Rapture Watch

The following is what I submitted to "Five Doves" as well as "The Anakypto Forum Listener Letters" in regards to a post (linked at bottom). The basis of the original post, looks at the signs in the heavens beginning in Feb. 2012, playing out the Jewish Wedding Customs, leading up to our departure. Below is what I wrote in addition to those findings that may support the conclusion given in the original post. We do not know for sure how it will play out but it is hopeful and encouraging to ponder. I pray this encourages you as it did me.

Love Story in the Sky (additional biblical support to encourage you)

I was very excited when I read your post. I have always believed that whenever the rapture occurs there must be some sign of it in the scriptures to point to it as a future event...so I began to search. Well, being this is now the Fourth biblical month, that was where I began my search. What I came across was amazing. June 25-26th is the fifth day of the fourth month and here is what I found in the scriptures regarding that day:

Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity, The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him. And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings... (Ezekiel 1:1-6) *I highly recommend continued reading through this chapter but am cutting it here for sake of space.*

This bears a striking resemblence to Revelation 4, beginning with the open door in heaven, the rapture, seeing God and His thrown followed a few verses later (same chapter) by the four creatures...

Now, not that it is here nor there but this also plays out just like a rapture dream I had in the mid 90's which took me straight up to a billowing cloud that had lightening and thunder. I knew that God was just on the other side of that cloud. In that I also saw fire balls hurdling through space toward the earth as judgment. I felt so bad for those left. As they passed us, we could hear them like crackling fire and they flew passed us making a wizzing sound from their speed.

Well, it is interesting to note as well in my search that regarding the ninth of the fourth month, held verses of famine and war. This correlates to June 29-30th this year. Some have done day counts recently while searching out a generation and an end point. The day count I last heard had the beginning date of June 29-30th so this really piqued my interest. Regarding the ninth of the fourth month and additional verses, I would like to share these with you:

Regarding the Fourth Month:

Zec 8:19 "Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the FOURTH MONTH, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace."

Regarding the ninth of the fourth month:

Jer 39:2 "And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the FOURTH MONTH, the NINTH DAY of the month, the city was broken up."

Jer 52:6 "And in the FOURTH MONTH, in the NINTH DAY of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land."

2 Kings 25:3 "And on the NINTH DAY of the FOURTH MONTH the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land."

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again. - Amos 8:11-14

So, if this all plays out as we hope... I will be seeing all of you very soon.

Watching and Waiting,

Alison

Anakypto link: http://www.rogershermansociety.org/fivedoves/truthoughts001.htm

Original Post

MathMan (20 June 2012)

"MUST READ!!  Love Story in the Sky!!  7 of 8 steps completed since February 25, 2012!!  Next step is the Rapture!!"

Re: http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/june2012/mathman620.htm

HOPEFULL!

Nice work Alison. Blessings

JUST REMEMBERED-THE NEXT NUMBER-8-MEANS 'NEW BEGINNINGS"

Yea!!!

I don't find this to be very conclusive. I would need to see clear and consistent scripture references regarding the interpretation of these events. Although there is a connection in scripture between Jesus and Venus, some of the other symbols are rather tenuous and I get the feeling that the assignment of meaning has been done more by wishful thinking than by solid biblical references. I simply don't see any supporting scripture to equate the Holy Spirit to the position of "Father of the Bride". Nor do I see any biblical references to Mercury. I think we have to be very cautious not to jump to conclusions. Some of these events have happened before (the solar system is cyclic after all) and so we need to be particularly careful with regard to timing. Remember that the Church was bethrothed to Christ at its inception over 2000 years ago so if these events in the heavens are playing out a wedding senario, they could be doing so over a very long time period. Interpretation is everything, whether it be prophecy, dreams or signs in the heavens. For example, the person who published this study believes we are already mid way through the tribulation and the Obama is the anti-christ who signed a covenant with the many. It comes down to how you interpret world events. Personally, I see no evidence to support that view and believe we are still experiencing the birth pangs. When judgment came in Noah's day, there was no doubt about it. Similarly, when the tribulation starts, nobody will be in any doubt about it. If the signs in the heavens are indeed what we'd all like them to be, then we have to ask what sign would be given for the rapture itself. For the interpretation to be consistent, this would have to involve Venus and the moon somehow but of course this would require them to disaapear for 7 days or to be constantly together and that can't happen with the solar system in its current cyclic form. It would seem the only theory so far is "confetti" represented by a meteor shower. Again, meteor showers are regular (and mostly not that spectacular). At the height of a meteor shower, you may see one or two every few minutes - hardly confetti. I'm not even sure that the throwing of confetti is a Jewish custom - perhaps someone can check this. Like everyone else on this site, I long to see the Lord and live each day in the hope that this could be the one. However, the last year or so has seen a long list of dates, each supported to some extent by calculations and scripture as well as personal confirmations by dreams and visions many of which seemed convincing at the time and all of them were wrong. I say all this not to discourage (since we all need to encourage each other) but just to bring some balance to things as I believe there is a strong possibility that we will all still be here for a few more months at least and I don't want people to get depressed when it doesn't happen. Rather than trying to work out dates from the sky, I think the strongest indicators of a soon rapture are to be found in events on earth. The Holy Spirit is keeping a firm lid on things at the moment but I feel His hand is soon to be removed...

Allow me to ignore astrology for the moment.

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There is a bigger picture to understand here with the fasts of the fourth and fifth month, and what they represent. They represent relationship choices, bad ones. As reflected in the story of the golden calf during the fourth month (17th of Tammuz) and the twelve spies during the fifth month (9th of Av). Where a choice was offered, the called chose the world rather than the Word. The stories present pictures of rebels declaring willful independence from Gods authority.

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If it’s difficult to find relevance to those currently called. Consider “Independence Day” coming up was dated precisely the seventeenth of Tammuz in 1776. During the Jews fast to mourn their willful withdrawal from relationship, and the resulting curse as a consequence of the absence of this relationship.

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As we enter these three weeks and nine days, do our hearts seek a deeper relationship with God? Or are we preoccupied with our own self indulgence? It’s a personal choice written in the Bible thousands of years ago yet the most relevant question facing us today.

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Blessings

Mike

Hi Dave, welcome to RW and forum as a member.

Now I can't disagree with what you say. To date through-out the church age there has been a 100% success rate at setting wrong rapture dates by so many. Of coarse this causes problems within the body of Christ, religious people and mockers which in itself is prophetic for the end times. So date setting is not a wise position although to be fair I don't know that mathsman has set the 25th as the rapture date but rather a day of interest, A watch date.

When looking at prophecy we will always see how prophecy was fulfilled by looking back rather than forward in time. As you would know most would  look at time in as Linear, beginning with the act of creation. Then we have  cyclical time or time cycles if you wish. These look at the planets, moon and cycles. Almighty God instructed mankind on His time cycles or seasons and feasts or Moed. They are for all generations we are told so with that in mind we cant blame the eschatologist for looking to the future with expectation at the seasons and feasts. My personal opinion is that the fall feasts are reserved for the second coming of Christ and not the rapture of the church..... but as you know there are many that look to RH as rapture timing.

Any future event for rapture timing can only be theory and to be dogmatic is not a wise position to take as many would know from recent years. I agree Dave, thare have been so many failed rapture dates that people have set. The rapture days page on this website had a preamble at the top of the page which makes the position of this website very clear I would hope.

As for the tribulation having started ..... I don't go along with that at all but thats my opinion and others have theirs. I guess I am seasoned in that I do not get down when a watch day or day of interest if you like passes. It's just another day closer. As for the rapture I think 1Thess 5 gives us one of the earthly signs. Israel and the middle east is another thing we can watch also.

Ithink it's ok to have days of interest. To look forward at watch days. Is Mathsman right about the 25th. Time will reveal all but it's a watch day for many on planet earth and I dare say a watch day for mathsman also.

I don't see in scripture any prize to guessing the rapture date .... but there is a prize for watching and loving His return. We all need to prepare to step into eternity and stand before the most high Lord God, creator of the universe. If its the 25th or 25 months or 25 years away ... time is short and our life may be required tonight. Make sure your right with Almighty God before you  try to you get the rapture timing right. We are all one breath away from eternity when our lot is up. Have a sense of urgency in your spirit about the day we live in, our service in Him and the  soon coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. .

Blessings.

That was not all directed at you Dave. Again, welcome.

Michael, very thought provoking. Thank you and blessings.

Very well said Stephen.

Dave, Welcome to Rapture Watch. I want to thank you for your comment and I also agree that we must always check the scriptures with every theory. I do not believe Mathman to be dogmatic in this post but rather laying out some interesting events and possible symbolic correlations.

Though there are events in the skies that play out on a somewhat regular basis, some in this post are not so regular. For instance, the transit of venus which will not happen again in our lifetime. The transit of venus is so rare that it has only been recorded a few times in history, so we should take interest in how it has played out in these last days.

Scripture is clear about the heavenly bodies being for signs (not astrology which became the perversion of the true use) and that in these last days there would be signs in the heavens as well in the earth. We see the signs in the earth through the news,  through our own experiences with tribulations, persecutions, etc. I find it interesting that in Luke 21:20,28,30,31 all seem to be playing out right now. 1. Jerusalem/Israel is surrounded 2. These things have begun to happen 3. Summer is near/and now is (June 21st).

It is very interesting to me that in verse 28 it tells us to "Look up and life up our heads" and at this very same time all these other verses are showing themselves, even at the time of year it says (near and at summer), these events are playing out in the heavens. It is wise to pay attention to all the signs, both in heaven and on earth to be encouraged and more adamant about sharing the truth with those around us.

You brought up some points that I do not recall where in Mathman's post, for instance, Mercury and confetti... or maybe those were just for dramatic effect. Regarding Mathman's stance on how long the tribulation period isn't really a factor in what was presented so there would be no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater so to speak.

I do believe, to ease your mind, as you do... that we are still in the birth pains process. I know that some believe we are in the trib and others believe that the trib is actually only 3 and a half years. The last category ones do not believe we are in the trib yet but they believe it is shorter than the 7 years. Again though, that is neither here nor there regarding this post.

About dreams and visions, I understand how you are feeling about so many seeming so lined up, etc. and not coming through. It can be frustrating when there is a date attached in a dogmatic way. I have seen or heard of some that are not so date specific as they are season specific... no year attached just hopes of years. Those are left on the back burner in a way b/c we can't say they are false as they could be yet future... but the date specific, dogmatic ones, I agree.

You are also correct about some can get discouraged when watch dates come and go but those are not fruitless as Stephen pointed out. These things must be that prophecy be fulfilled. Who would mock if no one ever speculated... That may sound funny but I hope you know what I am saying.

There are some, me being one of those, who look for (lets call them) hope dates or time frames and it helps get through the trials of life we face now. It becomes like "If I can just make it to that", etc.

Again, I do appreciate your comment as it brings up topics others may wish to have discussed but do not post.

Mike, interesting tid-bits Thanks for sharing them.