tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63541438653755859882024-03-13T06:40:56.727-04:00End of the World and the Final Seven YearsLast Days, End Times Order of Events, 1000 Years of Revelation, Millennium, Outline/Chronology of Revelation, Rapture, Antichrist, A-Millennialism, Pre-Millennialism, Final Judgment, Return of Christ, Second Coming, Battle of Armageddon, End Times, One World Government, One World Power, One World Religion, Anti-christian Kingdom, Gog and Magog, Heathen Nations, That Great Day of the Lord God Almighty, Apocalyse End of Days, Resurrection of the Dead, By Grace We Are Saved, Faith is a Gift of GodUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6354143865375585988.post-55894403127694506312013-11-26T02:50:00.002-05:002015-12-16T09:12:26.247-05:00<div align="center">
<h2 class="subheadlinemain" title="Permanent Link to We Are the Final Generation, Living in the End of Time">
<a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/09/end-time-events-lord-has-foretold-us.html">The End of the World and the Final Seven Years</a></h2>
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<dd><span style="font-size: 130%;"><b>TABLE OF CONTENTS</b></span> </dd>
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<dd><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2012/11/will-jesus-christ-our-lord-return-in.html"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Will Christ Return in 2018?</span></a></dd>
<dd><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-third-temple-will-be-built-for.html"><span style="font-size: 130%;">The Third Temple Will Be Built for Antichrist Not Jesus Christ</span></a></dd>
<dd><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2011/09/were-first-four-seals-opened-in-2011-it.html">Were the First Four Seals Opened in 2011?</a></span></dd>
<dd><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2012/11/outline-of-book-of-revelation-following.html">Outline of the Book of Revelation</a> </span></dd>
<dd><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/05/order-of-events-until-end-of-this-world.html">Order of Events Until the End of the World </a></span></dd>
<dd><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2008/11/kingdom-of-antichrist-following-is_13.html">One-World Power: the Anti-Christian Beast</a></span></dd>
<dd><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/05/fourth-beast-kingdom-which-is-yet-to.html">The Fourth and Final Kingdom Which is Yet to Come</a></span></dd>
<dd><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/02/final-battle-armageddon-and-final_26.html">The Final Battle (Armageddon) and the Final Judgment</a></span></dd>
<dd><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-shall-be-signs-of-christs-return.html">What Shall Be the Signs of Christ's Return? </a></span></dd>
<dd><span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/02/amillennialism-v.html">The Age to Come: 'The Kingdom Age' vs. 'The Eternal Age'</a></span></dd><br />
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<span style="font-family: "pristina"; font-size: 180%;">"Take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things." (Mark 13:23)</span>
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<span style="color: #660000;">"And He began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He spake that saying openly. And Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned about and looked on His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, 'Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.' And when he had called the people unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto them, 'Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels'."</span><span style="color: #660000;">- Mark 8:31-38</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6354143865375585988.post-21410502251272107132012-11-29T10:45:00.000-05:002014-12-27T00:32:18.110-05:00<div id="headline">
<h2 class="subheadlinemain" style="text-align: center;" title="Permanent Link to Will Jesus Christ Our Lord Return in 2018?">
Will Jesus Christ Our Lord Return in 2018?</h2>
<h3 class="subheadlinemain">
<a href="http://www.kenraggio.com/KRPN-TheThirdTemple.htm">The Third Temple: Building a Stage for Antichrist (Excerpt) </a></h3>
<span style="font-style: italic;">We have a world government, but it is mostly private, and the private institutions running the world government are not geared or focused on the common good. So what we have nowadays is private power. And private power is the power running the world government. They issue documents. They publish books. They have logos. They make reports. It’s all out there. All you need to do is, like a jigsaw puzzle, put the pieces together. - Adrian Salbuchi, <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2011/05/privatization-and-globalization.html">Will It Be World Government? </a></span><br />
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By Ken Raggio<br />
1996 with July 2010 Update<br />
<br />
Israel's overall political objectives were mostly nationalistic and protectionist, and as such, outraged world opinion.<b> Hostilities against Israel have been escalating at an unprecedented pace.</b><br />
<br />
<b>But this, of course, also increases the likelihood that we are headed for the <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Armageddon%20and%20the%20Rapture%20of%20the%20Church">Battle of Armageddon</a> spoken of in Bible prophecy.</b><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><b>Historical Biblical sites such as Bethelehem, Nazareth, Hebron, Jericho, and Galilee will be taken away from Israel with the declaration of a Palestinian state.</b></span><br />
<br />
Christians around the world are affected by events in Israel. How? <b>For one thing, they are looking for <a href="http://www.thelambslain.com/2009/03/what-shall-be-signs-of-christs-return.html">signs pointing to the second return</a> of Jesus Christ.</b> <span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><span style="color: red;">Perhaps one of the most significant signs they look for is the reconstruction of the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah (the Third Temple), and the re-instituting of Old Testament sacrifices.</span> </b></span><b>This would be followed, prophetically, by the <a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/">appearance of Antichrist in the Temple</a> to shut it all down again -- to call an end to prayers and sacrifices. </b>This is called the Abomination that makes desolate, or the Abomination of Desolation (Daniel 9:27).<br />
<blockquote>
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped;<span style="font-weight: bold;"> so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God</span> (2nd Thessalonians 2:4).</blockquote>
<b>Opportunities may present themselves in the near future for Abbas to negotiate with Netanyahu <a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/2011/09/un-showdown-on-palestinian-statehood.html">to finally bring about a Palestinian state</a> in the West Bank, <span style="color: #cc0000;">and ultimately define what will be done about East Jerusalem</span></b> <b>-- settling the final status of <a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/search/label/Temple%20Mount%20in%20Jerusalem">Jerusalem and the Temple Mount</a>.</b><br />
<br />
The Jerusalem Issue is certain to flair up into a major conflict in the near future. Scripturally, we can expect Jerusalem to be increasingly embattled. <span style="color: #996633; font-weight: bold;">Ultimately, Jerusalem will not fall to Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, or Syria.</span> <a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/2009/09/complete-seminar-notes-from-house-of.html" style="font-weight: bold;">The New World Order will take control of Jerusalem</a><span style="font-weight: bold;">, and the United Nations and the Roman Catholic Church will govern it.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Temple Mount is now controlled by Muslims. </span>The Dome of the Rock and the al Aqsa Mosque are the only places of worship on the Temple Mount. Jews and Christians may not pray, worship, or read the Bible aloud on the Temple Mount.<br />
<br />
Dome of Spirit Professor Asher Kaufman of the Hebrew University claims that <span style="color: red;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">the Third Temple could be built next door to the Dome of the Rock without necessitating a change in that controversial Muslim landmark.</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Editor's Note: </span>When Jesus Christ returns, <a href="http://templeofheaven.blogspot.com/">He never will reign from a temple built by human hands</a> (Acts 17:24). When He returns He will destroy the kingdom of antichrist and create a new heaven and a new earth. And the holy city, new Jerusalem, will come down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And God Himself shall be with us and we shall be His people. The Lord tells us specifically that there will be no temple in His eternal kingdom: "for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it (Revelation 21:23)."</blockquote>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: red;">News releases in April of 2008 state that rabbis are preparing now to conduct an animal sacrifice in the near future on the Temple Mount itself.</span> </span>This will be a very provocative act, <span style="color: #990000; font-weight: bold;">and will probably trigger an earth-shattering Islamic jihad. It has the potential of escalating into the worst conflict ever inside Jerusalem, maybe even the whole world. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">I cannot imagine anything in the world being more antagonistic to radical Islam than a Jewish blood sacrifice in the shadow of the Dome of the Rock. <span style="color: red;">The act itself, however, is probably a necessary precursor to any sanctified preparations for the Third Temple.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #006600; font-weight: bold;">The Church of Jesus Christ <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2012/08/antichrist-must-come-first-and-sit-in.html">will witness the Antichrist's stand in the Third Temple</a>, according to 2 Thessalonians 2. </span>Why do I say that? Look at those verses from 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4:<br />
<blockquote>
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.</span></blockquote>
<b>NOTICE CAREFULLY what is in those verses. Paul is addressing these subjects:</b><br />
<br />
1. The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.<br />
2. Our gathering together unto Him (<a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#resurrection">the rapture / first resurrection</a>).<br />
3. Called here, "<a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#dayofthelord">the day of Christ</a>."<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Paul says "THAT DAY SHALL NOT COME..." until</b><br />
<br />
1. there comes a great falling away<br />
2. the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition<br />
3. he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God<br />
4. he, as God, sits in the THIRD TEMPLE, showing himself that he is God.<br />
<br />
<b>What do we learn from these statements?</b><br />
<br />
1. The rapture will NOT take place until there is a great falling away.<br />
2. The rapture will NOT take place until the man of sin is revealed (Antichrist).<br />
3. The rapture will NOT take place until the Antichrist sits in the Third Temple.<br />
4. The church WILL SEE the Antichrist.<br />
5. The church WILL SEE the Third Temple built.<br />
6. The church WILL SEE the Abomination of Desolation. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">“</span>And on a wing of the temple he will set up an <span style="font-weight: bold;">abomination that causes desolation</span>, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” - Daniel 9:27 </blockquote>
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<blockquote style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 235, 197);">
<b>I will tell thee the <a href="http://www.lastdaysmystery.info/mystery_babylon_the_great.htm" target="'_new">mystery of the woman</a>,<br />And of <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#spiritualwar">the beast</a> that carrieth her</b>,<br />
<b>Which hath the </b><a href="http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/small_continents_map.htm" target="'_blank"><b>seven heads</b></a><b> and </b><a href="http://i45.tinypic.com/11trerb.jpg" target="'_blank"><b>ten horns</b></a><b>.</b> <br />
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not;<br />
<a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#abyss">And shall ascend out of the bottomless pit</a>, and go into perdition:<br />
And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder,<br />
Whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world,<br />
When they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. <br />
<br />
And here is the mind which hath wisdom.<br />
<a href="http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/small_continents_map.htm">The seven heads are seven mountains</a>, on which the <b>woman</b> sitteth.<br />
And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come;<br />
<a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/2009/03/satan-to-be-released-to-deceive-nations.html">And when he cometh, he must continue a short space.</a><br />
And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth,<br />
And is of the seven, <a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-shall-be-signs-of-christs-return.html">and goeth into perdition</a>. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://i45.tinypic.com/11trerb.jpg">And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings,</a><br />
<a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/">Which have received no kingdom as yet;</a><br />
<a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#power">But receive power as kings one hour with the beast.</a><br />
These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. <br />
<a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#victory">These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them:</a><br />
For He is Lord of lords, and King of kings:<br />
<a href="http://sufferforchrist.blogspot.com/#salvation">And they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.</a> <br />
<br />
And he saith unto me,<br />
<b>The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth,<br />Are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.</b><br />
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the <b>whore</b>,<br />
And shall make her desolate and naked,<br />
And shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. <br />
<br />
<b>For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will,</b><br />
<a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#heathen">And to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast,</a><br />
<b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Until the words of God shall be fulfilled.</span></b> <br />
And the <b>woman</b> which thou sawest is that great city,<b><br />Which reigneth over the kings of the earth.</b> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://mountainretreatorg.net/bibleit/bibleit.cgi?passage=Revelation+17">Revelation 17:7-18 </a></blockquote>
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<h3>
What Is the Significance of the Number 70 in Scripture and the 1260 Days in Revelation?</h3>
The first temple was destroyed in 586 BC.<br />
<br />
The second temple was completed in 516 BC, <span style="font-weight: bold;">70</span> years after the first temple was destroyed.<br />
<br />
The second temple was destroyed in <span style="font-weight: bold;">70</span> AD.<br />
<br />
Israel became a nation again in 1948; the year 2018 will mark the <span style="font-weight: bold;">70th</span> anniversary of Israel's rebirth as a nation.<br />
<br />
According to scripture, a generation is <span style="font-weight: bold;">70</span> years. <b>The importance of numbers in scripture leads us to believe that we can expect the <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2014/12/solomons-temple-third-temple-rebuilt-in.html">third temple to rebuilt by 2018 for Satan</a> to rule over his one-world government:</b><br />
<blockquote>
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. -<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>2 Thessalonians 2:1-4</blockquote>
When the fifth trumpet is sounded, Satan will be released from the bottomless pit to rule over his earthly kingdom (<a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2008/11/kingdom-of-antichrist-following-is_13.html">his one-world government and religion</a>). <a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/">He will stand in the holy place</a>, showing himself that he is God, and <a href="http://resurrectionofdamnation.blogspot.com/2010/12/learn-lessons-of-hitlers-amazing-rise.html" target="_blank">he will promise peace and security to a world in desperate need</a> of grand solutions to profound problems. Satan, deceiving many with his signs and wonders, will reign as king over this earth for five months, during which time (sixth trumpet<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>) 1/3 part of man will be killed (<a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/2010/01/gaia-hypothesis-goddess-reborn-what-if.html">most likely Christians</a> and others who refuse to worship "the beast" and to receive his "mark" in their right hand or forehead). <br />
<br />
After this earthly reign by Satan for "a little season" <a href="http://sufferforchrist.blogspot.com/#suffering">and his persecution of the followers of Christ</a>, <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/">Christ will return in the clouds of heaven</a> with great power and glory (seventh trumpet) to deliver up His people to the kingdom of heaven. He then will destroy by fire the kingdom of "the beast" and create a new heaven and a new earth over which He will reign with His people for eternity.<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">“</span>And on a wing of the temple he will set up an <span style="font-weight: bold;">abomination that causes desolation</span>, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” - Daniel 9:27</blockquote>
The person of whom this verse speaks is the person<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Jesus calls the “abomination that causes desolation” (</span><a class="lbsBibleRef" href="http://mountainretreatorg.net/bibleit/bibleit.cgi?passage=Matthew+24" reference="Matthew 24.15" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank" version="ESV">Matthew 24:15</a><span style="font-weight: bold;">) and is called “the beast” in Revelation 13.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Revelation 13 explains that the beast will place an image of himself in the temple and require the world to worship him. </span></span><a class="lbsBibleRef" href="http://mountainretreatorg.net/bibleit/bibleit.cgi?passage=Revelation+13" reference="Revelation 13.5" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank" version="ESV">Revelation 13:5</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> says that this will go on for 42 months, which is 3 1/2 years.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #6600cc;"></span></span>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #6600cc;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">For further references about the tribulation, see Revelation 11:2-3, which speaks of 1260 days and 42 months. </span></span></span><b>See </b><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #6600cc;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a class="lbsBibleRef" href="http://mountainretreatorg.net/bibleit/bibleit.cgi?passage=Matthew+25" reference="Matthew 25.31-46" target="_blank" version="ESV">Matthew 25:31-46</a> </span></span></span><b>and</b><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #6600cc;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <a class="lbsBibleRef" href="http://mountainretreatorg.net/bibleit/bibleit.cgi?passage=Revelation+20" reference="Revelation 20.4-6" target="_blank" version="ESV">Revelation 20:4-6</a></span></span></span><b> for the time at the end for the judgment of the nations.</b><br />
<br />
<b><u>The Two Witnesses</u></b> <br />
<br />
The exact same 1260 years is found in Revelation chapter 11: <br />
<blockquote>
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy <b>a thousand two hundred and threescore days</b>, clothed in sackcloth (Rev 11:3).</blockquote>
The commonly accepted interpretation of the verse is that the two witnesses are real prophets, perhaps Moses and Elijah. <b>When you understand that the time period does not represent 1260 literal days, but rather 1260 years, it can be seen that it cannot be referring to real people as witnesses. </b>One clue is in the next verse: <br />
<blockquote>
These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth (Rev 11:4).</blockquote>
The two witnesses are also called two olive trees standing before God. This links us to: <br />
<blockquote>
And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? (Zec 4:2-4) </blockquote>
Zechariah sees a candlestick and two olive trees and asks what they are. Note the answer: <br />
<blockquote>
Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. (Zec 4:5-6) </blockquote>
The candlestick and two olive trees are the word of the Lord!<b> So the language used in Revelation 11:4 is prophetic and symbolic, the two witnesses actually representing the word of God, the Old and New Testament, that would "prophesy in sackcloth" or be suppressed during the very same 1260 years of persecution we are considering.</b><br />
<br />
<b><u>The 42 Months</u></b> <br />
<br />
<b>This same period of persecution is found in the following verses: </b><br />
<blockquote>
But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot <b>forty and two months</b> (Rev 11:2).</blockquote>
Again as in Rev 12, we have a strong relationship between this 42 months of verse 2 and the 1260 days of Rev 11: 3. Forty two months calculates as 42 x 30 (30 days in a lunar month) which equals 1260 days/years. <b>This verse is saying that the Gentiles or unbelievers would trample the people of God (the holy city) for 1260 years. </b>Again this same time period of 42 months is found in Revelation 13: <br />
<blockquote>
And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. (Rev 13:5-7)</blockquote>
<b>This passage speaks of the great and terrible beast from the sea, which actually is the same as the little horn of Daniel, which is to say the AntiChrist power that would persecute the people of God for 1260 years. </b><br />
<br />
<b>So, here is a complete listing of the passages that deal with the same 1260 year time period of persecution: </b><br />
<ul>
<li>3 1/2 Times - Rev 12:14, Dan 7:25, Dan 12:7 </li>
<li>1260 days - Rev 11:3, Rev 12:6 </li>
<li>42 Months - Rev 11:2, Rev 13:5 </li>
</ul>
<b>If you know much about what is called the Dark Ages, then you probably know who this persecuting power is already.</b><br />
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<h3 class="subheadlinemain">
<a href="http://newsflavor.com/opinions/the-countdown-to-jerusalem-2018/">The Countdown to Jerusalem 2018</a></h3>
By Edyta Nowak Tehrani<br />
May 15, 2008<br />
<br />
<b>Many people worry about what will happen in 2012, but it will not be the end of the world, only the beginning of the end.</b> <span style="color: red;"><b>The real change will take place in year 2018 in Jerusalem.</b></span> How do I know? Read and find out…<br />
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There is growing anxiety about the events that many are predicting will take place in 2012 -- from the shift of the poles and the end of our species to the shift in consciousness that will take us to the new age of a sustainable world under one world government -- <b>but many ignore all that the Bible has to say about the end times.</b><br />
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<b>The Bible is the ultimate book of prophecy that has a stunning accuracy. </b>We continue to watch the fulfillment of its predictions.<b> <span style="color: blue;">Israel is in the biblical prophetic clock; and, just as predicted, it is a centerpiece right now on the world stage.</span></b> We see it on the news almost every single day. <span style="color: red;"><b>Barack Obama said that there will be no peace in the world until Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved and promised to deliver it as a part of politics of “Change.”</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>While Israel and the rest of the world long for that very peace, the world’s stage is set for a series of very dramatic events that will bring about peace, but of a very different nature from the one everyone is expecting.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>I’m not prophesying the end of the world here; however, it will be the end of the present world order.</b></span> <b>The events I talk about have been written in advance in the Bible.</b><br />
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And before you dismiss me as some fundamentalist freak, <b>I want to tell you that what will follow is not preached or shared by anyone else, so read even if you don’t consider the Bible credible.</b><br />
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It came to me and my husband as an observation of something in Scriptures that most, if not all, Bible students miss.<b> <span style="color: red;">We believe that the state of Israel is a prophetic clock and everything that happens to it has been foretold with incredible details.</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #b45f06;"><b>We noticed that number seventy is a specific number assigned to Israel only. </b></span>There were 70 members of Jacob’s family who went to Egypt. Moses appointed 70 elders for Israel. The duration of Babylonian captivity was exactly 70 years. Daniel prophesied 70 prophetic weeks for Israel. It was in year 70 of the present era that the Jewish temple was destroyed and the Jewish people scattered all over the world for almost 2000 years.<br />
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<b>It is logical, then, to expect something very significant to happen 70 years from the time of Israel’s rebirth.</b> This year was marked by the sixtieth anniversary of this event, and this is the countdown I’m talking to you about.<br />
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<b>What exactly will happen in 2018?</b> <span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>I don’t know, but I do know that whatever this event will be, it will bring about the second coming of Yeshua the Messiah, who will come down from heaven with great power and glory.</b></span> He is the answer to the problems of humanity.<br />
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<span style="color: red;"><b>I’m not saying that He for sure will come in 2018, though He might; but what will take place 70 years from Israel’s rebirth for sure will hasten His coming.</b> </span><b>Between now and that time, we can expect millions of people dying in more and more famines, natural disasters, wars; there will be economic depression, <span style="color: #38761d;">and even cosmic disturbances along with the release of the supernatural-miracle-working power of God, as well as demonic counterfeits of it.</span></b><br />
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If you never studied the Bible, this is a good time to begin, for we might not have the Bible available, at least legally, for very much longer. <span style="color: #274e13;"><b>Jesus said to us 2000 years ago to watch the fig tree. <span style="color: red;">The fig three is Israel, and it has been budding for the past 60 years.</span> </b></span><b>He said that the generation to see it happen will not pass away until all the things He foretells in the Gospel of Matthew (chapter 24) come to pass.</b> Study this and make sure you belong to Him. When you see all of this happening, get ready for what is coming.<br />
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<b>It will not be easy for the followers of Jesus under <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/05/fourth-beast-kingdom-which-is-yet-to.html">the world government pictured in the book of Daniel as the 10 toes</a>.</b> <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>It will be the last world empire made out of 10 world federations; and it is set to be established by the end of 2012.<span style="color: #741b47;"> </span></b></span><span style="color: blue;"><b>Eventually, it will be ruled by one man, the Antichrist, who will be worshiped as divine; and all who oppose him will be persecuted.</b></span> <b>But at the end, Jesus will end the reign of Antichrist. And He will save the world. Nobody else can do that.</b><br />
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<h3 class="subheadlinemain">
Tetrad of Lunar Eclipses and Blood Red Moons</h3>
</div>
<b>The Prophetic SUPER MOON of 2015! (video by eternalrhythmflow)</b>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/dv7KL6EuxEg" width="640"></iframe>
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Total lunar eclipses often make the moon appear red.<br />
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Eclipses in 2018:<br />
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January 31, 2018<br />
[ Lunar: Total ] <br />
February 15, 2018<br />
[ Solar: Partial ] <br />
July 13, 2018<br />
[ Solar: Partial ] <br />
July 27, 2018<br />
[ Lunar: Total ]<br />
August 11, 2018<br />
[ Solar: Partial ]<br />
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<b>In 2014 and 2015 there will be 4 blood moon total lunar eclipses all falling on feast days.</b><br />
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1. Passover, April 15, 2014<br />
2. Tabernacles October 8, 2014<br />
3. Passover, April 4, 2015<br />
4. Tabernacles, September 28, 2015<br />
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What is significant about this? <b>A tetrad of lunar eclipses on feast days has only occurred two times in the last 500 years; 1949/50, and 1967/68. <span style="color: blue;">During each of those tetrads of total eclipses Israel was at war.</span></b><br />
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Though Israel was declared an independent state in 1948, the war with its neighbors began after its first day and lasted for a year. <b>Therefore, the first lunar eclipse of 1949 occurred during this war for the establishment of Israel. </b>The next tetrad began on Passover 1967, <b>which was just six weeks before the Six-Day-War. </b>Therefore, <b>these two significant wars of Israel were covered by each tetrad period.</b><br />
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<b>The time before those tetrads of eclipses on feast days was in 1493/4. </b>In 1492 the Jews were kicked out of Spain. Another interesting fact is that all of these tetrads occurred in Hebrew “pregnant years” or years with 13 months. <b>These facts lead us to wonder if the upcoming tetrad is a sign from God that something significant will occur in 2014/15 in regards to Israel?</b> Will they be involved in another major war at that time, <b>possibly a war with her Arab neighbors where she regains the Temple Mount setting the stage for major events of the end times? </b>This is something to ponder and watch for, and in my opinion <b>gives us a definite indication that the end times are upon us. </b><br />
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<img src="http://i57.tinypic.com/2qd1qbn.jpg" /><br />
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<b>The chart above is the work of Paul Grevas,</b> and he has given his permission to post these charts (there are others at his website) on any social medium. <b>His site is: <a href="http://bloodmoonscoming.com/">http://bloodmoonscoming.com/</a>.</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
My name is Paul Grevas. My wife, Karen of 40 years and I have lived in Helena, Mt. in the same home for the past 38 years. We have three children and are grandparents. I am Greek (and speak and write it fluently). I have been a Statistician my entire working career in Gov’t and the private sector and am now retired. We believe in Almighty God, Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and the Holy Spirit (3=1=Trinity). We believe Jesus was also a “Man” on earth, was crucified, buried and resurrected to our Father in Heaven. We believe he’ll come again twice, in the Rapture before the Tribulation and also at the end of the 7 year Tribulation. We believe that the Bible is truly the inspired word of God and that God does not lie. We believe in John 14:6 totally. We are devout Evangelical Christians who confess the Lord by mouth. I teach and examine Bible Prophecy in relation to today’s current events. Lastly we believe our Creator who created anything and everything that was ever created is presently supplying our world with a plethora of Heavenly SIGNS as a last call, a Clarion call that we are now at the door of the “Edge of Time”.<br />
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<b>The coming Biblical Blood Moon Tetrad is astoundingly Unprecedented and Unique. </b>It is all about the “Astronomy” interpretations of Almighty God. It is 100% not Astrology, etc. which are interpretations of “humans”. We are so absolutely intrigued at the high correlation between Bible Prophecy and the confluence of events converging on the world today all in concert together. This, we believe is no Coincidence, of course not, as God doesn’t do Coincidences, <b>but what he is doing is literally screaming to Grab our Attention with the coming Blood Moons and their “entourage”.</b><br />
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For those of you whose website is large, credible, established, and popular with your viewers, and because our fledgling website is small and new and late for what God is planning in his coming <b>Blood Moons of 2014-2015</b>, I urge you to please consider utilizing your communicative expertise in promoting <b>Graph 8A titled the Lord’s Perfect Tetrad</b> (Matthew 24:14). This graph is astonishing mathematically of how awesome Almighty God truly is. <b>The absolute perfection He has displayed in aligning all these Solar and Lunar Eclipses BEFORE the Tetrad Midpoint to be “exactly” perfect to the number of days AFTER the Tetrad Midpoint is nothing less than Issiah 46:9: </b>(I am God and there is none like Me). <b>And for the Biblical Blood Moons not to happen for another 600 years (2582-2583) as per NASA, can you visualize how short time is. </b>This is the Real Deal, <b>for what Mighty events these Blood Moons foreshadow. </b>(Why else would the previous 7 Tetrads “warn” the world of the greatest events in world history)? The answer is simply Almighty God tells us so.<br />
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<b>With that said, we hereby give our total unfettered permission and encouragement to promote this graph 8A (and all the others). </b>We waive all and every privacy right, copyright, patent, and all other legal rulings and arrangements because time is just too short. Our Lord is coming sooner than we may think, these Heavenly SIGNS tells us so. May you verify and judge this data for yourselves by doing the calculations yourselves. <b>Although it is laborious time wise it is quite simple, all you need is a regular calendar and NASA website dates on all the Eclipses. </b>Don’t believe me, believe 1 John4:1 and you’ll know. May God Bless.</blockquote>
The following are comments about the chart at <a href="http://endtimesforecaster.blogspot.com/2010/03/following-is-excerpt-from-coming.html">http://endtimesforecaster.blogspot.com/2010/03/following-is-excerpt-from-coming.html</a> and <a href="http://www.thetreeofliberty.com/vb/showthread.php?t=198565">http://www.thetreeofliberty.com/vb/showthread.php?t=198565</a>:<br />
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<b>The point is that all the full lunar eclipses,</b> beginning with December 21, 2010 and going until January 21, 2019 - and all the partial eclipses from January 4, 2011 and going to January 6, 2019 - <b>are PERFECTLY CENTERED on the midpoint - January 5, 2015 - of this current blood moon tetrad.</b><br />
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<b>This has literally never happened before - if Nasa's data is accurate - in the last 5000 years. </b>If you study his other charts at his site, <b>you will see that the previous blood moon tetrads that fell on feast dates are building to THIS ONE.</b><br />
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<b>So, it's not just that there are four blood moons that fall on the biblical feast dates. It's that ALL lunar eclipses, partial and full, from December 21, 2010 to January 21, 2019 are literally in absolute perfect symmetry around these current blood moons.</b><br />
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<b>If you will go and check out his 8B chart, you will see that the solar eclipses are also involved,</b> falling on biblically important days.<br />
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This is beyond astonishing. How can it be anything other than a sign? <b>"There will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars." </b><br />
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There were THREE total solar eclipses, falling on exactly Av 1 in 2008, 2009 and 2010<b>. The lunar eclipse that starts the chart above is the very next eclipse that falls after that total solar eclipse of July 11, 2010.</b> It's as though God was shouting via the heavens that something is coming - pay attention! <br />
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<b>Blood moons falling on the exact start of biblical feast days has happened eight times in the last 2000 years:</b><br />
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1. 162-163<br />
2. 795-796<br />
3. 842-843<br />
4. 860-861<br />
5. 1493-1494<br />
6. 1949-1950<br />
7. 1967-1968<br />
8. 2014-2015<br />
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<b>And, having the full and partial eclipses leading up to and after the tetrad, as in the 2014-2015 one, being in exact symmetry, has never happened before in the last 5,000 years.</b> That is the point of the chart. <br />
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I have been following the Blood Moon subject with interest because I do believe that the <b>Biblical reference to the sun/sackcloth and moon/blood is referring to eclipses as signs of the approach of day of the Lord. </b><br />
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<b>Use the actual maximum eclipse time, not just the date. If you allow the end date (January 5, 2015) to be any time the moon is visible that day, it works out. </b>You will get days plus some hours. Those hours to into the next day. For example, the one where you have 89 is actually 89 plus some hours into the 90th day. It would appear that is the way the guy did the chart, with actual eclipse time. <br />
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<b>Using the NASA time of greatest eclipse for both sides of that particular entry 11/25/2011 and 2/15/2018 and changing it to my CST and using the end time of 7:32 a.m. on January 5, 2015, which is one minute before the moon sets here in my area, the two turn out to be:</b><br />
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<b>11/25/11 - 1137 days, 7 hours, 29 minutes</b><br />
<b>2/15/18 - 1137 days, 7 hours, 20 minutes.</b><br />
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<b>Pretty darn near symmetrical in my book.</b><br />
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In fact, (I know this is extreme, but I tend to lean this way), I bet if I had the exact time of greatest eclipse for my town as I was able to have for the moonset, the two would be identical.<br />
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And, with the hours into the next day, you'd write it as 1138 days, exactly as he has it on the chart. <br />
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The fact three of these moons are visible to the Anglo-Saxon people and only One will be visible in Jerusalem ought to trigger some questions, don't you think? Ponder this fact, THREE is God''s number of finality. These moons are warnings. To whom?<b> These are the FINAL warnings. Something important begins to happen thereafter. <span style="color: red;">2015 will be the Third "land rest cycle" since 9/11/01. </span></b>Is that possibly significant? Did I dig out any thing? <br />
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I haven't checked all the dates, but the ones I have are symmetrical down to minutes.<br />
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Remember, if you're going to check this for yourself, you need to use the exact time for maximum eclipse - not just the date. For the midpoint, I chose a time when the moon was up in my area on January 5 - again, using an actual time, not just the date. For me, here, the moon is up from midnight to 7:32 a.m. on January 5.<br />
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I am looking forward to the Supermoon in September 2015. That will be something to behold! <br />
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<b>It seems the mid-point of January 5, 2015 is the mid point of *something* but who knows what? I've tried to find out what the date would be if we back tracked 1260 days (3.5 years) from January 5, 2015 but I can't find that date.</b><br />
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<b>Answer: July 25,2011. It was a Monday.</b><br />
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<b>The years for the start time of The Tribulation, of 2014, 2015 and 2016 are interesting because of the four Blood Red Moons in 2014/2015 — The Tetrad of Blood Red Moons on God’s Feast Days – This could be a Significant Sign and may not happen again for another 500 Years. </b><br />
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<b>We are currently in the 70th Jubilee cycle since the very first Jubilee, which occurred when Joshua led the children of Israel into the promised land and liberated it from the Canaanites. </b>The beginning of that liberation was heralded with the blowing of the Yobel rams horns. The word "Jubilee" comes from Yobel. At the blowing of the seventh trumpet, the walls of Jericho collapsed.<br />
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<b>70 is a prophetic number. </b>Daniel the prophet spoke of 70 sevens that must be fulfilled in order for redemption to come. Jeremiah the prophet spoke of 70 years of judgment in which Israel would be enslaved to Babylon. The enslavement, by the way, occurred because Israel did not keep the statutes of the Jubilee. The noble class would not let the serfs go free. Therefore the nobles were enslaved to their worst enemy, Babylon.<br />
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<b>I would suggest that the 70th Jubilee is extra significant in that the real estate of the whole planet will be returned to its original owner, the Creator. </b>2015 could be the year!<br />
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<b>So what happens before then? Jesus said there would be a time of great tribulation worse than any other time in history.</b> Don't think Satan is going to be nice about giving back the planet to the Creator. This will be WW III.<br />
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<b>IF (big if)....2015 is the year of Jubilee (beginning in September of that year), then the beginning of the great tribulation would be 1260 prior to that, which is the Passover season in April 2012.</b><br />
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If you read Isaiah 9-10/11...the prophecy holds true...according to the Shmita..<b>.the next 7 years will end on Sept 13, 2015. It will the 3rd and final warning from The Lord (9/11/2001 and 2008 financial collapse the first two).</b><br />
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<b>Consider the Pole shifting of the Moon in January 2012, and this is what I have contributed to part of the awakening phenomenon. </b>Our minds, I believe are influenced by magnetic polarity but only the Earth's magnetic flux is of the greatest strength, and I do see a parallel to the Law of God in nature, as well, and by using Magnetism to illustrate it.<br />
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The imagery of 144,000 may be seen in our present politics.<b> The image of the elect is 144,000 and may be symbolic in nature, </b>and with this idea we can see this image in our world. For examples, the image for God's elect is 144 in this example of imagery. Then we have counterfeiting of this imagery used by Satan as he manipulates his followers; his workmen use the same image as a counterfeit in a brainwashing conspiracy that does have influence on human DNA and our spiritual mind.<b> This image of 144 is also seen in 1,144 delegates, </b>it may be seen in the Presidential figure of the male and female, the President and his First Lady-wife.<b> The First Lady claims the image of 1 by becoming the Fourth Reich (secretly) and her law makers-congressmen claim the image of the elect who are God's law makers. The current President is the 44th and together, he and his wife form the image of 144, which is a counterfeit for the authentic Elect law makers who are chosen by God and not chosen by man.</b>1,144 U.S. delegates must approve of the Presidential candidates each election period, and this indicates that the woman and her corrupted law makers are manipulating this, entirely.There's much more but time won't allow. God bless you all who do understand. :)<br />
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<b>Verses 19 to 24 strongly suggest a very nasty worldwide socialist revolution some time during the 2013 - 2015 estimated time frame.</b> After the Wormwood dust settles (Rev 8), the Illuminati socialists divide the world into ten New World Order administrative regions (“ten horns” or “ten kings” verse 24).<br />
<a href="http://www.millenniumprophecy.com/The_Antichrist.html">http://www.millenniumprophecy.com/The_Antichrist.html</a><br />
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<span style="color: red;"><b>A total lunar eclipse will take place on July 27, 2018. The moon will pass through the center of the Earth's shadow.</b></span><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/jan2011/jimh18.htm">"Bull’s-eye Blood Moon"</a></b><br />
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Celestial Events corresponding to history and the Bull’s-eye Blood Moon.<br />
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All lunar eclipses are not the same,<br />
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- Some of them are total eclipses that turn the entire moon blood red.<br />
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- Some of them are central lunar eclipses, like hitting the “bull’s-eye” of a dartboard.<br />
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- Some of them are visible from certain areas of the earth i.e. Jerusalem.<br />
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- Some total eclipses fall in patterns of two, three or four.<br />
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- A set of four total lunar eclipses in a row is referred to as a Tetrad.<br />
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- Some of them correspond with Jewish Holidays described in the Bible..<br />
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Applying the Jewish Feasts as described in the Bible as a sort of filter for these celestial events, there is a remarkable correlation between these lunar eclipses and historic events regarding the Nation of Israel.<br />
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For example, there are three Tetrads falling within a current 66 year period that all occur on Jewish holidays. This is the last such sequence for over three hundred years. There have been 33 central “bulls-eye” lunar eclipses in the past century, 18 of them fall on Jewish holidays, 6 on high holidays and only one is within a Jewish Tetrad. That one is Passover, Apr 13 1949 which is also the first eclipse of the Jewish Tetrad coincident with the beginning of the Jewish Nation of Israel.<br />
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The last Jewish Tetrad happens to be bracketed perfectly by two central lunar eclipses which naturally define both a seven year period according to Daniel 9 and a seventy year period according to Luke 21:32, and Psalms 90:10.<br />
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And as a final note ALL of the eclipses that fall on high holidays, happen to be visible from Jerusalem.<br />
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So here is the history…<br />
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May 15th 1948: The State of Israel is declared beginning a war with six Arab armies.<br />
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Jewish Tetrad: 1949 - 1950<br />
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1949 Apr 13, Passover “Bull’s-eye Blood Moon”, // 1949 Oct 07, Tabernacles //1950 Apr 02, Passover //1950 Sep 26, Tabernacles<br />
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April 3rd –July 20th 1949: The armistice is signed, Israel doubles their landmass.<br />
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Jewish Tetrad: 1967 - 1968<br />
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1967 Apr 24, Passover-- 1967 Oct 18, Tabernacles -- 1968 Apr 13, Passover --1968 Oct 06, Tabernacles<br />
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7 June 1967: Jerusalem captured in the six day war.<br />
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And future events…<br />
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2011 June 15th, central lunar eclipse, “Bull’s-eye Blood Moon”, directly in line with Jerusalem.<br />
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Jewish Tetrad: 2014 - 2015<br />
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2014 Apr 15, Passover -- 2014 Oct 08, Tabernacles -- 2015 Apr 04, Passover -- 2015 Sep 28, Tabernacles<br />
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2018 July 27th Tu B’Av, central lunar eclipse, “Bull’s-eye Blood Moon”, directly in line with Jerusalem.<br />
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Time line (Luke 21:32, Psalms 90:10, Dan 9)<br />
1948 + 70 years = 2018<br />
1968 + 50 years = 2018<br />
2011 + 7 years =2018<br />
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The plan for the Palestinian State<br />
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After the 1967 Six Day War several Israeli leaders argued against turning the armistice lines into permanent borders on the grounds of Israeli security:<br />
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Prime Minister Golda Meir said the pre-1967 borders were so dangerous that it "would be treasonable" for an Israeli leader to accept them.<br />
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The Foreign Minister Abba Eban said the pre-1967 borders have "a memory of Auschwitz".<br />
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Prime Minister Menachem Begin described a proposal for a retreat to the pre-1967 borders as "national suicide for Israel."<br />
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The US, PA, UN, EU, Arab league, and Vatican have ALL declared support for a two-state solution to “The Palestinian Problem”, with the declaration of statehood defined by the pre-1967 borders, this is expected to happen by August 2011. [see comments above for February 4, 2011 and November 29, 2012 ]<br />
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The last two Jewish Tetrads marked significant events concerning Israel. Will the last one define the final seven year period before Messiah returns? If so it was written in the heavens at creation and in the Bible for over two thousand years.<br />
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2011 June 15th, central lunar eclipse, “Bull’s-eye Blood Moon”, directly in line with Jerusalem.<br />
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Jewish Tetrad: 2014 - 2015<br />
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2014 Apr 15, Passover -- 2014 Oct 08, Tabernacles -- 2015 Apr 04, Passover -- 2015 Sep 28, Tabernacles<br />
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2018 July 27th Tu B’Av, central lunar eclipse, “Bull’s-eye Blood Moon”, directly in line with Jerusalem.<br />
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Time line (Daniel 9)<br />
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June 2011 + (2520 Days + 30 Days + 45 Days) = July 2018<br />
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I am not saying anything will happen, what I am saying is you won’t have too long to wait to find out, watch for yourself.<br />
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Keep looking up! Luke 21<br />
Michael Welman<br />
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----------------------end of email------------------------<br />
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I did verify the blood moon dates using StarryNight and they are correct.<br />
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June 15 2011(Blood moon) to July 23, 2018 is 2595 days (1260 + 1335 days given to us in the Book of Daniel) and just 4 days later is July 27, 2018 (Blood moon) a total of 2599 days.<br />
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From and including: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 blood moon over Jerusalem at approx 1030pm.<br />
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To, but not including : Friday, July 27, 2018 blood moon over Jerusalem at approx 1030pm.<br />
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It is 2599 days from the start date to the end date, but not including the end date<br />
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I am not certain what this all means but find it very, very interesting to say the least.<br />
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JIMH<br />
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<h3 class="subheadlinemain">
<a href="http://theelects.org/index.php/prophecies-in-psalms" target="_blank">7 Years Tribulation - The Last Generation</a></h3>
<img src="http://i57.tinypic.com/2cici0n.jpg" />
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<br />
TheElects.org<br />
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FACTS: Did you know that the Book of Psalms is number 19 in the bible? So if we put the pieces together, we can see the outline for the above, correlating to the years and numbering in the Psalms.<br />
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I will explain so that you will grow in faith, unto <i>Christ Jesus </i>the Lord, even unto understanding, and, <i>know</i> that we are living in the <i>last days</i>.<br />
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Lets <i>start</i> <i>with </i>Psalm 41:9 <b>: Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up <i>his</i> heel against me. </b><br />
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Here you can see that Italy (<i>Also </i>the country shaped like a boot/heel) was an ally with the U.S. and Britain during WW1, they ate the same bread, but turned and declared war against the United States. <br />
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Next <i>is </i>Psalm 43 in 1: Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.<br />
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Here <i>in </i>Psalm 43, we can see this is referring to Germany, during Hitler's dictatorship. <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
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I am sure <i>you </i>remember the Holocaust during World War 2, <i>that </i>during the year of 1944, it was when the greatest slaughter of the Jews was made, as written in 22: Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 12pt;">
<i>Here </i>in Psalm 45:1 My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. </div>
We <i>know</i> that in 1945<i>, </i>it is when the war was over, and throughout Psalm 45 prophecies are written of <i>this</i>, and especially concerning of having the "pen" as unto being ready to sign the peace agreement. <br />
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Now in <i>Psalm </i>46:9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.<br />
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You can see clearly, war <i>has </i><i>already</i> ended and peace is upon the earth. This <i>is</i> the first year of peace after the war was over <i>in </i>1945.<br />
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<i>Psalm </i>47:4 He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah. <br />
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There in Psalm 47, you can see the plan <i>of </i><a href="http://theelects.org/index.php/israels-birth-1948" target="_blank" title="Israel's Birth Prophecies"><i>Israel's birth</i></a>, when the United Nations was set to to establish<br />
Israel as a nation.<br />
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<i>In </i>Psalm <i>48 are </i>prophecies of Israel's birth, where when Israel was a nation, the world marvelled, and those surrounding Arab nations were troubled when they saw it.<br />
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<b>They saw <i>it, and</i> so they marvelled; they were troubled, <i>and</i> hasted away.<br /> </b><br />
<b>Fear took hold upon them there, <i>and</i> pain, as of a woman in travail. </b><br />
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<i>Now</i> <i>that</i> concludes <i>the</i> comparison to the<i> </i><a href="http://theelects.org/index.php/last-7-years" target="_blank" title="Last 7 years of World History"><i>last 7 years</i></a><i>,</i> but it works in a backward<i> </i>style as <i>you</i> can <i>see</i> in this picture below and above. Likewise<i> </i>for the 7 years comparison, you see <i>3 1/2 year</i>s of tribulation first, since 1941, <i>then 3 1/2</i> years of Peace to Israel's birth. But for these last days, it's 3 1/2 <i>years</i> of peace, <i>then </i>3 1/2 years of tribulation unto a "New Jerusalem" when <i>Christ Jesus</i> the Lord that <i>shall</i> <i>return </i>in 2018. <br />
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<i>As </i>for the <a href="http://theelects.org/index.php/last-7-years/2010-war-between-israel-and-the-arab" target="_blank" title="Prophecies in 2010"><i>Prophecies in 2011</i></a> <i>and forward</i>, those <i>are</i> shown in the other articles. I pray that you<i> </i>will read them so that you will be <i>prepared</i><i> for </i>the things in which shall come, in which you shall endure unto the end.<br />
God bless <i>you</i> always, <i>in</i> <i>Christ</i> <i>Jesus</i>, I pray <i>that</i> this <i>will help </i>you to grow in faith and to believe that the Psalms contains the prophecies that are written, concerning the last days even <i>until the end</i>.<br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="70 years" border="0" src="http://theelects.org/images/70%20Years.png" height="107" title="70 Years" width="874" /></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;">My brothers <i>and </i>sisters, the time <i>of Christ Jesus</i> the Lord return <i>is </i>near. <b>He has left us <i>with MANY </i>similitude <i>throughout </i>history to <i>give </i>us signs of the end, <i>a sign</i> of the return <i>of Christ Jesus</i> the Lord <i>in 2018.</i> </b>We cannot deny these <i>truths </i>and cast them away as coincidence but instead they <i>are </i>living examples of what will take place in <i>the times </i>to come. <i>Remember </i>this, the True Word of <i>God </i>will not pass away.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/search/label/World%20War%20III">The Middle East crisis will lead to World War III.</a> Antichrist will appear at the end of WWIII<a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20New%20Temple%20Will%20Be%20Rebuilt%20for%20Antichrist%20Not%20Jesus%20Christ"></a>. A one-world government with a <a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/">one-world religion</a> will be established, the <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#antichrist">anti-Christian kingdom</a> prophesied in chapter 13 of the <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#outline">book of Revelation</a>. This one-world power <a href="http://resurrectionofdamnation.blogspot.com/2010/12/learn-lessons-of-hitlers-amazing-rise.html">will offer apparent peace and security to a world in chaos</a>. The devil, Satan, will establish his earthly kingdom for "a little season," so that he as God will stand in the holy place, showing himself that he is God, and he will deceive many with his signs and wonders.<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them. (1 Thessalonians 5:3)</span></span></div>
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The goal of the <a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/#newjerusalem" onclick="'alert(" target="_blank">New Jerusalem Covenant Project</a> is to create the plan by which Antichrist can solve the <a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/">Middle East crisis</a>; Antichrist will use this crisis to stage his appearance in the world. Antichrist is supposed to appear at the end of the Middle East crisis (<a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/search/label/World%20War%20III">World War III</a>). The prophetic reality of Daniel 9:24-27, Matthew 24:15 and Revelation 11:1-12 is that the <a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/#temple">new Temple will be built after World War III</a> and will produce the Man of Sin. Thus, the Illuminati plans to destroy the Dome of the Rock during the World War III fighting so that their Antichrist can rebuild Solomon's Temple. This reality means that Arabs will retain control over the <a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/search/label/Temple%20Mount%20in%20Jerusalem">Temple Mount</a> until the moment Antichrist comes to the world scene and seizes it for the Jews so his temple can be created. "Peace and safety" will be heralded, and the leaders of the major nations will be busy taking credit for their "brilliant" leadership that seemingly finally solved the deeply engrained religious strife in and around Jerusalem that has plagued mankind for the past 1,400 years. - David Bay, <a href="http://www.cuttingedge.org/newsletters/newsalertarchives/newsalert-August-24-2009.htm">Cutting Edge Ministries</a></div>
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According to Pastor Tom McElmurry of <a href="http://www.tribulationperiod.com/pu/pu320.html" target="_blank">tribulationperiod.com</a>:<br />
<ol>
<li>Israel shall be attacked by Islamic forces 1335 days (1260 + 30 + 45 = 1335) before the end of the Tribulation Period: Syria, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, Hizbullah and Sudan will lure the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) to push north into Lebanon so as to make Israel appear as the aggressor in Middle East war, which is likely to start prior to 2015.</li>
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<li>30 days later the "two witnesses" shall begin their testimony in Jerusalem.</li>
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<li>45 days later Jerusalem shall fall as the IDF withdraws south to Beersheba and the United Nations brokers a truce or hudna agreed to by Islam and Israel.</li>
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<li>Israel shall remain surrounded in the Negev Wilderness for some 1260 days after the truce agreement.</li>
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<li>Some 45 days before the end of the Age of the Gentiles, the two witnesses shall be killed by the Antichrist after having testified for 42 months (1260 days).</li>
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<li>The Antichrist will declare himself to be God on the <a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/search/label/Temple%20Mount%20in%20Jerusalem">Temple Mount</a> – this is the abomination “that maketh desolate.”</li>
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<li>Three and one half days later, three events shall occur in rapid succession (all three shall occur on the same day, which marks the end of the Tribulation Period):</li>
<ul><br />
<li>The two witnesses shall ascend up to heaven through the clouds.</li>
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<li>A great earthquake shall occur in the same hour that the two witnesses depart.</li>
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<li>The seventh and last trumpet shall sound, and all the saved shall be caught up in the clouds.</li>
</ul>
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<li>All the saved shall be judged in heaven while the seven vials of God’s wrath are poured out upon unbelievers on earth.</li>
</ol>
Some three and one-half years after the initial attack of Islamic forces against Israel, the war has a happy ending for believers because then comes Jesus and His Kingdom! And “the words of God shall be fulfilled”!<br />
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<span style="color: #996633; font-family: trebuchet ms; font-size: 85%;"><span style="color: #990000;">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. (1 Thessalonians 4)</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;">And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: even Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. (2 Thessalonians 2:8-9)</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;">"But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give Her light, and the stars of Heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in Heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall He send His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of Heaven." (Mark 13:24-27)</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;">That in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him. (Ephesians 1:10)</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Behold, I shew you a mystery;</span> <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/2009/03/after-death-what-cometh-following-is.html" target="_blank">we shall not all sleep</a><span style="color: #990000;">, 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. (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;">And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they? And I said unto Him, Sir, thou knowest. And He said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Revelation 7:13-17) </span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.theelects.org/index.php/israels-birth-1948" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Israels Re-Birth - 1948</a><br />
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We begin here as a guide to show to you the importance of Israel's birth and the prophecies concerning its creation in 1948. Israel proclaimed its statehood on May 14, 1948, but officially came into being on the May 15, 1948, when the entire world recognized Israel as a nation. When Israel become a nation again, it was a sign that we are living in the end-times.<i></i> <br />
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Understand this parable as it is written in Matthew:24:32: <b></b><br />
<blockquote style="font-weight: normal;">
<b>"Now learn a parable of the fig tree: when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh." </b></blockquote>
Israel is the key to the end-times prophecies, as we can begin to look for the similitude in prophecies.<br />
Let us look at the beginning, in the prophecies concerning the 70 weeks of Daniel in Chapter 9:2:<br />
<blockquote>
"In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem."</blockquote>
Here we can see that after its destruction by the Babylonians, Israel needed 70 years of "desolation" to atone for its sins before it could be rebuilt, as it is written in Daniel 9:2. We see Israel's birth after the 70 years of atonement. Then in 70 AD, Israel was again destroyed as prophesied in the Gospel, through Christ Jesus the Lord, as written in Matthews 24:2:<br />
<blockquote>
<i></i>"And Christ 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'."</blockquote>
Let us fast forward to when Israel was created in 1948, also prophesied in Psalm 48 as written in verses 4-6: <br />
<blockquote>
"For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail."</blockquote>
Concerning the number 70, when we add 70 years from Israel's birth, we come to the end, which is in 2018, the Last Generation.<br />
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The Last Generation that Christ spoke about concerning the end-times is the generation born into this world when Israel was created in 1948. And, more importantly, one generation is 70 years, so Christ Jesus the Lord reveals to us that we are the ones that shall witness the fulfillment of all these things<br />
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Starting in 1948, there will be 70 years of living in sin before judgment and a new Jerusalem is made, ending in 2018 when our Christ Jesus the Lord shall return.<br />
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-TheElects.org</div>
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<a href="http://daniels70weeksprophecy.com/Presentation%2003%20This%20Generation%20will%20not%20Pass.pdf" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Could Christ Return in 2018?</a><br />
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For an excellent presentation by Barry John on why Christ may return mid 2017 - mid 2018, click <a href="http://daniels70weeksprophecy.com/Presentation%2003%20This%20Generation%20will%20not%20Pass.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> (PDF) or <a href="http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:ia0bFLVHimoJ:daniels70weeksprophecy.com/Presentation%252003%2520This%2520Generation%2520will%2520not%2520Pass.pdf+will+christ+return+in+2018&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESj7B-nepulIK2xvMyQHr_JOKmYVcdif-U8GLwT9kwnPnE9Nvgo8731LsckaHdlpRcXt4IOTSfGdV73_SEfLaWn2e4NApoUuV4a0i8XEU_wT3nH04K5tTY8VrTVdH1TFLNb6uWPw&sig=AHIEtbRTttEpxOWtrD3myZEOOy0UFqWcBw&pli=1" target="_blank">here</a> (quick view).<br />
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<a href="http://www.christian-forum.net/index.php?showtopic=32715" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">I Firmly Believe Christ Would Return By 2018 Or Even Sooner</a><br />
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By 3rdAdam, christian-forum.netm Christian-Forum.net<br />
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I'm not a Bible or prophecy expert, but I know a little bit about the fig tree parable and the last generation prophecy. From these two phrases in the bible, we can determine the season of Christ's return; and if we can determine the season, then we can determine the year.<br />
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God gives us four seasons of about three months each. So, if we know the first day of Spring, then we know the Summer season will be only about three months away, the same as with the season of Christ's return.<br />
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I believe we all agree that the sign of the fig tree and the beginning of the last generation is when Israel became a nation in 1948. So, we know that the start date of the four seasons is May 14, 1948. Then from one season to the next is only three months away. The three months that I'm talking about are calculated from the generation year. The generation could be 20, 30, 40, 70, 80 or 100 years. I know God loves number 7, so I'm going to use 70 years as the last generation year. 70 divided by 4 equals 17.5 years, so each season lasts about 17 years.<br />
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From the above calculation and assumption, I believe we are in the last season of Christ's return.<br />
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Let's look at it from another point of view:<br />
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First season: 1948 + 17 = 1965<br />
Second season: 1965 + 17 = 1982<br />
Third season: 1982 + 17 = 1999<br />
Fourth season: 1999 + 17 = 2016<br />
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Now we have to factor in the 0.5 year, and there are four of them, which is two years. Therefore, the fourth season should last until 2018.<br />
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Now if we factor in other prophecies, then seven years of tribulation will begin in 2011.<br />
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I believe God doesn't want us to be clueless of when He will return. And I believe that it is not in His nature to keep us in the dark.</div>
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<a href="http://mountainretreatorg.net/bibleit/bibleit.cgi?book=Matthew" target="blank">Matthew 24-25</a> and <a href="http://mountainretreatorg.net/bibleit/bibleit.cgi?passage=Revelation+6" target="blank">Revelation Chapter 6</a> indicate what should be expected if we have truly entered this period. Here are some of the indicators:<br />
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<a href="http://shoehurlers.blogspot.com/search/label/Earthquakes" target="blank">Earthquakes</a><br />
Economic Collapse: inflation/deflation<br />
Violence: riots, revolutions, crime<br />
Religious Persecution<br />
Starvation / Hunger<br />
<a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/" target="blank">War</a>: World, Nuclear, Middle East<br />
Destruction of Damascus (<a href="http://mountainretreatorg.net/bibleit/bibleit.cgi?passage=Isaiah+17" target="blank">Isaiah 17</a>)<br />
Mass Death<br />
Signs in the Sun<br />
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All of this could happen over a period of weeks, even days; but a more likely scenario is over a period of months to a few years. However, one sign that should happen relatively quickly is the “<a href="http://www.heisnear.com/SYRIAinTheEndTimes.html">destruction of Damascus</a>.”<br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: arial; font-size: 85%;">"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." (Matthew 24:36)<br /> </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: arial; font-size: 85%;">"Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." (Matthew 25:13)<br /> </span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: arial; font-size: 85%;">"But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." (Mark 13:32)</span><br />
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Jesus says the Father only knows the day and hour when <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/" target="blank">the Son will return in the clouds of heaven</a>. Yet Jesus gives us the signs to look for when the end of the age is approaching, and he tells us that the generation to see these signs shall not pass till all these things be done. According to the analysis by Rafael presented in the video above, we may have only seven years left before Jesus returns. This interpretation is in concurrence with that of Pastor Tom McElmurry, who believes that Israel will go to war with Islamic forces in the Middle East before 2015, and that Jesus will return some three and one-half years after that, which would be in 2018.<br />
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<span style="color: #996633; font-size: 85%;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: trebuchet ms;">"Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." (Matthew 24:34)</span><br /><span style="color: #990000; font-family: trebuchet ms;">"Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done." (Mark 13:30)</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="color: #990000;">"Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled." (Luke 21:32)</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;">And He said unto the disciples,</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">"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.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">And they shall say to you, 'See here; or, see there:' go not after them, nor follow them.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">For as the lightning that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven;</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">So shall also the Son of man be in His day.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage,</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot;</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed."</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">(Luke 17:22-30)</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;">This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets,</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">And of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">And saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.'</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">For this they willingly are ignorant of,</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">That by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store,</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as</span> <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#thousand" target="blank">a thousand years</a><span style="color: #990000;">, and a thousand years as one day.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness;</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">But is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">But </span><a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#dayofthelord" target="blank">the day of the Lord</a> <span style="color: #990000;">will come as a thief in the night;</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">In the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat,</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Survivalism" target="_blank">looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God</a>,</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation;</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood,</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Ye therefore, beloved, </span><a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#sixthseal" target="blank">seeing ye know these things before</a><span style="color: #990000;">,</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.</span><br /><span style="color: #990000;">(2 Peter, Chapter 3)</span></span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6354143865375585988.post-89763551696772605062012-10-25T01:34:00.000-04:002012-12-03T18:40:08.422-05:00<div id="headline">
<h2 class="headlinemain" style="text-align: center;" title="Permanent Link to The Third Temple:When Will It Be Built for Antichrist Not Jesus Christ">
The Third Temple Will Be Built for Antichrist Not Jesus Christ</h2>
<h3 class="story_header">
<a href="http://www.kenraggio.com/KRPN-TheThirdTemple.htm">The Third Temple: When Will It Be Built? (Excerpt)</a></h3>
</div>
<b>Building a Stage for Antichrist
<br />
<br />
By Ken Raggio</b><br />
<br />
<i>This article was first written in 1996 following my return from Israel and the first election of Benjamin Netanyahu. It is now updated to March, 2012. </i>
<br />
<br />
[...]<br />
<br />
<b>It
is truly shocking to contemplate the reality that such historical
Biblical sites such as Bethelehem, Nazareth, Hebron, Jericho, and
Galilee will be taken away from Israel with the declaration of a
Palestinian state.
</b><br />
<br />
George Bush and Condoleezza Rice pushed as hard as possible for a
Palestinian State and an imminent final status agreement for Jerusalem.
Now, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are turning the heat up on Israel.
<b>This certainly will have a bearing on the future status of the Temple
Mount, and the prospects for the Third Temple. <span style="color: #783f04;">More and more people
believe that the Palestinian Authority</span></b> (PA) will take East Jerusalem. <b>But hopefully, for the
religious Jews,</b> <span style="color: red;"><b><span style="color: #274e13;">when that happens, there will be negotiated trade-offs
favoring Jewish rights to worship on the Temple Mount</span>. </b></span>We know from
Bible prophecy that this absolutely must eventually happen.
<br />
<br />
Notwithstanding, one missile strike, one car bomb, or one election can
radically reroute every one of these eventualities without notice, and
in either political direction.
<br />
<br />
<b>Christians have an interest in Jerusalem and Israel</b>
<br />
<br />
Christians around the world are affected by events in Israel. How? For
one thing, they are looking for signs pointing to the second return of
Jesus Christ.
<br />
<br />
<b>Perhaps one of the most significant signs they look for is the
reconstruction of the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah (the Third Temple),
and the re-instituting of Old Testament sacrifices. <span style="color: #783f04;">This would be
followed, prophetically, by the appearance of Man of Sin (Antichrist) in
the Temple to shut it all down again <span style="font-size: x-small;">-</span> to call an end to prayers and
sacrifices. </span></b><span style="color: #741b47;"><b>This is called the Abomination that makes desolate, or the
Abomination of Desolation</b> </span>(Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians
2:2).
<br />
<br />
A great deal of interest has been stirred by the making ready of a <b>qualified red heifer</b> for the re-instituting of holy sacrifices on the Temple Mount. In my last trip to Israel, <b>Rabbi Chaim Richman</b> of the <b>Temple Institute</b> mentioned that there was a red heifer named <b>"Geula"</b> being
hidden. <b>This may be the very calf that will be used to sanctify the Temple Mount for the Third Temple.
</b><br />
<br />
In the 1990s, <b>Yitzak Rabin</b> and <b>Shimon Peres</b> had just about "given away the store" (land give-aways) to achieve peace with their Arab neighbors led by <b>Yasser
Arafat</b>. The likelihood of the Third Temple being built seemed to be
diminishing, with Israel having less say, <b>and United Nations having more
say in the control of Jerusalem and its holy sites.
</b><br />
<br />
<b>Now, with increasing pressure from just about every world power,</b> Israel
is being forced to fight for its real estate, and ultimately, its very
existence. <b>Shimon
Peres</b>, at 84, became the President of Israel. <b>He has been one of the
principal brokers of land for peace, </b><span style="color: red;"><b>and he may be the one who finally
sits down with Abbas
for an East Jerusalem (and by default, a Temple Mount) solution.</b></span> I
strongly suspect that we will see Tony Blair and Shimon Peres at a
negotiating table eventually, if Peres survives long enough.
<br />
<br />
"<b>Peres</b>" is the Hebrew word for "<b>divided</b>." It is the word
the Prophet Daniel saw in Belshazzar's court when his kingdom was
divided.<b> <span style="color: #783f04;">I suspect that Peres may be here for a prophetic role -
permanently dividing Israel by declaring a Palestinian State.</span></b> If not
Peres and Blair, it will certainly be somebody eventually. Peres' legacy
of division will certainly endure after he is gone.
<br />
<br />
<b>Arafat vowed to have Jerusalem</b>
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #990000;">The late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat vowed to make Jerusalem the capital
of a Palestinian state, and never to relinquish control of the Temple
Mount. </span><span style="color: #b45f06;">Since Arafat's death, the Palestinian Authority, led by Mahmoud
Abbas has struggled with their opposition brethren in the Hamas and
Hezbollah terrorist organizations.</span></b> <b>Abbas allowed Hamas to take full
control of the Gaza Strip, and dissolve the unity government between
Fatah and Hamas. </b>This resulted in Fatah having what appears to be a
better opportunity of taking full control over the West Bank.
<br />
<br />
<b>As early as December 2007, Palestinian television newscasts began
broadcasting maps of all of Palestine WITHOUT the State of Israel
anywhere on the map.</b> Negotiations attempted at Annapolis, Maryland,
under the auspices of George Bush, were fruitless in producing any
meaningful progress. <b>Bush worked furiously to create a Palestinian state
before his presidency ended, but failed.</b> Now, Barack Hussein Obama
shows the strongest anti-Israel sentiments ever seen in a United States
President, and the outcome of that is likely to be to the strong
advantage of the Palestinians. Only God knows when and how these
developments will unfold.
<br />
<br />
<b>In December of 2007, Olmert spoke openly of allowing the Palestinians to
have parts of East Jerusalem. </b>Meanwhile, the radical extremists, Hamas,
drafted a resolution and attempted to pass a law in the Palestinian
Authority that would declare ANY COMPROMISE other than TOTAL CONTROL OF
JERUSALEM an act of treason, punishable by
(presumably) death. It is yet to be seen how far that resolution will
go. It is, however,<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b> the rabid sentiment of the vast majority of
Palestinians that Jerusalem SHOULD be the capital of Palestine.
</b></span><br />
<br />
Any estimated outcome would be purely conjecture at this point.
<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><b>Nevertheless, opportunities may present themselves in the near future
for Abbas to negotiate with Netanyahu to finally bring about a
Palestinian state in the West Bank, and ultimately define what will be
done about East Jerusalem</b></span> <span style="color: #783f04;">- <b><u>settling the final status of Jerusalem and
the Temple Mount</u>.
</b></span><br />
<br />
<b>Bible prophecies say that Jerusalem certainly WILL be divided.</b>
<br />
<br />
"But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it
not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they
tread under foot forty and two months," Revelation 11:2. <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>This verse
indicates that Israel will only control the Temple location
specifically, while Gentiles (i.e., Muslims under UN supervision) retain
control of the rest of the Temple Mount.</b></span> <b><u>It further suggests that
Jerusalem itself will be divided for three and a half years</u>.
</b><br />
<br />
<b>On March 14, 1999, the European Community issued a statement asserting
that Jerusalem is technically an "occupied territory," is NOT the
capital of Israel, and does NOT even belong to Israel. </b>This is a
provocative statement.<b> <u>It leaves the door wide open for non-Jewish
claims on Jerusalem</u>.<span style="color: #783f04;"> Increasingly, the EU is more empathic to the Muslim
side, and more critical of Israel.
</span></b><br />
<br />
<b>At that time, Former Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon responded by saying,<span style="color: #783f04;">
"<u>Our government (Israel<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span>) has no intention of making any concessions whatsoever
regarding the status of Jerusalem</u>. </span>Jerusalem has been the capital of the
Jewish nation for 3000 years now, the capital of the State of Israel
for 50 years, and will remain so for eternity."
</b><br />
<br />
I sat in the General Assembly in the United Nations in New York <b>during
the World Summit of September, 2005 and listened to Ariel Sharon declare
to the world body that </b><a href="http://www.kenraggio.com/KRPN-JerusalemTempleMount.htm" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank"><b>Jerusalem </b>is the<b> "eternal and undivided capital of Israel."</b></a>
<br />
<br />
Only weeks later, Sharon was in a coma, and since that time, very few
voices have echoed that sentiment to protect and preserve Jerusalem.
<br />
<br />
<b>Shimon Peres</b> accompanied Sharon<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>at the UN, and his opposite "land-for-peace" influence has now
replaced Sharon's more conservative, protective stance.
<br />
<br />
<b>Sharon's successor, Ehud Olmert</b> was perceived to
be an ideological successor to Sharon for a while, but it did not take
long for Olmert's polices to shift in a completely opposite stance.
<span style="color: #783f04;"><b>Olmert and Peres were closer to compromising Jerusalem than at any time
in history.
</b></span><br />
<br />
<b>The Jerusalem Issue is certain to flair up into a major conflict in the
near future. </b>Scripturally, we can expect Jerusalem to be increasingly
embattled. <span style="color: #134f5c;"><b><span style="color: #45818e;">Ultimately, Jerusalem will not fall to Israel, the
Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, or Syria.</span> </b></span><b><u>The New World
Order will take control of Jerusalem</u>, and the </b>
<a href="http://kenraggio.com/KRPN-Catholics-Over-Jerusalem.htm" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">
<b>United Nations and the Roman Catholic Church will govern it. (See related article here)</b></a>
<br />
<br />
<b>The Temple Mount Faithful crusade for the Third Temple</b>
<br />
<br />
<img align="middle" alt="ThirdTemple" src="http://kenraggio.com/TempleMount.gif" style="border: 0px solid; height: 179px; padding-left: 20px; width: 332px;" />
<br />
<br />
<b>Gershon Salomon</b>, Chairman of the <b>Temple Mount Faithful (the preeminent
organization in Israel working for the rebuilding of the Third Temple)</b>
opined on the record saying that a <span style="color: #783f04;"><b>Netanyahu government would be good
news for the prospect of the rebuilding of the temple.</b></span> In previous
political campaigns, <b>Netanyahu incorporated into the platform of his
Likud Party, that if he was elected Prime Minister, <span style="color: red;">they would <i>press for the opening of the Temple Mount for Jewish worship</i>.
</span></b><br />
<br />
<b>New Government may help</b>
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /><b><u>Netanyahu's comeback is an positive development in the prospects for a
new Temple</u>.</b></span>
<span style="color: #cc0000;"> </span>Several smaller religious factions also have more power, <b>and
the chance of a historic change on the Temple Mount is definitely
possible.</b> <span style="color: #783f04;"><b>Of course, the prophecy guarantees the Temple will be built,
regardless of the political difficulties, and with or without Netanyahu.
</b></span><br />
<b><br />
On July 12, 1997, the Ministry of Justice (similar to the Justice
Department in the US) announced that it would initiate legal proceedings
to open up the Temple Mount to Jews.<span style="color: #783f04;"> On July 13, 1997 the Associated
Press reported that the Israelis announced their intentions to close the
Muslim office that administrates the Temple Mount.</span></b> These initiatives
went largely unnoticed and unfulfilled, however. <b>If they were truly
pressed to action, they would be developments of staggering potential.
</b><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><b>As recent as February of 2012, rumors began circulating that the Israeli
Government planned to divide the Temple Mount to allow for the freedom
of worship for Jews and Christians.</b></span> <b>This, however, appeared to be a hoax
perpertrated by the Al Aqsa Waqf (the Islamic group which manages the
site) to provoke Muslim jihad.</b>
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #783f04;">The <b>Temple Mount Faithful</b> have the <b>cornerstone</b> ready to
lay.</span> I stood beside that cornerstone on my last trip to Israel and
imagined what it will be like the day that stone is finally set on the
Temple Mount.
<br />
<br />
In addition, the <b>Temple Institute now has all the furniture and priestly garments ready</b> for the Third Temple.
<br />
<br />
<b>The Dome of the Rock will not prevent the Third Temple</b>
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><b>The Temple Mount is now controlled by Muslims.</b></span> <b>The Dome of the Rock and
the al Aqsa Mosque are the only places of worship on the Temple Mount. </b>
Jews and Christians may not pray, worship, or read the Bible aloud on
the Temple Mount.
<br />
<br />
Professor Asher Kaufman of the Hebrew University claims that the <span style="color: #b45f06;"><b><u>Third
Temple could be built next door to the Dome of the Rock without
necessitating a change in that controversial Muslim landmark</u>.</b></span> The small
cupola on the north side of the Temple Mount, called the Dome of the
Spirit, is believed by many to be the actual place where the ancient
Holy of Holies was located in ancient times. <br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Editor's Note: </b>I do not share Mr. Raggio's viewpoint in the next paragraph. <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2012/11/outline-of-book-of-revelation-following.html">Based on my study of the Bible</a>, Christ's return at the sounding of the seventh trump marks the pouring out of the seven vials of God's wrath upon the unjust on earth, the resurrection and reward of the saints (God' people), the judgement of the nations and the battle of Armageddon, the final judgement and resurrection of damnation (the second death) for the '<a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/02/amillennialism-v.html">rest of the dead</a>' (those whose names are not written in the Book of Life), the utter destruction of the earth by fire and the creation of the new heaven and the new earth, the ushering in of eternity with the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, where "the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."</span><br />
<br />
When Jesus Christ returns, HE will build the Millennial Temple,
different from the Third Temple<span style="font-size: x-small;">. </span>There will be NO Dome of the Rock in
that day. The Dome of the Rock is inscribed in the Arabic language with
this saying, "God has no son." Jesus will prove that to be a grave -
fatal - error. The dome will have to go. And it will.
<br />
<br />
<b>Priesthood being verified</b>
<br />
<b><br />
On Sunday, April 4, 1999, at the semi-annual "Priestly Blessing"
ceremony at the Western Wall, a booth was erected nearby for the genetic
testing Kohanim (priests), to see if they have what is now called
"Priestly gene." </b>Subsequently, an American geneticist found that all
Kohanim share a common gene, supporting the belief that they have one
common ancestor (presumably Aaron the Priest).
<br />
<b><br />
Rabbi Nachman Kahane said at the time that 17 Kohanim had already been
tested.</b> Thirteen tested positive, one negative, and three cases were
inconclusive. <b>Now, the Temple Institute has offered all Jews by the name
of Cohen to receive a priestly garment for the new temple.
</b><br />
<br />
<b>The ancient Sanhedrin Revived</b>
<br />
<br />
The ancient seventy elders of Israel, the Sanhedrin, has not existed
since 358 AD. In <b>October 2004, a group of rabbis in Tiberius came
together in an alleged reforming of the Sanhedrin. </b>Their validity has
been controversial, but Arutz-7 published an article on <b>October 13, 2004
announcing that the Sanhedrin had been launched by 71 rabbis - the main
70 plus one extra who would play the lead role, similar to the High
Priest.</b> They claimed legitimacy, based on the rules of the ancient sage,
Maimonides.
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"><b><u>The significance of this, pertaining to the Third Temple, is that we now
have a hierarchy claiming legal jurisdiction over the official
religious matters of Israel</u>.</b></span> <span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>The Sanhedrin could be the most powerful
voice in behalf of the reconstruction of the Temple.</b> <b>Rabbi Chaim Richman
is a member of the Sanhedrin,</b> </span><b>and may be considered by some as the new
High Priest of Israel</b>. As the International Director of the Temple
Institute,<b> he is the most forceful delegate in the world for the
rebuilding of the Third Temple. <span style="color: #783f04;">With the force of the entire Sanhedrin
behind him, we can expect the most serious efforts to be expended to
that end.
</span></b><br />
<br />
<b>Sacrifices begun at Western Wall</b>
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><b>On Passover of 1998, Jewish rabbis conducted animal sacrifices at the
Western Wall (the "wailing wall"), which may have been the first animal
sacrifices conducted at the Temple site since 70 AD.</b></span> <b>It is difficult to
assess the significance of this particular action. </b>Gershon Salomon made
his third unsuccessful attempt to conduct sacrifice on the Temple Mount
itself on April 4, 1999. In 1998, it was made on a nearby hill called
Givat Hananya. Another sacrifice has been performed since then
in a different location.
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><b><u>News releases in April of 2008 state that rabbis are preparing now to
conduct an animal sacrifice in the near future on the Temple Mount
itself</u>.</b> </span><b>This will be a very provocative act, and will probably trigger
an earth-shattering Islamic jihad.</b> It has the potential of escalating
into the worst conflict ever inside Jerusalem, maybe even the whole
world.<b> <u>I cannot imagine anything in the world being more antagonistic to
radical Islam than a Jewish blood sacrifice in the shadow of the Dome
of the Rock</u>. <span style="color: #783f04;">The act itself, however, is probably a necessary precursor
to any sanctified preparations for the Third Temple.
</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><b>Many are now ready to build the Temple.</b></span>
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"><b>There are now champions for the cause within the government itself, more
than have been in many years.</b></span> <b>That is good news for the Temple Mount
Faithful, whose TWO CORNERSTONES for the Third Temple now sit in-waiting
near Gershon Salomon's residence.</b> The original cornerstone that had
been prominently displayed in a busy traffic intersection downtown
Jerusalem was stolen and never recovered.
<br />
<br />
<b>The Temple Institute is Preparing</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>It is also good news for the Temple Institute, whose temple vessels and
priestly robes are in storage, and whose young rabbis are presently in
training for the offices of Temple priests. </b>
<br />
<br />
<b>Chaim Richman</b> of the <b>Temple Institute</b> is readying
architectural building plans, <b><u>and says the building could be built in
less than one year</u>. </b>I sat in a lecture with Rabbi Richman <b>as he told
that the Red Heifer has now been qualified for temple sacrifice. </b>These
truly are ominous times.
<br />
<br />
<b>What does it mean to the Church?</b>
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><b><br />
The Church of Jesus Christ will witness the Antichrist's stand in the
Third Temple, according to 2 Thessalonians 2. </b></span>That event will
precipitate the final three-and-a-half years of Daniel's Seventieth
Week. Why do I say that? Look at those verses from 2 Thessalonians
2:1-4:<br />
<br />
<div style="font-style: italic; margin-left: 40px; text-align: justify;">
Now we beseech you, brethren, by <b>the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him</b>, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that <b>the day of Christ</b> is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for <b>that day shall not come</b>, except there come a <b>falling away</b> first, and that <b>man of sin be revealed</b>, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that <b>he as God sitteth in the temple of God</b>, shewing himself that he is God.
</div>
<br />
NOTICE CAREFULLY what is in those verses. Paul is addressing these subjects:
<br />
<br />
1. The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.<br />
2. <b>Our gathering together unto Him (The Rapture and First Resurrection)</b>.<br />
3. Called here, "the Day of Christ."
<br />
<br />
Paul says "<b>THAT DAY SHALL NOT COME..." until</b>
<br />
<br />
1. there comes a Great Falling Away<br />
2. the <b>Man of Sin is revealed</b>, the Son of Perdition<br />
3. he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God<br />
4. he, as God, <b>sits in the THIRD TEMPLE</b>, showing himself that he is God.
<br />
<br />
What do we learn from these statements?
<br />
<br />
1. The Rapture will NOT take place until there is a Great Falling Away.<br />
2. The Rapture will NOT take place until the Man of Sin (Antichrist) is revealed.<br />
3. The Rapture will NOT take place until the Antichrist sits in the Third Temple.<br />
4. The Church WILL SEE the Antichrist.<br />
5. The Church WILL SEE the Third Temple built.<br />
6. The Church WILL SEE the Abomination of Desolation (see Daniel 9:27).
<br />
<div style="font-style: italic; margin-left: 40px; text-align: justify;">
<br />
<b>And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause
the sacrifice and the oblation to cease</b>, and for the overspreading of <b>abominations he shall make it
desolate, even until the consummation, </b>and that <b>determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
</b></div>
<br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"><b>This gives us the MOST IMPORTANT CLUE about how much time we have left.
</b></span><br />
<br />
<b><u>We will know that the LAST SEVEN YEARS have begun whenever we hear
the news that a SEVEN-YEAR COVENANT has been Confirmed by parties under
the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church</u> (the Roman Prince referred to
in Daniel 9:27).</b>
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><b>We should be watching very carefully the negotiations that are being conducted between</b></span> the <b>UN Quartet led by Tony Blair</b>
with the <b>State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, or any other
multinational governmental authority, such as the Arab League or the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
</b><br />
<br />
Certainly, <b><span style="color: #783f04;"><u>if we hear on the world news outlets that Israel is about
to sign a SEVEN-YEAR AGREEMENT with any of these entities</u>, </span>we should
become very alert to the possibility that this is the Confirmation of
the Covenant</b> spoken of by both Daniel the Prophet and Jesus Christ in Matthew 24.
<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #990000;">If such an agreement is reached, we can be almost certain that within
the following three-and-a-half years the THIRD TEMPLE WILL BE BUILT,</span> and
the Prince of Rome, operating through the Pope, will install the Man of
Sin,</b> <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2008/11/kingdom-of-antichrist-following-is_13.html"><b>the Assyrian Antichrist of Daniel 11</b></a> <b>will appear in it!
</b><br />
<b>We are certainly nearing the end. </b>The clock of prophecy is ticking
toward midnight! Time to prepare our souls for the final events leading
the world to Armageddon.
<br />
<br />
<img src="http://i46.tinypic.com/rr1mvt.jpg" title="Condoleezza Rice at the United Nations in 2005 with the numbers 666 behind her. Notice how the logo below was cleverly designed, celebrating the UN's 60th anniversary, to appear as 666." />
<br />
<br />
<b>You should also know this...</b>
<br />
<br />
From ancient times, God said that He put His name in Jerusalem. Not only
is the Hebrew "shin" inscribed in the landscape terrain of Jerusalem,
but when Jesus returns, God's HIGHEST name, "Jesus" will be declared
King of Kings in the Holy Mountains - Zion and Moriah.<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Editor's Note:</b> <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/02/amillennialism-v.html">I do not believe in a millennium reign by Christ on this present earth</a>, but I agree with Mr. Raggio on his other points. Of the Lord's kingdom, there is no end (Luke 1:33), and Jesus will never reign from a temple made from human hands (Acts 17:24). In eternity, there is no temple, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it (Revelation 21:22). </span><br />
<br />
<b>Jesus is going to retake Jerusalem</b>, and at that time, it will be a
distinctly Jewish city during the Millennium. According to Ezekiel
40-48, Israel will conduct many of the Old Testament rituals as a
memorial and testimony of the truths revealed from ancient times. The
Jews, however, will have been converted to Jesus
Christ as their Messiah, when they "look upon me whom they have
pierced," Zechariah 12:10.
<br />
<br />
All the saints of all the ages will witness Jesus Christ's victorious
entrance through the newly conquered Eastern Gate of Jerusalem, (see
photo) immediately following the great Battle of Armageddon.
<br />
<br />
I stood in the Kidron Valley and contemplated the glorious moment when
Jesus Christ will at long-last enter into HIS CITY as the KING OF KINGS
and LORD OF LORDS and millions upon millions of saints will worship and
serve Him for a thousand glorious years on earth before entering the
eternal Kingdom of Heaven.
<br />
<br />
Christians who were resurrected at the rapture and resurrection will
rule and reign with Jesus Christ throughout the Gentile nations of the
earth, and all nations will flow into their divinely established Capital
of Jerusalem. No more World Government in New York, Geneva, Brussels,
Moscow, Washington D.C., London, Paris, or Rome.
<br />
<br />
<b>Here are the determinate prophecies that no man or devil will prevent.</b>
<br />
<br />
They describe the events that will occur in Jerusalem when Jesus Christ
returns at Armageddon to save Israel and establish His kingdom, <b>from Zechariah 12.</b><br />
<br />
2 Behold, <b>I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling</b> unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.<br />
<br />
3 And in that day will <span style="font-weight: bold;">I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone</span> for all people: <span style="font-weight: bold;">all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces,</span> though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.<br />
<br />
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with
astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon
the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with
blindness.<br />
<br />
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants
of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.<br />
<br />
6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire
among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall
devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left:
and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Jerusalem shall be inhabited again </span>in her own place, even in Jerusalem.<br />
<br />
7 The LORD also shall save the tents of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Judah first</span>, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.<br />
<br />
8 <span style="font-weight: bold;">In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem</span>; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as <span style="font-weight: bold;">the angel of the LORD before them</span>.
<br />
<br />
9 And it shall come to pass <span style="font-weight: bold;">in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.</span>
<br />
<br />
10 <span style="font-weight: bold;">And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: <span style="background-color: rgb (255, 255, 0);">and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son,</span> and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.</span>
<br />
<br />
11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the <span style="font-weight: bold;">mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon</span>.<br />
<br />
<b>THIS IS A PROPHECY ABOUT <a href="http://kenraggio.com/KRPN-EzekielsWar.htm" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">ARMAGEDDON</a>.</b>
<br />
<br />
John saw more details, as found in Revelation 16. It occurs AFTER the
first six vials of God's wrath at the end of the seven year period
called "Daniel's Seventieth Week."
<br />
<br />
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue <span style="font-weight: bold;">Armageddon.</span>
<br />
<br />
17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there
came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying,
It is done.
<br />
<br />
18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a
great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so
mighty an earthquake, and so great.
<br />
<br />
19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of
the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to
give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
<br />
<br />
20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
<br />
<br />
21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about
the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of
the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.<br />
<br />
<b>Isaiah 2 gives even more details:</b>
<br />
<br />
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that <span style="font-weight: bold;">the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.</span>
<br />
<br />
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob</span>;
and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for <span style="font-weight: bold;">out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD </span>from Jerusalem.
<br />
<br />
4 And <span style="font-weight: bold;">he [Jesus Christ] shall judge among the nations,</span>
and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up
sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
<br />
<br />
<b>Here is what Jesus Christ will do at that time: (From Zechariah 6).</b><br />
<br />
12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold <span style="font-weight: bold;">the man whose name is The BRANCH</span>; and he shall grow up out of his place, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">he shall build the temple of the LORD:</span>
<br />
<br />
13 Even <span style="font-weight: bold;">he shall build the temple of
the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his
throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of
peace shall be between them both</span>.
<br />
<br />
<b>Related:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.templemount.org/tempprep.html">Preparations for a Third Jewish Temple</a></li>
<li><a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/2009/09/new-temple-will-be-built-after-third.html" target="_blank">After the Third World War, the New Temple Will Be Rebuilt for Antichrist, Not Jesus Christ</a></li>
</ul>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6354143865375585988.post-14931892901207108932011-06-22T19:02:00.008-04:002012-11-30T15:44:16.546-05:00<div id="headline">
<h2 class="headlinemain" style="text-align: center;" title="Permanent Link to Were the First Four Seals Opened in 2011">
Were the First Four Seals Opened in 2011?</h2>
<br />
It is possible that the <a href="http://www.lambslain.com/2011/03/first-four-seals-have-been-opened-four.html">first four seals have been opened</a>, and we are about to experience death of 1/4 of the earth by war, scarcity, famine, diseases, plagues, etc. At the opening of the fifth seal, the persecution of Christians will intensify. <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Signs%20of%20the%20Times" target="_blank">The Lord tells us that</a>, at the opening of <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#sixthseal">the sixth seal</a>, the earth will experience cosmic disturbances in the following forms: a great earthquake, sun turns black, moon turns blood red, stars fall to earth, sky rolls up like a scroll, and every mountain and island moves out of its place. This will be followed by 1/2 hour of silence in heaven before the seventh seal is opened.<br />
<br />
The seventh seal in the <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Book%20of%20Revelation" target="_blank">Book of Revelation</a> reveals itself as the seven trumpets, described as "the wrath of the Lamb." The first four trumpets will bring destruction upon the earth: 1/3 of the trees will be burned up and all the green grass will be burned (hail and fire mingled with blood); 1/3 of the sea will turn to blood, 1/3 of the sea creatures will die and 1/3 of the ships will be destroyed (great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea); 1/3 of the waters will be poisoned (great star falls from heaven); and 1/3 of the sun and moon and stars will be darkened.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#5thtrumpet">At the sounding of the fifth trumpet</a>, Satan will be released from the bottomless pit to rule over his <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2008/11/kingdom-of-antichrist-following-is_13.html">one-world religion and government</a>. Standing in the holy place, Jerusalem, he will claim to be God and will deceive many with his signs and wonders. <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#fivemonths">During this five-month period</a>, "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." <br />
<br />
The deception of the devil must work out till the bitter end. Shortly before the end of this world, this final deception of the nations shall take place. The heathen nations shall be civilized and they shall become conscious of their power, and they shall, for a time, join forces with the beast and the false prophet to form one great world empire. Nevertheless, they shall remain pagan in every respect, and though they give their power to the beast for "one hour," for "a little season," this cannot possibly last. <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#abomination"> </a>The heathen nations and the anti-Christian civilization will ultimately gather as separate forces for the last war, <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/02/final-battle-armageddon-and-final_26.html">the battle of Armageddon</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#abomination"><b></b></a><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#abomination">This is the period of the sixth trumpet</a>, when the heathen nations will join forces to form a 200-million-man army and kill 1/3 part of men. Once the second woe (the sixth trumpet) is past, the third woe (the seventh trumpet and the return of Christ) will come quickly. It will be upon this scene, when the heathen nations are gathered in battle and surrounding Jerusalem, that Christ will return to deliver up His people and to destroy by fire the devil's kingdom on earth.<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="color: #3333ff; text-align: center;">
<blockquote>
"And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord,<br />
Two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.<br />
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined,<br />
And will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them:<br />
I will say, 'It is my people:' and they shall say, 'The Lord is my God'."<br />
(Zechariah 13:8-9)</blockquote>
</div>
The <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#sixthseal">Day of the Lord</a> will be a cloudy and dark day, and there will be a great earthquake and voices from heaven, and the temple of God will be opened in heaven; and there will be lightning, voices, thunder and great hail; the sun and moon will be darkened, the stars will fall from heaven, and heaven and earth will be shaken. <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#judgment" target="_blank">The just will be resurrected for eternal life; the unjust will be resurrected for eternal damnation.</a> God will pour out the seven vials of His wrath upon the earth; the last enemy to be destroyed will be Death, the <span style="font-size: 100%;">great dragon, </span>that old serpent, called the Devil, and <span style="font-size: 100%;">Satan</span>. And the Lord will create a new heaven and a new earth, and He will bring New Jerusalem down from heaven to earth, and He will reign with His people forever and ever.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">Jesus says the Father only knows the day and hour when <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/" target="blank">the Son will return in the clouds of heaven</a>. Yet Jesus gives us the signs to look for when the end of the age is approaching, and He tells us that the <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Signs%20of%20the%20Times%20and%20the%20End%20of%20Days">generation to see these signs</a> shall not pass till all these things be done. </span>It is possible that the last generation (70 years being a generation - Psalms 90:10) began in 1948 when Israel once again become a nation. <a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/search/label/Temple%20Mount%20in%20Jerusalem" target="blank">On May 19, 2011</a>, Obama jolted Israel by embracing the Palestinians' terms for drawing the borders between the two states, saying "a lasting peace that ends the conflict and resolves all claims is more urgent than ever." This <span style="color: black;">peace agreement could mark the beginning of the final seven years before Christ returns, <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/12/will-christ-return-in-2018-middle-east.html">which means we could expect Him to return in 2018</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A Once-in-a-Lifetime Solar Storm Could Be What Causes the Cosmic Disturbances at the Opening of the Sixth Seal, Which May Not Be until Midway or Later into the 7-Year Tribulation Period</span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Like most experts in the field, Solar physicist David Hathaway of the National Space Science & Technology Center has confidence in the conveyor belt model and agrees with Dikpati that the next solar maximum should be a doozy. But he disagrees with one point. Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research forecast puts Solar Max at 2012. Hathaway believes it will arrive sooner, in 2010 or 2011. Who's right? Time will tell. Either way, a storm is coming. - NASA, </span><a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/10mar_stormwarning/" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Solar Storm Warning</a><span style="font-style: italic;">, March 10, 2006</span></span></blockquote>
<h3 class="subheadlinemain">
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Book%20of%20Revelation">The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse</a></span></h3>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#firstfourseals" target="_blank">THE FIRST 4 SEALS:</a> Death [the Devil or Satan] Takes 1/4 of the Earth by War, Scarcity, Famine, Diseases, Plagues, Etc. </span><br /><br />And I saw when the Lamb opened <span style="font-weight: bold;">one of the seals</span>,<br />And I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.<br />And I saw, and behold a <span style="font-weight: bold;">white horse</span>: and he that sat on him had a bow;<br />And a crown was given unto him: <span style="font-weight: bold;">and he went forth conquering, and to conquer</span>.<br />And when he had opened the <span style="font-weight: bold;">second seal</span>, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.<br />And there went out another <span style="font-weight: bold;">horse that was red</span>:<br />And power was given to him that sat thereon to <span style="font-weight: bold;">take peace from the earth</span>,<br />And that they should<span style="font-weight: bold;"> kill one another</span>:<br />And there was given unto him a great sword.<br />And when he had opened the <span style="font-weight: bold;">third seal</span>, I heard the third beast say, Come and see.<br />And I beheld, and lo a <span style="font-weight: bold;">black horse</span>; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.<br />And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say,<br /><a href="http://www.mom4truth.com/a-measure-of-wheat-for-a-days-wages/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">A measure of wheat for a penny</span></a>, and three measures of barley for a penny;<br />And see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.<br />And when he had opened the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> fourth seal</span>,<br />I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.<br />And I looked, and behold a<span style="font-weight: bold;"> <a href="http://spindleworks.com/library/hoeksma/behold13.htm" target="_blank">pale horse</a></span>:<br />And his name that sat on him was <span style="font-weight: bold;">Death</span>, and Hell followed with him.<br />And power was given unto them over the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> fourth part of the earth</span>,<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">To kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death,<br />And with the beasts of the earth.</span><br />(<a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Book%20of%20Revelation">Revelation 6:1-8</a>)<br /><br />According to <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2011/04/jesus-says-to-watch-for-signs-and.html" target="_blank">The Coming Epiphany, Chapter 13: Be Prepared</a>, the first five seals entail:</span><br />
<ol><span style="color: black;">
<li>First seal (white horse): Establishment of the <a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/">world religion</a> and government through deception.</li>
<br />
<li>Second seal (red horse): War and/or anarchy on the earth.</li>
<br />
<li>Third seal (black horse): Famine due to crop failures and/or a worldwide economic collapse.</li>
<br />
<li>Fourth seal (pale horse): Death of one-quarter of world’s population by various means, possibly culminating from the first three seals.</li>
<br />
<li>Fifth seal: Persecution and martyrdom of Jews and Christians.</li>
</span></ol>
<span style="color: black;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #996633;"><a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2011/03/fourth-and-final-global-empire-will.html">There are about three billion people around the globe that live on the equivalent of two dollars a day or less.</a> Those people cannot afford for food prices to go up much.</span> Coincidentally (or not) </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">three billion people is about 1/4 of the world's population --</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> the amount of people that will die by war, scarcity, famine, diseases, plagues, etc. at the opening of the first four seals.</span></span><br />
<h3 class="subheadlinemain">
<span style="color: black;">
<a href="http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=260049" target="_blank">The Rider on the Pale Horse as Filmed in Cairo, Egypt, February 4, 2011</a></span></h3>
<span style="color: black;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/j321v_3dwUM" title="YouTube video player" width="640"></iframe><br /><br />World Net Daily<br />February 5, 2011<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A mysterious, pale green figure seen in televised news coverage of the Egyptian riots </span>has prompted some viewers to ask, "Could this be the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse?"<br /><br />The footage,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> provided by Euronews and subsequently seen on MSNBC, CNN and uploaded over a dozen times to the popular video sharing site YouTube,</span> captures the fiery, violent protests in Cairo this past week … and something else.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Between the crowds of protesters and barricades, the video shows a flowing, pale green image that resembles an erect rider atop a horse in Medieval-like barding. <span style="color: #996633;">The ethereal figure remains for a few moments before floating over protesters' heads and off the screen.</span></span><br /><br />The last of the biblical Book of Revelation's Four Horseman of the Apocalyse,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> the "pale rider" is said to be the bringer of death and the forerunner of "hell" on earth.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2009/09/outline-of-book-of-revelation-chapter.html">Book of Revelation</a> refers to a time when "the Lamb" — usually understood to be the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ — opens the seven seals of a scroll of judgment.</span> Each of the first four seals is accompanied by a horseman of a different color, each bringing a separate calamity. When the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> fourth seal </span>is opened, Revelation 6:8 records, </span><br />
<blockquote>
"And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="font-weight: bold;">
Is the image from Egypt a fulfillment of Revelation's prophecy? </div>
<br />
Comments from the tens of thousands of viewers who have watched the video on YouTube express a wide array of opinion. <br />
<br />
Some claim the video's "pale rider" is a sign and the greenish tint is somehow symbolic of Islam, while others insist the image has been added to the footage by editing technology. Still others point to three, trailing points of light in the footage that move away from the crowds at the same time and speed as the "horseman," indicating that both the "rider" and the lights are merely smudges or reflections cast on the lens of a moving camera. <br />
<br />
One comment, from a viewer calling himself TheRhythmhawk, also tried to explain the "pale rider" and the trailing lights as simply lens reflections, but eventually concluded, <br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">"The image of the horseman leaves more questions than answers." </span></span></blockquote>
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The <span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD5" style="font-weight: bold;">original</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> video</span> can also be viewed in even higher resolution <a href="http://www.fa9el.net/video/4bc878e2a99aa2b0e40" target="_blank">at the Euronews website</a>. </span></span><br />
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<h3 class="subheadlinemain">
<a href="http://spindleworks.com/library/hoeksma/behold13.htm" target="_blank">The Four Horses Individually Considered</a></h3>
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<span style="color: black;">Herman Hoeksema, Behold He Cometh</span><span style="color: black;">Copyright 1969<br /><br />Our next observation in regard to the symbolism of these four seals concerns the color of each horse, and in harmony with their respective colors the other details of description.<br /><br />The<span style="font-weight: bold;"> color of the first horse is white, which is symbolic of victory</span>. Repeatedly this color appears as such in Scripture. Those who are faithful and overcome shall ultimately appear in white robes. In Chapter 19:11 ff., where we have a final description of the battle of Armageddon, the Lord Jesus appears as the victor, seated upon a white horse, in all the glory of His power and victory.<br /><br />Thus it was also customary in the Roman army that the victors should return riding on white horses. Hence, it may be deemed rather evident that the white horse is symbol of a victorious power. In harmony with this color of the horse are the other features pictured in the text. First of all, we are told that the rider has a bow, which is symbolic of righteous and victorious warfare. In Psalm 45:5 we read of the king who is typical of Christ: </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">"Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee."</span></span></blockquote>
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In the second place, <span style="font-weight: bold;">the rider receives a crown</span>: not the royal diadem in this case, but the garland, the wreath of victory. And finally, this idea of victory is definitely expressed in the last clause, that <span style="font-weight: bold;">the rider goes forth "conquering and to conquer,"</span> which by its peculiar repetition assures us of the certainty of the victory this rider will win. Therefore, we have in the first seal the picture of an<span style="font-weight: bold;"> armed warrior, going forth to battle, whose victory is assured him beforehand.</span><br /><br />The <span style="font-weight: bold;">color of the second horse is red</span>, or, as the original indicates, a color glowing like fire. It is the color of <span style="font-weight: bold;">wrath and anger, of heated passion and violent emotion</span>, such as causes a man's blood to rush to his countenance,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> of lust and gain, of envy and revenge, of blood and war.</span><br /><br />The man that cometh from Bozrah, with sprinkled garments, who has trodden the winepress of Jehovah's anger alone, is red in his apparel. And when the Lord is described in all the holy zeal of His heated anger, He is pictured in Scripture as a consuming fire.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">This horse bears the color of a glowing fire, of heated passion and revenge and bloodshed and war,</span> of which it is also symbolic. Again, the other details mentioned of this second horse and its rider serve to corroborate and enforce this idea. For, in the first place, we read that he receives a<span style="font-weight: bold;"> great sword, symbolic of war and death and destruction</span>. And, in the second place, the definite information is given us that this horse receives the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> power to take peace from the earth.</span><br /><br />In general, therefore, the second horse and his rider are the picture of heated passion and wrath going forth to do its work in the earth.<br /><br />The <span style="font-weight: bold;">third horse is black</span>. Occurring in the Word of God, this color is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">symbol of scarcity and famine.</span> In referring to a <span style="font-weight: bold;">drought </span>in the land of Judah in his own time, the prophet Jeremiah writes: </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">"Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up," (Jeremiah 14:2).</span></span></blockquote>
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And in his Lamentations (5: 10) we hear the same prophet complain: </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">"Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine."</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Black, then, is the color of scarcity and want, of drought and famine.</span> The rest of the description of this horse is again in harmony with this idea of the black color, although at the same time we should not fail to notice that by it the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> idea of famine is somewhat modified and mitigated. </span><br /><br />The rider is pictured as one who holds <span style="font-weight: bold;">a balance and who does some careful weighing</span>. And as he weighs, the voice is heard:</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">"<span style="font-size: 100%;">A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny</span>." </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">A measure of wheat (about one and one-half pints of our measure) constitutes the equivalent of one man's subsistence for one day. And the same is true of three measures of barley. </span>If in connection with this we <span style="font-weight: bold;">also bear in mind that a penny, or shilling, constituted just about a day's wages of the common laborer, <span style="color: #990000;">we come to the conclusion that this third rider represents scarcity and death, rather than downright famine.</span> <span style="color: #996633;">The relation between the wages of the common people and the cost of the necessities of life is such that the latter devour the former every day.</span></span><br /><br />But this is not all. The voice continues, and says, </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">"A<span style="font-size: 100%;">nd <i>see</i> thou hurt not the oil and the wine.</span>" </span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Oil and wine are symbols of plenty and luxury, of merriment and feasting.</span> <span style="color: #996633; font-weight: bold;">These may not be hurt, but must continue to exist. </span>And, hence, the complete portraiture of this third horse and its rider presents a<span style="font-weight: bold;"> <span style="color: #990000;">remarkable contrast: a contrast between poverty and riches, between a bare subsistence and luxurious living.</span></span><br /><br />The <span style="font-weight: bold;">fourth and last horse is of a pale green</span>, such as is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">color of death</span>. Here we cannot be left in doubt as to the meaning of this fourth horseman. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The horse represents the color of a corpse, of death itself. </span>And in harmony with the color of the animal is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">name of its rider, which is Death, while Hades, the abode of the dead</span>, follows him, ready to receive the victims killed by this terrible horseman.<br /><br /><span style="color: #990000; font-weight: bold;">The definite commission which this fourth horseman receives is to kill and destroy one fourth part of the earth's inhabitants with the sword, with pestilence, with the wild beasts of the earth, and with death in general.</span><br /><br />If four is generally the number representing the completeness of the world, one-fourth represents such a fraction as is in harmony with the present existence in the world throughout this present dispensation.<span style="font-weight: bold;"> The symbolism of the last horse and its rider makes us think of death in all its various forms.</span></span></span>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6354143865375585988.post-80631583486185741562011-06-21T12:19:00.000-04:002016-07-02T19:23:16.226-04:00<div id="headline">
<h2 class="subheadlinemain" style="text-align: center;" title="Permanent Link to Chronological Order of the Book of Revelation">
Outline of the Book of Revelation</h2>
<a href="http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/154312/the_difference_between_an_outline_and.html" onclick="'alert(" target="_blank" title="Outline of the Book of Revelation: A Chronology of Revelation"></a><br />
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The following is a chapter-by-chapter outline of the book of Revelation based on the <a href="http://mountainretreatorg.net/bibleit/bibleit.cgi?book=Revelation" target="'_BLANK">King James Bible</a> (chapter numbers are in parentheses). Scripture is enclosed in quotation marks; other text not in quotes is commentary from the book <a href="http://spindleworks.com/library/hoeksma/intro.htm" target="'_BLANK">"Behold He Cometh"</a> by Herman Hoeksema, copyright 1969.<br />
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NOTE: The book of Revelation repeatedly follows the development of the world to its very end from a certain point of view in order, and it then resumes the drawing of the same picture from a different viewpoint (note the "interludes").<br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><a href="http://mountainretreatorg.net/bibleit/bibleit.cgi?bible" target="_blank"><b>THE BOOK OF REVELATION, KING JAMES VERSION 1611</b></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #3333ff;"><b>INTRODUCTION: JOHN, THE APOSTLE, IS TAKEN IN SPIRIT AND SHOWN VISIONS </b>(1)</span><br />"I John, who also am your brother, <a href="http://sufferforchrist.blogspot.com/2010/01/we-are-pilgrims-in-sinful-world-through.html" target="_blank">and companion in tribulation</a>, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#dayofthelord" target="_blank">the Lord's Day</a>, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, 'I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last:' and, 'What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches... I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; <span style="color: #993399;">and have the <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#keys">keys</a> of hell and of death</span>. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter'."<br /><br /><span style="color: #3333ff;"><b>THE SEVEN LETTERS TO THE CHURCHES</b> (2,3)</span><br />The seven churches represent the Church as it exists in any period of this dispensation, so that at any time these seven types may be observed; nevertheless, these seven types are not always equally prominent in every period of Church history. Always, the features presented by the seven churches in Asia are observable in the Church, yet so that now one and then another of these features appears on the foreground. These seven churches [which are mentioned in geographical order] are representative of the whole Church as she is in the world at any period of history; therefore, we reject the view that each of them represents a limited period in the history of the Church of the new dispensation. However, we believe that the order in which these seven churches are addressed does indicate, in a general way, the trend in which the Church develops, with the Church presenting the likeness of the <a href="http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/1185.htm" target="_blank">church of Laodicea</a> at the end of this dispensation.<br /><br /><b style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="color: #3333ff;">GOD'S THRONE IN <span style="color: #ff6666;">HEAVEN</span></span></b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> <span style="color: #3333ff;">(4)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"After this I [John] looked, and, behold, a door was opened in </span><span style="color: #ff6666; font-family: "trebuchet ms";">heaven</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">: and the first voice which I [John] heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, 'Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.' And immediately I [John] was in the spirit: and, behold, </span><a href="http://templeinheaven.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">a throne was set in <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, and One sat on the throne</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">... The four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 'Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created'."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span> and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands." (Acts 17:24)<br /><br />"And the temple of God was opened in <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament." (Revelation 11:19)<br /><br />"And I saw a new <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span> and a new earth: for the first <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span> and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span> saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God'... And He that sat upon the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." (Revelation 21:1-3, 5, 22)<br /><br />Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence." (John 18:36)</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><b>THE LITTLE BOOK & THE 7 SEALS</b> (5,6)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">The Victorious Progress of the Kingdom of God as the Gospel Is Preached Throughout the Nations [Witnessing], with a View to the Completion of the Kingdom of God, Symbolized by 1,260 Days, When the Woman [the Church] is Fed the Word of God Before the "Lamb's Wrath"</span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>THE FIRST 4 SEALS</b> (6):<b> </b><span style="color: black;">Death [the Devil or Satan] Takes 1/4 of the Earth by War, Scarcity, Famine, Diseases, Plagues, Etc. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: black;">"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." (Hebrews 2:14)</span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="5thseal"></a><b><br /><br />THE 5th SEAL</b> (6):<b> </b><span style="color: black;"><u>Souls in <span style="color: #ff6666;">Heaven</span> Ask</u>: "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" <u>They Are Told</u>: <span style="color: #3333ff; font-weight: bold;">"Rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." </span></span><br /><br /><b>THE 6th SEAL</b> (6): </span><span style="color: black;">Great Earthquake, Sun Turns Black, Moon Turns Blood Red, Stars Fall to Earth, Sky Folds Up Like a Scroll, Every Mountain and Island Moved Out of Their Places</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #339999;"><b>INTERLUDE: <a href="http://www.thywordistruth.com/Revelation-Class-Notes/Lesson-11.html" onclick="'alert(" target="_blank">THE 144,000 SEALED</a> & THE GREAT MULTITUDE STANDING BEFORE GOD'S THRONE IN <span style="color: #ff6666;">HEAVEN</span></b> (7) </span><br />[12 (the Prophets of the Old Dispensation) x 12 (the Apostles of the New Dispensation) x 1000 (the "<a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#thousand">thousand years</a>," i.e., the "<a href="http://mountainretreatorg.net/bibleit/bibleit.cgi?passage=Ephesians+1">fulness of times</a>," described in chapter 20) = 144,000]</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><b>THE 7th SEAL REVEALS ITSELF AS THE 7 TRUMPETS <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#sixthseal">[THE LAMB'S WRATH]</a></b> (8,9)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><a href="http://sufferforchrist.blogspot.com/#tribulation">"The Wrath of the Lamb,"</a> Symbolized by 42 Months, When Satan Makes War With the Remnant of the Woman's Seed [the Church, the Body of Christ, the Temple of God, the Spiritual Israel of the New Testament] </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #3333ff;">"And I [John] saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God:</span> <span style="color: #336666;">and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying,</span> <span style="color: #3333ff;">'Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have</span> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmbIppc7oHY&feature=player_embedded/" onclick="'alert(" target="_blank">sealed the servants of our God</a> <span style="color: #3333ff;">in their foreheads'."</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><b>THE FIRST 4 TRUMPETS</b> (8): <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Armageddon%20and%20the%20Rapture%20of%20the%20Church">The first four trumpets will bring destruction upon the earth:</a> 1/3 of the trees will be burned up and all the green grass will be burned (hail and fire mingled with blood); 1/3 of the sea will turn to blood, 1/3 of the sea creatures will die and 1/3 of the ships will be destroyed (great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea); 1/3 of the waters will be poisoned (great star falls from <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>); and 1/3 of the sun and moon and stars will be darkened.</span></span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="5thtrumpet"></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><b>THE 5th TRUMPET</b> (9): </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">'</span><a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/#fifthseal"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">Satan Shall Be Loosed Out of His Prison</span></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">;'</span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> '</span><a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Locusts%20or%20Drones%20and%20the%20Bottomless%20Pit"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">Locusts</span></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">' </span><a href="http://www.spiritandtruth.org/teaching/Book_of_Revelation/commentary/htm/030905.htm" onclick="'alert(" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">Torment Men Without the Seal of God</span></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> for <a href="http://www.explordanrev.com/wp/?page_id=110">Five Months</a> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> [a 'Little Season']</span></span></span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="keys"></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #3333ff;">"And I [John] saw a star fall from <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span> unto the earth: </span><span style="color: #993399;">and to Him was given the key</span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #993399;"> of the bottomless pit.</span> <span style="color: #3333ff;">And He opened the bottomless pit;</span> and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. <span style="color: #cc0000;">And there came out of the smoke <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Locusts%20or%20Drones%20and%20the%20Bottomless%20Pit">locusts</a> upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.</span> <span style="color: #3333ff;">And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; </span><span style="color: #336666;">but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.</span> <span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="color: #336666; font-weight: bold;">And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months:</span> and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.</span> And the shapes of the <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Locusts%20or%20Drones%20and%20the%20Bottomless%20Pit">locusts</a> were like unto horses prepared unto battle... they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: <span style="color: #336666;">and their power was to hurt men five months.</span> <span style="color: #cc0000;">And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter" [the sixth and seventh trumpets]. </span><br /><br />"I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; <span style="color: #993399;">and have the keys of hell and of death</span>." (Revelation 1:18) </span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><b>THE 6th TRUMPET</b> (9): </span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">1/3 Part of Men Killed by the <a href="http://magiclougie.blogspot.com/search/label/200-Million-Man%20Army%20of%20Horsemen">200-Million-Man Army</a> of <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2008/11/kingdom-of-antichrist-following-is_13.html" target="_blank">the One-world Government, the Anti-Christian Beast</a><br /><br /><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">In the great river Euphrates, <span style="color: #336666;">"The four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, <span style="color: #3333ff; font-weight: bold;">for to slay the third part of men.</span></span> <span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">And the number of the <a href="http://magiclougie.blogspot.com/search/label/200-Million-Man%20Army%20of%20Horsemen">army of the horsemen</a> were two hundred thousand thousand:</span> and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.</span> <span style="color: #cc0000; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #3333ff;">By these three was the third part of men killed, </span>by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths</span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-weight: bold;">.</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-weight: bold;"> For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails
were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. </span><span style="color: #336666;">And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands... neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">The </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-weight: bold;">first four seals</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> in the Book of Revelation describe death of 1/4 of the earth by war, scarcity, famine, diseases, plagues, etc. At the opening of the </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-weight: bold;">fifth seal</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">, the souls in heaven ask: "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" They are told: "Rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">Following the cosmic disturbances of the </span><a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#sixthseal" style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-weight: bold;">sixth seal</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> (great earthquake, sun turns black, moon turns blood red, stars fall to earth, sky rolls up like a scroll, every mountain and island moves), there is silence in heaven about 1/2 hour before the seventh seal is opened.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">The </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-weight: bold;">seventh seal</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> in the Book of Revelation reveals itself as the seven trumpets, described as "the wrath of the Lamb." The </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-weight: bold;">first four trumpets</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> will bring destruction upon the earth (1/3 of trees burned up, all green grass burned, 1/3 of sea turns to blood, 1/3 of sea creatures die, 1/3 of ships destroyed, 1/3 of waters poisoned, 1/3 of sun and moon and stars darkened). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">When the <span style="font-weight: bold;">fifth trumpet</span> is sounded, Satan will be released from the bottomless pit to rule over his earthly kingdom (<a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2008/11/kingdom-of-antichrist-following-is_13.html">his one-world government and religion</a>). <a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/">He will stand in the holy place</a>, showing himself that he is God, and <a href="http://resurrectionofdamnation.blogspot.com/2010/12/learn-lessons-of-hitlers-amazing-rise.html" target="_blank">he will promise peace and security to a world in desperate need</a> of grand solutions to profound problems. Satan, deceiving many with his signs and wonders, will reign as king over this earth for five months, during which time (<span style="font-weight: bold;">sixth trumpet</span>) 1/3 part of man will be killed (<a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/2010/01/gaia-hypothesis-goddess-reborn-what-if.html">most likely Christians</a> and others who refuse to worship "the beast" and to receive his "mark" in their right hand or forehead). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">After this earthly reign by Satan for "a little season" <a href="http://sufferforchrist.blogspot.com/#suffering">and his persecution of the followers of Christ</a>, <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/">Christ will return in the clouds of heaven</a> with great power and glory (<a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#seventhtrumpet"><span style="font-weight: bold;">seventh trumpet</span></a>) to deliver up His people to the kingdom of heaven. He then will destroy by fire the kingdom of "the beast" and create a new heaven and a new earth over which He will reign with His people for eternity.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms"; font-size: 85%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #3333ff;">"And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord,<br />Two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.<br />And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined,<br />And will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them:<br />I will say, 'It is my people:' and they shall say, 'The Lord is my God'."<br />(Zechariah 13:8-9)</span></span></span></div>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="seventhtrumpet"></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>THE RETURN OF CHRIST AT THE SOUNDING OF THE 7th TRUMPET:</b><b> <span style="color: #999900;"><u><a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/">HE COMETH WITH CLOUDS</a></u></span> AND EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM, AND THEY <i>ALSO</i> WHICH PIERCED HIM</b> (10,11)</span><br />The Victorious Battle by the Glorious Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ over the Satanic Kingdom of Darkness. This is the Ultimate Outcome of the Entire Plan of God, Which is the Displacement of the Old and Sinful Order by the New and Perfect One.<br /><br />"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, and the powers of the <span style="color: #ff6666;">heavens</span> shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the <span style="color: #999900;"><u>clouds of <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span></u></span> with power and great glory." (Matthew 24:29-30)<br /><br />"Behold, <span style="color: #999900;"><u>He cometh with clouds</u></span>; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen." (Revelation 1:7)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #339999;"><b>INTERLUDE: THE MYSTERY OF GOD TO BE FINISHED AT THE SOUNDING OF THE 7th TRUMPET</b> (10,11)</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #3333ff; font-weight: bold;">"And I [John] saw another Mighty Angel come down from <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>,</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: #999900; font-weight: bold;"><u>clothed with a cloud</u></span><span style="color: #3333ff; font-weight: bold;">: and a rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as it were the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire.</span> And He had in His hand a little book open: and He set His right foot upon the sea, and His left foot on the earth, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when He had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. <span style="color: #3333ff;">And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span> saying unto me,</span> '<span style="color: #3333ff;">Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.'</span> And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up His hand to <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, and sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever, who created <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, <span style="color: #3333ff; font-weight: bold;">that there should be time no longer:</span> <span style="color: #3333ff;">But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, <span style="font-weight: bold;">the mystery of God should be finished,</span> as He hath declared to His servants the prophets."</span> </span><br /><br /><span style="color: #3333ff;">"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth... <span style="font-weight: bold;">And when they shall have finished their testimony,</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#abyss">the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.</a> </span><span style="color: #3333ff;">And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. </span><span style="color: #993399;">And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.</span> <span style="color: #993399;">And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; </span><span style="color: #3333ff;"><span style="color: #993399;">because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.</span> And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; <span style="color: #993399;">and great fear fell upon them which saw them.</span></span> <span style="color: #999900;"><u>And they heard a great voice from <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span> saying unto them, 'Come up hither.' And they ascended up to <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span> in a cloud</u>; <span style="color: #993399;">and their enemies beheld them.</span> <span style="color: #cc6600;">And the same hour was there a great earthquake and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand:</span></span> and the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly" [the seventh trumpet and the return of Christ].</span><br /><br /><object height="390" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nS215lBbVZA&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nS215lBbVZA&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="390" width="640"></embed></object><br /><br />"For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span> shall fall, and the powers that are in <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span> shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man <span style="color: #999900;">coming in the clouds</span> with great power and glory. And then shall He send His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>." (Mark 13:22-27)<br /><br />"That in the dispensation of the <a href="http://mountainretreatorg.net/bibleit/bibleit.cgi?passage=Ephesians+1">fulness of times</a> He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, and which are on earth; even in Him." (Ephesians 1:10)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"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 </span><span style="color: #ff6666; font-family: "trebuchet ms";">heaven</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> 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 </span><span style="color: #999900; font-family: "trebuchet ms";">in the clouds</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:14-18)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"And Jesus said, 'I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and </span><span style="color: #999900; font-family: "trebuchet ms";">coming in the clouds of</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> </span><span style="color: #ff6666; font-family: "trebuchet ms";">heaven</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">'." (Mark 14:62)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left." (Matthew 25:31-33)</span></blockquote>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="judgment"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="seventh"></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #990000;"><b>THE SOUNDING OF THE 7th TRUMPET: THE TIME HAS COME FOR GOD TO <a href="http://www.blogger.com/resurrection">JUDGE THE DEAD</a> AND TO GIVE REWARD UNTO HIS SERVANTS</b> (11)</span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /><a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#sixthseal">A Cloudy and Dark Day: Great Earthquake, Voices from Heaven, Temple of God Opened in Heaven, Lightning, Voices, Thunder, Great Hail, Sun Darkened, Moon Darkened, Stars Fall from Heaven, Heaven and Earth Shaken</a><br /><br /><span style="color: #990000;">"And the seventh angel sounded;</span> <span style="color: #3333ff;">and there were great voices in <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, saying, <span style="font-weight: bold;">'The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.'</span> And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying,</span> '<span style="color: #3333ff;">We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; <span style="font-weight: bold;">because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned.</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">And the nations were angry, </span><span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">and Thy wrath is come</span><span style="color: #993399;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">, <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#resurrection">and the time of the dead</a>,</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: #993399;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">that they should be judged</span>,</span> <span style="color: #3333ff;">and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; </span><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.'</span> <span style="color: #996633;"><a href="http://templeinheaven.blogspot.com/">And the temple of God was opened in <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament:</a> <span style="color: #cc6600;">and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">great hail</span>." </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #339999;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="spiritualwar"></a><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">INTERLUDE: CHRIST, THE LAMB, VERSUS SATAN, THE DRAGON </span></b></span><span style="color: #339999;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">(12,13)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">Satan, the 'prince of this world,' is the 'king of the bottomless pit,' which is his current abode. We know this to be true based on the following Bible verses: </span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"And the angel said unto her, 'Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus. <span style="font-weight: bold;">He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David</span>. And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; <span style="font-weight: bold;">and of His kingdom there shall be no end</span>'." (Luke 1:30-33)</span></span></li>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br />
<li>Jesus answered, "<span style="font-weight: bold;">My kingdom is not of this world</span>: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: <span style="font-weight: bold;">but now is my kingdom not from hence</span>." (John 18:36)</li>
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<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">"How art thou fallen from </span><span style="color: #ff6666; font-weight: bold;">heaven</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">, O Lucifer,</span> son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!" (Isaiah 14:12)</li>
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<li>Jesus said, "<b>I saw Satan falling like a lightning</b> <b>from <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span></b>." (Luke 10:18) </li>
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<li>Jesus said: "'Now is the judgment of this world: <b>now shall the prince of this world be cast out.</b> And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.' This He said, signifying what death He should die." (John 12:31-22) </li>
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<li>Jesus said, "Hereafter I will not talk much with you: <b>for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me</b>." (John 14:30)</li>
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<li>Jesus said, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; <span style="font-weight: bold;">I have overcome the world</span>." (John 16:33)</li>
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<li>Jesus said, "Of judgment, because <span style="font-weight: bold;">the prince of this world is judged</span>." (John 16:11)</li>
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<li>Peter said, <span style="font-weight: bold;">"God spared not the angels that sinned, </span><b style="font-weight: bold;">but cast them down to hell</b><span style="font-weight: bold;">, and delivered them into chains of darkness, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">to be reserved unto judgment</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">." </span>(2 Peter 2:4) </li>
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<li>John said [when describing the vision of the birth of Christ while Michael is battling Satan over the saints in <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>], "<b>And the great dragon was cast out</b>, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: <b>he was cast out into the earth</b>, <b>and his angels were cast out with him.</b>" (Revelation 12:9)</li>
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<li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="key"></a>Later John said, "And I saw an Angel come down from <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, <span style="color: #993399;">having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in His hand</span>; <span style="font-weight: bold;">and He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">, and bound him </span><b style="font-weight: bold;">a thousand years</b><span style="font-weight: bold;">, and </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">cast him into the bottomless pit</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">,</span> and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> till </span><b style="font-weight: bold;">the thousand years</b><span style="font-weight: bold;"> should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season." </span>(Revelation 20:1-3) </li>
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<li>Immediately after the vision described above [when Christ, <span style="color: #993399;">who has the keys of hell and of death </span>(Revelation 1:18), binds Satan for '<b>a thousand years</b>'] John sees a vision of the resurrected saints in <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, who "lived and reigned with Christ '<b>a thousand years</b>'." (Revelation 20:4) </li>
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<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">"The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition:</span> and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." (Revelation 17:8)</li>
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<li><span style="font-weight: bold;">"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, </span>and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth... <span style="font-weight: bold;">And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them."</span> (Revelation 11:3,7)</li>
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<li>Jesus said: "<span style="font-weight: bold;">Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father</span>; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. <span style="font-weight: bold;">For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death</span>" [Satan]. (1 Corinthians 15:24-26)</li>
</span></span></ul>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">Revelation chapter 12 describes the battle in <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span> between Michael and Satan for the saints of the old dispensation, which occurred at the same time the "women clothed with the sun, being with child, brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #3333ff;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"And there appeared a great wonder in </span><span style="color: #ff6666; font-weight: bold;">heaven</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">;</span> a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.</span> <span style="color: #cc0000;">And there appeared another wonder in <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>; <span style="font-weight: bold;">and behold a </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">great red dragon</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">, </span><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/05/fourth-beast-kingdom-which-is-yet-to.html" style="font-weight: bold;">having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads</a><span style="font-weight: bold;">.</span> And his tail drew the third part of the stars of <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, and did cast them to the earth:<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">and the </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">dragon</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, </span>for to devour her child as soon as it was born.</span> <span style="color: #3333ff; font-weight: bold;">And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron:</span><span style="color: #3333ff; font-weight: bold;"> and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: #3333ff;">And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.</span> <span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">And there was war in </span><span style="color: #ff6666; font-weight: bold;">heaven</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">: Michael and his angels fought against the </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">dragon</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">; and the </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">dragon</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in </span><span style="color: #ff6666; font-weight: bold;">heaven</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.</span></span> <span style="color: #3333ff;">And I heard a loud voice saying in <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, 'Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ:</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, </span>which accused them before our God day and night.'</span> <span style="color: #3333ff;">And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.</span> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #3333ff;">Therefore rejoice, ye <span style="color: #ff6666;">heavens</span>, and ye that dwell in them.</span> <span style="color: #cc6600;">Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! <span style="font-weight: bold;">for the devil is come down unto you,</span> having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.</span> <span style="color: #3333ff;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child</span>."</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><a href="http://sufferforchrist.blogspot.com/2010/03/dont-let-devil-plant-seed-of-doubt.html" target="_blank">Satan roamed freely upon the earth</a> before the birth of Christ (Job 2) and during the time that Jesus dwelt among us (Matthew 4). It was Satan himself who personally sought to tempt Jesus to sin when He fasted forty days and forty nights in the wilderness. However, Jesus (He that is in you) overcame Satan (Death) when He was resurrected and exalted to His heavenly throne where He sits on the right hand of God. Through Christ's victory on the cross, Satan was bound in the abyss (the bottomless pit) and restrained from preventing the spreading of the gospel throughout the nations. This period of restraint (which is partial only, for the devil's spirit is in the world and has been in the world throughout this dispensation) is designated as "<a href="http://www.prca.org/pamphlets/pamphlet_5.html" target="_blank">the thousand years</a>."</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br />Near the end of this dispensation, the devil, Satan, shall be loosed out of the bottomless pit to rule over his earthly kingdom for 'a little season,' so that he will stand in the holy place, showing himself that he is God, and he will deceive many with his signs and wonders. <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/05/fourth-beast-kingdom-which-is-yet-to.html">This is the other king which is 'not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space</a></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/05/fourth-beast-kingdom-which-is-yet-to.html">'</a> (Revelation 17:10).<br /><br />This anti-Christian 'beast,' <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#antichrist">this kingdom of man under Satan</a>, shall be a kingdom which has sway over all the universe, over all men, over all the powers of creation. It shall be a kingdom in which man worships his own work and in which the devil is lord supreme. This world power to come shall lay down the rules for <a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/">religious life in particular</a>: it shall tell all men how they must worship and what they must worship. It shall be a new system of thought and religion, with a new creed, universal in its scope and, at the same time, with a new god. That new god will be the devil incarnate, the great world power, whom all shall admire and worship and for whom all shall erect an image in order that they may worship the same. All things shall be under the control of this great and universal world power: the very necessities of life shall be in its power. It can surely allow or prevent buying and selling according to its good pleasure. The saints of Christ who do not worship the image, and who refuse to receive the mark of the beast, shall not be able to do business; they shall not be able to buy or to sell. They shall not be able to live along with this great society. They shall not be able to buy the necessities of life. They shall be outcasts, mocked at, held in derision, thrust aside, ousted from society, and killed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #cc0000;">"And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.</span> And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, <span style="color: #3333ff; font-weight: bold;">and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.</span> And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; <span style="color: #cc0000;">and he shall magnify himself in his heart, <span style="font-weight: bold;">and by peace shall destroy many:</span> <span style="color: #3333ff; font-weight: bold;">he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand."</span></span> (Daniel 8:23-25)<br /><br /><span style="color: #cc0000;">"And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, <span style="font-weight: bold;">and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that is determined shall be done</span>."</span> (Daniel 11:36)<br /><br /><span style="color: #3333ff;">"The day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first,</span> <span style="color: #cc0000;">and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; <span style="font-weight: bold;">so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God</span>."</span> (2 Thessalonians 2:2-4) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">The deception of the devil must work out till the bitter end. The devil, to whom the kingdoms of the world belong, shall succeed in combining all his kingdoms under one head and inspiring them all with the same principle. Although man has fallen away from Him, God nevertheless allows man to exercise dominion over the earthly creation and to bring to light all the hidden powers and talents of creation to their fullest degree. In this kingdom we have the <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2008/11/kingdom-of-antichrist-following-is_13.html">anti-Christian beasts described in Revelation chapter 13</a>, which represent the highest development of the sovereignty of man apart from God, and under the devil they shall develop all the powers of creation without God. However, the dragon's power and authority itself is limited: it is well that we bear this in mind, for it is to our comfort; it assures us from the outset that the power and authority of this anti-Christian kingdom, however great, is not unlimited and that Christ, who has all power, is mightier than antichrist.<br /><br />Here is the patience and the faith of the saints, that in all these times they remain faithful and refuse to deny the Christ and that they wait for the <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/">day of His coming</a>.<br /><br />The future combined one-world power of the nominally Christian nations and heathen nations cannot last, because ultimately the ten kings shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire (Revelation 17:16). Therefore, shortly before the end of this world, the devil's final deception of the nations shall take place. The heathen nations and the nominally Christian world will ultimately <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/02/final-battle-armageddon-and-final_26.html">gather as separate forces for the last war</a>, which will be a world war in the strictest sense of the word </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">(the battle of Armageddon).</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> Looking upon the nominally Christian world, which in fact will be an anti-Christian civilization, the heathen nations shall do as the nations of the old dispensation did with respect to Jerusalem; that is, they shall say: "Let us go up to Jerusalem; let Zion be defiled; let our eye look upon Zion!" And again the Lord will use the hostile spirit of the heathen nations to destroy the anti-Christian power and eat the flesh of the great whore.<br /><br />In Revelation chapters 16 and 17, <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/05/fourth-beast-kingdom-which-is-yet-to.html">there mention is made of ten kings who as yet have received no kingdom, but shall receive power as kings for one hour with the beast</a>: <span style="font-weight: bold;">their dominion shall last but "one hour" with the beast; that is, "a little season</span>." In Revelation chapter 20, the reference is evidently to the same going forth of the devil to the nations,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> the kings of the whole world that live on the four quarters of the earth, to deceive them and gather them for battle.</span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG_Report_2009_ENG.pdf" target="'_blank"><img src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6kkIOZlk_eM/VJGagqqmh1I/AAAAAAAAANo/OdNvv1DE0mE/s1600/UN%2BMDG%2B2009.PNG" title="The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009" width="790" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">It is especially Gog and Magog that look upon all Christendom, no matter how apostate, as the beloved city, even as the heathen nations in the old dispensation considered earthly Jerusalem to be the city of God no matter how apostate and wicked it had become. The nations of Gog and Magog, in compassing about and coming to battle against Christendom in its widest sense, certainly intend to destroy "the beloved city," the cause of Christ, and to make paganism supreme in the world. In this, they reveal their wickedness and become ripe for the judgment. God nevertheless uses them to inflict His judgments upon the anti-Christian world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">The final result of this anti-Christian influence will be that the heathen nations will unite their forces for war against the nominally Christian world, the last war that shall ever be fought on earth (the battle of Armageddon). However, they will never touch the camp of the saints: the people of God shall look for the coming redemption, which then shall be very near. It will be upon this final scene of confusion and iniquity that the Lord will appear in judgment to destroy His enemies and to give His saints the victory forever.</span>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #336666;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #336666;"><b>CHRIST REAPS THE EARTH'S HARVEST</b></span></span> (14)<b> </b><br />"And I [John] heard a voice from <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span> saying unto me,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: #3333ff; font-weight: bold;">'Write, <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#resurrection" target="_blank">Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth</a>: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.'</span> And I [John] looked, and behold a white cloud, <span style="color: #999900;"><u>and upon the cloud One sat like unto the Son of man</u></span>, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to <span style="color: #999900;"><u>Him that sat on the cloud</u></span>, 'Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.' <span style="color: #999900;"><u>And He that sat on the cloud</u></span> thrust in His sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #cc6600;">"Let them grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, 'Gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them: <span style="color: #3333ff;">but gather the wheat into my barn'...</span> The tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; <u>the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels</u>. <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world</span><span style="color: #993300;">."</span> </span>(Matthew 13:30,38-40) </span></blockquote>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="wrath"></a><b><span style="color: #336666;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">THE AVENGING ANGEL & THE JUDGMENT OF THE GREAT WHORE: THE 7 VIALS OF GOD'S WRATH POURED OUT UPON THE UNJUST ON EARTH</span></span></b></span> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #336666;">(15,16)<br />Grievous Sores upon the Ungodly; Sea, Rivers and Waters Turn to Blood; <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">Ungodly Scorched with Fire</span>; Seat of the Beast and His Kingdom Full of Darkness: They Gnaw Their Tongues for Pain; <a href="http://www.lambslain.com/2009/07/euphrates-river-is-drying-up-iraq.html" target="_blank">River Euphrates Dried Up for the Kings of the East</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><a href="http://www.biblestudy.org/maps/euphrates-river-valley-map.html" target="blank"><img src="http://i52.tinypic.com/20ib5s9.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. <span style="color: #993399;">And I [John] saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">dragon</span>, and out of the mouth of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">beast</span>, and out of the mouth of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">false prophet</span>.</span> <span style="color: #336666;">For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, <span style="font-weight: bold;">to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.</span> </span>Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. <span style="color: #336666; font-weight: bold;">And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; <span style="color: #993399;"><span style="color: #3333ff;">and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">It is done.</span></span> And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.</span> And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: <span style="color: #993399;"><span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.</span></span> <span style="color: #993399;">And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. </span>And there fell upon men a <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">great hail</span> out of <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">plague of the hail</span>; for the plague thereof was exceeding great."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #3333ff;"><b>THE RESURRECTION OF THE JUST AND THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB</b></span> <span style="color: #3333ff;">(17,18,19)<br />Christ Delivers Up the Just to the Kingdom of <span style="color: #ff6666;">Heaven</span> for the Final and Complete Union of the Church of All Ages</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #3333ff;">"And I [John] heard another voice from </span><span style="color: #3333ff;">heaven</span><span style="color: #3333ff;">, saying, '</span><a href="http://nuclearsuntan.blogspot.com/#woman" style="font-weight: bold;">Come out of her, my people</a><span style="color: #3333ff;">, that ye be not partakers of her sins, </span><span style="color: #3333ff; font-weight: bold;">and that ye receive not of her plagues.</span> <span style="color: #993399;">For her sins have reached unto <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, and God hath remembered her iniquities... <span style="font-weight: bold;">Therefore shall her plagues come in one day</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">, death, and mourning, and famine; </span></span><span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">and she shall be utterly burned with fire</span><span style="color: #993399;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her</span>." </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD." (Amos 8:11)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved." (Romans 9:27)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the <a href="http://sufferforchrist.blogspot.com/2010/01/gods-sovereign-love-and-election-by.html" target="_blank">election of grace</a>." (Romans 11:5)</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #3333ff;">"Rejoice over her, thou <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her'...</span> <span style="color: #cc6600;">And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth... </span><span style="color: #3333ff;">I [John] heard a great voice of much people in <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, saying, 'Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God;</span> <span style="color: #993399;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">for true and righteous are His judgments: for He hath judged the great whore'</span>...</span> <span style="color: #3333ff;">And I [John] heard as it were the voice of a great multitude... saying, 'Alleluia: <span style="font-weight: bold;">for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth</span>. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: </span><span style="color: #cc6600;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">for the marriage of the Lamb is come</span>, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be <u>arrayed in fine linen, clean and white</u>: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.' And He saith unto me, '<u>Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb</u>'." </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #993399;"><b>CHRIST AND HIS ARMY OF SAINTS PREPARE TO COME FROM <span style="color: #ff6666;">HEAVEN</span> IN GLORY FOR THE FINAL JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS GATHERED IN BATTLE </b>(19)</span></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #3333ff;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"And I [John] saw </span><span style="color: #ff6666; font-weight: bold;">heaven</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon Him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war</span>...</span> <span style="color: #cc6600;">And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called The Word of God.</span> <span style="color: #cc6600;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #3333ff;">And the armies which were in</span> </span><span style="color: #ff6666; font-weight: bold;">heaven</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <span style="color: #3333ff;">followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean</span></span><span style="color: #3333ff;">...</span></span><span style="color: #3333ff;"> </span><span style="color: #336666;"><span style="color: #cc6600;">And I [John] saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, <span style="color: #336666;">saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of</span></span> <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven<span style="color: #336666;">,</span></span><span style="color: #cc6600;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">'Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">;</span></span> that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great'." </span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="color: #993399;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-weight: bold;">THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">- THE HEATHEN NATIONS, <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#heathen" target="_blank">GOG AND MAGOG</a>, APPEAR UPON THE SCENE LAST</span> (19,20)</span></span><br />Gog is mentioned in nine verses of the Bible, seven of which are in the book of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39 (the other verses are in 1st Chronicles and Revelation). Magog is mentioned in five verses of the Bible, twice in Ezekiel (once in chapter 38 and once in chapter 39) and once each in Genesis, 1st Chronicles and Revelation. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #336666;">Gog and Magog together are mentioned in only two Bible verses: Ezekiel 38:2 and Revelation 20:8.</span> In Revelation 20:8, <span style="color: #336666;">Gog and Magog</span> are mentioned in the same sentence as "the thousand years" expiring, when "Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations."</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 'Son of man, set thy face against <span style="color: #336666; font-weight: bold;">Gog, the land of Magog</span>, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him'." (Ezekiel 38:2)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, <span style="color: #336666; font-weight: bold;">Gog and Magog</span>, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." (Revelation 20:7-8)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"Thus saith the Lord GOD:<br />In that day when <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/02/amillennialism-v.html">my people of Israel</a> dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?<br />And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts,<br />Thou, and many people with thee,<br />All of them riding upon horses, <span style="font-weight: bold;">a great company, and a mighty army</span>:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And thou shalt come up against <a href="http://www.eternallifeministries.org/lrs_israel.htm" target="_blank">my people of Israel</a></span>, as a cloud to cover the land;<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">It shall be in the latter days</span>, and I will bring thee against my land,<br />That the heathen may know me,<br />When I shall be sanctified in thee, O <span style="color: #336666; font-weight: bold;">Gog</span>, before their eyes.<br />Thus saith the Lord GOD:<br />Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel,<br />Which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?<br />And it shall come to pass at the same time<br />When <span style="color: #336666; font-weight: bold;">Gog</span> shall come against the land of Israel,<br />Saith the Lord GOD,<br />That my fury shall come up in my face.<br />For in my jealousy and in the <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">fire of my wrath</span> have I spoken,<br />Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;<br />So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven,<br />And the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth,<br />And all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />And the mountains shall be thrown down,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground</span>.<br />And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains,<br />Saith the Lord GOD:<br />Every man's sword shall be against his brother.<br />And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood;<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And I will rain upon him, and upon his bands,<br />And upon the many people that are with him,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">An overflowing rain, </span><span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone</span>.<br />Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself;<br />And I will be known in the eyes of many nations, <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />And they shall know that I am the LORD</span>."<br />(Ezekiel 38:14-23)<br /><br />"And <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">I will send a fire</span> on <span style="color: #336666; font-weight: bold;">Magog</span>, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles:<br />And they shall know that I am the LORD.<br />So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel;<br />And I will not let them pollute my holy name any more:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">the heathen shall know that I am the LORD</span>, the Holy One in Israel.<br />Behold, it is come, <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">and it is done</span>, saith the Lord GOD; <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />This is the day whereof I have spoken</span>.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">I will set my glory among the heathen</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed</span>,<br />And my hand that I have laid upon them.<br />So the house of Israel shall know<br />That I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.<br />And the heathen shall know that<br />The house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity:<br />Because they trespassed against me, <span style="font-weight: bold;">therefore hid I my face from them</span>,<br />And gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.<br />According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions<br />Have I done unto them, <span style="font-weight: bold;">and hid my face from them</span>.<br />Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD:<br />Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob,<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And have mercy upon the whole <a href="http://mountainretreatorg.net/bibleit/bibleit.cgi?passage=Romans+9" target="_blank">house of Israel</a></span>,<br />And will be jealous for my holy name;<br />After that they have borne their shame,<br />And all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me,<br />When they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">When I have brought them again from the people,<br />And gathered them out of their enemies' lands</span>,<br />And am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God,<br />Which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen:</span><br />But I have gathered them unto their own land, <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />And have left none of them any more there</span>.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Neither will I hide my face any more from them</span>:<br />For I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD."<br />(Ezekiel 39:6-8,21-29)</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel." (Romans 9:6)<br />
<br />
"And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, '<span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">It is done</span>'." (Revelation 16:17)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">
<span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON – THE BEAST AND FALSE PROPHET ARE CAST ALIVE INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE; FIRE COMES DOWN FROM GOD OUT OF HEAVEN TO SLAY THE DECEIVED WHO RECEIVED THE MARK OF THE BEAST AND WORSHIPPED HIS IMAGE <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#resurrection" target="_blank">[THE REST OF THE DEAD]</a>; THE LAST ENEMY THAT SHALL BE DESTROYED IS DEATH [THAT OLD SERPENT, CALLED THE DEVIL AND SATAN]</span><span style="color: #993399;"> (19,20)</span></span>
<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #336666;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"And I [John] saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war <span style="color: #3333ff;">against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army</span></span><span style="color: #3333ff; font-weight: bold;">.</span></span> <span style="color: #993399;">And the </span><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">beast</span><span style="color: #993399;"> was taken, and with him the </span><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">false prophet</span><span style="color: #993399;"> that wrought miracles before him, <span style="color: #336666;">with which he </span></span><span style="color: #336666; font-weight: bold;">deceived them that had received the mark of the beast</span><span style="color: #336666;"><span style="color: #336666;">, <span style="font-weight: bold;">and them that worshipped his image.</span></span> </span><span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.</span><span style="color: #336666;"> </span><span style="color: #993399;"><span style="color: #336666; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #336666;">And the remnant were slain</span> </span><span style="color: #cc6600;"><span style="color: #3333ff;">with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse,</span></span> <span style="color: #3333ff;">which sword proceeded out of His mouth:</span> <span style="color: #336666; font-weight: bold;">and all the fowls were filled with their flesh."</span></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #339999;"><b>INTERLUDE: CHRIST BINDS SATAN AND CASTS HIM INTO THE BOTTOMLESS PIT FOR 'A THOUSAND YEARS,' AFTER WHICH HE SHALL BE LOOSED 'A LITTLE SEASON' </b> (20)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">In a vision, John sees Christ, <span style="color: #993399;">who has the keys of hell and of death</span>, bind Satan for a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit. Immediately after this, John sees the resurrected saints in <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, who lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Then John tells us that, when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle against the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #993399;">"And I [John] saw an Angel come down from <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>,</span> <span style="color: #993399;">having the key of the bottomless pit</span> <span style="color: #993399;">and a great chain in His hand.</span> <span style="color: #336666;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">And He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years</span>, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season."</span> <span style="color: #3333ff;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #3333ff;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"And I [John] saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them:</span> <span style="color: #3333ff;">and I [John] saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands;</span></span><span style="color: #339999;"> </span><span style="color: #3333ff; font-weight: bold;">and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.</span> <span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: #993300;">But</span> <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#dead">the rest of the dead</a> <span style="color: #993300;">lived not again until the thousand years were finished.</span></span> <span style="color: #3333ff; font-weight: bold;"><u>This is the first resurrection.</u></span> <span style="color: #3333ff;">Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#summarize">the second death</a> hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, <span style="font-weight: bold;">and shall reign with him a thousand years."</span></span> </span><br /><br />
<span style="color: #336666; font-weight: bold;">"And when the thousand years are expired,</span> <span style="color: #336666;">Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, </span><span style="color: #336666; font-weight: bold;">Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle:</span> <span style="color: #336666;">the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.</span><span style="color: #336666;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city:</span></span> <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">and fire</span> <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">came down from God out of</span> <span style="color: #ff6666; font-weight: bold;">heaven</span> <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">and devoured them." </span><br />
<br />
"For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night." (Psalms 90:4)<br />
<br />
"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Peter 3:8)<br />
<br />
"Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?" (Ecclesiastes 6:6)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">"And the devil <span style="color: #336666;">that deceived them</span> was cast into the</span> <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">lake of fire and brimstone,</span> <span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">where the beast and the false prophet are, </span> <span style="color: #993399;">and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." </span></span>
</span>
<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." (Hebrews 9:27)</span></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">
<span style="color: #993399;"><b>THE FINAL JUDGMENT - THEY THAT HAVE DONE EVIL <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#resurrection" target="_blank">[THE REST OF THE DEAD]</a> SHALL COME FORTH UNTO THE RESURRECTION OF DAMNATION <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#summarize" target="_blank">[THE SECOND DEATH]</a></b> (20)</span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #3333ff;">"And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span> fled away; </span><span style="color: #993399;">and there was found no place for them.</span> <span style="color: #cc6600;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">And I [John] saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; </span>and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">book of life:</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#resurrection" style="font-weight: bold;" target="blank">and the dead were judged</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: #336666;"><span style="color: #cc6600; font-weight: bold;">out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.</span><span style="color: #cc6600;"> </span><span style="color: #cc6600;">And the sea gave up the dead which were in it;</span></span><span style="color: #cc6600;"> </span><span style="color: #336666; font-weight: bold;">and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them:</span><span style="color: #336666;"> <span style="color: #cc6600;">and they were judged every man according to their works.</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">.</span> <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#summarize"><u>This is the second death.</u></a> <span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."</span></span></span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #3333ff;"><b>A NEW <span style="color: #ff6666;">HEAVEN</span> AND EARTH: THE SON WILL BE SUBJECT UNTO HIM, THAT GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL</b> (21,22)</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="color: #3333ff;">"<u>And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span>, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband</u>. And I [John] heard a great voice out of <span style="color: #ff6666;">heaven</span> saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.' And He that sat upon the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new...' And He said unto me, '<span style="color: #993300; font-weight: bold;">It is done</span>. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son'... <u><a href="http://templeinheaven.blogspot.com/">And I [John] saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it</a></u>... And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life... And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: <u>and they shall reign for ever and ever</u>."</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk every one in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.' In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever." (Micah 4:1-7)</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">
</span>
<br />
<div align="center">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><b>The Lord's Stern Warning:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">'If any man shall add unto these things,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">God shall take away his part out of the book of life,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">And out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book'."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">(Revelation 22:18-19)</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vAyA-ymGbTs" width="640"></iframe><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">Editor's Note:</span></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">I only read the King James Bible. Other versions, including the New King James Version, have changed thousands of words and ruined valuable verses. <a href="http://www.chick.com/ask/articles/nkjv.asp" target="_blank">And this you must know: those who translated the NKJV did not believe that God perfectly preserved His Word!</a> The Bible today basically has been rewritten by many of the major religious bodies (be wary of the devil's deceptive influence and infiltration of the Church, especially in altering God's Word). They will live and die with their new interpretations of what the Word of God says and means.<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"The major religions of today, especially Christianity, will have to be changed because they are not compatible with the changes to come. In order to do this, the Bible will be changed. It will be rewritten to fit the new religion. Gradually, key words will be replaced with new words having various shades of meaning. Then the meaning attached to the new word can be close to the old word - and as time goes on, other shades of meaning of that word can be emphasized, and then gradually that word replaced with another word. The idea is that everything in Scripture need not be rewritten, just key words replaced by other words. The variability in meaning attached to any word can be used as a tool to change the entire meaning of Scripture, and therefore make it acceptable to this new religion. Most people won't know the difference; and this was another one of the times where he said, 'The few who do notice the difference won't be enough to matter'." [<a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-world-order-plans-exposed-by.html" target="blank">The New Order of Barbarians: Changing the Bible Through Revisions of Key Words</a>, Dr. Lawrence Dunegan, commenting on a March 20, 1969, gathering of pediatricians at a meeting of the Pittsburgh Pediatric Society where Dr. Richard Day, an insider to the NWO plans, gave a lecture]</span></span></span></div>
</div>
<br />
<h3 id="yn-title">
<a href="http://www.moriel.org/MorielArchive/index.php/uncategorized/tony-blair-evangelicals-and-the-coming-one-world-religion" target="'_new">Evangelicals and the Coming One World Religion</a> </h3>
By Paul McGuire, <a href="http://paulmcguire.com/" target="'_new">PaulMcguire.com</a><br />
April 15, 2009<br />
<br />
<b>Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has created the <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2008/12/globalizing-religion-for-new-world.html">Tony Blair Faith Foundation</a> to unify the world’s religions.</b> <b><span style="color: #996633;">Blair is especially interested in promoting the benefits of globalization to Christian churches.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #996633;"> </span></b> <br />
There are a number of prominent American ministers who have endorsed his Tony Blair Faith Foundation with its emphasis on globalization or global government. <b><span style="color: #993399;">In Revelation we read about <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2010/01/nation-shall-rise-against-nation-but.html">this coming one world religion and the False Prophet</a> who unites the world’s religions in order to bring peace to Planet Earth under the rule of Antichrist.</span></b><br />
<br />
<b>It is interesting that one of the primary focuses of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation is not only to <a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/">unify the different religions</a>, but to specifically promote the benefits of globalism or global government to evangelicals.</b> A number of well known evangelical leaders have signed on board.<br />
<br />
Tony Blair writes in his article seeking to Understand Faith and Globalization that “at a certain point each (religion) is in communion with each other.” So one would have to ask the question what is the communion between militant Islam, Judaism and Christianity? Suicide bombers? The often stated theology from militant Islam is death to Jews and Christians. So where is the communion?<br />
<br />
Tony Blair says:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“The global community — 'it takes a village' as someone once coined it is upon us.” </blockquote>
It is difficult to understand how Blair would not know that the “someone,” who coined the term “global village,” was the world famous Canadian communications theorist Marshall McLuhan. Blair goes on to say:
<br />
<blockquote>
“Examine the impacts of globalization. For a moment right and wrongs. Just look at its affects.” </blockquote>
<b>Here in America we know the affects of globalization.</b> <b><span style="color: #996633;">We were told that NAFTA and GATT would bring enormous economic benefit to both Mexico and Canada.</span></b> <b>Americans lost jobs and entire industries packed up and moved out of the county.</b> NAFTA and GATT were devastating to the Mexican worker, and the Canadians are unhappy about how it has hurt their economy.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #ff6666;">Across the world we are in a global financial meltdown with United Nations Climate Control Treaties designed to transfer trillions of dollars in wealth from the U.S., Great Britain, France, Australia, South America and Asian nations.</span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #993399;">The current economic crisis appears to be a planned crisis to bring in a globalized World Socialist government, which is what Tony Blair really seems to be promoting.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #993399;"> </span></b> <br />
<b><span style="color: #996633;">In order to accomplish that goal, there must be massive wealth redistribution and a consolidation of economic controls by some kind of new “International Federal Reserve System”</span> or, as the world leaders are saying (as they are reading from the same script), “a new world financial order.”</b><br />
<b> </b> <br />
<b><span style="color: #993399;">The recent G20 Meetings in London were an elaborately staged production</span></b> <b><span style="color: #993399;">with world leaders posing and smiling in front of the cameras and all reading off the same page.</span></b> <b>Outside where carefully orchestrated demonstrators, financed by the same people who financed the meetings of world leaders inside the G20 Meeting.</b> <b>How can you say that, some people may ask? Because the exact same verbiage that was used inside the meeting was used by demonstrators outside of the meeting.</b> <b><span style="color: #996633;">The demonstrators and world leaders were both saying “capitalism is dead,” “world currency,” “a new world financial order” and so on.</span></b> Even Hugo Chavez was reading from the same script when he called for a “new world order,” which was exactly what they were calling for inside the meeting.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #993399;"><span style="color: #996633;">But there is one small problem to their agenda.</span> In order to bring in their new world financial order, new world order and global government, they have to get the churches and leaders of various religions on board.</span></b> But, as Blair and his backers understand, getting “Evangelical Churches” to sign on to globalism is imperative because many of them are pro-Israel and exert a certain degree of influence over certain demographic groups.<br />
<br />
<b>Around 1919, when the League of Nations began to fail, the proponents of globalization recognized that one of the primary reasons they failed was that they did not get the Protestant Churches to go along with their program. <span style="color: #996633;">The international banking interests behind the push to global government realized that they needed to sell the “Evangelical Church” on world government.</span></b> So eventually they brought in a man named John Foster Dulles, whose brother was Allen Dulles, who was director of the CIA under Eisenhower and Kennedy. <b>Allen Dulles was responsible for the highly sophisticated social engineering and “mind control programs” popularized in movies like the “Manchurian Candidate” and “The Bourne Identity.”</b><br />
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<b>In 1937, John Foster Dulles strategically met with the heads of over 30 different denominations, along with prominent ministers and heads of seminaries.</b> <b><span style="color: #993399;">He had millions of dollars to finance his agenda, and his goal was to get “Evangelical Churches” on board with a world government through creating the theology of “social justice.”</span></b> <b><span style="color: #ff6666;">So whenever you hear preaching and teaching or an emphasis on the theology of “<a href="http://www.lambslain.com/search/label/UN%27s%20Social%20Protection%20Floor">social justice</a>,” it is important to remember that this was introduced into the Church by a non-believer whose goal was globalization.</span></b><br />
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<b>We are on the precipice of a new world financial order, a cashless society and global government.</b> Once again, the forces behind globalization understand that they need to recruit the churches in order to make the transition. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, the prominent evangelical ministers, and religious leaders of other religions are part of globalization strategy. If you want to know where this all ultimately ends up, <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#antichrist">read Revelation chapter 13</a>.
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<h3 id="yn-title">
Jesus Will Return to Deliver Up His People as the Nations Gather for the Battle of Armageddon</h3>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">“The common enemy of humanity is man. In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill. All these dangers are caused by human intervention, and it is only through changed attitudes and behavior that they can be overcome. The real enemy then, is humanity itself." - <a href="http://green-agenda.com/globalrevolution.html" target="blank">Club of Rome</a></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">
What is uniting the nations of the world? The manufactured fear of man-made global warming and a call for carbon taxes against the developed nations.<br />
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What has formed to fight this perceived global problem? The United Nations climate change conferences and climate control treaties. This <a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/">'green movement' is the new religion</a> that will replace the monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.<br />
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What will be the cataclysmic event that ushers in the one-world government prophesied in the Bible? It will be the destruction of 1/3 of the earth.<br />
<br />
The Lord tells us that destruction will come upon the earth in the following forms: a great earthquake, sun turns black, moon turns blood red, stars fall to earth, sky rolls up like a scroll, every mountain and island moves out of its place [<a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#sixthseal">the sixth seal</a>]; 1/3 of the trees will be burned up and all the green grass will be burned [hail and fire mingled with blood]; 1/3 of the sea will turn to blood, 1/3 of the sea creatures will die, and 1/3 of the ships will be destroyed [great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea]; 1/3 of the waters will be poisoned [great star falls from heaven]; and 1/3 of the sun and moon and stars will be darkened [the first four trumpets].<br />
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Will these events be caused by biological, chemical and nuclear weapons of war? Will these events be caused by 'terrorist' attacks or the affects of natural disasters (earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, <a href="http://www3.ncc.edu/faculty/bio/fanellis/biosci119/tsunami_caused_by_slides.html" target="blank">underwater landslides</a> and other phenomenon) on <a href="http://www.lambslain.com/search/label/Nuclear%20Power%20Plants%20in%20the%20United%20States">nuclear power plants</a> and deep-sea oil rigs? Will these events be caused by asteroids hitting the earth </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">(<a href="http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Revelation-18-21/">great millstone cast into the sea</a>)</span>, <a href="http://www.lambslain.com/2012/03/magnetic-polar-shifts-causing-massive.html">magnetic pole shifts</a>, or <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Solar%20Storms%20and%20EMP%20Threats">EMP (electro magnetic pulse) threats and solar storms</a>? The mystery is yet to be revealed.<br />
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When the events that destroy 1/3 of the earth occur (the first four trumpets), the world will be in utter chaos. The devastated people of the world will embrace a one-world government that promises peace and security.
</span>
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<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"Research points in the direction that an 'alien agenda' is on the government's table as one among many other options to ring in a one-world government and a one-world dictator. They want to create an <a href="http://rewardsinheaven.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">'outside threat' a fake alien invasion</a>, so that the countries of this world will be willing to unite as one, to fight the 'threat' from outer space. If this succeeds, the <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2011/06/illuminati-brief-history-of-shadow.html">Illuminati goal</a> is completed. This is what the mass media is preparing us for; currently they are reporting on more UFO sightings than perhaps ever before." [Wes Penre, <a href="http://www.illuminati-news.com/moriah.htm" target="_blank">The Secret Order of the Illuminati</a> (A Brief History of the Shadow Government), Illuminati-News.com, November 12, 1998 (Updated September 26, 2009)]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/C4zh7b_ue8o" width="640"></iframe><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">The "Iron Mountain Report" of 1963 discusses the transition from a war-time economy to a peace-time economy while keeping the masses under subjection and manufacturing a common enemy. A possible alien-threat scenario was envisioned in this report as a means to uniting the masses together against an alien invasion. <a href="http://rewardsinheaven.blogspot.com/">Holograms and reports of 'UFO' sightings</a> are being used to test the public's vulnerabilities and to manufacture belief in aliens. [cyrus1914, <a href="http://boards.trutv.com/showthread.php?8978-Project-Bluebeam-amp-Iron-Mountain-Report&s=dbdbaf095e97a78bd9fe854d5be5b5d3" target="_blank">Project Bluebeam & Iron Mountain Report</a>, truTV Message Board, October 31, 2010]</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">
However, the children of God will refuse to worship the one-world government, <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2008/11/kingdom-of-antichrist-following-is_13.html" target="_blank">the beast that rises up from the earth and the sea</a>; therefore, the world must rid itself of them. This war against the monotheistic religions cannot occur until the devil establishes his earthly throne in Jerusalem, showing himself that he is God. This occurs at the fifth trumpet, a five-month period before the sixth trumpet is sounded, when 1/3 of mankind is killed.
</span>
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<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"And I [John] saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to Him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And He opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle. And on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter" [the sixth and seventh trumpets]. (Revelation 9:1-12)</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">
What event will lead to the devil standing in the holy place, showing himself that he is God?<br />
<br />
Almost every nation is experiencing a collapse of its economy, for which there can be only a global solution. The only solution will be a world currency, which will be the final step in establishing a one-world government. The developed nations have been discussing a world currency for the past year or so, so we are fast approaching the end of sovereign nations. The establishment of a world currency will lead to a world government, which will be a socialist / communist / totalitarian / dictatorial government whose leader will be the devil incarnate.<br />
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Those who refuse to worship the beast, the one-world government and religion, most likely will be among the third part of men killed by the 200-million-man army described in the <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Book%20of%20Revelation">book of Revelation</a> (the sixth trumpet).
</span>
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<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-size: 100%;">"And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.</span> And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the <a href="http://magiclougie.blogspot.com/2015/07/us-military-to-shift-to-robotic-warfare.html">army of the horsemen</a> were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. <span style="font-size: 100%;">For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails <i>were</i> like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts</span>." (Revelation (9:13-21)</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">
The union of all nations into a world government with a global currency and religion cannot possibly last. It will be only a matter of time before the heathen nations turn on the other nations under the control of the devil. Already we see military alliances between Russia and China, as well as other nations.<br />
<br />
The following essay ("The Sixth Trumpet War of Revelation 9") presents a coalition of forces -- in particular, China, Russia, Iran, Syria and Turkey -- attacking Israel from the East at the sixth trumpet in a war before the battle of Armageddon. However, the war which begins at the sixth trumpet is the battle of Armageddon, when the heathen nations join forces to destroy Jerusalem. This coalition of forces, called Gog and Magog in the Bible, will prepare to attack the one-world government ruled from Jerusalem. It will be upon this scene, when the heathen nations are gathered in battle and surrounding Jerusalem, that Christ will return to deliver up His people.
</span>
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<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls." (Luke 21:12-19)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. 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. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:20-28)</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">
Once the second woe (the sixth trumpet) is past, the third woe (the seventh trumpet and the return of Christ) comes quickly.
</span>
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<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. And when they shall have finished their testimony,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. </span>And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.<span style="font-weight: bold;"> And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.</span> And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. (Revelation 11:3-13)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 11:14-15)</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">
It is at this point that Christ will return in the clouds of heaven to deliver up His people and to destroy by fire the devil's kingdom on earth.
</span>
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<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as it were the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire." (Revelation 10:1)</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">
<a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#sixthseal">It will be a cloudy and dark day</a>, and there will be a great earthquake and voices from heaven, and the temple of God will be opened in heaven; and there will be lightning, voices, thunder and great hail; the sun and moon will be darkened, the stars will fall from heaven, and heaven and earth will be shaken. <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#judgment" target="_blank">The just will be resurrected for eternal life; the unjust will be resurrected for eternal damnation.</a> God will pour out the seven vials of His wrath upon the earth; the last enemy to be destroyed will be death, Satan. And the Lord will create a new heaven and a new earth, and He will bring New Jerusalem down from heaven to earth, and He will reign with His people forever and ever.<br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /><a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Armageddon%20and%20the%20Rapture%20of%20the%20Church" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Read More...</a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial";">ARTICLES ON ESCHATOLOGY:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
For an exposition on the Book of Revelation:<br />
<a href="http://www.thywordistruth.com/Revelation-Class/index.html">http://www.thywordistruth.com/Revelation-Class/index.html</a><br />
<a href="http://www.spindleworks.com/library/hoeksma/intro.htm">http://www.spindleworks.com/library/hoeksma/intro.htm</a><br />
<br />
Satan, the "strong man," was bound (locked and sealed in the "bottomless pit") by the victory of Christ on the cross; he had to be bound so that Christ could build His Church by releasing those whom Satan held captive. The binding of Satan marked the beginning of Christ’s "thousand-year" reign—the Kingdom of Christ is a present reality as the gospel is being preached throughout the nations; we are His representatives here on earth because Christ dwells within us: <br />
<a href="http://www.rense.com/general80/dealing.htm">http://www.rense.com/general80/dealing.htm</a><br />
<a href="http://whtt.org/">http://whtt.org/</a><br />
<a href="http://whtt-christianzionism.blogspot.com/2008/08/beginning-of-end-of-christian-zionism.html">http://whtt-christianzionism.blogspot.com/2008/08/beginning-of-end-of-christian-zionism.html</a><br />
<a href="http://www.missiontoisrael.org/tapelist.php#T064">http://www.missiontoisrael.org/tapelist.php#T064</a><br />
<a href="http://spindleworks.com/library/hoeksma/behold47.htm">http://spindleworks.com/library/hoeksma/behold47.htm</a><br />
<a href="http://www.graceonlinelibrary.org/etc/printer-friendly.asp?ID=635">http://www.graceonlinelibrary.org/etc/printer-friendly.asp?ID=635</a><br />
<a href="http://www.preteristarchive.com/PartialPreterism/provan-charles_dd_01.html">http://www.preteristarchive.com/PartialPreterism/provan-charles_dd_01.html</a><br />
<a href="http://www.biblestudy.org/question/when-was-satan-cast-out-of-heaven.html">http://www.biblestudy.org/question/when-was-satan-cast-out-of-heaven.html</a><br />
<br />
To understand that Christ's "thousand-year" reign is a present reality—that is, we live and reign with Him now, whether we are here on earth or with Him in heaven:<br />
<a href="http://www.scionofzion.com/millennium.htm">http://www.scionofzion.com/millennium.htm</a><br />
<a href="http://www.eternallifeministries.org/lrs_israel.htm">http://www.eternallifeministries.org/lrs_israel.htm</a><br />
<a href="http://whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=2639">http://whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=2639</a><br />
<a href="http://whtt.org/index.php?id=PhariseeWatch&cat=">http://whtt.org/index.php?id=PhariseeWatch&cat=</a><br />
<a href="http://www.ptm.org/nd96-1900yearsRev.htm">http://www.ptm.org/nd96-1900yearsRev.htm</a><br />
<a href="http://www.prca.org/articles/amillennialism.html">http://www.prca.org/articles/amillennialism.html</a><br />
<a href="http://www.the-highway.com/millennium_Riddlebarger.html">http://www.the-highway.com/millennium_Riddlebarger.html</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wcg.org/lit/gospel/kingdom.htm">http://www.wcg.org/lit/gospel/kingdom.htm</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wcg.org/lit/bible/Rev/millenn.htm">http://www.wcg.org/lit/bible/Rev/millenn.htm</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br /><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana";">There are nine verses in the bible which use the term "<span style="font-weight: bold;">thousand years</span>" (six of the nine verses are in chapter 20 of the book of Revelation):</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana";">"For <span style="font-weight: bold;">a </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">thousand years</span> in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night." (</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 85%;">Psalms 90:4)</span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 85%;"><br />"Yea, though he live <span style="font-weight: bold;">a </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">thousand years</span> twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?" (</span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 85%;">Ecclesiastes 6:6)</span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 85%;"><br />"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as <span style="font-weight: bold;">a </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">thousand years</span>, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">a </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">thousand years</span> as one day." (</span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 85%;">2 Peter 3:8)</span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 85%;"><br />"And He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him <span style="font-weight: bold;">a </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">thousand years</span>,and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till <span style="font-weight: bold;">the </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">thousand years</span> should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ <span style="font-weight: bold;">a </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">thousand years</span>. But the rest of the dead lived not again until <span style="font-weight: bold;">the </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">thousand years</span> were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him <span style="font-weight: bold;">a </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">thousand years</span>. And when <span style="font-weight: bold;">the </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">thousand years</span> are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the <b>four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog,</b> to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." (</span><span style="font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 85%;">Revelation 20:2-8)</span><br /><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "verdana";"><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UNWLIlGXeJE/VnGXtlZ5VDI/AAAAAAAACrk/J-_8qHP1lA0/s1600/four%2Bquarters%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bglobe.PNG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UNWLIlGXeJE/VnGXtlZ5VDI/AAAAAAAACrk/J-_8qHP1lA0/s1600/four%2Bquarters%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bglobe.PNG" /></a><br /><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>To understand that a pre-tribulation rapture is not biblical:<br />
<a href="http://minuteswithmessiah.tripod.com/question/pretribulation.html">http://minuteswithmessiah.tripod.com/question/pretribulation.html</a><br />
<a href="http://www.mydoctrine.com/Rapture.HTM">http://www.mydoctrine.com/Rapture.HTM</a><br />
<br />
The meaning of numbers in the book of Revelation (there is significance in God's use of certain numbers): <a href="http://www2.eis.net.au/%7Epaulh/rn30nums.htm">http://www2.eis.net.au/~paulh/rn30nums.htm</a><br />
<a href="http://agapebiblestudy.com/documents/The%20Significance%20of%20Numbers%20in%20Scripture.htm">http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/documents</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana";">They are not all Israel, which are of Israel (Romans 9:6):</span><span style="font-family: "verdana";">"But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">For there is no respect of persons with God.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law:</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">And as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">These, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness,</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">And their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">And knowest His will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law:</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">But if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law,</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">Shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee,</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">Who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly;</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">Neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly;</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">And circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter;</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">Whose praise is not of men, but of God."</span><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana";">(Romans 2:10-29)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
A creationist's defense of the King James Bible:<br />
<a href="http://www.icr.org/home/resources/resources_tracts_kjv/">http://www.icr.org/home/resources/resources_tracts_kjv/</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";"><br /></span></span></span></span><br />
In this day of rapid change, when many Christians have suddenly started using one of the many modern English translations of the Bible (NASB, NIV, NEB, NRSV, NKJV, etc.), abandoning the long-used King James Version read and loved by English-speaking people of all ages and walks of life for over ten generations, it may be appropriate to review a few of the reasons why many creationists, including this writer, still prefer to use the latter. All the fifty or more translators who developed the King James Bible were godly men who believed strongly in the inerrancy and full authority of Scripture and who, therefore, believed in the literal historicity of Genesis, with its record of six-day Creation and the worldwide flood. This has not been true of many who have been involved in producing the modern versions. The <a href="http://www.biblebc.com/Christian_Helps/BibleVersions/translators_of_the_king_james_bi.htm">spiritual motivations and convictions of the King James translators</a> are indicated by their fascinating preface, entitled "<a href="http://www.thelostbooks.com/preface.htm">The Translators to the Reader</a>."<br />
<br />
For a good book on the end times (Joe Ortiz, 'The End Times Passover'):<br />
<a href="http://www.freado.com/read/1440/the-end-times-passover-etymological-challenges-to-millenarian-doctrines">http://www.freado.com/read/1440/the-end-times-passover-etymological-challenges-to-millenarian-doctrines</a><br />
<br />
For facts on countries around the world, including religion, go to the CIA's website (the elect of God also are gathered from the pagan nations into the Church; however, as nations they remain distinctly heathen):<br />
<a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html">https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html</a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6354143865375585988.post-39069119637858934862010-12-01T07:54:00.022-05:002015-12-08T13:19:21.689-05:00<div id="headline">
<h2 class="subheadlinemain" style="text-align: center;" title="Permanent Link to The Order of Events Until the End of This World">
The Order of Events Until the End of the World</h2>
</div>
<br />
(Based on the writings of <a href="http://www.hudsonvilleprc.org/Ministers/Herman_Hoeksema.htm">Reverend Herman Hoeksema</a> before his death in 1965)<br />
<ol>
<li>The Spreading of the Gospel of Christ Throughout the Nations<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">Jesus said unto him, "Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:60)<br /><br />And He said unto them, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)</span></span><br /><br />The Church shall witness of the truth and of Christ throughout this dispensation (the days of witnessing/the spreading of the gospel/the building up of the <a href="http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/wdoor.html">Church</a>, spiritual Jerusalem of the New Testament, <a href="http://www.eternallifeministries.org/lrs_israel.htm">the True Israel of God</a>).<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">"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." (Matthew 24:14)<br /><br />"And the gospel must first be published among all nations." (Mark 13:10)<br /><br />And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. (Revelation 14:6)<br /><br />And they went forth and preached every where, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. (Mark 16:20)</span></span></li>
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<li>A World Ripe for Judgment at the Time Near the End of the Present Dispensation<br /><br />Near the end of this dispensation, <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2008/11/kingdom-of-antichrist-following-is_13.html">the devil, Satan, will be released from the bottomless pit to rule over his earthly kingdom</a> for "a little season," <a href="http://templeinheaven.blogspot.com/">so that he as God will stand in the holy place</a>, <a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/">showing himself that he is God</a>, and he will deceive many with his signs and wonders.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;"><b>And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full</b>, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. <b>And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people</b>. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; <b>and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many</b>: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. (Daniel 8:23-25)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">And the king shall do according to his will; <b>and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished</b>: for that is determined shall be done. (Daniel 11:36) </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">The day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: <b>for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God</b>. (2 Thessalonians 2:2-4)</span></span></li>
<br /><br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="greattribulation"></a>
<li>The <a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/2009/03/satan-to-be-released-to-deceive-nations.html">"Wrath of the Lamb" </a><br /><br />Near the end of this age, the devil shall reign supreme for "a little season," and he will be allowed to <a href="http://www.lambslain.com/search/label/Christian%20Persecution">persecute the Church</a>.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;"><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#5thseal">And when he had opened the fifth seal</a>, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? <b><span style="color: rgb(255 , 102 , 102);">And white robes were given unto every one of them;</span></b> <b>and it was said unto them,</b> <b>that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled</b>. (Revelation 6:9-11)<br /><br />"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth... And when they shall have finished their testimony, <b><a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#abyss">the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit</a> shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them</b>." (Revelation 11:3,7)</span></span><br /><br />God's people shall be persecuted; they shall be delivered up to synagogues and into prisons because they shall refuse to deny Christ and to worship the "beast," the anti-Christian kingdom. And some of God's elect shall be put to death for the testimony that they keep.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">"<b>Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you</b>: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." (Matthew 24:9) </span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">"Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows. <b>But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. </b>And the gospel must first be published among all nations. <b>But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.</b>" (Mark 13:8-11)<br /><br />"They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. <span style="font-weight: bold;">And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.</span> But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls." (Luke 21:12-19)</span></span><br /><br />However, this culmination of antichrist and time of great tribulation, of which Scripture has warned us so frequently and which the Church shall experience just before the resurrection, shall be cut short for the elects' sake.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">"And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: <b>but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened</b>." (Matthew 24:22)</span></span></li>
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<li>The <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/">Return of Christ</a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;"><b>Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.</b> Let no man deceive you by any means: <b>for that day shall not come,</b> <b>except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;</b> <b>who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.</b> Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. <b>For the mystery of iniquity doth already work:</b> only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. <b>And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming:</b> <b style="color: #ff6666;">even Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.</b> (2 Thessalonians 2:1-9)</span></span><br /><br />At the end of this dispensation, antichrist shall have accomplished his work against the Church and the witnessing shall be finished: the Church shall be cut off and her testimony shall be ceased (the <a href="http://www.ptm.org/07PT/MayJun/TwoWitnesses.pdf">two witnesses</a> lying dead in the street of the great city, Revelation 11:8).<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">"But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established." (Matthew 18:16)<br /><br />"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20)<br /><br />Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. (1 Corinthians 14:29)<br /><br />This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. (2 Corinthians 13:1)<br /><br />Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. (1 Timothy 5:19)<br /><br />He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. (Hebrews 10:28)</span></span><br /><br />Immediately after the tribulation of those days there shall be fearful sights and great signs from heaven: <span style="font-weight: bold;">witnesses of Christ lying dead in the streets ascend to heaven in a cloud</span>, voices from heaven, Temple of God opened in heaven, sun darkened, moon darkened, stars fall from heaven, a great earthquake shakes heaven and earth, lightning, thunder and great hail. <span style="font-weight: bold;">And then shall the </span><a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#parousia" style="font-weight: bold;">Son of man come in the clouds of heaven</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> with a rainbow upon His head, and His face as it were the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">"For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. <b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);">But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.</span></b> <b>But in those days, after that tribulation,</b> <b><span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);">the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.</span></b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);"> </span><b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.</span> <span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">And then shall He send His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the <u>earth</u> to the uttermost part of <u>heaven.</u></span></b>" (Mark 13:22-27)</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;"><b>That in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in <u>heaven</u>, and which are on <u>earth</u>; even in Him.</b> (Ephesians 1:10)</span></span></span><br /><br />At this darkest hour, Christ shall return in the clouds of heaven with great power and glory to deliver up His Church to the kingdom of heaven. In other words, immediately after the tribulation of those days, while antichrist and the heathen nations, "Gog and Magog," are still on earth, the Church shall be taken away from her shame, persecution, and terrible suffering.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;"><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);">"<b>Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God</b>, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. (1 Corinthians 15:24)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;"><b>And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, "Come up hither." And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud</b>; and their enemies beheld them. (Revelation 11:12)</span></span><br /><br />The persecuted saints shall be changed in the 'twinkling of an eye' and they shall be united with those already "fallen asleep in Christ," "dead in Christ."<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;"><b>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.</b> For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)<br /><br />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. <b>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. </b>Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:14-18)</span></span><br /><br />Christ shall separate the wicked from the just; and He shall deliver up the just to the kingdom of heaven, and the Church of all ages shall be glorified in heaven.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">And Jesus said, <b>"I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven."</b> (Mark 14:62)<br /><br />"When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: <b>and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another</b>, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." (Matthew 25:31)<br /><br /><b>"And He that sat on the cloud Thrust in His Sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped."</b> (Revelation 14:16)<br /><br />"<b>Let them grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers</b>, 'Gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them: <b>but gather the wheat into my barn</b>'… The tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; <b>the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels</b>. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; <b>so shall it be in the end of this world</b>." (Matthew 13:30,38-40)<br /><br /><b>I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "<a href="http://www.lastdaysmystery.info/revelation_and_jeremiah_compared.htm" target="'_new">Come out of her, my people</a>, that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues</b>. For her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. <b>How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously</b>, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow." (Revelation 18:4-7)</span></span></li>
<br /><br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="vials"></a>
<li>The <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/">Destruction of the Anti-Christian Kingdom</a><br /><br />Gog and Magog shall prepare for battle against the <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2008/11/kingdom-of-antichrist-following-is_13.html">kingdom of the Beast</a>, believing that they will be battling against Christ and His saints. However, the Church is no more in <a href="http://sufferforchrist.blogspot.com/2010/01/we-are-pilgrims-in-sinful-world-through.html">tribulation</a>, for the time of her tribulation is past. The time for conversion is now past as well, for the witness of the Word, the Church, shall have been taken away from her shame, persecution, and terrible suffering and delivered up to the kingdom of heaven. It shall be only a time for judgment: Christ shall judge the earth and destroy the anti-Christian kingdom.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;"><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);">"Behold, the days come," saith the Lord God, "that I will send a famine in the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord." (Amos 8:11)<br /><br /><b>"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.</b> 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. <b>For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled."</b> (Luke 21:8-22)</span></span><br /><br />The followers of the anti-Christian kingdom and the heathen nations, <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#heathen">gathered for battle</a>, shall remain on earth while God pours out His wrath upon them.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;"><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><b>And I saw heaven opened, <span style="color: rgb(255 , 102 , 102);">and behold a</span> <span style="color: rgb(255 , 102 , 102);">white horse</span>; and He that sat upon Him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war</b>... And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: <span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);"><b>and His name is called The Word of God.</b> </span><span style="color: rgb(255 , 102 , 102);"><b>And the armies which were in <u>heaven</u> followed Him upon white horses,</b> <b>clothed in fine linen, white and clean</b></span><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);">... </span><b><span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);">And I saw the beast, and the kings of the <u>earth</u>, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army</span></b>. (Revelation 19:11,13,19)<br /><br /><b>For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty</b>… <b>And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon</b>. (Revelation 16:14,16)</span></span></li>
<br /><br /><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="finaljudgment"></a>
<li>The <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/02/final-battle-armageddon-and-final_26.html">Final Judgment</a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;"><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);">God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. (2 Peter 2:4)<br /><br /><b>And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle</b>: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: <b>and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them</b>. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. <b><span style="color: rgb(255 , 102 , 102);">And I saw a great white throne</span>, and Him that sat on it</b>, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; <b>and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#dead">and the dead were judged</a> out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works</b>. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. <b>And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire</b>. (Revelation 20:7-15) </span></span><br /><br />The Lord shall judge the earth and destroy the <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2008/11/kingdom-of-antichrist-following-is_13.html">kingdom of antichrist</a>: the earth shall be utterly consumed by fire. And whosoever is not found written in the book of life shall be cast into the lake of fire. And the devil that deceived them shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, along with the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;"><b>"Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.</b> And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying,<b> Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.</b> <b>And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: the merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet,</b> and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass and iron and marble, and cinnamon and odours and ointments and frankincense, and wine and oil, and fine flour and wheat, and beasts and sheep and horses and chariots, and slaves and souls of men. <b>And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.</b> <b>The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying,</b> <b>Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought.</b> And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, <b>Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate."</b> (Revelation 18:8-19) </span></span></li>
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<li>The <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/2009/03/after-death-what-cometh-following-is.html">Inauguration of Eternity</a><br /><br />And the Lord shall create a new heaven and a new earth, and He shall establish His glorious kingdom forevermore. And He that sits upon the throne shall say, "Behold, I make all things new… he that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son (Revelation 21:5-7)."<br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;"><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><b>"Rejoice over her thou heaven and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her</b>. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, <b>Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all</b>. And the voice of harpers and musicians, and of pipers and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; <b>and the voice of the Bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all that were slain upon the earth."</b> (Revelation 18:20-24)</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, <span style="color: rgb(255 , 102 , 102);"><b>What are these which are arrayed in</b></span> <b><span style="color: rgb(255 , 102 , 102);">white robes?</span></b> And whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, <b>These are they which came out of great tribulation, <span style="color: rgb(255 , 102 , 102);">and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb</span>.</b> <b>Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.</b> They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Revelation 7:13-17) </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;">And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude… saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: <b>for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.</b> <b><span style="color: rgb(255 , 102 , 102);">And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.</span></b> <b>And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.</b> (Revelation 19:6-9)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 85%;"><b>And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, <span style="color: rgb(255 , 102 , 102);">prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.</span></b> And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. </span>And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. <b>And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.</b> And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. <b>He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.</b> But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:2-8)</span></span></li>
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We are now still in the "1260 days" and so we must still witness. Perhaps the "42 months" of great tribulation will come soon—it seems as if we are fast becoming prepared for those days. However, still the testimony is not finished. Therefore, it is still the calling of the Church to witness. And the purpose of this picture in Revelation is to spur us onward to be faithful even unto the end so that no one may take our crowns. On the other hand, the people of God may be comforted by the fact that Christ shall not leave them alone and that, even at the time of the end, during the period of great tribulation, the days shall be shortened for the elects' sake.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">* * * * * * *<br /><br />When I was a little girl, I went to my father and said,<br />"Daddy, I am afraid that I will never be strong enough to be a martyr for Jesus Christ."<br /><br />"Tell me," said father, "When you take a train trip to Amsterdam,<br />When do I give you the money for the ticket? Three weeks before?"<br /><br />"No, Daddy, you give me the money for the ticket just before we get on the train."<br /><br />"That is right," my father said, "And so it is with God's strength.<br />Our Father in Heaven knows when you will need the strength to be a martyr for Jesus Christ.<br />He will supply all you need, just in time."</span><a href="http://www.the-tribulation-network.com/Testimony/11-17-07.htm"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">Corrie ten Boom</span></a><br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrie_Ten_Boom">Corrie ten Boom</a> (April 15, 1892 – April 15, 1983) was a Dutch Christian Holocaust survivor. She and her family helped many Jews escape the Nazis during World War II. The Germans arrested the entire Ten Boom family on February 28, 1944, with the help of a Dutch informant. They were sent first to Scheveningen prison (where her father died 10 days after his capture). Corrie's sister Nollie, brother Willem, and nephew Peter were all released. Later, Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to the Vught political concentration camp (both in the Netherlands) and finally to the notorious Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany on December 16, 1944, where Betsie died. Before she died, she told Corrie, "There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still." Corrie was released on Christmas Day of December 1944. In her movie <i>The Hiding Place</i> (based on her book), Ten Boom narrates the section on her release from camp, saying that she later learned her release had been a clerical error. The women prisoners her age in the camp were killed the week following her release. She said, "God does not have problems, only plans."</div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">"'When I am weak, then I shall be strong,' the Bible says.<br /><a href="http://www.corrietenboom.com/history.htm">Betsy and I were prisoners for the Lord.</a><br />We were so weak, but we got power because the Holy Spirit was on us.<br />That mighty inner strengthening of the Holy Spirit helped us through.<br />No, you will not be strong in yourself when the tribulation comes.<br />Rather, you will be strong in the power of Him who will not forsake you.<br />For 76 years I have known the Lord Jesus,<br />And not once has He ever left me or let me down."<br /><br />Corrie ten Boom, 1974 </span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6354143865375585988.post-76828526861959090142010-12-01T07:36:00.005-05:002011-11-26T23:54:44.821-05:00<div id="headline"><h2 style="text-align: center;" class="subheadlinemain" title="Permanent Link to One-World Power: the Anti-Christian Beast">One-World Power: the Anti-Christian Beast</h2><br />The following is adapted from <em>"Behold He Cometh: the Power of the Antichrist"</em> and<br /><em>"Behold He Cometh: the Beast Out of the Earth"</em><br />by <a href="http://www.hudsonvilleprc.org/Ministers/Herman_Hoeksema.htm" target="blank">Herman Hoeksema (1886 - 1965)</a>, ©1969 <a href="http://spindleworks.com/library/hoeksma/intro.htm" target="blank">Reformed Free Publishing Association</a>. <h4><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">REVELATION CHAPTER 13</span></h4>And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2010/01/nation-shall-rise-against-nation-but.html" target="blank">having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns</a>, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? (Revelation 13:1-4)<br /><br />And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed by the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. (Revelation 13:5-10)<br /><br />And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. (Revelation 13:11-14)<br /><br />And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six. (Revelation 13:15-18)<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><h4>A COMPLETE PICTURE OF THE ANTI-CHRISTIAN POWER (THE ONE WORLD POWER)</h4></span>The devil’s attempts to frustrate God’s plan in establishing His kingdom have failed:<br /><ol><li>Firstly, the devil attempted to oppose the plan of God by preventing the birth of Christ, and he failed. </li><li>Secondly, contemporaneously with the first war on earth, the devil also carried on a war with the angels in heaven for the possession of the saints of the old dispensation, and he was defeated. </li><li>Thirdly, the devil attempted to amalgamate the power of the Church and the power of the world, and again he failed, at least in the respect that he cannot destroy the Church. </li><ul></ul></ol><strong>Yet the devil is determined at least to make war with the rest of the woman's seed, the Church, the individual believers on earth.</strong> In chapter 13 of Revelation, we are told in what manner the dragon makes this war with the saints and, principally, with the God of heaven and earth and with His Anointed, Jesus Christ our Lord.<br /><br /><strong>In short, in the devil’s last attempt to oppose God’s plan, he simply will realize his own kingdom, or he will attempt to realize it, and boldly set it up.</strong> The first attempts were rather negative in nature, always aiming at the destruction of God’s kingdom first of all. This last attempt really consists in this: the devil now will ignore all that has been done by God Almighty: he will ignore that Christ has come and is King; he will ignore that the Church exists and that there is already, in principle, a kingdom of Christ established in the world. He simply will proceed to realize and establish his own kingdom before Christ has an opportunity (speaking from the devil’s point of view, of course) to do so.<br /><br /><strong>In the thirteenth chapter of Revelation, we have a complete picture of this anti-Christian power and kingdom to come.</strong> There is, as far as I know, no controversy about this truth. Therefore, we proceed from the assumption that this may be regarded as an established fact: Revelation chapter 13 gives us a picture of antichrist. It is deemed of greatest importance that we should understand the picture, and this is clearly proved by the solemn conclusion of the text: "If any man have an ear, let him hear." If we have no ear, it is, of course, quite a different question. <strong>However, if by the grace of God our ears have been opened and we have a spiritual understanding of what God has revealed to us, then let us hear so that we may be instructed from the Word of our God. And let us derive light and strength from the Word of our God so that we shall stand in the evil day.<br /></strong><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><h4>THE FIRST BEAST: THE BEAST OUT OF THE SEA (THE ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT)<br /></h4></span>Let us call your attention, in the first place, to the description of this beast as it is given in the text. John beholds how out of the sea arises a frightful monster. Very naturally it is described in the text just as John must have beheld it in his vision. What he saw first he describes first. Naturally the horns appeared first of all, and John tells us that it was a beast with ten horns. Naturally also the heads followed, and John continues to inform us that the monster had seven heads. He further notices (as details in the description) that the ten horns had ten crowns (royal diadems) and that on the heads there were names of blasphemy written. And finally, he is able to give a general description of this dreadful monster, and he informs us that its general appearance was like that of a leopard, while its feet were like those of a bear, and its mouth a lion’s mouth. And as a detail, which at first he probably did not notice but which he observed upon closer examination, he remarks that one of the heads appears to have been smitten in the past with a death stroke, but that the stroke was healed.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Let us investigate the meaning of this highly symbolic picture: the fact that here again we have symbolism needs no further argument; the text itself indicates this more than plainly. </span>The sea is the birthplace, the source, the origin, of this beast. <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">In this case, there is little doubt that it must be taken in the sense of peoples and nations and tongues as they live on earth under the power and principle of sin. </span></strong>We read of the sea in this sense more than once in Scripture. Isaiah says in Chapter 57, verse 20: "But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." In Daniel 7:2-3 we read: "Behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another."<br /><br /><strong>The entire context shows very plainly that nothing else can be meant by this symbolism: the troubled sea represents the nations.</strong> Indeed, it is a very fit symbol. The peoples and nations of the earth as they are under the power and principle of sin, and as they develop according to this principle, are indeed like unto the troubled sea: war-swept, revolution-swept, plague-swept, and famine-swept.<br /><br />Revelation 17:15 clearly proves that this same sea of nations and peoples is meant in the words of our text: the same beast together with the harlot is described once more, but now with a view to its final destruction. And the angel tells us: <blockquote>"The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."</blockquote><strong>Therefore, we arrive at this conclusion: the beast finds its origin, its source, its birthplace from among the peoples and nations and tongues of the earth as they develop under the principle and power of sin.</strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">The picture is that this sea of nations is swept and in uproar, and it rages and foams till finally this beast comes up as a result.</span></strong> Looking at the beast proper, let us notice that it is a beast, and that too, a wild beast, a monster, just as the dragon was a monster. We may be more or less familiar with this figure; in this case, the Word of God gives us the unmistakable key to its interpretation. <strong>In Daniel we also read of beasts, especially of four.</strong> And in Daniel the interpretation is given by the guiding angel who directs the prophet: this angel interprets the figure of the beast as referring both to kingdoms and kings. In Daniel 7:17 we read: <blockquote>"These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth." And in verse 23 of the same chapter: "<a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/05/fourth-beast-kingdom-which-is-yet-to.html" target="blank">The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth</a>."</blockquote><a name="utopia"></a><a name="power"></a><br /><h4><a onclick="'alert(" href="http://www.inplainsite.org/html/european_union.html" target="blank">A Great Political World Power</a><a href="http://www.inplainsite.org/html/european_union.html" target="blank"></a></h4><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">The figure of the beast represents a great political world power with its government as its head.</span></strong> There has been a great controversy all throughout the ages of the new dispensation about whether this beast, or the antichrist, is a person or a power or a system or a kingdom, but it seems to me that this controversy is not necessary. Daniel tells us that the beast is both the kingdom and the king. <strong>Or to speak just a little more generally, the beast represents both the world power and its government.</strong><br /><br />I would say that this beast neither represents merely a person (who by personal power and personal strength—without any aid—conquers, subdues and controls the whole world and all that it contains) or only a kingdom or dominion without its head and government. Instead, it represents both. And not only do we find it so in Daniel, but it stands to reason and lies in the very nature of the case.<br /><br />A king is powerless without his kingdom, and a kingdom without a king is inconceivable: the two are inseparable. <strong style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Therefore, we come to the conclusion that this beast is the symbol of a political government as we know it.</strong> I care not whether you are thinking now of a kingdom, empire, republic, or a worldly dominion as it naturally culminates and is represented by its head. Again, I care not whether you conceive of this head as a king, emperor, president, or even as a group or body of persons.<br /><br />Firstly, let us call your attention, further, to the fact that this world power as described in our passage is a consummation and culmination of all that has gone before and of all separate kingdoms that might possibly exist or have existed. It is well that we have our attention called to this feature for it is one of the main features of our text.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">This power as it is here pictured does not merely consist of one nation and one people, but it combines within itself all the kingdoms and empires and republics of the world.</span> And, at the same time, it constitutes a combination and accumulation of all the power of all the kingdoms and empires and republics of the past.</strong><br /><br />This is plain, in the first place, from the various beasts that are represented in this one beast. First of all, we may notice that they are all wild beasts and, therefore, destructive in their nature. In ordinary circumstances they would not form a unity, but rather exist to their mutual destruction. In the second place, it cannot escape our attention that in this wild beast we have a combination of the beasts pictured to us in Daniel chapter 7. There also we read of the beast like a lion, bear and leopard, and of a fourth beast, not accurately described, but terrible. And there these beasts constitute four separate kingdoms, the fourth of which finally blends into the vision of antichrist in the little horn rising from among the ten. Here, then, we have a combination of all these.<br /><br />Secondly, the kingdoms of the world, ordinarily like wild animals existing to their mutual destruction, have succeeded in forming a unity. And even as the spirit of the one beast is in all the beasts, so also is the world kingdom, which is represented by this beast, one.<strong> It combines in itself all the power, glory, ambitions and spirit of all the kingdoms that have aimed at world power in the past and that do aim at it at the present time. </strong>This is also more or less symbolized in the ten horns and seven heads. Although we do not interpret these ten horns as representing ten different kingdoms, or the seven heads as seven different kings, yet the general idea is expressed that this beast represents a combination of all the kingdoms of the world.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><h4>The First Beast, the Incarnation of the Devil<br /></h4></span>With the first beast, we have the resemblance of the dragon: the first beast is the incarnation of the dragon, which possesses all the kingdoms of the world. The dragon has ten horns and seven heads, and so has this beast. <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">The idea clearly is that the devil, to whom the kingdoms of the world belong, now has succeeded in combining all his kingdoms under one head and inspiring them all with the same principle.</span></strong> The only difference is that he does not succeed in giving to his kingdom the complete and perfect aspect of the kingdom of God.<br /><br />Ten is the number of the world kingdom; seven is the number of the kingdom of God. For a long time the dragon wore his seven crowns on his seven heads, but now his authority and strength are both represented by the number ten. And though it is true that he still has seven heads, no one can mistake them for heads of the kingdom of Christ for names of blasphemy are written upon them.<br /><br />This is a world power that includes all the existing powers of the whole earth, and the head of this power has authority over all peoples, nations, tribes and tongues (verse 7). <strong>Therefore, we come to this conclusion thus far: the beast represents a consummation of all the world powers that have been in the past.</strong> It combines within itself all the power of these dominions, all the glory of them, all the ambitions of them, and all their aspirations and aims and accomplishments. <strong>Furthermore, it is itself a combination, a confederation, of all nations, peoples, tongues and tribes which may exist at that time under one head and under one government.</strong><br /><br />If we understand this, we shall also be able to comprehend the significant detail of the scar that this beast has in one of its heads. We read:<blockquote> "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed." </blockquote>This does not refer to the fall of the Roman, Grecian, Babylonian or Egyptian Empire, or, in fact, to the fall of any particular empire or to all of them combined.<br /><br />It is true that many attempts have been made to realize this great world power in the past: Babylon, Persia and Greece were filled with the same aspirations, and Rome advanced a good way to its establishment. It is also true that all failed and that they were smitten unto death.<br /><br />There are two things that lead us to the consideration that the fall of any or of all these empires together cannot be meant by this death stroke. In the first place, the death stroke meant here was healed, but the death stroke of these empires was final. And, in the second place, these empires in the past consisted of the domination of one nation over all the rest of the world and not of a combination of them all, as is indicated in this beast.<br /><br /><strong>Hence, there is but one thing in past history that can be indicated by this scar on one of the heads of the beast: it is the attempt in the days of mighty Nimrod, and the building of the tower of Babel, to establish a universal world power: <span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">it was to be a combination rather than the dominion of one individual or group.</span></strong> <a href="http://www.albatrus.org/english/living/ourtimes/europe_new_babylon.htm" target="blank"><img alt="European Union Poster and the Tower of Babel" src="http://i34.tinypic.com/qoso5s.jpg" align="right" border="0" height="450" width="630" /></a> They planned to form a mighty federation, a mighty league, with a common center in the city and tower and with common aims and purposes. However, it received the death stroke for a time. <strong>That death stroke consisted in the confusion of tongues and the consequential separation into nations (with their national differences and aspirations), and the resulting wars and strife.</strong><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);"><strong>In the text, that death stroke is now healed.</strong></span> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">After many an individual power have made the attempt to gain the world power and to obtain control of the whole earth, the nations have finally come to the conclusion that the way of combination is the only way.</span></strong> <a href="http://www.albatrus.org/english/living/ourtimes/europe_new_babylon.htm" target="blank"><strong>National differences will be overcome and national aspirations will be combined into the aspiration of all.</strong></a><blockquote> "For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape (1 Thessalonians 5:3). </blockquote><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"><strong>We will have no more world wars and no more strife and competition; instead, we will have a great worldwide empire, including all nations and comprehending them all under one head. </strong></span><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">The death stroke shall be healed and what was prevented in the days of Nimrod now shall be accomplished.</span></strong><br /><br /><h4><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">The Power of the First Beast</span></h4><strong>The power of the first beast originates in the dragon, the old serpent, the devil: "the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority."</strong> In regard to this, we may remark, in the first place, <span style="font-weight: bold;">that the dragon’s power and authority itself is limited</span>: he bears the number ten and his kingdom bears that same number, and that number refers to God’s own sovereign decree. <span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);"><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">It is well that we bear this in mind, for it is to our comfort: it assures us from the outset that the power and authority of this kingdom of the beast, however great, is not unlimited and that Christ, who has all power, is mightier than antichrist.</span></strong><br /></span><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">However, the fact remains that the dragon is permitted to give his power and authority and throne to the beast.</span></strong> In the text, he has now realized what he failed to establish when he tempted Christ. As we know, Satan made Christ the offer,<blockquote> "Fall down and worship me, and I will give Thee all the kingdoms of the world."</blockquote> <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">You see, the devil is a spirit and, as such, he cannot establish an earthly throne in person: he must have some human agent or agents who will take the position.</span></strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">He wants to establish a world kingdom, but he cannot rule over that world in person; he must have human beings, or a human being, to be his vice regent. </span></strong>This is why he offered the position to Christ.<br /><br />The devil tried to tempt Christ while He dwelt on earth by offering Him a kingdom. He thought that Jesus was powerful and able, capable of filling the position; however, there was one condition to be fulfilled: this great vice regent of the devil had to worship and fall down before him, otherwise the devil would lose the very dominion he sought. The devil himself must remain lord, and this condition Christ refused to fulfill for the simple reason that He was the anointed Vice Regent, not of the devil, but of God. However, according to the text, now the devil has found someone.<br /><br />I think we must conceive of this in such a manner that, in general, the power of the devil is vested in the entire dominion of the beast. <strong>The authority and power is given to the beast as a whole; however, we must also maintain that this power and authority will be concentrated in the governing head of this world power.</strong> It makes no difference now whether this governing head is a person or a group of persons, a sort of central committee that rules the whole world: at this stage of history, this is difficult to say.<br /><a name="oneworldpower"></a><br /><h4><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1070329053600562261&ei=BcLnSOGSLoaYrQLWhZmZCw&q=Endgame%3A+Blueprint+for+Global+Enslavement" target="blank">One World Government</a></span></h4><strong>The fact is that, in the future, there will be the full realization of a great world power, combining in itself all powers of the earth, with a government that has all the authority of the dragon, the old serpent, the devil.</strong> <span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);"><strong>Therefore, this world power in general, and this governing head in particular, we may fitly describe as the very incarnation of the devil.</strong></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);"><strong>The text tells us that this antichrist, this central government, in combination with its kingdom, will do great things.</strong></span> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Do not make a mistake here: you must not imagine that the whole world will groan under the yoke of antichrist and long to be delivered from it. </span>This is perhaps what the devil tries to tell us so that we should not recognize the power of antichrist when it is established, but it will be just the opposite.</strong><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);"><strong>This antichrist will be attractive and inspiring. The whole world will be fond of his regime. The whole world will live in the conviction that this is just the thing. There will be a splendid time for the world. </strong></span><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"><strong>It will be a time of peace, all nations having been combined into one great whole.</strong></span> There will be no more rising of nation against nation. And it will be a time of wonderful accomplishments. This central person or government will have all things under its control. It will control the powers of nature. It will control science and philosophy. It will control religion and worship. It will control commerce and industry. It will control all that this world possesses in hidden talents and powers. And the promise given to man in the beginning, that he would have dominion over all things, will be realized.<br /><br />I imagine that in this kingdom or world power to come you will be able to scan the heavens since the air shall have been conquered. Perhaps we shall even be able to visit other planets in the universe, as is already attempted in this present time. In this world kingdom to come, you will be able to fathom the depths of the sea. In this kingdom you will be able to speak with its remotest inhabitant, and there shall be no poor and no miserable from a worldly point of view. All the powers of creation shall come to full development under the direction and under the control of the central head, and all shall be at our command. In a word, it will be a splendid kingdom, and all that the world desires will be realized there.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">The kingdom of antichrist will not be a heavy yoke on groaning subjects; rather, it will be a most beautiful kingdom with peace and splendor, riches and plenty, and harmony and great developments.</span> <span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">And the whole earth will wonder after the beast. All the inhabitants will admire that state of things, and they will say, "Who is like unto this great government, and who is able now to war with us?"</span> And in pure gratitude they will worship him and, thereby, they will worship the devil.</strong><br /><br />That this must be so follows from the fact that this kingdom is universal in its scope. In the first place, it is universal because there shall be no nations that are outside and, therefore, there shall be no nations to make war: "and there was given him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation." All nations freely and willingly obey the one government. This one government will have its own laws, which hold for all the nations of the world. It will have its own police force and its own representatives who have authority over every nation. And perhaps it will succeed even in establishing one language. At any rate, all the nations will be one nation with no more competition and no more difference and war. It will be a peaceful kingdom.<br /><a name="microchip"></a><br /><strong>This kingdom will be universal because all things will be under the control of its central government.</strong> If I may just run ahead for a moment, the rest of the chapter tells us that this central government has the power over buying and selling.<strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"> Under this central government, you <a href="http://2012nwo.blogspot.com/#microchip" target="blank">cannot buy the necessities of life or do business</a> and live along in society unless you are allowed to do so by the beast.</span></strong> <strong style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">It must be a government, therefore, which not only has complete control over all the inhabitants of the historic world, but also controls all things connected with their life and existence in this kingdom.</span></strong><br /><br />Commerce and industry will be completely in the power of the central government. Natural resources, railroads, air roads, waterways and other roads; coal, iron, grain and vegetables; telegraph, telephone, radio and television; and all things will be in the power of this central government. Schools, universities and churches will be under its jurisdiction. It will tell you what to believe and how to worship since it will want one science and one religion and one worship.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);"><strong>This one-world government will have power to command you to worship the beast and its image.</strong></span> <strong>And therefore, once more we come to this conclusion, based on the words of this passage and also on other parts of Scripture: <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">the one final manifestation of antichrist will be that of a great and universal world power, which will include all nations.</span></strong> This universal kingdom will have a central government that will have authority over all nations and over all things.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><h4>The Spiritual Character of the First Beast</h4></span><strong>This central government will control all things in the world, and it will be admired and worshipped by all the inhabitants of the whole earth except the one class of people who will refuse to put their trust in this great power and who will refuse to worship the beast.</strong> And this class of people is especially described as those whose names have been written in the Lamb's book of life. <strong style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">In short, the people of God will still be on earth: the elect of the Most High, the covenant people, will be on earth, and they will refuse to worship the beast.</strong><br /><br />And this brings us to our third question: <strong>"What is the spiritual character of this great and splendid world power?" The answer to this question is that it is anti-God and anti-Christ. It is anti-saints and anti-kingdom of God.</strong> That this is so might be surmised from the fact that this world power receives its power from the dragon, the old serpent. As we have said before, he has but one principle and by that principle he lives: it is the principle of opposition against God. He has but one aim and that is to thrust the Almighty from His throne, deprive Him of His sovereignty, and to be God instead of Him. He, therefore, is the author and accomplisher of this power; and since he gives this kingdom his power and throne and authority, it would be sufficient to conclude that this kingdom and dominion is anti-God and anti-Christ in character. This is also plain from other portions of the text.<br /><br />This beast has names of blasphemy inscribed upon his seven heads, and he receives a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. He actually opens his mouth to blaspheme the name of God and of His tabernacle, namely, those that dwell in heaven. To blaspheme the name of God is to deny His name, His sovereignty, His power, and all His virtues. (Nebuchadnezzar was blaspheming when he said in the pride of his heart that he himself was the author of mighty Babylon.) And so this kingdom and its head will blaspheme the name of the Most High. It will deny that God and His Christ have anything to do with this world kingdom, and it will maintain that all in the world is the result of the power of man and the manifestation of his glory.<br /><br />In a word, it will try to expel the very name and authority of the Almighty from His own works. And it will do the same with the saints who have already gone into glory. It will deny that there is such a thing as glory in the hereafter. It will refuse to speak of it, and it will not tolerate to have it mentioned. It will banish the very remembrance of the saints. It will not tolerate all that is connected with God and His name and His worship.<br /><br /><strong>This power is its own god and its followers worship the beast: "all that dwell on the earth shall worship him." In general, all the inhabitants of the earth shall worship the existing state of things and, centrally, also the government, which is at the head.</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">They will put all their trust in the anti-Christian beast.</span></strong> They will expect the very necessities of life from him. They will turn to him in trouble. They shall worship and admire him, and they will give divine honor and praise to him in gratitude of heart. <strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">They shall worship the beast and its image, and through it all they shall worship "the great dragon, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan."</span></strong><br /><br />Must I prove that this is the realization of all that has been pictured to us in the Scriptures concerning antichrist? <strong>If so, let me first call your attention to still another feature: <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">they shall make war with the saints. </span></strong><br /><br /><strong>In this time to come, there are still saints on earth, and they shall be witnesses. <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">They shall refuse to submit to the power of antichrist. It is not that they shall fight with the sword and rise in political rebellion—no, not that; but they shall refuse to worship the beast, and they shall uphold the sovereignty of the Almighty and of His Christ in those days.</span> </strong>They shall refuse to change their religion and their worship and their testimony.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><h4>The Witnesses of Christ on Earth</h4></span><strong>The witnesses of Christ on earth in those days shall maintain that Christ and not antichrist is King; therefore, they shall be hated, and then shall be fully realized what Christ said, "Ye shall be hated of all nations." <span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Antichrist shall make war with them and overcome them.</span></strong> They shall be hard days, days so hard that the elect would not hold out if the days were not shortened. Days of persecution shall they be. We shall learn more about them in future discussions. Let it now be sufficient to prove that this world power is anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-kingdom and anti-saints.<br /><br />Thus antichrist in his final consummation is pictured to us everywhere in the Word of God. In Daniel 4:25 we read of him: "And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time."<br /><br />And in Daniel 8:23-25: <blockquote>"In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace he shall destroy many; he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand."</blockquote>And in Daniel 11:36 we read:<blockquote> <span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><strong>"And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that is determined shall be done."</strong></span></blockquote><strong></strong>Turn to the New Testament and read what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4: <blockquote>"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God."</blockquote> And again, in verse 9 of the same chapter: <blockquote>"Even Him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish."</blockquote><strong>Surely, there is no doubt about the fact that all these passages wonderfully harmonize with all that we learned about the beast that shall come up out of the sea, and that this beast is the anti-Christian power in its final and full consummation. <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">It will consist of a wicked and universal world power with a central government doing wonderful things, but rising against the Most High and against Christ and His people.</span></strong><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><h4>The Identity of the First Beast</h4></span><strong style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">According to all Scripture, the power of antichrist is in the world already and has been in the world all throughout this dispensation:</strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"> </span>the mystery of iniquity is already working, as Paul warns us in 2 Thessalonians 2:7. And John, writing to the Christians of his time, says: <blockquote>"Everyone that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is the spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world" (1 John 4:3).</blockquote>The time period for the power represented in the beast is symbolized as 42 months in the text: it includes all the attempts in the entire period of the present dispensation that have been made to establish this world power in opposition to Christ and His kingdom. <strong>It may very well be that this 42 months (which we read of more than once in the form of 1260 days and also as 3 ½ years or times) will in the future also have another meaning, which we cannot now determine.</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">However, it is certain that it first of all points to this entire dispensation since, in this entire dispensation, the power of iniquity and the spirit of antichrist are already in the world.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">In this entire dispensation or period, the two witnesses give their prophecy. In this entire dispensation, the Church is in the wilderness of her separation. </span></strong><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">In this entire dispensation, the beast that rises up out of the abyss — and which culminates in the beast pictured to us in Revelation chapter 13 — is present. </span></strong><strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Therefore, let no man beguile you, for the devil is in the world already: he works in the world; he has made many bold attempts already to reach his culmination; and his final manifestation will be the consummation of a long process of development.</span></strong><br /><br />On the other hand, let me also warn you not to make the mistake of fording him already in his full manifestation and power. Never yet has there been a power such as is pictured here. Never yet was there a universal world power that had free sway over every nation and people and tribe and tongue. Never yet has there been a nation that all the peoples worshipped. Never yet was there a kingdom or dominion that had power over all the forces and resources of creation so that no one could even buy or sell in any part of the world except by the grace of this anti-Christian power. And this also applies to the present day.<br /><br />Let no one beguile you. This anti-Christian power is not yet in its full reality: no single nation represents it. The world power will not be realized by sword or cannon so that there would be a tyrannical government lording over a groaning lot of subjects. <strong>Instead, it will be a kingdom or government established by common consent and agreement in which all admire and worship the beast.</strong> <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><strong>And again, the war this government or dominion will wage is not against any world kingdom, but against the saints of the Most High who refuse to worship the beast.</strong></span><br /><br />Such a power does not yet exist, but let me warn you that the time is at hand. We know not how soon, but soon it will be. <strong style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">All the signs of the times point to such a tremendous power, to such a league of the nations that has control over all things, to such a unity of all religion in which man is exalted and the Christ of the Scriptures is blasphemed, His blood trampled under foot.</strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"> </span>Therefore, I would say that the time is at hand! Watch therefore! Let no one beguile you, but watch!<br /><br /><strong>Finally, if you ask why this complete picture of the antichrist is given us in the book of Revelation, my answer is this: so that we might clearly recognize it when it is revealed.</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">And what then must we do when we see it is come?</span></strong> Must we oppose it. You may ask, "Must we fight it with the sword?" That, of course, is completely impossible. <strong>It will come. It must come. And to oppose its coming is entirely vain. Its coming is irresistible.</strong> And the battle is not one of the sword.<br /><br />As the text has it, he that is for captivity, into captivity he goes; and if any man shall kill with the sword, with the sword he must be killed.<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><strong> We cannot oppose the power of antichrist by main force. When that world power comes and reigns supreme, we shall be submissive to the last as far as God and our conscience permit.</strong></span> <strong>Here is the patience and the faith of the saints, that in all these times they remain faithful and refuse to deny the Christ and that they wait for the day of His coming.</strong> May God give us grace to be found faithful at all times and to be found watching and praying so that no one may take our crowns.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><h4>Recap of the First Beast</h4></span>So far in our discussion of chapter 13, we have discussed the first beast, which comes up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads and combining within itself the appearance of a leopard, bear and lion. We have come to the conclusion, in the first place, that this beast is the symbol of a great political world power, as is evident from the passages in the book of Daniel that refer to similar beasts:<br /><ul><li>We found that it is not merely a king, emperor or government that is here pictured, but that the beast represents the entire power, the government and its dominion, and that they belong together inseparably. </li><li>We also found that this world power is universal in its sway: it has dominion over all nations and tongues and tribes; and that, not by main force, but by free alliance of all the nations together. All wonder after the beast, think him great, admire him, and subject themselves to him willingly, offering him even their worship. </li><li>We saw also that this kingdom is universal: it has absolute sway over all things in its kingdom, over industry and commerce, over science and art, over religion and philosophy, and over all the powers and talents of creation. </li></ul>As to its spiritual character, we found that this kingdom is anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-kingdom and anti-saints. This was plain from the fact that the beast received his power and throne from the dragon, the old serpent, the devil, the incurable opponent of the Most High and His Christ. This is clear also from the fact that he bears names of blasphemy on his seven heads, that he has a mouth to blaspheme, and that he opens that mouth actually to blaspheme the Most High and the saints of Christ in His tabernacle. <strong style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">This is clear, in the third place, from the fact that he kills and persecutes the saints who refuse to worship the beast.</strong> And, finally, this is evident from the fact that he himself allows himself to be worshipped as God instead of the Most High.<br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.inplainsite.org/html/eu_superstate.html" target="blank">Thus the kingdom of man under Satan is complete:</a> <span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">it is a kingdom which has sway over all the universe, over all men, over all the powers of creation; it is a kingdom in which man worships his own work and in which the devil is lord supreme.</span></strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"><br /></span><br />In the first place, we pointed out that the spirit of antichrist is already in the world and that it is in the making all during the history of the present dispensation, revealing itself more or less boldly at different stages of history. In the second place, as we warned, you must not imagine that it already has reached its full manifestation, and you must not imagine that Revelation chapter 13 already has been fully realized. In the third place, we also pointed out that for him who has understanding and who can at all read the signs of the times, it is plain that the time is at hand and that all things develop very fast in the direction of this fascinating world kingdom.<br /><a name="falseprophet"></a><br /><h4><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">THE SECOND BEAST: THE BEAST FROM THE EARTH (THE ONE WORLD RELIGION)</span><br /></h4>In order to prevent any misunderstanding at all, let me say from the outset that there is a definite relation between the first and the second beast. We must not have the impression that, in the first part of the chapter, antichrist was pictured in its full manifestation and that now, in the second part, we have the representation of something quite different. <strong>Rather, we must maintain that in the entire thirteenth chapter of Revelation we have the picture of antichrist.</strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">The two beasts depicted together form the picture of the full and complete anti-Christian power (one world power):</span></strong> <ol><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;"><li>The first beast pictures the anti-Christian kingdom in its political aspect (one world government);</li></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;"> <li>The second beast deals with the kingdom’s religious, moral and scientific forces (one world religion).</li></span></ol><span style="font-weight: bold;">In other words, the first beast tells us that the kingdom of antichrist has authority over all man and all things while the second beast shows us how this first beast exercises this authority.</span><br /><br /><strong>It is clear from a glance at the text that the symbolism of the first part is simply continued.</strong> In the preceding part of the chapter, we find the picture of a beast rising up out of the sea, with seven heads and ten horns, and appearing like a leopard, bear and lion, all in one. In that first part of the chapter, we find things that were really unintelligible without the second; therefore, to complete the picture, we must insert the picture of the second beast into that of the first.<br /><br />The full symbolism is as follows. The first beast is followed by a second, who rises up out of the earth. He is less formidable in appearance than the first beast: his origin is not of the stormy sea, but from the more quiet and more stable earth. He looks like a lamb, it seems, for he has horns as of a lamb, but when he speaks, he does not speak the truth. He stands in a very definite relation to the first beast: repeatedly this is indicated in the text. He exercises all his authority in the sight of, in the presence of, in behalf of, and as servant of the first beast. All that he does, he does in the presence of the first beast.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">The purpose of this second beast, therefore, lies in the service of the first.</span></strong> And this soon becomes apparent, for the second beast causes the inhabitants of the world to wonder after the first beast and to admire and worship him. <strong>This second beast makes man build an image of the first beast in order to worship the beast through his image.</strong> <span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);"><strong>This second beast causes all the worshippers of the first beast to receive a sign, which distinguishes them from those who refuse to worship the first beast.</strong></span> <strong style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Those who refuse to worship the beast will not receive the sign: they are not given the sign in order that they may be killed.</strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">This second beast is, therefore, as it were, the actual power of the first; in other words, the first beast works and exercises his power through the second.</span></strong> The first beast could not exist, could not exercise his authority, and would not be worshipped without the work of the second beast. <strong>And the second beast would have no reason to exist and to work were it not for the fact that this first beast must reach its full power.</strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">It is plain from what we have said that the second beast cannot represent a second kingdom.</span> </strong>In Daniel, as we have said, the beasts are symbols of kings together with their kingdoms. Let me call your attention to the fact that this second beast makes a radically different impression from the first beast and from the beasts that are pictured in Daniel chapter 7.<br /><br />In the book of Daniel, we have the wild animal: a leopard, bear and lion all combined into one. However, here in the book of Revelation, we have an entirely different picture. This beast evidently makes one think of a lamb. First of all, he has horns like those of a lamb, though he speaks like the dragon. In the second place, let me call your attention to the fact that evidently his power is quite different from that of a king. A king commands and makes laws and thus he exercises authority; however, this beast, although it exercises authority even the same as that of the first beast, does not exercise his power by commands but rather by persuasion.<br /><br />This second beast speaks: what this implies may become plain from the repeated indications in the text concerning the manner of his work. <strong>We read that he makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, he deceives man by the great signs and wonders which he performs, and he says to them who dwell on the earth that they should make an image of the first beast.</strong> <span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);"><strong>And he causes all that worship the first beast to receive a sign.</strong></span><br /><br />Hence, we receive the clear impression that the beast mentioned here does not work like the first beast, but that he is of a different character. He comes by speaking and by doing great signs and wonders. <strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Therefore, the second beast comes with the persuasion of a prophet: he does not force, but convince; he does not command and issue laws, but he wins the hearts of men.</span></strong><br /><br />Adding to this, we read repeatedly that this second beast works in the sight of and in the presence of the first beast, and that he does all he can for the power and maintenance of the first beast. Therefore, it is plain that this second beast represents some power in the kingdom, some tremendous influence in that great universal kingdom, which we have pictured to you according to the first part of the chapter.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><h4>The Power of the Second Beast, the False Prophet</h4></span><strong>The second beast works through the hearts and minds of men to influence, bewitch and charm them so that they worship the first beast and so that they admire him and submit themselves gladly to him.</strong><br /><br />What power, then, does this second beast represent? We will find no difficulty in identifying him. Scripture itself tells us: in the nineteenth chapter of Revelation, we find a reference to this same beast. In Revelation 19:20 we read: <blockquote>"And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire that burneth with brimstone." </blockquote>And in Revelation 20:10 we find mention of him once more:<blockquote> "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are."</blockquote>The beast that is mentioned in these passages is evidently the first beast, and the false prophet is none other than this second beast, with the two lamb’s horns, who speaks as the dragon. Therefore, we come to the conclusion that this second beast is called the false prophet.<br /><br />What is a prophet? We must banish from our minds the popular conception that a prophet is chiefly a man who foretells the future. True, a prophet also foretells the future, but that is not his only work. We find from Scripture that a prophet is characteristically a person who speaks for someone else. Aaron is called the prophet of Moses when they together go to Pharaoh and Aaron expressing the message instead of and for Moses. We see this also with the prophets of God among Israel. The prophets are men who speak for God and bring His message; they appeal to the minds and hearts of men; they speak to Israel in behalf of Jehovah and His covenant and cause.<br /><br />God’s prophets teach and speak and reveal the will of God, and they try to persuade men so that they may embrace His cause. <strong>Now this second beast is also a prophet in that he speaks for someone else and he tries to influence the minds of men, to persuade them, to gain them for the cause of him in whose interest he speaks. <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">However, he is a false prophet in that he does not preach the truth; rather, he speaks the lie.</span></strong> He persuades men and teaches them, and by doing so he deceives them so that they believe the lie. And if we compare this with what we find in the words of the passage that we are now discussing, we shall find that this is actually his character.<br /><br /><strong>His very appearance is deceiving. He looks like a lamb: one would receive the impression, therefore, that he is in some way affiliated with Christ, the great Prophet, and that the words he speaks are the words of Christ. <span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">However, he speaks like the dragon: he derives the contents of his prophecy and teaching not from Christ, but from the devil, from hell itself.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>He is a prophet so he speaks for someone else, but the one for whom he speaks is the first beast, who receives and exercises all the authority of the devil.</strong> In the devil's presence and in behalf of him, he speaks and exercises his authority. In the devil's sight and in his behalf, he does his great signs and wonders. <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">He persuades men to establish an entire worship and erect an image, and he causes all who refuse the image to be killed.</span> </strong><br /><br />This second beast, the false prophet, is the exact opposite of what Elijah was among Israel. Elijah stood before Jehovah, but this false prophet stands for the opponent of Jehovah. Elijah spoke the truth of God, but this false prophet speaks the lie of the dragon. Elijah persuaded men to break down the image of Baal and serve and worship the true God, but this false prophet persuades men to forsake Jehovah and make an image for the first beast and the dragon. Elijah persuaded men to kill the priests of Baal, but this false prophet persuades men to kill the saints of the Most High.<br /><a name="religion"></a><br /><h4><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"><a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/" target="blank">One World Religion</a></span></h4>I would say that the second beast as a whole does not represent a single person, a single individual. I know that there are interpreters who urge this very strongly, but it is not necessary to maintain this nor is it very probably the interpretation.<br /><br />We found in explanation of the first beast that it did not simply refer to an individual king or emperor or governor, but just as much to the kingdom or world power under the sway of that government. And the same must be borne in mind here. I do not think it impossible that in the future some great philosopher will arise who will dominate almost any intellectual movement of his time so that all others follow him.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">This second beast does not represent a single individual, but rather all the power of false science, philosophy and religion combined.</span></strong> In the future, all science, philosophy and religion shall be united into one science and one philosophy and one religion. There shall be no more difference of opinion. <strong>Just as politically the world shall be one, so it shall be one intellectually and religiously.</strong> They shall all have the same ideas about things. They shall all admire the same science. They shall all have the same religion.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">There will be a new religion: already we hear of it in our own time.</span></strong> And this new religion shall embrace all things: it shall be universal. All creeds, denominations and sects shall be blended and united into one so that there shall be no more strife and ecclesiastical contention. <strong>It shall have a universal creed, laying down the precepts and principles for every sphere of life. </strong><br /><br />This new religion shall lay down rules for our individual life, just as the Christian religion does. It shall lay down the principles for our home life, just as the Christian religion does. It shall reveal principles for the life of society and for the life of nations.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"><a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/" target="blank">This one world power shall lay down the rules for religious life in particular:</a></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"> it shall tell all men how they must worship and what they must worship.</span> <span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">It shall be a new system of thought and religion, with a new creed, universal in its scope and, at the same time, with a new god.</span></strong> That new god will be the beast, the great world power, whom all shall admire and worship and for whom all shall erect an image in order that they may worship the same. Thus it is also clear that the first beast has need of the second.<br /><br /><h4><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">The Activity of the Second Beast</span></h4><ul><li>The universal world power, being based upon the unity and voluntary submission of all, has need of the power of false prophecy and has need of this universal science and religion.</li><li>The second beast must serve the first: it is indispensable to the first. The world power has need of false science, philosophy and religion to maintain the devil's authority and the integrity and unity of his kingdom.</li><li>If we understand this, it is not very difficult to comprehend the action of the second beast. We read in the text that he does great things with signs and wonders, and it is exactly through these signs and wonders that he succeeds in gaining men for his cause and deceiving them.</li></ul><p>Naturally a prophet must do signs and wonders: these must establish his prophetic authority and the truth of the things he speaks. Thus it was with Moses before Pharaoh and at the same time with the magi of the king: they performed signs and wonders to impress the authority with which they appeared. Thus it was with Elijah on Carmel, with Christ as a prophet, and with the appearance of the apostles in the midst of the heathen world: they all performed signs and wonders in order that these might corroborate the truth of their message. Thus it is also in the anti-Christian world power to come: this second beast shall perform signs and wonders (and this was foretold already by Daniel the prophet).</p>As was prophesied by Christ Himself, the antichrist shall perform marvelous things: "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" (Matthew 24:24). It was also foretold by the apostle Paul, who predicted that the man of sin should manifest himself in great signs and wonders. And thus we find it in the words of our text.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">The second beast, the false prophet, who is the power of this </span><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"><a href="http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NewAge/New_World_Order.htm" target="blank">false science and philosophy and religion</a></span><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">, shall do things which will astonish the world and which will cause all men to flock to him, to listen to his prophecy, and to worship the beast.</span></strong><br /><br />What shall this power do? There are interpreters who take it all in the literal sense of the word and who claim that this second beast represents a person who will actually perform miracles. We are not inclined that way: all that is necessary is to assume that this great power will do things that will corroborate his teachings and thus establish the universal kingdom. He will not only talk, but he will show that he can do things in harmony with the message he brings.<br /><br />The second beast will apply his false science and philosophy and religion, and he will show that man is extremely powerful. He will bring fire from heaven. Why not? Through the power of electricity man has already done great things. In the future, man actually may be able to extract the fire from the clouds of heaven and bring it down in the sight of all men. The second beast will provide men with all the commodities, conveniences and pleasures modern science can invent so that they can fly through the air without danger, speak with their fellow men in the remotest corner of this great kingdom without trouble, enter into the bowels of the earth, and plow through the depth of the sea.<br /><br />This false philosophy will discover all the powers of creation and bring them into use so that all men shall wonder at the great things it does. And wondering at its action, they shall follow him and believe his message and obey his command. <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">This is evidently the sole, ultimate purpose of these signs and wonders, that men may believe and follow the beast: </span>for we read in the words of our text that by these signs and wonders, the devil deceives men so that they make an image of the beast.</strong><br /><a name="666"></a><br /><h4><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">THE MARK OF THE BEAST: THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE FOLLOWERS OF THE BEAST AND THE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST</span></h4>Notice that this false prophet does not make the image through which the world power is to be worshipped, but that under his influence, as he speaks for the beast and performs signs and wonders in his name, men make such an image. This image, of course, is a representation of the beast itself so whosoever worships the image, worships the beast, and he who worships the beast, worships the dragon.<br /><br />Exactly of what this image shall consist, we do not know at present. The idea of an image through which the world power is worshipped is nothing strange. The emperors of the Roman Empire made such images, which they worshipped as gods. In the French Revolution, the images of the great leaders of that revolution were made and worshipped: men paid religious worship to the images of liberty, equality, and fraternity that were made. And in the Notre Dame of Paris, the goddess of reason was actually worshipped by the great of France.<br /><br />Therefore, there would be nothing strange if, in these latter days, there would be once more such idol worship in the literal sense of the word. At all events, some sign, some ensign, or some device representing this universal world power will be conceived of and made and distributed all throughout the dominion of antichrist so that they may pay divine honor to it and worship the beast.<br /><br />It is before this emblem of the universal world power that all men shall bow down. And this false prophet will be allowed to perform still greater things. He will give to that image a spirit, a breath of life. How this universal idol shall speak, I know not, but this is of minor importance since we know the purpose of it all. The text tells us that this image is given a breath of life in order that it may speak and that those who do not worship the image may be killed.<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">At this time to come, there are still saints of the Most High on earth: the remnant of the seed of the woman is still there; they are not yet taken to heaven.</strong> And, of course, they refuse to go along with all this beautiful and worldwide movement. They refuse to adopt the philosophy of the second beast. They refuse to wonder at its great signs. They refuse to adopt its religion. <strong>They refuse to worship the beast and the dragon.</strong><br /><br /><strong>The Church shall refuse to worship the beast; therefore, the saints cannot be tolerated, and they must be discovered so that this great universal kingdom may be rid of them.</strong> And so an image must be made, some universal ensign, and this universal ensign must be displayed everywhere. Wherever you turn, you can see it in this kingdom of the antichrist, and all shall humbly bow down before it or in some way pay it divine honor, except for the saints of the Most High, who shall refuse to worship the idol.<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Those who do not worship the beast will not receive this universal insignia, and thus it becomes evident that they be killed.</strong> Through this universal insignia, distinction and separation is made between the worshippers of the beast and the followers of Christ, the seed of the woman. <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">And this </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"><a href="http://2012nwo.blogspot.com/#microchip" target="blank">universal mark or sign or insignia</a></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"> must serve as the means through which the distinction is realized.</span></strong><br /><br />In close connection with this idea is the idea of the sign. By means of the image, distinction is made between the followers of the beast and those who refuse to worship him. <strong>The faithful followers of the beast receive a sign. </strong>It is of little importance for us at present to determine exactly of what this sign shall consist. It may be that the kingdom shall literally provide for some brand or badge that the beast’s faithful followers shall be allowed to wear and with which they shall be allowed to appear in modern society. <strong>However, it also may be that this is all symbolism to denote that there shall be a visible difference in the manifestation of the followers of the beast and the followers of Christ.</strong><br /><br />It is certain that the difference between the followers of the beast and the followers of Christ shall be there and this difference shall be very plain. <strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">The false prophet, the power of false science and philosophy and religion, shall see to it that the distinction is very public and evident to all so that only his followers may share in the blessings of this great kingdom.</span></strong><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Just as only the followers of Christ (baptized in His name and confessing Him faithfully) shall share in the blessings of the kingdom of God, so also the followers of the beast only shall reap the benefits of this universal world kingdom. </span><strong style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">The rest, who do not have the mark of the beast, shall be excluded and boycotted in every respect.</strong><br /><br /><strong>All things shall be under the control of the first beast, of this great and universal world power: the very necessities of life shall be in his power.</strong> He can surely allow or prevent buying and selling according to his good pleasure. <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><strong>The saints of Christ who do not worship the image, and who refuse to receive the mark of the beast, shall not be able to do business; they shall not be able to buy or to sell. </strong></span>They shall not be able to live along with that great society. They shall not be able to buy the necessities of life. <strong>They shall be outcasts, mocked at, held in derision, thrust aside, ousted from society, and killed.</strong><br /><br />Those shall be terrible days. They shall be more terrible than any form of persecution that the children of God have ever experienced. There shall be no place for them on earth. They shall be left without a helper on earth. <strong>So terrible shall those days be that many shall fall who appeared to be children of the Most High, and the very elect would not be able to resist were it not for the fact that the days shall be shortened.</strong><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><h4>The Name and Number of the Beast</h4></span>We must discuss the name of this great beast, which all its worshippers bear on their foreheads or in their right hand. We read:<blockquote> "Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six."</blockquote>Many and varied are the interpretations given of this number: we shall not tire your attention by enumerating them all. A very favorite interpretation is that which is given by an old church father, Irenaeus, and accepted by many of our own time. The interpretation is as follows. The letters of the Greek alphabet were used as numbers. If this is taken as the basis of the interpretation, we find that the letters in the word Lateinos, or Latin, together give us the number 666. Therefore, the name of the beast as spelled by this number is "Latin," and it denotes the kingdom of the Latins or of the Roman Empire.<br /><br />However, even this interpretation we cannot possibly accept as true. For, in the first place, however ingenious it may be, it is nevertheless more or less arbitrary. On this basis, I can also construe other names, which are just as suitable and also amount to the number 666, but which simply are formed by a different arrangement of the same letters. In the second place, notice that our text does not say, "Here is a riddle; let him that is bright solve it;" rather, it plainly states: "Here is wisdom; let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast." And therefore we must have something different. Finally, in the third place, we should not lose sight of the fact that the numbers in Revelation have symbolical significance: they stand also in this case for a higher spiritual reality.<br /><br />Let us then notice that the mark of the beast, the number of his name, the number of the beast, and the name of the beast all denote identically the same thing. The beast has a name, and the name in Scripture always denotes character and being. The name of this beast has been impressed upon his followers so that also they may be distinguished as his subjects. And that name is the same as is expressed in the number 666.<br /><br />Now what is the meaning of this number? Six is the number of the creature in all its fulness: in six days God created the world and in six days creation was completed; the fulness of creation has come to realization in six days. However, the full week is not expressed in the six, but in the number seven. The seventh day is the day of consecration and adoration of God; it is the day on which the creature was to lift himself from the sphere of the mundane and consecrate himself to the Creator. On the seventh day, man was to bring the glory of all God’s work to Him. The seventh day was hallowed.<br /><br />Six is one less than seven; therefore, the number six speaks of the fulness of creation and all the powers of creation but without God and without the service and glory of God. The symbolism of the number six is the world under the influence of sin: it is the world with all its fulness and powers, but without God. Ten is the number that denotes a complete measure of anything according to the decree of God, whether it be a measure of time, power, development, or anything else.<br /><br />Notice 666 + (10 x 6) + (10 x 10 x 6): 10 x 6 would denote the world and all its fulness without God, developed according to the measure of God’s plan; and 10 x 10 x 6 denotes that same development in the highest degree, coming to its fullest consummation. The idea, therefore, is not so difficult. <strong>God created a world that should glorify Him and be consecrated to Him, but that world tore itself loose from Him and refused to glorify Him. Man has developed the kingdom of the world without God, and God allows this kingdom of the world to develop to its full extent.</strong><br /><br />Although man has fallen away from Him, God nevertheless allows man to exercise dominion over the earthly creation and to bring to light all the hidden powers and talents of creation to their fullest degree. <strong>In the final manifestation of this anti-Christian kingdom to come we have the 'beasts' of the book of Revelation: these beasts represent the highest development of the sovereignty of man apart from God, and under the devil they develop all the powers of creation without God.</strong><br /><br /><strong>This anti-Christian to come is the climax of the development of the man of sin: it is the kingdom of man, of the creature, without God, without the seven.</strong> And therefore his number is 666, the number of man indeed. Such, I feel persuaded, is the meaning of this chapter.<br /><br />If we have spiritual understanding, we must count the number of the beast. You may see him rise before your very eyes in the world of today. Hence, we must watch and pray that we may not fall into temptation. We must be faithful unto the end.<br /><br /><strong>It is not our calling to resist the anti-Christian kingdom to come: for that is impossible. <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">We cannot prevent its coming; however, we must watch and be prepared. Here is the patience of the saints; here is wisdom.</span> We must know how this kingdom of antichrist will come so that we may recognize its coming and be faithful even unto the end.</strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">God grant that we may be found watching in that day so that we may not be allured by all the beauty and fascination and by the Christian appearance, strength and stability of this world kingdom to come.</span></strong> <strong>Let us not be allured by the signs and wonders of the false prophet, but let us remain faithful even unto the very end so that no one may take our crowns.</strong><br /><p></p><div align="center"><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);font-family:arial;" >Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. --1 Corinthians 15:57</span><br /><br /><a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html" target="blank">For facts on countries around the world, including religion, go to the CIA's website</a><br /><br /><strong>Casting Crowns</strong> <strong>- The Voice of Truth</strong><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FuH1faTC22E&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FuH1faTC22E&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><div style="border: 2px solid black; width: 288px; height: 20px;">Return to <a href="http://thelambslain.com/"><b>The Lamb Slain</b></a> Home Page</div><p></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6354143865375585988.post-39719038256991334432010-12-01T06:57:00.013-05:002012-07-22T00:36:39.796-04:00<div id="headline"><div align="center"><h2 class="subheadlinemain" title="Permanent Link to The Fourth and Final Kingdom">The Fourth and Final Kingdom</h2></div><h3><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/05/fourth-beast-kingdom-which-is-yet-to.html">The Fourth Beast Kingdom Which is Yet to Come </a></h3><a href="http://www.cuttingedge.org/News/n1179.cfm">According to David Bay, Cutting Edge Ministries:</a><blockquote>President Richard Nixon issued Executive Order #11647 on February 14, 1972, <a href="http://www.thelambslain.com/2009/01/regionalism-abolishment-of-american.html">which reorganized the United States into 10 federal regions</a>... The unconstitutional goal of this reorganization into 10 super regions is to set the stage for the abolishment of governments from the federal, to the state, to the county, and even to the local, levels. The objective is to set in place the form of government that could be implemented during a planned crisis, that would effectively strip us of our elected representational form of government. Suddenly, we would find ourselves being governed by officials who are not elected, nor responsible to any voters.<br /><br />This regional system is apparently unlimited in its scope and powers. Thus, Americans could very well discover that they are back under the control of the type of government that our Founding Fathers spent their lives and fortunes overthrowing! Worse still, we could find ourselves facing the type of dictator which we have seen ruling Russia and Nazi Germany.<br /><br />This regional system is also apparently a military structure. We will see this more clearly when the federal program called <a onclick="'alert(" href="http://www.hiddenmysteries.org/themagazine/vol9/research/disarm.shtml" target="_blank">"General and Complete Disarmament"</a><a href="http://www.hiddenmysteries.org/themagazine/vol9/research/disarm.shtml"></a> (Public Law 87-297) is fully integrated according to this 10-region system of government. We also will probably not see this 10-region system implemented until we are under the simultaneous crises of which we have spoken many times.<br /><br />When America is under the following planned crises, we will witness this changeover to this 10-region system, most likely with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) exercising initial control. These are apparently the crises that are planned: <ol><li>All-out nuclear warfare in the <a href="http://www.mideastweb.org/maps.htm">Middle East</a> (or neutron warfare).</li><br /><li>All-out nuclear war on the <a href="http://static.newworldencyclopedia.org/7/77/Three_Kingdoms_of_Korea_Map.png">Korean Peninsula</a> (or at least the threat of such a war).</li><br /><li>Arab terrorists threatening to devastate American cities with atomic, chemical or biological weapons (or actually carrying out this threat).</li><br /><li>Total oil embargo from the Arab nations in support of <a href="http://www.infowars.com/globalist-think-tank-trots-out-iran-attack-scenario/">Arab forces fighting Israel</a> in the Middle East.</li><br /><li>Earthquakes deliberately caused to create panic.</li><br /><li>Simultaneous riots in many American cities to further cause panic.</li><br /><li>American Presidency weakened because of scandal and infighting with Congress and the Courts to further cause panic among American voters.</li><br /><li>The Stock Market will crash, causing absolute panic amongst all Americans. Jobs will immediately begin to be lost, thus further adding to the panic.</li></ol><div align="center"><img src="http://i56.tinypic.com/29pt743.jpg" border="0" /></div><br />Antichrist is supposed to appear at the <a href="http://www.infowars.com/globalist-think-tank-trots-out-iran-attack-scenario/">end of the Middle East crisis</a>. If this occurs, then "aliens" and visible "angels" are to appear to urge all peoples of the world to support him and his plan.<br /><br />At this moment, the head of FEMA will suddenly appear, announcing that he is taking "temporary" control, and quoting all the various Executive Orders and laws passed by Congress giving him all the authority he needs to assume the powers of government, of all branches of our former Constitutional government.<br /><br />Once this changeover to the new 10-region system of government occurs, amidst all these contrived and planned crises, you may rest assured the End of the Age is upon us.</blockquote></div><h3 class="subheadlinemain"><a href="http://rt.com/news/world-government-conspiracy-therory-657/">'2012: What’s in Store...'</a></h3><p>By Adrian Salbuchi, RT.com<br />December 26, 2011</p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Private Global Power Elite embedded in major governments is dead set on imposing World Government on us sooner rather than later.</span> Let’s look at 12 mega-processes – veritable “Triggers” – that we infer they are using to achieve their goals.</p> <p><span style="font-weight: bold;">All roads lead to World Government. </span>This should come as no surprise. London’s <span style="font-style: italic;">Financial Times</span> openly articulated this view in an article by their chief foreign affairs commentator, Gideon Rachman, published on 8 December 2009, whose title said it all: “<a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2008/12/global-warming-and-financial-times.html">And Now for a World Government</a>.” <span style="font-weight: bold;">These goals are echoed by the Trilateral Commission, CFR and Bilderberg insiders – even by the Vatican.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Macro-managing planet Earth is no easy matter.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">It requires strategic and tactical planning by a vast think-tank network allied to major elite universities whereby armies of academics, operators, lobbyists, media players and government officers interface, all abundantly financed by the global corporate and banking superstructure.</span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;">They do this holistically, knowing that they operate on different stages moving at very different speeds:</p><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Financial Triggers</span> move at lightning speed thanks to electronic information technology that can make or break markets, currencies and entire countries in just hours or days; </li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Economic Triggers</span> move slower: manufacturing cars, aircraft, food, clothes, building plants and houses takes months;</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Political Triggers</span> tied to the “democratic system” put politicians in power for several years;<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cultural Triggers</span> require entire generations to implement; this is where PsyWar has reached unprecedented “heights”.</li></ul><p>Risk-managing this whole process takes into account the many pitfalls and surprises in store.<span style="font-weight: bold;"> So each plan in every field counts, with “Plan B’s” – even Plans “C” and “D” – which can be implemented if needed.</span></p><h4><span style="font-style: italic;">Twelve Triggers for World Government</span></h4><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Today, the Global Power Elite are wrapping up globalization and ushering in World Government.</span> Paraphrasing the tightrope walker in German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Thus Spake Zarathustra,” this implies “….a dangerous crossing, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting…"</p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">These 12 Triggers are interlinked and interlocked in a highly complex, holistic matrix, very flexible in its tactics but rigidly unbending in its strategic objectives.</span> When read as a whole, the picture that unfolds shows that whole being far more than the sum of its parts. </p><ol><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Financial Meltdown.</span> Since 2008, the Global Financial System continues on life-support. Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geithner and the US economic hit team – Robert Rubin, Larry Summers and Goldman Sachs, CitiGroup, JPMorganChase mega-bankers working with the Bank of England and the European Central Bank – have not and will not take any measures to help the populace and ailing economies. They just funnel trillions to the banking elite, imposing the media myth that certain banks are “too big to fail” (Orwellian Newspeak for “too damn powerful to fail”). Why? Because it’s not governments overseeing, supervising and controlling Goldman Sachs, CitiCorp, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, JPMorganChase, but exactly the other way around…</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Economic Crises. </span>Today, “Destructive Extreme Capitalism” is collapsing national and regional economies, reformatting them into international slave-labour Gulag-like entities that Joseph Stalin would envy. Our woes lie not with the world’s real economy (mostly intact), but with the fake world of finance, banks, and speculation;</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Social Upheavals. </span>Meltdowns in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Iceland and – soon to come – Italy, Spain and others, trigger violent social uprisings, even in the US and UK;</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pandemics. </span>Get ready for more “flu surprises” leading to mandatory vaccinations: a discreet opportunity to slip RFID chips into our bodies and test “intelligent viruses” targeting specific DNA strains. Racially and ethnically selective viruses as part of mass depopulation campaigns?</li><li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Global Warming.</span> As the global economy sinks into zero growth mode, economic drivers shift from growth expansion to consumption contraction. Will coming “carbon credits” open the path to full societal control?</li><li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Terrorist “False Flag” Mega-Attacks.</span> The Elite have this wildcard up their sleeve to jump-start new “crises” as short-cuts towards world government. Will new “attacks” dwarfing 9/11 justify further global wars, invasions and genocide? A nuclear weapon over a major city to be blamed on the Elite’s “enemies”?</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Generalized War in the Middle East. </span>As we speak, naval forces, bombers, entire armies are poised to attack and invade Syria, Iran…</li><li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ecological/Environmental “Accidents”. </span>The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident sparked the beginning of the end of the former USSR by showing the world and the Soviets themselves that their State could no longer manage their own nuclear facilities. April 2010 saw the BP “Deepwater Horizon” oil rig eco-catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico; since March 2011, Japan and the world have been grappling with a much larger nuclear accident in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex. Was foul play involved?</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Assassination of a major political or religious figure to be blamed on an Elite enemy. </span>Mossad, CIA, MI6 are really good at playing this type of dirty trick;</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Attacks on “Rogue States” </span>– Iraq, Libya… Who’s next? Iran? Syria? Venezuela? North Korea?</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Staged “Religious” Event.</span> The growing need of the masses for meaning in their lives makes them easy victims of a Hollywood-staged, <a href="http://rewardsinheaven.blogspot.com/">3D virtual reality hologram show, orchestrating a “second coming”</a>. An electronically engineered “messianic figure” acting in sync with Elite global objectives? Who would dare go against God himself?</li><li> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Staged “Alien Contact.” </span><a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Alien%20and%20UFO%20Threat%20is%20Fake">This too may be in the works</a>. For decades, large sectors of world population have been programmed to believe in aliens. Here too, hologram technology could stage a “space vehicle landing” – on the White House lawn, of course – highlighting the “need” for Mankind to have “unified representation” in the face of extraterrestrials. Further justification for world government?</li></ol><span style="font-weight: bold;">What do such interlocking “crises” have in common? </span>Global warming, pandemics, “international terrorism”, financial collapse, economic depression, even alien contacts? <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">They all serve to show that they cannot be addressed by any single nation state, thus “justifying” the need for World Government.</span><p>2012: <span style="font-weight: bold;">We must stay especially alert, understanding things the way they really are and not the way the global TV Masters want us to believe they are.</span></p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dEp1D5hAGO8" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640"></iframe><p style="font-style: italic;">Adrian Salbuchi is a political analyst, author, speaker and radio/TV commentator in Argentina. www.asalbuchi.com.ar</p><h3><a href="http://nuclearsuntan.blogspot.com/">UN Divides the World into 10 Regional Groupings</a></h3><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.his2ndcoming.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=66">Club of Rome's 10 Regions and the 10 Kings of Daniel and Revelation</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><br /><br />The "10 horns" are explained in Daniel 7:23-25 and Revelation 17:12 to be 10 kings, and the whole vision is of the last form of Gentile world-power, a confederated 10-kingdom empire, most likely covering the whole earth. Now it's interesting to note that, in 1972, the Club of Rome proposed a plan to divide the whole world into 10 regions. Could these 10 regions be the 10 horns of the Bible? [<a href="http://www.his2ndcoming.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70&Itemid=79">his2ndcoming</a>]<br /><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them (Revelation 17:12-14).<br /><br />And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled (Revelation 17:16-17).<br /><br />And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army (Revelation 19:19).<br /></span><br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://cuttingedge.org/news/n1002.html">Once the 10 Nations Have Arisen, Antichrist Will Appear</a><br /><br />In 1957, Alice Bailey, then the leader of the House of Theosophy, wrote in her collection of writings, "The Externalisation of the Hierarchy," that the world must first be reorganized into "spheres of influence" before it could be organized into a global government (page 209). She made it very clear that this reorganization would not follow traditional national boundaries, but would be a completely different organization. Bailey did not specify how many "spheres of influence" would be created, but her plan was fleshed out in 1974 by New World Order authors, Mihajlo Mesarovic and Eduard Pestel, in a book entitled, "Mankind At The Turning Point." They wrote that the world would be reorganized into 10 Super Nation States, listed below. [David Bay, Cutting Edge Ministries]<br /><br />(1) North America<br />(2) Western Europe<br />(3) Japan<br />(4) Australia, South Africa, and the rest of the market-economy of the developed world<br />(5) Eastern Europe, including Russia<br />(6) Latin America<br />(7) North Africa and the Middle East<br />(8) Tropical Africa<br />(9) South and Southeast Asia<br /><br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.his2ndcoming.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=66" target="_blank">Cold War Era 10-Region Map (Mexico Not Included in the North American Union)</a><br /><a name="littlehorn"></a><div align="center"><img alt="" src="http://i41.tinypic.com/24lrafo.jpg" /></div><br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.markswatson.com/acwho.htm">The 'Little Horn' (Antichrist) Rises Up AFTER the Ten Kings Come to Power</a><br /><br />So let us remember the basics here: the man of sin, little horn or antichrist, rises out of a system of 10 kings. The system of 10 kings is controlled by the harlot, Babylon, and the entire system is given its power by the dragon, Satan. Many people get a little too hung up on if it is a 'Masonic conspiracy' or a 'Jesuit conspiracy' or a 'globalist conspiracy.' They are all the same conspiracy. It is part of a Satanic conspiracy to control the globe for the prince of darkness. God has given us a witness as to the final form the system will take: 10 kings ruled by a harlot controlled by the devil. That system is not fully here yet, but true, born-again Christians who are awake and are not sleeping can and are seeing this system coming into being. It is not far off. [Mark S. Watson]<br /><br /><a onclick="'alert(" style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG_Report_2009_ENG.pdf" target="_blank">The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009</a><br /><br />According to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, <a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/">The Millennium Development Goals</a> (MDGs) — as the targets are known — are among the seven “strategic opportunities” to be realized not over decades <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">but within the next twelve months</span>. [Note the <a onclick="'alert(" href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG_Report_2009_ENG.pdf" target="_blank">map on page 57 of the report</a> (PDF), which divides the world into 10 "Regional Groupings" as compared to the <a onclick="'alert(" href="http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/small_continents_map.htm" target="_blank">seven continents of the world</a>.]<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG_Report_2009_ENG.pdf" target="'_blank"><img title="The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009" src="http://i40.tinypic.com/111s402.jpg" /></a></div><a name="woman"></a><div align="center"><blockquote style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(178, 194, 204);"><strong>I will tell thee the <a href="http://www.lastdaysmystery.info/mystery_babylon_the_great.htm" target="'_new">mystery of the woman</a>,<br />And of <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#spiritualwar">the beast</a> that carrieth her</strong>,<br /><strong>Which hath the </strong><a href="http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/small_continents_map.htm" target="'_blank"><strong>seven heads</strong></a><strong> and </strong><a href="http://i45.tinypic.com/11trerb.jpg" target="'_blank"><strong>ten horns</strong></a><strong>.</strong> <p>The beast that thou sawest was, and is not;<br /><a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#abyss">And shall ascend out of the bottomless pit</a>, and go into perdition:<br />And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder,<br />Whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world,<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">When they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. </span></p><p>And here is the mind which hath wisdom.<br /><a href="http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/small_continents_map.htm">The seven heads are seven mountains</a>, on which the <strong>woman</strong> sitteth.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come;</span><br /><a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/2009/03/satan-to-be-released-to-deceive-nations.html">And when he cometh, he must continue a short space.</a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And is of the seven,</span> <a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-shall-be-signs-of-christs-return.html">and goeth into perdition</a>. </p><p><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://i45.tinypic.com/11trerb.jpg">And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings,</a><br /><a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/">Which have received no kingdom as yet;</a><br /><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#power">But receive power as kings one hour with the beast.</a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. </span></p><p><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#victory">These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them:</a><br />For He is Lord of lords, and King of kings:<br /><a href="http://sufferforchrist.blogspot.com/#salvation">And they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.</a> </p><p>And he saith unto me,<br /><strong>The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth,<br />Are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.<br /></strong>And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the <strong>whore</strong>,<br />And shall make her desolate and naked,<br />And shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. </p><p><strong>For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will,<br /></strong><a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#heathen">And to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast,</a><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Until the words of God shall be fulfilled.</span></strong> </p><p>And the <strong>woman</strong> which thou sawest is that great city,<br /><strong>Which reigneth over the kings of the earth.</strong> </p><p>Revelation 17:7-18 </p></blockquote></div><div align="left"><h3><a href="http://www.lastdaysmystery.info/beast_which_has_the_seven_heads_and_ten_horns.htm" target="_blank">Daniel Describes the Fourth Beast Kingdom Which is Yet to Come</a></h3>By Richard H. Perry<p><strong style="font-style: italic;">Mystery of the Beast Which has the 7 Heads and 10 Horns</strong><br /><br />In this important Last Days prophecy, God explains the mystery of this beast which has the seven heads and ten horns. He also says that those whose names have not been written in the book of life will be astonished when they see the beast. Therefore, those whose names are written in the book of life will not be astonished. They will not be astonished because they will know the identity of this beast and be prepared. Let’s read the passage, so we understand. </p></div><blockquote>I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. (Revelation 17:3-18). </blockquote><strong style="font-style: italic;">Wisdom Comes from the Word of God</strong><br /><br />God says that wisdom is required to understand this mystery. When wisdom is required, the answer can be found in the Word of God, because wisdom comes from God.<br /><blockquote>For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding (Proverbs 2:6).<br /><br />Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them (Proverbs 4:5). </blockquote>Since wisdom comes from the Word of God, we must search Scripture to understand the mystery.<br /><br /><strong style="font-style: italic;">Daniel Writes about Four Beast Kingdoms</strong><br /><br />Let’s start with what we know. Daniel’s prophecies tell of four beast kingdoms that will rise on earth, three have risen and the fourth is yet to come. When the fourth beast kingdom comes, it will continue until the Kingdom of God comes on earth. Let’s read how this is written. <blockquote>You, O king [Babylon], are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron--for iron breaks and smashes everything--and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others … In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 2:37-44)<br /><br />The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth. But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever--yes, for ever and ever. (Daniel 7:17-18) </blockquote><strong><span style="font-style: italic;">Daniel Describes the Fourth Beast Kingdom Which is Yet to Come</span><br /></strong><br />From the time of Daniel’s prophecies three beast kingdoms rose to power: they were Babylon, Media-Persia and Greece. When the fourth and final beast kingdom comes it will usher in the rise of the Antichrist. The Antichrist will be destroyed by the Second Coming of Christ. Let’s read how it is written: <blockquote>I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end. The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king. The four horns that replaced the one that was broken off represent four kingdoms that will emerge from his nation but will not have the same power. In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise. He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people. He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power. (Daniel 8:19-25). </blockquote><strong><span style="font-style: italic;">The Rise of the Antichrist from the Fourth Beast Kingdom</span><br /></strong><br />When the final beast kingdom arises it will begin with ten kings. Then another king will come up among the ten and subdue three kings. This king is the Antichrist. When the Antichrist has subdued the three kings, the Fourth Beast Kingdom will then have “seven heads and ten horns.” Let’s read how it is written: <blockquote>The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him. (Daniel 7:23-27) </blockquote>So, Daniel reveals that when the final beast kingdom has seven heads and ten horns, the Antichrist will be its leader and one of the seven heads.<br /><br /><strong style="font-style: italic;">Revelation Reveals More About this Final Beast</strong><br /><br />Let’s return to the mystery of the “beast which has the seven heads and ten horns:” <blockquote>I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Revelation 17:3-8) </blockquote>In addition to the “seven heads and ten horns,” we are also given several other pieces of information to help us understand this mystery. The beast comes up out of the Abyss and is destined for destruction.<br /><br /><strong style="font-style: italic;">Two Beast Kings are Destined for Destruction at Christ’s Return</strong><br /><br />One of the beast's destined for destruction at Christ's return is the Antichrist, whose destruction is prophesied in Daniel 8:25: <blockquote>“He will be destroyed, but not by human power.”</blockquote>The other is the False Prophet, who is destroyed with the Antichrist as prophesied in Revelation 19:20: <blockquote>The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. </blockquote>Let’s read more about these two beasts: <blockquote>And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. (Revelation 13:1-15) <p>But the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. (Revelation 19:20) </p></blockquote>The False Prophet comes out of the earth (Abyss) with power to deceive the inhabitants of the earth and performs miraculous signs on behalf of the Antichrist to deceive unbelievers. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing (they perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved).<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-style: italic;">Paul Also Tells Us About This</span><br /></strong><br />Paul also wrote of the coming Antichrist and the influence of the False Prophet when he says that God sends unbelievers a powerful delusion: <blockquote>Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12) </blockquote><strong style="font-style: italic;">Revelation Reveals More About the King from the Abyss</strong><br /><br />In Revelation we are told the name of the king of the Abyss. The Abyss is located either on or in the earth because the abyss will be opened when the star is on the earth. <blockquote>I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power... And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. (Revelation 9:1-3, 10-11) </blockquote>The Hebrew name “Abaddon” means a destroying angel, and the Greek name “Apollon” also means destroyer. In telling us these two names, God is confirming the identity of the angel king. The destroyer is described extensively in the Old Testament.<br /><br />The Destroyer is "the beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (Revelation 17:8).<br /><br />The False Prophet and the Destroyer are one and the same.<br /><br /><strong style="font-style: italic;">The Seven Kingdoms of Revelation 17</strong><br /><br />Let’s return to the mystery of “the beast which has the seven heads and ten horns.”<br /><br />What can we learn about the seven heads? <blockquote>The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth (Revelation 17:9). </blockquote>Prophecy frequently describes kingdoms as mountains. Below are examples: <blockquote>The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle (Isaiah 13:4).<br /><br />Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the Lord's (Obadiah 1:21).<br /><br />And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD. Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. (Jeremiah 51:24-25)<br /><br />Listen to what the LORD says: "Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD'S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel." (Micah 6:1-2) </blockquote><strong style="font-style: italic;">Who are the Seven Kingdoms?</strong> <blockquote>The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space (Revelation 17:9-10). </blockquote>At the time John was given the revelation, Rome was the kingdom in power; therefore, Rome is the one who “is.” <blockquote>1. Fallen = ?<br /><br />2. Fallen = ?<br /><br />3. Fallen = ?<br /><br />4. Fallen = ?<br /><br />5. Fallen = ?<br /><br />6. One is = Rome<br /><br />7. Yet to come = ? </blockquote>What does Scripture say about the five that have fallen? In Jeremiah chapter 50 we find the following prophecy regarding kingdoms and kings that have scattered Israel: <blockquote>Israel is a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon (Jeremiah 50:17). </blockquote>The king of Assyria is the first to have fallen. <blockquote>1. Fallen = Assyria<br /><br />2. Fallen = ?<br /><br />3. Fallen = ?<br /><br />4. Fallen = ?<br /><br />5. Fallen = ?<br /><br />6. One is = Rome<br /><br />7. Yet to come = ? </blockquote>In Daniel we find the remaining four fallen kingdoms. <blockquote>You [Babylon], O king, are the king of kings (Daniel 2:37).<br /><br />The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king. (Daniel 8:20) </blockquote>Therefore, the five kingdoms that have fallen are Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia and Greece. <blockquote>1. Fallen = Assyria<br /><br />2. Fallen = Babylon<br /><br />3. Fallen = Media<br /><br />4. Fallen = Persia<br /><br />5. Fallen = Greece<br /><br />6. One is = Rome<br /><br />7. Yet to come = ? </blockquote><strong style="font-style: italic;">The One “Yet to Come” Kingdom is the Future Fourth Beast Kingdom</strong> <blockquote>The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. (Daniel 7:23-24) </blockquote>The fourth beast kingdom of Daniel’s prophecy has ten kings, and then the Antichrist arises among them and subdues three. Then the Fourth Beast Kingdom with “seven heads and ten horns” is lead by the Antichrist. <blockquote>1. Fallen = Assyria<br /><br />2. Fallen = Babylon<br /><br />3. Fallen = Media<br /><br />4. Fallen = Persia<br /><br />5. Fallen = Greece<br /><br />6. One is = Rome<br /><br />7. Yet to come = Fourth Beast Kingdom with 7 heads and 10 horns </blockquote>Therefore, the Fourth Beast Kingdom is the seventh kingdom of Revelation 17 which “has not yet come.” The Antichrist will be the seventh king since he will lead the seventh kingdom.<br /><br />Let’s read how the seven kingdoms are also seven kings: <blockquote>And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. (Revelation 17:9-10) </blockquote><strong style="font-style: italic;">The Eighth King Becomes the Beast with “7 Heads and 10 Horns”</strong><br /><br />Returning again to the explanation of the mystery of the beast which has the “seven heads and ten horns,” we find there is even more information: <blockquote>And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition (Revelation 17:11).<br /><br />Remember, the False Prophet, “ was, and is not, and yet is;" and "shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition” (Revelation 17:8). </blockquote>So, how is the False Prophet an eighth king who also belongs to the seven? <blockquote>And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. (Revelation 13:11-13) </blockquote>The False Prophet “exercised all the authority of the first beast.” The first beast is the Antichrist and the seventh king. Therefore, when the False Prophet assumes all the authority of the Antichrist, he will become “an eighth king” since he follows the seventh. Also, “[he] belongs to the seven” because he will be one of the seven.<br /><br />The False Prophet is this "beast which has the seven heads and ten horns.”<br /><br /><div align="center"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MYVpvUoP9-Y&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MYVpvUoP9-Y&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="344" width="425"></embed></object></div><br /><h3><a href="http://green-agenda.com/globalgovernance.html">The Green Reich</a></h3>The Green Agenda<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">You don’t need to look in the shadows for the coming world government: it is standing right before your eyes.<span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"> When they bring “order out of chaos,” the United Nations will be transformed and the final global empire will be born.</span> </span>So what events could possibly bring about the conditions that would allow the emergence of a one world government? I will briefly describe what I consider to be the most likely scenario: <blockquote><a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#gogandmagog"><strong>Ezekiel 38 and 39</strong></a> describe an attack on Israel by a coalition of Islamic nations and Russia. It seems that this conflict also involves other parts of the globe. The invading forces are completely destroyed by God’s divine intervention. <strong style="font-weight: normal;">The military power of Russia is annihilated, and Islam, which promised its believers a final ultimate victory, is shattered.</strong><br /><br /><strong>The world economy lies in total ruin.</strong> Significant areas of the planet are devastated. People everywhere are distraught and in despair. <strong>Emergency meetings are held at the United Nations where the blueprints for a new global system are presented and quickly adopted.</strong><br /><br />“We need a new beginning” they will say; “We all must change and renounce our old destructive ways.” <strong>Amazingly everything is already in place.</strong> The <strong>Earth Charter</strong> would be endorsed as a Planetary Constitution and the Security Council replaced with some new 'United Earth Council.' <strong>The world would be divided into 10 administrative regions with each one represented by an Earth Councillor.<br /></strong><br /><strong>The blame for the recent conflict, and many of the world's other problems, would be placed firmly on traditional religions.</strong> They would be swiftly outlawed and replaced by reverence for the earth itself. “We nearly destroyed Gaia!” they would say, “We nearly destroyed our own Mother!” </blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Over the last decade, the United Nations has brazenly been reinventing itself into a global government, striving to obtain the legal framework, financial resources, and grassroots support to implement its policies. </span>As outlined in my preceding articles, it has effectively seized legal and regulatory control in many countries, through <a href="http://green-agenda.com/agenda21.html"><strong>Agenda 21</strong></a>, and developed a Constitution, the <a href="http://green-agenda.com/earthcharter.html"><strong>Earth Charter</strong></a>, for its vision on a transformed global interdependent society.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">In 1992 the UN formed a </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://globalpolicy.igc.org/reform/initiatives/panels/governance/index.htm">Commission on Global Governance</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> charged with devising a system of future global management.</span> Second in charge of the Commission, and lead author of its report, was <a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/#greencross">Maurice Strong</a>, with whom readers will be quite familiar by now. After several years of “extension consultation” with “world leaders, philosophers and futurologists,” the Commission produced a report entitled <strong><a href="http://www.sovereignty.net/p/gov/gganalysis.htm">Our Global Neighbourhood</a></strong><em>...</em><br /><br /><strong>One of the primary thrusts of '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Global_Neighborhood">Our Global Neighbourhood</a>' was the formation of “regional blocs or unions to enhance political, economic and environmental security.”</strong> The report proposed that “Regional Neighbourhoods” be established, modeled closely on the successful example of the European Union.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Recent years have seen a large number of such regional unions emerging, or being strengthened, including the African Union, the Mediterranean Neighbourhood Partnership, the Gulf States Coalition, and the proposed North American Union.<br /></span></strong><br /><strong style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">The report also recommended a gradual reduction in the sovereignty of independent states, arguing strongly in favour of international “courts of accountability,” binding global agreements, and significantly enhancing the legal authority of the UN.</strong></span><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"> </span>Dr Robert Muller, Assistant Secretary-General of the UN and co-founder of UNESCO, <span style="font-weight: bold;">clearly describes this UN plan for a new 'World Union:' </span><blockquote>In my view, after fifty years of service in the United Nations system, I perceive the utmost urgency and absolute necessity for proper<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Earth government</span>... There is no shadow of a doubt that the <span style="font-weight: bold;">present political and economic systems—if systems they are—are no longer appropriate</span> and will lead to the end of life evolution on this planet. <span style="font-weight: bold;">We must therefore absolutely and urgently look for new ways. The less we loose time, the less species' and nature will be destroyed.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Since the United Nations is the only worldwide, universal organization that is presently available, </span>since it had fifty years of valuable experience and many successes, and since it <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">paved the way to proper Earth government</span> (instead of putting it on the defensive, unjustified attacks and criticism, reduction of resources and non-payment of obligatory contributions) <strong>governments should honestly ask themselves if a better way would not be to consider a <span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">second generation United Nations upgraded by a true quantum jump into a proper Earth-preserving and human-well-being and justice-ensuring organization of our planet.</span></strong><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The continental approach to a world union remains an important avenue.</span> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">One could conceive five continental unions: the European Union, an American, an African, an Asian, and an Australian Union. </span>A World Union could be constructed as a super-structure and common political, economic and environmental instrument to achieve these objectives.</strong> - <a href="http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/resources/files/ef_muller.htm">The Earth Charter in Action</a> </blockquote><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">This strategy appears to be based on the</span> </span></strong><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><a href="http://www.modernhistoryproject.org/mhp/ArticleDisplay.php?Article=FinalWarn08-5">Club of Rome's proposal</a></span></strong><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">to divide the earth into 10 administrative regions, which they outlined in their report <em>Mankind at the Turning Point</em>.</span></strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"> </span>You can find their original map <a href="http://green-agenda.com/turningpoint.html">in my previous article</a> on that topic. Interestingly, the UN is currently in the process of reviewing and reforming the organization, with particular emphasis on the Security Council.<br /><br />Several alternative models have been proposed which will make the Council more 'representative and democratic.' One of these, the Italian Model, proposes replacing the current 10 seats held by individual nations with 10 seats representing 'regional unions,' two seats for Europe, three for Asia, etc. You can compare the different proposals <a href="http://www.centerforunreform.org/system/files/Special+Paper+No.+4.pdf">here</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">'Our Global Neighbourhood' </span>concluded with <a href="http://www.sovereignty.net/p/gov/gganalysis.htm">12 key recommendations</a> which I have listed below, and it was these that caused such a furore that the rest of the report barely received a comment. The UN claimed that the report was merely a “visioning exercise” intended to generate discussion and did not represent official UN policy goals. The report was effectively shelved and the Commission was disbanded:<ol><li>Consolidation of all international agencies under the direct oversight of the United Nations. </li><br /><li>Regulation by the United Nations of all transnational organizations and financial institutions. </li><br /><li>Independent source of revenue for the United Nations, and taxes on aircraft and shipping fuels, and licensing the use of the global commons. </li><br /><li>Eliminate the veto power and the permanent member status on the Security Council. </li><br /><li>Authorize a United Nations ready reaction force. </li><br /><li>Require United Nations registration of all arms and the reduction of national armies as a part of a multilateral global security system under the authority of the United Nations. </li><br /><li>Require individual and national compliance with all United Nations Human Rights treaties. </li><br /><li>Activate the <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2009/05/bilderberg-group-plans-next-steps.html">International Criminal Court</a>, make the International Court of Justice compulsory for all nations, and give individuals the right to petition the courts to remedy social injustice. </li><br /><li>Create a new institution to establish economic and environmental security by ensuring sustainable development. </li><br /><li>Create a new international environmental court. </li><br /><li>Adopt a declaration that climate change is an essential global security interest that requires the <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2009/05/bilderberg-group-plans-next-steps.html">creation of a high-level action team to allocate carbon emission</a> based on equal per-capita rights. </li><br /><li>Cancellation of all debt owed by the poorest nations, global poverty reductions, and equitable sharing of global resources as allocated by the United Nations.</li></ol><p>One of Kofi Annan’s first actions when he became Secretary-General of the United Nations was to appoint Maurice Strong as his Senior Policy Advisor. He then tasked Strong with preparing a plan to “reform the institution of the United Nations.” </p>In 2002, Strong produced a 95-page document entitled <em style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.undg.org/archive_docs/1659-Renewing_the_UN__A_Programme_for_Reform_A51_950_-_Renewing_the_UN__A_Progra.pdf">Renewing the United Nations: A Programme for Reform</a>, </em><span style="font-weight: bold;">which was basically a step-by-step program to implement many of the recommendations of 'Our Global Neighbourhood.'</span> <strong style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Many of these reforms have been slowly working their way through UN system. </strong>However, after Maurice Strong was indicted for his involvement in the Iraq Oil-for-Food scandal, he was forced by pressure from the United States to resign from his UN roles.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The reforms Strong designed are being implemented by the UN, </span>but they have not been the transformation that he desired. It is the opinion of this author that the current bureaucratic and unwieldy structure of the United Nations is unlikely to ever deliver the “global interdependent society” that the Earth Charter, and the Green Movement, is fervently calling for. Most members of the general population are not motivated to change by mere words in a charter, and the majority are likely to resent further intrusion into their lives.<br /><br /><strong>True fundamental change is most often born out of crisis.</strong> <span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><strong style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">A common creed among the Green Agenda activists has long been “order out of chaos.”</strong> </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"><strong>They believe that people from all nations will literally beg for their New World Order if it can promise safety and security at a time when people feel under personal imminent threat.</strong></span> </span><br /><br />To once again quote the famous words of David Rockefeller:<blockquote> <span style="font-weight: bold;">“A New World Order is coming… all we need is the right major crisis.” </span></blockquote>And remember, it was the Rockefeller family that donated the land on which the United Nations now stands.<br /><br /><strong>Thus it seems far more likely that the UN itself will be transformed, most likely after some major international crisis which the UN is unable to prevent or respond to adequately.</strong> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">After all, the League of Nations was born after the first truly global crisis, World War 1, and then it was “reformed” into the United Nations following World War 2. </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><strong><br /><br />However there are some serious impediments to the implementation of the final phase of the Global Green Agenda:</strong></span><ol><li>Christianity – True Bible-believing Christians are very likely to resist the imposition of any system of global governance, especially if it based around an earth-centred religion. Christians realise that this earth is temporary and will soon pass away. The Bible specifically warns them that humans will eventually end up “worshipping the creature instead of the Creator.” However the leaders of certain denominations seem to have no problem with the Agenda. Pope Benedict proclaimed, during <em>Live Earth</em> that “environmental degradation is a sin, and global warming is a defilement of the Divine Will.” </li><br /><li>Islam – Moslems are also likely to fiercely resist any New World Order that mandates a form of earth-worship. There are more than one billion followers of Islam, and they show remarkably little enthusiasm for accommodating New Age eco-theology into their doctrines. Hence it is likely that the power of Islam will have to be shattered before the Global Green Agenda can be fulfilled. </li><br /><li>The United States of America – The USA has long been a bastion of individual liberty and freedom. Thank God George Bush defeated Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential election. If Gore had won, I have no doubt we would now be deep in the midst of the Green Reich. President Bush has bravely defended American sovereignty from the clutches of the global elitists. However this could soon change. If Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama is elected President it could well be the end of the American dream. </li><br /><li>Communist China – The totalitarian Communist Party of China is very unlikely to relinquish much of its power to a new transformed United Nations. However, China is currently treading a precarious path. Its economic miracle is in fact a house of cards built on slave labour and artificially managed conditions. China is very vulnerable to an economic collapse, which could lead to a popular revolution or bankrupt the country. </li><br /><li>Authoritarian Russia – Putin has established a tight authoritarian grip on Russia and is unlikely to bow willingly to a resurrected UN. However, Putin could soon be gone and a new Gorbachev could arise. Another possibility is that Russia could also once again lose its position as a global power broker through economic problems or war. </li></ol><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);"><strong>So, to quickly summarise,</strong> the activists behind the <strong>Global Green Agenda</strong> have established regulatory control in many societies through <strong>Agenda 21</strong>, they have written a Constitution for their <span style="font-weight: bold;">transformed global society</span> with the <strong>Earth Charter</strong>, and they have even described, in detail, how their <span style="font-weight: bold;">new global system</span> will operate in '<strong>Our Global Neighbourhood</strong>.'</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);"> </span><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">However, several obstacles must be removed before the final phase of the Agenda, global governance based on a system of earth-worship, can be fulfilled:</span></strong><ul><li><strong>Firstly, a situation must arise where otherwise apathetic, or even hostile, members of society will beg for a new global system.</strong> They must feel so personally threatened that they will eagerly give up their personal liberty for the promise of safety and security. 'Our Global Neighbourhood' said the surrender of liberty is "a principle that will yield only slowly and reluctantly to the imperatives of global environmental cooperation." <strong>In my opinion, global warming is currently being used as a conditioning tool with its fervent call for global unity to save a wounded planet. </strong></li><br /><li><strong>Secondly, certain nations and religious groups are unlikely to accept a new global system</strong> that involves the loss of national sovereignty, the loss of individual liberty, and reverence for the earth as a divine being... </li></ul><p>As David Rockefeller stated, “all we need is the right crisis.” <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Everything is now in place. </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">They are just building momentum and waiting for the storm they know is coming.</span></strong> You don’t need to look in the shadows for the coming world government: it is standing right before your eyes. <strong style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">When they bring “order out of chaos,” the United Nations will be transformed and the final global empire will be born.</strong></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6354143865375585988.post-91394206296414106292010-12-01T06:41:00.006-05:002015-12-16T08:32:23.152-05:00<div id="headline">
<h2 class="subheadlinemain" style="text-align: center;" title="Permanent Link to The Final Battle (Armageddon) and the Final Judgment">
The Final Battle (Armageddon) and the Final Judgment</h2>
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The following is adapted from <i>"Behold He Cometh: the Binding of Satan with a View to Gog and Magog"</i><br />
by <a href="http://www.hudsonvilleprc.org/Ministers/Herman_Hoeksema.htm">Herman Hoeksema (1886 - 1965)</a>, ©1969 <a href="http://spindleworks.com/library/hoeksma/intro.htm">Reformed Free Publishing Association</a>.<br />
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<span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);">Revelation Chapter 20</span></h4>
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And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in His hand. And He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#dead">the rest of the dead</a> lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (Revelation 20:1-5)<br />
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Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (Revelation 20:6-10)<br />
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<h4>
<span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);">The Binding of Satan</span></h4>
John writes: "I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in His hand. And He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed a little season."<br />
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<b>It is very evident that in these words John, the Seer of Patmos, does not describe what he saw happening historically but what he beholds in a vision. Therefore, a strictly literal interpretation of the text is not in harmony with the nature of the passage nor is it possible.</b> We do not consider a literal interpretation when John tells us: "I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."<br />
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In Revelation 13:1, it is understood without difficulty that John saw all this in a vision. The same is true of the entire passage of the book of Revelation that we are now discussing. It is not a contradiction but a correct interpretation of Scripture when we say that John was shown a vision of these things. <b>He did not actually see these things as they actually happened, but he saw what was represented to him in a vision. </b>In other words, he did not actually see an angel come down with a great chain in His hand and the key of the bottomless pit, and he did not actually see that the devil was bound and shut up in the bottomless pit.<br />
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<b>Neither must a vision be interpreted as if it were a mere and direct foretelling of events as they shall actually happen.</b> It would not be interpreting but doing violence to Scripture, and also to this particular passage of Scripture, if we should paraphrase these verses in the following fashion: "Then shall an angel come down from heaven with the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in His hand. And He shall lay hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and shall bind him a thousand years." Such a paraphrasing of the text completely disregards the fact that the passage speaks of a vision.<br />
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<b>The question is: "What is the central idea of the vision?</b> What fact does John here behold as being realized before his eyes?" <b>And the answer to this question is readily given: the devil is bound by a divine decree so that he is prevented from accomplishing his purpose.</b> <b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">The following may be regarded as belonging to the form of the vision only: the angel coming down from God to carry out this decree, the key of the bottomless pit, the great chain, and the shutting and the sealing of the pit.</span></b> <b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);">These things all serve to emphasize the fact that Satan is bound by the divine decree securely and effectively so that during the period of his confinement he cannot carry out his evil purposes.</span></b><br />
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To correctly interpret this widely discussed part of the book of Revelation, it is extremely important that we conceive of it in its true light:<span style="font-weight: bold;"> it is merely another apocalyptic picture of some phase of the "day of the Lord."</span> Any attempt to carry the time element into this prophesy and to interpret it as if the events foretold here follow in time upon those referred to in chapter 19, verses 11-21, must fail.<br />
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<span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);">The Abyss, the Bottomless Pit</span></h4>
<b>The bottomless pit is the proper temporary abode of the devil and his angels </b>(cf. 11 Peter 2:4). The key and the chain are not to be allegorized; in the picture, they are just that, and nothing else: they represent the power of the Mighty Angel to open and shut the pit and to bind Satan. <br />
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"I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." (Revelation 1:18)</blockquote>
Before we go further, we not only must ask the question, but also very definitely answer it. And the question is: <b>"Is this imprisonment of Satan, this secure confinement of the devil, absolute and complete? <span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">Is he restrained in all his activity, or is he restrained relative and in part so that the restraint placed upon him limits him in part (only in a certain direction) and dooms him to partial inactivity only?"</span></b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);"></span><br />
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This question is answered in the text. <b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 0 , 0);">The text replies to this question and says, without a doubt, that the restraint is partial and with a view to a certain sphere of action:</span></b> <br />
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<li>The purpose of the binding of Satan is designated in verse 3: "that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled."</li>
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<li>In verse 8, we are informed still more definitely: he "shall be loosed a little season," and "shall go out to deceive the nations, which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea."</li>
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<span style="color: rgb(204 , 153 , 51);"><b>If we take these two passages in connection with each other, it may be regarded as established that:</b> </span><br />
<ul>
<li>The binding of Satan is limited to certain nations, which are called Gog and Magog.</li>
<li>This confinement prevents him from deceiving these nations till the thousand years should be fulfilled.</li>
<li>The deception, which he is prevented from realizing by this imprisonment (or the restraint that is put upon him), is what would otherwise cause these nations to gather for battle against the camp of the saints and the beloved city.</li>
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<span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);">The Meaning of Numbers in the Book of Revelation</span></h4>
<b>The period of Satan’s restraint is designated as "a thousand years."</b> Again, it would be very arbitrary to interpret this in its literal sense. In the first place, all Scripture attaches a symbolical significance to numbers as it also does to colors and dimensions. <b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">Numbers such as one, three, four, six, seven, ten and twelve, and their combinations and products, represent certain realities of the kingdom of God.</span></b><br />
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The earthly relations are also, in their numbers, pictures of heavenly and spiritual realities of God’s covenant. For example, the truth of this is evident as soon as we call to mind that in our weekly period of time there is a combination of six plus one, labor and rest, time and the eternal Sabbath, the completion of the kingdom of God. Or that seven in Scripture (and especially in the book of Revelation) evidently occurs as the combination of three and four, the Triune God and the world, the perfection of God’s covenant.<br />
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Furthermore, the number twelve occurs as the product of three and four, which is evidently the number of the elect. In Scripture, we read of the 12 tribes, 12 apostles, 12 times 12,000 servants of God who are sealed, and 12 plus 12 elders around the throne of God and of the Lamb. These numbers abound in Scripture and, more emphatically, abound in their symbolical significance in the book of Revelation.<br />
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<b>The whole book of Revelation is based on the scheme of the number seven.</b> There are seven seals to the book, which is opened by the Lamb. The seventh seal itself dissolves into seven trumpets, and the seventh trumpet reveals itself as the seven vials. There are seven golden candlesticks just as the seven churches of Asia represent the complete picture of the Church in the world.<br />
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<b>This is equally true of the number ten and its products, especially in the thousands.</b> The days of tribulation for the church of Smyrna are ten. The number of the servants of God who are sealed is 10 times 10 times 10, multiplied by 144 (which is the product of 12 times 12). The number of those who appear on Mt. Zion with the Lamb, who have His Father’s name written on their foreheads, is 1000 times 144 (cf. Revelation chapter 14). The anti-Christian beast appears with 10 horns. The length and breadth and height of the New Jerusalem are 12 times 1000 furlongs.<br />
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<b>The number ten itself suggests completeness, a fulness of measure.</b> It is a round number. All the instances in Scripture where this number occurs denote the same idea. There are 10 plagues upon Egypt, indicating the fulness of the wrath of God upon Pharaoh and his people. There are 10 commandments, expressing the fulness of God’s ethical will for men. There are 144,000 people of God according to the election of grace; i.e., 10 times 10 times 10 times 144. There are 10 virgins, 10 talents, and 10 days of tribulation for the church of Smyrna. <b>In all these instances, the number ten evidently expresses the idea of fulness or completeness.</b><br />
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<b>The number ten represents the idea of completeness as determined by the will and counsel of God. <span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">The "thousand years" in Scripture is the number ten to the third power. It does not speak of days or even of hours, but of years; therefore, it suggests the idea of a long period.</span></b> <br />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="castout"></a><span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);"><span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);"><b>And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon,</b> having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. <b>And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron:</b> <b>and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.</b> And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. <b>And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon;</b> and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. <b>And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world:</b> he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: <b>for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night</b>... Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! <b>for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.</b> ― Revelation 12:3-10,12<br /><br />God spared not the angels that sinned, <b>but cast them down to hell</b>, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. ― 2 Peter 2:4<br /><br />And He said unto them, “<b>I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven</b>.” - Luke 10:18<br /><br />And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. <b>And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit</b>, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till <b>the thousand years </b>should be fulfilled: <b>and after that he must be loosed a little season</b>. ― Revelation 20:1-3<br /><br />And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ <b>a thousand years</b>. ― Revelation 20:4<br /><br />But </span><a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#dead">the rest of the dead</a></span> <span style="color: rgb(153 , 0 , 0);">lived not again until <b>the thousand years </b>were finished. This is the first resurrection. ― Revelation 20:5<br /><br />Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him <b>a thousand years</b>. ― Revelation 20:6<br /><br /><b>And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison</b>, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. ― Revelation 20:7-8<br /><br />And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth... And when they shall have finished their testimony, <b>the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit </b>shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. ― Revelation 11:3,7<br /><br />For <b>a thousand years</b> in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. ― Psalms 90:4<br /><br />But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as <b>a thousand years</b>, and <b>a thousand years </b>as one day. ― 2 Peter 3:8</span><br />
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<span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);">The Time Period of Satan Being Bound in the Abyss: the "Thousand Years" of Revelation</span></h4>
<span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);"><b>On all these grounds, we interpret the text of "the thousand years" or "a thousand years" as indicating a long period of time, fully determined by the will and counsel of God, a period that must be fulfilled before the devil can be permitted to deceive the nations, which live on the four <span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">quarters</span> of the earth.</b> </span><br />
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This interpretation is based on the text: it is fully justified by the entire character of the book of Revelation, and it is also in harmony with the line of Scripture in general. Of all this, there can be no doubt. Besides, this explanation is capable of application to history itself and to actually existing conditions in the world of today.<br />
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In connection with the apocalyptic character of the book of Revelation, in general, and in the light of all these facts, we are certainly justified in saying that it is arbitrary to insist that the "thousand years" of Revelation chapter 20 must be understood in the literal sense of the word.<br />
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<b>The period of "a thousand years" is to be applied to this entire dispensation until the time shortly before the Second Coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven.</b> The fact that the vision in the passage that we are now discussing follows the vision of the Second Coming of Christ mentioned in chapter 19 cannot be adduced as an objection against this view. <b>This is because of the simple reason that the order of the book of Revelation is not chronological, but rather idealogical. <span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">Repeatedly, the book follows the development of the world to its very end from a certain point of view in order, and it then resumes the drawing of the same picture from a different viewpoint</span></b> (as for instance in chapters 6:12-16; 11:15-19; 14:17-20; 16:17-21, 18; 19:11-21).<br />
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<b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 0 , 0);">This reign of Christ with respect to the world is such that, almost until the very end, the devil shall be bound with respect to Gog and Magog so that he cannot deceive these nations and gather them for battle against the camp of the saints, the Church, the body of Christ.</span> <span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">At the time near the end of this dispensation, the devil shall be "loosed a little season" to gather the nations to battle against the Church before Christ returns in the clouds of heaven.</span></b><br />
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And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire and of jacinth and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold and silve, and brass and ston, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts (Revelation 9:13-21).<br />
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<span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);">Satan Loosed from the Bottomless Pit in Order to Deceive the Nations</span></h4>
<b>"When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.</b> And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven and destroyed them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." (Revelation 20:7-10)<br />
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Presented here in this separate vision is what partly has been pictured in a different setting in preceding chapters. <b>We may gather from Revelation 16:12-16 that this deception by the devil of the nations (which live on the four quarters of the earth) to gather them together for battle will be realized in the period of the sixth vial.</b> This is also in harmony with the statement in Revelation 20:3: "he must be loosed a little season."<br />
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<b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">The ultimate result of the devil’s deception upon the heathen nations is that they shall gather for battle against the very center of the anti-Christian kingdom.</span></b> If we combine these different elements, which undoubtedly have bearing upon the same historic event of the future, we may come to the following conception: <br />
<ul>
<li>In the nominally Christian world, the final consummation of the anti-Christian world power shall ultimately be realized. </li>
<li>This anti-Christian world power is the power of the beast and the false prophet.</li>
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<span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);">The <a href="http://www.cogwriter.com/laodiceachurch.htm">Nominally Christian World</a> Verses the Camp of the Saints</span></h4>
The anti-Christian world power to come will be an empire that represents the highest ambitions of man, and these ambitions shall be realized to the utmost. <b>From a purely humanistic viewpoint, the kingdom of antichrist will be a glorious kingdom, and thoroughly humanistic it will surely be—religiously, scientifically, socially, industrially and politically. However, it will be anti-God, anti-Christ, and anti-Church.</b> The saints shall refuse to receive the mark of the beast and they shall have no place in this anti-Christian kingdom.<br />
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<b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);">From the passage in Revelation chapter 17, we learn that the first result of the deceptive influence of the devil upon the heathen nations, Gog and Magog, is that they shall join into one great world power with the central anti-Christian kingdom.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">For "one hour," for "a little season," the world power shall realize its greatest ambition and a strictly universal empire shall be established, of which also the heathen but civilized nations form an integral part. </span><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">However, this cannot last, for ultimately the ten kings shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire (Revelation 17:16).</span></b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);"></span><br />
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<b>Gog and Magog are heathen nations in distinction from nominal Christendom.</b> The nations of Gog and Magog, which are on the four quarters of the earth, I would identify as the people (as a whole) who in the new dispensation never played a part in the history of the world, but which in our very day are waking up. I refer to the overwhelmingly strong non-Christian world: the nations of China and Japan, the great and strong multitudes in India; the followers of Confucius and Buddha and of Islam and Brahmanism; and the millions of Africa and of the islands of the sea.<br />
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<b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">The Christian nations are the historical powers, and Gog and Magog are hitherto apparently asleep.</span> <span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">The prince of this world is restrained from employing these forces against the Church, the beloved city, the camp of the saints, the new Israel of God.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: rgb(153 , 102 , 51);">The devil is bound, as we said, in regard to the nations of Gog and Magog.</span></b> We may note here that the dragon, the devil upon which the angel lays hold, is described in all his evil powers. He represents the prince of this world, the spiritual power behind all the anti-Christian forces in opposition to Christ and His Church (cf. Revelation 12:3,4). Moreover, he is described here in all his evil purposes and power of deceit. He is the old serpent, referring, of course, to the temptation in paradise. He is called the devil; that is, the liar and deceiver, mudslinger, accuser of the brethren. <b>And he is described, or named, as Satan, the opponent, the adversary of Christ, and the adversary to the cause of God in the world.</b><br />
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<b>In the vision, the angel overpowers the devil and securely binds him with the chain, casts him into the bottomless pit, locks the pit, and sets a seal upon him.</b> The angel seals the pit against all violation. <b>The devil, therefore, is very securely bound, and he is bound with respect to these heathen nations as described in the passage that we are now discussing.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">The passage teaches that the devil is bound in such a way that he cannot marshal the heathen nations of Gog and Magog to battle against the Church, the beloved city, or, if you please, against the Christian nations.</span></b> <b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 0 , 0);">The devil may in this very period of his restraint do many things, both among the nominally Christian nations and among the people who are called Gog and Magog: he may go about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, as he actually does.</span></b> <b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">However, until near the end of this dispensation, he is prevented from deceiving the heathen nations so as to gather them to battle against the camp of the saints, the Church, the elect of God.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">We can easily surmise what it would mean if these heathen nations were permitted to unite and marshal their tremendous forces against the nominally Christian nations:</span><span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);"> the Church would have no place in the world, no room for development.</span> <span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">However, the devil is bound with respect to them until near the end of this dispensation.</span></b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);"></span><br />
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Influences shall issue forth from the anti-Christian kingdom upon the heathen nations that live on the four quarters of the earth. <b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">Under the influence of the so-called mission work of the anti-Christian unclean spirits, the heathen nations indeed shall be awakened out of their prolonged slumber, becoming conscious of their power and quickly adopting the anti-Christian civilization.</span></b><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="heathen"></a><br />
<h4>
<span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);">The Waking Up of the Heathen Nations, Gog and Magog</span></h4>
<b>The deception of the devil must work out till the bitter end. <span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);">Shortly before the end of this world, this final deception of the nations shall take place.</span></b> <b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 0 , 0);">The heathen nations shall be civilized and they shall become conscious of their power, and they shall, for a time, join forces with the beast and the false prophet to form one great world empire.</span></b> <b>Nevertheless, they shall remain pagan in every respect, and though they give their power to the beast for "one hour," for "a little season," this cannot possibly last.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">The heathen nations and the anti-Christian civilization will ultimately gather as separate forces for the last war, which will be a world war in the strictest sense of the word.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">Looking upon the nominally Christian world, which in fact will be anti-Christian, the heathen nations shall do as the nations of the old dispensation did with respect to Jerusalem; that is, they shall say: "Let us go up to Jerusalem; let Zion be defiled; let our eye look upon Zion!"</span></b> This shall be their guilt: for their purpose shall be to fight against the camp of the saints and the beloved city, against God and His Christ and His Church. However, this also will be their deception since the nominally Christian world in fact will be anti-Christian, and they will be fighting against it rather than the camp of the saints.<br />
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In the old dispensation, God used the nations in their hatred against the Holy City to chasten and destroy a Jerusalem that had actually become Sodom. <b>And again the Lord will use the hostile spirit of the heathen nations to destroy the anti-Christian power and eat the flesh of the great whore.</b> <span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);"><b>However, they will never touch the camp of the saints: the people of God shall look for the coming redemption, which shall then be very near. <span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);">It will be upon this final scene of confusion and iniquity that the Lord will appear in judgment to destroy His enemies and to give His saints the victory forever.</span></b></span><br />
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If we thus conceive of the end of Gog and Magog, it is needless to conclude that we are living in significant times. A humanistic modernism claims the right and title to the name of Christianity, and it is a religion without the Christ of the Scriptures. Humanistic, modernistic Christianity is without the incarnation of the Son of God, without the cross, without the resurrection. It is a religion of this world, based on human imagination rather than on the Word of God in the Scriptures.<br />
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In the meantime, the power of men develops with tremendous strides in every sphere of life. And the influence of this modern spirit is felt far outside of the Christian world. Modernism has its missionaries, and the nations on the four quarters of the earth are waking up. The millions upon millions in China and Japan clamor for their own place in the midst of the nations of the world.<br />
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<h4>
<span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);">The Heathen Nations, Gog and Magog, Appear Upon the Scene Last</span></h4>
In Revelation chapter 16 we read this: "And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon."<br />
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<b>In this passage, the reference is evidently to the same going forth of the devil to the nations, the kings of the whole world that live on the four quarters of the earth, to deceive them and gather them for battle.</b> Also we learn that this deception of the nations through the devil shall proceed immediately from the anti-Christian kingdom. Unclean spirits shall proceed from the center of the anti-Christian world, and they shall have their influence upon the nations that live on the four quarters of the earth.<br />
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It does not matter now what these unclean spirits will present since we know that they certainly signify a three-fold influence of the anti-Christian civilization. <span style="color: rgb(153 , 102 , 51); font-weight: bold;">The final result of this anti-Christian influence will be that the heathen nations will unite their forces for war against the nominally Christian world, the last war that shall ever be fought on earth (the battle of Armageddon)</span><span style="color: rgb(153 , 102 , 51);"><b style="color: #996633; font-weight: bold;">.</b></span><br />
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In Revelation chapter 17:12-17, we find a similar presentation of the same period of history. <b>There mention is made of ten kings who as yet have received no kingdom, but shall receive power as kings one hour with the beast: their dominion shall last but "one hour" with the beast; that is, "a little season."</b> This is also supported by the text in Revelation chapter 20: these ten kings are again the same as the power of Gog and Magog. This is also supported in the kings of the east mentioned in Revelation 16: the kings of the whole world.<br />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="gogandmagog"></a>In chapter 19, verse 17, we have the picture of the destruction of all nations, yet here in chapter 20 we still meet with those very nations that live on the four quarters of the earth. <b>This can be understood only if we take the stand that in Revelation 20:1-10 we are presented with a new aspect of the same "day of the Lord," other phases of which have been pictured before.</b><br />
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This particular vision presents to us the aspect of the judgment upon Gog and Magog and the final judgment of the dragon, together with an explanation of the fact that these heathen nations appear upon the scene last. Hence, we may not read as if John had written, "And after this shall the devil be bound a thousand years, etc.," as all the pre-millennialists need to do. We must leave the text as it stands: "And I saw an angel come down from heaven." Evidently John beholds the angel in some human, physical form. This angel has "the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in His hand."<br />
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In Ezekiel 38:2 ff. and Ezekiel 39:1-16, we read that Gog is the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, of the land of Magog. They constitute a vast horde that descend upon Israel from the north, even from the limit of the horizon,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> to make a final onslaught on the people of God. However, hailstones, fire and brimstone from heaven cause their utter destruction.</span> In the passage of Revelation that we are now discussing, these same hordes are <span style="font-weight: bold;">simply called <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#gogandmagog">Gog and Magog</a></span>; and now they are described as living on the four quarters of the earth and as <span style="font-weight: bold;">coming on the camp of saints from every direction</span>.<br />
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<b>In harmony with all Scripture, Israel here is to be taken in the New Testament sense of the word. The vision of the restored Israel, <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#gogandmagog">of which Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39 speak</a>, has been realized in the Church of the new dispensation. It is "the camp of the saints." It is "the beloved city." <span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">It is Christianity in its widest sense as it exists and develops in the new dispensation and as it corresponds to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament.</span></b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);"> <b>It is represented in the text as being situated in the center of the earth.</b></span><b> Around it, on the four quarters of the earth, outside of the pale of history, are nations that remain pagan. <span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);">The elect also are gathered from these pagan nations into the Church; however, as nations they remain distinctly heathen.</span></b><br />
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<h4>
<span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);">The Glorified Saints: the Entire Church Triumphant in Heaven</span></h4>
The anti-Christian power will manifest itself in its ultimate realization and consummation. Essentially, the power of antichrist, the beast, and his image are always in the world. Yet always the believers have the testimony of Jesus and the Word of God; always they refuse to worship the beast and his image, and they refuse to receive his sign in their right hand or in their forehead.<br />
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It is a common idea in Scripture that the saints who overcome and endure unto the end shall reign with the Lord in glory. "And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father" (Revelation 2:26-27). And again: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne" (Revelation 3:21).<br />
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The blessed and glorified saints reign with Christ. On earth, they endured suffering for Christ’s sake; on earth it was given them of grace to have the testimony of Jesus and the Word of God in their hearts and in their mouths. Therefore, also it was given them in the cause of Christ to suffer with Him (cf. Philemon 1:29), for they had this testimony in the midst of an anti-Christian world.<br />
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Concerning this reign with Christ, it is evident that centrally and essentially it is a reign of the exalted Lord to whom is given all power in heaven and on earth and to whom is given a name that is above all names. <b>The term "reigning saints" means that the entire Church triumphant is in heaven: they reign and judge the world with Christ.</b> This reign commenced in heaven with the exaltation of their Lord at the right hand of God. Those "dead in Christ" now are in glory with Him and are free from all suffering and persecution.<br />
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<b>The saints who shall live in the last days before Christ returns will suffer just as those "dead in Christ" suffered before going to heaven to reign with Him.</b> Although the saints must suffer in the cause of Christ while they are still in this world; nevertheless, they have the victory, for they overcome through the blood of the Lamb, and they judge the world by faith in Christ.<br />
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<span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);">God's People Must Not Be Deceived: They Must Keep the Testimony of Jesus</span></h4>
The glorified saints participate in Christ's glorious reign in heaven. <b>When Christ returns to destroy His enemy, the devil, the saints shall be completely delivered from all the power of the enemy and shall be with the Lord forever and ever.</b> And the saints shall be given to know Christ’s works with regard to the final realization of the kingdom of God, even as He knows the Father’s counsel and is found worthy to open the book with its seven seals. The glorified saints shall know perfectly the mind of Christ, and He shall have no secrets from them. They shall concur in His judgments of the world, and thus they shall partake in them. And they shall rejoice in the full realization of His perfect victory.<br />
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<b>We do not mean to speak of the day and the hour when Christ shall come, but we do emphasize that God's people must not be deceived.<span style="color: rgb(204 , 0 , 0);"> They must know the times, and they must know what the New Israel of God ought to do at all times and seasons.</span></b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 0 , 0);"> </span>They must, above all, watch and keep the testimony of Jesus and the Word of God, and they must steadfastly refuse to worship the beast and the image of the beast: blessed is he that "watcheth and keepeth his garments."<br />
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And let us be of good cheer for our King is given us of Israel's God: He has all power in heaven and on earth; He has a name above all names. <b>The victory, therefore, is the Lord's, and the victory is ours through Him: "In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world!"</b><br />
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We must add a few words yet about the rest of this section. In verse 9, we read about the judgment of the nations: "And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them."<br />
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In this verse, the prophecy contained in this section of Revelation changes again from direct prediction, as we had it in the preceding verse, into the form of the vision. In the vision, John now beholds the nations marching up from the ends of the earth against "the beloved city." <b>"The camp of the saints" and "the beloved city" are not to be allegorized: they are certainly Jerusalem and the people of God encamped round about it.</b> <b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">Only, we must remember that this is true only of the vision, and that also this part may not be read as if it were history literally foretold.</span></b><br />
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There are those who apply this prophecy in such a way that they find here a prediction,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> and the prediction is that Jerusalem (the earthly capital of earthly Canaan) shall be rebuilt. </span>However, this violates all the rules of interpretation. It is an error to interpret Scripture in such a way. <b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">Christ and His resurrected and glorified saints in their spiritual bodies shall not live and reign on earth literally for "a thousand years:" there will be no "millennium" where the heathen nations of Gog and Magog shall actually gather for battle against these glorified saints and their Lord.</span></b><br />
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This interpretation errs because:<br />
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<ol>
<li>It violates the apocalyptic character of the whole book of Revelation, in general, and of this passage, in particular; and it reads as if it were literal history, although it only may be interpreted as a vision. </li>
<li>In the whole New Testament, Jerusalem as it exists after Christ's exaltation is the Church, the heavenly Jerusalem (cf. Galatians 4:26; Hebrews 11:16; Hebrews 12:22). And this is also true in particular of the book of Revelation (cf. 3:12; 21:22). It is quite in accord with this to explain "the beloved city" in this passage as representing the same Jerusalem.</li>
<li>"The first resurrection" is not the bodily resurrection: it is the glorification of the saints with Christ after physical death (cf. my interpretation of verses 4 and 5). </li>
<li>It is absurd to present the glorified saints in their incorruptible and spiritual bodies with their glorified Lord living in an earthly, material city in a corruptible and corrupt world and being actually attacked by earthly enemies with material weapons.</li>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="judgment"></a><br />
<h4>
<span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);">The Final Judgment</span></h4>
<b>In Revelation 20:9, the camp of the saints and the beloved city certainly represent the Church and the people of God. <span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">And they represent the entire Church in the whole earth and even in heaven.</span></b> In the first place, the Church, of course, is centrally in heaven in Christ their Lord, and through faith the Church reigns with Him. The saints are actually in heaven as far as the Church triumphant, or the Church glorified, is concerned. In the second place, they are, notwithstanding their heavenly character, in part still in this world and are represented by the Church visible on earth. And, thirdly, in their widest representation in the world, they are known as Christendom, that is, nominal Christianity.<br />
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<b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);">It is especially Gog and Magog that look upon all Christendom, no matter how apostate, as the beloved city, even as the heathen nations in the old dispensation considered earthly Jerusalem to be the city of God no matter how apostate and wicked it had become.</span></b> <span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);"><b>The nations of Gog and Magog, in compassing about and coming to battle against Christendom in its widest sense, certainly intend to destroy "the beloved city," the cause of Christ, and to make paganism supreme in the world. In this, they reveal their wickedness and become ripe for the judgment.</b></span> <b>God nevertheless uses them to inflict His judgments upon the anti-Christian world (cf. Isaiah 10:5, ff.).</b><br />
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There we read:<br />
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"O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?"<br />
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"Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasurers, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire."<br />
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<b>It is evident and clearly stated in the text that fire from God out of heaven destroys them.</b> We must also in this connection confer chapter 16, verse 21. There we read: "And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great." Moreover, we can refer also to chapter 19, verse 21: <b>"And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceedeth out of His mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh."</b><br />
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<b>All these passages refer to the same end, although the presentation differs.</b> In Revelation 16:21, it is the great hail that destroys them. In Revelation 19:21, it is the sword that proceeds out of the mouth of Christ that slays them. And in Revelation 20:9, it is fire from God out of heaven that destroys them.<br />
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<b>The idea is that all the wicked shall be killed in that last day in order to pass through the resurrection of damnation and to appear before the judgment seat of God in Christ: </b><br />
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<b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">"It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);">"God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment" (2 Peter 2:4). </span></b><br />
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<b>Finally, in verse 10 of Revelation chapter 20, we have the judgment of Satan recorded:</b> "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." <br />
<ol>
<li>We may note here, in the first place, that by deceiving the nations, which live on the four quarters of the earth, Satan performs his last act of wicked deception and rebellion against the Most High, and thereby fills the measure of iniquity, thus becoming ripe for judgment. </li>
<li>In the second place, we must also note that Satan, like the beast and the false prophet, is presented here as being unworthy even of any public and formal judgment. He is immediately cast into the lake of fire and brimstone; that is, into hell (cf. 19:20). This is not true of his fellow devils, but of Satan himself, as the prince of the devils, alone, even as it is not true of the followers and worshippers of the beast and his image, but of the beast and the false prophet only. </li>
<li>In the third place, we may also note that this punishment consists in continuous torment day and night, and that too, without end, forever and ever. </li>
</ol>
Those who teach that the agents of darkness will ultimately be annihilated, and those who deny eternal punishment, may base their view on falsely conceived humane considerations, but Scripture everywhere contradicts this doctrine. <b>The justice of divine retribution rendered to the wicked cannot be gauged by man's finite existence, but must be viewed in the light of the terrible nature of sin as committed against the infinite majesty of the ever blessed and glorious God.</b> In this light, we can somewhat understand that Satan and all his subjects shall be tormented night and day forever and ever.<br />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="resurrection"></a><span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);"></span><br />
<h4>
<span style="color: rgb(153 , 51 , 153);">The Resurrection of the Dead</span></h4>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Scripture speaks of the resurrection of the dead in more than one sense: for the godly dead, it refers to regeneration; for the ungodly dead, it refers to damnation.</span><br />
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<span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153); font-family: "arial";"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">"It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153); font-family: "arial";"><b style="font-weight: normal;">"And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust" (Acts 24:15).</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: rgb(204 , 51 , 204);">"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25). </span></div>
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<span style="color: rgb(255 , 102 , 102);">"Wherefore he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" (Ephesians 5:14).</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">The "first resurrection" is described in Revelation 20:4-5:</span><b></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: </span><span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God</span></b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">,</span> <b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands;</span></b> <b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.</span></b> <b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);">But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.</span></b> <b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">This is the first resurrection."</span></b></blockquote>
<b></b> <b>The First Resurrection is Only for the Righteous: It is the Resurrection of the Godly Dead Unto Glory Immediately After Physical Death</b> <br />
<blockquote>
The expression "the first resurrection" does not refer to a separate group of saints who are raised first in distinction from the raising of the wicked "a thousand years" later as a "second resurrection" (note that the term "second resurrection" is not in Scripture). <b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">Rather, it refers to a state or degree in the overall resurrection of the dead.</span></b><br />
<b>As we can see in Revelation 20:5, the first resurrection refers to the state of the saints in glory immediately after physical death:<span style="color: rgb(153 , 102 , 51);"> they are delivered from battle and from the persecution and suffering inflicted on them by the anti-Christian forces that are always in the world throughout this dispensation.</span></b><br />
<br />
The saints "dead in Christ" reign with Him: "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). John tells us: "I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them." <b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">This part of the picture evidently represents a people who reign, a royal people, for such is the meaning of their sitting on thrones, as well as of the statement that judgment was given unto them.</span></b><br />
<br />
To judge is a function of royalty: it implies authority to rule. "Who are these royal people?" The text does not directly answer this question: it does not inform us who they are, nor where we must look for their thrones. However, in the latter part of verse 4, John plainly describes these same people as he continues: "And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."<br />
<br />
<b>It is self-evident that "the thousand years" refer to the same period as that in which the devil is bound with respect to Gog and Magog.</b> <span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);"><b><span style="color: rgb(153 , 102 , 51);">In this entire "thousand year" period, these people reign with Christ whether they are with Him in heaven or are still here on earth.</span> Upon physical death, they are the saints in glory:<span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);"> "the souls of them that were beheaded" permits no other interpretation.</span></b></span><br />
<br />
In answer to the question, "What is the first resurrection," we cannot introduce our own preconceived notion. We are bound to the text, and we are constrained to say: <b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 0 , 0);">The first resurrection applies only to the righteous upon death:</span> <span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">it is the reign of the souls on their thrones in heaven; that is, the souls of the elect of God.</span></b> <b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 153 , 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);">The text plainly says, "this is the first resurrection," and the pronoun "this" refers back to the statement in verse 4 concerning the souls that reign with Christ.</span></span></b></blockquote>
<b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 153 , 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);"></span></span></b> <br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="dead"></a><b>The Resurrection of "the Rest of the Dead" is the Resurrection of the Ungodly Dead Unto Eternal Damnation</b><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);"><b>"God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment" (2 Peter 2:4).</b></span><br />
<br />
The resurrection of "the rest of the dead" in Revelation 20:5 is the raising of the ungodly dead on "the last day" for judgment and eternal damnation.<br />
<br />
"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. <b><span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);"><span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);">But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.</span> </span></b>This is the first resurrection." (Revelation 20:4-5)<br />
<br />
<span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);"><b>"Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years."</b></span><b></b> (Revelation 20:6) <br />
<b>The millennialist cannot adduce the first part of verse 5:</b> <span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);"><b>"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished."</b></span> <b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);">Certainly, "the rest of the dead" are the ungodly dead.</span></b> And it may be frankly admitted that the form of the expression would almost invite us to complete it as follows, "then they also shall live again;" however, we must remember that the text does not say this and that we have no authority to add to Scripture.<br />
<br />
Besides, even the millennialist would not venture to finish the expression in that fashion. <b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);">Although the wicked also shall have a certain rising from their graves and receive their bodies again, it cannot be said of them that they shall "live" again.</span> <span style="color: rgb(51 , 153 , 153);">Their resurrection will be a resurrection to eternal perdition, and Scripture clearly teaches that this going forth out of the grave unto perdition will take place at the same time, as in one hour, with the resurrection of the righteous unto eternal glory (John 5:29).</span></b><br />
<br />
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, 'The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself; and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.'" (John 5:25-29)<br />
<span style="color: rgb(51 , 51 , 255);"><b>So, then, the text in Revelation 20:5 can only mean that while the souls of the righteous were seen as living in glory and in power,</b> </span><b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);">the rest of the dead had no place in this picture at all, and they did not live again. And when they do appear once more, it will be to be sent into perdition, to be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death.</span></b></blockquote>
<b><span style="color: rgb(204 , 102 , 0);"></span></b><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">To summarize:</span> <br />
<ul>
<li>The <span style="font-weight: bold;">first death</span> is physical death, the death of the physical body, which we all shall experience.</li>
<li>The <span style="font-weight: bold;">resurrection of the dead</span> refers to everyone, for we all shall die the physical death; however, only the righteous shall be raised to reign with Christ in their gloried bodies. Therefore, only the godly dead shall experience the "first resurrection." The "rest of the dead," the ungodly dead, shall be raised on "the last day" for judgment and eternal damnation.</li>
<li>The <span style="font-weight: bold;">second death</span> is the state of perdition of body and soul in hell. The "rest of the dead" shall be raised for judgment on the "last day," and they shall be sentenced to the second death along with Satan. Only the ungodly dead shall experience the second death.</li>
</ul>
First death and second death does not refer to different groups of dead people. The first death is the death of the physical body, which we all will experience. The second death refers to the death of the spiritual body, the ultimate state of death in hell (Revelation 20:14), which only the ungodly dead will experience when they, "the rest of the dead," are raised on "the last day" for judgment and eternal damnation.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conclusion</span><br />
<br />
In connection with the first ten verses of Revelation chapter 20, we find that the position of those who believe that these verses indicate a literal "thousand year" reign of Christ on earth is untenable for the following reasons: <br />
<ul>
<li>The temporal, historical view of the book of Revelation is untenable. </li>
<li>Even a complete binding of Satan would not do away with sin, which is in the hearts of men. </li>
<li>Revelation chapter 20 is the only place in Scripture where such a "millennium" would be taught while other passages contradict it. </li>
<li>The millennium theory is impossible because it is plainly not taught even here in Revelation chapter 20. </li>
</ul>
Furthermore, we find that: <br />
<ul>
<li>The first resurrection refers only to the reign of the saints with Christ after their physical death.</li>
<li>Satan’s binding is symbolic of the partial restraint placed upon him with regard to the heathen nations, Gog and Magog. </li>
<li>The "loosing" of Satan refers to the fact that he will be allowed to stir up the heathen nations against the Church of Christ shortly before the time of the end. </li>
</ul>
Behold, He cometh, He, the mighty Lord! And His Second Advent shall undoubtedly be the culmination of all wonders. Let us be prepared. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection; blessed are those servants whom their Lord shall find watching when He cometh.<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6354143865375585988.post-28940110937229034722010-12-01T05:18:00.019-05:002015-12-08T13:17:01.433-05:00<div id="headline">
<h2 class="subheadlinemain" style="text-align: center;" title="Permanent Link to What Shall Be the Signs of Christ's Return?">
What Shall Be the Signs of Christ's Return?</h2>
<a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/search/label/World%20War%20III">The Middle East crisis will lead to World War III.</a> Antichrist will appear at the end of WWIII<a href="http://templeinheaven.blogspot.com/"></a>. A one-world government with a <a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/">one-world religion</a> will be established, the <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#antichrist">anti-Christian kingdom</a> prophesied in chapter 13 of the <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#outline">book of Revelation</a>. This one-world power will offer apparent peace and and prosperity to a world in chaos. The devil, <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/05/fourth-beast-kingdom-which-is-yet-to.html">Satan, will rule over his earthly kingdom for "a little season,"</a> so that he as God will stand in the holy place, showing himself that he is God, and he will deceive many with his signs and wonders.<br />
<br />
The goal of the <a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/#newjerusalem" onclick="'alert(" target="_blank">New Jerusalem Covenant Project</a> is to create the plan by which Antichrist can solve the <a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/">Middle East crisis</a>; Antichrist will use this crisis to stage his appearance in the world. Antichrist is supposed to appear at the end of the Middle East crisis (<a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/search/label/World%20War%20III">World War III</a>). The prophetic reality of Daniel 9:24-27, Matthew 24:15 and Revelation 11:1-12 is that the <a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/#temple">new Temple will be built after World War III</a> and will produce the Man of Sin. Thus, the Illuminati plans to destroy the Dome of the Rock during the World War III fighting so that their Antichrist can rebuild <a href="http://templeinheaven.blogspot.com/">Solomon's Temple</a>. This reality means that <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133050">Arabs will retain control over the Temple Mount until the moment Antichrist comes to the world scene</a> and seizes it for the Jews so his temple can be created. "Peace and safety" will be heralded, and the leaders of the major nations will be busy taking credit for their "brilliant" leadership that seemingly finally solved the deeply engrained religious strife in and around Jerusalem that has plagued mankind for the past 1,400 years.[David Bay, <a href="http://www.cuttingedge.org/newsletters/newsalertarchives/newsalert-August-24-2009.htm">Cutting Edge Ministries</a>]</div>
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<div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(204, 204, 204);">
<b></b>It is possible that the <a href="http://www.lambslain.com/2011/03/first-four-seals-have-been-opened-four.html">first four seals have been opened</a>, and we are about to experience death of 1/4 of the earth by war, scarcity, famine, diseases, plagues, etc. At the opening of the fifth seal, the persecution of Christians will intensify. <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Signs%20of%20the%20Times" target="_blank">The Lord tells us that</a>, at the opening of <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#sixthseal">the sixth seal</a>, destruction will come upon the earth in the following forms: a great earthquake, sun turns black, moon turns blood red, stars fall to earth, sky rolls up like a scroll, and every mountain and island moves out of its place. This will be followed by 1/2 hour of silence in heaven before the seventh seal is opened.<span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>The seventh seal in the <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Book%20of%20Revelation" target="_blank">Book of Revelation</a> reveals itself as the seven trumpets, described as "the wrath of the Lamb." The first four trumpets will bring destruction upon the earth: 1/3 of the trees will be burned up and all the green grass will be burned (hail and fire mingled with blood); 1/3 of the sea will turn to blood, 1/3 of the sea creatures will die and 1/3 of the ships will be destroyed (great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea); 1/3 of the waters will be poisoned (great star falls from heaven); and 1/3 of the sun and moon and stars will be darkened.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#5thtrumpet">At the sounding of the fifth trumpet</a>, Satan will be released from the bottomless pit to rule over his <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2008/11/kingdom-of-antichrist-following-is_13.html">one-world religion and government</a>. Standing in the holy place, Jerusalem, he will show himself that he is God and will deceive many with his signs and wonders. <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#fivemonths">During this five-month period</a>, "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." <br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>The deception of the devil must work out till the bitter end. Shortly before the end of this world, this final deception of the nations shall take place. The heathen nations shall be civilized and they shall become conscious of their power, and they shall, for a time, join forces with the beast and the false prophet to form one great world empire. Nevertheless, they shall remain pagan in every respect, and though they give their power to the beast for "one hour," for "a little season," this cannot possibly last. <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#abomination"> </a>The heathen nations and the anti-Christian civilization will ultimately gather as separate forces for the last war, <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/02/final-battle-armageddon-and-final_26.html">the battle of Armageddon</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#abomination"><b></b></a><a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#abomination">This is the period of the sixth trumpet</a>, when the heathen nations will join forces to form a 200-million-man army and kill 1/3 part of men. Once the second woe (the sixth trumpet) is past, the third woe (the seventh trumpet and the return of Christ) will come quickly. It will be upon this scene, when the heathen nations are gathered in battle and surrounding Jerusalem, that Christ will return to deliver up His people and to destroy by fire the devil's kingdom on earth.<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="color: #3333ff; text-align: center;">
<blockquote>
"And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined,<br />
And will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them:<br />
I will say, 'It is my people:' and they shall say, The Lord is my God."<br />
(Zechariah 13:9)</blockquote>
</div>
The <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#sixthseal">Day of the Lord</a> will be a cloudy and dark day, and there will be a great earthquake and voices from heaven, and the temple of God will be opened in heaven; and there will be lightning, voices, thunder and great hail; the sun and moon will be darkened, the stars will fall from heaven, and heaven and earth will be shaken. God will pour out the seven vials of His wrath upon the earth; the last enemy to be destroyed will be Death, the <span style="font-size: 100%;">great dragon, </span>that old serpent, called the Devil, and <span style="font-size: 100%;">Satan</span>. <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#judgment" target="_blank">The just will be resurrected for eternal life; the unjust will be resurrected for eternal damnation.</a> And the Lord will create a new heaven and a new earth, and He will bring New Jerusalem down from heaven to earth, and He will reign with His people forever and ever.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">Jesus says the Father only knows the day and hour when <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/" target="blank">the Son will return in the clouds of heaven</a>. Yet Jesus gives us the signs to look for when the end of the age is approaching, and He tells us that </span>the generation to see these signs sh<span style="color: black;">all not pass till all these things be done. </span>It is possible that the last generation (70 years being a generation - Psalms 90:10) began in 1948 when Israel once again become a nation. <a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/search/label/Temple%20Mount%20in%20Jerusalem" target="blank">On May 19, 2011</a>, Obama jolted Israel by embracing the Palestinians' terms for drawing the borders between the two states, saying "a lasting peace that ends the conflict and resolves all claims is more urgent than ever." <a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/search/label/Seven%20Year%20Peace%20Covenant">This </a><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/search/label/Seven%20Year%20Peace%20Covenant">peace agreement could mark the beginning of the final seven years</a> before Christ returns, <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/12/will-christ-return-in-2018-middle-east.html">which means we could expect Him to return in 2018</a>. </span></div>
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<h3 id="yn-title">
Jesus Will Return to Deliver Up His People as the Nations Gather for the Battle of Armageddon</h3>
<blockquote>
“The common enemy of humanity is man. In searching for a new enemy to unite us, <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2011/01/last-prophesied-war-before-armageddon.html"></a>we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill. All these dangers are caused by human intervention, and it is only through changed attitudes and behavior that they can be overcome. The real enemy then, is humanity itself." - <a href="http://green-agenda.com/globalrevolution.html" target="blank">Club of Rome</a></blockquote>
What is uniting the nations of the world? The manufactured fear of global warming and a call for carbon taxes against the developed nations.<br />
<br />
What has formed to fight this perceived global problem? The United Nations climate change conferences and climate control treaties. This <a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/">'green movement' is the new religion</a> that will replace the monotheistic religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.<br />
<br />
What will be the cataclysmic event that ushers in the one-world government prophesied in the Bible? It will be the destruction of 1/3 of the earth.<br />
<br />
The Lord tells us that destruction will come upon the earth in the following forms: a great earthquake, sun turns black, moon turns blood red, stars fall to earth, sky rolls up like a scroll, every mountain and island moves out of its place [<a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#sixthseal">the sixth seal</a>], 1/3 of the trees are burned up and all the green grass is burned [hail and fire mingled with blood], 1/3 of the sea turns to blood and 1/3 of the sea creatures die and 1/3 of the ships are destroyed [great mountain burning with fire is cast into the sea], 1/3 of the waters are poisoned [great star falls from heaven], and 1/3 of the sun and moon and stars are darkened [the first four trumpets].<br />
<br />
Will these events be caused by biological, chemical and nuclear weapons of war? Will these events be caused by attacks or the affects of natural disasters (earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, <a href="http://www3.ncc.edu/faculty/bio/fanellis/biosci119/tsunami_caused_by_slides.html" target="blank">underwater landslides</a> and other phenomenon) on <a href="http://www.lambslain.com/search/label/Nuclear%20Power%20Plants%20in%20the%20United%20States">nuclear power plants</a> and deep-sea oil rigs? Will these events be caused by asteroids hitting the earth or <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Solar%20Storms%20and%20EMP%20Threats">EMP (electro magnetic pulse) threats and solar storms</a>? The mystery is yet to be revealed.<br />
<br />
When the events that destroy 1/3 of the earth occur (the first four trumpets), the world will be in utter chaos. The devastated people of the world will embrace a one-world government that promises peace and security.<br />
<blockquote>
"Research points in the direction that an 'alien agenda' is on the government's table as one among many other options to ring in a one-world government and a one-world dictator. They want to create an <a href="http://rewardsinheaven.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">'outside threat' a fake alien invasion</a>, so that the countries of this world will be willing to unite as one, to fight the 'threat' from outer space. If this succeeds, the <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2011/06/illuminati-brief-history-of-shadow.html">Illuminati goal</a> is completed. This is what the mass media is preparing us for; currently they are reporting on more UFO sightings than perhaps ever before." [Wes Penre, <a href="http://www.illuminati-news.com/moriah.htm" target="_blank">The Secret Order of the Illuminati</a> (A Brief History of the Shadow Government), Illuminati-News.com, November 12, 1998 (Updated September 26, 2009)]<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/C4zh7b_ue8o" width="640"></iframe></div>
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The "Iron Mountain Report" of 1963 discusses the transition from a war-time economy to a peace-time economy while keeping the masses under subjection and manufacturing a common enemy. A possible alien-threat scenario was envisioned in this report as a means to uniting the masses together against an alien invasion. Holograms and reports of 'UFO' sightings are being used to test the public's vulnerabilities and to manufacture belief in aliens. [cyrus1914, <a href="http://boards.trutv.com/showthread.php?8978-Project-Bluebeam-amp-Iron-Mountain-Report&s=dbdbaf095e97a78bd9fe854d5be5b5d3" target="_blank">Project Bluebeam & Iron Mountain Report</a>, truTV Message Board, October 31, 2010]</blockquote>
However, the children of God will refuse to worship the one-world government, <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2008/11/kingdom-of-antichrist-following-is_13.html" target="_blank">the beast that rises up from the earth and the sea</a>; therefore, the world must rid itself of them. This war against the monotheistic religions cannot occur until the devil establishes his earthly throne in Jerusalem, showing himself that he is God. This occurs at the fifth trumpet, a five-month period before the sixth trumpet is sounded, when 1/3 of mankind is killed.<br />
<blockquote>
"And I [John] saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to Him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And He opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle. And on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter" [the sixth and seventh trumpets]. (Revelation 9:1-12)</blockquote>
What event will lead to the abomination of desolation at the fifth trumpet; that is, the devil standing in the holy place, showing himself that he is God?<br />
<br />
Almost every nation is experiencing a collapse of its economy, for which there can be only a global solution. The only solution will be a world currency, which will be the final step in establishing a one-world government. The developed nations have been discussing a world currency for the past year or so, so we are fast approaching the end of sovereign nations. The establishment of a world currency will lead to a world government, which will be a socialist / communist / totalitarian / dictatorial government whose leader will be the devil incarnate.<br />
<br />
Those who refuse to worship the beast, the one-world government and religion, most likely will be among the third part of men killed by the 200-million-man army described in the <a href="http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Book%20of%20Revelation">book of Revelation</a> (the sixth trumpet).<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: 100%;">"And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.</span> And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. <span style="font-size: 100%;">For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails <i>were</i> like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts</span>." (Revelation (9:13-21)</blockquote>
The union of all nations into a world government with a global currency and religion cannot possibly last. It will be only a matter of time before the heathen nations turn on the other nations under the control of the devil. Already we see military alliances between Russia and China, as well as other nations.<br />
<br />
The following essay ("The Sixth Trumpet War of Revelation 9") presents a coalition of forces -- in particular, China, Russia, Iran, Syria and Turkey -- attacking Israel from the East at the sixth trumpet in a war before the battle of Armageddon. However, the war which begins at the sixth trumpet is the battle of Armageddon, when the heathen nations join forces to destroy Jerusalem. This coalition of forces, called Gog and Magog in the Bible, will prepare to attack the one-world government ruled from Jerusalem. It will be upon this scene, when the heathen nations are gathered in battle and surrounding Jerusalem, that Christ will return to deliver up His people.<br />
<blockquote>
"They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls." (Luke 21:12-19)<br />
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"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. 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. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:20-28)</blockquote>
Once the second woe (the sixth trumpet) is past, the third woe (the seventh trumpet and the return of Christ) comes quickly.<br />
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"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.<span style="font-weight: bold;"> And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.</span> And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. (Revelation 11:3-13)<br />
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The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 11:14-15)</blockquote>
It is at this point that Christ will return in the clouds of heaven to deliver up His people and to destroy by fire the devil's kingdom on earth. <br />
<blockquote>
"And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as it were the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire." (Revelation 10:1)</blockquote>
<a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#sixthseal">It will be a cloudy and dark day</a>, and there will be a great earthquake and voices from heaven, and the temple of God will be opened in heaven; and there will be lightning, voices, thunder and great hail; the sun and moon will be darkened, the stars will fall from heaven, and heaven and earth will be shaken. God will pour out the seven vials of His wrath upon the earth; the last enemy to be destroyed will be death, Satan. <a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#judgment" target="_blank">The just will be resurrected for eternal life; the unjust will be resurrected for eternal damnation.</a> And the Lord will create a new heaven and a new earth, and He will bring New Jerusalem down from heaven to earth, and He will reign with His people forever and ever.<br />
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<h3>
<a href="http://spindleworks.com/library/hoeksma/intro.htm">Behold He Cometh</a></h3>
<i>"Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country." (Zechariah 8:7)<br /><br />"And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God." (Luke 13:29)<br /><br />"And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 8:11)</i><br />
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By <a href="http://www.hudsonvilleprc.org/Ministers/Herman_Hoeksema.htm">Herman Hoeksema</a> (1886 - 1965)<br />
<a href="http://spindleworks.com/library/hoeksma/intro.htm">Behold He Cometh</a> © 1969 Reformed Free Publishing Association<br />
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<b><span style="color: #993399;">The Devil Is Retrained from Uniting the World Powers Until Shortly Before the End of the Ages</span></b><br />
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The period of "a thousand years" referenced in the book of Revelation is to be applied to this entire dispensation until the time shortly before the Second Coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven. This is because of the simple reason that the order of the book of Revelation is not chronological, but rather idealogical. Repeatedly, the book follows the development of the world to its very end from a certain point of view in order, and it then resumes the drawing of the same picture from a different viewpoint.<br />
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The "thousand year" time period of Revelation must be fulfilled before the devil can be permitted to deceive the nations which live on the "four corners of the earth." This reign of Christ with respect to the world is such that, almost until the very end, the devil shall be bound with respect to Gog and Magog so that he cannot deceive these nations and gather them for battle against the camp of the saints, the Church, the body of Christ, the True Israel of God.<br />
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In harmony with all Scripture, "Israel" is to be taken in the New Testament sense of the word. The vision of the restored Israel, <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#gogandmagog">of which Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39 speak</a>, has been realized in the Church of the new dispensation. It is "the camp of the saints." It is "the beloved city." It is Christianity in its widest sense as it exists and develops in the new dispensation and as it corresponds to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. It is represented in the text as being situated in the center of the earth; and around it, on the four quarters of the earth, outside of the pale of history, are nations that remain pagan.<br />
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Gog and Magog are heathen nations in distinction from nominal Christendom. The nations of Gog and Magog, which are on the four corners of the earth, I would identify as the people (as a whole) who in the new dispensation never played a part in the history of the world, but which in our very day are waking up. I refer to the overwhelmingly strong non-Christian world: the nations of China and Japan, the great and strong multitudes in India; the followers of Confucius and Buddha and of Islam and Brahmanism; and the millions of Africa and of the islands of the sea. The elect also are gathered from these pagan nations into the Church; however, as nations they remain distinctly heathen.<br />
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The Christian nations are the historical powers, and Gog and Magog are hitherto apparently asleep. The devil, the prince of this world, is restrained from employing these forces against the Church, the beloved city, the camp of the saints, the new Israel of God. However, near the end of this dispensation, the devil shall be "loosed a little season" to gather the nations to battle against the Church before Christ returns in the clouds of heaven.<br />
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From Revelation chapter 17, we learn that the first result of the deceptive influence of the devil upon the heathen nations, Gog and Magog, is that they shall join into one great world power with the central anti-Christian kingdom. For "one hour," for "a little season," the world power shall realize its greatest ambition and a strictly universal empire shall be established, of which also the heathen but civilized nations form an integral part.<br />
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From a purely humanistic viewpoint, this future one-world power will be a glorious kingdom, and thoroughly humanistic it will surely be—religiously, scientifically, socially, industrially and politically. However, it will be anti-God, anti-Christ, and anti-Church; for the devil, named Satan, is the opponent, the adversary of Christ, and the adversary to the cause of God in the world.<br />
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<span style="color: #993399;"><b>The Devil is Securely Bound Until the End of the Ages With Respect to the Heathen Nations </b></span><br />
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During this present dispensation, the devil is bound in regard to the nations of Gog and Magog: in the vision of Revelation chapter 20, the angel overpowers the devil and securely binds him with the chain, casts him into the bottomless pit, locks the pit, and sets a seal upon him.<br />
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The devil, therefore, is very securely bound, and he is bound with respect to the heathen nations so that the gospel can be spread throughout the nations.<br />
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Scripture teaches that the devil is bound in such a way that he cannot marshal the heathen nations of Gog and Magog to battle against the Church, the beloved city, or, if you please, against the Christian nations. In this very period of his restraint, the devil may do many things, both among the nominally Christian nations and among the people who are called Gog and Magog: he may go about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, as he actually does. However, until near the end of this dispensation, he is prevented from deceiving the heathen nations so as to gather them to battle against the camp of the saints, the Church, the elect of God.<br />
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We can easily surmise what it would mean if these heathen nations were permitted to unite and marshal their tremendous forces against the nominally Christian nations: the Church would have no place in the world, no room for development. However, the devil is bound with respect to them until near the end of this dispensation.<br />
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The deception of the devil must work out till the bitter end. At the time near the end of this dispensation, under the influence of the so-called mission work of the anti-Christian unclean spirits, the heathen nations indeed shall be awakened out of their prolonged slumber, becoming conscious of their power and quickly <a href="http://www.geocities.com/Eriol_Ennui/essay2.html" onclick="'alert(" target="_blank">adopting the anti-Christian civilization</a>.<br />
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In other words, the heathen nations shall be civilized and they shall become conscious of their power; and they shall, for a time, join forces with the beast and the false prophet to form one great world empire. Nevertheless, they shall remain pagan in every respect, and though they give their power to the beast for "one hour," for "a little season," this cannot possibly last.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #993399;">The True Israel of God Shall Experience Great Tribulation Before Christ Returns</span></b><br />
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This <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#antichrist">future one-world power</a> (as described in Revelation, chapter 13), <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1070329053600562261&ei=BcLnSOGSLoaYrQLWhZmZCw&q=Endgame%3A+Blueprint+for+Global+Enslavement#" onclick="'alert(" target="_blank">this kingdom of man under Satan, shall be complete:</a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPDn5GT6-t4&NR=1"></a> it shall be a kingdom which has sway over all the universe, over all men, over all the powers of creation. It shall be a kingdom in which man worships his own work and in which the devil is lord supreme.<br />
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This world power to come shall lay down the rules for religious life in particular: it shall tell all men how they must worship and what they must worship. It shall be a new system of thought and religion, with a new creed, universal in its scope and, at the same time, with a new god. That new god will be the devil incarnate, the great world power, whom all shall admire and worship and for whom all shall erect an image in order that they may worship the same.<br />
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At this time to come, there still shall be saints of the Most High on earth: the remnant of the seed of the woman still shall be there; they shall not yet be taken to heaven. And, of course, they will refuse to go along with all this beautiful and worldwide movement. They will refuse to adopt the philosophy; they will refuse to wonder at its great signs; they will refuse to adopt its religion; they will refuse to worship the beast and the dragon.<br />
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The Church will refuse to worship the beast; therefore, the saints cannot be tolerated, and they must be discovered so that this <a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/2008/12/georgia-guidestones-age-of-reason-was.html" onclick="'alert(" target="_blank">great universal kingdom of the devil</a> may be rid of them. It is certain that the difference between the followers of antichrist and the followers of Christ shall be there and that this difference shall be very obvious. The false prophet, the power of false science and philosophy and religion, shall see to it that the distinction is very public and evident to all so that only his followers may share in the blessings of this great kingdom.<br />
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Just as only the followers of Christ shall share in the blessings of the kingdom of God, so also the followers of antichrist only shall reap the benefits of this universal world kingdom. The rest, who do not have the "<a href="http://2012nwo.blogspot.com/#microchip">mark of the beast</a>," shall be excluded and boycotted in every respect.<br />
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All things shall be under the control of this great and universal world power: the very necessities of life shall be in its power. It can surely allow or prevent buying and selling according to its good pleasure. The saints of Christ who do not worship the image, and who refuse to receive the mark of the beast, shall not be able to do business; they shall not be able to buy or to sell. They shall not be able to live along with this great society. They shall not be able to buy the necessities of life. They shall be outcasts, mocked at, held in derision, thrust aside, ousted from society, and killed.<br />
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Those shall be terrible days. They shall be more terrible than any form of persecution that the children of God have ever experienced. There shall be no place for them on earth. So terrible shall those days be that many shall fall who appeared to be children of the Most High, and the very elect would not be able to resist were it not for the fact that the days shall be shortened.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #993399;">The Final War Will Be Between the Nominally Christian World and the Heathen Nations</span></b><br />
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The future combined one-world power of the nominally Christian nations and heathen nations cannot last, because ultimately the ten kings shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire (Revelation 17:16). Therefore, shortly before the end of this world, the devil's final deception of the nations shall take place.<br />
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The heathen nations and the nominally Christian world will ultimately gather as separate forces for the last war, which will be a world war in the strictest sense of the word.<br />
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Looking upon the nominally Christian world, which in fact will be an anti-Christian civilization, the heathen nations shall do as the nations of the old dispensation did with respect to Jerusalem; that is, they shall say: "Let us go up to Jerusalem; let Zion be defiled; let our eye look upon Zion!" And again the Lord will use the hostile spirit of the heathen nations to destroy the anti-Christian power and eat the flesh of the great whore.<br />
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In Revelation chapters 16 and 17, there mention is made of ten kings who as yet have received no kingdom, but shall receive power as kings for one hour with the beast: their dominion shall last but "one hour" with the beast; that is, "a little season." In Revelation chapter 20, the reference is evidently to the same going forth of the devil to the nations, the kings of the whole world that live on the four quarters of the earth, to deceive them and gather them for battle.<br />
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It is especially Gog and Magog that look upon all Christendom, no matter how apostate, as the beloved city, even as the heathen nations in the old dispensation considered earthly Jerusalem to be the city of God no matter how apostate and wicked it had become. The nations of Gog and Magog, in compassing about and coming to battle against Christendom in its widest sense, certainly intend to destroy "the beloved city," the cause of Christ, and to make paganism supreme in the world. In this, they reveal their wickedness and become ripe for the judgment. God nevertheless uses them to inflict His judgments upon the anti-Christian world.<br />
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The final result of this anti-Christian influence will be that the heathen nations will unite their forces for war against the nominally Christian world, the last war that shall ever be fought on earth (the battle of Armageddon). However, they will never touch the camp of the saints: the people of God shall look for the coming redemption, which shall then be very near. <b>It will be upon this final scene of confusion and iniquity that the Lord will appear in judgment to destroy His enemies and to give His saints the victory forever.</b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #993399;">Conclusion</span></b><br />
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The devil is in the world already: he works in the world; he has made many bold attempts already to reach his culmination; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItovxXPqNa0&feature=related" onclick="'alert(" target="_blank">and his final manifestation</a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItovxXPqNa0&feature=related"></a> will be <a href="http://www.michaeljournal.org/nwo1.htm" onclick="'alert(" target="_blank">the consummation of a long process of development.</a><a href="http://www.michaeljournal.org/nwo1.htm"></a> In the devil's last attempt to oppose God’s plan, he simply will realize his own kingdom, or he will attempt to realize it, and boldly set it up.<br />
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The devil, to whom the kingdoms of the world belong, shall succeed in combining all his kingdoms under one head and inspiring them all with the same principle. All the signs of the times point to such a tremendous global power, to such a league of the nations that has control over all things, <a href="http://kingdomofantichrist.blogspot.com/">to such a unity of all religion in which man is exalted and the Christ of the Scriptures is blasphemed</a>.<br />
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The dragon's power and authority itself is limited: it is well that we bear this in mind, for it is to our comfort. It assures us from the outset that the power and authority of this anti-Christian kingdom, however great, is not unlimited and that Christ, who has all power, is mightier than antichrist.<br />
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<b>Why are we given a complete picture of <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#utopia">the anti-Christian Kingdom</a> in the book of Revelation?</b> <b>So that we might clearly recognize it when it is revealed.</b> And what then must we do when we see it is come? Must we oppose it. You may ask, "Must we fight it with the sword?" That, of course, is completely impossible. <b>It will come. It must come. And to oppose its coming is entirely vain. Its coming is irresistible.</b> And the battle is not one of the sword.<br />
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Here is the patience and the faith of the saints, that in all these times they remain faithful and refuse to deny the Christ and that they wait for the day of His coming.<br />
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God created a world that should glorify Him and be consecrated to Him, but that world tore itself loose from Him and refused to glorify Him. <b>Man now has developed the kingdom of the world without God, and God allows this kingdom of the world to develop to its full extent.</b><br />
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Although man has fallen away from Him, God nevertheless allows man to exercise dominion over the earthly creation and to bring to light all the hidden powers and talents of creation to their fullest degree. In this kingdom we have the anti-Christian beasts described in the book of Revelation, which represent the highest development of the sovereignty of man apart from God, and under the devil they shall develop all the powers of creation without God.<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLcH-eqg5M0&feature=related" onclick="'alert(" target="_blank">The final manifestation of the anti-Christian kingdom to come is the climax of the development of the man of sin:</a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLcH-eqg5M0&feature=related"></a> it is the kingdom of man, of the creature, without God, without the seven. And therefore his number is 666, the number of man indeed. You may see him rise before your very eyes in the world of today. Hence, we must watch and pray that we may not fall into temptation. We must be faithful unto the end.<br />
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<div align="center">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Ziggy Eichhorst of Newswatch Magazine Presents Don't Fight the New World Order:</span><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TF1OmmFhmvw" width="640"></iframe></div>
It is not our calling to resist the coming <a href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/#power">kingdom of antichrist</a>, for that is impossible.<b> We cannot prevent its coming; however, we must watch and be prepared.</b> Here is the patience of the saints; here is wisdom. <b>We must know how it will come so that we may recognize its coming and be faithful even unto the end.</b><br />
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God grant that we may be found watching in that day so that we may not be allured by all the beauty and fascination and by the Christian appearance, strength and stability of this world kingdom to come. Let us not be allured by the signs and wonders of the false prophet, but let us remain faithful even unto the very end so that no one may take our crowns.<br />
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<div align="center">
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: #993399;">And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, He said:</span><br /><span style="color: #993399;">"As for these things which ye behold, the days will come,</span><br /><span style="color: #993399;">In the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #993399;">And they asked Him, saying,</span><br /><span style="color: #993399;">'Master, but when shall these things be? And what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?'</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #993399;">And He said:</span><br /><span style="color: #993399;">"Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ;</span><br /><span style="color: #993399;">And the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.</span><br /><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified:</span><br /><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">For these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by."</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #993399;">Then said He unto them:</span><br /><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">"Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:</span><br /><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences."</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">"And fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.</span><br /><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you,</span><br /><span style="color: #993399;">Delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake.</span><br /><span style="color: #993399;">And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what ye shall answer:</span><br /><span style="color: #993399;">For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.</span><br /><span style="color: #993399;">And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends;</span><br /><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">And some of you shall they cause to be put to death. </span><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.</span><br /><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">But there shall not an hair of your head perish.</span><span style="color: #993399;"> </span><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">In your patience possess ye your souls."</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, </span><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.</span><br /><span style="color: #993399;">Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains;</span><br /><span style="color: #993399;">And let them which are in the midst of it depart out;</span><br /><span style="color: #993399;">And let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.</span><br /><span style="color: #993399; font-weight: bold;">For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled."</span><br /><br /><span style="color: #993399;">--Luke 21:5-22</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #cc66cc; font-weight: bold;">"And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.</span><br /><span style="color: #cc66cc;">They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage,</span><br /><span style="color: #cc66cc;">Until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.</span><br /><span style="color: #cc66cc;">Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot;</span><br /><span style="color: #cc66cc;">They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;</span><br /><b style="color: #cc66cc;">But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom<br />It rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all</b><span style="color: #cc66cc;">.</span><br /><span style="color: #cc66cc;">Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." --Luke 17:26-30</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #006600;">“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.</span><br /><span style="color: #006600;">In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” --John 16:33</span><br /><br /><br />"I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." --Matthew 28:20<br /><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/r4nRamM8Rms&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/r4nRamM8Rms&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. --Psalms 118:14<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #cc6600;">Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me, for Thou art the God of my salvation;</span><br /><span style="color: #cc6600;">On Thee do I wait all the day. --Psalms 25:5</span></span><br />
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It is our duty and our privilege to wait upon the Lord<br />
In service, in worship, in expectancy, and in trust all the days of our lives.<br />
Our faith will be tried faith, and if it be of the true kind,<br />
It will bear continued trial without yielding.<br />
We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God<br />
If we remember how long and how graciously He once waited for us.<br />
--Charles Haddon Spurgeon<br />
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<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you;<br />In both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:<br />That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets,<br />And of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:<br /><b>Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers,<br />Walking after their own lusts, </b><b>And saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming?</b><br />For since the fathers fell asleep, All things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.'<br /><br /><b>For this they willingly are ignorant of,</b> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">That by the Word of God the heavens were of old,<br />And the earth standing out of the water and in the water:<br />Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:<br /><b>But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same Word are kept in store,<br />Reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men</b>.<br /><br />But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing,<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">That one day is with the Lord as </span><a href="http://onewiththedirt.blogspot.com/#thousand" style="font-weight: bold;" target=" _blank">a thousand years</a><span style="font-weight: bold;">, and a thousand years as one day.</span><br /><b>The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness;<br />But is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,<br />But that all should come to repentance.</b><br /><br />But the <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#dayofthelord" target=" _blank"><b>day of the Lord</b></a> will come as a thief in the night;<br /><b>In the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise,<br />And the elements shall melt with fervent heat,<br />The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.</b><br /><b>Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,</b><br />What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,<br /><span style="color: #006600; font-weight: bold;">Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God,</span><br /><b>Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?</b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nevertheless we, according to His promise, </span><b>look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.</b><br /><br /><b>Therefore, beloved, <a href="http://inthecloudsofheaven.blogspot.com/#sixthseal" target=" _blank">seeing that ye look for such things</a>,<br />Be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.<br />And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation;</b> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Even as our beloved brother Paul also,<br />According to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;<br />As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things;<br />In which are some things hard to be understood,<br />Which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest,<br />As they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.<br /><br /><b style="color: #006600;">Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before,<br />Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, </b><b style="color: #006600;">fall from your own stedfastness.</b><br />But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.<br />To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.<br /><br />--2 Peter, Chapter 3</span></span><span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";"> </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples saith unto Him,<br />Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And Jesus answering said unto him,<br />"Seest thou these great buildings?<br />There shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And as He sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple,<br />Peter and James and John and Andrew asked Him privately,</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">Tell us, when shall these things be?<br />And what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And Jesus answering them began to say,<br />"Take heed lest any man deceive you:</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled:<br />For such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:<br />And there shall be earthquakes in divers places,<br />And there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">But take heed to yourselves:<br />For they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten:<br />And ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And the gospel must first be published among all nations.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up,<br />Take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate:<br />But whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye:<br />For it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son;<br />And children shall rise up against their parents,<br />And shall cause them to be put to death.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake:<br />But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet,<br />Standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,)<br />Then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house,<br />Neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house:</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">For in those days shall be affliction,<br />Such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved:<br />But for the elect's sake, whom He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And then if any man shall say to you,<br />'Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there;' believe him not:</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">For false Christs and false prophets shall rise,<br />And shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And then shall He send His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds,<br />From the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">Now learn a parable of the fig tree;<br />When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">But of that day and that hour knoweth no man,<br />No, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey,<br />Who left his house, and gave authority to his servants,<br />And to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">Watch ye therefore:<br />For ye know not when the master of the house cometh,<br />At even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "arial";">And what I say unto you I say unto all, 'Watch'."</span><br />
<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: "verdana"; font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br />--Mark Chapter 13</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"><br /><span style="color: #666600;">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. 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. 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. 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. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." --Matthew 24:4-13</span><br /><br /><br />"Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." --Matthew 24:34<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #000066;">"And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end." --Luke 1:33</span></span></span> </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6354143865375585988.post-62701298260751290852010-12-01T04:33:00.010-05:002012-01-12T01:47:41.237-05:00<div id="headline"><div align="center"><h2 class="subheadlinemain" title="Permanent Link to The Age to Come: 'The Kingdom Age' vs. 'The Eternal Age'">The Age to Come: 'The Kingdom Age' vs. 'The Eternal Age'</h2><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What Are the Driving Factors Behind Christian Zionism?</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The answer to the question, “What factors drive the beliefs and activities of the Christian Zionists?” has a theological and a psychological side. Theologically, the whole impetus of the movement derives from the one true sine qua non of Dispensational theology: the belief in two distinct peoples of God, ethnic Israel and the Church. If believing Gentiles have been grafted into the good olive tree which springs from the root of the patriarchs (Romans 11:13-24) so that they are now Abraham's seed (Romans 4:11, 16-17; Galatians 3:6-7) — heirs of the promises made to Abraham (Galatians 3:28-29; Ephesians 3:6), one body in which there is no further distinction between Jew and Gentile (Ephesians 2:11-21; Galatians 3:28) — then the modern state of Israel has no more divine right to extend its political influence than any other of its neighbor states.<br /><br />The disputes between her and her enemies should be resolved by the Christian virtues of equity, justice, etc., that ought to characterize all the nations which God has made and placed within their respective boundaries. The various states of the Middle East will finally be judged on the basis of their cruelty, pride, and so on, Israel as well as Palestine, Jordan, and all the rest. And any nation involved in arbitration between them would do well to consider the various dynamics of the current situation without resorting to the idea that one of them possesses a divinely-written title to all the land from the Nile to the Euphrates.<br /><br />If God is fulfilling his promise made to Abraham by calling out persons from every nation to be his children by faith — and preparing them to inherit, not just the promised land, but the whole earth, and the New Jerusalem of which they are citizens even now (Matthew 5:5; Galatians 4:25-26; Revelation 21:1-4) — then one can best throw in his lot with God's people by laboring to bring children of every nationality in to his kingdom, which has now exploded beyond the bounds of the Middle East, and soon promises to change the entire world when the redemption of God reaches its consummation and the Davidic King returns in all his glory.<br /><br />Although ethnic Israel still retains a special place in God's redemptive design (being the nation to whom he first gave his grace and promise and covenant), and though we might with firm biblical conviction labor to see the ethnic Jewish people enjoy the blessings that God has irrevocably covenanted to give them, and continues to give to a remnant of grace within their ranks (Romans 11); yet, it would be a tragic step backwards to labor to reserve for them all the old shadow-blessings of a typical strip of this still-cursed earth, when the remnant of grace has entered into the true inheritance of Christ, and awaits an entire new and glorious earth, that “city which has foundations” (Hebrews 11:10, 14-16), which all of Abraham's true seed by faith will inherit.<br /><br />- Nathan Pitchford, <a href="http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/zionism.html" target="_blank">The Threat of Christian Zionism</a></div><br /><h3 class="subheadlinemain">Millennialism v. A-Millennialism</h3><div align="center">The following is adapted from <em>"Behold He Cometh: the Binding of Satan with a View to Gog and Magog"</em><br />by <a href="http://www.hudsonvilleprc.org/Ministers/Herman_Hoeksema.htm" target="blank">Herman Hoeksema (1886 - 1965)</a>, ©1969 <a href="http://spindleworks.com/library/hoeksma/intro.htm" target="blank">Reformed Free Publishing Association</a>.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-family:arial;" >So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many;<br />And unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time,<br />Without sin unto salvation<br />(Hebrews 9:28).</span></div></div><br /><strong>First of all, it should be observed that Scripture knows of only one Second Coming of the Lord, which marks the end of the world. <span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">The end is by way of universal catastrophe and the inauguration of the world to come. </span><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">In the new heaven and earth, the eternal kingdom of God (the New Jerusalem) will come down from God out of heaven, and we shall be forever with the Lord.</span></strong><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-family:arial;" >"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-family:arial;" >And I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-family:arial;" >Which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-family:arial;" >And I will write upon him my new name" </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-family:arial;" >(Revelation 3:12).</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-family:arial;" > "And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-family:arial;" >Coming down from God out of heaven,<br />Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-family:arial;" >(Revelation 21:2).</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">This observation that there is only one Second Coming of the Lord, which marks the end of the world, precludes the view of the pre-millenarians, who speak of two comings of Christ:</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">the one is called the rapture, the other is called the revelation, <a href="http://www.theologicaleditions.com/Features/christianzionism.htm" target="_blank">and in between is the millennium</a>, the 'kingdom age' in which Christ shall reign for 1000 years before eternity is ushered in.</span><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amillennialism" target="_blank"><img alt="Christianity" src="http://i33.tinypic.com/1tr1xs.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><a name="christianzionism"></a><br /><strong style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennialism" target="blank">Arguments Against the Pre-Millennial View</a></strong><br /><br />According to the pre-millenarian view:<div align="left"><ol><li>The rapture will be the first resurrection of the just: it will be the change of those believers who are faithful and who look for His coming. In the rapture, the Lord will come for His saints to take them with Him in the air before the great tribulation. And at the rapture, the end of the world is not realized; rather, the rapture will mark the end of this "age," which will inaugurate another age, that of the millennium or the "thousand years" of Revelation chapter 20. </li><p></p><li>In the millennium, the Lord will come with His saints, destroy antichrist, and then reign with His people over the nations for 1000 years, during which time there will be a period of great tribulation. </li><p></p><p></p><li>The revelation will take place after the great tribulation. The revelation will be the second resurrection, which is the revelation of the "tribulation" saints. In the revelation, the last enemy, death, will be destroyed and then eternity, or "the ages of ages," will be ushered in. </li><p></p></ol></div>When the pre-millenarians speak of the coming of the Lord, they especially have in mind the "rapture" and the "first resurrection." In the pre-millennial view, this coming of the Lord may be expected momentarily and may come at any time. The blessedness of that rapture is that those who are deemed worthy of it shall escape the great tribulation under antichrist and shall take part in the marriage supper of the Lamb.<br /><br /><strong>We cannot possibly agree with the pre-millennial view nor with the pre-millenarian interpretation of Scripture, generally, and of Revelation 20:1-10, specifically.</strong> <ol><li>First of all, the essential element of this view is that it is based upon an erroneous interpretation of the Old Testament. This interpretation leads to a separation of Israel and the Church as if they were two separate peoples: the former, Israel, is the kingdom people and the latter, the Church, is the body of Christ. <strong>A correct interpretation of the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament will lead to the conclusion that Israel and the Church are not two peoples, but one.</strong></li><p></p><li>Secondly, the view of the two comings, the rapture and the revelation, is based on a wrong interpretation of several passages of Holy Writ. An outstanding example of this wrong interpretation is that of the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17:<blockquote>"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the <em>dead in Christ</em> shall rise first: <em>then we which are alive and remain</em> 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."</blockquote>It is claimed that this passage of Scripture plainly teaches that the "first resurrection" is the resurrection of pre-tribulation saints in distinction from the saints who are alive when the Lord returns to reign for a literal "thousand years, which pre-millennialists term the "millennium." The pre-millenialists claims that the "second resurrection" is the resurrection of those saints who live through the "millennium" and great tribulation, which is the literal thousand-year reign of Christ after He returns to "rapture" the Church.<br /><br />As to this "first resurrection," anyone who reads the text without prejudice, without "millennially-colored" glasses, can readily see that it makes no distinction between the <em>dead in Christ</em>, who shall be raised first, and the <em>dead outside of Christ</em>, who shall be raised later. <strong>Rather, the distinction is between the <em>dead in Christ</em>, those who have died before His coming, and the <em>living in Christ</em>, those believers who shall be alive at the Parousia.</strong> The former shall occur before the change of the latter—this is the meaning of the text—and so they shall meet the Lord together in the air.</li><p></p><p></p><li>Thirdly, according to the millennium view, this coming only for the faithful believers is a secret rapture: the world will not even notice this private coming of the Lord except that certain persons suddenly will be strangely missed. This view emphasizes that the Lord will return a second time after this rapture, and that this return will last only during the years of the great tribulation in the world.</li><p></p><p></p><li>Finally, this view is based on an interpretation of the book of Revelation that is neither in accord with the highly apocalyptic contents of the whole book nor with the evidently symbolic presentation of chapter 20 itself. It is quite impossible to read the twentieth chapter of the book of Revelation as if it records a simple historical event that will take place some time in the future, an event that will follow in time upon with what is revealed in chapter 19 of the same book. <strong>Such an interpretation is quite impossible.</strong></li><p></p></ol><strong style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/eschatology/amillennial.shtml" target="blank">Arguments in Favor of the A-Millennial View</a></strong><br /><br /><strong>The idea that believers must look forward to their final redemption through the coming of the Lord before the great tribulation is contrary to all teaching of Holy Writ.</strong> Scripture not only warns us to expect tribulation, but it emphasizes that we shall consider it a great honor and privilege to suffer with Christ. Scripture does not exhort us to rejoice in the idea of escaping tribulation; rather, Scripture tells us that to suffer in behalf of Christ is given us of grace (Philippians 1:29).<br /><br /><strong>The text quite clearly refers to a public and universally announced coming of the Lord.</strong> The Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God. If this means anything at all, it certainly means that there will be nothing private or secret about this coming, but that it will be loudly proclaimed to all the world. And the text emphasizes that it will be forever: "And so shall we ever be with the Lord."<br /><br /><strong>The Bible throughout clearly connects with the one and only coming of the Lord at the end of this world, the final salvation of the whole Church, the last judgment, and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth.</strong> Consider, for instance, Matthew 24:29-31:<blockquote>"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."</blockquote>And thus, in Matthew 25:31, we read:<blockquote>"When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats."</blockquote>And once more, consider the Lord’s own interpretation of the parable of the tares:<blockquote>"The harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. 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; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matthew 13:39-43).</blockquote>These are the remarks that we wanted to make concerning the interpretation of the text itself. It is certainly evident that Scripture teaches not all kinds of different comings of the Lord, but only one coming. <strong>The pre-millennialist’s hope of escaping the tribulation is not spiritual but carnal, and it is as dangerous as it is false because it fills its followers with a false hope, which will leave them unprepared in the evil day.</strong><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);font-family:arial;" >If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.<br />Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.<br />If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.<br />But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept<br />(1 Corinthians 15:17-20).</span></div><br /><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://chainedeagles.blogspot.com/2010/02/final-battle-armageddon-and-final_26.html" target="blank"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Resurrection of the Dead</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Scripture speaks of the resurrection of the dead in more than one sense: for the godly dead, it refers to regeneration; for the ungodly dead, it refers to damnation.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);font-family:arial;" ><strong style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">"It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).</span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);font-family:arial;" ><strong style="font-weight: normal;">"And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust" (Acts 24:15).</strong></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25). </span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;"><blockquote> <span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">"Wherefore he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" (Ephesians 5:14).</span></blockquote></div><span style="font-weight: bold;">The "first resurrection" is described in Revelation 20:4-5:</span><strong></strong><blockquote><strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God</span></strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">,</span> <strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands;</span></strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.</span></strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.</span></strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">This is the first resurrection."</span></strong></blockquote><strong></strong> <strong>The First Resurrection is Only for the Righteous: It is the Resurrection of the Godly Dead Unto Glory Immediately After Physical Death</strong> <p></p><blockquote><p>The expression "the first resurrection" does not refer to a separate group of saints who are raised first in distinction from the raising of the wicked "a thousand years" later as a "second resurrection" (note that the term "second resurrection" is not in Scripture). <strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">Rather, it refers to a state or degree in the overall resurrection of the dead.</span></strong></p><strong>As we can see in Revelation 20:5, the first resurrection refers to the state of the saints in glory immediately after physical death:<span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"> they are delivered from battle and from the persecution and suffering inflicted on them by the anti-Christian forces that are always in the world throughout this dispensation.</span></strong><br /><br />The saints "dead in Christ" reign with Him: "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). John tells us: "I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them." <strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">This part of the picture evidently represents a people who reign, a royal people, for such is the meaning of their sitting on thrones, as well as of the statement that judgment was given unto them.</span></strong><br /><br />To judge is a function of royalty: it implies authority to rule. "Who are these royal people?" The text does not directly answer this question: it does not inform us who they are, nor where we must look for their thrones. However, in the latter part of verse 4, John plainly describes these same people as he continues: "And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."<br /><br /><strong>It is self-evident that "the thousand years" refer to the same period as that in which the devil is bound with respect to Gog and Magog.</strong> <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">In this entire "thousand year" period, these people reign with Christ whether they are with Him in heaven or are still here on earth.</span> Upon physical death, they are the saints in glory:<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> "the souls of them that were beheaded" permits no other interpretation.</span></strong></span><br /><br />In answer to the question, "What is the first resurrection," we cannot introduce our own preconceived notion. We are bound to the text, and we are constrained to say: <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">The first resurrection applies only to the righteous upon death:</span> <span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">it is the reign of the souls on their thrones in heaven; that is, the souls of the elect of God.</span></strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 153, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">The text plainly says, "this is the first resurrection," and the pronoun "this" refers back to the statement in verse 4 concerning the souls that reign with Christ.</span></span></strong></blockquote><strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 153, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"></span></span></strong> <p></p><a name="dead"></a><strong>The Resurrection of "the Rest of the Dead" is the Resurrection of the Ungodly Dead Unto Eternal Damnation</strong><br /><blockquote><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"><strong>"God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment" (2 Peter 2:4).</strong></span><br /><br />The resurrection of "the rest of the dead" in Revelation 20:5 is the raising of the ungodly dead on "the last day" for judgment and eternal damnation.<br /><br />"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. <strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);"><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.</span> </span></strong>This is the first resurrection." (Revelation 20:4-5)<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><strong>"Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years."</strong></span><strong></strong> (Revelation 20:6) <p><strong>The millennialist cannot adduce the first part of verse 5:</strong> <span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);"><strong>"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished."</strong></span> <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">Certainly, "the rest of the dead" are the ungodly dead.</span></strong> And it may be frankly admitted that the form of the expression would almost invite us to complete it as follows, "then they also shall live again;" however, we must remember that the text does not say this and that we have no authority to add to Scripture.<br /><br />Besides, even the millennialist would not venture to finish the expression in that fashion. <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">Although the wicked also shall have a certain rising from their graves and receive their bodies again, it cannot be said of them that they shall "live" again.</span> <span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">Their resurrection will be a resurrection to eternal perdition, and Scripture clearly teaches that this going forth out of the grave unto perdition will take place at the same time, as in one hour, with the resurrection of the righteous unto eternal glory (John 5:29).</span></strong><br /><br />"Verily, verily, I say unto you, 'The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself; and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.'" (John 5:25-29)</p><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><strong>So, then, the text in Revelation 20:5 can only mean that while the souls of the righteous were seen as living in glory and in power,</strong> </span><strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">the rest of the dead had no place in this picture at all, and they did not live again. And when they do appear once more, it will be to be sent into perdition, to be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death.</span></strong></p></blockquote><p><strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"></span></strong></p><span style="font-weight: bold;">To summarize:</span> <ul><p></p><li>The first death is physical death, the death of the physical body, which we all shall experience.</li><p></p><p></p><li>The resurrection of the dead refers to everyone, for we all shall die the physical death; however, only the righteous shall be raised to reign with Christ in their gloried bodies. Therefore, only the godly dead shall experience the "first resurrection." The "rest of the dead," the ungodly dead, shall be raised on "the last day" for judgment and eternal damnation.</li><p></p><p></p><li>The second death is the state of perdition of body and soul in hell. The "rest of the dead" shall be raised for judgment on the "last day," and they shall be sentenced to the second death along with Satan. Only the ungodly dead shall experience the second death.</li></ul>First death and second death does not refer to different groups of dead people. The first death is the death of the physical body, which we all will experience. The second death refers to the death of the spiritual body, the ultimate state of death in hell (Revelation 20:14), which only the ungodly dead will experience when they, "the rest of the dead," are raised on "the last day" for judgment and eternal damnation.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Conclusion</span><br /><br />In connection with the first ten verses of Revelation chapter 20, we find that the position of those who believe that these verses indicate a literal "thousand year" reign of Christ on earth is untenable for the following reasons: <ul><li>The temporal, historical view of the book of Revelation is untenable. </li><li>Even a complete binding of Satan would not do away with sin, which is in the hearts of men. </li><li>Revelation chapter 20 is the only place in Scripture where such a "millennium" would be taught while other passages contradict it. </li><li>The millennium theory is impossible because it is plainly not taught even here in Revelation chapter 20. </li></ul>Furthermore, we find that: <ul><li>The first resurrection refers only to the reign of the saints with Christ after their physical death.</li><li>Satan’s binding is symbolic of the partial restraint placed upon him with regard to the heathen nations, Gog and Magog. </li><li>The "loosing" of Satan refers to the fact that he will be allowed to stir up the heathen nations against the Church of Christ shortly before the time of the end. </li></ul><p>Behold, He cometh, He, the mighty Lord! And His Second Advent shall undoubtedly be the culmination of all wonders. Let us be prepared. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection; blessed are those servants whom their Lord shall find watching when He cometh.</p><div align="center"><h3 class="subheadlinemain"><a href="http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/28-god-and-the-nation-of-israel" target="blank">Barren National Israel Has Been Replaced By Fruitful Spiritual Israel</a></h3>By Wayne Jackson</div><br /><strong>Premillennialism is the notion that Jesus will return to this earth before he commences a 1000-year reign on David’s throne in Jerusalem.</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Premillennialism, and its theological sister, dispensationalism, argue that in connection with the second coming of Christ, God intends to reestablish a Jewish kingdom in Palestine.</span></strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">The doctrine contends that there is yet a purpose to be served by physical Israel.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>Dispensationalists allege that in the “seven-year tribulation period,” just prior to Christ’s “millennial reign,” God will restore the Jews to Palestine and a national conversion of the Hebrew people will occur.</strong> It is not claimed that every Jew will be won to Christ; however, such vast multitudes will be saved—numbers proportionate to Israel’s tragic fall—that it is appropriate to refer to the phenomenon as a “national” conversion.<br /><br />One writer describes this so-called “restoration” as follows: <blockquote>The same prophets who predicted the world-wide exile and persecution of the Jews also predicted their restoration as a nation. . . This restoration was to come about in the general time of the climactic seven-year countdown and its finale—the personal appearance of the Messiah to deliver the new state from destruction (Lindsey 1970, 37-38). </blockquote><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">The foregoing theory is quite erroneous in that it repudiates numerous fundamental Bible truths.</span></strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Further, it is exceedingly dangerous in that it offers a false hope to Jews.</span></strong> Walvoord, a millennialist, says that: <blockquote><strong>“This hope of restoration has sustained the Jews through 1900 years of struggle”</strong> (1974, 76). </blockquote><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">This “hope” has been grossly misplaced—thanks, in part at least, to millennialists.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong style="font-style: italic;">Israel in the Divine plan</strong> <p>A balanced study of the nation of Israel must include at least four elements: the selection, testing, rejection, and replacement of the Jewish people.<br /><br /><strong style="font-style: italic;">Selection</strong> </p><p><strong>Almost 2000 years before the birth of Christ, Jehovah selected Abraham to be the founder of a new nation.</strong> It was declared that through him a seed would come by whom all peoples of the earth would be blessed (cf. Genesis 12:1-3; 22:17-18). Several centuries later, Abraham’s offspring were delivered from an era of bondage in Egypt. They were given a special law and ritualistic system of worship which were designed to separate them from the other nations of the world (Exodus 19:5-6; cf. Ephesians 2:14). <strong>All of this, of course, was in view of the coming Messiah</strong> (cf. Galatians 3:24-25; Hebrews 9:1-10).<br /><br /><strong style="font-style: italic;">Testing</strong> </p><p><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">For some 1500 years the Lord God attempted to cultivate the nation of Israel in preparation for the first advent of the Lord Jesus.</span></strong> It was a constant struggle to get the Hebrews to maintain a semblance of fidelity. They grossly violated the law, frequently went after “strange gods,” and they viciously persecuted the prophets that Jehovah sent to call them to repentance. <strong>Jeremiah summarized the history of the Israelite people when he charged that they did “nothing” of all that Jehovah commanded them</strong> (32:23).<br /><br /><strong style="font-style: italic;">Rejection </strong></p><p><strong>Because of the accelerating rebellion of the nation, consummated by the murder of Jesus Christ, God rejected the Hebrew people.<span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"> Inexcusably, the Jews rejected their own Messiah; accordingly, Jehovah repudiated that nation and determined to scatter them as dust </span></strong>(Matthew 21:44). Thus, in the providence of God, the Roman armies came against Palestine in A.D. 70, and Judaism was destroyed (cf. Matthew 22:7; 24:1-34); <strong>the Jewish “vessel” was smashed, and it cannot be put back together</strong> (cf. Jeremiah 19:11). According to Josephus, some 1.1 million Hebrews were slaughtered, and thousands were taken into slavery. All Jewish records were lost in that holocaust. Today, there is not a single Jew who knows his tribal ancestry (McClintock and Strong 1969, 771). The physical nation of Israel is dead. <strong>The “Jews” that make up the State of Israel today (less than 25 percent of the world Jewish population) cannot legitimately be called a “nation.”<br /></strong><br /><strong style="font-style: italic;">Replacement</strong> </p><p><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">As a consequence of Israel’s rejection of the Messiah, God has replaced physical Israel with a new nation, spiritual Israel.</span></strong> <strong>Today, the “Jew” is not one who is so physically, but one who is so inwardly, i.e., spiritually</strong> (Romans 2:28-29). <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">In this age, those who submit to the gospel plan of redemption—whether Jew or Gentile </span></strong>(Romans 1:16)<strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">—become children of God, and thus are constituted as the true “seed of Abraham” </span></strong>(Galatians 3:26-29).</p><strong style="font-style: italic;">Errors of the Premillennial View Regarding the Nation of Israel</strong> <p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">In view of the foregoing considerations, the following factors clearly indicate that the premillennial view of the nation of Israel is erroneous, and it should be rejected by conscientious students of the Bible.</span></strong><br /></span></p><p><strong>First, it is a reflection upon the benevolent character of Jehovah to suggest that he intended to perpetually favor one nation over all others.</strong> Such a notion is at variance with the multiple Bible affirmations which assert the universal love of God, and his just, impartial disposition with reference to the whole human family (cf. Genesis 12:3; Psalm 145:9; Acts 10:34-35). </p><p><strong>Second, the premillennial dogma ignores the fact that God’s initial selection of the Hebrew people, and the acquisition of the land of Canaan, was preparatory to the coming Christ.</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Jehovah employed the Jewish nation as a medium for the introduction of Christ into the world.</span></strong> <span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><strong>Now that the Messianic mission has been accomplished, the role of “national Israel” no longer exists</strong> </span>(cf. Galatians 3:24-25).<strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span>That “middle wall of partition,” designed to isolate Israel from the nations, has been broken down</strong> (Ephesians 2:14).<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> It was abrogated at the cross</span> (Colossians 2:14). <span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102); font-weight: bold;">From the divine viewpoint, old physical Israel has passed away. It has been superseded by a new Israel.</span> </p><p><strong>Third, the Old Testament makes it abundantly clear that Israel’s favor with Jehovah, even under the Mosaic regime, was conditional.</strong> </p><blockquote><p.in>And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that Jehovah thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth (Deuteronomy 28:1). </p.in></blockquote><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">The Hebrews were constantly warned of the consequences of disobedience</span></strong> (cf. 28:15ff).<strong> They could be disinherited as a nation</strong> (Numbers 14:12)<strong> and disfranchised of their land</strong> (Joshua 23:13,16). The truth is, there are about as many Old Testament warnings to Israel as there are promises!<br /><br /><strong>Fourth, there is not a solitary New Testament passage which speaks of the restoration of national Israel and the reinstitution of Judaistic ritualism, etc.</strong> <strong style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">The Old Testament prophecies which predict the literal return of the Hebrews to Palestine were fulfilled in the Jews’ release from political captivity</span></strong> (cf. Jeremiah 29:10; Ezra 1:1). <strong>Other predictions, which speak of a “restoration” of Israel, refer to a spiritual restoration (to God, not Palestine—cf. Isaiah 49:5) through Jehovah’s servant, Christ.</strong> [<strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Note: Sometimes this spiritual restoration to God, through the redemptive work of Christ, is symbolically viewed in terms of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, etc.</span></strong> (cf. Jeremiah 31:38-40).] <strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">This blessing was for Jew and Gentile alike.</span></strong> Study carefully Isaiah 49:5ff, and note Paul’s use of this context in the New Testament (Acts 13:47; 2 Corinthians 6:2).<br /><br /><strong>Fifth, there are many New Testament passages which portray a tragic future for physical Israel, with no hint of a national restoration.<br /></strong><br /><strong style="font-style: italic;">Prophetic Pronouncements Concerning Israel </strong><p><strong>Like modern millennialists, there were Jews of old who felt that there was intrinsic virtue in being a physical descendant of Abraham</strong> (cf. John 8:39). John the Baptizer informed them, however, that God was able to use stones in raising up seed to the patriarch. He then warned: </p><blockquote>“And even now the axe lieth at the root of the trees” (Matthew 3:10). </blockquote><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">The context focuses upon a threatened “wrath to come” (v. 7), which would find its nearest application in the destruction of the Jewish nation by the Romans in A.D. 70.</span></strong> Now here is a vital point. When a tree is cut down, there is hope that it will sprout again, provided its stump or roots remain (cf. Job 14:7,8; Isaiah 11:1). But when the axe is laid at the root, where is the hope of restoration? There simply is none!<br /><br /><strong>Christ once pronounced a curse upon a barren fig tree near Jerusalem.</strong> The tree served as an apt illustration of fruitless national Israel. Jesus declared: <blockquote>“Let there be no fruit from thee henceforth for ever” (Matthew 21:19). </blockquote>Where is the hope in that? <strong>Later, on that same Tuesday, just prior to Friday’s crucifixion, the Lord announced to the Jews, </strong><blockquote><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);"><strong>“The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” </strong></span></span>(21:43). </blockquote><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">In other words, barren national Israel would be replaced by fruitful spiritual Israel, the church</span></strong> (cf. 1 Peter 2:9; Galatians 6:16).<br /><br /><strong>In the parable of the marriage of the king’s son, Jesus spoke concerning those who spurned the royal invitation.</strong> It was prophesied that the king (God) would send his armies (the Romans), and destroy those murderers (the Jews), and burn their city (Jerusalem). Why? They “were [imperfect tense—sustained state] not worthy” (Matthew 22:1-8).<span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"> <strong>Is there any suggestion of restoration there?</strong></span> Later, in 23:38, Christ warned: <blockquote><strong>“Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”</strong> </blockquote>The term “house,” as Bloomfield notes, refers not merely to the temple alone, but to the whole Jewish nation, especially its metropolis (1837, 116). <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">“Left desolate” has a note of finality about it.</span><br /></strong><br /><strong>In the parable of the barren fig tree (</strong>Luke 13:6-9), <strong>it is suggested that fruitless Israel would be soon cut down.</strong> <blockquote>“This parable gives Israel to know that its life is only a respite, and that this respite is nearing its end” (Godet 1879, 119). </blockquote>There is no suggestion that the “tree” would spring up again. Strange indeed—if millennialism is true.<br /><br /><strong>In another parable, uttered shortly before his death, Jesus depicted himself as a nobleman who was going into a far country (heaven) to receive for himself a kingdom (the church).</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Later, he would return (the second coming).</span></strong> <span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">However, while he was in that distant land, his citizens (the Jews) hated him (imperfect tense—abiding hatred) and sent this message to him:</span></strong> </span><blockquote><strong>“We will not [present tense—continued determination] that [you] reign over us”</strong> (Luke 19:14). </blockquote><strong>Even millennialists admit that this refers to the Jewish rejection of Christ</strong> (Martin 1983, 252). Without the remotest suggestion that there would be an alteration of this hateful Jewish disposition, the nobleman, “when he was come back” (v. 15), characterized these citizens as his “enemies,” and commanded they be slain (v. 27). <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">The language describes “the state of rejection in which [the Jews] are plunged till the Lord’s return”</span></strong> (Godet 1879, 223).<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">In yet another parable, Jesus foretold Israel’s rejection of the gospel, and the subsequent success of the kingdom of heaven among the Gentiles.</span></strong> Of those stubborn Jews, he declared: <blockquote>“[N]one of those men who were bidden shall taste of my supper” (Luke 14:24). This refers, of course, to the Jewish majority that refused the gospel (a remnant accepted the invitation—cf. Romans 11:5). </blockquote><strong>Why did not the Lord give some clue that eventually there would be a massive Jewish acceptance of his invitation?</strong><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">In Luke’s account of the Olivet discourse, Christ, alluding to Jerusalem’s impending destruction, declared that the city would be “trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled”</strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"> </span>(Luke 21:24). The term “trodden down” is a present tense participle, suggesting prolonged hardships (though not necessarily uninterrupted) for Jerusalem (and what she represented—the nation). <strong>This oppression was to continue until the “times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”</strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"><strong style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">The phrase “times of the Gentiles” is an expression for the current age.</strong> </span>It implies a “times of the Jews” (i.e., the Mosaic period). <strong style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">For fifteen centuries the Hebrews were Jehovah’s special people—an era which might be appropriately termed “the times of the Jews.”</strong> <strong style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">When they rejected the Messiah, that age of prominence (called a “reign”—Matthew 21:43) ended.</span></strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"> </span><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">It was superseded by “the times of the Gentiles”—the Christian age.</span></strong> It is clear that Israel is to be the recipient of divine retribution throughout the Christian era.<br /><br /><strong>Millennialists argue, however, that Jerusalem was to be trodden down only “until” the times of the Gentiles is fulfilled.</strong> After that time, they contend, Jerusalem will be exalted to her former glory. The key word in their argument is “until” (Greek, achri). Premillennialists assume the term has a temporal implication in Luke 21:24, thus implying a reversal of events after the time specified. <strong>But the assumption is unwarranted.</strong> The term achri frequently has a terminal thrust in the New Testament. Consider, for example, Revelation 2:25, where Christ sought to encourage the saints at Thyatira: <blockquote>“[T]hat which ye have, hold fast till I come.” </blockquote>Does this suggest that these Christians will relinquish their blessings when he comes? Of course not. <strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">Similarly, just because the Lord declared that Jerusalem would be trodden down until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled, that does not imply that, following “the times of the Gentiles,” the city would be restored to some sort of divine glory.</span></strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> </span>Proof for such a theory will have to be found somewhere other than in the word “until.” <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">The truth of the matter is, God’s wrath has come upon Israel “to the uttermost”</span></strong> (1 Thessalonians 2:16).<br /><br /><strong>In his letter to the Romans, Paul contends that “a hardening in part hath befallen Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in”</strong> (11:25). There are several important matters that need to be noted here. <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">First, the “hardening” was the Jewish disbelief in Christ.</span></strong> Second, the “in part” suggests that this lack of faith was characteristic of only a portion of the nation; <strong>there was a remnant that did believe</strong> (cf. 9:27; 11:5,14). Third, the verb “hath befallen” is a perfect tense form, stressing the abiding nature of that hardness—until the fulness of the Gentiles comes in. <strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Fourth, “fulness of the Gentiles” simply denotes the accomplishment of Jehovah’s purpose among the Gentiles (or the “nations”). </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">In other words, Israel’s hardness will remain until the end of the present dispensation.</span></strong> As B.M. Christiansen comments: <blockquote>“This partial hardening will continue throughout the time of the Gentiles, i.e., until Christ’s return” (cf. Lenski 1961, 174). </blockquote><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153);">Since the hardening of Israel was not total, but only “in part,” there was/is still hope that many Jews may be saved.</span> </span></strong>But how will the Jews be saved? <strong>They will be saved by their acceptance of the gospel</strong> (Romans 10:12-16),<strong> and their surrender to the Deliverer from Zion</strong> (11:26). <span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"><strong>This provides the correct meaning of “so all Israel shall be saved.”</strong> </span>The word “so” is an adverb of manner, meaning, “in this way.” <strong>Hence, it is in this way (the way of obeying Christ) that all Israel (who are saved) shall be saved.</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">This passage does not affirm a nation-wide conversion of the people of Israel.<br /></span></strong><br /><strong>The theory that Paul expected a mass conversion of Israel is flawed on several accounts:</strong> <ol><li>It contradicts his entire line of argument in Romans 9-11. </li><li>It leaves as inexplicable the throbbing anguish for his brethren in the flesh, which saturates this entire section. For instance, Paul writes: “For I could wish [potential imperfect—”I kept being on point of wishing"] that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren’s sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh" (Romans 9:3). Why—if he knew that a national conversion of Israel was an ultimate reality? </li></ol><div align="center"><object width="640" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YYWlB64upSc&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YYWlB64upSc&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="640" height="390"></embed></object></div><br /><strong style="font-style: italic;">Conclusion</strong> <p><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">The premillennial concept of the “nation of Israel” is clearly erroneous.</span> There is no promise of a national conversion of Israel in the Bible.</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">The gospel is still God’s power to save both Jew and Greek (Romans 1:16), and all who possess hearts that are “honest and good” (Luke 8: 15) will accept it.</span></strong> The only “hope” for Israel is in the cross of Christ (see Acts 26:6-23).<br /><br /><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >Wayne Jackson has written for and edited the Christian Courier since its inception in 1965. He has also written several books on a variety of biblical topics including The Bible and Science, Creation, Evolution, and the Age of the Earth, The Bible on Trial, and a number of commentaries. He lives in Stockton, California with his dear wife and life-long partner, Betty.</span></p><div style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 50%; -moz-background-size: auto auto; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;"><div align="center"><a href="http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/"><strong>A Synopsis of Zionism and the Israel/Palestine Conflict</strong> </a><img alt="Historic Palestine" src="http://i42.tinypic.com/23sjhmx.jpg" width="245" align="left" border="1" height="210" /><br /><div align="justify">For thousands of years there was no conflict in Palestine. In the 19th century, the land of Palestine was inhabited by a multicultural population of Palestinian Arabs — approximately 86 percent Muslim, 10 percent Christian, and 4 percent Jewish. For centuries these groups lived in harmony.<br /><br />In the late 1800s, a group in Europe decided to colonize this land. Known as "Zionists," this group consisted of an <a href="http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/hirst.html">extremist minority of the Jewish population</a> who wanted to create a Jewish homeland. They considered locations in Africa and the Americas before settling on Palestine, where the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel">Jewish State of Israel </a>was established in 1948.<br /><br />Largely due to one-sided special-interest lobbying by AIPAC, <a href="http://www.wrmea.com/html/us_aid_to_israel.htm#Taxpayer">the U.S. has given more funds to Israel than to any other nation</a>: $85 billion in grants, loans and commodities since 1949, with an additional $50 billion in interest costs for advance payments, for a total cost of $135 billion or $23,240 per Israeli. During fiscal year 2007, the U.S. gave <a href="http://www.ifamericansknew.org/">an average of $7 million per day</a> to the State of Israel. </div><a href="http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/ref-nakba.html"><br /><strong>Palestinian Loss of Land 1946-2005</strong><br /><img alt="Palestinian Loss of Land 1946-2005" src="http://i41.tinypic.com/2wddbbq.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><strong><a href="http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/antisemitism/holocaust/gedalyaliebermann.cfm">Jews Against Zionism</a></strong> </div><div align="justify">"Although there are those who refuse to accept the teachings of our rabbis and will continue to support the Zionist state, there are also many who are totally unaware of the history of Zionism and its contradiction to the beliefs of Torah-True Jews. From its inception, many rabbis warned of the potential dangers of Zionism and openly declared that all Jews loyal to God should stay away from it like one would from fire. They made their opinions clear to their congregants and to the general public. Their message was that Zionism is a chauvinistic racist phenomenon which has absolutely naught to do with Judaism. They publicly expressed that Zionism would definitely be detrimental to the well being of Jews and Gentiles and that its effects on the Jewish religion would be nothing other than destructive. Further, it would taint the reputation of Jewry as a whole and would cause utter confusion in the Jewish and non-Jewish communities. Judaism is a religion. Judaism is not a race or a nationality. That was and still remains the consensus amongst the rabbis."<br /><br />"We were given the Holy Land by God in order to be able to study and practice the Torah without disturbance and to attain levels of holiness difficult to attain outside of the Holy Land. We abused the privilege and we were expelled. That is exactly what all Jews say in their prayers on every Jewish festival, 'Umipnay chatoenu golinu mayartsaynu'—'Because of our sins, we were expelled from our land.'"<br /><br />"We have been forsworn by God 'not to enter the Holy Land as a body before the predestined time;' 'not to rebel against the nations;' to be loyal citizens, not to do anything against the will of any nation or its honour; not to seek vengeance, discord, restitution or compensation; 'not to leave exile ahead of time.' On the contrary, we have to be humble and accept the yoke of exile. To violate the oaths would result in 'your flesh will be made prey as the deer and the antelope in the forest,' and the redemption will be delayed."</div></div><div align="center"><a name="judeo-christianity"></a><h3 class="subheadlinemain"><a href="http://whtt.org/index.php?news=2&id=3307">The Unacceptable Cost of Judeo-Christianity — Its Legacy of Pain</a></h3>By Charles E. Carlson, We Hold These Truths<br />October 5, 2009</div><br /><em></em><strong style="font-style: italic;">The Unacceptable Cost</strong><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Far and near, high and clear,<br />Hark to the call of War.<br />Over the gorse and the golden dells,<br />Ringing and swinging the clamorous bells,<br />Praying and saying of wild farewells:<br />War! War! War! (Robert W. Service - 1918)</span><br /><br /><strong>No religious persuasion has ever been more clearly responsible for so much bloodshed and destruction as has “Christian Zionism.”</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">This 100-year old offshoot of fundamental Christianity has almost single-handedly legitimized wars in Arab states since January 1991.</span></strong> Its destructive power is only now being understood.<br /><br />We Hold These Truths’ objective for nine years has been to explain why members of this loosely knit group we call Judeo-Christianity thinks and acts as though political Israel was a god. We have documented how they have been misled, especially at the seminary level, by deliberately corrupted scripture and commentaries about scripture, which has then been taught from thousands of pulpits and media outlets. <strong style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">We have amply covered the changes made in the Bible(s) used by Christian Zionists in prior referenced works.</strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">We note again that the grassroots individuals within this movement are almost always motivated by altruistic religious belief (this author was once one of these),</span> <span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">while the driving force behind their leaders is almost always tainted by money and the power of fame.</span><br /></strong><br />This paper explores how Christian Zionism is co-opted by a foreign lobby, AIPAC, and used to carry out Israeli objectives. AIPAC and its powers were well documented in 1994, in <em>One Nation under Israel</em> by Andrew J Hurley, and published by We Hold These Truths.<br /><br />Southern Baptist pastor Jerry Falwell (who died in 2007) may have been the first leader to recognize the potential for <strong>linking dispensational Christianity with Zionism</strong> and harness its combined power into a political movement with loyalty to the state of Israel as its primary and passionate mission. In the early 1980s, Falwell called his fledgling army “The Moral Majority.” It was later referred to as the “Christian Right.” <strong>Today the millions of people who have made the present state of Israel the centerpiece of their Christian religion have been given the name “Christian Zionists.”</strong><br /><br />We Hold These Truths prefers to describe both the <strong>Christian Zionist</strong> leaders and their misled followers as “<strong>Judeo-Christians</strong>,” a broadly accepted term, <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">to reflect the fact that the religion they are following is no longer traditional Christianity, but one into which Judaism was injected, producing a radically altered hybrid.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-style: italic;">Essential Facts about Christian Zionism</span><br /></strong><br /><strong>First:</strong> It must be understood what Judeo-Christianity (also called “evangelicalism,” dispensationalism or Christian Zionism) is: by any name, <span style="font-weight: bold;">a 20th Century phenomena,</span> an apostate-cult, meaning it practices, in part, a deviant path of following Christ, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">and it relies upon many varied human sources other than the traditional bible(s) for its theology.</span><br /><br /><strong>Second:</strong> Judeo-Christianity ascribes holiness to a foreign political state, Israel, as though it was itself a god. <strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">It placed political Israel on the throne along side of Jesus Christ, and, in so doing, its teachers ignore, if not annul, much of Jesus’ teachings.</span><br /></strong><br /><strong>Third:</strong> Rank and file churchgoers and many lesser known Judeo-Christian pastors think of themselves as moral, <strong>even when they are actively contributing to immoral acts, such as supporting mass military assassinations in Gaza and the West Bank</strong>. They do not consider these acts immoral because they believe events are ordained, or even demanded, by God.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Anger against Christian Zionists is misplaced, because they, too, are victims of their own acts.</span></strong> They probably bring more suffering upon themselves and their families than any other middle class group. Judeo-Christians parents rarely oppose any war that Israel favors, so it is quite likely more... [of their children] are killed in military combat than, for instance, the sons of agnostics or other religious groups. We have yet to find reliable data to support this argument, so it is offered strictly as this author’s observation and opinion based on many talks with parents and youths at churches where we have conducted vigils.<br /><br /><strong>Finally, Judeo-Christianity is much larger than generally believed and is active in every state and community in the USA.</strong> The new CNN.com six-hour television feature, God's Warriors, hosted by CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, stated in the introductory segment:<br /><blockquote>“A recent poll found that 59 percent of American evangelicals believe Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. She also asserted: “The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates 85 million evangelicals believe God tells them to support Israel — more than six times the world's Jewish population." </blockquote>Several Pew Foundation polls have supported this statement over the last four years and, in fact, may suggest higher percentages than used by CNN.<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">For these several reasons Judeo-Christianity can easily be used by its leader, and by the leaders of Israel, to carry out a political agenda that favors that foreign political state over and ahead of the interests of America, and ahead of the interest of any humans in the USA or any other country except Israel.</strong><br /><br /><strong>For the most part, followers of the cult do not know they are being used.</strong> Without this understanding, many are confused between Judeo-Christian religion and its political agenda. Pro-Israel activists, including John Hagee, should rightly be registered as agents for a foreign government, so open are their objectives. <strong style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Some of our allies against serial wars attribute them to Israel, working through its agents and lobbies for the purpose of gaining US dollar support and creating chaos in the Middle East for its own benefit.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>Much is finally being exposed</strong> <strong>about the powerful Israeli lobby led by the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). AIPAC's agenda</strong> calls for the USA to finance and bless its occupation of its neighbors, and eventually control the oil of the Middle East, tactics that are contrary to American interests.<br /><br />Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have written a powerful paper, <em>The Israel Lobby</em>, which tells us Israel has too much influence in US Foreign Policy. Their paper has led to a soon to be released and much anticipated book that is making giant waves across the world even before it is printed, as Israel seeks to prevent its promotion.<br /><br />We Hold These Truths sees hope. <strong><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">Educating the laymen within our own churches, especially mainline churches, can break Israel’s power-hold over our politicians, and it can restore others to follow Christ instead of Israel.</span> </strong>More important, we see no other way to do it!<br /><br />Without the voting support of church, Israel’s well-established desire to see Iraq destroyed and its oil divided up resulted in the first gulf war in 1991, and the present contemplated devastation of Iran is nearly unstoppable. <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">AIPAC and many American businessmen have profit interests in war and campaign for new wars as a matter of business, but it is the Judeo-Christians who have provided the grassroots clout to keep the War On Islam churning.<br /></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-style: italic;">The Dollar Cost of Killing</span><br /></strong><br /><strong>The occupation of Iraq paralyzed the oil production from the second largest oil resource in the world.</strong> Before the occupation, it did not cost $50 to fill the family car. Before the occupation, Christian Zionist children and grandchildren could afford milk at a cost per gallon less than diesel fuel, and truck drivers could afford both milk and fuel. Before “wars” on Iraq, American industry was healthy and had not yet been shipped to China.<br /><br /><strong>Our economic catastrophe is real, lead by the real estate and mortgage bubble.</strong> Why? Because the cost of a war is over 500 thousand million dollars and most of the money has been printed, so it will have to be repaid in higher prices later on. This judgment is like a foul smelling vapor that cannot be put back in the bottle. <strong>I use the word “catastrophe”</strong> where others talk of “crisis” because crisis can sometimes be avoided and often leads to practical solutions. Not so with our “catastrophe.” <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">We have passed the crisis stage years ago when we began serial wars for economic purposes, printing the money to pay for them.</span><br /></strong><br /><strong>There is no end to the amount of price inflation we can expect</strong> -- food prices will surely be the next to skyrocket on our shopping list for reasons to be explained in our next issue. Judeo-Christians as a group are most responsible for our dollar dilution, because it is they that supported the wars for which all these dollars were wasted on killing people.<br /><br />Christian Zionist leaders like Gary Bauer, John Hagee and Pat Robertson are not the only ones who believe the Christian Zionist vote controls the USA. Politician Tom Delay, who was an ardent supporter of every war against Islam, recently was quoted as saying at <em>John Hagee’s Night to Honor Israel</em> in Washington, DC, that he not only “believes in the Rapture, I live for it.” Too bad Delay left the world in such a mess just before his anticipated departure.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-style: italic;">Israel Lobby Harness Judeo-Christianity</span><br /></strong><br />Every politician in Congress and those competing for the presidency know George W. Bush became president because he and Carl Rove found a way to identify Bush with the Christian Right, but to get this blessing one must also be Israel blessed. Even today 70% of Republicans support Bush and his war in Iraq because what is left of the Republican Party is predominantly Judeo-Christian.<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">The relationship between the Christian-Zionists leaders and AIPAC is simple and straightforward.</strong> AIPAC pressures Congressmen in Washington to give Israel what it wants, the Christian-Zionist celebrities brainwash the laymen in hometowns to pressure the Congressmen at the polls, and the Congressman takes a junket to Israel and complies. <strong>Congress is in the vice between the strongest lobby in Washington and the biggest lobbying voting block in the country. </strong>Why would they listen to you or me?<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-style: italic;">Christians Are Deceived By Zionism</span><br /></strong><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Misguided Christians have been used to fight and support war from the 11th Century Crusades to Iraq.</span></strong> The names have changed but the message has not. A Pope who called himself Urban II is said to have told the bishop and earls, who were to lead the First Crusaders, that it was up to them to rid the Holy Land of infidels so “Jesus could return there.” They passed this message on to the peasants who suffered and died for this false cause for the better part of 200 years. The result was the feudal system in Europe.<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Judeo-Christianity, like Pope Urban II, teaches we all must honor Israel ahead of America, and even rebuild a temple there before Jesus will come.</strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span>The story has hardly changed in a thousand years.<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"> </span><strong style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Never mind the fact that Jesus did not seem to say anything like this.</span></strong> Urban II did not share his private economic dreams with the peasants, but he did tell the leaders of the Crusade that the purpose of holy wars was for the loot, and the Crusaders proved to be expert looters.<br /><br />The leaders of the Christian Zionists (Hagee, Robertson and a hundred more) are the knights and barons at the head of the Crusades’ columns. Their loot comes in the mail and in credit card contributions from the peasant foot soldiers.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-style: italic;">Human Cost to the Judeo-Christian Families</span><br /></strong><br />Church-going Americans are not only going in debt for war, they supply their sons and daughters to be killed and maimed in the contest. Celebrity Zionists beat the drums for war that Israel wants, but I have not heard of Hagee’s or Farwell’s son enlisting, or any of the Congressmen’s children.<br /><br />The scorched foot soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan include a disproportionately large number of Judeo-Christians who, we believe, often enlist because mom and dad raised them in the Judeo-Christian church where volunteering is considered noble, even today after Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. <strong>Their youths are taught that if we honor Israel we earn blessings for America from God.</strong> It is these young men [and women] who pay with shattered bodies and broken minds for the free junkets to Israel taken by a reported 80 Congressmen in August 2007.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">"Where are you going, Young Fellow My Lad,<br />On this glittering morn of May?"<br />"I'm going to join the Colors, Dad,<br />They're looking for men, they say."<br />"But you're only a boy, Young Fellow My Lad,<br />You aren't obliged to go."<br />"Well, I'm seventeen and a quarter, Dad,<br />And ever so strong, you know."</span><br /><br />Recently I was introduced to a sandy-haired, smiling 26-year old with a crushing handshake. But he walked haltingly on two steel legs, and his hip joints are also man-made, so terrible were his wounds in a rocket attack in Iraq. He talked of friends who have died. He was 17 when he enlisted and the army is all he knows; he would go back to his unit. It did not surprise me when this clean cut young American told me he is a Southern Baptist… every bit a gentleman, he looked and acted the part. He confided that his mother has recently become adamantly against the War (though he could not bring himself to engage in “political talk”). I know that this mother must be thinking… if only she had been pro-peace before her young son enlisted seven years ago.<br /><br />We Hold These Truths has heard other stories from boys with a Judeo-Christian upbringing whose parents did not know they needed to guard their children from recruiters. <strong>We owe it to every Judeo-Christian to tell them about the cost of our serial wars against Islamic non-enemies.</strong> The giant Israeli Lobby does what it wants in its own interest... in Israel's interest, and they will not stop, no matter what we do.<br /><br />We must blame those who have influence, the Christ follower who mistakenly listens to the celebrity Christian leaders and who are themselves victims. What has the Judeo-Christian movement given back to America? <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">It has sacrificed the value of loving your brother as yourself, as Jesus demanded… even loving your enemy.</span></strong> <strong>It has left in its place a legacy of hatred, war, violence, and diluted money, all in the name of Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament.</strong> This can and must be changed from inside these apostate churches and media sources.<br /><br />We need to appeal to the sense of morality of Judeo-Christians. Its members are directly responsible for the three current crises in American culture, these being the War, inflation, and the breakdown of morality that always accompanies war. <strong>They do it for only one reason: they are led into following an apostate Christianity that started only about 100 years ago, first legitimized by Cyrus I Scofield.</strong><br /><br />We conclude that there could have been no Shock and Awe or war of occupation in Iraq were it not for the Christian Zionists’ zealous campaign to destroy Muslim nations. <span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"><strong>The now publicly-acknowledged War on Islam is in fact already 17 years old.</strong> </span>Project Strait Gate was started to challenge it in its very lair. Jesus and his disciples took their arguments to the temple and the synagogues. We are doing the same.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">What is the matter, Young Fellow My Lad?<br />No letter again to-day.<br />Why did the postman look so sad,<br />And sigh as he turned away?<br />Well, I hear them tell that we've gained new ground,<br />But a terrible price we've paid:<br />God grant, my boy, that you're safe and sound;<br />But oh I'm afraid, afraid.</span><br /><div align="center"><br /><h3 class="subheadlinemain"><a href="http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/wdoor.html">The People of God, the Land of Israel, and the Impartiality of the Gospel</a></h3><a href="http://www.knoxseminary.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=21729">Knox Theological Seminary</a><br />Originally Published in 2002</div><br />Recently a number of leaders in the Protestant community of the United States have urged the endorsement of far-reaching and unilateral political commitments to the people and land of Israel in the <a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/search/label/Israeli-Palestinian%20Conflict">Israeli-Palestinian conflict</a>, citing Holy Scripture as the basis for those commitments. To strengthen their endorsement, several of these leaders have also insisted that they speak on behalf of the seventy million people who constitute the American evangelical community.<br /><br />It is good and necessary for evangelical leaders to speak out on the great moral issues of our day in obedience to Christ's call for His disciples to be salt and light in the world. It is quite another thing, however, when leaders call for commitments that are based upon a serious misreading of Holy Scripture. In such instances, it is good and necessary for other evangelical leaders to speak out as well. <strong>We do so here in the hope that we may contribute to the cause of the Lord Christ, apart from whom there can never be true and lasting peace in the world.</strong><br /><br />At the heart of the political commitments in question are two fatally flawed propositions: <ol><li>First, some are teaching that God's alleged favor toward Israel today is based upon ethnic descent rather than upon the grace of Christ alone, as proclaimed in the Gospel.</li><p></p><li>Second, others are teaching that the Bible's promises concerning the land are fulfilled in a special political region or "Holy Land" perpetually set apart by God for one ethnic group alone.</li></ol><p></p><p>As a result of these false claims, large segments of the evangelical community, our fellow citizens, and our government are being misled with regard to the Bible's teachings concerning the people of God, the land of Israel, and the impartiality of the Gospel.<br /><br />In what follows, we make our convictions public. We do so by acknowledging the genuine evangelical faith of many who will not agree with us. Knowing that we may incur their disfavor, we are nevertheless constrained by Scripture and by conscience to publish the following propositions for the cause of Christ and truth.<br /><br /><strong>The Gospel offers eternal life in heaven to Jews and Gentiles alike as a free gift in Jesus Christ.<span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"> Eternal life in heaven is not earned or deserved, nor is it based upon ethnic descent or natural birth.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">All human beings, Jews and Gentiles alike, are sinners, and, as such, they are under God's judgment of death.</strong> Because God's standard is perfect obedience and all are sinners, it is impossible for anyone to gain temporal peace or eternal life by his own efforts. Moreover, apart from Christ, there is no special divine favor upon any member of any ethnic group; nor, apart from Christ, is there any divine promise of an earthly land or a heavenly inheritance to anyone, whether Jew or Gentile. <strong>To teach or imply otherwise is nothing less than to compromise the Gospel itself.</strong><br /><br />God, the Creator of all mankind, is merciful and takes no pleasure in punishing sinners. Yet God is also holy and just and must punish sin. <strong style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Therefore, to satisfy both His justice and His mercy, God has appointed one way of salvation for all, whether Jew or Gentile, in Jesus Christ alone.</strong> Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man, came into the world to save sinners. <strong>In His death upon the cross, Jesus was the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, of Jew and of Gentile alike.</strong><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">The death of Jesus forever fulfilled and eternally ended the sacrifices of the Jewish temple.</strong> All who would worship God, whether Jew or Gentile, must now come to Him in spirit and truth through Jesus Christ alone. The worship of God is no longer identified with any specific earthly sanctuary. <strong>He receives worship only through Jesus Christ, the eternal and heavenly Temple.</strong> To as many as receive and rest upon Christ alone through faith alone, to Jews and Gentiles alike, God gives eternal life in His heavenly inheritance.<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">The inheritance promises that God gave to Abraham were made effective through Christ, Abraham's True Seed.</strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"> </span>These promises were not and cannot be made effective through sinful man's keeping of God's law. Rather, the promise of an inheritance is made to those only who have faith in Jesus, the True Heir of Abraham. <strong>All spiritual benefits are derived from Jesus, and apart from Him there is no participation in the promises.</strong><br /><br />Since Jesus Christ is the Mediator of the Abrahamic Covenant, all who bless Him and His people will be blessed of God, and all who curse Him and His people will be cursed of God. <strong>These promises do not apply to any particular ethnic group, but to the Church of Jesus Christ, the true Israel.</strong><br /><br />The people of God, whether the church of Israel in the wilderness in the Old Testament or the Israel of God among the Gentile Galatians in the New Testament, are one body who through Jesus will receive the promise of the heavenly city, the everlasting Zion. <strong>This heavenly inheritance has been the expectation of the people of God in all ages.</strong><br /><br />Jesus taught that His resurrection was the raising of the True Temple of Israel. <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">He has replaced the priesthood, sacrifices, and sanctuary of Israel by fulfilling them in His own glorious priestly ministry and by offering, once and for all, His sacrifice for the world; that is, for both Jew and Gentile.</span> </strong>Believers from all nations are now being built up through Him into this Third Temple, the Church that Jesus promised to build.<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Simon Peter spoke of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus in conjunction with the final judgment and the punishment of sinners.</strong> <strong>Instructively, this same Simon Peter, the Apostle to the Circumcision, says nothing about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel in the land of Palestine.</strong> Instead, as his readers contemplate the promise of Jesus' Second Coming, he fixes their hope upon the new heavens and the new earth, in which righteousness dwells.<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">The entitlement of any one ethnic or religious group to territory in the Middle East called the "Holy Land" cannot be supported by Scripture.</strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);"> </span>In fact, the land promises specific to Israel in the Old Testament were fulfilled under Joshua. The New Testament speaks clearly and prophetically about the destruction of the second temple in A.D. 70. No New Testament writer foresees a regathering of ethnic Israel in the land, as did the prophets of the Old Testament after the destruction of the first temple in 586 B.C.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Moreover, the land promises of the Old Covenant are consistently and deliberately expanded in the New Testament to show the universal dominion of Jesus, who reigns from heaven upon the throne of David,</span> inviting all the nations through the Gospel of Grace to partake of His universal and everlasting dominion.</strong><br /><br />Bad Christian theology regarding the "Holy Land" contributed to the tragic cruelty of the Crusades in the Middle Ages. Lamentably, bad Christian theology is today attributing to secular Israel a divine mandate to conquer and hold Palestine, with the consequence that the Palestinian people are marginalized and regarded as virtual "Canaanites." <strong>This doctrine is both contrary to the teaching of the New Testament and a violation of the Gospel mandate.</strong> In addition, this theology puts those Christians who are urging the violent seizure and occupation of Palestinian land in moral jeopardy of their own bloodguiltiness.<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Are we as Christians not called to pray for and work for peace, warning both parties to this conflict that those who live by the sword will die by the sword?</strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"> </span>Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring both temporal reconciliation and the hope of an eternal and heavenly inheritance to the Israeli and the Palestinian. <strong>Only through Jesus Christ can anyone know peace on earth.</strong><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">The promised Messianic kingdom of Jesus Christ has been inaugurated.</strong> Its advent marks the focal point of human history. This kingdom of the Messiah is continuing to realize its fullness as believing Jews and Gentiles are added to the community of the redeemed in every generation. <strong>The same kingdom will be manifested in its final and eternal form with the return of Christ the King in all His glory.</strong><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Of all the nations, the Jewish people played the primary role in the coming of the Messianic kingdom.</strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"> </span>New Testament Scripture declares that to them were given the oracles of God, the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises. Theirs are the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and from them, according to the flesh, came Christ. <strong>Salvation is, indeed, of the Jews.</strong><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">While affirming the Scriptural teaching that there is no salvation outside of Christ,</strong> Christians should acknowledge with heartfelt sorrow and grief the frequent oppression of the Jews in history, sometimes tragically done in the name of the cross.<br /><br />But what are we to make of the unbelief of Israel? Has their unbelief made the faithfulness of God without effect for them? <strong>No, God has not completely rejected the people of Israel, and we join the apostle Paul in his earnest prayer for the salvation of his Jewish kinsmen according to the flesh.</strong><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">There always has been and always will be a remnant that is saved.</strong> While not all Israel will experience the blessing of participation in the Messianic kingdom, yet Jews who do come to faith in Christ will share in His reign throughout the present age and into eternity.<br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">In addition, it is not as though the rejection of some in Israel for unbelief serves no purpose.</strong> On the contrary, because they were broken off in unbelief, the Gospel has gone to the Gentiles, who now, through faith, partake of the blessings to the fathers <strong>and join with believing Jews to constitute the true Israel of God, the Church of Jesus Christ.<br /></strong><br />The present secular state of Israel, however, is not an authentic or prophetic realization of the Messianic kingdom of Jesus Christ. <strong style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Furthermore, a day should not be anticipated in which Christ's kingdom will manifest Jewish distinctives, whether by its location in "the land," by its constituency, or by its ceremonial institutions and practices.</strong><br /><br /><strong style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">Instead, this present age will come to a climactic conclusion with the arrival of the final, eternal phase of the kingdom of the Messiah.</strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);"> </span>At that time, all eyes, even of those who pierced Him, will see the King in His glory. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.<br /><br />In light of the grand prophetic expectation of the New Testament, we urge our evangelical brothers and sisters to return to the proclamation of the free offer of Christ's grace in the Gospel to all the children of Abraham, to pray for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and to promise all humanitarian sympathy and practical support for those on both sides who are suffering in this current vicious cycle of atrocity and displacement.</p><div align="center"><h3 class="subheadlinemain"><a href="http://www.federalobserver.com/archive.php?aid=7981">Judeo-Christians’ Role—Mr. Sharon’s Final Solution</a> </h3>By Charles E. Carlson, <a onclick="'alert(" href="http://whtt.org/" target="_blank">We Hold These Truths</a><br />June 16, 2004</div><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">A powerful new lobby tells the world its purpose is to direct Congress to act on behalf of the State of Israel.<br /></span></strong><br /><strong>Unity Coalition for Israel (UCI)* is strictly an Israeli controlled organization that calls for a militant, no compromise solution to its Arab problem.</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">What makes UCI unique among radical Israeli political groups is that it finds its support among prominent USA <a onclick="'alert(" href="http://www.thepropheticyears.com/wordpress/2009/04/16/majority-of-christians-in-america-claim-that-the-holy-spirit-and-satan-are-symbols-and-not-living-entities.html" target="_blank">professing Christians</a>.</span></strong><br /><br />Some stumping Americans raise the UCI agenda in colleges and churches. <strong>In fact, the UCI “Christians” go far beyond the Israelis in their call for Arab blood.</strong><br /><br />This paper examines who these Judeo-Christians are, their motives, and the impact on peace in the world.<br /><br />Israeli political lobbies in the US Congress are hardly new. <strong>Upward to 100 pro-Israel PACs swarm over the American Washington, approaching every new candidate for Congress before his fur is dry.</strong> Most big campaigns, in the past, have been orchestrated by the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). As detailed in Andrew Hurley's book, <em>Holocaust II Saving Israel from Suicide</em>, <strong>former Congressmen, for three decades, have privately and occasionally publicly, called AIPAC the most powerful lobby in Washington.</strong> Few dare talk about it in public.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">What makes UCI different from AIPAC is that its lobbyists are mostly celebrity “Christians.”</span></strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Nevertheless, strictly Israelis and American non-Christians control the organization.</span></strong> This might be likened to a flock of turkeys laboring for the elimination of fox skin coats.<br /><br /><strong>UCI does not stop with bending Congress; it openly and without reservation seeks to re-define Christianity to conform to Judaic requirements, <span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);"><a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/search/label/Israeli-Palestinian%20Conflict">seeking Christian support for Israel’s policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians,</a></span> while openly declaring that its aims are to control the rest of the Middle East.</strong> The foxes, it seems, pay the Christian turkeys to perch on the low limbs.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">UCI’s attitude toward the Palestinians and Arabs, in general, suggests its solution can only be obtained by genocide.</span></strong> To some it would seem strange that prominent professing Christians would support this militant agenda, but in fact violence is endemic to a certain cult of militant-Christians, and they are those who are part of UCI. <strong>They help spread the justifications throughout evangelical churches, and lately in a major effort on college campuses, for the liquidation of the Palestinian people.</strong><br /><br /><strong>Let us first take a close look at what UCI tells us about itself.</strong> <blockquote>According to its own claims, it is an Israeli Lobby in the US Congress, but it is much more an activist lightning rod to attract and promote Christians willing to support a violent solution in Palestine, including liquidation of the Palestinians. <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">It is important to observe that UCI is strictly a Zionist-Jewish controlled business.</span></strong> Rabbis and self-proclaimed Israeli militants are listed as it directors with only two or three exceptions. In its own words, it seeks goals to end resistance in Palestine that can only be achieved militarily or by assassination. <strong>Individually these goals seem careless and incomplete, but let’s put these three goals together: <span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">they only work by killing and imprisoning Palestinians</span>.</strong> </blockquote><strong>Let us look at UCI’s stated purposes.</strong> <blockquote>We quote from the UCI website: Who is Unity Coalition for Israel?<br /><br />“Since July 1991, the National Unity Coalition for Israel (now Unity Coalition for Israel) has cultivated American support for a strong and secure Israel,” and “Israel is not just a Jewish issue. Millions of Christians resolutely endorse the principle of peace with security for the state of Israel.”<br /><br />One stated goal is:<br /><br />“Cessation of Palestinian terrorism and incitement.” </blockquote>Note, UCI does not say it seeks an end to the cause of “terrorism,” nor does it work to end Israeli occupant and assassination raids, which it obviously does consider “terrorism.” UCI wants only to end only Palestinian terrorism, not Israelis terrorism. <strong>It makes no pretense of compromise or concession, such as withdrawing 7,000 militant squatters (“settlers”) from Gaza, nor does it cite any goal that might bring a peaceful two state system. </strong><br /><br />In fact, UCI openly defies Ariel Sharon’s compromise aim of withdrawal of settlements from Gaza, a move that might be a frail gesture for peace. <strong>Most Israelis this author met recognize the need to end the settlements as a necessity for peace, and 150,000 Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv for withdrawal on May 16th.</strong> Instead, UCI would eliminate Palestinian resistance to occupation, but it does not say how. Presumably it favors any acts by Israel that will bring this about and an end to resistance and what it calls “incitement.” Such acts as assassinating some 328 leaders, and many with their families, are not mentioned.<br /><br />Another goal is: <blockquote>“Not rewarding terrorism (jihad) with establishment of a Palestine.”<br /><br />By “not rewarding terrorism” UCI obviously means they think Israel should take a stronger, not conciliatory position against Palestine. <strong>UCI also states it wants “no shared territory.” <span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">This can only means that UCI wants only one state, and that no Palestinian should be allowed in it.</span></strong> UCI intentions seem to be that there be no state of Palestine and no Palestinians in the Israeli’s state. One can only interpret its words to mean UCI wants them gone. <strong>Few Israeli dare whisper of a plan for total genocide of 3.5 million persons, but Judeo-Christians do not shudder at the thought.</strong><br /><br /><strong>UCI also wants: “An undivided Jerusalem.”</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">This of course means UCI wants to <a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/2009/09/fervent-masonic-desire-to-rebuild.html">take over all of Arab Jerusalem including the Dome of the Rock</a>, which is in Arab Jerusalem!</span></strong> UCI’s soft words have a hard meaning: total conquest; total elimination. </blockquote><strong>But the <a href="http://oneworldpower.blogspot.com/2009/07/western-axis-of-power-western-axis-of.html">UCI agenda does not stop with wiping Palestinians out of Israel</a>, they also seek:</strong> <blockquote>“Establishing democracies throughout the Middle East.”<br /><br />This is what the USA says it is doing in Iraq, “Aren’t we ‘democratizing’ it?” <strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">UCI wants more wars like Iraq throughout the Middle East.</span></strong><br /><br />UCI states its goal to:<br /><br />“Ensuring Israel's right to strategic water and land defense.”<br /><br />But in this small country, all water and land can be said to be “strategic.” Israel’s farming practices have made good copy, but it has already pumped down the scanty aquifers to the point where there is a terrible water shortage. While “greening the land” it has all but dried up the Jordan River. Israeli management may even kill the Dead Sea, which is receding to a big puddle. Because both usable land and water are in very short supply, UCI lets you know it wants “strategic” to mean any and all the water, and all the land Israel has occupied since 1967, not only from the Golan Heights, West Bank and the Gaza Strip.<br /><br />Goal: “Establishing democracies throughout the Middle East.”<br /><br />Note that Israel has no constitution of it own. <strong>UCI shows its quaint <a href="http://endisnotyet.blogspot.com/search/label/Zionism%3A%20Antithesis%20of%20World%20Peace">Zionist way of saying they want to claim and control all the land</a> from the Euphrates to the Nile by imposing its own style of government on others.</strong></blockquote>AN AMERICAN LOBBY RUN BY ISRAELIS <p>UCI’s Board of Directors appears to be about 85% American Jews and Israeli militarists, including several Rabbis. One militant Christian, Gary Bauer, is listed on the board, as is Leslie Stahl, a commentator on CBS 60 Minutes. One or two other board members are probably not Jewish. One way or the other, Israeli patriots have total control over UCI. <strong>Israelis Patriots run UCI, and celebrity “Christians” carry its agenda.</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Who is paying for all this occupation, death and war? Taxpayers.</span></strong> </p><strong>There is no better way to sum up the power of UCI than to quote a story found in the <em>Jerusalem Post</em> on April 8, 2004.</strong> Referring to the Unity Coalition for Israel, the Post states with some surprise: <blockquote>“One of the largest grassroots pro-Israel groups in the United States has launched a nationwide effort to lobby the Bush Administration against offering support for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate Gaza.” </blockquote>Why do American “Christian” leaders care if 7,000 Israelis withdraw from settlements inside the Gaza strip? UCI is hard line and hell bent on influencing Sharon not to withdraw. <strong>The <em>Jerusalem Post</em> seems puzzled by the <a href="http://www.thelambslain.com/#cartel">Zionist zeal of the "Christians"</a> that exceeds the worst of the Israelis.</strong> It states: <blockquote>“Evangelical Christians, who number in the tens of millions in the US, are considered to be one of Bush's core constituencies, whose support is essential in the upcoming November Presidential election; <strong>many of them oppose an Israeli withdrawal from the territories, citing the Biblical promise of the land is to the Jewish people.”</strong> - Jerusalem Post </blockquote>In a recent <em>Associated Press</em> story, author Josef Federman stated: <blockquote>“<strong>Prominent Israeli rabbis are for the first time speaking out against Israel's profitable alliance with evangelical Christians in the United States who have funneled tens of millions of dollars to the Jewish state.</strong> The rabbis fear the Christians' real intent is to convert Jews, their aides said Monday. <strong>Others are concerned about the evangelicals' support for Israel's extreme right wing, opposing any compromise with the Palestinians.</strong> To see how Judeo-Christian (“evangelicals” as the J. Post calls them) <strong>sets up</strong> <strong>the systematic assassination and deportation of Arabs</strong>, we will look at the words of several professing Christian enablers who are stumping the colleges for UCI.”<br /><br />Kay Arthur - Founder & President - Precept Ministries<br />Joseph Farah - Founder, Editor & CEO – World Net Daily<br />Chuck Missler - Author & Radio Show Host<br />Janet Parshall - Author & Host of 3 Radio Shows including "Janet Parshall's America"<br />Clarence H. Wagner, Jr. - International Director - Bridges for Peace, Israel </blockquote><p>Joseph Farah’s unique success in the Internet media may well result from being an Arab who has supported both Bush “wars” and every act of Israel, sometimes overtly and sometimes with sly cleverness. Farah recently spoke at the University of Colorado campus sponsored by several Jewish student associations. This author’s friend, who attended, witnessed his shocking remarks about Iraq and Palestine, with horror. </p>Farah discredited Palestinians any right to return to their farms and homes from which many were made refugees 50 years ago. We quote Farah’s militant words from his own article published just before the invasion of Fallujah in Iraq that has already claimed 900 Arab lives, including many women and children. <strong>Here is what Farah said about their rights:</strong> <blockquote>“There are 250,000 people living in Fallujah. My guess is that the population is going to be reduced shortly... The U.S. should pound Fallujah like it has never been pounded before… We should not try to gain an international consensus for this action. We should not apologize for it. We should not restrain our Air Force and our artillery batteries from wreaking devastation.” </blockquote>Over 900 Iraqis are known to have died since Farah said this, but it is not hard to see that the Zionist-friendly US media would support Farah’s internet business, and why financing for his costly <em>World Net Daily</em> does not seem to be a problem. <strong>Farah is the number one Zionist Arab in the world today.</strong><br /><br />Kay Arthur is Precepts Ministries Bible Study business guru. She is just as influential as Farah, but in a very different and equally dangerous way. She heads up what may be the biggest mail order bible study group in the world, <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Precepts Ministries teaches that the State of Israel is the fulfillment of Bible prophesy and its inhabitants are “God’s chosen people;” therefore, they alone are the only people with a right to the Palestinians’ land.</span></strong> This author suffered through one of these classes as an educational experience. <strong>Kay Arthur is also a militant-Christian, violent only against those who oppose Israel. </strong><br /><br />Here is what Mrs. Arthur says about her organization: <blockquote>“‘Precept Upon Precept’ Bible Studies are published by Precept Ministries. Precept Bible classes are held in all 50 states and are used in more than 118 foreign countries, 63 languages including Spanish, Romanian, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Czech, German, and Russian.” </blockquote>Kay Arthur and Gary Bauer are among those on record as signing a pledge of allegiance to the state of Israel at the celebration of its 50th anniversary in 1998. Precepts Ministries teaches heresy to hundreds of thousands of devotees; Precepts is a life-costing ministry that is obsessed with accelerating the “end times.” It crosses lines into the Catholic, Mainline churches, and even Orthodox churchgoers. <strong>Precepts Ministries teach seekers the Scofield-concocted heresy of the land grant and the chosen people from day one.</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Spoon-fed Judeo-Christianity sounds something like this from the Precepts class coordinator:</span></strong> <blockquote>“The land belongs to Israel, and the Palestinians have to go. (Sigh) It’s sad sometimes (another sigh), but it is God’s will; those people need to repent of Islam so God can save them!” </blockquote><strong>Kay Arthur sells “end times” masked violence in the name of “God’s will.”</strong> Precepts’ precept is that the “end times are here.” It has no problem claiming it is empowered to know “God’s will” and feeds a diet of “chosen people” racism under the reluctantly disclosed label of “dispensationalist.” <strong>This author prefers the widely accepted and tragic Judeo-Christianity as a name for the inevitably violent, Christian heresy.</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Ariel Sharon fondly calls the same people Christian-Zionists.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>It may seem strange to the casual observer that these who profess Christianity also advocate the genocidal acts of Israel, including torture of the Palestinians and the Iraqis.</strong> Some 3,000 political prisoners, including several hundred children, have been imprisoned and tortured as a method of extracting confessions. <strong><a onclick="'alert(" href="http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=21108&right=1" target="_blank">Torture is legal and not even denied in Israel</a><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">; its military helps train the Americans, now about to be tried, who have been caught red-handed torturing Iraqi prisoners.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">But how can Christian Celebrity ignore UCI’s stated aim of changing traditional Christianity into a form of Judaism?</span> It is easy to understand why the State of Israel would use Christian front men when we consider the now accepted fact that G. W. Bush rode into office on the “Christian right” vote.</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Israel’s war policy and aims toward the Palestinian people have raised the ire of the entire civilized world against it.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>Israel’s old excuse can be paraphrased:</strong> <blockquote>Cut us some slack; we are the survivors of the Holocaust. If we are mean to others and sometimes brutal, it is because the world has been so mean to us. The world needs to understand us when it comes to human rights: we are only getting even. </blockquote><strong>This argument comes with a Jewish curse placed on anyone who will not accept the Judeo-Christian concept of a "chosen race" supposedly based upon a bizarre theory of Israelite genetics.</strong> For those others who do not accept the Holocaust excuse or who oppose Israelis acts on humanitarian grounds, Judeo-christians have a curse to offer. That all purpose curse is: “anti-Semitism.” <strong>Anyone who does not recognize the nobility of the Serial Wars and of the occupation must be an anti-Semite.<br /></strong><br /><strong>The Palestinians and Iraqis point out they had nothing to do with the Holocaust, and are victims of one every day.</strong> Most holocaust survivors have now died of old age. The perpetrators are also gone and people are increasingly weary of hearing about anti-Semitism. And there is a growing mistrust of the extravagant Holocaust numbers. It is time for a new Israeli excuse, it seems.<br /><br /><strong>The “Chosen” are Justified by:</strong> <blockquote>“We do what we do because we are exempt from the rules; God gave us the right to defend ourselves and our land without reservation, and this land, from the River Euphrates to the River of Egypt is ours: a gift from Him; and everyone else must leave or we will help them to leave.” This is often paraphrased: “We are the chosen people.” </blockquote>Who would blame Israel for taking advantage of Christian heresy? Who would not like to be called “God’s chosen ones” by its ruinous cooperation? <strong>But, why would dozens of prominent and influential “Christians” lend their reputations (such as they may be), and their time, to supporting Israel’s claims to someone else’s land?</strong><br /><br />More puzzling: Why would they distort what their own Bible teaches and what their own professed faith demands of them.<span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);"> <strong>Jesus demands peace and love of all men, even one’s enemies.</strong></span> <strong>There is not one phrase in the Christian New Testament that supports anything Israel does to the Palestinians, including the claims of being a “chosen people.”</strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Judeo-Christianity is not Christian at all.</span></strong> It is a hodgepodge of bits from unrelated stories patched together to create an illusion. <strong>The illusion is of an “end times” apocalypse and a “chosen people” who enjoy the right to kill and imprison other people who are not “chosen.”</strong><br /><br />We must at least mention, in passing, that Israel’s evangelical support relies upon the word of a quack felon named <strong>Cyrus I. Scofield</strong>, who got rich writing a bible for Judeo-Christianity to follow.<br /><br />Project Strait Gate has no real problem with the Unity Coalition for Israel (UCI) any more than with other organizations that depend upon quarter truths, pressure and deception to get its way. UCI does what a certain faction thinks is in Israel’s interest. <strong>But we do have a problem with professing “Christians” who front for UCI and claim it is “Scriptural” to do so.</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Our difference is with those who attempt to dilute our own faith or to make us accomplices to murder.</span></strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Our complaint is over the blood and pain these false prophets bring on generations of our own people and on the innocent non-Christian victims in the Middle East.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>UCI has the arrogance to tell us Christianity has it all wrong.</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">It accuses traditional Christ followers of what it calls “The Error of Replacement Theology.”</span></strong> This includes traditional Reformation theology, orthodoxy, and traditional Catholic theology for over 2,000 years, and others. <p><strong>It uses professing Christians like Clarence Wagner to witness against Christianity. </strong></p><blockquote><strong></strong>UCI uses its “Christian resources” prop, <strong>Clarence Wagner</strong>, to spell out “The Error of Replacement Theology,” which we have discussed, and four other crucial areas where it seems to feel brainwashing is needed to anesthetize Christ seekers.<br /><br />Wagner says: <blockquote>“Perhaps you have heard of the term Replacement Theology. However, if you look it up in a dictionary of Church history, you will not find it listed as a systematic study. Rather, it is a doctrinal teaching that originated in the early Church. It became the fertile soil from which Christian anti-Semitism grew, and has infected the Church for nearly 1,900 years.”</blockquote><strong>According to Wagner, those who believe Jesus brought the New Covenant to his followers are into "replacement theology" and are “anti-Semitics” because they will not worship Israel.</strong> Wagner and this author once debated this subject formally with on KCRO radio program entitled, “Resolve: the State of Israel is (is not) the fulfillment of Bible Prophecy.” (A tape of the debate is on the WHTT bookstore.) It should surprise no one that <em>The Tragedy of Anti-Semitism</em> is listed as another UCI key topic for brainwashing colleges, churches and religious schools.<br /><br />Having debated Wagner, this author has no problem understanding what he is talking about. <strong>Wagner interprets Genesis 12 to be a land grant of specific property in the Middle East to a specific country, Israel, forever.</strong> He also considers it “anti-Semitic” to believe that that is not what the passage says. It bothers him not in the least that Abraham and the State of Israel were born some 3,000 years apart.<br /><br />Genesis 12:1-3 reads:<br /><br />Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (KJV)<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Wagner denies the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood.</span></strong> God’s promise to Abraham was not of real estate, but that he would start the lineage from which a Messiah that would come, who would be a light of peace to all men, even those who fail to follow him. Abraham was to produce the lineage of the Christ Child; this was the promise…this is Christianity!<br /><br />Wagner makes God trivial. <strong>How demeaning it is to God, to put Him in the middle of a petty land scam. </strong>God does not parcel out little hunks of desert to former cronies!<br /><br /><strong>Reverend Wagner corrupts the Christian concept of the covenant promise to Abraham into a schlock real estate scam favoring phony claimants 3,000 years after the fact.</strong> How disgusting. How insulting, to a Holy God. <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">What UCI disparages as “Replacement Theology” is in fact traditional Christianity.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>Wagner’s stand on the Jewish (land grant) interpretation of Genesis is destructive to mankind, of whom God made in the potential of His image.</strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Rabbis, before whom Wagner grovels, do not believe Jesus is God, nor even a prophet blessed by God.</span></strong> To UCI, Genesis 12 is a good enough land title to drive the Palestinians into the sea or to Nuke-em, if need be. Israel has the “Nukes,” as Mordechai Vanunu told us 18 years ago, and went to prison for talking all about it. </blockquote>Summarizing in UCI’s own words directly from its website, its desires are: <blockquote>“Israel's Right to the Land”<br />“End of Radical Islam and the Quest for World Domination”<br />“The Urgent Need for Action: Achieving a Safe and Secure Israel” </blockquote><strong>Is <a href="http://www.thelambslain.com/#lobby">UCI to carry out its agenda</a> of building Islam and Palestine disenfranchisement, to control the entire Middle East in the name of Israel, and perpetual war in the name of Jesus Christ?</strong> UCI has an “Advocacy Manual”… “A Comprehensive Reference and Resource Guide for Colleges, Universities, Churches, Synagogues, Religious Schools, Prayer/Study Groups, Individuals.”<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">Christians must know from the New Testament that God is not into money or the property business.</span></strong> <strong>Wagner, who claims to be a Christian, also either ignores or denies that the Apostle Paul and Jesus Himself meant when they said: <span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">all who believe in Him inherit the promise of Abraham.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong style="font-style: italic;">Grass Roots Support for War</strong> <p>Israel cannot continue to imprison the Palestinians without a broad base of public support in the USA. <strong>The rest of the world is turning against Israel, as is now commonly accepted -- everywhere but the USA.</strong> Only the influence of 40-70 million Judeo-Christians are keeping Israel’s war machine going. <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 102, 51);">In the entire world, these millions of Americans are the ones duped into thinking God gave Israel the right to liquidate its enemies.</span></strong> <strong><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Christian-Zionists do this dirty work for UCI by also selling Israel to churches as the “chosen people” heirs to the land.</span></strong> </p>Professing “Christians” like Wagner, Kay Arthur, Gary Bauer, Janet Parshall, Joseph Farah, legitimize Israel’s fanciful claim to the Arab lands, "from the Euphrates to the River of Egypt,” by spinning Bible yarns that refute what Scripture has taught for 1,970 years.<br /><br /><strong>Clearly these Evangelicals call for a violent solution, not a peaceful one as Jesus did.</strong> <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><strong>Judeo-Christians seem embarrassed when confronted about being followers of the Prince of Peace.</strong></span> <strong>This is why we think the term violent Christians can be synonymous with Judeo-Christians.</strong> By failing to oppose it, they support the UCI scantily hidden agenda of the liquidation or deporting 3.5 million people. A sad testimony… How do they expect a Holy God to forget it?<br /><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >* Note on Unity Coalition for Israel: For the first nine years of its existence, NUCI was titled “National Unity Coalition for Israel (NUCI). This is a fraud and distortion because there is nothing “National” (or American) about this organization. Nor is it international, as it claims; NUCI-UCI is “Israel first, last, and always.” Its board members probably laugh themselves into delirium over the name, just as they do over the duplicity of those who call themselves by Jesus’ name and shill for UCI’s death games. The name change was disclosed while this story was in preparation.<br /></span><br />Here is what UCI tells us on their website, which is adorned with both US and Israeli flags flying in tandem: <blockquote>“The National Unity Coalition for Israel is no longer just national. We are broadening our outreach, and we are now 'Unity Coalition for Israel.' Please check back for more exciting things to come!” </blockquote>A true liar knows no shame.<br /><br />© 2004, Strait Gate Ministries, All Rights Reserved<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://thelambslain.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="The Lord is My Shepherd" src="http://i34.tinypic.com/5vu4v9.jpg" border="0" /></a> <p></p><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);font-family:arial;" ><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.<br />He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:<br />He leadeth me beside the still waters.<br />He restoreth my soul:<br />He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.<br />Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,<br />I will fear no evil:<br />For Thou art with me;<br />Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.<br />Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:<br />Thou anointest my head with oil;<br />My cup runneth over.<br />Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:<br />And I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.<br />--Psalm 23<br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 51);">And He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end. --Luke 1:33</span></span><br /><br /><div style="border: 2px solid black; width: 288px; height: 20px;">Return to <a href="http://thelambslain.com/"><b>The Lamb Slain</b></a> Home Page</div><p></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com