Rapture is This Sunday!!

An Angel of the LORD comes down to you (yes a real angel and not a demon disguised as an angel) and tells you, "Do not be afraid.  I have come to tell you that this Sunday Jesus Christ the bridegroom and lover of your soul will come to rapture you and all believers to Heaven.  Prepare for your Rapture."

What do you do?  Stop a moment and think about what kind of preparations you would take if you knew that you only had a few precious days to be ready for the return of Christ.  Before going on with reading, think a minute about what actions in your life you would take.

Is there someone, perhaps a friend or relative, you need to reconcile with?  Do you have someone in your life whom you really enjoy their friendship but you are afraid to tell them about their need for salvation found only in Jesus Christ?  Do you have a hidden sin you need to repent of?

The time is short.  God commands us to be ready.  We are commanded to tell others about Jesus.  We are told to reconcile our relationships.  God demands that our lives be holy, righteous and pure.

"It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,"  Titus 2:12-13

Is Rapture this Sunday?  Maybe.  Do you want to take the chance that it isn't?

Photo Credit: Second Coming Jesus 02 by Waiting For The Word

God Promises Joy!

God is a wonderful God!  He delights in blessing His Children. One of the great promises of God is that you will find delight and joy in Him.

"Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous:  "The LORD's right hand has done mighty things!" Psalm 118:15

Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior?  Then victory is yours!  You can rejoice with great joy because not only have you gained salvation and eternal life, but victory throughout your life because God is now in the battle with you. You and God will rejoice together in victory.

Are times tough? Are you going through some trials in your life?  Habakkuk talks about how even though he has nothing and everything looks bleak, he will rejoice.

"yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights."  
Habakkuk 3:18-19

Life can be a hard road to travel, but God is with us and we can rejoice because He gives us strength when we are weak.  And God gives us the stable and firm footing of His Word whether that road is an easy grassy one or a rocky dangerous trail.  We can rejoice in troubled times because that is when we will see God working in our lives.

The key to obtaining the Joy of the LORD is found in trusting Him.

"The righteous will rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in Him;  All the upright in heart will glory in Him!"  Psalm 64:10

The righteous, those who have trusted in God for their salvation, take refuge in Him!  We are to depend upon Jesus Christ to provide all that we need; from salvation to blessings of clothes, a job, food, a home, and every little or big need we find.  Take joy for we are under His care

Joy is found by resting in the arms of Jesus.

Photo by Austin Schmid on Unsplash

Islam is a Lie and Allah is a False God.

There is only one God and Allah is not Him.  Mohammad was a false prophet led by Satan to create an abomination of a religion that has deceived 2 Billion people in the world.  The Muslim people are not to blame.  They are deceived by the lies perpetrated by Satan, using Mohammad to war against God.

We must love and reach out to the Muslims.  They are not the enemy.  This is a spiritual battle for the hearts and souls of people.  Never hate them.  Never get angry with them.  Pray that God will open their eyes to the truth of God and to the lies of Islam.  They need us to stand up and speak the truth, otherwise, they will never see the deception they have fallen into.

The real villain is Satan.  He created a religion where lying, cheating, stealing, raping, enslaving, and killing are not only accepted but encouraged against all who do not accept Islam.  Hatred and anger against Jews and Christians are seen as natural and appropriate.  Islam is a creation of the father of lies.

"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.  Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."  John 8:44

There is only one God and one LORD.  YHWH!  He is truth and love.  He desires for all to come to Him and live.  He is all-powerful, but tender to those who suffer.  He is all-knowing, but will never remind the repentant how evil they have been.  He is omnipresent but still allows you free will to do as you will. Proverbs 6: 16-19 says He hates a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet swift to run to mischief, a false witness and people who create discord.  All that Islam teaches, God hates.

We must stand up as a true witness for God.  We must or else the lives and souls of the Muslims will be lost.  Are you afraid of what others might say if you should speak against Islam?  Do you fear personal harm from the Muslims? 2 Timothy 1:7 says, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and love and of a sound mind."

The last words of Jesus while in this world was the Great Commission, found in Matthew 28: 16-20.
He commanded us to go and make disciples of all the nations.  All nations means even to those who hate you.  It means to tell the truth to those nations who are deceived by Satan.  It means to stand up for Christ even when others persecute and kill you.

To do otherwise is to bow to the desires of Satan.

Photo by Izuddin Helmi Adnan on Unsplash

I Belong to Jesus.

I am His.  I do not belong to myself anymore.  In the Song of Solomon, the bride says of the bridegroom, "Ani Lo." or "I am His."  We are the bride of Christ and our relationship with Him should be summed up with, "I am His."

We, who belong to Jesus, are living in the most wonderful relationship possible.  He bought us with his blood.  We no longer have the right to our lives because our lives are now totally in the hands of God.  Sin and temptation have no right to us. We do not even have the right to give ourselves over to sin.

God also has taken the responsibility for our lives.  We no longer should worry because our lives no longer belong to us but to God.  He commands us in 1 Peter 5:7 to cast all our worries and anxieties on Him.  Our Burdens now belong to Jesus and not to us.  Everyone who will simply trust in Jesus Christ is now free.

Do you get offended?  Do people ever persecute you?  Are you made fun of?  God created you and knows you intimately.  When you belong to Jesus, those who come against you are now coming against God instead.  Do not be offended by people, because you belong to Jesus Christ, your bridegroom.  He will stand with you in all the trials the enemy throws at you.  In the end, God says "Revenge is mine"  Can you think of a greater punishment for those poor people who harass you than the wrath of God?"

I am His because I love Him.  I gave myself to Jesus because I wanted too. I wanted to give the love of my soul everything.  I do not want to hold anything back from him.  It is a joy to give of myself to my Lord Jesus.  What I receive in return is worth more than a thousand lifetimes.

"For in Him we live and move and exist,..." Acts 17:28a

Photo Credit: "The LORD is to be Praised!" by Art4The GlryOfGod by Sharon

The Flesh vs The Spirit

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12

We live in a world of the flesh.  It is understandable why we see material victories as good.  Anytime we can defeat disease, pain, suffering, hunger, homelessness, poverty, and hundreds of other trials people are going through, it is seen as a victory.

This is normal but is it a victory spiritually?  I have seen many times when a person goes through a trial in their life, that they seek God because they have nowhere else to go.  The trial might be a result of their own foolishness, the selfish work of others or a natural disaster, but in all these trials God uses it for a spiritual victory in the person's life.

Our struggle in the world for comfort, safety, and survival, is good.  God created us that way, but there is also a spiritual side to our struggles.  Satan wants to destroy you and so does the world.  In the world, it is the strong who survive.  God, however, wants you to have an eternal victory which will help you to know and grow in your relationship with God.

Always pray for people who are going through a trial, but remember that God might be allowing that trial to occur so that they might learn a spiritual lesson and come to depend on Him.  It is in the trials that the spirit of man grows.  Perhaps God wants you to pray for them to learn from the trial so that it will end quickly.

A weightlifter works with heavy weights to build up his body.  It is the resistance of those weights which strain his muscles and cause them to grow stronger.  In our lives, it is the trials which cause our spiritual muscles to strain and grow stronger.  It is not always easy but spiritual growth comes through spiritual sweat.

Photo Credit: 50 Years old! by Andrew Blight

Is the True Site of Solomon's Temple to the South of the Temple Mount?

In 135 AD the Romans completely destroyed Jerusalem and plowed over the city to completely wipe it out.  The Romans plowed the city!  Micah 3:12a prophesied "Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field..."

The picture above is an aerial shot of the City of Jerusalem in 1910.  Where I placed a red circle is where archeologist have found that Zion, the city of David, was located.  I made the picture large so you can better see that the area inside the circle is plowed fields. Even until the early 20th century, the Jerusalem of David's time was plowed over like a field.

If the Temple was down in the circled area it is easy to see why Josephus mentions Fort Antonia as being a guard of the temple and on a higher hill so as to hinder the temple's view to the North.  The traditional, small Tower of Antonia to the North West of the Temple Mount would have been almost no hindrance at all.

In the Scriptures when talking about the Fortress of Antonia it talks about coming down from the fortress.  Acts 21:32  talks about the commander of the garrison hearing an uproar of the Jews at the Temple where Paul was being beaten and it says, "He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them...."

Archeology is finding new evidence about the City of David everyday.  They have found David's Palace and another area where sacrifices were done around the time of the first temple.  It has blood channels, holes in rock for rings to be placed to hold animals, and within 10 yards of this area is the Gihon Spring.  

The priest needed living water, flowing water, to cleanse themselves.  Water from a cistern was never used.  The Gihon Spring was an inexhaustible source for the Temple to use.  Also when the kings were crowned they would go to the Gihon Springs and oil would be poured over their heads.  There is an olive press in this worship area just for such purposes.  See 1 Kings 1:38-39 for the crowning of King Solomon.

Was this worship and sacrifice area, in the city of David, from the time of Solomon's Temple?  It is located in the right area and the evidence is there to point to it being the correct spot.  The problem with people declaring this to be the site of the Temple is that so many are following the traditional belief of the Temple Mount, instead of the scriptural, historical and archaeological evidence.  

If this is the location of the Temple than the 3rd temple can be built right now.  The biggest thing stopping this from happening is tradition.

"Abandoning the commandment of God, you hold fast to the tradition of men."  Mark 7:8 

Even in our own lives. we have traditions we hold onto.  Traditionally Christmas is December 25th and many people believe that to be the actual date of the birth of Christ.  Traditionally there were three wise men, but the Bible never said that.  Follow only what God says and do not follow the traditions of man.  The Catholic Church has deceived the world with traditions they have created.  Even protestants agree with many of those traditions.

Where the Temple is located is important, but what is of greater importance is that we be willing to put aside our own traditions for what is the truth of God. 

To read Part 1 of this series CLICK HERE
To read Part 2 of this series CLICK HERE

The Temple Mount is not the Temple Site.

We will show first that the temple mount cannot be where Solomon's and Herod's Temple were built.  Tomorrow we will give evidence for the City of David as the site for the Temple.

If the Temple Mount is not where the Temple was, what was on that site?  Rome housed the 10th legion in Jerusalem at the Tower of Antonia.  The traditional Tower of Antonia is a small 490 ft by 260ft area or 3 acres of land on the north-west corner of the Temple Mount.  A legion is about 6000 soldiers and 4000 supply personnel and followers.  If they all lived in the fortress of Antonia that would be about 1 square foot per person.

Josephus, the first-century historian wrote, "Now as to the tower of Antonia, it might seem to be composed of several cities.  For if we go up to the tower of Antonia, we gain the city, since we shall then be upon the top of the hill."

Do you think the Romans would take a small 3 acres plot of land for their 10,000 man legion and not commandeer a larger area that is on high ground over the city?  The Romans took what they wanted.

The Commander of Masada, Eleazer Ben Jair said after the fall of Jerusalem to Titus, "It (Jerusalem) is now demolished to the very foundations and hath nothing left but the monument of it preserved, I mean the camp of those (Romans) that hath destroyed it, which still dwells upon its ruins."

So if the only thing that is left of Jerusalem is the Roman camp, and everything else is demolished to the very foundations,  what does that say about the Temple?  It fulfills what Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24: 1-2 "Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.  And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things?  Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down."

I always thought that this prophecy referred to the building housing the Holy of Holies and the Holy place, but if you read what the verses say the disciples were showing Jesus the buildings of the temple.  Plural. How can this be?  The Temple where the people worshipped included the Court of the Priest, Court of Israel (for the men), Court of women and the Court of Gentiles.  The whole area was holy including where the Gentiles were permitted to worship.  This whole area would have had to of been demolished and not one stone left on another.  If the Western Wall is part of the walls of the Temple site, it also would have had to of been destroyed.  If it is part of the Temple, Jesus lied.  If it is part of the area that the Roman legion held, then Jesus was correct.  The Western Wall was part of the Fortress of Antonia where the Roman soldiers were housed.

Why is the Temple Mount the traditional site of the Temple?  In 1099 AD the Crusaders came into Jerusalem and took it from the Muslims.  Included in that conquest, they took the Dome of the Rock and they placed a cross on top of it and renamed it the "Temple of God."

70 years later a Spanish Jew named Benjamin of Tudela visited Jerusalem and wrote that the Temple Mount was the location of Solomon's Temple.  That statement caught fire in the hearts of the people and from then on that tradition has held.

In 135 AD the Romans completely destroyed Jerusalem and plowed over the city to completely wipe it out.   Rome declared that no Jew was to enter that area under penalty of death.  Over time they forgot where the temple was.  The land was all fields.

Tomorrow, in Part 3 of this series,  we will talk about the evidence for where the Temple of Solomon and Herod's Temple was.  To read Part 3 CLICK HERE

To read Part 1 of this series CLICK HERE

Photo Credit: So this is the Temple Mount by Yuno F Gasai