Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 3 * PART 4 * BOOK 76
CONNECTING THE DOTS OF SCRIPTURE – PART 36
Genesis – Revelation (The Mysteries Continued)
Okay, good to see you all back for program number four this afternoon. For those of you joining us on television, we trust you understand that—I think I’d better explain really quickly that these once-a-week programs as you see them on the air are current. Of course, you all realize that. Then you watch me on Monday through Friday and all of a sudden I’m fifteen years younger! Well, it’s just because those are reruns. But a year from now I’m gong to be pretty close, so I’ll look just as old on those reruns as I do on the weekend. That’s the format. The weekend programs are weekly, and the daily programs are reruns.
All right, we’re going to go to the next mystery. And I wish I had two half hour programs. But since this is going to end Book 76, some of it may have to go on into Book 77. But I’m going to try and sandwich it in as quickly as I can. Okay, I Corinthians chapter 15 verse 51. This is another one of the mysteries that was revealed to the Apostle Paul that had never ever been hinted at.
Now I’ve got to emphasize that. Because nearly everybody tries to blenderize the Scriptures and say that—for example in Matthew 24:41—the two women working at the mill, where one will be taken and the other one left is the Rapture. Another one is John 14 where God says, “I will go and prepare a place for you.” Many say that’s the Rapture. No, it couldn’t be! Because then God would be betraying the secret. God doesn’t work that way. God does not lie. If those examples were the Rapture, then Paul wasn’t shown a mystery or secret as God says he was!
All right, now here is the secret that has never been revealed before. And whenever I get letters of opposition, and it’s getting worse and worse; not just for me, but for everybody that is proclaiming this end time event, the Rapture. It’s coming under attack more and more. In fact, I mentioned last week at the prophecy conference. In 1998 Tim Lahaye wrote a book Rapture Under Attack. Well, now it is 10 years later and it has just been compounded.
It’s no longer a kind letter that says, “Well, Les, I just can’t agree.” Now they attack and say, “Where do you get such a dumb idea?” And a lot of them like to refer to this Margaret McDonald. Oh, the minute I see that—and for you out in television, if you’re going to write to me on the Rapture, don’t mention Margaret McDonald. Because when you do, your letter goes straight in the trash can. And I don’t mind telling people that. I got one just the other day and the first thing I saw – Margaret McDonald – I didn’t even read it. Waste basket time!
Do you know who Margaret McDonald was? No. Most people don’t unless you’re in my position. But I first ran into it, I’m going to say at least 20 years ago in one of the five cities where I go and teach. And it happened because many of the people in this one particular large church were in my weeknight class. And the pastor got wind of the fact that I was teaching the Rapture. Well, the next Sunday he puts out hundreds and hundreds of copies of where this idea of the Rapture began. And how it went back to the middle 1800’s at the time of John Darby that there was this teenage girl who was running on less than a full tank mentally and she had a vision. And in this vision she saw the Bible opened up dispensationally and the Rapture. She took it, supposedly, to John Darby, and John Darby just jumped on it.
Now listen. John Darby was one of the top theologians of his time—middle 1800’s. He had already published his own Bible translation. I’ve got a copy someplace. Tremendous scholar. And you think he would listen to a teenage girl who wasn’t all there? But see, that’s what they’re trying to tell people. That this whole concept was given to John Darby by this whatever and that he latched on to it, and then from that point on we have the rise of dispensationalism. That’s a lie straight out of the head office of the god of this world, Satan. Don’t you ever believe it.
Now I think I shared in the last taping. I had a poor gentleman. I think he’s from Kentucky, 88 years old. And he said, “Les, I’ve used my Scofield Bible since I was saved 60 years ago, and now I saw this on the Internet.” He sent me a copy of it. It was just pure garbage trying to destroy the veracity and the validity of the Scofield Study Bible. Just literally ridiculing it and had all kinds of reasons why nobody should use it. Well, see, those are the satanic attacks that are coming in these last days.
All right, now of all the letters that I’ve had through the years, there aren’t that many—probably—what? One a month, if that? I doubt it. We get hundreds of letters a day. If you get one a month, that’s only one out of thousands. They immediately start showing me these Scripture verses to refute my teaching of the Rapture. Well, where are they getting all their Scripture? Old Testament, the Four Gospels, and the Book of Revelation. They totally ignore Paul’s Epistles, and he was the only one given this secret. So what do I do? I just skim through it. If I don’t see a reference to any of Paul’s epistles, waste basket. They haven’t got an ounce of ground to stand on. Why should I bother trying to prove my point? Because the first thing these people have to understand is, as I’ve already said, only Paul has anything to do with the Rapture, because only Paul teaches the Body of Christ!
And anybody can see that by just simply reading the rest of Scripture. You will not find one reference, not one, to the Body of Christ, except Romans through Philemon. That’s all. Well now, does that take such an intellect to put two and two together? That if this Apostle alone was given the revelation of these mysteries that would bring about the Body of Christ, could these other places have reference to it and it still be called a secret? It can’t happen. Here’s the key in verse 51.
I Corinthians 15:51
“Behold, I show you a mystery; (A secret. And here’s the secret.) We shall not all sleep, (or die physically) but we shall all be changed,” Now that’s obvious. When we come to the end of the Church Age, there’s going to be living believers.
Well, is God going to kill them all first so He can resurrect them from the dead? Well, no way. Once He’s resurrected the believers of the Body who have died and they’re reunited with their soul and spirit, then the next event is to change those of us who are still on the planet earth from this body we are living in to the new resurrected body in an instant. And many can’t seem to buy into that, because I guess it’s too hard. Hey, with God, nothing is impossible!
I’m going to do quickly like what I did the other night over the period of an hour. It is to show that this idea of believers being taken off the planet before the Tribulation begins is scriptural, as the Body of Christ has absolutely nothing to do with the horrors of the Tribulation, which are death and destruction.
Okay, now I’m going to have to watch the time. Ordinarily, I don’t do that. But on this half hour, I’m going to watch my time. Let’s turn first and foremost back to Revelation chapter 6. Now ordinarily when I teach Revelation 6, I like to also use Matthew 24. But I’m not going to do that for sake of time today. But in Revelation chapter 6 you can start with verse 1. Here we have the appearance of the anti-Christ, or the next event after the Rapture has taken place. By then the Church is gone, because we can have nothing to do with death and destruction, which I’m going to show you in these next 18 minutes. But here we go. This is prophecy concerning the Second Coming.
Now, the first seal is the appearance of the white horse—the fake Christ, the anti-Christ. Then in verse 3 we have the appearance of the red horse.
Revelation 6:3-4
“And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second creature say, Come and see. 4. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.”
Now back up really quickly to I Thessalonians chapter 5. Ordinarily Paul makes very little allusion to prophecy except in rare occasions. I think this is one of them, as well as in II Thessalonians. I Thessalonians chapter 4 is his comparison passage with I Corinthians 15:51.
I Thessalonians 4:17
“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Now you drop down into chapter 5, and we’re going to be dealing with those that are left behind.
I Thessalonians 5:1-3a
“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write to you. 2. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord (Now that’s the Tribulation. Those final seven years are called the Day of the Lord.) cometh as a thief in the night. 3. For (Now watch this.) when they (That is the world’s population) shall say, Peace and safety;…”
Now that’s the white horse of Revelation 6:2. The anti-Christ is going to come in promising peace and prosperity. Israel will be euphoric. They’re going to have permission to rebuild their Temple. They can lay down their military. The anti-Christ is going to promise their borders and their safety, and the whole world is in euphoria with them. This guy is supposedly almost the copy of the true Christ.
All right, so now Paul is telling us, yes, when the Tribulation opens, it’s going to be peace and safety.
I Thessalonians 5:3b
“…then (What’s the next event?) sudden destruction cometh upon them,…” Now, come back to Revelation 6 again. That’s exactly what we’ve got. After the white horse of peace and safety, now you come into the second horse and it’s “red.” The rider of this horse is given the power–
Revelation 6:4b
“…to take peace from the earth, (And they’re going to end up–) and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.” Now, I associate that with the prophecy of Ezekiel 38 and 39 where Russia, heading up many of the Muslim nations of the world, will invade Israel.
I put it toward the end of the first year of the seven. Because in biblical history, if a king came on the throne as much as one day before the end of a year and goes into the next year, that one day was considered a full year. That’s biblical timing. Now, if this Russian invasion comes along at about the 11th month of the Tribulation, then Israel still has one month of that year plus six full years to fulfill Ezekiel 39—which says they will take seven years to clean up the residue of this destroyed Russian army on the hills of Israel. That’s why I put it in the 11th month of the seven years of Tribulation. All right, “but peace has been taken from the earth.”
Now as a result of that invasion, of course, there’s going to be tremendous loss of food production. Because I honestly feel that the Russians are going to preempt everything they’ve got on North America, knowing that we would come to Israel’s defense. But we’re going to have enough nukes out there in submarines and flying in planes and maybe some silos that will survive. And we will retaliate and do the same to Russia. So, you’ve got Russia obliterated. You’ve got America obliterated. The two greatest food production areas of the world are gone.
So, what’s the next great event? Famine. Oh, it’s as logical as daylight follows dark. That’s back in Revelation 6 verse 6. Then he sees the fourth angel and the fourth creature saying:
Revelation 6:7b-8a
“…Come and see. 8. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death,…” All right, put two words in that scenario and what would it be? Death and destruction. Not peace and safety. Death and destruction.
Now for sake of time, I’m going to jump right over to Revelation chapter 14. I’m not going to look at the companion portion in Isaiah, for sake of time. But if you want to put it in your notes, that would be in Isaiah 63—where this final judgment that’s going to come on planet earth is likened to putting grapes in a grape vat. Now it stands to reason. They harvested the grapes and threw them into this huge hollowed-out stone. They can’t just let those grapes sit there. So what do they have to do? Crush them one way or another.
Now there was one that we saw in Israel for a demonstration. They put a couple of teenage kids in there, and they would stomp the grapes barefooted. But the whole idea was to crush the grapes so that the juice would run out of a trough on the bottom. All right, now this is used symbolically of God’s bringing in the armies that are left in the world to the valleys of Israel, which will become God’s grape vat. Okay, Revelation chapter 14 and we’ll start at verse 14 and do this quickly.
Revelation 14:14-15
“And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. (speaking of a harvest) 15. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” It’s time for God’s final judgment.
Revelation 14:16-19
“And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. 17. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18. And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. 19. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress (not of a vineyard, but–) of the wrath of God.”
All right, now we’ve got to do a little thinking. The vast military that’s still left by the end of the seven years of Tribulation will be the Orient. China has boasted a 200 million men army ever since Mao. We’re still going to have the millions down in Africa and Europe. I’m maintaining that Russia and America and the Muslim world are already gone. But all these armies that are left of the world, the anti-Christ is going to put out the command to bring them to the Middle East to get rid of the Jewish problem. Their thought will be to get rid of Israel once and for all.
Well, it’ll be a God-directed thing. It’s going to be supernatural. These men, not knowing what they’re doing, are going to command their armies to make their way to the Nation of Israel. They’re going to pack them into the valleys of Israel. Now, we normally think of the Valley of Megiddo—the Valley of Esdraelon—which runs from the northern part of the Sea of Galilee straight west to Mount Carmel. You can stand on Mount Carmel and you can see the Valley of Megiddo. But just a few miles north is another large valley flat as a table top called the Hula Valley, which used to be swamps. When the Jews came back from their dispersion, the first thing they did was drain those swamps. It’s now great farmland, a flat valley.
Then along the Mediterranean Coast, you’ve got the Valley of Sharon. That’s the third one. Then you’ve got another valley, which makes up the Jordan Valley. Now there you’ve got the Jordan Valley; you’ve got the Valley of Sharon; you’ve got the Valley of Jezreel (or the Valley of Esdraelon or Megiddo, whatever you want to call it); and you’ve got the Hula Valley. Now those valleys will hold millions upon millions of troops.
You know, I read an interesting statistic years ago, not that many, but probably in the last ten years. Every man, woman, and child in America could be put inside the city limits of Jacksonville, FL. Now, I didn’t dream that up. Somebody else did, because Jacksonville, FL, has a large land area. I looked it up on the map. But when you put people in like sardines in a can, you can get millions into a small space. And God’s going to do it. He’s going to cause these army generals, stupid as it may seem, to pack their armies into these valleys of Israel. Why? It’s God’s grape vat. The human beings are the grapes. But like I said in the beginning of all of this, when you get them in the vat, what do you have to do next? You’ve got to crush them.
Okay, now let’s jump across the page in my Bible to chapter 16. Here we have the crushing element. Millions upon millions upon millions of the world’s troops packed into the valleys of Israel, and here comes the final judgment. Revelation 16 verse 21, this is the last judgment before the seven years ends and God brings in the scenario for the Kingdom.
Revelation 16:21a
“And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent:…” If you’ve got a marginal help, it’s what? One hundred pounds. One hundred pound chunks of ice are going to come cascading down on these millions of men out there in the open field. So what have you got? You’ve got a river of melting ice and blood that will indeed run as deep as a horse’s bridle.
I think, if it is not already topographically possible, God will make it. That river of blood will find its way to the Jordan Valley. It’s going to run all the way to the Red Sea which is, as it says here, a hundred and eighty miles. That’s what’s coming. That’s the wrath of God! All of the things from the day that peace is taken from the earth at the 11th month of the seven years is nothing but death and destruction. Everything pertaining to the Second Coming is death and destruction.
Now, let’s go back and show how Paul warns us for our final days on the planet. That’s going to be in II Timothy chapter 3. I shared with the prophecy conference last week how I was driving home from one of my classes in Oklahoma here a few years ago and turned on talk radio about 9:30 that night. I happened to catch Michael Reagan. He was just starting his program. And he said, “Fellow Americans, last night as my wife and I were having our family devotions, I read II Timothy chapter 3 starting at verse 1.” And he said, “When I was through, my wife said, Michael, you have to read this on the air!” And so he said, “Fellow Americans, that’s what I’m going to do.” And he read it and here it is. Read with me.
II Timothy 3:1
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” Now you want to remember, Paul has only one last day in mind, and that’s the Body of Christ. He’s not concerned about prophecy. He’s dealing only with the Gentile Body of Christ.
II Timothy 3:2-5
“For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3. Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4. Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”
And Michael stopped and said, “Fellow Americans, this is where we are.” Is it? It’s tomorrow’s newspaper! It’s next week’s newspaper. It’s exactly where we are. But now here’s my point. Is there one word of death or destruction? Not a word. Now isn’t that amazing? This is the scenario that you and I can look for at the trumpet call.
We don’t have to look for vast devastation. We don’t have to look for millions upon millions of people being put to death. In fact, I made the point the other night. In Revelation chapter 6 when at the mid-point of the Tribulation it says one-fourth of the world’s people will be killed. Good heavens, what’s one fourth of seven billion people? One point seven five billion! Not million! One and three quarters of a billion people are going to be dead by the end of the first three-and-a-half years. We can’t image what that’s going to be like. But by the end of the seven, they’re just about all going to be dead. There’s just going to be little smattering of survivors around the planet.
But see, Paul doesn’t allude to that. Paul says it’s a breakdown of moral and spiritual things. See the difference. Boy, that’s as different as daylight and dark. You and I aren’t going to be part of that death and destruction. This is what we look for. All right, now in the two minutes I have left, let’s just capitalize on this.
II Timothy 3:2a
For men shall be lovers of their own selves,…” Instead of lovers of God. True? Well, you know it is. Nothing matters to the human race today like the economy. And it isn’t just America, it’s everywhere. All people are concerned about is how much money they can make. And that’s all centered on self.
All right, now I’m going to go all the way down to verse 5. This is the one that slaps us in the face every time we turn around. We’re in a time where people–
II Timothy 3:5a
“Having a form of godliness,…” Any power? None. It’s all flim-flam. I call it hip-hop religion. And that’s all it is. There’s no power of God in it.
I had one of my converts out of Roman Catholicism call from Chicago after Christmas time. She had gone with a friend to one of these large mega churches and said, “Les, I was in that church for little over an hour and never once heard the name of Jesus Christ. Not once.” Well, what is that? Oh, it’s church. It’s a form of godliness, but there’s no power. There’s no preaching of Paul’s Gospel of salvation as found in I Corinthians 15:1-4. It’s a feel-good religion. I could name them, but I don’t like to do that. That’s not my style. I’m just going to show the truth, and let the chips fall where they may.
But see, this is why I’m making such a dividing line between the Body of Christ which was a secret kept in the mind of God and never revealed in any of the prophetic statements. Not one iota. The mystery of the Rapture has nothing to do with the death and destruction of the end-time scenario. And then they ridicule us for believing that we’re gong to be taken out before the Tribulation begins? Man, this is the glory of being in the Body of Christ! This is our “Blessed Hope” that we’re looking for!
Titus 2:13
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:”