To use the words of Jesus Christ: "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God!" The Lord Christ and all the Apostles and teachers of that time used the only Scriptures in existence � called the Old Testament! Jesus pointed out to His detractors that they didn�t understand the Scriptures. Even though they were learned men, who could read and write, they didn�t understand what they were reading. In fact, the true meaning of the Scriptures was hidden so that they wouldn�t understand. The Scriptures can only be understood by those who have God�s Holy Spirit and the recipient must be actively guided by God�s Holy Spirit in all aspects of their lives. God doesn�t give His Holy Spirit to the disobedient.

Jesus actually made a reference to these things when He said this: John 8:42-47 "Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but He sent me. ⁴³ Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. ⁴⁴ You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. HE WAS A MURDERER FROM THE BEGINNING, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, FOR HE IS A LIAR AND THE FATHER OF LIES. ⁴⁵ Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! ⁴⁶ Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? ⁴⁷ He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God."

From the very beginning it was Satan the devil who introduced lies to corrupt the Holy Seed, which was primarily Adam who was patterned after the Logos, even though Eve was patterned after Adam and created from his rib. God is a Father to those who are patterned after His only begotten Son Jesus. Quite apart from Adam who was created perfect, others must still be patterned after God�s Son through, at the very least, being led by God�s Holy Spirit and subject to, as Jesus was, to obedience to God�s Law. Hence Jesus� taunt to His detractors: Can you prove me guilty of sin? Sin is the transgression of God�s Law (1John 3:4) � that is, lawlessness. No-one can be patterned after Jesus Christ if they live lawless lives, and God Himself gives the definition of sin. God doesn�t want His subjects to obey Satan�s laws or even his instructions! God wants them to obey His Laws! He who belongs to God hears what God says!

In the lead-in to John 8:42-47, Jesus pointed out several times that these people, who were questioning Him, were trying to kill Him: V37, V40. They, of course, denied it. And what subsequently happened? They killed Him! So on the face of it, it appears as if certain Jews did kill Jesus. But was it really these scheming, plotting liars, who masqueraded as the religious elite of that day, who killed Him?

Jesus gave very clear answers to all this. He knew He would be betrayed by one who was numbered among His own. He also knew who the architect of this murder would be, and right on schedule, Satan entered into Judas! John 13:21-27 "After He had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, "I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me." ²² His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them He meant. ²³ One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to Him. ²⁴ Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask Him which one He means." ²⁵ Leaning back against Jesus, he asked Him, "Lord, who is it?" ²⁶ Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." Then, dipping the piece of bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. ²⁷ As soon as Judas took the bread, SATAN ENTERED INTO HIM."

And so the die was cast, and events moved swiftly after this. Satan took control as the murderer and liar that he is, and quickly moved his demon assistants into the religious elite to whip them into a frenzy, and to enact what was already planted in their minds � to kill the One who threatened their own supremacy among the people. These people loved money and power and clambered for honour among the common people. They were easy marks for Satan and his demons. In no time at all, Satan and his demons had complete control of the mob, and they became filled with madness as the KJV says in Luke 6:11. Then they engaged professional liars to falsely accuse Jesus. Even then Satan�s subtle cunning prevailed. He wanted this murder to be seen as a lawful execution � not to deceive God, which he knew to be impossible � but to deceive the people into believing that Jesus was an imposter, and not the Son of God.

Satan�s mindset has been active in his chosen brood since mankind was created � a point made by the Lord Christ Himself in Matt 23:33-36 "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? ³⁴ Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. ³⁵ And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, FROM THE BLOOD OF RIGHTEOUS ABEL to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation." No-one in their right mind would suggest that the Jewish people were responsible for the blood of righteous Abel. Abel�s murder was the first committed on this earth, and this led the Lord Christ to say that Satan was a murderer from the beginning. His reference to them as snakes and vipers makes it clear who is to be condemned to hell (tartarus). It�s Satan and his demons who will be chained in hell for a thousand years. The Lord Christ was specifically referring to Satan and his demons � the whole generation of them as well as their murderous brood who are reserved for another hell (hades). This whole generation comprises those who generated the first rebellion against God and were unceremoniously cast to earth in exile.

Isa 14:9-24 "The grave (sheol) below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed (more correctly: departed spirits, that is, demons) to greet you � all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones � all those who were kings over the nations. ¹⁰ They will all respond, they will say to you, "You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us." ¹¹ All your pomp has been brought down to the grave (sheol), along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you." It�s not intended to be a pleasant place! The putrid stench of dead bodies and maggots will be a constant reminder of all the blood shed on earth. And who is this celebrity that is eagerly anticipated to join the rulers of the heavenly realms in their dungeon? It�s the very one whom the Lord Christ will REPLACE as the Morning Star, Son of the Dawn � the Sun of Righteousness as detailed in Mal 4:2.

Continuing in V12 "How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! ¹³ You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. ¹⁴ I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I WILL MAKE MYSELF LIKE THE MOST HIGH." ¹⁵ But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. ¹⁶ Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: "Is this the man who SHOOK THE EARTH and made kingdoms tremble, ¹⁷ the man who MADE THE WORLD A DESERT, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?" ¹⁸ All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb. ¹⁹ But you are cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch; YOU ARE COVERED WITH THE SLAIN, WITH THOSE PIERCED BY THE SWORD, those who descend to the stones of the pit. Like a corpse trampled underfoot, ²⁰ you will not join them in burial, for you have destroyed your land and killed your people. The offspring of the wicked [one] will never be mentioned again."

When God says "the offspring of the wicked [one] will never be mentioned again," He intends that this will be so. He intends them to be rotting corpses thrown into Satan�s habitat along with all the rulers of the heavenly realms.

Continuing V21 "Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the sins of their forefathers; they are not to rise to inherit the land and cover the earth with their cities. ²² "I will rise up against them," declares the LORD Almighty. "I will cut off from Babylon her name and survivors, her offspring and descendants," declares the LORD. ²³ "I will turn her into a place for owls and into swampland; I will sweep her with the broom of destruction," declares the LORD Almighty. ²⁴ The LORD Almighty has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand."

There is a parable in the Book of Zechariah that speaks of this very thing: Zech 5:5-11 "Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, "Look up and see what this is that is appearing." ⁶ I asked, "What is it?" He replied, "It is a measuring basket." And he added, "This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land." ⁷ Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! ⁸ He said, "This is wickedness," and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed the lead cover down over its mouth. ⁹ Then I looked up � and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth. ¹⁰ "Where are they taking the basket?" I asked the angel who was speaking to me. ¹¹ He replied, "TO THE COUNTRY OF BABYLONIA to build a house for it. When it is ready, the basket will be set there in its place."

This basket is the iniquity of the whole world! Satan will be forced once again to take up residence in the city of Babylon in the country of Babylonia. This �woman� is the harlot of harlots, the instigator of all wickedness on this earth. Though Satan has tried in vain to secure Jerusalem as his capital, the Jewish people have rebuffed his many attempts at conquest. Satan likes to live in magnificent splendor in a manner that befits his inflated view of himself. Hence we see the justice that will be meted out to him in his imprisonment with putrid corpses and maggots his constant companions. But Satan is not done yet! Babylon will once more be a glitzy, bejeweled habitation for Satan, and through Babylon the great harlot himself, will control all trade on earth through precious cargoes and even the trading of slaves (Rev 18:13).

It�s just as well that God never entrusted the Scriptures to evangelical Christianity! Had He done so, then the Scriptures would have been discarded, and even today, the Scriptures that the Lord Christ used are not considered to be the essential path to the establishment of God�s Kingdom. No, God never entrusted the Scriptures to evangelical Christianity or any of Christianity! He entrusted His Word to the Jews! Rom 3:1 "What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? ² Much in every way! First of all, they have been ENTRUSTED WITH THE VERY WORDS OF GOD." Only the Jews could be entrusted with the preservation of the very words of God, and only the Jews are prepared to fight to the death for the preservation of God�s Holy City Jerusalem. Most of the rest of the �lost Tribes of Israel� want to give it away to Satan�s brood in order to have peace.

As far as having a ticket to heaven for doing nothing, it�s worth noting that there will be some who will be gathered into �heaven� to be housed under the Altar where the Lord Christ administers to the Father as High Priest. These faithful people will not get there for doing nothing! These will be killed in martyrdom just as Jesus was! The Scriptures state this very clearly: Rev 6:9-11 "When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of God and the Testimony they had maintained. ¹⁰ They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" ¹¹ Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed." These people had been killed, and were now alive and living under the Altar where they are fed (with manna � see Rev 2:17) and clothed with white robes. So you can take it at face value that there are no Christians in �heaven� lounging around doing nothing � except those who will be killed in the coming martyrdom of the saints.

Christians should take Jesus� word for it that no man has ascended into heaven except the Son of Man who came from heaven and is in heaven today (John 3:13). And just to confirm this, at the time of Christ�s death there were some saints resurrected bodily from their graves, and these walked around on earth and showed themselves to others. Matt 27:51-53 "At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. ⁵² The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. ⁵³ They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people." It was a miraculous event that showed the bodily resurrection process that Jesus experienced. These resurrected saints lived out the rest of their days and eventually died to await the latter resurrection. These will awaken in their lot along with Daniel for their allotted inheritance (Dan 12:13) together with all the servants of God of old.

1Thess 4:13-18 "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. ¹⁴ We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him (these are the ones mentioned in Rev 6:9-11) ¹⁵ According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage each other with these words." In the next few verses, Paul speaks of that time, a time when destruction that will ensue: 1Thess 5:1-3 "Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, ² for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³ While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape."

Through carefully crafted fabrication, Christianity has attempted to apply this destruction to others rather than themselves. But they are unable to work around the clear message of Rev 6:9-11. As Paul says, those who are still alive will certainly not precede those who have died. What we can glean from all this is that there will be some who have held to the Word of God and maintained the Testimony of Jesus who will remain alive. These will meet the Lord Jesus in the air when He returns with the martyred saints. As Paul wrote, these will have their bodies changed in the twinkling of an eye, and will also be transformed to eternal life. But the martyrs will receive the greater reward. These all died in faith (Heb 11:13) in the hope of a better resurrection (V35).

The Almighty God openly admits to being a jealous God (Ex 20:4-5); He takes a dim view of those who serve other gods, but He is particularly angry at those who claim to serve Him, but would baulk at laying down their lives for Him. This is not Christ-like behaviour, and those who claim to follow Christ had better learn this lesson real fast!

God intends to populate His Kingdom with those who are faithful to Him � just like His Son Jesus, and these people will share God�s view on the need for law and order as specified by God�s eternal Law. Dogs, liars, murderers and mystics will have no place in God�s Kingdom (Rev 22:15). A further reference to dogs can be found in Jesus� comments to a Canaanite woman: Matt 15:26 "He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." In the next verse the Canaanite woman acknowledged that He was referring to her. What is more, Paul clarified the meaning of dogs in Phil 3:1-2 "Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. ² Watch out for those DOGS, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh." Have you seen any of these dogs mutilating the flesh of Christians and Jews lately? With our own eyes we�ve seen these dogs blowing people to pieces, collapsing buildings and burning them alive. It wasn�t just a few of these dogs who did this, it was all of Islam! All of Islam is determined to take over the Holy Land and to prevent the Kingdom of God from being established. They have openly stated that they intend to wipe the Israelis off the map, and as dogs they are baying for the blood of Israelis and the Western nations in general. From the human point-of-view, it would make sense for these creatures to live in peace and divest themselves of the madness that prevails over their minds, but we are not dealing with human elements, we are dealing with dogs! Voracious, evil creatures whose father is the devil!

Satan�s hordes comprise all those who are not of the Tribes of Israel. He is lord and master to them all. They have Satan�s mindset and he can switch them on and off like a tap. He can send his demons to rally them to mob-rule and riotous behaviour at will. He�s presently positioning his hordes for the greatest coup of all time � the complete destruction of the Western world � which are predominantly the �lost Tribes of Israel�. You�ve seen their murderous resolve enacted in the Holy Land for many years, and you�ve seen the Jewish people defend it with their own blood. Evangelical Christians can learn a lot from the faithfulness of the Jewish people. Not only did God entrust them with His very Words, but He has also emphasized that �salvation is from the Jews�. John 4:21-24 "Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, FOR SALVATION IS FROM THE JEWS. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in Spirit and in Truth." The time has now come for you to know this, and to understand what �salvation� means. It literally means to be rescued from the hands of your enemies! This is what the Kingdom of God is all about. God intends to rescue all the House of Israel and bring them back to the Holy Land as an inheritance forever.

As a matter of fact, John the Baptist was appointed to this very task as can be seen in the prophecies of His Levite father Zechariah under the inspiration of God�s Holy Spirit: Luke 1:67 "His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: ⁶⁸ "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. ⁶⁹ He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David ⁷⁰ (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), ⁷¹ SALVATION FROM OUR ENEMIES AND FROM THE HAND OF ALL WHO HATE US � ⁷² to show mercy to our fathers and to remember His Holy Covenant, ⁷³ the oath he swore to our father Abraham: ⁷⁴ TO RESCUE US FROM THE HAND OF OUR ENEMIES, and to enable us to serve him without fear ⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. ⁷⁶ And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him, ⁷⁷ to give his people THE KNOWLEDGE OF SALVATION through the forgiveness of their sins, ⁷⁸ because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the Rising Sun will come to us from heaven ⁷⁹ to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." John was beheaded by a ruler of the heavenly realms � Herod � and never fulfilled these prophecies at the time, so they remain unfulfilled to this very day. But now they must be fulfilled, and God has appointed a man called �Levi� to do it (Mal 2:4-7). Levi, like John is a messenger and a prophet of the Most High, and it�s he who will reestablish the House of God�s servant David, and set out to rescue the House of Israel from captivity, from among their enemies who hate them!

What is more, Jesus also stated that the Kingdom of God would arise among them � right in the Holy Land! Luke 17:20-21 "Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, ²¹ nor will people say, �Here it is,� or �There it is,� because the kingdom of God is [among] you." (margin reference). Jesus was certainly not suggesting that the Kingdom of God was in �the hearts of the Pharisees� as some people like to suggest. The Pharisees were already �plotting in their hearts� to kill Jesus. Jesus was telling them that the Kingdom of God would arise right among them in the Holy Land! And these words were from the King of Kings Himself.

Zech 12:1-6 "This is the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The LORD, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: ² "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the SURROUNDING PEOPLES reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. ³ On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. ⁴ On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness," declares the LORD. "I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations (a reference to the four horsemen of the apocalypse) ⁵ Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, �The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.� So the first charge against the surrounding nations will be mounted by the people of Jerusalem (Sons of Jerusalem) and the whole world will see how strong they are! They will send the surrounding nations reeling; they will hammer them into the ground and leave death and destruction in their wake. And why? Because the Lord Almighty is their God, and as God has said, �Vengeance is His, He will repay!� Like Moses, Joshua, David, and all the great men of God, they will go out as the �armies of the Living God� and will not turn back until they accomplish their mission.

And while all this is going on among the people of Judah, what will their leaders do? On learning that the Sons of Jerusalem are strong because the LORD Almighty is their God, the leaders of Judah will jump in to support them. V6 "On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will CONSUME right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place."

This is the account of Jeroboam�s rule and the circumstances leading up to it: 1Kings 11:29-39 "About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country, ³⁰ and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: �See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and give you ten tribes. ³² But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have ONE TRIBE. ³³ I will do this because they have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molech the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in my ways, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my statutes and laws as David, Solomon's father, did. ³⁴ But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon's hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who observed my Commands and Statutes. ³⁵ I will take the kingdom from his son's hands and give you ten tribes. ³⁶ I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. ³⁷ However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. ³⁸ If you do whatever I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my Statutes and Commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a DYNASTY as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. ³⁹ I will humble David's descendants because of this, BUT NOT FOREVER.' "

In the final resolution of everything, and at the time when God�s Kingdom is established, and after a huge rift develops between Judah and Ephraim (the U.S.), they will be joined as one nation! Eze 37:15-28 "The word of the LORD came to me: ¹⁶ "Son of man, take a stick of wood and write on it, �Belonging to Judah and the Israelites associated with him.� Then take another stick of wood, and write on it, �Ephraim's stick, belonging to Joseph and ALL THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL associated with him.� ¹⁷ Join them together into one stick so that they will become one in your hand. ¹⁸ "When your countrymen ask you, �Won't you tell us what you mean by this?� ¹⁹ say to them, �This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of JOSEPH � which is in EPHRAIM'S hand � AND OF THE ISRAELITE TRIBES ASSOCIATED WITH HIM, and join it to Judah�s stick, making them a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.� ²⁰ Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on ²¹ and say to them, �This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. ²² I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. ²³ They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, ⁿ and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ²⁴ MY SERVANT DAVID WILL BE KING OVER THEM, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my Laws and be careful to keep my Decrees. ²⁵ They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. ²⁶ I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an Everlasting Covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my Sanctuary among them forever. ²⁷ My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸ Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my Sanctuary is among them forever."

Then all the other nations will know that God has made the House of Israel holy and His Sanctuary will be among them forever. What is more, God Himself will dwell there with them. And David will be king over the Israelites, and the Lord Christ will be King over all the earth. The Lord Christ will be King over many kings, and will be called the King of Kings. There will be many kings and priests administering over the earth. What is more, the Sceptre of kingship will not depart from Judah: Gen 49:10 "The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler�s staff from between his feet, until He comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is His."

Well, most people understand this perfectly well, and know that it refers to the Lord Christ, who will have the obedience of the nations. But what most people don�t know and couldn�t know � especially Jew-haters � is that every ruler in God�s Kingdom will be from JUDAH! Zech 10:4 "From JUDAH will come the Cornerstone (the Lord Christ is the Chief Cornerstone), from him the tent peg (the support for securing the dwelling place), from him the battle bow (the means to make war against God�s enemies), FROM HIM EVERY RULER." With the establishment of God�s Kingdom EVERY RULER will be from JUDAH and they will rule the nations with a rod of iron, and dash them to pieces like pottery just as God has said in Rev 2:26-27. Those who are not Jews and hope to enter God�s Kingdom had better start emulating them now in dedication and obedience to God�s Law. Even the Jews are not perfect in this, but at least they have a head-start on evangelical Christianity!

Did you know that God has extreme issues with those who claim to be Jews and are not? Rev 2:8-10 "To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. ⁹ I know your afflictions and your poverty � yet you are rich! I KNOW THE SLANDER OF THOSE WHO SAY THEY ARE JEWS AND ARE NOT, BUT ARE A SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN. ¹⁰ Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, THE DEVIL will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life."

It should be obvious to all today who these slanderous people are, and who their many sympathizers are. Who claims to worship the one True God, yet worship THE DEVIL (Allah), and who have substituted God�s Law for Shariah law? Who claim Jerusalem and the Holy Land as their own, and have corrupted the Word of God by substituting Mohammed as their prophet with precedence over the Lord Christ? Who is it that claims that Ishmael � not Isaac � was offered by Abraham as the sacrifice, and who is it that wields influence over all the Christian nations, who grovel before them? Who is plotting the destruction of the whole House of Israel and have vowed to wipe the Israelis off the map? Who has waged war on Christians and Jews and continues to slaughter them in Muslim countries and wherever they find them? The answer is obvious, isn�t it? Muslims even emulate the Jews by not eating pig meat, yet they happily eat any other of the meat that God has forbidden, including camels (Lev 11:4), which is a most desirable meat at the Hajj in Mecca, though most do consume sheep, which in itself has deep symbolic meaning.

So they are not Jews but liars � just like their father the devil! Rev 3:7-10 "To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of Him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. ⁸ I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my Word and have not denied my Name. ⁹ I will make those WHO ARE OF THE SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN, who CLAIM TO BE JEWS though they are not, but are LIARS � I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. ¹⁰ Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon THE WHOLE WORLD to test those who live on the earth." The faithful people, who really are Jews, even if by being grafted into the Olive Tree (as Paul puts it in Rom 11:16-18), will not deny the Name of Jesus Christ. There are even some today who claim to be Jews yet don�t resemble them at all! These are the fringe of Christianity who actually deny the Name of Jesus Christ, preferring another name (Yeshua) in a foreign language. Like the Muslims, they like to emulate the Hebrew language. There is nothing wrong with the Hebrew language, and the Jews still use it today in Israel, but as a matter of interest, they have substituted the word for oak tree (allah) for �allon� in their modernized version of Hebrew so as not to offend Islam.

God foresaw this happening long ago, and believe it or not, the official language in the Kingdom of God will be English! So all the so-called �sacred names� are set to disappear from human vocabulary. This is what God has said: Eze 3:1-12 "And he said to me, "Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the HOUSE OF ISRAEL." ² So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. ³ Then he said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth." This is a reference to the Scroll of Prophecy and is mentioned several times throughout the Bible. There is the first instance where God gives the prophet the scroll to eat (as written above) and to go to the whole House of Israel and speak to them in his own language � a language that both understand. That language is English! God�s true prophets will not be speaking in any other language � not now or forever in the future! This is by the command of God!

V4 "He then said to me: "Son of man, GO NOW TO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL and speak my words to them. ⁵ You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, BUT TO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL � ⁶ not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you. ⁷ But the HOUSE OF ISRAEL is not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for THE WHOLE HOUSE OF ISRAEL is hardened and obstinate. ⁸ But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are. ⁹ I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a REBELLIOUS HOUSE." ¹⁰ And he said to me, "Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. ¹¹ Go now to your countrymen in exile and speak to them. Say to them, �This is what the Sovereign LORD says,� whether they listen or fail to listen." ¹² Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a loud rumbling sound � May the GLORY of the LORD be praised in His DWELLING PLACE!"

There is another reference to this SCROLL (V3), but this time it�s referred to as a FLYING SCROLL in Zech 4:11-5:4 "Then I asked the angel, "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?" ¹² Again I asked him, "What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?" ¹³ He replied, "Do you not know what these are?" "No, my lord," I said. ¹⁴ So he said, "These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth." Zech 5:1 "I looked again � and there before me was a FLYING SCROLL! ² He asked me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a FLYING SCROLL, thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide." ³ And he said to me, "This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be BANISHED, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be BANISHED. ⁴ The LORD Almighty declares, �I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by my Name. It will remain in his house and destroy it, both its timbers and its stones." This is a FLYING SCROLL that will travel through the air, and to be more specific, it will be unfurled against the bow of a flying ship. Two witnesses or prophets, called the Olive Branches, will be BANISHING those who are offensive to God from ever entering God�s Holy Land. And what is written on this scroll will apply to their whole household and they will not only be BANISHED but destroyed forever. God lists two major faults to watch for: those who swear falsely by His Name in order to gain admission, and those who are thieves � who steal the bread of others for survival. These thieves will not look like Auschwitz inmates as they would be expected to be if coming from captivity and slavery and will draw attention to themselves by their appearance. As a matter of fact, the Jewish people used this formula for killing off the Capo collaborators after liberation in the Concentration camps of the holocaust. These were well-fed and in good shape and easy to spot, so they were killed on the spot. The whole purpose of the coming holocaust is to punish the House of Israel for their insolence and rebellion against God. Those who survive in good shape will not be those who are repentant! So that�s what the flying scroll is all about!

Rev 10:5-11, 11:1-12 "Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. ⁶ And he swore by Him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, "There will be no more delay! ⁷ But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, JUST AS HE ANNOUNCED TO HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS." ⁸ Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take THE SCROLL that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." ⁹ So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the LITTLE SCROLL. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." ¹⁰ I took the LITTLE SCROLL from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. ¹¹ Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."

This scroll is a time of bitterness and a time when the prophet comes under attack. A time when the whole world is hostile to the Kingdom of God and is seeking to kill God�s two prophets from the Tribes of Levi and Judah! This very scroll was mentioned by David in the Psalms: Ps 56:2-9 "My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride. ³ When I am afraid, I will trust in you. ⁴ In God, whose Word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? ⁵ All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me. ⁶ They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life. ⁷ On no account let them escape; in your anger, O God, BRING DOWN THE NATIONS. ⁸ Record my lament; list my tears ON YOUR SCROLL � are they not in your record? ⁹ Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me."

Continuing now in the next verse of the Book of Revelation: Rev 11:1 "I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. ² But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the Holy City for 42 months. ³ And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth." Now here�s a situation! Gentiles are running amok in the Holy City after all the preliminary work has been done in securing the Holy Land. But prophecy must be fulfilled, and this insurgency comes about through rebellion when certain weaklings think they must �reach out� to the Gentiles in order to have peace and security. And so history will repeat itself. Daniel actually mentions these things in Dan 7:12-14. Because this is a very complex subject, we won�t digress to cover it now, but we should make mention of Dan 11:31-35 "His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. ³² With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the Covenant, BUT THE PEOPLE WHO KNOW THEIR GOD WILL FIRMLY RESIST HIM. ³³ Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. ³⁴ When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them. ³⁵ Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time." ³⁶ "The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place."

Prior to this, we get some idea of why the nations are so angry. They refuse to acknowledge God or His servants the prophets, and as a result of taking so many hits from them, they will seek to destroy them through flattery and intrigue. So in the interim the Two Olive Trees must stand their ground and take the fight to the enemy. Only this time, their weapons will be plague and famine and they will call down fire from the sky. Continuing in Rev 11:4-6 "These are the two Olive Trees and the two Lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. ⁵ If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. ⁶ These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want." Turning water into blood is one of the plagues of Moses� day in Egypt. These two Olive Trees will add many more plagues to this � and as often as they want!

And herein lies the fiction of the present state of the House of Israel�s method of warfare. It�s called limited engagement. In the war in Vietnam, if the enemy dropped ten bombs, then the West would drop ten bombs � but never on civilians because of �collateral damage�. Mustn�t hurt the heathen! And of course, first strike or preemptive warfare is a no-no to the foolish House of Israel! Like lost sheep they don�t know how to engage the enemy! Well, as we have seen from Rev 11:4-6 that God�s servants the prophets have completely different methodology, and what is more, GOD FIRMLY BACKS THEM JUST AS HE DID MOSES!

The heathen mean nothing to God, and He makes this point very clearly in Isa 40:17 "Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing." As a point of interest, Isa 40 is where John the Baptist began his preaching (V3-5). I hope the reader understands the significance of this.

So God�s servants the prophets will pull no punches in regard to the heathen hordes, and especially those who have rebelled against God! This period, however, will last just 3� years. And in fulfillment of what David wrote in Psalm 56:4, which we just quoted, no mortal man will harm the prophets. It�s going to take someone more powerful and ruthless, and God plans to set up this ruthless creature to commit this very act. God wants to convict this creature of a crime at the upper levels of the scales of justice and make him pay the ultimate price for his many outrages. And his many accomplices will join him at his execution. This is not a mortal man! He�s already spent many years in the Abyss (Rev 9:11 where demons are held for judgment), and he�ll be released to commit this very act!

Continuing in Rev 11:7-12 "Now when they (God�s two prophets) have finished their Testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them." So there will be a last stand and a fight to the death! God�s prophets know they will lose this fight and be martyred, but they will still firmly resist him and refuse to give ground or retreat! To die in God�s service is the greatest honour any servant of God could aspire to, and no servant of God fears death. V8 "Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified." This gives us a reasonably good idea of what will be going on in Jerusalem at that time. The reference to Sodom and Egypt is quite interesting and very appropriate. Obviously, the plagues of the two prophets account partially for the mention of Egypt and the fact that one of the witnesses is a Levite just like Moses. But the mention of Sodom has real significance. The Apostle Peter mentions Sodom in these terms: 2Pet 2:4-6 "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, PUTTING THEM INTO GLOOMY DUNGEONS TO BE HELD FOR JUDGMENT; ⁵ if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; ⁶ if he condemned the cities of SODOM and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an EXAMPLE of what is going to happen to the ungodly�" The ones being held for judgment are THE ANGELS who were put in gloomy dungeons! All the humans are dead! It�s these God-defying angels or demons that are going to be made an example of, and this example is for all the ungodly. It just happens that one of these is the beast that comes out of the Abyss to kill God�s prophets! God is identifying the very demon rulers of old, both in Egypt and Sodom.

Continuing in Rev 11:9-11 "For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. ¹⁰ The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, BECAUSE THESE TWO PROPHETS HAD TORMENTED THOSE WHO LIVE ON THE EARTH. ¹¹ But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. ¹² Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on."

Still they have yet to learn that Jesus is their Christ, and they will repent deeply of denying this evidence, which their forebears were privy to. Their forebears knew and recorded the many miracles and His miraculous resurrection from death. They were there when others were raised alive from the tombs and appeared to them. All of which would seem to make the rejection of Jesus Christ unforgivable, considering that God forgives nothing that is not repented of. So why did Jesus say, "Father, forgive them for they don�t know what they�re doing"? This is the very thrust of what we are saying. Those men who engaged in putting Jesus to death were demon-possessed, and they didn�t know what they were doing. These men were beguiled by satanic forces and conducted themselves accordingly, and at the time were incapable of doing anything else! Take the example of Judas, who was possessed by Satan in the very presence of Jesus. Following this possession, he immediately charged out in the middle of the night to muster forces against Jesus. This was a man who was numbered with the Twelve, who had seen the many miracles, and like the others was convinced that Jesus was the Christ. But he had a serious character flaw � he was a greedy thief � and so became an easy mark for Satan! Judas didn�t even have the presence of mind to protest or get a grip on himself. He turned on his heel and went out into the night.

Not all in the priesthood were like the murderous dupes of Satan the devil. In fact, a great number of them became obedient to the faith: Acts 6:7 "So the Word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and A LARGE NUMBER OF PRIESTS became obedient to the faith." It was the Jewish people themselves who took the Gospel into the world, and this is why they were entrusted with the very Words of God. Without the efforts of the Jewish people Christianity would not have survived. God knew this, and so He chose His most loyal tribe for this vital purpose. And furthermore, the Jews were the only ones who were obedient to the Laws and Statutes that God gave to His servant Moses. So why would God choose anyone else? It didn�t take long for Gentile Christianity to divest themselves of obedience to God�s Law, and this is the way it is today! Haplessly, Christianity is following the edicts of the Gentiles in repudiating God�s Law. There remains only a tiny minority of true Christians today who follow the Christianity founded by the Jews, and this speaks volumes against evangelical Christianity in all its forms! Not only do they worship a false Christ, but they also follow a false gospel. They depict Jesus as a cowardly weakling, and even portray Him as a long-haired sissy. They have yet to learn that Jesus is a Mighty Warrior, the Messiah, the King of Kings, and Lord of Hosts. In warfare He has no equal, and is the greatest General that will ever be! He will actually provoke a war with great hordes of people from the north and east of Jerusalem, and He Himself will go out to fight (Zech 14:1-3). This is the real Jesus, and the same Jesus that the disciples saw departing from the Mount of Olives as the angel pointed out: Acts 1:10-11 "They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ¹¹ "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This SAME JESUS, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."

As a matter of fact, the 14^th chapter of Zechariah mentions this very thing: Zech 14:3-5 "Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. ⁴ On that day his feet will STAND ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. ⁵ You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake ⁿ in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, AND ALL THE HOLY ONES WITH HIM."

It�s written that if the demons knew what they were doing they would not have put to death the Lord of Glory. 1Cor 2:6-8 "We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷ No, we speak of God�s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸ None of the RULERS OF THIS AGE understood it, for if they had, THEY would not have crucified the Lord of Glory."

So who does Paul say crucified Jesus? He says it was the RULERS OF THIS AGE! Paul refers to them again in Eph 6:10-12 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. ¹² for our struggle is NOT against FLESH AND BLOOD, but AGAINST THE RULERS, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and AGAINST THE SPIRITUAL FORCES OF EVIL IN THE HEAVENLY REALMS." This is a concept that many people simply refuse to understand. Satan has many rulers dominating the highest positions in human affairs, and their human hosts are able to manipulate virtually anyone or anything they choose, but with one exception! They are powerless against those who know their God and who therefore cannot be deceived.

It never ceases to amaze me how evangelical Christians are able to work �ma heart� or �yo� heart� into nearly every sentence. Strangely enough, they never quote God when He mentions their hearts in Deut 5:29 "Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my Commandments always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!" God even adds this in Deut 8:20 "To the Law and to the Testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, they have no light of dawn." No light of dawn � which means they are still living in darkness! If there is any redeeming feature: at least they are not Muslims!

But not all demons are the same, just as all human beings are not the same. Many demons are subtle, cunning, and manipulative. And those they target usually have cunningly disguised behavioural or emotional problems, but still have the ability to appeal virtuous just like �angels of light� as mentioned by Paul: 2Cor 11:14 "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." And this is not confined to false apostles and deceivers in the churches, but at the highest echelons of society. Look at how many Hollywood celebrities have become complete crackpots, and who call evil good, and good evil, yet always seem to claim the high moral ground.

What about Christians today? Knowledge has been greatly increased, yet are they getting closer to the Truth? No, they�re going in the other direction still believing myths and fables and a spurious doctrine. Would they recognize Jesus if He appeared again? Some would expect Him to have long hair like a girl. Others would expect Him to be pleading with the nations to be nice. I would just remind people that Jesus is the Christ, the Promised Messiah, and everyone would do well to understand the meaning of �Messiah�. The Christ today wields a mighty sword, and His exploits are detailed in a coming battle with the slaughter of millions of Muslims in the City of Mecca: Isa 63:1-6 "Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with His garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? "It is I, SPEAKING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, mighty to SAVE." ² "Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress?" ³ "I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. ⁴ For the Day of Vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. ⁵ I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm worked salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me. ⁶ I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground." This is the Mighty Christ, the Saviour, the Promised Messiah, mighty to SAVE, and He takes the fight to the heart of His enemies, and attacks them in their own holy city Mecca in the territory of Edom � whom God hates!

In the lead-up to this, John saw two distinct SIGNS appear in the heavens. Rev 12:1-2 "A great and wondrous SIGN appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. ² She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth." The first SIGN was of a woman, clothed with the sun (the Sun of Righteousness), with the moon (the lesser light) under her feet, and a crown of 12 stars (the sons of Israel/Jacob) on her head. She was pregnant and was about to give birth. This was a SIGN rather than a prophecy, and the prophecy from which this sign originated was given by Joseph in the Book of Genesis: Gen 37:9-11 "Then he (Joseph) had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." ¹⁰ When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind." As it turned out, his brothers sold him into slavery out of jealous rage, and his Father and brothers actually did come and pay obeisance to him in fulfillment of the prophecy. It�s important to note that Joseph�s mother (spoken of by Jacob) was Rachel, and she died in childbirth with the birth of Benjamin.

I�m reluctant to attempt an explanation of all these things because the details are so vast they can�t be condensed into abbreviated answers. But I�ll make a feeble attempt to put it together so the reader can make some sense of it, and distinguish between prophecy and signs. In the interests of clarity, I�ll include comments in blue with each of these prophecies.

Firstly, there is a prophecy about Rachel recorded in Matt 2:14-19 "So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son." ¹⁶ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷ Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: ¹⁸ "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

(There are several comments to make here. Firstly, Herod! Herod was a ruler of the heavenly realms, a satanic tyrant before whom Jesus refused to speak, thereby fulfilling what was written, He remained silent and went as a lamb to the slaughter. Conversely, Jesus did speak to Pontius Pilate, who consequently wanted to free him and washed his hands of the whole affair. Pilate was not in Satan�s camp!

Concerning Hosea�s prophecy �Out of Egypt I called my son� (quoted by Apostle Matthew the Levite), we find this is a reference to Ephraim: Hos 11:1-6 "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON. ² But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. They sacrificed to the Baals (Baal or Beelzebub is Satan the devil � Matt 12:24-28) and they burned incense to images. ³ It was I who taught EPHRAIM to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. ⁴ I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them. (God speaks in the plural in reference to Ephraim, because He is referring to the whole Tribe of them). ⁵ "Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent? ⁶ Swords will flash in their cities, will destroy the bars of their gates and put an end to their plans."

(Comments: You�ll notice that Matthew shows this prophecy was yet unfulfilled at the time of Christ, until Joseph and Mary fulfilled it. It was not fulfilled when Ephraim led the northern Ten Tribes into captivity in 721BC, though it was partially fulfilled. The complete fulfillment will result when Ephraim and the Ten Tribes associated with him return to the Promised Land and settle in peace. This is further explained by the prophecy of Rachel weeping for her children.)

This is what Jeremiah wrote about Rachel: Jer 31:15-22 "This is what the LORD says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more." ¹⁶ This is what the LORD says: "Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded," declares the LORD. "They will return from the LAND OF THE ENEMY. ¹⁷ So there is hope for your future," declares the LORD. "Your children will return to their own land. ¹⁸ I have surely heard EPHRAIM'S moaning: "You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because you are the LORD my God. ¹⁹ After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.� ²⁰ "IS NOT EPHRAIM MY DEAR SON, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him," declares the LORD. ²¹ "Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take. Return, O Virgin Israel, return to your towns. ²² How long will you wander, O unfaithful daughter? The LORD will create a new thing on earth � a WOMAN will surround [or protect] a man." That man is God�s dear son Ephraim! We�ve come full-circle on the �woman� mentioned here. It�s the same �woman� mentioned in Rev 12:1 and fulfills Joseph�s ancient prophecy concerning the sun, moon and 12 stars. Importantly, it�s now a sign because it is currently being fulfilled.

This chapter (twelve) of the Book of Revelation continues with another sign, and this time the sign identifies the enemy with the seven heads and ten horns. The Book of Revelation is heavy with symbolic language and many of the signs given will only be apparent when they are fulfilled. God does, however, reveal His secrets to His servants the prophets in advance. It�s an enormous red dragon, and he has seven heads of government. These seven heads are rulers, which is indicated by the crowns on their heads. These are rulers of the heavenly realms and are not flesh and blood! They are spirit beings and have been around for a long, long time. They�ve been deployed by Satan the devil to rally his troops � whole nations of them � against the House of Israel � both Christians and Jews. So we see the age-old conflict emerging once again in the following passage with references to the birth of Christ in the cradle of Judah. It brings to mind the slaughter of male children by one of these rulers of the heavenly realms to prevent the birth of Christ. Rev 12:3-6 "Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. ⁴ His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. ⁵ She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to His throne. ⁶ The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days."

I shouldn�t need to remind anyone that those who hurt Christ�s �little ones� will pay a horrific price! Here is Christ�s reminder of this: Matt 18:5-6 "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my Name welcomes me. ⁶ But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." The dice have already been cast on some of these wretched creatures who �masquerade as angels of light� but are filled with satanic impulses. Such people are well practiced in deception, and think that as long as they fool other humans they have fooled God. I would invite the reader to read the whole passage from V5-18 to get an idea of how serious this offence is. Such people don�t fear God, they fear only being exposed by men, and it�s a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.

The importance of God�s Kingdom is reflected in the many parables that Jesus taught, and the time of the establishment of God�s Kingdom is to be very important for the conduct of Christianity when exposed to the forces of evil that will try to prevent it. The Lord Christ has tried to teach in advance the sort of conduct that will be required for all who would gain entry. It will be a horrific period for the saints. It will be a time of slaughter, mayhem and betrayals. As Jude pointed out, there will be deceitful shepherds among you who will be looking after only themselves (Jude 1:12), and they will be like wild waves of the sea � to use Jude�s description. Jude was warning of what to expect. These evil creatures are controllers who masquerade as shepherds of God�s flock, who slavishly crave for recognition and respect � but they don�t have God�s Holy Spirit: Jude 1:19 "These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit." It seems they are always present in some form or another. The Church members must be faithful to one another nevertheless, and learn to distinguish between good and evil (Heb 5:14).

God intends to hold all His servants to account, whether in the Church or in the Kingdom. And this is reflected in Jesus� parable of the unjust servant: Matt 18:21 "Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" ²² Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. ²³ "Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. ²⁶ "The servant fell on his knees before him. �Be patient with me,� he begged, �and I will pay back everything.� ²⁷ The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. ²⁸ "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. �Pay back what you owe me!� he demanded. ²⁹ "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, �Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.� ³⁰ But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. ³² "Then the master called the servant in. �You wicked servant,� he said, �I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?� ³⁴ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers TO BE TORTURED, until he should pay back all he owed. ³⁵ "This is how my Heavenly Father WILL TREAT EACH OF YOU unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

So brotherly love and compassion will rank very highly in the coming holocaust of all the saints. The common bond will be in protection of each other, and from time to time, giving up one�s life to protect others � the most noble of all qualities: John 15:12-13 "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends IF you do what I command." Are you, the reader, prepared to do as the Lord Christ commanded? Well, the day is coming when you will find out, and if you do, then you will be the friend of Christ! All true Christians today will have to make this choice, and in so doing, will provide the inspiration for many �little ones� who will follow your example of obedience and faithfulness. This is the type of person God requires for His Kingdom! He wants those who are prepared to emulate the faithful obedience of His Son Jesus. Satan has his �martyrs� who die and receive no reward. God is different! God has promised His martyrs great rewards, and God will deliver!

At that time, you will learn to fear God more than anything man can do to you. With death and destruction all around, life will be cheap � just as it was in places like Auschwitz as any Jew will tell you. With the vast increase in knowledge that is evident today, no-one has any excuse for not sensing the dangers that are fast approaching. The television media, the bloggers, the online news sources are all trumpeting the rampant escalation of dangers all around the world, and Islam is at the forefront of it all. These same people who have been troublesome since antiquity, and who earned God�s displeasure long ago, are now making their move to wipe out Christians and Jews and the whole House of Israel. What is more, they will go to any lengths to prevent the Kingdom of God from being established. Not surprisingly, the Kingdom of God will be established with force this world has never seen and this force will be in the hands of men whose God is the Almighty God (Zech 12:4-6). And these mighty men will be allied with the Jews (V6), but not before the Jews realize how much they need their help.

One might ask (especially if they are besotted by political correctness) if this is fair to use such overwhelming and unequal force against anyone. Well there is going to be a display of this against Satan and his rulers and this gets us back to the next verse in Revelation 12. Satan and his rulers are in the planning stages of attacking God Himself in an attempt to destroy His dwelling-place. In their madness they have imagined that if they destroy the Glory Mothership they will bring God Almighty crashing to the earth.

Rev 12:7-9 "And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. ⁸ But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. ⁹ The great dragon was hurled down � that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him."

So it�s not surprising that God would retaliate against Satan�s brood just as Satan has done with God�s people. And neither is it surprising that God would use supernatural weapons of unimaginable power to clear the Holy Land of Satan�s vermin breeders. God never promised a fair fight, and Satan certainly never offered one. He�s been a murderous liar from the beginning, and this is the calling card of all of his followers. From the very beginning God has described the inauguration of His Kingdom as being like a tiny mustard seed that will grow into a large tree. What good would an insignificant mustard seed be without the Power and might and authority of the Lord Christ? Well this is how the Kingdom will begin � with the Power and authority of the Lord Christ � and that is when salvation begins! Rev 12:10-12 "Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the SALVATION and the POWER and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. ¹¹ They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. ¹² Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."

Long term readers will know of a Scripture we have quoted often, concerning the Testimony of Jesus, which is mentioned in the above verse. We usually quote only the last part, but now here it is in full: Rev 19:9-10 "Then the angel said to me, "Write: �Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!� "And he added, "These are the true words of God." At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do it! I AM A FELLOW SERVANT WITH YOU AND WITH YOUR BROTHERS who hold to the TESTIMONY OF JESUS. Worship God! FOR THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS IS THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY." Did you notice this passage relates to the wedding of the Lamb? This event is yet to occur, and it will comprise a specific number of people from the Tribes of Israel � with a double-portion to Joseph. These numbers (12,000 from each of the Tribes, 144,000 in all) will be derived through the crucible of war and defeat, captivity and slavery. This will be a time when the House of Israel will learn a lesson they will never forget, a time when they will abhor themselves for their evil denunciation of the Great Creator God. But God will have mercy on them after they have beaten their breast in remorse and repentance.

We should note that the 12,000 from each Tribe of Israel makes an important omission, and this is the Tribe of Dan. These are the treacherous descendants of the Vikings who settled predominantly in Ireland. Quite apart from centuries of harassing the other Tribes, the Tribe of Dan has recently been funding and assisting Satan�s Islamic brood � the Palestinians! For years they supplied Yasser Arafat with plastic explosives to kill Jews. Since antiquity, the Tribe of Dan has had a penchant for choosing evil over good. Anyway, it�s not my decision � it�s God�s! Even at the time of the writing of the Book of Revelation, God made a decision to omit them from the Bride of Christ, and I couldn�t agree with God more! It was always the Danites that favoured paganism more than the other Tribes and frequently led the way into this outrage. There�s not a lot to commend the Danites in the Bible. Samson was a good example, but they certainly never emulated him.

In the Book of James, the writer addresses this very theme. In fact the Book is addressed: James 1:1 "To the Twelve Tribes of Israel scattered among the [heathen] nations". Now is not the time to be going into a whole tome about the Book of James even though it�s certainly worthy of such detailed explanation. But importantly, the Twelve Tribes of Israel were supposed to be a brotherhood of like-minded people. This was intended from the time when the 12 brothers were born to Jacob. God required loyalty and obedience to Himself, and loyalty among the brothers. Obviously, the brothers were not ready for this, and they became jealous of Joseph who was born to Rachel and Jacob. They hated him because both God and Jacob loved him more than the others. There was the coat of many colours (a richly ornamented robe) that infuriated them, but what infuriated them most were the dreams that he had under inspiration from God, and especially the one that suggested that they would all come and bow down to him! And of course, this dream came true, but there was worse to come. God visits the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation, and these generations found themselves in slavery.

There is a pattern in God�s ways where those who persecute His servants (as Joseph was) He brings terrible retribution against the offenders. What Joseph�s brothers couldn�t understand was the fact that when God chooses a servant to be the pattern of righteousness, the rest must listen to him. And as a matter of interest, these were Moses exact words when he predicted that God would raise up a prophet just like himself: Deut 18:15 "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him."

But at the crucial time in the lead-up to these events, Ephraim and Judah will feature prominently in this world�s affairs. Ephraim is described as having the House of Israel � all ten tribes � associated with him (V16). And this raises another point. God gave Jeroboam the Ephraimite ten tribes, and left just one tribe to Judah. What about the other tribe that makes up the 12 Tribes of Israel? Well, God never gave this Tribe to any one! He kept it as His own! And He makes this very clear in Num 8:13-17 "Have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and then present them as a wave offering to the LORD. ¹⁴ In this way you are to set the Levites apart from the other Israelites, AND THE LEVITES WILL BE MINE. ¹⁵ "After you have purified the Levites and presented them as a wave offering, they are to come to do their work at the Tent of Meeting. ¹⁶ They are the Israelites who are to be GIVEN WHOLLY TO ME. I have taken them as my own IN PLACE OF THE FIRSTBORN, the first male offspring from every Israelite woman. ¹⁷ Every firstborn male in Israel, whether man or animal, is mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set them apart for myself."

God demands that the �lost tribes of Israel� recognize Satan�s brood for what they are, and to learn the lessons of history. Satan has been stirring up trouble for all the Tribes of Israel since they were born. God has made it very clear who will live in the Holy Land as one unified Tribe, and with whom He will dwell, and this is the House of Israel � all Twelve Tribes. All other nations will not have this privilege, though they will be welcome to come and keep God�s festivals year by year (Zech 14:16-17). And as long as they do they will have peace. You couldn�t possibly envision this happening in the present political climate!

Before this can happen there is going to be a long drawn out battle for supremacy, and God will win this battle. What is more, the earth�s population will take a dramatic turn in reduction to a point where there will be few men left: Isa 24:3-6 "The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this word. ⁴ The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. ⁵ The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the Laws, violated the Statutes and broken the Everlasting Covenant. ⁶ Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left."

Such people really are firmly implanted in this world and all that it has to offer: 1John 2:15-19 "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For everything in the world � the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."

Its one thing to teach a false doctrine, but it�s even more serious to refute and contradict God�s Word in doing so. And what a time they choose for doing so. John was the Apostle to whom the Book of Revelation was delivered, and this Book of prophecy is gut-wrenching in its revelations. John foreshadowed some of this with this continuing commentary: V18-19 "Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, EVEN NOW MANY ANTICHRISTS HAVE COME. This is how we know it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us."

So what does it take to be an antichrist? Jesus famously spoke these words: "He who is not with me is against me": Matt 12:30-32 "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. ³¹ And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³² Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age OR IN THE AGE TO COME."

John was writing to the Church in his reference in 1John 2:19. He was warning them that many would turn away from the Truth and start believing fables and nonsense, and this is how he characterized the many antichrists that had come. Worse than this, many would start to believe that Jesus didn�t come at the appointed time in accordance with their own perceptions, and so they turned from the faith that was once delivered. The preachers and missionaries did a good job in the good times, but when adversity approached, as it did in the days of the Apostle John, many turned their backs and no longer believed. Such people had no depth of faith or character, and once they embarked on their course of disbelief, they made it their life�s work to turn away others with their antichrist rhetoric.

When John wrote to the dying embers of the surviving Church of God at that time, he was warning them to beware of antichrists, those who had once enjoyed the fellowship of God�s true and obedient Church. V20-21 "But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. ²¹ I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the Truth. ²² Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is THE CHRIST. Such a man is the antichrist � he denies the Father and the Son. ²³ No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also." As we�ve pointed out so many times in the past, the true nature of the Mighty Christ is unknown to most of Christianity today. What is more, neither do they understand that this same Jesus Christ was the God of the Old Testament, the very One who accompanied Moses and the Israelites throughout their journeys: 1Cor 10:1-5 "For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. ² They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the Spiritual Rock that accompanied them, AND THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST. ⁵ Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert."

And why doesn�t Christianity understand this? Jesus will not hand over the Kingdom to God the Father until He has put down and destroyed all dominion, authority and power. Jesus will continue to exclusively deal with humanity as He has done since the days of Adam and Eve until the present time, and until He hands over the Kingdom to the Father. 1Cor 15:24-28 "Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵ For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is Death. ²⁷ For He "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under Him, it is clear that this does not include God Himself, WHO PUT EVERYTHING UNDER CHRIST. ²⁸ When He has done this, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put everything under Him, so that God may be all in all."

It�s very clear that the Mighty Christ will fight, just as His servants will! In fact, Jesus told Pilate that His Kingdom was not of that age, but if it were then would His servants stand up and fight (John 18:38). You�ll also notice that Jesus armed His servants with two swords in order that the prophecy �He was numbered with transgressors� would be fulfilled. Luke 22:37-38 "It is written: �And He was numbered with the transgressors�; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment." ³⁸ The disciples said, "See, Lord, here are two swords." "That is enough," he replied." Though, as it turned out, that was neither the time nor the place for taking the Kingdom by force, and that time was yet in the future. At that time, which is now, His servants will indeed take the Kingdom by force, and the world will consider them to be transgressors.

And where is it written that the Lord Christ will be numbered with transgressors? It�s found in the 53^rd chapter of Isaiah, and in fact, this chapter details everything that we have been saying. On the eve of His arrest and murder, the Lord Christ said that everything that is written about Him had to be fulfilled. But first He had to give up His life in order to bear the iniquities of those who would be called: Isa 53:11 "After the suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by His knowledge my Righteous Servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities." And this is what happened on that Wednesday Passover, nearly 2,000 years ago. He went as a Lamb to the slaughter, was killed and resurrected to see the light of life once more.

And the chapter continues: V12 "Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death, and was NUMBERED WITH THE TRANSGRESSORS. For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." We�ve made it very plain over the years that the spoils to be divided are the spoils of dispossessed nations who are presently walking on Holy Ground � the Promised Land.

In the next verse we come to the reference to the barren woman who never bore a child. This woman failed to give birth to a righteous and Godly nation in accordance with God�s standards. Nevertheless, by the standards of this world there is no nation that is greater or more righteous than Ephraim, the United States of America, and through Ephraim, the Bride of Christ will emerge. This is the whole purpose of the woman spoken of in prophecy: to become suitable as a bride! God was a husband to the House of Israel throughout much of their existence, but in times of severe disobedience God issued a bill of divorce. Isa 54:1 "Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman (the children of Israel) than of HER who has a husband," says the LORD." Not only does Joseph get a double portion in the Bride of Christ, but the powerful Ephraim also commands all ten of the �lost� Tribes of Israel. So it�s a no-brainer that Ephraim has more children of Israel than HER who has a husband.

Remember the earlier reference to Judah: Zech 10:4 "From Judah will come the Cornerstone, from him the tent-peg, from him the battle-bow, from him every ruler. Together they will be like mighty men trampling the muddy streets in battle. Because the LORD is with them, they will fight and overthrow the horsemen." The reference to the horsemen is the fulfillment of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, whom we have identified many times as the nations that surround the Holy Land, and who were God�s enemies anciently. Notice the reference to the tent-peg in this preceding verse. God gives the explanation in the next verse of Isaiah: Isa 54:2-3 "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. ³ For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities." If there is one nation on earth that God can truly trust, it�s Judah! Little Israel has suffered many things and came close to total annihilation in the last holocaust, yet they remained faithful to God and His Holy City. Not only did they return en masse, but they have fought tenaciously to hold it against overwhelming odds.

God offers them comfort just as He did in the chapter of Isaiah where Elijah (as John the Baptist) began his ministry: Isa 40:1-2 "Comfort, comfort MY PEOPLE, says your God. ² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD�s hand double for all her sins. ³ A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God." It�s very clear whom God is calling �MY PEOPLE� and who will be allied with those who have been taught by God. Together they will dispossess nations and settle the desolate cities with refugees from the Tribes of Israel.

Isa 54:4-5 "Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood (the time when God was no longer their husband). ⁵ For your Maker is your husband � the LORD Almighty is his Name � the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth."

So God�s first choice of a nation to join those who have been taught by Him are the Jews. Isa 54:6-7 "The LORD will call you back as if you were a WIFE deserted and distressed in spirit � a WIFE who married young, only to be rejected," says your God. ⁷ "For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. ⁸ In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you," says the LORD your Redeemer."

To further reinforce the time-setting here, we have reference to the days of Noah. The Lord Christ mentioned this very thing while on the Mount of Olives with His disciples. Matt 24:37-39 "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹ and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."

Isa 54:9-10 "To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again. ¹⁰ Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my Covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you." So this is God�s reassurance to the Jewish people, and more particularly, the House of David which gave birth to the man-child Jesus, who was the Son of David. In complete contrast, the �lost Ten Tribes of Israel� will know nothing until the flood comes and sweeps them away. They will remain blind to reality.

In the next verse, God addresses the City of Jerusalem and also her sons, who will be known as The Sons of Jerusalem. As Jesus pointed out in John 6:45 "It is written in the Prophets: �They will all be taught by God.� Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to me."

We�ve spoken many times of where this is written in the Prophets, and it just so happens that it�s in the same chapter of Isaiah that we have been progressively explaining here, and it all links to the same �armed transgressors� earlier spoken of by the Christ. Isa 54:11-15 "O afflicted City, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires. ¹² I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. ¹³ All your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be your children's peace. ¹⁴ In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. ¹⁵ If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you."

In the present political climate in Israel, terror is certainly not far removed, and in fact, it�s virtually a daily occurrence! So what is to change this, and get the Israelis reactivated? V16-17 "See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc; ¹⁷ no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me," declares the LORD."

But Jesus spoke of that age and the age to come and even the end of the age to come! (Matt 24:3). He also spoke of this end of this age to come as being the most horrific period in human history � a time which must be cut short or no human beings would survive. Matt 24:21-22 "For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now � and never to be equaled again. ²² If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. ²³ At that time if anyone says to you, �Look, here is the Christ!� or, �There he is!� do not believe it. ²⁴ For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the ELECT � if that were possible. ²⁵ See, I have told you ahead of time."

Hamas Parliament Speaker Calls on Allah to Kill Jews and Americans. Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - The acting speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Sheikh Ahmad Bahr of the Hamas faction, called on Allah to kill the Jews and Americans "down to the very last one" during a sermon broadcast two weeks ago on Sudan television. "America and Israel will be annihilated, Allah willing. I guarantee you that the power of belief and faith is greater than the power of America and Israel," Bahr said, according to a translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute. "They are cowards, who are eager for life, while we are eager for death for the sake of Allah," Bahr continued. "That is why America's nose was rubbed in the mud in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Somalia, and everywhere." Bahr exalted the virtues of the Palestinian woman who sends her son off to die as a "martyr." "Oh Allah, vanquish the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, vanquish the Americans and their supporters. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them all, down to the very last one...defeat the Jews and the Americans, and bring us victory over them," Bahr said.

All Bible prophecy points to these last days in which we live, either by example or by fulfillment. In the last six years we have seen a major escalation of terrorism from Satan�s brood. Prior to 9/11 it all seemed so distant and unrelated to our own well-being. Sure the Jewish State of Israel was constantly under siege, but even this seemed unrelated to the Christian ideals under which the West was founded. As long as this satanic scourge was confined to the Middle East, life went on and the good times continued to roll. Entertainment became the guiding principle of lifestyle, and whole corporations emerged for the proliferation of lifestyle issues and gadgetry in all its forms. Electronic gadgetry flooded the market place, together with promises of even more outstanding access to all sorts of leisure and entertainment. In the minds of some, utopia had been exceeded, but it wasn�t enough, and so exploring the beyond became the next project as the dizzying heights of the electronic age clouded out reality. Suddenly, God�s Word and His Name were no longer welcome in society or officialdom. The prevailing view was �Who needs God?� Progressively the most vocal groups were heralding themselves as the enlightened ones who had seen through the �dark-age myths� of believing in the Creator God. Consequently their minds became darkened, and professing themselves to be wise they became fools � just as the Apostle Paul predicted in Rom 1:21-22.

Exactly as was predicted! While their minds have become darkened, they can�t begin to envisage the real darkness that lies just beyond. In prophetic terms, the Bible speaks of a long, dark night, but one which will end with the dawning of a new day (2Pet 1:19). And that dawning will not be as one might expect. It will require years of fighting to rid the earth of Satan�s brood and to free the hostages. And those hostages will be the remnant of the House of Israel � the diminutive numbers that will survive the coming holocaust. Gone will be all their electronic lifestyle embellishments, gone will be their desire for entertainment, and gone will be everything except their desire for survival. The very One whom they desired to dismiss as the Creator God is going to make His presence known to ungrateful nations that became emboldened to the point that they no longer gave credit to Him for their affluence. They wanted total independence to do as they please, and in their minds, the logical first step was to dispense with their Creator God.

Just a short digression! About seventy years ago, a certain shepherd, who was prophesied to appear (Zech 11:15-17), and ultimately became a worthless shepherd, appeared on the scene. Though not a prophet, he dabbled in prophecy. Unfortunately, it was not Bible Prophecy, but a concoction of all sorts of rather childish predictions. None of which came true! But he did make some progress in identifying the Tribes of Israel today, howbeit, through plagiarism. He did, however, revive the true Church of God in the manner prescribed by God; a Church that observed God�s Law and obeyed the observance of God�s Holy Days. Out of all the Christian churches on earth who consistently refuse to obey God, the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) knew that they were God�s Church because they fulfilled God�s requirements for obedience. For seventy years this Church of God remained the faithful revival of the faith that was once delivered. God blessed them and guided them and was with them. But they were not yet perfect, and they were not without fault.

But there was yet another serious fault with the Worldwide Church of God! They appointed teachers (overseers) through a hierarchical system that God detests � and Jesus certainly attests to this (Matt 20:25-28). And those who gravitated to these �anointed� positions were the greedy, power-hungry parasites that many are very familiar with in a corporate setting. Such people want control over everyone, and they crave honour and respect of the highest order. Eventually, the whole hierarchical structure collapsed, and most of these �ministers� found themselves out of a job. Never did they learn to distinguish good from evil (Heb 5:14).

So what is the importance of Ephraim, the United States of America, today? It�s clear that God has great expectations for them, and even plans to welcome them back to their ancestral lands. So what is it about Ephraim today that God loves? Consider for a moment all the nations of the earth! Which of these exceeds America in generosity, compassion and decency? Which nation is always the first to render assistance in time of trouble? Which is the first nation to go to the aid of other nations when confronted by an aggressive nation? Whose power and technology has most benefited other poorer nations? And whose foreign aid benefits the most people throughout the world? And lastly, which nation gives so generously, and never seeks anything in return? In spite of all the evil rhetoric, which is constantly being hurled at America, no nation comes close to fulfilling all these criteria. Ephraim is the best that the world has to offer, and there is none like him. As a matter of fact, this was God�s comment about His servant Job (Job 1:8). Job and Ephraim have a lot in common, but we won�t go into that now.

God�s son Ephraim has some learning to do, and in the fullness of time they will play a major part in the mopping-up process of the nations surrounding the Holy Land. Zech 10:6-12 "I will strengthen the House of Judah, and SAVE the House of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them. They will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them. ⁷ The Ephraimites will become like mighty men, and their hearts will be glad as with wine. Their children will see it and be joyful; their hearts will rejoice in the LORD. ⁸ I will signal for them and gather them in. Surely I will redeem them; they will be as numerous as before. ⁹ Though I scatter them among the peoples, yet in distant lands they will remember me. They and their children will survive, and they will return. ¹⁰ I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon, and there will not be room enough for them. ¹¹ They will pass through the sea of trouble; the surging sea will be subdued and all the depths of the Nile will dry up. Assyria's pride will be brought down and Egypt's scepter will pass away. ¹² I will strengthen them in the LORD and in His Name they will walk," declares the LORD."

So what actually happens in the lead-up to this? Well it all begins with something very familiar to many Christians. This was enacted during the Lord Christ�s first appearance, and it�s set to be repeated: Zech 9:9 "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, Righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. ¹⁰ I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations [of Israel]. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River [Euphrates � see margin] to the ends of the earth. ¹¹ As for you [Ephraim], because of the Blood of my Covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. ¹² Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. ¹³ I will bend Judah as I bend my bow and fill it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and make you like a warrior's sword."

V14 "Then the LORD will appear over them; His arrow will flash like lightning. The Sovereign LORD will sound the trumpet; He will march in the storms of the south, ¹⁵ and the LORD Almighty will shield them. They will destroy and overcome with slingstones. They will drink and roar as with wine; they will be full like a bowl used for sprinkling the corners of the altar." There is much that could be said in explanation of this last sentence, but we won�t go into it now. V16 "The LORD their God will SAVE them (the lost sheep of Israel) on that day as the flock of his people. They will sparkle in His Land like jewels in a crown. ¹⁷ How attractive and beautiful they will be! Grain will make the young men thrive, and new wine the young women."

And just to conclude with a couple of verses in the next chapter, we find that the �lost sheep of Israel� are oppressed for lack of a shepherd: Zech 10:2-3 "The idols speak deceit, diviners see visions that lie; they tell dreams that are false, they give comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep oppressed for lack of a shepherd. ³ "My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the LORD Almighty will care for his flock, THE HOUSE OF JUDAH, and make them like a proud horse in battle."

Presently, Judah is listening to the nonsense taught by the �lost sheep of Israel� who don�t know their God. They�ve been beguiled to believe that God�s enemies are worth sparing even though it contradicts everything that God has taught the House of Israel down through the ages. The heathen nations are worthless and less than nothing in God�s eyes (Isa 40:17). And anyone who doesn�t understand this is not fit for God�s Kingdom.

As a matter of interest, when God ordered Joshua to go in and take the Holy Land by force, He instructed him to be strong and courageous, not once, but four times (Joshua 1:6, 7, 9, 18). So what did God mean, and what does He expect of Judah today? He makes it very clear: Zech 12:4-14 "On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness," declares the LORD. "I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. ⁵ Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, �THE PEOPLE OF JERUSALEM ARE STRONG, BECAUSE THE LORD ALMIGHTY IS THEIR GOD.� ⁶ "On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. THEY WILL CONSUME RIGHT AND LEFT ALL THE SURROUNDING PEOPLES, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place." In that day, there will be none of the sissy type of fighting we see today, where collateral damage is the big no-no! Collateral damage will be the order of the day, and will be carried out with great dispatch. None of this weak, wishy-washy way of doing things; once the enemy is identified, they�ll be wiped out to the last man, woman or child. Why would anyone want God�s enemies to breed up again? Well, God made it very plain long ago that He doesn�t, and He makes the rules!

V7 "The LORD will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the House of David and of Jerusalem's inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. ⁸ On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the House of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD going before them. ⁹ On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem." So which of the nations that surround the Holy Land have not attacked Jerusalem? I know of none, so they are all fair game, and they will all suffer the same fate. With Judah consuming them like a blazing torch among sheaves, their future looks grim!

At that time the House of Judah will be joined with the Sons of Jerusalem to form the House of David � the very one that gave birth to the man-child Jesus, who is the Root and Offspring of David (Rev 22:16). When God says He will strengthen the House of Judah and make them like a battle horse, it will be after much soul-searching concerning their first rejection of their Lord and Saviour. V10 "And I will pour out on the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the One they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. ¹¹ On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹² The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the House of David and their wives, the clan of the House of Nathan and their wives, ¹³ the clan of the House of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, ¹⁴ and all the rest of the clans and their wives." So it will be quite an event when the Jewish people realize they have been rejecting their Messiah for so long.

It�s unlikely that mainstream Christianity will have similar feelings of remorse for the shameful way they have depicted the Mighty Christ! For too long they have believed they were already �saved� and yet the battle hasn�t yet started. Salvation is from the Jews (John 4:22), just as Jesus said, and now Christians can know what it means. Perhaps at some future time they might even mourn like the Jews and start appreciating the meaning of the Messiah and all that He stands for.