The fulfillment of Isaiah 61

After Jesus fasted forty days and nights, and after He was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, He went into his home town and proclaimed the year of Jubilee on The Day of Atonement (the only day you can proclaim a year of Jubilee every 50th year):  
Luke 4:16-22 
"He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked."
This is the scripture He was reading from:
Isaiah 61:1-3 
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor."  
He stopped reading at the word "favor", and told them that that scripture had been fulfilled in their hearing.  The last half of the scripture verses 2 and 3 (and on really) ...will not be fulfilled until His second coming. The Day of vengeance will be carried out on non-believing Jews on the Day of Atonement 10 days after His Second Coming on The Feast of Trumpets/ Yom Teruah. To understand the rest of the verse, I suggest reading Ezekiel 9: 1-6:
"Then I heard him call out in a loud voice, 'Bring near those who are appointed to execute judgment on the city, each with a weapon in his hand.' And I saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar. Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side and said to him, 'Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.' As I listened, he said to the others, 'Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.' So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple."
So you see those who are newly His, after seeing that He was indeed who He claimed to be, will be mourning after the rapture and then will be comforted after that Day of Atonement.
Zechariah 12:10:
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo."
...and so the remnant of Israel will be saved. 
Palms 102:13:
"You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come." (Appointed time = "Moed"= festival... one of God's 7 appointed festivals, obviously here referring to the same I mentioned before (The Day of Atonement) or the one directly following 5 days later (The Feast of Tabernacles... when Jesus will begin his millennial reign).

 

Seven Feasts Fashion Show

It's happening! I'm finally on the ground running. April 27th (2013) will be my first presentation (for strangers) since I completed all of my gowns for the fashion show.  I have spoken at a few churches already with only 1-5 dresses done, but all 12 are complete now and so is my message. Although saying the message is complete will never be entirely truthful, as whenever I learn new things or find a better way to say something... it'll change.  But I am very excited and wanted to share and get the word out as I hope to take the show around to many many churches. In my mind the best settings would be at a women's annual tea, or even as the focus of a retreat. I also plan to take it to the secular world without the "preaching", but with a handout that explains things for those interested. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be an interim act at a huge event like a Women of Faith conference. Here's a little flyer I put together that showcases the Passover gown.
 

Rack Cards by Vistaprint

In my message, I start with Genesis and Leviticus and what the Hebrew word “moed” means. 

I talk about how the spring feasts: Passover, Unleavened bread, First Fruits, and Pentecost, were fulfilled by Jesus Christ in the final year of his life here on earth, and how we are awaiting the fulfillment of the fall feasts in His Second Coming. (The Feast of Trumpets, The Day of Atonement, and The Feast of Tabernacles.) I say that I believe just like the spring feasts were all fulfilled in the same year that the fall feasts will also all be fulfilled in the same year. 
 I talk about the Jubilee year and the Sabbath and how both tie in to a young earth theology. 
For each feast I give scripture and Jewish tradition information... not an overwhelming amount but just enough to whet an appetite for further study. 

My idea is not to have people walking away feeling like they know everything now and never have to give it a second thought. The idea is to wake people up to this vast subject that is missing from most people's study of the Bible, and have them walking away saying, "I want to know more." "I want to dive into this." The next time they open their Bibles I want them to clearly see the Feast references and begin to unlock some of the mysteries that in the past may have confused them, or caused them to skip passages entirely.
I want people to not be afraid of eschatology, and instead of cowering in fear when they see things happening around the world in the next years to "look up, and lift your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." 

CitizenLink Report: Savage Journalism

CitizenLink Report: Savage Journalism

Just a little something to remind us that the tables are turning; mocking Christianity is now what is being applauded.

The Three Angels of Revelation 14 {in Order}

Let's just jump right in and I'll put parenthesis throughout:
Revelation 14:6-20 "I saw an angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, )“Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come." (An angel talking in a loud voice in midair... perhaps a natural disaster from heaven, announcing that the tribulation has started. Or started or not, now it's getting serious.) "Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” (I mentioned in my last post that I believe Mystery Babylon is Saudi Arabia.) (See that post for my reasoning.) (So Saudi Arabia falls after the Tribulation has started but before the next angel.) A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand (The mark of the beast is in the final 3 1/2 years of the tribulation) they too will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. (This says "will" (a future tense); We know from Revelation 19:20 that the day they are thrown into the lake of sulfur is the day of Christ's second coming.) And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. (Patient endurance by Christian's during the tribulation.) Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” (What a great promise and encouragement for us as we endure the tribulation.) I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man (Jesus) with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. (This is the rapture of the Church when we meet Christ in the air). Another angel (not Christ) came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, (called with fire from Heaven) “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” (Grape harvest is in the Fall.) The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia. (In Ezekiel 9:4-7 the angel of death is told to start the killing in the middle of Jerusalem.)
So we see the order of things. #1 and #2: disaster from heaven, and the beginning of the "hour of judgment" #3: the fall of Saudi Arabia, #4: the mark of the beast, #5: saints patiently enduring the Great Tribulation, #6: the rapture, and #7: Wrath, starting in Jerusalem and spreading from there effecting all of those who do not repent following the rapture.

Mystery Babylon

"Mystery Babylon" is revealed in Revelation chapter 17 and 18. Those two chapters give us all we need to uncover the "mystery". But there are other chapters in the Old Testament about her as well. To distinguish if the actual Babylon or the "Mystery Babylon" of the End Times is meant in the Old Testament passages look for hints like these phrases: "in that day", and "burn forever, or be desolate forever". Obviously there is not a place in earth that is at present burning continuously, so you can be safe in assuming that is still a future prophecy. Jeremiah 50-51 and Isaiah 13, and 21 are chapters that I found about the "Babylon" of the End Times.

Going back to Revelation, let's look at Mystery Babylon's traits.
Verse 1:
great prostitute, who sits by many waters.
(In the Bible when a nation is called a prostitute it mearly means that they do not worship God, they worship a false god. The "many waters" on which she sits are explained by the angel in verse 15, "Then the angel said to me, 'The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.")
Verse 2:
With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.
Verse 3:
sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.
(In verse 9-13 the angel explains, “The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, {The 'beast nations' that had fallen by that time were Egypt,Babylona, babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece} one is {that was Rome}, the other has not yet come {this speaks of the Ottoman Empire that took over after the Roman Empire, today we see the resurgence of the Ottoman/Islamic Empire}; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction. The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. {These could be any number of Islamic countries/kings, there are tons around today. We will find out soon enough which nations become the top ten. Note though that the prostitute was riding the beast, they are not one in the same. We see this explained in verse 16-18; "The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.” The other Islamic nations "hate" this nation that rules over kings of the earth. They will ultimately destroy her.})
Verse 4:
dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.
(This is a nation of royalty, and of great wealth, and of perversion.)
Verse 5:
The name written on her forehead was a mystery: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES, AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
(Being called the "mother" of prostitutes and of abominations is no small title. This is a place that is home to the center of false god worship, and the home of the most abominable things going on in the world today.)
Verse 6:
drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
(This nation seeks to kill Christians. They have zero tolerance for those worship the one true God.)

"Mystery Babylon" is Saudi Arabia. Home to Mecca, the center of Islam. The nations of the earth depend on her for oil, and she depends on them for every other product. She is a mass consumer. Saudi Arabia has three times the GDP of the UAE. She is by the sea. She is in the desert. She is home to royalty. She is a religious leader. She is an economic leader. "The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”
There is no other nation that matches all of the qualifications.

So... as we look into the future what can we be sure will happen to Saudi Arabia?

Revelation 18 says that she will be given "as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. ...in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her. When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore - cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and human beings sold as slaves. {Sex slaves are a HUGE business in Saudi Arabia.} They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your luxury and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.

Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”

To end on a light note... "Take that Al Gore, 'smoke going up forever and ever' and yet the ozone survives another 1,000 years+."

Silenced and Mocked

I wanted to share a little something that happened last week.
No, not an earthquake or tornado, though this week has not been lacking in those departments. I wanted to share a Facebook incident.
When I see Christians being bashed on Facebook I like to speak up in their defense. So I did. This was not on a random acquaintance’s page, this was my sister's post. Her post (a link) and the comments from friends about the link spoke ill of Kirk Cameron and his "treatment" of gays. Now, I don't know much about Kirk. I don't agree with the Left Behind series that he was a part of, and I've never watched any of his other films or studies. But I've heard him give interviews and he seems like s good guy. The link my sister posted had the basic message that if you don't agree with the gay lifestyle you’re automatically a hater, a homophobe, or any other title the left likes to throw around. Kirk had said that he had gay friends even though he disagrees with that lifestyle. The linked article as well as my sister's friends said that that's not real friendship.
My mind went to a time in my life that I was living a sinful lifestyle and my parents kicked me out of their house. I had a job, and was old enough to be on my own (one year out of college), but they had been helping me save money by allowing my daughter and I to live with them. Being kicked out and having my actions labeled as sin did not make me feel unloved. Most people refer to it as tough love. Tough love is when someone who loves you stops enabling you to live a sinful life. They still love you, they just don't love your actions, and instead of acting like it's no big deal they say, yes it is a big deal, and I won't be a part of it.
I'm pretty sure this is what Kirk, as well as many others who view homosexual sex as sin was doing. He loves his gay friends with a tough love. The liberals in the world are using this and other issues (such as "reproductive care") to portray Christians as haters.
I left a comment on my sister's post that said basically that... That we were labeled as haters and that it will lead to Christians being arrested for hate crimes and eventually put in concentration camps and killed. My sister deleted my post because she found it offensive to her other friends, or perhaps she just found me "crazy" once again talking about the end of the world. I texted her about it, and she apologized and said I could re-post if I wanted. (I never did.)
But it proved my point even more than if she would have left my comment there. We... Christians, especially conservative Christians, and even more so Conservative Christians who believe that the antichrist is soon coming, and even more than that conservative Christians who believe the antichrist is coming from Islam, are being silenced and mocked.
Delete comments, keep off the radio, off the TV, make sure that this word does not get around and if it does dismiss it as insane. I ask you, why? I'll tell you why, because Satan does not want the truth out there. He is all about silencing truth, and the truth that he cannot silence he mocks. He has put the Mayan calendar ordeal in people's faces, and people like Harold Camping in the spotlight so that talk about the end of the world is crazy. It's dismissible.
Thirty percent of scripture is prophecy. Most of Jesus' recorded "sermons" were about his second coming. When was the last time you heard a message about the second coming in church? I know have haven't been every Sunday, so I can't say for certain, but in my last 12 years of church, I have not heard one sermon focused on that topic. Mentioned briefly, yes, but all about, no. Even mentioned briefly I bet I could count on my fingers. Nothing comes to mind. Not one single word about any kind of time frame. By time frame I don't mean a time line, just anything; anything about pre or post trib, or a-millennialism or anything.
Let me briefly remind you of the time line.
Daniel talks about the last seven (in the 70 sevens), so most people say the tribulation is 7 years long. However, every other verse that speaks of the tribulation says it's 3 1/2 years. This could simply refer to the magnitude of the sufferings, as the final 3 1/2 years is the time that the Bible describes as having plagues for the non-believers and captures and killings of believers. The antichrist will be known during these three and half years, where prior to he will be veiled. The two witnesses will also be present during these 3 1/2 years.
When the feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) is accomplished (the rapture of the church) there will be an additional time of torment on the earth. (some people think the whole seven years, I think only the final weeks-month) The angel of death is to start at the temple and kill all who do not mourn over what has happened. Then Christ will return with an army of saints dressed in white to claim his throne here on this earth for a thousand years. The millennium will be a wonderful time of lion and lamb laying together, kids playing with vipers, (Isaiah 11) and people living as long as trees. During this time Satan and all demons will be locked away. They will be released at the end of the thousand years for a time to deceive the nations again. Then there will be a final battle, and a final judgment. The earth will be replaced with a new earth and heaven will be replaced with a new heaven, and we will live there eternally with no Satan ever again. (Revelation 20)

Birth Pains

Romans 8:22 "We know that all of creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time..."  Mark 13:6-8 "Jesus said to them: 'Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains."

Interesting earthquake statistics...
From 2000-2008 we had 127 major (.7ish) earthquakes...  That's like one per every 28 days.
In 2009  there were 17; That's one every 26 days.
In 2010 there were 20; one per every 18 days.
In 2011 there was one per every 13 days.

Consider earthquakes contractions...
At this rate we would be in a constant earthquake in 2017. According to multiple Jewish scholars 2017 is the next “Year of Jubilee”
Welcome to the end folks.  :-)

"What I Do"

I decided to make one for myself. ;-)  and yes, the last one of what I actually do is a time line I actually made... about 2 years ago.

Puppets

In response to the very convicting words, "it looks as if you have stopped writing for some time" I will answer "what's new and is there anything else that you have learned lately?"


Where to begin...


Well, how about some conspiracy theories?  How about the "accidental" burning of the Korans by the military this past week? And about the apologies given by our leadership? 
This is just a recent thing, not by any means the "big story", but it just shows me that we are playing right into the hands of Satan. Everyone knows you get riots and retaliation killings when you burn Islamic holy books. They held intelligence information, and should have been kept as evidence, but instead were burned... on accident? Odd. Sounds to me like fuel for the fire.  Then to apologize to a culture that takes apologies as a sign of weakness, again: fuel.
Radical Islamists are trying to cause chaos, they look for every opportunity. Chaos and World War will bring about the 12th Mahdi; it's what they want!


How about "identity theft"?  "Let's get the whole world so scared about it, that they'll be begging us to put micro-chips in them."


How about the Republican candidates?  "Let's offer division to the party, no one that has full support of the majority, no one that can beat Obama... let's ensure that we lose."  (Now I'm not saying people are aware of what's happening, but you can bet your bottom dollar that the Spiritual realm is sitting back well pleased with the situation.)


The coming "economic tsunami" as it was called in a news article my husband pointed out to me, will send America to its knees, and we will be enveloped into the one world government, perhaps within a year.
I imagine that the celestial turmoil coming up near the end of 2012 will be on a catastrophic level that the US will not be able to "help", and shortly there after a very "nice" man with all the answers will enter stage right and "solve" the world's problems.
Secret societies around the world composed of very rich and powerful people play with our countries like puppets on strings.
In 1999 when loaning laws changed, someone chuckled at how our banks would fall.
When the Vietnam War took 10 years to end, rich American funders of weapons to the enemy patted themselves on the back for a job well down.
As less and less labels bare the mark of "made in the USA" all the people who know America has to fall for one world government to rise, sit on the edge of their seat, knowing the end is near.
As God's laws are torn off court room walls, the puppet masters smile knowing that "all men" will soon not be seen as "created equal".


It is a wonderful and terrible time to be alive! Just think of all the prophecy we get to see fulfilled. How comforting it is to know that the end has been written. Not one "jot or tittle" will be changed.


I will have to do some reading and praying before I have a well composed blog entry, but for now I thought I'd just write some recent thoughts in answer to the comment by Vinn I received this morning.
Thanks Vinn.

The Death of True Tolerance

"Force makes hypocrites, 'tis persuasion only that makes converts." William Penn 1675
If we look at the history of religion around the world, it's easy to assume that all have used force to "convert" people, but that's not entirely true. In Old Testament days there were many a gory battle between Jews and Gentiles, but not for the sake of  conversion. 
Many people think that the crusades of the old English times were about conversion, but that is also untrue. (They were a counter-action to the Islamic forces taking over the area).  Judaism and Christianity, though both leaders in many wars have not done so to convert people.  That would be very anti the God we believe in.  God gave us free-will and if we do not afford people the same right we have no business calling ourselves Christians or Jews.
Islam, known as the religion of the sword, is another matter entirely. The Qur'an clearly states to kill those that denounce the faith.  It also says to treat others as 'less than'. It teaches that a non-Muslim's testimony is less valuable in court, and that all non-Muslims must be subdued... by force, by false peace... by whatever means necessary.
I quoted William J. Federer on facebook yesterday saying, "Secular-Atheism is actually a temporary state, facilitating Western Civilization's transition from Judeo-Christian values to Islamic values." 
We can see how this has worked in Europe and now we are seeing the shift in America.
Federer describes how agendas are promoted in his book What Every American Needs to Know About The Qur'an, "Social agendas are promoted through media, public education, courts and buying of political office.  The first step is to deconstruct traditional values and history.  Next, education, movies and television programs portray an unacceptable social behavior in a humorous way, then progressively show that behavior in a positive light, then finally ridicule and intimidate those who oppose that behavior."
If you've lived for any amount of time watching TV you can see this clearly taking place. In my lifetime we have come around from showing gays in a humorous way, to now ridiculing those who disapprove of the gay lifestyle. We have also gone from showing the wife as the "help-mate" to the wife as the boss, and the husband as the idiotic Neanderthal, with his head between his legs.
I could go on in that direction, but that's not the point I'm trying to make.
America was founded by Christians seeking religious freedom. Many denominations of Protestantism and even Catholics all came here with tolerance of each other in mind. Now we have become a country that does not tolerate the very religion that preaches tolerance. It is idiotic to believe that if you get rid of Christianity that tolerance will still exist.  Morals are based on beliefs. Islam believes that not all men are equal, and definitely not women. Yet America is bending over backwards to make sure that Islam is welcome here.  Secular-Atheists believe in 'relativism'; "what's true for you, may not be for me", etc. But in their actions they fight God's truth with all of their efforts. Judeo-Christian morality is the only one that allows people to live in peace.
As we enter these final years we will be able to watch as our freedoms are taken away from us. We will see tolerance only for those who seek the new world order, and we will be left with no other options.  Eventually this will be the perfect scenario for Biblical predictions of things like "the mark of the beast".
I have had friends laugh at me when I talk about "slippery slopes"... but truly, that is what we are looking at.

"Stop, Look, and Listen"

Revelation 3 talks to the church in Sardis, “You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead… Wake up!”… “But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come.” 

The church of Sardis is a lot like the church in our nation.  All over the world they think of America as a Christian nation, that’s our reputation.  But America is asleep.  We’ve been lulled to sleep by a false sense of security, by prosperity, and by our “me” culture.  We are completely oblivious to the stuff that’s going down in the rest of the world.

In the parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25) both the foolish and the wise virgins fell asleep.  At midnight the cry rang out, “The Bridegroom is here! Come out to meet him!” But only the wise virgins had oil left in their lamps, and the foolish ones, left to buy oil and came back later to the door of the wedding feast saying, “Lord, Lord, open the door for us!”  But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.” Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

You can have a Christian reputation and not really be one. You can dress and act like one, like the foolish virgin who thought she was all set to go into the wedding banquet, but she didn’t have enough oil to stick it out until He arrived.  There is a Great Tribulation coming and we are going to need our anointing. We are going to need the Holy Spirit, not just half way full in our jar, but spilling over. 

Jesus warned the Pharisees “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. “ (Matthew 16:3) Then he calls them a wicked and adulterous generation.  Is our generation any different?  Are we really not supposed to be discerning the signs of our own times?       

Almost every time I tell someone that I have been studying eschatology for three years now, they say, “does it really matter how and when it’s going to happen so long as you have a good relationship with God?”  My answer is this, Knowing what I know now has made me live with a sense of urgency.  I don’t have the “time” I once thought I did.  Yes a genuine relationship with the Almighty is all that matters for your personal salvation, but what about others? The harvest is plenty but the workers are few (Matthew 9:37).   Proverbs 10:5 even says that “he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.”  Now is harvest time. Most Christians in America don’t actively share their faith. Do you?

Luke 21:28 says, “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near!”  How are you gonna know when to lift up your head if you don’t know what “these things” are? The disciples asked the same question in Matthew 24. They asked, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answers them in the following verses, and the account is told again in Mark 13 and Luke 21.  Not only there but Daniel, Ezekiel, Joel, Isaiah, Revelation, and a little in the other prophets as well, also tell of things that will happen in the End Times.      Wars, rumors of wars… There will be an increase in natural disasters. Signs in the heavens. Peoples’ hearts will grow cold and they will only care about themselves and money. There will be a surge of information and technology. If I had a timeline map in front of me, there would be a little bubble like on a mall map that says “you are here!” 

He also says that there would be an abundance of false prophets in the last days.  He told his disciples to watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees; meaning the false teaching of the Pharisees.  What’s the best way to guard against false teaching?  To know the bible. Read it for yourself.  Study it for yourself.

(Don’t forget words like “but” and “therefore”.  “Therefore” is an important word in (hermeneutics) bible study, never take it out of the sentence, it’ll confuse the context.  It’s just like the “but” in Revelation 3. “But, if you do not wake up, I’ll come like a thief.”  And in the parable of the Ten Virgins it says, “Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or hour”. It’s very different to say, to both the awake and the asleep I will come unexpectedly than it is to say, if you are asleep I’ll come unexpectedly, BUT if you are awake, you will see me coming.  Read all around the verse, not just the verse.  When you are studying read other books that have similar wording or OT tie-ins and parallels etc.)

"Stop" sleeping. God says, “Behold, I am doing a new thing, do you perceive it?” He is always at work; it’s our own fault if we do not see it.  “Look” around you for the signs (signs in the Middle Eastern nations and in the heavens). “Listen” for the trumpet… the mighty blast that proclaims “The Bride groom is coming!”  Then get ready… put the Holy Spirit oil in your jar, don’t think you can take some of your neighbor’s or your parent’s, get your own, and stand firm waiting on your redeemer. 

 

Rev 1:3, says “blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”  The word “blessed” is translated “happy” in many instances throughout the bible.  Happy are those that study prophecy.  Why is that do you think?      Have you ever had a test where the teacher told you which questions would be on it in advance?  How happy were you?  God doesn’t leave us in the dark about what’s on the “test”, he tells us straight up.  

I have been intentionally reading verses about the thousand year reign of Christ and about the New Earth that follows that, to give myself a clear goal that I can grasp. If I had the common world view that Heaven is up in the clouds and we have harps and have to sing all day, I wouldn’t be quite so ready to persevere for that.  But what God has in store for us is beyond our hopes for perfection.          

One of the many scriptures with a glimpse of what’s to come is Isaiah 11. (I’ll start at verse 6)  “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” 

We can also find encouragement in the letters to the 7 churches in Revelation 2 and 3. The beginning of each letter brings conviction, and the end gives hope. One letter says “He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.”  And another, “I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.” One more; “I will give authority over the nations”.  I don’t know about you, but I want every blessing that is available to me.  That’s why I’m so jazzed to live right now. 

God promises that those who live through the end times have a special blessing of reigning for a thousand years with him on this earth, before the new heavens and new earth are put in place, before much of the redeemed even get a chance at their resurrected lives.  That’s found in Revelation 20:4-6. Hallelujah! I’m going to be there! How about you?  Wake up and you’ll be ready.  Don’t let this culture lull you to sleep.  “Stop sleeping, Look for signs, Listen for the trumpet call”.

How long is God's Wrath?

 ^{Just the other day I posted a comment about being "pre-wrath" as opposed to "pre-trib", and I got a response that perplexed me. The response basically said that "pre-wrath" was the same as "mid-trib".
I'm not sure where that idea came from, but in my mind that doesn't fit at all.  
Because this comment came from a leader in my church I thought I should explain the difference to others out there that may think the same thing.
There are those that think of the Tribulation as being 7 years, and those who think of it as being 3 1/2 years. I am fine with both of these thoughts, because the Tribulation is not revealed clearly until the 3 1/2 year mark.  
I personally think we are in the first part of the seven years now, but I will not know for a fact until I see the 3 1/2 mark come to pass. At that mid-way point there are many things mentioned specifically; not the least of which is "the abomination that causes desolation". Then Israel being cared for miraculously, while the Anti-Christ turns his attention to Christians who are then be-headed, plundered, etc. while the two witnesses pour out plagues on the people who are loyal to the Anti-Christ.  All of these things are in the last 3 1/2 years.  
Then, according to my beliefs, the church will be raptured and there will be a brief time of God's Wrath starting at the temple in Jerusalem, and circling out from there.  The angel of death will kill everyone without the seal of God on them. These sealed individuals will be the people (mainly Jews, I assume) that receive salvation directly following the rapture of the church. 
Ezekiel 9:3-6 talks about this:}
 “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.” As I listened, he said to the others, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple."
And in Revelation if you go through the chapters you'll notice that in earlier chapters it talks about a third of everything dying, or turning to blood, then in chapter 16 on, it says "every living thing in the sea" died, and so on.
There is clearly a distinction between His 'Wrath" and the just the 'Tribulation".
The talk about a third of things dying etc. goes right along with all the verses about the three and a half years.


But why do I think that the wrath only lasts weeks and not months or years?  That is simple. I look at the Fall Feasts, and I look at history.
In the Fall Feasts (that I've already talked about in previous posts) we see that The Feast of Trumpets speaks of the rapture (the Feast where "no one knows the day or hour") and wedding of the Lamb and all that.  We see that The Feast of Tabernacles speaks of God coming to dwell with us, happiness, and a time for explaining the scriptures.  In between these two feasts we have the Day of Atonement: a day when the veil is lifted and the priest goes into the Holy of Holies; a perfect time for Jews to clearly see their Messiah.
There are two weeks between the two feasts; plenty of time for the Wrath of God.


If you doubt that that is enough time for the Wrath of God, let me point you to history...
2 Samuel 24, when David took a census.  He wasn't supposed to, and God gave him three options:
vs 12. "I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you."“Shall there come on you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land?"
David said to Gad, the prophet of God, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.” So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."  (Which is where David ended up telling Solomon to build the temple).  It is no coincidence that this is the same site that God's Wrath starts at the end.
Three days was the time allotted for God to plague Israel in the time of David.  Seventy thousand died, but God stopped the angel before he stretched his hand out toward Jerusalem.
  Two weeks is plenty of time!
..and that's all I have to say about that.


 

Psalms 83

With Egypt's fate hanging in the balance I thought today's bible reading was very interesting.

Here's Psalms 83 verses 1-8

"O God, do not remain silent; do not turn a deaf ear, do not stand aloof, O God. See how your enemies growl, how your foes rear their heads. With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish. “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”  With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against you— the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites, Byblos, Ammon and Amalek, Philistia, with the people of Tyre. Even Assyria has joined them to reinforce Lot’s descendants."

As you may remember from my last post or if you're good with geography Edom, Moab, and Ammon are inside modern day Jordan. Amalek is east of Egypt and Philistia is near Gaza. Tyre and Byblos are in modern day Lebanon, and Assyria is modern day Turkey. 

If Egypt's new government does not uphold their peace treaty with Israel, Israel will be in the same predicament as it was back in the Psalms... surrounded by enemies on all sides.  The quote inside Psalm 83 "Come, Let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel's name is remembered no more," is exactly what Ahmadinejad had said he wants to do.

All eyes are on the middle east.  Actually, I'd say one eye on them, one looking up.

Luke 21:28 "When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

Present day Beast

On You Tube search for "Walid Shoebat Kingdom of the Antichrist".  
(maybe this link will work). http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=B3964578952A6A97Sit back and learn!


Walid is a former Islamic terrorist who converted to Christianity.  I have read some of his works, and listened to him on numerous radio shows, but I had not stumbled across this video before.
It was very informative and just made me rethink all the commentary I've ever heard on ALL of the Bible, not just the books of prophecy.
One point he makes that threw my western hermeneutics into a spin is his talking about "mountains".  He quotes "with the faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains," and goes on to mock how westerners have made mountains mean any obstacle we face.  He explains that in the east mountains have always meant "kingdoms", and that is evident when Revelation talks about the "woman who sits on  7 mountains", etc.
He talks about the geographical location of all countries mentioned in Daniel and Revelation and how they are all Muslim nations alive today.  The animal parts of the beast in Revelation 13 that we so readily believe as literal places in Daniel have not changed in being mentioned in Revelation.  The mouth of a lion, still speaks of Babylon, which is present day Iraq.  The feet of a bear still speaks of the Medo-Persian empire, present day Iran.  The body of a leopard encompasses the area of the ancient Grecian empire today the 10/40 window.  The Iron is NOT the Roman empire, it is the Ottoman empire. The Antichrist is called the prince of Tyre, modern day Lebanon.  He is also called the Assyrian which is modern day Turkey.  (K)Cush is said to follow him, and that's modern Sudan.  He goes on.
In another video that I went to after watching all of these Walid talks about the symbolism of what we call "666" and how is matches Arabic writing that says "In the name of Allah".
I highly encourage you to at least put on this series of videos and let it play in the background of your day. Then you decide if you wanna look up more of what he says.


Walid will be on the Hannity show tonight (Feb 1 2011).
I'm hoping he will talk about Egypt!

Something to watch

http://www.waytozion.org/video/stream/timeline/timeline.html

This is 2 hours long.  Not a short over view at all, but really worth a listen if you care about such things.
It's a presentation of Daniel's time line and how it all equals up with the fact that we are IN the Tribulation right now, and when we can expect to see things coming to pass.

 This man's presentation gives the exact date of the abomination of desolation and the fleeing that is to take place after that...  which he puts in March of 2013 at Passover time.  Well given that the bulk of the natural disasters and such happen towards the end of 2012, that makes perfect sense to me.
He calculates the last 70 7's of Daniel as 70 Shavuots (Pentecosts), from the "commandment to restore" Israel in 1947, which makes the year of Jubilee start in 2017. Anyway, I have Dale (a guy who commented on here a while ago) to thank for directing me to this link.
 I hope you find it as interesting as I did.

Seven Years From When?

I've never kept it a secret that I think we're in the last 7 years before Christ's return. 
That's a big statement. I could be wrong, but I'm willing to risk that, because if I'm right, it's important that I tell people.

Harold Camping predicts that judgment day is coming on May 21st of this year (2011). Now I'm not saying something won't happen then... but it surely won't be judgment day!  The three and a half years of tribulation haven't happened yet. He thinks the rapture will be the day before, but the rapture is prophetically spoken of in  the feast of Rosh Hashanah which is usually in September. 


Now for what I think. 
I've already written posts about Rosh Hashanah, and about the tetrad of eclipses coming in 2014-2015 that may line up with the eclipses spoken of in Revelation.

Have you ever heard of the cosmic sun cycle? 
I hadn't.  But I recently found out that on April 5th on the first day of Passover in 2009 the sun returned to it's starting point for the third time.  The sun was in the same position on the very first Passover in Egypt for the first cycle.  The second cycle fell during Purim, in the story of Queen Esther.   Pretty cool huh?
Passover is a feast of redemption, and on April 5th the final redemption cycle began.


In the book of Ezekiel  in chapter 4, Ezekiel was told to lay on his side for 390 days to represent how long Israel would be punished for.  In Leviticus chapter 26 God says that Israel would be punished 7 times. 390 x 7 = 2,730 years.   Israel's captivity by the Assyrians began in 722 BC.  The year 2009 was 2,730 years later.
I think that the final seven years very likely could've started directly after '09.
2012's "shift" may cause enough chaos that the people of the world will be willing to be governed by a one world government headed by the Anti-Christ.
The three and a half years following 2012 could be the time spoken of in Daniel and in Revelation.
The church will be raptured at the end of the 3 1/2 years at the same time that the two witnesses are raised from being dead in the streets for three days. Then God's wrath will be poured out over the world, starting at the temple mount, for only a month or so, before the millennial reign of Christ.

Bowing to the Rising Sun (and other "detestable practices")

I've been reading Ezekiel and I had to stop at chapter eight when I realized I didn't know exactly what he was talking about.
First off it starts with:
"In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day". 
When was that?
Well the it was the sixth year of exile of King Jehoiachin. (We know that from earlier chapters) The sixth month is Elul (around August).  Six is a number of preparation... also the number of "man".  It would be interesting if it were also on the sixth day, but it's not, so I won't try to read anything into that.


So imagine Ezekiel: "sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me", and all of a sudden he gets a vision of these same elders (and then some) deep in idol worship.  That's pretty intense. You know he had to talk to them after this whole vision was over.  I would hate to have been in his position... (To say nothing of his positions in previous chapters).
God tells him,  “ look toward the north.” So he looked, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar he saw this idol of jealousy.
From the commentaries I read it seems to be a general consensus that this was an asherah pole that had been replaced after King Josiah had them all torn down only a generation ago.  There is even mention of Jaazaniah son of Shaphan being a part of the vision. (Shaphan was the guy who brought the sacred scrolls to Josiah, which led to him tearing down all the idol worshiping monuments.)
So Ezekiel sees the asherah pole in a holy place, then God tells him to dig through a hole in a wall to see through a secret doorway.  In this vision he sees 70 elders (plus Shaphan's son Jaazaniah) all holding censers with incense, and around them on the walls were "all kinds of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel."
It's interesting to note that Jaazaniah's name means "Jehovah hears". Verse 12 says, "They say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land."  (Exactly the opposite of his name.)
Then Ezekiel gets a vision of the court of women (the only place that the women were allowed to go in the temple area). There they were mourning the god Tammuz. At first glance I thought, well, at least they are just crying over some idol, but that's not the real story. I looked up the god of Tammuz and found that in mythology he was a lover of Venus, who is basically alive for 6 months then in the under-world for 6 months.  When the rivers are dry, he's gone... when they are there, he's alive. The rivers even run red (with his blood) near the end... because of the red rock and it's dye that is seen when the river is small. So in their "mourning" these women prostituted themselves and wailed and all that jazz that goes along with Satan's style of "worship".
Then God shows Ezekiel the inner court of the temple. (That's holier still.) ..."and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the rising sun in the east.  He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose!  Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.”

This is where I decided to put it on the "All About The End" blog. I always look for Islam in prophetic passages. This passage is not all about the end... It's from a prophecy that has already been fulfilled. But in their Baal worship of facing the rising sun we can see clearly that Islam (which also faces the rising sun) is continuing in a detestable practice.  Bowing to anything, be it Mecca or the sun, is idolatry. 
I hate to even bring it up, but take Obama's rising sun symbol for example. Can anyone honestly deny his ties to Islam? God help us.


Anyway... God mentions in the visions "They will do even more detestable things than this."  We know that right at the cusp of the last 3 1/2 years before Christ's return the Anti-Christ will set up the "abomination that causes desolation" in the area of the Temple.  I would almost say that the Dome of the Rock is already an abomination... but I guess there will be something worse.  We won't have to wait too long to find out.

The Day After Elections

Well, most of the news is in... we'll see if anything changes today.  It's a small victory for both sides in my opinion.  I'd like to think that it will lead to a bigger victory later for God-honoring people, but my bible tells me otherwise.
Matthew 24:10-13 "At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved."
This verse comes directly in front of the verse warning about the "abomination that causes desolation" which happens at the beginning of the last three and a half years spoken of in Daniel and elsewhere.  
The love of most has not grown cold yet. I'd say we're not even a third of the way there. Yet as time progresses everything speeds up.  In my short lifetime things that were impossible before are now everyday occurrences.  Everything that needs to be in place before the two witnesses come on the scene is in place. The technology to be able to allow some to buy and sell and others to not is all out there. Monitoring systems to keep tabs on everyone... it's all there. 
As we see our government taking over more and more, we see the stage being set for the control that must be present when the Antichrist comes to rule the world.
How will it happen? Why would anyone accept a world dictator?  We're not that stupid.
Really? I look at facebook posts and wonder sometimes. The bible says that the Antichrist will seize his kingdom through intrigue, (Daniel 11:21-23) and with only a few people he will rise to power.  That means the majority will not even "elect" him, he'll just somehow take over. Verse 24 says he'll distribute plunder, loot and wealth among his followers. So his followers become wealthy, but the rest do not.  He will plot the overthrow of fortresses—but only for a time. (If "time" is like the rest of these chapters, that means a year.)
The following verses talk about this "king" from the North being against a king in the South.  The southern king will try and wage war, but will not be able to stand because of the plots devised against him.
The king of the North goes back and forth venting his fury against the holy covenant.  The holy covenant here obviously involves God's people. Some commentaries say it's all about Israel, others say Israel and her allies, others say the Christians. Then (verse 31-32) “his armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him."
Now is the moment in the reading where you do some introspection to answer the question "Will I be one of the ones who 'knows' my God, and will firmly resist the Antichrist?"  Consider this: “Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them. Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time."  (Again, hopefully the "time" spoken of is just a year, but who knows.)  Will you resist even if it means being stolen from, martyred, or tortured?  You may get help from someone you think is your friend only to find out that they are against you. You may "stumble", but it's only a purification process. 
Scary times are ahead but Jesus said, "When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28)  That is the hope.  No matter how bad our country gets, no matter who betrays us, no matter what they do to us, as we see more and more natural disasters, more wars and rumors of wars, even when we see the Antichrist rise to power and "vent his fury on the holy covenant" we can STAND UP and LIFT OUR HEADS, for our redemption is drawing near!  AMEN!


Back in Daniel it says that the Antichrist will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will honor a god of fortresses, and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will make them rulers over many people and will distribute the land at a price.  (Most would agree that this god of war/fortresses that Daniel speaks of refers to the god of Islam; Islam being a religion spread by any means necessary.) 
^{I've already talked in the past about Islam's messiah and how he lines up perfectly with our Antichrist. Read Joel Richardson's book "the Islamic Antichrist" for more info.
It's easy to see how after multiple natural disasters and multiple collapsed economies a world in dire straights would accept the "help" of a man who seems to have all the power in the world at his fingertips. Miracles and wonders will follow him where ever he goes. He will bring peace, and prosperity to all who follow him.
If you think the world is "blind" now... just wait, it'll get worse.}