A Surprise Sign of God's People for When the Pope Comes

Summary: God has given set times [mo'ed] as appointments for us. The pope's visit to Congress falls on one of them

Happiness is based on relationships described in the 10 Commandments. People who break them—people who lie, steal, kill or commit adultery are not happy people and will not be in heaven.

Our salvation also involves our willingness to relate to God on His terms in the 1st table of stone (no other gods, no images, not abusing His name, keeping His appointments—times He set for us to honor Him). He regards those set-apart days as times we show our appreciation for Him, and they are for our best good. If we didn't rest one day in seven, we would wear ourselves out.

We recognize that we cannot earn salvation by our efforts at keeping the law, but because He has provided for our salvation, we choose to honor Him in all we do. The Bible says, I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.” Ezek 20:12.

The surprise is the “s” on Sabbaths and a realization that God gave annual Sabbaths to teach truths in the plan of salvation. They are found in Leviticus 23 where they are called “the feasts of the LORD.” Not Jewish festivals as the papacy characterized them in the Vatican's claim to have abolished them, Dan 7:25.

They were designed to teach the people that at the time appointed One would come to whom those ceremonies pointed. We see this with Passover—Christ died as the Passover Lamb on Passover. Isa 53:3-7; John 19:16. As we approach end-times, we might expect key events to occur at those times—they are “shadows of things to come.” Col 2:16,17.

One of those “things to come” is a wedding opportunity when “the Bridegroom comes,” Matt 25:6 But the previous verse implies that we are asleep with lights out on this topic. For a better understanding, we
look at the previous wedding parable that shows a man thrown out for no wedding garment. Matt 22:12,13

Could that be us? We should recall that the last of seven churches is described as *lukewarm, content with materialism as Christ knocks at the door. But bad situation--“blind” means a slow process to find the door and “naked” means a need to dress first. US churches fit this description* of unreadiness. Rev 3:17,20

The Bible offers a remedy and current events suggest our need to consider it. The remedy is the change of garment that comes from observing the day of Atonement as Joshua did in Zechariah 3. He had filthy garments, but received a change of garments in connection with day of Atonement imagery.

The current event that suggests our need to keep this time as God's appointment is the pope's visit on that very date, to Congress. Most Jews will observe September 23, because they accept NASA's dark moon to start their count, but in Bible times, they blew the trumpet when they saw the thin crescent in the west after sunset. That evening and the next day were the first day of the month. The 10th was the day of Atonement. It means at-one-ment with God and is so by fasting and prayer, seeking harmony with Him, Lev 23:27-32.

“Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly,” Joel 2:15. This was the only day in the year that God's people were commanded to fast and those who did not, were “cut off,” from God's people. Why not consider keeping God's appointment this year? It could be the time that the prophet Joel foretold. If so, we might expect a major trumpet event like economic collapse on Sept 15 to support this view and underscore our need to see God at His appointed time.

Bible imagery for the first trumpet in Revelation 8:7 implies economic collapse because it decodes grass that withers to riches in James 1:9-11, King James Bible. If something huge happens Sept. 15, we should seek a better understanding from the Bible about what the pope has to offer; a crash isn't a good omen.