The Ressurection

I am asked what about the resurrection. We need to read our Bibles clearly. I will hope you know the scriptures. What was Jesus like after He rose from the dead. That's what we will be like. What if the Romans had decided to burn Jesus body to be certain he would not rise from the dead. It would have saved on Guards at the tomb. WOULD THE POWER OF GOD been enough to raise him from the ashes? OR would Father have said, RATS, It was a good plan but i need a body to raise someone from the dead. Guess I'll try again. I'm not being sacrilege here, The question about bodily Resurrection gets all messed up. JESUS was raised from the dead into a Glorified Body. Just like you will get when you die. Raised bodily. Sure we will all be raised from the dead, we will rise in the air into an eternal heaven... God doesn't need your earthly molecules to raise you bodily to life everlasting with a glorified body just like Jesus has. The Resurrection is not to your former corrupt state, you will be JUST LIKE JESUS in a Glorified Body. There is nothing good about your old body. You will rise again, but it won't be like you thought... unless you know the scripture. Then you think right.

Facing the End .. Overcoming the FEAR of DEATH

Satan has caused many saints of God to allow the sting of death to return. He has deceived many into clinging to our mortal shells without Godly reason. Yes, we want to live, we can't do much for the Kingdom when we are dead, but we will all die. There is no escape. It is, was and always will be appointed unto man ONCE to die. There is a second death. It is the death of the lost. To the pagan, those lost for eternity, death does and should hold fear. I will not address those things that they fear. There is a way to enter into eternal life. It's visible at nearly every football game. I am more concerned with Christians who fear death needlessly. We need to know with confidence how that last breath happens and means.

What happens when we die? We have confusion; it's the second time we go thru such radical change. Change is confusing. All change is perceived as loss. Birth was confusing. Darkness to light, Warmth to something new. We cried out. We were confused in this transition. Uncertain. Death has the same effect. As we lay on our deathbed, sometimes we face this with fear, amazement, a metaphysical roller coaster ride. I understand that as Steve Jobs lay dying, just before he took his last breath, his eyes opened and he said, WOW!. I don't know what that means but I am sure WOW fits. Some withdraw further and further. Sleeping more and more. Recognizing the end and accepting it without struggle. Some do struggle right up till the end in fear. It's understandable. Yet there is a way to understand death and overcome the fear, the sting.

Is there pain in death? Yes, momentarily. Particularly in a gruesome death. A gunshot, stabbing, bad car accident, execution, torture, a painful death by drowning, suffocation, heart attack or hanging. I mention this because I most people imagine they are going to die lying on a bed with friends and family surrounding them. That is not always the case. What of these more difficult unexpected situations dying in pain. To deny pain is to deny the reality of death. There is however good news, pain is the last ditch effort of our flesh to keep us here.

Those who have gone thru this and come back say the pain was momentary, brief, intense and then erased from all memory. Like having a really bad tooth pulled. Pain for a moment and then no more pain. Mortality is not sloughed off easily. This flesh doesn't want to become an empty shell to be buried, burned or abandoned. It wants to hold on as long as it can. But like a teenager who becomes such a pain in the neck that a parent is glad when they leave, so too our flesh causes us more and more discomfort as we age until staying in it is no longer acceptable. It's very much the same syndrome and if we must learn to accept it as normal. Not that there isn't regret and pain in separation from those we love. That's part of it too. Yet to the Christian, it is those loved ones left behind that suffer. Once death happens for the Believer all pain is gone, all memories that would cause grief dissipates. The sentiment is I'll see you soon. An eternal perspective offers that.

If we could grasp the temporary nature in dying we might not enter into it as full of trepidation as we do. Much of the heroics we commit ourselves to in the false hope that we might live forever in our bodies (or longer anyway) are simply fleshly vain attempts to postpone that which will take us all. It's not a sin. Doing battle with disease is part of life. Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead. Yet all died. It's that eventual reality that must be recognized and received as we step from time into eternity.

We come into a new reality as a believer who dies in Christ. No pain. No grief. No fear. In my next post I will tell you what happens right AFTER you die. And what it's really like on the other side of the veil between time and eternity. Most people don't understand this. If we can.. it will change us forever and we will live in victory fearless and purposed.

It's Fathers intent for you to know this as he has downloaded this to many prophets who are speaking the same thing right now.

Jesus manifesting among us

This apocryphal story (apocryphal means it may not be true)is told. I have heard versions of it. The fact is in an earlier post I wrote of the ways we see Jesus among us. One was in acts of mercy.  When I read this again, I thought how much we miss Jesus among us.. manifest.

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago .. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush to catch the plane home and with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly-missed boarding... 

ALL BUT ONE!!! He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. 

Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did. The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her; no one stopping and no one to care for her plight. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. 

As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $50 for the damage we did. Are you okay?" She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly." 

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister...." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, "Are you Jesus?" He stopped in mid-stride .... and he wondered. He gently went back and said, "No, I am nothing like Jesus - He is good, kind, caring, loving, and would never have bumped into your display in the first place. "The girl gently nodded: "I only asked because I prayed for Jesus to help me gather the apples. He sent you to help me, Thank you for hearing Jesus, Mister." 

Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: "Are you Jesus?" Do people mistake you for Jesus? That's our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace. If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day . You are the apple of His eyes even though you, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked up you and me on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

AMEN... JESUS MANIFEST YOURSELF AMONG  US

How Bad Eschatology is like the DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

I have been reading about the end of the world for 40 years.  In 1970 Hal Lindsey published the book "The Late Great Planet Earth".  I read it a couple years after it came out.  It scared the hell out of me... I mean that literally.  Pretty certain that things were going to collapse, come to an end, tribulation, wars, antichrist, beast, mark, rapture.... really a horror show.

It affected me.  It's not why I got saved, I got saved because I was lost in this life. 

If you were alive then and remember the book..it affected you too.  But it's probably NOT why you came to Jesus.  In fact most of the people scared by end times things make pretty short term shallow converts.

A spirit was released at that time that had a profound negative impact on the nation, the church, the community in our nation and has manifested in the rise of skeptic rooted atheism we see today.

Much of the frankly foolish parsing of news events twisted into fitting some scriptural paradigm of prophetic meaning based on Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew 24 and Revelation has been going on in churches and books since that time.  Even the popular website, Rapture Ready has become a parody of itself by defining the failed attempts to predict the end of the world, the rapture, the tribulation etc ad infinitum. 

I have seen an read accounts of how events in Israel, Russia, Europe and the Conflicts in Arab countries are a clear indicator of the end of the world.  The coming of the Lord.  The one that jolted me into reality regarding these things was one such account .... published in 1895.   It took events around that time and structured them into a tapestry that predicted the coming of the Lord with great confidence.

You can still find those books in Christian bookstores... written about events going on right now.  Websites are up and running, some very well intentioned that take current events and use them to warn people to expect the skies to part.

If anyone should question these things they are buffeted with all kinds of Bible Bullets that define people as scoffers who question IF such things make any sense at all.  If your expectation of Jesus revelation to you is dependant on what you see on TV or hear on the radio surrounding events in the middle east, you are being duped.

What is worse, is you are being poisoned against living your life in the Presence of Jesus.  You don't see him active and present in your life.  Unbelievers around you think you are crazy.  They read these books too and the devil has used them as an inoculation against the TRUTH of the Gospel. It's actually a clever scheme.  End times fantasy has crippled evangelism in our world.   When people should be invited into a Life WITH Christ here and now, they are told of some time in the future when if they measure up somehow (don't miss the rapture) they will be able to spend real quality time with him.  Kind of a spiritual Harry Chapin song, "Cat's in the Cradle".  We'll have a good time then...

On this day after Christmas I am more aware of how anticipation can be a trap.  How hoping for a future event kills the joy in the moment.  How on this day there is a let down.  That's what finding all this out is for many, a jolt into reality they didn't know they wanted until they got there.  They loved that day before Christmas feeling that futuristic prophetic interpretation gives them.  There is also a one upmanship about it all.  Kind of like the contest level yard displays I see in some neighborhoods.  It's like we decorate out theology with more and brighter outlandish claims of this or that fresh revelation of the coming of the Lord.  I will offend some, but the Harbinger was the last one such.

Jesus on the sermon on the mount tried hard to get his followers to understand that living here and now WITH HIM was supposed to be the chief goal of man.  Somehow that got all mixed up into causing people to think we should wait for some future event.  It only causes disappointment.  Like the day after Christmas.

The divisiveness that has been manifested by all this vain speculation (at least that's what the Bible calls such foolishness) divides the body of Christ into pre trib, mid trib, post trib, no trib, millennial, amillennial and a dozen other such iterations.  Anything that focuses on some future event is excuse enough for not living what we should here and now in the presence of the True and Living God, the Creator of all the Universe, King of Kings, True God here and now among us.

Darby and Scolfield were wrong... and they know it now.  They made heaven, but really know the truth.  If they could come back (they can't) they would say STOP... we were wrong.

Godless sects have risen up from this false teaching.  Jehovah's Witness is one such.  They have been predicting from Watchtower as a publication for instance, the end of the world over and over and over again.  They came out of William Miller's preaching about the end times in the middle of the 1800s.  Now they devolved into a cult of lost people who no longer believe Jesus is God.  That's where this error filled teaching will lead you... to apostasy.

I enjoy having a Jehovah's witness team come to my door. I seldom argue the business about Jesus as God... I start to talk to them about the Presence of the God here and now, His love for them, His action right here and now in their lives, how they can SEE HIM, experience Him, Know Him.  Then I gently tell them of the Power of the Holy Spirit and the Presence of Jesus (There's the rebuttal to True God for them) and how wonderful it can be to know Him in that way.  More than once a Jehovah's Witness has left my house in tears shaken by the reality of the Presence of Jesus.  They came to witness (a verb) I was simply a Witness (a noun).  That is the difference and we can't be that if we are living in fear or anticipation of an event that will never come to pass. 

The problem with all flawed and error filled theology, Jehovah's witnesses and the whole end times machine (Much of it money driven) is they say "It's not Biblical" to NOT believe as we do.  So they fire the Bible bullets and hope you are hit.  What they think are Bible Bullets are in fact fiery darts.

When I see Jack Van Impe on TV it saddens me.  He has been doing this dance for decades and is more confused today than he was in the 80s.  He knows the Bible cold and can stretch and twist events to fit scripture and the other way around week after week after week.

The last thing that impacted me to turn the light on was the historicity of the Bible.  I decided to try to prove that many of the things mentioned in Ezekiel,  Matthew and Revelation haven't happened yet so they must be unfulfilled prophecy.  I failed in my quest.  They all proved to have been rooted in historical events. I will ask readers to do their own work.  It will tear you up for a while as you discover how far afield you have gone under the influence of false teaching.  The Bible is true.  It all happened. There are however occasions when history does repeat... knowing which is which is all the trick... just don't be deceived by the devil's scheme.

IF the light comes on for you.... freedom will be the result.  Joy, Peace, Patience.  In fact, I don't believe it is possible to live in the fullness of the fruit of the spirit without proper understanding in these areas.  I hope you find it.. I'll see you in Heaven in any case and then you'll stand with Scofield and say, I was wrong.

Facing the End.. Left Behind --- Part 8

The hardest part for those still here after someone steps from time into eternity is the sense of being left behind (there is still pain in loss).  Once our loved ones step from time into eternity they are unaware of us.  They don't forget us, they know who we are, but they are not aware of us once they are in eternity.  They are not part of any cloud of witnesses.  They are oblivious to us after the point of death.  Think about what it would be like for them to be aware of our actions, reactions and rebellions.  They do not become angels. Not even Mary the Mother of Jesus. She is there, but she is not an angel.  I don't want to upset my Catholic friends but the apparitions are supernatural communications but not Mary.  People saw her because it was a form of communication.  Sometimes even demonic. Measurement of that must be made in the light of Scripture.  An Angel taking a form acceptable to can be a way Father uses His messengers to communicate something he can't get done another way.  Look at all the times angel messengers were used and documented to communicate something. It's still happening. 

Those now in heaven don't see or sense us.  They are in glory.  BUT we can sense them.  They can't come to us, there are no ghosts.  We will only go to them.  They can't come to us.  David proclaimed that when his infant son died.  It's a truth we must grasp. When someone who has lost a loved one says, "It feels like they are still here or I can feel or sense their presence", it's true.  They are just there.. just the other side of the veil.  You can feel it. You sense them. Yet this is not so for them.  They wait for you.  They remember you in the completed tapestry that was their life in time.  But you are now frozen in their memory.  After they died, they never see you again.  You can talk, pray and cry out to them, but they are deaf to your cries.  Praying to saints is fruitless.  YET... of your loved ones gone? You can sense the love they had for you and bask in it... for they wait for you to come.  The veil between you and them is very thin and sometimes is breached for a moment.. you to them but not them to you.  They are in Glory and you are still here in the battle.  They are right there... just there.  On the other side of the veil.

Jesus and all the angels have no problem moving from time into eternity and back again.  There is no confusion for them.  That's how Jesus ascending into heaven and returning seemed to break thru some veil.  I wonder how high it appeared Jesus was when he seemed to disappear?  Fifty feet, a hundred, a thousand?  It seemed as if he entered a cloud and then was gone.  In the same way he came back again.... in a cloud.  The veil appears like a cloud.  Not that it is a cloud.. it is the separation between time and eternity.  Cloud is the only way someone seeing it can describe it.  It's a portal that opens and as angels step thru it looks like stepping into or out of a cloud.

Jesus appears often on earth. Has to many.  He sees us.  He is God.  Your uncle Art is not.  He is now like Jesus in bodily form in heaven, but not God.  Angels are assigned messengers and with messages come from and return to heaven.  Your uncle Art will never be an angel.  Your uncle Art will be one who came into heaven a little higher than the angels yet never assigned to return to earth.  That's for lesser beings.  

This is also how supernatural provision comes.  Remember the storeroom of heaven is just over there.  Just the other side of the veil.  Very close in proximity.  So when we look to heaven's provision we are able to receive as the veil is breached and those things stored up for us are delivered into our hands.  Sometimes it's manna.  Sometimes it's rain when you need it.  Sometimes it's deliverance.  Sometimes its protection.  Sometimes it's money in a fish.  Those things happen as heaven touches earth for a moment in answer to prayer.

One thing that becomes clear in heaven when the revelation comes of HIS greatness and majesty. The earth, the sun, the moon, the solar system, the galaxies, all the galaxies, all of creation suddenly fade into proper perspective in our sight of the Creator.  Will earth exist...?  Yes but in proper perspective.  All of creation will roll up like a scroll into the proper paradigm in relationship to her creator.  You won't be in awe of them any more, but in awe of the maker.  There will be very little to cause you to want to be other than in HIS presence... except that HE is everywhere.  If you decide you want to visit Jupiter or Mars (like the old song says) you can think it and be there.  You won't need air or a spaceship.  You won't --- not moving, you'll just be.

All the things you read and memorized from scripture will make sense.  There will be things you were taught that will seem like nonsense. But that was then.  In eternity the silly things you thought will fall away.

Not everyone will make it to heaven.  Will you know if they are missing?  Probably not.  There are no tears in heaven.  No grief. No pain.  So from the moment you die till your loved ones appear at heaven's portal you will be unknowing.  It's not a sanitized experience; it's one that provides only for your fit into the whole. 

These things are hard to explain.  The centrality of Jesus is what makes it all hold together (according to Scripture).  He will so overwhelm you with His glory you will not note so many things that on earth distract.

There is much more to say, but like Paul the Apostle said,

“It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows— how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me” (2 Corinthians 12:1–6)

I won't tell you how I know all these things, you must measure them by scripture.  They will prove to be what they are.

Prophet Gene

Facing the End - Entering Eternity Fearlessly Part 7

Imagine that you are the two thieves on the cross either side of Jesus as they died.  One mocked him.  Bravado.  Anger.  Pain.  The other appealed to Jesus.  Remember me he said.  Jesus assures him thru his anguish, pain of scourging and beatings, pain of torture on a cross designed to make the dying as long and painful as possible.  All three were suffering.  Yet, the mocking thief faced his final moments in terror.  Not knowing what would be next.  His last breath was a desperate attempt to forestall the moment of life's termination.  How about that thief that heard the word of the Lord;  TODAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE.  His last breath was welcomed.  He knew that Jesus, Creator of all the universe, just opened heaven's welcome center for him.  Fear was gone.  He may have been in pain.. but he entered into eternity in hope.  That is Gods best for his children.  Fear of the sting of death is gone...when we know Jesus said... TODAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME.

So what happens to us right after we die? It's the moment after.  Time has now ceased.  We enter eternity. All pain is gone.  Our carcass is empty.  Body and soul are no longer one.   What do we see or experience? What is that moment like?

There are scriptural and testimonies of a some who have witnessed these things to help us grasp what happens.  We can construct what it will be like using clues with Biblical support.  The song we can only imagine, as wonderful as it is, comes short of the mark. We can and if we can grasp the vision, fear dissolves.

The moment the thief Jesus Promised died, all people who die in Christ, the moment you die here's what happens:

There is a shock into well being.  We suddenly feel indescribable peace.  Beyond all understanding.  It's overwhelms us.  We can hardly take it in.  Then there is the beauty.  It is a manifestation of the fullness of Jesus beauty. Every color comes so alive that we can taste it.  In fact we taste colors.  Music is everywhere.  All at once.  Remember this is eternity where everything is now.  So our experience in non linear.  It's all now.  Hard for those of us trapped in time to grasp, but to get a small glimpse of what that might be like, think back to a wonderful childhood memory.  A good one.  Think of it.  All the color, music, joy, fun, and love you felt. Now let that emotion come over you.  You see it not in linear fashion but as one good memory, all at once.  The parts you really enjoyed come back again and again.  That's a bad imitation of what eternity is like.  All at once, but able to be parceled out.  I hear people ask what kind of music will I hear?  It will be your fullness of joy to experience... whatever fits your moment will be heard. For some hymns, for some chants, for some choruses, for some classical for some a gospel song, or even rap (Christian).  It's your eternity and Father speaks to you in the context you understand.  You have to grasp that it's all one.  Yet differentiable. 

You will have unspeakable joy.  No remembrances from earth that have contain any regret or pain... the pain you had in life will fit into your understanding and there will be no questions.  The Idea that you are going to ask questions of Jesus when you get there will be needless.  You will have full understanding of all.  You will know who you really are.  There will be no more self doubt.  How you fit into the whole while on earth will make perfect sense in a supernatural way.  That is why there is no recognized hierarchy in heaven.  One saint is as another.  Fullness and fitly joined together.  This sudden recognition of your place in the universe will take your breath away. 

Your capacity for experience will multiply a thousand times or more.  You will experience heaven as if you had 5000 senses instead of 5.  Every color, every sound, every taste, everything you hear, everything you feel, and the fragrance... it will be amazing.  You will understand what a vapid colorless place life on earth was.  You won't regret it...but wish everyone could experience what you are experience.

You will live without confusion. No question. Your only desire will be to worship.  It will all be so clear.  Bowing in worship, raising hands.  Singing.  Whatever will make all the sense...in heaven.  You will want to enter into who HE is so completely at to be lost in Him.  You were created for this.  The beauty of Jesus will be revealed again and again. It will be all one but eternal.  It will never be boring.

You will have a form.  A spirit form.  Yet you will look to others as you were remembered best.  Known as you were known. Recognized... yet it is your spirit that they see.. the rest is construct.  In fact you have only a spirit.  It's hard to explain, but you won't have arms, legs or head as you know yourself, but to those who see you, you will look as you did to them.  I know that's unclear but think of a child who dies young.  Her daddy is 25 years old.  She will see him thus.  His brother who dies at 50 will remember him as about his age and his wife who follows him in death will see that man thru the eyes of love. His mother who bore him and died in childbirth will see him as a young boy.  They will all know him, but all in context and construct.  Its how people who die see grandparents and such waiting for them... as they knew them.

It will not seem an unfamiliar place to be explored.  You will already know all about it.  It will seem normal, someplace you already knew.  In a strange way, heaven was always in your heart.  You have had glimpses of it.  This is why the idea of reincarnation keeps coming up in false religions.  There is a sense of going back, so people try to explain the origin of all life (JESUS saying let there be) as a reincarnation.  It's not.  But it is returning... Remember, once there, all here is now.  To grasp this scripturally, you are already seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus...yet you are here. 

It is impossible to describe so those who have had a glimpse of Heaven are lost for words.  One thing is certain, once you have been there and come back the fear of death, even the fear of the pain of death is gone. 

People don't GO to heaven.  They enter heaven.  Heaven is infinite in proximity.  Right here. Right there.  Just there.  It is easier to think of it a long long away somehow out there, but it's here. Not on earth, well kind of.  More on that in the last post. 

When people die they step from the cloak of time into the uncloaking of eternity.  We are locked in a box called time and enter into an unlimited vista called NOW..  Eternity. 

Unshaken Kingdom by Shirley Carter

Authority in this world does not necessary mean authority in God's world. Some are so satisfied with shaking things in this world, they cease to press for true authority from Heaven!

~ When the disciples passed the beggar, saying silver and gold have I not, but such as I have..get up and walk...he gave him something this world could not.

~ When Elijah caused the rain to stop and start, he demonstrated a superior answer to drought.

~ When Jesus multiplied the fish and loaves, He operated from another dimension, demonstrating a superior answer to hunger.

~ When the Israelites cried out for food in the wilderness, God sent them Manna from Heaven.

~ When Lazarus was dead in the grave, Jesus, operating from His Kingdom, released a power no amount of money could buy.

When the Babylonian system falls, people of God will be forced to operate from God's unshakable kingdom [Hebrews 12:27-29]:

"Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear."

Facing the end WITHOUT FEAR Part 5

In the beginning of this series I said there are deep long cycles.  Even with a destiny for all of us we are operating in patterns easily recognized from the Word of God.  One thing is certain, God will take judgment on the evil of rebellion - Its witchcraft to him.  He will strip away everything that violates the first and second commandments (Thou shalt have no other gods & No graven images or likenesses) until the only thing left is HIM.  He has always done this.  He allows rebellion to run its course until he pulls back hard. Just reading the book of Ezekiel chapter 7 and you can see clearly the pattern.  Gold thrown in the street. Money fails.  Rebellion results in desolation.  It happened before and in rebellion will happen again and again:

Ezekiel 7:10b-22
The rod has budded,

Arrogance has blossomed!
11Violence has arisen
a rod to punish the wicked.
None of the people will be left,
none of that crowd—
none of their wealth,
nothing of value.
12The time has come!
The day has arrived!
Let not the buyer rejoice
nor the seller grieve,
for my wrath is on the whole crowd.
13The seller will not recover
the property that was sold—
as long as both buyer and seller live.
For the vision concerning the whole crowd
will not be reversed.
Because of their sins, not one of them
will preserve their life.
14“ ‘They have blown the trumpet,
they have made all things ready,
but no one will go into battle,
for my wrath is on the whole crowd.
15Outside is the sword;
inside are plague and famine.
Those in the country
will die by the sword;
those in the city
will be devoured by famine and plague.
16The fugitives who escape
will flee to the mountains.
Like doves of the valleys,
they will all moan,
each for their own sins.
17Every hand will go limp;
every leg will be wet with urine.
18They will put on sackcloth
and be clothed with terror.
Every face will be covered with shame,
and every head will be shaved.
19“ ‘They will throw their silver into the streets,
and their gold will be treated as a thing unclean.
Their silver and gold
will not be able to deliver them
in the day of the Lord’s wrath.
It will not satisfy their hunger
or fill their stomachs,
for it has caused them to stumble into sin.
20They took pride in their beautiful jewelry
and used it to make their detestable idols.
They made it into vile images;
therefore I will make it a thing unclean for them.
21I will give their wealth as plunder to foreigners
and as loot to the wicked of the earth,
who will defile it.
22I will turn my face away from the people,
and robbers will desecrate the place I treasure.
They will enter it and will defile it.

The result of all this will be a wholesale return to the God of our Fathers.  False religions will fade away.  There will no hope except a return to the Lord.  "Come let us return to the Lord" will be the cry. 

There will be no escape.  You won't be able to buy your way out of this.  The only thing that can save you are your relationships horizontally and vertically.  God will be in our midst.  Jesus will be manifest.  The Holy Spirit filled saint will walk in authority.  In the middle of all this will be a recognition of the hopeless worthless materialist thing that costs so many everything, even their lives.

This is how people will face the pain, the difficulty. The key to overcoming is grasping an ancient yet now forgotten way of death and dying and the solid trust we can have in an everlasting Father.  Our modern culture no longer faces death with the power of the Holy Ghost and life lived for God.  We see our life and one thing and our purpose in God as another.  Yet, I can make this promise to you, You will not see death until your eternal purpose in the Father is complete.  If you have lost a child or a loved one prematurely, you might question that.  But it's true.. you are immortal in the flesh until....

The fear of death has created a culture that grasps at life above its value.  How did the martyrs of old face death?  Bravely, welcoming, fearlessly, with joy and hope. How did the ancients as they lay dying pronounce blessing to others and then were laid up with their fathers.  How do those who fight in wars are often killed for the cause they fight for and die with courage.  How did the Apostle Paul or Peter face the executioners?  They knew death was coming but with little fear.  They had a revelation of what happens at death. 

That is part 6 coming up.  What happens at the point of death, not after, that's another story.  How do people die and what is is like?

John Mark Pool: Fire, Wind, Shaking - It's Transformation Time!

A fellow prophet contacted me about the series of prophetic visions I have been getting.  He had been getting the very same thing.  In fact before he read a word of what I had already written (all ten pages) he insisted on sending me what he had heard. It lined up perfectly.  THEN, today I open my email and see this from John Mark Pool.  It is EXACTLY the same word.  Couched differently, but the same.  I had not seen this till today. I will not change what the Lord has told me to write.  However, unless you like to be asleep in the light, it's time to hear what the Spirit of the LORD is saying... not Gene, not my friend, not even John Mark Pool.  It's coming folks.  Read all of what I have already posted in this area. Parts ONE thur FOUR.  It's stirring and if you aren't well rooted might be a bit frightening. Fear NOT.. Jesus said that more than anything else.   Note by the way, this Prophet says not a word about a second coming, Jesus breaking thru the clouds, the rapture, tribulation, Armageddon, or any such.  The maturity of the Prophetic has arrived.  Now it's time for the Apostles to find their way home.

FROM JOHN PAUL POOL:

Malachi 4:6 (NASB) He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.
God is love, so reconciliation and complete transformation are His focus. When Jesus came to earth and completed His earthly assignment in the flesh and Spirit, God kept His Word of completely transforming all that was lost back to relationship with Him. You can be assured that in a world reeling in a backdrop of turmoil, this is the day for Christians to become the means of reconciling the lost and hurting back to the Father's heart.

A Memo From Heaven

Recently, I had an encounter that has transformed the message of my heart to release this word from God to America specifically, and to all other nations.
I was visited in the middle of the night by an angel. As I sat up, awakened from a deep sleep by a nudge at my feet, I noticed a very bright light and then a form of a heavenly being standing at the foot of my bed. He was very stately and dressed in royal apparel of brilliant white and was holding a glowing memo from God in his hand. He held the memo right in front of me, so it was simple and easy to read. I asked him who he was and he said, "I am a messenger from the throne of the One you love; I am the Angel of Transformation."
He had my full attention and I thanked Him for the memo. He then said, "Read it aloud to me now!" I quickly obeyed and boldly spoke the following four words as the memo came alive.

· FIRE
· WIND
· SHAKING
· TRANSFORMATION

As I read the word FIRE, the letters were literally on fire and were crackling as if they were burning. Next, when I read the word WIND, the letters were waving and moving as if wind was blowing them. Then when I spoke the word SHAKING, it began vigorously shaking on the memo. Finally, when I spoke the word TRANSFORMATION, the letters started glistening and sparkling with the most brilliantly golden, shimmering, glorious light.
When I finished reading these four words to the Transformation Angel, He said, "Deliver this message wherever you go!" Suddenly the angel vanished and I sat pondering this simple message. I was immediately compelled to write this "Memo from Heaven" down and fell back to sleep.
Later the same morning, the Lord drew me into my "secret place" to write more about this. While seeking more revelation from God, I intently searched each word. Then the words again came to life and had additional new messages that were "linked" from the glory realm of Heaven.

Fire

Every time I spoke or wrote the words of the memo, a revelatory meaning was etched by holy FIRE and burned into my heart. God revealed His motivation. He wants to share His first desire of His passionate love to all the people of the whole world that He sent His Son Jesus to transform.
The Lord told me, "The fire of My desire is to see My people restored to My heart." He spoke in that clear, small, still voice that He wanted His own creation longing for and desiring Him the same way He desires them! Abba Father revealed Himself and is making sure this love note is delivered to all people. God is saying to us that this fire is the passion of His heart for His creation and His desire for intimacy with them, to burn into the hearts of all His children that He is and forever will be LOVE strong enough to transform even death to life! Nothing is impossible for God!

Wind

The vision of flowing letters in the word WIND on the memo is forever etched in my heart. Each letter blew as if by a strong wind released from the Holy Spirit during the Angel of Transformation's visitation. God highlighted wind to me as "Ruach (Breath of His Spirit) wanting again to 'breathe His refreshing Spirit and new life into all lost or discouraged hearts.'"
Genesis 2:7 (NASB) "Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."
The Lord emphasized to me that His breath of Holy Spirit is more than enough wind of transformation to turn this nation back to His heart now. We must experience and activate the Holy Spirit breath of anointing to release God's holy breath of love to the many hurting people. As these people realize what has been missing in their lives, they will begin to be led by the Spirit of God and will be prepared to receive the transforming breath of God's Spirit.
The Lord reminded me of the prophet Ezekiel's vision in the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37:5 (NASB): "Thus says the Lord God to these bones, 'Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life."
Part of the limping Body of Christ has been breathing in the toxic breath of the enemy's lies for too long. We decree these deceptive toxins purged and cleansed from the Body of Christ in Jesus' name!
Today, filled with the powerful "breath of the Spirit of the Living God," we decree the transforming power of Christ's life and breath to fainthearted, discouraged, or lost people.

Shaking

In a vision the word SHAKING came clearly again to me, reminding me of these verses, "For thus says the Lord of hosts, 'Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the Lord of hosts" (Haggai 2:6-7, NASB).
When I read this passage, the wind of anointing started shaking and reverberating in my heart. I can literally feel the Father's heart beat in concert with His desire to bring people back in relationship with Himself. It will be the most powerful "awakening" move of God people have ever experienced. Rather than allowing a flood again like the one that destroyed all living creatures, this time God is using His Word to shake the nations back to Him.
God is fulfilling His heart's desire for His people to seek intimate fellowship with Him. More Israeli people will come home to the Father by a massive acceptance of Jesus Christ, Yeshua Ha'Mashiach, as their Lord and Savior.

This shaking will rivet this nation and change the face of the globe in a short period of time, beginning with all the Middle Eastern countries. Israel is a key to our nation and the world being shaken back to our Father's heart at this great season of major awakening. This shaking will not be stopped by carnally-minded people or the enemy's deception. This shaking will "shock our hearts" back into perfect rhythm with our Creator.
The entire world has already experienced much unpleasant shaking; the shaking soon will become an "earthquake of the Father's wind of the Spirit." It will shake America and the whole world to its knees for completely repentant hearts turned back to our Lord God!

Transformation

The Lord etched into my heart that His desire was to restore that which was lost and to have His people become transformed into His image like pure gold. We must focus upon the desire of God's heart and leave our own humanistic thinking and carnal minds out of the equation.
Romans 12:2 (NLT) Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
This time the awakening will cause a major worldwide global transformation and many nations will begin to turn to the Lord in a single day!
The Father's word TRANSFORMATION highlighted the sparkling, new, heavenly gold that I had seen in the memo from the Transformation Angel. This beyond-earthly, pure-gold hue represents the totally changed hearts turned back to the Father that were purified and freed from any defects of this world.
As I pondered this word "transformation," the Father spoke gently to my heart that He has given us the ability not only to be free from all sin but also to move us into the continual purification growth process of being transformed into His image – a "smelting" process that takes each of us into a new level of being transformed from "glory to glory."
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NASB) But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
So all of us with removed veils (through the Blood of Jesus) can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord – who is the Spirit – makes us more and more like him as we are continually being "transformed" (changed) into His glorious image.
The Lord wants the redeemed followers of Jesus to become mature in the "refiner's fire," so when we offer His love to those desperate for TRUE LOVE, they will see through our lives the image of our Abba Father as we become fully engaged in our assignments.
This is a different kind of transformation, one like never before in history. I can still hear that piercing breath of God's voice penetrating my being with these words, "As in the days of Esther, you, the Bride of Christ, were changed to be a transformer for 'such a time as this.'"
2 Corinthians 5:15-20 (NLT) "He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, 'Come back to God!'"

It's Transformation Time

The Lord sent the Angel of Transformation to awaken us from sleep, to give us the message of activation of our lives, to genuinely change (transform) us into the image of the heart of our Father for the entire world to desire Him. As we adhere to our "processing" journey of becoming more like Jesus, then we offer Messiah Jesus to hurting people, demonstrating that Father's righteousness is ours through all Jesus already accomplished.
We have a perfect love letter from Heaven through Jesus given to us because of the ultimate price He paid for our transformation. In this love letter is the WIND of the anointing of the Father, now blowing a fresh message of His heart of holy FIRE.
The SHAKING by God's Word is from His heart to ours so we become transformed into His image and begin to be the true messengers of the ministry of reconciliation! Today is the transforming "Day of Salvation!" It is our time to be transformed and let God use us to transform our family, the nation, and the world. It is TRANSFORMATION time!
John Mark Pool
Word to the World Ministries
Email: MarkandSandyPool@aol.com
Website: w2wmin.org

Facing the End...with Optimism... Part 4

The time of this trouble in our world will be global. The high will be brought low.  This will appear to be a good thing for those who are low and feel like the high and mighty deserve this.  The problem is the low will be brought lower and many will not survive this time.  This is not the great tribulation, it is a great tribulation.  It comes as a curse on those nations who have substantially abandoned God and turned to their own ways.  Judgment was always declared on nations, but people in nations suffered.  "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; Matthew 25:32

There  is going be a complete economic reset in the nations, particularly harsh among those nations who have tried to game the global economic system to sustain unstainables mostly in western countries.  This will mean the collapse of currencies.  This will mean warfare intranationally (civil war) as services collapse.  It will start slowly, Detroit was considered a black swan by many.  That destiny waits for many cities, states and nations. Prophets have declared in the past that Detroit would be a pattern for the nation.  Many spiritual leaders didn't think it would be like this.  Other cities will collapse, then states and eventually the whole nation.  Once one large western nation collapses, other economic dominoes will follow; one at a time.  That will create the chaos that neutralizes the supposed power of a one world currency. 

People will form these smaller subcultures.  Skill will once again become the currency of exchange.  I will do for you as you do for me.  Exchange will be conducted with hand written IOUs in small community groups.  Those who have nothing to offer (skill), those who cannot contribute in these small sustaining subcultures will die.  Man's fallen nature will not support one another in a godless society.  Give to get.  Dog eat dog.

In addition to this the constancy of violent global weather conditions, not unusual, just constant will result in unmet need in nations.  When earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, epidemics, volcanic eruptions, blizzards, tornadoes, floods, landslides and a hundred other killer events after a global economic collapse (I promise one is coming) there will be no response.  There will be no one left to respond. People will perish.  There will be much death and destruction from this.  There is hope however and it bear the signs of rebirth.  Read on.

All this seems like doom and gloom and the end of all things.  It's not, it's birth pangs as the Kingdom of God is advancing.  Those who look to these events as the end of the world aren't looking the optimistic future I see.  BUT, you might say, "doesn't seem very optimistic to me".  NO, if we depend on our leadership, our government or a corrupt world economic system, we have good reasons for pessimism.  There is no cause for optimism as long as two altars are in every home, city, church, state and nation.  One allegedly to the God of our Fathers and one to the Beast supported by the false prophet.  We have that now. Two altars in many churches, Baal and God.  One of prosperity and fertility (Baal) and one of God (Trusting HIM for provision and protection).  It's time to figure out which one must come down.

The result of Baal worship is that those who support it become dog food.  Jezebel and Ahab was a type of this religious system of government with false prophets who supported this evil government and economic bondage system (as is being formed right now in the USA).  The worship of Baal was for the purpose of assuring prosperity. That's the antichrist system we have in effect today.   You don't have to look for the antichrist spirit, he is in the news every day.  You don't have to wonder what religious governmental combine is supported by this.  It's global.  It's a strange combination of the false prophet encouraging tolerance by imposing intolerance.  Islam is one such, but as John the Apostle said, the antichrist is already in the world and there are many antichrists.  When you see a false worship based on peace and prosperity wrapped up in government and supported by media with a degraded culture (as seen on TV and it's not Sham Wow) you see the beginning of the day when it must all be thrown down by the Eunuchs and consumed by the dogs. THROW HER DOWN.

Don't fear this, there will be places of refuge, but they won't be predictable.  They will happen as the Holy Spirit manifests Christ among us.  Many places will remain in deep darkness, but the Holy Spirit will brood above the deep darkness and bring light at His Word. This will result in the greatest awakening the world has ever known, even in Israel as a sign and a wonder.  Jesus will be manifested even greater than we have ever known.  Nealy all churches as we have known them will dissolve. Our focus on some supposed future event will be discarded for the realization that here and now is the fullness of the Presence of Christ.  In the natural tragedies of flood and famine there will be supernatural events that point only to the true and living God. Manna, Healing, Wholeness, Provision.  It is that happening at the hands of Holy Ghost empowered witnesses (not witnessing, being witnesses) demonstrating deliverance to the nations.

This will require sacrificing all the priests of Baal in our lives.  No more can we be of two opinions.  Now only one.  Our God is one.... and HE IS ABLE

GLORY!! 

Facing the end Prophetic Download part three

Prophetic History is never linear. It is always circular. Where we are on the great wheel of history helps us understand the past present and future. The Jewish mind in the time of the ancient writings saw history as a cycle. Our western linear thinking makes us think that things must be future based, they are, but they are simply repeats of what has been. That's why scripture is so helpful to understand the times and seasons. There are events that foretell where things are on the great cycle. One thing is certain; Israel, spiritual and natural (Chosen People) is a key in understanding the benchmarks prophetically. It is a conundrum. God's plan shoots like an arrow thru history, yet the cycle is how we grasp eternal truths. It's a convergence of eternal truth and humanities propensity to fall. Pagan peoples always embraced the cycle. Too many Christians have ignored the cycle and only embraced the arrow which points to an end time, a final conflict, a rapture, an event culminating in the coming of the Lord. It's a difficult thing to reconcile the human mind's incapacity to grasp eternity... yet to see the future history you must.

Here's what the Lord has shown in light of these things:

We are going to go descend further in our global culture. Life will become less and less valuable to the culture at large. Killing people for "reason" (sick, in the womb, mentally challenged, old, impaired, insanity or racially different) will become acceptable. The attack on the family will grow driven by a demon that embraces homosexuality, destruction of all marriage, sexual insanity and the resultant children of those "families" will become change agents for the worse. This will be promoted by the False Prophet (the cultural spirit embodied by media and entertainment)

Wars not yet imagined will break out as things change. Some will become severe. They will be racial, cultural (yes the cold civil war will become hot) and international as countries attempt to stop what they see as danger by imposing war against a source of the danger as they see it. It will happen as certain countries begin to see the USA (or any other nation) as a danger along the lines of how we saw Iraq after 2001. We went to war because we thought there were WMD's in an unstable nation. That license to conduct a preemptive war is now about to be exercised by other countries and if the USA becomes more unstable than it is today, we will see those nations attack the USA preemptively.

The imagined alliances in the world will dissolve under these attacks. Any illusion that France, Germany or England will come to our aid under such an attack is fantasy. There are no global militarys to stand down a China or Russia who sees the USA as a global danger and takes direct action against her.

As things deteriorate, there will be attempts again and again to take control of other dangerous nations as a precursor. Mexico is one such by its continued lawlessness and corruption (there are small signs there may be progress in this area) stands vulnerable to invasion. IF a nation with a huge military were to move against Mexico (see Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela) supported by a Russian or Chinese Army and all it's might in a 3 pronged attack, do you imagine our government in its weakened condition trying to defend such action. Mexico would fall. I see this coming to a head.

This is not to be feared, it is the wars and rumors that are always with us and will be again. They are threatenings. God may in his mercy judge those but the real judgement is the heeding to the false prophet of the Beast that has brought us to this point. The apex that was the USA a generation ago that knew God now has become a nadir to a generation that has forgotten who God is. That cycle has been part of humanity since Joseph in Egypt. It is again.

God hasn't forgotten us, he wants us to be aware of what our decline and degradation has cost us. How the decisions we made over the last 30 years have brought us to this point. Even mentioning the reasoning of God as he says to us, "Let us reason together" is offense to the false prophet.

We can only pray and act to have a real impact on a culture and society that no longer knows God. Joseph arise! God have Mercy

Facing the END in Victory... Part Two of a Prophetic Download.

There are ideas that have been presented that are not entirely accurate. It's not just the eschatology, it is an understanding of the victory over sin and death that was fought and WON at the cross witnessed by an empty tomb over 2000 years ago.

Someday the world will indeed cease to exist as we knew it physically...yet it will never end. When Jesus is revealed (either upon our stepping from time into eternity or when the earth dissolves... as must happen eventually) we will see HIM as HE really is. The scroll will be rolled back and then the SON will shine brighter than the SUN. That is the revelation of HIM that we will all see together. It's just not going to happen soon. Stop looking for it. There is no great showdown ending with the world ceasing to exist. The Kingdom of God is not going to stop advancing until the end of the WORLD... so enjoy the journey without fear.

How about the mark of the beast, the one world money system, the "no man can buy or sell except"? All happened and will happen again and then will not. In fact eventually all attempts to create a single currency fails (see Bitcoin). At one time all of the Roman Empire used a single currency. How about now? Attempts and failures over the centuries to control commerce by creating fiat currency has always ended in defeat. Its not to say the devil doesn't try it again and again, it's just destined to fail. In fact soon God's judgment will once again appear to crush this vain attempt. This worldwide system will collapse.

What about the bowls of wrath, the vials, the hailstones, the four corners, the winds, the beast from the sea, the "hide me", the terrors of Revelation all happened right on schedule. AD 72. The religious system of the Beast Judaism and Government were crushed and destroyed. Since all things in the earth are deep long term cycles and birth pangs, they happen again and again and again as the Kingdom advances.

Those who doubt God's capacity to bring judgment on evil don't own a newspaper, radio, TV or have access to Internet news. YET all these things are past, present and future... as the Kingdom increases. Don't read the news with an eye towards the end, or Jesus coming thru the clouds on a white horse; He did, in the sight of the High Priest. And he will again, but this time in GLORY as the beast system is once again put to dust, to shame.

Think of all the beast systems that are now properly filed in the dustbin of history. Baal, Greek and Norse god Worship (remember Zeus and Odin?), Egyptian gods of government now only exist in hieroglyphics, who knows what Stonehenge was all about, or the Mayan and Aztec gods who were sacrificed to of human flesh and in more modern times Japan, China, Nazi and certain African nations who considered their leaders gods or demi gods. Now all gone. Only Jesus remains. And at some point when Islam is exposed it too will die the death all false religion dies. As will Hindu and all other. Only Christ, the true and living God will survive the millennial. All others are judged.

Jesus spoke of certain times in Matthew 24. They all came to pass exactly as he predicted in 72AD. Yet we must also be aware of the cycles.... deep and long. Catastrophe has come and will come again so the warnings Jesus makes are still in effect. We ignore them as history at our own risk. They are History, but they ring true as the great cycles of humanity turn. We lurch from obscurity, to abundance, to bondage and then into catastrophe. It has been ever thus and the Books of Kings and Chronicles are there as a shadow of what we expect.

The lawless acts warned about to Timothy by Paul are true. Men do wax worse and worse....then the cycle turns, revival comes, repentance and GLORY shines. It will happen again. We are not far from a much greater revival (accompanied by great persecution) than you can imagine.

I write all this not to convince you to change your thinking. That is a journey you must take for yourself. There are many great books and blogs to help you find the way. If however you persist in believing that somehow you will be spared by some escape in the future (rapture), you are about to be discouraged. You won't escape, you will be hidden, you can be in Goshen, you can live in the provision and protection of the Lord, but you will not escape unscathed. If you look at the long cycles of history, you will see it.

There are things that are taught wrongly in many circles that must not be ignored. There is something about the people Israel. There is much we don't grasp. Who they are and what they represent to God in his illogical covenant commitment to such a rebellious people. Those who are grafted in later (that would be you and me) are just as rebellious. If I were God I would have chosen a much more worthy race of folks, Germans perhaps. (OK that's a joke) In any case, ignoring what is happening with the covenanted people even in rebellion is intentional spiritual blindness. The very fact that they now speak the language Moses spoke and was spoken to at the burning bush and occupy the same land is not without prophetic meaning. This is a sign to those of us who are grafted in to have confidence in our God. They may lose the land, but the covenant will still be in place. He is not an indian giver God.

God's great advancing Kingdom is becoming greater. Have hope in God.

Facing the END and the new Beginning with FAITH - A Prophetic Look at Catastrophe, Death and LIFE (Part ONE of a very long Prophetic Download)

    I have been seeing and hearing all sorts of things the last few weeks that have brought me to the point where I must tell you what is happening prophetically.

    To be clear, none of what I am about to reveal has anything to do at all with end times. Almost all of what has been written and preached the last hundred or so years about the end times is wrong.

    I could give you all kinds of Biblical evidence and historical back up, but for those who are questioning it all, here are a few truths:

    There is no rapture. Never was. The "Join Him in the AIR” is true.. but not as a rapture.

    Jesus is NOT coming back. He is here. Always has been as he promised. He manifests but only for a brief time. He is as good as His word.... NEVER leaving or forsaking. He's here. We do not know how to recognize him. We are like the men on the road to Emmaus.

    The world is not about to end, it is however going to go thru times of great trouble, but that has been going on in history since time began. These tribulations are part of a great cycle. There is no Great Tribulation.

    False religions will be shown up to be the beast and the beast will manifest himself as the persecutor of the faithful. Jesus is hated by the devil and when he inspires demonic to take control of a religious system it becomes government. The current beast is Islam. No longer a religion it has now become a tool of satan to destroy the Kingdom of God. Of course in the face of great persecution comes great revival. When the devil comes in, LIKE A FLOOD God raises up a standard against him. Don't fear persecution, don't embrace it either. Recognize it as part of the cycle. When Islam is destroyed and discredited, there will be another. The devil has no new strategies, that's why the writers of the Bible could talk with such certitude about such things. It did happen, people lost their heads for their profession of faith, they will again and are and will even more in the future.

The Truth of Jesus Return is.... HE DID

Jesus is already here, already among us, already present. He will be revealed on our last day, but until then we will see him as He is. He said he will never leave or forsake us. But we are blinded by religion and bad teaching to seeing him Present in our Lives... all the time... every day. We are like the men on the road to Emmaus.

This is not overspiritualization. This is a declaration of the Presence of the True and Living God: Here... Now.

So how is HE present?

Here are some ways:

• In Community - where ever Two or Three are gathered together in MY NAME there I am
• In Worship - “Inhabits the praise of His people (Psalms 22: 3)
• In Judgement - When you read the Lord shall Judge, it's the same word as the Lord shall come. When you see Him bring things to pass... it's parosia
• In Covenant and Covenant Renewal - When we see him promise, we promise him and promise to one another (why Christian Weddings are so Powerful)
• In Prophecy 1 Corinthians 14:22-25 As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed, and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, “God is truly here among you.”
• In The Gifts of the Spirit - Jesus manifests Himself when we flow with Him, by Him and Him thru us. This is a Grace and a Great Mystery...but it's JESUS
• In Proclamation of the Word (not Preaching) Jesus is the WORD become Flesh dwelling among us. When his word is proclaimed it is Jesus Present.
• In The reality of the Eucharistic experience - we do not understand the fullness of the TRUE PRESENCE of Jesus in the sacrament
• In Holy Ghost Prayer: It was the prayer of Jesus on the night of his betrayal that we become one in Him and in the Father as noted in John 17:22, “And the glory which you given to them that they may be one in us, that the world may know that you have sent Me. True spiritual life and fulfillment comes by becoming one in the Spirit with the Lord “But He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).
• In Marvel of Creation - All creation declares the Glory of God and when we see it... we know HE is with us
• In Acts of Mercy shown - Inasmuch as you have done it to the LEAST of these MY BROTHERS, you did it to ME.
• In Answered Prayer - When something we expect and pray for manifests... it's Jesus.
• In our entering in to HIM by Baptism to Sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6), buried with Him and "You have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3)

And including all this, Jesus sometimes actually manifests to some believers bodily. Happens and has happened all thru history. Yet if you need a physical manifestation to celebrate his presence among you, you are of little faith.

If you would please God, you must first believe that He is, and the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Still true. Stop looking to some future date when He may appear and begin to see Him all around you here and now. Your Joy will INCREASE.  It will be sad to get to heaven and hear, I was always there with you...  think footprints in the sand poem... there is more truth there than you know

Apostle John Eckhardt Declarations for December, the end of 2013

I will end this year in the strength of the LORD.
I will close this year with praise and thanksgiving for what he has done for me in 2013.
I will end this year with renewed strength and commitment to advance the Kingdom of God.
I will end this year by forgiving any that have hurt or offended me, and blessing those who have spoken against me in 2013.
I will end this year believing that new things are being prepared for me in 2014.
I will finish this year in victory.
I will finish this year in the power of the Holy Spirit.
I will finish this year in prayer for 2014 and beyond,
I will finish this year believing for new doors, new opportunities, new grace, new favor, new ideas, new vision, new faith, new anointing, and new levels for 2014.
I renounce all the works of darkness, and recommit by life to love, humility, holiness, faith, prayer, worship, and the will of God.
I loose myself from all spirits of darkness that would try to follow me into another year in the name of Jesus.
I speak health, healing, life, prosperity, wealth, and shalom at the close of this year.
I use what I have learned this year to launch me into another season of blessing and increase.
I renounce all failure and frustration from this year, and decree it will not carry over into 2014.
I prepare myself to crossover into a new year and a new season of breakthrough and increase.
I decree that 2014 will be a year of blessing, favor and increase for my life.
I prepare my heart to receive new prophetic words that will launch me into the new year in the name of Jesus.

Let the glory of God manifest in my life at the end of this year, and prepare me for greater lvels of glory in the years to come.

What Jesus didn't do.... by Jeffrey Stewart

Did you ever notice that Jesus never commanded the water to turn to wine during the Wedding Feast at Cana? Did you ever notice that Jesus never commanded the food to be multiplied when He fed the five thousand? Did you ever notice that when Jesus healed the ten lepers (where one came back to thank Him), He did not command them to be healed? That He never commanded the fish to gather next to Peter's boat but only asked Peter to cast his net on the other side?

There is another level of faith that people can operate at. Since I've never seen this written about, a good name for it would be lifestyle faith. It is above praying for God to do something, and it is even above commanding something to occur in Jesus' Name. It is simply believing that what you are wanting to happen has ALREADY happened and then acting on that belief. Jesus TOLD the servants to pour water from the jars into a cup and to take it to the master of the banquet. Jesus TOLD His disciples to divide and distribute bread. Jesus TOLD the ten lepers to go to a priest so that they could be declared clean of leprosy. Jesus TOLD Peter to cast his net on the other side of the boat.

You will notice that Jesus put a very great emphasis on WORDS. One reason is that words TEACH your heart to believe. We know this because faith comes by HEARING and hearing by the Word of God. The church has put a great deal of emphasis on teaching our minds what to think by reading God's Word, but little emphasis on TEACHING our hearts what to believe by SPEAKING God's Word.

Once we begin TRAINING our hearts what to believe by SPEAKING God's Word, we will begin to operate in faith like Jesus did. Faith, the way Jesus taught it, is not believing something WILL happen but believing that something HAS HAPPENED. We know this because He said "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you HAVE received it and you will have it." The church has confused hope with faith.

The Father is more faithful to keep His Word than we know. He is an eternal being. So there is no past, present, of future with Him. If you asked Him what His name was a hundred years ago, He would say "I AM". If you ask Him today what His Name is, He will say "I AM", and if you ask Him a million years from now, He will say "I AM" So we need to leave the idea of TIME out of our prayers. When you ask Him for something that you KNOW is His Will, IT'S YOURS. We have made the mistake of believing that if we do not SEE the answer, we do not HAVE IT. That is lending more authority to what our eyes say than to what God's Word says. And God has HONORED His Word even above His Name. So If God Honors His Word THAT MUCH, SO SHOULD WE by believing it. If He says its ours in His Word, its ours, period. The Word of God says Healing is ours. We have been given it IN THE PAST. "By His Stripes you WERE healed." So if it has already been given to us, and we train our hearts to believe that by speaking His Word into our hearts, then that eliminates all doubt, because you can only doubt the occurrence of things IN THE FUTURE, not the past.

This is the key to mountain moving faith, because this definition of faith eliminates ALL DOUBT. It is what Jesus walked in. And it is what the Father wants us to walk in.

Preaching is not Ministry.

A Sacred Cow on the Chopping Block:

Preaching is not Ministry.  (Can be but mostly isn't in the western church)
 
Imagine yourself in a First Century Church.  Corinth perhaps.  One Sunday Morning (yes Sunday) a letter arrives from Paul, the one in authority as an Apostle.  Someone, perhaps the one left in charge by the Apostle, gets up and reads out loud the letter Paul sent.  Perhaps there is some discussion.  Maybe he makes a few comments (careful there).  Then he sits down.  He did what a lot of people do on Sunday, PREACHED. 

Now to be clear sometimes Preaching is ministry, but much less than most people would believe.  Ministry is Apostolic, Prophetic, Teaching, Pastoral or Evangelistic. 

One only need to look at the results of a Ministry gift to see if what the leader of a church that gets up on Sunday and speaks to the congregation to figure out if his or her preaching is indeed ministry.
 
If it is Teaching (as many would say) then the result should be well discipled (taught) congregants.  This is not the case in most churches in the west.  Our congregants are poorly discipled.  Therefore what is happening from the pulpit is not really ministry gift teaching.

If it is Evangelistic (as some would say) then the result should be souls called to repentance and conversion.  Most churches where I live have almost no conversions, lots of transfers.  Sheep Swaps.  Therefore what is happening from the pulpit is not really Evangelistic ministry.

If it is Pastoral (the title many church leaders carry) then the result should be people who are secure in the Love of God.  They should be able to related to one another in Love and Compassion as an overflow from the Pulpit... therefore I think it's safe to say not much preaching is really Pastoral.

If it is Prophetic (not much is) the people would have a perspective of how God sees them and situations.  They would begin to hear the word of God  for themselves.  There would be allowance for utterance of all kinds from people in the congregation.  There would be people convicted of their sins by the gift flowing.  There would be an awe of the presence of God and the potential that all secrets will be revealed. That never happens in churches in my area.  Therefore almost no preaching is truly prophetic... unless it is a prophet bringing the word.

If it is Apostolic (very few are) then the people under this leader will be captivated by the vision and the direction spoken of by the Apostle.  They will see clearly what must be done, what must happen, how it will all come to pass.  They will be empowered and by the other ministry gifts equipped to do the works of the ministry.  There will be correction, direction, commission and release.  Not much Apostolic is flowing from most pulpits in my area... they don't know how and are not yet equipped. 

I don't post this as a prophet to condemn, but to encourage people in Authority in congregations to get out of the "letter reader" mode and begin to flow in the fullness of the ministry grace assigned to you.  If you don't yet know what that is, then sit down until you grasp it.

AND to those lost souls who say they are all five, they possess in fullness all five ministry gifts... you are deceived.  Only JESUS did.  Do less better.  Be what you are.  This doesn't mean you aren't allowed to preach, just allow true ministry to take place.  Much of the foolishness coming from the pulpits of the American Church is so milky weak as to be useless.  This is dishonoring the Power of the Gospel.  (Oh, one other small sacred cow) The Gospel is NOT 4 books of the new testament, it is a message, good news.  The 4 books contain the Gospel, but reading them or expounding on them is not Gospel preaching).

Ok, time to clean up the butcher floor.

James W. Goll: Live Coals of Fire! I Heard the Lord Say, "I Am Coming to See If There Is Any Fire on Your Altar"

Here Am I, Send Me!
The prophet Isaiah discovered for himself the transforming nature of the Lord's fire. Here is his description of the divine "close encounter" that changed him forever:
In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said,
"Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts,
The whole earth is full of His glory."
And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said,
"Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven."
Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!" (see Isaiah 6).
Isaiah's vision of the Lord in all His glory threw him into dread and despair because in that moment he recognized his own sinfulness and wickedness. He expected at any second to be struck dead by the holiness of the Almighty. Instead, Isaiah learned the love, grace, and mercy of God in a new and deeper way than ever before.
What changed Isaiah's life was the touch of the "burning coal" from the Lord's altar. Notice that the fire of the Lord touched Isaiah at the exact point of his confession. After he said, "I am a man of unclean lips," the burning coal was applied to his lips. In that instant, Isaiah's iniquity was taken away and his sin forgiven. His "unclean lips" were transformed into God-anointed lips for speaking the Word of the Lord.
The lips are among the most sensitive parts of the human body. Try to imagine for a moment the pain of having your lips seared with a red-hot coal! So often, the Lord's touch in our lives is painful, but in the pain there is healing. Isaiah needed the touch of the burning coal of God's fire to cauterize the wounds of his sin and his broken spirit.
That's why confession is such an important part of our walk with the Lord, particularly if we wish to pursue the intimate journey. We need God to take the burning coal of His love and touch us at every point of our brokenness, and in so doing, transform us into flame-tempered vessels prepared to carry His fire.
Isaiah left the temple that day a changed man. Like a log consigned to the flames, he was to his dying day consumed by the fire of the Lord, calling God's people to repent and return to Him.

"Were Not Our Hearts Burning Within Us…?"

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is the 24th chapter of Luke. In many ways, this chapter has guided much of my walk with the Lord over the last 25 years. What has particularly captured my attention all those years is the account Luke relates of two disciples who meet Jesus on the road to Emmaus. It is late on the day of His resurrection.
And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.
As these two disciples make their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus, they discuss the unbelievable events of that weekend: the crucifixion, death, and burial of their Master, Jesus, and the reports from some of His resurrection. Before long, the risen Jesus Himself joins them on the road, but for some reason they do not recognize Him. When Jesus asks them what they have been talking about, they relate to Him everything that has happened and all that they have heard. Apparently, there is doubt in their hearts about it all, because Jesus rebukes them for their slowness to believe.

Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. But they urged Him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over." So He went in to stay with them. When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. They said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?"

Without identifying Himself, Jesus explained to the two disciples all that the Scriptures said concerning Him. By the time the three of them reached Emmaus, it was getting late. Jesus "acted as though He were going farther," but in the hospitality of the day the two disciples invited Him to stay with them for the night. Isn't that just the way the Lord works? Sometimes it seems as though He is standing still, waiting for us to join Him. At other times, He acts as though He is going on, just to see if we will capture Him and take hold of Him.

During dinner, Jesus blessed the bread and broke it, and it was in that familiar act of communion and fellowship that their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. As soon as they knew who He was, He vanished from their sight. Notice what the two disciples said to each other. "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?" Their hearts burned within as Jesus unfolded to them prophetic revelation concerning Himself from the Word of God.
When Jesus vanished, where did He go? I think I have an idea. The reason their hearts were burning was because Someone was taking up residence within them. Their hearts burned within because the Spirit of revelation opened their eyes to understand the Scriptures. With their spiritual eyes open, they then knew Him in the breaking of the bread. What this is saying is that they met Him in communion. When He vanished from their sight, they were left with the fire of God – living coals of fire – in their hearts.

We Are Called to Be Carriers of the Fire

The Lord has called us to be carriers of His fire – His presence. Paul said that the great mystery of the ages is Christ in us, the hope of glory. There can be no greater manifestation of the Spirit than Christ living His life in and through us.
As Brother Lawrence said, we need to practice the presence of God daily. We should never try to do anything in public or "on the platform" that we don't practice in private. Anyone who does needs to be delivered from a "performance spirit." There's an entertainment spirit that has permeated western Christianity. We're good "performers," but we have not been good maintainers of the inward fire. It's time for us to go forth and reclaim the inward journey, because in the long term we will be only as successful in the outward journey as we are in maintaining the inward fire.

The Lord Is Looking to See If We Have a Fire Within

Some time ago I had a powerful encounter with the Lord while participating in a Catch the Fire Conference in Birmingham, England. I was scheduled to speak one morning, and the night before, I stayed back from the main assembly so I could spend time alone with God. For three hours that night I lay on my bed, quietly praying in the gift of tongues and communing with my Lord, spirit to Spirit.
During that time, I heard the Lord say to me, "I am coming to see if there is any fire on your altar." That was a little scary to me. After all, I had written about this and taught it. I had loved it and tried to impart it to others. Now the Lord Himself was saying to me, "I'm going to do a house inspection and see if there is anything more than just talk and revelation and gifts."
Then it was as though I underwent a spiritual "cat-scan." I felt the presence of God begin at my feet and slowly move up my body, penetrating my entire body until it stopped right over my heart. At that point the Lord graciously allowed me to see what He was seeing. On the altar of my heart there were hot burning coals of fire. Then He said to me, "I commission you to give away these coals of living fire that I have given to you, and you must teach My people how to maintain the fire within."
There's a fireplace in Papa's house (that's us), and He's looking to see if there is a fire there. If you've ever had a good fireplace in your home, you know how enjoyable it is to cozy up to the fire and sit there in quietness, possibly with a friend or your spouse, and just watch the wood burn and listen to it crackling. It's an atmosphere where you can let your guard down, share your most intimate secrets, and enjoy greater union with your companion. The Lord is our companion, and He's looking to see if there is a fire within. He wants there to be a place in our hearts where we can be warm with Him and where He can satisfy our soul. He wants passionate fire burning in our hearts!

The Fire of His Love

The living fire on the altar of our heart is the fuel that will propel us from the warmth of our own personal Emmaus into the dark and downtrodden, harried and hopeless ways and byways of a lost and hurting world. We are a drink offering for our Lord, poured out and wasted for Him, just as the pure nard with which Mary of Bethany anointed the feet of Jesus. Let the fire burn brightly!
With holy yearnings, this is my Epistle of Passion written to you!
Dr. James W. Goll
Founder of Encounters Network • Prayer Storm • God Encounters Training e-School
Email: info@encountersnetwork.com
Website: encountersnetwork.com