It’ll Be More Blessed to Be “Left Behind”! A Review of a Paper by Clifton Emahiser

It’ll Be More Blessed to Be “Left Behind”! A Review of a Paper by Clifton Emahiser

The past few weeks have been difficult, and I had been compelled to miss a few podcasts, which I really hate having to do. Aside from some health issues I have had to address, for which I should be limiting the time I spend sitting at my desk, on the afternoon of Wednesday July 29th the computer I had used every day for the last eight and a half years needed to be rebooted, and it never came back on. Once I get the time, I am sure I can fix it, but in the meantime it was a lot quicker to replace.

Then on Wednesday August 7th, not long after 5:00 PM, the main Christogenea website suddenly went offline. The server was the victim of a purposeful hacking, and while a couple of things are going to remain unexplained, an exploit had been published for some of the software used by the server, and that exploit allowed a hacker a way into the system. The hacking was perpetrated through a sophisticated set of scripts, and while the target might have been random, which is less likely, to get past the firewall the hackers must have significant internet resources. But it is easier to move on and rebuild than to sit around and cry about what had been done, so by Friday afternoon Christogenea was back up and running on a new and better server. Doing that, I also took many additional precautions with the hope of making another hacking attempt even far less likely.

So this week I have decided to offer some lighter fare, and present and critique a paper by Clifton Emahiser, the title of which is a stab at a popular book series which had been published for a decade beginning in the late 1990’s, and generally titled Left Behind. The book series capitalized on the evangelical belief in a so-called rapture, a heresy which was evidently developed by John Darby, and later popularized by the Scofield Reference Bible, as well as books such as the Left Behind series. So here in the American South we often see these corny rapture bumper stickers, stating things such as “Warning in Case of Rapture This Car Will Be Unmanned” or “Your Choice: Rapture Ready or Left Behind”, among a hundred other childish and pretentious sentences.

The stickers are pretentious, because they express a confident certainty on the part of the vehicle owner, that they have somehow merited a guaranteed entry into the Kingdom of Heaven, something that not even Paul of Tarsus would claim for himself. Speaking to some evangelical Christians in person over the years, they express that same confidence verbally. But Paul of Tarsus, in the closing salutation of his second epistle to the Corinthians, in chapter 13, had written in part:

7 And we pray to Yahweh that you will do nothing evil; not in order that we appear approved, but that you may do what is good, and we may be as if spurious. 

A man should never count himself approved in the eyes of God, but only keep the faith and hope that in the end he may be approved. Paul explained this again in Ephesians chapter 2, having written that:

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

So there is nothing a man may do to save himself, whether he believes that those who are approved will magically float up into the heavens or not. However the concept that approved men, and women, shall somehow be pulled out of their speeding vehicles or their homes or places of business to suddenly and unexpectedly float up into the heavens is also quite childish, and we must agree with Clifton, where he states: 

It’ll Be More Blessed to Be “Left Behind”! by Clifton A. Emahiser

It has been awhile since we have presented anything from Clifton here, where apparently, in January of 2021 I presented his essay on The Day the Word Became Flesh, so it is past time we have visited him again. As for this paper, It’ll Be More Blessed to Be “Left Behind”!, I found some notes from Clifton’s old computers which are titled “Apocrypha on Left Behind” and dated October 1st, 2005. The document contains three passages from the Wisdom of Sirach and 2 Esdras, which all appear here. So that must have been the start for this essay, but the final forms are dated by him to have been prepared on October 7th, 2014, so it evidently took Clifton a long time to get around to writing it, as it seems to have been incubating for nine years. Clifton actually dated all of his papers in their file names, and perhaps I can include an example here in a graphic when this is published at Christogenea. 

So now we will move on to Clifton’s opening words:

Many are disillusioned today, believing that it would be a tragedy if one were to be “left behind” at the Second Advent of Yahweh Christ. Actually, just the opposite is true, as he who is “left behind” will be preserved. We will start this discussion by citing Matt. 24:36-42 thusly:

“36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Adam be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Master doth come.”

Take special notice that it was the pure genetic Noah and his pure genetic family who were preserved on the ark. And all who were not on the ark, “... they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away ...” Therefore, it was Noah and his family who were “left behind”. No context can be applied here other than the pure descendants of Noah are safely “left behind”, and the Adamites who mixed with nonwhites perished (i.e.,“took them all away”.)

This is a great observation, and it is supported by many other Scriptures. For example, in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, in Matthew chapter 13, while the wheat is kept safely in vessels, the tares are gathered out of the Kingdom and burned in the fire, where we read in the explanation to the parable later in that chapter:

38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

So where Christ explained His parable, the wheat are never removed, and where they remain, that is the Kingdom of God. So men should indeed desire to be left behind. Now as Clifton proceeds, he offers those passages he had originally collected from the books of the Apocrypha:

In the Apocrypha at Sirach (i.e., Ecclesiasticus) 30:4-6: we read:

“4 Though his father die, yet he is as though he were not dead: for he hath left one behind him that is like himself. 5 While he lived, he saw and rejoiced in him: and when he died, he was not sorrowful. 6 He left behind him an avenger against his enemies, and one that shall requite kindness to his friends.” 

To that, Clifton responds, rather succinctly:

Therefore, I’d rather be “left behind!”

Clifton’s writing was very concise, and often by necessity since he wrote these essays to be distributed as six or eight-column pamphlets, which he mailed out to a mailing list of mostly prisoners.

Yahweh God had made the world to be inhabited, as we read in Isaiah chapter 45:

18 For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

So if this is true, which it certainly is, then why would God leave it void of His people? That certainly seems to be Clifton’s point. But before we continue, we will have a brief digression to discuss the source of this citation. In the Wisdom of Sirach, in chapter 50, we read:

27 Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem hath written in this book the instruction of understanding and knowledge, who out of his heart poured forth wisdom.

Then in the prologue to the book, where it opens, this Jesus, son of Sirach, attests to having received this wisdom from his grandfather, who was also named Jesus, or Ἰησοῦς in Greek. So for some strange reason, in Medieval times Sirach was given credit for the book of wisdom which originated with his father, but was recorded by his son. Then to confuse matters more, the Medieval Church often titled the book Ecclesiasticus, where it is often confused with the canonical book titled Ecclesiastes, written by Solomon.

As for the contents of the book, it seems to be a very legitimate book of wisdom from a pious man who had apparently lived some time around the end of the 3rd, or perhaps the beginning of the 2nd century BC. The author of the work, the younger Jesus, seems to have lived and recorded the book towards the end of that same century. In it, he mentions his arrival in Egypt in the 38th year of Euergetes, which seems to be a reference to Ptolemy VII Euergetes, because in chapter 50 he also mentions:

1 Simon the high priest, the son of Onias, who in his life repaired the house again, and in his days fortified the temple: 

That is a reference to the defiling of the temple in Jerusalem by the Seleucid rulers of Syria, which had caused the uprising of the Maccabees. So it seems that in Sirach, there were still pious men in Judaea who sought to keep the Law of God and live their lives accordingly. Now Clifton moves on to his next citation:

In the Apocrypha at 2 Esdras 13:15-26 we read:

“15... Shew me now yet the interpretation of this dream. 16 For as I conceive in mine understanding, woe unto them that shall be left in those days! and much more woe unto them that are not left behind! 17 For they that were not left were in heaviness. 18 Now understand I the things that are laid up in the latter days, which shall happen unto them, and to those that are left behind. 19 Therefore are they come into great perils and many necessities, like as these dreams declare. 20 Yet is it easier for him that is in danger to come into these things, than to pass away as a cloud out of the world, and not to see the things that happen in the last days. And he answered unto me, and said, 21 The interpretation of the vision shall I shew thee, and I will open unto thee the thing that thou hast required. 22 Whereas thou hast spoken of them that are left behind, this is the interpretation: 23 He that shall endure the peril in that time hath kept himself: they that be fallen into danger are such as have works, and faith toward the Almighty. 24 Know this therefore, that they which be left behind are more blessed than they that be dead. 25 This is the meaning of the vision: Whereas thou sawest a man coming up from the midst of the sea: 26 The same is he whom God the Highest hath kept a great season, which by his own self shall deliver his creature: and he shall order them that are left behind ....”

In the Apocrypha at 2 Esdras 13:39-50 we read:

“39 And whereas thou sawest that he gathered another peaceable multitude unto him; 40 Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Salmanasar the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so came they into another land. 41 But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt, 42 That they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land. 43 And they entered into Euphrates by the narrow places of the river. 44 For the most High then shewed signs for them, and held still the flood, till they were passed over. 45 For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half: and the same region is called Arsareth. 46 Then dwelt they there until the latter time; and now when they shall begin to come, 47 The Highest shall stay the springs of the stream again, that they may go through: therefore sawest thou the multitude with peace. 48 But those that be left behind of thy people are they that are found within my borders. 49 Now when he destroyeth the multitude of the nations that are gathered together, he shall defend his people that remain. 50 And then shall he shew them great wonders.”

Some day I hope to get the time required to study 2 Esdras at greater length. The work is divided into three generally recognized divisions, as it is acknowledged that the first two chapters as well as the final two chapters are later, spurious additions to the book. However I think the situation is even more complex. In a series of Wednesday Night Bible Study evenings at Christogenea, begun in the Spring of 2025, we had endeavored to cover 2 Esdras, beginning with chapter 3. However the disparities with the canonical Scriptures which we had found in the book grew quite wearisome, and we discontinued the endeavor with the end of chapter 8. However there are some statements in the later chapters of the work which are quite intriguing, and especially in chapter 13, the chapter Clifton had cited here, as they offer witness to the fulfillment of prophecies found in Isaiah which identify the children of Israel as they move into their new homelands and reach central Europe. This discussion, however, is too much of a digression for our current subject.

Once again, Clifton’s point in citing these passages is that it is much more desirable for a man to be left behind than to be taken, or to die, and these apocryphal works often expound on that subject beyond what we have in the Gospel. Yet there are no mentions anywhere in Scripture that support the contention that all the so-called “good” people are taken out of the world, in which the wicked shall be left behind by themselves. Yahweh God will not abandon His Creation to his enemies. Clifton now turns back to the son of Sirach:

In the Apocrypha at Sirach (i.e., Ecclesiasticus) 44:1-15: we read:

“1 Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us. 2 Yahweh hath wrought great glory by them through his great power from the beginning. 3 Such as did bear rule in their kingdoms, men renowned for their power, giving counsel by their understanding, and declaring prophecies: 4 Leaders of the people by their counsels, and by their knowledge of learning meet for the people, wise and eloquent are their instructions: 5 Such as found out musical tunes, and recited verses in writing: 6 Rich men furnished with ability, living peaceably in their habitations: 7 All these were honoured in their generations, and were the glory of their times. 8 There be of them, that have left a name behind them, that their praises might be reported. 9 And some there be, which have no memorial; who are perished, as though they had never been; and are become as though they had never been born; and their children after them. 10 But these were merciful men, whose righteousness hath not been forgotten. 11 With their seed shall continually remain a good inheritance, and their children are within the covenant. 12 Their seed standeth fast, and their children for their sakes. 13 Their seed shall remain for ever, and their glory shall not be blotted out. 14 Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for evermore. 15 The people will tell of their wisdom, and the congregation will shew forth their praise.” 

To that Clifton responds and says:

Therefore, again, I’d rather be “left behind” even though forgotten by a world of nonwhites!

The very last time I had Clifton appear on a podcast was to discuss his essay titled The Pitfalls Found In Biblical Commentaries, Lexicons & Dictionaries, and hoping there would be subsequent work in that area, I titled our podcast Pitfalls Found in Biblical Research Materials, Part 1 with Clifton Emahiser. I can remember quite clearly some elements of the conversation we had that evening, before we began that podcast, and my wife Melissa was also involved. So at that time, Clifton, as frail as he had grown, was still quite confident that he would be here at the return of Christ. Sadly, he is not, however we can only hope that he is here when Christ returns. But in any event, Clifton’s attitude is the proper Christian attitude, as Christians should live each day with the confidence that Christ is going to return immediately, and that is also the teaching of the apostles.

In the meantime, there is no shame in death, once a man has lived out his life, as we should also all have that same hope, that if we die before Christ returns, we shall be with Him when He does return. However when He does return, as He describes in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew chapter 25, His angels shall divide on sight all the nations into two groups: sheep and goats, and like the tares of the earlier parable, the goats are destined for the “fire prepared for the devil and his angels” while the sheep remain to enter into the Kingdom of God. So it certainly is better to be left behind. For this same reason, Paul had written in 1 Corinthians chapter 15:

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 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. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now Clifton turns to another book of the Apocrypha, which we are convinced should have its place in the canonical Scriptures, as it had in at least several of the ancient Christian Codices of the 4th and 5th centuries:

In the Apocrypha at Wisdom Of Solomon 10:12, we read:

“1 She [the Wisdom of Yahweh personified] preserved the first formed father of the world, that was created alone, and brought him out of his fall, 2 And gave him power to rule all things. [A reference to Adam.] 3 But when the unrighteous went away from her in his anger, he perished also in the fury wherewith he murdered his brother. [A reference to Cain.] 4 For whose cause the earth being drowned with the flood, wisdom again preserved it, and directed the course of the righteous in a piece of wood of small value. [A reference to the ark of Noah.] 5 Moreover, the nations in their wicked conspiracy being confounded, she found out the righteous, and preserved him blameless unto God, and kept him strong against his tender compassion toward his son. [A reference to Abraham.] 6 When the ungodly perished, she delivered the righteous man, who fled from the fire which fell down upon the five cities. [A reference to Lot.] 7 Of whose wickedness even to this day the waste land that smoketh is a testimony, and plants bearing fruit that never come to ripeness: and a standing pillar of salt is a monument of an unbelieving soul. [A reference to the wife of Lot.] 8 For regarding not wisdom, they gat not only this hurt, that they knew not the things which were good; but also left behind them to the world a memorial of their foolishness: so that in the things wherein they offended they could not so much as be hid ...”

This passage contains the phrase “left behind” but not in a context which supports Clifton’s argument, so I do not know why he may have included it here, and I would omit it. Now Clifton offers an explanation of the meaning of a Hebrew word which may mean left behind. It is translated in that manner in Scripture in Exodus 10:26 and 1 Samuel 30:9. But we will also take issue with Clifton’s citation of it here. First, we shall hear from Clifton:

We will now examine the Hebrew word that is translated “left behind”, which is Strong’s #7604:

“7604 ...shaw-ar´; a primitive root; properly to swell up, i.e. be (causative make) redundant:– [in the KJV as] leave, (be) left, let, remain remnant, reserve, the rest. ....133 occurrences; AV translates as ‘leave’ 75 times, ‘remain’ 46 times, ‘remnant’ four times, ‘let’ three times, ‘rest’ twice, and translated miscellaneously three times. 1 to remain, be left over, be left behind. 1a (Qal) to remain. 1b (Niphal). 1b1 to be left over, be left alive, survive. 1b1a remainder, remnant (participle). 1b2 to be left behind. 1c (Hiphil). 1c1 to leave over, spare. 1c2 to leave or keep over. 1c3 to have left. 1c4 to leave (as a gift).” [underlining mine (CAE)]

Bible Works has: “7604 ... sha'ar {shaw-ar'} Meaning: 1) to remain, be left over, be left behind 1a) (Qal) to remain 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to be left over, be left alive, survive 1b1a) remainder, remnant (participle) 1b2) to be left behind 1c) (Hiphil) 1c1) to leave over, spare 1c2) to leave or keep over 1c3) to have left 1c4) to leave (as a gift).” [underlining mine (CAE)]

I do not know why Clifton felt he had to exposit the meaning of a Hebrew word here. He has shown the use of the phrase “left behind” in various contexts in the Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach, in 2 Esdras, and in the Wisdom of Solomon. But there are no surviving Hebrew manuscripts of 2 Esdras or the Wisdom of Solomon, and there are only fragments of the Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach which have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Those fragments, however, do not include the text from that chapter which Clifton had cited here. So while the Hebrew word sha’ar does bear the same meaning, it is irrelevant to the passages which Clifton had cited here, as there are no Hebrew copies of any of these passages. Where he continues, Clifton much more appropriately turns to the underlying Greek words of certain New Testament passages which are contrary to being “left behind”:

We will next check the Greek for the phrase “... took them all away ...” at Matt. 24:39, from E-sword:

“And2532 knew1097 not3756 until2193 the3588 flood2627 came,2064 and2532 took them style="text-decoration:none;"> all away;142, 537 so3779 shall also2532 the3588 coming3952 of the3588 Son5207 of man444 be2071.”

Bible Works: “142 ... airo {ah'-ee-ro} Meaning: 1) to raise up, elevate, lift up 1a) to raise from the ground, take up: stones 1b) to raise upwards, elevate, lift up: the hand 1c) to draw up: a fish 2) to take upon one’s self and carry what has been raised up, to bear 3) to bear away what has been raised, carry off 3a) to move from its place 3b) to take off or away what is attached to anything 3c) to remove 3d) to carry off, carry away with one 3e) to appropriate what is taken 3f) to take away from another what is his or what is committed to him, to take by force 3g) to take and apply to any use 3h) to take from among the living, either by a natural death, or by violence 3i) cause to cease.” [underlining mine (CAE)]

Here Clifton is elucidating the fact that in the discourse of Christ concerning the time of His return which is found in Matthew chapter 24, the wicked will be taken away in a manner similar to the floods of the time of Noah, where they will suddenly be taken away, but not by water. So where Christ had said that the wicked “39 .. knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be”, He described them with a word describing their being lifted up and taken away, in the same manner that modern “rapture” believers believe shall happen to the people whom they imagine to be “good”! So if people start being taken up and away, we had better hope that we are left behind!

Where he continues he expounds on that further: 

Joseph Henry Thayer, in his Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, helps us narrow this down on p. 17:

“... h. to take from among the living, either by a natural death ... (... take away from intercourse with the world), or by violence, Matt. xxiv:39; Luke xxiii:18; John xix:15 ....”

Upon examining these three verses cited by Thayer, the true context of Greek #142 will become quite clear to us, without any doubting whatsoever:

Matt. 24:39-41: “39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away142; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”

Luke 23:18: “And they [the Edomite-jews] cried out all at once, saying, Away142 with this man [Yahshua Christ], and release unto us Barabbas ....”

John 19:14-15: “14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! 15 But they cried out, Away142 with him, away142 with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.”

This whole dispute, whether we should prefer the “away with” or “left behind” persuasion can quickly be settled. If the “left behind” hypothesis is meant above, there are six other Greek words which could have been used: καταλείπω, 2641; ὑπολείπω, 5275; ἐγκαταλείπω 1459; ἀπολείπω, 620; περιλείπω, 4035; [and] ὑπολιμπάνω 5277. Check Greek synonyms and antonyms in Spiros Zodhiates’ N.T. Word Study or, Strong’s Greek Dictionary.

At this point I had added in the Greek terms, as Clifton only supplied the corresponding Strong’s lexicon numbers. But what Clifton could not have known, is that ὑπολιμπάνω is only a lengthier form of ὑπολείπω, and all six of these words are only expressions of the Greek verb λείπω, a verb meaning to leave, which are prefixed with different prepositions which provide different shades of meaning relative to particular contexts.

But the reason for the argument which Clifton makes here, that being taken away cannot be mistaken for being left behind, referring to the text of Matthew 24:39, becomes more clear as he continues:

At this juncture, I will cite a source which advocates that Matt. 24:39-41 is a narrative about a so-called “rapture”. That source is the Liberty Bible Commentary New Testament, executive editor Jerry Falwell, D.D., D.Litt., p. 83:

“39-42. The observation that the people of Noah’s day knew not the severity and suddenness of the coming destruction indicates that this last generation will be totally unprepared for the coming of the Son of man (i.e., the return of Christ to judge the world, see II Thessalonians 1:7-8). The reference to two being in the field or at work at the time of Christ’s return implies the suddenness of His coming to separate the lost and the saved. The one taken and the other left has been variously interpreted as one being taken in the Rapture and the other left to impending judgment, or as the taken one being taken to judgment and the one left being spared (so Walvoord, p. 193 and Kent, pp. 88-89) ....”

Jerry Falwell’s comment here is provokingly ridiculous, as it is wholly unsupported by the Greek language as Christ spoke it! It is one thing to fudge on the Greek language, but entirely another thing to fudge on the very words which Yahweh in the flesh (i.e., Yahshua) spoke! But what is more important than the Greek words which Yahshua chose to use, is the fervent attitude of Yahshua when he spoke them. To grasp the attitude of Yahshua at Matt. 24:39:

“... And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away142; ...”

I see the Almighty’s attitude during Noah’s time as Yahweh potentially saying: “Away142 with (or death to) these fornicating Adamites and their hybrid children by miscegenation.” (Note: While Christ was in the grave, He would have been ministering to the pure White Adamic antediluvian people; not to their racially mixed offspring.)

Here Clifton is referring to 1 Peter chapters 3 and 4, where Peter had attested that Christ preached the gospel to the Adamic spirits which had died in the flood of Noah. Paul had also attested of this, in a more general sense, in Ephesians chapter 4 where we read:

8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

There Paul had cited the 68th Psalm, and for context, we shall read a slightly longer portion of the Psalm:

18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. 19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. 20 He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death. 21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.

So the leading of captivity captive is Yahweh God taking the “issues from death”, ostensibly all of the Adamic spirits who had died, unto Himself in His act of mercy and reconciliation in Christ. But Peter and Paul were describing the spirits of the departed, and not of living men, which is a big difference. Clifton is correct, that Falwell’s words are quite ridiculous, but it is apparent to me that Judaized pastors and seminary professors argue in defense of their false doctrines like lawyers, hoping to prevail with rhetoric, while having no real care for actual truth. Continuing with Clifton:

I see the Almighty’s attitude in these last days as Yahshua potentially saying: “Away142 (or death to) the Adamite hybrid children by miscegenation with non-Adamites, and all of the ‘devils’ of John 8:44 who promote it.”

This assessment on the part of Clifton is consistent with Scripture, and the words of Christ Himself in Revelation chapter 2, where He said in reference to those who would follow in the fornication of a whom woman He had called Jezebel:

22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Returning to Clifton: 

I discovered one source that knew enough about the Greek, who got Matt. 24:38-40 nearly correct, which was quite a surprise to me. This source is The Bible Knowledge Commentary, an exposition of the Scripture by Dallas Seminary Faculty, New Testament edition, editors John F. Walvoord & Roy B. Zuck, p. 79:

“As it was in Noah’s day, so it will be before the glorious coming of the Lord. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Analogous to Noah’s day, the individuals who will be ‘taken’ are the wicked whom the Lord will take away in judgment (cf. Luke 17:37). The individuals ‘left’ are believers who will be privileged to be on the earth to populate the kingdom of Jesus Christ in physical bodies. As the wicked were taken away in judgment and Noah was left on the earth, so the wicked will be judged and removed when Christ returns and the righteous will be left behind to become His subjects in the kingdom.

“Clearly the church, the body of Christ, cannot be in view in these statements. The Lord was not describing the Rapture, for the removal of the church will not be a judgment on the church ....”

Surprisingly, here Clifton did not take issue with this final sentence of his citation, where Walvoord and Zuck basically invent a third class of people, “the church”, apart from the people on earth at the time of the coming of the Son of Man. Evidently, they believe “the church”, as they interpret that phrase, is going to be raptured before His coming. But there is no evidence of that anywhere in Scripture. Even in their showcase rapture passage, which is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul described his followers, who are certainly “the church” from his own perspective, to be on earth at the return of Christ. Now to continue with the things that Clifton did choose to discuss from this Walvoord & Zuck entry:

There are problems with the reference given by The Bible Knowledge Commentary at Luke 17:27. Turning to page 249 in this commentary it reads in part: “(Some mss. add the words of v. 36, ‘Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.’ Most likely the verse was inserted to harmonize this passage with Matt. 24:40.)”

As I have explained often in commentaries or other papers, correlating the Gospel accounts found in Matthew chapter 24, Mark chapter 13 and Luke chapter 21, Christ had given a discourse which answered three questions, but which are only fully expressed in Matthew chapter 24:

3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

The apostles could not have known that the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem would not have been the return of Christ, or the end of the world. But Christ gave them one answer, and some portions are not relevant to all three questions. So each apostle recorded what he or his witnesses had best remembered, and we have the results. But in Luke chapter 17, Christ gave a different discourse, speaking only of the time of His return, and from a different perspective. So the language is consistent with things he said in the discourse on the destruction of Jerusalem, but it was not as far-reaching in scope. However Walvoord and Zuck should be ashamed, where they claimed that Luke, or perhaps some later copyist, merely inserted lines to harmonize the passage with Matthew chapter 24. There is no grounds for such a claim in ancient manuscripts, and it is the older manuscripts which have the passage. Returning to Clifton: 

While both Matt. 24:36-51 and Luke 17:20-37 read somewhat alike, the Matthew passage seems to be predicting the latter days with a sense of surprise, with the people who are left staying stationary. Be that as it may, it doesn’t change the course of this theme. However, not only is there a similarity to the story of Noah in both passages, but likewise the days of Lot and the account of Sodom would fit well in either narrative. In other words, the White Adamic Christians of the Matthew account stay put, while the nonwhites disappear. After all is said and done, the Matthew narrative appears to be two accounts in one, so it becomes necessary to find the place where the first one ends and the second begins. This appears to happen between vv. 34 and 36 thusly:

Here Clifton is wrestling with what I had explained above. The account in Matthew chapter 24, as well as the parallel chapters of Mark and Luke, are several accounts in one, to answer the three questions we have already seen described in Matthew. So now Clifton presents his case by quoting from the verses of Matthew he just mentioned:

“... 34 Verily I say unto you, This generation1074 (i.e., genea, race) shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. [end of 1st topic] 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. [beginning of 2nd topic] 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only ....”

Clifton’s assessment is fair, even if some aspects of it may be a cause for debate. But I will not agree with shuffling verses around in Luke, as he now suggests:

Likewise, there is a transition, from a then present topic to a future topic, at Luke 17:21-25, but it will be necessary to relocate v.25 thusly:

“21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of Yahweh is within you. 22 And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. 23 And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them ... 25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation1074. [end of 1st topic] ... [beginning of 2nd topic]24 For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day ... 26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man .…”

The order was fine in the original. Even if Christ could not return until His passion and first departure, verse 25 is even more out of place where Clifton wants it, than it is in the original. Christ gave a full description of certain circumstances of His return, and then, in the original order, He warned His disciples that He had to first suffer many things. Verse 24 belongs in sequence after verse 23, as it is originally written, and I cannot guess as to why Clifton saw a need to change it, or to explain it the way he had. He did seek to explain that these prophecies in Matthew chapter 24 and Luke chapter 17 both mentioned events that would happen at two different times, one near, and one remote.

Continuing with Clifton, he recollects something he wrote in reference to Matthew chapter 24 in another of his papers:

There is, though, a very important aspect of the first topic which I wrote in my Death Of A Kingdom & Rebirth Of Another, where I stated:

Matt. 24:16: “Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains.”

This counsel was remembered and wisely followed by the Nazarenes afterwards. Eusebius and Epiphanius say that at this juncture, after Cestius Gallus had raised the siege and Vespasian was approaching with his army, all who believed in Messiah left Jerusalem and fled to Pella, and other places beyond the river Jordan; and so they all marvelously escaped the general shipwreck of their country – not one of them perished. Only the flight of the Nazarenes from the beleaguered city delivered them from the fate of the Edomite-jewish inhabitants who stayed. During the lull in the attack, the Nazarenes left and went to Pella. Those who remained either died of starvation, or were sold as slaves ....

Ibid.: Matt. 24:37: “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Adam be.”

As we had said, Matthew chapter 24 is relevant to three questions asked by the apostles, in reference to the destruction of Jerusalem, the return of Christ and the end of the age.

But as for Eusebius and Epiphanius, who had both lived in the 4th century AD, they must have followed Josephus, in his Wars of the Judaeans, Book 2 (2:556) where he wrote of the failed siege of Cestius and said:

556 After this calamity had befallen Cestius, many of the most eminent of the Jews fled from the city, as from a ship when it was going to sink; Costobarus, therefore, and Saul, who were brothers, together with Philip, the son of Jacimus, who was the commander of King Agrippa's forces, ran away from the city, and went to Cestius.

So some portion of the generals and their armies turned traitor at this time and joined the Romans. But Josephus had said nothing about Pella in this context, and nothing about Nazarenes, which is the term that the Jews had used to describe Christians. 

In the version of the same discourse given by Luke in Luke chapter 21, this particular aspect of the discourse is more precisely recorded:

20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. 21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.

Of course, not all of those who fled Jerusalem at the time were Christians. The Judaean generals in the employ of Agrippa certainly were not Christians. But with Jerusalem encompassed with armies, under the siege of Cestius, no man could get in or out of the city. However once Cestius was compelled to lift his siege, any Christians caught in the city would have remembered these words of Christ and taken the opportunity to flee. From this time, it would be about three and a half years before the final siege of Jerusalem, where the city was taken and destroyed by Titus.

Clifton’s final words on Matthew chapter 24, which have all sought to show that the people of Christ would be left behind, and those who shall be “raptured” are not the good, but the wicked. Now he describes why Noah was preserved, which also elucidates the state of the wicked:

It is recorded that Noah was “perfect in his generations”, along with his three sons and daughters-in-law (“generations”, Wilson’s O.T. Word Studies, page 184:“an age; a race”). Noah’s family was the last of a line who had not race-mixed in their day. Like today, in the days before the flood, it became politically correct to take a husband or wife not of one’s own race. The same degradation of the sexual instincts is here revealed in its disastrous consequences and is described as “all flesh had corrupted his way”, Genesis 6:12. Then, as now, when the subject of race was mentioned, one would simply shrug their shoulders and sneer in indifference. Like always, products of mixed marriages are not difficult to recognize. Although there were many in Jerusalem of mixed race, Matthew 24:37 more typically fits today’s multiculturalism ....

As we said, the passage is relevant to both 70 AD and the time of the end. Now Clifton has a final summation, but then I shall add one of my own, because the paper is addressing the false doctrine of the so-called “rapture”.

Summation: Therefore, we should anticipate an unannounced sudden return of Yahshua Christ, accompanied by the destruction of all nonwhites and genetically mixed peoples; with a qualified number of the genetically pure resurrected and living, receiving glorified bodies. Generally speaking, there will occur two resurrections, Dan. 12:2: “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” – (See also John 5:25, 28-29.)

As we had said, the showcase passage of Scripture for the belief in a “rapture” is a passage found in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. So what follows is adapted from my 2016 commentary on Thessalonians, which discussed this same passage: Paul’s First Epistle to the Thessalonians, Part 4: The Rapture of the Saints? There, as the King James version has it, we read:

13 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. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 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. 16 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: 17 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. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

In this passage Paul used several metaphors of which the meanings may be argued, however we shall see that we do not have to interpret this passage as if it describes some sort of rapture. In fact, interpreting this passage to support a rapture defies many other Scriptures which refute the concept of a rapture, many of which Clifton has already cited. Furthermore, where Paul uses the same metaphors elsewhere, those passages also deny the validity of such an interpretation here. Neither should our interpretation force Paul to contradict himself where he wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 that “… We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed … for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

So first we shall examine the phrase “carried off in clouds”. The word rendered as “carried off” is a form of the verb ἀρπάζω (Strong’s # 726), where the King James Version has “caught up”. But the word means merely “to snatch away, carry off … to seize hastily, snatch up”, according to Liddell & Scott, and by itself it does not bear any indication of ascending to anywhere, as it is interpreted.

The Greek phrase ἐν νεφέλαις (νεφέλη, Strong’s # 3507) is literally “in clouds”, but there is no definite article indicating that Paul meant particular clouds, as the clouds, or the clouds of heaven in the sky. Rather, the word may metaphorically mean “in throngs”, referring to clouds of people, as Paul had used the related root word νέφος in Hebrews 12:1, referring to a “great cloud of witnesses”. Both νέφος and νεφέλη were used metaphorically to describe clouds of death, tears, sorrow, sleep, battle, and even blood. Therefore the reference to clouds here does not necessarily refer to clouds in the sky, in reference to any supernatural act. Rather, Paul could just as easily and much more naturally be describing a movement of great numbers of people.

Next we must examine the phrase “in air”, εἰς ἀέρα (ἀήρ, Strong’s # 109), and again the definite article is missing, but using this term alone refutes the notion that Paul refers to the heavens. By itself, the phrase εἰς ἀέρα is most literally “into air”, but only in English does it suggest a supernatural act on the surface of the phrase. Paul was well acquainted with Greek literature, which is demonstrated often in his epistles where he quotes or takes allusions from classical Greek writers (i.e. Titus 1:12; Acts 17:28, 1 Corinthians 15:33). To the Greeks, the atmosphere was divided into three layers: ἀήρ was the lowest layer, the air around us, and was opposed to the αἰθήρ (“ether”), which was the upper atmosphere or “sky”, above which was οὐρανός (3772), or the “heaven”, or more properly in our modern dialect, the outer atmosphere or even what we call “space”. The word αἰθήρ does not appear in the New Testament. But the word ἀήρ is used by Paul elsewhere in Ephesians 2:2, and in 1 Corinthians 9:26 and 14:9. The word also appears in Acts 22:23, and in Revelation 9:2 and 16:17. Nowhere in the New Testament does the use of the word insist that it refers to the upper atmosphere of the planet. Wherever the reference is clear, it refers only to the air around us, the air which we breathe.

Every time in the New Testament we see the phrase “birds of the air” or “fowls of the air” the Greek word for air is οὐρανός, which is usually translated as heaven. So if the supposed “meeting with the Prince in air” referred to the place of the clouds in the sky, one would think that Paul would have used that same word which was used of the place of the birds of the sky, which is οὐρανός, rather than using the word for the air around us. For another example, where Paul had described a man who may have been out of his body, in the spiritual realm, that man was taken up into the third οὐρανός, or heaven, not into the air. So where the birds fly, that is far above the air in which the remnant of saints still living at the time of the return of Christ hope to meet Him. 

Where Paul used the same term for air in Ephesians 2:2 as he does here in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, we probably find the best insight into Paul’s purpose for using the word. There in Ephesians it is certain that Paul used the term for air to describe the physical world as opposed to the spiritual world, both of which were equally real in Paul’s rather enlightened perspective. Both Christ and Paul had referred to the enemies of Christ as the prince or princes of this world. In the Revelation we learn that the devil and his angels were cast out of heaven, and that there place was no longer found in heaven. Then in the Gospel the devil said to Christ that “All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it”, referring to “all the kingdoms of the world” (Luke 4:5-6). Clearly, the devil and his angels are the princes of this world referred to in the Gospel. As the apostle John had warned in the closing verses of his first epistle, “19, We know that we are from of God and the whole Society lies in the power of the Evil One.”

Then in Ephesians chapter 2 Paul wrote concerning the past sins of his readers, who were also among the descendants of the ancient children of Israel, and he said to them “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience”. So here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, in verse 10, Paul had admonished his readers to “await His Son from the heavens,” referring to the second advent of Christ, and here he informs them that they will meet with Christ “in the air”, which is a reference to this physical world. Heaven is the realm of the birds of the sky, and the air is the realm of man, the lowest atmosphere in the cosmology of the Greeks.

So with this it should be entirely evident that 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 does not describe a rapture of any sort. Rather, the promise of resurrection is a return to this physical world. As Yahweh said in Ezekiel chapter 37: “19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand. 20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. 21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: 23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. 24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. 25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. 26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 And the nations shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.”

The setting of the tabernacle, or sanctuary, among the gathered children of Israel is precisely what Paul of Tarsus is describing in poetic terms here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. But the tabernacle is Christ Himself, as we learned in the Gospel in John chapter 2: “19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body.”

The Rapture theology attempts to set at nought the Word of God, for instance, as Christ instructed His disciples to pray that things be “on earth as they are in heaven”. So the rapture theology also makes God Himself impotent in the world. God has to give up on His Creation, only to rescue certain people from the wicked. Neither can it answer why the wicked are wicked. Therefore in rapture theology, God is a failure. However true Christians should know that God is no failure, and that ultimately they shall indeed have salvation – here on earth. That happens when the wicked are removed from the earth.

This concludes the notes from my commentary on Thessalonians, as well as Clifton’s paper. Though this it should be fully evident, that it shall indeed be better to be left behind!