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Showing posts with label Sodom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sodom. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Mystery, Babylon's Coming Fall



Mystery, Babylon’s Coming Fall (my title)

Original Title:  “Background to a soon-coming prayer campaign, Part 1”
By Dr. Stephen Jones of God’s Kingdom Ministries

http://www.gods-kingdom-ministries.net/daily-weblogs/2017/03-2017/background-to-a-soon-coming-prayer-campaign-part-1/

This is the year of Babylon’s fall. In 2014 the transfer of authority from the Babylonians to the saints of the Most High was declared in the divine court. It was declared on October 12, 2014, which was the last day of our Tabernacles conference that year, but it was applicable to October 16, 2014, the eighth day of Tabernacles.

This year, the eighth day of Tabernacles is October 12, 2017, and October 16 is 5880 years after September 11, 2001, the day when the Nazi faction took over the US government, and the day life in America was changed. The number 5880 in years is 120 Jubilees (120 x 49 years). This suggests that liberty and cancellation of debt is coming in some way—or at least a sign of it.

Four Prophetic Cities Are One
Revelation 11:8 equates three entities which represent the world system that is falling.

Revelation 11:8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city [Babylon] which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified [Jerusalem].

This is the verse on which countless “Elijahs” base their belief that they will be stoned in the streets of Jerusalem. But the broader truth is the Babylon, Sodom, Egypt, and Jerusalem all represent the great city, Babylon, in the book of Revelation. Each physical city contributes its portion to the overall characteristic of Babylon, the succession of beast empires in Daniel 7.

Sodom refers to its immorality. Babylon and Egypt refer to captivity or bondage. Jerusalem refers to the Old Covenant, known allegorically as “Hagar” in Galatians 4:24, because the Old Covenant is a system of religious bondage. All of these cities were slated for destruction in various ways, and this destruction culminates when the stone hits the image on its feet and grinds the entire image to powder (Daniel 2:34; Matthew 21:44).

The Revelation of Passover 2017
The recent revelation about March 18-28, 2017….
…. is directly connected to Passover this year, because March 28 is Abib 1 on the Hebrew calendar. It is the day when the priests used to go to Jericho to see if the barley had eared out. If so, they knew that this was the first day of the first month, and they signaled that the people should gather for Passover in two weeks. If the barley was not yet ripe, they were to wait another month before keeping Passover. In that case, this would be the 13th month of the previous year, rather than the first month of the next year.

In 2017 the date marked the beginning of the first month (Abib), and Passover (Abib 14/15) falls on April 10/11. The tenth day of the month, where the lambs were to be selected, falls on April 6, 2017. This also marks the day when Israel crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

The revelation that we have been given in the past few days indicates that Pharaoh has arisen once again to try to prevent the people of God from leaving the house of bondage. Hence, this prophetic pattern is drawing from the story of the exodus from Egypt. We ought to see some events occur along those lines on these given dates. We may also see similar events occurring a month later at the time of the second Passover (May 10/11).

At the present time, it is unclear how many people will be raised up to play the role of Pharaoh. We already know of one main story line that is being played out. Pharaoh is the court system in California, which is refusing to allow God’s people to be set free from bondage. There is a particular court case happening right now, which will set a very big precedent for all Americans, and the judges are trying hard to contain it. We may have more to say about this later.

Sodom
As for Sodom, on March 27 I received an email from friend in Wisconsin, who wrote:

“Last year, March 26, (Easter eve) I was visited by the two angels that were with Lot in Sodom. It was pretty scary. Short story is God had me pray for mercy for America. He then said He would grant it. The next morning, I woke up from a dream about a tsunami off the west coast.”

This particular revelation seems to suggest that instead (of) seeing fire, he saw a tsunami. Perhaps fire too might be involved, if we see volcanic action. Mount Rainier is probably a key volcano to watch……

The height of Mount Rainier is 14410 feet above sea level, which is 144 backward and forward. It sits in the middle of a National Forest which is shaped like a map of the United States, and in that way it represents the country in Washington State. I wrote about the spiritual connection between Washington state and Washington D.C. in the earlier link. Seattle is in King County, and now we have The Donald (“ruler, king”) in Washington D.C.

Jerusalem
The way Revelation 11:8 is worded, the city is noted for its opposition to the rule of Jesus as King. Jesus came of Judah and the seed of David in order to lay claim to His throne rights as King, for the Dominion Mandate rightfully belonged to Him. However, the chief priests usurped His throne and took the “vineyard” for their own use (Matthew 21:37-39), much like Absalom did with King David a thousand years earlier.

Putting it another way, Luke 19:14 puts words in the usurpers’ mouths, saying, “We do not want this man to reign over us.” They rejected the Messiah, and appealed their case to the King in the divine court. That case has been pending for nearly 2000 years, but it is about to be resolved.

The point is that Jerusalem is the opposing city, and it is linked to Babylon in Revelation 11:8. Paul tells us in Galatians 4:24 that the city is Hagar, the bondwoman, and then he concludes in Galatians 4:30, 31:

GALATIANS 4:30-31 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the freewoman.” 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.

In other words, the earthly Jerusalem is the bondwoman that must be “cast out.” Jerusalem will not inherit the Kingdom, as so many Christians and Jews today believe. The inheritor is “Sarah,” the free woman, or the heavenly Jerusalem (Galatians 4:26), and her children—those who consider the New Jerusalem to be their mother and the capital (government) of the Kingdom.

Jerusalem as a Type of Egypt
When Moses led Israel out of Egypt, the nation was said to be “the church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38 KJV). The church is a called-out body. Israel was called out of Egypt at Passover, so this first church was a Passover church.

The second church was called out of Jerusalem at Pentecost in Acts 2, so this was a Pentecost church. As Paul clearly shows, the church was called out of Judaism. The followers of Judaism, he says, are the sons of Hagar, while the believers in Christ are “like Isaac” (Galatians 4:28) and are “children of promise.”

Unfortunately, much of the church has reverted to Old Covenant thinking, largely because they have more faith in their own vows to be saved rather than in God’s vow to save them. See my book, The Two Covenants. Likewise, their interpretation of prophecy centers mostly on the old Jerusalem, a rebuilt temple, a restored Levitical priesthood, and even animal sacrifices, as Scofield taught more than a century ago. All of these teachings are Old Covenant symptoms of a church which claims to be of Isaac, but which, in practice, has cast their lot with the children of Hagar.

When Jerusalem is “cast out,” as Paul prophesied, it will cause a great wailing around the world, not only among Jews, but also among Christians who consider Jerusalem to be their mother. But one only has to read Jeremiah 19 to see the final end of Jerusalem. In Jeremiah 19:1 the city is likened to an old clay jar which was to be smashed in the Valley of ben-Hinnom, which, in the Greek language, is Gehenna (translated “hell” in Mark 9:47).

Jeremiah 19:10, 11 concludes:

10 Then you are to break the jar in the sight of the men who accompany you 11 and say to them, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Just so shall I break this people and this city, even as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot again be repaired’”…

The city has been broken many times in history, but each time it has been repaired. The day is coming when the city will be broken so completely that it will never again be repaired. This will be the moment when Hagar-Jerusalem is “cast out.”

Jesus’ Warning to Jerusalem
Jesus gave many warnings to Jerusalem, which the Christians heeded just before the city was destroyed in 70 A.D. The Christians fled to Pella and so escaped judgment. The rest of the people, thinking that God would save them at the last minute, fought to the bitter end, and their faith in a lie led them into utter disaster.

Yet the city was later repaired, so Jeremiah’s prophecy was to have yet another fulfillment. This is being repeated in our day, and world events are building for another disaster. In Jesus’ parable of the vineyard in Matthew 21:33-44, Jesus asked the chief priests and Pharisees to judge the situation where the vineyard was usurped. Matthew 21:41-44 says:

41 They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone; this came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it. 44 And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

Jesus’ concluding verdict not only quotes Psalm 118:22, 23, but also Daniel 2:34, 35, where the stone struck the Babylonian image on its feet and crushed the image to dust.

In effect, Jesus was telling the chief priests and Pharisees that they should not become part of the Babylonian image. This warning foreshadowed the day when their descendants would take control of modern Babylon and become the toenails on the toes of the feet of the image. The Rothschild family worked very hard during the 1800’s to gain power over the nations by controlling the world banking system.

Their success was seen in the Balfour Declaration in November of 1917, when Lord Balfour wrote a letter of intent to Lord Rothschild that the UK intended to bring about a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The letter is reproduced here:

Finally, on November 29, 1947 the United Nations partitioned (divided) Palestine, giving the Jews a portion of it, and the Palestinians (under Jordan) another portion. They “divided the land,” and the Church enthusiastically supported this. Today, of course, when the UN seeks to enforce that division, the Church is horrified that they are dividing the land. How times change! If dividing the land was wrong, they should have been horrified in 1947. But, of course, they supported that division, because it benefited the Jewish Zionists and appeared to fulfill Bible prophecy.  We are now nearing the 70th anniversary of that UN Resolution.

Monday, March 2, 2015

From Heavenly to Earthly: Angelic Body Changes



ANGELIC BODY CHANGES


For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:  (2 Corinthians 5:1-2 KJV)

The word translated as “house” in 2 Corinthians 5:1-2 is two versions of the same Greek root word but with different meanings although both versions are translated using the same English word of “house”.  “For we know that if our earthly house” which uses oikía and is defined as a house, building or dwelling.  Thus, it is a person’s flesh and blood earthly, human body.  In verse 2, “our house which is from heaven” uses the Greek word oikētēríou,  which is defined as:  a dwelling, habitation, abode, e.g., of angels.  The complete Word Study definition is given below.

οἰκητήριον
oikētḗrion; gen. oikētēríou, neut. noun from oikéō (G3611), to dwell. A dwelling, habitation, abode, e.g., of angels, who supposedly relinquished heaven out of love for the daughters of men (Jud_1:6; see Gen_6:2). Figuratively of the future spiritual body as the abode of the soul (2Co_5:2; Sept.: Jer_25:30).

Paul is stating that our heavenly body or abode will be as the angels or created beings.  The Word Study definition also presupposes the concept that the Watcher angels of Genesis 6:2 relinquished their heavenly bodies for one of an earthly nature.

the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose.  (Genesis 6:2 NET)

Apparently the relinquishing of a heavenly or angelic body for an earthly one did not invalidate all of their former angelic characteristics.  They did not become mortal because they were imprisoned into the lower abyss of Tartarus by God.

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell and locked them up in chains in utter darkness, to be kept until the judgment,
(2 Peter 2:4 NET)

If they impregnated earth women with their earthly-type bodies, their DNA did not change to that of a human man because their progeny were Nephilim or giants.  The Watchers also appeared to maintain their knowledge, strength, and certain supernatural abilities.

A scriptural comment in the book of Jude using the same Greek word oikētēríou is translated as “residence” in the NET and “habitation” in the KJV.  It still uses the same Word Study definition as the English word “house” in 2 Corinthians 5:1-2 KJV only in Jude it is the reverse body exchange of 2 Corinthians.  It appears reasonable that our heavenly spiritual bodies will match or exceed those of the created entities or angels.

You also know that the angels who did not keep within their proper domain but abandoned their own place of residence, he has kept in eternal chains in utter darkness, locked up for the judgment of the great Day.  (Jude 1:6 NET)

This analysis of the Greek word oikētēríou may help solve the argument for people pointing to Matthew 22:30 and claiming that angels don’t have or can’t have sexual relations.  Therefore, according  to them, the “sons of God” used in Genesis 6:2 should be people and not angels.

For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.  (Matthew 22:30 NET)

First of all, the Matthew text only states that two male angels (there is no Biblical record of female angels) do not become married and that is exactly the definition of the Greek word gaméō :  marriage. To marry, take as a wife, to enter into the conjugal state.

It may possibly be a fact that heavenly entities or angels can’t engage in sex because they are incapable of such.  However, these particular Watcher angels, according to Jude, changed from a heavenly, spiritual body to one more characteristic of an earthly male.  They apparently have emotions such as desire.  The Watchers considered the earthly women beautiful and desirable.  Their first earthly act appears to take women as their wives which implies a sexual relationship.

A Torah translation and commentary from Etz Hayim will demonstrate that angels or divine beings are the “sons of God” who mated with human women.

“When men began to increase on earth and daughters were born to them , the divine beings saw how beautiful the daughters of men were and took wives from among those that pleased them. The Lord said, my breath shall not abide in man forever, since he too is flesh; let the days allowed him be one hundred and twenty years. It was then, and later too , that the Nephilim appeared on earth, when the divine beings cohabited with the daughters of men, who bore them offspring. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.” – Genesis 6: 1-4, Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary

Other Angelic Appearances
There are other examples of heavenly entities appearing on the earth and do not necessarily discard their spiritual identification. 

Three heavenly individuals met with Abraham and ate supper with him.  Abraham identified two of the men as angels.  The third may have been the Son of God, Jesus.  They were apparently sent to meet Abraham by God and could have been ascended back to the heavenly realm by God.  The details are not known.

Two angels came to Lot’s house in Sodom.  Lot recognized them at the gate of the city.  They appeared to be human males to the point that Sodomites desired to sodomize them.  They were capable of pulling Lot into his doorway.  Although details are missing, they were also sent by God and may have ascended back to heaven by the Word and power of God.

The Messiah, Jesus, was born of a woman and was, by all accounts, a real man although with the power of God for healing, transformation of matter, authority of weather, and the ability to escape when needed.  He lived the perfect life, obeying the Laws of God and fulfilling those laws.  He died as the ultimate sacrificial lamb, was resurrected on the third day, He later ascended into heaven by the power of God, and will soon return in like manner. “

The Divine Council Angels
As written in a prior commentary, after the separation of languages at the tower of Babel and the migration of the various language groups around the continent, God placed the government of the earth in the hands of 70 (some say 72) created beings called the Divine Council by Dr. Michael Heiser.  The Lord God took Israel as His Nation through which the Law would be taught, the prophets would speak of the Messiah and the last days, and the Messiah would come preaching the Kingdom of God.

When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God.  (Deuteronomy 32:8 Brenton)

The “angels of God” phrase in the above scripture is only found in the LXX in my library.  It was apparently changed to “children of Israel” in the Masoretic text from which the King James Version was translated.  The quote from the Utley Commentary below gives more detail concerning this verse and the Dead Sea scrolls.

The Septuagint has “the number of the angels of God” (El). This translation seems to fit better (cf. The Jewish Study Bible, p. 441) because: (1) cf. Deu_29:26; (2) it follows the reading of the scroll from cave four of Qumran scrolls; (3) national angels are mentioned in Daniel 10, 12. Each nation had an assigned angel (cf. Dan_10:13), but Israel had YHWH (although Michael is also said to be Israel's angel, cf. Dan_12:1).

The verse in Deuteronomy 29:26 in the KJV that Mr. Utley refers to is found below.

For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them:
(Deuteronomy 29:26 KJV)

It is not known for certain if these national or ethnic group administrative angels gave up their heavenly bodies.  The most likely answer is NO.  It does appear likely they made themselves known to people at some point in history with various names associated with them.  This may have been put to a halt by God since we have not actively or visibly, seen or heard from them in several thousands of years.  Their current interactions may be secret behind closed doors.  As assigned administrators by God they may have been given the power and authority to come and go as they please.  According to Daniel some have battled with each other such as:  the prince of Persia; the prince of Greece; Michael; and the unidentified angel relating this information to Daniel.