Two Women in the Wilderness

  TWO WOMEN IN THE WILDERNESS

Facts, Data, and Information have been borrowed from several papers written by Dr. Stephen Jones of “The New Kingdom Order” website.

Many of you, reading this current article and previous articles such as: The Beast From The Sea  The Earth Beast   Mark of the Beast , will disagree with the assertions that are presented.  It is unfortunate that most modern minds have been preconditioned by the relatively recent stream of Scofield, dispensational, pre-tribulational Dallas Seminary induced, prophecy guidelines made famous by Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye, John Walvoord, and several others.  Some may be disappointed, but there will be no locust demons stinging people, and no horde of Nephilim roaming the world slaughtering people.

The Scofield reference Bible gave rise to the so-called doctrine of Dispensationalism.  Dispensation theory spoke of an end of the Church age and a return to the Legalism of the age of the Old Covenant with a rebuilt temple and the people calling themselves Jews again offering sacrifices which is totally incompatible to the will of God.  The Church Age is not an afterthought or a temporary correction inserted by God because the Jewish leaders refused to accept Christ as the Messiah.  God predicted and prophesied of the New Covenant from the very beginning.  The Church, or congregation, is the people of God and always will be.  This return to the Old Covenant required vacating Christians from the face of the earth which thus required the invention of a pre-tribulational rapture of the Church.   

As a side note the concept of a tribulation period of 7 years is the result of an inaccurate interpretation of the seventy weeks of Daniel by employing the wrong starting date using erroneous and misleading reasoning for that particular date.  Using the correct starting date for the 70 weeks will render the end of the prophecy at the crucifixion of Christ.

A specific and direct scripture indicating a pre-tribulation rapture does not exist although some have one or another verses as an indication but they are all circumstantial at best.  This PT rapture idea creates more problems than it solves.  Very few pre-tribulation rapture believers have ever been convinced to change their opinion.

The Woman in the Wilderness

Revelation 12:5-6 NET  So the woman gave birth to a son, a male child, who is going to rule over all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was suddenly caught up to God and to his throne,  (6)  and she fled into the wilderness where a place had been prepared for her by God, so she could be taken care of for 1,260 days.

Revelation 12:1 pictures a sign in heaven of a woman with labor pains.  She gives birth to a male child, “who is going to rule over all the nations with an iron rod”.  When the child is caught up to heaven (ascension of Jesus), the woman, which is the early church of believers, flees into the wilderness for a period of 1,260 years, even though the scripture says “days” it is actually years.

The church (Roman church) came into power in 529-534 when Justinian changed the laws and reset the calendar and become the “little horn” (or extension of the Roman Empire) according to Daniel’s chapter 7 prophecy of the four beasts from the sea.  [at this time the Roman church was the only church for all practical purposes]  This is the point in time when the church (or Roman church i.e. “the little horn”) became part of the succession of empires which began with Babylon, because of its religious carnality.

The Great Whore

In Revelation 17:1 we seem to be introduced to another woman being in the wilderness.  Is it the same wilderness or a different one?  This one is referred to as “the great whore”.  Later in verse 5 the woman is called Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.

We now have two women in the wilderness.  Are they the same woman?  Although it seems unbelievable, they are the same.  Those who place their faith in the church may have difficulty seeing them as the same woman, insisting that there were two women in the wilderness.

Revelation 17:3 KJV  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

Revelation 17:5 KJV  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

These two women in the wilderness are patterned after the Exodus experience of the Hebrews under the leadership of Moses traveling through the wilderness.  The Israelites were required to traverse the wilderness to get to the Promised Land, which they would have reached in 490 days if they had the necessary faith.  At Mt. Sinai the vast majority refused to listen when God wished to speak to them with His voice of fire.  Due to their fear of God, they instructed Moses to listen to God personally and then relay the message to them.  The Israelites lack of faith caused them to worship the golden calf only weeks after refusing to hear God speaking for themselves.  Their lack of faith and their fleshly motivation created issues for them throughout their wilderness journey.

Whereas Israel was afraid to hear the voice of God, the church under the “little horn” was not allowed to read and listen to the Word on a personal level.  They only knew what they were told by the priests.  Both Israel, conquered and deported by Assyria, and Judah, conquered and held captive by Babylon were punished due to carnal flesh, harlotry, and idolatry.  The church has been retained in the wilderness for the same issues:  carnality, harlotry, and idolatry (which is Scripturally identical to harlotry).

The majority of the so-called church has been disqualified from ruling the Kingdom of God during the Millennium.  The apostle Paul explains that only the remnant of grace known as the overcomers or the “elect” are the true chosen ones, similar to the days of Elijah when he said, “I alone am left and now they want to take my life,”  but God answered:   

1 Kings 19:18 NET  I still have left in Israel seven thousand followers who have not bowed their knees to Baal or kissed the images of him."

Quote from Dr. Stephen Jones:

So here in Revelation 17:3 we see that the church, which fled into the wilderness shortly after Pentecost in Acts 2, was not able to enter the Kingdom at that time, but like Israel, she had to spend a long time in the wilderness. That in itself is an indictment upon the church. Whereas Israel spent just 40 years in the wilderness, the church spent 40 Jubilee cycles in the wilderness.

The harlot is describes as sitting on the beast although many claim she is riding the beast which may be true.  She is not portrayed as sitting on a throne since a throne is symbolic of law and this woman is considered lawless.  She follows the carnal laws of the beast system and not the laws of the Kingdom.  The phrase “full of blasphemous names” portrays the many manifestations of immorality and lawlessness in the red beast.  Although the great harlot is much more than the fleshly church, it most definitely includes it.

The Harlot’s Description

Revelation 17:4 NET  Now the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality.

Purple and scarlet clothing speaks of royalty while gold, precious stones, and pearls speak of great wealth.

At one time, I believed these items along with those items listed in Revelation 18:12-13 spoke of clothing and accoutrements of a rebuilt Jewish temple.  I now do not believe a 3^rd temple will be built and if so, the Glory of God will not be there.  It is now apparent the Roman church and its popes, cardinals, and others have attempted to somewhat duplicate the clothing and vessels listed by God in the Pentateuch as the apparel of the temple priests.  Of course, they have added greatly to the masquerade.

Although literal gold cups have been used in the Roman church, this scriptural golden cup has more to do with symbolism and prophecy.  John employs many scriptures and ideas from the Old Testament including this golden cup reference in Jeremiah 51:7.

Jeremiah 51:7 NET  Babylonia had been a gold cup in the LORD's hand. She had made the whole world drunk. The nations had drunk from the wine of her wrath. So they have all gone mad.

The gold cup was given to Babylon by God for divine judgment upon Judah and other nations.  Now God has given the gold cup to the harlot to bring judgment upon the nations of today.

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

The woman sitting (riding) on the beast is called the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.  Harlotry is a euphemism for idolatry and abomination is a euphemism for an idol.  Therefore this harlot is the mother of all idolatry appearing in the earth.  Idolatry is not limited to worshipping false gods, it also includes submitting to the laws of the beast rather than, or above, the laws of God.

John writes of Babylon, Jerusalem, Sodom, and Egypt as being associated with the earthly Jerusalem and therefore being harlot cities.  Isaiah 23:15-17 speaks of Tyre as a harlot city.  The book of Nahum claims that Nineveh was a harlot city.  And of course, Ezekiel chapter 16 is writing about Jerusalem as a harlot city.  Many Protestant churches (daughters) also employ various tendencies of the Roman harlot church.

Drunk With the Blood

Revelation 17:6 NET  I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of those who testified to Jesus. I was greatly astounded when I saw her.

Although Leviticus 17:10 forbids the drinking of blood, the harlot has become drunk with it.  God created blood as the emissary of the soul for the work of atonement.  The apostles had no problem with this for they write in the first Church Council:

Acts 15:19-20 NET  "Therefore I conclude that we should not cause extra difficulty for those among the Gentiles who are turning to God,  (20)  but that we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood.

This apostolic edict was repeated in Acts 15:29.  However, the Roman church which strongly upheld its own Church Councils failed to recognize and enforce the very first Church Council held in the book of Acts.

To drink blood is a natural sign of a spiritual problem.  Scripture defines murder as an act of drinking blood (or spilling blood).  Therefore, when Jerusalem killed the prophets, they were in violation of drinking or spilling blood, even with the law of God threatening to cut off anyone who drank blood.  When the prophets called Jerusalem "the bloody city," they were accusing it of drinking blood, and by extension they were saying that the city would be "cut off from among his people".

The Mark of the Beast

THE MARK OF THE BEAST

Facts, Data, and Information have been borrowed from several papers written by Dr. Stephen Jones of “The New Kingdom Order” website.

As discussed in the previous post (The Beast from the Earth) this second beast, epitomized by the Rothschild banking web, has two eminent characteristics:  1) the misuse of nature evidenced by the funding of atomic weapons and missiles i.e. weapons of mass destruction; 2) the exploitation of fiat currency and commerce through the use of money and debt to enslave individuals and control governments.  A financial system was developed that would not allow anyone to pursue commence apart from the fiat currency of their creation (namely the dollar).

Revelation 13:14…telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast……..

“Those who dwell on the earth” is a Biblical metaphor.  If one dwells on the earth, that person is of the image of the first Adam.  If one is of the second Adam (Jesus Christ) that person is a son of God with a mind set on heavenly things and will not be deceived by earthly things or by the beast from the earth.

Deuteronomy 11: 8,16,18    8 You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today… 16 Beware, lest your hearts be deceived and you turn away and serve other gods and worship them… 18 You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

The Mark

Revelation 13:16 KJV  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

The Deuteronomy scripture above, tells people they can protect themselves from worshipping false gods and various deceptive practices by keeping the commandments of God in their heart and within their soul.  The binding of the law on the hand and forehead is not a literal command although some Jewish leaders understood it in that manner.  It is symbolic of always keeping the commandments of God within the heart and within one’s soul.

A mark of lawlessness was put upon Cain (Genesis 4:14) and it was not a literal viewable mark.  A mark was placed upon God’s chosen ones prior to the destruction of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 9:4) and neither was it visible.

The 144,000 are sealed by a stamp or private mark as the servants of God in their foreheads (i.e. their mind or soul).

Revelation 7:3 KJV  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed (a stamp or private mark) the servants of our God in their foreheads.

Those who worship the beast (i.e. money and riches) have the mark of the beast and are branded as slaves to the money beast as opposed to the mark of God or a slave to the Kingdom of God.  We are told by Paul that “the love of money is the root of all types of evil.” 

1 Timothy 6:9-10 KJV  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.  (10)  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Although money is neutral, the love of money or greed is the deception causing people to go astray and to inadvertently worship the image of the beast.  Those driven by the love of money (greed) are slaves to the beast with the mark of the beast engraved on their mind with hands busy to acquire more wealth.  A person suffering from monetary debt is a slave to the beast as well.  Rothschild was originally from Hamburg, Germany where the currency is called the “mark”.

The translation of “image” is an icon.  Revelation 13 contains the phrases, “an image TO the beast” and also “the image OF the beast”.  The image is not a picture or a statue.  When the image is “OF the beast” it originates from the beast.  The image “TO the beast” (i.e. given to him) indicates that it is created for the beast and for his purposes.

The word “image” or icon (eikon) can be found in Luke:

Luke 20:22-25 KJV  Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no?  (23)  But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me?  (24)  Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's.  (25)  And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's.

All coins have an image and most currency as well.  In Biblical days the image was usually one of the current ruler of the country or empire when the coin was minted.  That is, it contained an image or visual picture of a king or emperor and it is never a statue.  It becomes worship when a person has a love or desire for currency (i.e. the love of money) and all their actions and thoughts concern the accumulation of additional wealth.  Jesus made use of coins and had no issue with them because He did not worship or desire the coins and He did not worship the image of Caesar.

The Federal Reserve Bank was established in 1914 which gave authority to Jewish banking individuals to control the money supply.  Soon afterwards US dollars (called Silver Certificates) were replaced with Federal Reserve Notes.  The currency of other nations and areas also came under control of the bankers.  Libya (and Gaddafi) was supposedly destroyed because they intended to employ their own money using a gold standard beyond the control of the international banking system.  Bartering and trading goods and services are not allowed to any extent.  Gold, silver, and other metals have value, but attempting to use them as money will present problems.  The bottom line is:  no one can effectively buy or sell without using the private notes issued by the banking cartel.

Revelation 13:17 KJV  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Revelation 13:17 NET  Thus no one was allowed to buy or sell things unless he bore the mark of the beast — that is, his name or his number.

Verse 17 (above) has caused much confusion, particularly in today’s headline hyping world.  The mark has been called a tattoo, a cut, a computer chip, a DNA change, and possibly more that I am not aware of.  The more outlandish and preposterous the headline, the more interest it instills without a certain section of the population.

The NET version of verse 17 listed above, appears to be a more accurate and precise translation than the KJV.  That is, the mark of the beast can be the same as the name of the beast of the number of his name.

The Number 666

Revelation 13:18 KJV  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Revelation 13:18 NET  This calls for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the beast's number, for it is man's number, and his number is 666.

Phillips:  let every thinking man calculate the number of the animal. It is the number of a man, and its number is six hundred and sixty-six.

The scripture states that a person with wisdom can calculate the beast’s number because it is the number of a man (person) and the number itself is 666.  Both Greek and Hebrew letter/numbers have been used for deciphering the number and a myriad of names have been calculated to equal 666. 

We are told it is the number of that specific beast and perhaps, also the number of a man.  Since the beast is not specifically a certain man, can the man be some person not associated with the beast?    

In biblical numerology, it is said the number six is the number of “man”, or humanity in general.  A series of three sixes would perhaps indicate the perfection of man.

The mark of the beast can be considered the brand of a slave owner upon his slave. The mark (or seal) of God is the brand (or signature) of God upon His bondservants.

The image of God is Jesus Christ Himself (see Hebrews 1:3). The image of the beast is a false Christ, an antichrist or that which usurps the place and the number of Jesus Christ.

Verse 15 states the beast had the power to give a certain type of life to the image.  The Phillips version reads:  the breath of life. 

Revelation 13:15 KJV  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

The image of the beast is not literally given life and the image does not literally speak.  Even as “breath” or Spirit was given to Jesus when He was raised from the dead, so also is “breath” given to the image of the beast so that it almost becomes a spiritual entity creating slavery and destruction across the majority of the earth. 

Revelation 18:13 KJV  And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.

The three Greek letters making up the number 666 are: chi, 600, which is short for Christos); xi, 60, which is a cross; and stigma, 6, which means “pierced” (i.e. Christ, cross, pierced).

A quote from Dr. Stephen Jones will summarize the numbers:

Therefore, I believe we might paraphrase verse 18 above to read: “Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, which he usurped; for the number is that of a particular man, Jesus Christ; and His number is six hundred and sixty-six.”

Why would the number of the beast actually be the number of Jesus Christ?

In the 1800’s the Rothschild family became so powerful that they soon began to call their chairman the King of the Jews, and often referred to their family as “our royal family.”

Niall Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, 1998, p. 8:

“In this sense, phrases like ‘Kings of the Jews’ which contemporaries applied to them contained an important element of truth. That was exactly the way the Rothschilds saw and conducted themselves—as phrases like ‘our royal family’ in their letters show—and the way they were treated by many other less wealthy Jews.”

Ferguson, The House of Rothschild, p. 257:

“The Rothschilds are the wonders of modern banking. . . We see the descendants of Judah, after a persecution of two thousand years, peering above kings, rising higher than emperors, and holding a whole continent in the hollow of their hands. The Rothschilds govern a Christian world. Not a cabinet moves without their advice. They stretch their hand, with equal ease, from Petersburg to Vienna, from Vienna to Paris, from Paris to London, from London to Washington. Baron Rothschild, the head of the house, is the true king of Judah, the prince of the captivity, the Messiah so long looked for by this extraordinary people. He holds the keys of peace or war, blessing or cursing . . . They are the brokers and counsellors of the kings of Europe and of the republican chiefs of America. What more can they desire?”

Dr. Stephen Jones and his associates declare the ruling span of the “little horn” ended when Napoleon imprisoned the pope who died in 1800.  A few years after that the Holy Alliance placed the Vatican’s finances under the control of the Rothschild’s banking system.  The financial beast from the earth created the Mystery, Babylon system of:  fiat money; untold debt to nations and individuals; the printing of additional money through banks, the Federal Reserve, and Rothschild controlled banks around the civilized world; and corporation control of almost all business.  Now, they desperately desire to invoke the TTIP along with other agreements that will place the governments of the world in the hands of corporations.

Dr. Jones also claimed the reign of the earth beast has ended according to the timetable of God and it will soon come to an end.  The “kings of the east” will eventually terminate the Mystery Babylonian flow of fiat money and debt.  The old “kings of the east” who conquered Babylon were the Medes and the Persians – the new kings are Russia and China.

According to Benjamin Fulford efforts are being made, specifically in China, to eliminate terrorism, globalization, and the fiat Rothschild currency.  It is expected that a renewal of the planet will begin (not instantaneous) in a few years. 

The six thousand years of the first Adam are practically finished and the one thousand years of the second Adam (Jesus Christ) called the Millennium will begin soon.