WHAT HAPPENES WHEN THE FLESH DIES?

Certainly a dark subject for most but it needs to be addressed .Scientifically speaking, this process starts when a vital organ stops functioning which leads to all the other organs becoming starved for vital oxygen and blood circulation. If not refrigerated, the body's cells begin to decompose immediately. The skin begins to loose the flesh tones and turns a pale color. The neurons in the brain begin to die off and create short circuits all through the brain with flashes of bright light as seen by the dying who have been revived. Some state they saw their body while floating in the air above their body or are led to a bright light only to be returned to their body. At that is what people say in their near death experiences.

To date, no mortal has been able to return after death of the flesh and give us any specifics as to what really happens. Only one since recorded history has ever been able to do just that. Not only did He come back to life but He left a message to his disciples to give hope to all that there is life after death. He talked to Mary as he ascended from the tomb, He passed through doors, He ate with his disciples, He showed Thomas his wounds so that he would believe, He was resurrected from death, He was Jesus the son of God in a new Holy form . He promised eternal life in a place called heaven for those that would repent of their sins and believe in Him as our saviour

What will happen to us when our body dies? We think we are good people and led a moral life so we should get to go to heaven but wait, heaven is not a place for good people. It is a place for forgiven people that believe and accept Jesus as their personal saviour and God as their Holy Father. Sorry No atheist that are good people allowed.

Lets look at what happens when it is our time to depart the sin full flesh on earth. Will we be put to sleep in our graves for a period of time before the rapture then our bodies will be called to heaven during the rapture? Does our souls or spirit go first then join up with our bodies after the rapture? It all depends on where you read this issue in the scriptures. What I have discovered is truly amazing and it is what I have come to in my conclusion through studying of the scriptures and other books.

If you read certain scriptures, you might be led to think if you die before the rapture, you may have to lay in a grave till the rapture comes or you might be buried in a grave for a thousand years, then get raised up to heaven. That is not what the scripture says. Far from it.

It is not spelled out in plain text but in that small silent voice with authority. As our bodies of the flesh dies, we are immediately raised up to heaven to be with our Father and with those that have gone before you. This is not mentioned only once in the scriptures but many times. Paul comes to mind. He mentioned this in Philippians 1:21-23, 2 Corinthians 5 :8, and Acts 7:56-59. Then there is Luke quoting Jesus on the cross. Luke 23:42-43. These four passages attest to the fact you will be raised up to heaven in spirit immediately. Your spirit will be raised up to heaven immediately but you body will be laid to rest in the grave. Your body ( flesh) dies but your spirit lives eternally with the Lord. Paul also states our bodies will be asleep but this relates to death of our bodies. not our souls or our spirits. They are already with the Lord by then and will enjoy the grace of God and living in his presence just as the Holy Spirit and Jesus. .

Ok now we have all these bodies that will be called up from the grave during the rapture. So we are in the grave till then too? NO! Absolutely not. Our bodies are like seeds planted in the soil to grow into something wonderful. A new being. A new appearance. I like to plant flowers from the seedlings I harvest every year. What grows from those seeds? If I am a good gardener, I get blooming flowers with majestic colors and beauty beyond imagination. So it will be with our bodies during the rapture. Our bodies also will unite with our spirit in heaven and we will be glorified in the likeness of the Lord Jesus with out pain, infirmities, and flaws. But yet all through this we live in His name in spirit and then in the body as a whole when the rapture appears.

What wonderful promise is laid out for us in the scriptures if only we repent of our sins and follow Jesus. What great super natural powers we will have in worshiping the Lord our Father. What peace we will have in eternity if only we ask for forgiveness of our sins and worship Him today.

HOMELESS. ANY ACT OF RANDOM KINDNESS APPRECIATED

Male African Duck?

Yesterday was an extremely hot day here with heat hot enough to fry eggs on the sidewalk. I was thankful to have the car's A/C on and enjoying it. As I was stopped at a stoplight I noticed a man in his 60's sitting on the side walk with a card board sign in his hand. It said with a drawing of a home and Less on the end of it. Also said "any act of random kindness is greatly appreciated."

My first thought was that of another homeless person begging for money to buy liquor or drugs. Thank God it wasn't me, I thought but a still quiet voice in my head said otherwise. He was clean shaven and his eyes seemed quite clear. A clear cup of almost gone water sat beside him. I could imagine it was quite hot. He was covered in sweat and wiped his forehead frequently. We made eye contact, he smiled, and so did I. The light changed and I took off with the traffic. There was something different about this homeless person that didn't fit the mold of other homeless people I have seen.

For some reason I felt compelled to investigate this further so I pulled into the shopping center across the street to watch him. There he sat on that hot sidewalk quietly being baked by the afternoon heat and sun as the cars passed him not even noticing him or ignoring him. SUVs, BMWs, and Hummers never stopped to offer him any thing. It was then that I noticed he was out of water and parched. Then something led me to go into a fast food place and bought the largest cup of water they had ( yes they charged me) and drove back by the man. I stopped and went over to him to offer him the water and pulled out my wallet and gave him all that I had in money. I blurted out that the Lord compelled me to offer this to you in his love.

He then stood up shakily, (but eyes as bright as they could be) blessed me, and said I will see you in heaven some day. All I could say was I hope so and left. Driving away I thought 'Hey ! Duh! I could have given him my umbrella to keep the sun off him. As I drove back around, he was gone. No sign up or down the street of him any where. There were no liquor stores nearby. He didn't have time to get to a store so he should have been still walking but he had vanished

As I was driving home, the verses from Matthew 25:40-46 and the parable of the Samaritan on the road as told by Jesus came to mind out of the clear blue sky. Was this one of those cases from the scriptures? What made this homeless person different? Why was I compelled to stop and offer assistance? No homeless person has never ever sparked my interest like this one did. Was I being tested? We can only wonder. God does work in strange ways I am told and this might have been one of them. Either way I felt good helping one less fortunate than I.

ARE YOU READY? FINAL PART

To conclude this series on the Book of Revelations, I am going to discuss God's plan for us. Reading Revelations may not be many peoples favorite Book but it has foretold what lies in store for those that fail to understand God's grace and love.

I liken it to the the parent that warns the unruly child of what is in store for them if they refuse to mind. You warn Jr. repeatedly to behave or else the wrath of Daddy will come down on them. So it is with God and his Children ( us). As a parent you love your children and do not want to see harm come to them. You protect them and hold them close to your heart always looking out for their safety. You remind them of your love for them. You remind them to be careful about wandering astray and not be swayed by ones of evil intentions. So does God with us.

As a matter of fact God laid out a survival manual for us to follow warning us in advance of what to expect and what is yet to come. What is that manual? It is the Holy Bible written over a few thousand year period proclaiming his love for us if we would only believe and have faith in Him. If you look at all the prophets and disciples writings there is one main theme. His love for his children (us). John 3:16. How much stronger can that short message convey in His caring feelings for us? The bible has all that you need to know as far as your daily living and what is considered a sin. It tells you what you must do to have everlasting life with Him. It warns you of the evil one which takes great joy in misleading you and it tells you of what to expect when Jesus comes down to gather up His church during the Rapture. It is all there for you to follow. Even during tribulations it is still showing God's pleas to the un believers trying to convince them of his love and to repent.

If you notice, there hasn't been a verifiable prophesy in nearly two thousand years. Does this mean that God has given up on us? I certainly pray that is not the case. Considering that God is being taken out of our schools and public places as well as a very heated drive to hide God from the public at any cost, I can only consider that the ones behind this movement is aware their time is short to deceive us and lead us to damnation and death permanently. With out faith and hope we are all domed and that is what the evil doers want.

With faith and hope in the Lord Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit, We are saved from the bottomless pit of death. We will become the new heirs to all that is in the new Heaven and new Jerusalem. Eternal life is ours for the taking by repenting of our sins and asking God for forgiveness in Jesus name. While we are still here on earth we must continue to serve the Lord in winning more souls to Christ. As it is stated our time is short and we must be ready when Jesus comes to take His church up to heaven. Yet there is still much to do.

Will you be ready?

ARE YOU READY? PART TWO

Jesus transfiguration. Matthew 17.
Thanks to Bobbie for the picture.

Concerning the two witnesses that stood on a street and prophesied for 42 months, We can only imagine it was Moses and Elijah as scriptures did not elaborate who they were. In Matthew 17: 1-13 it was said to be Moses and Elijah with Jesus during His transfiguration. Read verse 11 to 13 and see who the disciples understood Elijah to be. Just something to ponder.

In the first half of the tribulation we see the anti Christ come to power over the world and raise Babylon into a world trade center for commerce and the anti Christ' center of power. He allows the Prophets to prophesize for 42 months but that is coming to an end soon. During this time the earth encounters several disasters sent by the angels trumpets from falling stars to earthquakes, fires, and bitter waters as prophesied. There were locust that came up from a bottomless pit that descended on the earth and tormented all but they were told not to harm the ones with the seal of God on their foreheads. It has been said in some books that the ones that repented of their sins during the tribulations may have also been spared as they may have the seal of God on their for heads.

More actions fell down on the earth in the form of fire that consumed 1/3rd of the earth and darkened the skies and heavens. There was a mounted army that totaled 200 million that went forth and killed 1/3rd of all the people of the earth. I can only imagine from a technical stand point that God used all the cosmic items in space to hurtle them to earth to sway the non believers into repenting of their sins but many failed again to do so. In Revelations 10:1-4 I can only wonder what was not to be repeated yet.

At this point, I am led to believe that the anti Christ was killed some how but was resurrected and this may be the point that the devil or Satan himself took over his body to rule the earth. The seven heads and ten crowns I would imagine may have been the organization of the anti Christ movement. It could be nations that bore allegiance to the anti Christ. After his Resurrection, the people left worshiped him and built a statue that could talk and demanded that all worship the beast ( statue) of face death. This is the time that all would receive the mark of the beast on the forehead or the right hand. This is also the time that ones refusing the mark were put to death in multitudes of tens of millions. The evil one also desecrated the Holy temple by shedding blood at the altar in defiance of God all the while creating his own miracles and healing.

At this point, the two prophets were murdered by the evil one ( Satan) and no one was to remove the bodies. For 3&1/2 days their bodies lay waste in the hot sun. On the last day, God breathed life back into their bodies and they arose to heaven while the unbelievers trembled in terror. All the while God was still offering His grace to the ones would repent before passing out the last 7 bowls of Gods wrath to the ones who still refused to repent. The last plagues and terrors were poured out over the earth and many suffered and begged to die for relief but none was in sight for the Lord was giving them one more chance to repent.

Now we have Babylon ( the great Prostitute). It is desecrated and it will lay in ruins once again but still God calls out for these yet to repent to vacate that city and many still refuse.

All the armies and nations of this world in alliance with Satan gathered at Armageddon to do battle with the Lords armies. On this point I would imagine we are going to have a war so immense and technically advanced that we may not even be able to comprehend. There will be super natural powers and battle gear that hasn't even been thought of yet on both sides. I would imagine it will be pretty gory for Satan's alliance of nations.

Then comes Judgement for all as the Lord resides over the world to bring forth a new heaven and earth. There will be joyous singing and praises from all the angels of the Lord. A new Jerusalem comes down from God for all to dwell. There will be no need for light as Gods presence gives out the light that is needed. There will be no temple for God is the temple and the throne. Crystal clear rivers of water will flow from the throne for it will be the water of life. There will be trees of life that will bear the twelve crops of fruit to feed the masses and the leaves will be used as medicine to heal the nations.

All that have accepted Jesus as their saviour and God as their Father will dwell in the new world in peace for ever. There will be no sickness or illnesses. We will all have new transformed bodies in perfection as is in Jesus. We will sing praises to the Lord and give him our thanks and praise for all that he has done for us. Blessed are these days for we will soon be in the presence of the Lord.

Will you be ready?

ARE YOU READY? A LOOK AT REVELATIONS

If the rapture was to happen tomorrow would you be ready? I would imagine it would catch many by surprise. As Jesus told the apostles that followed Him" I will come like a thief in the night to gather up my church. Be ready. I nor the angels in heaven know of the time that I will return but only My Father."

In Revelations, John in his visions gave descriptions that were difficult for him to describe and left us in confusion as to what they meant. Many I would imagine can best be described as Metaphors as best as he could describe considering this was two thousand years ago. His descriptions of Jesus is a bit clearer albet the two edged sword coming out of His mouth. Revelations 1:10to20. As we have all read in scriptures a preview of Jesus new being and who He is was revealed in Matthew 17: 1-8 .

As some scholars reveal, Jesus first return to earth will be the beginning of the tribulations called the Rapture. As Jesus returns, He will take His church up into the heavens so it will not suffer the tribulations to follow. His church being the believers in Jesus. On that fateful day, two will be in the fields and one will disappear. In today's terminology one might consider a subway train traveling along and people begin to disappear mysteriously. The same goes for a busy street corner. Some will disappear and some will remain.The people disappearing will be a part of the church or body of Christ and are believers. The rest that remain will have to face the coming tribulations as they failed to believe in what was prophesied in the scriptures.As they ascend to heaven they will be transformed with new bodies that we can only imagine will have no faults or pains. The bodies will be of a super natural being glorified in Gods image.

However, God is a merciful God and is offering the yet non believers another chance to come into His grace and be saved. In this time there will be appointed 144,000 that will receive a seal of God on their for heads. They will be pure and sinless. They will be members of the twelve tribes of Israel. They will be appointed to preach the scriptures to convince the remaining non believers to repent of their sins and turn to God. I would consider they will have all the latest communications devices at their disposal

Around this time the anti Christ will appear in full force deceiving the masses with his trickery and lies just as it had been prophesied in the scriptures. The anti Christ will have power over the world and rebuild Babylon as a world trade center of great wealth. Another instance of Gods grace is when the two witnesses descend from heaven to preach day and night for 1203 score days. It is said they are Moses and Elijah and have the power to strike down all that try to harm them as well as have power over the weather, the heavens, and the rains. What they preach will be heard through out the world by all beings. Here again probably through communications like what we have today. Here again is the patience that God has for us that do not believe yet to repent of their sins for he loves us all, sinners and believers both. Sadly many will not heed his warnings and will face more severe tribulations and warnings to repent.

So here we have a God that is trying through his love to save more of us from damnation and at the same time we have the anti Christ working his magic trying to convince us to worship him through deceit and lies. It has been said the anti Christ also uses miracles and healing powers to sway the undecided to his favor but it is only a fasad for his real purpose.

More to come in part two.