Category Archives: Uncategorized

On Teachers

Leave a comment

I have a friend who has a tendency to label people as ‘false teachers’ when she disagrees with something they say.

I worry about her when I hear her doing that, for two reasons:

1 – She is dismissing not just the specific issue being presented by the person at the immediate moment, but everything they say and believe.

2 – Why are you looking to people to be your teachers, rather than the Messiah and the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit reveals knowledge and understanding to any and all believers who are honestly seeking truth.  To each one is given in his own time, at his own pace.  We don’t all receive the same things in the same order.  But that’s part of the beauty of the Father’s method.  Each of us is an individual stone of the temple built without hands. We each have a different piece of the puzzle.  We need to look to each other in order to bring all of our pieces together . . . to get the whole picture.  Just as we are all members of the same body.  The analogy is the same, scripture tells us that we are the temple, our body is His temple.

We are all parts of the whole.  We are each given our own piece or pieces of truth, our own parts of the puzzle.  We have to come together and join them to get the whole picture.  And in that process, the parts that don’t fit will become evident and be set aside.  Scripture is the screen that we must shake them through to sift out the wrong ideas to be cast aside.

The fact that someone has written a book or has a YouTube channel with thousands of followers doesn’t mean that everything they say or believe is true.  NOBODY has everything right.

Some people have been diligently seeking on the right path for a long time, and they may have acquired many more puzzle pieces than someone who has only been on that path for a short time. When you are new to that path, and have only recently found it, it’s good to come across one of those who has already acquired many pieces of the puzzle.  That can be very helpful.  But don’t make the mistake of accepting everything they say without question.  Be like the Bereans.  Go to the scriptures to see if the new nugget they’ve offered you is correct.  Some of them may still have some indoctrination of men which they have not yet recognized as such, and cast off.

Some years ago there was one such gentleman whose work I discovered.  He had written an amazing book, which was clearly something that the Father had given him to share with the world.  And yet, he still believed in the pre-tribulation rapture, which to many of us is so very fundamental.  It was like he had the graduate degree without first getting through kindergarten!  But after years of keeping tabs on his work, one day I saw that he made a rather cryptic post about believing something your whole life, that can be found nowhere in scripture.  I immediately knew in my gut that he was in the process of figuring out the fallacy of the pre-trib rapture.  Sure enough, within a week or two he came out and publicly said as much.

Would my friend have labeled him a ‘false teacher’ and discarded his important, god given body of work because he had not yet figured out one of the basics?

Culmination of a Dream (Pattern)

1 Comment

On Monday, March 27th 2023 I awoke in the wee hours of the morning from what I knew to be a very important dream . . . a dream which deeply affected me emotionally.

Before I tell the substance of the dream, I must first explain the background.  You see, it was the most recent in a pattern of dreams which I started having in my mid-twenties, so . . . about 40 years now.  And I had thought that pattern was completed, and no longer a part of my life.  I hadn’t had any of them for about 5 years.

I had married at 17 years old.  That ‘marriage’ was 7 years of torment – cruelty, lies, infidelity, drug abuse and finally, at the end, physical violence.  All from a man who, several years in, actually told me that he didn’t love me, he had never loved me, he had always loved ‘her’ (only the first of several ‘hers’ in our marriage).  I had been determined never to be divorced, because of what I had known of my mother and grandmother’s lives and divorces.  But after a certain point, the Holy Spirit told me that this wasn’t how I was supposed to be raising my children. 

Once that ‘marriage’ was finished and I had walked away, it took a substantial amount of time for me to try to understand if I should consider myself free to remarry, or just be celibate for the rest of my life.  I had never attended any kind of church, and had no religious upbringing at all, and no source of spiritual guidance, except my scriptures and the Holy Spirit.  It was during this time of struggling to figure out if I should remarry or be celibate, that I began having the dreams. 

I could be having any normal dream, when off in the distance I would see a solitary wolf.  It was always initially in the same stance – standing erect, with its right side toward me, and its head turned, facing in my direction. 

It would then start running  toward me. 

More would join it.  Soon there would be a whole pack of wolves chasing me.  I was terrified, running for my life.  But they were always faster than me, they would always be gaining on me.  Eventually, I would have no other escape but to fly into the air, which I did.  But it was a struggle.  I would be just barely up out of their reach, while they leapt and snapped at my heels.

And then I would wake up.

This was very much about all the men that seemed to be suddenly, constantly coming out of the woodwork at me in my waking life, that was clear. And it was something that I had to deal with for decades.  And so the dreams were there . . . for decades.

The following is a video of a song that I wrote at that time in my life. I just sang out what I felt, so I hope it enables you to feel how the dreams were just a reflection of my waking life. The picture is me at about age 30, taken by my firstborn, Jaimie.

Once I found my current husband in 2018 and we were married, which the Father made VERY clear was His doing, I assumed that dream pattern was finished in my life.

Until that Monday morning in March of 2023.

I was asleep in my bed in my home.  I was dreaming that I was walking home on a lovely day, from the small town that we live a few miles outside of.  As I reached the cross street that leads into our neighborhood, I was about to turn to the right down that road, toward home.  I glanced to the left, where that cross street went across the larger road, in the direction I wouldn’t be walking.  In the distance, I saw a wolf, standing with the familiar stance, looking me straight in the eye.  This was the same way that my previous wolf pack dreams had always started out.  Then I did a double take – wait a minute.  That’s not a wolf.  It’s a coyote.  And it didn’t start toward me, as was the norm in my previous dreams. 

I turned to the right and started toward home.  And as I did, the whole tone and atmosphere of the dream completely changed.  Suddenly the whole world became very dark and foreboding.  And very intense, hyper-realistic.  But I wasn’t afraid, and I wasn’t running.  My attire changed.  I found myself dressed as a warrior.  I became aware of more of the creatures here and there – behind a wooden fence, peering out from behind a building or a tree – also not wolves.  Hyena, dingo, fox, every kind of canid except wolves. 

I could feel the evil – the air was thick with it, it permeated everything. But I was undeterred.  I was steadfast in my resolve.  Just keep walking home.  I know where home is, and I will get there.  And then the neighborhood changed.  I still knew where home was, but the path to it now became an obstacle course, a complicated maze.  Not the quick and easy journey I was familiar with.  And I was acutely aware of the presence of each demonic canid, and the danger they represented.  Even though I didn’t always physically see them, I could feel them, and I knew where they were. 

I focused on the path home.  One step after another. 

I rounded the last corner, onto my own street finally, and I could see home at the end of the block.  Suddenly one of the canids, a huge rottweiler, leapt out of the darkness at me from behind!  In some kind of unexpected, instinctive move, my left fist swung up and struck it down dead, instantly, in one blow.  I didn’t have to think, it just happened.  I didn’t even have to divert my gaze, which remained steadfast.  I WILL Get Home.

I kept taking one determined step at a time, and soon reached my destination.  I opened the door to go in, and there was much family inside, and there seemed to be a celebration happening.  There was light and joy.  I went inside and closed the door behind me.  And then I woke up.

The contrasts

What were the differences between the original dream pattern, and this particular dream?

  1. The Nature of the Threat  (Not wolves, but all types of other canids)

This is not the same threat that I’ve dealt with through my whole adult life, it’s different.  And each aspect, each occurrence can be expected to be unique in its presentation and character.

In my previous dream pattern, the wolves would simply chase me with wild, reckless abandon.  In this new dream, they were stealthy, strategically stalking me.

  • The Nature of the World  (Dark; Ominous; Foreboding)

In my previous dreams of this pattern, I was in the normal world, the world I grew up with.  When the wolf pack appeared and took chase, that didn’t change. 

But in this most recent dream, the whole nature of the world drastically changed.  It was suddenly saturated with evil . . . overwhelmingly maleficent.  I almost think there are no words to describe the feeling . . . and then I think, hmmm.  You can actually feel a small portion of that in our waking world right now.  I look around at the political and social realms and see so much hatred and antagonism.  Maybe what I saw/felt in the dream was what we would see/feel if our day-to-day waking world had the spiritual veil removed.

We are most assuredly in the end times.

  • MY Nature  (No longer a wounded bird in flight . . . Now a warrior)

In my previous dreams of this pattern, when chased by a pack of wolves, I was naturally afraid, and ran for my life.

This time, there was no fear, no panic, no running away, even though I was more acutely aware of the depth of the evil nature of those seeking my destruction.

I knew my purpose, and I had a plain, matter-of-fact goal . . . to make it home.  This was completely lacking in the original dream pattern.

The People & steps that helped me to understand

  1. Jaimie Renee Mathis

Immediately the day of the dream, after getting through my morning chores, I called my firstborn daughter Jaimie to discuss it with her.  I know she is interested in the meaning and significance of dreams, and is a fellow truth-seeker, as I am.

I remember her saying, in response to something I said, “I don’t know, Mom.  I think it’s more about how much you’ve changed and grown over the years.” I didn’t really understand at first how right she was, until I realized that the change was not the typical, worldly ‘personal growth’ people speak of, but the result of finding so much of that ‘Truth’ that I had spent years searching out, sometimes at great personal cost.

  • Janice Baca of Benai Emunah Institute

Within less than a week after my dream, Janice posted something on our group message board that opened my eyes to something.  She was beginning a series of blog posts regarding the spirit(s) of the Creator, and the Messiah. 

Upon reading what she had put together, I was stunned to realize that my dream had been the answer to a question that I had been pondering for quite some time.  This was the Father showing me the answer to my question . . . in a very vivid and profound way.

What was the question?  Well, I have felt that the Holy Spirit has been with me since early childhood.  It’s only been within the last year that I’ve really come to see and understand why that’s been the case.  And I believe now more than ever that the Holy Spirit has indeed been with me, guiding me and protecting me, since early childhood.  So I thought, how will that be different in the end times?  This concept of the latter rain, and a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit, how will that be different from what I’ve always had available from the Holy Spirit?

Oh my.  The difference the Father showed me – the difference between this dream, and the lifelong pattern – is just stunning. 

  • Sabbath Meeting Leader

For less than a year now, my husband & I have been part of a Sabbath group led by a man with a good deal of wisdom and insight. He declined to be mentioned in this blog post.  I believe it was near the end of one of the Sabbath meetings that he made a comment about expecting to soon see believers ‘rise up in power and authority’.

To hear that wording took my breath away, and I felt that was what my dream had been showing me.

Conclusion

Some of us have spent most of our lives Loving the Creator and His son the Messiah.  And some of us have known the blessing of feeling His presence and power in our lives on a regular basis. 

But this point in history is different. 

There has been a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit for years now, calling out to more and more of us, at an ever accelerating rate.  We are called to recognize who we are, and the responsibility that we have – first to the Father, and also to each other. 

Some of us feel this is the most important thing in life.  Or, as I’ve said to people before, it’s more important than “life or death”. 

We are the generation born into the final battle.  He has designed us, nurtured us, and led us through life.  It is His process for molding us.  And he has dropped us here into this timeline . . . dropped us behind enemy lines . . . for such a time as this. 

If we have eyes to see and ears to hear, if we answer that call to, ‘come out of her my people’, then that latter rain outpouring will enable us to do as the Father intended – to rise up in power and authority – and conquer all that comes against us. 

To make it safely home to Him.

We need to know our purpose.  Know our goal.  And listen to the Spirit, who will strengthen and guide us . . . in ways far beyond our previous experience.

Daniel 11:32b “ . . . but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” 

Feast of Dedication

Leave a comment

Hanukkah begins tonight at sunset.

I haven’t celebrated Christmas for years, it’s far too anti-scriptural. I celebrate the scriptural feasts that Yehovah commanded His people to observe. But does that include Hanukkah?

The events that Hanukkah celebrates are from the Books of Macabees – 2 books that were in the 1611 version of the King James bible, but were removed in the 1800s in America. They contain the story of the desecration of the temple in Jerusalem at the hands of Antiochus Epiphanes, and how a small group of Priests and farmers conquered the world’s superpower of that time to honor the almighty and take it back – to cleanse and re-dedicate the temple to Yehovah.

It breaks my heart that Judaism has seen fit to insult the Almighty by adding a made-up miracle, centuries after the historical facts, about oil that lasted for 8 days instead of 1. They decided the real miracle of the military victory wasn’t good enough, they needed to add a fake miracle to get people excited, and so they turned it into the ‘festival of lights’. I won’t celebrate that. They even corrupted the god-given design of the menorah to go along with it.

This message of the Hanukkite warriors may be more important for this moment in our history than ever before. We are on the precipice of a new defilement of Yehovah’s temple, in this day when we are His temple. His Holy Spirit resides within us. The desecration is trying to come in the form of a vaccine which contains recombinant dna – specifically designed to alter the dna of the recipient. Someone is seeking to alter the design of man, who the creator designed in His own image.

But I will honor the feast of dedication. I will use this time to study what Yehovah did for His people who stood against desecration of His temple and His laws. I will cleanse and rededicate myself and my house to my heavenly father, as the Maccabees cleansed and rededicated the temple in Jerusalem. As they did all those centuries ago, we may have to be willing to lay down our very lives in the battle to stop the defilement of our temple.

Passover – Why don’t we do what the almighty told us to do?

Leave a comment

Exodus 12:1 And YeHoVaH spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying,
2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is YeHoVaH ‘s passover.
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am YeHoVaH.
13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to YeHoVaH throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

This is repeated, in the same chapter. The Almighty uses this method to reinforce things that are of vital importance . . . to stress them.

Exodus 12:21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.
22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.
23 For YeHoVaH will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, YeHoVaH will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.
24 And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever.

Do this forever. For all your generations. Forever.
Read it again. What is He saying we should do for all our generations, forever? Kill the passover. Roast it in fire; put the blood on the door posts; eat it with bitter herbs and unleavened bread; don’t come out of the house until morning. It’s pretty clear.

Passover 2017 –

This was the first year my daughter Amber and I were trying to do Passover. We didn’t know what we should do, except for what YeHoVaH wrote in his word. So we followed the instructions in Exodus 12 as much as we could. We didn’t have a lamb to slaughter, so I got a leg of lamb and saved the blood when thawing it, which I put on the door posts and above as scripture said. We then ate the lamb for dinner with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, and didn’t go out of the house for the rest of the night. We spent the time reading the Exodus story in scripture, and talking about it.

It was a couple of months later that I discovered the teachings of Michael Rood.

Passover 2018 –

I went to the Rood Awakening Passover event in Charlotte, North Carolina. My daughter Amber was supposed to go with me, but she ended up getting too sick to travel at the last minute. I met my future husband Dale there. We were married by the end of the year.

It occurred to me somewhere over the course of that weekend that I probably shouldn’t attend this event again. Depending on when they planned their event, it could prevent me from being at home at the right time to follow the Father’s instructions regarding putting the blood over the door and remaining inside under its protection all night. When I had first considered celebrating Passover back in 2017, I had wondered if the reason that YeHoVaH had instructed His people to do this forever, for all our generations, was that there would be a need in the end times, during the greater exodus foretold in scripture, for His people to be protected in the same way as they had needed that protection in the first exodus. But this time the thing we’re being protected from could be much more horrific.

Passover 2019 –

Dale and I are newlyweds. We are living in Wilmington, North Carolina at the beginning of the year. The issue has only grown and expanded in my mind since that first Passover in 2017 when it seemed pretty obvious how to do what YeHoVaH said in His word that we should do. Kill the Passover. Since that time I had heard people say that you can no longer do what YeHoVaH said we should do forever, for all our generations. When I ask why, I get the standard answers that people give about why there are no longer any sacrifices. Jesus did away with that, it was nailed to the cross just like the ‘law’ and the entire old testament. Much of which I now know to be theological error.

Later I heard some other reasoning to add to that – basically that we couldn’t do it without a temple; and we couldn’t do it without a temple priest. The last piece of such reasoning I heard, and the piece that made the most sense to me (because it was the only reason that came from scripture) was that the scripture showed YeHoVaH saying that the sacrifices should only be killed in the place where He puts His name, and not in our own gates wherever we individually dwell.

In spring of 2019 my new husband Dale and I were planning on going to Interior Alaska. I had built a house there, and we needed to go and accomplish some work on finishing and repairing it. We knew we would be there for at least the summer, maybe longer. This was a year that we knew may or may not have an Adar Bet – a thirteenth month. We were scheduled to get into Fairbanks by the first of April, but didn’t know if Passover would end up being in March or April. I was hoping for April. If Passover was in April, there might be a chance of being able to follow the scripture and do as YeHoVaH commanded his people to do. That would not be possible in our little apartment in the city in Wilmington, North Carolina.

I was praying regularly for guidance on this issue. Why did I feel such urgency about understanding the Almighty’s will and intent on this if we were no longer supposed to do it?

If we are no longer supposed to do it, then why did He say to do it forever? Nowhere in scripture does He negate that command, or say He changed His mind.

While still in Wilmington, I would search Craig’s List for available lambs or goats in the Fairbanks area. I thought, if YeHoVaH really wants me/us to do this, he will make an appropriate lamb available. There was nothing. I was really hoping for an Icelandic lamb. I raised Icelandic sheep on my Alaska property for more than a decade, and that’s my breed of choice. And if you’re going to kill a lamb to eat, there’s no better breed for meat quality. But I was looking for anything that would qualify – even a goat, if need be. I’ve never eaten goat, and wasn’t crazy about the idea, but figured that if that was what was available to fulfill the command, so be it. But strangely enough, there seemed to be nothing available anywhere. I wondered if this was, in fact, the answer to my prayer. An answer of “No, I don’t still want you to kill the Passover.”

But I kept watching for our lamb.

Then one day something occurred to me. Didn’t I used to follow a Facebook page, Alaska Sheep Growers, or something like that? So I sought it out. I hadn’t had any sheep of my own for a couple of years, and had all but forgotten about this group. But I found they were still there, and I enjoyed scrolling through the posts, reminding myself how it was when I had sheep. But there weren’t any posts offering sheep for sale. Everybody was posting about their new lambs being born.

Then finally, after scrolling down far enough through the posts, there was one asking if anyone had any yearling ram lambs for sale for butchering, because the person posting had gotten some inquiries, and she didn’t have any available for the prospective buyer. One commenter on the post said she had several good first year males ready to choose from. And the sheep she had were Icelandics!!! I was overjoyed! Time was growing short, it was almost the tenth day of the month of the aviv, when we’re supposed to select our lamb. I only had a couple of days left to get this whole deal nailed down if it was going to happen.

I responded to the comment on that post, telling the commenter with available lambs that I had sent her a Facebook private message. But it seemed rather like an exercise in futility, since I was aware that if a Facebook member is not on your friends list, the message doesn’t go directly into their inbox, but goes to a separate folder that they might not even be aware of or see. So this particular shepherdess might not even be aware of my message in time to do any good for our Passover.

I kept scrolling further down the page of the sheep group, looking at more and more posts, reminiscing about my own flock of sheep. And in the process, I happened upon another post, wherein the same shepherdess with the available ram lambs had commented, giving her phone number, so that someone else commenting on the thread could call her, and specifying that she doesn’t get online or check her messages here very often, so calling or texting is the best way to reach her.

This presented a bit of a moral dilemma. To me, it’s wrong to take what’s not freely given. And this phone number information was given to someone else, not me. But the next day was the tenth day of the month of the Aviv, the date scripture says we’re supposed to select our lamb. If I didn’t act now, I might be missing the opportunity provided to me. So I took the phone number, and sent a text to the shepherdess, inquiring about her available lambs. The response I got was that her phone was almost dead, she would get back with me after charging it. It was almost 8:00pm on the ninth day of Aviv. My time was nearly up. Was she offended because a stranger that she never heard of had somehow gotten ahold of her number and was contacting her? Or was that my own feelings of guilt at breaking my own self-imposed rules now haunting me?

The next morning I awakened knowing that it was now the tenth day, the day in which scripture says we’re supposed to go and get a lamb, pick it out, bring it home. And the only option that I had been able to find didn’t get back with me. It looked like the answer was no, we’re not supposed to do this. Like usual, my husband and I prayed (yet again) for YeHoVaH to guide us, to show us what we were supposed to do, that we might fulfill His will.

And then she texted me! I let her know that we were hoping to come and pick a lamb immediately on that day to bring home with us, or it wouldn’t be what we needed. She was surprised, but willing to accommodate us.

It was an all day affair, going to pick out and bring home the lamb. For one thing, her location was a 6 hour drive from our home. Before leaving on that journey, we had to prepare. Not just shower and have breakfast, but figure out how we were going to secure the lamb in the truck for the journey back, and where he would be kept on the property after we got him home. It didn’t take long to decide on a holding pen we had on the property from my previous days of sheep keeping, and prepare it and make it secure. And we decided to use the giant sized dog crate that my daughter had for her Great Pyrenees/St Bernard cross dog, to transport the lamb.

And so we headed out. We stopped at the feed store before leaving town and bought a bale of hay for our lamb.

But even finding her farm turned out to be another exercise in wondering if we would actually be able to accomplish our task. She had said she lived in Houston, Alaska, but didn’t want to give a specific address until we were down there in the vicinity. She said to give her a call when we reach Willow (a community we would reach prior to Houston), and she would direct us from there. This is not the way I normally like to do things. Normally, before heading out on such a drive, I would pull up the address of the destination on Google Earth to scope out precisely where I’m going and how I’m going to get there. But now, here we were, stopped at a gas station in Willow, trying to call her for the specific location as we had discussed, and getting no response from her. What were we going to do? How long could we just hang out here, not knowing where the farm was, not knowing if she would ever get back to us and let us know how to find her farm?

But eventually she did. As it turns out, it was even a bit farther than we thought. We had to go past Houston and through Wasilla to find the place where we would select our lamb. When we arrived, another step in our education began.

I had raised sheep previously, and even specifically Icelandics, as these were. So I knew what I was looking at, and what I was looking for. She let me know which of the yearling rams had flaws that she was aware of because she knew we needed one ‘without blemish’. This still left several to choose from. Which one to choose? How to choose, by what criteria? Not just pick the biggest one and go. It should be the best. The most perfect that we could find to offer to YeHoVaH. What would I be looking for in a ram that I would have used for a herd sire for my flock? Strong conformation. A good, straight topline. The color of the membranes at the mouth and nasal area (an indication of blood health). Wool condition. Clarity in the eyes, and alertness.

After much scrutinizing and deliberation, I settled on a nice solid moorit boy. His horns were a bit close to his head for my usual standards, but this wasn’t a flaw or imperfection, just a matter of my personal preference. And everything else about him was perfect.

He was 95 pounds, and at $5 per pound live weight, it was truly a sacrifice for us, in every sense of the word. We were stepping out in faith to make the purchase, since both Dale and I were unemployed at the time, having newly moved back to the area from North Carolina. I had 4 wonderful job potentials lined up before arriving, but to my shock and dismay, all 4 positions fell through. So laying out the cash for this lamb from our dwindling reserves was a real act of both faith and sacrifice.

Loading him into the crate in the truck went easier than I expected without a ramp to use. We cut open our bale of hay and put some hay into the crate to entice him to enter, and 4 of us lifted him, holding onto his legs and setting him up into the truck. Soon we were headed for home, where we put him into his pen and gave him some more hay. He calmed down and settled in.

Then we had four days with him.

As I said before, I had experience with keeping sheep. But this was different. This lamb was selected for a special, higher purpose. And even though I would have loved to use him as a herd sire, I didn’t get to do that. Instead we were going to give him to the creator. I worried if local dogs that might be unrestrained would come in while we were sleeping and attack him. I worried if he would try to get out, and injure himself on the fence or gate hardware. I worried if he would eat, or go into a depression, because sheep are not solitary animals, they don’t do well without others of their kind. We knew from our own sheep keeping experience that these creatures have individual personalities, feelings, and even family relationships and ties. My sheep had ended up more as spoiled pets than a herd of livestock. I had protected and nurtured my own sheep previously, but I didn’t have to ensure that they would remain perfect and be ‘perfect’ on a particular day. And all of us, having high standards of how animals should be treated and cared for, wanted to ensure that his last few days of life were good, peaceful, and not stressful. Even though he had just been torn away from his flock and everything he had known in life . . . and was now isolated. My daughter spent some time in the pen with him more than once, petting him and speaking soothingly. I gave him treats. My husband beefed up his shelter to make sure he would be comfortable if there was any wind or rain.

I won’t go into the specifics of the slaughtering of the lamb. But it’s important to know that the methods prescribed by the creator in scripture are designed to be the most humane and least stressful way to harvest an animal. If you buy kosher meat, you can be assured that the animal’s death was not like the horror stories you read about modern factory farm slaughterhouse methods. And we were true to that scriptural intent, and it all went smoothly.

But the process was a lot of work. And the entirety of the experience was an education – one that took two years. Maybe more, because I’m quite certain I have more yet to learn.

I believe YeHoVaH answered my prayers for guidance on this issue in a clear and distinct way, when precisely my first choice type of animal was the only option available, and only on the exact day that scripture instructed us to choose the lamb and bring it home. Even though I had been seeking it – seeking any option at all – for months prior. I also know that I couldn’t have managed this task alone, but He brought me the right husband at the right time for things to fall into place.

So what does scripture say about Killing the Passover? Let’s do some scriptural analysis.

YeHoVaH gave very specific instructions, and said we should do this forever, for all our generations.

We did it in Egypt. We did it for 40 years in the wilderness before coming into the promised land. There was no temple or priesthood in either of those places.

Once in the promised land, YeHoVaH did say that we should do it in the place where He chose to place His name. Why? To deter the people from sacrificing in wrong ways and places, that would end up being mixed in with customs honoring other gods? This may have only applied while we were in the land.

Deuturonomy chapter 12 – Moses is instructing the people on what to do and how to live when they come into the land. Chapter 12 is a combination of telling them to destroy the idols, altars and places of worship of the pagan people they will be displacing; and telling them to set apart the place where YeHoVaH shall put His name for them to worship as He instructed. He is making a separation for the people. Places of the false gods over there, to be destroyed. Place of the true God here, to be honored. Don’t sacrifice or offer your tithes or make vows in any of those places where the pagans did their worship of false gods. Don’t just do it wherever you happen to live. Come to the place He tells you to for those things. Did He ever say that this would still apply once the people were driven out of the land? No.

I think this was an obvious, common sense instruction for that particular time and place.

Imagine for a moment that you have children, and you’ve told them to always brush their teeth before bed. They do it for years, and have good strong teeth. Then you go to live for an extended amount of time on a rural farm, and the farmhouse has a bathroom plumbed with fresh, potable water. There’s another bathroom in the barn that has a toilet and a sink for washing hands, but it uses the irrigation water system, which is not necessarily safe for drinking. And maybe there’s a garage or workshop that’s similarly set up with a half bath using the irrigation water. Wouldn’t you instruct your children to use only this one specific bathroom in the house, with the clean source of water, for brushing their teeth? Maybe you live in that place for 7 years, and then you move elsewhere. Would you want your children to assume that they should never brush their teeth again, because they no longer have access to that one specific bathroom in that farmhouse? After all, you’ve told them not to use other bathrooms for brushing their teeth, only this one.

I don’t see anywhere that scripture says that limitation will be applicable after we are driven out of the land.

Indeed, scripture actually says that there will be more than one place where YeHoVaH shall place his name. Some of them are specifically mentioned.

Exodus 20:24 says, “An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my Name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.”

He placed His name in Shiloh.
He removed His name from Shiloh.
He placed His name in Jerusalem.
He removed His name from Jerusalem.

The first place where He placed His name was Shiloh. Then He removed His name from Shiloh, because of the sin of the people. He then placed His name in Jerusalem. But He also then took it from there, just as He did from Shiloh, and for the same reason.

1 Kings 9:7 Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my Name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:

2 Kings 23:27 And The LORD YeHoVaH said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My Name shall be there.

Jeremiah 7:10 – 14 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my Name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Is this house, which is called by my Name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith YeHoVaH. But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my Name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my Name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.

Where is His name now?

If Jerusalem is no longer the place of His name, just as Shiloh is no longer the place of His name, then where is His name now? The first chapter of Malachi gives us the answer:
Among the gentiles; among His people.

Malachi 1:11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my Name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my Name, and a pure offering: for my Name shall be great among the heathen, saith YeHoVaH of hosts.

We, His people, are the place where He has placed His name. We who have the Holy Spirit, all over the world, have His name placed on our lives, on our hearts – even on our foreheads, as foretold in the book of the Revelation. We are the very place where He has placed His name.

And yet scripture says that Jerusalem is the place where He will place His name forever:

1 Kings 9:3 And YeHoVaH said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my Name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

I believe this will be at the end of the age:

Jeremiah 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of YeHoVaH; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the Name of YeHoVaH, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

He said do this forever, for all your generations. Read Exodus chapter 12 again. He didn’t say do this only when you are in the land. He didn’t say do this only when you have a priest and a priesthood. He didn’t say do this only as long as you have a temple standing in Jerusalem. He didn’t say do this only until the Messiah comes.

Nowhere does scripture say that the Passover must be killed by a temple priest. In fact, scripture instructs each head of household to slaughter the lamb for their own family. Exodus 12:6 says that “the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it”; and Exodus 12:21 instructs “all the elders of Israel” to “Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the Passover.

One Stick

Leave a comment

Ezekiel 37:19

Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

When I was 18 years old and pregnant with my first child, my beloved grandmother got to make her only trip back home to the land of her birth, her beautiful Emerald Isle of Ireland.  She brought back for me a piece of our ancestral homeland, in the form of a necklace. It was a cross pendant, of sterling silver, and adorned with four pieces of Connemara marble, a distinctively Irish stone, as green as the Emerald Isle itself.  I treasured this necklace, and wore it almost constantly for years.

Then one day I lost it.  Back then, in my mid to late twenties, I worked 13 hours every Saturday.  I distinctly remembered putting my cross on that morning before going to work.  It was around dinnertime, after working most of the day, that I noticed it was missing.  The chain was still there on my neck, but the cross was missing.

I panicked.  I retraced my steps, I walked all over that store, and in back all through the storeroom, scanning the floor, desperately searching.  I made sure to tell everyone, so that if anyone found it or it got turned in by a customer, it would find its way back to me.  But I went home without it, wondering if I would ever see it again.

I spent the next two weeks searching, and crying, and mourning the loss.  It wasn’t a very expensive piece of jewelry, and I don’t even care about jewelry.  But to me it represented 3 of the most precious things in my life: my grandmother; my Irish heritage; and my faith in God.

One night, just before morning, I had a dream.  I saw my cross laying on the street, next to the driver’s door of my car.  It was in a very clear, shallow puddle, under a very thin layer of ice, with an intricate pattern to the ice.

A little while later, I woke for the day and started our morning routine.  It was as I had the kids sitting at the table eating breakfast that I remembered the dream.  I’m sure I must have let out an audible gasp, and immediately took off out the front door toward my car.  Sure enough, there was my cross, next to the driver’s side door, under a thin layer of ice in a puddle exactly as I had seen in my dream.  EXACTLY.

The 3 smaller pieces of Connemara marble were missing, but the large piece was still intact.  I left it that way for the next few years, and kept it safe in my jewelry box.  Even damaged, it was still very precious to me, and I didn’t want to take a chance on losing it again.

When I moved to Alaska in 1991, I got an idea.  I went to a local jeweler, and had him replace the 3 small marble pieces that were missing with Alaska Jade in a matching shade.  Now I was ready to wear it again, and it had even more character.  Now it represented my grandmother, my Ireland, my faith, AND my Alaska that I love.  And it’s the one item of jewelry that I’ve worn the most since that time.

In the spring of 2014, when I went to Michigan thinking it was going to be a permanent move and I was leaving my youngest daughter Amber behind, I gave her my precious Celtic cross necklace.  It was as precious to her as it was to me, because she knew the history behind it.  Unfortunately, she suffered the same frustration later that summer – to look down and find the chain still on her neck, but the cross missing.  She was as devastated as I was nearly 30 years earlier.

I told her not to worry, that God had brought it back to me back then, maybe He would do the same thing again.

Well, it had been 2 years, and it didn’t seem that was going to happen.  I think we had both pretty much given up on it.

So I decided to get myself another piece of jewelry that would be a re-defining of my self-image – the other side of my family tree that I had only recently discovered the history of, going back to Jewish roots.  I had seen this piece online, it was a Star of David, made from Sterling Silver & Eilat stone, aka Solomon stone, the national gemstone of Israel.  It was made in Israel, one of my favorite colors, would go with most of my wardrobe, and represent my other ancestors and the other side of my spiritual history. Perfect.  So I ordered it.  When it arrived, I was very pleased with it and wore it nearly every day.


And then one day, I’m walking through the yard and happen to look down at the right spot, and there is my missing celtic cross.  Face down in the grass.  I picked it up, and to my amazement, it wasn’t even damaged this time.  It even looked cleaner than the last time I saw it!  It had acquired an antique look when it survived our house fire in November of 2002.  I had thought it rather suited the piece, and so I left it that way.  But here it was, bright and shiny silver again, with all its marble and jade intact!

I immediately went in the house and showed Amber, who was as stunned as I had been.  She instructed me to put it away and never let her touch it again – apparently she felt the same way that I did years ago when I put it into my jewelry box for safe keeping and deprived myself of it for a while.

That was last summer. It wasn’t until months later, earlier this year, that God showed me why I had to acquire the Star of David necklace before He would show me where my cross was.  I wear both of them now, together, more often than not.

The cross represents the stick of Joseph, in the hand of Ephraim.  The Star of David represents the stick of Judah.  They are 2 halves of God’s whole, all of the tribes of Israel regathered when they are together. 

And He will make them one stick in His hand.

He is working on making that a reality in the world at this very moment.

And my life, and the generations that have come before and made me who I am, have been a microcosm of that prophetic fulfillment.  I think that’s also true of many people around us, who probably aren’t even aware of it.

Seven Years of Tribulation?

Leave a comment

For some time now, it has been on my heart and mind to re-assess everything that I believe.  The purpose of re-assessing is to make sure that what I believe comes from God, and is based on truth and on His Word, rather than just believing something just because that’s what everyone else believes. . . or because it’s the standard, accepted doctrinal norm.  It’s just what we’ve all been taught.

When it came to my mind to wonder about the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine, I prayed about it, asking the Lord to help me find the truth.  In turn, He asked me a question.  He asked me to consider: if I had the choice, which would I prefer? Would I want to come home to Him at the onset and not have to suffer through it, or would I choose to stay here through it all?

I turned the idea over in my mind for a good while.  This was quite a question.  If it was up to me, what would I choose?  I ended up realizing that I would want to stay. . . because there are people who I thought would probably need me in such a time, and I couldn’t bear the thought of not being there for them in what would have to be the darkest hours of anyone’s life.  Yes.  Let everyone else go home and be safe if they like, but I would choose to stay and try to be as much help as I could to the people around me.

It was after I gave it the consideration it deserved and came to that conclusion, that God opened things up to me to show me the error of that pre-tribulation rapture doctrine, and where it came from.  I wrote about that a couple of posts back.

One thing that speaks volumes to me, is the fact that I’m not the only one.  Each time He puts a particular subject on my heart like this to research, I usually find that He has opened other people’s hearts and minds to the same revelation.

Over the past couple of weeks, I had begun to wonder about the duration of the great tribulation.  I thought, why does everyone refer to ‘the seven year tribulation’?  Where does it say seven years?  Is that actually in scripture somewhere, or is that just one of those things that everybody believes because that’s what’s been said and accepted for as long as they can remember?

And so I embarked on a search through the scriptures for the seven years of tribulation.  I started with the book of Revelations.  I found many references to three and a half years, in various forms:

Revelation 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Revelation 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Revelation 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Revelation 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

But I didn’t find anything saying there would be seven years of the great tribulation.  I began reading the prophets, one book at a time.  When I got to Daniel, chapter 9, verse 27, I thought, aha!  Here it is!

Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

. . . okay.  It IS in there.  It just took me quite a while to find it.  Thank you Lord, for letting me find it.   Unlike a year ago, I now know that a week in scripture can mean 7 years instead of just 7 days.  I also realized that this scripture was the source of a couple of other concepts  that I had intended to seek out – Where does this idea come from that the antichrist is going to make some kind of a 7 year deal?  Why do people think that the temple has to be re-built before the messiah comes?  Here it is.  In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice to cease.  But there haven’t been any sacrifices in a Jewish temple for almost two thousand years, so of course if someone is going to make them cease in our time, they would first have to be instituted again, which would require the re-building of the temple.  All of this in one verse.  Wow!  Thank You Lord.  You’ve told me so many times, ask and it shall be answered, seek and you shall find.  And you’ve answered my questions so frequently lately.

And it was late, and I was exhausted, so I put my scriptures away and went to sleep.

I woke up the next morning more tired than usual, because I had been up late on my scripture searching quest.  I began my morning routine, make coffee, check my email, and there’s a Publisher’s Clearing House Search in my email.  Use our seach engine and get a free entry to win money.  Okay, give me a free entry.  But I need to type in something to search for, and I don’t have enough coffee in me to think about that yet.  What was that scripture reference last night?  Daniel 9:27.  I’ll just plug that in.  Hit search.  I got my free entry to win money.

And then I look at the list of results.  It’s not even the first thing on the list that my eyes are drawn to, it’s 5 or 6 places down the list.  I open it up to take a better look.  Here is the most pertinent part of what I read there:

“Daniel 9:27

Protestants try to ascribe the covenant of verse 27 to the Antichrist because “he,” they say, refers to “the prince who is to come.” But this cannot be! Remember the poetic organization! The key is the word “many.” It is literally “the many,” and whenever it is used in the Old Testament, it refers to either the covenant people Israel or to the saints, that is, true believers. Jesus says in Matthew 26:28, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Christ makes the covenant, not Antichrist!

Confirm means “strengthen” or “make firm”—almost to the point of being unbreakable. This helps substantiate its reference to the New Covenant, an everlasting covenant that strengthened the basic requirements of the Old Covenant. Significantly, when Christ in the Olivet Prophecy gives His disciples the signs of the end, He does not mention a covenant or treaty to be enacted between the Antichrist and the Jews, Christians, saints, or anyone! He does mention both of the events Gabriel mentions here: the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 (Matthew 24:2) and the abomination of desolation (verse 15).

What about the final three and a half years of the seventieth week? They have yet to be fulfilled, but Gabriel leaves us hanging regarding when they occur. He does not mention them. When could they be fulfilled?

  • The seventieth week has been completely fulfilled by the three and a half year ministry of Christ. This seems to be the least likely of these options.

  • Christ will complete His ministry in the first three and a half years after His return, before Satan is locked in the bottomless pit. But the Bible does not indicate that any time elapses between His return and Satan’s binding in Revelation 19 and 20.

  • They are the years of the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord, during which Christ will complete His ministry through the Two Witnesses and/or to the church in the Place of Safety. Again, this is only speculation—although Paul’s training in Arabia may provide a precedent (Galatians 1:11-18).”

Okay, I’m wide awake now! Wow.  I get it.  Ask, and it shall be answered.  I asked where people got the idea of seven years of tribulation, and as always, I asked for the Lord to reveal to me His truth.  So first He showed me where people got that idea, and then, the very next thing after I awoke, He showed me His truth.

“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. . . ”

Yeshua had (or has) a seven year ministry.  It’s a Shemitah.  Two thousand years ago He preached and taught the people for half of that seven years; He confirmed the covenant God made with Israel; and caused the sacrifice to cease.  That’s already happened.   The rest of His seven years will be fulfilled by the two witnesses for the three and a half years of the great tribulation.

The coming mandate

Leave a comment

There is a public opinion campaign being waged in the U.S. lately, and it’s not what it appears to be.

Perhaps we should start at the beginning.

I have been following the work and research of several Christians who, like me, believe that we are in the end times of Biblical prophecy.   One such person is Steve Quayle, whose work I respect.  I was watching the following video on YouTube, and around 23 minutes in, he talks about an un-named source who has had access to underground facilities prepared for the elite to take shelter when the worst comes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwbc_F0PBHA

The source tells him that there will be an intentional release of a new superflu pandemic, to be followed by a mandatory vaccine for this superbug.  The vaccine will contain a microchip the size of a pencil point on a piece of paper.  The source also indicated that this microchip will somehow affect the very DNA of the people who have it injected into them.

Obviously I don’t have access to his un-named source, and I don’t have any real means to confirm or corroborate.  But for me, it rung true and fit with a couple of other things that I know.

About a week before I heard this, I had been noticing a trend, wherein people were making fun of and belittling people who choose not to vaccinate their children and families.  They’ve even come up with a derogatory name for the purpose of name calling – “antivaxxers”.  Antivaxxers are labeled as ignorant, anti-science, and selfish . . . just for starters.  After hearing the frighteningly realistic concept put forth by Steve Quayle in this broadcast, it seemed like the vaccine controversy that I had previously noticed . . . exploded exponentially.  I remember going on facebook one day and noticing  that 4 out of the first 5 items on my newsfeed were attacks against the “antivaxxers”.

The situation has since then progressed so rapidly that there are actions being taken across the nation to try to make vaccinations mandatory.  Check the list here:

Compulsory Vaccination Bills

I believe the purpose of this mandatory vaccination movement is in preparation for the release of the aforementioned superflu pandemic and subsequent vaccine.  It will be easier to implement if the idea of mandatory vaccines has already been rolled out and accepted by a large percentage of the population.  The bug that will be released is going to be so devastating that the vaccine will be seen as society’s only hope, and they will say that anyone who refuses the vaccine for this horrific disease is endangering society as a whole.  I even anticipate there could be imprisonment or execution of those who refuse, ‘for the good of the population as a whole’.

If you are aware of those elite of our world who see most of the populous as ‘worthless eaters’, who think that the Earth rightly should be depopulated, it’s easy to see how this whole plan would be like killing 2 birds with 1 stone for them.  First, realization of a long time goal of eliminating a large portion of the population, and then ensuring that the rest will willingly accept this microchip, by virtue of accepting the life saving vaccination.

But what will the microchip do?  Will it be a tracking device so they can keep tabs on what’s left of the population?  Or maybe something similar to what people put in their pets?  Or could it even be the Mark of the Beast?

Steve Quayle said that his source said it would be tied to our DNA.  It would somehow affect our DNA.  When I heard that, I immediately thought of Doug Hamp, and his work “Corrupting the Image”.  Based on years of scripture study in the ancient languages and texts, combined with modern science, he has theorized that the mark of the beast will be a genetic modification through use of RNA.  This modification will alter each human that accepts it so that they are no longer made “in the image of God”, which will mean that the individual will be no longer redeemable by the Lord.  They can’t be saved.  If you would like to understand this concept, I would urge you to watch this video wherein he explains it himself.  It is more than 2 hours long, but I think about the last half hour or so is just question and answer period.  ALL of the lecture itself, prior to the Q&A, is important, if you want to understand this concept.  There is a good amount of science involved, but he does a good job of explaining things in laymen’s terms and making it easy to understand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8q1Cxlwtb8&t=169snA

The mark of the beast must necessarily be voluntary.  Scripture tells us that those whose names are written in the lamb’s book of life will not accept the mark.  So we will have the ability to refuse it.  But it is altogether possible that we could be executed for that refusal.

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

I don’t know if the coming mandated pandemic vaccine will be the mark of the beast.  I will likely be more certain when the time comes and more information will come to light.  But I do know that I will be refusing it, even if that means a death sentence.

‘Seek & you will find’

Leave a comment

I was re-watching the first episode of the new NBC series ‘A.D.’, and noticed something I missed the first time through. Caiaphas refers to a prophecy that the Messiah would rise from the dead on the third day. He mentions this prophecy in requesting that Pilate place a guard at the tomb. His reasoning is that some of Jesus’ followers might steal the body and claim resurrection as fulfillment of that prophecy.

My focus recently in my spiritual studies has been to try to understand things from the perspective of first century Jews. I have come to realize how much error there is in many Christian churches because we don’t understand how the people Jesus was addressing, those first century Jews, would have understood and taken those things He was preaching. I believe this is a big part of why there are so many very different Christian denominations. We all interpret what we see through our own lens, rather than viewing it from the lens that Jesus and His contemporaries were seeing it through.

But this one line in this show made me think. I knew Jesus himself had predicted that he would suffer, die, and rise again on the third day. And I was aware of the old testament prophecies of the ‘suffering servant’ Messiah. But I had never heard anything about Hebrew prophecies prior to Jesus which stated that the Messiah would rise from the dead after 3 days. In fact, I’ve heard theories expounded to the effect that that was only something cooked up by Jesus’ followers to explain away his crucifixion. But if first century Jews already had reason to think that the Messiah would be killed, and then rise from the dead after 3 days. . . well that changes everything.

And so I did an online search – simply using the words, “Messiah Rises”. I was stunned to find this:

Israeli scholar says 1st century Jews awaited Messiah who would die & rise again. Argues “third day resurrection” an idea that pre-dates Jesus.

Thank You, Father.

Pre-tribulation Rapture

Leave a comment

Last year, as I was reading my scriptures, I remember reading specific passages that made me wonder about the whole pre-tribulation rapture doctrine.  So I decided to study and seek out this issue in scripture.  At a church I used to belong to in Fairbanks, a pastor used to say, “Don’t believe anything just because some preacher said it.  Don’t believe it just because I said it!  Drag it through the Bible and see what God says about it.”

This is excellent advice.

If you follow this advice regarding the pre-tribulation rapture, you will find no support for that doctrine, and plenty that refutes it.  I could write at length about it, but this movie lays out everything that I would write, and is much easier to absorb.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTmZHDb_sP8

I urge you to watch it.  And search the scriptures yourself.  And talk to God.  Scripture specifically tells us that we will go through tribulation, as God’s people, Jews and Christians, have done for thousands of years.  But that which is referred to as ‘the Great Tribulation’, that’s different.  The book of Revelation tells us that Satan knows his time is short, and he will make war against the saints.  That war is the great tribulation.  And he can’t make war against us if we’re not here.

Search the Scriptures yourself, asking the Lord for discernment.  Don’t just accept that with which you’ve been indoctrinated. Imagine how pleased Satan must have been when he succeeded at getting this false doctrine taught in Bible colleges, so that new pastors would go out and teach it to their flocks.  And now, even though the Lord has told us so very much about the end times, specifically so that we would be prepared. . . so many Christians are unprepared.  Because they don’t think it’s necessary.  God’s going to pull us out of here before anything really bad happens, right?

Wrong.

Are you too Indoctrinated to recognize truth?

Leave a comment

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Mark 7:13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

How well do you know your scriptures? How readily do you follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit?

I worry about modern Christians, because so many have been so indoctrinated by the specific denominational doctrine of their church, that they are literally afraid to listen to anything that’s different from what their own local preacher has told them.

Right now, at this pivotal point in human history, the creator is pouring out His spirit and offering important revelation to His children on earth.  There is much that we need to understand for the immediate future.  How many will refuse to hear it because it seems to be in conflict with what they’ve been taught?

Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams

If the Lord seeks to use you to prophesy in these last days; if He shows you great and marvelous things which you knew not – will you push that amazing revelation down, stifle it, refuse to hear it or share it, for fear that someone might call it heresy?  Or if He sends others out with special revelation, will you refuse to hear their voices, because they’re saying something different than what your preacher said you should believe?

The voices are out there.  This is that time, and He is pouring out His spirit.  I would urge all my brothers and sisters, when hearing those voices, to search your scriptures for the truth .  .  . and listen to the Holy Spirit rather than the advice of any man.

The Nature of the Universe

Leave a comment

The Earth was without form and void

Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

Jeremiah 4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

I remember, when I was young, learning Einstein’s theories, and feeling very upset to realize that in grade school and junior high, I was taught things in science as scientific principal and fact, which were already known to be not quite true. Gravity, as the force described by Sir Isaac Newton, does not exist. According to Einstein, gravity is an illusion created by the warping of space.  I remember reading how Einstein, in one of his papers, apologized to Newton, who he so greatly admired, for saying that he was wrong.  Later, reading Stephen Hawking’s work, I noticed that he made a similar apology to Dr. Einstein, who he very much admired.  A step at a time we are putting the pieces together and figuring things out, each generation standing on the shoulders of the giants of the previous generation.  But as we begin to scratch the surface of understanding the laws of physics, how many of us realize that it was YeHoVaH, the creator, who designed those very laws of physics that we incrementally strive to comprehend.

Space was another lie that they told us in science class. Space, we were told, is nothing… the absence of matter. That’s not true. Space is not nothing, the absence of everything. Space is a very real thing in and of itself, a thing viable enough to warp to create the illusion of gravity. Think about that for a moment.

Most people know that matter is composed of molecules, which can be broken down further into atoms, which can be broken down further into protons, neutrons, etc. Did you know, when you get down to the tiniest, most minute little subatomic particles – they appear to be nothing more than a distortion of space? A distortion of space. Think about that. In my minds eye, I can visualize that. . . as being similar to that warping of space that we perceive as gravity, or a black hole… but on a vastly smaller scale. What holds that space in that distortion? Energy, of course. Which explains why matter and energy are transmutable – they are one and the same. All matter is basically composed of space and energy. When you realize this, the concept of quantum physics becomes really simple and obvious, and makes perfect sense.

So really, our universe is nothing but space, manipulated by energy into its current form. And what is the source of the energy? God, of course. In my mind’s eye, I can see it. When God decided to create this universe, all he really had to ‘create’ was the 4 dimensional form of space. Space was the blank canvas – and the medium He used to paint this beautiful world for us was His own thoughts – His will – His very soul.  It was at this point – the point when He had created space, and had not yet  molded the space into its current form – that the earth was without form, and void.

In recent years physicists have theorized a view of the universe as merely a hologram or projection of another, more ‘real’ universe.  See the following articles for more information:

Simulations Back Up Theory That Universe Is a Hologram

New Work Gives Credence to Theory of Universe as a Hologram

This concept appears to be confirmed by the reports of people who have had near death experiences, who frequently express the opinion or belief that this temporal existence is not the ‘real’ world, but rather, that place which they visited while outside the confines of the physical body is the true reality.

One such person relating a near death experience, Dr. Eben Alexander, is a neurosurgeon who, with his understanding of neurological function, had previously dismissed such experiences as a product of the brain.  Now however, he believes that the explanations he used to give people for such experiences cannot possibly explain his own experience.  He goes into great detail on this in his book, Proof of Heaven.  He no longer believes that the brain produces consciousness.  Now he describes the brain as more like a ‘reducing filter’ – a tool designed to ‘dumb down’ our consciousness enough to allow it to function within the confines of our limited physical bodies.

Others have speculated that the brain is not the producer of the consciousness, but rather a receiver of it – just as a television doesn’t produce the programming it displays, but only receives the signal which originates elsewhere.  A fuller explanation of this theory can be found here:  Is Consciousness a Product of the Brain or is the Brain the Receiver of Consciousness?

I wonder sometimes if many people have a hard time believing in a heavenly creator father because of a lifetime of conditioning based upon stories that seem to them like fairy tales and myth.  And yet many of these same people wouldn’t have a hard time believing that there may be other life forms more highly evolved than our own, possibly even existing in other dimensions.  Consider for a moment that such a description may precisely fit that entity which modern man commonly refers to as ‘God’.  The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

So imagine for a moment – God – as a higher being in a different dimension.  Just as the Air Force and NASA have developed flight simulators for training recruits, God created this hologram of a universe for us.  It is imperative to our purpose for being here that we be totally immersed in the experience to the point that we believe this temporal existence to be reality. The consequences of our free will decisions have to be tangible in order to sort the recruits.  Some of us will pass and some of us will not, based on our free will decisions.  It’s all up to us.

The Bible says that the end of the world will come in unimaginable searing heat. Knowing the energy that is released in a nuclear reaction, which involves a comparatively tiny amount of matter, it boggles the mind to think of the amount of energy that would be released if God decided to destroy all matter in the universe. And all it would take would be for Him to be done with it, and stop maintaining it in its current form – stop ‘willing’ it into existence. Unimaginable searing heat would be like the definition of understatement.  Is this the inevitable outcome when our simulated training exercise is completed, and the crop of recruits is ready for harvest… ready for Him to separate the wheat from the chaff?

The end of the physical world in ‘searing heat’ makes sense from a physics perspective; the world will once again be ‘without form and void’ as the mind of God re-forms it into the new heaven and earth.  Indeed, scripture tells us that even the very elements themselves will melt.

2 Peter 10-12

10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

11Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

12Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?