1 Thessalonians 5

Today, I'm going to quote the entire fifth chapter of 1 Thessalonians.  I cracked open my Bible today, and felt compelled to quote this chapter to you.  This is an excellent chapter to awaken sleeping Christians.

The emphasis and notes placed upon the text is my own.

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1 Thessalonians 5

The Day of the Lord

 ¹ Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, ² for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³ While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  ⁴ But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. (Every Christian should be able to recognize the return of our Lord.) ⁵ You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. ⁶

So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. ⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. ⁸ But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. ⁹ For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath (the Rapture is NOT a cop-out for Christians to skip the Trib) but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁰ He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, (those living or dead when Christ returns) we may live together with him. ¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Final Instructions

 ¹² Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. ¹³ Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. ¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. (Warn everyone!) ¹⁵ Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.  ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, (you need a relationship with God, not just lip service)¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (Even the hard times, folks.)

 ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; (the prophecies are there to WARN us!! If you are unsure, TEST them, STUDY them for yourself!) hold on to what is good, ²² reject every kind of evil.

 ²³ May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

 ²⁵ Brothers and sisters, pray for us. ²⁶ Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss. ²⁷ I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters.

 ²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Amen.
~~Becka

Pre-Trib vs Pre-Wrath: What is our "Blessed Hope"?

A literal interpretation of the Bible outlines a Pre-Trib Rapture. The more I study the ancient Jewish wedding, the more I'm convinced it is a picture of God's plan for His Church in the last days. ESPECIALLY because Christ continually calls His Church the "Bride" and Himself as the "Bridegroom" throughout Scripture.

Logic follows that God wouldn't make that comparison unless our relationship to Him is like a husband and wife (Ephesians 5:24-26). And since God's chosen people are the Jews, it stands to reason He would parallel that "husband/wife" relationship with His Church in the context of a Jewish wedding.

True, we are not Jews, we are the Gentile Church. But we have been grafted onto His chosen people through the redemption of Christ. (Romans 3:29) God doesn't do things on OUR timetable or OUR calendar. He never changes, therefore, He works on the Jewish calendar and through Jewish traditions. In light of Bible prophecy, we must always remember this.

~~Becka

The Earth is in Hard Labor

The 8.9 earthquake that struck Japan today is not the "only" earthquake they've had. I'm not talking about mere "aftershocks" every quake has. Japan has been rumbling hard lately, seemingly ramping up for this quake. Did you know in the past few days, they've had SWARMS of earthquakes, and not small 2's and 3's. They've been 5's, 6's, and 7's, all substantial earthquakes in their own right.

Here is another earthquake update on what's been going on, again using the program called "Earthquake 3D" that you can download for free off the Internet. It's powered by the USGS, however it does not show the activity for Europe, as that information is not monitored by the USGS. But that is not to say quakes haven't been hitting Europe. You can look it up.

But even without the data from Europe, you can see for yourself the obvious uptick in earthquake activity, even in the past week. When we thought we had it bad when the New Zealand earthquake hit, the quakes have seemed to gain in power and intensity since then. And that wasn't very long ago, a couple of weeks at best.

God's got this Earth by the collar and shaking it, yelling at us to WAKE UP! The time to get right with God is now.

I doubt we've heard the last from Japan. My prayers are with them, and anyone effected by the tsunami.

~~Becka

Everything is a Prophetic Picture

Did you know that pretty much everything God does is a prophetic picture of what is to come?  He does this so we can look back and realize just how pervasive His plan is.  Abraham called to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar was a prophetic picture of God sacrificing His own Son.  The very first Passover in Egypt was a prophetic picture with the lamb's blood covering the doorways for the Angel of Death to "pass over" them.  It was a picture of Christ's blood atonement, the Lamb of God.

But did you know the ancient Jewish wedding AND the Jewish Feasts are also prophetic pictures?  Did you know that Christ is fulfilling the Feasts?  The Feast of Passover, He was killed.  The Feast of Unleavened Bread, He was in the tomb.  The Feast of First Fruits, He rose from the dead.  And Pentacost is when He sent His Holy Spirit down to His church.

So what feasts are next?  The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hoshanah), The Feast of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.  Many scholars believe the Rapture will be the fulfillment of Rosh Hoshanah, the Feast of Trumpets.

The Feast of Atonement would be a picture of Judgment.  And the Feast of Tabernacles would be living forever with the Lord.  (I'm paraphrasing, I might find more videos on this.)

Here are three awesome videos on the subject if you want to really dig into it.  They're by a pastor named Perry Stone, a very passionate man that I love to listen to.  It's a 23 minute teaching on the Jewish wedding and Rosh Hoshanah, and how they parallel the picture of the Rapture.  The first two videos are 10 minutes each.  The third video is over 8 minutes, but the teaching itself ends at 3 minutes in, so only 23 minutes.  I encourage you to watch the whole thing.  It really opened my eyes to a lot of things.  I hope it helps to open yours.

O Death, Where is Thy Sting? O Grave, Where is Thy Victory? ~1 Corinthians 15:55

¹³ Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. ¹⁴ For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵ According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words. ~~1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

This video is an old skool song of my favorite Christian band, Petra. It's called "Grave Robber", and it's very apropos for the Rapture. Since I've loved Petra's music for over half my life, I thought I would share this song and give you hope of the Resurrection, if someone you know and loved has passed.

~~Becka