ANSWERING MORE QUESTIONS‏

Today, two people asked questions, and this is the way I answered.  I share it in today's blog, because I think others might benefit from this discussion.

QUESTION NUMBER ONE:

QUOTE:  "I was thinking on the 'peace and safety' phrase: WHO is saying it, and WHY? By that, I mean: where can we point to in the Bible that refers to this?...I thought it was the Jewish people proclaiming over a 'peace contract', but I'm not sure...What have your studies told you?"

MY ANSWER:

First of all...WHY?

"Peace and safety" is STRONGLY DESIRED, and people say "peace and safety" all the time now, BECAUSE of the wars and rumors of war--AND the myriad of other troubles that are hitting.

WHO is saying "peace and safety"?

To answer that, I refer to THE CONTEXT of 1 Thessalonians.

1 Thessalonians 5 EXPANDS upon the message about the Rapture that was clearly taught in 1 Thessalonians 4. In the original manuscripts, there were NO chapter designations. That was something added later, and in this case, the division comes right in the middle of Paul writing about the Rapture.

So Paul continues, saying that the Church has no need of being "written to" about the times and seasons, implying that we should KNOW the times and seasons near the Rapture. We should KNOW the time and seasons just BEFORE the Rapture occurs.

Paul wrote that we, the Church, KNOW perfectly that THE DAY OF THE LORD [which is The Tribulation Period] will come upon the world as a thief in the night. The world will be BLIND to the approaching Tribulation--but the Church will KNOW that season.

It is THE WORLD that will be saying: "Peace and safety."

WORLD LEADERS indeed proclaim that we "must have peace and security"!!! THEY "say" it RIGHT NOW, all the time--happening AS we watch and listen. Too numerous to count!!!

This tells us two things: The start of the Tribulation is NEAR, and the Rapture MUST happen BEFORE the "time of Jacob's trouble" (the 70th Week of Daniel), according to the scriptures.

Paul backs that idea up by THE WAY he WORDED the message.

He said, "WHEN 'they' [the world] says 'Peace and safety' THEN "sudden destruction" (end time wars, and the Tribulation), will hit instead. That period of time will arrive like "travail upon a woman with child"--like a series of LABOR PAINS.

Speaking of labor pains, ISRAEL was reborn in TRAVAIL (labor pains) as stated in Isaiah 66:8--"...for as soon as Zion TRAVAILED, she brought forth her children" and Israel became a nation IN ONE DAY.

Therefore, I see TRAVAIL as "a building up" of SIGNS (which signal the time and season). This has INDEED been happening SINCE Israel became a nation.

So the times and seasons are known by the TRAVAIL, the birth pangs, which have been increasing in BOTH frequency and intensity ON THE EARTH RIGHT NOW--and CURRENTLY, these SIGNS are happening so hard and so fast, that we can barely keep abreast of them.

IN this time, when the world says "peace and safety", then the "sudden destruction" WILL come.

THEY [the world] will be caught in that SUDDEN DESTRUCTION.

But we, brethren, of the Church, will NOT be overtaken in it. That means the Rapture MUST happen BEFORE the sudden destruction of the DAY OF THE LORD. The Rapture must happen BEFORE the events of the Tribulation.

That's keeping the message in it's context.


QUESTION NUMBER TWO:

QUOTE:  "HI, Sharon.....Do you see a major war, as in WW3 happening right before the Rapture or right after the Rapture or any major war BEFORE Armageddon.....and do you see GOG AND MAGOG as part of any pre-Armageddon conflict... and so I guess my question is, do you see more than just ONE FINAL WAR happening during the Trib/or right before.... This is something I have been wanting to know....and I haven't really heard it being directly addressed, so I was wondering what your opinion is on this???"

MY ANSWER:
My stand is what God shows by His prophetic Word. There will be a SERIES of wars, some PRIOR TO, and SOME AFTER, the start of the Tribulation.

One war is most definitely Pre-Tribulation. This is commonly referred to as THE PSALM 83 WAR, which includes fulfilling Isaiah 17 (Syria), parts of Isaiah 19 (Egypt), the one chapter book of Obadiah, and also includes Jeremiah 49.

We see this war is Pre-Trib through Obadiah verse 15. "For the day of the Lord [Tribulation] is NEAR [not here] upon all the heathen: as you have done, it shall be done to you: your reward shall return upon your own head."

Will the Church be Raptured BEFORE this war, or will we SEE this war? I point out: NO PROPHECY MUST BE FULFILLED BEFORE THE RAPTURE. We can be caught up at ANY moment...the Rapture is ALWAYS IMMINENT. Jesus' said many times for us to WATCH, and that's what we MUST be doing as we go further into these end times.

We COULD "see" THE "START" OF THE PSALM 83 WAR...but that would also IMPLY that we MUST "see" EVENTS "leading up to that war" BEFORE we get Raptured. Well, WE DID see events on the VERY BRINK of that war...remember the Syria Crisis in September 2013? It didn't happen yet, and we were NOT Raptured either. That simply means we continue to WATCH, as Jesus instructed. WE MUST BE READY IN THIS HOUR!!! Jesus will catch us up in "a time" when we "think not"--and I say that means we'll be doing a regular daily activity, NOT consciously thinking about the Rapture, and in a SPLIT INSTANT, in the twinkling of an eye, we'll be IN THE AIR AND WITH THE LORD!

AFTER the Psalm 83/Isaiah 17/Obadiah War, the next one will be the Gog/Magog Invasion of Israel of Ezekiel 38-39. The timing of this "could be" PRIOR to the start of the Tribulation (or it "could be" at "the same time" as the RED HORSE SEAL of Revelation 6--at the very beginning of the Tribulation). I'm not dogmatic on either position.

The Church WILL BE Raptured PRIOR to this war, because it is IN THIS WAR that God will be dealing EXCEPTIONALLY with the nation of Israel (and not the Church). Also, IF this war coincides with the RED HORSE SEAL of Revelation 6, the Church is most definitely with Jesus at the Throne of God by then.

We must remember, too, that Antichrist will NOT bring peace to the whole world in the first half of the Tribulation. The "peace treaty" is WITH Israel, NOT the entire world. By the actions of RED HORSE SEAL, and of the PALE HORSE SEAL, also, wars WILL occur (plus other plagues) that KILL 1/4 of the world's population (that's about 1.75 BILLION people--a massive amount of death).

It's my belief that at the Mid-Point of the Tribulation, the Antichrist will be still waging war. That's when Daniel 11:40-45 will be fulfilled. The Antichrist will go into the "glorious land" of Israel at that time, and will SET his tabernacle [headquarters] between the TWO seas (the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea) on the Temple Mount as He WILL SIT in that Temple and DECLARE he is "god." [Some scholars see Daniel 11:40-45 fulfilled at the END OF THE TRIBULATION--just before Armageddon. I will not be dogmatic on either position. GOD KNOWS HIS TIMING.]

Yet another war is determined--the fulfillment of Antichrist's war against the Tribulation Saints. That occurs primarily in the First Half of the Tribulation--in SEAL FIVE, but includes the Last Half of the Tribulation, too. Revelation 7:14 says that these MARTYRED PEOPLE will come out of the GREAT TRIBULATION--WHICH IS INDEED the Last Half of the Tribulation.

Revelation 12 gives yet another picture of a war. Antichrist (with Satan) will make war against Israel (and Zechariah 13:9 says 2/3 of Israel will die). The believing 1/3 remnant in Israel will NEED TO FLEE to the Wilderness (Bozrah, Petra) where God will protect them.

There will be a war IN HEAVEN, too. Michael and his angels will fight against Satan and his angels, and Satan's crew will be cast onto the earth, where they will wreak havoc. This is shown in Revelation 9, Revelation 12 and 13--Antichrist will be "the seed of Satan"--as is indicated by Genesis 3:15.

The next war will be Armageddon itself (or the STAGING for that war). Antichrist and his followers will go there, as will "also go" the KINGS OF THE EAST (China, India, Japan--the orient). This all-out war will be STOPPED as Jesus returns--to set His feet on the Mount of Olives, which will split in half, and all the islands will disappear, the mountains will fall flat, and giant hail will fall from heaven--as recorded in Revelation 16:17-21. [I believe the 7th bowl "coincides" with Jesus coming on His white horse, and the glorified Church returns WITH Him on white horses, too.]

There's yet ONE MORE WAR--one which many people forget. It is Gog/Magog PART TWO at the END of the 1000 year reign of Jesus on the earth. Satan will be released for a brief season, and he will stir up sinful, rebellious hearts in a FINAL ATTEMPT to usurp Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. That rebellion will be instant squelched by the Lord.