April 8, 2010 ©Homer
Kizer
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Commentary — From the Margins
Does Prophecy Matter?
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The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. And he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?” (Jer 32:1–5)
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1.
Should it have mattered to Zedekiah king of Judah that Jeremiah had prophesied in the Lord’s name, saying that Jerusalem should be razed by the Chaldeans? It should have mattered, shouldn’t it have? For was Jeremiah not sowing the seeds of defeatism in an already hungry city? Was Jeremiah not harming the cause? And were there not many prophets in Jerusalem and in Babylon prophesying a Judean victory over the Babylonians, prophets like Hananiah and Shemaiah? Was Jeremiah not a lone voice in Jerusalem, the only one prophesying defeat?
According to Jeremiah, what exactly did the Lord have against Jerusalem?
Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city shall come and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, to provoke me to anger. For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but provoke me to anger by the work of their hands, declares the Lord. This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them persistently, they have not listened to receive instruction. They set up their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. (32:28–35 emphasis added)
When the glory of the Lord left the temple (Ezek chap 10), that glory did not return to earthly Jerusalem or to a temple built of lifeless stones—the Ark of the Covenant did not return with the remnant of Israel that left Babylon to build a temple for the Lord in earthly Jerusalem by the decree of Cyrus, king of Persia. The glory of the Lord did not return to the temple until the spirit, the breath of God [pneuma Theon or pneuma hagion], was given to the Body of Christ, for disciples are the temple (1 Cor 3:16–17 et al). Individually and collectively, Christians are the temple.
Can God say the same thing about inner new selves dwelling in “Christian” tabernacles of flesh as the Lord said of Israel and Judah? Have they not done nothing but evil from Christendom’s youth? Have they not provoked the Lord to anger? In turning the Vatican into a brothel in the decades before the Reformation, did Roman Church officials and priests not provoke the Lord? Even today, when Christ Jesus as the first sheaf of ripe barley—as the reality of the Wave Sheaf Offering—established when the first of Abib (the beginning of the year) was to be proclaimed, do Christians listen to the Lord to receive instruction? Even Sabbatarian Christians listen to rabbinical Judaism rather than to Christ Jesus and thus, they do not (with very few exceptions) take the Passover sacraments on the night that Jesus was betrayed. Years like 2010, 2013, 2018 will have disciples who use Judaism’s calendar not taking the sacraments that represent the living Body of Christ and the covenant by which sins are forgiven in the month of Abib.
How far from God can Christians in this world get? About as far from God as Judaism was when the Lord brought the armies of Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem … the greater Christian Church doesn’t see itself in the shadow it has cast as the history of ancient Israel. In fact, most of Christendom will deny that it is anything like ancient Israel: after all, greater Christendom contends that Christians are not under the law. Well, ancient Israel obviously did not act or behave like it was under the law, either.
The following is from the Commentary of the 4th:
It is commonly taught and widely accepted that Christians are under the New Covenant that does not have the sins of Christians being remembered, that the first covenant ended at Calvary. But when asked, none of these Christians can identify the first covenant. They do not know of the Moab covenant made with the children of Israel; nor do they know that there is a second Sinai covenant. They want Christianity to be simple; they want salvation to be simple; they certainly don’t want their religion to be as complex as how do human beings address the problem of over-population of non-game animals. They want a simple, If I live a good life I will go to heaven when I die. Unfortunately, the world is not that simple, for Paul writes,
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. (Rom 2:12–16 emphasis added)
Elsewhere Paul writes,
We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. / But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. (Gal 2:15–21)
If Christians who contend that they are not under the law “sin” (i.e., transgress the law — 1 John 3:4), they will simply perish without the law and without having sin counted against them; they will perish because of their unbelief, because when the Lord taught them persistently, they did not listen to receive instruction. They set up their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it.
It is the doers of the law who will be justified, but not justified by the works of the law but by the faith that would cause these doers of the law to believe God and do those things that are pleasing to Him. After all, it is the reasonable expectation of everyone in the household of God, heirs and servants, to keep the rules of the house, with these rules physically expressed in the commandments. Therefore, to break one of the commandments is to break them all (Jas 2:10); for by willingly breaking one, the person demonstrates that the person does not believe God, does not believe the writings of Moses nor hear the voice of Jesus.
Christianity is simple: the Christian must believe the words of the Father. But believing the Father requires that the Christian hears the voice of Jesus who only spoke the words of the Father during His earthly ministry. And Jesus left His word, His message with His disciples as their judge if they will not hear His words and believe the one who sent Him.
If you would have been in Jerusalem during the siege, would you have believed Jeremiah or would you have believed the many priests and prophets who were encouraging the people to resist the Chaldeans? Would you have put nationalism before God? That is what most Christians in America do today? Their loyalty to the State (e.g., to the Constitution of the United States of America) exceeds their loyalty to God. Are you such a person? Is your loyalty to a denomination, to a Church, to a pastor or teacher greater than your faith in God? The Rebellion of day 220 comes about because the greater Christian Church has more loyalty in its mingled traditions than it does to God.
When a Christian mingles the sacred [Christ] with the profane [the invincible day of the sun], the sacred doesn’t cause the profane to become holy but the profane defiles the sacred. As such, Christmas observance is a defiling of the temple of God in a similar manner as how the earthly temple in Jerusalem was defiled by the customs of the peoples Israel dispossessed.
Concerning the customs of the people, the prophet Ezekiel records the Lord saying,
And I said to their children [the children of Israel] in the wilderness, Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, nor defile yourselves with their idols. I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules, and keep my Sabbaths holy that they may be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. But the children rebelled against me. They did not walk in my statutes and were not careful to obey my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; they profaned my Sabbaths. / Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness. But I withheld my hand and acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out. Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries, because they had not obeyed my rules, but had rejected my statutes and profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their fathers' idols. Moreover, I gave them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life, and I defiled them through their very gifts in their offering up all their firstborn, that I might devastate them. I did it that they might know that I am the Lord. (20:18–26 emphasis added)
Whereas the Lord said through the prophet Jeremiah, “‘They [Israel] built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin” (32:35), the Lord through Ezekiel said that He gave to the children of Israel statutes that had the nation offering their firstborn to Molech … is there a contradiction? Or are the two passages like what Paul wrote about being justified by the law?
When coming into the Promised Land, the physical representation of entering into God’s rest, into Sabbath observance, Israel, without prompting by the Lord, built up high places for Baal, and offered up their firstborn in fire to Molech, the local Canaanite god with whom the people of Canaan had defiled themselves. The Lord persistently taught the people of Israel to walk in His statutes and to keep His Sabbaths, but the people would not listen to Him. Israel in Egypt did not listen to the Lord (Ezek 20:8) and the children of Israel in Judea would not listen to the Lord, and Christians today will not listen to the Lord … has anything changed? Only the calendar used.
Because the children of Israel defiled themselves, the Lord gave them over to condemnation. And He made sure they were condemned in that He gave to these rebelling Israelites rules and statutes that had them continuing to do exactly what they were doing to defile themselves.
The above should frighten every Christian; for concerning the man of perdition Paul writes, “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess 2:9–12 emphasis added).
God condemns by causing the person who does not believe Him to continue doing what the person is doing. The Lord defiled Israel by causing the children of Israel to continue offering their firstborn to Molech. God defiles Christians by causing these circumcised-of-heart children of Israel to continue profaning the Sabbaths of God, with—in our example year of 2011—Christmas occurring on Sunday, which will be “proof” to lawless Christians to continue in their lawlessness while it will be proof to Sabbatarian Christians that Christmas is not to be observed. Thus, by this one day of the invincible sun, an unbridgeable schism will form between those Christians who believe God and out of faith keep the commandments and those Christians who do not believe God but cling to the traditions of the lawless Church. And God will make this schism permanent by sending a delusion over the rebels, the unbelieving disciples, so that they cannot believe what is true and turn to God and thus be saved.
So, does prophecy matter?
Jeremiah continues to record the words of the Lord:
Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, “It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence”: Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul. / For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. (32:36–42 emphasis added)
That everlasting covenant is the New Covenant (Jer 31:31–34; Heb 8:8–12), which has at its core God writing the Torah on the hearts of Israel and putting the Torah inside the mind of every Israelite so that all, neighbor and brother, Know the Lord.
Prophecy does matter. Without prophecy endtime Christians would not know that they are not, today, under the New Covenant; such is the slander spread about God by Christian prophets and teachers who would have this present world being the kingdom of God. Endtime Christians would not see themselves by the shadows they cast; for they are loyal to their nation and their denomination. In America, they truly serve the idol of nationalism.
2.
But prophecy introduces problems that would not otherwise exist: for centuries, Christians have been concerned about the mark of the beast (Rev 13:18), with many endtime disciples wildly speculating about the mark being an imbedded computer chip or a Social Security number … the call for wisdom in understanding the mark of the beast went mostly unheeded until the visions of Daniel were unsealed early in the 21st-Century: the number of the beast is not 666, nor is it 616—
John writes, “And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for [stadia] [one thousand] [six hundred]. In Greek, “six” is hex. Without the aspirated “x” sound being incorporated in a sign, six is not present in the sign, regardless of how much a person wants to place the digit in the sign. Thus, in Greek, six hundred , the plural ordinal from hex and Ekató. It is not any form of —chi; nor can stigma be honestly translated as —hex or six.
Quoting Jesus, Matthew wrote, “‘As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty [hexēkonta], and in another thirty’” (13:23). About the same incident, Mark quotes Jesus, “‘And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold [exínta] and a hundredfold’” (4:8), and, “‘But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold [exínta] and a hundredfold’” (v. 20).
When Jesus first cleansed the temple and said that He would rebuild the temple in three days, the Jews asked, “‘It has taken forty-six [tessarakonta hex — In forty and six] years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days’” (John 2:20).
Translation of [chi xi stigma] as 666 is scholastically dishonest … can anyone imagine a scribe in a Medieval scriptorium realizing that the mark of the beast was the tattoo [stigma] of Christ’s [chi] cross [xi] and taking this awareness to the monks in charge? Such a realization would have seemed too nonsensical to be believed. Instead, the scribe would have dishonestly translated this mark of the beast as something it never was, and that dishonest translation is what endtime disciples have accepted as the mark.
Endtime false prophets and false teachers conspire together to make pagan Rome the fourth beast of Daniel chapter seven, and the Pope as the self-proclaimed vicar of Christ the little horn riding this beast. But the fourth king of Daniel’s vision in the first year of Belshazzar is not Rome, but is instead Death, the fourth horseman, the king that emerged from the broken stump of the first king of Greece on its north side, hence the king of the North.
The mark of the beast is not difficult to read, but again, no three Greek letters, purporting to represent a number and the name of a man, have ever been more dishonestly translated than chi xi stigma, for in Indo-European languages [of which Greek is one], the Arabic numeral “6” phonetically requires an “x” sound. As mentioned before, in Greek, “six” is “hex,” the verbally aspirated “x” sound. So three “sixes” will require the repetition of the “x” sound three times as in “six hundred sixty six.” But the “x” sound only occurs once in —chi xi stigma.
The logic for translating chi xi stigma as 666 comes from “chi” visually appearing as an “x” and from “stigma” representing the action performed by two sharpened or pointed sticks, as in two crossed sticks that could also be made to visually appear as an “x.” So the wisdom behind framing one phonetic “x” with two possibly visual “x” [plural] comes from not accepting that the tattoo of the cross would mark, in the Endurance, those who are of the Antichrist.
A mark or a sign only has the meaning that auditors [readers] assign to the mark or sign: for most Christians, the empty or filled cross represents Christ Jesus even though the cross was the instrument used to physically kill Jesus. And the cross will be used as the mark of those who believe that the glorified Jesus returned as the Messiah after the Sixth Trumpet Plague and the death and resurrection of the two witnesses. The cross will mark those who believe that the Messiah is the king who comes with two horns like a lamb but speaks like a dragon 1260 days after the Second Passover, which they will earnestly believe is the Sixth Trumpet Plague, thus believing that the Sixth Trumpet Plague is Armageddon. This king that comes with two horns like a lamb will come on Halloween 2014 in our example timeline that has the Second Passover occurring on the second Passover in 2011; this king will come on or about Halloween of whatever year he comes. He will come in the fall of the year, and can thus be identified as false even before wars fail to cease.
Because the cross is today the near universally accepted sign of Christ Jesus, it will not be difficult in the Endurance for the king that comes as a lamb with two horns—comes claiming to be the Messiah, and comes using the cross to usurp authority that has been given to the Son of Man—to persuade those Christians who rebelled against God in the great falling away to take upon themselves the tattoo [— stigma] of Christ’s [— chi] cross [— xi] and thus mark themselves for death at Armageddon. It will almost be too easy. But then, these same Christians today do not believe the writings of Moses and so refuse to believe Christ Jesus. They are Satan’s seed in this era, and they will prove that they are when they accept the mark of the beast in the Endurance.
The introductory passage from Revelation chapter 13 is nearly all that has been written about the “mark of the beast,” with the remainder of the references being about God bringing destruction upon those individuals who have taken this mark. And reading the mark that requires wisdom begins not with “Χ,” but with the last letter —stigma—an obsolete letter used to represent a number as the Greek letter “π” represents 22/7s. The letter “stigma” was between the fifth and sixth letters of the Greek alphabet, but the letter had not been in common usage for a century when John recorded his vision; thus, the use of “stigma” for its literary rather than its numerical value should clue the auditor that there is something “common” though unusual about the three letters.
The last letter of the mark, has a name that carries with it a relatively narrow usual assignment of meaning: for those disciples who have grown familiar with Strong’s, the number is G4742, stigma, usually meaning “to stick” or “to prick” as in a mark incised or punched to denote ownership. Thus, stigma is the action of pricking or punching a mark of ownership; it is used as the Greek linguistic icon that most closely is aligned to the English icon “tattoo” … it is a tattoo, or the action of tattooing, and it does not produce the Arabic numeral “6” in any reasonable translation or transliteration. And since this letter alone represents a “mark” or “marking” as in ownership, the remainder of the “mark of the beast” should, logically, be that mark or should describe that mark which is tattooed as the sign of ownership.
Wisdom is truly here required: the Lord said to Moses, “‘You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, “Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you”’” (Ex 31:12–13) … the Sabbaths of God, with these Sabbaths listed in Leviticus chapter 23, are “a sign” that God sanctifies Israel, the nation that now consists of Jews circumcised of heart (Rom 2:28–29; Deut 10:16; 30:6; Jer 9:25–26; Col 2:11). But the Sabbath or Sabbath observance does not today signify that the Sabbath keeper is of God; however, neglect of the Sabbath does signify that the person is not of God regardless of what the person believes about him or herself.
Failure to keep the Sabbath leaves the person “unmarked” or part of the common pool of humanity.
Whereas Sabbath observance should now, in this present era, “mark” the person as being of God, genuine endtime disciples understand that rabbinical Judaism, because of its rejection of Jesus, is not of God. Likewise, Seventh Day Adventists, because of their neglect of the Passover and of the high Sabbaths, are also not of God. Therefore, it is the observance of the plural Sabbaths of God [the weekly Sabbath plus the high Sabbaths] that should mark those who are of God—and this introduces an additional layer of complications: when Christians use rabbinical Judaism’s calculated calendar instead of Christ Jesus to establish the annual Sabbaths, especially in years like 2010, these Christians, like Jews, do not keep the Sabbath of God. They do not appear before the Lord at their appointed times. And they leave themselves unmarked and part of the common pool of humanity.
Many Christian pastors and teachers have marked themselves with weekly Sabbath observance as disguised ministers of the Adversary, the word used metonymically to represent the kingdom of spiritual Babylon and its reigning hierarchy. They pose as ministers of righteousness, but by asking those whom they teach for support, they show that they are servants of the Adversary (2 Cor 11:7–15). If they were genuine, they would have no need to ask for support. That they must ask is “proof” they are false.
Likewise, many disciples have marked themselves with Sabbath observance as if they were genuine sons of God, but then show that they are false by denying that Ò Logos [the Logos — from John 1:1–3] is the one who created all that has been made, then entered His creation as His only Son (John 3:16), the man Jesus of Nazareth (John 1:14). These false Sabbatarian Christians will inevitably assert that the God of ancient Israel is not Ò Logos, but is the Father, whom Jesus came to reveal not to the world but to His disciples. The physicality of the creation, itself, concealed the Father from ancient Israel, a nation that was not born of God and could not understand the spiritual things of God.
However, following the Second Passover, in the time, times, and half a time [1260 days] when the saints are delivered into the hand of the little horn who seeks to change times and the law (Dan 7:25), Sabbath observance will mark those who are of God, for to then keep the Sabbath will require the active exercising of faith. This faith will cleanse hearts so they can be circumcised. But the downside is that the man of perdition and his cohorts will martyr every Sabbatarian they can. By day 580 of the Affliction (Julian day #2456280.5, or 19 December 2012) in our example year, only a remnant of Sabbatarian Christians will remain physically alive. Many will rest in their graves until they are resurrected when Christ Jesus returns. In death, they will escape most of the seven endtime years of tribulation.
Thus, although it can be accurately said that Sabbath observance marks those who are of God in the 1260 day long Affliction, it does not necessarily mark those who are of God in this present era. Likewise, the tattoo of the cross will mark those who are of the Antichrist in the 1260 day long Endurance whereas the cross does not necessarily mark those who are of the Adversary in this present era. In the Affliction all peoples, except those marked by Sabbath observance, will belong to the spiritual king of Babylon, who is the present prince of this world and who will remain the prince of this world until dominion is taken from the four kings and given to the Son of Man on the doubled day 1260 of the seven endtime years, for the present prince of this world in possessing the man of perdition will be the little horn that emerges on the head of Death and uproots three existing horns. But in the Endurance, which begins with the kingdom of this world being given to the Son of Man, all peoples will belong to the Lord except those who mark themselves for death by taking upon themselves the tattoo of the cross.
Marking denotes difference. When the peoples of this world are all sons of disobedience (Eph 2:2–3) except for the few called by the Father and the Son, the many are unmarked but the few are marked by the Sabbath. In the same way, when the peoples of this world belong to the Lord (Rev 18:4), those who are of the Lord are unmarked whereas those who are of the Antichrist are marked as not belonging to the Lord by the tattoo of the cross, the instrument of death with which they identity themselves.
Disciples today, prior to the Second Passover, are in no danger of taking the mark of the beast onto themselves through a Social Security number. The mark of the beast will not be an imbedded computer chip, not that anyone should permit a chip to be imbedded in the person: people are not dogs that need to be identified because they cannot speak for themselves. Even the cross worn as jewelry does not today mark someone as a slave to Death although if Jesus would have been killed by an AK47, would the person wear a miniature AK47 as a pendant? If the person wouldn’t, the person should not wear a crucifix as jewelry.
But marking those who are of God with Sabbath observance in the Affliction, and marking those who have rebelled against God with the tattoo of the cross in the Endurance comes after the Second Passover, a reality seen in Scripture by those disciples who have had their eyes opened and their ears unstopped by Christ Jesus. It is those of Israel who can see and hear who have been healed of death.
In our example timeline, on the doubled day 1260 (Julian day #2456960.5 and day #2456961.5), rule over the kingdom of this earth will be taken from the four kings and the little horn (Dan 7:9–14; Rev 11:15–19) and given to the Son of Man. At the first of this doubled day, the Sabbath will mark those who are of God, but by the end of this doubled day, the cross will mark those who are of the Adversary, again used metonymically. For the Holy Spirit will be poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28; Matt 3:11), thereby causing every person alive to be born of God and born liberated from indwelling sin and death. What the Lord did at the Second Passover for the Christian Church, the Lord will do for the third part of humankind when the kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man.
So again, prophecy and understanding prophecy matters; for during the seven endtime years, many will accept the tattoo of the cross as a legitimate marking of being a Christian. But in the cross, the person takes death onto the person who has been liberated from indwelling sin and death
3.
Understanding prophecy also has the one who understands knowing who the players are: the man of perdition will not be a pope, or any Trinitarian Christian … the person who teaches that the little horn of Daniel chapters seven and eight is the Pope riding the Roman Empire is utterly without prophetic understanding. This person an extremely poor reader of text; for human kings do not speak great words or blasphemous words to the Ancient of Days, but the little horn that came up on the head of the fourth king, the little horn before which three of the first ten horns are uprooted, the little horn with eyes like a man and a mouth speaking great things will indeed speak to the Ancient of Days, and speak blasphemous words. This little horn is not a human being. He is not the Pope. And he is different from the ten horns on the head of the fourth king.
If the man Daniel trembled and fell onto his face in the presence of an angel (Dan 10:8–9), who would the man be to speak face to face with God and live? The Lord tells Moses, “‘You shall not see my face, for man shall not see me and live’” (Ex 33:20); so the little horn who “‘shall speak words against the Most High, / and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, / and shall think to change the times and the law’” (Dan 7:25), and who shall have his dominion taken away (v. 26) when the dominion is taken from the fourth king and from the three other beasts [kings] (v. 12) — this little horn rules over human beings for a time, times, and half a time when “they” [the saints, times and the law] are given into the hand of this little horn (again, v. 25). But dominion is given to the leopard, the third king: “After this I [Daniel] looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it” (Dan 7:6 emphasis added). Thus, the dominion that is taken from the four kings and the little horn and given to the Son of Man on the doubled day 1260 has its root in the dominion given to the four-headed leopard.
Daniel records “the sum” (7:1) of his vision, and Daniel doesn’t record dominion over the saints being given to the lion (made to appear as a man) or the bear or to the terrifying fourth king; however, Daniel records dominion being taken from all four beasts [kings] as well as from the little horn and given to one like the Son of Man. This kingdom and dominion includes “‘the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven’” (v. 27), and this kingdom “‘shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High’” and their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, / and all dominions shall serve and obey them’” (also, v. 27). So the dominion given to the leopard and shared with the other three kings and apparently usurped by the little horn is, indeed, the same dominion as is given to the Son of Man to establish an everlasting kingdom—“‘a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor … left to another people’” (Dan 2:44) … the single kingdom of this world is not given to the Son of Man many times, but one time, and this one time is also seen in John’s vision [the Book of Revelation] (Rev 11:15–19).
One event—giving the kingdom of this world to the Son of Man—but two portrayals of this event: Daniel’s vision can be aligned with John’s vision through this one-time giving of the kingdom to the Son of Man.
The phrase a time, times, and half a time represents a period three and a half units long from the perspective of the Most High; e.g., a time, times, and half a time represents the three and a half millennia between the first Passover and the Second Passover as well the forty-two months when the woman is nourished in the wilderness (cf. Rev 12:6, 14; 13:5) and the 1260 days of the ministry of the two witnesses (Rev 11:3).
When the events described in John’s vision are soon to occur (see Rev 1:1; 3:11; 22:6–7, 10, 12, 20), there is no reason to assign a unit of time to “day” other than a 24-hour day, or to “month” other than a 30-day month, or to “a time, times, and half a time” other than three and a half years [1260 days].
In vision, John is transported into the timeless heavenly realm when the events in John’s vision are “soon” to occur, meaning that John mentally leaps from the end of the 1st-Century to the 21st-Century when the Second Passover will set into play events “soon” to occur. In his vision, the 1260-day-long ministry of the two witnesses overlaps day for day the time, times, and half a time when the saints are given into the hand of the little horn, and the 1260 days that the two witnesses prophesy begin with the Second Passover liberation of Israel, when the lives of men are again given as ransom for Israel (Isa 43:3–4). As the lives of firstborn Egyptians (man and beast) were given in exchange for the life of Israel, the firstborn natural son of the Lord, the lives of firstborns in the Abyss and on earth will be given in exchange for the life of circumcised-of-heart Israel at the Second Passover. So it is at the Second Passover when the great horn that is the first king of the spiritual king of Greece is suddenly broken because he is first.
Daniel records,
Then the goat became exceedingly great, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven. / Out of one of them came a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. It grew great, even to the host of heaven. And some of the host and some of the stars it threw down to the ground and trampled on them. It became great, even as great as the Prince of the host. And the regular burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown. And a host will be given over to it together with the regular burnt offering because of transgression, and it will throw truth to the ground, and it will act and prosper. (8:8–12 emphasis added)
And the goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power. And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. His power shall be great—but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand. (8:21–25 emphasis added)
The little horn that emerges on the head of the fourth king in Daniel’s vision recorded in chapter seven is consumed and destroyed when the court of the Ancient of Days sits in judgment and takes dominion from this little horn and from the four kings and gives this dominion to the Son of Man. The little horn that emerges from the head of the king of the North [this king pushes to the east, south, and west; thus this king has to be from the north] in Daniel’s vision in chapter eight is also broken by no human hand when dominion is taken from him. They are the same little horn; there are not many little horns in Daniel visions.
No human king will throw down some of the stars.
When the saints at Thessaloniki awaited what they believed would be the immediate return of Christ Jesus, the Apostle Paul told them that the day of the Lord had not come and would not come until the Rebellion occurs and the lawless one [the man of perdition] is revealed:
Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. … For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (2 Thess 2:3–10)
The little horn on the head of the fourth king is different from the ten horns that are on this king’s head when the little horn emerges; this little horn emerges after the fourth king, terrifying, dreadful, and exceedingly strong, emerges with the ten horns/kings on his head. Likewise, the little horn that emerges on the head of the king of the North, the little horn with a bold face and who understands riddles and whose power is great (but not by his own power), emerges after the king of the North sprouts from the stump of the broken first king of the federated king of Greece. The little horn emerges when “the daily” [as in the regular burn offering] is taken away 2300 days before “‘the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state’” (Dan 8:14).
To aid understanding, let us assign example dates near in time to events so that the hypothetical can be realistically comprehended: about the coming of the Son of Man, Jesus said, “‘But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man’” (Matt 24:36–37). BUT when Jesus asked who the people say the Son of Man is, and who the disciples say that Jesus is, Peter answered, “‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’” (Matt 16:16). Then “Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven’” (v. 17). So it is within the scope of Scripture to have the Father deliver specific information that only He possessed to a disciple or to disciples, and concerning the coming of the Son of Man, that specific information needed to date the Second Advent is in what Jesus said: For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household … in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” … And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth. / In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. (Gen 7:1, 4, 10–11 emphasis added)
Jesus said, “‘For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man’” (Matt 24:38–39).
Noah entered the Ark on the 10th day of the second month, the day when the paschal lamb for the second Passover is chosen and penned. … Would Noah’s neighbors have known that he was building the Ark in, figuratively, his backyard? Certainly they would have known, and they would have mocked Noah unmercifully; for the Ark would have taken years to build, possibly 120 years, and because of how long its construction took, not much attention would have been paid to Noah entering the Ark on the 10th day of the second month. Not much attention would have been paid to Noah until the windows of heaven opened on the 17th day of the second month. Then it would have been too late for those who mocked.
If the coming of the Son of Man is preceded by “‘a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation’” (Dan 12:1), then the coming of the son of Man will take no one by surprise. However, if the Second Passover begins a time of trouble like none before it, then the Second Passover will come upon humankind in the 21st-Century as the opening of the windows of heaven came upon humankind in Noah’s day.
The Father has given to specific disciples knowledge concerning the coming of the Son of Man as the Father gave Peter knowledge about who Jesus was … at the Second Passover, all firstborns in the Abyss and on earth who are not covered by the righteousness of the Lamb of God will perish suddenly. This includes the first king, the great king, of the federated king of Greece. This will be the breaking of the great horn that permits the sprouting of the four kings from his base. Thus, the reality foreshadowed by the opening of the windows of heaven on the 17th day of the second month is the Second Passover liberation of Israel on the 15th day of the second month, followed by the emergence of the four kings on or about the 17th day of the second month.
If the Second Passover were to occur in a near year, say 2011, the death of uncovered firstborns and the liberation of Israel would occur on or about May 19th. The four kings would emerge shortly afterwards, and Satan and his angels would be cast from heaven on or about Halloween 2014. As a theoretic timeline, this line is accurate to the following degree:
· May 19, 2011, is Julian day #2455700.5;
· October 31, 2014, is Julian day #2456961.5, or 1261 days later, with this day being the second half of the doubled day 1260.when days are counted as beginning at midnight;
Using 2011 as an example year, the four beasts of Daniel chapter seven and the four horns of Daniel chapter eight will appear when the four horsemen of Revelation chapter six appear—these four kings will emerge after the first horn of the king of Greece is suddenly broken, and they will emerge on or about the 17th/18th day of the second month [Lyyar], or on or about May 21st/22nd; typology holds that they will have emerged by Sunday, May 22nd, 2011. … The angel Gabriel was told to make the prophet Daniel understand the vision, about which Daniel is told, “‘The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it refers to many days from now’” (8:26). About the long vision Daniel received in the third year of Cyrus, Daniel is told, “‘But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. … Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end’” (12:4, 9).
If the angel Gabriel is to be believed, if the angel who brings Daniel the word of knowledge in the third year of Cyrus is to be believed, then the visions of Daniel were sealed and secret when prophecy pundits first began to identify Rome and the Roman Empire as the fourth beast of Daniel chapter seven. None of these prophecy pundits could understand Daniel’s visions even though they thought they could.
Prophecy and understanding prophecy have been devalued because so many pundits who were without understanding have spoken as if they had understanding for centuries. But when prophetic events are soon to occur, understanding prophecy will make all the difference, thereby separating disciples who will be witnesses to the third part of humankind from those disciples who are destined to die physically by the hands of Christians who believe they do God service in killing these Sabbatarians. And in a way, they will be doing service to God who won’t allow Sabbatarian disciples without an understanding of prophecy to live into the Endurance where they will be witnesses to the third part of humankind.
4.
While it is easy to grasp why disciples need to understand prophecy during the seven endtime years of tribulation, the advantage of understanding prophecy is here today: when Christians are liberated from indwelling sin and death, they will no longer have need for grace … Luke records,
Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (17:26–30)
If disciples are the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27), they are also the Body of the Son of Man; they are the covered [clothed by grace, the righteousness of Christ Jesus] Body of the Son of Man. So when the Son of Man is revealed, the Body of this Son will be disrobed or stripped naked. This Body will have, because it is filled with the breath of God and liberated from indwelling sin and death, the ability to cover itself with its own obedience, its own righteousness.
Again, Paul wrote to the saints at Thessaloniki that the great falling away—the Rebellion—must occur before Christ Jesus would return … Christ Jesus is the reality of the morning and evening sacrifice. Putting on the garment of His righteousness on a daily basis represents the reality of “the daily” sacrifice. Therefore, when the glorified Jesus “baptizes” disciples in spirit and into life as the world in Noah’s day was baptized by water into death, the obedience of disciples becomes their “covering” for their nakedness before God; becomes their daily sacrifice.
Again, the doer of the law will be justified, but the works of the law justify no one. It isn’t works that save, but faith that causes the sons of God to do what the law requires; so the great falling away comes when disciples refuse to believe God, refuse to exercise faith, with this refusal manifested in their refusal to cover themselves with the garment of obedience.
Subtracting 2300 from the 2520 days of tribulation, endtime disciples realize that the Rebellion of saints occurs on or about Christmas 2011, and comes because these saints will not forsake the co-mingled holiday that unites the sacred [Christ] with the profane [the invincible day of the sun].
The lawless one, a human being possessed by Satan, reveals himself on or about Christmas 2011, if the Second Passover were to occur in 2011. The lawless one is the little horn that is unlike the ten horns or kings on the head of the fourth beast—he is unlike the ten horns because he is Satan possessing a human being. This lawless one uproots three of the ten horns, and this lawless one casts down some of the stars. This lawless one understands riddles, especially the riddle of progressive governance. He shall make deceit prosper, and he shall destroy many by causing them to follow him in rebellion against the Most High as they worship nationalism.
When speaking of the lawless one, the man of perdition, disciples need to understand that this man will sincerely believe the angel inside him is Christ Jesus; he will believe that human beings are born with angels inside them rather than immortal souls (both beliefs are problematic). He will be an Arian Christian who holds that Jesus is a created being like Lucifer and Michael. But it won’t be Jesus that possesses this man of perdition who will appear “angelic,” but the Adversary himself who comes disguised as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14–15)
Today, the lawless one might not yet know what he will do, but he is known to many Americans for his advocacy of returning governance of this nation to We the People [Korah’s rebellion]. He is a seemingly good guy, and this will not change even after the rebellion of day 220 occurs.
Christians are sloppy in their worship of God: they consistently mingle the sacred and the profane and sincerely believe that God will accept them just the way they are … when Elohim placed the first Adam in the garden of God, Elohim [singular in usage] said, “‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’” (Gen 2:16–17). … Was Adam not to know “good”? Or was Adam not to know “evil”? Or was it because the fruit of this tree, unlike the fruit of any other tree, was co-mingled, the sacred [good] with the profane [evil], thereby making that which was sacred profane?
As said before, the sacred doesn’t make the profane holy, but the profane does make the sacred unclean or profane: any mingling of sacred and profane causes the sacred to become spiritually defiled.
In Korah’s rebellion, what did Korah say that was wrong?
Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” (Num 16:1–3)
Was the congregation not holy? The Lord said, “‘Now therefore, if you [Israel] will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’” (Ex 19:5–6 emphasis added). This is what Peter writes about Christians: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9). So had Moses gone too far? Was Moses exalting himself over the congregation that wanted to return to Egypt under other leaders (Num 14:4)?
The Rebellion of Christians that occurs when the man of perdition is revealed will not, to the rebels, seem like rebellion at all. Rebelling Christians will choose for themselves a leader to take them back into sin; they will eat co-mingled fruit when they keep Christmas. And the man of perdition will be this leader: he will be a man chosen by We the People. He will be the little horn, and evidence that the events described in Daniel’s visions and in John’s vision are soon to occur are in his sudden rise to national and international prominence in the past year.
Prophetically, when looking at the little horn, a human being possessed by Satan, a disciple needs to realize that the true Antichrist is Satan, the spiritual king of Babylon, being given the mind of man as Nebuchadnezzar, the human king of Babylon, was given the mind of a beast—and Satan doesn’t appear among men until he is cast from heaven (Rev 12:7–10) when dominion is taken from the four kings and given to the Son of Man. Therefore, the man of perdition in the 1260 day long Affliction [in our example timeline, from May 19, 2011, to October 31, 2014] forms the shadow and type (the left-hand enantiomer) of the true Antichrist in the 1260 day long Endurance. The man of perdition is not the Antichrist, but is the mirror image of the Antichrist.
When the little horn is “viewed” from on high, Satan is seen. But when this little horn is viewed from the perspective of men, he seems like an intense but likable fellow who has a special relationship with Christmas … because the man of perdition declares himself God and sincerely believes what he claims, he can only be an Arian Christian who believes that Jesus began as a created being, meaning that he will be recognized as false by Trinitarians, whom he will destroy utterly. But he will be accepted by Muslim converts, who will feel comfortable within Latter Day Saints fellowships.
The little horn that seeks to change times and the law comes with another testament of Jesus.
Understanding prophecy is important right now! The angelic appearing human being who will become the lawless one when he is possessed by Satan will cause a great many Christians in exercising their rights as We the People to place nationalism ahead of God. He will deceive even the saints—it is possible to deceive the saints, the track record that comes from nearly two millennia of Christians losing their way as blind men in a wilderness of sin. It will be only those saints who understand prophecy that are not deceived by this advocate for We the People and Christmas and Jefferson’s Question with Boldness.
Questioning with boldness is noble in this world, but is with God simple unbelief when the law has been written on hearts and placed in minds so that all Know the Lord.
Understanding prophecy is as navigating by the stars, with astrology being of the devil.
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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."