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Friday, March 27, 2009

THE COMING APOCALYPSE: It’s God, stupid! Not the economy or the NWO or…


The following series of questions and answers are meant to give us an understanding of the omnipotence of God so that we can be comforted in the perilous and trying times that lie ahead; and that are already beginning to come upon us. If it can sink into our hearts and minds that God is in absolute control of all things at all times then those things and powers, human or otherwise that we so greatly fear will lose their hold upon us. Then will we truly understand that God has not given us the Spirit of fear but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). There is a tendency both among Christian believers and non-Christians to attribute way too much power to human authorities or to the unseen spirit powers behind them that guide their ungodly actions. As an example, the internet, both in written word and in talk radio are filled with people shouting from the rooftops about the power of ‘THEY’… Who are the ‘THEY’ that so much power and near omnipotence is assigned to? Here are a few examples of who ‘THEY’ are:

  • · The Council of Foreign Relations
  • · The Bilderberger Group
  • · The Club of Rome
  • · The Trilateral Commission
  • · The Royal Institute of International Affairs
  • · The Council of 300
  • · The Vatican
  • · The Jesuits
  • · The Knights of Columbus
  • · The Knights of Malta
  • · The Masons

When writers or talk show hosts speak of the above organizations and the people running them, be it the Pope or the Black Pope or the Queen or the President or the Prime Minister or the Antichrist or the Beast, they speak in hushed tones as if these people or powers were God Almighty Himself. Here are a few examples:

  • · ‘THEY’ can do anything they want because ‘THEY’ control all governments and corporations.
  • · ‘THEY’ cause busts and booms, economically speaking, because ‘THEY’ control all Central Banks such as the Federal Reserve or the Bank of England.
  • · ‘THEY’ choose who will be President or Prime Minister or a Congressman or a Senator. ‘THEY’ have the power to put into any office any person ‘THEY’ choose.
  • · ‘THEY’ are the architects of a NEW WORLD ORDER through which they will enslave all nations and peoples. In order to accomplish their goal of world conquest ‘THEY’ will foment wars and revolutions worldwide, maybe cause a civil war in the United States, and other countries.
  • · ‘THEY’ will impose martial law worldwide but particularly in North America, and take all dissenters away to slave labor camps or execute them. ‘THEY’ control FEMA and Homeland Security and all other agencies that they will use to herd people into internment camps already built throughout the US and Canada. This will happen when martial law is imposed due to absolute economic collapse, and because of famine brought on by drought and pandemic.
  • · ‘THEY’ will cause droughts and famines through use of black technologies such as HAARP.
  • · ‘THEY’ will release laboratory created biological agents to spread pandemics worldwide in order to greatly reduce the population of the world, by as much as 75%.
  • · ‘THEY’ control the education system so they brainwash our children into believing whatever ‘THEY’ want them to believe. ‘THEY’ control mainstream media and Hollywood so they can destroy our country through misinformation and by corrupting the morals of our society.

I will stop for now because I am certain that you get the picture. For starters let me say that I believe all of the above scenarios are not only possible, they are quite probable. That there are hidden hands or claws that guide the affairs of this world in a most evil manner, of that I have no doubt. So I do not take issue with alternative journalists or talk show hosts that bring us this information; what I take issue with the contention that it is ‘THEY’ who alone plan and execute these scenarios that are bringing our world to the edge of extinction. Are ‘THEY’ the ones really in control or are ‘THEY’ mere puppets whose strings are being pulled from behind the curtain by an unseen hand? In my next entry I will ask a series of questions the answers to which should settle once and for all who really runs the show and whom we ought really to fear not ‘THEY’.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

NOTES ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION: Who are the 144,000 in the book of Revelation?

Who are the 144,000 believers mentioned in the book of Revelation in Chapter 7 and chapter 14? The subject of the identity of the 144,000 is a complex one but by comparing scripture to scripture we can identify them quite accurately. Consider the following scriptures:

Revelation 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. Mount Sion is a reference to a place on Earth meaning that the 144000 are here on Earth in chapter 14 of the book of Revelation. However it is important to understand that they have descended to Earth after being redeemed from the Earth which happened back in chapter 7. Rev. 7:4And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

The first fact that emerges from scripture is that the 144,000 are all members of the twelve tribes of Israel. In modern times it is difficult if not impossible to determine who exactly is an Israelite much less a member of a particular tribe of Israel, so I do not believe that it is possible for any man to determine the exact identity or present day location of the 144,000. As far as I know all people of modern day Israel identify themselves as Jews which is erroneous unless they belong to the tribe of Judah or Benjamin. Biblically speaking only member of these two tribes were Jews whereas the members of the other ten tribes were identified as Israelites. Biblically speaking all twelve tribes are Israelites but all twelve tribes are not Jews. Though it is abundantly clear that the 144,000 are physical descendants of the patriarch Israel, who they are or where exactly they are on Earth only God knows for sure. So some time after being sealed here on Earth, the 144,000 are found in Heaven as indicated by the following verses that place them before the Throne, and before the four beasts, and before the elders (in Heaven).

Rev 14:2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: 3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. 4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. 5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God. References such as BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD and REDEEMED FROM AMONG MEN clearly indicate that the 144,000 are now in Heaven. The question is how did they get up to Heaven? Did they go there because they were martyred here on Earth, and their souls alone are in Heaven or were they taken up while they are still in their bodies, similar to the experience that the Apostle Paul describes in II Corinthians? Or is there a third possibility that we need to consider that they have been both martyred and are yet in their bodies? In order to understand this we need to understand what it means when the Bible states that they were ‘Redeemed’ from the Earth.

Redemption in the Bible is a process that begins with an individual coming to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ which is the act that makes it possible for that individual to obtain the citizenship of Heaven. Citizenship of Heaven means having eternal or everlasting life. We know that everlasting life in this present body that we inhabit is not possible. This body is corrupt and will cease to function one day. In order to understand the full meaning of redemption it is important to understand what happens when a believer dies. It is also important to understand what constitutes a person, biblically speaking. The bible defines a person or man (including both genders) as a soul that inhabits a body. The soul itself has a spirit that gives it a personality and that which makes that person an individual. Individual means someone or something that cannot be divided and therefore the literal meaning of individual is someone that is indivisible or unique. Like no two snowflakes are ever identical, neither are no two men or women ever identical in soul, though they may be in body. This is why the homogenization of society, particularly youth, through ‘education’ (indoctrination in reality), and ‘television’ is such an anathema to God. So what does all this have to do with the identity of the 144,000?

Since the 144,000 are redeemed from among men, and since they are identified as ‘firstfruits’ it is impossible to determine their identity without understanding what these terms mean. When a believer dies his soul goes to Heaven and his body returns to dust. In Rev. 6:9 we read: ‘And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.’ This is a perfect picture of departed believers whose souls are in Heaven yet whose redemption has not yet been completed unlike that of the 144,000. When does a believer’s redemption become complete? The answer is found in Romans 8:23 ‘And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. In the preceding scripture the apostle Paul tells us as he does in I Corinthians, chapter 15 that our redemption will be completed when our souls are given a new incorruptible body. This is that moment when the eternal life promised by God becomes a reality.

For majority of the believers the completion of their redemption will occur just prior to the return of Jesus Christ to Earth. It is an event that will occur between Heaven and Earth which is symbolic of the union of flesh (Earth – Adam) and Spirit (Heaven – God). This synthesis was first completed in the God-man Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, the first begotten. Since He is the first begotten there has to be a second begotten and a third begotten and so on and so forth. All the begotten of God are sons who are Spirit-flesh not just Spirit and not just flesh. The very purpose of all creation is for the invisible, immaterial God to become visible and material, Spirit dwelling in a body. This purpose was accomplished two thousand years ago when Jesus arose from the dead and became the first immortal Man. In the near future all believers, living or dead will also become immortal when their redemption is completed at the very moment that they are given their imperishable, immortal bodies. However, there is a group of people whose redemption will be completed prior to the return of Jesus Christ to Earth, and that group is the 144,000. As an aside Hollywood that borrows heavily from the Bible without acknowledging its veracity puts our movies with titles like The Return of The Jedi, or the Return of The King that give us pseudo messiahs in whom they suggest we put our faith, either mystical spirit beings like those of Star Wars, or super human men like those of Lord of the Rings. Well I must tell you that the real King of kings, and the real Lord of lords will soon indeed be returning and you better get redeemed by putting your faith in him before he returns or there will no completion of your redemption upon His return, only a fearful looking for of judgment.

The 144,000 follow the lamb both on Earth and in Heaven, they have been redeemed from among men and they are before the throne of God. So this is my conclusion: The 144,000 are physical Israelites (not only Jews), they are the first of all believers to be redeemed, in other words they are the first from amongst all believers to be made perfect, to be given their new bodies which makes it possible for them to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, which is why they are called THE FIRSTFRUITS unto God and to the Lamb. I believe the 144,000 are the firstfruits because of God's promise to Abraham, and that they precede all other believers to perfection of immortality as God's way of honoring Abraham by honoring his physical lineage through Israel not just the ‘spiritual Israel’ believers that followed later. I believe in Rev. 7 these believers were chosen from amongst all men on Earth and soon thereafter they are martyred or they are taken up to Heaven like Elijah, most likely they are martyred. Rev. 7 seems to indicate that right after the SEALING of the 144,000 a large number of believers are martyred, the 144,000 among them which explains the references to them being before the throne of God yet they are not restricted to staying in Heaven because they can also descend to Mount Sion with the Lamb, Jesus Christ as Rev. 14:1 indicates. Firstfruits in the Bible were a small representation of a full harvest; so the 144,000 are the first of the full promised harvest of believers. This is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:4 ‘And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. As promised to Abraham the very first group of believers to inherit the promised Kingdom is the group that came out of Abraham’s own bowels which is why it is significant that they are identified as the children of Israel, Abraham’s grandson out of who came forth the original twelve tribes. Like the original twelve tribes inherited the promised physical land of Israel; it is also fitting that the twelve tribes first inherit the spiritual land of Israel, the promised Kingdom of Heaven.

Beyond this understanding of the identity of the 144,000 I have heard and read many fanciful explanations none of which make any scriptural sense. One of the common explanations used is that since the 144,000 are physical descendants of Israel, it proves that the book of Revelation is meant only for the nation of Israel since the so-called gentile church will have been raptured out of here before the events described in the book occur. Wrong! There will be more non – physical Israelites (or gentiles) who will be believers in the days of the apocalypse than there will be Israelite or Jewish believers. Though the 144,000 are indeed from the bloodlines of the twelve tribes it no way proves that God deals only with physical Israelites in the book of Revelation as many 'fundamentalists' erroneously teach. The book of Revelation itself was written to seven gentile churches not to the Jewish church in Jerusalem. So those who attempt to use the Israelite identity of the 144,000 as proof for the rapture are misleading their followers and I hope readers of this article will study for themselves and come to the same conclusions that I have and prepare themselves to endure to the end rather than look for a fanciful escape from those things that must shortly come to pass. Amen.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Traditions or Truth

In a world in which traditions are valued more than truth, culture and heritage are promoted as invaluable even though the world our ancestors left us is wrought with folly and bloodshed, in such a world one needs to make a conscious effort to begin one’s search for truth by questioning one’s own heritage, one’s own culture and one’s traditions. Jesus taught in Mark 7:9, “And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition”. Blindly following traditions handed down from previous generations means to repeat and compound the errors of all previous generations. The apostle Paul admonished us in Colossians 2:8, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ”. And the apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:18, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers”. The words ‘vain conversation’ as used by the apostle Peter in the above scripture mean a lifestyle that is to no purpose, in vain, empty, fruitless, aimless. It is building houses on sand, chasing the wind, shooting at stars, pursuing one's own shadow. Following traditions blindly is like a dog chasing his tail; it gets us nowhere, and wears us out mentally and spiritually.

Biblically speaking the word tradition is applied to one’s birth religion first, and then to cultural aspects of one’s heritage. The majority of people that have lived on this planet and that presently occupy this planet will unquestioningly follow the religion handed down to them from their parents. The majority will never stop and consider that which they are following; like children following the pied piper of Hamlin they will blindly adhere to their ancestral religion without having even a rudimentary understanding of what the religion is all about. A Hindu will remain a Hindu, a Catholic will remain a Catholic, and a Muslim will remain a Muslim and so on. Yet I dare say that one out of a million may actually stop and study what the religion teaches, and more importantly have the courage to question the validity of those teachings. Since all religions are false and based upon false authority, religions need to be enforced, much as a cop enforcing the law. The enforcement is subtle but powerful; the unwritten and sometimes written law is enforced by strong disapproval of family members and members of society of any person that dares to challenge the prevailing religion of a family or region. Since the majority of people crave acceptance by family, friends, and society more than almost anything else, they put a lock on their mental and spiritual faculties and become putty in the hand of the very system that will keep them enslaved for their entire lives. And the biggest culprits in this wicked enslavement of the mind and spirit are one’s own parents, priests of religion, and teachers and professors who themselves have chosen to remain blinded and cannot stand to see anyone challenge their blindness. This is the reason why the Pharisees always sought to destroy Jesus because he challenged the status quo which meant that he challenged the authority of the enforcers, and this they could not allow. Like Jesus was rejected by the Jews, so too were his disciples, as will be any person that wants the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth no matter what the cost. The cost at best is being shunned by one’s family and peers, and at worst one pays for the truth with one’s life. O how true are the words of Jesus in John 12:43 , “For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God”.

The search for truth must begin by questioning everything we have learnt till the present time in our lives. Do not blindly follow any person that sets himself ups a leader, be it the Pope or the President. Unless you do so you may have a life of comfort but it will not be a life of truth. If and when you begin to question authority you will quickly come to the realization that most authority in this world is false and based upon fear or retribution which is why we need reams and reams of laws on the books. This is why laws have to be enforced because if people truly understood the laws they would quickly realize that these laws are detrimental to their well being, and not beneficial to them at all. Questioning authority will not make you popular or win you many friends but it will lead you to truth and true authority, which is the authority of God your maker. Matthew 28:18, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth”. Power derived from Jesus is true power and everlasting power since it is the power of love that does not need to be enforced.

1 Thessalonians 5:21Prove all things; hold fast that which is good”. ‘Prove’ means to test, to try out, to reason out, to dissect and then and then only to believe that which can withstand the test of truth. Reject everything else!!!