This event is mentioned in John's Revelation, was included in the remarks by Jesus about the end of the age, and is supported by revelation in Deuteronomy, and in the ancient Book of Enoch. Technical descriptions are provided in the Urantia Papers.
 

Rev 14:1-3  Then I looked, and lo, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like the sound of harpers playing on their harps. And they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth.

Mount Zion, of course, is the heavenly mount, not an earthly mountain.
 

The Lamb is Michael, our Creator, who will not physically stand on this holy mountain, but will provide his holy presence for all of his salvaged mortal children.
 

John heard the heavenly choirs singing praises to their Creator.
 

The new song is a new vision of God's program of time, to salvage this planet, and the contribution these select people will make toward that new earth. They will abandon the old, worn, and foolish songs of the earth. They will sing new songs of praise before the throne of God.
 

No mortal who remains on this planet will know that new song. It will be reserved for his elect.
 

Rev 7:1-17  After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascend from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads." And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, out of every tribe of the sons of Israel.

The 144,000 are a representative biological cross section of the better genetic seed of the human race. They are descended, by various routes, from Abraham, who had higher genetic strains in his blood. Refer to my work on The Legacy of Adam and Eve, and The Victor Mair Letters for background on these genetic lines.
 

The figure of 144,000 is not meant to be literal. It is an indicator of a genetic pool of sufficient breadth to accomplish the genetic uplift program.
 

The event of the redeeming from the earth of this select group is described in Matthew and Mark 13:24-27.
 

You can see that the lift-off will not come until after the nuclear holocaust:
 

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven . . ."
 

This planetary condition will be due to the huge amounts of radioactive dust and debris which will fill the atmosphere. The stars will not literally "fall from heaven" but they will not be visible to human eyes.
 

The text suggests that the lift-off also will not come until after the twisting of the planet in its orbit.
 

". . . and the powers of the heavens will be shaken."
 

This prophecy is similar to that found in Luke:
 

Therefore, it seems reasonable to infer that the lift-off will not come until after those geophysical events.
 

Clearly, individuals or families will be selected out of the earth population for this rescue.
 

A crucial reason exists for this delay in removal of the elect.
 

These individuals will have made decisions to save themselves from nuclear destruction, or from geological upheavals. They will have physically moved to safer locations, out of their love for God, and their recognition that the salvage of this planet depends on their action. They will base those decisions on faith in revelation. They will understand that God fashioned this form to reveal his purpose, and that he is asking them to become contributors to his cause. They cannot become contributors if he directs them in all of their decisions and actions. They must make choices for themselves. They can make choices for themselves only if they have the freedom to do so. And they will have the freedom to do so only if they are not forced by heavenly command. Thus God provided a means for us to understand his purpose, while giving us the freedom to decide.

That technique is the method of revelation today.
 

In this manner God will foster and preserve the higher spiritual types from this planet. Only those with a powerful faith in God, and love for him, will make the necessary decisions and take the necessary actions.
 

The angels in Matt 24:31 are seraphic transports, used to remove the eligible population.
 

Refer to my series on Seraphic Transports.
 

We were provided with information through revelation which would permit us to understand what is transpiring, and to prepare ourselves for that moment when Jesus would send out his angels.
 

Betty Andreasson gave us with a description of the interior of a seraphic transport. She was taken away to visit Michael on Salvington. Refer to The Andreasson Affair, Raymond Fowler, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1979. The book is well populated with drawings by Betty.
 

Refer to the accompanying drawing of eight seats with transparent covers for sealing the human physical body against high intensity electro-magnetic fields during space flight.
 

These eight seats are mentioned in ancient Hindu Literature.
 

Alwyn and Brinley Rees, two Celtic researchers, quoted the Rig Veda, in their work, Celtic Heritage, Thames and London, London, 1961.
 

"The Rig Veda also speaks of the eight Supreme Hindu gods known as the Adityas as crossing over the (space) waters in an amphibious chariot 'with seats where eight may sit.'"
 

The "Supreme Hindu gods" are a corruption in the ancient memories. Celestial overseers were once brought here for the heavenly worlds in such seraphic transports.
 

The "cave" interior of a seraphic transport and the "turtle" seat were also described by an American Indian Brave. Refer to my series on American Indian UFO Legends, Report II -- The Man Who Married The Thunderer's Sister.
 

If seraphic transports are limited to eight passengers, and if all of the 144,000 should be taken away in one event, 18,000 transports would be required. Even if 80 persons were taken away on one transport, 1800 transports would still be required. We do not know the limitations on quantities, one or more visits to remove the elect, or other parameters in this most extraordinary destiny event. But we should be able to recognize what it will mean for the surviving residents of this earth to witness this fleet of seraphic transports in the sky.
 

I offer a word of consolation to all those who choose to do this will of God, and who may remain on this planet. Remember,
 

Truly, the tribes of earth will mourn when they see their neighbors and friends lifted away and they must remain. But their contribution to the future of the world is as important as those who are taken away.
 

Here the emphasis is upon universe ascent but the statement shows that there may be many ways in which man can escape the terrestrial abode.
 

Here the emphasis is upon semimaterial creatures. However, because their bodies have material components, such creatures must undergo the process of dematerialization.
 

Conflict exits on the preparation time. Available reports, such as Betty Andreasson, suggest that little time is required to effect the necessary preparation for transport. She was taken away, traveled to Salvington, and returned -- all within the space of a few hours.
 

We should remember also that if the 144,000 are to be taken away, their lift-off will require little time to prepare them for space flight.
 

C. S. Lewis once made a remark about space travel. He said:
 

This view also leads me to believe that the so-called "greys" described by many individuals are not personalities, but rather robotic machines limited by their design. They cannot be disloyal, since they do not have the ability to chose among destiny alternatives.
 

This is one of the most important revelations ever given to man. It informs us of the possibility of another world prepared for the elect of this world when they are taken away.
 

A physical catastrophe will not doom this world, but it will wreck great havoc.
 

The entire salvable population will not be taken away -- only the elect will be taken.
 

The evolution of this race, on this world, must proceed. The difficulty is the genetic disruption as a result of the default of Adam and Eve. Action has been taken to correct that failure.
 

Now progressing on another world, with contribution from children who have been bred through the abduction program, and from the soon-to-be-addition of the 144,000, is a new genetic uplift program.
 

Also contributing to that genetic uplift is another "Adam and Eve." This is evident from the statement in the ancient Book of Enoch:
 

This remark can be understood only in the context of a new genetic program.
 

We know that the present children of Adam and Eve who were taken away cannot contribute to this new genetic program. They were deprived of reproductive abilities when they were taken to Edentia.
 

Therefore, the new biological improvement must be from children other than these earth-born children of Adam and Eve.
 

On the other hand, the new genetic breed could be from the children of Adam and Eve who remained on Jerusem when Adam and Eve came to this world.
 

Since these future transactions are not explained to us we simply do not know.
 

I personally hold one reservation. Eve's tendency to quick solutions may have been implanted genetically in her children. This propensity may not be good for the future of this world. Hence it may be that the children who were procreated on the celestial worlds would not be eligible for future use on this world.
 

Perhaps a totally different Adam and Eve will contribute to the new song.
 

Some idea of the new planetary regime, and the return to this world of the breeding program now underway, can be attained from
 

I shall now consider the words of Paul. He created massive misunderstanding for the generations, and for the false hope of God's people, when he wrote in I Corinthians, and in I and II Thessalonians.
 

First consider his words in
 

The context was his dissertation on the resurrection. He went to painful lengths to show that this physical body will not resurrect. His teaching was in direct contradiction to passages in the Gospels that physical bodies resurrect. Paul was attempting to correct such error.
 

Those passages may be found in the stories of the appearances of Jesus after his entombment, which all subsequent generations believed was the appearance of the physical body, (in spite of his warning to Mary Magdalene that he was not in a physical body), the placement of the hand of Thomas in the wound in his side, the story of the dead saints arising in Matt 27:52-53, and so on.
 

But Paul, in his attempt to correct such fundamental error, himself introduced other serious error.
 

While it is true that some individual human mortals may not experience physical death, in the far reaches of the future, or as happened with Enoch and Elijah, all human kind today must experience physical death, unless they are lifted away by seraphic transport. Then, all will experience resurrection on the mansion worlds in a celestial body. See John 14:2.
 

Paul made parallel remarks in:
 

But Paul was confused. He confused the revelations he was given on the fusing which will take place between the Spirit of the Father with those future noble souls, and the return of Jesus. He combined those two separate revelations to bring unfathomable confusion to the generations.
 

The scene, as described by Paul, will not take place. Indeed, the "dead in Christ" will rise when Jesus returns to judge this age, but no soul will rise from the living to join that crowd, except those who are taken away in seraphic transports.
 

His letter led to considerable trouble for the Thessalonians. He tried to correct his statements in a subsequent letter.