Hello George,
Here is an email from Ray regarding the 'Day of the Lord':
Ray-
I have been reading your Secret Rapture paper and I have a question regarding the "Day of the Lord"
Below is a quote from your paper:
"Let us be clear, that the "day of the Lord" is the time period of Christ’s return to this earth to punish Babylon the Great and to pour out His righteous indignation on her (and on those nations who follow and worship her) for her evil crimes of inhumanity and blasphemy. Here is the order of events (Mat. 24:29-30)."
I am confused by this because of two other scriptures -- Rev 1:1-5 (somewhere in there) were John states"...I was in the spirit ON THE LORD'S day" -- and in Matthew 24 where Jesus states after describing the great tribulation that "...this generation will not pass away until all these things happen.."
How can the "day of the lord" be what you described above if John was "in the spirit on the lord's day" and Jesus said all these things would happen in this generation.
My thinking, until now, was that the Lord's day happens now (not experienced) spiritually to the elect, not in the future literally.
Can you help me understand this.
Josh
Dear Josh:
Jesus didn't say His coming, or the end of the eon, or the prophecies He described would come in "HIS generation," but in "THIS generation." What generation is "this" generation? The generation that "sees ALL THESE THINGS" (Matt. 24:34). All these things include everything in the previous verses including verses 20, 30, 31, etc. His Apostles did NOT "see ALL those things" in their day. So it is yet future. John was "in the SPIRIT" on the "Lord's Day." He was not literally there, but rather in "spirit" he saw what WILL HAPPEN on the "Lord's Day" mentioned in hundreds of Scriptures.
God be with you,
Ray
Also, here is an excerpt from LOF series 16 pt. D-5:
THE SECOND DEATH
It's time for another one of those enigmatic Scriptures that sound very simple, but are difficult to harmonize with all Scriptures compare "spiritual with spiritual" and believe Jesus when He tells us that His "words ARE spirit" (John 6:63). Here is that enigmatic statement:
"And as it is appointed unto men [Gk: 'anthropose'--human, mankind] once to die, but after this the judgment"
This Scripture is all-encompassing, universal, and applies to every human who has ever lived. All humanity must die once, and after that death, they must be judged. There are no exceptions, not even for mentally challenged, teens, youngsters and even infants. (Do sound-minded Christians really believe that when babies die they go to heaven and therefore, there will be millions of eternal babies [in diapers?] living in heaven for all eternity AS BABIES?) God has a way to deal with babies and infants in the Day of Judgment that will be quite equitable -- they will grow up to be adults.
The Chosen Elect are judged now in this Church age (I Cor. 11:31), while the unrepentant, unbelieving, mentally challenged, infants, and all other such categories, are judged in the resurrection to Judgment (I Cor. 11:32)--"In that day," as the Scriptures mention so many times. The reason I don't put infants and such in the category of the wicked every time I mention the wicked and judgment, is because there are few places that mention babies in a Judgment setting, but there are some, but they are not judged as are the wicked. They will be judged for their carnality when it shows itself, as they mature.
"Because he hath appointed a day [called that day and the Day of the Lord in many prophesies], in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that Man Whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead" (Acts 17:31).
Some Scriptures refer to judgment on the unrepentant, wicked, and unbelievers. Others refer to judgment on the chosen Elect of God. And still others refer to judgment on both the wicked and the Elect, but at different times.
Now get ready for a real revelation. There are two mysteries in Heb. 9:27 when applied to God's Elect:
1.
what and when is the "ONCE to die?"
2.
what and when is the "after this JUDGMENT?"
We will take up the Elect's Judgment part of this verse first.
We learned that Gehenna fire, and unquenchable fire, and eonian fire, and the furnace of fire, and being salted with fire, and the lake of fire, are all the same fire, and this fire is JUDGMENT. Now then, since the lake of fire is judgment, and the lake of fire "is" also the second death, if follows that the second death also "is" judgment. THE SECOND DEATH IS JUDGMENT, AND JUDGMENT IS THE SECOND DEATH.
Had God wanted to make things easy, He could have inspirited Heb. 9:27 to read like this: "And as it is appointed unto men ONCE to die, but after this the SECOND death."
For that is what the second death is, JUDGMENT. Likewise then, Judgment is the SECOND death. After the ONCE to die comes the SECOND to die. Or: After the FIRST death comes the SECOND death. Simple enough when God gives us eyes to see. But there is still an enigma about this verse that we will cover a little later.
I thought 'the day of the Lord' was about judgment and even physical growth for children before their judgment.
Marques