eTPL 2014

December: Nostalgia, Remembrance, and Longing

An eTPL Editorial (3500 words)

Although men cannot erase the Gospel, or even alter its purpose or its benefits to all, the Body of Christ seems to us to be in a state of compromise from leaders in certain positions.

We are thinking of the heightened conservatism of some of our members who appear to have appropriated to themselves the unwarranted possession of undue, wide authority – of extreme exclusivity – which is seemingly not compatible with the principles which they claim to uphold.

These principles were outlined by them in an open letter earlier in 2014. We submit that the restrictions, stated as being based upon the content of the Unamended Statement of Faith, includes more widespread concerns, namely, the interpretation of Bible prophecy, although that concern is not overtly stated in the letter.

It seems to us that a more reasonable approach, which is recommended – and is scripturally supported – would be gentleness and longsuffering as the more equitable path.

We are speaking of the restrictions on attendance mandated by the managers of the Arkansas Bible School (ABS) – an uniquely outstanding Institution from whose generous and overarching teachings of the Gospel, entire generations have come to learn and become devoted to God’s Truth – the Pathway to Salvation – the Way of Life – which is illustrated by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

About sixty years ago, c. 1952, an investigative reporter at the Arkansas Democrat (or was it the Arkansas Gazette?) researched the history of specialized, academically non-accredited Bible Schools in general.

At that time in history, as now, anyone driving through any state could observe rustic campgrounds and assembly centers founded by various churches of each local area as special places dedicated to teaching their concept of God’s word. These institutions were and are not collegiate in nature, but a result of grass-roots efforts to bring in new members to their denominations and to teach their doctrines.

The summary article generated by the reporter stated that as far as she could determine, the Arkansas Christadelphian Bible School was the flagship institution in this movement – that the ABS was the first such institution of this kind in North America, which is today common throughout the world.

She proposed that whether realized or not, the ABS served as template for all the subsequent campgrounds and Bible Schools of the various denominations of Christendom.

In our minds, that is quite a significant mark of achievement.

Beginning early in the 20th century, the Arkansas Bible School led the way in intensive, dedicated Bible teaching. Staffed by unpaid but well-qualified instructors, the Bible School drew strong, enthusiastic, devoted crowds of seekers after Truth and Righteousness. Often more than 600 attendees would arrive in Martinville, located in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, coming from perhaps half of the (then) 48 states, Canada, and even Australia and Britain.

Unabashed enthusiasm of the attendants at each August session was widely evident at every meeting, resulting in a visible fervor of thirst and hunger for God’s word which was gratifying to behold.

 The writer remembers with great delight, the dynamic, even passionate, leadership of Bro. Oscar L. Dunaway, a retired public school superintendent in Faulkner County, City of Conway, who was the School’s superintendent. His teaching concepts involved Bible basics from the first hour of each session.

At the first (Saturday evening) assembly, he would stand well in front of the podium without a microphone, and begin his enthusiastic presentation of his programme for learning. The school did not yet possess a public address system for its spacious Tabernacle, as we called the main Assembly Hall.

Imagine, if you can, the assembly seated on wooden benches in three sections of seats separated by two wide aisles to accommodate the students’ easy seating. Bro. Oscar would immediately call for a group recitation of the Books of the Bible, pointing enthusiastically at one of the three seating sections – the members of which would shout in unison the names of the Books in order.

The exercise took on the aura of a rhythmic chant of sorts … from Genesis to Revelation.

Bro. Dunaway would vigorously, and without betraying his intent, abruptly point to … Center!

 Genesis! would ring forth from a chorus of 200-odd voices.

Then to the Left tier: Exodus! 

From the Right, Leviticus! 

Center: Numbers!

Right: Deuteronomy!

And so on, each sector enthusiastically and positively naming the next book in order: Joshua! Judges! Ruth! First and Second Samuel! First and Second Kings! First and Second Chronicles! Ezra! …

Broad smiles and visible joy pervaded the motivated audience as all sixty six books of the entire Bible were named in order, concluding with First and Second Peter!  First, Second and Third John!  Jude! … And Revelation!

It was an exciting, competitive way for young minds to internalize the wonderful structure of the Word of God, and to memorize the names and order of every book – a capability which facilitated each one quickly learning how to locate any chapter and verse referred to during the week’s classes.

A graphic painting of a bookcase containing the books of the various divisions of the Bible, such as History, Law, Poetry, Prophecy, Gospels, and Epistles, hung prominently on display at the rear of the slightly elevated stage of the Tabernacle.

At that time the floor of the Tabernacle was dirt, later made much cleaner by being concreted.

Three of the spacious side walls were lined with classrooms closed from the elements by screen wire and equipped with top-hinged outer shutters which could be closed against the elements; these rooms were separated by planked walls (not soundproof!).

A bookstore offered a wide variety of books and treatises devoted to God’s word at cost prices.

During the first years of this writer’s attendance (1929 being his first session), his parents paid about $3.00 (that’s three dollars!) tuition for each of the three members of his family to attend for the entire week – an assessment which amply paid for all the food that they consumed, and other expenses, such as the gasoline used during the nine day session to power the straight-8-cylinder Buick automobile engine which, installed  in a special shed near the dining hall, powered the generator for the lights!

He remembers vividly that periodically the electricity would falter, the lighting would dim abruptly, and everyone would hear the Buick engine sputter and stop firing; perhaps someone had not replenished the petrol tank!

Early each morning the small cooking staff hired from a local college for the week, arose to prepare its first meal – breakfast – consisting of biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, bacon, ham (sometimes), and grits (often). Each meal of the day was well prepared, appropriately nutritious, and extremely enjoyable, as members consumed each meal at long tables in the refectory.

The Boys’ bunk house was our central social venue after “lights out,” with pranks and traps being set for the unwary in the best of humor and the greatest lack of malice. Pillow “fights” broke out nearly every evening, sometimes resulting in a combatant’s pillow rupturing and spreading thousands of tiny, fluffy feathers throughout the house!

We are convinced that things were much more civilized in the Girls’ bunk house.

Why All This Nostalgia?

Well … simply because these memories are dear to this writer; they represent his fondly recalled, formal introduction (in addition to his family exposure) to The Truth of the Bible, and his relentless pursuit of it in heart, spirit, and mind.

At the 1946 Spring Gathering, on June 16th, at Martinville, he put on the name of Jesus Christ by total immersion in the cool, clean waters of nearby Cove Creek. To him, the Bible School is “holy ground” in every way.

But we have other concerns.

From all reports, the spirit of the Arkansas Bible School has virtually expired – the very spirit which unified, instructed and strengthened literally thousands of truth-seekers for nearly a century in these end times.

We have, by the referenced letter, been reliably informed of a newly adopted ascetic, repressive policy having been instituted by those who are now managing the School.

But our impression is that it is merely a re-statement of the original policy of the ABS from its beginning. The School has always been conducted exclusively on the basis of the BUSF; it has never allowed “open fellowship.”

But is has always allowed free and open discussion of Bible prophecy. We remember many years ago, during World War II, that a prominent brother who was then a member of the Committee published an article in one of our journals, proposing that Germany was probably going soon to be recognized as the “king of the north” of Daniel 11 – a view that in our present state of understanding was even then preposterous.

Yet he was not invited away from the School.

Why not? Because such a proposal was not a fundamental Bible doctrine which should lead brethren astray from the Truth.

The impression is widely held that the present regime is happy to have many earnest, inquisitive Bible students simply stay away – or go somewhere else, whether that is either convenient, desirable, or possible for them.

The friendly, welcoming spirit of the ABS seems to have ceased.

The current leaders view “their” Bible School in a much more restrictive light; only those who completely agree with their views on nearly any aspect of Truth are welcome. But all others are not.

The managers of the School, in addition to a rather small number of other Believers, adhere strictly to the interpretation of prophecy given by John Thomas, concerning events which would come to pass after his death, leading up to the kingdom of Christ in the earth. They will countenance no other interpretation of the prophecies even though many of them have now been fulfilled in ways different from Bro. Thomas’ projections.

In such an atmosphere, how can any person of a different religious OR prophetic persuasion ever be brought to consider any other frame of belief?

Our opinion is, it is grossly unwise to exclude everyone who does not share their exclusive and deeply entrenched notions of

·        what the Bible School should teach or even discuss,

·        how a Bible School should be conducted,

·        of exactly who should attend,

·        and the way in which non-essential points of Bible prophecy should be interpreted.

Such an exclusionary policy does damage to the vigorous and vital presentation of Truth to every potential attendant. It suppresses vigorous investigation of such matters, and the strengthening aspect of such “proving” the word of God.

Is this criticism, we are not advocating “open fellowship,” but merely a return to the policies which have stood the School in good stead through lean and not so lean times. We learned in late summer that the attendance at the 2014 Ozark School fell below 200 attendees. And only somewhat less than 100 attended the Fall Gathering.

The School is clearly off the agenda of many who until recently, attended, and greatly benefitted from the helpful, outgoing atmosphere of the managers in office at earlier times.

This contrasts drastically with the untroubled days when over 600 persons joyfully converged upon this great Institution (originally held in August, but now held in the month of June), anticipating an hearty welcome, and a useful, concentrated, stimulating time of study and meditation upon God’s word – and to the certainty of forming many new friendships with brothers and sisters and friends from many places.

The restricted approach of the latest management is disappointing to many. Although distinctly übercritical, or harsh, one opinion from a former attendant stated it this way: “It looks like amateur hour in the Ozarks.”

Such extremes don’t work – or don’t work very long.

In a vacuum, one might agree with their actions; but we are not living in a void of temperance, without regard for others, or a lack of the spirit of freely-offered, joyous instruction in the ways of God.

In our opinion, the present managers of the ABS are stifling the wonderful potential of the Institution at the hour of greatest need – the criticality and urgency of which we have never seen, for the Advent grows nigh – our Lord is coming soon!

We believe that the present managers of ABS are (perhaps unwittingly) betraying the most basic intent of the originators of their unique, pioneering concept of teaching Bible Truth, not only to the untutored masses but also to “babes in Christ.” ICorinthians 3:1.

In our thinking, this climate of restricted access to the School will bring about the pivot point of a sharp downtrend – a descent into impairment for the respected Institution – unless restraint, and indeed reversal, is applied.

It has already done so.

Now, having given these objective, and hopefully constructive criticisms, we believe it expedient to recognize at least one of the causes of this new trend among these specific managers.

This writer well understands the past spiritual trauma of some of the present managers’ having had to deal at close range with previously experienced, serious deviations from the fundamentals of Truth as we understand it.

Frankly speaking, we recognize their having been required to stand firmly against some who would water down the standards of God’s word, and accept and teach doctrines which are in our conviction, a dangerous departure from the Gospel of salvation.

These are adulterations of the Truth – such as the “clean flesh” convictions held by some folk of other divisions of our body. This belief elevates Jesus to the nature of a Being other than Adamic, and has clearly concluded that Jesus “came not in the flesh” of mankind (1 John 4: 2,3, q.v.), which automatically classifies the upholders of such belief as being “anti-Christ.”

That overriding, traumatic insistence of tolerance (or even agreement) by some of their brethren in the Western U.S. led to the relocation of an entire Ecclesia to other areas of the country decades ago.

This is an extremely serious matter, dear brethren. It is a concept which every Believer must resist to the death, because it changes the Truth of God into a lie: Romans 1: 25.

This writer consistently pushes against it as do all the other well-founded Believers of God’s Truth.

Indeed, the Arkansas Bible School has always firmly resisted this belief, and others attendant to it. Its policy of fellowship has always been based upon the “Birmingham Unamended Statement of Faith,” its founding document.

Adherence to that set of beliefs has always been plainly stated prior to each Service of Memory held each Sunday morning of every meeting.

But to this writer’s knowledge, it has always been left to the conscience of everyone who was attendant at each Memorial Service to abide by that standard. We know of numerous brethren (?) who have attended and respectfully abstained from partaking of the emblems of Christ’s sacrifice because their fundamental beliefs were different from ours.

To that subject, the Bible School has sometimes been the vehicle of conversion of a few of these to the fuller Truth of God, causing them to abjure their former beliefs – a desirable outcome certainly.

However, things may appear to them much different in the present climate of militant brethren, some of whom wish to obtrude themselves upon this Service regardless of our beliefs about the nature and sacrifice of Christ – a troublesome matter indeed.

But there is a way of handling such confrontations outside of making the policy of the Bible School globally so tightly exclusive as to cause some not to attend – or to feel that they had best not do so.

Our counsel is that brethren who are relatively unknown (or “suspect,” for lack of a better term) be gently approached by the Managers or a committee of concerned brethren appointed by them, and speak with them personally about their position, determining what their individual beliefs are beforehand, and requesting that they not participate if their beliefs are not those maintained by the School. At the same time, their attendance should be vigorously welcomed.

Such a careful and caring approach, utilizing counseling, can do wonders to calm fears and assure a continuing, loving relationship – and a proper one as regards fellowship.

This approach is more in line with the instructions for similar infractions recorded in Matthew 18: 14 et seq – Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. 15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

 We are deeply concerned about “offences” inadvertently given by untoward and precipitous actions, which includes excluding even brethren in good standing who may not agree with the management on every jot and tittle of every matter, whether fundamentally-essential doctrine or not so.

For example, as already stated, the present management uniformly adheres to older views of Bible prophecy, which in our personal view have been shown to have been in error, and to have been fulfilled in ways other than earlier expected, and will not countenance any other views – understanding that is not in any wise fundamental to basic prophetic fulfillment as we generally understand it.  

That is – their outmoded (in our opinion) view of prophetic paths to the kingdom do not do damage to their fundamental, heartfelt understanding of Bible Truth.

Such views are merely a different understanding of the pathway to the kingdom as they see it. But their views do not negate these basics:

The Lord Jesus will come again.

He will gather His saints together for judgment, both living and dead.

He will come to restore Israel to good favor with the Father.

He will set up the throne of David in Zion again, and occupy it.

He will rule over Israel with the immortalized Saints at His side.

 He will send them forth into all the earth to teach the multitudes His Truth.

The kingdom will last for 1,000 years, at the end of which He shall turn it over to the Father.

The present writer sincerely believes all these tenets, and has held to them firmly from his youth; he continues to promote these views with all his might to any who wish to hear.

Yet one of the principle members of the Ozark group who lives on the East Coast, years ago informed the writer that he had “disfellowshipped” this writer long ago.

We have inquired of him as to what issue is bothering him.

He has never made that known, and will not do so.

He “doesn’t want to discuss it.”

Is that a godly response to the principles of Matthew 18?

Every one of us believers is a “babe” in Christ compared to what he or she shall become. All of us are constantly growing in Christ. All of us have representation (advocacy) with our Father – perhaps more so than is generally realized.

The LORD himself issued this caution as part of the same discussion previously quoted: Matthew 18: 10 - Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.

Some may say this editorial is an harsh assessment; but how else may one view the present predicament of the beloved School? It has quite evidently passed under the direction of brethren who either

(1) don’t really remember or regard its legacy of loving, intense, profuse instruction of multitudes of eager students of God’s word, or

(2) are inexperienced and a bit inept at their mandate, which may destroy and restrict its potential rather than building and cultivating it.

Both realities are unwise, and unacceptable in our opinion.

Some will loudly cry that our rebuttal is unwarranted – indeed is intrusive where intrusion is not wanted.

That opinion might be exaggerated, but could be true, except for one fact: every publicly stated policy of any such elected governing body is open to others’ opinions and evaluation – hopefully as applied for the good of all.

This editorial is offered in that spirit of conciliation.

Our concern is for reason and moderation in this particular initiative as well as in all our lives of service to our Father.

This writer is a native Arkansan; he has been involved with, has attended, and has served at times as an officer (Secretary) of the ABS during many years since that un-remembered first year of attendance (at age 14 months) in 1929.

We believe that the restrictive mandate of the present management of the Arkansas Bible School will not result in substantial or continuing spirituality, or any significant return to the principles envisioned by the early Founders of the School as headed by Bre. Jim Scroggins, O. L. Dunaway, J. D Martin, and others.

Their vision was to establish a freely offered, appropriately supervised, meaningful, balanced, and comprehensive program of instruction in the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ as taught by Philip, and recorded in Acts 8: 12.

Their intention was the glorification of the Name of the Almighty, in heartily welcoming every man, woman and child – every family – whose annual trek to this Fountain of Life in the Ozarks, is threatened, or now even unwanted.

 To summarize: our expressed views here are not meant to embarrass or infuriate (an unwarranted response, by the way) any of those who are the present governors of the Arkansas Bible School – brethren known to us for most of their lives and respected by us even in the light of the constructive criticism which is expressed in this editorial.

We wish only the best outcome for those whose methods are here discussed.

This objective is surely in accord with that of the Revelator, Who in Revelation 3:19, declared: As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

This loving, objective, and mature attitude is identical to that counseled by the Apostle Paul when writing to young Timothy, in 2Timothy 4:1 – I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

Our overriding concern is for the survival and continuing utilization of the venerable Bible School as an instrument for the broad, substantive instruction of all who come to that place expecting a generous welcome and a balanced, comprehensive program of training in God’s Word, and for its continued, intensive glorification of our Father’s holy Name.

How can anyone argue against such a benevolent, Spirit-based proposition?

<HEL 11N> ~3900 words. An eTPL Editorial.  December, 2014.

November: Concerning Egypt, Gog, and the King of the North

The following article is an excellent commentary upon several issues of which the Brethren of Christ should be cognizant today. This basic exegesis of prophecy was written by A. Winter-Moore in 1955, and shows understanding of Bible prophecy which will go far toward clarifying the confusing picture we now see unfolding in the Middle East.

It well illustrates that we of today have little excuse for misunderstanding some of the basic prophetic interpretation which we are given, but which have been grossly misunderstood for over a century merely because the historic events had not advanced far enough for qualified interpreters to perceive the entire picture.

We commend it for your detailed consideration, and for Bible marking at the appropriate places.  [Bold fonts and italics are my emphasis,  Ed.]

EGYPT

A. Winter Moore

Of all the many nations mentioned in the Bible, the kingdom of Egypt was the oldest and continued the longest, for it was a well-established kingdom when Abraham visited that country and it existed when Joseph and Mary fled before the persecution of Herod and took the Babe Christ Jesus there.

Egypt has had by far the longest history of any country in the Western Hemisphere, for it has continued throughout the ages, more or less unchanged, excepting that it has become a base kingdom, down to the present day.

As a result of her usually dependable water supply, the Nile, Egypt was often called upon in ancient times to provide food for her less fortunate neighbours when their countries suffered from drought. That was the reason why Abraham, and later the brethren of Joseph, went to Egypt (Ezek. 29:6); also it was the main reason why Jacob and his sons finally settled there, which ultimately developed into the four hundred or so years sojourn of the children of Israel in Egypt. It is remarkable that the most famous river of antiquity, the Nile, is never referred to by name in the Scriptures, at least not in the Authorised Version.

The deliverance of the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt was one of the outstanding events of their history, therefore there is hardly a writer in the Bible who does not dwell on it.

We are apt to imagine that the children of Israel were dreadfully ill-treated by the Egyptians during their bondage, but that they were not is proved by the fact that they wished to return to Egypt when they found the wilderness journey too onerous. The treatment the Jews received at the hands of the Egyptians was never as harsh as that they received from the Assyrians or Babylonians, therefore God did not impose any special punishment on Egypt; indeed the Egyptians were given preferential treatment, for they were admitted to the congregation of the Lord in the third generation (cf., Deuteronomy 23: 7,8) which is something not recorded of any other Gentile nation; it will be remembered that the Ammonites and Moabites were excluded from the congregation of the Lord for all time.

The punishment that was to come upon Egypt, as predicted by the prophets, was not therefore due to any sin of commission against Israel—though Ezekiel refers to a sin of omission in that they failed Israel in time of need—but was rather for their general pride and aloofness; furthermore the minor prophets, who are usually so graphic in their denunciation of the enemies of Israel, are silent concerning Egypt.

All these items point to the fact that Egypt was not particularly opposed to the Jews and therefore did not merit any drastic punishment at the hands of God.

After the children of Israel fled from Egypt and had established themselves in the Promised Land, there was naturally a long period during which there was no intercourse between the two countries. That period covered the time of the Judges and the two first kings of Israel, but with the advent of Solomon the connection with Egypt was renewed, for that monarch was wedded to an Egyptian princess, and there are several statements in the Scriptures which prove that a close commercial bond existed between the two countries.

By the time of King Hezekiah the Jews had come to rely on Egypt for help against their northern enemies, the Assyrians1 and Babylonians, much to the concern of God through Isaiah, who was loud in his condemnation of that association. When the Babylonians finally overran Judah in the days of Jeremiah, many Jews sought refuge in Egypt and Jeremiah himself was carried there, though much against his will.

All the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel concerning Egypt referred to the attack of Nebuchadnezzar on that country and therefore had their fulfilment almost immediately, but Daniel, who was a contemporary of theirs, took a longer view of the destinies of nations in his Divinely inspired prophecies and he alone of the three, deals with Egypt's later history.

That phase of Egyptian history is dealt with in Daniel, chapter 11, which has provided much material for discussion by Bible students. Most are agreed regarding its interpretation up to about verse 30, but from that verse to the end of the chapter there has been much variance of opinion.

The correct interpretation of those latter verses has been rendered difficult by our confusing Daniel's " King of the North " with Ezekiel's " Gog: " that these two were not one and the same was proved in a pamphlet entitled "King of the North," written by H. Fry and published in 1919, where it was shown that " the King of the North " was the Ottoman Turkish power and that the prophecies concerning him have therefore already been fulfilled.

We do not propose to repeat the arguments in that pamphlet, though it might be noted that, since it was published, events have amply proved the correctness of Mr. Fry's interpretations; also modern translations of the Scriptures, such as the Standard Revised Edition (1952), have clarified some of the passages, the meaning of which was obscure and have thereby supported the view that " the King of the North " and " Gog " are not one.

For example, how clearly Imperial Rome can now be identified as the King referred to in Daniel 11:36-39 by the translation given in the above-mentioned version, verses 37-39 of which read: '' He shall give no heed to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women; he shall not give heed to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all. He shall honour the god of fortresses instead of these; a god whom his fathers did not know he shall honour with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a foreign god; those who acknowledge him he shall magnify with honour. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price."

Some of the items in that prophecy could not possibly apply to the Roman Catholic Church and there is not one that could not be applied to the Imperial Roman power. It is well known that the Romans disregarded the gods of their fathers and adopted those of the Greeks, and that Jupiter, the " Zeus " of the Greeks, and therefore "a god that his father did not know" was specially honoured with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts; and that the Roman Emperors "magnified themselves above all '' by declaring that they themselves were gods. Apparently that obsession was aped by the lesser rulers for we read of the toadies of Herod shouting in acclamation, " It is the voice of a god and not of a man." (Acts 12:22. 3)

Cupid, the god of love, and therefore " the god beloved by women " did not find much place amongst the gods of Rome, but Mithras, " a foreign god," for his cult was imported from Persia, became one of their principal deities and was specially popular with the Roman army. Rudyard Kipling well expresses this in his poem A Song to Mithras which he describes as " The Hymn of the Thirtieth Legion " [i.e., the Roman army of occupation in Britain] the first verse of which reads: —

"Mithras, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall!

Rome is above the Nations, but Thou art over all!'

Now' as the names are answered, and the guards are marched away,

Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day!"

Mithras came into the news recently when a temple dedicated to him was discovered in the heart of London. No doubt Daniel, an exile in Persia, was thoroughly familiar with the cult, for, as a god who gave victories, the Persian counterpart of Mithras would be very prominent in his day.

The Romans did indeed "deal with the strongest fortress by means of a foreign god " and this item of prophecy alone clearly indicates Imperial Rome as the King (neither of the North nor the South for he occupied all Palestine and adjacent countries) mentioned in Daniel 11:36.

Mr. Fry's interpretation clears up some of the points wherein students in the past have not seen eye to eye with the interpretation of Dr. Thomas, which resulted in footnotes being added to Elpis Israel. Every piece of the intricate jig-saw contained in chapter 11 of Daniel now falls into place and makes a complete picture of the various powers that have occupied the Land of Palestine down to our own time, and accords perfectly with the picture of the Near East which we now see before us.

To support his view that that monarch represented the Roman Catholic Church only and did not include Imperial Rome, Dr. Thomas gave the following translations of Daniel 11:39: "Thus shall he do in Bazaars of Guardians with an Accursed Dissembler;" also he made much of the so-called 'Mahuzzim Bazaars' in that connection, but one feels that the resultant interpretation was very strained indeed whereas, if we accept the translation of this passage as given in the Revised Standard Edition of the Scriptures, "He shall deal with the strongest fortress by means of a foreign god" the interpretation is perfectly clear and simple.

If we agree that Daniel's " King of the North " and Ezekiel's " Gog " are not the same, there remains no Biblical support for the idea that Britain will again take charge of Egypt and, since there is no political reason why she should do so, we must regard her work in Egypt as finished, just as the mandatory period probably covered most of Britain's service for the Jews in Palestine.

Dr. Thomas held that the sole reason for Britain occupying Egypt was to facilitate the restoration of the Jews to Palestine; therefore now that that object has been achieved by the establishment of the State of Israel, no useful purpose would be served by Britain remaining in Egypt.

There is little doubt that Britain's occupation of Egypt in 1882 facilitated her conquest of Palestine in 1917 and thereby helped the Jews to return there, though the apparent and official reason for the occupation was Britain's interest in the Suez Canal of which in 1882 she was the principal user; but since those days circumstances have fundamentally changed and she is no longer its principal user, for the loss of India considerably reduced the number of British ships using the Canal—and even before that, the opening of the Panama Canal diverted much of the Australasian traffic to that route.

But undoubtedly the main reason why Britain does not take the same interest in the Suez Canal that she took previously is one that has arisen quite recently and quite suddenly, namely, the introduction of nuclear bombs, which means that the Canal can now easily be rendered useless in war-time; for it was purely with a view to keeping it open in time of trouble that Britain stationed her troops there.

It may come as a surprise to learn that statistics show that whereas in 1879 Britain owned more than three-quarters of the tonnage that passed through the Suez Canal, she now owns somewhat less than one-third; so why should Britain continue to protect a thoroughfare which is mainly used by others? For she well knows that they will ensure that it remains open in peace-time and that in time of war it could be closed indefinitely by modern bombs and could therefore not be used by anyone.

Some tell us that Britain intends to base her Near East defences in Edom, Moab and Ammon, now [that] she has decided to leave the Canal Zone; and tradition dies so hard that this idea persists, despite the fact that it has been officially and emphatically denied. Britain actually has only about 1,000 troops there [c. 1955 - since evacuated; Ed.] , mostly at Akaba and they are an aftermath of the fighting between the Jews and the Arabs, for they were rushed to Akaba by Britain early in 1949 to help the Arabs by counteracting the Jewish occupation of nearby Elath, when the Jews were chasing the defeated Egyptian army south; and they have camped out there ever since.

A British sentry in the camp at Akaba still occupies an elevated lookout from which he sees, across the intervening barbed-wire barrier, a Jewish sentry so situated in Elath, half a mile away. There is absolutely no intercourse between the two camps.

There is nothing in the Bible to indicate that Britain will ever occupy Edom, Moab and Ammon as we pointed out in a previous article (The Testimony, Jan. 1955, p. 21). One has only to study the map to realise how totally unsuited those territories would be as a military base, for it would only be approachable by sea up the narrow Gulf of Akaba, one shore of which is now owned by Egypt and the other by Saudi Arabia: unless Britain owned both shores her position in Edom, Moab, and Ammon would be strategically untenable, for if the shores of the gulf were held by an enemy, no ship could pass unmolested. It is so narrow that at no point is one out of clear sight of both shores, and at its entrance the passage is only a few hundred yards wide. When the present writer passed, some five years ago, on the way to Akaba, the Egyptians had placed a battery there, the guns of which were ready, at point-blank range, to blow our ship out of the water in case it proved to be Jewish.

" The King of the North " and " Gog " not being identical has a marked effect on the interpretation of Ezekiel, chapter 38.

It is obvious that if verse 13 constitutes a challenge from Britain to Russia, the battle that follows would be one of the most momentous in history. Why, then, is Ezekiel silent concerning it? For nowhere does he even hint that it takes place).

In the past it has been assumed that the story was taken up in Daniel and that the attack of " the King of the North " upon " the King of the South " was the battle in question, but that cannot be so if " Gog " is not " the King of the North."

And now that it has been shown that it was due to a mistranslation that the idea arose that Isaiah 16:4 referred to fugitives fleeing from that battle—that this passage should read " Let Moab's outcasts dwell with thee " — we are left " high and dry " concerning the whole matter, and there is nothing whatsoever in the Bible to prove that any battle between Britain and Gog will ever take place; for even if we interpret Ezek. 38:13 as constituting a challenge by Britain, it does not of necessity mean that an engagement follows.

Gog will certainly meet his end as a result of Divine intervention, as the Bible tells us, but what proof have we that Britain, or any nation other than Israel will be involved in any battle with him? Are we to assume that Britain merely warns Russia and that the matter ends there? That Britain never actually fights Russia? If she does, why is the battle not mentioned in the Bible?

Whether we agree that " Gog " is not " the King of the North " or whether we disagree, it must be admitted that the omission of Ezekiel to mention this battle is most extraordinary. Even the identity of the power issuing the alleged challenge is not so certain when we find that according to the Standard Revised Version of the Bible, " young lions " should have been translated " villages" thus making it agree with the oldest translation of the Bible—the one probably used by Christ and the Apostles—the Septuagint Version.

There has been no single passage of Scripture upon which so much has been construed as has been built on the " young lions " of Ezek. 38:13. Is that gigantic structure entirely without Biblical foundation or substance? Is it merely a myth? If so, it is a classic example of the danger of basing a theory upon one passage of Scripture only. Is it by a constant repetition of such phrases as " the young lions of Britain " or " The Lion Power of Britain " that we have come to believe that these terms have a Scriptural basis?

Some hold that the Jews will finally return to Palestine via Egypt, for Dr. Thomas said in Elpis Israel: " The period of Israel's probation drawing to close, they will have advanced as far as Egypt on their return to Canaan, as it is written, ' They shall return to Egypt.' This is necessary, for it is written also, in more senses than one, ' Out of Egypt have I called My son.' As they are to be gathered from the west, north and east they will have gone through the countries by a circuitous route to Egypt . . . But that they are to be assembled there is certain: for it is written, ' I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt." (Elpis Israel, 13th Ed., p. 452)

But if we take the whole of this passage, is not the prophet's meaning perfectly clear? For it reads: " I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria; and will bring them to the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them." (Zechariah 10:10)

Are not the two countries mentioned (Egypt and Assyria), merely "typical of the " many countries referred to in the previous verse, from which the Jews are to return to Palestine? If we base an argument on this passage regarding the direction of their return, is there not as much reason to believe that they will return via Assyria as via Egypt? If we read the whole of each passage in which the words " They shall return to Egypt " occur, it is difficult from them to justify the view that the Jews will be assembled there on their way back to Palestine. Was not the phrase " return to Egypt " a figurative description of the punishment God inflicted on Israel for their neglect of Him?

These words occur three times, all in Hosea. Chapter 8:13 reads " They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of Mine offerings, and eat it; but the Lord accepteth them not; now will He remember their iniquity, and visit their sins; they shall return to Egypt." Chapter 9:3 reads "They shall not dwell in the Lord's land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria."

The third time the phrase occurs is obviously a mistranslation in the Authorised Version for, speaking again of Ephraim, the  prophet says, " He shall not return to Egypt."

The Revised Standard Version corrects this and reads: " They shall return to the land of Egypt and Assyria shall be their King because they have refused to return to Me." Again in these passages Assyria is as much involved as is Egypt. Well might Dr. Thomas say, " I have yet to discover in the Word the line of march they are to follow in arriving at Egypt." (Elpis Israel 13th Ed., p. 452)

Of all the prophets of Israel, Isaiah was most bitterly opposed to Egypt, and yet he gives us most information regarding their destiny. Egypt is to continue to the end, and after much tribulation, is finally to be reconciled to God. The word-picture that Isaiah paints of that consummation in the latter part of his chapter 19, augments the testimony of the Psalmist: "Because of Thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee . . .. Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. Psalm 68:29-31.

It is also Isaiah alone who hints at a great geographical upheaval, which will perhaps link up with the cleaving of the Mount of Olives referred to by Zechariah, when " the tongue of the Egyptian Sea " [i.e., the Gulfs of Akaba and Suez] shall become dry land (Isaiah 11: 15) for " in that day shall there be a high-way out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, ' Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance.' Isaiah 19: 25.

<Excerpted from The Testimony, 1955, p. 237>   ~3700 words.

October: Musing Upon The Time of the End

A Short Exhortation

The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles is at hand. In nine days – on 14 Tishri – the second of a Tetrad of Blood Moons will occur on the night beginning Sukkot (the seven-day-long Jewish Feast of Tabernacles).

The Gentile calendar lists the date as Wednesday, October 8, 2014. It begins at sunset in Jerusalem.

Sukkot is the plural of Sukkah – the singular name of the booth which the Jewish people were commanded to construct, in which to dwell during this seven day Feast, or Moed – the Hebrew word translated “season.”

Its meaning therefore does not refer to what we call the Four Seasons of each year, but to the appointed FESTIVALS of the Israeli people.

A modern might think it an absurd practice.

But he should note its significance: perpetual remembrance.

When the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt in the Exodus, of necessity they were required to dwell in booths, or temporary shelters, for they were essentially homeless for forty years during that journey.

Their entire trust, more than ever before, was to be in the LORD, for ALL their sustenance. The booths signified a temporary sojourn in that wilderness which was the Sinai Desert – and near the end, the Arabian Desert (today’s South Jordan) of the time – as they approached their Promised Land of Canaan.

Sukkot – the Festival – reminds them poignantly of that time of brittle insecurity in the wilderness, the time of the necessity of their utter trust in the protection and sustenance of the LORD.

Additionally, in considering the present (Jewish) Tetrad of Blood Moons, we designate the two occurring this year on Passover – it happened on April 15th  – and on Tabernacles (October 8) approaching. The third and fourth Blood Moons of this final Tetrad will take place on Passover and Tabernacles of next year – 2015.

This notable display of precision tells yet again of the Foreknowledge and Purpose of the Almighty – that He should devise such a statistically rare display to confirm His word to His people; for the world at large will see little significance to four Blood Moons within a two year span, except perhaps to note that the occurrence of such is rare. They will have no sensibility of the terribly awesome importance of this remarkable display, because they are observing the calendar of man’s device – not God’s.

In this particular year of the two years of the Blood Moon Tetrad, that principle of their sojourning – of temporary or uncertain occupancy – still applies to the Jewish people in reality, though they have been restored to their Promised Land in part.

But as yet they have not reached their promised state of Security and their Certainty of Inheritance in full as expressed in Ezekiel 38: 8, q.v.

That is, they have no King, and therefore no visible assurance of their safety, tenure, or peace in their land. Indeed, they are challenged daily, even hourly, as to their security; they must prove over and over to their neighbors that they have a godly right to be in that place, and to occupy it by divine diktat.

In a sense, the entire nation, although no longer in the wilderness, is yet dwelling in “a booth” – a temporary shelter – until their surety can be confirmed. That shelter seems always to be at hazard of being taken away, although their Father has promised that it shall not be.

Such was the case during the reign of David, Israel’s most successful king, when he declared near the end of his reign, 1Chronicles 29:15 - For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

David’s confession is intelligent recognition that the blessings which the Almighty had promised David in 2 Samuel 7 had not eventuated – and should not do so for many ages into the future.

The same conditions prevail in Israel today: they likewise are strangers and sojourners before God … for they have not yet received the Promises.

As such, theirs is entirely parallel to the “sojourn” of the saints of God in the present day, for those ancients are vividly compared to the recipients of the letter to the Hebrews … Hebrews 11:13 – These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off (by FAITH), and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

That blessed time (of completely SAFE occupancy – safe by all appearances to them – and sure inheritance of the Promises to Abraham) will come to Israel and to the saints called out of the Gentiles, only when their King appears to re-establish the Throne of David in Jerusalem, and authoritatively to proclaim His kingdom on the earth.

But they are assured of longevity (and of certain possession) in the Land even prior to that time, by such definitive words as found in Amos 9:15, which inform that they (the returnees of Israel) shall no more be pulled up (routed) from their land which I have given them.

How may we be assured that this is the day of that particular fulfillment?

Because the word of the LORD through Amos, only a few sentences prior to this one, proclaims: Amos 9:11 – In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old …

No person acquainted with the word of God can rationally claim that the steps necessary (the preliminary activity) has not been accomplished. The miraculous, singularly unique return to the Land by His people necessarily precedes the “raising up” of that tabernacle (house) of David that fell long ago – a process which we unmistakable witness today in the Land.

It is interesting that the entire writings of Amos are occupied with the faithlessness of ancient Israel, until the last words of his prophecy, where the entire Redemptive Process is brought to its sure closure.

The concluding inspired words of Amos and others tell of the certain future destiny and redemption of His people in their Land: And I will bring again the captivity (the dispersed) of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. Amos 9:14.

Has this state of affairs happened? If one believes it has NOT been fulfilled, he should pay even a brief visit to Israel today, where he will see nothing but abundant and prosperous orchards, fruit-laden vineyards and lush fields, in which are grown some of the premium produce of the entire world.

Jaffa (Joppa) Oranges are adjudged to be the most perfect oranges of all the earth. Israeli wines seriously challenge those of France and California as being of the finest quality. Israeli agriculture is deemed to be the most advanced on earth, taking advantage of Israeli initiatives in water conservation, land development, and husbandry.

 The Time of the End

By such fulfillment we are assured that we are today in “the time of the end.”

But, the end of what? The “end of the world?”

No, in no wise!

The phrase, time of the end, is found only five times in the scriptures. Here is the entire list: all of them are in the prophecy of Daniel.

1.     Daniel 8:17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision.

That is, the time in which the vision shall be understood will also be “the time of the end.” The vision that here was shrouded in mystery was the vision of the evenings and the mornings (Daniel 8:26), which we often refer to by either of its other two names as stated in Daniel 8:14: And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

These “days” are therefore also called, “the 2300 days,” or “the Cleansing of the Sanctuary.”

As we have definitively proven in prior studies, this time period with three designations was perfectly fulfilled on June 7, 1967, when the nation of Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem with its Temple Mount – the place of God’s past and future Sanctuaries – liberating it from the Arab nation of Jordan, which had held it for 19 years, since the termination of Israel’s War of Independence (1948-1949).

It had not been held securely by Israel as a sovereign nation for exactly 2,300 years!

Now, we readily admit that the “cleansing” was a preliminary but necessary step to its FULL sanctification. But we believe that the passing of Temple Mount into the possession and sovereignty of God’s people was sufficient to interpret the vision – especially as it fulfilled on the EXACT DAY of its scheduled termination!

2.    Dan 11:35  And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.

“Time appointed” here is the Hebrew word, Moed – a time appointed, a festival, a signal, a solemnity. In Genesis 1: 14 it is translated “seasons.” The Festival of Tabernacles is such.

We must inquire whether the coming Blood Moons concurrent with these festival days shall be uniquely significant. We cannot be absolutely certain, but surely have confidence based upon the previous three Tetrads, that the events which occur shall relate to the terminal features of the “time of the end” as we observe it!

That measure of faith is dependent upon each saint’s ability to utilize his God-given intelligence to observe and accept the valid fulfillment of the prophecies as recorded. The words of Daniel 11:39 illustrate that the times indicated to the prophet had not yet reached the “time of the end,” but were involved with the machinations of the False Prophet and the time of his despotic reign over the “world” of that time – that is, the Papal ascendancy of that day, which partially terminated in 1870 with the removal of the pope from his position as regent of the Vatican (since restored, to a smaller extent).

3.    Dan 11:40  And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

At this juncture, time had progressed more closely toward its “end.”

If our understanding that the overthrow of the Ottoman Empire (the last King of the North) is correctly interpreted here, then this prophecy tells us literally that the “time of the end” had been reached at the year 1917 – the year when the “end” of the Islamic dominance of the Land of Israel was reached, and the way opened for the unfettered return of His people preparatory to the establishment of the Kingdom Age.

Indeed, we believe the time of the end to have been reached somewhat earlier than that date. We mortals tend to think of such terms as immediate, and as short in duration; and such they are – not to US, but to our Father, with Whom a thousand years is as but a short time – a reality understood intimately by the psalmist: Psalm 90:4  For a thousand years in thy (the Almighty’s) sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

How may we know that the “time of the end” had been reached? Because at that time, the prophetic picture had essentially become clear to the Watchers. The event portrayed had become intelligible, transparent, and assured, quite a while prior to this time, but certainly were evident AT that anniversary in 1917.

Some years after that date, a succinct pamphlet which had been written by H. Fry in 1919, was referred to in The Testimony (of 1931) (a British journal) concluding that the last King of the North had been the Ottomans, because the Land was now freed from either a King of the North OR a King of the South. Their expectancy of His grace was confirmed in their intelligent observations of the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Almighty through His servants.

 Thereby we realize the “key” to understanding had become available and had been utilized.

4.    Dan 12:4  But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

This precise revelation to Daniel clearly tells his readers that they would be in darkness as to the meaning of these prophecies until a certain time in the future – the “time of the end.”

It additionally describes conditions on the earth that have never consisted prior to this time. The time of the running to and fro of “many” and the exponential increase of all knowledge has now become apparent as essentially having occurred during the past two hundred years, thus designating the beginning of the period known as “the time of the end.”

Although that understanding fits well, there is more …

We discovered a comment some time ago which added to our appreciation of the phrase “to and fro,” from the Hebrew, Shut.

 The Heb. Shut = to rove, turn about, despise. Hence to ”do despite” (Ezekiel16:57; 28:24,26). But if we spell SUT with Shin (=S) instead of with Shen (=Sh), the meaning is to swerve, turn aside, to apostatize, "those who turn aside," or revolters (Psalm 101:3, Hosea5:2); as in Psalm 40:4 (S), "such as turn aside to lies..." Swede's ed., LXX, Vol.III, P. 572, reads HEOS AN APOMANOSIN = "till many shall have gone raving mad." (Bullinger, Companion Bible, f.n. on this verse.)

If any phrase more perfectly describes conditions we have seen since the beginning of World War I (1917) we don’t know what it may be.

The other matter is the phrase “knowledge shall be increased."

    "Knowledge": here, with an article. Ginsburg reads, HA-RAªOTH (calamities, or wickedness) for HADDA’ATH. The Septuagint reads, AKIKIAS, "wickedness" (Swete's ed., Vol.III, p. 572). The Vatican (Theodotion's translation) reads "knowledge" (GNOSIS): Ginsberg's hypothesis for this reading arises from the two letters, Resh  (=R) for Daled (=D), being not infrequently mistaken (or mixed up).  Companion Bible, f.n.

 This definition is again apropos to our time, describing it perfectly as “wickedness,” a word which certainly applies. Can anyone doubt that we are now in the “time of the end?”

5.    Dan 12:9  And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

The process of the “end” of the present dispensation is the occurrence that is designated in this phrase. That process of coming to its end, if validly understood, in our finite estimation takes a long time; but in reality it is but the blink of an eye in historical time. At that time, it brings the unsealing of the prophecies to the Watchers in a flood of understanding of the implications for the end-time.

The saints of God, as implied, are now reading an “open” book of prophecy, relatively speaking. We no longer have any excuse for ignorance of the bundled message of the prophets of Israel as to coming events.

 Conclusion

The current display of the Jewish Tetrad of Blood Moons excites our expectancy as to whether we are experiencing the full term of this “time of the end” in which we are privileged to dwell!

It does so particularly when considered alongside the grossly wicked constitution of the world in general – the wars and rumors of wars; the fanaticism of “religion” among the heathen races and peoples; the vulgar state of the general population of many countries; the financial uncertainties faced by the whole world; the increase in severe earthquakes; the increased activity of volcanoes; the social and governmental upheavals in process in more countries today than ever in past history; the fear and unpleasantness of men and women looking at the entire milieu, their hearts literally failing them for fear of those things coming upon the races of men, as foretold by the Master Himself in Luke 21:26, q.v.

His words immediately following were: Luke 21:27 – And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

It is the event of the ages!

By definition, this is the “time” of the end of Adamic civilization as we have known it – a time uncivilized at best and revolting at worst – in which mankind has learned or understood practically nothing of spiritual value or profit.

But it is not, as some preach, “the end of the world,” but is instead the end of the times of restoration described by Peter, who speaking of Jesus Christ, in Acts 3:21, said that it is He … Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

We behold therein the extreme value of studying and understanding the prophecies of the Almighty displayed in the pages of the scriptures – and the blessing inherent in those who search out the promises made in them, and rightly interpret them as the final throes of His execution of His Plan for the ages.

Some might object that, No! Our understanding of fundamental doctrines is more important. But we submit that if one understands one, he understands the other – they are direct complements of each other, both leading to deep and abiding FAITH.

So, such is not “the end of the world” except in the sense that the flood waters ended the “world” of Noah – wiping civilization from the face of the earth, denying the men-pleasers any further ascendancy or authority – replacing the society with a righteous family – an household of faith – which had been saved from perishing by water.

We read the inspired testimony of the apostle: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.  2Peter 3:6.  

 The Apostle Peter, again, points to the vast importance of the element of di-hydrogen oxide (H2O) in that process, writing of BAPTISM by complete immersion in water as … The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 1Peter 3:21.    <HELafferty, MD/USA: 9N> ~3,200 words.

September:   Psalm 83: A Verse By Verse Consideration

Harold E. Lafferty

Psalm 83 is receiving a great deal of attention currently, largely because of the turmoil in all the nations surrounding Israel, but most importantly in Syria and Iraq, both now being slowly devoured by Islamic State; by the activities of Hezbollah in South Lebanon; by the activities of Hamas in the Gaza Strip; the animosity and hatred of the larger fraction of Jordan’s population (who are “Palestinians”); and the activities of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in central Israel’s Judea and Samaria.

A verse by verse commentary will be useful to illustrate the psalm’s close connection to all these regions and states of the present day.

This consideration is extremely relevant to today’s history because the Jewish people – of all the peoples of the earth – are God’s witness as to the certainty and veracity of His Plan in the earth. All history is judged and evaluated against the backdrop of the exigencies of His People. The Prophet Isaiah was inspired to reveal the intention of YHVH, the God of Israel, in these three key passages:

 Isaiah 43:10  Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

Isa_43:12  I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.

Isa_44:8  Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.  

Asaph was a priest of Israel; as such, he composed songs or psalms.

This 83rd Psalm is the last of a series written by Asaph beginning in Psalm 73.

Its message is remarkably relevant to today, being surely meant to forecast the events which are about to be fulfilled.

Not only do all the nations round about Israel despise the Jewish State, they regularly issue fearsome threats upon the Jewish people and their state as well as physical assaults upon the Jewish people. Since Israel’s reestablishment, the nations and regions listed in this psalm have waged war against God’s People – to no avail, except to lose every contest, as well as much of their lands.

The conflicts now raging in the regions adjacent to Israel – and often even within Israel – appear to every decent man so heinous as to require the supernal judgments of the Almighty. But He has thus far only wrought judgment upon those vile enemies by the hand of Israel – divinely assisting His people to win each of its wars exceptionally swiftly (except the War of Israeli Independence of 1948, which ended in a truce some 14 months after it began).

These Islamic states and other political subdivisions clearly are Israel’s enemies; but they are God’s enemies first, as attested by the underlined portions of the first two verses:

Psa 83:1  A Song or Psalm of Asaph. Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. 2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

Asaph’s previous psalm had ended with the fervent prayer, Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.

It was a plea for the Father’s intervention on behalf of His People Israel, at a particular time in history which would come some 3,000 years into the future!

For nearly two millennia, there was no nation of Israel; its state was abolished, and its people were scattered to the four winds of the earth.

 Their re-congregation into their own land has triggered great animosity and aggression from their neighbors on every side. The people of God once again comprise an entity known as “Israel.”

Psa 83:3  They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

Who are the “hidden ones?” The Hebrew word so translated is Strong’s H6845, Tsaphan, meaning “to hoard, to preserve, to protect” among other similar definitions. This seems to be a sure indication of the Almighty’s FAVOR for Israel – His bias toward preserving them in this sea of chaos and persecution.

These words refer directly to the endless discussions and threats of the PLO, the Arab League, the Moslem Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and many other Islamic groups in the general area of the Levant. We have published The Hamas Covenant on past occasions;  it is the official founding document of this offshoot of the Moslem Brotherhood of Egypt – which calls for the destruction of Israel in nearly every one of its provisions.

The identical desires are recorded in the founding document of the PLO as well – and those of Hezbollah. It is the very serious continuation of the animosity between Esau and Jacob, which originated nearly 4,000 years ago. Cf., Genesis 25.

The next verse of the psalm records this modern phenomenon. These threats could not have had meaning prior to 1948, for that was the beginning date for the modern Jewish State. Their loathing is rendered more forceful in revealing that their base desire is to cut them (Israel) off from being a nation.

Psa 83:4  They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. 5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:

There has hardly been in all history a record of disunity as profound as that of the mingled peoples called Arabs. But one point of unity between practically ALL of the tribes and clans of Islam is their common hatred of Israel.

Now Asaph enumerated the precise populations about which he is speaking; not one of these is recognizable today, for they have all passed away in the dust of history.

However, the ancient locations of all these peoples are known quite accurately. By the logic of prophetic revelation, readers today must simply identify those ancient peoples, so a determination may be made as to their modern counterparts.

Whoever occupies those ancient tribal places today are the people indicated by the prophecies as they come to fruition in the end-time.

Psa 83:6  The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;

The list begins with the tabernacles (tents) of Edom. Edomites were the descendants of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob. Esau’s sale of his birthright to his brother effectively deprived Esau of his legal inheritance as first son (which he was, being the firstborn of twins).

Thus, Esau hated Jacob, and desired to kill him for his treachery. But the actions of Jacob were guided by YHVH through Jacob’s mother, and Jacob was affirmed to be the son of promise. That hatred has never subsided.

The location of the Edomites today within and near Israel is readily found in Obadiah’s prophecy, verses 19 and 20. Specific areas of their habitation are listed there as being readily overrun and taken by Israel in the end-time.

The phrase “tents of Edom” is also most appropriate because a great number of them literally inhabit tents in their exile. Their first dwelling places in the lands of their exile were hastily erected tent-encampments in Jordan, in Lebanon, in Syria and in other adjacent areas.

Next are listed the Ishmaelites – the offspring of Ishmael, son of Abraham with his concubine, Hagar, an Egyptian servant woman. Today they inhabit north Arabia, but also are linked to the Golan Heights.

An angel of the LORD had told Ishmael’s mother, in Genesis 16:11 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. 12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

Although somewhat less intense than the hatred of Jacob by Esau, the descendants of Ishmael are in league with Esau against the sons of Jacob even today.

The Moabites are mentioned next. Moab was one of the two sons of Lot, Ammon being the other. Today the descendants of Moab are the inhabitants of central Jordan. The area’s population is nearly 75% “Palestinian,” and they frequently have voiced their desire to wipe out Israel.

The Hagarenes are descendants of Hagar also. They were located in northern Arabia as well as in the Negev (the Bedouin of south Israel).

Psa 83:7  Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;

Gebal is located in central Lebanon, and is home to many of the party of Hezbollah – extreme enemies of Israel.

Ammon, the brother of Moab, was located in north Jordan – the area represented by these peoples today. The capital of Jordan preserves the name as “Amman.”

Amalek was a fierce tribe located in the northern Negev (the desert of the south of Israel), and is distinguished as the first military enemy of Israel during its Exodus trek. This people’s obituary is found in Exodus 17:14 - And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

The Philistines inhabited the Gaza Strip of their day. Today they are Hamas.

Inhabitants of Tyre lived at Tyre, in south Lebanon, now the home of the Hezbollah of that region.

Psa 83:8 - Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.

Assur is another name for Assyria of the prophet’s day. They were fierce, intractable enemies of Israel at the time of the first dispersion, treating hostages extremely violently and mercilessly. Their territory was roughly that of Iraq and Syria of today.

The “Children of Lot,” again, nominates Moab and Ammon, q.v., above.

All these groups of Arabs, now adherents of Islam, are beyond being due for punishment for their treatment of God’s people in every age. Just scan the prophet Obadiah’s only chapter for a detailed list of atrocities of Esau against Israel both in good times and in bad.

The psalmist prays for their destruction following certain patterns – all divinely inspired. He compares their punishments to several notable enemies of Israel in the past …

Other Prophets Forecast These Same Events

At this point, we must point out the close correlation of this prophecy of Psalm 83 with other parallel prophecies which tell of the demise of the same peoples.

These are in part, Obadiah; Isaiah 11; Ezekiel 35; Joel 3; Zechariah 10-14; Amos 9: 11-15; Isaiah 15 to 19; and many other scattered references. When studied carefully and diligently, all these will be seen to pertain to the same group of Israel’s malevolent foes, and tell the same destiny as does Psalm 83.

Their resistance and nettlesome qualities are to be terminated by the Christ of the Second Advent, and their territories confiscated for the glory of God and His Son – from the Nile River to the Euphrates River. And no Canaanite shall dwell in the house of the LORD, for the words of the prophet Zechariah testify that: Zechariah 14:21  Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be ‘holiness unto the LORD of hosts:’ and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.

Their destinies are set in stone as to finality, and their end-time destinies solidified, as now stated by Asaph ...

Psa 83:9  Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison:

Psa 83:10  Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.

This group of enemies typifies the greater portion of God’s enemies. The Midianites despised the people of Israel and their God, and oppressed them mercilessly. The prophet's assessment of their importance as being essentially nothing - as dung for the earth - has given rise to the most derogatory and vulgar assertion than one can make of an enemy.

Psa 83:11  Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:

 We recall the man Gideon, who selected 300 men and equipped them with earthen jars, torches and shophars; these surrounded the Midianite camp, burst their pitchers (jars) hiding the torches. These blazed forth brightly as each man blasted their notes on their shophars. The ensuing panic caused all the host of Midian to slay each other in the melee!

But some escaped, and retreated toward the Jordan. Gideon, Israel’s commander, captured two Midianite kings, Oreb and Zeeb, whom they slew. The remainder of the Midianites fled helter-skelter toward and beyond Jordan to safety. Judges 7 and 8 recount this history.

Two princes of Midian remained, and were pursued by Gideon and his troops beyond Jordan; these were Zebah and Zalmunna. Gideon captured these kings and brought them back to Samaria, questioned them, then slew them with his sword.

The people of Israel requested that Gideon be their ruler; but Gideon refused, telling them that God was their ruler. But he did spoil the Midianites, collecting 1700 shekels of gold which had been removed from their corpses, besides the valuables of Zebah and Zalmunna.

God’s victory over the Midianites was consummate, and a sure forecast of what is in store for those peoples today.

The reference to Sisera is recounted earlier in Judges chapter 4. Sisera served Jabin, king of Canaan in Hazor. Aided by the prophetess Deborah, Barak led the Israelites against the iron chariots of Sisera, whose forces discomfited the Canaanites, causing every one of them to fall upon his own sword (Judges 4:16).

This phenomenon seemed to have occured regularly to Israel’s enemies – falling upon their own swords – and is indicative of a spirit of terror from the LORD having fallen upon them for their aggression against His people!

Sisera fled to the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, who enticed him into her tent to rest and for refuge, then slew him in his sleep by piercing his temple with a tent peg. It was an ignominious death for a mighty general of an army! The slaying of Sisera and his army was the defeat of Jabin as well.

Asaph prophetically prays that the end-time enemies be treated likewise, for they too, have declared that they will take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. It is the most offensive, direct threat that can be leveled against an enemy.

Psa 83:12  Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. (See verse 4 above, for a forecast of that mantra!)

Asaph prophetically prays as to the means of punishment of the end-time host:

Psa 83:13  O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.

The Hebrew word for wheel is Galgal, meaning a whirling dust storm, or a rolling thing. Many readers have been in the desert and seen the wind blowing the chaparral , broken off at its base, leafless, shaped like a ball, it rolls freely before the desert winds – aimlessly roaming, destined for nowhere, desolate, desiccated, and dead.

Psa 83:14  As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;

Likewise we are familiar with the total devastation of wildfires. They destroy everything in their paths … houses, animals, grasslands, forests; and they severely blight the land. Asaph prays for this desolation to be laid upon Israel’s enemies …

Psa 83:15  So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.

We recall recorded tempests of the Lord, such as that which beset Jonah’s ship, and the vessel in which the Apostle Paul was being transported to Rome. These are inescapable, and do to their victims as such storms do – indiscriminate in their fury, unrelenting in their force.

Another psalmist refers to such elements as being available and useful to our Father in order to accomplish His purpose, to compel action, to repress men's animosity toward others, and to fulfill His will: Psalm 148:8  Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word ...

Psa 83:16  Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD.

Today, these enemies’ faces are visages of PRIDE and ARROGANCE – of resistance to God’s people and His will for them. But they shall be “ashamed” for their iniquity, and the remnant of them shall indeed seek Thy Name, O LORD.

Psa 83:17  Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:

Their confoundation and troubling shall indeed be forever, as their wicked lives come to an end forever, and they descend back to the dust from which they came, as is said of the ungodly in Isaiah 26:14: They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

These actions of godly wrath upon these enemies of God have a beneficial effect as fierce testimony to the majesty and authority of the God of Israel – of YHVH – of the Almighty One. Thus His authority shall cover the earth and the seas, bringing blessings abundantly to all the survivors – to those who confess His name and honor Him. Cf., Micah 4: 1-4, his repetition of Isaiah 2:2-4.

These summary events shall exert a most favorable outcome upon all men and women who are compelled thereby to seek the Lord and to understand and adopt His ways ...

Psa 83:18  That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.       <HEL 9N> ~3050 words.

August: The Assured Permanence of Israel Today

Harold E. Lafferty

Brethren of Christ were greatly encouraged – were enormously elated – when the State of Israel was re-established in May, 1948. The Entity that they had long expected to appear seemed almost miraculously to leap onto the pages of history, confirming the prophetic word that had been on record from old time.

They wholeheartedly accepted this event as valid fulfillment of those incisive writings of the prophets of Israel – the detailed, explicit particulars of the end of the Jewish struggle for an homeland over the previous fifty years or more, or since the First Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland, in 1897.

These scholars were aware of the poignant narrative of the prophet Micah, who, in chapter 5, stated of the Jewish people, that they would suffer an extended period of desolation – of abandonment by Him – in pursuit of the ultimate goal of Kingdom Establishment.  [It is a condition that was also reinforced upon them by the Christ: Behold, your house is left unto you desolate … Luke 13:35. It had long been desolate, and should remain so for many years.]

This wonderful prophecy of Micah begins with the only specific prophetic utterance as to the birthplace of Messiah - in Bethlehem of Judah: that ... out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; Whose goings forth (Whose destiny) have been from of old, from everlasting. Micah 5:2.

This prophecy is a sure, divine forecast of the re-establishment of His people in the Land ultimately to be ruled over by that Ruler, indicated by the precedent events expressed as, then shall they return to the (land of ) the children of Israel. The people who had returned should ultimately exist under Christ’s kingship; but prior to that time, they would be resettled in the Land which had been promised to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

As they were therefore being brought back into that Land as a national people, surely the Almighty One was - and is - their ultimate Regent, Who miraculously and angelically, shall have re-gathered His people to the Land in unbelief, well before the Second Advent of the LORD (Jesus Christ) from heaven.

At that specific time, their enemies are His (the Almighty’s) enemies as confirmed by the piercing words of Asaph in Psalm 83:2, et seq: For, lo, Thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head. 3 They have taken crafty counsel against Thy people, and consulted against Thy hidden ones. [The Hebrew word for “hidden,” Tsaphan, means “to reserve, to keep, to protect,” and describes His regathered People – the “nation” – “Israel” – to which He then refers.] 4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. 5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against Thee:

Note carefully that the enemies of Israel are first noted to be the enemies of the great El – the Almighty One. The enemies of “Israel” in that day – which is OUR time in history – are first HIS enemies; there is thus indicated and verified the moral equivalency of the two objects of their animosity: Israel and her God.

The enemy of one is the enemy of the other.

Their relationship is indelibly linked, and their association unbreakable.

Our logic, as well as God’s word, therefore tell us that those nations which have been sniping and biting at Israel’s people – terrorizing and insulting them with weapons and lies – are firstly aggressing the LORD God, their Regent at this time.

These enemies are an affront to, and a repudiation of, the LORD Himself as He purposefully brings His people home!

In this sense they may be said in a certain manner to have “smitten” Him on the cheek, as prophesied: he (the enemies, later typified as “Assyria”) hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek (verse 1).

Ultimately, this insult – this slap upon the cheek – is harmless to Him, yet insulting in the extreme.

He is strangely patient and forbearing of these insults to His authority, for these heathen nations are completely unaware that this extensive re-gathering of Jews is “of Him.”

 But This is not the Whole Narrative.

With the Second Advent, the rulership changes …

Israel re-constituted in its Land as the Kingdom of Christ shall be under a different Regent: the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall have returned to take responsibility for His people and Land.

The prophecies indicate that those enemies shall persevere long enough also to smite the Judge of Israel (at that future time, Jesus Christ) with a rod upon the cheek, meaning, we believe, that they shall also assault Israel’s King and people as continuation of their present evil course of conduct: for the prophet foretells this to happen, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces (verse 5).

But all ends well with this permanent resolution: Micah 5:9  Thine hand shall be lifted up upon Thine adversaries, and all Thine enemies shall be cut off.

And further, we discover a great blessing in this detailed forecast of Micah, that … the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass (verse 7), indicating their uninterrupted continuance of occupation of the Land without any harm of any consequence – and their becoming a great blessing to all those who remain!  

The Unbelievers

There unfortunately are scattered critics of this view of things.

Their aversion to it is expressed in their opinion that the events of the vision of Ezekiel 37 – the Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones – from which Israel of today has surely been “resurrected,” is not applicable to our time, and that Israel is slated for yet another destruction, and for displacement from their Land into a desiccated pit of death, and that perhaps two thirds of them shall perish!

They mistakenly believe that the AGENT of Israel’s destruction – and its assignment to a future Valley of Dry Bones – is the Gogian invader of Ezekiel 38 and 39!

In so saying, they automatically identify themselves with the repugnant nations round about – those who are described in Micah 4:11: Now also many nations (Goyim) are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. 12 But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.

Many Nations

Just WHAT ENEMY is indicated by Micah in this prophecy?

It is the “many nations” – the Goyim (“nations”) of Micah 7:16 – who are typified by the “Assyrian” of Micah 5: 5. 6, and of Micah 7:12.

Further definition is supplied by the statement in Micah 4:11: Now also many nations (Goyim) are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.

To “look upon” Zion is to violate her sanctity – to humiliate and denigrate the People of God, which is surely a main feature of their enemies’ present assault upon her!

Another point of their confusion is that they believe Israel shall have been driven by Gog into the literal land of Egypt when Gog comes into the Land, and that the people will be recovered from Egypt by Christ at His second coming and brought back into the Land in opposition to the then resident Gogians.

If this scenario is valid, the recovered People coming from "Egypt" shall surely know just Whom their Leader is: Jesus Christ. Otherwise, why should they follow Him?

They should not thusly be re-gathered into their Land in ignorance.

In the above considerations, we stated that He (the Almighty) “shall have re-gathered His people to the Land in unbelief, well before the Second Advent of the LORD (Jesus Christ) from heaven.”

Why should we make such a confident claim?

We do so because Israel’s plainly stated recognition of their Messiah comes to them in Israel (not in Egypt) where they clearly are enlightened as to the identity of this suddenly apparent Savior, Who has not yet been made known to them.

In Zechariah 12 and 13, there are two vivid references to their moment of recognition – and it takes place not in Egypt, but in Jerusalem!

These references are specifically:

Zechariah 12:10: And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

And …

Zechariah 13:6: And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

The results of these revelations are poignantly descriptive of the humble, heartfelt, pervasive repentance of the whole House of Israel when they behold Him as He is – their long expected Savior – Whose identity is Jesus of Bethlehem and Nazareth!

 No Intimation of Gog

Yet in these prophecies there is no reference to Gog of the Land of Magog and his confederates. The assumption of 150 years ago was that “Assyria” IS to be identified as Gog.

That interpretation seemed to make some sense at the time. But in that era, the Arab enemies of Israel were practically non-existent, were submerged in poverty, were uneducated, were politically ignorant and had no organization whatever. They were virtually a ‘non-entity” despite the numerous references specifically to those races in the prophets.

In contrast to that earlier perception, we note the abundant proof that the national entities of Islam in the Levant are all the trees, of Luke 21:29 – the emergent Islamic States which also budded along with the Fig Tree (Israel) in the vacated spaces of the Ottoman Empire.  

Expositors had no inkling that this re-population should eventuate. And they simply did not comprehend the Islamic significance which should be attained in later years.

The discovery of crude oil – and its urgent usefulness to the world – changed all those factors.

But another, more glaring set of facts confronts such theorists.

Even a cursory study of Ezekiel 38 and 39 will reveal NO hint of Gogian success of any kind! Although that host approaches Israel with enough manpower to cover the Land, it is not afforded the opportunity to do so.

In THAT DAY shall Gog and its hosts suffer utter desolation: Ezekiel 39:11  And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel … and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.

Many other prophecies have been appropriated as applying to this Gogian invasion, but they have no merit in such a setting. ALL of them refer to military actions entirely separate from the Gogian affair, and tell of a significant EARLIER set of conflicts of Christ and Israel with the nations (Goyim) round about Israel, in order to clear the Abrahamic Land Grant of all the freeloaders and squatters who have come into it throughout centuries past, thus cleansing it from Islam, and from “Christianity,” further to the establishment of a purely Israelitish nation with its pure tongue (Hebrew) in the Land.

A certain reference to this latter claim (of their being given a pure language) is found in Zephaniah 3:9: For then (in the end time) will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.

If there be uncertainty that the “pure language” is Hebrew, consider this evidence: Mark Biltz, an Hebrew scholar, has discovered that the verse previous to the one quoted above – Zephaniah 3:8 – is the only verse in the entire Bible which contains ALL the Hebrew letters, including the “final” forms of those five letters which have unique, final forms. It is a celebration of the Language of God!

Its message is of supreme import:

Zephaniah 3:8  Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.

That verse is a celebration of the Hebrew language such as may not be refused.

Similar to Psalm 119, it utilizes every Hebrew letter, and gives weight to that tongue that is afforded no other – the glorious, descriptive, poetic language of the Almighty!

And think of the significance of the next statement after this exhibition of every Hebrew letter – that ... then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.

We cannot deny that the (already accomplished) re-vitalization of Hebrew as Israel's national language is a direct fulfillment of this prophecy, and that it is not a blessing which shall be conferred upon the entire nation in the future as if it were a friendly epidemic of sorts, or a miraculous infusion of knowledge in each citizen's psyche.

 Fulfillments Since 1870 are Abundant, but Often Unrecognized

Without going into all the details yet again in this space, suffice it to say that a great number of prophetic events have been fulfilled with extraordinary accuracy when applied to history after 1870, until the present time.

These show a distinctly unfavorable trend toward the concepts of yesteryear as to prophetic fulfillment, and should alert true Believers to the imminence of the return of the LORD from heaven – an eventuality that the “nay-sayers” seem to be ignoring (?).

It remains, then, for some carefully and humbly to examine these readily available records for the objective fulfillment of these great advances in the prophetic scheme, and for their humble recognition of such as having been accomplished – and their explicit admission that “things” have moved forward in greatly significant leaps toward the consummation of all things.

The result will be their deeper understanding of the following summary prophecies as to the validity of the present, indissoluble Restoration of Israel in the end time – that glorious time (post-Dry Bones) of the beginning progress of the First Dominion of the Kingdom of God upon the earth.

We state "post-Dry Bones" because the nation of Israel today, and every individual resident therein, has indisputably been recovered bone-by-bone from the desolate graveyard of Gentile nations and history - a doleful cemetery of pervasive persecution, unjust death and taxation, often exile, sometime "conversion," and constant vilification - and been reassembled in their land where they have "stood up," having received the flesh and tendons and skin of a valid national identity - and that they are now primed for the final blessing of receiving His Spirit that is to be shed abroad upon their frames in glorious recognition of their LORD from heaven!

The reader who humbly and earnestly evaluates these current events will note that many of these prophecies are in process of fulfillment at this time, and that the end-point of some of them remains to be fulfilled when the Christ appears again upon the earth to His people Israel, who now await Him in complete unawareness of the enormous blessing which they are about to experience, for their iniquity has finally come to an end (see Ezekiel 35:5), and the great love and esteem of the LORD is about to overwhelm them.

Their unspeakable gratitude to their LORD is the subject of the narratives already referenced in Zechariah 12 and 13, above.

Conclusion: those who claim another, future destruction of Israel, must explain the meaning of the following quotations, and show why they are not NOW in process of fulfillment ...

Exodus 15:17: Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. 18 The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.

             Dare any man say that the Almighty has NOT brought in and planted His people in its inheritance? - that He has NOT brought them back to His Sanctuary Jerusalem in force, to be where His name dwells eternally? Who will say to Him that they are NOT in that place for eternity?

2Samuel 7:10: Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime …

            Dare any man claim that His Chosen People are dwelling in a place which is NOT appointed to them? - or that they are NOT "planted" there? Who will say unto Him that the children of wickedness SHALL afflict them again, as beforetime?

IChronicles 17:9: Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning …

            Dare any man deny the ordination of Jerusalem as a place for His people Israel? - or declare that they shall in future time BE REMOVED? And who will say unto Him that the children of wickedness SHALL afflict them again, as beforetime?

Jeremiah 24:6: For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. 7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

            Dare any man declare that their Father has NOT set His eyes upon His people for GOOD? - or that He has NOT brought them again to this Land? - or that He has NOT built them? - and similarly, can they declare - against His sovereign word - that they SHALL be plucked up? And who will certainly declare that the nation is not upon the cusp of His Return, and imminent receipt of a new heart which knows Him, that He is the LORD; and that they shall be His people, and He shall be their God, because they shall have returned to Him with their whole heart?

Jeremiah 32: 41: Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. 42 For thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.

             Dare any man deny that the Father of Israel has "rejoiced" to do GOOD to them in these end times? - or that His whole heart and soul is IN THEIR RETURN of today? And who will deny His further blessing upon His people, preventing any more "evil" upon them, but bringing upon them all the GOOD that He has promised them?

Amos 9:14: And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.

             Dare any claim that our Father has NOT brought again to His Land over six millions of His people, has NOT assisted them in building their great cities, in planting vineyards and crops for their own sustenance, in vain? - that this has been an exercise of futility? - that He intends to allow their destruction once again, thus demeaning His name and implying His inability to protect His people? And who will deny that He has established them in the Land permanently, never to be removed again, and has given it to them forever?

 The answer to all these questions cannot be supplied by the imprudent and persistent supporters of a set of theoretical conditions which are bankrupt, and entirely blind to the coming reality, which could not possibly have been suspected by earlier expositors, whose best  efforts were expended in the task of unraveling the prophecies of the end time, but who at that time lacked the necessary facts and historical fulfillment of some of those very prophecies, causing them to make erroneous forecasts.

 Prudent stewards must make prudent evaluations and adjustments of their expectancy as prophetic events move forward - a facility which one lacks if he accepts the notion that practically nothing has happened to move the Plan forward for 150 years.

     <HEL 9N> ~3600 words.

August, 2014: The Abrupt Rise of The Islamic State

And A Serious Consideration

Harold E. Lafferty

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has just appointed himself Caliph of The Islamic State. Formerly known as The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the change takes into consideration a wider and deeper agenda which the Caliph has declared just since July 1st.

As you will remember, this new entity originated as al-Qaeda in Iraq and was comprised of only about 5000 combatants. But since that time, al-Baghdadi has fallen out (is anyone surprised?) with his counterparts in Syria, alongside whom he had been fighting the Syrian regime, thus parting with the well-funded al-Qaeda leaders in that area. But he has amassed thousands more fighters in the Sunni lands he has been conquering.

Al-Baghdadi has far greater ambitions!

The new entity, IS, has been created from al-Baghdadi’s conquest of vast portions of Iraq and Syria (together comprising ancient Assyria), straddling these two states’ common borders, and expanding toward both the northeast and southwest. Its goal is to take over the oil-producing areas of Iraq to gain its lucrative cash flow, leading to long-term security for IS.

Several months ago, ISIS proclaimed that its goal was to form a Caliphate (an Islamic super-state governed by Shari’a Law), to absorb both Iraq and Syria, then to attack Israel.

Further considerations seem to have led to an intermediate goal – the conquest of Jordan, a weak “kingdom” east of Israel – which would give IS free access to Judea and Samaria via the relatively un-guarded eastern frontier of Israel along the Jordan River.

In such a move, IS is determined to overrun all other Arabic opposition of whatever kind or ideology; al-Baghdadi is determined be the Grand Master of it all.

And all Islam has been commanded (by him) to follow him as Caliph – an arrogant decision by himself, to go it alone.

His confidence has been bolstered by early and rapid victories against the inept Iraqi army, almost all of whom shed their uniforms, donned civilian clothing, and headed home to safety.

In early June, the forces of IS captured a giant Iraqi airfield along with its American-supplied fighter bombers, its stockpiles of rockets and ammunition, its military vehicles, helicopters, huge mounds of military supplies, food and hardware.

In addition, it heisted nearly half a billion dollars from an Iraqi bank in Mosul, the second largest city in the country.

With these “free” weapons and a fortune in funding, al-Baghdadi exhilarates in his good luck, probably attributing it to his own expertise in warfare.

This presumption may be entirely false. He may be misguided!

Our opinion is that the Almighty has guided the IS advance so that it may form the aggressor referred to as “Assyria” of Micah 5.

This prophecy was written about 500 years before the birth of Messiah, and accurately foretold his birth in this tiny village of Judah. Micah 5:2: But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

In order for Him to be ruler in Israel, there has to BE an “Israel” over which to rule.

His ordination for this task from olden time cannot be denied.

But the prophecy does not end there. It addresses a long period of time during which Judah shall be “given up,” or abandoned by Him, after which the nation would be re-born and become the ultimate destination for his favored people in the end time.

The prophet continues: Micah 5:3: Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.

This verse contains two key words which are time-markers: “until,” and “then.” They indicate that the nation would be “given up,” or abandoned, until some unnamed entity should travail in birth and “brought forth” something – subsequently determined to be the nation of Israel from later narrative.

Beginning at that time (THEN – at the nation’s re-birth) should the children of Israel begin to return to the Land as a terminal, end time conclusion of their dispersion.

Dismembered and scattered, the Jewish people lay in limbo in nearly every nation upon earth – a condition described by the LORD as “a valley of dry bones.” Ezekiel  37.

But then the nation was re-born!

Historically, we recognize that the birthing entity was the World Zionist Organization, or Zionism – an human institution which was certainly divinely directed to form and bring to birth the nation of Israel in the end time.

Zionism was the birth-mother of Israel, which was re-established in 1948.

Prior to that time, during its long period of abandonment, the nation had lain destitute, as disconnected, desiccated bones in the worldwide Valley of Dry Bones of Ezekiel 37.

The vision concerns the reassembly of the People of Israel (both Judah and Israel) into its own Land – a divinely provided geographic receptacle into which would be poured the scattered people in a progressive fashion; these people were destined to become the first dominion of the kingdom of Christ (Micah 4:8).

So in review, we understand the prophet to foretell the abandonment of the Jewish people until their nation was re-formed in Israel, at which time (then) they should begin to return to the (land of) the children of Israel – a highly unlikely fulfillment (in human terms) which we have witnessed in our own lifetime.

Prior to their re-gathering, the People were in a destitute, disorganized, degraded and scattered condition symbolized by the dry bones; but their return to their Land was symbolized by “bone coming to his bone,” and sinews being laid upon them, their breath restored, and the people arising as a very great army – Ezekiel 37:10.

We believe we have seen the prophecy fulfilled to this stage in our day; we expect the appearance of David My Servant (or, Messiah) of verse 24 to be the next stage in their restoration.

Israel is said to have the third most capable army in the world at this time – a defense force which has never lost a war – a very great army indeed.

After the events surrounding Jesus’ Advent, He will make an everlasting covenant with His people who shall then be blessed perpetually by Him.

There is a carefully laid-out sequence in this narrative:

Verse 5 of the 5th of Micah tells of the victory of this Man of Bethlehem over the Assyrian – a force which today would comprise the combined states of Iraq and Syria, which most closely correlate to the territory of ancient Assyria.

This factor is the reason for our opening remarks concerning The Islamic State now newly formed in the territories of Syria and Iraq. We believe this is the beginning of the re-constitution of The Assyrian of Micah 5.

However, there are a few among our number who deny that the State of Israel of today has any relevance to these detailed prophecies – nor to others which are just as graphic, and easy to understand. Belief in the simple revelations of the prophets, and acceptance of their words, is all that is required for their understanding. But we hear strident and confusing interpretations of these which are not in accord with the historical developments which we have seen.

The detractors take their cues from the writings of John Thomas, a 19th century expositor who wrote extensively and in detail about events to come.

Although his writings are extremely relevant up to his own era, not even one of his forecasts has come about as he thought since his death.

So, in his followers’ minds, nothing of much significance has happened to advance the prophetic expectations since his time in history.

It is time to speak kindly, frankly and openly about this affair.

While we highly respect the doctrinal conclusions of John Thomas, we cannot agree with his prophetic pathway to the kingdom of Christ. Many of the “keys” that he needed to unlock the gigantic mystery had not been revealed in his time; many of these are now easily deduced from historical fulfillment in ways entirely dissimilar to his earnest proposals.

But we stress, these are NOT doctrinal disagreements, a completely opposite position being taken by their adherents. For acceptance of the Thomas prognostications to be required of fellow laborers for spiritual fellowship is unacceptable – it is extremely inadvisable.

It is extremely poor judgment, and divisive.

It is also entirely unnecessary.

These specifically are matters of prophetic fulfillments which have happened over the 150 years since John Thomas wrote his essays on the subject, as well as the events that he expected to happen which have not done so.

Some of these vital historical fulfillments which he did not understand,  and could not possibly have understood, are:

·         The role of Zionism in the birthing of the State of Israel – a movement which was just beginning at the end of John Thomas’ life, the importance of which he did not notice.

·         The initiative taken by the Jews on their own behalf – not depending upon the sponsorship of Great Britain, but benefiting from it all the same.

·         That the Jews of the world would themselves bring about the existence of a fully fledged State in Palestine rather than settle for an identity as a British colony there.

·         That the Jews would begin to display courage against the oppressors which was hitherto unheard of in their recent history.

·         That a Great War would ensue, in which two key events would be accomplished: a) an entirely LEGAL basis (the Balfour Declaration) upon which their State would be established, and b) provision for its PHYSICAL location in Palestine of the day by British defeat of the last king of the north – the Ottoman Empire – clearing the way for the immediate growth of the Fig Tree (Israel) and all the (other) trees (the Arab emirates and kingdoms which occupied the newly dried up valley of the Euphrates).

  The words of Jesus clearly indicated that the (other) trees of Luke 21 should be national equivalents of the fig tree, when He said: Luke 21:29: And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; 30  When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. 31  So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. 32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.

·            That the (Islamic) kings of the east (equivalent to “all the trees” of the above reference) would be the Arab nations that filled the vacuum in the territory that came to occupy the valley of the Euphrates River – the vacated lands of the Ottomans (not as he supposed, Christ and the Saints).

·         That a great Despot (Adolph Hitler) would arise who would perpetrate the most heinous persecution of the Jews in their history – the Shoah, or Holocaust of Nazi Germany.

·         That the repercussions of this persecution would create a climate in which the nations of the world embodied in the United Nations Organization would elect to allow the Jews to form the State to which they aspired – to partition Palestine.

·         That the neighbors of the Partition Plan would be powerful enough to mount resistance against the new Jewish state. At John Thomas’ time, the Arabs of the Mid East were uneducated, poverty stricken fellaheen – incapable of organized warfare.

·         That the discovery of vast deposits of petroleum ‘neath the sands of Arabia, Iraq and Iran would create a treasury which could purchase almost any commodity, any weapon, or the loyalty of nations.

·         That the British navy would eminently decide to power its fleet of ships utilizing bunker oil (a petroleum fraction) rather than with coal, thereby creating utter dependence of Britain upon maintaining friendship with the Arab producers of crude oil.

·         That World War II would then ensue, two of the chief results of which were again a boon to the Jewish people: a) a LEGAL award of permission (the UNO’s Partition Plan) to create their own state in Palestine, and b) the specific land (PHYSICAL space) which was given them by international consensus.

·         That the Jews of Israel would be able successfully to resist the huge influx of the armies of six Arab nations round about, and end their War of Independence in possession of far more land than the Partition Plan had allotted them.

·         That its history ongoing from 1948 would be filled with Israel’s necessity to fight several wars in order to survive, and that their victories should be immensely lop-sided in each conflict.

·         That Israel should by its own initiative, build its armed forces to the level of the third most capable military force in the world by the estimation of Jane’s of London.

·         That irregular groups of Islamic terrorists would evolve in opposition to the Jewish state (characterized as thorns and briers) which would resist them effectively as well.

·         That the scientists of Israel should develop an armamentarium of extreme weapons which would be able to smash missiles in mid-air on their way to Israeli targets, entirely neutralizing them.

This list could be continued for an hundred more lines of text, but the above facts are sufficient to show the necessarily limited perspective of earlier expositors. They had no inkling of the importance that Israel should gain in its sometimes ungainly progress toward becoming the nucleus of the first dominion of the kingdom, as Micah 4 specifies.

 So … can there be ANY reasonable doubt whatever that Israel’s second and FINAL recovery in these days has been miraculously achieved? Or that HE has placed His people there?

Or that its success has been divinely guided and abetted through the good offices of Michael the Archangel of Daniel 12: 1, 2?

Or that it has arisen from the Valley of Bones, an exceeding great army?

Or that the People have returned to their Land eternally, by the LORD’s provision, and have been divinely planted there, and shall NOT be plucked up any more, as specified by the LORD in Amos 9:14: And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.

If the Almighty has NOT divinely brought about this enormous return of six million of His people to their homeland, there has been a colossal mistake!

Our conviction is that brethren who resist and deny these vital truths are willfully denying the inspired words of the prophets throughout the ages;

·         and that they are unreasonably insisting upon acceptance of only their views over all others;

·         and that they are still expecting events which have already transpired in ways different than expected by them (an example being the last end of the King of the North of Daniel 11);

·         and that they may be taken unawares by the (premature, in their minds) return of the Bridegroom from the Far Country to claim His Bride;

·         and that they are ascribing actions to the Gogian host which are spurious and falsely constructed, not allowing for the immediate and total destruction of Gog of the Land of Magog and his confederacy of Ezekiel 38 and 39 before it can do ANY harm whatever to God’s People Israel, and their King. 

Conclusions:

So we are entirely aware that the above projections are not the “received wisdom” of John Thomas. But he confessed humbly that he was NOT a prophet, and did not pretend to be one; that he was merely utilizing the faculties of an intelligent, scholarly, spiritually minded SERVANT of God – a vocation which should be undertaken by every follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, to His honor and glory.

He advised a studied reference to historical accounts for evidence of prophetic fulfillment, comparing their features closely to the words of the prophets for indications of accurate fulfillment – a case in point being the detailed, complex commentary which he penned on the prophecy of Daniel 11, taking into account the lust for power, the greed, and the foibles of the main actors in this dramatic narrative of the kings of the Gentiles and their interaction upon the People of God through the ages, including the transactions of the kings of the north and the south.    

He is certainly excused for misinterpreting the end of this set of affairs of Daniel 11, because they lay 50 years in his future. Indeed, an electronic search of Eureka and Elpis Israel, for his recognition of the Ottomans as the king of the north of his own day, reveals that he did not acknowledge this fact. But at that time, being prior to the Restoration of God’s people to the land, the Ottomans were in control of Palestine, and were therefore the king of the north of that day.

But the historic correlation to the prophecy as given is irrefutable in our opinion, and if humbly and gratefully accepted, helps the true scholar clear away many, otherwise confusing prophetic features from his view of the end time events. It assists him more clearly to interpret the Gogian affair, realizing that this king FROM the north is entirely different from the king OF the north of Daniel 11! – clear historical proof of which is attested by approximately ten features which are different between the two accounts – information which is available upon request.

Our suggestion is that brethren must relinquish their animosity and willful proprietorship of John Thomas’ expositions of prophecy which would be fulfilled future to his time, and be willing at least to discuss with others in friendly dialog, their thoughts about the outworking of prophecy which may be somewhat different from their own.

They have no “right” to separate themselves from others on the basis of their (different) prophetic understanding. To do such is to advance party spirit and spiritual commotion – and to induce a feeling of helplessness upon those who may not understand what has caused this disruption.

Nobody “owns” any interpretation of the prophets’ writings; none are inspired in these end times; none are infallible; and no one, small segment has the privilege of insisting exclusively upon their own notions of future prophetic fulfillment to the exclusion of all others.

 Brethren of good will should readily admit that ALL are fallible and imperfect in many ways – and that this is especially so in the exposition of future fulfillment of prophetic utterances.

Only AFTER fulfillment may one be absolutely sure of the meaning of any prophecy.

It would be extremely helpful if that privilege were exercised more liberally upon the studious and honest detractors from any prophetic interpretations that are different from those of John Thomas. 

Their refusal to do so, and to claim that “Dr. Thomas was RIGHT all along,” must be recognized by those brethren as actions by which they denigrate the memory of Brother Thomas, making him out to be a hard-headed expositor of one specific pathway to fulfillment which may not be controverted – even by the facts of history and the words of scripture!

We expect brethren to use their good judgment and scriptural reasoning, in their expositions of future prophetic events, and to be pliable and considerate in their attitudes – not vehemently “set” in their views of what is destined to come.

We expect more than anything else, their adherence to scriptural principles in recognition of historical fulfillment of divine forecasts. 

This discussion has stemmed from our consideration of The Islamic State which has been lately established by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, now ravaging the populations of Iraq and Syria – and in our minds a possible, even probable, fulfillment of the end time re-constitution of “the Assyrian” of Micah 5.

But, being unable to separate the singular battles from the series of conflicts of the State of Israel against its proximal neighbors (which he did not foresee) from that of the Gogian host, John Thomas supposed this “Assyrian” entity to be the Russian Autocrat who should have invaded and overrun that area and to then have assumed the moniker of “the Assyrian” in so doing.

Our thoughts as stated above are certain to be denied any serious consideration by those who adhere to Brother Thomas’ theories, for if he didn’t forecast this outcome then, in their minds, they can’t possibly have any validity.

We disagree; and shall, God willing, continue to comb and brush, to sweep and gather all the writings of the prophets with all their magnificent visions and their subtle nuances, in an earnest attempt to come to valid conclusions on the events which we see before our eyes as fulfilling our Father’s promises.  

Only in this manner may the saints be suitably engaged in their Profession, and maintain an imminent expectation of the Second Advent, of the impending approach of their own assessment at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and hopefully a rich reward in His kingdom.             <HEL 7N> ~3600 words.

July, 2014: Israel Swarms Upon Gaza

Harold E. Lafferty

7/1/14; Israel.  Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu had said earlier that Israel was intent upon destroying the terror tunnels linking Gaza to Israel; he had not given much indication of Israel’s going much further in its retaliation upon the forces of Hamas in Gaza.

But the force of Israel’s attack this week (of June 27th) has proven unexpectedly fierce. Mr. Netanyahu now has made it clear that Israel intends to decimate the forces of Hamas before it leaves the coastal Strip, quelling Hamas’ aggression fully.

It is an enormous task.

Gaza has imported weapons and goods from Egypt for years – until Egypt recently supposedly closed all the tunnels leading from the Sinai to Gaza. This put a squeeze on Hamas that seemed to have had some effect, with Hamas leaders practically begging Egypt to open its doors to their supplies.

But Egypt, having now largely put down the Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt, is intent upon destroying its First Son as well – that is, denying supplies to Hamas.

Strangely, Israel has been supplying much food and materiel to Gaza until this present fighting began, and continues to do so! We supposed that lifeline would have been cut for the present time but we recently noted that several hundred truckloads of supplies entered the Gaza Strip from Israel.

Israel’s concern had been the welfare of the civilians of Gaza, who because of the Israeli blockade by land, sea and air, would have been caused great harm.

Despite the public outcry (illustrated by many demonstrations earlier this week in some dozen European cities) against the Israeli onslaught, PM Netanyahu vows not to relent.

The photographs of injured, terrified, and dead women and children of Gaza are persuaders of the coarsest sort when seen by the outside world. These casualties are inevitable, due directly to the tactics of Hamas, which places its artillery and missile launchers in schools, on hospital roofs, and in private residences.

It has become impossible – much as Israel desires, and tries to avoid it – impossible to avoid “collateral damage.” Israel has dropped hundreds of thousands of leaflets, sent text messages, telephoned homes in various areas, and used other means such as light shelling as a warning of oncoming destruction.

It is a practice of consideration of which we have never heard in the annals of warfare!

So, we see disproportionate numbers of killed and injured in Gaza vs. Israel.

Over 1300 Gazans have been killed, compared to less than 60 Israelis at last count.

So what about those “innocents” of Gaza?

Is Israel committing war crimes in its retaliation against the thousands of missiles rained upon it by Hamas? Isn’t warfare always disproportionate in favor of the winner? Aren’t civilian casualties inevitable and unavoidable?

Of course they are.

Between us, this point deserves close examination – this consideration of “morality” in Israel’s wars, both past and future. In this consideration, we are not claiming that Israelis have not done any wrongs, or are perfect. We are simply comparing the weights of the actions of the two peoples.

No Ordinary War

This conflict is not an “ordinary” war. Its prosecution has been determined by the Almighty. We cannot expect the world to adopt, or even consider, this viewpoint, for it is a divine one!

In past dispatches, we have cited numerous prophecies which have foretold these precise events in the conflict between Israel and its enemies “round about” – the Proximal (nearby) Islamic peoples and states.

These prophecies go so far as to foretell these enemies’ total destruction – the full fury of which lies yet in future.

We are beholding some of the intermediate action at this moment. The beginning of this conflict was over 75 years ago in “Palestine” of the day. The terminal portion obviously lies ahead.

So that’s the first point: This is No Ordinary War.

Israel Required to Fight for Survival

Israel has been most certainly and meticulously “placed” in their future inheritance in these end times. We believe that truth to be incontrovertible. It is our Father’s specific will at this time for Israel to have been regathered into the Land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To repudiate that fact would be to deny His word and will for His people. These dear ones have returned to their Land for redemption, fulfilling their Father’s reminder to them to return unto Me, and I will return unto you saith the LORD of hosts.(Malachi 3:7)

They are in process of doing just that at this time in history!

Israel as a nation has always been required to fight against enemies whose intent was to come in and take their lands and wealth, or to harm the People in other ways. After over 2500 years of exile, they have now returned.

And, again, they must fight for survival.

It was so when the LORD designated the Land of Canaan as the future, eternal inheritance of His people, Israel, and brought them out of Egypt in the Exodus.

The first dreadful but godly scourge of the Hebrews’ enemies was that of the firstborn of Egypt who were slain on the frightful night of the first Passover – when the Angel of Death passed over those whose homes were marked by the blood sacrifice of the Pascal Lamb. Exodus 12.

The second followed it by only a few days, as the multitude came to the Red Sea shore, and then observed the chariots of the army of Pharaoh menacing them from behind.

Firstly, the LORD moved his Pillar of Cloud and Fire to the rear, to stand between Pharaoh and Israel.

Secondly, He commanded Moses to lift his rod and part the waters of the Sea – a process which required all night, the darkest hours in every sense.

Thirdly, He instructed the Children of Israel to cross the Sea on dry land, and go toward the east.

Fourthly, He closed the waters upon the Egyptian army which followed them into the watery trench but were inundated when Moses’ lifted rod caused the waters to return to their natural levels.

The People greatly rejoiced at this second wave of destruction of their oppressors. They sang a triumphant dirge which became known as the Song of Moses – Exodus 15.

Note carefully that the victory over their enemies was considered “glorious,” and that the Almighty was given all the glory (and the credit for it) as seen in the gist of that song of thanksgiving found in Exodus 15:6  Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. 7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.

 We conclude that the dreadful slaughter of the firstborn of Egypt, and then of its army in the Red Sea, are retributions against GOD’s enemies firstly, as expressed against His people. These are examples of justified retribution upon God’s enemies, which are always the enemies of His people. And they have always resulted in the forward movement of His Plan with His People.

Similarly, when the multitude came to the eastern shore of the Jordan River, and viewed the Land which it would inherit, the same condemnation of the inhabitants of Canaan was recorded.

Two statements in Deuteronomy define the inhabitants of the Land and imply their great offenses against the Almighty: they are the definitive instructions at the mouth of the Almighty, and represent His Judgments upon those peoples …

Deuteronomy 7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

Deuteronomy 20:17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:

The reader understands by these statements that the Hebrews did not before that time possess the Land of Canaan. But God had promised it to Abram from the first. It was not Abram’s land then, either; but God had elected to give it to him forever.

That was the Father’s privilege, for all lands are His lands to apportion as He shall please.

At one point, the Almighty revealed, in Genesis 15:16 that Abram’s descendants should not come into that land until some time in the future, for “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”

Just what was the iniquity of the Amorites? I Kings 21:26 reveals that they worshipped idols, so idolatry was their main transgression. It was a practice forbidden by the Almighty and one which would lead Israel and Judah astray fatally.

The entire book of Joshua records the conquest of Canaan by Israel. In a preponderance of cases, he and the army of Israel destroyed every soul (living ones) of the cities of Canaan – every living being, including children, leaving none to breathe.

A typical description of their God-directed action is that of Joshua 10:32 And the LORD delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, which took it on the second day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein, according to all that he had done to Libnah.

Joshua 11:11 testifes that … they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them: there was not any left to breathe: and he burnt Hazor with fire.

We must logically ask, Why were the children and infants of the Canaanites destroyed? Had they offended the Father in any way? Had they committed sin? Probably not; nevertheless, this was THE ALMIGHTY’S judgment upon those people – that all their seed were to be cut off – forever.

At the time of Noah’s flood, were “innocents” suffocated by the rising waters? Yes. Again, they were the evil seed of a society which had degenerated to purely violent evil in God’s sight, and during 120 years of Noah’s preaching among them, none had been recovered – not even one person!

Those examples will suffice to illustrate our point: among the vile enemies of God and His people, Israel, there apparently are no “innocents” as such. The inherent wickedness of the society is inbred within their offspring. We have seen numerous photographs of Hamas “militants” in their silly garb, presenting a three year old child clad in the same way as they, and enclosed with a mock bomb belt, illustrating their philosophy of “every man, woman and child a martyr” for Islam.

If such could come out of those societies and learn of God’s true ways, forswearing Islam, adopting Christ with genuine fidelity, the door of salvation would be open to them. A few of those folk HAVE left Mohammed’s ranks and became “Christians” who now fight against those philosophies in print and deed. But even these are seemingly rare.

So ... Are the “innocents” of Gaza really, in fact, innocent? We would venture to claim that they are not, because the entire society is against God’s people (and thus are against God Himself) – persecuting and killing as many of His people as possible.

The Prophet Ezekiel uttered these words against the enemies of the Almighty: Ezekiel 35:12  And thou shalt know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume. 13 Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them.

Our studied opinion is, then, that the entire culture of death and godlessness is guilty of such blasphemy – all who have the breath of life! And that all such will be rejected by Him in the finality. And that Israel, from a godly viewpoint, is performing His approved work.

Mr. Netanyahu has now affirmed that his intent is to clear away Hamas from the Gaza Strip. Whether he will again be deterred by “world opinion” we know not. But we must admit that Israel is now performing the work of the LORD, whether it OR the world realizes it. For, at the very end of the prophecy of Obadiah, it is stated that “there shall be none remaining of the house of Esau.” (Obadiah 1: 18) There, Jacob and Joseph are a FLAME, and Esau is STUBBLE – and ALL Esau is “devoured” by God’s people.

Does that seem just, in humanistic terms?

No – not in any wise.

But Humanism is not godly, and has never claimed to be.

The Apostle Paul exclaimed of God’s principles, on the other hand, that they are arbitrarily RIGHTEOUS: O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!  Romans 11:33       

Humanism – and Islam – as well as Communism, Fascism, Protestantism, Catholicism, Animism, Shintoism, Buddhism, Baha'i-ism, and all other “isms” are failed institutions that are unable to purvey saving Truth to their followers, for they “know not God” and His ways. In the kingdom age all such shall approach the (now hated) Jew, and plead, as in Zechariah 8:23 – We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you!

That is a pitiful and pathetic summary of the age-old non-receptivity by men of God’s Way during the thousands of years which he has been given to do so.

In the coming Kingdom Age, and after that time of many initially seeking Him, this condition shall consist: Hebrews 8:11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.  

<HEL 7N> ~2400 words.

June, 2014: Jeremiah 51

Babylon

Jer 51:1  Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;

Jer 51:2  And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

Jer 51:3  Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine (coats of mail): and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.

Jer 51:4  Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.

Jer 51:5  For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.

||Note: this impending action will destroy Babylon and free her captives, including those of Judah, who shall then be allowed to re-establish themselves in their land. This action is parallel to the destruction of Babylon the Great in the end time (Revelation 16-19) after which the Kingdom of Israel’s Messiah shall spread to the four corners  of the earth! Great Babylon has long usurped the People of God, exercising Dominion Theology (also called Replacement Theology) as their claim to God’s blessings for the Church in place of the intended recipients of His largess. In this unwarranted claim, the Church has long persecuted the true believers – the true saints of God in this present dispensation – instead of heeding their teachings of the true intent of the scriptures.

Jer 51:6  Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.

Jer 51:7  Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

||Note: in this chapter parallel references will be cited to the records of similar features of the account of the great drunken Harlot of Babylon the Great in Revelation 16-19. At this juncture we note, Revelation 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

Jer 51:8  Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

||Note: Revelation 14:8: And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

Jer 51:9  We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.

Jer 51:10  The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.

Jer 51:11  Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.

Mark here that the source of this vengeance upon Babylon is of the LORD. And that is being administered against Babylon for vengeance of His Temple!

As Babylon destroyed Judah, so shall Media destroy Babylon!

Jer 51:12  Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath (note the past tense, as if the deed has already been done!) both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.

Jer 51:13  O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.

||Note: Revelation 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. The riches – the treasures of Babylon the Great is far beyond estimation. Its thousands of treasures of fine arts has no valid assessment at to their worth; the art of the Vatican buildings (their ceiling paintings, their walls, their murals, their frescoes, their tapestries) is also priceless, by man’s valuation; many of the basilicas of the Catholic world contain Treasuries housing uniquely valuable items which they do not intend to sall at any price; the finances of the Vatican are beyond any ability to be audited or verified by any human agency. The Papal See and Vatican State is one of the wealthiest countries on earth; and their financial dealings are the least transparent of all!

Jer 51:14  The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee (Babylon) with men, as with caterpillers (the word also means locusts, as already referenced in Joel 1; the bizarre picture is that of locusts (the Medes) devouring locusts (the Babylonias!) ); and they shall lift up a shout against thee.

Jer 51:15  He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.

This fact of YHVH as Creator of all things is in contrast to the proud words uttered by Nebuchadnezzar, when he boasted, Is this not great Babylon, which I have built? – giving no credit at all to his Creator.

Jer 51:16  When he uttereth his voice (the only instrument of war that is needed by the Almighty One!), there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.

Jer 51:17  Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder (metal workers who made the idols) is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

Jer 51:18  They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

Jer 51:19  The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former (i.e., God is Creator) of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.

Babylon

Jer 51:20  Thou (here He means Cyrus, who should conquer Babylon) art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

Jer 51:21  And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider;

Jer 51:22  With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid;

Jer 51:23  I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers.

Nine usages of the term “with thee … will I” signifies the great importance of the Medes and the Persians in God’s plan to punish Babylon for her iniquities against His people – see next verse – even though Judah’ punishment was warranted and justified!

Jer 51:24  And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD.

||Note: in this context, the inhabitants of Judah are His saints of that time – His holy ones – which have been repeatedly assaulted by Babylon, much in the same fashion as Great Babylon is stained with the blood of righteous ones (saints) which she slew during her reign of terror: Revelation 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration (the word means astonishment).

Jer 51:25  Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

||Note: during the events of the second vial of the Apocalypse, we note a similar description of the drastic effects upon the Church, which Napoleon was systematically destroying for a time in the late 17th century: Revelation 8:8  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; this account is given the people of God as evidence of the forward movement of His plan through the ages, continually progressing and being fulfilled, and firmly proving to them that their understanding was accurate, assuring them of the faith once delivered to the saints – the words of Jude 1:3.

Jer 51:26  And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.

||Note: these words are extremely similar to these concerning the Great Whore: Revelation 18:16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! 17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought!

Jer 51:27  Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare (Qadash: sanctify, dedicate) the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers (or locusts).

Jer 51:28  Prepare (the Hebrew word is Qadash, meaning to consider as consecrated, or clean – dedicated) against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.

Jer 51:29  And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.

||Note: a similar end is determined for Babylon the Great: Revelation 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

Jer 51:30  The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken.

Jer 51:31  One post (runner) shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end (the Ellipsis here should be supplied: “at each end,” meaning at each portal of the River Euphrates – at its entry into the city under the bronze gates, and at its exit under similar gates downstream, for the forces of Cyrus entered from both ends after they had drained the river!).

Jer 51:32  And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

Jer 51:33  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while (exactly seventy years from its beginning!), and the time of her harvest shall come.

Jer 51:34  Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me (the people of Judah – see next verse), he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.

||Note: even this feature of the goods consumed and traded by ancient Babylon is similar to those of Babylon the Great! Please read and absorb these rueful words concerning her sumptuous merchandise, connected irrevocably by the striking figure of speech, Polysyndeton – or “many ands:” Revelation 18:11  And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: 12  The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, 13  And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. 14  And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.

Thus they are consumed as completely as when ancient Babylon took away the delicacies and riches of Judah in their successive conquests.

Jer 51:35  The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.

Jer 51:36  Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.

Jer 51:37  And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons (jackals), an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.

Jer 51:38  They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions' whelps.

Jer 51:39  In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.

Please notice here this clear sentence of eternal death for all the wicked of Babylon and other despotic societies; if it is valid for them, it is valid for every transgressor of God’s ways. The death of the wicked is simply that – to lie down in the pit of Sheol, the place of darkness, and to sleep a perpetual (that is, never ending) sleep in the dust of the earth – a much more humane end for them than that devised by wicked men: to roast them alive, eternally, in the imaginary fires of a burning hell!

Jer 51:40  I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.

Jer 51:41  How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!

||Note: the merchants of the earth are greatly astonished at Babylon the Great’s destruction, also! Revelation 18:15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! 17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought.

Jer 51:42  The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

Jer 51:43  Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

Jer 51:44  And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.

YHVH’s Avengement of Zion

Jer 51:45  My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.

||Note: this exclamatory command of the Almighty is precisely that leveled at His people who are associated with Great Babylon of the end time! His words in this regard are loud and clear: Revelation 18:4:  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Jer 51:46  And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

Jer 51:47  Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

Jer 51:48  Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing (lament) for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the LORD.

||Note: see remarks on verse 41, above.

Jer 51:49  As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.

Jer 51:50  Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.

Jer 51:51  We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD'S house.

||Note: this statement is a singular indictment of the Roman Church, indicating its character as being uniquely parallel with these ancient “strangers” who came into the LORD’s house and destroyed it physically. The damage wrought by the Church was in our estimation far worse than that of ancient Babylon, for its destructive work was exercised on the spiritual content of the Ecclesias, beginning in Paul’s day.

In his letter to Thessalonica, Paul wrote this: 2Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

In order for there to be a “falling away,” there must first be a position of validity in something. Paul was the leader of all the Gentile converts of the Ecclesias being then established. These all began with possession of valid Truth of every sort – the saving Gospel of Christ was held and taught by all of them. But then there entered into the Ecclesias a spirit of opposition and of false doctrines.

This evil force is here documented by Paul as being a leader called “the man of sin” which should be revealed, the “son of perdition.” These words referred to a personal corrupting element which, even then, doth already work, as in 2Thessalonians 2:7, q.v.

A “son of perdition” means a son who has fallen through (as having fallen through a firm foundation, which was the Gospel) and contradicted the original teachings of Christ – changing doctrines, times, laws, observances, dogmas, and all manner of the characteristics of Truth!

Over the beginning decades of the teaching of the Gospel of Christ, vain leaders in various Ecclesias began to adopt the teachings of the pagan philosophers, all based in Babylon and Egypt, and to stray from the teachings of Christ and the Apostles, and thus “fell through” their foundations – that downfall being a fatal departure from the sure word of God.

In this same sense, the teachings of Mohammed, and of Islam cannot be meant, as some claim; Mohammed never possessed the Truth of God, never even coming close to perceiving the saving grace of Christ, and therefore had NO true “foundation” through which to fall! The identity of the “man of sin” is surely discernible from merely the comparisons brought out in this present discussion of Jeremiah 51, ignoring the volumes and heaps of ancillary writings revealing the rapacity and lawlessness of the Church!

Jer 51:52  Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

Jer 51:53  Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.

||Note: in the same sense as Babylon aspired to reach the heavens with its ziggurat (and consequently had its tongue confused), so has Catholicism mounted up to heaven with its construction of “St. Peter’s Basilica,” which is reputed to have been built with the proceeds from the sales of Indulgencies by such men as Tetzel in medieval Europe.

The pope sits in this “house of God (St. Peter’s)” AS GOD, having no peer on earth, in his own eyes, and no valid or credible critic!

Thus the papal office has been elevated into the “heavens” of their world, its chief executive officer naming himself the Vicar of Christ – or vice-Christ – which literally means “anti-Christ!” or INSTEAD of Christ, on earth!

Paul’s words again are extremely relevant: 2Thessalonians 2:4 -Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God (St. Peter’s basilica), shewing himself that he is God.

I believe it was Pope Pius XI who made the brash claim that, If I sit in the temple of God (in his mind, St. Peter’s), as the vicar of Christ (whom he believed also to be God – not Gods’ Son) then what can one say except that I AM GOD?!

Jer 51:54  A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:

||Note: the idolatry of Great Babylon is likewise condemned as we see in: Revelation 9:20: And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: 21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Jer 51:55  Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:

Jer 51:56  Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite.

||Note: similar words are written about the realms of the Harlot: Revelation 16:19: … and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Jer 51:57  And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.

Jer 51:58  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.

The Words of Jeremiah to Seraiah

Jer 51:59  The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.

Jer 51:60  So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.

It seems evident that the same words recorded here were written to the King of Babylon, and read in his presence. Then a surprising act ended their existence – an act which also has a distinct parallel to Babylon the Great!

Jer 51:61  And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words;

Jer 51:62  Then shalt thou say, O LORD, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.

Jer 51:63  And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates:

Jer 51:64  And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise  from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

||Note: even this final insult to Babylon of old has a similar response in Babylon the Great: in the latter case, she is likened to a millstone which is taken up and cast into the depths of the sea, never to rise again! The reference to this is: Revelation 18:21  And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

 Some observers of these similarities perhaps will claim that they are only random similarities, and that the Church is a GOOD institution, unworthy of such condemnation.

To such we say sincerely, Open your eyes! Consult the multiple published histories of the Roman Church through the ages. Research the “Holy Office of the Inquisition,” the papal “bulls,” the excoriations of the “hereticks” of the Church (its critics), the fate delivered by the Church upon the scholars who translated the scriptures into common languages so that the multitudes of the long-duped Papal sheep could read it and learn what the Bible really teaches, and observe to do those things to the best of their ability. Research the practices of Simony, of Indulgencies, of homosexuality of the priesthood and the nuns, of the monetary corruption of the Abbots and Priests of the Orders, and of the heartless condemnation of discordant voices to the most horrible executions!

No institution that can be conceived could have a longer history of verifiable guilt in all these matters as well as many others. Her destruction shall be as final and complete as was that of Nimrod’s Babylon, upon whose principles the Church is surely based in every way.   

<HEL 5N> ~4475 words. 

May 2014: The Keystone of God’s Promises for the Earth

Harold E. Lafferty

Ours is the age of reckless, irrational murder of innocents by “innocents.” Every so often a student enters his school with a weapon and senselessly kills or wounds several of his classmates. The searching for a motive begins in force. The shooter is often called a “loner.” Others have a wide circle of friends. What caused him to turn on his classmates? Past medical history is searched; friends are interviewed; pastors are called to newsrooms to tell of the subject’s past church activities and community service.

Questions abound. But answers are few.

Nobody seems to recall that everyone is born under sin, and that all SIN. Perhaps it was due to hatred – or envy; or bullying. Decidedly, sin is the final answer.

But the word “sin” has not surfaced once that we have heard.

Then the witnesses appear before the TV interviewer, telling of the victims in endearing terms, noting their good traits and charitable works.

Almost invariably the witnesses state that the victims are now in heaven, benefitting from God’s grace.

 They’re in a “better place,” according to the newscasters and the witnesses. And we have never heard of anyone having been assigned to “hell.” It’s amazing! Every victim who ever died has gone to heaven! At least, that is the judgment of his or her companions.

It is evidence of their pathetic, regretful, but abysmal ignorance of God’s real truth!

These folk are victims of the most egregious fraud – of deception of the worst sort – that trumpeted by the trusted “ministers” of their churches; the sheep have swallowed the lies and dishonesty that they have purveyed to their flocks.

What is the real truth about

the destiny of those who die?

It can only be determined by a careful study of GOD’S WORD – by ferreting out HIS promises to the righteous and the wicked – for both go unto one place: as Solomon wrote, in Ecclesiastes 3:20: All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

This simple, uncomplicated formula places all the dead back into the dust of the earth, from whence came we all.

In the Old Testament that place is called Sheol; in the New it is usually termed Hades.

Both are simply the grave: the place of the dead, the pit.

There is no mystery here. We see the literal fulfillment of this process at every funeral service we attend. It matters not that the words of the ministers are in direct opposition. The process cannot be stayed nor blunted. Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

We have often heard funeral eulogies in which the dearly deceased is claimed to be at that moment beside God’s throne looking down upon this scene, and sorrowing that the mourners are weeping for him or her!

Just two verses earlier than the above (in which Solomon wrote that the dead know not anything), King Solomon defined the destiny of the dead – that of ALL men and women – for ALL fit his description of them: … yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. (verse 3)

This description fits ALL the sons of men. Its harsh assessment does not indicate that all are heinous perpetrators of great and obvious transgressions. They are simply sinners. It is not in men and women to obey God in all things.

We humbly submit that this destiny is that of ALL men and women (and children) who die, and is supported by the Apostle Paul’s commentary upon the entire human race: Romans 3:23 – All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; and Romans 5:12: Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Think about this seriously. The statement refers to all the earthborns of all time and every age! Men, women and children – ALL are victims of the sentence of death which was passed upon Adam. This is true whether they actively “sin” or not; all are born in a state of alienation from God, and are essentially dead (subject to death) unless they take intelligent measures to circumvent death.

Men and women may not like the sound of these words of instruction – but they ARE indelibly INSTRUCTIVE, breathed by inspiration of the Father Himself, and must not be denied or repudiated.

A Biblical Discussion of the Destiny of Man

Instead, the destiny of the true Believer in God’s Plan for mankind and for the earth is readily available in His immutable word. It is simple and straightforward – and results in far less insult to the sinner than man’s philosophy allows.

That penalty of sin is DEATH – not an everlasting life of pleasure and security in heaven, or of everlasting torture in the “fires of hell,” or Gehenna fire. Gehenna was a garbage heap in the Valley of Hinnom in Jerusalem where fires of consumption of waste deposited in it kept the flames burning at all times – consuming the refuse of the citizens of the City.

But even that fire is not still burning. Today in Jerusalem, the Valley of Hinnom is the site of great apartment buildings and lovely landscaping. Its location is central to all of the amenities of the City, and has become a choice address for many.

So the Gehenna fire is used by Jesus and others as a metaphor for destruction of its contents. One might think that the ministers who preach an everlasting burning hellfire destiny of the wicked should have learned something of metaphor in “divinity school.” Instead, they prefer to use the figure of speech, which refers to the destiny of everyone (not just the wicked) to leverage members to their congregations, and to add revenue to their church!

By scriptural testimony, ALL people who die are consigned to the grave – or Sheol, the pit.

But for some – those who have made a Covenant with Christ in not only learning the details of the salvation which He offers, but the pathway to it, including baptism into His name, this is not the end of the story.

The destiny of those whose ways are righteous is to follow a logical, progressive pathway to God’s kingdom on the earth – first descending into the death state, being buried in Sheol (the grave) and dissolving back to the elements of the dust.

In that safe, completely Unconscious state, every Believer in Christ rests until the resurrection, when he or she shall be brought forth from the grave and gathered along with the living Believers and mustered before the Judge of all the earth, the returned Jesus Christ.

At that time of assize, their fitness for the Kingdom is determined by Him, and those adjudged righteous are awarded life eternal on His right hand. Those on the left hand are sent forth again into the world with weeping and gnashing of teeth, to live for a short time until they descend again into the dust of the earth for eternity.

For them, there is no more hope or expectation. Like the  earlier pagans who never knew or acknowledge Christ as Saviour, they are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise. Isaiah 26:14.

The Provision for Salvation

It is relatively easy and straightforward to ascertain the process of receiving the reward of the righteous; it merely requires some objective scriptural study. We shall proceed with that discussion here:

It begins by reviewing the provision God made in Eden as to “the Seed of the Woman.” Actually it begins even before that with the sentence of death which He pronounced upon the pair because of their sin; note please that the sentence was DEATH, not life. The latter decision and statement was that of the Serpent – thou shalt not surely die. Genesis 3:4.

It was a lie of the grossest kind – and brought fatal consequences upon Adam and his wife. In the “Christian” doctrine of the immortality of the soul of man, the lie of the serpent is repeated countless times in the congregations of the Church. It is as much a lie today as it was then.

Notice particularly verse 19 of Genesis 3: along with other provisions, God sentenced the pair to death in these fearful words: Genesis 3:19 - In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Those fatal words were God’s final judgment for the moment. But in order to fulfill His great Plan for the Ages, to which He had already committed, we behold His infinite mercy to His creation – His plan for redemption of certain ones from that universal sentence of death!

In his mercy the Almighty laid out a plan of salvation intended for them and all their posterity; a plan of salvation which He should clarify as time should pass.

But it would require obedience to Him and to His teachings, and as such, should not apply to every being; for many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14).

We should note, additionally, that the remedy was actually given prior to the hurtful sentence; realizing that feature of it, we can determine that these drastic events did not take the Almighty by surprise – that this Plan was in place even before the creation.

That provision is given in Genesis 3:14 - And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

The certain meaning of this is that the serpent represented sin in the flesh – the propensity of men and women to follow their own lusts as they had done in partaking of the forbidden fruit of Eden’s Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Their transgression followed the elements of sinful processes which are stated by the Apostle John, in 1John 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. These specific failures were the cause of Eve’s downfall!

The provision of the Seed of the Woman would be the Almighty’s doorway to Salvation. But it would require a long time in man’s estimation for the Plan to develop.

No further forward progress seems apparent until after the great Flood of Noah’s time.

It begins in early post-diluvian history, when it pleased the LORD to call one man to His side for humble, obedient service.

At the time when God called Abram, while he yet dwelt in Ur of Chaldea, Abram was given a widely comprehensive set of invitations and promises by God. That entire blessing of the Covenant seems to have been a unilateral one: God promised great blessings.

But Abram had no input into the provisions of it, being in deep sleep at the confirmation of it.. And it was not a mandated request from the Almighty, i.e., Abram could have ignored it, and not responded.

When he did respond to the invitation, it became known as the Abrahamic Covenant. That was the indication that Abram had gratefully accepted the proffered blessing.

The Covenant may be reduced to its parts by careful consideration. Moses wrote there …

Gen 12:1  Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

Gen 12:2  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

Gen 12:3  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

The various clauses of this Great Covenant are as follows: first, God’s invitation to Abram:

·       Get thee out of thy country, departing from your kindred and your father’s house

·       Go into a foreign land later to be shown to thee

All the remaining portions are promised blessings to him: and by implication to his progeny – or, his Seed.

·       You shall be made a great nation

·       You shall be blessed by Me (God)

·       Your name shall be made great

·       You shall be a blessing (to all men)

·       God would bless all those who blessed Abram

·       God would curse him that cursed Abram – all of them

·       In Abram (i.e., in  his progeny) would all nations of the earth receive blessing

This invitation to Abram – for such it was, not being mandatory – would be moved forward only by Abram’s responsive faith. That became Abram’s initial test of fealty to God. That faithful response in a sense confirmed the Covenant by Abram’s agreement to it.

The invitation was issued first of all to Abram because in all His creation at that time, God saw that Abram was a malleable, obedient personality with whom God could work, and was potentially a man of great faith in God.

Abram would be a faithful recipient of his blessing, and offered to the Almighty the best human agency (person, or personality) for moving forward the Plan of God in the earth.

It would move forward through one man, but the entire world would benefit from his faith. We observe how in this sequence of operation, the plan of salvation would be made available, extending potentially to ALL men and women of all nations, kindred, tongues and people.

It would be His universal Plan of Redemption from the sinful condition that had passed upon all Adam’s progeny when he transgressed God’s sole commandment. No alternative was possible: this was His only plan.

We find in subsequent study of the overall Plan of God, that this Covenant made with Abram is the foundation stone of that structure.

Embedded within it were several other superb benefits and blessings upon the people who would spring from Abram – later renamed Abraham – and through him to the entire world, i.e., to all who should exhibit the faith that Abraham exhibited.

Abram means “he who crosses over.”

Abraham means “father of the faithful.”

We easily perceive that Abram’s response of “crossing over” the river and leaving the Mesopotamian civilization made him a pioneer of sorts, entering, as he did physically, an hostile and strange land which his fathers knew not.

It was the opening move of his faithful obedience to the Almighty. In doing God’s will, Abram crossed over a boundary from the familiar to the unfamiliar – and he did it by faith.

With passing events exhibiting the continued faithful obedience to God by Abram, He changed Abram’s name to Abraham; he became the father of that entire genus of people in whom faith in God took root, became enlightened by Him, and followed His ways to the best of their ability – a condition that, unfortunately, did not remain in effect, however, for the entire history of his descendants.

Only a superficial consideration would reveal that the entire world would benefit ONLY from the outcome of the Covenant to Abraham, for God made a covenant with no other.

We suspect that the early nations recognized this fact and were extremely jealous because God had elected a Chosen People – a select People who should spring forth from a supremely faithful man by divine calling and election.

We believe also that this jealousy and envy has persisted to the present day, manifesting itself in the vicious opposition to Israel that we shall review in some detail below.

Subsequent study reveals the multiple features of The Covenant, filled in by YHVH as the years advanced with Abraham’s descendants – the Royal Line being designated as being exclusively through his son Isaac, and Isaac’s son Jacob and his twelve sons (Tribes), particularly the Tribe of Judah.

These dependent parts of the Covenant may be illustrated by a verse by verse examination of Genesis, and later writings of God.

Such an examination brings forth a brief list of these features as relates to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

These follow, but are not exhaustive. Later blessings completely parallel to these were applied to David, specifically – not included here.

Land         Abraham: Gen 13:15, 17; 15:18; 17:8

                 Isaac: Gen 26:3

Abram’s Seed Abraham: Gen 13:16; 15:4, 5; 17:

                                  Gen 2, 4; 22:16-18; 24:7

                       Isaac: Gen 26:4; 27:29;

                       Jacob: Gen 32:12; Gen 35:11,12

Blessing of all nations in him      Abraham: Gen 18:18

Blessing for blessing – cursing for cursing

                               Abraham: Gen 12:3;

                               Isaac: Gen 27:29

Covenant with Abraham            Abraham: Gen 17:4-7

God’s New Covenant with Israel   Abraham: Gen 17:19-21,

the everlasting covenant

It is easy to extrapolate these vital sub-parts of the Promise to Abraham. Each one serves an integral function in the entire Covenant; the fulfillment of each completes another portion of the entire blessing. And in every way, each part depends upon the others. None may be omitted in the successful conclusion of Abraham’s great blessing – both upon himself, his People, his Seed (which is Christ: Galatians 3:16), and ultimately the world at large ONLY through Christ’s work of redemption – a provision that is accessible to ALL men and women of the earth who should accept His offer. He famously said, Come unto Me, ALL ye who labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, in Matthew 11:28.

In this provision we see the merciful and compassionate offer of salvation which was head-lined and seen as prototypical in one ancient life: that life was the life of Abraham, the friend of God, and conveyor of the Plan to future generations of faithful believers in God through his ultimate Seed, which became Christ Jesus.

In this manner, the Plan of God’s salvation developed only through the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – the patriarchs of salvation itself.

Men of all ages have discounted the children of Israel as being of  much account.

But in reality, only through them came the Provider of life, the Lord Jesus Christ.

As time progressed, the Saviour was born in Bethlehem – the appointed village of Judea.

He fled to Egypt to escape Herod’s murderous plan of extermination.

He returned to Nazareth with Joseph and Mary and grew to manhood in that obscure village in the despised Galilee of the Gentiles.

At age 30, he submitted to the baptism of John, and was attested to be God’s Son by the appearance of a dove alighting upon Him, and a thunderous voice proclaiming, This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.

His turbulent ministry was purposefully rejected by the prominent Jews of His day and He was crucified on a tree.

But He came forth from the tomb after three days and nights, and ascended to heaven bodily. At that time He told His disciples Whither I go ye cannot come. Matthew 13:33.

But He had also assured them that in My Father’s house (the coming kingdom, which He would establish at His Second Coming) there are many dwelling places (John 14:3), and that He was going away to prepare a place for you (in that kingdom).

But that did not imply for one moment that they should follow Him to heaven – they had already been told that they could not do so – but that He would return to them: I will come again, and receive you  unto Myself (so that) Where I am (i.e., back upon the earth), there ye may be also (John 14:3).

In this clear instruction, He assured them that the provision for His being again among them was dependent upon His return from heaven to the earth, and that their reward would not be in heaven but upon the earth. It was necessary for Him to ascend to His Father in order to prepare their dwelling places, but He would award these to them upon His return.

From what has happened in the interim, we can easily see that His sojourn at His Father’s right hand would result in the historical development of the conditions on the earth that should make His return not only necessary but expedient and profitable for His followers.

Reference to this clear provision is made by the Prophet Isaiah in two passages: Isaiah 40:10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 11 Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

Can one visualize His Second Coming? How is it to take place?

At His ascension into the heavens, two angels appeared to the wondering disciples, and told them precisely in what manner He should return unto them: Acts 1:10  … two men (angels) stood by them in white apparel; 11  Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

At that time, the Jews were destined to have their Temple burned and themselves deported to the slave markets of the world in retribution for their rejection of their Messiah at His first coming. In 70 AD Imperial Rome sent legions of soldiers and uprooted the Jews from their place and dispersed them into the nations for nearly two thousand years.

And Now, the End of the Story

But in these end times, in response to several prophecies foretelling their return, they have come back to their homeland in great numbers. They have lately formed their own nation – Israel – and have maintained themselves quite well against all odds, undoubtedly with the divine assistance of their specially appointed caretaker, Michael the Archangel of Daniel 12:1,2.

Israel now (since 1967) controls the Mount of Olives for the first time in two millennia – the place to which their Messiah is destined to return.

During their end time history as a re-established nation, Israel has suffered extreme danger from its neighbors round about them – persecution, terrorism, threats, vilification, resistance, wars, and insurrection. Nearly every decade they are threatened by active aggression from their enemies. Their course of survival has not been smooth.

But scripture shows that their Father is mindful of all these threats and ill intentions of their neighbors. A prominent prophecy of the end times proves His attention to His people: speaking to one of their most vehement latter day foes, He tells Edom through the Prophet Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 35:12  And thou shalt know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume. 13  Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them.

One of the most prominent features of this sub-set of provisions of God’s Covenant to Abraham is the Blessing-for-Blessing provision and its counterpart, the provision of Cursing-for-Cursing. One writer (Bill Salus) has referred to this provision as God’s Foreign Policy – a label with which we concur.

We can see evidence of its operational effects throughout history.

First, the cursing-for-cursing:

1.     Pharaoh was their first persecutor, enslaving the children of Israel and resisting the People leaving Egypt – and was cursed in having the firstborn of all Egypt slain, and in losing his pursuing army to the Red Sea.

2.   Amalek resisted Israel during the Exodus, becoming its first external armed enemy – and is cursed for the ages.

3.   Balak, king of Moab, hired Balaam to curse Israel – but in the finality, he could but bless them!

4.   Balaam finally devised a scheme to harm Israel – then became infamous for the whoredoms he advised.

5.    Edom, Moab and Ammon collectively “cursed” Israel – but themselves became accursed and desolate for centuries. Their captivity is prophesied to be “returned” and to be finally destroyed by the returned Messiah/Redeemer of Israel.

6.   The Philistines fought Israel savagely for years – but where are the Philistines today?

7.    Tyre and Sidon were rivals to Jerusalem, and jealous of her God – and passed into the dustbin of history.

8.   Assyria took the Ten Tribes captive – then later disappeared as a people and nation.

9.   Babylon destroyed God’s Temple, and took the Two Tribes captive – and was miraculously overthrown by Medo-Persia.

10.            Greece oppressed the Maccabees – and was overthrown by Rome.

11.        Rome destroyed the Second Temple and sacked Jerusalem – and passed off the scene.

12.      The Muslims treated Jews as “dhimmi” (second class citizens) –and has suffered (and shall yet suffer) greatly for their arrogance.

13.        The Crusaders sallied forth to “liberate Jerusalem,” killing thousands of Jews on their journeys – and failed miserably after 300 years of violence and death.

14.              Martin Luther turned on the Jews, cursing them in the name of “religion” – and lives in infamy for his trouble.

15.                 The Church exhibited extreme vehemence against the Jewish State – still even today maintaining its opposition to Israel’s possession of Jerusalem. It judgment impends.

16.             The Holy Inquisition massacred thousands of Jews as infidels – for which the eternal fate of that venerable institution is sealed forever.

17.            Spain expelled the Jews – and nearly immediately lost its prominent place among the nations.

18.            Portugal did the same – and its smaller empire vanished.

19.       The Turks oppressed God’s Holy Land for 400 years – but were overthrown by Great Britain and their empire ruined.

20.    Germany conducted the Holocaust – and was beaten to a pulp for its trouble.

21.     Great Britain reneged on its promise of creating an homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine – and lost its empire within a short period.

22.           The United Nations Organization, although originally creating the State of Israel by legal means, has condemned Israel in fully two thirds of its decisions in the Security Council – and shall be completely demolished by the coming crises.

23.                Psalm 83 predicts a resurgence of many of the above – and foretells that they shall be as a chaparral (a desiccated, rolling thing in the desert) carried about by the wind of destruction.

24.                    The enormous forces of the Gogian host shall come against God’s people – and will be stopped dead in the process, and be buried in a massive grave in Israel without survivors.

25.          The entire world shall develop an even more intense hatred for Israel – but all nations shall be dissolved in favor of the Universal Kingship of Jesus Christ.

26.                 The real enemy in all these agencies of resistance to God’s Plan is human nature itself, which is described as Satanas (a false accuser, or a liar), and Diabolos (devil, in the context of false accuser or slanderer) – and “his” destiny is to be cast into the metaphorical lake of fire and brimstone from which he shall never emerge.

The Jewish people have been blessed in time past as well – blessing-for-blessing. The examples are admittedly few.

1.     The Pharaoh who treated Joseph well was greatly blessed by Joseph’s management of the kingdom.

2.   Cyrus the Persian decreed the return of the Jews to their homeland and paid for the reconstruction of the Second Temple – for which he was blessed.

3.   The United States has stood by Israel since Harry S Truman recognized the State eleven minutes after it was proclaimed – and has been greatly blessed in the intervening years.

4.   There may be a few others which have not come to mind.

 The clear picture of such passages as Isaiah 63: 1-6 is, at the coming crisis, that NONE of the nations who have supported Israel earlier in its current existence shall stand with Israel and with Messiah in His violent conquest of the nations round about – in this cited case, the Edomites (“Palestinians”) of Bozrah, and by extension, those of Moab and Ammon (Jordan), Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, the Sinai, Gaza, the Saudis, and Kuwait, along with the Gulf Emirates (?). The vast area stretches from the River Nile to the River Euphrates and from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Persia and the Indian Ocean (that latter boundary being indeterminable before the fact).

We deem this to be Messiah’s first order of business – securing His Land and People.

But other serious challenges follow in close order.

In the Gogian affair, divine intervention is the operative power and shall neither invite nor require ANY outside intervention – although the indications surely are, that there would be none available to Israel if it were needed. It ends with the complete dissolution of the Gogian confederacy and their burial east of Galilee in Hamon-gog. Ezekiel 38, 39.

As to Armageddon, which we view as the confrontation of the Kingdom of Christ as it expands its principles and doctrines to the West, primarily, and against the Apostasy in particular (Antichrist in person!), ALL nations shall be in opposition to Him. But the Lamb of God shall prevail; His principle antagonist (Great Babylon) being destined to be destroyed as thoroughly as if it were a millstone cast into the sea.

Psalm 2 seems to address the attitude of “the rest of the world” – all purely pagan even in open admission – which shall resist His hegemony perhaps as thoroughly as did Esau, Gog, and Rome.

The ancient Covenant which the Almighty made with Abraham stands firmly and prominently in these end times. It has never been abrogated or changed in one detail and is as certain of fruition today as it was in 2,000 BC at its first statement! Nations shall rage and resist His rule, and refuse His blessing … but in the finality, the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea … and all nations shall call Him blessed.   <HEL 4N>   ~5100 words.

April, 2014: The Stars as Witness to God’s Eternal Truth

H. E. Lafferty

Genesis 1:14 informs that on the fourth day of Creation, God created lights in the firmament of heaven – infinitely variable entities which we know as the brilliant heavenly bodies which festoon the night skies with millions of luminous points of light.

On that same day, He created the greater light (the sun) and the lesser light (the moon) to rule over day and night.

We are compelled to believe that the arrangement of the stars of heaven is not simply chaotic, random happenstance, as scientists currently believe.

There is a much deeper implication than the superficial information that He created the stars as discrete bodies. The arrangement of the stars is also important – their formation into the Zodiacal signs of each progressive month, which apparently has been recognized and valid from the earliest time.

The vastness of the universe is attested by the sheer realization that these constellations have not changed for thousands of years; they are so far away, their movement compared to that of the earth is hardly perceptible by astronomers even today.

But let us be certain of the actual use of the Zodiac from early times. The later, superstitious, and seemingly “learned” view of the Zodiac as heavenly influence in every life on earth is a corruption of the earlier value of the pattern of stars.

Astrology, as it is known, has not proven to be valuable or even useful as any sort of predictor of fortune or behavior; these pagan beliefs and practices developed from corruption of the original message given by man from God. And as man’s “guide” to his own future, they are condemned out of hand by the word of God.

As usual, degradation of any principle is the norm – not elevation – the basic reason that Evolutionary Biologists cannot give even one example of a beneficial mutation of any organism, militating for improvement of a species (yet they pin their entire thesis on exactly that possibility).

Astrology is not a science. Astronomy is – and it is extremely useful and valid – although not all its present conclusions are so! As with most science, it is a progressive effort to understand the universe and its makeup – a work not yet complete.

This discussion has nothing to do with astrology – or science, for that matter – but with the word of God as displayed in the heavens, declaring the glory of God, and showing forth His handiwork.

Three scriptural references suffice to show that this is one of its purposes:

Psalm 19:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Psa_50:6  And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.

Psa_97:6  The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.

Since the heavens are entirely silent to our ears, these declarations must be by means of our sensory mechanisms of sight and memory – by display, and arrangement, and constitution of the stars of the heavens.

The earliest recognition (explanation) of the Zodiacal “signs” (by which we mean their configurations or arrangement) is lost in the mists of antiquity.

Several of these constellations are mentioned in the scriptures without explanation. People in general had known of these constellations for eons; and they had real meaning to the ancients. And the significance they projected was not astrological, or reflective of superstition in any way. Their use in navigation is validated, as was their reflection of seasonal change.

Scholars have researched the Zodiac and its meaning from early writings, and found that these signs were apparently given by the Almighty to man as an indelible and unchallengeable revelation of His plan of salvation. They were a record which could not be erased, or altered – or corrupted in any way, untouchable by man, isolated in the vast reaches of space.

If this thesis has validity (there are some detractors, of course), they vividly illustrated the vital elements of God’s truth on the eternally repetitive scroll of night, rolling slowly from east to west, viewable night by night, month by month, year by year, in identical format, from every point on the earth, and to all its peoples.

But only a few investigators have retained the understanding of their true value.

Like mathematics, astronomy is an objective science. All scientific principles and facts have been progressively discovered by men and women as the abilities and aptitudes of certain ones have advanced – each one building on the work of previous researchers: re-proving, re-calculating, disproving, or validating their earlier findings, and building on those principles.

All these are in actuality building toward a fuller understanding of the mathematics and physics which was invented and established by the Almighty – and utilized by Him in His magnificent creation of the physical universe.

The extremely early reference to the stars of heaven having been given for signs is without question: Genesis 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

We learn from this that the heavenly bodies were furnished by the Almighty for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years … and for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth …

In this basic revelation, we should be able to discern that the word “light” can be taken in two ways. The weak light of the stars furnish little light upon the earth; of course, that brightness is greatly enhanced when the moon is visible.

But is there implication also of intellectual (and spiritual) enlightenment in this statement, too?

We can be sure of that stunning fact; but as moderns we have lost sight of the message, according to men who have researched the constellations and their original revelations to men and women from the earliest time, well before the art of writing was invented as a means of transmitting knowledge.

This indelibility of God’s will was thus assured of not passing away or of corruption as to His revelation of the pathway to redemption – although astrology is certainly an attempt to subvert its meaning – to interpret it for selfish, fleshly purposes.

We therefore reject the shallow, insubstantial conclusions of the astrologers as useless drivel.

Not so with the astronomers – the scientists who observe, record and try to interpret the vastness and measureless expanses of space and time which they laboriously view through their sophisticated telescopes and spectroscopes.

Their testimony is a genuine credit to the Almighty’s overriding creative might – His genius and overpowering wisdom and strength.

Joseph and His Star

In Genesis 37:9, we read the statement of Joseph: Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

The “eleven stars” are eleven of the constellations of the Zodiac, with Joseph’s “star” comprising the twelfth. This seems to have been understood from earliest time – that the reference to “star” was really reference to a constellation of the Zodiac.

Some investigators seem certain that each “standard” of each Tribe represented one of the twelve constellations in later history.

In Joseph’s dream, eleven of the constellations made obeisance (humbled themselves) before HIS star (constellation).

These represented the later humiliation of Joseph’s eleven brothers who had persecuted him and sold him into Egypt.

In Genesis 42:6, the prophecy was literally fulfilled, when we read that Joseph’s brethren bowed down to Joseph when they first came down into Egypt to buy grain, for Joseph had been made the second ruler over Egypt by that time.

So, what of the Signs, or Constellations of the Zodiac?

The brilliant and exhaustive researcher E. W. Bullinger, studied this subject intensively. His findings were published in a book dedicated just to this subject. It is still available as a used copy, although it must now be out of print.

A brief but sufficiently informative synopsis of it may be found in his great work, The Companion Bible, which I use in my own basic Bible research and analysis of God’s word. The heavenly signs [entitled “The Stars Also”] are discussed at some depth in his Appendix 12, page 15.

As do most such studies of antiquity, this set of conclusions by Bullinger has detractors. But these mostly cite their beliefs of “fallen angels,” supernatural “giants” (Nephalim), the Trinity, and a personal devil, as disagreeing with Bullinger’s general thesis about the Zodiacal signs.

In any case, a consideration of his definition of the constellations is profitable; if it is even nearly accurate, the signs tell a wonderfully comprehensive story of creation, the Fall, God’s promises to Abram and his Seed, the coming of Messiah, God’s plan with Israel, and the entire process of redemption, ending with Messiah’s kingdom on the earth.

In his considerations, Bullinger also gives credence to a personal devil, or Satan. But we easily accommodate to that language realizing that such are references to the fleshly rebellion toward God and His ways inherent in all men.

If such researchers – there are several others who hold the same views – are correct, the heavens display a wonderfully comprehensive body of information about God’s complete plan from beginning to infinite time.

As a summary of this short article, we present below a chart illustrating the Zodiacal constellations, their constituent parts, and the principles and facts which they are purported to illustrate for all mankind.

If these are valid – and we see no reason to doubt that they are – their corruption by astrologers and stargazers is inconsequential and irrelevant to their core purpose of informing mankind of the foundation of, the loss of, and the recapture of the way of salvation – unchangeable, unchallengeable, and immutable in the heavens!

The overall message of the “three books” of the constellations is as follows:

Book 1: The Redeemer - His first coming

   Virgo – The prophecy of the promised seed

Libra – The redeemer’s work (grace)

Scorpio – The redeemer’s conflict

Sagittarius – The prophecy fulfilled

Book 2: The Redeemed - His work and its results

   Capricornus – The prophecy of deliverance

Aquarius – Results of work bestowed

Pisces – Results of work enjoyed

Aries – The prophesied deliverance fulfilled

Book 3: The Redeemer – His second coming      

   Taurus        - The prophecy of coming judgment

Gemini – The redeemer’s reign of glory

Cancer – The redeemer’s possession safe

Leo – The prophecy of triumph fulfilled      

There is a complex progression through all these stages in the finer details of each constellation, but that study will only be considered further if there is sufficient interest in it.

Signs in the Stars, too –

in Conjunction with the Coming Blood Moon Eclipses?

At the time of this writing, much of the world is anticipating the four successive blood moon eclipses which are scheduled to appear on Passover and Tabernacles of both 2014 and 2015.

Luke records the words of Jesus referring to the time succeeding the fulfillment of the “times of the Gentiles,” as follows: Luke 21:25  And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26  Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 27  And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

These words inform us that the “stars” also shall exhibit signs of the sobriety of the times (?) and possibly of impending disaster [meteorite collisions, fly-bys, concomitant gravitational effects upon the earth (?)], and other potentially deadly consequences. We wonder what these “signs” can be; and we patiently wait for these expected, fearfully unique, unprecedented events with faith and confidence in His Salvation.

DISCLAIMER:

Once again, the above information has nothing whatever to do with ASTROLOGY which was known to have been in use eons ago, and is condemned by God’s word.

Isaiah 47: 13 speaks of astrologers and others such as “stargazers” in a bad light, showing that their efforts are entirely useless in determining future events – a clear affront to the sovereignty and authority of the Almighty.

The remaining seven references to astrologers are all in Daniel, and in each case point to their ranking along with soothsayers, Chaldeans (these were professional magicians – sleight of hand specialists), and others also called magicians; all these were pagan professions and sought other guidance than that of the God of heaven.

As such they are condemned; believers are counseled to avoid them at all costs.     <HEL  4N> ~2150 words.  [eTPL entry, April, 2014]

March, 2014: The Crucial Prophecy of Obadiah

Harold E. Lafferty        

Obadiah is the fifth shortest book in the Bible, with one chapter, 21 verses, and 670 words in English. He is believed to have been a contemporary of Jeremiah, in part. The prophet presumes his readers’ familiarity with the history of Israel in his revelation to us. And of course he utilizes the ancient names of nations and peoples in his inspired work.

As do all the other prophets, he knows that in the end time (when much of his prophecy takes place) we will be able to decipher the areas of today to which he is referring.

His work is far more extensive than it might at first appear, covering as it does, Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, their Babylonian captivity, their 70 AD dispersion to all nations, their troublesome years of dispersion to the ends of the earth, their re-gathering to their Land, and their end time conflicts. All this in 670 words!

Our detailed study will reveal these connections.

Along with Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 35, Obadiah becomes one of the key records left to Believers who live in the end time, and who are seeking information about the final tribulations – assaults – upon God’s people, Israel, and their ultimate triumph.

Without its benefit every scholar would know less about Psalm 83, one of the most informative prophecies of the end time, than he otherwise would know. He also would lack important details relating to Isaiah 63 and others.

We see in all these accounts the prosecution of the curse-for-curse clause of the foreign policy elaborated by the Almighty to Abram long before his people became a nation. That text is found in Genesis 12:

Genesis 12:1-3 – Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Unfortunately for Esau, there is no blessing-for-blessing benefit in Obadiah’s account, for Esau never blesses his brother Jacob! When Jacob returned to Canaan with his wives and family, Esau did treat Jacob civilly. But beyond that instance there was only animosity.

We see that the promise also has another infinite aspect: in thee (Abram) shall ALL families of the earth be blessed … a long term prophecy which Abraham should realize only after his resurrection from the dead.

This ancient law concerning the blessing and cursing of Israel still stands; it is of much longer standing than Israel itself, for it impends upon Abram’s seed from that early time in Ur. It has never been vacated or revoked.

So let us examine the prophecy of Obadiah …

Obadiah 1:1  The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.

Several points of discussion arise:

The “we” of this verse who have heard “a rumour from the LORD” are Obadiah and Jeremiah, as evidenced below.

But who are “the nations (heathen)?” They are Edom itself, for one (verse 2). But additionally these are referred to as “all the men of thy confederacy” in Obadiah 1:7.

So, several other nations are to be involved with Edom in a compact against Israel. Their identity is affirmed by other inspired prophecies.

Those who rise up against her (Israel) in battle indicate all the heathen (nations) which shall confederate against Israel in this narrative. These are limited in number in this  initial conflict, but are clearly identified, as we shall see with further investigation.

All these are to be summarily destroyed!

 Testimony of the Prophet Jeremiah

This dire message is repeated by Obadiah’s contemporary Jeremiah, projecting even broader implications: he employs some of the same terminology ...

Jeremiah 49:14  I have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together (form a confederation), and come against her (Israel), and rise up to the battle. 15 For, lo, I will make thee (Edom) small among the heathen, and despised among men. 16 Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD. 17 Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.

This destruction is decreed by Jeremiah to come by the hand of one Power – Israel.

Further, it is decreed to fall upon all the nations of the conspiracy against Israel.

Obadiah 1: 10-14 pinpoints Israel as the nation which Edom and its confederates confront.

Just as the Prophet Amos states in Amos 3:7 – Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but (except) he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

By these words of Obadiah and Jeremiah, He has served adequate notice upon Edom and his confederates. They are now without excuse.

It is not the responsibility of the Almighty to warn them further, although the likelihood of their heeding His warning is infinitesimal – for their “holy book,” the Koran – does not contain this warning!

But who ARE these confederates?

We can easily determine their specific identities by reference to the companion text – Psalm 83, which names them explicitly as Egypt, Assyria (Syria/Iraq), Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the South of Israel (Bedouin) including the Sinai Peninsula (Salafists). Psalm 83: 6-8.

Even though all these are long-standing enemies of the LORD, these specific areas have never coalesced to become united enemies of Israel in all history; but they are primed to do so this day – to confirm their disastrously ill-fated intent to cut them (Israel) off from being a nation that the name of Israel be no more in remembrance. (Psalm 83:4; cf. also Obadiah 1:18)

Obadiah now repeats the sentence of the Almighty upon Edom:

Oba 1:2  Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

Two points are evident in these words: Esau is to be greatly diminished in importance among the coalition, and he is to become greatly despised.

We believe that both these conditions are in effect today.

The “Palestinians” have been greatly diminished by having killed each and by having been killed in internecine warfare and/or terrorist attacks upon Israel.

 They have also become greatly despised by their neighboring Arab (host) countries as clearly expressed by their having been detained in squalid, overcrowded refugee camps after either being dispelled from Israel or fleeing from the warfare that was impending, especially in 1948 and 1967.

This was a time when their “leaders” in the surrounding countries advised them to leave their homes for a little time until the mighty Arab armies vanquished the pitiful Jews.  They were mistakenly promised that after the (expected) great Arab victory they would be permitted to return to their homes and claim the property of the slain Israelis as well.

That never came about. Those who fled to nearby countries are mostly still housed there more than seventy five years later as squalid tenants in vast encampments of tents in the “West Bank,” in Jordan, in Lebanon and in Syria. These literally currently inhabit the “curtains” (tents) of Habakkuk 3:7  I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains (tents) of the land of Midian did tremble.  

They are thus despised and rejected by their hosts – and utilized as pawns by their more numerous Arab kinsmen – the cause d’être of the continuing conflict. And they largely camp near the border of Israel as if they were a continuing threat, as in Obadiah 1:7.

Author Bill Salus, in Psalm 83: The Missing Prophecy Revealed [La Quinta (CA), Prophecy Depot Publ. Co., 2013], p. 187, well summarizes the Edomites’ diminution: “They [the Edomites] gave what help they could to Nebuchadnezzar, and exulted in the destruction of Jerusalem, stirring the bitterest indignation in the hearts of the Jews (Lamentations 4:21; Ezekiel 25:12; 35:3ff; Obadiah 1:10ff). The Edomites pressed into the then evacuated lands in the South of Judah. In 300 BC, Mt. Seir with its capital Petra, fell into the hands of the Nabateans. West of the Arabah the country they occupied came to be known by the Greek name of Idumaea, and the people as Idumeans. Hebron, their chief city, was taken by Judas Maccabeus in 165 BC (I Maccabees 4:29, 61; 5:65). In 126 BC, the country was subdued by John Hyrcanus, who compelled the people to become Jews and to submit to circumcision. Antipas, governor of Idumaea, was made procurator of Judea, Samaria and Galilee by Julius Caesar. He paved the way to the throne for his son Herod the Great. With the fall of Judah under the Romans, Idumaea disappears from history.”

A few of these peoples had migrated further northward into Judea and Samaria, and remain there today as “Palestinians.” There is a distinct remnant of Edom within this group.

Oba 1:3  The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?

Oba 1:4  Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

The designation of “pride” here is superbly appropriate. They are possessed with the firm Islamic conviction that they are greatly superior to the Jews, and unconquerable by them in the long run.

They spuriously claim long-prior habitation of the Land of Promise, some claiming to have been residents since 5,000 BC! Their actual decline is seen indicated in verse 2, where they are diminished, and in verse 4, where they are to be brought down by the LORD Himself!

A sure mark of their “pride” is their fanatic slogan of “Allahu Akbar,” which is shouted loudly whenever any of them sets off a suicide bomb vest to kill Israelis. The phrase means, “Allah is greater” – meaning greater than the God of the Jews or any other god.

Pride, of course, begets hatred. The residual hatred of Israel can be seen readily in the press releases and verbal boasts of the “Palestinians” every day. Their latest proclamation matches their claim, since 1967, that they will never recognize the Jewish State. This determination festers and infects their idealism to the point of tiresomeness; soon their hatred will have an end in these irrevocable words of Obadiah!

Oba 1:5  If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?

Oba 1:6  How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!

Esau is about to disappear from history altogether! These words illustrate the thoroughness with which Edom shall be destroyed. He is “searched out … sought up” to the last man, as verse 18 will declare: … there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it. Obadiah 1:18.

Oba 1:7  All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee  (you “Palestinians”) even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee (your confederates) have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.

 The men of their confederacy in our opinion include themselves as a constituent of the ten entities so neatly designated in Psalm 83: 6 The tabernacles of Edom (South Jordan), and the Ishmaelites (Saudi Arabia); of Moab (Jordan), and the Hagarenes (Saudi Arabia); 7 Gebal (Lebanon), and Ammon (Jordan), and Amalek (the Negev); the Philistines (Gaza) with the inhabitants of Tyre (Lebanon); 8 Assur (Assyria, or Syria/Iraq) also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot (Jordan).

The list is startlingly current, and replete with the names of every enemy which is now in hot conflict (or potentially so) with Israel; and this particular alignment has never occurred in prior history! The correlation with Obadiah is undisputable. And this is especially so when one considers the narrative of Isaiah 63: 1-6, which gives intimate details of their final conquest – of Edom’s bloody destruction by Messiah, Who treads them down as grapes in a winepress.

The deceit and prevalence of Edom’s confederates is obvious today. The “Palestinians” are being used by their “friends” of the Islamic world. People without a state – contrived as they may be – are vulnerable to nearly any assault upon them. That is one reason that they are pushing for the world to award them a state of their own – and for Israel to make impossible concessions to them in that pursuit.

Oba 1:8  Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding (their mistaken convictions) out of the mount of Esau? 9 And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. 10 For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

 The words in that day indicate the final existence of Edom – the end times.

Surely the words wise men … of Edom are said in irony, for the remainder of the record proves that that there are NONE wise in Edom.

Their “wisdom” is the “understanding” of Islam – an entirely spurious, pagan view of things of the world of Idumea as to its pride, its superiority, its invincibility – all of which are false!

Yes, their leaders DO think of themselves as “mighty men,” but that, too, is ironic. They are the “weak” who, in the 3rd chapter of Joel, the prophet, relating his words to this same era, says of their preparation for war, Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.           

Note the specific reason given for Esau’s being cut off; it is for thy violence against thy brother Jacob (that) shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. The sentence is one of obliteration – of Esau’s complete loss of the patience and mercy of the Almighty, having divested himself of the gracious offer of His salvation, though it is freely given to all men.

Therefore, Esau’s violence against his brother Jacob will be repaid in kind – by violence being done to Esau. Those who curse you (Israel) I will curse. A curse for a curse, indeed!

 The next portion of Obadiah’s prophetic narrative names the specific transgressions marking Esau’s historic violence against his brother Jacob:

Oba 1:11  In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. 12 But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. 13 Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity; 14 Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.

This scathing list of “thou shouldest nots” is comprehensive, and extremely condemnatory of Esau! In so refusing to assist Judah’s children, they were “as one of them” by militant association.

 Esau stood back when the invading strangers (Babylon) carried away captives of Judah … and did not try to help Israel resist Babylon’s army or its people to escape captivity. It was considered a dire transgression even though those armies came down upon Judah at the Father’s behest. Esau stepped over the acceptable line in “standing back” and not assisting Judah.

• And when those same strangers appropriated the substance of Jerusalem to themselves … entering the vacated City and helping themselves to the abandoned loot.

• And approved of Judah’s captivity,  and their being made a stranger to their land … for their approval of Judah’s captivity was proven by Esau’s failure to assist his brother.

• And blatantly rejoiced over the misfortune of Judah in the day of her destruction … their glee reflecting their delight with the oppression of Judah – not sorrowing , as they should have done.

• And spoke proudly, rejoicing, vaunting themselves over Judah in the day of her destruction … a response which illustrated their joy at Judah’s great calamity – always a forbidden attitude.

• Should not have occupied the vacated, ruined City within Jerusalem’s gates … as the conquered City and the Jews’ properties which were left behind were not open to scavengers and looters as the people of Esau proved themselves.

• Should not have looked favorably on Judah’s affliction in the day of their calamity … in the doing of which Esau agreed with the aggressors, Babylon, that Judah was getting its just dues. But they were not suitable judges of Judah’s just dues.

• Nor have laid claim to Judah’s substance as spoil in the day of their calamity … rapaciously looting the vacated Jewish properties, taking everything that was valuable as if they were the conquerors and exactors of justice for Judah –  and as being justly due the spoils of war; they were not.

• Nor have stood capturing those who fled away, striving to escape … actively and willingly assisting the Babylonian forces to capture and imprison and enslave the children of Judah.

• And should not have delivered captives to the invaders in Judah’s day of distress … even actively intercepting the fleeing children of Judah, and delivering them up to the Babylonians, likely for a monetary reward.

This all-inclusive indictment clearly illustrates the perpetual animosity and hatred of Esau for Jacob. It is no wonder that it is recalled that, “Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated,” as pronounced by the Almighty in the words of Paul in Romans 9:13. The just basis for this judgment is that Esau despised his birthright so thoroughly that he sold it to Jacob for a bowl of stew.

 Verse 11 most likely refers to the request of the Children of Israel asking permission to pass through the land of Edom with great discipline and high demeanour as they made their way toward Canaan during the Exodus from Egypt, but were refused by Esau from doing so.

The account is in Numbers 20: 14-21, and illustrates the heartless treatment of the Israelites by Esau on that occasion, when they “stood on the other side” of their boundary and refused to allow Israel to pass through their land.

Num 20:20  And he (the king of Edom) said, Thou (Israel) shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him.

That was one of Esau’s most notable affronts to the people of God, for it made their journey more arduous as they were then required to circle around Edom to enter the Land further north.

Verse 12 of this series contains an hidden recognition of the three waves of destruction suffered by Judah as noted by commentator Bill Salus (ibid., p. 193).

1. “The day of his captivity:” memorializes the first Babylonian attack in 606 BC. At this time Daniel and some intellectuals, as well as Judah’s king and many courtiers were deported to Babylon at this time.

2. “The day of his destruction:” speaks to the second wave of the captivity of more Jews, and the catastrophic destruction of the Temple of Solomon on Tisha b’Av of 586 BC.

3. “The day of distress:” was the third and last deportation in 582 BC. In this way a large Jewish population was shifted to Babylon, and many of them did not elect to return to Judea at the edict of return under Cyrus. These Jews were recovered from Iraq primarily between August, 1949, and the end of 1952 – at a time when the Iraqi government allowed its Jews to leave the country, and nearly every Iraqi Jew made Aliyah to Israel! (cf., Isaiah 11: 11 – “Elam and Shinar” being the operative loci of the Iraqi Diaspora.

It is notable that the researcher E. W. Bullinger (Companion Bible) points out that each of these three waves of deportation and associated exile lasted 70 years, and that at the end of each period a contingency of Jews returned to the land of Israel on a perfect schedule, each contingent having been exiled for 70 years in a staggered fashion beginning and ending at the exact various appropriate times!

Could these be the three specific occasions when the doomed kingdom of Judah was to be overturned, overturned, overturned … with the effects of those three upheavals which ended the kingdom of God on the earth lasting until He come Whose right it is to reclaim the throne of David? 

We believe this understanding is feasible and applicable, for the kingdom never has existed since that time so as to be available once, and again, and yet again for overturning.

All told, three final kings were placed on the throne of Judah by Babylon during these phases, and all three proved unacceptable and were overthrown by the Babylonian overlords and taken into captivity.

In the finality, this era was the final, serial destruction of the kingdom of Judah; it would not be restored until the end time when David My Servant should restore the throne of His father David, and resume the Kingship of Israel; cf., Isaiah 37:35; Ezekiel 34:23, 24; 37:25.

The passage relating the details of this threefold upheaval is found in Ezekiel 21:25 - And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel (Zedekiah), whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, 26 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. 27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it (the throne and kingdom): and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.

 Verse 13 is also interesting. How did this occasion arise?

Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;

The account probably refers to the terrible time of calamity during the Roman occupation of Judea just prior to the birth of Christ until the destruction of 70 AD. The Edomites “entered the gate of My people” by having one of their number placed upon the throne over Israel, first in the person of Antipater in 47 BC – a mandatory and unilateral action by Caesar.

He was followed by Herod the Great – an Edomite/Nabatean. Herod re-worked the Temple of Nehemiah which had fallen into disrepair to please the restive Jews. His rapacious life is best epitomized by the slaughter of all male children in Bethlehem up to the age of two years in his desperate attempt to slay the infant Jesus. His successors likewise were mixtures of Edomite and Nabatean blood who had been given control over Judah, much to their delight and satisfaction.

But what of “laying hands on their (the Jews’) substance?” The ham-fisted taxation system of the Romans did indeed “lay hands on” the Jews’ riches, often reducing them to poverty and even committing them to prison. The Publicans were tax-farmers of the first water, and were hated throughout the country. Such an one was Matthew before his calling!

For all these atrocities, Esau earned the condemnation of YHVH, the God of Israel. That sentence has not been applied as yet … but it shall be soon. Ezekiel details their punishment:

Ezekiel 25:12  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them; 13 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword. 14 And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they (Edom) shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD.

So, again, here is evidence that Israel shall be the instrument by which Esau is deprived of his “birthright” in its final iteration, being erased from being a people by the people of God.

Here is laid before us the stark contrast between Mount Esau, and Mount Zion of the following narrative. The curse-for-a-curse principle here turns full circle upon Esau and his confederates.

Oba 1:15  For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. 16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.

 The prophet Isaiah had delivered a dire message related to the cup that the nations have forced upon the people “upon My holy mountain,” in the words below.

He is here addressing His people of Zion, and the cup from which they have been forced to drink for millennia. However, his message is one of hope and compassion; the cup of His fury shall be taken away from His people and passed to their oppressors – those who had forced the cup of His fury upon Israel since time immemorial.

The curse-for-a-curse principle is operative!

At that time, His people are relieved of that cup and its deadly poisonous contents; it is given to their enemies where its contents are fatal.

Isaiah foretells:

Isaiah 51:22 I have taken out of thine hand (Israel’s hand) the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again: 23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

The depraved treatment that they have meted out upon Israel shall now be served upon themselves in a deadly landslide of ill circumstances and dire punishments, as fatal to them as Socrates’ hemlock. And there is no antidote …

The catastrophic end is that, for those enemies, they shall be as though they had not been.

There can be no fuller expression of either certainty or extent of execution!

Like Judas Iscariot, it would have been better for the descendants of Esau if they had not been born. We see in this scenario the extreme challenge – the fatal consequences – of the inbred philosophy of Radical Islam, which even mothers inculcate into their youngest children – urging them to grow up to be jihadists … to give up their lives as suicide bombers.

This culture of death shall give them their just deserts – which is everlasting death in Sheol. It is a fitting end for the despicable people who hate God and His righteousness, and who despise His people.

The scourge of Islam in the entire world in our day is such that only a Divine solution is possible.

Their culture of death and destruction is impossible for human forces to combat successfully, reinforced as it is by millions of fanatical Jihadists bent upon the utter destruction of all things which are not “Islamic.”

The contrast with the children of God is marked, their deliverance standing out in stark relief against the backdrop of the oblivion of Esau.

The next words of Obadiah foretell the end of the matter.

Oba 1:17  But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions (i.e., the former possessions of Esau and his confederates).

Oba 1:18  And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they (Israel) shall kindle in them, and devour them (Esau); and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.

 Deliverance from evil, and oppression – and godlessness. In contrast, the forces of deliverance from the oppression of those round about, and instruction in holiness shall emanate from Zion.

The wealth of these Gentiles shall accrue to God’s people and kingdom, just as the spoils of Esau, Edom and Moab did during the time of King Jehoshaphat as accounted in 2Chronicles 20, where all these enemies destroyed each other in the desolate wastes of the Judean wilderness, each  by his brothers’ sword well before the army of Israel came upon the scene.

And Israel spent three entire days collecting the wealth and booty from the dead.

The forces of the Almighty shall be as a consuming flame of fire; Esau’s fate is to become mere stubble before them, as the mighty army of Israel devours them to the last man! Stubble burns nearly completely, leaving almost no residue (ash); such shall their destruction be.

For this is decreed by the LORD of hosts, and by His zeal He shall perform it!

The end result is solemnly related in the next two verses, outlining the physical  consequences of the animus evoked by God’s Spirit, as the Israel Defense Force applies its most expert offensive against the ungodly heathen both among their countrymen and round about them.

We refer to the stated (and literal) landmarks indicated in these verses as the “borders of Obadiah,” but in reality this adventure is only a small but significant portion of the end time wars of Israel, in which the Promised Inheritance of Abraham and His Seed (Christ) is destined to be cleared of the squatters and interlopers who have illicitly moved into and laid claim to the Blessed Land from every point of the compass. 

These have no part in the “first dominion of the kingdom” which Christ the Messiah shall establish there. His primary borders are predetermined to be “from the River Nile to the great River Euphrates – and from sea (the Mediterranean) to sea (the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean?) – a vast land which at present is largely windswept, intensely hot and dry, forlorn and barren desert, but which in His day, shall blossom as the rose, and be productive as the Garden of Eden.

Oba 1:19  And they of the south (of Israel) shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

Oba 1:20  And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.

These areas of conquest are today approximately 90% occupied by the “Palestinians” and their ilk. After this conquest, the area shall know rest which it has not known for over a century in these end times. But even that shall be a partial “rest” – a period of respite prior to the time when “the rest of the story” resumes. Their confederates are likewise fated to conquest by the new Power from the South, and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s, as it is then depicted in these certain words:

Oba 1:21  And saviours (the Redeemed Saints of God and their Master, Jesus Christ) shall come up on mount Zion (in Jerusalem) to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD'S.

 The Prophet Ezekiel addresses this timely event in his 25th chapter. It is notable that the inspired word here utilizes the term “My people Israel,” indicating that their status has changed in God’s eyes – from that of “not My people” to “My people Israel,” as explained and discussed by five key references: Hosea 1:9, 10; Hosea 2:23; Romans 9:23, 26. These words of Hosea and Paul illustrate the metamorphosis of Israel back to their earlier status of loving approval of their Father.

Eze 25:14  And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD.

The divine seal of approval upon Israel is evident as His people spread forth, inspired by the strength and motivation of the LORD,  as the prophet Ezekiel foretells in 37:10:  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath (Hebrew, Ruach) came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

Israel today has re-gathered into its Land from the dreary valley of dry bones; its muscles and sinews are now stretched upon its skeleton. But it is not yet energized by the Spirit (the Ruach, or breath) of God, as it surely shall be soon.

Its exceeding great army will execute His vengeance speedily upon Esau and his collaborators in devastating combat – swiftly bringing their utter end.

It shall not be the result which had been confidently expected by Esau and his confederacy, the “Palestinians,” Hamas, Hezbollah, and others such as Islamic Jihad, who never once suspected the enormous might and power of the Entity against which they were struggling.

Their entire holdings – their considerable wealth – are thus turned unto the Christ of the Second Advent, including His Saints and His people, whose sovereignty shall then extend far beyond the paltry occupancy formerly held by Esau and his kind.

Valuable lands which include Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, and Kuwait, the aggregate of whom already contain nearly half the known oil reserves of the earth in this day.

Over and above that, Jordan’s deposits of oil shales is thought to exceed the value of those in Israel – a resource which can now be safely and profitable exploited … and almost certainly shall be during the initial phases of His kingdom.

For what it’s worth, the wealth of Greater Israel shall be enormous when fully acquired from these vile enemies.

With this development, the Kingdom of God upon the earth shall have begun.

Just as were Ba’al and Chemosh of old, the vaporous idol named “Allah” was never any match for YHVH – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the people of the Living God!   

<HEL  2N>  ~ 6,000 words.  An Exhortation delivered March 23, 2104

February 2014: Ten Weeks Away: the Fourth Jewish Tetrad

Harold E. Lafferty

 Several months ago we wrote about a most remarkable set of “signs” in the sun and moon. If you remember, these events are named Jewish Tetrads because they occur on two specific Jewish Feast Days in two consecutive years – four in all, thus a “tetrad.”

The last ones occurred in 1967-1968 – 47 years ago.

A short review helps us recall the first three such events.

The four blood moons of this FIRST Jewish tetrad occurred on these dates: The conjunctive events relating to each is presented in bold font.

Columbus departs for new world (1st voyage), August 3, 1492

April 2, 1493    Total lunar eclipse    Feast of Passover

Columbus departs for new world (2nd voyage), on September 24, 1493 – his most productive journey

Sept. 25, 1493  Total lunar eclipse Feast of Sukkot   (Tabernacles)

March 22, 1494   Total lunar eclipse Feast of Passover

Sept. 15, 1494   Total lunar eclipse Feast of Sukkot

 Notice that Columbus departed on his first voyage eight months before the first blood moon of the tetrad. But his second journey to the New World had the more important outcome. His discovery created a place of refuge for Europe’s distressed Jews and others who were persecuted by the Church.

This unique pattern of Jewish Tetrads did not occur again for the next 456 years – in the midst of the 20th century. Then it happened again!

 And that SECOND Jewish tetrad was when Israel became a nation again in its own place – in Israel. The War of Independence that began on May 14, 1948 stretched until the truce agreement of August, 1949. Nearly the entire War of Independence was bracketed by these spectacular lunar eclipses, drawing attention of the world to important events having to do with God’s people, the Jews. Again, the conjunctive events are presented in bold font.

This Jewish tetrad occurred on these dates:

Israeli statehood: May 14, 1948

April 13, 1949   Total lunar eclipse Feast of Passover

Truce Agreement reached with hostile nations,

          August, 1949. Israel wins big!

October 7, 1949 Total lunar eclipse  Feast of Sukkot

April 2, 1950    Total lunar eclipse Feast of Passover

Sept.26, 1950   Total lunar eclipse Feast of Sukkot

Notice this peculiarity: in this sequence, the proclamation of the State of Israel came before the first blood moon. But the outworking of the war that followed was reached between the first and second blood moons; surely the outcome of any such action is more important than its beginning, when the outcome cannot be ascertained.

The THIRD such sequence began the very year that Israel gained control of the Old City of Jerusalem for the first time in over 2000 years, and led to the declaration of Jerusalem as its eternal capital.

April 24, 1967  Total lunar eclipse Feast of Passover

Israel takes Old City, June 7, 1967

Oct. 18, 1967    Total lunar eclipse Feast of Sukkot

April 13, 1968  Total lunar eclipse Feast of Passover

October 6, 1968   Total lunar eclipse  Feast of Sukkot

 Again, the conjunctive event is bracketed by blood moons! It was a spectacular revelation on the magnificent celestial blackboard of the Father’s will being done.

That event of the capture of the Old City and Temple Mount by the Jews marked the fulfillment to the very day, according to the best calculations, of the Prophecy of the 2300 Days of Daniel 8 – the end of the Sanctuary Cycle!

It marked the Cleansing of the Sanctuary and the first day of Israel’s complete hegemony over its recovered lands, never to be displaced from them again.

The event is not clouded by the action of General Moshe Dayan, who immediately gave the keys to Temple Mount to the Islamic Wakf, and made it the official tenant of that area.

This action did not convey ownership of Temple Mount – merely tenancy – for the completion of God’s eternal plan was not yet to be, when the Temple of the Millennium shall be built on that site, displacing all foreign structures and influence for eternity.

The Abomination of Desolation stands yet in the Holy Place, defined, in our view, as the Dome of the Rock, perched squarely over the rock scarp upon which sat the Ark of the Covenant of the previous Temples of God, according to perhaps the greatest authority on the historical archaeology of Temple Mount, Dr. Leen Ritmyer, of Great Britain.

 Since that date, in 1967 – 68, Israel has maintained itself by hot conflict with its Arab neighbors in 1973, by the War of Attrition, actions in Lebanon, and two Intifadas, all the while achieving phenomenal economic success, and advancement in many other fields including military inventions, anti-missile systems, oil and gas discoveries, and generally progressive security measures. Its population has steadily grown to over six million Jewish citizens, equaling the number lost in the Holocaust of Nazi Germany.

That Six Day War in which the Temple Mount and Old City was regained, lives in the annals of warfare as perhaps the most decisive victory over an overwhelming attack force in history.

In our thinking, the gist of the war is foretold in Zechariah 12. The war was particularly fierce as described there.

 In addition, He has saved the tents of Judah first, as foretold in Zechariah 12: 6, 7: In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. (A direct reference to Judah’s conquest of its entire Capitol city, Jerusalem, at that time!) 7 The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.

Note one more feature of this amazing prophecy: credit for this blazing victory over the enemies of Israel is attributed to “The LORD,” or YHVH – the Creator and Protector of Israel.

 And only ONE MORE Jewish Tetrad is in the offing:

 So when is the next occurrence of a Jewish tetrad? – the FOURTH such event?

It is to be on April 15, 2014!

And what extremely significant event does it portend?

We cannot possibly know for certain. 

But we may fervently HOPE!

We must caution, however, that since no significant events remain to be fulfilled before the Lord’s appearance on the earth in our opinion, it may be the terminal event of this age!

Within this short time frame – or perhaps, even slightly after the anticipated event – could these blood moons signal His return to the earth?

The dates of the next and final Jewish tetrad (for ages to come) are now known to be beginning on April 15, 2014, in this matrix:

 April 15, 2014       Total lunar eclipse    Feast of Passover

October 8, 2014  Total lunar eclipse Feast of Sukkot

April 4, 2015    Total lunar eclipse Feast of Passover     

Sept. 28, 2015  Total lunar eclipse Feast of Sukkot

 And there are NO MORE Jewish tetrads (lunar eclipses on feast days) for at least the next 500 years, as established by NASA’s orbital experts.

How vastly improbable is that?

The first three tetrads have had immense and vital significance as regards God’s people, the Jews of the world and of Israel.

Why should we expect the last one of a series to be different?

What would be the most significant event to wrap up the series?

There seems no barrier to its being the Second Advent of the Lord from heaven!

The final series of the Tetrads is set to begin in 72 days from  noon today at Washington, DC – which is approximately 6 p.m. in Jerusalem, and the beginning of Passover.

What grave, historically momentous and meaningful event will come before Israel and the world in as short a time as ten weeks from today?

The prophet Joel prophesied that The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come. Joel 2: 31.

Joel 2: 11 also references such a day, as also does Malachi 4:5 (the great and dreadful …). All employ the Hebrew adjective, H3372, Yare, meaning “dreadful, terrible, fearful, to be had in reverence.”

However, these three references seem to refer to two different “great and terrible (or dreadful) days of the Lord.” There are two such designated "days" - both referring to the Advents of the Lord; the first one in 26 AD (the beginning of Jesus' ministry) and the second one at his Second Advent in the End Time.

Joel 2:31 is stated in Joel 3:1 to be that occurrence when I will bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. This era is certainly today - our own time. It refers to the rapidly approaching Second Coming of Christ, and His showdown with the nations as to the Controversy of Zion – the year of His Redeemed.

The other two references, in our opinion, are to the era of the overthrow and sack of Jerusalem, in 70 AD, which began with the Ministry of Jesus in Judea (i.e., when John Immerser announced His identity), and indeed culminated because of the Jews’ rejection of Him at that time.

 It seems evident that we are now approaching the final “great and terrible day of the LORD,” as the events of the End Times rapidly approach their terminus.

If the four approaching blood moon eclipses indeed herald the Second Coming of Christ, we are of all men (and women) most fortunate! 

Our lives and work here will be terminated, as all who have made a covenant with Christ through baptism will be gathered together with the resurrected dead from all ages, and taken to a secluded place where He shall meet with them in private.

From among that vast number there shall be selected a cadre of Believers who shall be made immortal at His right hand – rendered impervious to all sickness or discomfort, sadness or fear, and released from any despondency or depression – liberated into the light of eternal life, and into the blessed congregation of the Bride of Christ.

After Christ’s celebration with them of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, they shall be immediately equipped as befitting the vast army of God: clothed in white linen garments, handling swords of the Spirit, and mounted upon white horses alongside their King and Commander, described as having eyes of flaming fire, and named Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war (verse 11).

Their preparation and equipment is outlined in Revelation 19. The Commander sits astride a white horse, and wears a vesture dipped in blood. The Saints, described as the armies which were in heaven, are clothed in gleaming white linen garments; they follow Him.

Whether this is a literal picture of them is doubtful, as the Apocalypse is specified to be laid out as signs – as “signified” according to verse 1 of chapter one.

In such a case, we would define the symbology as follows:

·    The name “Faithful and True” indicates His Sonship

·    The white horses indicate righteous warfare

·    His eyes of flaming fire indicate righteous judgment

·    His blood-stained garment indicates His warlike intentions, which as the text proves, is righteous conflict.

·    The armies in heaven describes their sanctified state, as now eternally-approved Saints of God and Christ.

·    Their white garments indicate faultlessness, righteousness, and immortality.

·    Their swords are the spiritual weapons of His righteous Judgment.

 Testimony of the Psalmist

Another direct reference to this vast Fellowship is found in Psalm 149:5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. 6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; 7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; 8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; 9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.

In our present lives we do not see ourselves as warlike or aggressive, but as peacemakers – gentle unto all men, and meek in the Lord’s service.

That is our required status – our present role of service to our Father.

But in that future day His righteous judgment shall stream forth upon His enemies, wreaking devastation upon them for their long centuries of aggression and evil, and their stubborn resistance to His will.

This same privilege shall be upon His Saints as well – His righteous commandment that His incumbent judgments shall be executed at their hand, too – their swords bringing punishment, and where appropriate, their words bringing salvation,  described as the high praises of God in their mouths!

 Testimony of Paul, the Apostle

The Apostle Paul also attests to this necessity in a slightly different context – that of our present lives – employing this principal of the Saints as Judges of the future, but in this, encouraging each of us to take a similar, serious responsibility for our present lives with these words:

1Corinthans 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

His implied argument – his teaching – is our activities today should and must equip us for those of tomorrow. The principles are the same, as are the goals – the glorification of our heavenly Father and His holy Plan.

So, dear readers, our attention is again drawn closely and thankfully to the sacred Agent of our salvation – our Lord, the Anointed Savior.

It is focused again on the turning point of each of our lives, being that decision to put on the name of Christ in baptism, and eternally to associate ourselves with His divine Plan for the ages.

 It is notable that the Apostle John does not record the Memorial supper in his account of Jesus’ last mortal day. We conclude that the events of chapter 13 occur at that time – when Judas dips in the sop with the LORD and then goes to carry out his betrayal.

The other three gospel writers document that evening with different emphases, but all include the institution of the Memorial Supper.

The Master asked not that we observe many rituals. In that respect, His ordinances are vastly different from the Law of Moses.

But He did command our unified partaking of bread and wine in remembrance of His body and His shed blood as often as we are able. It is this weekly gathering and observance from which Paul advises that we forsake not the assembling of ourselves together, in Hebrews 10:25.

We see in this Service of Memory the constant reinforcement of not only our Master’s fervent love for His brethren, but also every believer’s love for his brethren, and the beneficial practice of close association and encouraging conversation with fellow believers.

It is a practice which we see as entirely necessary for every Believer, as each assembly consistently strengthens the ties that bind each to the others in loving fellowship.

 We come finally to the terminal years of our probation. It is a time that we should be thankful to abandon and leave behind. For redemption at the earliest time is far preferable to our sojourn in this present circumstance of evil, turmoil and licentiousness.

 The approaching tetrad of blood moons are far more than just likely to be a harbinger of the conclusion of this process of redemption for every one of us!

We feel strongly that very great goals will be realized within the calendar confines of April 15 of this year to September 28, 2015 – seventeen and a half months of End Time history, which may be the most important time we shall ever witness!

 The anticipated appearance of this approaching Tetrad should instill in each of us a sense of immediacy, compelling us to deeper commitment to Him, and to higher levels of service to Him – to increasing fervency in our prayers for His mercy, and for the conclusion of His Plan for the Ages – that it include each one of us, riding with Him on white horses, clad in robes of purest white, and handling the Sword of the Spirit.

Only in such a role may each of us execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people. As the psalmist wrote: this honour have all His Saints – Praise ye the Lord!

There is one more interesting and exhortive parallel in the events which we expect, a remarkable parallel in the ultimate conquest of the present forces of resistance by Christ, and the overthrow of the Pagan Roman Empire by Constantine, who in this transaction was a type of Christ in the End Time.

In his description of the Sixth Seal of Revelation 6, the Apostle John wrote, in part …

  Revelation 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

In that vision, John beheld a blood moon!

Students of the continuous historical fulfillment of the Apocalypse recognized this vision as predicting the surprising, violent overthrow of Pagan Rome by Constantine in 313 AD.

Constantine, claiming to be “Christian,” was a type of Christ in His conflicts with the End Time pagans of today – including Islam and godless Russia.

It is significant that the moon on that occasion also appeared “as blood,” adding to its significance as harbinger of momentous historical progress, or prophetic fulfillments.

We leave you with your personal consideration of these approaching signs in the heavens – signs which we believe may bring a colossal advance in the Plan of our Father and His Son with us and with the peoples of the earth.

Remember that John’s vision in Revelation 6 included the sun becoming black as sackcloth of hair AND the moon becoming as blood. And that the vision was a “type” of the latter day conquest of the returned Christ over paganism of all kinds.

 So far we have considered only the appearances of lunar eclipses. But solar eclipses also can be meaningful if they occur on certain dates which are significant.

Consider these facts:

There will be two significant SOLAR eclipses in the coming months:

One will occur on the first day of the Religious Hebrew year, and the next …

One will occur on the high holy day of Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the seventh Hebrew month, the beginning of the Civil year! 

Both of these take place in the 2014-2015 years of the Gregorian calendar of the Gentiles.

But there is yet an additional feature of these two specific solar eclipses: each of them is followed in two weeks by a LUNAR eclipse!

And there are no more of these occurrences for the rest of the century!

In our estimation, these additional emphases on eclipses are placed before us to heighten our sense of expectancy of our LORD’s grace and mercy, and of the absolute certainty of the now rapid progress of His plan with His people both natural and spiritual, as He moves forward to establish His majesty and His righteousness in the earth.

PLEASE NOTE: A Power Point presentation of the above lecture is available from eTPL.  If you would like to receive a free copy of it, please address an email to  helafferty@gmail.com and we will forward it to you via email. Be sure your ISP allows the receipt of large files, as this one is nearly 550 kb, including illustrations.

                                                         <HEL code 1N> ~3,275 words.

January, 2014: Is Israel Being Ignored in Prophecy Assessments?

An eTPL Editorial

Harold Lafferty

Another monthly issue of numerous publications dealing with current events of Biblical importance came in the mail on December 26th. It contained nearly seven pages (of its 32 pages) of intense, excited, detailed commentary on Russia’s moves into the Middle East, two pages of which were devoted to maps of the Eastern Mediterranean, illustrating current Russian proposals to build naval facilities in Egyptian ports.

The same nearly breathless excitement was stirred during the Cold War years when Russian involvement in Egypt was also rampant, including building the great dam at Aswan, and arming the Egyptian army with all the latest Russian equipment. But, after three catastrophic defeats of Egypt in war with Israel, it all ended in about a week of earth-shaking decisions by Anwar Sadat to expel the Russians and their influence from Egypt.

Over twenty thousand Russian technicians, advisers, construction crews and military people were expelled from Egypt almost overnight – and that era ended for a time.

One of the maps in the aforementioned article illustrates the outdated and now (proven to be) erroneous conclusion that Russia is the King of the North, that Britain is the King of the South, and that the twain shall meet in the middle, at “Armageddon” in Israel!

The article emphasizes the latest enticing offer by Russia to sell arms and armament to Egypt, subverting the cooled and muted U.S. – Egypt relationship surrounding the recent removal of President Mohamed Morsi from power in that country.

Little or NO Information About Israel – Our Chief Concern

But there was not one observation as to the importance of Israel’s extremely critical relationships with its Arabic/Islamic neighbors, or of Israel’s plight of being exposed to terrorism and atrocities on every side … which is astonishing!

Israel’s destiny and course of existence is – or should be – our most important interest.

So why is it so patently ignored?

It seems to us that the latter consideration (Israel’s seemingly dramatic plight) is the more important aspect of current Mid-East events to be discussed.

This persistent, tiresome, and pedantic emphasis on Russia’s interest in the Middle East follows along with the absolutely consuming interest of the preachers of Christendom on this same subject, who also obsesses themselves with “the King of the North” as being the next big threat to Israel.

Both have little or NO realization that the Gogian invasion of Israel is not the most important next “big” thing, at least according to the prophets of YHVH.

And both sets of observers similarly label that conflict, “Armageddon.”

We humbly suggest that these emphases are perhaps lethally misplaced – and to the true believer of God’s word, nearly irrelevant. (More on this latter remark further down.)

In the first place, Armageddon is mentioned in the scriptures only one time: Revelation 16:16, and relates ONLY to the virulent interaction between the forces of the faith of Jesus Christ (not Britain, the “old lion”) and the forces of the Harlot, Beast and False Prophet – in Europe and in the domains of the Roman Church, initially, and not in Israel at all, because the issue shall have been settled there well before this time arrives.

The Revelation as a whole is not a forecast of what will happen in Israel or the Middle East; it is wholly a treatise on what believers could expect from the contentious interface between “the Church” and the Ecclesia of Christ, leading to His Second Coming.

It reveals great details of precisely how the Church would subvert the gospel of Christ and intrude itself upon the world, venturing into the fleshly affairs of the cosmos (spiritual fornication), with impunity lording it over the populous in matters of acceptable faith and devotion to God, changing times and seasons, setting Church law in place over the word of God, its leader ruling as if in the “house of God” (which “St. Peter’s Basilica” is NOT).

It details the intricate development of the Harlot of Rome’s subversive, deliberate attempt to place herself in the “religious” world in the rightful place of the Virgin Daughter of Zion, the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife of Revelation 21:9.

Our Main Source of Information on End Time Israel and its Outlook

Consequently, one must depend upon the prophecies of the major Hebrew prophets of the Old Testament for almost all his information on God’s people, including their tribulations of the End Time return to Him (viz., returning to His Land, initially), for their final redemption there.

All these seem to be far more important to discuss than yet another Russian effort to build trade and influence in the Middle East. That picture is easy to decipher, and may or may not be successful. And the outcome surely appears to be irrelevant.

Much harder challenges include such as these …

·      How is Israel dealing with its current aggression (so far, by word only) from Iran, and its effort and threat of developing a nuclear arsenal? (Diplomacy? Sanction enforcement?)

·      Are there subversive moves being taken by Israel, and perhaps the U.S., to prevent or slow the Iranian progress? (Sabotage? Cyber interference? Scientific infiltration?)

·      Is the Iranian threat real? We are prophetically informed of tangible Iranian involvement with Israel as part of the Gogian host (a later affair), but can find no information about earlier portions of its conflict with modern Israel; so how might Iran be hobbled, and retarded for a time, in its nuclear development without being attacked militarily by Israel? (Earthquakes? Aggression from other enemies? A revolution among its own people? A change of heart?)

·      Is there any hope for Israel to be able to combat their enemies of the Sinai Peninsula; and will the new border fence stop terrorist incursions? (Electronic countermeasures? Increased military patrols? Infiltration?)

·      How can Israel improve relations with the PLO, given the unwillingness of the Chairman (Mahomoud Abbas) even to sit down to negotiations? (More concessions? Possible annexation of the entire “West Bank?” Execution of the prophecy of Obadiah?)

·      How can Israel assure a safe eastern border – that with Jordan, being the Jordan River Valley – without a continued military presence there? (Yet another border fence? An enhanced agreement with Jordan itself, which is rife with “Palestinians” who want to destroy Israel.)

·      Will Israel be dragged into a “two state solution” to the “Palestinian” dilemma? (What do the prophets say about this? Is such in the offing?)

·      To what extent will Israel cede land (if any) to the “Palestinians” in the “two state solution?

·      Why is the third chapter of Joel important in this consideration?

·      What moves are afoot from Syria to try to recover the Golan Heights from Israeli control?

·      In case of the present regime’s collapse, does Israel face other, more intransigent enemies there? And if so, have they already made proclamation of their intentions?

·      What other threats does Israel have from the north, over and above that of Syria? (What about Iraq? What about Turkey? What about “Assyria” – a presently unknown factor?)

·       Does Lebanon play a part in this conflict?

·      How will Iraq’s aggressive historical stance against Israel manifest itself today? (Involves current information about the formation of the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) – an entirely new development which may have extensive prophetic significance. Is that entity a revival of “Assyria?”)

·      How can Israel hope to negotiate with the terrorists of Hezbollah, who now occupy South Lebanon and have thousands of missiles trained upon Israeli cities and citizens?

·      Has the lack of cooperation of the Lebanese government with Hezbollah had any effect on the levels of animosity against Israel?

·      Why has Hezbollah been so quiescent for so many months?

·      What is the subversive plan of Hamas in the Gaza Strip?

·      What is the real reason for Israel’s economic boom which has occurred in a turbulent storm of Islamic economic failures all around them – with only the petroleum producer-states being able to accumulate adequate foreign reserves?

·      What is Israel doing to improve the wellbeing of the poor folk of Israel?

·      How might the oil and gas bonanza in Israel improve such conditions?

·      What challenges may the newly discovered riches of oil and gas create for Israel?

·      How will Israel handle the vast income which it can expect from its oil and gas ventures?

·      How can Israel protect its mineral wealth in the Mediterranean? (Recent purchases of fast attack boats, submarines, and destroyers, by Israel.)

·      What is the first order of business of the returned Messiah when He appears in Israel to save His people?

·      What will the reaction of His people in Israel be?

·      How can one expect the world in general to react to His Second Coming?

·      Will the increased level of anti-Semitism in Europe result in completing the Jews’ abandonment of Europe, as it seems to be doing in France at this moment?

·      Will most of them migrate to Israel (make Aliyah), or will they opt to go elsewhere? (What is the present trend?)

·      What might force American Jews (both U.S. and Canadian) to migrate to Israel, as we are informed that ALL Jews and other Hebrews shall, under Christ’s Administration?

 These Are the Burning Issues

To our thinking, all the above are burning issues of real time and great immediacy.

But our most widely published current events observers are writing almost nothing about the people of God, their hazardous exposure to Islamic fundamentalism, to worldwide anti-Semitism, and to denigration by many of the nations of the earth (including one of the worst, Great Britain – the darling of the earlier theorists) who formulated the notion that Britain would actually be the means by which the Jews would return to their land in the End Time. For surely, reasoned they, the weak-kneed, downtrodden and oppressed people of Judah would not be able to accomplish this on their own initiative (!).

Well, the Jews did just that, even in the face of the most powerful wall of resistance that Britain could mount against the re-nascent State of Israel in the early days leading up to the War of Independence in 1948. Effectively, Britain’s ONLY significant assistance to the Jews was seen in two events: the driving of the Ottomans from Palestine, and the issuance of the Balfour Declaration, favoring (at first) the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine of the time.

Even at the time of that Declaration, the winds of resistance to a Jewish state were blowing strongly against such in the turbulent seas of diplomacy in the British Foreign Office.

That fiercely adverse storm increased to gale-force winds during the Mandatory Period, when Britain did everything in its (even then diminishing) power to keep Jews away from the Land they had said they favored for the Jewish national home!

This writer, therefore, believes many modern observers are pursuing the earlier, primitive trains of thought rather than using their godly minds to see things as they really are today.

The King of the North as “Irrelevant” to Today’s Believers

So, why would we opine that the “news” about the “King of the North” and about Britain as Resistor to that king as being nearly irrelevant to current believers?  [Not Historically, but Currently]

Several reasons come to our mental awareness immediately:

One: in the studious and considered view of numerous expositors of Bible prophecy, the affairs of the kings of the North and the South have been entirely fulfilled, ending with the expulsion of the last King of the North, the Ottomans, from Palestine in 1917, by General Lord Allenby, who liberated Jerusalem on December 9, 1917, without firing a shot.

Beyond that immensely significant date, no king of the north or king of the south is prophetically indicated; the series of these terminates at this date. There is no future king of the south OR north, according to God’s word.

The first article of which we are aware that recognized this immensely vital achievement was written by a man named Fry, and published in The Testimony, c.1918!

Since that time several other scholars, including the present writer, have come to the same conclusion by following carefully the final several verses of Daniel 11, where the event is prophesied.

Therefore, the first reason for this opinion is that it is historical – already fulfilled, and no longer a subject of anxious speculation for the future. At the same time, it is an immensely valuable recognition of fulfilled prophecy – fulfilled in precisely the manner in which it was forecasted.

The second reason why the Gogian affair is (nearly) irrelevant to current Believers is that, by the time that event occurs, they shall have been gathered from their homes, and harvested from the memorial graves of the ages, and gathered to the Judgment Seat of Christ. By that time they shall have received their rewards, of whatever quality, and the righteous shall have taken on immortality in His service! Indeed, our studied conclusion is that they shall be on hand personally and be witness to the incursion of Gog’s force toward God’s Land just as revealed in the vision of Ezekiel.

The third consideration involves the current status of Great Britain and its contemporary ability (or will) to resist the Gogian confederacy, should it even be in a position to do so.

Does anyone seriously believe that today’s Britain would take up a position against any invader such as Russia, to defend Israel and some minor Peninsular Islamic States?

In the first place, Britain has no real power to fulfill the task. Additionally, it appears Britain’s general consensus would probably conclude it more expedient to allow the Jewish state to be overpowered by such a force and put entirely out of commission.

Such a result would greatly simplify “things” in the Middle East (in the Western view).

There is a valid fourth consideration, in addition to these.

The scriptural record of the supposed voice of fierce opposition of the merchants of the earth (thought by earlier students to be Britain), Sheba and Dedan, as in Ezekiel 38:13 (the whimper, Art thou come to take a spoil?) is an interrogatory – not a statement of resistance, but of dread on their parts.

Note carefully, as we study this occurrence, there is NO voice of concern from Ammon, Moab, Edom, Assyria, the PLO or any of the Proximal Islamic states.

Why is this the case?

We believe it is because they no longer exist at the time when Gog approaches!

These Gulf peoples of Ezekiel’s vision are voicing their fear that Gog’s intent is also to acquire their lands for a spoil. There is no hint in Ezekiel’s prophecy of any armed resistance by these or others to Gog at all, prior to Gog’s utter consumption “on the mountains of Israel” long before his forces can cause any threat to the Jewish State, which at that time, in our opinion, is securely under the personal control of the returned Lord Jesus and His Saints from Zion.

Indeed, the Prophet Obadiah states clearly that at that earlier conflict, Saviours shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s. (verse 21).

In our thinking, this is a concrete announcement that Christ and His Saints (Saviours) are present in the Land. Christ is here in the earth – in Israel – when that assault takes place!

Likewise, there is also no hint of Gog’s overrunning the Land of Israel, driving the Jews southward “into Egypt” literally, as was conjectured by earlier students (in the mid-19thcentury), which is the basic template of understanding of those who believe so today!

Seriously – would the Egyptians of today allow six million Jews streaming towrd them from the north to take refuge in their land from any enemy? Of course not! The minute any Jew crossed the Suez Canal he would be slaughtered in today’s Egypt, given the climate of Jew-hatred now pervasive there!

The conjecture of Jewish refuge, yet again being admitted by Egypt, in today’s climate is ludicrous!

 The Prophecies Are Clear!

We feel strongly that brethren should actively, prayerfully, diligently, and personally search the scriptures for themselves in this End Time – and attempt to place their emphasis in the order and in the place where the Father places His, and His prophets placed theirs: upon the plight of the Jewish people in the End Time, their hazardous geopolitical exposure to their hostile and murderous neighboring Islamic enemies … and how these complex issues shall affect Israel, as our Father’s Earnest of the kingdom age, and bring peace, confidence and real safety to it.

In our opinion, these events are necessary, and preparatory to the Gogian affair.

It is fundamentally notable that not one of these proximate Islamic States or entities is mentioned in the Gogian account, so it seems entirely clear to us that each one shall have necessarily been removed from the scene PRIOR to that event. In short, they no longer exist at that time!

Their obliteration by Christ and the Saints (Obadiah v. 21) paves the way for the real, genuine, bona fide “peace and safety” of God’s people just prior to the Gogian invasion.

The prophesied events of Isaiah 11 set the stage for the Return of the Jews from all nations – with emphasis on the Islamic nations, as verse 12 illustrates – and from the “islands of the sea” – all the other places to which they were dispersed. The return from Islamic states is almost complete at this moment - and has been for years; only a paltry number of Jews remain in Iraq, Iran and Syria at this time.

This action brought a credible population of Jews to the State of Israel, and allowed it to prosper and become exceedingly strong, militarily, economically, and in many other ways, aided, of course, by the angelic assistance given by Providence (Daniel 12: 1,2).

The prophet Obadiah tells succinctly of God’s revenge upon Esau – the perpetual enemy of Jacob – and of his last end. By outlining the conquests of Israel over Esau (Edom)  Obadiah gives us a definitive picture of just who the latter-day Edom IS, and it is identifiable as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza,  the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its savage enemies of Israel today in Israel’s Judea and Samaria, (see Obadiah, vv. 18, 19).We determine that by noting the physical conquests outlined for Israel in verses 19 – 21.

The narrative of Isaiah 63: 1-6 is perhaps the first word picture given of the returned Messiah of Israel, there seen utterly destroying the inhabitants of ancient Bozrah (capital of Edom). This action is part of the prophecy of Obadiah, and follows the detailed revelations about Esau’s fate in Ezekiel 35.

Psalm 83 is also pivotal to this phase of Bible prophecy. In that psalm is found a concise list of the End Time enemies of the nation of Israel (verses 6-8) and is the only list of Israel’s current enemies as being specifically these polities.

This psalm also has not been fulfilled – and could not be so until the time when “Israel” as a named nation was again in existence (since 1948).

In addition, at least fifty other, scattered scriptural references indicate the necessarily EARLIER conquest of all the enemies of Israel (and enemies of God, cf. Micah 5:1,2) between the Rivers Nile and Euphrates, PRIOR to the Gogian affair.

In our opinion, such conquest is the first goal of the returned Savior, resulting in immediate clearance of the Abrahamic Inheritance of all interlopers and intruders – Arabic, Druze, B’hai, Christian, PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah, “Palestinian,” pagan, Animist, heathen, Samaritan, Copt, and ALL other Gentiles.

With His nascent kingdom thus secured, Messiah begins the operational construction of His kingdom – His consummation of His covenant with them, His building of the Millennial Temple, His disarmament of Israel, and all other operations, all the while paying little attention to the turmoil which shall then be a-building on the periphery of His kingdom (viz., the approaching Gogian affair).

It is only then, after having secured His people, assuring their safety and confidence, do the powerful forces of Islam and Rosh congeal to attempt to displace the “new king” of Israel.

It is a colossally fatal error on their parts, and is lethally wrought upon that coalition immediately it makes its move upon God’s newly pacified people, to be then openly apparent to all observers.

As we so often state: Gog and its confederates invade Israel with the intent to take a great spoil, but instead inherit graves “in Israel” at that future time, but at present, in or near the Yarkon Gorge, the international boundary between Syria and Jordan, east of the Sea of Galilee (according to  Young).

 Repetition? Yes!

Regular readers will see this is as reiteration of many previous papers on the subject. Our reason for this persistent exposition is that the message has not yet reached many otherwise earnest and diligent lovers of God and His Word, who, if they just would put their godly minds to work on the issues, would see clearly that much change has taken place, and many things have evolved since 1865, and are no longer sensible in that earlier context of understanding.

The needed “keys” to unlock the scrolls of End Time prophecies are NOW in existence. It is the End Time! Little remains to our imaginations (or interpretive capabilities) to be accomplished.

The kingdom of God is imminent!

The Bridegroom cometh!

Sing and shout in joyous love and appreciation for His mercy, as shall His mountains and even the trees of the field for joy!        <HEL MD/USA  12M>  ~3,600 words.