The Rapture and UFOs are forbidden topics for both respectable theologians and scientists because they deny credibility from each their respective mainstream. Once burned, twice shy. Students of prophecy walk carefully around setting any dates of Rapture, Tribulation, Second Coming, since scoffers love to remind of anything remotely resembling a failed date. Yet, even our Savior enflamed us with His closing promise of the NT, “Surely I come quickly [Greek, tachu, suddenly]. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20 KJV). Anyone who places any credence in the 1947 Roswell incident as anything other than a crashed weather balloon will lose immediate credibility for believing in a conspiracy theory. If you believe in neither a Rapture nor UFOs, then you’re on safe ground, as far as established theology and science are concerned. But, if there really is a Rapture, then what better opportunity for some world leader to step up with miraculous explanations for the Suddenly Missing People (SMP). Of course, the explanation will be a carefully crafted lie, which will be the work of the Antichrist. “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (2Thessalonians 2:9). UFOs are those lying wonders. They are real, but not extraterrestrial, instead from another dimension, which is the Unseen Realm of both the good and evil. Not until Almighty God removes the Restraining Influence of the Spirit Indwelt Christians at the Rapture, will it be necessary for Satan’s Antichrist to step in, explain, and miraculously bring seeming order to the chaos. “And now you know what is holding him back, so that he [Antichrist] may be revealed at the proper time” (2Thessalonians 2:6 NIV). This will be more than Alien Brothers bringing in a new era of peace, but most probably a Nephilim harnessing the power of “alien technology” to consolidate worship of himself as God. “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2Thessalonians 2:4). LORD, our fervent prayer is to be ready for Your Son’s soon appearing. May we calmly and faithfully advocate for Your people to continue their employments and doing whatever good You’ve shown us to do, in the meantime; but, open the hearts of those around us to receive Your Son. Return quickly, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Devil
Messages From Three Angels (Revelation 14:6-13)
The Gospel, judgment for Babylon, and personal judgment are the messages of the three angels from God to the world. With the removal of the 144,000 and the Two Witnesses at the Pre-Wrath Rapture, no other outward testimony for the LORD exists on planet earth, but these three angels, before the handfuls of days left for the completion of the Seven Vial Judgments at the end of the Tribulation Week. “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6 KJV). The Gospel is the Greek euaggelionor good news, but it is only good news, if you repent. The second angel announces, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (14:8). This warns of the soon and sudden demise — “in one hour” (18:17) — of the Beast’s religious and economic systems detailed in Revelation 17 and 18. And finally, the third Angel warns of the “wrath of God” (14:10) for all worshippers of the Antichrist, and blessing for those who “die in the Lord from henceforth” (14:13). The stage is now set for the final judgment of the earth. LORD, we can barely imagine the scope of what You have set for Your program of dealing with humanity. How You have wisely designed all these interactions and prophesied their fulfillment, knowing that You will bring them to pass contrary to the best efforts of the Devil, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet. Glory to Your name. We magnify You for Your mercy and grace in salvation. And, we praise and extol You for Your righteousness and judgment of the earth. Fulfill all Your prophecies and keep all Your promises. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen and amen.
False Prophet: Directs the Worship of the Antichrist (Revelation 13:13)
Worship director for the Great World Leader is an esteemed role, except the Antichrist is that leader, who blasphemes Almighty God (Revelation 13:6), because he receives his power from the dragon (13:4). How does the world go so horribly wrong? Why does the LORD God allow this affront on such global display? “And he [the False Prophet] doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men” (Revelation 13:13 KJV). Toleration of the smallest wickedness in ourselves is the camel’s nose in the tent that brings down the house. “Abstain from all appearance of evil” (1Thessalonians 5:22). If we could not tolerate such sin in ourselves now, then would not such wholesale wickedness be condoned so easily later? “Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth” (James 3:5).
Yahweh is carefully teaching the world, directing our hearts back to Him. It has not been apparent to the Church that the Judge of All the Earth has been teaching His people, we must submit our case before the Courts of Heaven, before He can act. He will not unilaterally perform His will in judging the earth until He gets our agreement or sanction. He created us to walk in agreement with Him, not to function as an independent tool. “O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee” (2Chronicles 20:12). When sanctioned by the Courts of Heaven, Jehovah will do what He did for Jehoshaphat and Judah. “And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped” (20:24). The world will need to know the god of the World Leader and his Prophet is not the True God, and we, His people, call upon the LORD to judge the dragon, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet.
LORD, we know it is Your desire that all should repent and none should perish, but Your Spirit will not always strive with man. You alone know, when humanity’s iniquity is full. Save such as should be saved. Honor Your holiness, love, and perfection. Fulfill all righteousness. Use the devil, the Antichrist, and False Prophet, then judge them. Save Israel. Return quickly, in Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen and amen.
Is Satan Really The God Of This World?
As much as it might not sound right or feel good, Scripture labels satan as a god, but certainly not as Almighty God, the Creator of all. “In whom the god of this world [satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2Corinthians 4:4 KJV). Remember how Asaph described the heavenly scene? “God [Hebrew, elohim, singular] has taken His place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods [Hebrew, elohim, plural] He holds judgment” (Psalms 82:1 ESV). Jesus referred to Psalm 82:6-7 defending His claim to be the Son of God in John 10:34-36. But, Asaph noted, unlike the Almighty “like men you [the created, lesser gods or angels] shall die, and fall like any prince” (82:7). LORD, we worship You alone as the Almighty, the High and Lofty One That Inhabiteth Eternity. There is none like You. May we not be frightened by the god of this world. Preserve us from his devices. Give us of Your Word, that we may resist him, as Jesus did in the wilderness. There are “gods many and lords many” (1Corinthians 8:5 KJV), but only one Almighty. Establish Your throne in our hearts, and we look forward to You judging this wicked liar and usurper with his just deserts in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10). Bring this to past. Return quickly, deliver Your people, and judge Your enemies. In Jesus’ almighty name, we pray. Amen and amen.
Michael Fought Against the Dragon (Revelation 12:7-8)
War will be fought in Heaven between Michael and the dragon. Michael, the archangel (Jude 1:9) designated as the ruler or prince of Israel (Daniel 12:1) will direct his forces against the dragon and his angels. One can only wonder what warfare between supernatural-angelic-beings-who-cannot-physically-die looks like. “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven” (Revelation 12:7-8 KJV). In the satan’s [literally, adversary] battle with Michael over the body of Moses, Michael won by uttering, “The LORD rebuke thee” (Jude 1:9) to the devil. Michael did not embellish his language with impious speech, even at the devil. “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing [Greek, blasphēmia, blasphemous, e.g., filthy swear words] accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee” (Jude 1:9). For Michael, prevailing over the devil was delivering the Almighty’s judgment that the satan no longer had the right to place an accusation against the saints in the Courts of Heaven before the Divine Council. This has been his customary practice as witnessed by his accusation of Job (1:6-12; 2:1-7). Michael’s power in battle is his certainty: (1) of the Almighty’s ability to kill, then “cast into hell” (Luke 12:5), and (2) of the finality of the Second Death, where even “death and hell were cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14). LORD, may we be as bold as Michael, not fearing mortal death, because we have been given immortal life. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Movies With Bad Endings
No one likes a movie with a bad ending. God especially knows it. The devil even admits it, so his antichrist attempts to masquerade as God in the Temple. But, in the end, “fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:9-10 KJV). Then, why does all the rest of angelic and human history have to transpire before then? The Almighty knows everything He has to accomplish to fulfill all righteousness to get to the point it could be said, “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (21:3-4). Though we look at all the upcoming events with concern, we want this final outcome. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Tribulation Ten Days (Revelation 2:8)
If the Church of Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11) was also representative of early Church History immediately after the Apostolic age, then suffering purified Christ’s Church. “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Revelation 2:10 KJV). Possibly the Lord giving a specific number of days for Smyrna’s suffering indicates a limit to their suffering, which would give hope. And, just as our Lord “learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8), Smyrna was accounted worthy to also suffer shame for His name. LORD, make us to be worthy as Smyrna, and to fear You more than the limited suffering that purifies us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Jesus Wants You Well
C.S. Lovett, a retired USAF chaplain, wrote, “I do not mean to imply that God doesn’t use sickness… But the point is — He [God] doesn’t SEND sickness,” in his classic book, Jesus Wants You Well (1973). Growing up in the early 1970’s in evangelical, fundamental, Bible preaching churches, I remember being introduced to the writings of Dr. Lovett’s Personal Christianity by a blessed, fervent church friend. Lovett got it right, and he disagreed with conventional wisdom on 2Corinthians 12:7-10 about Paul’s thorn in the flesh. The devil wants us sick, since the “thorn in the flesh” (2Corinthians 12:7 KJV) was a “messenger [Greek, aggelos, angel] of Satan [Greek, satan, adversary]” (12:7) sent by God to “buffet” (12:7) Paul — and us. An evil angel of Satan was allowed to torment Paul, like Jesus was “led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil” (Matthew 4:1). The Father no more wanted Jesus to be tempted to make Jesus sin, any more than He wanted Paul to be buffeted to make him perpetually ill. Sure, we are to “glory in [our] infirmities” (12:9) for “when I am weak, then am I strong” (12:10) in the mean time; but, it is the devil buffeting with the sickness. Jesus came to heal and deliver us from the sickness, unless we have hidden issues allowing the adversary to successfully accuse us to prevent our healing. “When the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils: and He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias [Isaiah] the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses” (Matthew 8:16-17; compare Isaiah 53:4-5). Our response to being buffeted is to glory in our infirmities, thus strengthening us spiritually, but not simply to give in to sickness. Brothers and sisters, Jesus wants us well. Let the Holy Spirit persuade you what you should believe.
Elephant in the Room
“That’s what they want you to think,” said Jerry Fletcher (Mel Gibson) explaining his wild eyed, conspiracy theory to an uncomfortable Alice Sutton (Julia Roberts) in the box office success “Conspiracy Theory” (1997). If a conspiracy is only an evil plan formulated by two or more persons in secret, then only our desire of credibility keeps us from labeling anything a conspiracy. A Gallup Poll (May 2023) found 74% of Americans believed in God and 58% believed in a devil. With increasingly fewer believing in supernatural entities, Christians desiring to explain their worldview of a cosmic but predictable chess match between Yahweh and His formidable-but-already-defeated-enemy the devil is increasingly more challenging. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12 KJV).
Is New Always Better?
The following is more than a quick entry, but a modest attempt to explain the relevance of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible.
I prefer the use of the digital over the traditional because it’s generally more powerful and efficient. I only accumulate hard copy, when I must, because physical bookshelf space is expensive, and Moore’s Law continues to make digital storage cheap. However, I do appreciate the beauty of the older bindings, and I am nostalgic like any Baby Boomer might be about the past. That being said, Is new always better? New is always better, if it is an improvement. “Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2Peter 3:18 KJV).
In economics, bad money drives out good, according to Gresham’s Law, which accounts for the lack of Silver Dollars or $20 Gold Double Eagles in the cash register, when change is made at Walmart, if you still use cash. In biology, the concept of survival of the fittest necessitates the disappearance of the least fit, if you believe in evolution. Because an investment was good yesterday, will it necessarily be good today? So, if I cite the LORD’s statement, “Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16 KJV), then, in that instance, old is better.
As a Baby Boomer, I prefer the King James Version (KJV 1611) of the Bible. I was raised on it, taught from it, and memorized it. In fact, I use a smartphone to translate between KJV and other translations. In the providence of God, I believe the KJV is the finest conveyance of the Word of God into the English language. And, it’s language immediately draws attention to the fact that God’s Word is being cited, in comparison to citing the more colloquial language of modern translations. “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth” (John 17:17 KJV).
If the Spirit of God would allow you, here is my understanding about the King James Version (KJV).
The KJV relies upon the Textus Receptus or the Received Text. It is also known as the Majority Text or Universal Text from the Byzantine family of Greek manuscripts [MSS] of the New Testament. The Alexandrian Text — once identified as the Minority Text or the Egyptian Text — with its extra-Biblical Apopcrypha and Gnostic tendencies — was used to produce the Westcott-Hort Greek New Testament (1881), which is the foundation of most modern translations.
Two liberal theologians, Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901) and Fenton Anthony Hort (1828-1892) — both rejected the inerrancy of the Scriptures and its literal interpretation. Westcott confessed, “No one I know, I suppose, holds that the first three chapters of Genesis, for example, give a literal history.” Hort admitted his inability to assert the “absolute infallibility of a canonical writing.” Their New Testament Greek Text (1881) was the result of a 28 year collaboration at Cambridge, producing the basic text adopted by the United Bible Society, and is used widely among most theological and divinity school students. Westcott and Hort based much of their work upon the Codex Vaticanus (B) manuscripts in the custodial care of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), and upon Constantin Tischendorf’s Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph), which were discovered in a wastebasket of the Monastery of Saint Catherine on the Sinai Peninsula in 1859.
An observation, the RCC would derive great pleasure in any Critical Scholarship that insists upon the superiority of the “older manuscripts” of the Alexandrian Text (Egyptian), for it would weaken the Protestant notion of an Infallible Bible, as represented by the commonly Received Text of the KJV, and could more easily lend support for an Infallible Pope. Just look at Mark 16:9-20 in the New International Version (NIV), the text is italicized because it is not found in the Greek Texts from Egypt. The Great Commission of one of the four Synoptic Gospels is missing (16:15) because of the reliance upon Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus.
Further, any need for “redaction” of the Old Testament manuscripts, would be unnecessary, for the Levitical copyists have already faithfully preserved the Hebrew Old Testament, which can be found in the Ben Chayim or Bomberg Text of the Rabbinic Old Testament, without the necessity of a 250 BC Septuagint (LXX) translation of the Hebrew into Greek, which contained Origen’s subsequent Hexapla inclusion (third century AD) of the spurious Apocryphal books later found in the Catholic Bibles.
Seven Facts About Scripture
(1) The concept of inspiration is found in the NT. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2Timothy 3:16 KJV).
(2) Inspiration is the work of God acting upon the writer without setting aside their moral agency. “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2Peter 1:21 KJV).
(3) Scripture does not contradict itself, since the authority of Scripture is final and cannot be set aside. “If He called them gods, unto whom the Word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35 KJV).
(4) God’s Word accomplishes exactly what He intends. “So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11 KJV).
(5) The Word of God is meant to be lived out by man. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4 KJV).
(6) God’s Word accomplishes all that an Unholy Trinity of the Devil, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet never could. “For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:12-13 KJV).
(7) Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1 KJV). “And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God” (Revelation 19:13 KJV).
Continuing our narrative of the KJV, though the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of the Original Manuscripts extends to both the Old and New Testament writings of the Scriptures, of what value can such no longer existing Original manuscripts be to us, if the Almighty has not provided some kind of preservation by which we might be benefitted? Unlike the handful of 45 Alexandrian manuscripts, where Codex Vaticanus (350 AD) and Codex Sinaiticus (about 350 AD) disagree thousands of times with each other, the 5,321 manuscripts of the Textus Receptus (KJV) speak with a unified voice, being descended from the Byzantine manuscripts, which come to us from the original Church at Antioch. “And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (Acts 11:26 KJV). A very critical question arises in determining the validity of the manuscript source of any translation of the Word of God. “Did it come from the Roman stream of the Codex Vaticanus?”
The lineage of the manuscripts used for the KJV show a chain of custody dating back to the Church of Antioch in Syria. It is said that the Vaudois [pronounced vo-DWAH] of the Valley of the Piedmontese Alps had received the Scriptures from missionaries from Antioch of Syria sometime after 120 AD and had completed a translation of the Scriptures into their native Latin tongue by 157 AD — the Old Latin Vulgate, which is distinct from and not to be confused with the later Vulgate of Jerome (380 AD) with its Roman Catholic Apocrypha.
James A. Wylie (1808-1890) described the “apostolicity of the Churches of the Waldensian valleys” with the observation that “Rome manifestly was the schismatic,” while the Vaudois or Waldenses deserved the “valid title of the True Church,” and even the Waldenses’ greatest enemies, Claude Seyssel of Turin (1517) and Reynerius the Inquisitor (1250), have admitted their antiquity, and stigmatized them as “the most dangerous of all heretics, because the most ancient” (excerpted from “The History of Protestantism” Volume 1, Book 1, Chapter 6 “The Waldenses – Their Valleys” [1878] by James A. Wylie). The Vaudois were martyred by Rome. Innocent III sounded the tocsin of persecution, and “not fewer than a hundred thousand persons are said to be destroyed” (Wylie, pp.30-31).
Since the Byzantine Manuscripts commonly accessible to Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) were used in his production of the Greek New Testament, which formed the Textus Receptus (1516, 1519, 1522, 1527, 1535), their use demonstrated a continuity with the Vaudois. The Vaudois Christians had likewise used and preserved the ancient Byzantine manuscripts of Antioch in the form of Latin Scripture; and, their survival from the displeasure of Papal Rome from the time of the Early Church until the sola scriptura (“Scripture alone”) of the Protestant Reformation (1521) is testament that the True Church and the True Word of God triumphed! “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1John 5:4 KJV).
Both the KJV and the ancient Vaudois Bible were descended from the Byzantine Manuscripts, which are in stark contrast to the vast majority of modern translations, which trace their lineage back to Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. The Bibles of the Textus Receptus (KJV) opened like a flood gate to the world, giving us the Spanish Reina-Valera (1569), the Italian Diodati (1603), the Coverdale Bible (1535) the Tyndale New Testament (1536), the Great Bible (1539), the Bishops Bible (1568), the Geneva Bible (1560-1599), and of course, the King James Bible (KJV) (1611).
John Wesley (1709-1791) attested to the accuracy and understanding that the Vaudois Christians were not merely a more recent vintage of Protestant reaction to the Church of Rome, coming upon the scene through Peter Waldo in twelfth century France (1171 AD), but that the Vaudois were ancient Christians, who preserved their Christianity along with the Scriptures — separate from the Church of Rome — as far back as the second century AD.
John Wesley had this to say about the Vaudois or Waldenses: “It is a vulgar mistake, that the Waldenses were so called from Peter Waldo of Lyons. They were much more ancient than him; and their true name was Vallenses or Vaudois from their inhabiting the valleys of Lucerne and Angrogna [Valley of Groans]. This name, Vallenses, after Waldo appeared about the year 1160, was changed by the Papists into Waldenses, on purpose to represent them as of modern original” (“Notes on the Revelation of John,” Revelation, Chapter 13, Verse 6, p. 936).
If ancient Christianity changed the face of the world with a complete canon of Scripture, what wonders may be wrought, if the restrictions are restored to just the last twelve verses of the Gospel of Mark!
May God grant you the blessing of the use of those italicized words in the close of Mark 16:9-20 (NIV), for which your ancient brothers and sisters in Christ — the Vaudois — gave their last full measure!
Amen and amen.
We Need A Miracle 
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