrible site for any conference on human rights, and especially on the rights of women, because of their discrimination against women. Their policies only allow one child per family, so nearly all baby girls are aborted. One of their topics was: Gender Feminism- a new way of looking at human sexuality. The way some of them see it, we end up with 5 sexes: male, female, homosexual, lesbian, and transsexual - all equally good. You decide what you are. They also promoted safe sex, condoms, and abortion. For the most part the churches were silent.
The Bilderbergers
The Bilderbergers were established in 1954 in The Netherlands. This is a similar organization to the Council on Foreign Relations. It has approximately 100 power-elite members from various nations of NATO.
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands sees that the purpose of the group is to educate people so that they will be willing to relinquish part of their sovereignty to a "supranational body."George McGhee, the former U.S. ambassador to West Germany, revealed that the Treaty of Rome which initiated the Common Market was fostered by the Bilderberg meetings. Here are just a few prominent American Bilderbergers: David and Nelson Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Robert McNamara, and Gerald Ford.
The World Constitution
The World Constitution and Parliament Association was organized in 1959 in Lakewood, Colorado. Three sessions have been held since 1982. At the third, a Provisional World Presidium and World Cabinet were appointed to serve as the equivalent of an executive branch for the emerging world government.
Gary Kah says that The WCPA's plan includes a ten region world government. He notes that this has been taken straight out of the handbook of the Club of Rome.The Club of Rome
The Club of Rome, formed in 1968 in the city of Rome seems to be another level of informal hierarchy for the planning of a one-world government. Their report entitled Regionalized and Adaptive Model of the Global World System, divides the world into ten political/economic regions.
Environmental Issues
In December of 1970 The Environmental Protection Agency began operating. In 1992 alone EPA regulations cost taxpayers over $130 billion (over $1000 per family per year).
An international Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro in June of 1992. This event, sponsored by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, was the largest event of its kind in history. One hundred sixty heads of state, including George Bush, attended this event which some are calling the launching pad for a quantum leap into the New World Order and the New Age." The continuing emphasis on environmental problems such as acid rain and depletion of the ozone layer may be part of the long-range strategy to prepare the people of the globe to accept a universal government.The Trilateral Commission
The Trilateral Commission was founded in 1973 in New York. It deals with issues concerning North America, Western Europe, and Japan. This group was formed by David Rockefeller. Zbigniew Brzezinski was its first director.
George McAlvaney claims that Zbigniew Brzezinski and many other "New Agers" are part of the New World Order movement. He says they bring with them an occultic dimension to views.Dissolution of the USSR
The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 seemed very strange. It almost looked "orchestrated" by one-world leaders when Mikhail Gorbachev suddenly allowed major shifts in soviet policy leading to a bloodless revolution.
Russia is still a major nuclear threat to the world, and recent events in the former Soviet Union indicate a possible return to Communism.The Gulf War
After the Gulf War of 1991, President George Bush, in a nation-wide address said, "This is an historic moment. We have in the past year made great progress in ending the long era of the cold war. We have before us the opportunity to forge for ourselves and for future generations a New World Order, a world where the rule of law, not the law of the jungle, governs the conduct of the nations. When we are successful, and we will be, we have a real chance at the New World Order, an order in which a credible United Nations can use its peacekeeping role to fulfill the promise and vision of the UN. founders."
We saw this speech on live television. It was unbelievable because this was the first time we had heard a high official speak of the future in those terms. Now it seems common enough, but it had really been kept under wraps until that time. It simply wasn't something we ordinarily heard. This is their agenda: to have a global economy, a global politic, and a global religion. They do not know that Antichrist will take over all of that, but this is exactly what the Bible has prophesied; that Antichrist will take over this system once it is in place. It is a sad scenario, but it is great to be on the winning side. As the darkness gets darker, the light gets brighter. We see that in the polarizing of churches. For example, some are in favor of accepting homosexuals, others are opposed to it. Never before in our generation have we seen so many signs of a coming revival. If revival comes to the United States, it will push back this timetable. And that would be great! Most of us would be glad if Jesus came today, but we would also be glad if we could win a few million more to Christ!.European Union
We now have what you might call a United States of Europe. The first step toward the formation of a European superstate was the Benelux Agreement on June 8, 1948. This was a treaty between three very small countries, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Several years later, in 1957, in the city of Rome, and with a document called "The Treaty of Rome," those three countries joined with three other countries, Italy, France, and Germany to make the EEC (European Economic Community) which we call the Common Market. Today the organization is known as the EU (European Union) In 1973 the United Kingdom or England came in along with Ireland and Denmark, making a total of nine nations. In 1981 Greece became the tenth member of the union. And since then Spain, Portugal, Austria, Sweden, and Finland have also joined.
At the beginning of 1998 there are 15 member nations and another ten or more hoping to join the EU. As shown before, the Bible indicates that the number 10 is significant in this union. There are many ways the Lord could bring about a 10 nation (or 10 region) fulfillment of the prophecy. It would be fairly simple for some of the smaller nations to join together. The original three could become one, or The United Kingdom could join with Ireland. One or more of the countries could just drop out. In any case, according to the Bible, once a coalition of ten nations begins, it will spread to the whole earth. It just needs to start with the ten. There is also the intrigue of the individual ruler, who is another horn and another king. He seems to come out of this alliance somewhere and, in intrigue, conquers other nations. This relates to Antichrist, and he could be personally responsible for the pruning down of the 15 nations to 10.There are other theories about the fulfillment of this Revived Roman Empire. Another popular theory involves the United Nations. A decade or so ago, those who study prophecy did not put much emphasis on the United Nations because it seemed that everything they tried was a failure, and no one took their actions seriously. However, since the Gulf War, and the bandying about of the expression "The New World Order," and the fact that the United Nations seems to be the police force of the world at this point in history, many people think that the United Nations could be the fulfillment of the prophecy of a last great empire. In the book "The Great Seal of the United States" there is mention of the Club of Rome, and how in their plans for a one world government they have proposed that through the United Nations, the whole world would be divided into ten economic regions which they call kingdoms. Through these regions the whole world would be controlled economically. This is a very interesting scenario since the number ten is the exact number needed, and the whole purpose of the United Nations, if it ever attains what it wants to do, could be the fulfillment of this prophecy. So there are at least two possible ways that the prophecies of a final empire could be fulfilled. Of course, The Lord could even find other ways of bringing His purposes to pass.Economic Instability in the U.S. and the World
The total debt in America (Federal, municipal, corporate, real estate & consumer debt) in 1980 was about $2 1/2 Trillion. Presently it is over $17 Trillion! This means it has increased more than 600% in 15 years! We have a collapsing economy that is not capable of repaying that debt! This indebtedness exceeds the total real estate and corporate equities of the entire country! We're insolvent. We owe European bankers. The Federal government must borrow over a trillion dollars in the next 12 months - more than a billion dollars per day, just to pay the interest.
When the United States gets into financial trouble it causes world-wide economic instability. We really do have an insurmountable problem, based on the inability to pay back our debt right now. What can we do now? Some are saying we will have hyper inflation- printing more and more money to pay old debts. This is what ruined the economy of Germany before World War II. The effect of this is that people's hard-earned savings will become practically useless. In Germany people had to take a wheelbarrow full of money to the store just to buy a few groceries.Every time you charge interest you create a problem. Money has not been printed to cover that interest, so there isn't enough money to cover all the debts. Picture this simple example. Suppose there was $1000 in real money printed, and half of it was loaned out at 10% interest. The total amount of money now held or due would be $1050, but there would only be $1000 to cover it!. Imagine how this problem is compounded by the constant lending of the same money. Another way of looking at this is that if everyone demanded the money due them there would only be a fraction of that total amount available to meet that demand.The Bible says we are not to charge interest. (Exodus 22:25; 25:36; Nehemiah 5:7-11; Psalm 15:5)If we were strong enough morally, to stand alone, we could conceivably let the rest of the world do whatever crazy things they want to do, but we don't have that luxury, because we owe so much to foreign banks.Our financial weakness also gives rise to trade wars and what might be unfavorable trade agreements, such as NAFTA and GATT. The GATT agreement is a 22,000 page document which includes provision for a World Trade Organization (with no practical means of withdrawal).United Religions
An organization was formed in 1997 which has the express goal of forming a world body of religions patterned after the model of the United Nations. They are in the process of developing a charter and have asked people of all faiths to participate in enrolling other people in the effort, in "visioning," or imagining what the U.R. can be and do, in acting locally to bring this organization about, and in offering written charter elements for consideration.
To help explain the purpose of the movement and its connection to the New World Order, Marcus Braybrooke, evidently one of the chief advocates of the idea, gives this statement:It is said of the United Religions Organization that 'the prime purpose for uniting the world's religions into a global organization is to eliminate violence in the name of religion, race or ethnicity. An organization that makes this its primary task will have plenty of work to do. I hope any new organization will have a distinct focus, whilst recognizing that its long term objectives will only be achieved if it works closely with many other related bodies. Until religions clearly renounce violence, their creative contribution to building a new world order will be ignored. To many people today, religion is a threat rather than a promise and the public perception of religion as a cause of division and hostility is a disincentive to faith. If a United Religions Organization can purge the religions of what distorts and corrupts their witness, it can unblock the channels through which the healing wisdom of the great spiritual traditions will flow into our world.
For the present, they suggest that everyone who is interested in the concept link themselves together by daily recitation of this prayer.
"Supreme One, who has made of one blood all peoples to dwell upon the earth, our thanks and praise for deepening the understanding of those of all races, languages, customs and religions and for teaching us to accept each other in the light of your own all-embracing love. Thank you also for the vision of all the human family united in caring partnership and stewardship for the sake of all life and the earth."Their agenda calls for actually writing the first draft of their charter in June of 1998, and after two years of discussion and refinement, to have representatives sign it on June 26, 2000 while a walking pilgrimage for peace among religions takes place in villages, towns, and cities throughout the world.
The point of this discussion is to show the rapid erosion of international boundaries in our century and the inexorable, and unavoidable pressures forcing world leaders towards an international police force, world-wide economic controls, and a central governmental authority which transcends the old boundaries of what were once called "sovereign" states.International commerce and trade, now largely electronically conducted, ignores national boundaries. A crisis in one stock market quickly affects the rest of the world. Governments are powerless to oversee or control all this international banking and currency flow.More and more we are becoming aware that the evening news is virtually the same on every channel or in every newspaper. The daily news is evidently being carefully written by some master craftsman behind the scenes. Political leaders around the world appear more and more to be mere puppets placed in office by greater powers who are really directing world events. We can't always see the controlling strings but it seems undeniable that they are there. Rapid international travel by millions means that a deadly virus in a remote part of the world can be loose half way round the world in a matter of hours. Terrorists representing not necessarily the interests of foreign nations but their own ideologies have access to, and can easily import deadly chemical and biological weapons unseen and undetected through the porous borders of most nations. Until this century it was unthinkable that we could have great world wars which affected every nation everywhere, or that our nation should fly troops and fight wars half way round the planet on foreign soil, apparently to protect our very survival or our economic well-being and safety.The Apostle John closes his first epistle with the words, "We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one." (1 John 5:19)We ought not to be surprised about an emerging world-wide conspiracy against God, which is surely like that which occurred at the time of the building of the Tower of Babel. What has always existed in the darkness of the present age is now coming into the light and therefore is more and more visible to the discerning eye. The Bible does indeed picture the organized political, commercial, military structure of the present world as controlled by Satan, the "god of this world."The Greek word cosmos, meaning "ornament, decoration, arrangement" gives us our English word "cosmetics." Hence the "world" involves a concern for external appearances more than inner content and quality. As used in the New Testament, the world does not refer to nature, but to the world-system, to society and human culture. The world system is outwardly religious, scientific, cultured and elegant. Inwardly it seethes with national and commercial rivalries. The general characteristics of "the world" as the term is used in the Bible when referring to the fallen "world system" may be described roughly as follows. The world:
- Produces conformity to cultural norms or traditions and stifles individuality.
- Makes use of force, greed, ambition and warfare to accomplish objectives.
- Offers financial reward at the cost of one's soul.
- Cares nothing for the worth of the individual or his uniqueness.
- Promotes myths and illusions which appeal to human vanity and pride
- Diverts attention from spiritual values by appeals to pursue pleasure, pride (vainglory), or to power.
- Encourages permissive sexual, moral and ethical values to encourage self-indulgence.
- Establishes superficiality of life and appeal to immediate pleasure rather than long-term goals.
- Ignores eternal values and invisible realities.
- Offers false philosophies and value systems to support its goals.
- Exalts man, his abilities and his supposed "progress"---e.g. through the myth of social evolution.
- Glosses over and hides suffering, death, poverty the depravity of man, and accountability to God.
- Seeks to unify mankind under an atheistic humanistic or pantheistic banner.
- Emphasizes pluralism and denies Biblical absolutes.
- Teaches human progress and advancement through better education or social welfare
Because of the thorough corruption of the entire world system, God's program does not involve reform of the existing world order (as some Bible teachers have taught) but its total replacement by an entirely new world government under Messiah:
Nebuchadnezzar's great vision of Gentile world powers (Daniel 2) depicted as a great statue concludes with the smashing of that statue and its complete replacement,"In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands--a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. "The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy." (Daniel 2:44,45)
Similar language describes God's judgment of what is later to be called "political Babylon" and "religious Babylon"--the same world system using different symbolism--in Revelation 17 and 18, where the figure is that of a great prostitute depicting mankind's deep seated, centuries-old spiritual adultery against the rightful God of our planet.
RaptureReadyNews: 04 Feb 11
04 Feb 11
Soros: 'The main stumbling block is Israel'
'The main stumbling block is Israel. In reality, Israel has as much to gain from the spread of democracy in the Middle East as the United States has. But Israel is unlikely to recognize its own best interests because the change is too sudden and carries too many risks. And some U.S. supporters of Israel are more rigid and ideological than Israelis themselves. Fortunately, Obama is not beholden to the religious right, which has carried on a veritable vendetta against him.'
Muslim Brotherhood: ‘We are against Zionism’
A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt on Thursday evening repeatedly refused to commit to maintaining the peace treaty with Israel, or even recognizing Israel, if the Brotherhood becomes a player in the future governance of Egypt. Asked on CNN if his organization would support the maintenance of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, Mohamed Morsy, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, dodged a direct answer but said Israel had failed to honor the treaty - Morsy added that the Brotherhood “are not against the Jews. We are against Zionism."
'Wolf Pack' Teen Bullying Case -- Is America Getting Meaner?
Nadin Khoury was brought to the United States ten years ago by his mother to escape the cruelty that accompanied the Liberian Civil War. Last month he was left suspended by his coat from a seven-foot-high fence after being punched, dragged, kicked and beaten in a Philadelphia suburb. His shocked mother said, “One of the reasons I came to the U.S. was (so) that these horrible things wouldn’t happen to us.”
Some churches cancel Super Bowl Sunday services
MILWAUKEE - Having the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl apparently is too much competition for some Milwaukee area churches. The Journal Sentinel reported that rather than going up against the big game, some churches are canceling their Sunday afternoon and evening services this weekend.
Europe faces flak on Arab policy as summit opens
Europe's leaders gather for a summit Friday under attack for a slow response to violence in Egypt and for tolerating authoritarian regimes in their backyard as bulwarks against Islamist extremism. The one-day summit, originally to be a low-key event dedicated to energy, has been hijacked by events on the European Union's volatile southern flank, the uprising in Tunisia and, principally, the crisis in Egypt.
Roaring Food Prices Menace Political and Economic Stability
During the current disorders in the Middle East the emphasis has been on political repression, corruption and a desire for freedom. However, escalating food prices have been a contributing factor to the disturbances and have fueled popular discontent. Now food price levels threaten to exceed the record 2007/08 levels that also triggered violence and demonstrations.
France hosts Palestinian PM in new peace drive
Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad was in Paris Thursday to meet French leaders and international peacebrokers on an official visit aimed at boosting flagging efforts for Palestinian statehood.
World food prices surge to new historic peak
World food prices surged to a new 'historic' peak in January, for the seventh consecutive month, according to the updated UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's Food Price Index, the agency said Thursday.
'UFO' Hovers Over Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock Shrine
A glowing orb filmed hovering over the skyline of Jerusalem has left UFO experts dumbfounded. The circular object was seen descending slowly over the holy city's iconic Dome of the Rock before flickering and shooting skyward like a rocket. Similar clips have been seen before and debunked as hoaxes. But this latest sighting has proved more difficult to dismiss -- as it was recorded from four different perspectives. Some UFO enthusiasts believe the videos -- which have taken the Internet by storm -- are final proof that aliens exist, while others say the unidentified object was the Hebrew god Elohim.
Virginia Attorney General Urges Supreme Court to Hear Health Law Challenge Now
Virginia's attorney general has asked the Supreme Court to fast-track his state's legal challenge to the federal health care overhaul, saying state governments and businesses deserve to know the fate of the law as soon as possible.
Report backs massive Canadian oil sands pipeline
A proposed oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast could substantially reduce U.S. dependency on oil from the Middle East and other regions, according to a report commissioned by the Obama administration. The study suggests the 1,900-mile pipeline, coupled with a reduction in overall U.S. oil demand, "could essentially eliminate Middle East crude imports longer term." The $7 billion project would carry crude oil extracted from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas.
Iran could produce two nuclear bombs within two years, London think tank warns
A report from The International Institute of Strategic Studies said Iran had two routes to making a nuclear weapon from its existing nuclear plants. Iran's nuclear facilities have produced enough low enriched uranium (LEU) to be used to make nuclear weapons. The report echoed Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, who told the Commons on Monday that it was "entirely possible" the Islamic Republic might have developed a nuclear weapon by next year.
Israel Police brace for possible Temple Mount unrest amid Egypt turmoil
Jerusalem police said on Friday that they were increasing the state of preparedness surrounding the Temple Mount in the Old City due to a fear of riots that they suspect may occur as a result of the uprising in Egypt. Police said that entrance to the Temple Mount will be open on Friday only to men 50 years of age and older who have a blue identity card, signifying that they are Israeli citizens, and to women of all ages.
U.S. in Contempt Over Gulf Drill Ban, Judge Rules
The Obama Administration acted in contempt by continuing its deepwater-drilling moratorium after the policy was struck down, a New Orleans judge ruled. Interior Department regulators acted with “determined disregard” by lifting and reinstituting a series of policy changes that restricted offshore drilling, following the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, U.S. District Judge, Martin Feldman of New Orleans ruled yesterday.
Virginia to seek expedited Supreme Court review of suit over health-care law
Virginia will ask that the U.S. Supreme Court immediately review the state's constitutional challenge to the federal health-care overhaul, a rare legal request to bypass appeals and ask for early intervention from the nation's highest court, Attorney General Ken T. Cuccinelli II said Thursday. Cuccinelli (R) said that conflicting court decisions about the law's constitutionality have created sufficient uncertainty about implementation of the sweeping law to justify speeding Supreme Court review.
Yemen protests: 20,000 call for President Saleh to go
More than 20,000 anti-government protesters gathered in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, for a "day of rage" against President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The demonstrators called for a change in government and rejected Mr Saleh's offer to step down in 2013 after more than 30 years in power. Meanwhile, a similar number of his supporters rallied in a central square.
'Day of departure' rally in Egypt
Thousands of Egyptians are taking part in a "day of departure" rally to try to oust President Hosni Mubarak. There is an increased army presence in Cairo's Tahrir Square, after unrest that has led to hundreds of casualties. After Friday prayers were held in a relaxed atmosphere, the crowd started chanting for Mr Mubarak to go.
'US working on plan for immediate Mubarak departure'
The White House was discussing a plan in which Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would resign immediately with Egyptian officials, The New York Times reported Thursday evening. The plan would place newly-appointed Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman in charge of a transitional government with the support of the country's military establishment, according to the report.
Khamenei: Uprising in Egypt sign of 'Islamic awareness'
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak betrayed his people and the uprising against his rule is the appropriate response, Iran's top leader said during Friday prayers in Teheran. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also told worshippers that widening unrest in the Arab world is a sign of "Islamic awareness" in the region.
Security up near Syrian parliament ahead of protests
Plainclothes Syrian security agents were deployed in small groups outside Parliament in the country's capital ahead of planned anti-government demonstrations. Campaigns on Facebook and Twitter have called for a "day of rage" in Damascus on Friday and Saturday. ...Syria's authoritarian President Bashar Assad has resisted calls for political freedoms and jailed critics of his regime.
ClarenceLarkin: Dispensational Truth "The Church" XI
Dispensational Truth
XI
The Church
XI
The Church
For the sake of clearness we will consider the Church under seven heads.
I. What the Church Is NOT.
1. It is not a continuation of the "Jewish Dispensation" under another name.
As we have seen in the chapter on the Jews, the Jews have been shunted to a sidetrack that the "Main Line" may be clear for the passage of the Church. Jesus said-"The Law and the Prophets are until John." If the Scriptures put Moses and Law in one Dispensation and Christ and Grace in another let us respect the Divine order and not join together what God has put asunder.
It is because some religious bodies believe that the Christian Church is but another phase of what they call the "Jewish Church, " that they insist on a "ceremonial ritual" and retain the Priesthood with its altar, vestments, etc., and Temple-like buildings; and call the ordinances of the Christian Church "Sacrifices" and "Sacraments." They also go further and advocate a "State Church, " with the Church as the head, and claim that all the Old Testament promises of riches and glory have been transferred from the Jew to the Church. This we shall see is unscriptural.
2. It is not "The Kingdom."
John the Baptist came preaching that the "Kingdom of Heaven" was "at hand" and Jesus sent out the Twelve and the Seventy to do the same, but the Jewish people rejected their King, and the setting up of the Kingdom was postponed. There cannot be any Kingdom until the "Nobleman Farmer" who has gone into a "far country" to receive the Kingdom returns. Luke 19:11-13.
The Church is never confounded with the Kingdom in the Scriptures. The Church is compared to a "House" (1Tim. 3:15), to a "Temple" (1Cor. 3:16, 1Cor. 3:17), to a "Body" (1Cor. 12:27-3 1Cor. 12:1), but never to a Kingdom Christ is the "HEAD" of His Church (Eph. 1:22; Eph. 4:15; Col. 1:18), but He is never spoken of as its King. The Church's relation to Christ is to be that of a
"Bride." Eph. 5:23-25; Rev. 21:2, 92 10.
II. What the Church IS.
1. It is a "Mystery."
The Kingdom was no mystery. The Old Testament prophets describe it in glowing terms. But there was something that was a Mystery" to them, and that was what was to come in between the "Sufferings and Glory" of Christ. 1Pet. 1:9-11.
That is, between the Cross and the Crown. Jesus intimated that there was to be something that He called the "Church, " but He did not say when it should appear, or what it would be like. Matt. 16:13-15.
The "Mystery of the Church" was first revealed to Paul.
"For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of 'The Dispensation of the Grace of God' which is given me to you-ward; how that by revelation He made known unto me
'THE MYSTERY'
which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that
THE GENTILES
should be fellow heirs and of
THE SAME BODY,
and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel..... according to the
'Eternal Purpose'
which He purposes in Christ Jesus our Lord." Eph. 3:1-3. (See the Chart on "God's Eternal Purpose as to the Earth.")
From this we see that the Church was unknown to the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets.
That the Gentiles were to be saved was no mystery. Rom. 9:24-26. The "Mystery" was, that God was going to form an entirely "NEW THING, " composed of Both Jew and Gentile, to be called
"THE CHURCH."
2. It is a "Called Out" Body.
The word Church comes from the Greek word "ecclesia" which means "Assembly" or a congregation of "called out ones."
But the word is not used exclusively as to the Church. Israel was an "ecclesia" or an Assembly of people "called out" from other peoples and nations, and is called in Acts 7:38, "The Church in the Wilderness."
Any Assembly of worshipers banded together as a church or congregation is an "ecclesia." Matt. 18:17; 1Cor. 14:19, 1Cor. 14:35.
The Guild of Ephesian Craftsmen and a Town Meeting is an "ecclesia, " because distinct or called out from the body of citizens, Acts 19:32, Acts 19:39. The context will show what is meant.
The purpose of this Dispensation is seen in the "Divine Program, " outlined by the Apostle James in his address to the First Church Council (Acts 15:13-15), where he declares that God has visited the Gentiles to
"Take Out of Them
A 'PEOPLE' for His Name."
The purpose of this Dispensation then is not the Conversion of the World, but the "Gathering Out" of the Church.
While Israel is a "called out body" it is a "National Body, " composed exclusively of the descendants of Abraham, but the Church is not a "National Body" for it is not composed of the people of any one nation, , but of individuals from every kindred, people, tribe and nation.
That Israel and the Church are distinct and separate and cannot be blended, is clear from the fact that their "election" was made at different dates, and that the "election" of the Church antedates the "election" of Israel, for Israel was chosen in Abraham from the foundation of the world (Matt. 25:34), while the Church was chosen in HIM (Jesus) BEFORE the Foundation of the World. Eph. 1:4-6.
3. It is the "Body of Christ.',
In Eph. 1:22, 23 we read-
"And hath put all things under His feet, and gave HIM (Jesus), to be the HEAD over all things to the Church which is His BODY."
The context shows (vs. 20), that this "Headship" was not possible until Jesus had been raised from the dead, and seated at the right hand of the Father. The Church, therefore, could not have been in existence before there was a Head, for God does not make headless things. The Church then is the Body of which Christ is the Head
In 1Cor. 12:12, 13 we are told how this "Body" is formed.
"For as the body is one, and hath many members; and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into One Body, whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into ONE SPIRIT."
From this we see that it is the
"Baptism of the Spirit"
that incorporates us into the
"BODY OF CHRIST."
Therefore there could be no Church until the "Day of Pentcost." Acts 1:4-5; Acts 2:1-3.Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians, that deals mainly with th Church, emphasizes this baptism.
"There is One Body (the Church) and One Spirit (the Holy Spirit), even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord (Jesus), One Faith, ONE BAPTISM (of the Holy Spirit), One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." Eph. 4:4-6.
That there should be no mistake as to what Paul meant by the "one body" of 1Cor. 12:13 he says, verse 27, "Now ye are the Body of Christ." And in Rom. 12:5 he reaffirms it-
"So we, being many, are 'One Body in Christ, ' and every one members one of another."
The fact that the Church is a "Body" made up of "living members" shows that it is not an "Organization, " but an "ORGANISM. An "Organization" is made up of distinct units like the doors, window roof, floors, etc., of a building, that may be removed and replaced by new parts without destroying the integrity of the building; but a human body is an organism. You cannot remove an eye, or ear, or arm, or foot, or even a finger nail or tooth, without destroying the integrity of the body and causing a mutilation. So we see from this for Christ to lose One Member of His Body (the Church) is to MUTILATE it. Neither can the Church, as the "Body of Christ" die, for who ever saw a dead body attached to a living head. Christ the Head is ALIVE and can NEVER DIE AGAIN, for He tells us in Rev. 1:18, "I am He that liveth and was dead (on the Cross), and behold, I am ALIVE FOR EVERMORE." It follows therefore that "when Christ, who is our LIFE, shall appear, then Shall We Also Appear With Him in Glory." Col. 3:4. Jesus Christ not only gave His life for the Church, but to the Church.
But why call the Church the "Body of Christ? " What is a body for? It is for the
Manifestation of a Personality.
A person can exist without a physical body, as the Soul exists without a physical body between death and the resurrection of the body, but that existence cannot be made manifest. So the only way Christ, who is now in glory, can manifest Himself to the world is through His Body-THE CHURCH.
The only way the world can see Christ today is in Christian believers. This is probably what Paul meant when he wrote to the Philippians,
"For to me to live Is Christ."
(Phil. 1:21). That is, for Christ to live again in Paul, so that the world might see Christ manifested in Paul.
The Perfect Man.
If Christ is the Head, and the Church is the Body, then the two should make a Perfect Man, for we cannot conceive of a perfect Head like Christ, joined to an imperfect body. This is just what Paul tells us should be.
"And He gave some, Apostles; and some, Prophets; and some, Evangelists; and some, Pastors and Teachers; for the
Perfecting of the Saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the
'Body of Christ; '
till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
PERFECT MAN,
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Eph. 4:11-13.
In 1Cor. 3:9-11, Paul speaks of the Church, under the figure of a Building or Temple, of which Christ is the Chief Comer Stone, "in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an Holy Temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for an HABITATION OF GOD through the Spirit." Eph. 2:19-21.
Here we see that as God's presence was manifested in the Tabernacle in the "Shekinah Glory, " so now in this Dispensation, when Israel, nationally, is out of fellowship with God, and there is no Temple at Jerusalem, the Church, since Pentecost is the visible "Habitation of God" on earth, where He manifests Himself through the Holy Spirit.
John tells us (John 1:14), that the "WORD" (Jesus) Tabernacled among us, and spoke of His Body as a Temple, John 2:19-21, so between God's manifesting Himself in the "Shekinah Glory" of the Temple, and now through His Spirit in the Church, He manifested Himself in the "person" of Jesus, and John tells us that he and Peter and James saw the "Glory of God" in the person of Jesus on the Mt. of Transfiguration. John 1:14.4. It is to be the "Bride of Christ."
At present the Church is a virgin espoused.
Paul said to the Church at Corinth, "I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste VIRGIN to Christ." 2Cor. 11:2.
In Christ's day an espousal was as sacred as a marriage.
The First Adam had his Bride, and the Second or Last Adam must have His Bride. In Gen. 2:18, Gen. 2:21-23, we are told how the First Adam got his Bride.
"The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and with the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made (builded) He a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man."
Now Jesus during His life on the earth as a man, abode alone, but a deep sleep-the sleep of death-fell on Him, and out of His wounded side, as the result of the Atonement He made on the Cross, there came that from which the Church was formed, and to which the Holy Spirit gave life on the Day of Pentecost; so that, as Adam said of Eve-"This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh, " so we can say of the Church-"We are members of His Body, of his Flesh, and of his Bones." Eph. 5:29-31.
The Woman was brought to Adam and presented to him, but Christ will present the Church to Himself, Eph. 5:27. That Eve was married to Adam is indicated in Gen. 2:24 and referred to in Matt. 19:4, Matt. 19:5, and Eph. 5:3 Eph. 5:1.
We have a beautiful illustration of how Christ is gathering out His Bride, the Church, in the story of how Isaac got his bride.
In the Scriptures-
Abraham is a type of God.
Sarah is a type of Israel.
Isaac is a type of Jesus.
Eliezer is a type of the Holy Spirit.
Rebekah is a type of the Church.
Keturah a type of Israel Restored.
When the time came for Isaac to have a wife his father Abraham did not want him to marry a Canaanitish woman, and so he sent his servant Eliezer over to Padan Aram to get one for him from among Abraham's kindred. When Eliezer reached Padan Aram he was divinely directed to the home of Laban, a grandnephew of Abraham, whose sister Rebekah God had chosen to be the wife of Isaac. Gen. 24:12-14. Rebekah consented to become the wife of a man she had never seen solely on the representations of Eliezer, and she departed with him, leaving her kinsfolk behind. As the caravan neared the home of Abraham we read that "Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the Eventide" and saw the camels of his father returning, and Rebekah
alighted from off her camel and was introduced by Eliezer to Isaac and she became his wife.
So God has sent the Holy Spirit into this world in this Dispensation to get a wife for His Son Jesus, and when the full number of the Church is complete, the Holy Spirit will take her back with him to the Father's home, and Jesus, whose Bride she is to be, will come out into the midair at the "Eventide" of this Dispensation to meet her. 1Thes. 4:15-17.
Some hold that because Isaac's bride was taken from his own kin, that, therefore, to complete the type, Jesus' Bride must be Israel, His own kin, and not the Church composed mainly of Gentiles. But we must not forget that while Abraham was the first Hebrew his kin were Gentiles. Abraham was not, strictly speaking, a Jew, for the Jews are the descendants of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob or Israel. So we see that Rebekah was not an Israelite, but a Gentile, so the type holds good.
We must not forget that there are "Two Brides" mentioned in the Scriptures. One in the Old Testament, and the other in the Now Testament. The one in the Old Testament is Israel, the Bride of Jehovah; the one in the New Testament is the Church, the Bride of Christ. Of Israel it is said-"Thy Maker is thine husband." Isa. 54:5-7. Because of her Whoredoms, Israel is a cast off wife, but God, her husband, promises to take her back when she ceases from her adulteries. Jer. 3:1-3; Ez. 16:1-3; Hosea 2:1-3, Hosea 3:1-3. Sarah is a type of Israel before her fall, and Keturah of Israel when God shall take her back again. She will not be taken back as a Virgin, but as a Wife. But it is a VIRGIN that the Lamb (Christ) is to marry. So the Wife (Israel) of the Old Testament cannot be the Bride (Virgin) of the New Testament.
Again the "Wife" (Israel) is to reside in the earthly Jerusalem during the Millennium, while the "Bride" (the Church) will reside in the New Jerusalem. These distinctions make it clear that Israel cannot be the "Bride" of Christ.
As to the Church being both the "Body" and "Bride" of Christ, we have the type of Eve who was of the "body" of Adam before she was his "bride."
III. The ORIGIN of the Church.
While, as we have seen, the Church had its origin in the mind of God
"Before the Foundation of the World, " yet it did not exist until-after Christ's Ascension.
In the summer of the third year of Christ's ministry, when Israel had practically rejected Him and He was entering the "Shadow of the Cross, " knowing that the offer of the Kingdom would soon be withdrawn, and the Church be set up, and wishing to prepare His Disciples for what was coming, He took them over into Cesarea Philippi, and there asked the question-"Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? " Matt. 16:13-15. After they had told Him what others said of Him, He said to them-"But whom say Ye that I am? " And Simon Peter answered and said-"Thou Art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." And Jesus answered and said unto Peter-"Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my Church; and the 'Gates of Hell' (Hades) shall not prevail against it." Notice that there is here a little play upon words. It is from the Greek word "petros" that the word Peter is taken. "Petros" in the Greek means a stone, the small fragment of a rock, while the Greek word "Petra" means a rock, or large mass of stone. It is significant that in the Greek the word "Petrog" is masculine, while the word "Petra" is feminine. The change of gender then is not without significance, as if it would distinguish Peter the man, from his confession that
"Christ Was the Son of God, "
and that upon that confession, or upon Christ-THE ROCK, Christ would build His Church. That the "Rock" means Christ Himself is in harmony with other scriptures that speak of Him as a "Rock." That Peter understood that Christ meant that He Himself was the "Rock" is evident from Peter's address in Acts 4:5-7, where he says of Christ
"This Is the STONE
which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner"-that is the Corner Stone of the Building.
Peter reaffirms this in his First Epistle (1Pet. 2:3-5), and thus disclaims that he was the "rock" Christ meant.
The Apostle Paul also declares that by the "Rock" Christ is meant. Writing to the Corinthians he says-
"Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is-Jesus Christ." 1Cor. 3:11.
In Eph. 2:20-22, Paul declares of the Church that it is being built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself Being the CHIEF Comer Stone, "
in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into a
HOLY TEMPLE
in the Lord; in whom we also are builded together for an
Habitation of God
through the Spirit.
There could be no foundation for the Church until Christ's death, resurrection and ascension. Then Christ became the Rock and upon Him the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets (New Testament Prophets) was laid, and the first layer of the superstructure of 3000 "Living Stones" was laid on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41), and a few days later the second layer of 5000 was added (Acts 4:4), and so on, down the centuries, the Church has been growing as a "Holy Temple" for the "Habitation of God, " through the Spirit. The Church then had its origin at Pentecost. If Peter was the "rock" upon which the Church was to be built, it seems reasonable that the "Mystery of the Church" should have been revealed to him instead of to Paul.
By the "Gates of Hell" is meant the "Gates of Hades" or the "Underworld." The "Underworld" is composed of two sections with an "Impassible Gulf" between. See the chapter and chart on the "Spirit World." One of the sections was called "Paradise, " the other "Hell." Luke 16:19-21. To the "Paradise" section Jesus went to meet the penitent thief after His death on the Cross, and when He came back from Paradise He took all the "captives" that Death had locked up there, with Him, and locked up that compartment of the Underworld, and HE now has the Keys of "Death and Hades, " and so the "Gates of Hell" shall not prevail against the Church. The Roman Catholic Church claims that Peter was the "Rock" on which the Church was to be built, and as Christ promised to Peter the "Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven" that therefore the Pope and his successors can unlock the "Gates of Purgatory." But Peter never did have, and never will have the "Keys of Hades, " for the Keys of the "Kingdom of Heaven" are not the "Keys of Hades." The "Keys of Hades" are in the hand of Peter's MASTER, who said to the beloved John on the Isle of Patmos-
"Fear not; I am the First and the Last; I am He that liveth and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forever more,
Amen, and have the 'Keys' of HELL (Hades), and of DEATH." Rev. 1:17, Rev. 1:18.
This at one stroke destroys the claim of Rome.
As we have seen that the Church is not the Kingdom, the Keys of the "Kingdom of Heaven" therefore cannot be the Keys of the Church. The "Kingdom of Heaven" is the "Mystery Form" of the Kingdom during the absence of the King, and is broader than the Church, and takes in the World, particularly that part known as Christendom. This is seen in the "Kingdom of Heaven Parables" of Matt. 13. The Keys of the "Kingdom of Heaven" that were given to Peter were the "Keys" by which he opened the way into the "Kingdom of Heaven" to the Jews at Pentecost, Acts 2:14-16, and later to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius at Caesarea. Acts 10:34-36.
Who Belong to the Church?
If the Church had its origin at Pentecost, and ends at the Second Coming of Christ for His saints at the "Rapture, " who belong to the Church, and therefore constitute the "Bride? " Necessarily only those who are saved between those two events. The Old Testament saints could not belong to the Church for it did not then exist. At every wedding that is a public function there are others present beside the Bridegroom and the Bride. There is the groomsman, the bridesmaids, the ushers, flower girls, relatives and invited guests.
In Rev. 19:9 we read-
"Blessed are they which are called unto the "Marriage Supper' of the Lamb."
Now the "Bride" would not be "called" (invited), she has a place there of her own right. The "called" are the "Guests." And in the Parable of the "Marriage of the King's Son" (Matt. 22:1-3), those who were "bidden to the Wedding" were "Guests" not the Bride. John the Baptist, who stands for the Old Jewish Dispensation, claimed to be only the "Friend of the Bridegroom." John 3:29.
At the Rapture all the "Dead in Christ" will rise, and that includes all the Old Testament Saints, and there will be present at the
Marriage of the Lamb
the "Blood Washed Multitude" that come out of the "Tribulation, " after the Church is caught out. These will all be "Blessed" but they will not be a part of the Bride. Angels will be spectators of the scene, but they cannot be "Guests, " that honor is reserved for those who have been redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb.
IV. The "MISSION" Of The Church.
As we have seen the Church is not an "Organization" but an "Organism.'.' Therefore it is not a "Social Club, " organized and supported solely for the benefit of its members. It is not a "Place of Amusement" to pander to the carnal nature of man. It is not a "House of Merchandise" for the sale of "Indulgences, " or other commodities, whereby the money of the ungodly can be secured to save the penurious church member a little self sacrifice. Neither is it a "Reform Bureau" to save the "bodies" of men. The reformation of men is very commendable, as are all forms of "Social Service, " but that is not the work or mission of the Church. The world was just as full, if not fuller, of the evils that afflict society today, in the days of Christ, but He never, nor did the Apostles, organize any reform agencies. He knew that the source of all the evils in the world is SIN, and the only way to eradicate sin is to Regenerate the Human Heart, and so He gave to the world The Gospel, and the Mission of the Church is to carry that Gospel to the Whole World. Mark 16:15. The Gospel is not a system of "Ethics, " or a "Code of Morals, " it is a
Proclamation of Salvation.
"I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ
For It Is
THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION
To Every One That Believeth
To The Jew FIRST
And Also To The Greek (Gentile)."
Rom. 1:16.
The purpose of the Gospel in this Dispensation is not to Save Society, but to save the Individual Members that are to compose the "Body of Christ"-THE CHURCH.
The great mistake the Church has made is in appropriating to herself, in this Dispensation, the promises of earthly conquest and glory which belong exclusively to Israel in the Millennial, or "Kingdom Age." As soon as the Church enters into an "Alliance With the World, " and seeks the help of Parliaments, Congresses, Legislatures, Federations and Reform Societies, largely made up of ungodly men and women, she loses her spiritual power and becomes helpless as a redeeming force.
V. The "DESTINY" Of The Church.
The Church is to be "caught out." The "event" will be twofold.
1. Of the Dead in Christ.
2. Of the Living Saints.
They are to be caught up simultaneously to meet the Lord in the air
"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel (Michael), 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." 1Thes. 4:16, 1Thes. 4:17.
The "taking up" of Enoch in the days before the Flood (Gen. 5: 24), and of Elijah in the days of the kings of Israel (2Kings 2:11), are types of the "Translation" of the Saints.
The appearance of Moses and Elijah on the Mt. of Transfiguration with Christ (Luke 9:28-30), is a type of the
"Rapture of the Church."
It pictures the meeting of Christ and the Church in the air. Moses is a type of the "Resurrected Saints, " and Elijah of the "Translated Saints."
Jesus revealed to Martha, before He raised Lazarus, what should happen at the First Resurrection. He said to her-
"I am the 'Resurrection and Life, ' he that believeth in Me, though he were dead yet shall he live: (First Resurrection Saints); and whosoever LIVETH, (is alive when I come back) and believeth in Me shall NEVER DIE." John 11:25, 26.
Note how exactly this harmonizes with Paul's statement in 1Thes. 4:16, 1Thes. 4:17. When Jesus comes back He will be the "Resurrection" to the "Dead in Christ, " and the "Life" to those who are "Living" and Believe In Him.
In his immortal chapter on the Resurrection, 1Cor. 15:1-3, after describing the "order" of the Resurrection (verses 22-24), Paul proceeds to describe what shall happen to the "living saints."
"Behold, I show 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, and we shall be changed. For this Corruptible (the dead in Christ) must put on incorruption, and this mortal (the living saints) must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY.
O DEATH, WHERE IS THY STING?
O GRAVE, WHERE IS THY VICTORY? "
1Cor. 15:51-53.
The last two lines refer only to those who are "changed without dying, " for it is only those who will not die who can shout-
"O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?
"O Grave, Where Is Thy Victory? "
This passage also corresponds with 1Thes. 4:16, 1Thes. 4:17, and declares that the "Resurrection" and "Translation" of the Saints shall be at the same time, and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and agrees with Christ's statement as to its "suddenness." "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man Be." Matt. 24:27.
In 2Cor. 5:1-3, Paul expresses his longing, and the longing of the Saints, to be among those who should not be "unclothed" by Death, but who should be "clothed upon" by Immortality "without dying."
"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle, (the body), were dissolved, (that is die), we have a building of God, an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For in this (body) we groan, earnestly desiring to be 'clothed upon' with our house which is from heaven: if so be that being 'clothed' we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle (the body) do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be 'unclothed' (by death), but 'clothed upon' (by immortality), that 'mortality' might be "swallowed up of life."In his letter to the Philippians, while Paul hopes that-"If by any means he may attain unto The (out from among the dead) Resurrection, yet he pressed toward the mark for the 'prize' of the High (out and up) Calling of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:11-13.
That is, while Paul would esteem it a great thing to "rise from the dead" at the First Resurrection, and be "caught up" with those who should be "changed, " yet he would esteem it a "prize" if he could be caught up "without dying, " that is, live until Jesus came back.
The Time of Rapture.
Some claim that "all" the Church are to pass through the Tribulation; others that "all" the Church are to be caught out before the Tribulation, while some claim that only the "Waiting" and "Watching" Saints shall be caught out before the Tribulation, and that the rest must pass through it. The. latter base their claim on Heb. 9:28, where it says-"Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." While this might apply to the living when He appears, it certainly cannot apply to the dead. There are tens and hundreds of thousands who "fell asleep in Jesus" who never heard of the Premillennial Coming of the Lord, or at least never grasped its meaning, and who therefore never "watched" and "waited" and "looked" for His Appearing. They surely are "In Christ"; and the "Dead in Christ" are to rise at the Rapture. Paul does not say in 1Thes. 4:16, 1Thes. 4:17, that it will be the "dead" who "watched" and "waited" and "looked, " and those who are "alive" and "watch" and "wait" and "look" for His Appearing that shall be "caught out, " but the dead "In Christ, " and we who "Are Alive And Remain."
The order of the Resurrections is-"Christ the 'First Fruits, ' afterward they that 'are Christ's at His Coming." Paul says-"Behold, I show you a Mystery: we shall not all 'sleep, ' but we shall ALL Be Changed." 1Cor. 15:51.
Then there is another fact that we must not forget, and that is, the Unity of the Church.
"For as the Body Is One, and hath many members, and ALL the Members Of That One Body, Being Many ARE ONE BODY; so also is Christ. For by One Spirit are we ALL Baptized Into One Body." 1Cor. 12:12, 1Cor. 12:13.
All then who have been "born again" (John 3:3-5) are part of Christ's "Body, " and we cannot conceive of Christ's "Body" being divided; part of it remaining "asleep" in the grave, and part of it "raised in glory"; part of it left to pass through the Tribulation, and part of it "changed" and caught up to meet Him in the air.
If "all" the Church are to pass through the Tribulation, then instead of waiting and watching "for the Lord, " we should be waiting and watching "for the Tribulation " which is contrary to the teaching of Christ Himself. Matt. 24:42-4.
The Tribulation is not for the perfecting "of the Saints." It has nothing to do with the Church. It is the time of "Jacob's Trouble" (Jer. 30:7), and is the "Judgment of Israel, " and it is God's purpose to keep the Church Out Of It. Rev. 2:10. The Book of Revelation is written in chronological order. After the fourth chapter the Church is seen no more upon the earth until she appears in the nineteenth chapter coming with the Bridegroom "from" Heaven. The entire time between these two chapters is filled with appalling judgments that fall upon those that "dwell on the earth, " and as the Church is not of the earth, but is supposed to "sit together in, "Heavenly Places" in Christ Jesus, " (Eph. 2:6), she will not be among those who "dwell on the earth" in those days.
Rapture And Revelation.
The confusion is largely due to the fact that students of Prophetic Truth do not distinguish between Christ's coming "for" His Saints, and "with" His Saints. The former is called the "Rapture" the latter the "Revelation." Between the two there is an interval of at least seven years, during which the Church is "judged, " and the "Marriage of the Lamb" takes place in the heavenlies, and on the earth Antichrist manifests himself and the Tribulation runs its course.
Numerous passages in scripture speak of Christ coming "with" His Saints (Zech. 14:5, Col. 3:4, 1Thes. 3:13, 1Thes. 4:14, Jude 14), but it is evident that they cannot come "with" Him, if they had not been previously caught out "to" Him. All such passages refer therefore to the "Revelation" and not the "Rapture."
The typical teaching of the Scriptures demand that the Church be caught out "before" the Tribulation. Joseph was a type of Christ and he was espoused to, and married Asenath, a Gentile bride, during the time of his "rejection by his brethren, " and "before the famine, " which typified the Tribulation, because it was the time of "Judgment of his Brethren." This is the time of Christ's rejection by "His Brethren"-the Jews, and to complete the type He must get His Bride the church, "before" the Tribulation. Moses, who is also a type of Christ, got his bride, and she a Gentile, "after" his rejection by his brethren, and "before" they passed through the Tribulation under Pharoah. Ex. 2:23-25.
Enoch, a type of the "Translation Saints, " was caught out "before" the Flood, and the Flood is a type of the Tribulation, and Noah and his family of the "Jewish Remnant" or 144, 000 sealed ones of Rev. 7:1-3, who will be preserved through the Tribulation.
The Rapture.
The "Rapture" will be the most startling "event" of this Age and Dispensation. As it is to occur in the "twinkling of an eye" and all over the earth at the same time, that part of the world that is not asleep will witness the event. As to the "Shout of the Lord, " the "Voice of the Archangel, " and the "Trump of God" we do not know whether their sound will be heard and distinguished by others than the "dead in Christ" and the "living saints." We know that one day the Father spoke to Christ in a voice that He understood, but the people who stood by mistook it for "thunder." John 12:28, John 12:29. When the Lord appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus and spoke to him, the men that journeyed with him stood speechless, "hearing a voice, " but seeing no man, and not understanding what was said. Acts 9:3-5. We know, however, that the "dead in Christ" will hear the sound, for it will be "intensely penetrating." There will be no graves so deep, no catacombs so rock covered, no pyramids or mausoleums so thick, but what the sound shall reach their depths and the "dead in Christ" shall hear the cry "awake ye sleeping saints and arise from the dead, it is MORNING, the morning of the FIRST RESURRECTION."
The Voice Of The Archangel.
The statement in Dan. 12:11 2 that Michael (the Great Prince) will be busy helping Daniel's People (the Jews), at the time of the Second Coming of Christ, and that there will be an "out from among the dead resurrection" at that time; and the fact that Michael the Archangel contended with the Devil about the dead body of Moses when it was raised from the dead, as we are told in Jude 9, makes it clear that Michael the Archangel will have a part to play in the resurrection of the dead at the Rapture. The "voice" of the Archangel then will be the "voice" of Michael, for he is the only Archangel mentioned in the Scriptures.
As Satan tried to prevent the resurrection of the body of Moses, and as he will not be cast out of the Heavenlies until "after" the First Resurrection, the inference is that he will try to prevent the resurrection of the "dead in Christ, " and that he will be opposed by Michael at the head of "Armies of Heaven, " and that the "voice of the Archangel" refers to his commands to the Heavenly Army.
The Trump Of God.
What is meant by the "Trump of God" is not so clear. That there is a Trumpet to sound at the "first" Resurrection is certain, for Paul mentions it in his discourse on the Resurrection in 1 Cor. 1S: 52, and calls it the "Last Trump." Some hold that Paul refers to the last of the "Seven Trumpets" mentioned in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 8:1, Rev. 8:2, Rev. 8:6; Rev. 10:7), and as that does not sound until the "Middle of the Week, " that therefore the Church is not caught out until the "Middle of the Week."
But as the Church is to be caught out at the "beginning" of the Week this can not be true. What then is meant by the "Last Trump? "
The Trumpet is a military instrument. It was used in the Camp of Israel to call the Assembly together. The First Trumpet called them to arise and be ready to depart, the Second (last) Trumpet was the signal to march. When God descended upon Mt. Sinai the people were assembled at the sound of the "Trumpet of God." Ex. 19:9-11, Ex. 19:16-18. And when God was ready to speak to the people it sounded the second time (verse 19). It has been suggested that the descent of God to Mt. Sinai is a type of the "Descent of the Lord" into the Air to meet His Church, and that at the sounding of the First Trumpet, the "dead in Christ" will be raised, and at the sounding of the Second (last) Trumpet, the "living Saints" will be changed and together with the risen dead ascend to meet the Lord. The probability of this is seen in the fact that the "Last Trump" is connected with the "changing" of the living Saints, rather than with the resurrection of the dead. 1Cor. 15:51-52.
We know that the "Elect of Israel" are to be gathered back to their own land with a "great sound of a trumpet." Matt. 24:30, Matt. 24:31. This will occur at the
"Feast of Trumpets"
(the Jewish New Year) at the close of the Tribulation Period. The "Feast of Trumpets" was associated with the "Feast of Tabernacles" and occurred in the fall of the year, and as Jesus was crucified at the time of the "Passover Feast, " and the Holy Spirit was given at the time of the "Feast of Pentecost, " it has been suggested, that as Jesus will reveal Himself to His brethren, the Jews, at the "Feast of Tabernacles, " a type of Israel's rest in the Millennial Land, that He will call out His Church with the "sound of a Trumpet" at the "Feast of Trumpets" seven years before the "Elect of Israel" are called out. This however is mere speculation.
If the sainted dead shall slip out of their sepulchres without disturbing them, as Christ arose and left the tomb without breaking the seal, the angel rolling away the stone simply to show that the tomb was empty, the First Resurrection will be secret and probably unknown to the world, but it will not be so with the "Living Saints" who are translated.
If it is night on our side of the earth when the Rapture occurs, the community will wake up in the morning to find all the real Christians gone, disappeared in the night. The world will awake to the fact that the Bible is true, and the much despised doctrine of the Premillennial Coming of the Lord to gather out His Saints is no fanciful interpretation of Scripture.
"I tell you, in that night there shall be two men (omit men) in one bed: the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women (omit women) shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken and the other left. Two men (omit men) shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left." Luke 17:34-36.
Here we have the "rotundity" of the Earth taught by Christ before it was demonstrated by Columbus. Two in one bed, that means night; two grinding grain for the morning or evening meal, that means sunrise or sunset; two in the field, that means midday, and this is another proof that when the Rapture occurs it will be instantaneous, in the "twinkling of an eye, " and shall girdle the earth like lightning.
If it be day with us when the Rapture occurs the event will be "startling." As it was in the days of Noah (Matt. 24:36-38), the people will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, buying and selling, planting and building. If it be at a pleasant time of the year, the boats, and cars, and parks, will be filled with pleasure seekers. If it be in the midst of the week and during the business hours of the day, the shops and stores and mills will be filled with toilers and shoppers, and the streets of the cities lined with men-and women and children on pleasure and business bent. Suddenly a noise from heaven will be heard. To the vast majority it will be but a startling "sound, " but to many it will be the
"Voice Of The Lord."
When the people shall recover from their affrighted condition they will discover that a great many people are missing, and that the missing ones were the best people in the community.
Confusion for a time will reign. The working force in the stores, banking institutions, manufacturing plants, and other places of business will find their force depleted by the loss of faithful employees. Street car lines and other means of transportation will be blocked owing to a shortage of men. At first, the whole thing will be a Mystery, until some one who has heard of the Doctrine of the "Rapture" explains the situation. The surprise will be that so many professing Christians are left behind, among them many ministers of the Gospel, while many who were not known to be Christian will be missing.
For a few days the excitement will be intense. Then the people will settle down to the inevitable. With the exception of a few who will repent and turn to God, the mass of the people will become more hardened and wicked. As the Holy Spirit will have gone back with the "Raptured Ones, " and the Saints, the "salt" of the earth, been taken out, there will be nothing to prevent the rapid degeneration and "Moral Putrefaction" of those who are "left, " and sin and iniquity and all manner of crime and worldliness will increase and pave the way for the manifestation of Antichrist, under whose administration the world will rapidly ripen for judgment.
VI. The "Judgment" of the Church.
After the Church has been taken out of the World it is to be "judged." Not for sin, but for works, at the "Judgment Seat of Christ." See judgment No. 2, in the Chapter on "The judgments, " and on the Chart of "The Resurrections and judgments."
VII. The "MARRIAGE" Of The Church.
The "Marriage" of the Church is prophetically- referred to by Jesus in the Parable of the "Marriage of the King's Son" (Matt. 22:1-3), and is consummated in Rev. 19:7-9.
"Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him; for the
'Marriage of the Lamb'
is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. for the fine linen is the righteousness of Saints. And he saith unto me, write, Blessed are they which are called unto the MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB."
Notice that it does not say the "Marriage of the Bride, " but the "Marriage of the LAMB." That grand event will be not so much the consummation of the hopes of the Bride, as it will be the consummation of the plan of God for His Son, arranged for before the foundation of the World. Eph. 1:4. The "Marriage of the Lamb" is the consummation of the joy of Christ as a MAN. It would not have been possible if Christ had not been born in the flesh. Otherwise it would have been the union of "dissimilar natures" for the "Bride" is of "human origin." This is why Jesus took His "human nature" back with Him to Heaven, and today we have in Heaven the MAN Christ Jesus. 1Tim. 2:5.
While the "Bride" was chosen for Christ "before the foundation of the world, " the "espousal" could not take place until Christ assumed humanity and ascended to Heaven as the Man Christ Jesus. There have been many long betrothals but Christ's has been the longest on record. He has been waiting for His Bride nearly 1900 years, but He will not have to wait much longer. Soon Heaven shall resound with the cry-
"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him, for the Marriage of the Lamb is Come." Rev. 19:7.
There have been many royal weddings of international interest, where the invited guests and spectators witnessed a spectacle magnificent in its appointments, and rejoiced in a union that bound together different nations. But the wedding of the Lamb and His Bride the Church will surpass them all, for it shall unite Heaven and Earth in a bond that shall never be broken, for what God (the Father) shall join together, no man shall ever put asunder, and that union no divorce shall ever break.
The Bride shall be "arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of Saints." Rev. 19:7, Rev. 19:8. The word "righteousness" is plural, and should read "righteousnesses." Not the imputed righteousness of Christ, but the "righteous acts and works" of the saints themselves, that shall remain after they have passed through the "fiery test" of the "Judgment for Works" at the "Judgment Seat of Christ." 1Cor. 3:11-13. What a contrast there will be between the purple and scarlet colored dress, and jewel bedecked person, of the "Harlot Wife" of Antichrist (Rev. 17:3, Rev. 17:4), and the spotless white robe of fine linen of the Bride of the Lamb.
After the Marriage, the Heavenly Bridegroom, having received His Kingdom, will return to this earth where He bled and died, and from whence He got His Bride, and the Lord God will give unto Him the "Throne of David, " and He shall reign on the earth for a Thousand Years." What a sweet and delightful "Honey-Moon" that will be. But it will end, not for the Bridegroom and the Bride, but for the earth, by their return to the Father's House. Then after the earth has had its "Baptism of Fire, " they will return with the descent of the "Holy City" to abide on the New Earth forever. See the chart on "The Church."
HE IS COMING He is coming, coming for us;
Soon we'll see His light afar,
On the dark horizon rising,
As the Bright and Morning- Star,
Cheering many a waking watcher,
As the star whose kindly ray
Heralds the approaching morning
Just before the break of day.
Oh! what joy, as night hangs round us,
'Tis to think of morning's ray;
Sweet to know He's coming for us,
Just before the break of day.He is coming, coming for us;
Soon we'll hear His voice on high;
Dead and living, rising, changing,
In the twinkling of an eye
Shall be caught up altogether,
For the meeting in the air;
With a shout the Lord, descending,
Shall Himself await us there.
Oh! what joy that great foregathering,
Trusted meeting in the air;
Sweet to know He's coming for us,
Calling us to join Him there.He is coming as the Bridegroom,
Coming to unfold at last
The great secret of His purpose,
Mystery of ages past.
And the Bride, to her is granted
In His beauty now to shine,
As in rapture she exclaimeth,
"I am His and He is mines'
Oh! what joy that marriage union,
Mystery of love divine;
Sweet to sing in all its fulness,
"I am His and He is mine."
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