Michael (limmuwd)

Thanks. I am very familiar with where the word 'rapture' comes from. Rather it's the usage of the word that is greatly misunderstood today. As I stated earlier... from my time in the written Word and seeking the Living Word, I am absolutely convinced that 1Thess 4 and the other 'rapture' verses are speaking of the First Resurrection of the overcoming Elect of God, which as Jesus clearly stated, takes place AFTER the Great Distress or Tribulation. The bodies of these alone (at this time) will rise from the graves and be clothed with their "tent', their spiritual, incorruptible, immortal body that they have been forming in heaven by their obedience to Christ here on earth; and they will rise - not to heaven as is commonly believed - but into the air to meet the Lord. Why the air? Because that is when the spiritual enemies of the Lord now reside. Those "principalities & rulers of darkness in the heavenlies" led by the "prince of the power of the air." Here the now glorified, immortal Elect will dethrone those usurpers and take their place of rulership. Evil will be driven from the earth. Antichrist, and the false prophet are thrown into the Lake of Fire, and the devil into the pit for a time. Now Messiah (Head & Body) will rule from Jerusalem over the nations of the earth for a season. "And then the end shall some." This is an extremely brief and summarized version of what will take place. But the bottom line is... The First Resurrection saints must be proven through the sufferings, temptations and tribulations of this life. For God to secretly send Jesus to come 'steal away' church-goers so satan can't harm them is not only completely unscriptural, but would defeat the very plan and purpose of God. I find myself saying this more & more these days... We are truly in great need of a Back-to-the-Bible Revival in our churches. Peace to you brother!

Personally, the word "rapture" is greatly misunderstood today, and a great many myths, fables and wishful thinking is conjured up when the word is mentioned. But from my time in the written Word and seeking the Living Word, I am absolutely convinced that 1Thess 4 and the other 'rapture' verses are speaking of the First Resurrection of the overcoming Elect of God, which as Jesus clearly stated, takes place AFTER the Great Distress or Tribulation. The bodies of these alone (at this time) will rise from the graves and be clothed with their "tent', their spiritual, incorruptible, immortal body that they have been forming in heaven by their obedience to Christ here on earth; and they will rise - not to heaven as is commonly believed - but into the air to meet the Lord. Why the air? Because that is when the spiritual enemies of the Lord now reside. Those "principalities & rulers of darkness in the heavenlies" led by the "prince of the power of the air." Here the now glorified, immortal Elect will dethrone those usurpers and take their place of rulership. Evil will be driven from the earth. Antichrist, and the false prophet are thrown into the Lake of Fire, and the devil into the pit for a time. Now Messiah (Head & Body) will rule from Jerusalem over the nations of the earth for a season. "And then the end shall some." This is an extremely brief and summarized version of what will take place. But the bottom line is... The First Resurrection saints must be proven through the sufferings, temptations and tribulations of this life. For God to secretly send Jesus to come 'steal away' church-goers so satan can't harm them is not only completely unscriptural, but would defeat the very plan and purpose of God. I find myself saying this more & more these days... We are truly in great need of a Back-to-the-Bible Revival in our churches. Peace & Blessings to all who walk with Jesus, Michael

The man-made "Christian" religion I can take or leave. But my faith in God and in Messiah Jesus is unshakable. I've lived long enough and experienced too much to even question of lose my faith & hope in God.

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." - James 1:3-4 Remember the faith of our father Abraham; may his patience be an encouragement to us all - "For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise." - Heb 6:13-15

Chapter & Verse? If you're talking about "Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?”, then none but Jesus. But if we talk of inheriting the promises of God, then only those who indeed prove themselves worthy will "walk with Him in white" and become the dwelling place of God. For the "righteous deeds" of these are what clothe them in "fine linen, clean and bright" (Rev 19:8). Note, this is not "salvation" the Scripture speaks of here, but of those who will obtain the promises of Revelation 2 & 3. God's wisdom & understanding to us all.

Very good question! Let me share a couple thoughts, as I've done a bit of study and writing on this... Dominion over God’s creation, rulership of the earth was given to man way back in Genesis Chapter 1:28. As we shall discover, God created the physical realm to even have dominion over the spiritual as well. "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, 4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? 5 For You have made him a little lower than God, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet." - Psalm 8:3-6 NKJV Heb The first Adam fell, and forfeited this inheritance, yet the promise of God remained: to grant man rulership over creation. Through Abraham, Israel, man continued to fall short and prove unworthy. Enter the Man Jesus - He had to be like us, born of a woman, a flesh and blood man, to be eligible to be our Redeemer, our King. He had to become flesh in order to conquer the spiritual enemies of God and His creation. Jesus greatly emphasized His humanity in His teaching, always referring to Himself as the “Son of Man.” Jesus rose and emerged from the grave as a physical Man (Luke 24:36-43). He ascended as a physical Man (Acts 1:4-11). And He is coming again to set up the Kingdom of God on the earth as a physical Man (Matt 24:29-31). “Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, He also Himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death He might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” – Heb 2:14 WEB “He was manifested physically and proved righteous spiritually.” - 1Tim 3:16 CJB This is an excerpt from an essay I did a couple years ago on The Greatest Gift (Man's Inheritance of Creation) Below is a pdf of the article if any are interested. Truly God's great plan & purpose are incredible. And because of Jesus, the Man who now sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven, God's desire to have man inherit and rule over creation is going to happen. Oh Glory! I look forward to that Day!

Works do NOT save. Other than Repentance & Baptism as Jesus taught, there is nothing more we can do to be saved. Yet this 'being saved" is not the end, but the beginning of our journey toward the promises of God, an inheritance. And as Paul taught clearly in 1Cor 10, God must prove us along the Way if we are to enter into His rest. Much in the modern Christian religion seems to teach that "being saved" means that's it, you've now an assurance of going to Heaven when you die. Yet this is not a Bible doctrine. The entirety of the New Testament epistles are clear warnings to saved people to not fall short of God's promises, as did the bulk of God's chosen & saved people in the wilderness. "Being saved" is an opportunity, not the end. Understanding that simple Truth makes Paul's declaration completely understandable. Obviously "saved", having repented & been baptized, Paul know that he still had a long way to go of he was to obtain the promises of God. "I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you." - Phil 3:8-14 Amen. May we follow Paul as he followed Christ, and press in diligently that we do not miss out on the promises of God to the overcomer, to "he that endures til the end."

Yes, we must walk daily by faith. I believe all here could testify of times they needed more faith to endure the trials and testing of this life. Faith is not a one time event. Even the Apostles who walked with Jesus daily, with Him visibly by their side, said to Him - "increase our faith." (Luke 17:5). And another fellow once told Jesus, "I believe, Lord, now help my unbelief." Oh yes, I fully believe Messiah Jesus was speaking of our spiritual Bread, which we need daily. "Sufficient for the day is the troubles thereof."

Truthfully, our Lord is speaking not of physical food, but of spiritual sustenance. "I Am the bread of Life... 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” - John 6:48,50-51 He is to be our daily Bread, our portion.

Amen! "Faith without works is dead." Our behavior, what we do, is the only evidence that we actually do believe. A good verse here to remember... The promise of God was only passed on to his son, God says, "because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My mandate, My commands, My statutes, and My instructions.” (Gen 26:5) If Abraham had only "believed" and not obeyed the charge of God, God would have looked for another through whom to bless the nations and establish the lineage of the Messiah.

"Give us this day our daily Bread." May our main concern be... have we partaken of the Bread of Life today? Is He our daily portion and sustenance? "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him." - John 6:56

Amen. Well said. So many fail to realize that God's love is absolutely conditional once we begin our journey, our discipleship with Jesus. We cannot take His mercy & grace for granted. I was recently attracted to this website "Worthy Christians" in the first place, because that concept is so misunderstood in the majority of today's teachings, and especially the songs on "Christian" radio. I've written often on the need for followers of Jesus to be proven worthy if they are to inherit the promises of God. A great many of folks were "saved" from bondage in Egypt; they were baptized, partook of Christ and followed the Spirit (as Paul explains clearly in 1Cor 10), yet only TWO men were found worthy enough to enter the Promised Land. Did God fail to keep His promise? No, the bulk of those in the wilderness took His promise for granted, and refused to do things His way. Their disobedience separated them from God. His love and mercy did not override their disobedience, and they proved themselves unworthy. I've done a bit of sharing on this. Tried to post a video on the site, but at nearly an hour, I guess it was too long for this site. Entitled "WORTHY" I look into the many Bible passages and the teaching's of Jesus & the Apostles on the necessity of the saints overcoming and being proven worthy if they are to inherit the promises of God and enter into His rest. I have the video "WORTHY" on my website - To Him Who Overcomes/Videos and on Youtube as well - Kingdom of God video teachings, for any who might be interested. Personally, I cannot settle for a lesser Gospel than what the NT declares. God's plan & purpose is infinitely more than the bulk of the Christian religion has known. But Praise God, He is unveiling that plan in the present hour! May we be among those with "ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches." Amen.

Just another sad individual who sold his soul for temporal "fame & fortune." A Proverb comes to mind - “The Lord hates six things; in fact, seven are detestable to Him: 17 arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet eager to run to evil, 19 a lying witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.” - Prov 6:16-19 Sounds a lot like the spirits that drive Hollywood. God's Judgment is coming to this nation (& the world) for the shed blood of the innocents.

Love this song! Got a few of Don's albums. Always a pleasure to listen to.

Wow! "Stay away from a foolish man; you will gain no knowledge from his speech. 8 The sensible man’s wisdom is to consider his way, but the stupidity of fools deceives them." - Prov 14 7-8