Mercury Vapor Compliance

Mercury Vapor Compliance is a spoof on Neon Revolt...   (explained later, if you didn't already get it)

This is my Q post.  (also explained later if you didn't already get it, but really—you ought to have done by now)

When I want to write about an array of seemingly random topics and still maintain a degree of  organic logic in the narrative, my go-to writing device is the autobiography. That's what I'm doing here. It takes a little longer, and often flirts with TMI on the personal stuff, but keeping a coherent flow and reducing the likelihood of misinterpretation is worth it.

By fourth grade, I had read every Grimm's fairy tale that I could get my hands on—the English translations, not the kiddie paraphrase & picture books. I'd probably have read them months sooner, but I'd been told that those were adult books, and so I submissively accepted that they were above my level.  That explains the "Compliance" in the title of this post. I desperately wanted to be 'good.' And in the household where my mother was Mother, that meant knowing one's place. So I read the newspaper instead. (eyeroll - and I'm not explaining that)

Anyway, by 8 years old I was a full-fledged, fiction-addicted bookworm, and that status remained until the end of high school. In college, where there was so much mandatory non-fiction to cover, reading priorities were shuffled and friendship-time easily overtook fiction-for-pleasure.  All my adult life has been an uneven pendulum swing between fiction and non-fiction. I'd go for a couple years reading only non-fiction, and then need several months of pure fantasy binges to reestablish balance.

That changed last winter. A few weeks before Christmas, I discovered Q.¹  Q is the 'best of' an Agatha Christie puzzle with the intensity of a Tolkien Good vs Evil quest, except that it's all IRL non-fiction. Wow! just Wow!  Q is not a larp, but in reading the posts, I can easily feel like I am. I can become a live action role-playing investigator.

But I'm only an autist² on my dad's side.  That means I can generally understand them broadly enough, but it's still nice to have some translation help with the finer points at times. And that is where the Neon Revolt³ part comes in.

Neon self-describes as cherishing "Honor, Duty, Faith, Family, and Tradition." I'd shake up his order of the elements, but agree with them all.  Personally, I find a lot of humor in his posts too, but I tend to favor the subtle and the droll. And puns. But I realize that my sense of humor is out there orbiting the conventional. Want an example? Pulled from his most recent post, I Laughed Out Loud at the 'whining' line because I think it reflects a great deal of camaraderie. If you don't see that from an angle of goodwill and lighthearted fellowship, well, humor is binary, it is there or it isn't. 

.... to be continued. out of time for now.




Footnotes

¹ Who is Q?   For now, I am not calling Q a who; I am calling Q a liaison—a means of direct communication between a presidential military operation and pretty much anyone who has a device capable of connecting to the internet.  What is known for certain is that the original Q-Operation involved less than ten persons, only three of whom are non-military, and that Q+ is  President Trump himself.

² an autist in this sense is someone with a highly focused brain who has the intelligence to excel at researching and finding arcane connections. Under the common definition of autism, that side of it would be a savant, but unlike the neurological definition of autism, a Q-autist still falls within the normal range of social-emotions, even though those emotions are often compartmentalized more than the party-animal personality type, (which is a plus when ritual abuse research is involved).  Before academia started giving everybody Meyers-Briggs labels, autists were the "absent-minded professors" of the world, really smart and respected in their own field.

³ https://www.neonrevolt.com/

A Facebook Post

One of my Facebook friends posed the question, "Why are all the investigations costing taxpayers so much money? Aren't the investigators on taxpayer's payroll?"

I never answered her question. 

Instead, I explained why I am not too fussed about it anymore.  That's because my opinion on the Mueller investigation has changed over the last four months or so, and I think that in the end, it might even prove to be money well spent! This is how I answered:

 Let's ask ourselves a few questions. Don't worry, the following question will contain a hint for the previous answer.

If you wanted to drain the swamp and prosecute corruption in the deep state, what, (other than the obvious evidence,) would you need?
Why would it be important to have wide-spread grassroots support?
How would having the support of millions of average Americans help reduce rioting and vandalism when corrupt 'celebrity' politicians are arrested?
What is the greatest stumbling block in gaining wide-spread support of the citizenry?
Why does the old media keep pumping out anti-Trump propaganda?
Why does the mainstream media have a symbiotic relationship with the Deep State?
What is an effective way for Trump to overcome media propaganda?
Can you name something other than Twitter?
Why might feeding the Media with a real investigation of a fake charge be useful?
Why would the media fall for reporting a fake story like Trump/Russian collusion?
What real collusion would make them presume that?
How is Mueller's employment history linked to past Democrat leaders?
When Mueller fails to find Trump/Russian collusion, who comes off looking like the bad (or inept, or crazy) guys?
Would this make Americans more likely to distrust the media that had been telling them for over a year that Trump/Russian collusion was the greatest crime in American politics?
What would happen if an "irate" (theatrically angry, but actually sly) Trump declassifies all documents to "prove" his vindication?
What if the declassified documents point to the swamp-dwellers?
How will those who voted Democrat all their life deal with this cognitive dissonance?
If Mueller's investigation and Democrat stalling tied up enough time that two Supreme Court judges have been replaced, how would that work against the Deep State?
If courts are no longer legislating in favor of the Left, but are deciding cases based on evidence, would this increase or decrease the likelihood of a conviction or of being tossed on a technicality?
*** Yes, I think that Trump is using the Mueller investigation to change public opinion, which in turn will make it easier to drain the swamp. The more who get mad at the Mueller investigation, the more people will come around!    

============
But, if you do not like that line of thought, then there is this:
Considering that under the Trump administration more than 2 million jobs have been created and the overall unemployment rate dropped to a 17-year low, while unemployment for Blacks reached the lowest since they began collecting statistics—all of which will mean more taxpayers contributing and fewer persons in need of assistance; considering the stock market reached an all-time high, consumer confidence is at a 17-year high, mortgage applications for new homes rose to levels not seen since Obama's early "honeymoon" months; and considering that Americans will no longer be told they must pay billions of dollars, the spending of which will be decided by foreigners who are administrating the Paris Climate Accord, and because Trump's tossing out of over-regulation has contributed to U.S. total energy exports hitting record highs, by comparison with improvement in the economy, Mueller is spending chump change.

Parable Reflections & Military Parades

That's the bibliography citation for the source of a Facebook post I found in my feed this morning.  The post quoted from a Newsweek article that began, "President Donald Trump's military parade is set to kick off on Veterans Day, but at a cost that even conservative estimates show could feed every homeless veteran for at least two weeks, a Newsweek analysis found."

That's a well-crafted sentence if your purpose is to belittle the President, because using 'conservative" as an adjective to mean a traditional, not over-the-top standard of estimation will simultaneously and subliminally insert the notion that "even conservatives," the political bloc, are against him. But that is not the case. Many patriots see this parade as a brilliant part of a larger plan.
 
My first response was this—

What Trump understands about money and Newsweek apparently does not is that this parade is going to generate tons of support for our veterans and our military. So yes, he could feed the veterans Chicken à la King for two weeks, or, he could inspire the we-the-people across the nation to invest in the VA and push their representatives to help fix what Obama had deconstructed. If Newsweek really wants to find money to feed the vets, they can always go investigate the sums that we are spending to feed the border-crashers. That money would feed our Veterans a lot longer than two weeks. The article was just another whine about Trump.

It's fairly easy to see that Newsweek has abandoned the wisdom old proverb about teaching a man to fish:  Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. And no, I am not suggesting that all veterans need to go back to school. Retraining may help some, but we are not dealing with a one-size-fits-all answer. I am talking about Newsweek's argument being based on a short-term remedy, after which, one is left with the original problem unchanged.

A parade would inspire many to see the value of our military, both past and future. It says that those who contribute to national security are worth investing in. It's a great recruiting device, not just for enlistments, but to recruit national pride and support among the citizenry. That's the genius of MAGA: recruit national pride and that form of self-respect motivates the citizens to do better and work more enthusiastically as a team.

The idea of a parade does more than make an appeal to patriots, however. Running across its surface is a streak of inspiration where Trump potentially plays the Left.  The Left claims to be all about safety. They want safety so much that they believe we ought to be willing to give up a prodigious selection of our freedoms for it! A parade is a balancing trick for them. If they oppose the military too harshly, Americans will see that they don't care about safety as much as they claim; but if they support it too much, their enemy Trump wins. About the only card they can play is the one that attempts to make Trump look like a spendthrift.

But some actions that look wasteful on the surface are investments that produce great returns. This came up in Jesus' ministry when John records this scene in Chapter 12 of his gospel:

5"Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" 6Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to take from what was put into it…

In context, Mary (not Jesus' mother, but Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus) had taken roughly a pint of an essential oil called nard¹ and poured it over Jesus's feet. And here we see Judas complaining that this was too extravagant, just as Newsweek is complaining that a military parade is too extravagant. But the Bible then explains that Judas's compassion for the poor was fake and that he had very different motives. Similarly, Newsweek has exposed itself as having a motive other-than compassion for our Veterans. Their contention that a parade is too extravagant quickly falls apart when their true motives are exposed.

Often, God is extravagant. And Jesus was fine, even impressed, with Mary's extravagant in this situation.  "Leave her alone," Jesus replied. "She was intended to keep this perfume to prepare for the day of My burial,"  John 12:7.


Extravagance is God's true nature.²  But while we are living here on the Bootcamp Planet, He wants us to learn Value. If all we ever knew was His extravagance, it would be our normal and we would never develop a standard or baseline to appreciate God. Remember, Adam tried the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and as a consequence, we learn about the evil of lack as well as the provision of a good God. And we also learn about the evil of using fake motives to manipulate outcomes.

Judas's little speech was befitting the description of Psalm 55:21, His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.  And Newsweek's article fits this characterization as well.

Newsweek will probably be out of business before the parade. They have been in financial trouble for a long time, as far back as ending the dollar-sucking print edition in 2013. That was to give them more time and a reboot, but this past March, an audio recording surfaced with one of their executives saying that the publication has "only weeks to get out of financial straits or it will die." (sources: Newsmax, Daily Beast)
It has been three months now, and they are still pumping out articles with an anti-Trump bias. Perhaps the rising tide has kept their boat afloat a bit longer.

One of the most important things we can learn on this Bootcamp Planet is to judge things in line with God's values, which are usually radically different than man's values. God values things as simple as a cup of water.³ He also values a heart with pure motives. If you understand that the Lord places a high value on pure motives, then you will be able to understand why He also considers slander to be such a Big Sin. Slander is the destruction of someone's character by giving false witness. When that false witness is against something that God highly values, such as a pure motive, the sin is compounded. President Trump has been clear that he wants to make America great again. Anyone who still questions the authenticity of his motive by slander is putting himself in double jeopardy for divine judgment.

Bring on the parade! It is motivated by the intent to help make America better. 


Footnotes

Nard

¹ Nard is an intensely aromatic oil that is collected by crushing the rhizomes of a flowering plant. The oil is then distilled, purifying and thickening it. Nard was an ingredient in the special incense the Israelite priests burned in the temple in Jerusalem and was also used in local synagogues on Shabbat. It is estimated that the value of the nard Mary used was equal to the average annual income at that time.
² God's extravagance ought to be self-evident, but if you need a footnote, think about how He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent. Think about the extravagant variation of Creation. Think about how he loved the world so much that He gave His only son; that's omnibenevolence.
³ Matthew 10:42 — And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.

Trump goes to Big Sky Country

It has been years since I've been to Montana.  I'd love to go back with a friend and with bug spray.

Last night, President Trump gave a speech at a Montana campaign rally for the Republican senate candidate, Matt Rosendale. Amid the impressive job statistics and the accompanying talk of how those numbers are largely due to tossing out regulations and lowering taxes, and tucked in among other concerns about how illegal immigration threatens national security, there was this odd verbal gallivant:

I have broken more Elton John records, he seems to have a lot of records. And I, by the way, I don’t have a musical instrument. I don’t have a guitar or an organ. No organ. Elton has an organ. And lots of other people helping. No, we’ve broken a lot of records. We’ve broken virtually every record. Because you know, look I only need this space. They need much more room. For basketball, for hockey and all of the sports, they need a lot of room. We don’t need it. We have people in that space. So we break all of these records. Really we do it without like, the musical instruments. This is the only musical: the mouth. And hopefully the brain attached to the mouth. Right? The brain, more important than the mouth, is the brain. The brain is much more important.

Okay, that sounds loopy. If I wanted to play nice, I would have said it "sounds off-script." But I want to play truthful, and truthfully, it sounds dotty, bonkers, and haywire.  Say, what?

Is there a method in this madness, or is it simply face-value madness? You can see why the press doesn't understand him. But I think I've got this one.

Best Guess: Trump is a Troll! Yes, he is trolling!

But first, some background. A little over five years ago, the American Psychological Association downgraded pedophilia from  a 'disorder' to an 'orientation.'  It is a further slide down the slope to decriminalization. And here is how that works:
Pedophilia as a disorder means that the perpetrator enjoys inflicting psychological stress and physical abuse on his victims. Pedophilia as an orientation means that the perpetrator enjoys it. Somehow, the well-being of the child disappears into the ethos.

But further back, almost two decades ago now, Elton John performed at a London gala honoring a homosexual-rights group. His stage act included six teenage strippers dressed as Cub Scouts. A September 2007 story by the Daily Mail reported, "Sir Elton John has admitted that an art exhibit seized by police as part of a child pornography probe is his."
Elton is a pedo.

Well, President Donald J Trump doesn't look so crazy now, does he?  He is trolling Elton John.
"Organ" is obviously a phallic thing, not a harpsichord with wind pipes.  And Elton isn't just tending to his own personal needs.  There are "lots of other people helping."

Trump then says, "No, we’ve broken a lot of records. We’ve broken virtually every record."
The best-fit explanation for this is "the record" of arrests for crimes involving pedophilia.

Donald Trump became president on Jan. 20. And in one short month, there were more than 1,500 arrests for sex crimes ranging from trafficking to pedophilia.

Big deal? You bet. In all of 2014, there were fewer than 400 sex trafficking-related arrests, according to FBI crime statistics.  dailywire.com March 2017

The Department of Justice today announced the arrest of more than 2,300 suspected online child sex offenders during a three-month, nationwide, operation conducted by Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces. The task forces identified 195 offenders who either produced child pornography or committed child sexual abuse, and 383 children who suffered recent, ongoing, or historical sexual abuse or production of child pornography. Department of Justice, June 2018

Apparently AG Jeff "do-nothing" Sessions has been busy after all.  Thousands of pervs are off the streets, seemingly with "More To Come" if we believe the President's speech last night. And where will those arrests be?  According to Trump's clues, sports team's locker rooms might be good guess, although wee-morning at-home raids while they are just beginning to sleep off post-game victory beers would also be fitting.

It sounds as if the arrests are imminent. "We have people in that space," Trump trolled.

He would know. The brain is much more important.

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.

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

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.

Pigeons in the Pan

The title probably won't make sense until the end.
The Pigeons are real birds; they are in the final photo below.
The Pan is the caprine (goat-like) god of the ancient Greeks.
I have to lay a lot of background before connecting the dots; fortunately it's not too boring. 

Unlike most Grecian gods who had temples dedicated to their worship, Pan was a bit on the wild side and was usually worshiped—and sacrificed to—in caves or grottoes. In Greek art, he is usually depicted with horns, playing pipes that resemble a harmonica made of reeds, and walking upright on his goat hindquarters. 

For now,  I am going to ask you to accept without proof something that both my childhood Sunday school teachers and my high school Latin teacher probably would have disagreed with: Pan was/is not wholly a myth. He is based on a real spiritual entity of the fallen sort, a lower-case-g god who was created immortal.  This is different than a demon, but that technical distinction is not critical here; just realize that Pan is real in the spiritual realm, and not a figment of mythology.

 The picture at the right was taken at Hermon Stream Nature Reserve in northern Israel. You are looking down the rock wall of a natural cliff. Paved courtyards were built at the foot of the cliff during the time of Roman occupation of Israel. In the foreground is what's left of the red and white paving stones from the  Court of Nemesis, goddess of vengeance.

Further back and more intact is the stepped Courtyard of Pan & the Nymphs. In mid-picture is an artificial cave or niche carved into the rock. A statue of Pan was once placed there. Later, other niches, five in all, were carved to hold a sculpture of Echo, a mountain nymph, and Hermes, (other small-g gods associated with Pan).  At the far end is a natural cave, the Grotto of Pan. (In this photo, two tourists are looking down into the grotto from the observation rail.)  The cave and one of the niches are also shown below in this head-on view taken from the trail head:

 Here you can get a better sense of the size of the cliff. The opening of the grotto is roughly 20 meters wide. The trees are growing around the nearby Banias Spring that forms the headwaters of the Jordan River.

I will get to the pigeons' story shortly, but it is important to first establish the setting.¹ The first reliable written history dates to 200 BC when the Selucids and Ptolomies fought for control of the area. By the end of the first century BC, the Romans had annexed this area to the kingdom of Herod the Great, who began building a temple to Emperor Augustus near the springs, and built temples to Pan and Zeus in front of the existing niches in the cliff.  These were relatively new and still standing in the days of Jesus. After the death of Herod, his son Phillip renamed the place after himself: Caesarea Phillipi. The worship of Pan was still going strong.

Jesus was in the vicinity of this place when he made the statement about building His church, which was recorded in Matthew 16:17,18, 

¹⁷Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

... well, for me, matching this place with Jesus' statement was like the sounding of a gong.

[Science Time Out — Most percussion instruments, when struck, have an initial sharp sound that then diminishes. A high quality gong, however, as the energy is distributed across its curved surface, develops sympathetic vibrations with a sound-on-sound effect whereby the volume builds in a rolling crescendo before it falls. Similarly, I experienced a building intensity of revelation that multiple levels of "stuff" was happening simultaneously. It's a different sensation than having a light come on all at once.]

In Matthew 16:16, Peter had just declared, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!"
A coming messiah had been prophesied for years. Mary must have sensed Jesus' messianic qualities at some level, especially in light of her direct meeting with Gabriel in Nazareth before she became pregnant, and Joseph's subsequent dream with the angel of the Lord where each were told what to name him. Jesus himself had been fulfilling scripture and dropping clues that are obviously messianic in hindsight.  But now, Peter's statement, replete with full-assurance faith, counted for the first time that a Man-being proclaimed "Jesus is the Christ," and those words from the lips of a human ripped into the unseen realm.

I have a sense that this is what Jesus had been waiting and watching for—a sign from his heavenly Father. The Father had revealed Jesus' true identity to mankind; Peter's realm-ripping announcement was the green light that Jesus had been looking for. It was Show Time for the Church Age.  

(Is it too much of a stretch to imagine Jesus with a Clint Eastwood swagger: Go ahead, Make my Day!  Hmm... you decide. But when Jesus went back Jerusalem, he'd be riding that donkey home in his Triumphal Entry.)  


Anyway, here at the base of Mt. Hermon in the midst of goat-god worship, Jesus says, "On this rock I will build My church."  (a) There is a literal, physical rock that can still be photographed. (b) There is revelation knowledge from the Father to Peter; revelation so profound that Jesus made a pointed issue of calling Simon son of Jonah by the name Peter, Πέτρος, Petros, Greek for rock or stone. (c) There is Jesus speaking a new Creative Word, not unlike words spoken at the foundation of this world, a new foundational rock on which He will build His church. (a) body, (b) soul, (c) spirit.
Pretty Awesome Stuff.  

Jesus did not make this declaration during his moment of dazzling transfiguration. He made it in the enemy stronghold of pagan worship.  'Probably a foreshadowing of what he'd do in Hades after the crucifixion. The thing to remember is that it's all real. As I said earlier, Pan was not a figment of mythology. Jesus was addressing more than the eye could see.

And so, when I was there at Banias (Hermon Stream Nature Reserve), taking in this multi-dimensional history, two pigeons flew into the Grotto of Pan. There is nothing overly remarkable about that. Pigeons are common in that area. They were a little bluer than the grey ones I commonly associate with bespoiling city fountains and plazas, and a bit more playful in their interaction, but nothing out of the ordinary. Except that in the English version of the printed literature published by Israel's Nature and Parks Authority,² they are not called pigeons; they are called Rock Doves.

Pigeons are Rock Doves. That puts a new spin on things.

First, there is the Rock part. I've already mentioned the foundation quality of rock, solid to build upon.  And although these are obviously not the same rock doves that were flying over Pan's altar 2000 years ago, their descendants are still active here and not crumbling in the ruins.

Doves have symbolism that filthy pigeons just can't live up to! It was the dove that Noah sent out to see if the waters were abated from off the earth. It was the dove that the psalmist of 55:6 alluded to in his quest for finding a place of rest. 

Okay, maybe Hosea wasn't so complimentary, calling doves "silly" and "without heart." (7:11)
But all four Gospels redeemed that foul fowl reputation when a dove was used to describe the Holy Spirit's descent upon the newly-baptized Jesus.  

Today, and consistently since Greco-Roman times, the dove has been a symbol of peace.

So my takeaway from this pair of rock doves showing up, these pigeons in the cave of Pan, was that despite the heavy history of the place, life continues. God's plan is still rock-solid. The Holy Spirit still desires to perch upon mankind's hearts, and the light of peace is still meant to triumph over darkness.






Footnotes
¹ This information is paraphrased from the Hermon Stream brochure published by Israel Nature and Parks Authority
² Banias Nature Reserve website (English) the web version differs from the print edition, calling them rock pigeons instead of rock doves. Either way, the family is Columbidae.

The All Apostatsy In One Place Post - Pets In Heaven (# x in a series)

 Not a finished post. This is a cache of notes that I think would need to be addressed if I ever wanted to turn the Pets in Heaven series into a book.  We'll see...  there are some pretty good options out there for self-published eBooks, but the editing involved between now and a finished product is probably too great of a Time Mountain.

I knew going into this series that:

1. Not everyone is going to like it

2.  The topic cannot be approached "scientifically."
   - it cannot be tested
   - reproducible results don't apply
   - the researcher is biased

3. Many Salvation doctrines are funky—even if Heaven exists.
   Oprah Winfrey & most New Age teachers think that Heaven is not a location but refers to the inner realm of consciousness.
   For many occultists, the 'man on the cross' is an archetypal image of every man and every woman. You can probably see an element of truth in this if you look at it as Jesus paid the debt for everyone,  but the apostate doctrine teaches that men overcome and get down from the cross as gods.

Clearly, the Biblical Heaven would have to be defined with more precision than I have done so far, although I did address this a bit in one of the early posts in this series.  

Chronos archive - Berlin July 1945

https://www.facebook.com/theuijunkie/videos/1356509044427051/

color film of Berlin after German surrender

Can Pets Glorify God? (#15 in a series)

Today, this blog is asking the question, "Can pets glorify God?" because, let's face it, glorifying God is a major theme in Heaven. In Revelation 4:8 we learn that there are four living creatures¹ whose purpose day and night is to declare, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" Additionally, in verses 10 and 11, John tells of twenty-four elders who worship saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." And although the creatures and elders are an "elohim" class of spirit-beings and our pets are not, could they coexist in heaven?  It is a legitimate area for exploration; would our pets be able to contribute to the betterment of life in heaven as they contribute to the betterment of our life on Earth?


Here is the premise:  If God planned for our pets to join us in heaven, then He would have created them with  the ability to participate in Heaven's cultural lifestyle.  So today we are going to search for evidence that they will fit right in! 

Fortunately, that is pretty easy to find in scripture:

🗸 All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD ~ Psalm 145:10

🗸 Bless the LORD, all his works in all places of his dominion ~ Psalm 103:22

🗸 Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD ~ Psalm 150:6

🗸 The beasts of the field will glorify Me ~ Isaiah 43:20

According to Psalm 148:10, wild animals, all cattle, small creatures, and flying birds are all capable of praising the Lord. In the poetry of this psalm, the word for "cattle" is set in contrast with "wild animals" and implies all domesticated animals, not just livestock. Practically any kind of pet you may have would fit within these parameters. But if you have fish and still need more reassurance than "all His works" because the "breath" and "field" qualifications make you edgy, then back up three verses and there is 148:7 which includes great sea creatures. 

Can we agree that pets meet this basic standard of being capable of praise and bringing Glory to God?   This is an indication that they could "be at home" in Heaven.

Now with that settled, let's revisit Psalm 145 because there is a subtle distinction that we need to make.  Remember that Hebrew poetry uses a lot of parallel construction. That is the case in Psalm 145:10.

All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, 
and all your saints shall bless you!

The "works," which include animal creation, praise at the level of giving thanks. The "saints" which are human spirits, praise at the level of blessing and worship. Jesus died for us; this results in an amplified level of praise. The human spirit can enter into true communicative worship; the animal soul can express an emotion of appreciation. Nothing in scripture hints that they "become one of us." Animals are still animals in heaven. They still fulfill the role that they were created to fulfill. They glorify God because all God's works were created for His glory. 

The animal creation did not rebel against God and need an atoning Savior; in that sense, they do not need to get "born again."  Yet they have suffered as a result of the fall and will require some sort of restoration. These scripture declarations in the Psalms indicate that God has made provision for that. 

Roman 8:19-21, which speaks of a coming restoration of creation, can be interpreted on several levels. I believe that at least one of those levels reflects back to animals of the original creation being put under man's dominion: 
"the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God, in hope that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption"
What I am about to suggest I cannot show beyond speculation, but... 

Just as our pets are dependent upon us on Earth, they may—possibly—be dependent upon us for their future.  At some point, the question arises about the pets of non-believers; what sort of future would they have?  This can get wonky pretty fast, so I will put part of it in the footnotes.²  Romans 8:21 says that "creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay (NLT)."  Our pets' future, if they are to live in our Heavenly mansion with us, still depend upon us to accept Jesus and become sons of God.

 


Footnotes

 ¹ Four Living Creatures - The King James uses the term "four beasts," but the text of Revelation describes them as each having with six wings that are full of eyes all around and within. This is close enough to the description of the seraphim in Isaiah's vision that we can surmise that if they are not seraphim, but a separate creation that totals four creatures, then they are probably in a "heavenly class" of spiritual beings even though their bodies have some animal-like attributes. They also resemble Ezekiel's description of cherubim. The Bible was written for men on Earth and does not give a lot of detail about different classes of heavenly beings. The purpose for mentioning them here is to emphasize that praise is constant around God's throne. 
Best-selling author Randy Alcorn has called the four living creatures a "striking example of animals praising God in heaven." He says, "even though they're highly intelligent and expressive, they're still animals; that's what Scripture calls them," based on the Septuagint's use of the word zoon. I respectfully disagree. Personally, I think they are a completely separate heavenly creation, that there was no Greek word that fully describes them, and that once he actually sees them, he will change his mind! The point that I wish to make in this blog is that our pets are compatible with the call to praise God.

² Pet Adoptions in Heaven.  I don't have a "proof" answer for this. You will need to study this out on your own as it goes beyond the scope of this series. But I think the answer, whatever it is, will be somewhat analogous to what happens to aborted babies, miscarriages, and small children who die without having a parent or close relative in Heaven. I have heard people who have researched that more than I have say that these babies and children can be adopted by believers in heaven. That they grow slowly into adulthood there. That God knows if their earth-parent will make it to Heaven some day, and when that is the case, then they are cared for in a heavenly "nursery" and not adopted but kept until their parent arrives. The procession of time is different than Earth's, and it all works out.  It is an interesting story. I cannot vouch for it, but it is a comforting thought. I would not be surprised if people who could not have pets on earth for some reason, (zoning regulations, allergies, work schedules, etc.) but wanted pets could similarly adopt them in heaven.