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PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 246

October 21, 2005

Revelation Message of the Everlasting Gospel – Part 3

In Parts 1 and 2 we traced the EVERLASTING gospel from Genesis 3:15 through Seth in Genesis 4:25,26 to Noah in Genesis 6:8 to Abraham in Genesis 22:18.

Revelation 14:6 – 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,

This same EVERLASTING gospel, everlasting promise, was continued through Isaac, the promised seed of the Patriarch Abraham.

Genesis 26:3,4 – Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; [4] And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy SEED shall ALL the nations of the earth be blessed;

The same good news covenant of grace was continued through Isaac’s son Jacob, who God renamed Israel.

Genesis 28:13,14 – And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; [14] And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and IN THY SEED shall ALL the families of the earth be blessed.

The Seed covenant, the Seed promise, was continued through Jacob’s son Judah, and then pictured in the Tabernacle that God instructed Moses to build. The Tabernacle represented the Law, which pictured the promised Seed that was to come and fulfill it, so that man might realize the curse, the condemnation he was under, and turn to the Seed to deliver him from it.

Galatians 3:18-26 – For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. [19] Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. [20] Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. [21] Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. [22] But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. [23] But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. [24] Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. [25] But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. [26] For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

And the good news grace Seed was prophesied to come through Judah, a son of Jacob. The Seed was to forever have the God given right to reign as eternal king of the Shiloh tabernacle because he earned the right by living a perfect, righteous life. The sceptre was held between a king’s legs when he was positioned on his throne, and was a symbol of his eternal authority and right to rule.

Genesis 49:10 –The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Hebrews 1:8,9 – But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. [9] Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Philippians 2:6-9 – Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: [7] But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: [8] And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. [9] Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

The tabernacle, and everything in it, pictured the future Seed’s character, ministry, and God’s promises in him. The tabernacle at Shiloh was the earthly presentation of the character and work of the coming Seed, Christ Jesus. Shiloh was the symbolic name of the ruler who was to come from Judah, who would never lose his right to rule, which would allow him to save to the uttermost for all eternity.

Hebrews 7:22-25 – By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. [23] And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: [24] But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. [25] Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 246A

October 23, 2005

A Rejected Son Returns as a Rod to Bring Peace to Us! Part 3A

The U.S. Dollar Outflow Is Making the Economy Very Brittle! Oil That Fires the U.S. Economy Is Burning It To A Crisp! It is Brittle and Will Break in an Instant in the Future! This is the Result of Breaking Away from God’s Word!

The Rejected Son Will Come as the Rod of Judgment and Only He Can Correct the Mess Man Has Made!

Isaiah 11:1,4 – And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: [4] But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

The coming collapse of the world’s economic structure, and the tectonic chaos which follows it, is a result of the judgment of God on a society that has reached the same low level that existed before the northern Kingdom of Israel was carried into Assyrian captivity in Isaiah’s day, and before the Kingdom of Judah was carried into Babylonian captivity in Jeremiah’s day.

Jeremiah 5:31 –The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

Isaiah 30:8-13 – Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: [9] That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: [10] Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: [11] Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. [12] Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: [13] Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.

Just as chaos came on Israel, it will instantly come on Gentiles for the same reasons. Isaiah wrote it for all to see “for the time to come forever and ever.” Our economic collapse will be followed by an unleashing of natural phenomena like the world has never seen.

Matthew 24:21 – For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Whatever low level of weakening our economy has not reached when verse 21 begins, will drop below ground zero when the verse is fulfilled.

I wrote my first book, Tectonic Chaos, while I was still doing post-graduate work at Arkansas Tech University. At that time it was obvious that the Middle East nations of Islam were going to become a major player in the world economic theater. During the days of the great colonial empires, they played no part in the great stage play of economy produced by the industrial revolution. Their oil, and the profits from it, was controlled by whichever empire happened to occupy them. The Arab oil was controlled by the colonial empires, not by the Islamic faith. They had little or no say in accumulation of wealth to exercise any control over their colonial masters. But that all began to change with the breakup of the colonial empires following World War I, and the creation of Arab states. It tremendously accelerated after World War II when the European colonial hold over the Arab states ended. Suddenly there were four world powers, the United States, the Soviet Union, Red China, and Great Britain. I was a synoptic analyst in the Nation Security Agency at that time, and it did not take a rocket scientist to understand what was going to happen in the future – Oil, not the Dollar, would one day become the driving force that fueled the dreams of politicians, namely national interest, which causes them to be re-elected – if the nation does well economically, they get re-elected, if not, hello mediocrity. Knowing this, some 30 years ago, on page 78 of the first edition of Tectonic Chaos, I included the following paragraph.

“The ten horns of Revelation 13:1 are ten Arab nations who will soon form the nucleus of the seventh kingdom, and the ten crowns are the kings that will rule them. For years we have pictured the typical Arab as a scrawny little fellow on a camel in the desert with a comic expression on his face. This viewpoint is quickly changing. Oil is slowly replacing the American dollar in international importance – soon ten Arab nations will have gained control of most of the world’s wealth. We will not try to stop them because of the Soviet Union – and the Soviet Union will not try to stop them because of us and Red China. The world’s power block will block itself as the ten Arab nations prosper in their midst.”

I wrote that almost 30 years ago in the midst of writing Tectonic Chaos. Oil has slowly been replacing dollars in importance. We have watched the cartel, [known as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)], grow steadily since it was formed by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Venezuela in 1960. I retired at the National Security in 1971. Two years later the first outbreak of high oil prices produced the world economic crisis referred to historically as the Great Oil Block of 1973. Again, in 2000, OPEC put the squeeze on oil production to raise prices.

I remember the first book I saw on a paperback stand in the seventies that headlined the economy was going to collapse the following year. Since that time every year some new writer has a book predicting it will collapse in a year or two. I have never doubted it would collapse one day, and I must admit I am surprised it has not by now. But if you will look back through our archives it will be quite apparent I have avoided this subject of when the economy would collapse. I think the time has come for me to quit avoiding the subject. The effect the disasters have had on part of the backbone of our economy, namely, the insurance companies, have certainly put a crack in it. And the same chain of disasters that have occurred along the coastline from Houston to the floods in the New England states is causing billions to flow out of Washington into massive relief efforts. Part of the disaster has been the damage to, and the interruption of oil flow from, offshore oil rigs. It has been the major justification used for rocketing petroleum prices in the United States. But the major culprit is OPEC. As I indicated almost 30 years ago, the Arab world would slowly gain control of much of the world’s wealth by controlling the world’s oil flow. The followers of Islam have made it clear they are aware they cannot defeat the United States militarily, but have pointedly stated they intend to do it by causing our economy to collapse.

The goals of the fanatical elements of Islam are very simple, they intend to defeat the United States and the western world by: (1) Disrupting the flow of oil to affect the economy of western powers, (2) Conducting guerilla warfare terror attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan to drain our economic resources by having to maintain sufficient military personnel to combat them, (3) Maintaining a threat of worldwide terror attacks to cause the western powers to expend burdensome economic payouts to a gigantic complex of government paid security personnel, and (4) causing the United States to simply lose heart because of its body bag count and domestic economic problems.

All of this is just part of the reason I do not expect the U.S. economy to stand up much longer. We are always the first to supply aid in natural disasters all across the earth. The Tsunami Disaster last December in Asia, the Earthquake Disaster in Pakistan, and the constant flow of dollars into famine and pestilence ridden areas of the world, are bleeding us dry economically. Please do not get the idea I am drastically opposed to humanitarian efforts we have, and are making. I am a realist, who tries to tell it like it is, without regard to the emotional waning of the human heart. Nor am I suggesting I have the answer as to what we need to do to solve our ever growing economic outpouring of dollars. If I have been able to correctly interpret the Bible, all this financial drain will continue, and the United States will simply go broke economically. Oh, make no mistake, we will still have our nuclear weapons, but they will become only a method of defense, because our world leadership, which is not based on the love the other nations have for us, but on how many dollars we shell out to them, is going down the international toilet tube. Simply put, Jesus is the only one who can straighten out this mess the world is in, and it will not be fixed until he comes.

And, in addition to the dollar outflow mentioned up to this point, there is the fantastic outpouring of countless billions in the battle against the virus driven pestilences such as HIV, TB, Flu, and numerous other life affecting pestilences. Our worldwide relief to those affected by these pestilences is staggering, not only in the battle against them, but for the dollars poured out to victims of them in medical expenditures. And what country is always “Johnny on the spot” each time a foreign famine comes to drain more finances from our economic stability? It has always seemed inevitable our economy would one day collapse. The only question in my mind has always been WHEN? The complicated infrastructure created by the world’s computer driven power has made a multilayered economy, and it is certainly not easy for the “man in the street” to be certain when it will collapse, and I am one of them. But I am going out on a limb and at least tell you what I think.

I believe from the end of 2006 through the year 2007 we will see a very dramatic plunge downward in a world economy based on paper and deceit. I also believe the year 2007 is the earliest year that Israel is likely to be attacked from the north by 10 Arab nations, and I am very confident such an attack will occur by 2012. I confess the timing of these events is what I think, not what I know.

II Thessalonians 1:7-10 – And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, [8] In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: [9] Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; [10] When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

Acts 20:21 – Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 246B

October 26, 2005

A Rejected Son Returns as a Rod to Bring Peace to Us! Part 4

Isaiah 11:1,4,15,16 – And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: [4] But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. [15] And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. [16] And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

Christ will smite the earth with the rod of his mouth. And one of the particular places he will destroy in so doing is the tongue of the Egyptian Sea. Another area of his smiting will be the great Euphrates River.

In Isaiah’s day the “tongue of the Egyptian Sea” is what we identify as the Gulf of Suez, a northern extension of the Red Sea that slithers like a serpent’s wet tongue between Egypt and the Sinai. Since Isaiah’s time, man has dug out a northern extension of the “Egyptian Sea” to link the Mediterranean and Red Seas together. The words “utterly destroy” come from the Hebrew word “charam,” which means “to be cut off” or “to shut up.” We are advised by God, through Isaiah, that he intends to completely shut up sections of the Gulf of Suez and the Suez Canal.

In Archive Prophecy Update Number 179A, the division of the Mount of Olives into two remaining halves was described, with one half being carried to the north on the extreme southern edge of a newly created Gaza Plate, while the other half drifted southward on the on the northern tip of a newly created Sinai Plate (See Archive Birth Pang Figure 33). In Figure 34 you may observe the consequences of the movement of the Sinai Plate as it floats southward on an underground sea of magma. As you can see, when the southward drift occurs, the Sinai Plate will be jammed against the massive African Plate. Dry land will crunch against dry land, and a northernmost part of the tongue of the Egyptian Sea will be completely “shut up.” (See Archive Birth Pang Figures 31 to 34). It may not be completely closed until the final great earthquake in Revelation.

Revelation 16:18-21 – 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. [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. [20] And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

It will be possible to walk across this area on dry land throughout the millennial reign of Christ. The nation of Israel may replace the Suez Canal as the link between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. It is possible that Mediterranean maritime shipping commerce will pass upstream to a point on the opposite side of the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem, and then proceed downstream to reach the Red Sea through the Arabah Desert. Of course, the reverse path would be taken by all maritime shipping passing via the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. This would cause Israel to receive fees from all nations passing through their port on the eastern side of the river (See Archive Birth Pang Figure 47).

“The river,” Of Isaiah 11:15, has been disputed as to its identity by biblical expositors for centuries. At one time I was convinced that this particular river was the Nile of Egypt. I thought the “seven streams” were most certainly the seven streams of the great Nile Delta, and I was very persistent in this interpretation. I was well aware the expression “the river” was “hannahar, and that this was usually applied only to the Euphrates River. However, because of the “seven streams,” I clung tenaciously to my belief it was the Nile. But, in my desire to make it the Nile, I had carelessly failed to examine the Hebrew construction of the sentence action. When it said that the river should be smitten “in the seven streams,” the Hebrew does not mean it already existed as seven streams, and that God would smite seven streams already in existence. It states that God will smite a single river, and, when he performs that action, it will become seven streams because of the smiting. I now know that the single river, which will be divided into seven streams, is none other than the great Euphrates. The inspired Hebrew text phrase, in order to understand its meaning, should be read “and shall smite it into seven streams.” This action will occur at the same time, and is a part of, the action whereby God dries up the Euphrates south of the Palmyra folds and faults.

Revelation 16:12 – 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.

We were advised in Isaiah 11:16, that this “drying up” of the Euphrates creates a situation such that it will be possible for the millennial return of tribulation Israelites from the area east of the present Euphrates, and that this return would no longer be hampered by having to boat across the Euphrates. The latter portion of this verse also indicates that such a highway will also extend into Egypt. The “Israel” of verse 16 represents the descendents of the man Jacob, hence the personal pronoun “he” is used, even though it refers to an entire nation that came from Jacob’s loins. When the nation of Israel “came up out of the land of Egypt,” God parted the waters of the extreme northern extension of the Red Sea, the extension that was called “the tongue of the Egyptian Sea in Isaiah’s day, but which is identified as the Gulf of Suez today. On the day Israel crossed this “yam cuwph” extension of the Red Sea, while fleeing from the Egyptian Pharaoh, it could be said God had created a highway of dry land from Egypt to Assyria. But God closed that dry land pathway to destroy the Pharaoh’s mighty army with a flood of closing walls of water. However, the dry land passage of Isaiah will be a permanent thing, because of the drying up of the Euphrates and the shutting up of the Suez Canal, thereby making it possible to move all the way from the huge African Continent to the European, Eurasian, or Asian continents, without having to pass over any ocean or sea. A God made, sea free, highway will be created that will last a thousand years. Throughout the millennial reign these continents will remain fused by God’s power. And, throughout the reign of Christ, the nations of these massive continents will move up and down the dry land linkage to worship Christ in the city of Jerusalem, the new capital of the world. The commerce of Africa will flow through Israel to Asia and Eurasia, and the commerce of Asia and Eurasia will flow between themselves and into Africa. Israel will sit at the crossroads of the world’s sea and land commerce. Jerusalem will be the center of the world.

Isaiah 19:23-25 – In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. [24] In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: [25] Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.

And all the nations of the world will come by land, air, and sea to keep the annual Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.

Zechariah 14:9,16 – And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. [16] And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

Ezekiel 39:21-22, 27-29 – And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. [22] So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward. [27] When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; [28] Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there. [29] Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.

Earlier this Update, I discussed how God would smite the Euphrates River and, as a result of that smiting, it would be separated into seven streams. Now, I will deal as to where that smiting by God will probably take place (See Archive Birth Pang Figures 29 and 35). God has created a long zone of structural weakness in the crust of the earth from the northern headwaters of the Jordan River northeastward to the mighty Euphrates River. It extends from the Sea of Galilee area across Syria to near El Rashid on the Euphrates River, and consists of an elongated zone of major faults and folds in the in the earth’s crust, known as the Palmyra Belt. Please note on Archive Birth Pang Figures 35 and 36 how it links the Jordan and Euphrates Rivers together.

The Euphrates is one of the greatest carriers of top water silt on the face of the earth. It tears the topsoil from Turkish mountainsides and then carries it through the Fertile Crescent of Syria and Iraq into the Persian Gulf. The land delta of the Persian Gulf is the fastest growing delta on the earth. This growth is produced by massive influxes of silt carried into the Persian Gulf by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Isaiah indicates that God will smite the Euphrates, causing it to divide into seven streamlets in the area where he strikes it. The striking will occur in the zone on the Euphrates in the vicinity of El Rashid, Syria, and cause its waters to be redirected southwestward into extreme northern Israel near Dan and the Springs of Banias. When the Arabah Fault is ripped open from the Gulf of Aqabah to Lebanon, the resultant fantastic shaking of the earth, will cause the Palmyra Fault Zone to collapse, and the Euphrates River will be diverted southwest across the crumbled zone of rock and earth to link with the northern headwaters of the Jordan River.

Whenever any sediment carrying river moves into a zone with more sediment than it can carry, it invariably produces what geologists call “a braided river.” A braided river is the division of a single river into several streams. Isaiah counted seven after the Euphrates smiting. The seven streamlets will weave their way through the newly formed cracks in the crust along the northern fringe of the Palmyra Belt, eventually to feed into the northern headwaters of the Jordan River. It will be what geologists refer to as “headwater piracy.” In this case the Jordan River will have acted as the pirate to steal the waters of the Euphrates into its own headwaters. This tremendous increase will not only triple Israel’s current volume of water, but will also give it more topsoil for land crops than it can use during its Messiah’s millennial reign. Israel will be transformed into the breadbasket of the world.

We are advised by John, in Revelation 16:12, as to the effects of this massive water division into the upper Jordan. The current riverbed south of El Rashid will go dry. It will then be possible for the kings of the east to pass unhampered across shallow streamlets on the way to Jerusalem to worship King Messiah.

PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 247

October 28, 2005

Revelation Message of the Everlasting Gospel – Part 4

In Parts 1 to 3, I traced the Message of the Everlasting Gospel in Genesis 3:15 through Seth, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah. Moses and the Tabernacle, or Tent in the Wilderness, was a picture of the everlasting gospel of grace that the Seed would provide by being the only human who ever fulfilled the law of Moses, thereby being declared righteous as a man. Christ’s sacrifice, as an innocent righteous man, who had never once sinned, allowed God to be just and the justifier of those who accept his grace offer when they believe Christ was the total atonement for all of their sins. When Christ fulfilled the law he fulfilled it for all who would believe it was God’s grace covering for all sin, past, present, and future. The Seed’s sacrifice covered all the sins of believers in the past, who lived before the cross, and all the sins of those in the future. It covered the sins of all men from Adam to me to the last man who believes from the Garden of Eden to the end of the Seed’s reign of a thousand years.

Romans 3:23-28 – For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; [24] Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: [25] Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; [26] To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. [27] Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. [28] Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Genesis 49:10 – The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

The tabernacle, or tent, which had traveled with Moses and the children of Israel, since it was built by God’s instructions during the long exodus travels, was finally set up by Joshua at Shiloh in the promise land.

Joshua 18:1 – And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.

Shiloh was about 15 miles north of Ramah, and was the place of abode for the tabernacle from Joshua to the Prophet Samuel, where Samuel ministered as a child. From year to year, Israel went to the Shiloh tabernacle to worship.

I Samuel 1:3 – And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there.

David brought the ark to Jerusalem after he drove out the Jebusites somewhere around 1000 B.C.

II Samuel 6:15 – So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.

The Tabernacle or Tent in the Wilderness, which held the Holy of Holies Ark of the Covenant and all the other symbols of Christ in its Holy Place and Courtyard, was the embodiment, the earthly picture, the earthly symbol of Christ, From its initial construction the Tent, and all its associated symbolic contents, were carried by Israel during its many years of wandering. After Israel had finally come into the promise land, Joshua set up the Tabernacle in Shiloh.

Acts 7:38 – This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

Hebrews 8:1-6 – Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; [2] A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. [3] For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. [4] For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: [5] Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. [6] But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

It is a better covenant because now the promised Seed has come and visibly manifested himself as God in the flesh, thereby allowing us to understand it was always God’s grace in him, by faith in his sacrifice, that was the basis of the unconditional covenant of Genesis 3:15.

Hebrews 9:11-15 – But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; [12] Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. [13] For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: [14] How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? [15] And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

Hebrews 8:10 – For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

I Peter 2:10 – Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 247A

October 30, 2005

A Rejected Son Returns as a Rod to Bring Peace to Us! Part 5

Part 5

It all began with a man child in a manger in Bethlehem who was rejected as King, crucified, rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven to wait for his Second Advent.

Revelation 12:5 – And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

It will end when the Son returns with the remnant of his brethren following the travail of the tribulation period. The Son will rule and reign on this earth for a thousand years.

Micah 5:2,3 – But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. [3] Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.

The Son will come leading a great spiritual army of his brethren and the angels at his Second Advent.

Jude 1:14,15 – And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, [15] To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

Those who believed the testimony of his messengers will be with him in that day in glorified bodies. The degree of glory they will manifest will be proportional to the degree they submitted their wills to God after he saved them by his grace. We will reap what we sow after we are saved in the glorified body we receive.

II Corinthians 5:10-12 – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things DONE IN HIS BODY, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Galatians 6:7 – Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

I Corinthians 15:35-42 – But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? [36] Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: [37] And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: [38] BUT GOD GIVETH IT A BODY AS IT HATH PLEASED HIM, and to every seed his own body. [39] All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. [40] There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. [41] There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. [42] SO ALSO IS the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:

Daniel 12:3 – And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Heaven will open at the end of God’s wrath and the Son will come with all his saints.

Luke 21:25-27 – 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; [26] 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. [27] And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

When he comes he will destroy the antichrist, the false prophet, and their armies. Then the Devil will be cast into the interior of the earth for a thousand years.

Revelation 19:11 to 20:2 – And I saw heaven 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. [12] His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. [13] And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. [14] And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. [15] And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a ROD OF IRON: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. [16] And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. [17] And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; [18] 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. [19] And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. [20] 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 burning with brimstone. [21] And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. [1] And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. [2] And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

Revelation 20:6 – 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.

Revelation 22:12 – And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 247B

November 2, 2005

A Rejected Son Returns as a Rod to Bring Peace to Us! Part 6

Revelation 19:15 – And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should SMITE THE NATIONS: and he shall rule them with a ROD OF IRON: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

God gave the law to Israel through Moses in order that they might turn to the Rock which was following them at the time he gave it.

I Corinthians 10:4 – And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

The law was straightforward in its bluntness, and was to cause individual Israelites to see the impossibility of measuring up to God’s standard of righteousness. It was designed to make them throw up their hands to the heavens and cry out: God be merciful to me a sinner. If the law had not been changed, watered down, such that a man might actually believe he could keep all of it, and thereby be considered righteous before God, then much of Israel might have been converted to belief that only the Messiah, acting alone, could save individuals and the nation from spiritual and physical destruction. But by the time that Messiah appeared, Israel did not look for a Messiah to save souls, because they had the law to do that – they were looking for a great military leader sent by God to raise a great army, to drive the Romans out of their land, and to restore greatness to Israel as in the days of King David. Israel had forgotten the law as God gave it, and had so watered down the severity of it, that men and women actually believed they could keep all of it and go to heaven. They did not remember the law as it was originally given and, because this was true, the law could not fulfill its role as schoolmaster to lead them to Messiah the Christ as their only hope of going to heaven, being justified by faith in him alone and not in their ability to make themselves righteous by keeping the law.

James 2:10 – For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Galatians 3:24 – Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Israel did not remember the law of Moses. Had they done so, it would have caused the nation to recognize the Messiah as their only hope of salvation, and they would have been led to receive him as the promised one when he came. It was one of the last things the Prophet Malachi delivered to them as a warning – To remember the law of Moses as it was originally given. Even Moses, in the law, spoke of the promised Seed.

Deuteronomy 18:18,19 – I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. [19] And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

John 12:49,50 – For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. [50] And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

John 5:39,40 – Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. [40] And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

Galatians 3:18-23 – For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. [19] Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. [20] Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. [21] Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. [22] But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. [23] But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

They did not remember the law of Moses as it was first given, because they watered it down to the point the nation’s leaders believed they could keep it perfectly. So who would be led to receive the Christ when he did arrive? Who needed him if they could be accepted by God through keeping the law of Moses?

Malachi 4:4-6 – Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. [5] Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: [6] And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, LEST I COME AND SMITE THE EARTH WITH A CURSE.

Revelation 19:15A – And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, THAT WITH IT HE SHOULD SMITE THE NATIONS:

God sent John the Baptist as the first Elijah. And he was received as such by those believing his testimony of the coming Messiah. Then the Messiah came preaching the same message as John. John was beheaded and Christ was rejected and crucified. The heart of the fathers did not turn to the children, and the heart of the children did not turn to the fathers when they received the words of John and of Christ, nor or they doing so now. So the smiting curse of the tribulation period is coming on this earth. It is vividly described in the verses preceding Malachi 4:4-6. Those who have feared his name, and turned to Messiah as their only hope, will be blessed by Messiah, and will be healed in the shadow of his wings, and he will fully provide for them as his children of the 1000 year reign.

Malachi 4:1-3 – For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. [2] But unto YOU THAT FEAR MY NAME shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. [3] And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

Religious Jews are still trying to keep the law of Moses to go to heaven, rather than letting it teach them they cannot possibly measure up to the standard of God’s righteousness, and thereby directing them to the coming Messiah as their only hope. They did not believe the first Elijah sent to them, and most will not believe the second Elijah who will come to them as one of the two witnesses of Revelation 11.

Very few of the Jews walked continuously with Messiah during his First Advent, and most will not believe he is Messiah until it is too late. The reward awaiting those who have, and who shall, is worth considering in Luke 22:28-30 and Revelation 20:4.

Luke 22:28-30 – Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. [29] And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; [30] That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Revelation 20:4 – 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.

Messiah gave Israel up at the close of his First Advent, but promised to return to them after the travail of the tribulation period, after which he will protect them with his shepherd’s rod as he leads and feeds them.

Matthew 23:37-39 – O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! [38] Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. [39] For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Micah 5:3,4 – Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. [4] And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.

Micah 7:14-20 – Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. [15] According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things. [16] The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. [17] They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee. [18] Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. [19] He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. [20] Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

Romans 2:28,29 – For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: [29] But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Romans 4:1-8 – What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? [2] For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. [3] For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. [4] Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. [5] But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. [6] Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, [7] Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. [8] Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

Micah 7:18-20 – Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. [19] He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. [20] Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

There will be a second Elijah in the Negev wilderness with Israel after two-thirds have perished in the initial Islamic Jihad against Israel. And most of the surviving one-third will turn their hearts to the gospel of the Seed delivered to their father Abraham, and to their fathers who followed him.

Zechariah 13:8,9 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. [9] And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

Malachi 4:6 – And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Micah 7:20 – Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

I Corinthians 15:58 – Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 248

November 4, 2005

Revelation Message of the Everlasting Gospel – Part 5

Revelation 14:6,7 – 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, [7] Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

Remember Chapter 14 is a parenthetical chapter, not subject to a chronological sequence of the events before or after it.

This is man’s last chance during the church age to hear and believe the everlasting gospel. The rapture of the saved occurs in Revelation 14:14-16, and the rupture of the lost occurs in verses 17 to 20.

Revelation 14:14-16 – And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. [15] And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. [16] And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.

Jesus, the son of man and of God, comes wearing the crown of glory and honor in Hebrews 2:9.

Hebrews 2:9 – But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

His cycle comes down by one hand and sweeps on the earth near the ground to sever the feet of the wheat, while his hand grasps the wheat in its upper portion to pull it up when it is severed. This is the catching out and carrying to heaven, of those who have believed the everlasting gospel of verse 6. It occurs before the wrath of God is poured out on the earth in the rupture of the earth in verses 17 through 20 on those who would not believe it.

The figures referenced in this Update may be seen by clicking on our web site Menu Heading BIRTH PAGE FIGURES.

Revelation 14:17-20 – And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. [18] And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. [19] And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. [20] And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

This particular angel thrusts his sickle INTO the earth. We are advised in verse 20 as to WHERE the sickle makes its earthly penetration; somewhere in Israel “outside the city,” which is the city of Jerusalem. The word used for winepress is “LENOS,” which means: “a trough dug in the earth, a ditch or canal, or anything shaped like a tub.” The winepresses with which John was familiar were rectangular in shape and made of, or dug out of, the rock of the earth. Blood-red wine was made from grapes. The ripe clusters were carried in baskets and thrown into the press. The winepress consisted of a shallow trough built above the ground, or excavated by chipping it out of limestone rocks in the earth. There were also countless village and household winepresses, but since the one to which John refers is one in a vineyard field, one made by chipping out a rectangular trough in limestone rock, I will limit my discourse to that type. One end of this type was made lower, such that the blood-red liquid from the grapes would flow into it, after being pressed out by the feet of humans in the shallow end. So both the upper and lower sections of the winepress presented a view of a blood-red trough in the crust of the earth.

John, in his vision, looks down upon the earth and, from this aerial view, recognized the city of Jerusalem, a city he had looked down upon many times from the Mount of Olives. He beheld “without” (outside) Jerusalem, to the east, the greatest winepress ever seen by human eyes. He saw a trough (lenos) in the earth 1600 furlongs (185 miles) in length. The opening of the earth caused by the angel’s sickle had caused blood (haima) to come up “out” (ek) of the winepress to a depth of about five feet (“unto the horse bridles”). The Greek word used for blood is haima, which can mean real blood, or any object taking on a blood red color, or any liquid that has a blood-red hue. The Hebrew word for blood is also used to describe a blood-red liquid rather than body blood, as we find stated in Genesis 49:11 – “Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:” The moon will not turn to real blood in the Tribulation Period, but it will take on a blood-red hue, as is described by the use of the word haima in Revelation 6:12 – “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;” Before this Update is over I will carefully pull together everything previously stated, and thereby put together a full exposition of Revelation 14:19,20. For now I will take time to describe one of the most terrifying creations of God in the distant past: a flood-basalt plain.

In the distant past, six major rips in the crust of the earth have produced six great basaltic flood plains. These great cleavages of the earth’s crust occurred in zones along the dashed lines of Birth Pang Figure 3. They represent old magma extrusions associated with the initial stages of continental drift. Dr. W. Kenneth Hamblin, in his standard geological text, The Earth’s Dynamic Systems, states: “Where the rift system passes beneath a continent, the continental crust is split and great volumes of basalt are extruded and spread out over large areas of the continent. These great floods of lava fill the lowlands and depressions in the existing topography.” The rift system that passes beneath the continent from the Gulf of Aqabah northward through Israel is a prime candidate for the sudden creation of a raging flood basalt plain. The following quoted material, concerning flood basalt plains, was extracted from Volcano, volume 2 of A 1982 Time-Life series that examines the workings of the planet earth: “Flood basalts are generated atop the upper mantle. When tension opens fissures in the crust, the fluid magma spurts directly to the surface. The sheer volume of it dwarfs all other volcanic activity: a week long flow can release 360 cubic miles of lava, 10 times the volume of Mount Rainier. Extremely fluid magma suddenly spurts to the surface through a line of hundred of offset dikes, each one as much as 15 miles long and fifty feet wide. The lava from such individual fissures, about five cubic miles per day, is so hot and runny that it speeds down the slightest slope at speeds up to 10 miles an hour, creating a lava sheet as much as 100 miles wide. A standard textbook notes – “sooner or later they must recur.”

This liquid rock can hit the surface at temperatures from 2300 to 2900 degrees Fahrenheit. This is double the temperature required to cremate a human body. At these temperatures, the flesh would disappear from the body before it hit the ground, were it directly exposed to the initial air heat flash surge near the crack through which the magna extruded. All that would remain would be a human skeleton. At the same time that the Mount of Olives cleaves in its midst, and all the land in Israel from Geba to Rimmon is lifted up, what follows will happen to the antichrist’s army in the Jordan River Valley, as indicated in Zechariah 14:3-12.

Zechariah 14:12 – And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

At some point in time, near the end of the Tribulation Period, the great rift valley of Israel will suddenly rip open from one end to the other. For a period of time after this ripping a vast flood basalt plain will be created along a 1600 furlough (185 mile) section of the valley. Looking down on it from heaven in his vision it looked like a north-south winepress. It was east of Jerusalem, along the Jordan River Valley, as a long rectangular trough in the crust of the earth filled with blood. Tremendous tectonic changes will completely restructure the entire valley from the Gulf of Aqabah to Lebanon. The fissures will close abruptly at the end of the Tribulation Period from the southern end of the Dead Sea to Lebanon. However, limited volcanic activity will continue south of the Dead Sea, in what once was Idumea, throughout Christ’s Millennial Reign from “generation to generation,” according to Isaiah.

Isaiah 34:8-10 – For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. [9] And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. [10] It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

Now, considering John’s description of the great winepress in Revelation 14:19,20, in light of one of God’s fantastic creations in the earth, let us compare God’s linguistics with God’s science. What John saw looked like a great lenos (trough or ditch or canal) about 185 miles long. I call your attention to Figure 24, Part A, which is an excerpt from a 1970 diagram by Dr. Fruend showing both sides of the Dead Sea Rift. The long dashed black lines that run north and south along both sides of the Dead Sea, from the Gulf of Aqabah through Israel, are great fissures in the crust of the earth. These fissures erratically weave down through the crust of the earth to eventually make contact with great undersea lakes of magma. Part A of Figure 24 gives a picture of these fissures as though you were looking down on them from a satellite, while Part B pictures the same fissures as though you were deep within the earth looking northward, and could see their downward progression into the earth. These fissures are where they should be to comply with the description by John. They are “without the city,” which is the city of Jerusalem. The word lenos does fit the characteristics of the Jordan River Valley, which is a great trough in the crust of the earth.

John saw haima come up out the lenos to cover an area some 185 miles long. John viewed a blood-red liquid (haima), which we call lava, spread across the great trough (lenos) to fill what we know as the Jordan River Valley. And the blood-red liquid filled the valley to a depth of about five feet (height of a horse bridle). Please note that, on Part A of Figure 24, a lone fissure veers off from the main trough, then extends northwest past the Tel of Armageddon, and finally goes on to Haifa, where it meets the Mediterranean Sea. If you measure northward from the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqabah to the point of departure by the fissure that extends to Haifa, you will discover it is 1600 furlongs, or 185 miles. I believe this 185 mile section of the Jordan River trough is the great winepress that John saw filled with a blood-red fluid as he looked down upon the earth in his vision.

Please observe Figure 25. God, for some time, has brought an unbelievable tonnage of hot flowing rock upward into the Red Sea Fault. As this liquid rock makes contact with the water- cooled Red Sea floor, it solidifies into new basaltic crust. This new crust is forcing two great plates, the Arabian and African, to move away from one another at a rapid geological rate. This particular segment is moving faster than others in the Middle East. Please note that, on Figure 25, while the Red Sea section of the fault is spreading rapidly, the great Rift Fault running up both sides of the Jordan Valley, is locked tighter than a drum. Long ago God pushed together these two great tectonic plates, which are separated only by the Jordan Rift Valley between them. God’s horizontal pressure fused both sides of the valley floor to these plates, like one would push together two pieces of clay. It is this horizontal pressure that locks the fissures in place and prevents magma from spurting to the surface on both sides of the valley. The locked section, (See Figure 26), is held together by a strong tensional force placed there by God. In the Red Sea section of the rift God is generating a force that is in direct opposition to His tensional force that locks the section through Israel. Tensional forces are building in the Gulf of Aqabah, and soon the southern opposing force will end a long struggle by ripping apart the northern section to form a flood basalt plain. It will be sudden, abrupt, and horrifying. God will suddenly create flood basalt plains 185 miles long that begin at the Gulf of Aqabah, and then extend up to the east end of the Valley of Jezreel. On both sides of the Jordan River Valley hot fountains of blood-red liquid, now confined by pressure below the fissures of Figure 27, will suddenly shoot hundreds of feet into the air. And a heat flash will blast toward the west to reach the foothills of the mountains of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, and toward the east to smash against the bluffs of the mountains of Moab and Ammon. I believe Figure 28 is what John saw from the air in Revelation 14:19,20. When the angel, who has authority to say when fire is to be released on the earth, tells the angel that has the sickle to stick it into the earth, then as the sickle goes in, the vine of the of the earth (the antichrist’s army) will feel the wrath of God. God does not have to use the creations of man to fulfill his prophecies. As he did in the flood of Noah, he will destroy man “with the earth,” but this time it will be fire from the earth, rather than water on the earth.

Revelation 14:18 – And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.

Men and women do have a choice – do your want to be taken out at the rapture by faith in Christ, or be a part of the rupture when God’s wrath is poured out?

I Thessalonians 5:3,4,9 – 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. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. [9] For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

I Peter 1:23 – Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

The everlasting Gospel has the gift of everlasting life!

John 5:24 – Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath EVERLASTING life, and SHALL NOT come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 249

November 11, 2005

Revelation Message of the Everlasting Gospel – Part 5A

This Update Contains an Update from 2002 and a November 8, 2005 Article from the Jerusalem Post.

The Plan 0f 2002 is Finally Coming Together for the False Peace!

Before the Revelation Everlasting Gospel is preached the tribulation period must begin, and it will not begin until a false peace comes to the nation of Israel.

The Plan of 2002 is Finally Coming Together for False Peace!

More than three years ago, in Archive Prophecy Update 83E, I laid out what Ariel Sharon outlined as Israel’s Plan to finally bring “Peace and safety” to Israel.

I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – 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. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

In 2002, when Israel put “Operation Defensive Shield” into effect, there was no doubt in my mind that the operation, of which the security wall was an integral part, would one day put a “forced peace” on the PA by destroying the infrastructure of the terrorist groups, and placing them inside the barrier with monitored access through its gates. Once the security barrier was begun the dye was cast, and I knew it did not matter which political party came into office in the future – the barrier would be completed, and the forced false peace would come in. The only doubt I had was WHEN the false peace would be in place. I knew the false peace could not come in until the security barrier was completed, and the first Israeli estimated date of completion was 2004. So I made a guess the false peace would come into place before 2005. There have been numerous delays in completing the security barrier, and the latest estimated completion date is late 2006. I feel confident it will be finished in 2007. Since the false peace must be in place before a united Islamic Jihad can be successful, I have been speculating that the attack could occur as early as 2007 or as late as 2012.

BEGIN ARCHIVE UPDATE 83E

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 83E

September 3, 2002

COUNTDOWN TO A FALSE PEACE IN A 7 STEP PLAN!

There are two men in Israel for whom I have great respect, Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. They have a better understanding of how to deal with their Abrahamic cousins to facilitate peace than any of their contemporaries. It is perhaps unfortunate that the only type of peace that can occur in the Middle East is a false peace. Nevertheless, these two men know how to being it in. The Israeli children are now returning to school in Israel and Ariel Sharon, in his address to children on their first day back in class, told them that Israel is “obligated to peace.” He then stated what I believe is the hallmark of his policy – He said that in order for there to be peace, three things were necessary:

(1) Knowing how to defend peace.

(2) Knowing how to protect peace.

(3) Knowing how to prevent terrorist attacks.

Israel will never accept a peace based on trusting the nations of Islam and/or the Palestinians. They will only accept a peace based on their personal abilities and expertise to defend it, to protect it, and to prevent terrorist attacks. They have grown to have tremendous confidence in themselves and little, or none, in the rest of the world. And they are quite correct in that policy. It is fully justified historically. However, this has also extended into their relationship with the God of Israel. They have little or no confidence in Him.

In order for Israel to actually say they have “peace and safety,” they must first truly believe they have it. And they will not believe they have it until they are confident they can prevent terrorist attacks. The continuation of Step 7, which was painted in Prophecy Updates 65A, 82E, and 83D, along with the security fencing, will eventually lead Israel to believe they can prevent terrorist attacks, defend the peace, and protect it. When this happens, it will not be too long until their having been lulled into a false sense of security will allow a lightening Jihad attack from the north to be successful, and they will find themselves in the Negev with no one to trust except the God of Israel and His only begotten Son.

Revelation 12:6 – 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.

Revelation 12:17 – And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

END ARCHIVE UPDATE 83E

Operation Defensive Shield, launched by Israel in 2002, has never really ended, just gone through phases and lulls, which occurred in response to Palestinian and international reaction to it. The results of it can be clearly seen in the following extract from an excellent article by Arieh O’Sullivan in the Jerusalem Post. I believe that 2007 will finally see the Israelis with a “Peace and safety” they believe they can control.

BEGIN JERUSALEM POST ARTICLE

Analysis: Terrorists in Distress

By Arieh O’Sullivan, THE JERUSALEM POST

November 8, 2005

Each night, security forces fan out across Judea and Samaria and detain suspected fugitives. Nearly 1,000 have been nabbed and brought in for questioning in the past few months. While many were eventually released, the arrest of key terrorists has decimated their ranks, particularly in Hamas, who are now suffering from a dearth of local leaders in the run-up to Palestinian elections.

But most of the pressure has been focused on Islamic Jihad, which has carried out three suicide attacks during the so-called truce (Netanya, Tel Aviv and Hadera).

In the past week alone, the Israeli security forces have killed two Islamic Jihad commanders in Tulkarm, another seven in Gaza, and at least five in Kabatiya. The IAF also killed a top Fatah and Hamas terrorist in Gaza.

But the crackdown on the terrorist groups in the West Bank has been so vast and consistent that they are resigned to attempting to sneak in from the Gaza Strip not just know-how, but muscle as wlll.

This was evident in the revelation this week that security forces had nabbed three veteran terrorists attempting to sneak out of the Gaza Strip, through the Sinai and to the West Bank through the Negev.

These three men, members of the Popular Resistance Committees, were not just experts in manufacturing Kassam rockets and explosives, but at organizing active cells and carrying out attacks against Israelis. Their job was to fill the void and set up a military infrastructure in the northern West Bank.

“We are talking of transferring not just brains, but muscle as well,” said a senior security official. “They were to be the bridgehead.”

According to senior security officials, fewer and fewer people are involved in Palestinian terror. Hamas is refraining from openly staging attacks in order to present itself as a political movement in the lead-up to the elections.

A poll conducted by the PCPO showed that three out of four Palestinians favor the continuation of the “calm” and indicates that the escalation in terror by the Islamic Jihad and Hamas was not supported.

From the point of view of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Palestinian terror cells like the PRC have gone beyond the world-accepted definition of terrorism that generally defines it as a means for a political end.

“They lack a political agenda other than causing attacks,” a senior Shin Bet official said. “The Popular Resistance Committees are the closest to the ideology of global jihad because they don’t have a political agenda other than the destruction of the West.”

Even if some Palestinian cell does manage to pull off another serious attack, it would be the exception rather than a sign of renewed capability.

Israel never trusted the Palestinians and their various cease-fires, lulls and informal truces. And it is highly unlikely at this stage that Israel will accept any kind of agreement to halt its targeted killings so Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas can declare he will start dismantling the terrorist infrastructure.

Even IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said that as far as he was concerned it was possible to defeat terrorism through military means. “In contrast to the theory that the army cannot exterminate terrorism, I believe the army can reduce terrorism to the very lowest level,” Halutz told The Jerusalem Post last month.

While not promising to bring terrorism to an “absolute zero” level, Halutz said the IDF policy has proven that there was a military answer to terrorism, and we are watching this unfold daily.

END JERUSALEM POST ARTICLE

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 249A

November 13, 2005

THE REVISIONIST EVANGELICAL MOVEMENT!

The Evangelical Movement – Do You Know About It’s Revisions of Major Prophetic Teachings Over the Last 267 Years – It Is Something You Should Take into Account When You Study Prophecy!

The movement arose in Britain in the 1730’s. The conversion of John Wesley in 1738 is often regarded as the beginning of the Evangelical Movement. The Wesleyan revival within the Church of England began the formation of a party of separated Anglicans, and this movement is still called the “Evangelical Party.” Wesley was forced to preach out of doors and, being unwelcome in Church of England pulpits, eventually developed an organization of his own. Out of this initial Evangelical Movement there has, over the last 267 years, arisen a long line of very dynamic speakers heading powerful religious organizations, which you may view worldwide on television or hear from a variety of broadcasts. I do not intend to address their variety of teachings on salvation in this Update, nor do I intend to discuss their beliefs on the church related subjects. But I would appreciate your ear on the subject of what most generally present in their prophetic teachings. Why? Because there has been a dramatic reversal on what was taught before the Evangelical Movement began in the 1730’s. Most who follow today’s evangelical prophecy teachers are under the impression that what they teach about prophecy has always been taught as they teach it now, and that is not true. If that was the case, I would not challenge what they teach, but would accept it. I have studied meticulously and traveled far to find the truth of what was taught before the Evangelical Movement began. I am simply going to make a series of statements based on my research, and if you can find concrete evidence they are not correct, then don’t believe what I teach on these subjects but, if you cannot disprove them, then at least consider them.

Seven Statements on Pre and Post Evangelical Prophecy Teachings!

1. The-first-of-the-week rapture position was not taught prior to the beginning of the Evangelical Movement.

2. The Mid-Tribulation position was not taught prior to the beginning of the Evangelical Movement.

(For Updates dealing with 1 and 2, please review the Archive Prophecy Update Numbers 73D, 74A, 76, 78A, 82A, 114A, 123B, 144A, 144F, 147D, 166C, and 233A).

3. The position that the three “he’s” in Daniel 9:27 are the antichrist was not taught prior to the beginning of the Evangelical Movement.

4. All prophetic teachers prior to the Evangelical Movement taught the three “he’s” in Daniel 9:27 were Jesus Christ or Antiochus Epiphanes. The vast majority of the “all” taught it was Jesus Christ. The “he’s” were not presented as being a future antichrist.

(For Updates dealing with 3 and 4, please review the Archive Prophecy Update Numbers 123C, 230B, 231, 231A, 231B, 232, 232A, 232B, 232C, 233, and Whole Numbered Updates 55 to 58).

5. The most popular prophetic position on the nationality of antichrist, prior to the Evangelical Movement, was that he would be an Assyrian.

(For Updates dealing with 5, please review Whole Numbered Archive Prophecy Updates 62 to 69)

6. The Antichrist and the 10 horns will not come out of Europe, the northern half of the old Roman Empire, but out of the southern half of it, which includes 10 Arab nations.

(For Updates dealing with 6, please review Archive Prophecy Update Numbers 74B, 78, 233B, 234A, 235A, 236A, and 236b).

7. Because of the use of the hyperbole by the Holy Spirit in Prophecy, the empire of the antichrist may not cover all the earth as we know it today.

(For Updates dealing with 7, please review Archive Prophecy Update Numbers 77, 77A, 77B, 77C, and 135A).

The major reason for my concern involving these seven differences in pre and post Evangelical Movement prophetic teachings is obvious. If the latest outbreak of “the good news is that the bad news was wrong” is correct, then there is no problem. If the rapture occurs before the man of sin appears on the scene, then there is no problem. If the popular “left behind” multimillion dollar series of books and videos is correct, then there is no problem. If the antichrist is to arise in Europe, then we have plenty of time before he arises, because Europe is afraid of its own shadow, and it would take a long, long time for him to revive it, and to conquer the world as we know it today. My concern is this – most of the ones who accept the “left behind” teachings have never considered they might not be correct! They are waiting for Jesus to whisk them away before the tribulation period begins, and they think they have plenty of time before the antichrist arises in Europe, plus a period of time which will pass before he takes over the whole world as we know it today. If this post Evangelistic Movement teaching is correct, then children of God indeed have no reason to even think about the tribulation period. But what if the Pre Evangelistic Movement prophecy teachings were more correct than what is commonly taught today? My concern is that very few will even consider them, and if the Pre Evangelistic Movement teachings are correct, children of God will suddenly find themselves in the tribulation period on the present earth with an antichrist who has arisen out of Islam, on an earth being rocked with natural phenomena unleashed by God.

Whether you believe what I present on comparisons of Pre Evangelistic Movement teachings with today’s popular teachings is not really the issue. At age 73 I have taken my lumps, and personal vendettas of who is right and who is wrong have flown away into obscurity. However, my concern is that many have never considered what the great Christian preachers and teachers taught before 1740, because they have not been exposed to their prophetic teachings.

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 249B

November 16, 2005

Who Controls the Jerusalem Temple Mount? Who are the “Wakf?”

We recently issued a BLOG on our Web Site concerning the “Wakf” and the dispute complaint lodged against them by Israeli archeologists. There have been many in the past and there will be more in the future, because the Temple Mount is the most Holy Site of the Israelis and the third most Holy Site of Islam.

Since we are hearing more and more wrangling between the “Wakf” and Israeli Archeologists concerning Islamic remodeling on, under, and near the Jerusalem Temple Mount, I am presenting this information to help readers understand the disputes as they arise.

As to the origin of the word “Wakf:” some 1500 years ago Islamic Law recognized and developed a legal expedient under the name of “wakf,” which permitted an owner to settle his property for use of beneficiaries in perpetuity. The term is now applied to those Muslims who perform the maintenance on the Jerusalem Temple Mount – they are the Wakf (Caretaker Trustees). According to post 1967 Regulations in place at the Jerusalem Holy Site, Israel is in charge of overall security at the compound, while the Islamic Trust (Wakf) are charged with day-to-day maintenance at the site.

I am often amused at the absolutely absurd claim the Wakf currently makes concerning the history of the Temple Mount. They claim there has never been a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount, and that its entire history has been one of Islamic possession. The claim is such a ridiculous farce it is funny! The first time I was in the Holy Land was in 1952 & 53, and Jordan had full control over the Temple Mount. At that time there was a tourist book in English, which was both written and published by the Supreme Moslem Council. It gave the full history of the Temple Mount. It indicated as an absolute fact that it was the site of Solomon’s Temple, and made reference to the era of Christian presence on it during the time of the Crusaders, when they quartered their horses in what came to be called Solomon’s Stables. It was recently converted into a mosque extension under what is now the Al-Aksa Mosque.

While I am interested in the history of the Temple Mount, I am much more interested in its future as outlined in Scripture. Some forty years before the fall of the Temple Mount to the Roman Army commanded by Titus, Jesus uttered the following prophecy.

Luke 21:5,6,24 – And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, [6] As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. [24] 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.

So, in 70 AD, as predicted, the city of Jerusalem fell to Titus, the temple was burned, all the stone structures on the elevated platform of the temple mount were pushed into the valleys to the west and south of it, and the Jews were carried as captives into many other nations. The expression “trodden down” was commonly used to express the right of the conqueror, who held the land in subjection, to do so. The Gentiles (non-Jews) maintained control over what is known as the old City of Jerusalem and its Temple Mount from 70 AD to 1967 AD, but it came back under Jewish control in June of 1967. The “times of the Gentiles” for control of the Temple Mount and old Jerusalem was ended at that time. But it will again come back under Gentile control when it is overrun by an Islamic Jihad attack from the north, at which time two-thirds of the national Jewish population will be killed, one-third will be driven into the Negev Wilderness, and Jerusalem will fall, remaining thereafter under Islamic control for some three and on-half years.

Zechariah 13:8 to 14:2 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. [9] And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God. [1] Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. [2] For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

Revelation 12:6 – 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.

At the end of the three and on-half years the Lord will return at his Second Advent to end the battle of Armageddon and fulfill the covenant of the Land Grant promised to the descendants of Abraham through the promised seed Isaac. Then there will be no disputes for a thousand years as to who owns what in the Holy Land when Messiah comes.

Genesis 15:18 – In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

So, I am looking forward to the time when the fullness of this Gentile Age will come in as a plant that has reached the rotten corruption of its overripe condition. The fullness of the Jewish Age came when it was so ripe with corruption it was rotten. The Gentile Age is fast approaching that degree of rotten fullness.

Romans 11:25-27 – For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. [26] And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: [27] For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

Acts 20:21 – Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 250

November 18, 2005

AN EXPOSITION OF II THESSALONIANS 2:1-12! PART 1

II Thessalonians 2:7 – For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

I long ago lost count of the number of requests I have received about the identity of the “he’s” referred to by Paul in II Thessalonians 2:7. I did not reveal what I believed on the “he’s” for some time, and did not start to say what I believed about it until I made a trip to Kenya in 1999. Joel Cobb asked me what I thought about the he’s while I was lecturing in the Seminary there. As I had done so often in the past, I turned the question back on the asker, asking him to first tell me what he believed about it. Before that, when the asking person had told me what he or she believed, I would quickly say – well, that is what everyone else that asked me the question believes, so you are on solid ground. And, indeed, those who had asked me previously, all thought it referred to the Holy Spirit being taken out when the rapture came at the first of the week. But, much to my surprise, I was shocked to find that Joel Cobb believed what I believed about the Scripture and, as far as I know, still does. So, at age 73, knowing my time on this planet is limited, in this series I intend to offer my case as to who I believe the “he’s” represent in II Thessalonians 2:7. The reason I believe so many have asked me who it represents is this – down deep inside some, who have been taught the “he” is the Holy Spirit, there has been a suspicion it could be someone else.

I intend to exposit line by line from II Thessalonians 2:1 to 12 in order to make my case, and this will be the beginning sheet on each new Series Part issued.

Quite frankly, when God called me into the ministry at age 38, I did not know what this Scripture meant and, if someone asked me, I would simply refer them to some commentary. But in the 1980’s, as I began to link other Scriptures with it, I finally reached a conclusion with which I have found rest within myself with the Spirit. In order to make my case, it will be necessary for me to exposit on the six verses before it and the five which follow it.

II Thessalonians 2:1 – Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

This is, of course, referring to the gathering together, the catching up, of the saints in I Thessalonians 4:16,17.

I Thessalonians 4:16,17 – For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: [17] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

The primary subject of II Thessalonians 2:1-12 involves the event known as the “rapture,” which is identified as the first resurrection in the New Testament. The only angel specifically identified as an archangel is Michael, but it is generally accepted that Satan and Gabriel were also archangels, created by God to rule over the three angelic realms he created for specific purposes.

Daniel 10:13 – But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.

Daniel 12:1 – And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

Jude 1:9 – Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

II Thessalonians 2:1,2 – Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, [2] 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.

Paul tells them specifically in unmistakable terms – If any stand up among you, and tell you something I told you about the rapture, which is different from what I taught you, don’t get shook up in your spiritual mind or troubled in your daily walk, even if they claim to be led of the Holy Spirit to say it, or claim it is the word of God, or even if they show you an epistle they say we wrote, which they use to tell you the Lord is coming at a specific time in the near future. His major thrust is a simple one – don’t believe anything different from what I originally taught you. Don’t believe them if they tell you the rapture is in the immediate future or has already occurred, as was the case Paul mentioned in his second epistle to Timothy.

II Timothy 2:18 – Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

II Thessalonians 2:1-3 – Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, [2] 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. [3] 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;

In verse one Paul tells them the subject he is about to address is the first resurrection.

In verse two he tells them not to believe anything that is different from what he originally taught them about the first resurrection, especially as it pertains to being in the immediate future or having occurred in the past.

Paul begins verse three by referring back to verse two by telling them again, “Let no man deceive you by any means,” meaning, as he had previously advised them against believing anything different from what he had previously taught them. So, just what did he tell them had to first happen before the rapture occurred? He said two things had to happen before the rapture would occur: “for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” First, there had to be a falling away from the faith once delivered to the saints. This meant the truths of the faith had to be taught in many places before believers could fall way from it, which meant the rapture had not already occurred, nor was it in the near future when Paul wrote this epistle. The second event, which was to occur before the rapture, and which had not occurred when Paul wrote the epistle, was a visible revealing of the antichrist to the eyes of believers. Lord willing, I will exposit fully on verse three next week.

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 250A

November 20, 2005

Revelation of the Everlasting Gospel Message – Part 6

Thanksgiving is a Time When I Thank God for the Amazing Grace Found in the Everlasting Gospel that Once and for all Delivered me from the Great White Throne Judgment, which I would have Experienced had He not already Paid the Full Price for All My Sins.

The everlasting gospel has always been God’s offer of grace to escape from the judgment for sin that placed us under the condemnation of God for it. It has always required the acknowledgment of, and repentance from, our sinfulness before God, on our part, in order to be saved from his judgment of condemnation for sin.

Acts 20:20,21 – And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house, [21] Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they did not come of their own free will and confess it, but tried to hide from God. He blamed Eve directly and God indirectly, she blamed the Devil. There is very little evidence of an action that showed repentance for what they had done, but rather an attempt to hide from the penalty for it.

Genesis 3:8-13 – And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. [9] And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? [10] And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. [11] And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? [12] And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. [13] And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Those who repent do so because they believe there is a severe judgment by God for sin. God accepts this type of repentance and his Holy Spirit leads them to put all their faith in his promise in Christ. A tortured lost soul is convicted by the goodness of God it sees in Christ, and is led to repentance toward God for its sinful state, at which time the light of the Spirit shines into the darkness where it dwells, and the individual chooses to come to the light of Christ, or to remain in darkness.

Romans 2:4 – Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

Christ made a one time offering for all sin, and when one believes this, and places all their faith in him to save them from God’s condemnation to hell, then they are set free from his condemnation forever by the promise of the everlasting gospel. Christ came the first time to put away the sins of all who would put their faith in him, and when he comes the second time those believers will be without sin because he did put it away by grace through faith.

Hebrews 9:24-28 – For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: [25] Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; [26] For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. [27] And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: [28] So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Hebrews 7:23-27 – And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: [24] But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. [25] Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. [26] For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; [27] Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

Hebrews 10:10-14 – By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. [11] And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: [12] But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; [13] From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. [14] For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 250B

November 23, 2005

THANKSGIVING FOR ME IS THAT I KNOW GOD!

I don’t want the power to cast out demons and perform miracles. I am just thankful to God that my name is written permanently in heaven, and that I know God! I thank God that his Son Jesus revealed him unto me.

Luke 10:15-28 – And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell. [16] He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me. [17] And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. [18] And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. [19] Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. [20] Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. [21] In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. [22] All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. [23] And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: [24] For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. [25] And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? [26] He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? [27] And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. [28] And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

I thank God that through his Son I have been taught and humbled by his law that I cannot do this and go to heaven, and that I am a child of God only by faith in Christ Jesus. And I thank God he has used that same law, his word, to continue to show me he does not want my expertise and self-confidence, just my awareness that he does the work by the power of his word.

Galatians 3:24-26 – Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. [25] But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. [26] For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

I thank God I will not be brought down to hell because I became a babe in Christ by being born from above by his Spirit by his grace.

Matthew 11:23-30 – And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. [24] But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. [25] At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. [26] Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. [27] All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. [28] Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

My thanksgiving is directed to God for the eternal first rest he gave me in Christ Jesus, but I am also thankful that his Spirit afterwards directed me into the second rest as he taught me of the characteristics of Christ, and continued to reveal more of my inadequacies and flaws in my own self-centered interests. I thank God he has proven to me that truly his yoke of service is an easy yoke, and that his burden is light. I praise him for teaching me that his yoke is only as difficult as my lack of faith in his ability, and my burden is only heavy if I try to carry it by faith in my own ingenuity.

The word translated “yoke” is “zeugos,” which is a double yoke, with two yoked together to plow the field and produce the crop. Christ has his neck in the same yoke he told me to take upon me by my own free will. I deeply regret it took me so long to realize he alone has the power and I just walk along in my yoke-hole in the direction his word teaches me to go. In the first ten years of my ministry at this church, I was full of plans, misdirected zeal, programs, and confidence in my own ability to carry them out. My thanksgiving extends to God that he has taught me to have confidence in his written word, and the leadership of his Spirit in it.

After God called me, the fever and zeal of my early ministry did more harm than good, but that is simply part of the call to preach because we are full of the flesh and, one of two things happens in a minister’s life, he either passes through that phase of spiritual growth, and loses his confidence in himself, or becomes more and more engrained in what he convinces himself is the will of God for his life by not studying the methodology the bible is willing to unveil to him. I thank God for his word that got me through it. Peter had that problem of confidence in his fleshly abilities, as did all the disciples.

Matthew 26:35 – Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.

Luke 22:31-34 – And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: [32] But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. [33] And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. [34] And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.

All God-called preachers either get converted from their own personal adequacy by realizing they are, by nature, inadequate for the task to which they have been called, or they take their frustrations out on those whom they teach, because they have the same inadequacies.

I thank God he taught me I am an unprofitable servant.

Luke 17:10 – So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

The word translated unprofitable is “achreios,” and its root meaning is “not needed.” God did not need me and my new innovative ideas. I just needed to follow his ideas found in his word! Nothing else is needed.