Category Archives: Current Events

September 13, 2015 · 10:30

The Last Trump

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Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)

For the past 20 years or more, I have anxiously awaited this time of year. Granted, the Lord is not obligated to comply with my speculations. The times are fully under His sovereign will and control, and I am more than happy to submit to His wisdom and direction. So whatever happens today, tomorrow or in the near future, I am fully trusting that God’s plan will be fulfilled in accordance with His perfect timing to which I am not, nor is anyone else, privy.

The reason for my excitement at this season, is that many years ago I learned that the Feasts of the Lord given to Israel in Exodus were given as a pattern for the future ministry of Christ. The first four feasts came in the spring and were fulfilled by Christ in His flesh. Jesus fulfilled Passover as the Lamb of God on the cross, followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread. At this feast, all leaven, which represented sin, was to be removed and cast out of the house. Jesus fulfilled this by taking upon Himself our sin and being buried in the earth. Then followed the Feast of First Fruits, which celebrated new life. Jesus fulfilled this feast when He rose from the dead as the “first fruit” of the resurrection. After His resurrection, Jesus walked on the earth for 40 days and ascended into heaven. Ten days later, at the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon His followers fulfilling the spring harvest which continues to this day.

Three feasts remain to be fulfilled, and they are the fall feasts. The first is the Feast of Trumpets, or Rosh HaShanah, the beginning of the new civil year. Eight days later Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, follows, and then four days after that is Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths), which is celebrated for eight days. The Feast of Trumpets was a holy convocation or gathering. On the Day of Atonement, sacrifices were offered for the sins of the nation. The high priest first had to offer a sacrifice for his own sins, and then he offered a sacrifice for the sins of the people. He carried the blood of the sacrifice into the temple, and only at this time could he enter into the Holy of Holies that housed the Ark of the Covenant where the presence of the Lord dwelt. As he entered into this most holy place, the chimes on the hem of his robe jingled gaving notice to those without that he was still alive and moving inside. A rope was tied to one of his ankles should the displeasure of the Lord strike him dead. Those outside would not be able to enter the most holy place to extract him, but they could drag him out by the rope. So, in he would go and take the blood of the sacrifice, and there upon the Mercy Seat (the covering of the Ark), he would pour out the blood of the sacrifice. Inside the Ark resided three elements that represented Israel’s sin against God. The tablets of the Ten Commandments represented God’s Law that had been violated. There was a sample of the manna that represented God’s provision that had been rejected. Finally there was Aaron’s staff that had budded representing God’s leadership against which they had rebelled. The contents of the Ark, therefore, represented Israel’s offences against God. These were covered by the sacrificial blood. This was indeed a most solemn and remorseful occasion. Four days later sorrow was followed by a joyous celebration as Israel commemorated their wanderings in the wilderness living in temporary housing – tents, i.e., tabernacles. During this time, God provided food and water for them, and their clothes and shoes did not wear out. More than that, God was always present with them in the form of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. These last three feasts are yet to be fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ.

So how is that relevant to us? We are told in the Old Testament, and affirmed in the New Testament, that Christ will return and set up His kingdom on earth for 1000 years. (I have written about this in the past and so have many others, so I will skip the details for now.) Before that happens, seven years of “tribulation” will come upon the earth and mankind (Daniel 9:24-27). According to the pre-tribulation view of end-times, which I loosely hold, Christ will come for His Bride – the Church, the body of all true believers – and take her out of this world to save her from the wrath to come. This is what is known as the Rapture of the church (1 Thessalonians 4:14-18).  This event, we are told, will be preceded “with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16, emphasis mine). Our leading verse says that it will be “at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52, emphasis mine).

Today, September 13, 2015, is Elul 29 on the Jewish calendar. It is the last day of the Jewish civil year. I understand that every day during the month of Elul, the shofar (the trumpet) is sounded. The following day is Rosh HaShanah (the Feast of Trumpets) when the final trumpet is sounded calling all of Israel to gather at the temple. I believe that for the Church, the Bride of Christ, that will be the call to gather to Him, and thus fulfilling the first of the fall feasts. Tomorrow, September 14, 2015, Tishri 1 on the Jewish calendar, is that day.

There are many reasons to believe that the Rapture will occur tomorrow, although I will not presume upon God and make an emphatic or dogmatic statement. Today (Elul 29) concludes the Sabbatical Year – the Shemitah. Tomorrow, Tishri 1, announces the beginning of the 70th Year of Jubilee since the observance was given to Israel 3500 years ago. Seven, in biblical numerology is the number of completion. Many other “coincidental” events are also converging around this time as recorded in the last post I shared (http://www.ericbarger.com/focused.doom.htm).

I am not saying categorically that the Rapture will take place tomorrow. But I will say this: I will have my ear cocked toward the eastern sky listening for that last trump. I may be disappointed, but never disheartened or discouraged because the Lord promised that He would return (John 14:1-3), and I know that He will when HE is ready. I need to be ready too. Are you?

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September 7, 2015 · 11:43

Are You Focused on Doom Instead of Him? – Is September the End?

Source: Are You Focused on Doom Instead of Him? – Is September the End?

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Eric Barger presents a very balanced perspective on the upcoming September events. This is a must-read article for all Christians who are looking forward to the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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August 23, 2015 · 10:30

I Know Whom I Have Believed

Trumpets

For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. (Psalm 37:10)

These are exciting times in which we live. The world’s attention is focused to the time around mid-September.  End-times Bible prophets point to the Jewish Fall Feasts (more accurately, the Feasts of the Lord), and note that this year’s feasts are more significant than any others in the past. Jonathan Cahn, author of The Harbinger, recently released his latest book, The Mystery of the Shamitah, where he meticulously points out that in recent US history, Shamitahs have resulted in economic collapse demonstrated by huge drops in the stock market.

The Shamitah is the seven-year cycle assigned by God (Leviticus 25:4) where the Jews were required to leave the land fallow for the entire year to give it a rest – a Sabbath for the land. The Jews failed to keep the Shamitahs for 490 years (7 years x 70 Shamitahs) resulting in their 70 year Babylonian captivity (2 Chronicles 36:21; Jeremiah 25:11-12), one year for each Shamitah they failed to keep. You will need to get Cahn’s book for specific details, but in short, he suggests that God’s laws have transferred to the US because of how our nation was founded – “One nation under God.” Our nation is now reaping the consequences for our rejection of God. Cahn observes that every great economic collapse that America has experienced has fallen at the conclusion of a Shamitah year.

This year (2015) the Shamitah concludes on September 13. If the cycle keeps true to the pattern, the United States will experience a great economic collapse on September 14. This is due to the fact that September 13 falls on a Sunday when the stock market is closed. I noticed this past week that the stock market took a huge hit dropping over 500 points and making Wall Street very nervous. This seven-year cycle has not escaped many economists; however they cannot explain why this happens.

Another interesting event in September is that of Rosh Hashanah (the Feast of Trumpets), which signals the Jewish New Year. This event occurs on September 14. It also signals the beginning of the Jubilee year (Leviticus 25:8). After seven Shamitahs (7×7 or 49 years), the following year was special Shamitah called the Jubilee making a 50-year cycle. At this time all debts were cancelled, all properties were returned to the original owners and all accounts were zeroed. What is significant about this coming Jubilee is that it will be the 70th Jubilee since the law was given 3500 years ago. More could be said on this, but I recommend getting the book God’s Final Jubilee by Dan Goodwin.

These are significant events on God’s calendar (which, by the way, does not follow our solar calendar). But even in the secular world, this coming September seems to hold the promise of “something big” happening. As stated earlier, economists are aware of the 7-year cycle, and even though they do not understand it nor can they explain it, they predict an economic collapse this fall, sometime in September or October. The Pope plans to address Congress on September 24. This will be the first time a Pope has ever addressed the US Congress. This follows immediately after Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths) begins on Sunday just three days later.

What does this all mean? I do not know, but it is interesting that all these events are converging from the middle to the end of September. Perhaps this is the year that the Lord will call His bride home. That is my earnest hope at least, but I am not packing my bags and heading to the hills. Jesus gave us all our assignments before He left, and He said, “Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13). Ever since the turn of the 21st century (perhaps even before that), every time this season rolls around, I start looking toward the eastern sky listening for the call of that last trumpet. So far, I have been disappointed, but not despondent. This is God’s plan, and He is in full control. I know that the call will not come until His time is right. Whenever that happens, I am ready!

One of my favorite hymns says:

     I know not why God’s wondrous grace

To me He hath made known,

Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love

Redeemed me for His own.

     I know not how this saving faith

To me He did impart,

Nor how believing in His Word

Wrought peace within my heart.

          I know not how the Spirit moves

Convicting men of sin,

Revealing Jesus thro’ the Word,

Creating faith in him.

     (I know not what of good or ill

May be reserved for me,

Of weary ways or golden days,

Before His face I see.)

     I know not when my Lord may come,

At night or noonday fair,

Nor if I walk the vale with Him,

Or meet Him in the air.

     Refrain:

But “I know Whom I have believed,

And am persuaded that He is able

To keep that which I’ve committed

Unto Him against that day.” [1] (2 Timothy 1:12)

I look forward to September 2015 in anticipation of our Lord’s return. If it doesn’t happen, that just means that we have more work to do. There is also the possibility that I may die before He returns. Either way, I will be with Him. As the last verse of the hymn says, “I know not when my Lord may come, at night or noonday fair, nor if I walk the vale with Him, or meet Him in the air.” The point is, I know in whom I have believed, and I am fully trusting in His sovereign will. How about you? Are you ready for His return?

Notes:

[1] Daniel W. Whittle, “I Know Whom I Have Believed,” Published 1883.

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July 31, 2015 · 12:36

9 Reasons People Leave the Church When the Church Isn’t to Blame

9 Reasons People Leave the Church When the Church Isn’t to Blame.

This is a relevant article for both church-goers and non-church-goers.

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July 12, 2015 · 10:30

Too Late

And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart … Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah …  (2 Kings 23:25-26)

I hear many well-intentioned Christians exhorting us to pray for our nation and for our leaders. The call seems to have increased in intensity since the recent foolish ruling by the United States Supreme Court declaring same-sex marriage a constitutional right. Such a ruling places this nation in the death throes of social order described in Romans 1:32 “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” At this juncture our nation finds itself near the bottom of the sucking vortex that will end its days, and no plea to God for restoration will be heeded. Such was the case for the nation of Judah in her final days.

King Josiah was a good king. He began his reign at the age of eight, and despite the poor example set for him by his father Amon and grandfather Manasseh, “he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left” (2 Kings 22:2). By the time of his ascendency, the northern kingdom of Israel, whose kings all earned the comment, “he did evil in the sight of the LORD,” no longer existed as a nation having been conquered and repatriated by Shalmaneser king of Assyria (2 Kings 17). Failing to learn the lesson of her sister, Judah followed the same path of destruction. Of Manasseh, the Bible says that “he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove [an image of the Phoenician goddess Astarte] … he built altars [for pagan gods] in the house of the LORD … he made his son pass through the fire [i.e., he sacrificed his children to the god Molech], and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits [demons] and wizards … he set a graven image of the grove [Astarte] that he had made in the house [the Temple] … Manasseh seduced them [Judah] to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel” (2 Kings 21:3-9). Manasseh was so bad that the Bible says he “hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols” (2 Kings 21:11). For comparison, the Amorites were included in the list of nations living in the Promised Land that God instructed Joshua to wipe out in the conquest of the land because of their depravity. As bad as the Amorites were, Manasseh had exceeded their depravity in God’s eyes. To top that, Manasseh’s son (Josiah’s father), Amon, though his reign was brief, “forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD” (2 Kings 21:22).  This was the young Josiah’s inheritance.

In his eighteenth year on the throne, Josiah, now 26, ordered that the Temple, which had fallen into disrepair, be restored. In the process of restoring the Temple, Hilkiah the high priest found a copy of the Torah (the book of the law). Obviously the Torah, like many of our Bibles, had been put away and not read in a long time. The find was so significant that Hilkiah sent it by way of Shaphan, the king’s scribe, to Josiah. Shaphan read the scroll to King Josiah, “And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes” (2 Kings 22:11). So convicted was Josiah by God’s Word that he immediately started a campaign of reformation in the land. “And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD” (2 Kings 23:1-2, emphasis mine). Notice that the king initiated the revival; he assumed the responsibility to lead his nation under God. Furthermore, he completely removed every vestige of idol worship from Judah more than any other king before him. More than that, he reinstituted the practice of keeping the Feasts of the Lord. “And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah” (2 Kings 23:22, emphasis mine). It is hard to imagine, but not even the “man after God’s own heart,” King David, had kept the Passover. Now it might be argued that the phrase “such a Passover” implies that perhaps it had never been done to this extent before, but the fact remains that prior to this passage, the last time a celebration of the Passover is recorded is in Joshua 5:10-11 after the children of Israel crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land.

Josiah was arguably the most righteous king that Judah ever had. His reforms exceeded any king before or after him. “And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him” (2 Kings 23:25). One would think that such a “great awakening” and “revival” of God’s people would alter God’s plan. Yet, “Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.” (2 Kings 23:26-27, emphasis mine).

Josiah died and was succeeded by his son Jehoahaz, “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD” (2 Kings 23:32). He ruled for only three months and was succeeded by Eliakim (a.k.a. Jehoiakim), another son of Josiah. Jehoiakim ruled 11 years, “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD” (2 Kings 23:37). That was the end of Judah. “In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets” (2 Kings 24:1-2).

All the good Josiah had done was for naught, and while it stayed the hand of God during his reign, eventually – in less than 11 years – God’s judgment fell on Judah anyway. Friends, that is where America stands right now. As a nation, we stand under God’s judgment, and there is nothing that will stay His hand from executing His judgment on our nation. As a nation we have banned Him from our schools. We have rejected His Word. We have sacrificed our children at the altar of convenience and self-gratification. We have destroyed God’s design for the family through easy divorce. We have replaced the worship of our God for the idols of self and pleasure. And to top it off, we have called what is evil good and what is good evil with this repugnant ruling by our Supreme Court legitimizing sodomy. And the leader of the free world, our President, celebrates the decision by bathing the White House – the “People’s House” – in the colors of the perverts’ banner.

It is already too late to pray for the nation and for our leaders. God has already given us too many chances to repent, and all we have done is thumb our noses in His face. It is too late! As it was with Judah in her last days, so it is with America today.

And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee. (Jeremiah 7:14-16, emphasis mine)

Christian, don’t pray for this country and for our leaders, except that God judge righteously. Pray instead for His Kingdom where our true allegiance lies. Pray instead for His Church that her light might shine brighter in the growing darkness. Pray instead for your brothers and sisters in Christ that they will remain strong in the Faith and bold in the face of the persecution that is sure to come. This is no time for cowards. The King is coming! May He find us faithful when He returns. But for America, it’s too late!

P.S.

Although I have no hope for a reversal in America’s increasingly rapid decline, I will continue to participate in the democratic process. I will continue to support those running for political offices who hold to strict conservative and Judeo-Christian values. As long as we have the level of freedom that we currently enjoy, it is important that Christians continue to engage in the political process. That is our right, our responsibility, and our obligation under God. It is the right thing to do, but do not be under the delusion that it will change the downward course of America. Our primary focus should be God’s kingdom, God’s Church and God’s people. God will remain when America is long gone.

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