eBible Fellowship

Chris: Before we start, let me say something. I heard that there have been some questions through Paltalk. People just maybe want a little summary of what I was saying about the 200 million being bound, so let me read this verse again.

In Revelation 9:14-16, it says:

Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels [messengers]…

The word “angels” should be translated as “messengers.” It continues:

…which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand [or 200 million]: and I heard the number of them.

The 200 million horsemen are the same as the four messengers that were bound. God does not even shift gears at all. He continues talking about the 200 million just as He was talking about the four messengers. And so they are bound and they include the total number of the elect throughout all of history.

What God is doing in Revelation 9 in bringing the torment and in the language of slaying the third part has to do with no more salvation. There is no more salvation, and this is the judgment on the world. There is a severe judgment that is going on right now.

Why? This is because all are now saved. The moment that the last one became saved, this became a torment. Whether men know this or not, this became a torment to the unsaved of the world. And the moment that the last one became saved, this slew the third part of men, those in the churches, because it is now impossible for them to ever be saved.

So we know that these are dead. We do not know about the rest of the world because we do not know who God saved or who He did not save in the world. We just know that He did not save anyone in the church prior to May 21. Since they were in a position where they could not be saved and then it expanded to all of the world where no one can be saved, this killed them. This is why they are slain.

This word for “bound” is also translated as “tied” in Matthew 21. Jesus is giving instructions to His disciples here, and we read in Matthew 21:2:

Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied…

This is the Greek word deo. It continues:

…and a colt with her: loose them…

This is the Greek word luo. These are the same two Greek words that we often see used together. It continues:

…and bring them unto me.

The colt is tied.

We have all seen the cowboy movies. The cowboys would ride up on their horses, they would tie them around the post, and then they would head into the bar or maybe the sheriff’s office.

So Jesus is saying that this ass was tied and that they were to loose him. The dead elect are tied to this world by their bodies. Their bodies are in the grave and it is returning to dust. Whatever it is, it is in this world and that ties them and binds them.

God is indicating that on May 21 when He saved all of the elect and loosed them all, He is tying in the loosing of the dead saints with their bodies. In other words, go back to the cross when Christ died on the cross and when many bodies of the saints which slept arose.

This really happened. They did then go into Heaven in their bodies. They were given their new resurrected bodies, but God tied this to the event of Friday 33 A.D., when in actuality if you look carefully this actually happened on Sunday 33 A.D., which was two days later.

He is tying the loosing of all of the souls in Heaven to May 21, 2011, when in fact the reality of this will take place five months later. If He could do this two days later, timing is not of any importance and five months can also be tied in with this.

This is the idea and I hope that this helps.

 

1^st Question: Could you compare Revelation 19:8 with Luke 16:19? Does the rich man represent the church? Did he have the righteousness of the saints?

Chris: We read in Revelation 19:8:

And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Then Luke 16:19 says:

There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

This does not say that he had white linen. This only says that he was clothed in purple and fine linen.

We can know this about the rich man if we look at Revelation 3 where God discusses the rich and the poor, just like this parable of the rich man and Lazarus. We know that Lazarus was a poor beggar.

We read in Revelation 3:17:

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

This is referring to someone who is saying that they have the abundant riches of salvation in Christ. They are rich. They are rich in wisdom. They are rich in faith. They are rich in these spiritual things. But God is saying that, no, they do not realize that they are spiritually “poor, and blind, and naked,” and so forth.

Then we read in Revelation 3:18:

I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed…

This would apply to the rich man. He was clothed with purple and fine linen. It took some money to buy this kind of clothing back then. But he only thinks that he is rich, because where does he end up? He ends up in haides. He ends up dead in the grave. God just uses these words as though a man who has died and who is in torment could speak these things, and then we read the rest of the parable.

2^nd Question (continued from Question #1): Could you also look at Revelation 18:16? This is related to the other two verses.

Chris: Revelation 18:16 says:

And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!

The issue is the white linen. That is what is very important.

 

3^rd Question: Could you go over the five wise and the five foolish virgins and relate this to our time now?

Chris: Matthew 25 speaks of the ten virgins, five wise and five foolish. We know that the wise would be those who are saved. They have Christ who is Wisdom. The foolish do not have Christ. It does not matter how smart they are or how much they know about the Bible. If someone does not have Christ, they are a fool spiritually.

So it says in Matthew 25:3-4:

They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

Look at Psalm 119:105. This says:

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

The Word is the Bible, and so the wise and the foolish together are ten. This is the completeness of all those who have something to do with the Bible. There are a lot of people who have things to do with the Bible, in the church and out of the church. Some are saved and some are not saved, but they all have the lamp in one way or another.

We know that there are people in poor countries who may not have a Bible. They probably have some association with the Bible through a pastor or through a friend where it could be said that they also have the lamp. But only the wise have oil in their vessels with their lamps, and the vessels are you and me. The vessels are the individual people. In Romans 9, God speaks of “vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,” and He is talking about people.

The oil is the Holy Spirit. If you have oil in your vessel, what does this do? The oil is the Spirit of God; and so when you open up the Bible, you can see. It is lit. You can light your lamp. But if you do not have the oil in your vessel, then you come to the Bible and you are in darkness. You cannot light your lamp, and so you are not going to understand a lot of things. There will be a lot of things that you will not be able to understand. You will be able to understand literal things and plain things. You will be able to understand logical things, as long as they are systematic. The churches can understand a lot of these kinds of things, but they are not going to get the Gospel or the deeper meaning because they lack this oil.

Verse 5 in particular is going to relate to May 21. We read of the Bridegroom here and this is relating to Jesus. We read in Matthew 25:5:

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

Isaiah tells us that slumbering and sleeping relates to when the Book was sealed. I am not going to go into this. Mr. Camping has gone over this. Isaiah actually makes this tie-in in Isaiah 29. This would be throughout the whole New Testament church age.

God’s people have been waiting since the first century A.D. for Christ to return. In a sense, He has tarried. They are looking to the hills and He has not come.

So The Bridegroom tarried. They all slumbered and slept. The Bible was sealed. Then we read in Matthew 25:6:

And at midnight there was a cry made…

If you look up this word for “midnight,” this means “in the midst of the night.” It does not mean 12 Midnight like we would understand this to mean. This is not the same word for “midnight” that is used in a couple of other places.

Night is related to the great tribulation; and so in the midst of the great tribulation, a cry is made that Christ comes. And this is what we just saw. We just experienced this. The cry went out to all the world that Jesus was coming. We learned more and more, and then finally the date was given of May 21.

So we read again in Matthew 25:6:

And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

Some people are misunderstanding this statement because this is said to the foolish and to the wise. This is said to all people, “Go ye out to meet him.” This was saying to make sure that you were ready to go to Heaven.

All of these people who identify with the Bible or with the lamp have this idea in their minds or this hope that they will go to Heaven. This is why all are going forth to meet Him.

We read next in Matthew 25:7-8:

Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

This is where some people get confused. If the wise are the elect, and they are, and if the foolish are the unsaved in the churches, and they are, then why would they ask for oil like they had an actual interest in it, especially when we know from experience that very, very few had any interest?

Well, notice that the word “please” is not here. They are not asking. They are not saying something with sincerity like, “You know about May 21. I am hearing all over that Judgment Day will be May 21. Can you tell me more?” Of course, God did put this on some people’s hearts; but those foolish ones acted like, “Okay. You say that you know Christ is coming on May 21. Sure you do, even though the Bible says that no man knows. You tell me how you know this.”

This was more like a statement of disbelief. Their attitude was, “Convince me. You show me this.” And so then you would say more to them and they would just come up with something else. But this does not mean that there was a genuine interest in this at all.

It says again at the end of Matthew 25:8:

…for our lamps are gone out.

In other words, when they read the Bible, they did not see May 21 anywhere in there as they proclaimed, “I do not see Judgment Day anywhere in here.” Basically what they were saying was, “My lamp is out, so you tell me how you can read in the Bible that Christ is coming on that date.”

Then we read in Matthew 25:9:

But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you…

We would basically respond, “Look; I am sorry. I cannot open your eyes. I cannot convince you that this is going to happen or that this is so. You have to go to God directly. You cannot get this from me or from any man.”

And so we were telling them:

…but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

They were to go themselves to the Triune God. This is why this is a plural “them.” And what do we read in Isaiah 55? We read how God likens Himself to a merchant man, and so we were directing them to the right source.

So they went to buy, but where did they go after having this conversation with us? They went back to their pastor, because the churches buy and sell. We told them to go to God, but they went back to their church and to their pastor who said, “Look; do not listen to this. This is heretical.”

As a result, the Bridegroom came, as we read next in Matthew 25:10:

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

This is referring to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Remember that we read in Revelation 19 that the Bride is ready.

We just assumed that when they went in with Him to the marriage and the door was shut, this meant that they went to Heaven; but this does not say anything about a rapture. Is there any language here that says that they went up? Is there even this kind of language here? No; it does not say this. It says that they went in and that the door was shut.

We know that this relates to the 17^th day of the 2^nd month when God shut Noah into the ark. This is when the door shut. This is what this is talking about.

Remember what we read in Isaiah 26:20:

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment…

Remember also that Elisabeth hid herself five months. We will not get into hiding oneself, but we also read in Zephaniah 2:2-3:

Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of JEHOVAH come upon you, before the day of the JEHOVAH'S anger come upon you. Seek ye JEHOVAH, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the JEHOVAH'S anger.

So it says in Isaiah 26:20-21:

…hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, JEHOVAH cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

The door was open, “Come My people. Come into the chambers.” And yet this is now similar to Luke 11 where we read “My children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.”

So Isaiah 26 is referring to all of God’s elect, and yet there is still a little indignation because there is five months of time.

 

4^th Question: Does the parable of the wheat and tares relate now more clearly to what is happening in Revelation 9? The tares have been separated from the wheat and are prepared for the burning. Does this have to do with the fact that they are in torment now?

Chris: We read in Matthew 13:30:

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

The tares are those in the churches. On May 21, they died. Fire and brimstone spiritually began falling and they were cast into the lake of fire because there is no hope for them.

This is the same for Satan. He was immediately and officially put down. Remember also that the fish stick to the scales of the dragon, which is referring to those in the churches. They are exposed and put out of their river, of that polluted river, and God has judged them first. They were to be gathered first, but there is still the rest of mankind.

Turn to Revelation 9. In verse 16, it speaks of the 200 million horsemen. Then we read in Revelation 9:17-20:

And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed…

This is referring to those in the churches. It continues:

…by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power [or authority] is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands…

Then it goes on to list the things that they did not repent of. But “the rest of the men” is the word “remnant,” which means those who are left.

So God slew the third part, but the rest of the men would be the two-thirds who had no identification with the church. They were not killed by “these plagues” that the 200 million horsemen brought. Why not?

This is because we know 100% that nobody could have been saved in a church prior to May 21. Now after May 21, no one is being saved anywhere. And so we do not even have to ask what this means.

If someone was in a church on May 20^th and God was not saving there and then we transition to May 21 where now God is not saving anyone anywhere and will not ever again in this world, what did this do to that person? This slew them. This slew the third part.

Why then are not the atheists or the agnostics or the people of other religions slain now? This is because prior to May 21, the Gospel went into all of the world and God saved a great multitude, but we do not know who they are. We cannot say that all Buddhists are slain or that all Hindus are slain or that all Muslims are slain or that all atheists are slain. But we can say that anyone in a church who was there prior to May 21 and who stayed there is slain. There is just so solution for them.

This is why it says that the rest of the men, the two-thirds of the world, were not killed by these stripes. This word for “plagues” in Revelation 9 is the same word that is translated as “stripes” in Luke 12 where God says, “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.”

This is because if someone was professing to be a child of God when God forewarned them and sounded the trumpet, when He warned everybody in all of the world to especially get out of the church and they did not listen, then now comes Judgment Day and they are the first to be like a tare that is bundled for the fire. They are the first to die.

Then there are the rest of the men, and two-thirds of the world are unsaved and they have no hope of salvation, but it is just that we cannot make this same kind of statement about anybody else like we do with the churches. Therefore, as the five months goes on, they also do not repent because they did not become saved. Only those who were part of the great multitude repent.

 

5^th Question: When God resurrects the bodies out of the graves of His elect who have previously died but who are spiritually with the Lord, will He resurrect them on October 21^st as new glorified bodies?

Chris: Yes. This will be on the last day. Remember what Jesus said in John 6:40:

And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

This is referring to the resurrection on the last day, which would be October 21. This is the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles and it is the last day when God will resurrect the bodies of His elect who have previously died. We cannot say “all” because some did already arise.

This is why the Lord, being very careful, says in Daniel 12:2:

And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

He did not say “all.” He said “many.” This is because He had already raised some who had died and had gone into the ground.

6^th Question (continued from Question #5): In other words, He is not raising the old body?

Chris: He is giving them a new resurrected spiritual body. If you think about this, we do not know what this would be. This is why I made that statement earlier that we cannot really see a spiritual body. We just do not know what this is going to be like. God will transform whatever is left of the body into a new resurrected body.

The first resurrection is the “work of faith with power.” Before God saves us, we are spiritually dead within, but then we are resurrected. This is why we have a holy and perfectly new heart that God gives us within that cannot sin. The second resurrection is what comes on the last day.

 

7^th Question: In Revelation 11:13, who is the remnant and how are they giving glory to God?

Chris: Revelation 11:13 says:

And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

The remnant is the unsaved. They are the unbelievers. They have no connection to the Gospel.

So it says in Revelation 11:12-13:

And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand…

What God did is that He reversed the order. We are reading about the rapture and then we are reading of an earthquake where seven thousand are slain, but this is speaking of the same hour, which is the hour of judgment. This judgment began on May 21 and will go until October 21. And so this is speaking of Judgment Day or “the same hour.” But the rapture comes actually at the end of this period on the last day and the great earthquake came at the first of this period, which was on May 21. And just like we read of the third part being slain, the “tenth part” and the “seven thousand” also identify with the church.

In Romans 11, we read of “seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal,” but here they are killed; and so these cannot be the elect. This is just like the third part. God brings the third part through the fire, but these became identified with the church, which is just like the seven thousand.

The “remnant” here is very much like a mini picture of what we read in Revelation 9. It is those who are left. Those who are left after May 21 “were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven” in the sense that God’s wrath glorifies Him.

This is like what Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him,” and then Achan told them where the silver and gold were.

So, in this sense, they are under the judgment of God and this will give him glory. It is not their glory. This is like what God said to Pharaoh, “I will get me honour upon Pharaoh.” This is when He led him out and finally destroyed him in the Red Sea. And so the final judgment glorifies and honors God.

 

8^th Question: In relation to Revelation 8, does the wormwood and the three woes have something to do with God’s wrath coming upon these people?

Chris: This is just dealing with the church. Where this is speaking of the star falling upon the “third part of the rivers” and that the star is called “Wormwood,” this is actually speaking of God.

This sounds almost diabolical as we read of the polluting of the water; but if we go back to Jeremiah 9, we will read that God said that He would do this. We read in Jeremiah 9:15:

Therefore thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

So, again, in Revelation 8, the third part is emphasizing the church. This is where the people of God normally were found and should be found, but no longer are because judgment began at the house of God. And so God has now polluted their waters.

How did He do this? He just had to leave. As soon as He left, Satan was loosed to enter in and the water became like this.

9^th Question (continued from Question #8): This leads into my next question. When water gets polluted from a flood, like we have recently seen in the news, this is called polluted water, right?

Chris: This is just a figure that God uses of Satan and false gospels. They foul the water and they trouble the water, but not in the sense of where we read that an angel troubled the water in John 5 with the man stepping in. This is in the sense of having the water polluted spiritually. This is all spiritual. The water has become filthy, and it takes the pure clean water of the Gospel to save. This kind of water “with wormwood” is no good.

10^th Question (continued from Question #8): When God is speaking of the three woes, is this in relation to God bringing judgment?

Chris: Yes; there are three woes. It says in Revelation 9:12:

One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

The first woe is the locust that we read about. Then we read of the second and third woes. These are all simultaneous. They are all speaking of May 21 and these five months.

For example, it refers to the second woe in Revelation 11. After the verse we just read, which was Revelation 11:13, it says about the great earthquake in Revelation 11:14:

The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

All three woes identify with Judgment Day.

 

11^th Question: Could you look at Luke 12:47-48? My question is in relation to the two groups of people that we read of here. For example, there is a pastor of a church who does not bring the message of Judgment Day at all, and yet he is convinced that he is a child of God because he accepted Christ. He is a pastor and this means to him and others that he is saved. The other person is someone who had no relation to any church at all. Maybe this is someone who is involved in the Muslim religion or someone who lives in a communist country. He does not have any relation with any church. If these two people are killed in a literal earthquake, how does the pastor receive more punishment than the one who had nothing to do with the church?

Chris: We read in Luke 12:47-48:

And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes…

This word for “stripes” is the same word for “plagues” that is in Revelation 9. This is because those in the churches get one more stripe. They get one more plague because they are 100% slain. Whereas the rest of the world is also experiencing God’s judgment, but they do not have this stripe because they were not in the church. This is why those in the church receive more stripes.

The receiving more stripes would have to be now, because this is the period of judgment upon the whole world including the church. And we have to look at this from God’s perspective. He has removed all possibility for anyone in a church to become saved the moment that we moved over into the Day of Judgment for this five-month period.

He also removed the possibility for anyone in the world, like this other person in a communist country, to be saved, but the difference is that we can know this for those in the churches. For those in the world, we cannot know this.

In other words, let us say that there are two individuals who are unsaved. Both of them have nothing to do with a church. God actually saved one of them before May 21. The other, He did not save. But both can have hope, even the other one to some degree, that maybe God might have done something in him. He could even pray now, “O God, could it be, having had mercy, You would have mercy?” He can pray this even though he might not be saved.

This is the difference. If there was a pastor who remained in the church and he transitioned over into Judgment Day, there is no hope. There is none. There is no possibility that he could have become saved if he had stayed in the church. God has now taken away salvation. This is the more stripes.

People may not even know this. But from God’s perspective, this is the situation. For instance, how many people understood and knew that God was judging the church for the last 23 years? How many of those in the churches knew this? They did not know and they still do not accept this.

This is like the many Jews today who still do not accept that God judged them back in the first century and that they are no longer the people of God. Yet, He did. He also sent the churches great tribulation, and yet many of them were not even aware of anything like this.

So it does not take an individual’s understanding of this for God to do this, for God to bring the great tribulation or for God to bring the torment. He is just saying that this is the way it is. This is the way it is and this is how it impacts everyone.

 

12^th Question: In relation to 2 Peter 3:10-11, the word “elements” means “bound,” and “melt” and “dissolve” have to do with loosing. Does this point to May 21^st?

Chris: We read in 2 Peter 3:10-11:

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

When God says, “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,” this points to May 21^st. This was Judgment Day when Christ came in judgment like “a thief in the night.” The rest of this passage has to do with Judgment Day five months later. And our understanding of this verse has not changed.

Mr. Camping had to answer this same question. People would ask, “How can you say that May 21 is Judgment Day and that five months later the world would be burned up?”

The answer to that is the same solution because Judgment Day is spoken of as a “day,” and yet it is actually a period of five months. And God can do this if He likes.

Every now and then I think of someone who might be hearing some of these statements for the first time and wondering how these things can be. How can we have Judgment Day and then five months later there still be Judgment Day? How can it all be the same day?

Look at Hebrews 3. In Hebrews 3:8-9, it says:

Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

God is speaking of this as a single day. This is what God calls this, and yet this lasted forty years.

Genesis also speaks of “in the day” that God created the Heavens and the earth, and yet it was six days that God worked to do this.

So God speaks of Judgment Day as a singular day. This is because there is a beginning to Judgment Day, which was May 21, and there is an ending to Judgment Day, which will be October 21; and this is all the Day of the Lord.

This is the day of His judgment. Christ comes as a thief. Then at the very end of it, He literally burns up the world and the universe.

We have been learning that we have to take a lot of things spiritually, but we cannot take this spiritually. This has to be literal. God has to do away with this creation in order to recreate a new Heaven and a new earth and in order to usher in eternity future in this sense.

 

13^th Question: Is Acts 1:18 referring to Christ? What is the spiritual meaning of this passage?

Chris: We read in Acts 1:18:

Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.

This is referring to Judas. It says in Acts 1:17:

For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.

Then it says that this man “purchased a field with the reward of iniquity.” Remember that after betraying Jesus, Judas became convicted of conscious. He took the silver that he had obtained for this back to the chief priests and elders and told them, “I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.” Then he threw the silver down.

The leaders of Israel were amazing. They did not see so many enormous wrongs that they did. They found that it was wrong to take money that was for “the price of blood” into the treasury; but that it was not wrong for them to give this money in order that Jesus die.

They could not put this money into the treasury and so they decided to purchase what was called “the field of blood.” This is why it says that this was purchased “with the reward of iniquity.”

I do not know what the spiritual meaning of this is. I am not sure. I know that this is historically referring to Judas, which is what we are reading about. But I do not know what the spiritual meaning of this is.

 

14^th Question: What is the significance of the repetition of what we read in John 21:15-18 where Jesus asked Simon Peter three times in a row if he loved Him and then told him three times to feed His sheep? He said, “Feed my lambs” once, and then He said, “Feed my sheep” twice. What was the purpose for this being said three times? Is verse 18 an answer to this question?

Chris: This is a good question because this is right where we are right now. John 21 is after the great catch of fish are brought in, which points to all those whom God saved coming out of great tribulation. Remember that they were fishing. It was nighttime and then they brought in this great catch of fish. Following this, we read in John 21:14:

This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.

So prior to this, there was this catch of 153 fish. When we break this down, this is 3x3x17. We see the number 3 twice within this number. Then it was also the third time that Jesus was showing Himself, and then He asks this three times.

We read in John 21:15-17:

…Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

This was a series of threes because the question was asked three times, “Lovest thou me,” and three times Peter’s response was, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.” Then there is the final statement three times of “Feed my sheep.”

Without any question, Christ is saying that this is His purpose. If we want to know why we are here after May 21 for five months, which just so happens to be 153 days, the reason is that we have this task. We are to feed His sheep.

This is not exciting when we look at what we have just been through in bringing the Gospel to the world. Lord willing, the last Sunday in September, Paul is going to come and speak about Project Jonah. He has a bunch of photographs and he is planning on providing a slide show. I am sure that this is going to be amazing.

We only heard some of the stories. Everyone has a few stories. He can attest to the fact that there is nothing like being over in some foreign country where you have never been before. You are just walking around with the Gospel. There is nothing more beautiful. The Bible says, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” There was nothing more exciting, because you never knew who are what you were going to encounter or what was going to happen.

You could encounter people with big snakes, which I did one time in India. I am not a fan of snakes. My wife is very fearful of snakes, but I am just afraid of the big ones. I turned around and this guy walked up to me. I reached out my hand to hand him a tract and then I saw this snake draped around his shoulders. This caused me to take a step back, but then he smiled and walked away. Of course, this was his purpose. The idea that was always behind a lot of these things was to make someone fearful so that they would not continue passing out tracts. There were these spiritual undercurrents of these types of things.

How many stories do we have just here locally of things that happened? There was so much excitement and joy in doing this. What a wonderful thing it was to bring the Gospel to the world and to go into the world and preach the Gospel in obedience to the commandment of Christ.

But then suddenly on May 21, this all stopped. It all stopped. We are not to do this anymore. Actually, if you do, you are being disobedient. If you go out there with the “Does God Love You?” tract or with some other tract for the purpose of sharing the Gospel so that someone might become saved, this would be in disobedience because God has told us that this is Judgment Day.

This is why He tells us in Deuteronomy 29:23:

And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth…

This is referring to fruit. It continues:

…nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which JEHOVAH overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:

To sow the Gospel seed today means that you are denying that fire and brimstone came on May 21 or Judgment Day, which May 21 is a synonym for. The way God is viewing the world is that fire and brimstone is falling all over the earth. Therefore, we cannot sow seed.

Just think about this. Family Radio is the greatest evangelistic tool that the world has ever seen and God raised them up to use for over 50 years. How many tracts do you think that they have printed and sent out? How many booklets? How many tracts trips have they gone on? How many countries did they visit? Who sent the Project Jonah teams and the Project Caravan teams? How many individual listeners requested tracts from them?

This whole time, this ministry warned the world as the watchman. Their task was to warn and to get the Gospel out. Then suddenly, this stopped. And I think that many of us had this same feeling; because suddenly after May 21, Mr. Camping said that they were not going to warn the world anymore. This is because this has been done, and so they are no longer going to do this. Family Radio then stopped printing tracts. They stopped printing booklets. Basically, they stopped that evangelistic machine.

Why? Was this because of embarrassment? Are we afraid that the media was going to say bad things about us? Did they ever say anything good? Are we afraid that the churches are going to think that we are heretics? Why are we not out there? Why have we stopped?

The reason is because God does not want us to do this anymore. He does not want this anymore. If we do, we are attempting to sow seed on ground that is desolate. We cannot do this. It is not going to take root. It is not going to bear fruit anyway. And so God is saying that “it is not sown, nor beareth.”

Going back to feeding the sheep. We had the great excitement of bringing the Gospel down through history and especially at the end as we went into all the world. This stops and then we find out after the great multitude comes in that there is this command.

This is just as much of a command as to go into all the world with the Gospel, except some people look down on this. They disdain this and they despise this. They think that this is not something that they should do. They also question why they should support Family Radio anymore since they stopped sending the Gospel. But Family Radio stopped sending the Gospel only in the sense that it is not going forth to bring salvation or to pronounce judgment. It is going forth to feed sheep, because this is the commandment of Christ.

Since Christ said this three times, we can be certain that this is very important. We would not be here if this was not important. We may not understand this and we may have done things differently, but this is very important.

How important is this? Well, this is a determiner as to whether you love Him or not. And this is pretty important. This is a determiner as to whether or not you love Him.

But some people are thinking that, no, God would not leave us here without continuing to bring the Gospel; and so they are working hard to try to show how this is still the day of salvation, that we are still in the latter rain, and all of this. They are thinking that this must be so even if there is only one person out there. They have this mindset that has been engrained into us, which was to bring the Gospel that people might be saved.

Look at how engrained the church age has been for those in the churches and how hard it was for them to be told that the church age was over and that it was time for them to come out of the church. But I think that it is much, much harder to be told that God is no longer saving and that we are not to go forth anymore. A lot of people are struggling with this.

We really have to humble ourselves and say that we are not the ones who determine what the Gospel is. We do not determine what obedience is. If God tells us that the church age is over and to come out of the church, we come out of the church. If God tells us that sending forth of the Gospel unto salvation is over, we stop sending forth the Gospel unto salvation. If God tells us to get busy feeding sheep, then we feed sheep.

 

15^th Question: Chris, you are a teacher and teachers are few and far between who have a platform to feed sheep. But for the elect, for someone like myself, how do we feed sheep, these 200 million?

Chris: This is a good question. First of all, where are the 200 million? They are out there. They are all over the world. They are primarily in China, in the Philippines, in India, etc. They are out there and there are not so many here. And so how can reach them?

Are the churches going to feed them? No. This is why God judged the church. They would not feed the sheep that they had within the church. The church is not going to feed the sheep. The only one who can reach them is a ministry like Family Radio. This is why we should support them.

Secondly, we can pray. There is a passage in Isaiah 60 that is talking about today when there is darkness over all of the earth, but there is a light arising within individuals. And so we can pray for our own families, for our neighborhoods, and for those around the world that God would somehow accomplish this, that He would somehow do this and feed sheep.

God is going to do this. We just do not know how. But it is a good start for someone to ask this question. What do I do? Then go to the Lord and ask this same question, “Show me, O Lord, what I can do to help with this.”

 

16^th Question: In 1 Corinthians 10:7, what does “rose up to play” mean spiritually?

Chris: We read in 1 Corinthians 10:7:

Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

The word “play” is related to the idea of mocking. When people are playing around, this is when they mock. They do not take the Gospel seriously, and so then they can make fun of the message of the Gospel. This would relate to that.

There is a time for all things. When people are receiving the Gospel, that is the time for seriousness.

Thank you for that verse.

 

17^th Question: I just wanted to share that verse that we talked about earlier. If we look at Genesis 31:42 and 53, we get a definition of this word “fear.”

Chris: We read in Genesis 31:42:

Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight.

Then Genesis 31:53 says:

The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac.

The fear of Isaac would be God Himself, because Isaac feared God.

Additional comments: We see this because this says that he “sware by the fear,” but we do not swear by the fear. We swear by God. We see this also where it says, “Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear.” So fear kind of jumps out right here in verse 42 and then I saw this in verse 53 also.

Chris: Yes, these are interesting verses. Here, this would be identifying God with fear, the fear of Him. He is Isaac’s fear; that is, Isaac looked to God and obeyed God.

Additional comments: In the English, “fear” is mentioned over 500 times. For anybody who wants to know, this is the Hebrew word and number pachad:H6343.

 

18^th Question: I have heard you say that if someone was in a church previous to May 21, they have no hope. Could it be more accurate to say that this is the case if someone’s authority was in the church instead of someone physically being in the church? I used to think that the church was like a force field when I was a kid. This is how I believed that Satan could not enter in.

Chris: I do not know exactly how this works. Let us say, for instance, that in some churches someone is on the roll of the books but they have not been there for over five years. Is he a part of that church? I do not know how all of this works.

These are the technical details that we just do not know and I would rather not get into, but you are right that someone could be under the authority of a church. For example, a missionary could be sent out from a church, and yet he does not go to a church. Instead, he is trying to establish a ministry somewhere, but he is under the umbrella of a church. Therefore, technically, he would be considered to be in the church.

 

19^th Question: Does God give any indication of what the spirits in Heaven are like? In 2 Chronicles 18, Micaiah was speaking about Ahab going to Ramothgilead. On one side they were saying something, and then on the other side they were saying something; and Christ was asking how He could persuade Ahab to be killed in battle. It was then that a spirit entered into him.

Is this just a specific case or is this just how this world is playing out, as if God is making certain big movements and then asking how these things are going to be accomplished, even though He planned it beforehand? The reference is 2 Chronicles 18:19. Is this something that God does often?

Chris: Satan was permitted into Heaven prior to the cross, as we see in the book of Job. God utilized him.

We read in 2 Chronicles 18:19-21:

And JEHOVAH said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one spake saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner. Then there came out a spirit, and stood before JEHOVAH, and said, I will entice him. And JEHOVAH said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And JEHOVAH said, Thou shalt entice him, and thou shalt also prevail: go out, and do even so.

This would be Satan, and he is very good at this. He can send forth his emissaries who would bring a message that is not true. This is what happened in that case.

At that point, Satan still had access into Heaven. But after the cross, he no longer did. And so this could never happen again.

We will stop here.