July 7, 2003 ©Homer Kizer
Christian Passover
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Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. This simple declarative sentence engenders no controversy within Christianity. Yet what this statement implies has been ignored for centuries. In fact, the ramifications of this statement will cause disciples within greater Christianity to literally bow before the Church in Philadelphia (Rev 3:8), not that they should. The ramifications will cause martyrdom, persecution, betrayal, and the love of many to grow cold. Because of the ramifications of this simple, declarative statement, the world will drive genuine disciples into economic and cultural wildernesses. Nations will be destroyed (especially China). World leaders will die. The newly established world order will be broken. The man of perdition will arise from the resulting chaos. Families will mourn. And all of this could have been prevented if the teachers of spiritual Israel would have believed the statement that Jesus Christ is the sacrificial Lamb of God.
Are my claims rational? Nations destroyed? Will President George Bush, if he still is in office, along with many national leaders die on a single night? Can the Secret Service protect President Bush from the death angels when all firstborns not covered by the blood of the Lamb of God are slain on a future second Passover night? Taking the sacraments whenever and however he chooses does not cover his sins with the blood of the Lamb of God.
Immediately following the slaying of all firstborns, another world order will arise, a world order that prominently features two ten-nation coalitions that make war with the other. This is what biblical prophecy reveals. This isn't, though, what has been traditionally taught about prophecy. This isn't God turning His hand against the endtime descendents of the ancient house of Israel as some prophecy experts will claim; this isn't God withdrawing His blessings from the endtime house of Israel. This is an avoidable scenario that is certain to happen. Double talk? No. Spiritual Israel will be liberated from mental bondage to sin on a specific second Passover night, but the greater Christian Church, and especially the Evangelical Church, doesn't, today, observe the Passover as instituted by Jesus. They commemorate the day of Christ's Ascension, calling it Resurrection Day. They do not, however, take the new covenant Passover sacraments on the night that Jesus was betrayed. Only the remnant of spiritual Israel that left Babylon to rebuild the spiritual temple of God, and the later remnant of spiritual Israel that left Babylon to rebuild the walls of spiritual Jerusalem take the Passover sacraments on the same night that Christ was betrayed.
The work of the endtime Church in Philadelphia is to take an unadorned gospel of the kingdom to the world so that the end of the age can come: this good news of the kingdom is that everyone who endures to the end will be saved (Matt 24:13). This good news message isn't a gospel about Christ, or about the soon-coming kingdom of God. Rather, it is a gospel about enduring spiritual childbirth, especially after the firstborns of the world and of that portion of spiritual Israel not covered by the Passover blood of the Lamb of God are slain.
Objections are also certain: a God of Love won't slay innocent firstborns. He wouldn't do such a deed. After all, doesn't everyone know that God does only good things. He might allow evil consequences to occur, but He doesn't do them.
Who wiped out humanity during the days of Noah? Who hardened Pharaoh's heart so He could bring even more plagues upon Egypt? Whom did Moses prevent from slaying the ancient nation of Israel because of a gold calf? Who caused Nebuchadnezzar to lose his sanity? Who gave ordinances to Israel by which they couldn't live, by which they burned their firstborns (Ezek 20:25-26)? Who killed all of the firstborns of men and beasts in ancient Egypt? Had any of that livestock committed sin? Which infant firstborn Egyptian was not an innocent as those firstborn calves slain that Passover night? If a person thinks that God will not slay humans as a farmer might till under weeds, the person hasn't closely read the Books, for firstborns will again be slain on a second Passover night. They will be as newly sprouted F-2 hybrids in a cornfield when it becomes time to replant.
Besides, the Apostle Paul wrote that all have sinned. Many denominations hold the doctrine of original sin, so are there really any innocent firstborns? The doctrine is flawed, but those disciples who hold it should have no problem with God slaying firstborns the night of a future second Passover.
A farmer practicing no-till agriculture sprays a field with the herbicide Roundup prior to replanting. The farmer doesn't worry about volunteer corn stalks that have already sprouted, or about early blooming wild flowers. Those things that stand in the way of getting the field planted are eradicated without regret. God as Love, though, remembers those who were eradicated, and has already made provisions so they will have a chance to receive salvation; He has the ability and the desire to resurrect those who were slain in a future judgment.
Can a person begin to understand why Christians will be hated by the world, and will hate each other? The God who regretted making humanity prior to the Flood, and the God who slew Egyptian firstborns, and the God who slays armies at Armageddon is the divine entity born as Jesus of Nazareth. Christianity worships a deity that uses blood to emphasis His points. He is neither squeamish about, nor hesitant to slay large numbers of humans when the time comes to implement another aspect of His overall plan to produce heirs.
Western culture, especially in the United States, has softened itself and its individual members. It has, in turn, redefined God in its soften image of itself. Christians and nonChristians alike tend to forget that the God of Moses is the same Jesus about which the Apostle Paul teaches. But so many Christians worship a Christ that has sprung from their foreheads as Athena sprung from Zeus', a Christ that still hangs on a cross, that they truly cannot imagine God slaying all firstborns not covered by the blood of the Lamb on a future second Passover night. As a result, they will deny this deity. They will hate Him, and will hate all who worship Him. Yes, hated, martyrdom, persecution, betrayal are the physical realities of the mental anguish caused by having firstborns slain. Genuine disciples will have to endure these realities, but if disciples endure in faith until the end, they will be saved--and since all of humanity will have been liberated from mental or spiritual bondage to Satan half way through seven years of tribulation, everyone who endures in faith will be a disciple. All of humanity is called when humanity is liberated. All can be saved. This is the open salvation of Joel. And its arrival is, indeed, good news.
Jonathon Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" moved a nation and brought about the second great awakening. Although Edwards' sermon is bad theology, his sermon was scary enough to be effective. Literally, the greater Church was sacred into repentance. Can that happen again? If it can, then the supernatural slaying of all firstborns, spiritual and physical, is the issue around which this future sermon will be built.
Think about what it was like to be an Egyptian thirty-five hundred or so years ago. Everything is going well. The land brings forth its crops annually, and has for four centuries. No one is hungry. Even the Israelite slaves eat well. And then things get real screwy. The river turns to blood. Suddenly, there are frogs and lice everywhere. The sun doesn't shine for what seems like three days. Then your son or your daughter, your husband or your wife dies unexpectedly and for no apparent reason. The nation is decimated, and those Israelite slaves are why. What are you going to do? Curse them?
If you are determined not to take the Passover, then hug your firstborn child today, for that child belongs to God--and He will take the child whenever He wants. Whenever God decides the time has come to liberate spiritual Israel from mental bondage to Satan, He will exercise His claim to that child. Either that child or adult will be in covenant with Him, and will have the child or adult's sins covered by the Passover blood of the Lamb, or the child will die those sins. Your choice. You are the one who makes the decision of which it will be. There are no other alternatives. This isn't an either/or rhetorical fallacy. This is what it means to be in the hands of an angry God.
There will be no pre-Tribulation rapture of the Church. That false doctrine is a faith killer. Those who preach it are false prophets who will go into the lake of fire because of the damage they do to babes in Christ. Judgment has already been pronounced against them: they prophesy, Peace, peace, when there will be no peace, and for doing so, their names will be erased from Israel. It isn't enough to profess Jesus with one's mouth and believe in one's heart that God raised Him from the dead, unless the person already has a circumcised heart and mind. To be saved, a person must endure to the end. Again, the Church won't be raptured prior to the beginning of the birthing pangs. It will be here on Earth, experiencing the pain of spiritual childbirth. Eternal life is the gift of God, and no one receives that gift prior to Christ's return as the Messiah. So it isn't theologically possible for anyone to go to heaven before that person receives eternal life at Christ's return. Jesus telling mocking Pharisees a Cynic fortune-reversal-after-death tale isn't divine confirmation of humanity having an immortal soul. To think that it is identifies the person as a spiritual Greek, not a spiritual Israelite.
Jesus is the second Adam. The Church is the second Eve, created from a wound in the side of Adam. Just as Elohim presented Eve to Adam after Adam awakened from a deep sleep, the glorified Christ, the evening of the day of His Ascension, breathed on ten of His disciples, and said, Receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22), thereby creating the Church, the second Eve. The first Eve was tempted by the serpent, and she believed his lie that she would not surely die (Gen 3:4). The second Eve was tempted by Satan, the great dragon, and she believed his lie of humanity having immortal souls, which is--and there is no way around this--believing that humanity receives eternal life apart from that life coming as the gift of God, with the wages of sin being death, not eternal life in hell. She was driven from the garden of God. She was barred from access to the tree of life. And judgment was pronounced upon her: her desire would be for her husband, the second Adam (and it certainly has been), and she would experience pain in childbirth. Spiritual Eve will experience great pain in her spiritual delivery of many heirs of God. She will not escape this pain by being raptured away. She will feel every contraction. She will be in agony for years. And at a future second Passover, her firstborns, who are not covered by the Passover blood of the Lamb of God, will be slain, just as are the firstborns of spiritual Babylon or Egypt.
For the Church, as the second Eve, to have her firstborns slain is inexcusable. Her teachers--those who haven't instructed disciples to take the Passover--are murderers! That word, itself, is not strong enough to convey the judgment of Christ that will come upon those who proclaim, Rapture, rapture, when there will be no pre-Tribulation rapture. All who teach a pre-Tribulation rapture need to repent today, while they still can.
If you think Jonathon Edwards' angry God was upset, you might be able to conceive what you who teach a pre-Tribulation rapture will experience on the day of your judgment when your name is erased from the rolls of spiritual Israel. You mock Christ. You mock the Father. Your taking the sacraments however or whenever you choose, even to using leavened white bread and water for the sacraments, doesn't count. And your firstborns, spiritual and physical, will be slain because you taught a lie. So today, while you still can, hug your firstborn son or daughter. Listen to what they have to say. And know that they will be needlessly slain because you taught as one who hasn't been sent by God. If you have been sent, then you need to repent, and change what you have been teaching. Otherwise, kiss them goodbye, for the second Passover on which they will be slain won't be millennia, or centuries, or even decades in the future. It will occur when the simple gospel that all who endure to the end will be saved is taken to the world. This gospel is, beginning with Passover 2003, available to the world. The strength and power with which it must be beamed to the world is the prerogative of God the Father. But rest assured, with Christ opening the doors it will not take decades to reach everyone. And then the end can come. That end includes the slaying of your firstborn son--yes, yours--if he isn't covered by the blood of the Lamb of God.
Jesus' ministry in 1st-Century Judea was approximately three and a half years long, but most of what is recorded about His ministry occurs at its beginning, and at its end. Jesus would be sacrificed as the Passover Lamb of God close to the hour when the nation of Israel annually sacrificed paschal lambs; He would enter the grave at the hour of sacrifice (John 19:31, 42). The Sabbath day was the first high day of Unleavened Bread (v. 14). So Jesus was killed on the Preparation Day for Passover, and He becomes the spiritual reality of the sacrifice of the Passover lamb that caused the Death Angel to pass over the houses of ancient Israel in Egypt. He was killed on the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan (Lev 23:5); the first high day of Passover or Unleavened Bread was on the 15th (v. 6). (The Apostle John uses the signifier "Passover" for the high Sabbath day and for the entire feast of Unleavened Bread rather than restricting the signifier's use to the actual eating of the sacrificed lamb.)
In addition to recording when Jesus was killed, the Apostle John records when Jesus entered Jerusalem that last time: "Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.…The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival [i.e., Passover] heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him" (John 12:1, 12). Thus, it was on the fifth day before Passover, which began at sundown between the 14th and 15th of Nisan, that Jesus entered Jerusalem. And if we count backwards from the high day, we find that Jesus entered Jerusalem on the 10th of Nisan, the day when the Passover lamb was to be taken and penned (Exod 12:3). It was also on this day that the uncircumcised children of Israel in the second covenant of Moses, the covenant by which hearts and mind would be circumcised (Deu 30:6), crossed the Jordan and entered the promised land (Jos 4:19).
The tradition of a Palm Sunday entrance, Good Friday crucifixion presents an event chronology contrary to Scripture. If Sunday were the 10th of Nisan--and without legitimate dispute, Jesus as the Lamb of God entered Jerusalem on the 10th of the first month and was crucified on the 14th--the crucifixion would have, necessarily, occurred on Thursday. Jesus was not crucified on the 15th, the high Sabbath. And there never has been a tradition of Jesus being crucified on Thursday; whereas, there is an early tradition of Jesus being crucified on Wednesday, the women resting on the high day, then going into the market on Friday to buy spices, then again resting on the weekly Sabbath, before coming to the tomb the first day of the week to find Jesus gone. In this tradition of a Wednesday crucifixion, Jesus spends three full days, and three full nights in the heart of the earth. While the Greek expression of three days and three nights can be ambiguous, Jesus said, when asked for a sign, that, "no sign will be given to [this evil generation] except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth'" (Matt 12:39-40). The length of time Jonah spent in the belly of the fish, when his account is examined in Hebrew, is unambiguous. A "day" is the hot portion of a twenty-four hour period, and a "night" is to turn away from the light. Thus, three days and three nights equal 72 hours. Jesus could not be in the grave for less than 72 hours and be the Son of Man, nor would He have been in the grave for longer. Therefore, based on a reasonable assignment of linguistic objects to icons, we can state with certainty that Jesus entered Jerusalem on the Sabbath of the 10th of Nisan; He was crucified on Wednesday, the 14th of Nisan. He rose from the grave at or just after sundown on the evening of the first day of the week, but He did not ascend to His Father until about 9:00 a.m., the traditional hour when the Wave Sheaf offering was waved, after which the early barley harvest could begin. The later, main harvest of wheat wouldn't occur until the fall of the year. He then returned to Jerusalem about sunset of the first day, and He appeared to ten of His disciples, breathed on them, and said, Receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22-23), thereby creating the spiritual Eve, mother to the Church of God.
The Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter sunrise tradition is contrary to Scripture, and actually negates Jesus' claim that He would be in the belly of the earth as Jonah was in the belly of the fish. If Jesus says that He will only give one sign, then if He doesn't make good on that sign, He isn't the Son of Man. But He does make good on the sign He gave. It is tradition stemming from historical exegesis that would have Him spending a day and only a couple of nights in the grave, thereby not fulfilling the sign He gave.
The above chronology is necessary to show that Jesus is the actual Lamb of God, sacrificed as the spiritual reality of the shadow that the paschal lamb represents. Of course, the Apostle Peter compares the "blood of Christ" to "that of a lamb without defect or blemish" (1:19); and the Apostle John writes of John the Baptist, upon seeing Jesus come toward him, declaring, "'Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world'" (1:29 & 36). Jesus, when His disciples asked if they should make preparations for Him to eat the Passover, said to them, "'Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, "The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples"'" (Matt 26:18). Then during that Passover meal, Jesus "took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to [his disciples], saying, 'Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins'" (vs. 27-28). The writer of Hebrews says, "But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, 'he sat down at the right hand of God'" (10:12), the quote from David. Christ's offering for sins was His righteous blood as the Passover Lamb; for the Death Angel that passed through Egypt slew the firstborns of man and beast because the sins of the Egyptian houses were not covered by sacrificial blood. The apostle Paul adds,
But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he passed over the sins previously committed; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus. (Rom 3:21-26)
Again, Jesus said that the Passover cup held His blood of the covenant by which sins are passed over. As a condition of the new covenant that was to come, the prophet Jeremiah, quoting YHWH, writes, "I will forgive [Israel's] iniquity, and remember their sin no more" (Jer 31:34). The writer of Hebrew quotes Jeremiah: "'This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord:…For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more'" (8:10, 12). The writer of Hebrews then repeats this new covenant condition: "he also adds, 'I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more'" (10:17).
When the above passages are coupled together, all of humanity sins and has sinned, which is the active transgression of the law of God (1 John 3:4); all fall short of the glory of God. All need grace for their sins to be passed over. Grace comes as the gift of God, but it is only effective by faith in Jesus Christ. This faith in Jesus Christ becomes a law of faith (Rom 3:27), which produces the righteousness that comes from faith (Rom 10:6). About the righteousness that comes from faith, Paul writes that this righteousness "says, 'Do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend into heaven?"' (that is, to bring Christ down)" (v. 7), and Paul goes on to quote further from the second covenant made with uncircumcised Israelites just before they crossed the Jordan to enter the promised land. As a condition of this second covenant, the hearts and minds of Israel would be circumcised upon obedience to God; circumcision wasn't of foreskins, but of consciences. Upon obedience, these physically uncircumcised Israelites could receive the Holy Spirit, the very Breath of YHWH, before they crossed the Jordan. They were the shadow of spiritual Israel, created when the law that separated the circumcised from the uncircumcised [i.e., the Sinai covenant] was abolished (Eph 2:11-22). The second covenant of Moses (Deu chptrs 29-31) is the shadow of the new covenant, which has the law[s] of God written on the hearts and minds of disciples. The better promise of the new covenant has disciples receiving the Holy Spirit prior to obedience, not after obedience as was the case with Abram, who becomes Abraham when the Breath of YHWH is added to his name. As a condition of the new covenant, sins are covered by the blood of the Lamb of God; so the blood of the sacrificed Jesus as the Lamb of God is the covering of sins that causes the Death Angel to pass over spiritual Israel when spiritual Israelites are liberated from mental slavery to Satan. And the renewal of this covenant occurs when the sacraments of Passover are taken annually on the same night that Jesus was betrayed.
The endtime gospel of the kingdom that must be taken to the world is not "another" gospel, but is the gospel Jesus delivered in His Olivet discourse--when His disciples came to point out the buildings of the temple a couple of days before He would be sacrificed as the Passover Lamb of God, Jesus asked His disciples, "'You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down'" (Matt 24:2). An accurate paraphrase of what Jesus said is, All that you see will be thrown down. Since the now-bulging Wailing Wall is believed to be a wall of the temple, either Jesus' observation about the temple wall was not literal, or remains to be fulfilled. I suspect a future earthquake will topple the Wailing Wall, but let's look at the concept of what we see (i.e., what is physical) will be thrown down. Physical, or circumcised Israel lost its status as God's holy people when the law by which the nation was made holy (Exod 19:5-6) was abolished (Eph 2:15). Spiritual Israel replaced physical Israel as God's holy nation (1 Pet 2:9). Spiritual Israelites became the buildings of the temple of God (1 Cor 3:16-17). By extension, spiritual Jerusalem replaces physical Jerusalem as the focus of God's attention on Earth; and spiritual Jerusalem has theological rather geographical coordinates. The spiritual buildings of the temple of God are located within spiritual Jerusalem. So the "unseen" spiritual creation replaces that which is visible, and with this as background (Jesus' disciples didn't understand His words, for they had not yet received the Holy Spirit), let us examine Jesus' Olivet discourse.
When Jesus' disciples asked when the stones would be thrown down and what will be the sign of His coming and the sign of the end of the age, Jesus answered by warning them against leading disciples astray (verse 4 is poorly translated in all common English versions). He then gives some general conditions of the state of the world that are not signs of the end of the age, but "'is but the beginning of the birth pangs'" (Matt 24:8).
To repeat for emphasis what I have written: human childbirth has been painful since Eve swallowed the serpent's lie that if she ate forbidden fruit, she would not die. What we will see in the Tribulation is spiritual childbirth. It is also painful. So as a participant in spiritual childbirth, we should not expect glorified sons of God to be suddenly brought forth without gut retching pain on the part of the mother/woman. Therefore, the Church should not expect to be relieved of childbirth pain when it has also swallowed the serpent's lie that it would not die if it ate of forbidden fruit. Eternal life is the gift of God; it doesn't come by fornication in the backseats of Chevrolets. The wages of sin is death, not eternal life in hell. And the physical is the shadow of the spiritual in all things. Jesus said what can be seen would be cast down. It was, beginning with His death at Calvary.
How long did it take the first Eve to swallow the serpent's lie that she would not die? About as long as it took the early Church to swallow Satan's lie of humanity possessing immortal souls. Satan's lie was in spiritual Eden; that is, it was in the minds of Gentile converts at their conversion. And swallowing that lie once they were born in Christ caused them to be driven from the garden of God. The greater Church no longer had access to the tree of life. Only those spiritual Israelites who believed God remained in spiritual Eden.
The history of physical Israel is the shadow of the history of spiritual Israel. The holy nation of spiritual Israel divided into the house of Israel and the house of Judah, with the house of Israel holding the error of Bishop Arius and the house of Judah holding the trinitarian error. Both houses were sent into spiritual captivity. A remnant of spiritual Israel, just as a remnant circumcised Israel under Ezra did, began its journey toward spiritual Jerusalem, with a commission to rebuild the temple of God, not to its former glory, but nonetheless to be a glorious building. A second remnant was to join with the spiritual type of Ezra to rebuild the walls of spiritual Jerusalem. However, in 1962, revelation was rejected by the remnant building the temple. Forty years passed before spiritual construction resumed--and what is being presented in this paper is the production of the workmen for the spiritual entity of which Nehemiah was the shadow. And with the resumption of construction has come the realization that spiritual Israel includes all of the greater Christian Church, where genuine sheep have been taken captive and need to be recovered. The work of the Church in Philadelphia is directed at the greater Christian Church, in an attempt to recover as many as possible (the seven churches aren't eras, but are contemporaries). The saints in Philadelphia are not more righteousness than other saints, but because of how many sheep they recover, their sins are covered (Jas 5:19-20). So the gospel of Jesus that must be taken to the world before the end of the age can come is,
Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Matt 24:9-13)
This endtime gospel truly isn't about the mighty deeds of Jesus, or about His millennial reign. It is a warning delivered worldwide to the Church that the Body of Christ will experience horrific birth pains, but just as in childbirth, those pains will end with the spiritual birth or glorification of those who endure.
Backing up to Jesus being the sacrificed Lamb of God, we find that in the physical liberation of Israel from Egypt, six hours after the paschal lamb was killed, YHWH "struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and all of the firstborn of the livestock" (Exod 12:29). The firstborn of the Egyptians didn't have to be slain, and their livestock certainly hadn't committed any sin (they were as innocent of sin as a newly born human baby). If these Egyptians would have covered their door posts with the blood of the paschal lamb, they would have been spared, but they were never offered that choice.
The striking down of firstborns was of physical Egypt, and serves as the shadow of God striking down firstborns and spiritual firstborns in spiritual Babylon. But the warning to Israel was that they needed to be covered by the blood of the paschal lamb. They were not to go out of their houses until the death angel passed through the land--they were, if not covered by the blood of the paschal lamb, like Egyptians. And it will be the same for spiritual Israelites not covered by the blood of the Lamb of God.
Today, the greater Church of God is in spiritual bondage, largely because of the lie Eve and spiritual Eve swallowed. It does not believe God; it does not believe that eternal life is the gift from God. Rather, both houses of spiritual Israel believe that a human has an immortal soul (or a little angel inside each person), which is--again, there is no way around this--believing that humanity received eternal life apart from receiving it as the gift of God. Thus, they do not believe that the man Jesus of Nazareth really died for three days and three nights. Instead, they believe He was in hell, preaching to lost souls there. Christianity teaches that the Father raised Jesus from hell, not from death. But if Jesus did not really die (i.e., having ceased to exist in any conscious form), then there is no grace, no forgiveness of sins, no covering of righteousness that will cause the Death Angel to pass over firstborn Israelites.
The Apostle Paul says, concerning Israelites with circumcised hearts and minds, "if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rom 10:9) -- if a spiritually circumcised Israelite does not believe that Jesus really died, but believes that Jesus was in hell for portions of a couple of days, this Israelite is not saved. This Israelite does not believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, for the dead know nothing (Eccl 9:10). There is no thought or knowledge in the grave. God tests men to see what they will believe about death:
I [Solomon] said in my heart with regard to human beings that God is testing them to show that they are but animals. For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath and humans have no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity. All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. (Eccl 3:18-20)
The greater Church has failed its testing. It believes that humans have an advantage over animals; that humans and animals do not go to the same place; that there is more to a human than breath, blood or life, and bones or flesh. They assign eternal life received at conception in the form of an immortal soul to humans. They have merged Platonic Greek philosophy with Hebraic Scriptures to produce the theology that caused the second Eve to be driven from the spiritual garden of God. Thus, this second Eve will experience great pain in childbirth, all the while desiring the Bridegroom, Christ Jesus.
Until the greater Church is spiritually liberated at the second Passover, only those individuals the Father draws to Himself will hear Christ's words in my voice. But many teachers of spiritual Israel will begin to comprehend the typography that has the firstborns of spiritual Eve slain if disciples do not take the sacraments of the Christian Passover. The question of when and how the Passover should be taken will again be debated within the greater Church; for on the day following the future slaying of firstborns, the greater Church will be driven from spiritual Babylon. It would be a gross understatement to say the world will ask spiritual Israelites to leave those things that tie them to spiritual Babylon--the greater Church will be driven into spiritual and cultural wildernesses. And in going from the physical to the spiritual, everything thing is ratcheted up a notch: spiritual Israel will spoil the Egyptians, but not of the Egyptians' physical wealth, but of their spiritual or philosophical wealth. The greater Church will take with it the moral underpinnings of society. Spiritual Babylon will not be a place in which a person would want to live. Nations like China that have sought to reduce its population growth through either directly or indirectly restricting family size will be decimated, and someone is to blame. That someone happens to be a spiritual Israelite. And a person can now imagine the widespread martyrdom that will occur, and why spiritual Babylon will hate the greater Church, which has no geographical place to hide. Literally, if Christ did not intervene, no flesh would be saved alive. Humanity would eradicate itself. But just as Pharaoh was swallowed in the Red Sea, the split Mount of Olives swallows the armies of the beast (i.e., the king of the North). The second half of the Tribulation is the reality of the shadow cast by physical Israel's journeying and murmuring in the wilderness of Sin. The place of safety is spiritual Jerusalem, which, again, has theological rather than geological coordinates. If a spiritual Israelite goes directly to spiritual Jerusalem, the person's journey is neither long, nor far (we'll leave the light on). But if a person won't enter because of a lack of faith, the shadow has all of the generation that left Egypt perishing in the wilds of Sin. Jesus' parable of the wedding supper has the invited guests not attending, so the king sends his servants out to gather guests from off the street. The invited guests who were too busy to be bothered by the king are spiritual Israelites. Those who actually attend are liberated Egyptians who endure to the end without accepting the mark of the beast--most become Israelites by virtue of not returning to spiritual slavery. All humanity is liberated from mental bondage to sin when the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Messiah half way through seven years of tribulation. After being liberated, a person can make the carnal choice of returning to being Satan's slave by accepting a tattoo of the Cross (Chi xi stigma). This person will experience the wrath of God, which isn't exactly what the antiChrist promised when getting the person to accept the tattoo. But then, Satan is the father of liars.
Refusing the mark of the beast isn't, by itself, enough to satisfy the king: a person must also choose to obey God to the best of the person's knowledge, which is having on a wedding garment. Hypocrisy will get a person thrown into the lake of fire.
My desire is that the greater Church leaves spiritual Babylon today. But the shadow has no Israelite leaving Egypt until the Egyptians drove them away following the slaughter of firstborns. The shadow also has all of Israel taking the Passover. The suggestion is that all of spiritual Israel will also take the Passover that last year before liberation. In the past, my fear has been that spiritual Israelites will not believe Christ about the importance of covering their sins with His blood, that they will not take the Passover, either first or second. If they do not take the Passover, if they do not drink of the cup on the night that the Lamb was taken, then they will be as Egyptians. Their firstborns will be slain. If they are firstborns, they will be slain, regardless of political status, or the number of Secret Service agents present. The slayers will be angelic beings, not human beings, and the greatest sin against oneself that a person can commit is to not heed a warning.
What happens between today, Passover 2003, and when all of the greater Christian Church takes the Passover? The spiritual reality of the first nine plagues that struck ancient Egypt will strike spiritual Egypt. These plagues, though, occur in the mental landscape of humanity. There will be physical ramifications, but the water that becomes blood occurs in the mindset that determines a person's sense of reality. The plagues are in the realm where the social constructs that underpin all that humanity believes real or true exist. And this physicalspiritual juxtaposition is what fundamentalist theologians have failed to grasp. They seem incapable of elevating their thoughts. Frankly, they are not spiritually minded. Their mindsets are carnal, are focused on the physical, and are evidence of how thoroughly Satan has deceived them (Rev 12:9). Only to the extend that a person has the mind of Christ can the person escape from Satan's reign as the spiritual king of Babylon (Isa 14:4-22).
A person can certainly disagree with everything I write, and with the concept behind typology. After all, in ancient Israel most of the priests and self-proclaimed prophets didn't agree with what Isaiah, Amos, or Jeremiah prophesied. Only after-the-fact were these prophets fully recognized as having been sent by YHWH. So my use of typology to explicate biblical endtime prophecies allows the ministry of the greater Church to disagree with me. Their disagreements, though, are always poorly reasoned and fraught with logical fallacies. For example, the "prosperity gospel" asserts that the material blessings promised to physical Israel for obedience to the law of God are available to spiritual Israel for ignoring the laws of God that were written on disciples' hearts and minds when these disciples were called out of spiritual Babylon. If YHWH sent both houses of physical Israel into national captivity for profaning His Sabbaths and failing to keep His law, and if Jesus said that those who do not keep and teach others to keep the least of the commandments would be called least in the kingdom of heaven, will this same deity supernaturally prosper spiritual Israelites who, today, profane His Sabbaths and call keeping the law of God legalism? Is the promise of prosperity to spiritual Israelites for material blessings, or is the promise for eternal life, with treasure having been stored up in heaven? What did Jesus tell the rich young ruler? The same thing He told his disciples? Sell all they have and give to the poor, right? And why would any disciple believe that a promise made that was contingent upon strict lawkeeping pertains to a people living under grace, which is a better promise than any concerning material wealth?
Again, there was a first Adam that was of the elements of the earth. Then there was a second Adam that was a living spirit. And this juxtaposition of physical versus spiritual is why a certain event is included in Holy Writ, and why another event is excluded. Very little is recorded about the pre-Flood world, for very little of it foreshadows the spiritual creation. The historically great nation of China isn't mentioned, because Holy Writ is about the one new nation created when the law that separated the circumcised from the uncircumcised was abolished. This one nation or humanity will eventually incorporate all peoples, but the history of all peoples is not its history. Rather, its history is that of physical Israel.
Again, the Sinai covenant made physical Israel a holy nation and a royal priesthood (Ex 19:5-6), but this covenant was abolished when Israel killed its King. Even Pilate recognized the significance of what was occurring. The nation of Israel killed its God. It not only broke the covenant by which it was made a holy nation, but it also freed itself from that covenant by killing the Covenantor. It is now spiritual Israel that is a holy nation and royal priesthood (1 Pet 2:9). Just as Moses mediated the Sinai covenant made with physical Israel, the glorified Christ Jesus mediates the eternal covenant made with spiritual Israel. Under the first covenant, the promised land was physical geography; under the new covenant, the promised land is spiritual geography, which requires humanity to become living spirits before anyone can enter this promised land. Under the first covenant, sin was the transgression of the codified laws, statutes, ordinances, decrees and judgments of God; under the new covenant, sin is also lawlessness, which now grieves the Holy Spirit, and if continued, becomes actual rejection of the Holy Spirit. Under the first covenant, the penalty for sin was physical death; under the new covenant, the penalty for sin is spiritual death. And if a person cannot comprehend that Christ through typology reveals the unseen and not yet enterable spiritual realm to physical men and women, then I wonder whether the person is spiritually minded. Spiritual Egyptians are not, and it is their firstborns that will be slain in this future second Passover.
For most people, the Bible is a good moral guidebook, but it shouldn't be taken too seriously. For spiritual Egyptians, the way to God, if there is one, is a many-spoked wheel. Only kooks and wackos claim to possess all truth, or to be able to understand Holy Writ. As far as Western culture is concerned, no one claiming to speak for God retains intellectual creditability. And too many genuine disciples have hidden their faith in God from society for political or economic expediency. Our present President is a notable exception. Therefore, it is my earnest desire as a Christian, as an American, and as a distant relative of the President's that he heeds this warning to take the Passover as instituted by Christ Jesus, and as taught by the Apostle Paul--and that he teaches others to also take the Passover. The fate of this nation is prophetically in our hands. We will not escape experiencing birth pains, but we can escape having our firstborns slain. We can escape being overturned by Satan when he is cast from heaven halfway through seven years of Tribulation. We can ease the pain of spiritual childbirth by being in covenant with God the Father and His Messiah.
(For those who read articles relating to the President, bring this to his attention. A 2300-day clock is running, and before this clock runs out, spiritual Israel will be liberated from mental bondage. The greater Christian Church will have added, perhaps, another billion disciples as conditions worsen from the spiritual applications of the physical plagues inflicted upon ancient Egypt. These plagues are set in the mental or spiritual landscapes of humanity. Again, biblical prophecies are about what spiritual powers do. While there will be physical ramifications of these spiritual plagues, the onset of the Tribulation will catch Christians unaware because theologians look only to the physical. Thus, it will be as it was in the days of Noah. Firstborns will be slain instead of the fountains of the deep erupting. And you, President Bush, are a firstborn, as I am, both of us descending from John Howland. Therefore, heed the warning that I am now personally extending to you. Cover yourself with the blood of the Lamb of God. Take the Christian Passover this year--it isn't too late to take the second Passover--and take it each year on the night that Jesus was betrayed henceforth. At the end of this article are instructions for taking the Passover
Of course, all of the above can be dismissed as that's just his opinion. Jesus' brothers didn't believe Him until after He was glorified. They dismissed what He had to say. They even dismissed the miracles. It's always easier not to believe, for belief requires action and will require you to teach by example. Are you, President Bush, up to that? If you are, then heed the warning, and do an even greater work than you have done so far. By taking the Passover and letting others know what you do, you will save more lives than would be lost in any worse-case scenario terrorist attack.
The greater Church is in its most precarious situation since the second Eve was filled with the Holy Spirit, and conceived three thousand on that day of Pentecost. Yes, it is gaining converts--in ancient Egypt, there were more Israelites than Egyptians (Exod 5:5). Just prior to the second Passover, there will again be more enslaved Israelites than spiritual Egyptians. But at this time, the greater Church will not listen to a spiritual Moses and Aaron, will not be lead by a spiritual Joshua into the promised land, will not spiritually circumcise the foreskins of their hearts and minds, will not take the Passover as instituted by Christ Jesus. Instead, the greater Church would like to reach out to a spiritual Jericho, and bring to the city its just believe gospel, as it takes communion whenever and however it feels like, oblivious to Jesus' instructions or example. Disciples in the greater Church seem to believe that they were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit so that they could become spiritual Gentiles, not spiritual Judeans.
The endtime gospel of Jesus Christ is first directed to these spiritual Gentiles who should be in a Passover service this year and next, and the year after that until Christ returns. This endtime gospel tells them that despite their persecution, despite their martyrdom, despite the betrayals, if they will endure in faith until the end, they shall have a part in the first resurrection. It is a gospel of hope, delivered to charismatic Christians when they cannot understand why they weren't raptured. It is gospel of hope, delivered to the Arian Church who has seen its firstborns slain. It is a gospel of hope, delivered to spiritual Egyptians and Babylonians. It is a gospel of hope for the few remaining Chinese, who witnessed the decimation of their nation because of their onechild policy. It is the gospel that must be delivered before the wrath of God comes upon those who accept the mark of the beast. The third woe is the Father's wrath on all who, once He has liberated them, trade enduring to the end and glorification in the first resurrection for a few bowls of lentils, as they return to spiritual bondage.
No one escapes the first three and a half years of the Tribulation. Not the Church. Not you. Not me. We will either live by faith, trusting implicitly in the Father to protect us, or we will give up, hide in holes in the ground, and wish we were dead. There isn't another option. There is no diplomatic option, no military option, no humanitarian option, no Islamic option. We will either be marked and protected by God because we sigh and cry about the abominations committed here on Earth, or we will curse God, while still worshiping demons and idols. Spiritual Egyptians and enslaved Israelites don't suddenly start worshiping demons and idols; they have been all along.
After spiritual Israel it liberated, and after conditions here on Earth become so bad that if these days were not shortened no flesh would be saved alive, the archangel Michael in heaven and Christ here on Earth fight as on a day of battle. On day 1260, the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Most High and of His Messiah (Rev 11:15). Satan is cast from heaven (Rev 12:9). A great earthquake occurs (Rev 11:13 & Zech 14:3-4). The armies of the king of the North that are surrounding Jerusalem pursue escaping saints into the valley formed by the split Mount of Olives, and are swallowed by the mountain (Rev 12:16 & Exod 15:12 & Dan 9:26). The man of perdition and the demon possessing him are destroyed (Dan 7:11-12). And Satan shall declare himself the returned messiah. Humanity has been liberated from bondage to him, but the world's economy remains under this fallen king of fallen Babylon. As such, he [Satan as the true antiChrist] demands that everyone who participates in commerce accept his slave mark, thereby causing the newly liberated person to either return to slavery, or to live by faith.
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Instructions for Observing the Passover
The Christian Passover is taken the night Jesus was betrayed. That night is the evening between the 13th and 14th of Nisan--Abib or Nisan begins with the visible sliver of the first new moon following the spring equinox. The 15th of Nisan will always be the largest-appearing full moon following the equinox. When the calculated calendar reaches behind the equinox to begin the year, the calculated calendar is in error.
If a person is unable to observe the Passover, the second Passover is held one month later. Plus, in the Southern Hemisphere, seasons are six months out of sync with physical Jerusalem. Since an individual participating in the Christian Passover is spiritually renewing the covenant by which sins are forgiven, and healing can occur, a spring time ritual should not be taken at harvest time: the sacred calendar should be adjusted so that spring comes in the spring.
The Passover ceremony should be observed shortly after sunset. A room should be prepared in advance, with a table for the plate holding the unleavened bread and the cup [or glasses] of wine. The bread and wine should be covered with clean napkins (preferably white linen).
When the hour for the ceremony arrives, those participating should quietly gather in the room. The person conducting the service should read aloud the following Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 11:23-30, Luke 22:7-15, & John 13:1-17. If two or more individuals are present, they should wash one another's feet.
The next portion of the ceremony begins with reading aloud Isaiah 53:3-12, 2 Peter 2:18-25, & Hebrew 4:14-16. It should be pointed out that we are called to do that which is right and to suffer for it, that Christ's sacrifice is for healing those wounds that we suffer. The person conducting the service should now read John 6:32-40, 48-51, 53-58; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 & 11:24. The napkin should be removed from the bread, a short prayer said, then the bread broken, passed, and eaten.
Next the following verses should be read aloud: Matthew 26:27-28; 1 John 1:7-9; Hebrews 9:11-15; Ephesians 1:7. Then the napkin should be removed from the wine, a short prayer said--the wine is symbolic of Jesus' shed blood--and the wine passed to those present. Because Jesus' blood covers sins, disciples are free of sin. If the symbolism of this covenant is not renewed, disciples bear their own sins.
Finally, John 13:18 through the conclusion of John 17 should be read aloud. Since this is a lengthy reading, the person conducting the service can opt to read only portions of this section. Then after the reading, a hymn is sung, and everyone quietly leaves the room. The person conducting the ceremony will, lastly, before morning burn any leftover bread and pour onto the ground any leftover wine.
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