What are The Fowl of the Air?

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This is Matthew 24, but I'm going to entitle it 'What are the fowl of the earth?' We're going to get
down to that in a little bit and that will take up most of our Bible study.

Matthew 24:1-2 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to
him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these
things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not
be thrown down.

When you read the Bible, you see the words in front of you and think of the temple that they
were standing in front of and how huge the stones are. They are huge stones, and it is a wonder
how they actually got those stones there. What's in your mind is the physical, but, I am telling
you as Christ tells you later in this chapter, let him that reads understand. When you hear 'There
shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down' this is not talking
about the stones of the temple to you or me as God's elect. This is talking about what's in our
lives. If we don't see these spiritual truths behind these physical letters, then we are not getting
anything out of what Christ says later in this chapter.

Let me go back to make this point.

Matthew 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it
shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

These are the stones in the temple that we need to be thinking of.

Matthew 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 (age, aion)?

I want you to notice that this is not being said to the multitudes. This is being said to his
disciples, privately. What you are about to hear is something that just a few people got to hear at
the time it was said. What is being said here, once again, is talking about the end of 'my' age, not
the end of someone else's age. It's got to be applied personally and inwardly.

Matthew 24:4-5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

There are many people who come in Jesus Christ's name and who teach Jesus Christ and who do
many wonderful works in the name of Jesus Christ, but they don't have one bit of use for the
words of Jesus Christ.

Luke 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

This is who Jesus Christ is talking about here. He's not talking about the occasional person who
claims to be 'Jesus Christ' like Sun Yung Moon. He's talking about many people, and many
means majority. Most people will come in Christ's name, saying that he is Christ and will deceive
most people; in other words, the Christian religion. Let's just call things what they are.

Matthew 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all
these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

Once again, let me say it again so we can stay focused: apply all of this inwardly. Realize that
this is talking to all of us including me. I, Mike Vinson have been deceived; Mike Vinson was
taken into the Babylonian system of the Christian religion that claims to know Christ and does
many wonderful works in his name. Mike Vinson was deceived, he was one of the many
deceived, and if you don't see that, you are going to go to church every Sunday and think that
you are not deceived. Don't put it off on somebody else. Keep the sayings of the prophecy of this
book.

Matthew 24:7-9 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there
shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning
of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be
hated of all nations for my name's sake.

Why would they hate a dead man? It is after you die to the flesh that you begin to be hated. They
will 'deliver you up to be afflicted' and will kill you. That's good! That's the best thing that
happens to you when you die.

Matthew 24:10-11 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate
one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

Who is he talking about here? Heathen people? No, the many people who are deceived thinking
they know Christ. That's what we are talking about. Christ is talking about people who have been
called, who have accepted him, who come in his name, do many wonderful works and deceive
people. At that point, many are offended and betray one another and hate one another.

Matthew 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

This is many coming in Christ's name, saying they are following Christ, using Christ's name,
claiming they love Christ's name and doctrine and they deceive many, most, the majority. That's
the litmus test right there, because God is love. While you can talk love all day, it is hard to live
love, it is hard to turn the other cheek. You can't do it. It takes Jesus Christ in you to do it. This is
what separates the called from the chosen, this verse:

Matthew 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Nobody is saved right now. They are converted, but being converted is not saved. He that
endures to the end shall be saved. When they are resurrected they are saved. You are converted,
you are living a good Christian life, but read Ezekial 3, it will come right out and tell you, no
matter how good a life you live, if you turn your back on it at the end, all your good works
account for nothing. No matter how evil you have been, if you turn from your evil works, all
your evil works account for nothing. It is what you do at the end that counts. The workers that
came in at the last hour received their wages before the people who had been there working all
day, doing the same works as the other people.

If you have the love of Christ, you are not the least bit perturbed at what God does. All things are
of God to you. He could give the house away and you would say "Amen, Father!"

Matthew 24:14-15 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a
witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. When ye therefore shall see the
abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso
readeth, let him understand:)

What did Matthew 24:14 mean to you? Does it mean to you that the churches of Babylon have to
get the gospel preached in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America? That's been done for years,
it has been in all the continents of all the world for years. If you still think that nations and
kingdoms and rocks and all these things are 'out there' somewhere, you don't understand verse 15
at all: whoso reads, let him understand. It is all to be understood as a message to the spirit. God is
spirit and all that you see and touch is his way of getting through to you what is going on in the
powers and principalities that you are really wrestling against.

What is the holy place? You, your heart, your mind, that is the holy place, because you are the
temple. The holy place is in the heart of the temple, the last room you go into.

What is 'the abomination of desolation?' It is Satan ruling in your life; it is him having you for
lunch, eating the dust that you are. That is the abomination of desolation. You will see that when
the gospel of the kingdom is preached in all the nations in you, in me, in each of us. Then you
will see that beast, that man of sin, sitting on the throne in your heart, doing what he wants and
never having lost a battle. Once you see that, you finally have a handle on what the problem is.
You finally can understand what you are reading.

Matthew 13:9 is explaining Matthew 24:14:

Matthew 13:9-17 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. And the disciples came, and said unto him,
Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given
unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For
whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath
not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables:
because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them
is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not
understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they
should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and
should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your
ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have
desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which
ye hear, and have not heard them.

Continuing on in Matthew 24:

Matthew 24:16-19 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is
on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the
field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give
suck in those days!

What is he talking about here? How does this have an inward application? One thing that should
be painfully obvious is that God does not have anything against pregnant women or babies in the
womb. Let's finish this so we can get an idea of that is actually being said:

Matthew 24:20-22 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time,
no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved:
but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

If this is to be applied internally, spiritually, how can that be? Where was the great tribulation
2,000 years ago? If you don't see this internally, then you will never understand the book of
Revelation. The book of Revelation says the time is at hand. It talks about great tribulation and
earthquakes and all kinds of things. It says do and keep the sayings of the prophecies of this
book, for the time is at hand. Once you accept that as a truth, not to be negotiated, then you will
understand why Jesus Christ says so many times in the book of Revelation, 'I am he that is, was
and will be.' Once you get a handle on 'is, was and will be,' then the word of God opens up to
you in a way that it will never be understood otherwise.

'But for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.' How does that apply generation by
generation? Right here it is:

1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God
is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
That's the days being shortened so the elect can make it. If Jesus Christ is not in us, not dying in
us daily, and the days are not being shortened in our flesh, nobody would make it, no flesh would
be saved alive. Right at this juncture in your walk, when you are seeing that you are in Babylon:

Matthew 24:23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

Don't believe it! All this talk about a secret rapture is a bunch of lies.

Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs
and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

That word 'signs' is the same word translated miracles. God's elect know the difference between
gifts of the spirit and fruits of the spirit. The fruits of the spirit you will not have without Christ
being in you. You will not and cannot and there is no way you can accomplish loving your
enemy without Christ being in you. Right after making that statement, he says:

Matthew 24:25-27 Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold,
he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the
lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the
Son of man be.

I get so many letters asking me, 'how do you know you are God's elect?' How do you know you
are going to be saved and be in the first resurrection? You don't! That's why He says 'be vigilant.'
Be on your guard every moment. If the good man had known what hour the thief was coming, he
would not have allowed his house to be broken into. The whole point of Christ telling you that is
so you will constantly be on your toes. 'He that thinks he stands, let him take heed, lest he falls.'
Don't take your salvation for granted, get rid of this idea of once in grace always in grace.
Realize that there is a need for vigilance. It is all part of God's plan.

Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your
heart.

Matthew 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

I've entitled this talk what are the 'fowl of the air' (earth?) because of these eagles. Eagles is
actually the word for vultures. That's something that has been relatively easy to show. There are
no eagles in that part of the world; there are vultures. Vultures eat meat, eagles do, too, for that
matter. They are both unclean birds and they eat meat.
John 12:24-25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and
he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

You have to be willing to give it up, then you will have it. That's what eagles eat; they eat dead
meat. Vultures eat dead meat.

Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Dead meat.

Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave himself for me.

More dead meat for these vultures. That's the 'lightning coming out of the east and shining unto
the west.' That's Christ coming into your life. When you die to the flesh, then you give up the
flesh, but it is not a pleasant thing to do. You don't give up the flesh willingly. It takes a
catastrophe in your life.

Exodus 19:4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings,
and brought you unto myself.

It's through this dying to the flesh that God brings us to himself. I'm going to repeat John 12:25.

2 Samuel 1:23 Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they
were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.

In their death, they were not divided. Jonathan actually helped David, but he could not separate
himself from his father. Don't you be that way. These things are written for our admonition. At
the same time, realize that God created Babylon. God is the one who is responsible for all things;
he 'works all things after the counsel of his own will.'

What is it that fowl generally represent, especially unclean fowl like vultures and eagles?

Proverbs 30:17 The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens
of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.

What are these eagles doing? 1 Corinthians 5:5 tells us exactly what it is all about:
1 Corinthians 5:5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the
spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

These birds, these false doctrines, these ministers, the adversary who comes as an angel of light,
devours our flesh. The earth opens up and swallows us. That's the whole point of Korah's
experience. The earth opening up and swallowing him is simply a type of us being taken into the
doctrines of the world, the earth, the ground. We die in that earth (the world, the people of God);
actually, we are dying. That's what these eagles do.

Genesis 40:16-23 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto
Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head: And in the
uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them
out of the basket upon my head. And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation
thereof: The three baskets are three days: Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head
from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee. And it
came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his
servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.
And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's
hand: But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet did not the chief
butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.

These birds ate his flesh; they destroyed his flesh. Where did Joseph get the idea that this is what
this meant?

Genesis 1:21-23 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the
waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God
saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters
in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth
day.

What is the meaning of the creatures of the sea and the fowl of the air? What is the earth? It is
God's people who are not God's elect. God's anointed who are not God's elect are filled with
fowl. Where do these fowl live? They lives in the heavens of the earth. It is not the sixth day with
the beast, it is the fifth day so that all of the spirit beings were created just ahead of men, the day
before. It was on the sixth day that the earth, that is mankind and their relationship with God,
was created because Adam was the son of God.

Lamentations 4:19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: they pursued us
upon the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.

It is in the wilderness that we are persecuted. We are persecuted by those who are swifter than
eagles.
Matthew 13:31-32 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is
like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the
least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so
that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

This is the parable of the mustard seed. What are all the parables? All the parables are about the
kingdom of God from now until Christ. It will be applicable then, it will all be true, even then.
The kingdom of God needs to be cleansed of its heavens and of its earth. It is full of unclean
spirits.

Revelation 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly
into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time,
from the face of the serpent.

This is the fowl again, the unclean fowl. We read back in Exodus where God said, I brought you
(Israel) up out of Egypt on eagles' wings. When God brought them out, he said I bring you unto
me this way. What happened in the wilderness? What is the history of Israel in the wilderness?

To give you an idea of what this 'time, times and half a time' has to do with:

Revelation 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a
thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Where? In the streets of that great city, speaking to this very woman of Rev. 12, the very next
chapter. They are going to speak for a 1,260 days. She is going to be in the wilderness 1,260
days, time, times and half a time. It is all the same time, it is just hidden so that 1,260 days tells
us that this is the time of our witnessing to the people of God, this is the time of their hearing us
witness. It is the same period of time. What happens during this time?

Numbers 14:22-24 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I
did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not
hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers,
neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: But my servant Caleb, because he had another
spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and
his seed shall possess it.

What are the fowl of the air? False ministers, false doctrines. Try the spirits because many false
prophets have gone forth into the world.

Matthew 13:4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and
devoured them up:
Matthew 13:9 explains that.

Matthew 13:19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then
cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which
received seed by the way side.