Review of the Book "The Rapture Verdict"

Republished from FB "Prophecy Watchers" page

No doubt many of you have seen the anti-rapture book that consistently draws rave reviews on Amazon's review page, The Rapture Verdict. Sadly, biblical ignorance rules the day and much of the church today. We're not interested in bashing author Michael Snyder, who seems like a genuinely nice guy with good intentions, albeit with a survivalist and social Gospel mentality. But when bad theology is being taught to the masses we feel some obligation to try and do what we can to avert the confusion. I do not know the pastor who penned this response to Michael's book, but it is spot on target with no personal agenda, or monetary motivation. I hope it reaches out to the many confused people who are preparing to endure the wrath of God, even wearing it like a badge of honor. I might add that the subject of Israel's role in the end times is nowhere to be found in this book. But that is no surprise. It fits the modus operandi perfectly. 

"The "Rapture Verdict" is not only biased, it does not speak accurately about the Word of God. It misrepresents a basic concept the Bible teaches and that so many writing books on prophecy, a subject they have little understanding of - that being God's love and grace. Few seem to understand that Israel and the Church are distinctly different subjects of the Biblical message. Misunderstanding that critical distinction you can count on falling into the trap that the author of the "Rapture Verdict" has and where the blind end up leading the blind. The author has much to learn about God's Word. For example, God uses many different grammatical devices to communicate His Word such as parables, metaphors, analogies, similitudes, types, and shadows. There are roughly 200 linguistic and grammatical devices used in the Bible. Proverbs 25:2 states that God has hidden truths for our discovery. That should serve as a hint to the reader there is more here than you think.

While the author does not recognize Bible Dispensations, his lack of understanding of Bible basics '"101" fails to take into consideration that the Bible is also structured on God's Covenants with man. He violates the common over-simplification of most churches by treating the Bible as a two-covenant book, i.e., Old and New Covenants (Testaments). The Bible identifies eight covenants in his dealing with man. His lack of understanding results in his failure to distinguish between Israel and the Church and misleads his readers.

The topic of "Typology" was all but lost a century ago and it serves as a guide to know that God does not always declare doctrine in the simplistic of ways. If you believe the Bible is the Word of God, and it is, it can be proven by at least a dozen ways that God is the Author and used humans as instruments to record His message. There are many ways to study and discern the Bible, two of my favorites are "thematically" and "typologically". The theme of "Deliverance before Judgment" is directed to the born-again believer in Jesus Christ. This theme is imparted throughout the Bible. The first example that I can think of is found in Genesis 19:12-22. Read that and you will never read the Bible or the book of Revelation the same way again. The author states that after you read his book you will never read Revelation the same way again. The author has so much to learn about God's Word.

The theme of "Grace" is found 170X times; the theme of "Mercy" is found 276X times; and the theme of "Deliverance" is found over 600X times. Those who read this can be assured that if you are a believer, you will not go through "THE TRIBULATION" of Daniel 9:24-27. The author is certainly not a Greek scholar since the Biblical word for "rapture" is "HARPAZO" and it means "to carry off, take by force, snatched away, catch up, caught up, seize by force". In all of its New Testament grammatical forms, a total of 13X times, the message is amply clear that the person, object, etc., is being "removed" with great force, like grabbing a child on the railroad tracks from an oncoming train.

While the Apostle Paul the first to teach the Rapture "Harpazo" in the New Testament, the reader might want to know that the Rapture theme can be found in the Old Testament as well, meaning "to be saved, to extricate, to rescue, to deliver". The Hebrew word is "NATSAL" and it appears 213X times throughout the Old Testament. The central point to consider here is that God offers "Deliverance before Judgment". It is a foundational tenet of the Bible so many seem to overlook.

What perturbed me about this book is the author cherry-picked church history, and names 3 early church fathers to support his position against the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. I can name a dozen early church fathers who held the opposite position in support of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Then the author predictably assigns the Pre-Trib. Rapture doctrine to a young Scottish girl by the name of Margaret MacDonald, and then by Charles Darby as originator of the teaching.

Critics of the Pre-Millennial Pre-Tribulation argue its was a new doctrine but they do not understand that beginning with Constantine and Augustine, in the early 4th century, the church snuffed out dissident thinking and teaching. Scholars either towed the Catholic doctrine or were eliminated from the scene. So there was little in print about the Pre-Tribulation doctrine until after the Reformation.

When I stated "predictably", he follows the pattern of all the rest following this scripted attacks on the Pre-Trib. doctrine it comes from ignorance [lack of knowledge] or lack of a theological education. Anti-Pre-Tribbers don't know their Bible and they don't know church history and they don't know theology! You can verify this is not the case by searching the topic "Pre-Tribulation Truth", a multiple-part series on the Pre-Tribulation teaching on the internet that offers the Bible reader incontrovertible proof for the Pre-Tribulation teaching. Just google the "Pre-Tribulation Truth". Paul was the first to teach the Pre-Tribulation Rapture and the Bible teaches that truth.

The author like most of those that attack the Pre-Tribulation position mislead their readers on the facts, and leave out facts which reveals their lack of understanding on theology in general, and lack of any scholarship when it comes to the Bible. This comes from a pre-disposition against the modern-day State of Israel. Their sell-out to "Replacement Theology" and failure to see the larger picture of the Bible makes a clear delineation between Israel and the Church and thus blinding them from seeing the truth in the Bible. The Bible makes it clear the believer in Jesus Christ will be kept from the day of God's wrath! God's wrath was on the cross for believers!

The Bible mentions the Lord's Second Coming 325X times in the New Testament. It also notes at least 15X times specific contrasts or differences that define the Rapture as being entirely different than the Second Coming. There are at least 23X times that identify the Rapture phase, and another 35X times that identify the Second Coming phase. One does not have to twist or manipulate the text as the author so states to conclude the validity of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. The core of the teaching is found in five passages: John 14:1-3; 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1st Corinthians 15:50-56; 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-12; and Revelation 4:1-2.

The Tribulation, Daniel's 70th Week, Daniel 9:24-27 is reserved for Israel and a disobedient and disbelieving world. IT IS NOT FOR THE BORN-AGAIN BIBLE BELIEVING CHRISTIAN! The subject of "The Tribulation" is well defined 49X times in the Prophets, and 15X times in the New Testament.

Jesus Christ as the Bridegroom is not going to take His bride and commit spousal abuse and then turn around and say, "Me and this girl want to get married". The reading of the Greek text for the five noted passages does not support spouse abuse. To do so would violate God's love, grace, and mercy. The author and others like him usually get their doctrine "proof text" from Matthew 24:29-31, but they do not get the point that the flow of the dialogue between Jesus and His disciples is less formal; its not laid out neatly like in a schedule program where each detail follows neatly one after the other, as if it was a program guide for a World Series baseball game.

As 2nd Peter 2:1 points out, many false teachers will come in the last days. They will not only eat your lunch, they will devour your Joy! Their heresies are damnable, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. I have been a "born-again" Christian for 51 years, a student of prophecy for 49 years. I was a computer programmer on the team that first computerized the KJV Bible in 1963/64, and later went to Bible college and seminary and became a pastor as of that privileged experience. There is much more in the Bible that the author could learn, not the least of about judging his brothers and sisters in Christ. But when it comes to the "Rapture Verdict", the judge should dismiss this case for lack of evidence beyond a shadow of doubt! Do your homework by checking out the "Pre-Tribulation Truth" series on the net, millions have had their hope restored. It will not cost you a dime either.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, do not be shaken by this shallow attack on the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. The late Hilton Sutton once said, "when the bombs are descending, the saints will be ascending". The author is no authority on the Bible, and he is a good voice for the "woe is me" as we close in on the End of Days. The Pre-Tribulation Rapture is closer than most realize and his posts on the economic collapse merely serve to support my contention we are going home very soon. He is correct when it comes to the economic collapse and it really is a reminder that as believers we are to be alert, awake, and at work to reach anyone that we can identify as unsaved!

For the bystander not knowing what to believe about the subject of the Rapture, I'm not selling a book, I am giving you the truth of the Bible freely and want you to go with us in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. There is nothing to be gained to stay behind in the hell that will follow in the period we refer to as Daniel's 70th Week. There is so much you don't know, and you have been misled by the false teachers that work on behalf of Lucifer. God will speak to your heart and mind and tell you I am right.

Rev. Robert H. Reid

The Father’s House and the Way There

Republished from lighthousetrailresearch.com

September 4th, 2016 | Author: Lighthouse Trails author

Harry A. Ironside

By Harry A. Ironside

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:1-6)

In these verses, two outstanding truths are emphasized: first, that of the Father’s house, and second, our Lord’s personal return for His own. The Lord Jesus had been giving His last messages to His disciples. He had intimated that soon they would forsake Him and flee. He had told them He was going away, and for the present, they could not come where He was to go. And in verse thirty-six of chapter thirteen we read:

Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.

He was going, you see, to the Father’s house. He was going home to God by way of the Cross and resurrection, and Peter could not follow immediately. But the Lord says, “Thou shalt follow Me afterwards.” Peter did not understand that, and he said to Him, “Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now? I will lay down my life for Thy sake” (John 13:37).

“Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for My sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied Me thrice” (John 13:38).

And then He immediately adds, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” You see, the Lord Jesus is addressing these words, of course, to all His disciples, but directly to the disciple who was to deny Him in so short a time. And this is surely very comforting for our hearts. Peter was to fail the Lord—Jesus knew he would fail—but deep in Peter’s heart, there was a fervent love for the Lord Jesus. And when he said, “I will lay down my life for Thy sake,” he meant every word of it. But he did not realize how untrustworthy his own heart was. It was a case of the spirit being willing, but the flesh weak. And Jesus knew something of the fearful discouragement that would roll over the soul of Peter when he awoke to the realization of the fact that he had been so utterly faithless in the hour of his Master’s need.

In the very time that Jesus needed someone to stand up for Him and to say boldly, “Yes, I am one of His, and I can bear witness to the purity of His life and to the goodness of His ways”—at that time, Peter, frightened by the soldiers gathered about, denied any knowledge of his Savior. And, oh, the days and nights that would follow, as he would feel that surely he must be utterly cast off, surely the Lord could never put any trust in him again! But if he remembered these words, what a comfort they must have brought to his poor aching heart! For Jesus is practically saying, “I know all about it, Peter. I know how you are going to fail, but I want you to know this; in My Father’s house are many mansions, and you are going to share one of those mansions with Me some day. I am not going to permit you, Peter, to be utterly overcome. I am not going to permit you to go into complete apostasy. You will fall, but you will be lifted up again, and you will share with Me a place in the many mansions.”

When He says, “Let not your heart be troubled,” He does not mean, “Do not be exercised about your failure,” for He Himself sought to exercise the heart of Peter, and in a wonderful way restored him by the Sea of Galilee later on. But He means this, “Do not be cast down. Do not allow the enemy of your soul to make you feel there is no further hope, there is no opportunity for you.”

I wonder if I am speaking to someone who has failed, perhaps, as Peter failed. Under the stress of circumstances you, too, have denied your Lord, denied Him in acts if not in words, and the adversary of your soul is saying to you now, “It is all up with you; your case is hopeless. You knew Christ once, but you have failed so miserably, He would never own you again.” Oh, let me assure you His interest in you is just as deep as it ever was. If you have truly trusted Him as your Savior, the fact that you failed so grievously, and the fact that you mourn over it, only emphasizes the truth that you belong to Him. Still He says, “[Return], O backsliding children, [unto Me]; for I am married unto you” (Jeremiah 3:14)—not, “I am divorced from you.” And therefore He waits for you to come back and confess your failure and your sin, and He has promised complete restoration, for, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). And some day for you, too, there will be a place in the Father’s house.

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” You see, in the days gone by before Jesus came to them at all, the people of Israel did have faith in the one true and living God. Now they had never seen Him, and Jesus is saying to His disciples, “You have believed in God when you couldn’t see Him, now I am going away in a little while and you won’t be able to see Me, but I want you to trust Me just the same as when I was here. Just as you have believed in the unseen God through the years, I want you to put your faith in Me, the unseen Christ, after I have gone back to the Father.” Do we have that implicit trust and confidence in Him, realizing that He is deeply interested in every detail of our own lives? The Word says, “Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7). There is absolutely nothing that concerns His people about which He Himself is not concerned. And therefore, He would have us put away all the stress and all the anxiety. He says, “Be careful [anxious] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6). “Ye believe in God, believe also in Me.”

And then He adds, “In My Father’s house are many mansions.” “My Father’s house,” and by that of course He means Heaven, and He is speaking of a place, a place to which He was going, and a place into which some day He will take all His own. I often hear people say, “Heaven is a condition rather than a place.” Heaven is both a place and a condition. It is true we do not read a great deal about Heaven in the Bible. Somebody has said, “Heaven is the land of no more.” We have more in the Bible about what will not be in Heaven than about what will be there.

Remember in the book of Revelation, we read that there will be no more sin, there will be no more tears, there will be no more pain, there will be no more sorrow, there will be no more curse, there will be no more darkness, there will be no more distress of any kind in the Father’s house. The Father’s house is the place where Christ is, and that is the place to which the redeemed are going.

“If it were not so, I would have told you.” What does He mean by that? The Jews had had a belief in a heaven of bliss after death, and Jesus said, “If you had been wrong in that, I would have corrected you.” But because He didn’t correct it but rather affirmed it, we know that it is true, that there is a glorious home beyond the skies for the redeemed which we shall share with Him by-and-by.

He adds, “I go to prepare a place for you.” What does He mean by that? You see the mansions are different from what they were before He went back there. Before He went back to the Father’s house, the sin question had never been settled. Before He went back to the Father’s house, the veil had not been rent, the blood had not been sprinkled on the mercy-seat. So the saints of old went to Paradise on credit. They did not have the same blessed access into the immediate presence of God that the saints have now. We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews that we have now come to the spirits of just men made perfect. They were the spirits of just men of all the centuries before the Cross; God had redeemed them and taken them to Paradise, but they were not yet made perfect. They could not be until the precious blood of Jesus was shed on the Cross. Now having settled the sin question, He entered into the holiest with His own blood in antitypical fashion, sprinkled His own blood on the mercy-seat above, and now a place is prepared in the holiest for all of His own, and the spirits of just men of the past have been perfected, and we who believe now are perfected forever. So we are all suited to that place to which we are going. “I go to prepare a place for you.”

And then He said, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” Now I know that a great many people think of this as a word in regard to death, and of course, when a believer dies, that believer goes to be with Christ. But we are never told in Scripture that in the hour of death Christ comes for His people. If we may draw an analogy from something our Lord said when He was here on earth, we gather that that is hardly true. We are told that a dear child of God was dying—he was a beggar, it is true. He was an outcast, lying at the rich man’s gate, but he was a real son of Abraham. He had faith in the God of all grace. And the beggar died, we are told, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. Angels carried the poor beggar—poor no longer—into Paradise. What I rather gather from that, is that the last ministry of angels, who are ever keeping watch over the people of God, will be to usher them into the presence of God. He is yonder in the Father’s house, and His angels usher His saints into His presence.

But He is speaking of something different here. Death is the believer going to be with Christ. That is what the Scripture tells us—”Absent from the body . . . present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8); “To depart, and be with Christ; which is far better” (Philippians 1:23). But a believer going home to be with Christ is spoken of as being unclothed, having laid his body aside. He is there in the presence of the Lord a glorified spirit, but he is there waiting for his redeemed body. When the Lord Jesus fulfills that which is spoken here in the fourteenth chapter of John, then believers will receive their glorified bodies and will be altogether like Him. This coming, referred to here, is developed for us more fully in the fourth chapter of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians. 

There we read in verse thirteen: “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep”—that is, saints whose bodies are sleeping in the graves but whose spirits are with Christ—“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). 

This is the coming our Savior refers to when He says: “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself” (John 14:3). It is at that coming that the expectation of our completed redemption will be fulfilled. In Romans eight, the apostle Paul tells us in verse nineteen:

“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” Verses twenty-two and twenty-three: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption—”What does he mean by that?—”to wit, the redemption of our body.”
 
Our spirits have already been redeemed, we have already received the salvation of our souls, but we are waiting for the complete salvation of the body, the redemption of the body at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope” (Romans 8:24). What hope is it then? The hope of the coming of our Lord. And to this He refers again in the third chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians, where we read in verse twenty: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”

About the way there. Will everybody get to the Father’s house? I wish that they would. Richard Baxter used to pray, “Oh, God, for a full Heaven and an empty hell!” But alas, alas, many persist in rebellion against God and so that prayer can never be answered! There is only one way to the Father’s house. And what is that way? I have had people say to me so many times, “We are traveling different roads, but we will all get to Heaven at last.” No, no; I don’t find that in my Bible. My Bible says, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 16:25), and it warns me against taking the broad way that leads to destruction and tells me to take the narrow way that leads to life.
And so here Jesus says, “And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto Him—” Thomas was honest and he was never afraid just to blurt out all the truth. He said, “We don’t know what You are talking about. We have to confess we are ignorant, and we don’t know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”

Jesus said unto him—and, oh, dear friends, you get what He said, for it is for you as well as for Thomas—”Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

Oh, don’t talk about many ways. There is only one—Jesus is the only way. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, but the name of Jesus. Have you come to Him? Are you trusting Him? If you are, you are on the way to the Father’s house, and now you can wait with equally glad expectation for the hour of His return, for He said, “If I go, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself.” When will He come? We can’t tell that, but we are waiting for Him day by day.

I know not when the Lord will come
Or at what hour He may appear,
Whether at midnight or at morn,
Or at what season of the year.
I only know that He is near,
And that His voice I soon shall hear.
I only know that He is near,
And that His voice I soon shall hear.

Dr. Harry Ironside’s writings are in the public domain.

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Do Gentiles Become Jews When They Believe?

Republished from lighthousetrailsresearch.com

September 3rd, 2016 | Author: Lighthouse Trails author

By Mike Oppenheimer Let Us Reason Ministries

When a Gentile becomes a believer in Christ, he becomes part of the body of Christ, not Israel. He is a spiritual Gentile, not a Jew.  Israel is a nation consisting of Jews; Hebrews are an ethnicity who are from the linage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (the twelve tribes). A Gentile (both believer and non-believer) is from Abraham, not Isaac and Jacob.

Being Abraham’s seed does not make one Jewish; this is where people have been taught wrong. Its Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, (from whom came the 12 tribes); otherwise the Arabs are Jewish too. Selah.

John 18:35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me.”

Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”
It is written “that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.” (Acts 26:23). Two groups of people. Later it was Saul who was specifically called to this other group while the original apostles worked among their people, the Jews. Paul was also going to the Jews first as his priority, but they rejected the message from him and said in Acts 28:28 “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!”
Romans 11:12-13: “Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry.” He spoke of himself as “a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth” (1 Timothy 2:7).

Paul made the distinction between Gentiles and Jews before their salvation and continued this distinction afterwards in Romans 2:9,10.
Romans 10:12-13: “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

He is not saying Jews and Gentile are no longer valid or erased, but that both call upon the Lord for salvation.

Under the new covenant.

Romans 2:28-29: “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.”

In other words, one must have faith to be a Jew, not just in their lineage. It was also a matter of the heart.

Speaking to the Gentiles, Galatians 3:29: “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” He refers to one being of the seed of Abraham as one exercising faith.

Paul had to rebuke Peter:
Galatians 2:14: But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?

Clearly, there were distinctions; yet he also said of those who were in the body of Christ to not see each other as they did before.

Colossians 3:10-11: “and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.”
Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

What he is saying is that as the body of Christ we are all children of God and that any differences should not be used to divide (2 Corinthians 12:13). Jew and Greek is a more specific substitute for the distinction of Jew and Gentile. There were still slaves and masters existing at the time just as there were still men and women. But this was to be overlooked in defining a person who is now in Christ.

In the same way Matthew 19:6 says: “So then, they are no longer two but one flesh.” This does not mean one literal person, but speaks spiritually.

Jesus says in Revelation 2:9: “and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”

Clearly there were those who claimed to be Jews but were not believers and were against the Messiah (as in Acts 14:2).

The Gentiles as said to be called by His name (Acts 15). Acts 21:25: “Gentiles who believe.”
Paul never said Gentiles were Jews after they believe.

Romans 15:10-11: And again, he says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!” And again: “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!”

Galatians 3:14 says that the “blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

Ephesians 3:6 explains that “the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel.”

Acts 17:17: “Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.”
Just as Gentiles were not called Jews when they worshiped God in the synagogue, they are not called Jews when they believe in Messiah Jesus. Rather, they are fellow heirs; they become believers, spiritual Gentiles. this distinction continues through the Scriptures.

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What the Appointment of The High Priest Portends

Republished from billrandles.wordpress.com

Posted on August 30, 2016 by billrandles

Via servehiminthewaiting.com
 

Those aware of the biblical prophecies,  have been stunned by the recent announcement by the Great Sanhedrin of Israel, of the selection of Israel’s first High Priest in nearly two thousand years. The Great Sanhedrin, an assembly of elders of the nation, spoken of in the account of the trial of Jesus in the Gospel of John 11:45-57,  went out of existence in 385 AD and has only recently been revived.

The Sanhedrin has written letters to the U.N. in the name of the God of Israel and of the Bible, such as this warning delivered in the days of the infamously slanderous, anti-semitic Goldstone report,

The letter states that the Goldstone Report is an “attack on the State of Israel, and thus an attack on the Jewish People, in order to try to remove it from the stage of history by an unprecedented shedding of blood – tacitly encouraging Iran and those like it to continue to develop weapons of mass destruction while the rest of the world sits by and looks on… We are convinced that the continued discussion of this report, which is lacking all moral basis, will lead the nations of the world, and all of mankind, to the judgment that will take place in Jerusalem in the Valley of Jehoshafat, as written in the Prophets and Torah of Israel.” Sanhedrin to UN

 

A A significant step was recently taken towards reinstating the Temple service when the nascent Sanhedrin selected Rabbi Baruch Kahane as the next Kohen Gadol (high priest). The selection was made as a precaution for Yom Kippur. If the political conditions should change, allowing the Jews access to the Temple Mount, they will be required by Torah law to bring the sacrifices. Rabbi Kahane is confident that if that should happen, Temple service could begin in less than one week.

This year has already seen much Temple-oriented activity: the Temple Institute has created a registry of kohanim; established a school for educating men of the priestly class in the details of the Temple service; and performed reenactments on all the holidays, including the especially significant Passover sacrifice.
 
From Breaking Israel News
The meaning of the election of the High Priest is clear to those attentive to the prophecies…

• The one known as the Antichrist is going to negotiate a way for Israel to resume temple worship, and most notably the daily sacrifice– “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”(Daniel 9:27)
• The AntiChrist will desecrate the Jewish temple and cause sacrifice to cease–“And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.”(Daniel 12:11)
• The point at which the AntiChrist desecrates the rebuilt temple, and cuts off the daily sacrifice which he had earlier negotiated for the Jews , marks the beginning of the great Tribulation and the final three and a half years.“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:… For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”(Matthew 24:15-21)

Of course the Temple, sacrifices and High Priest are not those appointed by God anyway, for Israel has a high Priest, not selected by the revived Sanhedrin, but appointed by the God of Psalm 110-
The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.  The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.(Psalm 110:4-6)

Pray for Israel, her greatest trial draws nigh and this alternate “High Priest” with his pseudo sacrifices in the doomed temple, cannot divert them from the “Time of Jacob’s trouble”.
The Real Messiah ended blood sacrifices and temple worship in his own once and for all-time sacrifice, when He died on the cross and the curtain in the true temple was torn from top to bottom.

The false Messiah to come shall also halt animal sacrifice, but not because he offers himself as a propitiation, but because he will soon sit in the very Holy Place of the New Temple, and proclaim himself God!
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God…. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,( 2 Thessalonians 2:4-9)

Do you see how close we are?

Ecumenical Movement Tries To Push Catholic & Protestant Churches Together

 Republished from prophecynewswatch.com
image: http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/images/recent/ecumenicalsept012016.jpg
 

By Tom Olago September 01, 2016

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Are there fundamental differences between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism? Do any such differences matter at all? Historical events demonstrate that Protestant belief was in fact birthed out of a major protest or rebellion against theological doctrines held by the Catholic Church that were considered heretical.

Heather Clark for ChristianNews.net recently narrated a summary of the historical chronology of events that led up to the current split. Clark recounted that the Protestant Reformation, which resulted in the Counter-Reformation by the Jesuits, was sparked by a monk and scholar named Martin Luther, who served the Roman Catholic Church in Wittenberg, Germany.

 "I think I've found the truth at last," the classic film "Martin Luther" depicts Luther as stating to a Church official. "By faith man lives and is righteous, not by what he does for himself, be it adoration of relics, singing of masses, pilgrimages to Rome, purchase of pardon for his sins, but by faith in what God has done for him already through His Son."

Following the revelation, Luther began to challenge the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, compiling a list of '95 theses' where he asserted that Catholic doctrine contradicted the Scriptures. He was later summoned to appear before a meeting of the Church and was declared a heretic and excommunicated.

Yet today there is a drive to re-unite the two major but opposite theological camps in an ecumenical exercise that emphasizes unity irrespective of significant doctrinal difference and conflicting Biblical interpretations with regards to the Christian tenets of faith.

In one such example, Clark reported that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recently voted overwhelmingly to approve a declaration of unity with the Roman Catholic Church in an endeavor to "enumerate the many points of agreement between Lutherans and Catholics"--a move that some state is contrary to Biblical Christianity.

Coincidentally, the ELCA and Roman Catholicism both teach 'replacement theology', i.e. that the church has replaced Israel and become the heir of all covenants made with her. This could explain the two anti-Israel resolutions passed at the recent ELCA assembly. 

The "Declaration on the Way" was approved 931-9 in New Orleans. It "seeks to make more visible the unity we share by gathering together agreements reached on issues of church, Eucharist, and ministry." However, it is called "on the way" because "dialogue has not yet resolved all the church-dividing differences on these topics."

"Dear sisters and brothers, let us pause to honor this historic moment," ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton said in an address to the assembly. "Though we have not yet arrived, we have claimed that we are, in fact, on the way to unity. After 500 years of division and 50 years of dialogue, this action must be understood in the context of other significant agreements we have reached, most notably the 'Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification' in 1999."

While this month's ELCA declaration calls out points of agreement between evangelical Lutherans and Roman Catholics, it also outlines several areas where differences remain between the two entities:

" Roman Catholics believe in transubstantiation, while Lutherans do not believe that communion is transformed "into the [actual] substance of the body and blood of Christ."

" Lutherans question the global papacy, which Roman Catholics assert is of the succession of Peter.

Mike Gendron, a former Roman Catholic who now leads Proclaiming the Gospel Ministries, an organization dedicated to evangelizing Catholics, said that the ECLA is in error in seeking to find common ground with Roman Catholicism despite these doctrinal disparities.

"By seeking unity with the Catholic religion they are departing from the Biblical faith of the Reformers," he told Christian News Network. "They need to know that there can never be Biblical unity between Roman Catholics and denominations which uphold the Gospel of God."

He noted several other integral and fundamental differences between evangelicals and Roman Catholics:

" The Bible teaches justification by faith; Catholicism condemns with anathema those who believe justification is by faith alone (Romans 4);

" The Bible teaches we are born again by the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit; Catholicism teaches regeneration is by water baptism (John 3);

" The Bible teaches we are purified of sin by the blood of Jesus; Catholicism teaches purification is by the fires of purgatory (1 John 1:7);

" The Bible teaches that Jesus is the one Mediator between God and man; Catholicism offers many mediators including Mary and its priests (1 Timothy 2:5).

Gendron said that unity simply for the sake of religious unity is contrary to the Scriptures.

Yet another clear bone of contention is the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ who holds an elevated and revered position in Roman Catholicism. Clark in a separate report stated that Pope Francis recently prayed for Mary to intercede for the oppressed. 

The Pope recently urged the thousands gathered to observe what is known as the Roman Catholic "Feast of the Assumption" that Mary had been "assumed into Heaven body and soul."

"To the Queen of Peace, who we contemplate today in heavenly glory, I wish to entrust once again the anxieties and sufferings of the people who, in many parts of the world, are innocent victims of persistent conflict," he said. The Pope also led those gathered in the Magnificat and a recitation of the Angelus Domini.

Gendron held this belief about Mary to be un-Biblical. "The dogma that celebrates the assumption of Mary's body into Heaven is closely tied to another Catholic dogma, which is, the immaculate conception of Mary," he explained. "In 1854, Pope Pius IX declared Mary was conceived free from original sin and she remained free of every personal sin throughout her entire life (Catechism of the Catholic Church, para 491, 493)."

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"Two thousand years ago the Pharisees nullified the word of God with their ungodly traditions and were soundly rebuked and called hypocrites by the Lord Jesus (Mark 7:6-14). Catholic bishops have made the same fatal error by rejecting and opposing God's word," Gendron said.

He noted that the Bible clearly states that all have sinned--including Mary, who Catholics declare to have been conceive immaculately, i.e. without inherited sin, and therefore received into Heaven bodily.

"In Romans 3:10-12, 23, we read, 'None is righteous, no, not one...All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one ... all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.' 

Gotquestions.com explains that Mary herself understood this fact, as she declared in Luke 1:47, ". . . and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. . ." Mary recognized that she needed the Savior. The Bible never says that Mary was anyone but an ordinary human whom God chose to use in an extraordinary way. 

Despite these stark differences on critical aspects of doctrine, the ecumenical movement continues to seek unity at any cost. Early June, Clark reported on an event featuring Hillsong United, Lecrae, Michael W. Smith, Josh McDowell, Ravi Zacharias, Francis Chan and other prominent evangelical and Catholic speakers and musicians that took place in Washington, D.C. 

Worship leader, Matt Maher, who identifies as a Roman Catholic, has declared at other ecumenical events, that he believes it is his calling to work toward to the unification of Christians and Catholics. 

"We've never seen a unified church before in the history of the church since the Reformation. We don't even know what it looks like," he said at OneThing 2015. "I think what the work of unity starts with [is]: It starts with us praying together. It starts with us fellowshipping together. It starts with us having a common respect for each other, a love for each other."

 "Together 2016" was convened with the unity agenda in mind. The ecumenical event was held on July 16 at the National Mall in Washington, and sought to unite those of various backgrounds to "stand together for Jesus." Both Christians and Catholics alike were featured at the prayer and worship event.

"Together 2016 is about laying aside what divides us to lift up Jesus who unites us," organizer Nick Hall of PULSE told Christian News Network. "We are coming together in historic unity to pray for a reset for our nation."

Pope Francis also delivered a video message to those in attendance.

"We are humbled and honored by his involvement and are eager to share his message with the crowd that gathers at Together 2016," Hall told the Christian Post. "That His Holiness would choose to speak into this historic day is a testament to the urgency and the need for followers of Jesus to unite in prayer for our nation and our world."

Gendron begged to differ, saying that Jesus Himself came to divide with truth, and prayed that His Church would be sanctified by that truth.

"It was the Lord Jesus Christ who came to divide: He divides with His word and His gospel. He divides mother against daughter, father against son--and we must remain sanctified and not united with any who are not born again," he explained. "More than ever, we must maintain the exclusivity of the Gospel of Christ. What hope does an unbelieving world have unless we maintain the purity of the Gospel?"

Gendron also stated that he is concerned about the message that it will send when Christians see evangelical leaders involved with an event that validates Roman Catholicism and therefore does not view those in that religion as a mission field.

"This is going to put the Gospel off-limits to many Roman Catholics who are there, so it will also confuse the evangelical Church," he said.

According to gotquestions.com, confusion is already rampant in this regard. The site teaches that a key distinction between Catholics and Christians is the view of the Bible. Catholics view the Bible merely as having equal authority with the Church and tradition while Christians view the Bible as the supreme authority for faith and practice. 

A second key difference between Catholics and Bible Christians is the understanding of how we can approach God. Catholics tend to approach God through intermediaries, such as Mary or the saints. Christians approach God directly, offering prayers to no one other than God Himself. The Bible proclaims that we ourselves, through Christ our High Priest, can approach God's throne of grace with boldness. (Hebrews 4:16)

There is no need for mediators or intermediaries, as Christ is our one and only Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), and both Christ and the Holy Spirit are already interceding on our behalf (Romans 8:26-27; Hebrews 7:25). 

Gotquestions.com adds that the most crucial difference between Catholics and Bible Christians is on the issue of salvation. Catholics view salvation almost entirely as a process, while Christians view salvation as both a completed status and a process. 

Catholics see themselves as "being saved," while Christians view themselves as "having been saved." 

The Bible presents salvation as a gift that is received the moment a person places faith in Jesus Christ as Savior (John 3:16) and that salvation is an accomplished work, purchased by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ (1 John 2:2). Hebrews 7:27 says, "He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself." 

The Catholic viewpoint is that salvation is received by faith, but then must be "maintained" by good works and participation in the Sacraments. 

In the light of all these critical and undeniable differences, should Christians and Catholics still be uniting ecumenically without addressing these major issues, pretending that they don't exist or are not of any consequence? 

Should unity be had at the expense of Biblical truth? Should traditions take precedence over the revealed will of God? As Jesus aptly stated: "Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Mark 7:7).

Yes, both groups should have a mutual love for each other. However, the scriptures still admonish Bible believers not to be "unequally yoked" with non-believers (2 Corinthians 6:14) but to rather "come out from among them" (2 Corinthians 6:14) and to avoid fellowship with those not in agreement with the infallibility and final authority of the Scriptures.

Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=608#pARJ3GTjXxYDx8ci.99

NEW HQ FOR NEW PERSIAN EMPIRE? ...by Brian Schrauger

Republished from jerusalemjournal.net

by  Brian Schrauger

Thursday, September 1, 2016

News and Views

Iran has a new military HQ. Called the 'Glasshouse' in downtown Damascus, it is directing Tehran's effort to defeat ISIS in Syria. Is it also a command post to establish a new Persian empire as a kind of 'womb' to deliver Islam's messianic Mahdi?

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Spies inside Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards have leaked intelligence from Damascus to a dissident group called The National Council of Resistance of Iran, a.k.a. NCRI. According to that intelligence, Tehran has established a state-of-the-art military headquarters in downtown Damascus. Called Glasshouse, the building is used as the control center for managing billions of dollars Tehran has invested in Syria's military arsenal over the past five years - and the tens of thousands of troops it commands.

According to the United Kingdom's Daily Mail that broke the story, Iran's new HQ "plays a pivotal role in supporting Assad's regime alongside Russia."
Bashar Assad is the authoritarian President of Syria. Elected in 2000 and re-elected in 2007, both times on a ballot with only one candidate, Assad has waged a brutal war against rebel forces since 2011. At least 500,000 have been killed and an estimated 5 million have fled the country, many of them flooding Europe.

The conflict has been a magnet for world forces, attracting arsenals and troops from every superpower state. Hardware and armed forces continue to populate the landscape from Russia, China, the United States and Europe. All of them have justified their growing presence in the name of fighting evil. Western powers have said the evil is Assad. For their part, Russia has championed the defense of Assad, naming Islamic State as the predominant evil that must be defeated.

From the beginning, the Syrian conflict has been enflamed by the real power behind Assad's throne. His well-known puppet master is Iran. Accordingly, his ruthless rule has been financed and orchestrated by Tehran's imams. The appearance of Islamic State, a.k.a. ISIS or ISIL, has been a gift to the Islamic Republic. The success of ISIS in horrifying the world has provided cover for an immense build up of Iranian weapons. It has also provided justification for a military alliance with Russia which, for its part, has descended on the scene as the predominant superpower in the Middle East. With its own economic and military agendas, Russia has drawn China into the fray. In recent weeks, it has also recruited Turkey away from its alliance with the West.

With proxy powers in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and now, perhaps, Turkey, Tehran's ambition has been transparent. Its leaders have repeatedly declared their desire to establish a regional, then global, Islamic superpower. Called a caliphate, Iran's vision includes the appearance of an Islamic messiah figure called the Mahdi.

According to Tehran's version of Islam, when the Mahdi steps on stage, he will be joined by the second coming of Jesus. According to Islam, Jesus - only human, not divine - is a prophet of Allah. The Islamic narrative is that, upon his return, Jesus will serve the Mahdi who, for his part, will govern for seven years, his tenure ending with Allah's Day of Judgment.

Based on its conduct and publicly declared doctrines, Iran's apparent conviction is that the necessary womb to deliver the Mahdi is the establishment of a new Persian empire.
Either before its establishment or shortly thereafter, Iran's "beatific" vision includes the complete destruction of Israel. While world media ignores or downplays Iran's Judenfrei caliphate ambitions, Jerusalem does not.

Today its attention is drawn to the multi-million dollar military headquarters, the Glasshouse, in downtown Damascus.
Intelligence that was "leaked" from someone inside Iran's Revolutionary Guards has been compiled into a dossier by the dissident group NCRI. 
Made public this week, that dossier, says Daily Mail, is described as "credible by (Western) intelligence experts." What it reveals is sobering.

Iran controls the biggest fighting force in Syria; has military bases throughout the splintered state; and has amassed a war-chest far greater than feared in support of the Syrian president.

Prevailing intelligence has estimated Iranian forces at 16,000. In fact, when Tehran's proxy forces are added, the Islamic Republic controls upward of 73,000 troops. Assad's army, estimated at 50,000, is a distant second to Iran. When Syria's recognized status as a puppet regime is acknowledge, the total number of troops controlled by Iran in Syria are over 120,000 soldiers.

What's more, NCRI's dossier also reveals that Iran has invested no less than 100 billion dollars in Syria since the conflict began in 2011. This is 6.66 times the amount Western analysts have estimated who place the investment at 15 billion.
It is Russia's endorsement of Iran that perhaps explains its sense of security in setting the Glasshouse in Damascus and in plain view. 

What does it all mean? There are at least two obvious conclusions. 
Dr. Tabrizi is the Iranian specialist for RUSI, a British defense think tank. The Daily Mail reports his conclusion that, at the very least, "the massive Iranian presence [in Syria] raises the danger of escalation." The combination of that "massive presence" with the backing of Russia further elevates the danger.

For now, Jerusalem is out of the crosshairs. But its proximity to swelling forces in Syria, combined with Iran's repeated pledge to annihilate the Jewish State, is provoking Israel's watchmen to keep a close eye on rapidly changing developments. As indeed they must, in such a time as this.

God Smacked

Republished from omegaletter.comGod Smacked
Witnessing Tools
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Wendy Wippel 

''Whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives'' (Hebrews 12:6). Not a warm fuzzy verse but one that speaks of His love. And we've all recognized God's discipline once or twice.

But has God ever reached out and slapped you when you needed it? He has me. Once:
Here's the story.  It was 1985, and I had just completed my Master of Science at The Ohio State University.  A fledging molecular biologist, I intended to continue on for a Ph.D.  And then things changed.  My advisor lost his research funding.

What to do?  As it happened, the collegiate church I was involved in was in the midst of planning a church plant at the University of Cincinnati.  My home town. 
It seemed like an omen.  Particularly when in practically no time I landed a research job in the medical center at the University of Cincinnati, and within just a couple of weeks I was home.

The church plant, when the dust cleared, consisted of 26 adults: two pastors (with  their families) and 22 singles.   Twenty-two singles (to be specific) that consisted of 17 young men and five young women. 
Which for the five young women involved, was pretty good odds.  (For the Lord longs to be gracious to you…. what can I say?)
For me, however, as one of those singles, there were just a couple of problems.

Problem #1:  I had just finished graduate school, having worked a few years in between my bachelor's and master's degrees.  All the young men were fresh out of college.  (I was headed toward thirty, and they were barely twenty).
In fact, they had the nerve to call me Grandma Moses.

Problem #2: I was at the time…. how shall I say this?   Big boned?  Pleasingly plump?   Full-figured?
Ok.  I'll admit it.  I was one hefty girl. "Queen-sized".  (It was stamped into my panty hose.)
I was fat.  Very fat.
And as such, as the inevitable romances in a single's group flared and died (or flared and tied), I was invisible.  Just never in the running.  On the outside looking in.  And Hell hath no misery like a woman scorned.  Depression and an absolute, all-pervasive despair threatened to drag me under.

And then it was time for the annual retreat.
This particular year the single's retreat was to be held in Bellefontaine, OH, a couple of hours drive from Cincinnati.  The group assorted itself into carloads, mainly on the basis of departure times dictated by work schedules.  When all was said and done I hooked up to ride with a new girl (that made six!) named Annette.

Annette had just joined the group, but was obviously a sweetheart and an enthusiastic, growing Christian.  To meet her was to know she had a passion for her Redeemer.
But this one thing I had against her… Okay, these four things:  She was blond, she was bubbly, she was a former cheerleader, and every single guy in the single's group had, at first sight, immediately fallen madly, head-over-heals in love with her.  And for that (though I barely knew her), try as I might to overcome it, I really hated her.

In just a few days time, nonetheless, I found myself beside Annette,  in the front seat of her car, headed toward Bellefontaine.
Like I said, she had just joined the group.  We chatted, and as the miles went by the conversation moved past small talk into the more spiritual realm.  She started to open up, and told me that God had really revealed Himself to her, over the last year or so, as a real God.  A personal God.  A God who loved her.  A God who could really comfort her.   And all these things had come about in the midst of some hard times she had been having.
I hate to admit this, but here's the deal.  At this point I'm sitting there looking at blond, bubbly, Annette, and really not empathizing at all.  I'm thinking it's just the typical scripted Christian patter.  What Christian's say to each other so the other person knows how spiritual you are.

Bottom line.  I just couldn't get past my pain.
And this is what I'm thinking:  "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. You're blond, you're beautiful, you have every guy that meets you wrapped around your finger.  What", I think to myself, "could you know about hard times?'

But then I realized that Annette was telling me the rest of the story.
Namely, that on one particularly cold night, midwinter night not quite a year before, Annette had just graduated from nursing school, and her large family wanted to celebrate her achievement.  As well as a couple family birthdays.  They set up a family celebration at Annette's favorite restaurant in Toledo, where Annette lived.  Annette piled into the family car with, her mother and father, a sister, a brother, and the sister's husband and set off down the road to meet various other family members as agreed. 

Light snow was falling, but winter in Toledo is no big deal.  There's lots of snow.
Lots of snow, that, in fact, tends to melt and turn to ice, and on this particular evening the car hit a patch of black ice and slid head-on into oncoming traffic.  Oncoming traffic in the form of an 18-wheeler.  It was a horrendous crash, and soon the occupants of the family car littered the freeway.
Annette, having occupied the middle of the back seat, was blessedly uninjured. And she did what any good nurse would do, running from family member to family member,  checking vital signs.
Every single occupant of the car-- except Annette-- was dead.

It was at that point in her story that I felt as if the hand of God had literally reached down and slapped me into next Tuesday.  And I recognized my self-absorption, my ingratitude (for a million blessings), and my basic unbelief for what it was. .  It was if I audibly heard Him say, "Wendy, what do YOU know about having hard times."

And though my struggle with whining at God didn't end there, it definitely got set on a path towards victory.
And ultimately, the rest of the story for me is that we are God's children, and as His children, whether we're covered with mud or blood or snot or rot (spiritual rot), when we call on Him--like a loving parent-- He picks us up.  And then He cleans us up.  And He's never shocked.
It's only us that forgets that our hearts are desperately wicked and without cure.

"And we have known and believed the love that God has for us." (I John 4:16)

And we know and come to believe his love through our trials.  Specifically, through His faithfulness in our trials.

And God was faithful to me.  God's revelation of my heard through Annette was not the end of my story. God later blessed me with a similar experience--similar in that I heard Him speak to me so clearly it changed my life.   And the second time it was not censure, but solace. 

But I will have to share that one some other time.

Originally Written July 2, 2013

About Wendy Wippel