Bible Questions ignored by churches, part 1
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The Old Testament finds a deeper meaning in the New Testament. All of the Bible is true. There are no contradictions.
- We cannot ignore or contradict Bible verses
- Elisha cursed 42 little children. Why?
- 42 children. The time of great Tribulation is 42 months
- No man has ascended up to Heaven. What about Enoch?
- Heaven, Paradise, and Prison
- Elijah couldn't ascend to Heaven in his own strength
- Jesus rose effortlessly to Heaven by His own power
We cannot ignore or contradict Bible verses
Scientists had to change their way of thinking about the atom in order to explain the results of all the experiments that they did.
They were forced to come to the crazy conclusion that the atom is almost entirely empty space. They fired tiny particles at atoms and most of these particles went straight through. But a few particles bounced backwards. They were forced to conclude that the atom must be mostly empty space with a tiny nucleus at the centre. Although we would never have thought up that idea unless we had to.
That is the secret of science. Your ideas must match all the experimental results.
The same applies to the Bible. Truth is those patterns of thought that you have to develop in order to explain all the Bible verses written in the 1769 King James Version of the Bible. This is the only Infallible and Absolute Voice of God that we have.
65-0429 THE SEED SHALL NOT BE HEIR WITH THE SHUCK
And what is the Voice of God? Is the Word of God.
So we look at difficult Scriptures and try to line them up with some theme that runs through the Bible.
Elisha cursed 42 little children. Why?
- Why did Elisha curse little children in the name of the Lord so that 42 died?
Elijah had just been caught up to Heaven which symbolized the catching up of the Bride.
II KINGS 2:23 And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.
: 24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
Bethel means the house of God.
You cannot get into the house of God unless you are saved by the Blood of Jesus.
Bethel represents salvation, the first step of the Reformation under Martin Luther as the church came out of the Dark Ages.
Our Gentile Elijah, brother Branham, was to turn the children at the end time back to the apostolic fathers of the early church who wrote the New Testament. That would complete the restoration of truth that Martin Luther began when he restored the truth that the just shall live by faith.
MALACHI 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
A curse lingers. This is the radiation from nuclear bombs and missiles that will fall in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation.
Those who mess up and corrupt the deeper revelations that brother Branham preached will end up in great Tribulation and face God’s curse.
Brother Branham had to turn the children in the last age back to the apostolic fathers. So the "little" children represent the saved Christians right at the end, as the Lord comes.
These little children who came forth represent the saved Gentiles, called the foolish virgins, who rejected, or ignored, or mocked, or corrupted William Branham’s message.
They thus got left behind and are so upset at not being caught up to Heaven, despite being good, saved church members, that they now mock the Jewish Elijah who also was not caught up to Heaven.
They never understood that there had to be a Jewish Elijah to guide the 144000 through the years of great Tribulation.
The bald-headed eagle is America’s national symbol. Since the final Gentile prophet (or eagle) came from America with the piercing eyesight that gave him deep insight into the mysteries of Scripture, a bald-headed eagle is also a symbol of the American prophet William Branham.
“Bald” here is an ancient English word that means white. The eagle is brown with a white head. So the children mock Elisha as a prophet. They implied that if he was also a bald-headed eagle (or prophet), why did he not go up like Elijah?
But "bald" also means blunt or brutal as in the sentence “a bald answer has no diplomacy, just blunt truth”.
The little children, the saved foolish or fooled virgins right at the end of the church ages, had mocked or distorted brother Branham’s message and missed the rapture. Now they think they can also mock the Jewish Elijah.
But they had forgotten that they were now in the Tribulation where there is no Holy Spirit for the Gentiles, only for the Jews. The Holy Spirit, Who is Life, had taken the Gentile Bride up to Heaven. When Life left the earth then Death entered on the pale horse to destroy the Gentile foolish virgins.
So Elisha, as the Jewish Elijah, gives them a “bald” answer, blunt and brutal.
“You foolish virgins mocked, and ignored, and perverted your Gentile prophet's message. Christ has moved away from the Gentiles to the Jews. Thus there is no more mercy for you Gentiles. You are all cursed by God to die for your faith in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation. So die.”
The modern American expression would be, "Drop dead".
God turned from the Jews to the Gentiles 2000 years ago. Then after that, the Jews had to die for their faith.
So when God turns from the Gentiles to the Jews in great Tribulation, then the saved Gentiles who miss the rapture will also have to die for their faith.
REVELATION 13:15 And he [the American beast or power] had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Money is the life blood of organization. American money unites all the non-Catholic churches into a worldwide confederation of churches as a Protestant image of the Roman Catholic church or beast. All these will fall under the final Pope (probably) Peter the Second, who will be the man of sin to rule the world during the years of great Tribulation.
All the saved Christians who could not understand the Bible mysteries will miss the rapture and go into great Tribulation and will be killed.
42 children. The time of great Tribulation is 42 months
The number of children is forty-two.
This is a clue that links this event to the 42 months of great Tribulation.
REVELATION 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Russia has a bear for its national symbol.
The Medes and Persians whose empire stretched from Turkey to Afghanistan (today we call them Muslims) were also symbolized by a bear in Daniel’s prophecy.
Two she bears.
A woman symbolizes a church or religious group.
The Orthodox Russians and Muslims are very religious but have some wrong beliefs. Muslims are devoted to their hatred of Israel and America. We serve God in love, not by hate.
The children in the years of great Tribulation represent saved denominational Christians who reject the revealed truths of the Bible and the saved Message believers who splice quotes together from various messages instead of taking the quotes back to Scripture. Thus the Message believers end up believing things that the first church age Christians never believed. (“Denomination” and “Message believer” are both unscriptural terms which will save no-one. The early church were called Christians. We must follow their example. The word “pastor” is only mentioned once in the New Testament which gives him no authority to dominate the church or be the head of the church.)
Because today’s church groups had a chance to learn the truth, but rejected the idea of proving the truth from Scripture, they will be torn to pieces in the time of great Tribulation. This will be done by the very religious Russian and Muslim people who suddenly wake up to the fact that they have been fooled by their religious leaders. They will wake up to the fact that they are thus lost. They will be furious towards those sleeping virgins who had a chance to learn and teach the truth but threw their chance away by their obsessive interpretations of quotes. The Russians and Muslims are so wrapped up in their enforced beliefs that they have very little chance of finding truth today. They will hate the foolish virgins who could have had the truth but never took Bible truth seriously. This was an opportunity that the Orthodox Russians and Muslims never had.
No man has ascended up to Heaven. What about Enoch?
- Jesus said that only He can ascend to Heaven. But what about Enoch and Elijah?
JOHN 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven,
This is a deep question as it involves Heaven, Paradise, and Hell which are all higher spiritual dimensions. We will have to understand the issue of dimensions in order to understand this question.
According to Einstein’s theory, which is the best that we have, time is a higher dimension that we call the fourth dimension. We live in space which has three dimensions that enable us to move backwards and forwards, sideways, and up and down.
Time is a mysterious dimension that we do not understand. We do not know what time is. We cannot even measure time. We measure the movement of a pointer on a watch face, but we do not measure time itself.
So, time and the spirit world that Satan can inhabit are the fourth dimension.
Thus Satan, like us, is trapped in time and cannot see the future.
I CORINTHIANS 2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
By killing Jesus, Satan doomed Himself.
Clearly, Satan could not foresee the future consequences of his actions.
Invisible satanic spirits have the real power in our world. They are the real princes and they rule through the leaders that we can see.
GENESIS 5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
The Bible does not say that God took Enoch up to Heaven.
God just “took him”. Where to?
LUKE 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
In the Old Testament, the saints went to Paradise and not to Heaven.
When Jesus died, He first went down to Hell to dump our sins on the Devil and defeat him. Then on His way up He first stopped at the Prison for the lost which is in the sides of the Pit and preached to the totally lost souls who had rejected all the preaching of the Old Testament saints.
I PETER 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
Then Jesus went up to Paradise to meet the thief from the cross and all the Old Testament saints.
MATTHEW 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
:53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
Then Jesus went up first in the resurrection. Soon afterwards He brought all the Old Testament saints up with Him. On the Ascension Day, the Old Testament saints formed the Cloud, the Cloud of witnesses, that went up with Him to Heaven.
Heaven, Paradise, and Prison
EPHESIANS 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
Ten days after He took all the saints captive who had previously been in captivity in Paradise, He descended as the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost to give spiritual gifts to the church.
So, a better picture of Heaven, Paradise, and Prison looks like this.
Jesus told the thief on the cross that He would be in Paradise that day.
The resurrection would only happen after three days.
MARK 8:31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
That is true if He died on Thursday afternoon so that He could spend three nights in the tomb.
Jewish days started at 6 0’clock in the evening.
GENESIS 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Then we must start counting from the beginning of Thursday which would be Wednesday evening in our Gentile days.
Thus, Paradise had to be somewhere between Hell which is the Devils’ home and the surface of the earth.
As a result, Jesus was very correct in saying that Enoch had never ascended to heaven.
JOHN 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
Enoch was taken to Paradise (not caught up to Paradise) which was the Old Testament equivalent to Heaven.
Since Jesus ascended to Heaven, His Blood has formed a lifeline that takes repentant sinners to Heaven when they die. That is what we need, the Blood to cleanse us and the Life that was in His Blood, the Holy Spirit, to enable us to cross that awful gulf when we die.
Elijah couldn't ascend to Heaven in his own strength
But this Blood-line was not available in Elijah’s day. So how did he get up to Heaven?
“Up” in this context means a higher dimension.
We can consider Heaven to be the sixth dimension. God Himself would be in the unimaginable seventh dimension. Far, far above what we can even imagine.
Elijah never ascended to Heaven by his own power. He needed a chariot pulled by horses and a whirlwind to push him.
He also needed horsemen riding with him to guide him on the way to Heaven because he did not know which way to go.
Thus, he never went up by himself in his own strength.
Also, there were horsemen to help and guide him.
II KINGS 2:11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
:12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.
You cannot fly.
You have to get into an aircraft that can fly as long as it is controlled by a pilot.
But even the supernatural horses and chariot were not enough to get Elijah up.
He still needed an extra push from a whirlwind.
It took a lot of outside help to get Elijah up to Heaven.
That is why people who rely on their own good works to get up to Heaven are wasting their time.
But there was nobody around to help Jesus ascend to Heaven.
Jesus was taken up or carried up by what?
The power of God alone.
But Jesus is God.
REVELATION 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
REVELATION 4:2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
REVELATION 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
Jesus alone sat on the throne and is called Lord God Almighty.
Jesus rose effortlessly to Heaven by His own power
ACTS 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
The cloud was the Old Testament saints who acted as a cloud of witnesses to His ascension.
LUKE 24:51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.
There was no chariot and no whirlwind to help Jesus.
There was nothing present that could help Him up.
So, it was His own power that carried Him up.
ACTS 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
How will He come?
MATTHEW 26:64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Jesus will move through space in a sitting position. That is really effortless. He moves up and down in a completely effortless manner.
The clouds of witnesses, as He comes for the battle of Armageddon, will be both the Old Testament saints as well as His New Testament Bride from the seven church ages.
But it is His right hand of power that brings this whole Heavenly host down with Him.
So, if He returns the same way He went up, then it is His right hand of power that carried Him up.
Jesus needs no help from anything nor anyone.
Look carefully what Jesus said.
JOHN 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
A man ascends when he climbs upwards. You do that on your own without help from anyone.
JOSHUA 6:5 And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
Each Jew ascended up to Jericho on his own without any help.
PSALM 135:7 He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth;
Hot air rises naturally which is why smoke ascends or goes upwards. It needs no help.
Elijah was a great man but it was totally beyond his powers to ascend up to heaven by his own strength.
He needed a lot of help.
Elijah had to be pulled by the horses that were guided by horsemen as well as being pushed by a whirlwind. In addition, he needed a supernatural chariot to stand on. Just like you need an airplane to fly in with its pilot and powerful engines.
Jesus just stood still and then rose effortlessly to Heaven
There was no way that Elijah could ascend to heaven that way.
JOHN 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven,
No man. That means a man on his own. What man is there who knows how to get to Heaven?
Impossible. Elijah never went up alone.
He relied on the horsemen who guided him upwards. They went up as a team.
You and I need the help of Jesus Christ if we are to get up to Heaven. He can get us up there but we will never get up there by our own works nor our own efforts.