The Books

Reposted from omegaletter.com
 
In Defense of the Faith
Saturday, May 23, 2009 Jack Kinsella - Omega Letter Editor
 
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." (Revelation 20:12)

Permit me to set the stage for the scene just described. We are being given an eyewitness account of the Great White Throne Judgment.

"And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. " (Revelation 20:11)

The Great White Throne is the third of the three great judgments outlined by Scripture; the first two being the Believer's Judgment at the Bema Seat and the judgment of the sheep and goat nations.

The Judge is at all three of these judgments is Jesus Christ. The Great White Throne Judgment is not a New Testament doctrine -- the Prophet Daniel described it exactly as John did.

"I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, Whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened." (Daniel 7:9-10)

Notice another similarity between John's account and Daniel's. Both John and Daniel refer to the 'books' -- plural.

"And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:15)

So the Book of Life is the ticket into heaven. Anyone whose name is not in there will join the antichrist and false prophet in the Lake of Fire.

What are the other books?

There is the Book of Tears. "Thou tellest my wanderings: put Thou my tears into Thy bottle: are they not in Thy book?"

The Book of Tears records our pain and disappointments and sadness -- Who we trusted and how we dealt with the trials and tribulations of this life.

"In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. . . . For Thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?" (Psalms 56:10-11,13)

God also keeps a Book of Remembrance:

"Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon His Name. And they shall be Mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." (Malachi 3:16-17)

This is where God records that which sometimes man forgets. The Scriptures promise that:

"And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved." (Acts 2:21)

My Dad fought with the Canadians during WWII. He once told me he fought in every major theatre of war.  Dad was on the first Dieppe Raid in 1940 in which only a third of those who landed on the beach survived.

Dad was among the troops evacuated at Dunkirk at the fall of France.  He landed in Sicily and was wounded at the Battle of Monte Casino during the Italian Campaign.

He fought his way across France after the Normandy landing and took great pride in his part in liberating Holland from the Nazis and liberating the Jews from the Vught concentration camp at Westerbork.

My father was raised a Catholic but he was not a religious man. I cling to the hope that at some point during one of those battles, Dad cried out: "Jesus, save me!" If so, then God recorded his plea in the Book of Remembrance and I will see him at the Bema Seat.

The fourth book in which our names are recorded is the Book of Births.

"Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy Book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." (Psalms 139:16)

The Scriptures tell us that our names were written in these books before the foundation of the world.

"According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: " (Ephesians 1:4)

"The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." (Revelation 17:8)

God foreordained my birth and my name was therefore recorded in the Book of Births before the foundation of the world. The Book of Tears contains the record of my trials and tribulations and disappointments.

My name was recorded in the Book of Life as well, even before I came to Christ. And my plea for salvation was recorded in the Book of Remembrance.

Those that teach temporal security point to the following verse as a proof text because it refers to blotting one's name out of the Book of Life:

"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out His name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels." (Revelation 3:5)

I believe the Bible teaches that everybody is recorded in all four books; births, remembrance, tears and life.

Babies who die as babies go to heaven, so their names must also be recorded in the Book of Life. Paul says that,

"For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." (Romans 7:9)

If that sin is not covered by the Blood of Christ by the time we leave this earth, then we have not overcome -- since we are overcomers only through the imputed righteousness of Christ and not our own righteousness, holiness or ability.

If we are not overcomers through Christ, then are our names blotted out of the Book of Life.

"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." (Revelation 20:5)

This is a lot to take in at once, so I will try to summarize. The Bible outlines four different books in which our names are recorded and against which we are judged, either at the Bema Seat or the Great White Throne.

The books record our births and our trials in this life. We are judged according to what is written in those books, and we are saved according to what is written in the other two.

God records the day we called out to Him in His Book of Remembrance or He blots our name from the Book of Life if we fail to do so in this life. If our names are still recorded in the Book of Life then we will appear before Christ at the Bema Seat for the believer's judgment.

We will still be judged based on what is written in those books, but our judgment is to determine our rewards rather than our punishment. Stop with me here for one second. Note again the criteria for appearing before the Bema Seat.

Those who stand before it trusted Jesus rather than themselves. The small and great in Christ will both be there.

Some will receive great rewards, others will receive no reward whatever apart from being permitted entry into the kingdom.

"If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." (1st Corinthians 3:15)

Then there is the Great White Throne. Those who appear before it will be judged for all their works, but they will be sentenced based on just one criteria.

Where their name should appear in the Book of Life -- there is an ink blot.

Salvation isn't difficult. It is what God created us for. Every person who ever lived is (or was once) recorded in all four books.

Whether or not one's name remains in the Book of Life depends on Who one trusts to keep it there.

"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15)

It seems a no-brainer to me.

The Late, Great Book of the Revelation

Republished from omegaletter.com
In Defense of the Faith
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Wendy Wippel

From where I sit (and I sincerely hope I’m wrong. But I don’t think so) the church as a whole seems to have kicked the prophetic Scriptures to the curb lately (despite the fact at least a third of the Bible is blatant prophecy). Notably, the book of Revelation (Despite the fact that the book of Revelation is the only book that promises special blessings to the saint (or sinner for that matter) who takes it on).  What gives?

Particularly with such obvious fulfillment of Biblical prophecy in our relative lifetimes, beginning with Israel’s return to the land in 1948 and continuing at a rapid pace since.
Particularly since the first verse of Revelation explains its importance:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. (Revelation 1:1-3)

So I did some research, and as it happens, pastors that do teach prophecy have considerable insight into the reasons that their colleagues shy away.
Actually, “Why they chicken out” would be more accurate. And the reasons fall into a few categories.

• Too controversial  There are several different interpretations of  prophetic scriptures, which could cause division.  So pastors don’t want to go there.

(As a famous Memphis pastor Adrian Rogers use to say, better divided by truth than united in error.)

• Too Complicated.. you can pretty much master many Bible topics in a fairly short amount of time, but understanding Revelation really requires mastering most of the Bible first, and then a fair amount of time in the prophetic scriptures themselves.  A seminary told me today that their Master of Divinity degree included only one course on prophetic scriptures, composing less 5% of prospective pastors’ total study.  And once working as a pastor, with management and meetings and counseling and squbbles over which shade of rose to pain the sanctuary? Who’d have the time? 
• Too Depressing  Revelation is about death, destruction, and punishment for sin, which just isn’t very uplifting.  Well, and about the long-awaited establishment of the Kingdom of Jehovah God himself on earth.   But lots of pastors would rather just think positive thoughts about the little fiefdom they are creating all inside the walls of their church.
• Too dangerous, Part I.  People (read that “potential giving units”) may think that their church is full of the kind of looney toons that actually believe that a risen Christ will return. (Exacerbated by all the date-setters that do, in fact, perpetuate that stereotype.)
• Too Dangerous, Part 2. People (read that “potential giving units”) may think we’ve saying Jesus is coming back for forty years and nothing has happened, so we better stop.

Actually, the Bible saw that coming:

"Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us,the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." (2 Peter 3:1-7)

‘nough said.  
Too Chicken
The reality is that as the 21^st century progresses the Berean saint (Acts 17) who accepted the Word of God eagerly and studied it daily is rapidly being replaced by the Burger King Saint who wants it their way—meaning self-help, feel-good, uplifting and encouraging  messages.
Think Joel Osteen and “your best life now". And nothing else. 
Heavy Sigh.
Last but not least,
Too Impressed with Themselves (Way too)
Some pastors have just decided to edit the Bible so they like it better. Rick Warren, for example, who said in the Purpose Driven life that prophecy is a distraction from our mission and that those who study prophecy (as part of the Holy Scriptures) are somehow “not fit for the kingdom of God.”
Funny, but if I remember correctly, didn’t Jesus kind of chew the Pharisees out for not knowing what was predicted? (Matthew 16:2-3)
Didn’t he tell us to watch? (Matthew 25:13)
Didn’t Peter tell us to look for his return?

“The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God.” (II Peter 3:10)

Didn’t Paul tell us that,

“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. (I Thess 5:1-6)

Prophecy is-- at the least--watching God keep His promises. (And on that basis I know some very lost people who nonetheless have some interest. And for those who know him, the relationship itself should be motivating enough.)
Because  for those saved by His Blood it’s much more.  He is our bridegroom. And what kind of bride is ambivalent about her wedding day? Any bride who loves her intended longs for the next time they’ll be together. Anticipates it. Waits for it. Longs for it.
Which makes a verse in II Timothy all the more interesting:

“There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:8 NKJV)

The crown of righteous is given to those who love his appearing.
What does that say about those who don’t care about prophecy?
About Wendy Wippel
Last week: A Saint by any Other Name

© www.omegaletter.com

Shemitah the Lord in the Air?

Prophecy - Signs
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Wendy Wippel
Reblogged from omegaletter.com
via servehiminthewaiting.com

September marks the next completion of the seven-year cycle (known as the Shemitah) established by God as a Sabbath for the land. God instructed the Children of Israel to work the land (and profit from the proceeds from selling what their families didn’t require) for six years, but in the seventh year (the Shemitah year) they were to  let the land lay fallow. They were instructed, in that Shemitah year, to also allow the poor to glean whatever the fields produced (grain, grapes and olives) for their own consumption.

No doubt this had agricultural benefit—experience in the US confirms that “fallowing” the land in dry climates allows water reserves in the soil to replenish, producing larger crop yields going forward.
But the Shemitah cycle was about more than just agricultural yields. The end of the Shemitah cycle also required  Jewish individuals to release any Jewish slaves and forgive any debts owed them by other Jews.
In other words, the end of the Shemitah cycle served as an economic reset.
Which means the next month should be interesting. Because if you’re paying attention, although the Shemitah has only again been an issue for Israel since 1948, it would seem that God has repeatedly marked the end of the Shemitah cycles by His own economic resets.

At least as long as Wall Street has been Wall Street.
In the 1901-1902 Shemita Year - Value of US Stock Market fell 46%
In the 1916-1917 Shemita Year - Value of US Stock Market fell 40%
In the 1930-1931 Shemitah Year - Value of US Stock Market fell 86%
In the 1937-1938 Shemitah Year - Value of US Stock Market fell 50%
In the 1965-1966 Shemitah Year - Value of US Stock Market fell 23%
In the 1972-1973 Shemitah Year - Value of US Stock Market f fell 48%
In the 1986-1987 Shemitah Year - Value of US Stock Market fell 33%
In the 000-2001 Shemita Year - Value of US Stock Market fell 37%
In the 2007-2008 Shemita Year-Value of U.S. Stock market value fell 50%

2014-2015 Shemita Year??  Don’t know yet, but there are 16 days left. And, given the end of last week, we would seem to be seeing the birth pangs, potentially, of a major financial earthquake in the making. The Dow Jones average closed at the highest level ever in May of this year (18,312) and we could well be looking at the biggest crash yet.
To make it just a little more interesting, the crash of 2011 occurred on the very last day of the Shemitah year, the 29^th of Elul . Shortly after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. That crash was, in fact, the largest one-day crash in all of history..
Up till then. 

Because in the  next Shemitah year, 2008, the Dow dropped 777 points. Also on the 29^th of Elul, and 7 years to the day from the 9/11 attacks. 

And now the next 29 Elul of a Shemitah year—September 13 on the current calendar-- looms on the horizon.
One word of comfort, we do know for sure, at least, that the Stock Market will not crash on the 29^th of Elul but only because that’s a Sunday. And the pattern implies a crash in the Shemitah year. So the next couple weeks will be crucial.
And nerve-racking. What really worries me is that a global financial collapse would ultimately set the stage for events that could have profound ramifications for Israel. Events which, curiously, seem to be piling up right behind the economic crisis developing.

Rosh Hashanah, for example, a festival that always kicks off the first day of a new Shemitah cycle begins on September 13.
 It’s a festival set aside for repentance. Interestingly, the Hebrew word translated “festival” is actually a word meaning rehearsal. In other words, Rosh Hashanah is a rehearsal for a real period of repentance to come before Israel’s redemption. 

That would be what’s more commonly known as the tribulation.  Which, in view of the fact that this improbable synchronicity of multiple events with potentially devastating impact on Israel seems to be taking shape at the same time as the beginning of the new Shemitah cycle, would seem to indicate that the world’s introduction to the Antichrist may be right around the corner. 
Namely:

• September 15:  The UN General Assembly Convenes in NY, with France, as widely reported, planning to propose U.N. recognition of a Palestinian State. Up until now the US has been pretty much the only dissenter, but it would seem that the current administration is ready to support Israel’s division.
• September 15:  The Jade Helm exercises conducted by the US military (directed primarily at states considered definitely or putatively hostile to the current administration, confirmed by the Washington Post) ostensibly to judge how difficult government takeover of such states would be.
• September 20: The World Council of Churches begins The “World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel.” Which kind of sounds all warm and fuzzy until you check out their website, which tells you what the week is intended to accomplish:

“The Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum (PIEF) of the World Council of Churches invites member churches, faith-based communities, and civil society organizations around the world to join together in 2015 for a week of advocacy and action in support of an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine and a just peace for all in Palestine and Israel. Congregations and individuals around the globe who share the hope of justice shall unite during the week to take peaceful actions, together, to create a common international public witness.”

• September 21: The official UN International Day of peace, (speculated to be the day that the UN will make the announcement that the UN resolution for a Palestinian State has passed).
• September 23: The Pope meets with Obama at the White House. Maybe to decide which one gets to be the antichrist and which one has to be the false prophet?  It would appear that they are going to have to decide pretty quickly, because …last but not least…
• September 23: The UN (kicked off by the, Pope himself) intends to unveil  their update to UN Agenda 21. Now known as Agenda 20/30.

AKA, a “new, universal agenda for humanity”’

And universal it is, calling for global management of the economy, education, health care, land management, energy conversation, and pretty much everything else. Apparently an extension of the pope’s call for global government in order to institute climate control and land management measures. Which, according to the Huffington Post, Obama intends to augment by an Executive Order commiting the U.S. to align itself with the Vatican/UN Agenda.

• Also September 23 (or September 25, it just gets more and more bizarre) Cern, (owner of the Large Hadron Collider) a research facility doing physics research aimed at unraveling the very basic fabric and origin of our universe, intends to unveil some sort of significant research results, results that have the internet scientists all riled up.  

Probably for good reason.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s premier particle collider, buried miles below the surface near Geneva, Switzerland and completed in 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists from hundreds of universities and laboratories in more than 100 countries. The collider, which generates energy by colliding subatomic particles, has increased the energy achieved rapidly, from less than 2 TeV per beam in 2010 to 6.5 TeV in May of this year.

At full capacity, the Large Hadron Collider can smash protons together at an incredible rate of a billion per second—an exercise which other physicists fear has the potential to alter the very foundations of our existence. What possible consequences could this have for humanity?  Apparently they don’t really know. According to Sergio Bertlucci, the director of the Swiss Laboratory, the large hadron collider “may possibly create or discover previously unimagined scientific phenomena, or for instance an extra dimension". It may open a door to other dimensions, and according to Bertulucci,
"Out of this door might come something”.

Finally, September 28:

The Feast of Tabernacles begins, in perfect unison with the last of the four blood moons that have accompanied the Jewish Holy Days during the Shemitah year just ending.  Four blood moons on High Holy Days being a portent of events that will impact the nation of Israel.

If Obama and the Pope manage to put in place a centralized world government, you can bet your sweet bootie it will impact Israel. And it’s not too hard to imagine a scenario in which Israel is forced to make a treaty with this new world government in order to stay alive.

And we all know what that means. It’s the starting point for tribulation.

Sure, it’s speculation. But an awful lot of events significant to the future of Israel occurring all at the same time begs an explanation. And if a world government is established in NY in September, it would seem that events in Daniel and Revelation are about to unfold. 

And if I read my Bible right, that means we’ll be meeting our Lord in the air.
Fortunately, I am completely convinced that if so, we’ll be watching the new world leaders orchestrate the events revealed in Revelation from the mezzanine. Because the seven year periods known as Shemitah are also grouped in seven, and the 50^th year is the year of Jubilee.

Curiously, the Hebrew word translated Jubilee is from the root word yabal, which means: “to bear along, to bring, to carry away, lead away to be brought, be led, be conducted." That’s also pretty much the definition of the rapture. To be “snatched up".

Curiously, Cern and the UN’s “Anno lucis, “year of Light?
It also means “Year of Lucifer”. Coincidence?
I guess we’ll see..