Bill Koenig commentary on the Last Trumpet for the Rapture. Keep looking up!

Countdown to Rosh Hashanah 2012

I’m launching an annual countdown to Rosh Hashanah (the biblical/Jewish New Year). This year will be Countdown to Rosh Hashanah 2012. Next year, it will be Countdown to Rosh Hashanah 2013 — and so on.

With so many biblically significant events occurring at a breathtaking pace, I have developed a list of events (below) that we will be following closely until Rosh Hashanah 2012.

This year’s Rosh Hashanah will begin at sundown on Sept. 16 and end at sundown on Sept. 18.

Rosh Hashanah is the festival that marks the “head of the year” and is observed for two days each year. 1 Tishrei is the first day of the Jewish New Year.

Chabad wrote: “It is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the realization of mankind’s role in God’s world.”

The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram’s horn, which also represents the trumpet blast of a people’s coronation of their king. The cry of the shofar is also a call to repentance.

The Feast of Trumpets – Chuck Missler

http://www.khouse.org/articles/1995/105

Observed on the First and Second of Tishri, the celebration actually begins 29 days earlier: a series of over 90 trumpet blasts accrue for a final blowing of blasts on the climax of the celebration, the Teki’ah Gedolah, the Great Blowing.

In the rabbinical literature, there are many details that are quite provocative. Among the most significant is the use of the shofar, the ram’s horn, instead of the usual silver Temple trumpets. (If you visit the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, you can see the silver trumpets that have been fashioned for use in the coming Temple.)

The shofar is associated with the Akedah, Abraham’s offering of Isaac on Mount Moriah, as detailed in Genesis 22. Rabbinical tradition associates the left horn of the ram as the “first trump” and the right horn as the “last trump.”

A distinguishing feature of the celebration is the last, climactic blast, the Teki’at Shofar. This is not the usual series of short bursts, signaling alarm or bad news. Rather, it is a long blast, signaling victory or good news. It is this last blast that is referred to as the last trump.

Paul’s Mystery

In Paul’s Resurrection Chapter, I Corinthians 15, he describes that strange event which has now become known as “The Rapture” of the Church:

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

What did he mean, “the last trump”?

Some have tried to link this phrase to the Seventh Trumpet Judgment in Revelation, but there is no basis for it. The Seventh Trumpet Judgment is not the final trumpet: for a thousand years (at least) there will be subsequent trumpets in services performed in the Millennial Temple.

So, just what is this “last trump”?Since Paul was of Pharisaical background, it has been suggested that he was alluding to the climactic trumpet of the Feast of Trumpets and that, perhaps, this feast is prophetic of the call of God’s people (which he also refers to in Romans 11:2-5). Possibly. But there are other possibilities as well.

Nathan Jones, web evangelist at Lion and Lamb ministires, has written a great article about what feels like to all of us believer’s in Christ that something big is about to happen. The return of the King is not far from occurring. Remember to keep looking up!

Do you feel as if something really big is ready to go down?
By Evangelist & Web Minister
If you’re like me you can feel it. You can sense it. The heavy weight of a coming dramatic change is in the air.

Decay – The signs of entropy are all around us. They’re glimpsed in the despondent eye of the unemployed worker who cannot find a job, the harried broker who sees no end to market volatility, the average Joe who feels the wheels of justice have totally fallen off the wagon of freedom, and the graduate who sees no hope for the future because our leaders have failed us. People are feeling our best days now lie behind us.

Something’s got to change.

Economy – The signs of financial ruin are growing. The Western world so steeped in debt vainly pushes back the inevitable knock of the repo man. The nations fall one by one into insolvency, dragging down the economies of what remaining nations are still productive. The East rises ready to claim its investments only to discover the money is artificial, and so tethered stares down bankruptcy as well.

Total and worldwide financial disaster is inevitable.

Nature – The signs of natural destruction are evident. The earth trembles under the fatigue of one natural disaster after another. Record tornadoes rip the countryside apart. Tsunamis and hurricanes devastate coastal regions, reaching ever inland. Daily earthquakes level whole cities. Droughts burn and fires scar the land. Everyday there’s a report of another, and then another, and then another.

The world can’t take much more of this punishment.

War – The signs of another global war are exponentially mounting. The entire world is focused on the fate of the little nation of Israel. The sum of the United Nations wants her destroyed. The arms race of the Middle East fueled by a supernatural hatred of the Jewish people is just one trigger pull away from engulfing the Middle East in a bloodbath. The world’s resources have grown scarce and so the nations eye hungrily the outcome of such a war, ready to turn a regional conflict into a global one.

The hate cannot be held back any longer.

Immorality – And, the signs of immorality accost our most basic decencies. The love for our fellow man has grown cold. Life means nothing to anyone and so we murder even our own children at will. People rail against God and His moral law demanding lawlessness. Christians lose more and more ground in the court systems. Around the world those who stand for righteousness are tortured and killed in record numbers. The restraining force on immorality has all but fled, mostly leaving us to our own self-destructive tendencies.

We are watching the world scream on in its dizzying path towards mutual destruction and know that it cannot go on like this. It just can’t. Something’s got to give. The world cannot continue to get this evil, this volatile, and this hopeless without finally exploding into chaos.

That’s what I see, and if you’ve got your fingers on the pulse of the world as well then that’s most likely what you see as well.

The Final Result

If history repeats itself, and it usually does, then we are all at the brink of something cataclysmic. I’m firmly convinced like no other time during my life that this is the case. Unless the restraining hand of God delays the inevitable, the final days of routine life as we know it are quickly running out.

Inevitable – that’s the key word, for God has told us that this shattering, world altering change will eventually happen. It must, for God’s prophecies always come true.

• The nations surrounding Israel will finally attack with all their anti-Semitic fury (Ps. 83; Ezek. 38-39).
• The economies of the world will collapse under their own massive debt load, resulting in famine and the emergency solution of a punishing global financial system (Rev. 6:5-6 & 13:16-17).
• Natural disasters will increase in frequency and intensity until the mountains are leveled, the oceans are destroyed, and the environment is left in ruins (Lk. 21:11; Rev. 6:12 & 16:3-4,18).
• Immorality will sink into such darkness that murder and debauchery will be the way of life (Rev. 9:21).
• And, out of this global chaos, where hope seems to have totally fled, the world will trade all their freedom over to a global dictator who will control everyone with an iron fist, annihilating all who stand in his way in wave after wave of wars and persecution (Rev. 6:2 & 13:17).

This is the world of the near future, and it’s an awful nightmare to contemplate.

The Hopeful Escape

Despite the soon break of the gathering storm, and despite the hopelessness about the future that it brings, believers in Christ can know that it is not our future. Our future plays out in the polar opposite. Instead of living in a world gone mad, we foresee a new home in Heaven. Instead of persecution by a crushing tyrant, we face a loving and benevolent King. Instead of living under wrath, we see living under love. And, where there is only hopelessness left on earth, there is hope, peace and joy awaiting us (Rev. 21-22).

The change on our horizon is bright, for the King of Kings is coming to take those who are saved up to live in Heaven with Him for ever and ever (Jn. 14:1-14; 1 Cor. 15:51-58; 1 Thes. 4:13-18). It will be an event called the Rapture, and it is coming sooner than we think. In fact, it could be argued that it has the potential to happen this very week due to the prophetic significance of the Feasts of Israel.

The Feast of Trumpets occurs on September 29-30, 2011. Will it herald the “last trumpet?” Only God knows for sure. The Rapture is an imminent event, and so we don’t know the exact day or hour it will finally occur. I can only speculate that with the rise of major world events tied to the prophetic significance of the Feast of Trumpets, that this week is one I’m keeping a very close eye on.

Because the Rapture may be more imminent than ever, and since so many of our loved ones will be left behind to wonder what has happened to us pondering what dark future awaits them in the aftermath, we will be running this Feast of Trumpets week a message of hope. This message explains why millions suddenly and mysteriously disappeared and will give them answers to what has happened. It’s our “left behind” message, and my prayer should we be departing really soon, is that it brings people to Jesus Christ.

I am just returning from a two week vacation in the Cape Cod/Boston area. Well needed rest. I just had alot of time to think about how much and frankly how many Christians want to bury their heads in the sand around the topic of the Rapture of the church and the Lord’s return.

I usually receive the “we will not know the day or hour” line or Jesus told us “no man knows the day or hour” line. This line is very true. I am not sure thatthese same people actually understand what the Lord was saying here. When you review the Greek the Lord was telling us that literally we will not know the exact day of the week or the hour that the Lord will return. We will know the times and seasons when this great event is upon us. He tells us that. He also tells us to stay alert, to be ready, and commands us to know the general time frame or period when these things could go down.

Christians are the scoffers from 1 Peter where he tells us there will be scoffers in the last days concerning the Lord’s return . Just food for thought.

I am attaching a wonderful article by Bill Salus on this topic that I went over last night. Great study document to go deeper with. Keep looking up!

Rapture

Here is a wonderful article by Perry Stone centered around why Christians should know better than to try to set dates. Jesus Himself tells us that no man knows the day or the hour not even Himself except the Father.

So why do men continually try to set dates.

On the other hand we have the scoffers or abusers of that verse. Those who fail to recognize that Scripture itself commands us to be alert, aware of the times and seasons around us as the last days approach. These are the ostrich folks who want to put their heads in the proverbial sand as we enter the last of the last days.

So we have abuses on either side. Enjoy this informative article. Keep looking up!

When Will Christians Learn This One Simple Fact?

It happened again, and it will probably happen yet again somewhere down the road. An older minister with a radio program spent time calculating dates and came to the conclusion that the Rapture and the end of the world would occur on May 21, 2011. An untold amount of money was spent on leaflets, posters, and advertisements to warn the nation about the danger of being unprepared for this day of judgment. Followers sold their homes and bought motor homes to travel the nation and proclaim this warning message.

The disciples of this man held their breath one minute before the set time, ready to be catapulted upward and meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:16-17). One minute after the set time, their feet were still firmly on the ground. Then they said, “There are different timeframes and we need to wait until midnight!” Midnight passed and the fold went to bed, preparing to get up and go about their day the following morning. Followers were discouraged and disillusioned as they wondered why the Rapture didn’t happen. But the minister had the answer. He reset the date for October of 2011, saying that it would occur during the fall feasts.

This reminds me of the fellow who wrote “88 Reasons Why Jesus Will Return in 1988.” When the date passed, the author of the small book wrote another book to inform his readers that he forgot about the zero year from 1 BC to 1 AD. Thus he was off by a year. When the next year passed without incident, the author was no longer writing books and has not been heard of since—or at least not in public.

Here is what I don’t understand. Why can’t people simply be content with this one passage of Scripture and quit following the voices who say they have calculated the date of the return of the Lord? Jesus himself said, “No man knows the day nor the hour of his coming” (Matt. 24:36; Mk 13:32). Does “no man” mean what it says? The answer is yes. No man from any generation, denomination, or educational level will be able to calculate the day or the hour. However, we can know the times and seasons and the signs that indicate the nearness of the return (1 Thess. 5:1).

I enjoy the teaching of prophecy and the fact that the Holy Spirit provides the inspiration to properly discern the times, the seasons, and the signs that are all around us. However, I have never, nor will I ever, attempt to set a date when neither Christ nor the angels know the date! The simple fact we must learn is that no one has known, nor ever will know, the exact time of the return of the Messiah to gather His people (Eph 1:9-10).

You might be able to save a few dollars here and there by never purchasing a book, CD, or DVD that claims to have special insight into the year, the day, and hour of the return of the Lord. Even if you knew the day, it would be a different day in another part of the world, as other parts of the world are on a different timeframe than the west. If you knew the hour, there is a time difference from the east to west as well. It might be midnight here, but will be eight in the morning somewhere else. So let the Lord return when the Father is ready for Him to return. Until then, let’s keep preaching, teaching, and seeing the Kingdom of God advance in the earth as we bring a message of hope and deliverance to the masses of humanity who are lost.

Sincerely,

Perry Stone

Noted pastor Greg Laurie says while we do not know the exact day or hour of the return of our Lord we are told to know the signs of the times that would preceed His return,. Laurie believes the return is very near. Keep looking up!

Calif. Pastor: End of the World Is Near, Really

By Audrey Barrick|Christian Post Reporter

Every generation has cried “the end of the world is near.” Yet “here we are still,” noted one Southern California pastor.

Signs of the Times

“Haven’t we heard this all before?” Greg Laurie acknowledged on Sunday. “Every generation … that has thought it was the generation that would see the Lord’s return has been wrong because he didn’t come, did he?”

“This idea of the end of the world coming, Christ returning, is this the truth?”

Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., continued his messages on the end times in light of recent events, including the deadly earthquake in Japan.

This generation might be repeating what past generations have been saying, that these are the last days, but Laurie wonders whether the “cumulative effect” and the frequency of the events are cause to believe that indeed Jesus might return in his lifetime.

“Yes, we have heard this message before but over the years, certain things have happened that have immense prophetic significance,” he said.

“I want more Christian news!”

He listed the dramatic escalation of global wars and terrorism, the push for unity or globalism, the change in world economics toward a cashless society, the unprecedented increase of killer earthquakes, and false teaching permeating the church.

The world isn’t quite yet at the seven-year Tribulation Period that the Bible prophesizes, Laurie said, but he believes it’s close.

“That means the return of Jesus Christ is even closer yet,” he said.

There may be some disagreements over the order of the prophetic events, he noted. But there is no division on “this one truth: that Jesus Christ is coming back again soon.”

Of course, no one can say with certainty when that day will be.

“I’m not one of those date setters,” the famed evangelist said. “Some looney tune will come along and say he’s cracked the code. No man knows the day or the hour.”

But what people can know are the “signs of the times,” a phrase Jesus coined, according to Laurie.

What are these signs? “We see them on the headlines of newspapers,” he said.

Earthquakes are just one of many signs. More than 10,000 people are estimated to have died from Friday’s magnitude-8.9 quake and tsunami in Japan. One thousand bodies were found washed up across the coastline of Miyagi prefecture on Monday, according to The Associated Press.

Japan’s quake was preceded by a smaller but still deadly quake in southwestern China a day earlier. It’s been only weeks since a powerful quake also shook Christchurch, New Zealand, and just one year has passed since the catastrophic Haiti earthquake that killed an estimated 316,000 people.

While disasters are one obvious sign, Laurie believes one of the most significant signs indicating the Lord’s return in this generation is the 1948 return of the Jewish people to their homeland.

With “plenty of signs of the times,” Laurie asked the Harvest congregation, “Are you ready to meet God?”

“If we really understand anything about Bible prophecy … it’ll make us want to be a more godly person,” he said.

“We don’t know when the end of the world is, but listen, the end of your world could come sooner,” he warned. “God gives us time. Spend it wisely. The Lord could come back today.”

Laurie leads some 15,000 people every week at Harvest Christian Fellowship. Also an evangelist, he has preached the gospel to more than 4 million people since 1990.

So as hard as I am on not teaching enough about Bible Prophecy happening more in churches to prepare our people for the return of the King, there is also the danger of date setting becoming a major area of concern for the church. We will only know the times or seasons not the exact day or hour. Here is a great article on this topic happening right now from David Reagan of Lamb and Lion Ministries.

Harold Camping: Date-Setting Madness

By Dr. David R. Reagan

Lamb & Lion Ministries

Harold Camping (age 88) is at it again! Back in 1992 he published a book titled 1994? in which he set the date for the Lord’s return for September 6, 1994. [1] Now, in his latest book, Time Has An End, he has set a new “absolute” date of May 21, 2011. [2]

Unfortunately, Camping has a lot of influence within Christendom because he owns the Family Radio Network which broadcasts his messages over 150 radio stations within the United States. His message is also being broadcast via satellites to most of the nations of the world.

Unfortunately, also, his message has been featured widely in the secular press, as is always the case with date-setters. That’s because the press loves to play them up to the hilt in preparation for making fun of them when their date proves false. The result, of course, is that Bible prophecy is subjected to ridicule.

Despite the fact that he was proved to be a false prophet in 1994, Camping has convinced many people of the validity of his new date. His followers have erected billboards all over the nation. Some have emblazoned their cars with the message. Others are handing out T-shirts and bumper stickers. A website has been created at http://www.wecanknow.com/ . And mission groups are carrying the message to the four corners of the earth.

An Historical Precedent

It is all reminiscent of a Vermont farmer by the name of William Miller who developed a theory in the 1820′s, based on Daniel 8:14, that Jesus would return to the earth on March 21, 1844. [3]

In the King James Version that passage reads:

“And he [a saint or holy one] said unto me, ‘Unto 2,300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.’”

This is a prophecy about the desecration of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes and its ultimate cleansing. But Miller applied it to the end times and converted the days into years. Assuming the prophecy was given in 457 BC, he calculated that Jesus would return 2,300 years later, on March 21, 1844. Incredibly, he interpreted the “cleansing of the sanctuary” to refer to the purging of the earth by fire at the Second Coming of Jesus!

When Miller’s date came and passed without any sign of the Lord’s return, he proceeded to set a new date for October 22, 1844. When nothing happened on this second date, most of Miller’s followers became totally disillusioned. The whole experience was dubbed “The Great Disappointment.” Miller died in disgrace four years later in 1849.

But that did not prove to be the end of the matter. One small group of Miller’s followers in New England decided that he had not been wrong after all. Led by a young so-called prophetess named Ellen G. White, they began to teach that on October 22, 1844, Jesus had entered the Holy of Holies in Heaven to begin an “investigative judgment” of the works of every person who has ever lived in order to determine their fitness for Heaven. [4] They further taught that the reason Jesus did not return to the earth on the October date was because of the Church’s failure to observe the Jewish Sabbath. And thus was founded the modern day cult known as The Seventh Day Adventists. [5]

Harold Camping’s date-setting parallels that of the Millerite Movement in several ways. First, like Miller, his cornerstone scripture is Daniel 8:14, but he applies the 2,300 days differently. In his first book, 1994?, Camping argued that the Tribulation began on May 21, 1988 and that Jesus would return 2,300 days later, after He had cleansed the Church, resulting in a date of September 6, 1994.

And just as was the case with the Millerite Movement, when Jesus did not arrive, Camping declared that the day he had selected was spiritually very significant. The only problem was that he had misinterpreted its meaning. Instead of it being the day of the Lord’s return, it was the day that the end-time pouring out of God’s Spirit began, ushering in a period when there would be a great harvest of souls, after which the Lord would return.

Having justified his first error in date-setting, Camping then proceeded to set his second date for May 21, 2011.

As we near the coming of the Lord an interesting parable we should all read and study is found in Matthew 25. It is the parable of the ten virgins. The lesson here is that when the bride groom comes we need to ready and prepared. 5 of the virgins were prepared and had oil in their lamps and five we unprepared and caught off guard.

We need to be alert to the times and seasons and the things going on in the world in order to be ready for His return. It is a command for us to be alert and ready and to understand the times. Jesus Himself chastised the Pharisees, the most learned men in the Jewish world at that time about the Scriptures, for not seeing and looking for His first coming.

I am attaching two links to a Bible Study and sermon I gave on this topic for your use.

Keep looking up!

Parable of 10 virgins

Parable of 10 virgins