Pre-Trib Rapture? Where's the Evidence?

#1 This is a Biased List!

"I Want to Believe!" as they said in film and TV series, X-files. But here is my back-story:

  When I was in high school, I went to a youth group of the pre-tribulation persuasion.  The group wasn't associated with any formal church organization. There was a seminary in my town. A couple of the students there decided to interview high school kids for a class assignment. Things snowballed and the two seminarians ended up leading a Bible study for teens, which lasted a couple of years until they graduated. During the summer break between those two academic years, we had a short-term lease on a storefront and ran a coffee house right next to the movie theater. To avoid the expense of food permits, it did not actually serve coffee; there was a not-for-profit vending machine for coke. But it was summertime, so that worked. It is only relevant because the coffee house was the spot where we, as intellectual wanna-be's, discussed this stuff late into the evening.
   Anyway, my childhood home-church avoided (a) most controversial subjects, and (b) end-time eschatology. Given the double-barreled shoot down, it wasn't surprising that I'd never heard much about this "rapture" stuff, and given my age, neither is it surprising that between wanting peer acceptance and having been trained to respect scholars training for their advanced degree, I was not going to scrutinize anything that wasn't obviously blasphemous.
   So in hearing about The Rapture was incredibly fascinating. I learned that the etymology of the term came from the Roman translation of scripture into Latin, rapiemur, which means 'caught up.'* They taught that before Jesus' second return (my childhood church did teach Jesus' second return, but left it at 'no one will know' when that will be), there will be seven years of evil, just like in the days of Noah, but that the true church would be caught up to heaven and escape this time of tribulation.
  That sounded good to me!  Later, as an adult out on my own, the church I attended then taught the same thing as a given, nothing to really question.  But as time went on... where was the proof? There is no hard and fast proof. Then where is the evidence?

   This became something that I needed to know for myself—I'm willing to take scripture for it, but not someone else's opinion.  And that is how this list began. There are two categories of scripture references in this list. Category 1. Scripture with reasonably good supporting evidence of a pre-trib rapture, and Category 2. Not a straightforward statement about an end-of-the-age catching away, but it does show either (a) a pattern or type that is likely to repeat, or (b) God's heart is to preserve His people.
   Admittedly, 2b is pretty weak evidence because so much of the Old Testament chronicles situations where God's people are so far into rebellion that 'catching away' those with recalcitrant hearts isn't going to achieve His end game; they need correction to come to their senses. But at the same time, these are often the scripture verses that I find most comforting; God's heart is preservation! Where this has left me—for now, anyway—is that I understand the reasoning of those who teach that not all born-again Christians qualify for the rapture, but only those who are looking for His return. That is a position beyond the scope of this post, but I'm leaving it on the table as a possibility these days. 

 So, let's get started. I collected these for years in several notebooks and on random strips of paper.  I have yet to find a method to categorize them that I could be happy with. A few years ago I transferred them into a hard-bound journal so that they'd all be in one place.  My original list is a hodge-podge from whatever translation I was using when I discovered the verse. Here, unless otherwise noted, to benefit from the blessing of copy & paste and save myself considerable time, most verses are from the Berean Bible.  If a word is in parentheses, it indicates an alternate translation from the New American Standard Bible. 

…12Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law, 13to grant him relief from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked. 14For the LORD will not forsake His people; He will never abandon His heritage.…  - Psalm 94:12-14

 3Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth, who carry out His justice. Seek righteousness; seek humility. Perhaps you will be sheltered (hidden) on the Day of the LORD’s anger. - Zephaniah 2:3

I am about to fulfill My words against this city for harm and not for good, and on that day they will be fulfilled before your eyes. 17But I will deliver you on that day, declares the LORD, and you will not be handed over to the men you fear. 18For I will surely rescue you so that you do not fall by the sword. Because you have trusted in Me, you will escape with your life like a spoil of war, declares the LORD.”…  - Jeremiah 39:16-18

In the shadow of Your wings I will take shelter until the danger (storms of destruction - ESV) has passed. - Psalm 57:1

At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress such as never has occurred from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people— everyone whose name is found written in the book— will be delivered. 2And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake... - Daniel 12:1, 2a

19Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead. 20Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourselves a little while until the wrath has passed (Until indignation runs its course). 21For behold, the LORD is coming out of His dwelling to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal her bloodshed and no longer conceal her slain. - Isaiah 26:19-21   (responsibility on the people to go)

For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will set me high upon a rock. 6Then my head will be held high above my enemies around me. At His tabernacle I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD. - Psalm 27:5 (would enemies be "around" you in His tent? at the rock? the tabernacle?)

For God has not appointed (destined) us to suffer wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  - 1 Thessalonians 5:9

...and to await His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath. - 1 Thessalonians 1:10

20You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the schemes (conspiracies) of men. You conceal them in Your shelter from accusing tongues. 21Blessed be the LORD, for He has shown me His loving devotion in a city under siege. - Psalm 31:20,21

13to grant him relief from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked. 14For the LORD will not forsake His people; He will never abandon His heritage. - Psalm 94:13, 14

Then cry out: "Save us, O God of our salvation; gather and deliver us from the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name, that we may glory in Your praise." 1 Chronicles 16:35 (King David is instructing his subjects to ask for this.)

Because you have kept My command to endure with patience, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. - Revelation 3:10

Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him! - Romans 5:9

...devout men are swept away, with none considering that the righteous are guided from the presence of evil (the righteous is taken away from the evil to come KJV). 2Those who walk uprightly enter into peace... - Isaiah 57:1, 2a  (in it's literal context, 'swept away' is death)

"They will be Mine," says the LORD of Hosts, "on the day when I prepare My treasured possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him." - Malachi 3:17

• Precedents in Scripture that have Patterns Consistent with a Pre-tribulation Rapture or a removal prior to judgmental wrath:

Noah's Flood - Genesis 6-8 - Noah had to build his own ark (speaks to individual preparedness), and then God providentially floated him above the destruction. After Noah's miraculous escape, a new era began.

Lot's Flight from Sodom - Genesis 18, 19 and Luke 17 -   Abraham's counter-argument to God's pronouncement of the destruction of Sodom is to appeal to God's character of justice: Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” - Genesis 18:25 I'm not sure that I would have seen this as a pattern of the righteous being removed before the wrath falls, except that Jesus pointed it out in the Gospel of Luke. Then in hindsight, the curious statement of the Angel stands out about the righteous MUST be removed first. "Hurry! Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you arrive." - Genesis 19:22
29But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30It will be just like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed. Luke 17:29. 30. Certainly our tendency is to focus on the rain of fire and sulfur being "just like" the destruction, but if it is fully just the same, then the "Lots" must also leave first.

Ruth at the Threshing Floor - Ruth 2, 3 - This example is more about the imagery than about escape from impending judgment, but the typology is worth consideration because it kicks this story to another level. Ruth works at gleaning during both barley and the wheat harvests. Barley is a hard grain that must be ground to release the nutrients in the digestive tract, but wheat is a softer kernel. It can be ground, but in Old Testament times, it was more commonly threshed because it stored better that way.  Here's the typology: During the threshing season following the second harvest, Ruth spent the dark night safely under the covering of her kinsman, Boaz. He redeems her and a marriage covenant is struck. Boaz did not normally spend his night sleeping on the threshing floor, only at teh end of the wheat harvest. Only the generation alive during threshing season would experience that covering.

Absences -  Isaac and Daniel - I found these two examples in materials from Manna-fest, the Perry Stone ministry. Absence does not prove anything, but I got'ta admit it's a pretty cool line of thought in an out-side-the-box way.  Isaac is a Christ-figure in this example, but instead of the groom going to get his bride, she the Rebekah/Church comes to him. It's an odd reversal, and I'm not sure what to make of it, but I added it to my list.  I find the Daniel example to be the stronger of the two, but the typology here has 3/4 of the church missing the rapture and overcoming by going through the tribulation. Daniel is conspicuously absent while Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are left behind to go through trial by fire. Like I said, it's out-of-the-box thinking. Take it or leave it. At the very least, it doesn't hurt to look at old structures with new eyes.

The Lampstands of Revelation -  For this example to count as evidence supporting a pre-trib rapture you have to accept the premise that the Book of Revelation is more-or-less in chronological order. Personally I think it mostly is, especially where the seals, trumpets, and vials/bowls are deliberately numbered. I don't think you can put #5 before #3 to make your pet theory match up better.  But while I think it runs mostly in order, it's also apparent that John's visions were switching points of view, so some things he saw from Earth and other he saw from Heaven. I also think it's probable that at least one scene was a flashback in time so that we'd be able to make more fully informed connections. But enough of that—on to the support for a pre-trib rapture.
In the first chapter, John sees seven menorahs or lampstands, which Jesus identifies as seven churches that are physically and geographically on Earth in present time, first-century.  Progressing to Chapter 11:

  17"We give thanks to You, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was; You have taken Your great power and begun to reign. 18The nations were enraged, and Your wrath has come. The time has come to judge the dead, and to reward Your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear Your name, both small and great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth." 19Then the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple. And there were flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and rolls of thunder, and an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.…

In verse 19 the temple of God in heaven is opened. It is fully furnished; the ark of the covenant has appeared. The lampstands, the church,  must be there; otherwise God has a temple with furniture missing.  Besides, it's the time to judge the dead and to reward His servants. Can we assume the rewards are given out in person and not in absentia? Or is this all metaphorical children of God, who are the Temple of God?  Should the translators have used 'a shaking' or 'a tempest' or even invented the word 'heaven-quake' instead of  'an earthquake' to translate seismós? It's possible to translate that way, but they didn't because this happens at the 7th Trumpet judgment when life on Earth is very shaky indeed.  
   The point is, this passage indicates that the "servants" are in heaven ready to receive their reward while judgment is still occurring on the Earth. Or are these just the servants so far, and the ones who aren't dead yet will have to catch up later?  Are you holding out to be "His child" instead of His servant? Without proof, it is a point of debate.

• Imagery - Not about the rapture per se,  these verses have imagery that is compatible with it. 

His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. - Matthew 3:12

For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will set me high upon a rock. - Psalm 27:5
 
For You have been a refuge for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. - Isaiah 25:4


•  My notes go on, but the last batch approach the evidence more as "Is it the Lord's character to rapture the Church before the Tribulation or would He allow his Bride to go through horrible times?" Most of what follows has little or no direct connection to a rapture, but rather are general evidences of protection and ways of escape. Many of the verses that promise deliverance have requirements, it's not automatic just because we exist. These are highlighted below.

So keep watch at all times, and pray that you may have the strength to escape all that is about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man. - Luke 21:36   Why would Jesus instruct people to be alert to and pray for something if escape were not possible?

9The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 10Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, O LORD, have not abandoned those who seek You. - Psalm 9:9, 10 

 The LORD helps and delivers them; He rescues and saves them from the wicked, because they take refuge in Him. - Psalm 37:40

Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me. - Psalm 50:15

 The LORD will guard you from all evil; He will preserve your soul. - Psalm 121:7

Conclusion
   I really want to believe, but in the end, if I am honest with myself, I am looking at a long list of promises, indications, and incidents that show God's character is to spare and protect those who honor Him. But there are no examples of God-EMP blasts that cause bodies with "Christian DNA" to rocket heavenward in a mass migration. There are no prophecies of airplanes falling from the skies. All of the scripture cited could easily have multiple layers of meaning. 
The timing for 1 Thessalonians 4:17 remains an enigma.

Footnotes

* Where is 'Rapture' found in scripture? I Thessalonians  4:17 in the Latin:
Deinde nos qui vivimus qui relinquimur simul rapiemur [suddenly caught up] cum illis in nubibus obviam Domino in aera et sic semper cum Domino erimus. 
 I Thessalonians 4:17 in English:
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up [rapiemur] together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.  

See also harpazo. It is Greek, not Latin, and means “suddenly caught up.” It occurs numerous times in the New Testament. 
http://www.earthquakeresurrection.com/excerpts/04.rapiemurandharpazo.pdf 

Views on Premortal Existence at the Time of Christ. ♦ Part One

I must begin today's blog by defining "the time of Christ." In this blog it refers to an era enveloping the years beginning with Gabriel's announcement to Mary that she was chosen to give birth to Jesus and extends through the time when first-person accounts of His life were being written. More loosely, it also includes literature that those alive then were likely to have read and been influenced by, even it if was written before Jesus' birth. For example, insofar as the writings of Moses would have influenced cultural beliefs of the first century, they are relevant even though written over 1200 years earlier.

But today, I want to post some English translations of hymns that were found as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. You've probably heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were found in Judean desert caves near Dead Sea. They were written between the first and third centuries B.C., so they would have been the text books for some of Jesus' contemporaries. Some scrolls like the Book of Isaiah and others that are part of our Bible today have gotten the most media coverage. But with over 900 scrolls recovered, others have secular topics, even bookkeeping, that reveal what life in the community was like. One, known as the Hymn Scroll, offers some remarkable insight into how Jewish culture at the time of Christ (and consequently many in the early church), viewed the preexistence of souls. 

The Hymn Scroll is written as lyrical poetry.  An English translation of the first hymn says in part:

By Thy wisdom [all things exist from] eternity,
and before creating them Thou knew their works
for ever and ever.
[Nothing] is done [without Thee]
and nothing is known unless Thou desire it.

Thou hast created all the spirits
[edit - several stanzas about creation of wind, clouds, lightning, etc. omitted ]

Thou hast created the earth by Thy power
and the seas and deeps [by Thy might].
Thou hast' fashioned [all] their [inhabi]tants
according to Thy wisdom,
and hast appointed all that is in them
according to Thy will.

[And] to the spirit of man
which Thou hast formed in the world,
[Thou hast given dominion over the works of Thy hands]
for everlasting days and unending generations.
... in their ages
 For Thou hast established their ways
for ever and ever,
[and hast ordained from eternity]
their Visitation for reward and chastisements;

Thou hast allotted it to all their seed
for eternal generations and everlasting years ...

In the wisdom of Thy knowledge
Thou didst establish their destiny before ever they were.
All things [exist] according to [Thy will]
and without Thee nothing is done.

It is Thou who hast created breath for the tongue
and Thou knowest its words;
Thou didst establish the fruit of the lips
before ever they were.¹

As the poem continues, the writer acknowledges that he is "a shape of clay, kneaded in water, that houses a straying and perverted spirit of no understanding."¹ He marvels at God's righteousness and realizes that he must declare the mysteries, tell of God's glory, and recount His works of wonders in truth. The writer is saying that he had a purpose in the spirit before his body was formed.
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/scrolls_deadsea/deadseascrolls_english/08.htm

≈ These lyrics give us a window into the views of one Jewish community that was active and vibrant around the time of Christ. They clearly believed that human life was well planned before the human body was created. They make a distinction between the spirit of man and the body he is housed in.

This is consistent with a summarizing paragraph about old rabbinic teachings that is found in History of Dogma:

According to the theory held by the ancient Jews and by the whole of the Semitic nations, everything of real value that from time to time appears on earth has its existence in heaven. In other words, it exists with God, that is God possesses a knowledge of it; and for that reason it has a real being. But it exists beforehand with God in the same way as it appears on earth, that is with all the material attributes belonging to its essence. Its manifestation on earth is merely a transition from concealment to publicity (φανεροῦσθαι). In becoming visible to the senses, the object in question assumes no attribute that it did not already possess with God. Hence its material nature is by no means an inadequate expression of it, nor is it a second nature added to the first. The truth rather is that what was in heaven before is now revealing itself upon earth, without any sort of alteration taking place in the process. There is no assumptio naturæ novæ, and no change or mixture. The old Jewish theory of pre-existence is founded on the religious idea of the omniscience and omnipotence of God, that God to whom the events of history do not come as a surprise, but who guides their course. As the whole history of the world and the destiny of each individual are recorded on his tablets or books, so also each thing is ever present before him. The decisive contrast is between God and the creature. In designating the latter as “foreknown” by God, the primary idea is not to ennoble the creature, but rather to bring to light the wisdom and power of God.²

But the Jewish community was not alone in their belief in premortal existence. Many Greek philosophers, Plato in particular, had reasoned their way to a similar conclusion, although using the Greeks' philosophical approach,  the label pre-temporal is more accurate; the soul existed before it entered this time dimension. Hellenistic beliefs recognized an eternal spirit and a perishable flesh. Philosophy was the "science" of the day, the explanation of how matter was constituted.  The Greek cosmology had a pure Upper World of the eternal spirit and a Lower World that was physical and finite. A spirit from the upper world would be invisible and immaterial in the lower world, so if it desired to be seen and wanted to move objects it would have to 'put on flesh.'  For those Greek philosophers, physical substance was ennobled by having spirit.

But while both cultures regarded premortal existence, they arrived at that agreement with a substantial divergence of world views. In Jewish thought, premortal existence glorifies the Creator. In the Greek cosmology, the creation is glorified by gaining a spirit.³  Indeed, in his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul warns that the two opposing world views apply to many things, not just premortal existence. In Romans 1:25-26, Paul pinpoints a world view where they 'worshiped and served the (temporal) creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever' as the reason that God 'gave them over to dishonorable passions.'

So what was Paul's view of premortal existence?  His surviving writings to the early Christian church are somewhat limited on the topic,  referring to the idea of preexistence in context to Jesus Christ. But both Paul and Jesus, even while speaking of himself as  the "son of man," clearly taught that Jesus had preexistence in the spiritual realm.

So how about other early church fathers; did they teach a premortal existence?  Yes, many did, but it gets messy fast!  Justin Martyr (AD 100–l65), St. Clement of Alexandria (AD 150–220), and Origen (AD 185–254) all had their own versions. At one end of the spectrum of thought, spirit is eternal and therefore one's spirit must be premortal, but that unique individual personhood and personality would begin and then continue to evolve only after it was attached to a body.  At the other end of the scale, a person's spirit already had personality, and that would determine which body it would get in the physical realm.⁴

As I said, the views of early church fathers on premortal existence get complicated rather quickly. I am writing a blog here, not a dissertation, so I focused mainly on Origen whose views seemed the most interesting, and—yes, he is also one of the easier ones to research.
   Origen used Romans 9:10-14 as his anchor text:

Now, this son was our ancestor, Isaac, who, with his wife, Rebekah, conceived twins. And before her twin sons were born, God spoke to Rebekah and said: "The oldest will serve the younger." God spoke these words before the sons had done anything good or bad, which proves that God calls people not on the basis of their good or bad works, but according to His divine purpose. For in the words of Scripture: "Jacob I have chosen, but Esau I have rejected."  So, what does all this mean? Are we saying that God is unfair? Of course not!  The Passion Translation

This passage is a conundrum for nearly everyone who reads it thoughtfully. How could God love one twin, hate the other, and proceed to tell their mom this before they were even born? Well, obviously not on the basis of their good or bad works. Origen's argument was that God's divine purpose was based on their conduct before this life and it was God's justice that determined the older one would serve the younger. 

I think it is important to point out that Origen did not believe in reincarnation⁵ where we recycle our lives in the same realm of existence. Neither did he believe in any species evolving or devolving into another kind.  He believed in transmigration of the spirit.  This is essentially the same concept as saying that when we die, our spirit "transmigrates" to either heaven or hell. Origen simply believed that Earth-existence was the result of a human spirit coming here from a previous realm.  He took the position that human souls incarnate only once into earthly bodies, as determined by God.


In Part One, I have shown that three categories of the Holy Land culture in the first century, Jewish, Hellenistic, and Christian, believed in preexistence. Part Two looks into scripture from the Bible, the Book of Enoch, and Apocryphal writings. 



Footnotes
¹ http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/scrolls_deadsea/deadseascrolls_english/08.htm
² History of Dogma, Volume 1, on page 319.   http://www.ccel.org/ccel/harnack/dogma1.ii.iv.i.html
³ I am not 'going there' in this blog because it is off-topic, but the contrast of motivations behind the belief exposes the lure of Luciferian worship, glorifying man with dark empowerment.
⁴ Perhaps you noticed that from there, it would be only a short jump to a belief in reincarnation? That would come shortly. By ~400 AD, St Jerome, who translated Greek scripture into the Latin Vulgate, wrote of Christian sects that had adopted that heresy.
⁵ By 543 AD, nearly three centuries after Origen's death, he was renounced as a heretic for having views too close to Plato's belief of metempsychosis, a form of reincarnation. But it seems that the blatantly heretical ideas of Origenism were added by those who followed his writings after he died.   

Israel's capital, Jerusalem.

Last December 6, 2017, President Trump announced that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.  Accordingly, he said, "This is nothing more—or less—than a recognition of reality."
On May 14, 2018, the 70th anniversary of sovereign Israeli statehood in the modern era, action was given to those words when the US Embassy officially moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

I was in Jerusalem that day.

We had had a hint of things to come the first evening in Jerusalem. Before we ever got inside the hotel, we'd been met by this banner on its front wall →

It was late evening, the first time my feet ever touched ground in Jerusalem, and the pressure was on to identify and collect my luggage from among hundreds of suitcases and backpacks being unloaded from the buses. My phone's camera also compensates for low lighting so the true deep-dusky effect is missing, but you can tell that this was snapped quickly without proper alignment and focusing.  I will excuse that this way: Those imperfections only highlight the blur of my first impressions in Jerusalem! I never expected to see my President's picture plastered on the front of the David Citadel Hotel in the center of Jerusalem.
Note the tagline: You Promised. You Delivered. Smaller and harder to see are these sentences: "Thank you for courageously recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's Eternal Capital," and "Time after time, President Trump has sent an unambiguous message to the world: the bond between the US and Israel is strong, and after eight years of the Obama Administration, the days of daylight between our nations are over."  Yes, Obama was openly trashed.

Whether you realize it or not, that bond between the US and Israel goes beyond the political and long ago found a foothold in the spiritual realm. The implications are deep, staggeringly positive, and I hope to scratch the surface of some of them at the end of this post. But first, more pictures!

Although I could not visit the embassy, a sense of the importance of the festivities was still present in the lamppost banners, newspaper headlines, and additional security at checkpoints!  The thought floated through my mind, 'If I could just collect all the security video I'm caught on, I would have great documentation without the bother of taking pictures.' Even so, there was never a sense of fear or imminent threat. Jerusalem was ready to party! 

The next morning I discovered that fringed pennants, banners, and flags were all up and down the main streets. Near our hotel, there would be about three streetlights with the Star of David Israeli flag, and the fourth would sport the Stars and Stripes American flag. (A couple nights later, there was a cool light display with the two kinds of stars coming together.) I began facing the reality that the recognition of Jerusalem is a much bigger deal than the average American realizes.

It may not be readily apparent in the spiritual realm, but the celebratory energy was certainly showing up in pop culture. Take a look at the kippahs/yamulkes sold by this street vendor.

On Jerusalem Day, the tour group had been out visiting historical sites in the morning and we barely made it back by mid-afternoon when they really began stopping and questioning every vehicle entering Jerusalem. A couple hours later, I got this easy-to-understand visual of why they were checking so scrupulously:  The crowds (plural) were massive.  When I stood on a retaining wall for a better view, the street was full for as far as I could see. I tried searching online for an estimate of the crowd size, but to no avail; all I found were estimates of the relatively small groups of protesters. It had to be in the tens of thousands.

Unfortunately, my photo, for all its attempt at nicely framing American flags, just doesn't effectively show HOW MANY PEOPLE were in the street. This shot actually covers four blocks before being obscured by trees, and this is only one direction.

Underneath the dangling leaves on the left is a portable stage with live music. This is as close as it got to what we think of as floats in our hometown American parades. The crowd was actually a slowly  traveling procession made up of smaller units that frequently stopped to dance or sing. There were civic organizations, school groups, small businesses, anyone really, who wanted to participate. I don't read Hebrew, so I missed a lot of who was what, but their espirit de corps came through loud and clear.

I have a couple of cultural observations. First, I have never seen people dance in the street like this unless they were drunk. These youths are not drunk! Secondly, in any corresponding American celebration, there would be an unspoken societal pressure to have co-ed groups. Here, the young men had their arms around each other in a circle dance and there was no trace of LGBT-agenda shaming or promiscuity over it. A few minutes later, a women's group came by with the same differences. Hold that thought for when I get to the spiritual implications at the end of this post.

American parades are spectator events; we watch a pageant parade by us. President Trump is planning a military parade for November 11th. I think he hopes to release this sort of inspiration and respect for heritage upon the American people. If so, those are grand motives that ought to be supported, but Israeli grass-roots participation has an electricity that is a very high bar to match. We are talking Energizer Bunny longevity here. The photos below were taken from my hotel window. In the first one, taken before a late dinner, over three hours past and three blocks from the views above, many people are still in the street.

In the second one, same intersection, but shortly before bedtime, many are still out and active even after the fireworks and light shows ended. It was an incredible experience, and one that most tourists do not get, to see how Jerusalem celebrated Israel's "Fourth of July" Independence. The following day was the official opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Extra Info for Perspective
- No one could get near the Embassy when it opened unless they'd been on the list and vetted weeks in advance. So no pictures of that, but many good one are available online at news and .gov sites.
- The banners in my pictures were not paid for by the Israeli government.
   https://www.fozmuseum.com/  Street banners sponsored by Friends of Zion in Jerusalem 
   rjchq.org   A political lobby group in the US sponsored the banner on the hotel.
-  America, while first, is not the only nation that pledged to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Guatemala, Paraguay, Honduras, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Romania have expressed a desire to move their embassies as well.

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Implications and Observations

These events have significance on multiple levels. I will touch on my personal Top Three.

1. Promises Kept.
    Promised is promised.  It has been only in the past couple of years that I realized how big a deal this is for me.  I don't make many promises; when I do they often have time limits on them.  Keeping promises was ingrained into me unknowingly as a child. If you don't want to do something, tell me up front. I am much happier lowering my expectations than I will be finding out you lied to me, and I can respect your honesty when you tell me no.
   And it turns out that "doing what you say you are going to do" is one of two seemingly universal laws. Anthropologists have found that across all cultures, times, and religions, keeping promises is a universal rule of good behavior. (The second one is don't encroach. No one likes it when you encroach on their space, their stuff, or their authority.)
   So whether by intentional strategizing or inspired happenstance, but either way, definitely by well planned marketing, the English edition of the Jerusalem Post was covered in a advertisement that any civilized person had to respect at a basic level: Promises Kept.

2. God Promises Stuff Too! 
Psalm 122:6
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: They shall prosper that love thee.
They will prosper. 
 Love is a partner with respect. Love & Respect. If something sort of feels like love but fails to meet the "Doth not behave itself unseemly" qualifier of 1 Corinthians 13:5, then it is hankering or enchantment, but not biblical love. Adulation with no foundation for fidelity.
    After the US officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last December 6th, that act of respect opened a flow of prosperity. Over 100 companies gave bonuses of at least $1,000 or more to over a million workers, and 90% of middle class Americans received a tax cut. Public optimism over the economy grew to exceed 50%, a place it had not held in over a decade. Political pundits credited Trump's tax bill, but they missed the reason that the tax bill passed: the breaking of a spiritual curse.
   For the opening of our embassy, many were praying for the peace of/in Jerusalem.  At month's end, the Wall Street Journal ran the headline, "U.S. Jobless Claims Drop to Lowest Level Since 1969."   Correlation or coincidence?
   Prospering extends far beyond economic benefits. It may be harder to see, and spiritual perception improves when honed in prayer, but look for other extensions of God's favor. I believe that the Lord will show the President ways to deal with world leaders, probably ruffling their feathers, but ultimately advancing the Kingdom of God with a side-effect of prospering the US.

3. Much has been said in the religious media about how "prophetic" it is that the United States has officially recognized Jerusalem. I am not wholly comfortable with using prophetic in that manner.  I prefer the term "tactical."  An honest show of Respect for Jerusalem is a tactical strategy in a spiritual warfare.
   I was stumped on finishing this post for a couple days because, even though I had a sense of the difference between my points 2 & 3, there is an overlap that I was having a hard time writing about. I have finally settled on this: #2 is about our love relationship; it's about human action or response from a heart of love.   #3 is about God's Word; God's is going to do what God is going to do whether or not we jump on His bandwagon. When our love-based choice to be on that bandwagon positions us in a place to hear the music, the distinction blurs.
   But a sizable chunk of what I am talking about in my third point is the harvest of our ancestors.

[Science Time-Out — Let's talk about dormancy! A dormant seed is unable to germinate (sprout) until all the environmental factors for its survival are present. Elements such as moisture, temperature, perhaps the presence of a certain enzyme or even abrasion of the seed coat may be necessary for germination. Until everything is in place, the seed will not sprout. Some cacti will have seeds that lay dormant for decades until there is an unusually wet spring. Some pine trees need the heat of a forest fire to open the seed pods. Date palms have been cultivated after 2000 years of storage at Masada.¹]

   The prayers of our forefathers were seeds lying dormant. During the first half of US history, Jerusalem was under a declining Ottoman rule; a hodgepodge population of  Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Armenian inhabitants totaled less than 8,000. Segments of Christianity believed that the Church had replaced Israel, since there was no formal Israel.  After WWI, the city was under the British mandate and a few Jews began trickling back to their homeland. But for the most part, conditions were not yet suitable for germination.
   Now, in 2018, prayers and labors of past generations have an environment where they can come to fruition.  




Footnotes
 ¹  https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/051122-old-plant-seed-food/

Curious sidebar - I was looking up Jewish history for the years Americans were fighting for independence. http://www.jewishhistory.org.il/history.php?startyear=1770&endyear=1779
1777 - 1836 NATHAN MEYER ROTHSCHILD (Germany-England) Famous for his Waterloo scoop in which he used carrier pigeons between England and Belgium to gain knowledge of the victory before anyone else. He expanded his father's bank into a world-wide firm.