Steps Of an Unknown Writer

The first act of GOD’S divine love.

The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY has spoken to us through His holy written word of truth, the Holy Bible! For, the Heavens and the Earth declare His glory. And we, mankind, created in His image, in His likeness must also declare His glory in proclaiming His creation of all things seen and unseen.

GOD, and only GOD, THE BLESSED, HOLY, ALMIGHTY, WONDERFUL, ETERNAL, CREATOR, SUSTAINER, PLANNER, EXECUTER, LOVING, MERCIFUL, GRACIOUS, LIVING, LIGHT AND LIFE, ALPHA AND OMEGA…the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the ONE and only GOD OF ALL ETERNITY has told us that HE is the Creator of all things as His holy word reveals! It was not random blind chance of some imagined so-called evolutionary theory that man boasts of, but the SPOKEN WORD OF GOD IN THE BEGINNING, THE HAND OF GOD THAT CREATED ALL THINGS IN SIX DAYS AS THE HOLY BIBLE STATES!

Anyone reading the Holy Bible from beginning to end will discover that God does everything in a sequential, chronological order. So is was in the Six Days of Creation: six 24 hour days in which GOD created and made all things as recorded in the very first book of the Holy Bible: GENESIS.

We honor God, we proclaim His greatness, we sing His praise and glory when we declare in all things His marvelous, awesome, stupendous, instantaneous creation out of nothing but His spoken word! Genesis begins the journey in our minds of the glorious beginning act of creation, and both the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Holy Bible add further testimony of God’s holy creation, In the Beginning.

First of all, in eternity past, there was just GOD and the WORD…and GOD declared, God spoke, and so the story begins:

“IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

YESHUA, JESUS, THE MESSIAH, THE CHRIST…THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD…CREATOR, LORD, GOD…

“He was in the beginning with God”

“All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

“In Him was life, and the life was the light…”

“And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it”

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” And God is letting us know that the Earth that He would create, and put things in it and on it and make it to be inhabitedand lived on was first in God’s creation, “without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

Then God tells us what He did and how He did it in the Six Days of Creation! And in this miraculous special act of God of Creation, He establishes time and the very first week of seven 24 hour days…In the Beginning.

First, God spoke the words, “Let there be,” and it was created as fast as one can hear the very first three words God spoke in the beginning of time. Thus each of the six days of creation whereupon God does something different on each day, and makes it so by stating: “So the evening and the morning were the first day,” and so on for each of the six days of creation, only something GOD could do!

And note, that everything God created in six days was GOOD!

On the first day of creation of the first week, God created light and darkness, divided it; “God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.”

On the second day of creation, God spoke Heaven into being, and that became His home along with the heavenly host, the angels, which He also created then.

On the third day of creation God spoke and the dry land appeared, and the seas. “And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”

Furthermore, on the third day of God’s creation, God said to the earth to bring forth grass and herbs and trees to cover the earth, all created adult, all according to its own kind.

On the fourth day of God’s creation, He spoke into existence the sun, the moon, and the stars, all working as He created them to work as it was in the beginning, is now and forever will be.

Each and every day in our lives and the lives of countless saints who have lived and saw God’s glorious handwork all around them as they, and we, have gazed upon the beauty off the earth in each of its glorious seasons, and the sun, and the moon, and the light they give to the earth, and to us. And to look up to the heavens and the distant vast array of the stars like the sand of the seashore, no one could count! Can we not proclaim to God, “How great Thou art!” And that our eternal, heartfelt thanks for all the wonders of creation surely is more awesome to behold than some abstract idea about how life began according to man?

So far in the story of Creation, the sequential order is thus: the Heaven; the Earth; the Sun; the Moon, the Stars.

On the fifth day of creation, God spoke into existence the things of the sea, and the things of the air: “So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind.” All were created adult so they could “be fruitful and multiply,” and so they could fill the waters and the air of the earth ad God commanded. “And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them.”

On the sixth day of God’s creation, He spoke and made all the various and different kinds of animals on the face of the earth, as He commanded the earth to bring forth all kinds of animals each after its own kind, and adult were they created. “And God saw that it was good.”

“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;” and God created them to have dominion over all things of the earth; “over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” This was the crowning point of God’s creation on the sixth day! “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

“Then God saw everything He had made, and indeed it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day”

So ended the six days of creation in all the work God did; and as it was then, so it is now. “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, we’re finished.”

“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which God had created and made.”

God has told us all we need to know about His creation, when He did it, and how He did it. Now, today, we behold His glory of everything we see on earth and in the heavens, the sky above, and believe, and it is simply marvelous!

You like a good history story, don’t you? After all, it is His-Story written for us.

“This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.”

Now you know the truth about who made the things of the universe. May you hold this in your heart and believe all these things that are written in God’s Holy Word.

TO WIT:

He wrote these things that you might believe.

The Apostles’Creed: “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator/maker of heaven and earth.”

Job 12:7-10 “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not not know That the hand of the Lord has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind.”

Exodus 20:11 “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.”

Psalm 19:1. “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.”

Job 38:4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Psalm 8:1,3 “O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars which You have ordained.”

Psalm 24:1-2 “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters.”

Psalm 33:6 “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.”

Proverbs 3:19-29 “The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens; By His knowledge the depths were broken up, And clouds drop down the dew.”

Isaiah 40:26 “To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things.”

Even Brother Monk on the Holy Island cries out each day that it is You, O Lord God Almighty, my Lord and my God who created all things that we see in all the whole world! Yours is the glory, Lord, for you made the sea and the waves, the sand of the shore, the wind and the clouds, the rain, the birds that fly over sea and land; the sun to light the day and warm us; the moon and the stars to give light at night: who cannot understand that You created all things in the beginning, and give us all things, and all things work together as in there day they were created. For the Word of your mouth holds everything together! I see Your glory Lord, and I thank you forever.

Isaiah 45:18 “For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: “I AM THE LORD, AND THERE IS NO OTHER.”

All of the GOD’S Creation was perfect and good; He did not create in chaos, nor out of chaos, nor any presupposed wrecking of the earth by Satan, so that God had to ‘re-create’ the world, as the frenzied, wild, fertile imagination of man would have it. But Satan is trying destroy what God said through the written word.

But God’s word will never pass away, for it is forever settled in heaven.

Hebrews 1:10 “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.”

Acts 14:15 “Men, why are you doing these things? …that you should turn from these unless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.”

Jeremiah 32:17 “Ah, Lord God! Behold, You made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.”

So you see, dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, look uo, look around and see what God has created for us in His great, great love for us…that we may enjoy His creation and give praise and glory to Him forevermore.

“O give thanks unto the Lord, and call upon His Name; tell the people what things He has done…for “This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

May God bless you and keep you in His care,

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Thank you Almighty God, our Father in Heaven, for our being kept from the deadly coronavirus, a plague to our beautiful land.  Thank you, Lord, for all things in Christ Jesus, Thy Son, our Lord and Savior, our Lord and our God.  With our eternal thanksgiving to You, O LORD, we now and forevermore bless your holy, mighty, awesome, glorious, eternal name, in Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.

On Easter Sunday, we Christians remember and celebrate the mighty resurrection of Jesus from the grave-when, by the power of God, He arose from the dead!

Think about this!  The greatest event in all of human history, an event so great that it secured our eternal life and destiny in God, our Savior.  Then I ask you: is this mighty act of God not worthy of the greatest of all our celebrations that we could do in honor of Jesus Christ, Jesus raised to a new glorious, immortal body unto future life and eternity for us?  Can not, rather, should not this greatest of all things be the greatest, the grandest of any celebration we Christians are part of each year? In honor of Jesus, I should think this could be the greatest fireworks display ever; the greatest party of joy and gladness, and hope, and proclaiming the glory of Jesus, the Messiah, ever, and the way forward for us and for our salvation, everything He put in motion by His death, resurrection, and ascension up to Heaven to be with the Father.  That far eclispes any New Year’s celebration, doesn’t it? So why don’t we?  What are we waiting for?

And another thing.  Today, as I write these thoughts, almost a year later,  that what put all this in motion was when God became man! The ‘seed of the woman,’ conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary in a stable in the town of Bethlehem of Judea on a cold winter night over 2,000 years ago.  There was no great ceremony of family and relatives and friends to see the newborn baby JESUS; NO, when God came into the world that He created, only the angels, the animals and some shepherds saw Him wrapped in a manger! For a KING and LORD, no birth could have been more  humble.

That’s what Christmas is…remembering and celebrating with love and joy in our hearts and thanksgiving the birthday of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.  There are not enough words of praise and thanks we can offer up to the Lord for His love for us in this great, great mystery!

This is how GOD, the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit planned all this in the beginning.  That “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that all who believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).  His blood was shed on the cross for us, that believing and repentance we are forgiven our sins and have eternal life with Him. He died as we must die; He was resurrected, glorified as one day we must be resurrected and glorified.

The dead who ‘sleep in Christ’ will rise from the grave, and we who are alive at that time will be changed in the blink of an eye, and together we shall meet the Lord Jesus in the air, above the clouds, and with our new, glorified, immortal bodies, just like His, we shall follow Him up to Heaven to the Father.

All that God has planned for us that started with the first Christmas cannot be expressed or contained in the joy in my heart as I watch and wait for the coming of the Lord. No celebration of joy and thanksgiving can be of greater importance!  Make this the ‘party of all parties’! Let the fireworks of joy, and laughter, and dancing and singing swell across the world this holy season when Christ was born.  And look how all things fall into place as it is written in the Holy Bible, God’s written word to mankind.

This too is a mystery. The time is short. What if Jesus does come tomorrow? What then? Are you ready to meet Him?

May God bless you and keep you in His care,

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

I set before you a test…a series of True or False questions to see where you stand in knowledge and belief. Want to give it a try?

1. In the beginning GOD created the Heaven and the Earth. T/F
2. GOD created everything in six, 24 hour days. T/F
3. On the Earth, GOD created everything adult. T/F
4. The chicken was created before the egg. T/F
5. The first thing God created to cover the earth was grass. T/F
6. GOD created in this order: the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars. T/F
7. GOD created man in His own image and likeness. T/F
8. GOD created the first adult man and women, Adam and Eve on the 6th day. T/F
9. From creation week to the world-wide flood of Noah’s time, about 1500 years have passed. T/F
10. The Noahic Flood destroyed all living things on the earth, even the dinosaurs. T/F
11. Mankind started over after the Flood through the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. T/F
12. Mankind has been on the earth for over 6,000 years, not millions. T/F
13. The Holy Bible is the spoken, written Word of God. T/F
14. Only the Holy Bible tells us our past, present and future. T/F
15. Jesus is the Son of God, the Lamb of God, and the Lion of Judah. T/F
16. Jesus, the Lord God and Savior, was conceived by God, the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judea. T/F
17. The only way to God, the Father is through Jesus, the Son. T/F
18. All things were created by Jesus in the beginning. T/F
19. Jesus Christ, Messiah is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. T/F
20. Jesus ascended to Heaven from the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem. T/F
21. Jesus will come for His believers, the dead and the living at an event called the Rapture of the Church. T/F
22. At the Rapture when we shall meet the Lord Jesus in the air above the clouds and follow Him to Heaven, then, and only then can the Tribulation start. T/F
23. According to Daniel, the Tribulation starts when the Antichrist signs a seven-year peace treaty with Israel. T/F
24. According to the Revelation, Jesus will return in great power with His armies of Heaven as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, destroy His enemies, and set up His kingdom on earth at Jerusalem. T/F
25. Jesus will reign for a thousand years followed by Satan’s doom, the judgment of all unbelievers, a new heaven and earth, the New Jerusalem, and eternity. T/F

A message from Brother Monk

I greet you you in the awesome name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Like you, I am a student of the Bible. And in all humbleness, and by the guiding of the Holy Spirit, I have been blessed to discover over the years, and with much study the soul enriching, magnificent truth of the doctrine of the Rapture of the Church that I want to share with you. That is, the clear teaching of the next great event that is going to happen to the believing church: the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and at the same time, the instant “translation” of all living believers! Together, we shall all be drawn up to the clouds to meet the Lord Jesus in the air, above the clouds, and then we shall follow Him up to Heaven! And so shall we forever be with the Lord. Therefore, take comfort with these words, and spread the word to others.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? Something every Christian wants and longs for, right? Well, I have just described to you is right from the Holy Bible, the Word of God, in the New Testament known as the “Rapture of the Church!” It’s all wrapped up in the love of God. And, despite the false teaching of most of the church today, it’s gonna happen the way God said it’s gonna happen, that is, before the ‘Great Tribulation,’ the judgment wrath of God that shalln come upon the whole unbelieving earth! And this horrible, unprecedented time to come will witness the rise of the Antichrist, the son of Satan. We are not yet in the ‘end times,’ but the ‘end times’ will come after the Rapture, and you only have to read the books of Daniel and the Revelation to see what’s coming in the not too distant future: the “things to come!”

In presenting this truth of the Holy Bible, which Paul called a “mystery” and didn’t want us to be ignorant about, I stand in the company of many ‘giants’ of the faith, and with the two greatest teachers of all time: Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul, in proclaiming the truth like they did!

I hope and pray you can gain a new understanding of this great doctrine of the Holy Bible, and that it may touch your soul and strengthen your belief so that you can, indeed, be “Rapture Ready” to meet the Lord Jesus at His coming.

May God bless you.

In Christ Jesus, your humble servant and friend at ‘”Rapture Ready” headquarters,

Brother Monk+

Are you ready to meet the Lord Jesus face to face? Have you been looking for Him up in the sky? Is there a gladness, an excitement, a real love in your heart when you seek Him? Do you believe He’s really coming back for us who believe one day soon? Do you believe all the Bible says about this future event called the ‘Rapture of the Church,’ when Jesus shall come from Heaven and call us all, the living and the dead to Himself, to meet Him up in the air above the clouds and return with Him to Heaven?

Well, whether you believe it or not, whether you interpret it one way or another, whether you like it or not, or whether you have closed your mind to Bible prophecy altogether, it’s still going to happen!

“Now hear this Christians…now hear this! Man your battleatations! We are at war!” And as the great ship Christian sunk by attacks from the enemy above and below, there were still many survivors clinging to their life jackets in the dark , turbulent sea. From where would come their rescue? When? Who?

Today, in 2020, the “the Year of the COVID-19 virus pandemic, people everywhere feel like they are drowning in the sea of despair where death, worry, debt, faith, and physical and mental breakdown swirl about us with increasing intensity! Who will rescue us from the things confronting us today? And from where will our lifeline come, and when? What is our hope? Who is our hope?

Just Jesus Christ.

He and He alone is our hope; He is the one who will rescue us. He is the one that will throw us His lifeline because He loves us and cares for us, and will never leave us or forsake us, and nothing, nothing can ever separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! All that the Father has called and will call can never be snatch out of His hand!

This soon and coming rescue was put in motion by the Lord Jesus Himself almost 2,000 years ago in the Upper Room in Jerusalem of Judea in the year A.D. 33, where they were gathered together at the ‘Last Supper.’ The event is recorded in our Bible in the fourteenth chapter of the Holy Gospel According to Saint John.

His disciples were at that moment as in a sea of turbulence. He was going to His death; one would betray Him, and one would deny Him three times! He knew they were troubled, and said don’t be troubled, but believe in Me. Guess what? Way up in Heaven in My Father’s house are many mansions, and I am going there to prepare a place for you. If it were not the truth, I would have told you!

Don’t you understand? Listen, since I am going up to Heaven to prepare a place for you (and all of us), I WILL COME AGAIN AND RECEIVE YOU TO MYSELF, THAT WHERE I AM, THERE YOU MAY BE ALSO.” One day He will receive us like a great magnet draws iron! And it will happen faster than you can blink your eye!

Dear blessed in the Lord, that’s the rescue lifeline Jesus will one day throw to us here on earth! He promised, and He will do it! Only He is our hope, not man.

Jesus further explained how this future lifeline will work through the writings of the Apostle Paul in I Thessalonians four as something that can only be know as God reveals it. Here, in I Thessalonians 4:13-18 is the doctrine of how Jesus is gonna rescue His church-His true believers right up to our time in history in the 21st Century:

Paul wrote these words to his young church in Thessalonika, Greece…

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep (dead), that ye sorry not, even as others which have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.

Then we which are alive and remain shall be “caught up” together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

Here the Lord Jesus through Paul has given us in clear, simple, understandable words of Holy Scripture how He is going to rescue us…His lifeline to us who believe…our sure and certain hope!

Let others know that they might grab hold of this lifeline with both hands out of the sea of hopelessness!

May God bless you and keep you in His care, and may he open your eyes in believing what He said He’s going to do for those He loves.

Look up for your redemption draws near.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost,

Amen and hallelujah.

“Here we are, ” said Brother Monk, addressing a large group of Anglicans in the United States at the first annual Convocation of the Communion of the Anglican Church in Norh America.

“Here we are, you and I, standing at the end of events past, these turbulent months since Covid-19 struck this great country and the whole word, now, the end of September. With just a month and three days to go before the historic vote for the next President to guide us these next four years, I stand before you as a brother: a brother in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, and as a brother across the sea, in which we share a common heritage, we English and Americans!”

“Just this past week we celebrated ‘The Return’ in Washington, D.C. as the call went out world-wide to return to Christ, to return to His holy, written word of life and truth and guidance and morality and history and yes, even prophecy about the ‘things to come’ even as we are seeing them today, and of the ‘things to come’ in the ‘latter days,’ the ‘end times,’ these future times known in the Holy Bible as the ‘Great Tribulation,’ spoken of by God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ!

I believe God brought this dreaded virus upon us that people everywhere might seek forgiveness and repent and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! People are coming to the Lord, and I believe that the awesome event of ‘The Return’ was just one of the uncountable ways the Lord God is bringing people from every tongue, tribe, culture and nation to Him. Yet, will we see a revival?

I deplore violence under the guise of ‘peaceful protest!” “If this is not condemned by our leaders and citizens, then they either ‘don’t care,’ or ‘support it!” But we, the church, have said nothing! Are we afraid to speak out on what is righth and what is wrong? Has apathy and deception invaded our minds so as to paralyze us? Were that we had the spirit of boldness and action as our forefathers did during the years of the Revolutionary War in the America Colonies against Great Britain almost two and a half centuries ago!”

And I deplore the acceptance, the ‘business as usual’ attitude, the acceptance by the majority of Americans today, of the mass murder of the innocent unborn! They call it, ‘abortion,’ and it is legal as handed down by the Supreme Court!” Let me say that those who support this demonic blood lust have condemned themselves and have blood on their hands!’

“And where is the church in all this? Where are the leaders of our churches? Where are their voices? Who is standing up for the innocent unborn?”

“Let us pray: Almighty God, Father of all mercies, We pray for the souls of those conceived and never born. We pray they are in Heaven with You, and that we will see them someday. We pray for boldness and action! This we pray, O, Heavenly Father, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.”

What a loving and merciful and forgiving God we have! God, who gave His only begotten Son for us and the world: who shed His blood for us on the Cross, and that believing in His blood sacrifice, His death, His burial, His mighty resurrection from the dead on the Third Day, and His glorious ascension to Heaven to sit on the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, that He has forgiven us of our sins and has granted us eternal life with Him!”

“What a glorious, awesome, wonderful loving God we have for all the good He has done for us. A God who tells us that things we simply cannot understand now are called, ‘mysteries’! “

A magnificent GOD of all creation and everything! God, who in the beginning created the heaven and the earth! Who spoke the words, ‘Let there be,” and in an instant it was! Therefore, in just six, twenty-four days He created His home, Heaven, Light and Darkness, Day and Night, the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, and the stars-the Universe! He made sea and land! He covered the earth with grass, and herbs and trees!” GOD, and God alone did this in less than a week!”

“Why, He even made all that swim in the seas; all that fly in the sky; and all that be upon the land! And His crowning glory was the creation of mankind in creating the very first man, Adam, and the very first woman, Eve, whom He created in His own image, after His likeness! God did this all in less than a week, not millions of years as the ‘man-made’ theory of evolution tells us!”

“Evolution, so fiercely defended and taught at every level in our schools, will try to tell you just the opposite of what God is telling you! This is spiritual warfare of the devil and his horde of demons, invisible, fallen angels! This is the culture of death! This is the great heresy where they say, ‘right is wrong,’ and ‘wrong is right;’ where there are no standards, where the ‘lie’ is taught and believed!”

“This is the destructive force that foists upon the young, ‘gender confusion,’ and where the sacred bond of marriage between a man and a women is turned upside down! An idea that seeks to make same seax marriage the ‘norm; that seeks to make transgender normal as well as homosexuality! Cleaver and devious are their ways, so devious as to name call anyone who does not agree, anyone who speaks up, by saying they are against their movement, hence, haters! And so rather than face an onslaught of criticism on the social media, they just shut up!” We shut up!”

‘When Christians have been labeled as a hateful, narrow-minded group and deplorable by some of our leaders and anti everything by the marchers (paid and organized?), where is the silent majority?” Where are we?”

“Now the good news. What if Jesus comes tomorrow? Are you ready? Have you been watching and waiting and occupying as He commanded? Do you believe He is coming back for you before He comes back to reign on the earth? Do you know the difference? Do you believe all the Bible has to say about prophecy as Daniel, Jesus, Paul and John so clearly told us? Do you believe all that Jesus said He is going to do as He promised? If not, what kind of a Christian are you?”

“Now hold on to your socks as I tell you whats gonna happen next in God’s prophetic calendar”

“One day soon, perhaps today? our Lord Jesus shall descend from Heaven above to the sky above the clouds. At this stupendous moment, He shall call the dead in Christ of the past twenty centuries of the Church Age, and right up too our own tome, to rise from their graves, to be resurrected and their souls put back in their bodies, and they shall be immortal and glorified just as Jesus was and is, and they shall all rise by the almighty power of God. And, at the same time, all those who are living and alive at that time, who believe in Christ shall be transformed, translated into glorious, immortal bodies, and together with the resurrected dead, shall rise, shall be “raptured” up into the clouds to meet the Lord Jesus in the air, above the clouds! Our great gathering together to the Lord just as He promised! It will be fulfilled just as God’s holy written word in the Bible tells us!”

“But wait!” There’s more! Once we all are gathered to Christ above the clouds, we shall then follow Him to Heaven to the Father…and thus shall we always be with the LORD!”

“God’s wrath, the Great Tribulation of seven years shall then take place as God pours out His wrath to an unbelieving, satanic world…a horrible time such as has never been before…something no Christian would ever want to be a part of. And won’t! Read the Scriptures and find out just how horrible this future period will be! It’s all right there in God’s holy, written word!” And read how Jesus will rescue us from this terrible time to come!” Only believe!”

“I end with praises and eternal thanksgiving to Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit for all He has done for us, and all he will do in the near future, I believe, for the time is short, and He will do what He said He will do. To God be the glory; and to the glory of His name, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior the soon and coming, King of kings, and Lord of lords, Messiah-the Christ, the ‘Alpha and Omega, forever…in the love of God,

Amen.

Even so, Come, Lord Jesus.

In the Orthodox Church, the Feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ is celebrated today and at various other dates as great events and holy days in the Church year, the Year of our Lord.

How might our Christian faith be strengthened if we faithfully observed in worship and prayer of this amazing thing that actually happened when the Lord Jesus was glorified right in front of three of His disciples? How might we see through their eyes as it is written in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Christ’s future glory? And how might we then with glad and joyful hearts celebrate this special day with food, drink, dancing and song in honor of our Lord, the Messsiah? And how might we broadcast it far and wide with loud voices to be heard?…this great act that the Lord Jesus did in love before He went to the cross!

And how might we influence and shape the culture today that is on a collision course with destruction and death? Just who are they following?

Tradition says that the Transfiguration took place on Mt. Tabor in Galilee. I rather believe it took place on Mt. Hermon, the highest mountain in the region, and the Bible says in Matthew 17:1, “Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves…”  

God does things in sequence of events and chronological order.  That’s how He operates, beginning at Creation in Genesis to the future ‘end times’ to eternity in the Revelation; that’s how He operates!

You will note that in Matthew, chapter 16:13-17, Jesus and His disciples are in Caesarea Philippi which is located at the base of Mt. Hermon.  Here’s what transpired:

“When Jesus came into the region of  Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the son of Man, am?”

“So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

“He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

“Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”‘

“Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”‘

You see, it all follows in sequence; first the location, then the great confession by Peter, then the Transfiguration of the One they believed and followed and now knew to be the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God.

Can you see it in your mind? Can you give thanks in prayer for what Jesus has shown us? Where He showed His radiant glory and the glory just like His we shall one day have when Jesus raptures His believing Church to Him in the air above the clouds and takes us all to Heaven!

What?

Well, let’s pick up the account in Mark 9:2-4…

“…and He was transfigured before them.”

“His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.”

“And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.”

Why Elijah and Moses with Jesus there on the Mount of the Transfiguration?  These two Old Testament prophets; one who died as all men do, and one who did not see death, but was taken up to heaven, raptured; events that occurred hundreds of years before the time of Jesus on earth? Why?

Well, I believe that Moses represents the dead in Christ, who sleep in Christ until the resurrection to a glorious new body, immortal, just like that of Jesus at His resurrection. And that will take place when Jesus calls us from the grave to Him at the Rapture.

And Elijah represents the living believers who will be ‘translated,’ changed in an instant,  immortal and ‘caught up,’ or raptured up to Christ where we shall meet Him in the air, above the clouds…and we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is, and together follow Him to Heaven to the Father, and so shall we ever be with the Lord!

And Jesus showed us His future glory and the glory which is to follow as He gave us a glimpse into the future that awaits us.

I want to burst out in excitement and joy and be with all my family and friends and all who might want to be part of this wonderful celebration and remembrance of what our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ did for us…to know the truth and to proclaim to all who would hear: on this day, almost 2,000 years ago, and before He died on the cross, Jesus was Transfigured!

Glory to God, blessed Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, with eternal thanksgiving, praise and blessings,

And in Jesus Christ, my Lord and my God, my Lord and Savior, Who, following events to take place on earth as the wrath of God is poured out upon all unbelievers who follow the lie, to my King Messiah, who will then come back and reign on earth for a thousand years as the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS, be glory, honor, power, and might…

As it is written in the Word of God, so shall it be; so shall it ‘come to pass,’

Amen and Amen,

Even so, Come Lord Jesus.

 

 

 

 

Brother Monk, I am sending you to Liverpool next week for the annual Christian worship seminar.  The seminar will be conducted in the Liverpool Cathedral; you will be staying in the Anglican church nearby.  Father Brian is expecting you.  You will travel by coach Monday morning and return to us Friday.

Father Monk, I thank you for this wonderful opportunity.  I have been looking forward to something like this for months.  I’ll start getting my things together.

But before you do that, how about a nice prayer and a cup of tea?

At Liverpool:

The first two days focused on Morning and Evening Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer utilizing various editions.  This was followed by prayers and discussion of prayers and poems from the book, “Common Praise,” of authors of the past, and so warmly welcomed by all.  For example, we all pondered Charles Wesley’s famous Ascension prayer, verses 5 and six:

“Still for us He intercedes, His prevailing death He pleads; near Himself prepares our place, He the first-fruits of our race.”

“Lord, though parted from our sight, far above the starry height, grant out hearts may thither rise, seeking Thee above the skies.”  -Charles Wesley 1707-1788

When I spoke up that I believed Charles Wesley knew something about the “Rapture of the Church,” why this provoked such great discussion, sometimes heated, about what I meant.  And so we grappled over this precious doctrine some said wasn’t even in the Bible!  But it is, truly, because Jesus and Paul taught it to believers that one day the Lord is coming back to gather the church to meet Him in the air, above the clouds and follow Him to Heaven.  Yet we went around and around and wound up where we started! Anyway…

On the third day, Pastor June Stevens presented a session on “The Holding Cross.”

“Oh, my,” I thought, “What’s this going to be about?”

But what followed was so simple, so amazing, so powerful, so… so heartfelt.

Following opening prayer, she began:

“My presentation is entitled, ‘The Holding Cross: Ways to use this unique tactile cross in prayer and spiritual meditation.'”

“Made in Bethlehem from native olive wood, each cross has a unique wood grain pattern and color- just as each person who holds it was created to be special and unique.”

She paused and held up a holding cross.

“Hand-carved into the stem is a double cross, the symbol of Liverpool Cathedral.  To trace this outline is to remember the shape of this huge space dedicated to prayer and worship – to connect with the awesome God who encounters us wherever we are.”

“The holding cross is a special gift for anyone facing a time of sadness, illness or anxiety.  When words of faith are difficult or impossible, simply holding the cross is a prayer.”

‘Specially shaped to fit the palm, with fingers wrapped around it, the holding cross has been very helpful to all kinds of people, including those who are visually impaired.”

“As a focus for personal prayer each day, holding on to the cross can help us to be ‘anchored’ and still.”

“Feeling its smoothness, we can ask God to soften our ‘rough edges’ as He holds our life in His hands.”

“Remembering it was made in the place of Christ’s birth, we can give thanks for the coming of our Savior at Christmas.”

“Touching the wooden cross, we can meditate on the Easter story, the price Jesus paid to bring forgiveness and eternal life.”

“Thinking of those who made this holding cross in the Holy Land, we can pray for the millions of people all over the world who are following Jesus, with His cross at the center of their lives.”

We broke for tea and scones and restrooms.

About an hour later the session resumed:

“Now, praying with the holding cross.”

“These prayers and Bible verses have all been used when holding the cross by those who have a ministry of prayer here at Liverpool Cathedral.”

“And we want to pass on to you this precious ministry.  Before we start, each one of you will now receive a gift of a holding cross…”

“Please hold the cross in the palm of your hand and wrap your fingers around it.”

Praying with the holding cross

At the beginning of the day

At the beginning of this day, Lord God

Hold on to me

As I seek to hold to You

In faith and love

Be my guide

And be my light

Be my wisdom

And be my hope

Be my peace

And be my joy

And may the way I journey through this day

Give glory to You.

Amen.

Approaching God

May the love that held Jesus to the cross for me, be a source of forgiveness, strength, peace, freedom and healing.

In the assurance of His love and His presence here with me, guide my thoughts and prayers so that I can meditate with a relaxed heart and mind so to emerge from every act of devotion more alive to Him, and more alive to life.  Amen.

Connecting with the Father

Dear Lord, no matter what I face, no matter what my weaknesses are, no matter what my temptations: You have faced them all and understand everything.

Heavenly Father, you know me so intimately that You know every hair on my head.  As I reflect on the twists and turns of each of these grains of wood, help me to see how Your guiding hand has led me through my life and to understand Your will for all that lies ahead.

Please meet me at my point of need, and help me to receive Your peace.  This I pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Understanding the cross

I praise you, Father, for the astounding work of Your creation.  That Your trees are the lungs of the earth and provide for our shelter and out of which so many things we use are made.  But out of such a thing so beautiful, we can make an instrument of torture.  Forgive me for Your gifts that I have squandered and for the people I have hurt.

I love you, Jesus, because You first loved me.  You faced the cross alone so that I do not have to.  While I was still far off, You were there for me.  My human love is often fragile and conditional.  As I wrapped my hands around this cross, so envelope me with Your perfect, unconditional love and forgiveness that lasts forever.

Teach me, Jesus, how to serve You better.  As the Father sent You into the world to show us a new way of living in His Kingdom, guide me and strengthen me to live for You, no matter what the cost.  Give me the wisdom to fully acknowledge the debt I owe and courage to live out the message of Your risen life, in the power of your Spirit.  Amen.

At the end of the day 

Lord God,

As I look at the shape of the cross

Help me to reflect on the shape of this day

All I have done and the people I have met.

As I look on the grain making its mark on the cross,

Help me to reflect on what has marked this day,

Whether this is joy, love, sorrow, regret.

As I look and feel the cross resting in my palm,

Help me to reflect on my feelings of this day,

And to give thanks for a special moment.

As I look at the shape of the cross,

Help me to know your love for me, and ask that You

Be with me this night and in the day to come.  Amen.

“Let is now,” she said quietly, “in stillness, humbleness, and quietness, go the Lord in prayer and thanksgiving for this moment.”

And after this, the Pastor concluded:

“I should like to close with these special Bible verses used regularly for prayer and meditation:”

The Lord knows our needs:

‘Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?’  Matthew 6:27

Trust in God:

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God, believe also in Me.’  John 14:1

Jesus will give us rest:

‘Come to Me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’  Matthew 11:28  

He has a plan for our lives:

‘For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.’  Jeremiah 29:11

He hears our prayers:

‘You came near when I called on you; You said, “Do not fear!”

‘You have taken up my cause, O Lord, You have redeemed my life.’  Lamentations 3:57-58

His cross has brought us closer to God:

‘Through Him, God was pleased to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross.’  Colossians 1:20 

So dedicate each day to Him with a glad heart:

‘This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.’  Psalm 118:24

We all left with rejoicing.

And I found a new ministry.

Glory and blessings and thanksgiving to Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Creator of Heaven and earth, and all things, seen and unseen, and His glorious Plan of the Ages and in the Church Age, the Age of Grace, the Plan of Salvation in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, forever and ever.

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ever wonder why?

What if people asked the right questions?

What if COVID=19 is really a punishment from God?

What if God is trying to get our attention to turn to Him?

What if protestors were really turning on themselves?

What if history is history and you can’t change it?

What if thunder is really the voice of GOD from heaven, and lightening a small but powerful glimpse of His almighty power?

What if the Jews of the Exodus really did cross the Red Sea at the Gulf of Aqaba to Midian to Mt Sinai in western Saudi Arabia?

What if there really is going to be a third Jewish Temple built in Jerusalem?

What if there is soon to be the Rapture of the Church?

What if the Antichrist signs a seven year peace treaty with Israel in the next 10-15 years?

What if that event unleashes the Tribulation of GOD’s judgment upon an unbelieving world for seven years?

What if the Holy Bible were really believed?

What if the Holy Bible really did tell mankind his future?

What if man really believed there really is a devil and he has a name and he is a fallen evil spirit?

What if man one day realized the source of lies and deception and addictions and hate and bloodshed?

What if there was a world-wide revival in Christianity?

What if leaders in churches spoke out against violence in all forms?

What if protestors had to pay for damages inflicted during civil protest?

What if tearing down statues was a crime?

What if race was a two way street?

What if government had vision and conviction and the will to really help our people?

What if there hasn’t been much change in the status of poor people in America?

What if people begin to arm themselves if the police forces are cut in manpower and mission?

What if you gave thanks to GOD in everything?

What if evolution is a lie?

Why isn’t higher education teaching the big picture?

Why can’t Christianity be taught in high school and colleges?

What can’t creationism be taught in all schools?

Why is there so much confusion in the world?

Are evil spirits real and what do they do?

What happens to captured drug money?

What if man realized he cannot solve the problems of the world?

Ever wonder why?

Jesus Christ is the only answer and one day He will reign on the earth as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords for a thousand years on the throne of David in Jerusalem!

May GOD, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit touch your heart to believe unto eternal life with Him forever.

Jesus is Lord and Savior, Lord and God; in His Almighty, Creator name I pray,

Amen.

P.S. What if the earth is only about 6,000 years old (from Creation to present day) instead of millions and millions of years old as falsely taught?

What if there really was a world-wide Flood and a real person named Noah and a great ship called the Ark?

What if fallen angels mated with human women and produced a wicked offspring before the Flood?

What if ancient civilizations worshipped demons as their gods?

What if the same thing is going on today?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter…the resurrection of the crucified Christ.  Forty days later the glorified Jesus Christ ascended up into heaven as His disciples looked on, and where He went to sit at the right hand of God, the Father.  A week or so later God, the Holy Spirit was sent to the new church.  That was on Pentecost.  The year was 33 A.D.

And now, a week later we celebrate Whom we worship, and know and love, and long for, but Whom we do not yet fully understand: the Almighty, the Eternal, the Creator and Sustainer of all things; the ONE and only GOD in Three Persons, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.   This is the Triune GOD, the holy and blessed Trinity.

The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob was first revealed as the Holy and Blessed Trinity at the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist at the Jordan River and as recorded in Matthew 3:16-17:

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit go God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.

And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Here it is revealed to us the Holy Trinity: GOD, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; One in Three Persons; Three Persons in One.  And that’s what makes this Sunday so special!  This day and all to follow, let us give our eternal thanksgiving in worship and praise and love and prayers to the Trinity; God existing in three divine Persons.

It is of most significant note that Jesus began His earthly ministry with the revelation to all mankind that God is the Trinity as we have seen in the Gospel According to Matthew in chapter three.

And He ended His ministry on earth with the Holy Trinity as recorded in Matthew 28:16-20, just before He ascended into Heaven:

Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.  

When they saw Him, they worshipped Him, but some doubted.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.