Edition 12. September 26th 2009

In this edition:

●The Glory which shall be revealed

●The Gory to be revealed in believers

●The Glory to be revealed in the creation itself

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The Glory which shall be revealed

In the late 1600s George Frederic Handel composed one of the most powerful pieces of music ever written and titled it "The Messiah" it contains an incredible track "And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed" He took the title from Isaiah 40:5

Romans 8:18-21 "For I consider that the sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, for the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God...for the creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God"

Introduction:

In this edition I would like to discuss perhaps the most exciting prophetic subject of all. It is our being changed in a moment in a twinkling of an eye into people of eternal glory...and it's not far off.

These words should bring you hope, encouragement, purpose and reason for living, meaning to life and inspire you to move on, forward with our King of Great Glory!

The greatest regret of all time will be when many people one day find out about these things and how close they were and yet they rejected it all in favour of rebellion to God. The world today including many believers, has no peace, because they are rebels in the face of fast approaching GLORY.

The glory to come:

Firstly, I don't have much to say about the glory of God. It is simply indescribable. Language can't do it justice and the human mind is far too limited to imagine it.

All human beings will get a resurrection body, but only true believers will be able to share Gods glory with Him. All unbelievers will be eternally imprisoned in hell. The bottom line is...whose neighbourhood are you going to hang out in forever?

●The glory to be revealed in believers:

You may wonder why I've chosen those ugly guys in the image below to represent believers. Well, it's simply because salvation gets offered to all. The completion of our salvation transforms us physically into something glorious, wonderful, spectacular, beautiful and new.

2 Corinthians 4:17 "For our light affliction which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

It's often good to set your sights into the future, if only for a short while. It gives you perspective. A little while ago I was in one of the most amazing deserts on this earth...the Namib on the west coast of Africa. (There are some pictures of it in the "Gods Garden" section. One night I lay for many hours in the dunes just looking at the night sky and imagining the glory that is to come. It was an incredible experience!

1Corintians 15:40-44 "There is one glory of the sun and another of the moon and of the stars, all differ from one another, so also is the resurrection of the dead"

This verse (above) makes it very clear that we will all differ from each other in the resurrection. Some will scrape into a Godly eternity by the skin of their teeth, others will have a reward state that will be spectacular. Our rewards which will set us apart from each other for ever are described as wood, hay, stubble or gold, silver, precious stones, which are all hit by the fire of Gods judgement. The first three will leave a puff of smoke while the others are refined by fire and will live on.

Yes of course we will all be equal in terms of salvation, but what you and I do with our lives now in respect to Gods plan for us, will determine our eternal glory!!

One of the rewards, that never ceases to amaze me is the 'crown of righteousness' given only to those that "look for His coming"...Don't you dare ever tell me not to get into this end time stuff!! Actually, I have nothing but the utmost contempt for all those pastor / teachers out there who are in love with the ways of the world and anti -eschatology!

Philippians: 3:21 "He will transform our lowly body, that it may conformed to His glorious body..."

The above verse indicates that the sort of body we will be given will be similar to that of our Messiah after His resurrection. How exciting is that! He could travel at the speed of thought, walk through walls, appear here or there. You could touch Him, He could eat and on top of this we will have full, complete knowledge of all things just like Him. Ahhhhh the pain in my back, knee and neck will be gone forever!

We will be able to be and exist in the dimensions of the physical as well as the spiritual. We'll be able to transcend the dimensions of time and space.

The most outrageous, farfetched and stretched science fiction will have nothing on this, nothing at all. This puts that to shame in comparison.

Colossians 3:4 "When Christ who is our life appears, then we also will appear with Him in glory". Bring it on, bring it on!

●The glory to be revealed in Israel:

Isaiah 35:1-5 "The desert shall bloom as a rose...the eyes of the blind shall be opened"

It's interesting that the land of Israel is one of the most successful from an agricultural point of view and yet it is water-scarce and full of rocks! Many people (including myself) would say that something supernatural is on the go. It's just the start though.

Isaiah 62:2-4 "The Gentiles shall see your righteousness and kings your glory and you will be called by a new name... You will also be a crown of glory in the hand of our Lord. You shall no longer be termed forsaken"

Unfortunately the above verse will come about after much suffering, but it's coming. In fact we are now in the early stages of the new birth of Jews.

Isaiah 44:23 "Sing O heavens for the Lord has done it...break forth into singing you mountains, forest and every tree. For He has redeemed Jacob and glorified Himself in Israel."

The above verse is yet future in its complete fulfilment, but we are in the fore-runner period now...exciting times indeed!

●The glory to be revealed in nature:

Romans 8:21,22 "The creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God...The whole of the creation groans with birth pangs of labour together until now"

I am a mad bushman at heart and have spent much time in some of the most beautiful wild places on this earth. But there is always a sense in me that this was not the way it was supposed to be. I can only imagine what the natural world will be like after the curse on nature is lifted. It was lifted from a positional point of view on the cross, but nature's full salvation, like ours, still lies ahead.

Isaiah 51:3 "The wilderness shall be like Eden"

The earth will be restored to the way it was in Eden, before the fall of man. Adam's fall brought down all creation with it. The millennium period will see all of this completed.

Isaiah 11:6-9 "The wolf shall lie down with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the lion together and a young child shall lead them...for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

On many occasions I've watched a lion tear into its prey and devour the poor animal. It's quite a sight. This is normal now, but according to the verse above, a big change is coming!

Isaiah 32:15 "The wilderness becomes a fruitful field, then justice will dwell in the wilderness."

I have a passionate hatred for cruelty to animals or injustice on any level to the indefensible. Thank God for the above verse!

Job 39:8 "The range of the mountains is His pasture and He searches after every green thing"

God is green, declares the above verse! Yes I know the green movement is new age and filled with all sorts of evil, but there is a truth in the midst of 'green'!  Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater!

Revelation 22:3 "And there shall be no more curse..."

The cow dung choice:

If I were to slap you in the face with a hand full of hot steaming cow dung I don't think you'd be too happy! The verse below compares the things of the world with cow dung (original word). This is the desire of the world...pure cow dung in comparison to the coming glory!

Philippians 3:8 "I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ...for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as dung, that I may gain Christ."

2 Corinthians 4:4 "...whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who did not believe , lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them."

What an incredible tragedy that the world at large is blinded, misguided and deceived by its god into a life of futility, while right before them, so very close is glory indescribable.

I always think of this when seeing a funeral of an unbeliever. There is so much dark, gloomy, hopeless despair, while a funeral of a true believer although sad for the moment has an air of victory to it!

Conclusion:

Revelation 21:4,5 "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away...Behold I make all thing new"

Revelation 5:12 "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power riches and honour and glory and blessing"

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In closing this edition here is a beautiful woodcut print done by Paul Gustav Dore in 1870. It's part of the Paradiso series titled "The Heavenly Choir" (thanks to Adalaide University Library)

Kind regards and many blessings...Shalom and hang in there!

Edition 11. September 21st 2009

John 16:13 "When He the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth...and show you things to come"

In this edition:

●Glory and Horror...the prophetic plot of the church age

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The Seven Churches of the Revelation

Introduction:

This is an extremely important and powerful subject, but before we get into it, I want to discuss what a church is and isn't.

A church is not a building. It consists of the 'ecclesia' or called out ones. As believers we are called out of the kingdom of this world into the Kingdom of God. Believers are those that have had a conversion experience or a regeneration within their hearts. They are further characterised by an indwelling love for our Messiah, His word, His people and His ways. True believers are those that have been born into a family and a Kingdom. Membership is by birth and not by works. God works in the believers life from the inside out. The professing church, have an outward form of Godliness but are counterfeits. They try to please God by works ,from the outside in!

The nature of the Revelation:

The book of Revelation is the 'unveiling' of Yeshua / Jesus our Messiah as King and Magisterial ruler of the universe. It reveals and unveils our wonderful risen Messiah as He is now and will be for all eternity. It is a book of prophecy outlining the course of the church age, the tribulation period, and well into the eternity of eternities!

Revelation 1:19 Instructs John to write the things which he has seen, which are and which will be. This indicates past present and future. So then, if this is a book a prophecy, what are these messages to the seven churches doing here? The messages were written to seven historic churches. But they also have a very present message within them to all believers at any time. Then they also have a most amazing prophetic significance as well. They plot the whole course of church history from its foundation to the rapture and tribulation.

It is this prophetic aspect of the seven churches which I will deal with in this edition.

The fact that these seven churches were in Asia Minor, which is present day Turkey is important. This implies that God is dealing primarily with gentiles and not Israel or the Jews at large at this stage. Turkey is also  the land from which the antichrist will most probably arise, but more about that another time.

The messages to all churches from God:

Being in journalism all my adult life, I know that second hand information is not as good as going directly to the source! I don't know how many times I've heard people trying to decide about a church by asking this person or that, and what they come up with a host of variable personal opinions.

The Bible says that you are a fool if you compare yourselves among yourselves. It says that you need to compare the spiritual with spiritual things. Obviously there is no better source than the author of the Bible Himself! So, we will now ignore what every human has to say about the church and go to the source of the messages to the seven churches and see what God thinks!

Please don't underestimate the importance of this edition and its content, it could have eternal consequences for you!

The course of the church age:

All churches can find an identity within the seven churches of Revelation.

The seven churches reveal and plot the course of the church age from its formation to the close of the age. This can be seen from the meanings of the names and various descriptive terms within the messages. This shows that the choice of just these seven churches among the hundreds that existed then, was truly a prophetic supernatural act of God.

Have a look at the graphic below and keep it in your mind as we go along.

●The first message is to the church at Ephesus. Revelation 2:1-7

The name means 'beloved' and this represents the early apostolic church period. The church was warned not to "leave its first love". One of the positive features of this church was that they "hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans" The word reveals what this was. The word is derived from "nikao" which means to conquer and "laos" which means people. This allowed for the domination of the people by leadership who thought that they were God sent! This church also has in its favour the fact that it "tested those that said they were apostles and were not" Acts20:29 ..."I know this that after my departure savage wolves will come in not sparing the flock". This is just what happened. For the first 100 years the church was unstoppable and triumphant and then it began to loose its first love. Read on!

●The second message is to the church at Smyrna. Revelation 2:8-11

The name comes from the word 'Myrrh' which is a bitter / sweet herb used amongst other things, for the anointing of bodies at burial. This represents the church period from around 100AD to 300AD. This period was characterized by terrible persecution. The church is told that they will suffer persecution for '"ten days" and that they should be "faithful unto death". In this period ten successive Roman emperors tried to stamp the church out with incredible persecution and murder of believers en-mass. Satan was unable to defeat the church by persecution so at around 300AD he changed his strategy! It's good to remember that persecution can't defeat you as a believer! Read on.

●The third message is to the church at Pergamos. Revelation 2:12-17

The word means 'thoroughly mixed' and represents the Constantine era where church and state came together. It runs from about 300AD to 600AD. This was Satan's ace or trump card - to introduce or mix the occult, error and deception into the church. The Roman emperor Constantine decided to stop the persecution of the church and in fact turned things around completely and made Christianity the official state religion. But to make it more palatable to the masses he mixed in his abominable occult practices that originated from his own worship of Babylonian gods. I won't go into all of these in this edition, but just to name a few of them, Easter (the Babylonian goddess of sex), Christmas (sun worship on the 25th December), infant sprinkling and a host of other occult practices. The monumental book by Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylon's written in the 1500s details all of these things. This book is an absolute shocker and shows just how much of Babylon is in the church!

This church is told that they have "put a stumbling block before the children of Israel" (vs14) This church holds to the "doctrine of Balaam", which essentially is to curse Israel! This church marks the start of replacement theology, and everything anti- Israel which years later resulted in the world's worst ever mass murder of the Jews in the name of Christianity! They also hold to the "doctrine of the Nicolaitans", which means to conquer the people. This is the church that started the separation of clergy above laity for the purpose of subjugating and dominating the laity!

This was Satan's ace...mix error with truth! This marked the start of the dark ages!

●The fourth message is to the church at Thyatira. Revelation 2:18-29

The word means 'a perpetual sacrifice' and represents the Catholic era from around 600AD right through into the tribulation! It is a church of compromise, evil and deception. Jezebel, who is tolerated in this church has many characteristics which can be seen in this church today. Jezebel is associated with Babylon. Jezebel killed the prophets of God. This church killed all who opposed her right up to the reformation. Because this church refused to 'repent' it is told it will be cast into 'great tribulation'. Verse 23 says "I will kill her children with death" The term 'children' refers to the offspring of the church, or those who cling to the mother church. vs24 goes on and says that "there are some who don't have this doctrine and haven't known the "depths of Satan" In other words many in this church have and do know the depth of Satan"! How amazing is this!

●The fifth message is to the church at Sardis. Revelation 3: 1-6

The word means 'to escape' and represents the reformation period from around 1500AD into the tribulation. The reformation was an incomplete work. It started the escape from the dark ages and the grip of Catholisism, which was good but this then gave birth to denominationalism. The church is told in vs2 "...you have a name that you are alive but you are dead" The church is commanded to repent and is told that if it won't "I will come upon you as a thief and you won't know what hour I will come upon you". There are "a few" in this church who are not defiled and will "walk with Me in white" This implies that the others will not! Verse 5 is a shocker "He who overcomes shall be clothed in white and I will not blot his name out of the Book of Life" Again this implies that those who don't will be blotted out!

●The sixth message is to the church at Philadelphia. Revelation 3: 7-13

The word means 'brotherly love' and represents the missionary period from about 1700 through to the rapture. This is the only church with not one word of condemnation levelled against it. It is highly commended and favoured by our Lord. "I have set before you an open door which no one can shut" - this refers to missionary work. Verse 7 identifies the church with  "The key of David." Isaiah 22:21,22 defines the "key of David"... It is to be a "Father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah" This implies a Messianic church with a Hebraic expression and heart for Israel, Jerusalem and its people. The church is told that it has "little strength", indicating that it trusts for it's power on our Lord. It is favoured because it has "kept My Word" (vs8).  It says that those of the "synagogue of Satan and who say that they are Jews but are not, will come bowing before you" This implies that this church is involved with true Jews and will even get the rabbinical Jews to come bowing! In other words, again, this is a Messianic group.

Verse 10 says "Because you have kept My Word, I will keep you from the hour of tribulation that will come upon the whole world"  This is one of the clearest verses of scripture indicating a pre-tribulation rapture. (See previous edition) This church is commended twice for keeping the Word!!

This is a church with an Abrahamic expression, which means having a heart for both Jew and Gentile in Him.

●The seventh message is to the church at Laodicia. Revelation 3: 14-22

The name means 'people ruled' and represents the modern church era from around 1900 to the tribulation. There is only condemnation and not one word of commendation for this church. This church is "lukewarm" and will be "spewed out" of God's mouth! This church believes that it is "rich and in need of nothing, but it is poor". This implies self sustainability and self preservation. The name Laodicia can also be interpreted as self opinionated. This church has no working revelation from God because it "doesn't know how wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked" it is. It is deceived. It is told to "anoint it's eyes with eye-salve so that it can see" This refers to revelation knowledge which it lacks. The great tragedy of this church is that it is hell bound except for those that repent. This church is all around us today!

This is the church of replacement theology, stealing what God has given to Israel for itself. It's the church that will lead the world to stand against God's work in this regard. It will become the tragic great world church, ecumenical in nature and will be associated with the Satanic false prophet of the last days. It will be lukewarm to God's Word and mixed with all sorts of false religion. This is the church of horror.

Interestingly the council of Laodecia meeting in the 4th century, decided to exclude the book of Revelation from the canon of scripture!

We are already well beyond the formation of the horror church.

Conclusion:

Pastors and church leadership take note. Many of you are largely responsible for the failure of Churchianity! The above discourse is God's view of the church. It's a shock! Let me add another portion of scripture, which no church I know of can accommodate. In the Bible this section is headed "Sectarianism (divisions or denominationalism) is sin"!

1Corinthians 1:10 "Now brethren I plead with you, by the name of our Lord, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and judgement"

What an incredible indictment on the present divided church, and there are many more verses. Amazingly, In all my years I have never heard one church teach on this subject.

There is one major all important overriding issue here. The leadership of the church have created a monstrous failure except for one glorious church which is empowered by God.

Perhaps this is why God's new thing is already and will be more and more a Messianic movement, in unity, with all the occult traditions of the church cast out.

Drama of all dramas, darkness, devastation and despair is the future for much of the church. On the other hand we see a spectacular, delightful, fantastic future of glory for other churches.

How does one know which is which?

Some things identifying the Laodicia church of today include: A lack of teaching across the full spectrum of the scripture. A lack of teaching of the cross and it's application to us.

The Philadelphian church would be characterised by the preaching and teaching of the full gospel including the cross and its application. To be right with God one needs to be right in heart and right in doctrine. Right in heart comes from the brokenness created by the cross and right in doctrine comes from correct teaching in fullness.

Personally, I have a very fertile and vivid imagination. But my Bible says that the eternal glory that is laid up for us, is greater than anything we can imagine!!! Bring it on!!!

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In closing this edition here are two art works by Michelangelo. The top one represents the fury of God while the bottom one represents the friendship of God

Kind regards and many blessings...Shalom and hang in there!

Edition 10. 14th September 2009

By Joel Joseph

John 16:13 "When He the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth...and show you things to come"

In this edition:

●The rapture of believers

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The rapture of believers:

Opening testimony:

By way of testimony, in 1980 after being saved for four years I walked into a Christian coffee bar and met a mad Jewish hippie-type believer, who asked me what I thought of the rapture. (He is still a friend)  I had no idea what he was talking about. After filling me in a little, I realised how absolutely ignorant I was of many important issues of eschatology. I was enraged at my own ignorance and even more enraged at the fact the church I was in then had never so much as even mentioned these things!

I got out of that stone-dead church fast and embarked on a glorious, never ending journey of getting to know my Lord and His word! I didn't have enough hours in the day to pray and study, so I resigned from my successful job to do more. A few weeks later my father, who I'd been witnessing to got saved and bought me a house as a thank you gift and supported my studies for many years. Thank you Baruch and my long departed dad.

Introduction:

This is a controversial subject, but if we stick to the pure truths of the Bible it's really a wonderful, glorious, soon coming reality. Our God is not a God of confusion, Satan is!

This edition is a follow-on from edition 9, the previous one, which I encourage you to read through and study.

Firstly, lets define our terms so that we know what we're talking about. The rapture is the general term used for the catching-up, of believers to be with the Lord, while non-believers are left on the earth.

The two main positions are a pre-tribulation rapture or a post-tribulation rapture. Some believe that this event will take place at the very start of the seven year tribulation period, soon to begin on the earth, while others believe that it will occur at the end of the tribulation during the events of the second coming.

There are other views on the subject, including a mid-trib, a mutli-rapture and a no-rapture position. Some including those that adhere to the a-millennial position don't even accept the literal second coming, never mind a rapture.

I won't even dignify these with a response. There are only two possible scenarios, the pre and post trib position, if you believe the Bible.

I have gone through many books and many teachings by many on this subject since 1980. I've also studied it extensively by going through every single portion of scripture relating to the subject and checking out meanings of original words used in the scriptures.

I can see where those that adhere to the post-tribulation position are coming from and also just where they are mistaken.

Common misconceptions and some warnings:

1Thesselonians 2:4 "Concerning the coming of the Lord and our gathering to Him...don't be deceived" In addition to this our King on the Mount of Olives speaking of the signs of His coming warns of coming deception five times just in that discourse! These sections of scripture show that there will be a particularly dangerous degree of deception around this issue as the coming of our Messiah get nearer.

A good thing to remember is that anything that is really important relating to the putting down of Satan and the end of his rule will be opposed by him.

2 Peter 3:3-6 Speaks of "Scoffers in the last days saying where is the hope of His coming, everything will continue as normal"

These scoffers and sceptics, many who are believers, are subtle workers of iniquity, who go about discouraging people and turning their eyes from the coming of our Lord to the things of the world.

Acts 2: 23 says "Those who will not hear that Prophet (Yeshua/ Jesus) shall be utterly destroyed from among the people." This is an incredibly severe warning. Ignore prophecy at your peril!!

Some say that the rapture / start of the tribulation period will occur without any warning at all. This may true in terms of the exact time. but our God is a God of order. These events will most probably be kicked off at a soon coming feast of trumpets (see previous edition)

Some say that every believer will go in the rapture. The question should rather be...what or who is a believer? The Bible says even the demons believe and shudder at their destiny! All true believers will be raptured, but not all who think that they are believers are!

A true believer is one who has been born again of the Spirit of God. In other words a regeneration has taken place in the heart at some specific time (just like a natural birth) A true believer is one who has an inner desire to know, speak with, and be with our Lord.

We need to know Him and He must know us. The Bible says that in the day of judgement many will say "Lord, Lord we did this or that in your name, even prophesied in your name, and He will say to them, depart from Me, I never knew you"!

The Rapture, the delight of the age

There are many major differences between the two comings of the Messiah, making it impossible for them to be the same event.

We must separate between the two future comings of our Lord. The second advent, or second coming is the event that culminates in the end of the campaign of Armageddon, the closing of the tribulation period, the lifting of the curse on nature, and the setting up of the millennium. In this event our Lord returns slowly to the earth with His saints. He will return in the same manner as He left, says the Bible, which was slowly from the Mount of Olives up into the air and beyond, with people seeing Him ascend.

The rapture happens simultaneously around the world in a fraction of a second. Our Messiah "catches up" believers to meet Him in the air. There is no gradual decent to the Mount of Olives or anywhere else. This happens at the last trumpet (see previous edition) and in a "moment, a twinkling of an eye" 1Corinthians 15:51

The rapture sees the Lord catching the saints up to meet Him in the air at the start of the tribulation, while the second advent sees Him return with His saints. At the rapture there is no end put to the wicked, while at the second advent, the wicked are removed from the earth.

Many ignorant teachers say the word 'rapture' is not in the Bible. They then presume that there won't be one! This is ignorance of the first degree! In fact people who teach this deserve to be deceived!

The word 'rapture' isn't in the modern English translations of the Bible, but the root word 'harpazo" is. In fact it occurs nine times in the New Testament. This is the original Greek word used and means literally to 'catch up, away or snatch away by force'.

The clearest verse of scripture using the word 'harpazo' is 1Thesselonians 4:17 "Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air..." The words 'caught up' is the word 'hapazo' in the original Greek. 'Caught up' and rapture mean the same thing!

Some people say that the rapture is a modern teaching. No it isn't! It was taught throughout history. Joseph Mede taught it in the 1500. Morgan Edwards taught a pre tribulation rapture in 1722, Darby taught it in 1800 and there are dozens who taught it in the early church period.

The big issue:

The book of Revelation is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. He is the Head, we are His Body, this is why the Revelation reveals the body / church right up front in the first three chapters of the book. The messages to the seven churches are so incredibly rich. These messages have a historic significance, a present significance and a future or prophetic significance. In fact they plot the course of church history from its formation right through to the close of the age. (I will deal with this spectacular subject in another edition)

We need to bear in mind that there is a huge difference throughout the Bible between the true church and the professing church! The rapture will remove the true church only.

For now though let's look at just two of the verses relating to two of the churches. The first one is part of the message to the church of Philadelphia (highly favoured) and the second, the church of Thyatira (condemned)

Revelation 3: 10 "Because you kept My word to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial (tribulation), which will come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth."

The term "keep you from" is the Greek word 'ek', in the original, which means 'clean out away from'. Some scholars interpret the 'ek' as 'to escape in safety out of' The term 'hour of trial' can also be described as the tribulation period, because this word 'hour' is also sometimes interpreted as a short season in other places. This is not the original word for a literal hour.

Revelation 2:22 "Indeed I will cast them into a sickbed and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds." 'Sickbed' and adultery' are references to false doctrine in the church.

So, here we have two incredible verses of scripture. In the first one, believers are promised to be kept out of the tribulation and in the second one false believers are told they will be cast into the tribulation! Kept from or cast into...this is what will be happen depending on your church affiliation, or rather the state of your heart!

If we are all going through the tribulation, these verses don't make sense.

The Wrath of God:

The tribulation period is called the "Wrath of God" - numerous verses.

In the context of the tribulation 1Thessalonians 5: 9 says that "We are not appointed unto wrath"

1Thesselonians 1:10 says, "we are delivered from the wrath to come"

Naham 1:2 says "He reserves His wrath for His enemies"

These verses are self explanatory

Characteristics of the tribulation:

The tribulation is really the completion of the Old Testament. It is the 70th week (of years) of Daniel 9. There are very many characteristics of the Old Covenant that are again seen in the Tribulation period. One of the most amazing characteristics is that the church is not found in any of the scriptures relating to the tribulation.

We see many people both Jew and Gentile getting saved in the tribulation, but these are called tribulation saints. Those who are commissioned to perform evangelism are all Jews! Where is the church? The 144,000 of Revelation 7 & 14 are all single male Jews. The great commission was given to the church, so why is this job now given to these Jews? Well, the church is gone!

Zechariah 14:5 speaking of the tribulation period declares "Thus the Lord my God will come And all the saints with You" This indicates that at the second coming, the "saints" return with the Lord.

The church is mentioned 22 times in the first three chapters of the Revelation and then not again until the very close of the book. This indicates that the true church is not here during the events of the tribulation.

John is called to "come up here" in Revelation 4:1 (a rapture) he then sees the 24 elders already in heaven with their rewards / crowns. The tribulation events follow.

Revelation 19: 8-14 Sees the armies of heaven clothed in fine linen, follow our Lord from heaven at His second coming. Verse 8 says that the "fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints" These are therefore not angels as some teach. For the believers to follow the Lord from heaven at the second coming they need to be there first!

2 Thessalonians 2:7 says that "He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way and the lawless one is revealed." Some believe that this "restrainer" is the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit is omnipresent. This restrainer is the true church indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This indicates that the tribulation or wrath of God can't begin until the righteous are removed. This is consistent with other verses demonstrating this principle.

Jude 1:14 declares "Behold the Lord comes with ten thousands of His Saints to execute judgement on all who are ungodly" These 'saints' are not angels but believers who have already been to the marriage supper of the Lamb!

A wonderful comfort:

1Thesselonians 4:17 speaking of the rapture says " We who are alive and remain shall be caught up (raptured) together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words". What comfort is it to know that we are going through the tribulation period, which will be the worst time of judgement upon the earth that it has ever known. The tribulation will see the wrath of God, the wrath of man and the wrath of the devil all operating together. Billions of people will die in the most horrendous waves of wrath and judgement!

2 Peter 3:10 "But the Day of the Lord will come as a thief..."

1 Thessalonians 5:4 "...But you brothers, are not in darkness so that this Day should surprise you like a thief" This indicates that it is not only possible but required, not to be in darkness about these things. This of course brings comfort.

Rapture types in scripture:

●Noah and family were sealed by God in the ark and raised above the wrath of destruction which 'rained' on the wicked! Our Lord also says that His second coming will be in days that resembled the days of Noah in terms of wickedness. This also indicates that we could have a similar thing happen again at the events before and up to the second coming. In other words, the true church raptured to heaven, above the wrath of God on the earth below.

●We had a similar story with Lot. In fact there is a very powerful type in this story. Genesis 19:22 says that Lot was to "Hurry to escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there (Zoar)...then the Lord rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah out of the heavens." The presence of one righteous man (Lot) prevented the outpouring of the Lords wrath and judgement on those cities! In terms of typology, this implies that the true church needs to be removed before the wrath of God can begin.

●The children of Israel were given safe passage through the Red Sea to the promised land while the wrath of God destroyed their enemies.

●Elijah never saw death and was raptured or 'caught up' alive.

● Enoch was raptured! Hebrews 11:5 "By faith Enoch was translated so that he did not see death"

●Moses died, but his body was caught up and taken. Moses and Elijah are types of the living and dead in Christ being caught up to God.

●The apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12: 2 "I know a man in Christ ...weather in the body or out of the body... who was caught up to the third heaven".

●John the apostle was caught up to heaven to receive the Revelation. Revelation 4: 1

Conclusion:

We are now close to the final act and the unfolding of the greatest drama of world history!

Collectively, the verses of scripture I've used in this edition, plus the explanations paints a clear picture.

The pre-tribulational rapture position is consistent with and rests essentially on one major premise - the literal interpretation of scripture. The other views use the allegorical interpretive method, which is shabby, inconsistent and makes the interpreter God's editor!

The post tribulation rapture does not fit in with many verses of scripture, whereas the pre-tribulation rapture fits in with all.

This edition is only a small, short taste of the subject, which is extensive and lengthy. Please take this study further yourself.

For those interested in taking this study further, I strongly recommend the monumental 700-page book by Dwight Pentecost called "Things to come" published by Zondervan. (It was written in the early 1950s so may be difficult to obtain.) There are thousands of other amazing signs and indications of the pre-tribulation rapture position wonderfully presented in this book.

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In closing here is a marvelous rendition of the prophet Noah. The ark-story is a rapture-type. The painting was done by Nooshin Fathian from Iran. She is well known and exhibits regularly in Iran, the Middle East and also in Canada. She also lectures in art.

Kind regards and many blessings...Shalom and hang in there!

Edition 9. September 7th 2009

By Joel Joseph

John 16:13 "When He the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth...and show you things to come"

In this edition:

●The soon coming of our Lord

●Jerusalem: Palestinians seek state by 2011

●Damascus deception. Syria's covert nuclear program

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I have been in the journalism world since the early 1970s. I don't think there is a more important article I have ever written!  I don't claim to know all that there is on this subject, but I have studied it extensively since 1980.

My aim and objective with this article is to set your heart soaring with our Lord. It is to fearfully present you with the most wonderful truths and inspire you to move forward with our great King and Saviour. This article is by no means exhaustive and just touches on the major themes. Please take this further yourself.

Do not underestimate this article or take it lightly. Consider it all carefully and prayerfully.

The soon coming of our great King, Lord and Saviour

Yeshua Ha'Mashiach, Jesus the Messiah, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, is coming soon. A lot sooner than you expect or believe!

The tragedy is that very few believers believe this. Most don't want to because it interferes with their own plans for a long happy family life. Interestingly there are over 10,000 verses of scripture dealing with the second coming of our Lord and surrounding events, two thirds more than on the first coming!

Many believers are totally ignorant of these things and others are simply deceived by hand-me-down deception from their heaped up false teachers.

Before we go any further, I need to refute some common deceptions and misconceptions around this subject.

"No one knows the time of the Lords coming" claim many deceived teachers. This is dangerous hogwash! There is a very big difference between "time" and the "day and hour" The Bible declares that "no one knows the day or hour of the Lords coming, not "time". "Day and hour" refers to a very pointed specific time, while "time" refers to a general season. That's just plain simple logic! As we will see even the term "day and hour" has a truly wonderful meaning in Jewish culture, not evident at face value.

In fact the Bible condemns those that say "no one knows the time" and commends and rewards in a most powerful way those that "look for His coming"!!!

Here are just a few of the many scriptures on this issue that paint a very clear picture.

2 Peter 3:3-4 "In the last days scoffers will arise saying "where is the promise of His coming?...all things will continue as they were"

2 Timothy 4:8 "There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness...but not only to me, but all who have loved His appearing".

Matthew 24: 32, 33 "Learn the parable of the fig tree, when its branch becomes tender and puts forth leaves, you know that the summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is very near even at the door". ('Know' is in the imperative tense, meaning it's a command. The verse should say "I command you to know")

Revelation 3:3 "...Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief and you will not know what hour I will come upon you"

Hebrews 10:25 "...exhorting one another, so much more as you see the Day approaching"

Hebrews 9:28 "...To those that eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation".

1Jn 3:3 "Everyone who has this hope (coming of Lord) in himself purifies himself".

John 16:13 "When He the Spirit of truth has come He will guide you into all truth...and show you things to come".

1Thesselonians 5:4 "But you brethren are not in darkness so as this Day should overtake you as a thief".

Do you see it? Scoffers are condemned, those who love His appearing are rewarded. The command of God is to know the time! If you won't "watch" you are in trouble. You need to have "this hope" in you to walk in full holiness. If it's impossible to know the time, as many teach, why then does our Messiah condemn Israel's false teachers for not knowing the time of their visitation? "You hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of the sky, but you can't discern the signs of the times" -Mathew 16:3

The importance of the Feasts of the Lord:

The Feasts of the Lord are extremely important. They are rich with symbolism, but also full of idioms and prophetic meaning. The graphic below represents the seven Feasts of the Lord with their prophetic symbolism and fulfilment applied. Note that the first four have already been fulfilled by our Lord and the last three have a future fulfilment. The next one is the Feat of Trumpets, signalling the start of the tribulation period and rapture.

If you do not believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, that's just fine, we can walk together. I am persuaded of the pre-trib position, which I will share in another edition. It is most certainly not an issue for division. The greater issues of literal, verses allegorical interpretation will most certainly divided us.

Yeshua/Jesus, the apostles and the early church observed the Feats of the Lord! The modern church got its instructions not to from Rome / Babylon / Satan!

In the symbolic way of looking at this, the Feast of Trumpets signals the start of the tribulation period and the Day of atonement signals the end of the tribulation and the second coming. We know that this period is seven years long. This seven year period is made up of Jewish years, which are 360 days long. Now, we also know from Daniel 9 and 12 that this period will be 2550 days (1260+1290 days = seven years)

So, it is 2550 days from the Feast of Trumpets to Atonement.

It is also very important to note that our Lord declares in Mathew 24:32-34 that the generation that sees the birth of Israel as a nation (and other signs) will not pass away until all these things (tribulation) are fulfilled. Israel became a nation in 1948. So if the terminal generation starts at the birth of Israel and ends with the second coming, the question is simply, how long is a generation?

Psalm 90:10 says that the "days of our life are 70 years" We could say then that a Biblical generation is 70 years.

Now, if we simply add 70 years to 1948 we come to the year 2018. We need to come forward seven years for the tribulation, which brings us to 2011 for the start.

If this is correct then we could look to the Feast of Trumpets 2011 for the rapture / tribulation start.

Before I go one bit further I need to address date-setting. With these things there could be a small margin of error. So, please note my words carefully. I am saying "could be, should, possibly" etc. But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater! I would rather be looking for the Lord's coming and be wrong (and get rewarded for looking) than not look and be condemned!

The overall point of this article is not to prove beyond doubt any specific date. It is to look for the coming of the Lord in compliance with His will.

Lets now have a look at the 2550 days for the tribulation. The Feasts of the Lord work on a time scale set by the moon and not the solar-based calendar. The Feast of Trumpets is also called by five other names. One of these is the 'The Feast that no one knows that day or hour' The reason for this is that it starts at the sighting of the new moon. This has been the case throughout Jewish history. The new moon could have been out by a day or two hence "no one knows the day or hour" or the exact time. The Feast is also known as the "Feast of the last trump" because when the new moon was sighted, a rams horn is blown with different tones and time lengths between the blasts. The last trump blast is a long single tone and signals the start.

Now of course we know the familiar portion of scripture in 1 Corinthians 15:51 "Behold I tell you mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed- in a moment in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead will be raised, incorruptible and we shall be changed.

Now have a look at the table below (thanks to Laymanswatch.com) and note that 2011 and 2014 both have 2550 days between Trumpets and Atonement. The others are out by a day or two, due to the moon phases. So, could it be 2014 for the start of the tribulation? I think not simply because that then doesn't tie in with the 70-year generation.

Trumpets 2011 to Atonement 2018 (seven years) ties in perfectly with the 70-year generation prophecy. (Again 70 years added to Israel's birth year of 1948 comes to 2018) Trumpets 2011 could signal the rapture and tribulation start and Atonement 2018, the end of the tribulation and the second coming of our Lord.

There are far too many things dove-tailing together and pointing towards the 2011 to 2018 seven-year period for it all to be coincidence. Again there may well be a small margin of error, but again, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater!

Here are a few other startling indicators:

2018 would have been a jubilee year. The Jews stopped celebrating jubilees long ago. This is if we count as though they had not stopped. We know that a jubilee is a time of release, freedom, victory, rest for the land, restoration of land to original owners etc. So there is lots of typology here.

Six is the number of man under sin, seven, spiritual perfection and eight resurrection. Now if we apply Peter's 'day for a thousand years' principle and count up all the genealogies in the Bible, it give us 6000 years. So we could presume that the millennium will begin as we cross into the 7000 year mark. Based on the Jewish calendar corrected for previous mistakes (well documented) have a look at the diagram below:

Interesting isn't it! These things could be out by a little here or there, but the overall point is that time is short!

Non time-specific, but season-specific signs:

There are simply far too many to list here, but these are some of the biggies!

●The sign of homosexuality. The Bible declares that days of the coming of the Lord will be as in the days of Noah and as in the days of Lot. Those days were when homosexuality was rife. God destroyed the twin cities where this was prevalent. ●Another characteristic of those days was that people were carrying on life as normal with no regard for the warnings of impending judgement.

Other season-specific signs include ●the restoration of Israel as a nation in 1948 and the return of Jerusalem to the Jews in 1967. ●The great apostasy of the church and the salvation of the Jews at large is just starting to gather speed now. (See the previous two editions) ●Most of the worst occurs in the tribulation period, but a lot will occur in the period leading up to the tribulation.

Some general signs from various portions of scripture include: ●Disease, ●pestilence, ●famine, ●natures upheavals, ●roaring seas, ●believers betraying one another, ●signs in the heavens, ●increased deception, witchcraft, false doctrines, ●ethnic wars and on the positive side, ●the gospel being preached in all the nations of the world.

How things could unfold:

●The Wall Street Journal reported on August 26th that Palestinian Prime Minister Salem Fayyad is calling for a Palestinian state by the end of 2011 regardless of any negotiations. The plan reflects an unprecedented emphasis on self rule with East Jerusalem as its capital. The plan will also see the establishment of their own airport and a military force. Israel described the plan as "provocative"

●The International Atomic Energy Agency (IEA) reported a week ago that Syria is again attempting to construct a covert nuclear program with the help of North Korea. Isaiah17:1 declares that Damascus shall cease from being a city and lie a ruinous heap. Damascus is the oldest city in the world never to have been destroyed in its history. This prophecy will have a fulfilment in the near future.

The Feast of Trumpets will usher in the Tribulation which will begin with the stroke of a pen. The Bible declares that the event that reveals the antichrist and kicks off the seven year tribulation will be the signing of a peace pact between Israel and the person who will become the antichrist. For the signing of a peace pact there needs to be a climate of war, not so? Do we have this now?

One of two possible scenarios will soon unfold:

The first scenario could easily be created by Israel being pressurised into the signing of a peace-for-land deal with the Palestinians. Possible?...I think so! As we know from scripture (Joel 3) the dividing up of the land will invoke the wrath and fury of God. (Note the Wall Street Journal headline above and that date!) Israel could sell out for a pocketful of peace promises made with a pretender.

Joel 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in My holy mountain...tremble, for the Day of the Lord is at hand" Verse 15 "Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast...gather the people...Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber and the bride from her dressing room"

Possible scenario two is the yet unfulfilled prophetic wars with Israel and Syria (Isaiah 17) and the Ezekiel 38 and 39 war with Russia, China and other Muslim allies. The descriptions of these wars indicates that they will be nuclear. These conflicts are on the horizon and could also be the event that leads to the signing of the fateful peace treaty. The Bible doesn't date either of these wars but places them in the last days, so we are in the season!

1 Peter 4:7 "The end of all things is at hand, be serious, be watchful in your prayer..."

As we enter the twighlight of present world history and move towards a whole new world dispensation we need to be cautious. This time period will see an outpouring of the Spirit of God as well as an intensification of deadly deception.

There are many, many more amazing, wonderful indications of this incredible time period. I will share more with you in upcoming editions. Some include the importance of the symbolism within the measurements of the ark of Noah, the temple and the ark of the covenant. I will look at the spectacular subject of number in scripture and other things related to the soon coming of our King of Majesty

My friends, these events are all right on the door step and could easily unfold soon and quickly. I appeal to you...make sure you are ready. Be ready in heart and belief and do not be reckless with your life. These things are a lot more than possible, they are probable!

In the midst of all this incredible drama...the greatest drama of all time, our Lord will have a graceful army growing in stature, strength and wisdom, knowing Him intimately and ready to fulfil His plans and do His will.

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In closing here is an impression of war by the wonderful artist Marc Chagall

Kind regards and many blessings...Shalom and hang in there!

Edition 8.   24th August 2009

By Joel Joseph

May you be blessed of our Lord, Saviour, Father and Great God and be inspired in some way to move forward into the glorious things He has prepared for you.

In this edition:

●How to chose a church

●The emergent church shock

●Iran appoints wanted terrorist as defence minister

●Palestinian Fatah: We never recognised Israel's right to exist

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Isaiah 62:1 "For Zion's sake I will not shut up and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her Righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation burns as a lamp. The gentiles shall see your righteousness"

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 ●Iran chooses wanted terrorist as defence minister:

Israel hater Ahmadinejad of Iran has again disregarded international opinion and pressure by appointing an Interpol wanted terrorist as minister of defence.  He was responsible for the bombing of a Jewish community centre in Argentina. Ahmad Vahani's bomb killed 85 people. and injured 300. Iran has always denied their involvement. (Israel Today)

Iran has also just criticised some of it's neighbours for running policies which allow an involvement with the "Zionist state"

●The Palestinians true heart:

So-called moderate and Western-backed Fatah party recently told Al Arabia: "We do not recognise Israel's right to exists. All these reports about recognising Israel are false and media nonsense"

Rafik Natsheh of the Fatah Central Committee has revealed their true heart for all to see, while the world declares that Fatah is Israel's partner in peace!

Palestinian leader Abbas said on Palestinian TV: "We do not demand that Hamas recognise Israel". This simply adds more weight to the story!

Yet another top Palestinian leader, the Fatah strongman and adviser to Abbas, Mohammed Dahlan recently said that Fatah "only pays lip service to recognising Israel in order to obtain assistance form the international community..." (Israel Today)

●The blasphemous new emergent church:

The new "emergent church" is a group of liberal thinkers who became disillusioned with the church as it is. They formed this loose cross-theological movement which incorporates a mixture of many denominational groups as well as charismatic, neo-charismatic, liberal and post liberal churches. Its main emphasis is to decentralise leadership. It has a vast un-unified view on everything. Their aim is to put down and change the nature of Christian community. Love and tolerance of everything except those that believe in true doctrine is central.

This blasphemous set up defaces all that is holy. It is worldly, in fact satanic in the extreme. It throws out all absolutes and makes everything variable.

This group recently called for partnership with Islam. It is hateful of the a Jewish state and is a profound adherent of replacement theology.

They dethrone the importance of the scriptures and denounce doctrine.

You need to run away very fast from this terrible set up. Have nothing at all to do with them!

Be very careful of disillusionment. The devil goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour! If you get disillusioned with a church, be sure not to let that extend to our Lord and Saviour or His Word and Spirit.

●Choosing a church to join:

This article is a direct response or follow-on to the previous one titled "The Great apostasy of the church"

Choosing a church today is like walking through a mine field. Of course it shouldn't be so, but unfortunately this is the sad state of affairs.

When you join a church, to some degree, you come under the spirit of that church. You end believing what they believe and talking just like them. This would all be fine if the church was what it was supposed to be.

Before we can go any further, we need to have a brief look at the Biblical pattern for the church.

The Bible gives clear guidelines on these things in many areas. I will not go into any great detail here, but will just outline the larger principles.

Firstly there is only one church! There is no Biblical justification anywhere for many different churches all believing different things. Jesus is the head and has one body, not many. He doesn't have a Jewish body a Gentile body, a Catholic body, a Methodist body and so on.

Perhaps the most shocking portion of scripture dealing with this is 1Corinthians 1: 10. It's shocking because its so clear and so totally ignored by church leadership.

This section in the Bible is headed "Sectarianism is sin" How about that for a start! verse 10 "I plead with you brethren, by the name of our Lord, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you and that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and judgement"

I was recently shocked when I stopped at a four-way stop street in an area that I seldom go to. As I looked around I noticed that there were four different churches, one on each corner! What a tragedy!

The early church up to around 300AD was in perfect unity. There were not a whole lot of different churches. Yes there were many attempts by Satan to bring in division. We see many of these attacks in the book of Acts as well. Each attempt was refuted, condemned and eradicated by the church leaders of the day.

The church should be divided geographically only.

Satan tried hard to stamp out the church in its early unified stages, by launching a series of blistering, cruel persecutions against the church by ten successive Roman emperors. Many thousands were killed and yet the church grew stronger and greater.

Then came Satan's ace trump card...get the church divided and filled with worldly practises.

At around 300AD the emperor Constantine stopped the persecutions and made Christianity the state religion. To make it more palatable, he introduces some of his own Babylonia occult practises to the church.

Some of these included setting up the worship of the sun god and moon god by placing little silver (moon) and little gold (sun) balls on a tree and nailing it to the floor. Every single tradition of Christmas comes straight from Babylon idol worship. Including the day December 25. Some of these practises like are condemned in Jeremiah 10.

Other Babylonian practises introduced into the church by Constantine include the worship of the goddess of sex. This was done back then, by going through the Easter (Ishtar) gate into the temple of sex! Eggs, rabbits and other things were representative of sex-god worship and fertility.

The Ishtar Gate (origin of Easter) This is a reconstruction of the evil Babylonian gate, which led the way to many abominable practises.

In 600AD these things were further entrenched by what became known as the Catholic church.

Interestingly this was the start of the Dark Ages. It was called "dark" because it was spiritually dark. The Catholic church spearheaded this time of deep darkness and mass murder of the Jews and everyone that was not Catholic. This included the inquisitions, which were comparable to Nazi Germany.

Then came the time period known as the reformation, which signalled the start of the return to Biblical truth.

The reformation produced the renaissance and industrial revolution.

Its interesting that the move away from the truth produced the murderous dark ages and the return to the truth produced enlightenment! As goes the spiritual so goes the natural!

The reformation was a powerful move but was incomplete and still left the church divided and pretty messed up.

This brings us to our subject. How do we chose a church?

Obviously, the truth is the standard and this is what we need to look for. But it is the truth according to the Bible, led by the Spirit of God and not man-made, man-cantered so-called truth or church doctrine.

For the life of me I can't understand how anyone could go along so blindly and happily involved with churches that have institutionalised the many Babylonian occult practises. Saying that these practises are now Christian changes nothing. Amazingly most Jews know that these practises have evil origins and as a result, would not become part of any church practising them. We are not to put stumbling blocks in the way of Jews coming to salvation. (See the previous edition for more on this)

Paul says, "I have not shunned to declare to you the whole council of God".

Paul says that he "preaches nothing but Christ and Christ crucified".

Paul says that he must "decrease while Christ increases" as a result.

Jesus says that "you are not worthy of being His disciple unless you take up your cross daily and follow Him".

Jesus says that we are to "make disciples among the nations teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you".

These are some key pointers and should be part of any church

A church must have the cross and it's application into our lives as central. The cross kills us to all things of self, the world and the demonic!

You will see the marks of the cross on a church (and person) that applies it correctly. They will be dead to the world the flesh and the demonic and very very ALIVE to the true, pure things of God.

A church must have a "fully preached" declaration of the gospel. Not just the nice self- motivational sections. It must embrace the "hard sayings" and the "severity" of the gospel as well.

There are some key questions we need to ask church leadership that relate very much to this day and age if we are going to join their institution.

We need to ask: "Do you as leaders fast often"? If the answer is no, the church is a self-inspired and led church.

We need to ask: "What is your stand on the rights of homosexuals, the rights of a woman to murder her unborn child, the rights of the murderer to life instead of execution."

Most importantly we need to ask: "What is your attitude to the rights of the Palestinians to a state and city within Israel."

You see, many churches today support the supposed rights of the Palestinians to Jerusalem and parts of Israel, while saying at the same time that they have compassion for the Jews.

I'm not interested in a church that says it has an interest in the Jews and then denies God's word that all of Jerusalem and Israel belong to the Jews.

Mark my words...this issue will soon become the issue that will divide the church totally.

Some other areas of emphasis needed in a church:

The church needs to be balanced. This balance is to be from the perspective of the Bible and not man made tradition.

●The Bible has one third more on hell than heaven. The Bible speaks five times more about the second coming (and related events) than the first coming of our Messiah.

Today the church at large never speaks of hell or the second coming never mind in the proportions mentioned!

●An interesting fact is that in the original languages of the Bible the words rabbi and paster both have a male gender attachment to them. Its like the terms Mr. and Mrs. They have a gender association as well.

Church leadership is male. Now, some are thinking, "I can't believe he said that"! Well, deal with it, it' the biblical truth!

●A church needs to have an Abrahamic, Hebraic expression to it. It needs to break from its identity with Rome and Babylon.

The diagram below speaks for itself:

Today God is doing many wonderful things and the devil is doing many terrible things. We need to know which is which! That seems obvious but unfortunately much of the church is today doing the work of the devil and coming against the work of God!

All that remains of the church of Laodecia today is ruins. It's future as revealed in Revelation 3 is no different!

Gods work will be truly and very deeply blessed, bringing a deep peace into the hearts of its adherents.

To find a church that fits the above bill should be very easy, but its not, simply because there are so few. If you are faced with this dilemma, what you need to do is do the best you can in the circumstances, but set your heart after our Lord, in spirit and truth. Protect your spirit in prayer against error and deception and move forward, forward, onward with our Lord. He will see to it that you are filled with His grace and you will grow well, even in the desert!

If you are in a church that does not fit the above very basic foundational criteria, you need to set your spirit and heart after God and not the church. This way you can still be in fellowship, but you will be protected from becoming an average church mouse. In fact you will soon get to a place where you will soar way above your church.

You do need to be involved in some way with other believers. Independence will get you shipwrecked. If you are not in a church, you should at least be in fellowship in some way with a group or even just a few believers.

I would strongly advise that you as an individual get involved with some para-church organisation that is involved with Israel and the Jews.

●The best of the bunch is without doubt Christians United for Israel. This organisation run by the inimitable John Hagee has the Israel premier Benjamin Netanyahu on the board. its aim is to present a worldwide united Christian perspective or front in relation to Israel.

Amazingly, in a short period of time, it has become the largest Christian organisation in the US with a presence in 90 cities. It has now successfully run 80 celebratory Nights to Honour Israel.

It's powerful and growing at an alarming rate. It now has over 5 million members. I am one of them!

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In closing here is a truly wonderful rendition of the JEW Jesus on the cross by Marc Chagall:

Kind regards and many blessings...Shalom and hang in there!