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Prophe-Zine Issue 061
PropheZine #61
Wednesday, July 15, 1998
Bob Lally Publisher
Mimi Nila Senior Editor
Rick Woodcock Asst. Editor
Abraham George Asst. Editor
Bob Lally..........................Brief Message
ARTICLES
Grant R. Jeffrey...................Precise Fullfillment of Bible
Prophecy
(Chapter 8 of The Signature of God )
Chuck Missler......................Microcodes & Macrocodes: The
Appointed Times
R. g. Wallace........... WHEN ARMIES MOVE - Part 3
A Dissertation on Armageddon from the Prewrath View
Rance Taylor..............................Babylon
The Winds..............................."The Constitution is What I Say
It Is!"
Anonymous..................The Child Who Saved the World...and No One
Cared!
PROPHEZINE NEWSBYTES
alert@stratfor.com.............Israel Prepares for Trouble
TOKYO (Reuters)...............Fujitsu Launches Cashless ATM, Electronic
Wallet
Geoff Metcalf....................The Enemy Within
Erich Luening CNET NEWS.COM ...Clinton calls for Year 2000 action
Ed Yardeni ....................Merrill Lynch Y2K Survey Is Naively
Optimistic
ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook.......Clinton Y2K Speech Expected
Lee Underwood ..............................F.Y.I. - Israel in the News
Terry Denbow Psalm 100 - Responses to Others
*************************************
Greetings Everyone!
We sure are experiencing strange weather throughout the world!
Another indicator of the soon return of our Lord.
I am continuing to add new audio messages to the web site. In
another week or so we should have nearly 200 audio messages.
We have a number of Spanish audio messages and would like to
include more. If you have audio messages in Spanish or another
language that you would like placed on the web site please contact
Bob at bobslally@prophezine.com.
The Chat Room has been re-activated. I have posted a few times for
our readers to gather and discuss issues. You can get to the Chat
Room from the home page at: http://www.prophezine.com.
May this issue bless you,
Bob Lally
Webmaster - PropheZine
************************************
CHAPTER EIGHT Precise Fulfillment of Bible Prophecy -
The Signature of God
By Grant R. Jeffrey
"From all the angelic ranks goes forth a groan, 'How ion g, 0 Lord, how
long?'
The still small voice makes answer 'Wait and see, 0 sons of glory, what
the end shall be."'
Thomas Macaulay---------Marriage of Tirzah and Ahirad.
This study of the fulfillment of biblical prophecy provides
overwhelming proof that God is controlling human history.
Despite the apparent anarchy of daily events, the hand of God is still
moving behind the scenes of current history to bring about His divine
will. The details in the history of God's chosen people was precisely
prophesied throughout the Bible. Each of the three long captivities of
Israel were prophesied: their first exile in Egypt, which lasted four
hundred and thirty years; the seventy years of captivity in Babylon; the
final worldwide dispersion of the Jewish people for the last two
thousand years. Every time Israel was out of the Promised Land, the
duration of the captivity was foretold regarding how long God would keep
the Jews in exile. Incredibly, the actual time of the miraculous rebirth
of Israel on May 15, 1948, was foretold by the prophet Ezekiel over
twenty-five centuries before it occurred. It is obvious to any who will
examine this evidence that history is following a purposeful pattern, a
design laid down centuries ago in the Word of God. The question we must
ask is this, "Who is the designer?" And, "What is His purpose in history
and in our own lives?" The Bible itself declares that the evidence
of fulfilled prophecy is the unmistakable proof of God's inspiration of
Scripture. It is clear from the words of the prophet Isaiah that God
Himself declared that the phenomenon of correctly and precisely
prophesying future events is the absolute proof that the Lord inspired
biblical writers to write the Scriptures. The prophet Isaiah recorded
God's declaration: "Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new
things I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them" (Isaiah
42:9).
No one except God can accurately predict future events in detail.
Neither Satan nor his demons can predict the future. Twenty-five
centuries ago the prophet Isaiah recorded these powerful words directly
from God Almighty. "Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and
there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the
end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not
yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My
pleasure'" (Isaiah 46:9,10). The Bible contains 1,817 individual
predictions concerning 737 separate subjects found in 8,352 verses.
These numerous predictions comprise 27 percent of the 31,124 verses in
the whole of the Scriptures. Multitudes of biblical scholars over the
last two thousand years have explored many of these prophecies and their
detailed fulfillment's as proven by ample historical evidence.
Only God Can Correctly Prophesy the Future
Despite the fact that the world is full of spiritual texts by
multitudes of religious writers, a close examination of this literature
reveals that not one of these texts contains detailed prophecies that
have been fulfilled. The reason is quite simple:
Since no one but God can know the future accurately, religious
philosophers who wrote other texts were wise enough to refrain from
attempting detailed prophecies which would quickly prove their authors
to be in error. "Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his
Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: 'I am the First and I am the Last; besides
Me there is no God. And who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare
it and set it in order for Me, since I appointed the ancient people. And
the things that are coming and shall come, let them show these to them'
" (Isaiah 44:6-7). The classical and religious literature of the Greeks,
Romans, and other Middle Eastern cultures contains no specific, detailed
prophecies regarding future events, people, or trends. There were no
prophecies concerning the coming of Buddha, Mohammed, or any other
religious leader. Only Old Testament prophecies predicted numerous
precise details about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of
Nazareth.
Despite the impossible odds against correctly guessing future events,
multitudes of false prophets have attempted to make predictions in the
past and continue to do so in our generation. However, these human
predictions are almost always wrong with the exception of very few lucky
guesses. As I noted in my fi) book, Armageddon -Appointment With Destiny
(pp 14,15), fascinating study of the predictive claims of New Age
psychics called The Shattered Crystal Ball proved that these modern
psychics are hopelessly wrong in their predictions. "The stud analyzed
the accuracy of the ten top psychics whose prophecies were published
over a three-year period, 1976 to 1979. The study compared all of the
published predictions with their subsequent success or failure rate. The
results are certainly intriguing: 98 percent of their predictions were
totally incorrect! Only 2 percent of their predictions were fulfilled .
. . six out of the ten psychic were wrong 100 percent of the time."
Some New Age writers have claimed that several non-biblical prophets
such as Nostradamus (A.D. 1555) were able to correctly predict the
future. Many modern New Age writers have claimed that Nostradamus
actually predicted that Adolph Hitler would be the future leader of
Germany in his hundreds of prediction called "centuries." This claim is
totally false! In fact Nostradamus never mentioned Adolph Hitler by name
in any of his predictions. The closest he came to "Hitler" was his
mention of the word "Ister" in several predictions that the majority of
interpreters admit refers clearly to a European river called the Ister
River, a tributary of the River Danube. However, some writers who wrote
their analysis after World War II have falsely claimed that Nostradamus
actually predicted the history of Hitler, the German dictator.
Incredibly, they claim that the name "Hitler" is quite close to the word
"Histler" which is not all that different than the actual word "Ister"
that appeared in Nostradamus's prediction! The New Age writer Erika
Cheetham, who wrote The Final Prophecies of Nostradamus in 1989,
admitted in her book that, "until 1936, approximately, all commentators
on the Centuries thought that the word referred to the River Danube, the
Ister." Even strong supporters of Nostradamus, such as Henry C. Roberts,
the editor of The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus, (Jericho, N.Y.:
Nostradamus, Inc. 1976) admitted in his Introduction that these
prophetic writings of Nostradamus are unintelligible." He wrote that
these predictions are "unintelligible and garbled to the uninitiate. The
strange, broken, and often incoherent nature of the quatrains, both in
French and English, is the hallmark of prophetic media."
Other New Age writers have made great claims for the accuracy of the
predictions of Edgar Cayce, the so-called American "sleeping prophet"
who lived in the early part of this century. I had the experience of
interviewing both Hugh Lynn Cayce, the son of Edgar Cayce, and his
grandson in the early 1970s at their research center in Virginia Beach,
Virginia. It was fascinating to hear them describe the research they had
completed on a manuscript revealing numerous mistaken predictions Edgar
Cayce made during his career. Some of these false predictions were
prophecies Cayce made about where they could locate oil wells or mineral
deposits. Not surprisingly, they indicated that they did not intend to
publish the manuscript.
No One But God Knows the Future
The ability of humans to correctly predict future events or trends is
virtually non-existent outside of lucky guesses. Despite the great
knowledge and genius of mankind we are unable to correctly predict
future events and trends. As examples of this blindness as to the
future, consider the following statements. The director of the U.S.
Patent Office resigned his high position in 1875. He complained in his
letter to the government that there was no point in continuing the
Patent Office because "there's nothing left to invent." Since his
resignation we have witnessed an astonishing number of brilliant
inventions and developments every year in all areas of knowledge and
science. Only a few years later, in 1887, the brilliant French chemist
Marcellin Berthelot wrote, "From now on there is no mystery about the
universe." In the years that followed we have seen the mysteries of the
atomic structure of matter unfold, the creation of a hundred new
sciences including biophysics, astrophysics and molecular biology.
Another great scientist at that time, Professor Simon Newcomb, wrote a
highly acclaimed manuscript that proved that it was mathematically
impossible for any machine that was heavier than a balloon to fly in the
air. Every day thousands of large airplanes take off from thousands of
airports carrying a staggering number of passengers throughout the
world. An equally brilliant French philosopher by the name of Poincare
ridiculed a scientist's speculations about unleashing the power of the
atom through chain reactions in uranium. "Common sense alone is enough
to tell us that the destruction of a town by a pound of metal is ax
evident impossibility." Tragically, the discoveries of awesome nuclear
energies locked within the metal uranium allowed scientists to create
atomic weapons of staggering power that annihilated two Japanese cities,
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in only seconds with only a few pounds of metal
(Morning of the Magicians, Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier, [New York:
Stein and Day, 1964), pp.9,10,14).
More recently, in 1943, Thomas Watson, the chairman of IBM, declared,
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." Today, the
world contains over a billion computer devices. In the 1940s the first
generation of computers were so large that they filled a whole room and
weighed several tons. The magazine Popular Mechanics examined the state
of scientific knowledge in 1949 and made this forecast about the future
of computer development. "Computers in the future may weigh no more than
1.5 tons." Today we have sophisticated computers capable of billions of
calculations per second that weigh less than five pounds and are much
smaller than a TV set. In 1981, Bill Gates, the brilliant creator of
Microsoft, the largest computer software company in history, declared,
"640K (640,000 bytes of memory) should be enough for anybody." Little
did he realize that in less than fifteen years the average personal
desktop computer, such as the Macintosh system Power Tower 180MHz I use,
would contain as much as 48MB (48 million bytes) of RAM (Random Access
Memory) and 2 billion bytes of ROM (Read Only Memory) on its hard drive.
These inaccurate predictions reveal the profound limitations of man's
intelligence and his inability to correctly forecast future events.
However, when we turn to the pages of the Holy Scriptures we discover a
staggering number of precise predictions that were made thousands of
years ago concerning the future of nations and individuals. A careful
analysis of these predictions reveals that every one has been fulfilled
with an awesome precision that can only be explained by divine knowledge
predicting the event, and the hand of God bringing the event to pass.
Let's examine one of the most incredible of the thousands of Old
Testament prophecies that actually predicted that rebirth of Israel in
the spring of 1948.
Ezekiel Prophesied Israel's 1948 Rebirth
Several years ago I discovered that God had hidden in the pages of
Scripture a precise prophecy about the exact time when He would
miraculously restore His chosen people to their ancient Holy Land. While
everyone knew that the Scriptures contained numerous prophecies that the
Jews would return to Israel in the last days, God's prediction about the
exact time of Israel's return to the Promised Land was not revealed
until after the fulfillment of the prophecy. In God's divine purpose,
many details about the prophecies concerning the last days were sealed
in biblical visions in such a way that they could not be clearly
discerned prior to their accomplishment. Then, when the prophecy was
fulfilled, this confirmed the inspiration of the Scriptures and
glorified God. An examination of the prophecies reveals that God often
specified in great detail the exact duration of time involved in various
predictions concerning Israel. However, times were never given in
prophecies that deal with the Church. There are no prophecies that
reveal the time of the Rapture. The Lord has specifically hidden the
time of the future resurrection of the saints from all but Himself. The
Lord Himself told us, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not
the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (Matthew 24:36). The failure
to appreciate this fact has led to many errors in prophetic
interpretation. The interpretation of Ezekiel's prediction about the
time of Israel's rebirth appeared in my book Armageddon - Appointment
With Destiny in 1988. Despite the fact that over five hundred thousand
people have read this material in various editions and languages of
Armageddon, no one has been able to refute the accuracy of this
incredible biblical prophecy that was given to the prophet Ezekiel when
he was taken captive to Babylon twenty-five centuries ago.
Israel's Return to the Land
Israel's relationship to the Holy Land is a major focus of biblical
prophecy, both fulfilled and unfulfilled. God prophesied precisely when
Israel would return to the Promised Land after her citizens went into
exile in the first two captivities, the Egyptian and Babylonian. The
Egyptian captivity was prophesied to last exactly 430 years and it is
significant that it ended precisely to the day when the 430-year
captivity ended. "And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and
thirty years; even the self-same day; it came to pass, that all the
hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:41). The
prophet Jeremiah predicted the exact duration of the captivity of the
Jewish exiles in Babylon would last 70 years. "And this whole land shall
be a
desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king
of Babylon seventy years" (Jeremiah 25:11). The Babylonian army
conquered Israel in the spring of 606 B.C. Both secular history and the
Bible reveal that, as predicted, the Babylonian Captivity ended exactly
70 years later in the spring of 536 B.C., in the Jewish month Nisan,
when the Persian King Cyrus freed the Jews to return to their land (Ezra
1:3).
The three major Jewish prophets, Daniel, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, were all
alive at this time. Naturally, the prophet Ezekiel was aware of the
prophet Jeremiah's prophecy that the Jews could return from Babylon
after 70 years in 536 B.C. However, God gave him a new revelation that
looked much farther into the future revealing how long it would be until
the Jewish people would finally re-establish their nation in the last
days. The prediction began with God's declaration that "this shall be a
sign to the house of Israel" (Ezekiel 4:3). The full prediction is found
in Ezekiel 4:3-6: "This will be a sign to the house of Israel. Lie also
on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it.
According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear
their iniquity. For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity,
according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; so
you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when you have
completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the
iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for
each year" (Ezekiel 4:3-6)
.
In this passage the prophet Ezekiel clearly declares that this
prophecy would be "a sign to the house of Israel" and that each day
represents one biblical year. The prediction revealed that Israel would
be punished for a combined period of 430 years (390 years plus another
40 years). The beginning point for this worldwide captivity occurred in
the spring of 536 B.C., at the end of the seventy years of predicted
captivity in Babylon (Jeremiah 25:11). However, in the month Nisan, 536
B.C., only a small remnant of the Jews from the nation of Judah chose to
leave their homes in Babylon and return to Jerusalem. The Jewish exiles
who remembered their former homes in Israel were now over 70 years old.
Their children who had been born in Babylon naturally had little
connection or attachment to the former home of their parents. The vast
majorities were quite happy to remain in the pagan Persian Empire as
colonists rather than immigrate six hundred miles to rebuild the
devastated colony of Israel. God decreed to Ezekiel a period of
punishment of 430 years for Israel's and Judah's sin (390 years + 40
years = 430 years). However, when we deduct the 70 years of punishment
the Jews had endured during the 70-year Babylonian captivity, which
ended in 536 B.C., there still remained a total of 360 years of further
punishment beyond the year 536 B.C. When we examine the history of that
period we note that the Jews did not return to establish an independent
country at the end of either 360 or of 430 years of additional
punishment. In light of the precision of Ezekiel's prophecy, it was
difficult to understand why nothing occurred at that time to fulfill the
detailed prediction.
Both the Bible and history reveal that Israel did not repent of its
sins at the end of the seventy-year captivity in Babylon. In fact, the
Scriptures record in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah that the minority of
fifty thousand who chose to return with Ezra to the Promised Land did so
with little faith. The vast majority of the Jews remained in pagan
Babylon. They failed to repent of their disobedience, which was the
reason God sent them into captivity in the first place. This majority
who refused to immigrate home to Israel, composing over 95 percent of
the Jewish captives, simply settled down as colonists in what is now
Iraq-Iran. Over the centuries that followed, travelers such as Benjamin
of Tuldela reported that thousands of Jews still lived in several of the
cities of present-day Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan.
I discovered the solution to the mystery of the duration of Israel's
worldwide dispersion and return in a divine principle that God revealed
to Moses in Leviticus 26. In this chapter the Lord established promises
and punishments for Israel based on her obedience and her disobedience
to His commands. God declared to Israel four times in this passage that
if, after being punished for her sins, she still did not repent, the
punishments previously specified would be multiplied by seven (the
number of completion). "And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then
I will punish you seven times more for your sins" (Leviticus 26:18; see
also Leviticus 26:21, 23-24, 27-28). In other words, if Israel failed to
repent of her disobedience, the punishments already decreed by God would
be multiplied or extended seven times. Since the majority of Israel
refused to repent of her sin after the Babylonian Captivity ended, the
period of 360 years of further punishment declared by Ezekiel 4:3-6 was
multiplied by seven times. This meant that the Jews would remain without
an independent nation for another 2,520 biblical years from 536 B.C.,
the beginning point of the prediction (360 years x 7 2,520 years
biblical years).
The Biblical Year of 360 Days
The period of punishment was to last 2,520 biblical years rather than
2,520 calendar years. The reason is that the Bible always used the
ancient Jewish calendar composed of 360 days, making up a biblical year,
in both the historical and prophetic passages. The true length of the
Jewish, biblical prophetic year was only 360 days because it was a
lunar-solar year composed of twelve months of 30 days each. The modern
solar year of 365.25 days was unknown to the ancient nations in the Old
Testament. According to articles on Chronology in the Encyc1opedia
Britannica and Smith's Bible Dictionary, Abraham used a 360-day year.
The Genesis' record of Noah's flood confirms that the ancient year
consisted of twelve months of thirty days each. Moses declared in
Genesis that the period of 150 days when the floodwaters were at their
height lasted precisely five months from the seventeenth day of the
second month to the seventeenth day of the seventh month, proving that
each month consisted of thirty days. Sir Isaac Newton relates that "all
nations, before the just length of the solar year was known, reckoned
months by the course of the moon, and years by the return of winter and
summer, spring and autumn; and in making calendars for their festivals,
they reckoned thirty days to a lunar month, and twelve lunar months to a
year, taking the nearest round numbers, whence came the division of the
ecliptic into 360 degrees."
Therefore, if we wish to understand the precise times involved in the
fulfillment of prophecy, we need to calculate using the same biblical
lunar-solar year of 360 days which the prophets used. Both the prophet
Daniel and John, in the Book of Revelation, clearly used a year of 360
days. The failure to understand the true length of the biblical year as
360 days has prevented some prophecy students from clearly understanding
many prophecies which contain a precise time element. This 360-day
prophetic year is also borne out in the Book of Revelation where John's
vision refers to the future Great Tribulation period. He describes the
Great Tribulation of three and one-half years as lasting precisely 1,260
days (Revelation 12:6), "a time, times and half a time" where a "time"
in Hebrew stands for a year of 360 days (verse 14), and "forty-two
months" of thirty days each (13:5).All of these biblical references
confirm that the 360-day biblical year is the one we must use to
correctly understand biblical prophecy and chronology.
Therefore, Ezekiel's prophecy of the 430 years declared that the end
of Israel's punishment and her final restoration to the land would be
accomplished in 2,520 biblical years of 360 days each which totals
precisely 907,200 days. To convert this period into our calendar year of
365.25 days we simply divide the period of 907,200 days by 365.25 days
to reach a total of 2,483.8 of our modern calendar years. Therefore,
Ezekiel prophesied that the end of Israel's worldwide captivity would
occur precisely 2,483.8
years after the end of the Babylonian Captivity which occurred in the
spring of 536 B.C. In these calculations we must keep in mind that there
was only one year between 1 B.C. and A.D. 1. There was no year Zero. As
an illustration, there were only twelve months between the Feast of
Passover on 14th of Nisan in the spring of 1 B.C. and the next annual
Feast of Passover in the spring of A.D. 1.
To Calculate When Ezekiel Prophesied the Jews Would Become a Nation
Again
The Babylonian captivity ended
in the Spring of 536 B.C. 536.4 B.C.
MINUS
The duration of Israel's captivity
(from Ezekiel 4:3-6) 2,483.8 calendar
years
-------------
1,947.4
To adjust for the fact there was
no year zero between 1 B.C. and
A.D. 1, we adjust one year 1
Therefore; the end of Israel's
captivity would occur:
-------------
The Rebirth of Israel 1948-May 15
On the afternoon of May 14, 1948, the Jews proclaimed the independence
of the reborn state of Israel. As an old rabbi blew on the traditional
shofar, a ram's horn, the Jewish people celebrated the end of their
tragic worldwide dispersion and captivity in precise fulfillment of the
prophecy made thousands of years earlier by the prophet Ezekiel. At
midnight, as May 15, 1948, began, the British Mandate officially ended
and Israel became an independent nation. This great day marked the first
time since the days of Solomon that a united Israel took its place as a
sovereign, independent state among the nations of the world.
In Ezekiel's amazingly prophecy we are witnessing a fulfillment of
prophecy in our generation of such incredible precision, that one is
forced to marvel at the power of God to foresee and control all of man's
plans and their outcomes. Despite the apparent anarchy of the events of
our time, God is still on the throne of this universe and remains in
full control of events. The universe is unfolding precisely as our Lord
ordained and foresaw millenniums ago. In addition, this amazingly
accurate fulfillment of prophecy in our lifetime should focus our
attention on the prophecy of Jesus Christ about the budding of the fig
tree. The Bible used the symbol of the fig tree or figs in six different
passages as an exclusive symbol of the nation Israel (Judges 9:8-15;
Hosea 9:10; Jeremiah 24:1-10; Matthew 21:18-20, etc.). "Now learn this
parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and
puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you
see all these things, know that it is near, at the very doors.
Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till
all these things are fulfilled" (Matthew 24:32-34). In light of the
startling precision of the fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy about
Israel's rebirth and the prophecy of Jesus that the generation who
witnessed this rebirth "will by no means pass away till all these things
are fulfilled" everyone of us should realize that we are living in the
generation when Christ indicated He will return to judge mankind.
Predictions About Jesus Christ the Messiah The Old Testament contains
over three hundred passages that refer to the first coming of the
Messiah. Within these hundreds of prophecies, Bible scholars have found
forty-eight specific details about the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus. These Scriptural prophecies were published over five centuries
before Christ was born in Bethlehem. In this chapter we will discuss
seventeen of these prophecies, examine the evidence for their
fulfillment, and prove that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled them, showing
that He is the promised Messiah, the Son of God.
The Laws of Probability
The study of statistics includes the theory and Laws of Mathematical
Probability. The Laws of Probability are not abstract. They are so
dependable that huge insurance companies write policies promising to pay
a million dollars to the family of a thirty-year-old male in return for
a small premium of only $30 per month. How can they take on such a huge
risk in return for only $30 in monthly premiums? The answer is found in
the Laws of Probability. After careful analysis of the mortality tables,
insurance companies know that only a tiny fraction of the
thirty-year-old clients they insure will actually die within the next
year. Every day insurance companies risk billions of dollars on similar
well established calculations of mathematical probability.
The Laws of Probability reveal that if the probability of a single event
occurring randomly is one chance in five, and the probability of another
event occurring is one chance in ten, then the combined probability that
both events will occur together in sequence is five multiplied by ten.
Thus, the combined chance of both events occurring in sequence is one
chance in fifty. To put this in a perspective we can appreciate,
consider the odds when we toss a coin in the air. Since a coin has two
sides, the odds are 50 percent or one chance in two that you will get
"heads" when you toss a dime. However, suppose that you toss two dimes
in a
row. What are the odds against getting "heads" twice in a row?
The answer is four. The combined odds are 2 x 2 = 4. The odds of tossing
ten coins in a row and getting ten "heads" one after another are quite
staggering. According to the laws of probability, the odds against
getting ten "heads" are one chance in 1,024.
Don't bet your salary that you can beat such odds. However, when you
consider the odds against these seventeen prophecies about the life and
death of Jesus Christ happening by chance, you will realize that the
evidence proves that Jesus was the promised Messiah and the Savior of
all who will believe in Him.
To further prove the inspiration and authority of the Bible, let us
examine only one area of specific prophecy, out of literally hundreds,
that has to do with the life and death of the coming Messiah who will
save humanity from their sins. In this chapter we will examine a series
of specific predictions that were made by different Jewish prophets who
lived in widely separated communities over a period of a thousand years.
These predictions were fulfilled over five hundred years after they were
recorded.
We will also examine the possibility that these individual predictions
could have occurred by random chance alone. After considering the
evidence presented in this chapter, you will understand that the precise
fulfillment of these different predictions in the life of one man was so
improbable, that any unbiased observer must accept that the Bible was
truly inspired by God and that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah.
Seventeen Incredible Prophecies about the Messiah
In this chapter we will examine seventeen specific prophecies in this
analysis of Old Testament predictions that were fulfilled in the life of
Jesus of Nazareth. As you consider the likelihood that any one of these
particular prophecies could have occurred by chance, ask yourself if it
was possible that all seventeen of these predictions could have been
fulfilled by random chance in the life of one man, Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament Predictions
About the Coming Messiah
The odds against these events occurring by
chance
The First Prediction:
His birth in Bethlehem from the tribe of Judah
Probability: 1 chance in
2,400
The Old Testament prediction:
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be
ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth have been from of old, from
everlasting" (Micah 5:2).
"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between
his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the
people" (Genesis 49:10).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Jude a in the days of Herod
the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem" (Matthew
2:1).
There were twelve tribes in ancient Israel from which the Messiah could
have been born. Yet He was born from the tribe of Judah as Moses
predicted fifteen hundred years earlier. Since there were twelve tribes,
the odds were 12 to I against Moses guessing correctly the tribe of
Christ's birth. In addition, there were over two thousand villages and
towns in the densely populated area allotted to the tribe of Judah
during the first century of this era. However, to be conservative I used
the figure of 1 chance in 2,400 to estimate the odds against anyone
guessing that He would be born in Bethlehem and that He would descend
from the tribe Judah centuries before Jesus was born.
The Second Prediction:
He would be preceded by a messenger
Probability: 1 chance
in 20
The Old Testament Prediction:
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the
Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God'"
(Isaiah 40:3).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of
Judea, and saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!'
"(Matthew 3:1,2).
I estimated the odds as 1 in 20, but historical records do not reveal
any other king to my knowledge who was preceded by a messenger such as
John the Baptist. To calculate the combined probability of these two
predictions we must multiply 2,400 times 20 which equals only one chance
in 48,000 that Jesus
would fulfill both predictions by chance.
The Third Prediction:
He would enter Jerusalem on a colt
Probability: 1 chance in
50
The Old Testament Prediction:
"Rejoice greatly, 0 daughter of Zion! Shout, 0 daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation,
lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey" (Zechariah
9:9).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own garments on
the colt, and they set Jesus on him. And as He went, they spread their
clothes on the road. Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the
Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice
and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen"
(Luke 19:35-37).
Of all the kings of history I do not know of a single king who ever
entered his capital on a colt, as Jesus did on Palm Sunday, A.D. 32, in
fulfillment of this prophecy. The combined odds of the three predictions
occurring by chance are 50 x 48,000 which equals one chance in
2,400,000. With the addition of every subsequent prediction the laws of
probability reveal that the combined odds against anyone fulfilling
these multiple prophecies are simply astronomical.
The Fourth Prediction:
He would be betrayed by a friend
Probability: 1 chance in
10
The Old Testament Prediction:
"Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has
lifted up his heel against me" (Psalm 41:9).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve,
with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief
priests and elders of the people. Now His betrayer had given them a
sign, saying, 'Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him' " (Matthew
26:47,48).
Although it is not that unusual for a secular king to be betrayed by a
close associate the betrayal of a religious leader is quite unusual
historically. However, to be conservative, I have assigned the odds of
this occurring by chance as only one chance in ten. The combined
probability for these four predictions (10 x 2,400,000) is now only one
chance in 24 million.
The Fifth Prediction:
His hands and feet would be pierced
Probability: 1 chance
in 100
The Old Testament Prediction:
"For dogs have surrounded Me; The assembly of the wicked has enclosed
Me. They pierced My hands and My feet" (Psalm 22:16).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they
crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on
the left" (Luke 23:33).
The combined probability of these five predictions (10 X 24 million)
has now reached an astonishing one chance in 2.4 billion.
The Sixth Prediction:
He would be wounded by His enemies
Probability: 1 chance
in 10
The Old Testament Prediction:
"For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name; and
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the
whole earth" (Isaiah 54:5).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he
delivered [Him] to be crucified" (Matthew 27:26).
Throughout history most kings who were killed were murdered suddenly.
Very few were ever subjected to torture as was inflicted on our Lord
Jesus Christ. The odds against this occurring by chance were less than
one chance in ten. The combined odds for the six predictions (10 x 2.4
billion) now rises to one chance in 24 billion.
The Seventh Prediction:
His betrayal for 30 pieces of silver
Probability: 1 chance
in 50
The Old Testament Prediction:
"Then I said to them, 'If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and
if not, refrain. 'So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of
silver'" (Zechariah 11:12).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you? And they
counted out to him thirty pieces of silver" (Matthew 26:15).
Consider how impossible it would be to correctly predict five hundred
years in advance the exact price of betrayal that would be paid for the
death of a future king. The odds (50 x 24 billion) now rise to one
chance in one trillion, two hundred billion.
The Eight Prediction:
He will be spit upon and beaten
Probability: 1 chance
in 10
The Old Testament Prediction:
"I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who
plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting"
(Isaiah 50:6).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the
palms of their hands" (Matthew 26:67).
Although many kings throughout history were killed, very few were
tormented, beaten and ridiculed. However, Jesus Christ bore those
stripes for our healing and salvation. The odds of these eight
predictions (10 x one trillion, two hundred billion) occurring by chance
are now one chance in 12 trillion.
The Ninth Prediction:
His betrayal money would be thrown in the Temple and then given to buy a
potter's field
Probability: 1 chance in
200
The Old Testament Prediction:
"And the Lord said to me, 'Throw it to the potter'; that princely price
they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them
into the house of the Lord for the potter" (Zechariah 11:13).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and
went and hanged himself. But the chief priests took the silver pieces
and said, 'It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they
are the price of blood.' And they took counsel and bought with them the
potter's field, to bury strangers in" (Matthew 27:5-7).
This complicated prophecy actually seems contradictory on its surface.
However, despite its apparent impossibility every detail of this
prophecy was fulfilled in precise detail. Judas threw the thirty pieces
of betrayal money into the Temple. Later the priests used this money to
purchase a potter's field to bury strangers including Judas who,
overcome with guilt, hanged himself. I calculated the odds extremely
conservatively as one chance in 200. However, the combined odds (200 x
12 trillion) against these nine predictions occurring have risen to one
chance in 2,400 trillion.
The Tenth Prediction:
He would be silent before His accusers
Probability: I chance in
100
The Old Testament Prediction:
"He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He
was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers
is silent, so He opened not his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He
answered nothing. Then Pilate said to Him, 'Do You not hear how many
things they testify against You?' And He answered him not one word, so
that the governor marveled greatly" (Matthew 27:12-14).
When we are accused of a crime we naturally defend ourselves, even when
we are guilty. Consider how unlikely this prediction was that a totally
innocent man would stand before His accusers in absolute silence without
speaking to defend himself. While I assigned the odds as one chance in
one hundred the realistic chances against this event occurring are much
higher. The odds against these ten predictions occurring (100 x 2,400
trillion) is now one chance in 24,000 trillion.
The Eleventh Prediction:
He would be crucified with thieves
Probability: 1 chance
in 100
The Old Testament Prediction:
"Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall
divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto
death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin
of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" (Isaiah 53:12).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another
on the left" (Matthew 27:38).
The continued multiplication of these odds reaches a truly staggering
number when we examine the chances that all seventeen prophecies
occurred by chance. At the end of this analysis I will give the final
calculation of these incredible odds.
The Twelfth Prediction:
People would gamble for His garments
Probability: 1 chance
in 100
The Old Testament Prediction:
"They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots"
(Psalm 22:18).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and
made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the
tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said
therefore among themselves, 'Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it,
whose it shall be,' that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:
'They divided My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast
lots."' (John 19:23,24).
Think of how unlikely it was that Roman soldiers would bother to gamble
to see who would win the right to claim the garments of a crucified
prisoner. Yet, the prophecy was fulfilled precisely.
The Thirteenth Prediction:
His side would be pierced
Probability: 1 chance
in 100
The Old Testament Prediction:
"And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of
Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on
Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his
only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn" (Zechariah
12:10).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately
blood and water came out" (John 19:34).
The cruelty of the Romans was expressed in the unspeakable pain
inflicted on prisoners in their lengthy death on the cross. However,
despite their orders to produce a drawn-out death, the Roman centurion
was motivated by God to pierce Christ's side with his spear. The blood
and water flowing out of Christ's side proved that He had already died
before the spear entered His side. The odds against anyone plunging a
spear into the side of a man being crucified on a cross is estimated
conservatively as one chance in 100.
The Fourteenth Prediction:
None of His bones would be broken
Probability: 1 chance
in 20
The Old Testament Prediction:
"He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken" (Psalm 34:20).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did
not break His legs" (John 19:33).
When a prisoner of Rome was crucified, his body was placed on the cross
in such a manner that the only way he could breathe was by painfully
lifting his upper body, using the strength of his legs, to expand his
diaphragm. When the Roman soldiers wished to speed up the death of the
condemned prisoner they would break his legs with a club and thus
prevent him from lifting himself up to breathe. Within minutes the
prisoner would die due to oxygen deprivation and fluid accumulating in
his lungs. To avoid desecrating the Sabbath, which was about to begin,
the soldiers broke the legs of the prisoners on either side of Jesus to
assure their quick death. However, in fulfillment of the ancient
prophecy, Jesus had already "given up the ghost" and died by His own
will. Therefore, they did not break Christ's legs and thus fulfilled the
prophecy.
The Fifteenth Prediction:
His body would not decay
Probability: 1 chance in
10,000
The Old Testament Prediction:
"For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy
One to see corruption" (Psalm 16:10).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"He, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ,
that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption"
(Acts 2:31).
Obviously, the odds against anyone dying and their body not decaying,
but later rising from the dead, are obviously astronomical. However, I
have estimated the odds as only one chance in 10,000 because several
individuals were resurrected in the Old Testament, such as the
Shunammite widow's son who was raised from the dead by Elisha (2 Kings
4:28-37).
The Sixteenth Prediction:
His burial in a rich man's tomb
Probability: 1 chance
in 100
The Old Testament Prediction:
"And they made His grave with the wicked; but with the rich at His
death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth"
(Isaiah 53:9).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathaea, named
Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man went
to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the
body to be given to him.
And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen
cloth, and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock;
and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed"
(Matthew 27:57-60).
The probable site of the tomb of Christ is located just north of the
Damascus Gate of the old walled city of Jerusalem, only a few hundred
yards from the probable site of Golgotha. When the tomb was discovered
in the last century, archeologists found that only one body depression
was ever used. The owner did not complete the stone carving work to bury
a second body. In addition, they found a huge cistern capable of holding
200,000 gallons of water beneath the garden, indicating that it was a
rich man's garden tomb. Furthermore, they found the remains of an
ancient wine press in the garden.
The Seventeenth Prediction:
The darkness covering the earth
Probability: 1 chance in
1,000
The Old Testament Prediction:
"'And it shall come to pass in that day,' says the Lord God, 'That I
will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad
daylight' " (Amos 8:9).
The New Testament Fulfillment:
"Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over
all the land" (Matthew 27:45).
Although this prophecy is one of the most incredible of the seventeen,
the Third History of Thallus, a pagan historian of the third century,
reported that there was an unusual darkness that blotted out the sun for
a number of hours at the time of Passover in the year A.D. 32, the year
of Christ's crucifixion. Although Thallus speculated that this darkness
was the result of an eclipse, any astronomer can tell you that it is
absolutely impossible that
an eclipse could have occurred at that time, because Passover was
carefully calculated to occur at the time of the full moon. The position
of the sun, moon, and earth at the time of the full moon makes it
impossible that this darkness recorded by the historian Thallus could
have been the result of a natural eclipse. However, his report does
confirm that the Bible's prophecy and the New Testament record of its
fulfillment is accurate.
This analysis has shown that seventeen detailed prophecies, made five
centuries before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, were fulfilled with
absolute precision in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The question to consider is this:
What are the chances that all seventeen of these predictions occurred by
chance rather than by the divine plan of God? Either these seventeen
predictions are simply the result of chance or this evidence provides
overwhelming proof that God inspired the Bible and is in control of
history.
The combined probability AGAINST these 17 predictions occurring is equal
to
1 chance in 480,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
or 1 chance in 480 Billion 1 Billion x 1 Trillion
In other words, there is only one chance in 480 billion x I Billion x 1
Trillion that these Old Testament prophets could have accurately
predicted these seventeen specific prophecies about the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ by chance alone. The odds are equally
impossible that any man could have fulfilled these detailed prophecies
by chance alone. Let any reader assign any other estimates they might
choose for these probabilities that these predictions occurred.
Regardless of the size of the estimates for probability you assign to
these individual predictions, you will still be confronted with a
combined probability so staggering in its magnitude that it will be
impossible to honestly convince yourself that these things occurred by
chance. In the unlikely event that you still are not convinced, consider
the fact that we have examined only seventeen of the forty-eight major
prophecies given in the Old Testament about the promised Messiah. If we
were to calculate the odds against all forty-eight predictions occurring
by chance we would arrive at a number so large that it would exceed our
capacity to comprehend it.
Some Bible critics have suggested that Jesus of Nazareth, as a
rabbi, knew about these predictions and simply arranged the events of
His life to fulfill them. However, consider the impossibility of any
normal human arranging the fulfillment of these specific predictions.
How would you arrange to be born in Bethlehem and manage to be descended
from the tribe of Judah?
How would you arrange the price of your betrayal to be precisely thirty
pieces of silver? How would you arrange to be crucified with thieves and
then, to be buried in a rich man's grave? Obviously, only God could
either foresee these events in advance or fulfill these precise
predictions in the life of Jesus Christ.
These Prophecies Prove the Bible Is Inspired By God
When we consider these seventeen specific Messianic prophecies, the odds
against any one person fulfilling these predictions by chance alone are
absolutely astronomical. To fully grasp the reality that these fulfilled
prophecies prove that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah and Son of
God, consider the following illustration:
First, the odds against the prophets correctly guessing all seventeen
prophecies are:
1 chance in 480 Billion x 1 Billion x 1 Trillion!
Next, to fully grasp these incredible odds we must try to get a
picture of these odds in our minds. Imagine that every one of these
chances was represented by a small grain of sand. Furthermore, imagine
that a single grain of sand is painted gold and represents the one
chance out of this astronomical number that Christ fulfilled these
predictions by chance. We are going to blindfold you and ask you to
search for the single gold-painted grain of sand. Imagine that the
entire galaxy known as the Milky Way, encompassing two hundred million
stars like our sun plus millions of planets, moons, and asteroids is
composed only of these 480 Billion x 1 Billion x 1 Trillion grains of
sand. In a
galaxy filled with this incredible number of grains of sand, your target
is the only grain of sand that is painted gold. Remember the galaxy is
so vast that if you could travel in the Star Trek Enterprise at the
speed of light, 187,000 miles per second, it would still take you a
hundred thousand years to cross the galaxy. If we were to blindfold you
and send you blindly searching through our entire galaxy to find a
single gold-painted grain of sand, you would face the same impossible
odds in finding the gold grain of sand as the odds against these
seventeen prophecies occurring by chance alone.
With such odds against you, would you bet a thousand dollars that you
would find a single grain in a whole galaxy filled with sand? I doubt
that you would risk your money on such impossible odds. Yet, tragically,
every year millions will die who have bet their lives and their eternal
souls on the "chance" that these fulfilled prophecies about Jesus Christ
are not reliable. They believe they can safely ignore the claims of
Christ upon their lives. However, in light of the overwhelming evidence
for the authority of the Bible and the reality of Jesus Christ as God's
Messiah, each of us needs to personally consider the decision we must
make about our response to Christ's life, death and resurrection.
In light of the Bible's own declaration that fulfilled prophecy is
the absolute proof that it was written under the direct inspiration of
God, I believe the evidence in this chapter provides a staggering level
of proof for the authority of the Scriptures.
Reference: Jeffrey, Grant R., The Signature of God
Frontier Research Publications, Inc. (1996), p.160 - 183
The Signature of God can be ordered from
http://www.grantjeffrey.com/adsignaturepage.html
GRANT R. JEFFREY MINISTRIES
*************************************
Microcodes & Macrocodes: The Appointed Times
By Chuck Missler
The Jew's catechism is his calendar.
Samson Raphael Hirsch
There has been a great deal of interest in "Bible Codes." The main
flurry of controversy has been about the equidistant letter sequences
that seem to be hidden within the Biblical text. An example of this
occurs in Genesis 1:14:
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to
divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for
seasons, and for days, and years:
The word HaMoyadim (click for Hebrew text), here translated "seasons,"
means "the appointed times." When searched for as an equidistant letter
sequence, the word appears only once in the Book of Genesis, at the
interval of 70, clustering exactly where the word is spelled explicitly
in the text, and where the calendar is established.
There are only 70 specially appointed times for holy days called
HaMoyadim, in a year, as defined by Leviticus 23-52 sabbaths, seven days
of Pesach (encompassing Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and
Feast of First Fruits), one day for Hag Ha Shavuot (Feast of Pentecost),
one day for Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets, which is coincident with Rosh
Hoshana), one day for Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), 7
days for Sukkot (Feast of Booths), and one day of Shmini Atzeret (Eighth
Day of Assembly).1 52 + 7 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 7 + 1 = 70, the very interval
where HaMoyadim, "the appointed times," is encrypted in the text.
Coincidence?
The longer the word, the smaller its chances to be found in the text at
any given interval. Statistically, the word HaMoyadim would be expected
to occur only five times in the 78,064 letters of Genesis.
In fact, it appears in this hidden form only once in Genesis; and on
that one occasion its equidistant letter interval is exactly 70, and
centered within the span of that hidden appearance is precisely its only
open appearance in the text.2
The odds against this have been estimated at more than 70,000,000 to
one.3
Macrocodes
In addition to microcodes and the equidistant letter sequences, there
are also macrocodes embracing the entire structure; they transcend the
frame of reference of the individual document itself. They are similar
to the "macros" that anticipate the formatting in our word processor
programs.
Thus, macrocodes can be anticipatory: they look forward in time. These
Biblical macrocodes, originating from outside our time domain,
demonstrate their unique origin by presenting the structure of future
events in advance, which is one of the properties of the Biblical record
that establishes its uniqueness.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the use of the Jewish calendar
ordained in the Bible.
The Seven Feasts of Israel
The Torah-the five books of Moses-details seven feasts during the Hebrew
calendar:4 The first three feasts are celebrated in the spring, in the
month of Nisan:
Passover (Pesach), Feast of Unleavened Bread (Hag haMatzah), and the
Feast of First Fruits. (Connotatively, these are all included in the
celebration of Passover.)
Fifty days later there is the Feast of Weeks, Shavuot, also known as
Pentecost ("50"). It was celebrated the day following the "counting of
the omer" (49 days + 1), 50 days after the Feast of First Fruits. This
year it will be observed on May 31.
There are three remaining feasts in the fall, in the month of Tishri:
the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah); the Day of Atonement, (Yom Kippur);
and the Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth).
While each of these feasts has an historical commemorative role, they
also each have a prophetic role. When God set their feast times, the
very terms He used are suggestive: mowed (click for Hebrew text), which
means "to keep an appointment," and mikraw (click for Hebrew text),
which means "rehearsal."5
Paul emphasized this6 and also highlighted their predictive role as "a
shadow of things to come."7 Jesus also pointed to his personal role in
their fulfillment:
Think not that I am come to destroy the law (Torah), or the prophets: I
am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Matthew 5:17
This is another of these instances in which "The New Testament is in the
Old Testament concealed, and the Old Testament is in the New Testament
revealed."
Shavuot, The Feast of Weeks
The first three feasts occur in the first month; they were also
prophetic of the Christ's first advent. The final three feasts occur in
the seventh month and appear to be prophetic of Christ's Second Coming.
Between these two groups of feasts is Hag Ha Shavuot, the Feast of
Weeks, also called, Hag Ha Kazir, the Feast of Harvest ("the First
Harvest").
This feast was to be observed on a strange formula: In other words, they
were to begin counting on the day of the Feast of First Fruits ("the
morrow after the Sabbath":
always a Sunday!), seven weeks (49 days) and thus celebrate this unusual
feast also on a Sunday.8
Counting these 49 days is also called "Counting the Omer." (This
"50-day" formula also gives this celebration its alternate label, "the
Feast of Pentecost.") It is interesting to notice the frequent intervals
of 49 (72) in the Torah codes.
The Feast of Pentecost was also one of only three which were obligatory
for all males.9 Historically, this feast is viewed as commemorating the
birth of the nation and the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai.10 The
observance of this feast is unique in that it includes two loaves of
leavened bread-the only use of leavened bread in the Levitical
specifications. This would seem to hint of a Gentile application, in
contrast to the unleavened bread emphasized in the Passover. Two lambs
were to be offered. (Jew + Gentile?)
Prophetic Applications
There is a widespread recognition that the Feast of Weeks (or Feast of
Pentecost) is prophetic of the mystery of the Church. And, indeed, the
Church was "born" on the Feast of Pentecost.11
It is significant that each event which seems to be "macrocoded" by the
calendar was actually fulfilled on the very day that the feast is
observed: The Crucifixion on Passover; the Feast of First Fruits on the
following Sunday; etc.
Therefore, the birth of the Church on the very day of the Feast of
Pentecost in Acts 2
is extremely provocative. Yet it may prove to be myopic to assume that
this feast has been completely fulfilled in the birth of the Church
alone.
Rapture Possibility?
The sudden "gathering out" of the church (harpazo in the Greek;12 called
the "rapture" from the Latin) may also be hidden behind this feast. The
first three feasts, in the first month, appear predictive of the first
"coming" of Jesus Christ. The last three feasts, in the seventh month,
are viewed as predictive of the Second Coming.
(There are many who look to the Feast of Trumpets or the Feast of
Tabernacles as predictive of the "rapture" of the Church. Yet, these
views seem to fail to discriminate between the "rapture" of the Church
and the Second Coming.)
There would also seem to be an intrinsic contradiction in attempting to
apply the Jewish feasts to the Church. As we have noted in the Seventy
Week prophecy13 and elsewhere, there is a clear distinction between
Israel and the Church-a distinction that unfortunately has been blurred
in views that fail to recognize the unconditional nature of the relevant
commitments to Israel. Paul, in his definitive statement of Christian
doctrine which we call the Epistle to the Romans, spends three chapters
emphasizing that God is not through with Israel.14
In his Epistle to the Ephesians he also reveals that the mystery of the
Church was hidden from the Old Testament.15 (This also is indicated in
the parables of the Matthew 13.16 ) It appears that the church period
occurs in a gap-or interval-in the Jewish timeline of the Old Testament.
A provocative possibility is that the Feast of Weeks may prove
predictive of both the birth and removal of the church in God's program.
Enoch as a Macrocode?
Enoch is one of the most interesting characters in the Bible. The first
prophecy uttered by a prophet was a prophecy of the Second Coming of
Jesus Christ, and it was proclaimed before the Flood of Noah!17 Enoch is
also distinctive in that he did not suffer death; he was "raptured."18
There were three groups of people facing the flood: those that perished
in the flood; those that were preserved through the flood; and those
removed before the flood: namely, Enoch. There are some who v
iew Enoch
as a foreshadowing of the church being removed prior to the global
ordeal known as the Great Tribulation.
It is interesting that there is a Jewish tradition that Enoch was born
on the day that was later ordained as the Feast of Weeks. What makes
this even more interesting is the associated tradition that he was
"raptured" on his birthday.
Is it possible that this is a foreshadowing of the harpazo of the
church?19
There would seem to be a logical consistency if the same feast that
"stopped" the Jewish clock will be the same event that "restarts" it. We
will just watch and see. Let's remember that He instructed us to "occupy
until He comes."20 Even so, Come, Lord Jesus!
(For those subscribers who don't hold a pre-tribulation view, don't be
concerned: we will have mailed our June newsletter before May 31.)
This article was excerpted from Chuck's forthcoming book, Cosmic Codes -
Hidden Messages From the Edge of Eternity, scheduled for publication
this summer and featured in the briefing package of the same name (see
page 18 for details).
Notes:
1. Prof. Daniel Michelson, "Codes in the Torah," B'Or Ha'Torah, No.l6,
1987, published by the Association of Religious Professionals from the
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in Israel, p.31.
2. The open appearance has no "the."
3. Jeffrey Satinover, Cracking the Bible Code, William Morrow & Co, New
York, 1997, p.125.
4. Leviticus 23; Numbers 28-29; Deuteronomy 16.
5. Leviticus 23:4.
6. Romans 15:4; Galatians 3:24, 25.
7. Colossians 2:16, 17.
8. Leviticus 23:15-22.
9. Deuteronomy 16:16.
10. Exodus 19:11. This is reckoned by the rabbis as follows: The
Passover in Egypt was on the 14th of Nisan; the crossing of the Red Sea,
3 days later on the 17th. They are viewed as arriving at Mount Sinai on
the 3rd day of the 3rd month, ostensibly on the 3rd of Sivan, 46 days
later. Moses is told to prepare for the "3rd day."
11. John 14:25, 26; Acts 1:8; 2:1-47.
12. 1 Thess 4:17. Harpazo, "take by force, take away, carry off; catch
up (into heaven)."
13. Daniel 9:24- 27.
14. Romans 9, 10, 11.
15. Ephesians 3:1-10.
16. Matthew 13:17, 34, 35. If they were "kept secret from the foundation
of the world," they are not explicit in the Old Testament.
17. Jude 14, 15.
18. Genesis 5:24; Hebrew 11:5.
19. It may be argued that Enoch was only one person, but so is the
Church: it is signified as the "Body of Christ." Romans 7:4; 12:5; 1
Corinthians 12:12, 27; Ephesians 4:12; 5:23; Colossians 2:16, 17; and,
perhaps, Revelation 12: 5.
20. Luke 19:13.
HaMoyadim mowed mikraw
For more inforamtion on this topic see: Cosmic Codes Briefing Pack
This article was first published in the May 1998 edition of Personal
Update.
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WHEN ARMIES MOVE - Part 3
A Dissertation on Armageddon from the Prewrath View
By R. g. Wallace
Continuing our discussion of the worldwide invasion of the king of the
North, I direct your attention to Isaiah 13:1-16.
Verse 1, "The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz
saw."
The oracle is about judgment on Babylon, but verse 1-16 jumps beyond the
historical fulfillment which will take place at the
hand of Persia after the 70 year Babylonian captivity of Judah and looks
to the future judgment in an end-times context after the arrival of the
Day of the Lord (vs .6, 9).
And since the historical judgment takes place at the hands of Persia,
the "end-times" judgment should be viewed as taking place at the hands
of the king of the North.
Verses 2-3, "Lift up a standard on the bare hill, Raise your voice to
them, Wave the hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles.
I have commanded My consecrated ones, I have even called My mighty
warriors, My proudly exulting ones, To {execute} My anger."
This is the call to the king of the North to begin his worldwide advance
against the king of the West, the beast, represented by Babylon in the
historical setting. The worldwide focus is found at verse 11, "thus I
will punish the world for its evil."
It is the same "call to action" found at Ezek. 38:4 and permitted at
Rev. 9:13-15.
Verse 4, "A sound of tumult on the mountains, Like that of many people!
A sound of the uproar of kingdoms, Of nations gathered together! The
LORD of hosts is mustering the army for battle."
This clearly speaks of an alliance of nations gathered together against
"Babylon."
Verse 5, They are coming from a far country From the farthest horizons,
The LORD and His instruments of indignation, To destroy the whole land.
This speaks of the distance from Palestine of this army and its allies.
It corresponds with Ezekiel 38:6, "the remote parts of the North."
At Joel 2:20, it is identified as the Northern army. The reason the two
armies can be equated is because of the time frame for their activity.
At Isaiah 13, the army advances worldwide AFTER the arrival of the Day
of the Lord.
Verse 6, "Wail, for the day of the LORD is near! It will come as
destruction from the Almighty."
This indicates that WHEN the army invades that it will be a fulfillment
of the coming of the day of the LORD and not that the day of the LORD
follows the invasion.
The army at Joel 2 has advanced into Palestine, and is also viewed as
taking place AFTER the ARRIVAL of the Day of the Lord. That is, when the
army invades, it is DURING the day of the Lord that the invasion takes
place.
Joel 2:2, "for the Day of the Lord is coming, surely it is near."
However, it is also viewed as such an army that will NEVER again come
into Palestine UNTIL many generations.
Joel 2:2, "there is a great and mighty people; there has never been
anything like it, nor will there be again after it to the years of many
generations."
Many generations AFTER the Day of the Lord would refer to the end of
Messiah's 1000 year reign when another large Northern army will invade
Palestine (Rev. 20:7-9).
THE NORTHERN ALLIANCE
There is only ONE Northern army that will have a role during the Day of
the Lord. And it is that Northern army and alliance which is described
at Ezekiel 38:2-6.
"Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince
of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, 'Thus
says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh,
Meshech, and Tubal.
"And I will turn you about, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will
bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them
splendidly attired, a great company {with} buckler and shield, all of
them wielding swords; Persia, Ethiopia, and Put with them, all of them
{with} shield and helmet; Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah
{from} the remote parts of the north with all its troops - many peoples
with you.
Gog is either a personality or a dynasty that dominates the land of
Magog and rules over three chief cities or peoples.
These descendants of Japheth are clearly mentioned at Gen. 10:2, "The
sons of Jepheth were, Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan and Tubal and
Mesheck and Tiras."
The identification of Magog and Rosh is summarized by Pentecost, after
quoting several sources:
"Thus the identification of Rosh as modern Russia would seem to be well
authenticated and generally accepted." (Things to Come, page 328).
"Meshek and Tubal have been identified as Phrygia and Cappadocia. They
appear to be the Moschi and Tibareni of the classical writers. They
lived in the neighborhood of Magog." (Charles Feinberg, Ezekiel, page
220)
This places them in the land area we know as Turkey.
Associated with Gog, we have five other nations which need to be
identified.
At Ezekiel 38:5, we have three mentioned, Persia (paras), Ethiopia
(kush) and Libya (phut).
Persia is unanimously identified as Iran. Ethiopia and Libya, however,
do not fair as well. There are some who would limit both of these groups
to those Arabic nations North and East of Israel. Others, associate Kush
with modern day Ethiopia, and associate Libya with the nations of North
Africa; Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.
At Daniel 11:43, there is mention of the Libyans, but the Hebrew is
different than what we find at Ezekiel. At Daniel, the word, lubhiym,
clearly refers to the Libyans in North Africa. Accordingly, phut might
refer to a different people and perhaps a different geographical area.
However, Phut is consistently mentioned with other names identified with
North Africa (Jer. 46:9 and Nahum 3:9, in Pharaoh's army), especially at
Ezekiel 30:5, where we see a group of nations that the context suggests
would all be within the same "southern" area around Egypt.
Furthermore, at Daniel 11:43, after the king of the West counterattacks
against Egypt, he continues into both Ethiopia (Kush) AND Libya. It
seems most probable that the Kush mentioned here is the same as
mentioned at Ezekiel 38:5. And since it is also quite probable that the
Ethiopia in Daniel is South of Palestine, it is best to take the
Ethiopia of Ezekiel as also being South of Palestine. This should prove
that there are Southern nations in Gog's Northern alliance, and it might
even include Egypt since it appears that the king of the South and the
King of the North at Daniel 11:40, push against the king of the West
(the beast) at the same time.
This makes it much easier to associate Phut (Libya) with North Africa
instead of limiting the Northern alliance to those areas North and East
of Palestine.
At Ezekiel 38:6, the final two members of this alliance are mentioned.
Gomer is universally identified as the Germanic land area.
Beth-togarmah is equally identified as the area of upper Turkey and
Armenia.
Let's keep in mind that these general geographical distributions overlap
with several different nations or cultures in existence today, similar
to how the former Soviet Union embraced so many smaller nations. The
best that we can do is to recognize the general geographical areas
involved and not be too rigid in assigning nations their allegiance
until the actual alliance is established. However, that reality may not
be ours to discern since the rapture will occur BEFORE the Northern
alliance actually moves in resistance to the king of the West (the
beast). The prewrath view, teaches that the rapture occurs at the 6th
seal, before, the 6th trumpet, which refers to this great worldwide
invasion by a large military body.
A MATTER OF TIMING
The big question still unresolved in many minds, concerns the exact time
placement for the Gog invasion which is described in Ezekiel 38 and 39.
There are those who view this invasion as taking place prior to the
beginning of Daniel's 70th week, which is seven years in length. The
main proof for such a theory is found at Ezekiel 39:9, where after the
invading Northern army is defeated, the "booty" left behind will be
burned for a period of seven years. Others believe that the invasion
takes place immediately at the beginning of the seven-year period,
viewing it as the reason the "world ruler" is able to come on the scene
and establish a 7-year covenant in the Middle East. Once again, they use
the seven years of burning the "booty" as proof for this. Others still,
place this invasion at the midpoint of the 70th week and view it as the
reason for the rise to power of the man of lawlessness (the antichrist)
who breaks the 7-year covenant and will then seek to dominate the
politics and economy of the world and reign for 42 months (3 1/2 years).
Then there are those who view this invasion as taking place just before
the final battle of Armageddon and has the alliance's defeat take place
at that battle.
Although the term, "Day of the Lord," does not occur in Ezekiel 38-39,
the language indicates that this invasion can refer to none other than
the king of the North as described in the other passages. Some have
suggested that Ezekiel 38-39 refers to an invasion that precedes the Day
of the Lord, however that cannot be in light of verse 39:7, "And I shall
not let My Holy Name be profaned anymore." If this invasion refers to an
army other than the one which invades DURING the Day of the Lord, then
this verse would be violated, for during the Day of the Lord, through
the advance of armies in connection with the Armageddon campaign, the
land of Israel and God's Name will be trodden down by the invaders.
Furthermore, the defeat of this Northern army is followed immediately by
Israel's promotion and blessing in Messiah's kingdom.
Ezek. 38:7-8, "Be prepared, and prepare yourself, you and all your
companies that are assembled about you, and be a guard for them.
"After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come
into the land that is restored from the sword, {whose inhabitants} have
been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had
been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the
nations, and they are living securely, all of them.
This is another reason some think that the Gog invasion occurs "before"
the 70th week and/or after the 70th week has started. It is suggested
that if Israel has been restored from the sword and the people are
living "securely," then it cannot refer to the time of Great tribulation
when the beast will be attempting to force the world into beast worship.
It is suggested that this refers to the nation of Israel, having been
restored in 1948 and today existing on her own land.
It is true, that at the present time, it can be said of Israel, that she
has been restored from the sword of her captivity. However, even though
Israel resides in the land, the nation as a whole is still in unbelief,
and there is certainly no peace and security for her. Probably the best
time for fulfillment of the language at verse 8, "and they are living
securely, all of them," is when the covenant of peace is established at
the beginning of the 70th week. Thus, it would seem appropriate to look
for this invasion sometime during the first half of the week. However,
this seems unlikely to me because of the language of "closure" at Ezek.
39:7, "And I shall not let My Holy Name be profaned any longer." If the
defeat of this "Gog" army takes place during the first half of the week
(or before) and is defeated as described in Ezekiel 38-39, then this
"language of closure" forbids the oppression of the beast during the
last half of the week, during which time, God's name most certainly will
be profaned (Rev. 13:6; Dan. 7:25).
It is for this reason that we must find a time slot for this invasion
that is associated with the final movement of nations into the land of
Palestine and the final confrontation with God at the battle of
Armageddon.
I suggest that at the midpoint of the week, after the beast gains
ascendancy over Jerusalem (Rev. 11:2) and begins his oppressive reign
(Rev. 13:5-6), that the majority of people in Jerusalem will be in
alliance with the beast and therefore be "living securely, all of them."
The "faithful" ones of Israel will have fled into the wilderness (Rev.
12:6, 13-14), and most of the others will have adopted beast worship and
be reaping the economic benefits of allegiance to him.
In part 4, we will continue at Isaiah 13 and focus on the relation of
these events with the Day of the LORD.
R.g. Wallace
ronw@biblefragrances.com
http://www.biblefragrances.com
-------
*************************************
Babylon
By Rance Taylor
TB4823@aol.com
There has been discussion recently about Babylon. What is Babylon and
why is it given so much attention in the Word of God? Is America
Babylon? New York City is certainly a great world center of commerce and
finance. This seaport city is surrounded by water and is a major
controlling influence in global trade. The Bible predicts a coming
severe judgment on and destruction of Babylon. Are we in America to
expect this complete desolation, as so vividly described? Perhaps if we
review the facts, some of the confusion will vanish. There are actually
six prophetic types or ways in which Babylon is presented.
Babylon#1 Ancient Babylonia
Babylon is mentioned more than 200 times in the Bible. An ancient
city-state on the river Euphrates in the land of Shinar (Chaldea) 40
miles South of modern Baghdad. Name means "gate of a
god"(Akkadian.babilu). Babylon was founded by descendants of Cush and
the followers of Nimrod(Gen.10: 8-10)moving from South to North Iraq
(3800-3500BC).
Sumer-the earliest known nation of Mesopotamia, was situated in south
Babylonia. Shinar includes Sumer and Akkad(NW). Sumerians probably came
from mountains beyond Iran and arrived at the head of the Persian Gulf
at the close of the Ubaid period(before 3500BC). Evidence of Sumerian
culture is found at Babylon that antedates the Akkadian-Semitic
civilization.
The ancient city of Babylon was described by Herodotus as a great square
56 miles in a circuit, with very high, wide walls containing many
magnificent buildings. Numerous gods were worshiped, including Marduk,
Sin(the moon-god), Ishtar and other personifications of the various
forces of nature. To each temple, was attached its highly organized
priesthood. Babylon was governed by a priestly order, the king being
subordinate to the religious order.
According to the Bible(Gen.10), after the great Flood, one of Noah's
grandsons (Cush) migrated South. Cush became the father of Nimrod, a
mighty one on the earth. Nimrod established several cities, including
Babel, in the plains of Shinar, rebelling against the purposes of God.
He originated the concept of kingdoms and set the stage for future world
empires.
"We find in Babel the origin of astrology, all kinds of the occult or
secret practices, such as sorcery or witchcraft, and especially idolatry
in every form imaginable"("Babylon's Origins" by Ron Graff). This, then
is the place where occult practices originated.
The wife of Nimrod (Semiramis)-headed up "the mystery religions" of
Babylon. This involved secret rites, worships of idols, and especially
the "mother-child" concept of worship, with rites conducted by a
priestly order. Semiramis supposedly miraculously conceived a child,
Tammuz, who was declared to be "a savior" of his people. He was also
known as "Baal" in other neighboring cultures. Semiramis was given the
title "The Queen of Heaven" (Jer.7: 18; 44:17-19,25).
With the decline of Babylon, Babylonian religion found its way to
Pergamum. There, the Babylonian chief priests wore crowns in the form of
a head of a fish in honor of Dagon, the fish god and the "keeper of the
bridge"(between man and Satan). Babylon was conquered by Cyrus (539BC)
with very little bloodshed and with preservation of the city. It
gradually deteriorated, however, over the next few centuries. The
Babylon Mystery Religion was transferred to Pergamum.
Babylon #2- Satan's Throne at Pergamum
Rev.2:13- "I know where you live . . . where Satan has his throne."...in
your city-where Satan lives."
After the Medo-Persians drove out the Chaldeans, priests of the
Babylonian religion, they fled to Pergamum. The legitimate Babylonian
Pontiff was established at Pergamum. Pergamum was a great capital city
of Asia, situated on a 1000' hill overlooking the Caicus River in
southern Mysia, 15 miles from the Aegean Sea. Pergamum was the center of
four pagan cults: Athena(Minerva) goddess of war and wisdom;
Dionysus(Bacchus) god of wine, fertility and orgiastic excess;
Asclepias(Aesculapius) god of medicine and healing, and Zeus(Jupiter)
the chief god. The Altar of Zeus, a magnificent structure, was one of
the wonders of the ancient world. This probably is "Satan's throne, "a
center of occultic worship, referred to in Rev.2: 13. Pergamum also was
where emperor worship(Caesar) originated.
Attalus III, the last of the kings of Pergamos, who was childless, at
his death in 133BC left a will bequeathing all his dominion to the Roman
people. In addition, the seat of religious authority of the old
Babylonian system passed from Pergamum to Rome. "All the powers and
functions of the true legitimate Babylonian Pontiff were supremely
vested in him."[Quote taken from Alexander Hislop, speaking of Julius
Caesar, being elected Pontifex Maximus, a title for the high priest of
the Roman religion(64BC).] Thus Caesar was head of the political and
religious systems. The Babylonian Mystery Religious System was thereby
moved from Pergamum to Rome.
Babylon #3-Ancient Rome
Roman Emperor Gratian(AD359-383) transferred the title "Pontifex
Maximus"(Grand Bridge-builder) to the Bishop of Rome. At the same time,
prayer to statues (idolatry) and the ancient exaltation of the
mother-child in worship was stressed. From this point forward, "Pontifex
" refers to the Pope. (From Alexander Hislop and Ron Graff) Thus Babylon
was established in Rome and was merged with the early church system.
Babylon #4-Modern Rome( Vatican)
The religious establishment of Rome grew and has become an extremely
wealthy, powerful worldwide ecumenical church. After the Rapture, it
will probably be the foundation for an expansion of the World Church
Movement, since it is the largest and is global in power and influence.
Babylon #5-Future Rome "Mystery Babylon"
During the first three and one half years of the 70th week of Daniel 9,
the Satanic Babylon Mystery Religion and Romanism will evolve into a one
world church ecumenical false religious system which controls many
countries (Rev.17: 1-2,15). An apostate "Christendom," the "Great
Harlot," working hand in glove with the political powers (the beast of
Rev.13: 1-10, Revived Roman Empire ) will dominate the world. (Rev.17:
18). Wearing trappings of ceremonial religion and Babylonian influence
and ritual, she will display great wealth. True Christians will be
persecuted (Rev.17: 6) and martyred by this demonic, "New Age" church.
[At the time John was writing, Rome controlled the kings of the world.]
Shortly before the midpoint of the 70th week, the leader of the 10
nation empires is given complete authority. (Rev.17: 12-13). He then
destroys the ecclesiastical Babylon, burning the Vatican and Rome with
fire. (Rev.17: 16-17). Then this coming world leader demands worship of
Satan and himself as a god. (Rev.13: 4) The Babylonian religious system,
however, is then transferred back to Iraq.
***
Zech.5:5-11
The Babylonian evil power center moved to rebuilt Babylon, Iraq:
Vs.7-". . . and this is a woman sitting inside the ephah."
Vs.8-Then he said, "This is Wickedness!"...
Vs.9- . . . and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the
heavens.
Vs.10- And I said to the angel who was speaking with me, "Where are they
taking the ephah?"
Vs.11- Then he said to me, "To build a temple for her in the land of
Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own
pedestal."
***
Ishtar worship is being revived in Iraq, even today. Charles H.Dyer
wrote: "The crowd follows the last of the soldiers through the Ishtar
Gate and into the city of Babylon for the concluding ceremony of the
evening-a tribute to Ishtar, the mother goddess of Babylon. A scene of
pagan worship in the time of Daniel? No, a scene I witnessed in
September 1988 as part of the second International Babylon Festival held
under the patronage of Saddam Hussein!"
Ishtar is the Babylonian goddess of love, sex and fertility, as well as
war and valor. She is also known as the Queen of Heaven, our Lady of
Heaven, winged goddess of the moon, Imini, Gushea, Agushea and about
thirty other names. Her planet (star) is Venus. She is known in Sumerian
culture as Inanna (Nin-ana, "lady of heaven"), in Akkadian as "Estar",
also Astoreth. In Greece she is known as Aphrodite, while in Egypt her
name is Astarte, symbolized by the sacred egg, indicating the source of
new life.
She has many lovers, being the goddess of physical love, including a
young shepherd god Tammuz(Dumuzi or Adonis) who was resurrected from the
underworld after three days. Her worship includes temple prostitution,
phallic symbols, and even male transvestite priests with painted faces.
To quote Charles Dyer again: "On the exact site of ancient Babylon, he
has reconstructed the Southern Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, including the
Procession Street, a Greek theater, many temples, what was once
Nebuchadnezzar's throne room, and a half-scale model of the Ishtar
Gate." The restoration of Babylon began in 1978.
Babylon #6- Future Babylon, Iraq
Rev.18- Describes a very specific political entity, a city, with precise
detail so that it could not be mistaken. This rebuilt Babylon will come
to prominence during the last 3 1/2 years of the 70th week of Daniel 9,
and will be a great center of trade and commerce as well as an occult
center for Ishtar worship. Future Babylon will experience sudden,
violent, catastrophic destruction and disappear completely. This area
will be uninhabited thereafter, like Sodom and Gomorrah. This
destruction will probably occur just before the Second Advent, perhaps
at the time of the greatest earthquake in the history of the world
(Rev.16: 19).
Scripture Abstracts:
Isa.13: 5-10,12-13. [ Future Babylon (Babylon#6) ]: Multinational forces
from opposite side of the earth. Fiery destruction. "The Day of the
Lord." Shocking, sudden. The atmosphere darkened-the world punished.
Only a few survive. The axis of the earth changed!
Isa.13:19-20. Like Sodom & Gomorrah. Fire from heaven destroys
completely-never inhabited (radioactive?)
Isa.14:26 Plan for ALL nations (the whole earth)
Jer.50:1-Babylon,land of Chaldeans. (vs.25, 35,45) A future invasion.
Land an object of horror. No inhabitants (vs.13)(This was not true of
Cyrus in 539BC-almost bloodless, with gradual decline of the city).
Twelve tribes are together(separated 930BC). Repentant, seek the Lord.
Told to leave Babylon.
Vs.9-Multinational force-smart missiles. Obtain plunder(oil?). Babylon
left a wilderness, desolate, no inhabitants, a horrible scene.
Vs.15b-future(not 539BC) . . . walls are torn down.
Vs.25-The Lord's weapons of indignation (thermonuclear?)
Vs26-"from the farthest border," mass destruction and "fire"vs.32.
Vs39-Babylon never inhabited, similar to Sodom & Gomorrah
Vs41-Multinational force attacks from remote parts of the world, against
Babylon.
Jer.51:1-specific identity (4,24,54) Babylon surrounded, devastated
vs.6-Run for your life! A "blood bath" is coming.
vs.8-sudden destruction by fire
vs.9-"cannot be healed" (Isa.13: 19-like Sodom ). Mushroom cloud
vs.25b-make burnt-out ruin
vs.26-Area is completely desolate. Stones are not suitable for
building(radioactive?)
vs.29-desolate, without an inhabitant. Homes burned.
vs.37-heap of ruins. Object of horror, without inhabitants.
Vs.43-no man lives there. No man passes thru.
vs.54-great destruction of Babylon
Vs.59-Specific identity (vs.63). Historical-geographical location.
Vs.62-perpetual desolation
vs.-64-sudden disappearance. with great force. Never to rise again.
Rev.18:2-3- A future world trade center in Iraq(Babylon#6)
Vs.8-suddenly burned up with fire, followed by mourning, pestilence,
famine
Vs.9-11, 16-18-wealthy.Great center of commerce. Mourned by kings,
merchants & sailors.
Vs10, 21. -Babylon, the great city, thrown down into the sea with
violence. Will not be found-gone forever . Sudden, violent, frightening,
fiery, complete, permanent destruction. Spectators keep their
distance(radioactive?)(vs.10, 15,17)
Rev.16:17-21"Earthquake"worldwide . . . cities fall all over the earth,
from 7th bowl of wine of His fierce wrath. Babylon #6
destroyed.(Isa.13:12-13) This was NOT fulfilled in history; when the
Medes and Persians took over Babylon in 539 BC, they did not destroy the
city. It continued to be a population center through the time of Christ.
Actually there was no act of sudden destruction, but Babylon gradually
diminished as a city in the centuries following the first coming of
Christ, until today it is largely in ruins, although being rebuilt by
Sadam Hussein. Sadam is determined to restore it to its previous
magnificence as it was before being conquered by Cyrus. (Taken from John
Walvoord)
Babylon #7- Is America today's Babylon?
No, I do not think so, although it certainly fits the description in
some ways. For example, New York City is one of the greatest centers of
commerce and trade in the world, and is surrounded by water. It is also
a focal point for drugs, prostitution, crime, murder, abortion,
violence, and is one of the preeminent centers of wealth in the world,
at least for the moment.
However, the words of Scripture should be taken at face value unless
there is compelling evidence to the contrary. The prophecy of Jer.50-51
begins with Jeremiah identifying the object of God's message as
"Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans"(50:1). Later Jeremiah clearly
identifies the subject of his prophecy as the literal city of Babylon
situated on the Euphrates River where king Zedekiah traveled. (Jer.51:
59-64). The city would have to be rebuilt, followed by still future
destruction.
"I do not see the United States in prophecy. I personally believe that
following the rapture the United States will cease to be a dominant
world power and will slip from the world scene." "....Babylon represents
the power of the oil-producing Arab countries who establish the rebuilt
city of Babylon as their capital."(From a letter by Charles H.Dyer,
Th.D.)
"I definitely do not believe that Babylon refers to the United States of
America.It is clear in Scripture that it is connected geographically
with the Middle East as it was in past history, and all Bible prophecy
relates to the Middle East.To make America Babylon is to associate the
two on superficial grounds." (From a letter by John F.Walvoord ) ***
*************************************
Executive Orders Ushering in Socialist Dictatorship
"The Constitution is What I Say It Is!"
By The Winds
Flush from his state visit to Communist China and his welcome and stay
at the imperial digs at Xi'an, President Clinton returns home to pursue
his domestic agenda with renewed vigor. Perhaps inspired by the
efficiencies of the Chinese political system, or merely driven by his
own "vision" and unrelenting ambition, Clinton is planning a blitz of
executive orders that will facilitate his political goals, with or
without Congress. His first strike was launched, ironically, on July
4th, the day Americans traditionally celebrate their independence from
this sort of despotic rule.
According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, Clinton's first
decree ordered that warning labels be applied to fruit and vegetable
juices that have not been pasteurized -- part of his $101 million "food
safety" initiative. Later this week, Clinton will decree measures to
"improve health care and cut juvenile crime." (1) It will be difficult
to find credible political opposition against such seemingly altruistic
measures -- the achievement of a technique called "spin".
Some argue that because there are less than forty legislative days
in this session, Clinton is merely trying to embarrass Congress into
passing legislation on his domestic agenda. With his second term less
than half over he wants to avoid becoming a lame duck and his executive
orders are not far-reaching, they say. While these arguments may have
merit on their face, they do not address the underlying character of
this president and the larger agenda that seems so deftly to evade
public scrutiny.
Clinton warned America about his ambition to create law without the
entanglements of the legislative process. During the 1992 Democratic
National Convention he said, "President Bush: if you won't use your
power to help people, step aside, I will." (2) With tobacco legislation
up in smoke and Congress quickly losing interest in his other policy
objectives, Clinton is going to do just that, with the clarification
that the people he will be helping will be himself and the socialist
elite who put him in office.
What Would We Do Without Bill Clinton?
"He's ready to work with Congress if they will work with him,"
spinned Rahm Emanuel, senior policy adviser to the president. "But if
they choose partisanship, he will choose progress." (3) In other words,
opposing the president's agenda is partisanship, while the president
ruling by decree is "progress."
"This president has a very strong sense of the powers of the
presidency, and is willing to use all of them," warned Paul Begala,
another senior adviser. (4)
"The president has an agenda and to the extent that Congress stifles
that agenda, we are going to move forward with appropriate executive
action," added another unnamed administration official.
"The president has proved over the course of his presidency he can deal
with a Congress that wants confrontation, like when they shut the
government down ... or with a Congress that wants cooperation, when he
worked side by side with the leadership in 1997 to pass a bipartisan
balanced budget." (5) Evidently, it was Congress that shut the
government down, not Clinton, according to this official, who also gave
Clinton credit for the so-called balanced budget.
The idea this administration is inculcating into the public mind is
that we need a strong leader who can act unilaterally in creating laws,
and that Bill Clinton is the one because he cares so much about all of
us. It's the "we need a dictator if anything is going to get done"
syndrome that emerges in every civilization's decline.
Those skeptical of the malignant designs of this president should
consider Executive Order #13083, quietly signed by Clinton on May 14th
while he was visiting (ironically) Birmingham, England. This decree
becomes law ninety days after signing, unless Congress votes it down. So
far, the alarming truth regarding this executive order has failed to
penetrate the stuporous fog surrounding Capitol Hill.
EO #13083 -- Good-bye Congress and States' Rights
Executive Order (EO) #13083 is simply entitled "Federalism." It
begins with constitutionally correct language that will put you to sleep
before you discover what is being slipped into place. For those who
remain awake and further examine the EO's benign sounding lawyer-speak,
a fundamental change in the American form of government becomes evident.
In #13083 Clinton revokes President Reagan's EO #12612, also
entitled "Federalism". Both documents contain similar language and to
the casual observer, similar principles. However, when the two documents
are closely compared, the contrast between them is clear. The Reagan EO
reaffirms states' rights by declaring:
The people of the States created the national government and
delegated to it enumerated powers relating to matters beyond the
competence of the individual States.
All other sovereign powers... are reserved to the States or to the
people.
The constitutional relationship among sovereign governments, State
and national, is formalized in and protected by the Tenth Amendment
of the Constitution....In Thomas Jefferson's words, the States are
"the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and
the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies."
Clinton's revocation of Reagan's EO sheds much light on his own.
Clinton does not mention the Tenth Amendment and when defining the
limitations on federal agencies in their regulation of the states,
Clinton uses phrases like, "there should be strict adherence to
constitutional principles" ..."federal oversight should not
unnecessarily intrude on state and local discretion" ... "agencies are
encouraged to comply with this order ... the people of the States are at
liberty to define the moral, political, and legal character of their
lives, subject only to the limitations ... in federal law." (emphasis
supplied)
EO #13083 gives federal and "independent agencies" authority to
implement policies which supercede state law if there is a need for
uniform national standards ... if the agency or bureaucracy can govern
more cheaply ... if the federal agency can better "protect" the
individual rights and liberties (by whose definition?) ... or if the
agency thinks the state will be unable to implement the policy.
(emphasis supplied) In other words, federal agencies can issue
regulations that supercede state law whenever and wherever they like.
What's more, states may no longer file claims against the federal
government for unfunded mandates issued by the bureaucratic elite in
these federal agencies.
The June 18, 1998 issue of the USA Journal accurately remarks that
EO #13083:
...reads like a constitutional death sentence ... the Framers never
intended for the divisions of power within the federal government to be
circumvented by "executive departments and agencies in the formation and
implementation of policies." The President has essentially said that
there is no longer any need for a legislative branch of government, if
all typical lawmaking can be replaced by executive fiat and agency
regulations disguised as federal law.
EO #13083 essentially puts lawmaking power into the hands of the
president and his federal agencies, circumventing the legislative branch
of government, eliminating states' rights as defined in the Tenth
Amendment, all in what amounts to a bloodless coup perpetrated by the
president himself.
Globalist Dreamers and the Urge to Rule
Doing away with the separation of powers and constitutional
government while elevating a dictator to power might not be so bad if
the dictator were a good man. Human beings are not inherently good,
however, and it is power that tends to elicit the darkest impulses of
human nature. Powerful positions generally attract those most controlled
by their own evil traits of character, as is demonstrated currently in
the U.S. presidency. This is the reason Clinton's secret signing of E.O.
#13083 and his current blitzkrieg of imperial decrees should be viewed
with great concern.
It is not just that Bill Clinton has such a violent temper that his
former adviser Dick Morris has reportedly nicknamed him "The Monster",
although his lack of self control should call into question his
qualifications for leadership of a nuclear superpower. (6)
It is not just that he commits adultery with, exposes himself to and
aggressively propositions other women as has been alleged by many,
although this should be sufficient to impeach his character.
And it is not just that many of Clinton's former friends and
associates are dropping dead like flies under suspicious circumstances,
although this should be sufficient to provoke an aggressive and thorough
investigation (not the kind conducted by Independent Counsel Kenneth
Starr).
It is Clinton's solid Rhodes background that should say the most
about where his trend of executive orders is headed. Bill Clinton was a
Rhodes scholar at Oxford University and since becoming president, he has
surrounded himself with Rhodes scholars in his administration. (7)
Much has been written about British diamond magnate Cecil Rhodes,
founder of the Rhodes Scholarship. Briefly, he was dedicated to
establishing a socialist one-world government controlled by a small
group of elite -- a world view he received from John Ruskin, his
socialist professor at Oxford.
After making his fortune in diamonds, Rhodes established a secret
society in the form of a scholarship to promote this ideal should it
fail to materialize before his death. Rhodes biographer Sarah Millin
wrote: "The government of the world was Rhodes' simple desire." (8)
In a letter to close friend and publisher W. T. Stead (fall of 1890)
Rhodes described his plan: "The key of my idea discussed with you is a
Society, copied from the Jesuits as to organization ... an idea which
ultimately (leads) to the cessation of all wars and one language
throughout the world.... The only thing feasible to carry this idea out
is a secret one [society] gradually absorbing the wealth of the world to
be devoted to such an object.... Fancy the charm to young America ... to
share in a scheme to take the government of the whole world!" Rhodes
also told Stead that scholars should possess the following traits:
"smugness, brutality, unctuous rectitude, and tact." (9)
Webster's dictionary defines "unctuous" as "oily in speech or
manner; plastic; moldable; characterized by a smug, smooth pretense of
spiritual feeling, fervor, or earnestness, as in seeking to persuade."
It is Clinton's special Rhodesian qualities that gained him the moniker
"Slick Willie." Not only in character but in policy may we see that
Clinton is Cecil Rhodes' man for all seasons.
Rhodes was intimately linked with the one-world money cabal of his
time which was ensconced in New York and England. From this shadowy
network of wealthy socialists emerged Mr. Edward Mandell House, close
friend and advisor to President Woodrow Wilson who said of House, "His
thoughts and mine are one." House penned a schlocky novel entitled,
Philip Dru: Administrator - A story of Tomorrow (1912) which he
described as "my ethical and political faith." It was recognized as a
blueprint for a socialist takeover of America which has been followed
nearly to the letter.(10)
Philip Dru embodies the political faith of all one-world dreamers
from earliest times to our present day. While there are many comparisons
to be made, the ideal of an "enlightened despot" is most pertinent to
the subject of Clinton's executive orders. In House's book the fictional
Philip Dru leads a putsch against the constitutional government of the
United States. He arrives in Washington "panoplied in justice and with
the light of reason in his eyes.... the advocate of equal opportunity
... with the power to enforce his will." (11)
With a "quivering heart" Dru contemplates injustice. He assumes "the
powers of a dictator, distasteful as it was to him", abolishes the
constitutional government and replaces it with an omni-competent
"positive" government in which "the property and lives of all were now
in the keeping of one man." Dru decrees that any attempt to restore the
Constitution to be "seditious, and would be punished by death." The
hidden oligarchy behind Dru unites the Western Hemisphere under one
political organization, led by Philip Dru, which is then integrated into
a world government based on spiritually-leavened Marxism. (12)
The Deluded Despot
For those who have eyes to see, it is evident that Bill Clinton is a
product of the ideology that produced Philip Dru. This is evident by his
numerous memberships in secretive one-world organizations such as the
Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the
Bilderbergers, the Masonic Order of Demolay, et cetera. (13) This is
also evident by his political agenda which is an expression of the
socialist one-world platform, an agenda he plans to carry out by
executive order if necessary.
What some may find most disconcerting is Clinton's apparent
delusional self image as a gigantic paragon of morality and virtue. If
there is a church pulpit nearby, he has to speak from it. He quotes the
Scriptures. He lectures on tolerance and responsibility as though he
wrote the book on it. He undoubtedly sees himself as "enlightened", a
dangerous delusion for someone so lacking in character, so compromised,
so controlled by his own passions. It is a dangerous delusion for a
leader who is now tightening his grasp on the reins of power. It is
dangerous for America. But, of course, this is part of "the plan".
Footnotes
(1) "President Plans Blitz of Executive Orders", Elizabeth Shogren, Los
Angeles Times July 4, 1998.
(2) ibid.
(3) ibid.
(4) "Clinton Plunges Back into Stalled Domestic Agenda", Reuters, July
4, 1998.
(5) ibid.
(6) In his booklet Secret Records Revealed - the men, the money, and the
methods behind the New World Order (p. 46), Dennis Laurence Cuddy, Ph.D
writes: "During the 1992 presidential campaign, when some people angered
Bill Clinton, he was quoted as saying: 'I want to put a fist halfway
down their throats with this. I don't want subtlety. I want their teeth
on the sidewalks.' These comments will be characterized as 'brutal,' one
of Cecil Rhodes' requirements for his scholars."
(7) In Secret Records Revealed, Cuddy quotes an article printed in the
globalist influenced Christian Science Monitor (12-7-92) entitled, "A
Rhodes Scholar Reaches the Top", written by Rhodes Scholar Robert
Rotberg. In his article Rotberg writes: "Rhodes was a man of
unparalleled vision....Mr. Clinton's accession to the American
presidency fulfills Rhodes' deepest aspiration....Rhodes believed that
he had discovered an idea that could lead 'to the cessation of all wars
and one language throughout the world.' Rhodes also specified fairly
clearly the kinds of men who should received the opportunity to go to
Oxford. He had Clinton in mind....They were to 'esteem the performance
of public duties' as their highest aim. Rhodes wanted the best men for
'the World's fight.'... In the 90 years of scholarships, only Clinton
has taken Rhodes' dreams to the top."
(8) "Reviewing the Rhodes Legacy" by William F. Jasper, The New American
magazine, 2-20-95.
(9) Secret Records Revealed, cited above, p.3
(10) Freedom on the Altar, William Norman Grigg, American Opinion
Publishing, p.18-19.
(11) Edward Mandell House, Philip Dru: Administrator - A Story of
Tomorrow, 1920-1935
(New York, 1912).
(12) ibid.
(13) In his introduction to Secret Records Revealed Cuddy quotes an
editorial by James K.
Kilpatrick printed in the November 18, 1993 edition of The Wanderer, a
national newspaper.
Kilpatrick writes: "Clinton told reporters in an interview that [Prof.
Carroll Quigley, Clinton's mentor at Georgetown University and author of
Tragedy and Hope and The Anglo-American Establishment] Quigley's work
centered on the existence of a permanent shadow government of powerful
bankers and businessmen and government officials that controls the
agenda of our political life from behind the scenes. Clinton spoke in
that interview of coming to the conclusion, while still a
young man, that it was necessary for him to gain access to the inner
circle of this group in order to become part of the decision-making
process that shapes our world."
Related Articles: at www.TheWinds.org
Executive Orders: Bonfire for The Consitution part I
FEMA: Executive Orders: Bonfire for The Consitution part II
*************************************
The Child Who Saved the World...and No One Cared!
Anonymous
The day is over, you are driving home. You tune in your radio. You
hear a
little blurb about a little village in India where some villagers have
died suddenly, strangely, of a flu that has never been seen before. It's
not influenza, but three or four fellows are dead, and it's kind of
interesting.
They're sending some doctors over there to investigate it. You don't
think much about it, but on Sunday, coming home from church, you hear
another radio spot. Only they say it's not three villagers, it's 30,000
villagers in the back hills of this particular area of India, and it's
on TV that night. CNN runs a little blurb; people are heading there
from the disease center in Atlanta because this disease strain has never
been seen before.
By Monday morning when you get up, it's the lead story. For it's not
just India; it's Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and before you know it,
you're hearing this story everywhere and they have coined it now as "the
mystery flu". The President has made some comment that he and everyone
are praying and hoping that all will go well over there. But everyone
is wondering, "How are we going to contain it?" That's when the
President of France makes an announcement that shocks Europe. He is
closing their borders. No flights from India, Pakistan, or any of the
countries where this thing has been seen.
That night you are watching a little bit of CNN before going to bed.
Your jaw hits your chest when a weeping woman is translated from a
French news program into English:"There's a man lying in a hospital in
Paris dying of the mystery flu. "It has come to Europe. Panic
strikes.As best they can tell, once you get it, you have it for a week
and you don't know it. Then you have four days of unbelievable
symptoms. Then you die. Britain closes it's borders, but it's too
late. South Hampton, Liverpool, North Hampton, and it's Tuesday morning
when the President of the United States makes the following
announcement: "Due to a national security risk, all flights to and from
Europe and Asia have been canceled. If your loved ones are overseas,
I'm sorry. They cannot come back until we find a cure for this thing.
Within four days our nation has been plunged into an unbelievable
fear. People are selling little masks for your face. People are
talking about what if it comes to this country, and preachers on Tuesday
are saying,"It's the scourge of God."It's Wednesday night and you are at
a church prayer meeting when somebody runs in from the parking lot and
says, "Turn on a radio, turn on a radio." While the church listens to a
little transistor radio with a
microphone stuck up to it, the announcement is made," Two women are
lying in a Long Island hospital dying from the mystery flu." Within
hours it seems, this thing just sweeps across the country. People are
working around the clock trying to find an antidote. Nothing is
working.
California, Oregon, Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts. It's as though
it's just sweeping in from the borders. Then, all of a sudden the news
comes out. The code has been broken. A cure can be found. A vaccine
can be made. It's going to take the blood of somebody who hasn't been
infected, and so, sure enough, all through the Midwest, through all
those channels of emergency broadcasting, everyone is asked to do one
simple thing: "Go to your downtown hospital and have your blood type
taken. That's all we ask of you. When you hear the sirens go off in
your neighborhood, please make your way quickly, quietly, and safely to
the hospitals."
Sure enough, when you and your family get down there late on that
Friday night, there is a long line, and they've got nurses and doctors
coming out and pricking fingers and taking blood and putting labels on
it. Your wife and your kids are out there, and they take your blood
type and they say, "Wait here in the parking lot and if we call your
name, you can be dismissed and go home." You stand around scared with
your neighbors, wondering what in the world is going on, and that this
is the end of the world. Suddenly a young man comes running out of the
hospital screaming. He's yelling a name and waving a clipboard. What?
He yells it again! And your son tugs on your jacket and says, "Daddy,
that's me."
Before you know it, they have grabbed your boy. "Wait a minute, hold
it!" And they say, "It's okay, his blood is clean. His blood is pure.
We want to make sure he doesn't have the disease. We think he has got
the right type." Five tense minutes later, out come the doctors and
nurses, crying and hugging one another - some are even laughing. It's
the first time you have seen anybody laugh in a week, and an old doctor
walks up to you and says, "Thank you, sir. Your son's blood type is
perfect. It's clean, it is pure, and we can make the vaccine."
As the word begins to spread all across that parking lot full of folks,
people are screaming and praying and laughing and crying. But then the
gray-haired doctor pulls you and you wife aside and says, "May we see
you for a moment?
We didn't realize that the donor would be a minor and we need... we need
you to sign a consent form." You begin to sign and then you see that
the number of pints of blood to be taken is empty. "H-h-h-how many
pints?" And that is when the old doctor's smile fades and he says, "We
had no idea it would be a
little child. We weren't prepared. We need it all!" "But - but..."
"You don't understand. We are talking about the world here. Please
sign. We - we need it all - we need it all!" "But can't you give him a
transfusion?" "If we had clean blood we would. Can you sign? Would you
sign?" In numb silence you do.Then they say,"Would you like to have a
moment with him before we begin?" Can you walk back? Can you walk
back to that room where he sits on a table saying, "Daddy? Mommy?
What's going on?" Can you take his hands and say, "Son, your mommy and
I love you, and we would never ever let anything happen to you that
didn't just have to be. Do you understand that?"
And when that old doctor comes back in and says, "I'm sorry, we've -
we've got to get started. People all over the world are dying." Can
you leave? Can you walk out while he is saying, "Dad? Mom? Dad? Why
- why have you forsaken me?" And then next week, when they have the
ceremony to honor your son, and some folks sleep through it, and some
folks don't even come because they go to the lake, and some folks come
with a pretentious smile and just pretend to care. Would you want to
jump up and say,"MY SON DIED! DON'T YOU CARE?"
Is that what God is saying? "MY SON DIED. DON'T YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I
CARE?" "Father, seeing it from your eyes breaks our hearts. Maybe now
we can begin to comprehend the great love you have for us. Amen
"
*************************************
*************************************
*****************************************************************
************************************
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
PROPHEZINE NEWSLETTER - NEWSBYTES
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Global Intelligence Update Red Alert
July 14, 1998
alert@stratfor.com
Israel Prepares for Trouble
Israel radio on Monday, July 13, reported that Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu met secretly with seven cabinet ministers for the
third time on Sunday, to develop a "strategic policy" for dealing with
the Arab Israeli population. The secret committee, including
intelligence and security officials, reportedly determined that a "tough
hand" may be needed to handle an increasing fanatical and fundamentalist
tendency among the Arab Israelis, who comprise roughly 18 percent of
Israel's population.
Israel is feeling pressure from the Palestinians, neighboring Arab
states, and even the United States, and is preparing for trouble. Egypt
has effectively abandoned Israel and the United States over the impasse
in the peace process, and Jordan this weekend also suspended relations
with Israel. Jordan's Petra-JNA news agency reported that Jordanian
Senator Dhawqan al-Hindawi, head of the Jordanian delegation to the
Arab-European Parliamentary Dialogue conference in Damascus, said in a
speech to the conference that, "Jordan is currently freezing, without
announcement, its dealings with Israel regarding issues stipulated in
the peace treaty with Israel until the latter changes its current
anti-peace policy and resumes the peace process on the Palestinian,
Syrian, and Lebanese tracks."
Jordan's action further paves the way for an Arab summit that has been
in the works for the past few months. Syria announced on Monday that it
was opposed to an Arab summit until Arab states freeze all ties to
Israel and reactivate the Arab economic boycott. Syrian Vice President
Abdel-Halim Khaddam told the London-based Arabic newspaper "Al-Quds
al-Arabi" that the 1996 Arab summit in Cairo had "adopted secret binding
resolutions, stipulating a freeze in the normalization with Israel if
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues his expansionist policies,
the construction of settlements, and the destruction of the peace
process." With relations with Egypt and now with Jordan souring, Israel
is running out of friends in the region.
The United States is also not hiding its frustration with Israel. On
Monday, Netanyahu said Israel only awaited Palestinian adoption of
commitments on Israeli security before it would accept the U.S. plan for
troop withdrawal from the West Bank. Furthermore, he claimed, "In the
recent days, we have made a significant progress in our understanding
with the United States." But responding to the Prime Minister's
comments, U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin said, "The ball is
not in the Palestinian court. The ball is in the court of the Israelis
to try to work with the Palestinians and work with us..." In a meeting
following Netanyahu's speech, the Prime Minister and his security
cabinet once again postponed a decision on withdrawal from the West
Bank.
In a last ditch effort to forge an agreement, the United States has
called for direct Israeli-Palestinian talks, and has reportedly
threatened to abandon its role as mediator if talks do not show positive
results. Both sides have agreed to hold a meeting, but the Palestinians
have refused to reopen negotiations on the scope of the Israeli
withdrawal. The Palestinian position is that the current U.S.-backed
plan to turn over 13 percent is a compromise, and if negotiations are
reopened, they will begin with their stated desire for control of 40
percent of the West Bank.
The London-based Arabic newspaper "Al-Zaman" reported on July 10 that
ten days of secret Israeli-Palestinian talks had concluded in a European
city, perhaps Oslo, and had ended in failure. The Israeli side, which
supposedly included an advisor to Netanyahu and the deputy head of
Mossad, reportedly turned down Palestinian compromise offers of 12 or 11
percent Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, and instead held firm to
an offer of only a nine percent withdrawal. If this report is true, the
prospects for talks later this week are grim.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa on Monday said that the planned
talks were a "waste of time." He told the UAE newspaper "Al-Ittihad"
that "matters are at such a dangerous point they cannot be saved by
negotiations here or there." He told the newspaper "Al-Hayat" that he
did not expect a solution to the West Bank situation by the end of July,
and that the "general feeling" among members of the Clinton
administration was that Washington would abandon the negotiations with
Israel at the end of the month, whatever the result.
Finally, Radio Monte Carlo reported on Sunday that a group of 1,000
Islamic Jihad members met July 11 in the Gaza Strip refugee camp of
Shati. At the meeting, Sheikh Abdullah al-Shami, a senior Islamic Jihad
leader, reportedly called for renewed suicide operations against Israel.
As its plans for dealing with Arab Israelis reveal, Israel is scared.
It is losing the support of Egypt, Jordan, and the United States, and
its Arab neighbors are drawing closer together, preparing for a summit
to devise a common Arab response to the stalled peace process. Parallel
to plans for an Arab summit are hints of an "Arab NATO." Meanwhile, the
potential for another Intefadeh is increasing, and radicals are
preparing for a suicide bombing campaign.
The revelation of Israeli planning for internal trouble says a number of
things. First, it is a signal to Arabs that Israel will take a very
hard line against a renewal of violence within Israel. But moreover,
the existence of Netanyahu's secret committee reveals a rush to address
the country's strategic weaknesses. As we wrote in our June 30 Red
Alert
(http://www.stratfor.com/services/gintel/region/stories/063098.html),
Israel is undergoing a fundamental strategic review. Israelis have long
prepared for medium to high intensity warfare--armor and air battles.
They now appear to be shifting to a U.S.-like, two-pronged strategy of
deterrence combined with unconventional, low intensity conflict.
Israel's plans to purchase submarines capable of launching missiles with
nuclear warheads is the deterrent side. Preparations for the Intefadeh
are the other side.
Israel can not stand another six months of news footage of soldiers
firing plastic bullets at stone-throwing children. It can not tolerate
suicide bombers destroying buses and markets. The question is, how can
Israel stop it? Israel can attempt a total lock-down of the occupied
territories, but can Israel also detain 18 percent of its population?
It can attempt a decapitation attack, arresting or killing the leaders
of the Palestinian unrest, but complete success at this strategy is
nearly impossible, and new heads grow. It can attempt to infiltrate and
disrupt the new Intefadeh, also a difficult and possibly futile task.
Or, Israel can return to the table.
However the negotiations go, Israel is in a rush to revise its strategic
doctrine to meet reality. Yes, Israel is scared, but Israel's advantage
is that, when it panics, it takes action to rectify the situation.
Still unknown is whether Israel can complete preparations ahead of the
Arabs.
***************
To receive free daily Global Intelligence Updates or Computer Security
Alerts, sign up on the web at http://www.stratfor.com/mail/, or send
your name, organization, position, mailing address, phone number, and
e-mail address to alert@stratfor.com
***************
STRATFOR Systems, Inc.
3301 Northland Drive, Suite 500
Austin, TX 78731-4939
Phone: 512-454-3626
Fax: 512-454-1614
Internet: http://www.stratfor.com/
Email: info@stratfor.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Monday July 13 10:15 AM EDT
Fujitsu Launches Cashless ATM, Electronic Wallet
TOKYO (Reuters) - Fujitsu said today it had introduced a cashless
automatic teller machine (ATM) and an electronic wallet.
The new ATM, which transfers electronic money into an IC (integrated
circuit) card from the user's account just as a regular ATM dispenses
cash, is designed for use in places like supermarkets and kiosks as well
as financial institutions, Fujitsu said in a statement.
The electronic wallet is a handheld terminal which the user connects to
an electronic money system via a
telephone line to transfer electronic money and conduct online
transactions, the statement said.
It can also display the user's current balance and hold a telephone
directory.
The products are compatible with IC-based electronic money systems such
as SuperCash, Visa cash and Mondex, Fujitsu said.
The company launched the products in Japan on July 6 and is considering
marketing them overseas, Fujitsu said.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Enemy within
by Geoff Metcalf
http://w
ww.worldnetdaily.com/metcalf/970813.comgm.html
"Strength through superior fire power" has been a
strategic axiom for ages. Dr. John Lott has demonstrated statistically
that crime is reduced in communities where law biding citizens can and
do arm themselves. Criminals seek out unarmed victims. The same is true
on a larger scale with countries. America has enjoyed a long period of
relative peace because we were the biggest and baddest in the valley.
At the conclusion of World War I ("The War to End All Wars"), America
effectively disarmed and demobilized. When World War II compelled the
USA to participate there was a national imperative to mobilize BIGTIME.
That remarkable national effort resulted in an extraordinary, and
superior military force.
Some argue that "we did it before, we could do it again." WRONG.
America's loss of manufacturing base, compounded with an obscene
conditioning for cooperation and eventual dependence on the most
corrupt, incompetent, and anti-American organization in the world (the
United Nothing), has eaten away at the essence of what had previously
made America great.
When the draft-dodger-in-chief was evading military service he wrote of
his "loathing" of the military.
He has proven by his actions not only the maintenance of his "loathing",
but has (some argue) systematically effected the erosion of the once
great US military through calculated attrition. The Clinton
administration has succeeded politically in doing what no enemy could
achieve militarily.
These are the AMERICAN MILITARY FORCES that have been attrited since
Bill Clinton took office.
709,000 regular service soldiers
293,000 reserve troops
8 standing army divisions
20 air force and navy wings
2,000 combat aircraft
232 strategic bombers
13 strategic ballistic missile submarines
3,114 nuclear warheads on
232 missiles
500 ICBMs with
1,950 warheads
4 aircraft carriers
121 surface combat ships and submarines, plus
all the support bases, shipyards and logistical
assets necessary to sustain such a naval force.
George Santayana once noted that "Those who do not learn from history
are doomed to repeat it." While the mainstream media conspires to keep
us distracted with the lurid details of what allegedly did or didn't
happen between Clinton and a young intern, we fail to recognize a far
greater manipulation which has taken place.
My friend Joseph Farah often suggests we "connect the dots." Consider
the following:
Clinton write of his "loathing" of the military.
Clinton visits Soviet Russia accepting the
hospitality of Communist leaders.
Clinton builds and maintains a political
machine which according to FBI Director Louis
Freeh resembles organized crime operations.
Clinton ignores the advice and counsel of his
Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense and
transfers authority for satellite technology to
his bagman, the Secretary of Commerce (the
late Ron Brown).
Clinton struggles to disarm America through a
series of unconstitutional bills, laws and
Executive Orders.
Clinton establishes a political and strategic
relationship with Communist Red China.
Clinton establishes and maintains a political
and strategic relationship with a beleagueredCommunist Russia.
Clinton reduces the operational effectiveness
of the US military through a series of
non-mission-oriented junkets to Haiti, Somalia,
Bosnia, et al.
Clinton reduces the strategic effectiveness of
the US military through a program of attrition
(see above).
Clinton (through either sins of commission or
omission) allows the Y2K problem to
precipitate a "national emergency."
I have often noted my frustration with those we elect who swear an oath
of office in which they solemnly swear to "Preserve, and protect, the
Constitution of the United States against ALL enemies, foreign and
domestic. ..." Subsequently we find that immediately (if not sooner)
they conspire to abrogate, undermine, and destroy the very document to
which they have sworn an oath. I have also noted that such actions (to a
reasonable person) would constitute fraud, or even perjury. Yet none are
ever held accountable for their actions.
None dare call it what is increasingly clear.
Webster's defines it as "the betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach
of faith; perfidy, treachery, corruption in public office; the offense
of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to
which the offender owes allegiance".
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Clinton calls for Year 2000 action
By Erich Luening Staff Writer,
CNET NEWS.COM July 14, 1998, 2:25 p.m. PT
audio | update President Clinton today called for accelerated efforts to
fix the Year 2000 problem, announcing that he would propose legislation
to limit legal liability for companies that share information to fix the
massive software bug.
Clinton said this "Good Samaritan" law would encourage companies to work
together more closely for the common good of all--a rare occurrence in
the hypercompetitive high-tech industry.
"The consequences of the millennium bug, if not addressed, could
simply be a rash of annoyances, like being unable to use a credit
card at the supermarket," he said in a speech this morning at the
National Academy of Sciences in Washington. Vice President Al
Gore, the administration's point person for technology issues, was on
hand for the address.
Clinton's "Good Samaritan" legislation would protect those who carefully
share information on Y2K solutions or compliancy from liability claims
based on that information.
He also said the Labor Department is expanding its Y2K information
technology job bank in order to concentrate more available workers on
the problem. His administration is "reaching out to retired military and
civilian" programmers and information technology experts to work on the
problem.
The White House has been urged by industry analysts and members of
Congress to address the issue and to counter some critics that say the
administration has lacked leadership on the problem.
As expected, the speech gave Clinton and Gore a chance to publicly back
initiatives already started by the administration's Council on Year 2000
Conversion, headed by John Koskinen, and the Senate Special Committee on
the Year 2000 Technology Problem.
Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut), vice chair of the Senate Special Committee
on the Year 2000
technology problem, said Clinton "gave a forceful wake-up call to the
nation," and he strongly supports the high priority that both the
president and vice president are giving to "this serious problem."
"While President Clinton did not sugarcoat the magnitude of this issue,
he provided an optimistic assessment that both the public and private
sector will rise to meet this challenge," Dodd said.
On the global front, Clinton said the United States will contribute $12
million to support the World Bank's efforts to increase awareness of the
Year 2000 bug in developing countries.
Later this month, the President's Council on Year 2000 conversion will
launch its "National Campaign for Year 2000 solutions" to promote public
and private sector action on Y2K and to encourage information sharing,"
he said.
Dennis Grabow, chief executive of financial advisory firm Millennium
Investment, based in Chicago, said that although it was a long time in
coming, the president's speech was a move in the right direction. "One
of the most important things this country needs is leadership from the
president and vice president on this issue." He also praised the
president for pushing legislation that encourages companies to share
Year 2000-related information. "Some industries have the same equipment,
and companies could fix systems faster if more information was shared."
Grabow also said that having the White House weigh in on the Y2K issue
will undoubtedly spur more lively and useful discussion in the media.
Republican leaders have lashed out at the Clinton administration for
playing down the Year 2000 bug and have established their own
congressional committee along with a plan to seek extra money in
emergency spending to fix the technology problem.
Last month, House Speaker Newt Gingrich publicly criticized the White
House for dropping the ball on the issue, saying that the administration
is presiding over "a large wreck" set to take place on January 1, 2000.
Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah), Chair of the Senate Special Committee on the
Year 2000 Technology problem, said the issue has needed this kind of
national attention for a long time. "Now that the president of the
United States has said the Year 2000 issue is a problem, hopefully the
American people will recognize its severity and pay more attention to
it." He also praised Clinton's call for a government-wide goal of full
compliance by March 1999.
The bug comes from antiquated hardware and software formats that denote
years in two-digit formats, such as 98 for 1998 and 99 for 1999. The
glitch will occur in 2000, when computers are either fooled into
thinking the year is 1900 or interpret the 2000 as a meaningless "00."
The glitch could throw out of whack everything from bank systems to
building security procedures, critics warn.
As the Y2K issue has gained political significance for both parties over
the past few months, funding that was initially approved by both the
House and Senate became the victim of political wrangling.
The House Rules Committee stripped the House and Senate appropriations
bills of "the emergency funding mechanisms" that seek to set aside $2.25
billion in emergency money for Year 2000 conversion projects, according
to a committee spokesperson.
Conservatives on Capitol Hill have taken aim in recent weeks at
emergency spending proposals, claiming they are inconsistent with a
