1 Cor 10:31 (8 Nov 2020)
"Sudden Destruction = trap for the whole world, but not for the rapture bound!!!!"


By 1 Cor 10:31

 

 

Okay Doves!  SUDDEN DESTRUCTION on “them”!!  Who’s “them”??  Why, the world of course!!!   Notice in 1 Thess. Both chapters 4 & 5 – the stark contrast of “we and us” (meaning the Saints in the Lord – if you are saved, you fall into this category of “we” and “us”)  compared to “them” and “they” which are the world – all those who are UNSAVED… which obviously is most of the world.

 

From 1 Thessalonians 5:  this is v.3/  People will think they are safe and secure. But destruction will suddenly strike them like the pains of a woman about to give birth. And they won’t escape.

 

 

SUDDEN DESTRUCTION will fall on them!!  THEM!!  Not “us”!!

 

Background:  what prompted my heart to study this out:  I was watching a youtube evangelist who really does a good job of pumping people up regarding the SOON rapture!!   BUT….. then about ¾ of the way through his hour-long vid – he said something that caused me to be taken aback!!!   He speaks like the rapture could literally be any minute – and then he said, “so stock up enough food for one year!!  And buy something to protect yourself….. etc. etc.  and what he was alluding to was the SUDDEN DESTRUCTION which would fall!!   Thinking/teaching that meant for ALL of us!!!!

 

Fact!!  A preacher who studies and teaches the Bible should be able to divide the Word much better than that.

 

Look I’m not saying rough times do not come along – if you’re a born again Blood-bought Jesus-loving and obeying SAVED saint – then we are PROMISED tribulation/s!!!   (“small t”!!)   NOT TRIBULATION  (“capital T”!!)   As I’ve mentioned previously, this has been the hardest, most challenging year of my entire life – and it’s not about covid or lockdown in my case, those aren’t even “registering” with me.  It’s because I’m dealing with DEMONS!!!!  Some demon possessed people, who’re doing their best to make my life miserable….

But the Lord is my light and my life, and HE KNOWS every single thing that’s going on!!  Some day (prayerfully soon!)  I will have complete vindication. 

Again THANK YOU for your continued prayers!!!  Many, many, MANY thanks!!  I have so few people in my life who will support me.  (perpetrators know this, too!)  The old saying that when the chips are down you find out who your real friends are – could not ring more true!!!  As I’ve mentioned, some of whom I’d considered to have been my dearest friends have hurt me to the core of my soul by turning their backs on me.   Yet I do thank the Lord that He’s provided other people along my path.

 

I just never saw that coming though (friends turning)…. As “my” Bibles does not say that!  My Bible says a friend loves AT ALL TIMES (Prov. 17:17) ~ it does NOT say to be a friend to someone ONLY AS LONG AS you can stroll through life together with it being all “sunshine & roses”!!!!   Will you check your Bible, please, and see what YOURS says?!  /satirical remark

May I ask a kind favor?  That you’ll continue praying on my behalf that these very evil people will not be able to prosper against me!!!  That they will not be able to put me in the morgue or the hospital!!  And FTR, before you join the multitude in going, “well the lady’s ‘lost it’:  cuckoo!  Cuckoo!!”  I would instead ASK, “do you BELIEVE the Bible or NOT??”

 

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.  Ephesians 6:12

 

And if we’re indeed as close to the rapture as some of us long-time watchers think… then wouldn’t it only make sense that if demons are going to absolutely TERRORIZE the people on this planet during the TRIBULATION, they are here & working feverishly N O W…??  to stop God’s Word from going out, to stop the harvest, to get people to fall away & basically give up on God.

 

 

 

All these actions and incidents by these reprobate demon-possessed people, the Lord is recording in His book every last detail that they pull, and judgment will NOT escape these people!!  Oh, they THINK they’re getting away with it – but this is what sudden destruction is all about! 

 

So sometimes I like to read Bible commentaries to help with complete understanding with certain verses of Scripture.  And it kept going thru’ my noggin wondering WHEN they talk about PEACE AND SAFETY….???   We know this will be the key phrase of the Middle Eastern countries as they come together with the peace agreement with Israel.  Yet what kept bothering me was thinking that what with given the complexities of the current US presidential election and half the country being mad, angry… ready to go to war ..  And I even got to wondering what if this country slips into civil war BEFORE the rapture even ... Then how could this possibly be a time of peace and safety???  SCRATCHES HEAD!!  By the way, no question at all that this country will be in civil war during the Tribulation, that is per Jeremiah 50 & 51. And what with being SO ON THE VERGE OF THAT RIGHT NOW even…. Would this mean = a hair’s breath away from the rapture??  Let’s hold out with that HOPE in our hearts.

 

At any rate, so while trying to think about what it means about peace and safety I looked up this verse in a different translation and here is how it says

 

 

1 Thess 5:3 People will think they are safe and secure. But destruction will suddenly strike them like the pains of a woman about to give birth. And they won’t escape.  CEV translation (Contemporary English Version)

 

Some interesting commentary here from Barnes:

 

The impenitent and wicked world will be sunk in carnal security when he comes. They will regard themselves as safe. They will see no danger. They will give no heed to warning. They will be unprepared for his advent. So it has always been. it seems to be a universal truth in regard to all the visitations of God to wicked people for punishment, that he comes upon them at a time when they are not expecting him, and that they have no faith in the predictions of his advent. So it was in the time of the flood; in the destruction of Sodom Gomorrah, and Jerusalem; in the overthrow of Babylon: so it is when the sinner dies, and so it will be when the Lord Jesus shall return to judge the world. One of the most remarkable facts about the history of man is, that he takes no warning from his Maker; he never changes his plans, or feels any emotion, because his Creator "thunders damnation along his path," and threatens to destroy him in hell.

 

Beginning sentence = “sunk in carnal security”à  I like the way that’s phrased!!  Reminds us of something else, doesn’t it?  CHURCH OF LAODECIA!!!!!  Who THINK they are rich, who THINK they have everything they need!!

 

Interestingly enough, often times you can figure out the commentator’s eschatological beliefs:  whether post Trib or pretrib according to what they wrote.  Though I believe we can still learn from each other.  But most commentaries I read talked about these things would happen before Jesus returns... The second coming!! While they gloss over or flat out reject the pre-trib rapture.

 

And guess what??  Towards the end of the Tribulation right before Jesus’ 2nd coming, hardly anybody in this world is going to think they are safe and secure!!  By then, 90% PLUS people have been horrifically murdered!! ... There will be no peace & security, or people even THINKING they are secure T H E N!!!!!!   In fact, just the opposite, the Bible says men’s hearts will be FAILING THEM FOR FEAR of what’s coming next!!!!  Revelation talks about how people will seek death even & not be able to find it.  Do you see, then, why the Scripture from Thessalonians MUST refer to what’s happening right BEFORE sudden destruction FALLS??!!  (or STRIKES, as one translation puts it)

 

Reading verse three of first Thessalonians 5 in context this is definitely referring to the pre Trib rapture.

 

More verses from 1 Thess. 5 (again CEV translation, though I invite you to plug this in at www.BibleGateway.com and read several translations.  This would give the KJV ONLYISTS “fits”, and no, we’re not trying to do that!  Still we’re brothers & sisters in Christ.  I personally am not an ONLYist though.

 

 I don’t need to write you about the time or date when all this will happen. You surely know that the Lord’s return[a] will be as a thief coming at night. People will think they are safe and secure. But destruction will suddenly strike them like the pains of a woman about to give birth. And they won’t escape.

My dear friends, you don’t live in darkness, and so that day won’t surprise you like a thief. You belong to the light and live in the day. We don’t live in the night or belong to the dark. Others may sleep, but we should stay awake and be alert. People sleep during the night, and some even get drunk. But we belong to the day. So we must stay sober and let our faith and love be like a suit of armor. Our firm hope that we will be saved is our helmet.

 

I would like to share more thoughts on sudden destruction. Often times on other Christian forums I see people write about how they think it's a sudden bombing or annihilation of a certain country or a war.. And while it is possible it can be some of these things... But overall I personally think that it means the snare --the trap-- that will come upon the whole world. For those of us familiar with the Bible we know that we are cautioned in various Scriptures to avoid getting our lives into a snare... This particular snare is not for the abiding-in-the-Vine Saints, we will already be out of here!!! The snare is for everybody else who lives --who dwells-- upon the earth. We will no longer be dwelling on the earth, praise the Lord! We will be with Him forever. We begin our eternal companionship and fellowship with Him when we first meet Him in the air!

 

From 1 Thessalonians 4:

 

16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. 17 After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.

 

Now while THIS is one of our favorite, most assuring Scriptures from the entire Bible!!

 

Let’s back up to:

 

Luke 21:34   And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with 1. surfeiting, and 2. drunkenness, 3. and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. {I added the numerals for PUNCTUATION PURPOSES!!}

 

 

Oh but now, now, now, now!!!  Weren’t we just told over in 1 Thess. 5 that we would NOT be “caught surprised” by this??  Because we are “of the day”?

 

Um, yes though it’s WITH CONDITIONS dear Christian friends!!  (some will always take exception to this!!  But these are not coming FROM ME!!)

From 1 Thess 5:

My dear friends, you don’t live in darkness, and so that day won’t surprise you like a thief. You belong to the light and live in the day. We don’t live in the night or belong to the dark. Others may sleep, but we should stay awake and be alert. People sleep during the night, and some even get drunk. But we belong to the day. So we must stay sober and let our faith and love be like a suit of armor.

 

And again back to Luke 21:34 – well one may wonder what on earth is surfeiting?  (Greg Brady with surfboard in arms on the beach?  Hehe!  Uh, NO!!)  Admit though, often I’ve had to look up such words as surfeiting, dissipation – well goodnight Nellie, I don’t want to be doing ANY OF THOSE when it’s time for the trumpet to sound!   Though I honestly didn’t know what those things were!   LOL

 

Sooo, let’s pick it up from God’s Word Translation to help us understand!!  Luke 21:34  "Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you.

 

BTW, I just looked up dissipation again:  a descent into drunkenness and sexual dissipation.   And here’s a side note of interest:  Google noted that they had an ALL TIME HIGH SEARCH by people looking for “liquor stores near me”.   Cares + anxieties of this life = more drinking/dissipation… THAT DAY catching them BY SURPRISE!!!!

 

Also dissipation can mean:  the squandering of money, energy, resources….  Are we “letting up” in doing good to our Brothers/Sisters in the Lord?  Therefore squandering our resources?  Our talents? Are we letting up in working for the Lord?  In doing what He would have us do?  No need to get shorts in a wad – as NO, we do not work to EARN our salvation.  But we are saved UNTO good works!  Meaning our testimony of our changed lives should show fruit!!  Fact!  We weren’t meant to merely believe in Jesus, then sit back & whittle pencils day in and day out till He comes…. With the few possible exceptions of those who are crippled and/or bedridden. Yet they can still allow their lights to shine by their attitudes.

 

And surfeiting means the EXCESS of something, which could mean eating, drinking, indulging in just almost any addiction I would think.  Bad…. Or GOOD??  Anything at all which would take the place of the Lord in our affection, time, attention, thoughts.

 

We are TOLD TO pray to be ACCOUNTED WORTHY to escape.  Luke 21:36   This was written to Christians only because they are the only ones to pray for such. And if all Christians were already ~ “automatically” accounted worthy to go we would not be told to pray for it, would we?! Not only that but you've got one in seven churches in Revelation you've got only half the virgins Matthew 25 ... Many other such examples. Luke 21:34 says OR that day may suddenly catch you ….

 

Quite a tango dance to – in this particular window of time – to NOT let our hearts be overcome with CARES OF THIS LIFE!!!  i.e. Presidential election…. Covid…. Some are disabled, Many are out of work and just barely eking by…. Some have had friends turn on them…. Believe me, & from what I just summarized about my own life, I mean literally it feels like I’m a main character in a spy novel —so please trust me when I say:  I KNOW how tough this is!!!!   To keep our minds ABOVE & not let our thoughts become entangled with all the stuff, with all the evil literally surrounding us, with all the endless what if’s.  

Fortunately over the years I’ve memorized some Scriptures to know what to do—to know WHOM to turn to when life becomes frightening!  And weary.  And lonely.  Or all the above.  This does not mean I enjoy sunshine in my soul every minute of the day, just that I know WHO to turn to!!  When on Judgment Day, at the Great White Throne Judgment – my perpetrators are judged, I aim to be standing right close to – perhaps just barely behind Lord Jesus, Who is my Dearest Friend!

 

Other Scriptures which go along with what we’ve looked at here:

 

 


Proverbs 23:20   Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.

Ecclesiastes 9:12  For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them.

Matthew 24:42  Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.

Mark 4:19  but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Luke 12:40  You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect."

Luke 12:45  But suppose that servant says in his heart, 'My master will be a long time in coming,' and he begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk.

Luke 21:35  For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.

Romans 13:13  Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.

1 Thessalonians 5:2  For you are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

1 Thessalonians 5:4  But you, brothers, are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you like a thief.

Luke 21:8  And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.

Luke 17:3  Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.

Mark 13:9  But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.

Luke 12:45  But and if that servant say in his heart, ß NOTICE all a person must do is merely THINK this!!!!-->   My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The master will return unannounced and unexpected, and he will cut the servant in pieces and banish him with the unfaithful.

Luke 8:14  And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

Luke 10:41  And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

Matthew 13:22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

Luke 12:46  The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

Psalm 35:8  Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.

Matthew 24:39-50  And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be…

*** WATCHING Dear Friends means we’re in it for the long haul!!!!   ENDURANCE!!!!!! ***  (though I truly do not think it will be “much” longer!!)

Now “wrapping up” here:  let’s one more time look at Luke 21:34 in two other translations

 

Webster's Bible Translation
And take heed to yourselves,
lest ~~at any time~~ your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

Weymouth New Testament
"But take heed to yourselves, lest your souls be weighed down with self-indulgence and drunkenness
or the anxieties of this life, and that day come upon you, suddenly, like a falling trap;

 

You guys know how the U.S. Pres. election is a “NAIL BITER”??!!  As of this writing (Weds. evening) the “winner” is still unannounced….  At any rate, with our citizenship IN heaven, should we be overly concerned with who wins down here?  THIS EARTH IS NOT OUR HOME!!!!!   Never has been; never will be.

 

The SUDDEN DESTRUCTION which is going to come upon THE WHOLE WORLD is “THE TRAP” people will not be able to escape from – once the rapture door has been shut!!!!!   I can only guess which side of the door YOU want to be on when it clanks shut!!!   Please be on the right (righteous!  😉)   side!!

 

DOOR:   Matthew 25:

Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’  ß BIG IMPORTANT NOTE!!!  Please notice their lamps WERE LIT –but they were “going out”.  Hence, “REAL” Christians!!

“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

From Isaiah 26:20-21a

2Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you;  hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.
21 See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins.

 

Lord!  Like those 10 virgins, even though the 5 who were prepared got to go meet the Bridegroom, even so they all got so sleepy while waiting.  Help us WAKE UP!!  Stay alert, be forever watchful, and  not sleep by burying our heads in the sand or getting caught up in worldly affairs.  From our earthly perception, it feels like You’ve been a long time in coming, yet we KNOW You ARE coming!!  Help us keep our lamps trimmed and full of oil.

We know with all the heavy travails of the world, sometimes a break is a much-needed and welcome rest, so help us to find that balance as our bodies, minds, and spirits definitely need that rest!!  But help us to not completely go comatose watching movies, eating popcorn and shutting out the world.  And turning ill-hearted, apathetic with our hearts puttied up with cold, COLD frigid-cold wax!

Lead us to get everything done in the few hours of a day – the things which must be done like feeding our families, paying the bills, etc.  But then to let everything else, all the extras which may’ve meant something to us previously, help us to just let go.  Seems about all that matters now is witnessing to whom You’d have us to, and praying for those in our circle of friends and family who’re going to be left here!  Help us to live with thanksgiving in our hearts to You, each and every day!

Lord no matter what is going on in our lives, good or bad by human perspective, help us to cling to the Vine, TO YOU!!  To abide in You always! So that we can bear much fruit.

Thank You for Your love, direction and protection in these our final hours upon this earth!!  We can’t wait to meet You, Lord!  To finally be with You

F O R E V E R!!!!!!!!!

May we give You all the glory & praise due You!!  In Jesus’ mighty and holy name!!  Amen!!

 

MARANATHA Doves!!!!

Soon and very soon we are going to see THE KING!!