|
Posted: 06/06/2009 at 9:14pm
|
IP Logged
|
|
|
I read His Appearing by Michael Landrum on http://www.etpv.org/2009/hisapp.html
The Transformation And The Rapture Of The Church
June 2006
When the Lord speaks a Word, that Word is alive. It has the power itself to accomplish the thing for which it is sent. Man’s words fall to the ground, yet God’s Words from Heaven continue to go forth to perform their intended purposes.
The word “Transformation” has been used and overused by modern liberal Theology and by the New Age religions. What I am about to show you here, of what the Lord has shown me, should restore to our hearts the true meaning of this word, and restore us to the joy of our Salvation and to Paul’s intention in describing, “The Blessed Hope”.
On Earth as it is in Heaven
Many years ago, I was going through some particularly difficult times. My wife Kathy and I just wanted to be with Him--in His Presence. I remember a moment in prayer as I looked out the window of our apartment in Kirkland, Washington. The thought of David’s own expression many centuries ago came to mind in Psalm 55: 6, “Oh that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest,” and I remember thinking wistfully about Heaven. Almost immediately, the Spirit of God spoke to me saying,
“Pray not for you to go to Heaven, but rather for Heaven to come to earth!”
Almost as quickly, sprang to my mind the words of the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples, “. . . thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven . . .” As I stood there at the window, He spoke again,
“Son, I am about to answer the most commonly prayed prayer in the history of the church.”
With astonishment, I realized that Christians the world over for twenty centuries had, in their own languages, had been praying this most familiar of prayers; sometimes rotely and without comprehension; sometimes earnestly, with all longing desire. Now, He was answering me by speaking plainly: “Heaven come TO earth”.
The Sure Mercies of David-- Promise of Eternal Life
Some months later, He spoke again. My wife Kathy and I had gone to Whistler, B.C in a dedicated weekend apart with the Lord. Kathy and I were filled with a Holy anticipation as we interceded in the car on our way up from Seattle. I sensed that God was about to speak more to me, and I wanted to be listening. When we got to our condo, with the cool breeze of a mountain afternoon in summer wafting through the bedroom, I turned to survey the ambiance. There came that familiar, “Still Small Voice.” I had been praying, “Lord, show me more of what You mean.”
I heard the words, “The Sure Mercies of David.”
I sat down on the bed knowing I was in the Presence of the Same One Who had spoken earlier. For a long while, I heard nothing more. Slowly I rose to my feet, thinking that He would say no more at that time. As I did, I felt the Presence of the Lord in front of me. Gently, but palpably, I felt a push on my chest which dropped me back to the bed. In astonishment, I waited for a few more moments, and again, I cautiously began to stand up, only to have the same experience again, of being pushed as with a large hand, gently, but firmly, backward, into a seated position on the bed. I waited yet a longer time, and listened, asking the Lord to speak to me, and, after what seemed to be many minutes of silence, I cautiously ventured to rise to my feet again. When I felt His Presence literally push me back a third time, I said, “Lord, You have my full attention, forgive me for less, give me ears to hear. At this, He began to pour into my understanding, the meaning and interrelationship of several verses from the scripture that I was only vaguely able to recall at the time. They had not previously been on my mind. I began to search scripture and found references to this subject including 2 Samuel 23:5 where David says, “truly, does not my house stand so with God? For He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure”. Other references included 2 Samuel 7:16, 1Samuel 2:35, Psalms 16:9-11, Isaiah 55:3, but one that got my closest attention was Psalms 21:2-4. In reading this scripture, I realized how little of the meaning of this scripture I had heard from the pulpit. It describes David’s most heartfelt prayer, and the answer he then received from God. “You have given Him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah! For you send blessings of good things to meet him, you set a crown of gold on his head He asked life of You, and You gave it to him, long life for ever and ever more.”
For me to have missed this unusual request in all the years of Bible Study and church meetings, might even have been dismissible, were it not for Paul’s words in Acts 13. These words bring David’s request all the way forward to the New Testament and to our own day. In speaking of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Paul was exhorting the leaders of the synagogue in Antioch, saying, “and as to His having raised Him from among the dead, now no more to return to [undergo] putrefaction and dissolution [of the grave], He spoke in this way, I will fulfill and give to you the Holy and sure mercies and blessings [that were promised and assured] to David.” Verse 36, describes that David had indeed experienced death, and “he did see corruption and undergo putrefaction, and dissolution [of the grave]. Then verse 37 intervenes with this thought “but He Whom God raised up [to life] saw no corruption—did not experience putrefaction, and dissolution [of the grave]. (Amplified) This was the promised “sure mercies” fulfilled!
The concealed will be revealed
I realized I was treading on Holy Ground. I was hearing things that were meant to bring answers I had long sought. In the book of Daniel, God told His prophet to “go your way, Daniel; for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.” (Daniel 12:9). Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12: 3, Paul describes his experience of “being caught up into paradise, and hearing utterances, beyond the power of man to put into words, which man is not permitted to utter, and yet, as I contemplated what was unfolding, the Lord reminded me that, indeed, for “there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” (Matthew 10:26, NAS)
What an extraordinary trust that was conveyed to men like Daniel and Paul, and yet some of the things that they were shown, were not permitted at that time to be spoken of. They were meant for a yet future day. God is today seeking modern day Daniels and Pauls who are counted worthy of receiving the same trust given in ages past. Even as the inheritance of one generation falls to another, each successive generation must in their own day, carry that trust with responsibility and insight equal to the previous, lest that inheritance be lost. The church in our day, yes, in this very moment, has within it the people who have been prepared to carry forward the revelation of things not yet revealed. Rev. 22:6 declares: “And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent His messenger to make known and exhibit to His servants what must soon come to pass”. That prophetic baton is being passed now.
On Earth as it is in Heaven
God was putting together a very big picture for me. It had to do with what we, the church, have “already known” of resurrection and eternal life, and yet have not known as we fully need to.
Phil 3: 10-12 “… to know Him, and the power of the resurrection of Him, and the fellowship of the sufferings of Him, being conformed to the death of Him; if somehow I may attain to the resurrection out of the dead.
The first word “resurrection” is the Greek word “anastasis”, meaning: “a resurrection from death”. It means a literal rising from a state or condition of death.
The second word “resurrection” is the Greek word “ex-anastasis”, meaning: “a rising from death”. Being distinctly different, it directly implies a rising out from even the possibility of physical death.
God has ordained that the revealing of Himself in Glory, will be accomplished, “on earth as it is in Heaven”. It will be for an intended time, which all indicators point to being our present day. That God-ordained fashion of our progressive dying to self will allow a progressive transformation into His likeness. Paul emphasized the need for a Christian to die to self in order to live unto God as a precondition to being changed:
I Cor. 15:31 “I die daily…”
Heb 9:27 “it is appointed unto men once to die…”
Rom 12:2 “…but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
Because Christ accomplished the victory over death, having died Himself for the sins of mankind, we now stand in the potential place of benefiting from this work and attaining to a yet higher degree. Christ Who is our Conqueror, now makes us more than conquerors, so that, according to Paul’s actual meaning in that passage, there is a coming moment of transformation out of this physical, mortal frame directly into resurrection life-bypassing death itself!
Paul describes that the price for this is that we be “conformed to the death of Him” (Verse 11). That is, we have to allow Him to take us to the very end of ourselves, “that the Life of Christ may be made manifest in our mortal flesh”.
Then, verse 21 describes, “… Christ, Who will change the body of the humiliation of us for to be it (sic) conformed to the Body of the Glory of Him …” The Greek word for change is “metaschematizo” (Strongs 3345) meaning: to transfer or to transform.
Our commonly held view of the Rapture is that the Body of Christ will be taken out of the world in a sudden moment of disappearance. What He then revealed to me is something FAR BETTER: it is not JUST a sudden, unannounced disappearance!
Jesus Coming Before He Comes
As I listened, He then said something that changed me forever. Very quietly but firmly it was,
“Son, the church has it all wrong.
It is not a disappearing.
It is an appearing!”
Since the mid-1980’s, the Lord had begun to speak to me, a Word to the church, which has only opened to me more completely in these last few years. I have thought about it and prayed about it before venturing to speak about it. The Word He has given me is about the revealing. It is a Word to not just anyone. It is specifically directed to the Remnant, the true Bride of Christ, who waits with oil lamp ready in hand to hear His imminent announcement of arrival.
It is the Transformation into the Resurrection Body that is, in fact, about to happen; or, as He showed it to me, “Jesus coming before He comes”. It is the true meaning of the Greek word Parousia. He is to be revealed first in the transformed state through us, as His Body on earth. It is His Body, “that little flock” of whom Jesus said, “…it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom”. This will be the listening, responding, dying to self, being set apart, progressively being transformed company. These will enter into the modern day “Noah’s Ark/Enoch’s Walk” experience.
It will be the fulfillment of Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins, of whom only five were waiting with enough oil in their lamps to meet the Bridegroom at His appearing. At a certain actual moment, there will not be a transition into death any longer, but a Sovereign working of His ability to complete us by transforming His remnant people, His true Bride, directly into His own resurrection likeness. We will then appear with Him in Glory.
The “rapture”, from the Latin rapturo, meaning a “catching away”, will not be a disappearing as has been popularly taught in the church. A clearer understanding of the revealed Word shows that it is rather an appearing with Him, followed by a sudden removal. That “twinkling of an eye” will be when His called-apart ones who have died to themselves daily, finally cross heaven’s threshold in a single Sovereign moment of God’s choosing.
The issue of a “disappearing rapture”, as it has been taught up to now, truly leaves the issue of an appropriate testimony on the earth unanswered. Where would be the church characterized in the Song of Solomon “as mighty as an army with banners”?
We will be transformed into the resurrection state, just as He is now, when He comes for His true Bride. We will then be revealed to be truly like Him-“the ultimate definition of Christian” (i.e. “little Christs”). He will appear to receive His Bride, prior to His second coming, as a testimony of Himself to the whole world, just before antichrist is fully revealed.
Romans 8:8 speaks of, “The Glory which shall be revealed.”
Romans 8:22 “All creation groans at the revealing of the sons of God.”
Malachi 3:2 “And who can stand when He appears?”
Colossians 3:4 “… when Christ, Who is our Life appears, then we shall appear also with Him in Glory
1 Peter 5:4 “… and when the Chief Shepherd appears…”
1 John 3:2 “… when He is revealed…”
1 John 2:28 “abide in Him, that when He appears ...”
2Thess 1:7 “… when the Lord Jesus is revealed… “
Matt. 10:26 Nothing is covered that will not be revealed.
1Cor 15:51-54 “… we shall be changed” (transformed)
Testimony of the remnant Bride
I asked the Lord, “How long?”
He said, “Forty”.
I asked, “Forty what?”
He said, “Forty days”.
The pattern is seen first in Jesus Himself, Who goes before us. Jesus spent 40 days prior to the onset of His ministry, in the desert. Much might be said of the purposes represented in that. The essential sense of it is that He was coming all the way to the end of His human limitations. Thereafter, His entire reliance was sharpened to be upon His Heavenly Father. Jesus arose to 40 days of Resurrection Life on earth, before returning to Heaven and to the Father. Note, there were 40 days of dying to self (human limitations), later followed by 40 days of Resurrection unto God (Heaven’s Glory revealed on earth).
The number 40 has prophetically signified a number of key moments in prophetic history. The list of those prophetic moments associated is long and impressive. Noah experienced 40 days and 40 nights of rain before he could arrive into a transformed world and Jesus was 40 days in the wilderness before His ministry on earth began in earnest. Moses was 40 days on Mount Sinai at the giving of the law, before coming down to the people with a face that shone so brightly that he had to put a veil over it. We, “who follow the Lamb wherever He goes”, may well follow Him into a prophetic 40 “days” of the end to self, which will precede the Transformation. Only afterward will we follow Him into Life.
After Jesus rose from the dead, He was 40 days in His Resurrection Body, coming and going to his disciples on earth before being taken up into Heaven in the sight of all. It is God’s true and enduring purpose that His testimony be a public witness, that it go on record to be noted for all time. Such is also the Lord’s original commission to the church that we bear faithful testimony of Who He is and what He has done.
Notice also that during those 40 days after resurrection, Jesus did not appear to Caesar in Rome or to the magistrates and counsels of this world’s system. He only appeared to His own who received Him. As a result, the testimony of the early church was that of a first-hand account of literal resurrection from death. It was a testimony so profound that it enabled Christian Martyrs to go to the Roman arenas with total assurance.
Such will be the case again in the era that is just ahead of us. A testimony will be born to all those within the circle of those called, and in so doing, He will add a testimony to the world itself.
The “five wise virgins”, waiting with enough oil for His appearing, will go out to meet Him in this day. They will be transformed to be fully like Him. But the five virgins who were not ready will not enjoy that privilege... Yet they are still betrothed. The testimony of the reality of the resurrection can still be carried by them, as they too will observe it the way that the early Church did. The five remaining virgins represent that part of the church which was “not ready”. They will be given the chance to become ready by finally and fully dying to themselves during the violent martyrdom of the anti-Christ era. Yet note this crucial point: both of the two groups of “virgins” must have come to the end of themselves before they could come even to the beginning of God. The first group has already “died”—having died daily. Hence, they will be ready for resurrection at the appearing of their Bridegroom.
Confirmations
As you can imagine, I was reeling at the thought of an alteration in a major doctrinal teaching of the Church. I thought of the Scripture stating that every fact will be confirmed out of the mouth of two or three witnesses. So I asked Him for these.
The first confirmation came out of the Word itself. Recall that when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, he declared that “No Word of God will be devoid of power”. If God speaks a Word, it does not merely apply for the moment. It will remain and keep on working. It is permanent. It will literally change everything. A revealed Word will agree with God’s written Word. It will not be a substitute for it or an addendum to it. A revealed Word from God will further reveal the written Word. Since it is brought out of the Holy Spirit, it will also characterize what Jesus said about the ministry of the Holy Spirit: “He will speak of mine and show it to you”, and also, “He will show you things to come”. A revealed Word from God does not contradict the written Word. It does not even need to embellish it. It just shows us more of the living Word, who is Jesus. As such, when we hear a true Word from God, we will bear witness to it.
This is what happened to me as I searched the Scriptures to, “see if these things be true”. The written Word became my first and most important confirming “witness”.
The second “witness” came from an e-mail forwarded to me from a friend of ours in Washington State with whom I had already carefully shared this revelation. Judy Curmi sent, “Amazing Rapture Dream” written in 1993 by, Armin Wolff, a believer from Oregon. This dream can be found at: http://www.tvbn.com/index.html?http://www.tvbn.com/Frame/ . Click on “visions”, then on Armin Wolf’s Rapture Dream. In this dream from 1993, the author describes several startling points of direct confirmation.
The third “witness” came as I afterward listened to a tape set by Charles Capps, a Bible teacher in Little Rock, Arkansas, entitled “The Solomon Concept Update”. Side 2 of the second tape stated much the same as I had been given, along with additional confirmatory Scriptures. These tapes can be found on the Capps Ministry web site: http://charlescapps.com/
For the last two years, I have intermittently had extended conversations with Bible teacher Charles Capps in regard to what God has shown me. His talks on “the Solomon Concept” have closely confirmed what the Lord revealed. Charles quoted Solomon as describing, “that which has been will be again”, in a pattern of prophetic recurrence.
The “Greater Works”
In Hebrew, the number 40 is a numerical symbol which describes something being brought to completion or judgment through intense activity or trial. As the Lord helped me to understand all of this, He showed me again how He is the Shepherd Who goes before His flock and illustrated to me a precept He had put into my heart in May of 2000.
He showed me that His Precept for the church is, “We are to do ONLY what we see Him do”, and speak ONLY what we hear Him say.” (This is In agreement with Jesus’ own statement when He said, “I always do that which I see the Father doing.”) He showed me that just as Jesus Himself went before us in the Resurrection, and was on earth for 40 days afterwards, so it will be at His revealing that His waiting bride, who has gone out to meet Him, will be transformed into resurrection, for forty days on earth.
Just as He appeared, ministering to other disciples and believers in Him, so shall we also, in the same way, be doing as He did, first. We shall minister to those in the church, who were not ready at His coming, to prepare them for tribulation, which will follow shortly after, at the hands of antichrist. This ministry to the non-transformed ones, who will yet be saved, will be with the same effect as the Lord’s risen testimony upon the first century believers who saw and heard the risen Lord. They were then so vividly convinced of His victory over death, that they were able to go to martyr’s deaths with complete confidence of the resurrection to come. So, those who are left (along with others who will believe, hearing their testimony) will be prepared to “love not their lives even unto the death”. They will be empowered to broadcast the message of His love--and coming judgment to all nations, before the end.
Just as Jesus was “taken up into Heaven in the sight of all” at the conclusion of 40 days, so the transformed saints will leave the earth after 40 days together with the Lord as a public testimony to the whole world of a triumphant church. Then, He will take her with Him—in the sight of all, just as He was taken up after forty days of Resurrection on Earth. In my conversations with brother Capps, he spoke of the same thing. He spoke of the significance of God leaving a true and clear Testimony of Himself. He confirmed this point.
These “Transformed ones” will enjoy the seven day bridal week in Heaven. But before they leave, the forty day period of time on earth will have represented that long awaited time of the fulfillment of “the Greater Works” which Jesus spoke of. These will be forty days of the greatest testimony of God on earth that will have ever been seen. Before antichrist is given the chance to fully rule, the world will know the testimony of the Truth in living color.
During these times of listening and receiving from Him, The Lord spoke to my spirit the following question:
“Son, Who can do greater works than I did when I walked on Galilee’s shores?”
My only response was, “…Lord, you know!”
He replied, “There is One Who can do greater works than the Jesus that came to earth… it will be the Jesus Who was resurrected”.
He then said that the change—or Transformation—will bring us into full alignment with the resurrection mind and body of Christ. We will be then fully identified with the risen Lord. We will have no vestige left of the mind of flesh. We will finally, fully be able to do the appointed “Greater Works”. At our present moment of pre-Transformation, we cannot realistically imagine what these could be. 1 Cor 13 says that when the perfect is come, the partial will be done away. Our works will reflect that fact. There will simply be no more admixture of the nature of flesh. It will be no more. The “perfect” will be seen in what Jesus called, “The Greater Works”, to come. ____________________
there more on http://www.etpv.org/2009/hisapp.html
I found more posts about Transformed/Immortals/resurrection saints who remain here for another 40 days and nights just as Jesus was on Earth for another 40 days after his resurrection.
A Prophetic Dream of Rapture by Armin A. Wolff
http://www.etpv.org/2009/apdr.html
Our Immortal Bodies by Eva Marsee
http://www.etpv.org/2009/oibods.html
The Manifest Sons Patricia’s Dream
http://www.etpv.org/2009/tmanso.html
Manifest Sons Of God by Mark Wattenford
http://www.etpv.org/2009/mansog.html
God bless you.
__________________
Ralph Pedersen
|
Topic: Deep Depression
