The Learjet was a six–seater. Carpathia and Fortunato, deep in conversation, ignored Rayford and Amanda as the couple passed. The Steeles ducked into the last two seats and held hands. Rayford new global terror was entirely new to Amanda. It was new to him. On this scale, it was new to everyone. She gripped his hand so tight his fingers turned white. She was shuddering.
Carpathia turned in his seat to face them. He had that fighting–a–grin look Rayford found so maddening in light of the situation. “I know you are not certified on these little speedsters,” Carpathia said, “but you might learn something in the copilot’s chair.”
Rayford was much more worried about the plane he would be expected to fly out of Dallas, something he had never seen or even heard of. He looked at Amanda, hoping she would plead with him to stay with her, but she quickly let go of his and and nodded. Rayford climbed toward the cockpit, which was separated from the other seats by a thin panel. He strapped himself in and looked apologetically at the pilot, who offered his hand and said, “Chico Hernandez, Captain Steele. Don’t worry, I’ve already done the preflight check, and I don’t really need any help.”
“I wouldn’t be of any help anyway,” Rayford said. “I haven’t flown anything smaller than a 707 for years.”
“Compared to what you usually fly,” Hernandez said, “this will seem like a motorbike.”
Death Strike Chs. 7&8 The Speech, The Militia – Left Behind – The Kids
John and Mark had studied the sound system in the auditorium. If Judd deviated from his script, Mrs. Jennes would intervene. They had to have an alternate plan.
Mark and John had rigged an auxiliary microphone, hidden under Judd’s graduation gown. If his podium microphone was turned off, the auxiliary bypass the mixing board and went straight to the huge overhead monitors. Then, the only way to keep Judd from being heard would be to cut the speaker cable.
A thousand images flashed through Judd’s mind as he stepped to the lectern. Empty seats on the plane. Losing his parents. Bruce. Pastor Billing’s tape. Vicki and Lionel and Ryan.
The crowd stared, and the red light on the television camera beckoned. Whatever the cost, whatever the outcome, he felt God had called him to this moment.
Judd remembered a few techniques from speech class. He let the audience settle, then paused another second. The auditorium stilled as he folded his notes and placed them inside the lectern. He would speak from memory and from his heart.
“I made a promise to myself in this room one year ago. I vowed to deliver a message tonight. And I think G– I’m thankful I’m able to do that.”
No looking down. Jed looked at their faces.
“When we graduates started our junior year, we had no idea that many of our friends would not join us tonight. Kids we played T-ball with. We felt as close to some of them as to our own families. But now they’re gone.
“I would like to remember them now with a moment of silence.”
Judd stepped back and bowed his head. He turned slightly to see Mrs. Jennes and Leon Fortunato looking at the floor. So far, so good.
Death Strike Chs. 7&8 The Speech, The Militia – Left Behind – The Kids
Pentecost, the Birthday of the Church by Grace Brown
Acts 2:1-24, 37-40 (RSV) 1When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 And they were amazed and wondered, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 9 Par′thians and Medes and E′lamites and residents of Mesopota′mia, Judea and Cappado′cia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phryg′ia and Pamphyl′ia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyre′ne, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 12 And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day; 16 but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 yea, and on my menservants and my maidservants in those days
I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth beneath,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20 the sun shall be turned into darkness
and the moon into blood,
before the day of the Lord comes,
the great and manifest day. 21 And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him.” 40 And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. (Acts 2:1-24, 37-40)
Pentecost is one of the most significant days in history. It is the day God gave the law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. It is the day of the annual feast of first fruits of the wheat harvest. It is the day Jesus baptized his disciples with the Holy Spirit. It is the day the Holy Spirit empowered them for the work of the harvest.
Perhaps you can relate to harvest through one experience or another as I can. My grandma always had a garden. As a child I helped her plant it: leaf lettuce, cucumbers, peas, tomatoes, radishes, corn, carrots, zucchini, green beans, and more. After the garden was planted I checked it often. It seemed to take forever for the first shoot to push its head up through the soil. I rejoiced in each new young plant. (And I still do each spring as the plants reawaken to new life.) Then the plants would leaf out, bud, and flower. I waited with great anticipation for them to bear fruit, well vegetables. My favorite was green beans. From the time they were about an inch long I asked Grandma if they were ready to harvest yet. Everyday Grandma would say, ‘just a little longer, just a little longer.” Then the day finally arrived. I would enter her house and she would say, “I think some are ready today.” We would go out and check. Sure enough, some were ripe for the picking. The first fruits of the harvest always seemed to be the best. I was filled with excitement, joy, and thanksgiving because weather, critters, and other things could damage the plants. To have a good harvest was a true blessing.
The harvest always begins with a seed. The apostle John wrote of Jesus speaking with a Samaritan woman from Sychar. As the woman heard Him speak to her about her life circumstances she recognized Jesus as a prophet. As they spoke further about the worship God desires, she recognized these were things the Messiah would teach and she asked about the Messiah. Jesus declared to her He was the Messiah. She went into Sychar telling the men, “Jesus told me everything I had ever done” and asking, “Could this be the Messiah?” A seed was planted in the minds and hearts of the men. They headed out to Jesus to see for themselves.
As the men came, Jesus said to His disciples, “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and see how the fields are already white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” The harvest was plentiful in Sychar, many people believed in Jesus, the Messiah. (John 4:4-42)
John the Baptist said of Jesus, 11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary… (Matt 3:11-12)
Here in Acts 2 it was Pentecost, the disciples were in Jerusalem celebrating the feast of first fruits and waiting with anticipation Jesus’ promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
At one point, Jesus had told his disciples he was going to die and they were grieved. But, Jesus encouraged them saying, “…I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor (the Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” (John 16:7-15)
It may not sound like it, but Jesus was talking about the harvest. You see, it’s only when we, our families, friends and neighbors know we are all sinners, it’s only when we know we are bound for hell because of our sin, it’s only when we know Jesus, the only righteous one, paid the penalty demanded for our unrighteousness thoughts and acts through His death, it’s only when we know Jesus’ death obtained for us forgiveness and new life with God, it’s only when we know and accept these truths for ourselves that we, our families, friends and neighbors can experience the thanksgiving, joy, and excitement of being a part of the harvest. We become part of the first fruits of eternal life, to the glory of God. It is the Holy Spirit who works this harvest in our lives, who reveals these truths and more to and through us.
Jesus went on to say, “When the Spirit of truth (the Holy Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that He will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-15)
The prophet Joel said: “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit (the Holy Spirit) upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; yea, and on my menservants and my maidservants in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 20 the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and manifest day. And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ (Acts 2:17-21).
When we are saved, when we believe and accept Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead obtaining for us forgiveness and eternal life, the Holy Spirit enters our lives. On Pentecost, the festival of first fruits, Jesus baptized the disciples with the Holy Spirit. The disciples preached the gospel as never before resulting in a harvest of 3,000 people joining the ranks of the first fruits, the forgiven, thankful, joyful people of God.
The Holy Spirit works this harvest in us and then through us here where we are to bring in the harvest of people for God. Some may plant, some water, some harvest, but it is the power of the Holy Spirit that makes us grow and bear fruit and brings people to eternal life.
So, where do you stand? Do you know you are a sinner, condemned? Do you believe Jesus died for your sins? Do you accept for yourself Jesus’ death paying the penalty for your sins? Do you believe Jesus rose again from the dead gaining eternal life for you when you believe? Have you received the Holy Spirit and the new life and fruitfulness He brings?
If you have, now is the time to renew your commitment to Him, thanksgiving, and praise for His work in and through your life.
Pentecost, the Birthday of the Church by Grace Brown
The Mystery of the Shemitah Chapter 21 – The Reigning
Four is the number given in Scripture connected to world kingdoms and empires. From the year America began its rise to superpower in the First World War to the coming of the Second World War, three Shemitah’s had gone by. The fourth Shemitah was approaching. The world was again engaged in another cataclysm. It would be the deadliest war in human history. By the time it was over, more than 50 million lives would be lost.
The Year of the Shemitah would begin at summers end 1944. In its approach American and Allied forces would launch the invasion of Europe. “Operation Overlord” on “D-Day.” But in that same summer another event would take place, much more quietly, almost a noticeably. And yet it would bear massive ramifications for the world. It would happen in the quiet village of Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
The Shemitah brings about the transformation of the economic and financial realms. What took place at Bretton Woods would bring about the transformation of the global economic and financial order. It would establish such institutions as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. But most dramatically it was set up a new world economic and financial order in which world currencies would be tied to the U.S. dollar.
The wiping away of debt and the ending of the Shemitah would bring about a new financial and economic beginning. Bretton Woods would bring about a new financial and economic beginning and order for the world. America would now be the global base on which the world’s economic and financial order would rest. It was planned out in the summer of 1944, in the Shemitah’s approach. It would be ratified by the American Congress in the Shemitah’s midst, in summer of 1945. And it would begin taking effect after the war’s end, in the Shemitah’s wake.
The Mystery of the Shemitah Chapter 21 – The Reigning
Are the Left Behind series and The Mystery of the Shemitah biblical?
This is Ray Mossholder with a question – Are the biblical parts of Left Behind and Left Behind – The Kids, fiction too, or are they truly biblical? For the answer to that question go to a posting on reachmorenow.com or reach more now YouTube and read the article posted thanks to Crosswalk.com that is called “What does the Bible say will happen just before Christ returns?” It’s by Dr. Roger Barrier. On reachmorenow.com simply go to the front page and look up. You’ll find the categories. Just click Bible studies and wallah, Dr. Barrier’s article will be there.
The truth is we don’t know whether the rapture – the initial coming of Christ for all Christians – will happen before the tribulation, 3 1/2 years into the tribulation, or at the end of the tribulation. If Christ comes at the end it will be the only coming of Christ since He came to live on Earth, minister His love to the multitude, was crucified and rose again two thousand years ago.
Biblical scholars who have concentrated on the end times argue from what each of them has discovered, settling on pre, mid, or post and believing that they have an inside track on the truth about when Christ will return. Some of the most outstanding biblical scholars regarding the end times are divided by different conclusions in their opinions about Christians and the tribulation.
The majority of Americans do believe in the pre-tribulation rapture that Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins write about in their books. Since they have sold many millions of their books throughout America and around the world, it may be because of those books that people have assumed Christ will rapture His people before the tribulation.
As for me and my house, we are divided on this issue. I am one who does believe in the pre-tribulation rapture, but Georgia honestly declares she just doesn’t know. And Larry believes Christ will not come until the end of the tribulation.
Both Larry and my first mentor was a pastor who is to this day respected internationally for his scholarship, Dr. Jack Hayford. He believes in the mid-trib rapture… that Christ will come halfway through and save all Christians from the last three years which are called “The Great Tribulation”, the most hideous 3 1/2 years that this world will ever know.
Even with Dr. Hayford’s stated belief, he says he hopes he is wrong about it. Both he and Georgia have the same attitude. They’re hoping no Christian alive at Christ’s coming will ever have to go through any part of the tribulation.
Now let me ask you another question: What are the odds that Christian Rabbi Jonathan Cahn in his book The Mystery of the Shemitah is right about a great financial collapse in America, and perhaps globally, that will take place on September 28th of 2015?
Remember that the Christian Rabbi is NOT predicting the second coming of Christ at that time. But Jonathan Cahn has done extremely accurate biblical research on dates that fully correspond to world calamities and to America’s financial collapses in the past more than a century that have repeated themselves every seven years and can’t be denied. They include 9/11 and the huge stock market crash on September 11th, 2008.
Milton Peely, reach more now’s news correspondent in England, sent me the following article tonight that does lend much strength to what Cahn is saying in The Mystery of the Shemitah. Allow me to read it to you:
It’s from Pravda.Ru…..
Brussels, Belgium, is going to bring about new steps in order to cope with the debts of European bank reserves. It decided not to undertake any further reforms to tackle the existing economic problems but rather to get rid of all its nation’s cash.
To maintain the euro, they must maintain the banks. But the bank reserves consist of debts of all member states. As governments become insolvent as in Greece, the banking system is undermined. The only way to prevent the banking collapse is to prevent people from withdrawing cash. Hence, we see this trend surfacing in all the mainstream press to get the people ready for what is coming after 2015. We can even evidence this approach in major parts of Germany.
There will be no ability to buy or sell anything without government approval. That is where we are going and this may be the major event that erupts after 2015. The European banking system may face a totalitarian regime.
– See more at: http://english.pravda.ru/news/business/19-05-2015/130638-cash-0/#sthash.PLQfe4Wz.dpuf
Also from Pravda.Ru…..
Denmark is going to be the first one to ban cash transactions. The government has already declared it as part of cost-saving measures. It is directed at taxes securing and preventing banks from complete collapse that is possible due to bank runs.
People should be ready because they won’t be able to pay in cash in stores, restaurants and petrol stations within the territory of their country in the near future. Other measures will be also be considered in order to prevent capital flight from other countries. Otherwise, there may be major capital disturbances unless all nations abolish cash simultaneously.
This appears to be the big issue that is likely to unfold with the European Common Market turning point at the end of September 2015.
A totalitarian regime will lead to the total control of money by the state. No ability to buy or sell anything without government approval will be provided.
Freedom of movement and travel will be restricted in Rome, if you owe money to the state.
– See more at: http://english.pravda.ru/news/business/20-05-2015/130654-denmark-0/#sthash.2bXZzAqt.dpuf
Notice that this second article says that the European Common Market cashless announcement will come at the end of September. Will September 28th of this year be the day when our government announces it is abolishing cash? We wait to see.
Christians, it’s way past time to pray. But even Jonathan Cahn says that our merciful Lord can still hear our prayers and perhaps postpone that which seems inevitable. Jonathan says he hopes he is wrong. But God’s math as clearly seen in The Mystery of the Shemitah has been absolutely flawless.
A cashless society and the control already in place of a one world government deciding which citizens can buy or sell, are two major pieces of what Revelation says are direct signs Jesus Christ is ready to return. Please be ready for Him so that you won’t be left behind.
Are the Left Behind series and The Mystery of the Shemitah biblical?
It was the worst of times; it was the worst of times.
Rayford Steele’s knees ached as he sat behind the wheel of the rented Lincoln. He had dropped to the pavement at the crushing realization of his pastor’s death. The physical pain, though it would stay with him for days, would prove minor compared to the mental anguish of having yet again lost one of the dearest people in his life.
Rayford felt Amanda’s eyes on him. She laid one comforting hand on his thigh. In the back seat, his daughter, Chloe, and her husband, Buck, each had a hand on his shoulder.
What now? Rayford wondered. What do we do without Bruce? Where do we go?
The Emergency Broadcast System droned on with news of chaos, devastation, destruction, and cell phone failure throughout the world. Unable to speak over the lump in his throat, Rayford busied himself maneuvering his way through the incongruous traffic jams. Why were people out? What did they expect to see? Weren’t they afraid of more bombs, or fallout?
“I need to get to the Chicago bureau office,” Buck said.
“You can use the car after we get to the church,” Rayford managed. “I need to get the word out about Bruce.”
Global Community peacekeeping forces supervised local police and emergency relief personnel directing traffic and trying to get people to return to their homes. Rayford relied on his many years in the Chicago area to use the back roads and side streets to get around the major thoroughfares, which were hopelessly clogged.
Rayford wondered if he should have taken Buck up on his offer to drive. But Rayford had not wanted to appear weak. He shook his head. There’s no limit to the pilot’s ego! He felt as though he could curl into a ball and cry himself to sleep.
