MORE PROOF BIBLE IS A RELIABLE HISTORICAL DOCUMENT

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House of David Inscription on Mesha Stele Confirmed

More physical evidence demonstrating the Bible as a reliable historical document has surfaced concerning a royal Israelite House of David inscription. Using new advanced photographic techniques, the 2,800-year-old Mesha Stele was recently determined to contain clear references to King David that before were highly debated.

The Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, is one of the oldest and most remarkable artifacts connecting biblical history to the ancient world, but there have been long standing arguments over the possible misidentification of the phrase “House of David.” The area of the inscription that features David’s name is damaged and partly unreadable. Only two of the five letters were clear until now, thanks to a new method of digital photography and a re-examination of the evidence.

References to the biblical history contained in the Mesha Stele inscription include:

  • ‟YHWH” (This is one of the oldest references to Israel’s God ‟YHWH” outside the Bible. The oldest comes from two Egyptian inscriptions and the recently discovered Mount Ebal curse tablet.)
  • ‟Israel” – six times (This is the third oldest known use of the name ‟Israel” in an inscription, behind the Berlin Pedestal and the Merneptah Stele.)
  • ‟Omri …king of Israel” (Omri reigned in Israel a half-century after the death of Solomon split the nation in two.)
  • ‟The men of Gad” (Gad was one of the Israelite tribes that settled east of the Jordan River, north of Moab.)

The text in question on the stone has been proposed to read “House of David” and “Altar of David.” Before now, scholars could not be entirely sure that these references to King David were being correctly deciphered. The Moabite phrase “House of David” consists of five letters but only the first and fourth letters of the series, bet and waw were completely clear. Three letters completing the reference to David were assumed to be taw (like modern Hebrew tav), dalet, and dalet.

In 2019, the prominent Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein, contested the reference to David in the stele. He claimed the letters had been misidentified. Finkelstein suggested that the king referred to in the stele was Balak, a biblical Moabite who lived 200 years before David.

The archaeology department at Tel Aviv University, where Finkelstein is a professor, has a reputation for being skeptical about much of biblical history. The scholars involved in the study are of like mind when it comes to their view of the early history of Israel in the Bible. This may influence their study and interpretation of ancient inscriptions.

Recent re-examination of the evidence by researchers André Lemaire and Jean-Philippe Delorme has led to a pro-bible conclusion. They published their findings in a late-2022 article entitled “Mesha’s Stele and the House of David” in the winter issue of Biblical Archeology Review.

Conclusion

Exciting new technology is allowing the re-examination of ancient artifacts uncovering even more information than before. This new study of the Mesha Stele helps verify that King David did indeed exist and the Bible is an accurate record of history. This is the second clear reference to the House of David from the era of the Israelite monarchy. The archaeological world is generally skeptical about David – many saying he never existed as the king of a powerful Israel like the Bible describes, making this discovery so important. We can be confident that we serve a real God, a God who works through history and has provided us with a reliable record of the past.

END TIMES WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS

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Juniper Oak 23 involves thousands of troops practicing land, sea, air, cyber and space drills in Israel in an implied warning to Iran. by Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The American military and the IDF began a week-long series of joint exercises in Israel involving thousands of troops in every sphere of combat.

“Juniper Oak is a Combined Joint All-Domain exercise which improves our interoperability on land, in the air, at sea, in space, and in cyberspace with our partners, enhances our ability to respond to contingencies, and underscores our commitment to the Middle East,” said Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, commander of U.S. Central Command (CentCom).

Some 6,400 American personnel are practicing military scenarios with about 1,100 Israeli soldiers. Most of the Americans are at sea with the participating U.S. carrier strike group, which will go on joint maneuvers against simulated maritime threats with six Israeli missile ships and a submarine.

In the air, over 140 planes, including the most advanced F-35 Stealth jets, B-52 bombers, F-15, F-16 and F-18 fighters, unmanned aerial vehicles and refueling aircraft will fly “missions” together.

Electronic warfare exercises will test the joint abilities of the “armchair warriors” – one of the most important fronts in any future war.

The drills will end with an extensive live-fire exercise simulating the overpowering of enemy air defenses both on the ground and in the sky, as well as ground forces’ use of both U.S. HIMARs long-range rockets and Israeli missile systems, and American laser-guided bombs.

The IDF spokesman made a point of noting that during the exercise there will be a considerable amount of military traffic throughout the country, and echoes of explosions will be heard in the South.

U.S. and Israeli spokespersons have said the simulations are “relevant to a whole range” of scenarios or regional threats, although a senior U.S. defense official acknowledged that “Iran may draw certain inferences from that. It’s really meant mostly to kick the tires on our ability to do things at this scale with the Israelis against a whole range of different threats.

“But, you know, it would not surprise me if Iran sees the scale and the nature of these activities and understands what the two of us are capable of doing.”

The 23rd rendition of Juniper Oak is “the most significant exercise between the United States and Israel to date,” the official said.

There is a second American message behind the massive exercise, according to a statement the official made to NBC News – this one directed to other parts of the world.

“What we think this exercise demonstrates is our ability in being able to flex to another high priority area of responsibility and conduct an exercise on this scale in the Middle East” while still being highly occupied with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and concerned over the growing threat perceived from China, the official said.

GEN Z LIKE THE GENERATION THAT AROSE AFTER JOSHUA DIED

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A 2018 study from Barna Group found that Gen Z is the least Christian generation in American history as just 4% holds a biblical worldview, with more teens identifying as agnostic, atheist, or not religiously affiliated than previous generations. “Gen Z is different because they have grown up in a post-Christian, post-modern environment where many of them have not even been exposed to Christianity or to church. So that is a really unique shift,” Brooke Hempell, Barna’s senior vice president of research, said at the survey’s release event. “There are a lot of churches that are empty in this country. Gen Z is the one who is really showing the fruit of that. There are many of them [who] are a spiritual blank slate. For the first time in our nation’s history, that is more and more common.”

What is happening with the Gen Z generation reminds me of what happened when Joshua died. The Millennials (Gen Y) were brought up in schools and universities that taught evolution (billions of years) not creation (six thousand years and a worldwide flood) as the origin of the Cosmos, is it any wonder that the next generation, Gen Z no longer believes the Bible and the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.“ Judges 2:8-10

The generation that lived in Joshua’s time knew what God had accomplished through Joshua but they were no longer living in obedience to God’s commandments. Hence the next generation saw no evidence of God in their lives, in fact, the opposite.

“And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt.” Judges 2:11-12

Jesus told us that during the last days before His return there will be a great falling away from Biblical faith which is exactly what we see happening in our day. The following was told by Jesus to the disciples prior to Pentecost as Jesus knew the persecution of the early church that would follow.

“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away… Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.” John 16:1, 3-4

Jesus told us that the same “falling away” would happen to the church in the last days before He returns in Matthew 24.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24:9-12

PROPHESIED WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS

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Dmitry Medvedev, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strongest allies, threatened the West with nuclear war if his country loses the war with Ukraine.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council and former Russian president and prime minister

In reaction to those who support Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s position that the only way the war with Russia can end is with the total withdrawal of all Russian forces from all Ukrainian territory, including the regions Moscow has unilaterally annexed, the current deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council wrote on Telegram, “The defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war can provoke the outbreak a nuclear war.”

“Nuclear powers have never lost major conflicts on which their fate depends,” he continued, stressing these words in italics.

He then added, “But this should be obvious to anyone. Even to a Western politician who has retained at least some trace of intelligence.”

This could have been an oblique snipe at German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said during a speech on the eve of this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos that “to achieve peace, Russia must lose.”

His warning also came in the context of noting that “great military leaders” of NATO will be meeting Friday in Germany to discuss what new military supplies its member states will send to Kyiv.

Look at the detail Jesus gave us so that we will be prepared for the coming tribulation. Note, Jesus says, “you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.”

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places (Luke adds pestilences Luke 21:11). All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:6-14

MILLENNIAL KINGDOM – CURSE

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During the reign of Jesus and the Saints in the Millennial Kingdom, the curse has not been fully lifted from the Cosmos. The land across the planet will produce food in a way that none on earth has experienced since Adam and Eve’s exit from paradise but Israel will enjoy the greatest level of production. It will be restored to be like the Garden of Eden but not the rest of the world. Men and women still marry and have children. They still die but have a longer life span.

The millennium is still a time of sin, death, rebellion, and harsh judgment. Its true character seems to fall between the present age (the “church age”) and the future sinless coexistence of the redeemed in the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21). With reference to death in the millennial age, we read:

“No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. Isaiah 65:20

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.” Zechariah 4:5

Also, it appears that the curse has been lifted off the animals in Israel but we are not told if that is the case in the rest of the world.

“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah 11:6-9

“The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain.” Isaiah 65:25

The river that emanates from the new Temple of God in Jerusalem gives us proof that the river brings life to a fallen world.

“Son of man, have you seen this?… when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish... And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fails, but they will bear fresh fruit every month because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” Ezekiel 47:9-12

EVIDENCE OF MAN’S PAST REBELLION

“But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt.” Ezekiel 47:11

The remaining salted areas are emblematic of the transitional nature of the Millennium. The saltiness of the Dead Sea can rightly be understood to symbolize death. Even with Jesus reigning from David’s throne there will still be death, though it is diminished.

WASTELANDS

Edom in Southern Jordan: The most comprehensive description of Edom’s future is found in Isaiah 34:8-10.

“For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become burning pitch. Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation, it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.” Isaiah 34:8-10

In Jeremiah, it is compared to Sodom and Gomorrah. Its devastation is the result of God avenging Israel. “Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.” Obadiah 1:10

Life will not be prematurely cut off by pestilence and war, but man will live long: “for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” Isaiah 65:22b. The age of a hundred will be thought of as dying young; even the sinner, dying before his time as the penalty of his guilt, will live out 100 years. With this view, the effect of human sin will be reduced, but not eradicated. Death will still exist. Only on the New Earth will God finally wipe away all tears (Rev 21.4). Man’s sinful human nature will also result in national rebellion against Christ’s rule and will be firmly dealt with. Nations will serve the Lord or be punished severely. They will need to go up to Jerusalem and observe at least the Feast of Tabernacles or there will be no rain on their land.

“And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the Lord afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths.” Zechariah 14:17-19

Work will be a blessing, not a curse. Moreover, the wise use of technology will be expanded.

“They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their descendants with them.” Isaiah 65:21-23

“Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favour, I have had mercy on you. Your gates shall be open continually; day and night they shall not be shut, that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in procession. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve, you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste.” Isaiah 60:10-12

END TIMES PROPHECY BEING FULFILLED

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Dr Michael Brown interviews Torben Sondergaard and his immigration lawyer Michelle C Sánchez, P.A. Torben is in prison. If you need further evidence that we are in the prophesied “last days” before Jesus returns then this video may help. It demonstrates that when Christians are making an impact for God with the Gospel then they can expect intense persecution. As bad as this story is, Jesus tells us that persecution will intensify and you will be hated and killed “for my name’s sake“.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.” Matthew 24:9

THE ORIGIN OF VALENTINE’S DAY

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What is The Origin Of Valentine’s Day?

For this we have to go back to the Roman Empire, February 14, 269AD, when citizens were forced to worship the Roman gods, and “deified” emperors, by placing a pinch of incense on a burning fire before their statues.

Those who refused worship of the Roman gods were considered “politically incorrect” or “unpatriotic” enemies of the state and killed. Emperor Decian’s persecution specifically targeted Christians with legislation forcing them to deny their consciences or die.

During the first three centuries of Christianity, there were ten major persecutions in which the government threw Christians to the lions, boiled them alive, had their tongues cut out, and worse.

Roman soldiers would break into church meetings, catacombs, and homes, confiscating and destroying Christian writings, bibles, and church records. Because so many records were destroyed, details of Saint Valentine’s life are scant. Though several individuals may have had that name, it appears Saint Valentine was either a priest in Rome or a bishop in Terni, central Italy.

What little is known is mostly known from the works of Eusebius of Caesarea, compiled around 362 AD, and the Martyrologium Hieronymianum (Martyrology of Jerome), compiled around A.D. 460-544. Saint Valentine is mentioned in Legenda Sanctorum by Jacobus de Voragine in 1260 and in the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle.

In the 3rd century, it was against the law to be married as a Roman soldier. Saint Valentine risked the Emperor’s wrath by standing up for traditional marriage and secretly marrying soldiers to their young brides. When Emperor Claudius also demanded that Christians deny their consciences and worship pagan idols, Saint Valentine refused.

He was arrested and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to die. While awaiting execution, his jailer, Asterius, asked Saint Valentine to pray for his blind daughter. When she miraculously regained her sight, the jailer converted and was baptized, along with many others.

This resulted in Saint Valentine being beaten with clubs and stones, and when that failed to kill him, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate on FEBRUARY 14, 269AD. Asterius, the jailer, and all the others who got converted were also put to death. Jesus said (Acts 1:8), “You shall be my witnesses.” The Greek word for “witness” is “martyr”. Many 3rd century people knew they would be martyred soon as they converted, and many were the same hour.

Right before Saint Valentine was executed, he wrote a note to the jailer’s daughter, signing it, “from your Valentine.”

In a “note” from Jesus He said (John 15:13), “Greater love has no man than this than a man lay down his life for his friends.” And Paul wrote (Romans 5:7-8): “Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person… But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Jesus and Paul’s mandate, how it happened in history, and how it can today – read it in Jim’s book Christian Manifesto (Vol. 1) at:www.JimsBookstore.com

Jim McCotter is well aware that tribulation – persecution of Christians will escalate in the last days before Jesus returns. Those that will not take the Mark of the Beast will be martyred as the early Christians were. At the opening of the sixth seal (Revelation 6:9) John was shown the souls of the martyrs they had not been raised with bodies at that point in time. The good news is that shortly, after the blast of the trumpet at the seventh seal John sees the raised saints with bodies standing before the throne with palm branches in their hands praising God the Father and Jesus.

“ When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.” Revelation 6:9–10

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Revelation 7:9-12

WEF MEETING JAN 16 -20 IN DAVOS SWITZERLAND

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Well-known Jeff Brown of Brownstone Research writes “Every time a World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting takes place, I’m always wondering what shenanigans, or what evil, this group of unelected officials will get up to next.” Jeff’s insights into the world of high-tech investing are unrivaled.

Jeff says I pay close attention because there are very powerful forces behind the WEF that have worked hard over the last couple of decades to reshape our world in their eyes – in ways that will ultimately benefit “them” and come at great costs to “us” and the things that are dear to our preferred way of life. Scanning through the list of presentations, one caught my eye: “Why We Need Battery Passports,” scheduled for January 18. This isn’t a new topic for the WEF, as it’s been discussed and in the works for years.

Plans like these provide cover for the “Great Reset” and the implementation of digital IDs that track everything we do. The battery passport is just one part of that, and an important part, as transportation is naturally a large driver for carbon emissions – both for EVs using electricity from fossil fuels and for internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.

Yes, the WEF’s plans for a digital ID are very real, and openly discussed. The plan is to monitor our telecommunications, our healthcare, our financial services, our food consumption, our travel, our buying decisions, our transportation, and even what we say on social media. 

This isn’t just a crazy idea. This is a plan that’s been in the works for more than a decade, and it’s nearing implementation in many countries. 

The WEF openly states that it’s inserted its graduates in powerful positions in countries around the world. Looking at the list of individuals who have been through the WEF reeducation program over the last 20 years should make anyone’s jaw drop.

I raise these issues for awareness of what the “master plan” looks like. It’s not magnanimous; it’s nefarious. And it’s a world that would feel claustrophobic to most of us who relish not only our own freedom, but the freedom of others, and who feel strongly that freedom is worth both living and dying for.”

What Jeff does not realize is that God has told us in the Bible exactly what will unfold as we approach Jesus’ return to this earth. What Jeff describes above is preparatory to the Antichrist introducing the Mark of the Beast. We are getting close to the appearance of the Antichrist and his false prophet.

“Also, it (False Prophet for the Antichrist) causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.” Revelation 13:16-17

You do not want to be one of those that takes the Mark of the Beast as you will be on earth during the time God pours out His wrath on an unrepentant world with the trumpet and bowl judgements for one year and 10 days.

“If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.“ Revelation 14:9-10

“So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.” Revelation 16:2

TIMING OF THE RAPTURE

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Sadly, the Left Behind books by Tim Le Haye and Jerry Jenkins and now this film adopt a Pretribulation rapture position which was not what the early church fathers taught nor is it what the Bible teaches.

The foundational text in the New Testament related to the specific timing of the Rapture can be found in Matthew 24:29-31. In this passage, Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms the general timeframe during which believers will be supernaturally gathered to meet Him in the air. It is “immediately after the tribulation of those days and supernatural celestial signs in the sky“.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:29-31

Paul tells us that the rapture does not take place until after the Antichrist is on the scene and claims to be God. This occurs halfway through the tribulation period so the Saints are still on earth at that time.

“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him: We ask you, brothers, not to be easily upset in mind or troubled, either by a spirit or by a message or by a letter as if from us, alleging that the Day of the Lord has come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in God’s sanctuary, publicizing that he himself is God.”  2 Thessalonians 2:1-4

John tells us that at the fifth seal, he sees the souls of the martyrs under the altar crying out to God when will you judge and avenge our blood? At the fifth seal, the rapture has not occurred. This is at the fifth year of the last seven years of Daniel’s 70th week.

“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Revelation 6:9-10

At the sixth seal, the supernatural celestial signs that Jesus spoke of appear in the sky and as well as “the great day of His wrath has come”.

“When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth... Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone…calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” Revelation 6:12, 15, 16-17

It is at the trumpet blast at the opening of the seventh seal that the rapture occurs and John sees the resurrected Saints clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands praising God the Father and Jesus.

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Revelation 7:9-10

God promises to protect us from the wrath of God, not the tribulation which He uses to purify His church prior to the Rapture.

Each of the seven churches in Revelation represents the church in each of the seven years. It is the church in the sixth year, the church of Philadelphia that is raptured

“Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name… Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.” Revelation 3:8, 10-11

The people in the church in the seventh year, the church of Laodicea thought they were saved but were not. Note, Jesus still stands at the door and knocks so they had not taken the Mark of the Beast and still have the opportunity to repent and be saved.

“Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” Revelation 3:15-18

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.