EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BIBLE PROPHECY

HI Jerry.

There are many flaws in this topic.

FACT: The word Rapture does not appear in any of the many translations of the Bible.

FACT: The Rapture was invented in the 19th Century by John Nelson Darby - a former ordained minister in the Protestant Church of Ireland - which is the same as the Church of England.

Thank you Jerry you have done this because you care about the rest of us. Now for your one critic: Study the ancient Hebrew wedding procedures. The father of the the groom prepares the home for the couple to live in and when it is finished the father sends the son after the bride. Jesus tells all of this to his diciples in the 24th chapter of Matthew. That's about as simple as it gets.

Thank you for your response and thank you for taking the time to read my study on bible prophecy.
I know the Jewish tradition of the wedding and you are right. God has prepared for us the place (Heaven) and He will return soon in what believers call the Rapture.

SIGNS OF THE END DAYS FURTHER RESEARCH
(Insight from Grant Jeffery)

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, andwith the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remainshall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16­18)

During the early centuries following the ascension of Jesus into heaven, Christians often greeted one another by saying, "Maranatha," which means "the Lord cometh." Despite constant persecution from both the pagans and the officials of the Roman government, the early Christians rejoiced in the certain knowledge that Jesus had prophesied that He would someday return to establish His Kingdom on earth. These believers knew that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day following His crucifixion - as He had foretold during His ministry. Jesus Christ was seen by many people during the forty days following His resurrection. Thirty years after Jesus ascended to heaven in the sight of His followers, the apostle Paul wrote, "After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:6). The truth of His death and resurrection was widely known and taught by the early Church, encouraging a widespread expectation of His glorious return to destroy evil and establish His righteous government on earth forever.

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is the greatest single theme in Scripture. While there are approximately three hundred prophecies in the Old Testament that foretold the first coming of Christ, there are more than eight times as many verses describing the Second Coming. In total, some 2400 verses throughout the Old and New Testaments reveal God's promises about the return of Jesus Christ. The enormous number of prophetic verses about the Second Coming underlines the vital importance of this event in God's plan for mankind. Consequently, we dare not ignore the prophetic signs pointing to the nearness of His return.

Significantly, the first prophecy in the Bible (Genesis 3:15), which God addressed to Satan after Adam and Eve's sin, predicted three major events in the redemptive plan of God, concluding with the Second Coming of Christ. The first event was the virgin birth of Jesus ("her seed"); the second event was Satan's apparent victory when Jesus was crucified ("thou shalt bruise his heel"); the third event will be fulfilled at the Battle of Armageddon when Jesus Christ will defeat Satan ("thy head") and his seed, the Antichrist ("it [her seed, Jesus] shall bruise thy head"). The New Testament book of Jude recalls that the righteous patriarch Enoch was raptured to heaven before the Flood. Jude revealed that Enoch prophesied about the Second Coming, when the Lord would return to earth with millions of His saints. "Enoch, also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying: 'Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all'" (Jude 14­15).

The prophet John recorded our Lord's final prophecy in the final verses of the book of Revelation: "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be" (Revelation 22:12). Jesus Christ's final message to His Church concludes with these words: "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely, I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20).

Prophetic Signs of the Return of Christ
For thousands of years students of the Bible's ancient prophecies have pondered the question of whether they would live to witness the return of Christ to redeem the earth. Many Christians living in our generation naturally long for the return of Jesus Christ. Skeptics remind us that past generations of believers also longed for the Second Coming but died with the promise still unfulfilled. These skeptics naturally ask, "Why should we believe that our generation is the one that will witness the return of Christ when other generations were disappointed in their hopes?" After thirty years of careful Bible study, I am convinced that the overwhelming evidence concerning the fulfillment of these predictions in our generation points to the return of Jesus Christ in our lifetime. Jesus and the other prophets described a number of specific prophecies that would occur in the lifetime of those who would see Him return with their own eyes. Is ours the generation that will see Christ coming for His Church? The answer to this question has profound implications for our lives as Christians, our witnessing, and our life priorities.

In this chapter and the chapter following, we will examine a number of significant prophecies made more than two thousand years ago that are being fulfilled in our generation. Each individual prophecy is a unique and significant event that has not been totally fulfilled in any past generation. The unique nature of many of these predictions suggests strongly that these prophecies are unlikely to be fulfilled a second time in another future generation. Our Lord Jesus Christ warned us to watch carefully for these prophetic signs: "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh" (Luke 21:28). Let's examine the most significant predictions that point to Christ's imminent return.

1. A Warning about the Rise of False Christs
"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many" (Matthew 24:4­5). It is significant that Christ's first specific prophetic warning involved the rise of false messiahs and false prophets in the last days. The first false messiah arose about a hundred years after Christ. It is fascinating to note that there are no historical references to any false messiahs appearing until the years following the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The Jewish scholar C. G. Montefiore wrote, "Of false Messiahs, we know of none among the Jews until Bar Cochba in 131 C.E." The genuine article always precedes the appearance of counterfeit ones.

Simon Bar Cochba, a Jewish rebel commander led his conquered people in a furious revolt against their brutal Roman conquerors in a.d. 132. Many of the Jews joined the rebellion in the vain hope that Bar Cochba was their genuine messiah. The great Jewish rabbinical scholar Akiba announced that Simon Bar Cochba was the true messiah. This encouraged many Jews to join his desperate revolt. Despite the tremendous initial Jewish victories over the Romans during the first few years, six Roman legions of Emperor Hadrian invaded Israel and decisively defeated the Jewish army on the ninth day of Av (August) in a.d. 135 (the very same day the Babylonians and Romans destroyed the Temple centuries before). Hadrian's legions killed over one-half million Jewish soldiers in a desperate battle several miles southwest of Jerusalem. Tragically, as a result of the war, more than three million Jews were slaughtered throughout the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, and millions of Jews were sold into abject slavery. The Roman Senate passed a law prohibiting the Jews from approaching Jerusalem, their conquered capital. The defeat of the Jews, doomed rebellion by following a false Messiah led to their exile from the Promised Land for almost eighteen hundred years.

During the following centuries, false messiahs would arise from time to time, including Moses of Crete in the fifth century. He promised the Jews of Crete that he would miraculously part the waters, allowing his followers to march across the Mediterranean Sea to the Promised Land. In the seventeenth century a Jew living in Turkey named Shabbethai Zebi claimed he was the Messiah and attracted a vast following. Many influential rabbis throughout the Middle East and Europe acclaimed him as the true messiah. Finally the Turkish Sultan arrested him for sedition. The Sultan threatened to test Zebi's supernatural claims by having his archers shoot arrows at him to see if his claimed "miraculous" powers would ward off the deadly missiles. Realizing that he was doomed, Zebi converted to Islam to save his life and died in disgrace a few years later. In our generation, hundreds of thousands of Jewish followers of the deceased Rabbi Schneerson, who died in 1991, still believe that he was the promised messiah and that he will soon rise from the dead.

The truth is that no other person in history has ever fulfilled even a fraction of the forty-eight specific biblical prophecies about the coming Messiah except Jesus of Nazareth. As outlined in a previous chapter, the historical evidence is overwhelming that Jesus is the true Messiah. He is the only one who has fulfilled every one of the specific messianic prophecies. A respected Jewish rabbi named Abarbanel wrote extensively in the fifteenth century about the qualifications of the coming Messiah. Abarbanel noted that one of the qualifications of the true Messiah would be that the Gentiles will seek after him and acknowledge his claims (Micah 4:1­4). In fulfillment of this qualification of the Messiah, hundreds of millions of Gentiles throughout history in every nation on earth have devoted their lives to following Jesus Christ's teachings and worshiping Him as their Messiah and God.

Throughout history a false messiah has appeared approximately once every century since the days of Christ. Millions of people today are longing for a messiah who will lead them to a transcendent experience. Significantly, we are experiencing an explosion of false christs in our generation, exactly as Jesus prophesied two thousand years ago. A report from Los Angeles indicated that hundreds of individuals in California currently claim they are the messiah. In England someone who calls himself Lord Maitreya periodically publicizes claims that he is the Christ. Every few years Benjamin Creme issues full-page ads that appear in major newspapers around the world announcing the advent of the messiah in the person of the Lord Maitreya. These imposter messiahs in our generation include such figures as the deceased David Koresh, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Charles Manson, Jim Jones, Ron L. Hubbard, and many others. Recently a New Age cult called Heaven's Gate encouraged thirty-nine of its members to commit suicide following the leadership of Marshall Applewhite and his partner Bonnie Nettles, who took the names Do and Ti. He claimed to be the messiah and stated that his partner Bonnie was "God the Father." Never before has the world seen so many false messianic claims. As we approach the year 2000 we will see a virtual flood of false messianic figures and false prophets declaring that they are the only hope for mankind. The rising number of false messiahs in our generation is preparing our society for the spirit of Antichrist worship in the last days. We are witnessing the beginning of attitudes that will manifest themselves some day in the worship of the Antichrist in the Temple in Jerusalem.

2. Wars and Rumors of Wars
Jesus Christ said, "And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom . . ." (Matthew 24:6­7). Twenty-five centuries ago, the prophet Joel saw a divine vision concerning our generation and prophesied the following message: "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. Beat your plow shares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong" (Joel 3:9­10).

Throughout history mankind has endured thirteen years of war for every single year of peace. However, since 1945 the number of wars has increased tremendously. As dozens of new nations demanded independence and old empires disintegrated, more than three hundred wars were fought since World War II. A military study, The War Atlas, concluded that the world has not known a single day since World War II without some nation waging a war or conflict somewhere on earth. Despite thousands of peace treaties, the last one hundred years has truly become "the century of war." As a result of the obvious dangers, most nations have joined worldwide military alliances in which only the stars are neutral.

Far more sobering than the increasing frequency of war is the fact that modern scientific discoveries and massive military budgets have combined to produce devastating new weapons of mass destruction that have the potential, for the first time in history, to destroy humanity. Despite the constant affirmations about the nations' desire for peace, weapons labs and armories are producing nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, together with astronomical numbers of conventional weapons, in virtually every nation on earth. Consider some of the following facts and ask yourself where we are heading.

The standing armies of the world today contain hundreds of millions of soldiers. The major powers could mobilize hundreds of millions of troops if needed for war. According to the Reshaping International Order Report issued by the Club of Rome, almost 50 percent (some 500,000) of all scientists on earth are working on weapons research. Research indicates that almost 40 percent of all scientific research funding worldwide is focused on arms research. The international arms trade exceeds $1 trillion annually. If only a small fraction of this enormous investment was redirected "from swords into plowshares," we could permanently solve the Third World's food, sanitation, and health problems. The armament factories of Russia, China, and the Western nations are producing sophisticated weaponry at a truly awesome rate. China is the now the world's fifth largest arms supplier - after Russia, the United States, Britain, and France - selling some $2 billion annually. Many of the Chinese weapons are direct copies of Western or Russian arms, but they are much cheaper. China's arms salesmen are fuelling a massive arms race in the Middle East, with huge sales of sophisticated missiles and low-cost copies of Russian rifles, tanks, and planes. China has recently sold more tanks to Africa than have all western countries combined. A poor African nation can buy four Chinese t-59 tanks for the price of one m-1 tank from the United States. China is also selling intermediate-range missile systems to many Arab regimes that are preparing for war with Israel. Iraq, Iran, and Libya now possess long-range missiles with biological and chemical warheads capable of destroying Paris or London. For the first time since the Middle Ages, Europe faces a formidable military threat from the Muslim Arab nations who are absolutely committed to the destruction of both the Jews and Christians.

Despite years of peace negotiations between the PLO, the Arab states, and Israel, the continuing tensions in the Middle East are developing into a time bomb that could soon explode into a devastating war. This war may involve the use of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. Although these nations have been discussing peace for decades, the twenty-one Arab nations surrounding Israel have accumulated more than three times the artillery and tanks possessed by the combined European armies of NATO. Despite America's support of Israel, the United States has sold staggering amounts of sophisticated Abram's m-1 tanks, advanced anti-tank missiles, communications gear, and the most effective f-16 fighter planes in the American arsenal to the Arab states dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state. The Arab nations have no significant enemies other than Israel. Consider the implications. Over the last fifty years, NATO has built up a huge sophisticated military force to confront the massive armies of Russia, the fourteen nations of the C.I.S., and the nations of eastern Europe. However, the Arab nations confronting the tiny nation of Israel have amassed huge armies that exceed NATO's military forces by more than one-half million soldiers. There is no conceivable reason for the Arab states to devote such huge financial, technical, and manpower resources to their military forces unless they are absolutely committed to the annihilation of the Jews of Israel.

The Jewish state is confronted with a combined Arab military force far larger than the combined armies of North America and Europe, the countries that make up the forces of the NATO alliance. In light of the repeated Arab threats to destroy Israel, Israel cannot safely agree to surrender the military control of the West Bank. If the 80,000-man Palestinian army of the PLO controlled the high mountainous region of the West Bank of Israel in a future war, the combined Arab armies could easily attack across the remaining narrow band of land along the Mediterranean Sea connecting northern and southern Israel. At certain points this vital and strategic strip of coastal land connecting northern and southern Israel is only nine miles wide between the West Bank and the Mediterranean Sea. Israel's military control of the strategic depth of the West Bank is essential, according to all military studies, to absorb and withstand the assault of combined Arab tank and infantry forces. Numerous military studies by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff have concluded that if Israel ever surrenders military control of the West Bank, the Arab armies would be able to cut Israel in two within a few hours using their overwhelming Arab armored tank forces. If Israel negotiates the surrender of the military control of the West Bank to Arafat and the PLO and allows the creation of a Palestinian state, Israel will not likely survive the coming war with the combined Arab armies. UN Security Resolution 242, the resolution that governs the continuing peace negotiations, guaranteed that Israel would retain "recognized and secure borders." Without the military control of the West Bank, Israel cannot win the next war. In addition, without the control of the West Bank and the Golan Heights in the north, Israel would be forced to use its nuclear weapons almost immediately following a powerful Arab attack.

Five of the ten major arms-importing nations in the world are in the Middle East. Even the poorest of the Third World countries borrow hundreds of millions of dollars annually to buy huge supplies of modern, sophisticated weapons. As soon as the western nations design a new version of a weapon, their arms salesmen sell the obsolete version of that weapon system to a Third World country. As a result of this cycle of arms build-up, there is now one military weapon and the equivalent of four thousand pounds of explosives for every man, woman, and child worldwide.

Consider the destructive power possessed by the thirty Trident submarines that represent only one-third of the present American nuclear arsenal. At a cost of $3 billion dollars apiece, each submarine can fire twenty-four missiles with up to fourteen individually targeted D5 warheads per missile. These advanced super-accurate missiles can deliver their lethal thermonuclear warheads from a submerged ocean location over ten thousand miles away to detonate within one hundred yards of their target. Each Trident D5 nuclear warhead is five times more powerful than the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima. Every one of these thirty submarines has the capability to destroy 408 separate enemy cities or military bases. As a result of modern weapons technology, we have progressed to the point that one single Trident submarine can deliver more devastation than all of the combined weapons used by both sides in five years of warfare during World War II. According to the Center for Defense Information, we know that the U.S. military has experienced ninety-six serious nuclear accidents, each one bringing us one step closer to nuclear Armageddon. The tragic history of thousands of years of warfare suggests that these nuclear weapons will ultimately be used someday in a future conflict.

For thousands of years mankind has engaged in deadly warfare. However, throughout the last fifty centuries, most battles involved only a few thousand participants. Nations previously lacked the means of totally destroying the enemy country. However, our century has perfected the art of mass warfare by which all nations unite to annihilate the opponent and obtain unconditional surrender. Global military spending now exceeds $1 trillion every year according to the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. A trillion dollars is so large a number that it is hard to comprehend the true magnitude of the dollars mankind now invests in preparation for war. To put it in perspective, the cost of a single Exocet air-to-ship missile exceeds the combined annual income of more than ten thousand people in many Third World countries. Massive military spending has distorted our priorities. For example, western countries are spending less than one-half of 1 percent of their annual military budgets on foreign aid.

Over 200 million people have died as a result of warfare since 1900. Since 1945, ten nations, including Israel, have accumulated more than sixty thousand nuclear warheads in their growing arsenals. According to the book The Fate of the Earth, by Jonathan Schell, the Russians possess enough nuclear warheads to destroy every single American military target several times over. After that, they would still have eight thousand nuclear missiles left over. If the Russians then targeted every U.S. city and town, in order of decreasing population size, they would still have enough one-megaton nuclear warheads (eighty times the power of the Hiroshima bomb) to destroy every single town in America with a population of fifteen hundred people or more. It should be obvious from these calculations that in a future world war the Russians, the Chinese, and the American military would run out of meaningful military and civilian targets long before they ran out of nuclear warheads. Jesus Christ prophesied that the Antichrist's armies, represented by the red horseman of the Apocalypse, will ride forth to destroy many nations during the Great Tribulation (Revelation 6:3­4). Surely, even now, we can hear the approaching hoof beats.

Jesus also warned, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" (Matthew 24: 21­22). When you consider the enormous problems facing mankind - disease, famine, ecological disasters, and tens of millions of homeless people - you recognize the terrible moral vacuum at the core of our modern civilization, which chooses to spend trillions of dollars on the tools of annihilation rather than begin to solve the massive problems facing humanity.

The words of President Eisenhower, as reported in the New York Times on April 17, 1953, still challenge us today:

A life of perpetual fear and tension; a burden of arms draining the wealth and the labor of all peoples; a wasting of strength that defies the American system or the Soviet system or any system to achieve the true abundance and happiness for the people of this earth. Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8000 people . . . This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity, hanging from a cross of iron.

The people of the world cry out for peace, but no rational nation can dare to unilaterally disarm before it's enemy does the same.

Jesus Christ described the final conflict facing mankind in these words: "Upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; . . . men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken" (Luke 21: 25­26). Since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia and America have engaged in a complex series of disarmament treaties, producing a wave of euphoria among millions of people worldwide who hope that true peace is at hand. According to the historical research of author Sidney Lens, since 1945 more than six thousand disarmament negotiating sessions have taken place. Despite these disarmament treaties, very few nuclear bombs were actually destroyed. Unfortunately, most treaties allowed the older nuclear warheads to be simply recycled into new, more accurate missiles.

The biblical prophecies predict clearly that the world will experience a devastating world war involving all nations in the last days. The second red horseman of the Apocalypse represents the terrible world war during the final years of the seven-year Tribulation period. "And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went our another horse that was red; and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another; and there was given unto him a great sword" (Revelation 6: 3­4). The prophets Daniel and John predicted that the nations of the world would ultimately surrender their sovereignty to the Antichrist in the hope that he would provide security and true peace. Many politicians today believe that the only way to prevent such a devastating world war is for every nation to surrender its sovereignty to a future world government. However, the Scriptures warn that the earth will never know true peace until the Prince of Peace comes. Although men are desperately seeking peace, the Antichrist will only be able to produce a short period of false peace. The prophet John revealed that the first Horseman of the Apocalypse would be a rider on a white horse with a bow but no arrows. This symbol represents the Antichrist impersonating the true Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, who will appear riding on a white horse during His triumphant return to earth (Revelation 19). John prophesied: "I looked, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer." The Antichrist will use men's deep longing for peace "to conquer" the world's nations and force them to join his world government.

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen warned, in his speech to a University of Georgia forum on terrorism, that the Internet is now providing a medium for terrorists to widely distribute instructions for building bombs as well as racist propaganda. He called for increased vigilance against terrorist use of unconventional chemical and biological weapons (including the deadly Ebola River Virus) that are now available to these terrorist groups. In addition, he warned ominously about the dangers presented by new electromagnetic weapons that might be used by terrorists or rogue Islamic nations to "punch holes in the ozone layer or trigger earthquakes or volcanoes" (Toronto Star, April 29, 1997).

Despite the fact that the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention unconditionally prohibited the developing, producing, and stockpiling of biological and chemical weapons, many Third World nations are now acquiring deadly chemical and biological weapons (CBW). Most of the world's nations, including Russia and the United States, have ratified this arms agreement. However, many nations are secretly developing deadly biological and chemical weapons that will devastate unprotected populations in a future conflict. Some future dictator may be tempted to use these deadly CBW weapons because of their low cost and their ability to be used secretly against an enemy. These chemical and biological weapons are a tempting alternative for a Third World nation, compared to the enormous cost of developing a huge conventional army or producing a sophisticated nuclear capability. Some researchers have described biological and chemical weapons as the "poor man's nuclear bomb."

Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and Iran are rapidly developing advanced chemical weapons programs. Libya recently built two huge chemical and biological weapons plants located deep within the mountains at the edge of the southern Libyan desert. Over sixty German and Swiss companies have provided extensive chemical engineering services and the sophisticated laboratory equipment required to modify Libya's Russian-built SCUD missiles to carry chemical warheads. Many of these same European companies built Iraq's chemical-weapons facilities before and after the Gulf War and are still willing to sell their technological soul to the highest bidder. During the closing days of the Gulf War, the Prime Minister of Israel took the visiting German foreign minister to the ruins of an Israeli apartment building in Tel Aviv that had been destroyed by one of the thirty-nine Iraqi SCUD missiles that were targeted at the Jewish state. The prime minister showed him the German company's serial numbers on the modified SCUDs that Saddam Hussein launched against Israel. President Hussein of Iraq threatened to "burn half of Israel" with his advanced chemical weapons supplied by European countries. Despite his defeat in the war in the Gulf, and the continued UN sanctions, Saddam Hussein has now totally rebuilt his army. Over ten thousand Russian nuclear scientists and technicians continue to develop Iraq's secret nuclear arsenal, despite the presence of U.N. arms inspectors.

Chemical weapons were rarely employed in past wars, partly because of the universal repugnance against their use. Unfortunately, chemical weapons have proven to be both effective and deadly. In World War I chemical weapons killed almost one hundred thousand soldiers in Europe. In the Vietnam War, America unleashed hundreds of tons of chemical weapons, including herbicides such as Agent Orange, on Viet Cong areas in an attempt to defoliate the jungle cover. President Saddam Hussein repeatedly used massive amounts of chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers in the eight-year Iran-Iraq War. In the late 1980s, Saddam launched chemical attacks against his Kurdish minority, killing at least 13,000 villagers in Iraq's northern provinces. When American soldiers occupied southern Iraq at the end of the Gulf War, they discovered over one hundred thousand Iraqi chemical artillery shells ready for use. Tragically, thousands of American troops were exposed to these chemical weapons when U.S. soldiers blew up Iraqi chemical weapons following the allied victory. Many reports from Afghanistan and Cambodia confirm that chemical and biological weapons were used under Russian control. Despite the 1925 Geneva Protocol against chemical and biological warfare, many countries have stockpiled huge quantities of these doomsday weapons in case they are needed in a future conflict. Every western country has developed a stockpile of these deadly munitions.

A recent report from Jane's Land Based Air Defence 1997­1998 revealed that Russia's military laboratories have developed a dangerous new variant of the deadly anthrax toxin that is impervious to antibiotics. Historically, anthrax has been a fatal disease affecting primarily sheep. However, if anthrax infects humans, they will die an agonizing death characterized by festering boils and severe pain. In addition, the report claims that Russian defectors admitted that three new nerve gases were recently developed that can be made easily from commonly available chemicals. The authoritative Jane's report declared: "It only needs this, or the new chemical nerve agents, to be independently discovered by an ostracized nation's scientists and then developed for missile delivery for an Armageddon situation to occur whereby the only reliable retribution may well be overwhelming nuclear response" (Toronto Star, April 4, 1997). All of these nations justify their chemical-weapons research based on the clause in the 1925 Geneva Protocol agreement that allows a country to conduct limited research for "defensive" purposes. However, it is obviously impossible

Ancient Evidence that the Fig Tree is a symbol of Israel

Apocalypse of Peter (Ethiopic edition)

From Grant R. Jeffrey's latest book TRIUMPHANT RETURN - release date July 1, 2001

The Apocaylpse of Peter is a non-canonical manuscript from approximately A.D. 120 that is an early Christian commentary on Jesus famous prophecy given to His disciples on the Mount of Olives regarding the signs to His return in the last days. This remarkable manuscript documents the understanding of the early post-apostolic Church that Jesus's famous prophetic parable about the budding of the fig tree was understood by the Jewish Christians to be a clear prophecy of the rebirth of the nation Israel in the last days prior to Christ's return.

I. And when he was seated on the Mount of Olives, his own came unto him, and we entreated and implored him severally and besought him, saying unto him, "Make known unto us what are the signs of thy Parousia and of the end of the world, that we may perceive and mark the time of thy Parousia and instruct those who come after us, to whom we preach the word of thy Gospel and whom we install in thy Church, in order that they, when they hear it, may take heed to themselves that they mark the time of thy coming." And our Lord answered and said unto us, "Take heed that men deceive you not and that ye do not become doubters and serve other gods. Many will come in my name saying 'I am Christ'. Believe them not and draw not near unto them. For the coming of the Son of God will not be manifest, but like the lightning which shineth from the east to the west, so shall I come on the clouds of heaven with a great host in my glory, with my cross going before my face will I come in my glory, shining seven times as bright as the sun will I come in my glory, with all my saints, my angels, when my Father will place a crown upon my head, that I may judge the living and the dead" and recompense every man according to his work.

2. And ye, receive ye the Parable of the fig-tree thereon: as soon as its shoots have gone forth and its boughs have sprouted, the end of the world will come." And I, Peter, answered and said unto him, "Explain to me concerning the fig-tree, [and] how we shall perceive it, for throughout all its days does the fig-tree sprout and every year it brings forth its fruit [and] for its master. What (then) meaneth the parable of the fig-tree? We know it not." And the Master answered and said unto me, "Dost thou not understand that the fig-tree is the house of Israel.? Even as a man hath planted a fig-tree in his garden and it brought forth no fruit, and he sought its fruit for many years. When he found it not, he said to the keeper of his garden, 'Uproot the fig-tree that our land may not be unfruitful for us.' And the gardener said to God, 'We thy servants (?) wish to clear it (of weeds) and to dig' the ground around it and to water it. If it does not then bear fruit, we will immediately remove its roots from the garden and plant another one in its place.'

Hast thou not grasped that the fig-tree is the house of Israel? Verily, 1 say to you that when its boughs have sprouted at the end, then shall deceiving Christs come, and awaken hope (with the words): 'I am the Christ, who am (now) come into the world.' And when they shall see the wickedness of their deeds (even of the false Christs), they shall turn away after them and deny him to whom our fathers gave praise(?), the first Christ whom they crucified and thereby sinned exceedingly. But this deceiver is not the Christ. And when they reject him, he will kill with the sword (dagger) and there shall be many martyrs. Then shall the boughs of the fig-tree, i.e. the house of Israel, sprout, and there shall be many martyrs by his hand: they shall be killed and become martyrs. Enoch and Elias will be sent to instruct them that this is the deceiver who must come into the world and do signs and wonders in order to decieve. And therefore shall they that are slain by his hand be martyrs and shall be reckoned among the good and righteous martyrs who have pleased God in their life."

Excerpt from Grant R. Jeffrey's latest book
TRIUMPHANT RETURN - The Coming Kingdom of God

The Surveillance Society The Rise of Antichrist
By Grant R. Jeffrey

Introduction

Jesus Christ warned that the world would experience a tremendous historical crisis just before He returned to establish His Kingdom. This crisis, He indicated, would bring about an unprecedented "great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matthew 24:21). This "time of tribulations" is described in both Daniel 9:27 and the book of Revelation as lasting a period of seven years. The prophets also warned that the most evil man in history would arise during this last generation and would be satanically empowered to seize political, economic, military, and religious control of the entire world's population. This man is identified by a number of names throughout the Scriptures including the "lawless one," "the man of sin," "the Wicked," and even "the abomination of desolation." Yet he is best known by the name given to him by the prophet John in his second epistle --- the "Antichrist."

In this book we will explore the detailed prophecies that describe the Antichrist's rise to power, and the nature of the oppressive global government that he will use to enslave humanity until Jesus Christ returns. This book will examine the rapid development of a world government that is eroding our national sovereignty and democratic values. We will investigate the development of a web of international treaties that are leading to the surrender of control over our economy, our currency, immigration, education, and our environment. Step by step, in the name of globalization and the demand to harmonize our laws with other nations, our national sovereignty is progressively diminishing. The national sovereignty that once allowed us to create a free enterprise economy along with political and religious freedom is being surrendered by our modern political leaders. These leaders no longer believe in a patriotic love of their nation, and have adopted a philosophy of globalism and the desire to become a world citizen. At the same time, technological advancement in surveillance equipment, such as the global spy system Project Echelon, is destroying our privacy and is setting the stage for the totalitarian police state described by the prophet John.

John wrote about the Mark of the Beast system in the last days in his book Revelation. The development of sophisticated new weapons systems, including suitcase sized tactical nuclear weapons, biological, and chemical weapons of mass destruction and computerized information warfare can neutralize an enemy's economy and infrastructure. New weapons using electromagnetic forces for mind control enable us to understand how the kingdom of the Antichrist could quickly establish global domination. Finally, we will explore the geo-political situation that is developing in the shifting power alliances between Russia, China, the Arab states, and Israel. This shift in power is laying the groundwork for the dramatic battles that will overthrow the current balance of power and lead to the establishment of the global kingdom of the Antichrist.

A number of biblical prophecies specifically teach that Christ will come in the air to take His Church to heaven at some point immediately before the Tribulation period begins. The purpose of this book is to outline and harmonize the incredible fulfillment of prophecy in our generation that will culminate in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The goal of Christians is the Resurrection, the "blessed hope." For the last two thousand years Christians have longed for the "blessed hope, the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ." We are commanded by the Lord to rejoice in the constant expectation that "when he who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory." Therefore the message of prophecy is not one of "doom and gloom" as some have suggested. Rather, Jesus commanded that His followers should respond to the beginning of the fulfillment of the prophecies with joyful anticipation because the prophecy of His return promises redemption for all those who have faith in Him. Jesus said, "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh" (Luke 21:28).

The book of Revelation promises a special blessing to anyone who reads and studies this prophecy. "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near" (Revelation 1:3). Yet, there is no other book in the Bible that is studied less than the book of Revelation. Our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of those who would ignore the prophecies about His return. He said, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken" (Luke 24:25).

Many Christians and pastors today believe that the prophetic message is both controversial and uncertain. As a result they have concluded that it is best avoided. However, the Word of God clearly commands believers to pay attention to the prophetic portions of the Scriptures. The apostle Peter assures us that "We have a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts" (2 Peter 1:19). An examination of the Scriptures reveals that there are 31,124 verses in both the Old and New Testaments. However, 27% of all the verses in the Bible, a total of 8,352, are focused on prophecy. This strongly indicates the tremendous importance of the prophetic message in the plan of God.

The Bible itself declares that "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Timothy 3:16,17). An appreciation of these prophecies allows a Christian to fully understand the great doctrines of the Word of God. The prophecies reprove us and correct us, reminding each of us that we will all stand before our Lord at the final Judgment Seat of Christ in heaven to give an account of our life and our obedience since the moment of our salvation. The great prophetic truths encourage us to live in righteousness by reminding us that our actions and our motives will be measured against the eternal standards of God as opposed to the transitory standards of daily life.

An understanding of the prophecies strengthens our faith while they produce a strong confidence and hope in a world that appears hopeless. They call us to walk in holiness, rejecting the temptations of modern life. Lastly, and possibly most importantly, an understanding of the prophetic truths teaches those who follow Jesus Christ "to look for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." On the basis of this declaration we can be confident that the one quarter of Scripture that is prophetic is absolutely vital in the spiritual life of the individual Christian as well as the Church. The Lord commands His Church to teach "the whole counsel of God." In the book of Acts (20:27 NKJ) we read these words of the apostle Paul, "For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God." The message of prophecy is intensely practical. The first prophetic warning in history was given to Noah before the worldwide flood that destroyed virtually all life on this planet. For one hundred and twenty years Noah and Enoch, "the preacher of righteousness," taught the need for righteousness and warned their evil generation of the coming judgment of God. However, despite the fact that Noah spent over a century building a huge ark, demonstrating his faith in God's prophecy of the coming flood, the whole population rejected the warning. Even when Noah and his family actually entered the huge ark, that generation refused to believe the prophetic warnings until it was too late. When the rain began to fall and the flood waters began to rise, they finally realized the truth that disaster was at hand. However, the doors to the ark were shut. Noah's generation had knowingly rejected God's message. Tragically, that entire sinful and violent generation died.

The message of prophecy is vital to the Church in these last days for four basic reasons. The first is that the accuracy of the prophetic message absolutely proves the inspiration of the Scriptures and validates the message of Jesus Christ as the inspired Word of God. Secondly, the prophecies call upon Christians to live in holiness in an immoral world. Secondly, the New Testament tells us that the hope of the second coming of Christ reminds Christians to live in holiness while awaiting His return, "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (I John 3:3). The third basic reason that prophecy is vital is that it encourages Christians to witness to their friends and family while there is still time. The apostle John warns us that we do not have unlimited time to share our faith with our neighbors. Jesus said, "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work" (John 9:4). In the same manner that Jesus urgently witnessed to His generation, because He knew that it was rapidly coming to judgment with the destruction of Israel in 70 A.D., the message of prophecy now indicates that our generation is rapidly approaching the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. As our Lord Himself warned, our time to witness to those around us is limited. In light of the soon return of our Lord Jesus Christ we need to witness to our generation while we have the opportunity.

In 1 Chronicles 12:32 we read, "And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do." Notice that the tribe of Issachar was noted for their interest in prophecy in "understanding of the times." However, that knowledge was not academic; it was practical. They understood the times "to know what Israel ought to do." Our knowledge of the biblical prophecies about our generation and the rise of Antichrist's kingdom should motivate us to become a beacon of light in a dark time when many are looking for a reason to hope. Our hope is in the soon return of Jesus Christ.

Historical Evidence About Jesus Christ
Historical Reactions to Jesus

Throughout history many people have examined the evidence regarding the life of Jesus of Nazareth. To any unbiased observer who is willing to evaluate it without prejudice, the accumulated evidence regarding the Gospel record is truly overwhelming. As an example, Otto Betz, a respected scholar, stated in his book, What Do We Know About Jesus? that "No serious scholar has ventured to postulate the non-historicity of Jesus."

However, some writers have suggested that there is little historical evidence regarding the life of Jesus. For example, the writer Solomon Zeitlin wrote, "Even Paul's epistles have awakened the question, Does he speak of a real historical personage or of an ideal? The main sources for the historicity of Jesus, therefore, are the Gospels." However, Zeitlin then dismisses the Gospel historical accounts and concluded: "So we are right to assume that even the Gospels have no value as witnesses of the historicity of Jesus. The question therefore remains: Are there any historical proofs that Jesus of Nazareth ever existed?" Another critic Salomon Reinach has contemptuously declared that he refused, "to consider writings founded upon the memory of a collection of illiterates as historical evidence for Jesus." Scholars such as Zeitlin and Reinach also casually dismiss the strong extra-biblical historical evidence from both Pagan and Jewish sources that validates the Gospel accounts about Jesus. The real reason to reject the evidence is that it contradicts the opinion they tenaciously hold that rejects the Bible's accuracy. If liberal scholars applied the same arbitrary standard of rejection of all historical evidence to other ancient historical personages, such as Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great, they would be forced to reject all history as myth.

The famous German theologian Rudolf Bultmann has declared, "IÊdo indeed think that we can now know almost nothing concerning the life and personality of Jesus." Incredibly Bultmann states, "the early Christian sources show no interest in either, are moreover fragmentary and often legendary; and other sources about Jesus do not exist." (Rudolf Bultmann, Jesus and the Word. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1958, p.8). However, the evidence in the details of events and conversation of Jesus by all four gospel writers demonstrates convincingly that Bultmann is wrong.

An example of the arbitrary rejection of historical evidence about Jesus by modern skeptical theologians is found in Bultmann's often stated theory of "double dissimilarity." This strange theory states that any Gospel saying of Jesus that can be found paralleled in either Christian and Jewish sources (First Century) must be rejected as "inauthentic" or "invented by Christian editors." The absurdity of this double disimilarity argument can be demonstrated by imagining applying the same rejection of quotations to someone like Winston Churchill. This technique would require us to reject as inauthentic any quotation from Churchill that found any parallel in English literature or any statement that was quoted by Churchill's biographers or admirers. Bultmann's theory, if applied to other historical personages, would virtually eliminate historical study.

One of the key points missed by the agnostic and liberal critics of the literal Gospel record is that the Jews of the first century of the Christian era possessed a unique ability to remember and record the statements of Jesus of Nazareth that would be deemed almost impossible by modern readers. The ancient Jews of Israel had developed sophisticated memory techniques to remember every word of a discourse by their rabbi. Their ability to recount verbatim long speeches or teaching would astonish modern teachers and critics of the Gospel record. Over the centuries the religious leaders of Israel had developed advanced memory techniques to enable their students to remember in remarkable detail every single statement of their religious teachers. An example of this oral memory technique can be found in the specially trained Maori tribesmen of New Zealand can remember and recount for several days during annual festivals a verbal rendition of their 4,000 year old tribal history.

However, a careful unbiased analysis of the historical sources as demonstrated in this book will convince many readers that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah of both history and prophecy. In his book, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? historian F. F. Bruce wrote, "The historicity of Christ is as axiomatic for an unbiased historian as the historicity of Julius Caesar."

President Abraham Lincoln was an agnostic until he reached the age of forty. Then he read Dr. James Smith's brilliant examination called The Christian's Defence, that established the historical reality of the events in Christ's life. The evidence from this book convinced Lincoln of the truth about Jesus, and he became a genuine Christian. "My doubts scattered to the winds and my reason became convinced by the arguments in support of the inspired and infallible authority of the Old and New Testaments." (Quoted in Sir Lionel Luckhoo's book, Evidence Irrefutable Which Can Change Your Lives).

In addition to the contemporary archaeologists, scholars, and historians, who confirm that Jesus Christ existed, there are also a number of ancient historians who have recorded excerpts and events from Jesus' life. These individuals often acted as secular historians, and although they did not accept Jesus as the Son of God, they did acknowledge his life, death, and teaching.

The scholar, John P. Meier, wrote about the historical evidence that has survived about Jesus of Nazareth in his recent book A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus. "When we look for statements about Jesus from non canonical writings of the 1st or 2nd century A.D., we are at first disappointed by the lack of references. We have to remember that Jews and pagans of this period, if they were at all aware of a new religious phenomenon on the horizon, would be more aware of the nascent group called Christianity than of its putative founder Jesus. Some of these writers, at least, had direct or indirect contact with Christians; none of them had had contact with the Christ Christians worshiped. This simply reminds us that Jesus was a marginal Jew leading a marginal movement in a marginal province of a vast Roman Empire. The wonder is that any learned Jew or pagan would have known or referred to him at all in the 1st or early 2nd century. Surprisingly, there are a number of possible references to Jesus, though most are riddled with problems of authenticity and interpretation." (John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volume 1).

A Jewish historian, Joseph Klausner, examined the historical record regarding Jesus in his book Jesus of Nazareth and concluded that "In his ethical code there is a sublimity, distinctiveness and originality in form unparalleled in any other Hebrew ethical code; neither is there any parallel to the remarkable art of his parables" (Joseph Klausner, Jesus of Nazareth, New York: Macmillan Company, 1926.). The great German philosopher and writer of the last century, Goethe, expressed his opinion of the Gospels. "I esteem the Gospels to be thoroughly genuine, for there shines forth from them the reflected splendour of a sublimity, proceeding from the person of Jesus Christ, of so divine a kind as only the divine could ever have manifested upon earth." (Goethe, Conversations With Eckermann, iii, 371).

The following pages will include a number of Roman and pagan historical manuscript records from the early centuries of this era about the life and influence of Jesus Christ; these documents have survived for almost two thousand years.

Cornelius Tacitus - Governor of Asia

Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman historian and governor of Asia [Turkey] in A.D. 112. He was a personal friend of the historian Pliny the Younger. In his Annals, written after AD 64, he referred to Emperor Nero's persecution of the Christians. This attack was caused by Nero's false accusation that the Christians had burned the city of Rome. This monstrous lie was intended to cover the truth that the evil emperor himself had ordered the capital set on fire. Tacitus wrote:

To suppress therefore the common rumour, Nero procured others to be accused, and inflicted exquisite punishments upon those people, who were in abhorrence for their crimes, and were commonly known as Christians. They had their denomination from Christus [Christ], who in the reign of Tiberius was put to death as a criminal by the procurator Pontius Pilate. This pernicious superstition, though checked for a while, broke out again, and spread, not only over Judea, the source of this evil, but reached the city [Rome] also. (Annals of Imperial Rome, XV 44).

Tacitus, as a Roman government official and historian with access to the government archives of Rome, confirmed many of the historical details in the Gospels, as well as the books of Acts and Romans. He confirmed that Jesus was executed as a criminal under the authority of Pontius Pilate (who ruled Judea under the reign of Emperor Tiberius). He also declared that the Christians, who began in Judea and were now spreading throughout the empire, derived their worship and religion from the person known as Christ. He verified the explosive growth of this new religion within 32 years of Jesus' crucifixion despite the fact that its founder suffered the death penalty as a criminal. Additionally, Tacitus confirms that the Christians were despised, hated, and falsely accused of crimes, yet they rapidly grew to become a "vast multitude" in Rome itself (Annals XV 44). The reason Tacitus and many other Romans hated the Christians is because of the Christians refusal to worship the pagan gods, and Emperor Nero himself.

Suetonius - Roman Historian

Caius Suetonius was the official historian of Rome during the reign of both Emperor Trajan and Adrian. He was also a friend of Pliny the Younger, and was referred to in several of Pliny's letters. Suetonius wrote a book on the Lives of the First Twelve Caesars. In the section on the Emperor Claudius (who ruled from AD 41 to 54) Suetonius referred to the Christians causing disturbances in Rome which led to their being banished from the city. Suetonius wrote about Claudius: "He banished the Jews from Rome, who were continually making disturbances, Chrestus being their leader." He identified the sect of Jewish Christians as being derived from "the instigation of Chrestus" which was his curious spelling of the name Christ (Life of Claudius 25.4, written in A.D. 125). This statement provides powerful evidence that there were a significant number of Christians living in Rome before A.D. 54, only two decades after Jesus. This passage confirms the statement of Luke (in the Book of Acts) about the exiling of the Jews from Rome during the reign of Claudius. The Apostle Paul found, "a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them" (Acts 18:2).

Suetonius also wrote about the persecution of Christians during the reign of Nero. "The Christians were punished; a sort of men of a new and magical superstition." His criticism of the early Church affirms that this was a "new" religion that had recently appeared (in confirmation of the Gospels and the book of Acts). Furthermore, his reference to "magical superstition" confirms that the Christians were known to produce miracles and healing. The new faith of Christianity was based on the resurrection of their Messiah Jesus of Nazareth which would certainly qualify as a "magical superstition" to a pagan Roman historian.

Pliny the Younger

Caius Plinius Secundus, known as Pliny the Younger, was born near Milan, Italy in A.D. 62. The historian Pliny, a close friend of Tacitus, served as a consul during the reign of emperor Trajan and was later appointed governor of the Roman provinces of Pontus and Bithynia [Turkey] in the period A.D. 101 to 110. He wrote to the emperor to request specific instructions about the interrogation of the Christians whom he was persecuting. In his Epistles X 96, he states that these Christian believers would not worship Emperor Trajan and would not curse their leader, Jesus Christ, even under extreme torture. Pliny wrote that the Christians were:

in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verse a hymn to Christ as to a god, and bound themselves to a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft, adultery, never to falsify their word, not to deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up.

Pliny described the Christians as people who loved the truth at any cost. It is difficult to believe that these people would willingly die for Jesus Christ if they knew and believed it was a lie. The martyrdom of thousands of these Christians was based on the fact that they knew the truth of the statements in the Gospels about Jesus and were willing to die as martyrs rather than deny their faith in Jesus as the Son of God.

Lucian of Samosata

Lucian lived in Samosata in Syria during the reign of Emperor Adrian in the century following Christ. In the later years of his life he served as a government official in Alexandria, Egypt. In Lucian's book, The Passing Peregrinus, he wrote the history of a well known Greek traveller named Proteus who was forced to flee his country after several crimes; he traveled the world under the name Peregrinus. He met some followers of Jesus in the early Church. Lucian wrote,

At which time he learned the wonderful doctrine of the Christians, by conversing with their priests and scribes near Palestine... they spoke of him as a god, and took him for a lawgiver, and honored him with the title of master... They still worship that great man who was crucified in Palestine, because he introduced into the world this new religion... Moreover their first lawgiver has taught them, that they are all brethren, when once they turned, and renounced the gods of the Greeks, and worship that master of theirs who was crucified, and engage to live according to his laws.

Lucian has provided an independent confirmation of numerous historical facts that are mentioned in the Gospels including: the crucifixion; that Jesus was considered a lawgiver; that Christ was worshipped as God; and that His followers committed to follow Christ's laws.

The Letter From Mara Bar-Serapion

A Syrian named Mara Bar-Serapion wrote a curious letter from prison during the first century. The letter was written to his son, Serapion, to encourage him to follow the example of various esteemed teachers of past ages. This letter is listed as Syriac Manuscript number 14,658 in the British Museum. His father reminded him:

What advantage did the Athenians gain from putting Socrates to death? Famine and plague came upon them as a judgment for their crime. What advantage did the men of Samos gain from burning Pythagoras? In a moment their land was covered with sand. What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise King? It was just after that that their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged these three wise men: the Athenians died of hunger; the Samians were overwhelmed by the sea; the Jews, ruined and driven from their land, live in complete dispersion. But Socrates did not die for good; he lived on in the statue of Hera. Nor did the wise King die for good; he lived on in the teaching which he had given.

The historical value of this Mar Bar-Serapion letter is that it provides strong independent pagan corroboration that Jesus was considered to be the "King" of the Jews. This letter may refer to a Gospel statement about the written statement that was placed above the cross. "And set up over his head his accusation written, This is Jesus The King Of The Jews" (Matthew 27:37). The writer of the letter also states that Jesus was executed illegally by the Jews, who then suffered the judgments of God for their misdeeds in a possible reference to the well known tragic destruction of Judea and Jerusalem by the legions of Rome in A.D. 70. It is fascinating to note that the writer considered that Jesus was in some sense immortal because His teachings "lived on" after His death. In addition Mara Bar-Serapion refers to Jesus as "a wise and virtuous man." As a pagan Mara Bar-Serapion considered Jesus to be a great philosopher together with Socrates and Pythagoras.

Julius Africanus, Thallus, and Phlegon

A very early confirmation of the truth of the crucifixion of Jesus is found in the writings of the pagan historian Thallus, in his Third History. The significance of this account from the middle of the first century relates to the fact that it one of the earliest historical records of an event connected with the crucifixion and may have been written at the very time the first of the Synoptic Gospels were being composed by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. One of the most miraculous aspects of the crucifixion was the supernatural darkness that covered the land during the three hours while Jesus hung on the Cross. This miracle was recorded by several pagan historians. Matthew recorded this event in his Gospel: "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour" (Matthew 27:45). This remarkable event was also recorded in Mark 15:33 and Luke 23:45, 45.

Julius Africanus was a North African Christian teacher writing in A.D. 215. He recorded the writing of a pagan historian by the name Thallus who wrote his book in A.D. 52 only twenty years after the resurrection of Christ. Thallus wrote that the darkness totally covered the land at the time of the Passover in A.D. 32. Julius Africanus records, "As to [Jesus'] works severally, and His cures effected upon body and soul, and the mysteries of His doctrine, and the resurrection from the dead, these have been most authoritatively set forth by His disciples and apostles before us. On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness, Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun. For the Hebrews celebrate the passover on the 14th day according to the moon, and the passion of our Saviour falls on the day before the passover; but an eclipse of the sun takes

place only when the moon comes under the sun." (Thallus (Samaritan, 1st century) -Julius Africanus, Extant Writings 18, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol 6).

Julius Africanus explained that Thallus' theory was unreasonable because an eclipse of the sun cannot occur at the same time there is a full moon. The moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun during full moon which would make a solar eclipse impossible at that time. This historical reference by the pagan historian Thallus confirmed the Gospel account regarding the miraculous darkness that covered the earth when Jesus was dying on the cross.

There are other ancient historical references to this supernatural darkness which occurred at the death of Christ. Modern astronomers confirm that Julius Africanus was right in his conclusion that a normal eclipse could not possibly occur at the time of a full moon, which occurred at the time of the Jewish Passover. The high priest carefully calculated the position of the full moon to the smallest degree because their whole Jewish liturgical calendar, especially Passover, depended on determining the precise lunar position. There are two important points here. First, the pagan Syrian historian Thallus, who was alive at the time of Jesus' death occurred has confirmed that darkness covered the earth at the very time recorded in the Gospels. Secondly, the fact that there was a full moon present makes it certain that this darkness was not an eclipse but that it was a supernatural event.

Another remarkable historical reference to this supernatural darkness is found in the manuscript of another pagan historical writer from Lydia named Phlegon who was granted freedom by the Emperor Adrian. In approximately A.D. 138 he noted the astonishing fact that this "great and extraordinary eclipse of the sun distinguished among all that had happened" occurred "in the fourth year of the two hundred and second olympiad" which was the nineteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar as emperor of Rome. The Christian historian Eusebius (A.D. 300) in his Chronicle quoted from Phlegon's sixteen volume Collection of Olympiads and Chronicles as follows:

All which things agree with what happened at the time of our Saviour's passion. And so writes Phlegon, and excellent compiler of the Olympiads in his thirteenth book, saying: ÔIn the fourth year of the two hundred and second olympiad there was a great and extraordinary eclipse of the sun, distinguished among all that had happened before. At the sixth hour the day was turned into dark night, so that the stars in the heavens were seen, and there was an earthquake in Bithynia which overthrew many houses in the city of Nice.' So writes the above named author.

Furthermore, Phlegon indicated that the darkness that covered the earth began at the sixth hour, which is equivalent to our noon hour, is precisely the same time period as recorded in the Gospels in Matthew 27:45. The Christian writer Tertullian indicated that this supernatural darkness was recorded in the Roman archives that could still be consulted. "At the same time at noonday there was a great darkness. They thought it to be an eclipse, who did not know that this also was foretold concerning Christ. And some have denied it, not knowing the cause of such darkness. And yet you have that remarkable event recorded in your archives." Another writer, the martyr Lucian, spoke of the public archives which recorded these supernatural events as follows: "Look into your annals; there you will find that in the time of Pilate, when Christ suffered, the sun was obscured, and the light of the day was interrupted with darkness."

A Roman Government Inscription From the Reign of Emperor Nero

In my research I found a fascinating report of an inscription that was discovered in the ruins of Marquofiae in the Roman province of Lusitania (ancient Portugal) that is clearly dated to the reign of Emperor Nero who died in AD 68. This inscription reads as follows:

NERONI. CL. CAIS AUG. PONT. MAX.

OB PROVINC. LATRONIB

ET. HIS. QUI. NOVAM

GENERI. HUM SUPER

STITION. INCULCAB

PURGATAM.

The translation reads:

TO NERO CLAUDIUS CAESAR,

AUGUSTUS, HIGH PRIEST,

FOR CLEARING THE PROVINCE

OF ROBBERS, AND THOSE

WHO TAUGHT MANKIND

A NEW SUPERSTITION.

This inscription almost certainly refers to the new faith of Christianity because this was the only popular new religion that appeared throughout the Roman Empire during the reign of Nero. While Nero's heaviest persecution fell upon the Christians, a number of early Church writers (including Tertullian) affirm that the persecution was carried out throughout the provinces as well. The Roman accusation that the early Christians taught "a new superstition" was related to the Gospel's claim that Jesus had risen from the dead and that He was the Son of God. If this inscription is genuine it would represent the earliest pagan inscription that refers to the new faith of Christianity as having an impact throughout the empire only thirty-five years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The Christian Writer Hegesippus

The historian of the early Church, Eusebius, wrote about A.D. 325 about the persecution of the Christians by the Roman emperors in his book Ecclesiastical History. He quotes from another Church historian Hegesippus who wrote about an interview with the descendents of the brothers and sisters of Jesus of Nazareth. Speaking of Caesar Domitian who ruled from -A.D. 81. to A.D. 96 he wrote,

The same emperor ordered the execution of all who were of David's line, and there is an old and firm tradition that a group of heretics accused the descendants of Jude - the brother, humanly speaking, of the Saviour - on the ground that they were of David's line and related to Christ. Himself. This is stated by Hegesippus in so many words:

And there still survived of the Lord's family the grandsons of Jude, who was said to be His brother, humanly speaking. These were informed against as being of David's line, and brought by the evocatus [veteran] before Domitian Caesar, who was as afraid of the advent of Christ as Herod had been. Domitian asked them whether they were descended from David, and they admitted it. Then he asked them what property they owned and what funds they had at their disposal. They replied that they had only 9,000 denarii [$5,000] between them, half belonging to each; this, they said, was not available in cash, but was the estimated value of only twenty-five acres of land, from which they raised the money to pay their taxes and the wherewithal to support themselves by their own toil.

Then, the writer continues, they showed him their hands, putting forward as proof of their toil the hardness of their bodies and the calluses impressed on their hands by incessant labour. When asked about Christ and His Kingdom - what it was like, and where and when it would appear - they explained that it was not of this world or anywhere on earth but angelic and in heaven, and would be established at the end.

Regarding the brothers and sisters of Jesus the Gospel record is clear that Mary and Joseph did have additional children after the virgin birth of Jesus. The Gospel writers refer to the brothers and sisters of Jesus on several occasions including the following: "And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?" (Matthew 13:54-56).

The Crucifixion of Jesus

Both the Gospel record and the writings of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus declare that Jesus was crucified by Roman soldiers after a religious trial by the Jewish Sanhedrin court and a capital trial in front of the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate. Luke's Gospel records this as follows: "And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left" (Luke 23:33). Josephus wrote: "Upon an indictment by leading members of our society, Pilate sentenced him to the cross" (Antiquites).

Crucifixion was the cruelest forms of execution ever developed by diabolical minds to dehumanize their victim and prolong their terminal sufferings as long as several days before death mercifully ended their agony. Crucifixion was first developed by the Scythians of southern Russia and later used by the Assyrians and Carthoginians of north Africa. The Roman Empire probably adopted this brutal form of execution from their constant enemies, the Carthoginians. Even the blood thirsty Romans were so appalled by this horrific punishment that they utilized it only against slaves or foreign enemies. Roman citizens were legally immune from crucifixion, which explains why the Apostle Paul, as a Roman citizen, was beheaded as opposed to being crucified like Peter. (Tillemont, Memoires, i, P.324). During the slave revolt of 71 B.C. led by Spartacus the Romans crucified six thousand slaves on the roads outside Rome to place fear in the hearts of the slave population throughout the empire. During the final months of the terrible siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 the Roman legions crucified hundreds of Jewish citizens each day who attempted to escape the horrific famine within the starving city.

The Gospel record of Christ's crucifixion refers to the Roman practice of breaking the legs of the victims to hasten death. However, the Gospel of John asserts that the legs of Jesus were not broken because He had already died. John states: "But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs" (John 19:33). Several German theologians have cast doubt on the historical accuracy of this account because they felt John simply created this imaginary detail to be able to show that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah as a type of the Passover Lamb of which God commanded:Ê"neither shall ye break a bone thereof" (Exodus 12:46). King David had directly predicted this event when he wrote: "He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken" (Psalm 34:20). However, a recent archeological discovery in Israel of skeleton of a crucified man provides remarkable proof that the writer of the Gospel account must have been a knowledgeable eyewitness of the crucifixion of Jesus.

Very few skeletons of victims of crucifixion have been found by archeologists. However, Israeli archeologists discovered an ossuary at the excavations at Giv'at ha-Mivtar, near Jerusalem, which contained the skeleton of a man who had been crucified. The ossuary which was inscribed with the name of the victim "Jehohanan" included two heel bones which were transfixed by a single six and a half inch spike. Interestingly, the heel bones contained minute particles of olive wood which might be the remnant of a foot support used by the victim to push himself upward to enable his distended diaphragm to inhale air.

Significantly the leg bones of the victim were crushed with a violent blow that would have made it impossible for the criminal to continue raising himself up. This would cause him to quickly drown, due to the accumulated fluid in his lungs. The scientist who examined the bones, Dr. Nicu Haas, declared that the evidence from the fractured bones suggested that the blows were delivered while the victim was still alive. Dr. Haas wrote: "This direct, deliberate blow may be attributed to the final Ôcoup de grace'." [Haas, N., Anthropological Observations on the Skeletal Remains from Giv'at ha-Mivtar (Israel Exploration Journal 20, 1970, pg 38-39)]

Did Jesus Actually Exist?

"The name of Jesus is not so much written as plowed into the history of the world."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

In light of the wealth of historical evidence about Christ it is surprising that there are learned professors and authors who seriously deny that Jesus of Nazareth ever even lived. However, numerous books have appeared in the last two hundred years that have made this assertion, in spite of the ample biblical and non-biblical evidence referred to in this book. For example, Professor John Allegro of Manchester University wrote a book entitled The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross in 1970 which suggested that the earliest Christians were actually a secret cult group that used sacred mushrooms and utilized the name "Jesus" as a code word to avoid letting outsiders know about their activities. Not surprisingly, Allegro's thesis was criticized immediately by almost every major historical scholar. For example, The Times newspaper of London, UK, printed a letter signed by fifteen scholars in Semitic languages who dismissed his conclusion stating that it was "not based on any philological or other evidence that they can regard as scholarly."

Another scholar, Professor G. A. Wells of Birkbeck College, London, has produced three books in the last decade that deny that the Jesus of the Gospels existed. Wells argues that the first New Testament statements about Jesus were created by the Apostle Paul who didn't know any details about the historical Jesus. The professor suggests that the Gospels were written much later (at some point before A.D. 120) and represent a basic fabrication of stories about an imaginary Jesus.

As this book will demonstrate, there is powerful historical evidence that confirms many of the details of the life and death of Jesus both in the historically reliable Gospels and numerous non-biblical sources. C. S. Lewis addressed the question of the historical accuracy of John's gospel:

I have been reading poems, romances, vision literature, legends, myths all my life. I know what they are like. I know that none of them is like this. Of this text there are only two possible views. Either this is reportage - though it may no doubt contain errors - pretty close to the facts; nearly as close as Boswell. Or else, some unknown writer in the second century, without known predecessors or successors, suddenly anticipated the whole technique of modern, novelistic, realistic narrative. If it is untrue, it must be narrative of that kind. The reader who doesn't see this simply has not learned to read. [C. S. Lewis, quoted by Ian Wilson in Jesus: The Evidence, p. 49, Harper and Row, Publishers, San Francisco, 1984]

Nicholas Sherwin-White commented on the authenticity of the historical statements of the Gospel writers in his book Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament::

... it can be maintained that those who had a passionate interest in the story of Christ, even if their interest in events was parabolical and didactic rather than historical, would not be led by that very fact to pervert and utterly destroy the historical kernel of their material.

The Town of Nazareth

Christ was often called Jesus of Nazareth and the early Christians were identified as Nazarenes. The origin of the name "Nazarene" may mean "of Nazareth." It may be directly derived from the town of Nazareth in which He grew up, worked with His father, and taught. However, it is also possible that "Nazarene" is derived from the Hebrew word "netzer" which means "a branch," a title that is often applied prophetically to the Messiah in the writings of the ancient Jews. In Isaiah 11:1 we read "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots." Again in Zechariah 3:8 we read: "behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH."

Some have suggested that the town of Nazareth did not actually exist in the first century when the Gospel record indicates Jesus and His family lived there. It is true that the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus does not mention Nazareth in his Jewish history. Fortunately an archeological discovery made in 1955 under the foundations of the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth indicated the town was inhabited before the Christian era. A third century marble inscription found at the seat of Roman government in the city of Caesarea appears to be a tablet naming the town of Nazareth.

The Lives of the Apostles as Historical Evidence

There is a considerable amount of historical evidence about the lives of the disciples within the writings of the early Church. Jesus Christ chose the twelve apostles whose role was to confirm by their words of witness and their lives the reality of the life, death, and resurrection of Him. He commanded these fishermen and tax collectors to abandon their previous lives and follow Him to a destiny beyond that of any other men in the history of mankind. Two thousand years later, millions of parents still name their sons by the names of the apostles who followed Christ. Jesus' choice of disciples was not based on their previous character or accomplishments; none of them had risen to prominence in the society of Israel in the first century. It is interesting to note that Jesus did not choose the type of men most modern leaders would choose for such a task as preaching a revolutionary message to the world. None of the twelve disciples were religious scholars or professional men of distinction before Christ chose them. None of the disciples were wealthy; none were natural leaders within the Jewish society during that first century. None of the personal qualities of the disciples at the time Jesus chose them suggested that they would ultimately prove to be great men of faith who would stand the test of time. However, after three-and-a-half years in the daily presence of Jesus, these men were transformed into great men of God who would stand unflinching against the imperial power of Rome, the greatest power on earth.

Jesus apparently chose His disciples in the same manner that the sculpture Michelangelo chose the rough marble for His projects; because of the possibilities hidden within the uncut stone. A story about Michelangelo tells about a young girl who watched the great sculptor as he produced his masterpiece of King David in his workshop in Rome. As she watched him chisel into the huge block of marble she asked Michelangelo how he knew that the figure of David lay hidden within it. The answer, of course, was that Michelangelo saw in his imagination the possibility of what the marble could reveal if he removed the unnecessary material. Jesus Christ chose His band of disciples, not for what they were in themselves before He met them, but for what they could become after the touch of the Master's Hand.

The Martyrdom of the Apostles

Most of our information about the deaths of the apostles is derived from early church traditions. While ancient tradition is unreliable as to small details, it very seldom contains outright inventions. Eusebius, the most important of the early church historians wrote his history of the early church in A.D. 325. He wrote, "The apostles and disciples of the Savior scattered over the whole world, preached the Gospel everywhere." The Church historian Schumacher researched the lives of the apostles and recounted the history of their martyrdom.

Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.

Mark died in Alexandria, Egypt, after being dragged by horses through the streets until dead.

Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.

John faced martyrdom when he was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos. The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.

Peter was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross, according to church tradition because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died. The tradition of the early Church recorded that as Peter was being led to his crucifixion he was heard to say, "None but Christ, none but Christ."

James the Just, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club. This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation.

James the Greater, a son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, James was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem. The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian.

Bartholomew, also known as Nathanael, was a missionary to Asia, in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia when he was flayed to death by a whip.

Andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras, Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words: "I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it." He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he expired.

The apostle Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the sub-continent.

Jude, the brother of Jesus, was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.

Matthias, the apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded.

Barnabas, one of the group of seventy disciples, wrote the Epistle of Barnabas. He preached throughout Italy and Cyprus. Barnabas was stoned to death at Salonica.

The apostle Paul was tortured and then beheaded by the Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire. These letters, which taught many of the foundational doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the New Testament.

The details of the martyrdom of the disciples and apostles are found in traditional early church sources. These traditions were recounted in the writings of the church fathers and the first official church history, Ecclesiastical History, written by the historian Eusebius in A.D. 325. Although we can not at this time verify every detail historically, the universal belief of the early Christian writers was that each of the apostles had faced martyrdom faithfully without denying their faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Another great leader of the early Church was Polycarp who was martyred at the age of 86 by being burned alive before an audience of thousands in the amphitheatre in the city of Smyrna. When the Roman governor demanded that the aged bishop deny his faith in Jesus and worship the emperor to save his life. Polycarp refused the invitation to save his life by blaspheming Christ and denying his faith in these timeless words, "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me wrong; and how can I now blaspheme my King who has saved me?"

Henry G. Bosch described the enormous influence of Jesus of Nazareth on the course of western history, philosophy, theology, and society. Bosch wrote:

Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40, and Jesus for only 3. Yet the influence of Christ's 3-year ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men who were among the greatest philosophers of all antiquity; yet, some of the finest paintings of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci received their inspiration from Him.

Jesus wrote no poetry; but Dante, Milton, and scores of the worlds greatest poets were inspired by Him. Jesus composed no music; still Haydn, Handel, Beethoven, Bach, and Mendelssohn reached their highest perfection of melody in the hymns, symphonies, and oratories they composed in His praise. Every sphere of human greatness has been enriched by this humble Carpenter of Nazareth.

The Rocks Cry Out
The Historical Evidence For the Bible
From Grant R. Jeffrey's The Handwriting of God
The last one hundred and fifty years of archeological exploration in the Middle East has provided students of the Bible with an unparalleled abundance of evidence confirming thousands of detailed historical statements found in both the Old and New Testaments. In this chapter, we will explore a small fraction of the powerful historical and archeological evidence that has been discovered in Israel and throughout the Middle East that throws new light on the pivotal events that have shaped our modern Western culture. It is important that we place this evidence in its proper context. Archeology and historical documents can never prove that the Bible is inspired. Rather, the confirmation of the statements of the Bible through archeological and historical investigations provides us with powerful evidence of the historical truthfulness of the Word of God and indicates that its statements were accurately transmitted over thousands of years.

One of the greatest of these pioneer archeologists is the Jewish scholar Dr. Nelson Glueck, considered by many to be the greatest Jewish archeologist in history. Professor Glueck has written, "It is worth emphasizing that in all this work no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a single, properly understood biblical statement."1 Professor Glueck's statement is a powerful antidote to the pervasive skepticism and unbelief of so many of the liberal theologians who inhabit the seminaries and universities of the West. Despite the cynicism and skepticism of many liberal theologians to the accuracy of the biblical account the scientific evidence of archeology continues to confirm the accuracy of the Bible's statements. Meanwhile, liberal theologians continue to ignore this overwhelming evidence in favor of their presuppositions and strongly held prejudice against the authority, inspiration, and accuracy of the Word of God.

Dr. Glueck wrote about the wonder of exploring the ancient ruins of the Promised Land and finding confirmation after confirmation of the truthfulness of this incomparable book, the Holy Scriptures.

Acquaint yourself with the needs and fears, the moods and manners, of the broken array of peoples and civilizations that appeared at intervals along the horizon of time and, in a general way, you will know in advance where to look for the clues they left behind in the course of their passage. . . . And above all, read the Bible, morning, noon and night, with a positive attitude, reading to accept its historical references. . . . And then go forth into the wilderness of the Negev and discover, trite as it may sound, that everything you touch turns into the gold of history, and that it is almost impossible not to stumble across the treasures of a robust past, whose existence becomes as real and as full of content and color and sound and fury and the thrill of progress and the pity of failure as the transient present, which is always ticking away so furiously to join the throng of those that need no longer hurry.2

Jerusalem, The City of David

Modern liberal scholars who reject the biblical evidence about the monarchies of King David and his son Solomon in the tenth century before Christ also dismiss the Bible's claims about Jerusalem being the capital city of a united Israel. Many of these biblically minimalist scholars, including Professor Thomas Thompson of the University of Copenhagen, totally reject the Bible's description of Jerusalem as Israel's capital city during the reigns of King David and Solomon in the period 1000 b.c. to 930 b.c. In an article in Biblical Archeological Review, Thompson stated, "We don't have a tenth-century Jerusalem . . . The last point is that Jerusalem becomes a really major town only after the destruction of Lachish in 701 b.c. . . . Its very difficult to talk about a united monarchy [under David and Solomon] in the tenth century b.c.e."3 [Note: academic scholars use b.c.e. (before common era) rather than the normal designation b.c. (before Christ) for fairly obvious reasons].

In other words, Professor Thompson and his many liberal colleagues totally deny the detailed biblical record of the reigns of Israel's greatest kings and Solomon's Temple. From their skeptical standpoint, they automatically reject every biblical statement unless it is verified by multiple pagan historical or archeological sources. However, a logical question arises. How could such a detailed historical tradition and national memory of King David's and King Solomon's deeds, their conquests, and their Temple have arisen in Israel if these events never occurred?

Modern anthropologists admit that nearly always there is some historical event behind every tradition. The biblical minimalist scholars reject the historical and archeological evidence, as well as the biblical evidence, that attests to Jerusalem's existence as a significant city in Palestine during the time of Israel's conquest of Canaan, which occurred several centuries before the rise of King Saul and then King David to rule Jerusalem as Israel's capital. A fascinating article entitled "Cow Town or Royal Capital" by Nadav Na'aman appeared in the July/August 1997 issue of the respected Biblical Archeological Review magazine. This article contained interesting archeological evidence about ancient Jerusalem including a reference to the Tell el Amarna Letters. Although I had read a summary of these letters years ago, I was delighted to acquire an excellent copy and translation of these vital ancient documents from a rare-book dealer several weeks ago. It was fascinating to read these letters by the pagan king of Jerusalem during the time of the conquest of the Promised Land.



Evidence about Jerusalem From the Tell el-Amarna Tablets

The famous Amarna letters were discovered at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt more than a century ago. These thirty-five hundred-year-old clay tablets included diplomatic letters that were written in the 14th century b.c. in Akkadian cuneiform characters, the common official language at the time. This valuable library of government documents includes more than three hundred diplomatic letters written by the governors or kings of Canaan to the Egyptian pharaoh who ruled Canaan as a province of the Egyptian-controlled territory in Palestine and Syria. This extensive correspondence includes hundreds of letters written by two well-known Egyptian pharaohs (Amenophis III [1391­1353 b.c.] and Amenophis IV, popularly known as Akhenaten [1353­1337 b.c.]). The dates when these Egyptian pharaohs ruled are widely accepted.

The most important portion of the letters for biblical scholars include six diplomatic messages sent from the King of Jerusalem, who ruled Canaan (present-day Israel and the West Bank). These letters are incredibly valuable for the detailed historical evidence they provide about the situation in Canaan at the approximate time of the conquest of the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua and Gideon, according to the biblical record found in Joshua and Judges. The Tell el-Amarna Tablets provide invaluable independent information about historical conditions in Canaan. Written by several kings who ruled their provinces and cities under the rule of Egypt, these letters are of vital importance to scholars because they describe conditions in Canaan only one or two generations after the Exodus at the very time the Bible tells us the conquest of the Promised Land occurred.

All serious scholars who have examined the Tell el-Amarna letters agree that the name "Urusalim" found in the letters clearly refer to the city of Jerusalem, according to the detailed geographical descriptions about its location. The Amarna letters mention the city of "Urusalim" (Jerusalem) which appears repeatedly in this fascinating correspondence. At the time of this correspondence, Jerusalem and other cities of Canaan were ruled by local kings under ultimate Egyptian control. Jerusalem itself was ruled by a local dynasty which passed the crown from father to son. Other sources refer to these local rulers of city-states as kings. In most of these letters, the king of Jerusalem appeals desperately, and without success, for troops and archers from his overlord, the pharaoh of Egypt. Apparently at this time, the pharaoh ruling Egypt was distracted from defending his province of Canaan against the invaders who were attacking the cities under the control of the king of Jerusalem. This invasion of the foreign "Habiru" occurred during the reign of Pharaoh Amenophis IV, often called Akhenaten (1353­1337 b.c.). Apparently Akhenaten ignored military defense because he was focussed solely on creating a new religion in Egypt to worship the sun god.

Consider the powerful historical evidence provided in these six letters from the king of Jerusalem to his overlord, the king of Egypt, that prove Jerusalem existed as a capital city during this critical historical period. In addition, these letters provide evidence that the Promised Land was being invaded at this time by a victorious army of foreign people called "Habiru." Many scholars admit that the "Habiru" were most likely the conquering Israelites, who called themselves "Hebrews." For example, Abdi-Hiba, the king of Jerusalem, wrote to the pharaoh in desperation requesting Egyptian troops to defend his territory.

Letters From The Tell el-Amarna Tablets4

There is no garrison here.
So let the king care for his land.
Let the king care for his land.
The lands of the king, the lord,
have all deserted.
Ilimilku has devastated the whole land of the king.
(Letter of Abdi-Hiba, King of Jerusalem to
the Pharaoh -Tell el Amarna Letter - Number 2)

No lands of the king remain.
The Habiru plunder all lands of the king.
If archers are here this year, then the lands of the king,
the lord, will remain; but if archers are not here,
then the lands of the king, my lord, are lost.
(Letter of Abdi-Hiba, King of Jerusalem to
the Pharaoh - Tell el Amarna Letter - Number 3)

Verily, the king has set his name
upon the land of Urusalim for ever.
Therefore he cannot abandon
the lands of Urusalim.
(Letter of Abdi-Hiba, King of Jerusalem
to the Pharaoh - Tell el Amarna Letter - Number 3)

In his letters the king protested that the pharaoh's indifference to his desperate military request for additional troops indicated that he didn't want to fight the "Habiru."

As long as the king, my lord, lives
I will say to the deputy of the king, my lord:
"Why do you love the Habiru, and hate the regents ?"
(Letter of Abdi-Hiba, King of Jerusalem to
the Pharaoh - Tell el Amarna Letter - Number 2)

But if there are no archers
the land of the king will desert to the Hiabiru.
This will be the fate of the land.
(Letter of Abdi-Hiba, King of Jerusalem
to the Pharaoh - Tell el Amarna Letter - Number 6)

Could the reluctance to fight this group of invaders stem from the historical memory of the Egyptians' of God's supernatural deliverance of the Israelites and the destruction of Egypt's army at the Red Sea during the Exodus?

Abdi-Hiba, the king of Jerusalem, indicated the significance of his kingdom and capital in his description of his gift of over five thousand slaves to his Egyptian overlord. If Jerusalem was a small, insignificant town, its king would not have had a military victory that afforded him the opportunity to send a gift of five thousand prisoners captured from his enemies. The biblical minimalist scholars assert that during this period (three centuries before King David and Solomon), Jerusalem was only a tiny, insignificant town, but their assertions have been proven to be false by the Amarna Letters of the Egyptian government.

__ __ I have sent to the king, [my] lor[d]
__ __ prisoners, five thousand _ __ _ _ ,
[three hundr]ed and eigh[teen] bearers for
the caravans of the king;
they were taken in the fields (iati) near [Ialuna.
(Letter of Abdi-Hiba, King of Jerusalem to
the Pharaoh - Tell el Amarna Letter - Number 3)

Finally, Abdi-Hiba reveals his personal fear of imminent defeat by these conquering "Habiru" (Hebrews), who are taking city after city throughout his weakly defended territory. The king of Jerusalem warns the pharaoh that his fellow regents (local kings under Egypt's rule) are succumbing to the Habiru attack. Lastly, he admits that because Egypt is indifferent ("yet the king holds himself back") that the soldiers of another Canaanite king, "Zimrida of Lakisi," have deserted to join the victorious Habiru army.

But now the Habiru are taking
the cities of the king.
No regent is (left)
to the king, my lord; all are lost.

Behold, Turbazu has been killed
in the gate of Zilu, yet the king holds himself back.
Behold, Zimrida of Lakisi - servants,
who have joined with the Habiru, have smitten him.
(Letter of Abdi-Hiba, King of Jerusalem to
the Pharaoh - Tell el Amarna Letter - Number 4)

Other correspondence in the series of Tell el Amarna Letters indicates that the territory ruled by the king of Jerusalem at that time (during the days of Joshua and Gideon) included land extending from Hebron in the south to the town of Bethel in the north. In addition, these letters indicate that the territory of the king of Jerusalem extended from the midpoint of present-day West Bank to the Jordan River.

In conclusion, an analysis of the Tell el Amarna Letters clearly confirms that, in the 14th century b.c., the city of Jerusalem was a capital city ruling over a considerable amount of territory in Canaan under the oversight of the Egyptian pharaohs. The area encompassed a significant portion of the current West Bank as well as the areas to the west of Jerusalem. The letters confirm that the king of Jerusalem lived in a palace with a pagan temple and a full court of officials. Most importantly, these records confirm that Jerusalem was sophisticated enough to possess court scribes who carried on a continuing diplomatic correspondence with neighboring states, including its overlord, Egypt. In addition, the letters confirm that couriers from Egypt carried on regular correspondence with the court of Jerusalem.

In conclusion, the powerful historical evidence from these ancient Egyptian Tell el Amarna documents provides one more strong link in the chain of evidence from sources outside the Bible that tends to confirm the historical accuracy of these biblical accounts.



King Hezekiah's Tunnel Inscription

The ancient king of Judea, King Hezekiah ordered his workmen to carve a long tunnel through 1,749 feet of hard bedrock to bring in a safe supply of water from a spring that was located outside the walls of the City of David, ancient Jerusalem. This undertaking was a truly phenomenal engineering task, especially when we consider the limited mining and surveying knowledge as well as the primitive tools, available to Jewish engineers in the 8th century b.c. An inscription describing this undertaking reveals that the leader of the project ordered two groups of miners to begin digging toward each other from opposite ends of the tunnel. The reason for attempting the very difficult task of trying to bore through so much solid rock in the hope of meeting in the center rather than simply working from one end only, must have been the fear of an impending invasion of Jerusalem. Tourists visiting Jerusalem can now safely wade through the shallow waters of Hezekiah's Tunnel that lead to the Gihon Spring. Kaye and I have walked underground in this engineering marvel, and have witnessed proof of the incredible accuracy of the historical accounts recorded in the Holy Scriptures.

The tunnel inscription was written in ancient classical Hebrew on a plaque located near the pool. The inscription described the construction of this unusual tunnel: "Behold the tunnel. This is the story of its cutting. While the miners swung their picks, one towards the other, and when there remained only 3 cubits to cut, the voice of one calling his fellow was heard - for there was a resonance in the rock coming from both north and south . . . and the water flowed from the spring towards the pool, 1200 cubits. The height of the rock above the head of the miners was 100 cubits." This engraved inscription is enormously important to archeologists because it clearly confirms a very specific and unusual biblical account. The engraving was carved out of the base rock that formed the side of the ancient excavated tunnel. After its discovery, it was removed by the Turkish authorities to their capital of Istanbul in 1880. It was forgotten and laid aside as an unknown inscription until an Israeli archeologist visited the museum and recognized that the engraved stone was incredibly valuable, the long-forgotten Hezekiah Tunnel inscription. He alerted the museum curator to the fact. This priceless inscription from the past can now be seen in an exhibit in an archeological museum in Istanbul, Turkey.

It is interesting to look back in Church history to view the attitudes toward the authority of the Bible expressed by the great men of faith in past generations. In the fourth-century book The City of God, Saint Augustine declared, "Scripture, which proves the truth of its historical statements by the accomplishment of its prophecies, gives no false information.



Can We Trust the Historical Statements of the Bible?
The Testimony of Archaeologists and Classical Scholars

Professor Millar Burrows of Yale University discussed the findings of recent archeological digs and their impact on the views of the critics of biblical historical accuracy: "Archaeology has in many cases refuted the views of modern critics. It has shown in a number of instances that these views rest on false assumptions and unreal, artificial schemes of historical development"5 Dr. Burrows explained the underlying assumptions that creates this climate of rejection of the Scriptures: "The excessive skepticism of many liberal theologians stems not from a careful evaluation of the available data, but from an enormous predisposition against the supernatural." His comments underline the fundamental role of presuppositions in the minds of all intellectuals as they approach any area of study. If you approach the Bible determined to reject any of the statements that reveal the prophetic and supernatural nature of God's revelation to man, then you have determined your negative conclusions before commencing your study.

As a leading archaeologist in the field of biblical Middle Eastern studies Burrows revealed that the results of modern archeological research have provided powerful new evidence in favor of the historical accuracy of the statements found in the Scriptures: "On the whole, however, archaeological work has unquestionably strengthened confidence in the reliability of the scriptural record. More than one archaeologist has found his respect for the Bible increased by the experience of excavation in Palestine"6 In conclusion Burrows affirmed that the net result of the recent discoveries has actually increased our ability to categorize the Bible's statements as solid evidence by eyewitnesses to these ancient events: "Such evidence as archaeology has afforded thus far, especially by providing additional and older manuscripts of the books of the Bible, strengthens our confidence in the accuracy with which the text has been transmitted through the centuries."7

Sir Frederic Kenyon, a well-known archeologist in the earlier part of this century, has written that the results of modern research has profoundly increased our knowledge and understanding of the biblical world. Professor Kenyon wrote that Christians can welcome the results of continued archeological research because the continuing evidence produced from the digs in the Middle East has strengthened our confidence in the total accuracy of the Word of God.

It is therefore legitimate to say that, in respect of that part of the Old Testament against which the disintegrating criticism of the last half of the nineteenth century was chiefly directed, the evidence of archaeology has been to re-establish its authority, and likewise to augment its value by rendering it more intelligible through a fuller knowledge of its background and setting. Archaeology has not yet said its last word; but the results already achieved confirm what faith would suggest, that the Bible can do nothing but gain from an increase of knowledge.8

F. F. Bruce is a leading researcher in the area of biblical studies. He has stated that, far from disproving the Bible, recent archeological finds have proven the truthfulness of the scriptural account: "Where Luke has been suspected of inaccuracy, and accuracy has been vindicated by some inscriptional evidence, it may be legitimate to say that archaeology has confirmed the New Testament record."9 Professor Merrill Unger, the editor of the well respected Unger Bible Dictionary has pointed out the incomparable value from the results of modern archeology in enabling us to understand the ancient world of the kings and prophets of Israel: "Old Testament archaeology has rediscovered whole nations, resurrected important peoples, and in a most astonishing manner filled in historical gaps, adding immeasurably to the knowledge of biblical backgrounds."

The dismissive attitude toward the literal truth of the historical accounts in the Bible as displayed by liberal theologians such as Bishop Spong, the author of Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism, is in direct contradiction to the powerful evidence confirming the reliability of the Bible's history from the actual archeological digs. An underlying attitude and prejudice of the liberals is that they deny that the four Gospels were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all eyewitnesses and contemporaries of Jesus and the people who were present during the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. This attitude is displayed in the Jesus Seminar and its negative conclusions that any statement of Jesus that displays evidence of the supernatural, prophecy or His claim to be the Messiah and the Son of God, is "inauthentic." These liberals declare that the four Gospels were created by editors or redactors at least a century after the events they record. In denying the claims of the New Testament writers that they were actually recording events in which they participated, these liberal scholars suggest that the claims of the New Testament regarding the virgin birth, and the resurrection of Jesus, as well as His teachings and miracles, can be dismissed as imaginary creations of editors far removed from the historical events they describe.

The underlying assumption of the liberal scholars who reject the historicity of the Gospels is their belief that these documents were composed over one hundred years after the events of Jesus' life and death. The scholars call the period between the death of Christ and the writing of the Gospels the formative period. The popular German Tubingen school of thought or theory is that the Gospels were edited by unknown Christian redactors to create new theological statements that Jesus never uttered. They suggest that these Gospel accounts were mainly myths or religious legends that developed during the lengthy interval between the lifetime of Jesus and the time these accounts were set down in writing. While this attitude is extremely widespread in liberal universities and seminaries, the evidence produced in the last fifty years provides powerful proof that the Gospel writers were eyewitnesses and contemporaries of Jesus of Nazareth.

The continuing historical research provides overwhelming proof that the three Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written within forty years of the Cross. The importance of this fact cannot be overestimated. Archeologists had discovered numerous early papyri manuscript portions of the four Gospels in Egypt and Syria that were written between a.d. 32 and the beginning of the second century. These early manuscripts closed the gap between the time of the Cross and the previously known Gospel manuscripts from the second century. Professor William F. Albright, an outstanding biblical archaeologist, concluded in 1955, "We can already say emphatically that there is no longer any solid basis for dating any book of the New Testament after circa a.d. 80, two full generations before the date between 130 and 150 given by the more radical New Testament critics of today."10 Dr. Albright's personal assessment of the conclusions of the liberal critics who deny the authenticity of the New Testament is informative: "Only modern scholars who lack both historical method and perspective can spin such a web of speculation as that with which critics have surrounded the Gospel tradition."

Concerning the Old Testament, Professor William F. Albright has written, "There can be no doubt that archaeology has confirmed the substantial historicity of Old Testament tradition." In response to the question of widespread skepticism and outright contempt for the authority of the historical statements of the Bible Dr. Albright wrote the following:

The excessive skepticism shown toward the Bible by important historical schools of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, certain phases of which still appear periodically, has been progressively discredited. Discovery after discovery has established the accuracy of innumerable details and has brought increased recognition to the value of the Bible as a source of history . . . As critical study of the Bible is more and more influenced by the rich new material from the ancient Near East we shall see a steady rise in respect for the historical significance of now neglected or despised passages and details in the Old and New Testament.11

The importance of this proof of the early composition of the Gospel records cannot be overestimated. If the Gospels were written and widely distributed within the lifetime of thousands of people who personally saw the miracles of the feeding of the five thousand and the resurrected Jesus then they must be true historical accounts. In another interview with Christianity Today magazine in January 1963, Dr. Albright announced his professional conclusion that every one of the books of the New Testament were written "probably sometime between circa a.d. 50 and 75." Professor Albright correctly noted that this twenty-to forty-five-year interval between the actual historical event and the subsequent writing of the Gospels is "too slight to permit any appreciable corruption of the essential center and even of the specific wording of the sayings of Jesus." Many modern scholars suggest the hypothetical existence of a "Q" source manuscript, containing numerous traditions about Jesus's life and ministry, that they believe was used by Matthew and Mark. However, even these liberal scholars usually suggest this hypothetical (nonexistent) "Q document" was written by some follower of Jesus before a.d. 50. Therefore, even if this theory were correct, the Gospel tradition was still written by eyewitnesses and immediately read by people who personally knew Jesus and the apostles.

If the Gospels contained imaginary or false information then Christianity would never have prevailed in light of the massive persecution of its followers. Why would hundreds of thousands of Christians allow themselves and their beloved family members to die horribly in the Roman Coliseum when all they had to do to escape was to deny their faith that Jesus was God? It is inconceivable that these martyrs would die for their Christian faith if they held the slightest doubt as to the historical accuracy of the Gospel accounts that Jesus was the Son of God who had risen from the dead. The only possible way to explain the steadfast faith of these first-century believers is to acknowledge that they were totally persuaded of the truth of the Gospel account about Jesus of Nazareth.

Consider the confident faith represented by the apostle Paul in his inspired letter to the church at Rome, to people who lived in constant expectation of martyrdom.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost (Romans 8:35 ­9:1).

During the last year, I completed a detailed study of the research on the dating of New Testament documents in Redating the New Testament, written by Dr. John A. T. Robinson, the well respected lecturer at Trinity College, Cambridge. Dr. Robinson is an eminent critic of the New Testament period. He concluded that the New Testament is the work of the actual disciples of Jesus and their contemporaries who worked in the early Church, and that, furthermore, every one of the New Testament books, including John, must have been written before a.d. 64.12 Robinson also wrote about the reliability and early dating of the Gospel of Luke in his book Luke the Historian in the Light of Research. He concluded that both Luke and Mark were written at some point before a.d. 59 by the named authors. Furthermore, he wrote, "The early date of both Gospel and Acts gives a strong presumption in favor of the historical value of the books. There was less time for legends to grow. The author was nearer to his sources of information . . . But at any rate, since Luke the physician, the friend of Paul, wrote the two books, they cannot be thrown aside as second-century romances written to deify Jesus and to idealize Peter and Paul. The writer is so close to the facts of which he writes that he has to receive serious consideration to see if, after all, he has not drawn his characters to the life."13



Saint Peter's Fish

Some of my favorite passages in the Gospels tell us about the life, teachings, and miracles of Jesus that occurred during His ministry in His home region surrounding the Sea of Galilee. When my wife, Kaye, and I travel to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, we always stop at St. Peter's Restaurant to enjoy their main course of St. Peter's Fish, while watching the fishing boats on the usually quiet sea. This species of fish belongs to the Cichlidae family and flourishes in this warm freshwater sea. St. Peter's Fish is occasionally called the "mouth breeder." It is found naturally in only three places, all of which lie along the geological zone extending from the Sea of Galilee thousands of miles to the south in Lake Victoria, Uganda. This species of fish is found only in the Nile River, in Lake Victoria, and in the Sea of Galilee. The Gospel account recorded in Matthew 17:24­27 describes the disciple Peter catching a fish with a shekel coin in its mouth to provide the tribute money that the government officials demanded of Peter and Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus told Peter, "Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee" (Matthew 17:27)

Dr. Jim Fleming, a professor of archaeology and historical geography at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, has taught about the unusual nature of this fish in connection with Matthew 17:24­27. The female St. Peter's Fish carries her eggs in her mouth to protect them against predators until they hatch. As the brood of minnows begins to grow, she opens her mouth to let them out to swim around her from time to time. However, the mother fish opens her mouth again and quickly scoops them up whenever danger is present. The mother will fast almost to the point of starvation to avoid the danger of inadvertently swallowing her young offspring. On account of her well-known maternal habits, the fishermen of Galilee call the female St. Peter's fish by the Hebrew name "The Mother-Fish." After the young mature to the point where they can survive independently, they swim away. However, the mother fish often keeps a substitute in her mouth to perpetuate her habit of carrying her young. St. Peter's Fish are sometimes caught by fishermen and when they examine their mouths they find pebbles or coke bottle caps inside. The popular name for the fish is "St. Peter's fish" because of the account in Matthew 17:24­27 about Peter catching a fish that carried a shekel coin in its mouth. This habit of the fish to pick up items from the lake bottom in no way minimizes the miracle of our Lord. Only the Son of God could have known that this particular fish would be carrying a shekel coin in its mouth.

In the last century, the writer H. L. Hastings wrote about the astonishing survival and success of the Bible, despite centuries of attacks on its authority and accuracy. The Scriptures have withstood the blistering attacks of skepticism. Hastings wrote, "Infidels of eighteen hundred years have been refuting and overthrowing this book, and yet it stands today as solid rock. Its circulation increases, and it is more loved and cherished and read today than ever before. Infidels, with all their assaults, make about as much impression on this book as a man with a tack hammer would on the Pyramids of Egypt."

Notes

1. John W. Montgomery, Christianity for the Tough Minded (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship Inc., 1973) 6.

2. Dr. Nelson Glueck, Exploring Southern Palestine - The Negev (1959).

3. Biblical Archeological Review July/August, 1997.

4. The Tell el-Amarna Tablets.

5. Millar Burrows, What Mean These Stones? (New York: Meridian Books, 1956) 29.

6. Millar Burrows, What Mean These Stones? (New York: Meridian Books, 1956) 1.

7. Millar Burrows, What Mean These Stones? (New York: Meridian Books, 1956) 42.

8. Sir Frederic Kenyon, The Bible and Archeology (New York: Harper & Row, 1940) 27.

9. F. F. Bruce, Revelation and the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1969) 33.

10. Howard Frederick Vos, Can I Trust My Bible? (Chicago: Moody Press, 1963) 136.

11. William Albright, The Archaeology of Palestine (Middlesex: Pelican Books, 1960) 127­128.

12. John A. T. Robinson, Redating the New Testament (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1976) 351-353.

13. John A. T. Robinson, Luke the Historian in the Light of Research (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1923) 39­40.

Thank you everyone for your input. If you really take time to read all of the material here, you will agree that on the evidence through the current news around the world and what the bible says, everything is falling together as was told in the Book of Revalations.
If you have further questions, e-mail me!

2 Timothy 3:1-5

A BIBLICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE LAST DAYS

Intro: Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Apostle John penned the following prayer, when Jesus promised to return quickly, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus.", Rev. 22:20. John thought he was in the last days. Paul expected that he would be alive when Jesus returned to this world, 1 Thes. 4:13-17. Twice in that passage the Apostle uses the phrase, "we which are alive and remain." He believed that he was in the last days too. Simon Peter, in 2 Peter 3:12, tells us that he is "looking" for that day himself. The word "looking" is in the present tense. Peter believed that he was living in the last days!

Many of us believe that we are living in the last days as well. But, if these great men of God were wrong in their day, is it possible that we are wrong in our day as well? One thing is for sure, no one knows for certain when the Lord Jesus will return to the earth, Matt. 24:36. Another thing that is certain is the fact that we are 2,000 years closer tonight than they were then.

While we cannot, with pinpoint accuracy, tell when the Lord will return to this world, we are told what the last days will be like. These verses give us the clearest portrait of all when it comes to accurately portraying the spiritual and social climate of the last days. Are We Living In The Last Days? Well, let's examine the evidence given in these verses this evening and address that very question.

There are three identifying marks mentioned in these verses that will let us know whether or not we are in the last days. Are we living in the last days? Let's find out. Let’s look together at A Biblical Description Of The Last Days.

I. v. 1 THE CLIMATE OF THE LAST DAYS

A. They Are Dangerous Days - Paul describes the last days as "perilous times". The word perilous means, "difficult, troublesome, trying, uneasy, hard, violent, threatening and dangerous." While these characteristics have marked all time periods of history to some extent, they are to be intensified in the last days.

I think it is safe to say that we can describe our own times as "perilous". What we are seeing all around us is a society on the brink of collapse! This is proven by the 18 characteristics of the last days presented by Paul in verses 2-4. You see, we are living in an age when it is dangerous for men to live for God. Those who practice righteousness are called intolerant, bigoted, narrowminded, anti-social and are labeled dangerous. While those who practice deviant, sinful lifestyles are praised and labeled heroes by society. These are indeed very dangerous days!

B. They Are Determined Days - We may wonder why days such as these might factor into God's plan for the world. While God is not the author of evil, He has determined to abandon sinful man to his choice of a life of wickedness. This is an effort to expose man's sinfulness and his wretched condition. The condition of humanity and society in the last days is absolute proof that man, left to himself, will ruin everything he touches!

Regardless of how we may want society to improve, we will continue to see it slide into decay. We may be able to stem the tide and advance of sin in isolated pockets, but for the most part, conditions around us will continue to deteriorate until Jesus Christ returns to this world to rule in righteousness and power. You see, natural man, instead of getting better spiritually, is actually growing more and more wicked, Eph. 4:22. Daniel 12:10 tells us that "the wicked shall do wickedly." As we shall see in a few moments, the spread of evil is not just in the world, but it is also true in religious circles!

II. v. 2-5a THE CHARACTERS OF THE LAST DAYS

A. Their Deeds - In these 3 verses, Paul describes the kind of people who will live during the last days. He tells us how they will think and how they will live. One need only read these verses and cross reference them with the newspaper, the evening news and life all around to see that we are surrounded by those who fulfil these characteristics to a tee. Let's take a few minutes to walk through this list of attitudes and actions that will mark those living in the last days. Then you tell me if we are in the last days or not!

1. Lovers of Self – Selfish, intent on one's on interests – Phil 2:3. Nothing is more important to some people than themself. These people feel as if the world revolves around them and them alone. They are literally setting themselves up as their own little god! When love for self is elevated, love for God and all other things is lowered! (Ill. The trend in the modern church toward self-esteem, self-worth and a positive self-image. All concepts borrowed from modern, secular psychology! God wants to “Take the steam out of self!”)

(Note: Every one of these characteristics Paul names is a result of being a “lover of self”. When a person is number one to himself, when he, himself is the be all and end all of his existence, then we should not be surprised at the depths of evil of which he is capable! Keep that in mind as we study these terms. The people who do these things are merely in love with themselves!)

2. Covetous – Lovers of money – Heb. 13:5; 1 Tim. 6:10 (Ill. 1 John 2:15) (Ill. God's plan is that we worship God, love other people and use things. When our priorities become skewed, we start to worship ourselves, ignore God, love things and use other people. This is the formula for defeat in life.)

3. Boasters – Empty pretenders Ill. Windbags! Brag about what they have and have done! Set themselves up as the be all and end all of other people's lives!

4. Proud – An over estimate of one's worth – Pro. 16:18. (Ill. Nothing but sinners saved by pure grace! – Ill. Paul – 1 Cor.15:10) Ill. Men would do well to remember the counsel of Romans 12:3, "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." (Ill. We are nothing without Him - John 15:5.)

5. Blasphemers – Given to defiant and bitter words. These are they who speak evil of God, His children and His work! Have you considered the rise in cursing in our day? Why is this true? Because men have lost all respect for God, themselves and their fellow man. They think nothing of using their tongues to speak evil against everyone and everything.

6. Disobedient To Parents – This rejection of Christian values reaches into the home. Eph. 6:1-3 (Ill. Discipline has gone out the window!) If children will not respect and obey their parents, who will they respect? If there is no obedience, respect and loyalty in the home, why should we expect to find it in society?

7. Unthankful – No sense of gratitude for anything they possess. Whether it came from man or God – 1 Thes. 5:18. Our society is marked by this kind of unsettled, unthankfulness. People complain about everything and everyone. Yet, God's Word teaches us that we should be a thankful people, Col. 3:15.

8. Unholy – Wicked – this word means profane. This is state of heart when men lose all regard for decency and shame. People are governed by their passions and they are blind to modesty, decency, purity and righteousness! (Ill. Think of the common use of sexuality to sell products.) (Ill. Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake at Superbowl XXXVIII) Think of the flaunting of wickedness and evil that is so rampant in our society. Men will increase in wickedness as the end approaches. Ill. This trend is becoming more and more evident! (Ill. The bottom line is that men will hold nothing as being sacred anymore! Are we there yet?)

9. Without Natural Affection – Describes a breakdown of the family. There is a loss in love for those we ought to love the dearest. (Ill. Abandonment, abuse, abortion, infidelity, etc.) All natural loves will be lost in the desire to fulfil the basest and most perverted of human excesses.

10. Trucebreakers – This refers to those who will not keep their promises. A man's word is no longer his bond! It also speaks to people who will not try to agree. This is a picture of those who are unyielding and must, at all costs, have their own way. (Ill. Very prevalent in the church!)

11. False Accusers – Slanderers. These people do everything in their power to destroy the good name and reputation of another. By the way, this word is the same word from which we get the word "devil". In other words, the devil is a slanderer, and those who engage in destroying the good name of another person are guilty of engaging the devil's work!

12. Incontinent – Without self-control or the ability to discipline one's life. "If it feels good, do it! Why should I deny myself the little pleasures of life?" (Ill. Many lost people careen through life like a driver less car!) Such is the motto and mission of modern society! However, the Word of God has a different take on the situation, 1 Cor. 6:12, "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."

13. Fierce – untamed, savage, brutal – People will be controlled by their baser instincts. We are seeing a trend in this direction in our society. Men are literally living like wild animals! (Ill. The death of Carlie Brucia in Florida this week, 2/7/04)

14. Despisers Of Those That Are Good – In a world where good is evil and evil is good, those who stand for right are a slap in the face of the evil doer. Therefore, those who take a stand along Biblical lines are apt to be persecuted and hated. Why do you think the worldly crowd wants the 10 Commandments taken down from court room and school house walls? Why do you think they don't want prayer at school functions? Why do you think that the world is so against the Word of God being preached in a public forum?

15. Traitors – People who betray others and break friendship just to get their way. These people will lie, cheat, steal and crush anyone who dares get in their way. Basically, people will possess no loyalty except to themselves! (Ill. Just watch the presidential race unfold!)

16. Heady – Reckless, rash, acting without reasonable thought. This is a lifestyle that does as it pleases without regard for the consequences. Speaks of those involved in activities of a foolish nature.

17. High-minded – Those who are puffed up with a false sense of their own self-importance. People who think they are better than what they are. These people feel that they have no need for God or others. They are all they need!

18. Lovers Of Pleasure More Than Lovers Of God – Those who love the pleasures of the world more than God. (Ill. Ours is a pleasure mad society. In 1998, Americans spent 6.68 billion on films; 13.7 billion on music; 6.3 billion on video games and bought 1.04 billion books.)

B. Their Deception - Paul tells us that these the population of the last days will be characterized by wickedness and evil, but that they will be a religious people! We are seeing this trend in our society. While morality continues to decline, 94% of Americans claim to believe in God. Over 70% claim that they have had a "born again" experience. There is a glut of churches in our society. One doesn't have to travel very far to find a church that embraces any doctrinal slant you want to believe. We are running over with religion in America!

Paul says that these people will have a "form of godliness." The word "form" means a "semblance." in other words, they will claim to be good and decent people, but their claim is false! Their problem is the fact that they have a desperately wicked heart. The way they live proves that their claim of faith is false.

C. Their Denial - You see, Paul says that people in the last days will be religious and they will have that appearance of godliness. In other words, they will go to church and talk the language of the church. And, friends, whether you know it or not, we are living in a day when people are considered spiritual, saved and heaven bound if they are a member of a church! But, Paul says, while they possess the form of godliness, they deny the power thereof. What does he mean? Simply put, a relationship with Jesus Christ is a vital, life altering relationship. No man can meet Jesus and remain the same, 2 Cor. 5:17. If a person claims to be right with God and still manifests all the characteristics of a lost person, then that person is still in sin! Of course, we know that all people sin from time to time, even the redeemed 1 John 1:8-10. However, those who are genuinely converted cannot wallow in their sins, 1 John 3:9.

The last days will be characterized by people who want the security of a relationship with God, but who refuse to have Him rule their lives. They want a god of their own creation and blatantly reject the cross and its life changing message! What is the bottom line? The world will be filled up with people who are religious but lost. There will be an increase in powerless, Christ-less religion. Religion that cannot save, cannot change and cannot satisfy. Whether you can see it or not, we are in those days right now!

III. v. 5b THE COUNSEL FOR THE LAST DAYS

(Ill. I think it is clear that we are in the last days. Since that is true, what are you and I to be doing? Paul did not leave us without sound counsel in this matter.)

A. We Are Counseled To Isolate - He says "from such turn away." Before we can turn away from them, we must first identify them. This involves us doing something that has become quite distasteful to the modern church. To isolate those who are walking in sin, we must lay their lives alongside the Word of God and judge their fruits, Matt. 7:20. While we cannot judge a person's eternal destiny and are commanded to refrain from doing such, Matt. 7:1-2, we can look at a person's life and see whether or not they are the kind of people who will build us up or tear us down, 1 Cor. 15:33.

B. We Are Counseled To Insulate - When a man, by his fruits, proves himself to be a child of the devil, what are we to do? Well obviously, we are to pray for him and try to reach him for Jesus, but we are also to separate ourselves from him and his works, 2 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 17:17; Phil. 3:14-15.

You see, we are supposed to be very selective with whom we associate as individuals and as a church! There comes a time when, because of sin and wickedness, we must cut ties and walk apart from evil! The word "turn" in verse 5 means "to shun and to avoid." That sounds harsh, but it is the path to power! It's hard to think about, but it is biblical! If we refuse, we will forfeit the power and presence of God!

Conc: Are we in the last days? Well, all the signs seem to indicate that we are. If that is the case, then what do we need to do? First, as individuals we need to get every nook and cranny of our lives cleaned up and separated unto the Lord. Secondly, as a church, we need to be sure that get ourselves totally separated from every worldly influence and that we stay separated unto the Lord. We are in the last days, and if we are not careful,we will be sucked into the mentality that dominates our society. If we are, we will lose our power and we can count on God writing "Ichabod" across our door!

Let me close with this quote from Charles Spurgeon. May his goal become ours! "Complicity with error will take from the best of men the power to enter any successful protest against it. ** It is our solemn conviction that where there can be no real spiritual communion there should be no pretense of fellowship. Fellowship with known and vital error is participation in sin. As soon as I saw, or thought I saw, that error had become firmly established, I did not deliberate, but quitted the body at once. Since then my counsel has been "Come out from among them." I have felt that no protest could be equal to that of distinct separation from known evil. That I might not stultify my testimony I have cut myself clear of those who err from the faith, and even from those who associate with them. Cost what it may to separate ourselves from those who separate themselves from the truth of God is not alone our liberty but our duty."

Gog, Magog, Israel and Russia

What role does Islam play in the world? Moreover, what is the outcome of Islam? These questions continue to come to mind to those who see the conflict between Islam and the West rise. One cannot help but see the conflicts all around the world, and see the role Islam plays.

For example, in Europe we saw the conflict in Kosovo, in Russia there are the Chechens who were at war with Russia. In Iraq, we saw the battle between Sunnis and Shiites, along with forces from the United States and Europe. India has a border with Pakistan, both nuclear countries, there are constant rumblings of war, between these nations. Israel in 2006 had a war with Hezbollah, a Shiite group in Lebanon, supported by Iran and Syria. Iran threatens to destroy the Jewish State, and wants to build a nuclear arsenal.

On top of all these openly national conflicts, we have the threat of Islamic terrorism, which affects Muslim countries as well Western countries. Where is this conflict headed? For those who study Bible prophecy, the conflict in the Middle East is no mystery, the final battle according to the Bible, Armageddon, is located in Israel.

The miracle of the nation of Israel cannot be under estimated, if one tries to understand these conflicts around the world, and their conclusion. Ezekiel, 2600-years ago, along with the other prophets of the Bible, foretold of a national rebirth of Israel, gathered from the nations (Ezekiel 36-37). Ezekiel followed this by describing a confederation of nations who would attack a reborn, nation assembled out of the nations in Ezekiel 38 and 39. This event is known in the Bible as the battle of Gog and Magog.

The battle of Gog and Magog is an event, which plays a prominent role in Islamic, Jewish and Christian eschatology. Although the scenarios have different results, all three faiths see Gog and Magog as a major event. Now just what are Gog and Magog is the subject of this paper.

What is the battle of Gog and Magog?



In short, the battle Gog and Magog is war in the latter days (Last days) when a confederacy of nations attack Israel, which has been restored in the last days. These nations, which attack Israel in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, include nations, which are Muslim and have a clear animosity to Israel. Along with these Muslims nations, a northern kingdom, called Gog and Magog, which many identify, as the land Russia, will ally itself with Muslim nations, to oppose Israel in the last days.

This confederacy of nations comes against Israel, God, who through Ezekiel foretells the event, defeats them. This conflict establishes Israel and restores them to the land in preparation of their redemption. The conflict also reminds the world, why Israel went into captivity for the last two-thousand years.(Ezekiel 39:28).

The timing of this event, and what follows is an issue of debate by those who study Bible prophecy. The battle of Gog and Magog is a seminal event in scripture. It is the transition to the time, known as the Day of the Lord, the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, the Tribulation Period. Scripture reveals the details to those who take the Bible literally.

How did the world arrive at where they are?



To know where the world is going, it’s important to know how we got where we are. The situation in the world today, is the result of thousands of years of history, which will culminate in the land of Israel in the last days.

Israel from the beginning was part of God’s prophetic plan is clear from scripture, both Old and New Testaments detail how the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel), are linked to the land of Canaan (Israel). Moses in Deuteronomy writes regarding the land and the descendents of Jacob who were given the land by God in the days of Moses and Joshua.

"It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Deuteronomy 9:5

In the last days, Israel the restored nation, brought back into the land, comes into conflict with Islam. Islamic nations took possession of the land from the Byzantine Empire, after they were defeated in Palestine (Israel) in A.D. 637. Remember, Rome in A.D. 70. destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. They destroyed Jerusalem a 2nd time under the Emperor Hadrian A.D. 135. For clarity sake, let’s see how these stages in Israel’s history are connected to today’s events.

One hundred years ago, there was no threat of Islam against Israel, because there was no Israel. Today that has all changed, since the first of Israel’s creation, the Muslim nations have raged against it, threatening to send the Jews into the sea from the first day of their creation.

The origin of this rage against the Jews and Israel as noted earlier, dates back to the time Mohammad fled from Mecca to Medina. In Medina, the Jews rejected his claim of prophet, and ridiculed him. His rage against them transferred to the Quran, which was later transferred to all Muslims through the Quran. Muslims today, compose over 20% of the Earth’s population, 1.3 billion people.

Muslim nations surround Israel, and oppose their existence, even after loosing five major conflicts. Currently the great Islamic threat comes from Iran, which has openly called for the destruction of the Jewish state, while at the same time trying to develop nuclear capability.

Islam will remain a threat to Israel, until either Islam or Israel attains a decisive victory over the other. Since Israel’s very existence remains in doubt from the world perspective, the conclusion to this Islam/Israel conflict needs to be understood from a prophetic viewpoint.



God’s prophetic program: The Temple of the Dome of the Rock



The third most holy place for a Islam, is located in the heart of Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock, a building which, according to Islam commemorates Mohammad’s ascent into Heaven. There according to Islam, Mohammad received the confirmation of Islam by the biblical prophets and the Lord Himself.

The Dome of the Rock also happens to be the Most Holy location of Judaism, where according to the Bible, God instructed Israel to build a Temple. Only on this spot alone can Israel establish a place of sacrifice to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This creates quite a problem in the world today. We have two groups of people, both with claims to the same location. Yet according to Bible prophecy, a Third Temple will be constructed on this very location.

Therefore, if a Third Temple is to be constructed, then at some point the Dome of the Rock or Noble Sanctuary must be removed. Since Islam in a unified voice, on numerous occasions has threatened world wide war, if the Dome of the Rock is harmed, its logical to conclude, Islam as a power and threat needs to be removed before the Temple is rebuilt.

The prophetic war in the Bible, the war of Gog and Magog, though not stated explicitly, implies the war is caused by a conflict over the Temple and the Dome of the Rock.



Timing of the battle of Gog and Magog



The timing of the war, which will includes Islam as a part of a confederacy nations, is subject to debate, there is ample reason to believe the event takes place prior to the event known as Daniel’s Seventieth Week.

This period, according to Daniel is a seven-year period, which requires the building of the Third Temple, at the start of the period. We know this because the Abomination of Desolation, takes place 3.5-years, or half way into the seven-year agreement.

We also know from the prophecy itself, there will be seven-years, which follows the defeat of the armies of Gog and Magog, when Israel burns the weapons, and continually buries the dead.



9 "Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years.

15 "The search party will pass through the land; and when anyone sees a man's bone, he shall set up a marker by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog.

Ezekiel 39:9,15



Now, what follows the defeat of Gog and Magog, in the book of Ezekiel chapters 40 to 43, is the building of the Temple, when the Glory of the Lord, enters the area now known as the Temple Mount. From the context, of the events described here, it is clearly a future age, known as the Messianic age, or the Millennium, when the Kingdom of God is established on Earth. During this period, the Messiah, Jesus Christ reigns over the earth.

The Temple described in Ezekiel 40 to 43, would actually be the 4th Temple, since the 3rd Temple (Yet to be built) is the subject of the Abomination of Desolation (Matthew 24:15, Daniel 9:27, 12:11). The 4th Temple is established, after all earthly conflicts are finished, which includes Armageddon. This 4th Temple follows the return of Messiah (Jesus Christ), who comes in glory and power to rule over the nations and Israel (Matthew 24:29-31, 25:31-40) as King of the world.

The First Temple Period (960 B.C. to 586 B.C)

Built by Solomon, in 586 B.C. the Temple was destroyed by Babylon for Judah’s Sin. (Ezekiel 8-9)

The Second Temple Period (516 B.C. to A.D. 70)

The Temple was rebuilt by the Jews who returned after the Persians defeated Babylon, completed in 516 B.C., the Temple was destroyed by the armies of Rome in A.D. 70

The Third Temple (Tribulation Temple) (Future)

The Temple will be built, after the Dome of the Rock is removed, following the war of Gog and Magog. Islam as threat to Israel’s existence will end. The future world leader to come (Daniel 9:27) the Antichrist, will make a seven-year agreement allowing Temple worship and sacrifice, this end with the Abomination of Desolation.

The Fourth Temple (The Millennium Temple) (Future)

This is the Temple during the reign of King Messiah (Jesus Christ), the Glory of the Lord. (Ezekiel 40-43). This Temple follows the events of the Tribulation which end at Armagedd

The Jewish view of Gog and Magog



Rabbinical writers also see the events of Gog and Magog as taking place at the “End of day”, when the nations of the world come against Israel to destroy the Jewish people. Gog and Magog is a major part of Jewish eschatology (Last things), in the days of Messiah.

Though the events differ among rabbinical commentators, most write that in the battle of Magog, Messiah son of Joseph[1] is killed by Armilus (the Antichrist) after he rebuilds the Temple. Israel then goes through a period of persecution, which ends with the coming of Messiah son of David, who destroys Armilus and begins the reign of Messiah. Quoting from the Midrash we read.



And when the days of the Messiah arrive, Gog and Magog will come up against the Land of Israel, because they will hear Israel is without a king and sits in safety. Instantly they will take with them seventy-one nations and go up to Jerusalem...And the Holy One, blessed be He, will say to him: “You wicked one! You want to wage war against Me? By your life I will wage war against you!” Instantly the Holy One, blessed be He, will cause hailstones, which are hidden in the firmament, to descend upon him, and will bring upon him a great plague....

And after him will arise another king, wicked and insolent, and he will wage war against Israel for three months, and his name is Armilus....And he will go up to Jerusalem and will slay Messiah ben Joseph...

And thereafter will come Messiah ben David...and he will kill the wicked Armilus...and thereafter the Holy One, blessed be He, will gather all Israel who are dispersed here and there....[2]





The Muslim view of Gog and Magog



The Muslim view of Gog and Magog differs from both the Christian and Jewish view, in the end the Muslims and not the Jews are victors against Gog and Magog. The origin in the Quran can be traced to the legends of Alexander the Great, which developed around him. In the Quran, Alexander the Great is referred to as O Dhul-Qarneyn, Alexander builds an Iron wall of metal separating Gog and Magog to the North. At the end of time, according to the Quran, Gog and Magog will be released, they will be an enemy of Islam. The problem is of course, Gog and Magog are attacking Israel in the Biblical account, written over almost 1000-years before Mohammad was even born. The Jewish community of Medina, where he would have learned about Gog and Magog, influenced Mohammad, except in his version, Islam defeats Gog and Magog,





93. Till, when he came between the two mountains, he found upon their hither side a folk that scarce could understand a saying.

94. They said: O Dhul-Qarneyn! Lo! Gog and Magog are spoiling the land. So may we pay thee tribute on condition that thou set a barrier between us and them?

95. He said: That wherein my Lord hath established me better (than your tribute). Do but help me with strength (of men), I will set between you and them a bank.

96. Give me pieces of iron till, when he had levelled up (the gap) between the cliffs, he said: Blow! till, when he had made it a fire, he said: Bring me molten copper to pour thereon.

Surah 18:93-96



95. And there is a ban upon any community which We have destroyed: that they shall not return,

96. Until, when Gog and Magog are let loose, and they hasten out of every mound.

97. And the True Promise draweth nigh; then behold them, starring wide (in terror), the eyes of those who disbelieve! (They say): Alas for us! We (lived) in forgetfulness of this. Ah, but we were wrong doers!

98. Lo! ye (idolaters) and that which ye worship beside Allah are fuel of hell. Thereunto ye will come.

Surah 21:95-98



Volume 4, Book 55, Number 565: Narrated Zainab bint Jahsh: That the Prophet once came to her in a state of fear and said, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah. Woe unto the Arabs from a danger that has come near. An opening has been made in the wall of Gog and Magog like this," making a circle with his thumb and index finger. Zainab bint Jahsh said, "O Allah's Apostle! Shall we be destroyed even though there are pious persons among us?" He said, "Yes, when the evil person will increase." Sahih Bukhari (Hadith)



Along with the rabbinical influences in Medina, the origin of Alexander the Great linked with Gog and Magog can be traced to Egypt in the 2nd century A.D., The Encyclopedia Britannica writes,



The chief source of all Alexander romance literature was a folk epic written in Greek by a Hellenized Egyptian in Alexandria during the 2nd century AD. Surviving translations and copies make its reconstruction possible. It portrayed Alexander as a national messianic hero, the natural son of an Egyptian wizard-king by the wife of Philip II of Macedon.... Eastern accounts of Alexander's fabled career paid a good deal of attention to the Gog and Magog episode, a version of this story being included in the Qurʾān. The Arabs, expanding Syrian versions of the legend, passed them on to the many peoples with whom they came in contact. Through them, the Persian poets, notably Neẓāmī in the 12th century, gave the stories new form.[3]



The Biblical view of Gog and Magog



The Biblical view differs from both the Muslim and Rabbinical Jewish view, since the rabbinical view embellishes on the biblical material and the Muslim view has results, which makes Islam the victor at the end.

In the biblical view, alliances of nations, including Russia (Magog)[4] from the North and Iran (Persia) along with other nations make an alliance against Israel. These other nations include Libya and Ethiopia both Muslim nations today. Togarmah is identified as Armenia; they supplied horses and mules as tribute to Babylon (Ezekiel 27:14).



Ezekiel 38

1 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

2 "Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

3 "and say, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.

4 "I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords.

5 "Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet;

6 "Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops-many people are with you. Ezekiel 38:1-6

The Jewish view of Gog and Magog



Rabbinical writers also see the events of Gog and Magog as taking place at the “End of day”, when the nations of the world come against Israel to destroy the Jewish people. Gog and Magog is a major part of Jewish eschatology (Last things), in the days of Messiah.

Though the events differ among rabbinical commentators, most write that in the battle of Magog, Messiah son of Joseph[1] is killed by Armilus (the Antichrist) after he rebuilds the Temple. Israel then goes through a period of persecution, which ends with the coming of Messiah son of David, who destroys Armilus and begins the reign of Messiah. Quoting from the Midrash we read.



And when the days of the Messiah arrive, Gog and Magog will come up against the Land of Israel, because they will hear Israel is without a king and sits in safety. Instantly they will take with them seventy-one nations and go up to Jerusalem...And the Holy One, blessed be He, will say to him: “You wicked one! You want to wage war against Me? By your life I will wage war against you!” Instantly the Holy One, blessed be He, will cause hailstones, which are hidden in the firmament, to descend upon him, and will bring upon him a great plague....

And after him will arise another king, wicked and insolent, and he will wage war against Israel for three months, and his name is Armilus....And he will go up to Jerusalem and will slay Messiah ben Joseph...

And thereafter will come Messiah ben David...and he will kill the wicked Armilus...and thereafter the Holy One, blessed be He, will gather all Israel who are dispersed here and there....[2]





The Muslim view of Gog and Magog



The Muslim view of Gog and Magog differs from both the Christian and Jewish view, in the end the Muslims and not the Jews are victors against Gog and Magog. The origin in the Quran can be traced to the legends of Alexander the Great, which developed around him. In the Quran, Alexander the Great is referred to as O Dhul-Qarneyn, Alexander builds an Iron wall of metal separating Gog and Magog to the North. At the end of time, according to the Quran, Gog and Magog will be released, they will be an enemy of Islam. The problem is of course, Gog and Magog are attacking Israel in the Biblical account, written over almost 1000-years before Mohammad was even born. The Jewish community of Medina, where he would have learned about Gog and Magog, influenced Mohammad, except in his version, Islam defeats Gog and Magog,





93. Till, when he came between the two mountains, he found upon their hither side a folk that scarce could understand a saying.

94. They said: O Dhul-Qarneyn! Lo! Gog and Magog are spoiling the land. So may we pay thee tribute on condition that thou set a barrier between us and them?

95. He said: That wherein my Lord hath established me better (than your tribute). Do but help me with strength (of men), I will set between you and them a bank.

96. Give me pieces of iron till, when he had levelled up (the gap) between the cliffs, he said: Blow! till, when he had made it a fire, he said: Bring me molten copper to pour thereon.

Surah 18:93-96



95. And there is a ban upon any community which We have destroyed: that they shall not return,

96. Until, when Gog and Magog are let loose, and they hasten out of every mound.

97. And the True Promise draweth nigh; then behold them, starring wide (in terror), the eyes of those who disbelieve! (They say): Alas for us! We (lived) in forgetfulness of this. Ah, but we were wrong doers!

98. Lo! ye (idolaters) and that which ye worship beside Allah are fuel of hell. Thereunto ye will come.

Surah 21:95-98



Volume 4, Book 55, Number 565: Narrated Zainab bint Jahsh: That the Prophet once came to her in a state of fear and said, "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah. Woe unto the Arabs from a danger that has come near. An opening has been made in the wall of Gog and Magog like this," making a circle with his thumb and index finger. Zainab bint Jahsh said, "O Allah's Apostle! Shall we be destroyed even though there are pious persons among us?" He said, "Yes, when the evil person will increase." Sahih Bukhari (Hadith)



Along with the rabbinical influences in Medina, the origin of Alexander the Great linked with Gog and Magog can be traced to Egypt in the 2nd century A.D., The Encyclopedia Britannica writes,



The chief source of all Alexander romance literature was a folk epic written in Greek by a Hellenized Egyptian in Alexandria during the 2nd century AD. Surviving translations and copies make its reconstruction possible. It portrayed Alexander as a national messianic hero, the natural son of an Egyptian wizard-king by the wife of Philip II of Macedon.... Eastern accounts of Alexander's fabled career paid a good deal of attention to the Gog and Magog episode, a version of this story being included in the Qurʾān. The Arabs, expanding Syrian versions of the legend, passed them on to the many peoples with whom they came in contact. Through them, the Persian poets, notably Neẓāmī in the 12th century, gave the stories new form.[3]



The Biblical view of Gog and Magog



The Biblical view differs from both the Muslim and Rabbinical Jewish view, since the rabbinical view embellishes on the biblical material and the Muslim view has results, which makes Islam the victor at the end.

In the biblical view, alliances of nations, including Russia (Magog)[4] from the North and Iran (Persia) along with other nations make an alliance against Israel. These other nations include Libya and Ethiopia both Muslim nations today. Togarmah is identified as Armenia; they supplied horses and mules as tribute to Babylon (Ezekiel 27:14).



Ezekiel 38

1 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

2 "Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

3 "and say, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.

4 "I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords.

5 "Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet;

6 "Gomer and all its troops; the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops-many people are with you. Ezekiel 38:1-6

The Jewish view of Gog and Magog

Land of Magog which is the

Prince of Rosh or Chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal
Magog is a land identified as Scythia, or Russia, by Josephus. The message is to Gog, identified as prince, of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. Rosh in Hebrew also means Chief which has caused some to translate this verse as Chief Prince rather then Chief of Rosh (Russia).

Meshech and Tubal are the sons of Japheth (Genesis 10:2). Some Georgians trace their descent from Meshech.. The name for Moscow, comes from the river Moskva which passes through the city.

The name Russia comes from a Scandinavian tribe which settled the area, known as Rus.

Tubal some trace this name to the area in Siberia known as Tobolsk,

Persia

Persia is the ancient name of Iran. Iran is a recent name for this region. Currently, Iran has both military and economic ties with Russia. Persia has also threatened to wipe out the nation of Israel, who has been gathered from the nations.

Ethiopia (Cush)

This is area south of the Nile includes the area known as Sudan and Ethiopia today. Sudan is controlled by an Islamic government, opposed to Israel.

Gog invades in the later day



The armies are enemies of a restored Israel, in the latter years, gathered from the nations of the world and placed back in the land of Israel. (See Ezekiel 36-37) Israel is described as a land of un-walled villages; the invasion comes from the “far north” and is part of an evil plan against Israel.



7 "Prepare yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you; and be a guard for them.

8 "After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.

9 "You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you."

10 'Thus says the Lord God: "On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan:

11 "You will say, 'I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates'

12 to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.

13 "Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, 'Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?' " '

14 "Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, 'Thus says the Lord God: "On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it?

15 "Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army.

16 "You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes." Ezekiel 38:7-16

In the end, the Lord will be magnified in the earth, as the prophets of the Bible (Ezekiel)

are given credit for revealing the
event (vs. 17). God Himself will destroy the armies, through an earthquake, flooding rain, hailstones, fire and brimstone.
The
armies will also turn on one another and God will be glorified

in that day.



17 'Thus says the Lord God: "Are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them?

18 "And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel," says the Lord God, "that My fury will show in My face.

19 "For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: 'Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel,

20 'so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.'

21 "I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains," says the Lord God. "Every man's sword will be against his brother.

22 "And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

23 "Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord." ' Ezekiel 38:1-23



God loves the people of the world, many of whom are deceived with a burning rage against the descendents of Israel and the Bible. In the war of Gog, God’s word spoken through the Biblical prophets takes central stage, as the armies of Islam are destroyed. Moreover, Israel is freed from the Islamic threat, which has existed for the last 60-years.



Israel uses the remains burns the weapons of Gog for seven-years



Following the defeat of Islam and Russia, Israel uses the weapons left in the land for the next seven-years. The seven-year period clearly indicates this event occurs before the tribulation, since the tribulation itself is seven years.



7 "So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore. Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.

8 "Surely it is coming, and it shall be done," says the Lord God. "This is the day of which I have spoken.

9 "Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years. Ezekiel 39:7-9



What happens to Islam and the Muslim people following Gog and Magog



What happens to the Muslim nations, we can gather from other scriptures in the Bible. We know the Antichrist, the last world leader before the return of Christ, makes a peace treaty. This agreement or Covenant is for seven-years, but only last

3.5 before it is broken.

At the start of this covenant, Israel is deceived by the Antichrist, who later turns on the Jewish people, proclaiming himself god, demanding the world worship him. Prior to this however, the antichrist tries to unify the world, under a single religion.

With Islam defeated as a force, he will begin to persecute all those who refuse to submit to his plans.

The nations on the earth will have a clear choice, having witnessed the destruction of the Islamic alliance; the world will be forced to choose between the God of Israel or a false world leader, who will force the earth to worship him.



21 "I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them.

22 "So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward.

23 "The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword.

24 "According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face from them." '

25 "Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name

26 after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid.

27 'When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations,

28 'then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.

29 'And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel,' says the Lord God." Ezekiel 39:21-29



The Antichrist, along with the world’s religious leader, the false prophet, force the whole world, to submit to the Antichrist who proclaims himself god. Muslim’s freed from Islam will have an opportunity to choose the Messiah, Jesus Christ as their savior.

They who know Jesus, during the tribulation will be killed for their, they however will find their way into Heaven, and attain eternal life (Revelation 6:9-11).




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1]According to Jewish tradition, there are two Messiahs, one who suffers and dies, Son of Joseph, the other who reigns and conquers, Son of David. Son of Joseph dies in the battle of Gog and Magog and is resurrected by the Son of David. Both the pictures, the Suffering Messiah and King Messiah are completed in Jesus Christ, who came the first time to die for the sins of the world, and will come the second time to reign over the world.

[2] The Messiah Texts, Raphael Patai, Pgs. 159-160, Wayne State University Press, Detroit 1979, Quoting from Midrash waYosha, BhM 1:56.

[3] Encyclopedia Britannica 1994 DVD version, Alexander Romance

[4] Josephus identifies Magog as the Scythians, the ancestors of what is known as Russia today.

Some day soon, Millions of people will suddenly disapear off the face of the earth in what the Bible calls as the Rapture. This will usher in what the Bible calls as the Tribulation Period. This Website was created for those who have been left behind so that you will know what is going to happen next according to the Bible. Everyone, I suggest that you to read the Book of Revelations.

There are many other prophecies relating to the triumphant return of Jesus Christ, His millennial reign, and His eternal Kingdom. Therefore, we can be sure that if all the prophecies concerning Jesus Christ at His first coming were fulfilled to the letter, that all the prophecies relating to His second coming will be fulfilled to the letter.
The present roster of all the prophecies of the 66 books of the Bible would require a time of considerable length and size. To capture the meaning of the prophetic Word for today, we refer to a listing of those that relate to a contemporary eschatological setting.

LAST DAYS ECONOMIC CRASH, AND NUCLEAR WAR INVOLVING IRAN RUSSIA, CHINA, AND ISRAEL JESUS IS COMING VIDEO BY DR. JOHN HAGEE

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There will be a man who will come on the scene in the near future who will have the ability to solve the economic problems of the world and will he make a 7 year peace treaty with Israel. He will be the leader of the European Common Market. There will also arise the requiredment for every human to take a mark(Verichip) on either their hand or forehead as a international ID which will be a microchip implant. Without that ID, you will not be allowed to buy or sell.Taking it will mean that you are willingly following the AntiChrist. You can read about it in Revelations 13:16-18

"16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

666

WARNING: DO NOT TAKE THIS MARK, if you do you will lose your soul to the AntiChrist who is really Satan.

(Microchips) Video Dr Hal Lindsey
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Human Micro Chipping
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But after 3 1/2 years, he will break that treaty and and set himself in the third temple in Israel and declare that He is God. But in reality, He is the AntiChrist.

The Bible also taklks about in the last days that the revised Roman Empire which is currently the European Common Market, will establish a One World Government, and if you are watching the News, they are already talking about that now.

VIDEO PROOF

Europe's Long Dream "The Common Market"

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THE REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE BIBLE PROPHECY FULFILLED!

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Europe World Power

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New World Order...Conspiracy or Fact?
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SIGNS OF THE LAST DAYS

o Increase of wars and rumors of wars (Joel 3:9-10; Matt. 24:6-7)
o Extreme materialism (2 Tim. 3:1-2; Rev. 3:14-19)
o Lawlessness (Prov. 30:11-14; 2 Tim. 3:1-3)
o Population explosion (Gen. 6:1; Luke 17:26)
o Increasing speed and knowledge (Dan. 12:4)
o Departure from the Christian faith (2 Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1, 3-4; 2 Tim. 3:5; 4:3-4; 2 Pet. 3:3-4)
o Unification of the world's religious, political, and economic systems (Rev. 13:4-8, 16-17; 17:1-18; 18:1-24)
o The absence of gifted leadership among the nations, thus making it easy for the Antichrist to take over
o Universal drug usage ("sorceries" here can also refer to drugs) (Rev. 9:21)
o Abnormal sexual activity (Rom. 1:17-32; 2 Pet. 2:10, 14; 3:3; Jude 18 o Intense demonic activity (Gen. 6:1-4; 1 Tim. 4:1-3)
o Mass slaughter of innocents by unconcerned mothers (abortion) (Rom. 1:31; 2 Tim. 3:3)
o Widespread violence (Gen. 6:11, 13; 2 Tim. 3:1; Rev. 9:21)
o Rejection of God's Word (2 Tim. 4:3-4; 2 Pet. 3:3-4, 16)
o Rejection of God Himself (Ps. 2:1-3)
o Blasphemy (2 Tim. 3:2; 2 Pet. 3:3; Jude 18)
o Self-seeking and pleasure-seeking (2 Tim. 3:2, 4)
o Men minus a conscience (1 Tim. 4:2)
o Religious hucksters (2 Pet. 2:3)
o Outright devil worshippers (Rev. 9:20; 13:11-14)
o Rise of false prophets and antichrists (Matt. 24:5, 11; 2 Pet. 2:1-2)
o False claims of peace (1 Thess. 5:1-3)
o Rapid advances in technology (Gen. 4:22; Luke 17:26)
o Great political and religious upheavals in the Holy Land (Matt. 24:32-34 The Bible says in the Last Days that Israel will become a Nation. FULFILLED MAY 14TH 1948

LUKE 21:24 FULFILLED IN 1967 When Israel took back Jerusalem in the 6 day war.

To these above, I would add the development of weapons of mass destruction; space travel; star wars; increase of deceivers and lying wonders; depreciation of nationalism; and a back-to-Babel world government movement.
As we consider that over 90 percent of all the prophecies in the Bible have been fulfilled exactly as foretold, the less than 10 percent that apply to the future will also be fulfilled exactly as foretold. We are instructed by Zechariah and other prophets that Jerusalem will be a matter of controversy to all nations in the last days.

The only peace that Israel has ever known was in the days of Solomon, and since it became a nation in 1948 there has been no peace, even though there have been more than fifty peace treaties or agreements negotiated and signed, the latest being the Wye River Memorandum and the Sharem El-Sheik Agreement of October 2000.

According to Daniel 9:27, the Antichrist will confirm or guarantee a peace agreement or treaty between Israel and its enemies. However, there will be no peace. In fact, this false peace treaty initiates the Great Tribulation period. From current news reports, this treaty could be signed by Antichrist at any time. Below, you will find some very good Bible prophecy movies, and also documentational videos about the last days.

AMERICA? A NUCLEAR ATTACK SOON?

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The End, Movie Nuclear War Soon?

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The Day After Movie (Attack Segment)

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Countdown To Eternity Biblical Last Days

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DO YOU KNOW JESUS?

2012. World War III: Nuclear War: Atomic Explosions

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BIBLE PROPHECY MOVIES

"A Thief in the Night"

(UNCUT)
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"Distant Thunder"

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"Image of the Beast"

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ARE YOU READY FOR THE RAPTURE?

IF NOT SURE, YOU MUST SEE THIS LINK!

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Rapture Video.

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Chuck Missler: Harpazo, The Rapture. Part 1

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Chuck Missler: Harpazo, The Rapture. Part 2

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Chuck Missler: The Rapture Part 3 of 12

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Chuck Missler: The Rapture Part 4 of 12

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Chuck Missler: The Rapture Part 5 of 12

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Chuck Missler: The Rapture Part 6 of 12

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Chuck Missler: The Rapture Part 7 of 12

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Chuck Missler: The Rapture Part 8 of 12

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Chuck Missler: The Rapture Part 9 of 12

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Chuck Missler: The Rapture Part 10 of 12

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Chuck Missler: The Rapture Part 11 of 12

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Chuck Missler: The Rapture Part 12 of 12

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Missler ☆ 6 hrs in Eternity. 1of 2

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Chuck Missler on the endtime's part 2

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Chuck Missler on the endtime's part 3

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Chuck Missler on the endtime's part 4

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Chuck Missler on the endtime's part 5

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Chuck Missler on the endtime's part 6

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Chuck Missler on the endtime's part 7

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The Rapture Horror

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King of the North / Bible Prophecy

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But Most Important To Me, Above "Everything Else On This Planet" It Is This:

I am a Born Again Christian and I love the Lord Jesus Christ above Everything Else and I confess to Everyone who reads this, that Jesus Christ is God and that He Is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Born of a Virgin, died on the cross for the sins of the whole human race. But after three days, He rose from the dead and accended into Heaven. He will be returning soon and like no other period in time, Bible Prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes.

Friend, If you were to die today, do you know for sure you would go to Heaven? You can! Jesus died on the cross for you and offers eternal life to anyone who will accept his free gift of salvation.

But the question is: If Jesus was to come today, would you be ready?

Do You Know God? By Pastor Greg Laurie view link

THE END

I pray almost everyday, NOT to be left behind, and I ask for any unseen/unknown sin I may have committed to be coverd wholly by Jesus Blood. Ruth/Wisdomseeker P.S. And am NOT Ashamed to speak His name. Please keep my children in your prayes too.

I will do that and thank you for looking at my bible prophecy Report.

Being "ambassadors for Christ" with "the gospel of Christ" is one of the operations of God in this present dispensation in which we are privileged to labor together with God as His "sons." As "ambassadors" we have the distinct privilege to represent God in connection with the proclamation of His gospel. He has put us in trust with His gospel, with the result that when we proclaim it to others and deal with them about what it says, we truly ‘labor with God’ in its effectual working. In accordance with this Paul says to the Corinthians,…

20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (II Corinthians 5:20–21)

Hence being "ambassadors for Christ" we indeed do represent God. As Paul says, when we faithfully preach "the gospel of Christ" it is "as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God." So then as the "sons" that we are, (who should be eager to be laboring together with our Father in His business), we should deeply appreciate the opportunity we have to labor with God in evangelism as "ambassadors for Christ." We should neither ignore nor neglect this "grace." Instead we should be zealous to so labor together with God, not only because of the "grace" that it is, but also because of gratitude. Wherefore Paul also goes on to say to the Corinthians,…

1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (II Corinthians 6:1–2)

However as it was with many of the Corinthians, so is it with many of us today. We actually do receive this "grace of God in vain." We do not labor together with God as "ambassadors for Christ." We either ignore this "grace," or we neglect it, or at best we are not very zealous for it.

Now there can be more than one reason for this. However there is one particular reason that often accounts for more cases of ‘reluctant ambassadorship,’ or ‘non-existent ambassadorship,’ than any other. And that reason is shame — being ashamed to talk to others about "the gospel of Christ" and hence being ashamed to be an ambassador for Christ. This was the case with a number of the Corinthian saints, and sadly it is also the case with many of us today.

When we are ones who are ashamed to fulfill our ambassadorship, we know deep down inside that this is exactly what we are. We may try to convince ourselves otherwise, or assign the cause for our reluctance to something else. However no amount of denial ever succeeds. We know that whatever reasons we may come up with for not witnessing, the bottom line remains unchanged — we are ashamed to talk to other people about "the gospel of Christ." We are embarrassed to do so, not wanting them to think ill of us, or to make fun of us, or to respond in any way that does not reflect well on us. Shame and embarrassment hold sway over us, and we know it.
So I make sure where ever I go, I share. God Bless!

Jerry

Dear Jerry... you have been one busy man... and as usual... a "WHOLE" lot of words... there is a song that goes..."Little is much when God is in it.." Most of us have been in studies concerning the 2nd coming of our Lord & Savior.. Jesus Christ.. I am blessed to be called "One of His"... each one of us have a "mission" to tend to... yours is this.! Good job! Even if just one person would come to know the Lord as their personal Savior through all that you have written & said... then you have done what you were to do..

Now... since you have invited us into your office ..so to speak... I'd like to ask a question..
"why do you have a mask or whatever it is of an alien"..?? that is confusing..especially since you are to be a witness for the Lord.... not judging... I'd just like to know..
We all need to be careful... not to push someone over the "edge" .. only God knows everyone's heart... some people can not take what you & others are putting up.. not everyone can understand the simple Word of God...
**
Jesus answered, "I am the way. I am the truth and the life. The only way to the Father is through me. If you really knew me, then you would know my Father too. ...John 14:4-7
Blessings...Jerry

Every one! That little guy in the background was from a Candy container that had suckers I liked and when it was empty, it was given to me. I do not believe in little green men, It is all in fun!! So don't read into it any more than that!
I like Star wars too but I don't believe in the Death Star either!

It is Fixed! No Little Green Man!
I like to think I have a sense of humor.

By the way, there is life out there in space! Yes there is! The bible says that that area belongs to Satan and demons, but there are three heavens, the third is the God dwelling Heaven where the angels of God are, and we too will be someday. But for the record everyone!

"There is no little Green Men in space and I do not believe in UFO's!

So, lets discuss the content here, We are living in the last days and everything that has had to be fulfilled before the return of christ has happened, or is being fulfilled now. The gospel has reached the whole world because of telecommunications, and the internet and missionaries around the world, the charts above show the signs so what do all of you think about that?
Should we get excited? YES!

Hey Everyone....I never thought about this until now.... but When the "Rapture" happens and millions of people suddenly disappear, what do you think they will say?

Have you noticed that UFO sightings have been on the rise? Look at the rise in movies about people from other planets, movies like.... well you can name many I am sure. Satan is the prince of the air and can be transformed into an angel of light. There are many in theological thought who believe that when millions disappear suddenly, 1. there will be world wide panic, 2. those who do not believe in God, will claim that they were taken away...... So in reality, the little green guy I had in the other picture, actually does in deed remind us of a worthy discussion right?

Hi Jerry, You have put alot of work into this blog. It is your thoughts aboutthe coming of the last days on this planet as we know it. No one but God knows the time. To Him a thousand years is like the blink of the eye.Someplace in the Bible , it says that when the entire earth has heard the Word of God, then He will come again. To judge the living and the dead. Every generation has had wars and rumor of wars and earthquakes, floods and always the poor are with us. Sally

Actually, God Commands us to know when it is at the door for his return because he gave us signs. Yes, we do not know the Day, or the hour, but there are 7 signs that had to be fulfilled before He returns and all 7 have been fulfilled. Check out the chart on the web page on the right lower section. 1. The Jewish Nation had to be reborn FULFILLED, 2 The rebirth of the revived Roman Empire (Common Market), FULFILLED, 3. Instant World Wide communications, FULFILLED, 4. The rise of Gog and Magog FULFILLED, 5. The ability for the human race to wipe out the whole Planet Earth to dust in space, FULFILLED, (Nuclear Weapons), 6. The rise of the United States and England, and 7. The preaching of the gospel to the whole World. That has only been able through SatCOM above the Earth, Internet, and the ability to travel throughout the world along with instant TV world-Wide.

And remember, these prophecies were predicted thousands of years ago and all of them are right on. And we see the increase of Wars, Sickness by deadly bugs, Earthquakes, signs in the skies...etc....

For people who know Jesus as Lord, these are exciting times to live in!

Many of the signs mentioned have been with us a long time, But Remember when you see the budding of the fig tree (Israel) that generation will not pass until all things are fulfilled. In the last days the signs will get worst. Look each up and see how much they have increased in just the last 20 years!

IT WAS MENTIONED BY ONE HERE:

some people can not take what you & others are putting up.. not everyone can understand the simple Word of God...
**
Jesus answered, "I am the way. I am the truth and the life. The only way to the Father is through me. If you really knew me, then you would know my Father too. ...John 14:4-7

That is true, No one can understand the bible unless the Holy Spirit opens it up to them and their eyes are opened. But Is it up to me to decide that? NO! I am being faithful in sharing with all of you and I leave the scriptures and message to the work of the Holy Spirit.

If you have been reading this and you were blessed, let me know.

I LIKE THIS T-SHIRT THE BEST!

ANY QUESTIONS YOU NEED ANSWERED? Don't know everything but if I can answer your questions I will.

Jerry all very true...
your blog has too many extra postings though, most people would give up before they reach the bottom.
try answering their questions and statements in a new blog or a direct PM.
Well that is what I do anyway.
JH