Rapture

The dictionary definition of rapture is: the state of being carried away with joy, love etc... ecstasy.
The dictionary definition of tribulation is: great misery or distress as from oppression.


I want you to know that what I am writing is just my opinion from reading and studying that I've done.  I'm open to hearing other opinions.  I would love to hear what you think, so please leave me a note.

This is what I believe; 2 Peter 2:5 says, "If He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on it, ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness and seven others; if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if He rescued Lot a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by lawless deeds he saw and heard)"  Peter went on to say, "If this is so then the Lord knows how to rescue Godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment while continuing their punishment."

Out of that scripture I got that God protected or, in other words, guarded, Noah; that is He took care of Noah and his family while they went through the flood.

On the other hand, He rescued Lot or delivered Lot (To set free or save from evil) out of the city before He burned them down.

Peter goes on to say, "God will rescue us from the coming wrath."  Not protect us through it, but rescue us from it.  Wrath also means punishment.

Paul also confirms this in 1 Thessalonians 1:10, "And to wait for His son from Heaven, whom He raised from the dead-Jesus who rescues us from the coming wrath."  Again, Jesus will rescue us, not protect us through the wrath.

Now 2 Peter also talks about trials and in Revelations 3:10, Jesus says, "Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth."

We are to be taken out, or rescued from the wrath, or trial that will be coming, which is the tribulation.

If you have any other information confirming this or against what I have written please let me know.

Elijah The Prophet

I love the story of Elijah the prophet.  I heard it many years ago and I even named my son after the Bible account.  But being in a situation like Elijah's isn't what I wanted.

In the story of Elijah, in 1 Kings 17, God sent Elijah to a woman's house.  This woman was just getting ready to prepare the last of her food for her son and herself and then they were going to prepare to die.  Elijah told the woman to fix a cake of bread for him first.  She had faith and she did as he asked.  Elijah ate and the woman and boy ate too.  Now God didn't fill up the jar of flour and the jug of oil, but each day there was just enough in that jar and jug to feed the three of them.  God didn't want them to put their faith in the jar and jug, but in Him.

I know this feeling.  My family has had to live by faith for the last 22 years.  There is never enough money to supply all our needs but some how we make it through each month.  I would love to have an endless supply of money.  At times our life is very hard, but there is peace in knowing that I am not the one in charge.

This scripture helps me when I start counting out how many days of food we have left in the freezer, at the end of the month.  Jesus said in Matthew 6:25-27, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

Some people are looking for a God that they can make fit into their life style, it seems like that would make life so much easier.  But God wants our life style made to fit into Him.  And that is what Elijah did, he followed God the way God wanted to be followed.  Seems simple but we all really have to work at letting go, and letting God handle things.  

Body Parts

This poem is written by my friend, Bary Bennett

The tongue is like a rudder
Be careful what you utter
It can take you places
You don't want to go
It is wise to keep it humble
Lest you say something and stumble
I know because the
Bible tells me so
The heart is like a vessel
Where the spirit comes to wrestle
It's where the victor stores
What he loves best
If it's sin that he's professing
And not love that he's confessing
Then come judgment day
He'll never pass the test
The eye is the deceiver
To the sinner and believer
Wisdom is required
When we see
Although vision is its duty
It misleads us from true beauty
The beauty that God teaches
"Sets us free"