If it feels good, do it!

 If it feels good, do it!

By Richard P. Joseph

9/23/2024

John Adams is one of my favorite historical figures.  To me, the portly 5’7” man stands larger than life.  There were many great figures of our American Revolution including Samual Adams who seemed to be the instigator, George Washington, who was the might, Thomas Jefferson, the articulator and then there was John Adams, the one that all of those efforts seemed to be resting upon when it came right down to producing a product.  Adams was the product himself of a long line of Puritan Christians who would not, and could not, bend under pressure.  He held fast to his Christian morals at all cost and proved himself one of the most disciplined men of all time.  And while not all Americans stood as fast as Adams, there was a time when many Americans did hold to those same Christian morals as Adams held to.  

As I read through the two volume work of Page Smith’s biography of John Adams, and Original Intent by David Barton, one theme seems to repeat itself, that Christian morals are a necessity in order to keep a nation from falling apart.  John and Abigail Adams, who both spent much time in France, were disgusted with the products of the so-called “French enlightenment”.   The American revolution produced a nation faithful to Jesus Christ whereas the French revolution did quite the opposite; it rejected the gospel and embraced the darkness of man’s own morbid mind, producing a sexually promiscuous society that degraded their once Christian moral fabric.  That perversion is still very active today in France.  On page 915, Page Smith summarized that the American nation could recover after a tough presidential campaign for the simple reason that “among Americans there was a common consensus-common traditions and ideals- that lay deeper than the transient passions of party and faction.  As long as that remarkable consensus held fast, the nation would somehow endure.”    We now, in the 21st century, seem to have lost that common consensus.

Beginning in the 20th century, specifically in the 1960’s our common Christian heritage came under intense assault.  This attack was very reminiscent of the French enlightenment.  The hippie mantra of “If it feels good, do it”  was code for “Reject Christ and the established order” or in shorthand “stick it to the man”.  This was America's sexual revolution which produced all manner of debauchery, disease, sin, illegitimacy and social entropy.  It has finally matured and now, in 2024, we are on the cusp of losing our once great nation.  We are now in a free fall moving quickly into atheistic communism.  Once Christianity is rejected, our moral compass fails and all sense of freedom is lost.  Oppression and poverty is then the only possible option.  Freedom is unique to Christianity and once Christianity is replaced, so is freedom.  It is a scientific and mathematical equation that cannot be reworked into another product.  Just like a chemical reaction, it must absolutely work 100% of the time.  

Christianity + acceptance=Freedom and prosperity.

Christianity + rejection=oppression, suppression and poverty.

My favorite John Adams quote is one that he said during a speech to the Massachusetts Militia;

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion…Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.  

What Adams is basically saying is that our constitution allows so much freedom that the only citizens that are able to live under it are those that have strong Christian morals.  Once those morals are absent, we must live under a dictator.  There is no other choice.  The hippies finally grew up and became our presidents and our legislators and our judges.  We are in the beginning stages of communism.  In fact this article will be banned on many platforms.  This is how communism works.  There is no freedom of speech, no freedom to defend yourselves and no incentive to improve your lot in life; in other words “social entropy” and death.  

We were all warned by God about social degradation in the bible and especially in God’s law.  Most people think God was joking when he gave Moses the ten commandments.  The fifth commandment reads like this;

Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

Most people only read the first part but you seldom hear the second part which ties your national existence in your homeland to the honoring of your parents.  In other words, once the family structure and order is compromised, your country becomes exposed and then deposed.  Moses warned the Israelites about this in the book of Deuteronomy and they didn’t listen and their days in their promised land was cut short in AD 70.   In today's hippie generated society, many kids don’t even know who their father is.  And even if they have a father, he isn’t doing his job of disciplining and teaching his children the ways of the eternal God.  In fact, it is now offensive to even say that a dad is necessary.  I can go on and on about this subject but suffice it to say that our national existence is inextricably tied to our moral fabric.  This really is an existential threat.  We will absolutely lose our nation if we do not have a massive great awakening immediately.  I hope and pray that that won’t happen but I can’t bend the rules of science, I can only follow the laws of nature and nature tells me that we must reverse our moral compass in order to survive this coming onslaught.   

 To sum this article up, I will now quote the giver of life himself;

Matthew 7:13-14

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 [c]Because narrow is the gate and [d]difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Isaiah 2

 Isaiah 2

By Richard P. Joseph

8/31/2024

Wherever the gospel is believed by a new convert who has no biblical training, they are usually encouraged to read one of the New Testament gospels first.  That is a good thing.  The gospels are written in story form and are not that hard to grasp, well, so it seems.  While it is not that difficult to follow the basic story of a man named Jesus of Nazarath from his miraculous birth to his death, burial and resurrection, there is yet very much that goes right over the new, and many times even long time, believers' heads.  This is because the New Testament is written in the same type of vernacular that the Old Testament was written in, including cultural nuances and beliefs.  Therefore, it is very necessary that all believers, new and old, get familiar with the Old Testament and its historical setting, otherwise they fall into the common trap of misunderstanding the New Testament.  I just happen to be going through the book of Isaiah at this time and would therefore like to share just a tidbit from chapter 2.  

Chapter 2, like many other chapters in Isaiah, are messianic in context.  Isaiah, not only addressed many issues of his day, also prophesied about future events, most notably the coming messiah.  

I encourage you to have the 2nd chapter open as I highlight some of the passages.  You need to read the entire chapter to get the full effect.  

Isaiah starts out by identifying the subject matter right off by naming Judah and Jerusalem.  He is not talking about the United States, or Russia or China, he is talking about the land that he lived in and the land that would be affected by the coming Messiah which concerns this prophecy.  Although this prophecy would eventually have worldwide concern, the starting place would be the land of Judah.  He then identifies a certain time frame; “the latter days”.  Out of context, this could mean anything but in context it only means the latter days of Judaism.  He then talks about the mountain of the LORD’S house would be “on top of the mountains and hills.  In other words a lofty and lifted up place as if it is a spiritual dwelling, not physical.  And all the nations will flow into it.  It will be a place that will judge the nations as if it will be the international law and it will be a place of peace.  He then goes into a judgment of the people of Israel and deems them idolaters and full of Eastern mysticism. He then says in verse 12

For the day of the Lord of hosts

Shall come upon everything proud and lofty,

Upon everything lifted up—

And it shall be brought low—

Whenever you see “the day of the LORD” that is a statement that refers to God’s judgment.   John the Baptist warned that that very judgment was now (in his day) upon the nation of Israel.

Matthew 3:10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 

Isaiah 2:19 gives a vivid description of the terror that will come upon them in the latter days.

They shall go into the holes of the rocks,

And into the caves of the [f]earth,

From the terror of the Lord

And the glory of His majesty,

When He arises to shake the earth mightily.

Revelation 6:15-16 sounds a lot like this prophecy.

15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, [j]the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

There were two great judgments that occurred after Isaiah’s day upon Jerusalem.  The first was the Babylonian captivity in 586 BC and the second was the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70.  In both cases the Temple was demolished, famine and pestilence ensued and most of those that did not perish were taken away as slaves.  During the Babylonian crisis, the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland after a period of 70 years which the prophet Jeremiah foretold.  The second crisis had no return date, it only had an expiration date.  As predicted by Isaiah and others, the fall of Jerusalem during the time of the messiah would be a final act.  It would close down the Mosaic economy and usher in the messianic kingdom that has no end.  That is why Isaiah’s prophecy has a spiritual tone to it.  It is not predicting an earthly physical kingdom but rather it is talking about a spiritual kingdom that has no end and cannot be infiltrated by evil.  While religion has been fully invaded and infiltrated by evil, the kingdom of Jesus Christ can’t and never will.  While all of the Old Testament prophets addressed the concerns of their day, they often would see into the future of a different kind of world.  They addressed the physical worldly kingdoms of their day but could see a day when a spiritual kingdom would unite, not only Jews, but also all the peoples of the earth.  They would no longer have to fight over a piece of land, they would actually inherit the earth.  They would no longer slave under an earthly king but be ruled by justice and righteousness by their heavenly king.  We would be united by the blood of the lamb, not the blood of war or the bloodlines of men.  In this kingdom we will beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks.  While the physical world around us can’t understand what is going on in our kingdom, we can understand it.  The physical world around us will always hate us and use every source at their disposal to destroy us but it can never be done.  We are in the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ.  Read all about it; in the old and new testaments!

Isaiah 2:4

He shall judge between the nations,

And rebuke many people;

They shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into pruning [a]hooks;

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

Neither shall they learn war anymore.

Apathy

 Apathy

By Richard P. Joseph

8/11/2024

Well I did it again.  I visited a church in an attempt to find a church home but I don’t think it’s going to happen.  I haven’t been going to church for over 10 years because of my grave disappointment with faulty doctrine, weak and  liberal pastors, and the same ole dead sermons that get people nowhere.  The sermon today was on “Apathy”.  How apropo.  The pastor was making an attempt to encourage the small flock in the paths of hospitality and love in order to bring more souls to Christ.  Nothing wrong with that.  The only problem is that I have been hearing this same sermon since the 1980’s and nothing ever changes.  

The reason nothing ever changes is that the pastor is a victim of faulty theology.  He started out using 2 Peter 4:7 where Peter declares that he is living in the last days.

  

1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.

 

He then used 1 Peter 4:8-10 to teach hospitality and love.  The funny part is that he actually said “and this was written 2,000 years ago” and then pushed the idea that we need to be ready because “we” are living in the last days!  I wonder if they ever stop and listen to what they just said.  If Peter was living in the last days and the New Testament is wroth with statements of imminency, then how are we in the last days?   How is 2,000 years something that is “at hand” or “about to occur”?  The answer is, it’s not.  And besides all this, everything Peter and Jesus said actually came true in AD 70.  The last days were the last days of Judaism, not the end of the earth.  This means that the second coming of Christ was accomplished during the first century, just as Jesus said it would be.  Christians have been gaslighted for so long now, it is small wonder why they are apathetic.  They sit in a pew from childhood to old age, hearing the same thing over and over and over again and still never catch on.  They never stop and ask “why doesn’t what I am told ever line up with scripture or history”   But forget the history, they don’t even know what happened to even ask about it.  I always stop and ask people “what happened in AD 70?” and I get a blank stare every time.  If you want to beat apathy then learn scripture and understand that Jesus Christ never lies.  He did indeed return in judgment in AD 70 and fulfilled all prophecies.  Once you understand that we are in the everlasting kingdom now, then we can speak out boldly about our faith.  We would no longer be sitting around waiting for the end of the world to happen.

We would be busy making our world a better place.  We would be applying biblical principles to everything in society. We would be spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ without shame.  But we would not be sitting around waiting for Jesus to return because that already happened 2,000 years ago just like Peter and all of the other New Testament writers said.  Go back and read it again and then read the history that goes with it and it will all of the sudden make sense.   All of these pastors really mean well but our seminaries have latched on to the Scofield doctrine and just can’t let it go.  Do your due diligence and reread the New Testament and study the Old Testament so that you know how to interpret what you are reading and pay attention to detail.  Then ask questions. 

Nothing but what was Written!

Nothing but what was written!

By Richard P. Joseph

7/31/2024

Nothing but what was written!

By Richard P. Joseph

Acts 26:22 Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come—

The Apostle Paul was beaten with rods, whipped with the cat of nine tails, stoned and left for dead and jailed multiple times and then finally executed for simply quoting the Mosaic law and the Jewish prophets.  He plainly admitted that he was not preaching some new doctrine; only the fulfillment of what all Israel was hoping for.  Sort of like us today in America when we quote the constitution, we get persecuted by the communist Democrats.  But back to Paul.  The unbelieving Jews were in a constant state of hope but when that hope finally arrived, they could not bear it.  This would be like a football team that practiced everyday, sweating it out and pushing their bodies to the limit but when game day arrived they locked themselves in the locker room and refused to take the field choosing rather to keep going back to the practice field in a perpetual rehearsal of game day but never participating in the game itself.

But my real point here is that the entire ministry of Jesus is found in the Old Testament.

I used to enjoy listening to David Curtis from Berean Bible Church before he started teaching nonsense and heresy about the flat earth, and he explains this very well in all of his teachings.  He pushes hard for people to understand the Old (or rather first) Testament in order to better understand the New (or second) Testament.  Nothing could be truer.  Summing up what Curtis explains; New Christians,who are very excited to begin studying the bible, start reading, usually, the New Testament first.  In all of their enthusiasm and in their lack of a real mentor, they begin interpreting the scripture as if it were a newspaper that was written yesterday and arrived on their doorstep this morning.  This causes tragic hermeneutic errors.  It is up to us to mentor them such that they understand that the New Testament is only the fulfillment of the Old Testament.  It is not something new or a stand alone “religion”.  It has its beginnings at the creation of the world and before. 

Christianity is not a man made religion like Islam, modern day rabbinical Judaism or Hinduism that just appeared when some smooth talking guru or some warlord came about.  The real biblical story is a real history of God and man and the earth.  It is not something new or man made.  It is a real story that began before the earth was formed.  So in other words, to understand the bible, one must understand the history of our planet.  We don’t just make some philosophy up and create a religion out of it, we really only need to tell the “old old story” of Jesus and his glory.  So, if you are new to the faith or if you have been around for a while, please understand this; you must have a basic understanding of the Old Testament in order to decipher the New Testament.  You can not just pick up an ancient document and decode it without having the combination.  That combination is spelled out in the Old Testament.  The Old Testament, which was written in the ancient Hebrew language and dialect has its very own unique idioms that all of the New Testament writers used.  Once you become familiar with the customs of the ancient Hebrews, the New Testament will open up for you in ways that you have never known before.  Add to that a grasp of the historical setting and now your eyes will be opened to a story that you never imagined and were never taught.  So, stick with me and read my articles with patients until you begin to catch the point I am making.  I am hoping to add some historical perspectives as we go.  I will also post from time to time some of the material that I used to guide me in this endeavor.  You should seriously consider purchasing them.  Your faith is personal and has nothing to do with a religion.  Your faith defines you and is the very breath that you take.  You live and die in it.  It has nothing to do with Sunday, it involves every day.  Jesus is the bread that you eat and you drink his blood spiritually.  It has nothing to do with rituals or holidays, it has only to do with your soul and your life.  It is the very substance that defines you. 

John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

The Promised Land

 The 

Promised Land

By Richard P. Joseph

7/22/2024

Genesis 12:7  Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your [c]descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him

Somewhere around 4,000 years ago God made a covenant with a man named Abram (later changed to Abraham).  This was a unique covenant in that it set Abram apart from all other peoples on the earth.  In Genesis 10 God names 70 nations from the peoples of the earth.  None of these nations were in a covenant with God but ended up being pagan states.  Then in chapter 12 God makes a covenant with Abram, thus making the children of Abraham God’s covenant people.  This, in a sense, formed a comparison and contrast between the people of the one true God, YHWH, and all the pagan nations.  YHWH promised that His covenant would follow a certain pathway (through Isaac and Jacob) that would eventually create the nation of Israel.  The promise also included the land of Palestine as a homeland to the Jews.  As you read through Genesis you find that the chosen people ended up as slaves in Egypt.  God sent Moses to lead them out of slave bondage and into the Promised Land of Palestine.

This trip took 40 years to accomplish.  The reason it took 40 years is because the Jews, who were so accustomed to slavery, actually refused to enter the Promised land immediately and actually wanted to go back into bondage in Egypt.  God, therefore, cleansed the nation of its dissidents and they finally entered a physical promised land after 40 years of struggling in the desert.   While Abraham actually fathered many children, God’s covenant was promised only through the lineage of Isaac and Jacob.  The funny thing is, God ordered Abraham to circumcise all of the children of the promise and also any servant or foreigner that worked for Abraham must also be circumcised.  And during the time of the Exodus, Moses wrote and taught his people the law of God.  All of this history is actually what we call a “type”.  

The type is a physical manifestation of a spiritual truth.  This spiritual truth also has physical attributes.  In this case, the type is a foreshadowing of the coming anti-type.  In other words, the type is a physical picture of the messianic kingdom that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  All of the Old Testament laws and prophecies were really about the predicted messiah to come.  When Jesus finally did come, all of those types began manifesting themselves in the anti-type.  

The anti-type was Jesus Christ.  Jesus, himself, declared multiple times that all scripture was to culminate in him.  Here is just one example;  In Luke Chapter 24 we read the story of two of his disciples walking to a city near Jerusalem called Emmaus.  Jesus, after rising from the dead, joins them under surreptitious  conditions. 

Luke 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He [g]expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

Jesus then begins explaining scripture to them, asserting that all scripture was written about him.  Notice the word “Himself” in the passage above.  He was quoting out of the Old Testament things pertaining to Him.  This is the same thing about the promised land.  Here are some comparisons to consider:

It took the Israelites forty years to leave the bondage of slavery to enter into a land where they were finally free.

It took forty years for the true Israelites (those who believed in Jesus) to leave the bondage of sin to enter into the spiritual promised land of freedom in the New Jerusalem.  

Deuteronomy 7:6 “For you are a [b]holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 

1 Peter 2:9  But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

The Jews and others rejected Jesus at the beginning of the journey and therefore it took 40 years to enter into the spiritual promised land that we are in today.  The promised land of the anti-type is not a physical city but a spiritual one built on the cornerstone of Jesus Christ.  We are part of that new temple and land.  This is a kingdom where Christ is the everlasting king and we are his people.  The land of the type was finite but the land we are in is eternal.  It has no end.  And we are offered this eternal life with it which we can discuss at a later time.  Jesus established this new covenant at the last supper.  Abraham had to offer up animal sacrifices for his covenant with God but Jesus offered up himself, the lamb of God, as a sacrifice for this particular covenant.  The old covenant with Abraham is completed in Jesus and the new everlasting covenant is consummated by Jesus Christ.    Those called out of darkness and into the light of Christ are now the chosen people.  Not a race or an ethnic group but rather those that are born again into Jesus Christ.  There is no physical promised land today, just a spiritual landscape unbound by any obstacle. 

Judeo-Christian

 Judeo-Christian

By Richard P. Joseph

6/11/2024

Genesis 22:18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” 

The term Judeo-Christian has been used, especially since the 20th century, to describe the connection between Judaism and Christianity.  While there certainly is a connection, I believe it is actually inappropriate in today's world to use that term as it could be, and is, misleading.  

As is obvious, Jesus was a Jew who was born during the last days of the Mosaic economy.  Judaism is the cradle of Christianity.  Therefore many people believe that Christianity is a sect of Judaism while others believe that there are two active covenants operating at the time; the covenant between God and Abraham and a covenant between God and Jesus.  That is a blatant mistake.  

The first thing we need to remember is that God created a covenant with Abraham while he was still uncircumcised which means it had nothing to do with him being of the tribe of the Hebrews.  It was because Abraham had faith in the Eternal God, not because he was Jewish.  Besides that, the apostle Paul goes into great detail about who the seed of Abraham really is that would bless the nations.  The seed of Abraham is Jesus and therefore it is through Christ that the nations are blessed.  Therefore it is the faithful believers in God in both the old and the new covenants that are the real Israel.  As far as the unbelieving Jews are concerned, Moses told us in Deuteronomy 28:37 that they will actually be a curse to the nations.

  And you shall become an[j] astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you.

The zionist crowd seems to have forgotten this verse, let alone the entire chapter or book of Deuteronomy when they talk about the modern day rabbinical Jews.  The blessing is in Jesus Christ, not in a group of people.  Those who hold to the idea that the modern day Jews are still the chosen people are attempting to put New Wine into Old Wineskins.  

Matthew 9:17

 Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins [a]break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

In Matthew chapter 9, Jesus gave a parable of the wineskins.  This parable was yet another attempt to convey the message that the old covenant would not be able to contain the new covenant.  The old was a precursor to the new but the old was about to fade away to make room for the new.  The new covenant would burst the old wineskin if it were attempted to be poured into it.  Jesus therefore established the New Covenant at the last supper and it was consummated at his second coming in AD 66-70.  Therefore the phrase “Judeo-Christian” could become misleading.  I propose the use of just “Christian”.  Jesus was the complete fulfillment of the law of Moses and therefore all is contained safely in the New Wineskin of Jesus Christ. 

Where's the proof?

 Where’s the proof?

By Richard P. Joseph

6/1/2024

When I was first introduced to fulfilled theology, the first question I asked was “where’s the proof?”.  In other words, if there were miraculous sightings, a rapture, a civil war and a war with Rome, why didn’t anyone except Josephus write anything about it and how come I never heard a sermon about it?  This showed that I was actually quite illiterate and ignorant of the historical background of ancient Near East history and customs.  In fact, most Americans really don’t know much about the historical setting of the bible that they read (that is, if they even read it).  In today’s fast-paced world of electronic communication and limitless paper and ink, it is very difficult to imagine a world without any of that; no paper, no ink, no typewriter, no cell phones, no email, no texting, no telephones and no television. Remember that only the very rich had access to papyrus (or animal skin) and ink.  Let’s use the rapture scenario as an example of what could have really happened and why there is no first hand record of such an event.  

I realize that a rapture event is highly debatable but I happen to believe that there was an event that happened in AD66.  My first question was, how come you don’t read about it anywhere?  Ed Stevens wrote much about this event but I am simply showing my audience how to delve into the reality of an historical event.  As I have written about many times before, you must insert yourself into the time frame and culture of that particular event in order to fully understand it.  So let us examine what was happening and what communication options those people had at that time. 

Stevens divides the last 7 years of Israel’s existence into two sections; the first 3 ½ years was the tribulation that the Christians had to endure and the second 3 ½ years was the wrath that the unbelievers had to endure.  These events were later documented by an unbelieving Jew named Josephus at a later date, but the question is; how come none of the people recorded this first hand?  Of course, Josephus is a first hand witness but he was not really interested in the Christian movement necessarily, except to say at one point that “the tribe of Christians is still with us even today”.  That was written near AD100.  One big reason is because many were raptured in between those two events.  The other reason is because of those items mentioned above.  Remember that during this time Christians were living in fear and hiding.  The Jews were severely persecuting the Christians and then Nero got in on the act.  He sent forth an edict to kill all Christians.  He sent many to the circus and burned many at the stake as part of his enjoyment.  The Christians were living in complete fear and hiding out the best they could.  So picture this, your Christian neighbors one day disappear.  Did they flee?  Did they go to visit a friend? Were they hauled off in the middle of the night by the soldiers?  Were they raptured?  How would you know?  They probably didn’t have paper to write you a note, they didn’t have telephones so they couldn’t call you.  They probably wouldn’t call you anyhow because you were probably a heathen and you would have turned them in to the authorities.  You also wouldn’t see it on the evening news because there was no TV.  So most of these events simply could not be recorded with any accuracy.  All you knew is that your neighbors disappeared over night.  Besides all of that, the state of Israel was entering into a massive civil war.  Not only was a civil war starting that would completely destroy Jerusalem, a war with Rome was approaching.  People didn’t even have food to eat, let alone papyrus and ink.  And once they were raptured, they were gone!  Also, many fled to Pella at that time also but the above deficiencies of paper and ink were still a factor.  

I am only writing these types of thoughts so that as you study your bible, remember to place yourself into that time period and culture.  We cannot solve those mysteries or interpret scripture properly unless we do that.  This type of event reminds me of a Forensic Files show I watched.  It was about some teenagers back in the early 1960s in Montana I believe.  Some young boys stopped and invited two girls to a party.  The girls agreed and jumped in their 1950 something Studabaker and attempted to keep up with the boys on a backwoods gravel road through the hills.  When the boys got to the party they began waiting for the girls to show up but they never did.  In fact they were never seen again.  However, about 30 years later a fisherman was fishing in a river and thought he saw a car under the water.  When the car was pulled out, the mystery was solved.  The young girls slid off the gravel road and plunged into the river.  It happened fast and unnoticed.  No letters, no phone calls, no smoke signals, nothing; just gone.  As sad as that story is, it shows us that people can vanish without a trace.  Since the first century Jews were either killed in the war or dragged off to the circus and fed to the lions or sold as slaves, they never really got the opportunity to convey their experiences with anyone.  Right after that war there is a strange absence of Christian written material.  It really did seem like they

vanished into thin air.  Let’s just call that air heaven for now!