The Day of the Lord – Part Seven

Ever since St. John wrote his book of Revelation, Christians have been speculating about when the wrath of God would begin, when the elect would be “raptured” off the earth to a place of safety, and when Jesus would return to the earth in the flesh to begin his reign of a thousand years.

This speculation began almost as soon as the book was written in the first century A.D. Even St. Paul, who was the founder of the Christian church in Asia minor, was amongst those who believed that Jesus would return to the earth sooner rather than later.

But as the years passed without any sign of his return, Christian scholars began to question whether the dire events predicted by St. John might perhaps be more symbolic than real, and whether the events described in Revelation might be open to different interpretations.

According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, most Christians today interpret the book of Revelation in any one of five different ways.

1. Historicist – that it refers to a broad view of actual history
2. Preterist – that it refers mostly to events that have already happened in the early days of the Christian era
3. Amillennialist – that the millennium described by John has already begun
4. Futurist – that the events described in Revelation are still to come
5. Idealist – that the events described by John are not real, but symbolic of the spiritual path and the battle between good and evil  (View source)

But if Church scholars were uncertain about whether the events portrayed in Revelation were real or symbolic, there have always been individuals who not only indicated that these were real events that would happen in the future, but insisted that they knew when that future time would be.

In the 16th Century, a German Anabaptist prophet by the name of Melchior Hoffman announced to his followers that the Lord would return to the earth in 1533, and that the French town of Strasbourg would be the location of the New Jerusalem.

Then, some three centuries later, an American Baptist preacher called William Miller wrote:

“My principles in brief, are, that Jesus Christ will come again to this earth, cleanse, purify, and take possession of the same, with all the saints, sometime between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844″.

When March 21, 1844 came and went without the appearance of the Christ, Miller decided that his calculations had been incorrect. He therefore adopted a new date based on the “Karaite” version of the Jewish calendar, in place of the “Rabbinic” version he had used before.

This new date, Miller announced, would be April 18, 1844. When this new date again passed without Christ’s return, he responded publicly, writing: “I confess my error, and acknowledge my disappointment; yet I still believe that the day of the Lord is near, even at the door.”

Yet Miller’s error clearly had little deterrent effect on others who followed in his footsteps. Even the renowned 18th century  mathematician and physicist Sir Isaac Newton could not resist this temptation, when he predicted that the Apocalypse would occur in the year 2060.

Newton was a devout Christian who believed that the Bible was a revelation from God. He also believed that biblical prophecy predicted the divinely-ordained events of the future, and that the interpretation of biblical prophecy was “a duty of the greatest moment”.

As he recorded in his alchemical papers “the holy Prophecies” of the Scripture are nothing less than “histories of things to come” (Yahuda MS 1.1, folio 16 recto). However, in the 44 years left before the year 2060, it is unlikely that even his most ardent followers are holding their breath.

One of the most famous, or perhaps notorious “date-setters” of the 21st century, depending on one’s point of view, was a retired civil engineer living in California by the name of Harold Camping, who had built a multi-million-dollar non-profit ministry known as Family Radio.

In 1992 he had published a book titled “1994?”, proclaiming that Christ’s return might be on September 6, 1994. In that book he also mentioned that 2011 could be the end of the world. Camping’s predictions used 1988 as a significant year in the events preceding the apocalypse.

In two later books, “We are Almost There!” and “To God be The Glory“, Camping said that he had found new Biblical evidence which, in his opinion and that of others mentioned by him, indicated that he was wrong about his earlier dates for the Rapture as well as for the end of the world.

Then, on the basis of this new information, Camping issued an apocalyptic warning that God’s Day of Judgement would now happen on May 21, 2011, starting with a worldwide earthquake, and that on this day Jesus Christ would return to the earth to save all true Christian believers.

When his predicted Day of Judgement arrived, millions of people around the world waited expectantly. However, once it became clear that they had not been rescued by Jesus and that the predicted earthquakes had failed to materialise, Camping had to confess that his predictions were false.

Skeptical critics took delight in lampooning Camping for his apocalyptic warnings, by pointing out that not only had he failed once before, but that he was merely the latest in a long line of “date-setters” who had all been unsuccessful in their efforts to predict the time of future Biblical events.

Other Christian preachers and scholars went even further. They used scriptural evidence to show that these apocalyptic events could never be predicted in advance, and that any attempt to do so was doomed to failure. In support of their position, they quoted from the gospel of St. Mark:

“But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father”.  (Mark 13:32)

Even such an accomplished seer as Nostradamus was not immune from the temptation of “date-setting”, nor from suffering the same predictable result. In a letter which was addressed to “Henry, Second King of France”, Nostradamus wrote:

“These predictions made with the aid of astronomy and other methods, and even by the Holy Scriptures, cannot not happen.

“Had I wished I could have put a calculation of time into each quatrain; but that would not have pleased everyone, and my interpretations still less, unless your Majesty grants me enough protection to do this, so as not to give slanderers pretext for attacking me.”

Yet in spite of these cautionary words, seven quatrains out of 942 contained actual dates of reference. They were Century 1 verse 49, Century 2 verse 51, Century 3 verse 77, Century 6 verse 2, Century 8 verse 71, Century 10 verse 72, and Century 10 verse 91.

Because all of the dates listed in the above quatrains have now passed, we can say with a fair degree of accuracy that, while six out of the seven can be considered to be accurate, one of them failed spectacularly. That was the 72nd quatrain of Century 10, quoted below:

“In the year 1999, and seven months, from the sky will come the great King of Terror. He will bring back to life the great king of the Mongols. Before and after War reigns happily.”

This is one of Nostradamus’ most intriguing quatrains, because it seems to indicate that the earth will be terrorized by an object coming from the sky. But nothing of the kind happened in 1999, so from the point of view of the date quoted by Nostradamus, this quatrain must stand as a failure.

As has already been noted, Nostradamus indicated in his letter to Henry that his predictions were made “with the aid of astronomy and other methods, and even by the Holy Scriptures”. So despite his confidence that he “could have put a calculation of time into each quatrain”, it is clear that Nostradamus was as fallible as all the rest.

This did not necessarily mean that his prophecies were incorrect, but rather that the methods used to date his predictions were prone to error.

There is, however, one supreme irony in this centuries-old quest to unravel the riddle of WHEN the “Great and Terrible Day of the Lord” would occur. And that is that the vital clue to understanding the timing of this event has been staring scholars and evangelists in the face for over 2,500 years.

To understand the origin of this clue, we need to travel back in time to the early history of the Jews. In fact we need to go back to the year 587 B.C. when the Israelites were living in exile by the waters of Babylon, and to the time of the prophet Ezekiel.

In Chapter 37 of his book of prophecy recorded in the Old Testament, Ezekiel predicted that a series of events would occur during the “Latter Days”, which was a term used by Ezekiel as well as other prophets to denote the times leading up to the return of the saviour.

Ezekiel predicted that a time would come when the scattered tribes of Israel would return to the land of their fore-fathers, and that they would become a nation once more. As he wrote:

“And say unto them, thus saith the Lord God: behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them up on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel.”  (Ezekiel 37: 21-22)

This prophecy by Ezekiel became reality on May 14, 1948, when the state of Israel was officially established, following the adoption of a resolution to this effect by the United Nations General Assembly.

Ezekiel then went on to predict that soon after this time, the land of Israel would be threatened by many nations, and that the armies of these nations would surround Israel on every side. These armies would come from “the north parts”, and from countries like “Persia, Libya and Ethiopia”.

“Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, thus saith the Lord God; in that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it? And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army.”

“And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.”  (Ezekiel 38: 14-16)

According to Ezekiel, this vast mechanized army would assemble on the borders of Israel. Their goal would be to wipe out the Jewish nation once and for all, and take over their land. The Jews would be powerless to stop the mighty forces that would be arrayed against them on every side.

But just when all hope seemed to be lost and the entire Jewish nation appeared to be doomed, the Lord God would intervene and cause earthquakes to shake the land of Israel, and at the same time cause “hailstones, fire and brimstone” to rain down upon their enemies.

“And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken. Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel.”  (Ezekiel 38: 18-19)

“And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire and brimstone.”  (Ezekiel 38: 22)

And this is where the quest to interpret the events of the “Latter Days” becomes truly remarkable, because for the last two thousand years it never seems to have occurred to Biblical scholars to link the above prediction of Ezekiel with the following passage taken from the book of Revelation.

“And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth; and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all the green grass burnt up”.  (Revelation 8: 6-7)

Despite the fact that both of these quotations explicitly refer to “hail and fire mingled with blood”, Bible scholars have been blind to the obvious fact that has been staring them in the face for centuries, and that is that both of these passages refer to the same astronomical event.

The key word in both of these passages is the word “blood”. Now most scholars have jumped to the conclusion that this is a reference to human blood. But what they don’t realise is that the prophets were actually describing hail that looked like blood. In other words, the hail was blood-red in colour.

And as has previously been explained, the hail that accompanied the fire and brimstone would be coloured red as a result of the red dust particles in the tail of the comet. And it is these fiery red particles that would look like “fiery hail” when they hit the surface of the earth.

And in case anyone thinks this is just wild speculation, it is worth recalling that this would not be the first time that the Jews had been saved by “fiery hail”, or from dust that turned the waters into the colour of blood. As we read in the book of Exodus:

“And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood”. (Exodus 7: 20)

“And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt”. (Exodus 9: 23)

So what this all means is that the comet “Wormwood” described in the book of Revelation is the same agent that is responsible for the destruction of the Islamic armies gathered on the borders of Israel as predicted by Ezekiel. These are not two unrelated events.

We also have additional clues that confirm this is the case. The first is that the devastation described by St. John, especially with the destruction of “Mystery Babylon” outlined in Part Four, is clearly global in extent, and is not confined to the country of Israel alone.

This is confirmed by Ezekiel in the same passage where he talks about the destruction of Gog and his armies when he states:

“Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.”  (Ezekiel: 19-20)

While there does exist a significant fault line running through the Dead Sea, Israel itself is not particularly prone to earthquakes, and certainly nothing of a kind that would cause severe shaking over the entire country. In fact there have been no large earthquakes in Israel since it became  a nation.

So anything that would cause “a great shaking in the land of Israel” would have to have its source elsewhere. And that would undoubtedly be the impact of the giant rock cast into the ocean that was witnessed in a dream by Efrain Rodriguez (see Part Six), and described by the prophet Nahum:

“He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.”  (Nahum 1: 4-5)

So based on the words of the prophets of the Old Testament alone, without even referring to the predictions of St. John in his book of Revelation, it is obvious that the shaking referred to in the land of Israel will be experienced everywhere on the planet.

Now some commentators have suggested that the “fire and brimstone” described by Ezekiel was merely symbolic language for modern weaponry, and that the destruction of the Islamic armies would be the result of tactical nuclear weapons, rather than something coming from outer space.

But again, this would not account for the destruction in all the other parts of the world. And it would be an improbable stretch to suggest that there would be two separate astronomical events occurring independently of one another within the short time-frame of the “Latter Days”.

And this inevitably leads to the question that has challenged Christian commentators for centuries, and that is if the world is soon to be afflicted by a world-wide catastrophe as predicted by St. John, will anyone be spared from the great tribulation that will follow?

When Jesus was asked by his disciples about the events that would occur on earth in the days leading up to his return, he replied:

“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

” Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man”.  (Luke 21: 34-36)

It is clear from the above words of Jesus that there will be some who will be “accounted worthy”, and who will escape these disasters and be spared from the trauma that is to come. In fact Jesus went on to explain what would occur, and how this miraculous event would come about.

“Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch ye therefore; for ye know not what hour the Lord doth come”.  (Matthew 24: 40-42)

It was this enigmatic remark by Jesus that has become the basis for the Christian belief in the “Rapture”. Although the word itself does not appear in the New Testament, the rapture is derived from the Latin word rapiemur, meaning “to catch up” or “to take away”.

Among the Evangelical Christian churches of the West, particularly in the United States, there is a prevailing belief that when the rapture does occur, it will include the entire body of the church, rather than selected individuals taken from different parts of the world.

Those tele-evangelists and pastors who announce with smug confidence that they will be among those who will be taken away to be with Jesus before the great and terrible day of the Lord, have clearly never bothered to read the book of Revelation, or if they have, have failed to understand it.

When St. John came to relate his vision of the end times, he began with a series of letters which most commentators have tended to ignore. Yet they are amongst the most important passages in the entire book of Revelation. These letters are addressed to seven different churches. As John wrote:

“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein; for the time is at hand. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; from the seven Spirits which are before his throne.”  (Revelation 1: 3-4)

John then devoted chapters two and three to the content of these letters, which were addressed to the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. While outwardly these letters may seem unrelated to prophecy, they actually carry a hidden meaning.

One of the best interpreters of this hidden meaning is the American engineer, businessman, author and now Christian evangelist Dr. Charles Missler. Missler was the founder of the Koinonia House ministry, which is now based in the town of Reporoa in New Zealand.

Missler has pointed out that the seven letters addressed to the churches in Asia are actually a prophetic profile of the history of the Christian church, dating from the time of the death of Jesus and continuing up to the time of his return at the end of the current age.

According to Dr. Missler, this prophetic profile covers a period of the last two thousand years, with each designated church in Asia referring to a particular period of church history. These seven periods of history may be summarised as follows:

• The church of Ephesus – the Apostolic Church
• The church of Smyrna – the Persecuted Church
• The church of Pergamos – the Married Church
• The church of Thyatira – the Medieval Church
• The church of Sardis – the Denominational Church
• The church of Philadelphia – the Missionary Church
• The church of Laodicea – the Eschatological (End Time) Church

As Dr. Missler explains in the following video (beginning at 17:15 minutes), we are now living at the time of the last period of church history. And the letter addressed to the church of Laodicea is actually directed at all those Christians who are alive today.

This letter should make it crystal clear to all those who entertain warm and fuzzy feelings about joining Jesus in heaven at the time of the rapture, that they may well be among the millions of the “faithful” who will be left behind to suffer through the tribulation, as we can see from the following lines:

“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.

“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and annoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore and repent.

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne”.  (Revelation 3: 14-21)

Ultimately, it will be the actions that each person has taken in the course of their lives that will decide their fate. The Bible says that those who will be chosen will be judged by the fruits of their actions, rather than by pious words. As Jesus warned his followers:

“Not every one that saith unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven.

“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity.”  (Matthew 7: 20-23)

On that day of decision many so-called Christians will discover that they are not among the chosen few, but have been left behind to face the horrors of the tribulation. It will be a day of great sorrow and despair. “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth”.  (Matthew 24: 51)

There are millions of Christians alive today who are convinced that they will be among those who will be saved, and that they will be taken away to be with Jesus when the time of tribulation comes.

The shock that they will feel when they find out that they have been left behind will be great indeed. They will be among the many who will fail to heed the warning given by Jesus himself.

When Jesus told his disciples about the kingdom that awaited those who chose to follow him, he warned: “So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many will be called, but few chosen”.  (Matthew 20: 16)

Of the many Christians who are called, truly only a few will be chosen. Those that believe that they stand at the forefront of the church will be placed last, for the greatest barrier to an understanding of the light within is spiritual pride.

Those who are convinced of their own virtue will fall victim to their own folly. Of the billions of people now living on the earth, only a small portion will be chosen to take up a new body of living light. The opportunities are many but the pitfalls are great.

“Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”  (Matthew 7: 13-14)

Those people who confidently expect to be saved from the great tribulation, will be the ones who will be most likely to reject their faith once they discover that they have been left behind. They will be those of whom Jesus spoke when he said that the love of many would grow cold.

It is safe to say that most people who call themselves Christians do not realize that self-sacrifice is the price of eternal life. Jesus warned his followers that many false prophets would arise in the last days before his return to the earth to try to mislead them.

The leaders of the many denominations of the Christian church today would do well to warn their flock that they may be called upon to sacrifice their lives for their faith, just as the earliest followers of Jesus were called upon to do some two thousand years ago.

These Christians will still have a path to salvation. But first they will have to endure the fires of adversity to prove that they can overcome, even as Jesus also overcame. Only in this way can they be purified and become gold tried in the fire, and be fit to be clothed in white raiment.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 11th, 2016 at 1:42 pm and is filed under The Day of the Lord. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments and pings are closed.