He made the moon for the seasons;
The sun knows the place of its setting...
...They all wait for You
To give them their food in due season.
You give to them, they gather it up;
You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good.
You hide Your face, they are dismayed;
You take away their spirit, they expire
And return to their dust.
You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the ground.
Let the glory of the LORD endure forever;
Let the LORD be glad in His works;
He looks at the earth, and it trembles;
He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
Let my meditation be pleasing to Him;
As for me, I shall be glad in the LORD.
Let sinners be consumed from the earth
And let the wicked be no more
Bless the LORD, O my soul
Praise the LORD!
Psalm 104:19 & 27-35
Creator of all, sustainer of all, Savior to sinners, destroyer of the wicked.
It is wicked to think you are not a sinner in need of Savior. In order to not perish before the all powerful Holy God, God lovingly came and took your place as a sinner. Accept that gift or spend all eternity trying to pay back the debt you owe for sinning against a Holy God.
So in what season of life are you? In what season of the earth as we know it are we? As lovers of this world, we don't look forward to leaving all that God has graciously given to us. Then there are those "date-setters" who just can't wait to get raptured off the planet. What is up with that? (Yes, I still enjoy a pun - the simplest form of all humor.)
Date-setting has caused many in the body of Christ to become scoffers instead of watchers. Unbelievers cannot distinguish between cults and true Christianity, and a watcher is put in the same category as false teacher. Scoffing at all prophecy appears to be the wise and safe thing to do. Just look at all the cutls who have set a date for Christ's return:
Some lived just to leave; others lied to make a living.
We are to watch and know what season we are in,
not set the date.
Notice Biltz is in the chart at the link. Biltz's observations of the eclipses to come are based on the scriptures that say the sun and moon were given by God as signs on His Holy calendar. Sure enough, all the Jewish feasts God later gave are celebrated according to the phases of the moon. Jesus fulfilled the spring feasts in His first coming. Scripture points to Him fulfilling the fall feasts in His second coming. Biltz findings of the patterns of the eclipses are compelling and worth watching to see if we are approaching "the season" of the tribulation.
However, Biltz findings are dismissed because he foolishly set a date and proclaimed a pre-tribulation rapture! Why would he pollute his findings by saying Christ would return at a fall feast in 2008?! What would lead him to that false conclusion? Biltz believes in a pretribulation rapture to occur seven years before Christ's return. So he counted back seven years from the eclipeses and proclaimed the date for the return of Christ! Bad move. Not scriptural. He had been deceived, his findings are dismissed, and there is one more confirmation that it is a bad idea to be a watcher. Damage is done. Truth is, scripture commands us to watch. Watch what?
Watching the clouds for Christ to return on one of them, at any moment, is not in the scriptures. I have searched for it like crazy because I really like the idea of being transported off the planet before all hell breaks loose! Literally, all hell here on earth! You know, something like a judgment that caused a great flood to cover the entire earth, destroying everyone except those God put in the ark they built in faith that God was going to do what he said He would do. Folks, Jesus is our ark, He said he was coming back to judge, and He is our only refuge and strength in times of trouble! To proclaim when the judgment is coming so believers can stand there and look up in the clouds is heresy.
According to the scriptures:
-I do not believe the scriptures teach a pre-trib rapture.
-I believe scriptures teaches a 3.5 year tribulation.
-I believe Jesus fulfilled many scriptures during his 3.5 years of ministry on earth as the "Messiah the Prince", "the Prince who is to come" to the "people of the Prince" who entered the holy place and put an end to blood and grains offerings. (I find no anti-Christ in that passage of Daniel.)
-THE covenant of God was fulfilled by Christ, and He brought a New covenant. (No seven year treaty is a sign of His coming.)
-The body of Christ is the temple of God, and so I am not looking for a rebuilt temple before Christ's return since the above passage refers to Christ, not the anti-Christ. The Pharisees made the same mistakes of applying those scriptures to Jesus as a devil. Don't do the same.
According to scripture therefore:
-I am watching the apostasy that must come first. (The ones who claim Christ fall away from truth.)
-I am watching Jerusalem to be surrounded by armies.
-I am watching for the man of lawlessness to demand to be worshiped, for the unbelievers to be marked, and all hell to break loose.
Bottom line, do not allow yourself to become disqualified. Do what Jesus commanded:
-Preach the gospel.
-Love the Lord's appearing, watching, and teaching the next generation to observe what season we are in.
-Care for one another as you would care for yourself, as if serving Christ on earth.
Yes, much apostasy right now. Yes, Israel has the USA against her for the first time. Yes, the signs in the sun and moon of Christ's return at the time of the fall feasts may be the eclipses coming in seven years. However, scripture does not leave us guessing. The confirmation we are entering into the tribulation will be when people choose to take a mark and worship the man of lawlessness. Hasn't happened for 2000 years. Times are ripe for it to happen in my lifetime. As a watcher, I have sounded the alarm for others to be watching too.
Now let's get busy being about our Father's business of proclaiming truth so He can find us faithful if He comes at this time. That is how we are commanded to live.
(You know those parables that teach this.) We are not to live as though we will get "taken away" before the trials come. Remember, it was the evil-doers who were "taken away" at the time of the flood. ANd Jesus said "It will be just like it was in the day of Noah."
We have God's promise that His own are NOT destined to wrath. Though the winds of hell prevail, whether spiritually in our daily walk, or as boldy as in the tribulation, God will hold us safely under His wing when we call on Him.