IN ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTIONS

IN ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION

                Linda brought up some questions concerning my article on the rapture question and so I will share my thoughts with everyone.

                The issue of the rapture is much deeper than most would think and one has to back way up to see where we started missing the point. The problem begins with replacement theology. When people believe that we replaced the Jews, then they begin to take everything concerning the Jews and applying it to the Gentile church. Let me give you a for instance:

                The 70 weeks of Daniel 9:24-27 was a mandate given to Daniel and his people, not to the Gentile church throughout the world. The Jews, being God’s chosen people of the patterns were given certain mandates that must be fulfilled by them which they could never do apart from their Messiah. So when they rejected Yeshua, this put the final fulfillment of these things on hold and that is why the final 7 years of the 70 weeks waits for the Time of Jacob’s (Israel’s) trouble, their tryst with the antichrist and their final calling out to God for deliverance.

                The Gentile church, by means of replacement theology, inserts itself into the picture and assumes that since they accepted Jesus, all has been fulfilled. But this was specifically Jewish mandate that can only be fulfilled by the Jews and their Jewish Messiah Yeshua and that is why it is a big deal when at the end they look upon Him whom they have pierced (Zech. 12:10 and Rev.1:7) As God’s pattern people they must come full circle by receiving Yeshua as their Messiah before God’s plan can be complete.

                Secondly, because of replacement theology, the Gentile church somehow envisions itself fleeing to Bozrah when Jesus specifically said that it was the Jews in Jerusalem and Judea who would have to flee to Bozrah at the point where the antichrist commits the Abomination of Desolation in Jerusalem. At that time the antichrist will enter into the rebuilt temple and proclaim himself to be God and all of the world will worship him except for those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

                This becomes a global event because the Mark of the Beast system will be imposed on everybody everywhere. But we must remember that Jews remain the physical pattern for that which is happening spiritually in the rest of the world. Much of the church is in danger of going astray and even going along with the antichrist system simply because they no longer observe or understand either the patterns concerning Jesus, or the Bible prophecies that warn us of these end time events.

                I go back and forth on the rapture/tribulation issue because the Bible seems to support both a mid trib and a post trib rapture. But perhaps this is because we don’t understand the separate roles that Jews and Gentile Christians play in these end time events. One thing is certain; Yeshua promised that His faithful remnant will not have to face the wrath of God which apparently falls during the last part of the tribulation.

                We Christians, who have already received Jesus as our Savior and Lord who are filled with the Holy Spirit, like the wise virgins, will be ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb, while others will have to go through the tribulation to buy oil the hard way with their lives.

                As far as the church is concerned I see parallels between the wise and foolish virgins and the last day churches of Philadelphia and Laodicea. Philadelphia has before it an open door, whereas Laodicea must buy gold tried in the fire. This seems then to be a reflection of the wise and foolish virgin parable that Jesus told.  Some had oil and some did not… and that alone should cause us not to presume that we have the Holy Spirit. We must ask, seek and receive and then live by this presence of God. We no longer live by the flesh but by the Spirit. It is no longer I, who live, but Christ lives in me through His Holy Spirit    and this is the difference between a true Christian and a fake one.

                Another question concerning this whole issue is how long is the tribulation? According to the 70 weeks mandate, the final week is 7 years, so when we go to the book of Revelation we see a seven year period divided into two periods of 3 ½ years. And true to form, we see that the antichrist breaks his covenant with the Jews in the middle of the week when he commits the abomination of desolation in the temple and that is when believing Jews will have to flee to Bozrah.     

                As for Gentile Christians, many have drifted so far from the original patterns and so far from actual discipleship with Yeshua, that they need refining and persecution as well to purify them and to more or less force them into one camp or the other. This is why I tend to go with a mid-trib rapture, (as seen in the sickle harvest of Revelation 14 that comes just prior to the wrath of God being poured out. So the church must go through a refining process as well and we will have to face the Mark of the Beast test and choose Jesus and His Word at the peril of losing our lives and many will lose their lives.

                The church has grown lax, presuming that we will never face tribulation, but we should wake up to the fact that many Christians around the world are already in tribulation even being beheaded for their faith. Do we think it will not come to America? Think again.

                Yeshua is looking for a Bride without spot or wrinkle and much of the church today has never entered into the disciplines of the Lord. Many deny the Holy Spirit. Many are living lives in which very little fruit is being produced and they are more like the world than like disciples.

                I believe Judgment is coming to America and it will begin in the household of faith first. I believe that right now, at this very moment Yeshua is calling us to repentance. The world is a powder keg on the verge of exploding but the angels are holding back the winds of strife until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. (There is much more to say on that subject as well for even here in Revelation 7 the 144,000 are listed as the twelve tribes of Israel. But here the church makes a mistake by calling them 144,000 Jews, but that is not the case. Jews make up only one tribe, or at the most 3 tribes including Levites and the tribe of Benjamin, and since the other 10 tribes are considered to be Gentiles today, the 144,000 then,  must include both believing Jews and the church. This thought needs to be explored more thoroughly)

                Now, in all of this I want to make one thing perfectly clear. There is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ for Jew or Gentile. So  the time of Jacob’s Trouble is specifically designed to bring the Jews to that point of crying out saying, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” and they will look upon Him whom they have pierced, and just like the story of Joseph in the Bible, Yeshua and His brothers will be reconciled.

                As for exactly when the church will be taken, Jesus made it clear that no one can know the day or the hour, but in the pattern of the Fall Feasts and the prophecies provided for us, we can read the signs of His soon return. They are Trumpets… Day of Atonement and Tabernacles. At trumpets we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. This is followed by seven days/years of awe, then Atonement when the judgment takes place (true Christians do not come into judgment, but pass from death into life. Then in Tabernacles Jesus comes to earth with His saints to tabernacle among men during the millennium. So there you have the pattern as established by God Himself  and we can’t just ignore it or its implications.

                I came to the messianic movement, not for its Jewishness per se, but because they observe the patterns that point to the real Jesus and the real truth… patterns that the Vatican thought to change, both concerning the Sabbath and the Feasts of the Lord, especially those that outline God’s agenda for Christ’s second coming. The antichrist system has thought to change times and laws and over the past 2000 years the Vatican has certainly changed the Sabbath,  God’s Calendar and God’s appointed Moedim,   having replaced them all with pagan holidays bearing a Christian veneer. What are we to do about these things? Christianity has largely been truncated. Should we be satisfied with that?

                It is not a legalistic thing with me. It is rather a return to the patterns that God gave to Moses on the mountain and Jesus used to authenticate His own life and ministry. There are certain identifying marks of the true Messiah which we must know if we are to tell the real from the counterfeit. Indeed the antichrist is going to fool the whole world including a large chunk of the church and we know this because there is a great falling away from the faith… an apostasy that clears the way for the antichrist to arrive on the scene. 2Thess. 2:3, 4) It is this weakening of the Gospel… this drifting away from the patterns… this cross-less, non-repentant non-biblical mixture of new age paganism and Christianity that has entered into the church that is going to cause many to fall away when the great delusions come.

                The reason then that I deal with these issues is not to provide a perfect doctrine for you on the subject, but rather that we deal with these issues in our hearts and determine to be ready at all costs. We are not going to make it through this with a careless faith. At all costs we need to cling to the real Yeshua, to become His disciple, to walk according to His Word.

                Some of the choices we must make are not easy. It is not always easy to put Yeshua first, above family, above children, mothers, fathers, husbands and wives. But according to Jesus, those who are not willing to make the tough choices are not worthy of Him. Luke 14:26, 27

                This is not a doctrinal argument then about the rapture, but a call to real discipleship with the real Yeshua according to the real patterns and prophecies written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the age have come. This is a time for both personal and national repentance and turning to God. I believe that His judgments are about to fall and it is going to shake up the church like it has never been shaken before, as spoken of in Hebrews 12. When it is done; only that which cannot be shaken will remain.

                When it comes to patterns, think of it this way. IF you follow a pattern to make a dress, your dress will match the pattern. But then after a thousand people have made a thousand dresses and some of them have just made the dress following instructions by word of mouth, you might want to go back to the pattern to see if the dresses are still matching the pattern. This doesn’t mean that you wear the pattern. The dress itself is the real thing, but the pattern lets you know if the dresses are still being made correctly. So it is with the patterns of Moses. Jesus is the reality. We don’t wear the patterns, so to speak. We don’t worship the patterns. But by them we can determine if we are still worshipping the real Jesus.

                In this recent move to Tennessee, Bonnie and I have been shaken to the core. We are used to living by divine appointment and it all seemed so clear in Vancouver at our Messianic congregation. Now we are struggling with tough choices, heartbreaking choices as we seek God’s divine appointments for us here. We know only what God seemed to be saying to us that caused us to make this life-changing move. Now we struggle with questions. We are seeking His face for His divine appointments, for His purposes that led us here.

                It is the prayers and encouragement of our beloved friends at Rehoboth along with some of you who read my articles that are sustaining us as we seek God’s purposes here. We have visited several churches in our close proximity. We have visited the Messianic congregation in Knoxville and we like it, but it is a little far away and we had hoped to be involved in a congregation in our own neighborhood. However, at this point it doesn’t seem that God has released us from our call to the Messianic Movement.

                Every other place we have visited so far seems to be largely void of the living and active presence of the Holy Spirit that we have come to expect where God is worshipped according to His Word. By this I am not saying that there is a lot of hoopla and running in the isles in the Messianic congregations. It is rather with a solid sense of God’s presence because God attends His Word and those who obey it and you live with that quiet sense of God’s anointing on your life and upon your congregation. We can’t live without that. We have to live by divine appointment. We have to be led by the Holy Spirit.

                I cannot speak for others, but I myself must feel and believe that we are being directed by God. Life is not just random. Discipleship is focused and purposeful. We live with a sense of destiny and purpose… of divine guidance. There are no coincidences in God’s kingdom for He is sovereign over all. All things work together for good to those that love Him and who are called according to His purposes.

                Messianic people are largely made up of Spirit filled people who bear the fruit and operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. After all, it was Messianic Jews that attended the first Pentecost. We don’t participate in some of the antics that have become part of the Charismatic culture we don’t roll in the isles… but there is a very strong sense of the Holy Spirits work and His gifts and fruit at work in the congregation. Obedience is a key issue with God and keeping His commandments is essential. In the Old Covenant it was the letter of the Law set as a pattern. In the New Covenant it is the Spirit of the Law in which love fulfills the Law in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

                I firmly believe that God has brought the Messianic movement on line in these last days to lead Jews to Yeshua on one hand, and to help the Gentile church to return to their Judeo/Christian roots on the other… to restore the patterns from which the church has drifted. And it is not a return to legalism, but a return to understanding, for God has set His ways in the patterns and in the sanctuary so that we need not be led astray by false Christs and false prophets.

                Pray for us will you?  Pray that God will show us His intended purpose for this move and that we will continue to be an encouragement to you in your walk as well. Years ago I set out by God’s grace to share our journey with you. It would be wrong of me to whitewash our journey leaving out the struggles we face, for in them you too may find answers. Blessings to all of you in the name of Yeshua.