More on the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Part Three

The Last Pope, the Temple, and the Bride

Pope Francis has been prophesied as the last pope.  His popularity is unquestionable, and his overtures of ecumenism are commendable, but only within Christianity.  Instead, he has gone too far, encouraging interfaith unity by opening St. Peter’s Basilica to entertain Hindu, Buddhist and even Islamic prayers.  Together with Paul, I ask:

What fellowship can light have with darkness?  What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?  Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?  What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? (2 Corinthians 6:14-16).

Many believe the Catholic Church is the whore of Babylon, from Revelation 17.  Certainly, Jesus died for Catholics, and there are many precious Catholic believers.  But the institution is deeply flawed, and has been since it was conceived in a political move by Constantine.  Christianity hadn’t disappeared after three centuries if persecution.  The emperor didn’t want to execute his mother, who had put her faith in Jesus, so if you can’t beat those pesky Christians, you might as well join them—better yet, take them over!—and that’s exactly what he did.  He legalized Christianity and put it under government control.  In a completely anti-Semitic move, he changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and made it illegal to celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday.

Now what is the Vatican doing?  They’re watching the skies through a powerful binocular telescope called Lucifer.  They have stated that they’re ready to welcome aliens, and to baptize (or be baptized by) them.  The Lucifer telescope is at the Mount Graham Observatory in Arizona.  Mount Graham is well-known among indigenous American tribes as being the location of a portal.  With what we’ve already explored about demons, fallen angels, the tower of Babel, and Cern, this portal can’t be a good thing.

I believe that all the fallen angels that come through Mount Graham and Cern and other places (there are said to be 12 in all, throughout the earth) will once again incite people to war.  But this time it will be war on the Christians that have been left behind and the new converts that they will make.

The fallen angels will claim to be from another planet in another dimension.  They will claim to have seeded our planet, and will blame all the evils of the world on Christians and Christianity.  They will claim that the Rapture was actually the “Mother ship” or whatever that beamed us up and took us to the home world for “re-education” because of all the evil that we had done.  I don’t know how they’re going to explain the empty graves.  That will be something to see.  But they will probably blame us for the missing children—a last notorious act.

During the Tribulation period there will be a Jewish Temple, with Temple sacrifices (Daniel 9:27, 11:31, 12:11; Matthew 24:15; and Mark 13:14).  There is currently no Temple.  Without a Temple, there can be no sacrifices.  But the Temple Institute is ready to set up a new Temple as soon as there is the possibility.  They have made all the Temple furnishings and utensils in preparation, and have been conducting practice sacrifices.

Now a red heifer has been born.  This is especially significant because a red heifer (without a single hair of another color) is the only proper sacrifice to make the water of purification to purify the Temple (or Tabernacle in Moses’ day) in order to entertain the Holy Presence of God (Numbers 19:1-10).  In fact, the birth of a purely red heifer is so rare that this sacrifice has only been performed nine times in all of history:

1. Moses and Eleazar
2. Ezra
3. Simon the Righteous
4. Simon the Righteous
5. Yochanan
6. Yochanan
7. Elijah
8. Hanamel, the Egyptian
9. Yishmael, son of Piabi in AD 15

The Jewish Rabbis have a tradition that says that the tenth red heifer will be offered by Messiah, Himself.  Of course, Jesus, Himself, was the tenth red heifer.  He purified the Temple once and for all—that Temple being our human bodies, which now entertain the Holy Presence of God’s Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).  Nevertheless, the existence of a pure red heifer certainly paves the way for the building of the Tribulation Temple.

And now the possibility to build a new Temple has never been so close to being realized because there is compelling Biblical and archaeological evidence that the Temple wasn’t on the so-called Temple Mount, but was most likely in the City of David.  The Temple Mount was probably the site of the Roman fortress of King Herod’s day.  I encourage you to follow that link and see for yourself.  There is literally nothing standing in the way of building a new Temple (nothing but the mindset that puts it on the Temple Mount).

Israel is also welcome returning Jews to their homeland, enjoying relative peace and prosperity.

The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape, (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3, emphasis mine).

The Tribulation is called the time of Jacob’s Trouble (Jeremiah 30:7), in other words, a troubled and terrible time for the Jews.  But that passage from 1 Thessalonians above continues with this encouragement:

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.  You are all children of the light and children of the day.  We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.  So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober.  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.  But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.  For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.  Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing, 1 Thessalonians 5:4-11, emphasis mine).

Jesus has clearly give us The Signs of the End of The Age because He expects us to know the time frame.  He told us over and over again to watch (Matthew 24:4, 24:42-43, 25:13; Mark 13:4-37; Luke 21:7-36; and 1 Corinthians 1:7).  What would we be watching for, if not for His return to Rapture us (His Bride) away?  We are supposed to stay alert because of the coming Great Deception, but we’re to watch for His return.

More prophecies are being fulfilled in now than at any time since Jesus walked among us.  And these things are not for believers to fear.  Yes, there are fearful things coming upon the earth as never before.  But to us Jesus says:

When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near, (Luke 21:28).

We should be eagerly anticipating Jesus’ return for His Bride—our wedding day!  And what a fantastic day that will be when we marry our Royal Heavenly Bridegroom!

Waiting doesn’t mean sitting around, all starry-eyed, dreaming of our wedding day.  No, waiting is a time to prepare for our wedding.  We are instructed: “Occupy till I come,” (Luke 19:13, KJV).  What does that mean, occupy?  This is in the context of the Parable of the Ten Minas, which is essentially the same story as the Parable of the Talents found in Matthew 25.  All of Matthew chapters 24 and 25 has to do with the End Times, the Tribulation, and the Rapture, and comes in response to the Disciples’ question: “When will this happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the End of the Age?” (Matthew 24:3).  In Luke, Jesus launches into this story after Zacchaeus pledges to give back four times what he had stolen and Jesus declares that salvation has come to his house.  Occupy means that we should be about our Master’s business of bringing salvation to those around us.

So we are to watch and wait, while keeping busy winning souls.  The time is very short now.  But even those who work at the very end of the harvest will get the same reward as those who have dedicated most of their lives to winning souls (see Matthew 20, The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard).  So don’t be discouraged if you’re starting late in life, or just late in the End Time Harvest period.  God doesn’t award us based on how many souls we bring in or how hard we’ve worked.  Instead, we’re rewarded for faithfulness.  So, just start now, wherever you are or wherever God has called you.  But don’t delay because the time really is very short.  God is good!

More on the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

Part Two – The Rabbit Hole, Wormholes, and Other Crazy Stuff

If you’re reading this, then like Neo, the protagonist of the movie, The Matrix, you’ve taken the red pill.  Your mind is about to be blown, and your world view will never be the same.

You’ve been warned.

Jesus told us, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man,” (Matthew 24:37).  How was it in the days of Noah?  In the days of Noah, there were Nephilim, produced by the union of fallen angels and human women.  Angels, both good and fallen, have physical bodies and are immortal beings.  So when God punished the 200 watcher angels that impregnated human women (recounted in Genesis 6:4 and in greater detail in the extra-biblical book of Enoch), He imprisoned them in chambers underneath the earth, which the Bible identifies as Tartarus (2 Peter 2:4).  Enoch also reported that these rebellious angels taught warfare, weapon-making, and other things that were then unknown on earth.

God further punished the rebel angels by allowing their offspring (the Nephilim) to die.  Although not physically immortal, the Nephilim had immortal spirits, so when their bodies died, their spirits continued on and they became known as evil spirits or demons.  This may be the origin of ghost stories.  Having once had bodies, the demons long for a body to inhabit.  With great effort, demons can move objects, but the easy interactions with people and objects that we enjoy in our bodies are beyond them.  Instead, they try (often succeeding) to influence human behavior by speaking into their ears, inciting them to all sorts of evil acts that can open the door for them to enter the body of a human (either the one who they have influenced or their victim).

As these demons roamed about looking for bodies to inhabit, they goaded people into interbreeding with animals, producing satyrs, centaurs, and other so-called mythical beasts.  Skeletons have been found to support the assertion that the human hybrids of ancient mythology were more than mythical (see video).  Why?  Because the product of such a union would have a body, but not a soul, and therefore would be easily possessed by a demon.

Dr. Richard Seed, a Nobel Prize winner, announced in 1997 that he was going to clone a human being.  A clone, likewise would have a body, but no soul.  Now he says that he is going to become a god through transhumanist technology.  Furthermore, he says that he will “kill anyone who tries to stop [him] from becoming a god,” (see video).  The vehemence with which he speaks in that video leaves little doubt of the demonic influence behind his research.

Many people have seen UFO’s and aliens.  Some have had actual close encounters.  Usually, those encounters are against the person’s will (Stockholm Syndrome renders some people willing participants).  People have been abducted, probed, and almost always had genetic material removed (eggs from women and sperm from men).  I believe that this ties in with the demonically-inspired interbreeding.  Since these beings clearly have bodies, they are fallen angels (but none of the 200 that are imprisoned in Tartarus—those will remain imprisoned under the earth until released in Revelation 9:2).  They are probably trying to make bodies to be vessels for the demons.  Interestingly, former Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) abduction investigator, Joe Jordan, has discovered that a so-called alien abduction can be stopped one way and one way only: by speaking the Name of Jesus (see video).  If these were really extraterrestrial aliens, what impact would the Name of Jesus have on them?  They wouldn’t have any of the cultural associations that earth people have.  This is such clear evidence of the power of the Name of Jesus over the so-called aliens that it made a believer of Joe Jordan.  He had been an investigator for MUFON, and not a believer in Jesus until he started hearing that the Name of Jesus stops the attacks.

Meanwhile, scientists at the Cern Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland are doing some experiments that actually scare physicists like Stephen Hawking.  The LHC is a ring 27 kilometers in circumference in which protons (subatomic particles) are accelerated at close to the speed of light, producing (in their own words) “tens of millions of collisions every second” in an effort to recreate the first moments of the universe’s existence.  A stylized 666 can be discerned in Cern’s logo.  At the entrance of the facility is a large statue of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction, dancing in a portal.  This seems appropriate, given that many scientists worry that their experiments could “unmake the universe.”

Among the subjects of their experiments are dark matter, antimatter, extra dimensions, gravitons, tiny black holes, heavy ions, quark-gluon plasma, cosmic particles, and the Higgs boson particle, sometimes called the “god particle.”  The Higgs boson particle experiments are what scare Stephen Hawking—and others.  Stephen Hawking is the world-renown physicist who famously said, “Science makes God unnecessary.”

There is an experiment at Cern called Alice—as in Alice in the Looking Glass—in which they accelerate ions in the LHC in an attempt to create a wormhole to another part of the universe or even into another dimension.

I believe that these experiments are being kept from doing any of the harm that Hawking and others fear for one reason: the presence of the Bride of Christ here on earth.  When the Lord Raptures us out of here is when:

All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree, (Isaiah 34:4, emphasis mine).  See also Revelation 6:14.

The context of this verse is judgment against the nations.  When “the heavens are rolled up like a scroll,” it will cause the angels (starry host) that fell from Heaven (God’s throne room in the Third Heaven[1]) to the second heaven (where satan is the prince of the power of the air[2]) to fall the rest of the way to earth.

Stars are often called angels, and it occurs to me that the stars may in fact be angels—bright, shining creatures.  They shine because of being in God’s presence.  The fallen angels are continually losing their brightness, becoming dimmer, smaller, and colder.  Could the asteroids that make up the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter be the fallen angels?  It seems possible, even likely.  That puts them far enough away to prevent them from invading earth again—until the Rapture, that is.  Then Cern’s experiments will “succeed” in tearing the fabric of time and space, and they will fall to earth

And since angels have bodies, they can do what demons can’t do: they will open the prison doors of Tartarus and let the 200 fallen angels (the fathers of the demons) out (see Revelation 9:1-6).  And there will be such mayhem, murder, anarchy, chaos, and suffering like has never been seen on earth.

Back to Nimrod, I’ve heard a theory that what Nimrod’s people were building was not a tower to escape a future flood nor to reach Heaven in any physical sense, (Genesis 11:1-6).  And think about it: if you thought you could escape a flood or physically reach Heaven, would you build a tower on a low plain?  No!  You would build it on a mountain top.  They built it there because it was in the place of a portal (or doorway) from the chambers beneath the earth where God had imprisoned the rebellious angels.  The angels couldn’t escape, but through the spirits of their children, the deceased Nephilim (demons), they instructed Nimrod and his people how to construct a particle accelerator like Cern.  This is the same sort of thing Enoch reported.  What they were actually building, in hopes of reaching Heaven was a dimensional portal—like Cern.  And God confused their languages because He said, “nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them,” (Genesis 11:6).  If it was just a height thing, why would God be concerned about that?  There are much taller buildings today.  I believe that God knew that they would tear open the fabric of space/time, bring the rest of the fallen angels to earth, and free the imprisoned angels.

Nimrod, himself, was probably a Nephilim, since giantism was a sign of being Nephilim[1].  The Septuagint (the earliest foreign language translation of the Old Testament) renders Genesis 10:8-9 like this: “[Nimrod] began to be a giant upon the earth.  He was a giant hunter before the Lord God,” (emphasis mine).  So Nimrod became a giant.  That second part could either mean that he was a giant that hunted or that he was a hunter of giants.  Either way, he had clearly become a giant, and what better way to become king over the people than to hunt and kill all the other giants?

The flood was supposed to rid the earth of the Nephilim, but Nimrod was clearly Nephilim.  I don’t believe that there was a second mass incursion like the first, but evidently there was some more interbreeding of angels with humans because many of the inhabitants of Canaan were giants (Goliath and his brothers, Og, King of Bashan, and others).  There are also skeletal remains of giants and archaeological evidence of giant activity.

I haven’t even touched on Operation Blue Beam, a giant hologram that can project a very realistic looking city in the clouds.  I also haven’t mentioned HAARP, the giant antenna that can be used to change the weather.  There’s some very strange stuff going on out there.

So as it was in the days of Noah: Nephilim, human-animal hybrids (and clones), and portals.  It’s all happening now.  Are you ready for the Rapture?  Get ready now by accepting Jesus as your Savior.  You’ll find out what many of us already know: God is good!

[1] Giant doesn’t just mean a really big fella.  Some of these guys were 30 and 36 feet tall.

[1] 2 Corinthians 12:2-4

[2] Ephesians 2:2

Angel in the Market

This picture was taken before breaking my arm

I was shopping in the street market on Saturday, looking for a nightgown or dress that would be easy to pull on one-handed.  I broke my wrist on Tuesday evening (see Summer in a Cast).  Allegra, my ministry partner, was happy to go with me and help me find something suitable.  We are in our third week of temperatures in the mid- to upper 90’s, so I needed something lightweight, breathable, and above all, easy to get into and out of.

Upon entering the market, we quickly found a few perfect and reasonably-priced dresses, and a couple of nightgown/housedresses as well.  Allegra wanted to continue shopping, so I thought I would kill some time by walking to the newsstand on the corner to buy a newspaper.  On the return trip I came back by way of the other side of the market.  That way I could avoid the smelly fish vendors’ stalls.

As I walked along in the crowd, nearly tripping over carts and strollers, I was aware of the weight of my phone in my left pocket, where I always carry it.  However now my left arm was in a sling.  Knowing that my left side was vulnerable to pickpockets, I maintained my awareness of its weight in my pocket.

Then suddenly, it wasn’t there anymore.  Gone!  Just like that!  I turned around, but there was nobody near me.  As I walked on, I thought about how I would ever replace my dual-sim phone—along with my American and Italian sims and all my phone contacts.  What a mess!

When I got back to where Allegra was, I told her about getting my pocket picked.  We prayed, and I added something I had recently heard a missionary pray when she’d had something stolen: I said: “I call my phone back to me in the name of Jesus.”

As soon as we said “Amen,”—literally a second or less had passed—I caught a glimpse of my phone.  It was in the hand of a man who looked Middle Eastern.  He was speaking Arabic with the fruit vendor right across from where Allegra had been shopping.  I stepped up to the men for a closer look, and it was my phone.  The man handed the phone to me, saying that he had seen two gypsy women take it.  I shook his hand, thanking him, and he turned and vanished into the crowd.

I looked at my phone again in grateful astonishment when the fruit vendor decided to profit from my happiness: “Strawberries, ten Euros.”  I said to Allegra, “Let’s get out of the market.”  So rather than walking through the rest of the market, we dashed out between stalls.

“That was an angel, you realize,” I told Allegra.  “No human man would have just handed the phone back like that.”  We had just been talking about angel encounters that morning, and Allegra had said that she’d had only a couple of encounters that she was sure were angels.  Just like the other angels I had seen, he hadn’t talked much, he looked ordinary as could be, and he disappeared very quickly after his assignment was finished.

When you lose something, pray and call it back to yourself right away.  And don’t forget that you can always ask God to send an angel to help you.  God is good!

More about the Pre-Tribulation Rapture

Part One – Earthquakes, Wars, and Famine

Here’s some food for thought regarding the Pre-Tribulation Rapture.  There are many, many prophecies being fulfilled right before our eyes.  Some of these things are things that have always happened from time to time (earthquakes, wars, famines, etc.), but with the exceptional strength and frequency that the natural thing are now happening and the extreme violence and potential for devastating long term consequences of regional conflicts makes these signs something to watch.  Jesus said:

Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.  Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.  Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. . . . Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come, (Matthew 24:32-34 & 42, emphasis mine).

So it’s not just an earthquake here, a war there, famine in the usual places, but one right after another.  And not only in the usual places, but in places that have always enjoyed a greater degree of safety.  I encourage you to read all of Matthew 24 and 25 to really understand the context.  Jesus was talking of the End Times, which are surely upon us.  Hardly a day goes by without something terrible happening somewhere in the world—even in our own backyard:

• The increase in seismic and volcanic activity is global and devastating: Nepal, Pakistan, Indonesia, Haiti, and many more that could literally happen any time, like Tokyo, California, and Pompeii. Some places are actually overdue for a major earthquake or volcanic event.
• Global financial collapse is literally right around the corner. The Greek Eurozone exit, which is very likely, could cause a domino effect: Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, and Ireland.  World economic giant China is facing trouble along with Indonesia, Ukraine, Puerto Rico, and others.

The United States is by no means immune.  Our currency is not based on anything other than our reputation and the strength of our military.  The massive US debt is at a point where it can never be repaid.  The US has unfunded debt of $117 Trillion and it is continually climbing.  The only thing the government can do is borrow money to pay the interest.  What financial planner in her right mind would ever counsel doing such a thing?  It’s a recipe for disaster.  The US is literally one Katrina away from economic disaster.  A major war (which looks imminent) could also destroy the economy.  And if America goes, it would probably take the rest of the world with it.

• Climate change and corporate greed are diminishing food production. An annual change in just one degree of temperature will effect rainfall/drought conditions, and could spell a massive wipeout of crops.  Genetic modification has given us seed that produces no seed, a corporate dream that has in turn effected the nutritional value of the food.  In a world where we have always produced more than enough food to feed the whole world, global famine has now become a real possibility.
• Diseases the world never knew before have become a very real and immediate threat: Aids, Ebola, MRSA, and MERS. And to make matters worse there are now antibiotic resistant strains of historically less threatening diseases.  I would not be surprised to know that these very diseases were created in a laboratory somewhere for the express purpose of population reduction.  Consider Aids: the story is that Aids came from an infected monkey that bit a human.  Hogwash!  Monkeys have been biting humans ever since there were monkeys and humans.  The Club of Rome and the Committee of 300, composed of the top 300 richest people in the world, have openly stated that the world’s biggest problem is over-population.  Their solution is to reduce the global population by 80 percent.  Eighty percent!  That’s roughly 5.6 billion people that they want eliminated—dead!
• ISIS cells are springing up all over the Middle East and North Africa, and solitary ISIS terrorists have attacked in diverse places in the west, most recently killing Marines at a recruiting office in Chattanooga. ISIS is now trying to take over Gaza in an attempt to invade Israel.  Israel is getting ready to launch a preemptive strike on Iran because of its nuclear buildup and continuing aggressive talk.  Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has continued, together with a massive buildup of opposing NATO forces in Eastern Europe.  Tensions remain high between India and Pakistan.  And Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un has proven himself capable of starting war over a movie—a movie for crying out loud!  It is like the whole world has gone temporarily insane.  The fallout from any one of these conflicts is potentially massive, long-lasting, and devastating.

And all this is going on while people are distracted by work and social media (see Social Evils Celebrated in Social Media), and world leaders are taking advantage of the distracted electorate and abandoning traditional godly values.  They have turn their backs on Israel.  And as if that wasn’t bad enough, there is video of Bohemian Grove, where world leaders gather every summer to perform a ritual sacrifice in effigy (they claim!) in a ceremony called the Cremation of Care.  Bohemian Grove is said to be a place of rampant sexual activity of all sorts.

There are also so many reports of illuminati pedophilia and snuff parties attended by world leaders and the super-rich that there must be at least some grain of truth to it—especially given that there is actual video proof of the satanic doings at Bohemian Grove.  Meanwhile ISIS has cut off the heads off so many Christians that there can be no doubt that the enemy (the puppet master behind the people doing these things) is using these barbaric practices to desensitize the world to the horrors that are to come.

Further desensitization comes from movies and television.  Perhaps the increase in violent imagery, use of drugs, promiscuousness, softcore pornography (what they call softcore used to be called pornography), and bad language was so gradual that most people didn’t notice it.  But I haven’t had a television in fifteen years, and I can tell you that there is a vast difference in what was permissible then and what is shown now.  Some of the words and phrases that were forbidden just fifteen years ago are now spoken—uncensored!—by television children like Honey Boo Boo (am I the only one who’s shocked by this?).

The rabbit hole goes much deeper than this.  If you’re ready to consider some things that will really remove the blinders and radically change your world view, stay tuned for Part Two.  The world is spiraling ever downward, but God is good!

A Practical Guide to Prayer Walking

A friend recently asked about prayer walking because she felt led to do some prayer walks in her city.  After writing it out for her, I realized that these instructions could be useful for others who God is leading to become part of a spiritual swat team in their cities.  So here is my Practical Guide to Prayer Walking:

Before you start, each teammate must realize that you’re going against the enemy on his turf, so I recommend fresh prayers for protection over yourself, anyone going with you, and all family members.  This is to remind the enemy (and yourselves) that you’re protected, covered by the matchless Blood of Jesus.

Everyone that is going with you needs to commit to being there for all of the preparation, and if they can, to also be there for the debriefing at the end.  If someone wants to go pray, but is unwilling to commit for the whole process, pray and ask the Lord if they should be involved.  Unity is absolutely critical, and failure to commit to the whole process could damage unity.  It could also be a sign of a rebellious spirit, which also threatens unity.

Start at the church because you don’t want to step out the door until the Holy Spirit indicates that you’re ready.  If you don’t have the willing participation of your church (at least in allowing preparatory prayers and worship), pray about doing this step in a local House of Prayer or in the home of a teammate where everyone in the home is willing to host this activity, whether they are all born again or not.  All teammates must be born again, spirit-filled, and know something of spiritual warfare.

What we do first is intense worship, really pour your heart out in extravagant worship, lifting Jesus high.  You might dance, wave flags, but there’s got to be freedom—each person worshiping as the Spirit leads.  Let the Holy Spirit lead you in worship and in everything that follows.  And that is it in a nutshell right there.

Then spend time together seeking the Lord about how to pray in these places.  Bring a map of the city before the Lord—you can circle the neighborhoods in question.  The Holy Spirit may indicate different approaches in each place, but sometimes not.

He may lead you to do some prophetic acts involving:

• water, wine, or salt (mostly those items speak to purification);
• olive oil
• God’s Word (either whole or part, maybe just a key verse, which sometimes we have planted into the earth in a place indicated by the Holy Spirit);

Other items may indicated by the Holy Spirit.  So go prepared, with the items the Lord indicates.  Other prophetic acts could be making declarations in those places, based on scripture; or simply praying and sending the enemy away.  In everything, the Holy Spirit knows exactly what to do, and what will be most effective.

This preparation time may be lengthy, so budget at least half a day for this important step.  The actual prayer walking will usually take less time.  But the whole thing from start to finish will likely take a full day (figuring for meal breaks, too).  And it’s pretty exhausting, so I wouldn’t make any plans for the evening.

Remind teammates that our prayers are powerful.  You may run into witchcraft, voodoo, or some other demonically powerful nonsense.  So it’s always good to remind the whole team of the power of our prayers and that “greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world,” (1 John 4:4).  God has equipped us with everything we need to “wage the good warfare,” (1 Timothy 1:18, NKJV), and “having done all, to stand,” (Ephesians 6:13)—it’s so simple, yet powerful: the only way we can possibly lose is by retreating (we’ve got no armor for the back of us!).  A former witch once revealed to a friend of mine that the spiritual atmosphere he had prayed thirty times to build was completely wrecked by one Christian prayer—so he decided to switch sides!

There are some we don’t do, and a few things that we always do:

• We don’t go out to share Jesus—not that day! Your purpose on a prayer walk is to clean the territory in the spirit realm.  Keep that in mind.
• We don’t make a spectacle of ourselves. Declarations don’t have to be loud to be heard in the spirit realm.  Most of the passers-by never had a clue that we weren’t just talking among ourselves.  For this reason, if you have a big group, it’s best to split up into smaller groups of two to three people, certainly no more than six.  If you have a few places in mind, it makes for easy division by asking those involved, “which place draws you?”  Undecided teammates can go pray at the place with the fewest people praying.  My experience is that the Lord draws the people He wants to the right place.  If you split up, then you need to designate a leader for each place.  If you have six in each place, you may ask each leader to consider breaking their group in two, and going to different parts of that neighborhood, while close enough to still see each other.  Never have anyone pray alone.
• Stick to whatever the Holy Spirit has instructed, while remaining flexible about exactly what that actually looks like. Sometimes He adds final instructions on site, so this can be really important.  Each leader should have a written list of instruction for her/his place so that s/he can keep everyone on task.
• We let each person pray or do the specific act that the Lord revealed to them. For example, if Bob got a vision involving chickens, and there is a chicken yard or chicken coop in the neighborhood he’s praying at, then Bob is the one who should pray into that aspect, as the Lord leads.  And if the Lord indicates pouring wine into the chicken’s water, then Bob should very stealthily do that—but only a few drops are needed, we don’t want drunken chickens!  And perhaps the Lord indicates singing a particular song at the chicken coop.  If so, come prepared with a guitar, harmonica, or whatever.  And if Bob feels led to do the Chicken Dance, then encourage him to do it.  Sometimes the Lord has us do crazy stuff, and we only discover later how it affected someone or something.  Obedience is more important than feeling momentarily foolish.
• It’s best to appoint someone (usually the group leader) to keep watch while the group is at the scene. If someone approaches the group, the leader needs discernment to know if the person is a threat or just curious.  In either case, the leader may have to break off from the group and go engage the person or try to head them off.  But it’s best to keep the flow of prayers going if at all possible.
• We always have a follow-up session at the church, in which people share any visions, prophetic words, unusual experiences (drunken chickens), or significant encounters with the locals. It is possible that the Holy Spirit may indicate continuing prayer in one or all the places.  If so, then the people that live there (if there were any on the prayer team), then they are the logical choice, since they will be a daily physical presence in that place.  Otherwise, let the people the Lord revealed this to be the ones to continue praying.

With good preparation and the Lord’s leading, you can make some neighborhood improvements that will have a lasting effect.  God is good!

Summer in a Cast

I tripped and fell in the kitchen, and broke my wrist.  That was a week ago today.  But there were two friends here and they started praying immediately (while I was still on the floor!), and the initial swelling—which made my arm almost as big as my leg—went down instantly to just a knot near my thumb.  Likewise, the initial pain went from horrific to a dull ache.  When I still couldn’t use it the next morning, I knew it was probably broken, so I went to the emergency room.  Without their prayers, who knows how bad it might have been.

Nevertheless, it’s pretty miserable in near 100 degree humid heat with a cast on my arm and no air conditioning.  It doesn’t hurt now unless I use that hand at all.  I can wiggle my fingers, but the thumb is right by the break, so it hurts to move it.  I never appreciated how much I need both hands.  Even the simplest tasks have become difficult, if not impossible (typing one-handed, for example).  But I’m managing OK, learning to let others do for me, and resting as much as I can.  I’m so glad I didn’t break the right one!

My dad was a great example of laughing at yourself and your problems.  Laughter and gratitude are my two greatest tools.  I laugh at what I still think I can do one-handed—silly girl!  And I’m grateful for the people in my life who have helped me stay positive—like my precious daughter-in-law, who sent a picture of my grandchildren.  Thinking of the people in my life makes even the misery of a hot, heavy cast, the difficulties, the summer heat, and the residual pain fade into their proper place in the overall perspective of things.  My life is so good that I can’t complain.

Big love and blessings to you all!  No matter what you’re going through, never forget: God is good!

Social Evils Celebrated in Social Media

An example of planking

As thing in the world get worse and worse, the overworked and distracted people of the middle class seek to escape the ugly realities in more and more bizarre ways.  Drunken tourism is an actual term for the phenomenon of people traveling for the sole purpose of getting smashed in a place far from home where the climate is kinder, the watchful eyes of family are far away, and the drinks are cheaper.

A related phenomenon is narcissistic tourism, where people take selfies with famous (or infamous) places as a backdrop—often in places where photography is forbidden.  Sometimes people will do stupid and dangerous things as they or a friend shoots video of the moment.  What started as mere stupidity—planking has evolved into something far more dangerous—balconing.  Planking is defined as laying your body horizontally, face-down across any object or the ground with arms by the side, aiming for daring or unusual situations while a friend takes a picture.  Balconing is when people (usually under the influence of alcohol) jump from balcony to balcony or from a balcony into a swimming pool (you can google balconing death and see many examples—myself, I cannot watch such things).  It’s as if the world has gone insane for the sake (and hope!) of going viral.  Doing virtually anything for the sake of fame, however fleeting.

Some people do acts of violence, sex, or suicide—announcing their intentions before the act either openly (as the Ferguson revenge killer did) or in a veiled reference (as the Columbine killers and the Sandy Hook killer did).  Young girls—preteen girls, and even boys—take naked pictures of themselves with their phones and send them to someone they’re interested in.  This phenomenon has a name: sexting and the sender doesn’t realize that the receiver will probably show it to all his friends.  He may even post it on social media, and there is no stopping him or getting it away from him.  Worse, the recipient may actually be a grown man that has gone on the internet looking for underage girls (or boys) to have sex with.  Social media can influence and even encourage suicide—especially in the case of bullying.

All of these activities done on the virtual stage is a form of narcissism.  Social media definitely fuels narcissism, where people post their exploits in hopes of it going viral.  Almost everyone is on at least one social media network (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.), and some are on several of them.  They post periodically throughout the week—or even throughout the day—pictures and/or videos of themselves and family members.  Social media is probably not a cause of narcissism (certainly not in the pathological sense), but rather a vehicle for the existing condition, and may actually cause existing narcissism to worsen.  There is evidence that the more often that a person posts selfies and the more social media “friends” a person has, the more likely they are to be narcissistic.

Social media has increased the number of friendships a person is likely to have, never mind that they are shallow friendships, and often comprised of people one has never actually met before.  Many people unfriend those who have inadvertently offended them, rather than ask about the comment, the photo, or whatever it was that caused offense.  This brings to mind what Jesus said: “Then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another,” (Matthew 24:10).  And in verse 12: “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,” (all in the context of the End Times).  Sometimes the exchanges on Facebook seem to me like people posting for no other reason than to hear the sound of their own voice or see their name/likeness published in cyberspace.  It takes effort and courage to ask someone that has offended you, “Why did you say that?” or “Why did you do that?”  You might find out that your offender has had a rotten day, miswrote, or simply wasn’t thinking through the remark.

I was recently asked for a donation by someone using the Facebook page of a famous pastor.  The person said that the Lord had called him to go minister in Nigeria.  Then he asked for a donation.  I was suspicious, and said that I would pray about it, and perhaps make the donation to his website.  Then he said that the Lord told him not to handle any money, but to have all donations go directly to the church in Nigeria.  So I contacted the pastor’s website and told them about the Facebook fraud.  They told me what I already knew—that the pastor never asks for money on Facebook.

Another person had asked friendship, and I saw that he seemed to be a nice looking young man who was friends with several other friends of mine.  Within minutes of accepting his friendship, he sent me a message, asking for money, claiming that it was for his father’s church in India.

My Facebook page was hacked back in December, and I had to shut down the page before the virus spread to my computer and possibly to my friends’ pages and their computers.  Later I opened a new Facebook page, and learned that there had been gossip about me, that I had unfriended certain people because I was no longer following Christ—and this was started by one of those “friends” who has never actually met me.  Honestly!  What’s a person to do?

I’m not saying that social media is a bad thing in itself.  But just like money or television, good and bad is all in how you use it.  The majority of my friends on Facebook are people that I actually know.  Sometimes I accept a friendship request from the friend of a friend.  The majority of my friends post things like prayer requests, media stories that we should all know about and be praying about, or thoughts and quotes that encourage others.  Do my friends post silly stuff?  Of course they did!  So do I sometimes.  But mostly we post the other things that encourage each other.  If Jesus had said it today, He might have put it this way: “out of the abundance of the heart the person posts to his page,” (Matthew 12:34, NKJV, paraphrasing and emphasis mine).  So let this be a warning to use social media with caution and wisdom, remembering that not only are your friends and family watching, but so is God.  God is good!

Enjoying the Shunammite’s Blessing

Last night and the night before I had Esan stay with me.  He is an ex-Muslim believer from Iran.  Esan has lived in Italy since 1990.  He said that from youth, he loved bombs and dreamed of exploding himself along with hundreds of infidels.  Then in 1992 he met Jesus, and his life has never been the same.  He says that he can’t imagine wanting to explode bombs now.

The hatred that Esan had in his heart has been replaced by a love that is both sacrificial and supernatural.  When the Italian financial crisis hit, Esan lost his engineering job.  He has had a few low-paying jobs since then, but has mostly had to rely on his wife’s income to survive—something very humbling for a man from his cultural background.  He became a stay-at-home dad to his three kids (aged 8 to 16), and an evangelist to the Muslim community of Italy.

In reality, I know that his service to his family and to the kingdom is precious to God—far more precious than earning €400 a month doing menial labor just for the sake of contributing financially.  Still, as a man from his culture, it’s been hard for him to deal with.

I was about to start a load of laundry, but I hate running the washer for anything less than a full load.  I asked Esan if he had any laundry to contribute.  Typical of a man from his culture, he said, “I couldn’t ask you to wash my sweaty and intimate things!  It’s better if I just wrap them up and take them home to wash.”  So I thought that I should probably wait until I have a full load to run.

Esan continued to tell me how hard things have been for him since he lost his job, how his kids nag him because they can’t have everything they want—things he would like to give them.  I could see that it had him down.  So what did I do?  I encouraged him by telling about a couple of times that God provided for me in supernatural ways:

My Income Crisis – In 2011 my income was cut in half, but I responded by giving the problem to God and continuing to do everything I needed to do in ministry:  travel, meet with missionaries over coffee or a meal, etc.  I didn’t waste any time wondering if God would provide.  His Word says that He is my Provider, and crazy as that sounds, I just believe it.

When I returned to the US in the fall of 2011, I knew that I would need to pay all my biggest bills (property taxes, registration and inspection on the car, etc.) and somehow also manage Christmas.  But at this thought, I simply gave the problem back to God to handle for me.  About half an hour later, my brother picked me up from the airport.  He informed me that our Grandfather’s second wife had died.  That dear lady had remembered us in her will—$12,000, which enough to make up for half the shortfall, but not enough to be taxable.  Now I could cover those bills and buy presents.  I had never dreamed that she would leave something for us in her will.

When we got to the house, my sister-in-law greeted me with a box.  Inside was three valuable Indian pots that I had left at my brother’s house in anticipation of having a stranger living in my own house.  Just before returning to the US, my brother’s house burned down.  My pottery miraculously survived the collapse of the roof, but the black-on-black glaze that had made these three pieces valuable and unique was burned off.  I didn’t want to make a claim on his insurance because my brother literally lost everything, so I took the pots to my homeowner’s insurance agent.  She carefully investigated, photographed, ordered an appraisal, and discovered the value of the pottery, and cut me a check for $10,600—far more than I had ever imagined.

Between these two surprise windfalls, my entire income was made up, but I only had to pay taxes on half the income.

That first story stirred Esan, but he remained discouraged because of all the people who have been telling him that he must go get a job and contribute to the family like a man (including his wife, his children, and his pastor).  So I shared another time when God supernaturally provided for me:

When I got this apartment, it wasn’t a fast process, but rather a fasting process.  I knew that the Lord wanted me to remain in my old neighborhood.  The only instruction He gave me was to ask for an apartment with two bathrooms.  The only available apartment with two bathrooms was this one.  It looked perfect, except for one thing: it was beyond my budget.  I asked the landlord to come down in price just a little bit, but he refused—no negotiation.  So I went down front at church for prayer.

Giuseppe does crowd control at church, so he took his place in front of me to pray for me, but continued for a while to direct people where to stand, keep the aisle clear, etc.  Suddenly, without asking me what I wanted prayer for, he grabbed my shoulders and started praying for me.  Part of what he prayed was: “Lord, we know that Alisa will have to fast and pray for her answer.”  So I began fasting and praying about the apartment, believing all the while that the Lord would move the Landlord to lower the rent.

While fasting I received some really amazing and encouraging confirmation about the apartment in dreams, but no word at all from the landlord.  I didn’t know how long I would be fasting, but I was prepared to fast until I had my answer.

On day 19 of the fast, I received an email prophecy newsletter that said, in part, “Take a leap of faith.”  Not a step, a leap.  I thought it might be about the apartment, but I felt in my spirit that I should wait.

On day 20 of the fast was a Sunday.  I was visiting a small church near Milan when the pastor’s wife walked in and stopped the worship in the middle of a song—something I’ve never heard of anyone doing!  She said, “The Lord just told me that someone here needs to be very bold and daring.”  My heart leaped, and I thought about the apartment.  But then a whole bunch of people went down front for prayer, so I thought maybe not.

Then the next day, day 21 of the fast, I had been staying with Sally, my ministry partner.  She had just returned from a conference in Rome where Lisa Bevere had spoken.  As soon as Lisa finished speaking, they had the DVD ready to sell—which is a miracle because in Italy it usually takes a couple of weeks before they have the DVD or CD ready to sell right away.  So she asked if I wanted to watch it.  I said yes.  At the end of her message, Lisa looked right into the camera, just like she was looking at me and said: “You need to take a crazy leap of faith before your brain has a chance to kick-in.”

Immediately, I took the phone out of my pocket and called the real estate agent.  I told him: “Let’s set an appointment to sign the apartment contract.”  And when I hung up the phone, I said: “OK, Lord, I’m doing my part.  Now I need for You to do Yours.”  And He has.  There were a couple of times that I didn’t know if I had the money to cover the rent, but it has always been there.

I don’t live a lavish lifestyle.  I’m a simple person with few personal needs.  But I do lavish generously on the missionaries in my care.  I believe that this is why God is so generous with me.

At this, Esan was encouraged because he had seen—and experienced my generosity.  He said: “It’s true, you are very generous.  OK, I have decided to let you wash my laundry.  But you must let me hang things out.”  I said: “It’s a deal!”

So, here I am, enjoying the Shunammite’s blessing (2 Kings 4:8-37).  Through the prophet, God promised her a child and resurrected her child when he died.  Like her, I have opened my home to God’s people.  And like her, I am receiving the blessing of children—spiritual children.  God had told me to enlarge my tent, stretch my tent curtains wide, and do not hold back (Isaiah 54:2), and this is what I have done.

Do you know what the worst curse is?  The worst curse is to miss out on a blessing that God has for you.  Whatever God has called you to do, just do it with all your heart.  No matter how humble your service is, God will bless you generously.  God is good!

Post Script: I wrote this as Esan slept.  When he woke up, he came to me and said, “Do you know who you are?  You’re the Shunammite woman!”  I had just finished printing this post, and I picked it up and showed him.  Both of us had tears in our eyes.  This is why I write only non-fiction.  You could never make up some of the amazing, crazy, wonderful things that God does for us!  God is good!  I know I say it all the time, and I don’t care if I’m repeating myself, it’s true: God is good!

Housewife for God

Today my apartment became a place to escape some of the terrible heat of this Milan summer.  On Monday I had taken some English language books and Bibles to donate to Expo on 4 Wheels.  Expo on 4 Wheels is a bus that has been re-purposed and made into a mobile church.  There is a sitting area, a library area, and a small kitchen area.

The Expo is expected to bring in approximately 20-22 million visitors from all over the world.  And since the common language of the Expo is English, there was a need for evangelistic materials, books, and Bibles in English.  So here’s my housewife part in God’s work: my bookshelves were overflowing with books, so I went through them and pulled out all the books that were duplicates, books I had read and didn’t intend to read again, and books that were donated that would probably do more good on the Expo bus than gathering dust in my apartment.

I took the books to the bus in a suitcase, helped by my friend, Nina.  As Daniele looked through the books, he got very excited.  He looked them over, stacking them neatly in piles: Bibles, books on prayer, books on church, etc.  While he sorted, I realized that the bus was a miserably hot place to be, and he had pledged to be there all day every weekday, with an extended lunch break during the hottest time of the day: 1:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon.

I told Daniele that I live in the neighborhood, and that he was welcome to come take his lunch break at my house, which he did.  As I write this, he is resting in a bedroom.

Meanwhile, my house is also being used today as a place for a radio interview of Angelo Maugeri, who is in my living room right now being interviewed by my ministry partner, Allegra.  Angelo has the distinction of being the most commercially successful openly Christian musician on the Italian music scene.  Allegra is the host of Good Word Radio show, and since she’s back in Milan for a visit, she had set up this interview.  And how did she get the interview with Angelo?  By mentioning that she’s my ministry partner.  Angelo remembered me, and consented immediately.  I was surprised that he even remembered me.  We met very briefly something like five years ago.

They had lunch at a pizza place nearby while Daniele was making himself lunch here.  Then they came and set up for the interview.  Allegra gave Angelo a list of the questions she would ask in Italian.  With him thus prepared, she interviewed him in English, and he answered in Italian, which she then translated.  The interview went very well, with each of them bursting out laughing from time to time.

Then Angelo played his new song: Un Nuovo Giorno (A New Day) for the Radio audience.  Allegra sang with him.  I was amazed again by the power behind the sweetness of Allegra’s voice, which was perfect for the song.  Then we took some pictures.  Including a picture of the two of them with my newest acquisition: a pink ukulele.

I had seen ukuleles for sale in the book store, and I couldn’t resist.  I didn’t know that they would come in any color other than wood colored.  So when I opened the box and found that it was pink, I was delighted.  What could be better than a pink ukulele?  I got the ukulele just before Allegra came, and when she saw it, she was delighted, too.

Tonight a young fellow is coming to spend a couple of nights while he shares Jesus with Expo visitors.  Tomorrow night a girl who works with Daniele needs a bed for the night, and Daniele will be stopping by again for lunch and a rest.

I had received a prophecy back in 1976 (see The Prophecy Fulfilled at Last), saying that I would be an oasis for refreshing.  The other day, someone prophesied over Allegra, saying that she is a water-bringer.  It is amazing to see the ways that God is using us to refresh His people.

When I was a housewife, I did things like I’m doing now, but I felt unappreciated and invisible.  Now, I know that even the humble service that I offer is a big thing for God and for His people.  I know that I am loved and appreciated, and definitely not invisible any more.  God is good!

Tribulation Saints and the Harvest Cycle Illustration

I was recently asked by another Pre-Tribulation believer about Tribulation saints.  She said that since we will be taken out of the world, the Holy Spirit in us is therefore also removed from the world (2 Thessalonians 2:7), and that therefore, nobody would repent during the Tribulation period.

The first part of what she said is absolutely true, and I believe that’s why (and when) God said:

Afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.  Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out My Spirit in those days, (Joel 2:28-29).

When Peter quoted this in Acts 2, he understood that the context was the Last Days.  And I don’t think he was wrong.  Bible time is not like we have been taught.  We tend to think of time as something linear: first one event happened, then another event happened, then a third event happened, and so forth.

But Bible time is cyclical, like the seasons: first one thing happened, then in due season something very similar happened, then in due season something very similar happened again.  And the Bible even hints at this:

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun, (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

Another thing about that prophecy in Joel is that God calls them My servants.  These are people who missed the Rapture because they were not serving God.  Yet God calls them My servants.  That’s because God calls things that are not into being (Romans 4:17).

So here’s how I believe this is going to play out: just like in the parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25), some of us will be ready for the Rapture, while other Christians will be busy and distracted, maybe even busy with ministry, but they’re not watching and waiting for Jesus to come Rapture them away.  There are some Christians who I believe really love and follow Jesus, but who don’t believe in the imminence of the Rapture.  All of these will believe it when it happens and they will know that they have been left behind.

At that time, they will really set aside every weight (Hebrews 12:1) that had prevented them from going in the Rapture (busy-ness, unbelief, distractions, etc.).  They will become the super evangelists of the Tribulation period.  They will also be beheaded for their faith because now they know that everything the Bible speaks of is absolutely true.  They no longer have anything to lose, so they will willingly lose their heads for Jesus.

And God will assist their evangelical efforts by pouring out His Spirit again (as in Joel, above).  Because He wants to see as many saved as possible.  God doesn’t make mistakes, but if He did, God would always err on the side of mercy and grace.  He doesn’t want to see anyone go to hell.  By the same token, God is not going to force anyone into Heaven, either.  If someone goes to hell, it is because they chose it.

Now to the Harvest cycle illustration: in the Hebrew tradition there are three stages to the harvest:

1. First Fruits – in which the part of the field that ripens first is inspected by a priest and marked with a red cord. It is then harvested and brought to the Temple to be offered as a wave offering to God.  First Fruits foreshadows the Rapture of the Bride.
2. The Harvest – in which the whole field is harvested except for the corners (Leviticus 23:22). The Harvest foreshadows the big End Times Harvest of Tribulation Saints that have been martyred (Revelation 20:4).  And this occurs at the time of Jesus’ Second Coming.  Jesus appears at the Rapture, but His feet will touch the earth at His Second Coming (Zechariah 14:4).
3. The Four Corners – which are left for the poor to harvest and take home. This was beautifully demonstrated in the book of Ruth.  The Four Corners foreshadows the final harvest of Hebrew believers in Messiah from all over the world (Romans 11:25-26).  This will happen after the very last gentile believer has come to Christ.

Just as there were three phases to the harvest, there were also three main crops harvested:

1. Barley – which was first to ripen. Barley was winnowed by taking a winnowing fork and tossing the barley into the air in the evening wind.  The wind separated the chaff from the soft barley, blowing the chaff away.  This, again is a foreshadowing of the Rapture of the Bride.
2. Wheat – which was next to ripen. Wheat was crushed by running over it with a threshing sledge (called a tribulum!).  This also foreshadows the Tribulation Saints’ martyrdom.
3. Grapes – which was the last to ripen. Grapes were pressed or trodden.  This also foreshadows the final harvest of the Hebrew people.

Given a choice (and we are!), I choose to go in the Rapture and spend the Tribulation with Jesus.  How about you?  Don’t wait!  Even though I wrote the Feast of Trumpets is the most likely time for the Rapture, God is not restricted.  He can do anything He chooses.  If we’re ready now, then we won’t be caught by surprise.  God is good!