CAUGHT UP

I Would Not Have You To Be Ignorant

Many church attendees believe that the church will rapture or flyaway before the tribulation of the anti-christ, which is satan’s deception as he who comes instead of Christ Jesus. This deception of satan as the anti-christ or the instead of jesus occurs before the Second Coming of Christ Jesus, which is the Day of the Lord. The church is “caught up” in an ocean of deception, misinterpreting Paul’s teaching from [IThessalonians 4:17] which says, “Then we which 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.” It is necessary to the subject matter that Paul is addressing within this Verse, which is outlined starting with Verse 13. Therefore, one should revert back to the subject line or back to [IThessalonians 4:13], and not hop and skip around because this is why Paul’s teaching is so unjustly misunderstood. It is necessary to seek to understand the intended meaning of the phrase “caught up”, which means it is necessary to break back these words into the original Greek language. Often times our English understanding of other languages does not fully translate the intended thought or idea intended. “Caught Up” is the Greek word “harpazo {har-pad'-zo}, meaning to seize, carry off by force, to snatch out or away.” It is probably akin to the Greek word “airo {ah'-ee-ro}”, meaning “to take away from another what is his or what is committed to him, to take by force.” Also, “to take from among the living, either by a natural death, or by violence, cause to cease, to take off or away what is attached to anything, to move from its place.” These definitions of the words “caught up” are attached to the subject which is found in I Thessalonians 4:13, which says, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” Paul’s subject has absolutely nothing to do with those who attend church buildings escaping the tribulation of satan as the anti-christ, rather concerns those who are asleep or those who have ceased living in flesh bodies since they have passed away, and absent from the flesh body is present with our LORD. I, as Paul, “would not have you to be ignorant”, therefore let us study Paul’s teaching of “where the dead are” Verse by Verse, which as you will see does not in any way address the rapture or flyaway of the church attendees.

I Thessalonians - Chapter 4, Verses 13 - 18 [Subject – Those Who Are Asleep]

I Thessalonians 4:13 says, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” “Asleep” is the Greek word “koimao {koy-mah'-o}, meaning to die.” Christ Jesus taught us concerning those asleep or who have died in the flesh in Luke 8:52 which says, “Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth.” In this particular teaching the ruler of a synagogue’s daughter had fallen asleep or passed away in the flesh. The next Verses of Christ Jesus’ teaching bear out why Paul taught us not to be ignorant concerning those who are asleep or have died in the flesh because it is ignorance that causes you to have no hope. Luke 8:53 says, “And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.” Paul’s teaching of asleep and Christ Jesus’ teaching of sleepeth have the same meaning, to die in the flesh. Ecclesiastes teaches 12:6 says, “Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.” Verse 7 says, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” As Paul teaches in another of his Epistles, “it is far better to be absent from the flesh and to be present with the LORD.” Those that laughed and scorned Christ Jesus are the “ignorant”, which means “to err or sin through mistake, to be wrong.” Luke 8:54 says, “And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise.” Christ Jesus is the resurrection of life. When Lazarus, Martha and Mary’s brother, passed away, Christ Jesus said in John 11:11, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.” John 11:25 says, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:” John 11:26 says, “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” Christ Jesus taught those of us alive, remaining in the flesh what occurs at the hour of another’s individuals flesh death, being, they are loosed and let go. Our Lord led captivity captive, which means Christ Jesus is our victory over the grave and death, that is the devil, which as Paul teaches, who through fear of death were all our lifetime subject to bondage. It is because of the foolishness taught from pulpits that most people have no concept of where their loved ones and friends are while absent from the flesh. They are not in some hole in the ground, but in the presence of our Father God as we were taught from in Ecclesiastes 12:6-7. Every soul returns back unto our Father God who breathed the breath of life body into every soul created for His pleasure. This includes the good, the bad, and the pretty and ugly [Luke 16:19-31]. Luke 8:55 says, “And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat.” Spirit is the breath of life body that our Father God breathed into every flesh living soul. It is the inner man or spiritual body that instantly comes alive at the moment of one’s flesh death [I Corinthians - Chapter 15]. Do not just read over what Christ Jesus said to give the risen maiden. Christ Jesus said “give her meat”, not milk, but meat. And, once again through the teachings of Paul we learn, “For every one that useth milk [is] unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.” “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, [even] those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil [Hebrews 5:13]”, or the difference between ignorance and understanding. It is truly evil to allow yourself to be steeped in the traditions of man rather than the truth of our Father God’s written Word. The evil one satan binds the ignorant and unlearned with misunderstanding and lies from generation unto generation. Thanks be unto our Father God who incarnated Himself in the person of Christ Jesus, and John teaches in John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” You should show yourself approved unto our Father God by studying His written word Chapter by Chapter and Verse by Verse, daily.

I Thessalonians 4:14 says, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him”. Do not forget so soon Christ Jesus’ teaching concerning Lazarus which says, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” When Christ Jesus was crucified one of the malefactor’s crucified with Him said in Luke 23:42 & 43, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Christ Jesus said” Today”, not some future day; “Today, as in now or at the moment one sheds this fragile flesh domicile.” Peter teaches in I Peter 3:18, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:” This Verse says it all concerning those who are asleep in the flesh. Those who are asleep are the equivalent of death in the flesh, however they are alive by the Spirit, that is the Spirit of our Father God. From Genesis we learn in Genesis 2:7, “And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Our Father God breathed into our flesh bodies the breath of life or spiritual body that immediately takes over at the moment of death of the flesh body. Paul teaches in I Corinthians 15:20, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, [and] become the firstfruits of them that slept.” Verse 23 says, “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.” Paul is teaching about two sets of people; those already passed from the flesh to the spirit realm, and those who remain alive unto the Second Coming of Christ Jesus. Did Paul say that Christ would rise? No, Paul teaches that Christ “is risen”, therefore the dead in the flesh are risen with Christ also, and anyone who remains alive until the Second Coming of Christ Jesus will immediately be transfigured into spiritual bodies without ever dying in the flesh. I Peter 3:19 says, “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;” This Verse is why I turned toward this particular teaching of Peter. Many believe that Christ Jesus was dead in the grave for three and one-half days, however Christ Jesus was not dead, because He is “Emmanuel”, meaning “God with us”, and satan, death could not hold the Creator of the heavens and the earth, who is Christ Jesus. Peter teaches that Christ entered into satan’s domain and preached the Gospel unto the imprisoned spirits, or those who had died in the flesh before our Lord was born from above. Our Father God is always fair and just, and many righteous had died before the First Advent of Christ Jesus, although they prophesied of His Coming. All who had died prior to Christ Jesus’ First Appearance, including Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Elijah, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and all the prophets and righteous as well as the unrighteous were told that their prophesies concerning Christ Jesus’ First Coming had been fulfilled. “Preached” is the Greek word “kerusso {kay-roos'-so}, meaning to publish, proclaim openly: something which has been done, always with the suggestion of formality, gravity and an authority which must be listened to and obeyed. “ Christ Jesus said in John 5:24 & 25, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” I Peter 3:20 says, “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.” That is, eight Adamic souls whom Christ Jesus would be born through. Noah and his family had the only perfect pedigree as taught in our Father God’s Word and the Adamic people are the birth-line of Christ Jesus. Genesis 6:9 says, “These [are] the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man [and] perfect in his generations, [and] Noah walked with God.”Perfect in his generations” means that Noah and his family had not been corrupted by mixing with the Nephilim, the fallen angels of Genesis – Chapter 6, as further explained in the epistle of Jude. Our Father God also told Noah to take two of every flesh into the ark with himself, his wife, sons and daughters-in-laws and as is taught in Genesis 6:19, “And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every [sort] shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep [them] alive with thee; they shall be male and female.” Our Father God is the same today, yesterday, and forever. Just as our Father God was patient and longsuffering in the days of Noah, He is as patient and longsuffering towards us today. Peter also teaches in II Peter 3:8 & 9, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” It is our Father God’s loving will that all of His creation, created for His pleasure, comes unto the knowledge of the truth of His Holy Written Word. Therefore, understand the truth of this study which is that Father God would have all of us to understand where the flesh dead are. This should not be confused with satan’s lie of the rapture or flyaway of the church to escape his tribulation when he comes first in the place of or as instead of jesus. I Peter 3:22 says, “Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.” Many people do not seem to realize that even satan at this time is in the heavens. There is no hell underneath and Heaven above as we were taught as children, and many pulpit gurus so ignorant to continue this teaching even today. John teaches in the “Book of Revelation” unto the churches that satan will be cast to this earth from the heavenly realm when he comes disguised as the instead of jesus. Revelation 12: 7 – 9 says, “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,” “And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.” “ And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Revelation 12:12 says, “Therefore rejoice, [ye] heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” The vile one, satan’s deception on the earth as he who comes first to the earth as instead of jesus is a short time of five months [Revelation – Chapter 9]. I Peter 4:5 says, “Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.” Christ Jesus said in John 5:20 – 23, “For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.” “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth [them]; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.” “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:” “That all [men] should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.” Christ Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life, to the “Light of Everlasting Life” and no man comes unto the Father except through Christ Jesus. I Peter 4:6 says, “For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” Our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. Isaiah 53:5 & 6 says, “But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Everyone, the dead in the flesh and the living at Christ Jesus’ return will not face the judgment seat of our Father God until after Christ Jesus’ Millennial or one thousant year reign upon the earth. All sins that anyone has not repented of will be held against them and must be accounted for at Father God’s Great White Throne of Judgment [Revelation - Chapter 20]. Repent means to not only say you are sorry, it means to also change your ways so that you are pleasing to our Father God.

I Thessalonians 4:15 says, “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.” “Prevent] is “phthano {fthan'-o} in the Greek”, meaning “to come before, precede.” We, which are alive at the Second Coming of Christ Jesus will not come before or precede those asleep because they are already with our Lord. II Corinthians 5:1 says, “For we know that if our earthly house of [this] tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” “Eternal” is the Greek word “aionios {ahee-o'-nee-os}”, meaning “without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be, never to cease, everlasting.” Christ Jesus said in John 14:2 & 3, “In my Father's house are many mansions: if [it were] not [so], I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also.”

I Thessalonians 4:16 says, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:” The dead in Christ Jesus are already risen and this can be witnessed in Paul’s teaching concerning the two bodies each of us are endowed with from our Father God. I Corinthians 15:52 says, “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.” “Raised” in the Greek is “egeiro {eg-i'-ro}”, meaning “to cause to appear, bring bfore the public.” Paul taught in II Corinthians 5:7, “(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)?” When Christ Jesus entered satan’s domain and set the captives free, we are told through our Father God’s Word In Matthew 27:52 & 53, “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,” “And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” Faith in our Father God and in the resurrection of Christ Jesus brings us sight. We have our Father God’s Word to assure us that the dead in Christ Jesus are already in the presence of the Lord, and not in the grave. The grave holds only the flesh remains, however the soul and the breath of life or spiritual body returns unto Almighty God who gave it to one and all. “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.”

I Thessalonians 4:17 says, “Then we which 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.” Remember Paul’s subject concerns those who have passed away (died) in the flesh; therefore, “caught up” means “to seize, carry off by force, to snatch out or away, to take from among the living, either by a natural death, or by violence, cause to cease, to take off or away what is attached to anything, to move from its place.” II Corinthians 5:1 says, “For we know that if our earthly house of [this] tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” “Clouds” is “nephos {nef'-os} in the Greek”, meaning “a large dense multitude, a throng.” A teaching of “cloud” is taught in Hebrews 12:1 which says, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”Air” in the Greek is “aer {ah-ayr'}” - from aemi (to breathe unconsciously, i.e. respire; by analogy, to blow). A teaching of “air” is taught in Genesis 2:7, which says, “And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” If you are Biblically illiterate it is quite easy to see why caught up causes you so much difficulty in understanding Paul’s teaching. The rapture or flyaway of the church is construed from one of the meanings of caught up, which is to take off or away. However, in John’s teaching of the events that consummate the end of this Flesh of Second Earth Age, Revelation 12:15 says, “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.” Therefore, if you do not follow Paul’s subject then you can be carried away by satan’s rapture or flyaway lie and be caught up in accepting his false role as the first christ that comes to the earth as the instead of jesus.

I Thessalonians 4:18 says, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” “Comfort” means “to refresh or cheer, given not only with words, but also by the experience of a happier lot or by a happy issue.” “Comfort” is the Greek word “parakaleo {par-ak-al-eh'-o}”, and its outline of Biblical Usage is as follows:
1) to call to one's side, call for, summon
2) to address, speak to, (call to, call upon), which may be done in the way of exhortation, entreaty, comfort, instruction, etc.
a) to admonish, exhort
b) to beg, entreat, beseech, pray
1) to strive to appease by entreaty
c) to console, to encourage and strengthen by consolation, to comfort
1) to receive consolation, be comforted
d) to encourage, strengthen
e) exhorting and comforting and encouraging
f) to instruct, teach
Therefore, Paul is exhorting us by way of instruction to comfort one another with words. Paul did not “teach those words” of the rapture, any moment or flyaway of the church. Paul has not mentioned any words pertaining to satan’s flood of lies that causes the ignorant to be carried away by the words “caught up” because they did not heed Paul’s subject of instruction, which is clearly taught in I Thessalonians 4:13 which says, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” Therefore, the words that Paul desires that we comfort one another with is found in understanding where the dead are, and in the fact that we will be reunited with them at the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ which is at the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet of Father God. This is the refreshing and the cheer not only given by Paul’s exhortation of comfort, but also by the happy lot and happy issue of the Coming of the Lord at being reunited with our family, other loved ones and friends. Best of all to be in the presence of our Father God, restored and revived with the happy experience we once knew before the rebellion and subsequent overthrow of satan in the destruction of the Former or First Earth Age. “Caught Up”] simply means, “we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Rev 1:17 & 18 says, “And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:” “I [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” “Hallelujah, Praise Ye YAH!!!”