Today’s Devotional – August 17th (Too Many Loose Ends!)
By admin On August 2nd, 2014.
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Today’s Devotional – August 17th
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Too Many Loose Ends!
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Of course we’ve all heard the expression, “That idea has too many loose ends!” And this expression refers to the loose ends of an unraveled rope.
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Now there are certain ideas and beliefs that could fall into the category of having “too many loose ends”.
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Maybe you could say, “The theory of evolution has far too many loose ends to ever be taken seriously!”
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Loose strands of climbing rope – cropped image – Wikipedia – Share-Alike License
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THE COMING OF THE LORD
1st Thessalonians 4:15-17.
Well, within Christendom, there are certain supposed Bible doctrines which one might also be able to say, “That doctrine has too many loose ends, to be anything more than merely a church doctrine or theory!”
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One such theory is that of the idea of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture.
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And why is the Pre-Tribulation Rapture called into question, here?
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Because it has just far too many “loose ends” attached to it!
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Well, beside the fact that the Bible has already named the event, “The coming of the Lord”, there really isn’t any biblical authority for calling it “The Rapture”. And without the name, “The Rapture” we’re stuck with its God-given name, “The Coming of the Lord”.
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As a matter of fact, the very passage in which the word, “harpazo” is used to justify the name, “Rapture”, God already names the event “the Coming of the Lord!” (see 1st Thessalonians 4:15-17). And so this entire notion of two separate returns of Jesus simply holds no water!
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Or, rather, it simply has too many “loose ends!”
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Sign of the Son of Man Constellation – made of the various constellations on this website
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LAST TRUMPET SHALL SOUND
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But there is another loose end to this theory. And that loose end is found in 1st Corinthians…
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Listen…. “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.” 1st Corinthians 15:52.
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Now, this trumpet sounding, speaks of the Day when God’s Salvation program will come to a grand fulfillment! It speaks of the Day when those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake.
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Sjofar – cropped image – Wikipedia – Share-Alike License
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THE 7 TRUMPETS OF REVELATION
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And the reason that this verse becomes one of those “loose ends”, is because the Book of Revelation speaks of seven angels with seven trumpets. And these seven angels sound their trumpets one-by-one, and not at the same time. And with each trumpet, there are special events which occur after each of the seven trumpets sound.
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Now, there is a seventh trumpet which sounds. And this trumpet is the last trumpet ever mentioned in the Book of Revelation!
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Tissot – The Seven Trumpets of Jericho – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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7TH ANGEL WITH 7TH TRUMPET
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Listen… “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever… 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 11:15, 18 .
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But Revelation also says this about this last trumpet sounding… “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared to His servants the prophets.” Revelation 10:7
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Now this above verse speaks of “the DAYS of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound,” which conveys the idea that there is a time period of days, when this angel begins to sound. And even though this seventh angel’s trumpet call precedes God’s judgment of the world, and His judgment of the dead, this definitely speaks of this event as lasting for a number of days, either prophetic days, or literal days! We just don’t know which, for sure!
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Angel with trumpet – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
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LAST TRUMPET SOUNDS IN CH. 10
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And so, for those who attempt to prove that the last 19 chapters of Revelation are after the so-called pre-tribulation Rapture, when the Church will supposedly be taken out of the world, we really need to consider that this last trumpet is blowing in Revelation, Chapter 10, six chapters after the supposed Rapture!
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So what do theologians do, who are heavily invested in this Pre-Tribulation Rapture theory? Well, they have to wrestle with Scripture! “Maybe there’s another set of trumpets”, they often say.
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And so, this is just one “loose end” of many which makes the pre-tribulation Rapture theory just that: a theory! Nothing more! And a bad theory at that!
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And truth-be-told, God has placed many other similar tests in the Bible, in which we are given a choice: “Do I love my church doctrine more than I love the Bible? Am I willing to ignore or rationalize away any Bible verse which contradicts some pet doctrine, just so I can cling to that old church doctrine?”
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GOD SENDS STRONG DELUSION
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Listen: “…And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2nd Thessalonians 2:10-12
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There really isn’t any reason to be so dogmatic, when the truth is, God has purposely obscured many things in the Bible, concerning the future! Anyway, whether we believe in the pre-tribulation coming of the Lord or the post-tribulation “coming of the Lord” is not nearly as important as whether or not we are humble and meek, and teachable! Yes, to be meek and humble and teachable is of far greater importance than tenaciously clinging to old church doctrines and traditions!
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And we must never try to force the pieces of a puzzle into place! Nor should we ignore an important piece, like this glaring inconsistency in present-day eschatology!
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David’s sorrow – Wikigallery – Public Domain
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TREMBLING AT GOD’S WORD
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And the Lord warns us, in the last verses of Revelation… “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Revelation 22:18, 19
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It would be far better to teach Bible prophecy about future events with great fear and trembling, than to take a dogmatic, “I-know-it-all” approach! But one thing we do know for sure is: the Lord will definitely come again, to judge the world.
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And we also know that “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” 1st Peter 4:17 There are many things in the Bible which are hard to be understood. God has done this purposely, so that those who are without, will be taken by their own dishonesty. You could say, that God will sometimes give men enough rope to hang themselves, as the saying goes!
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to exercise strict integrity when approaching Thy Word. Let me not love church doctrines more than I love truth…
Prayer for USA – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “January 30th (ABC Christianity)“ or you can also read… “April 2nd (Add Thou Not!)”
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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FINDING ORION ‘THE REAPER’…
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This constellation is the 3rd member of the ‘Orion Constellation’ Phenomena. This particular version of Orion is easily seen (if you know what to look for). First you must locate Orion. And then try to find the stars which comprise his sickle. The two brightest stars of his sickle are at the blade. These two stars are Castor and Pollux. Castor and Pollux are known commonly as being in the Gemini Constellation.
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Of course, Orion is seen in the colder months, but can even be seen starting in late summer, in the eastern skies in the wee hours of morning. At first he is lying down. But gradually through the night and through the winter, he more and more stands upright. The sketches on this page are rough and do not show every star exactly. However they are close enough to be able to locate this 3rd office that Orion holds (Orion the: 1. Archer 2. Soldier 3. Reaper 4. Cross ).
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THIRD ‘HAT’ THAT ORION WEARS…
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Here is another part of the Orion Phenomena. We have Orion the Soldier, The Cross of Orion, Orion the Archer’, and here is Orion the Reaper .
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CLOUD OF WITNESSES… Also take note of the cloud on Orion’s back-side. if you go out into the country on a dark, clear night, you can easily see the Milky Way running along Orion’s back side. This works very nicely with Orion the Reaper. Because the Milky Way is a heavenly cloud containing a myriad of stars . Thus, the white cloud mentioned in Revelation 14:14, 15, just might be referring to the Milky Way.
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“And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.” Revelation 14:14.
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But another verse about clouds likewise supports this conclusion…
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“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses…Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. ” Hebrews 12:1
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CONCLUSION… the Milky Way, which is the cloud that the Orion the Reaper is sitting upon, symbolizes the myriad of stars which represents the myriad of those who serve god, throughout the heavens, as well as those whom the Lord seeks to save. This is a great and marvelous sign from heaven, and speaks of the infinite mercy of our Saviour which transcends knowledge and gives us a glimpse of things… “which are not lawful for a man to speak” 2 Corinthians 12:4
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READ MORE
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “Orion The Reaper”
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TO
MORROW:
“August 18th (The Golden Rule in Hell!)”
Hell – Jan van Eyck Diptych – _Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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20+ MINUTE AUDIO JEREMIAH STUDY
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ALL‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.
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THIS IS STUDY #227 PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING…
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Those who are interested in using photos on this page may click on provided link below each photo, to get to Wikimedia Commons for various licensing details & tags, and all other necessary information on any particular photo. Most tall, narrow photos have been cropped or reduced by this website to make them a better fit on phone screens.
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