Prophecy is Being Fulfilled, The Antichrist is Arising as Iran Moves into Iraq

By Shoebat Foundation on June 13, 2014 in Featured, General

When Iraq faded from the collective consciousness and few were paying attention to it we wrote: “Iraq will weaken as a result of America’s exit to simply be devoured by Iran.” (Article by Walid Shoebat written in 2012 for Jewish Voice Ministries)
And now that Iraq is under the radar again as Mosul, Iraq’s SECOND largest city, was besieged by the Sunni Al-Qaeda front (ISIS), a closer attention should be focused on Iran, which just moved into Iraq’s capital, and the FIRST largest city, Baghdad is devoured by Iran. Make no mistake about it; this is prophetically significant.
The Shiites did not standby idle watching Iraq being devoured by Sunnis, as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani convened an emergency meeting of the country’s National Security Council to say this:
“We, as the Islamic Republic of Iran, will not tolerate this violence and terrorism … We will fight and battle violence and extremism and terrorism in the region and the world.”
And he wasn’t like Obama, simply full of hot air, he sent in Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards who are already deployed to Iraq and in the name of War on Terror, to help government troops defend (really occupy) the capital city of Baghdad from the escalating threat of Al-Qaeda’s ISIS insurgents which Iranian security sources as well as all the media now confirmed.
The showdown is on, the ISIS has already seized several areas in the northern part of Iraq taking control of Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit on Wednesday (June 11), but Revolutionary Guard and Iraqi troops overtook 85 percent of the city of Baghdad on Thursday (June 12).
As the crisis in the Middle East deepens, the Iranian military is also considering shifting troops fighting in Syria and Iraq if the deployment of the Quds Forces is not sufficient to combat the Sunni insurgents.
President Obama responded saying he would not rule out U.S. air strikes against the insurgents and that his government is looking at “all options”, including military action, to help Iraq fight Islamist militants.
Today, the United States is in check and is staggering in confusion, Iran is an enemy, and now since the pull-out of Iraq, the U.S. is all but confused, finding itself with little choices but to look the other way when its arch enemy, Iran, encroaches into Iraq, weighing between an Al-Qaeda takeover to create the Caliphate on the one hand and Iran consuming Iraq on the other. And since we have seen Russia invade Crimea and Obama showed his impotence, Iran has already invaded Iraq’s capital.
Obama said the United States has an interest in making sure jihadists do not gain a foothold in Iraq.
Really? Which Jihadists; Iran or Al-Qaeda?
Its checkmate for the U.S. and prophetically, last year we wrote:
“in the contest between Iran (the bear) and Turkey (the Leopard) we will see Turkey emerge victorious. As a result, Iraq will continue to weaken after being gobbled up by Iran following America’s exit.”
We accurately wrote about Erdogan’s triumph and the rise of the Islamists there. We also summed up the situation prophetically, years ago we wrote: “Iraq (The Babylonian Empire) was the major power in the Middle East when Saddam was in charge; its wings were clipped, then plucked before being humbled by the U.S. Iran rose (bear on one side without Media-Kurdistan) and today we have the Shia-Crescent – the Persian Bear – rising.”
Most prophecy students missed it. Why? They do not comprehend the different layers and dual fulfillment in Scripture when it speaks about Prophecy. For example, Daniel 7 and 8 are not simply about ancient historic events dealing with the Babylonian Empire exclusively but has layers for the future: Lion standing on feet, bear rising on one side and the leopard coming up in the end are prophecies that were not fulfilled historically, God repeats history and these have another layer that pertains way into the future; the end of times.
We will see in the next decade how the bear (Iran) will arise to form the “Shia-Crescent” (which has already began), the term Shia-Crescent was coined by Abdullah II, king of Jordan as the world began to witness how other countries cling to Iran like Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Azerbaijan.
The Medo-Persian bear is “arising on one side” is arising again as Iran (one one side) to devour much flesh, including as we see, Iraq. The modern traditional western interpretation correctly sees the ancient empires, yet misses the crucial other layers and their dual fulfillment.
The lion, for instance, was the animal most often historically associated with Babylon (Iraq). The prophet Jeremiah, for instance, refers to Babylon as a lion. The lion motif is found abundantly in ancient Babylonian art and architecture. Likewise, the description of the bear matches the unbalanced character of the two sides of the bear, the Medo-Persian Empire, in which Persia (one side) exerted far greater influence over the Median portion of the empire. Here, the bear arose on one side (Persia without Media); we see one side rising and the other remains. Iran is rising, but Media (Kurdistan) is not.
This refutes a historic context and is pointing towards the end-times, exactly as we see today on the news.
While the leopard, known as a swift and stealthy predator, seems to be a clear reference to Alexander the Greats’ agile military prowess and the incredible speed with which he conquered the ancient world, but is now the fourth beast represented here is clearly the same empire that is seen in the fourth kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue, as well as in the Book of Revelation, which is the landmass of the Grecian Empire, that is today’s Turkey and its Ottoman aspiration.
As for the fourth, many prophecy aficionados have been waiting for Europe to emerge as the iron-toothed beast of Daniel 7, yet they were all wrong as we see the European Union dismantle.
It isn’t as westerners ‘didn’t get it’, truth is that the modern books which dominated the Prophecy spectrum having built their scenarios on Tim Lahaye’s fictional Left Behind series and Hal Lindsey’s The Great Planet Earth, twisted the historic understanding of Prophecy to make it fit the Cold War with Russia and the forming of the European Union.
Today I am simply reviving what other westerners (both Protestant and Catholic) have brilliantly predicted from the Bible, People like John Wesley explaining the iron teeth as the Islamic threat: “Ever since the religion of Islam appeared in the world, the espousers of it…have been as wolves and tigers to all other nations, rending and tearing all that fell into their merciless paws, and grinding them with their iron teeth” and Hilaire Belloc, “Will not perhaps the temporal power of Islam return and with it the menace of an armed Mohammedan world, which will shake off the domination of Europeans—still nominally Christian—and reappear as the prime enemy of our civilization? … I cannot but believe that a main unexpected thing of the future is the return of Islam.” And Catholic Bishop Fulton Sheen, “Today (1950), “the temporal power of Islam may return and, with it, the menace that it may shake off a West which has ceased to be Christian, and affirm itself as a great anti-Christian world Power.”, And Vernon Richards, “The true Islamic concept of peace goes something like this: Peace comes through submission to Muhammad and his concept of Allah (i.e. Islam). As such the Islamic concept of peace, meaning making the whole world Muslim, is actually a mandate for war. It was inevitable and unavoidable that the conflict would eventually reach our borders, and so it has.” “This is Islam’s latest attempt to conquer the infidel world. Why do you suppose they waited until three centuries after the siege and battle of Vienna before they tried again? Was it because they saw an opportunity to get after us for the first time since 1683, because political correctness and the apologists it brought in train softened us up, and made us totally unaware of how evil and intolerant Islam really is, and gave them that window of opportunity to once again threaten our civilization with doom.”, and Josiah Litch (1840), who interpreted the star of Revelation as the ushering in of Islam: “A star, in the figurative language of Revelation, is a minister of religion. See Revelation 1:20… A fallen star then would signify a fallen or heretical minister of religion. This was undoubtedly the Arabian imposter, Mahomet. [Mohammed]. There is so general an agreement among Christians, especially protestant commentators, that the subject of this prediction is Mahommedism [Islam]”.
Then we have the great Protestant Prophecy teacher Sir Robert Anderson, perhaps one of the leading scholars of prophecy who unlocked the seventy weeks of Daniel and wisely understood such layers and dual fulfillments, stated:
“Verse 7 indicates that the rise of all these kingdoms was future.”
He continues:
“In the history of Babylonia there is nothing to correspond with the predicted course of the first Beast, for it is scarcely legitimate to suppose that the vision was a prophecy of the career of Nebuchadnezzar. Neither is there in the history of Persia anything answering to the bear-like beast with that precision and fullness which prophecy demands. The language of the English version suggests a reference to Persia and Media but the true rendering appears to be; ‘It made for itself one dominion,’ instead ‘it raised up itself on one side.’”
Anderson gets it. Even today this “bear” is rising in a lop-sided fashion. We have Iran (Persia) rising without Media (Kurdistan).
Anderson continues showing his brilliant understanding of these dualities and layers stated:
“While the symbolism of the sixth verse seems at first sight to point to the Grecian Empire, it will appear upon a closer examination that at its advent the leopard had four wings and four heads. This was its primary and normal condition, and it was in this condition that dominion was given to it. This surely is very different from what Daniel 8:8 describes is the history of Alexander’s Empire realized, viz., the rise of a single power, which in its decadence continued to exist in a divided state.”
Anderson then comes to the following accurate conclusion:
“Each of the three first empires of the second chapter (Babylon, Persia, and Greece) was in turn destroyed by its successor; but the kingdoms of the seventh chapter all continued together upon the scene, though the dominion, was with the fourth (Daniel 7:12). The verse seems to imply that the four beasts came up together, and at all events there is nothing to suggest a series of empires, each destroying its predecessor, though the symbolism of the vision was (in contrast with that of ch.2) admirably adapted to represent this.”
Anderson who was running the Scotland Yard was brilliant and is correct. Today, we see these three kingdoms rising to power—Iran (Persia without Media), and Turkey (Ionia, Greece). They are all rising together and will be destroyed together (Daniel 2:34-35), and all are symbolically and historically connected to the empires that Daniel predicted. Expect the bear (Iran) to consume three ribs, which may be the splintering of Iraq into three sectors or Syria, Lebanon and Iraq or even put in the mix Azerbaijan.
Anderson concludes what we have said for two decades: “Now, Daniel 2 expressly names the Mediterranean (“the Great Sea”) as the scene of the conflict between the four beasts. But there is no doubt that Egypt, Turkey, and Greece will be numbered among the ten kingdoms”
Quite amazing. There is no European Union, Layahe’s Left Behind should be what the book cover says; left behind.
And way before Protestantism, these great Catholic and Orthodox thinkers, Gregory Palamus (1354) “For these impious people, hated by God and infamous, boast of having got the better of the Romans by their love of God…they live by the bow, the sword and debauchery, finding pleasure in taking slaves, devoting themselves to murder, pillage, spoil…and not only do they commit these crimes, but even — what an aberration — they believe that God approves of them.” And Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386) and Sophronius (560-638) and Maximus The Confessor (580-662) and John of Damascus (676-749) who spoke of the “Ishmaelites, that is the forerunner of Antichrist. And this [superstition – Islam] is born from Ishmael, who was born from Hagar to Abraham, from which they are called Hagarenes and Ishmaelites…” and Eulogius who was martyred praised the Christians who he said, “marched out against the angel of Satan and the forerunner of Antichrist,” that is “Muhammad, the heresiarch.” and The Martyrs of Cordova and Paul Alvarus who went even further, writing a whole book entitled Indiculus Luminosus (The Illuminated Instructions), in which he argued that Muhammad was the forerunner to the Antichrist.
Even Martin Luther (1483–1546) got it when he learned it from the Catholic Riccoldo da Monte di Croce “ … the Turk (Muslim) is the flesh of antichrist …”.
With Turkey coming out exactly where Greece used to be, it too is poised to devour its share of fill when it overtakes Egypt, Libya and Sudan with Somalia.
Ever wonder why Zechariah 9 (Ionia/Greece) is one of the four Grecian kingdoms?
And while the conservative Bible believing Christians pat themselves on the back for warning about Obama, they forget, they too screwed up supporting the ousting of Saddam Hussein (which we were against from the beginning) since it was George Bush who created the chaos in Iraq and today Obama completed the mess by forcing the region into forming a new regional superpower—Iran.
Two years ago, we wrote an article for the Jewish Voice hitting the nail on the head:
“Iraq will weaken as a result of America’s exit to simply be devoured by Iran. By this, Turkey will control the Suez Canal and the Bosporus Strait, while Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz. This will undermine the U.S. naval hegemony in the region, which will eventually use its military armada alongside other allied European nations including Greece, Spain, and Italy in a showdown with Turkey.

 In the next few years, the West will enter an era like that of the late 1930s when Neville Chamberlain famously announced “peace in our time.” Thus, we will see the fulfillment of 1 Thessalonians 5:3: “While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come.” At this point, the West will find out that secular (moderate) Islam and fundamentalist (radical) Islam are two faces of the same coin. 

The good news, and unlike that which modern prophecy buffs have taught, the United States will continue to be the strongest military power that will stand against Turkey. The United States is “the mightiest fortresses” (Daniel 11:39) that will eventually destroy this Islamic alliance: “I am going to bring foreigners against you. . . . They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die a violent death in the heart of the seas” (Ezekiel 28:7-8).


I believe the United States, alongside other allies, will wake up in the end. Christians need to stop giving heed to fatalists who warn of the impending doom of America, but need to stand up and fulfill their biblically mandated duty to their nation and recognize it is Satan’s kingdom that is doomed.


We have said it before “Iraq, will soon be gobbled up by Iran when the United States pulls its troops out” while during Saddam’s era, the modern prophecy buffs predicted the revival of Iraq’s Babylon by Saddam Hussein and today their predictions are in the dustbin of history.
Why?
They failed to examine the layers and the dualities closely, and isolated verses from their context to sell you their defective wares.

Breaking: Major Clinton Donor Pleads Guilty To Campaign Finance Violations

Updated April 28, 2014

Remember when Jeffrey Thompson pled guilty to campaign finance violations after secretly spending more than a half-million on a secret get-out-vote effort for Hillary in 2008? Well it looks like another person intimately connected to her failed Presidential campaign has got himself in trouble.
Earlier today, major Democratic fundraiser Sant Chatwal pled guilty to witness tampering and conspiracy to evade campaign finance laws in a Manhattan Federal Court. The candidates he broke laws for have not been identified yet. However, Chatwal was a bundler for Hillary Clinton in 2008 and planned to raise $5 million for her through a group he created called Indian Americans for Hillary 2008.
What we do know is that this is hardly the first time Chatwal has been charged with a crime. In fact, it’s the fourth. Let’s recap:

• In 1990, the SEC charged Chatwal with falsifying his company’s books.
• In 1997, the FDIC sued Chatwal over $14 million in unpaid loans.
• In 2000, Indian authorities charged Chatwal with $9 million in bank fraud.

When questions about Chatwal’s involvement in Hillary’s Presidential campaign arose, a Clinton spokesman said that nothing in Chatwal’s background raised concerns about his involvement in the campaign.
There certainly should’ve been.
UPDATE: POLITICO reports that Chatwal’s campaign finance violations include illegal straw contributions to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 Presidential campaign.

Texas Lt. Governor Announces That Texas Has Shut Down the Border

Texas Lt. Governor Announces That Texas Has Shut Down the Border

The state of Texas is showing that it won’t be messed with when it comes to securing its border with Mexico, despite a consistent lack of resources provided by the federal government, especially under Obama, whose administration has time and time again shown itself to be clueless on the issue of border security.
In an interview with Breitbart, Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst gave the details of the state’s recent efforts to defend its border against drug and sex traffickers.
The efforts, which cost approximately $5 million per month, include more law enforcement officers and necessary equipment to plug holes in the border.  The state has purchased a high-altitude spotter plane that can see six miles into Mexico at night, six new Department of Public Safety helicopters that can also see at night, and six armored gunboats to patrol the Rio Grande River.

Still, the fact that Texas is getting no help from federal government, whose most basic duty is national security, calls into question the Obama administration’s priorities.
Breitbart writes:

“This is just unacceptable,” he said. “ We have a problem and everyone knows it except for the Obama administration and people in high levels of Border Patrol.” The Lt. Governor did not stop there: “Organized crime groups in Texas are contracting with Mexican cartels to be their enforcers. The cartels’ presence are in all of our major cities. Seven of the eight Mexican cartels operating in Texas are using our state as a staging area for their operations across the U.S.”
“Illegal immigration is one issue, and we all understand why people want to come here. I’m a strong believer in legal immigration, but not illegal immigration,” said the Lt. Governor. “We have young girls being trafficked as slaves for immoral purposes across our border and through our state. This cannot be allowed.”

Dewhurst said, “For six or seven years, I’ve been calling on our congressional delegation in D.C., we need to at least double, if not triple, the size of our Border Patrol.”  He went on to say that since the federal government has failed to provide the resources, he’s “grown convinced over the last year that this administration has no intention of securing the border.”

This is an issue of national sovereignty and states’ rights.  If the federal government neglects its primary duty to protect the citizenry by keeping our borders secure, the states must fight back by taking border security into their own hands.  Americans would much rather see their taxpayer dollars going towards their own safety rather than other wasteful projects that Congress is constantly spending money on.

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Pray that God will move powerfully and that His will and plan will prevail in the midst of what LOOKS like defeat.

Pray that God will move powerfully and that His will and plan will prevail in the midst of what LOOKS like defeat.

The enemy has NO power over God OR His people, so if something LOOKS like defeat, understand God is vastly more powerful that everything the enemy attempts to do.

Worldly and Satanic powers only face His judgment.

International Christian Concern originally shared:

 

NEWS | Iraqi Christians Flee as Jihadist Group Captures Iraq’s Second Largest City

The extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has taken control of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The extremist group has been among the most violent fighting in Syria against the regime of Bashar al-Assad over the past three years, and now has once again attacked important areas in Iraq, bringing new threats to the already struggling Iraqi church. PHOTO: Iraqi uniforms strewn on the road in Mosul. Troops discarded them and fled. The city is now under ISIS control. PHOTO COURTESY: Liz Sly of Washington Post

Full Story: http://ow.ly/xTpnW

Benghazi panel faults State Department for 'grossly inadequate' security arrangements

• BY Josh Rogin
• DECEMBER 18, 2012 - 06:00 PM

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• Libya

Poor coordination in Washington and an overwhelming neglect of security risks at the U.S. mission in Benghazi exacerbated the damage cause by "a series of terrorist attacks" there on Sept. 11, an independent review of the State Department's handling of the events has found.
"A series of terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11-12, 2012, resulted in the deaths of four U.S. government personnel, Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty; seriously wounded two other U.S. personnel and injured three Libyan contract guards; and resulted in the destruction and abandonment of the U.S. Special Mission compound and Annex," reads the unclassified version of the report of the State Department's independent Accountability Review Board, which was set up to investigate the attacks.
"Systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department ... resulted in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place," the report, chaired by retired ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, says.
The "two bureaus" referenced in the report were the bureau of diplomatic security (DS) and the bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA). Those bureaus are headed by Eric Boswell and Beth Jones, respectively, though the report does not mention either by name.
Instead, the board faulted "certain senior State Department officials" in those bureaus for "a lack of proactive leadership and management ability appropriate for the State Department's senior ranks in their responses to security concerns posed by Special Mission Benghazi, given the deteriorating threat environment and the lack of reliable host government protection." It did not find, however, that "any individual U.S. Government employee engaged in misconduct or willfully ignored his or her responsibilities," and therefore did not recommend any disciplinary action.
That said, the panel's indictment of the State Department's security preparations are damning. The number of security staff in Benghazi before the attack was inadequate, despite repeated requests for more staffing, and there was an over-reliance on local Libyan guards and poorly skilled employees of a British security contractor, the report found.
"Board members found a pervasive realization among personnel who served in Benghazi that the Special Mission was not a high priority for Washington when it came to security-related requests, especially those relating to staffing," the report states. "In the weeks and months leading up to the attacks, the response from post, Embassy Tripoli, and Washington to a deteriorating security situation was inadequate."
There was no protest outside the U.S. mission, the report confirms. There were also no specific, credible threats of an impending attack on the Benghazi compound, the report says.
The ARB makes 24 specific recommendations, including reexamining dependence on local security at diplomatic posts, reorganizing the diplomatic security leadership and management structure, increasing training for incidents such as these, increasing the number of Marines and diplomatic security agents at high-threat posts, and increasing foreign language training in languages such as Arabic.
"The Accountability Review Board provides a clear-eyed look at serious, systemic challenges that we have already begun to fix," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee. "I am grateful for its recommendations for how we can reduce the chance of this kind of tragedy happening again. I accept every one of them."
In her letter, Clinton outlined several steps the State Department took in the hours and days after the attack. The State Department increased security at diplomatic posts worldwide, she wrote, immediately ordered an investigation, and "intensified a diplomatic campaign aimed at combating the threat of terrorism across North Africa and bolstering the region's emerging democracies."
"We will have implementation of every recommendation underway by the time the next Secretary of State takes office," Clinton wrote. "There is no higher priority for me or my Department."
Clinton initiated the Accountability Review Board, as required after any diplomatic incident resulting in a loss of life or serious injury, in the days after the attack and the board began its work in early October. In addition to Pickering, the board was led by former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen (ret.), Catherine Bertini, Hugh Turner, and Richard Shinnick.
A few copies of the classified version of the report were sent to the relevant committees Tuesday afternoon. Pickering and Mullen will brief lawmakers in a classified setting Wednesday. Deputy Secretary Tom Nides and Deputy Secretary Bill Burns will testify in open session in both chambers Dec. 20.
After that, the State Department will defer comment to the FBI.
"Well, with regard to the investigation, that's, as you know, fully in the hands of the FBI now. So they will be responsible for giving whatever press information they feel comfortable with. But my understanding is that they don't intend to do any briefing on the status of the investigation, their work with the Libyans, until they're completed, which they are not yet," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at Tuesday's press briefing.
That's what the State Department said in the days after the attack, but State Department officials later briefed the press on background just before congressional hearings on the issue.
Nides will lead the team responsible for the implementation of the board's recommendations, a notice sent to all State Department employees Wednesday said. That team will also include Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy, Director General of the Foreign Service Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Executive Secretary John Bass, and Deputy Legal Advisor Mary McLeod. State Department Counselor Harold Koh is leaving government to return to Yale Law School.
"The implementation team met today and will continue meeting regularly to ensure execution of the Board's recommendations as well as other actions directed by the Secretary. Bureaus and offices across the Department can expect to receive taskings in support of this effort from the Executive Secretariat," the notice stated.
The State Department's Inspector General's office will oversee the implementation and report on that independently, acting IG Harold Geisel said in an Oct. 26 letter to Congress.
The report stated that the State Department's diplomatic security bureau is doing a "fine job" overall but is being stretched to its limits by increased demands to protect diplomats in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. The report calls on Congress to support the State Department with the proper resources to protect diplomats.
"No diplomatic presence is without risk, given past attempts by terrorists to pursue U.S. targets worldwide. And the total elimination of risk is a non-starter for U.S. diplomacy, given the need for the U.S. government to be present in places where stability and security are often most profoundly lacking and host government support is sometimes minimal to non-existent," the report stated.

Mid-level officials take the fall for Benghazi

• BY Josh Rogin
• DECEMBER 20, 2012 - 01:40 PM

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One State Department mid-level official has resigned over the security failures related to the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi and three others have been placed on "administrative leave." But lawmakers and experts are asking why the disciplinary action stops there.
Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Eric Boswell resigned. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Embassy Security Charlene Lamb, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Raymond Maxwell, and a third as yet unidentified diplomatic security official were placed on "administrative leave" pending further action.
"The ARB identified the performance of four officials, three in the Bureau of the Diplomatic Security and one in the Bureau of Near East Asia Affairs," State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement late Wednesday evening. "The Secretary has accepted Eric Boswell's decision to resign as Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security, effective immediately. The other three individuals have been relieved of their current duties. All four individuals have been placed on administrative leave pending further action." 
Lamb, Maxwell, and the still unnamed DS official have not "resigned." As federal employees, they are entitled to an administrative process to determine what, if any disciplinary action might be taken against them. It's possible they could simply be reassigned to new roles inside the State Department after the Benghazi issue blows over.
Nuland's statement indicates that State is pointing to the report of the Accountability Review Board (ARB) that was released Wednesday as the source of the names of officials to be disciplined. The ARB was led by Tom Pickering and Adm. Mike Mullen. In a press briefing Wednesday, Pickering explained the logic the ARB used to come up with its disciplinary recommendations.
"We fixed it at the assistant secretary level, which is in our view the appropriate place to look, where the decision-making in fact takes place, where, if you like, the rubber hits the road," he said.
That explanation left lawmakers, employees inside the State Department, and outside experts scratching their heads, because Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Beth Jones will apparently escape any disciplinary action, letting her subordinate Maxwell take the fall.
"The report says that there were ‘systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department,' namely the Diplomatic Security (DS) and Near East (NEA) bureaus," wrote former NSC Middle East official Elliott Abrams. "Why is the head of the DS bureau forced out, and the head of NEA allowed to remain?"
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) challenged Deputy Secretaries of State Bill Burns and Tom Nides in a Thursday Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on why the disciplinary actions were limited to officials at the assistant secretary and deputy assistant secretary level.
"And why I find that quite puzzling is because Benghazi and Libya in general is not some remote outpost, is not Luxembourg. I mean, this is a country that we were involved in militarily not so long ago in a high-profile intervention," he said.
Rubio wanted to know whether Stevens had raised his concerns about security to Burns or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during their trips to Libya earlier in 2012. Burns said that security had been discussed, but not in specifics.
"And you know, as Secretary Clinton has said, all of us as senior leaders in the department are accountable and responsible for what happened. And I certainly fault myself," said Burns. "You know, I accompanied the remains of my four colleagues back after the attack in Benghazi... And on that long flight home, I certainly had a lot of time to think about sharper questions that I could have asked, sharper focus that I could have provided."
When pressed by Rubio over whether the March and July cable requesting more security had reached the upper echelons of the State Department, Burns said they had.
"Well, they certainly would have been reviewed up through assistant secretary level, and it may be that some of my colleagues on the 7th floor saw them as well." Burns said. "There were certainly memos that came up to the 7th floor that talked about the deteriorating security situation in eastern Libya, yes, sir."
Maxwell, according to several State Department sources, had been slated to retire in September but was asked to stay on as DAS for the Maghreb after the attack. Maxwell might have been in a position to directly receive the requests for more security in Benghazi, giving him a direct connection to the security failures, those sources speculated. Those details are confined to the classified version of the ARB report. But State Department officials insist that he would not have been able make any decisions about such matters with consulting with Jones, who would have had the final say.
"Either they have some kind of documentary evidence that puts Maxwell in a bad light specifically, or this could be the Foreign Service elite protecting itself. Maxwell is not a member of the elite, but Jones is," one senior foreign policy hand who has worked in the State Department said.
Jones, who had already retired, was brought back to State by Deputy Secretary Bill Burns after Assistant Secretary Jeff Feltman moved to the U.N. Jones is close to Burns, fueling speculation that her stature allowed her avoid punishment.
"Being on the Seventh Floor appears to grant immunity. I'm sure that's what is being said around the water coolers at State, and from what I can see they are not wrong. Pickering led what was called an ‘Accountability Review Board.' A better name might have been ‘Accountability for Mid Level Officials Review Board,'" Abrams wrote.

Former Obama Admin Official Rips Obama’s Pathetic Foreign Policy In One Tweet

Former Obama Admin Official Rips Obama’s Pathetic Foreign Policy In One Tweet

Home  »  Iraq  »  Former Obama Admin Official Rips Obama’s Pathetic Foreign Policy In One Tweet

Jun 13, 2014 No Comments ›› Nicole Monroe
Excerpted from DAILY CALLER: Sometimes 140 characters is all you need.
That’s all Georgetown Law professor, Foreign Policy magazine columnist and former Obama administration official Rosa Brooks needed Thursday to dismantle the White House’s pathetic responses to the situations in Syria, Russia and Iraq.

US respnse 2 Syria,Russia,Iraq: 1)Huh? 2)We're watching this closely 3)With concern. 4)Hey, stop- 5)We won't tolerate that! 6)Mmm. Whatever.
— Rosa Brooks (@brooks_rosa) June 13, 2014

Short, concise, to the point.
Brooks served in the Defense Department from 2009 to 2011 as counselor to then-Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy.

Read more at http://patdollard.com/2014/06/former-obama-admin-official-rips-obamas-pathetic-foreign-policy-in-one-tweet/#w17F6HCbX9d2SRYX.99

Hamas calls for intifada against Israel Husam Badran, a Hamas international spokesman based in Gaza, calls for Palestinians to confront IDF soldiers.

Hamas calls for intifada against Israel

Husam Badran, a Hamas international spokesman based in Gaza, calls for Palestinians to confront IDF soldiers.

By Jack Khoury | Jun. 13, 2014 | 9:21 PM

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Israeli soldiers order Palestinian residents of Gaza to clear up debris which, along with burning tires, make up a road block, Dec. 20, 1987. Photo by AP

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Proofs for pretribulation rapture theology

By Don Koenig

Does the Bible teach that the Church will be supernaturally removed (rapture)? Will the Church escape the tribulation? Is the rapture pretribulation pre-wrath, or post tribulation?
The best way to find out the truth is to correctly interpret God's word. In some cases this is easier said than done. Finding and correlating deep truths in some scriptures can be like mining for gold. It is hard work but it sure is worthwhile when you sift out a few nuggets. I expect God wanted it that way so that some things would be hidden from the adversary. The parables are prime examples of how Jesus gave truth to the children of the promise but the sons of darkness could not understand what He was talking about. Some of God's truths take scholarship and enlightenment by the Holy Spirit. Sometimes there may be more than one level of truth in a passage with insights that are revealed in time by the Holy Spirit as He deems appropriate. This is apparently the case with the truth about the rapture of the faithful Church.

Some teachers are blind about the rapture and Bible prophecy.

There are many theologians in some of the denominations who do not see that we are in the prophetic years because they allegorize or spiritualize all scripture dealing with the end times and the restoration of Israel. Unless there is clear indication for allegory, even common sense dictates that scripture writings should be taken in a literal sense. By allegorizing prophetic scripture these theologians can make it say just about anything they want. By applying the promises of God for Israel to the Church, they can do away with any literal fulfillment on earth. Scholars such as these really need to review why it is that they use human rationalization to distort the plain teaching of God's word.
I believe they do this either in ignorance due to their seminary training or because they do not wish to believe what God said about a literal fulfillment that includes a final world-wide judgment and thousand-year reign of Christ on earth from Jerusalem. They do not understand that the body of Jesus rose very early on the third day and that the body of Christ (the Church) will also rise very early on her third day - a day with the Lord is as a thousand years (2 Pe 3:8).

Liberty taking with the literal interpretation of prophetic scriptures in the past was not as critical a problem to the Church as it is today. In the past the Church in general had less knowledge of the scriptures and the Church was not near the prophetic years. Today, there is widespread access of scripture in the Church, so we do not have that excuse. In addition, there is more danger in applying scriptures meant for Israel to the Church. The theology that the Jews killed Christ and that God has cursed the descendants of Israel and given her promises to the Christian Church in recent times opened the door for the Jewish holocaust under Hitler. Those in replacement theology today may be opening a new door for the predicted worldwide holocaust against the Jews under the Beast Antichrist.

The Church is the body of Christ and is the firstborn into the promise of a new covenant. The Gentiles were grafted into that promise and that covenant because most of Israel rejected their Messiah and the natural branches were broken off so that wild branches could be grafted in (Gentiles). However, that promise and covenant was actually given to the house of Jacob and Judah without any conditions (Jer 31:31). When the nation of Israel acknowledges its offense, all in Israel who call on the name of the Lord will be grafted back in and receive their new covenant promise.
When the Father determines that the time has come, He will remove the faithful Church to heaven where she will become one with His Son. The earth at that time will be cleansed of evil doers prior to the return of Jesus in glory with His bride. At that time, He will set up the promised thousand-year reign on earth ruled from Jerusalem. When this occurs the promise of a new covenant to Israel will be fulfilled as the prophet Joel foretold.

Joe: 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
3:1 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

Is pretribulation rapture theology a new Church doctrine?

Some say there is no rapture of the Church prior to the tribulation and point out that it was not even taught to the Church until the 1800's.
In Grant Jeffrey's book "Triumphant Return", he writes that about 373 AD Ephraem taught in a sermon that there was a pre-tribulation rapture. This writing can be found in Ephraem's sermon "On the Last Times, the Antichrist, and the End of the World.", Ephraem said in this sermon, "For the saints and Elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins".

Ephraem also taught in this same sermon that the war of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38-39 would precede the tribulation and he taught the imminent return of Jesus.

Is the pretribulation rapture secret?

The rapture will not be secret. In fact the world has been informed that it will happen through many popular writings like the "Left Behind" series. The rapture event itself will be known to all who will witness the missing people. The "New Age" pagans have even pre-prepared explanations for the rapture in some of their writings.

Is there a pretribulation rapture?

In the rapture, the true Church of God is removed so they will not go through the trial that will come upon all the earth to try men's souls (they have no need to). Christ does not come back to take possession of the earth at that time. The rapture is just another phase of the first Resurrection that began with Jesus Christ. Jesus is the body of Christ and the true Church is also the body of Christ. The total membership making up the body of Christ must arise like Jesus to unite with Jesus. We must go before the bema seat judgment to be given the crowns that will allow us to rule and reign with Jesus when we return. If the rapture and second coming were at the same time you would have to make this judgment and the giving of the crowns an instantaneous event in the clouds at the second coming of Jesus. In the Jewish harvest, you have the first fruits, the general harvest and the gleaning. The harvest is not one event and neither is the resurrection of the saints. Revelation makes it clear that the 144,000 Israelites who have a ministry in the tribulation are still first fruits, so this would indicate that those in the true Church before the tribulation are also first fruits of this harvest.
There are well over a score of biblical passages that indicate that the return of Jesus for the Church is imminent. An imminent return is quite impossible if the tribulation has to happen first. Why would Jesus direct his people to be always ready and watching for His coming if they were meant to go through the tribulation and thus would be aware of His coming as much as seven years before He actually came?

After the letters to the seven churches of Revelation and what is seen in heaven, the focus of the book of Revelation on earth is on the Israelites again. We see the Jews fleeing into the wilderness, the rebuilt temple, the two prophets, the 144,000 Jewish witnesses, and all nations coming to fight against Israel.


The rapture of the faithful in contrast to the Revelation of Jesus at His coming

Christ comes for His own 1Th 4:13-18 --------------------Christ returns with His own Rev 19:14
Believers taken to Father's House Joh 14:3 ----------------Believers come with Jesus to Earth Mat 24:30
He is seen only by believers 1Co 15:52 --------------------Every eye will see Him Mat 24:30
Earth not judged -----------------------------------------------Earth judged Rev 20:4-5
A Mystery - 1 Co 15:51 --------------------------------------Foretold in OT Zech 12:10
Christians taken first 1Th 4:13-18 3 Mat 13:28-30 -------Wicked are taken first Mat 25:1-13; Rev 3:8-10; Rev 4:1,
He comes to present the Church to Himself 2 Co 11:2 ---He comes with His Church for judgement and to set up his Kingdom Rev 19:6-9, Zec 14:3-4; Jud 1:14-15; Rev 19:11-21
Casts Satan out of heaven to earth Rev 12 ------------------Binds Satan for a thousand years Rev 20
Occurs in the twinkling of an eye 1Co 15:52---------------Comes to earth to do battle at specific locations Isa 63:1-3, Rev 16:16, Zec 12:9-10
Jesus descends with a shout. 1Th 4:16 8 --------------------No shout mentioned Rev 19:11-21

Sixteen scriptural proofs that the rapture is pre-tribulation *

Proof #1: Revelation 19:11-21 doesn't mention a resurrection.
The rapture is a resurrection of those "in Christ" (1 Thess. 4:13-18). Isn't it a little bit odd that in Rev. 19:11-21, which is the clearest picture of the second coming of Christ, there is no mention of a resurrection? The rapture will be the biggest event since the resurrection of Jesus where hundreds of millions of Christians will be resurrected and translated, yet there isn't any mention here. Don't you think it deserves at least one verse? The rapture isn't mentioned because it doesn't happen at the second coming.

Proof #2: Zechariah 14:1-15 doesn't mention a resurrection.
This is an Old Testament picture of Jesus returning to earth at the second coming. Again, no mention of a resurrection.

Proof #3: Two different pictures are painted.
In the Old Testament, there were two different pictures painted of the Messiah—one suffering (Isa. 53:2-10, Ps. 22:6-8, 11-18) and one reigning as King (Ps. 2:6-12, Zech. 14:9,16). As we look back on these scriptures, we see they predicted two separate comings of the Messiah—the 1st coming as a suffering Messiah and the 2nd coming (still future) as a reigning King.

In the New Testament, we have another picture added. Again, we have two pictures painted which don’t look the same. These two different descriptions of Jesus’ coming point to two separate events we call "the rapture" and "the second coming."

Proof #4: The Known Day and the Unknown Day.
Concerning the return of Jesus, the Bible presents a day we can't know and a day we can know. Matthew 25:13 says Jesus will return at an unknown time, while Revelation 12:6 says the Jews will have to wait 1,260 days for the Lord to return. The 1,260 days begins when the Antichrist stands in the Temple and declares himself to be God (Matt. 24:15-21, 2 Thess. 2:4) This event will take place at the mid-point of the seven year Tribulation (Dan 9:27). The Antichrist has authority to rule for 42 months, which is 1,260 days (Rev. 13:4) and will be destroyed by Jesus at His second coming (Rev. 19:20, 2 Thess. 2:8). The known and unknown days must happen at different times, meaning they are two separate events.

Proof #5: A door open in heaven (Revelation 4:1).
The door in heaven is opened to let John into heaven. We believe John's call into heaven is prophetic of the Church being caught up at the rapture (see proof #6). In Revelation 19:11, heaven is opened again, this time to let the armies which are already in heaven out. This is the Church, which has been raptured at a previous time, following Jesus out of heaven at the second coming.

Proof #6: "Come up here." (Revelation 4:1).
A voice called for the apostle John to "Come up here," and immediately he was in heaven. This could be a prophetic reference to the rapture of the Church. The words "Come up here" are spoken to the two witnesses who are killed in the middle of the Tribulation, who are resurrected and ascend into heaven (Rev. 11:12). Therefore, the phrase "Come up here" could mean the Church is raptured in Rev. 4:1. The word "Church" is mentioned 22 times in Rev. 1-3, but is not mentioned again until Rev. 22:17.

**Proof #7: The 24 elders have their crowns.
After John is called up into heaven, he sees the 24 elders with their crowns (Rev. 4:4-10). We know that Christians will receive their rewards (crowns) at the rapture (2 Tim. 4:8, 1 Pet. 5:4). We will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous (Luke 14:14). The elders couldn't receive their crowns unless the resurrection (rapture) has taken place.

Proof #8 Holy ones are already with Jesus in heaven (Zech. 14:5, Rev. 19:14).
The armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, follow Jesus out of heaven at His second coming (Rev. 19:14, Zech. 14:5, Col. 3:4). These are not angels because Rev. 19:8 tells us the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. In order to come out of heaven we first have to go in, indicating a previous rapture.

Proof #9: Kept from the hour of testing (Rev. 3:10).
Revelation 3:10 says we will be kept out of the hour of testing which will come upon the whole earth (the Tribulation). Some have wrongly believed "keep" means to keep through, or protect through the Tribulation. Suppose you approach a high voltage area with a sign that says, "Keep Out." Does that mean you can enter and be protected? No, it means you are forbidden from entering the area. But this verse also says He will keep us from the hour of testing. It is not just the testing, but the time period. If a student is excused from a test, he still may have to sit in the class while others take the test. But if he is excused from the hour of testing, he can go home. The Church will be called home before the hour of testing.

Proof #10: Angels don't resurrect people when they gather them for judgment.
When the angels are sent forth to gather the elect at the second coming (Matt. 24:29-31), some have wrongly interpreted this as the rapture. There is one huge problem with this interpretation. If we are resurrected at this time, why would we need angels to gather us? In the resurrection, we will be like the angels (Matt. 22:30), able to travel in the air at will. Obviously, these people who are gathered are not resurrected, therefore it can't be the rapture. No one would claim the wicked are raptured at this time, yet Matthew 13:39-41, 49 says the angels will not only gather the elect, but also the wicked. This gathering is not a resurrection.

Proof #11: Both wicked and righteous both can't be taken first.
First Thessalonians 4:13-17 says the righteous are taken and the wicked are left behind. Matthew 13:30, 49 says the wicked are taken first and righteous are left behind. This points to two separate events, the rapture and the second coming.

Proof #12: Jesus returns from the wedding.
When Jesus returns to earth at the second coming, He will return from a wedding (Luke 12:36). At the rapture, Jesus is married to His bride, the Church. After the wedding, He will return to earth.

Proof #13: Jesus will receive us to Himself, not us to receive Him (John 14:2-3).
Jesus said He would prepare a place for the Church in heaven, then He would come again to receive us to Himself. Why would Jesus prepare a place for us in heaven and then not take us there? At the rapture, He will come to receive us to Himself, "that where I am (heaven), there you may be also." If the rapture occurred at the same time as the second coming, we would go up to the clouds and then immediately come back to earth. That would contradict John 14:2-3.

Proof #14: The one who restrains is taken out of the way.
In 2 Thess. 2:6-7, Paul says "the one who restrains will be taken out of the way" before the Antichrist can be revealed. We believe this refers to the rapture because the Church is clearly the biggest obstacle to the Antichrist becoming a world ruler.

Proof #15: The separation of the sheep and goats (Matt. 25:31-46).
If the rapture occurred at the second coming, why would the sheep and the goats need to be separated immediately after the second coming? A rapture at the second coming would have already separated the sheep and the goats. With a Pre-Tribulation rapture, the people saved after the rapture will need to be separated after the second coming.

Proof #16: Who will populate the Millennium?
If the rapture occurs at the second coming and the wicked are cast into hell at that time, who will be left to populate the millennium? Only people in their natural (non-resurrected) bodies will be able to have children (Matt. 22:30). With a Pre-Tribulation rapture, the people saved after the rapture who are alive at the second coming will populate the earth during the Millennium

*16 proofs are from Cornerstone Church garden city Kansas website **(I do not think proof 7 is valid since I do not believe the 24 elders are the Church)
http://www.fellowshiponline.org/bib.html

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There are seven supernatural translation events in God's plan:

(God does many things in sevens - the number of completion.)

The seven supernatural translation events:

• The translation of Enoch before the flood
• The taking of Elijah in a whirlwind in the early times of Israel
• The resurrection and ascension of Jesus
• The rapture of the true Church
• The resurrection and ascension of the two witnesses
• The resurrection of the saints at the end of the great tribulation
• The final resurrection and judgment after the thousand year reign

Selected references 1:

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The letters to the seven churches are prophetic about the Church ages

Some insight can be found by close examination of what God has to say to the seven churches in the book of Revelation:

Those that wish to allegorize this book should read my article on amillennialism and my Revelation Commentary
The Revelation of Jesus Christ given to John is the unveiling of Jesus until He turns over the kingdom to the Father. These are the things that must shortly come to pass. In a nutshell, the book of Revelation is the story of Jesus interacting with His people through time.
Some highlights of the book of Revelation are:

• The story of the risen Savior.
• The letters to the seven churches and the prophecy of the seven Church ages on earth
• The tribulation period and God dealing with Israel again after the Church age is complete.
• The second coming of Jesus.
• The thousand year reign of Jesus on earth.
• The final rebellion led by Satan.
• The great white throne judgment.
• Jesus turns over the kingdom to the Father after all enemies are defeated.
• A new heaven and earth in a perfect new creation.

The seven Church ages

The messages to the seven churches were to seven actual historic churches that existed in John's time. They were not the most prominent churches but they were picked because God has a message to give to all the believers who will ever live during the Church age. We see here in these letters that He is working with His Church until the end of the Church age. The entire Church age is from the time of the giving of the promise of a new Covenant at Pentecost until she unites with Jesus in heaven.
There are seven periods within this age. The first three periods in Revelation have been fulfilled historically. We know this because each of the first three were replaced by a successor and there is no mention of the Lord's coming in the first three.

Ephesus - the Apostolic Church - until the death of John 32 - 100 AD
Smyrna - The martyred Church - until Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire - 100 - 312 AD.
Pergamum - - The Church that joined the state - until the Papacy - 312 - 600 AD (approx.)

The messages to all seven churches are still valid to all who live on the earth today but only the last four letters deal with the historic assemblies that are still dwelling on earth until Jesus returns for them.

To avoid confusion, it is essential to understand that the letter was addressed to seven assemblies in existence at the time of John. Not all people in any of the original assemblies were truly Christian. The message content from Jesus to the seven churches should makes this clear as does the New Testament epistles to the churches. If there is a prophetic application with the Church through time as I believe, it also is critical to understand that the message from Jesus to the last four assemblies is to true believers and traditional cultural Christians alike. Just like their were believing descendants of Israel and unbelieving descendants of Israel. The letters in Revelation to the Churches are to all who identify with these Christian assemblies and not just to the true believers within them.

The last four remaining churches on earth:

Thyatira is the Roman Catholic Church and the eastern Orthodox Churches. At the end, this assembly will be tried by death. The passage seems to imply that most in this assembly are cast into great tribulation and that the descendants of this Church are killed in the tribulation. This Church has good works but most were in adultery with mystery Babylon.
Sardis is the Churches of the reformation that have become spiritually dead. They are the liberal and ritualistic churches that have no good works. This includes many main line Protestant denomination churches in the world today, and certainly includes most of the state churches of Europe. God says they will not know the time of his coming and that they will not be ready when He comes. They will go through great tribulation.
Philadelphia, like Enoch, was pleasing to God. This assembly has an open door (world evangelism) that no one can shut (not even Satan). She has some power (God's Spirit), she kept the word (the Bible) and does not deny the name of Jesus. This Church also kept the word of His patience (Jesus coming for the Church) and because of this she, like Enoch, will be removed from the earth before the judgment on earth (great tribulation). The Church of Philadelphia is many of those in the Evangelical and Pentecostal assemblies.
Laodicea is the wealthy Protestant churches of today that are self-centered country clubs. It could also be those that "say" they are rich in spirit but are full of dead works. She is spit out of Jesus' mouth and becomes identified with the harlot of Revelation. She is rich in material goods but she is poor spiritually. God is outside looking in (no indwelling spirit). This assembly will be chastened in the tribulation but those individuals that seek Jesus will find Him. This group probably includes most "possibility thinking" and "Word of Faith" churches. It certainly includes some "seeker friendly" churches that have watered down Christian doctrine and worship to make it appealing to the world It would also include the emerging and emergent church movement that redefines essentials truths of Christianity. It may also include some charismatics who think they are rich spiritually but have gone off into new age theology and doctrine of demons. It could even possibly include some cults that are in great heresy but who do not deny that Jesus is Lord.

Many will be saved in the tribulation
The scripture says all who endure to the end will be saved (all who hold on to the testimony of Jesus during the tribulation).

That word "all" should nullify any doctrine that says there will be no second chance of salvation for those who heard the gospel but were not part of the spiritual body of Christ before the rapture or tribulation. The passage clearly excludes no one and we see that true repentance leads to salvation throughout scripture.

Rev 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.

Selected References 2:

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There is still time for the blind to see:

Those that allegorize and spiritualize scripture that should be taken literally sometimes do not believe in the infallibility of scripture either. They need to look at the foundations of their faith.

Some in the Church lack diligence and scholarship and only believe what they were taught in liberal seminaries. These need to study to show themselves approved.

Some hold a warped view in ignorance, such as Christians who think the Church replaced Israel or that think we are living in the kingdom now. These members are blinded by darkness and need to be enlightened by the word and the Spirit.
Those open to demonic deception in Thyatira need to look to the word of God and follow Jesus instead of following traditions of men and pagan mysticism.

Those that are sleeping in Sardis need to WAKE UP or they will be left behind.

Those that are deceived by materialism and doctrines of demons like those in Laodicea need to find true spiritual riches from God.
Those in all the assemblies who think we cannot know the general time of His coming need to remember that Jesus admonished the Pharisees for not knowing the time of his first appearing and that Paul told the Church that we are not in darkness that this day would come upon us as a thief.

More insights on the rapture of the Church:

Those who are born of the Spirit and who are ready, will go in the pretribulation rapture and escape the time of the tribulation. People who identify themselves as Christians by tradition and culture but who do not have the indwelling Holy Spirit will go through the great trial on earth. Going through the tribulation will cost most of those who continue to identify with Jesus after the rapture their lives. It will be a trial by fire; those who overcome by losing their life for His namesake will be saved. Those cowards that seek to save their lives by denying Him will lose their souls.
Some say the partial rapture of those who claim they are Christian is equal to a Protestant purgatory. However, what if the real fires of purgatory (if you wish to call it that) is the awareness of the departed believers that their lives were displeasing to Christ? Thus, they now wait in anguish under the altar for the future judgment seat of Christ to take place. This judgment is not about salvation; it is about the public giving or taking away of positions of authority based on faithful or unfaithful service.
All prior believers have tasted death of the flesh. Will Jesus actually deliver those who are living in spiritual adultery and who are faithless from physical death? Enoch, as our example, was taken and did not taste death because he pleased God, but without faith it is impossible to please God. Jesus tells us to remember Lot's wife. Lot's wife looked back to Sodom. Israel also looked back to Egypt after God delivered them out of Egypt. Those who did so were not spared, so why should the Gentiles be spared who are displeasing to God? Those in the Church that look back and get entangled in the world will not be watching and waiting for His return and they also will not be delivered in the rapture of the faithful that are identified as Philadelphia.
The real question might be, are carnal Christians even part of the Church? A strong case can be made that those who say they are Christian but have no works are not part of His Spirit indwelt body at all. Those who are born of the Spirit and are pleasing God by real faith with evidence of works of the Spirit will certainly be among those taken in the rapture.

How can a Church that is kept out of the trial go through the trial?

If the Philadelphia Church is kept from the hour (time) of the tribulation then how can she possibly go through part or all of it? She is also given crowns. The crowns are given at the judgment seat of Christ in heaven after the rapture but before the second coming.
Enoch - the 6th from Adam - walked with God for 300 years, was taken, and did not see death. Could this be a picture of the sixth church being raptured after a similar period of evangelism? Enoch knew when the judgment would come. He named his son Methuselah. The meaning of the name Methuselah is "when he is dead it will come". The year Methuselah died is also the year of the great flood. When the Church is taken out the judgment will shortly follow.

The ancient Jewish marriage ceremony proclaims a pretribulation rapture picture.

• The groom goes to the bride's house and is betrothed to the bride (the faithful on the earth)
• He pays the purchase price (his blood)
• He returns to his father to prepare a place for the bride ("I go to prepare a place for you")
• Later the groom comes for the bride (rapture)
• He takes her to his father's house and gives her gifts where she is adorned and prepared for the wedding (judgment seat of Christ where crowns are awarded)
• The wedding then takes place before the father and the witnesses (in the father's house)
• The groom appears with his bride (second coming in glory with his saints)
• Then the wedding feast takes place (on earth with invited guests of the bride and groom)

The Song of Solomon 2:08-14 could have a picture of the rapture.

Sol 2:10 and 14 - He tells his beloved to arise and come away (rapture)
11 - in late spring (Resurrection Day, Ascension Day or Pentecost?)
12 - rain is over and past (In Israel this is the month of May (Ascension Day or Pentecost?)
13 - the figs are ripening (Israel is God's fig tree - it is time for Israel to become fruitful)
14 - She is hid in the cleft of the rock (hid in Christ - Jesus is the rock)
15 - Take the foxes that do damage to the vines (time to deal with evil people)
16 - My beloved is mine, and I am his (marriage of the Church to Christ)

Jesus said it would be like in the time of Noah and Lot.

• Fire destroyed Sodom the day Lot was led out by angels
• The flood came after Noah entered the ark
• God's wrath for the world in the future will come after the believers are removed.

There are also other picture stories worth finding in scripture that proclaim a removal of God's people before the judgment.
Selected References: 3

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Is the rapture of the Church in scripture?

There are many hints in scripture about God hiding his people during a time of judgment on the earth. Since it is clear that this has not happened yet, it is a future event:

Isa 26:20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
Psa 27:5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me secretly in his pavilion: In the covert of his tabernacle will he hide me: He will lift me up upon a rock.
Psa 50:5 Gather my saints together unto me, Those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
Psa 58:9 Before your pots can feel the thorns, He will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.
Joe 2:16 gather the people, sanctify the assembly, assemble the old men, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride out of their closet.
Zep 2:3 Seek ye Jehovah, all ye meek of the earth, that have kept his ordinances; seek righteousness, seek meekness; it may be ye will be hid in the day of Jehovah's anger.
Joh 11:25,26 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth on me though he die, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die. (Here Jesus in part is talking about the believers who are translated at his coming.)

Joh 14:1,2 Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

1 Co 15:51,55 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?
1 Th 1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead. Even Jesus. Who delivereth us from the wrath to come.
1 Th 4:14-18 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1 Th 5:1-6 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written unto you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night when they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child: and they shall in no wise escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief: for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night: and they that are drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God appointed us not into wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also ye do.

2Th 2:1-12 Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him; to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at hand; let no man beguile you in any wise: for it will not be, except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know that which restraineth, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of his coming; even he, whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Tit 2:13 looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Heb 11:5-6 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God translated him for he hath had witness borne to him that before his translation he had been well pleasing unto God and without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing unto him; for they that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him.
1 Joh 2:28 and now my little children, abide in him; that, if he shall be manifested, we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

Note... Matthew chapters 24 and 25, Mark chapter 13, and Luke chapters 17 and 21 also deal with the end times. They also are the most used references for those who believe the Church will go through the tribulation but in these scriptures what we really see is Israel going through the tribulation and the gathering of tribulation saints to Israel.
For more information on this see my article on distinctions between the rapture, the gathering and the second coming
Rapture myths, by Dr. Thomas Ice (Have you been told that the Rapture is not found in the Bible or that we teach a secret Rapture?)
The second Coming---in two part harmony, by Jack Kinsella (One of the best articles I have read that puts the Rapture and Second coming to earth in proper perspective.)

For more information about the pre-tribulation rapture that answers all the critics of the pre-tribulation rapture check the many topics on this site.
More Featured Articles by Don Koenig

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