There are quite a lot of people in this country and around the world who just had to see the movie, “Left Behind.” It was about an unusual belief that a lot of Christians have regarding what they call the “Rapture.” Even though the belief could be used to define the word ludicrous, otherwise rational people claim to believe that God is going to lift them into Heaven before, in the middle of, or just after what they call “Tribulation.”
When that belief is expanded on, it becomes even more exotic with people believing that they might even disappear to those “left behind,” in one magic moment. Of course, if that happened, we would have quite a lot of death and destruction, as those who were driving cars, or flying planes just vacated their previous occupation. We would also be left without any kind of government, because our politicians are primarily Christian.
“And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” Revelation 11:18 KJV
There’s a lot of information in that verse, and the last little part of it is completely ignored by those that currently govern our society, because of the “Rapture Belief.”
If we took a poll of the planet’s population, we would find that those who live outside the USA would easily choose us as the most likely nation and people to destroy life on our planet. We would easily choose Russian, or China as the nation most likely to exterminate life on our planet.
It’s human nature to disregard our own shortcomings, even as we look at other people’s shortcomings with judgmental attitudes. Those who don’t learn how to look at their own shortcomings are the ones that get to find out first hand that the “time of the dead” in that verse is talking about them, regardless of their particular religion.
That’s because the person referenced by “thy name,” is further defined in that verse as being the one who would “destroy them which destroy the earth.”
We are a people who are ruled over by ourselves, through elected officials. We ignore scientific evidence that we have created a global crisis with our pollution of virtually everything. We also possess enough military weaponry to kill virtually all life on the planet, supposedly as a deterrent against the use of such on us. Most Christians believe that we have to hold off the evil ones until Jesus Christ comes back to save us, as if there is some “time element” involved in our judgment and his return. Until then, we act as if it doesn’t matter what we do to our future inhabitants’ ability to use our planet after we are gone.
That’s why we don’t care if we destroy the planet with our lifestyle, because Jesus Christ is going to come back and fix it all up and make it all better. According to that particular verse, it does indeed matter. It’s defining the ones who are going to die when the Messiah shows up. It’s also saying that he would be the one destroying them.
That goes completely against the theory that he’s going to magically transport followers of any religion to Heaven, as God takes care of the dirty work on earth. It says that he’s going to destroy those who destroy our planet. He’s not going to raise them up; he’s going to bring them down.
Where do the “prophets” in that verse fit in with the “Rapture?” There are two of them mentioned earlier in the chapter that verse came from. Like Jesus, they were killed and then brought back to life by God, before “they ascended up to heaven in a cloud.”
That could very well be the basis for the belief for the belief in the “Rapture,” yet there is no mention of the church following behind them. Instead, they are described as wearing “sackcloth.” Sackcloth is what extremely poor people used to wear, because they couldn’t buy clothes. They are being described as “poor,” even though you might think that modern prophets should be quite wealthy, like the modern churches’ current leaders.
They are also described as “two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.” If you know that Zechariah also describes two people the same way, you can further understand what this chapter of Revelation, and the two prophets are about.
God is also described, just prior to that warning about our attempt to destroy our planet; “Saying, We give thee thanks, O LORD God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.” – Revelation 8:17 KJV
God is defined there, as everything that is, ever has been and everything that will be. You have to take a step “out of the box” of thinking in “real time” to understand that. Real time to a human excludes us of thinking of our past and future as being part of a current existence, even though we know that there really was a past, and really is a future. We separate the two at a junction which we call the “present,” or now. That is how prophecy is possible. In a way, everything has already happened, and we are getting to play our part in this particular passing. We happen to be “right here.” Tomorrow has already happened before, and yesterday will come again.
If that doesn’t boggle your mind, then nothing will. That understanding of our lives and God are also presented as: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” – Ecclesiastes 1:9 KJV
The author of Ecclesiastes also goes on to tell us that we should learn to just enjoy our work, because there really is nothing else. “Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?” Ecclesiastes 3:22 KJV
The author tells us something else that is quite important to understand, and stop ignoring. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Ecclesiastes 9:10 KJV
When you die, you have no knowledge. That should be an easy thing to understand for modern man, because we know that knowledge is a function of the brain. The brain is a physical aspect of your being. When it goes away, all of your knowledge and wisdom go with it. You don’t get to take the memories of your loved ones with you anywhere, after you die. Therefore, you can’t hook back up with them in Heaven. We are clearly being told there that we have no knowledge when we are dead, and that includes the knowledge of our loved ones.
So how can we expect to live in a place called Heaven, after we are “in the grave?”
We may very well be given another opportunity to live another physical life, as pointed out here: “As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.” – Ecclesiastes 11:5 KJV
Another author from the Bible also tries to help us understand the circle of life cycles. “And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” – Job 1:21
We know that Job had no intention of returning to his current mother’s womb, so we can deduce that he was referring to his next mother’s womb. It’s what we do. Here’s a promise to everyone that has ever read the words. “Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.” – Isaiah 33:17 KJV
Those who learn how to live in harmony with our future, by not destroying our ability to have a physical future, are the ones that are going to be able to live here after “Judgment Day,” when there will be less opportunity to live in the physical because of the “die off” of life on earth. Those who don’t learn that lesson are the ones who are being described here: “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” – Isaiah 66:24
That is the last line of Isaiah, and it doesn’t include any kind of promise for a life in Heaven. Instead, it promises that people who live through the events predicted would all learn how to worship God, in “the new heavens and the new earth.”
Those who think that they already know how to “worship God” now, obviously have their cart ahead of their horse. They are the same ones that think they have a ticket to Heaven if they happen to destroy the world with their pollution and wars, because of their beliefs. They have in their possession an artificial “gate to Heaven,” which is what the “tower of Babel” represents. Most of them are victims of those who don’t believe in God or in having to pay for what they have done to others, by intentionally misleading them with their religious doctrine, intended only to squeeze their hard earned money from their worn out fingers.
When you put all that together into one complete understanding, it’s easy to figure out who or what modern Babylon is. It’s us. We have become that which we were warned about becoming. It’s part of the plan, handed down through the prophets several thousand years ago. The “Rapture” isn’t a mystical disappearance of people from the planet, but rather a literal disappearance of people from the churches that have misled them for eons. It includes virtually anybody from any religious background that recognizes the Messiah when he arrives, and therefore survives the impending destruction.
Native American prophets knew and explained this. For example, the Hopi Elders call it “Purification Day,” and believe that the Hopi would lead the call of the Messiah, by being the first to actually recognize him as who he is. Those who don’t answer their call, before that time will eliminate their selves from life in the physical, which is exactly what Isaiah said in the last line of his book. Those who die because they won’t listen are willingly giving up their privilege to exist in the physical.
According to the prophets of the Old Testament, the gathering of his people by the Messiah, or the “Rapture” as Christianity calls it, is a slow process that feeds on itself. It reaches its climax just before the climax of destruction. It’s not a “happening in a moment” event, in which the “good Christians” get to sit back and “nah nah da nah nah” those who “get killed back on earth.” When he shows up, he isn’t going to be in agreement with the war being waged by his people, nor is he going to be in agreement with their religious doctrine that led them into the war either. So he isn’t going to be very popular with the moral majority, if this is happening now. He has to burst their little bubble or let them all die. No one likes to get his or her bubbles burst.
When that belief is expanded on, it becomes even more exotic with people believing that they might even disappear to those “left behind,” in one magic moment. Of course, if that happened, we would have quite a lot of death and destruction, as those who were driving cars, or flying planes just vacated their previous occupation. We would also be left without any kind of government, because our politicians are primarily Christian.
“And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” Revelation 11:18 KJV
There’s a lot of information in that verse, and the last little part of it is completely ignored by those that currently govern our society, because of the “Rapture Belief.”
If we took a poll of the planet’s population, we would find that those who live outside the USA would easily choose us as the most likely nation and people to destroy life on our planet. We would easily choose Russian, or China as the nation most likely to exterminate life on our planet.
It’s human nature to disregard our own shortcomings, even as we look at other people’s shortcomings with judgmental attitudes. Those who don’t learn how to look at their own shortcomings are the ones that get to find out first hand that the “time of the dead” in that verse is talking about them, regardless of their particular religion.
That’s because the person referenced by “thy name,” is further defined in that verse as being the one who would “destroy them which destroy the earth.”
We are a people who are ruled over by ourselves, through elected officials. We ignore scientific evidence that we have created a global crisis with our pollution of virtually everything. We also possess enough military weaponry to kill virtually all life on the planet, supposedly as a deterrent against the use of such on us. Most Christians believe that we have to hold off the evil ones until Jesus Christ comes back to save us, as if there is some “time element” involved in our judgment and his return. Until then, we act as if it doesn’t matter what we do to our future inhabitants’ ability to use our planet after we are gone.
That’s why we don’t care if we destroy the planet with our lifestyle, because Jesus Christ is going to come back and fix it all up and make it all better. According to that particular verse, it does indeed matter. It’s defining the ones who are going to die when the Messiah shows up. It’s also saying that he would be the one destroying them.
That goes completely against the theory that he’s going to magically transport followers of any religion to Heaven, as God takes care of the dirty work on earth. It says that he’s going to destroy those who destroy our planet. He’s not going to raise them up; he’s going to bring them down.
Where do the “prophets” in that verse fit in with the “Rapture?” There are two of them mentioned earlier in the chapter that verse came from. Like Jesus, they were killed and then brought back to life by God, before “they ascended up to heaven in a cloud.”
That could very well be the basis for the belief for the belief in the “Rapture,” yet there is no mention of the church following behind them. Instead, they are described as wearing “sackcloth.” Sackcloth is what extremely poor people used to wear, because they couldn’t buy clothes. They are being described as “poor,” even though you might think that modern prophets should be quite wealthy, like the modern churches’ current leaders.
They are also described as “two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.” If you know that Zechariah also describes two people the same way, you can further understand what this chapter of Revelation, and the two prophets are about.
God is also described, just prior to that warning about our attempt to destroy our planet; “Saying, We give thee thanks, O LORD God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.” – Revelation 8:17 KJV
God is defined there, as everything that is, ever has been and everything that will be. You have to take a step “out of the box” of thinking in “real time” to understand that. Real time to a human excludes us of thinking of our past and future as being part of a current existence, even though we know that there really was a past, and really is a future. We separate the two at a junction which we call the “present,” or now. That is how prophecy is possible. In a way, everything has already happened, and we are getting to play our part in this particular passing. We happen to be “right here.” Tomorrow has already happened before, and yesterday will come again.
If that doesn’t boggle your mind, then nothing will. That understanding of our lives and God are also presented as: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” – Ecclesiastes 1:9 KJV
The author of Ecclesiastes also goes on to tell us that we should learn to just enjoy our work, because there really is nothing else. “Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?” Ecclesiastes 3:22 KJV
The author tells us something else that is quite important to understand, and stop ignoring. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Ecclesiastes 9:10 KJV
When you die, you have no knowledge. That should be an easy thing to understand for modern man, because we know that knowledge is a function of the brain. The brain is a physical aspect of your being. When it goes away, all of your knowledge and wisdom go with it. You don’t get to take the memories of your loved ones with you anywhere, after you die. Therefore, you can’t hook back up with them in Heaven. We are clearly being told there that we have no knowledge when we are dead, and that includes the knowledge of our loved ones.
So how can we expect to live in a place called Heaven, after we are “in the grave?”
We may very well be given another opportunity to live another physical life, as pointed out here: “As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.” – Ecclesiastes 11:5 KJV
Another author from the Bible also tries to help us understand the circle of life cycles. “And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” – Job 1:21
We know that Job had no intention of returning to his current mother’s womb, so we can deduce that he was referring to his next mother’s womb. It’s what we do. Here’s a promise to everyone that has ever read the words. “Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.” – Isaiah 33:17 KJV
Those who learn how to live in harmony with our future, by not destroying our ability to have a physical future, are the ones that are going to be able to live here after “Judgment Day,” when there will be less opportunity to live in the physical because of the “die off” of life on earth. Those who don’t learn that lesson are the ones who are being described here: “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” – Isaiah 66:24
That is the last line of Isaiah, and it doesn’t include any kind of promise for a life in Heaven. Instead, it promises that people who live through the events predicted would all learn how to worship God, in “the new heavens and the new earth.”
Those who think that they already know how to “worship God” now, obviously have their cart ahead of their horse. They are the same ones that think they have a ticket to Heaven if they happen to destroy the world with their pollution and wars, because of their beliefs. They have in their possession an artificial “gate to Heaven,” which is what the “tower of Babel” represents. Most of them are victims of those who don’t believe in God or in having to pay for what they have done to others, by intentionally misleading them with their religious doctrine, intended only to squeeze their hard earned money from their worn out fingers.
When you put all that together into one complete understanding, it’s easy to figure out who or what modern Babylon is. It’s us. We have become that which we were warned about becoming. It’s part of the plan, handed down through the prophets several thousand years ago. The “Rapture” isn’t a mystical disappearance of people from the planet, but rather a literal disappearance of people from the churches that have misled them for eons. It includes virtually anybody from any religious background that recognizes the Messiah when he arrives, and therefore survives the impending destruction.
Native American prophets knew and explained this. For example, the Hopi Elders call it “Purification Day,” and believe that the Hopi would lead the call of the Messiah, by being the first to actually recognize him as who he is. Those who don’t answer their call, before that time will eliminate their selves from life in the physical, which is exactly what Isaiah said in the last line of his book. Those who die because they won’t listen are willingly giving up their privilege to exist in the physical.
According to the prophets of the Old Testament, the gathering of his people by the Messiah, or the “Rapture” as Christianity calls it, is a slow process that feeds on itself. It reaches its climax just before the climax of destruction. It’s not a “happening in a moment” event, in which the “good Christians” get to sit back and “nah nah da nah nah” those who “get killed back on earth.” When he shows up, he isn’t going to be in agreement with the war being waged by his people, nor is he going to be in agreement with their religious doctrine that led them into the war either. So he isn’t going to be very popular with the moral majority, if this is happening now. He has to burst their little bubble or let them all die. No one likes to get his or her bubbles burst.
