Elders who do their work well should be respected. 1Timothy 5:17-25

 With this post, I am finishing the fifth chapter of Paul's letter to Timothy, with a few interjections and thoughts.

1 Timothy 5:17 NLT Elders who do their work well should be respected and paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching.

Elder is the Greek word presbuteros. To the Jews hearing this, it was directly associated with members of the Jewish council or Sanhedrin. In early times, the rulers of the people, judges, etc., were selected from older men.) From: Thayer’s Greek Definitions

I cannot merely say this is talking about older church members, although the more senior members will probably have sage wisdom and expertise because of time and experience. The mere fact that Paul refers to these persons preaching and teaching tends to point to church leadership. Just saying the phrase “church leadership” leaves a bad taste in my mouth, as several church leaders caused me great emotional harm. Others are clearly into leadership because it holds the opportunity for significant monetary gain within the mega-churches. Apparently, with COVID 19, those days are gone.

Let’s talk about the monetary aspect for a moment. Though relatively simple in this translation, the passage tells us that those who do their work well should get paid well, especially if they are also teaching and preaching.

Can you be a teacher or preacher and be bad at it?

That seems to have possibilities, but why wouldn't others, such as church leadership or the audience in general, weed you out if you were terrible at what you were doing?

In my own experience, our former church deacon board voted to bring on a pastor, who was primarily a Christian school administrator before coming to the church I was at back then. We know this about him because he boasted about the paddling board that hung in the Principal's office and how often he used it. As a pastor, he was lousy. His teachings were all oriented toward acceptable business practices and principles. He refused, for at least two years, to speak of salvation and the price Christ paid for our sins at Easter. He maintained his position as the pastor for at least 15 years, and by the time he left, the church had dwindled from about 250 people to about 80.

Considered worthy is the same Greek word said twice, now go figure that out. It is the word axioō and carries the meanings of 1) to think meet, fit, right. 2) to judge worthy, deem, deserving

Double is the Greek word diplous and means two-fold: - double.

Honor means value or money paid.

The NASB tells us, all this should happen, especially for those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

Now, look once again at what I witnessed; that pastor may well feel that he was working hard. And I would never dispute that he put together a satisfactory harvest festival, but he was NOT a good preacher, nor was he a bible teacher.

1 Timothy 5:18 NLT For the Scripture says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.”

So the result is, the elder who is doing their job well should get paid twice what the others get paid.

Does anyone else see the potential for conflict?

Well, even if you don't see it, it is there, for what do you use as the standard for what is good, and there were plenty of people at that little church, 80 to be precise, that thought he did a fine job.

1 Timothy 5:19 Moffatt NT (19) Never let any charge be brought against a presbyter unless it is certified by two or three witnesses.

Do you see a dominant word in this sentence?

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Well, I do, and it is the word NEVER.

The NASB puts it this way, “Do not receive an accusation against.” It almost comes across as though the pastor and the elders are somehow protected.

Only days ago, the current date is 11/13/2020, the pastor of Hillsong New York was removed and effectively fired. Wisely, they did not tell us the details but simply stated that he had a moral failure.

Another of the churches I attended announced that a particular man was coming to try out as pastor. When they mentioned his name, I retorted, I know that man. He, too, had been removed from his pulpit for a moral failure; actually, it was a rather public and catastrophic failure. Several of the men I sat with at Bible study said, we will never have this man here. I said in response, you will. In doing that, I was merely telling them what I heard the Holy Spirit say. And guess what, he was voted in, even after having an open forum and telling the audience, in response to a couple of questions, that he had passed naked pictures of himself across the internet while he was pastor at the other church. It almost seems as if the current twisted Congress had voted him, despite common sense.

The idea of never letting a charge be brought against someone like this seems absurd. Ah, but there is a reasonable solution, and it has everything to being supported by two or three witnesses (CJB.)

1 Timothy 5:20 NASB Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning.

Do you get the impression that this church is out of control?

Remind yourself why Paul wrote this letter.

1 Timothy 1:3-4 NASB As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, (4) nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.

Obviously, this was happening, and YOUNG Timothy has been ordained to straighten out these people in Paul's absence. By the way, Paul may never be back.

Strange doctrines are anything we teach in opposition to what Paul taught. This makes me think that Paul was the standard for what teaching looked like. I wonder how many people actually experienced that?

“so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning.”

In the last few years, there has been a cry from the 80+ crowd for sound preaching that convicts people of their sins. Having sat under this style of preaching for what seemed like forever, I can see images in my head of what that sounds like. For me, a focus on hell tends to focus you on hell. Does that make sense? Focus on the mercy and grace of God, and maybe you would long for the mercy and grace of God. In 1 Timothy 5:20, where Paul tells Timothy to rebuke them openly so that the rest will be fearful of sinning, tends to imply that the public embarrassment would be enough to stop others from sinning. I will add that the word sinning is italicized in the NASB, but if you look up the word fearful, you will find that fear is the Greek word's intended meaning.

Wasn't that the purpose of the stocks, public torture, meant to bring about pain and humiliation. If it is so effective, why not return to the stocks once again?

Because, as Paul told Timothy, be gentle with them. Rebuking someone publicly doesn’t sound so gentle; it is for this reason that we need to revert to the origins of the words being used, for these words were the interpreter's idea of what was being said; that and, they were under pressure to produce a product that suited the king and the “state church.”

The word rebuke is the Greek elegchō, and it also means to confuse, admonish, convince, and reprove.

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Confute, according to Webster’s, is to disprove; to prove to be false, defective, or invalid. By argument or proof.

It sounds like this is not so much meant to humiliate, but to instruct; this is what Christian Apologists do, they confute. In this heated political atmosphere of 2020, we here in America have a young man named Charlie Kirk. He is an apologist on so many levels, including history, religion, and law. You will rarely find him losing ground in a rational argument. I used the word sane because many will try to argue, but they are merely screaming and have NO intelligent debate.

If you are going to be honest, many of these concepts and instructions seem harsh. Perhaps the rest of Paul's instructions will relieve that tension.

1 Timothy 5:21 NLT I solemnly command you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus and the highest angels to obey these instructions without taking sides or showing favoritism to anyone.

So all this is to be done without taking sides or showing favoritism to anyone. No one gets an advantage, and NO ONE should be abused simply because they disagree. On that note, Paul, with no other written word but the Law and the Prophets. Consider that the Holy Spirit taught him mercy and grace from those books, books that many learned to hate (I have since unlearned that hatred.) God, in the Law, did not show favorites. He was kind and showed mercy to those who followed after the Law. Alright, many have stated bickering already, as they only see God killing so many those who followed Moses out of Egypt. The problem is that “God’s people” brought Egypt along with them, which included offering their children to a made-up god called Moloch. Notice that the slaughtering of innocent babies is detestable to God, and He promised to make those who do such things pay.

Simply stated,

“You must not murder.” Deuteronomy 5:17 NLT

The more direct approach.

Deuteronomy 18:10a NASB "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire,”

What was God talking about?

Roasting your children as sacrifices, specifically to Moloch.

How do we do it today?

We murder babies and call it women's reproductive health.

1 Timothy 5:22 GW Don't be in a hurry to place your hands on anyone to ordain him. Don't participate in the sins of others. Keep yourself morally pure.

Keep in mind the story I told you of the pastor who had the moral failure. Although he went through rehab for two years under the watchful eye of a proven older pastor named Tommy Barnett, how do you know the pastor with the moral failure is right in his head? I don't know a man that does not struggle with sexual sin in some way. If they tell you they don't, they are lying. It is that simple. The problem is that we who have been in religion for any length of time develop an attitude that says crush them and don't waste your time trying to get them healed up; that tends to make us want to cover up our sins with lies and deception. However, like an alcoholic, or a smoker, the drive to do those sinful things rarely leaves (By the way, gluttony is a sin, so we all need to calm down.)

Going through recovery helps, mostly because it gives you tools to fend off such problems – one of those tools is a sponsor. Sponsors come in all shapes and sizes – I am trying to make a point here, as some, from what I have been told, are harsh and demanding, while others will not press you to make right decisions.

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I am a huge man, and I often see myself as a Grizzly bear which no one wants to get near. Appearances can be deceiving, as I have lived my life as a scared human being that tries to keep unsafe people at a distance; therefore, no one would ask me to sponsor them for a couple of years.

When a young man finally did ask me to sponsor him, I told him, you know what I am like; to that, he responded, “you are exactly what I need.” I met with him weekly for several years and watched him grow in spiritual strength. Yes, he had a lot of emotional damage, but he began to learn to give it over to the Lord and set it aside.

The truth is we are all like this young man in some ways, trying to hide behind from damage that afflicts us. Is it possible then that our sins (weaknesses) could erupt to the surface?

Well certainly, and it is just a matter of patiently watching people to see if the Life in Christ is feeding the tree (we are each a tree that needs some pruning, feeding, and care.) An appropriately cared for grove of apple trees will produce good fruit, consistently, for years – well into your old age. To the point that those who know you will say you have always been stable and full of wisdom, even though the truth is, you have had your slip-ups. This is precisely what the grace and mercy of God do for us.

Now, just because you came to know the Lord doesn’t mean that junk goes away. Sin, unfortunately, is like some genetic damage, and we all have it. It motivates all of us. This inability to free ourselves of sin is why Jesus gave Himself for us, poured out His blood for us, and now sits on the right hand of the Father, continually making intercession for us. Dear Lord, we need it. He brought forgiveness before you ever accepted it, but you did, and now you eternally belong in His loving arms – no matter what the enemy does to you. Once you ask Him, He never lets you go, even if you think He did.

1 Timothy 5:24-25 GW The sins of some people are obvious, going ahead of them to judgment. The sins of others follow them there. (25) In the same way, the good things that people do are obvious, and those that aren't obvious can't remain hidden.

“The sins of some people are obvious, going ahead of them to judgment.” What a peculiar statement. You might think that if these people were destined for hell, their sins would precede them, which opens the door to the idea that God will destroy all evil.

If the above statement were a question, then the answer would be yes, but when will that happen?

At some point during the last battle of Revelation.

Watch this process starting in Revelation 20.

Revelation 20:3 MSG (God has dumped Satan) dumped him into the Abyss, slammed it shut, and sealed it tight. No more trouble out of him, deceiving the nations—until the thousand years are up. After that, he has to be let loose briefly.

So Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet are locked up and unable to influence people for a thousand years. You might think that there will be no sin at all during this time, but there is, and here is the proof.

Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.
(Revelation 22:14-15 NASB)

Notice that this happens during the thousand-year reign of Christ. Does this mean that these people will be bullying and killing just like before? No, because this is the time of peace. Judges and this includes Jesus, will sit upon thrones judging cases and dispatching rapid justice. It is, finally, a time of peace that will reign from the beginning and throughout eternity. Isaiah 9 speaks of this.

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There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:7 NASB)

All those fools and there will be myriads of them because people have been reproducing for a thousand years, not having turned their hearts to Jesus, will be deceived by Satan, just as before.

Revelation 20:7-9 NLT When the thousand years come to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison. He will go out to deceive the nations—called Gog and Magog—in every corner of the earth. He will gather them together for battle—a mighty army, as numberless as sand along the seashore. And I saw them as they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God’s people and the beloved city. But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them.

The passage above mentions those “magic” words, Gog, and Magog. Since Ezekiel 38 and 39 also speak of Gog and Magog, and the destruction or death of Gog on the hillsides of Israel, is Revelation 22 merely depicting what Ezekiel talks about?

The answer is NO, as Ezekiel, for all practical purposes, describes what appears to be a nuclear war. The reason for this thinking comes from Israel NOT touching the bodies but merely placing a marker to indicate one fallen in battle. Those who tend to the bodies do not touch them until six months is passed. I am not sure that makes sense, but then I am not a nuclear waste removal expert. There is one other thing about what Ezekiel describes; the citizens of Israel use the weapons to heat their homes for seven years. This arouses many questions, but no one has been able to answer these questions for me adequately.

This attempt at a battle against God, His city, and His people are resolved hastily once it starts.

And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:9-10 NASB)

Let's finish off chapter five.

1 Timothy 5:25 NLT In the same way, the good deeds of some people are obvious. And the good deeds done in secret will someday come to light.

If your bad deed can follow you, much like a reputation, then so can your good deeds. It seems that no one cares about the good things you did anymore. God does, and He will bring them to light – not for people to pat you on the back, but then that might happen during the millennial reign. There, we are to be rewarded, not punished as some would tell you; and there would be an appropriate place to make sure those deeds you did in private will come to light as a beacon of mercy and grace.

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So, we have had our elections, but anxiety could easily overtake us.

 So, we've had our elections, and as of Wednesday morning 11/4/2020, we are deeply entrenched in the voting scandals we expected. I have been seeing the 96-mile long vehicle rallies for Trump, the crowds of people who attend the political rallies for Trump, and, I have seen the rallies for Biden/Harris and there is hardly anyone there. Come Tuesday night, about 9:30 P.M. I had to turn off the reports as the anxiety could have easily overwhelmed me. I literally heard the Holy Spirit say to me, “Turn it off and relax; I have got this under control.” Ah, therein the problem lies because what we perceive as being under control is defined by how my head wants this situation to play itself out.

Now, this election may still play itself out according to my hopes, and an example came from my Pastor, Jack Hibbs, as I listened this Thursday afternoon 11/5/2020, to Pastor Jack's Wednesday night service, where he spoke about God being in control and the real anxiety that many of us feel. Pastor Jack asked the audience to take out their phones and look up “138,000 votes.” Yes, that's right, 138,000 votes got turned to Pennsylvania's election headquarters at 7:30 on Wednesday morning, and every one of those votes was for Joe Biden. That, for Biden, became the game-changer, as far as Pennsylvania was concerned. Immediately, the head that understands a common-sense world should have thought, that is impossible. And still, the fight goes on.

Now, just because you have faith, pour your little heart out to God, and listen to level headed speakers that deliver a clear message giving you educated reasons to NOT vote for a particular candidate, does not mean your man will get elected.

If that is the case what are we going to do?

One of the phrases that we hear in religious circles is to occupy. The terminology often has much to do with the reasons why we don't need to know the exact day of the Lord's return, and that is because most of us are lazy and we will do 101 things other than stay focused and ready for the Lord's return, most of which are in opposition to God,

The word occupy shows up in Luke 19:12-13 KJV

“He said, therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. (13) And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.”

If you read this from the NASB, it reads like this.

Luke 19:13b NASB "..., 'Do business with this until I come back.'

Note the italicized words. Those were added to gain clarity. In reality, much like the KJV, we are to do business until he comes; no matter when that happens. To put this into common language, keep doing what you know to do until He comes back.

How many of you have been paying attention, not only to Bill Gates, but to Dr. Fauci, and other representatives of the World Economic Forum. This COVID 19 virus was their creation, with the specific purpose of bringing in a Global reset, a reduction in population, a global monetary system, and your subservience. Yes, this is all true, and if you are still reluctant to believe such things look at the Draconian measures New Zealand is already ascribing to. Canada and the United Kingdom, are right behind New Zealand. The mask you wear has no effectiveness against a 3 micron Covid molecule, and therefore must have some other purpose; and it does, as it is meant to control and bring the populace under submission. Can you do anything without your mask on?

Since I still have a church I can attend, I will continue to do so; and I will do until “they” lock and chain the doors, at which point every person I come in contact with becomes my church, my mission field, and my reason for living.

All that stuff about the World Economic Forum only works if people of power act in unison; and this is exactly what former Vice President, now Presidential candidate is doing when he states, “on day one of my Presidency, there will be a mandatory national mask mandate.” He is telling you, you will comply. All the subtle talk about Socialism is very much the purpose of the New World Order.

You can be like my stepdaughter and tell me, I don't believe that will happen, she is saying this in response to my telling her that Canada will incarcerate if you do not comply with the rapidly coming COVID 19 vaccination program. Much like New Zealand, refusal will make you a lawbreaker within your own home as by your refusal to be vaccinated you are endangering your household, and you will be incarcerated until you comply. To people like my stepdaughter, that refuse to contemplate such things happening, I say, you just go on living in your pastel-colored world, regardless of the fact that in many cities the streets are turning from pastel to blood red at the hands of fascist rioters; and soon, at the hand of Muslim enforcers of Sharia law, as they take over cities and make them no go zones, much like has happened in England. The reality is that this level of horror is happening as we speak and will only amplify. BLM Inc. and Antifa, have a dedicated purpose and goal to burn down our cities.

Did you know that a well-known prophecy in the Quran, is that the Mahdi (Christianities Antichrist,) will only come in the midst of chaos?

Joe Biden has recently been quoting from the Quran and is an advocate of Sharia law in our streets.

So, now, let me ask you, how much civilized time do you think we have left on the streets of America?

If you can even come close to answering that question, it is because you have a logical mind, can see the handwriting on the wall, and have inspiration from the Holy Spirit. Perhaps, if you cannot say, that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, then maybe you should move quickly to fix that. He, Jesus, moves very quickly into the lives of those who call upon His name.

Jesus is coming soon.

How do I know that?

1. My mind takes a logical path as I look through scripture and look at what is happening in the world.

   One does not have to be prophetic to see and understand these things, but the Bible tells us it is a great mystery and that the god of this world has blinded the eyes of most of you so that you cannot see it. Many of you think that the Presidential re-election of Donald Trump is a joke. Let me tell who the joker is. He is Satan - and he does not deserve to be referred to in the upper case; and, he is the great deceiver. Want proof.

    

   Revelation 12:9 NASB And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

   There are others with him. How many angels came to earth with him? If you could take an uncountable number, and then take a third of that number, that is how many angels bought into his mutiny and fell with him. In other words, there are enough to have one assigned to each of us. Don't let that bother you too much, as there are twice as many that are assigned as our personal bodyguards by the Father.

2. If you noticed, at the very beginning of this post, I said, “I heard the Holy Spirit say.”

   This voice is the activity of the comforter, which Jesus said He would send when He left the earth and returned to the Father; but it is also an aspect of the prophetic.

   Anyone, if they choose to listen to God's voice, can and will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.

   In trying to explain this process I tell people that it often seems like one of the many voices I have in my head. Don't look at me like I am crazy, we all have voices in our heads, some sound like an abusive, or manipulative person in your life, while at other times it sounds like the wisdom of my wife.

   When the Holy Spirit speaks, I, more often than not, have no problem distinguishing whose voice it is, as He never leads me to anything but the truth. Truth, by the way, comes from the established Word of God.

   So, immediately, upon beginning to write these words, knew that many, even those who align themselves with some religion, would say, your words are false and made up, as no one needs to speak as a prophet any more because we have the Word of God. That is all well and good I suppose, but the fact that you can say something that narrow-minded demonstrates that you don't read, or know, the Word of God, nor does Jesus dwell within you.

With all that said, I need to tell you a story.

Mom has been gone almost two years now. We had already seen the symptoms of pancreatic cancer, but we did not know it, nor did mom. A part of the problem with the detection of serious issues comes from the hard hardheadedness of the patient as many don't want to admit they are in distress and therefore do not get early or appropriate help from the Doctor. The other problem comes from the medical facilities that don't see the necessity to spend the money necessary to ascertain what the problem is; therefore, things like pancreatic cancer go undetected until they are at stage four and beyond practical treatment.

2018 was a mess. Dad had been dealing with diabetic neuropathy for several years, and he was sure that a nerve pinch was a cause of all his problems; that was not the case and the doctors found a cancerous brain tumor about the size of a tamale and had to remove it. We did not know if he would be able to walk again, and we had to have the bathroom remodeled in case dad would be wheelchair-bound – that process took several months, and caused a tremendous amount of emotional strain. Dad had also been having emotional meltdowns, telling us that he was going to die in surgery; these meltdowns continued even after, in recovery in a sister's home as they waited for the remodel to get done. He struggled with his new, but temporary disabilities and refused to use the wheelchair. Now, here is where the Holy Spirit begins to kick in hard. On multiple occasions, I had told Dad, and other family members, that he will be fine.

In the meantime, mom is dying, although we have no definitive information about that diagnosis. In early January of 2019, Dad demanded that he be put back in his house. Shortly thereafter, mom begins having issues with what she simply calls, old lady problems. Dad refuses to have the Doctor do a biopsy, and so the Doctor doing the best he could, told mom and dad, that in all likelihood she has pancreatic cancer. I have never seen anyone come back from pancreatic cancer. Several of us spent some time in the faith movement – many aspects are good, such as reading God's Word, but the negative side of this movement shows it's ugly head when you try to bully your way through God and people. Some of my family members still lean in this direction. I told the other family members that mom would be gone within six months. Nobody wanted to hear that, and thus began the barrage of angry faith statements, like she will live forever.

How did I know that mom would die?

I heard a voice; I trust in God, and I lean heavily upon the Holy Spirit to guide me. If it were not for the Holy Spirit, I would be floundering, especially in the current situations.

Dad insisted that mom continue doing their somewhat normal routine, and they would go to church on Sunday nights, and almost every night they would go meet some friends at a local restaurant. Remember what that is like? My wife and I would join them on occasions, and I often saw my mother shed a tear because of the pain she was in. In early February, I heard the Holy Spirit tell me, “you need to go say goodbye to your mother.” It was clear and did not seem like a suggestion, and so my wife and I went. Saying goodbye, and telling her, if you want to go home to be with Jesus, it's okay. You have done your job well and we are all going to be okay. All of us know the Lord.

I left that night and immediately sent a message to my brother who lives the farthest away, up the hill. I told him, the Holy Spirit just told me that mom would be dead before the week is out and that he needed to get down here right away. He showed up the next day and had communion with mom, and also said his goodbyes. That brother told me a short time later, that they all laughed me to scorn, but yet he came. I said my goodbyes on Monday and mom took her last breath here on earth Sunday morning. She, because she knew that dad would want to go to church, was up and dressed that Sunday morning. Dad, not believing that she was even out of bed, called to her to check on her status. She answered him and moments later let out a scream of pain. She immediately went back to bed, ready for church, and was dead just a few hours later, dancing in the arms of Jesus.

Several months went by when dad says to me, your brother told me that you knew when mom would die. I simply replied, yes. He responded to that by saying, has God told you anything about me? God had, but I did not want to tell him as dad was in an emotionally fragile state.

So, am I a prophet? I used to think it would be very cool to have a superhero type of role, perhaps then I would get respect – something I have never felt. My imagery of prophets came from guys like Samuel and Elijah. Samuel hacked up King Agag, and Elijah called fire down from heaven. Pretty cool, huh? But acting out like Samuel will get you thrown into prison, and Jesus told his disciples that calling fire down from heaven, was not their mission; so I guess that's out.

But here is the scriptural reality, when I was about 23, I committed my life once again to Jesus Christ. I had a dream/vision one night. It was so real that I still have difficulty explaining to people that it was a dream. In that dream, Jesus stood at the end of my bed and laid out my life before me. I thought I should write this down, but I did not because it was so vivid and I thought I would never forget what had been said to me. Well, guess what, by morning I forgot every word. I do remember that He had been there and told me my entire life. I remember being filled with joy. Now, the truth is, I have lived most of my life, AND, it has NOT all been good. To the best of my understanding, there is something more to come and it should be fantastic.

So, after that dream life went on. Within a couple of years, I got married to a girl I met in church – they told me, go to church and get a good woman. Ha, she cheated on me twice. Do you get the general idea that life went south on me real quick? A few years passed and I got married again. This time I destroyed the relationship, and finally, I have been involved in this current relationship for over twenty years and we have been married for the last four of those years. No, life has been rough, and my dream of being a bible teacher has only been fulfilled by putting my life up on the internet for you to see.

One day, I was reading how Moses' brother and sister, attempted a mutiny. They said, what makes you think God speaks to you alone. You can find this story in the book of Numbers chapter 12. God defined a prophet during this process with this verse.

Numbers 12:6 NASB He said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream.

After reading this passage, I asked the Lord, does that mean I too am a prophet? To which he said yes. To be honest, I have never figured out what that means as I think most of these so-called prophets are frauds, just trying to make a dollar. God has spoken to me, and one of the things He keeps telling me is that He is coming back soon, but then, He is saying that too many people. Maybe He means it.

 

Give these instructions to the church. 1 Ti 5:7 through 16.

 When we finished 1 Timothy 5:6 we were given these instructions. Ignore the fact that it seems to speak only to widows because it does not.

But the widow who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead even while she lives. NLT

Anyone, who is living purely for their own pleasure is spiritually dead.

Notice what Paul says in his letter to the church in Rome.

"The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body, God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.

He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.

So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death.

But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you.

(And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)

And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.

The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.

And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you."

(Romans 8:3-11 NLT)

Paul tells Timothy

Give orders to this effect, so that no evil may be said of anyone. 1 Timothy 5:7 BBE

Again, why would Paul have to say, the person “who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead even while they live”?

Verse 7, as you can see above, tells us that Paul does not want anyone to be able to speak evil of us. In the current environment in which we live, the liberals seem to have the leisure to make things up, but not necessarily. An example of this very thing came to me recently, from Pastor JD Farag. In his message entitled, “Godless Chatter - 1 Timothy 6:20-21 – November 1st, 2020.” Pastor JD spoke about the things we have shared on social media, and he spoke specifically about Presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, and how Christ died for them as well. Apparently, he has read some of our posts, and it caused him to cry, as he believes that many of us would have a difficult time leading anyone to Jesus based on how we have excoriated the Biden's.

I am aware of the repercussions of slanderous statements but sharing well-known evidence against persons who are actively pursuing illegal actions; and, even worse, live in unflinching denial of those facts, seems reasonable to me.

Does what I say mean that the father and son team should not be exposed?

Not if they are going to continue to boldly lie about their actions while calling the current President an evil man. If the Biden's repented of their actions and turned their lives over to Jesus Christ, I believe I could say, they are Christians; none of that, however, makes them safe. My goodness, we have to give the tree time to produce good fruit. Does that make sense to you?

Paul continues this focus on the widows until we reach verse 16.

1 Timothy 5:8 NLT But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.

Television shows are frequently based on reality, and so the reality is that families have ignored caring for their relatives. If you have ever seen the movie, Christmas Vacation, with Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid, you might understand why you might want to deny care for some of your relatives. The NLT does not make it clear, as it appears that these relatives have denied the true faith; but that is not the case, as translations, such as the CEV, point out that it is us who have given up the faith, and are worse than someone who doesn't have faith in the Lord.

1 Timothy 5:9-10 CEV For a widow to be put on the list of widows, she must be at least sixty years old, and she must have been faithful in marriage. (10) She must also be well-known for doing all sorts of good things, such as raising children, giving food to strangers, welcoming God's people into her home, helping people in need, and always making herself useful.

Why are there stipulations, such as being at least sixty years old; faithful in marriage; having raised her children well, and faithful in taking care of strangers?

Because it shows faithfulness and a Godly attitude. Children raised by someone like this, would, because of their teaching, take care of their mother. Why even the strangers, because of her faithfulness, would then take care of this dear lady, as well. The bottom line, this was the closest thing there was to social security.

1 Timothy 5:11-15 CEV Don't put young widows on the list. They may later have a strong desire to get married. Then they will turn away from Christ (12) and become guilty of breaking their promise to him. (13) Besides, they will become lazy and get into the habit of going from house to house. Next, they will start gossiping and become busybodies, talking about things that are none of their business. (14) I would prefer that young widows get married, have children, and look after their families. Then the enemy won't have any reason to say insulting things about us. (15) Look what's already happened to some of the young widows! They have turned away to follow Satan.

To say, just because they get married, they will turn away from Christ, can apply to most of us men as well.

Does marriage make you lazy?

No, the laziness has to already be there; either that or one or the other has massive co-dependency issues.

Choosing to be a busybody and gossip, is a choice to get involved in things that are NONE of your business. See, these younger ladies can get remarried, have children, and be supported, in time, by family. Paul's underlying motivation is that the enemy has no accusation against you because it can turn some away to follow Satan.

1 Timothy 5:16 NLT If a woman who is a believer has relatives who are widows, she must take care of them and not put the responsibility on the church. Then the church can care for the widows who are truly alone.

Another example of this last verse came from the historian, William J. Federer, who spoke on “Socialism: The Real History, From Plato to the Present.” In his recent talk at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, he spoke about how that families and the church were the social systems of the day. Sadly, we turned that authority over to the government, which destroyed it and our freedom.

A quick overview about the rapture and things to come.

 I felt like I needed to give you a quick overview and not bore you. So let's jump in.

I, and many others like me, will be gone soon. This event I speak of is called the rapture of the church. And, it is the time when Jesus comes to collect those who are His, back to Himself. The rapture is not a secret, but it will seem like it, as many calling themselves Christians, are NOT looking for Jesus to come.

Obvious signs that the rapture has happened will be things like graves ripping open, as the dead in Christ are pulled from their burial places; massive numbers of people will plainly be missing, and in many cases leaving moving vehicles to crash. And the strangest aspect of all will be the disappearance of children. I will say that there is very little in scriptures to substantiate this as it is a Jewish tradition associated with the age of accountability.

The idea behind accountability is that the child, at the age of 12 or 13, is now held responsible for their “adult” actions. It is a good and sound tradition, and since Jesus was a Jew, and was held to such practice, then I see no reason for God not to keep to it now; besides that, there are the millions of innocent babies that have been slaughtered to the gods of abortion.

All of this activity will be associated with the long-drawn-out sound of a shofar blast. If you have not heard what that sounds like, you should, as it is quite unique. Yes, I am aware that the government will tell you that they have been creating these sounds through the Haarp Antennae Arrays for some time now. The government will also point to things like Blue Beam projections, UFOs, and alien interventions, all things that the government has been progressively showing you. These things are part of the great deception that Paul speaks of in his letters to the church in Thessalonica.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. (2 Thessalonians 2:7 NASB)

If the church is gone and you are still here, what happens next?

Contrary to my father's opinion, you are not completely lost. You can still come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life. Sadly though, we live in what is called dispensations of time; that means that the age of grace is gone. As I write this, the church is living in that grace. Since the grace is gone with the church’s catching away, you will now have to prove your allegiance to Jesus Christ, most likely at the edge of a sword or a guillotine. We will get back to that in a moment.

The Apostle Paul, in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, wrote,

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except there come a departing (Geneva Bible) first, and then the man of sin will be disclosed. He is the son of perdition.”

Most of you never read your bible, but if you did, you read from a version similar to what I read from; therefore, you read 2 Thessalonians 2:3 as a falling away. If you noticed above, I used the term departing. I did that because, since the COVID 19 lockdowns, we learned that the Geneva bible, one of the first English versions, translated the term apostasia correctly when defining it as a departing. Because of the significant defection from the Catholic church to Protestantism, the Catholic Church ordered a new translation to reflect their disgust and anger, and the term was changed to a falling away or apostasy. This term apostasy probably makes sense to many of you as you have watched those that hold to a moral standard melt into the distance. So, it was not a falling away we were looking for; it was the church being gathered back to Jesus.

As I pointed out, with the church being gone, the person we call the Antichrist should be rising onto the scene rather quickly. One of the prime reasons you will know him is that he will be calling for peace.

If you have been paying attention, many Islamic nations have been aligning themselves with Israel by signing peace treaties. I never thought we would see that happen, and yes, God used the American President to make it happen.

If you know anything about the Muslims, then you know that NO ONE in the Middle East signs on to peace treaties with Israel unless there is an ulterior motive; that means that something drastic will happen.

If you are reading this, and the church is still here, then know that ten nations will attack Israel from every side soon. This is where Ezekiel 38, 39 comes into play, because as these nations attack, (There is every reason to believe that Russia, Turkey, and Iran will be significant players.) God will send a firestorm down upon these nations, and the one called Gog will die on the hills of Israel. For me, this will be a rather unmistakable reason for someone to scream out, peace.

If you think it is terrible now with the rioting, it will get worse. Matthew 24:7-12.

• For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,
• And in various places, there will be famines and earthquakes.
• But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
• Then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you.
• You will be hated by all nations because of My name.
• At that time, many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.
• Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.
• "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.

Seeing as you will be experiencing the wrath of humanity and God, it seems odd to say that something good will be coming out of this mess.

God will send two witnesses, and these will proclaim God's message in the streets of Jerusalem.

I would say to you that if you wanted an example of how to act, it would be these two. Unfortunately, they will only do this for 1240 days, at which point they will be killed. However, they will rise again after three days and go up to God.

The Prophet Joel spoke about these days, and you can read about it in the second chapter of his book by the same name. The exciting aspect is that God is talking about you if you trust Him and act like the two witnesses.

And lastly, it may encourage you to know that the number of people who will come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ, and give their lives to prove it, will be an uncountable number. How do I know these things? This is where Matthew 24:15-22, comes into play. Jesus, in response to His Jewish disciples, said,

"When you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. "Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. "Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! "But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. "For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will."

All this happens right after the two witnesses return to heaven.

I am sorry that you must endure the pains that are to come, but then, you chose to pass up the opportunity for grace. Know this; the Father will be awaiting you with arms wide open.