fire Archives - Pretribulation Rapture

Early this morning Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the assassination of the blind muslim terrorist, Sheik Yassin. Shortly after sunrise, an Israeli helicopter fired 3 missles directly at the Sheik as he left the Mosque…there wasn’t much of him left to put in the coffin that the Palestinians carried around town as they shouted obscenities and threats against Israel. Sheik Yassin was the founder of the terrorist organization known as Hamas. Most recently, the Sheik is blamed for the deaths of almost 300 Israelis who were at the wrong place at the wrong time when the brain washed muslim homicide bombers pushed the button to detonate the bomb strapped to their chest. In light of the Sheik’s status, this particular assassination could very well be a new spark that ignites another powder keg of violence.

I feel that the Lord is trying to tell us “Wake up from your slumber! The alarm is sounding! Be alert!”

You might not smell the smoke, but the fire is approaching.

Romans 13:11-12
The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

“When sinners are careless and stupid, and sinking into hell unconcerned, it is time the church should bestir themselves. It is as much the duty of the church to awake, as it is for the firemen to awake when a fire breaks out in the night in a great city. The church ought to put out the fires of hell which are laying hold of the wicked. Sleep! Should the firemen sleep, and let the whole city burn down, what would be thought of such firemen? And yet their guilt would not compare with the guilt of Christians who sleep while sinners around them are sinking stupid into the fires of hell.”
– Charles Finney
The church of Jesus Christ is largely sleeping, like a great bedroom and you have all the Christians in bed and they’re all sleeping … and they’re saying “Please, don’t wake me up! I want to sleep on!” And of course when God starts to operate a revival people cannot sleep, you can’t sleep in church when the Spirit of God awakes the people. Look at the 1st verse of this 52nd chapter (Isaiah 52) …”Awake! Awake! Put on strength!” Wake it up! You sleepy Christians! Awake thou that sleepeth, Arise from the dead! Christ will give you life!
-Ian Paisley

March 8, 2004

Much has been happening in the last few months. The decline of morality in our country seems to be accelerating, taking us all ever nearer to the edge of the cliff which leads to the depths of destruction.

First of all, the liberal media is doing a fine job of promoting the growing trend of city mayors endorsing “Gay Marriage”. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland Oregon and other large cities are deluged with homosexual couples who are going to city hall to get “married”…never mind that marriage has always been and always will be a covenant created by God between a man and a woman as a symbolic union of Jesus coming for His church, and for the purpose of procreation. The defiance of State Law by these mayors and other elected officials is not an act of civil disobedience, but a breech of contract for which they should be removed from office. They each took an oath to abide by the law and now they are defiantly breaking both their sworn oath and the law with no regard for the chaos that these unholy unions will lead to under the guise of “marriage”.

Secondly, the Episcopal Church has officially installed the first openly gay Bishop in New Hampshire. Sunday night on 60 Minutes, V. Gene Robinson said during an interview that “God is doing something new” by allowing practicing homosexuals to hold positions of leadership in the church. All I can say is that his god is his appetite for sin, not the Holy God of the Bible.

Thirdly, Mel Gibson’s movie ‘The Passion of the Christ’ is a blockbuster so far. In only two weeks time the movie has generated box office receipts of over $200 million showing Hollywood how much people really want to see movies which depict the Truth. Having seen the movie during it’s opening weekend I can say that yes it is incredibly intense and the depiction of the violence that Jesus was subject to is very real. I think all Christians should see it to sharpen their understanding of how high a price Jesus paid for our sins so that we might be with him in paradise one day. Many people see the movie as a “Last Call” before the Lord returns for His church, and it might be. Certainly the day of the Rapture is one day closer than it was yesterday, and can happen at any moment, so we should all live our lives accordingly.

Other noteworthy events of the last few months include the capture of Saddam Hussein on December 14, 2003. It was only a matter of time. This evil man’s world has come crashing down all around him and God ordained it be so. His sons were shot full of holes by US Troops and their ugly corpses were displayed on TV and the Internet for the world to see. Everything this tyrant had “control” of has been ripped away leaving a painful, ugly wound that will never heal.

The capture or death of Osama bin Laden is just a matter of time as well. I pray that it happens sooner rather than later so that the fanatical Muslims who view Osama as a hero can see that the true Living God’s justice will always prevail over evil.

The largest city in the state of California is Los Angeles, which means ‘The Angels’ in Spanish. Often times I think its the ‘City of Fallen Angels’ or ‘LOST Angeles’… The ‘Entertainment Capital of the World’, where the majority of television and film production companies reside, is responsible for most of the trash that comes into our homes through the electronic portal we know as television. Los Angeles is also less than 20 miles away from the San Fernando Valley, which has the regretable distinction of being the ‘Pornography Capital of the World’. Having lived in Los Angeles for 20 years I’ve seen a series of disasters and tragedies which I’ve always thought of as God’s attempt to get the peoples attention; major earthquakes, community destroying fire storms, mud slides, riots, blackouts…whats next I wonder?
Just a few weeks ago over 3500 homes were reduced to ashes by wild fires in Southern California. Then, just a fews days later, a freak thunder storm lingered over South Central Los Angeles during rush hour, dumping over 5 inches of rain in 2 hours, pelting cars with hail stones nearly the size of golf balls, unleashing 150 lightning bolts, and turning many of the streets into torrential rivers 3 feet deep, stalling thousands of cars knocking out street lights and traffic signals resulting in countless accidents. Hundreds of homes which were never before considered to be at risk were flooded with sewage and water that poured in through the doors and walls. Former Gov. Gray Davis declared a state of emergency, but the stories of tragedy and personal loss have already been forgotten by the local news. South Central Los Angeles is an area (principality) plagued by crime and poverty. Crack and prostitution are rampant, and the bullets from drive-by shootings or gang rivalry have an uncanny tendency to randomly kill children and babies. Many of the people who live in this area of Los Angeles feel helpless to do anything about the moral decline of their neighborhood, while many other people have no regard for life or property.

The day after the storm as I watched the inner city children on the local news playing in the piles of snow-like hail on a sunny day, I wondered if God has gotten the attention of the people of South Central. This kind of storm just doesn’t happen in Los Angeles.

Just when I thought I’d read or heard everything there was on the Rapture, about a week ago I heard a new teaching on the radio that has inspired me to do a short study on the Old Testament scriptures which were covered, which foreshadow the upcoming Rapture of the Church. Check back here for more in the days ahead…

Hosea 6
After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.

Exodus 34:2
…Be ready in the morning, and then come up…
“…forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

Numbers 10:1
The LORD said to Moses: “Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out.

Matthew 24:30
“At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

1 Thess 4:14-18
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. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 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. 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. Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Revelation 8:1-2
When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.

Revelation 10:7
But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed– in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

The First Trump of God deals with Israel and the Law (Ex 19). The Last Trump of God deals with Grace and the Church being gathered up to heaven.