I was told by my sister, who recently turned her life back to Jesus, said that we all must prepare for the Rapture and has sent me videos about what is satanic or not, which is the right Bible or not, and that we must be ready for the Last Trump on Rosh Hashanah.
All this news is both alarming and scary, and I've read somewhere that divination is a sin, but what should I do? I do take these into consideration, and I do pray for clarity for my family and friends, for I do not want for me or anyone I know to be left behind when Jesus comes for his Bride (the Church).
She also sends me videos on government conspiracies, FEMA camps, martial law, Illuminati, and so forth. I know we're not called on easy lives as Christians, and I do know to prepare, but she makes it seem like the Rapture could come at any given moment at the drop of a hat. For No Man Knows The Day Nor The Hour...
Posted: Sat May 07, 2016 8:49 pm
CA_Milora_DiAura
I was told by my sister, who recently turned her life back to Jesus, said that we all must prepare for the Rapture and has sent me videos about what is satanic or not, which is the right Bible or not, and that we must be ready for the Last Trump on Rosh Hashanah.
All this news is both alarming and scary, and I've read somewhere that divination is a sin, but what should I do? I do take these into consideration, and I do pray for clarity for my family and friends, for I do not want for me or anyone I know to be left behind when Jesus comes for his Bride (the Church).
She also sends me videos on government conspiracies, FEMA camps, martial law, Illuminati, and so forth. I know we're not called on easy lives as Christians, and I do know to prepare, but she makes it seem like the Rapture could come at any given moment at the drop of a hat. For No Man Knows The Day Nor The Hour...
I can feel how overwhelmed you are just by reading your post. And I feel doubly overwhelmed trying to figure out just how—and where—to begin addressing all this.
I suppose the place to start with is...
The Bible
It's a catch-22: you need to know your Bible very well in order to sift through all the information. But if the enemy is bombarding you with doubts and suspicions about the very thing that will help you out—God's Word—you'll be left doing nothing or reading at such a slow pace because of doubt that you're reading a credible Bible version, or the Bible that is being promoted as the ideal is not at your reading or speaking level. The devil wants you to leave your sword in its sheath, unused, afraid to even use it. He wants you to doubt that God's Word can actually help you.
Ephesians 6:17 (NIV)
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Genesis 3:1 (NIV)
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
One of the devil's oldest tactics is poisoning your trust in God's Word—the very weapon you use to keep yourself safe, and hack away at the lies.
So, when you say that your sister is sending you videos about which Bible version to read and which to not read, if by any chance they are "KJV-Only" videos, allow me to inform you that the ones who translated the KJV were not against ANY kind of translation. They supported whatever translation that could ever be translated even what some would perceive to be low quality...
"Now to the latter we answer; that we do not deny, nay we affirm and avow, that the very meanest translation of the Bible in English, set forth by men of our profession, (for we have seen none of theirs of the whole Bible as yet) containeth the word of God, nay, is the word of God."
So those who are "KJV-Only" do not agree with the very people who provided us with the KJV (they tell us to read many translations, not just subscribe to one).
Knowing that then, don't worry about which Bible you read. Read several versions for comparison's sake, and read whatever Bible version is at your reading level; the different English translations don't read so drastically different to the point of omitting any doctrines—contrary to the false allegations coming from the KJV-Only camp (and I provided some examples of their dishonest accusations in my last reply in [this] thread). Steer clear of videos casting doubt on Bible versions just because the reading reflects a different manuscript than the KJV's. The reality is that the manuscripts (handwritten copies of the letters in the Bible) are not all identical to begin with. I explained this in more detail in the above link.
For study purposes, go for a version that is more of a "word-for-word" translation. For inspiration and encouragement, the "thought-for-thought" translations can be more handy at times. Here's a continuum going from what Bible versions are most "word-for-word" down to the most "thought-for-thought" (http://www.mardel.com/bibleTranslationGuide). The continuum is on the left side.
For in-depth study, and difficult verses, it helps to read along with a concordance (or an online concordance) to dig into the Hebrew and Greek terms that are present in the manuscripts. On Biblos.com/BibleHub.com, type in the verse, then click the Hebrew (HEB) or Greek (GRK) tab—the abbreviation is how the tabs would appear on a mobile device. If it's an Old Testament passage, the tab that appears will be "Hebrew" (HEB); if New Testament, then the tab will be "Greek" (GRK). The interlinear (INT) on there is quite handy as well. There's an online concordance on BlueLetterBible.org too; there, you type in the verse, hit enter or click the magnifying glass image, then click the "□ strong's" button once the page loads. After clicking that button, the page will refresh with the blue numbers linking to the corresponding Hebrew (or Greek) word in the manuscript.
You won't be led astray if you study the original language and read many versions for comparison's sake. And you'll gain a greater scope of the many different ways a Hebrew or Greek word gets translated.
Videos
My advice to you would be to stay away from YouTube videos for a while. Get serious about reading the Word and knowing it well. Read along with your sister even. Become very familiar with the phrases the Bible uses to express itself. And read the context of the whole chapter, so you don't fall prey to twisted usages of a passage or a verse. I can't speak in absolutes, but many of the videos of this nature that are uploaded on YouTube—that cause anxiety, desperation, or rile up the viewer to think in conspiracies—are fueled by suspicion not direct evidence. Always fact check. A lot of things can be gossip and unverified information being passed on as fact. It is unjust—thus outright sin—to pass on false information or express approval of the person speaking like this (be careful of the things you click "share" on or the comments you thumb up (underneath videos and articles), because in spirit, that is what we're doing—sharing the unverified and possibly false information and approving of what they say).
Exodus 23:1 (NIV)
23 “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.
Exodus 23:2 (NIV)
2 “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd,
Likewise, if the video is quoting from scripture, familiarize yourself with the chapter or the book by reading it first hand. Don't pass the video on to someone else if you're unsure if it is true (unless you're asking for someone with more discernment to help you reach a conclusion).
Rosh Hashanah & the Rapture
I would have to watch the video to tell you more, but in the Bible it's not called "Rosh Hashanah", but "Yom Teruah" (Day of Trumpets). This appointed time is described in Leviticus 23:23-25. That they're calling it "Rosh Hashanah" is an example of self-imposed tradition superseding Scripture.
I can see and tell you why this appointed time is being linked to Jesus' return and why they are suggesting to look forward to it.
Though there is the oft quoted "no one knows the day nor the hour" from Matthew 24:36-44...
Matthew 24:36-44 (NIV)
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[a] but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 24:36 Some manuscripts do not have nor the Son.
...there is also a passage in Paul's letters that, though he agrees with this notion, also suggests we can know when Jesus is nearing and thus, the day not catch us by surprise—and is in fact not suppose to catch us by surprise.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-4 (NIV)
5 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.
And why does Paul say this? Because, going back to Matthew 24, prior to the oft-quoted verses ("no one knows the day or the hour"), Jesus revealed earlier in the conversation that certain events would happen before His return to gather His elect, thus to look out for those events. (This is a prime example of when opening up the chapter will dispel the confusion.) People don't read Matthew 24 all in one go. So, they fall prey to all kinds of crazy timelines that just use snippets of the chapter. The rapture / the harpazo—getting caught up in the air to meet Jesus at His return—cannot happen at ANY moment. Notice all the events that He describes happening before He comes back to fetch us (Jesus starts describing events in verse 4 and it's by verse 30 that He appears):
Matthew 24:3-31 (NIV)
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death,and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak.19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’[b]
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.[d] 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 24:15 Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11 b. Matthew 24:29 Isaiah 13:10; 34:4 c. Matthew 24:30 Or the tribes of the land d. Matthew 24:30 See Daniel 7:13-14.
Clouds. Angels. Trumpet. Gathering of the elect. This matches with the description Paul gave in his letter to the Thessalonians:
1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 (NIV)
15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Again, clouds, angel, trumpet, gathering of believers. In light of this passage, we're given even more hints of the timing of the rapture, aside from what Jesus said in Matthew 24: the dead in Christ have to rise first. And that doesn't happen until after they have been decapitated (thus died) for refusing to take the mark of the beast during the great tribulation.
Revelation 20:4-6 (NIV)
4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They[a] had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
Footnotes:
a. Revelation 20:4 Or God; I also saw those who
Believers cannot get raptured / caught up to Jesus before these dead believers. They are the dead in Christ.
People who say, "the rapture could happen at any moment" ignore details like these and hold to extra-biblical ideas, like a doctrine called, "the doctrine of imminency"; this "doctrine" suggests that there are no signs leading up to our getting caught up in the air when Jesus returns, thus it can happen at any moment. This is wishful thinking contrary to what Scripture reveals, even from Jesus' own mouth. There are events that must happen before we're gathered to Him.
And the reason why people are associating God's appointed times (Leviticus 23) with things that Jesus did, that Jesus is doing and the Jesus will do, is because in the past, He has acted according to that prophetic outline (died on Passover/Unleavened Bread, raised to life on FirstFruits, Holy Spirit came down on Pentecost on those in Jerusalem celebrating Pentecost [Feast of Weeks], though He directly breathed the Holy Spirit on His disciples before leaving, thus before the day of Pentecost i.e. John 20:22. All the Spring appointed times have seen fulfillment. Jesus did something significant on them carrying out what they represented in symbol. The remaining three are the appointed times that occur during the fall months. Going down the list, the next appointed time to find fulfillment is Yom Teruah / Day of Trumpets. And since the next big event is Jesus' return, which is associated with a trumpet call and a gathering of His believers, just like the Day of Trumpets in Leviticus 23 has trumpets and a sacred assembly of believers, people are associating His return with that day, His return to be a fulfillment of that appointed time / moedim on the very day it falls on, the way He fulfilled the Spring moedim.
illuminati
The way people use the word "illuminati" nowadays describes anyone with influence who lives an ungodly, worldly, life, and who promotes (or participates in) occult beliefs or is being used to do so. There's no need to be afraid of and/or creeped out by people who fit under this description because the Bible already warned you of people like this before the term illuminati even existed: many people will sell out their morals in exchange for money, power, or fame, or all of the above. They'll use their image/reputation to influence people into buying certain products and into accepting certain lifestyles that are detrimental to their well-being. They don't care about you, just the almighty dollar. They will act a certain way and promote a certain image that is not really them nor something they appove of, but still try to promote it as something worth emulating, just to get paid. Or they might even get suckered into the lifestyle themselves, but find it unsatisfying. Certain individuals even lie and kill to stay in power—literally assassinate, hire a hitman, get into gang wars, or spiritually kill people by humiliating, destroying someone's reputation, even with lies, just to eliminate the competition. This is not new. This is not unique to corrupt people in high places with deep pockets of money. But found in even low places with empty pockets devoid of money. It's mankind's sinful nature.
Romans 1:29-31 (NIV)
29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.
1 Samuel 8:3 (NIV)
3 But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
Titus 1:11 (NIV)
11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
And concerning the latter verse: stay alert. Some people aren't even making videos to protect you, and guard you in the truth, but are making videos just to make some money. Whether it's a video claiming to teach you Bible ways, or an illuminati video claiming to be exposing the true nature of a person, once people enable ads on their videos, they can make some revenue off of the things they upload. They may be uploading for the sake of cashing in on a consistent basis, and for entertainment's sake, not because they have verifiable, truthful and sound information to share for your well-being.
Conspiracy Theories
Oh, and a note about conspiracy theories,
Isaiah 8:12-13 (NIV)
12 “Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. 13 The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread.
Ultimately, God is in control.
And He is in control of who comes into power too.
Daniel 2:21 (NIV)
21 He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.
Daniel 4:32 (NIV)
32 You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes.”
Though people in power do conspire behind closed doors...
Psalm 83:3-8 (NIV)
3 With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish. 4 “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.” 5 With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against you— 6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites, 7 Byblos, Ammon and Amalek, Philistia, with the people of Tyre. 8 Even Assyria has joined them to reinforce Lot’s descendants.[a]
Footnotes:
a. Psalm 83:8 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here.
...they're not one-upping God. He knows.
And I have come across examples of people speculating, crediting some conspiracy behind the scenes, by the powers that be, for a catastrophe that happened when it could just as easily have been God sending a message—and judgment—against the nation.
For example, a long while back I saw a video about some water conspiracy, concerning manipulated drought, chemtrails, banks buying up water supplies, and they were so busy talking about evil intentions of banks who are possibly manipulating the country's water sources and making drought conditions on purpose to cash in—that they never addressed possible judgment from God. It was a Christian channel—and all the while I am thinking, “why is he ignoring the obvious: God promised to withhold rain, and thus create drought, when His people didn't obey. In response, mankind is trying to force cloud formation with the cloud seeding done by chemtrails (which the airforce openly acknowledges as one of their reasons for their contrails: cloud seeding [source]); and the banks are just taking advantage of the situation to make a profit, surprise surprise, but they're not causing anything”. I even left a comment explaining it in-depth, linking back to the information posted from the airforce, and providing the verses where God threatens to do this, because they were so speculation-crazy that it wasn't even on their radar that this is judgment from God. They were not reading the facts, assuming the worst, instead of giving people the benefit of the doubt that they're telling the truth (the default position on these videos seems to be: the government is lying 100% of the time). People get so cynical to the point that they just want to baselessly suspect people and corporations of evil and never think biblically about the situation or that it could be judgment from God. Sometimes it is God acting, it's not the humans causing it or conspiring to kill us, though greedy people do take advantage of the situation, the calamity / plague itself is coming from God. So, a prime example of when we're not to "call conspiracy what the world calls conspiracy", let's fear God. He withheld the rain.
I found the video; I debated whether to link back to this, but as proof that I'm not making it up and that this is a real life example of not calling conspiracy what this people call conspiracy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKwiHYvuH5w (my comment is posted under poke089; though I don't recommend that you read the comments because they can be quite nasty).
Thank you, good sister. You have helped in easing my mind. I do keep in mind Proverbs 3:5-
Quote:
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (ESV)
So whenever I have these fearful or uncertain thoughts, I pray for clarity and understanding so that I won't be in darkness or led astray by the devil. Not just for me, bu t for my family and friends in all that they do.
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