Indeed which calendar is correct or which one does God subscribe to??? For years with every new watch date, feast day or historical date of interest that passes, this conundrum continues to plague us! Same holds especially true for the Fig Tree generational timeline! Which IMHO trumps all others! The last day of the 73rd year of Israel's existance looms extremely large and is the closest thing we have to a "hard" count! Whenever that is recognized by Israel, the nations or God, will speak volumes to our rightly dividing God's word! As well as God's continued sovereignty measures still keeping that day and hour veiled! We surely see the day approaching, but that's all we really have even as the church hears that still small voice, coupled with the great mounting evil visible in the world! Again, I desire to be in His presence! While at the same time longing to see His redemption plan for the world to move forward! Lastly, my heart's cry is for the Lord God Almighty to be glorified with every step He takes to accommodate His redemption! TR I think the Lord wants us to use the 365 Gregorian calendar. Enoch (type of the church) was raptured when he was 365 yrs old. The Lord knew we would be using that calendar so I vote that is the one He is using. Because He promises in Revelation 3:3 If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. So its a given if we are closely watching we are going to know when flight time is at the doors. Can you believe April is almost over with? Just 10 more days before flipping the calendar … I had an appointment yesterday and asked the lady if she had a good Easter and she said yes, all the meal and dessert planning and it came and quickly went. I said do you feel Christmas just happened? She said yes and looked disturbed knowing that the days are flashing before her. Not getting any younger or smarter, but continually getting closer to Heaven! TR Indeed TR, the calendar question is always a conundrum and I have a thought to add in to the discussion as well as something to follow up with Geri’s comment. As far as the calendar, I cannot pretend to know but with each high watch day I can only offer “sanctified speculation”. To the point of the fig tree generation - what I would say is this, as much as I would like to view that as 70-80 years curt and dry with the deadline looming large next month -I always consider that the Lord was not talking to a nation, but a “generation” - since He did not say this “nation” shall not pass away but this “generation” A generation of course is an amalgamation of people of varying ages leading to an average. So I started considering this years ago. My mom (now passed sadly) was born around the same time Israel was - so can I use her age as a time marker? Well the prophecy indicates the the generation that “sees” these things is the generation so that would have to make the generation a bit older so that they could witness and understand what they were seeing. My mom was a baby when Israel was born so I would think that would disqualify her and place the generation at a much older age. So I began to consider, at what age did I become “aware” of world political events that if a nation were born I would have paid attention. For me it was probably around 17, but might be a little older or younger depending on the person, again being an average of an amalgamation of people. So again I consider who is this “generation” of people and for lack of a better definition I think it could refer to the people of the age called the World War 2 generation - people like my grandfather who would have been a teen or early 20’s when Israel was born and could have perhaps understood it’s significance. Now I know this is not as cut and dry as the May date coming up next month but I consider that while both of my sets of grandparents are gone from that generation, there are still a few of those ww2 vets out there and other people front that generation left, not many but a few - so even if we pass the may date slightly, I don’t think it invalidates the prophecy at all. On to what Geri said about Rev 3:3 and “if thou shall not watch” I have been considering a lot lately Jesus words to His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane “Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?” What was Jesus really asking for? Was He asking them to “watch” Him pray? Or rather was He maybe asking them to agree with Him in prayer as he prayed? So maybe watching is praying in a way. It would seem to make sense. Praying can make you tired, even in the middle of the day a good fervent prayer takes something out of you - you know when you have done some business with God when you feel a little wore out I think. So as for me anyway, in my ‘watch” these days, I try to each day pray through the Lord’s Prayer using it as a pattern or a template of sorts and when I pray “Your kingdom come Your will be done”. It is me, watching in prayer and asking and pleading with Him, please Lord, don’t make us wait another year, or another month or even another week - let it be today. Please God, evil men have risen up and aligned themselves with Your enemy and they seek to kill and enslave many of their fellow men and women and have set themselves up as gods and kings on this earth, please Lord don’t make us wait any longer. Please Abba, even as You heard the righteous blood of Abel and even as You heard the blood of Sodom and Gomorrah and he to come down for Yourself to see if the outcry was as great as had reached heaven, please Abba, hear the cry of the blood of the innocent babies that have been aborted and discarded like so much trash. Hear the blood of people like my mom that was infected with a pestilence that was likely made by the wicked, and denied the cures that could have saved her so that those in power could push their version of the cure. - hear that blood and send Yeshua, Jesus to rend the heavens and resurrect His dead, rescue and rapture His church and bring righteous revenge to those that have opposed and rejected Him to His face. Show mercy to the remnant that has not yet understood Your gospel and is left behind but let Your kingdom truly come and let Your will truly be done, in my days, that my eyes might see it and rejoice. That has been my watch lately, and I try to pray it every day and I am humbled to think Jesus said - “ Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”” Will I wear out and wear down on my watch? Will things drag on so long and get so hard that I tire out on my watch and “fall asleep” like the disciples did on he night they were called to watch with Him? I sure hope not, but my heart is deceitful only God knows it, so I pray He would give me a little more of His Holy Spirit every day to keep me awake and empower me to keep up this watch and this prayer no matter if (God forbid) He doesn’t come for another 20 or 30 years and I go naturally. Thankfully we don’t have to speculate on our salvation, sanctified or otherwise! TR Derrick, it sounds like your mom pass away from covid? Prayers that the Lord will bring rest to your heart and replace your pain with His Grace! So again I consider who is this “generation” of people I always thought Jesus was trying to teach His disciples to watch and pray … not only for fellowship with God but to be alert “on watch/on guard” “for dangers” and “the signs of the times” … because a group of believers praying together is very power. And Jesus knew the Roman soldiers were on their way. I think also the demons have the power to make us tired to cause us to fall asleep. They can keep the Gospel away from the unsaved (Luke 8:11-12) Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. And they can surely keep believers from reading God’s Word or praying by making us very sleepy to fall asleep in the midst of our time with the Lord. I find this happens to me A LOT and they also will go to even unscrew my lamp light bulb or have the phone ring. I know a person who would unplug his phone … and still it would ring while praying or reading his Bible. So I’m sure that night in the Garden of Gethsemane the demons probably caused the disciples to be sound asleep. Peter showed his flesh side by slicing off the high priest's servant, Malchus’ ear to try to prevent Jesus from going to the cross. And Jesus calmly restore it back. And said toPeter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? You would think the Roman soldiers would have thought twice to arrest Him after seeing that GREAT miracle?? And how about when they asked for Jesus … and Jesus replied “I AM” He … they drew back and fell to the ground like a bunch of dominoes …. :mdrmdr: :flyup: :flyup: :flyup: :flyup: :flyup: :flyup: :flyup: :flyup: :flyup: :flyup: I'm still waiting for someone here at RITAN to figure out the Rapture and let us all know! TR Go here TR and listen to this video. It is very compelling! She did, brother, it will be one year this Sunday. Thank you for your prayers. Probably the hardest thing was forgiving the doctor who stonewalled me and refused to let my mom try ivermectin. I pleaded and said, if she were a cancer patient dying, she would have the right to try an experimental medication, but was rebuked with “your mother is brain dead and going to die anyway, I’m not going to prescribe that (ivermectin)”. Some bedside manner. I also wrestled with forgiving myself - a week before my mom was ever sick enough to have to go to the hospital, she thought maybe as a precaution against covid she asked me if I would give her some ivermectin (I usually have some on hand for the horses, cows or goats). But I felt uneasy because I did not know the correct dosage so I told her I didn’t think it was a good idea. But then seeing what they put her through in the hospital, for a long time I beat myself up thinking I wish I would have tried it. But I don’t let that rent any space in my head anymore and I have forgiven the doctors, even the rude one, and pray for their salvation. I used to wrestle with the purpose behind my mom’s seemingly untimely departure, but I find peace in that it opened doors for me fr the Gospel to a few who probably wouldn’t have other wise listened, and as I mentioned in my comment above, about “Your kingdom come, Your will be done” It has really given me a reason to be fervent in my prayer life, so I am grateful for that.
Matthew 26:40. (Also Mark 14:37)
Luke 18:8
I briefly read something interesting recently and need to vet it out more but the basis of the article was that "this generation" was referring to those who entered the Trib. Again, I need to reinvestigate that claim because I read it in passing but thought it was an interesting concept. Of course I'll need to find chapter and verse and examine the context and who Jesus was talking to but now it makes me wonder if there is any credence to this point of view. It could just be taken out of context.
So I think the Lord wants us to watch and pray and to stay alert to all the signs of the times so we are not caught off guard for the rapture event and be ashamed of His coming.
