The lens of typology has continued to reveal more of the mysteries of God -- the two witnesses cross into the spiritual realm to view the land, especially Jericho; they are given spiritual power to effect weather patterns and to cause plagues and to kill with their breath. But much of what the two witnesses see first hand can today be determined from the hills on this near side of the Jordan by sitting, glassing the opposite slopes for bear or deer, as I did on Kodiak Island the years I lived there. Instead of using a spotting scope or binoculars, I glass with the prism of typological exegesis. Instead of using a rifle to take life, I hunt to save the lives of the lost sheep of Israel that are being stalked by a bear named Apollyon; I sling text as David slung stones. And it will be through the spreading of text in the ether of the Net that four mighty beasts are momentarily slowed enough that sheep can escape being devoured.

Unfortunately, too many of the lost sheep of Israel aren’t on hillsides but are in nursing homes. They have become prey for a parade of beasts selling their wares in the studios of Christian television. These sheep have been bloodlessly butchered; many are being condemned to the lake of fire. They have done little wrong – except blaspheme the Holy Spirit by erasing the laws of God that were written on their hearts and minds through receipt of the Breath of the Father. They needed permission to erase what God had written. The Cross gave them that permission. The Cross identifies legalism as the doubly accursed gospel. The Cross teaches that the covenant has been abolished. And they embraced the cheap gospel that the merchandisers of the Cross have been selling for the past fifty years or so.

But the Cross is permanently centered in the scope of my many texts, each fired shot on target. Typology reveals that disciples are to live as spiritual legalists, where physical murder becomes spiritual hate, where physical adultery becomes spiritual lust. As a Christian, I would transgress the laws of God written on my heart and mind through receipt of the Holy Spirit if I hated even my enemies. So, yes, Christians are to be legalists in the spiritual realm. If they are not, they will not be resurrected to life. They will have committed spiritual suicide.

I once heard a hospital’s attorney in a malpractice case ask, How many bullets can you pump into a dead horse? The hospital had acknowledged error, but wanted to share their liability with the doctors who had missed catching the error. So the attorneys for the doctors involved and the attorneys for the plaintiff busily fired their best shots at the hospital, with each bullet striking already admitted error. The body of the error was riddled with bullet holes, but the attorneys kept shooting just in case there was a resurrection.

I will keep firing away at the teachers of Israel who would have newly born sons of God erase the laws of God written on their hearts and minds. I will not assume that these teachers will die after being struck with Scripture. I know they will bury Holy Writ in a shopping bag of books about the Christianity of the Cross, thereby claiming to honor the Father by mocking Christ, the reality of the festivals, new moons, and Sabbaths of God. So I will keep pumping text into the body of a dead dragon, while enjoying firing every shot.

In this issue of Water & Fire, a hunt is undertaken for the beasts of Daniel 7, Yom Kippur is discussed, as is the oxymoron "Christian Infanticide." Plus, there is an Introduction to Prophecy that pits typology against historical exegesis. But the role of women speaking in services almost slipped through the scope without a shot being fired. The lens of typology has a fairly restricted field of view. It works best to glass distant shadows on the far hills across the Jordan, but its focus has been turned to the near subject of women. And a one-round broadside was fired at today’s circumcision faction.

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