Note from Les

Dear Friends, Again, we want to thank you for your prayers, letters of encouragement, and your liberal financial help. We know quite a few of you have lost a loved one. Others, the joy of newborns and weddings. We identify with all of you, waiting for the Trumpet!

We are presently with our youngest son, Todd and family, just south of the southern shore of Lake Superior and the northern-most part of this present trip. I am writing from here to help facilitate an early publication of our newsletter in order to advertise our western trip beginning at Albuquerque, NM, October 3rd.

It has been a blessed time, but as always, epitomised with the Osceola, Wisconson, retreat. The largest assembly ever, with over 200 on our St. Croix River boat ride and lunch. We had folks from New York, Georgia; Texas, and Various other states.

Last night, Friday, August 24th, we enjoyed a Bible study here at Todd and Kim's with over 70 in attendance. That is a houseful in anybody's language!

We leave in the morning for Wilmar, MN, and then on to Kansas City; Rogers, Arkansas, and home by Thursday, August 30th. Whenever I mention possibly stopping all this travel, the hue and cry comes back - DON'T! So, keep praying for these two Octogenarians.

What In The World
The Pre-Tribulation Rapture

The closer we get to the next event on the Bible calendar, the more confusion and rejection of it we see. The rapture is being denied and ridiculed more and more with each passing day-- why? Satan does not want the world to be ready for it. So some are denying it totally, others are putting it at the mid-point of the tribulation, and still others are associating it with the second coming, which would be at the end of the tribulation. There is one overriding proof of the pre-trib position and that is the Body of Christ. It is strictly a Pauline term and much alluded to but only in Paul's epistles. Which means, in view of the big picture, it stands insulated from all of Israel's prophecies. l Cor.15:51 makes sure we understand that concept with one word-- and that word is ''mystery'' [or secret]. Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed,... And God's secrets are not like our government, where secrets are held in a sieve or colander. God’s secrets are totally secure until He sees fit to reveal them. So the whole concept of the Body of Christ was kept totally secret until revealed to Paul. Romans 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.

Galatians 1:11 &12 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 3: 1-9. For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

Consequently only Paul reveals the secret of the termination of Body on earth. I Cor. 15:51 – 53 behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

I Thessalonians 4:13 -17 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. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 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. 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: 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.

We can literally be looking up in view of II Timothy 3:1-7 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Three Absolutes of Scripture

#1. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
#2. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission [forgiveness] of sin. Hebrews 9:22
#3. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Hebrews 11:6

Laura's Note

I don't know about you, but Jerry and I enjoyed watching the summer Olympics. I was amazed at the cultivated abilities that the athletes had, but even more than that, I am always amazed at the bodies that our God in heaven created us with as human beings -but watching those amazing athletes really made me contemplate it. When I watched the gymnasts and the divers, I could not believe that they could do that many contortions and still land up right/go into the water vertically. I think I heard that divers do as many as 125,000 dives per year and I was thinking about how much use our joints and muscles go through as normal human beings every day, much more so in an athlete that is training! And I believe that most of us take our bodies and our abilities for granted and yet we shouldn't. God's word tells us in Psalms 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. From childhood up, mom and dad both taught us kids to be thankful every day for our health and our normality, and rightly so, as God's word admonishes us to appreciate our bodies and give God the glory for their abilities. The other thought I had as we were watching the Olympics each night, was how Paul compared the believer's life with that of an Olympian. He tells us that we are to run the race that is set before us and to run that we may receive a prize. [see l Cor. 9:23-25 and Heb 12:1-3] Back in his day, the Olympics were a fairly new thing but they had their bema seat-- which was the name of the judges seat-- and when an event was finished, the winners stood before the judges to receive their prizes. Someday in glory we [as believers] are going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ-- which will be the bema seat-- and he will reward us for those things that we did which were pleasing to Him. That is why we as believers say: we work BECAUSE of our salvation, not FOR our salvation. Those who mistakingly believe that salvation can be earned in any way need to seriously take note of Eph.2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God. How thankful we should be that because of that gift, we will be standing before the bema seat rather than the great white throne judgment!!

Doing a word study on the gift of salvation, 14 references were found.

* John 4: 10
* Acts 8:20 *Acts 11:17
* Romans 1:11* Romans 5:15* Romans 5:16 *Romans 5:17 *Romans 5:18* Romans 6:23
* II Cor 9:15
* Ephesians 2:8* Ephesians 3:7 *Ephesians 4: 7
* First Peter 4:10

Vote

The presidential election will soon be here and there have been several who have called and said that they are not going to vote at all in this election because they feel as though neither candidate is ''scripturally correct'', a ''Christian'', or ''born again believer''. While being mindful of these qualities is most definitely desirable and while actually having those qualities is even more desirable, unfortunately we live in a day and age where relatively few involved in politics can claim any of those traits, especially in the real sense of things. So what do we do? Well, our Lord Jesus Christ as well as Paul declared that we are to obey our government and our particular government is a republic in which citizens are given the privilege and responsibility to vote for people to represent them. As Christians-- and most certainly as born-again believers-- one of the responsibilities we have is to stand up against evil in any way we can. So, we need to ask ourselves which one is the lesser of the two evils and which one aligns himself most closely with those qualities that God lays out for us in his word. Biblical values such as homosexuality and abortion should certainly deserve serious consideration.

Office Note

We have, on occasion, received phone calls with complaints of Les Feldick Ministries information being left on vehicles. In some states this maybe considered illegal solicitation which could possibly result with a fine. We realize that the intent of this action is admirable but could be detrimental both to the ministry and to those distributing the information.

One more thing, remember you are watching reruns. We are up to the year 2000 and advance 1 year every 3 months. Thanks for watching!

Finally, after many setbacks & much frustration, we now have the Question & Answer book in Spanish! Available for $11.00 includes S&H.

Les Feldick Ministries 30706 W. Lona Valley Rd., Kinta, OK 74552
1-800-369-7856 or (918) 768-3218