I have never read the book, The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop, nor do I intend too; however, since I was recently hit with ‘facts’ from this book, I thought that maybe I would add a few links for rebuttal that I can refer to later.
Sep 27 2009
Anticipating the Antichrist
It’s a British take on the antichrist in American politics, but a good one. As many readers know, I don’t necessarily believe in ‘the antichrist,’ the mythical super-villain which will swoop in and unite the one world for one final apocalyptic battle, but do believe in ‘his’ power to be used to disrupt American politics.
Sep 25 2009
What if there were locusts too?
Yesterday (Wednesday) a massive dust storm passed through Sydney, turning everything a strange orange-red. The dust had been whipped-up from the dry Lake Eyre. On Tuesday the dust storm went through Broken Hill in far west New South Wales near the border with South Australia. A resident of Broken Hill posted this video on YouTube.
Jul 20 2009
Dominionist Patricia King wants to make movies
I’ve tried to stay away from the Elijah List’s comedy hour/house of horrors, but everyone once in a while, I get an email that makes me laugh/gets my dander up. Such as this one. As part of the Seven Mountain Mandate these dominionists say that they must take over different areas of culture (Business, Media, Education, Entertainment, Government, Family, Religion). One of these ‘mountains’ is the entertainment industry. Seriously. Before Christ can come back, the Church has to make movies.
Continue reading “Dominionist Patricia King wants to make movies”
Jul 18 2009
Is it Time? The River Euphrates is Drying Up
The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. (Rev. 16.12)
The New York Times article might be restricted, but try the links anyway.
Excerpts from the Times story: “Throughout the marshes, the reed gatherers, standing on land they once floated over, cry out to visitors in a passing boat. ‘Maaku mai!’ they shout, holding up their rusty sickles. ‘There is no water!’ The Euphrates is drying up. Strangled by the water policies of Iraq’s neighbors, Turkey and Syria; a two-year drought; and years of misuse by Iraq and its farmers, the river is significantly smaller than it was just a few years ago. Some officials worry that it could soon be half of what it is now. The shrinking of the Euphrates, a river so crucial to the birth of civilization that the Book of Revelation prophesied its drying up as a sign of the end times, has decimated farms along its banks, has left fishermen impoverished and has depleted riverside towns as farmers flee to the cities looking for work.” [More photos of the drying-up Euphrates from the NYT.]
So, what do you think?
The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.
Apr 23 2009
The Sixth Seal – The Cross of Calvary
During a recent discussion (here.) it has come to light that many believe that they alone have the unique revelation given by the divine Spirit of the Living God concerning John’s work. I do not believe that, believing that we will only come to understand them as they past. Yes, we look for the coming of the Lord, making ourselves ready, but we do not wait with baited breath for this or that to happen. Some years ago, before blogging, I devoted a considerable amount of personal time to the study of Revelation. This is only a small portion of this – since it was introduced during a previous discussion. I will not lay the claim of divine inspiration (I know what I do to False Prophets!) but I would like your thoughts.
I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:12-17 NKJV)
The Kings of the Earth
Throughout the Old Testament, God refers to Satan as a king of the Earth. We see this in Daniel, Ezekiel, and it is carried over to the New Testament.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[3] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12 NKJV)
The angel tells that Daniel that he was delayed because he was fighting the King of Persia. Should we really assume that a mere mortal man could fight an angel with such might that the angel would have need of calling in Michael? Instead, Gabriel has been fighting Satan. In other parts, Satan is called the Prince of the Power of the Air, and in others, the King of Tyre or Egypt or Babylon. If we apply the same logic here, then these mighty men of the earth what dread the day of the Lord could very well be Satan and his armies, whether of the spiritual or physical kind.
On the same token, they are also the religious leaders and the men of might, such as the centurion (Luke 23.47) which had laboured in some way to crucify Christ – who held kingdoms which Christ brought down. Remember, all power in heaven and earth was now given to Christ (Matthew 28.16-19).
Earthquake
Several times in scripture, Earthquakes are used for a variety of reasons; however, the most significant is to show the presence of the Lord. Here in this seal, which we hold to still be a-linear, the earthquake is used to show the presence of the Lord and to get people’s attention.
I see this passage, this seal, in concert with the perfection theory set forth in the seventh seal, this seal is represents the most famous of all earthquakes: the earthquake found in Matthew 27:51-54 and at His resurrection. If not, if this is not the meaning behind this passage, then the passage in Chapter 7 decreeing that the angels hurt no man, is either wrong or takes place before the sixth seal, which destroys the idea of a consecutive series between six and seven.
Remember, when a prophet sees the ‘Day of the Lord’, it is always given that it begins with these same signs. We know that there has always been One Day, but Two Advents, a beginning and an ending. The Day of the Lord began with Christ and will end with Christ.
At the opening of the sixth seal “the birth-throes of the Messianic time” appear, as depicted in the following passages:
The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls. (Joel 2:31-32 NKJV)
This is important in my own understanding of the Sixth Seal – Peter clearly identifies what had just happened with the prophecy of Joel (Acts 2.18; cf Joel 2.28). If this (Christ and the Gospel) was that (Joel’s prophecy) then when did it skip from verse 28 to verse 32?
Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty. (Isaiah 2:10 NKJV)
And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. Isaiah 34:4
The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us. Hosea 10:8
For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. Haggai 2:6-7
We know that the Desire of all Nations is in fact Jesus Christ. This is why so many mythos that seem alike to the story of Christ have sprung up over the time of the Earth and yet are not. Through history, we see the story of Christ often imitated but never repeated.
Fear of the great day of God’s wrath:
“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me.And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness. “Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem Will be pleasant to the LORD, As in the days of old, As in former years. And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers, Against adulterers, Against perjurers, Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, And against those who turn away an alien– Because they do not fear Me,” Says the LORD of hosts. “For I am the LORD, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. (Malachi 3:1-6 NKJV)
The wrath of His anointed:
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Psalms 2:12
While we are here, let us visit the phrase ‘The Day of the Lord’. Peter says that a day with God is as a thousand years and vice versa. Many take this literally, but I do not. Is not eternity defined by the absence of Time? If that is so, then the Day of the Lord can very well be the entire span of human history that will intersect itself at the appropriate time, such as the moment on Mt. Calvary and the Final Day of the Lord. The Old Testament prophets never said the second Day of the Lord, or for that matter, the first Day of the Lord, but saw it as one continuous Day.
Take the origin of what Christ spoke in the Synagogue:
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, (Isaiah 61:1-2)
Here, in Luke 4:18-19, Christ stops speaking, but the passage continues
and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn:
Here, Isaiah sees the Day of the Lord as one Day, but we now know that it is a two-fold day. This is the sixth seal. What the sixth seal is not:
- Armageddon
- Rapture
- 2nd Coming of Christ
Once again, it is the death of Christ on the cross.
Please, feel free to discuss this.
Feb 27 2009
Debating Prophecy: Daniel 9.27 – Is Christ the Prince?
“Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city: to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand: from the time that the word went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the time of an anointed prince, there shall be seven weeks; and for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with streets and moat, but in a troubled time. After the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing, and the troops of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall make sacrifice and offering cease; and in their place shall be an abomination that desolates, until the decreed end is poured out upon the desolator.” (Daniel 9:24-27 NRVS)
John Wesley said on verse 27,
He shall confirm – Christ confirmed the new covenant, By the testimony of angels, of John baptist, of the wise men, of the saints then living, of Moses and Elias. By his preaching. By signs and wonders. By his holy life. By his resurrection and ascension. By his death and blood shedding. Shall cause the sacrifice to cease – All the Jewish rites, and Levitical worship. By his death he abrogated, and put an end to this laborious service, for ever. And that determined – That spirit of slumber, which God has determined to pour on the desolate nation, ’till the time draws near, when all Israel shall be saved.
The question has been asked, is the Prince in this passage Jesus Christ? First, remember that the modern pre-tribulation rapture is just that a modern theory not more that a two hundred years old.
Next Page »
