Is the Rapture in the fall of 2011???

This was originally a letter I wrote to a Bible study group about one year ago:

Offered as food for thought:

Dr. Gene Scott always warned against date-setting, as the history of eschatology is strewn with the rubble of denominations that have set dates and then not seen anything come to pass -- later on it could always be shown where the date setter erred. If he did mention something about 2001, it might have been a first blush impression he had gathered from the evidence of something important about that year, but to take it to his meaning the beginning of the Tribulations might be going a bit far. In any case I don't think it was mentioned again, 2001 came and went with the horror of an attack on the United States (it has been attacked before) and Dr. Scott didn't proclaim that it was the beginning of the Great Tribulations. And, it wasn't.

That having been said as a caveat up front, I have done some calculations with the aid of online calendars to determine which MIGHT be the best years prophetically to fulfill the conditions of the last chapter of Daniel (that the days of the Tribulations be shortened) and the conditions of Matthew 24, where Jesus taught the fig tree parable, which we know from Doc's teaching is the revival of Israel. First thing that should be established, and again, I'm relying on Gene Scott for these numbers, is the lengths of the years of a generation. There are four likely numbers -- 40 years, 70 years, 100 years, and 120 years. There are also numbers that could be given in Jewish prophetic years (360 days long) and regular solar years (365.2422 or whatever they are -- and we even have three very slightly different versions of those.)

Now that we have some idea of the generational period length, we go to the dates of when Israel was established, revived, or rescued from the hand of the Gentile. First one is when General Allenby marches into Jerusalem, capturing it from the Turks -- December 9-11, 1917. Second one, the day of independence of the state of Israel -- May 14, 1948. Third, the end of the War of Independence for Israel in 1949 -- well, four dates for that one, depending on which armistice was signed -- February 24, March 23, April 3, and July 20, all in 1949. The actual large scale fighting seems to have ended by March 10, 1949.

So, generally, we are probably talking about December 10, 1917, May 14, 1948, and March 10, 1949 as starting points for what is either a 40, 70, 100, or 120 year countdown in what are likely to be either Jewish prophetic short years or modern solar years. Due to the imprecision of determining either the exact date of the liberation of Jerusalem from Turkey or the actual end of the 1948-9 war, exactly how many days each of these numbers is after computing short years may be somewhat off.

For December 10, 1917, in solar years, we arrive at December 1957, December 1987, December 2017, and December 2037 as final monthly dates of the Tribulations. Presumably we back up 7 years to arrive at their beginning dates, which I will deal with later, but for right now, based on the Gene Scott teaching on Thessalonians and the Feast of Trumpets-Yom Kippur holidays, we probably need to subsume that they begin in around September or October of, not 1950, 1980, 2010, or 2030, but the year after -- which would be quite a shortening. Since two of those dates have gone by already, the Yom Kippurs of 2011 (October 8) and 2031 (September 27) become the first two annual possibilities for the beginning date of the Tribulations.

For May 14, 1948, count 70 solar years, and we come to May 14, 2018 as a possible end date of the Tribulation. (I have omitted 40, that date is long past.) Count 100, it goes to May 14, 2048, and 120, May 14, 2068. In these scenarios, the years would again be shortened by backing the beginnings up to Yom Kippur - October 8, 2011, October 5, 2041, and September 24, 2061 respectively.

For March 10, 1949, 70 years brings us to March 2019, 100 years to March 2049, and 120 years to March 2069. A set of beginning dates representing less than 7 years Tribulation would thus be September 26, 2012, September 24, 2042, and October 14, 2062 respectively. These beginning dates would hold true no matter which end date of the 1948-9 Israeli war we picked.

Now the hard part -- to redo all this again in JEWISH prophetic years. Fortunately I have a calculator to do the nasty part. For December 10, 1917, we plug in 100 Jewish years, it comes out to July 4, 2016. Beginning date, Yom Kippur, September 28, 2009. Plug in 120 years, we come out to about March 21, 2036. Beginning date would be September 19, 2029.

For May 14, 1948 the end dates are as follows: 70 Jewish years, May 13, 2017, beginning date, Yom Kippur, September 18, 2010. 100 Jewish years brings us to December 7, 2046, and back that up less than 7 years, we come to September 17, 2040. Add 120 Jewish years, the end Trib date would be August 24, 2066. If God picks this one, He isn't being as merciful with time as with the other dates. 6 years and 11 months back brings the beginning date to September 17, 2059.

And last, we consider March 10, 1949... Add 70 Jewish prophetic years to that, it brings us to March 8, 2018, and back up less than 6 1/2 years to the first Yom Kippur within that 7 years, we arrive back at the fall of 2011, on October 8. Which is the third time we have hit that date, and all the other beginning dates have only been hit once apiece. What, you may ask, is so interesting about Yom Kippur in the year 2011? But first let's finish dealing with the other generation periods -- 100 Jewish years brings us to October 2, 2047 -- and the world gets NO book of Daniel shortening break here because (jumping ahead to Yom Kippur calculations) Yom Kippur in 2040 is September 26, and in 2047 is October 9! And to finish, using the 120 Jewish years calculation, we come to June 19, 2067, with the Tribulations beginning in October 4, 2060.

Now to answer the question about Yom Kippur, 2011 -- October 8, 2011 or Tishri 10, 5772. When's Rosh Hashanah that year? That's easy, just subtract 9 days and you come to Tishri 1, 5772, which is September 29, 2011. September 29 is already interesting for other reasons, as students of Gene Scott and astronomy regarding the birth of a certain personage already know. (Parenthetically, in the year 2009 I have found ANOTHER personage with the same birthday... see my blog page Mabus and Mousavi.)

Now, to measure a shortening of days on the LUNAR calendar, I won't bore you with all the details, but I came up with several best candidates for shortening of the seven year week of Danielic eschatology with beginning and ending dates landing on their respective Yom Kippurs or Rosh Hashanahs (doesn't matter which one you use as long as it's the same day on the Hebrew calendar.) Now, the seven year week that started with 9-11-2001 -- or actually, with 9-27-01 Yom Kippur -- ends on 10-09-08, so it's a lengthened seven years, not a shortened one. 12 days longer to be precise. Not a good candidate. So we could pick any seven years, but the best (shortest) seven year periods over the next 70 years are as follows, with a shortening of at least 17 days between Yom Kippurs seven years apart, in mm-dd-yy format for brevity, and number of days shortened:

10-09-00 to 09-22-07 -17
10-06-03 to 09-18-10 -18
10-13-05 to 09-26-12 -17
10-02-06 to 09-14-13 -18
10-08-11 to 09-19-18 -19
10-04-14 to 09-16-21 -18
10-12-16 to 09-25-23 -17
10-09-19 to 09-21-26 -18
10-02-25 to 09-15-32 -17
10-07-30 to 09-19-37 -18
10-13-35 to 09-24-42 -19
10-09-38 to 09-21-45 -18
10-05-41 to 09-17-48 -18
10-14-43 to 09-26-50 -18
10-10-46 to 09-22-53 -18
10-12-54 to 09-24-61 -18
10-08-57 to 09-20-64 -18
10-14-62 to 09-25-69 -19
10-03-63 to 09-15-70 -18
10-10-65 to 09-22-72 -18
10-06-68 to 09-19-75 -17

The three "sevens" that managed the maximum shortening of 19 days are bolded. But, for repetition's sake (and other people's email formats) here they are:


10-08-11 to 09-19-18 -19
10-13-35 to 09-24-42 -19
10-14-62 to 09-25-69 -19

And there is 10-08-11 again -- Yom Kippur, October 8, 2011, preceded by Rosh Hashanah, September 29, 2011. That makes four times we have seen that date, and it is followed by the maximum shortening for seven consecutive lunar years.

Coincidence?

And, is it also a coincidence that Rosh Hashanah, September 29, 2011 AD happens to be exactly 2,012 SOLAR years after Rosh Hashanah, September 29, 2 BC, the day Jesus Christ was born? That's the fifth coincidence or synchronicity we have found for this date.

(Sixth synchronicity.... an Iranian politician was born Sept 29, 1941 (see Mir Hossein Mousavi's OFFICIAL profile) ... and will be exactly 70 solar years old on Rosh Hashanah, 2011 AD. 1941 is also interesting (the year itself) because of an Islamic tradition that exactly 1,000 years before, in 941 AD, the "occultation" or going into seclusion of the Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam, in a well near Qum took place. The politician with this September 29 birthday in 1941 started his recent presidential campaign in Qum, but was defeated in 2009 officially.)

So, does that mean the Rapture of the Body of Christ is on that date?

I DON'T KNOW!

But the parable of the ten virgins follows this end time prophecy in Matthew 25, where the five wise virgins keep watch and the five foolish virgins let their wicks go out. It happens to be five years before September 29, 2011, and I discovered this only recently [date for the emailing of the first version of this blog was in the fall of 2006.]

You never know. :)

Addendum:

Who is Mir Hossain Moussavi?

Is he Mabus whom Nostradamus predicted? Is he the Little Horn? The Beast in Revelation? The Antichrist himself?

Could he be the Mahdi expected by a significant portion of those in the Islamic faith?

See my blog on Mabus and Mousavi.

The Context of Mark 9:1, Matthew 16:28, Luke 9:27

I am a Rapturist and I believe in multiple catchings away of certain of God's people, not just the usually emphasized one of the body of believers before times of wrath. And, I'm also a prophecy student and believer, not relying on any one isolated verse for interpretation but on a very large mosaic of scriptures linked by the Rules of Hillel that I may get into later on. And, I also believe in the Resurrection, and the grounding reasons for my believing it are from the study Dr. Gene Scott made of it. So those can be taken as exemplars of the frame of reference through which I see Mark 9:1.

In discussing Mark 8, Matthew 16, and Luke 9, I think it is valid to presume that after Jesus talked about his death and resurrection, that he would then talk about what comes after his resurrection. His speech goes from talking about the suffering of the son of man, then being killed, then being raised after three days. Nothing about the ascension per se. Then, after an interruption by Peter, Jesus talks about what faithers will go through -- the faith response to the resurrection, which is what the entire church age deals with, quoting part of it from Mark 8:34-5 in the KJV here:

"And when he had called the people [unto him] with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it."

And then he moves into this speech in the KJV:

Mark 8:38: "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh [is established] in [with, by means of, through] the glory of his Father with the holy angels." [Show me where that happened at the Ascension? Looks to me like He was LEAVING.]

So here we're already past the entire history of the church age at the end of days, he's already talking about his coming back in glory to establish his kingdom, setting up judgment, and makes a parenthetical note about the people of God escaping and establishing the kingdom in that time in Mark 9:1 (retranslated by me):

"And he said to them, Amen (trust in this), I tell you that there be a time when they have established (have escaped) under these circumstances: Whosoever may not taste of death for themselves, till they may see God's kingdom has come (been established) through (the) power of hosts."

And there the speech ends -- at the end.

Since the ascension is actually not mentioned in Mark 8 (or Luke 9, or Matthew 16; I dare you to try to find it there), it's just not the point of this speech. I think the end of the speech continues the thoughts begun in the previous verse about the coming of the son of man in his Father's glory with the angels, which students of Daniel and Revelation may take as the last days, when wrath comes on the world as God overthrows the world and sets up (establishes) His own kingdom. So, I believe the escape clause is written in 9:1 for people of that future time to escape that wrath, not because Jesus was so thrilled about the Ascension that He was daring people to show up for it -- we're talking about someone who walked on water; a little levitation and catching the divine equivalent of a taxi is nothing to the guy. The bigger events by far were the ones he did forecast in these passages -- his suffering, death, and resurrection after three days, followed by what he told faithers what their attitude needs to become -- everything the church is supposed to teach in a compressed nutshell. So what Jesus went to next in subject matter was the end of the church age and His second coming, including His kingdom coming in power with the angels.