The ancient Pool of Siloam, which was fed by the same spring that now runs underground through Hezekiah’s tunnel under the Old City of Jerusalem of King David’s time, has been uncovered as attested in the article which closes this supplement to 183B & 185A.
Priests were required to go down into a cavern under Herod’s temple to immerse nightly in a spring that flowed under it. It was mandatory they do so before coming on duty the following day. Their self-immersion was a mikvah, or ritual bath, without which they were not allowed to participate in the three daily sacrifices.
For the last 29 years I have lectured about the spring that ran from the southwest to the northeast under the temple on the northern end of Herod’s temple foundation. It continued northeast into the old Pool of Siloam outside the northeastern corner of the temple mount, then east, then southeast, then south down the Kidron Valley, and finally became visible by walking down two flights of stairs to step into the water that flowed south through Hezekiah’s Tunnel for some 1750 feet. This is the spring that will be cut off when the land is lifted from Geba to Rimmon, and thereby surface on the temple mount to flow some 4000 cubits to the east through the divided Mount of Olives. You will find details on it in Archive Prophecy Updates 183B and 185A, and Figures of it under Archive Birth Pang Figures 42 through 48. During the non-rainy time of the year, when the water table of springs and wells dropped in Israel, additional water was supplied to the spring by a conduit of water that was brought northward to western Jerusalem from springs to the south and west of Jerusalem.
Zechariah 14:10 – All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses.
Zechariah 14:8 – And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
Ezekiel 47:1-5 – Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. [2] Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. [3] And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ancles. [4] Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. [5] Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.
The small earthquake that occurred yesterday in the Jordan valley is just a small prelude to the great earthquakes that are prophesied to occur in the latter portion of the future tribulation period.
Earthquakes have been occurring in the Jordan valley since Hector was a pup from small to great in intensity. But the ones that are coming will be much greater than the one felt in the days of King Uzziah.
Zechariah 14:5 – And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
Haggai 2:6,7 – 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; [7] 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.
Isaiah 29:6 – Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.
Joel 2:30 – And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
Volcanic eruptions on the earth’s land surface are associated with great earthquakes, great noise, thunder and thunderstorms, pillars of smoke, and the flame of devouring fire. Those on the ocean and sea floors are associated with great earthquakes, storm and tempest, tsunami and, if they break the sea surface, with thunderstorms, pillars of smoke, great noise, and the flame of devouring fire.
BEGIN EXTRACT FROM TECTONIC CHAOS SERIES
Revelation 16:18-21 – And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. [19] And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. [20] And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. [21] And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
Verses eighteen and nineteen announce the occurrence of great worldwide earthquake activity, and then go on to describe some of its universal (cities of the nations fell) and local (the great city was divided into three parts) effects.
Verse twenty then gives a visual observation of what is producing the effects of verses eighteen and nineteen: the visible movement of the islands and mountains atop the great shifting crust of the earth. This great shifting of the crust producing the earthquake activity of verses eighteen and nineteen will simultaneously be creating the phenomenon described in verse twenty-one.
The “hail” of verse twenty-one is not made of ice. These talent approximated chunks of matter are hot volcanic rocks thrown high in the heaven where the birds fly to eventually come down on sinful mankind as a plague of fire. There are three heavens portrayed in the Scriptures: the heaven where the birds fly (atmosphere); the heaven where the sun, other stars, and the planets exists; and the Heaven where God dwells. Verse twenty-one is an observation of those regions of the heavens containing this planet’s atmosphere. The King James translators in 1611 correctly supplied the word “stone” rather than “hailstone” to describe the true contextual meaning of the Greek word chalaza.
The word “hail” appears only four times in the entire New Testament, and all four appearances are limited to the book of Revelation. By a process of abridgment the basic meaning of the word chalaza has been lost in a great surge of definition by common usage, which began about the time of the Civil War. The original Greek lexicons of the New Testament were monstrously large, far too enormous to conveniently carry from class to class or place to place. For this reason a historical process of abridgment has gradually reduced the first lexicons to about one fourth of their original size. In order to shorten lexicons to their present day volumes, it was necessary to select those seemingly non-essential Greek words with long definitions for particularly close trimming and chalaza was just such a word; a word appearing only four times in the Scriptures and possessing a lengthy variety of meanings.
In today’s modern era of rapid technological development, vast improvements in the area of creature comfort have slowly given rise to what is now the generally accepted idea: new is better than old. This, of course, is true in most aspects of learning: knowledge of today is better than that of yesteryear. But this idea must be rejected when considering the true meaning of a biblical word. The farther back in time one is able to track the meaning of a word, the closer he or she comes to what the writer meant when he wrote it.
In paragraphs that follow, the history of the word chalaza will be unveiled back to the most authoritative lexicons ever written
Most preachers and commentators after the Civil War began to teach uniformly that the “hail” of Revelation was in the form of ice. Primarily because of this common usage, virtually all new post-Civil War publications simply abridged away the original basic meaning of the word chalaza. All of the following popular reference publications were abridged in part from post-Civil War sources, and merely list chalaza as “hail”: Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible, Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, The Analytical Greek Lexicon, and Strong’s Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament.
Now, please carefully examine the following definitions extracted from pre-Civil War sources from which the post-Civil War sources were abridged.
1857—A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament by E. W. Bullinger.
(1) Chalaza—something let go, let fall.
1843—A Greek-English Lexicon compiled by Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott, based on the work of Franz Passow in his lexicon of 1819.
(1) A pelting shower of anything.
(2) Any small knot like a hailstone.
(3) A knot or hard lump.
(4) A bituminous rock.
1836—A Greek and English Lexicon of the New Testament by Dr. Edward Robinson.
(I) In the proper sense, not figurative, something let go, let fall.
1826—A Comprehensive Lexicon of the Greek Language by Dr. John Pickering.
(1) A precious stone.
1819—A Lexicon of the New Testament by Franz Passow.
(1) Strictly, that which is let loose.
The writings of the early Greeks clearly reveal that the usage of chalaza was not limited to a frozen ball of ice that fell from the heavens. The word chalaza was used by Sophocles, Aristotle, Athenaeus, Theophrastus, Orphica, and Plutarchus to describe the following things:
(1) a knot, (2) a hard lump, (3) a pelting shower of anything, (4) a bituminous rock, (5) a stone that resembles a hailstone, and (6) anything that falls from the heavens.
The 1819 lexicon by Franz Passow is recognized as the grandfather of modern day lexicons even though it was based on the 1797 lexicon of Johann Gottlob Schneider. The noun chalaza comes from the verb chalao, which means “to let down from above.” Chalaza is whatever happens to be let down from above.
Passow’s 1819 definition states its full, basic meaning best:
“Strictly, that which is let loose.”
The four occurrences of chalaza in Revelation do not picture balls of ice being let down, but rather stones of fire from massive volcanic eruptions produced by a fantastic shifting of the plates. A further validation of this statement may be made by an interpretation of Revelation 8:7.
Revelation 8:7 – The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Please note in figure 3 that many of the great cracks in the crust of the earth pass across large segments of the earth’s dry land mass. What John observes as recorded in verse seven is the opening of these plate boundaries to allow massive showers of hot, burning pyroclastic material to shower down upon the dry land masses. The word chalaza appears as “hail” in this verse, but this chalaza is not made of ice, for ice does not mix with the literal Greek word used for “fire” (pur), nor does it burn up trees or green grass. Because God sent a plague of hailstones and fire against the Egyptians in the Old Testament as one of the ten plagues, most commentaries link this verse in Revelation to that event and thereby identify the fire as lightning. I can see the reason for this common interpretation, but I heartily disagree with it. The reason for my disagreement is dramatically portrayed by what appears in the two verses that precede Revelation 8:7.
Revelation 8:5-7 – And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. [6] And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. [7] The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Please note in verse five that the word “lightning” appears. This is a translation of the Greek word astrapai, which means “vivid flashes of static electricity,” a very common phenomenon produced by volcanic eruptions. Why am I so sure that the word “fire” in verse seven is not lightning? Because an entirely different word from astrapai is used in verse seven as God’s Holy Spirit causes John to use the word pur, which means, “a visible heat flame evolved by ignition and combustion.” The Holy Spirit would not have caused John to use astrapai for lightning” in verse five and then suddenly cause him to use an unrelated word like pur for lightning in verse seven. John reported exactly what he saw. He saw lightning in verse five and he saw fire in verse seven.
The Greek word for “blood” in verse seven is haimati, which can mean any one of three different things: (1) real blood, (2) the blood-red color taken on by an object, (3) any form of liquid having a blood-red color. The Hebrews had a habit of identifying any color from orange to reddish black as “blood.” The following passages from the Old Testament show that the word “blood” was often used in a figurative sense.
Deuteronomy 32:14 – Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.
Genesis 49:11 – Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
II Kings 3:22,23 – And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water on the other side as red as blood: [23] And they said, This is blood: the kings are surely slain, and they have smitten one another: now therefore, Moab, to the spoil.
Certainly grapes do not contain real blood, but many varieties contained a blood-red liquid. The Hebrew was familiar with the many various shades of blood from the wounds of the battlefields. They had seen blood from the heart area of an extremely light reddish hue and blood from the femur veins that was almost blackish. Not only is there a tremendous difference in the shades of blood within each individual, but also differences between individuals.
Anytime that John observed a color from orange to deep dark red he simply reported the color as “blood.” You will not find the color orange in the Scriptures. In Revelation 6:12 we are not told that the moon will actually turn into real blood, but rather that it will take on a blood-red color (orange to deep red) from volcanic lithometers in the lower stratosphere.
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 Revelation 8:5-7 John observed an angel take fire from the heavenly altar and then cast it into (eis) the earth to produce the following phenomena: (1) voices (phonai—literally, sounds), (2) thunderings, (3) lightnings and (4) an earthquake. The sounds that John heard were the terrifying sounds generated by movement along the pressurized plate boundaries. The thunderings were from massive thunderstorms formed by widespread uplifting of moisture in hot convective currents above vast volcanic eruptions. The lightning he observed was from vivid static electricity produced by both thunderstorm and the volcanically induced heat component of friction. As a meteorologist and physical scientist, I assure you that sounds, thundering, lightning and earthquakes are common occurrences in all major volcanic eruptions. And may I also assure you that the sounds, thunderings, lightning and earthquakes occur in conjunction with, and are followed by, chalaza, pur and haimati. The word translated as “mingled” among these seven frightening phenomena is memigmena, and it means to be mixed in with something, as one would dip a garment in red dye.
Now, armed with all this information, let us carefully examine what John saw in verse seven. He saw chalaza (something let go, let fall). He observed objects being cast upon the earth. These objects were pur (fiery) and they looked like they had been dipped in haimati (a blood-red liquid). The objects were fiery volcanic rocks that looked as if they had been dipped in blood, and that blood-red liquid was lava. This is a perfect figurative description of a literal volcanic eruption.
The linguistics of verses five and seven describe massive volcanic eruptions, but the effect on the dry land is the final proof of the pudding. Please note that all the green grass is destroyed, but only one-third of the trees. Why not all of the trees? Because in all major volcanic eruptions the grass is destroyed over a vast area due to the shallowness of its roots, but only the trees in the immediate vicinity of the eruption are destroyed due to the much greater depth of their tap roots. In virtually all-volcanic eruptions you will find within the same area that all the green grass is destroyed, but only about one-third of the trees are killed, those being the trees nearest the volcanic cone.
If there is a question in your mind concerning the rendering of the word translated as “blood” in the book of Revelation, please consider this reference from volume one of Gerhard Kittel’s Theological Dictionary: In the language of apocalyptic haima “signifies the red color simulate to blood which indicates eschatological terrors in the earth and heaven, such as war (Ac. 2:19), hail and fire (Rev. 8:7), the changing of water (Rev. 8:8), the coloring of the moon (Rev. 6:12), the judgment of the nations (Rev. 14:20).” This source clearly indicates that the word “blood’ in Revelation may be understood as any liquid substance having a red color.
END EXTRACT FROM TECTONIC CHAOS SERIES
On a certain day, at a certain hour, the earthquake of Revelation 6:12, the first in the book of Revelation, will occur in the Jordan River valley, and the energy released from it will begin a rippling chain of pressure releases along the world’s tectonic plate boundaries. The releasing of sections long blocked will cause other blocked sections to release, and they in turn will cause other sections to release. The process will not completely end until some three and one-half years later, when the last great earthquake occurs as the pouring out of God final vial of wrath on those who would not place their faith in his Son. The process begins in Revelation 6:12 and ends in 16:18.
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;
Revelation 16:18,19 – And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. [19] And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Matthew 24:21 – For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
WILL THE TEMPLE BE REBUILT IN JERUSALEM?
I long ago lost count of the number of men and women who have reminded me that the temple MUST be rebuilt before Jesus returns. A majority of believers are certain that it must be rebuilt because antichrist must set in it “showing himself that he is God.”
As a young man I believed that it would be rebuilt before Jesus returned. But as I studied the Greek language in Seminary, I began to say it would probably be rebuilt. I now do not believe it will be rebuilt until the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Why?
Much of what follows is quoted primarily from the “New Testament Greek-English Dictionary of the Complete Bible Library,” Volumes 13 and 14.
In the New Testament the word “hieron,” translated as “temple,” is found ONLY in the Gospels, in Acts, and in I Corinthians 9:13, where Paul’s ONLY use of the word appears as “temple.”
I Corinthians 9:13 – Jerusalem’s Literal Stone Temple
[13] Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple (hieron)? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?
“Hieron” refers to the entire temple including its precincts and the temple hill or, in a limited sense, any portion of the temple, such as the court of the women (Luke 2:37) where Jesus stood before the altar after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11:11), the court of the Gentiles out of which Jesus drove the money changers (John 2:15), or the temple proper where the veil separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies (Matthew 27:52). “Hieron” is ONLY used in a literal sense in the entire New Testament. This is in very sharp contrast to its closely related term “naos,” which is used both literally and figuratively in the New Testament. It is used figuratively at times to refer to the human body or a local church body.
I Corinthians 6:19 – The Human Body – Naos
[19] What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
I Corinthians 3:16,17 – The Local Church Body – Naos
[16] Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? [17] If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
(All the “ye’s” in this verse are plural, and the “in” of verse 16 may be translated with equal validity as being “among” you, because “you” is plural.)
Now, let’s take a look at the word “naos,” translated as “temple” in the New Testament. “Naos” denotes the “dwelling place of a god.” Consequently, the “naos” was the inner “sanctuary” of a temple where the image of the God was placed, or where he dwelled. It is frequently translated as “temple,” but the association with the word “sanctuary” should not be overlooked.
The following verses contain ALL the uses of the word translated “temple” in the writings of the Apostle Paul.
TEMPLE – HIERON – I CORINTHIANS 9:13
[13] Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?
(This is absolutely referring literally to the great temple of stone in the city of Jerusalem)
TEMPLE – NAOS – I CORINTHIANS 6:19
[19] What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
(This is absolutely referring to the body of someone who has experienced the new birth as figuratively being a temple)
TEMPLE – NAOS – I CORINTHIANS 3:16,17
[16] Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? [17] If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
TEMPLE – NAOS – II CORINTHIANS 6:16
[16] And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
(All the “ye’s” and the “them” and “they” are plural, and the two “in’s” may be translated as “among”)
TEMPLE – NAOS – EPHESIANS 2:21,22
[21] In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: [22] In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
(The “ye” in verse 22 is plural)
It is perfectly obvious in the verses in the two books of Corinthians and Ephesians that Paul was not referring to the literal temple in Jerusalem, and it is also equally obvious he knew the distinction between “hieron” and “naos.” That is why his ONLY other use of the word “naos,” occurring in I Thessalonians 2:4, is so puzzling. I am convinced that if he meant the literal stone temple in Jerusalem, then he would have used the word “hieron.”
TEMPLE – NAOS – II THESSALONIANS 2:4
[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, shewing himself that he is God.
The precise meaning of “naos” in this verse is uncertain. I believe Paul pictures the antichrist sitting on the temple mount in a sinful body of flesh, with his inner soul and spirit claiming he is God to prove it to himself, and to show the world he is God. This would parallel his use of the word “naos” in I Corinthians 6:19. In any case, I Thessalonians 2:4 falls far short of proving that the temple must be rebuilt before Jesus comes.
The companion Old Testament Scripture often used to link with I Thessalonians 2:2 to prove the temple must be rebuilt is Daniel 11:45.
Daniel 11:45 – And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
Tectonic Chaos – Chapter 11 – Salty Sea to a Fresh Water Lake!
Figure 47 is a general summarization in a pictorial format of what has been presented thus far by a narrative discourse. It shows the area as I believe it will appear during the Millennium. Please note that the Dead Sea is forecast to become a living sea. At the present time, the Dead Sea is so saturated with salt and other solids that aquatic life forms cannot be supported. Fish that enter the Dead Sea from its tributaries perish shortly after their entrance. For centuries the elevated Arabah Fault to the south of the Dead Sea has prevented the waters of the Jordan River from reaching the Gulf of Aqaba (Eilat). Consequently, by a process of evaporation, more and more salt has been continuously added to the land-locked body of water Zechariah identifies as the former (eastern) Sea (See Archive Birth Pang Figure 47).
Zechariah 14:8 – And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
When God splits the Arabah Fault, during the tribulation period, a natural graben river valley will be formed between the blocking section of the fault structure, and the Jordan’s waters will finally be able to flow from the Dead Sea into the Red Sea by way of the Gulf of Aqaba. This will eventually clean most of the salt out of the Dead Sea, but the shallow northeastern sections will continue to have salt in coastline marsh areas. (See Archive Birth Pang Figures 47 and 48).
Ezekiel 47:6-12 – And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. [7] Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. [8] Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. [9] And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. [10] And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. [11] But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. [12] And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine. (See Archive Birth Pang Figures 47 and 48).
As we begin with verse six, we have just walked eastward a little over a mile (4,000 cubits) from the utter gate of the Jerusalem Millennial Temple, and have arrived at the brink of the diverted Jordan River. During our walk, we passed directly through the graben valley created during the tribulation period when the Mount of Olives divided into two sections, one moving to the north, and one moving to the south. The stream along which we walked developed after the Israelites fled to the Negev by way of the valley of the mountains. The area, through which the entire stream and Jordan River Complex is prophesied to flow, is one of the most fertile soul profiles in Israel. But no matter how fertile and perfectly zoned a soil profile is, unless there is water, no vegetation will spring up. This has been the problem in this dry, arid region for centuries, but God is going to change all that. Trees, and all types of vegetation, will flourish along the length of these two living water rivers as they flow toward the Mediterranean and Dead Seas, and the remnant of Israel will use this new source of water to irrigate the desert lands of Judah and most of southern Israel. I am convinced Israel will become the breadbasket of the Middle East. When Judah’s water shed, to the west of the line from Geba to Rimmon, lifts up as a fault block ridge, it will increase subterranean water flow into the spring that still flows under Jerusalem. The lifting along the Tyropoean Valley fault, just behind the Temple Mount Complex, will cause the spring to surface on the Temple platform just north of the Dome of the Rock, and it will flow eastward as a stream for a thousand years. As westerly winds being the moist Mediterranean air up the gentle slope of the uplifted western Judean watershed block complex, adiabatic cooling of the moist sea air, coupled with convective heating of the plain, will produce frequent periods of orographic and convective precipitation. Some of this rain will drift off the higher central watershed and fall on what are now arid sections of eastern and southern Judea. I also believe that more frontal activity will affect all Israel by increasing precipitation totals. Increased precipitation will not only water the soil profile directly, but increased occurrence to the west of Jerusalem will keep the water table supplied with ample water to feed Ezekiel’s temple spring continuously through the entire 1000 year reign of Christ. God will so structure the land and the climate that lack of water will no longer be a problem to the east of the line from Geba to Rimmon.
As verse 8 indicates, a part of this fresh water flows into “the east country” (east of the Mount of Olives), then “down (southward) into the desert” (desert of Judah and Arabah), then finally “into the sea” (Dead Sea). Once they are brought forth into the Dead Sea they cause water now there “to be healed” (the salt content is reduced sufficiently to start supporting aquatic life). This is all made possible by the opening of the Arabah Fault into a channel that will allow the Dead Sea to drain most of its salt content into the Red Sea via the Gulf of Aqaba.
Verse 9 gives a clear prophecy that the Jordan River system, from its northern tip to its entry into the Gulf of Aqaba, will be filled with all sorts of aquatic life, this being made possible because the Dead Sea has been healed from its extremely high, life taking, salt content.
Verse 10 reveals that fishermen will fish for a great, exceeding variety of fish along the Dead Sea western shoreline from Engedi to Eneglaim (See Archive Birth Pang Figure 48). This entire shoreline is now barren of all aquatic life forms.
Verse 11 tells us that the northeastern zone of the Dead Sea will exist as a salt marsh because it will be out of the direct fresh water trajectory flowing into the western shoreline (See Archive Birth Pang Figure 48).
Verse 12 is a picture of a vast aggregate of all types of fruit producing trees. The fruit of the trees will be a part of the “meat” supply of the nation of Israel, and various extracts from the trees will be used for medicinal purposes. Ezekiel’s vision of great fertility in the wilderness of Judea is echoed by many of the prophets, in terms similar to those put forward by Isaiah, as he describes the effects the new hydrological changes will produce in the desolate zones of Israel.
Isaiah 35:1,2,6,7 –The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. [2] It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. [6] Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. [7] And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons (jackals), where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
The day is soon coming when God will so geologically reconstruct the topography of his Holy Land by a massive shifting of his tectonic plates, that the deserts and wildernesses of Judah shall be thoroughly irrigated with waters from a reorganized Jordan River tributary system. Where only jackals (dragons) now dwell, men and women will leap for joy like a hart, and Jewish tongues will sing praise to God for his great blessings of fertility. A vast green paradise will exist where only arid wasteland once appeared. One of these changes involved in the many that will be wrought by God, is the opening of a valley in the Arabah Fault block, which will allow the contents of the present Dead Sea to flush through it on the way to the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aqaba. At the present time there are convective currents of magma that flow upward into the lower sections on both sides of the Red Sea, which is causing the sea floor to spread apart at the rate of several centimeters per year. This same lake of magma underlies the entire length of the Jordan Valley, but, at the present time, the faults on both sides of it are locked, or “frozen” in place above the magma, and its upward convective currents are much more passive here than under the Red Sea (See Archive Birth Pang Figures, 23, 24, 25, 27, and 38). However, when the present Red Sea floor spreading of the fault finally reaches its critical limits, at that time the northern, or “locked” portion, of the fault will suddenly burst open on both sides for a distance of about 185 miles from the Port of Aqaba (Eilat) northward, to become a raging inferno of volcanic smoke, pitch, and brimstone. The greatest restructuring will occur in that section or the fault block between the southern tip of the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. That section was known as Edom or Idumea during the time of most of the prophets (See Archive Birth Pang Figure 23). Isaiah writes of this catastrophic tribulation period ripping transformation of that land, which will form a new river channel to drain the Dead Sea.
Isaiah 34:4-10 – 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. [5] For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. [6] The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. [7] And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. [8] For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. [9] And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. [10] It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
Jerusalem Earthquake Damage Greatest at Temple Mount
A survey, commissioned by the Jerusalem municipality three years ago, has just been concluded. It was initiated by city engineer Uri Sheerit, at a cost pf NIS 400,000, to help draw up the city’s future construction plans, and was carried out by the Israel Geological Institution. This was the first such survey conducted for the city of Jerusalem in modern times and gave clear evidence the Temple Mount at the Old City would be the worst hit in Jerusalem. The old city itself with its underground caves and tunnels, and a north-south fault scarp just west of the Wailing Wall, is the most unstable zone in the environ. Among the other neighborhoods that were described as high risk areas are the city’s southeastern regions extending into the old city of David, including Emek Refaim, Abu Tor, Bakaa, and East Talpiot. Several Arab villages on the outskirts of the city were also included in the danger zones. The survey indicated that the Temple Mount and its surrounding area have “a highly sensitive geological location, as well as problematic infrastructure that could destabilize the land during an earthquake.” (See Birth Pangs Figures 41 to 49 and Birth Pangs 24 to 27 in Archives on Menu)
There was a major earthquake in Jerusalem in the days of King Uzziah that burned a vivid remembrance in the minds of Israelis for hundreds of years, the earthquake recalled dramatically with the warning of another future major earthquake by Zechariah in the Old Testament.
Zechariah 14:5 – And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
And there was an earthquake of less intensity than that of Uzziah’s day when Christ was crucified, which was associated with the ripping of the veil of the temple from the top to the bottom, forever opening the way into the holy of holies, into the presence of God, by the crucifixion of his Son for the sins of all who would believe in him as the propitiation for their sins.
Matthew 27:50,51 – Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. [51] And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
Some five major earthquakes have occurred in the Jerusalem environs since the resurrection of Christ. The last large earthquake in the area was in 1927, when a magnitude 6.3 quake struck Jericho and the Jordan River valley. The Jordan River was dammed up for several hours at the Biblical location of Adam by landslides in the upper Jordan during this cycle of shakings. This is likely when the cracks in the Al-Aksa Mosque compound’s outer wall occurred, which some researchers claim is in danger of collapsing. This earthquake also damaged the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is built around a skull-shaped rock outcropping of Cenomanian limestone that most experts believe was where Christ was crucified. Some Israeli scientists have warned that another major quake will strike Jerusalem within the next 50 years.
The Great Rift Valley, which I have surveyed from the western base of Mount Herman in the Golan Heights to the valleys of Ethiopia and the Plains of Kenya, is the major culprit in the production of all earthquakes in Israel. If you will peruse the large number of diagrams we have made available in our Birth Pang Archives, and read Birth Pang Updates 21 to 48, it will give you a very thorough briefing on it. The Great Rift in the earth’s crust runs for 3,000 miles between Syria and Mozambique, and passes on both sides of the Dead Sea, below Jerusalem’s eastern hills. Another fault line runs from the northwest to the southeast beginning at the Port of Haifa, continuing past the Tel of Megiddo (Armageddon), and finally intersecting the Jordan River east of Nablus. It is in this valley the Bible indicates the hottest part of the final battle of Armageddon will be fought.
The researchers used computers to map the subterranean stratigraphy of the Jerusalem environs. They mapped the topography, geology, soil, and subterranean labyrinth of complex tunnels, caves, and many old cisterns.
The conclusion of the report was that “the Temple Mount at the Old City would be the worst hit part of Jerusalem if a serious earthquake were to strike the capital.” All of the experts are certain that an earthquake of at least the same magnitude as the one that devastated the Iranian city of Bam recently will, sooner or later, hit Israel. The earthquake prediction model for Israel, completed last year, indicates that the rift valley of Israel is due for a big one. The Scriptures also indicate the same thing! I believe it will not be too long before the dead bodies of the two end time witnesses will lie in the city of Jerusalem, where our Lord was crucified, and that the first of a long series of Jerusalem earthquakes will occur.
Revelation 11:8-13 – And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. [9] And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. [10] And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. [11] And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. [12] And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. [13] And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
The tenth part of Jerusalem that will fall is the section to the east of the N-S scarp bluff fault that lies some 90 yards to the west of the Wailing Wall. This is a weaker structural zone of Turonian limestone than the Cenomanian limestone to the west of the fault scarp. Please check our diagrams in the Birth Pangs Archives on the Menu. This is the same danger area the latest survey identified.
Zechariah 14:10 – All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses.
Zechariah 14:4 – And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Revelation 16:18,19 – And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. [19] And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Revelation 22:20 – He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
“Quickly” is an adverbial modifier used as a descriptive adjective and, as such, refers to the manner of his coming, not the chronological time of his coming.
I Corinthians 15:52 – In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
The recent discovery of oil around the Dead Sea was no surprise to me. I have told many, who have asked me, that I did not expect much oil to ever be discovered in Israel, and what little was discovered would be around the Dead Sea. Please read the article from Arutz Sheva and the excerpt from my first book, Tectonic Chaos, published in the seventies, which follows it.
I have claimed for 32 years that when oil was discovered in Israel, it would be around the Dead Sea, and made that one of my parameters for what I believe contributed to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 14:10 was one of the Scriptures that caused me to make oil one the elements that blended together to form a fiery pyroclastic mix that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as encrusting Lot’s wife.
Genesis 14:10 – And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.
Genesis 14:10 – And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.
The “slime pits” were bitumen or asphalt pits. The words for slime pits in Genesis 14:10 are the Hebrew words “chemar beer,” and represent a pit of bitumen that extended downward into the substrata of the earth. Asphalt is a brown to black bituminous substance that is obtained as a residue in petroleum refining. A great deal of the asphalt of ancient times came from the Dead Sea, which was also called Lacus Alphatites. Asphalt is a mixture of hydrocarbons, in part oxygenated, the softer types generating toward petroleum. When exposed to the air it hardens partly by oxidation and partly by evaporation. There was once a large build-up of this petroleum based bituminous material surrounding the area of Sodom and Gomorrah, because the writer states that it was “full of slime pits.” Even today an occasional chunk of asphalt will suddenly bob up to the top as a sulfur vent erupts on the sea floor of the Dead Sea. There are, to this day, large sulfur springs that deposit heavy loads of sulfur over the Dead Sea flats in this area. Here, in the hey-day of Sodom and Gomorrah, was a great subsurface powder keg of petroleum hydrocarbons and sulfur, just waiting for a giant match to ignite them. Another compound, sodium chloride, better known as salt, has always existed in the upper surface layers of this zone as vast block formations hundreds of feet thick. So, here is the disaster, waiting for the God who formed it, to ignite it with what he put beneath the layers of salt, sulfur, and petroleum based material – thick deposits of salt immediately under the surface, petroleum hydrocarbons boiling up through cracks in the salt layers, and sulfur springs rippling into the salt zone both vertically and horizontally. All this formation needed to trigger it was a vertical thrust of the igneous magma into the crack running through the Sodom-Gomorrah area (See Birth Pang Archive Figure 27). As you can see on Figure 27, a vast molten sea of magma underlies the earth’s outer crust, and it is closer to the earth’s surface in this area than in many other parts of the world. Numerous fumaroles occasionally release hot gasses and vapors to the surface from old volcanic vents that still extend deep into the underlying magma, bearing testimony that intense heat pockets exist just below the surface.
Zoar was not resting on top of the powder keg. When Lot entered the safety zone to which God had directed him, then God pulled his tectonic trigger and completely destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. I believe that God opened his Dead Sea Fault just enough to allow the fiery magma to push up through the vents of salt layers he had long saturated with sulfur and bitumen. This touched off a tremendous chain of explosions that roared through the entire vale of Siddim. The explosions weakened the upper crust and great fiery swirls of pyroclastic materials were blasted high into the heavens. The writer describes it vividly by stating, “brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.”
But what of Lot’s wife – how did she become a “pillar of salt?” First of all, she disobeyed God, and remained in the disaster zone – “But his wife looked back from behind him.” When Lot was safely inside Zoar, his wife was still standing in the danger zone “looking back.” This tells us why she became a pillar of salt – she disobeyed God! Now, let us explore how “she became a pillar of salt.” She observed the great vents of fire that went up into the heavens from the chain reaction, but before she could clear the danger zone a blanket of of pyroclastic material from the eruption rained down on her – and yes, you guessed it – the pyroclastic material was composed of hot, liquid, pryochemical salt. She actually “BECAME a pillar of salt,” exactly as the Word of God proclaims.
This sort of thing is not unheard of – pyroclastic materials of the local area covered the residents of Pompeii in 79 A.D. – They were actually encased, in perfect body form, by pyroclastic materials of the local area called “rapilli” that were thrown into the heavens by the eruption of Vesuvius. They became pillars of rapilli rather than pillars of salt. The Italian Florelli devised a method of making casts of the former residents by pouring plaster into the rapilli shell coverings. When the material rained down from heaven the residents of Pompeii were in the danger zone. I am convinced the same thing happened to Lot’s wife. The residents of Pompeii did not become “pillars of salt” only because the upper layers of the crust in their area were not composed of salt layers.
Please do not believe I am trying to “explain away” a miracle. God does as he wills with his own creation. I simple believe this is what God did. The sight that met Abraham’s view the morning after Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt, is a flawless description of a local opening of the tectonic plate along the Dead Sea Fault.
Genesis 19:26-28 – But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. [27] And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord: [28] And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
I believe God opened the Dead Sea Fault in a small local area to cause the terrifying picture Abraham witnessed in the aftermath of the cataclysm. I am convinced that God will once again open this fault in the last 1260 days of the tribulation period. But this time it will not be local – the opening will stretch from the southern tip of the Dead Sea via the land of Idumea to the northern extension of the Red Sea into the Gulf of Eilat or Aqaba (See Birth Pang Archive Figure 23). I believe the prophet Isaiah saw this happening in his vision of destruction in Idumea during the tribulation period (See latter part of Chapter 11).
Isaiah 34:9,10 – And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. [10] It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
February 2006 Addition to this book – Thirty years after I finished this book, archeological evidence unearthed by a team, which included Dr. John Melancon, has convinced me that Sodom and Gomorrah actually were located in Jordan on the northeastern side of the Dead Sea, rather than on the southeastern side. I was wrong about the location of Soddom and Gomorrah because I took the popular view, and did not question it. The vale of Siddim was to the northeast of the Dead Sea, not to the southeast according to recent geological discoveries. It makes no difference to the chapter you just read, because all of the same general geological features also run directly under the same area in Jordan from the southeastern side of the Dead Sea to the northeastern side. The same effect will be occurring all along the east side of the Dead Sea above the fault line from northeast of the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba (Eilat).
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Revelation 12:14 – And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. (See Archive Birth Pang Number 41)
The water under the Negev was discovered quite a while ago. I wrote about it in my books, and you will find discussions about it our earliest Prophecy Updates, one of which follows the article from Arutz Sheva, dated November 30, 2006. There will be quite a few Jewish settlers already in the Negev as up to two million flee into it when the Jihad is launched against Israel from the north.
Revelation 12:6 – And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. (See Archive Prophecy Update Numbers 5 and 6).
Zechariah 13:8,9 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. [9] And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.
In Prophecy Update Number 7 we ended it by stating: “But if 1.6 to 2 million Jews are to survive in the Negev, they must have enough water and food to sustain them for 3 and ½ prophetic years. Has God already been instrumental in assuring they will have it? More on this in Prophecy Update Number 8!” The answer is certainly a resounding YES, and in this update we will deal with the question of sufficient water. I first became aware of what God has done under the Negev wilderness in the late seventies. I already knew there were many shallow pockets of water that supplied the springs of the Negev, and that these pockets were reinforced by short bursts of desert thunderstorms from time to time. And I also knew this hydrological cycle could not possibly sustain a population of as many as 2 million future occupants. But God has already taken care of this problem in the distant past. In ancient times, when rainfall was abundant in the Negev and Sinai, God built up a vast reservoir of water deep beneath the hard rock layers of the Negev. There are billions of cubic feet of water stored under the Negev. However, a serious problem existed when it was first discovered. The water was 1300 to 2000 feet under the Negev, and this consisted of very hard rock layers. The technology of man, in the seventies, had not yet reached the level of capability to consistently drill a large number of wells to this depth. However, God informed Daniel, in Chapter 12, Verse 4, that something would happen in the end times which would increase man’s technological capabilities: “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.” Now we have the technological knowledge to recover this vast underground supply of water. At first, it was feared the water might have a high salt content, such that it would not be usable. But we were surprised to discover its salt content was only one-tenth of that of the open oceans and seas of the world. It can very easily be converted to drinkable water. It was also a pleasant surprise to Israel to discover it could be directly applied to botanical growth without any harmful resultant. In fact, in many cases, it produces a higher quality of fruits and vegetables if left untreated from its recovery state. God has placed enough water under the Negev to more than support the remnant of Israel for more than 3 and ½ prophetic years. But what about food for almost 2 million Jews? More on this in Prophecy Update Number 9!
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences (loimos), and earthquakes, in divers places. [8] All these are the beginning of sorrows (odin). (Matthew 24:7,8)
In Prophecy Update Number 18 we conducted a lengthy discussion of why earthquakes, famine, and pestilence were, just before Jesus returns, according to the word “odin,” supposed to follow the pattern of birth pangs a woman suffers in child bearing. We demonstrated that, for the first time in history, when Israel became a nation, worldwide earthquakes were following such a pattern. But what about Matthew’s “pestilence?” Is it following the pattern of a woman’s birth travail for the first time since Jesus prophesied it would? Absolutely! The basic root meaning of the word “loimos,” translated “pestilence,” is simply “any deadly infectious disorder.” Many plagues have passed through mankind since the fall, but none have generated a massive epidemic that was continuously accelerating over a long period of time. These “loimos” have never been able to follow the pattern of a woman’s birth pains for very long on a worldwide basis. Cholera, small pox, typhoid, bubonic plague, and so on, have appeared in short spurts like false labor, but none has ever maintained a persistent, ever increasing, epidemic characteristic with seemingly no end. But now, for the first time, we have a “loimos,” a deadly infectious disorder, that has portrayed these characteristics from its inception. The HIV virus is the first to perfectly match the pattern of a woman’s birth pangs, and it will continue to do so until the travail of the woman Israel ends, and the Son she rejected arrives. HIV is a virus that has swept across the globe like wildfire. HIV cases worldwide increased from a trace in 1980 to more than 5 million in 1985, to more than 10 million in 1990, to more than 20 million in 1995, and to a whopping 35 million in 2000. AIDS, the dreadful blossom of HIV, was first reported in a British sailor, who died in England in 1959. HIV has hardest hit Africa up to this point, but it is poised to spread into Asia and the former Soviet Union as an ever-increasing storm. And, in truth, medical researchers seem no closer to fining a cure than they were twenty years ago.
Are there other “loimos” infections that have also started to demonstrate the patterns of a woman’s birth pangs? Yes! The World Health Organization (WHO) fears that tuberculosis may kill 30 million worldwide during the next decade. The emergence of drug-resistant strains, and the spread of HIV have both hampered efforts by health agencies to slow the renewed spread of the consumptive illness. Another sort of “loimos” is malaria, which is on the rise around the world, and once curative treatments are losing their effect. It is a pestilence of global dimensions, and new strains are evolving that scientists fear will be untreatable.
But what about all the microbes generating all this pestilence, this “loimos,” these deadly infectious disorders, what are they doing, how are they behaving? Are they doing something that will make the pestilences continue to act like a woman’s birth pangs through the tribulation period? Yes! A leading national magazine cover, back in the last century, carried the bold print title: “REVENGE OF THE KILLER MICROBES – ARE WE LOSING THE WAR AGAINST INFECTIOUS DISEASES?” Tuft’s Levy answered the question in Newsweek Magazine by stating: “The rise of drug-resistant germs is unparalleled in recorded biologic history.” Because of this contributing factor, pestilence will become more and more widespread in its acceleration until the second advent of Christ.
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Small segments of the wall, (prophesied to be built and completed by the Prophet Daniel many years before it was decreed by a Persian King), had previously been uncovered, but this dig has unearthed a 30 meter section of the wall and a six-by-three-meter tower. It is “the wall” in Daniel 9:25, which Daniel prophesied to be “build again” “in troublous times.”
Daniel 9:25 – Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
The Prophecy of 70 Weeks of Years found in Daniel 9:24-27 is perhaps the most amazing prophecy in the Old Testament.
I hope you will take the time to read our Archive Prophecy Update 231, which follows immediately before the Jerusalem Post Article. It is Part 2 of a full exposition in 9 Parts of the Messiah who was to come in Daniel 9:24-27. In our Prophecy Update Archives it can be downloaded as Prophecy Update Numbers 230B continuously to 233. The Messiah of Daniel 9:24-27 is the “Son of man” prophesied to be given a kingdom and dominion in Daniel 7:13,14.
Daniel 7:13,14 – I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. [14] And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Begin Archive Prophecy Update Number 231
July 8, 2005
THE 70 WEEKS OF DANIEL’S 9:24-27 PROPHECY – Part 2
According to the Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Religions, the Evangelical Protestantism Movement emerged in Britain in the 1730s. The conversion of John Wesley in 1738 is often regarded as the start of the evangelical movement. Wesley was forced to preach out of doors and to eventually develop an organization of his own. From 1740 to 1800 the evangelicals were drawn into the movement primarily from Wesleyan Methodists, Primitive Methodists, nonconformist Protestant bodies such as the Congregationalists, and from the Baptist groups. By 1800 the Evangelical Movement had spread to the Church of England.
Within the Evangelical Movement a different viewpoint arose in the teaching of Prophecy, particularly in the interpretation of Daniel 9:27. I have diligently searched for any commentary published before 1740 that indicated the three “HE’S” in Daniel 9:27 were the antichrist, and have not found a single one. I am not saying one does not exist, but I have been looking for years, and have never found one. All publications before 1740 clearly identified the three “HE’S” as Jesus Christ, “the Messiah the Prince.” It has stunned me as to how much of our teaching today about the antichrist is all tied back to the belief that the antichrist is the one referred to in Daniel 9:27. I beg of you to take a good look at the series on the 70 Weeks of Daniel exposition I am now presenting in 7 parts. Even if you think it is hogwash, please carefully read Parts 1 through 7. If it is correct, it will help you to understand what is going on when the antichrist does not follow the pattern currently taught in most religious circles. If it is wrong, it will have done you no harm, but please read it. I have no ulterior motive for gain in presenting it to you. My motive is a simple one. I am an old man who is three years past his allotted threescore and ten years, and I am very concerned that many are going to be confused when prophetic events suddenly conclude in a manner quite different from what they expect. For better or for worse, I believe the religious world took a wrong turn in prophetic teaching in 1740, and that many believe what is erroneously tied back to antichrist representing the three “HE’S” in Daniel 9:27.
Daniel 9:27 – And HE shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week HE shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations HE shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
I fully exposited on Daniel 9:24 in Special Prophecy Update 230B, establishing how Daniel had learned, from Jeremiah’s writings, that seventy weeks of years were determined upon the people of Israel and their holy city Jerusalem. Under Daniel’s formula for the period, each one of Jeremiah’s seventy years was equal to seven years, and he identified each seven year period as one week of years (So 7 X 70 = 490 years or 70 weeks of years). In verse 25 he gives us a starting point for his prophetic clock to begin ticking toward a countdown of 490 years or 70 weeks of years.
Daniel 9:25 – Know therefore and understand, that FROM the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem UNTO the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
The 490 year time clock would start ticking when “the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem” was issued. However, there were four different proclamations issued by three Persian kings:
1. The Decree of Cyrus in 536 B.C.
2. The Decree of Darius Hystaspes in 519 B.C.
3. The first Decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus in 457 B.C.
4. The second Decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus in 445 B.C.
The Scripture indicated that FROM the time the commandment (decree) was issued UNTIL the Messiah the Prince arrived, would be 69 weeks of years or 483 years (7 weeks + 62 weeks = 69 weeks of years) ( 7 X 69 = 483 years)
Now, some problems arise in the establishment of historical dates that begin at “FROM” and end at “UNTIL” – Are these prophetic years or calendar years – How are they affected by corrections to the Gentile calendars by Rome – And how are they affected by the lunar calendar used by the Hebrews? All these things make it difficult to decide which one of the four decrees applies to Daniel 9:25. Was Daniel indicating solar years of 365.25 or prophetic lunar years of 360 days? Most likely he meant years of 360 days.
Which one of the four decrees was the one that Daniel indicated in his prophecy? The decree of Cyrus in 536 B.C. was limited to the building of the Temple. The decree of Darius Hystaspes was also limited to the building of the Temple. The first decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus in 457 B.C. demonstrated a larger range of granting authority to carry out all that needed to be done, much more than the two decrees before it. His second decree in 445 B.C. is also very specific in its instruction and authority to rebuild Jerusalem. So, we are able, because of the lack of reference “to restore and to build Jerusalem” in the first two decrees, to say that it must be one of the two issued by Artaxerxes Longimanus in 457 B. C. and 445 B.C.
If Daniel’s prophecy is based on our present calendar year, which I doubt, then FROM the time Artaxerxes first decree was issued in 457 B.C. until the baptism of Jesus the Messiah in 27 A.D., would be 483 years or 69 weeks. This was the viewpoint held by the great Baptist Bible expositor B.H. Carroll in the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds. But Dr. Carroll makes this statement in his writings on Daniel 9:25, when dealing with prophetic years of 360 days: “”Hengstenberg, on the other hand, while agreeing with the second decree of 445 B.C., controverts the theory of a year of 360 days, and contests the date usually accepted (445 B.C.). By an elaborate historical argument of great plausibility he seeks to prove that the 20th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus falls on the date 455 B.C. and then, by adding 483 years, Hengstenberg puts Christ’s acknowledgment by His Father, at His baptism, as the true coming of Messiah the Prince.” Sir Robert Anderson has two books on Daniel, “The Coming Prince” and “Daniel in the Critic’s Den.” He uses the usually accepted debt of 445 B.C. and articulates a strong time sequence to prove his conclusions.
Now, please allow me to state my conclusions. I was taught certain things about Daniel 9:24-27 by many old preachers who are now at home with the Lord. Many of them were born in the 19th century and lived into the thirties, forties, and fifties of the 20th. In northern Arkansas where I was raised, these old fellows read after the leading Baptist theologians of their day from books they had procured from old book stores or the libraries of older preachers when they died. Some of these books were written in the late 18th and early 19th century, and they finally just worn out and fell apart from constant use. They didn’t have opportunity to attend a seminary, but they were diligent in reading the works of the Baptists who did. These are the men who first taught me prophecy many years before I graduated from seminaries, colleges, and universities. In the weeks to come, Lord willing, I am going to pass on to you what they taught me, and you may be surprised. Now, in all honesty, before God and man, I believe it was 483 years “FROM” the decree “UNTO” the baptism of Jesus, when he began His earthly ministry. I accept it by faith in God’s word. The problem is not with the Word of God, it is with the human setting of the time of the proper decree.
My main reason for writing such a lengthy discourse was to show how difficult it is to absolutely fix the precise date the proclamation was issued to which Daniel referred. BUT I AM DELIGHTED TO TELL YOU THAT WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT CAN BE PROVEN BY A SINGLE WORD, THE WORD “AFTER” IN DANIEL 9:26A.
Daniel 9:25,26A – Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. [26] And AFTER threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: (The 7 weeks is understood in Hebrew literary style to also be added to the 62 in verse 26 so as to avoid redundancy in a flowing chronological sequence of events, i.e. AFTER 69 weeks. Otherwise, Messiah would have been cut off before he was born.)
The Hebrew word used for “AFTER” is “ACHAR,” which means, in context, “AFTERWARD.” This same word “ACHAR” is used in the following Scriptures.
Jeremiah 31:33 – But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; AFTER those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Joel 2:28 – And it shall come to pass AFTERWARD, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
Hosea 3:5 – AFTERWARD shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.
Hosea 6:2 – AFTER two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
The vast majority of prophetic expositors today claim that Messiah was cut off, crucified, to END the 69th week, bringing the hands of Daniel’s clock to a standstill, and that we have a full week of seven years waiting to be fulfilled when it begins to tick again, but that cannot be true since Christ was crucified AFTER the 69th week during the 70th week, leaving less than seven years to be fulfilled.
The significance of the placement of “AFTER” in Daniel 9:26A cannot be overemphasized. Why? Because it definitely states that Messiah would not be cut off to END the 69th week, but would be crucified “AFTER” it, at some time in the 70th week. The clock of Daniel stopped ticking at some time in the final 70th week. So when was Jesus cut off by crucifixion in the 70th week? The answer is of the utmost importance. I know we have less than seven years once the clock starts to tick again, but how much less do we have? It has to be less than 2520 days, but more than 1260 days? We will proceed into verses 26 and 27 in a future update to find the answers to these questions, Lord willing.
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Genesis 15:18 – In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
Ezekiel 47:17 – And the border from the sea shall be Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.
Ezekiel 47:19 – And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward.
Micah 5:5,6 – And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. [6] And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.
I have established, in previous updates, that “this man” of verse 5 is “the peace” himself because he ends the earthly reign of “the Assyrian” at the battle of Armageddon, and then brings in “the peace” that lasts for 1000 years on this present planet. It is only Jesus Christ himself who has the power to bring such a thing to pass.
I believe verse 6 to be one of the most interesting verses in the Scriptures that have yet to be fulfilled. Why am I so certain it has never been fulfilled? Because Israel has not wasted the land of Assyria with the sword, or the land of Nimrod in its entrances thereof, since Micah wrote these prophecies! At the time he wrote the borders of the expanding Assyrian Empire covered all of modern day Israel north of Ramallah, all of modern Syria, all of modern Lebanon, and all of modern Iraq north of Baghdad. The historical settling of this area between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers after the flood in Noah’s day is of great value in the interpretation of Micah 5:6.
Genesis 10:1,6,8,22 – Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. [6] And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. [8] And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. [22] The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.
Assyria apparently derived its name from Asshur, the son of Shem. Later in time Asshur was worshipped as the chief God of the Assyrians. Asshur went into the northern area of the fertile plain lying between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, and his descendants that settled it were eventually called Assyrians. It is certain that Israel never wasted this area. Nimrod was the grandson of Ham through Cush. He founded a great kingdom between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, south of the area of Asshur’s descendants, that extended south to the Persian Gulf. The “entrances” into it from the east, which is the direction the Israelis would come to “waste” it, were the shallow sections of the Euphrates River that could be waded to gain entrance. The Euphrates was, and is, perhaps the greatest carrier of top water silt on this planet. The rapid descent gradient of its waters in the steep mountains of Turkey was able to sustain an enormous quantity of erosion debris cut off the mountain slopes, but when the water came onto the flat plains of modern day Iraq its speed was abruptly lowered, and the silt deposition rapidly built up lees across the Euphrates, making it possible for some areas to be waded. The long series of dams currently stretching from Turkey, through Syria, and into Iraq have helped to regulate the flow and silt deposition of the Euphrates, but at the time of Micah’s writings there would have been a plurality of wading entrances into the land of Nimrod across the Euphrates.
Now, why have I gone into such detail as to the locations of Assyria and the land of Nimrod? Because when Israel comes up out of the Negev at the battle of Armageddon, after having been confined there by the Assyrian for 1260 days, it will conquer a specified amount of territory to its north and east.
Revelation 12:6 – And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
Malachi 4:1 – For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
Zechariah 12:6-9 – 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. [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. [8] In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. [9] And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
Zechariah 14:9 – And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.
Micah 5:6 – And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.Israel will claim all the land from the River of Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River, with a northern latitudinal border extending to Hamath (Hama) in Syria, and a southern border extending to Kadesh in the Sinai. And all this is not by accident, but by design and promise, for it was God’s ancient land grant promise to Abraham and to Israel. Its periphery is laid out in Genesis and Ezekiel. Its northern limits were to extend to the latitude of Hamath (Hama) in Syria, and its southern limits to the latitude of Kadesh. Its longitudinal limits to the west were to extend to the Mediterranean Sea and the River of Egypt, and its eastern longitudinal limits were to extend to the “entrances thereof” of the Euphrates River. This is the area of Micah 5:6 that Israel will “waste,” and then claim for a thousand years.
Genesis 15:18 – In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:
Ezekiel 47:17,19 – And the border from the sea shall be Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side. [19] And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward.
After Christ has himself, by himself, defeated the Assyrian at the battle of Armageddon to bring in “the peace” of a thousand years, then Israel will roar north out of the Negev to mop up what is left of a demoralized army that is fleeing north. Israel will take Jerusalem back, then drive north, northeast, and east, to claim all the land west of the Euphrates River.
Isaiah 66:15,16 – For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. [16] For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many.
Zechariah 14:12-14 – And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. [13] And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour. [14] And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.
Micah 4:6,7 – In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; [7] And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.
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I wrote several articles on this subject back in the final 20 years of the last century. Now a request for information from a long standing friend in St. Louis, has led me to again address the validity of a branch of scientific theory with which I disagree. In order to not belabor the subject, or to issue a single Blog of great length, I plan to issue this Blog before noon on Tuesday and a second one this afternoon or evening. I then plan to get off the subject, and on future queries on the “global warming” theory to simply refer back to these two blogs. I consider the theory that man is the primary culprit in the creation of the huge hole in the ozone layer, and the primary villain in the global warming theory, to be the two greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated on modern mankind.
Just as the ozone depleting, government grant seeking, scientists of the last century, led the donkey theory of chlorofluorocarbons generated by man, as being the villains chewing up the ozone molecules that make up our vast protective ozone layer, so now they are using the same basic theory, with modifications, which they identify as fact, as the major culprit in global warming. And, since they are scared to death of recent evidence that cooling, rather than warming is occurring, they are now presenting a ‘cover your donkey’ theory until 2020, so as to be able to continue the present grant-getting, money-making, hoax on a gullible world. It is donkey manure to believe man is the primary contributor to what they call ‘global warming.’ They also came up with a clever ‘cover your donkey theory’ when the hole in the ozone layer failed to disappear soon after they said it would. Please read the BBC article by Richard Black, which immediately follows, and then read the article which I first wrote in the mid-eighties, and kept on reissuing it until 2001, when I first put it up on our web site under “Birth Pangs.”
God has created a thick layer of ozone in the earth’s vast stratosphere. If this layer was not there, man would be scorched with ultraviolet radiation, and annihilated from the earth within a few years. Many scientists still cling to the idea that chlorofluorocarbons are breaking down the stratospheric ozone layer. However, the real culprits are the increasing frequencies of volcanic eruptions. Ozone is a form of oxygen that protects man from the sun’s deadly ultraviolet radiation. If this radiation could slip through the ozone layer it would lead to rapid worldwide outbreaks of fast growing skin cancer. A U.S. Geological Survey scientist, Dr. David A. Johnston, missing and presumed dead since the first eruption of Mount Saint Helens, was quoted by Warren E. Leary, and Associated Press science writer as follows:
“Analysis of trapped gas pockets in volcanic and other material indicates molten magmas may contain 20 to 40 times more chlorine than earlier estimates upon which volcanic atmospheric impact had been estimated. This means that the amount of chlorine emitted into the atmosphere could equal more than 100% of the 1975 world production in fluorocarbon chemicals. Johnson said in his report that volcanic explosions powerful enough to penetrate the stratosphere have been occurring about once a year in recent times. These eruptions shoot hydrogen chloride high enough to reach the ozone layer.”
As a scientist, certified to teach chemistry and physics, I was so certain the ozone layer was being depleted by gases blown vertically into it by volcanoes, that I began to teach and write about it in books published in the late seventies and early eighties. I was so firmly convinced of it that I predicted the ozone hole would continue to grow, even after worldwide elimination of chlorofluorocarbon production by man had occurred. In the early eighties they predicted the ozone hole would decline in size by 1985. When it did not, they said it was due to residual effects. But we were assured it would decrease by 1990. When it did not, they said the residual effects were greater than they had thought, but we would see a small decline by 1995. When it did not decline they kept on riding the same old dead horse, and predicted a thinning by 2000. It is still continuing to grow, and now they say it may not decline until 2020. The ozone hole growth since 1979 is as follows: from very small in 1977 to 500,000 cubic kilometers in 1980, to 10,500,000 in 1986, to 22,000,000 in 1992, to 23,500,000 in 1994, to 27,0000,000 in 1999, and to 28,300,000 cubic kilometers in 2000. And still there is no ozone hole over the North Pole, yet 74% of all ozone destroying particles are released in the Northern Hemisphere! But isn’t it strange that most of the world’s volcanoes are located in the Southern Hemisphere, with many of them south of 60 degrees latitude, while only a handful of volcanoes exist north of 60 degrees latitude.
Please allow me to elaborate why man-made CFC gases are not the culprits responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer over the South Pole:
(1) 74% of all man-made CFC’s are released in the Northern hemisphere. The Long-term vertical circulation patterns of the earth in the Northern Hemisphere demand that the first ozone hole should have appeared over the North Pole – it did not!
(2) The CFC gases are heavier than the atmosphere into which they are supposed to be rising, hence they cannot rise to the level of the ozone layer of their own volition.
(3) CFC’s are washed out of the atmosphere by the precipitation cycle of the troposphere before they could reach the ozone layer.
(4) CFC gases, without the direct help of volcanic activity, don’t penetrate the restricting worldwide temperature inversion, which begins well below the ozone layer at the tropopause.
Now, please allow me to exposit why I am confident that volcanic eruptions are responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer over the South Pole:
(1) The rate increase in major eruptions since 1950 is four times greater than at any time in history.
(2) Most vertical eruptions are occurring in the Southern Hemisphere, thereby causing the ozone hole to appear first over the South Pole, rather than the North Pole.
(3) Volcanic eruptions forcefully blow different kinds of ozone depleting gases through the tropopause inversion into the ozone layer, bypassing much of the earth’s circulation and hydrological patterns.
(4) There is an active volcano pouring its depleting gases upward into the center of the ozone hole from time to time – Mount Erebus, which is near the South Pole.
(5) The growth of the ozone hole has been steadily toward the north over the southern tip of South America, where a thick concentration of active volcanoes exists today.
During the latter part of the Tribulation, thousands of volcanic eruptions, like those in Figure 10, will occur along the dashed lines of figure 3. These eruptions will send staggering amounts of hydrogen chloride, nitric oxides, and other ozone depleting gases into the ozone layer. The resultant breaking down of the ozone layer will allow ultraviolet radiation to pour through onto the inhabitants of the earth. These occupants of the final days of Satan’s kingdoms on this planet will be scorched with the great heat of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. Yet they still will not repent toward the God of these plagues that physically destroy them. They will understand the processes that are causing it, but they will not recognize that God is doing it.
Most Christian writers of today spend a lot of effort in trying to work the entire modern day arsenal of man into the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Most make the last day skin plagues attributable to atomic radiation. May I assure you that the ultraviolet and cosmic radiation, which would pour down on the earth’s surface if the ozone layer weakened and the magnetic poles reversed, would be thousands of times deadlier than atomic radiation.
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The United States, Great Britain, Australia, England, and a handful of a few other countries seem to be the only countries recognizing the reality of the stated goals of Islam, and consequently have attempted to launch war against its most radical elements. But the rest of the world seems to believe it can compromise, or in some way contain it with diplomacy, to the extent we can kill its goals with political correctness. And now, it appears Obama will be our next President, and he seems to want to take on the passive diplomacy routine like the rest of the world.
Begin Excerpt 2 – Conclusions from Dr. Peter Hammond on Islam
Adapted from Dr Peter Hammond’s book: Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat
Islam is not a religion, nor is it a cult. In it’s fullest form, it is a complete, total, 100% system of life.
Islam has religious, legal, political, economic, social, and military components. The religious component is a beard for all of the other components.
Islamization begins when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their religious rights.
When politically correct, tolerant, and culturally diverse societies agree to Muslim demands for their religious rights, some of the other components tend to creep in as well. Here’s how it works.
As long as the Muslim population remains around or under 2% in any given country, they will be for the most part be regarded as a peace-loving minority, and not as a threat to other citizens. This is the case in:
United States — Muslim 0.6%
Australia — Muslim 1.5%
Canada — Muslim 1.9%
China — Muslim 1.8%
Italy — Muslim 1.5%
Norway — Muslim 1.8%
At 2% to 5%, they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and disaffected groups, often with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs. This is happening in:
Denmark — Muslim 2%
Germany — Muslim 3.7%
United Kingdom — Muslim 2.7%
Spain — Muslim 4%
Thailand — Muslim 4.6%
From 5% on, they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population. For example, they will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature halal on their shelves — along with threats for failure to comply. This is occurring in:
France — Muslim 8%
Philippines — Muslim 5%
Sweden — Muslim 5%
Switzerland — Muslim 4.3%
The Netherlands — Muslim 5.5%
Trinidad & Tobago — Muslim 5.8%
At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to rule themselves (within their ghettos) under Sharia, the Islamic Law. The ultimate goal of Islamists is to establish Sharia law over the entire world.
When Muslims approach 10% of the population, they tend to increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions. In Paris , we are already seeing car-burnings. Any non-Muslim action offends Islam, and results in uprisings and threats, such as in Amsterdam , with opposition to Mohammed cartoons and films about Islam Such tensions are seen daily, particularly in Muslim sections, in:
Guyana — Muslim 10%
India — Muslim 13.4%
Israel — Muslim 16%
Kenya — Muslim 10%
Russia — Muslim 15%
After reaching 20%, nations can expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings, and the burnings of Christian churches and Jewish synagogues, such as in:
Ethiopia — Muslim 32.8%
At 40%, nations experience widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks, and ongoing militia warfare, such as in:
Bosnia — Muslim 40%
Chad — Muslim 53.1%
Lebanon — Muslim 59.7%
From 60%, nations experience unfettered persecution of non-believers of all other religions (including non-conforming Muslims), sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon, and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels, such as in:
Albania — Muslim 70%
Malaysia — Muslim 60.4%
Qatar — Muslim 77.5%
Sudan — Muslim 70%
After 80%, expect daily intimidation and violent jihad, some State-run ethnic cleansing, and even some genocide, as these nations drive out the infidels, and move toward 100% Muslim, such as has been experienced and in some ways is on-going in:
Bangladesh — Muslim 83%
Egypt — Muslim 90%
Gaza — Muslim 98.7%
Indonesia — Muslim 86.1%
Iran — Muslim 98%
Iraq — Muslim 97%
Jordan — Muslim 92%
Morocco — Muslim 98.7%
Pakistan — Muslim 97%
Palestine — Muslim 99%
Syria — Muslim 90%
Tajikistan — Muslim 90%
Turkey — Muslim 99.8%
United Arab Emirates — Muslim 96%
100% will usher in the peace of ‘Dar-es-Salaam’ — the Islamic House of Peace. Here there’s supposed to be peace, because everybody is a Muslim, the Madrasses are the only schools, and the Koran is the only word, such as in:
Afghanistan — Muslim 100%
Saudi Arabia — Muslim 100%
Somalia — Muslim 100%
Yemen — Muslim 100%
Unfortunately, peace in never achieved, as in these 100% states the most radical Muslims intimidate and spew hatred, and satisfy their blood lust by killing less radical Muslims, for a variety of reasons.
‘Before I was nine I had learned the basic canon of Arab life. It was me against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my family against my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe; the tribe against the world, and all of us against the infidel. — Leon Uris, ‘The Haj’
It is important to understand that in some countries, with well under 100% Muslim populations, such as France, the minority Muslim populations live in ghettos, within which they are 100% Muslim, and within which they live by Sharia Law. The national police do not even enter these ghettos. There are no national courts nor schools nor non-Muslim religious facilities. In such situations, Muslims do not integrate into the community at large. The children attend madrasses. They learn only the Koran. To even associate with an infidel is a crime punishable with death Therefore, in some areas of certain nations, Muslim Imams and extremists exercise more power than the national average would indicate.
Today’s 1.5 billion Muslims make up 22% of the world’s population. But their birth rates dwarf the birth rates of Christians, Hindus, Buddists, and Jews, and all other believers. Muslims will exceed 50% of the world’s population by the end of this century.
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I do not believe Islam will attack Israel until it actually believes it can defeat them, and I do not think they will believe themselves to be ready for such an endeavor until some point in time between 2010 and 2015.
Russia and China do not want a war with the U.S. and the West at the present time, but both will demonstrate their military capacities as they have done in Tibet and Georgia. They will demonstrate their power on their borders, but don’t want a major confrontation in the Middle East at the present time.
As I have taught for many years, the U.S. will provide defensive help to Israel in the form of logistical equipment and humanitarian supplies during her three and one-half years in the Negev, and our naval forces will sail the Middle East waters in a defensive protective umbrella mode to insure Israel has some degree of safety in the Negev, but we will not order direct offensive ground forces to attack on Israeli soil during the time she is in the Negev. The U.S., China, and Russia will not meet head on until the final great battle of Armageddon.
The scenario I have laid out in the preceding paragraphs is what I have taught for many years, as you can see in the following Archive Prophecy Update Number 74.
June 27, 2002
Daniel 11:43 – But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
We closed Prophecy Update Number 73 with the antichrist in full control of Egypt in verse 43, after having driven the woman Israel into the Negev Wilderness, where she will remain for 3 and ½ prophetic years, or 1260 days. The woman will be made up of 1/3 of the Israel population (1.7 to 1.9 million) surviving his initial drive to Beersheva.
Zechariah 13:8 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
Revelation 12:6 – And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
While Israel is boxed in the Negev for 3 and ½ years, the city of Cairo will be his capital, and the center of his empire. He would be a fool to return to his home in Syria. Cairo is the midpoint of an Islamic world that stretches far to the east from Morocco to India, with a long shoreline extending along the entire southern coastline of the Mediterranean Sea to the southern coastline of the Black Sea, along both sides of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, and eventually to the coastline of India. The political, economic, and military position of Cairo will meet all his requirements and he will rule his empire from Cairo. His influence in Europe, Africa, Eurasia, and Asia will be extremely strong, and by the end of his 3 and ½ years in Cairo, all of this area will politically be in his pocket. It is in this area that I believe the mark of the beast will be readily accepted, particularly in all the Islamic countries. It is also in this area that I believe the most horrific events of the Tribulation Period will occur. I believe he will have influence in the western hemisphere, but I do not believe he will rule it (See Prophecy Update 73 and Special Prophecy Update Number 73A).
After 3 and ½ years of dominating the nations of Europe and the eastern hemisphere, he will receive news out of the north and out of the east that troubles him.
Daniel 11:44 – But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
This was written in 600 B.C. Every time a great leader would arise in the east, his country would be identified as the one the antichrist would go forth to destroy with great fury, and to carry away many. Genghis Khan, the great Mongol ruler of one of the greatest empires in history, was believed to be the object in the east that was going to trouble the antichrist in A.D. 1200 to 1227. Attila, king of the Huns, from A.D. 441 to 450 claimed domination from the Alps and the Baltic to the Caspian Sea. He was labeled the Scourge of God, and was looked upon as being the source of bad news from the north that would trouble the antichrist. With the advent of the rise of the two great powers, the Soviet Union in the north, and China in the east, it was only natural that expositors would pick them as the culprits causing the bad news from the north and east. Now, it is supposed to be Russia and China. I do not doubt that both Russia and China will be among the nations that attack Israel at the final battle of Armageddon, but I do not believe one has to go all the way to Russia and China to find the source of the news that is troubling the antichrist.
Get an atlas with a map that has Cairo, Russia, and China on it and consider how far away the antichrist will be from Russia and China. Now consider this: the population of Russia is 150 million plus, and the population of China is 1 billion, 300 million plus. Now, look again at this scripture.
Daniel 11:44 – But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
If he proceeds forth from Cairo with great fury to attack China and Russia, that’s quite a few folks “to destroy, and to make away many.”
I do not believe you have to look thousands of miles to the east, and thousands of miles to the north, to find the source of the news that troubles the antichrist. Just look directly east of the city of Cairo and you will see the Negev Wilderness where he left the children of Israel some three years before, and then look to the north and you will see that portion of the Mediterranean Sea extending to the southern shores of Turkey. Those are the two locations from which the bad news will radiate. Some three years before the antichrist heavily fortified the zone along the northern border of the Negev north of Beersheva in order to prevent a breakout by the Israelis. But the narrow zone that is marked today by the Gaza Strip begins to look vulnerable to him because of the news he hears from the north and the east. The U.S. Navy has a frequent publication titled TRANSITIONS – All the Ships at Sea. It gives the location of the fleet on a specific date. You will discover from it that a U.S. carrier, and fighter attack squadron are routinely kept in the Mediterranean between Egypt and Turkey, and that at times it may consist of cruisers, destroyers, attack submarines, frigates, and support ships. In a recent mission in this area there were some 15,000 sailors and marines on these ships. During the last 25 years there have been some 18 episodes of U.S. marines conducting joint exercises with the IDF in the Negev. What the antichrist hears is that the U.S. and the IDF may be planning to cut off his rear flank back to his home country by conducting a military operation in the Gaza Strip. With the marines conducting an amphibious landing on the south of the Gaza Strip, and the IDF driving northwest to join them, they would do what no military commander wants to happen, that is, have his rear flank cut off from direct access to his major source of land supplies. The Scripture does not say whether what he hears is true or untrue, merely that what he hears troubles him. I would imagine it is only a rumor, but apparently he believes it enough to take the appropriate response. He heads for the city of Jerusalem, super reinforcing the Gaza Strip on his way, and sets himself up to issue a call for all nations to come and help him do what he could not do to Israel some 3 and ½ years before. He calls for all the nations of Europe, Eurasia, Asia, and Africa to come and help him to “go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many” Israelis in the Negev Wilderness.
Daniel 11:44,45 – But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. [45] And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
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At the battle of Armageddon most of the kings of the earth will come to join the antichrist in a final attempt to eradicate the nation of Israel. Among them will be 10 nations representing the 10 Jihad toes of Daniel 2 that drove Israel into the Negev three and one-half years earlier.
Revelation 19:19 – And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
Some three and one-half years before the final battle of Armageddon, which closes the tribulation period, ten kings of nations out of the territory once occupied by the ancient Roman Empire will attack Israel from the north.
Daniel 2:42 – And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
II Thessalonians 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;
The last evil kingdom of antichrist on this earth was to initially be comprised of 10 nations with 10 kings led by the man of sin himself. It was to arise out of the ashes of the old Roman Empire. I have always believed it would rise out of the southern half of the Empire and be made up of 10 Arab nations. I believe the elements for its formation are in place today, and I suspect that the most likely Arab nations of which it will be comprised are Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Some of these nations are strong like iron, and some are as soft and pliable as clay.
I do not question that in the final battle of Armageddon the descendants of Ham, Shem, and Japheth will be combatants against the nation of Israel. But I have always contended, along with the Bible expositors of the 18th and 19th centuries, that the antichrist’s initial attack would be led by Arab descendants of Abraham. They are the mingled seed of his oldest son Ishmael with the seed of the six sons he sired by Keturah, as well as some of the other offspring of his own father Terah. The empire of the antichrist will be an Islamic empire that eventually takes into it other old world nations. And, in the final great battle of Armageddon, all those nations that made up the world as it was known in A.D. 95 will come against Israel, such that Japheth, Ham, and Shem’s descendants will also be involved.
Daniel 2:41-43 – And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. [42] And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. [43] And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
The 10 toes will consist primarily of Terah’s descendants. Abraham came out of Terah. Out of Abraham came the leaders of the three great monotheistic faiths associated with Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad. And they have always been in conflict. (See Archive Update 78 Diagram)
The inspired word in Daniel 2:43, from which the word “mingled” comes, is ARAB, which means “to interlace or mix.” The “seed of men” refers to non-descendants of the man Abraham, from which both Jews and Arabs descended. “They” refers to the 10 toes of Daniel’s statue in Daniel 2:42, which have 10 kings over them. Isaac, the father of Israel, had seven half brothers – Ishmael from Hagar and the six sons of Keturah. It was from these seven half brothers that the Arab world has been primarily created. The descendants of Israel have been more likely to marry within the blood line of the man Israel than have the Arabs to marry within their separate bloodlines of Hagar and Keturah, and the Arabs have also intermingled with non-descendants of Abraham more than have the Jews.
Daniel 2:43 – And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
Just as iron and clay do not hold together very long, the 10 Arab nations will only hold together long enough to fulfill God’s end time tribulation period prophecies. The saved will be caught up on the sounding of the seventh trump to be judged in heaven, and the kingdom of God will all be united in heaven, waiting to return to earth with Christ at his Second Advent.
Revelation 11:15 – And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Daniel 2:44 – And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
The God of heaven will call all the saved of all the ages together in heaven during the “days of these kings,” and will initially “set up” his kingdom, from whence he will return to earth with it as its head, after the saved have been judged in heaven. Christ’s coming kingdom will “break in pieces and consume all the kingdoms” of the present world, and his kingdom alone will rule.
Revelation 11:15-18 – And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. [16] And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, [17] Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. [18] And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
Christ, the stone, came from the mountain representing God, without any human instrumentation, but by God’s Spirit forming his body in a virgin’s womb. Christ will return to destroy those morally destroying the earth. All of the evil that came out of the Babylonian, Medo- Persian, Macedonian, and Roman Empires will be laid waste by his Second Advent.
Daniel 2:45 – Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
The Scriptures which follow describe the coming of the great Stone, the great Rock, coming with his kingdom.
Revelation 19:11-18 – And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. [12] His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. [13] And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. [14] And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. [15] And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. [16] And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. [17] And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; [18] That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
Daniel 2:44 – And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
Revelation 19:19,20 – And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. [20] And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
The Islamic Mahdi is the Beast of Revelation 19:20, the False Prophet is the Islamic Isa.
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I do not expect famine in America prior to the tectonic chaos of the tribulation period. It will continue in many countries from now until the tribulation period begins. I believe the first fantastic earthquake in the Book of Revelation in Revelation 6:12, and the attack by the Islamic nations against Israel in Daniel 11:40, will occur at about the same time, which I believe will occur at a point in time between 2010 and 2015. It is at this time the earthquakes, famines, and pestilences will suddenly begin in America with an impact never before experienced by man since he came on this planet. America is in for a rough ride during the last three and one-half years before the final battle Armageddon, which will end the Age of the Gentiles at the Second Advent of Christ.
Revelation 6:5,6 – And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. [6] And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
Daniel 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.
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;
Revelation 6:8 – And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them (last three of the horsemen) over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword (red horse rider), and with hunger (black horse rider), and with death (pale horse rider), and with the beasts (demonic kings) of the earth.
Daniel 7:24, 25 – And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall SUBDUE three kings. [25] And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Ezekiel 38:1, 2 – And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, [2] Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
God instructs Ezekiel to set his face against a PERSON (GOG) and also a PLACE (THE LAND OF MAGOG). But Gog is NOT the chief prince of MAGOG – He is the chief prince of MESHECH and TUBAL. (See BLOG issued on November 9, 2008 under title “Satan’s Servants Move into Place!”
Assyria possessed the land where the tribes of Meshech and Tubal lived when Isaiah and Micah wrote their prophecies in 700 A.D. Antichrist will come out of Syria and Micah refers to him as “the Assyrian.” He will come down some three and one years before the Second Advent of Christ, and his attacking Israel is one of the reasons Christ returns to defeat the Assyrian at Armageddon.
Micah 5:5 – And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
Now, in verse 5, we find that “this man” will himself “be the peace” because He personally brings it in by Himself when he returns to be “great unto the ends of the earth” for 1000 years. “This man” who brings “the peace” of a thousand years is, of course, Jesus Christ. He is the primary contextual subject from verses 1 through 5. What happens to motivate His return to bring in the millennial reign is the movement of the Assyrian into the land of Israel. It is the final defeat and destruction of “the Assyrian” that will mark Christ’s Second Advent, and the beginning of His millennial reign. This is outlined in Archive Prophecy Updates 62 to 68,
When Micah wrote his prophecies the Assyrians had already driven into the northern Kingdom of Israel, and all that remained of Israel proper was its southern Kingdom of Judah. So what were the borders of the land of Assyria when Micah wrote the fifth chapter of his book? The borders of the Assyrian territory stretched northward from roughly where Ramallah is located in the West Bank to the present day southern border of Turkey, and eastward to the Mediterranean Sea to establish its western limits, then westward across the Euphrates River to the Tigris River north of modern Baghdad in Iraq. Technically, I suppose one might be able to say this future “Assyrian” might come out of southern Turkey, northern Iraq, or Lebanon, but since modern day Syria occupies some 85% of the area covered by the Assyrian empire at the time of Micah’s writings, I am persuaded the Assyrian antichrist will come out of Syria. The possible argument that Micah 5:5 was fulfilled during the old Assyrian invasion of Micah’s day, is thwarted by the context pattern of the four verses before it all still being unfulfilled at the time they were written, and then being linked contextually to verse 5 by “this man,” and “the peace.” Additionally, this argument is smashed by the verse that follows it.
Micah 5:6 – And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.
From the time of Micah’s writings to the present day, Israel has never “wasted the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof.” I have exposited specifically on both these locations in Archive Prophecy Update Number 67.
The “Assyrian” of Micah 5:5 is not a European, an American, a Russian, an Eskimo, an Aborigine, an Ethiopian, or a platypus. He is an Assyrian, who becomes chief prince of the land where the descendants of Meshech and Tubal were dwelling when Ezekiel wrote his prophecies. I will elaborate on this in future updates, Lord willing. The expression involving “seven shepherds and eight principal men” is most assuredly an oft used Hebrew idiom. It was the Hebrew manner of expressing “more than enough.” Seven is the Hebrew word for “complete,” implying “enough,” and when “eight” is added to it, the expression means “more than enough.” When the Assyrian comes into Israel, and treads within its borders north of Beersheba for 1260 days, then Jesus will return to restore peace for 1000 years on this planet. Christ’s Second Advent is accompanied by some 5/6 of the Assyrian’s armies being destroyed by the brightness of His coming. His destruction of the Assyrian and his false prophet will make whatever force Israel is able to muster up in the Negev for the battle of Armageddon “more than enough.”
When the Assyrian sets on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, as the willful King of the North preparing to launch his final attack on Israel at the battle of Armageddon, he will be beyond all help by men and Satan.
I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Ezekiel 38:14-16 – Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord God; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? [15] And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: [16] And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
God will send tectonically released fire down on the Land of Magog and the rest of the world when the Assyrian Antichrist attempts to destroy Israel.
Ezekiel 39:6-8 – And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord. [7] So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. [8] Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken.