eBible Fellowship

1^st Question: Could you look at Ezekiel 14:20-21 and explain why God uses Noah, Daniel, and Job, and could you also look at the “four sore judgments”?

Chris: In Ezekiel 14, it really starts back in verse 13, but it says in Ezekiel 14:20:

Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord JEHOVAH, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

If we would read the whole passage, God says this four different times. Twice He identifies the men. Twice He just says “these three men.” This is to emphasize the number four and the number three. The number three meaning God’s purpose and the number four meaning that this is worldwide.

First of all, this is speaking of them being in the “land.” It does not say that they are in Jerusalem and it does not say that they are in Judah in this passage. It refers to “land” because this is talking about the whole world.

These three men, if we look at the men themselves, are probably the perfect three men to pick if you wanted to represent believers in the world and not believers in the church.

For instance, if it said, “Though Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were in it,” we would think of Israel. If it said, “Moses, Joshua, and David,” we would again think of Israel. But it says, “Noah,” and what relationship did Noah have to Israel? Noah predated Israel by several thousand years. Noah was 4990 B.C. and Abraham came along about 2,000 plus years later.

Then there was Daniel. Daniel was taken from Judah to Babylon and spent his life in Babylon, which typifies the world. Remember that believers were to go into captivity. We learned about this from Mr. Camping’s studies on Family Radio. When you leave Judah and you go to Babylon, you are going into the world.

Then the third person is Job from the land of Uz. In Job 1:1, we read:

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job…

If we read the book of Job, we see no relationship to the land of Israel. At least we do not find this mentioned. We do not find the type of language that we find in the book of Jeremiah or in Ezekiel where God does refer to Judah. In the book of Job, we just read about this man who apparently was not directly involved with Israel.

So these three men were very faithful men. We would not be able to find more faithful men than Noah, Daniel, and Job. If they were in the church and God was saying this, if this were referring to Judah and they were in the church, we would practically be thinking out loud in our heads, “Get out of that land! Get out of that church!” This is because that would be the solution to the problem of not being able to save son or daughter.

The “land” that God is referring to is the world of five months that we are presently in. God’s people are out in the world. We are not in the church. There is not one of God’s people in the church. We are in the world and can any of us save son or daughter today, no matter how faithful, no matter how diligent we might be?

Noah was diligent. He built an ark to the saving of his house. Could he save son or daughter if he were here on the earth today?

What about Job? Job offered up sacrifices in case his sons had cursed God in their hearts. Job was a very good father. He was a very godly man. He was perfect and upright. Could he save son or daughter if he were presently alive?

Daniel, of course, did not have any children because he was a eunuch, but God uses him as an example of a very, very faithful individual.

These men were so careful that they wanted to obey God on every point even willing, like Daniel, to give up their lives and to be thrown to lions. Could they save loved ones? Could they save neighbors? No.

God is using these three men to indicate that it is His purpose. He brings them up four times to let us know that this is universal across the earth. He is letting us know that this has nothing to do with the true believers themselves. It is impossible for even one, even your dearest son or daughter, to become saved at this time because God has saved all of the ones whose names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Salvation just will not happen anymore.

Then we read in Ezekiel 14:21:

For thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

So God is talking about the world, but then He asks, “How much more Jerusalem” because they get more stripes. They get more affliction during this five-month period, which is what we learn from Revelation 9. They are slain immediately on Judgment Day. There is no hope for them; and yet for the rest of the world that were not in the church, there is that hope from our perspective that perhaps God saved them before the Day of Judgment. But how much more “sore” is it for those in the churches (Jerusalem) by these judgments?

As far as the judgments, we read of “four sore judgments.” Again, we see the number four indicating the furthest extent and that this is happening everywhere on earth. This is just language that God is using to indicate that His wrath is upon the land where the three men of God are and upon the church in a more severe way. This is how we understand this.

 

2^nd Question: I do not know if the Feast of Tabernacles coincides exactly with the Jewish calendar, but the Jewish calendar has this starting on October 12^th and going to October 20^th. It starts the evening of the 12^th and I do not know if it finishes the evening of the 20^th. There are eight days here. Does the Bible say anything about what might be happening during this eight-day period?

Chris: The problem is that there is something that is not being taken into account when you look at a Jewish calendar. For instance, the place where God speaks about the number of days that He gives the eight days of the feast is in relation to Solomon’s keeping of the feast at the time of the dedication of the temple.

We read in 2 Chronicles 7:8-10:

Also at the same time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt. And in the eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and merry in heart…

We know that the feast started on the 15^th day of the 7^th month. On the 23^rd day, he sent the people away. The problem was that the first day of the feast was a Sabbath and the eighth day was a Sabbath and they could not travel very far on a Sabbath. They were limited. This is where we get an extra day for the feast.

Just look at it is this way. It went from day 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22, and day 22 was the eighth day. The 23^rd was the ninth day and it was on the 23^rd day of the 7^th month that he sent the people away. This is where we get October 21.

If you remember, for awhile, we had thought that this would be October 20^th. Maybe some people are not familiar with this, but this really kept us from seeing the five months for a period of time. We had understood that the 23 years would end on May 21, but then the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles would be October 20^th.

We could not see the five months clearly because this was not an exact five months. But then this verse was discovered. I do not know who discovered this, but Mr. Camping taught on this. He noticed that they left on the 9^th day, the 23^rd day of the 7^th month. This nudged the last day over by one day. Then it was not too long after this that people began seeing that this was a period of an exact five months, and then the whole five-month doctrine that is in the Bible came into view.

God hid this primarily by hiding the total number of days of this feast. Just think about this. On October 21, this is the 9^th day and this is the day that you are sent away. You are sent away from the feast. You leave.

Well, where is God going to send us? We are going home. This is where you go when you leave the feast. You go home. This is how we understand this spiritually. God’s people will be going home on that very last day.

 

3^rd Question: Could you read Genesis 28:12? Is this what happened on May 21^st? Is this a picture of the rapture?

Chris: Genesis 28:12 says:

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

This relates in some ways to May 21^st, but this has application all through history as God saved His people.

Immediately upon salvation, what happens to a person? When an individual becomes saved, they are transported up into Heaven. In a way, yes, this is true. Ephesians 2 tells us that we are seated in heavenly places in Christ.

We would have to look into the past, prior to May 21, but let us say that an individual became saved. God transported them up to Heaven, and yet they never left this earth. They did not go anywhere.

Well, the way God views this is that they did spiritually. Their soul went up to Heaven, in a sense, and they were seated in Christ. Then Christ sent them right back down; and so they were back in their body.

This is why we are left in physical bodies when God saved us. He very wisely made this a two-part process. He did not save us both body and soul at the moment of salvation in this life, or we would be going around like Moses or Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. People would not even be able to get near us. There would be no way for them to even look at us, because we would be shining so brightly.

So He saved the soul but left us in a corrupt body that is still seeing the effects of sin. He did this so that we could be messengers and carry His Word to the world and be just like them. They do not see any difference in us and there is not, except that God changed us inwardly.

This is why we read in the Fourth Gospel, John 1, something that Jesus is saying to Nathanael in the very last verse of John 1. This is referring back to what we read in Genesis 28 and Jacob’s ladder. It says in John 1:51:

And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels [messengers] of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

Again, this is a good verse to show that this word for angels is not always referring to angelic beings. This is referring to people, because we are the messengers of God. We ascend in Christ and we also descend also upon Him, and then we are sent into the world with the Gospel. This is what Genesis 28 is looking at.

 

4^th Question: Can you please explain 2 Chronicles 18:16? I was and am confused with what 2 Chronicles 18:16 says and with what Matthew 24:16-17 says. Notice the words “mountains” and “house.”

Chris: 2 Chronicles 18:16 says:

Then he said, I did see all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd: and JEHOVAH said, These have no master; let them return therefore every man to his house in peace.

I have not looked at this particular verse. This sounds very similar and very much like verses in Ezekiel 34 where God is faulting the shepherds of Israel, which would be typifying the pastors of the churches of our day. He is faulting them for not taking care of the flock and for not feeding them and for, actually, scattering the flock.

When truth is not brought, when there is teaching that is faulty and deceitful and not true, like we find in the churches today, then what this accomplishes is that this scatters God’s sheep. This is why God says in Ezekiel 34 that He will cause the shepherds to cease from feeding the flock. Then He speaks about searching them out and that He Himself will feed them. And He did find all of the lost sheep and now, at this time, He is feeding them.

But this phrase here, “These have no master,” is something that I have not looked at in this passage or in other passages, and so I would like to be a little careful with this verse.

 

5^th Question: Please explain Job 33:15-17 and Job 33:29-30. Thank you.

Chris: Let us read Job 33:15. I will start in verse 14. It says in Job 33:14-17:

For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.

There may be more involved than this, but one thing that we can see is that God is in control of all people. He speaks of this in Proverbs where He says, “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.”

Unsaved man has his plans and his desires and his ideas. They normally do not include God in their thinking at all. They are going to do things their way, but God is saying here that He still works in their lives and that they will finally accomplish His purpose.

This is like Pharaoh who would not let the people go, and God tells us that He hardened Pharaoh’s heart. He is the One who wanted Pharaoh to do exactly as Pharaoh did, even though it was all Pharaoh’s sin. God was not to blame for his sin, but He used that to do His will.

 

6^th Question: Aaron and Moses were brothers. Each one of them named one of their sons Eleazar/Eliezer. If you look at those words in the Hebrew, they are the same identical letters, but they are spelled differently in the English. You will notice in a concordance or in an Interlinear Bible, one of them has vowel points on one of the letters. Originally, there were no vowel points. Who would have done this? Who would have only put vowel points on one of them? Would there be any difference in those words?

Chris: I do not think that who did this is important. We know that when God gave His Word in the Hebrew, there were no vowel points. If we are looking up a word and we see the same consonants, we know that it is the same word. It just makes things a little tougher for us to search this out. But I have not looked into who did that or why, and so I would not want to say right now.

 

7^th Question: What does “sea of glass” in Revelation 15:2 mean? Is this referring to the true believers with Jesus?

Chris: In that verse, we do find the true believers. We read in Revelation 15:2:

And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Those who got the victory are God’s people who came out of great tribulation. We are the seven messengers. We are the true believers.

The “sea of glass” is a sea that has been purified. In the Old Testament, the priests would have to wash in the “brazen sea” or the “molten sea” before entering into the temple. That would be for the purpose of being ceremonially clean. Spiritually, this pointed to being washed from sin before someone was to serve God.

Here, this is indicating that those believers, typified by these seven messengers, will have been washed. They will have their sins cleansed and they will be holy in God’s sight, because this is the whole company of the elect.

I am glad that you brought this verse up because I wanted to mention something. Notice that it says that they got the victory over the beast. This indicates four things that they were victorious over: the beast, his image, his mark, and the number of his name.

The word “victory” is translated as “overcome” in some places and also “prevail” in some places. For example, it says in Revelation 5:5:

…the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book…

This is the word “victory.” It means to be victorious like God and His people were with His salvation plan on May 21^st.

In Genesis 7, the word “prevail/prevailed” is found four times in relationship to the flood waters. This is just as we have four victories over the beast, his image, his mark, and the number of his name.

In a couple of places in Genesis 7, God emphasizes that the waters prevailed. He says in Genesis 7:18:

And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth…

One time, He says that they prevailed upon the “high hills.” Another time, He says that they prevailed over the “mountains.” We read in Genesis 7:19-20:

And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills…

This word “hills” is a word that means “mountains.” It is translated as “mountains” in the very next verse.

It continues:

…and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.

God is making this point.

Then it says in Genesis 7:24:

And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

This was for a period of five months. God is emphasizing this four times and four times the seven messengers or the true believers got the victory. They prevailed.

Let us just look at a couple of verses in Revelation 17 that are referring to the beast that came out of the bottomless pit. Here, God will identify the beast with mountains. We read in Revelation 17:8:

The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition…

Then we read in Revelation 17:9-11:

And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

So “the beast” is of the seven kings and the seven kings are the seven mountains.

Look at Revelation 17:14:

These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them…

The word “overcome” is that same word for “prevailed” in Revelation 5:5. The Lamb will prevail over the beast who is likened to mountains.

We read about this five months or these 150 days in Genesis 7, where God emphasizes four times that the waters prevailed “greatly upon the earth,” “exceedingly upon the earth,” over the “high hills,” and over “the mountains.”

This is because He wants us to know that for this five-month period Satan is put down. The beast is deposed. The waters typify the Word of God, the Gospel. God is victorious. Therefore, His people are victorious, like we read in that verse in Revelation 15.

 

8^th Question: I have a question about Ezekiel 29. Ezekiel 29 is one of a series of chapters where Egypt is being spoken against. As I understand this, this is usually referring to the church under judgment in those times. But in Ezekiel 29, especially in verses 11 and 13, God is saying that He is going to bring them back from their captivity after 40 years. They are only going to be a base nation and not very powerful after that. Can you tell me what this could possibly be referring to?

Chris: I am not prepared at this moment to discuss this. I know that Mr. Camping did a study on this previously. The reference to 40 years is a little difficult. I think that Mr. Camping identified this with the great tribulation and as a time of testing. But I really cannot get into this in this format at this time. I do not really feel prepared to do this, and so I am sorry that I cannot help you.

 

9^th Question: In Revelation 22:8-11 and Revelation 19:9-10, this illustration seems to be Christ Himself and yet He says to John not to bow down and worship. Can you explain these verses? What is the reason for God telling John this?

Chris: The way that this is written, this does appear to be confusing. Let us read Revelation 22:7:

Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

This is Christ who is speaking. Then we read in Revelation 22:8:

And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things.

In order to understand who this “angel” is, we have to back up to Revelation 21:9, which identifies this “angel” as:

And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues…

God identifies for us who is showing John this vision. It is one of those seven messengers.

So now John is falling down before his feet, and then we read in Revelation 22:9:

Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

This messenger is directing John to Jesus, “Do not worship me. I am a fellow servant. I am just a redeemed sinner like you.”

Then it says in Revelation 22:10:

And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

This is referring to now especially. God has opened this up completely.

Then we read in Revelation 22:11:

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

We have already learned that this has to do with God saving all of the elect. If you are righteous, you are going to remain that way. If you are filthy, which means that you are still in your sins, you are going to remain that way. There is no more salvation.

Revelation 21:9 identifies why this response is given to John. But look at how God writes this. We read in the following verse, in Revelation 22:12:

And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me…

This is speaking of Christ again, but there is no introduction as to when Christ will speak one verse or as to when the messenger is speaking in one verse. God did not do it this way because He wanted to hide certain aspects of this.

 

10^th Question: I heard Mr. Camping’s recent message. In Mr. Carman’s message tonight, he agreed with Mr. Camping on the word “quietly.” I am trying to understand how the rapture, how the raising of the dead in Christ, and how all of this is supposed to happen quietly. Is this suggesting that we are not even going to know what will be going on? Will the unsaved not even have time to understand what will be happening on October 21^st?

Chris: I had heard what he was thinking about when God brings the final day of this 153-day period of judgment. From what Mr. Camping was saying, he is thinking that since we have learned so much about the gentleness and goodness of God and since He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked that God will take them almost as if someone dies in their sleep at night.

I believe that he refers to a passage in Isaiah with King Hezekiah and the army of the Assyrians that came against Jerusalem. When they woke up in the morning, the Assyrians were all dead men. There were 185,000 of them. I think that this is one of the places that Mr. Camping was thinking of.

One thing we can see, and I think that this is very true, is that there is no room on October 21^st for everything to take place. When we look at all of the verses that talk about the weeping and gnashing of teeth and all of the judgment that we read about in Revelation 9, such as the torment, there is no time for all of these things to take place. There is no room for all of this.

So the idea that God would just come for the unsaved and take them and end this world very quickly and mercifully fits in with everything that we are learning really, because now is the fire and brimstone that is continuing throughout the five months.

Even this is very gentile and very kind. What a merciful God! Primarily, this is the judgment. He had a Book with all of those whom He intended to save, 200 million. Their names were written in this Book. He saved the very last one on the very last page, and then He closed the Book. There is now no more salvation and this is the torment on the world. This is what kills the third part. This is the judgment that we are reading about again and again and again.

The seven messengers pouring out seven vials of the seven last plagues sounds pretty horrible, and yet what is this but that the smoke fills the temple and that no man can enter into the temple.

Who is the temple? It says in Revelation 21 that the Lamb is the temple. And no man can enter into the temple until the seven plagues are poured out.

This again shows us that for everything to happen on the last day is all backwards. If God takes His people into the temple on the very last day, how would this fit? They are pouring out plagues and no man can enter in until the plagues are done. That would not fit.

Now the temple is closed and no one can be added into Christ, who is that temple, until these plagues are finished, and then God takes His people. He takes them out of the world and into eternity.

The verse where we can read about the 185,000 is Isaiah 37:36:

Then the angel of JEHOVAH went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

 

11^th Question: Today, Mr. Camping referred to God’s vengeance. He also said that God would be merciful on the last day, October 21. How is 2 Thessalonians 1:8 in agreement with a quiet day?

Chris: What Mr. Camping said was that the Lord has stated, “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.” This means that it is up to Him to decide how He wants to mete out justice. It is not our particular ideas about it.

We have already been corrected about hell because mankind has thought that this is how it should be, and it is ruthless, very ruthless. Then we developed some other ideas over the five months and how they should be and we were wrong again.

So let us leave vengeance in God’s hands. Let it belong to Him. We can know that He does all things perfectly and justly. If God determines that it is a just weight and balance to just kill man and that it is – very quietly, there is no more rebellion, He puts it down – then we should not argue. We should be glad because He is talking about some of the people who are in our own families.

It says in 2 Thessalonians 1:6-7:

Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

With His messengers, and this goes back to Matthew 25 with the separation of the sheep from the goats.

He is seated on the throne of His glory with all of His angels with Him. This is happening now. This is taking place now. God is judging the world and the saints are judging with Him. We are His battle axe.

Again, what is that weapon? It is that He saved us all; all of the elect are brought in. This is the judgment that we read about again and again and again. This is how we are judging the world with Him.

We did not do anything and we are not doing anything today. This is how quiet it is. But God is using the fact that He gathered them all, that He has found all of His sheep. This is the weapon of His indignation.

Then it says in 2 Thessalonians 1:8:

In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Stop thinking physically. Stop thinking naturally. Spiritual fire and brimstone is falling right now. In “flaming fire,” God is taking vengeance. The Day of Judgment began May 21. It is Judgment Day. This is what this means. Right now is Judgment Day and therefore God is using language to typify this and to point to this.

Then we read in 2 Thessalonians 1:9:

Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

What happens at the end of the five months? They are burned up. They are burned up forever and this is a real destruction. It is an eternal destruction from God.

There is God in His Heaven and all of His elect with Him living gloriously without end. Here are these poor people made in His image and they are just completely annihilated and destroyed. This will happen on the very last day of the Day of Judgment.

 

12^th Question: Please explain Numbers 35:15-19.

Chris: This is speaking of the city of refuge. We read in Numbers 35:15-16:

These six cities shall be a refuge, both for the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them: that every one that killeth any person unawares may flee thither. And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.

Here God is making a distinction between murder and accidental killing. I think that they call this manslaughter in our courts today.

In Deuteronomy 19, there is an example of a man who goes into the forest to cut a tree. He is with his neighbor. While cutting the tree, the axe head comes off the helve. It flies off, hits his neighbor, and kills him. Then what happens is that the man who accidentally (not intentionally) killed his neighbor now has to run, even though he could say that this was an accident.

There was a system back then in order to prove if something like this was an accident. A man had to run to a city of refuge. There were six of these and they were strategically located. He had to make it to one of these cities because the kin of the individual who was slain would appoint someone else, maybe a close relative, who would become a manslayer. He would become an “avenger of blood.” This is how the Bible puts this.

He would go after the man who had killed his brother or one of his kin. If he found him before he got to the city of refuge, he would kill him justly and legally. God’s Law said that he could kill him. The man who had accidentally killed his neighbor had to make it into the city. Once he made it into the city, he could seek asylum and refuge and the avenger of blood could not pursue him into one of these cities. He could camp outside the city and wait. If that man ever stepped out of the city, he could kill him. But as long as he stayed within the boundaries of that city, he could not touch him.

So the man would have to stay there until the death of the high priest. Once the high priest died, the man was free to leave the city of refuge. Of course, we can see the picture. We are to flee to Christ. We are to go to Jesus. He is our safety, spiritually. It is the death of the Lord Jesus, the Great High Priest, that frees us from the avenger of blood, which would typify the Law of God.

I am still thinking prior to May 21 with God’s Law on our heels. There is nowhere for anyone to flee now because this is all said and done, but this is what this is teaching.

 

13^th Question: Mr. Carman mentioned that in Scripture sometimes the spiritual is intertwined with the literal. When the Bible speaks of the heavens on fire and of fervent heat, I picture a natural celestial event causing this. Also, it reads that some of this will take place before we are raptured and then we are to hold our heads high. I was wondering what part we will be in before the rapture.

Chris: It talks about heat in 2 Peter 3. It so happens that I was looking at Revelation 16 today with the seven messengers who are pouring out their seven vials of the seven last plagues. It says in Revelation 16:8-9:

And the fourth angel [messenger] poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

This is speaking of “great heat” and this has to do with the five months. And so what is God really looking at?

The word “scorch” helps us because this is found twice here and then this is found twice elsewhere, once in a parable in Matthew and once in a parable in Mark, both of these parables are the same parable of the sower. This parable says that when the seed falls upon stony ground, it has no depth of earth.

Let us look at this parable in Mark 4. We read in Mark 4:6:

But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.

It landed on stony ground; therefore, the root could not go deep. There was no depth of earth as it says in the Matthew account. And the root is referring to Christ. The Bible tells us that He is the Root of David and the Root of Jesse.

The real problem is that people heard the Word of God but there was no root or no Christ in them, and so they never really became born again. They were not deep people, spiritually.

Then Jesus explains in Mark 4:17:

And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

Think of May 21. The reason I say this is because of Revelation 16. God joins the word “scorched” from this parable to the pouring out of the seven vials of the seven last plagues. One of these vials is poured out on the sun which scorches men so that they blaspheme God.

Look at it this way. A lot of people joined the bandwagon prior to May 21. Maybe they did this two years prior or maybe it was one year prior or maybe it was only two weeks prior. Just think of how much this was in focus on the television and in the media and on billboards.

People could just think, “At least these people are getting the Word out. It appears that they are doing what Christ would have us to do, and so I am going to join up.” Then they got a T-shirt and a hat and they carried a sign. But who knew what was going on in their hearts. We had no idea.

They heard the Word. For awhile, they were really joyful. It says in Matthew that these who immediately with joy receive it, but there was no depth of earth. It was a rock, and this is the heart of man. Naturally, we have a rock and the seed actually cannot get by this rock. There is no root.

Then May 21 comes and nothing physical happened like they were expecting. It was all spiritual. And here we are four months into this and they do not understand. They do not buy this and they do not believe this.

When we really get down to it, this is not because the Bible is not teaching this. This is because they have a carnal mind. They have a natural mind that cannot understand spiritual things. A spiritual judgment is nothing to them, and yet for the Word’s sake, they took abuse.

Leading up to it, they had a lot of friends here who they joined with; but afterwards, during the Day of Judgment and of affliction and of persecution from friends and family and the whole world looking down on them as deceivers, they get offended.

This happened with some right away. For some, this happened very quickly. Immediately, it did not take long and notes were flying from people who were claiming that this was all a scam and that we were to never listen to Family Radio again.

I remember seeing those notes and thinking, “What? Do not ever listen to Family Radio again?” Some people said that Mr. Camping is a false prophet. I thought, “Are you kidding?” I was amazed that this was what people were actually thinking.

But now I have seen this with this word “scorch” and this explains these things. This explains it. It is during this time when men are being scorched that this falling away amongst ourselves has taken place.

 

14^th Question: Could you look at 1 Corinthians 15:52? Will there be an immediate annihilation for the unsaved on October 21? This reminds me of the way that God took Enoch. When the elect get their resurrected bodies, will this be a simultaneous action on that day?

Chris: It says in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52:

Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all 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.

This is our hope and expectation. This is what we are looking forward to in just a few weeks. In a very, very short period of time, we are looking forward to God fulfilling His Word.

We live in this world and it is hard for us to imagine its end, but remember that God does say that “these words,” meaning His Word the Bible, “are true and faithful.” We can trust it and so we do. We are waiting on Him to fulfill all things.

 

15^th Question: Did Satan lose all authority on May 21 or just his official rulership over the churches and the world? Did he lose his rulership over mankind?

Chris: This is a good question. We know without any question that he did lose authority in the church and in the world.

Think about the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon reigned over Babylon and God uses Babylon in two ways. It typifies the church and it typifies the world depending on the context. After 70 years, he is killed and who took over? Cyrus took over. Cyrus is also known as Darius, the Mede and the Persian. He takes the kingdom.

Someone asked me a good question about Ezekiel 32. In Ezekiel 32, we read about the fowls and how God was talking about the dragon being pulled out of the waters and left in the open field for the fowls to feed upon him. Then we saw in the context of verses 7 and 8 that this is related to the darkening of the sun and the moon and the stars.

So someone looked at this context and then brought up verse 11. We read in Ezekiel 32:11-12:

For thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee. By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them: and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt…

Since we have been seeing that the end of the 70 years is when Satan falls, and here we are reading of Egypt and Pharaoh being likened to a dragon, typifying Satan, then how can the “king of Babylon” come against him? Would this not relate to Satan and mean that the 70-year period had not ended?

The answer is that the “king of Babylon” is a title for the one who rules Babylon. This is a parabolic chapter. Pharaoh is not a whale in the sea or a dragon, and the “king of Babylon” is not who we think either. In this case, this is Christ. He is the “king of Babylon.”

Take a look at Ezra 5:13:

But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon the same king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God.

This is Cyrus the shepherd, Cyrus the anointed one, Cyrus who took the kingdom of Babylon. So, of course, he becomes the king of Babylon. He is the ruler over Babylon.

What this is spiritually teaching is that Christ rules over the world right now. He rules over the world. He rules over the church. He rules over everything. Satan is put down.

How then can we explain evil and the bad things that are happening to God’s people? Keep in mind the book of Daniel. The first five chapters are an historical narrative. That historical narrative ends with the king of Babylon being killed. Chapter 6 actually continues this historical narrative, but now it is different because Cyrus or Darius has taken the kingdom.

Cyrus was very favorable to Daniel. Daniel had a friend on the throne. Did it help Daniel? Yes; of course it did. But by the end of that chapter, Daniel ends up in the lions’ den.

This happened to Daniel because there were still wicked men. Even though the king was favorable to Daniel, he still let things play out. He thought the best of Daniel and he thought the best for Daniel and he told him that his God would deliver him, and He did.

So, too, at the time, at the end 70 years, Christ is ruling. We may go through some trials and we probably will. There may be some afflictions and persecutions, but it is guaranteed that the lions’ mouths are shut.

Speaking of this, there is one other verse I would like to point out. I never knew why God put this verse here in 2 Timothy. We referred to this verse a few times leading up to May 21^st.

The Apostle Paul was someone whom God used as a pattern of the believers. In the earlier verses of 2 Timothy 4, he said that the time of his departure was at hand. He said that he had finished his course, so he is talking about the end.

This was the end of Paul’s ministry, which typified the end of the believer’s duty. How did the book of Acts end? It ends proclaiming the acts of the sent ones. We are the sent ones. It ends with Paul in Rome; and so, too, it ended with us as we brought the Gospel to the world.

So he has finished his course and then it says in this context in 2 Timothy 4:17:

Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me…

Remember that the two witnesses stood on their feet during the time of the latter rain. This is when we brought the Gospel to the world. It continues:

…and strengthened me; that by me…

Not Paul, but the believers. It continues:

…the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles…

We can translate this as “nations.” It continues:

…all the Gentiles [nations] might hear…

When did this happen? This Gospel of the Kingdom was to go into all the world and be preached unto all nations and then the end would come. We just witnessed this.

This was one thing that God let us witness and this was a big thing. This was a big thing that had never happened before. We know that He saved a great multitude, but we did not witness this.

I think all of the time that I would like to see buses come filled with this great multitude; but if we go by our natural sight, we will not see this. I have not seen this at all. God saved all of His elect prior to May 21, but we did not witness that. Even so, we are waiting and praying, “O Lord, maybe Your light will arise and shine in this individual’s heart,” but we are not seeing this outwardly.

The one thing that we saw that God permitted was an incredible event that took place all across the earth. The preaching was fully known. This also relates to God opening the Scriptures so that His Word could be fully known for the first time.

Then it continues:

…and that all the Gentiles [nations] might hear…

But then notice the next phrase:

…and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

This is what happened to Daniel, and so God is relating Daniel’s experience to Paul who typifies the believers. We cannot miss where He is putting this.

Paul is sharing the Gospel, but Paul never did this historically. He never taught all the nations, but the believers did at the end.

So I think that God is assuring is that the next stage is when Cyrus takes the kingdom. Then things might get dark and scary.

I remember May being a little scary. I thought that people were looking at me. I was on television a couple of times. I would think, “That person is recognizing me!” I thought about when the stones might start flying.

But what happened? Nothing! Did anybody get hurt that we know of? I do not know anybody who got hurt physically.

God has protected us all the way. We do have four weeks left; but even if we were to die physically, this would not mean that God had not protected us, because He has already safely delivered us. But here, I think that He is giving us a little assurance that after this declaration, we will be greatly protected.

 

16^th Question: Could you go over Psalm 11:6 and explain our understanding now after May 21 of this word “snares”?

Chris: Psalm 11:6 says:

Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

If you look at this verse and compare this to Revelation 14:10-11 where God speaks about fire and brimstone and the cup of His wrath, this is very similar.

This is upon the wicked and this, without question, is speaking of His judgment upon unsaved people; but God threw a word here in this verse in Psalm 11 that has to make us stop and think. It is the word “snares.”

Psalm 11:6 says again:

Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone…

People love to pick and choose. They have their mind set in a certain way. They have a picture of an angry and wrathful God who is going to just rain literal fire and brimstone or eternal damnation down to burn up the sinner and to burn up the wicked people. But they have a problem because this says “snares.”

This words means exactly as it sounds. It is referring to a trap. It is like a gin that is set for an animal.

This other language fits Judgment Day; and so God is indicating that on Judgment Day, it will be a trap. If God had literally destroyed the world, where would the trap have been in that? Nobody would be trapped, but they would be experiencing the judgment of God.

Luke 21 is a chapter dealing with the great tribulation and the time after, which we are in. It says in Luke 21:34:

And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

This word “unawares” is the same word as “suddenly” in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 where it speaks of Christ coming “as a thief in the night” and then sudden destruction takes people. This is the same word, and so we are already put on notice.

Then we read in Luke 21:35:

For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

This is speaking of a trap for all unsaved people.

What was the trap? How about God bringing Judgment Day and people not even knowing this and that they can continue with their lives like this is any other period of history? This is like it is just any other day or any other time. They are just going along. They heard about May 21. They were expecting the worse. They were expecting a great earthquake and maybe perhaps literal fire and brimstone falling, but nothing happened.

This is the trap. This is the snare that has taken the world. They have relaxed. They have gone back to their normal everyday lives, mostly. And what is that normal everyday life? It is a life of sin. It is life of sin against God.

So people have gone back to their sins, and yet God did bring judgment. It was Judgment Day and we are continuing on in this period of time. Then finally on the very last day, it will all be over and this world will be over. This is the snare that Psalm 11 is talking about.

 

17^th Question: Did the thief on the cross have a chance to show or manifest that he was a saved person? Will there be individuals today who have the same situation such as this case of the thief?

Chris: It is not necessary. It will happen in the lives of some people, but this is not necessary.

Think of a baby. If God saved a baby or a little child, can that child give any evidence that they are a child of God? Maybe the child would be somehow strangely truthful. This is possible. But still, this is not absolute proof that they are saved.

We cannot look at a child and know this and I think that this is true of other people, too. I have been thinking about this also.

How far can someone go into this five-month period where God saved them already, and yet they do not as yet give any evidence? Well, I do not know. I guess that they can go all the way to the very last day. This is in God’s hands and under His control. We do not know who they are.

But it is nice to think about this if you see someone who is maybe doing something differently. Maybe they had no willpower or no control over themselves; and now, all of a sudden, they are exercising some willpower in their life. They still have not said anything to you about Christ or anything, but at least there is that hope.

I think that God has also done this to maybe give us a little encouragement for people we know for us to keep praying. Let us keep praying for them. Maybe this individual could have been one of those whom God saved.