The Twelve Apostates

Did you ever stop to consider the fact that the twelve apostles were, in fact, twelve apostates, as viewed by the religious leaders of the day?

Of course, one of them was not, showing his true colours in the betrayal of God Himself.  Funny, innit?  It was the one who was NOT apostate who betrayed the Lord.

Just thought I would mention that in passing... just as a reminder that it is very dangerous to judge people on the basis of human standards.  Better not to judge people at all.  Judge only clear and obvious sin by avoiding it even unto death.

As an old French proverb I read somewhere says, "There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience."

Sleep well, my friends.

;-)

Goodbye, Great Eagle

On the 10th of February of this year, I saw something in the sky above my house that, originally, I was not going to mention but, now that I can see what is happening, I decided that it merited comment.  Normally I ignore things of this nature since too many people "see" things that, when I look at what they see, I see nothing special.  In most cases it is just that most people have led their lives ignoring their surroundings and only now that others are waking them up they begin to "see things" everywhere that they think are extraordinary but really are very ordinary.  On the very odd occasion there is something truly unusual but such things are very rare.  However, this is one of those rare occasions that I could not ignore.

Unfortunately, despite wishing I had photographs to document what I saw, I did not have any kind of camera with me at the time and had I gone to get one, by the time I had it ready, the event would have passed.  So, I have to just tell you what I saw and let you decide for yourself whether or not you believe me.  I documented it at the time so I have kept a good record (as is second nature due to my long engineering career).  Just bear in mind that I am usually inherently skeptical with regards to attributing any meaning to this kind of thing because, as mentioned, most people making claims such as these make mountains out of non-existent mole-hills (YouTube is brimming with such madness).  As an engineer with a very strongly scientific background, I tend to approach everything in a very logical and fact-driven manner.

Nevertheles, this was something distinctly unusual, rare, even difficult to believe despite seeing it with my own eyes.  Here is the account of what happened.

I stepped outside into my back yard, looked up into the sky and saw three startling and well-defined clouds, together in a tight-knit group but of substantial size, that slowly came from the west.  They virtually stopped overhead, above my house on the hill.  There were a few other faint clouds nearby but plenty of blue sky in between and all around.  Two of the group of three clouds were perfect images of eagle wings, left and right, perfectly placed relative to each other, with perfect symmetry and clearly depicted flight feathers, and in the space between the two wings was the clear image of the head of an eagle, both the head and the neck, but it was fading.  The image of the eagle was oriented such that it appeared as if it was in flight towards the north east.  Startled by what I saw, I watched as the head faded away within a few minutes.

After the head completely disappeared, the wings began to fade beginning at the shoulders and fading outwards, in perfect symmetry.  They remained right where the wings should be but simply faded away, looking as if they were being gradually erased from the parts nearest the body towards the outer extremities until they had completely vanished.

I have never before seen such a sight in the clouds.  One can sometimes make out the odd shaped face or animal or any such rough and approximate thing but generally they are poorly defined and at least some imagination, if not a lot, is needed.  Not this time, however.  I have never seen something so perfectly portrayed before in puffy white clouds and, for a moment, wondered if I would suddenly awaken.  How could swirling winds create something with such perfect mirror symmetry?

This could not be chance.  How can I ignore this and just write it off as "luck"?  I do not believe in luck.  Luck is for the ignorant and the godless.

An interpretation:  The great eagle is divided, left from right, and the head is caught in the middle, but no union exists any longer.  The new head will not last because the nation refuses to repent and there is no forgiveness, no coming together.  The nation has been judged.  In spite of the new head seeking to restore the nation to its former greatness, the factions within will continually derail all such efforts until anything the head says and does is ignored since, as a result of all the friction and widespread hatred for truth, all such efforts will achieve nothing.  The head will fade into irrelevance and become as if it was not.  Then, left and right will fade away, beginning at the centre and the parts closest to the head, finishing off with the far left and far right extremities with a great chasm between them, until nothing remains.  The seeds of war and destruction sown by prior government and godlessness will soon produce a great harvest and nothing the new head does can stop it.  Taking the nation will be a walk in the park for its enemies.  Without God, there is no more unity and there is no more strength.  The eagle will be overthrown just as it overthrew.  All that remains is wind.

God will not be mocked.  As the eagle has sown, so shall it reap.

You have been weighed in the balance and have been found wanting.  Goodbye, great eagle, for it would appear that your time has come.

_____________________

Addendum (2017-05-20):

An article published sometime in the past day demonstrates just how far gone this all is:

We are Watching a Slow-Motion Coup D'etat 

The great eagle is dead, the republic is long gone.  All that remains is the distant echo of its liberty bell, fading like a flower in the scorching sun or a morning mist in the desert.

Watch Jimmy!

This has been up a long time and we have all seen it over the years but I think it deserves more attention now than ever before...

Vision of the Presidents -- C. Alan Martin
http://www.ubm1.org/?page=presidents

As with all such things, take it with a pinch of caution.  Nevertheless, it may be worth careful consideration so perhaps we should watch for the departure of Jimmy Carter.  He may be the last of the living presidents that must depart before the coming great war according to what this dream seems to indicate.  How soon the war follows is unknown.  Perhaps his death marks the beginning of the great tribulation since current events are just a "warm-up".  Do not take what I am saying here as gospel truth but just bear it in mind as possible indication of where we are in prophecy.  Note that Carter served in presidency number 39, the same number as the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi.  Of all the Old Testament books it is widely agreed that Malachi was the last to be written so its place as number 39 is not really in question regardless of the order of the rest of the Old Testament books.  The number, 39, some associate with the "curse of the law of sin and death", but I find this association is weak and narrow.  Since the number, 40, represents a period of preparation (growth, cleansing or sanctification), not testing as some posit (the testing comes afterwards), such as 40 weeks preparing a new human life to enter into the world (birth is the first test), 40 days the three Israeli spies spied out the land of Canaan (the report they gave and how the people responded to the report was the test and many failed that one badly, showing lack of faith in what God had clearly told them), 40 years cleansing (another way of saying, sanctifying) the Israelites in the desert by removing the faithless before entering the promised land (crossing the Jordan was the first test, a phrase that is often used as a metaphor for passing through death, and other tests shortly followed to test the faith of the people), 40 days and nights that Yeshua fasted and prayed before the tempter came to tempt (i.e. test) Him three times (three temptations in order to be complete), so we can say that 39, falling just short of 40, indicates falling short of being ready for the test to come, an incomplete preparation or a lack of sanctification; a relentlessly persistent evil condition, one without remedy.  It is easy to see how this number is often associated with disease or cursing.  We can also view 39 as thrice 13, and 13 being representative of apostasy, rebellion, corruption, decay and all such notions (evil in general), then 39 is complete apostasy, rebellion, corruption, decay.

It is noteworthy that during the presidency of Carter, the USA had already entered a rapid moral decline the likes of which were unimaginable prior to that time.  We have all heard stories about the 1960's.  That decade set up the conditions for the USA and the rest of the world, under American economic, political and media influence, to fall into apostasy.  I am hard-pressed to see the modern USA as anything other than a resurrected Babylon, but I would not call it so in isolation from other western nations.  We have all followed suit.  It is probably safe to say that the great falling away has its roots (or conception, if you prefer) in 1960's America and its birth in the 1970's.  Popular music is generally a good indicator of the direction society is taking and we see the rise of very dark and sinister music in the 1970's right alongside very plastic and shallow pop.  We also see it in the demographics of church attendance.  There was a peak in church attendance in the USA at the end of the 1950's and as we entered the 1960's a slow decline began but accelerated dramatically during the 1970's.  It slowed and leveled off somewhat during the 1980's to mid 1990's but was then followed by another sharp decline since that time, the most dramatic decline in US history.  This corresponds exactly with the dramatic rise in occultism and all of its associated ideas and beliefs, the rise in religious environmentalism, the rise in terrorism (no doubt funded by the international banksters) and the increasingly desperate attempts by the UN to assert itself as Satan's global government seeking carbon taxes as its revenue stream.

The name, Malachi, means "My messenger", and in Malachi, chapter 4, we have mention made of Elijah.  As stated in a previous post, I do not know if another Elijah is yet to come given that there was fulfillment with John the Baptist, but John's coming does not preclude it and conditions may merit the reappearance of the spirit of Elijah (to pave the way for the Lord and His kingdom) which, simply put, is a man who is utterly single-minded about God.  That is one of his primary characteristics... everything else, without exception, takes a back seat to the truth, a back seat to God.  The faith of such a man will see him through to the end, even unto death, as it did for John.  He will not doubt that the Lord will do as the Lord says He will.  No doubt at all will cross such a man's mind.  Obviously this is a primary characteristic of the two witnesses so there is no reason why they could not be both described as having the spirit of Elijah.  I am just thinking out loud here but you get the point, I am sure.  From Revelation chapters 8 to 11 we know that great cataclysms and war must come before the public ministry of the two witnesses can begin (one of numerous clear and unambiguous reasons why all current self-proclaimed two witnesses are false prophets), since the true two witnesses come as the second woe which is the sixth trumpet, and trumpets one to four speak of those aforementioned cataclysms, and trumpet five is the first woe and appears to be a great war.  To jumble up the order of events of the trumpets makes no sense and makes a mockery of the scripture.  It is clear that the angels sound their trumpets in numerical order.  All the fake prophets will be most deeply ashamed of what they have said and done when the true prophets arise.

I will avoid rambling on any further about these things in this post, since there is much more that could be discussed, but I will leave it as is and simply say...

... Watch Jimmy... since I suspect that he is not too long for this world, but I hope that during his remaining time he turns to the Lord, and the Lord who is merciful will have mercy on him.

_____________________

Addendum (2017-05-11):

How should we "interpret" the death of Jimmy Carter when it occurs, assuming it is of some significance?  Perhaps it marks the end of the incurable evil condition of the world.  At some point there will be no more people who can be saved since, like a deadly disease, the corruption spreads throughout all of humanity.  At some point, all the worshippers who are being counted (the temple being measured, the required stones ready) will be accounted for and there is no need for more time except for the final work of the two witnesses to conclude the testimony of the saints to the whole world that began almost 2000 years ago.  God times His actions precisely to ensure the required outcome at exactly the right moment but we have no idea just when that moment will be.  Perhaps the death of Jimmy Carter will be a sign that the moment is almost upon us.

So, how should we interpret the death of the 39th leader of the most powerful nation in the world given that the nation has fallen into the abyss of apostasy, wickedness and chaos?

Jimmy Carter was in office from January the 20th, 1977, to January the 20th, 1981.  So, the presidency of the 39th president of the USA began 40 years ago last January.  Well, isn't that interesting?!  Sounds to me like the next 3.5 to 4 years are ripe for judgement.

If I was a betting man and if I was to stake a wager on this (lots of "ifs" in there), I would bet that former President James Earl Carter Jr. will be deceased some time from late June until the end of July of this year.  This is no prophecy of any kind, just a guess based on some very big "ifs".  I do not like attempting to set dates but I am just letting you know some of my thoughts on this.  Again, I strongly emphasise, it is just a guess and carries no revelational significance.  Funnily, June 28th to July 4th sticks in my head because of certain past events I will not go into here.

Anyway, let's just... watch Jimmy.

_____________________

Addendum (2017-07-05):

Well, I guess that Jimmy is still with us... good thing I didn't place a bet on it after all!  In any case, something did happen just in the past 24 hours which took everybody a little by surprise.  Kim Jong-un's successful launch of an ICBM suddenly put my country on alert.  Of course, he'd be mad to waste a missile on Darwin.  It is not as if a country of just 23 million and a virtually non-existent military presence is going to pummel his land any time soon.  The only reason would be if there is an American base harbouring nuclear vessels or weapons somewhere in Darwin but, you can be sure, they would not be so stupid as to place such a thing within city limits.

Well. whatever happens, we all know horrifying things are on the way but we also know that our Lord and Saviour is with us.  That is where our trust should always be.  Keep well, my friends.

Update on the post, "Who or What are the Two Witnesses?"

Back in 2016, October the 1st to be precise, I published a post, entitled, "Who or What are the Two Witnesses?"  In that post I commented on the reason I believed, at that time, was the impetus for Yeshua saying, to the people around Him, the following:

Matthew 11:12-15 ASV  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force. (13) For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. (14) And if ye are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, that is to come. (15) He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

My comments were as follows:

"Some will argue that Yeshua made his statements with a conditional requirement, that being that it is so if you can accept it, and thus there must necessarily be a future occurrence of the actual original Elijah returning in order to ensure that the prophecy is fulfilled.  However, I strongly disagree with that reasoning because God does not do things in indefinite ways and because, I believe, it is not the purpose of the Lord's comment.  Why would the God of all glory and all creation seem uncertain about His own plans?  Are not the words of Christ directly from the Spirit of the Living God?  The Lord made that comment for a different reason, being that believing John the Baptiser was the Elijah to come was not essential to their faith and walk with God.  They could happily continue in their faith in God without having known or believed that John was the Elijah to come and there would come no harm to them, they would not be impoverished as a result."

"The reason for this is, I believe, that the appearing of Elijah was not for the sake of the believers but for the sake of the unbelievers, to bring testimony to them of the coming of the Messiah.  When Yeshua made that comment, He had just been speaking to John's disciples who were sent by John to ask Yeshua if He was the one they were waiting for.   As they departed, He turned to the multitudes and continued speaking, clearly also intending that John's disciples would hear this before they left. John's disciples already expected Him based on John's teachings about the coming Messiah and, in all likelihood, so did the multitudes that were listening, or they would not have been present."

Now, as a reason for Christ saying, "And if ye are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, that is to come", what I wrote is not a sufficient and complete answer, and it occurred to me why that was.  As I wrote at that time, "the reason for this is, I believe"... that the appearing of Elijah was not for the sake of the believers but for the sake of the unbelievers.  However, it was only what I could conclude at that time but, with time and with the continued work of the Spirit of God, things keep coming together like a grand jigsaw puzzle.  Although believers did not really have a need to believe that John the Baptist was the Elijah to come, if he was then Yeshua would have wanted to make that plain to them and not leave it in doubt.  Also, there was insufficient support for the comment I made about John's disciples overhearing what Yeshua said as they were leaving.  It never sat quite right with me.  Just one of those things, I guess, that kept niggling away in the depths of my mind... until this morning.

Now I have a clear, concise and definitive reason on why Yeshua made that conditional statement, and it ties in with the post, entitled, "Invalidity of All Current 'Two Witnesses'", published on the 6th of March, earlier this year.

Until John died, then the prophecies concerning the role of the Elijah that was to come were either not completely fulfilled or there was still time to invalidate the fulfillment by an action contrary to the prophecy.  Without complete and inalterable fulfillment, who could declare that John was the Elijah that was to come in a legally irrefutable manner?  If he had not yet completed his role, nobody could definitely say that he was the expected Elijah, whether in the spirit or in the flesh, because to do so would be to say that he had fulfilled all the prophecies concerning his appearance (binding John's acts to the prophecy) but, until he was dead, it could not be stated as fact.  Alternatively, if he had completed fulfillment of the prophecy but then acted in a way to discredit that fulfillment before his death, we would end up with legally refutable claims that he was the Elijah to come.  At the time that Yeshua made his conditional statement about accepting John the Baptist as the Elijah that was to come, John was in prison but was still alive, for his disciples had, at that moment, come to ask Yeshua, on John's behalf, if He was the expected one (the Messiah).

Mat 11:3 ASV  and said unto him, Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another?

So, Yeshua avoided making a false claim by keeping it open until John's death, after which Yeshua said plainly to His own disciples that John was, indeed, the expected Elijah.  This was now legally factual to the world.  The reason Yeshua had made the comment prior to John's death, saying that John was the coming Elijah, was because Yeshua already knew that it was true, as mentioned in the post, "Invalidity of All Current 'Two Witnesses'".  However, the incompleteness of the fulfillment of prophecy ensured that He could not make a legally incontrovertible statement for, although spiritually it was fact, physically it was not yet complete and, thus, not legally factual.  Once John was dead, the prophecies concerning him became legally established and incontrovertible fact.  Like Yeshua said on the cross just the moment before His own death, "It is finished." 

Since John did not do anything just prior to his own death that would have been contrary to the character of Elijah and which could have invalidated the prophecy with regards to himself, the prophecy of the return of Elijah appears to have been fulfilled, taking Yeshua's word for it.  However, we do not know enough about John's activities to comment on his fulfillment of the prophecy found in the book of Malachi, chapter 4, regarding turning the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers.  Was that fulfilled by John or is it only necessary that a final Elijah-like prophet at the end fills that role once in order that the prophecy given by Malachi be true?  There is much written on this but what does it actually mean?  I find that most explanations are too vague, fuzzy or wishy-washy to be of any value.  My understanding of scripture is that it is clear, concise, logical and solidly factual.

Luk 1:13-17 ASV  But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: because thy supplication is heard, and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.  (14)  And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.  (15)  For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.  (16)  And many of the children of Israel shall he turn unto the Lord their God.  (17)  And he shall go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the just; to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.

In this scripture, found in the book of Luke, we see confirmation that John did come in the power and spirit of Elijah, thus strongly supporting our method of understanding so that we know that it is consistent with the scripture, but we also see a comment related to Malachi's prophecy regarding turning the hearts of the fathers to the children.  However, instead of speaking about turning the hearts of the children to the fathers, it speaks of turning the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the just, seemingly equating the hearts of the children with the disobedient and the fathers with the just.  Although it could be a currently fulfilled prophecy, it does also sound rather like the expected situation going into the millennial reign of Christ on earth, which can only begin upon the exit of the two witnesses of Revelation 11 and the return of Christ.  The chasm between parents and children in the current age is the worst that the world has ever seen, so the prophecy of Malachi does seem to apply more strongly to the current day or the near future than it does to any time before now.  This view assumes that it is talking about parents and their immediate children.  The support for this view is that it speaks of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, meaning that the fathers spoken of must be alive in the same era as the children, so it could not be referring to something like ancient, wise patriarchs and modern, rebellious people.

Since John the Baptist was a spiritual fulfillment of Elijah, his coming (and going) does not prevent another "Elijah" from coming, to pave the way for the Lord, as stated by Malachi.  The great and terrible day of the Lord has not come, not quite yet, and although the prophecy of Malachi may appear to have been fulfilled ("Elijah" came before the great and terrible day regardless of how long ago he came), turning the hearts of the fathers and the children back to one another is something possibly incomplete, as would also appear to be "the restoration of all things", a major part of the coming Elijah's role as stated by Yeshua.  The "things" would likely be the correct understanding of scripture, righteousness and justice, the nature of evil, right, wrong and free will, the process of salvation and its essential requirement, the proper interpretation of parables, the truth about God and Christ, etc., a restoration which, it would appear, the two witnesses will accomplish, thus completing the great commission of bringing the gospel to the whole world as a testimony in order that the end can come.  That the coming Elijah restores all things lends credence to the idea that, if he is yet to come again, he may be one of the two witnesses of Revelation 11.  The two witnesses will be bringing the gospel of Christ to the world as a testimony and in the process will inevitably restore a correct understanding of many things therein.

Mat 17:11-13 ASV  And he answered and said, Elijah indeed cometh, and shall restore all things:  (12)  but I say unto you, that Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they would. Even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them.  (13)  Then understood the disciples that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

Furthermore, this scripture, when viewed in the light of the aforementioned understanding of the legal requirements for the declaration of prophetic fulfillment, makes sense of the fact that Yeshua said that Elijah shall restore all things (the word translated as "shall" directly implies a future tense by what would probably have been the imperfect tense in the Aramaic or Hebrew language prior to its Greek translation) in spite of the fact that John was already, at that moment, dead, which is itself the reason Yeshua made it unequivocally clear that John the Baptist was the Elijah that was to come, for it was now legal fact.  Perhaps we can now state even more confidently that we should still expect one more "spirit of Elijah" prophet.  Whether or not he will be one of the two witnesses of Revelation, chapter 11, remains to be seen, though at this point it seems quite possible, even likely.  The events on the "mount of the transfiguration" would lend further support, though not solid proof, that he will be.  Will the Lord reveal that to us sometime soon?  We (including you) should ask Him about it.  Give it a shot.  God is wonderfully good and generous and the only reason He withholds information from His servants is because the moment for the revelation is not yet come.

So, should we expect the return of the spirit of Elijah?  I suspect so, though I would not state it as a legally binding requirement for the fulfillment of the prophecies of the last days or, at least, not without a deeper revelation on this issue.  We do not know enough at this time about the activities of John the Baptist other than the very little given to us in the scripture and possibly some fragments of historical accounts.  I guess that we will have to pray, wait and see.