Sunday, July 5, 2009

Ark of the Covenant - Purpose

Hold on to your hat! Here comes one of the most, incredible stories of ancient technology, which ranks alongside the use of atomic forces and the 'Lost Chord'. Needless to say the editors of Scientific American who denied the Wright brothers had achieved airborne flight for months after Kitty Hawk won't or wouldn't believe this 'doozy'. I think it is a very good explanation that is part of something even more fantastic which explains the existence of accurate maps from over ten thousand years ago. But I also think these maps might have been the work of Mungo Man or the De Danaan they worked with.

The other possibility that would explain their existence relates to Lhasa and a spacecraft which Churchward as well as Bruggers The Chronicles of Akakor recounts from such things as the Lhasa Record which may only exist in the Akashic. If you have a better explanation I'd like to hear from you. Is it not important to explain such proven anomalies? Especially when they integrate with things we don't want to admit about man's far more advanced nature in ancient times. If we have blown each other apart before or created hyperviruses such as what killed the Mammoth (A current research underway by the American Museum of Natural History thinks it can be proven such a virus killed many large animals and that humans were the carrier.); does it warrant asking our leaders if they knew these things or why they didn't tell us? We are certain that our knowledge is not exclusive or even complete in these matters. Yet perhaps few people know how many disciplines and areas of how lives are under such oppressive control.

The maps themselves are dealt with under the Portolan Maps entry in greater detail and at this point we think it relevant to our discussion of the ARK to bring the Pyramid into the possibility of advanced prior civilizations on earth. Michael Bradley is a map expert and a good scholar whose work we have quoted before.

"Centre of the Earth's Land Mass, etc.

This is an important concept and I will explain to the best of my ability. It will be easier to appreciate somewhat better the truly significant placement of the Giza complex.

First let's consider two squares. One is 100 square units (miles, kilometres, or whatever) in area, the other twice as large, 200 square units in area.

{He illustrates two squares with pyramids on top from an overhead perspective with a line connecting the centre points or apex of the pyramids. Under the smaller square are 10 units and under the larger square is the figure 14.85 units. The 100 and 200 unit figures as mentioned are further repeated further under these two squares.}

We will find their respective centres by drawing diagonals. Where the diagonals intersect is the centre of each square. Together, these squares represent three units of the largest common denominator--100 square miles. So we'll draw a line, divided equally into three parts, between the centres of the two squares. Since one square is twice the size of the other, we will mark off two of the equal parts towards the larger square. This is the centre of their combined areas, given their distance apart. If they were closer together, or further apart, the point would fall elsewhere. Please note that this point is above the centre of the small square but below the centre of the larger one. It is a true geometric centre of the two areas that are separated by this given and arbitrary distance.

It is possible to ascertain the area of an irregular shape, although it is much more difficult to do than using squares.

The largest continent, Eurasia, happens to be about twice the land area of the American continents. These continents are separated by oceans. One can divide the separation into three equal parts, just as above, and find the 'centre of these two land masses.'

Taking this point, we can calculate Africa into the picture the same way. Africa is about 25% the area of Eurasia and the Americas combined. Therefore, the distance from Africa's geographic centre to the Eurasia-Americas' centre will be divided into five equal parts (i.e. the '4' represented by Eurasia-Americas, and the '1'(25%) represented by Africa's area). Marking off four of these five divisions towards the Eurasia-Americas centre, since this centre represents a combined land mass four times as large as Africa, will yield a new point, which is geometric, in this case 'geographic', centre of Eurasia-Americas-Africa combined. If we continue this process with the remaining large and small land masses--Antarctica, Australia, Greenland, New Guinea, Java, Sumatra, etc. --we will eventually arrive at a 'centre of the earth's land masses.' It will be as accurate as our method, plus the arbitrary inclusion of ever smaller islands, will make it.

A meticulous calculation of such a 'centre' will result in a point directly on the meridian (longitude) of the Great Pyramid but 6' (minutes) south of the Great Pyramid--but there's only sand in that location. The Giza Plateau is the first solid bedrock on the correct meridian {And Archaeology Magazine had the temerity to suggest the builders were merely imitating natural landforms with the Sphinx and Pyramid in last months issue.}. It is 6' in error from the true centre.

Sixty seconds of 101.3 English feet = l' (minute) of arc, 6080 feet on the equator = 1 nautical mile, whereas one 'common' or 'highway' ('statute') mile equals 5280 English feet. A nautical 'knot' is one nautical mile (6080 English feet) per hour of time; it is a unit of speed measurement, not of static distance.

Sixty minutes = 1 degree of arc, or 60 nautical miles at the equator. The Earth's equatorial circumference contains 360 degrees or 21,600 nautical miles = 24,872.73 common or statute miles.

All this sounds deceptively precise! In fact, of course, standardization of the length of the English foot, and therefore of seconds, minutes and degrees of arc, was not accomplished until the 1750s--and the size of the Earth was not measured correctly at that time. Just as the French Academy made an error in fixing the length of the metre, which was supposed to be one ten-millionth part of the surface distance from the Earth's equator to either pole, because they couldn't measure the Earth accurately, so also the British Admiralty made inaccurate geographic measures. Nonetheless, these measures remain accurate enough for most practical purposes. Nowadays, units of measure are fixed by correlation to electromagnetic wave-lengths {Could the ancients have been able to attune with Gaia's earth energy grid and send signals along it to record the time taken for a bounce back or echo?}. Since 1966, for example, the metre has been fixed as a division of the wave-length of Krypton 86.

A glance at the U. S. A. F. 'Azimuthal Equidistant Projection' Map of the world {see illustration in our section} will show that it is centred 'near Cairo'--i.e., at the centre of the earth's land masses, as calculated above, and precisely on the meridian of the Great Pyramid-- but 36,480 English feet south of the Great Pyramid at the true centre, which falls in an area of sand. A property of Azimuthal Equidistant Projection is that a circle drawn around any given point will have a circumference incorporating points of geography that are truly equidistant from the centre of the circle--the airplane or ship. This is not the case with large-scale maps drawn on the common Mercator projection {John Dee studied with Mercator and achieved high status in this field.}, which gives accurate longitudes and latitudes of all geography but must distort the polar regions in order to do so. It is also not the case with the Phillips projection, used by the UN, which shows the land area of countries in true proportion to each other but must distort the longitudes and latitudes near the equator in order to do so. These distortions arise from the problem of transferring the curved surface of a spherical Earth onto a flat piece of paper--the best that can be done is to know, and to choose, the kind of distortion that best serves any given need.

The location of the Great Pyramid at the centre of the Earth's land masses, unless it is truly a coincidence, implies the following. First, its builders knew the geography and size of the Earth quite accurately because they could not otherwise calculate the correct centre of land - masses. Second, they chose Egypt because the centre is there {It would be quite coincidental that they were Egyptian as well.}, and this means that Ancient Egyptian civilization may have arisen because of lingering cultural influences as well as because of the supposed advantages conferred by the Nile. Third, the three pyramids of the Giza complex, including the Sphinx, were built by someone other than the Ancient Egyptians--unless we are willing to grant them advanced knowledge as well--but then we must contend with the various correlations at Giza that all point to 10,500 B.C. as the origin of the Giza complex {I'll grant this date or 2,000 years later for the Sphinx, as well as the whole complex being designed at this time. I believe the capstones were used before the final Pyramids were constructed. It would appear there were other pyramids built to imitate this 'GREAT' pyramid. The issue of the Brazilian pyramids is yet to be determined, and it is possible they are even more 'fantastic'.}. Either the three pyramids and the Sphinx were built by an unknown culture long before the beginnings of Ancient Egypt, now dated as about 3200 B.C., or the Egyptians themselves have a much longer history than we think." (13)

Clearly there are many entries this impinges upon that we continue to develop. Before making another brief quote from his notes and then moving on to the ARK (An arc-transmitter that allowed large ships to send information back to the Pyramid for the mapping purposes.), I should address some other correlations with the Phoenician Pythagoras and his studies of the Pyramid. Some authors note the nautilus sea creature has a natural configuration of the mathematical concept or construct known as 'phi'. This is encapsulated in the Great Pyramid with its two complete tetrahedra. (Read Bucky Fuller's COSMOGONY or SYNERGISTICS for further insight.). Thales also had a Phoenician parent and he is credited by the Hellenizing Empire as the father of all sciences, but he studied the Pyramid and learned much about his limited knowledge from it. We have (and continue) shown the DNN of Homer and the Dana worshipping Scythians, Kelts and Iberian/Basque and Berbers are part of the Phoenician 'Brotherhood' that greatly pre-dates Pythagoras' 'brother- hood' or any Therapeutae and Great White Brotherhood. We are sure Churchward's Mu and the Mungo Man are connected with this conglomerate which will lead to Harappan and Easter Island connections to Kelts and many other enterprises from the Grand Canyon to the Great Wall.

"Pi is the ratio of a circle's diameter to its circumference, 1:3.14 or 7:22. Phi is the ratio of a line divided so that the length of the shorter segment bears the same relationship to the length of the longer segment as the longer segment bears to the whole undivided line, 1:1.618. This 'Phi' is sometimes called 'The Golden Section' {Key Masonic concept attributed to Pythagoras.} because there's something inaffably pleasing about the ratio. It was used by many Renaissance artists such as Poussin {Bradley shows how his art incorporated scenes and people of import and coded to give knowledge of when the family of Jesus or Merovingians were safely settled in places like Montreal and one might think another artist did the same when they were in America long before Columbus at Kingston where he has geologic core samples to show European influence.}, Michelangelo and da Vinci {An alchemist like his mentor - check 'The Dictionary of Alchemy' by Mark Haeffner.}; it occurs in abstract mathematics, as in the Fibonacci Series of numerical progression; it occurs frequently in nature, for example in the successive length of segments of the chambered nautilus." (14)

When I made my brief interruption earlier in reference to attunement with the earth energy grid and 'echoes' I was not being facetious. The vision Napoleon saw in the King's Chamber may relate to this through a time portal not unlike the 'Stone' that Michel de Nostradamus (who grew up near Rennes le Chateau) was able to glimpse the confusing potentials of the unsubstantial future we can change through creative, purposeful and FREE WILL. The kings chamber and the delta wave forms that a pyramid creates are part of the time structure and helical nature thereof (according to Al Bielek who has a time machine which a friend of mine has seen - more later). The possibility of what Bradley is about to say may have seemed even more likely than what I just wrote until the NEC labs at Princeton demonstrated 300X light speed last year (2001).

Author of Diverse Druids
Columnist for The ES Press Magzine
Guest 'expert' at World-Mysteries.com

Save the World

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come." (2 Timothy 3:1) The word perilous means dangerous or exposure to the risk of being injured, destroyed, or lost. The rest of the verses express where most of the danger shall come from and also the reason for the promised peril that shall come. "For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." (2 Timothy 3:2-5) In a society where morality is placed on the back burner anything goes. A philosophy such as do as you will or do what thou will this shall be the whole law was made famous by a known Satanist and founder of the church of satan Aleister Crowley. A world where everyone feels free to do as he or she pleases is a disastrous world where ruin is certain. In a world that does what it feels like there are no rules. What if I feel like murdering someone or raping someone under these philosophies it is perfectly ok? In fact to live by such rules is truly to declare yourself to be God because you are governed by you. Yet, the bible expressly declares that in the last day's mankind will go so far from God that they will bring peril upon themselves and this whole world. Jesus Christ speaking of the last days said "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." (Matthew 24:11-12) A world without love, a world where people are selfish and self driven.

Was it not satan that invented the it's all about me theology. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." (Isaiah 14:12-15) When satan was cast down to earth In the record of the fall of man did he not preach this same it's all about me theology to Eve "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."(Genesis 3:4-5) Not, much has changed satan is still trying to convince every man and woman that they could be there own god just as he tried to become his own god. Even so much to impose the philosophy of I can do whatever I want God knows my heart. How many times has this been quoted by people to justify their own sin. When God says "no" how can we say God understands, his ways are his ways and we should do are best to keep them (through the power of the Holy Spirit). We should not simply go out of are way to do wrong or continue in our sins simply because it feels good to us. We should seek repentance just as the first words Christ preached "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 4:17) A life in God shows the power of God and that power is for God to transform that life. It is always not easy for us to do right but we should do our best to do what God says. For surely if God knows our heart shouldn't we know his heart and his will.

With the knowledge of this danger that is sure to come; the human heart has a unique need to be saved. After all we do all we can do to live so we eat, visit the doctors, we exercise, we drink water, we avoid poverty at all cost, we even seek pleasure to avoid boredom. There is something inside mankind that always drives us towards self preservation and man will almost always choose peace over suffering. The internal desire is another evidence of the need for the salvation of God. Hollywood has always created it's heroes that would soon come and save the world from ruin. When the truth is that this world can't be saved by man nor superheroes it actually will be destroyed according to 2 Peter 3:9-10 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." It is a promise of God that this world shall be destroyed but be of good cheer because although this world will die the people in it can be saved. "Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world."(John 12:44-47)

What I fear most is that mankind doesn't take the claims of God to be serious or urgent. We should always see the urgency in what God is saying to us. There are a lot of dangerous and very disastrous events that are taking place right now and will take place in the future. We always look to the coming of Christ as being light years ahead of us, but as God said we should not be slack according to his promise that he will destroy this world. Of the last days the scriptures testify in Matthew 24:3-7 "And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 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. 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: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." Many have came to this earth and claimed to be Christ all the way back to before Jesus time on earth. Most Recently we have seen Jim Jones, Charles Manson, Jose Luis De Miranda, Sun Myung Moon, Billy Meir and others. These men have led many into destruction, just as Christ has spoken. When we speak of wars and rumours of wars how many years in your own personal life can you look back to a time where there was not war going on in the earth? How many years can you remember when there was not a talk about a war? All throughout history we discover war after war and this is the work of mankind. We see nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom everyday. Whole nations of people that hate other nations of people simply because of land disputes, color of skin, and customs. Famines in the land just in 2008 Myanmar, the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan, East Africa, and Bangladesh all suffer from food crisis while the rest of the nations over eat. Pestilence the world has many infectious diseases that cause death, most recently Aids, bird flu, flesh eating virus, malaria, cancer, and sars. Earthquakes have shaken many places of this world most recently China and Central Asia. This information lets us know that all things have been checked off and the reason Jesus gave these examples is to let you know that we really don't know when he is coming. The world will be going on business as usual so we should always be ready for his return.

The beauty of the situation is God knows we have a basic need for salvation. We have a human desire for peace, and quality of life. We all want to live forever and not suffer forever. What we really are looking for is hope and not hope that a man can bring. Not the promise of man's change or what man can fix, but hope that God will save us from this wretched world and the disaster of mankind's errors. "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;" (Titus1:2) That is a promise that I could believe in, because unlike mankind God cannot lie. He promised salvation and we should expect nothing less. He promised to give us this gift we should expect nothing less. I challenge you to put your hope in something you can't see right now but will see in the future. The promise that God who cannot lie gave to us SALVATION!!!!!

"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." -1 John 2:1-2

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Daniel's 70 Weeks and the Antichrist

In a detailed study of the "70 weeks" of Daniel (chapter 9),one thing emerges right away. The seventieth "seven" (week) does not immediately follow the sixty-ninth. Verse 27 speaks of an end to sacrifice and offering. We know for certain that when Daniel speaks of this happening, he is speaking of the end time, not of Antiochus of old. We have Gabriel's word on that in chapter 8. But now we have Daniel himself admitting that this does not occur until Jesus is killed, some 200 years after Antiochus!

We have a problem of a different sort if we try to attach this verse to the Romans of A.D. 70. The Spirit says there are 490 years, and that after 490 years, the Millennium begins, sin is gone, etc. Those who try to stop the "clock" at Jesus (as they should) but start it up again with Titus (A.D.70), will find that the clock runs out in A.D. 77, with no return of Christ. That was the dilemma of thinking back in those days, when Jesus did not come, though the "abomination" had surely occurred. They thought.

In fact, the only place to put a final "week" or seven years, is in the end of history. But that is done easily enough, because that is where Jesus places the event of the end of sacrifices, and the following abomination and desolations that verse 27 mentions.

Ultimately, this series of events we are studying does not end with the abomination, the desolations, the end of sacrifices, the surrounding of the city, the army. All of this is present, but my question has to do with the man. In verse 26 there is one called "the prince who is to come." This same one seems to be referred to in 27, as "he" and "one who makes desolate."

I cannot prove here that all three of these persons are one. But I think they are. The coming "prince" seems to be the dictator over a revived Roman Empire, the final form of the beast seen by Daniel and John. He makes a treaty with the Jewish people that lasts for one week (27a), or seven years. This same person who made the treaty will break it (27b) half-way through. That's about three and one half years later, leaving another three and one half years for judgment and chaos, the Great Tribulation. It is this three and one half year period that is mentioned in Daniel and Revelation as Earth's final time.

The prince thus starts the "clock" of Judaism ticking again. No matter that Jewish sacrifices cannot take away sin. They never could. They pointed to Christ. They will still point to Him. No matter that God is not commanding a Temple be built. The Jewish people will be like Israel of old, seeking to go to the Promised Land after God has already pronounced judgment. They will be given seven years to play all of this out, a new Temple, revived worship in the Jewish way, world-wide prominence, even peace for a time. But only a short time. Then the reversal, followed by what Daniel seems to be calling an outpouring of judgment . He uses the word consummation, and "poured out", reminding us of the bowl judgments of the book of Revelation, chapter 16. And he pinpoints the "one who makes desolate." Notice here it is not referred to in the neuter sense. Not a "thing" placed in the Temple, but a man.

It is said this man will be on the "wing" of abominations (9:27). The old King James used the word "overspreading," but that word would be a very uncommon usage of the Hebrew "kawnawf". "Wing", as in a bird, is a common usage of that word in Scripture. It can even refer to angels' wings. I was a bit taken aback as I searched further and found that it is the wings of cherubim (man-made) that sit above the Ark of the Covenant, and are a part of the "mercy seat" Moses was commanded to make. According to Exodus 25:22, God ordained that this would be the special place where he would speak with his man, between the two overspreading wings of the cherubim. Here God would actually appear "in the cloud above the mercy seat" (Exodus 16:2). Is it possible that when the Jews put together this magnificent structure again that they will create once more the "mercy seat" in all its detail? And will the one who is so jealous of our God decide to sit there and mock His Holy Name before the world? Could this be the "wings" of abomination?

Be that as it may, the clock of old Jewishness ends when the final earthly-satanic messiah is cast into the Lake of Fire and Christ's true Judaism is set up in the Holy City. Soon perhaps will come one who will announce to the world that the clock of Israel is about to begin its last workings.

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.

Thoughts on Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ

Movie-going for Christians has always been a bit controversial. Should we avoid them altogether or take them in moderation? Should we carefully choose or sample all kinds? Do they truly add to us or take away? Are they a complete waste of time in a world where people are dying outside Christ?

And religious movies! Biblical films, to be exact. How proper is it to attempt to portray Deity? Many holy men and women of God resolutely resist viewing anything so blasphemous as a human representing Jesus Christ. Why, they say, how does this differ from Popery? Is it not forbidden by Moses himself?

I understand the conflict in all of the above, and have wrestled with issues concerning the media all my life. Without entering into the fray at present, I can say this much about some movies, whether or not I should have allowed myself to see them:

It was during a viewing of the Billy Graham film Shadow of the Boomerang , listening to Billy's preaching, when I first truly experienced the forgiveness of Christ, becoming fully aware of my wretched condition. Now it was the preached word that saved me. Going to a Billy Graham Crusade would have had the same effect. But I can't deny that it was the movie that got my attention.

Among other things, Graham's The Hiding Place motivated me to seek out and help those suffering in persecuted countries. Perhaps the other things would have been enough, but it was the movie that built the fire.

My wife and I both remember childhood viewings of Ben Hur and that last scene where the blood of Jesus is seen mingling with the rain and symbolically touching the lives of mankind. We were not theologically seasoned in those days, but a truth of Scripture found its way into our hearts through General Wallace's tale of the Christ. Yes, we could have read the book. But we didn't. We saw a movie.

Even The Sound of Music had a way of refreshing me and making me want to serve the Lord more, though in those days I had no educated idea of the dangers of Romanism.

The Jesus Movie is used around the world and reportedly is instrumental in bringing untold numbers of people to Christ. I found the movie somewhat refreshing if not perfectly accurate in all places.

I hope I make the point here, that in many lives, though perhaps God would have preferred simple presentations of the Gospel through preaching or personal testimony, nevertheless, "Christ is preached." And we must rejoice over every soul that comes to God.

The Mel Gibson case before us is somewhat in the same genre. Many will come to know Christ, or at least of Him. Questions will be raised. The true ministry can be performed after the movie, and servants of Christ should be at the ready for this unique opportunity. It still could be argued that our God would prefer the method He taught us, but one cannot disagree with persons using what is in their hand to glorify Christ. May Christ be uplifted in all things. And may all of us find our way to lift up Jesus in our world.

Why the controversy, then? What needs to be added to the above? If a project is being undertaken for God's glory and God gets that glory, can we not be content?

I would suggest that many things are attempted in our world and have been in every century, for the glory of God, and one way or another God got what He wanted from them, but to put His stamp of approval on these things would be to miss the mark. The Promise Keepers organization comes to mind. Many friendships in Christ were created. Many came to Christ. Christ was uplifted in the media. But then came those after-meetings of which we began to hear, where grown Christian men were sitting around and discussing their sex lives. Then the realization that there were strong ties to Romanist influence in the entire venture.

Similar issues arise in the movie project known as The Passion of Christ. With all the good stated above, there are several very serious problems with this multi-million dollar cinema. I pray that my readers will patiently and prayerfully examine the evidence regarding this and other Christian projects before selling out to what seems to be the inevitable.

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. I have created over 200 blogs and the site features a live news feed, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosen together! Contact me any time at diakonos5@yahoo.com

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. I love to write Scriptural works. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond.

Honest Opinion on God

What Or Who Is Holding Back Antichrist?

Daniel and Paul said a lot of things in common about antichrist. But Paul adds a few very important facts from the revelations given him personally.

First he indicates the difference between what men like Antiochus Epiphanes and Titus did, historically, and what antichrist will do. He claims that antichrist will profane an end- time temple, not by placing an idol in it, not by offering a pig at its altars, but by entering that holy structure himself and proclaiming to the world that he is the God of Israel! He will claim to be God in the flesh!

Paul jumps from that astounding fact to the fact that the Thessalonians should now know (since he visited them and told them, or because of something he just shared) what is holding back the rise of antichrist. If they should know, perhaps we should know too. This is not meant to be a secret. Yet this passage is under contention in most church circles that discuss it. It is as though they too have unwittingly entered into the mystery of the "holding back" of information, as Daniel was told to do in Daniel 12, so that the information would not be lost on persons who did not need it. The more our "scholars" try to unlock these verses, the more bound they become!

The prevalent view is that the one "holding back" or restraining the antichrist and thus Christ's return, is the Holy Spirit. The teaching goes that when the Spirit, which lives in the church, rises with the church and out of the world, before antichrist and before the tribulation, to a safe place in Heaven, then antichrist, who has been waiting for this very thing, is now free to do whatever he wants! He will then rise to power.

Does not compute.

1. The Spirit's presence is not confined to the church. Remember in your own life how the Spirit came from outside of you to the inside of you to bring you to Christ? Before you were in Christ, the Spirit was working with you.

2. The Bible already says that there will be a falling away of truth and righteousness to allow for his rise. It is not the removal of bodies but the removal of faith that gives antichrist the nod in any generation. The Bible gives several examples of Satan fully working his work on the earth, with God's permission, and the Holy Spirit still here. His work on Job and Jesus are two glaring examples. Satan does not need the Spirit's removal, only the Spirit's permission, to do his own evil will on earth.

3. Without the Spirit in the earth, how can those be saved who will indeed come to Christ during the Tribulation period? All of those who contend for a pre-tribulation rapture agree that there are indeed saints here during that evil time, but they refuse to allow that they are part of the Body of Christ, the Church! If they are "saints", holy ones, they had to be saved by the Holy Spirit.

I believe that the concept of "restraining" is not all that complicated. In fact John the revelator gives us a classic example in Revelation 9. There, an angel is given a key to the Bottomless Pit. When the key is used, there is unleashed on earth a plague of "locusts". We are told later that it is out of this same Pit that will come "the beast." Cannot we assume that a similar angel is now restraining this beast, and that at a command from Jesus he will open that Pit once more, and free the one who is now being restrained there?

Another key example is back in the book of Daniel (10-11), where Gabriel tells Daniel that he can only stay a short time because he has to get back into the heavenlies to help Michael fight with the demon spirits of Persia and Greece. Angels under God's direction are restraining world powers all the time, so that everything is done at "the appointed time."

I believe that he who now restrains, using Paul's language (2:7), is indeed an angelic force keeping antichrist in place until the exactly correct time. When the angel is told to step aside ("he is taken out of the way", 2:7) the lawless one will be revealed.

That tells us that the lawless one was being held prisoner in Paul's day (he who now restrains, 2:7). This fact alone rules out the possibility that the coming seventh world emperor, still future in Paul's day and ours, will be "killed with the sword" and rise again as antichrist immediately. Besides that, Daniel 9 confirms that it is the "prince" who both makes and breaks the covenant with Israel. Thus he must reign the full seven years of the period, not split it with that other emperor.

Paul shows us, further, what is revealed by John about how antichrist will surface as a world leader. It seems that every step will be prefaced by a lying wonder or miracle. The part of the world that does not know the true God will have no choice but to believe that this man is God.

So antichrist lives somewhere now, in the netherworld under angelic supervision. When the time is right, he will come to power and fulfill in detail every word of God.

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Lord, Start This Thing!

On the 13th of September, just a couple of weeks ago, Chicagoland gets the rain of all rains for this area. Of course that means the rain of all rains since they started recording rainfalls. There were no weathermen measuring such things in Noah's day. We have to take by faith that that was the real record-setter. But this one feels like a close second. No scary thunder and lightning. No heavy threatening winds. Just drop after drop of ceaseless moisture. An incredible day.

Our house holds up pretty well. The day after the rain, I notice that people on our street are literally emptying their basements and setting it all out for the garbage. We lose only a couple of area rugs.

I first notice we have a problem when I 'm in the washroom. From somewhere across the basement there is a drip-drip-drip . Then that sinking feeling. Oh no. We've sprung a leak. Water is seeping in in small amounts and slowly directing itself to a drain made for that purpose. Not bad. We can live with that.

It occurs to me that I ought to check the sump pump in our crawl space. I open the door, and there in all its glory is most of Lake Michigan, with the rest on the way. Or so it feels to me. I don my flood control outfit and crawl over to where I can take a look. The pump is dead. And buried. In water. I am definitely going to have to change socks later.

I unplug the pump and begin a wrestling match with it. I want to get it out of there so I can take it to the store and replace it. But nothing doing. The ejection pipe to which it is attached is situated in such a way that I can't move it out of its final resting place.

Meanwhile my wife is on the phone calling contractors, who are telling me what needs to be done, but unable to come help because they're suffering a deluge of a different kind: phone calls for help. After more struggling, and hearing the price quotes on a new pump, I finally take it to the Lord.

"Lord, start this thing." Not even an exclamation mark. Just your basic cry motivated from pure exhausted desperation.

And God really does it. I am motionless, I've given up. I stop. I pray. And within a few seconds, I hear something. Oh me of little faith calls out to the wife, "Did you turn the furnace on?"

She hasn't. It's the pump. I tell her it's running. She cries. I sit down and watch the most beautiful hole in all of Chicago slowly empty itself of gallon after gallon of water.

On and on it goes, until it gets to the bottom. Then that sound Junior gets when his straw reaches the end of the glass and there just isn't any more. Now what do I do?

Hey! Why not the same thing? I start to pray for it to shut off, but that doesn't happen. Even if it would, I'd have to be praying for the initial miracle to repeat itself and so on and on. It is time for me actually to learn something.

I see the switch laying out on the dry ground. Through some playing with it, and a few other purely human activities, I finally put this once-dead pump into full gear. It's been running fine ever since.

Now this is the day that I am to be carefully preparing for my first Voice Of The Martyrs presentation on Sunday. Also on Sunday I am to be starting the book of Job with my Korean students. I've planned a calm easy afternoon shut away by myself, praying, listening, reading... Instead Niagara Falls and a wrestling match. About four and a half hours of trauma.

Plenty to learn on a day like that. God still works miracles when needed. God still refuses miracles when not needed. God "gives to each day what he deems best." And the best preparation for the ministry is life itself.

Look for Bob Faulkner's home page on http://sermonaudio.com There you will find a combination of love for the Scriptures and a desire for North Korean believers to have their needs met. There are nearly 300 blogs , ovber 200 Bible teaching MP3's, lists of resources, NK picture albums, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together! Contact me any time at diakonos3@gmail.com.

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Would love to fellowship with believers who respond .